Title: Cat and Mouse Jokes
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Pairing: Yuki/Kyou
Rating: PG to PG-13
Request: fluff, snark, kissage?
Warnings: OOC, slash (duh)
Summary: Yuki watches Kyo, Kyo is out in the garden, and then they argue over the subject of rodents and felines.
Word Count: 1, 463

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket characters belong to Natsuki Takaya. Only the story belongs to me. I'm merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement.

If you don't like slash, even if just a bit, then this is not the right fic for you. You've been warned.

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Yuki hung up the phone, a phone call from the family doctor who was on his way to Shigure's house. He made a trip to the kitchen to inform Tohru, then the Shigure's working room, that they were expecting company. As he thought a certain orange-head was nowhere to be found inside the house, he silently peeked out into the garden. There was Kyo's profile facing him.

Kyo was sitting under one of the trees, was fidgeting with something, and with a few… were they first-aid kits? Was the cat-cursed injured? Not that Yuki really cared since he did countless damages to his cousin, but the cat was always up to something, if not doing, stupid. The prince silently walked closer, and to his surprise, the cat still didn't notice his presence. He, however, saw what was with Kyo.

A gray kitten. Kyo's tanned hands were ever-so carefully binding its bleeding fragile paw. Yuki noticed how Kyo buried his brows, his… captivating ruby eyes were softened and filled with concentration, and how he bit his lower lip in scrutiny. The loose garments added to that boyish charm. When the young animal meowed, Yuki heard the cat-curse muttering comfort words to it. Yuki had to resist from smiling, and for a moment he wish he didn't have to interfere.

He started, "Since when did-" Kyo jumped, "- you becoming a mother cat?"

"You damn rat! Do you always have to sneak up on people?!" Kyo growled back, attempting to hide the kitten under his own shade. His face was the normal angry look again.

"Don't blame me for your lack of attention," Yuki smirked, "mother cat." Seeing Kyo's eyes widen only fueled the smirk. It was so fun getting under his cousin's skin. Recently he found his ridicules driven more by amusement rather than by hatred. Maybe sometimes annoyance.

"You dare say that again, you… damn vermin!"

"So what's new…" Yuki said with a bored tone. "Anyways, I'm just here to tell you Hatori's coming over for my check-up. Haru's coming along too."

Kyo snorted. "Hey, I'm not the one that cow's fawning over."

"But you're the one he tries to beat up." Yuki replied, feeling that this argument would go in circles. "So, who's the little guy?"

Kyo's eyes twitched a bit and slowly brought the gray kitten out to view. "I found him limping on the streets. A stray cat that got into a fight with another, but it's none of your freakin' business anyways unless it was one of your rodent friends who did this to him."

The prince narrowed his brows, for the comment. He knew for a long time already not to take the baits, because Kyo's fire was merely a defense to shield a softer side of him, delicate as dewdrop, that brought him to rescue the kitten. He just wished to… experience that side of his cousin. He was simply trying to be more civilized, yet Kyo was always the one to re-tangle the knots, the one to reignite the fire. The fire Yuki hid too well and Kyo showed too often. "Quit pushing the blame to me. You know it's irrational."

"What, trickery isn't new for rats. Why am I even talking to you anyways?" Kyo turned away.

Was that how low his cousin thought of him? "Why does it always boil down to our animals, Kyo?" It came almost as a whisper.

"Well, you have any way to change the fact that they are in fact part of our existence?"

Yuki continued to look at Kyo, who refused to turn around and face him. He took the liberty to take a seat next to the orange head. With the little animal curled on his lap, Kyo wouldn't reel into a physical fight.

If Kyo was going to be this stubborn, then he mind as well play his cards fairly. "I resent that you downplay my animal, when it, in fact, has lots of good qualities outside of the Zodiac story."

Kyo turned around. "Yeah, other than eating cheese. The cat has way more than the damn rodent will never have."

Yuki grinned. "Is that a challenge?" Verbal challenge, as trivial as it was.

Slapping a fist to the other palm, Kyo replied, "You bet."

"Well, the mouse can be silent, considering that I sneaked up on you. It's a very useful skill."

"You're a rat."

"Same family."

Kyo growled. "A cat can catch fishes… and mice technically!"

"I'd like to see you catch some fish by the river some time. Great amusement for us all."

"Oh, and I'd like to see you in a mouse trap, you damn rat!"

"Stupid cat, the Sohma family forbids any animal catching devices on the property. Make sense if you think about it, or we'd all be dead already."

"Damn. Well, cats have agility and can climb trees."

"When they're chased by dogs."

Kyo snapped. "And I'm gonna win by default if you keep doing this just because you can't think of any good rat qualities…" he blushed slightly, "which there are none!"

"I just thought you don't want to hear them at all. But if you insist… well, rats can make females jump onto the table top. You've got to admit that's a classic."

"…Isn't that kind of ironic? You obviously attract them instead repelling." Kyo tipped his head to the side, and Yuki hated to admit it was a cute habit Kyo did whenever he was befuddled. No wonder people love to get him off guard. Yuki's eyes couldn't help but subconsciously trailed the curve of the orange-head's smooth neck to the exposed collarbones… but he quickly snapped away before probing any further.

Yuki sighed. "You don't know how I wish I can do the otherwise."

Kyo shrugged and continued to pet the fur ball. "Maybe someday for an April Fool's prank. Get your little rodent friends to protect you from the horde of fangirls." Even Yuki couldn't resist from laughing on that one, which befuddled Kyo even more. Having Yuki laughing at him outside of mockery was not normal. "What's wrong with you, damn rat? You're all… weird and freaky today."

Yuki raised an elegant brow. "How do you expect me to act?"

"Like a nasty bastard." Kyo almost thought Yuki frowned at the statement, which continuously added to his own confusion. He pouted involuntarily as he gave up on mentally debating what the hell was up with the rat's head.

The silver-hair Sohma replied. "The feeling's quite mutual there." He was almost certain Kyo did not catch the meaning there. He simply did not want Kyo to change, someone who would actually break the line of respect, the image of a prince, when talking to him. Between the blind affections that he received and the honest –but idiotic– outbursts emitted by his cousin, he would choose the latter.

Yuki glanced at Kyo again, whose pink lips continued to carry the stubborn pout, and he once again found himself enjoying the boyish charm. Yuki sighed again. Infatuation struck him. Was it his fault that Kyo was such a tease and didn't even realize?

Then he thought of something spontaneous. "You know what else the rat is good at?" Yuki questioned.

"Uh… what? Hamster-dancing?"

"No."

Yuki shifted and inched closer, face to face with Kyo. Unfortunately for Kyo, his grey kitten was too relaxed in his lap to move, reciprocally Kyo didn't want to move it, and therefore he couldn't inch away from the now extremely near Yuki. Too near for comfort. Hands clasp onto his face to reassure his lack of chances for escape. A small tint of blush decorated his cheeks. "Y-Yu…" Before completion, his lips were sealed by another set of warm, soft lips.

Kyo mentally gasped, his body shivered at the sensation. The world has just collapsed upon him, and he totally did not understand why was he sitting under a tree and kissing his cousin, his enemy of life. He did not understand how this was any way related to Yuki's question. He only understood that the kiss was… surprisingly gentle, and he was enjoying it. Before Yuki broke away, Kyo felt his cousin's tongue licked his lips once mischievously.

"…W-What was that… all about? Some kind of joke?" He managed to mumble between breathing.

Yuki smiled. "Mice and rats are best at 'chu'."

Kyo's eyes widened and blushed. "You… you bastard!"

"That's what you want me to be, right?" Yuki justified. Within just distance, he heard tire frictions. "Hatori and Haru are here. I better meet them at the door. Oh, and… Free tally for the dumb cat. It sure can purr."

And he left a very dumbfounded, immobile, ruffled, red Kyou out in the garden who rambled about hating damn rats.

-FIN-

Author's Notes: My first Furuba fic /ever/, let along slash, so to requestee, terribly sorry if things didn't get as intimate as you wanted them to be ! This was like testing the waters for me to grasp their characters. I hope you still liked though!

Oh, for those who didn't get it. "Chu" is the sound that rodents make in Japanese, as well as the sound for a kiss.