Disclaimer: Look, a second disclaimer on the same story! Maybe this will make up for the ones I forgot to put on my others. --; I don't own any part of the Fruits Basket universe, which is probably a good thing in the long run, for the jyuunishi's sakes.

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Yuki and Shigure had been finishing up their dinners - "Another wonderful meal, Tohru-kuuun!" - while Tohru slowly worked her way through her own, eyes cast over at Kyou's empty spot at the table. The storm hadn't been getting much worse, but it hadn't lightened up at all either, and she was definitely worried now. Shigure had told her repeatedly not to worry, that Kyou was probably hidden from the worst of the rain; Yuki, naturally apathetic to the cat's struggles, only told her not to waste her energy on that dumb cat.

Trying not to let her worries get the best of her, Tohru gathered up her dishes and made her way into the kitchen to start cleaning up. As she passed by a window, lightening flashed and the outside was made clearer for just a moment - but it was long enough for her to see spots of white and orange making their way down the back hill's path out of the woods. Her eyes widened, and she barely remembered to put her dishes down first before running out to meet them, whipping an umbrella open as she moved.

"Kyou-kun!" she cried out into the roar of the falling rain; both he and Hatsuharu looked up and watched her approach. "Hatsuharu-san! A-are you both alright? You're not hurt are you, Kyou-kun?"

"I'm fine," Kyou answered somewhat shortly, but without any real malice. "I just…need sleep…."

"Ah! Of course, you've been out in this heavy rain for so long, and it makes you so tired even when it's lighter, and who knows how long you were stuck with Bear-san in his cave…"

"…With...wait, what?" But for Kyou's effort atgetting clarification fromthe girl, his question was all but unheardthrough her worried rambling.

"I'll put him to bed," Haru offered, lurching forward with Kyou still in his grasp. "Come on, Kyou, I'll go tuck you in."

"I don't need you to put me to bed like I'm some brat, Haru!" Kyou protested as he was led into the house followed by Tohru, who was sporting a relieved smile.

They paused in the entrance area, sitting down to take of their shoes. "I'll go get some towels, please wait here you two!" Tohru said, hurrying off to the linen closet. The boys sat on the floor, Kyou slumped forward, and both dripping quite excessively from just about everywhere.

Tohru returned shortly carrying several fluffy white towels. "Do you need any help drying off, Kyou-kun?" she asked innocently, obviously worried about his heavy exhaustion.

The cat in question began to blush and quickly worked on drying his dripping hair with one of the towels. "No, I don't need any help…" he mumbled.

"Don't worry about him, Honda-san," Haru said after wringing out his own hair and wiping at his face. "If he gets too tired, I can finish drying him off."

"Really, Hatsuharu-san?" Tohru beamed at him. "Thank you so much!"

"…Hey…I'm right here, you know…" Kyou tried to remind the other two.

"Oh, that's right!" Tohru said, apparently not hearing him. "I'd better go get you something hot to drink, and some fresh clothes for you both, and maybe a hot water bottle for you, Kyou-kun…" she began walking up the stairs, still thinking aloud.

Kyou sighed. He was really, really…really tired. All he wanted to do was crawl onto his bed and pass out for about three days.

"Ah, I see our stray cat made it back in one piece," Shigure's voice came from above him. "Haa-kun, did you bring him back for us?"

"Yeah," Haru replied, trying to wring some of the water out of his clothes.

"Was he stuck up a tree?"

"Shut up, Shigure!" Kyou groused.

"Well, he wasn't in the tree." Haru brushed the hair out of his eyes, sending a fine sprinkle over the floor.

"Ha ha! So it was a tree after all, and not your bear's cave, huh Kyou-kun?" Shigure grinned at the grumpy youth with the towel stuck to his head.

"Bear's what?…Is that what she was talking about? How many times do I have to tell you, I never fought bears!" He stood up, intent on stalking upstairs to his room, but was slightly deterred by the fact that the world gave a sudden lurch and his face rushed to meet the floor. 'The ground sure is moving fast,' he thought; then suddenly it stopped - or rather, he had stopped.

"Impressive, Haa-kun!" Shigure clapped as Haru clung to Kyou's arm and prevented him from an abrupt meeting between his face and the hard floor. "That makes it twice now you've saved our Kyou-kun!"

Kyou gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Before Haru could make any sort of comment, he had been pushed away by the hot-headed boy whothen quickly bolted up the stairs.

"You sure are good at making people mad at you, Sensei," Haru said blandly to the dark-haired man, who chortled.

"Only because they're so fun to bait," he said with a wave of his hand. A loud thump sounded from upstairs, and the two still in the entrance hall looked up the stairs blankly. Seconds later, a flustered looking Tohru came rushing down the stairs and almost ran into the unmovable Haru.

"Ah! I'm sorry Hatsuharu-san," she quickly apologized.

"It's nothing," he said. "What happened?"

"Ah! Um! I-it's nothing, really!" she cried. "K-Kyou-kun's just fine, uh…he has a man's dignity and pride, after all, so, um…there's no reason to worry!"

Shigure and Haru blinked at the girl in front of them. 'What…is she talking about?' The question rang through both of their minds. "Um…Tohru-kun?" Shigure attempted to get her attention.

"Ah! I forgot to make the tea! I have to do it before either of you catch cold, oh, that would be terrible!" And with that, she rushed into the kitchen.

Shigure stared after her bemusedly for a moment before heaving a theatric sigh of woe. "Haa-kun, sometimes I just don't understand that precious flower of ours! How sad…"

"Quit talking about her like that, you pervert!" Yuki yelled from the other room. Haru turned to face the entrance to that room, but then paused.

"I appreciate your show of restraint in flooding my house, Haru," Shigure said, peering shrewdly at the little lost cow."But as it seems Tohru-kun won't be back for a little bit with your dry clothes I suppose you'll just have to make do naked."

"Hn. If you insist," Haru replied, peeling off his shirt.

Shigure threw his hands over his eyes and wailed. "Haa-kun, you are so indecent! But honestly, learn to tell jokes for what they are…" he trailed off and handed Haru another towel. "Just go change into the spare pants Kyou-kun left in the bathroom before you go wandering around the house, would you?"

Haru nodded, and Shigure went back into the living room to pretend to be offended by Yuki's outburst. The damp boy made his way to the bathroom on the ground floor and rummaged around until he found the fabled pants - simple grey sweatpants that Kyou often trained in, thankfully freshly laundered. Haru quickly exchanged his wet attire for the warm, dry pants, then meandered back out of the bathroom.

He could hear Yuki's soft voice up ahead, followed by Shigure's raucous laughter; but instead of joining the two of them in the living room, he headed up the stairs quietly.

It was dark up on the second floor; none of the lights were on, and the heavy night gloom seeped in through the windows. Haru made his way down the hallway and came to a stop at the only room that had any light shining out of it - Kyou's room.

The door was half open, and Haru slide it the rest of the way without warning. Kyou was sitting on the floor, his back to the door; he had already changed into dry clothes and his hair was unusually ruffled. The light came from a small lamp that sat on his dresser, and in the faint glow Haru could see the cat's ears were quite red. From all appearances, Kyou seemed to be quite oblivious to his visitor.

"Did Honda-san have to help you change after all?" Haru asked.

Kyou jumped about a mile into the air. "AHHH! Haru! Don't sneak up on people like that, you idiot!"

"I opened the door as loudly as I could. I thought you would have noticed. So she did have to help you then?"

"NO SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO HELP ME!"

"Oh. Sorry. I thought it would have explained why she was talking about a man's dignity downstairs, and why you're blushing."

Kyou flushed an even deeper red at that, sitting down again and biting back a growl. "She - she just walked in at a bad time…"

"It's not like she hasn't seen you naked before," Haru said, coming fully into the room and sliding the door shut behind him.

Kyou spluttered. "Wha--! What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have transformed in front of her several times…why, what'd you think I was getting at?"

"Urk - nothing," Kyou brought his hands to his face and rubbed for all he was worth. He was too tired to deal with this right now, and told Haru as much.

"So go to sleep," was the reply.

"…How am I supposed to sleep with you wandering around in my room all night?" Kyou glared up at the other boy, who was indeed making his way around the rather bare room instead of making his way out of it.

"I'm not going to be here all night - unless you want me to be, Kyou. I wouldn't mind spending the night." Haru replied, pulling open a dresser drawer.

"Of course I don't - hey! What do you think you're doing, you damn brat?" Kyou heaved himself up and stalked over to the dresser. "Don't just go through other people's stuff!"

Undeterred, Haru felt around the inside of the drawer. "It's a little hard to see anything with just that lamp on."

"You shouldn't be seeing anything at ALL!" Kyou yelled. He quickly deflated, sinking to the floor. "Haru, I don't have the energy for you anymore."

"I guess that means you don't have the energy to stop me from looking then, either," Haru said, moving on to another drawer.

Gloom settled over Kyou as he rested against the dresser. "You'd better be ready when the rain stops, bastard…what the hell are you looking for anyway?"

"Pictures."

Kyou's eyes popped open, but he didn't look up. "You…you're still on about those dumb things?"

Haru closed that drawer and went on to yet another. "Yeah."

Suddenly Kyou shoved himself up and clamped a hand over Haru's wrist, halting the boy's explorations. Haru found himself being dragged bodily to the door and quickly dug in his heels. Kyou shot a fiery glare back at the resistance and threw open the sliding door, pointing fiercely out of it. "Out. Now."

Haru's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly; he made no move towards the gaping doorway. "Why do you hate pictures so much, Kyou?"

"That's not really any of your business, is it!" Kyou yelled.

"It's a simple question," Haru said, not taking his eyes off of the irate cat.

"And I gave you a simple answer, now get out!" Kyou made to shove the other boy out by force if he refused to go of his own will, but Haru was surprisingly rock-like in his resistance. "Damn it, go away!"

"Why won't you just tell me?" said the rock, pushing back harder.

"Why do you care so goddamn much!" Kyou growled out.

Haru's eyes were shadowed in that dim light by long hair; he was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice sounded slightly different, harsher. "It…bothers me. I don't get it, you don't make sense, and you're pissing me off."

Kyou looked confused for a second before comprehension dawned on his face. "Don't you go turning Black in my room, you idiot! And what do you mean, I don't make sense? Who are you to talk?"

Haru raised his face; sure enough, that rude smirk clouded his face and the trademark malice of Black Haru had entered his usually tranquil eyes. He gave a great shove and Kyou fell backwards, landing hard and knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"Who do you think you're talking to, you stupid cat? If this is the way you want it, then come on and fight me, you pansy!"

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Author's Note: Uh oh, Black Haru-san...poor Kyou-kun. What is he going to do stuckall alone in a dark room with Black Haru? Oh dear, the indecision.

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! There's still more of this story to come, don't worry. Our boys haven't even done anything yet, after all.