Author's Note: hey guys! so sorry for late update, some stuff has been going on that has been a detriment to my story :/ but anyhow here's the next chapter of my story ^_^ hope you guys enjoy.

Warning: the story doesn't really start to pick up until chapter five. so be patient. i gotta give a little build up first. ENJOY CHAPTER TWO ^_^

Chapter Two

In Which Yuki Finds An Interesting Reaction to A Simple Argument

The next day came quickly. It was a bright, clear Tuesday afternoon. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, the birds were merrily singing, and not particularly the day that Yuki would choose opportune for a Student Council meeting. This would be just the type of day he would spend hanging with friends, playing Frisbee outside, laughing gaily…did he really just think that? Yuki shook his head in frustration. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have done any of those things. Why not? Because, as Tohru so happened to point out the night before, he was distancing himself from everyone. As he walked down the hallway to the student council room, Yuki thought of all the possible things he could do if he were normal. However, whenever he thought of normality, the question always arose of "What is normality? And who decides what is normal and what isn't?" To everyone else in Yuki's school, he led a very normal life, a very perfect life with perfect family members. But of course, Yuki didn't see it that way. All he saw were his flaws and his social ineptitude and his strange and rather bizarre family members. Nothing about him was normal. If he was so normal, he would have friends, a girlfriend, a social life outside of picking up Tohru every day after work. But he didn't have any of that. And why not? Because Yuki Sohma had to go and get a rat attachment to the Zodiac Curse. A rat. Of all things! Maybe if he were a dog…wait. That wouldn't do at all. Shigure's the dog and he's a major pervert!

As he neared the room, Yuki quickly pushed all of these thoughts to the back of his mind. He'd have plenty of time to contemplate things later. Now it was game time. He set a blank expression on his face and opened the wooden door that separated the classroom from the hallway. What he opened the door to was usual and unusual all at once. For one thing, the room was littered with school related objects and some non-school-related objects. For another thing, it didn't look as if the usual perpetrator had done it. Machi, the usual suspect, was huddled quietly in the corner, far away from her half brother, Kakeru. Kakeru, however, sat in the middle of the room, tears streaming down his face, knees to his chest, arms wrapped around his knees, crumpled papers still in his balled fists. Yuki sighed heavily and strode over to the despaired youth and squatted down next to him. Well this is an excellent start to student council. Yuki thought before placing a hand on Kakeru's back. Kakeru's head popped up, obviously startled, and looked around the room furiously before setting his dark eyes on Yuki's amethyst ones.

"Y-Yuki!" Kakeru sputtered, tears still running hopelessly down his face. Yuki was in no mood to deal with this. The sooner they got out of student council, the better. Then he could go home and tend to his garden, and then his day would have been perfectly fulfilled.

"What's the matter, Kakeru?" Yuki asked, pushing all of his negative thoughts away from his brain. Kakeru didn't seem capable of explaining anything and therefore threw his face back into his huddled arms and started a fresh onslaught of tears. Another sigh accidentally heaved itself out of Yuki before he added, "Kakeru, you can talk to me. We're friends. You know that. And as your friend, I would like to inquire as to what seems to be the matter with you. Something is the matter, isn't there? I doubt you'd be sobbing all the water out of your body if there wasn't," It was just too impossible not to add just a smidge of sarcasm to this equation.

Kakeru responded by sniffing and trying to stop his crying by taking deep breaths. "K-k-k-ko-ko-koma…" Kakeru breathed out in hyperventilated breaths. Luckily, Yuki could semi-make out the word he was trying to say.

"Komaki? Is it Komaki?" Kakeru nodded in answer to Yuki's question, obviously unable to get out everything. "What happened to Komaki? Is she okay?" Kakeru nodded once more and Yuki let out an exasperated breath. "Then what's the matter? We need to get this meeting over with," Yuki said, not meaning to be so blunt and rude.

"Komaki broke up with me," He finally admitted. Yuki sat on the floor next to his friend and shook his head.

He obviously wasn't going to elaborate any further so Yuki took to talking soothingly. "Well, I'm sure she had her reasons. You'll find someone else in no time, Kakeru," In saying this, Yuki felt very feminine and immediately wondered if other guys had to console other guys in their time of need. And if they did, if they said things like Yuki just said.

"But…I won't find another meat girl," Kakeru breathed out another sentence.

"No, but you'll find someone better. And she won't go around breaking your heart," Okay, now this was ridiculous. How come Yuki had to deal with feminine situations? All of a sudden, an idea sparked: Tohru was good with situations like these! "Kakeru, why don't you come over tonight and have dinner with Tohru Honda, my cousins, and myself? I'm sure they'd all be delighted to have you as company, and I bet it would make you feel better. We're having sushi," Yuki said, making sure to sound extra persuasive. It seemed to work because Kakeru agreed as soon as he heard the word sushi.

The rest of the student council meeting went swimmingly as soon as Kakeru got his head together at the promise of some of Tohru's cooking, and the walk home wasn't too entirely depressing. Yuki learned about ten minutes into the conversation that Komaki had broken Kakeru's heart last week, the day after the last student council meeting. At this mention, Yuki's eyes mutated into large, amethyst orbs as he gazed at the other boy. He was still crying after that long? Why hadn't Yuki noticed before? Had he even seen him all week? The answer was no. Yuki had been too wrapped up in himself, once more. Man, his social skills were never going to progress if he kept up this kind of attitude. On second thought, he supposed he understood. After all, he and Komaki had been together for quite a long time. There was no possible way you could get over a relationship like that within a week, could you? Yuki sighed to himself softly as he pushed open the door to his house. Shigure was in a red kimono, sitting on a chair, reading the newspaper, with his feet propped up on a basket of clothes, and a glass of orange juice in his hand. Yuki rolled his eyes at his cousin and shook his head, leading Kakeru passed the perverted dog and into the kitchen, after taking off their shoes. The kitchen was busy with Tohru buzzing around, getting things ready for dinner.

"Hello, Tohru," Yuki greeted her in a polite tone. As Tohru once mentioned, he was always so polite with her. Or was it everyone? "You remember Kakeru from school? The student council treasurer?" Yuki added just in case she forgot. She had a tendency of doing that. He motioned to a wide-eyed Kakeru standing behind him. Yuki wasn't exactly sure what he was gawking at, nor did he want to. Kakeru's mind was a rather twisted place.

Tohru, however, lit up at having company. Yuki couldn't tell if she actually remembered him or was just faking in order not to be rude. "Yuki, you called me by my name! I knew you'd warm up to me eventually!" Yuki raised an eyebrow. He was already warmed up to her, he was just polite and old fashioned…since when was that a bad thing? No matter, after a tight squeeze of a hug, she moved on. "Oh yes! Hello, Kakeru and welcome! It's such a pleasure to have you here with us! Do you like sushi and onigiri? I know it's not much, but we haven't been grocery shopping yet, you see…" Tohru kept babbling on in this manner while the two boys stood there politely, taking in all her energy – and, boy, did she have a lot of it.

In response, Kakeru just dropped his jaw while his eyes got wider, if that was possible. "You live here?" Obviously when Yuki said that Tohru Honda was making dinner, it didn't sink in that she actually lived with the Sohma family.

Tohru smiled lovingly, as was her nature. "Yes! And I'm so blessed that Yuki and Shigure Sohma were kind enough to invite me into their home!" Kakeru couldn't seem to grasp this since his dark eyes were popping out of his head while his mouth gaped open. Tohru didn't seem to notice as she continued to smile and go on and on about the Sohma's hospitality towards her and Yuki just stood against the counter, eating a banana, and watched the scene unfold before him. In a few seconds, the news seemed to sink in properly and Kakeru's face returned to normal. He seemed at ease, now, with this set up between the Sohma family and Tohru Honda.

It wasn't long before Kakeru donned on an apron and started assisting Tohru in the kitchen. Yuki took this time to be his usual hermit-like self and went into the study to start his homework. He passed undetected by the other two in the kitchen. They were too busy having fun with knives to even notice him anyways. As Yuki pulled out his math book, he wondered if he really was too reserved and socially awkward. Was it such a bad thing if he was? Maybe that's why he didn't have friends. Yuki sighed in frustration as he worked on the first homework problem he was trying to solve. It aggravated him that he was so detached from everyone and everything when he wanted so badly to be the opposite. He wished he were more like Kyo. Kyo wasn't even that nice and everyone loved him. What was up with that anyways? He had to admit that Kyo had a kind of charismatic confidence, even if Kyo didn't believe in himself. His erratic behavior was always interesting and entertaining and the times where he allowed himself to smile and be happy the world seemed to smile right along with him.

Yuki raised an eyebrow at himself. What was he thinking? He couldn't be thinking these thoughts. And especially about Kyo. He couldn't be envious of him; he had to be revolted at the mere thought of him. What was wrong with Yuki today? Something had to be wrong seeing as how he was very contemplative. Where was Kyo anyways? He was usually home before Yuki on student council days. Yuki deeply considered getting up to ask someone about his whereabouts but eventually decided against it. It would be too awkward. Why would he care anyways? Kyo wasn't his problem. It was only after this thought that Yuki glanced back at his math book for another problem only to discover that he did them all, even the ones not assigned. Once again, Yuki let out a sigh. He would look like an over achiever. Again. This is what contemplating did to him.

At this time, Tohru and Kakeru came out of the kitchen to announce that dinner was ready. Shigure emerged from his office in his kimono and stretched with a goofy smile attached to his face. He looked at Yuki and shook his head. With that, he slumped off to the kitchen. Yuki raised an eyebrow and gawked after his cousin before standing up and following suit. He took a seat between Shigure and Kakeru while Tohru brought in the dinner dish: sushi. She set it on the table and sat down across the table from Kakeru and Yuki. The boys started to dig in, getting their fill of raw fish.

"Where's Kyo?" Tohru voiced Yuki's thoughts aloud. "He's usually home by now; do you think something happened?" Once more Tohru took on the role of a worried mother. Yuki appreciated this side of her, she was kind of like the glue of the house, holding everyone together and making sure everything was well.

Shigure and Yuki shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't seen him since this morning," Shigure voiced. "He never said anything about not coming to dinner," This didn't seem to help Tohru's nerves. She suddenly stood up and started panicking, walking around the room frantically, and becoming a nervous wreck. Kakeru sat down and stared at her with a shocked expression on his face while Yuki and Shigure stood up to comfort her. "I'm sure it's fine, he'll be home in no time. Now just sit down and eat your sushi," Shigure said in his most comforting voice. This seemed to help only slightly.

The rest of dinner passed without consequence. Kakeru informed Tohru on the torture being performed on baby seals for their fur. Of course, this made Tohru tear up and she became characteristically interested in saving all the baby seals from the horrendous torture they were unfortunately put through. Even though this wasn't a very funny topic, it was rather entertaining to Yuki and Shigure to see Tohru so passionate about helping the baby seals, or, as she put it, helping the world. She and Kakeru seemed to have made plans to brainstorm ideas to help them get involved while Yuki added that he should get the student council to vote on some way to help. This seemed to make Tohru even more excited than she already was. Soon after dinner, Kakeru said he needed to get home to finish homework. Yuki and Tohru walked him to the door and said their good-byes. It wasn't long after that that Shigure decided he wanted to watch a movie with the two teens, again. Since all the homework was finished, and Kakeru helped with dishes, the two agreed and sat down with Shigure to watch a movie of his choosing. Yuki only agreed after contemplating his previous conversation with Tohru of his being antisocial. And while he had already watched a movie with them the night before, his decision was made all the easier since Kyo wasn't around to distract him. Of course it was a romantic comedy.

"Why do you have to watch romance movies?" Yuki groaned as he plopped on the couch next to Tohru and Shigure.

"It's to get my romantic ideas flowing, dear Yuki," Shigure replied dramatically while gesturing with his hands.

"Why don't you just watch porn then, since all of your 'romantic ideas' pretty much sound like a porno?" Yuki muttered. It wasn't a very good mutter since both Tohru and Shigure overheard. Tohru turned a bright red while Shigure merely chuckled.

"My dear little Yuki, you just don't understand about writing romance. It is not porn, as you might think. It is the passionate unison of two people that happen to be in love with each other," Shigure explained. Yuki just shook his head and directed his attention to the movie.

The movie was pretty lame, to say the least. Everything was completely cliché and in bad taste. Tohru and Shigure, on the other hand, enjoyed it quite thoroughly. Halfway through the movie, Kyo waltzed in through the door. Four eyes darted in his direction, all except Yuki's. Yuki kept his eyes glued to the television, not wanting to look at the cat. Mostly it was out of habit because usually just looking at Kyo instigated a fight, and it was something Yuki was desperate to avoid at the moment. The other reason was because he hadn't had an opportunity to look at Kyo since the night before and he didn't want to change that now. He was terrified to look into those crimson eyes that had been staring at him. A waterfall of questions then was rallied between Tohru and Shigure. Apparently he had been at Shishou's dojo, training some more.

"As if that will improve your pathetic excuse for fighting," Yuki said softly, just loud enough for Kyo to hear. He wasn't exactly sure why he even voiced his opinion. The cat and rat had gotten along so famously really, if you could count completely avoiding each other and not saying anything to each other getting along. He didn't understand his apparently recent desire to stir up trouble. Yuki raised an eyebrow and turned his head slowly to look at Kyo just in time to see all the blood rush to his face in flushed anger. A smirk played on Yuki's lips seeing the cat so flustered. It was rather funny how one comment could erupt an ever boiling volcano.

"Alright, that's it, you damn rat. Get up and we'll see who's better," Kyo got into his normal fighting stance while Tohru started panicking. Shigure sat there with a smug grin on his face, placing his arms behind his head to watch the ensuing action.

"Don't break anything, please," Was his only off-hand warning to the boys. It appeared that Shigure missed the two fighting as well. Not that Yuki had, but it was refreshing to be fighting the other again. It was a human interaction that he didn't realize he needed.

Yuki simply rolled his eyes and sighed. "Haven't we proved this time and time again? It's completely useless to try," He knew his nonchalant, uncaring tone would get under Kyo's skin. And, sure enough, his intuition was right. Kyo's face contorted angrily and he developed his fighting stance while Yuki continued to sit calmly on the sofa. Kyo hissed angrily while breathing as he stepped once more towards Yuki. Yuki simply turned his head a tiny smidge and looked at the other through the corner of his eye. A smirk still played upon his lips. Faster now he was approaching when Yuki stood up swift and smooth. Just as the other boy was in arm's length, Yuki's arm shot out and punched the other in the nose. With that, as Tohru cried in distress and Kyo held his bleeding nose, Yuki walked upstairs and went back into his room.

He could hear Tohru rush over to Kyo's aid and helped him with his nose. He knew Shigure was still sitting on the couch, finishing his movie. But it seemed all Yuki could do was pace around his room impatiently. All the blood rushed to his face. The interaction between the two boys sent a rush through him. It was as if a spark had erupted within his stomach and he couldn't quite place why. Their contact, it seemed, had caused that spark and for whatever reason he desperately wanted it to happen again. The silver haired boy pushed all of the frustrating thoughts behind him and sat down at his desk. Hopefully burying himself in extra homework would distract him.