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"Kyo! What the hell are you doing?!" alerted by the sudden sound of the car engine, Shigure, Hatori, and Yuki came running through the door and into the yard, just in time to see Kyo throwing the car in reverse. The three stood in shock as Kyo quickly reverses out of the driveway and then sped away down the main road. Several seconds of complete silence filled the air after the sound of the car engine dwindled away. Yuki was the first to recover his voice.
"What…the… What the hell just happened?! What is that stupid cat thinking? I knew he had a temper, but stealing Hatori's car? Really? This is absolutely ridiculous!"
"Well," Shigure spoke next, "I can't say I saw this one coming. I know Kyo doesn't particularly enjoy living here, but I didn't think he was this desperate." Shigure's voice held none of its usual frivolity. "I suppose we're going to have to call the police to track him down and get your car back Hatori. Hmmm…Wait a second! How did Kyo end up with your car keys anyway?"
Hatori remained silent, staring down the empty drive with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"Hatori?" Shigure said a bit louder this time, bringing Hatori out of his reverie.
"I…I'm not sure. I left my keys in the pocket of my coat, and I…" Hatori sighed heavily. "Of course. Kyo must have grabbed my coat instead of his jacket when he stormed out of the house. I suppose finding my keys was just too good of an opportunity for him to pass up."
"Shigure," Yuki said, "if you're going to call the police, you really should do it now before he gets any farther with the car. I'll go get the phone." Yuki turned to go back through the door.
"No." Hatori said, putting a hand Yuki's shoulder to stop him. "There's no need to call the police."
"No need? He took your car! Don't you want it back?" Yuki stared in disbelief at Hatori.
"Don't get me wrong Yuki, I do want my car. It's just that I don't think we need the police to get it back. I'm sure if we just give Kyo a few hours, he'll return it. He may have an uncontrollable temper, but he's not a bad person. He'll start feeling guilty eventually, and when that happens, he'll come back. Now Yuki, I was just about done with your checkup anyway and you're already late for school. You better get going."
"Fine," retorted the silver-haired teen. As he opened up the door to grab his backpack he added, "But if it was up to me, I would call and have that stupid cat thrown in jail." Having said that, he shouldered his backpack and began walking quickly away from the house, down the main drive towards school.
"Hatori." Shigure said as they watched Yuki walking away. "What if he doesn't come back? What if he was really serious about leaving?" The man's voice was still uncharacteristically serious.
"He will. I'm not worried about it. What does concern me, however, is my sudden lack of transportation. I really do need to get back to the main house to look at Akito. Hmm…" Hatori hung his head in thought.
"I know!" The usual light-hearted tone returned to Shigure's voice. "Why don't I call Aya? He can come escort you home! I haven't seen him in awhile and I know he wanted to see you as well!"
Hatori sighed and rubbed his eyes. Just the thought of his over-enthusiastic cousin was exhausting. "Maybe I'll just stay here tonight, Shigure."
Kyo's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. He had been speeding along the highway, away from town for a good half an hour already. His anger still hadn't cooled down. Just the thought of that house, his family, and the damn rat were enough to fuel his rage. Pain wasn't helping his mood either. His ribs and the right side of his face still ached from his fight with Yuki. And his palms stung where he had pierced them with his nails before that. He caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. No wonder his face hurt! A big bruise was blossoming on his cheek and he had what looked like the beginning of a nasty black eye. Great. Just what he needed, another reason for people to judge him. The dull ache from his ribs bothered him. He hadn't looked, but he assumed he had another bruise forming across his torso.
Tired of thinking about yet another failed fight with his cousin, Kyo turned his attention to the CD player in the car. He felt the sudden urge to drown out his thoughts with music. He pressed the on button and cranked the volume. Classical music blared from the speakers.
'What the hell?' Kyo rifled through the rest of the cds in the console. 'Classical, classical, jazz, opera. Opera? Really? Jeez, Hatori needs some actual music in his car.'
He snapped the radio off with a quick flick of his wrist. He made a mental note to get Hatori some real music for his birthday. 'Wait. I guess I won't be there for that, will I? I said I wasn't coming back, and I meant it!"
Still, Kyo felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. It really was unfair of him to take Hatori's car. Hatori had never really been as awful to Kyo as some of the rest of the family. Not like Yuki or Shigure. But… Shigure hadn't really been bad to Kyo either. Even Yuki had had some okay days. As much as Kyo hated to admit it, his cousin wasn't always terrible.
"It doesn't matter!" Kyo suddenly shouted to the empty car interior. "I was miserable there. AND I'M NOT GOING BACK!"
Kyo looked up at the road and screamed. There was another car coming straight for him! He yanked this wheel hard to the right, going back into his lane and then off onto the side of the road. He slowed the car to a stop and sat there, breathing hard. He laid his head on the steering wheel and concentrated on slowing the furious tempo of his heartbeat.
How could he have not noticed he was drifting into oncoming traffic? Thank god he had looked up when he did.
'Everyone's right. I really do need to learn to control my temper. I was so busy being angry…What if I hadn't looked up when I did?' Kyo shuddered, not wanting to think about what would have happened if he had hit that other car. 'I was going so fast. Why am I so stupid?! They're right, I really am useless.'
Kyo sat up and took his head off the steering wheel. He looked around, and for the first time, noticed that huge drainage ditches lined both sides of the road. They looked deep. Kyo shivered again as he thought about what could have happened. He could be down in that ditch right now.
'Maybe…Maybe I should just go back. I can give Hatori his car back. It's not so terrible at Shigure's. I can just ignore Yuki. And Tohru being there makes the two of them more bearable to be around.'
Kyo looked up at the windshield in surprise as a fat water droplet hit and rolled down. More quickly followed. The storm clouds that he had seen from the roof had finally found him. He suddenly felt exhausted from the near miss. Now that he had been sitting there for awhile, the adrenaline from almost crashing had worn off. The weather wasn't helping either. Kyo always felt tired and listless when it rained.
The rain was starting to come down more heavily now. The weather banished the last doubt from Kyo's mind. He was going back.
'They're all going to be so pissed. But at least I won't feel so bad about it if I can give Hatori back his car.'
Kyo leaned closer to the dashboard, trying to locate the switch to turn on the headlights, since the rain was really pouring down now. He found it and flipped the lights on. As he straightened up he saw a sudden flash in his rearview mirror. He looked more closely into the mirror. The flash he had seen were the headlights of a car coming up on the road behind him. He decided to wait for the car to pass before he made the u-turn to get back on the road.
'What the hell?' The lights were reflecting off the rearview mirror and into Kyo's face. His eyes suddenly widened in horror. The car wasn't going to pass him. It was coming right towards him!
"Shit! " He had to get out of the car now! Kyo unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the door handle. Just as his hand made contact with the handle, the other car slammed into the back of Hatori's car at seventy miles per hour. The impact sent Kyo's car flipping end over end, into the ditch.
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