DISCLAIMER: I wish I owned Fruits Basket.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I promised a big fat LEMON for this chapter but I'm afraid you guys are going to have to settle for a few smaller lemons coated with sugary sweetness. The characters just aren't ready for that level of tang. (*sigh*) However, I did want to give a shout out to the people who've either reviewed me or added my story to their favorites! Thank you so, so, so much! It really made my day and also inspired me to write these next 5k words so quickly.

Now where was I, oh, yeah….I was somewhere around here….


Yuki's blood boiled and the mother of all shock-dom descended over him. All he could do was blink as Kyo pressed his mouth against his. A horrendous blush broke over him, and his heart nearly beat right out of his chest. Never in his wildest dreams had ever thought Kyo would be the one to kiss him. Adrenaline rushed through his veins and he started to feel the tell tale sign of an impending transformation. No! He couldn't transform right now. He might not ever get a chance to kiss Kyo again.

Pull yourself together! Yuki tried to clamp down on his emotions, but it was too late. Kyo pulled away and gave him a somewhat puzzled look, "You suck."

Once again, Yuki's cheeks felt like they were on fire, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I just…would've figured you'd be better at this. I don't know, you're always so good at everything else."

Kyo was right. What the fuck was he doing? He was Yuki Sohma for fuck's sake. He was the Prince of their high school and he'd been gifted a golden opportunity. A flat slab of determination wedged between his desires and his insecurities. Grabbing Kyo's shirt, he steadily tugged him back down and this time he lifted his head a bit and kissed him.

Kyo wasn't the idiot he'd been. He immediately opened his mouth. For a moment, the entire thing was awkward. Yuki had never really kissed anyone like this. He titled his head from side to side until their mouths fit together perfectly. Every emotion Yuki had harbored over the last couple of week's welled up inside him. And the sheer intensity of how he felt overwhelmed him. He felt good. For the first time, in a really long time he felt really, really, good.

Caught between the new and wonderful sensations of being able to kiss Kyo, Yuki let the last of his inhibitions slip between his grasp, surged up and slid his tongue into the hot cave of Kyo's mouth. He nearly moaned as his taste buds sung with Kyo's own unique flavor. He invaded Kyo's mouth, indulging the perverse little delight he got when Kyo leaned forward and matched his vigor. Their tongues stroked, circled and retreated-only to do it all over again.

Heat flooded his blood stream, and he kissed Kyo even harder, it as though everything he knew he'd never be able to say was locked inside in his mouth and this was the only way he could ever get Kyo to understand, to feel, how much he admired him. How much awe Yuki found in just Kyo's existence and natural way of being. For the love of God, Yuki wanted Kyo to touch his soul, at least then Yuki would know once for and all that he had one.

Sexual pleasure jetted down his spine and his groin started to ache as his sex thickened. Kyo slammed his hands down on either side of Yuki's head and shifted back across Yuki's pelvis. The friction ripped a moan from the back of his throat. Kyo swallowed the noise with a throaty hum of pleasure. And finally when neither one could take it anymore, Kyo ripped his mouth away and dropped his forehead against Yuki's. Their breaths mingled with the light Spring breeze. And Yuki dropped back against the forest floor and uncurled his fingers from either side of Kyo's shirt.

It was strange. He had started to feel like himself for the first time in a really long time. It was like he'd been able to pull a mask off for the first time in…well forever. Like he'd finally been given the opportunity to feel the fresh air against his cheeks. He shook with a combination of exhilaration and fear.

"Yuki," Kyo panted. The breathless quality to Kyo's voice brought an even hotter blush into Yuki's cheeks. I guess I did better that time around.

"Yuki," Kyo sat up, and kept his chin tucked against this shirt so Yuki couldn't see his face, "that can never happen again. Ever."

A bullet the size of a hammer harpooned Yuki's chest and every joy he'd just experienced withered away and died. Kyo stood and with his fist clenched at his sides met Yuki's shocked and hurt expression. There was something moving Kyo's eyes that simultaneously crush every hope Yuki had ever had and scared him out of his skin.

"Did you hear me?"

Yuki gulped and nodded his head, completely and utterly confused.

Kyo turned around, and with his spine rim rod started walking away. With every step Kyo took the darker the word seemed to Yuki's eyes. A wave of pain hit him like a tidal wave and he wrapped his arms around his chest and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt his body shake and his skin draw tight. Within seconds, Yuki disappeared with in the folds of his clothes. Huddled with in the fabric, he rolled unto his soft pink stomach and curled his tail around his furry little body in absolutely no hurry to change back.

After all, rats didn't cry.

A Little Later On…

How could I have been that fucking stupid? Yuki sat in the middle of the steaming bath, scrubbing his skin, like he could scrub out his recent ridiculous leap of faith. Faith was stupid. Hadn't Akito always told him, that people with faith and hope, were the weak idiots of the world that couldn't cope with reality as it was. No, instead, they choose to fantasize about better days that would never come. Never. Dropping the sponge in the water, he drew his knees up, and laid his head on his kneecaps, "What the hell was I thinking?"

His mind flashed back to the kiss they'd shared and lust shot into his groin. He squeezed his eyes shut utterly disgusted with himself. Kyo had every right to never want to do anything ever again. Yuki's attraction to his cousin was unnatural and wrong. Wrong in the basest of ways. Then why do I feel like my heart is breaking?

The very desire he was trying to suppress was torturing him. And Yuki couldn't help but feel like he deserved it a little bit. Maybe Akito had been right all along. Maybe there is something wrong with me. I'm sick, aren't I?

The way the wind had carried through Kyo's hair as he leaned down to kiss him flashed through his mind and he flinched. Wait a minute? Yuki knitted his brows together. Kyo kissed me first. He pounced on me and kissed me first.

Why? Why would he kiss me if he didn't want to? Yuki straightened and stared at the steam rising and curling up from his bath. Kyo had kissed him first. Kyo had initiated the entire exchange. He'd even gone as far to tease Yuki about his level of skill.

Yuki's hand clenched into a first as a fresh bolt of anger spread through his entire body like rapid fire, "that bastard."

He stood from the water, thick rivulets dripping from his hair, down his shoulder and chest.

This time I am going to skin him..one strand of hair at a time.

A Little Later On…

Dinner had been on a whole other planet of awkward with a capital "A". No one ever said a whole lot over dinner when Tohru wasn't there. She was always the center of conversation. But tonight everything had been extra quiet to the point where finally Shigure started randomly rambling. "How are things at school?"

Kyo shrugged and kept right on eating his take out.

"What about you, Yuki?"

Yuki picked at his rice, "It's fine."

"How are things going with student council?"

"They're fine." Yuki made it a point to keep his voice even. He wouldn't even give that stupid cat even the slightest indication that what had happened in the forest nearly destroyed him. Never. Scooping up some rice, he forced himself to eat it, "we're planning this year's senior trip. All of the reservations and preparations need to be made in advance. I've been charged with creating an itinerary."

"Well, that's interesting. You know, I think Hatori planned the senior trip one year," Shigure's face morphed with his pleasant nostalgia," ah yes, I think they took a trip to Kamakura that year."

"Kamakura. Hmm, we haven't chosen a place, yet."

"Ah, who the hell cares!" Kyo slammed his bowl on the table.

Shigure's eyes widened, "what's the matter with you, Kyo?"

Kyo stood with his bowl and started towards the kitchen, "Nothing. I'm going to…go do the dishes before I go pick Tohru up."

"Well, that's nice of you to help keep the kitchen clean. We wouldn't want Tohru to have to wake up to a dirty kitchen."

Yuki set his chopsticks down. Now's my chance. Standing, he slightly bowed towards Shigure, "Excuse me. I seemed to have lost my appetite."

Shigure nodded, and Yuki got the distinct impression that under his older cousins somewhat mild expression he was being scrutinized. He circled around the table to the kitchen. Mind your own business, Shigure.

He ducked under the small blue curtains and set his bowl down particularly hard so Kyo would know he was there. Kyo glared over his shoulder, "What are you doing here?" He turned back to the sink and cut the water on.

Yuki crossed his arms, "Isn't this where dirty dishes go?"

"Don't be a smart ass, you damn rat." Kyo snapped.

"It's not hard in your company."

Kyo's spine curved like an angry cat's back, and Yuki smirked. "You've already brought the bowl, now get out!"

"No." Yuki closed the distance between them, "I want to know something first?"

"What?" Kyo snapped, snatching a dish up and scrubbing it.

Yuki dropped his voice into a whisper and kept a tight rein on his temper, "Why did you do it?"

Kyo paused and slanted Yuki and angry glance, "It doesn't matter. It's never going to happen again. Ever. Just get it through that little rodent brain of yours, and leave me the fuck alone."

"No," Yuki dug his nails in his arms, "I'm not leaving until you tell me why."
Kyo rinsed the dish and half tossed it onto the bamboo drying rack.

Yuki quirked a brow, "If you break the dishes we won't have anything to eat off, you foolish cat."

"Ah, screw you," Kyo snatched up another bowl.

"I want to know why you did it if you were only just going to regret it afterwards."

Kyo dropped the dish and gripped the sides of the sink. A little muscle in his jaw quirked, "I don't."

Kyo's words struck Yuki, but he didn't move a muscle. He kept his expression and voice calm, "I asked you why."

"BECAUSE I'M NOT A FAGG-"

Yuki surged forward and backhanded Kyo. The force of the strike spun Kyo and sent him hurdling to the floor. Rage raced through Yuki's veins but he made it a point to keep his tone even, as his eyes narrowed on Kyo, "Don't get up. If you do, I promise, I'll break more than just a few ribs."

He knew how much he sounded like Akito. And honestly, in that particular moment in time, he didn't give a flying fuck. Pivoting on his heels, he left the kitchen with a practiced ease wondering how he'd ever been attracted to that stupid fucking flea bag. Never again. Never ever again.

One Week Later…

Kyo rubbed his sleepy eyes and followed Tohru down the hall.

"Tohru!" Momiji's squeaky voice grated through Kyo's head like nails on a chalk board. The short Sohma came running towards Tohru and Kyo bopped him on the head, just on principle.

"Kyo's hitting me," Momiji wailed and sobbed to the top of his drama queen lungs.

"Oh, no. Momiji, are you okay?" Tohru bent and rubbed the back of the small boy's back. Kyo leaned against the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets, annoying little shit. Haru appeared from around the corner and shook his white hair out of his eyes.

"What's going on over here?" Yuki appeared behind Tohru and Kyo fought the urge to look at him. Fucking great, the gangs all here. Instead he laid his head back against the wall and peered up at the ceiling. Yuki and he hadn't spoken since their confrontation in the kitchen. Things are better this way. He halfway listened to what everyone was talking about. Not that he really cared. He didn't know why, but since everything had happened between Yuki and him he felt even more distanced than usual.

It was so weird.

It was like he'd forgotten what it meant to have a good day. He seemed to be looking, talking, even touching everything and everyone like there was glass wall between himself and the world. He was used to being an outsider. Shit, that was what usually kept him perpetually pissed. But this, this was so different. He was angry. He was angry as hell. But it was a different kind of anger. It was like he'd gone from burning red to suddenly burning blue. Like ice. That's what this felt like. Pure, uncompromising ice.

His mind flashed to the hatred shining in Yuki's eyes as he'd uttered his parting threat. Over the last week every argument they'd engaged in had a disturbing realness to it. Kyo had always hated Yuki. First because he was the rat. And second all, because he was Yuki. But hat had never really been…It had never really every been like this. Or at least he'd never truly been hated him like this. He couldn't even control it, every time Yuki looked his way for whatever reason, Kyo's chest thrummed with a furious hot pain and all he could do was hurl insults and yell.

It's better this way. The farther apart we stay form each other. The easier it'll be for me to challenge him and take my rightful place in the Zodiac. The words felt empty but hell, at least they were there.

Tohru screeched, snapping Kyo out of his thoughts. He caught a glimpse of Haru's black and white hair out of the corner of his eye. Kyo straightened. Momiji was busy sucking on lollipop while Tohru's cheeks were flushed with an attractive pink. He looked towards Haru and Yuki and his eyes widened. Haru had Yuki up against a wall and had bracketed him in with his arms. Yuki's face with the epitome of graceful distain as Haru leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.

"What the hell is going on?"

"B…b…b…black, Haru." Tohru stammered as her big blue eyes got impossibly bigger.

"Black, Haru? Who set him off?"

"One of the Yuki's fan club girls. She was awfully rude."

Kyo survey their surroundings, "Where is she now?"

"She knew what was good for her," Kyo shot a glance over his shoulder where Uo and Hana were perched behind Tohru. Uo grinned and folded her arms over her breasts, "Why do you have a problem with that?"

He smirked, "Bite me, bitch." When did these two get here? Exactly how long had I spaced out for?

"Anytime, carrot top."

"Haru, that's enough," Yuki's voice sounded odd, it was quick with something akin to anger. Kyo knitted his brows, was Yuki mad? Yuki never got mad at Haru. Haru's mouth widened in a somewhat wolfish smile. Impressive, considering he was a fucking cow.

"You know you want to?"

Kyo's ears twitched and he balled his fist in his pockets. Something vicious in him shifted and the world narrowed down to just Yuki and Haru. Haru leaned forward until there wasn't a sliver of air between his body and Yuki's. I'm going to break his fucking face. A good helping of healthy rage sung up from the depths of his being and he quickly closed the distance between him and the odd couple. His jaw clenched, "He said that's enough, Haru."

Haru turned and grabbed Kyo's chin, "Yeah, well I'm not done. Mind your own fucking business, you bastard cat."

Kyo swung and clocked Haru square in the jaw, and sent him hurdling across the waxy hallway floor.

"Haru!" Momiji squealed and rushed to his side.

"Nice one, carrot top."

"Yes, nice. Indeed."

Kyo's chest burned with the rush of adrenaline as he clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to work away some of the pain in his knuckles, "He's going to feel that tomorrow."

The bell rung.

"I hate to have to bail, but we should be getting to class." Uo grabbed Hana and started down the hall, "Come on, Tohru."

"Okay," Tohru took off after the rest of the girls. "I'll see you guys in class. Oh, and I hope Haru's okay." She called over her shoulder.

"Why does my head hurt?" Haru sat up and rubbed the side of his jaw, "and why am I so damn tired."

Momiji licked his lollipop, "You went black after this mean girl yelled at me. And then you started to tell Yuki secrets, and Kyo got mad and hit you."

"Really?" Haru lifted a brow and heaved himself up on his feet.

"But we have to hurry now, we're already late." Momiji latched on to Haru's black sleeve and dragged him into their classroom.

Yuki and Kyo hadn't moved. Hadn't even blinked since the entire thing had gone down. Kyo's mind was blank. He knew he should get to class, but for some reason his feet wouldn't move.

Yuki wrapped his arms around his midsection, and whispered," thank you, Kyo."

A tornado of fury broke through Kyo and he glared at Yuki, "Yeah well, why the fuck do let him do that to you?"

Yuki narrowed his violet eyes. "He can't help it. It's part of his curse."

"You have excuses for everything! I guess him being all over you is part of the curse too!" Kyo could hear the words falling from his mouth, but he couldn't stop. His mouth ran away, hell bent on bloodshed, "You like that shit, don't you, you sick faggot? What are you going to do pick through the entire Sohma family tree until you find one that'll do what you want him to!" By the time he'd finished he was out of breath and completely and utterly disgusted with himself.

Yuki didn't say anything. And Kyo waited for the strike to come. He deserved it. He needed it. "Aren't you going to hit me, you damn rat?" He snapped.

"No." Yuki's footsteps echoed through the hall, like musical notes the knife in Kyo's chest could dance to. Kyo dropped to his knees and slammed his hands on the ground. He was shaking, "What the fuck is that matter with me? Why am I so mad?"

A smatter of images of Yuki struck him between the eyes and left him even more confused than before. He punched the floor with his fist, even more pissed off than before. Lurching forward he covered his head and rocked back and forth. Pain beat in his chest and he clenched his teeth. His started to tremble violently and his skin suddenly felt tight and itchy.

He shot to his feet, and took off in a dead run down the hall. The last thing he needed to do was transform at school. He burst through the school entrance and circled around the building. Breathing heavily, he climbed the ladder as fast as he could. When he reached the top, he collapsed. The adrenaline chased away the impending transformation and his mind went blank.

Things are better this way. He reminded himself that. Yuki was mad at him. But so what, he could live with that. Things are better this way. The sky darkened and the clouds rolled in. Exhaustion immediately sunk into body, and suddenly it was like his limbs weighed twice as much. He winced as he sat up, this day just keeps getting better and better.

Kyo made into the building just as the rain started falling. Turning up the lapels of his collar, he shoved his hands in his pockets and took the stairs. He was breathing heavily by the time he'd gotten to the top. And immediately his day went from shitty to worse. A fucking staircase should not have me panting.

He slid open the door to his classroom D-1.

The teacher anchored his hands on his hips, "Well, Kyo. It's nice of you to join us."

"Yeah, whatever." He mumbled under his breath and wove through the desks eager to sit down. Slouching down in his seat, he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the rain fall.

"Kyo?"

He shot Tohru a glance, "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Is it the rain?"

"I'm fine."

"You can talk to me."

"Mind your own damn business," he snapped.

Tohru's cheeks turned pink and her chin dropped. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Feeling worse, Kyo shook his head, "No, that's not what I…never mind. Just forget it."

Later After School…

Today had been hell on a flaming pogo stick. Whatever the hell that meant. It had stopped raining. For now at least. Kyo rubbed the back of his neck. Tohru had been unusually quiet the entire way home. Not that he blamed her. He'd been his usual asshole-self. Guilt nipped at him and he speed up so that he could keep pace with her. Yuki was already mad at him. He didn't want Tohru mad at him too. He just didn't think he could take it.

"Tohru."

"Yes, Kyo." She smiled a small smile. God damn it, it was her sad smile. He slapped his hand on his face and dragged it down. It was like kicking a puppy.

"Listen, I…I…didn't….I just…."

She eyed him intently, "Yes?"

"Ah, hell…." It was like every word he'd managed to learn since infancy was suddenly foreign to him. It was irritating. And it was a constant with him. It was like whenever he had something important to say, his words would twist on his tongue and nothing EVER came out right. He balled his fists in his pockets, "I just…wanted…to say….what I'm trying to say…is that….I'm…ssss…sorry."

Tohru furiously shook her head, "No, no. It's okay. I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have been so pushy."

"Don't be stupid. You were just worrying about me. I just…haven't…been my…self lately."

"Is everything okay?"

He contemplated telling her what had happened between him and Yuki. But the idea of talking to Tohru about anything sexual brought to mind the image of sitting that puppy he'd mentioned earlier in front of some particularly disturbing hentai. He shook his head. Tohru would never understand. She would probably think he was gross. He glanced down to the beads peeking out from under the hem of his shirt. And the last thing he needed to do was give her anymore reason to think he was fucking disgusting.

"Kyo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

He knitted his brows together, "Tohru, you know how your mom was always saying good stuff."

"Oh yeah, mom was the best!" Tohru's face lit up and she squeezed her book bag like it was a stuffed animal.

"Yeah, well. Did your mom ever say anything about….you know..."

"Huh?" She stopped, and he turned his back to her. For some reason it made it easier to talk to her, well to anyone period, when he wasn't looking at them.

"Kyo, it's okay you can tell me."

He bit his lip, "Did your mom every say anything about….love…ever being…wrong? Like dirty somehow?"

Tohru was quiet for a moment. "No, my mom used to say that love is what keep us humans from just being mean beasts. She used to say, that every person has good in them, because every person has the ability to love. So how could it ever be wrong?"

She touched his shoulder, and he fought the urge to shake off her hand. He struggled to grasp the words she was saying. He struggled to keep his thoughts from shooting everywhere at once. He just up and struggled.

"Kyo, are you in love?"

Kyo automatically shook his head no, even though he wasn't quite sure what he was feeling at the moment. But it reminded him of fear. Of the truest fear he'd ever felt. He didn't even get this way over his beads. And that was saying something.

"Then why did you-"

"Thanks, Tohru," he cut her off, and started walking. "That really helps." He lied.

"I'm so glad." Tohru's happiness bubbled all over the place as she caught up with him. "Kyo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad you were able to talk to me."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "me too."

That Night…

A branch snapped and the sound perked Kyo's ears. He sat up from where he'd been lying on the roof. Yuki's silver hair snared the moonlight in a way that reminded Kyo of the way angel's supposedly wore their halos.

"Angel?" he murmur under his breath, "what the hell am I talking about?" Yuki was art in motion. A memory of the way his very being had soared through him the last time Yuki had kissed him flashed before his eyes.

"Love is what keep us humans from just being mean beasts…" Tohru's words steeled his resolve, even as his heart started to thud against his chest. He didn't want to be the animal he'd become over the last week. He was tired of flying off the handle over every little thing and not understanding why. Shit, all that did was piss him off even worse. He didn't want to live like this anymore.

He couldn't.

Kyo sucked in a deep breath and dropped from the roof, landing nimbly on his feet in front of Yuki.

Yuki narrowed his eyes, "I'm not in the mood, Kyo."

"Mood for what," he snapped, balling his fists at his side. "We need to…we need to talk."

"What makes you think I want to speak to the likes of you?" Yuki attempted to side step him and Kyo matched the move, refusing to back down. Yuki had to listen to him. Quick, before I lose my nerve.

"Kyo, you're really starting to get on my nerves," Yuki snapped.

"Well you're a perpetual pain in my ass, you damn rat. First, you say my name while you're beating off. Then you up an kiss me-"

"You pounced on me and kissed me first."

A blush singed Kyo's cheeks and he balled his hands into fists at his sides and ground out his words between his clenched teeth, "WHATEVER. WE NEED TO TALK."

"I don't want to talk to you. So move. Or, I'll move you."

"Is that a threat, rat boy?"

Yuki made a little noise of disgust, turned and started walking in the opposite direction. Kyo blinked and surveyed his surroundings. Where is that rodent going?"Hey, we're not done here."

"Yes, we are." Yuki disappeared into the forest.

Kyo took off after him, "Not even close."

When he caught up to him, he didn't stop running, if he had to shove that idiot rodent to ground. He would. He'd pin him and tell him what he'd rehearsed all afternoon. At the last possible moment, Yuki shuffled out of the way and Kyo went crashing to the floor. Anger ran hot in his veins and he struggled to keep his temper under control. A show of temper would ruin everything. And that just wasn't acceptable.

Yuki slipped his free hand in his pocket, "What do you want, you miserable little feline."

Kyo slammed his fists on the soil, with half a mind to just call the entire thing off. He didn't need this. He could do without Yuki. He didn't need this hassle. He opened his mouth to tell Yuki to fuck off but Tohru's sweet voice echoed throughout his head, "No, my mom used to say that love is what keep us humans from just being mean beasts. She used to say, that every person has good in them, because every person has the ability to love. So how could it ever be wrong?"

With a fierce determination, that left him slightly trembling , he forced down his surge of temper and stood. "I….I…am….try…to…" Oh, fuck not this again. Annoyed with himself, he squeezed his eyes shut and forced every word out of his mouth, "tell you I'm…s…sorry."

A heavy silence descended between them and Kyo blinked the sweat out of his eyes, "I'm sorry about what I said earlier, about you and Haru. I know sometimes he can't help it. But I can't…help…how…much it pisses me off to see…you and him together."

"What?"

Kyo turned, facing Yuki, but kept his chin tucked against his chest, "I…li…li…li….," he boiled over, "AH, HELL. I FUCKING LIKE YOU! AND IF I EVER CATCH HIM OR ANY OF THOSE FAN CLUB GIRLS HANGING ALL OVER YOU AGAIN, I'LL SNAP THEM IN HALF. DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Yuki's dropped his school bag. His cheeks turned a monster shade of red, and his beautiful violet eyes widened. Kyo's heart jack hammered in his rib cage as he looked up and met Yuki's shocked gaze. "Well aren't, you gonna say something?"

"But you...you," Yuki cleared his throat, "but you said…"

"I know what I said."

"Why did you walk away from me last week?" Yuki's voice seemed breathless.

Kyo ran his hand through his hair and then anchored it on the back of his neck, "I don't know. Because it felt so good. I don't know, okay? I just, it was so fast. And I couldn't think. It just felt so good, it had to be bad….Listen I understand if you don't want to do anything, anymore. I just, I just...I can't…I can't…GOD DAMN IT! WHY CAN'T I JUST SAY WHAT I WANT TO SAY?"

"It's okay. Take your time."

A blush broke out over Kyo's cheeks and he rubbed the back of his neck, desperately trying to gather his thoughts. "I can't….go…as…as…fast…as…you. I have to…go…slow…" He dropped his hand, "a lot slower."

Yuki's throat worked, "Okay."

"You're not…you're not mad at me anymore?" Kyo shoved his hands in his pocket and stared down at his bare feet.

"No. I'm not mad at you."

"Okay."

An awkward silence hung between them and Kyo shifted impatiently, "Well, now what?"

"I don't know. What do you want me to do?"

Kyo's cheeks heated again as he met Yuki's purple gaze. "Jeez, I don't know. What the fuck? It's not like they're handing out instruction manuals on the corner for this kind of thing."

"No, they're not."

"By the way, why are we in the forest? Where were you going?"

"To my secret base?"

"You mean the garden of weeds you and Tohru spend so much time at?"

Yuki smirked, "They're not weeds. They're leeks. And strawberries."

Kyo made a face of disgust, "Why do you even do that? Isn't it just easier to go pick them up at the market?"

"Yeah, I suppose it would be easier. But," Yuki linked his hands behind his back and peered up at the moon. "I don't really keep the garden for the actual fruit and vegetable it produces. It's like my haven."

"So, kinda like my dojo?"

"Yes. Kind of like that. You know I…" Yuki kept talking but Kyo couldn't hear it. He couldn't hear anything. The moonlight had bleached Yuki's skin white and his violet eyes were positively brimming with what Kyo recognized as happiness. He'd never seen Yuki so happy. And then, Yuki's pretty little mouth curved into somewhat of a smile. It filled every crevice of Kyo. And Kyo decided right then and there, that he wanted to kiss him. Actually, if truth were to be told, he'd been craving Yuki's mouth since he'd gotten his first sample.

Kyo crossed the distance between them, and Yuki fell silent, staring at Kyo like he'd grown a second head. He opened his mouth to speak and Kyo cut him off, "Just shut up. Let me do this my own way. Please."

Yuki nodded, even though his doubt was clearly written on his face. Kyo tried to forget everything around him, like his Master had taught him to. He didn't want to think about anything but Yuki right now. He didn't want to ever feel fear again. Pulling his hand out of his pocket, he brushed Yuki's silver hair forward. He loved the way his hair was so neatly cut. The silky strands tickled the pads of his fingertips, as he fisted it and tugged on it gently, relishing the way it glided against his palm.

God, he's beautiful.

Kyo unconsciously licked his lips as he ran his finger down the curve of Yuki's cheek. His skin was so soft. Soft like a woman's skin. Kyo knew better. Yuki was nowhere near as fragile. Which meant…Kyo trapped the back of Yuki's head with his hand, surged forward and mashed his lips against Yuki's mouth….he could be as rough as he wanted to be. Yuki immediately opened his mouth, and Kyo slid his tongue in.

Fuck. He tasted good.

He tasted like sex.

No.

He tasted like home.

Yuki's hand tentatively touched Kyo's shoulder and for some reason it bothered Kyo. He didn't want there to be anymore fear between them. Kyo suckled on Yuki's tongue, savagely enjoying the little whimper that escaped from Yuki's lips. And Yuki fisted a hand in Kyo's shaggy hair and kissed him back feverishly. That was better, so, so much better. Kyo pulled his other hand out of his pocket and latched onto Yuki's coat, a little more than annoyed that it was buttoned all the way up.

He bit down on Yuki's swollen bottom lip as punishment. And let out a strangled moan when Yuki bit him back.

After a while, Kyo pressed up against him, until they were molded together from the thigh up. The added friction caused Kyo's cock to thicken against Yuki's hip, and for a moment he contemplated pulling back a little bit. But Yuki tugged him closer and flexed his own growing erection against Kyo's thigh.

Lost in a torrent of sexual passion, that same feeling of euphoria, of absolute peace, that Kyo had felt the first time around surged up and blanketed his chest. It felt so good. And he refused to believe there could ever be anything wrong with it.

END CHAPTER


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay. I've written just about 6k today! Go me! I hope you guys didn't mind that there were no real tangy lemons in this chapter. I'm really sorry. But Kyo and Yuki just weren't ready for it. As you can no doubt see. But I promise, things should definitely get hotter from here on out. I'm going to try to work on Ch4 before I go to bed tonight. I should have that up for you guys either tomorrow or the next day! *smile* Until then, please leave me any comments or questions you guys might have. -SlickCiggy