CHAPTER III:

Shigure looks up. "Ah, Tohru! I see you were able to drag Kyo out of his room."

"Ah! Yes! It wasn't really all that hard!"

"I suppose not. At least not for you. It's amazing what you can do."

She waves her arms frantically in front of herself. "AH! No! I mean! I can't really do any of that stuff!" She stops flailing and calms down, looking around. "Where'd Ayame-san and Souma-kun go?"

"Oh. Ayame took Yuki to his shop. Kisa's left too. She had to go back to the main house for some reason. Hiro insisted on going with her."

"Hiro-san's not here either?"

"I guess not."

"But I'm here, Tohru!" Momiji runs up, waving in her face. "But I gotta go now too! I gotta show Momo how to play!"

She smiles happily. "Okay! Good luck!"

"Bye, Tohru!" Momiji waves as he leaves.

"I'm gonna leave too." Kyo says.

"So I guess it will just be me and Tohru left alone!" Shigure exclaims. "Hari never showed up…"

flashback

"Why aren't you coming?"

"Akito's not feeling well again. He says it has to do with the holiday."

"You know Tohru's gonna have a chocolate for you."

"Tell her thanks, and that I'm trying to keep away from that for now."

end of flashback

"If you want, I can give him his chocolate for you. I'm going to the Mainhouse tomorrow."

(A/N: He's planning on eating it himself)

"Thanks! I'll be sure to remember to give it to you tomorrow!"

"Alright." He turns to Kyo, who's glaring at him. "Haven't you left yet?"

Kyo grabs Tohru's hand and drags her. "I'm not leaving you alone with her."


After Tohru is dragged out of the house by Kyo, they slow their pace. He keeps a hold on her hand as they walk. Tohru looks up at him, taking note of his determined-softening stature. "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to see Shishou. I wanna know why he never showed up."

The sun is now setting over the horizon. "Oh…" They continue to walk in respective silence as they come upon the familiar dojo, so valued in Kyo's eyes. He opens the door, Tohru trailing behind him.

"Shishou?"

Kazuma walks in. "Kyo. What are you doing here?"

Kyo lets go of Tohru's hand and walks up to his Shishou, with wide, receptive eyes. "Why didn't you come?"

"I didn't know you'd come hunting me down" he smiles, pleased.

Kyo smiles and sends a fast punch toward his teacher, who catches it in his hand, closing his hand around his in a fatherly gesture. "Why?"

Kazuma steels a glance at Tohru, who's watching with interest, then looks back at Kyo. "You brought her."

"Yeah. I wasn't gonna leave her alone with that pervert.

"So Shigure was the only one left, was he?" He chuckles warmly.

"You never answered my question!"

Kazuma sighs. "You don't need me, Kyo. You're doing just fine. You can heal yourself now."

"That's not what I wanted!"

"No. But it's what's best for you." There's a pause. "Do you still hate it there?" Kyo stops to think, quite aware of his flower behind him. He realizes why his Shishou had just asked him that. He also remembers his wish. "Is it still 'lukewarm'?" Kyo's eyes get big at his recall of what he had said before, when he was denied the chance to live with Kazuma.

He looks away. "It hasn't changed" he looks back up. "Nothing's changed!"

There's a slight hush that escapes from Tohru's lips. "Kyo-kun…!"

"But it's healing you, isn't it. You see it now."

Kyo kicks at the ground. "Last time you said that you almost ruined everything!" He says, trying to keep a pessimistic outlook.

"And you came back to thank me."

"You… you knew it could've ended! You knew all of it could've ended! But still…!"

"I did what was best for you. It was hard, Kyo. I'm sorry." Tears weld up in Kyo's eyes as he gives into the impulse of what he has never done since childhood. He collects Kazuma, his Shishou, in a hug. Tohru gasps a little. After a second, Kyo backs up. "So, did my decision help?" he asks Kyo. "Did it help HEAL you?" There's no answer. "Or will you not say in front of Tohru?" His mouth drops as well as hers, his eyes widening.

"Do you need me to go?!" she offers, ardently.

There's another pause as Kazuma waits for Kyo to answer. "No. I can say it" he says determinedly. "I have a feeling… it's not something I'm used to. But it's not like sinking in lukewarm water anymore."

"And what about Yuki?" the Shishou asks, really curious now that Kyo is talking, and wondering how much information he'll disclose.

"He's… I don't see how anyone can stand him…" he says, almost ashamed. "But… but I'm really trying… not to let him get to me."

"You think Tohru can help you now that she knows?"

"I don't know. She shouldn't have to."

"Do you think she can?"

I'm not sure of anything. "I'm not gonna ask her to."

"I'll help any way I can, Kyo-kun!"

"Tohru…" he says, "I want… I want to do this on my own. So that I can say it's something I did. I'm not gonna worry about beating that damn rat anymore." I want to… fight on my own… I want to… be able to stand.


NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL:

Tohru walks down the hall and stops when she sees Haru. "Hey, what happed with Rin? We haven't seen either one of you in a while."

He reaches a hand behind his head. "Akito's not happy with her. He's tired of her trying to break the curse."

"Oh." It's taking me some time to get used to the fact that Akito's actually a woman. "Is everything okay?"

"It is now." He starts to walk away and stops, looking back. "Just… stay away from the curse." He says coolly, and keeps walking.

She looks down and walks to class. I can't just stop trying. If we wait for the end of the semester, Kyo will graduate and then— She bumps into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She looks up and doesn't see anyone, then looks down to see a pile of clothes on the floor and a little gray mouse sitting on top.

"AHHH! Souma-kun!" She picks him up fast, after looking around to see if anyone saw. Not seeing anyone, she runs into the nearest room—the girls bathroom. Thankfully, no one's in there. He almost immediately transforms back. "AHHH!!" She turns around, blushing and embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Souma-kun!"

"Don't worry about it, Miss Honda. As long as no one saw."

"Ahh! No!"

"Well, I was on my way to a meeting, so I guess I should hurry back there" he peeks in her face, fully dressed now.

"Yes!" She opens the door and they step out together. Just as the door closes behind him, Kakeru comes running up.

He skids to a stop. "Yun-yun! What were you doing in there?! Where you CURIOUS?"

"Why must you insinuate that?" Yuki says tiredly.

He straightens up and wags his finger at Yuki. "Now, now, Yun-yun, as a member of the student counsel—" Yuki walks past him, interrupting.

"If you must know, I was waiting for Miss Honda"

He follows Yuki excitedly. "Well, you were standing awfully close to the door!"

Tohru watches them disappear and looks down with a smile. I'm so grateful he didn't see us come out!


Yuki walks into the meeting room and immediately looks around for someone in particular. "Where's Machi?"

Kimi comes up from behind. "Why do you worry about Machi when Kimi is right here?"

Machi's brother looks over. "She's not coming today. She hasn't been here all day." Yuki's eyes get big as he rushes to the window to see the snow falling and piling up on the ground below.

"Machi…" he whispers, remembering his promise to her. He turns around. "Can we hurry up with the meeting and get it over with?"

"Yun-yun's actually wanting to get out of here?!" Kimi exclaims.

He turns to her. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Well, we can always skip the meeting…"

"Could we?"

"If it's okay with you, Yun-yun."

Yuki hangs his head. "It's sad how I'm used to it by now…" he looks back up. "What's on the agenda?"

"Nothing much. The new play's coming up."

"Really?" Yuki becomes automatically interested. "What's it about?"

"That's what we have to start thinking about. But today LET'S GET IN A SNOW FIGHT!" he gets up and runs out the door.

"Kimi wants to play! Just don't hit Kimi too hard!" she runs out after him. The rest leave to go join them. Yuki hangs his head again.

"Why do they all have to be so irresponsible?"


Yuki goes to Machi's house to check up on her. He finds her out in her front yard, walking in circles and determination on her face. He smirks at her feeble attempt to make the snow imperfect and falls in step with her. After a few minutes she stops, realizing he's there and looks up at him, shocked and surprised. "What are you doing here?!" she jumps back.

Yuki cocks his head at her. "You don't remember? I agreed to walk in the snow with you." Her face softens.

"You mean… You remembered?" Why are you here?

"I did agree, didn't I?" He smiles softly, causing her to turn away abruptly and continue walking. He watches her complete her circle before joining her again. Why are you with me? I don't deserve to be near you!

Minutes pass and Yuki enervates until he has to stop and lean against a tree. Machi immediately stops as he goes off course and joins him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just getting tired." He stands up straight, refusing the support of the tree.

"I wouldn't expect you to stay out here all day." Machi looks away.

"It's not that I don't want to. Why don't we get some hot chocolate instead?"

--

Yuki closes the door behind him, cutting out the showery snow. "Would you like me to help you?"

"No. I have it" Machi objects and disappears. As she was out, there was a knock on the same door Yuki had just closed. Machi hurries in to answer it.

She finds the person on the other side to be her brother, Kakeru. He helps himself in, blabbing again, "We missed you at school today and in the meeting! We just got done with a snowball fight!" He starts to remove his coat. "Yun-Yun even ask—" he stops when seeing Yuki. "Yun-Yun! What are you doing here?"

"He was just leaving" Machi says before he has a chance to answer for himself.

"Actually, we were just about to have some hot chocolate."

"How cute! Yun-Yun and Machi!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Amazing! I did something with YUUUUUUKKKIIII! Lol. Yes, it's kind of going off the manga here. That's actually a bit of a surprise, but hey, it's cute! I love how Yuki deals with Machi, and I hope this chapter portrayed that, and of course that you enjoyed that! Please review!