Disclaimer - I do not own Fruits Basket, Natsuki Takaya does. Enjoy!

Chapter 3. Seeping In

He inhaled sharply.

Cold air entered into his collapsed lung with such a fervored rushed that he thought he would choke.

The cat rolled over and coughed harshly.

His lungs spasmed tightly within his heavy chest. He could feel his already tight muscle cease in trepidation. For a second, he thought he was going to vomit, but luckily he was able to control himself as he swallowed thickly.

It was only when his coughing had somewhat dissipated and his breathing was more stable, was when he felt a hand rubbing his back soothingly.

Surprised, Kyo jerked back sharply causing the hand to retract and a squeak to erupt from the other person in his room. His back hit the wall as he tried to locate the source.

"Tohru?" Kyo asked in a daze as his eyes tried to focus on the onigiri who was now on the floor of his room.

"I'm sorry for entering your room without permission, Kyo-kun!" Tohru quickly picked herself up and was now kneeling in front of his bed. Her eyes were wide in panic. "It's just that I heard you from outside your room and -and you were breathing funny! It looked like you were having a nightmare and I got worried."

"Nightmare?" It was the only thing that Kyo could glean from Tohru's sputtering. He felt so tired, but it wasn't raining. Kyo gripped his bedding, feeling the world tilt at an awkward angle.

"Are you okay, Kyo-kun?" Tohru stood and tried to grasp his forearm to balance him, but Kyo waved her off.

Before Kyo could answer, another voice spoke up. "Maybe he was having one of those dreams."

Kyo gave an insufferable sigh as his eyes met the dog who was standing in the now ajar doorway. He didn't know if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but Shigure had actually looked worried for a moment. But the emotion was gone so quick, that he really wasn't too sure. He really didn't want to hear Shigure's voice, especially when he just woke up from a supposed 'nightmare'.

"One of those dreams?" Tohru asked, not noticing the novelist's dirty innuendos.

Kyo shook his head and tried to recollect his lost dream, but everything was fading fast. His mind was clearing somewhat and so was the dizzying sensation. It wasn't a nightmare. At least, he didn't think it would count as one. There was a white cat, and a forest, but he couldn't remember anything further than that.

"Yes, my Sweet Flower," Shigure trilled dramatically. "The ones that involves prancing ladies!"

"Oh, like fairies!" Tohru brightened at that.

"Why, yes! And I bet those fairies had very little clo- "

Kyo hurled a pillow at the novelist's face, but, unfortunately, missed. Shigure chuckled before running out the door and into his studies.

"Perverted Dog," Kyo grumbled. He was about to lie back down, but then he remembered Tohru who had scurried over to pick up the discarded pillow.

"Kyo-kun," Tohru asked nervously as she practically squished the death out of his pillow. "Did you have a nightmare?"

He took the pillow from her. "No...not really. It was just weird."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He didn't want to say no to her, especially not when she was giving him that hopeful look that she always got when she thought she could lend a helping hand.

"I was in a forest," he started hesitantly while Tohru nodded her head eagerly. "And I was following this cat."

"A cat?"

"Yeah, and it felt really urgent for some reason." Kyo paused at that for a bit. "It led me to something."

"What was it?" Tohru probed gently.

"I don't remember." Tohru looked somewhat disappointed at that.

"It must have been something scary."

Kyo looked at her oddly. "What makes you say that?"

Tohru's eyes turned worried again. "Kyo-kun was breathing very hard, like he was scared. I tried to wake you for several minutes, but I couldn't. I got scared and called Shigure-san, but you woke right when Shigure-san came in." She balled her fist, as her eyes slightly watered. "And then Kyo was coughing so hard like you couldn't breath."

"Hey, hey," Kyo cursed himself as Tohru started to sniff. Seriously, he was causing trouble for Tohru even when he was asleep. "Don't be stupid. It was just a weird dream." When she didn't stop, he yelled, "Dammit, don't go crying on me!"

Tohru jumped and tried not to cry even harder. "I'm sorry!"

"Tohru just- you...No, don't be." Kyo dragged his hand down his face as he tried to string together the right words. "Listen, it was just some stupid dream and I can't even remember the majority of it, anyway."

Tohru's cries quietened at that. "I-I always liked to remember my dreams," Tohru was wiping her tears on her sleeves. "But I think it's probably good that Kyo can't remember this one since it scared you so bad."

"Yeah, exactly!" Relieved that Tohru was done with her crying, Kyo turned to the window. It was dark. Night had obviously fallen quite some time ago."How long was I asleep?"

"You slept past dinner." Tohru then added offhandedly, "Hatsuharu and Momiji left two hours ago."

Kyo gawked.

He arrived home from the antique shop late this morning. He literally slept the whole day away. How the heck did he manage that? And why did he feel so drained even though he slept for so long?

"Kyo-kun must have been very tired, because even Yuki-kun couldn't wake you up." Tohru refrained from telling the cat that she had secretly checked up on him several time throughout the day even when Shigure told her that Kyo was probably just tired. She was scared that Kyo had somehow managed to catch a cold during his morning run. So, the coughing fit when he woke up did not settle her at all.

"Well, at least I didn't have to deal with the loud mouthed rabbit today." Kyo snorted as he rubbed his stomach absentmindedly.

"Oh!" Seeing the motion, Tohru jumped from the bed and clapped her hands. "Kyo-kun must be hungry! I left your dish in the fridge."

Kyo followed her out of the room as she talked about how she even saved him a piece of cake that they had baked earlier that afternoon.

But just when he was about to walk down the stairs, he saw a shadow streak by.

Kyo quickly swerved his head, thinking it was the damn rat messing with him, but Yuki's door was closed and the shadow was too small to belong to Yuki.

"Kyo-kun? Is everything okay?" Tohru asked as she stared up at him from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, it's fine." He swept the area one more time, but found nothing. He descended the stairs slowly. "I'm hungry."

Tohru smiled at that and quickly went to work on heating his food while he settled down at the table uneasily.

I must be imaging things.

His joints were aching the next morning.

Especially his left wrist.

So, one of the first things he did when he woke up was roll over and look out his window, convinced that today was going to be one of those hateful energy-draining rainy days. But, to his bewilderment, it was bright with the sounds of the birds being agonizingly loud.

And that was when his headache made itself known.

It was a steady pressure pulsing along his temples, but he knew for fact, since he had a lot of them from experience, that it would feel like firecrackers exploding in his head by the end of the day.

By the time Kyo stumbled down the stairs, he smelled and processed the scent long enough to be absolutely revolted by the thought of breakfast by the time he reached the kitchen.

Tohru was cooking tamagoyaki - something that he was not all that excited about, but never really minded.

But today it smelt as if Tohru had nitpicked the contents of a garbage can and threw anything that looked edible into a pot of leeks and rotten eggs. Kyo's stomach churned with each step closer to the pan. He was half expecting to see maggots crawling from out of the pan, but it was just a regular looking omelet.

Tohru turned around when she heard his breath catch in his throat.

"Ah, good morning, Kyo! I didn't see you there." She flipped the omelette over and he could feel the blood in his face just drain as he was hit with another round of the aroma. His stomach churned again. "Breakfast is almost ready!"

He couldn't deal with this.

"Actually, Tohru," he hesitated for a second, causing Tohru to forget the omelette and turn to him. "I'm not that hungry." he backed up a little when he smelled the bottom of it start to burn, but Tohru was too fixated on him to notice. "I'm going to head to school now."

"Oh." Tohru deflated slightly at that and Kyo wasn't all that surprised when she looked at him with concern. "You're not getting sick are you? You didn't eat that much last night and then you slept so much yesterday. Mom always said that was a sign of somebody getting sick. Oh, it's all my fault! I should have-"

"Tohru," Kyo tried not to snap as he felt his stomach roll while goosebumps started to crawl its way through his body. God, it smelled terrible. How could she not notice anything? "Nothing's your fault and I'm fine. Stop worrying. I just don't feel hungry."

"But-"

It was still burning, making the smell that much worse.

"I'll see you at school."

He grabbed his bag and dashed out before Tohru could even react.

Kyo was only a foot within the forest, before he found himself hunched over and retching the contents of his stomach. Bile slid out of his throat and splattered onto the muddy floor and thick roots of the trees. Everything was convulsing so painfully, especially his stomach which practically urged the act on. The sound of his retching was restrained for he did not want anyone to hear him in such an humiliating act. Trembles were running through his body as sweat formed around his brow.

The only support that kept him from falling into his own vile concoction was his steely grasp on the rough bark. The bark bit back into his skin just as hard, causing his skin to become punctured through, but that was the least of his worries at that particular moment.

Within moments, the cat stood there dry heaving and gasping for breath.

When he was sure nothing else wasn't going to make a backward journey from his stomach, Kyo slid down a nearby tree, feeling utterly exhausted.

"What...what the fuck?" Kyo mumbled softly as he stared at the mess he created in a daze.

He seriously did not just vomit at the smell of tamagoyaki. Evidently, though, he did. He couldn't wrap his head around that. Kyo always considered himself to have a strong constitution, but after the morning's event, he was reconsidering it.

Even though he had just vomited and his bones were feeling oddly heavy, he did not feel sick.

Not one freaking bit.

Kyo grimaced in disgust as he reflexively started to swallow.

Besides, he was fine yesterday, and he couldn't exactly pinpoint doing anything or going anywhere where he could have caught something.

He did buy that stupid skull yesterday, but he been there before and he was just fine.

Maybe there was a flu going around school.

But didn't the flu usually consist of hacking your lungs out, coughing, sneezing, vomiting, and acting like a baby or something?

Since he just vomited, the most plausible reason would be to think that he was sick, but...

Kyo rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm and sighed tiredly.

No, he wasn't sick.

He just didn't feel sick.

He just felt off.

For some reason he could not explain, Kyo's body felt different.

Almost stuffy.

As if something was added into him and purging his body with itself.

Kyo snorted weakly at the thought while he imagined himself being cut up while having somebody put in extra organs into him.

"Che, how stupid." Kyo weakly climbed into a standing position before looking down at his attire. Luckily for him, he didn't get any vomit on his clothes. At least something was going right in this damn day.

Picking up his bag, and swinging it across his shoulder, Kyo slowly made his way to school on wavering legs.

All the way there, Kyo tried to ignore the feeling as if something was clawing around his insides.

Kyo was rubbing his sore throat absentmindedly when Haru spotted him.

"You're here early," Haru greeted as he followed Kyo to his locker.

Based on Haru's mellow mood toward him, Kyo was assuming that Haru was not harboring any ill feeling toward him from their previous encounter; something that Kyo was grateful for since he was really not in the mood fighting Haru right now. He would just let Haru fight him some other time.

Kyo just nodded silently as he slipped into his school shoes.

Haru frowned and remembered Kyo's massaging his throat earlier. "You okay?"

"Fine." The cat's voice sounded slightly raw and he tried to clear it. Kyo closed his locker before turning to his cousin. "Why you here so early?"

"It's my turn to do classroom duty. Isn't that why you're here?"

"No."

"Then why?"

Kyo shrugged. "No reason."

Haru gazed at him for a moment. "You look somewhat pale."

"You're imagining things, Haru." Kyo looked at the clock. Classes wouldn't start for another forty-five minute. "Shouldn't you go start doing your classroom duty?"

"Oh. Right." Haru didn't budge.

Kyo was about to walk off to his classroom since Haru was just standing there, but Haru called out to him just before he could.

"Wanna come with? You're not doing anything anyway."

If it was any other day, Kyo would have flat out refused and would've promptly went to his desk to take a nap, but he was feeling slightly guilty from yesterday's incident.

"Fine," Kyo answered gruffly while trying to ignore Haru's soft smile. "But don't expect me to help out."

"Of course not."

He ended up cleaning the chalkboard erasers anyway.

Tohru kept on glancing back at him during class which annoyed him even though he knew she meant well.

But she really needed to stop.

Especially since Yuki was starting to look miffed as well. But he didn't seemed concerned for the cat, more like annoyed that the cat was taking away Tohru's attention from what was important which was school.

Kyo sighed as he sunk lower in his chair and tried to no avail to focus on what was on the board. The headache that had been with him since this morning was getting worse, and he was really starting to consider going to the nurse's office for a few pills.

Kyo would never consider himself as one that would rely on pills; he was more than likely the type that would just ride the pain out, but the cat didn't think he could do it for this one especially if those black lines scratching at the edges of his eyes were any sign of it.

Everything seemed louder, too, almost as if his hearing had become enhanced overnight.

And then there was the cold.

He felt so cold.

Maybe he really was sick.

The cat struggled with the idea of possibly calling the dog to come pick him up, but quickly shot the idea down when he realized he would sound outrageously pathetic for calling the dog to come get him just because of a mundane headache.

So, enduring the pain, Kyo shut his eyes and tried to will the headache away. Kyo must have fell asleep at one point, because next thing he knew, somebody was kicking his chair and yelling at him.

"Uo, please." Tohru sounded panicked. "You might wake him and he looks so tired."

"Relax, Tohru. He's just being lazy." She kicked his table this time, causing Kyo to groan audibly. "Yo, Orange Top, wake up. It's lunch time."

"Leave me alone, Yankee." Kyo grumbled, but he sat up anyway. Tohru smiled at him when she saw that he was awake.

"My job is done then. Come on, we're going to go eat outside." Uo turned around and started to walk toward the door, expecting the trio to follow, but Kyo remained glued to his chair and Tohru looked hesitant. "Aren't you coming?"

Sensing that Tohru wanted to talk privately, Hana grabbed Uo's arm and dragged her through the door. "We'll be in the usual place, Tohru." Hana stated simply as she left with a confused Arisa.

Tohru turned back to Kyo, ready to speak, but Kyo beat her to it.

"You should just go with them." Kyo glanced around the room and noted that everybody had left, even that damn rat. "I bet the damn rat is with them waiting for you. I'm not hungry and I'd rather sleep than deal with that damn yankee and the rat."

"Are you okay, Kyo-kun?" She hugged the bento she was holding close to her chest, and Kyo couldn't help but be reminded of that pillow that she practically squeezed the feathers out of the other day. "You didn't look too well in class and you're not hungry."

Kyo sighed internally. He really did not have the energy to console Tohru right now. Kyo stood from his chair and was only mildly surprised when he found his vision fade for a few seconds. He quickly braced himself against the table and held still. Tohru didn't seem to notice.

"Kyo-kun?"

"I'm fine." Kyo turned to her this time. Was it him or was he seeing two Tohru? He made his way to the door, Tohru right on his heels. "I have a lot on my mind, alright? I just need some time alone right now. Go hang out with the damn rat or something."

Even though his tone was not harsh, Tohru still looked a little hurt by his words, but she consented. Before she left, though, she pushed a bento box into his hands. "Please try to eat something, Kyo-kun. Mom says it's not healthy to skip meals."

The other teen only gave her a noncommittal grunt.

Tohru gave him one more worried glance before leaving.

Kyo shifted the bento box awkwardly in his hand while he tried to figure out where he could get his bearing straight. Roof was definitely not a good choice especially if Yuki catches wind that Kyo unintentionally saddened Tohru. The rat would most likely march up to him and drag him to their stupid eat together just to make her happy again and to assure her nothing was amidst and that the cat was just being his stupid self.

In the end, Kyo settled for the library. Hardly anybody was ever in the library unless school projects or exam times were in high swing. Considering that they just had just finished both of the said things, it should be considerably empty.

He was right when he walked through the door to an empty library. The only other person in the library was the school librarian but she was too engrossed with the book she was reading to really notice his presence, something he was glad for.

Like a true cat, Kyo managed to slip quietly past her and dump himself in a dark corner.

"Hopefully the darkness and the quietness will help with my freaking headache." Kyo mumbled to himself softly as placed the bento box next to him. He could smell the grill fish without even opening it, and it smelt amazing, but he just couldn't find his appetite. Tohru really must have been worried if she went through the trouble to make him grilled fish.

So, for the second time that day, Kyo closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He knew he was lying on soil before he even opened his eyes.

The smell of pine trees were strongly present in the air and there were rock digging in his back again. Kyo opened his eyes slowly, and found himself surrounded by a ring of trees.

It was like deja vu all over again.

Kyo sat up, but there was no dizzying sensation like last time. He remembered this. Being in this forest, and hearing a voice, and then a white cat, but he couldn't exactly remembered what all transpired after following the white cat through the forest.

"This stupid dream again?" Kyo groaned to himself as he scrubbed his face.

"This isn't a dream, cat."

Kyo jumped at the raw voice, but quickly recovered and snorted. "Yeah, that's what a typical dream would say."

There was a rustle in the trees and Kyo was not even mildly surprised when he saw the same white cat again. This time, it came to him when Kyo showed no sign of moving from his spot.

"You are real, though," Kyo whispered to the cat as it nuzzled its head against Kyo's chest. "I remember seeing you outside the shop." The cat started to purr when Kyo started to warily pet its head. "You must have really made a damn impact on me if I'm dreaming of you. Why couldn't I understand you?"

"You do understand him, cat." the voice cooed. Kyo still couldn't figure out where it was coming from. "You're just not listening. It's in plain sight."

A flash of anger ran across Kyo at those words. For some reason, it felt like something Yuki would say to him. Something to derogate him and show how much better the rat was compared to the cat.

"There's nothing to listen to!" Kyo spat back as he shoved the cat off of him and stood up. The white cat scampered a few steps back, not looking the least offended by the harsh treatment. "Stupid voice. Stupid dream. Stupid curse. Where the hell are you? Why the hell am I even dreaming of this?"

"Because you want freedom, cat." There was a dark chuckle. "And I can help you."

"I don't need your damn help!" Kyo banged his head against his palms heavily. "Seriously, why the hell am I getting angry? It's just a stupid dream that -"

Kyo turned his head when he heard a wheezing noise coming from the white feline beside him.

"What the?" Kyo kneeled down and found his arms hovering around the white cat questionably. The cat arched its back and started to hack loudly. Its body convulsed violently and Kyo almost thought it was having some type of odd fit or possibly choking on something.

Was the cat in his dream seriously going to die?

Hesitantly, Kyo started to pat the cat's back in hopes that it would alleviate it somehow. Its jaw extended down and it's tongue surged forward, but before Kyo could come up with another plan to help it, a hairball came tumbling out.

"You got me worked up over a freaking hair-" Kyo immediately quietened when he realized the hairball was moving. Like something was trapped inside it and was trying to break free.

"A present for you, my feline."

A chill ran down his spine at those words.

"I don't want it." Kyo murmured as he watched the contents of the hairball struggle. He thought he heard a squeal emit from it, but it could have been his imagination.

"It's too late." Kyo felt dizzy again as the voice continued to speak. "You have already awakened it. You must accept it."

Kyo felt like he was not in control of his body anymore. Something that also seemed familiar as well as unwanted. Kyo moved forward. By this time, the hairball was sitting completely still against the root of the tree as if it knew that Kyo was coming to obtain it.

When his hands came around it, it was slick with slime and remnants of bile slid down his fingers. He dug his fingers in and spread the mass of fur which was oddly grey, instead of white.

He was spreading, and spreading, and it almost seemed physically impossible to spread this much fur from such a tiny hairball.

Just when Kyo was about to stop and come to the conclusion that there was nothing there, and that this was a dream, so things never really made sense anyway, his fingers grazed something soft and damp.

"What the hell..."

Kyo dropped the hairball in disgust and awe stricken horror.

Two beady eyes of a dead rat stared right back up at him through that cocoon of cat hair.

"-up!" Somebody's hands were around his shoulder, squeezing and shaking him. "Wake up! Kyo, what's-"

Kyo woke up with a harsh cough and for a second the grip on his shoulder lessoned before moving down to his arm. The hands stayed there, almost as if to support him from tumbling out of the chair that he was in.

"Shit, you really are sick." Through his own wheezing, he heard the voice speak up. "We have to tell Hatori."

Kyo reached out blindly and tried to push whoever was holding him away, but the chest that he came in contact with did not budge.

"Calm down, it's just me, Kyo." Kyo tried to calm his breathing and once he was able to do that, he opened his eyes and waited for them to adjust.

"Haru?"

"Yeah," Haru loosened his grip once he was sure that Kyo wasn't going to topple over. "You okay?"

"Fine," Kyo answered automatically. He looked around and remembered that he was still in the library and that dream was a dream after all. "What are you doing here?"

Haru waved his arm toward the books that lined the shelves. "I got in trouble for sleeping in Ishida's class. So, I had to put all the books away as punishment." As an afterthought, Haru added, "There were a lot of them. I didn't expect to find you sleeping here."

Kyo only nodded to that before looking out the window. It was getting dark fast. "What time is it?"

"School was over hours ago." Haru just stared back as Kyo gawked at him in disbelief.

Was it him? Or was he starting to sleep the whole day away? Kyo was quite prone to cat naps, but he never slept for so long.

"Shit," Kyo rubbed his eyes tiredly as he sagged slightly against his chair.

"We need to tell Hatori you're sick," Haru repeated. Kyo's eyes narrowed at his cousin.

"No, we don't. I'm not even sick." Kyo objected as he stood from his chair too quickly. He immediately swayed on his feet, but the cow was quick to stabilize him by grabbing his arm. Kyo made an aggravated sigh and tried to yank his arm out of the hold, but Haru held on.

"Stop being so stubborn," Haru said nonchalantly. "I'll walk you home."

Kyo snorted at that. "You'll get us lost."

"Either way, let's get out of the library." Dropping his hold, Haru started to walk toward the exit. With his back to him, he said, "Your skin is freezing."

"I'm not cold." But as Kyo looked down to his quivering hands, he thought he saw remnants of cat hair on them. He quickly started to rub his hands along his pants legs.

"It was just a dream," Kyo whispered to himself as he continued to rub his palms along his school attire.

"Kyo?" Haru called somewhere along the hallway.

"Yeah, I'm coming." He answered distractedly as he looked at his palms again.

He could have sworn that he saw blood on them.

Kyo wasn't at the dojo.

He called to check, and Shihan and Kunimitsu confirmed it.

Yuki sighed as he dropped himself in a somewhat un-princely manner onto the couch. He hadn't seen Kyo since lunch, not even in passing. When he had left the classroom, or rather pulled away by one of his student council members, Kyo had been dead to the world.

Yuki knew that Kyo was a very light sleeper, so it surprised him that the cat didn't even stir when everybody was pushing their chairs about and chattering away as they moved out of the classroom for lunch.

Tohru had looked so upset when she told him that Kyo wanted to be alone and that she really hoped that he ate something. What was wrong with the cat? He seemed so distracted lately.

"Is Yuki actually worried about Kyo?" Shigure teased as he sat down next to the low table with a cup of tea.

"Why would I be worried about the Stupid Cat?"

"Your face says otherwise, Yuki." Shigure stirred his tea as he sighed blissfully. "My, it must be Tohru's womanly touch that is rubbing off on you, Yuki. Worried about our little Kyo like that."

"I'm not worried for the cat, Shigure. I'm just thinking about my garden."

"Ah, I see." Shigure hummed as he poured another cup of tea and offered it to Yuki. "So, you called Kazuma to ask him what you should pick from your garden today?"

Yuki just tensed at that while Shigure smiled.

"He's just been acting very -"

There was a clatter from the door, causing them to both jump. Yuki immediately jumped to his feet as did Shigure albeit in a slower manner.

Voices floated through the door, but they couldn't quite make out what the owner was saying. When the door slipped open, they were not expecting to see a bicolored teen.

"Haru?" Yuki noted in bewilderment. Before Haru could greet him back, a small shuffling distracted him, and the cat appeared right next to the cow, looking somewhat haggard. "Where have you been, Stupid Cat?"

Kyo just glared at him, but it looked somewhat different. Like there was fear in them but a tinge of … relief?

"Miss Honda has been so worried! She almost didn't go to work today, because of you." Yuki didn't want to admit it, but he knew that he was projecting. Shigure probably knew, too. "How could you be so selfish as to -"

"Yuki," Shigure tried to intervene. Something wasn't right. He knew the instant he saw Kyo walk through the door. Kyo was looking too pale and he was being too quiet.

The rat ignored the dog's call, and continued on his verbal lashing. "How can you be such an idiot? You should have told Miss Honda -"

Yuki immediately stopped when Kyo started to sway and before they knew it, his eyes rolled up into his skull, and collapsed.

Haru quickly caught him, looking panicked.

"Sensei," Haru called, but Shigure was already beside them and taking Kyo from Haru's arms.

"What happened?" Shigure asked as he felt Kyo's forehead. The dog frowned at how cold Kyo's skin felt.

Haru shook his head "I don't know. I only found him in the library."

"Kyo, can you hear me?" No response. Shigure looked over at the rat who looked absolutely stunned at what had just happened. "Yuki, call Hatori."

The sound of his name knocked him out of his reverie and his body and mind started to work instinctively.

He vaguely recalled telling Hatori what happened, but there wasn't much detail to be given which was a relief on his end, because he didn't know if he could have delivered a coherent and well description anyway.

After he hung up the call to their resident doctor, Yuki watched on mutely as Shigure picked Kyo up from the cold floor and promptly carried him upstairs to his room.

Yuki thought Kyo had him worried before.

Now he knew better.

Now he was really worried.

Whispers. So many whispers and hushed undertones.

"What's wrong with him?"

Kyo internally groaned. Was he having another those dreams again or was he coming out of one? But that voice didn't sound like the one he's been hearing.

He vaguely recalled walking home with Haru and then seeing Yuki. He wasn't even fully inside the house before Yuki was on him. He remembered that he wanted to tell the rat it wasn't his business where he was, but his voice had caught in his throat and he couldn't utter a sound.

When his voice got lost, his hearing soon followed.

He knew Yuki was barraging him for his disappearing act, but he couldn't hear him anymore. It was like he suddenly went deaf.

"I'm not sure."

He just remembered seeing Yuki, spitting and angry, and it reminded him of that rat.

The rat from his dream.

How it must have struggled and wrestled with all that hair it was entrapped around.

It died.

Suffocation.

Kyo wondered if he could have saved that rat had he not been so hesitant to pick through that mass of fur. If he was quicker into listening to that voice, would that rat had survived?

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

He remembered blinking, and Yuki was still there, moving his mouth rapidly, but this time there were rats around Yuki's ankles and they were biting him, and he was bleeding.

And every time he blinked, there was more blood pooling around Yuki.

The rats were everywhere.

"I don't know, Shigure."

Then Yuki was collapsing from the blood lost and the rats swarmed around him hungrily.

Kyo wanted to call out for help, but his voice was still frozen in his throat.

He blinked, but this time he couldn't open his eyes anymore.

"Hari, he fainted. There must be something wrong with him."

He let another rat die.

A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry for being dead for so long. I'm sorry for the extended absence, but you know life. If you want to read a more detail about my absence and hear me apologize more, than you can read that in the A/N in chapter 5 of 'Murky Water'.

These past three months of my life has been total shit and I already know these next three months will be the same. I just felt like getting that off my chest especially since you guys don't really know me in real life anyway so it's okay. Anyway, nobody cares.

So, half of this chapter was written toward the end of 2015, but I never posted it because I didn't know how to end it. The other half of this chapter I wrote yesterday. So, if you notice a sudden change in writing (you know, like it gets totally worse) then that's why. I know I'm rusty, because I haven't written in a while, but hopefully it wasn't too bad.

I want to thank all of you for following/favoriting/ and/or reviewing. I really appreciate it and I always read all of them.

What do you think? You like? You hate? Want to vomit?

Anyway, please R&R. Reviews inspire me and make me happy. No flames, please. Constructive criticism is welcomed. I would like to thank those who reviewed, followed, and/or favorited.

Reviews before this posted chapter: 30

(My goal is to have this number always go up after every posted chapter. So, help me bring it up. ^^)

8/23/2016