Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. They are the creation of the almighty, Takaya Natsuki.

A/N: Still yammering a lil' more about Kyo and Tooru's relationship. It's taking a little longer for me to write it out than I first thought. Oh, well, I kind of figured they're going to be key characters in this fic, alongside with Akito, Yuki, and some of the other zodiac animals.

And "oh, my freakin' god", Akito is insane, I tell you! Insane! X3

Peering In From the Outside
Chapter 6: Friendship

"I've finally found you after all this time." Kyo looked up to see a long, flowing brown hair hiding his view of the girl's face. No matter what her expression looked like, she sounded really relieved so he didn't need to know. "I thought I'd never see you again after that day when I saw you up in that tree . . ."

(Hell . . . She's found me again.)

Kyo was sitting at his usual spot underneath the bench seat he first ran into several weeks ago. In other words, you could say this was his home, because he had nowhere else to go.

"If you're hungry . . ." The brunette-haired girl pulled out a meat bun from a bag she was holding, ". . . I could give you some of this. Do you want some?"

Kyo hissed when she tried to give him a piece. (Back off, bitch!) Startled by his angry reaction, Tooru dropped the piece of meat bun she was holding, so that she could withdraw her hand away from the angry cat. Before . . . When she first met him . . . He was able to talk, but now . . . cat language was his only tongue, so it seemed.

(I can understand why he is being so bitter - being stuck as a creature, and then being stuck as a cat is not a life anyone would want to lead. I wonder who could have done this to him? I've never even noticed such things that seemed quite abnormal . . . Kyo is out of the ordinary. I've truly met someone who is not living a life like any normal person should.)

"Meeeeoooooww." (Why is it that you're glad to see me? Why the hell do you care so much?)

"Um . . . I don't understand what you're saying, but it seems like I have made you angry yet again." Kyo's hissing ceased when he noticed the sad look that came to her eyes. She looked like she was about ready to cry, and he didn't understand why there'd be a reason to shed tears in the first place. She wiped at one of her eyes fiercely. "I'm sorry. I think I'm about to cry. There's this tightening feeling I feel coming to my chest, wrenching at my heart. Please," she was now looking at Kyo desperately, "please, come and stay with me. You're all dirty and you look so skinny . . . It's not right."

(Is that so? Is this worthless heap of human shit pitying me? Did I goddamn ask for her condolences as a reward? I don't think so!)

"Meeooww." (You're annoying.)

"No one's going to bother you. I live alone. It'll be just you and me. I swear."

(Why is she going out of her way to help me? Is there some hidden agenda of hers I have yet to find out?)

Rivets of tears poured forth from the girl's eyes, because she found that she could no longer contain them in. She was crying, but she was not so sure as to why she was doing so; it was rather hypocritical to say that she didn't pity Kyo, yet at the same time she felt something entirely different from pity. Something was blossoming within her; she only needed to reach out and realize what it was. Maybe it was a feeling she long ago felt - the feeling of being unable to help someone who terribly needed assistance.

(Why didn't I do anything? Why did I leave it as is? Why did I let her go?)

"Meow." (Stop crying.)

"Please come stay with me. I promise you I'll try my best to make you as comfortable as possible. Make any demands you want and I will try my best to fulfill them."

(What a lunatic . . .)

(This time . . . I want to make a difference.)

Kyo accepted her offer when he stepped out from under the bench seat to stand beside her. He looked up at her expectantly. He thought that if staying with the girl was going to make her happy, then he was going to live with her because that was what she wanted. In all instances she was merely shedding off one burden for another.

"Watch the house for me while I'm at school, please," Tooru said.

"Meow." (Whatever.)

(Also makes me wonder why she isn't living with her grandfather . . . She did tell me he's still alive and well . . . What an idiotic girl.)

"Oh, and if you get hungry, I've left some of the leftover fish from breakfast for you." Kyo sweat dropped. He was already tired of eating any type of fish, and that was why he couldn't finish his breakfast in the first place. "And if someone tries to break in the apartment while I'm gone you know what to do, right?"

"Meeeooowww . . ." (Yes, just leave already . . .)

"Okay, that was all I needed to hear." It was more better to say that she didn't understand anything Kyo was saying, as usual. "I hope you have a pleasant day!" Tooru smiled at Kyo before closing the apartment door behind her.

(You, too, rice for brains . . .)

Yuki was bored; he was lying in his futon inside his room where the sunlight filtered in from the window. It was well past morning, but he didn't have the energy to get up for some reason. Usually, at this time, everyone was gathered in the dining room eating breakfast together (aside from Akito not being there), but even though he was absent from the meal no one would think much of it because Akito told them he'd sometimes not show up. At those times he was usually with the God himself, but this time he was left off the hook, or rather he didn't want to see his face this morning. He wasn't ready to face Akito just yet.

"Ah, you've yet to get up, I see." Yuki froze at the sound of his voice - Akito came to him this time it seemed. "I was waiting for you, you know.""I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you wait like that, but I feel I do not have the strength to go anywhere right now.""Oh? Are you coming down with a fever in the middle of summer? Odd, isn't it?" Akito asked.

"I do not have a fever; it's just that my asthma is acting up." Akito frowned at the sound of that - he hated Yuki's asthma - that was what he hated most about the gray-haired boy. "Can we skip it this morning?"

"That's quite absurd sounding with the way it's coming out of your mouth. There must be another reason why you don't want me, isn't there?" Yuki shook his head slowly. "Don't lie to me, Yuki."

(I'm afraid. Above all else . . . I'm afraid.) "If you won't relent, then I guess it can't be helped. I offer myself to you." (Once again . . . I offer and you take.)

"Good. Now open your futon and allow me room, fool."

Yuki obeyed by scooting over and lifting the end of his open futon for Akito's entry. This was nothing new, really. Sometimes, Akito actually came for him instead when he really wanted to have sex, and as Yuki's supposed God, there was no way he could deny Akito of what he wanted. If he wished to partake in physical activities with the gray-haired boy's physique, Yuki had no choice - he must comply with Akito no matter what. Once the other boy was snuggly laying beside Yuki, he wasted no time in undoing the knot that kept Yuki's garment together.

(This is love . . . His love for me takes this form, right? He's at his gentlest when he's with me like this, so it can't be mistaken for anything else. It'd all be too difficult to understand, if it was not this . . . Love. His form of love for me. I've always embraced it after he touched me for the first time, although how painful it may have been . . .)

"So this is the Yuki I've heard so much about. He's so small and he looks sickly." A boy no older than Yuki stepped out from behind the shadows, so that his face was no longer hidden. What Yuki believed he saw was a beautiful dark-haired boy with strikingly angry blue eyes that seemed to despise the entire world if not only his soul. "Did they really say I can have him?"

Yuki looked towards the man the boy was addressing. It was the fat bellied man he saw earlier - he couldn't see his face before, but now he got a good clear view. This so called burly man had short black hair, and his eyes were a soft brown; they were much too perfect for his imperfect image; his scarred face. Yuki sought out another person whom he recalled was with the fat man when they were discussing about him. She, too, had the softest of oak wood bark colored eyes, and as before, Yuki felt that she was scarred far too deeply to have such a look. Her elegant sand-colored hair cascaded down her back as she looked from the fat man, and then to the dark-haired boy.

"Marika has made the arrangements with his mother so it should be fine."

(Mother? My . . . mother?)

It then dawned on Yuki that the woman holding the red stamp was none other than his mother. Yet, why hadn't he recognized her voice? And who were these two people who helped him seal his fate? Just who are they?

"Well, Yuki, it seems you'll be staying here with me. Aren't you glad?" the boy asked.

"Excuse me . . ." Yuki was deftly afraid of the other boy's eyes - they held so much hatred that it hurt to look at him directly in the face, without feeling a jabbing sensation coming at his chest again and again. ". . . But what is your name?"

"Ahahahahahahahaaaahahaha!" Yuki was really terrified now - the dark-haired boy almost appeared to be a maniac. A no nonsense child who seemed to have lost his way. "My name, you say? Ahahahahahahahaha! Marika, I'll let you do the honors!"

(Just who are these people? And what did my mother mean when she said I was of no use back at our mansion? Would I really be able to make a difference for this crazed boy in front of me? I'm scared; so very scared that I want to go home and hide under my blanket. I don't want to peek out at anything just yet.)

"His name is Souma Akito."

Yuki gasped. They had the same last name, yet he was still confused as to who this boy really was.

"Eh? He looks confused, Marika. Hey," Akito was now smiling in an eerie way, "would you two leave us alone for a bit?" The fat man and Marika nodded, before standing up and leaving the now cold room. "Yuki, Yuki, Yuki . . .""Ah, um . . . yes?"

"Why do you look so afraid? Am I that scary?" Akito asked him.

"Your eyes," Yuki gulped, and backed up a little when Akito leaned towards him from his seated position across from him, "look really angry. Are you mad at me?"

"Mad . . . I hate that word. I hate that goddamn word!"

In one swift movement he had Yuki pinned to the tatami covered floor. The gray-haired boy was so shaken up with fear that one could see him physically trembling violently. Akito dipped his head down low and locked lips with Yuki. Yuki neither responded to such an action, nor did he pull away; he simply laid there like a slacken doll with no life motivating the limbs to move.

"Ah . . ."

That was all Akito needed. With Yuki's slightly open mouth he pried his lips father apart with his tongue and plunged in. When he pulled back, Yuki was absolutely red in the face.

"You tasted awfully sweet. A mouth of a virgin's; such virtue you have!"

"H-huh?" Yuki wasn't understanding Akito - they were only six-years-old, and Akito was already talking about being a virgin? Yuki wasn't even sure he knew what that word meant to begin with. "Wh-why did you kiss me just now?"

"Heh. You're special, so therefore, you receive special treatment specifically from me and no one else. You are mine and mine alone."

"I don't want to be yours . . ." was Yuki's reply. ". . . I want to go home."

"Your home is with me."

Having still be pinned to the floor Akito used this leverage to his advantage and forced the frightened boy beneath him to strip himself of his clothing. He was going to claim Yuki as his own, and once their bodies connected, it was all he was going to need to make this desire come true.

"S-stop it!" Yuki pleaded.

Akito pulled Yuki's legs apart and aimed for the goal . . .

"No, no, Yuki, let's begin!"

It was a horrible sensation, and it hurt so badly that Yuki was silenced by Akito's right hand. He clamped it down tightly over Yuki's mouth because he was being a little too loud. The burning feel of his anus, and what was plugged there. Akito's throbbing member was tearing his flesh - making him bleed for the sake of untouched skin. Yuk felt that this was completely wrong . . . They were only six-years-old, so how could he be in the process of getting raped by another child his own age? He was sure Akito was six, because he couldn't see it any other way - on his trip here he heard someone say:

"The dark-haired child is only six, believe it or not. The same tender age as Yuki."

Akito moved against the other boy and that made Yuki moan out in discomfort. There was definitely nothing pleasant about this horrible tearing he was not accustomed to. Akito was enjoying himself immensely as he pounded in and out of Yuki; his breath coming out in ragged puffs. When he escalated to completion he did little more than groan, and push in as deeply as his penis allowed before pulling himself out afterwards.

Both of the boys were tired; sweating; spent, and only Yuki was naked.

(How could he do this to me . . .?)

Thus, a bond, a friendship, a coming together was finally formed.

Chapter 6: END

Another's A/N: I'm also not very good at writing sex scenes, either. Sorry for the people who enjoy reading that sort of thing. I'll try harder next time! XD