"Shishou, grab me a spatula, would you?"

"Sure. That's the wire thing, right?"

"…Never mind. Go sit down before you hurt yourself."

Chuckling, Kazuma sat obediently at the table while Kyou finished up their dinner. After bidding the still slightly sore Kunimitsu farewell for the night, the two had left the dojo and walked back to Kazuma's house. Naturally he had offered the boy dinner, and, naturally Kyou had insisted he be the one to take care of it.

Kyou didn't get the chance to stay over for dinner very often, and they both relished the nights when it did happen. It reminded them both of times long gone by, and reassured them that in spite of the changes that had been brought about in the past year or so, their father-and-son bond wouldn't weaken.

While Kyou was preoccupied making dinner, Kazuma took the opportunity to study the boy. He already knew that something was really weighing on Kyou's mind, but getting the information out of him was more often than not worse than pulling teeth - and depending on the severity of the problem, it could be a lot more painful.

"Really, Shishou," Kyou's voice broke through the man's thoughts. "Would it kill you to keep more than instant ramen and box curry in the kitchen?"

"Quite possibly it wouldn't be limited to only myself," he replied with his usual smile.

Kyou's eyebrow twitched. "Point taken. Anyway, it's ready."

"Great, I'm starved. I seem to have missed lunch."

Kyou snorted. "Kunimitsu did mention something about needing to run for the fire extinguisher earlier today."

Kazuma chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Yes, it was one of the more exciting moments of the day, if not one of the messier ones."

Kyou let out an exasperated sigh, though he was smiling through it. "You never learn, do you Shishou?"

The man smiled down at his plate of food. "No, I don't suppose I do."

"Why do you keep bothering, anyway? One of these days you might actually burn the place down," Kyou muttered, taking another bite.

Kazuma trained his gaze on the boy sitting across from him, who remained unaware of the scrutiny. "Oh…I have good insurance," he said vaguely. 'Time to put it to work,' he thought. 'Let's hope this doesn't bring the house down either.'

He took a sip of his water as they both lapsed into a brief silence. "Kyou," he began, bringing the boy's attention up from his plate. "Did something…happen today?"

Kyou stilled; his fist tensed around his chopsticks until he put them down before he could snap them in half. He didn't know what to say; he never lied to Shishou, had never even failed to mention certain facts in their conversations. He had never had a need to, and those times when he hadn't felt like dishing the dark-haired man had always managed to work it out of him somehow anyway. 'But is this something I can talk to him about?'

"Kyou…?"

"It--!" Kyou blurted out before Shishou could dismiss the question for fear of pushing the cat too quickly. "It…it wasn't today, exactly. It really…started last night."

Kazuma's brow furrowed slightly in worry. "Last night? During the storm?"

Kyou quickly shook his head. "It's not about that…well it sort of has to do with that, but it's not what you're thinking," Kyou struggled to clarify, sighing at his own clumsy words.

Shishou smiled at Kyou as he buried his hands into his hair and thunked his head against the table. "How about starting with the first thing that began bothering you last night?" he suggested patiently. He was somewhat surprised at the shade of pink that suddenly flushed the boy's face. "Eh? Kyou?"

Red eyes looked up at him from beneath orange bangs, and Kyou quickly buried his face in arms that he crossed over the table top. Kazuma was left staring at reddening ears for a few moments in silence, wondering how best to continue this conversation, when Kyou finally mumbled something into his arms.

"Sorry, I didn't quite…catch that…" Kazuma said gently.

"…Ha…Harffstmrrph."

"I--I'm sorry, what?"

"HARU KISSED ME." He didn't exactly yell it out, but his voice rang loud and clear as he tore his face away from his arms. Horrified that he had affirmed the dreaded event aloud, Kyou flushed tomato red and quickly averted his eyes from the stunned man sitting across from him.

Kazuma, to his credit, had managed to refrain from letting his jaw fall to the floor like it had wanted. Obviously his hot-headed son was already agonizing over this enough without needing that kind of reaction from him. He was confused, and he needed somebody to help him understand his own thoughts and feelings - though what those thoughts and feelings were exactly made Kazuma's mouth suddenly feel very dry. 'It…it's all a part of raising a child,' he told himself, reaching for his water glass and draining it. 'This kind of talk was bound to come up sooner or later…and this was only the first thing that's been bothering him?'

Steeling himself against the conversation to come, he quickly schooled his features into his most non-threatening and neutral expression before clearing his throat to catch the boy's attention. Kyou flinched as though the sound had been as loud as a sudden door-slam, and slowly looked back up at his Shishou.

"Kyou…you…don't have to go into any…details," he said delicately, careful not to break the eye contact by which the boy was currently caught. "But…you mentioned that there was more to this that was bothering you…?"

Kyou nodded slowly, dropping his gaze to the floor but keeping his head up. Thoughts of that stupid perverted bovine were swirling in his head. 'This is all that idiot's fault - he's even making me act weird to Shishou because of it all!' His brow came down in a glare directed at an unfortunate wall that promptly became very concerned for its own well-being.

"Yeah, there're a lot of other things that bother me about him," he grumbled at the wall. "Actually I guess that wasn't the first thing, just the…the biggest problem," he bit out, showing an incredible amount of restraint in not thrashing around the room and screaming his head off about exactly how much it irritated him.

Kazuma raised a brow at that, wondering what could have possibly happened beforehand that would lead to that exact 'problem'. "Maybe you should just start at the beginning after all," he said evenly.

Kyou sighed and then flopped backwards to the floor, splaying his arms out and staring up at the ceiling. In this unusual position, he began his narrative in a dull monotone. "Well…I had some time before dinner, and the clouds really hadn't looked particularly rain-heavy, so I went out for a walk…"

------

A quiet but firm knock sounded on Haru's bedroom door - and went quite unheard by the pensive cow, due to the fact that he was both extremely spaced out and blasting some chirpy J-pop into his ears through his headphones. (Not that he made it widely known that he was a Crystal Kay fan; he simply hid the fact well enough that he had never been placed in a situation to try to deny it.)

Luckily, the person that was being ignored was Hatori Sohma, and he didn't care to wait for an answer before entering anyway. Sliding the door open briskly, he leaned halfway into the room and spotted the spacey cow laying face up on his bed. "Haru."

The boy didn't even blink.

Hatori sighed inwardly; nothing was ever easy with Haru. He moved into the room and slid the door shut behind him with a sharp clack! - but even that failed to get Haru's attention. Finally the Sohma family doctor - and dragon - loomed over his prone form, crossing his arms and staring down into dark, glazed eyes.

'…He can't possibly be sleeping with his eyes open…?' Hatori thought, disturbed at the notion.

"Hey, Ha'ri," the boy suddenly said quietly, slowly removing the buds from his ears.

"So you are in there after all," the older man replied, giving Haru's forehead a flick.

"Ow."

"One of the maids was saying some interesting things about you in the kitchen tonight," Hatori continued in the same tone.

"Oh?" Haru rubbed at the sore spot on his forehead idly, sitting up.

"Oh, indeed. She said you propositioned her after emerging from a bush near the northern apartments."

Haru blinked slowly, pondering this revelation in silence for a moment. "…Oh, her."

Hatori let out a soft, irritated grunt, rubbing two fingers to his temples and sitting himself down in Haru's nearby desk chair. It was bad enough when Black Haru came out and wreaked havoc on the family and those that served them - but Hatori was more often than not the one left to deal with the mess left behind. "Care to explain that one?" he asked, not quite sure if he was ready to hear anything the boy could tell him.

"I was just irritated," Haru said placidly. "And hungry," he added as an afterthought.

The doctor raised a brow at that. "Irritated and hungry? Is that all it takes for your Black side to come out these days?"

"Not usually," the youth admitted, turning his gaze to look out the window that his bed was under.

"Was that what caused it this time?" Hatori asked patiently. He was used to dealing with Haru, which could be both a blessing and a curse. It made for easier conversations with the boy, but it also made Hatori the go-to man for incidents caused by him as well. All anyone really had to do was talk to Haru, he had discovered. The boy didn't generally offer information freely, but he wasn't hesitant to answer direct questions, no matter how personal.

"It pushed me over the edge, I guess," Haru replied with the shrug of a shoulder.

"So what drew you to the edge in the first place?" Hatori asked, drawing a knee up and resting his elbow on it.

"This whole situation with Kyou." Haru took his gaze from the window and stared down at the covers that were bunched at the foot of his bed.

"Situation?" the older man repeated. This was the first he had of any situation.

"Yeah, what happened last night is really bothering him. And that is bothering me."

"What happened last night?"

"Yeah."

"…"

"…"

"Haru. I'm asking you to tell me what happened last night."

"Oh. I didn't tell you on the ride home?" Haru finally looked up at the man sitting a few feet away at the desk.

"All you said was that you had gotten lost and found Kyou in the middle of the woods, and that by some miracle the two of you managed to find your way back to Shigure's house together," the man replied.

"I don't remember saying it like that…"

"You have to admit it is a rather miraculous feat," Hatori said, crossing his arms. "And you don't remember saying it at all. So, what else happened?"

"While I was up in his room, I accidentally kissed Kyou," Haru said plainly, still holding the other man's gaze.

Hatori blinked. Then he blinked again. He opened his mouth to say something, then quickly snapped it shut without making a sound. He hardly knew where to start with this one. "How…does one 'accidentally' kiss somebody?" he asked slowly.

"Well, Honda-san bumped into me…"

"And Kyou's face broke your fall, did it?"

"Pretty much," Haru nodded.

"I see," Hatori replied sardonically. "And is it a surprise to you that Kyou is bothered by this 'situation'?"

"Well yeah, kind of… At least, I didn't think it would be such a big deal to him. I even apologized to him today for taking his first kiss."

Hatori had to struggle to suppress the choked snort of laughter that wanted to break his tightly controlled visage. He let out a tiny cough, hidden behind a fist. "And that upset him."

"Yeah…a lot, actually. I think…I may have broken him."

The older man just cocked an eyebrow at that, and Haru turned his eyes back down to his feet on the bed. "He couldn't even yell at me after that point. He just…shut off, and walked away without even looking at me."

Hatori studied the youth in front of him. Certainly, Haru spent all of his time worrying about the others around him without sparing a thought for himself - but maybe that was only because very little actually got under the boy's skin in regards to his own affairs.

"Ha'ri…" Haru said quietly, his unwavering gaze boring holes into the bed sheets. "Was I wrong to do that?"

Hatori was silent for a moment; he let out a little sigh. "You would do better to ask him that yourself."

"But talking to him is what made things bad in the first place. Every time I talk to him it just gets worse. Did you know that Kyou hates pictures?"

"…Pictures?"

"Pictures; photos. He hates them. He told me that on the walk back to Sensei's house, but he won't tell me why." Haru brought his hands together in his lap, eyes still on the end of his bed, though clearly no longer seeing it.

"I…can't say I knew that, no," Hatori replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"…Nothing, I suppose," Haru said quietly.

"In any case," the older man said, getting to his feet. "I don't know if talking to him will help; but I do know that no issue can be resolved by simply leaving it alone. In the meantime, kindly refrain from harassing our employees. I have enough on my plate as it is without having to find a good lawyer for a sexual harassment suit."

Haru let out a quiet grunt, tuning back into earth long enough to watch Hatori exit the room. The older man opened the door, but then stopped. "For what it's worth… I don't think you were wrong." As suddenly as he had paused, he was over the threshold and sliding the door shut behind him softly.

A soft smile tugged at Haru's lips. 'I guess that settles it then,' he thought, flopping back down on his bed. 'I suppose I can pay Sensei a visit tomorrow…'

------

Kyou had been talking for a good ten minutes now; he had managed to work himself into full-on rant mode, a fact for which Kazuma was still debating whether he should be glad or sorry.

"…and he just acts like it's no big deal! Like it happens EVERY DAY! And THEN he has the nerve to APOLOGIZE about it as though I'm crying over it like some little girl! God, that perverted brat never fails to piss me off!" Kyou finished with an exasperated huff.

Kazuma chuckled a little bit as Kyou fumed silently for a few moments. The topic hadn't exactly wandered into the uncharted territory that he had feared it would, though Kazuma supposed he couldn't rule it out completely for the future. Apparently Kyou had really only needed a good venting session.

"It's not that funny," the boy muttered, which only caused Kazuma to smile more.

"Sorry, Kyou," he said. "Is it just the way he's been treating you that's gotten to you?"

"Of course it is! I'm not some delicate loser that needs to be apologized to after having someone fall on my face! But he just acts like it's normal, like it doesn't mean anything, like it doesn't…it doesn't…" Kyou suddenly ran out of steam, his brow quirking in confusion.

A look of gentle understanding crossed Kazuma's face. "Like it doesn't raise new questions about yourself?"

Kyou's head bent low; after a moment, it bobbed softly in assent.

Kazuma sighed. "I haven't seen much of Hatsuharu recently, but he always had a strong sense of self, even as a child. It may be that he doesn't have to ask himself those questions because he's known the answers since long before this all happened."

Kyou said nothing, nor did he lift his head or really move at all. But he was listening, and that was all Kazuma needed to go on.

"It may be that talking to him again could help you find the answers to those questions. If not that, at the very least it could help you to resolve the bad feelings between the two of you. Just understand that no matter what answers you find, you'll never stop being my son and you will always be welcome here."

Kyou bit his lower lip, then nodded. He couldn't seem to find his voice anymore, but he knew Shishou would understand.

Kazuma smiled and got to his feet. "Good. Well, since you cooked I guess I'll clean up." He gathered up his plate and reached over the table to get Kyou's, when suddenly the orange-headed boy's hand shot out and gripped his arm.

"Sh…Shishou…" he almost whispered, still not looking up. "Can I…stay here tonight?"

Kazuma put the dishes down and gently touched the hand that gripped him like a lifeline. "Of course, Kyou. I'd be happy to have you back for the night."

The boy's grip released at the answer, then fell completely lax to his side. He got to his feet slowly. "Th--thank you," he said quietly. "I…I think I'll turn in early."

"Goodnight, Kyou," Kazuma said as the boy turned around and made his way down the hall to his old room. Once he heard Kyou sliding his door shut, Kazuma let out a sigh and went back to gathering up the dishes.

'I only hope the morning will bring him some clarity,' he thought as he cleaned up the kitchen. It was the only thing he could do well in the place, after having so much practice cleaning up his own disastrous attempts at cooking.

Kyou changed into his usual sleepwear slowly, letting the distant sounds of running water and clinking dishes remind him that he had a home here. He threw himself face-first onto the bed, half tempted to smother himself with the pillow. 'Fine. Fine, fine, fine. I'll talk to the airhead soon, and clear up this whole mess on my own once that's out of the way.'

'…'

'……'

'…and maybe I'll get lucky and smother myself in my sleep.'

------

Author's Note: I hereby declare that I shall no longer predict the events in the upcoming chapters. Damn story just has a life of it's own.

This chapter's a little angstier than I had planned for it to be, but it just strikes me that Kyou would have a difficult time finding out he might be gay. I'm trying to write as realistically as I can, and not rush it along. But seeing as the goal of this fic is to get our boys together (and watch droolfully), I don't really see it ending very soon.

Does anyone else see Hatori looking out for Haru? It's just too cute.