Quick note: I bought a keyboard for my kindle, but the speechmarks come up as an at sign (so does the actual at sign). I'm sure I can sort it, but I don't have time, so formatting has changed slightly for this chapter. My kindle also won't spellcheck when using the keyboard... I have looked through but I apologise if there are any errors I have missed.

Accounts. No matter how old he gets he will always hate them. They suck the fun out of living alone. Before he left the Sohma household Shigure had never seen a bill, bar those you get from cafes and shops, so his first few months of living in the real world turned out to be a badly needed lesson. Hatori had almost laughed at him. It was a humilating time, not knowing what to do.

Still, he had worked it out and now it was just another boring but necesary job at the end of each month. At least his books sold well, even without the money he received from the Sohma house it wasn't like paying his bills would be a difficult task. He was a best seller all over Japan with two different pseudonyms.

Outside it was sunny, so today he had set himself up by the open door, his papers neatly arranged on his desk. He should be writing his next book, he had several ideas, but that could wait until all his money was in order again.

It would come as a surprise, he mused, for anyone to realise just how diligently he kept his records. Once they saw the state of his house (before Tohru had come along anyway) they had just assumed he would be that lax about everything. He was not.

Pages rustle as he turns them and his pen scratches against the paper softly. He is in his own little world, humming away under his breath when Kyo comes crashing in.

It is not altogther surprising so he continues what he is doing as the cat slumps down to the ground, a sulky look on his face. Shigure can tell even though Kyo is turned away from him.

`So,' he says to break the silence, `first day of transfer and you're already skipping class?' He takes a wild guess... `Lost to Yuki again?'

There is a pause, a gloomy thing that hangs in the air, before Kyo speaks. `I want to leave this place.'

`After only three days?' Shigure knows Kyo doesn't have much staying power, but this is just ridiculous. There has to be some way to get him to put some effort in. Akito won't like it if he gives up just like that.

If there is anything Kyo does give his all it is training. Shigure turns a page, he doesn't want to spend any longer than he needs to on these bloody accounts. He can multitask. `Think of this as training,' it's a good ploy, he thinks, it will make Kyo more detirmined. `Learn to endure it.'

Another pause, another gloomy silence. `I always say to her... the wrong thing.'

`Her...' Shigure's mind shoots straight to Akito and the mess he has made with that particular relationship. He can sympathise, he supposes. `You mean Tohru?' Who else could he mean? Here Shigure was thinking Yuki was the one going to be head over heels, meanwhile the little rat was showing no signs and Kyo was the one pining. This is a development and a half, though maybe not a bad one on the whole `breaking the curse' front. He laughs. `As usual you yelled at her? If you know you'll regret it afterwards, don't do it. You're hopeless.' He should probably take his own advice here, though to be fair Ren is the spliting image of what Akito would be if she had been brought up female.

If he told Akito that it might manage to make things worse, at least she is still speaking to him, currently.

`It's impossible,' Shigure doesn't think Kyo's voice can become any more glum. `I am not suited to living with other people.'

Shigure frowns at his accounts. Kyo isn't isn't a charmer like himself, but he isn't as bad as he perhaps thinks he is. `Although there are people like that, you are purely lacking experience,' he tells his cousin firmly. Maybe he needs some pep talking to cheer him up a little. That might work.

`For example, you can chop the table in half with one hit. You can also stop your fist. That's because you can control the strength of your punch, right?' Shigure congratulates himself on putting this in a way Kyo will understand. `This is a result of your training in the mountains, fighting with bears.'

`I didn't fight with bears!' The glare he receives is typical Kyo and that is reassuring. He's on the right track. Of course he is, he's brilliant.

`Dealing with people is the same,' he continues, there was a point to this after all. `The only difference is that this training is not in the mountains, but in the city. In dealing with people sometimes you hurt others, or get hurt yourself. If you don't learn from other people, in principle, you will never become an understanding person.' He thinks he is being a very good adult rigt now, wait until Ayame and Hatori hear about this, they won't believe him.

`You may be a black belt in martial arts, but in dealing with people you are still a white belt. For the sake of someday, someone who will love you, you must not run away now. You have to continue your training.'

Kyo snorts. `There are people like that?'

The laugh bubbles out of Shigure, if there is someone who can love him then there will definitely be someone who can love Kyo, whether it's his little crush, Tohru, or not. `What will you do if there is?'

`Hard to imagine... I might ask her `are you crazy?''

`Really?' He is about to say more, to solidify Kyo's improved mood, but Yuki ruins the moment.

`I'm home,' he says to the room in general.

Shigure inwardily sighs as Kyo immediately bristles, sitting up. Still, it isn't Yuki's fault...

`Welcome back! Where's Tohru?'

`She went to her part time job. She said dinner just needs to be reheated. She won't be back until around eleven, so I was planning to walk her home.'

Shigure can't help it, he knows Kyo is listening with rapt attention... `Ah, you had better, there are some real perverts around here.'

He snickers to himself as they leave the room.

I wrote this at work... that's turning into a thing for me.

Forrestwater: I see what you mean about the semicolons... I will go back and edit next time I'm on my computer, thanks. :) (And also thank you to all my other reviewers, it really is lovely to get so much support!)

Any requests for what you want to see Shigure doing while the kids are at school? I have plenty of ideas but more can't hurt!