After hearing this, Yuki did not stay in the grand Sohma house any longer.
But while he left, he obviously made some reassessments: Of course, he'd known that the cat was condemned to imprisonment, but he never knew that Akito had made a bet with him. Now he understood a great many things: now Kyo's rage was not only explained, but even justified, and Yuki saw that every ounce of Kyo's hatred, every insult and punch and raillery was nothing more than desperation and black misery that Akito had turned into furor against Yuki, pitting him and Kyo against each other for his own cruel pleasure.
And any grudge still held by Yuki against his poor, tormented love Kyo was drowned and torn to pieces by the great flood of explanations which inundated his mind. Yet this revelatory tidal wave brought with it no peace, for now Yuki's soul was as a small ship tossed into a vast tempest, at every moment prey to the immense waves of doubt and torment, ready to sink.
"Did you get that girl?" Shigure asked when he saw Yuki came back.
Yuki didn't answer.
"I'll take that as a no," said Shigure.
But Yuki still didn't rejoin, and in accordance with his nautical metaphor went upstairs to take a bath. Then, he took his clothes off and filling the tub with hot water slowly submerged his tired, body into the shallow water, hoping to wash away his troubles in the hypnotising heat of the bath.
And sure enough, as he closed his eyes, he felt every trouble of his soul dissolve, and the storm clouds in his mind were whisked away, so that finally the ship of his soul saw the lighthouse that would guide it to port.
The plan he thought of was pretty simple, and he was surprised he'd thought of it so quickly, but he would apply it. Kyo would be happy, and he would be happy in more than one way.
A few days later, Kyo was coming back from school, and thinking of a thousand different things.
Of course this didn't mean he wasn't going to leave for England. Kyo, just like anyone else, knew that once Akito made a decision, it was deemed as infallible as a Papal decree.
Kyo still hadn't become used to the idea. England… oh God, he'd be all alone. Heck, he barely even spoke English. Of course, an all-boys school couldn't be that bad, he'd always preferred male company over female –maybe Kagura had something to do with this- and he could make friends and everything, but when he came back… Not to mention that he'd still, technically, be all alone. He didn't usually have trouble with that kind of stuff, but making friendships in a place where boys had for all practical purposes lived together since childhood wouldn't be an easy task.
Still, he consoled himself, he'd manage; it would be better than Kaibara… besides, if anybody did try to mess with him he could probably beat them to the pulp, and to be truthful, anything was better as far away as possible from the Jyunishi. There would be boyish camaraderie, and whatnot; he'd read that in book.
But in any case, Kyo thought, wasn't he alone here in Japan too? Sure, he was surrounded, but did anyone really care about him? There was Shigure, who let him live in his house, and he guessed that was good…
There was Kagura, but he'd rather if she hated him, because really all her love just humiliated him the more… I mean, what kind of a martial artist can't get a girl off his back?
And then he had Kazuma, and he loved Kazuma very much, but, even though he never told it to himself, he knew he was little more than Kazuma's guilt trip; sometimes, in the gentle words of his sensei, he saw that for all his devotion he loved in truth not him but his dead grandfather. But he shouldn't think these things… Kazuma was good to him, which was more than you could say for anybody else. But he loved him like a parent, and even though in its own realm the love of a parent is far superior to any other love imaginable, it… it just doesn't always suffice.
Not to mention that for all the ruckus that was made of it, Kazuma was not his real father… and he didn't even want to start with real fathers.
But Kyo didn't think about that, he was already depressed enough as things were.
It's a sad time when thinking about one's real father makes one even sadder.
I mean, heck, his own father didn't even love him… what could Kyo possibly expect for life?
Maybe he'd find someone in England, Kyo then began to think in an astoundingly optimistic streak. Maybe there would be some boy, some other tormented soul that he could share his pains with, a taciturn, cool roommate with which he could relate, someone with whom he'd become an inseparable friends. Maybe people in Europe were nicer –though he strongly doubted it- and he'd find there a brother the kind of which he'd never had, some that could finally stand by him in his dark, lonely misery.
Oh, God, he needed someone that loved him… Anyone!
As Kyo thought these thoughts, he arrived at the entrance of Shigure's house.
But standing on the front porch was someone he'd never expected to see greeting him.
