Author's Notes: Almost a year since my last update? YOU LIE! –twiddles fingers- I hope you like this chapter… it seems almost like a filler to me even though I know it's not. I'm setting the stage for—
Oh, now why would I ruin the surprise? :D

And as a FOREWARNING: this chapter, as my beta said, isn't slow, per se, it's just that nothing really happens. I'm building up the environment. NEXT chapter and the ones that follow are where the actions starts to come in!

Disclaimer: I think I've done everything but dance around a fire with the traditional war-paint getup singing about my crap-tastic life to prove to you that I kinda have no ownership in this… What? You WANT me to dance around a fire with the traditional war-paint getup and sing about my crap-tastic life? Well! Why didn't you say so! –starts smashing the berries for the paint-

Title: Fallen for You

Chapter 7: By Any Other Name

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The colors were brilliant; the light was blinding. So much so that Yuya immediately slammed her eyes shut after opening them. The bright rays of the sun peeked in from the cracks of the curtains, leaving streaks across the room, one of which lay directly over her right eye.

She let her breath out in a whoosh through her nose in slight irritation at being so rudely awakened and shifted so that the sun wasn't beating on her eyes any longer. Her sleep-hazed mind relaxed and she was dangling precariously on the edge between dozing and actually sleeping when voices seeped into her consciousness. It took a while for her to come up fully from the deep pools of sleep and even longer for her to make sense of what was being said. By the time her mind was functional and all remnants of her exhaustion was gone, the two people—a man and a woman—had finished talking and there was a shuffling sound and the clicking of a door as it was opened and then shut again.

Yuya's green eyes fluttered open and she squinted in the bright room, trying as hard as she could to keep as much sunlight as possible out of her irritable irises.

"So you're awake," the woman she heard talking earlier murmured from across the room. The woman had long, dark, ebony-black hair and dark eyes as well. She was definitely busty, that much was for sure, with a body that was generously curved. And she was tall. Yuya guessed that if they stood face-to-face, the woman would be several inches taller—it sucked being short. "You sure do cause a lot of trouble, don't you?" the woman continued, her melodious voice prickly with an edge of reproach.

A flame of indignation flickered to life and Yuya opened her mouth to retort. However, she found that instead of a smart comment, a short, barking cough erupted from her.

The woman smirked at her with lips that were perfectly covered with rose-red lipstick. "Are you stupid or something? Kyo told me that you managed to get cold on a beautiful, warm summer night. And you even managed to catch some sort of sniffle."

"Who are you?" Yuya finally managed to ask after clearing her throat. Her voice was much more timid than she would've liked it to be.

"Okuni," she offered. When Yuya raised an eyebrow at the lack of a second name, she continued, "Just Okuni for you."

Yuya gave a small shrug. "Fine then, Just Okuni. Mind telling me where I am?"

Okuni's smirk fell and her eyes grew cold. "Sure I can tell you," she replied icily. "You're in my apartment, in Kyo's bedroom, lying in Kyo's bed." She voice was sharp by the time she was done.

"Eh?" Yuya jerked, taken aback. Since when did that bastard care enough about me to allow me to sleep in his bed? she mused, not sure whether or not to be disturbed or amused at the thought.

Okuni's top lip curled in disgust. "I guess you really are slow or something. In case you couldn't follow me before, you're laying in Kyo's bed."

Her dark green eyes blinked before slowly shifting around the room, curiously taking everything in. The room was a mixture of red and black—but mostly red. The walls were painted black, the carpets were black, but the quilt on his bed was a rich crimson-red. There were a few posters adorning the walls, most of them a year or more old. She found that all of them were the sort of musical band that her father would've wrinkled his nose at in disgust while mumbling something like: "Yuya, dear, if I ever see you listening to any of that junk…"

Her father had always drifted off while making threats. He never finished them—and he didn't need to, not really; she would've rather fallen over dead before disobeying her father when she was younger. So she had never found out what he would've done to her if she had gone against his wishes. By the time she started rebelling against his authority, she was getting ready to move out and start college.

"So you've said," Yuya finally replied to Okuni. "I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, though."

Okuni scowled openly at her. "Just what are you doing here?" she demanded, tone clipped.

"What are you doing here, if I might ask?" Yuya retaliated. "You said this was Kyo's room, not yours, so technically you have no right to be in here."

"Well, aren't you just perceptive?" The words were not a compliment. It took a moment for Yuya to pick up the smug tone and she tilted her head curiously. "I'm not sure if it's any of your concern, or whether or not you'd care," Okuni continued, giving Yuya a look that suggested she really did want Yuya to be bothered by what she was going to say. "I'm free to go through all of Kyo's things. We're in love."

Yuya gritted her teeth in annoyance. "I see then. That would explain it then, I suppose." Something searing hot licked at the back of her mind and the sensation left her feeling incredibly frustrated. "So that would make you his…" She drifted off for a moment to take a breath to calm herself. Her mounting frustration was making it hard to concentrate. "… girlfriend?" she finally managed.

"Would there be a problem if I said that presumption was correct?" Okuni asked lightly.

Something in the back of her mind practically screamed at Yuya to reply that yes, of course there was a problem with that, but she wasn't entirely sure why she had the urge to say anything like that. So she said the opposite. "Not really."

Okuni leaned forward slightly, her impeccable, nearly lazy grin still curving her lips. Her dark eyes stared into Yuya's green, gauging the blonde woman for some sort of reaction. Yuya, almost self-consciously, gripped the dark quilt that pooled around her hips as she waited for Okuni to break the silence.

Moments went by and Okuni did nothing to ease the awkward atmosphere. Yuya pursed her lips before her tolerance snapped.

"What's your problem?" she demanded, slightly put-off when her voice cracked. "You've done nothing but act rude to me from the moment you opened your mouth. What's your problem—?"

"He's not interested in little girls like you," Okuni suddenly cut in. Her words were cold and her lacksidasical expression was replaced with smooth indifference. "I think it's only fair to warn you."

"Warn… me…" Yuya slowly mouthed to herself before shaking her head, eyes wide. "You're wrong."

"Am I?" the brunette woman challenged. "I've known Kyo much longer than you have, I assure you. He never takes the slightest interest in girls like you. A poor little thing like you has a fragile heart—easily broken. I would hate to—"

"I don't know what you're implying," Yuya replied defensively, "but what I meant when I said you were wrong was that I don't have any interest in him—at all." Almost as an afterthought, she tacked on, "He's an inconsiderate asshole."

"Is that what you really think?"

"Yes," she said firmly.

Okuni crossed her arms across her chest and gave Yuya a look that suggested she didn't believe it one bit. "You don't mean that. You may think you do, but that's what everyone says when they meet Kyo. But he's so kind and considerate when you get to know him—"

"I don't care about any of that 'you have to get to know him' bullshit," Yuya interjected rudely. "I hear it all the time. And I. Don't. Care. I don't like him at all, I can swear to you. He's an inconsiderate bastard with no respect for women and that's all there is to it."

"You're such a blonde fool!" Okuni suddenly hissed, her beautifully dark eyes narrowing to a hair's width. "You know what? I hope you do fall for him! And I hope he breaks your heart just like he—"

"Okuni."

Her name was softly spoken—so much so that Yuya didn't hear it at first—but the woman froze immediately. Her expression that had twisted up in her anger relaxed. Her shoulders also relaxed and slumped slightly. It was almost like she was a mechanical doll that had had its switch turned off; the change in her was so dramatic.

"Kyo," Okuni murmured in response, the unspoken 'what do you want?' in her somewhat reverent tone.

"Knock it off," Kyo ordered. "If you're going to stand there and bitch, then preach to someone who's actually going to listen."

Okuni's eyes wandered back over to Yuya. "Of course, I've no idea what I was thinking, talking to her about things like that."

Yuya flicked a lock of her golden hair from her eyes and gave a contemptuous sneer towards Okuni. Yuya would never, ever, ever in her life be so compliant towards another male, or towards another human being, for that matter. Kyoshiro had always called her unruly, and he definitely caught her essence within that one word.

Although she was slightly taken aback that Kyo was almost defending her from the ire of Okuni. With how much respect he had shown her before—ahem, none—she was surprised hell hadn't frozen over already. She was so ready to walk up to the man and tug on his ear, just to make sure that Kyo wasn't some sort of hallucination of hers, when he continued:

"Now leave, would you"—despite the wording of his sentence, it was not a question, and Okuni knew that full well—"I have to talk to her."

Yuya bit her tongue to keep from yelling at him that it was rude to talk about someone like they weren't there but decided to save her breath. He was just going to give a smart-ass or insulting response to anything she said.

Okuni pouted, fluttering her long lashes. "It's not like you have to tell her anything that has to be kept secret from me," she purred innocently. "So I don't really have to go anywhere—"

"Leave, Okuni." Kyo's tone of voice was law, and like a kicked puppy, the voluptuous woman shot a last look of disdain in Yuya's direction before leaving, figuratively limping from the poor beating her ego had undergone.

Yuya had no problem speaking her mind. "I don't like her."

"I've yet to find someone who does," Kyo rumbled in consensus, which made Yuya freeze comically.

"Did you just—I mean, did we just agree on something?" Her deep green eyes were wide with wonder. "I think that's a first…"

The edge of Kyo's mouth twitched downward. "I'm glad you have enough maturity to take it like an adult," he commented dryly.

Yuya scowled- an expression that she seemed to permanently adorn whenever she was around Kyo. "I'm just sayin'," she grumbled. "We never get along, so it came as a shock is all. Geez."

He absentmindedly flicked several locks of hair from his eyes in mild annoyance. "I have class in twenty minutes," He informed her suddenly. "Not to be rude—well, yeah, to be rude—get the hell out of my room. And my home. And my life."

Yuya's scowl deepened. "See? My point exactly—you're a bastard! What time is it, anyway?"

"Just after eight-thirty."

"Bwah!" Yuya squeaked and leapt to her feet. "No way!" Horror and disbelief colored her voice.

"Way!" Kyo replied, mocking her.

Yuya didn't bother to grace the bastard with any response, instead flitting around the room anxiously, trying to find clothes that looked familiar. She currently wore a long, simplistically pretty nightgown that no doubt Okuni had put on her sometime during the night. She had no intention on going to class in such a thing and she really didn't want to rush back to her apartment in such a thing.

She groaned in exasperation as she fell to her knees, scanning under the bed. Seeing nothing but dust bunnies, she pushed herself up onto all fours and—

Something whapped her in the face and stuck, looking almost like a curtain of some sort. Yuya blinked before peeling it off of her face and scrutinizing it.

A shirt.

Kyo's shirt, no doubt.

"Put that on," he instructed her. He shuffled through a nearby pile of clothes and tossed her a pair of loose pants—or rather, they were loose-fitting for Kyo. For Yuya, they were baggy—bordering on being able to be labeled as "cargo pants," even.

Yuya blinked down at the clothes dumbly, not sure how to react. She lifted each article and inspected it before turning a helpless look to Kyo. He stared monotonously at her and, finally, she huffed.

"Get out, then. If I'm getting changed, I'm not doing it in front of you." For some reason, she had to force the hostility into the words and they ended up sounding stilted and unnatural—hollow, even.

Kyo smirked and crossed his arms. "And here I was about to tell you that that was part of the deal for giving you a roof to sleep under last night." His smirk widened when Yuya's eyes narrowed. "Or so I'm sure you'd like me to say. In truth, I'd rather not see what you hide under those clothes. I know for a fact that you have a body to match your dog face."

Yuya flushed with annoyance and flames of irritation licked at her green eyes. She pulled back her lips to snarl a retort, but Kyo didn't give her the time of day and left, closing the door behind him, before she got a chance. "Bastard," she hissed at the wall. Yuya took off her—no, Okuni's—nightgown and pulled on Kyo's clothes with stiff, jerking motions, all the while grumbling and snarling under her breath.

It's no wonder such a flippin' annoying guy like him wound up with such a bitch like Okuni… she thought to herself as she straightened the legs of the pants.

Even as the thought filtered into her mind, a white-hot anger—almost like frustration—poked at her chest.

Then again, it's not like anyone should need to be punished like that… I'd pity anyone who has to deal with that woman, even if it's Kyo, she mentally grumbled, picturing Kyo and Okuni together.

And—for the strangest reason—the frustration-white-hot-anger grew a little hotter, growing more confident, the poking turning into a sharp jabbing. Yuya's lips dipped down in a contemplative frown, unsure as to the cause of the annoying sensation.

Although I have to say, anyone else but Okuni might just be too good for him. She nibbled at her bottom lip, and the—the fire in her chest started to burn up the back of her throat. She let out an even breath, trying to calm the white-hot feeling and left the room, intent on finding Kyo and getting to class.

As she headed down the short hall, distorted voices floated down to her and she followed the sound. And before she knew it, she was in the main room of the apartment. Kyo was relaxed on the couch, laying in a nonchalant manner, with Okuni—

The red-hot heated frustration snapped and crackled before seeping from her chest up towards her head. Yuya stopped in her tracks and blinked at the sight. Okuni was on her knees in front of the couch where Kyo sat, her fingers splayed over his chest. She was leaning up to whisper something to him…

I actually half expected her to be between his legs… She rolled her eyes, forcefully choking out the mental images. She bit into her cheeks and dug her nails into her palm to momentarily distract herself from the damn fire that was eating away at her insides. It was seriously starting to get annoying.

"Kyo, come on. I don't want to be late."

Her throat burned with the effort that went into keeping her not-so-nice comments about Okuni in her head. The white-hot blaze in her mind worked and manipulated the thought of just letting one comment slide… just one… wouldn't hurt.

She had to physically slap a hand over her mouth. When it attracted both Kyo's and Okuni's attention, Yuya made it look like she was merely being overzealous in stifling a yawn.

"Of course we don't want you to be late," Kyo finally answered, shoving Okuni away and standing up, arching his back and rolling his shoulders as he headed to the door. Green eyes locked onto dark brown and Yuya couldn't stop the smile from coming to her lips if she tried. The look on Okuni's face was just too priceless—the woman really didn't like the way Kyo had thrown her aside with no second thoughts.

As Yuya slipped on her shoes and tied up the laces, she sent Okuni one last sideways sneer and padded after Kyo, satisfied for some odd reason. The weird irritation from before was fading as quickly as it had come, and Yuya couldn't help but feel confused. Precisely what had provoked her irrational and rude behavior?

It wasn't like she was jealous or anything.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I'm glad to know you live!" someone chirped, coming from behind her suddenly and encircling her in a warm embrace.

Yuya stopped short, quite surprised at Yukimura's blatant show of affection. She twisted in his hold to look at him over her shoulder mutely, blinking at him. He beamed at her, doing that chiggling (1) thing again.

"You've no idea how worried Kyoshiro's been." He pressed his cheek against her, a wry, wistful expression lightening his face. "He called me at two this morning, panicked that you had been kidnapped in your sleep and he hadn't been able to save you—"

"I was not that worried!" a new voice proclaimed suddenly, an embarrassed flavoring sprinkling the words. "No one would be able to kidnap Yuya and be sane enough to keep her. They'd eventually dump her on the street, begging for her to just walk away and leave them alone. She's strong. She'd be able to find—"

Yuya growled low in her throat and at the sound, Kyoshiro suddenly cut himself off, freezing, hoping the girl wouldn't whirl and knock him into a new week. Yukimura, however, kept her in an embrace, snuggling close, humming some inscrutable tune under his breath. "He was worried," Yukimura murmured in assurance. "He was going into panic mode. He might've even been almost ready to cry."

Yuya remained silent, feeling guilty and pathetic that she had made Kyoshiro go through so much trouble. She reached up to idly pat at Yukimura's head like one would to their adorable pet dog (she vaguely thought to herself that if the circumstances had been different, patting a pop star like she was would have been one of the weirdest things she had ever done) and as she did so, her gaze locked onto Kyo who had, miraculously, stayed nearby the entire time. Red bore into emerald and Yuya was so fixated on those bloody-crimson eyes that she didn't even notice Kyo coming towards her until he was standing directly in front of her.

"Kyo—" was the only sound of protest that was able to squeeze past her lips before he grabbed her shoulder in a smooth, liquid motion and literally yanked her out of Yukimura's friendly embrace. "Owww…" she grumbled, batting his hand away from her abused appendage and rubbing at it. "What the hell was that for?" she snapped at him, not pleased in the least.

Kyo, however, offered no explanation, instead engaging a stare contest with Yukimura. More of a one-sided staring contest, really, since Yukimura just beamed at the other man gleefully. How he was always so happy and up-beat was beyond Yuya at that point…

"I didn't mean any offense," the pop star chirped.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the other—Kyoshiro—demanded sharply at the same time.

"Now, now, Kyoshiro, is that any way to talk to the person who kept Yuya safe last night from her would-be-kidnappers that you were fretting about?" Yukimura inquired. His soothing, gentle voice seemed to hypnotize the atmosphere.

Kyoshiro opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, thought better of it, and closed it only to open it once more. Finally, he let out a long, agitated sigh. He crossed his arms and glared at Kyo. "The damn bastard is so annoy—thank you."

Yuya idly wondered why it was that her friend looked like he was in pain when he said that…

Kyo, however, just smirked and for some reason, Kyoshiro bristled.

"That's what you wanted, right?" Kyoshiro demanded almost calmly. For some reason the mere fact that his icy voice was so docile was scary in of itself. "A thank you?" he clarified. "Well you have it now."

Crystalline blue met bloody red and, unlike when Yuya's eyes had locked onto Kyo's, there was no momentary connection. Instead, blue sparks of hatred seemed to bounce off of between them. The thick atmosphere was almost tangible.

And then—

Kyo turned and left, as silent as he'd come. Yuya's arms crossed over her chest and she gave Kyoshiro a look, lifting an eyebrow. "What's your problem? He didn't even do anything to you that time."

Her childhood-friend looked back at her glumly but opted not to say anything, which only served to poke at her temper and merely confused her more. Kyoshiro had never really hidden anything from her. He never really had anything to hide to begin with, but that was beside the point. The two had always confided in each other and had been the other's support from what seemed to be from the beginning of time—way back when the only time they fought was when there was only one blue crayon in the box; way back when thing that girls had to worry about when it came to boys was how to get rid of their cooties…

She had never actually fought with Kyoshiro. Not once.

But now, with hurt lying heavy in her heart, frustration and irritation licking her mind, and burning tears eating away at the back of her throat, she turned and walked away from their first spat.

And, the strangest thing of all, she found herself wandering the same way Kyo had gone. Weirdest of all, though, was she followed him with the subconscious desire to be comforted.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Yukimura was quiet for a long time. Even his silence seemed gentle, oddly enough. While most people had an agitated air around them as they waited for the right moment to speak or fidgeted nervously with a repressed ADHD moment, Yukimura waited with an unending amount of patience. He was even humming an inscrutable tune under his breath again.

And finally, when he spoke, there was amusement hidden behind his words. "Miss Yuya sure looked comfortable."

Kyoshiro pouted. "Comfortable how? She came in with that bastard, Kyo."

"Precisely!" Yukimura beamed and nodded. "She came with Kyo… wearing Kyo's clothes, too."

Kyoshiro frowned, completely confused. "Eh?" He articulated oh-so wonderfully. Yukimura, however, merely smiled roguishly, offering no further explanations. Thus, the poor confused raven scratched his head, thinking hard. He put a hand on his hip and looked up towards the lovely blue sky, like it was going to spell it out for him. He stared for a long, long time. A soft breeze whistled between—

"Oh, hell no!!" The screech left Kyoshiro's throat ragged and raw, but he couldn't have cared less at that point in time. "Are you insinuating that maybe they—together? That's sick and I'm going to kill—"

"But it's what we wanted," Yukimura murmured, using his slim fingers to comb through a few of his lock longs and flicking them over his shoulder gracefully in a very feminine motion. "We wanted Yuya to help Kyo find some peace with himself. To do so, they need to get together—"

"Not together-together!" Kyoshiro exclaimed, flushing. "That's just nasty!"

Yukimura's smile evaporated and he looked up suddenly, slightly startling the other. "Kyoshiro," the pop star began calmly, "it's a natural part of life and a natural part of a relationship. You agreed that this is just what Kyo needs—"

"He doesn't need Yuya," Kyoshiro snarled viciously. "Hell, he doesn't even deserve her. He doesn't even deserve to stand on the same dirt that she stood on."

Yukimura was once again silent for a long time. His beautiful cerulean eyes were skyward for a long time, flicking back and forth as he watched the clouds change shape, morphing into majestic creatures and shapes of the imagination. He merely waited. And when Kyoshiro had finished swearing Kyo out, he spoke again:

"Have you even bothered to explain to Yuya about him?"

Kyoshiro suddenly froze mid-tantrum and started shuffling his feet, twiddling his fingers. "Um… does she really need to—"

"Unless you explain everything to her, then I suggest that you don't protest our original plan—any and all carnal actions included." Yukimura's attention remained on the white, fluffy cotton balls in the sky.

Kyoshiro grumbled to himself before crossing his arms and sighing, pouting. "Fiiiiine," he relented in a whine. "I'll go along with this plan, but I swear the first time anything seems weird, I'm calling it off. I do not want Yuya getting hurt."

It was then that he remembered just how perceptive his friend was.

Once again without bothering to look at Kyoshiro, the pop star murmured, "Who are you more scared is going to get hurt; Yuya… or you?"

Kyoshiro couldn't even think up of a retort to that. Thankfully, it turned out he didn't need to. Just then, a small boy dressed in soft colors with platinum blond hair—it could even pass as a weird shade of silver—appeared from seemingly no where. The boy ran up to Yukimura, scowling.

"Sasuke."

The word flowed from the pop star's mouth and Yukimura finally looked down from his transfixion to smile charmingly at the boy. The boy's—Sasuke's—expression, in turn, melted and a soft smile tugged at his lips.

"Where's Saizo?" Yukimura inquired.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What am I now; his babysitter? He ran off. He's around here… somewhere."

The pop star didn't react to that, instead turning toward Kyoshiro. "I think I have a plan as to how to get Kyo and Miss Yuya a little closer together."

And as Yukimura voiced his unfolding plots, his left hand idly ruffled Sasuke's sleek, silver-blond tresses affectionately. Sasuke stiffened, lightly batting at the older man's hand.

Only when Yukimura's hand had fallen by his side did Sasuke allow a content grin to play at his lips.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

(1) For those of you who need a little reminder, "chiggle" is my own invention. It's the words giggle and chuckle smashed into one. It's the perfect word to describe Yukimura's feminine, squeal-tastic laughs. (Sorry, ya might need to be a Yukimura girl to fully appreciate my creativity… v.v)

Jennipher-willbedeleted-, Paradigm08 (anonymous), Chaotic Angel7, Reignashii, peckforever, Impashence, twilight09, sckry, myxdeadxvalentine, Behan, wateveruwannacallme, Fluffy1322 (anonymous), akiraYuan, Fluffy1322 (Did you review twice? XD), Edowen, The Violet Muffin (Oh, don't worry. I have a few tricks planned out… 3)

S'ankyuu for the lovely comments. They really helped. Seriously. Helped. Hopefully now I might be able to update this semi-oftenly now that my IY fanfic is COMPLETE! Actually, there's two things that helped me write this chapter—

One: pain. My friend pierced my ears and they, er, just might be a wee infected and bleeding and crap. Also, did you know toenails not only protect your squishy insides but also keep your toes warm. I didn't know that last factoid until I lost most of mine. ;-;

Two: wonderful music! XD I downloaded (illegally… shhhh!) some wonder-tastic songs that inspired me! :3 I recommend that if you like rock and you've heard of Li'l Wayne's "Lollipop" (whether or not you liked it) that you check out Framing Hanley's rock version of the same song. Rock over rap ANY day, my dears!

So, anyhoo… -winces- Please comment and tell me if I lost my touch since my last update? ;-;

Ciao!