Hello, everyone! First off, I would like to apologize for waiting so long to post Chapter 7. What happened is, I thought I had posted it five days prior, so when I went to post this chapter I saw I hadn't and was like, "Oh, crap." So I immediately flew into a swift course of action, that action being to kick myself accordingly and go post the seventh chapter. Sorry! And I would like to apologize: in my frenzy, I forgot that when being introduced, people in Japan don't shake hands! That's a western custom. And I would like to thank blazergirl1720 for pointing that out. -hugs blazegirl1720, ignoring her clamoring attempts to obtain freedom- Heehee. Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers, and those of you who read, but don't review--I love you all, as well, but I wish you'd review and give me feedback. No matter, ONWARD!
Disclaimer: Don't own any Furuba.
Kyo strode back into the house and through the dinning room, heading towards the kitchen. The girls were still talking. Kazuma was on the phone with Hatori. The brown-haired squirt was nowhere to be seen. No one would interrupt him. Now was the time to act.
He opened the refrigerator and began to rummage through it's contents. Fruit, vegetables; mostly stuff that didn't require cooking of any sort. As he pushed past the half-filled cartons of take-out he became more and more discouraged until—"Hey!" Carefully, he pulled out his prize. He got a fork out of the drawer and sat down at the kitchen table. He was about to dig in when a sudden feeling of extreme danger overwhelmed him. A shadow fell on him, completely consuming the expanse of table around his abdomen. Kyo didn't dare look up. His pulse quickened; every cell in his body was screaming at him to ditch the food and run, but he couldn't move. There was no longer any place to go.
Slowly, exercising caution he didn't know he had ever possessed, he raised his gaze to look upon his assailant.
Shana stood before him, larger than life, her hands on her hips and a glare on her face. She spoke in a dark, threatening manner. "What…do you think…you are doing?"
Kyo didn't say a word, but only continued to stare up at her. A thin line of sweat formed on his forehead. He knew what would come next.
Shana's glare deepened. She jabbed an index finger at the plate in front of him. "You can't eat that piece of cake. It's mine."
Tohru was standing in the doorway of the kitchen when Kazuma approached. A quizzical look was posted on the face of the martial arts teacher. "What happened, Tohru?"
Tohru shook her head. "I—I don't know. We were talking and suddenly Shana-san got up and walked in here."
Kazuma nodded, then turned around and went into the dinning room. Tohru followed him. She frowned slightly as the instructor began moving the teacups and their saucers off the dinning table to a safer and more remote location. When he was finished, he left the dinning room and walked down the hall, past the kitchen, and turned into the laundry room. Tohru was at his heels.
"Ka—Kazuma-san, do you know—what are they—what's going on?"
Kazuma chuckled. "All you need to know is that you don't want to be in there for it." A sudden outburst of voices made Tohru jump.
"It is mine! It is! I even wrote my name on the saran wrap!" Shana shouted.
"Yeah, well, there wasn't any saran wrap on there when I pulled it out!"
"It doesn't matter! I bought it!"
"But your name wasn't on it!"
"Well, I don't see your name anywhere on there either, butch!"
"What! What did you call me!"
"You heard me!"
A loud crashing noise filtered in through the hum of appliances. "All right, that's it! Let's go, you little girl!"
"EH?" Tohru cried. "Kazuma-san, are they going to fight?"
Kazuma bent over and began pulling bunches of wet clothes out of the washing machine and putting them into the dryer. "Sounds like it."
Tohru whirled around and was down the hall in a heartbeat, leaving Kazuma and his unfinished laundry in the dust. Reaching the kitchen, she looked around. "Wait a minute, where did they go?"
She heard more violent-type noises, this time, coming from the dinning room. She turned and went in. Her jaw dropped at what she saw.
Shana and Kyo were standing on the dinning room table at opposite ends, both ready in their martial arts fighting stances. Kyo's glaring gaze was focused on his enemy, his mouth a grim slash of determination.
Tohru gasped. "What are you doing?" she cried.
"What?" Startled, Kyo looked down at Tohru. He didn't notice that Shana chose that precise time to shift her center of gravity. Jabbing her right fist forward, she struck a blow, boxing the momentarily bewildered Cat of the Zodiac legend right in the ear. Kyo broke out of whatever it was he had previously been in.
"What the hell!" He glared at the girl who had hit him, but not for long. Shana, not wasting any time at all, was bringing up her left leg to knock the wind out of him with a side kick.
"Dammit, Shana! You know better than that! In formal martial arts," he yelled, dodging the attack and launching one of his own, "you aren't supposed to start until the other person's ready!"
He hit her hard in the stomach, pushing her backwards a step or two. She coughed slightly, but quickly recovered herself and prepared to kick him again. Bringing up his own leg, Kyo and Shana both swung out with fierce force, each one fully prepared to knock the other into the wall behind them, no mercy. Tohru instinctively drew herself back towards the hall, away from the fight, squeezing her eyes shut. She didn't want to see this. She waited, listening intently for the crashing of people being thrown into various furniture pieces. She had seen Kyo fight with Yuki, Kagura, and Hatsuharu and knew from those previous experiences what noises to expect. She waited, ready to flinch. Nothing. She opened her eyes.
Kazuma was standing with his back facing Tohru, holding Shana's leg in one hand and Kyo's in the other. It appeared he had stopped both of them in mid-kick. Everyone was silent. Kazuma looked intently at each teenager in turn before he spoke: "I believe it is Shigure-san's house that is notorious for being constantly in repair, not mine."
Kyo lost his balance and fell onto his side, his leg still being held in the air by the martial arts instructor. "But—but Shishou!"
Kazuma shook his head and let go of both their legs. Then he smiled. "I'm not sure whether or not I should be happy at how quickly you've fallen back into your old routine." He chuckled. "If you have to spar, at least do it outside, please," he said as he turned quietly and left the room.
Kyo untangled himself and sat on the edge of the table, looking down at the floor. After a prolonged silence, he finally spoke. "We should probably go."
Shana nodded. Slowly, Kyo got to his feet while Shana and Tohru said their good-byes. He studied them briefly. Shana was completely calm, smiling and talking as if nothing had happened—the complete opposite of Tohru's behavior. Shocked and slightly nervous, the housekeeper was stammering and shaking a bit. Kyo sighed and looked away. He felt more than a little detached from the situation; he could see that they were speaking, but he barely heard a word. He barely heard anything. Glancing around the room, his gaze caught sight of something unfamiliar to him standing in the doorway to the hall. The little brown-haired boy was back. He was completely silent; if Kyo had not seen him, he never would have known the boy was there. Kyo instinctively stepped back. The boy was starring at him. He caught Kyo's eye and held his gaze, unblinking, and the two stood like that for what seemed like an eternity until—
"Kyo-kun," Tohru's voice interrupted the two boys unspoken exchange of dialogue. "Kyo-kun, are you all right?"
He looked at her in a rather drowsy manner. "Hunh?"
"Kyo-kun, are sick?" Gently, she placed her hand on his forehead and concentrated for a moment, trying to determine if it was too hot. He blushed and pushed her arm away, turning before anyone could see the red that had suddenly bloomed all over his face.
"It's fine, I'm fine," he said grumpily, heading towards the door. The boy had disappeared. "C'mon, we should go."
"Ah, okay," she stammered, following him out. Shana stood slightly inside the front door as Tohru caught up with Kyo. He stopped and waited for her, still looking at the ground. She turned to Shana. "Thank you very much, Shana-san, it was fun talking to you."
Shana smiled. "Yes it was. Perhaps we could do it again sometime." Tohru nodded in agreement. "Oh, and Kyo?" He looked at her. "You seem to have forgotten something." She held out the piece of cake.
He looked at the cake, surprised. "Thanks," he said simply, and took it from her hands. He turned and started slowly down the sidewalk as Shana closed the door.
Tohru caught up and walked beside him. "Kyo-kun, I thought you didn't like sweets."
He shook his head. "Not sweets, just chocolate, that girlie, sugary crap. Spice cake's my favorite," he said, gesturing to the cake in his hand as they crossed the street and headed home.
