This was it; it was now or never! Without much warning, Kyo was going to fight Yuki again!

At first he'd been a bit stunned by the offer, but quickly he began to feel that familiar rush of adrenaline, and in no time he was in ship-shape condition to do battle with the rat; he felt as good and as energetic as ever, and perhaps even better because of all the time they'd gone without fighting.

"Bring it on, Yuki!" he cried again, and they began to fight.

Yuki was formidable as always, blocking blow after blow from Kyo while the latter slowly gained ground. He'd throw kicks and punches in a vicious flurry, aiming for every part of Yuki's body and hoping to tire down the rat-boy, and praying to hit him with even one of those blows.

"I can see it," Kyo thought to himself, as he fought on "He's growing weak… Now I've got to concentrate! I've got to keep my cool! This is the turning point. "

It was true. But it always happened like this: Kyo always fiercely tried to gain advantage, and he always almost succeeded… Even if whenever he got the upper hand, even for a split second, Yuki would knock him out with a brilliant coup-de-grace.

But this time was different.

The deciding moment was close, Kyo could feel it, and he could see that so could Yuki.

"Any second now," Kyo thought to himself "Brace yourself… he's going to try it, he's going to do it… but this time you're going to be strong!"

Yuki always won around this point. But not today; not this time: all of Kyo's senses were heightened, all his mind was alert, his very soul was on guard

This time was different!

And just here Yuki attempted to deliver his usual high kick.

But, wonder of wonders, Kyo saw it coming, and with reflex worthy of his feline ancestry, blocked it.

And then with a majestic blow to the chin he knocked Yuki to the ground.

Now, for the first few seconds after this, Kyo was in a sort of trance. He couldn't bring himself to believe what had just happened, he couldn't fathom the situation, and his senses felt like they would in a dream, as if they'd gone forth and left his soul behind.

But slowly he re-synched with reality, and he began to grasp what had just happened:

He'd defeated Yuki.

And that was sweeter than any dream he'd ever imagined. It was the apex, the zenith final completion of the one goal he'd always fought for but never, in the depths of his soul, believed he would accomplish.

He looked down at his fallen foe, and then at the sky, and with a smile sincere and pure like he'd not had in years, he shouted for victory, letting out the overflowing, bursting joy of his heart; and a thousand flowers bloomed and honey trickled from his lips as he cried:

"I beat Yuki!"

And meanwhile, Yuki lay on the ground, vanquished, and defeated. He'd dishonoured himself; he'd lost his supremacy; he'd been bested by his foulest foe.

But he was happy. Because –apart from the fact that Kyo looked really good like that- by slowing down his final blow by only a portion of a second, Yuki had managed to convincingly loose the battle, and to keep his lover free.

For now, by Yuki's artifice, Kyo had won his bet; and it seemed he would be set free.

Yet the author would like to put some emphasis on the words "it seemed"…