Hey guys! Sorry for such a long wait between updates, still kinda stuck with writer's block on this. And I know it's kinda late, but I wanted to upload this for Dark Angel Of Wind's birthday! :3 Happy Birthday Sissy-cha, I hope you like this rather long chapter. I think it's the longest one I've posted so far.

Anyways, enjoy! And Happy Birthday Sissy-cha. 3


Chapter 9: The Stubborn Ox, Part 1


Jack sighed in bliss beneath the sun as he strolled back home with two bags of groceries in his hand.

Another week had rolled by and it was once again Saturday. Carly had asked him to get coffee with her again that morning, which prompted Hikaru to ask him to pick up a few things on his way home. He assumed, from how different the list was this week, that she had intentionally made him go all around town on a wild goose-chase looking for things to keep him occupied as her and Yusei cooked and baked for their small welcoming party. As Jack had left that morning, he could smell something baking, so he assumed the twins were busying themselves again.

The pair of kittens Jack had brought home the week before had grown quite attached to them all, as well. They were both girls, and both looked like they were long-haired. They bought them each a collar, and named the white one Shirotabi, and the brown one Tamashii. True to Hikaru's word, they seemed to favor Yusei among the three. Jack did like when they would crawl up onto someone's lap and curl up and fall asleep on them.

"It's like they're thankful that we took them in." Yusei had observed one night. The three were gathered in the dining room doing their homework together, as Jack was tutoring the twins, and of course the kittens had come to join them. They clambered into Yusei's lap, purred and fell asleep, snuggling with one another.

As Jack came toward the path that led into the woods, he blinked at the sight of someone dressed in mostly black disappearing through the trees down the path. "Who could it be?..." he wondered aloud, hurrying along a bit so he could try catching up with them.

When Jack was soon wandering down the path himself, he didn't see the black-clad man and hurried up, hardly aware of the plastic bags in his hand crinkling and making noise. He jumped and let out a screech when a hand was placed onto his shoulder. "Excuse me." an oddly, friendly voice greeted his ears.

"What the hell are you do-" Jack's eyes widened when his gaze met eyes of a gold so pure from beneath the other man's hood. The golden-eyed one pushed his hood back with his free hand, revealing light, pale blue hair on his head that was so long it was tucked in the back of his coat. There was also a yellow, lightning-bolt-like tattoo down the right side of his face, and seated on his left shoulder was a large, fluffy black cat with bright amber eyes.

'Why does he seem so familiar...'

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." the man apologized. "Could you possibly help me? I'm looking for my cousins' house."

Jack was at ease in a moment, his shoulders no longer tense, and he responded with, "Well, for starters, you ought to get out of these woods. This is private property."

"I'm well aware." the bluenette responded.

"Then why did you wander in here in the first place?!" Jack snapped.

"Because this is where my cousins live." the man replied. "They live in a house in these woods."

Jack blinked, and a moment later, asked, "You're related to Yusei and Hikaru?"

"Yeah." he nodded. "We're cousins."

Jack sweat-dropped sheepishly. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"That's fine." the man replied. "Do you know where they live?"

"Yeah, they took me in as a tenant two weeks ago." Jack said with a nod.

"So you're the one."

Jack blinked. "Beg your pardon?"

"You wouldn't mind escorting me to their house, would you?" the bluenette asked. "I get lost very easily, as I don't have a very good sense of direction."

Jack sweat-dropped. "Even with a path to follow?" The man merely nodded. Jack merely stared at him and thought, 'Is it really possible for someone to be that stupid?' before he turned and said, "Fine, just follow me." as he started back down the path.

"Thank you very much." the man said, following after him.


"Tadaima!" Jack called once the door was closed behind him and the twins' cousin. "Hikaru, Yusei, where are you?!"

"Kitchen!" Yusei's voice called.

"Livin' room, Assless!~" Hikaru sung out.

"Well, I found something you guys might wanna see!"

"You didn't bring home another pussy, did you, Assless?!" Hikaru shouted.

Dead-panning and stepping into the vestibule now that he and the bluenette were sans shoes, Jack called out, "No, but I'll give you a hint: it's related to you, and it has a terrible sense of direction!"

"I don't get it!" Hikaru called out.

Jack then walked into the living room with the bluenette trailing behind him. As soon as Hikaru laid her eyes on the both of them, she sat upright and shuffled around for the Blu-Ray player remote before she paused the anime she was watching. With a grin on her face she then rose to her feet, and without hesitating she threw her arms around the black-clad bluenette and exclaimed, "Kiryu! How the hell are ya, you bastard?!"

"I'm doing pretty well. A little cold, but pretty well." the bluenette responded, reciprocating Hikaru's hug.

"Kiryu-san!" Yusei said as he came through the door and joined in the hug, officially making it a group hug.

"How cute, you still call me 'san', watashi no kawaii itoko~" the bluenette, Kiryu, responded. ("cute cousin of mine")

Yusei made a face at Kiryu's remark, but none the less went on to ask him, "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Hey," Hikaru suddenly unwound her arms from Kiryu and planted her index finger on his nose. "He didn't send you to 'check up on us to see how we're adjusting' or some other kind of bull crap, did he?"

"No, but admittedly, your parents sent me." Kiryu replied. "They said that they've spoken to you on the phone a few times since you took in the tenant, but haven't really had much to tell them."

"And that's what I love about this town." Yusei said with a smile, letting Kiryu go. "There's no traffic, not too many jerks, the air is clean, and it's so peaceful here that I can actually hear myself thinking again."

With raised eyebrows, Kiryu said, "I thought I smelled smoke."

Hikaru then smacked him across the face with the back of her hand. "Oy, quit pickin' fun of my precious Twinny-chan! He's really smart!"

"Ow..." Kiryu sounded like he was whining as he stroked his cheek with his hands. "That was mean, Hikaru-chan..."

"You deserved it." Hikaru said with her arms wound around Yusei's neck from behind.

"What the hell?" Jack suddenly said with his eyes wide and blinking.

"Eh?" Hikaru looked over at Jack. "What'sa'matta you, Assless?" she questioned.

"... Okay, so both the times I've hugged you before, you turned into a rat. But why the hell didn't it happen just now?!" Jack asked. He pointed a finger at Kiryu, who kept up his neutral face, and said, "He just hugged you and you didn't turn!"

Hikaru blinked, and then began to chuckle. "Man, I didn't think that you'd ever catch onto that! But," She snuggled her cheek against Yusei's. "Twinny-chan gave you the benefit of the doubt, y'know, sayin' as you're really smart and all."

"And why isn't it happening now, either?" Jack asked.

"Well, we honestly have no idea why that is." Hikaru responded. "As it turns out, members of the Zodiac can't transform when they hug one another. Probably because we're one in the same; being of the Zodiac and all."

"Kiryu's a member of the Zodiac, like we are." Yusei added on. "So that's why he and Hikaru didn't transform like they would to a non-cursed person."

Jack blinked. "Wow... how is that possible?"

"Our mother thinks it has to do with a cosmic aura that we all seem to possess," Yusei said. "It sort of has to do with the fact that our souls possess a little part that causes us to transform when we're hugged by the opposite sex, that a non-cursed person doesn't hold. Because our souls are alike in this aspect, it doesn't trigger our transformations."

"Cosmic aura..." Jack repeated. "Wow. Sounds kind of fancy when you say it like that."

"Makes me wonder what would happen if someone of the Zodiac was born as a hermaphrodite," Hikaru wondered aloud as she rolled her head back in thought.

Yusei sweat-dropped, and for everybody's sake, said, "Why don't we continue this discussion in the dining room..." He pulled himself away from his sister's embrace and then turned toward the doorway. "I'll go make some tea."

"I'll help." Jack said, following after him.


Jack and Yusei sat down in their usual spots at the table after Jack placed down a tray with tea cups and the tea pot on the table and Yusei placed down a plate of cookies he had baked that afternoon. Hikaru sat across from Jack, Yusei sat at the head of the table, and Kiryu sat down at the other end of the table by the open doors. The cat that had been on his shoulders was sitting on the tatami mat next to Jack, curled up and asleep.

Kiryu smiled at Yusei from across the table as the younger boy smoothed out his apron as he sat down. "Yusei-kun, you're getting cuter and cuter every time I see you." he said, leaning his chin on his hand. Yusei looked across the table from him with a blush and what appeared to be a glare. "That apron you're wearing makes you look like a cute little housewife."

"You've got ulterior motives aside from checking up on us for our parents, don't you?" Yusei asked bluntly.

"I haven't the faintest idea to what you're talking about." Kiryu replied.

Yusei merely closed his eyes and sighed. "Baka..."

"Tea anyone?" Jack asked, picking up the tea pot and pouring the tea into the cups.

"Yes, thank you." Kiryu said, reaching his hand out to Jack's to take the cup from him. Their fingers brushed against one anothers for a moment, and Jack could feel just how cold he was for that moment in time. Kiryu brought the cup to his lips and took a drink from it, and afterwards he sighed and said, "Man, that's nice and warm..."

"Did you get lost on your way here?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes." Kiryu admitted.

"And it didn't occur to you at any time to call us or ask for directions?" she added.

"Save it, Karu. You know how stubborn and set in his ways he is." Yusei said with his eyes on his sister.

"Honestly, what is with most men and asking for directions?" Hikaru sighed before she stuffed an entire cookie into her mouth.

"You're so charming, Hika-chan." Kiryu said.

"Damn straight, son!" she exclaimed with her fist on her chest.

Kiryu merely turned his head from his cousin to Jack and said, "I'm sorry I haven't properly introduced myself to you." With a small smile, he placed his right hand on his chest and said, "My name is Kiryu Kyosuke; as you already figured out, I'm Hikaru and Yusei's cousin, and I'm a member of the Zodiac. You must be their tenant."

"Yeah, that's me." Jack said with a nod. "I'm Jack Atlas. Yusei and I are in the same class."

"I heard about you from my uncle; their father." Kiryu said. "It isn't every day that an outsider who learns of the curse accepts it, and is also allowed by the head of the family to remember it."

"So I've heard." Jack replied.

Kiryu then extended his hand out and asked, "Would you mind passing me a cookie?" Jack nodded and picked one up from the plate before he placed it into the pale bluenette's hand. "Thank you." He took a bite from the still-warm chocolate chip cookie, and smiled after he swallowed it. "Hikaru, Yusei, the two of you cook as well as your mother does."

"Hardly." Hikaru said with the wave of a hand. "And I can't take any credit for those; Yusei was the one who was baking. I've just been watching Death Note all day."

With a small smirk, Kiryu landed his golden eyes on Yusei and said, "I thought they had a hint of kawaii in them."

"Kiryu, are you on some sort of behavioral medication?" Jack questioned.

Kiryu blinked in confusion. "No. Why?"

"Well, you're just..." Jack paused for a moment. "Speaking a little oddly."

"You'll have to forgive our socially inept cousin, Jakku." Hikaru said, waving her hand. "He only has two major personalities."

Jack's jaw hung open and he asked, "Pe-personalities?"

"They're not so much personalities as they are my expressions." Kiryu replied. He then looked up toward the ceiling and asked, "Or is it more like emotions?..."

"Excuse him, he's just a bit dense." Yusei said. "As a child, he used to be very sickly and very angry, and hadn't any ways to vent until he was strong enough to learn martial arts alongside the rest of us." He traced the rim of his tea cup with his index finger. "As a result, he has a bit of a personality disorder. We call him as he is now, calm and happy, White Kiryu, and when he's angry and aggressive, Black Kiryu. Black and white, like a cow."

"Fitting, as I am the ox of the Zodiac." Kiryu replied.

"Fitting, as you're stubborn as an ox." Hikaru retorted.

Kiryu's cat on the tatami mat next to Jack yawned, gave a tired mewl, and rolled over. Kiryu reached his hand over and scratched beneath her chin, and her head went up as she immediately began to purr, leaning into his touch. "This here's Sakaki," Kiryu said. "She's my baby. She almost never leaves my side. I'm even allowed to bring her to school, the only condition being that she doesn't distract me during class, and that someone who's allergic to cats can't be transferred into my class."

"What grade are you in?" Jack asked.

"I'm a junior in high school," Kiryu replied, picking Sakaki up and placing her in his lap, where she laid like a lump and merely relaxed beneath his pets. "I would be a senior if I hadn't been so sick when I was younger. I wasn't healthy enough to start school when I was old enough for it."

"You honestly look a lot older than you say." Jack said.

"I get that a lot." Kiryu replied, brushing a bit of hair out of his face with his left hand. "Probably because I'm so mature."

"Ppffth." Yusei snorted. "Please, Kiryu. You wouldn't know maturity if it jumped up and bit you right in the ass."

Kiryu, with a doting look in his eyes, stared at Yusei from across the table and said, "Aw, have I upset you, Kitten?"

"Stop embarrassing me!" Yusei shouted with his face flushed red.

"What's there to be so embarrassed about?" Kiryu asked.

"Well for one, my elder cousin is practically courting me in front of my house mate and friend!" Yusei replied.

"Now who said anything about courting?" Kiryu asked, shrugging and giving a nonchalant gesture with his hands.

"Stuff it, Ki, we both know you have ulterior motives." Yusei said, turning his head away from Kiryu as he crossed his arms.

"Aw, c'mon, you're adorable!" Kiryu chimed.

Brrrrriiiiiiing!

"I'll get it!" Jack said, standing in a moment before he bolted out of the room, having not liked the feel of the tension within it. Especially when it seemed like Kiryu was hitting on his house mate.

"There, you see? You made him uncomfortable!" he heard Yusei say.

"Aw, Kitten, don't go to bed angry. You never snuggle with me when you're angry!"

"If you think I'm sharing my bed with you tonight, you are dead wrong!"

Jack didn't even think about looking at the caller ID before he picked up the phone in the kitchen and said, "Hello?"

"Hello?" a deep voice replied from the other end.

"Who's this?" Jack asked.

"Dr. Fudo. To whom am I speaking with?"

Jack gasped quietly at that, and quickly responded with, "This is Jack. I'm Yusei's classmate; the one he took in."

"Ah, alright then. I almost thought I'd dialed the wrong number." Dr. Fudo responded. "I wanted to check in on them. Their cousin was supposed to arrive yesterday evening, but I haven't heard from him yet."

Jack blinked for a moment. "Excuse me a moment." He took the phone away from his head and shouted, "KIRYU, YOU GOT LOST FOR AN ENTIRE DAY?!"

"What in the hell are you talking about?!" Hikaru called back.

"Your father is on the phone! He said that Kiryu was supposed to be here by last night!" Jack called back.

"Are you shitting me?!" Yusei shouted. "Kiryu, you're a grade-A moron!"

"Ah, shut up, you fuzzy little jackass!" Kiryu's voice suddenly snapped.

Jack sweat-dropped and blinked as the yelling continued and brought the phone back to his ear. "I apologize for all this noise..."

"I'm quite used to it." the doctor responded. "Just do me a favor and try to get Kiryu on the phone for me, will you? I have a few choice words in store for him."

"Certainly. I'll be back as soon as I can." Jack replied before he placed the phone down onto the kitchen table. As he made his way back to the dining room, he called out, "Hey genious! Your uncle wants to talk to - WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"CAN IT, BLONDIE!" Kiryu shouted, Yusei pinned against the wall as he held him there by his apron.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" Jack swung his fist and socked Kiryu across the face, effectively knocking him off of his feet and across the floor, where he knocked his head into the wall. With a red face and swirling eyes, he groaned a groan that sounded like a moo.

POOF!

Hikaru stared at a black and white cow with tufts of light blue hair coming from the top of its head as the pink smoke cleared up, and then began to clap as she said, "Woo! Nice one, Assless! I've never seen him get hit so hard that it's turned him into an ox before!"

"Why do I feel drained?..." Kiryu asked with swirling eyes and a reddened face... and snout.

"You went Black on me again, jackass." Yusei replied in a sharp tone.

"Oh... I'm so sorry, Kitty..."

"STOP CALLING ME 'KITTY'!" Yusei shouted, actually stamping his feet in anger.

"Whenever you're human again, your uncle's waiting for you on the phone." Jack said as he sat down.

"M'kay..." the ox dizzily replied.

"Thanks for that, Jack." Yusei whispered. "Kiryu gets really possessive of me when he turns Black..."

"Only when he's Black?" Jack questioned.


Yusei sighed as he chopped vegetables at the counter. "Jack, I'm sorry for acting out so childishly in front of you. Kiryu can just really get to me sometimes..."

"It's nothing really; heck, I tend to act a little babyish around my own cousin." Jack replied.

"And if the whole 'my-cousin-was-hitting-on-me' thing bothers you, don't let it." Yusei went on. "Kiryu's pretty distantly related to us, but since he's of the Zodiac, he knows us pretty well. Its more of a formality than anything else that we call him our cousin. He is pretty distant by blood."

"How is he a Fudo?" Jack asked.

"Let's see..." Yusei took a moment to think. "He's our paternal grandmother's sister's brother-in-law's grandson?... Or is it grandmother's brother-in-law's sister's cousin's... no... grandfather's brother's sister in-law's..." He then smacked his palm to his forehead.

"Forget I asked." Jack said.

Yusei nodded before he went back to chopping veggies.

"Yusei?"

With an audible sigh, Yusei asked, "What do you want, Kiryu-san?"

Kiryu tapped Yusei on the shoulder, and Yusei did them both a favor by setting down the knife in his hand before he turned around. He blinked suddenly at the sight of Kiryu holding out a single white rose. "Sorry for coming onto you in such an intense manner. I just really miss you."

With a soft sigh, Yusei took the rose from his elder and said, "You don't have to apologize."

"No, I do." Kiryu said with a single shake of his head. "We just used to be so close, and now that I'm all the way in the city and you're all the way out here, it's a little difficult for me to transition. Ask Mama Martha; I've been in like, seven fights so far this school year."

Jack nearly dropped the glass he was washing and said, "Se-SEVEN FIGHTS?!"

"Why don't you let me do the cooking tonight?" Kiryu asked. "I learned all of these Italian dishes from my grandmother. Plus, Hikaru said something about you needing to study for a History test on Monday?"

"Well..." Yusei stared at the rose in his hands before he picked his head up and said, "Well, so long as you're insisting. I still haven't memorized the order of the Prime Ministers..."

Kiryu then pulled Yusei into his arms for a hug and pipped, "Leave it to me, Kitten-chan!"

When the bluenette let him go, Yusei untied his apron and handed it off to him before he turned to Jack and said, "Jack, if he turns Black, you know where the big frying pan is." Just before he was able to step out, the phone went off, and he blinked at the sight of it on the table. He picked it up and answered with, "Hello?" A moment passed before Yusei snapped, away from the phone, "Kiryu, you forgot to speak with my father, baka!"

Kiryu sweat-dropped sheepishly and said, "Sorry, sorry..." He took the phone from his now-disgruntled cousin's hands and brought it to his ear with a, "Hello?" He hung his head as Dr. Fudo spoke to him. Yusei sighed roughly and exited the kitchen, annoyed once more. "Sumi masen, Uncle Haka..." ("I'm sorry, Uncle Haka...") Kiryu bit his lip before he responded to Dr. Fudo. "Well, I sort of went Black... - no no, don't worry! I didn't break anything. Jack hit me on the head." A moment later, Kiryu whined and replied to Dr. Fudo with, "But Uuuuuuncllllllle! I can't help it! He's just so cute!" He breathed out of his nose and responded, "I know you told me to try controlling myself around him, but I couldn't help it! I haven't seen him since summer, and you know how much I adore him!~" He breathed in and sighed. "Yes, Uncle... I promise I'll try to take it easy..." With a nod and another sigh, he said, "Mm-hm. I understand... r-right... okay, g'bye, Uncle Haka..."

Kiryu hung up the phone and placed it on the receiver mounted on the wall. Jack turned around as Kiryu did, drying his hands with a dish towel as he asked, "So what did Dr. Fudo have to say?"

Kiryu, brushing the hair out of his face again, replied with, "Mostly the same things he always tells me. Like to stop being so stubborn and try easing up on things." He then put on the apron that Yusei handed to him, trailing his hands behind himself to tie it. "And I know what you're thinking."

"Not likely." Jack replied. "I'm working on memorizing Pi to twenty places as an extra credit question for a Math test later on this week. I'm also wondering if I'll get bonus extra credit if I memorize more than twenty places."

"Well, I can at least tell what you and Yusei were talking about before I came in here." Kiryu responded, landing his gaze on Jack's. "I get it all the time. What kind of a man falls in love with his little cousin?"

Jack flinched, dropping the towel from his dried hands, and asked, "F-fa-fa-falls in love?!" At Kiryu's gaze he quieted his voice and asked, "You're in love with Yusei?"

"I've got nothing against Hikaru," Kiryu began, taking Yusei's place at the cutting board. "Yusei is just very special to me. We've been very close to each other since we were very young. The both of us would get sick a lot, so either his father or my mother would watch us while the others went off to school. I always envied how Hikaru would always get to go off home with him every day..." He focused his eyes on cutting up the vegetables as he said, "I used to hate her for that."

Jack blinked, and was quiet for a moment, before he asked, "But why?"

Kiryu placed the knife down but kept staring at the counter. "Because she's the rat."

"The rat..." Jack repeated.

Kiryu turned his head, looking out of the window behind the sink. "It's in the folktale; the rat tricked the cat into missing the banquet with God, and then the rat rode to the banquet on the ox's back the entire way." He knitted his eyebrows together. "I used to hate that story when I was a little kid. The ox... the ox was a fool, letting the rat use him like that. That's what the adults used to tell us, anyway..." He slipped his eyes closed. "I know they were probably just trying to tease us when they said it, but they could be so cruel sometimes. Crueler than the kids at school who used to laugh at us, isolate us, make fun of us for being different..." He fisted his hands against the cutting board, his arms beginning to shake. "Still, I couldn't help but feel like I was the one the adults were joking about; calling a fool... and after hearing it over and over, I felt so much anger bottled up inside that I couldn't contain it. I used to lose my temper or break down crying over the smallest things. Especially in school."

Kiryu tightened his fists, ceasing the shakes raking through his body. "That was when my Black personality began to appear. I was too much for the bullies, the teachers, and even my parents to handle, so they enrolled me in martial arts, hoping it would give me the physical way to vent that I needed, without inflicting harm on those stupid kids. I enjoyed the training itself, mainly because I used to practice with Yusei, but I could still feel the anger inside of me. Like nothing I did was ever enough to subdue the fire that had appeared so suddenly inside of me." He breathed in and out of his nose, opening his eyes again. "One day, I even snapped at my baby sister when she was just changing the channel on the television. I scared her so badly that she had started to cry, and it snapped me out of it. Especially when she hugged me, turning me into an ox. She used to be so careful around me; tried not to hug me if she could help it so that I wouldn't have to transform. But she clung to me and cried into my neck, wouldn't let go when our mother tried to pry her off of me, and she just kept apologizing and saying 'I love you'." His forehead wrinkled. "It was then and there that I realized I wasn't mad for no reason. I was mad at the rat. And so, because I didn't want to hurt anyone I loved anymore, I opted to tell her the next day when she came by to pick up Yusei on her way home from school."


Kiryu let go of Yusei's hand, a scowl growing on his face as he lunged at Hikaru from the porch, who was only just able to block his strike as he exclaimed, "I hate you, Hikaru!"

Hikaru, with her wide, childish blue eyes, blinked at Kiryu and asked, "What? But... but why, Ki-san?"

"I hate your guts because it's the rat's fault that everybody laughs at the ox! It's the rat's fault that they call the ox a fool and an idiot! It's your fault, you dirty, mean, stinking rat! What makes you so special?! What makes you think that you're worthy to be around the cat?! It's your fault he never even made it to the banquet! Everybody laughs at the ox and the cat because they all think that we're fools! I hate you! I hate that you can hug him and not turn into some ugly animal every time it happens! I hate that this stupid curse makes me so angry and you're the reason why I'm so angry! Because of you, I look like an idiot!"

Hikaru stared at Kiryu with wide eyes. Kiryu merely panted and kept his fisted hands at his sides, breathing in and out through his nose like an angry bull. Yusei stood frozen on the porch of Kiryu's house, staring at his twin sister and the cousin he was closest to.

"Kiryu, that's not true."

Kiryu narrowed his golden eyes at the childish girl before him.

"The story never said anything about the ox being stupid." she spoke in her childish voice. "I always thought that the ox was just... was just being nice to the rat, because the rat is so little."

"Huh?..." Kiryu breathed in confusion, his eyes beginning to shine and soften up.

"Maybe the rat was riding on the back of the ox because it couldn't keep up with the others." Hikaru responded. "It was leading the way, but because it was so much littler than the other aminals, it would have taken them a really long time to get to the banquet in time. So maybe a'cause the ox was so big, he said that the rat could ride on his back to lead the way to the banquet so they wouldn't be late. They were told not to be late..."

Hikaru folded her hands behind her back, giving a smile at Kiryu as a gust of wind blew around them.

"Ki-san, I like the ox because the ox helped the rat. I don't think the ox is dumb. The ox was just being nice." Her smile widened as she said, "I love you, Ki-san, a'cause you're my big cousin, and a'cause you're nice and really strong, 'cos you're the ox."

Kiryu, shaking now, unraveled his fists and began to stutter. "Bu-b-b-b-bu-bu-b-but... but everybody..." He clenched his eyes shut and tried to hold back his tears. "Everybody says that the ox was stupid. Stupid for letting the rat ride on his back. That the rat was mean. Mean for tricking the cat into missing the party." He lifted his hands up and laid them on his head. "They said that I'm a fool..."

Kiryu didn't hear Yusei's soft footsteps coming up behind him. "Well..." Yusei's little hand laid on his shoulder. "Is it true?" Kiryu lifted his head up and looked at him. "Well. About us, I mean. Is it?" his little voice asked, his childish blue eyes identical to Hikaru's shining with innocence. "Is that what we are? What you are? Are you a fool?"

Kiryu turned his head, looking up at a tree as another breeze fluttered, shaking off cherry blossom petals and carrying them in the wind. Without even realizing it, the tears began to stream down his face. "No... no, I'm not..." His hands slowly fell from his hair. "I... I'm not a fool..." He held them against his chest as he began to shake. "I'm not a fool..."

"Mm-hm."

Kiryu turned his head to Hikaru, now at his side.

"I didn't think so."

Simultaneously, the twins hugged their cousin.


Kiryu remained quiet, holding his hands over his heart, half-folded as if in prayer.

"After that... after everything I'd said, they still loved me. They still looked up to me. And that's when..." He opened his eyes. "That's when the three of us became close. It was like... all the anger I thought I had felt because of Hikaru... it wasn't there anymore... and I began to lose my temper less and less. My heart had been set free. I was completely surprised. I'd hardly ever interacted with Hikaru before that day, and she turned out to be completely different from the way I'd thought. It had been drilled into my brain up until that day that she was nothing but a cold-hearted rat, who made the cat miss the banquet with God, and rode to it in triumph on the back of the ox. And to think..." He knit his eyebrows together. "If I hadn't snapped at my baby sister... if I hadn't realized I was angry because of the rat... all I'd ever see her as to this very day would be the mean rat who made a fool out of the cat and the ox. But then I really would be a fool." He turned his head to Jack and said, "Because only a fool can be that blind."

Jack exhaled - when had he begun holding his breath in anyway? - and kept his amethyst eyes on Kiryu's gold ones.

"When I think back on how things came to be, I find it a little ironic that the ox and the cat have become so close." Kiryu went on. "All of those people, people of our own family, had been picking fun of me for being the foolish ox, and shunning Yusei because he's the cat. He and I are alike in many aspects, and he means the world to me." Kiryu rolled his head back, staring up at the ceiling. "In fact, I used to hate that he was the fool of the story. He's always been far from a fool. He's so smart, talented, fun, and beautiful. He's the nicest person I know... and that's what I love about him the most. It honestly saved my life."

"Saved your life?..." Jack uttered without even realizing it wasn't just a thought in his head.

Kiryu then blinked and said, "Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was talking for so long." He then bowed in apology. "I should probably get dinner started." he said as he straightened back up.

"Well, do you need an extra hand?" Jack asked. "I was going to make the stewed leeks."

"You go relax. I'll take care of dinner." Kiryu replied. "I usually help Mama Martha with dinner, so I can handle it on my own. Plus, you're in for a treat. It isn't often I get to make my Italian dishes!"

"Well, if you need the help, I'm a holler away." Jack said before he turned to exit the kitchen. "I guess I'll go help Yusei with his History."

Kiryu nodded and Jack was on his way.


To Be Continued...


And there we have it! Our first peek into the extended Fudo family, starting with Kiryu Kyosuke as their distant cousin. :3

I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and thanks as always for reading.

And Happy Birthday again Sissy-cha!