Chapter 10: Happy Valentine's Day!

Uo opened Yuki's locker and looked inside. "What the hell?"

There's only one," Hana said disappointed, taking out a bag of chocolate out of his locker.

"Weird," Kagome crossed her arms, "I thought for sure Yuki's locker would've been the best place to try it."

"Try for what, exactly?" Yuki asked, sounding very confused.

"You know that thing in the cartoons. When you open the door and all the stuff comes pouring out?"

"So why do you think that would happen here?" He asked the girls.

"Ah, now I get it. The girls who visited this locker were all cuckoo chicks." Hana observed.

"Cuckoo?"

"Cuckoo chicks push other birds' eggs out of the nest; these girls threw out any chocolates that were already here to ensure that their chocolates would get more attention. The proof is in that garbage can over there." She pointed to the nearby garbage full of chocolates.

"Wow! That's a lot of chocolate!"

"Damn, they messed up our locker trick," Uo cursed.

"And I am the hawk who swoops down to catch the eggs pushed from the nest," Hana started to unwrap the chocolate.

"Alright, you go, girl."

"But, that belongs to Yuki."

"It could be poisoned."

"No, that's alright," Yuki said tiredly, as if just thinking about all of this exhausted him.

The first thing they saw when they entered the classroom were the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls. They looked even scarier than they usually did with their evil-looking grins and determined glints in their eyes.

"Lovely Prince Yuki..."

"Lovely chocolates..."

"Chocolates for Prince Yuki..."

"Wow, those fan club girls look scary today."

"Yeah, they're either about to mug him or eat him, I can't tell which," Uo said.

Kagome and Uo both laughed.

Tohru and Kagome had figured that Valentine's was a stressful day for members of the Zodiac, with so many girls trying to give them presents and candy and all. Kagome was more worried about Momiji on Valentine's Day, with girls giving him chocolate; he might get excited and accidently hug a girl.

"Oh yeah!" Tohru produced three colorful boxes of chocolate and gave them to Uo, Hana, and Kagome, "These are for all of you."

Kagome gratefully accepted them. Between the four of them, they didn't care if they were only supposed to give chocolates to boys; the girls gave chocolates to each other…even though Uo stills owed them for last year.

"Kyo-Kyo..." Kagome looked over to see a girl holding out a present for Kyo, "Here, I got you some chocolates."

"Kyo's got an admirer," Kagome sang.

"How about that?" Uo chuckled, "Kyo-Kyo's a stud."

Kyo looked at the girl, fear suddenly filling his eyes. "Wait...is today...Valentine's-I'm going home!" He decided suddenly as he stood up from his seat abruptly.

"Eh?"

"No, wait. Home's dangerous, too." Everyone looked at him curiously…Yuki looked at him broadly. "A journey... Yeah, I'll just...go far away where no one will find me!" And with that, he tore out of the room, leaving a trail of dust.

The five of them went to the window to see where he was going. He ran down the front path toward the gate, but screeched to a stop before he reached it.

IKagomeopened up the window and saw that a certain someone had come back for Valentine's Day.

"K-Kyo?" she said softly, as if in disbelief that he was standing in front of her.

Kyo tried to turn and run, but it was he was moving in slow-motion.

"Kyo!" Kagura sang twirling around in her own imaginary world, of glitter and flowers.

Kyo continue to turn his body in slow motion, hoping to run away before she got any closer; however time resumed to its normal pace when Kagura howled his name, "Kyo!"

She charged after him. "Kyo! MY LOVE!" she shouted in her demon voice.

"Aw, hell! She's here!" Kyo yelled as she ran after him.

Kagura ended up following them home from school, despite Kyo's efforts to lose her. It wasn't like she didn't know where he lived.

"I came for Valentine's, silly," she said when we were back at the house, seated around the table. "It's an important day for lovers to be together."

"You're not gonna find any lover in this house," Kyo muttered.

Kagome stifled her laughter.

"Kyo, behave please," Shigure said dryly, "I don't want the house getting, you know, smashed."

"Dammit!" Kyo cursed, "I should've left on that journey sooner. How was I supposed to know today was Valentine's?"

"It's called a calendar," Yuki answered in a tired tone.

"So," Shigure said, looking at Kagura, "did you give him chocolates?"

"Well...I tried," she said meekly. "But for some reason, he wouldn't take them from me. Watch." She pulled a big chocolate heart out of her bag. "Happy Valentine's Day, Kyo!" she cried happily. "A chocolate heart stuffed full of my love! All for you!"

"Keep it!" Kyo shot back, standing. "What man in his right mind would eat that girly, sugary crap?"

'Oh…' Kagome thought to herself a little disappointed. Before school today she had went out and bought chocolates for everyone along with Tohru. 'I guess I should've thought it out more and asked if any of them liked chocolates…'

"I'm sorry, but...do you... Do you really not like chocolate, Kyo?" Tohru asked coming back into the room with a brown bag filled with out chocolates.

"No! I hate it!"

Kagura jumped up in his face. "Shut up and eat it!" she threatened. "Did you hear me?! I said eat, damn you!"

"No means no, woman!"

"Eat it!"

"No!"

"EAT IT!"

"You'll have to kill me first!"

Shigure looked at both girls as Kyo and Kagura's fight went on. "Excuse me, girls, but that wouldn't happen to be a bag of chocolates you're hiding down there?"

Kagura and Kyo froze, Kagura trying to shove her chocolate heart into Kyo's mouth.

"Oh, um, yes," Tohru said, setting the bag that had been sitting in front of everyone on the table. "We got chocolates for everyone."

"But I guess we should've asked if everyone liked chocolates first." Kagome glanced at Kyo.

Kyo stayed on the floor on his stomach, a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"Ladies," Yuki interrupted, gaining our attention, "I would love some chocolate."

Tohru smiled widely and produced a box for him. "These one's yours."

"Thank you very much," Yuki replied, smiling taking two boxes from her.

"And two for Shigure," Kagome said, handing it to him.

"Oh, for me?"

"It's not much, but thanks for everything you've done for Tohru," Kagome said. "And for letting me move in here with you."

"Oh, no, no," Shigure said almost crying, "I should be the one thanking you girls. Still, I'm touched! The girls' Valentine's chocolates- how they warm the heart and lift the soul!"

"Oh, and Kagura," Kagome said, digging through the bag. "There's one for you, too."

She gasped and jumped up. "One for me?" she cried in happy disbelief. She threw her arms around Kagome. "Thank you!"

"And there's some for Momiji and Hatori and Haru," Tohru said, setting them out on the table. "We didn't know if we'd see them today, but if there were some way we could get them to them..."

"You really did mean everyone, didn't you?" Yuki asked incredulously.

"Of course!" Kagome glanced at Kyo again, "But I guess we should've asked to see if they even like chocolate..."

"Oh, don't let what Kyo said bother you," Shigure said. "He thinks he's being manly, but, really, he doesn't have a clue what true manliness is. A real man would've eaten the chocolates with all of this fuss."

"Shut up..." Kyo mutter.

"To refuse a gift," Shigure continued, "…to trample on another person's heart like that... It falls short of being a human being, let alone a man."

"Uh...no, really," Kagome said. "We should've known to get something besides chocolate."

Kyo grunted and we all looked at him. "Fine, I just gotta eat it?" He stood and grabbed Kagura's chocolate heart. "So, I'll eat it!" He started downing that thing like his life depended on it.

"Goody!" Kagura cheered a huge smile on her face. "Look! Kyo's eating my chocolate!"

"Um, are you alright?" Kagome asked Kyo.

When Kyo was done devouring the heart, he held his hand out to her.

Kagome looked at the chocolate around his mouth and the little blush on his cheeks. She couldn't help but smile and place the chocolates she bought for him in his awaiting hand. Giggling, Kagome pointed to the side of her mouth and wiped with her sleeve. Realizing what she meant, he wiped the chocolate from around his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Don't worry," Kagura said to Kyo, standing out on the porch, holding one of his hands in both of hers. "I'll see you soon."

Kyo snatched his hand back. "Who's worried?" he snapped.

She smiled at him. "You know, Haru said that you and Yuki are starting to get along a little better. He said if you two keep getting to know each other, you might actually become friends one day."

Kyo stared at her in shock.

She smiled and looked at the ground. "I would be very happy...if that came true." She smiled and him again and laughed a little. "Bye-bye!"

Kyo stood there for a moment, staring at the space where she had been. 'Me and that damn rat? Friends? Like hell we would be!'

"Ah, Haru..." Shigure mused. "He is certainly wise beyond his years. People must learn to compromise."

'What's he talking about?' Kagome hid behind a divider, barely peeking out, listening.

Kyo was silent for a moment, staring outside the door. "What are you trying to say?" he asked, not looking at Shigure. "Don't even think that we're gonna be best friends just 'cause you guys have some dumb ideas." He laughed once, no humor in the sound, turning to look at Shigure. "'Get to know each other'? What a load of crap! It sucks hanging out with him all the time! I hate Yuki!" He was shouting now. "And I like hating him!"

Silence for a moment.

Shigure smiled a little. "I wonder why? You say it like you're obligated to hate him."

Kyo glanced at him, and then looked away.

"But your eyes...your eyes tell a different story. They tell me...that you're afraid to find out."

Fear and shock filled Kyo's eyes. He clenched his hands into fists at his sides, and ran out of the house.

"Kyo?" He was gone. "Kyo!" Kagome ran after him.

Kagome shivered and folded her arms over her chest as she walked further into the forest.

"Kyo?" Kagome called, not raising her voice to its highest volume. "Where are you?"

'Kyo... He really did look scared. I wonder what Shigure said made him look so afraid.

"I like hating him!" I don't understand it. I don't understand it at all.'

Kagome stopped when she spotted a clearing...and a familiar orange head wearing a red thin short sleeved top crouching down in that clearing.

Kagome walked closer, dead leaves rustling beneath her shoes. She stopped just behind him.

His arms were wrapped around himself. It was as if he protecting himself…

"Kyo?" Kagome asked quietly.

He didn't look up at her. He didn't even move a muscle. She'd never seen him so…vulnerable...broken… Just she use to feel before she let her heart open again.

"Forget it."

Kagome looked at him as he spoke.

"What happened back there…just forget it. It has nothing to do with you. Leave me alone, alright?"

Kagome let out a small sigh. 'You would want that, wouldn't you? To leave you alone to face your inner monsters by yourself…I bet you had to do that for a long time…you had no one to confine in…no one to lend you a shoulder…not me, Kyo…I'm not going to let you shoulder all your problems anymore. I want you to confine in me. It's not pity or sympathy…I want to be there with you…'

Kagome knelt down next to him, trying to see his face. But his forehead was almost touching his knees. 'I know that no matter what I say, I won't be able to fix it. I may not even be able to cheer him up, but...' "You... You don't have to like each other. You don't have to get along. It's okay. I do want you two to get along, but...but if you don't want to…it's okay. We won't force you. If you hate him that much, then it's okay…"

He raised his head a little, but he was still looking down. His cheeks flushed, but she assumed it was because of the cold.

He closed his eyes and nodded a little. "Yeah...Yeah."

He looked up at her. She could see surprise in his eyes, but also saw something else, too. Memories...the past...longing and fear... All of it rolled into one confused, almost grateful expression.

'I hope, someday, I can help to wipe all the fears away, just like they did for us. Because...I just want them to be happy. They deserve happiness.'

Kyo looked at her for another long moment, then hung his head and stood up. He stood there for a moment, hands in his pockets, looking off into the forest.

She looked up at him, another frozen breeze blowing past them.

Kyo exhaled, and then looked down at her. He took one hand out of his pocket and extended it down to her.

She looked at it for a moment, surprised.

There was so much promise in that gesture. That they could face the future together,

Kagome smiled and then took it, standing from the cold grass.

His hand was warm from being in his pocket. Kagome treasured the warm tingling feeling that his hand brought her. Although, Kyo never once let go of her hand, he held onto it as they started back toward the house.

'I'll try hard giving you happiness…I'll give you all of my support to show you that I'm a friend.'

A few moments into their walk back, Kyo eventually tightened his grip on her hand.

"Welcome home," Shigure said when they walked through the door. "You didn't do anything...untoward to our dear Kagome, did you?"

"Of course not!" Kyo shouted, glaring at Shigure. "I'm not like you!"

Kyo and Yuki don't have to like each other. If they like hating each other, that's fine with her. Maybe, over time, that can change. All I can do is hope and do my best.

And just like that, Valentine's Day came and went. Actually, so did the whole next month! And before we knew it, we'd finished our final exams! Thank goodness!

"Well, ladies, how did it go?" Yuki asked coming over to Tohru's desk.

"Great!" Tohru exclaimed happily, "I knew a lot more of the answers than I thought I would! Thank you so much for helping me study!"

He smiled shyly at her, a little embarrassed by the praise, "Oh, I... I don't know about that..."

Some of the guys thought that Hana had aced her tests, since she was psychic, but she brushed off their comments, saying she had to take remedial lessons and that her parents cried for days.

This was followed by several moments of stunned, awkward, unsure silence.

"Don't get too down on yourself," Uo comforted her gloomy friend, "I'll bet there's an even bigger dummy around here somewhere."

"Hey!"

They all looked at Kyo.

"You sure as hell better not be talking about me."

"What? Who else would she be talking about?"

"Oh, yeah? Well no one's ever had to call my parents to tell 'em my grades sucked!" Kyo snapped.

"Aw, does Kyo-Kyo study like a good little boy?" one of the guys asked.

"Don't call me Kyo-Kyo!"

"Please, you couldn't study to save your life."

"You are so full of it!" Kyo shouted at Uo.

Uo continued to tease him, "Uh-huh. Let me guess, you're the kinda guy who crams at the last minute. Then you get to school and freak out 'cause you studied for the wrong test."

"Okay, that does it...!"

"He has been shutting himself up in his room," Kagome said. "Maybe he really has been studying."

"So it would seem," Yuki said, clearly not believing that Kyo had actually studied.

"Out in the hall, right now!"

"I'll grind you into dust, Orange-top!"

'I believe that Kyo can study if he wanted to…' Kagome pictured Kyo sitting at his desk with his notebooks and text books, studying hard under his desk lamp.

"Uh, Miss Honda?" our teacher asked. "A word please?"

They all watched as Tohru talked to the teacher, and came back looking a little ashamed.

"Is something wrong?" Yuki asked when she came back in.

"Uh...no...not at all," Tohru lied shyly poking her index fingers together.

"We just...have to work hard!" She declared with determination, clenching her fists, "Part-time job, here I come!"

For the first time in a while Tohru and Kagome walked home together, completely exhausted. They burned all of their energy at work. Kagome managed to find work at Tohru's building so she could save for college.

Tohru reached the front door first and laid her head against it.

"Tohru! Kagome!" A familiar little blonde exclaimed, opening the front door.

"Ah!" The girls yelped and jumped. "Momiji!"

"I just got here, too!" He grabbed our hand. "Come on, come on! This way! This way!"

"Where does that boy get all of his energy?" Shigure wondered aloud.

"This is my first time to Shigure's house. Isn't it exciting?"

Yuki looked up as they walked in.

"Hello there!" Momiji sang, bright and cheery.

"Hey, we're home from work," Tohru greeted a little tired.

"Welcome back," Yuki said with a smile.

"Great," Kyo groaned, standing in the doorway, drying his hair with a towel. "The annoying little brat's here."

"Ah, someone just got out of the bath!" Momiji said. "Kyo!"

Kyo grabbed Momiji and started digging his fist into the side of his head. "I swear! It bugs me every time you open your mouth!"

"Wahhhh!" Momiji cried. "Kyo's picking on meeee!"

"Momiji, we got you a snack, if you're hungry," Kagome said coming out of the kitchen with a small tray with a slice of cake and orange juice.

He smiled widely. "Oh, I am! Thank you!"

"You see?" Kyo said, pulling Momiji back into his grip. "Like I said! Everytime!"

"Waaahhhh!"

"Kyo..." Kagome said quietly.

They sat down at the table, Momiji eating his snack. Kagome felt ready to pass out after a long shift at work, but she figured that would be impolite when there was a guest over.

"Momiji?" Shigure asked as Momiji finished swallowing a bite. "Have you told us to what we owe the pleasure of your company this evening?"

"Mm-mm," Momiji said, shaking his head. "Not yet." He turned to the girls. "I have a question for you two!"

"Yes?"

"What's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow..."

"March 14th, right?"

"Yep!" Momiji said. "It's White Day! And I'm giving you a present! It's a trip to a hot spring!"

They both smiled nervously.

"I call it, 'Me and Tohru's and Kagome's Super-Relaxing Hot Spring Steam Trip'!"

"You really don't have to name it," Shigure said, smiling, a little unsure.

"A hot spring?" Yuki asked curiously, "Which one?"

"Oh, you know, there's that one the Sohma's run."

"Oh, yes," Yuki said.

"Um…" Tohru stuttered to say, "We don't know…an invitation to an expensive-sounding place like a hot spring? It really is too much."

"You know, girls, it's just a hot spring. He's not flying you off to Paris or anything. It would be a real shame to turn it down. You should go. It'll be a good chance to get away from it all, relax." Shigure said to them.

"I'm sorry," Momiji apologized, placing a comforting hand on Tohru's, "I thought you'd be happy to go..."

"Oh, no, we are," Kagome assured him, "In fact, we'd love to go, Momiji. We could use a break."

"Yay!" he cheered. "Yuki and Kyo are coming too!"

"Hey! Why don't you try asking before you start making plans for people?" Kyo snapped.

"Aw!" Momiji whined, tugging on Kyo's shirt. "Go with us! Go with us!"

"Forget it! And whining like that isn't gonna change my mind!"

"Yuki..." Momiji said carefully. "Will you come?"

Yuki smiled at him. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it."

"Yay! Yay!" Momiji cheered again.

"Okay, now I really don't wanna go."

"Why not? You don't have to worry about money. I've been saving my allowance!"

"That's not the problem," Kyo grumbled.

Shigure suddenly looked up, as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh, speaking of money...I hear you still haven't paid last month's dues toward your class field trip fund, Tohru…" Tohru gasped. "I got a call from your grandfather, Tohru. Seems someone at the school called him about it and he said he'd pay for you all, if you need it."

"No, no, no!" She cried. "I can't ask him to do that!"

"It would be too much trouble!" Tohru added, "Last month there was just a lot going on, but I can catch up with the money I earn this month."

"But, Tohru," Shigure said. "You worked a pretty fair amount last month. Wha-"

Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure froze for a moment. There was a tense moment of silence before Momiji struck up a conversation with the girls.

"So you're going on a class trip? Where to?"

"Oh, we don't know yet."

"Wha-!" Kyo began to yell before slapping his hands on the table.

Tohru flinched when he suddenly raised his voice at them and mentally braced herself and waited for him to explode at her.

Surprisingly though, he slowly began to lose the red in his face before he slowly turned back to his normal skin tone. With a tight grin he pointed to the hall door that led upstairs, "Water. Hot bath. You go."

"Right!" Tohru scrambled out the door to escape Kyo's wrath.

Everyone looked at Kagome then, and she blinked. 'Ah, I am going to go to bed! Good night!" She scrambled out of there as well because all of the boys knew she spent her money on Chocolates as well.

"Impressive. You're learning self-control. But at any rate... Chocolate doesn't exactly fall from the sky. Tohru had to have paid for it out of her own pocket. Kagome didn't owe any money to the school but she worked a lot more this month then Tohru did. "

"So how is it we didn't realize that at the time?" Yuki asked.

Kyo banged his fist against the table. "It's 'cause they were so damn happy about it! How could we know they were broke? They didn't have to get that stuff for us!" Momiji just sat silently, quietly chewing on his snack. "But, hey, they thought it'd be fun to spend all their money! They could've bought themselves new clothes or paid for their class trip, or somethin'!" He ranted, "Talk about stupid! I mean, what were they thinking? All they're doing is making things harder on themselves!"

"Oh, hey, you know what? There's this kid in my class who reads a lot," Momiji said randomly causing them to look at him oddly.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, so, he just got this new book and he brought it with him yesterday. It was called 'A Guide to the World's Greatest Fools'. He's always bringing funny books like that. This one time, he brought one called 'The Universe of Stew'."

"...Did you have a point in there somewhere?" Yuki asked.

"Oh, right," Momiji giggled, "So anyway, a bunch of us sat down and read this book together. There was this one story in it, I remember. It was called 'The Most Foolish Traveler in the World.'…"

"You see, once upon a time, there was this foolish traveler who had gone on a journey. Why was he foolish? Well, because he was fooled by everyone he met! Everywhere he went, people made up all kinds of sad stories to tell him, and the traveler fell for every one of them. Pretty soon, his money, his clothes, even his shoes had been cheated away from him. But the foolish traveler was always glad to help. And he always told people the same thing. He said, 'I wish you happiness.' "But by this point, though, the traveler was completely naked, and with nothing left to cover himself, he left the main road and traveled through the dense forest, where no one could see him. But soon he was discovered by the goblins that lived in the woods. They wanted to eat the traveler's body, so they begged and pleaded, and they used kind words to try and trick him. Of course, the traveler was fooled. "First he let the goblins eat one of his legs…then an arm…then more and more. Before it was over, all that the traveler had left was his head. He'd even given his eyes away to the last of the goblins. And as that last goblin was eating the traveler's eyes, he said, 'Thank you, traveler…in return, I give you this present.' What the goblin left was a slip of paper with the word 'fool' written on it…The traveler couldn't see it. He didn't know what it was. Even so, tears began to flow down his face. 'Thank you,' he said. 'This is the first present anyone has ever given me. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Thank you.'

"Even without his eyes, he cried and cried, great tears of joy. Then the traveler died with the smile still on his face."

Yuki, Shigure, and Kyo stared at Momiji as he finished the story. "Right after we heard that yesterday, all of the other kids in my class started making fun of the traveler. But while they did that, I closed my eyes and thought about him a little bit longer. I thought about how he had given everything away, until all he had left was his head and how at the end, he still cried for joy as he said thank you. And I realized...I feel so sorry for him."

Yuki and Kyo were lost in their own thoughts, but they were beginning to understand what Momiji was feeling as he told the story.

"Loss, hardship, things like that? You can't only focus on them. The traveler didn't. He never thought about his own troubles at all."

They thought about the two girls upstairs.

"I imagine that it probably does sound really foolish to some people. But not to me. I don't think he's foolish at all. Even though other people probably think he was being tricked? I don't think he was. I think he did exactly what he wanted to do. I think, more than anything, he just wanted to make other people happy." He looked at Kyo and Yuki. "What about you, Yuki? Kyo? What do you think?" He questioned, "Really? Is that foolish? When you close your eyes and think about it, is that what it is?"

Yuki and Kyo both thought of Tohru and Kagome.

It's not foolish to want to make other people happy even if it makes life harder on yourself. It's not foolish…not at all…

The next morning, Kagome went outside to hang some laundry out to dry while Tohru was in the kitchen making breakfast. It was such a nice morning out that she didn't mind at all.

"I'm going for you."

Kagome was startled when she saw Kyo leaning against the laundry pole, "O-oh, good morning. How'd you sleep?"

"The hot spring?" He reminded her, "I'm going. For you."

Kagome had to blink hard at least twice to confirm that this wasn't a dream.

"I didn't get you anything for White Day. So instead, I'll put up with that damn Yuki and I'll go to the hot spring for you." He gruffly explained.

"F-for me?" Her heart rate picked up a bit. Kyo was doing something sweet…for her…!

His cheeks flushed a little, "Maybe you don't care either way...you know, whether I go or not...but..." His face was even redder now.

Kagome smiled widely and moved closer.

He looked at her, surprised by the sudden decrease in distance between them.

"No, no! That's awesome! It'll be much more fun if you're there, too! I'm so happy right now!" Words of gratitude were tumbling out of her mouth. She couldn't find any other way to show how much it means to me that he's going, "Thank you so much! I'm so happy! Thank you!"

He looked at her for a moment. "You know, y-" Then Kagome saw something that she hadn't seen in a long while, Kyo smiling. The small at ease one that reached all the way up to his beautiful red eyes. "You really are somethin'...you know that?"

Kagome felt her face get very hot as she looked at him, 'I'm something...?'

"Kyo's got the hots this morning!" Momiji sang, coming up behind Kyo.

"I do not!" he yelled at Momiji.

Momiji giggled. "He's got the hots!"

"Shut up!" He dug his fists on the sides of Momiji's head.

"Waahhhh!"

'This is going to be so fun! Our first trip to a hot spring!'