Kyo's POV

It was Saturday, so of course, I had no idea how to occupy myself. Haru and Momiji were staying until Sunday afternoon so that they could go to sleep early for midterms and have clean clothes for school on Monday. Haru said that he could spend most of his time with me, planning, but that he would have to set some time away to study.

That was fine with me. It was great having Haru on my side – he was a perfect ally and a terrible enemy – but I needed some time alone from him sometimes, just to think or do something on my own. Just have a little freedom, you know?

All of the plans we came up with this morning were the same as all the others: awkward, redundant, violent, or just plain strange.

"Should we be including the girls in this?" Haru asked eventually, sighing and putting his head in his hands.

"Why?"

"Why?" he repeated incredulously. "Because we can't come up with squat! We have no idea how to proceed!"

"And we need them to be able to proceed?"

"Maybe!" he countered.

I sighed, too. "Fine. Get them on the phone."

He typed a number into his cell phone and turned the switch onto Speaker. We waited for a moment. Then, "Hello?"

"Hey, Uo-kun! Any way you could come over here and help us out a little? We're sorta dried-out on ideas."

"Ooh, no can do, McPunker Pants." Haru rolled his eyes at Uo's new nickname for him. I chuckled. Now I wasn't the only one…

"Why not?"

"I have chores and studying! Have you forgotten the midterms? They're on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, remember?"

"Yes, yes, I remember when the midterms are!" Haru said impatiently.

"Okay, no need to be snippy. What about Hana-chan? Have you tried her?"

"No, we thought you'd be available and we wouldn't have to disturb her."

"You know I would have disturbed her anyway," said Uo, chuckling.

"True. Well, we'll call her. Thanks anyway."

"No prob. Next time, I'll be more than willing to help."

"Great, thanks." He shut the phone with a click. "Well, I was hoping that Uo would be the quick and easy solution, but let's see if Sparky will be able to help, huh?"

"Guess so," I said, already bored.

Haru was already halfway through dialing the number when he stopped and turned to me curiously, staring at my expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I shrugged.

"No, something. Hey, what if we take a break? I'll go study, you can just relax, and when you feel a little better, we'll call Hana, 'kay?"

"Okay," I agreed. It didn't really matter to me what we did, which surprised me a little bit. Shouldn't I be throwing myself out there, trying to come up with plans to win Tohru over? But yet I felt so…lazy. I was just sitting here, perfectly happy to be alone, not doing anything productive. Like I would have been doing on a normal Saturday… Haru smiled concernedly and walked out, waving a little.

Laying my head down, I noticed the clock. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, Haru would be going home at about this time tomorrow, and they hadn't thought up anything.

"Hey, lazy," said a voice from the door. Appeased that it wasn't Tohru or Rat Boy, I gave a noncommittal grunt in reply. "I have you figured out," Shigure said knowingly, coming around to face me.

"Really," I drawled. "Do you, now?" I asked sarcastically.

"I believe that I do," Shigure said, winking. I waited expectantly, raising my eyebrows when Shigure didn't say anything for a moment or two. Then he smiled gleefully. "You have a thing for Tohru…!" he sang.

Blush instantly rushed up into my cheeks and my expression turned into one of panic. "NO I DON'T YOU STUPID DOG! AND EVEN IF I DID, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? YOU DON'T KNOW ME! I COULD THINK ANYTHING ABOUT TOHRU AND YOU WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS!" I yelled at him.

"Oh, come now, Kyo-kun," Shigure said, chastising me. "It's obvious! Why, I should have guessed when you and Haru had started talking so secretively that it was something about her! It's rather obvious that you're in love with her!"

My anger building, I yelled again. "AM NOT!"

"Oh, but you are," Shigure smiled. "Don't worry, it's cute. And I think she likes you, too."

The anger instantly vanished and I sat by Shigure. "What? How do you know? Has she said anything?"

"No."

"Well, then how do you know? And shouldn't you be on Yuki's side!"

"Yuki?" Shigure asked, tilting his head like a dog would. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" I demanded. "I mean, he's always been your preference over me, and they're together and everything now and –"

"What?" he exclaimed, looking shocked. "They're…together? Like, together, together?"

I rolled my eyes at his immature behavior. "Yes! How could you not know?"

"Uh…I don't know! I didn't think Yuki liked her that way!"

"WELL, APPARENTLY, HE DOES!" I roared, slamming my head down into my pillow.

"How long have they been an item?" Shigure asked after a moment.

"Only a few days."

"Oh…" he was silent again. Or, as silent as Shigure was capable of, still muttering to himself quietly as I tried to smother myself in my pillow. "So, how goes your quest for Tohru's heart?"

"Not so good," I mumbled into my pillow.

"What was that?" Shigure asked, sounding concerned.

"Not so good," I repeated, lifting my head. "I'm… I'm actually thinking about giving up." I surprised myself: I actually hadn't really thought about that until I said it.

"Oh… Well, but you still have hope. You couldn't have kept going for so long if you knew your efforts would be fruitless, right?"

"I guess that's right…" I said, surprised again. He actually had a point.

"See? You can give yourself hope with little things like that! And when you can't give yourself hope, you can come to me!" he grinned.

His self-inflated statement popped my optimistic bubble. "Right. I'll remember that."

"Good. So. What do you need?"

"You mean, you're going to help me?"

"Yep! You and Haru can count me in with your scheming."

"Actually, Uo-san and Hanajima-san are in on it, too."

"Oh, so that makes five!" Shigure said gleefully. "We have a much better chance for you if we're all putting our heads together for you!"

"Yeah…thanks… If you come up with anything, let me know," I said irritably, putting my face back into my pillow, but without the want to kill myself now.

"Will do!" I heard Shigure leave the room, quietly closing the door.

Shigure had caught me. I guess writing those stupid novels was doing something for him, with his being able to notice how I felt. And he had a point: having more people on my side to come up with ideas, to create set-ups, distract Yuki and to mold romantic situations would be a good thing. With four other people working with me, I might actually have a chance…

I turned my head on my pillow, and I felt my eyes close slowly and sleepily. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I curled up and exhaled, ready for sweet dreams.

A/N: Hmm. Have you got anything to say about this chapter? 'Cause I don't. Hmm… Well, review, if you do! 3