Confused and slightly dazed, Tohru was about to reply when Shigure came and interrupted, "Ah! I see you have met my little house wife!" Shigure said like a proud husband.

"Indeed" the stranger said before, "Actually, your…'house wife' and I have had an encounter before"

"Really?" Shigure said in a pretend wounded voice, "Has my little flower been seeing someone else?"

Tohru was terribly embarrassed and didn't know what to say. "Eh…" she said intelligently. But Tohru was saved from any further embarrassment when the stranger spoke.

"Why, my old friend!" he said dramatically with his arms open. "It's been too long! My, you have changed!"

"And you haven't aged a day!" Shigure teased back. "Well come in, we wouldn't want to be late" he said mysteriously.

"No, we wouldn't want that to happen" the stranger said knowingly and just as mysteriously to Shigure.

Tohru still confused, Tohru remembered her manners in time and bowed to Shigures' guest. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and serve dinner" and she made her escape.

When Tohru was in the shelter of the kitchen, she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed and let out relieved sigh. But the relief was temporary, when she heard a tap on the kitchen wall, she gave a shriek when she opened her eyes and saw that stranger leaning against the wall opposite her staring at her.

"Forgive me for intruding, but do you need any help, Shigure said you might" he said politely.

"Oh no! I'm fine! Plus, you're our guest, I can't ask you for help!" Tohru said frantically trying to dissuade him and to get him out of there!

"Really, I insist" he said coolly.

Tohru was about to tell him that he shouldn't be helping her since he was her guest when Shigure called to him. He really made her uneasy, not like he had bad vibes or anything, but he just made her feel embarrassed.

"Oh! Look at this! Remember this? Come take a look!" Shigure called from his room.

The stranger gave a slightly frustrated sigh, "All right, I'm coming!" he said playfully. But before he left, he stared observantly at Tohru's face not missing anything. When he finally left, Tohru put her hand to her chest and felt her heart beating super-fast, and exhaled raggedly. There was another rap on the wall.

"I'm fine! You don't need to help me!" she protested towards the knock, turning away so her blush wouldn't be seen.

"What?" Yuki who was confused, was she upset that he only helped her with dishes? He would do more, but he proved to be more in the way than help. Maybe when she said that he was a great help, even though he only did the dishes, she was just trying to keep from hurting his feelings.

"Oh!" Tohru said in surprise, she had expected the insistent stranger again. "I…I thought you were someone else" she tried to explain to Yuki.

Yuki looked thoughtful for a moment, nobody else helped her in the kitchen (except when Kyo cooked occasionally) so who else could she be talking about? "Someone else?" then Yuki remembered hearing Tohru answer the door and Shigure greeting someone. "Was it the person I you greeting at the door?"

"Yes" Tohru didn't want to say anymore, fearing that she'd give herself away. But Yuki had caught on when he saw the blush when she answered him.

"Was the person bothering you?" Yuki asked.

"Oh no! He was just-"

"'He'?" Yuki inquired, guessing that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"He's Shigures friend and he's staying for dinner. I heard them talking about how they haven't seen each other in a long time and things like that. They said that they were going somewhere tonight…" Tohru trailed off , wondering where it could be.

"Hmm…" Yuji was thoughtful too, there were only two possible people that Shigures old friend could be, was it possible that it was-

"Hey! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR YOU RAT!" Kyo yelled from the stairway. He had been taking a nap upstairs in his room.

"Hmm, looks like the cat's up" Yuki said slightly amused.

"HEY YOU DAMN RAT! I'M GONNA-" he stopped his threat when he heard a giggle.

"Oh Kyo-Kun!" she looked at Kyo again which caused another batch of giggles, "Your hair is…pink!"

Kyo started clenching his fists, "Yeah! And it's all this damn rats'fault!"

"Oh! But it looks adorable! Really!" Tohru pleaded, hopefully he wouldn't try to fight with Yuki.

Kyo's fists' unclenched for a second, he was inwardly preening, She called me adorable! But then he remembered, My hair is freakin' pink! "That's it! You're going down!"

"Fine" Yuki said in a bored voice, but with an amused smile "But lets take it outside, we have a guest"

"Wha-?" Kyo's arms lowering from fighting stance.

That when Yuki decked him in the stomach, "Come on, dinner's almost ready, lets get this over with"

"Why you-!" Kyo then attempted to kick Yuki in the face, Yuki blocked it in his arm and then grabbed Kyo's foot and twisted it.

Kyo had fallen on the floor, outraged, he swung his leg underneath Yuki's. Yuki was silently gloating so he didn't see this coming, so when Yuki fell, Kyo got Yuki in a headlock on the floor.

Both of them were grunting curses at each other when Shigure walked in, with his guest diligently following behind him.

"Oh dear, these two are at it again" Shigure said to the guest shaking his head, "And I did hope that they would at least behave for our guest" he said with mock disappointment, "Well" he continued perkily, "No use having dinner be cold because of this, come" he said referring to his friend, "I'll show you to the table. Kyo, Yuki" Shigure said looking back over his shoulder to the two: still cursing and threatening each other on the floor, "Please try to behave for our guest, he's very important…to me at least." Shigure said mysteriously. "Oh! And I must say that new hair color is stunning on you! You must get me the name of your hairstylist!" Shigure teased. (Okay, I know that was corny, but I wanted Shigure to tease Kyo about his hair just a teeny bit)

Kyo had managed to look up from the fetal position (Yuki kicked him…there) and saw Shigures' guest grinning at them.

"What the hell…are you…grinning at!" he had to speak in chunks because of the pain, and he knew very well that Shigures guest was looking at his pink hair.

But the stranger just chose to grin and continue to stare at them in that same way he had stared at Tohru, except this time there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"Sugar? Whatever are you doing?" Shigure called from the other room.

Kyo and Yuki exchanged looks with each other.

"Coming" the stranger replied. With a last look at the two (who were now getting up from the floor) he left and went to Shigure.

"Whoa…" Kyo said still freaked out by what Shigure said, "…what just happened?"

"Just don't think about it" Yuki said calmly, brushing off dirt from his pants, "If that guy is a friend of Shigure, then they're both probably weird"

"Whatever. But that guy's a freak if he's hangin' out with that pervert"

"Kyo-Kun!" Tohru said supriesed at him.

"What!" Kyo said defensively.

"You really shouldn't say that…" Tohru started to trail off, "But lots of unusual people become friends, take me for example"

Kyo and Yuki then remembered that Tohru was friends with a goth and Yankee. They were all as different as night and day.

"So you shouldn't judge people by who their friends are…" Tohru looked a little sad for a moment, but then an alarm in the kitchen went off. "Oh no! The miso soup!" and Tohru rushed into the kitchen.

"You don't think…" Kyo was contemplating, "That anyone's bothering Tohru because of that Uo-Chan and Hana-Chan do you?"

Yuki was thoughtful for a moment, "…It's possible, especially because many people don't understand her. But I don't think so…because I don't think that anyone talks about me and you"

"We're not friends! You're my mortal enemy and I will beat you!" Kyo said (Ah, just like old times).

"I didn't say we were stupid cat, but they think we are because we're related"

"Well I didn't ask to be related to you" Kyo said angrily.

"Believe me, if we weren't related, you would've been beaten into pulp a long time ago" Yuki said coolly, with just as much resentment.

"Yeah? Well I-"

"Dinner's ready!" Tohru called out, poking her head out from the kitchen. "Whew!" she said wiping her forehead with the back of her head.

"Jeez Tohru! How much did you need to cook?" Kyo asked.

"Oh, well we have a guest, and I want to make sure that I have enough!" she said happily. "I'll be there to serve tea in a minute!" and her head disappeared back inside the kitchen.

"Hmm, well isn't this cozy?" Shigure said cheerfully. They were all settled down at the table and Tohru had just served tea.

"Yes, quite" the guest said with just a hint of sarcasm. They (excluding Shigure who's pretty much oblivious to anything obvious) all could understand why though, he was sitting close to Shigure and was a little cramped up.

When Tohru served dinner, she was given many compliments, mainly from Shigure and his guest.

"How do you do it? You are simply too good to me, my little flower" Shigure said with a playful wink.

"Yeah, I still don't know why she puts up with you" Kyo said to Shigure.

"Yes, it is a mystery" Shigure said good naturedly, "But it's because she is just so sweet" Shigure then made a move to kiss Tohru on the cheek (Tohru was sitting next to Shigure and Kyo was on her other side).

"Shigure, we should be going now, we're going to be late" the stranger interrupted.

"Ah! And we don't want that to happen…do we?" Shigure said mysteriously (again!).

"You're obviously enjoying this. Why all this secrecy Shigure, what are you up to?" Yuki asked accusingly.

"Up to something? Do I look like I'm up to something?" and Shigure gave doe eyes which looked disturbingly convincing, but it was that smirk that tipped them off.

"Yes" Yuki said bluntly, "Now tell us what it is" he demanded.

"I'm not up to anything!" Shigure said trying to convince them.

"We know you are Shigure, you always are" Kyo added.

"I'm hurt" Shigure said dramatically putting his hand to his heart, "You don't believe me. You all think I'm a cad, a liar, a-"

"Yes, and a pervert, now tell us what you're up to" Yuki said coldly.

"I'd love to tell you but I have to go and change now so that we're not late" Shigure said looking at an imganiary watch on his wrist.

"Change?" Kyo asked. But Shigure was already retreating to the room and had shut the door. So now it was just Shigure's guest and the three of them.

He sat sipping his tea elegantly and calmly, looking to the side and staring off into space not looking at anyone. Yuki and Kyo were staring intently at him as if trying to see through him. Tohru, not wanting to be rude, tried to look anywhere other than his direction. But after a few minutes, the stranger started giving little bursts of quiet laughter and Tohru couldn't help but look at him curiously.

Finally, the stranger had noticed that they were all staring at him (or maybe he just finished with his little daydream or whatever). He turned a little bit so he could directly face them (they were on the opposite side of the table with them.

They boys, Kyo and Yuki, had a little staring contest with Shigures' guest. After almost a minute of intense staring on both sides (excluding Tohru), the stranger gave a bark of laughter.

"You guys are too much" he said with a smile, wiping tears from his eyes that came from laughing so much, and then regained his calm disposition.

"What so funny?" Kyo demanded.

"Well, for starters" he looked Kyo up and down, "Your hair. I find it simply…intriguing. Quite unusual for a boy your age but" he gave a shrug, "It must be the changing times"

"I'll show you something unusual!" Kyo yelled, embarrassed and annoyed that a stranger had made fun of him. Kyo then got up quickly, and was about to assume fighting position, but the stranger stayed where he was sipping tea comfortably and looking amusedly at Kyo (and his pink hair), he then focused on Yuki who was still staring at him coldly.

"More importantly" Yuki said, his voice like ice, "Who are you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry! I'm sorry for cutting it off there! But I couldn't help it! It's the

prankster who loves to read angry (not too angry though) reviews in me! Honest! So did you likey? It was 8 pages! A new record for me! Please review! I don't' get that many reviews nagging me anymore so I tend to slack off. Plus, I'm going to the library more now (YAY!) so I tend to be unfocused (now I'm reading MARS, it rules!) and it takes me a while to get back into Frubas mode. Who do you think he is? Can you guess? Well, that doesn't really matter, it how he's going to affect the future! Mwhaaahaahaa! Okay, no more talking, I have to go put away my cereal bowl! Toodles!