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Chapter 9

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Sneaking into the house was an experience in itself.

At least there hadn't been any trouble with finding their way home; Kyo had known the way and led them back easily. They might have tripped a few times, but who could blame them? They were tired, the ground was muddy, and it only grew darker as they neared the house.

By the time they reached the house, they were tired and covered in dirt. Realizing that it was incredibly early in the morning, they exercised all due caution as they let themselves in. For a variety of reasons, neither one wanted to get caught trying to creep into their bedroom. Kyo didn't want anyone to see the redness around his eyes. Bad enough that Haru knew he'd been crying, no-one else needed to figure that out. And, though he wouldn't admit it, he didn't want anyone else intruding on this closeness between them—so he held onto Haru's hand a little bit tighter.

Somehow they managed it without waking anyone. Tip-toeing around in the dark, trying not to bang into anything, holding hands because it was comfortable and easier. Avoiding that first step because it creaked—pausing to listen for any stray sounds every other minute. Finally, they reached their room and slowly eased the door open.

Kyo flipped on the light, blinking rapidly in the brightness and finally letting go of Haru's hand. The skin of his palm felt weirdly warm, and he clenched it spasmodically. What were they supposed to do now?

He turned to look for Haru and had to smile. Apparently, they were going to get ready to sleep. Haru was pulling out pajamas, and Kyo turned away, opening his own drawers. He glanced at the cow out of the corner of his eye and turned away, mortified. Haru was pulling off his shirt, and it bared the expanse of his back appealingly. God, it was nearly disturbing to even allow these feelings. The cat had denied, suppressed, and destroyed any last vestige of feelings he had ever felt for the cow. Determined, at all costs, to protect himself.

So Kyo could understand why Haru had pushed him away.

He just couldn't understand why the ox had come back.

A gentle hand stroked down the line of his back and quiet voice spoke in his ear.

"Oy. Calm down."

Startled, Kyo shot forward, knee painfully colliding with the open shelf. Gritting his teeth and hoping the noise hadn't been loud enough to wake anyone, the cat snarled at the cow, "I was not panicking."

Haru chuckled, "Right. 'Course you weren't." He looked meaningfully at the knee Kyo was clutching, "What's bothering you?"

Kyo hesitated, looking away from Haru's tousled appearance. He searched for the right words…"I—well, it's just. I don't know, how…." They'd both acknowledged their feelings, but where did that leave them?

Haru sighed and lent his forehead against the cat's. "Can't we leave all the reasons we shouldn't be doing this for tomorrow? No school, no homework, no training. We'll go somewhere nice and I'll disprove each and every thought that's making you nervous. For now, I want to go to bed."

Kyo nodded and resisted the urge to sprint to his bed, ready to escape from Haru and his too warm eyes. His stomach clenched uneasily, he had been feeling vaguely sick the entire day—he nearly choked when Haru headed for the same bed as he.

"Ah…Haru?" The cat's voice came out strangled.

"What?" Haru looked back at him, one knee already on the bed, expression absolutely innocent.

"That's my bed." Kyo quickly switched the lights off, determined not to panic about the situation—because Haru would laugh. Maybe the cow would move back to his futon?

"I know it's your bed" There was amusement in the cow's tone, damn it. "…come here." Haru reached for him, and Kyo went, unable to resist when the other teen pulled him to the bed.

Haru carefully arranged the quilt over them, moving Kyo so that the cat lay on his side, with Haru directly behind him. Kyo shuddered, eyes wide in the dark. Barely used to the friendly contact of friends, it was a shock to feel the entire length of Haru's body pressed up behind him.

Okay, it wasn't that bad…in fact, it was far from unpleasant. The other teen was much warmer than the room temperature, and Kyo relaxed into that heat, sleepy. He placed his hand over the arm thrown across his body and tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Somehow, wiggling around, he managed to jab Haru with his elbow. Shit. He tried to move away, and then went rigid as the stupid cow tightened his arm around his ribs, trapping him!

A gentle hand pressed along his side and Kyo shivered. Was Haru going to—? He'd never even been properly kissed—oh god! God, he was such a virgin—he didn't know what to do! Haru had said they would sleep, right? Right!

Haru must have felt the other teen tensing up, because he gently squeezed Kyo's stomach, then loosened his arm. The ox murmured sleepily, hand lazily soothing. "…never dated another guy, you know..." Nuzzled his face into the sensitive skin of Kyo's neck, trying to reassure him. "Calm down…This is new for me too. Just wanna hold you…go to sleep."

Kyo relaxed, sinking tired limbs into the bed. Haru was a warm, comforting presence along his back, and the arm around his midsection felt sort of like another blanket. This was okay—this was good. The cat closed his eyes, and easily fell into sleep.

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Haru woke slowly, lethargic and a little too hot. Trying to move made him realize that Kyo, far from attempting to move away at night, was lying next to him and tightly clutching Haru's arm. The ox nearly laughed, Kyo looked—cute, and attractive, and—it was pretty amazing waking up next to someone you liked, and Haru felt doubly content because it was the cat.

Smiling, he rolled over onto his side, carefully extracting his arm from the cat. He considered getting up, and then caught sight of the little bit of skin showing between Kyo's shirt and pants. It was just too tempting.

He leaned over the other teen, smirking. Reached his fingers out, he gently started tickling the other's ribs, hoping it would wake the cat up. Kyo had always been ticklish. A fact that Haru tried not to exploit for the sake of fair play, but this time he couldn't resist. Then again, the tickling didn't seem to be working.

Hmmm….He snuck his fingers up under the cat's shirt, exposing tan skin as he went. Well, sun-darkened until it turned blue and brown and purple in places. Bruises—all over Kyo's body. What the hell?

Kyo slowly twitched, but Haru's attention was on the cat's torso. He'd already pulled as much of the shirt away as he could, and it was now caught under the cat's arms. He couldn't even focus on the nicely toned muscles there, because—damn, the splotches of bruise marks started at the cat's ribs and only disappeared under the low waistband of his pants.

Kyo swallowed dryly, slowly waking up. His eyes squinted, tried blinking a bit, and then started staring at Haru.

Haru tried to speak calmly, but his words came out edgy anyway. "Why—why are you so bruised?" His face turned dark as he studied the cat's skin a little more carefully. What—was that a scar? Okay, injuries happened—but this was ridiculous, when had all of these happened? And why hadn't Kyo told him?

"Umm—what?" Kyo rubbed his eyes briefly, and then shuddered as he realized Haru was looking at him. "What are you doing!" He tried to jerk away, realized he was trapped, then turned onto his side. Tugging his shirt down hastily, his cheeks abruptly went a bright red.

"C'mon Kyo. Answer the fucking question." Haru was unusually serious for this early in the morning, "What happened?"

Kyo could barely look at the other boy, what the heck had Haru been doing? Baffled, he inched away from Haru's questing fingers. "My bruises? Um, well…they're there…no big deal."

Haru's voice was low in the morning light. "Are they from fighting?" With me?

"Well, yeah." Kyo looked a little confused, and uncomfortable, "I'm plenty clumsy too, but…"

"You never seemed hurt before…"

Kyo's eyes narrowed a bit, "Yeah, well. I get slammed around on a daily basis. Heh—as much as I try, Yuki always seems to end up beating my ass. Even you, despite the fact that I can beat you any day, have given me bruises." He glared at Haru playfully, unaware of the ox's growing unease, "I'm going to have bruises. Hell, I have bruises from practicing alone—"

"I've never seen any of them." The ox's voice was very quiet.

Kyo stared at the other boy unsurely, and Haru shook his head. He didn't want to make a big deal about this, but there were so many...

"Look, Haru. It's okay. I usually heal a lot quicker than this. Must be 'cause I've been sick; it's taking longer…."

"Hm." Haru pulled the other boy towards him, despite the blush that still lingered on Kyo's face, and gently pressed his cheek against Kyo's hair. "I'm sorry…for all those bruises I gave you, and never realized." The feeling welled up in him, painfully stuck in his throat.

The cat's hands tightened convulsively around Haru's arms, a little breath escaping in a sigh. Haru couldn't' see Kyo's expression, so he just held the other teen tighter.

"Thanks…" Kyo's spoke, whisper soft, "For caring about what happens to me."

And that, Haru thought, was exactly what scared him so badly.