here is the new chapter. hope you like it, let me know what you think. thankyou for all of the reviews, and i'm sorry if you haven't recieved a reply! my life has been all up in the air recently, and i'm going to try my best to reply to all of them from now on.

also, if you're interested, over on my livejournal, which is totally empty atm, i'm going to publish and exclusive shigure/hatori oneshot called 'nightswimming' i have only set it up recently, and so i have no friends or anything yet, so it'd be good for you to add me. expect the story in a few days, or maybe tomorrow. it depends on how much time i have to write it. .com/

i dont own fruits basket, and i make no money from this.

X-v-X

like the whispering wind you sent to me
like the hopeless time you gave to me
I watched your dreams all slip away
I watched your dreams all slip away
there's a hopeless place inside my heart
when I look inside I see where we are
like the whispering wind in the top of my trees
i will watch the sky come following me
like the rain on my windows late every night
like the hope I have for us every time
it's like the whispering wind in the top of the trees
I see it sway as you come for me

The morning had been a strange one. I sat wrapped in kyo's arms on the train as it sped past trees and countryside, all an eerie bright white. Our time together had passed too quickly, and now in the cold sunlight of a winter morning, I felt like a lamb being put to the slaughter. We had been on the train for three hours, we had ordered no drinks, no breakfast, and had spoke no words to each other. Our silence was uncomfortable, it loomed over us, yet it was there to stay.

We walked together, slowly along the track to Shigure's house. Hatori's car was in drive, no doubt ready to take us to the main house. My stomach sank at the thought of it, yet I didn't let any of this show to Kyo, I would not let him be sunk into misery that same way I was. Although, looking at him, he didn't seem in a much better state.

Opened the front door quietly, not wanting to rouse any of our housemates from whatever they may have been doing. We didn't want any attention. Slipping our shoes off, we moved further into the house. I could hear voices.

Hatori's hushed yet berating tones were audible from the direction of the kitchen, both the cat and I froze where we stood, pricking our ears to hear whatever is was being said.

"it's not right Shigure!" Hatori's whispers were always cruel.

"there is no right or wrong haa-san. You should know that by now. there's nothing we can do to change it." A much more calm and mature Shigure than usual answered the dragon.

"and why didn't you tell me? Would I even know now if I hadn't figured it out myself?!"

"I doubt you would know haa-san, I doubt it very much. And I apologise for keeping it a secret from you, you know I tell you everything, every thought and feeling that I have. But these are not my thoughts, or my feelings" he whimpered pleadingly.

I looked at Kyo, my eyes wide, I knew what this was about.

"we can't tell them that they can't be together, you haven't seen them now haa-san, they've changed beyond recognition , they're better now"

"they're doomed Shigure, that is what they are"

I had never heard Shigure speak to Hatori like this, I didn't know he had it in him, and it stirred me slightly to realize that even though he was devious, obviously hiding something and infuriating, he was in fact, pleased about our relationship, and truly wanted us to be together. Although I was warmed by Shigure's words, I was chilled to the bone by Hatori's.

"god knows what she will do to them, you're setting them up for pain. It's unfair, and dangerous. And, and I don't want to have to..." the dragons paused, sighing deeply, as if the world truly was upon his shoulders.

"I don't want to have to tear them apart by having to erase their memories of each other. I couldn't do that to another person. " Hatori was showing his unknown human side, he sounded unlike himself, he sounded devastated.

"I couldn't tell them it was wrong haa-san...it would make me the biggest hypocrite of them all...don't you agree?"

There was silence for a minute, there was nothing much left to be said between them. Then from behind me, came a sneeze. I jumped higher than I had ever done in my life and looked around at him. he stood there, making a face as he tried not to shout at me.

The kitchen remained silent, we were discovered, and so there was no point in hiding any longer. I shuffled into the hall, through the living room, and into the kitchen, two sets of questioning eyes turned to look at me, and I could meet neither of them.

"ah! H-hello!" Shigure was flustered, looking at me with a nervous expression that hid nothing.

I felt Kyo come up behind me, his footsteps more confident than my own, they both knew about us, and they were both going to take us to whatever fate would befall us at the main house, these were the people we should trust, and also distrust most in the world, we had no reason to feel comfortable around them. He stood close, I could feel the heat of his body, trying to warm itself from exposure to the cold, it prickled against my over sensitised skin, it made my clothes feel uncomfortable.

Without warning, he placed an arm around me, securely holding me, as if he had to protect me. Although I knew this wasn't the case, instead he was showing the two at the table that we were indeed together, and they would have a more difficult job than they thought if they thought it would be easy to separate us. I suspected this was more for Hatori's benefit than Shigure's.

I was surprised at the open contact, the situation was surreal, unusual, and quite frightening. Indeed, Hatori's brow lifted to such an extent that his hair shifted, revealing his damaged eye. For a moment, we were all stunned at this instead of kyo's show of affection, but as quick as Hatori's only imperfection was exposed, it disappeared. It was a brief slip of his disguise, and one that damaged him more than he was willing to say. We didn't mention it.

"well I must say." He was using his doctor's voice, as if he was about to diagnose us both as mad. "I most certainly wasn't expecting this" he didn't sound angry, which surprised me, instead he just seemed cold.

I found it hard to look at him, hard to listen to him talk because I knew what he thought of my relationship with Kyo and I knew he was wrong about everything. Yet Hatori has this amazing ability to intimidate, and as I stood there, confronted with him, I almost crumbled.

"we're going to get changed." His words were hard like stone, he was resilient, and I was thankful for it, particularly as he dragged me away up to his room. We didn't speak as he closed the door behind us. He just looked around, as if he hadn't seen the four walls around us for years, he was acclimatising. We were both thinking the same thing.

This is it.

It was the end, the eleventh hour, and our time together would end soon. He stood awkwardly before me, looking me up and down.

"this...." he stopped, he was unsure about whatever he was going to say, the words were struggling to come out yet he formed them slowly. "this is going to sound so strange." He was whispering.

"what?" my voice sounded stark compared to his.

"can I....." these long pauses were playing on my patience, I always got testy when I was scared. "can I, wear something of yours....today?" he looked down at the floor, unable to look , me in the eye in case I laughed.

"y-yes....why?"

He shrugged. I knew all too well, I just didn't want to admit that the likelihood of us getting separated was as high as it was.

"thank you-" he was going to finish his sentence, but I interrupted him.

"Kyo. Can I...too...please?" I felt my cheeks reddening. I was so uncomfortable, yet I understood his reasoning, he understood mine, he nodded, and in the wintery sunlight blistering through his window, I caught glimpses of steadily forming tears, he closed his eyes trying to stop them before they fell, and looked away, turning to a chest of draws and rooting around inside them for something. He pulled out his famous black shirt, his favourite, which he seemed to have many versions of.

Handing it to me, shakily, he couldn't meet my eyes.

"thank you" my voice rasped. It broke my heart to see him like this. Taking the scrunched up shirt from him, I took his hand.

"we'll be ok. We'll always be ok." I held him tightly, I would never let go of him, he would be with me forever.

Without saying anything, I led him from his room to my own; we would find him my favourite shirt.

It wasn't a difficult task, my wardrobe was meticulously sorted into shirts, trousers, coats and summer shorts. My favourite shirt had its own place at the very end of the rail. I pulled it out and looked it up and down it was a long classically oriental piece or white silk embroidered with swirling koi carp that only showed up in the light. It was trimmed with a navy blue collar that trailed down to the left and was fastened with sparkling buttons of the same colour. The hem of each sleeve, and the bottom of the shirt was similarly designed. It was expensive, well tailored to fit me and a one of a kind piece. It had been made by my brother, and paid for by Shigure, it was a present for my birthday.

I handed it to him, and he looked shocked by it, it would be blatantly obvious that we weren't wearing our own clothes, this didn't matter though, we had silently resigned ourselves to the fact that later today, our well kept secret would be out in the open and there was nothing we could do about it. He took it from me, treating it gently.

"t-thank you" he grumbled. "I need a shower. So....I'll be going...I suppose" he nodded as he exited the room.

I felt immediately lonely. Holding his shirt in my tightly gripping hands, I lifted it closer and smelt it, his scent so near, it almost felt like he was there with me, yet this echoing lack of him was eating at me.

I left quickly, and caught him just as he was opening the bathroom door. our eyes met and he nodded once again, holding the door open for me.

There was no time for nervousness, we had but a few hours left together before we would almost certainly be torn apart from each other in the most brutal way Akito could think of. We had these few moments to enjoy each other's company in a way we had only just discovered how to. I closed the door behind me, laying his shirt gently on the towel rack, on top of mine that he had already placed there.

"I wish you would talk" the words were out of my mouth before my brain could engage.

"what?" he looked annoyed for the first time, whatever it was that was happening between us, it was definitely calming him down more than anyone could have imagined, there were thing however, that would still tip him over the edge, and I hoped this wasn't one of them.

"i-i mean...." I sighed loudly "I don't know"

In truth I just wanted to hear his voice, to burn it upon my brain one last time before he was removed from me and all I'd have is my memories. I thought it would be absurd to tell him this though, and instead looked away.

"it's ok" he sighed, walking over to me and wrapping his arms tight around me. I was thankful for the contact, I was needy. I rested my weary head upon his strong shoulders. "it's ok" he repeated, reassuring me to the point that tears welled up in my eyes and the fell freely. I could not lose this. My hands clawed into his jumper, I was weak from all of this. Part of me wished for quiet, for escape, and for sleep. Soon my eyes would close and I would black out, exhaustion would overcome me and I would be gone from here.

He kissed the top of my head, a pure show of affection amidst the build-up to a battleground. I sobbed louder, crying in a way I hadn't since I was a child, freely, loudly, wildly. He pushed me away gently, looking at me as if he was inspecting me. He cupped my face in both of his hands sighing, wiping my tears away with his thumbs.

"it's going to be ok, it'll all be fine. We just have to talk about what we're going to do if things turn...bad. " he was calmer than me, more controlled.

"w-what do you mean?" I frightened myself. I sounded exactly as I did when I was little, when I was locked deep inside the main house in the pitch black.

"well. There's a good chance they're going to try and hurt us. Physically. And if that happens. I want you to let me take it all. I don't want you to get hurt"

"Kyo no!" there was so many things wrong with letting him take my beating.

"listen!" Kyo did authority well. "I'm used to being beaten. If you haven't forgotten I've spent the majority of my life being beaten to a pulp by you. It's nothing to me. But people never lay a finger on you, it would hurt you more. And I won't let anyone near you. They'll have to kill me to get to you."

I felt ashamed for hurting him so much in the past, yet he was true, fighting with each other every day had made us more resilient. But I still couldn't let him.

"no. If things get bad. We leave together. There's enough strength between us to get through every one of them, we come back together and lock ourselves in. Ok?" I was still crying, still sounded vulnerable.

He nodded. "ok" it was a whisper, but a comforting one. He leant in close to me and kissed me gently, my lips must have tasted salty, they were drenched from my tears, yet he didn't mind. His lips were soft, unobtrusive, gently seeking their way to open my mouth. I put up no resistance. I was pliant, putty in his hands as his tongue gently probed my mouth. He breathed life into me, with every bit of air that passed between us.

His loving hands moved to lift my shirts over my head, carefully undressing me as if I was a gift to be unwrapped. There was something undeniably simple about this moment, about his actions that at once settled my troubled head. he dropped them behind me, they meant nothing. His calloused hands ghosted over my skin, fingers trailing lightly down my chest. I closed my eyes, relaxing under his touch, reacting in every way my body knew how to.

He found my trousers, in a natural and fluid way, he was now accustomed to this of course, the buttons were easily undone and the fabric slid easily over my hips. I wasn't so nervous anymore, he knew my body like I knew it, and I knew his, the things that had happened between us had changed our awareness of ourselves it had made us improve for the better.

He cautiously removed my underwear, letting that drop to the floor also, leaving me standing exposed in the chilly air of a bathroom with no hot water running. He kissed me chastely on the neck, the touch reverberated throughout my whole body and I shivered. I opened my eyes, and saw him before me, it was like he was a vision, like I was schizophrenic, and he was my delusion, he seemed unreal. His cheeks were a light pink, his blood was pumping too quickly around his body, but he was ok. I was quickly locked onto deep citrine irises, drowning in them, and losing strength every second.

He moved, he was removing his own clothes, quickly, quietly, there was no tender undressing here, he was all about business with himself. he turned away, switching on the shower and letting the water run warm for a few moments before stepping inside, guiding me along with him.

The water danced over me, curing my body of the chills that had invaded it. He wrapped his arms tightly around me, he was protective, and for once in my life, I let myself be protected, I let my guard down, and I allowed myself to be the weaker one, because I felt safe. Whilst held in those arms I could be invincible, because I knew he would fight to the death for me.

He picked up the shower gel from a nearby shelf, and emptied some onto his hand. After lathering it, he ran it over my body. It tickled for a while but I eventually I became accustomed to it. My eyes closed of their own accord as I began to tremble. This was going a way that Kyo probably didn't intend it to. My breath hitched, Goosebumps littered my skin, and I reached behind me to grasp his hips uncomfortably trying to keep myself stood up. Suddenly the water was too hot, the steam too much for my tired lungs, my body was too overheated, and so my head began to spin. His tough was like fire, too much, too much of an effect. But it didn't hurt.

"k-Kyo!" I had to stop him, and my feeble whimper, my pleading , halted him quickly.

"what?" he let go of me so I could turn around to see him, he looked worried.

"I...uh...I just...you know" I looked down at myself, at my quivering limbs, and my steadily hardening length. I blushed as he followed my gaze, a smile spread across his lips at the realization of what he was doing to me. This was his teasing smile.

"is that all you think about" he mocked.

"i-i-i-i-!" I couldn't stop myself from getting flustered. There was no way on earth I thought about that all the time, it's just in this situation, in those bubbles, who wouldn't think of such things?

Before I could make another attempt at pleading my innocence, he interrupted me with a kiss, a firm press upon my lips that reassured me, everything is going to be ok. He held the back of my head in his hands, almost smothering me with the roughness of it.

"one last time" he whispered. He was preparing for the end. Animals have the ability to pick up on things, on changes in the air and on changes in the atmosphere that predicts danger ahead, we had both picked up on this, we were both preparing ourselves for it, and this would be our last goodbye, our last deeply intimate moment together. He came back to me, interrupting my train of thought, looking at me questioningly as his hands once again began to explore me, To trace beautiful pictures and words all over me.

I gasped, biting my lip so hard I thought I might break the skin, in some ways I hoped I would, a prick of pain would awaken my dulled senses. I held on tight to his strong shoulders, prepared for an onslaught of touch, of trembling kisses and sad and weary goodbyes.

There came however, a knock upon the door.

"lovers! We have to leave in fifteen minutes! Please hurry!" the dog sang through the door, it struck me as insulting that he could seem so cheery at a time like this.

Kyo growled low in his throat, ready to go out and hurt Shigure in every way he could think of, in a bid to stop him I rested my head upon his shoulder, and began to rinse the soap from our bodies.

Once finished, we climbed out of the shower, nervously drying ourselves off and dressing. As I came to put kyo's shirt over my head, I noticed his scent once again, it comforted my steadily fraying nerves. It fitted a little looser around me than it did him, the v neck coming slightly lower, and the sleeves a bit longer, you tell very clearly that it wasn't my shirt, that it belonged to someone else. It belonged to Kyo.

He seemed similarly surprised by wearing my clothes. The silk clung to him attractively, the stark white of the fabric darkened his complexion. As he buttoned it from the side I knew that although I was called the prince, he would forever be the king in my eyes, beautiful, strong, and enigmatic. He was everything people wrongly thought me to be.

He reached over to straighten his shirt out on me, and pointed out quite suddenly:

"you're still bruised. They'll see that"

I shrugged, they'd know everything else about us by the end of the night.

He took my hand, tightly squeezing it as if this would be our last contact, and then gently placing it back at my side he opened the door, walking slowly down the stairs. He cautiously looked back every now and then to check I was still with him, and every time he saw I was he seemed sadder and sadder.

Shigure and Hatori stood by the door, our coats in their arms, their cheerless faces looking at the clothes we wore. They said nothing, it was not their place to. Instead they just turned and walked out into the snow, shadows creeping out into an endless night, we would not see the light of day together, we would be horrifically split by then, we would be damaged, fractured, splintered and left to gather ourselves back together, piece by piece. Alone.

And we all knew it.

there's a whispering wind I feel it inside
like a place I can feel but never will see
let a whisper come touch you come touch every thing
I stand in the way of the things I can be
let the whispering wind come lift us away
let it push us apart if we wish to stay
you're my sweetness my baby my love for all time
like the whispering wind it makes you all mine
like the whispering wind you stand here with me
like the whispering wind you stand here with me
I see your dreams all slip away
slip away
slip away
slip away