AN- Alright. So, everyone, thank you for hanging in there... I was in such a bad slump over the past few days, I hadnt been able to sleep for over a week, and stress was like the marshmellows in my luckycharms, it was horrifying. But look look! I pulled through! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and stuck with me, this one is for you!
(I dont really like LuckyCharms...)

Chapter Fifty Four

(Shigure's POV)

I folded the newspaper in half, and then in quarters, sighing audibly as I placed it back down on my desk. I gazed into the bright screen of my computer, feeling a smirk playing my lips as I glanced down at Haru who was sitting comfortably next to me on the floor.

"Nice weather, isn't it?" I said conversationally as Haru inspected one of the books thrown lazily onto my floor, and didn't glance up at me or show any sign of acknowledgment. He had just gotten back from picking Tohru up from her work, and she had escaped to the kitchen to start cooking up dinner.

"Are they gone?"

I leaned back in my leather chair and curved my finger around my chin, "Yes, they left a little while ago, actually."

Kyo and Yuki had departed for the Hotsprings a little sooner then when Tohru and Haru had arrived, "Pity, they're going to miss out on Tohru's lovely cooking." I thought out loud, then a smile broke out on my face, "Oh well, more for me!"

"Hmm." Haru flipped open a blank-covered book and skimmed lightly through the numerous pages.

"It's quite coincidental, actually." I mused to myself.

"What is?" Haru said with little interest as he turned the book upside down and shook it to see if anything was hidden in the pages of the book.

"I heard the influenza in the Main House finally calmed down." I slid my right leg over my knee casually, my voice sceptic.

"I know, Shigure, I live there." Haru replied with little enthusiasm.

I decided to drop the charade and I looked insistently at Haru, "Haa-kun, your actions interest me."

"My actions are insignificant." Haru replied.

"I wonder what you're intentions were." I mused on.

Haru finally combated with me, placing down the novel slowly, "I want to protect him as long as I can."

I was intrigued as Haru spoke again, "Even if it's just for two more days."

"The best way would have been to separate them." I said, an implied question in my voice.

"Why would I want to do that?" Haru said, "This is the first time… that Yuki has ever let someone in."

I laced my fingers together, "They're in for a tough ride."

And I was excited to see where this would go.

(Yuki's POV)

I sat down at the edge of the open-air bath, sliding my legs into the warm water, welcoming the sensations that began to flood up my body at the immense, relaxing warmth, "I'll have to get something for Tohru and Haru for this." I contemplated.

"Feh, they don't need anything." Kyo crossed his arms over the ground next to me, most of his body hidden within the steaming warmth of the water, "They're waaay too into each other to notice anything."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?"

Kyo scoffed, "Hell yeah, he turned black on me a little while ago, went completely berserk, the brat."

"You turned him black?" I repeated, dull with disbelief.

"It wasn't my fault!" He defended, "… okay, I was a bit agitated, but he wasn't helping!"

"I think you're the only one who can turn him black without much effort." I murmured at the unpleasant thought.

"He's just sensitive."

"You're just insensitive."

"Hey, maybe it wasn't me, alright?" He started, "Y'know, maybe he was just all stressed about sumthin."

"Was Honda-San there?"

"Yeah-Ow, hey!" I had reached over and hit him on the head, a scornful look on my face as I assessed him with appraising eyes.

"Why do you insist on putting Honda-San in constant danger?" I scolded, not happy.

"Wha? Like he'd do anything to her." He scrunched up his nose, "They're like a bunch of frickn' birds, it's annoying."

"I am so glad you're not with her." I breathed a sigh of relief, "I'd never sleep."

"Pah, you saying you can handle me?" He scoffed.

"You're tolerable." I said absently as he raised an eyebrow.

He looked at me with his curious, fiery eyes, and then he reached over me, and slid his body in front of mine, the water rippling around his bare waist until he was the one appraising me, "You gettin' use to me, rat?"

Getting used to him? I tried unsuccessfully to hide a grin. My skin still tingled under his warm touch, my stomach still fluttered under his gaze, my tongue still froze when he would speak, and I still got light-headed whenever he would kiss me.

As much as everything he did had me tumbling to keep up, I knew that I was used to the fact that I still wasn't any where near immune to him.

I didn't have to reach far to touch his face, and I slowly dragged my fingertips over his cheek, "… in some ways, yes."

We arrived here yesterday, passing the time without much excitement, but not without amusement—it wasn't easy to be bored around Kyo, he always found a way to get attention if you ignored him for too long. Over the rest of the week, I had routinely walked Tohru to and from work whenever Haru hadn't jumped to the opportunity—however, he had appeared a few times while we were walking home. Since she was gone so much, I had offered to do the grocery shopping while Tohru was at work, and Shigure, Momiji, or Haru usually accompanied me—Kyo was usually off doing his own thing.

Now the evening lights were on, and the sky was dimming into a silky grey.

And there was no one with me but Kyo.

"Have you been ignoring me?" He asked as my fingers left his skin, and he gave me an accusing look.

My expression was incredulous and my voice sarcastic, "Of course, why else would I be at the Onsen with you?" I leaned forward, "I'm not going to wait around all day for you to come back from the Dojo."

"How do you know that's where I go?" He asked in sceptic bewilderment.

I rolled my eyes, "Honestly, what else would you be doing?'

"Lots of things!"

I gave him a look for him to continue—but he narrowed his eyes and kept his mouth shut.

I sighed, "You worship that place."

"Just cuz your too much of a pretty boy to go there." He implied, then glowered at me, "How the hell can you be better then me if you barely practice at all?"

I smiled, "That's common sense, Kyo."

"But that's no damn fair!" He fumed, his hands curling into fists as he glared off into space, "I spend hours training, and you barely do it at all!"

"Why are you still doing it, then?" I said in exasperation.

He looked over to me, "I'm not doing it just to beat you."

I looked at him sceptically, "Yeah, now that you've mentioned it, you haven't challenged me for a while."

Something flashed through his eyes—but he quickly looked away, "So?"

"So I was wondering why?" I asked, recalling the last incident that involved me dodging Kyo's blurring fists—it had been the last time he ever challenged me, the day when Kagura arrived at our school. He was a breath away from bruising my cheek, but he had stopped himself despite his impossible speed.

"Tsh, got bored." He said indifferently, but still keeping his eyes averted. "It's no fun fighting you."

"Now you're just being a sore loser." I placed my hands behind me and leaned back on them, giving Kyo a grin while he sent me a glare.

"It's more then just winning." He said, as if it were obvious, "It's connecting with your body, being free in yourself, just letting go and—" Kyo had gotten excited, his eyes were dancing, and his body was tensing in thrill—but when he paused to steal a glance at me, he instantly calmed down, "Never mind. You wouldn't get it."

I looked at him curiously—there was so much life in him, so much excitement. I loved when he showed it; even it was just for a moment. It made him glow.

I reached out and tilted his chin upward so he was looking at me again. I loved his passion, his intensity, his determination—I felt like I had that too when I was with him. I felt like it emitted off of him so strongly, that it radiated through to me.

His eyes were mesmerizing, and I barely registered it when he drifted closer, standing in between my bare thighs and resting his warm hand on my knee before tilting his face up to meet his lips with mine.

If I could have my way, I would spend most of my time kissing Kyo. For being a ridiculously aggressive boy, Kyo was incredibly gentle, and it only shook my world even more when he displayed how soft he can be.

This was the part of him that belonged to me, that he gave to no one else.

His lips left mine to press a kiss at the corner of my mouth before he rested his face in the crook of my neck, his lips pressing against my skin. I brought my hand up and weaved my fingers through his thick, orange hair before nuzzling my face in its softness.

He had such pretty hair.

I breathed in his gorgeous, musky scent…

"Yuki…"

His breath was against my skin, and my blood rushed through my cheeks at his words, my stomach curled pleasantly and I bit my lip to try and repress the prevailing blush, "yes?"

There was a pause, "… what do you think about?"

"Hm?" I felt his hair tickle at my neck.

"You're always in your head…" he said against my skin, "And I never have a clue what's going through your mind."

"Nothing important." I slid my fingers through his hair again, delighting in its thick softness. I was glad that there were still a few things about me that Kyo couldn't figure out—his intuition had to stop at some point.

He pulled back from me, enough to accuse me with his eyes, "Y'know, that's really frustrating."

"There's a reason why I don't say my thoughts out loud." I informed him unnecessarily.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, it's terrible." I said, "My thought process is absolutely repulsive, I'm doing you a favour."

"Like hell you are."

"You're ungrateful."

"You're frustrating." Kyo slunk back into the water until it reached bellow his shoulders and he crossed his arms over my thighs to rest his chin on them, gazing up at me, evidently enjoying provoking me.

Instead of retorting, I merely sighed to show him how much he exasperated me—I think he liked making me exhausted, he didn't put any effort into restraining himself there.

"Alright, I'll tell you." I continued in an ominous voice, "I think about how handsome you are, and your beautiful laugh, and your adorable nose—"

"SHUT UP!"

I laughed and he groaned, "You're sick."

"You wanted to know." I smiled at his scrunched expression.

"That is repulsive." He muttered and I grinned—I'd like to see him try and pry my thoughts out of my again.

The slight weight of his arms over my thighs was pleasant, and I looked back into his gaze… I tilted my head and slid a finger underneath his chin, raising his face back up to mine.

"Now, honestly…" I said in a thoughtful, quiet voice, trailing my fingers along his jaw line, "You are handsome," I brushed my fingers through his lovely hair as his cheeks turned nearly the same colour, "and you're voice is beautiful," I leaned in to brush my lips against his, "And I suppose…" I trailed my fingers over his blushing cheek, "You do have your adorable moments."

He stared at me, finally speechless, with his rosy cheeks and hesitant breathing.

He quickly looked away, "Th-that's the stupidest thing—" But the rest of the words didn't come out, and his blush was even more dominating in his soft cheeks.

His bashfulness was a flattering accomplishment, and I felt something inflate inside of me—I could easily get very territorial over this side of him.

I slid my fingers over his cheek and leaned in to press my lips against his skin, "You're really shy, do you know that?'

"I-I'm not shy!" The defensive edge in his words was softened by his wavering voice and the corners of my lips gave a tug, and I let out a small laugh. He pulled away from me, "You're the one spewing off… off weird stuff like that!" He wasn't fuming, he looked completely lost in his bashfulness, "Who the hell says that, see that's what I'm talking about! You're so goddamn weird, nobody says anything like that, why are you so frickn' abnormal—"

I sighed and placed both hands on his head—he blinked in confusion before I pushed hard and shoved his face beneath the water—

"GWAH!" He spluttered back up, and shook his hair viciously before shoving his wet, dark orange hair out of his shocked face—and then he turned to glare at me, "THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"You were getting flustered." I said simply.

"I'll show you flustered," He growled, and then I was trapped in a cage of his wet arms before I was suddenly plunged beneath the surface of water—I resurfaced in the same second, gasping in shock and shoving my soaking hair out of my face and staring at him as he grinned sadistically at me.

"You baka!' I shoved him, "This is an Onsen not a Lake!"

"Who the hell cares," His voice was care-free, grinning triumphantly down at me, and I grabbed a fistful of his wet hair and jerked him around the water: "Don't—be—a—FIVE YEAR OLD!'

His laugh rang through the air as he tried to pull out of my grip, and then I felt his arms wrap themselves back around my waist and I made a noise of protest before he lifted me up, sliding an arm underneath my thighs to hold me to his body—I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck to keep myself from falling, even though there was so danger in that.

"We will never be allowed back here if you keep on acting like a Baka!" I shoved my wet hair back out of my face, "I am not having a re-run of the 'fountain incident' I've had enough of you and water!"

He chuckled, looking up at me, as I glowered down at him… I tried to get a good grip on my irritation, but it was a little difficult to think about being agitated when he was looking at me with those playful eyes.

I stubbornly gave a scoffing sigh and looked away from him, unable to be mad, but refusing to encourage this immature behaviour with my lover.

WHOA!

I slapped a hand over my mouth, even though I hadn't said it out loud—

Lover?

I felt my cheeks warm.

I had thought it so naturally, as if I had been calling him that for years. I looked at him, and he was giving me an expectantly confused look, yet he was still amused by my lack of 'normality'.

I've always thought of him as something more… devoted then a 'boyfriend'… and 'lover' was a label that suited us perfectly, given our relationship… but wow, it was such an intimate name to call someone, to call Kyo.

… And I was definitely liking it more then I should.

Kyo broke our eye contact to inclined his neck in order to press his lips against the skin of my neck, and I slid my hand back off of my mouth to weave it lazily back into Kyo's wet hair, which was more of a deep red now that it was soaked, as he planted another light kiss on my skin.

I slid my hand down to the nape of his neck, and I trailed my fingers higher to his jaw, inclining his face back from my neck until I could see his vibrant eyes. I leaned down again, and captured his lips softly with mine.

Kyo reacted with equal pleasure, his lips moving so swiftly against mine that we could have been a song. We were so harmonized, so perfectly woven with each other…

Kyo's wet fingers dragged down my bare back, along the valley of my spin, over the small of my back, and he traced the skin just above my towel, which was secured safely around my waist. His touch was patient, and innocent, but still sent shivers rippling secretively through my insides.

I remembered the wondrous feeling of his sweat-slick skin against mine, hot and pleasant, a comforting weight, a gentle firm. I remembered his hands dragging along my naked skin, tauntingly patient. I remembered his hot breath shaky on the skin of my neck, his wet lips insistent on my exposed throat… how wonderful Kyo felt…

And how different, but equally wonderful, Kyo felt now. His lips gentle and soft, his touch affectionately patient, his breathing relaxed against my lips when we would part for a second. My body held in the security of his. It was a different kind of wonderful, and innocent kind, a serene kind.

A faint dinging rang throughout the free silence of the night air, and I eased my lips away from Kyo's. Now that I thought of it, they were serving dinner a bit late, the outdoor lights were already lit, and the sun had long vanished, but the moon seemed to have stolen some of it's majestic light, for there was no heavy darkness lurking through the transparent clouds.

"About time," Kyo let me slide down from his hold, and he substituted our close hold with curling his fingers around mine, "Let's go, I'm hungry."

We got out of the warm bath and slid into our robs, still dripping with water, and we wondered back inside, out of the warm fresh breeze of a summer's night.

I glanced over to Kyo, to see him frowning at me, like he was thinking hard about something.

"What is it now?" I asked, my patience profoundly back in my grasp.

"I still don't get it." He said in frustration, and when I raised an eyebrow in question, he slid an arm around my waist and tugged me close to his body, "You're a fricken china doll! Why the hell can't I beat you?"

I sighed—it was this again—and I shoved his head away with little aggression, "It's not all in physical strength, you iron bucket."

He stared at me, and his eye twitched, "Iron bucket?"

"Yes, thank you for listening."

"See that's exactly what I'm saying! You're doing it again!" He fumed, and I sighed before entering the dinner room, a table placed seemingly in the exact middle with plates of food organized on top of it.

"It's nothing to twist your brain over." I said absently before slipping myself onto the floor in front of the buffet.

"What about arm wrestling?" Kyo continued, to my dismay, in a challenging voice as he sat himself down across from me, "You gonna tell me it's all in the head with that?"

"Do you want to find out?" I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't let up until I put his ego in its place.

"Hell yeah!" Kyo suddenly slammed him forearm down on the table and swiped across—shoving the plates of delicately organized food into the crowded end of the table before slamming his elbow down in the middle, giving me that look of confrontation and resolve, his eyes a dancing fire.

I mentally rolled my eyes and rested my elbow in front of his and swiftly gripped around his thumb while he did the same, our palms against each other. I gave him a weary look, trying to communicate how endlessly pointless this is, but he ignored it, and with a sharp glare of determination, I felt his grip sharpen and the game was on.

Kyo's hand was tight around mine as I felt the stiff reluctance of his muscles while I pushed back with my wrist stiff, and my arm muscles tensing in resilience to his.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Kyo chanted to himself as I felt his strength build against my own, and with stiff reluctance, his hand started pushing further against mine, drawing my arm backwards.

All right, so I was humouring him.

I just wanted to eat.

"Yes yes yes YES!" Kyo ambled on, his hand trembling in forcing his strength against mine, "You better not be letting me win, rat, or I'm gonna hit you!"

I sighed, "If you insist." I tightened my grip around his hand and forced my own strength out, rippling down my arm as I shoved Kyo's hand backwards—His eyes widen in shock, "NO NO NO!" He gripped the edge of the table in desperation, "NO NO NO!"

The back of his hand slammed against the surface of the table with a defeated cry from Kyo, and I exhaled in boredom, "Are we finished now?"

"DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU AND YOUR TELOPATHY!"

(Kyo's POV)

I pushed myself off the bed.

It was early morning, I could tell by the hazy red sunlight glimmering against the fusuma doors. I reached up to the ceiling, stretching.

The Hotsprings beds were comfortable, they were soft, not stiff, but firm enough to keep you from sinking in—however, it was not the comfort I was used to when I slept.

I wandered over the short distance to Yuki's bed, where he was still sleeping soundly. I ran a hand lazily through my sleep-mused hair as I tugged away the blankets over his body and slid in beside him.

"Nnn…" Yuki stirred as I shifted my body against his, pulling the sheets back over us, but other then that he did not waken. I watched him for a moment—looking for any sign of coherency, but to my dismay, he was still completely lost in unconsciousness. I mentally sighed and lay back down, sliding my chest against his back and curling an arm lazily around his waist, the weight of his slight body a comfort on my arm.

I felt his body move, unconsciously, back against mine, and I felt, more then heard, his soft hum before he grow perfectly still accept from the soft rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

I rested my head further against the pillow, falling back into the drifting fog of sleep, and slowly sank back into my slumber.

(Yuki's POV)

I was much more comfortable then I remembered when I fell asleep, there was a pleasant warmth enveloping my body, and I felt my insides swell gleefully at the familiar feeling.

I shifted slightly, before sliding my eyes open…

The golden haze from the sun fogged through the fusuma doors and drifted across the floor and over my blanket, and I rolled over onto my back and saw Kyo relaxing beside me, his eyes shifting over to mine momentarily before sliding back shut, "I'm giving up on you."

I groaned and dropped my head onto his shoulder, "Y'don't have t'always wait…"

"I felt patient." Kyo said, his words stubborn, but his voice relaxed.

At least he wasn't complaining, that was a good start. I hummed a sigh, and shifted onto my stomach, nuzzling my face into the crook of my elbow.

"There you go again." I faintly heard Kyo mumble, sure that I wasn't supposed to hear that. Even though his voice was just a mutter, I didn't sense any impatience that I was so intoned to.

"I'm not… going back… to sleep…" I mumbled into the pillow, and I heard Kyo snort beside me.

"… Want me to go get you breakfast or sumthin?" he said casually—but I could detect the off tone in it, he sounded antsy.

"No, I'm awake." I said in a lazy voice, turning my face to look at Kyo, who was giving me a disagreeing expression; so I lifted my hand and touched his nose with my finger, "See? Hand-eye coordination."

"Impressive." He reached up and wrapped his fingers around mine, bringing them between us, "Anything else you'd like to show me?"

"I'm just really comfortable." I said as an excuse, and he raised an eyebrow, but didn't press me anything further.

"Alright…" He said, failing to conceal the unconvinced and amused tone in his voice.

I rolled over onto my back and tried to appear as awake as I could, although my mind was still trying to blow away the haze of my sleep, "You're abnormal, too, nobody wakes up at whatever ludicrous hour you do."

He tried to hide a reluctant grin I saw, and there was no doubt he saw right through my façade. He pushed himself off his back and held himself above me—and my sleepy mind wasn't fast enough to register what he was going to do next, despite the painful obviousness of it.

Kyo kissing me was not helping my sleepy state. I was slipping back into the dreamy haze from his warm scent and soft lips, and how they moved leisurely against mine in a lazy slowness, alternating between capturing my lips and brushing against them.

His ever-present breathing was warm, and he smelt so nice—and I felt his fingertips brush at the skin underneath my nightshirt.

I reached up lazily and brushed my hands through the thickness of his soft hair, and his hand ran up my arm while his other fingertips trailed slowly along the skin at the waistband of my pants, over my hipbone, and traced lazy designs on my stomach, which twitched pleasantly underneath his warm touch.

-Then his lips got more insistent, pressing against mine with a gentle, but faster change in pace. The fog in my head begin to thicken and spin around helplessly as I felt Kyo ease his body in between my legs, and his fingertips drag persuasively further up my body—

I broke away from his mouth, trying not to gasp for breath, and I pushed gently at his shoulders, "Okay, okay, not that awake yet."

I heard him chuckle and then his body was off of mine, but not absent. He rolled onto his side and tapped me on the head with his knuckles, "See? Hopeless."

"I'm not hopeless…" I said, still having trouble gaining a natural breath-intake, "You're just overly persuasive."

"Persuasive?"

"Overly." I repeated the key word.

He grinned.

(Kyo's POV)

"Autumn?"

"It's fine… I don't really care."

"But not winter."

"Ugh," I scrunched up my nose, "Winter sucks."

"I didn't think you'd like it." Yuki mused. I curled my fingers more securely in between his, relishing in the scent of summer air, fresh green grass, and hot water as Yuki and I strolled around the open garden belonging to the Onsen.

"And you don't like summer." I guessed—but to my surprise, Yuki shook his head. I scoffed at him, "C'mon, how the hell can you like summer when you're like that."

Yuki gave me appraising eyes, "Like what?"

I lifted our interlocked hands and Yuki looked confused, "I… make physical contact…?"

"No." I said, editing out the 'stupid' I was going to add on, "You're a frickn' ghost." I referred to his remarkably pale skin.

"It's just my skin…" Yuki said, pondering, "Anyways, we can't all spend every day outside wrestling bears."

"I've never wrestled bears!" I said, a question in my voice over where he heard that one.

"Summer's fine, the sun is nice, but I don't like how hot it gets." Yuki continued.

"You like winter better." I said, a conclusion in my voice.

Yuki looked frustrated, like he couldn't figure out the answer… "I don't know… what I like, really…" He looked back up at me, "I suppose winter suits me more, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." I agreed…

If I were to compare Yuki to any season, it would be winter. Not because it's cold, and dark, and dead—but because it's got an odd sort of beauty to it, it nips at your skin, and it blinds you when you walk too far into the storm… but you can't help but be in awe of it's beauty—and when it gets colder, you shove on more layers, you'd adapt to it instead of abandon it. You'd rather suffer through it, because you want to see how beautiful it becomes…

In those ways, Yuki was exactly like winter.

"Everything has its good parts, I suppose." Yuki said indifferently, "I don't really have a preference."

We wondered onto a wide opening of grass and I slunk to the ground, enjoying the atmosphere too much to wonder back inside, "Yeah, no point in favouring one, they all come and go no matter which one anyone likes."

Yuki stayed standing as I fell onto my back and stared up into the sky, lifting my forearm to the side of my head to shield the sun's blinding light. The lush green grass was soft underneath me and tickled at my bare arms and the back of my neck as my body absorbed the sun's heat.

"Sit down, you look like a giant." I tugged at Yuki's shirt, and he obediently lay down beside me.

I gazed up at the bright sky, the layers of clouds clumping at different atmospheres, climbing higher and further into the endless sky, their white fringe shivering with the glimmer of sunlight.

"I still don't get it." I frowned, my eyes skimming across the clouds.

"Got what?"

"The whole cloud-shape crap everyone gets so excited about."

"It's quite simple, Kyo."

"No, it's not." I glared at the sky, "None of them look like anything but big stupid clouds."

Yuki's voice was patient; "You look at it too literally… you kind of have to morph it in your head, use your imagination, that sort of thing."

"What do I look like, a frickn' computer?" I scoffed.

"… Sorry, I forgot you don't have an imagination."

"I do so." I grumbled, my eyes scanning through the sky quickly—then I spotted a large pile of fluff floating in the sky and I pointed at it, "That's a… fish."

Yuki tilted his head to see where I was pointing, "Which one?"

"That one, beside the big fat cloud." I pointed more insistently.

Yuki laughed, "A fish? Really, Kyo, are you hungry already?"

"How the hell does that matter?" I asked, with little irritation.

"Unfortunately, I'm pretty familiar with your thought-process." Yuki said, sneaking a grin at me before returning his gaze to the sky.

"Oh yeah? If you're so good, I'd like to see you do better." I challenged.

Yuki pointed to the section of the sky close to me, "There's a whole theatre up there."

"A what?" I asked blankly.

"The sky's a stage," Yuki said, as if it were completely normal to think that way, "There's a mother and her child, by your 'fish'," I snuck a glare at him, "And over there is a creature that's stalking them… the men are over there," Yuki pointed at a further section of the sky, "But they're all too busy fighting with each other to help the mother and her child." Yuki turned his gaze back to the 'creature' and looked at it with thoughtful eyes, "See? It's moving."

I looked as hard as I could—but I still couldn't see it, and I made a sound of frustration.

"You have to stop seeing them as clouds." Yuki suggested patiently.

"I know that." But I used his advice—and very slowly, the picture Yuki had painted in my head was displayed out for me on the canvas of the sky.

"You know, the creature could be in love with the mother." Yuki mused silently.

I looked at him in bewilderment, "What?"

He was serene, "The creature could be in love with her. Everyone thinks he's a murderer, because he has to act aggressive to protect himself." His eyes were thoughtful, "But maybe the mother gave him a chance… and she's sneaking away from her abusive husband or something."

"Abusive?" I said blankly.

"Well, look, they're all clubbing each other to death over there," Yuki pointed to the clan of men, "Just a bunch of brutes."

"But not the monster."

"No, not the monster."

I gazed at him… and awe washed through me. Untraceable, uncatch-able, awe.

"You're wrong." I said, turning away, "He's going to kill her."

"Why?"

"Monster's can't be loved." I said simply, "And they can't love back, that's just sick."

"I don't think so." Yuki contradicted, and he raised his hand and pointed to where the mother and the monster were colliding, "See? They're beautiful together."

I raised my hand, and laced my fingers through his, watching how his pale milky skin seemed to almost shine in the sun that was dull in contrast, before resting our hands down beside us.

"It's a disaster." I said softly.

We gazed up at the sky wordlessly, in peaceful silence, watching the monster consume the mother and her child until all they had become was a morphing clump of pale white… cloud.

Through the slight breeze, the rustle of flowers, the catch of whisking scents, the soft tickle of lush grass, my breathing became in sync with Yuki's.

The sky didn't turn into a canvas again.

(Yuki's POV)

"That's mine,"

"No it's not, yours is longer."

"I know my clothing, it's mine."

"If you wanna wear my shirts, you can just ask."

"Don't be egotistical, I have enough clothing of my own, thank you."

"Then it shouldn't matter if this is yours or not."

"Give it, Cat."

"Make me."

"Do you have any idea how immature you sound?"

"It's just a damn shirt!'

"It's just my shirt!"

"Shut up! No it's not!"

"Yes, it is!'

"Is not!'

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Arg, I am not going into this with you!"

"Hey, it's MINE! Give it back!"

"What are you doing? I'm not going to play tug-of-war with you!"

"Then give it back!"

"No!"

"GODDAMMIT YOU STUPID RAT, GIVE IT BACK!"

"You're going to rip it Baka Neko!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAR!"

-riiiiip-

Kyo had the two pieces of the shredded shirt in his hands, and he threw them across the room with a triumphant laugh, "HAHA! There! What now Rat Boy?"

I let out a noise between exasperation and frustration and walked across the room to pick up the remains of the torn nomad shirt.

I inspected it as Kyo rambled on about his victory against me (apparently that's how he saw it), and I finally was able to locate the tag of the shirt, and I read its label before standing back up, "You're right, it's yours."

Kyo's loud ramblings stopped and he turned to me, "What?"

"It's yours." I tossed the fabric to the ground and went back to gathering up the other clothes I knew for sure were mine while Kyo loudly mourned over his lost shirt.

I finally shoved in my last belonging and I glanced over my shoulder at Kyo, "You almost finished?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on." Kyo muttered in disappointment—either over the loss of his shirt, or the fact that I had bested him once more. Kyo shoved one last belonging into his bag before tugging the zipper to seal it, while I did the same but in a much less vicious (and more productive) manner.

After Kyo and I were gazing at the sky yesterday afternoon, we had gone in for dinner, relaxed some more together, and had fallen asleep. We had just finished having lunch, and now that we were done with packing, we could start our trip home.

I gave him an apologetic smile, "I'll buy you a new shirt."

"Who gives a damn about the frickn' shirt!" Kyo fumed, "What the hell were the odds?"

"Let's go, I want to get back to pick Tohru up." I said, dismissing the subject, as Kyo swung his bag over his shoulder and walked past me, smoothly grabbing a hold of my hand in the process.

"If Haru's not hounding her." He replied, as we made our way through the Onsen.

I said a good-bye to the hostess, while Kyo merely waved, before we wondered out of the entrance and into the free summer air.

Our Hotsprings weekend was over.

Kyo and I started our journey home together.

-End-

AN- For some reason... I was SO EXCITED when I was writing this! I was all thrilled and my fingers were flying all over the keyboard... I must have had a really good sleep last night, I feel awesome... anyways, thank you SO much for reading, and I really hope that you !Review! for me! I did it! The whole HotSprings trip in one chapter. I'm excited to write the other chapters now! Your thoughts, critisism, opinions, compliments, and suggestions are much welcome and appreciated!