A/N: I really will catch up with these. Basically, I'm a writing coach and tutor. I've read 20 papers about whether or not we should raise the minimum wage this week, and it's honestly just made my lose my willpower to write lol.

Enjoy!

Tohru didn't like the idea of ghosts. Sure, she would likely welcome a visit from her now-passed mother or father, but she didn't like the notion that there were beings around that weren't actually alive. Beings she couldn't see.

That didn't mean she didn't believe in ghosts, though.

Kyo teased her about that sometimes. There was absolutely no proof that ghosts existed, so why would she want to uselessly believe in something that scared her?

He had a point.

So when she found out the apartment building they were moving into was pretty old, she tried to push down the odd nagging feeling that it might be haunted. Her willpower started depleting quickly once they actually got there, though.

Kyo plopped down the last box, a cloud of dust fanning out around it. Tohru coughed.

"Sorry," he said, coughing a bit, himself. "We've gotta go buy cleaning stuff. We shoulda just taken the stuff from Shigure's house. Not like he would have noticed it being gone."

Tohru giggled and tugged on the bottom of his shirt. He took the hint and stepped closer to her, his arms sliding around her waist. "That wouldn't have been very nice."

"You should know by now that I'm not a nice person," he quipped.

She just shook her head at him, forcing herself to smile. But the mention of Shigure had unsettled her a bit. She had been running off adrenaline all day as they moved into the apartment, but now that things were settling down, she was reminded of just how much she was going to miss Tokyo, or more specifically, the people they had left there.

"Hey," Kyo murmured, noticing her change in spirit. "I know. It's gonna be okay."

She sniffled a little, pressing her face into his chest. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm happy to be here with you, I really am…"

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He held her quietly as she tried-and failed-to keep from crying, until an odd thump sounded behind him. He jumped slightly, turning around to investigate. They'd set a row of boxes on the kitchen counter earlier, trying to keep things organized by room. One had slid off and landed on the floor.

Kyo groaned as Tohru dried her eyes and headed into the kitchen.

"Please tell me that wasn't the box of dishes," he said hopefully.

Tohru knelt and read the label on the box. "Well…"

Kyo rubbed his hands over his eyes. "Great."

She gave the box a shake. "You're lucky I've had to move so many times! I packed them so well that they sound fine."

He chuckled and walked over to meet her, picking up the box. "How the hell did it fall, though?" he asked, setting it back in its spot.

Tohru shrugged a bit, but her eyes widened.

Kyo sighed and tugged her into another hug. "Tohru, it was not a ghost."

"Okay, Kyo-kun," she agreed half-heartedly, trying to push down her irrational fear. It didn't help that they were moving into this aged apartment building right before Halloween. But really, what were the odds?

"We should go roll out the futon," he suggested in an attempt to distract her.

"It's still early," she said, narrowing her eyes as she looked up at him. "Are you not feeling well? Do you need a nap?"

"N-no, I might have had something else in mind…" he mumbled. They'd done that before, so he knew it was ridiculous that his cheeks were getting red at his ambiguous request, but he couldn't help it.

"Oh." She giggled a bit, pressing a kiss to his collarbone. "I see. We won't have to be sneaky about it here…"

Behind her, something scraped against the wood floor of the living room. She tightened her grip on Kyo's shirt as they both turned to look.

A box had been shoved forward a bit, somehow, but nothing else about the room looked suspicious.

"Kyo-kun, are you-"

He cut her off. "Yes, I'm sure."

She bit her lip. She couldn't help but notice that his voice had less certainty to it than the last time.

They stood in silence for a minute, waiting to see if anything else odd happened. They were met with silence, so Kyo took Tohru's hand, pulling her along toward their bedroom. She went into the bathroom instead, insisting that she should at least unpack a little bit, while Kyo set up their futon and bedding. But where had she stashed the pillows? He looked around the room quickly, then stood and moved to the door. "Hey, Tohru, I don't see the-"

Behind him, a box fell off the small dresser they'd brought with them. It was just a box of clothes, so he wasn't concerned about the contents shattering like he had been with the plates, but he had to admit that this was getting creepy as hell. He'd always startled rather easily to begin with, and the last thing he wanted was to have to feel on-edge on their first night in their new place.

Kyo shook his head and just headed down the hall toward the bathroom.

"What was that noise?" Tohru asked, setting down the towel she'd been folding.

"Oh, um…" Telling her that another box had fallen did not sound like a good idea, but he hated lying to her and was a terrible liar, anyway...

He was saved-and that term is used very loosely-by a shattering sound coming from the bedroom. The only glass thing they currently had in there was a lamp. No way was it a ghost, Kyo reminded himself. So his fiscally responsible side kicked in first, and he grumbled about having to buy a new lamp, before another box could be heard falling. Tohru was trembling by then, and Kyo wasn't feeling too great, himself, so he grabbed her hand.

"Fuck this," he muttered. He pulled her out the front door and onto the sidewalk in front of their apartment as quickly as he could.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He noticed how cold it was outside, and rubbed his hands up and down her arms to help keep her warm.

She nodded, but was definitely looking a little more pale than usual. "Kyo-kun, I really think it might be…" she trailed off, there, but Kyo answered her anyway.

"Ghosts aren't real, Tohru," he assured her, but his own voice was a little unsteady. "This is really fucking creepy, but there's no way its a ghost. W-wait, why are you laughing?"

He looked down at Tohru, who had been shaking and pale a moment ago, but was now giggling. "Look, Kyo-kun."

Hesitantly, he turned around to face the still-open front door of their new apartment. Something was walking out. He jumped, but settled down quickly when he identified the moving object. It was a black and white…

"A cat!" Tohru exclaimed happily. "He must be a stray."

She released Kyo and knelt down, making kissy noises to get the thing to come over to her. Kyo rubbed at the back of his neck. He knew what was coming next.

"Can we keep him? He's skinny; he needs a good home."

Honestly, he might have preferred it to be a ghost instead of a cat.

But he could never say no to her, and he damn well knew it, so he meekly nodded, then crouched down next to Tohru to take a look at the cat. It was rubbing its head up against her knee, clearly already making itself at home.

"Fine," he groaned, reaching over and rubbing behind the cat's ears. The cat moved away from him quickly, its ears back and eyes narrowed in displeasure. Tohru giggled.

"Great," Kyo said, standing again. "It hates me."

"He'll grow to love you," Tohru insisted, picking the cat up and standing. "You're impossible not to love."

Kyo blushed at that and leaned down to plant a kiss on her temple. "You're a dork."

She nodded, perfectly happy now that the culprit of the odd noises had turned out to be something cute and cuddly and definitely not supernatural. She headed back toward the front door, Kyo trailing behind her.

"Aren't you glad it's a cat and not a ghost, Kyo-kun?"

"Oh...yeah."

Maybe. He wouldn't have to pay to take care of a ghost, but he didn't dare say that to Tohru.

The cat wandered around the apartment happily for the rest of the evening. Tohru spoke to it in a baby-voice as she worked on unpacking some boxes. Kyo, on the other hand, jumped every time the damn thing made a noise.

After a while, Kyo leaned his head against the kitchen cabinet and groaned, pausing his task of making ramen for dinner. He was exhausted and antsy, and he hated it. Tohru giggled at him.

"Are you sure you don't believe in ghosts?" she asked, tone mischievous.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth, trying not to let his frustration show.

"I love you," she reminded him.

He sighed and pulled her in. "I love you, too. And I'll get used to the weird ghost-cat, so you don't gotta worry about that."

"Oh! That's what we should name him-Ghost!"

"Sure," he muttered. "Why not."

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