GIIIIIINNY

***

Tohru smiled happily at the gleaming kitchen. She looked at the clock on the wall, frowning a little in concern when she realized what time it was. Before she could ask Shigure what could be keeping Yuki and Kyo for so long, she heard Yuki's voice as he came through the front door.

"Honda-san, Shigure, we're home," he said, carrying several large plastic bags in both hands. Kyo entered behind him in complete silence.

"Thank you so much," she exclaimed at the two as they walked in the kitchen and settled their purchases on the counter.

"It's our fault for ruining your hard prepared dinner Honda-san," Yuki answered. "We're sorry for putting you through so much trouble."

Honda blushed, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly with her right hand. "Oh it's no trouble," she answered. "How was your trip?" She glanced at Kyo, who had been leaning impassively against the wall throughout their conversation. Glancing back and forth between the two, she noticed the air around them seemed more stilted then usual and she wondered if something had happened while they were out.

"Nothing to talk of," Yuki said with a smile. "Would you like help preparing dinner?"

"No, no." She said, instantly abandoning her thoughts to discourage Yuki from helping with their meal. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Yuki-kun."

"Anything for Honda-san," he said warmly with a small smile on his face.

The abrupt sound of Kyo standing up off the wall interrupted Yuki and Honda's conversation.

"Call me down for dinner when your friends get here," demanded Kyo before he left the room.

"Yes," she called after him.

Honda tilted her head quizzically at the door Kyo left through. "Yuki-kun, did something happen when you two were out?"

"Eh…?" said Yuki. He seemed distracted with the purchases, deftly drawing them out of the plastic bags and putting them away.

"There seems to be something bothering Kyo-kun," said Honda. She quickly moved towards Yuki to help.

"He was like this all day," Yuki replied. "He seems to be in one of those 'moods'."

Honda nodded. Maybe Yuki was right- although she made a point to seek Yuki out later this evening to make sure he was okay. With her mind now cleared, she began to hum to herself, happy to prepare dinner for the Sohmas and her friends.

***

Momiji tilted his head curiously while looking for Honda's missing friend. "Tooohru," he called out, "where's Uotani?"

At the mention of her name, Momiji's sharp eyes saw Yuki and Kyo shoot a stealthy glance at each other. They looked worried.

Honda didn't seem to catch their guilty looks and smiled fondly at Momiji from her seat. "I'm not sure, Momiji. She could be running late."

"That's odd," he casually observed. Momiji made a great show of pouting while carefully continuing his discreet observations.

"I know!" Momiji smiled as though a random thought had just entered his head. "Kyo can tell us where she is," he exclaimed cheerfully, knowing Kyo's volatile anger tended to blind Kyo into giving up more information then Yuki, whose steady complacent demeanor made it difficult for Momiji to read him.

Kyo glared at Momiji. "Why are you asking me, rabbit? How would I know where that stupid Yankee is?" he growled menacingly at Momiji.

"Kyo's so meeeean," Momiji wailed. His eyes were wide and glossy from unshed tears.

Momiji was saved from Kyo's heated reply when a piece of cabbage landed smack on Kyo's cheek.

"Don't pick on Momiji," Hatsuharu calmly stated from his end of the table. "He's just asking an innocent question."

Momiji stuck a tongue out at Kyo, "Gyeeeee."

Kyo's right eye began to twitch as he looked from Momiji to Hatsuharu. "You both are idiots!" his voice erupted as he shot up from the table. "Why am I even hanging out with you annoying people?"

Shigure's chopsticks shot out and snatched the food that was on Kyo's unprotected plate. "Bwahahahaha. Ah, for me?" he asked, popping it in his mouth without waiting for a reply. "It's so good," he sighed in content.

Kyo whacked Shigure on the back of his head. "Why don't you eat your own food, you crazy old man?"

Shigure looked mournfully up at Kyo from under the sleeve of his kimono. "But you left it alone and it looked so cold and lonely." His eyes were ridiculously bright.

"Kyo-kun," said Honda. "I can get you more food."

"Psh, don't bother. I'm leaving you freaks."

As the rest of the party watched Kyo storm noisily out of the room, Momiji was carefully watching Yuki, trying to find a hint to the secret they shared.

***

"Ah. Uotani is missing once again," said the professor. He looked at the classroom, his gaze focused on Uotani's desk. Absently his index finger pushed the bridge of his glasses a bit higher. "It's been over a week now. Has anyone heard from Uotani?"

The class was silent, few students paying attention to the teacher as he went off on this tangent. He could hear the creaking of the old seats, the noises of papers shuffled around as they waited for him to start his lecture.

She's probably sick, he thought to himself. Uotani seemed to have the propensity of becoming ill and had racked up more sick days then any single student. Still, for all her tough posturing, Uotani was an excellent student and it was uncharacteristic for her to miss this much school without calling in for make up work. "Does anyone here know Uotani's residence? I would like someone to volunteer to drop off the work she's missed," he said.

Expectantly his head turned towards Tohru so he was mildly surprised when he heard another voice pipe in before anyone else could speak. "I'll do it."

Tohru looked as confused as the teacher, and they both shifted their gazes to the red haired boy staring lazily out the window at some unseen point. This was odd, the teacher thought to himself. He hadn't known Uotani and Kyo were close. He filed that small piece of information, along with the other facts about his students, for future reference.

"Thank you, Kyo, for volunteering. See me after class to pick up her work." With that said, he turned to the rest of the class to get on with today's lesson.

His glasses were sliding down the bridge of his nose again. He sighed, slightly annoyed and making a mental note to pick up a new pair of glasses later that week. Once again, he pushed the black plastic high up between his eyes. Busy with that action, he missed the strange expression in Kyo's face as he continued to stare mindlessly out the window.

***