Due to the lack of Kyo-ness in the previous chapter, this one is dedicated to him!

Hooray for Kyo!

Warnings for this chapter: This is swimming in Kyo's thoughts, and there is very little cohesive structure. Beware, it's deep in some places (or is supposed to be), and shallow in others. No diving!

Chapter four: Blanket Cloud Drop

The air was heavy with the sound of rain and discouraged any superfluous movement with its weight. At least, it seemed that way to Kyo Sohma as he laid his head heavily against the window, one arm dangling at his side and the other resting limply on his lap. He never really felt well in this sort of weather, and this evening was no exception. He couldn't even find the energy to climb to his favorite spot on the roof.

Not that he wanted to. Besides not wanting to turn into a cat again, Kyo didn't really feel like getting soaked.

This wouldn't have been so bad by itself, not having any energy, if Kyo's mind would only take on the same "blegh" attitude. But it wasn't. If anything, his mind was galloping on through mountains and valleys of thoughts and feelings with the intent of further exhausting Kyo through intensive thought processing.

"Damned brain," Kyo thought darkly.

Contrary to popular belief, Kyo had a lot to think about. Why else would he spend hours on the roof? Well, why would he spend hours on the roof besides sulking, which, surprisingly, didn't really take up that much time?

There were always everyday worries: get food, get sleep, practice martial arts, avoid being the brunt of Shigure's jokes, insult Yuki and try not to insult Tohru. That took up a good amount of time. Occasionally, thoughts centered around the past. As of this moment, memories ranged from resting his head on the window now all the way back to resting his head on a different window, asking his mom why he couldn't go outside.

"It's so sunny, can we go outside today?"

"Why don't you sit here while I make breakfast?"

"I don't want to. Can we go outside?"

"Kyo, you're getting nose prints on the window. Sit over here."

"I am not. Can we go outside? Can I?"

"Will you sit over here, away from that window?"

Kyo blinked, the brief moment of darkness startling the memory away. His eyes focused on the window for a moment, then outside on a blurry shadow. The absence of the memory left a blank space in his mind that was quickly being filled in with another thought.

Graduation.

Kyo didn't particularly like this new thought, because it brought up another subject he really didn't enjoy: the future. If it were any other day, Kyo would've popped up on his feet and gone downstairs to pick a fight with Yuki just then.

His feet didn't respond.

Damned feet. Never mind that Yuki wasn't here at the moment, anyway. He and Tohru and Shigure were all still visiting Yuki's college. Big happy fun, woo hoo.

Kyo had never really expected to graduate. Hell, how could he? It was a miracle that he'd never been kicked out of school, what with all the fights he got into when he was still in the care of Kazuma-- the fights he used as an excuse to train. All he had ever planned was beating that damned rat. That was always his future.

But now that was impossible, wasn't it? The fights between Yuki and himself were now more out of habit than anything. Kyo couldn't really tell himself with conviction that he hated Yuki anymore, and without that hatred, Kyo couldn't seem to put in the same energy behind his fighting.

Damned rat.

Ever since that night, after Kazuma had taken away the bracelet and before the sun rose, things had changed because Yuki, for some fucked up reason of his own, no doubt, came looking for him.

Kyo was never going to forgive Yuki for taking that hatred away.

Kyo's mind came to a halt at that thought, turned, and retraced its steps to the previous subject. While it did that, a more basic part of his brain, the part that described things in a way that wasn't truly emotion or thought, wondered why Kyo would never forgive Yuki but had already forgiven Tohru. Before his conscious mind was alerted, another part of his brain, also ancient but more connected to emotion, answered.

Kyo's conscious mind may not have understood that answer if it had noticed, but his unconscious mind knew it made perfect sense.

And now Kyo's conscious mind was back to the previous subject of graduating high school and to the subject that he had been avoiding:

What was he going to do now that school was over?

He wasn't going to college. Somehow, that didn't seem to suit him. He wasn't interested in becoming a rocket scientist or anything. Then again, working at the local supermarket as a bagger for the rest of his life didn't seem very appealing, either, which was what his math teacher threatened after Kyo had failed a third re-test. Kyo didn't want to work in a store, or a factory, or with adults, or with little kids or...

Would Kazuma still let Kyo go back and live with him?

"We're home!" a voice cried, her voice wafting up to the second floor.

Kyo was about to shout something along the lines of, "Took you long enough. I'm starving," but it only came out as a muffled "mrrglshk." Kyo opened his eyes, now realizing that they had been closed. And it was dark, too. What time was it, anyway?

"He's probably asleep," Shigure's voice said.

"I guess we shouldn't have stopped by the grocery store," Tohru sighed. "Do you think he got something to eat?"

"He can fend for himself," Shigure said in an assuring voice. "But as for Yuki and myself..."

Kyo stood up rubbing his forehead and tried to yell something cohesive again. Didn't work, so he walked outside his room.

"Oh, right! I'll go make something right now!"

"Yo," Kyo croaked just before he missed a step and stumbled down the stairs, landing right at Yuki's feet. Yuki adjusted the grocery bag in his arm to look down on him.

"Oh, Kyo! Are you okay?" Tohru asked in a panicked voice.

"Is that what you call landing on your feet?" Yuki smirked.

"I'll take you on, rat boy," Kyo mumbled to the floor. He thought about getting up, but really, this wasn't so uncomfortable, if he didn't mind the bump forming on his forehead where he had hit the ground.

Damned rat. He'd deal with him tomorrow.

~*~

The rain had completely cleared by morning, and Tohru noticed with relief that Kyo was up to his usual chipper self.

"We're out of milk," he growled loudly with his head still stuck in the fridge.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tohru said apologetically. "I forgot to pick a carton last night."

Kyo glanced back at her, his face slightly redder than normal. Well that was odd, Tohru thought, her head tilting to the side. Kyo must have gotten sunburned. No, that wasn't possible. It was raining yesterday. Huh, this was very odd.

"Don't worry about it," Kyo stated, closing the refrigerator door behind him hurriedly. "I didn't really want milk anyway. You didn't buy anything decent for breakfast, did you?"

"I can make you something if you want," Tohru said happily.

"I can fend for myself," Kyo barked less-than-gruffly.

"Oh! I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't! I just meant that if you wanted me to make something, it wouldn't be any trouble at all," Tohru said quickly.

While Kyo tried to come up with a retort that was tough but not too mean, Yuki stumbled into the kitchen.

"Oh, good morning, Yuki!" Tohru exclaimed. "You're up so early today."

"Morning," Yuki mumbled. He took two steps forward, one back, and three at a tilt before he realized that the refrigerator was against the other wall. When he reached it at length, he leaned forward and stared at the inside for a good ten minutes in an unknown parody of Kyo yesterday. Finally, he stood up straight and faced Tohru.

"Do we have..." he said, looking at her almost expectantly.

Tohru stared at him blankly. He stared back up until the moment he blinked.

"... coffee?" he finished.

Tohru leaped into action.

"Yes, I just finished making a pot. Do you want any milk in it? Oh, no, we don't have any milk, I forgot. I hope Shigure doesn't mind having it black, he usually likes cream in his, but we're out of that too, now that I think of it. Oh no! How could I have been so forgetful? I hope I remembered to buy sugar, at least."

"Black coffee's good," Yuki said in an agreeable, sleepy tone.

Kyo rolled his eyes and began scrounging in the cupboard. Though it was fun to see Yuki when he wasn't at his best, just looking at him made Kyo sleepy.

"Here you are," Tohru said, handing Yuki a mug. "It may be a bit too hot, so be careful."

"Thank you."

"Do you want any, Kyo?" Tohru asked.

"I hate coffee," he said. Then, smiling a little, he added, "It'll stunt my growth."

"Okay," Tohru replied, grinning. "I'll just take the rest to Shigure. He was up very early working on his story."

The moment she walked out the door, Kyo shot a glance at Yuki.

"Don't even think about it," Yuki murmured without looking up. He tipped the coffee cup back against his lips and leaned against the nearest wall.

"I wasn't," Kyo said defensively, looking back at the cupboard. Damn, there really wasn't anything to eat, was there?

Well, there were always granola bars. Kyo grabbed one package and shut the cupboard door. Without gracing Yuki with a backward glance, Kyo walked over to the countertop and sat on it.

"So?" Kyo said after he bit into the granola bar.

If Yuki wasn't Yuki, he would've rolled his eyes. As it were, he did that thing where one blinks slowly before looking over. Kyo only knew of two people who could blink and look annoyed: Yuki and his former math teacher.

"What?" Yuki asked.

"So what was the college like?"

Yuki looked up from his coffee.

"What do you mean?" Yuki asked. He almost sounded surprised.

Kyo scowled, affronted that he had to actually explain himself.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Yuki said after a brief pause. Obviously, this conversation was forcing him to wake up a bit too quickly, and his mind still wasn't functioning quite right.

Kyo stuffed the last of the granola bar into his mouth

"Forget it," he said. He jumped off the counter with the intention of going on the roof.

"What are you talking about?" Yuki asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I said, 'forget it.'"

"I can't forget it if there's nothing to remember. What are you talking about?" Yuki asked. Yep, he was waking up, all right.

Kyo, for once, didn't try to come up with a comeback. What was he talking about?

~*~*~ flower power page break ~*~*~

I had this nice long conversation between Yuki and Kyo, but I had to cut it out since it didn't fit in the story well. Rats. It was really good. Hopefully, I'll get to try again later.

Appreciation:

Thank you to ginny for another review. I'm so glad for your continued praise of this story.

Thank you also to annonymouse. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it didn't really answer your question.

Thanks to Riyao Machrine, as well. I'm so glad you found this story, too! I guess I need to work on my summary, though. I never thought writing one was so hard!