This is a ONE-SHOT fic. I had planned on it being a multi-chapter fic a long time ago, but now that I found it on my computer, I figured I'd just post it all at one... But then, I realized the file was WAY too long, so I split it up as best I could. Hope my grammar is okay, though proofing the whole thing is taking a looong time.

So you know, this first part is "Basic FLUFF" for now. I don't like rushing things when I'm aiming for canon. Please-please-PLEASE don't expect Kyou to fling himself into Haru's arm or Black Haru to start gettin' freaky on him bump. All in due time. -~_~-

Enjoy.

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Title: White As Snow

Author: Lady Geuna

Rating: PG-13 - for light cursing, Kyou and Haru can have bad mouths

Pairing (s): Haru/Kyou (?) Hatori/Tohru (?) -- one-sided Yuki/Tohru, Kyou/Tohru, Haru/Yuki, Haru/Rin

Genre: Drama/Angst (because I love them) Also a little Humor, since the series itself is a comedy, but I want to make it clear that it isn't the focus of the story.

Full Summary: When the weather in the end causes the two to be stuck with each other, Haru begins seeing Kyou in a different light and vise versa, and the two become closer than ever thought possible. But will Kyou ever allow it? Will he even take it?

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White As Snow: Part 1 "Unexpected Visitors"

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"Silence, so much more tiresome than loneliness, is a labyrinth."

Lyrics ~ Blue Seed ~ Carnival Babel

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And it began one snowy day...

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Snow beat and wind howled against the thin walls of the house…

Kyou sat frowning, starring off into space. 'Where are they...?'

*Flashback*

"Should we wake him...?"

'Eh...?' Kyou's senses slowly began to come back to him as arrived again in the world of the waking... Urgh, he'd fallen asleep! He was only to chapter 10...

"Iie, Honda-san. We should leave now, we don't have that much time."

'What was that damn mouse talking about...? Oh yeah... snow... We were going to go shopping for supplies... Damn, don't want to get up yet...' The Kotatsu (1a) was so warm...

There was the sound of a sliding door opening, and Kyou felt a cold chill, followed by Yuki's voice again, saying, "Look, it's started snowing already."

"Kuso nezumi..."

Yuki cool violet eyes turned on him suddenly, narrowing when they saw that Kyou was awake. "Urusai, baka neko. We thought you were asleep."

"Your stupid, annoying voice must've woken me up," he replied bitterly. He had to mumble in an effort not to yawn, much to his own embarrassment, and he had yet to make a move from his place under the mat and heater. It was too warm... "Don't keep the door open, you're letting in cold air," he snapped out, though now as viciously as he would've hoped.

Tohru suddenly appear there next to Yuki, her face lit up. "Kyou-kun, you're awake. You look so tired you should stay here. Sohma-kun and I will head right back, ne?"

*End Flashback*

And that was that. He'd stayed, watching for a bit until Tohru and Yuki has disappeared from the room, grunted to himself, then tried going back to reading. He had to finish it, he'd thought. No time like the present, and who knows if school was still on or not...

He, of course, hadn't been expecting that yet another person in the house would shortly be leaving him to venture out into the cold.

*Flashback*

"Eyaaa, gomen, Kyou-kun! I promised Mit-chan, and a gentlemen never disappoints a lady."

Kyou snorted. 'Sure... Too bad you're no gentleman...' "You heard what Tohru and Yuki said, right? You'll get stuck out there!"

"Hai, hai!" Shigure grinned and ruffled Kyou orange hair in an affectionate, playful manner. "My, Kyou-chaaan, I didn't think you'd be so worried about me! I'm touched beyond expression!"

Kyou hissed, bating the other man's hand away. "Like hell! Just go, already!"

"Hai, hai! Happy reading, Kyou-kun! And don't forget to sleep like Tohru-san said!"

"Sure, sure..."

And so he left into the lightly falling snow...

*End Flashback*

So Kyou was left alone with a book, a heating table, and a very, very quiet house. A very quiet house... In fact, it was so damn quiet it was nearly driving him insane! "Kuso..."

It had been nearly two hours already since everyone had left. Time had really flown while he was reading, and it felt like the room was getting colder and colder by the moment. And no, he wasn't worried about them. It's their own fault that they decided to do something so stupid as go outside with a storm coming. Serves them right!

Oddly enough, Kyou couldn't believe himself.

Kyou managed to force himself to leave the warm, heated blankets ('So warm...') and sleepily wander out of the room and toward the front sliding door. Damn, he was cranky... and sitting in one spot for so long make his legs and back ache. Nevertheless he made it to the front door open and opened it.

And it was, for the lack of a better term, a Winter Wonderland... A Winter F*cking Wonderland! Where'd all the damn snow come from?

"Dammit..."

No one was coming home this afternoon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tohru couldn't shake it, this worried feeling. It was too much! "Sohma-kun... Do you think Kyou-kun will be okay?"

Yuki looked up from where he was seated near the front entrance. Under normal circumstances, the door would automatically open when detecting movement, but the store had been closed down with the unexpected coming of... well, much more snow far earlier than the weatherman had predicted. They were never right when it mattered the most. Now they were stuck in the food store, snow gradually accumulating just outside, and Yuki could make out at least 4-5 young girls (A few of the many who were also stuck there by the snow) eyeing him from around corners, through and over the tops of shelves...

But he shook his head, trying to ignore that for now. He looked to Tohru, offering a soft smile. "Hai. Kyou's in a warm house, he should me fine if he stays where he is. Unless he decides to wander out into the snow..." And that was very unlikely.

Tohru still looked very doubtful. "But do you think there's enough food...? I mean, that's what we're where to get, right? What happens if we're stuck here for a week! He'll run out of food! The milk will expire!"

He sighed. "Kyou can cook for himself, and if he's smart enough to ration ("If he needs to, which I very much doubt.") he'll have plenty of food to last him that time (" But we do have enough food at home, Honda-san..."). And he can surely live without milk for a few days." Then he smiled, adding jokingly. "Besides, I doubt he'll starve to death while we're away. It's not like we'll find his skeleton when we get back."

Yuki realized he'd said something very wrong a second later.

Tohru now had her hands on her cheeks, her face stricken and starring off into space. For her, a gruesome image filled her innocent mind of Kyou's skeleton (complete with orange cat ears), lying on the kitchen floor, with one bony, fleshless hand grasping onto dried out milk carton.

She whimpered. "Oh, Kyou-kun..."

Yuki smiled a little to himself, shaking him head. Tohru worried far to much about others, sometimes... Though... He could still remember the physical and mental exhaustion he'd seen in Kyou's eyes before they'd left... He had been working himself too hard. 'You had better take care of yourself, Kyou...' Aloud he muttered, "Baka neko, you worry her too much," before turning to calm down Tohru.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He wasn't sure when he had drifted off to sleep, but according to the wall clock it was 6 p.m. ...

Kyou had been sleeping for three hours.

He groaned, letting his head thump down into the table board, then lifted his head again to glare at the book. "Your fault for being so damn boring."

He had to stay awake… Just enough to get through chapter 12, then he could take a nap… And man was he thirsty. Yeah, a drink would help…

Almost mechanically Kyou stood and left the room, clutching the blanket around his shoulders to try and make up for the heat he lost by leaving his warm spot. He trudged through the door, spotting the front door mat for a moment, noticing a pair of shoes neatly sitting there. They were tall, black, with dozens of buckles, and didn't look at all like anything someone in Shigure's house would wear… Wait, on second thought, that pervert dog seems constantly willing to trying something new.

Turning into the kitchen he was annoyed to find that the lights had been left on, and it was just bright enough to make his eyes irritated… Grumbling something incoherent, he grabbed the door to refrigerator and swung it wide open, becoming ever more aggravated to find that even the refrigerator light was even brighter than the freaking room! Everyone and everything was against him!!!

Hate snow…

Sighing, Kyou took out the milk carton, opened it, and took a nice, long gulp. 'Aaaaaaah, sugagashi (blissfully wonderful) de…' One… perfect… moment-

"You know it's not at all polite to drink directly from the carton."

That instant of tranquillity was then instantly shattered as he found himself startled out of his wits, and on top of that choking and coughing so hard he could feel his face going red and his lungs starting to burn. That is until he was at last collected enough to practically throw the carton back in the refrigerator door, slam it shut, and wheel around to face the person (intruder?) who had spoken.' Who the-!?'

"HARU!"

"Kyou."

Silence…

"… Wait-a-minute…" Hatsuharu… was sitting on the floor of Shigure's kitchen… legs crossed… sitting on his white jacket like some sort of sitting mat… sipping from a steaming mug…

Haru in turn was just starring right back at him, and obviously seeing that Kyou was too busy thinking for the moment, decided to speak first. "I didn't think anyone was home." Sip.

Kyou growled. "Where'd you come from!? What are you drinking!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Haru gave him a lazy look, taking another sip of tea before continuing. "I was running late getting back home," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, "and lost my bike in the snow." Sip. "Ended up here. I called out when I came in, but no one answered, so I thought everyone was out somewhere. I tried using the phone, but the line was dead."

Kyou blinked. The phone lines were gone…?

"So," Haru continued, "I found the kitchen and made myself some tea." Sip. "It's really tasty, you can have some if you'd like." He gestured to the stove, where a steaming pot kettle stood on the still cooling surface.

"…."

Perfect… Just PERFECT! Why can't these things happen to another family!? Why is it always the cursed people and not everyone else, DAMMIT!!

Of course all Kyou wanted to do was shriek, "GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW!!!"

But that would be rude... That and he was far too tired to even bother using the energy.

"I'm going to go read now," he said tiredly, "just shut-up and leave me alone, got that?"

So he just turned around and strode right back out of the room, having unknowingly dropped his blanket somewhere along the way. While in the hall, though he caught sight of the phone stand, and curiosity got the best of him. He quickly changed his course, stalking up to the phone and snatched it up, holding the earpiece up to listen…. And it was dead… Totally dead, just like Haru said!

Damn, at was just like one of those stupid horror movies Shigure always blabbered about. Now all that this picture needed was Black Haru coming at him with a butcher knife.

Of course the image made him shiver even harder than he already was.

No. NO! There must be a logical explanation! And- "…. Eh…?" Kyou eyes narrowed as he noticed the floor behind the table. Or better yet, what was on the floor behind the table… The phone cord! It'd been disconnected from the jack in the wall! No wonder there wasn't a dial tone!

Grumbling to himself Kyou connected the cord without a second thought as to why it was unplugged (these things don't just fall out of there, after all!). He then stood, stretched a little and made to go to the other room. He didn't make it two feet, however, when the phone rang, scaring him half to death. Cursing to himself and clutching a hand over his own thumping heart, he picked up the phone and said bitterly into the receiver, "Moshimoshi, what do you wan-"

"SENSEI!!!"

Kyou nearly fell over from the sheer force of the exclamation, his eardrums throbbing in pain. "Mit?"

"Sensei!? WHERE IS SHIGURE THAT BASTARD!!?!?"

Kyou sweatdrop and brought the phone as close to his ear as he dared. "I don't know where Shigure is… he went out and never came back." Kyou quick took the phone away from his ears again, pointing it away from his ear as Mit let out an agonized wail. He was torn between feeling sorry for her and being very annoyed… But in all honesty he was BOTH, and in the end he rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as Mit continued babbling.

"-t needs to be sent to the publishers by the weekend-the snow-can't get there-he has to send it of, he has to-I can't take-where is he-do you know if he's finished-has he sent it already-"

Feeling somehow trapped and panicked, Kyou did the most logical thing he could think of at that moment. He slammed the phone down into the cradle and then yanked the cord directly from the wall, ignoring the bits of metal, wire and drywall that went flying everywhere, and dumped the remained right there on the carpet..

Of course, there were other phones in the house, but something told Kyou that Shigure had a hand in this… Actually, an idiot who knew Shigure would know it was ALL his doing.

"Mit-chan," his favorite editorial-target. She would be spending most of her hard-earned pay on therapy… if she wasn't already. (A/N: Imagine Mit-chan, cackling while wearing a straight jacket, with little Shigure's dancing around her with Japanese fans. ^__^''' HAHAHAHA!!!)

Exasperated and feeling mentally and physically worn, Kyou soon found himself snug in his kotatsu again, muttering a reminder to himself-to scream at Shigure later…. Sighing contentedly, he reopened his book, found his page, and decided to ignore what time it was… Who cared! Reading… Reading… James Baldwin… James Baldwin…

About five minutes later came the first distraction...

"What are you reading?"

Kyou awoke abruptly to the sound of the voice, jumping slightly. He remained disoriented for a moment before mentally berating himself for nodding off. And for a second he wasn't really sure what had made him wake up. "What…?"

"I asked, 'what are you reading?'"

A vein popped up on Kyou head as he heard the voice (again) from behind. Haru had followed him. It was a wonder the stupid cow didn't get lost on the way. "A book," he said flatly.

Haru padded over to him from the doorway, sitting across from the table as Kyou did his best to just ignore him. "You're reading that for school, aren't you? Tohru said you were overworking yourself."

Kyou made a face. "When did she saw that?"

"When she came to visit a few days ago," Haru replied as though it were obvious. "Maybe you should sleep, I can see purple circles under you eyes."

(twitch) "Thank you for your unwanted opinion. Now can you shut-up?"

"Hn… You know that nothing will stick if you read while you're this tired. Besides, if you fall asleep, you might bump your head on the table. I don't think that would do you any good at all."

Haru's little warning didn't seem set well with Kyou. "Of course I won't," he said cuttingly, "I need to read and be prepared, and I can't if you're talking." Coffee, why hadn't he tried coffee? That would help him, but he hated the taste... Dammit, nothing ever went his way!

"You are just going to nod off again if I'm not around, and I'll hit you in the head next time if I have to." Kyou just grunted, trying to ignore him as best he could. Of course, he didn't want to set off Black Haru, that would make things as bad come. "If you'd actually look at the weather, you'd realize that there's no way we're having school for the next few days."

"I don't care! I have to read, now just go away, will you?"

"…."

Silence for about ten seconds, then…

"Have you looked outside? The snow's piling on really well now."

"I told you, to shut-up."

"I'm not trying to convince you to do anything, I'm just wondering if you'd want to go see it.

He snorted. "Why? Snow sucks."

"I think it's beautiful."

"It's cold…. And wet." 'Nothing but frozen rain, and a lot colder.'

To this Haru said nothing… Everyone knew by now how he hated cold, wet days… Hated them…

This time Haru stayed quiet and let Kyou read…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Kyou next woke up, it was indeed from something bumping into his head, as he vaguely remembered Haru warning him of "bumping his head on the table."

Only this something happened to be the wall…. A WALL!?

THUD!

"ITAI!"

"Gomen."

'Eh...' Tiredly Kyou looked around, raising a hand to rub his now aching temples. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he realized what exactly was going on. "Haru! What do you think you're doing, dammit!?"

"Carrying you."

Indeed, Haru was carrying him. But not in the dainty, "arms under knee and back", bit. No, Kyou was being carried firemen style, flung over Haru's back, an arm and both his legs being held steady over each of Haru's shoulders. And the baka-oushi had managed to ram his head into the wall (TWICE, the damn klutz!) and-

Wait...

WHAT THE HELL WAS HE BEING CARRIED FOR, ANYWAY!?!?

Automatically he began to struggle regardless of the fact that Haru was presently walking them up a flight of stairs. "What are you doing, baka!? Let me down!"

Haru ignored him, grunting in the effort to keep his balance, which he somehow managed non-too gracefully. "I was wondering when you'd wake up. Please stop moving, or we'll both fall."

Well, of course he didn't stop struggling! But the way Haru was holding him, however, really restricted his ability to move, and if he weren't so tired he would've gotten loose by now, regardless, damn! He could only resort to hitting Haru with his one free arm. "Answer the question, or else," he screamed as threateningly as he could manage, feeling around for things he would reach with his elbow, searching for any portion of Haru's back he could designate as potential target weak-spot. Though, threats weren't usually something that bothered the placid Haru, and it didn't seem to be working now...

"Or else what?"

Kyou didn't give him a verbal answer, but mentally answered to himself, 'I've gnaw his bloody arm off by the should if I have to!!'

He was about to proceed to clamp his jaws down on the first bit of black-clad flesh he could come in contact with when Haru suddenly let go of the support he had on the cat's arm. The world began spinning very fast for a moment and he found himself now dangling over Haru's left shoulder, the younger boy with a firm grip around his upper legs.

GLOWER. "Haru… I… hate you…"

"Mm-hum," was Haru's only response before he reached the top of the stairs, undoubtedly trying to ignore the pain of Kyou's fists and elbows digging into his lower back now that it was an easy target (A/N: Okay, ladies, who wants to be Kyou right now? (raises hand eagerly)). "Stop that," Haru ordered lowly, in a tone that suggested that he was starting to get annoyed.

This made Kyou stop, only for the fact that he really, really didn't want to deal with Black Haru… He very thought made him feel exhausted... But damn, what he would give to be awake enough to kick his ass right now…

Feeling that Kyou had stopped in all movement (and had actually crossed his arms, glaring at Haru's back in an attempt to burn a hole through it) "Where's your room?"

"I can get there myself if I need to, baka-oushi!"

"You need sleep, and you'll make I run for it."

"Of course I'll make a run for it, idiot! You're treating me like a child!!" He was NOT Momiji!

"You're acting like one."

(twitch) "What are you, a mother hen?"

Haru just walked to the nearest door he saw, turning sideways so Kyou could see the door he was indicating. "Is it this one?"

"That's the bathroom!" 'Urgh, no use…' "It's the second to your left, just get there already!"

Carefully following the directions he was given (though he first movements had been to go right, now left), Haru walked over to the room and slide the door open with his foot. Looking inside and finding himself certain that it was in fact Kyou's room (there was a large bookshelf there), he strode inside. He quickly proceeded to lower Kyou into his futon (which he hadn't bother to put away for the day), and in the end made him flop back, his head knocking again the hard wood just missing the futon.

"Gomen."

'Life sucks…' "If you wanted me to sleep why didn't you just leave me where I was! Why even bother waking me up!?" Of course he was making up excuses, but sure as hell didn't feel like being cooperative in any way, shape or form. "It's freezing up here, at list the kotatsu's warm!"

"Baka, if you'd stayed there all you would've earned is a cold (1b)."

Grumble. And deciding not to do anything (waiting for his moment of escape), he just sat there, arms crossed stubbornly.

Haru looked down at him, frowning. He crouched down, holding his head in his hands, looking oddly like a child watching an animal at the zoo, waiting for it to do something interesting. "Aren't you going to sleep now?"

"Iie," Kyou said sharply. "I already told you, it's freezing! No way I'm going to sleep when it's freezing!"

Shaking his head, Haru stood and said, "Fine, if you want to be like that. I'll go find you another blanket. Now just get in your futon and go to sleep, okay?" He turned to leave, then paused. "And don't go looking for your book, I hid it." Then he left.

Hid it?

HID IT!!?? If that idiot hid his book there was NO way he was going to find it again! Even HARU wouldn't be able to find it! He won't remember how he GOT there!!! This was a tragedy!!!

At that point, Kyou had officially had enough, his eyes narrowed at the door in which Haru had disappeared through, his cat ears folded flat on his skull.

At that instant the gears in Kyou's sleep-muddled head began turning as quickly as they could. There was one way to get out of this mess, and that was to loose Haru! Heeh, not an easy trick (in this case and only in this case) unless you know what to do. And he had plenty of time. There was no chance Haru would actually find the oshiire closet anytime soon… He had to find it first, then make it back to Kyou's room.

Now, there were two exits from which Kyou could make an attempted escape so he could go in search of his book.

One: through the door. Of course he couldn't possibly do that, Haru would see him, and most likely get pissed and go Black on him.

That only left the balcony!

Kyou, not being one to be afraid of heights, saw no problem with this.

But upon opening the sliding door to the outside, he was met with an icy blast of cold and snow and an accumulation of feet-deep snow on the balcony patio.

Oh, Kyou was going to hate this…

'Stop wasting time complaining,' he snapped at himself mentally, 'out that window, Kyou!"

He hadn't expected it to be so slick, though… But it was just a little ice! All he needed was a good grip-yeah, that it! One leg over the side, that's it. All he needed was to make it to the next balcony (Yuki's room), no one kept their window closed in this house.

'I can just make it off this-'

"Kyou?"

"NYA!" The not quite shouted but still very startled voice from behind sent a thrill of terror up his spine, Kyou's body automatically going rigid. And before he could even turn around to see who he knew it was, Kyou's hands slipped from their grip on the railing, and he pitched forward with nothing to grab or hold onto for support.

Of course, something obviously grabbed hold of him, because rather than falling straight away he felt a pair of firm hands clamp onto his ankle, stopping his rapid decent with a sudden jerk. For a few seconds Kyou found himself suffering from a slight bout of whiplash.

Then Kyou looked up at what had caught him, glaring daggers at his savior/bane. "YOU! KISAMA!"

Haru gazed down at him, looking almost bored, though grunting in the effort of holding all of Kyou's weight. "Not the smartest move you've ever made, Kyou." Only when Haru spoke could Kyou actually tell he was annoyed.

"URGH! Just help me back up!" He found himself moving around, attempting to reach back up to the railing, to get back inside with no further help from the oushi, but it looked like that wasn't going to be happening...

Haru in turn didn't seem to be appreciating Kyou's movements in the slightest, muttering, "I would if you would just stop moving."

Of course Kyou couldn't stop moving. One half of his sleep deprived brain said to let the oushi help him. But the other, more stubborn half, said he should kick the younger Sohma's ass and have done with it.

However, while these two warring sides went at it, perhaps he was fidgeted around a bit too much, because all of a sudden he felt Haru's hands slip. He would never know if Haru simply lost he hold or had dropped him on purpose as icy wind rushing up past his ears, hair flying into his face, then-

THWUMP!

"OOF!"

C-COLD!!! IT WAS COLD!!!

"KYOU!"

"I-I-I'm g-gonna K-K-ILL YOU!!! K-K-KUSO B-BAKA-O-OISHIII!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't come near me, damn you! You've caused enough trouble!"

"I wasn't the one that told you to try climbing out an ice-cover window."

"You're the one that dropped me!"

"You're the one that was kicking too much for me to keep a good grip."

"You let me go on purpose!"

"I wasn't that annoyed, just very close... You're a very annoying person, Kyou."

"Urusai!! It would've worked if you hadn't come in when you did!"

Haru simply chuckled.

Kyou soon realized that Haru found it all quite comical, seeing the neko plummet and hit the deep snowdrift on the side of the house and disappear from sight. He didn't dig Kyou out as much as drag the poor (and highly embarrassed) Jyuunishi in through a window on the first floor (that is after finding the right window). But all and all the oushi did a fairly good job. He managing to get Kyou changed into some dry clothes (Kyou managed the dressing part on his own), and had gotten the shivering neko into his futon (along with the extra blanket Haru had gone to find in the first place), a towel draped around his still wet head. Kyou was sitting up now, the coverlet still reaching up to his chin as his body continued to shiver madly in an effort to get warm, the whole while eyeing Haru in case he tried something... ANYTHING. If he so much as breathed the wrong way so help him…!

"Get away," he hissed, trying to inch away from black-clad oushi that just won't leave him alone.

"Just drink the milk, Kyou."

Haru, obviously, had also managed to find his way back to the kitchen… He explained that he'd left himself a trail (Taking fairy tales bit too seriously…) and followed it back up to Kyou's room.

Kyou's eyes narrowed, his nose scrunching slightly as he leaned forward a few more inches to sniff the steam coming from the mug. "What did you put in it," he demanded suspiciously, eyes going from the mug to Haru's placid face.

"You think I'd poison it? This is just something to help put you to sleep."

"HA! You admit it!" At the moment he had nothing to brandish besides his index finger, which he pointed at Haru in accusation. "You've finally decided to try taking me out for good! Why, doing it the sneak way? You're training to be a ninja now, aren't you!?"

Haru rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid. I never admitted anything. I just added a bit of honey. It's to help your muscles relax, I make it for Kisa all the time." When Kyou made a noise of disgust Haru reached out disdainfully, grabbing hold of the neko's nose, craning his head upward before thrusting the mug at his mouth. Unable to do anything other than swallow and not wanting to look like a complete idiot with warm milk dribbling down his front, Kyou took it in with one huge gulp, managing not to choke on it. In response to this reaction, Haru smiled cheekily and released him. "There. Taste good?"

(twitch/glare) Rubbing his now aching now, he mutter venomously, "I hate you..."

"I know." He stirred the mug a bit with a spoon, making sure the honey was still nice and melted. "You could get sick if you don't warm up right away, inside and out (A/N: Pity on you if you're thinking hentai thoughts right now), and just as well if you don't get some rest."

"Since when did you become Hatori," Kyou muttered bitterly. "And I'm plenty rested. I just took a nap not long ago-"

"For about four minutes. And you're tired now from struggling out of that snow, aren't you? You fell through like a limp noodle." A hand shot out to restrain Kyou as he tried lugging at Haru, pressing his palm against the neko's chest to keep him at a distance where he couldn't reach Haru's neck. "Now, it's not nice to injure someone how's trying to help a poor, frozen kitty-"

"You're asking for a ripped jugular!"

Haru simply rolled his eyes again and at last pushed the mug into Kyou's hands. "Just drink it and sleep."

Grumbling, Kyou looked down into the mug he now held... He had to admit, it did taste pretty good... So reluctantly he raised it to his lips and took a few gulps, carefully watching Haru the whole time. The other boy looked rather pleased, a shining smile spreading over his face. "Good, ne?"

Grunt.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'?"

"Since when are you nice, Haru?"

Haru shrugged. "I'm always 'nice.' You're the one who's always peevish."

"You're the one who's always starts a fight!"

"Excuses."

"Excuses!? Who do you think you are!?"

"Yuki, Tohru and Shigure aren't here," Haru said on a matter-of-fact tone, ignoring his question, like about everything else Kyou did (that was starting to piss him off, too!). "They're stuck out in the snow, aren't they? Do you think they'll be alright?" He took the mug from Kyou's hands, stirring it at bit more.

"Of course they will! Stupid question..."

"Just wondering, Kyou."

"You're trying to change the subject!"

"I was worried about Yuki."

"Pffh. Figures…"

Silence.....

"Well," Kyou asked bitterly, annoyed and becoming increasingly agitated with the silence between them. If the oushi was here he'd better damn well SPEAK! He hated the silence, anyway… "Aren't you ticked off or anything?"

Haru blinked. "By what?"

"Of anything! Of everything! Getting stuck here in the snow with ME! That you lost your bike! That's I've been doing nothing but yell at you because you're pissing me off every time you even look me in the eye! That Tohru is out there somewhere alone with Yuki!" To this Haru blinked. Twice. Was this all the reaction he was going to get!? "Aren't you jealous at all!?"

"You obviously are," Haru commented dryly. Here are you complaining… And how many years has she been around now? Nearly three? And this whole time you haven't made a move..."

"... What?"

"A move, as in with Tohru? Baka."

Kyou bristled. Who did Haru think he was...? "That's none of your business," he hissed.

"I was just wondering... If you're so afraid that Yuki might make a move before you, why don't you do anything to stop it?" He smirked (something he found totally unexpected from Haru while he was still White) leaning forward a bit, looking Kyou straight in the eye. "Are you... scared?"

He scowled. "That's none of your business!"

Haru's smirk suddenly vanished, replaced by one of like mild curiosity. "Why won't you open up to me, Kyou-?"

"You expect me to trust YOU-?"

"I trust you, why can't you trust me?"

"....."

"I can trust anything to you, Kyou." Haru shook his head, stirring the milk, watching the honey that had surfaced spiral around the bowl. "I remember... Well, I remember a lot of things, when we were little. I could always talk to you... Remember you would always help me? You would lead me to the bathroom when I couldn't find my way..."

Kyou blushed. That wasn't something he liked talking about aloud. It was childish… "cute"… stupid… "Someone had to do it. You and your lousy sense of direction..."

Haru continued on monotonously as if Kyou had never spoken, still not looking up. "You were brutally honest, rash, you insulted me all the time, but still..." Haru shrugged, and Kyou couldn't help the small nag of guilt he felt... "You were being honest, I suppose. But I'm trying to prove you wrong every chance I get."

He wasn't really sure what Haru meant by that, but at the moment his brain was too tired to care. Kyou closed his eyes, leaning back. "Yeah, well, things changed, didn't they?"

"Not really."

Kyou looked up again through one opened eye, where Haru was still starring into the mug, though the motion seemed entirely mechanical now. "What are you talking about?"

Haru frowned a little, looking up. "When Tohru came, everyone got better… Yuki, Hiro, Kisa, even you… I was hoping that maybe we could become friends like in the old days."

"And you thought of this just now?"

"I'm just trying to open up to you, so maybe you'll open up to me. Understand?"

'Figures...' He snorted. "Look, nothing you're going to say will make me feel any different. Besides, you're nothing but a hypocrite!"

Haru's brows furrowed at this comment, and for a moment Kyou though he had him cornered. "What are you talking about?"

It was Kyou's turn to roll his eyes. Haru knew exactly what he was talking about! He had to! "You say I'm not making a move on Tohru, but you're doing just the same thing! What about Yuki, huh? You've always been on about him, why haven't you been making a move!? You gonna just let him make a move on Tohru!? In fact, I'm sure he's made TONES of moves already and you don't even know it!"

Grunting, Haru shook his head. "Yuki won't make a 'move', as you put it. Besides, I have my own reasons

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End Part 1 of "White As Snow"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1a) Kotatsu is used to warm the body in winter. Japanese keep out cold by using it. Not only humans but also cats also use it. (A/N: It's true! HAHAHA!) Kotatsu has an electric heater on the underside of table like frame, and a blanket cover on top of that. Shigure is seen throughout the series (during winter) using this table for heat. The tabletop is placed on the blanket.

1b) It's a fact that if a person who goes to sleep lying down in a kotatsu they will often catch a cold.