Author's Notes: This particular chapter was inspired by Maksim's song… The fourth one of his album "The Piano Player"… A fantastic instrumental album! Oh, and thanks to all my reviewers; Ginny(Can't wait till your site is up!), PrincessRobin(Sorry, but it's looking more and more to be an angsty ending…), kcarrie(Thanks!), Quince(Keep reading… Angst galore mixed with humour coming right up!). This chapter is for you lot!

*

Chapter 2: Memories

Everything was fuzzy. Only one bloody figure was in her vision, her body was frozen in time as she saw him fall. His battered body stayed still on the floor, she tried to run to him but something held her back.

"Come on baka neko! Get up! You can't give up just yet." Someone whispered fiercely. She hardly noticed that the voice was extremely familiar.

"Kyon-Kyon!" she yelled. "Don't you dare lose!" she managed to get the sentence out before a hand clamped over her mouth. She struggled against it but it wouldn't let her go. But the desired effect had already taken place, Kyo got up shakily and glared at his opponent.

"Of course I wont!" he spat out. "You think I'm going to lose to this kuso ne…" Kyo didn't finish his sentence, his whole body shook violently as he began to cough up blood. He slumped down on the floor, vainly he tried to push himself up.

"Kuso what?" his opponent's voice was now etched with desperation.

"Oy! Yankee!" Kyo called out to her. But it wasn't possible, she thought to herself. He was still on the floor. Wiping his blood furiously on a sleeve.

"Kyo." She whispered.

"Stupid Yankee! Come on!"

She felt her body move to a sitting position. Fuzzily, her mind told her it wasn't possible as she was already sitting.

"Yankee! Wake up!"

Suddenly her world exploded in colours as someone forced her eyes open. She gasped in shock and went to hit whoever had surprised her.

"Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me you idiot! It's me!" he batted her fist away as it flew to his face.

"What?" she began to realise that she was in her own room. And that Kyo was sitting on the couch, next to her. His face was now only inches from her face.

"Are you awake yet?"

"What?… Yes, or I wouldn't be talking to you." She pushed him away. She blinked a few times to loose the sleepiness.

"Where have you been!?" Kyo pinched her nose and jumped away when she tried to hit him again.

"Get away, idiot."

"Hey, most girls would be happy that their boyfriend woke them up with a kiss." He pointed his finger at her and glared. She glared right back.

"What kiss?"

"Eh… Good point." Kyo shrugged, "Why were you thrashing around? Nightmare?" Kyo sat on the floor in front of her and looked up expectantly. It reminded her so much of his cat form that she grinned.

"Why are you here?" Uo changed the subject, not wanting to share her disturbing dream and began to stretch, looking like a cat herself. The night spent on the couch wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Hey are you sick? And I am here because…you know..." He waved his hands around as if it would help her understand. She waved her hands in response to dismiss the question about her well being.

"What are you doing here?" she asked once more.

"What do you think? You think I was going to sit alone, while watching that stupid mouse pick Sakura petals off Tohru-kun's hair and see the old pervert trying to flirt with you psychic friend? Get real." He huffed and looked outside the window.

"You… came here to pick me up?"

"What do you think? Of course I did." He said, trying to look nonchalant. "I was bored." He hastily added. "I wasn't worried at all that you didn't show up. Nope. Not worried." He gave her an innocent look that didn't match his normal face. Uo laughed and messed up his hair as she stood up.

"Fine. Give me ten minutes and we can go." As she got ready, the details of her dream faded away and she could smile.

*

"Hana-kun! You wound me. I wouldn't seduce poor innocent girls!" Shigure pouted and sidled up to the dark haired girl.

"Pervert!" came a cry behind him and before he knew it, knuckles connected to his head.

"Kyo you're so violent!" the older man rubbed his head

"You should respect your elders. Baka neko." A cool voice was heard.

"Like you can talk kuso nezumi!" Kyo talked back. A questionably friendly banter began. Uotani freezed in mid bite, something in the conversation was familiar. Something that had scared her. She bit into the onigiri, trying to figure out what she forgot.

"Uo-chan, your denpa was off for a moment. What is wrong?"

Uo turned to her expressionless friend and shrugged, she was about to remember when Hana's voice interrupted her. And she wasn't about to spend the nice Sunday thinking so she pushed the thought away.

"Nothing."

Uo and Hana continued to watch a fight build up between Kyo and Yuki while Tohru was unsuccessfully trying to make them stop. Shigure was too busy watching a crowd of high school aged girls who sat near them to notice his cousins.

"Hey Carrots, if you don't shut up, I'll hug you." Uo finally said, Kyo glared at her and was about to retort on how women shouldn't threaten men when she held her arms out threateningly.

"I hate you." He grumbled.

"Most guys would like it if their girlfriends hugged them." Uo mimicked his way of speech earlier in the morning and smirked. The eldest in the group began to make whipping noises, complete with gestures and finished the whole thing with an evil laugh.

"Now now Shigure-san, you wouldn't want the little kitty to hurt your head again, would you?" Uo came to her boyfriend's defence, which resulted in Shigure wincing.

"Let's eat peacefully!" Tohru exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. She was determined that everyone will have a good time, soon everyone will need to study hard for mid-term exams and they wont have time to have fun. Yuki smiled fondly at his girlfriend and nodded.

Soon, the noise level rose once more around the group as the laughed and joked. Mostly it was because Shigure was telling embarrassing stories of Yuki and Kyo when they were kids. Yuki tried to endure it because he never saw Tohru laugh so hard and tried to hold his dignity by continually drinking, while Kyo sulked. Uo had threatened to hug him again.

"Aw! That's so sweet Kyon-Kyon! I can't believe you chased a ball of yarn around!" Uo had tears streaming down her eyes and pinched the orange haired boy's red cheeks.

"I was three!" he protested. In all honesty, he didn't really mind their teasing. Of course it was felt deep, deep, deep… deep down below his level on consciousness. He never had friends as good as the people who sat around him now.

Uo continued to laugh and still giggled softly as she leaned against his shoulder in exhaustion. She watched the chatter around her develop once more and decided to stop laughing for a while, opting instead to smile quietly. She doubted she would be able to keep her lunch inside if she started to giggle again.

"Hey, you ok? Why are you quiet all of a sudden?"

"What? I'm not allowed to shut my mouth? I thought you wanted me to be all quiet and womanly." Uo snorted, she immediately regretted what she said. She didn't want to spoil the day and she knew he'd probably get angry and run away now. But sometimes she just couldn't stop her mouth from running, saying things without her knowing it.

"I like you the way you are, you know that." Was his reply, it wasn't said gently but it was said in his usual rough voice. It's volume was so low that she knew it was meant for her ears only. She looked up to him in surprise, he was blushing furiously and he refused to look at her.

"Kyo?" she sat up and pulled his ears gently so that he faced her. Still refusing to look at her, he closed his eyes tightly.

"Hey, look at them!" Shigure gleefully whispered. Loud enough to be heard by Han, Yuki and Tohru but not enough to disturb the two lovers.

Uo playfully squashed down Kyo's nose, and in retaliation Kyo opened his eyes. His anger was all gone when he saw her grin. He just gave a low growl and moved to kiss her. The others watched the unusually tender moment in anticipation. That is, all of them except for Shigure, who soon lost interest and went back to watching the girls next to them.

And because of that, he was the only one who saw. He was the only one who saw the high school girls vacate their spot. Leaving a clear piece of grass, and across him sat Sohma Akito and Sohma Hatori.

Hatori's face did not show any expressions but it was clear in his eyes that he expected something bad to happen. And as for Akito…

Akito stood up slowly, a sly smile graced his beautiful face. With the air of a prince he walked towards them. He coughed when he arrived and bowed.

"Hello everybody." His clear voice silenced the group and a tense atmosphere descended immediately.

Hana felt strange denpas spark from Kyo, Yuki and Shigure. Kyo seemed angry, angrier than she had ever seen him, yet he did not say anything. Hana found this odd as Kyo was never one to hold back. Yuki and Shigure was the same, but the latter still kept a smile on his face.

"Hello Akito-san! Are you enjoying your picnic? Tohru-kun made us a wonderful lunch. Would you like some?" Shigure's denpa was once more off. Hana was using all her discipline not to lash out at the strange boy that made her friends loose all their happiness. Something was wrong and she didn't like it.

"Hello. You must be another Sohma." Hana said quietly. Electric sparks flew from her eyes in gentle yet destructive waves. Akito sensed her and gave her a cold smile.

"Yes. I am Sohma Akito. And you must be Tohru-san's friends."

"I am Hanajima Saki, and this is Uotani Arisa." Hana gestured to her blonde friend.

"Yo." Uo nodded curtly at him. She was surprised at the intensely dark cloud that seemed to have come out of nowhere and covered the group.

"Kyo, I must see you tomorrow." Akito ignored the rest and smiled at Kyo. Suddenly Kyo felt all the warmth in his body drain.

"I can't." he replied defiantly. "I'm taking Arisa-kun to work." Uo stiffened. Kyo had never used her name before. It was always 'Yankee', she found Yuki and Shigure rigid with some unknown fear in front of her. She had been told

"Then bring her along. Now I must take my leave. The weather may harm me more than do me good." Akito nodded to the others and walked away. Hatori and Shigure gave each other meaning looks before nodding, an unsaid agreement passing between them. The nod meant that Uo would have to be told of Akito's cruelty.

"Idiot! What did you say that for? What if he…" Yuki began to reprimand his cousin when Kyo gave him a look.

"I have to at least fight. You of all people should know that." Understanding dawned on Yuki's face. He took his cup and drank from it again. Hana and Uo stayed puzzled though both had their own inklings on what happened while Tohru looked extremely worried.

*

Uo waved a goodbye to Hana as she entered her house and walked side by side with Kyo once more.

"So, what was that? Who was that?" she asked straight away. Knowing that the boy next to her would know that she was asking about Akito.

"That was Sohma Akito… He was… is the clan head of us Sohmas. And he's the epitome of all that is bad. At least in my eyes."

TBC…

How was that eh? Any good? No flashbacks in this chapter though they will return with a vengeance in the next chapter! Did I keep everyone in character? Is anyone confused with the beginning? I was trying to meld Uo's dream with reality. Any questions will be answered and comments will be appreciated.