Disclaimer: The characters are not owned by me but by Natsuki Takaya. Too
bad for me... Oh yes, a few lines are possibly "borrowed" by me from the
story...
More new pairings will appear. The main and only known pairing for a while will be: Haru+Kyo, Kagura+Kyo, and others that I may use to spice up the story.
Warning: Spoiler ALERT! Facts and thoughts of the people could be reflecting what has happened previously in the series within my fanfic. Rated for various reasons due to mature content.
This Chapter's Rating Level is PG-13 to R for language, excessive fluffiness/sensuality, gore, violence, and very little yaoi warning but no lemon/lime.
The characters are likely NOT to act the way they do in my story. (OOC- ness?) Also, this chapter is slightly AU, due to the excessive violence...
Laziness has made my writing grammar and format a bit sketchy and poor.
"~" Conversation or Emphasis to words. '~' Thoughts.
- - - - - -
To the Story!
Chapter Nine: The Mysterious Valentine's Day
It was a wonderful and bright morning to celebrate Valentine's Day. Of course, there were the noisy sounds of the morning that chimed into the house which kind of ticked Kyo off. But, the volume slowly died down a bit after Haru and Momiji went off to school.
At home, Kagura and Tohru quietly wrapped up Valentine gifts for everyone remaining in the Sohma residence. She got a large fruit basket for Shigure as well as a box of chocolates, same to Hatori and Hiro. Then, for Momiji and Kisa (just as a little present since she still was really cute), she bought a cute outfit and a box of Godiva chocolate, while for Haru a little jewelry to add to his "chain" collection and chocolate as well. Tohru bought Yuki some mugs and silverware to use while he would travel again because she figured out his dislike of plastic utensils and again chocolate. As for Kyo, Tohru bought him a large box of chocolate and some cleaning equipment for tidying up the dojo, which was passed down to him for the rest of the year. Tohru also bought Kagura an outfit, as a parting gift, since she was leaving the next day.
Indeed, it did accumulate quite a bit of a costly charge, but she both had the money that year, and she loved her family dearly. After giggling and gift-wrapping for about an entire hour, Kagura and Tohru finally finished and started doing some housework.
All the guys were out of the house for the day. Kyo and Yuki, after much repetitive debating, decided to visit their old high school. They had asked Tohru, but she said she couldn't because of the load of house cleaning needed. Shigure went to the publishing office to submit his next volume of his romance novel. Hatori left for work in the hospital joint he had recently joined.
"Ne, Tohru-chan," Kagura uttered, as they were still cleaning the kitchen, "Who do you like?"
It was rather sudden and unexpected, so Tohru felt a shiver down her back. "I do not really know," she replied. "But, I expect it will be someone from this family."
"Is that so?" Kagura questioned. "I am just wondering, but, not to make you feel good or bad, but I still love Kyo greatly. I don't know if our relationship could work out or not, but I will always love him as a friend forever. I know you are a very good person, so I don't need to worry about his well-being. I don't think I will be returning for a very long time. This approaching summer, I will be away studying in Europe and then I will have to return back to United States. College is extremely time-consuming and I need to study, it's likely for me to be back next winter. So, I hope you take good care of him. My stay here has been wonderful and most delightful, I will send postcards. I know it is rather silly to be saying all of this now..."
"Iie, I perfectly understand your intent, since tonight and most likely tomorrow we will be too busy to have this discussion," Tohru said taking a hold of her friend's hands firmly as a deeper confirmation. Quickly trying to change mood, she said, "Let's go dust the living room and bedrooms before someone comes back."
"Hai! We don't want Shi-nii-san to nag at our inefficiency of cleaning, ne?" Kagura said grabbing her dusty tool while also laughing a bit.
From there, both of the girls dusted around the house, and it was already noon.
"Now, all we got to do is make some lunch for the guys, ne?" Kagura asked.
"Yes, let's go make it," Tohru replied.
At the dining table, there seated five people, Shigure, Yuki, Kyo, Kagura, and Tohru. Lunch was just as noisy as ever. Constant squabbling between Yuki and Kyo, plus fights between Kagura and Kyo, and then there was Shigure's crazy laughing fits; life was normal. As everyone was finishing lunch, the telephone rang. Tohru, the only sane one at that moment, walked over to pick up the phone.
"Moshi, moshi?"
"Taihen desu, Tohru!" a person called out through the speaker.
"What is it?" Tohru asked, realizing who it was.
"Haru has, for some reason, gone Black! If a few of you could come, that would be great!"
"Okay, we'll be around soon," Tohru said, and then hung the phone up. She then ran to the kitchen where everyone was still chatting away. "Etou, Haru's turned Black, we got to go to-"
"Fastest way there is by running at this moment. Shigure, ring up Hatori," Yuki directed. With that Shigure was off like a flash. "Kyo and I will run over to stop his terrorizing first, Tohru and Kagura follow Shigure, unless you want to run with us."
After his last word, the he, Kyo and Tohru followed his lead and ran towards their old school. Tohru had gotten stronger in running, so she only lagged by a few meters.
Within minutes they reached the entrance. Momiji was waiting for them, so when he noticed them, he nodded the way to Haru's classroom.
"What are you doing Haru?" Yuki said in gasps from the run over. He noticed, like before in the past, the desks and windows were broken.
"Pfft. I had to vent my anger on something," Black replied simply.
"What are you angry at?" Kyo questioned, regaining his breath.
"All of you," Black said bluntly. "You've made life too easy, it makes me restless."
"What can we do to help you?" Tohru then asked. "Life is never easy, but we try to make do and live happily."
"I don't need help from you bitches," Haru said turning his back to his audience.
Yuki sighed. "Well, looks like his senses of logic have left him, too."
Kyo couldn't help, but feel a bit sorry for his friend. But, he didn't know what to do.
With much courage, Tohru walked up closer towards Haru, although she was likely to be in for some pain.
"Haru-kun, be reasonable. Lots of things must be on your mind, but you cannot release and vent without talking it out. Scaring and threatening people will not help your situation either. Let's talk about it, k?"
Deep inside, Haru wanted to melt down and cry out his true feelings, but it didn't reach the surface quite yet. So, outside, he twisted around and glared at the innocent girl.
"Listen up, don't try to bullshit with me," Black said with a slight growl. "I despise pity, and hate to listen to it and go away." With that, he slammed another desk in two.
"Please, calm down Haru-kun," Tohru begged. "Violence never solved anything."
"Shut up!" from his exclamation, he was furious. Haru then swirled around to land a blow on the irritating girl. Attempting to block the blow, Yuki ran in and interfered with his own fists.
Kyo would have done the same, but he was a having his own struggle with his mind. He had now both loved Tohru and Haru. He didn't want to fight or hurt them. So, he stayed kneeling on the ground. He slowly stared upwards to see what was going on.
Tohru was knocked over, despite the fact that Yuki blocked Haru' blow. Yuki was getting rather beat up. His face was turning swollen, and a bruise was forming on his eye. Then, there was some blood dripping out of his mouth and onto the floor. Kyo had temporarily forgot that Yuki lost a lot of his stamina and strength from his travels as a mere politician.
Then, Kyo thought of Tohru's condition, but he noticed Momiji already tending to her. 'What am I to do?' he thought to himself. He also didn't want Yuki to be injured, or Haru.
Momiji, panicking, ran up to Kyo. "Wake up!" he said gently slapping his face. "We don't want Yuki to be torn up by that stupid cow! Go and take him down now!"
Trembling slightly as he stood, Kyo ran towards Haru's figure bringing his fists forward to thrust at Haru. And from that, Yuki dropped from his clutch. "Grr... Another interference," Haru said, wiping off the drops of blood coming from his mouth. "Oh look, it's pussy boy."
"Stop it, Black," Kyo said, not looking at his opponents eyes. "I really don't want to hurt you."
"Oh, I know what you are thinking and feeling about me," Black said wickedly. "Let me remove you of that."
Kyo hadn't really noticed his swiftness, so he took a direct blow in the gut. From there, he knew Haru was serious. Kyo coughed up a bit blood and spat it out. "Heh," Kyo grinned while also now glaring at his adversary. "You don't know what you are talking about. Thanks for that punch back to reality, now you are dead meat."
The two young men then started fighting with full rage. They lashed out at each other, kicking and punching each other in the process. Haru, fully Black, did not even hold back, so Kyo was quite beaten up by the end of a ten minute period.
At the entrance of the school, Kagura, Shigure, and Hatori finally arrived. It only took thirty minutes due to the heavy traffic of rush hour. Kagura hastily asked a teacher for Haru's classroom. As she received the information, she ran towards the room, Hatori and Shigure following right after her.
Once they reached the room, Kagura watched in horror. The brawl had gone further than fists since Haru was in fury he started to use a dagger. Unfortunately, Kyo was jabbed in the gut; blood had dripped to the floor various times. Kyo was panting for breath more than ever.
Immediately, however, Hatori and Shigure ran to their sides. Hatori calmed the Black beast by locating his pressure point, making him crumble to the ground. Shigure just slapped Kyo at the side of the head. At that point, Hatori carried the unconscious cat of the zodiac, while Shigure did the same with Haru to the ambulance which had recently arrived. Kagura also tagged along, to make sure Kyo was all right. The nurse of the office ran to Yuki and carried him to the ambulance as well.
Momiji quietly watched Tohru as she came to. She heard young girls crying from the frightful scene. The male students were mumbling among themselves. Then, memories of her last moments conscious came flashing back. Immediately after, she practically jumped up and opened her eyes.
"Where's Kyo? Yuki? Haru?" she asked aloud, also attempting to sit up.
"Tohru!" Momiji exclaimed while also hugging the girl. "The fight got out of hand after you were knocked out. So, the guys were rushed to the hospital."
"Ah!" Tohru exclaimed clutching her face. "We must go to them now!" She again tried to stand up, but her legs failed her.
"Yeah, I think you were knocked onto your head a bit too, so your nervous system might be a bit flimsy at the moment, please take a break, we shall visit them later. In addition, I am sure those guys are just fine, they were just full of themselves after their psyche's split."
Even with that reassurance from her dear friend, she still was panicking and stressing over it. But, before she was filled with worry again, she fell unconscious for another couple hours.
First thing Tohru noticed, was that someone was next to her snoring rather loudly. It wasn't that surprising, but she saw Shigure with his head resting on his arms on a chair nearby. She hesitated on what to do. She wanted to go out and visit the three injured family members. But, she didn't want to disturb Shigure from his nap. So, she waited there for a little while. Shigure's dog senses had never really disappeared, so he knew that Tohru was awake. So, the next thing Tohru noticed was Shigure clinging onto her.
"Oh Tohru-chan!" Shigure exclaimed. "You're finally awake!"
"Oh stop it, Shigure," Hatori said, rushing in after hearing the ruckus.
"Etou," Tohru barely uttered.
"Shigure, I am sure Tohru is not appreciating the fact that you are holding onto her..." Hatori said calmly.
"Ara, gomene," Shigure said removing his arms from Tohru.
"It's ok," Tohru said with a brief smile. "How is Kyo? Yuki and Haru?"
"Yuki is quite fine, a couple bruises and scratches, but he is conscious," Hatori started. "Haru, I believe recently woke up, but he was in a little worse condition, with a broken rib."
After just hearing that, Tohru was worrying with great fear.
"Kyo is in the worst condition. He hasn't come to... since Shigure knocked him out to hard, arhem," Hatori said with a little anger towards his dog- like friend. "He had a deep wound in his stomach, but fortunately it didn't hit anything vital. Plus, a couple broken ribs, and bruises along his body. He underwent immediate surgery, so he is fine, he just needs to wake up and cure his emotional scars. That goes for Haru as well."
Even more trepidation and stress struck Tohru. "Is there any possibility for me to go see them today?"
"There sure is," Shigure said, nodding to Hatori.
________________
At the hospital, Tohru met up with Momiji and Kagura who were weeping for their family. It was no life or death type situation, but it struck everyone with fear for the future.
Tohru took her time looking through the glass windows to where her friends lay in rooms of isolation as patients. Even through that night, Tohru wept in great distress and sorrow. The next day, Kagura would be leaving, but who would then take care of her? Yuki and Haru had another four days to remain in the hospital. Kyo fell into a coma so it could take a couple weeks or months till he would be conscious once again. Tohru would be by herself, in the darkness. Or would the other three guys bring her to the light?
~To Be Continued~
A/N: Well, that was odd, right? Okay, well, comment away! Hopefully, it wasn't too fluffy or dark... I tried to combine tid bits of humor too... Of course, that probably ruined the story, but oh well. Thanks for keeping up, I plan on extending this story to perhaps thirty-ish chapter, meaning more twists and new pairings. Wait and see.
More new pairings will appear. The main and only known pairing for a while will be: Haru+Kyo, Kagura+Kyo, and others that I may use to spice up the story.
Warning: Spoiler ALERT! Facts and thoughts of the people could be reflecting what has happened previously in the series within my fanfic. Rated for various reasons due to mature content.
This Chapter's Rating Level is PG-13 to R for language, excessive fluffiness/sensuality, gore, violence, and very little yaoi warning but no lemon/lime.
The characters are likely NOT to act the way they do in my story. (OOC- ness?) Also, this chapter is slightly AU, due to the excessive violence...
Laziness has made my writing grammar and format a bit sketchy and poor.
"~" Conversation or Emphasis to words. '~' Thoughts.
- - - - - -
To the Story!
Chapter Nine: The Mysterious Valentine's Day
It was a wonderful and bright morning to celebrate Valentine's Day. Of course, there were the noisy sounds of the morning that chimed into the house which kind of ticked Kyo off. But, the volume slowly died down a bit after Haru and Momiji went off to school.
At home, Kagura and Tohru quietly wrapped up Valentine gifts for everyone remaining in the Sohma residence. She got a large fruit basket for Shigure as well as a box of chocolates, same to Hatori and Hiro. Then, for Momiji and Kisa (just as a little present since she still was really cute), she bought a cute outfit and a box of Godiva chocolate, while for Haru a little jewelry to add to his "chain" collection and chocolate as well. Tohru bought Yuki some mugs and silverware to use while he would travel again because she figured out his dislike of plastic utensils and again chocolate. As for Kyo, Tohru bought him a large box of chocolate and some cleaning equipment for tidying up the dojo, which was passed down to him for the rest of the year. Tohru also bought Kagura an outfit, as a parting gift, since she was leaving the next day.
Indeed, it did accumulate quite a bit of a costly charge, but she both had the money that year, and she loved her family dearly. After giggling and gift-wrapping for about an entire hour, Kagura and Tohru finally finished and started doing some housework.
All the guys were out of the house for the day. Kyo and Yuki, after much repetitive debating, decided to visit their old high school. They had asked Tohru, but she said she couldn't because of the load of house cleaning needed. Shigure went to the publishing office to submit his next volume of his romance novel. Hatori left for work in the hospital joint he had recently joined.
"Ne, Tohru-chan," Kagura uttered, as they were still cleaning the kitchen, "Who do you like?"
It was rather sudden and unexpected, so Tohru felt a shiver down her back. "I do not really know," she replied. "But, I expect it will be someone from this family."
"Is that so?" Kagura questioned. "I am just wondering, but, not to make you feel good or bad, but I still love Kyo greatly. I don't know if our relationship could work out or not, but I will always love him as a friend forever. I know you are a very good person, so I don't need to worry about his well-being. I don't think I will be returning for a very long time. This approaching summer, I will be away studying in Europe and then I will have to return back to United States. College is extremely time-consuming and I need to study, it's likely for me to be back next winter. So, I hope you take good care of him. My stay here has been wonderful and most delightful, I will send postcards. I know it is rather silly to be saying all of this now..."
"Iie, I perfectly understand your intent, since tonight and most likely tomorrow we will be too busy to have this discussion," Tohru said taking a hold of her friend's hands firmly as a deeper confirmation. Quickly trying to change mood, she said, "Let's go dust the living room and bedrooms before someone comes back."
"Hai! We don't want Shi-nii-san to nag at our inefficiency of cleaning, ne?" Kagura said grabbing her dusty tool while also laughing a bit.
From there, both of the girls dusted around the house, and it was already noon.
"Now, all we got to do is make some lunch for the guys, ne?" Kagura asked.
"Yes, let's go make it," Tohru replied.
At the dining table, there seated five people, Shigure, Yuki, Kyo, Kagura, and Tohru. Lunch was just as noisy as ever. Constant squabbling between Yuki and Kyo, plus fights between Kagura and Kyo, and then there was Shigure's crazy laughing fits; life was normal. As everyone was finishing lunch, the telephone rang. Tohru, the only sane one at that moment, walked over to pick up the phone.
"Moshi, moshi?"
"Taihen desu, Tohru!" a person called out through the speaker.
"What is it?" Tohru asked, realizing who it was.
"Haru has, for some reason, gone Black! If a few of you could come, that would be great!"
"Okay, we'll be around soon," Tohru said, and then hung the phone up. She then ran to the kitchen where everyone was still chatting away. "Etou, Haru's turned Black, we got to go to-"
"Fastest way there is by running at this moment. Shigure, ring up Hatori," Yuki directed. With that Shigure was off like a flash. "Kyo and I will run over to stop his terrorizing first, Tohru and Kagura follow Shigure, unless you want to run with us."
After his last word, the he, Kyo and Tohru followed his lead and ran towards their old school. Tohru had gotten stronger in running, so she only lagged by a few meters.
Within minutes they reached the entrance. Momiji was waiting for them, so when he noticed them, he nodded the way to Haru's classroom.
"What are you doing Haru?" Yuki said in gasps from the run over. He noticed, like before in the past, the desks and windows were broken.
"Pfft. I had to vent my anger on something," Black replied simply.
"What are you angry at?" Kyo questioned, regaining his breath.
"All of you," Black said bluntly. "You've made life too easy, it makes me restless."
"What can we do to help you?" Tohru then asked. "Life is never easy, but we try to make do and live happily."
"I don't need help from you bitches," Haru said turning his back to his audience.
Yuki sighed. "Well, looks like his senses of logic have left him, too."
Kyo couldn't help, but feel a bit sorry for his friend. But, he didn't know what to do.
With much courage, Tohru walked up closer towards Haru, although she was likely to be in for some pain.
"Haru-kun, be reasonable. Lots of things must be on your mind, but you cannot release and vent without talking it out. Scaring and threatening people will not help your situation either. Let's talk about it, k?"
Deep inside, Haru wanted to melt down and cry out his true feelings, but it didn't reach the surface quite yet. So, outside, he twisted around and glared at the innocent girl.
"Listen up, don't try to bullshit with me," Black said with a slight growl. "I despise pity, and hate to listen to it and go away." With that, he slammed another desk in two.
"Please, calm down Haru-kun," Tohru begged. "Violence never solved anything."
"Shut up!" from his exclamation, he was furious. Haru then swirled around to land a blow on the irritating girl. Attempting to block the blow, Yuki ran in and interfered with his own fists.
Kyo would have done the same, but he was a having his own struggle with his mind. He had now both loved Tohru and Haru. He didn't want to fight or hurt them. So, he stayed kneeling on the ground. He slowly stared upwards to see what was going on.
Tohru was knocked over, despite the fact that Yuki blocked Haru' blow. Yuki was getting rather beat up. His face was turning swollen, and a bruise was forming on his eye. Then, there was some blood dripping out of his mouth and onto the floor. Kyo had temporarily forgot that Yuki lost a lot of his stamina and strength from his travels as a mere politician.
Then, Kyo thought of Tohru's condition, but he noticed Momiji already tending to her. 'What am I to do?' he thought to himself. He also didn't want Yuki to be injured, or Haru.
Momiji, panicking, ran up to Kyo. "Wake up!" he said gently slapping his face. "We don't want Yuki to be torn up by that stupid cow! Go and take him down now!"
Trembling slightly as he stood, Kyo ran towards Haru's figure bringing his fists forward to thrust at Haru. And from that, Yuki dropped from his clutch. "Grr... Another interference," Haru said, wiping off the drops of blood coming from his mouth. "Oh look, it's pussy boy."
"Stop it, Black," Kyo said, not looking at his opponents eyes. "I really don't want to hurt you."
"Oh, I know what you are thinking and feeling about me," Black said wickedly. "Let me remove you of that."
Kyo hadn't really noticed his swiftness, so he took a direct blow in the gut. From there, he knew Haru was serious. Kyo coughed up a bit blood and spat it out. "Heh," Kyo grinned while also now glaring at his adversary. "You don't know what you are talking about. Thanks for that punch back to reality, now you are dead meat."
The two young men then started fighting with full rage. They lashed out at each other, kicking and punching each other in the process. Haru, fully Black, did not even hold back, so Kyo was quite beaten up by the end of a ten minute period.
At the entrance of the school, Kagura, Shigure, and Hatori finally arrived. It only took thirty minutes due to the heavy traffic of rush hour. Kagura hastily asked a teacher for Haru's classroom. As she received the information, she ran towards the room, Hatori and Shigure following right after her.
Once they reached the room, Kagura watched in horror. The brawl had gone further than fists since Haru was in fury he started to use a dagger. Unfortunately, Kyo was jabbed in the gut; blood had dripped to the floor various times. Kyo was panting for breath more than ever.
Immediately, however, Hatori and Shigure ran to their sides. Hatori calmed the Black beast by locating his pressure point, making him crumble to the ground. Shigure just slapped Kyo at the side of the head. At that point, Hatori carried the unconscious cat of the zodiac, while Shigure did the same with Haru to the ambulance which had recently arrived. Kagura also tagged along, to make sure Kyo was all right. The nurse of the office ran to Yuki and carried him to the ambulance as well.
Momiji quietly watched Tohru as she came to. She heard young girls crying from the frightful scene. The male students were mumbling among themselves. Then, memories of her last moments conscious came flashing back. Immediately after, she practically jumped up and opened her eyes.
"Where's Kyo? Yuki? Haru?" she asked aloud, also attempting to sit up.
"Tohru!" Momiji exclaimed while also hugging the girl. "The fight got out of hand after you were knocked out. So, the guys were rushed to the hospital."
"Ah!" Tohru exclaimed clutching her face. "We must go to them now!" She again tried to stand up, but her legs failed her.
"Yeah, I think you were knocked onto your head a bit too, so your nervous system might be a bit flimsy at the moment, please take a break, we shall visit them later. In addition, I am sure those guys are just fine, they were just full of themselves after their psyche's split."
Even with that reassurance from her dear friend, she still was panicking and stressing over it. But, before she was filled with worry again, she fell unconscious for another couple hours.
First thing Tohru noticed, was that someone was next to her snoring rather loudly. It wasn't that surprising, but she saw Shigure with his head resting on his arms on a chair nearby. She hesitated on what to do. She wanted to go out and visit the three injured family members. But, she didn't want to disturb Shigure from his nap. So, she waited there for a little while. Shigure's dog senses had never really disappeared, so he knew that Tohru was awake. So, the next thing Tohru noticed was Shigure clinging onto her.
"Oh Tohru-chan!" Shigure exclaimed. "You're finally awake!"
"Oh stop it, Shigure," Hatori said, rushing in after hearing the ruckus.
"Etou," Tohru barely uttered.
"Shigure, I am sure Tohru is not appreciating the fact that you are holding onto her..." Hatori said calmly.
"Ara, gomene," Shigure said removing his arms from Tohru.
"It's ok," Tohru said with a brief smile. "How is Kyo? Yuki and Haru?"
"Yuki is quite fine, a couple bruises and scratches, but he is conscious," Hatori started. "Haru, I believe recently woke up, but he was in a little worse condition, with a broken rib."
After just hearing that, Tohru was worrying with great fear.
"Kyo is in the worst condition. He hasn't come to... since Shigure knocked him out to hard, arhem," Hatori said with a little anger towards his dog- like friend. "He had a deep wound in his stomach, but fortunately it didn't hit anything vital. Plus, a couple broken ribs, and bruises along his body. He underwent immediate surgery, so he is fine, he just needs to wake up and cure his emotional scars. That goes for Haru as well."
Even more trepidation and stress struck Tohru. "Is there any possibility for me to go see them today?"
"There sure is," Shigure said, nodding to Hatori.
________________
At the hospital, Tohru met up with Momiji and Kagura who were weeping for their family. It was no life or death type situation, but it struck everyone with fear for the future.
Tohru took her time looking through the glass windows to where her friends lay in rooms of isolation as patients. Even through that night, Tohru wept in great distress and sorrow. The next day, Kagura would be leaving, but who would then take care of her? Yuki and Haru had another four days to remain in the hospital. Kyo fell into a coma so it could take a couple weeks or months till he would be conscious once again. Tohru would be by herself, in the darkness. Or would the other three guys bring her to the light?
~To Be Continued~
A/N: Well, that was odd, right? Okay, well, comment away! Hopefully, it wasn't too fluffy or dark... I tried to combine tid bits of humor too... Of course, that probably ruined the story, but oh well. Thanks for keeping up, I plan on extending this story to perhaps thirty-ish chapter, meaning more twists and new pairings. Wait and see.