A feeling of ennui was spread all about the classroom as the teacher lectured them on and on about math. Uo-chan filed her nails somewhere in a shady corner while Kyo sat in a particularly warm and sunny spot, dozing off as most cats do. Hanajima grew tired of reading the waves of her peers, deciding who liked who and which ones had been foolish enough to eat the expired cafeteria food, and even the Yuki fan-club leader was couldn't think of any more ways to write "Mrs. Yuki Sohma" in her notebook. Yuki sat, doodling and taking down notes every so often, just a few seats away from Tohru, whom seemed to be spacing out.

Kyo turned in his sleep, getting sun in his eyes and awaking. He growled at the still-talking teacher in the class and grabbed his notebook. 'This sucks…' he thought, scrawling in his notebook. "Especially since this is the only class where everyone's here.' Tohru seemed to have come out of her trance and was staring idly at Kyle, wondering what he was writing. Obviously not notes, as he took no pauses in between to listen to the teacher.

"MS. HONDA!" yelled their ancient, almost emaciated teacher, Mrs. Ninaboshi. The whole class simultaneously jumped up. "How many times must someone tell you to pay attention? What would your mother and father say if you failed math, hmm?" Tohru fell silent as those words sank in. Her bangs casted a shadow upon her face. Not only was she feeling a little ashamed, but she felt something only four other people in the room could catch.

"…your mother would be ashame-- Yes, Mr. Sohma?" said the teacher, as the hand of the usually oblivious Kyo shot up in the air. He looked fiercely at her and almost snarled at the teacher. "Tohru's parents are dead!…" Tohru looked behind her at Kyo, surprised, then to her teacher. The teacher looked pretty nervous. 'Naw, it can't be just because of Kyo…' she thought, turning to see what else was going on.

Eight eyes glared at her with the fires of hell burning in them.

Honda-san smiled nervously, sweat dropping.

The bitter elder in front of him was silent and decided it best to leave Honda-san alone. She continued her lesson as if the whole thing never happened, feeling quite embarrassed. Tohru smiled appreciatively at Kyo for his display of protection over her. She got the usual reply; a glance off to somewhere else with an one sixteenth a smile creeping on to his face. She was grateful for his response.

Being friends with Kyo was like playing a game sometimes. It took work to win it; the prize was his trust and emotion. And it was always worth it. She still hadn't quite decided which one to choose yet, but she had forever to choose and she knew when it'd be right.

Oh no!

'I was just conceded!' She put her hands to her face blushing. 'I mean, I like them but maybe they don't like me, but even if they don't like me, it's okay for me to choose which one I like better because it's just me and… ah. This is so confusing!' Come back to reality she noticed a few people staring at her. She flashed another awkward smile, a few drops of sweat hanging on her head. Just then the bell rang and she was free. School was over today, but she still had work!

Kyo left ahead of her, obviously to go out to the woods and Yuki smiled, waved and said bye to Tohru as he went down the hall for a student council meeting. That make Tohru remember the school dance coming up. Yuki and the others were probably all busy planning it. Hmm…

"Tohru? C';mon" asked Arisa, waving a hand in front of her face. Tohru smiled.

"Oh, sorry, Uo-chan. Spaced out." she laughed it off and walked on.

"Tohru, is something troubling you?" Hanajima asked, in here monotone. "Your waved feel kind of…" she thought of a word that would fit. "…scattered." Tohru's mind had been wandering a bit more today than usual. She knew it was nothing, but appreciated her friend's concern. 'Ya, you did seem a little off…" added Uo-chan. Tohru smiled brightly. "Oh, no, I'm okay, really. Thank you both so much for your concern. I gotta get to work soon, or I'll be late…" Uo-chan and Hana-chan said there goodbyes and promised to send anyone who might harm her into the fires of oblivion.

A drop of sweat came down near her face and she stepped into the classroom to see the clock, quickly

she noticed Kyo left his notebook behind. Being a good Samaritan, Tohru picked it up in hopes of returning it. It was covered in band stickers and such. She smoothed down a few of the peeling stickers and looked at the first page. It was sort of a journal/notebook/sketchbook. She quickly closed it before she took in anymore. The voice of kindness and reason suddenly barged in.

'This is Kyo's, you have no right to look no matter how much you want to, and of course there are things in here Kyo may not want to express with anyone.' Suddenly, the voice of concern and compromise came in.

'Well, it wouldn't hurt to look at the new entries. You could look at that to satisfy your hunger and maybe see what is currently troubling him so you can try to help him through it.' She settled on that and started from the back (remember, the American front of the book is the Japanese back) until she came upon a few entries and a picture. She continued reading as she walked to work…