((Author's Note!! Cooool. Hope you're enjoying the story! Anyways, the
reason this note is here is to let you know how I figured Tohru, Yuki, and
Kyou had (at this point) been living together for about three and a half
months – and to prove I'm not making it up. :P Since I'm gonna mention it,
I figured I oughta explain it.
FYI: Japanese students get a month-long break from school in August. School resumes in September. Also, the new school term begins in April.
Now, Kyou went missing soon after he and Yuki's fight, which was during the last two weeks of the month-long summer break (August). We know Kyou was "training" for four months. So, from the middle of August to the middle of December is four months. And we know Kyou showed up around December because New Year's arrived soon after. Tohru and Kyou moved in at the same time, too. Soooo... since it's currently the last week of March, Yuki has lived with Kyou and Tohru for three months! Ta-da!))
CHAPTER 1
Yuki woke slowly to warm sunshine in his eyes and the cold wetness of the tear-soaked pillowcase pressed to his cheek. The angry images in his head faded, and he gradually became aware of the fact that he was no longer dreaming.
"Yuki-kun!" A knock sounded on his door, Tohru's cheerful voice drifting in from the hall. "It's eight o'clock! Get ready, I've got breakfast waiting!"
Her footsteps pattered off down the stairs, and Yuki waited until he couldn't hear her anymore before he sat up, staring blearily at the wall. God, he didn't want to go to school. Before Kyou came to live with them, he'd loved school. It was his only escape from his family life, and the only thing that kept him from thinking about what had happened last summer. Now, though... well, his dreams told the truth. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that he didn't care, the hurt from what he'd done never went away. Every night he cried in his sleep, and every morning he was forced to spend the day with the one person he could never be with. They were even in the same homeroom. If it wasn't for Tohru, he might not've made it this far.
It still wasn't clear why Akito had allowed Tohru to stay, though. In the four horrible months when Kyou disappeared, Akito suddenly became sweetness and light. He didn't yell at anyone, he wasn't sick, and Yuki, Haru, and Momiji were all cleared for Kaibara High. And if that wasn't strange enough, Akito let Yuki live with Shigure, too. For those four months, Yuki honestly thought that Akito might've changed.
He hadn't, of course. The second Kyou came home, everything fell apart. It was too late to undo what he'd done, but Akito made it clear to everyone that he was pissed. No-one saw Hatori or Kureno anymore, and Kyou was commanded to move into Shigure's house. If Akito didn't know what had gone on between Kyou and Yuki, he suspected enough to hurt them where it counted. Kyou had obviously been relocated to torture Yuki... but then why was Tohru here? So that Yuki would survive? Or maybe Akito was hoping that Yuki would fall in love with a girl. Or slip up and get caught with Kyou.
Sighing, he went to the closet, one hand pressed to his forehead. Whatever Akito's reasons, they were giving Yuki a headache. These were the same thoughts that ran through his mind every morning, but no matter how hard he thought about it, it never made sense. He was starting to think he'd developed brain-ruts.
He pulled on his school clothes, washed his face, and went downstairs, sitting at the table without speaking. He could feel Kyou's eyes on him, but it didn't take much to ignore that. He'd perfected the art of gazing into his breakfast and avoiding conversation, letting everyone think he was half asleep.
"Only one week to go!" Tohru beamed at everyone as she joined them, tucking her school skirt underneath her. She looked adorable in her white sailor blouse and braids. "The new school term starts after this week. We'll be sophomores!"
"About time," Kyou said, shoveling rice into his mouth. "Feels like we've been freshmen forever."
"Not undeservedly," Shigure put it. He was in his usual brown yukata, and it looked like he hadn't combed his hair yet. "Some of you take longer than others. Especially you, Kyou-kun. Are you going to get decent grades this semester?"
Kyou bristled, talking around the wad of food in his mouth. "My grades are fine! I pass every class!" There was a pause as he swallowed the mouthful, then sneered. "If you want to complain about grades, complain to Yuki. Mr. Perfect got an 89 on the last test."
"Eighty-nine? Really?" Shigure glanced at Yuki as if about to say something, then shrugged. "Well, Yuki-kun gets 100s the rest of the time, so it'll even out. Everyone needs a break once in a while."
"What?! Why do you always go easy on him?" Kyou shouted, jumping up. He jostled the table, and Tohru's teacup fell over, spilling tea across the polished wooden surface. She squeaked, going to her knees and wiping at the mess with her apron before it could hit the tatami.
"Maa, now look what you've done," Shigure said, clucking his tongue.
Yuki slammed his chopsticks down, irritated beyond belief. Shigure was going "easy" on him because the older man knew what had happened. He'd woken Yuki up from his nightmares more than once in the first month they'd lived together. And as for Kyou, Yuki loved him, but sometimes he was such a crybaby. He acted like he was never to blame for anything he did, and it pissed Yuki off. If Kyou hadn't tried to force Yuki to reveal their relationship that day, then none of this would've ever happened.
"Shut up, baka neko," he snapped. "You're ruining breakfast. If you're a lousy student, that's your fault. Stop making everyone else clean up your messes." So saying, he left his dishes and went to the genkan, grabbing his school bag and slipping his shoes on. He felt bad leaving Tohru like that, but he had to get out of the house. He threw open the door and marched to the road.
"Not so fast!" Kyou yelled, following Yuki out to the path. The rat didn't stop walking, and the cat darted in front of him, red eyes glaring. "Why d'you always have to do that, huh? Why d'you have to make me look bad? Haven't you done enough?"
The familiar pain tightened Yuki's chest, but he didn't let it show. If Kyou thought he had any chance with Yuki at all, he'd keep trying – and Akito would ruin them both. Instead, he shot Kyou an icy look. "You make yourself look bad, idiot. You don't need any help from me."
"Kuso nezumi! You think I look bad? I'll kick your ass!"
In a flash, Kyou threw a kick at Yuki's head. Yuki brought his arm up, blocking easily, and threw his school bag at Kyou's face. The cat shouted in anger and smacked the bag away, but it was too late. Yuki was inside his guard, so close they could have kissed. Kyou got one quick glimpse of his cousin's perfect face before Yuki's foot collided with Kyou's body, slamming the neko into a tree twenty feet away.
"Kyou-kun!" Tohru came flying past Yuki, one of her shoes half off. She ran to Kyou's side, kneeling next to him. "Kyou-kun, are you okay?"
Yuki picked up his bag, dusting it off as he closed the gap between him and Tohru. "He's fine, Honda-san. He just needs to learn some manners." He reached down, offering to help Tohru to her feet, smiling a little. She was really too sweet. She'd seen he and Kyou fight hundreds of times, but she couldn't stop herself from caring about them each and every time. It hurt that Tohru, whom he'd only really known for three and a half months, worried more about the Sohma cousins' relationship than the Sohmas themselves.
She let him pull her to her feet and turned, reaching out a hand to Kyou. The cat was slow in recovering, but he got up without her help, mumbling something about forgetting his homework. Tohru watched him go into the house, playing with her hair thoughtfully.
Yuki nodded down the path, taking a few steps. "Let's go, Honda-san. He'll catch up later. We'll be late, otherwise."
"Mm." Tohru fell into step beside him, wide brown eyes regarding him seriously. "Yuki-kun... don't you think that maybe you and Kyou-kun are a little rough with each other?"
"He starts it. If he doesn't want to fight, he shouldn't try to hit me." It sounded rude, even to him, and he hastened to correct himself. "I can't stand by and let him beat me up, right? I'm sure he'll get the point one day. He can't ever beat me. And if he keeps trying, he's going to keep getting smacked."
Her voice was tentative, but clear. "Hai... it's just... You two fight all the time, but this time... you looked like you kicked him a little hard. Ne, Yuki- kun... maybe you shouldn't fight him at all. You could just tell him no."
"I tried that once. It just made him angrier."
"Oh." They walked a bit, Tohru's nose wrinkled up as the thought. "Then... maybe you could not hit him so hard?"
Yuki shrugged. "He doesn't like it when I go easy on him."
Tohru made a small noise of understanding, and Yuki winced. That had been an incredibly stupid thing to say. He wasn't supposed to care what Kyou liked! Matter of fact, Tohru was right: he shouldn't be fighting Kyou at all. He never instigated the morning battle: that was Kyou's doing. So why on Earth did Yuki keep fighting?
The warm spring breeze ruffled his hair, and he hugged his bag to his aching chest on the pretext of cleaning it, his shoulders tight. He liked Tohru a lot, and he wanted desperately to be able to share his feelings with her. Honestly, she was his best friend. But there were just too many things that had to be kept secret. He had to hold back. He was protecting Kyou from Akito, and besides... there was no way he could tell her the truth: that if he didn't argue with Kyou, he'd have to stop fighting with him, too. And fighting was the only way he got to touch him.
FYI: Japanese students get a month-long break from school in August. School resumes in September. Also, the new school term begins in April.
Now, Kyou went missing soon after he and Yuki's fight, which was during the last two weeks of the month-long summer break (August). We know Kyou was "training" for four months. So, from the middle of August to the middle of December is four months. And we know Kyou showed up around December because New Year's arrived soon after. Tohru and Kyou moved in at the same time, too. Soooo... since it's currently the last week of March, Yuki has lived with Kyou and Tohru for three months! Ta-da!))
CHAPTER 1
Yuki woke slowly to warm sunshine in his eyes and the cold wetness of the tear-soaked pillowcase pressed to his cheek. The angry images in his head faded, and he gradually became aware of the fact that he was no longer dreaming.
"Yuki-kun!" A knock sounded on his door, Tohru's cheerful voice drifting in from the hall. "It's eight o'clock! Get ready, I've got breakfast waiting!"
Her footsteps pattered off down the stairs, and Yuki waited until he couldn't hear her anymore before he sat up, staring blearily at the wall. God, he didn't want to go to school. Before Kyou came to live with them, he'd loved school. It was his only escape from his family life, and the only thing that kept him from thinking about what had happened last summer. Now, though... well, his dreams told the truth. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that he didn't care, the hurt from what he'd done never went away. Every night he cried in his sleep, and every morning he was forced to spend the day with the one person he could never be with. They were even in the same homeroom. If it wasn't for Tohru, he might not've made it this far.
It still wasn't clear why Akito had allowed Tohru to stay, though. In the four horrible months when Kyou disappeared, Akito suddenly became sweetness and light. He didn't yell at anyone, he wasn't sick, and Yuki, Haru, and Momiji were all cleared for Kaibara High. And if that wasn't strange enough, Akito let Yuki live with Shigure, too. For those four months, Yuki honestly thought that Akito might've changed.
He hadn't, of course. The second Kyou came home, everything fell apart. It was too late to undo what he'd done, but Akito made it clear to everyone that he was pissed. No-one saw Hatori or Kureno anymore, and Kyou was commanded to move into Shigure's house. If Akito didn't know what had gone on between Kyou and Yuki, he suspected enough to hurt them where it counted. Kyou had obviously been relocated to torture Yuki... but then why was Tohru here? So that Yuki would survive? Or maybe Akito was hoping that Yuki would fall in love with a girl. Or slip up and get caught with Kyou.
Sighing, he went to the closet, one hand pressed to his forehead. Whatever Akito's reasons, they were giving Yuki a headache. These were the same thoughts that ran through his mind every morning, but no matter how hard he thought about it, it never made sense. He was starting to think he'd developed brain-ruts.
He pulled on his school clothes, washed his face, and went downstairs, sitting at the table without speaking. He could feel Kyou's eyes on him, but it didn't take much to ignore that. He'd perfected the art of gazing into his breakfast and avoiding conversation, letting everyone think he was half asleep.
"Only one week to go!" Tohru beamed at everyone as she joined them, tucking her school skirt underneath her. She looked adorable in her white sailor blouse and braids. "The new school term starts after this week. We'll be sophomores!"
"About time," Kyou said, shoveling rice into his mouth. "Feels like we've been freshmen forever."
"Not undeservedly," Shigure put it. He was in his usual brown yukata, and it looked like he hadn't combed his hair yet. "Some of you take longer than others. Especially you, Kyou-kun. Are you going to get decent grades this semester?"
Kyou bristled, talking around the wad of food in his mouth. "My grades are fine! I pass every class!" There was a pause as he swallowed the mouthful, then sneered. "If you want to complain about grades, complain to Yuki. Mr. Perfect got an 89 on the last test."
"Eighty-nine? Really?" Shigure glanced at Yuki as if about to say something, then shrugged. "Well, Yuki-kun gets 100s the rest of the time, so it'll even out. Everyone needs a break once in a while."
"What?! Why do you always go easy on him?" Kyou shouted, jumping up. He jostled the table, and Tohru's teacup fell over, spilling tea across the polished wooden surface. She squeaked, going to her knees and wiping at the mess with her apron before it could hit the tatami.
"Maa, now look what you've done," Shigure said, clucking his tongue.
Yuki slammed his chopsticks down, irritated beyond belief. Shigure was going "easy" on him because the older man knew what had happened. He'd woken Yuki up from his nightmares more than once in the first month they'd lived together. And as for Kyou, Yuki loved him, but sometimes he was such a crybaby. He acted like he was never to blame for anything he did, and it pissed Yuki off. If Kyou hadn't tried to force Yuki to reveal their relationship that day, then none of this would've ever happened.
"Shut up, baka neko," he snapped. "You're ruining breakfast. If you're a lousy student, that's your fault. Stop making everyone else clean up your messes." So saying, he left his dishes and went to the genkan, grabbing his school bag and slipping his shoes on. He felt bad leaving Tohru like that, but he had to get out of the house. He threw open the door and marched to the road.
"Not so fast!" Kyou yelled, following Yuki out to the path. The rat didn't stop walking, and the cat darted in front of him, red eyes glaring. "Why d'you always have to do that, huh? Why d'you have to make me look bad? Haven't you done enough?"
The familiar pain tightened Yuki's chest, but he didn't let it show. If Kyou thought he had any chance with Yuki at all, he'd keep trying – and Akito would ruin them both. Instead, he shot Kyou an icy look. "You make yourself look bad, idiot. You don't need any help from me."
"Kuso nezumi! You think I look bad? I'll kick your ass!"
In a flash, Kyou threw a kick at Yuki's head. Yuki brought his arm up, blocking easily, and threw his school bag at Kyou's face. The cat shouted in anger and smacked the bag away, but it was too late. Yuki was inside his guard, so close they could have kissed. Kyou got one quick glimpse of his cousin's perfect face before Yuki's foot collided with Kyou's body, slamming the neko into a tree twenty feet away.
"Kyou-kun!" Tohru came flying past Yuki, one of her shoes half off. She ran to Kyou's side, kneeling next to him. "Kyou-kun, are you okay?"
Yuki picked up his bag, dusting it off as he closed the gap between him and Tohru. "He's fine, Honda-san. He just needs to learn some manners." He reached down, offering to help Tohru to her feet, smiling a little. She was really too sweet. She'd seen he and Kyou fight hundreds of times, but she couldn't stop herself from caring about them each and every time. It hurt that Tohru, whom he'd only really known for three and a half months, worried more about the Sohma cousins' relationship than the Sohmas themselves.
She let him pull her to her feet and turned, reaching out a hand to Kyou. The cat was slow in recovering, but he got up without her help, mumbling something about forgetting his homework. Tohru watched him go into the house, playing with her hair thoughtfully.
Yuki nodded down the path, taking a few steps. "Let's go, Honda-san. He'll catch up later. We'll be late, otherwise."
"Mm." Tohru fell into step beside him, wide brown eyes regarding him seriously. "Yuki-kun... don't you think that maybe you and Kyou-kun are a little rough with each other?"
"He starts it. If he doesn't want to fight, he shouldn't try to hit me." It sounded rude, even to him, and he hastened to correct himself. "I can't stand by and let him beat me up, right? I'm sure he'll get the point one day. He can't ever beat me. And if he keeps trying, he's going to keep getting smacked."
Her voice was tentative, but clear. "Hai... it's just... You two fight all the time, but this time... you looked like you kicked him a little hard. Ne, Yuki- kun... maybe you shouldn't fight him at all. You could just tell him no."
"I tried that once. It just made him angrier."
"Oh." They walked a bit, Tohru's nose wrinkled up as the thought. "Then... maybe you could not hit him so hard?"
Yuki shrugged. "He doesn't like it when I go easy on him."
Tohru made a small noise of understanding, and Yuki winced. That had been an incredibly stupid thing to say. He wasn't supposed to care what Kyou liked! Matter of fact, Tohru was right: he shouldn't be fighting Kyou at all. He never instigated the morning battle: that was Kyou's doing. So why on Earth did Yuki keep fighting?
The warm spring breeze ruffled his hair, and he hugged his bag to his aching chest on the pretext of cleaning it, his shoulders tight. He liked Tohru a lot, and he wanted desperately to be able to share his feelings with her. Honestly, she was his best friend. But there were just too many things that had to be kept secret. He had to hold back. He was protecting Kyou from Akito, and besides... there was no way he could tell her the truth: that if he didn't argue with Kyou, he'd have to stop fighting with him, too. And fighting was the only way he got to touch him.