"Oh Kyo, my beloved!" gushed Kagura upon Kyo's entrance into the Sohma house.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.

She pouted. "Is that how you should greet your long lost fiancée?"

He chose not to retort anymore that he may be her fiancé but she isn't his fiancée, since their engagement was her own proclamation, but for the good of his health, he didn't.

Shigure arrived in the living room, holding two cans of beer. "Kagura is going to stay here for the meantime. She would like to learn the ropes of the family business."

He frowned and looked at her. "What for?"

"Well, Hatori told me that you're starting to take the family business more seriously, so I decided that as your fiancée, I must support you in your endeavor. I will learn how to run the company too." With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He tried to untangle himself from her. "But Kagura, this isn't child's play. This is serious."

"And who said I wasn't serious?" she countered. "I will be studying the same stuff that Hatori is teaching you. That would be great, since in the future, we can make a great team to maintain the business."

He rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm too tired to argue with you tonight, but I'll talk to Hatori first thing in the morning. You can't stay here!" He marched into his room and slammed the door before she could force herself into his bedroom.

Kagura sighed. "Ah, Kyo never changes."  She then merrily continued in sewing Kyo's shirts.

The next morning…

"Good morning, Boss," greeted Uo politely when Kyo entered the car, face more sullen than usual. "Is it me, or I seem to feel negative vibes emitting from you?"

"You got the negative vibe part right, but it's emitting from someone else." He glanced wryly behind him. Kagura, dressed smartly in a ladies' business suit, was skipping merrily towards them.

Uo looked at the girl intently then shrugged. "You should be very happy now, eh?"

"Yeah. I'm so overjoyed," he said, crossing his arms. "Did you sleep well?"

She was caught off guard by his unexpected question. Her eyes were trained on the steering wheel before her. "T-The condo unit was really luxurious…"

"That's not what I mean," he said. "Never mind." He then reached for the pocket of his coat. "Here."

She looked at the cell phone he was offering her. "You're selling it to me?"

"No, I'm giving it to you!" he snapped. "You destroyed your cel, didn't you?"

She vaguely remembered throwing her CP against a tree yesterday. She looked at the phone again. "I-I can't take it. I don't have money to pay for it now."

"Then pay for it later." He shoved the phone into her hand before returning to his seat. "You and your high and mighty principles," he muttered as Kagura entered the car. She then noticed Uo. "Um, excuse me? Who are you?"

Uo gave the bewildered girl a mocking salute. "Howdy! I'm an escaped ax murderer ready to drive you to hell!"

"Kyo!!!" cried the girl and buried her head in Kyo's chest.

"Stop that!! She was only kidding!" he snapped, then glared at his driver, who was laughing her heart out.

"But why did you give Kyo a female driver?" demanded Kagura as Hatori calmly went through his paper works, ignoring his cousin's shrill voice.

"Because that is what the clan head wishes, and anything that Yuki says, I stand by it," explained the clan doctor.

"I don't like her!" said the girl immediately. "I don't trust female drivers. They are not as good and as reliable as male drivers are."

Hatori looked at her, looking rather amused. "You just don't trust all females in general, because they all pose threats on your fiancé."

She looked embarrassed, but she quickly shot back, "I am not afraid of her! She's not Kyo's type. She goes for girls who make him feel manly."

He rolled his eyes. In short, clingy women like you. But he chose not to say that aloud, afraid to hurt her feelings.

Kagura, on the other hand, smiled bravely. "And just to show you that I know what I am saying, I will let her keep her job as his driver."

Again, the doctor rolled his eyes. Comparing tropical depressions to a woman's fickle mind was a complete understatement.

Uo was surprised to find Kyo back in the car, holding two bags of food and two cans of softdrinks. He entered the car, sighing.

"What are you doing here? It's still two hours before you are off-duty!" she said, puzzled.

He handed her one of each of the food. "I'm going into hiding."

"You're a criminal?"

"No!" He rolled his eyes and took a large bite on his quarter pounder. "I'm hiding from Kagura."

"Huh?"

"I heard that she wants me to take her out to lunch after work," he said.

She laughed. "Duh. She's your fiancée. It's only expected."

"Hah! You don't know the hell I go through when she gets jealous. She gets jealous of every female we meet!" he snapped.

"Is that so?" She sipped her drink. "Good thing she wasn't jealous of me."

He blinked, then burst into laughter.

"What the hell is so funny?" she yelled, blushing faintly.

He paused to wipe a tear from his eye. "You?!! You're the last person she would get jealous of!"

The comment touched a raw nerve within her. "And what do you mean by that?" she shot back.

He still didn't notice the edge in her voice. "Uotani Arisa, she knows what my type of female is."

"And it's not me, of course," she said, looking out at the window.

He finally sensed the tension and stopped laughing. He groped for words helplessly. "I-I…"

She turned to him, smirking. "Got ya!!!"

His eyes widened, then he slammed the car pillow on her. "Damn you!"

She reached for the nearby pillow on the front passenger seat and whacked him with it too. "Take that!"

Their laughter echoed inside the car, until a knock on the window got their attention.

"So this is where I will find you," said Kagura, eyebrow raised.

Both she and Kyo paused, then looked up at the girl guiltily.

"You're here to work, remember?" With that, Kagura opened the car door and dragged Kyo out. She gave her one last lethal look before continuing to drag her fiancé back into the office.

"She hates me," said Uo as she and Tohru were having lunch outside the office building. It had been days since she last talked with the onigiri, and she felt good, being able to release her emotions freely.

Tohru's eyes saddened. "I know Kagura-san. She's not the type to easily get jealous. Kyo and I are good friends, and she has no problem with that."

"That's because she knows it's safe," said Arisa. "She knows you very well, and knows that you are the last person in the world to hurt her." She then smiled teasingly. "And there's your adoring Prince…"

Her eyes widened, then looked down on her food. "That's silly. Yuki-kun and I are best friends, that's all."

"Your eyes betray you," said Uo knowingly.

"Ah, why are we talking about me? We're talking about Kagura-san!" exclaimed the onigiri, who was blushing profusely now.

Uo laughed, then turned serious. "I wonder…"

Tohru paused. "Hmm?"

"Maybe I'll lose my job already. She doesn't like me," she said at last. "I badly need money. I have to pay Kyo back all the things he bought me."

"What things?" asked Tohru, eyes wide.

Uo didn't know what to think. So no one knew what he did for her.

Just then, Kyo arrived, looking not very pleased. "I've been looking for you everywhere." He gave Tohru a brief nod, then turned to her again. "Get up. We have to go."

She didn't like the bossy tone of his voice, but she ignored it. "See you around, Tohru."

"Take care, Uo-chan!"

"Why weren't you in the car where you should be waiting for me?" asked Kyo at last when they were alone in the elevator.

"I was hungry," she said, shrugging.

"You should have just waited for me," he scolded. "I'll take you to lunch."

"You're taking too long!" she complained.

He grabbed her arm. "You don't know how you nearly made me panic when I didn't see you in the car! I searched for you in the entire office! I asked the security guards, the janitors, the clerks, and they all do not know where you went!"

"Hey, hands off!" she yelled just as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Yuki was standing before it, purple eyes amused.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Did I just disturb something?" he asked, his mouth twitching.

"It's not what you think!" Kyo slammed the elevator buttons, and the door closed, leaving the chuckling clan head outside.

He was breathing heavily, but when he spoke, he was much calmer. "I thought that the DOM kidnapped you."

She fought the urge to laugh out loud. "Your hyper imagination never ceases to amaze me. Is that part of being a full-blooded moron?"

"Stop laughing!" he snapped. "It wasn't funny!" He could recall vividly the odd looks his employees were giving him when he was running around the building like a headless chicken, looking for his missing driver.

She coughed, choking back her laughter. "It is!" She took a good look on his relieved face, then smiled. "Thanks for worrying though. No one has ever worried about me like that before."

His eyes slowly looked at her, then back at the elevator buttons. "It's nothing to thank for. You caused me a lot of problems."

"I had been always the troublemaker," she said softly. "You can let go of my arm now, Kyo."

The sound of his name startled him, and he automatically let her go. The door opened, and both of them stepped out of it wordlessly.

Kagura was waiting for them in the car, looking very displeased. When both of them entered the car wordlessly, she started to clap mockingly. "Bravo! You are found, finally! This is my first time to encounter a boss looking for his driver."

"Kagura…" said Kyo, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"What?" she asked, her eyes crinkling in irritation.

He cringed then looked out at the window. "Stop it, ok? We're going to ruin our mood for lunch."

She frowned. She rarely see Kyo stand up to her like that when she's mad. She gave the silent driver a quick glance, then back at her fiancé. She pouted, then laid her head on his strong shoulders.

I need to talk to Tohru. She can make me feel better, thought the inoshishi.

Kyo got out of the car and held the car door open for Kagura. Uo watched, feeling a little jealous. The moronic mutant cat can actually be a gentleman if he wants to. I wonder how it feels to be treated that way.

He glanced at her. "Uo?"

She blinked. She didn't notice that she was staring at him already! "What?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"What do you want for a take-out order?" he asked.

"I ate already, so get me a bottle of mineral water. Chilled to perfection," she said.

"Right. Is that all?" he asked as Kagura looked on in disbelief. "We'll be in the restaurant for a long time."

An idea formed in her mind. "I don't want to wait for you guys that long. Can't I come with you?"

Kagura gasped, but Kyo's grin widened. "I was just about to suggest that."

Uo was beginning to think that it was all a bad idea. She looked at Kagura and Kyo, who looked perfectly at home in the place as they looked at the menu. She looked down on her menu too, and to her disdain, the names of the main dish were written in Spanish.

A waiter came to the table and smiled courteously at the two, but blinked when he saw her.

She looked down at her driver uniform the glared back at him.

"The usual," said Kagura curtly. "The house specialty for the man." She glanced at Kyo, then stopped speaking.

Kyo sighed. "Yes, and a plate of back forest cake." He looked at Uo. "Will that be ok?"

She nodded.

The waiter turned to her. "What drink shall be you having, Sir?"

Her eyes widened, and stood up. Right amidst the public, she punched the waiter's face.

Kagura refused to look at either Kyo or Uo while the latter was driving home.

The waiter apologized profusely, especially after the management learned that Sohmas – the Sohmas – were the diners. However, Kagura refused to eat anymore, since she had already been humiliated.

Uo, on the other hand, was biting on the complimentary club sandwich that the restaurant gave her to compensate for what the waiter did to her.

The inoshishi marched straight into the gates, not looking back if Kyo was walking with her.

"I therefore conclude that she really hates me," said Uo at last as she took the pickle out of sandwich. "Do you eat veggies like this?"

He nodded absent-mindedly and she popped it into his mouth. She then continued to eat  her sandwich. "Any final order, Boss?" she asked when he wasn't moving.

"You stunned me with your guts," he said at last.

"I refuse to call it 'guts'. It's just that I'm not afraid of the invisible rules of civil formality that you rich people are bounded to." She shrugged carelessly. "I do what I think is right."

"But still, you should avoid making scandals," he said, smiling warily.

"I'll do my best," she said grudgingly. "Now I know why I do not like hanging out with people who are in a higher pedestal than me."

He looked at her intently. "We stand in the same ground."

She paused. "Y-Yeah right." She looked at his mansion. "Yeah, right."

He chose not to pursue the topic. "I'm sleeping in Shigure's house."

She looked puzzled. "Why don't you all live in one house?"

"Shigure has grown attached to the house," he explained. "Besides, we like staying there sometimes. Just to remind us of what we used to be."

"Definitely an ego booster."

"That's not what I mean," he said defensively.

"I was just kidding." She gave the mansion one last look. "Should I still report for work tomorrow?"

"Why shouldn't you?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes and gestured to the place where his fiancée was currently in.

"Hah! It's me who's paying you your salary, so I'm the only one who can decide when to fire you." Kyo looked at her. "Just try to stand her attitude. She's usually not that unreasonably possessive. You just didn't make a good first impression because you made fun of her awhile ago."

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yup."

"OK." She went back into the car, and Kyo followed her.

"So how are your classes?"

She paused from inserting the car into the ignition. "You know what? You're starting to act weird. You never ask about those things before."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Alright, I'll stop asking."

She laughed. "Just kidding." She began to narrate to him how well she was faring in class, and that she was a candidate for cum laude in the commencement exercises within two months if she keep up her good work.

Kyo listened eagerly to her animated chatter, fascinated by the substance that lies beneath her careless and tomboyish facade. He suddenly found himself vowing to appreciate the privilege his family was giving him in the business and do his best in proving his worth in work, not only to defeat Yuki, but to prove something to himself too.

"We're here," she announced, breaking the train of his thoughts.

He gave her an unexpected grateful smile. "Thanks."

She did a double take. "What?"

He said nothing as he went out of the car. "See you tomorrow."

She nodded and started to drive back into her own home, not noticing a pair of eyes watching her from afar.

Found you, my darling.

tsuzuku