Author's Note: Hi-dee ho, Serella here. Tyger and I have signed our first chapters, but from here on out, we'll let the format of our writing be an indicator of the author. The story should—in theory—be written with Tyger doing the prologue and even chapters, and myself taking on the epilogue and odd chapters, so this will likely be unnecessary for you to examine. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the different styles of writing of Tyger and I, comments and criticisms are welcomed and appreciated.

^^Serella

Chapter One: Tohru

Oh, Mom! What have I caused? You always told me to follow my heart...but now so many complicated things have sprung up on this path. I mean, it was nice at first, but—well...

I guess it started when Kazuma revealed Kyo's true form by pulling the black and white beads of his wrist. My breath caught at the sight of his monstrous appearance, and for a few seconds I was so afraid. But then he looked at me and in his eyes I saw true fear there. So when he ran into the forest I knew I had to follow.

And then Akito came. He said I was wrong for meddling in the affairs of the Sohma family, but Mom, he was wrong. Kyo keeps telling me how much better things have been since I arrived...until bad things started to happen, of course.

My name sounded so beautiful on his lips when he told me. We had just finished a visit to the Main House of the Sohmas to see Akito, and Kyo and I were taking a walk in the forest. Yuki had disappeared the moment we got back to Shigure's house, so it was just the two of us.

We followed the path to where it ended at a pretty lake. I smiled to see the proud mother ducks leading along a string of fuzzy yellow ducklings behind them for their first swim in the crystal blue waters. I think you would have liked that place, Mom. You always did have an appreciation for beautiful scenery.

I turned at a touch on my shoulder to come face-to-face with Kyo. His expression was...well, completely new to me. It held more than just contentment, which was all I had ever seen. He actually looked happy—and more.

"Tohru," he whispered. I remember feeling a chill run down my spine and how goosebumps rose on my arms. It was a strange feeling, and really unexpected. Kyo had said my name hundreds of times before, so why was this one different?

He put his hand on the back of my head and stroked my hair, though I could see in his eyes that he would liked to have touched my face had it been possible. I knew somehow that then would have been a particularly bad moment for him to transform.

"You're beautiful," he said after a moment in a quiet way, as if it were hard to say. "And...arrgh, why does this have to be so hard!?" His expression changed, and he seemed like the same old Kyo I had always known. But he took a deep breath, and he was someone totally different. Like...still Kyo, but less harsh. "I just wanted you to know that,"—he swallowed nervously, visibly gathering up his courage—"I love you, Tohru. Everything about you. At first I tried to ignore it, or chalk it up to the fact that I just hadn't spent much time with girls before. But a few days ago, when you accepted me even in my true form, I knew that it was real. There I said it." He spun around, beginning to look angry again and also pouty.

I couldn't help but smile. I had never really known before, but now it seemed so obvious. I thought for a moment about what this meant, for both of us, before I said anything. "Kyo, I love you too." He slowly turned to look at me again, his mouth having fallen open.

It felt like magnets drew us together, our lips pressed in a kiss. Unthinkingly my arms wound themselves around his neck and in the next instant I found myself surrounded in a thin pink smoke with my lips meeting an orange cat's.

"Gaaah!" I screamed, accidentally dropping the cat. And Mom, remember what everyone always says about how cats always land on their feet? Only real cats do that, not Jyuunishi-cats. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! Here, let me pick you up and we'll get back to the house, and—oh! Your clothes! Let me just get those because I'm sure you'll want them and—"

Kyo ceased my frenzied rambling and scrambling with a few bats of his paw. "It's fine, ok? And you don't have to carry me! I can walk, you know! Hey come on, put me down!" But I just smiled as I now calmly gathered his clothes and walked along the forest path back to Shigure's house, ignoring his protests all the way.

* * *

"Leeks?" Kyo shouted indignantly, dumping the offending veggies off his plate, directly onto the floor. Across the table, I bit my lip. I had forgotten how much he hated leeks, and I hoped he wasn't angry at me. "Why the hell did you make leeks? The only person who even likes them is that damn rat—hey, where is he anyway? Aw never mind, who cares anyway?" He looked up at me, and in a split second his whole expression changed, as if he suddenly realized I was there.

There was a moment of awkward silence, which Shigure flawlessly broke with his ever-cheery manner. "Yes, I do wonder where Yuki is," he said in a pleasant tone. "Maybe I should go check on him and make sure he's not getting sick." He made as if to stand, but I interrupted him.

"I think I should go." Kyo snorted and looked as if he wanted to say something, but I put all my effort into making my eyes look pleading and he remained silent as I stood up and exited the room.

I knocked on the frame of Yuki's bedroom door, so I slowly slid it open and stepped inside. He was curled up on his bed with the covers over him. "I'm so sorry to bother you, Yuki, but you didn't come down for dinner, so I was worried that maybe you were getting sick or—"

"I'm fine, Miss Honda," came his muffled reply from under the thick blanket. He tossed it aside and sat up. "Just not particularly hungry tonight."

"Oh," I said. "But I made fish and rice and leeks with that sauce you always liked. And for dessert there's a cake. It's actually vanilla frosted which Shigure likes, because I thought it was only fair that since the dinner is one you like and the drinks are from Kyo's favorite fruit—"

He sighed, and I stopped mid-sentence. "Kyo," he said quietly. He had this strange look in his eyes, sort of despairing, but at the time I read it as exhaustion. "You and he make a—nice couple. I wish you two the best of luck."

I nodded my thanks, and pulled at my lip with one finger as I tried to think of what to say next. "So..." The word hung in the air for a moment. "I guess I'll tell Shigure and Kyo not to eat up all the food in case you get hungry later." My face burned as I realized how stupid I just sounded. I quickly stood up, and was halfway out the door when I heard his quiet reply. To this day I'm not sure if I was even supposed to hear the whispered words.

"Thank you...Tohru." My name. A word rarely heard escaping his lips, even still. He's always called me "Miss Honda." So formal, so impersonal, as if he were afraid using my name would bring him too close.

* * *

I can't believe I never saw it happening. Yuki was out a lot more after that, without telling anyone that he was going before he left, and somehow managing to evade inquiries as to his whereabouts when he returned. And when he was home, he was never around. It was like he was avoiding everyone, especially me. He didn't walk me home from school like he used to, either...but I chalked that off to his politeness; I thought he was trying to give Kyo and I some privacy. I feel so...naive.

He also didn't eat with us much anymore. On the rare occasion when I did catch him on his way to his room, having just gotten home from wherever he had been, our conversations were very short and to the point. He'd simply say he had been out for a walk or "around," and that sorry but he wasn't hungry because he had eaten while he was out. Remembering how he had gone from lean to gaunt in a few short weeks, I'm pretty sure he nearly stopped eating entirely. Up earlier than usual and claiming to have eaten breakfast, a smidge of food at lunch, and excuses and cover-ups for dinner. Many people would take that as an indication, but somehow we missed it.

For all the warning signs—flashing lights and ringing bells that I never saw—he displayed, nothing was ever said about it. Shigure stopped commenting on his absences at the table and around the house, Kyo stopped complaining about him in general, and I...I hardly gave him a thought, to be perfectly honest. Kyo had become so much more important in my life than he had previously been, though I don't mean to understate how good of friends we were before we started dating. Yuki seemed like a minor character in my story at that point, and when Kyo was around—which he almost always was—everyone and everything else was little more than white noise. I threw myself too deep into him, and forgot that to begin loving one person more does not mean you should not love another less.