Chapter Two: Kyo ----------
I've never been one to "put myself out," so to speak, but the day I told Tohru how I felt was one of the best days of my life. Actually saying the words were kinda hard, since I was expecting rejection. Yeah, even after she saw me in my true form and came after me, I still expected her to be freaked out or something. Pretty stupid, huh?
Anyways, when I'm with Tohru, I feel like I can let my guard down and be myself, I feel like I'm truly accepted, and that I'm not being compared to anyone. I feel like I'm good enough…good enough for her love, which she has so willingly given to me. And—God!—am I grateful.
Tohru is the light in our lives, mine and all the other Jyuunishi. We all love her and have come to care about her immensely in her time spent with us. She's healed our broken souls and wiped our tears and she's accepted us for what we are and where we come from.
And yeah, Tohru and I are an item now.
Yeah, funny ain't it? How could the wretched boy with the cat spirit, the rejected Jyuunishi, come to get the girl? I sometimes wonder the same thing myself, but then I realize how her eyes light up in that special way when we're together, and I feel her lips against mine in a sweet kiss, and I'm reminded that this isn't a dream, that she really does love me and is with me, even if afterward, I'm on all fours and covered in orange fur.
When we first broke the news, I had to fold my arms across my chest and turn away from Shigure and that damn rat to prevent myself from blushing and grinning from ear to ear like some kind of idiot. But I'm sure Tohru saw my expression…and that's perfectly fine. She should know she makes me giddy and relaxed all at the same time, that I'm completely unlike the person I make myself out to be when I'm around her.
That night, Tohru made dinner…and unfortunately, it was the one thing in the whole damn world that I couldn't stand: leeks.
"Leeks?" Glaring at the reeking vegetable upon my plate, I quickly cleared it from my meal without regards to where it landed, which happened to be the floor. "Why the hell did you make leeks?" I growled. "The only person who even likes them is that damn rat—hey, where is he anyway? Aw never mind, who cares?"
I suddenly realized what a freakin' idiot I had been when I glanced up from my dinner and locked gazes with Tohru. I knew she was friends with Yuki, and I knew that she didn't like it when I spoke badly of him around her…and guess what genius me had just done? Exactly what she didn't like! God, I'm so stupid sometimes…
"Yes, I do wonder where Yuki is," Shigure said suddenly, cheerfully. "Maybe I should go check on him and make sure he's not getting sick."
Tohru soon stood, uttering a quick "I think I should go" before giving me a fleeting glance, then going upstairs.
I scowled as I lowered my head, glaring at my plate. I felt Shigure's gaze on me and I snapped my head up. "What?!" I yelled.
"Nothing, Kyo…" Shigure said somberly. "Nothing at all…"
The next couple of days, to the next couple of weeks were weird. There was tension in the air that was thick enough to cut with a knife, and I rarely ever saw that damn rat, Yuki.
It's kinda hard to avoid someone completely when you live in the same house and go to the same school as them, but Yuki managed to avoid me completely unless I went looking for him to fight with. I didn't seek him out and want to fight with him as much as one may think; between Tohru and the rest of my life, I barely paid my cousin any mind, in all honesty. If it wasn't for a few softly-spoken statements of concern from Tohru, I would have forgotten about him completely. And it was only after about two weeks of Tohru and me going steady that I actually started to think about Yuki and why he wasn't around much.
As I was walking through the hallways of school one day, I overhead some of the first year girls talking together in a little huddle in hushed tones. Casually walking over to a nearby water fountain, I bent to get a drink while listening to their conversation once I had heard my rival's name mentioned.
"Did you two hear about the Student Council President?!" the first girl asked.
"Prince Yuki, you mean?" said the second.
The third asked, "What about him?"
The first girl said with horror in her voice, "Well, he's resigning from office!!"
"That's terrible!!" the second and third girl shouted in unison.
I had heard enough. I didn't need to know how crushed their little hearts were or how the school wouldn't be the same without that damn rat in power and all that other girly crap they would soon be ranting about. So, I pulled away from the water fountain and adjusted my backpack before shoving my hand into my pocket and heading towards the main exit of the school.
Tohru had wanted to walk home with her two friends, Yankee and Electrical Girl—I mean, Uo and Hana—so my trek back to Shigure's house was to be in solitary silence. There was a bit of a walk from the school to the edge of the city, and then from the edge of the city and into the forest, then finally to Shigure's house. And without Tohru by my side, I realized just how long that walk was going to be.
But the lack of conversation—or the lack of hearing Tohru's voice, however you wanted to look at it—meant that my mind could wander. And it did, as much as I hate to admit it.
Whatever was bothering that damn rat had to be something serious for him to resign from his place as Student Council President. What the hell could it have been? Perhaps it was something that could have a negative effect on Tohru…or even me?!
But then it hit me.
Yuki had been acting strangely ever since Tohru and I started going steady. I couldn't help the smirk that crossed my face. I had finally beaten him and was better than him at something, and he couldn't handle it, so he decided to seclude himself and run away from the facts.
He and I had been competing for Tohru's heart since day one, but it was an unspoken competition. We were always fighting, and we hated each other then, for past reasons, but with Tohru seeming to like both of us, it became a match of "charm," as Shigure might call it, just like everything between that damn rat and I became.
In the end, I got the girl. But by then, it hadn't been to show Yuki that I was better than him…it had been to show Tohru that I really did love her and care about her. Beating Yuki was just a bonus that I hadn't even thought about until that day as I walked home alone.
Snickering to no one in particular, I began to gloat to myself at how I was better than Yuki, how someone finally thought more of me than of him, and how I had proven myself more thoroughly than I ever could have in beating him in a fight.
But my train of thought was soon brought to an end when I turned a corner within the city and was met in the face with a fist.
I dropped my backpack and stumbled back a few steps with my hand to my cheek. When my eyes finally focused, I glared at Hatsuharu, who was well into his Black personality.
"What the hell did you do to him?!" Haru demanded.
I stared at him as if he had gone completely mad, which he had to some extent because he was Black, after all. And then my rage hit me. Who the hell did he think he was, punching me out of the blue and asking me questions I didn't understand?! "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YA DAMN BASTARD?!"
"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, YOU STUPID CAT!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO YUKI?!"
Black Haru's normally snide and cocky face was flushed with his anger and his eyes were blazing like a mad man's. Whatever he was accusing me of must have really pissed him off this time. And without warning, he threw another punch that I was barely able to block.
"Look, I don't know what the hell you're talking about! I didn't do anything to him, so just knock it off, Haru!" I said as I blocked another punch. But he just kept coming at me, and I had to stand my ground.
"LIAR!" He yelled.
Countering his attacks, it soon became an all-out brawl, similar to the fight we had when Haru had first met Tohru. All the while he was demanding things like, "What the hell did you do to him?!" and was yelling things like, "I didn't think you were that low, ya stupid cat!" and "You're such a cruel and sick bastard!"
But then he came out with:
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL TOHRU SEES IN YOU!!! YOU'RE JUST A CRUEL AND EVIL SPIRIT OF THE CAT!! NO WONDER YOU'RE THE REJECTED JYUUNISHI!!"
My anger flared within me and I delivered a powerful blow to his face, then introduced my knee to his stomach. I was just about to throw him to the ground when my focus was shattered by the horrified yelling of,
"Kyo! Hatsuharu! Stop fighting!!"
The sound of Tohru's voice took me completely by surprise, and in my stupidity, I turned my attention to her. She was, and still is, first priority in my mind, after all. But that dirty Black Haru took the opportunity I gave him and attacked me when I was least prepared.
I soon found myself on the ground with the enraged Black Haru on top of me, delivering blow after pummeling blow. He had such an advantage over me, I could barely defend myself. Realizing that I couldn't fight him off of me, I just blocked as many of his hits as I could…
…which wasn't very much, now that I look back on it.
But I could have kicked his ass if Tohru hadn't broken my concentration.
"Haru!"
It was another female voice. I was surprised I could hear it over the beating I was taking.
The next thing I knew, Haru was being hauled off of me and Tohru was soon leaning down and looking to me with concern.
"Kyo! Are you alright?!" Worry was clear in her large, innocent eyes, and I gave her a smirk as I sat up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, though I was sore as hell and knew it would hurt even more the next day. I soon hauled myself to my feet and glared daggers at the still Black Haru while I dusted myself off.
"You can't beat up Kyo like that for no reason! He hasn't done anything wrong!"
It was then that I noticed who had pulled Haru off of me.
Kisa, one of the youngest of the Jyuunishi, was holding onto Haru's arm with a death grip, trying to keep him from tackling me or something. Standing near to her was Hiro, another member of the Jyuunishi. They must have been walking home or something when they heard me and Haru fighting.
"He's the one that put Yuki into this depressed and dark state! Yuki didn't deserve that! Kyo needs to pay for the pain he's putting Yuki through!" Haru yelled at Kisa.
Kisa winced slightly at Haru's harsh tone, but as he glared at her, I saw his expression slowly soften and he became White Haru once again. At this change, Kisa smiled. "Come on, Haru. Let's go home," she said. "We'll talk about it with Hatori." She then turned her innocent gaze to me. "Are you alright, Kyo?"
I snorted, scowling as I gave her an annoyed look. "Yeah, I'm fine." I then glared all out at Haru. "Don't think I'm letting you get away with this! I'll give you a good beating so fast, it'll make your head spin!"
"Whatever, Kyo. I'll pursue my issue with you at a later time," Haru said calmly as Kisa began to lead him away. He then looked to Tohru and said, "I'm sorry if my actions upset you, Tohru."
I saw that she was surprised by the apology, but Tohru gave him a nervous smile as she said, "You and Kyo do have your differences, I guess…"
I rotated my shoulder as I watched Hiro, Kisa and Hatsuharu walk off in the opposite direction. I could feel Tohru's worried gaze on me as I did so, but I couldn't speak to her just yet.
Hatsuharu had attacked me and accused me of hurting Yuki in some way. The thought process that had been halted by my sudden fight returned to the frontline of my mind.
Could my relationship with Tohru be what had depressed Yuki so much?
Nah…couldn't be…Yuki has always been more mature than that…hasn't he…?
"Are you alright, Kyo?" Tohru asked quietly, worry in her voice.
I turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's go home."
And after taking her hand within my own, we walked the distance from the city to Shigure's house in comfortable silence.