WHAM! Yuki's foot connected with Kyo's jaw. The cat-boy went flying, crashing head first into a tree. Dazed, Kyo lay there. Pain coursed through his jaw and it felt as though his teeth were going to fall out, but he didn't complain. Who did he have to complain to anyway? And why would he complain in the first place? He'd had worse. No, what hurt him was buried deep down. Being beaten by Yuki again was part of that. The humiliation burnt his face as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. Yuki had already turned away. Burning with shame and humiliation, Kyo ran into the trees, then jumped neatly into a tree. Jumping from tree to tree like a cat, Kyo fled, trying to leave behind his anger. But all the time he was asking the same question: 'Why can't I beat him? Why can't I beat him?' He stopped eventually, crouched high in the branches. He rubbed his jaw gingerly, but it wasn't too painful. It never was. Well, sometimes. But not often. What hurt him the most was disappointment. Every single defeat at the hands of Yuki made him more depressed. Why couldn't he beat that damn rat?
Ordinarily, Tohru wouldn't have noticed it. It was so small, so hidden, that nobody would have noticed it had the sun not caught on its surface at the exact moment that Tohru passed it. She stopped and knelt down, feeling around in the leaf litter for the thing that had caught her eye. Her hand closed over something small and cold, something hard and smooth. She picked it up. Holding it out to the light, she could see that it was a small silver pendant on a silver chain. She could feel that although the chain looked strong, it was really quite breakable, quite delicate. The first thing she thought of was Kyo; he seemed to be that way as well. She examined the pendant. It really was a thing of beauty, a single word and a small picture engraved into its surface. The image... was a cat. 'Kyo-kun again,' she thought. And the word... hope. Tohru slipped the necklace into her pocket and almost instantly forgot about it. After all, the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and she was going to meet Sohma-kun in his secret base. They were going to plant the strawberries.
Yuki and Tohru walked in through the door to find Shigure waiting for them. Kyo, although they didn't know, was now up on the roof seething with resentment. Tohru ran into the kitchen to prepare a delicious meal for the guys, while Shigure and Yuki sat and waited. Finally, Shigure spoke.
"I wish you'd stop tearing the house to pieces whenever you fight Kyo-kun," Shigure sighed. "That's the fifth time you've broken the paper doors. Tohru has enough to do without fixing doors."
"Mmm," Yuki agreed. "Stupid cat."
Tohru, in the kitchen, heard only the word cat. This reminded her of the necklace she had found. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it again. Yes, that picture was definitely a cat. Would Kyo-kun like it? Maybe.
Later, Tohru climbed up onto the roof to find that Kyo was still there. He had not come down to dinner and she had not seen him since school. But now she saw him, the cat-boy, the tangerine head. She sat down next to him.
"Did you have another fight with Sohma-kun?" she asked.
"Yes," Kyo spat.
"I found something today," Tohru said. "I think you'll like it."
She took his hand and pressed the necklace into it. Then she smiled at him and climbed down, leaving Kyo alone. He stared at it, at the moonlight glinted off of its surface, at the cat engraved in its silver and at the single word... hope. Yes, he would hope. One day he would beat that damn rat. Someday.