A/N: Hey, everyone! It's the weekend and I was dying to get this out, so there might be minor changes later on, due to the hurry it was finished in, but anyways, for all intents and purposes, here is Chapter 5: Pussyfoot.

Oh, LEMON warning!

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Chapter 5: Pussyfoot

It was night, and Shigure's house stood quietly ensconced in the woods, blending in further with its surroundings as darkness drew its curtain across the sky. Yuki was doing his homework on the living room table. He'd tried to find out from Tohru about Kyou's dismissal in class that day, but she hadn't said much. He chewed his pencil as he stared down at his open math book and caught himself doing it.

Something's wrong here, he told himself. Everyone's keeping secrets, as usual.

Did Tohru know anything? He looked up to see her trim form at the kitchen counter, washing dinner dishes. She seemed quieter than usual, but that could simply be from being caught in the rain today. He hoped she wasn't catching a cold.

**********

Tohru stood at the sink, washing and drying each dish, helplessly reliving each moment of that afternoon on the school roof. She was glad Yuki and Shigure couldn't see her, because her face, hidden by her bangs, was fire-engine red.

Hands. Hands traveling up her torso, smoothing across her ribs, cupping her breast. A rosary encircled the strong wrist of the hand cupping her breast. The other hand's fingers spread against her spine, keeping her lower back pressed against a wall, and remembering how helpless she had felt as her body was pushed against the brick wall, Tohru felt her temperature rise.

She could barely remember the walk home afterwards. She looked up at the ceiling, reliving a memory of warm lips tantalizing her neck.

Crash!

"Honda-san, are you all right?" Yuki called from the living room.

"Ah, yes! I…sorry! I just broke a cup!"

***********

"Dammit!" Sitting cross-legged up on the roof, Kyou scowled and tugged at the rosary he wore on his left wrist. "Why aren't you working?!" He let the offending beads snap back against his wrist, then played with the string again in frustration. He hooked an index finger between the beads and the soft skin of his wrist.

One snap, that's all it would take. He stared down at the band with mingled fear and fury. It was the one thing he NEVER took off. It had graced the hand of every cat-cursed Souma for the last few hundred years.

He remembered the last time the rosary had come off. Kazuma had taken it off, and it was not an experience Kyou recollected fondly.

Not that it was making much of a difference at present. Kyou knew that he was somehow channeling the damn cat spirit inside him. Nothing else could have made him savage poor Tohru the way he had this afternoon. He still flushed as he thought of what he'd done to her. The walk home had been silent. Tohru hadn't said a word, and he'd been too busy trying to rationalize his actions to say much.

Would taking off the rosary really make much of a difference?

Yesssss, take it off. Take it off…..

Kyou jumped.

"What the hell was that?" he whispered. He looked around. Nothing. He shrugged and hopped off the roof. Time to apologize to Tohru.

***********

A man stopped outside a slightly dilapidated building in the inner city. He glanced around and frowned slightly. The area was skirting the edge of shabby, and he wasn't the type to frequent such places, especially after dark.

"Izumi-san," came a quiet voice out of the darkness.

The man turned, slightly surprised.

"You always did move quietly, Nami," he said rather severely. "A person could easily lose his nerve that way."

Nami bowed, a slim young man dressed in blue jeans and a black overcoat, under which he wore a blue t-shirt. His head was hidden by a soft, round knit cap.

"Forgive me, Izumi-san," he said softly. "Please come. The others are waiting."

Izumi followed his young guide into the building, looking around at the building structure as he walked. It didn't look too steady. Whose turn had it been to pick a meeting place this time? Ah, it must have been Kaze. The lad was too secretive for his own good, Izumi mused.

Nami stopped when he reached a rusted iron door set into a wall. He pulled it open with a screeching sound that made Izumi wince, and stepped into the gloom beyond. Izumi sighed and followed.

"Sensei!"

"Sensei's here!"

"Hello, hello." Izumi took in the faces of the other members of the group, all younger than him, just in their early twenties. Miki, brown-haired and green-eyed, slim and fresh-cheeked, sat between two young men at one end of a table.

"Izumi-san," she winked at him. "It's been a while since we met. Scared we'll run away?"

"Not at all, Miki," Izumi answered politely, taking off his hat and doing his best to straighten his flattened hair. He was afraid it wasn't too successful, so he gave up and took a chair, smiling at the young men on either side of Miki.

"Hono, Kaze, how are you both?" he nodded to them.

Hono grumbled something.

"What's that?" Izumi strained to hear. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I SAID- I missed a concert to come here tonight, old man, so you better have a damn good reason for bringing us here." His golden eyes sulky, Hono looked away, his bright red hair blazing into a point on top, almost in the shape of a flame.

"I will, "Izumi made a placating motion with his hands, then looked around. "but where's Akane?"

"Here, Sensei," came a low, sultry voice. Izumi turned around to see Akane half hidden in the shadows behind him. Bits of jewelry glinted from her wrists and neck and earlobes, and her short, dark hair was bound in something shiny.

"Oh, there you are, Akane," Izumi smiled. "Well! We can get started, since we're all here."

"What's up?" Miki asked.

Izumi smiled. "My friends, I have found a way to destroy the Soumas forever!"

Miki and the others straightened. Akane walked forward and planted her hands on the table to face Izumi. She was wearing cut off leather gloves, he noted.

"No way," she said. "How'd you do it, Sensei?"

Izumi leaned forward, and was gratified that the others did the same. "It all has to do with the cat…" he began.

**************

"Tohru, I…" Kyou pushed Tohru's door open and stared in slack-jawed surprise as she turned, in her bra and panties, in the process of shrugging out of her shirt, her eyes growing wide in shock.

"Waaaaah!" Tohru yelled, and Kyou's first impulse was to slam her door shut and beat a hasty retreat. Damn, why hadn't he knocked? But in her surprise, Tohru's hands tangled in her blouse as she tried to slide it back down, it got caught around her head, effectively blinding her, and she tripped.

Kyou leapt to catch her, careful with long practice to grasp only her elbows. She yipped and slid to a stop, breathing hard.

"Hey." He held her tightly, afraid that she might yet lose her balance, blinded as she was. "Are you okay?" He released her slowly and cautiously.

"I….I'm fine. Thank you. For catching me." Tohru struggled to right her blouse, but it had little bows with long ribbons on it, and it was so tangled around her arms that it simply wouldn't go down her shoulders. Tohru blushed furiously, trying to imagine what Kyou was seeing.

She gasped as some sort of fabric wrapped around her, enclosing her from shoulders to ankles.

"Let me." She heard Kyou's voice.

Gently, he tugged the blouse over her head and disentangled it from her now-sore arms, sliding it off and allowing Tohru to see. She looked down. Kyou had wrapped her in her bedsheet. He'd knotted it loosely around her breasts, so that she was decently covered.

"Why the hell are you undressing now?" he demanded.

"I didn't have time earlier," she explained. "I was cooking dinner." She hugged the sheet closer around her. She felt trapped again, just as she had on the school roof that afternoon. She had to smile at the irony. Then, she had been uncomfortable over Kyou's lack of clothing. Now she was blushing over hers.

It didn't help that Kyou was staring at her intently. Why? What did he see? She was decently covered, technically. She looked around for the clothes she had been planning to change into.

"I'm sorry." Kyou was seated on her bed now.

She turned back quickly. "Oh, no, it wasn't your fault…!"

"No, I mean about…." He looked so forlorn, she thought. "…about this afternoon, I'm sorry."

Kyou stared at the floor, his shoulders stooped, curving into himself. Immediately filled with sympathy, Tohru forgot about her state of undress and went to sit beside him.

"No, Kyou-kun, please don't apologize, it was the heat…or something…" She gulped, because just then Kyou raised his head, and Tohru recognized the predator again. The cinnamon eyes were bright with some emotion. Her breath caught in her throat, and she felt a frisson of fear before Kyou suddenly shut his eyes and shot to his feet.

"Get out of my way!" His tone was harsh, but the look on his face was so tortured that Tohru immediately rose as well. And feeling his pain, she put a hand to his face and let her heart speak for her.

"Kyou-kun, please, don't leave."

Kyou's stunned gaze shot to her face. "Tohru," he ground out, "if I stay, you can't imagine what's going to happen."

Tohru continued to caress his face with her hand, taking unimagined pleasure in tracing every line and plane of his jaw and cheek. Her lashes drifted down so that her eyes half closed, and her breathing speeded up. Suddenly her skin was warm and the sheet was rough against her sensitive breasts. Unconsciously, her body leaned towards the object of her attraction.

Kyou drew a deep breath and silently consigned his conscience to hell in the split second before his lips captured Tohru's as though she was oxygen in a vacuum and he had to breathe. His hand crushed her soft brown hair against her skull as he tilted her head to the angle he liked best. Mmm, now he was able to deepen the kiss. Tohru moaned in response, desire spearing into her much more suddenly and abruptly than it had that afternoon. Her head was spinning and as Kyou continued to kiss her, she wriggled slightly, wanting his hands all over her.

All good sense was lost, and only instinct remained. Even as she let instinct take over the driver's seat, Kyou's hand came up to clamp under her armpit, his thumb stroking the side of her breast. The feeling made Tohru want to crawl up him like the cat he was, and burrow as deep inside him as she could get. Kyou had now moved his other hand from her hair to her torso.

She was barely aware that with both hands on her ribcage, he lifted her off her feet, still kissing her, and let her dangle like a doll from his hands as he stalked toward the bed. He carefully maintained the distance between their chests, and Tohru vainly tried to make up for it by trying to wrap her arms around his neck as far as she could get.

Kyou broke the kiss and carefully placed her on the bed. He unwound the sheet from around her and indulged in a long sweep of her nearly naked form. This was the first time he was seeing her so. Her pale neck curved delicately into slim shoulders and arms, and her breasts were high and softly full. Her torso nipped into a neat waist and gently flared out into sweetly curved hips that he promised himself he would caress before he was done. His gaze followed the long, slim legs to the elegantly arched feet and pretty toes painted pink. Yes, he swore, by the time he was done, he'd know every heated inch of her body.

Tohru was blushing when he looked up, and Kyou eased her by smiling.

"You're beautiful," he said.

"Um, thank you…" She averted her gaze, starting to regain her modesty. She was starting to have doubts when Kyou stepped back and pulled off his shirt. All rational thought fled again.

"Oh. Kyou-kun, you…" Words failed her. She came to her knees and simply couldn't help reaching out to caress his hard torso with her fingers. The skin there looked so….edible. Mad thoughts of biting and licking that skin flashed through Tohru's mind, and she quickly turned her attention higher. His chest was pleasingly broad, and she stared at the two flat discs of his nipples.

I want to lick them, too, she thought hectically. Oh, Mother, I'm such a bad girl. Tohru quickly shoved her mother from her mind. This was one thing she didn't think Mother would mind missing out on.

She placed her palms flat over Kyou's stomach and smiled when he hissed. It was good to know she wasn't the only one so affected. She moved her hands over him, barely brushing the soft hairs here, caressing the skin there.

"Enough!" Kyou growled. He could feel his blood pulsing. He pushed Tohru back onto the bed by her shoulders and crawled after her.

"Why would that stop me?" his little rice ball demanded cheekily, and placed her hands on his stomach again.

Kyou inhaled deeply. Her artless touch was driving him crazy.

"Tohru," he ground out. "Be careful."

She flicked a glance up at him. She understood what he meant. Neither of them wanted a transformation now. But desire had suddenly made her bold.

She ran her hands down his arms, smiling at the bulge of muscle as he crouched over her.

"Neko-chan," she giggled, "do you want a treat?"

Kyou was flabbergasted.

"Oy! Are you….flirting with me, onigiri?" he demanded. Where was his sweet, shy little Tohru?

Tohru looked startled.

"Ah, yes..." She looked worried for a moment. "Is that okay?"

Kyou cursed himself for putting that look in her eyes.

"It's more than okay," he said, and leaned down close to her ear. "It's turning me on."

Tohru shivered as his breath ruffled tendrils of her hair.

"Let me…return the favour," His voice, smoky and low, drifted over her awareness, as his finger slid over her nipple and his head dipped to find the other one after he deftly removed her bra.

"Kyou!" Tohru shrieked, and nearly came off the bed. Electric shocks were flying through her body. Was this how Hana-chan felt, she thought almost idly.

Kyou grinned against her skin. He went to work again with his mouth, his hands, even letting his orange bangs slide over her aroused flesh until she whimpered. Then, when he couldn't take it anymore, he slid his hand down even as his tongue swirled into her navel, and his fingers found that warm, wet place, the most secret of treasures.

He caught Tohru's scream with his lips before it escaped, and stroked her with wet fingers until she begged for more, continued as he raised his head and trained his eyes to her hot face, until she finally she screamed and her irises went opaque with release.

When Tohru came back to earth, Kyou was watching her smugly. She smiled at him, too exhausted to do more than lie limply in his arms, carefully still avoiding his torso.

She didn't know what to say, so she simply stared into his eyes, which had warmed from cinnamon to a deep brown. She closed her eyes as he lowered his head and bussed her on the cheek. After everything, that seemed the most tender gesture of all, and Tohru found to her horror she had tears in her eyes. She kept her eyes closed, but had to open them when Kyou grasped her chin and turned her face towards his.

"Oy," He looked distressed. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm…I don't know. I'm so happy!" And with no forethought she flung her arms around him, hugged him to her as though she could be absorbed into him through osmosis. He cherished the brief, timeless moment, as they met flesh to flesh, and he banded his arms tight around her as though he would never, ever let her go.

Tohru opened her eyes and smiled down at the orange cat that hung lazily over her shoulder.

"I love you," she said.

*********

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J, thanks loads for the info on htm!!! I'm still playing with it.