Heh, sorry about the wait. I went on holiday for a bit, and forgot to update before I left. My arms are peeling.

In other news, I would like to stress two facts that keep popping up: a) this is a Y/K fic. Yuki is the more dominant one in this pairing. B) I haven't seen much of Fruits Basket, in fact, what I have seen has been in Japanese with subtitles in Chinese, neither of which I know. Well, I'm learning Jap, but not that much; basically all I recognise are the insults. This is why I might seem to move around some characters, and avoid trying to write them too much. I don't want to screw them up monumentally. This is also why Kyo/Yuki/whoever might seem a bit OOC sometimes. What I'm going by is vague.

It is the holidays now though, and I should hopefully get a few more updates done then. Heh…

Apart from the fact that at the start of January I'm going to Japan on an exchange. I wont be back until February. Oops. It was my birthday though, a few days ago! Go me!

Alright, you're all probably sick of me, so here's the fic.

If you want a disclaimer, check the other chapters. I don't own Jack. But I do know one, if that's any consolation…

*~*~*~*

26.10.03 4.53 PM

Had my first shower for a while this morning; good thing, because I was starting to smell. Haru's going away in two days time, I know it's a bit rude, but I'm counting down the days until this place returns to normal. Well, if I look at it like that, counting down until normality, I'll be at it for the rest of my natural life. We're just not that sort of family.

Shigure keeps sniggering when he sees Yuki and I together, occasionally making snide comments, and it's pissing Haru off. I think Yuki's taking the 'don't tell him, just hope he'll figure it out on his own' approach, either that or he thinks there's nothing to tell him.

Either way, so long as Haru stops throwing me dirty looks, by either leaving us alone for the rest of the holidays or accepting it, I'm happy. I've still got weeks of freedom left. Thank all things holy.

*~*~*~*

"Stop scratching them," Yuki tells me sharply, glaring as I play with one of the minute scabs on my arm. I pull my pencil away from the page, and slam my book shut.

"They're annoying! I can't do anything without bumping them. I wish in my infinite wisdom of 'stuff' or whatever, I could figure out a way to make them go away." I complain, removing my hands and balling them at my sides.

I hear a chuckle from my cousin.

"Poor kitten," Yuki murmurs, moving closer to me.

"Wait, 'kitten'?! The hell was that? I'm nobody's kitten!" I shove him off, pouting.

"Is the kitten's fur ruffled?" Yuki is obviously teasing me now.

"Is the little rat offering to fix it for me?" I ask in the same sugary tones that he used on me, before poking my tongue out at him.

Yuki laughs softly. "Baka neko."

Yuki straightens up on the couch and focuses his eyes on the television once more, an arm still slung over the back of the couch behind me in a little show of possessiveness.

Daytime television. Is there nothing worse? Yuki flicks past a commercial for some sort of frying pan, a dodgy-looking soap opera before finally halting on a music channel.

"This bites." I comment, mostly to the world in general.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

"Well, I could… what's up with that smirk? Stop looking at me like that."

I stand up quickly, run a hand through my hair. My cheeks feel like they're on fire. "Well, I think I'm gonna… ha... I'll see you."

I run up the stairs, stride down the hallway, practically killing Haru, and slink into my room.

I close the door behind me, and let out an explosive breath, my face still red. The anger and frustration that has been building up in my chest lets itself out in the form of self-abuse, as I yell "you IDIOT!" I start pacing my floor. "I mean you- it was- IDIOT!"

My hand rakes through my abused hair once more. I stride over to my window and climb out it onto the roof. I hoist myself over the edge, and slide myself into place to stare at the sky. It might snow sometime soon.

My eyes slide shut, and slowly my frustration calm to a level where I can actually sleep.

Something comes up the gravel pathway, and then a car door slams, followed by another.

A door rumbles open below me, followed by an exclamation of "Hello! Where's Kyo!" which is even louder that the other all too familiar squeals.

My eyes shoot open. I know that voice. Entirely too well.

Tohru says something softly, so all I hear is the murmur of her voice.

I sit up and raise my neck so that I can see the top of the car, and Kagura backs into view, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun so she can stare up at me through the sun in her eyes.

Deer-caught in headlights.

"HI KYO! Come down and greet me!" Kagura yells up to me, waving an arm over her head. She's still wearing her kitty backpack.

My first response is to duck my head and pretend I hadn't seen, or heard her.

If only that would work. I'm just feeling too sore and bitter to be beaten to a bloody pulp right now.

My second response is the urge to yell back 'do I have to?', but I fear that may make her come after me.

This, too, would end in a beating. As far as I can tell, when I'm around the boar, existence ends in a beating.

And I'm too much of a gentleman to fight back. Ah, how Shimo would laugh to hear that.

My heart heavy in my chests, I slide my self down the roof feet first, then drop over the edge onto the ground. Taa daa, the amazing appearing love-interest, I think as Yuki glances as me, then Kagura smiles.

Ayame, who obviously drove the girl is over on the deck clutching hands and squealing with Shigure about some inane thing that obviously merited a visit, and Haru's lurking in the background.

"Kyo!" the angelic side of the boar says. Her face suddenly darkens. "Why haven't you called?"

Her fist collides with my jaw.

A frown is cast across my face. "I was in physical danger that time." I sullenly point out.

Shimo chuckles. "Not really. She always eventually stops."

I stare at him flatly, trying to frown more, but only succeeding in agitating one of my newly acquired bruises.

"She does," he repeated.

"That's not the point. Aren't you supposed to be protecting me?"

"I will. But not against a young woman with an aggression problem. Frankly, both of us have decided to keep out of that."

Ah. So they're still conspiring against me. Both my cousin, and the creation of my own mind. Wonderful.

"Don't worry, you'll heal." Shimo tells me, patting me on the arm. He ignores my wince of pain. "You heal faster than normal."

I rub the bridge of my nose, probably the only part of my face that doesn't hurt, with one of my hands, closing my eyes and sighing at the same time. The my other arm is wrapped around my knee, drawing one leg close to my chest, but with the other stretched out in front of me. "Still not getting the point…"

Shimo smiles at me like a patient teacher trying to explain something simple to a slow but loved student. "I don't think you have a point. You're just upset again."

Grr.

I let go of my knee, and slide down to lie on the floor of my room. "If you're done destroying my dreams…" I say dryly, meaning for my words to be taken as a dismissal.

Shimo snorts. "Drama queen." He retorts, before sighing. "Yuki wants to speak with you."

A patch of the ceiling at the edge of my vision is lit up for a few seconds before fading, and Yuki collapses next to me, one of his outstretched hands near my cheek.

I wonder briefly if I should just let him lie there like that until he wakes up; sprawled across my floor lying flat on his face. But that would be rude. I prop myself up onto my elbows, and roll him onto his stomach with a foot.

Yuki groans, and I poke him again with my toes. His eyes slide open a fraction, and he lifts his head off the ground to scan the room.

"Well?"

Yuki blinks slowly at me, like his brain is only just sliding back into place.

"Shimo said you wanted to talk to me?" I prompt.

He makes a sound of recognition, and after a moment to gather himself, rolls onto his side to face me, and slides one of his hands over mine, running his thumb over the back of it like he's unsure where to settle it. "What's wrong?"

"Heh… what's wrong with what?" I ask, trying not to sound to nervous.

He frowns slightly, his perfectly arched brows drawing closer to his eyes. To most people it would be almost an unrecognisable gesture, but to me, I knew it was a sign of concern. "You're doing it again."

I don't say anything, and he continues. "You suddenly seize up, or find something else to do when I try to…"

I suddenly giggle nervously, interrupting him, which is both completely out of character, and a dead give away.

I receive a very dry look.

"Am I making you nervous?"

 A small bit of anger smothers some of my nerves, and I manage to growl out, partially convincingly, "Why would I be afraid of you?"

To prove his point, Yuki levers himself into a sitting position and connects his lips to mine. Everything goes well for a few seconds, until his free hand creeps under the hem of my shirt. With a squeak, I drop my elbows so my back hits the ground, and roll in the opposite direction. "Whaddid you do that for!?"

"Normal people enjoy that."

"And you'd know from experience?" I ask dryly, raising an eyebrow as he flushes and looks away.

Yuki quickly changes the topic back. "Do you see what I mean?"

I remain silent.

"You're uncomfortable. I'm taking things too quickly?"

I nod sharply, not trusting myself to speak just yet.

"Right then. I'll keep that in mind."

He moves to stand up, but a catch one of his hands. "It's not that I… Just not yet. I don't know how far you plan to go when you… So I…"

"Run away screaming?"

"I wouldn't go that far." I growl.

My door slams open, and my hand is instantly at my side, as I stare blankly up a Kagura.

"I heard a thump and… Oh, you two haven't been fighting, have you? Yuki, you're probably the reason why my poor Kyo is injured…" she mourns, before yanking me to my feet in a negligently rough way, and hauling me over to my bed. She pushes me onto it, then steps back. "But don't you worry, Kyo-kun, I shall tend to your wounds!"

Kagura tucks me in with more force than is necessary as I growl and complain.

"I don't need you to 'tend to my wounds!' You created the wounds, you freak!"

Smack.

"Oh, my poor Kyo is already delirious. I'll make you a nutritious soup, that will have you back on your feet in no-time!"

God help me.

Kagura bustles out of the room, and then disappears down the stairs. Yuki stands up gracefully; smooths non-existent wrinkles out of his clothing, shoots me a wry smile, and then abandons me as well.

When I can make sure that everyone is definitely gone, I slip back the covers, and tiptoe over to my desk to get my diary, which is currently in the shadow of my bin next to it. I turn on the light to define the shadow better, then fumble around for a few moments.

Nothing.

I suspiciously lift the bin, but even when the shadow's gone, I see nothing.

Trying to not freak out, I pull shadow back from the book, but still see nothing. I take a shuddering breath in, and retreat back to my bed, to sort out when I had last seen it.

My bed is gone as well.

"Noooooo…"

I don't want to interrupt Kagura, the last thing she needs to see is both me out of bed, and my bed missing, so I sneak cautiously out of my room, and poke my head into Yuki's.

"Yuki! Shimo! I don't care! Just get your ass in here!" I whisper harshly.

Yuki looks up from his desk, pen poised. "What kind of problem is it?"

"Things are going missing,"

Yuki raises an eyebrow. "And this is supposed to be a needful concern?"

"I mean big things. My bed is fucking missing."

"Your bed?"

"You know, wooden with a mattress, looks like yours?"

Yuki gives me a withering look, then finally slides back his chair to join me.

"Found it." Yuki stoically tells me, his head still out the window.

"What?!" I hiss, scuttling over to poke my head out as well. "Noooooo…"

My bed sits at the side of the lawn near the trees.

I drop my head to the windowsill, and beat it gently against it a few times.

I love my bed. It's my second place to rest besides the roof. I don't know how we're going to get it back up without having a few things to explain. And I don't want to get beaten more than I have to.

"Something else is missing too." I mutter miserably into the wooden frame.

"What else?"

"My book."

"Pardon?"

"My journal. Diary. Thing."

"It stands to logic that if the bed didn't disappear, it was only relocated, then your 'book' should be somewhere near or in the house as well."

That was definitely Shimo coming through. So he finally decided to grace me with his presence.

"Then I'll search the house." I snarl, pushing away from the sill with anger that has been steadily rising to replace my despair. "At least it isn't totally gone."

Hee hee, I would have written more, but I didn't want to put too much into one chapter.

How on earth are Kyo and Yuki going to pull this off, with cloying Shigure and Aya, suspicious Haru, clinging Kagura and a naïve Tohru around?! Kiyahahaha.

This is a mean way to end a chapter after I've only just gotten back, but then again I've never claimed to be nice.