Here we are, with yet another chapter… while I should really be writing two reports I have due on Tuesday. Ah well. I'm a chronic procrastinator. I'm also listening to a Nine Inch Nails album that one of my friends let me borrow… Quite good. Downward Spiral. Tis' good.

"Kyo, open up."

I shake my head stubbornly. "Nuh-uh you freak,"

Yuki, a vision of patience, firmly grips my jaw and forces my mouth open, shoving a spoon into the gap created.

Choking, I try to stop the hearty pea soup that Tohru has made especially for me from going up my nose. "God damnit, I can eat, already!"

"Oh yes, I can see that working, what with the use of no hands. Just accept it."

"I feel like pathetic when you try to do things like this! I can feed myself, I can bathe myself, and god damnit, I can dress myself, you pervert!"

Yuki blinks at me innocently, like the thought that being my nurse meant he could be with me alone and naked had never occurred to him.

"Look."

I concentrate, and the spoon lifts out of the bowl in Yuki's hands, then hits him smartly on the head. "Hah!"

Yuki rubs his scalp, then glares at me as he finds traces of soup in his hair. "That's great Kyo, but the doctor said to not allow you to do anything strenuous."

"What? You're so twisting his words! He didn't mean mentally!"

"No, Kyo. I'm going to have a quick shower. You stay here and…"

"Rot?"

"Yes, that seems like a nice calm activity."

"You know, some people say that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."

My cousin shrugs. "No one's perfect. I need to get ready, so…"

"What for?"

"Haru's coming over."

I raise an eyebrow. "This hasn't ever concerned you before,"

"He's not coming to see me, baka neko, he's coming to see Shimo."

"So you're being the chaperone?"

"It's almost impossible for me to not be there. Well, you listen to music or something. Don't over-exert yourself."

I hate it when he says things like that. He's been fine with me being injured before, but now he's suddenly being Overprotective Man. With eyes in the back of his head, and super-strong word twisting powers, Overprotective Man smites the powers of privacy and personal space to be the most annoying family member known to man!

I flick on my much-unused radio that serves to be a dust-magnet in the corner of my room, and go about feeding myself once more.

People have been making such a fuss about me since my time in the hospital. Anyone would think that I was practically killed or something. Yuki made up some crap about being trapped in the hall when it was burning for me, and I provided some extra details of my frightening plight. When I arrived at school today, the story was already highly embellished, with me single-handedly lifting a burning beam to get to safety, and other bits of nonsense, but they can't accuse me of anything, because the firemen's reports once it all stopped burning proved inconclusive. I think the melting ice threw them off a little. I couldn't actually write, so basically I sat around in class looking like death-rewarmed and got Yuki to photocopy his notes for me later. One good thing, I can't really be expected to complete homework. My afternoons are my own. Tohru and Shigure are treating me like glass, and Hatori gave me a complete fucking check up, to confirm what the doctor at the hospital had already told me: Don't use your hands, don't do too much, sleep on your stomach, check your bandages daily, and we'll see how you're doing in two week's time. Thanks, guys. I dread the thought of what I'll do if another Elemental shows up. Knowing my luck, one will. And I'll get even more hurt, and told off my Hatori once more, who'll set the date for the bandages to come off back by about a month just to spite me. He's like that. Usually an alright guy, but if a patient disobeys, watch out.

I resign myself to a week of boredom, interrupted only by glaring suspiciously at Hatsuharu. I'm sure Shimo being in Yuki's body is what he considers an added bonus. I get really jealous about it. They blather on for hours about god knows what, while I sit in my room, doing my impersonation of a mummy.

I finish my lunch and flop down onto my bed like a beached whale, flat on my stomach with my arms hanging over the side, before glaring at the wall. Yuki says I pout, but then I curse at him, and he drops the subject. I hate it when people call me cute. The one thing that I have aspired not to be in all my existence is cute. I want to be manly, but instead I'm average height, skinny and have hair and eyes that make girls flock to me like goddamned flies. Screaming doesn't seem to make them go away; they just giggle and call me cute even more. That makes me wanna rip their head off, but I can't, because getting too close makes me go all feline. The fact that I'm clearly the submissive one in a pairing of me and a guy that people used to mistake for a girl isn't too great either. I just come in view of the line between girly and manly, reach for the prize, and fall flat on my face. It's aggravating.

But, I'll persevere, I'll finish school, run like a madman, then possibly go find myself a patch of woods and live there are as a hermit, away from annoying relatives, Overprotective Man, and the whole bunch of people that have managed to insult me while throwing what they consider a compliment at me.

Or maybe that's just the painkillers talking. Yuki has to force me to take one of those every six hours as well, and being the stubborn person that I am, I refuse, saying that I can survive without one, and then have one rammed quite effectively down my throat. Yuki has an amazing amount of patience. He's probably consoling himself by picturing me naked as he does it or something. Perverted rat.

Not that I can talk, there's been a lot of speculation lately over whether he wears boxers or briefs, or possibly even goes commando (drool) going on in my head, but at least I'm not as damn transparent as the object of my query. There's a slight tapping at me door.

"Kyo-kun? Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's a call for you… if you feel up to taking it…"

Poor thing. Tohru's so polite to everyone that I wouldn't be surprised if she's been standing outside my door for a while, debating whether to possibly disturb me while I'm resting (horribly rude, she seems to think), or tell the person that wants to talk to me to go away, because I'm resting (equally rude, leaving the poor girl in quite a jam).

"Yes Tohru, I'm fine, I'll take the call."

The door to my room slides open, and the music dims, making our poor housekeeper glace around my room, confused. The look passes, and she bends down to place the phone in a hand that I feebly stretch out, looks dismayed, then withdraws it.

"Ah, Kyo-kun, what about your hands? You can't hold it…"

I try to rouse up a smile to get the guilty look off her face. She seems to take everything that goes wrong here as her fault. Like we're going to blame her for everything from the fridge-door being left open overnight to the fall of Rome.

"It's okay, Just leave the phone on the dresser and I'll deal with it myself."

"But…"

"Really, it's okay. I promise I won't use my hands."

"But…"

"Please trust me?"

"Yes, Kyo-kun, I mean, yes, I do trust you, Kyo-kun. I'll put it on the dresser for you. Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No thanks, I'm okay."

"Alright then…"

Tohru throws me a hasty and somewhat worried smile, then hurries out the door, shutting it behind herself. I manuver myself into a sitting position, then hold the phone to my ear with my mind.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Kyo-san."

"Ah! Eriol? Sorry I took so long, but I needed to get myself into a position where I could actually use the phone…"

"That's quite understandable, Kyo-san. I didn't mind waiting; I'm a patient man."

I tense up at that comment. Innuendo, much? Yuki's comment from a few weeks ago flashes through my mind: 'he wants you', then I dismiss it with a quick shake of my head. Yuki's just a jealous freak.

"Yeah, well, sorry anyway. So, what's up?"

"I was just enquiring into your health. Today at school you didn't seem too happy," a hint of humour enters the flawlessly polite voice, "especially when Yuki insisted on feeding you at lunch."

I scowl, wishing that facial expressions could be sent down phone lines. Yuki chasing me around with an obento, then practically choking me until I swallowed the damn rice he was trying to feed me. "Yeah, well… He's being a bit..."

After being non-existent the lunchtime before (halleluiah) when Yuki decided to spoil everything by having the worst timing known to man, Eriol was back and sitting with us, smiling benignly as I was tortured with a pair of chopsticks.

"Where were you yesterday lunchtime?" I spit out, clawing to the idea before it can slip out of my mind again.

"Me? I was staying in the classroom to read. I had reached a crucial chapter in a book that I was just about finished, and had to read it."

"Ah."

Fishy, very fishy, but I'm not entirely sure what about it is. I've never had anything to accuse him of before. Plus, no one can deny that Eriol sure as hell loves to read. It's acceptable. And very good luck.

"Kyo-san, do you need me to help you with anything? Do you want copies of my notes? Or is Yuki doing that?"

"Yes," I sigh, "Overprotective Man is getting notes for me as well."

"Overprotective Man?"

"Yuki's been… clingy lately."

"He's concerned about you." Eriol informs me knowledgeably.

"That's all very well and good, but does he have to hang around like a bad smell?"

"Is he in the room now?"

"Not right now, but only because he and Shimo are entertaining Haru."

"That's good, if he's still keeping up appearances with family and friends,"

"He literally has to be there." I deadpan, "Yuki's playing chaperone."

"So, are you sure there isn't anything that you want me to help you with?"

How about a storage system, like the one on Pokemon? Get an Elemental, the Elemental is sent elsewhere. Gotta catch em' all. Gotta get them the hell outta my system before I lose my marbles.

I realise that there's been a few moments silence, and I cover it up with "Nah, not really. Thanks for asking, though."

"No problem. Well then, I'll leave you to your recuperation, ne? See you at school."

"Yeah. Later."

The phone drops onto the bed next to me, and I try to find a comfortable position for sleep. Sadly enough, there's only one position I can sleep in.

"Kyo…"

I groan, then try to sink back down into sleep.

"Kyo. Wake up."

I open my blurry eyes to Yuki's stern face.

"A nice, 'calm' activity, huh?"

He's holding up the phone.

"Yuki, your idea of a calm activity is watching paint dry." I yawn, resisting the urge to wipe my hands over my face. "And that's only if I'm lying down as well." I add. "Tohru brought the phone up, so I talked to Eriol for about five minutes before sleeping. I've had less rest in comas."

"The doctor told you, not strenuous activities. Rest is what's best for you."

Did he listen to anything that I just said? Well, I've got to say his resolve in commendable.

"I've had enough rest! Screw rest! Rest may go throw itself off a cliff, for all I care!"

"Yes, Kyo."

Yuki helps me into a sitting position, then joins me on my bed.

"You're not making it easy, you know." He sighs, resting for a moment to gather up enough determination to try and deal with me again, "You're bloody impossible. Come on, dinner's now."

"Great, but you're not feeding me!"

"Would you prefer Shigure to?"

"Yuki, I've decided that you can feed me tonight."

"I thought you might say that."

"You suck you know that?"

"I try."

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't. If you want anything to happen before the end of time between us, you might like to try being nicer."

"Just remember, your neck isn't injured."

I flush at the look on Yuki's face, then point at the door. "Dinner, now. Go."

Yuki opens the door and steps out into the hallway.

"So, how was Haru today?" I ask slyly. I know that while Yuki is willing to go along with the arrangement for Shimo's sake, he's still not quite comfortable with the idea of a being in his body forming relationships and encouraging people that he's been trying to beat off him for the last few years.

Yuki shrugs, a concerned look on his face. "Shimo completely blocked me. He was… Shimo, though. You know, Shimo-form… I hope."

I smirk. "Maybe Haru likes his earrings too. You know how he has that jewellery fetish… I'm sure they're getting on fiiiine."

Yuki walks ahead, a little faster, trying to hide the look on his face from me. Unable to stop my own smirk, I speed up as well.

"What's wrong, nezumi-chan?" I call in sugary voice as Yuki starts to take the stairs two at a time. He sweeps into the dining room ahead of me, and settles down at the table. By the time that I've sat down gingerly next to him, his face is once more composed.

I sit with my hands in my lap, not there's anything else that I can do with them right now, and dutifully open my mouth as Yuki variates between feeding himself and me, while I still add my usual mix of rude comments and death threats to the usual conversation that floats between the four of us.

As we prepare to leave the table, Shigure calls out to get my attention. "Oh yes, Kyo-kun! I forgot to tell you that Hatori called!"
I raise an eyebrow. "Did he just?"

"Yes. He says for you to stay home from school tomorrow."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because he's coming to talk to you, and he wants it to be private. Personal. Kyo and Hatori all alooooooooone…"

The rest of the world fades into insignificance with Shigure's last singsong statement.

The only word that occurs to me is 'shit'.

Once again, not too much development. I'm leading up to stuff, but I promise things will happen next chapter. M'kay?