Disclaimer: I don't own any of these lovely characters. I understand if the story is not plausible, but bear with me. ) Enjoy!


Bound

Part 1: The Assignment

"EVERYONE SIT DOWN!" shouted Sensei.

All eyes turned to the normally quiet teacher, including those hard crimson ones of Sohma Kyou and the pretty lavender of Sohma Yuki.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, I need you all to listen carefully to your next assignment. This is a VERY VERY important assignment, responsible for 50 of your course grade, so it is vital that you listen to the criteria."

Kyou stole a glance at Tohru, who was fully focused on the teacher's words. He knew how important it was for her to succeed in school, but sometimes the look of utter concentration on her face amused him more than anything else.

She was so naive, so innocent, and oh so clumsy, yet she seemed to hold more wisdom than all the Sohma men combined. Perhaps that was why every single one of them was undeniably attracted to her. Perhaps not in love with her, but definitely attracted and amazed by her purity, even Akito. That was the way Kyou personally felt. He used to think he was head over heels in love with her…but he had been wrong.

When she finally had seen his true form, he realized what he had felt was not love - at least not the passionate kind of love he had thought. It was more like a love between a sister and a brother. He had felt truly accepted by Tohru, felt like she had become family, so much that as the days went by, he felt his need to be accepted as a Sohma lessen. And as a result of that, he also felt his hate for Yuki decrease. Not by a lot, but slowly, the anger dissipated faster and the physical fighting eased.

But the frequent banter of "damn rat / cat" was still as strong as ever, and despite Kyou's inner desire to stop the verbal abuse, he could not bring himself to be the first to let go. Too much stubborn pride was a common feature among the Sohma men. He turned back to the teacher. It was simply hopeless.

Yuki watched Kyou finally tear his eyes away from Tohru after staring for ages. He sighed inwardly, exasperated. It truly bothered him that Kyou never confessed his feelings to Tohru, and that Tohru was so oblivious to them. It was so obvious to Yuki that Kyou was deeply in love with Tohru – almost as obvious as how much Yuki cared for Tohru in a brother-sister way. He knew that he felt nothing more for her than a brotherly love.

Yuki was gentle, but practical. He knew that he always wanted to be there for her, and yet he knew that there was no way he would ever be able to be with her. The curse of the Sohma's simply left him no option, for he could not bear being in love with someone and not being able to embrace them. He knew what love had done to the Sohmas, Hatori was the perfect example. No, he had realized early on that he could not fall in love with Tohru. He knew however that Kyou didn't give a damn. He knew Tohru was healing Kyou slowly, filling him with acceptance and taking away his pain, and he was glad.

After seeing his horrifying transformation, Yuki had come to respect the cat. He had never realized that Kyou had so many inner demons to fight as well. For once in his life, Yuki realized just how self-involved he had been, and how much he wanted to understand Kyou better.

But of course, being cat and mouse, that was nearly impossible. Although he had already started fighting less with Kyou, it seemed their relationship would not progress beyond that point. He always felt at a loss for nice words for Kyou whenever they were together, and in his crude attempts to make conversation, only cruel words would spill from his mouth, igniting the cat's wild temper. It was simply hopeless.

"So for this assignment, I've paired everyone off, but because of the number of students in the class, one group will be a group of 3."

Kyou, Tohru, and Yuki all turned toward each other simultaneously. There was no doubt in their minds that the 3 would be them; the teacher knew how well they got along and how well they would work together.

"I've decided that the group of three will be Hanajima, Uotani, and Tohru."

Surprise and disappointment passed over Kyou and Yuki's face quickly as they registered what the teacher had said. They had hoped the three of them would be able to work together; it would've made things much easier.

As the teacher continued pairing people off, Kyou and Yuki grew more and more nervous. They both hoped that they each would not be paired with a girl – that would be such a hassle to deal with. They were both so concentrated on waiting for their own names to be called that they didn't realize they were the only two remaining.

"'Finally, Yuki and Kyou will be working together on this project."

Tohru let out a little yelp as Kyou stood up very suddenly, crimson eyes flashing, while Yuki hid his turmoil of emotions under his princely masks. Both boys were shocked beyond belief, but there was no doubt in either boy's mind that they would easily go their separate ways on the project.

"Now for the criteria: you and your partner will have to spend the next 3 days tied together by a long rope. You will eat together, sleep together, come to school together, and do all activities together. This is why I made sure each pair is the same sex to avoid any uncomfortable situations.

At no time during these three days are you allowed to take off the rope. This means of course that one of you will have to stay at the others' house. As for who goes where, I leave all these arrangements to you.

The point of this assignment is to learn how to cooperate with others and clear communication. I have noticed recently that our classroom conduct has been deteriorating, and this assignment is a freshen-up course in cooperating with others.

At the end of the three days, both you and your partner will write an individual report on how well you got along, difficulties and how you got through them. Remember how important this assignment is to your grade. Is this clear?"

Most of the students groaned, but some chattered excitedly to their new partners. Of course, Kyou and Yuki were not part of those people. Both sat in silence, equally stunned by the teacher's outrageous project. The words "eat together, sleep together, and do all activities together" echoed in their heads. How the hell were they going to learn how to cooperate in 3 days?


Reviews: Good? Bad? Horrible? "PLEASE TAKE IT OFF" kind of pitiful? Let me know. I actually have the next3 parts written out , ready to go! I just need to make sure people like it first. )