Chapter 3: Changes

"We need to ask you a favor,"

"Yes?"

"To speed up the process, we will need you to… tip the scale a bit,"

"How so?"

"Forget the boy. He's not important. It's the girl we need you to manipulate… she's beginning to show the signs already…"

Kyo opened his eyes, once again to the white room. He sat up, rubbing his tired eyes. He was somehow sure that it was early in the morning, even though he had no sense of the time. To his surprise, he saw Tohru, standing in front of the DDR machine, with a disturbingly triumphant look on her face, very unusual for the kind and timid girl. Since Yuki was not yet awake, he went over to Tohru and placed his hand on her shoulder. She jumped, and turned around. She seemed unusually jumpy…

"Oh… uh… hi, Kyo," She said. She had dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn't had much sleep at all.

"Uh, Tohru…" said Kyo, "didn't you sleep at all last night?"

"Oh, yes, of course," She said, avoiding his eyes, "I just… played the machine for a while after you two went to bed."

"Oh… uh, okay…"

"Good morning," Came from behind Tohru and Kyo, causing them both to jump.

"Yuki," said Tohru, who's heart just about leaped out of her chest, "you startled me!"

"Miss Honda," Yuki said, wrapping his arm around her waist, "you really should get more sleep. You look exhausted…"

"Oh, no, I'm fine." She said, blushing.

"What's wrong, Miss Honda? The curse is broken now, so we can hug each other all we want."

"Um… okay," said Tohru, blushing an even deeper shade of scarlet. Kyo, however, just stood there, surprised by his cousin's behavior, and also feeling a twinge of jealousy.

"How about we do a round on that machine now?" said Kyo, trying to separate the two.

"You go ahead," said Yuki, who had removed his hand from Tohru's waist, but was now holding her hand.

"Fine, I will," snapped Kyo, scowling at Yuki and hopping on the machine. He once again pressed the green button, and the screen lit up with the current scores posted in order. However, Kyo was shocked when he saw whose name was in first place. The scoreboard read as follows:

Tohru 0050752 LIGHT MODE

Yuki/Kyo 0015837 BEGGINERS MODE

Tohru 0004929 BEGGINERS MODE

"You… beat our scores…" said Kyo, shocked that Tohru was capable of beating him.

"Yes… I did," said Tohru, smiling once again. But now there was something bittersweet about her smile.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to reclaim first place, then," said Kyo, half joking.

"I guess so." replied Tohru, but there was something about her tone that made Kyo uneasy.

Beating Tohru's score was definately easier said than done. Not only had Tohru only missed one step, but she had done it on a level higher. Kyo had to try his hardest to keep up with the arrows on the next level. And it didn't help that when he glanced back at Yuki and Tohru, Yuki would always be hugging her, playing with her hair, or other slight displays of affection. Tohru, being who she is, was embarrassed, but still kind and polite towards Yuki. However, she seemed a little... stiff. It wasn't about how Yuki was behaving towards her, either. Her eyes were fixated on the screne, and she stood like a statue, not moving a muscle, all tensed up. When Kyo finished his dance, breathing heavily and about to collapse, she did not run to Kyo and see if he was alright, like she usually would. Her eyes were locked on the scoreboard, which she discovered now read:

Kyo 0050753

Tohru 0050752

Yuki/Kyo 0015837

Kyo had done it. He beat Tohru's score, by a mere point. He was about to rejoice, cheer and mentally pat himself on the back, or whatever most people do to celebrate victories, when he noticed Tohru. Now, her smile definitely seemed forced. In fact, it almost looked like a scowl, but that would be impossible for her... or would it?

"Tohru, are you okay-" Kyo began, but then, he noticed something when he looked at her hands. Her fists were tightly clenched, and so tense that they were shaking. But the most noticeable thing was that crimson blood was running down her knuckles, dripping to the floor.

"Miss Honda! You're bleeding! We'll have to take care of this right away. She then released her shaking palms, holding them up to her face. She had four consecutive bleeding gashes on each hand, all in a line, from squeezing her fingernails into her palms.

"Don't you worry..." she said, almost through clenched teeth, "I'll be fine. Just FINE. Don't you ever worry about ME! Haha! I'll take care of it all by my SELF!" And she erupted into a long, hard laugh, which did not sound like her at all. It sounded like the crazy old lady across the street with ten cats, or that insane hoboe that just got out of a bar. Then, Tohru wiped her bloody hands on her pants, and went over to her bed, lay down, and fell to sleep. Kyo and Yuki looked at each other. There was something strange going on with Tohru, something very strange indeed...