Chapter 7: Paranoia

"Our plan is progressing even more quickly than we accounted for! I must congratulate you."

"Thank you. I have tried my hardest."

"Yes, you have. However, we are not finished yet. You need to begin phase two."

"I will, as soon as necessary."

"Good. I'll be waiting."

I look around the room. Yuki and Tohru are still asleep. I would've thought that my struggling would have awakened them, but no. But wait- Tohru isn't asleep- she is sitting up, facing the wall. What is she doing? It looks like she's… eating. But where did she get food?

I tap her on the shoulder. She jumps and turns around.

"Good… morning, uh, Kyo!" She looks so surprised that I'm here. It's like… I wasn't supposed to be here or something.

"I… didn't expect you to wake up… so soon," I gave her a quizzical look. It was like she added the "so soon" part as an afterthought…

I look at her face. Again, she doesn't look as if she's had much sleep.

"Tohru, are you okay?" I ask her, "It doesn't look like you've been sleeping."

"I'm fine," she says, "Just peachy keen…" Was that a hint of sarcasm on her face?

"I… played the machine for a while last night," she says, "you're score's really hard to beat! But mark my word! I will beat it! That's right, I will!" And she laughed her new, strange, almost psychotic sounding laugh.

I have been debating whether or not to tell her about the sling incident. I have already figured out who did it. It was Yuki. Definitely Yuki. He would have obviously wanted revenge for last night, and what better way to accomplish just that? To suffocate me in my sleep, when I couldn't fight back. He should really be locked up.

"Tohru, you won't believe this," I say, "last night…" I lower my voice to a whisper, "last night, Yuki tried to murder me," I expect her to gasp, or maybe say a few, "oh my gosh!" 's, or… something. But she doesn't. She just sits there, not saying a word. It seems like she's trying to avoid my eyes.

"Well, Kyo, that can't be right, I mean… Yuki would never do something like that, I'm sure of it!"

"Well, then how do you explain my sling being tied around my neck?"

"I don't know, I mean, maybe it just… ended up that way…" she sounds oddly nervous.

She is starting to make me feel weird. I quickly change the subject.

"Why don't we play a round of that game right now?" I tell her, shifting my eyes uncomfortably.

"Um, okay," She agrees, and eagerly runs to the machine. I follow her, and hop on next to her.

We start up the machine, and select a song. For some reason, Tohru's favorite song is Butterfly. Although I dislike this song, I go along with it just to make Tohru happy. However, I am surprised when Tohru selects the song, not on light mode, but on standard mode. I'm shocked that she was able to increase her skills that much overnight. I also notice that she has almost beaten my hard-earned score- the scoreboard was now tied for first place.

I select standard mode, too, curious to see if I can keep up with Tohru. It seems like she tenses up when she sees me select my level. She glanced my way, and when I looked into her eyes, it makes me feel a little… uncomfortable. The machine starts the music. Standard mode is definitely harder than light mode. I am going to have a hard time beating Tohru's score this time… I soon feel myself begin to grow tired and out of breath, and I miss a few arrows. I look over at Tohru, who, for the moment seems to have the upper hand in the game. Is that a smirk on her angelic face? No, I must have just imagined it.

I know that I have to pick up the pace. I deeply concentrate on the arrow pattern, not allowing Tohru to distract me with the almost… murderous looks she's been giving me. I begin to improve at the game, not missing as many arrows as I had in the beginning, getting into the beat of the music. I notice that Tohru, however, has began to miss many arrows, and she is about to fail. I don't know how she could have gone from such a high score to almost failing so quickly- maybe she's distracted, perhaps? Then, I feel something cold and wet on the bottom of my feet. Not wanting to look away from the screen, I can't tell what it is, but all of a sudden,

"Whoa!" I cry out, for my foot slips, and I fall backwards towards the hard, marble floor. Thankfully, in the nick of time, I catch myself by grabbing the bar behind the DDR pad. I pull myself back on to the pad, my heart pounding and my hands shaking. That was a close call. If I had hit my head on the marble floor… well, I probably wouldn't have been able to get back up very easily. I look down at my feet, trying to figure out what had caused me to slip. Oddly, there's a spilt water bottle, lying overturned on my pad. That was what caused me to slip. What is it doing there?

I look up at the screen. The scores flash.

TOHRU 50756 STANDARD MODE

KYO 50755 STANDARD MODE

KYO/TOHRU 50753 LIGHT MODE

"Oh," Tohru says with her sweet smile, "looks like I just beat you," I look at her like she's insane. Hadn't she seen me slip and fall? And if an open water bottle had been there, why didn't she see it? And why did it only spill on my side?

"Of course you beat me!" I cry, exasperatedly, "I think you could have beat anyone who slips and almost cracks their head open while they're playing the game!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Tohru, but she doesn't sound quite as sincere as usual, "that's Yuki's water bottle. He left it out last night, and I guess it was open… I'm sorry, I should have noticed it before you started playing…"

My eyes narrowed, and I feel a whole new kind of rage. That damn rat. He has tried to murder me yet again. First the sling, now this? Well, I will get him back. I will. He won't know when I'm coming. It might be in his sleep, or when he's not looking. Or maybe, I'll sneak upon him, when he least expects it. But one thing's for sure- I have to keep my guard up. I will not sleep until he's done away with. I will never let him sneak up on me again! Never!

"Good morning, Kyo," Ah! I screech and jump. Damn that two-faced rat, sneaking up on me! And saying something so… friendly. How on earth could he have the nerve? And after he tried to murder me? Maybe, it's all part of his plot. Maybe, he's got a knife in his pocket right now, and when I open my mouth to reply, he'll stick it down my throat, and stand over me, watching me die! Ha! I will not stand for that…

"Um, Kyo, are you deaf?"

"No, I'm not deaf, imbecile!" Oh no! I have opened my mouth! Now he will succeed in his plan! It's all over, it's all over, I'm going to die in the hands of Yuki…

"Are you… feeling alright?" He inquires. What! No knife! It must be a diversion. Well, whatever he's doing, I will not give in! I will defeat him once and for all!

"Don't think I don't know about your plot, you dirty piece of shit," I whisper, "I'm on to you," and then I walk away, not looking back. Yes, I will show him. If it's the last thing I do…