Disclaimer: Yet again, I don't own fruits basket. Though I do own a basket with fruit in it.

It's Yuki's turn!!! Yay!!! Btw, despite appearances, more Fruba characters will be making their debute soon enough. Next time I'm going to let Tohru have her say, for example.

Finally putting in some shonen-ai, though it's definetally not heavy. Don't like it don't read. It's established, this is going to be a Kyoki.

HUMEROUS INTERLUDE:

Shigure: Oh where has my beautiful blooming flower gone??

(Yuki and Kyo glare at him)

Yuki: Who do you mean?

Shigure: Why Tohru of course.

Tohru: Shigure? Did you just say my name?

(Shigure grabs Tohru by the arm)

Shigure: You two boys are getting all the attention. Where oh where has my beautiful blooming flower gone in this story?

(Tohru squeals and turns various shades of red.)

Yuki: Well, she won't be in this chapter.

Shigure: Oh, really?

Yuki: Yeah. (Looks at Kyo, who is ignoring him and looks like a kettle about to boil over) I love Tohru, but some things are more important...

Kyo: (suddenly cooling off) What... ?

CHAPTER 3: Thawing Ice

When I wander downstairs, something draws me to you first.

Maybe it's because you don't move away anymore. You're used to my soft groan, and the way my neck droops so that my forehead rests on your shoulder. Maybe it's because your body heat draws me to you.

Heat that promises to someday melt snow.

Do you mind it that much when my hair brushes your clenched neck? Do you mind it when I rub my nose into your shoulder? I hear you mutter, awww, hell, not this again, but it's gentle. And sometimes your face flushes red.

Tohru and Shigure are warm too, and sometimes I collapse on them, but everything about you burns. Sometimes I notice that when you move your head, your hair flutters like flames, and your eyes glow like embers.

When I fight you, I notice other things. Like even though you rush into me like a bull into red, you are graceful. Lithe muscles, smooth turns, determined eyes. Sometimes, when I'm punching you, I have to stop myself from caressing you. And when I dive in, so my nose is almost touching yours, the color of your cheeks heightens, before I throw you through Shigure's door.

Sometimes I ask myself, would you catch me if were to slip off your shoulder someday when I'm like this, barely awake, breathing in your warm scent, resting on your shoulder. Would you even reach out in concern?

A stupid question to ask... but then I ask a lot of stupid questions. For example:

Does Tohru ever feel ashamed of having a group of monsters like us for friends?

If Akito disappeared, would the pain of the curse still be here?

Where is my mother? And why didn't my father ever call me once I left Sohma house?

Have my brother and Shigure ever kissed?

What does it really mean to be the rat? Am I really privileged?

And sometimes, I just think about Akito. I feel those pale, thin fingers trail down my face, leaving what feels like streaks of frost on my face. I feel his lips softly touch mine and turn them blue. I feel the cold silk of his robe slip over me, and the sharp, cold points of his fingernails dig into my flesh.

I guess I'm obsessed with Akito somehow. I fall asleep with his black eyes burning into me; I wake up imagining that he is hovering over me. Sometimes at school, I catch a glace of another student, and think that his hair falls over his eyes just like Akito, or I see a girl lean against a locker just like Akito leans against the walls.

That's why I'm a prince. That's why I'm cool to everyone around me, though as polite as is humanly possible. What if Akito caught me acting like the real me at school? I mean, I only really act normal when I'm with him.

It's true. Akito freezes me at first with his touch, and then goads me into resistance. He likes it when I resist him, but only when he's there to see it, and only when he can slap me down into the coldness of submission again.

But it's better to have a moment of release than nothing.

I actually look forward to seeing Akito, in a way. Thinking about wanting to see him sends me into an attack, though. Being with Akito is like him telling me to breathe while he sits on my chest. The breath rasps in my throat and catches before it is released.

That's another reason to like snow, now that I think about it. I can always tell when I'm breathing or when I'm not.

But when I feel your burning, Kyo, I burn along with you. For that brief second, I see myself as a reflection of you.