Author's Note: C Sharp.

Bwaha! I couldn't resist. Ok, I could, but I didn't want to. Much beta-y love to Ryuu Hime and Kurai. Even more love to Ryuu Hime for helping me read Furuba in Japanese. I managed to finish the volume a whole three days before being able to get the English version. Whee!

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

5
What the Cat chooses to protect, he protects with all his heart. Pray, Juunishi, that he chooses to protect you.
-Sohma Nobu, Snake, 1547

Kyo and Tohru walked home from school not-exactly-together. They walked the same route at almost the same pace--Kyo never let himself get too far ahead of her--but they were both thinking their own thoughts. It was a very comfortable sort of not-exactly-together.

Yuki would have also been not-exactly-together with Kyo and Tohru, if he hadn't had a student council thing right after school. If Yuki had been there, the silence would have been uncomfortable, and they would have filled it with bickering that might or might not have turned into another battle. Either way, Kyo wouldn't have heard the ringing before they could see the house.

But he did hear it, and he heard a second and third ring as well, so he said, "Phone!" in Tohru's general direction, and took off running towards the house. His hello was a bit breathless, and the long silence almost convinced him that he'd been too late.

"Ah, Kyo-kun? I was about to hang up; you took so long to answer the phone! It really is rude of you to keep people waiting." Kyo could almost see Shigure pulling his "wise-man" face, but before he could do more than bristle at the tone, Shigure dropped it. "So, are Tohru-kun and Yuki-kun home, too?"

"No, Yuki's got some meeting, but she's just coming in now." Behind him, Tohru called out that she was home.

"Good, good, put her on, please."

Kyo turned, and shoved the receiver at Tohru. "It's Shigure."

"Hello?" Tohru accepted the phone nervously, but then, from what Kyo had seen, phone calls were rarely good news for her.

"Good afternoon, Tohru-kun! Do you have work today?" Shigure's voice was easily loud enough for Kyo to hear the words clearly. It was also cheerful enough that Tohru immediately started to relax.

"No. I was just going to study and do some cleaning this evening." Tohru had that soft blank look that meant she was completely confused. Kyo was confused too, but, since Shigure was involved, he was also had a rather bad feeling about where this was headed. So, of course, Shigure switched his loud cheerful tone to one that Kyo couldn't easily eavesdrop on.

Tohru's side of the conversation didn't give Kyo any clues at all. "Oh. ...Well, of course. ... It wouldn't be any trouble at all! ... I see. ... I wouldn't want to be any trouble. ... Oh, yes, that is a good point. ... Ok, I'll ask them. ... I don't mind at all. ... Ok, bye!"

Tohru turned to look at Kyo as she hung up the phone, and she looked slightly taken aback. Kyo realized that he was bouncing impatiently, and perhaps the concentration on his face could be mistaken for anger. "Well? What did he want?"

Tohru smiled, hopefully realizing that Kyo wasn't angry at her--hopefully because he didn't want to apologize or risk any cracks about curiosity and the Cat--and said, "Shigure-san won't be home for dinner tonight because he's staying at Hatori-san's." Kyo's eyebrow twitched slightly at the oddity. "So we shouldn't wait dinner for him."

"That's it?" Kyo mulled over the conversation. "He seemed to have a lot more than that to say."

"Ah, well, yes, but he asked me to tell you and Yuki at the same time." Kyo wondered what his face looked like right then, because Tohru started to apologize frantically.

"It's ok! It's ok! Geez. I'll go... go something." Kyo stalked off before he really did something that upset her. Normally, he was fairly good about making it clear that he wasn't mad at her, but in this situation, with him mad at that damn Dog and her knowing things he didn't, a strategic retreat was called for.

He ended up doing his homework, and then climbing to the roof, so that he wouldn't directly piss off anyone. He had a sinking feeling that Shigure would somehow get this to turn into another unnecessary lesson in getting along with Yuki. Of course, Shigure would also get him pissed off enough that he'd walk right into the lesson without thinking about it. Sometimes, Kyo just wanted to tell that idiot Dog about the bet just to prove he wasn't as stupid as he normally acted.

Tohru's head appeared at the edge of the roof far earlier than he would have expected. "Dinner's ready. I know it's a bit earlier than normal, but I'll explain while we eat. To be honest, I'm not really sure why he asked me to wait on telling you."

"I'll be down in a minute," Kyo offered as a not-apology for sulking all afternoon.

He headed into the house with a minor detour to wash his hands. By the time he arrived, Yuki and Tohru were waiting at the table for him, and the table.... There were almost twice as many dishes as usual, though it was perfectly portioned out for just the three of them. Kyo couldn't help being impressed. "You did all this since we got home from school?"

"Yes. It's not really a big deal." Tohru blushed in pleasure at the implied compliment. "Please, sit down."

Kyo noticed out of the corner of his eye that Yuki was starting to get the overly pleasant expression that would lead to pain. He sat down quickly because he really, really wanted to know whatever Tohru was going to tell them. "Itedakimasu!"

Kyo made it through two bites of food before breaking down and asking, "So, what was it that Shigure wanted you to tell both of us at the same time?"

Yuki looked up surprised. "That's right, Honda-san. You only said that Shigure wasn't going to be here tonight. Do you know why?"

"Yes. Shigure-san said that he and Ayame-san are staying at Hatori-san's to, um, 'look after a difficult patient.' And Shigure-san had wondered if perhaps I could bring them some extras from dinner, since I don't have work tonight, so we're eating early so I can walk over. And, um." Tohru paused to study her fingers intently, a sign that she didn't want to cause an inconvenience to them.

"And you want someone to help you carry the bentos, Honda-san?" Yuki's smile was small, but it was genuine this time. Tohru really was cute when she was trying to avoid asking for favors.

Tohru nodded quickly, relieved that the help was offered.

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "And Shigure suggested this?"

A nod.

"And Shigure wanted you to tell us at the same time?"

Another nod. Tohru looked on the verge of apologizing simply because of Kyo's tone.

"What game is he playing now?" Yuki probably would have asked as well if he'd spent all afternoon brooding over the puzzle.

Yuki had looked about ready to hit Kyo, until that last question. "He's up to something, but wh- Honda-san, did he say who or what was wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, only that he was difficult. I'm sorry, I should have asked who it was! That was so thoughtless of me!"

"It's all right, Honda-san..." Yuki was calming her down, so Kyo went over what Tohru had said one more time, and got that slow sinking feeling in his gut.

"Wait. Are they helping Hatori or just helping? What exactly did Shigure say?" Kyo suspected that he had part of the answer, but he really didn't want to be right. Yuki and Tohru were both looking at him blankly, wondering why the distinction mattered.

"It seemed," Tohru answered slowly, "he said looking after a someone, and didn't say anything about helping Hatori-san. But that's silly. Isn't it?"

Kyo buried his face in his left hand, and made a wide gesture with his chopsticks that didn't really mean anything at all. "Well, they probably are helping Hatori. Hatori is probably the one who's sick."

Crickets chirped. Kyo risked a look up. Tohru was working from worried to panicked, but she was doing it quietly. Yuki broke the silence first. "But, why? I mean, Hatori never gets sick."

"Are you calling me a liar, you damn Rat?" Kyo leapt to his feet, fists ready.

"Stupid Cat, Would you really be able to do anything about it if I did?" He stood up and took a deceptively lazy stance.

"Wait!" Both boys froze, and glared in a way that should have caused spontaneous combustion. It wasn't that Kyo was obeying Tohru, so much as hoping she wouldn't grab one of them to stop the fight. The smoke from transforming always gave food an odd aftertaste. "Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, we don't have time to repair the house if we're taking food to Shigure-san! Yuki-kun, why are you so surprised that Hatori-san could get sick?"

Seeing Yuki's attention go to Tohru, Kyo warily relaxed out of his fighting stance and returned to eating his dinner. "Well, it's just that I can't ever remember him being sick."

Kyo shook his head and tried not to snarl. Shigure could have just left a complete message, not a riddle for them to solve. "I remember him being sick once." Kyo's voice was flat. "It was several years ago, maybe five or six. I overheard some conversations, but I wasn't allowed near him, of course.

"They were worried because.... Well, I guess that Hatori almost never gets sick, but when he does, well, they said, he makes up for lost chances. So it was bad. And they were worried 'cause he was too sick erase people's memories. I think they were trying to decide if they needed to bring a doctor in from outside."

Yuki frowned. "I don't remember any of that."

"No. You wouldn't." Kyo finally remembered the last bit of the conversation. "They weren't considering getting a doctor for him. They were worried about you." Kyo sneered slightly. He remembered why those gossips had been worried: Yuki was Akito's favorite, and everyone had wanted to keep the head of the family happy, not because they were worried about Yuki personally.

He realized the tone of voice he'd used about three seconds too late. Fortunately, the fight ended up outside, so the only things damaged were the bushes and Kyo.

A/N: No quotes to actually site this time. Thank you all for reading.

Taptap520: Thank you! I think that Hatori's cold is not that bad, it's just that he's really not good at being sick. It takes practice to function when you've got a fever, and he just doesn't have it. I figure I could give Akito the exact same symptoms, and he'd be all "I'm fine, where's my Yuki to torture." Or maybe no one wants to admit that it's worse than a cold. The Furuba cast is ever so good at denial, ne?

Tairi: Thank you for sticking with me! I'm afraid that I'm getting an 'Ayame loves Hatori' thing, but I'm not sure it's going to be a pairing per se... I know what my characters are going to do, but I generally don't know why until it gets written. Don't stab the computer screen! You'll have trouble reading if you do!

Therhoda: Hello and thank you! I shall try to make the ride as smooth as possible, but there may be detours for bishi-cuddling. ;)

MsCongeniality: Thank you! Yes, my writing is very character driven. I tend to have a very "What would so-and-so do if this happened?" approach to plot.

Aura Black Chan: Yes... Aaya gets to cuddle his 'Tori-san. This makes me happy. It also makes me want to acquire an artist for the fic. Pretty bishis cuddling! I really have a fixation on that tonight, ne?

the-kaiba-hier: But, if you die you can't read the fic! And besides, it's usually worth the wait, because that means I manage to fix most of my typos. My fingers get possessed by typo-demons. It's a side effect of the ravenous plot bunnies that have attacked me.