Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

I Like Hating Him

Would I Lie to You?

"You've been out of it for the last few days," Hatori explained as he gave Kyou a check up. It had been over a day since Kyou had first spoke to Yuki and he vaguely remembered a whirlwind of visitors. Tohru who had promptly turned him into an orange cat, Kagura who had been restrained by several Sohma's to keep her from causing further injury, Shigure with his crude jokes, and even Haru had made an appearance wearing a concerned expression. Hatori hadn't let anyone stay for long.

The only one Kyou hadn't seen was Yuki, the cause of it all. Kyou's head still hurt slightly, but he was relieved to be on stronger pain killers now that he was conscious.

Hatori lightly touched his shoulder. "Your bruises are healing. I'm amazed you had no broken bones, only the head injury. You're lucky to have most of your memory. I suspect the rest will come back soon. Have you been able to remember anything about the night you were attacked?"

Kyou heard a sharp intake of breath from the doorway and looked up to see Yuki. "Nothing," he lied, "I have no idea what happened."

Yuki's face showed relief and Kyou wanted to hit him, but instead he maintained a collected expression. He figured the reason that he hadn't seen Yuki since first waking was that the rat was cowering in fear of Kyou telling on him. Kyou smiled to himself, this could be fun.

Hatori looked from Yuki to Kyou skeptically. "You're lucky, Kyou, Yuki was the one who found you and got you help in time." Hatori glanced between the two of them once more before heading to the door. "Don't stay too long, Yuki. Kyou needs his rest."

Yuki moved out of the doorway so that Hatori could exit before turning his attention to Kyou. "Hi," he mumbled, "How are you feeling?"

"I hurt like hell," Kyou answered truthfully.

"So you don't remember?" Yuki moved toward him, his eyes ridden with guilt.

Weakness, Kyou smiled softly, where there was weakness there was hope for victory. "The last thing I remember is seeing that ridiculous picture of Tohru," Kyou answered. "Do you have any idea who the bastard is that did this to me?"

"No," Yuki answered his eyes on his hands.

Kyou was glad that his cousin had lied. It made it much easier to lie back.

"Yuki, come here." He patted the bed beside him and leaned back against his stack of pillows.

Yuki blinked but complied. He sat next to his cousin uncomfortably and visibly started when Kyou took his hand in both of his. "Thank you for saving me, Yuki."

"You're calling me Yuki," was all he could think to say to his cousin's bizarre behavior. "Are you sure your brain wasn't damaged?"

"Yes," and no thanks to you, Kyou's mind added. "It's just when you almost see death you realize certain things. I realized that I don't really want to fight you. In fact, I'll never fight you again." Until you least expect it.

Yuki's eyes were wide with worry for his cousin. Kyou had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. On impulse he pulled Yuki into an awkward hug.

"What are you doing?"

"I never want to fight you again, Yuki." Kyou stressed his cousin's name loving how saying that one word seemed to affect Yuki so much. "And now I know you never wanted to fight me either. You must care, I mean, you did save me."

Yuki pulled away and stared at Kyou for a good few minutes before running out of the room to get Hatori.

000

Kyou listened carefully at the door as Hatori gave Shigure, Tohru, and Yuki a list of possible symptoms for a head trauma victim. The fun was just beginning.

000

Yuki, Tohru, and Kyou were seated in the kitchen. Kyou was sullenly staring at his hands as if they were his betrayers. "Hatori said I might have trouble with my motor skills," Kyou said sadly, "but he never told me I wouldn't be able to practice martial arts." He gave Yuki as pathetic a look as he could stomach. "I guess I'll be able to keep from fighting you pretty easily."

Tohru's eyes welled up with tears. "I just know you'll be able to fight again, Kyo,u I just know it. I am glad that you won't be fighting Yuki anymore. I mean, he did save you and all."

"So I've been told," Kyou hated lying to Tohru and his only consolation was that Yuki was also lying. "I doubt in all the history of the zodiac that the cat has ever been indebted to the rat. First you charmed Haru and now me. Yuki, if you don't watch it, you just might give the rat a good rep."

"Excuse me." Yuki left the room his eyes betraying conflict. Kyou smiled to himself. His rival was becoming more and more distracted which meant that the victory that could bring freedom was in his grasp. He knew he had to act before Yuki's conscience got the better of him and caused him to fess up. Kyou wondered if Yuki would ever speak the truth. For some reason the fact that Yuki was lying to him made him feel slightly upset. Kyou just attributed that to his head trauma.

000

Two weeks later Kyou and Yuki ended up at the table alone. Tohru had left some stew as leftovers before going to Hana's for the night. Shigure was visiting either Hatori or Ayame or both.

Kyou smiled as he thought of the progress he had made over the last few weeks. Yuki looked sick, and Kyou was feigning symptoms at every chance--pretending to forget small things, dropping his books in the hall, allowing his expression to go blank.

Yuki was beside himself because he truly believed he had destroyed Kyou, and more importantly he believed he had destroyed Kyou's ability to fight. Kyou felt that his plan for victory was brilliant. No one would ever suspect him of such deceit. He was normally very straight forward and easy to read so he knew that Yuki would never suspect what was really happening.

Yuki hadn't said much to him, but had been there to help him at every chance. Not that this made Kyou feel guilty, the bastard deserved to suffer. He had been waiting for a night alone to defeat the rat once and for all.

Yuki watched sadly as Kyou's hand began to shake spilling stew all over the table. Kyou suddenly dropped his spoon. He had been putting on displays like this since being injured. He then acted as if it were a struggle just to put his thumb and finger together to pick it up. To his surprise, Yuki pulled up a chair next to him and picked up the spoon.

"Here," he said, dipping the spoon into the stew, "No one's home." He moved the spoon to Kyou's lips. Kyou opened his mouth obediently and slurped at the stew. He was glad that it contained no leeks.

"Thanks, Yuki." He gave his cousin what he hoped was a sincere smile. "Thank you for helping me out these last few weeks."

Yuki brought another spoon full to Kyou's lips, his violet eyes shining with guilt and self loathing. "There's something I have to tell you. I wanted to tell you sooner but…Kyou? Kyou? Are you alright?"

Kyou had went into a blank stare to avoid a confession from Yuki. He had to maintain the upper hand at all costs. He allowed a little bit of stew to dribble from his mouth and down his chin. He almost lost it at the look of disgust on Yuki's face as he grabbed a napkin and dabbed at Kyou's chin.

"Kyou?" Yuki's voice sounded slightly panicked.

"Huh?" Kyou turned to his cousin and then looked around the table as though confused. "Oh, hi, where areShigure and Tohru?"

"For the third time," Yuki tried to hide his frustration. "I told you, Tohru's at Hana's and Shigure's…visiting."

"Oh." Kyou tried his best to look puzzled. "Well, I think I'm going to go to my room and rest. I feel a little dizzy."

"Do you need help?" Yuki asked.

"No thanks, I'll be fine."

Once in his room Kyou wondered how wise it would be to fight Yuki when no one was home. If no one saw him defeat the rat, he doubted that Akito would be willing to take his word for it and the damn rat would probably lie. Unfortunately, it looked as though Yuki was ready to tell the truth and Kyou knew that once that happened his chance would be over. If he beat him up a little then maybe it would be easier for him to defeat him the next day in front of Shigure and then he would have won the bet and could avoid the cage.

Kyou smiled to himself before throwing over his dresser. It made a loud crashing sound. He heard Yuki running down the hall and a slight knock on the door. "Kyou? Are you okay?" Kyou didn't answer but positioned himself behind the door just as Yuki burst in.

Kyou attacked from behind knocking Yuki to the ground. Amazingly Yuki was able to block every punch. The bastard was actually smiling. "I guess you remember how to do martial arts again. I knew it would all come back to you."

This was not what was supposed to happen. "Yeah, I guess I found out just how much you were holding out on me, you damn rat. By the way, how's your lip?"

Yuki's eyes narrowed in anger as he quickly turned the table of the fight. "You knew…you mean you were pretending…" he said through clenched teeth. "I should kill you."

"You already tried that, stupid rat," Kyou hissed, "didn't work out for you."

Yuki shook his head at Kyou. "I should have known you were faking it. Brain damaged or not. I should kill you…but for some reason I'm glad to have you back, stupid cat."

Yuki pinned Kyou's arms and kissed him. Kyou was thrown off guard enough to kiss back. He felt Yuki's arousal against his thigh so he moved his leg slightly, turned on by the sound Yuki made because of the movement. His cousin was soon panting and out of breath. "You are so gay," Kyou said. It seemed to be the only way to hurt Yuki, and he knew he had to stop the insanity.

Yuki only seemed fuelled by Kyou's words and yanked off Kyou's shirt and began unbuttoning his pants. "What the hell are you doing?" Kyou gasped.

"Take it back." Yuki began sucking on his neck.

Kyou moaned in response and cocked his head to allow Yuki more access. Yuki's tongue flicked at his neck and then his chest circling the sensitive areas. His fingers moved down Kyou's stomach to his unzipped pants and he began stroking Kyou teasingly.

"Take it back, and I'll stop," Yuki promised as he began kissing lower and lower.

Kyou's mind was sounding the alarm, but his body was unable to properly respond. What Yuki was doing to him with his mouth was causing a tingling sensation to shoot to every part of him. He began to shake with pleasure knowing that his mind could no longer keep him from release. That's when Yuki stopped what he was doing leaving Kyou in absolute agony. Yuki crawled back up him body and kissed him sloppily on the lips.

"What the hell? That's disgusting!" Kyou turned his head and pushed Yuki away from him.

Yuki pushed his lower body into Kyou's causing him to call out slightly. "No, you stupid cat, what's disgusting is you. You call me gay, and yet your body reacts to me. I could have you begging for me if I wanted. I could do things to you that would completely blow you away. In fact, I believe I will." He grinded into Kyou and smiled sadistically. "I dare you to be straight enough to stop me."

Kyou wanted to stop but instead bucked up against Yuki's hips his body begging for release.

"Patience, Kyou." Yuki licked Kyou's lips before bruising his mouth with a deep kiss and beginning to remove his own clothes. This time Kyou didn't push him away.