A/N: Greetings. I return from the depths to bring you fanfiction! Sorry about how long it took me to update... my pc is being such a b!tch. -glares and kicks computer- I swear, as soon as I save up enough money for a new computer, this one is going down. Constructive critisizim is welcome, and all reviews will be much appriciated, but flames will be used to burn my computer once I get a new one. Just don't bother flaming, please.

Thank you:
AznEyes
Darks Light
XwildfiregirlX
Vespertilliones
Laurena
for your great reviews.

Thanks you:
AznEyes
Laurena
Parisu Enomoto
XwildfiregirlX
for adding me to your favorites.

Thank you:
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kari2500
Sinilu Silverspell
XwildfiregirlX
for adding this fic to your alert lists.

All of this support means so much to me, I never thought that my work would be so successful. Virtual cookies for XwildfiregirlX, AznEyes, and Laurena for reviewing and adding me to your favorites, and a Yuki plushie to XwildfiregirlX for adding this to favorites and alerts. I've always been really bad at expressing gratitude, but I know how to say thank you in four languages, so that will have to do. Thank you, Merci, Danke, Arigato. I am eternally greatful to all of you.

Dedication: This fic is dedicated to Darks Light, but this chapter in specific is dedicated to XwildfiregirlX for her great support. Thanks, both of you.

Disclaimer: See last chapter.

Warnings: See last chapter.

Blank eyes, Dried Tears, Chapter 2

He sat at the kitchen table, a frown marring his face, crimson eyes narrowed, staring at the wall across from him without really seeing it. To put it bluntly, his life really sucked. He was always rejected, always an outcast. Even with Tohru being so nice to him, it just wasn't what he yearned for. She accepted him as a friend, and he saw her as a kind of little sister. He wanted, no, needed more than that. He needed to be accepted by the one he cared so much for, and the one he would never be allowed to feel anything for but hate. He regretted so much their first meeting. He had been told to hate the boy, that they were supposed to be sworn enemys', that there was no other way for them to be. He had held onto the belief that he hated the boy he hadn't even met. Then, they did meet. He remembered it so clearly, and reggretted all of it.

He saw the back of a small boy, a boy with shimmering dark silver hair. He was stuck to the spot. Then the boy turned. He saw his beautiful amethyst eyes, smooth porcelain skin, and for a second, a flash of a smile. Then he realised who it was he faced. He didn't want to hate the being infront of him, but he had been told he had to. So he started screaming at him, hateful words that haunted him. The boy had frowned, and for a second an unimaginable sadness flashed through amethyst eyes. The silver haired boy turned, and walked away.

He wished so much he could go back and relive that day, not start the cycle of fighting and hatred that had evolved from that event. If he had acted differently, would they be friends now? Or would the boy with purple eyes have started the hateful aruments? He would never know. He had kept acting spitefully towards the silver haired youth, and the other boy soon started to return it. He had thought that he had to keep acting that way, that if he actually got to know the other, he would have hated him anyway. He was so wrong, to belive what the adults had always said. To act on what they had told him. It was too late now. If the amethyst eyed boy hadn't hated him then, he would by now. He would have to. The boy with blood red eyes had never acted towards him with anything but anger. Oh, he had been such a fool! It was too late now. He felt so alone, even with Tohru buzzing around the kitchen so close by, making dinner. It was like he was drowning in shadows, and if he tried to reach out for help, he would be pushed further away. It would all be all right, he could deal with everyone elses' hate, if only he had the acceptance and love of the beautiful silver haired nezumi.

He blinked, drawn out of his thoughts by Tohru calling up the stairs, telling Shigure and the nezumi that dinner was ready. He blinked once more, noticing that the food was on the table infront of him, and he hadn't even noticed it being put there. He turned to look at Shigure bounding into the room, the baka inu complimenting Tohru on her wonderful cooking and making her blush. It was so annoying. Then he saw the nezumi enter. He looked on as he greeted Tohru, with a polite smile, watched as he sat down as far away from the neko as he could. That polite smile, it looked so fake. It had always looked fake to the neko, but it was even more so now. It was the kind of smile that would shatter the second the person wearing it was alone. He looked more carefully at the nezumi, taking in his shining silver hair, his flawless pale skin, and his uncomparable amethyst eyes. He frowned into his noodles. The nezumi's eyes... they were so blank now. They held no life, the only thing he could see in them was a small amount of pain, creeping through the mask the silver haired nezumi wore. It was disturbing, to see anyones eyes like that. To see the eyes of someone you care about so much in that state, it was agony. Made even worse by the fact that he could do nothing about it. He paused his eating for a second, then resumed so as not to draw attention to himself. He was sure he could see dried tears on the cheeks of the amethyst eyed boy. He wished so much that he could find out what was wrong with the other boy, and that he could comfort him and take his pain away. He wished, but he couldn't. His dinner finished, he stood up without a word, and walked out of the room and up to the roof. Laying down, he couldn't tear his mind away from the boy with silver hair. He wore a mask, just like the orange haired neko himself did. Yet the mask was cracking, and it wouldn't be long before the mask, and the boy wearing it, shattered completely. His soul felt like it was being ripped out. He could do nothing for the one he loved, the only one he really cared about. All he could do was stand by and watch, while he himself shattered. He couldn't escape the cycle of hate that was his life, couldn't escape the constant loneliness of it. Such was the curse of Kyo Sohma, the cat of the zodiac.

-TBC-

A/N: So, how did I do? I hope I managed to live up to all of your expectations. Please, review. It makes me so very happy to know what people think of my work.