"You look lovely."

Kyoko blushed heavily, her head looking almost like a cherry. Being complimented by a very handsome man embarrassed her. She dropped her head and began to stare at her feet, which kept her from looking back up at Hatori.

"You look good yourself, Hatori." Kyoko shakily replied, still staring at her feet.

There was a long silence followed after that. Hatori was still staring at Kyoko lovingly, forgetting that he was forbidden to love her. Kyoko, on the other hand, tried to think of something to say. Her hands were shaking nervously as her heart sped up.

"Hatori!" Ayame shouted when he saw Hatori.

Kyoko quickly turned around, her face fading back to normal as did Hatori's. Ayame never witnessed that they were both blushing, so he just continued like his normal self, smiling unhealthily. With one swift movement, Ayame was beside Kyoko, turning her back towards Hatori. She wasn't brave enough to look him the eyes yet, so she kept her vision on her feet as Ayame placed an arm around her shoulders.

"My, my Hatori. I must say that Kyoko here is quite a beauty, even if she won't admit it. You must be lucky that you have such an adorable apprentice." Ayame excitedly and loudly said, Kyoko blushing again. Before Hatori could even speak, Ayame continued. "Of course you are! Girls like her are rare now a days. Smart and beautiful, a dangerous combination if I may say. How old are you, my lady?" Ayame asked curiously, gently moving Kyoko's head so their eyes connected.

"Eighteen." Kyoko replied nervously.

"Eighteen? What a wonderful age! I remember when Shigure, Hatori, and I were eighteen! We couldn't keep the girls off of us! Especially Hatori here!" Ayame laughed excitedly, a surge of pain exploding in Kyoko's chest.

"That's enough, Aya." Hatori demanded in a cold tone.

Kyoko looked at Hatori to see that he was looking at Ayame hatefully. She looked deep into his eyes to see hate, fear, and sadness. Kyoko wanted so badly to just wrap her arms around him until all his problems were gone. She didn't know why she felt so strongly for a man she had just met.

"Tohru said that dinner was done, so I think we should go into the dining room to eat." Kyoko worriedly broke the silence, feeling the tension growing between Ayame and Hatori.

"Oh, you're right! Don't want to be rude!" Ayame laughed again in his overly happy way as he ran to the dining room doorway. "Oh, Yuki! Come to me, my dear little brother!" He sang, entering the room.

When Kyoko turned to look at the doorway, she heard Yuki yelling at Ayame to stay away. She was startled that this house was so lively at night and a worried smile came across her face.

"Just ignore, Ayame." Hatori calmly told Kyoko, snapping her out of her trance.

She whipped around to see that the door was closed and Hatori was standing behind her with his shoes already off. Since she didn't know that Hatori was close to her, she accidentally backed up and began to fall.

Out of reaction, Hatori quickly caught her by wrapping one of his arms around her, but fell with her. Now, they were both on the ground in pain. Kyoko had landed hard on her back that she was almost winded. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Hatori was on top of her with eyes closed in pain. Then, he opened his eyes and their eyes connected again, both blushing heavily.

'Wait a minute!' Kyoko thought fearfully in her head.

"Are you…" Hatori started to ask, but stopped when Kyoko slid out from under him, standing in front of him with fear in her eyes.

"I have to go!" Kyoko shakily stuttered, grabbing her shoes and ran out the door. 'What's happening? Why didn't I transform? I have to get away from that place.' She thought to herself as she was panting through the woods.

Back at the house, Hatori was sitting on the ground confused. Then, Shigure walked out to greet Hatori with a merry welcoming, but didn't since he was sitting on the floor.

"What are you doing down there, Hari?" Shigure asked, leaning on the doorway frame and crossing his arms.

"I held her." He whispered quietly, still staring at the door.

"What?" Shigure asked, obviously not hearing what he had said.

"She fell and I caught her, but I didn't transform."

"How strange. Do you think she could possibly be…" Shigure stopped when he heard a woman screaming; his hearing was very acute like a dogs.

"What's wrong, Shigure?" Hatori asked as he watched his friend rush to the door.

"I think Kyoko is hurt and if what you're saying is true, we can really help her now." Shigure quickly told Hatori, who jumped to his feet when he heard that Kyoko may be injured, hoping she wasn't..

With that, they were both off in search of where the scream had come from, the others not noticing that the two had disappeared. They were sprinting, Hatori in the lead. With every tree, rock, and plant passing them, they couldn't find anyone until they someone laying near the end of the forest. The person wasn't moving.
As they got closer, they realized that it was Kyoko. Hatori scanned her body for any kind of deformation, his eyes landing on her ankle. It looked to be cracked, but he couldn't tell for sure. Shigure, on the other hand, noticed something that Hatori didn't. With her eyes closed, Kyoko was crying.

"We need to get her back to the house." Hatori strictly said as he bent down to examine her ankle.

Kyoko's eyes suddenly shot open when she heard Hatori's voice. She quickly sat herself up and backed away from them by sliding herself with her hands. Her eyes were almost puffy pink from crying, but fear still saturated them as she continued to stare at the two men.

"Stay away from me." Kyoko stuttered.

"Please, calm down, Kyoko. We just want to check out your ankle." Shigure smiled sweetly, stepping a foot closer as Hatori got up seriously.

"Kyoko. I need for you to calm down. It seems that your ankle is cracked and I need to make sure you're alright. So, please, just calm down." Hatori peacefully said, kneeling down on the side of a scared Kyoko. "There's no need to worry because," He paused, drawing Kyoko hesitantly into a hug, feeling her small fearful shakes and startling Shigure. "we know the answer to your question."

Kyoko went bug-eyed, but for some odd reason, forgetting all her fear, she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes out of safety, her shakes stopping. In a few minutes, Hatori picked Kyoko up with her arms still around his neck. Then, with Kyoko in his arms, they went back to the house with Shigure behind them, looking at them as if they were already a married couple.

When they entered the house, they were greeted by a worried Tohru; everyone else was running around the house in worry.

"Oh! There you three are." Tohru sighed heavily in relief before realizing that Kyoko had her arms around Hatori's neck. "Oh my gosh! She's hugging you! But why aren't you transforming? Is she part of the Sohma family? Of course she's not because her last name is Sakai!" she squealed frantically.

"Calm down, Tohru. It's alright. I'll explain everything during dinner." Shigure simply said, giving Tohru his eyes of trust.

"Tohru. Can I use your room?" Hatori asked formally, hovering behind Shigure; Kyoko's eyes were closed and her hold around Hatori's neck had tightened slightly.

"Uh…. Oh! Yeah! Sure! Go ahead!" Tohru answered blankly, stepping out of his way.

Hatori slid past them and took Kyoko upstairs, directly to Tohru's room. He placed her softly on the bed, allowing her arms to slowly slide off his neck. Her left leg was outstretched while her other leg was bent up. She was looking at Hatori with a slight blush lightening up her cheeks.

"Please be gentle." She pouted, a little tear falling from her eye.

"I will. I promise." He promised her, moving down to her ankle. "Tell me when it hurts, so it won't hurt as much."

He tilted her ankle a bit and she winced, signaling Hatori to stop. She opened up her eyes to see Hatori sitting himself on the edge of the bed. Her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her with such innocent eyes, a small smile on his lips.

"What?" She asked, blushing.

He leans over, placing left arm on the other side of Kyoko while wiping a tear off of Kyoko's soft face. She was frozen with shyness, her vision not leaving Hatori's. Their faces were close, a little too close for Kyoko's comfort.

"Well, if I haven't seen a cuter sight in my life!" they heard a high-pitched male voice squealing from the doorway.

Hatori quickly pulled away from Kyoko as her head dropped to the side slightly out of embarrassment. Ayame walked into the room joyfully as he confronted Hatori.

"I swear that you two would make a very cute couple. The mysterious, gloomy Hatori with the beautiful, kind Kyoko. How romantic!" Ayame dreamed aloud, embarrassing the couple.

"Oh, here you are, Hari." Yuki mousily said, walking into the room, a few feet away from his brother, Ayame. "What's wrong with Kyoko?"

"She cracked her ankle. She won't be able to walk for a few weeks." Hatori informed them all.

"Wait! I can't walk? But Eirie, he'll be worried about me!" Kyoko speedily said.

"Yuki, do you think it would be okay if Kyoko were to stay here until her ankle is healed?" Hatori asked, ignoring what Kyoko had whined about.

"It's fine with me. I think Shigure will approve as well. I don't know what that stupid cat would say though." Yuki hissed the last sentence.

"I am not a stupid cat, you stupid rat!" Kyo entered the room angrily, readying himself to attack Yuki.

"Kyo. Calm down for a second. Would you mind if Kyoko stayed here until her ankle was healed?"

"It's fine with me just as long as she doesn't bother me too much." Kyo steamed down, turning his back to her.

"I won't be! I promise! If I do begin to bother you, just tell me and I'll leave you alone! I'm not bothering you now am I?" Kyoko assured Kyo.

"No. You're not." Kyo answered quietly, but loudly enough for her to hear him.

"So, how is our Kyoko?" Shigure asked merrily, stepping in with Tohru.

"She cracked her ankle and she'll be staying here with you." Hatori shortly explained.

"That's wonderful! I'm honored that you will be staying here during your recuperating days. I will make sure that you enjoy your stay here! I just thought of something! She could stay in the guest bedroom!" Shigure happily welcomed Kyoko, kind of sounding like Ayame for that brief moment. "Well, I guess we should all go down to dinner and I'll explain something about Kyoko that we should all know and respect."

Everyone stared at Shigure for a moment before following him downstairs.

"I'll take her downstairs, Hatori!" Ayame happily offered, about to pick her up.

"No, I think I should take her down." Hatori told Ayame, practically saving Kyoko from being annoyed half to death by Ayame's endless talking.

Ayame shrugged it off and ran out of the doorway to catch up with Yuki. There was an awkward silence surrounding Hatori and Kyoko. Before Hatori could pick her up, she stopped him.

"Hatori, there's something I need to ask you." She said, making him ponder on what she was going to ask.

End Chapter 3: The Dinner Part 2

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