Disclaimer: I don't own it.

I'm back with Part Seventeen, yay! Can you all let me know who is actually still reading this? oO; I have this feeling that since I've been away, some people have been all bored with not having updates, so they've stopped reading... but yeah... anyways, you'll get to see all about my master storyline soon, and Koda's going to come out of the closet! Yay! xDD My Homeroom teacher almost read this today, when I was showing a friend of mine in class - we freaked out and was closing everything o.o; It was rather funny.

Anyways, please enjoy and don't forget to review n.n

Part Seventeen: Affection

To wake up in the arms of another could be an extremely pleasant experience – Kyo had learnt this after Shigure brought the double bed. It had taken a great deal of persuasion – and by persuasion, that meant Shigure bawling his eyes out about how he spent the extra $700 (A/n: How much are Double Beds these days?) to buy the bed when it would have cost nothing to simply set up the futon on his floor again. Kyo, had of course, eventually caved in.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Kyo twisted over to the side, attempting to bring the single sheet over his head to block out the sun – he didn't want to wake up. He was warm, comfortable... and lying on Shigure's chest. He squeaked, forcing himself not to scream, considering Shigure looked to be still sleeping.

Kyo didn't know how he'd gotten there; he remembered lying on his side of the bed while Shigure whined about continuing what they'd been doing – which Kyo would never repeat to anybody. Of course, he'd thwacked Shigure, and then gone to sleep himself. Then again, nobody could be held accountable for what they did in their sleep, right? Snuggling with Shigure while he was asleep didn't count as actual snuggling – therefore, he wouldn't really be giving into the dog. Right? Well, if Shigure wasn't awake, then he couldn't say anything.

Snuggling further into the dog's side, Kyo slipped Shigure's arm around his shoulders, and curled up as close as he could.

Still with his eyes closed, Shigure smiled. Getting his manuscript in late just this once would be worth it.

When Kyo woke up approximately two to three hours later, he found that he was alone. Groggily, he rubbed his eyes, and leant across the bed to look at Shigure's clock: 9.30 am, and blinking symbolising that it had run out of batteries. He registered the time, in his mind for a moment, before screeching; "CRAP! I'M LATE!"

Hearing Kyo's screeching voice from his office; Shigure looked up from his manuscript. He'd gone to sleep again for another two hours or so, and woken up to find Kyo where he'd snuggled himself in before, this time with his arm draped across Shigure, almost as if he was holding a teddy bear. Shigure had been very sorry to have to move Kyo – but luckily, all he had to do was move his arm, and Kyo groaned and rolled over, letting Shigure move – almost – freely.

In a mad rush, Kyo dashed down the stairs – still putting his shirt on, his jacket hanging loosely in his hand, grabbed his bag, shoved everything within a foot of it, and began to stick his arms in his jacket, all the while making his way to Shigure's study. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP!"

Shigure blinked, looking up from his manuscript to see Kyo fuming in the doorway. "Do you really think I had the heart to do that? You were the one who decided to snuggle when you should have been getting ready for school."

Kyo's face went brick red – Shigure had been awake? Well this changed everything – and, well, he was right. Kyo was supposed to be getting ready for school... "DAMN IT ALL!" He screamed, turning around and storming out to shove his shoes on.

"Kyo-chan, do you need a lift?" Shigure called.

"NOT FROM YOU!" Kyo shot back, dashing out the door.

"I can't believe you slept in." Yuki said on the way home, "You are still a stupid cat, you know that?"

"I couldn't help it!" Kyo lied.

"Why didn't Shigure wake you up?"

"You ask me!" Kyo glared.

Tohru, tense about them fighting, attempted to be of some assistance to Kyo. "Kyo-kun and Shigure-san were up until late last night, right?"

"Up late...?" Yuki questioned. Kyo went brick red and walked faster.

"Kyo-chan, you're home!" Shigure called, flinging himself at Kyo, and hugging the boy to his chest like he would a small child. "I missed you so much!"

Almost strangling, Kyo's first reaction was to strangle Shigure himself, then to bitch about his horrid day. Not only had he been late for school, but he'd run into the door when he'd gotten to school – not once, but twice, gotten into a fight with Yuki, then had gone to the Nurses office with what they thought was a mild concussion. Luckily, it wasn't, but it had left him with one heck of a headache and then, after all that, he'd gotten picked on by his Literature teacher, Chemistry teacher, and lost a Japanese History assignment somewhere along the lines of that day. It was strange that now that he was being hugged by Shigure, none of that seemed to matter, so he hugged Shigure back.

Shigure blinked. Was Kyo hugging him back? That was... strange. Yes, strange. What was even cuter was the fact that Kyo did it almost hesitantly. "Kyo-chan, you're so cute!"

"Gah... I think I need some pain killers." Was Kyo's reply.

Yuki and Tohru made their way around the hugging pair, who seemed to have forgotten that they existed. They were rather cute together, or at least, Tohru thought so. Yuki was only half convinced – although Kyo and Shigure weren't directly related, they both shared the same last name... and there was the age difference... Shaking these thoughts from his mind, Yuki took Tohru's hand and lead her away to the kitchen.

Re-doing his Japanese History assignment, Kyo found that he couldn't concentrate. He had all the information in front of him, but his mind had gone to its own little space – he couldn't stop thinking about Shigure. Sure, that was nothing unusual, Shigure was almost always on his mind – he had to calculate when the next attack was going to be, and whether he should stay out of Shigure's reach for a while. But, tonight it was different, he didn't know why, but for the first time he found that he was admiring Shigure – he didn't know what he was admiring, but he suddenly felt grateful that Shigure was with him and not with anybody else.

Wait... did he just say he felt grateful?

Side glancing to the bed, where Shigure was still reading his latest hard back published creation. He felt the weirdest sensation creep up to his throat, which made him avert his gaze back to his work. Why? He'd never felt this way around Shigure before. And why had he suddenly felt better when he'd seen – or rather, been glomped – by Shigure when they arrived home? In fact, he'd almost completely forgotten what had happened that day anyway. And, for the first time ever, Kyo felt like he needed to be close to Shigure, and like nothing but that mattered.

Stunned by his own thoughts, Kyo stared blankly at the blank piece of paper in front of him. Since when did Kyo think like that? It was so completely uncharacteristic! But, he was sure that he felt different about Shigure... not in a bad way, but he just felt... different. It was something he'd never felt before. Wait... was this... love? Did he actually love Shigure?

Losing all concentration for his assignment, he shut his notepad and began arranging the papers neatly, hardly even concentrating on that, and getting them all in mixed order.

When did this happen? When did he actually fall in love with Shigure? Why hadn't he noticed it beforehand? Feeling completely weird, Kyo looked over at Shigure again, and got off the chair.

Shigure looked up at Kyo when he felt the jolt of somebody getting on the mattress. Blinking, he watched as Kyo crawled over to his side of the bed, nudged his arm – which he lifted along with the book – and as Kyo settled his head on his shoulder. Positioning the book in one hand, and using the other to hold Kyo, Shigure went back to reading.

Kyo closed his eyes, draping his arm over Shigure. "Shigure?"

"Hrm?" Shigure asked, turning to the next page.

"... Nothing."

Shigure blinked. He was sure that Kyo was about to say something, but had obviously decided against it, and just made himself more comfortable. Kyo had been rather affectionate today, and although it was uncharacteristic, Shigure was rather glad.

Koda shut his note pad, looking out of the window into the night sky, before opening the draw of his desk and picked the book up, shoving it in the draw under a pile of what he presumed was Kyo's junk. "Soon." Koda muttered to himself, "I have to do it soon, and then I'll get out of this wretched place.