Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the storyline and Koda... good-ol'-Koda. Should I ship him off to Europe...?

Did you think that it was strange that Shigure traded in Koda for a house? Yeah, me too (and I wrote it ..), but believe me, it took a heck of a long time to write that chapter... this one was a heck of a lot easier though, but I have to admit that I'm a sucker for comedy - comedy is the easiest thing to write in the WHOLE DAMN WORLD o.o! But, from here on, for a little while it'll get dramatic-ness, seeing as this was supposed to be a drama in the first place... anywho, I'm rambling, so enjoy and don't forget to read and review n.n

Part Nineteen: Consequences

Woken up by Shigure's voice, Kyo shoved back on Koda's shoulders, whirling around to face the older man. "Shigure... I..."

Shigure felt something break inside his chest. He couldn't have mistaken what he had seen. Koda and Kyo... they'd been... Shigure's hand found its way to the material above his heart. Shigure didn't even think that Kyo was possible to cheat. And now he was trying to explain himself? Shigure wouldn't listen! He turned around, and began to walk back to the house.

"Shigure, wait." Kyo panicked, grabbing Shigure's wrist before he went out of Kyo's reach. Shigure stopped in mid step, but didn't turn around.

"Kyo," he said, "just go away." He ripped his hand downwards and out of Kyo's grip, and continued to walk in the direction he was facing.

Kyo stood transfixed, watching Shigure's retreating back. He didn't like the tone of voice that Shigure had used... it sounded... hurt. Kyo had... hurt Shigure? It wasn't his fault! It was Koda's! Koda was the one who had kissed him in front of Shigure, not the other way around. Kyo whirled around – only to see nothing but air. It appeared that while Kyo had been trying to convince Shigure, Koda had slipped away.

He didn't know what to do. Kyo was beginning to panic. He literally bounced around on the spot for a moment, before racing back towards the house.

Shigure had completely ignored Tohru when he walked back in the house unaccompanied by Kyo or Koda, and gone straight up to the room he shared with Kyo and shut the door, leaning against it momentarily, before heading over to the bed, and sitting on it.

He should have seen this coming – the emotional pain was terrible. Koda had sworn to get him back, and he'd completely ignored him... then again, he hadn't expected Koda to get out either, and Shigure had a sneaking suspicion that he was only let out to get Shigure back – well, it had worked. He vaguely wondered if this was how Koda felt all those years ago. Shigure clutched the material over his heart again, feeling tears surprisingly spring to the side of his eyes. This hurt way more than anything else ever had.

And, no matter how hard he tried, he kept thinking of Koda. Shigure didn't want to accept that Koda would do that to him – ever! No matter what he'd done to Koda in the past. And suddenly, looking around at the house that had been erected for Koda's freedom, he didn't feel very free at all.

The entire time, Shigure knew that his 'house' had been a metaphor for 'freedom'. If Shigure got out of Sohma house, he'd have the freedom to write, to be what he wanted to be, other than just the faithful Sohma dog – but it had cost Koda's freedom. Shigure had traded Koda in for his own freedom, and it had come right back to bite him in the arse. He felt no need to get revenge, but... he just wanted to...

Yuki propped Shigure's door open softly, both himself and Tohru peeking around the side of the door, staring at Shigure who was sitting in the dark clutching his chest. What had happened? They didn't understand, but Shigure looked sick.

"Should we call Hatori?" Tohru asked as Yuki slowly closed the door.

Yuki paused for a moment, "Yeah, yeah, we should. I'll do it."

Yuki had just hung up the phone with Kyo came bursting through the door, ignored taking off his shoes, and raced upstairs, past a worried Tohru, whom he too ignored. Jumping two stairs at a time, it wasn't long before Kyo reached the top, and it took even less time for him to reach the end of the hallway and to yank open the door to Shigure's room.

Shigure didn't even look up at him. "Kyo, you should have taken off your shoes at the door."

"Shigure, let me explain!" Kyo stumbled over his words, making them one long slur. "It wasn't what you thought!"

"Wasn't it?" Shigure asked weakly, although Kyo could hear the sarcasm in his voice, "What was it then? Because I could have sworn I saw you doing something intimate with my worst enemy."

Kyo fell silent – he had been doing something intimate with Koda, but Koda had been the one who had randomly kissed him, not the other way around. "But I-"

"Explain it to me then." Shigure said darkly.

Kyo opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to say; 'Koda did it! He hit on me!', but he was sure that Shigure wouldn't buy that – even if it was true. So, Kyo closed his mouth.

"So it is what I thought." Shigure concluded.

"It – no – well -" Kyo was completely tongue tied. "It's not that way because I -"

The door to Shigure's room opened, Hatori rushing in and breaking Kyo off from what he was about to say. Quickly, Hatori ushered everybody including Kyo out of the door into the hall, shutting the door behind him.

Kyo slumped against the door and brought his knees to his chest, and then he heard it, a small voice from inside the room that said; "Ha'ri... I just... want to forget..."

Koda stalked into the main house to see Hatori's car drive out the front of the estate. After moving out of the way, he made his way to where he knew Akito would be this time in the afternoon. He'd done it – by the look on Shigure's face, Kyo and Shigure were through. Of course, after he'd actually kissed Kyo, he'd brought and gurgled half a bottle of mouth wash.

"Akito-sama..." Koda said, kneeling in the room that he knew that Akito was just outside of. Akito didn't respond for a moment, but he eventually said;

"Well, did you destroy Shigure? Did you make him want to forget?"

"Yes..." Koda said, gripping his knee's rather tightly, the look on Shigure's face coming back into his minds eye. It should have felt so great, seeing that look on Shigure so miserable, so... why didn't it? Why did he feel so horrible? Not even the thrill laugh of Akito could change distract Koda from the gut feeling that he had. Then, suddenly, he realised that he'd done something horribly wrong.