Chapter 20

TT: Am I the only one who thinks Yuki's behavior in this chapter is a little unlike him? Hmm…

Well people, I've updated again – aren't you happy! And because everyone keeps claiming I'm evil to use them, there is no cliffhanger today.

Enjoy and Review!

There was a long pause, before Shigure spoke, pointing dramatically at Kyo, "Aha! Our Kyo has been going on secret trysts to meet a lovely flower, hmm? Oh Kyo, why did you never mention it to me before, you naughty boy?"

Scowling and his hair bristling in anger, Kyo grabbed the shoe that Eris quietly put next to his hand, throwing it at the dog of the zodiac, "Shut up, you stupid pervert!"

Eris whooped when the shoe hit Shigure directly in the face, "Yeah, you heard NeKyo! …Hey, Kyo, need another shoe?"

Ignoring the way Shigure grabbed his arm and whined to him that Kyo was being mean, Hatori attempted to regain Kyo's attention, "Who is Eris?"

For a long moment, it seemed as if Kyo wouldn't answer, instead looking at the wall near his bed – what Hatori didn't know was that he was looking at Eris, silently enquiring if she minded if he answered honestly. The ghost shrugged indifferently, and Kyo sighed, "She's my friend – my best friend – but she's also a ghost."

Hatori blinked, Shigure wailed, "A ghost! Ahh, I need to call an exorcist."

"Hey, you actually said it! You said I was your best friend! Aww, NeKyo, you're my best friend too." Eris hugged him, giving her arms a stern look when they went through him.

Hatori spoke, slowly as if dealing with a confused child, "Kyo – ghosts do not exist."

"…Don't exist… I don't exist? …Waahhh! Kyo – he said that I don't exist!" Eris sniffled, before wrapping her arms around him and sobbing (just a little dramatically) into his chest, "I do exist! I do! I've spent the last few decades trying to convince myself of that!"

What Hatori saw was Kyo suddenly pull himself back from something the doctor couldn't see, his red eyes wide, "Since when do you cry!" There was a slight pause, and then Kyo gave the doctor an annoyed look, "Now look what you've done – you've made her question her own existence, again!"

The conversation was interrupted by a timid knock on the door, before Tohru opened it and walked in, carrying a tray with three cups of tea and an electric kettle full of water. "Oh, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting – but I thought you all might like some of this, and I brought up this so that Kyo can make himself some more tea if he gets thirsty again later – this way he doesn't have to go downstairs." She busied herself with a moment by handing out the tea and plugging the kettle into the wall near Kyo's bed.

"Ah, Tohru my lovely flower, you are so sweet – so kind and thoughtful!"

Tohru smiled, and then left the room again. She cast one curious look to Yuki, who had been standing near the door when she had come in, before walking to the kitchen to start on dinner, still wondering what the glass Yuki had was for.

Yuki waited until Tohru had gone back downstairs, before putting the glass to the door again, his ear to the bottom of the glass. He felt sort of bad for eavesdropping on the cat like this, but the fact was that no one would even tell him what had happened when Kyo had met with Akito. Not only that, but he was still wondering about the strange change in personality Kyo had suddenly picked up all those months ago – and no one was willing to give him any kind of answers. If this was what it took for him to at least discover why Kyo had changed so much, then so be it…

However, he suspected that the entire half-heard conversation was only making him more confused.

Hatori waited for a moment longer, before turning back to Kyo. He wondered whether the stress of being the cat of the zodiac had caused the boy to start imagining this 'ghost'. Absently sipping the tea, he began to approach the issue logically, "Kyo, even if there was a ghost, how would it be that you could see it and no one else could."

For a second, Kyo scowled, before muttering his answer, "Because I'm the cat. Eris says that only cats and psychics can see ghosts in normal circumstances."

"Then how do you explain what happened yesterday?"

Kyo opened his mouth to answer, but paused and turned to look at someone invisible next to him, listening intently, "Eris says she had a lot of power built up from hanging around me so long, and she just let it all out in one burst – she's back to square one now, doesn't even know if she can do the 'knocking trick' on Shigure at the moment."

For a moment, Shigure wasn't sure what Kyo was talking about, but then remembered the incident many months ago, "That was her! But, that was so long ago – she's been around that long…?"

"Longer than that." Kyo shrugged indifferently, his gaze looking at the wall – or possibly Eris – instead of his older cousins. In the background, the kettle began to boil.

Hatori sighed, "Kyo, Akito is furious about what happened, I need to give him an explanation, and I doubt that he's going to believe that there was a ghost. I don't either, I haven't seen any real proof of what your claim - " He paused, eyes resting on the kettle. The other two followed his gaze.

Eris took her hand out of the kettle again, waiting until the water bubbled violently again before putting her limb back through the plastic and making the water cool again, giving Hatori a pointed look that he couldn't see, "Water boils… Water cools… Water boils… Water freezes… Oops, now we have ice!"

Kyo rolled his eyes, "Is that proof enough, or should she put her hand into your head and give you a brain freeze too? She's done it to me before, you know – hurts like heck."

There was a pause, Eris changing the subject back to something previous, waving her hands around for emphasis.

"And Eris says that if the 'God of the Sohma' - and yes, she did do the finger wagging thing, its not something I added, so stop looking at me like that – wants to go up against the goddess of Chaos again, she'll be happy to finish him off this time, because there are plenty of other spooks who'd dearly love a word with the Head. Oh, and she wants you to tell him that that wasn't a threat, if he wants a threat she'll deliver it herself, only she'll be sure to cause more damage than last time."

Shigure looked thoughtful for a moment, "Eris, Eris…Oh yes, wasn't she supposed to be the ghost that Tohru spoke to with that Ouiji board? Whatever happened to it, anyway?"

Neither Hatori or Shigure could understand the look that suddenly crossed Kyo's face, but both were certain that they had indeed heard the ever-so-faint sound of a girl's hysterical laughter.