Chapter 22

TT: Well, I'm still not sure how Haru and Momiji are going to act when they next see Kyo face to face. All I know is that they're going to be frightened of whatever protector that Kyo evidently has, even if they never see her again. What does everyone else think?

Oh yeah, and what's everyone else's view on Kyo's Shishou – I don't think I've seen enough of him for a good interpretation, so I'm asking everyone else.

Read and Review, okay?

Sora – What song was this? I'd be interested in finding it and listening to it

Tally – Don't worry about it, we all have bursts of forgetfulness – I wrote this chapter twice because I forgot I'd already done it.

Kat - You're very welcome. I'm glad your friend likes it.

Elven Butterfly - I think that the ghost-cats can't move on so long as the head condemns the cat of the zodiac, but we'll have to see.

Eris had waited until Kyo had gone to sleep before she wandered back to the main house of the Sohma family. She hoped that she wasn't putting thoughts in Akito's head, but even if she was, hopefully she'd make her point so that he wouldn't carry them through.

Akito had been lying in a soft, large bed, surrounded by pillows and covered by layers of blankets. He hadn't felt as bad as he did in a long time - and damn that dragon for leaving him alone when he was like this!

So the monster had an ally -a ghost, of all things! Odd, he didn't recall ever being informed that Sohma cats had that ability - it would seem that the monsters had been keeping secrets from everyone…

Akito felt the apprehension - he refused to believe it could be fear! - rising up imside of him again. A ghost… how did one defeat what was already dead? Her words had hit home hard - he was going to die one day, and she was waiting for him, becoming evermore powerful…

Akito sneezed, and sniffed irritably, reaching a hand out of the blankets towards the tissue box beside him.

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped half a dozen degrees. Akito froze, but saw no one. There was a slight scratching on the ground, and then nothing again.

Warily, he strained his worn body to sit up slightly, leaning on the pillows, and strained his neck to look down at the floor. He reached out to turn on a bedside light.

A piece of white chalk lay beside a message, written in large letters on the floor, in the messy scrawl of a teenager.

'DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!'

Then, just underneath, in smaller writing. 'Kyo matters most, but don't you dare take it out on someone else - because I have eyes everywhere.'

Then, on its own, the chalk moved. First, it simply rolled a little, then it was lifted up by an invisible hand, and an arrow was drawn beside the message, pointing towards Akito's window.

Almost obediently, the head of the Sohma family shifted his gaze towards the drawn curtains. Without a ripple, a cat walked between them - no, it walked though them, because this transparent cat was the same one who had been watching just a few days prior. Its eyes met his gaze, staring unblinkingly back, and for some reason Akito felt apprehensive.

The chalk moved again, drawing his attention away from the cat. The cylinder-shaped object hovered in the air for a moment, before it was snapped in two.

The air began to warm again, but Akito knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night. The girl might be gone, but he could still feel the ghost-cat watching him.

Kyo stopped for a moment outside the school building, staring up with an apprehension that he couldn't recall feeling before. Yuki and Tohru, who had been walking ahead of him, deep in conversation, hadn't noticed when he stopped, and walked inside.

A part of Kyo wanted nothing more than to just turn around and walk back the way he came – to see if he could find that tortoiseshell, Kit-Kat, that had been there with Eris in two significant events between the two, and sulk with the cat for the day. But before he could act on the whim, he found himself being pushed forward into the school by a pair of icy hands on his shoulders.

"I know you don't want to, but you can't just put it off, NeKyo."

"I could if you'd stop pushing!"

"It won't do any good Kyo, you know that."

Kyo lurched forward a little, away from Eris' insistent hands. "I'm going already, just stop shoving before you knock me over." Ignoring the way Eris gave him an encouraging smile, he pushed open the door, striding into the building.

And if Eris noticed that he deliberately avoided the area around Momiji and Haru's own homeroom, she didn't say anything.

Lunch found Kyo hiding out of the roof with Eris, hoping that everyone would get the hint that he wanted to be left alone. From where he sat, he could just make out Tohru and Yuki with her friends, eating outside so as to enjoy the warm weather. Then he spotted Momiji and Haru walking towards the group, and moved away from the edge of the roof to the other side.

Eris sighed, "Are you going to avoid them forever, NeKyo?"

"Yes."

"It won't work - especially considering how often they come over to see Tohru and Yuki."

"Well then, I'll just try to make sure that I avoid them for as long as possible."

"Isn't that kind of cowardly?"

"Not when I'm the one doing it."

"Ooooh, its one of those, is it?" She frowned suddenly, looking sulky, "And bunny-boy had lollies again, too!"

Kyo rolled his eyes, sitting down on the concrete roof, tucking one knee under his chin and wrapping his arms around it. In a violent fashion, he tore off a piece of the tuna sandwich he had in his hand, "I'll buy you some later, how about that?"

Eris grinned, and attempted to tackle-hug him, but instead fell through him and off the roof. She didn't seem to notice, instead hovering in midair with a grin, "You're the best, NeKyo!"

"Yeah, yeah – if I didn't say that, you'd go down there so you could steal Momiji's food, and that would cause all kinds of trouble."

Eris grinned, mischievous and slightly dark, rubbing her hands together as if plotting, "You know me so well." This was finished with a, perhaps slightly overdramatic, evil laugh.

Shooting her an irritated look – though he was grateful that Eris knew when to change the subject – Kyo shook his head. "Whenever you get that gleam in your eye, it means that something bad it going to happen to someone because of us – usually Yuki."

"Whaaat? You're complaining? Should we go for Tohru instead?"

"Don't you dare!" Anything else Kyo said was drowned out by the sound of the school bell. Kyo groaned, "And back to the torture…" He sighed and got to his feet, not having to look back to know Eris was following him. "Lets go see Shishou after school today… Let's hope Kagura isn't there, because I really want to introduce him to you."

Eris smiled; a soft emotional smile that could convey more than an eternity of words could, if one chose to find them, "I'll see about the chalk/pen trick, will I?"

The half-smile, half-smirk that Kyo gave her in return, as he sat down in his seat, was all the answer Eris needed.

After school, Haru frowned slightly in mild frustration – he hadn't expected anything less than for Kyo to avoid him and Momiji so utterly all day, but it was still irritating. The ox didn't know for certain if he wanted to see Kyo or not, he felt apprehensive after what had happened a few brief days ago, but the confrontation was needed, for everyone.

And he wasn't sure how long he could keep up the nerve.