Chapter 32

TT: Sorry to anyone who doesn't think this is up to my usual par; this is something for you all to smile about while I work on the next chapter, which (Oooh, spoiler) will once again involve Akito! Mwahahaha, yes, the God of the Sohma family is back, with a few new tricks in attempt to remind Kyo of his station.

...Wait, now everyone's going to demand I update really quickly, aren't you?

SillyLittleNothing – Oi, stop pointing out future plot-happenings in the reviews. You'll give it all away. :P I suspect that Kyo knows most of the places Eris goes – in the area, that is – the highway is just a special one that deserves its own chapter.

Kashuneko – :bows: I do my best. Thank you.

DragonLady – I know, what I meant was I don't think anyone else has my story mentioned in their forum.

hippo thief – They just didn't get caught. Must've been a quiet day.

"Hey, NeKyo, why were we going at the museum again?"

"It's a school excursion, and it gets me out of school. Do we need another reason?"

"Hmm – you have a point!" Eris paused slightly, tucking her arms behind her head, "But why do we have to wait an hour for everyone to get onto the bus?"

Kyo's eyebrow twitched as he watched one of the more incompetent teachers search her lists desperately for the name of the student about to get onto the bus. "I don't know. Go scare the teacher, maybe that will make her hurry up."

Eris paused, looking thoughtful, "Hmm…"

"Excuse me, is that seat taken." Kyo away from the window to see a girl pointing to the seat next to him.

Kyo glanced at the seat, then back at the girl, "Yes."

The girl paused, unsure of what to say, before glancing around the bus; it was almost full by now, and there were only a few seats left, beside people that, quite frankly, scared her more than the orange-haired boy. "I think your friend will have to find another seat, when they get here." She sat down on the seat.

A deep coldness flooded her. She felt uncomfortable, in a way that she couldn't describe, that seemed to be more instinct than an actual thinking. She stood up again, almost instantly, and almost ran off to the other spare seats.

Eris continued to glare at the girl as she left, offense practically radiating off her. She huffed, crossing her arms and turning back to Kyo, "She sat on me!"

"She thought the seat was free."

"You told her it was taken."

Kyo shrugged, "She's blonde, I suppose." Whether Kyo really meant anything by that, or whether it was just meant to make Eris nod and forget about it – which it did – is still under debate.

There was a pause, as the final student found a seat – which was, thankfully, not Eris' – and the bus began to move.

A few moments later, Eris began to sing. For a short while, Kyo ignored it. Then he started glaring. Then he began to mutter for her to shut up. Then he gave up, and simply twitched.

And eventually, they got to the museum. By some miracle, it was before Kyo committed mass-murder or suddenly screamed at invisible people to stop singing.

"I am the emperor! All hail emperor Eris. Oh, and NeKyo, who is my, um, favorite gladiator!"

"I am not a gladiator; there's no way I'd fight in some loincloth." Kyo looked at the leather armor on display. According to the tag, the amour had been worn by foot soldiers on campaign. "And get off that live-size model of Caesar's 'throne'."

"But I'm the emperor!"

"Wouldn't you be an empress?"

"But they were boring; empresses weren't allowed to rule or do anything; because they were women. I want to rule, so I'm the emperor! And if you don't want to be a gladiator, you can be my trusted general."

"You pay more attention to my ancient history class than me." He turned away from the display, "Come on, there's a display of the Crusades around here somewhere; you can pretend to be a knight or something."

"Hey, NeKyo, wasn't there a specific display you were supposed to see and take notes on? Famous authors through the ages, or something?"

Kyo shrugged, "I'll copy the notes of Tohru later. Besides, for all I know, Shigure might be there, to look at all the school girls."

"Mm-hmm." Eris didn't appear to be listening. Kyo couldn't see as he walked away, but Eris was staring at a red button on the wall, surrounded by glass.

Kyo stood outside the building, along with every other visitor at the museum, staring as the firemen made their way into the building. Around him, large, excited discussions were taking place. "Eris, just give me a straight answer; did you push the fire alarm?"

"Fire alarm? Is that what it was?"

"…If you didn't know it was the fire alarm, why did you push it?"

"Because it said not to!"

"Because it – right, never mind, I think I understand now." A slight pause, "Maybe you should start pranking the rat again, to get rid of these urges of yours."

"I can't do that, NeKyo; I said I wouldn't. Besides, this way, you don't get in trouble for not staying at the exhibit we were supposed to be at."

"And what if I get blamed for this?"

"You won't; I already heard the teacher's talking, they caught some people from another school mucking about with fire alarms in another exhibit; so they think that they pushed the other one first."

"That's never stopped teachers before."

"I messed up an excursion that Yuki had to work hard to help organize for the teacher?"

Kyo's lips twitched, "Yeah, alright – that makes it all worthwhile."

Tohru watched in fascination as Kyo's eyebrow twitched some more. She'd already asked him what was wrong, but he'd assured her it was nothing and to not worry about it. That had been five minutes ago, when they'd first gotten on the bus for to go home, and the twitching hadn't stopped. The cat was silent, staring out the window with his chin rested on his hand.

Tohru wondered if she should ask Kyo again, when Hana, sitting in the seats in front of them with Uo suddenly turned around, leaning on the back of her seat to look at the pair behind her.

Her dark eye's rested on Kyo, "Is it the one singing that?"

Kyo let out a small grunt that translated into 'yes'. Tohru looked confused, not sure about who they were talking about. She didn't hear anyone singing.

Hana continued, "Are you certain you don't want me to try and get rid of it? It is being really irritating."

"I'm sure – she'll get bored soon."

Tohru and Uo exchanged a confused look, neither having any idea what Hana and Kyo were talking about, before Uo shrugged and turned back in her seat. Usually she would have demanded an answer, but somehow, this time, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

From where she sat on the back of Kyo's seat, Eris continued to sing, blissfully unaware of the conversation happening below her. "The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round…"