Chapter 48

TT: Hey guys – as I'm going to visit my family next week, there probably won't be an update for a while. I'm (probably) not dead, so don't worry about me! Sorry to everyone; I promise to do my best to post when I get back!

Lemmesee – Glad you like it.

Dark Flamingo – Eee, I confused you? :cries: Tell me where, and I'll see what I can do to explain it.

Mousewolf – I'll leave the rest of the intimidation to you, shall I?

Chaos Tears - Eris calling Akito 'Akky' is mostly intimidation; it proves that she's not scared of him, and as its not meant to be endearing, that she doesn't even respect him. But yep, Akito's paralyzed.

Dark Inu Fan – While that's a really interesting idea, it doesn't fit with what we've learnt about Eris' past.

Klove – I misspelt it again? Argh! I don't know why I keep spelling Kureno's name wrong – I'll go back and change it, thanks for telling me.

Kashuneko – Ah, most of us would probably love to do that.

Annoying Little Twit – 'Fraid he is, but that doesn't mean he got out unscathed.

Nekokazum – As I've told other people who have asked about this; there is not going to be any romance in this story. Everyone can dream up the pairings they want, but they won't appear in the actual story.

Edakumi – Personally, I don't think the curse should be broken, but for my plot I'm going to have it to do so.

Dukoro-chan – Yes, Kyo is very important to her, and she can be quite unrestrained when it comes to watching his back. But it goes too ways – I'd hate to think what Kyo would do if he ever found that exorcist.

No one could rightly say who started it, but within moments, the verbal argument had esculated. Kyo's furious comments and Yuki's snappish insults both gave way to fists and violent kicks.

Eris hovered above the scene, occasionally cheering Kyo on when he got a particually good attack in. Tohru stood to the side, twisting her hands together as she stared at them, eyes wide and frantic as she tried to work out what she should do.

Their fight progressed, or perhaps it was degressed, until it seemed less like a battle and more like a simple brawl – Eris was sure that Yuki was the cause of that, when he'd tackled Kyo in the middle in a last-ditch attempt to counteract Kyo's unstopping, continuous attacks. There was still something… graceful about the way they were fighting – they had, after all, been learning martial arts since they were young. It was just uncomposed, unstructured, and mixed with the natural fighting style of, well, teenage boys.

"Uppercut! Uppercut – Yeah, that's the way you do it! Kyo! Kyo! Gooo NeKyo!" Eris threw her arms up in victory, "NeKyo; look out for that kick!"

Then, all at once, one of the boys went flying through a paper wall - this act, strangely enough had Shigure out of his study in an instant, while he hadn't even glanced towards the door while the fight was in progress – and into a tree, when he slumped to the ground, only half-concious.

Torhu opened her mouth to cry out and ask Kyo if he was okay, but then paused. She glanced from the boy, still standing inside, to the one outside. Because the one slumped against as tree had grey hair.

Kyo had just beaten Yuki.

Somewhere overhead, Eris was cheering, letting out a 'whoop' and dancing around, arms waved wildly in the air. Shigure continued to mourn over his broken wall, not even noticing the sudden silence around him.

Torhu however, looked to be on the verge of a panic attack, unsure of what to do. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed frozen to the spot as she looked between Kyo and the now unconious Yuki. She wrung her hands together, distraught, "Ah! What should I do!"

There was a pause, then an icy touch on her shoulder. Tohru turned her head, to find the phone hovering in midair beside her, the reciver held out towards her offeringly. The girl took it with only a moment's hesitence, before calling Hatori – babbling on the phone to him about fights and Yuki being unconscious until the dragon agreed to come over.

Half an hour later, Hatori was dabbing the cut on Yuki's temple. The rat was sitting quietly as the dragon did so, arms crossed and sulking. He couldn't believe he'd gone and lost to that cat! It didn't make sense to him; his abilities had always been several levels above Kyo's own; how could Kyo have improved so much in such a short time? After all, the last time they'd fought had only been –

Here Yuki paused, as it occurred to him that it had been a very long time since they'd last had a physical fight. The presence of that ghost – Eris – had mellowed the cat in a way not even Tohru had managed. She'd taught Kyo - and this was something that Yuki greatly disliked 'her' for – humilation could be caused in more ways than merely fighting.

He was cut out of his musing with a wince, as Hatori pressed down a little too hard with the cotton ball he was cleaning the wound with.

Hatori covered the wound, and instructed Yuki that he had a mild concussion, before putting the rest of the bandages back in the bag he'd brought with him. "Where's Kyo; I suppose I should have a look at him too. If Yuki got a concussion, then he's probably feeling sorry for himself."

Tohru blinked, putting the tea she'd just brought in down, "Um, actually, Kyo disappeared before you got here. But he seemed fine. After all, Yuki was the one who lost."

Hatori stilled briefly, eyes widening slightly as he took in this surprising piece of information. "Did he?" He glanced at Yuki; that explained why the boy had been sulking, at the very least. "That's unusual."

The rat of the zodiac glowered at him as Hatori packed up the last of his equipment and got to his feet. The dragon took no notice, instead telling Tohru a handful of signs to look out for, because of Yuki's concussion, said goodbye, and left the room.

There was a cry of "Toriiii!" in Shigure's voice, and a noise that sounded suspiciously as if Hatori had just been tackled by the energetic dog.

"I do know what happened Eris; I was there."

"Yeah, but you didn't get to see how it looked; it really cool to see from the sidelines!" She waved her arms for emphasis, and then smiled apologetically when her hand went through the back of his head. "Heh, sorry NeKyo."

Kyo rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes clenched as he tried to relieve the brainfreeze that was suddenly plaguing him. After a moment, he relaxed again, "I think I'm getting used to that."

"Does that mean I'll have to think of a new alternative to punching you? Oh! I could sing 'the wheels on the bus' song for hours on end – and I don't even need to stop to breath!"

"The brain freezes get the job done, Eris."

A few moments of near silence went between the pair. "Hey NeKyo?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going?"

For a moment, Eris didn't think Kyo was going to reply. He didn't look at her, his posture didn't change, he didn't even falter his stride for a moment. Eris waited, before opening her mouth to ask again, only to be cut of by Kyo.

"To speak to Akito."

"Huh? But why, NeKyo?"

"…Because I just won a bet."