We're All Just Stupid People Doing Stupid Things in a Stupid World
XO'MagickMoon'OX
A/N: T-T Sooooooooooooo sorry it's taken me so long to update! Again. –sobs- Forgive my laziness. But anyway, here's the next update!
Oh, but first, PLUSHIES:
m.t.dog: A plushie of five-year-old Yuki and five-year-old Kyo holding hands for you. :D If you want something different, drop a suggestion.
Blackdrak: Haru-kun eating a strawberry ice cream cone. :) Yum.
scarlettHuntress: Yuki and Kyo holding hands desperately with Kagura pulling at Kyo and Haru pulling at Yuki. XD Genius!
Shiro Ryuu: Kyo with neko-ears and tail, all curled up in a ball like the typical cat that he is. Soooooo kawaii! 8D Oh, no FB doujins. That's okay, though. :) I found some awesome Naruto doujins the other day; soooo yaoi! -drools- I can only download doujinshis, though. I don't think my parents would let me buy any, even if I asked. Ah well. There's always fanfiction, ne?
IloveMoony04: Kyo blushing and giving a flower to Yuki. :D Oh, the sweetness!
Queen Blood-Ruby: Kyo in preschool. Aww, wittle Kyo!
Fly8978: A chibi of… Aaya. –pets pretteh bishie- 8D
Vampirycent: Kyo and Yuki standing back to back, both glaring at Shigure who is laughing... and Tohru in the background sweatdropping. XD Oh dear, I can't remember whether or not I sent you a reply to your review. Did I? Ehehehe… well, anyway, love ya, too. 8D
BulmaWannabe: Yuki straddling Kyo with a test paper in his hand. -drools- Love the imagery. :D
And for my anonymous reviewers:
Jesse: I searched for your penname, but nothing came up! T-T Log in next time and leave a signed review so I can find your page. :D I think I'll cry when this story is done, too! It was so much fun to write. I'll probably start something new for FB, though, so fear not! And, no, I don't have Yahoo, but I have AIM, and you can find my e-mail address in my profile. (I used that more than AIM, anyway.) And, of course, thanks for the review!
shadyware: Hehe, sorry for the cliffhanger. They're just too much fun. XD FB thirteen was great! Kimi and Kakeru were adorable. I'll hold off on reading 14 online, though. I'd rather wait for it to come out. 'Cause I'm weird like that. :D Thanks for the review!
And for janeyjane, ehehehe, I can't remember whether or not I sent you a review-reply. I'm pretty sure I did, but just in case, thanks for the review:)
And XD'Elicia'XD, thanks for the review for chapter one!
BIG THANKS TO SUSANNAH FOR BETA-ING! -glomps her-
Oh, and IMPORTANT NOTE: For anyone who's read FB 12, with Kagura's confession and all, read this chapter as if that part in number 12 had never happened.
Okay, now, on with the chapter!
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I froze. Yuki froze. Scarlet met amethyst, both promptly widening, painted with very visible alarm and absolute dread. As I scrambled off of Yuki, I could feel his heartbeat pounding in panic through his chest.
Shit.
"K-Kyo…kun…?"
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
This was not good.
"…Kyo-kun? You… Yuki-kun…"
Yes, this was bad. Very bad. Very, very bad. Indescribably, unbelievably, totally and completely bad.
Swallowing audibly, I barely had time to get her name out of my mouth before Kagura had taken hold of my arm and swung me through the rice-paper door. Stars erupted erratically before my eyes as I collided with the dining table, the loud crash resounding through the house, searing pain ricocheting through my body.
Once my head had stopped spinning, I looked up into Shigure's amused face and glared at him. Before I could say anything, however, I felt someone grab my foot and swing me violently out the hole in the back door. This time, it wasn't a table that put a painful stop to my flight. No, this time it was a tree. "Dammit!" I hissed as my head cracked against the trunk. I bit my lower lip in an attempt to repress the sharp throbbing that began pounding against my skull. It did little good.
"KYO-KUN! HOW COULD YOU?"
If I weren't currently semi-conscious, I would've strangled her! Whenever Kagura got like this, I was both furious and…well…afraid for my life. And whatever happened, there was always the promise of pain. Lots of pain. Lots and lots of pain. I don't think there was a part of my body that wasn't burning and bruised at this point.
I felt her hand close around my ankle as she continued her banshee-like wailing (the words themselves were no longer able to register with my mind) and braced myself for the anticipated impact against something that would undoubtedly hurt. But the impact never came. In fact, I don't even think I left my crumpled position against the tree trunk.
Warily opening my eyes, I stared blearily up at Kagura (a.k.a, the Bane of My Existence), whose wrist was being held captive by a pale, slender hand. I think…I knew that hand… "Y-Yuki?"
My surroundings stopped spinning like a carousal a moment or two later. Kagura was staring almost incredulously and a bit fearfully at Yuki, who appeared to be…glaring at her. Which was a scary sight. Those violet eyes can look incredibly formidable when they're sharpened like daggers and heated with an angry passion. I should know, since I used to be on the receiving end of the majority of them.
"Yuki-kun…" Kagura breathed, her demeanor shifting from dangerous and insane to sorrowful and insane. I hated it when her mood swung like a freakin' pendulum, going from one extreme to another. Either way, an extreme was still an extreme, and whether she was tossing me around the backyard like a rag doll or bawling her eyes out, she irritated me. "Oh my God, KYO-KUN!" she sobbed, dropping to her knees and hugging me tightly. I winced as she festered some newly formed, Kagura-induced bruises. She was sobbing uncontrollably. "WHO WOULD DO THIS TO MY POOR KYO-KUN?" she wept.
"Kagura," I growled. "Get OFF."
She immediately scrambled to her feet, looking hurt. "I-I'm sorry, Kyo-kun," she sniffled.
"Yeah, yeah."
Yuki came over to me and offered his hand, which I took. He gently pulled me to my feet, asking, "Are you all right?"
I gave a small smile, only vaguely aware of the flicker of jealousy that passed over Kagura's expression. He never used to care whenever Kagura would abuse me like this. But times had changed, of course. "I'll live," I mumbled, even as I felt something warm and sticky roll down my chin.
Yuki shook his head and smiled. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you cleaned up."
He led me inside by the hand, as if I would get lost without him guiding me. I didn't mind, though; I just mentally praised him for stopping Kagura before she went too far.
He sat me down at the table and then disappeared into the kitchen. Kagura sank down near me, tears still glimmering in her eyes. I had never seen her look so hurt, and I had a feeling that what she had walked in on me and Yuki doing was the cause of her pain. I sighed, knowing that this would be a very irritating ordeal.
Yuki returned with a wet cloth and a bag of ice, sitting down beside me. I went to take the cloth from him, but he shook his head and wiped my lip himself. I had half a mind to scowl at his treating my like an incompetent child, but the other half of my mind told me to sit back and enjoy the treatment. As he finished with my lip, I could see in his eyes that he wanted to kiss me, but he wisely refrained in Kagura's presence.
As he handed me the bag of ice to quell the throbbing of my various bruises, Kagura finally spoke up. "K-Kyo-kun?"
"What?"
"Are you…you and Yuki-kun…?"
She let the tail of her question hang in the air, the silence seeming to fill the rest of her words in. I sighed. "Yeah."
Her eyes widened, making her look all the more pitiable. "Y-Yes?"
I regarded her emotionlessly. "That's what I said."
"O-Oh." I could tell she was going to say something else, so we just sat there in silence and let her work up to it. With a heavy, shuddering exhale of breath, she asked, "Why…? Kyo-kun… Why?"
"Because."
Yuki hit me lightly on the arm. I turned to him with a small flicker of a glare in my eyes, and saw him look at me with an expression that seemed to say, Come on, stupid Cat! Talk to her! She's really upset.
I sighed. "Because…" I scratched the back of my head, searching for a solid explanation. I could only think of one. "Because I love him."
Kagura seemed taken aback. "B-But… I love you, Kyo-kun."
I closed my eyes, fists clenching in my lap. "But I don't love you. At least, not like that."
"But Kyo-kun…!"
"Drop it, Kagura," I demanded, my voice tight with suppressed anger. "You don't really love me like that."
"No! I do!" She stood then, looking determined.
I opened my eyes and looked up at her. "You don't. You just tell yourself that you do."
"Kyo-kun… I… I…" Her eyes filled with fresh tears and she ran, suddenly, through the hole in the back door she'd made.
I sighed. "Dammit."
Yuki put his hand on my forearm and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, Kyo-koi. She'll come around."
"Yeah, I know. But still…"
I still felt bad for hurting her. Despite the fact that I didn't love her love her, I still cared about her. I didn't want to hurt her. But, I mean, really! How long was she going to delude herself? She didn't really love me, she didn't really want to marry me as she always claimed she did. And now she was making me feel bad. Girls were so troublesome.
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That night as we set the table for dinner, Kagura returned. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were tear-stained, and it all just made my stomach twist guiltily.
"Kyo-kun," she said. "Can I talk to you?"
I put the last plate on the table and nodded. "Sure."
We stepped outside into the cool night, the wind playing lightly around us. I closed the repaired door behind us and stuffed my hands into my pockets. "Okay. What is it?"
She swallowed audibly, looking down at her feet. "You're right, Kyo-kun."
"Right?"
"I…I don't really love you…" She looked up at me, a certain passion in her eyes that I couldn't place. "Kyo-kun, I—"
I held up my hand to silence her. "No," I said. "It doesn't matter. You don't have to explain yourself to me, Kagura."
She looked surprised, the passion dying just a little. Pressing her lips tightly together, she nodded. "All right, Kyo-kun."
I smiled affectionately.
We were silent for a minute. She turned and looked out at the darkened backyard, her hands tucked behind her back beneath her kitten-shaped backpack. Then, she said, "You know, Kyo-kun, I'm happy for you. You and Yuki-kun."
I nodded, laughing a little. "That seems to be the general consensus." And it really was. Tohru and Uotani and Hana, Shigure, Ayame, Hatori, Haru and Momiji, and now Kagura. No one had really objected to our relationship thus far. It made me feel all the more confident in the belief that it was time to come out with it.
"I don't know, Kyo-kun."
"What?"
She turned back to face me, her expression somewhat darkened. She averted her eyes, studying the floor paneling. "I don't think Akito-san will take very well to it, should he find out."
I froze, my eyes widening.
She glanced back up at me, her eyes once again rimmed with tears. She hugged me then, wrapping her arms around me tightly. "Kyo-kun," she said. "Whatever you do, make sure Akito-san doesn't find out. I-I'm really glad that you're happy…and I would hate for Akito-san to take it away. Please, just be careful."
I laughed dryly, feeling my stomach knot anxiously, my arms snaking around her back. "We will be," I assured. Or, we'll try to be. And whatever happens, happens, I suppose. But, whatever does happen, Yuki and I will be together, and that's all that'll matter.
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Kagura left after dinner. That night, as Yuki lay curled soundly against me, all I could hear was Kagura's voice in my head. Though I tried to convince myself that everything would be okay, like I had earlier, I couldn't shake the nauseating feeling that something was really amiss.
"I don't think Akito-san will take very well to it, should he find out."
"Whatever you do, make sure Akito-san doesn't find out."
Fuck. I clenched my eyes shut tightly, trying to fight down the bile I felt burning up the back of my throat. Looking down at Yuki, I felt my heart throb painfully. If anything happened to him…I don't know what I'd do. Once again, those feelings of fear and hesitation crept up on me, and this time I couldn't get rid of the little demons.
"Kyo?"
I realized I had closed my eyes again, and opened them to see Yuki watching me with a sleepy, half-lidded gaze.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"What d'you mean?"
He yawned, nestling his head back into the crook of my neck and whispered, "You're shaking."
Oh, I was. I closed my eyes once more and took a deep breath, trying to quell my nervousness. "Sorry," I murmured.
He sat up then, watching me from behind a curtain of dark eyelashes. "Why should you be sorry? Tell me what's wrong."
I sat up, too, bringing my knees to my chest and resting my arms on top of them. "I'm just worried, is all." There was no point in hiding it; I knew he could read me too well by now.
"About?"
"Guess," I said with a small, humorless laugh.
He shook his head before resting it on my shoulder. "Don't think about him. He's not here right now. He can't hurt us."
"Yet."
"He won't. Kyo, he won't find out."
"But what if he does?" I asked.
"What if he doesn't?"
"But what if he does?" I reiterated with more emphasis.
"Kyo." He grabbed my nearest forearm and held it tightly. "Stop it. Stop thinking about it."
I took my free hand and ran it through my hair, smiling wryly. "It's just something about the night," I said.
"What about it?"
"It makes you think about things. Haven't you ever noticed how the things you try so hard to forget during the day come to you as you lay in bed at night?"
"Hm, yeah. I have, actually." He paused, then added, "The night also makes you do and say things you never would during the day. Have you ever noticed that? It's as if the night is its own realm."
"It is."
He nodded against my shoulder. "Everything seems so much more surreal at night. Things come out at night that hide in the light of reality."
"Like passion." I smirked.
"Yes. And secrets."
"And secret passion."
He laughed, and I laughed. And together we laughed at our nonsense. Together, as it always should be. And will be.
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A/N: Well, thoughts? The dance chapter will be coming up shortly! I think it's in another two chapters. You can probably expect a multiple-chapter update next. :D REVIEW please!
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