Disclaimer: I do not own the FB series, or any of the characters depicted in it, I apologize in advance for anything that appears to be OOC, and I do not follow the Manga in this story.

Chapter 8: Morning After

The sun peeked over the horizon, surrounded in waves of crimson and golden sky. Kyou yawned and stretched as he lifted his torso from the couch. He crept to his room and silently as possible slid the door open, peering in at the still slumbering Kagura. He had given her his bed to use for the night, despite her insistence that she could use Yuki's room. It was the cat's way of showing he was sorry for causing her too run away, though he had masked his true purpose by yelling that if anything were to be broken or out of place in the rat's room upon Yuki and Shigure's return, he would be the one to be blamed.

He smiled some when he saw the boar sleeping there. Rarely did Kagura do anything to make him smile, but lying there so peacefully, she didn't look as though she could harm him at all, and in truth, she was quite beautiful, with her chestnut hair fanned out around her head. She had been through a lot, three days lost and alone in the woods was hard on anyone, and so long without food, he was a little surprised she hadn't transformed by the time he had found her.

He ran a hand through his hair as he remembered dinner last night. Tohru had been sure to make plenty of food, even though it was only the three of them. It had been near midnight by the time they had finally sat down to eat. Kagura had sat next to Kyou, jubilant at the fact that he might actually like her. Kyou had been barely maintaining his temper, annoyed at the fact that the boar had become so clingy.

This sleeping girl that now lay before him didn't seem at all so annoying, though. If he could convince her to give him his space, maybe they could give a relationship a shot. Kyou slid the door shut again and laughed as he made his way up to the roof. It was amusing that he was having these thoughts about his cousin, thoughts he never thought he would have had. He stretched out on the roof and closed his eyes with a sigh, basking in the early morning sun.

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The head of the family turned away from his window to face the figure who stood in the doorway. Evidently there was news regarding the situation with the boar, "Hello, Shigure."

Shigure bowed politely and sat, his legs tucked beneath him, on the floor in front of the weak but feared man, "Hello, Akito."

The young head glanced again out his window at the much less busy estate below. The search had ended; it was obvious from the less than hectic feeling in the air, "Kagura has been located, I presume."

"Yes. Kyou found her yesterday."

"I see. That disgusting creature actually joined the search?" Standing and walking slowly across the room Akito once more slid his gaze back to the dog.

"Actually, it was more as though he conducted a search of his own. He didn't have the patience to wait for ours to start." The novelist kept his gaze locked on the spot Akito had been in upon his entrance into the room.

"Oh?" Akito turned where he stood and made his way back to the window, looking out once more onto the world he rarely ventured into, "Well, now that's a surprise…it seems that vile thing has feelings for Kagura after all. It was a foolish move on his part, though." There was a long pause before Akito turned to face Shigure with a sick sarcastic smile, "What would we have done had Kyou had become lost as well?"

Shigure remained silent, he knew how Akito felt about Kyou, how most everyone felt about the boy. No answer was required for the question the family head had asked.

Akito continued to watch Shigure as he put forth his next question "At any rate, where are they now? I wish to speak to Kagura." There was another pause as he gaze once more shifted out the window, "I must make sure she is alright, after all."

"At my house." Shigure replied in quiet obligation. It was true that Akito couldn't stand Kyou, and so had not guarded the cat's love life as closely as he had the other members of the zodiac's; even going so far as too allow Kagura to pursue her one-sided relationship with him, but now that Akito knew, or at least thought, that Kyou had begun to return Kagura's feelings, there was no telling what he might do to her.

"Alone?" There was a slight snap to the head's tone as he quickly turned to face Shigure again.

"No, not alone. Tohru is with them." He knew the family's leader would take little comfort in this fact.

"Ah, Miss Honda." Akito hissed. At least with her around the two wouldn't be alone, but Akito despised that girl, especially after what had happened only a little under a week ago when she had come to see him. The head gave his final instruction as he gestured that Shigure could depart, "Well, when you get home, inform Kagura that I wish to see her before the end of the day."

"Yes, Akito," Shigure said with another polite bow as he got to his feet to leave the room.

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Kyou was still lying on the roof enjoying the warm sunlight of the morning when he heard a call that instinctively set his hair on end, "Kyyyyyyyooooooooouuuuuuu!"

After taking several deep breaths to calm himself he rolled to his feet and walked to the edge of the roof, looking down at the grey eyed girl who was smiling up at him, "Hey, Kagura."

"I thought you might be up there! Tohru and I almost have breakfast ready! Come on down!"

"I'll come down when I'm good and ready!" Just because Kyou had decided he wanted to give a relationship a chance, didn't mean he had to start taking orders from her.

"KYOU!" Her eyes glinted as she yelled up at him, causing him to cringe.

"Ok, I'm ready now!" He hurried down from the roof and she giggled.

"Yay! Let's go eat!" Kagura grabbed hold of his wrist in both hands and pulled him towards the door to the house.

"Hey! You're gonna pull my arm off!" the orange haired boy hissed as he pulled his arm away.

"Oh..." Kagura pouted some and looked down, "Kyou…I'm sorry, I guess I didn't realize-"

"Aw hell…" the cat cut her off with a sigh, "Look. We can try and, you know…give this a shot. But all this clingy crap, it has to stop."

"Oh! Ok!" Her eyes sparkled at his admission of willingness to try a relationship, and she grabbed his arm in a hug excitedly.

"H-hey! WHAT DID I JUST SAY!" His eyes narrowed as he glared at her.

The boar blinked and quickly let go, folding her arms behind her and looking at the ground. Kyou sighed and reached around taking her hand and pulling it out so he could hold it properly. Kagura blinked at him in surprise for a moment before smiling broadly.

"What?" Kyou inquired as he noticed that she seemed to have a little distant look in her surprised expression.

"Hmm? Oh…nothing." She replied with a shrug. Not yet, but maybe someday soon she could tell him about the memory that he seemed to have misplaced of their childhood, her very reason for loving him so much, "Let's go eat before breakfast gets cold."

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Yuki and the rest of the zodiacs who had remained with Hatori were waiting patiently for Shigure's return. Or in Yuki's case, not so patiently. His older brother continued to annoy him, and as hard as he may try, Yuki simply could not ignore him.

"Yuki! Oh Yuki!" Ayame called as he pursued his brother around the garden, "Yuki! I'm afraid you're walking a bit fast, I can hardly keep up!"

"That's the point, you moron." The rat replied in a low dull tone as he quickly switched directions.

The snake however was a little too quick for him, and not near as moronic as Yuki claimed, and cut off his brother's path, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were avoiding me!"

"I am!" Yuki cried as he turned and headed back into Hatori's house, Aya once again in hot pursuit.

An arm reached out behind Yuki cutting of the serpent's path, "Perhaps you should leave him alone for a while, Ayame."

"You really think so?" Aya questioned as he turned to face Hatori, the man to whom the arm belonged.

"Yes, I do." The sea horse replied and walked off across the room, Aya skipping after him this time.

"Where is Shigure?" Yuki inquired impatiently as he looked out a window. He had never liked spending more time at the estate then he absolutely had too, for fear of a confrontation with Akito.

"Patience, brother!" Aya turned his attention once more to the rat as a sigh of exasperation escaped the doctor, "I know that you are afraid that in your absence Kyounkitchi may have made some sort of move on the princess, but believe me! She would be a foolish girl to prefer him to a prince like you! And we all know Tohru is no fool!"

"You're the fool." The younger sibling muttered.

Momiji walked out of the room where he had slept, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and Hatori looked at Aya and Yuki, "I hope you are happy, Ayame, you woke up Momiji."

"I'm Sorry!" the fashionable man's comment was aimed at Ha'ri rather than at the bunny whose sleep he had interrupted.

Ok, that's a rather lame place to end the chapter, but I can't think of anything else to write without babbling on and on without making a point. I just wanted to add some more Yuki and Aya interaction since you all seemed to like that! Again, sorry about any OOC, and sorry about being overly paranoid about being OOC.

Lucinda the Maid: Haahaha! I should write a story just about the trio! Hmmm….how to handle that…

Haruko Sohma: You're right of course; Kagura and Akito don't have much contact…dammit! What have I gotten myself into!

NightBlue: She's gonna try…but old habits die hard.

DarknessRose63: -claps also- Yay! My story is loved!