I'm so sorry! Forgive me! I've got to make this quick...

Disclaimer: I don't own it. Amaya belongs to Paris/Rosebane (she's changed her name...) I own Akemi, that's it


Chapter 12 – Morning Mania

The morning's bright rays stung at Akemi's eyelids. She scrunched them up tightly and groaned. Opening them wearily, she looked up at the ceiling. Although she was an early riser, last night had been a late one, and she was a bit too lazy to actually move. Suddenly there was a loud popping noise from somewhere across the room. She shot up and looked around, startled by the sudden noise.

Everyone else was sleeping.

But upon closer inspection she noticed that Kyo was missing from his sleeping bag. His clothes were lying there in a heap on the ground.

He must be off practicing, Akemi concluded. Is that where that popping sound came from? She was distracted from her thoughts when a little orange tabby appeared from beneath Kyo's pajamas. Akemi could barely stop herself from squealing in delight as she reached out and picked up the cat.

"Oh, I didn't know they had a cat too!" Akemi giggled happily as she held the cat. "What's your name, little guy? Aren't you adorable!" The cat looked scared and it tried to wriggle itself from her grasp. She looked at the cat closely and smiled. "You remind me of Kyo, you know that?"

The cat stopped squirming.

"That's silly, I know," She said laughing to herself, "But you are a lot like him. Always trying to get away, right? Sometimes you just need to stay put." She gave the cat a hug to her chest and let go. "And the orange fur doesn't help much," she teased it.

The cat stared at her for a minute, as if to survey her, then ran away quickly.

Akemi smiled as it ran up the stairs. 'What a cute cat'. She lay back down in attempt to sleep again, but it was of no use. She really was a morning person. She finally decided that if Kyo was already awake, then she would be fine to get up.

She stood and slowly tiptoed passed the mass of people sleeping on the floor. She made her way up the stairs, wary of any squeaky floorboards. When she reached the top, she heard another popping noise. She quickly made her way to his door and knocked.

"Kyo, it's Akemi. Are you in there?"

There was no reply.

"Alright, I'm coming in, and you better not be naked!" She opened the door, her hand over her eyes. When she heard no screaming of profanities, she opened one eye.

The room was empty.

She looked around for signs of Kyo's presence. His bed was made but a large pile of clothes sat atop it. The window was wide open. She looked down to the ground below to see him practicing his martial arts technique by himself. He looked very focused, but out of breath.

She grinned to herself and quickly went outside to join him.

"Good morning Kyo!" She said happily as she closed the door. He turned his head to look at her, broken from his concentration.(a/n: Yea right…)

"What do you want?" He asked, breathing hard.

"I was just wondering what you were doing," she said, "and if I could join in."

"Why are you wearing your pajamas?" He asked her. He shook his head at her fuzzy slippers and silk pajamas covered with stars and moons.

"Well I just woke up and saw that you were missing." She explained. "Hey, how long have you guys had a cat?"

Kyo looked suddenly tense. "Oh, that thing? He's been around for a while now. Shigure got him from some animal shelter. Somehow he really wants to keep it around, even though it obviously doesn't wanna be. Nobody else likes him anyway"

"Really? What's his name?"

"Uh…" Kyo tired to remain calm. "Fred."

"What a good name for a cat! Does he get along with Spot okay?" Akemi asked, intrigued.

"Sometimes. Usually Fred ignores Spot and goes someplace else. But we've got this pesky rat in the house that wont' leave Fred alone," Kyo said, sitting down on the porch. Akemi followed suit.

"That sucks. If you guys really don't want him, I'd be happy to give him a home," Akemi said smiling.

"Really?" Kyo said, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "You'd want that thing for a pet?"

"Of course. I mean, I'd have to okay it with my parents, but I'd love to have him around. He seems like a wonderful cat, just lonely. The poor thing tried to run away from me."

"It's good to know I'm wanted by someone," Kyo muttered softly to himself with a grin.

"What was that?" Akemi asked.

"Nothing," Kyo said, standing back up. "Do you want to do some sparring before everyone else wakes up?"

Akemi grinned. "Sure."


Everyone else woke up eventually. As expected, Amaya was the last to wake, shortly after Yuki. Since Shigure had mysteriously disappeared, they decided on making breakfast themselves.

"Okay, me and Tohru can do the cooking!" Amaya said, fully awake.

"Alright, that's okay with me. Everybody else just kick back. We'll do all the work ourselves," Tohru said, shooing people out of the kitchen. Most didn't object.

As they were cooking, Akemi walked into the kitchen. Amaya turned around immediately and said "Get out, right now! I'm not letting you anywhere NEAR this food!"

"I'm insulted," Akemi said, offended. "I'm not THAT bad of a cook."

"Who are you kidding? You can't even boil water- you burn that too!" Amaya said, "I don't think you've ever made anything relatively good tasting, and believe me I've tried all that you've cooked."

"Yea, well…I can still make hot pockets!" Akemi shot back.

"That doesn't count- all you do is press a button!" Amaya told her, "No go. Shoo! Out of the kitchen!" With angry eyes, Akemi left the kitchen.

Moments later Kyo entered.

"Remember, I hate leeks. Don't get them anywhere near my breakfast!"

He left.

As Tohru was making rice, Amaya snuck into the refrigerator and grabbed the leeks. A sly look on her face, she chopped the leeks into fine pieces. Then she concealed it on a plate of food. The two brought out the food and placed empty plates in front of them. They all piled the food ad ate merrily.

"I must admit, you are both exceptional cooks!" Akemi said. She looked at Kyo across the table, who's face was turning green. "Kyo, what's wrong?"

He spit out the food and yelled "this has leeks in it! I know it!"

"We didn't put any leeks in it, just as you requested," Tohru said, "right Amaya?"

Amaya nodded, her mouth full of noodles. She swallowed. "Leeks are easy to spot. You'd know if there were leeks."

"There ARE leeks, I already told you!" Kyo yelled, throwing his plate at Amaya. She caught it wordlessly, while the food flew and hit Akemi in the face.

"Kyo, you're overreacting. And now you've covered my sister in food. I think you owe her an apology."

"I don't owe anybody anything! I think it's you who owes me an apology for putting leeks in my food!"

"I think that this is getting us nowhere," Hana sighed.

"Hey Orange Top, stop being such a damn drama queen and shut up already," Uo said impatiently. "Some of us like to eat without you yelling and screaming."

"You have no idea how much I miss it being quiet at mealtimes," Yuki said with a sigh, "before I had to deal with his presence everyday of my life."

"I think I'm gonna go clean myself up," Akemi said, quite calmly, as she walked to the bathroom. Kagura turned to Kyo.

"You're going to apologize to her," she said, her voice dripping with a venomous warning.

"I don't gotta do anything, who do you think you are!" Kyo demanded.

"Mites?" Amaya asked lightly. Kyo glared at her. "What?" She defended, "I was just kidding, it's from a musical. Stop looking at me like that!"

When Akemi had gotten most of the noodles from her hair, she came back and sat down. Kagura cleared her throat and said, "Akemi, I think Kyo has something to say to you."

"No I do-" He began. Kagura dug her nails into his arm under the table, causing him to flinch in pain.

"Akemi, I'm sorry," he said weakly, trying very hard not to howl in pain.

"It's alright," Akemi said, "but I'm sure it's going to take some time to get this smell from my hair. Why did we have to eat fish? Why?"

"I think I'm going to go back and check on my garden," Yuki said standing up, "I was hoping that beans would be done by now."

"Here, let me take your plate to the kitchen," Tohru said, coming from behind him. He turned to move, but it was too late. They had already pressed up against each other, causing a loud POP! and smoke.

"Is Yuki gone already? Damn, that boy's too fast." Amaya said shaking her head.

"What was that noise?" Akemi said, looking around wildly.

"Oh, that? It's quite silly, actually. That was the uh… um…the…toaster." Tohru said, coming up with the first thing that came to mind.

"The toaster?" Uo asked skeptically.

"Yes, it makes popping noise when it's done."

"It smokes too?" Amaya asked, stifling a laugh.

"…Yes."

"Maybe you should get that fixed," Hana suggested.

"Yeah, we've been telling Shigure-sama that for quite awhile," She laughed nervously and pushed Yuki's clothes beneath the table with her foot.

Suddenly, Amaya screamed.

"What's wrong?" Akemi said in panic. Her sister pointed to Tohru's feet. A small, white mouse was quivering at the back of Tohru's left heel.

Amaya stood up on her chair and screamed loudly again. "It's a mouse! Get it! Get it! Kill that son of a bitch!" She continued to scream, until out of annoyance, Akemi kicked the chair over, causing her sister to fly off it.

"You're not afraid of mice. Stop drawing attention to yourself," she said drearily.

Amaya promptly grabbed a utensil from the table and began to chase the mouse around. Petrified, the poor thing ran and hid beneath the table.

"Amaya, please don't chase the poor mouse," Tohru said in alarm, "I'm actually quite fond of him!"

"Why? Mice are evil – they should die!" Amaya said, continuing to chase it. Akemi looked beneath the table and saw the poor mouse running for its life. She scooped up the mouse and eyed it closely.

"He seems pretty harmless to me," She observed, "Amaya, you should just leave the poor thing alone. Look, he's shaking!" Amaya got up from her knees and looked at the mouse.

"No, it's definitely a spawn of the devil," she decided.

"Amaya!" Akemi hissed, "stop it! Now I'm gonna let him go outside and if you ever so much as put one foot out that door I'll have to hurt you."

"Geez, it's just a mouse, 'kemi," Amaya said, suddenly acting like an eight year old. "I'm sorry, k?"

"Yea yea, tell that to this little guy," Akemi said, taking the mouse outside. She set him down gently and patted his head, "now don't you worry. Amaya'll leave you alone from now on, okay? Don't get yourself in trouble!"

Akemi came back inside and sat down. Tohru looked at her anxiously.

"Did you put Yu- er, the mouse someplace safe?" She asked. Akemi nodded. Tohru gave a relaxed sigh.

"That's good."

Minutes later, another POP! was heard. "Tohru, did you put in toast?" Uo asked. Tohru shook her head.

"No, it does that randomly," she said, faking a sigh. "We really need to get that fixed."

Yuki came rushing in soon afterward, wearing a different set of clothes and looked shaken.

"Yuki, what's wrong?" Akemi asked, noticing his look of trauma.

"And why are you wearing a different pair of clothes?" Hana pointed out.

"The beans aren't ready," Yuki said sadly, "and I always wear a different pair of clothes when I garden."

"Say, where are Kyo and Kagura?" Amaya asked suddenly realizing they were gone.

"They left a while ago," Akemi said, shaking her head, "she dragged him off to the grocery store, remember? Man you've got bad listening skills."


"We had lots of fun, thanks for inviting us over," Akemi told Tohru graciously. "Right Amaya?" Her sister didn't answer. She was busy watching a bumblebee buzz around her head. Akemi nudged her, annoyed.

"Wah- yea." She continued to watch the bumblebee.

Tohru just laughed and said, "I love it when you come to visit, so feel free anytime."

The two sisters waved goodbye and left. Not long after, Uo and Hana said their farewells too.

Minutes later, Shigure pulled up in his car. "Well, how did it go this morning? Sorry I couldn't be here, but you know how my editor can get. She was threatening to castrate me if I didn't finish by this afternoon…"

"Oh it went well," Yuki said, "except for everyone chasing after me, trying to squish me like I was some sort of vermin." He turned to Kyo and said before he could utter a word "Don't say anything."

"I wasn't going to," Kyo said defensively. "You're just stupid."

"Don't talk," Yuki retorted, "you're the one who was about to get kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? Dear god, what did I miss while I was gone?" Shigure said dramatically.

"Akemi tried to take Kyo home as a cat," Kagura explained.

"Really? We had that many transformations?" Shigure asked, surprised. The four nodded. "Well, we won't be doing THAT again."


Just in case you were wondering, Fred is the name of my friend's cat. The musical Amaya is referring to was one I was just in called "starmites" the dialouge goes like so:

Dazzle: You gotta join us!

Elanore: I don't gotta do anything, who do you think you are?

Space Punk: Mites!

Yea, really cheesy, so I decided it be a fun inside joke for those who live in town : )

I mislead you guys, I forgot that the "drastic" Kamikara event has to happen after some other stuff, my bad. More fun stuff next chapter!

Love you guys! (Don't forget to review!)

Lola