Disclaimer: I don't own Fruit's basket, or Artemis Fowl which I borowed a name from.

Kuro Sangai

Chapter 2

By: Sakoko-chan

- - -

Kyo and Tohru stood in front of a large gate that had the name Tanamura on it. Kyo glanced down at the small piece of paper that had the farms address on it.

"Well we're at the right place, obviously."

Tohru stared at the farm in awe.

"Wow Kyo-kun! I've never been on a farm before! Have you?"

Kyo walked over to the gate and opened it. He walked inside and waited until Tohru had followed him before closing it again. The two started walking towards the house.

"Once, with Shishou."

"Really? What was it like?"

"I dont know. Alright, I guess."

"I can't wait to see all the animals! It's going to be so fun! Though, I'm still a little confused about why our teacher would give us this sort of assignment though..."

Kyo glanced at the girl and saw the confused expression on her face.

"Does it really matter? I'd rather be doing this then staying stuck up in a class room for forty minutes."

Tohru nodded.

"I suppose your right. I really do love animals though!" Tohru smiled to herself.

"What's your favorite animal?" Kyo absently asked as they neared the house.

"My favorite animal?" Tohru repeated. "My favorite animal is the cat of cour-."

Tohru stopped and immediately blushed. Kyo blushed too. On the one hand he was sorry for asking a question that would result in such an embarrassing answer, but on the other he was happy to hear that Tohru's favorite animal was the cat. Not many people said that to him.

After a minute of awkward silence, a loud, deep voice was heard.

"Hey there!"

Tohru and Kyo looked up ahead to see an old man waving to them by the house. The teens quickly walked over to him. When they reached him Tohru bowed.

"Thank you so much for letting us come here!" She said happily.

The man just waved his hand.

"No reason to thank me, I enjoy it when the young people come over. Give's me something to do other then my chores."

The old man smiled.

"My names Japeth Tanamura. And what might your's be pretty young lady?"

Tohru blushed a little and smiled.

"My names Tohru Honda!"

"Kyo Sohma." Said Kyo.

Japeth smiled again.

"Well now that introductions are over, shall we be off?"

Tohru nodded excitedly and the three made their way towards a small building. When they walked inside Tohru scrunched up her nose, indicating that she didn't like the smell. Kyo smiled to himself. It wasn't very often you saw Tohru so open with her dislike for something.

Personally Kyo didn't mind the smell. He guessed it came from having Kureno as a cousin.

"This here's the chicken coop." Said Japeth. "This here's Rosie." He motioned to a large chicken that was sitting on the ground. "This one's Clucky, and this here's the youngest of the three, Tanner." Japeth pointed to two more chickens that were pecking at the ground nearby.

Tohru looked around and noticed there were at least five more chickens laying through out the coop.

"Do they all have names?" She asked.

"Naw, only our chief suppliers get that privilege." Said Japeth.

Tohru started nodding her head when suddenly she saw a yellow baby chick walk out into the open. Tohru squealed and bent down to hold it.

"Hello!" She cooed to the young animal as she began to pet it.

Kyo smiled as he watched Tohru. He enjoyed it when she was really happy about something.

"Love's animal's, don't she?"

Kyo glanced over at Japeth who had silently walked over to him while Tohru was looking at the chickens.

"Yeah." Said Kyo thoughtfully as he turned his attention back to Tohru. "A lot."

After a moment Japeth spoke and motioned to the baby chicks.

"Mighty cute, aint they?"

"Yeah, she is."

It took a minute or two for Kyo to realize what he had just said. And when he did, his eyes widened as big as saucers. He looked over at Japeth quickly to see if he had heard. The older mans eyes were watching Tohru, and he acted as though he hadn't heard a thing.

Kyo inwardly sighed.

"Well shall we head off to the next place?" Japeth finally asked.

Tohru stood up and smiled.

"Hai!"

- - -

For the rest of the day Kyo and Tohru were led around the farm, stopping at various places to look at the animals. Tohrusquealed every time she saw an animal, commenting on how cute it was. Kyo didn't really care for the animals a lot, considering he dealt with them every day. He was more content to just sit back and watch Tohru.

But unbeknownst to Kyo, Tohru had had her share of staring as well. Many times, when Kyo wasn't looking that is, she would quickly turn her head and look at him, her heart speeding up as she did.

Their glances though did not go un noticed. Japeth found that he was enjoying this day even more then he thought he would. It wasn't very often that he got to watch two awkward teenagers stare at each other when the other wasn't looking. It reminded him back to the old days when he did the same thing to his wife. Japeth grinned as he thought back to it.

"This is our last stop for the day." Said Japeth, leading Kyo and Tohru to an old, red barn. "The barn hear hold all our cows during the winter. But since it's been so cold out lately I've put em in here for the time being."

Tohru smiled cheerfully, while Kyo frowned. He didn't particularly like cows. They annoyed him quite easily. Maybe it was the fact that all they did was stare at invisible things. Or the fact that they chewed re-chewed their food all the time. Or maybe it was the fact that they just plain reminded him of Haru.

Japeth led Kyo and Tohru towards the barn. They were half way there when the wind suddenly picked up, nearly knocking all three off balance. Tohru would have fell, if not for Kyo's hands holding her shoulders. Tohru gave a small, sheepish smile to Kyo.

"Th-thankyou." She said.

Kyo just gave a nod.

Suddenly a noise was heard, and the three turned to the house to see a woman waving in the door way. Japeth yelled,

"What is it!"

They could see the woman's lips move, but the wind was now so strong that they couldn't hear. After a moment Japeth turned to Kyo and Tohru.

"I'm gonna go up to see what the wife wants. You two go have a look in the barn, okay?" He gave a reassuring smile, then made his way over to his house.

As soon as he left the wind picked up even more. Thunder was heard in the distance, and Kyo and Tohru looked in the sky to see very dark clouds rolling in very fast.

All of a sudden Kyo's senses went on high alert. Without realizing what he was doing he found himself pushing Tohru towards the barn.

"Wh-what's wrong Kyo-kun?" She asked, startled.

"Something's wrong. Hurry up!"

Tohru, knowing that Kyo wouldn't tell her anything until they were in the barn, quickly ran with him to the said building. But before they could get in, it began to pour. In seconds the two were soaked to the skin. The wind began to pick up even more, but by then they had already made it to the barn's door.

Tohru's eye's widened as the two walked into the huge barn.

"Wh-what do you think's wrong Kyo-kun?" She asked, beginning to worry.

Kyo looked back outside.

I'm going to have to close that door He thought to himself before turning back to Tohru.

"Don't worry Tohru, it's just a bit of rain-."

SLAM!

"AAAAHHHH!" Tohru screamed at the sudden loud noise and grabbed Kyo with all her might.

A small 'poof' was heard, and in a second Kyo was a cat. Tohru looked down at him, her body shaking with fear.

"Oh Kyo-kun I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to I really didn't! I-The-the, I mean-."

Kyo layed a paw on the girls leg.

"It's alright Tohru. And don't worry, it was just the door."

Tohru looked back and indeed, the barn door was now shut. The wind outside had been so powerful that it had banged the door close.

"Wh-what should we do K-Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked, the jolt of fright still lingering on her body.

Kyo fumbled out of his clothes and walked over to the door. He put his ear to it and sighed.

"The winds really strong." He said, padding back over to Tohru. "I doubt we could get the door open. And even if we did it wouldn't be safe to go out."

Tohru stared at the small orange cat, who at the moment was looking so thoughtful.

"A-at least we still have the lights on in here!" Tohru commented, trying her best to look on the bright side of their situation.

At that exact moment the lights flickered, then went out.

Darkness engulfed the inside of the barn, covering Tohru and Kyo as well. After a long, silent minute Tohru began to cry.

Kyo's cat's eyes widened.

"Wh-what's wrong Tohru?" He asked.

"Oh Kyo-k-kun I'm so s-sorry! It's my fault the l-lights went out I shouldn't ha-have said a-anything!"

"No it's not Tohru!" Kyo said quickly. He hated it when girl's cried. Especially this girl.

Tohru put her face in her hands.

"Yes it is! I'm so sorry Kyo-kun! I made you turn into a cat then I turned the lights off. Now we wont be able to-."

Tohru's head snapped up at her sudden realization. Kyo looked at her carefully, not sure why she had suddenly stopped crying.

"Kyo-kun!" She said with a gasp. "What if we cant get out? What if we're stuck here forever?"

"Tohru..."

"What if never make it out alive? What if we starve?"

"Tohru!"

"What if we d-die? What if-."

"TOHRU!" Yelled Kyo.

Tohru snapped out of her trance like state and looked down at Kyo, hoping she was actually looking at him.

"Tohru everything's going to be fine!" The cat said.

"But what if-!"

"No if's!" Kyo said, annoyed. "We'll be out of here as soon as the storm is over! We're not going to starve and we're not going to die!"

After a moment of silence Tohru said softly,

"But Kyo-kun, where will we sleep?"

Kyo sighed, relieved that the girl was now thinking rationally.

"Just let me see."

Tohru raised her eyebrow's.

"But it's dark Kyo-kun! How can you-?"

"I'm a cat, remember? Cat's can practically see in the dark."

Tohru made a small 'oh' with her mouth. She stayed silent as she waited for Kyo to say something. After a second he did.

"Right here-."

Poof!

"Eeek!" Squealed Tohru as she quickly turned around.

She was about to cover her eyes when she realized that it was dark. Hesitantly she brought herself to turn around. She was glad to find that she couldn't see Kyo, though a part of her was very sad that she didn't.

"There's a fairly large pile of hay over here." Kyo said, though Tohru had no idea where 'here' was. "It looks fresh, and it's warm too, once you get under it."

"But don't the cows eat the hay?" Tohru asked.

"Well yeah, but they wont tonight. We'll probably keep them away by just being there, and the storms probably freaked them too."

Kyo actually had no clue if the cows would be freaked or not, he was just guessing on that. And the cows would probably eat the hay too, once morning came and the storm was over. But he didn't think Tohru really needed to know that.

A neon light came on, emanating from Kyo's wrist.

"It's 10:30pm." He said.

It was a understandable time, since they had only come to the farm after they had ate supper.

"Here, follow me. You'll get sick if you don't get warm soon."

"But Kyo-kun, I cant see!"

Kyo, not knowing what else to do, reached down and took her hand. Tohru didn't say anything. Then after a moment she did something that Kyo did not expect, but he most defiantly didn't mind. As the two were walking over to the hay Tohru intertwined her fingers in his. Kyo was glad that it was dark, else Tohru would have seen him blushing.

"It's right here." He said, taking her hand and showing her where the relative area of the hay was. "It's not very large, but it will have to do. You should take your clothes off too, else you'll still get sick."

Kyo then let go of her hand and started to walk away when Tohru grabbed his arm.

"Wh-where are you going Kyo-kun?"

Kyo looked back at her.

"I'm going to sleep."

"N-no way Kyo-kun!" The girl said firmly. "I wont let you get sick! You...you'll have to share the hay with me!"

Kyo and Tohru both blushed very deeply.

"B-but Tohru..."

"I wont take all my clothes off." Tohru said, though she was really embarrassed to say it. "And I'm sure the hay will be warm, so I wont get sick. Please Kyo-kun...?"

Kyo stared at her.

"But-."

"Please!"

Finally,

"Kay."

Tohru smiled and turned around.

"I'm going to change Kyo-kun." She said softly.

Kyo quickly turned around and did the same.

After a few minutes the two were under the hay, both on the far side from each other though. They only took their shirts and pants/skirts off, leaving the rest on. Once Kyo was under the warmth of the hay he began to realize for the first time how tired he was. More tired then usual of course, considering all the rain. Kyo closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep, not even wanting to start thinking of the day and all that had happened. After a few minutes though he heard a small voice,

"Goodnight Kyo-kun." Tohru said softly.

"Uh, yeah. 'Night Tohru." Kyo mumbled.

There was silence for another moment, then rustling could be heard.

"Kyo-kun? Do you think everything will be fine in the morning?" Tohru asked.

Kyo inwardly moaned. The rain was beginning to take its affect on him.

"Yeah Tohru, everything will be fine."

"Kay."

Another moment of silence. Then,

"Kyo-kun?"

Kyo sighed, then sat up. If they were going to talk all night then he better do his best not to fall asleep.

"What Tohru?"

"I-I can see better in the dark now. I think my eye's have finally adjusted!"

Kyo raised his eyebrows. Was that the think she really wanted to say?

"Uh, that's good Tohru." The boy said.

Kyo stared at Tohru, the thunder rumbling in the distance. He saw that she was staring at him as well.

Why is she staring at me like that Kyo asked himself. He didn't dare to hope that it was for the reason that he wanted it to be.

"Kyo-kun..." Tohru said softly.

The two's face's began to inch closer and closer. Then-.

- - -