Kiss Kiss
By Lady of the Ink
Pairing: Kyou and Kagura Sohma
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Theme: #25 - Fence
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, but you knew that ...I hope. But I do own this story and all the twists that it takes.

Kiss Thirteen: This kiss is the fifth chapter of a multi-chapter AU story, with each chapter fulfilling a different theme.

The Life For Me
Chapter Five
Dinner and Realizations

x

Kyou sat in his cabin, too tired to even continue pacing. Although night had long since chased all but the faintest star born light from the sky, he hadn't bothered with any candles or lamps. The darkness was as close a match for his mood as he could get without setting the furniture on fire.

Even years of experience with Shigure's antics hadn't prepared him for his current dilemma. Not only had any miniscule amount of progress that he had made over the years been wiped out, now his difficult task had become almost impossible. How was he supposed to plead his case before people that would likely have him arrested on sight? Even if he did get the chance to explain that the intention behind the act had been good, kidnapping was still kidnapping. He'd be lucky to make it to the end of the week without seeing the inside of a jail cell.

His thoughts turned to the girl at the center of his problems. For someone thrown into such a troubling situation, she seemed to be dealing with it admirably. He'd only seen her for a few minutes but she had seemed remarkable calm. There had been no screaming or tears, although that could have been a result of shock. He hadn't missed the dark looks that she'd been throwing Shigure's way; he'd actually found them rather amusing. He got the feeling that she was a lot stronger than her almost fragile appearance would suggest.

Of course, that could just be wishful thinking on his part. Exactly how much trouble they all faced depended equally on how he chose to handle her return and how she reacted to his decision. The fastest and easiest route also had the worst consequences. If he simply stopped at the nearest port and arranged for her to get home, he couldn't risk showing up in her town again. It would completely destroy any hope of accomplishing his lifelong mission and cause even more problems for the people he was trying to help.

If he could only get the girl to go easy on them, it would be a glimmer of hope to hang onto. She was obviously already aware that Shigure was an idiot; all he needed to do was argue that he was a normally harmless idiot. It shouldn't let me off the hook entirely, but maybe it would allow them to work out some sort of restitution that wouldn't hurt the innocent parties depending on them and what they did.

Kyou let his head drop back against the chair. He was grasping at straws and he knew it. No matter how strong or understanding the girl turned out to be, it didn't change the fact that she'd been stolen from her family and smuggled on to a ship. And even if she forgave it all, her fiancé and the rest of the family probably wouldn't be as kind.

Before he could sink fully into the dark images of possible punishments, a soft tap came at the door. Not wanting to face another Ritsu-episode, he yelled a gruff "Go away!" without moving. An annoyed growl rolled from his throat when the knock came again. It took until the fourth summons for him to jump to his feet and storm across the room. He yanked open the door, mouth opened as he prepared to make his displeasure known.

The angry words died in his throat as he took in the person standing in front of him. The very girl that he had been thinking of waited in the hall with a tentative smile on her face. She'd smoothed her dress and straightened her hair, having managed to cover most of the bruise on her forehead with her bangs. All of that was illuminated by the small lantern resting on a corner of the large tray she was carrying.

When several moments passed and he remained silent, she shifted nervously. "I know that you told me to wait in my room but it's been hours since I ate and I was really hungry. The door was open and no one was around so I sort of wandered until I found the kitchen. Your cook said that you hadn't eaten yet either but he seemed a little scared to come down here. So I thought that since we both needed to eat and we definitely need to talk that maybe we could do both at once. So I got him to make up this tray and come down here and now I'm rambling because I'm feeling really, really, nervous." She laughed lightly and ducked her chin.

Kyou shook his head to clear it. Her appearance at his door was so unexpected that it had knocked him off-balance. He'd thought he'd have more time to make a decision before he'd have to face her. But since she had come to him, he decided there was no time like the present to face his biggest challenge.

"Come in," he said belatedly, turning to allow her entry. It was only after she had taken two steps into the room that he remembered its darkened state. Brushing past her, he hurriedly set about lighting the corner where a narrow table was situated against the wall. The girl lowered the tray onto it with a sigh of relief. As she placed the dishes of food by two chairs, he moved around the room lighting more lanterns until the whole space was brightly lit.

By the time Kyou returned to the table, the girl had finished her task and taken a seat. She'd spread her napkin across her lap but hadn't yet raised a utensil. Kyou took the other chair, feeling oddly nervous as he did so. He was used to eating alone or with his crew, where food fights were more common than proper etiquette. Sharing a table with an obvious lady was making him feel self-conscious.

His guest, on the other hand, seemed totally at ease. As soon as he finished scooting his chair into place she began her meal, trying a small bite of each food and humming her appreciation. Apparently satisfied with the taste, she dug into her dinner. As Kyou watched her eat, he started to relax. There was none of the haughty attitude or elaborate production he'd feared; she was simply a hungry person enjoying a good meal. Much more comfortable, Kyou followed her lead.

It was almost ten minutes later before either of them spoke. The girl laid her fork beside her empty plate with a sigh of satisfaction. Wiping her mouth with her napkin, she dropped it onto the table. Kyou swallowed his last bite before pushing his plate to one side. Leaning back in his chair, he looked across the table with no small amount of curiosity.

"Do you want to move over there?" he asked, motioning towards the grouping of furniture behind them. She nodded in agreement and stood, following him the few steps to the comfortable chairs that sat facing each other. He waited for her to perch on the edge of one before he sank into the other. Wanting to start off with a good attitude, he got his apologies out of the way early.

"I'm sorry I didn't think to have dinner sent to you. The idiots had it covered but I should have guessed that Ritsu would forget once he heard the yelling. He's not exactly the most stable person around and any little thing throws him into a fit."

"Not surprisingly, missing a meal doesn't seem like a very big deal today," she replied, smiling to let him know that she didn't mean anything by the comment. She then dropped her gaze to her lap, focusing her full attention on positioning her hands with a precision that told him she wasn't quite as composed as she seemed.

Drawing in a deep breath, Kyou decided to take charge of the situation. It would be better to get the talking over with so he could know the extent of the damage and start figuring out how to deal with the repercussions. "Is there any chance that you could let me try to explain everything before you fully condemn us as criminals?" The girl's gaze flew up and he thought he read relief in it before she nodded. As he tried to think of where to start, she settled more deeply into her seat, her expression openly curious.

"First of all, Shigure is an idiot. His entire life is based around doing stupid things for no other reason than to cause trouble and amuse himself. He doesn't think before he acts, or if he does, he doesn't care about consequences. He's like a child, really. In this case, he actually thought that he was doing me a favor by bringing you here. I'm sorry about any discomfort he may have caused but I want to assure you that we'll get you home just as soon as we can. I can't apologize enough for you being dragged into this; you never should have been involved.

"We'll face whatever charges you want to press but I'd like to request that you allow me time to get some things in order before then. There are some people who depend on this ship's trade for their livelihood and I want to make sure that they're taken care of before I turn myself in. They didn't know anything about this and it wouldn't be fair to make them suffer for it."

For the first time since starting his speech, Kyou took a good look at his companion. Her head was tilted to the side and she seemed to be studying his face carefully. His nervousness returned full force as he waited for her to pass judgment on him and his comments. Long moments passed as he waited tensely, watching for any change of expression that might clue him in on her frame of mind. When she sat back in her chair, she looked calm but otherwise gave nothing away until she spoke.

"I think that it's very admirable for you to accept whatever punishment is coming from this whole thing, especially since it's pretty clear that you had nothing to do with it. I also thank you for actually talking to me instead of just dealing with me. You could have easily shut me up in a room and made all the decisions, and you could have tried to pass all the blame onto the others or skip out on it all together. You seem to be a very reasonable man and that's why I was wondering if you'd mind answering some questions for me before we decide where to go from here?"

Kyou blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the odd request. Then he shrugged, deciding that it was the least that he could do, especially when she seemed inclined to go along with his wishes about the others. She was being much kinder than she had to be and if confessing his secrets would do any good, he was ready to spill his guts. To a point, anyway. There were some things that not even the promise of lenience would pry out of him.

At his nod, she began. "Shigure said that this kidnapping was a way to get you a meeting with Yuki, right?" Seeing his confusion, she clarified. "Yuki is the head of the family. I was wondering why you didn't just make an appointment if you wanted to talk to him so badly."

Kyou laughed but the sound was anything but happy. "Believe me; I've tried. For the past five years, we come to town twice before the cold season, staying a couple of days at a time. I've visited every one of the offices that I could think of, including the main offices, with and without appointments. Each time I'm either turned away outright or toyed with until I leave on my own. This guy treats me like I'm some contagious disease he's afraid of catching."

She frowned. "That really doesn't sound like Yuki. He's considerate in his own right and he takes his position very seriously. I can't imagine him putting someone off like that …unless there's some reason you can think of?"

Kyou hesitated, unsure how much detail he wanted to go into to answer that question. On the one hand, if he told her the whole story, there was a chance she might see his side of things and maybe even help him somewhere down the line. On the other, he might let her in on the very information that would turn her against him like so many members of the family she was about to join. There was even the possibility that she had already learned something about them in passing and just hadn't put two and two together yet. Unwilling to completely rule out either happening, Kyou settled on middle ground.

"There was something of a falling out between our families a few generations ago. The bad blood seems to have filtered down, no matter that no one who was actually involved in the split is alive anymore."

She appeared to accept his answer but the troubled expression didn't fade from her face. "It still doesn't make sense to me. Yuki was always the first one to say that the way the family mindlessly holds grudges is ridiculous. Most of the first changes he made when he assumed his position were to stop unfair practices like that. I can't see him sticking to a feud he has nothing to do with." She sighed and rubbed her temple. "Besides, if whatever caused the split was terrible enough to blacklist an entire family, I'm sure I would have heard about it. That kind of gossip is never in short supply."

Since that was exactly one of the things that Kyou was afraid of, he hurried to close the subject. "Whether your fiancé is doing it on purpose, whether he even knows about it at all, I don't know. All I do know is that over a dozen visits during the past five years haven't gotten me any closer than I was before them." He was surprised by the grimace that his comments brought. He quickly reviewed what he'd said, worried that he might have inadvertently said something offensive.

"You've been so open with me, I guess it's only fair that I come clean to you." Her cheeks were flushed as she looked at him with a mixture of guilt and pleading in her eyes. "Um, you see, Shigure might have intended to kidnap Tohru Honda, Yuki's fiancé, but I sort of lied to him. You see, Tohru's a really sweet girl but she doesn't always handle crisis very well. So, since I'm better at taking care of myself, I said I was her and let them bring me here."

She'd spoken the final words in such a rush that it took a moment for him to sort through them in his mind. When they did sink in, he couldn't hide his puzzlement. "If you're not this Tohru girl, then who are you? How do you know so much about the Sohma family?"

"I guess that's to be expected since I am one. Kagura Sohma, Yuki's cousin, at your service." She did a sort of half bow without rising, laughing awkwardly as she awaited his reaction to her bombshell.

Kyou leaned forward, shoving his hand roughly through his hair as he closed his eyes. The words he had just heard could either be the greatest gift or the worst news he would ever receive. He wanted to take the time to appreciate his last moment of sitting on the fence, not knowing which way he would fall. He needed to take just one more breath before the world that he'd worked so hard to build rearranged itself in a way that was totally out of his hands.

"Are you okay?" The softly spoken question drifted to him over the roaring in his ears. He opened his eyes and stared at Kagura blankly for a moment before gathering himself. Then he straightened his shoulders and embraced his destiny.

"Hello, Kagura. My name's Kyou, Kyou Sohma."

x

Momiji sat on the counter in the galley, happily crunching on a carrot he'd swiped from Ritsu moments earlier. Hiro sat in a chair he'd positioned in the far corner of the room – the only spot with room for it that wasn't in the way – with his arms resting loosely on his chest. Shigure stood beside the counter in the middle of the space, lazily watching as Ritsu washed the last of their dinner dishes.

"So what do you think they're talking about in there?" Momiji asked, his words slightly muffled by a full mouth. "It's been almost an hour since she went in." He was sure about the time since he, Shigure, and Hiro had all been watching through the door of an empty cabin. They'd seen the girl wander down the hallway and enter the galley, leaving several minutes later with a food-laden tray balanced in her hands.

Since then they'd waited, taking turns creeping to Kyou's door and trying to hear what was happening inside. There hadn't been any yelling or ominous noises, so all they could assume was that things were going peacefully. That was a good sign for Kyou, not so good for them. It was entirely possible that the two were conferring on what punishment would be exacted on them for the stunt.

"Maybe they got into a fight and knocked each other out. Look what happened the first time they met," Hiro pointed out with just a hint of malicious glee in his tone. Even five years of being trained by Kyou hadn't completely removed the rebellious streak that enjoyed others' bad luck. Since the orange haired captain had won almost every one of the many verbal and occasionally physical spats they indulged in from time to time, seeing him brought low by someone was the high point of Hiro's day. The fact that that someone had been a girl would keep him smirking for a week.

Shigure shook his head. "I don't think so. It looked like they were getting along by the time we got back there." The grin that crossed his face could only be described as lecherous and was promptly ignored by his companions. Hiro directed his darkest glare at the older man.

"This is all your fault. It was your stupid idea and now we're all gonna get it. I've never seen Kyou this mad before. He couldn't even finish yelling at us."

Momiji nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Hiro's right. And I feel bad for the girl. We'll reach the next friendly port early tomorrow afternoon. I'll bet Kyou will send her home from there and she won't even have been able to have any fun. All she got to do was see was the inside of a room, fight with Kyou, and now she'll be left alone in some strange place. It doesn't seem fair. I thought we'd at least get a chance to show her some fun places, you know, to make up for the whole stealing her away thing."

"Oh, my young ones, you should both be more like me. I'm not worried at all. Just relax; things have a way of working out for the best. You might just be surprised where all of this ends up."

Both of the younger boys stared at Shigure, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He'd been the one with the brilliant plan and now that it had fallen through, he seemed a little too unconcerned. It was looking more and more likely that their mastermind knew a whole lot more than he was letting on.

All four occupants jumped when a loud thud filled the room. Ritsu shrieked and dropped a plate as the others turned at breakneck speed to find Kyou framed in the doorway. He held a tray stacked with empty dishes in one hand with the other still fisted against the wall where he had slammed it. His face was expressionless as he carefully placed the tray on the counter; his tone was equally void of emotion when he spoke.

"There won't be any changes in our course; we're still heading for home with no stops on the way. From now on, the girl is our guest and isn't to be bothered. That means all three of you should stay away from her." His eyes moved from Momiji to Hiro to Shigure as he clarified his restrictions. "No asking endless questions. No teasing or practical jokes. And absolutely no flirting."

He braced his hands on his hips before he went on. "She's going to be staying with us through our layover and coming back with us when we make our last trip of the year. Since she'll be using that time to decide how to react to the stupid stunt you all pulled, I'd be on your best behavior until then."

"But that's three months from now," Momiji exclaimed.

"I know. Since she's also considering helping us get a meeting with the head of the family, I will not accept you screwing this up. If I have to lock all of you in a cellar until she's gone, I'll do it."

Shigure smiled. "So then, everything turned out right! She's helping you get the meeting, just like we thought she would. My plan worked perfectly!"

Kyou's eyes flashed and his hands clenched into bloodless fists at his side. "Nothing about this is right! The fact that we're not all headed for prison right now is in spite of every action that you've taken since we docked. Your little plan was so irresponsible that it defies all laws of man and nature that it turned out even remotely well. You lucked out, plain and simple." Kyou turned on his heel but paused in the doorway, throwing one last comment over his shoulder. "And just so you know, you idiots kidnapped the wrong girl."

"Something about this feels really weird," Hiro said when Kyou's footsteps had faded from the hallway.

"Being good for three months isn't really so bad. I'm sure we'll all do fine."

Hiro shook off Momiji's encouraging words. "Not that. I just realized that a plan of Shigure's actually worked."

The blonde froze. "You're right; that is weird."