So basically, I'm as much of a whore for reviews as anyone so here it is - a mega-chapter of slash and resolution! Which had to be split into two parts... The second part will be out SOON. Since I'm a high school senior without a boyfriend, I'm emotionally needy, you have to review or I'll get emo. So there. laugh Though I'll admit that this story is practically melodramaticangst. This may seem random, but I was looking at the first page of this fic, and I realized that it had begun on such a whim; I'd only meant to make this whole 'sequel' into three chapters. Three chapters became over thirty-thousand words, but who's counting, right? There were just so many ways I could develop this story, and there's still things I want to express and I don't think I'll get to. If I ever do, it would be in off-shots to the Plants & Ache series - and this is the truly funny part - I had originally planned Ache to be the 'second part' to Plants, but I'd worried that it wouldn't be long enough. Ha! And now, my obligatory excuses for not updating faster. One, I only got nine reviews, and two, a lightning storm had my internet outed for about a week. I'm sorry the last chapter was such a disappointment... Maybe this one will make up for it.

Rating: Pg-13. Slash - sensuality - violence - light incest.
Category: Angst/Romance
Pairing: Kyou/Yuki
Length: 18-A/18

Ache
by Lanie Kay-Aleese

Chapter Eighteen (First Part): Grey Boy

It was touch. Willingly, Yuki was holding onto him, with a clammy hand around his bony wrist. Kyou's heart throbbed in such a suspicious way that he knew it was all just a trick of the winter light that had conjured this sudden dream. The idea that Yuki could love him - yes, that was always a dream. It was wishful thinking caused by the stupid garden; that stupid, terribly-smelling garden that made his stomach flip... Made his mouth dry. Made his palms sweaty. Made his heart hurt more than he could bear.

"Let go of me," Kyou's voice broke in lowly. Yuki's eyes widened and he let go, drawing back his hand as if he'd placed it on a hot stove. His hand rested against his chest and he seemed pale in the face.

It was enough to let him know that something was changed. Somehow in that moment, with his anger tangled between himself and the rat in broken, sticky webs, Kyou knew that they were trapped. Everything had to be resolved now, or else, he wouldn't make it. The cat opened his mouth, only to find that he couldn't get to his voice. He flushed, darting a glance at Yuki's grey expression, and cleared his throat before trying again. His voice came out weakly.

"I can't do this anymore."

"Then you're an idiot," Yuki snapped, and let out a rough sigh as Kyou bristled.

"I'm not an idiot!" he fumed, "I'm trying to talk to you, damnit!"

"I'd rather you didn't. Go away."

Why didn't he want to know? Why was he so... mysterious? Kyou found himself ruffling back his bangs. Yuki sighed heavily again in exasperation. Kyou pointedly ignored it, but even so, answered more hesitantly after the first rebuke.

"I don't care what you say-" Lie. "- but I can't leave now. I won't leave until you listen to me you damn rat, I remember everything that happened and it's important. I remember what Akito did and why, and -- what -- Yuki, what the hell?"

Yuki, who had been standing before him just moments before, sparring with him, shouting at him, had crumpled to the ground in a heap. Instantly, Kyou rushed forward and kneeled down beside his cousin, all too conscious of the heat flaring in his cheeks. He took in the pallor of the rat's face with a growing panic in the pit of his stomach. Of course, of course he would get sick now, of all times, his stupid asthma was always interrupting things.

In spite of himself, however, he was shouting. "What's wrong with you? What the hell are you doing? Get up! Get up, damnit...!"

Yuki took in a ragged breath and coughed.

"Can't... Asthma... Asthma attack," he motioned to his neck, wheezing out, "I can't breathe--"

"Shit," Kyou cursed, his eyes flashing.

It was obviously his fault for pushing Yuki when he was obviously at risk for an asthma attack, but how the hell was he supposed to know? He found his palm twitching to comfort Yuki, to move in small circles on his back. But what could he do? He couldn't do anything... Not now. The only thing he knew how to do was to fuck everything up.

Another cough racked through Yuki, and Kyou stiffened with... Fear. Definitely, fear.

"Get ahold of yourself!" he snapped, his hand reaching out to pull Yuki's head forward. The boy looked at him with bleary eyes, and Kyou found himself immensely aware of how soft Yuki's hair was in his fingers, and the heat of his skin underneath. He was assaulted with memories of carressing that hair, but even more so he was reminded of what he remembered, of Akito beating Yuki until his breathing couldn't come. Of Akito, the bottom of his heel digging into Yuki's back as his body was racked with coughs. Kyou screamed from within Hatori's grip... watching as Yuki's breathing came less and less... Feeling the raw skin around his eyes as embarassing tears kept pouring out. Feeling his throat, hoarse and raw from screaming, contract and release a desperate plea.. And...

... And damn his pride. Kyou took hold of Yuki by the shoulders, vowing that he'd do anything to make sure he didn't have to see the light go out of his eyes ever again.

He found his voice. "Rat. Listen to me. I have to know -- Do you have an inhaler with you?"

Yuki's eyes struggled to focus on Kyou, who forced himself to stay grounded in the present. The prince shook his head, stifling another dry cough.

"Then - is there something - to stop it? Is there something I can do. Is there something --" Kyou winced at the sporadic attack that had forced Yuki to bend over his cousin's lap and gasp shallowly for air. His arms had long ago become wrapped around his chest. Kyou pushed him upright. The rat attempted to straighten his chest and brace himself with his arms. It didn't seem to help.

"Is there something - here - in the garden - that can help you?" Kyou demanded, his eyes searching.

He felt a wave of relief when he heard Yuki's gasp catch in his throat.

"There's..." Yuki struggled to speak between coughs, "But it's too... dangerous."

"I don't care what it is! You'll die, don't you get it?"

For a moment, Yuki didn't seem to breathe at all - then he exhaled and it made his entire body shudder. Kyou awkwardly rested his hand on the boy's shoulder, expecting to be swatted away. Yuki didn't seem to protest, and that in itself made the moment seem more tense, more desperate than it should have been, when they'd been so violently fighting each other just minutes earlier.

"Catnip," he said finally, and let out a wheezing breath at the same moment that Kyou took his air in. For the first time in weeks, their eyes met - not that they were looking at each other, but that they were seeing into each other, no emotions shuttered, with the honesty and fear flashing between them.

They stayed like that - not breathing - just long enough to hear a bird-song mock them from somewhere in the distance. Then abruptly Kyou drew his hand back from Yuki's back, and got to his feet.

"Okay," he said, subdued. "I'll... I'll have it. Just trust me."

Yuki closed his eyes as a savage cough racked him.

Kyou snapped back around, with wild eyes. Yuki lazily lifted up his eyes to look at his cousin, who scowled and tried to recompose himself as best as he could; he tried to justify the anxiety that had forced him to check on his love.

"What? Keep breathing. I'm about to help, so don't stop, damnit," he ordered lowly. Then he bit his lip, once, before running to the garden.

He could've sworn that he heard the words 'stupid cat' thrown at him, but it was lost to the pounding of his heart and his feet against the soil.

Before him, the patch of earth in the middle of the clearing was hardly recognizable. He remembered seeing plants in very straight, orderly rows and seedlings peeking from the earth. He now distinctly remembered seeing the garden when Yuki had destroyed it, but now - no more than a month and a half later - grasses were growing inbetween beds, haggard bushes seemed to have creeped in over the edges of the plot, and while a portion of the mess had clearly been weeded, not a single vegetable, fruit, or herb was in bloom. There were, however, dead leaves and stems littered about the edges of the waste. He remembered the stench of bruised stems, the oils mixing in the ground. But the rotting smell didn't seem as prevalent anymore; most likely, the rat had disposed of those plants somewhere. It was in the present that Kyou could sense something entirely different...

It was the vaguest hint of mint, and aloe, and spice - and something that made him think of - of love. Of lust. Of heat.

For a split second, Kyou doubted himself, doubted what he would do, whether he should just run away... Save his dignity. Save anything. His head snapped back towards Yuki. He was hunched over on the ground, his hair mingling with the soil and his face as unearthly pale as it had ever been. His body was shaking with pain, and after taking in his breath, he let it out in slow motion. His arms were wrapped around his chest. He fixed his stare on that one spot on Yuki's arm: it was that arm - the flesh of that arm that he'd ripped open, when he'd transformed. And that other arm, that arm had held onto him to keep him from hurting Tohru. And those arms... had held him with so much love that it freed him.

Through all of these thoughts, the cat breathed in that overwhelming feeling -that love, lust, heat! smell - which was somehow connected to Yuki.

Yuki.

No matter what would happen afterwards, Kyou knew one thing for certain: losing everything was better than losing him.

He would do anything for him... Because he loved him.

Resolute, Kyou strode forward and sorrounded himself by patches and rows of plants of overwhelmingly variant smells and appearances. The scent of the catnip rested hazily like a thin blanket over the area. Mint grew between raddish heads and lettuce swirled with soft, brown leaves left over from autumn. Focusing on any plant in particular confused him within seconds. Struggling, Kyou looked to his left and attempted to single out any unusual looking shrub; but to his frustration, most of them were still far too trampled to distinguish from one another. With every moment, his alarm over Yuki's condition was a problem that was just begging to be sratched and Kyou found himself closing his eyes to recenter himself. Don't let it get to you. Don't let it get to you, he chanted, Don't think about the way it smells. The way it smells.

He reached out to steady himself as a massive spike of feeling overwhelmed his heart. As he stumbled forward, his fingers brushed against a sturdy stem with tiny leaves.

This one, his heart told him. Do it. Now!

Kyou yanked. The stem snapped in half. Immediately he felt it: the bird-song stopped, the breeze froze, the garden faded into nothing and Kyou's eyelashes fluttered only once. His pupils dilated and the sharp world around him disappeared. First, the distant leaves of the evergreen. Then the lines of the bark on their trunks. Then the dappled sunlight that sprawled across the clearing like melted butter lifted itself back into the sky. Beads of oil dripped from the severed end of the plant down the crevices of his palm. He bent his head down and rubbed his cheek against the spicy oil.

Then, suddenly, there was freedom. Radiant, sun-bursting freedom and -- happiness -- The cat was happy. Happy like he'd never known happy before. Like everything would be okay... it was the most absurd and awesome, visible, tangible joy. That he had to share. That had to encompass him completely, that needed to own him and fill his lungs and-- Some voice within him stirred. That sounds... familiar. There's something I have to do.

No. Not now, not when he was free, to be so satisfied and lo-

"Stop it!" Kyou struggled to reclaim himself and fought to recover his footing. How had he ended up on the ground? Oh... god, he was aroused... And Yuki! He needed... the catnip. No, Yuki needed it more. Not him.

He heard a high pitch rasp come from - not across the garden - but on the other side of a dream.

For a moment, Kyou stared in the direction of the sound, unseeing. Then he pulled himself forward and lurched through the garden, stepping on the loomy soil and then on a brittle, dead vegetable and dirt and dirt and then he collapsed in front of the prince. His prince. Purr. I love you. I love you. I love you... You make me happy. He stretched out and the skin of his stomach met the cool air... The sky was swirling... Something was still not right...

Big, grey eyes, shining.. White, white face, and that same grey at the edges of his mouth... but such soft lips. He reached out to feel them with the pad of his fingertips... of his left hand. Then he took in a sharp breath and his body trembled... This is... of fear?

I'm too late. Need to help him. NOW, Kyou's voice split throughout his mind, desperately loud, I have to save him THIS TIME.

The hand with the plant reached up to the grey lips. There. Put it there, the disembodied voice instructed from far away. Unsure of even who he was listening to... why was his body obeying this voice... Kyou found himself placing the plants against the boy's mouth. The pad of his thumb brushed against the silk of the other boy's bottom lip. The eyes again -- and the prince's hand came out and made fast work, blur, biting off the top of the plant and chewing and breathing and chewing and he twitched - the cat had to have it - had to have that feeling! he needed it. He needed it and he wanted it so much, to be touched and loved. And to know that the one he loved was safe.

He's safe. He is safe, now... came that strange voice, finally resting in the back of his mind. A cold sweat broke out as the cat took in the cotton green of the world around him. The haze was thick and happiness was in front of him and his mind was quiet.

Mewling, he reached out his hands and clutched at the warm, shaking form. He took in a deep breath - the other seemed to breathe not at all... Yet the breath slid across him, rough but nearly silent... And the scent wafted into his nostrils, and his eyelids fell as he leaned forward into that beautiful smell.

His mouth bumped against the prince's for a moment, awkwardly pressing against the open lips. The fragrance was everywhere, and that deeply satiating sensation overwhelmed him so much that he wanted to do flips and dance but the only thing dancing in him was his stomach. Vaguely he felt water on his cheeks and that there was a hand ruffling in his hair. In lazy admiration, Kyou found himself reaquainting himself with as much skin of the boy's face as he could - He purred at the dancing pleasure that this sent down his spine and he cocked his head to the side. The hand fell from his hair - the mouth also, but the feeling was replaced by a new sensation - a humid, wavering breath that rippled against his collarbone. The cat closed his eyes and suddenly couldn't remember anything but the gentle sound of breathing. He leaned against the grey boy and smelled him deeply. Yes, his, his grey boy.

Satisfied, he let himself move back for a moment, and went limp. And then -- asleep.

A Pirate Who Looks Like Your Mum Pets her Parrot and Sayn't:
"Avast! All ye scallywags who read an' do nay review be makin' Kyou 'n Yuki t' walk th' plank!