A/N: Once again, a belated Happy Holidays to you all! I am SOOO sorry for taking SOOO long to update! The holidays took more work/time than expected this year… but I am back for the time being, and hey! I'm halfway done with chapter 6, so be expecting another chapter within a matter of days.

WARNING: Kyou acts like a bit of a jerk later on in this chapter, but don't worry. Fluffiness will begin in about two chapters!

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Kyou took a seat on Tohru's comfortable blue couch, and Tohru sat across from him on the other couch while setting two mugs down on the glass coffee table in between them. "It's kind of chilly today, so I made some green tea, if you want some."

Kyou bent over and carefully lifted the tall white mug from the table. "Thanks." He took a sip and meanwhile read over some parts in his script.

Tohru shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a small sip as well, and wondered, 'So, do I wait for him to finish his tea? Or do we start practicing now?'

She didn't have to wait long for an answer, when Kyou set his mug down and said, "Okay, I guess we'll start at the beginning."

Tohru nodded. "That sounds good."

They decided to cover one section at a time, and Tohru suggested that he come up with ways to remember each line he was supposed to say. "Maybe I can do a hand motion, or something?"

Kyou shook his head. "Nah, I'd probably forget what the motion meant, anyway."

She shrugged and stole a glance at her wristwatch. "Well, we'd better call it a day. It's already 5:56, so I'm sure your mom must be expecting you."

"What?! It's been two hours already?"

"Um, well, an hour and fifty-six minutes, if you want to be exact." She smiled.

"I was only supposed to stay an hour!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I should've told you what time it was."

"No, I have a watch-" Kyou paused when he saw his bare wrist. "...or not. I guess I left it at home."

Tohru smiled and approached the door, "Well, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school." She pulled it open for him.

Kyou walked out. "Uh, thanks.. for the help."

"No problem! Just call if you need to come over again - you have my number, right? Or maybe we can just talk about it at school.."

Kyou's eyes widened. Haru and Akito would freak if they saw him talking to Tohru, and if either Momiji or Hiro saw, they'd blab to everyone. The carrot top held up his hand. "Eh, no.. I'll just call or something. Mr. Hamasaki handed out a list of everyone's phone numbers, so I have yours."

"O-okay. Then I'll see you tomorrow."

"Later." Kyou said and waved as he walked down her porch steps.

Tohru smiled and closed her door. Hana was right, there was absolutely nothing to worry about. She was about to clean up the coffee table and put the mugs in the sink, but her eyes caught on something blue on the couch. She turned and realized that Kyou had left his jacket behind. She smiled again. 'I know! I'll wash it for him and bring it to school tomorrow. I'm sure he won't mind.' And, treating the jacket as if it were glass, she carefully lifted it from the couch and made her way down the hall to the laundry room. 'Mom always said to treat others' belongings ten times better than your own.'

The next day, Tohru was walking to homeroom when she saw Kyou leaning against his locker, boredly, while listening to his friends Haru and Akito carry on a conversation.

She approached them, and when Kyou saw, his eyes widened, but immediately composed himself and appeared uncaring. Haru looked surprised, and Akito smirked when they saw Tohru approaching them.

With a smile on her face, Tohru waved and said, "Good morning, Kyou! Did you get any further on your lines?"

Kyou straightened his posture, folded his arms over his chest, and looked the other way. "Eh, yeah, sure."

"Well that's good. OH, and after you left my house, I noticed that-"

"Wa-wa-wait." Haru broke in, holding up a hand, and glanced back and forth between Kyou and Tohru. "Kyou was at your house?" He asked, eyeing Kyou.

"Haru..." Kyou warned.

"Y-yes. You didn't know?" Tohru asked, oblivious to Kyou's growing anger.

"We had no idea." Akito said, this time directing his smirk towards the orange-haired boy in the group.

"Oh, well, he came because-" She started, but was cut off by Kyou.

"Look, don't you have a class to go to or something? You don't want to be late, do you?" He said quickly.

Tohru gasped. "Oh you're right! I'd better go.. it was nice talking to all of you!" She waved and then sped down the hall.

Akito chuckled. "Well, Kyou, I never thought you'd be desperate enough to go to Tohru's house-"

"Shut up, dammit! It's not like that!" Kyou said while stamping his foot on the ground.

"Why were you at her house?" Haru asked.

"I needed help... with homework..." He said. 'Technically, it IS homework.' He told himself, not wanting Haru and Akito to know about the play.

"You can ask us for help!" Momiji said, popping out of no where.

Kyou gaped at him. "You? You're a grade below me.. And hey! Did you even look at your report card grades last year?"

"No, did they ever mail them?" Momiji asked while scratching his head.

Kyou's jaw dropped to the ground.

Haru stepped in and explained. "His stepmom was too ashamed by his grades to show anyone so she burned the report card in the fireplace."

"So that's what she was burning? She never uses the fireplace!" Momiji exclaimed. "Oh yeah, I better go to class.. I don't want to get in trouble like YOU guys do all the time."

"Dammit, shut up!" Kyou yelled and slammed his fist onto the top of Momiji's head, leaving a glorious bump behind.

Momiji ran off crying, and Haru shook his head disapprovingly. He waved, mumbling something about 'not feeling like getting in trouble', and left. Akito pat Kyou on the arm and said, "See you later," before going the opposite direction Haru went.

The remaining boy, Kyou, sighed, and decided to go before Mr. Sakai decided to make him tutor next semester as well. "Only a few more weeks of this crap..." He told himself and slid into his seat.

At lunchtime, Kyou gulped when he saw a smiling Tohru approach him with a bag in her arms. Akito and Haru seemed amused now, rather than surprised like earlier in the morning. "Kyou! I'm glad I found you, I was hoping to give this-"

"Ehh, not now, Tohru! I just remembered that I.. uh, I have to talk to.. uh.. our Literature teacher about.. my grade.." Kyou stammered as he stood from his place at the table.

"I understand, but please-" Before Tohru could finish, Kyou had dashed out of the cafeteria to god-knows-where. "Um... never mind..."

Akito and Haru were both equally curious with whatever was in the bag. Haru spoke up. "Hey, I can give that bag to Kyou for you; I'm sure we'll see him later."

Tohru looked down at Haru and said, "Oh, no! I mean, thank you for the offer, but I'd much rather give it to Kyou myself. You know, just to make sure he gets it - oh! Not that I'm saying you would lose it, it's just that- eh, I'm just digging a hole, aren't I?"

No response.

"Sorry." Tohru said, bowing, and then she looked up again, "Umm, I need to go now, but it was nice talking to you again." She turned and left the cafeteria.

"She's certainly not like most girls," Haru said and slurped his soda loudly. 'Yeah.. most girls would die at the chance to talk to Kyou.'

"No, she's just stupid and clumsy. Nothing special about her." Akito stated.

Haru sighed. 'I should expect him to say something like that. He never has anything positive to say.'

Meanwhile, as Kyou ran to an abandoned area of the school, he slid down the wall and rested his face on his knees. 'Hell, she just HAS to say hi to me whenever we see each other! It's like she thinks that since I went to her house ONCE, we're best friends or something.. geeze.. the teasing from Haru and Akito doesn't help matters any.' He sat up and leaned the back of his head against the wall. 'So.. what? Do I just stop talking to her?'

He wasn't really sure what to do, but he knew that if Tohru kept greeting him and holding brief conversations with him, people would start getting the wrong idea.

Later that day, after school and the drama club rehearsal, Kyou was walking home with Akito and Haru. He froze when he saw Tohru, yet again, walking their way and clutching that plastic bag again. Akito nudged him in the side and said, "Your little girlfriend's on her way over, and look! She has a present for you."

"Shut up! She's not my girlfriend! She's not my anything!" Kyou said.

Tohru didn't seem to hear him, but it was probably because she was still a good distance away. When they were in hearing distance, she said, "Hi again, Kyou! You kind of just bolted out of the drama club meeting room, so I didn't have the chance to tell you that you did a great job with your lines."

"'Lines'? What are you talking about?" Haru asked.

"It's-" Kyou began, but Tohru started speaking first.

"Kyou's lines. For the play." She said.

The orange-haired boy slapped his palm against his forehead. 'Damn, they weren't supposed to know!'

"Holy... Kyou? You're gonna ACT!?"

"Shut up, Haru!" Kyou shouted, and then turned towards Tohru. "And you!"

"Uh. Yes?" Tohru asked.

Akito looked on with amusement.

"Don't go thinking that just because I went to your house for help, and just because I'm helping your tutoring group, we're friends! Because guess what? We're not, and we never will be! I just don't want my ass getting expelled. So do me a favor and LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Kyou immediately regretted what he said once he saw the pained expression Tohru suddenly wore.

The girl drooped her head slightly, and her voice softened remarkably. "Oh... I ... I see... well then, I guess I'll just see you later.. or.. something." Hiding her eyes with her bangs, she bit her lip and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

As she trudged away, Akito slapped Kyou's arm. "Nice going. I figured you were going to get rid of her one way or another, but I never pictured you being THAT blunt."

Haru shrugged. "Ditto."

"Both of you, shut up." Kyou grumbled and stomped off, now pissed off at himself more than anything/one else.

That day at work, Tohru didn't seem quite as motivated as usual at her job. Kyou's words kept replaying over and over in her mind, and she was so confused at why he would suddenly turn on her, when it seemed like they'd started to become friends. The same thing happened to her before with someone else - Minami. They were working on a biology project together, and they actually did become friends; but as soon as they got their grades back for the project, Minami suddenly stopped speaking to Tohru, as if she didn't exist. 'So Mom's right.. there are a lot of people in the world who will take advantage of you, and I suppose Minami was one of them. But Kyou.. I don't know what to think about him.'

"Honda! Get back to work!" Tohru heard her supervisor say.

"Right away, sir! Sorry about that!"

When she got home, she hung her coat up on the coat rack beside the door and noticed the paper bag resting on one of the couches. She sighed. 'I can't just leave his jacket there for the rest of my life...'

The next day at school, Tohru encountered Kyou in the hallway with her head drooped slightly. Luckily, neither Haru or Akito were in sight.

"Um, Kyou?" She asked, her voice unusually soft and timid. Kyou slammed his locker shut and guiltily faced Tohru.

"I know I'm supposed to leave you .. alone, but.. you left this at my house." She held up the bag, and Kyou took it.

Before he could say thanks, Tohru said, "Bye," quickly and disappeared around one of the corners in the empty hallway.

With his eyes focused on the path Tohru took, Kyou opened up the bag and reached inside, pulling out his jacket. He looked down at it and sighed. "She washed it, ironed it, and everything.. I'm a real jerk, aren't I?"

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Reviewer Responses:

Kute Anime Kitty: Ahh yes.. Kyou being forced into a play. He hates it now, but it all pays off in the end XD All that extra time with Tohru…

Sodasgirl678: Umm, is Tohru gonna die.. Let's just say that I love Kyou as much as you guys, and I'd hate for him to suffer at the end!

the great and almighty po: Seriously! I NEED to know who Tohru ends up with, it's killing me! And yeah, if Tohru ends up with Yuki in the manga, I'll just go in denial, because like you said: KYOU IS THE BEST!

Nyeren: Thanks for taking the time to review, I'm glad you love my fic so far! And yeah, that "Mother Theresa" thing just came off the top of my head, and I was able to picture one of the Yuki Fangirls saying that.. except instead it's about Kyou.. um.. nevermind. I'm not making any sense. -sweatdrop-

Amaya Hanyou: lol the play? To be honest, I'm still not quite sure what to do with the play.. -shhh, don't tell anyone-

ProzacFairy: Ah, you're not sad. There's definitely much worse out there.. like girls that are still secretly planning on killing off the wives/significant others of the band members.. lol.

luvHaru7: The song wasn't in A Walk to Remember, but it WAS in "The Princess Diaries". Yeah, they play it at one part in the credits, and the scene in the movie with the newspapers about the beach party. Anyways, great to hear from you again! I was wondering what happened to ya.

A/N: Once again, I apologize for the delayed update. –frown- And I apologize even more for making Kyou act mean towards Tohru, but don't you worry! As I said earlier, the fluffiness will come around eventually… teehee. REVIEWS are GREATLY appreciated… -wink-