I barely lifted a finger for the rest of the day; aside from normal class stuff and eating lunch, Kyo did everything for me. He wasn't happy about it, but a bet is a bet. There was definitely a lot of complaining, but we both managed to survive, which was an accomplishment in itself. Yuki remained pretty stoic for the rest of the day, only talking every now and then or when talked to. I was pretty sure he was mad at me, but I didn't get why. All I'd done was make him laugh.

He seemed to be in a better mood by the end of the day though, so that made me feel better. I didn't plan on apologizing, mostly because I had nothing to apologize for, so it'd be kinda pointless. We walked (well, Yuki and Kyo walked) back home in silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was more like a relaxed silence.

When we finally got home, I decided to give Kyo a break after working so hard all day, and just went up to my room to relax and listen to music; then I remembered what happened last time I was up here listening to music. I stopped when I reach my door, sighed and waited for a moment, then decided to just forget about it and walked in, shutting the door behind me. I have some homework… nah, I'll do it later. To say the least, I'd become very good at procrastination. I grabbed my IPod and began playing Chouwa Oto by Kokia; the perfect relaxation music. I'd gotten this song from Rin. As you might've guessed, we didn't have a computer at my mom's house, so I got all my music from my friends; songs like Chouwa Oto from Rin, American and a lot of random songs from Maiko, and techno from the twins. I decided to leave the music quiet so I could hear if someone were to knock on my door. It was a good choice, because about an hour later, I barely heard someone quietly knocking. I removed my headphones and opened the door to find Yuki.

(Fall for You- Secondhand Serenade)

"Hey," I greeted him with a smile.

"Hello. I was wondering if you might like to go on a walk with me," he said with a smile that would make the Yuki Fan Club faint. "I have something I would like to show you."

"Sure!" we headed downstairs and outside. We began walking down a slightly worn trail I hadn't noticed before. "So where are we going?" I asked.

"My secret base," he answered with a sly grin.

"Cool. I might have to show you mine sometime," I said with an equally sly grin, to which he only cocked an eyebrow. "It's a secret!" I over-dramatized, putting my finger over my lips in a dramatic fashion, which he smiled at. "So what is your secret base, exactly?"

"It's a secret," he mimicked. I sighed and continued walking. After a minute, I could see the beginning of a clearing up ahead.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah," he answered, his smile growing larger. As we got closer, I realized it was a rather small clearing, but it looked really pretty; I could see the remaining sunlight filtering through the trees. As we got closer still, I could see it was a small garden.

"Wow, this is really pretty," I said, in awe of the perfect little space.

"I'm glad you think so." As I walked around, I noticed him looking at me. I paused.

"What?"

"Oh, sorry. It's nothing; you just look really pretty right now." I could feel a blush raging in my cheeks as I looked at the ground, hoping to hide it. I thought I saw some kind of green shadow move in the trees, but my mental spotlight was now focused on Yuki who was walking around the plowed plot of ground toward me. I felt his fingers come up under my chin just like Hikaru had done just a day before, and I looked up at him to find him brushing away a few blue hairs that had fallen onto my face. I thought it would be impossible for me to blush any harder, but I swear I did right then. He only looked at me and smiled that smile that would make his fan girls scream.

Kyo…

He could see them leave from his vantage point on the roof. He'd seen the damn rat go down there enough times to know the path by heart. He couldn't see the clearing itself, but he could see the flashes of purple through the trees that he knew was Ari. Being her slave actually hadn't been that bad, but there was no way in hell he'd admit that; he'd gotten to spend a lot of time with her, and got to talk to her a lot too. There was also the matter of this morning, which made up for everything he'd had to do; it had been hard for him not to burst out laughing himself. With these thoughts, he slowly lulled himself to sleep.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Arisu…

It was so incredibly awkward. After Yuki brushed my hair out of my face, we kinda stared at each other for a moment, and then he let go. After a while of standing there, we watched the sunset, and then headed back to the house for dinner, which was left-over tempura donburi. I didn't know where Kyo was though.

"Oh, he's probably just sulking on the roof," Shigure informed me, when I mentioned it.

"I'll bring him up some food."

"You don't have to do that," Yuki said, stopping me. "He can just come down to get some later."

"It's ok. I don't mind." I grabbed a plate of food and headed up to Kyo's room to climb onto the roof.

"Hey I brought you some-" I paused when he didn't move. I creeped a little closer, being careful not to slip. I quietly laughed when I realized his eyes were closed, and he'd fallen asleep. Oh, idea! Idea! I ran back down to my room, and began shuffling through what was still in bags. I found what I needed, and ran back to the roof, and began scratching away at the paper in my sketchbook. I started at his legs, one flat and one knee up, and worked up from there. I until I'd reached his arms, which were behind his head, that I was being watched. I gentle breeze floated through and I noticed the movement of Yuki's hair. He must've been standing on the railing of Kyo's balcony, because he had his head resting in his arms which were the only part of him on the roof. I put one finger to my lips and one up to tell him to wait a moment; he just nodded. I still had to do Kyo's face, which was always the hardest part of drawing anyone; I was trying to capture the innocence of the scene, but also to show that Kyo himself was in no way innocent. I smiled to myself; Kyo, innocent. Yeah right. It took me a while to finish, and in that time, Yuki had quietly wandered onto the roof, still awaiting my permission to speak.

"Done," I said, and even though it was hardly a whisper, Kyo mumbled something unintelligible, and slowly peeked him eyes open. When he realized we were both sitting there watching him his eyes snapped open wide and he sat up so fast, you would have thought I had a gun pointed at him.

"Hey! What the hell are ya doin'?"

"Drawing," I answered simply and honestly. "See?" I held out my sketchbook for him to see. He grabbed it and looked at my drawing of him, looking puzzled.

"So you just sat here and drew me while I was sleeping?! What kind of person does that?!"

I pointed at myself and said, "This kind of person. And relax, the moon was out, and I swear it was shining right on you, so it was perfect. I mean, I don't think my drawing was that terrible."

"If I may say, I think it was quite good, myself. I could tell how hard you were focusing," Yuki commented, which I appreciated.

"No- I mean- I wasn't sayin' it was bad or nothing, I was just-" Kyo started.

"Don't worry about it, its fine; I know what you meant," he handed my sketch book back, and I flipped back a page, which had a carefully drawn stargazer lily. The next page had a portrait of Maiko while she was dancing, tutu and all, one foot en Pointe, the other curved behind her, with one hand behind her, and one hand above her, which she was carefully watching. I felt them both leaning over my shoulders to get a better look.

"How long have you been drawing? You've gotten quite good at it," I heard Yuki say from my right.

"For as long as I can remember. I remember I used to hide them from my mom in all the weirdest places; taped under the sink, inside a lamp shade, or even in my shoes," I said, giggling at the memories. I stopped look at my drawing to look at both of the smiling faces next to mine, and I smiled more.

Hikari…

(House of the Rising Sun-Pip)

At least nothing happened… yet, Hikari found herself thinking as she left the woods and headed back to her house and to Hikaru. She knew for a fact that she was the brains of this operation; she had the smarts and the inside ideas, Hikaru had social skills and the appearance. She'd known Ari-chan for a long time, but Hikaru had known her longer; they were just made for each other! The tragic girl of the light who'd been hurt rescued by her dark prince charming, and there was also his equally (if not more) attractive and conniving twin sister. It was all just too perfect.

As she walked down the sidewalk, she received some interesting looks from passerby; it wasn't surprising since she was wearing another cosplay from Soul Eater, Maka. The long dark jacket had helped her hide in the shadows in the trees. She pulled a Red Vines from a bag in her pocket and took a bite, and watched the way it moved as she walked. Everything is going according to plan…

Arisu…

We'd ended up staying up a majority of the night, all of it spent of the roof. We'd even gone and gotten blankets so we could stay up longer; of course Kyo didn't want one, since he had to be all macho and all. I'd gotten a chance to draw both of them a few more times, and they'd turned out pretty well; I'd gotten Yuki sitting with a blanket wrapped around him, looking at the stars, and Kyo when he got all excited when I asked him about his training in the mountains. It had been so much fun!

Waking up was a whole other matter. I knew Yuki and I had fallen asleep around four-ish on our blankets, but I wasn't sure about Kyo. He was awake when I woke up though.

I rolled over with my eyes still shut, not wanting to get up yet, and not yet realizing where I was. I sighed and opened one eye, expecting to see my alarm clock; instead I found myself staring at Kyo's leg. I remembered what happened but I stayed where I was and just sighed again.

"Morning," I said, untangling myself from my fuzzy green blanket.

"Hey. 'Bout time you woke up," Kyo said, looking down at me.

"Wait, what time is it? Where's Yuki?" I asked, looking around and realized we were missing one prince and one blanket.

"It's about ten. He woke up earlier and went to school. I figured you'd wanna sleep."

"Good idea," I said with a smile. "I'm gonna have a butt load of homework though from missing so much school lately. Stupid homework." Kyo just smiled at me.

"Don't enjoy my misery," I said sarcastically.

"Never said I was," he said still smiling.

"Shall we have another day of fun and doing whatever we please?" I offered. "Maybe you could teach me how to finally beat you," I kidded, budging his shoulder with mine.

"Like that would happen."

"Oh really? What if I were to push you off this roof?" I threatened.

"Wouldn't matter. You suck," he said, with a grin. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well that wasn't very nice. Even if you are being rude, my offer still stands."

"I might just take you up on that offer," he said, just like I'd told him before.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

We entered the small ice cream shop, grateful for a break from the chilly outside air.

"One mint chocolate chip," I told the lady behind the counter.

"Same," Kyo said. I handed the lady the money and she brought us our ice-cream. We sat inside at one of the tables, not yet wanting to go back out into the cold.

"What do you want to do after this?" I asked, licking my ice-cream.

"I don't know; doesn't really matter to me." At that moment, my IPod in my pocket began singing Maiko's message tone.

"Oh, well imagine; as I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor, and I can't help but to hear, no I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words. 'What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding!' says a bridesmaid to a waiter. 'And yes, but what a shame, what a shame, the poor groom's bride is a whore.'" I grabbed my IPod from my pocket, opened my text app, and looked at the message.

Where r u?! There's this thing called 'school' people our age tend to attend it! 3TinyDancer3. I quickly texted her back.

I wasn't feeling too great. It wasn't a lie, I was tired, really tired. I decided to stay home and Kyo stayed as well to make sure I was ok. Right when I pressed the send button, I realized what I'd done. The only person who knew I lived with Yuki and Kyo was Hikaru and Hikari. I barely had time to think 'Shit!' before my phone began ringing.

"Hell-"

"What in the beautiful mother of fuck are you talking about?!" Maiko shouted from the other end of the phone, loud enough for Kyo to hear. "Do not, I repeat, do not, tell me you are talking about Kyo Sohma, the attractive, temperamental young man in our first period class! Oh my god, Ari! Holy crap! What do you mean he stayed home?! Is he at your house?!" she finally paused and I smiled, because she didn't know that Kyo could hear her, and because Kyo paled and scowled after hearing that.

"Maiko. Calm yourself. Ok? It's no big deal. There was a special set of circumstances. I am just staying at their house."

"Are you kidding me?! You sneaky, lucky little bitch! Oh my god, I hate you right now! Wait, doesn't Yuki live with Kyo? Holy crap! It's like a reverse harem! Why didn't you tell me? And what special set of circumstances?" I rolled my eyes.

"Well you didn't ask," I said, avoiding her last question, while Kyo just watched what was going on, looking kind of confused.

"Well I'm not just going to ask, 'Hey Ari, by any chance to you happen to be living with two of the most attractive guys in our school?!'" I had an idea.

"Look Maiko, I'm still not feeling good- oh god- I think I'm gonna be- gotta go bye!" I grinned when I was done. "Well that's taken care of. She won't be harassing me for at least an hour."

"Who the hell was that, anyway?"

"Maiko Ijuin, a friend of mine. I don't think you'd know her." Kyo just nodded.

"What the hell was she yelling 'bout, anyway?"

"She asked why I wasn't in school, and I hadn't realized that I'd neglected to inform her that I no long reside in my mother's home, until it was too late. She kinda freaked," I explained, and he again just nodded. "She also said it's like a reverse harem," I added, a grin growing on my face.

"Reverse harem?! What the hell does she know?!" Kyo exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. I partially jumped across the table to cover his mouth with my hands like he had when I'd first learned his secret. I looked around and noticed the people watching. I kept my hands over his mouth as I led him out.

"Come on Kyo-time to go- where should we go next? Let's go out here," I said quickly, grabbing my things and leading him out as everyone inside watched as he struggled. I finally released him once we'd walked a few steps away from the shop.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?" he shouted at me.

"Well if you hadn't noticed, you were causing a bit of a scene, so I decided it was time to go," I answered, not really wanting to yell.

"Yeah, well your friend started it!"

"And I ended it. End of yelling, end of issue, end of story," I said, and he finally seemed to simmer down.

"Anything in particular you would like to do next?" I asked before an awkward silence could set in. "You could teach me those moves so I can kick your ass."

"Ha! I'd love to see you try!"

"Hey, I got you pinned last time!"

"Yeah, for like two seconds! I still totally beat you!"

"Well if you actually taught me something, I might stand a chance!"

"Fine! Let's go!" we jogged over to the park where we'd been last time and stood by some trees to be better protected from the wind.

"Ok, stand here," he told me, and I did as he said while he got in front of me and put his hands up and together. "Just hit my hands, then hold it." I struck out then held the position, as began adjusting me.

"See, here, you gotta rotate your arm like this. Spread your feet a little," he said, tapping my feet with his. "It'll help you balance." I felt his hands on my side. "And make sure you turn like this," I did as he said, and could feel a slight blush in my cheeks, but tried to take a few deep breaths to keep it away. "Ok, now try again." I struck out again, thought this time taking his advice.

"Nice, see, you get more force when you rotate like that. You're getting better," he said with a small smile. We both stood up at the same time, and we realized how close we actually were, just like what had happened in my room, and I knew from experience so I quickly moved to step back.

"Sorry, I-"

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is especially for you for NO REVIEWS IN TEN DAYS! What is this people?! Seriously! Haha I felt the need to punish you, so I did :D Ok, my spell check is saying my giant mwahaha is ok but my Haha is not…. Wft? Anyhow, reviews are my PEZ, so gimme some! And HAHA you totally thought Yuki was going to kiss Ari didn't you?! I'm just an evil person like that! Besides, Yuki is a gentleman. Ok, um, what el- OH YES! Check out my other story, A Secondhand Serenade! I think you guys will like it if you appreciate the underapreciated beauty and smartness that is & 0%^ Haha, me not gonna tell you CAUSE YOU HAVE TO READ IT! And what should happen next? Something evil or something adorable? ~Stormy:3