Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Fruits Basket

Authors Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. There were circumstances beyond my control, so I haven't had much of a chance to write or update for the past few days. I'm back now, so I'll give ya'll whatever I've got written down. No more delay, here's:

Book of the Cat

Chapter 7

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z--I-T-I-S-T-I-M-E--Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

Monday morning came around. Kyo woke up and quickly dressed for school. He still had a slight fever but he did not want to be stuck with Shigure the whole day. He went to the kitchen, grabbed some breakfast, and waited for Tohru to walk to school together.

Tohru came downstairs next, followed by Yuki. Yuki had not spoken to Kyo since last night. Kyo knew he was jealous and he felt good about that. For once, Yuki was envious of him!

The walk to school was a silent once. They arrived and Kyo saw an opportunity to stick it to Yuki.

"Tohru…Thanks for taking care of me."

"Oh Kyo, don't worry about it… But I don't think I did very much…"

"That's ok…" He paused and caught Yuki's eye. Turning back to Tohru he smirked, "Can I have a hug?"

"Oh…yea, sure Kyo!" She hugged him and Yuki felt his blood begin to boil. Several minutes passed.

"Um, Kyo… you can let go now…" Tohru said. Kyo smirked at Yuki and released Tohru. As he let go, the bell rang, signaling the students to get to class.

Kyo entered his class and spied Uo, who was handing their project to the teacher. When Uo saw Kyo, she backed away. Kyo grinned. Today was going to be a fun, revenge filled day.

It took Kyo 17 hugs to make Uo snap, it took Uo 5 punches to get the teachers attention, and it was those 5 punches that earned Uo detention. When asked, Kyo innocently said, "I was just giving her a hug…"

Kyo also managed to hug seven or eight other girls, and he hugged Tohru anytime she was near Yuki. By lunchtime, Yuki practically had steam coming out of his ears. He pulled Kyo aside.

"What are you doing, Baka?"

"Simply… spreading the love…"

Yuki growled at Kyo's sarcastic response. "Stop it! You're attracting attention to yourself!"

"What's so bad about that? Oh I get it, you're jealous! Well tough, tough luck Yuki. I'm free… You're not. So, screw you."

"Listen, Kyo," Yuki began. He wanted to put Kyo in his place. However, he stopped when he noticed Kyo grimace, as if he was in pain.

All of a sudden, Kyo's knees buckled, and he slammed down on the ground. Yuki stared at him, unsure of what to do.

Kyo's strangled scream cut through the air as his body hit the floor. He was shaking. Yuki kneeled down and pinned Kyo's shoulders to the ground.

"Kyo… Look at me. Kyo, you baka, wake up."

After a few seconds, Kyo stopped and his eyes focused on Yuki once more.

"What was that about?" Yuki asked.

Kyo glowered at him, but he didn't respond.

"Are you okay? Should I get Hatori?" Yuki asked. Kyo seemed alert now.

"I'm fine. Get off me. Don't tell anyone about this!" He pushed Yuki's hands off his shoulders and ran to class before Yuki could ask any more questions.

But now, Yuki had that same feeling of dread that Kyo was harboring. Something was very wrong.

Kyo avoided Yuki for the rest of the school day. He avoided everyone. The girls who had received hugs ten minutes ago couldn't even get Kyo to say "hi" to them.

Kyo didn't pay attention during class. His mind wandered back to what happened. He remembered what he'd seen; he had had another dream. While the teacher droned on about rationalizing fractional equations, the vision replayed inside his head.

"Do you enjoy my gift?" The creature questioned. "This is a curse! Not a gift." Kyo shouted at the creature. The pain he felt was unbearable. "Not the pain, the pleasure" the creature clarified. His true form continued, "If you give yourself to me, then the gift will be yours. Join me." Kyo hesitated, "I don't know…" "Join me." "Well, it's just… I don't think I—" "Join me and I will give you all that you've ever wanted. Do my will and I will give you your dreams."

"Ok."

"Um, Kyo?" Tohru brought Kyo back. "The bell rang, lets go home, ok?" Kyo nodded at Tohru and gathered his books. He walked back to Shigure's house with Yuki and Tohru. When they were about halfway there, Tohru broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Kyo, Yuki told me what happened… Are you okay?"

Kyo's head snapped towards Yuki. "I told you not to tell anyone!"

"She was concerned about you."

"Well it's none of her damn business!"

Tohru interrupted. "Kyo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to invade your privacy."

Kyo stopped when he saw her tear filled eyes. He sighed. "No… it's okay. I'm fine." He lied. But the lie was convincing enough for her. Yuki stared at Kyo suspiciously, but didn't press the matter more. That uneasy silence settled around the trio once more, but no one knew how to break it.

Dinner started shortly after six p.m. Tohru had the table set to perfection. The food was cooked to perfection. However, the dinner conversation was far from perfection. It all started when Yuki 'accidentally' brought up Kyo's behavior that day. Shigure was bothered by Kyo's attention grabbing hugs and his odd fall. Kyo was bothered that Yuki told Shigure. Tohru was bothered by their argument in general, so she quietly excused herself to start cleaning the dishes. Their argument floated through the (literally) paper-thin walls.

"It's none of your damn business!" Kyo shouted.

"Kyo, calm down. You are part of this family, so it concerns all of us." Shigure's calm voice was a big contrast to Kyo's angry one.

"Weren't you the one who said that 'our family doesn't even want me'?" Kyo directed towards Yuki.

Yuki felt anger and guilt build up inside of him. "How many times do I have to say it? I did not mean what I said. I wasn't even thinking that!"

Tohru walked in. "Um, I take it you're not in the mood for dessert…"

"Just bring the damn food in!" Kyo shouted, too distracted by his anger to be nice to Tohru.

"How dare you yell at her!" Yuki said to Kyo.

"I don't need this! I'm leaving. Bye." Kyo stood up, ready to run from the house when the feeling came back. The headache slammed him full force. He stopped, his mind frozen in the moment. He wasn't aware of Tohru's scream, or Yuki's wide eyes. He didn't hear Shigure call his name as he fell towards the floor. He landed on his knees holding his head. He could hear his blood pumping through his veins. He bit his lip. The pain intensified throughout his entire body. He drew blood from his lip and his fingernails dug into his palms. Blood bubbled to the surface of his hands. He fell forward, and then he saw no more.

"Welcome back." "Why do you keep doing this to me? Stop it, it hurts!" Kyo shouted. "A little pain is nothing compared to the gifts I'll give you." Kyo tried to think through the pain. "You… you stopped the curse, right?" "Temporarily. It is not permanent yet. Not until you do my will. But, you can end the curse. Yes, I will help you end it." Kyo felt hope. "What do you want me to do?" "No yet," his true form said coolly, "For now, just enjoy it and know this: If you fail me, the consequences will be much worse than this measly little curse you have. Go now…Go back… Go back, my…"

"Kyo, can you hear me?"

Kyo was suddenly aware of his body again. He felt his limbs tingling; he felt the hard floor against his back. He felt the cold washcloth on his head. He opened his eyes to see Hatori and Shigure kneeling over him.

"Kyo, how are you feeling?" Hatori's voice was short and clipped, but Kyo could sense emotion coming from it.

"I dunno… what happened?" Kyo questioned.

"I was hoping you could tell us that," Hatori responded, a little sadness in his voice.

"I… uh… fainted…"

"We can see that Kyo. Does this have anything to do with… you breaking the curse?"

"What? How did you know?" Kyo turned to Shigure, "Why did you tell him? You promised me!"

Shigure defended himself. "Kyo, something is not right. People don't just fall down screaming bloody murder and then pass if off as nothing!"

"It IS nothing!"

Hatori cut in. "Kyo, I think it's best if you came back to the main house with me."

"What? No way in hell!"

"Kyo please! This isn't good. Something is wrong."

"I won't."

Hatori looked sad, but he turned back to Shigure. "I can't force him. If he doesn't want to come, I won't make him. Just, make sure he gets rest. If it happens again, call me."

He glanced towards Kyo again, and then excused himself. Once he left, Tohru entered the room again.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine! I feel like I live in a freaking marshmallow! Everyone wants to coddle me all of a sudden! Just leave me the hell alone!

Tohru's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry Kyo!" She ran from the room. Kyo put his head in his hands.

"What's with you?" Yuki's voice filled his head as he entered the room. "Is it your job is to be a constant jerk to everyone?" Kyo stared at Yuki, and Yuki felt anger more intense than any Kyo had shown towards him before. It was pure hatred. Yuki looked into Kyo's eyes and saw pain and vengeance. It wasn't a look Kyo usually had. Sure Kyo hated Yuki, but this look was nothing that Kyo was capable of. It was pure evil.

But just like that, the look was gone.

Kyo felt his pulse slow back down. He didn't know what just happened, but he was scared. Maybe Hatori was right. Maybe something was very wrong.

Authors Note: I think that was long enough! New update coming soon, I've actually written an almost decent length, I'll try to update by the middle of the week, if not, then … never. Ha, just kidding. Soon.

In the meantime, let me thank my reviewers again! Wow, I've gotten so many for just one chapter. And I've got so many hits too! Wow. How should I celebrate…? I think I'll take a nap. It took a long time to write this.

Thank you to:

Dark Inu Fan - I'm glad you decided to read my story. And yea, it is like Kyo's going into servitude for the creature. Good to see you've picked up on that! I hope you keep reading!

Kiayume- Ha! I'm glad I made you laugh! I try to slip a little humor in every now and then so that it doesn't get to dark. I'm not a dark person, so I didn't think my story would get dark at all.

Flame Kitsune- Ha, praying for longer chapters! I hope this one was long enough for you! My fingers think it was… I'm glad you think my story is awesome!

Hanyou-inuyasha-4ever- Yes, the book has a lot to do with Kyo not transforming! Keep reading and all will be revealed… well, eventually.

Jade TeaLeaf- Ha! I'm glad you got your wish, Yuki is jealous of Kyo! I'm happy you're enjoying my story, and believe me, there is more Yuki/ Kyo stuff to come… (Not in the Yaoi way… I meant in the fighting way)

Omegaomega- Ha! You love Kyo, but you want me to hurt him more? Eh, I feel the same way… I love him to death, but I love to throw curveballs at him.

And to my ever faithful-always commenting, always encouraging- reviewers:

Cheshire Katt- Yea, I hate feeling sick too. I'm actually sick today… Moral of the story: Don't go out for marching band in freezing rain. Anyway… yea…

ShadoWalker- Ah, so I take it you want me to write more… Ha, you're review rocked. I'll post the next chapter soon!

Starship Gazer- don't worry, I'll go more into the secrets of the book in later chapters! Sit back and enjoy, this story is FAR from done!

AND OF COURSE:

Narutofreak22- Ha, you commented to my story right after I posted it! And while you were halfway asleep too! Yea, I posted at like midnight. You rock. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well!

And to all the silent readers: Comment if you can! I don't bite. Well… I mean, I don't bite people. Well, I don't bite people I don't know… Most of the time… I mean… oh screw it… Review if you can!