Wow. I was swamped in reviews again. I'm happy as happy can be, so I'll give you some advice...neck tattoos are as good as birthmarks when it comes to police identification.

I'm very sorry about making Yuki all emo, but I felt it was needed...you'll see ;). Is this how J.K. Rowling feels? Planning out her story and having waaaay too much fun with it? Speaking of...OMG I've read HP7 and it's freakin' awesome...I'm gonna get a T-shirt printed that says "Constant Vigilence".

-cough- Sorry about that. About Kyo's ramblings, I think while Yuki believes Akkii when she tells him he sucks, Kyo's more of the "it's the Cat's fault, not mine" kinda guy.

And, no, you guys can't read all the poems Kyo does, because I don't feel like writing an entire book's worth of poems in a week. So tough luck. But there were a lot more bittersweet poems in there. And anvil-sized hints about the author that Kyo didn't get. Because that's just how he is. WARNING! KYO GOES ALL OBSESSIVE IN THIS ONE!

To Kasaki-Chan: Have fun reading this one...muahahaha...sorry 'bout that...but it's funny, no? I was just guessing when I wrote your part...but...yeah...

Roses are red

Blood is too

You hate me so much

But not as much as I do

Kyo sighed with appreciation. He really wasn't the type to be into self-hate, but ever since he'd been but a child, all everyone ever told him was how much they hated the cat. "That boy's useless - compare him to the Rat child! - Oh, for you to have the Cat boy...I'm so sorry for you - the Cat's an idiot - get away from me, boy!"...it was all drilled into his skull, and after a while, he had started to believe it. But then Kyo realized - he didn't hate himself, he hated the Cat. He hated the spirit inside of him, and so, in a way, he did hate himself. But more than that...

He hated being the Cat. And it was this that made the poem seem even more real to him, if not completely the way he felt.

Kyo's hand brushed the page, fingers finding the ridged edge, and turning to the next pageful of bliss - except there was none. The inside cover stared Kyo straight in the crimson eyes, burning it's way into his retinas. Kyo blinked, his fingernails scrabbling the back as though searching for a secret compartment. There was none. The book was over. Kyo couldn't believe it. He'd known this day was nearing, and he'd been dreading it - he'd watched the number of pages after his bookmark slowly dwindle down into this horror that was the end.

On the very last page, there was another illustration - a shard of crystal with the words "Nobylls and Barrne Printing Company" written in calligraphic kanji embellished on it's side. It seemed to be some sort of logo - below it were the words "This book was a courtesy of Nobylls and Barrne Printing Company Book-Binding Spree" , and below that, the email address and URL.

Kyo padded softly down the hall, stopping and peeking into Tohru's room, where she was sitting, peacefully doing her sewing. Normally, Kyo would have blushed - he was in Tohru's room! - but this time, he was just impatient to get information. He had to know. "Tohru-kun - where's that damn dog?"

"Ah, uh - Shigure-san? I believe he went out with Ayame-san..." Tohru looked up briefly from her work, eyes wide. She seemed afraid of being wrong, as though it was her fault if Kyo's day got messed up because Shigure went out for a couple beers with his friend - she was like a mouse, a little timid mouse, a mouse afraid of being hit, scurrying away and cowering in the corner. It did get rather tiring.

"Thanks." Kyo turned, rubbing his already-sweaty palms against the side of his pants - he almost never used Shigure's computer, and when he did, it was only if his teachers insisted that he would fail the class if his handwriting didn't pick up, or if he didn't start typing his work. If it could be said that he almost never used Shigure's computer, it could also be said that he used the Internet even less.

"Oh gawd..." Kyo stared at the flickering screen. He had absolutely no idea how to work this contraption - the so-called marvel of modern technology just looked impossible. He clicked something, holding his breath and pleading to the spirits of luck. He didn't want to bother Tohru, and he got the feeling she didn't have much more computer experience than he - no way in the seven hells was he asking Yuki for advice. "Didn't they teach us this in school...? Ah, man...is it..."

Somehow, the cat managed to fumble his way to the Nobylls and Barrne homepage - it seemed Nobylls and Barrne was a printing company that published small projects for personal purposes, instead of mass publishing. You would have to format your manuscript, and then they would print it and bind it for you, and ship it to your house. Hmm...He clicked around for a bit, searching for information on the authors - if the author had printed a sequel or a prequel, he absolutely had to read it. This poet was drawing him in, taking control of his brain, but somehow not giving him any artistic talent whatsoever. Kyo had been filling out a little image in the back of his mind, almost subconciously, of what this author would be like - she was a bit older than him, maybe a college student, because mostly older people were better adjusted, although some kimono-wearing acceptions existed.

She was beautiful, oh, yes, she was beautiful beyond imagining. But she was shadowed. Leaving that aside, it did not matter so much what she looked like - it was her mind and her heart that mattered here. And if she had printed novels, or better yet, more poetry...! It was an addiction, an obsession, if you will. Kyo did not so much need to read more of her work, he just needed some closure here. To find out if there was more, to put a seal on the first person who had understood him completely - Shishou did understand him, but not to this extent.

The time when he had looked foward to the next poem was slipping away...it felt like a daydream, although he had read the last poem only a half hour ago. It had felt like an illuminating break from the constant nightmare that was his life, a moment of bliss, a moment that was gone. He was chasing it, though. He was chasing the words. He was chasing a Chesterfield through a meadow.

Kyo, despite desperate link-clicking, typing - slow typing -, and swearing, could not find anything more than a disclaimer on the page about submitting your work - one would have to drive down to the headquarters in the nearest town and give it to them in person - talking about privacy. The people at Nobylls and Barrne wouldn't reveal your name if you wished to be anonymous, they wouldn't give out a physical description, or tell you about sequels.

Damn morals, Kyo thought, clenching his fist resolutely. He would have to rely on what he knew best - brute force and threats.

"This is it?!"

"Yes...this is it...I would appreciate it if you would give me my money and let me go now..." The tired-looking man whom Kyo had practically strangled guestured to the taxi waiting, driverless, for him to re-take the steering wheel and get away from this obviously-derranged adolescent.

"B-b-bu..." Kyo could only stutter, staring at the monstrosity that was the Nobylls and Barrne building, as identified by the neon pink-and-green plasticized words on the electric blue roof. He would have to enter, whether or not this color scheme gave him a migrane. The shape of the building itself was roughly resemblent to a Taj Mahal on crack. Damn artistic types.

The redhead took a deep breath, wiped a layer of sweat from his forehead, scrunched his eyes closed before opening them and blinking several times, and strode foward until he came to a halt in front of the multicolored double doors. He took another breath, shoved open the door, and dashed inside before he lost his nerve. A passing woman stared at him, before turning back to her friend and shrugging. Her friend nodded sympathetically. "They all do that...but you know, you really do need guts to enter a place with a colour scheme like that."

"Ah...but you spell colour like a Brit," The woman replied.

The inside was as outrageous as the outside - the uneven walls and ceiling featured a humongous mural depicting a scene underneath the ocean, a huge sinking ship painted in striking detail behind the long, curvaceous counter that served as a desk to about fifteen interns. The floor was painted sky blue, with a smatttering of white, fluffy clouds scattered across it. Even Kyo's rubber-soled tennis shoes made a noise on the polished tiles as he walked nervously up to the desk.

"Uh..." He muttered, unsure how to begin.

"Yes," The lady at the desk looked up from her sudoku, her egg-yellow Dolce & Gabbana glasses glinting smartly in the light filtering in through the stained glass windows. She looked around twenty or so, with light brown hair tumbling to her shoulders, sparkling gray-green eyes, and soft, kind features. She snapped her gum, eyebrows raised expectantly, waiting for Kyo to say something.

"Uh..." Was all Kyo managed. He glanced down at the book clutched in his hand, and remembered why he was here and suffering the lack of air conditioning and visage of the building. "I-I'm here to find an author...I know it's against your motto...but this really is very important to me." The lady looked unimpressed.

"Kaysies, we gets a whole effin' lot of books submitted every day, so the likelyhood of me knowing who the author is is 'bout nill." She said, very fast. Kyo blinked, deciphering her words. And I thought Momiji was bad...

"Please, would you just see if you can help me - uh - Kasaki-san," Kyo pleaded, glancing at her nametag. Kasaki seemed to chuckle a little. Kyo hoped that was a good sign.

"Wellllll...yah, sure, I been working here for years, maybe I would know something." She grinned, reaching out a hand for the book. "Lesse, 'ere." Kyo gave it to her, albeit a little reluctantly, and she opened it to the middle, randomly skimming.

"Hmm..." Kasaki's laughing expression calmed to serious as she took in the words. Kyo crossed his fingers. "Well, no, I don't know who submitted this work -"

Kyo slammed his fist into the counter, jaw clenched.

"-but I do know who knows. She was talkin' 'bout this one fer...weeks, I think."

Kyo's eyes widened.

"You'll want to talk to...her."

Kyo's head turned, following her pointing, manicured finger. His spirits sank when he saw the woman Kasaki had indicated. She was an intimidating sort, with sharp, if pretty, features, short, matted dark hair, and gave off an aura of complete indifference. Kyo winced as Kasaki waved her over, apparently oblivious to Kyo's discomfort, although it was obvious to the intimidating woman.

"Yus?" She said, raising one richly curved eyebrow.

"This young man would like to hear about the person who submitted this book," Kasaki bubbled, casually tossing the woman Kyo's precious book. Kyo flinched, half wanting to step foward and snatch it from the air, but the woman had already caught it. She merely glanced at the first page before turning Kyo. Kyo shrank away for the first time in his life. "Whadda ya want t'know?"

"Uh, erm, did the author ever publish a, another book?" Kyo stumbled, catching himself on Kasaki's desk. She smiled encouragingly at him.

"Nope. And I knows, a'cause I checked them damned records," The woman said, holding out a hand to Kasaki. Kasaki seemed to know what she meant, because she handed the woman a stick of gum, which she unwrapped, tossing the wrapper carelessly on the ground. although Kasaki darted foward to pick it up and toss it in a nearby garbage can. "Buts, I can tell ya one thing. Them who wrotes this book, yeh, wus beautiful. Walked in 'ere, and we was all wow, thats how pretty. Gave off a light, see? Kina aura, 'pose. Y'd never guess, by how 'e looked, that 'e woulda writ shit this deep, 'n' sad, 'n' shit. Never 'eard teh name, though."

Kyo hadn't been paying attention after "nope". He'd found out all he needed to know, and it saddened him, but he would accept it. After all, what could he do? He didn't even know who'd written it. Kyo grabbed the book unceremoniously from the woman's hands, trudging back to the door, remembering to throw a "thanks" over his shoulder on his way out. The sunlight shocked him after the dim light inside Nobylls and Barrne, making him squint around for the cab. It'd left. Damn. He'd just wait for another.

I want to keep this book, Kyo thought seriously, staring down at the open book in his hands. But...it's not mine.

Kyo had nearly forgotten how he'd come across this wonder - but it had hit him, suddenly. It was Yuki's. Although the cat was certain Yuki didn't miss it, maybe he hadn't even noticed it was gone, it wasn't right keeping something that wasn't his, even if the rightful owner was his all-time damned-rat archenemy. Even if the rightful owner was the reason most of Kyo's life had been, and would be, spent in a living hell.

It'll get on my conscience if I don't give it back, although no way in the seven hells am I giving it to him face-to-face, Kyo realized. He got up from where he'd been sitting on his bed, sheets in turmoil around him, and walked the extremely long distance allll the way down the hall to Yuki's room. This was a strange feeling, this was, when his destination was that damn rat's room.

It was a small comort that Yuki's room was even messier than his. Kyo picked his way through the piles of crap, aiming to drop the book on Yuki's bed, where surely even he would find it. Kyo's hand, the one gripping the book, trembled above the bed, unwilling to give up this last bit of peace that had come to him during the past month. He opened the book, flipping to a page he loved. This would be the way he would say goodbye. Kyo whispered the words to himself.

"I love quiet

Because you thrive in noise

I love leeks

Because you despise them

I love rain

Because you can't stand it

We've got one thing in common

We both hate our Emperor

We've got another thing in common

We both hate me

We've got a last difference

I love you

But you think you're worthless."

"Wh-what the b-bloody hell are you d-doing with my book?!"

Kyo was like a deer in the headlights. He froze, only moving to turn to face the doorway, to face his fears. There stood Yuki, all the mist gone from his usually-clouded amethyst eyes, leaving only shock, devastating fear, and suprisingly-painful anger. A pair of garden shears was gripped, forgotten, in one of his hands, unconciously threatening, while the other hand was occupied in steadying the boy against the doorframe, reminding Kyo searingly of that fateful day when he'd found the book that had taken up a month of his life, and considerably more of his heart. Kyo's heart was beating so hard it felt as though it could bruise his ribs.

And when Yuki said "my book", Kyo got the feeling Yuki didn't just mean he'd paid a couple thousand yen for it at Border's.

Oooo, hooker! I mean...cliffhanger. That reminds me of one of my friends who once thought "prostitution" had something to do with lawyers...she got it mixed up with "prosicution."

And I wrap up the story...with ribbons. Let's make a deal. You read the story, I read your reviews! That would make me a very happy little boar. Just like it would make Kagura-chan a very happy little boar if Kyo decided to screw her...but he'll never do that. 'Cause he's got Yuki! But I'm sorry, this chapter got a little out of hand. Oh well.

Kyoru fans: What about Tohru?!

Me: Feh.

Kagura/Kyo fans: Whyyyy, oh, whyyy?!

Me: Hey, I'm on your side...sometimes.

Yuki/Kyo fans: What about us?!

Me: Hey, I'm writing this story, aren't I?

Well, I'm off to go check out them sexy-ass lawyers! Next chappie is on it's way...