okay, so i've been kinda lazy lately, but i have been having success on my tan. yay!! so here is the next chapter.

luv ya April!!

after school, kyou let tohru ride on his back. she refused at first because she didn't want to be a burden on anyone, but kyou insisted and so tohru had no other choice but to give her consent.

"hey tohru?" asked kyou

"yes, kyou?" she answered

"do you like yuki, like, you know-" he glanced at tohru to see her reaction.

"i-m not sure what you mean." her face became flushed as she continued, "of course i like him. he's my frien."

"He likes you, but he's too shy to admit it, you."

"i-i see."

they walked the remaining distance to the house in silence. kyou set tohru down on the porch and handed her the crutches.

"thank-you, kyou. i really appreciate you helping me like this."

"it's no big deal. you just needed help, and i was the one who was there. yuki would have done it if he had been there."

"thank you anyway." replied tohru sweetly.

"oh! tohru!" called someone from inside. "tohru! i've missed you! I haven't seen you in so long!" momiji popped out from behind the shojo screen and grinned wildly.

"hello momiji!" tohru greeted "how have you been?"

"grrrreeeaaat!" he replied as he stepped out onto the porch. "i heard about what happened to your foot, and akito finally gave me permission to come and visit you. "

"why don't we go inside and get some snacks?" asked tohru, direction the question toward kyou.

"sure, whatever." he replied. "i can't believe that annoying little kid came over here to visit."

"hey!" momiji cried. "i'm not that little!"

"you sure do act like it!"

and then the sparks began to fly. kyou didn't even notice tohru as she went inside to prepare her promised snacks.

"good afternoon tohru."

"huh?" tohru turned, surprised, to face shigure.

"oh!" she said, smiling. "good afternoon to you too."

"did you have a good day at school?"

"yes, i did." she replied as she turned to continue preparing jelly rolls. tohru continued, " i had a lot of help from my friends. they really seem to care about me."

"of course they do." replied shigure. "you're such a nice girl, it's hard not to like you."

tohru's face flushed as she said 'thank you'

"shigure?" asked tohru after a moment.

"yes?"

"do you think you could help me carry these into the dining room?" she signaled toward the buns. "it's kinda hard to with my crutches, you know-"

"yes, of course." shigure hopped up and picked the tray up as he followed tohru into the dining room.

kyou and momiji had come in and were now seated at opposite ends of the table.

"hello, tohru!" momiji greeted happily.

"hello momiji." she replied. tohru then turned to kyou. "are you hungry, kyou? i made some jelly buns."

"sure he mumbled and swiped one as soon as shigure set the plate down.

tohru sat down and enjoyed the presence of her friends, even if they were bickering.

-----

"brother..."

akito sat in the back of his favorite room, on his 'throne'.

"why, yuki, you almost seem...angry." akito grinned slyly. "what has brought you to grace me with your presence? it has been such a long time since we really had any quality time together."

"when tohru came to the sohma estate, she came to visit momiji and hatori. how did she end up seeing you here?"

"oh, my dear little brother, why do you have to act so defensive?" akito smirked.

"tell me now." yuki clenched his fists, his voice dripping with venom.

"what?" akito asked, bored. "do you have feelings for her, or something?"

"..."

"do you know what she is?"

"..."

"do you know what she can do?"

"..."

akito stood and began to walk toward the stone-faced yuki. yuki expected he was going to get hit for not answering akito, but instead, akito just walked past him.

"come."

yuki complied and followed akito out of the room.

Akito led the way out of the house and made his way toward the back of the estate. there stood the small shrine that akito was supposed to pray to for his life to be enlongated.

akito opened up the door to reveal a pedestool. there was a long crack stretching from the top corner to the opposite corner on the bottom.

yuki studdied it carefully and came to the conclution that akito must've kicked it in his rage.

akito grabbed the cracked structure and pushed it foreward, revealing a small stash of scrolls.

"take these." akito ordered yuki.

yuki looked at akito questionably, hoping for somesort of explanation as to why this was here, but akito only had on a blank stare as he watched yuki grab the armful of documents.

akito turned and walked back to his room with yuki following not far behind. akito sat back on his throne without saying a word to yuki.

the silence was gut-wrenching to yuki as he stood there waiting for his next order.

"read."

yuki hesitated for a moment, but complied when akito gave hima cold hard stare. he sat down and grabbed a scroll.

in the top hand corner, it read '1'. yuki unraveled it the scroll further to find that there were pictures of the zodiac animals with names underneathe them. at the end of the first set, there was a cat, and then a horrible looking creature. possibly even more repulsive than kyou's second form. could this be akito's form?

the rest of the scroll continued onwith the same patturn of animals and names.

"what is this?" yuki dared to ask.

"the timeline of the zodiac memebers." akito looked at yuki, but this time, there was no animosity in them. akito continued, "read he seventh scroll. it holds the key."

yuki once again complied and looked for the seventh scroll. he found it on the second try and opened it up. once again, it had animals and names. his eyes traveled down the legnth and began to recognize some of the names. and then, his eyes fell on his generation. there was kyou, shigure, hatori, and all the other memebers. and then there was akito under that hideous monster.

"keep going-" akito urged with a crazy glint in his eye.

yuki unraveled the scroll the rest of the way and gasped at what he saw.

there was tohru's name, and above it, was the symbol for the pure heart.

following the picture was the prophesy.

"read it to me, yuki." akito said seductively as he rose to sit beside his little brother, along with that mad glint in his eyes.

yuki gulped as he made a silent plea for help.

"when the time is right, the pure heart will know the key to saving the cursed through the greatest act of sincere love."

yuki tensed, not knowing what to expect from akito.

akito did the very last thing yuki would have expected him to do. he cried.

"yuki?"

"yes, brother."

"do you know what the greatest act of sincere love is?"

"no." yuki didn't understand why he did it, but he did it all the same. he leaned over to akito and embraced his big brother.

"i don't want to die, yuki!" he sobbed as he clung onto yuki's clothes. "you have to tell her!" akito said as he attempted to pull himself back together. "tell her how you feel."

------

tohru was humming softly in the kitchen when yuki returned home. the smells floating around the house made his stomach grumble.

"hello yuki!" said tohru brightly as she saw yuki come into the kitchen, but she turned back around and continued to cook to hide the scarlet blush that had krept out.

thoughts of what kyou had told her swarmed around in her head as she felt yuki's presence behind her. of course she liked him, but she wasn't ready to admit it just yet.

yuki stood there beating himself up over how he was an idiot for thinking tohru might like him back. she turned away from him just as soon as she had seen him.

tohru took a deep breath to keep her calm before she went to turn around. as she began to turn, she was caught in yuki's kiss. she was so shocked that she didn't even think of kissing him back.

-----

So? what do ya think? well, im thinking i am out of ideas!!! i know what i want for later on in the story, but right now, i need to really think about this, so anyway, im gonna scoot!!