A cough could be heard echoeing threw the small hut. She curled up halfway into a ball as she shook everytime she coughed. Kyo's eyes slowly openned, looking over at her from the mat that he'd laid upon. The sound of her coughing had awoken him, his vision clearing as he saw her curled up, coughing what seemed to be uncontrollably. "Rin..?" She covered her mouth trying to muffle the cough as best she could she couldn't talk her coughing was acting up to much now.

Slowly Kyo sat up, his eyes focusing on Rin a bit better. "You ok," he asked as he slowly stood, moving over towards her.

She struggled pushing herself onto her back so she could open her lungs more. She looked to the cat sadly now not wanting to see him at her weakest moment.

Kneeling beside her, he slowly curled his hands under her shoulders, lifting her into a half-seated position so that he could rub her back. She didn't fight against him as he helped her. Her coughs slowed and became shallow after about thirty minutes.

Time seemed to pass slowly when he held her up and tried to help her calm down, until she finally did, then he slowly helped her to lay back down. "We're even now..."

She nodded lightly placing her hands on her chest. "Thank you Kyou..." She tried her best to say it calmly without regreting it.

Slowly he returned to the mat that he'd made himself comfortable on, glancing over at her before he laid down and decided to stand back up. "Here... sleep on this... I'll sleep in the chair, you need to be somewhere softer..."

She shook her head as she looked back to him. "I need to lay somewhere flat so it can help me breath better."

Nodding softly, he slowly sat back down and laid down on his back, rolling onto his side and looking at the wall. She fell asleep rather quickly resting peacefully quite aways away from the cat.Slowly Kyo closed his eyes as he too slipped off to sleep, managing to rest peacefully one more now that the girl was sleeping.

She woke earlier the next morning heading out to the garden to pick some fruit for them to eat for breakfast.Slowly Kyo awoke, and glanced around, not seeing her in the room. "Rin..?" She sat in the garden shifting threw the patch of strawberries humming softly.Slowly he stood and walked towards the door, glancing out of it. She walked down the pathway holding a basket of fruit.

His eyes slowly shifted to fall on her, looking heavy since he'd only just awoke shortly before finding her. "How're you feeling this morning," he asked, his eyes glancing at her still, remembering the previous night.

"I feel fine Kyou." She spoke softly moving past him not really wanting to discuss anymore of it. "I got us some breakfast."

"I see that," he whispered softly before turning and following her into the house once more, glancing into the basket.

She saet the basket down on the table pulling up a chair as she reached into the basket pulling out a strawberry. "The strawberries are pretty ripe Kyou." Her head tilted to the side looking up to him.

"I see that," he whispered softly as he reached out and plucked one from the basket, holding it up to his lips. "Looks delicious..."

"I had a few before I came back. For a wild child you sure can tend a garden."

"Well... staying here alone when I'm training can get hard if there is no food... So the master taught me how to keep a decent garden of fruits and vegetables to keep my strength..."

"He's a pretty decent guy he protected me once the first time I became ill and my mother and father wanted nothing to do with me." She took another bite from the strawberry.Nodding softly, he ate from the strawberries, enjoying the taste of them as he watched her.

She looked out toward the window now her eyes closed halfway. "Maybe that's why I saved you..."

His head tilted a bit as he glanced at her, still eating the strawberries. "Why's that..?"

"Because of the kindness your master showed me..." She closed her eyes slowly before looking back to him.

Kyo nodded very slightly as he grabbed yet another strawberry. "So you thought you'd help me... to repay that kindness?"

"That and I didn't think you deserved to go in that cage."

He nodded very lightly as he held one last strawberry in his hand, looking down at it.

"Do you miss him Kyou your master?" She looked to him curiously as she finished off her last strawberry.

"I do, sometimes..." he said softly as he finished off the strawberry, then gently rubbed his beads.

"Do you want me to find him and ask him to see you." She watched him sadly.

"I know where to find him..." he said softly as he glanced down and away a bit, "but knowing him... He's probably on Akito's side..."

"I doubt it the man cares so much about you he's like your father." She spoke softly. "I remember seeing you and him at the dojo when I'd run from Kagura's house."

His head shifted a bit and he looked down at the beads on his wrist, "You have no idea how many times these have been taken off..."

"I remember once Akito pulled them off to see what you looked like as the monster."

"Yea... The master has pulled them off many times... at Akito's order..."

"I didn't run and neither did that girl right?"

"My own mother was afraid..." he said softly as he sighed and turned the beads around his wrist.

"She just couldn't see past it, she couldn't see you for what you really were I was glad when she killed herself at least you wern't seculded anymore."

His eyes lowered a bit and he nodded, "She never really loved me anyway... She just said it because she was scared of me... afraid that I would rip her apart..."

"People who are not like us fear us because of what we become."

"But none of you have to deal with what I have to go through," he said softly.

"No, but I wished I was the cat I wouldn't be sick and I would be able to be like a normal teen." She looked to him sadly.

"Why would anyone want to be the cat..?" He said, looking away and down a bit, "An outcast, someone that is accepted by noone, alone."

"Away from the God at least able to talk with the others with out causeing trouble."

"At least you got to be with Haru..."

"When he was fighting with me?"

"Either way you got to be with him without punishment."

Kyo shook his head softly, "Being the cat isn't any fun... trust me," he said softly as he looked down and leaned back against the wall.

"Either is being a sick horse." She looked down sadly. "... We don't have to worry about that anymore."

"We're free from Akito's control."

"Free... but yet still somewhat alone," he said softly. "It's just us now."

"Yeah, then you'll be alone when I die..." She spoke sadly keeping her head down.

"At least at the estate, you had friends... But now that you've helped me..." he said softly, looking down still.

"I had no one though I had Haru, but I was punished for it."

"More than I had," he whispered softly, lightly running his hands on the floor back and forth, "everyone that really paid me any attention just did it because they wanted to fight with me."

She rested her head on her hands as she looked down to the cat. "I never tried to fight you."

"Yea... but you never really spoke much with me either," he said as he looked up at her a bit, "which kinda confused me as to why you were trying to help me."

"That I can't really answer." She closed her eyes halfway. "I thought it was for your master, but I really don't know anymore..."

Slowly he laid back on the floor and stared up at the ceiling of the small hut, "Hmm." She stood up heading outside toward the stream. Kyo's head tilted, watching her as she walked out the door.

"I'm going to go find the perfect spot you can come with me if you want."

Blinking a bit, he slowly sat up and looked at her with a confused look. "The perfect spot for what," he asked, curious as to what she meant.

"Where I would like to be baried when I die." She smiled faintly. "I don't want to be barried anywhere near Akito."

"Oh..." he said softly and got up, walking to her. "I suppose... we can go look for something like that, though I don't think you'll need it anytime soon."

"I know, but if anything happens I just want you to know where I would like to be laid to rest."

He nodded softly as he walked over to her and out the door behind her. She walked beside the riverbank starying into the rushing water. Kyo's eyes glanced down at the water too, looking at her reflection in silence. She stopped near the river but took a few steps into the forest where the sun was shining down. "You could plant a little garden here."

"Yea..." he said softly as he walked along with her, keeping a slight bit of distance.

"This would be the best place to rest as well." She looked back to Kyou smiling. Nodding softly, he kneeled down beside the stream, dipping his hands into it.

She tilted her head to the side. "What are you doing Kyou?"

Slowly he lifted the water to his lips and drank it from his cupped hands. "Wild child." She spoke softly folding her arms watching him as she leaned back against a tree.

"It's the same thing you drink at the hut..." he said softly, looking back at her.

"I know, but I've always pictured you as a wild child always running into the mountians to train."

She hunched over starting to cough hard.Slowly he turned his head towards her, standing up with some water in his hands, taking it to her.

She sipped the water from his hands placing her hands gently to his. She sat back looking into his eyes. "You want me to stay don't you..."