And at last... here I am. Sorry for the long wait... I just, honestly had no idea where this fanfic was going. I was at a loss for ideas and inspiration. And to tell you the truth, I didn't start writing this chapter until last night. But when my inspiration bug bites, I can get a lot done. I think there should be at least two more chapters, soo... enjoy!

Chapter Four: The Masks

The news that Yuki Sohma was going to the school dance with Tohru Honda spread like wild fire the next few days at school. Naturally the entire school was in an uproar; fan girls would corner the Prince asking him why he chose Tohru and not them, and then ask Yuki if they would like to go with them instead. Yuki declined of coarse, and would send many girls to hysterical tears.

Tohru blushed, not used to having so much attention. She always thought that it would be a great experience to be popular, having everyone's eyes on you. But instead, it never gave her a moment of peace, and she finally understood the despair Yuki felt about being the 'Prince' of the school. She glanced over at Yuki, and was devastated at what she saw. Several of his fan girls were cornering him once again, shouting many unpleasant things to him. Once again, Yuki said no to all of them, and they all began to cry, all of them running away with tears falling down their faces. Yuki sighed, a look of pure despair and exhaustion plastered on his face. Tohru quickly ran up to him, hating the fact that she was putting Yuki through so much stress.

"Um… Yuki?"

Yuki awoke from his train of thought, and sighed in relief when he realized that Tohru was talking to him, and not one of those dreaded fan girls. He smiled.

"Yes, Miss Honda?"

Tohru sighed in resignation, and tears started welling up in her eyes.

"Well, Yuki… I-I don't think we can go to the dance together…"

Yuki's face contorted in shock, and his eyes widened immensely.

"Why not? Is it something that I did?" He asked quietly, completely confused as to why Tohru would say such a thing.

Tohru immediately responded. "N-no! It's nothing that you did, Yuki… it's just … all of those fan girls are giving you a lot of trouble, and if I wasn't going to the dance with you anymore, than they would stop bothering you…"

Tohru continued rambling, but Yuki wasn't paying the slightest attention. He smiled… He couldn't believe that this was the reason Tohru didn't want to go with him… She was so thoughtful, and so kind, and too giving sometimes, but these were all the reasons why Yuki loved her so much. As a person any way…

Yuki put a finger to Tohru's lips to stop her from talking. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Miss Honda, it's okay. I have to deal with all of those girls anyway, so it's not like you're putting me through extra trouble. I… want to go to the dance with you, so I don't mind being bothered by them all the time if it means you'll go with me."

Yuki flashed Tohru that award-winning smile and Tohru grinned back. She blinked away her tears, and fought back the urge to hug the boy. Yuki always knew how to make Tohru feel better; that was one of the things that she really liked about him, among other things.

Yuki scanned the classroom, looking for one very specific person. He smirked almost immediately as soon as he laid eyes on him.

Suddenly, without any warning or pretense, Yuki grabbed hold of Tohru's hand. She immediately blushed, and looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling like she was the luckiest girl in the world. Yuki beamed at her, and then his eyes covertly fell on the entire reason he even held her hand; Kyo.

Kyo glared at Yuki, and crossed his arms in frustration. Damn it! Did they have to do this, in front of him? And why was the damn rat holding Tohru's hand? It's not like they were a couple, Tohru had even told him herself while they were up at the roof. So… then, why did Tohru look so damn happy?

Kyo growled to himself, letting his rage wash over him like a familiar blanket. He hated this… he couldn't let this go on any further. First off, because Yuki had a date to the dance, every girl in the school didn't leave Kyo alone. Every five minutes another girl would go up to him and have the nerve to ask him to the dance, and every five minutes he yelled at a girl in anger, not bothering to hide the fact that he didn't want to go with anyone. Secondly, every time he glanced over at Tohru and Yuki his blood boiled. And to top everything off, Tohru's damned two friends kept looking over at him every five seconds. He had no idea why they were, but it was getting increasingly annoying as the moments passed.

Kyo had to do something, fast. He couldn't stand being in this situation anymore. He was going to put an end to it. But… how? He glared at Yuki, watching as he looked at Tohru with romance in his eyes. Yuki continued to hold Tohru's hand, and the two seemed as if they were glued together, inseparable. There was something in the way they moved, like they were in sync. And suddenly… Kyo realized what he had to do.

He had to try and find a way to take Tohru to the dance.

He just didn't know what was wrong with her.

Over the past few days, Machi Kuragi had been acting very strangely. Well, Kakeru thought, at least more strange than she actually was. Usually he would've been able to talk to her and get some conversation out of her, but lately trying to get a few words from her was like fighting a battle he knew he would inevitably lose. He understood that his sister wasn't a girl with many words, but her distance away from Kakeru frightened him. Something had to be desperately wrong… and Kakeru was determined to find out what it was.

He had tried the usual approach. He had tried small talk, asking her about how she liked the weather that day, or about different student council subjects. She visibly stiffened when the student council was brought up, and Kakeru had no idea why. Not that he thought she particularly liked the student council meetings, but he never thought she hated them. And he was definitely getting that impression.

It didn't make any sense. Her transformation really did happen over-night. One minute she was the regular, sulking, quiet yet misunderstood Machi, and the next, she was completely shunning everyone away. Not that much of a difference, but still enough to where Kakeru could notice.

Kakeru walked down the hallway, looking around at the noisy, busy student body. Sometimes he felt overwhelmed by it all… the girl with her best friend, the group of guys all talking about the soccer game that was coming up, the guy and girl holding hands, completely understanding each other… Not that Kakeru was a loner, but sometimes he did feel alone. Not having Komaki around all of the time made him feel isolated, sometimes even sad. He really did love her, and he was sad that the closest she could be to him right now were through his thoughts.

Kakeru looked at the banners that were plastered on the walls, only remembering then that the school dance was only a few days away. He had asked Komaki himself, but she said she would be out of town that night. It made him feel even sadder, because he knew that the school dance was a dance for couples, and he would be completely and utterly alone. He didn't blame her, not in the least; but it still didn't change the fact that he wasn't going with her.

Then his eyes caught something that he never thought he'd see, and the surprise completely caught him off-guard.

Tohru Honda and Yuki Sohma were holding hands.

Kakeru stood there, stunned. Suddenly, it was as if everything became clearer. He could see the twinkle in Tohru's eyes; he could see Yuki and Tohru's fingers intertwined with the other, and he could see the corner of Yuki's lips turned into a slight smile.

Kakeru stood there, rooted to the spot, unable to move for reasons that he couldn't quite comprehend. He simply continued to stare at them, a weird feeling of resentment suddenly filling up inside of him. Why was he so angry? It didn't make any sense.

Then, suddenly, he realized it.

Kakeru looked at Yuki's eyes, and he had never seen his best friend look so immensely sad. There was something bittersweet in his eyes, something guilty. And Kakeru immediately recognized what it was… Yuki didn't really want to be there, holding hands with Tohru Honda. Yuki didn't really like Tohru in that way, and he felt incredibly guilty that he was pretending to like her and getting her hopes up, in the hopes that Kyo will finally intervene between the two.

In short, Yuki Sohma didn't like the situation he was in. It was killing him inside.

Now, Kakeru Manabe never had a best friend before, or rather, had a best friend like Yuki before. He genuinely cared for the boy, and best friends don't let the other crash and burn by themselves. Kakeru knew he had to help Yuki somehow, he knew he had to help him escape his little predicament. But how do you help two people realize their love for one another? How could Manabe tell Kyo to make a move on Tohru?

Feeling more anxious and confused than he had felt all week, he walked into the student council room. For some odd reason he thought that that was where he would find Machi, and he was right. Machi didn't really have anywhere else to go during lunch, and ironically enough, neither did Kakeru. Usually he would make his rounds throughout the various tables and groups of people, but today he felt he had very important tasks to accomplish.

The first and most important to him was to figure out what was wrong with Machi. And the next, was to figure out a way to help his best friend out. He sighed, wiping the sweat off of his brow. He wasn't used to so much drama all in one day. Why couldn't this just be like every other day, when he didn't have to take things seriously? Since when did Kakeru Manabe, the Co-leader of the School Defense Force, have to be the one to save the day? Usually it was Yun-Yun's job… but Yuki had never been the main attention of a problem before… so it made sense that the Vice President had to be the one to save the day.

Suddenly, the tasks that lay before him seemed less like a chore and more like a mission. A sheepish grin crept upon his face; his first real School Defense Force mission!

His thoughts were interrupted, and as soon as the smirk appeared on his face, it had gone almost immediately. The noise that he heard that had awoken him from his thoughts spread fear throughout his entire body.

Machi was crying.

Panic rose inside of Manabe's heart, and he rushed over to her side. But what could he possibly say? He put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, and instead of pushing it away like he thought she would do, she let him.

"Machi… what's wrong?"

The question was out even before he knew what he was saying.

The dark-haired girl remained frozen, as if she heard nothing that Kakeru had said. Moments later, she composed herself and wiped the remains of the tears that she had cried away.

"Nothing…"

Kakeru narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "C'mon Machi… you were crying! Something has to be wrong."

And before the girl could answer, a conversation from the hallway interrupted their serious conversation.

Much to Kakeru's annoyance, it was Yuki and Tohru. This seemed to cause Machi to turn towards the direction of the door, almost as if she was interested in their conversation as much as Kakeru was…

"Thanks so much for buying lunch for me today Yuki… you really didn't have to!"

Kakeru could feel the waves of happiness generating from Tohru's voice.

"It was no problem, really, Miss Honda. It was my way of saying thank you for allowing me to take you to the dance."

"Oh, I'm so excited! I know we'll have so much fun together! And Uo, and Hana are going to be there… and I wonder if Hatsuharu and Momiji will come too! That would be so wonderful…"

Yuki laughed his classic "awkward and you-don't-know-if-I'm-happy-or-not" laugh. Kakeru had memorized it like the back of his hand.

"Well, I'll go invite them if you'd like."

"Yes. I'd like that very much… Yuki, you really don't have to do all of this for me. You've done so much already, and I'm so grateful that I have someone like you in my life."

"Anything for you… Miss Honda."

And with that, the two "love birds" walked away, their conversation disappearing along with them. Kakeru shrugged, and looked back at Machi to re-start his conversation with her.

It was then that he noticed the painful expression in her eyes.

Kakeru had known this expression… he knew this expression almost too well.

It was the look of a broken heart.

The look startled Kakeru, and he didn't really know what it meant. Why did Machi have such a pained look? Was she really broken-hearted? Over what? Was it because… of Yuki? Come to think of it, in all of the student council meetings recently, she had barely even looked at Yuki. Any mention of the silver-haired boy and she would clam up, becoming more distant by the second. And it had all started the day Yuki had said he was going to the dance with Tohru…

And suddenly, everything pieced itself together, everything made perfect sense. His sister… wanted to go to the dance with Yuki Sohma. His sister. It shocked him immensely, but for his own sanity and his own sake, he wouldn't dwell on it too much. He couldn't and didn't believe that there were romantic feelings between the two, so he knew that he would try and make Yuki and his sister go to the dance as friends, just to make his sister happy. Kakeru knew almost immediately what he had to do… he had to find Kyo Sohma.

"What's wrong with orange-top?" Arisa said, gazing at the boy with a newfound interest.

That wasn't to say that the Sohma boy had never caught their interest before, but Uo could definitely see that there was something wrong with Kyo.

"I don't know… but his electric signals have definitely changed. There's a lot of energy radiating from him, a lot of angry energy…"

Hana continued to eat her sandwich, wondering if Kyo's anger had anything to do with Tohru.

"Come to think of it," Hana continued, "I haven't seen Tohru talk to Kyo in awhile… she's usually hanging around Yuki. Do you think that has something to do with it?"

Arisa turned to face her, realization dawning on her face.

"That could be… whatever his problem is, he better not take it out on Tohru. She's already feeling stressed because of all of this attention everyone's giving her. She doesn't need any thing else from orange-top or anyone."

Hana nodded, and then took a sip of her drink.

"Do you think we should ask Kyo what's bothering him?" Arisa asked.

Hana shook her head. "Perhaps… we should let things play out the way they're supposed to."

Uo turned her focus back on Kyo, still confused at to what was bothering him. She wondered if the fact that Tohru was going to the dance with Yuki made Kyo all mad… after all, Arisa knew the look of a broken heart, and she knew the look of loneliness, and Kyo was definitely feeling that at the moment.

For some weird reason, she wanted to help Kyo. She wanted to make him happy, and Arisa knew why… if she couldn't be happy with Kureno, than damn it, Kyo could be happy with Tohru. There needed to be a little more love in the world, even if love wasn't going to work out in her own life… But she knew that it was ultimately Tohru's choice on which boy she liked… but something just didn't feel right. Every time she looked over at Tohru and Yuki, she could sense that something was wrong. She wasn't Hana, she couldn't identify electric signals, but she knew that something was bothering Yuki as well.

What was going on? Arisa leaned against her desk, frustration and confusion getting the better of her. Oh well… at least Tohru looked happy and that was the only good thing.

Uo watched as Tohru finally left Yuki's side, and walked over to Kyo. Kyo was looking out the window, anguish and anger clearly written on his face. Tohru starting talking to him, and Kyo looked over at her, and then… all of the traces of anger cleared away, leaving only a happy, yet awkward expression on his face. The two continued to talk, and one of them said something that made both of them laugh… and it was a sight to see. Arisa had never seen Kyo that happy before, and there was something in his face that reminded her of someone so much…

Kureno. He reminded her of Kureno. He reminded her of how happy Kureno had looked whenever he and her were together…

And the face that Kyo had… that was true love. That was how a couple was supposed to look like… and then Uo knew.

It was Kyo who should be with Tohru, not Yuki.

The bell rang, and the entire class went to their seats. Kyo watched Tohru leave, and he put his mask back on, his mask of anguish and pain and loneliness. Arisa hoped that, in the play of real life, Kyo wouldn't keep his mask on too much longer…

So there you go. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm currently reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and it's amazing. By far the best Harry Potter book. Umm... the next update should be a LOT sooner, not that I know where this fanfic is heading. Anyway, review! Until next time!