Holy fucking cow, I'm alive! Hah, after not updating for how many days… that's the first thing I type. I am sooo sorry about not updating. Finals were such a pain and my school decided to put four in one day and one in another. Such fucking whiz kids, hm. Oh, wow. I'm sorry… again. Let's carry on with the story before I beat up my keyboard for my rant. ;

I don't own Fruits Basket but it doesn't stop me from writing fanfictions.

Big thanks to KyoxSakiFan, xxlelouchxx, Jazzelie, year of da cat fanclub, CapricornGurl, Funday111, Super-Kyo, animeboylover, Kisa167, Hay Lin rox, romancereject, curlyangel, HarryPotter'sgirl17, angel2adevil78 and scenexchick!

KyoxSakiFan: That happened to you? Mega ouch! I'm sorry to read that. I hope it healed quickly though. It's never happened to me and I hope to keep it that way.

xxlelouchxx: Thanks and yeah. Tohru can be so oblivious to things it's amazing. Hah, no problem and really… you're one of the people I'm able to memorize… like the penname.

Jazzelie: Thanks and I hope you enjoy the chapter. So sorry for the long wait.

Year of da cat fanclub: Yay, happy to see that you liked the chapter. Kyo can be really evil at times.

CapricornGurl: Sure. I sent you a private message about it. Just message me or whatever you can do.

Funday111: Short, simple, sweet. Thanks so much for the review.

Super-Kyo: Thanks and right back to you about your penname! Love your reviews. Hope you like the chapter after the long wait. I'll try not to let that happen again.

animeboylover: Yeah, it was Kyo's scent. Yay! I have a cat expert reading my story. I admit, I don't know much about cats so parts of the story are from my own cats or other's. The parts with the air freshener and when Kyo turns into a cat and gets into a fight with Shinta were gotten from them. They flip out when my mom goes around with the air spray and stuff so it's like my little inspiration.

Kisa167: Hah, you're right. Thanks for the review. Enjoy!

curlyangel: Oh, damn. You're right. I didn't catch that. Thanks for pointing it out. Sorry about that mistake. The curse is hard to keep up with sometimes.

HarryPotter'sgirl17: Really? That sucks. Cat bites look like they are nasty things.

angel2adevil78: Hm, thanks. The credit goes to my mom when she goes around spraying the air freshener and my cats freak out.

o-o-o

A sigh of triumph was heard from a smirking Kyo who was looking at Tohru's now closed door. He lowered the can of air freshener and then turned from the door. Going through the memories of what had happened just seconds ago, he went back to join the rat Sohma. There was a happy bounce in his step and anyone would have thought something was wrong with him as he tossed the spray can between his hands. More memories went past his mind as his smirk just grew.

Turning into the room, he set back down the can and faced the wide eyed Yuki. "What?" Kyo asked, cracking the silence though it didn't stop the other. More seconds went by without change until the silver haired moved from his position near the washing machine. "Kyo," he began but then quickly paused to fold his arms, "What did you do to Shinta? You can't hurt him, you know." The other laughed and waved a hand. He said nothing but didn't have to since Yuki would have cut him off or wouldn't have believed him.

Taking that into thought, he took a shot at it anyway. "I know and I didn't hurt him. I just gave him a good scare, that-" he began to explain but then got cut off by a snort from Yuki. Looking at the boy, he saw a frown spread across his face. "Oh, so you went and mentally scarred him?!" Yuki asked loudly, his voice being of slight anger. None of it affected Kyo and he stood firm as he shook his head, "I didn't mentally scarred him. I told you… I just gave him a good scare." He didn't get a response but the other stared at the can of freshener and then looked away from it.

Seeing that the conversation wouldn't get any better, Yuki brought up the laundry. "This load is almost finished. Just put it out to dry and then you have to do the other load. The next one is the whites… you know how to wash those, right?" he asked with his hand quietly tapping the washing machine as he spoke. The redhead nodded, "Yeah. Wash it with the detergent and then put bleach on it and stuff." The words were accompanied by a lazy wave of the hand. Yuki nodded slowly to himself, deciding that the other knew all that there was when it came to washing clothes. "All right. I'll be in my room if you need help with it." Yuki finally said and then left to his bedroom.

Just seconds later, the Sohma was alone in the room, the sounds of the washing machine making the only noise. Kyo turned his eyes from the door to the rumbling machine and then frowned. He hated having to do laundry but this was a whole new story. Under his watch, the noises stopped and the white washing machine stood motionless. He reached forward and flipped open the top to peek in to see that was the water was gone and nothing but wet clothes that was clumped together was left behind.

The redheaded Sohma left the machine and crossed the room to where they kept a small collection of laundry supplies. His eyes slowly scanned the items and made a noise of discovery when he found a basket to put the clothing in. Taking it under his arm, he crossed back to the other side of the room and set the basket beside the open washing machine. Again, he looked inside but then began to scoop out the clothing and drop it into the basket. As he did this, he saw articles of clothing falling from the clumped pile and sighed. Why does this have to be so difficult?

More clothing was dropped carelessly into the basket until there was nothing but loose articles in the washing machine. Sighing, Kyo leaned forward as his arm dipped inside and felt around for any leftover clothing. He gathered some into his hand and dropped it into the basket. Looking back in, he saw some more and began to get annoyed. "How can Tohru do this?" Kyo asked out loud, his hands brought up to his chest to emphasis the emotion.

Grunting, he ran a hand along the cold metal and then felt wet fabric. Blinking quickly to himself, Kyo grabbed the fabric and pulled it from the machine. As he did this, the clothing felt strange to him. Making an expression of confusion, he paused in the middle of the action as a thought played through is mind. What's this? It's kinda soft but… is this metal? What the fu- He questioned but then stopped when he slowly came face to face with what looked like a bra. Though it was a simple black bra, the Sohma's complexion went to a bright red. Holy fuck, this is Tohru's bra! He screamed, throwing it into the basket.

Even though the room was quiet, the cat Sohma could just hear his heart beating a quick tune as it pounding onto his chest. It was all ignored as he stared at the plastic basket, the black bra staring back at him. With a small shiver, he turned away from it and slowly looked at his hands. I don't believe that just happened. He thought with a frown at the embarrassing incident. The fast heart beats slowed to a normal one and he went back to the duty of washing clothes.

Kyo left the basket of wet clothing alone and moved onto the whites as he tossed them into the washing machine. He moved quickly when the thought of finding another piece of Tohru's personal clothing again and was finished in no time. Turning the top closed, he leaned forward and began to fiddle with the buttons and knobs. The last button was pushed and the machine came alive with sounds of water filling into it. The boy nodded to himself and looked back to the basket. Without a thought, he grabbed the sides of it and lifted it up to his chest. He leaned his head to the side to see over the hill of damp clothing and left to put them up to dry.

Leaving the comfort of his home, the Sohma stepped outside and instantly felt the heat of the season settled on him. The sudden change was enough for Kyo to grunt and tried to quicken the short journey to where he would hang the clothing to dry. When he arrived there, he set the basket down onto the grass and looked at a small basket that had already been there. In it contained clothes pins that would be needed. Taking his red eyes from the pins, he looked to the basket of clothing and grabbed whatever he could. Without thought, he began to pin the clothing and whatever else there was in the basket to the line.

As he pinned up a pair of jeans, a light breeze rattled the clothing and made the Sohma look around him. The breeze felt nice though it ended as fast as it came and the male was felt with a frown. Turning his head, he looked into the basket and saw that it was empty. "Finally!" the redhead huffed as he picked up the basket and made his way back into the house.

Finally being back indoors, Kyo lazily dropped the basket onto a counter and realized he was actually halfway finished with the laundry. He slowly glared at the pile of whites though it blankly stared back, making him sigh. Not even wanted to think about any personal items he was touching, he quickly tossed them into the washing machine and slammed the metal top. Sounds of knobs being turned and a button being pushed sounded, then water filled the washing machine. "This sucks." Kyo whined in a whisper as he stepped away from it to leave the room. As far as he knew, you didn't need to stay in the room when you were doing laundry.

The boy wandered in the living room and saw it was empty. He took quick advantage of it as he sat down on a cushion and began to let his mind wander. His eyes glued themselves to one of the walls and his fingers clumsily tangled with each other. Though he appeared to be quiet, his thoughts were already planning the next move on what to do. Okay. So far, Tohru wants to hang out with me but she still has no idea that I like her. I can do that… until the damned butterflies come up. Maybe… I could take her to the park, there's a garden section and I know how she loves flowers and plants. Kyo thought to himself with a small smile as he shifted his position slowly on the cushion. Oh! And if we're alone… I'll take the real step. I'll tell her how much I love her. That's it. No more running away from this!

Thoughts got bolder as Kyo shook with determination. Quickly, he peeked out a window to see the afternoon sun was still in the cloudless sky. "Great. I'll ask her now if she wants to go to the… fuck, I still have to do laundry!" the Sohma whispered to himself but then shouted when he remembered his clothes washing duties. Remembering it caused him to have his smile turn into an angry frown as he rushed into the next room to check on the laundry.

Going into the room, he quickly got to the washing machine and checked on it. "Need some bleach." He whispered, getting away from it to find the bottle. In the collection of softeners and detergents, a white jug was found to contain what he was looking for. Kyo wrapped his tan fingers along the pearl white handle and lifted the container. As he carried it back, he took into account how heavy it was and that more would have to be bought in the near future.

Now standing in front of the washing machine, he opened the top and looked at the darkened clothing at the bottom as water swayed carelessly. "How much to put?" Kyo asked out loud as he twisted the top off of the bottle. His question remained as he stared at the container of bleach in his grasp. Well, it's supposed to whiten clothes, right? So… the more the better? More silence went by until the Sohma shrugged to himself. "Yoh well…" he whispered as he tipped the bottle slightly and watched the mini waterfall. When there seemed to have been enough, Kyo turned the bottle up straight and closed the top of the washing machine.

Seconds later, it came to life and the washing continued. Kyo turned his back to it as he put the cap back onto the top and went to return it. He set it near the softener and then sighed, "I hope this doesn't take long. I really want to take Tohru to the garden." Whispered words got interrupted by the sound of footsteps and the boy quickly looked to the door. Slowly, it opened and a black haired male peeked into the room. "You're doing laundry?" he asked and then opened the door some more to enter. The other nodded, "Yeah, Shigure." He answered, "I told Tohru I'd do it for her."

"Oh, I'm sure you'd do anything for her." Shigure replied with a smirk and watched Kyo carefully for a reaction. Hearing what the dog Sohma had said, he hurriedly looked at his smirking expression. "Shut up, you perv!" Kyo said back but then turned confused when he said him chuckling. It went on for a few seconds and ended with a sigh. "I didn't mean anything pervertly… but you sure took it that way. So, what are you thinking about with little Tohru?" he said, his smirk staying intact through it all. The two said nothing, one smirking as the other was blushing like mad. "Sh… shut up!" the younger male shouted and quickly turned his back to the older male.

The shout just made Shigure chuckle some more and walked over to the washing machine. He didn't open it but just watched it. "I didn't know you could do laundry." He said, trying to lighten things up a bit. Kyo just nodded with his back still to the black haired male. "A little. Do you know how long it takes for the whites to wash? I want to go out somewhere with Tohru." He said, his voice a bit low. Shigure just shrugged and curiously stepped to the other. "Go out somewhere?" he asked once he got beside Kyo, "Where are you going with her?" More whispering was done between the two for fear the one girl of the house would enter the room.

"I want to take her to the garden section of the park."

"Really, now? Will you two be alone?"

"Uh-huh... I hope so anyway."

"Will you hold her hand?"

"Um... I'm not sure

"Will you take off her-"

"Just be quiet… think you can do the rest of the laundry for me? I need to get to Tohru."

"Alright, fine."

o-o-o

The beat of knocking sounded as Kyo stared at the door to Tohru's bedroom. The knocking was slow and gentle from the butterflies that had sprung up just seconds ago. Kyo waited for the brunette girl to answer as thoughts went over him. I'll just do what I planned before. Take her to the garden and tell her everything. But… what if she doesn't wanna go? He asked himself and instantly began to feel unsure about it all. From behind the door, the bedroom sounded silent and the redhead thought Tohru was still asleep. About to leave, he stopped when he heard footsteps and saw the door slowly open. Standing in the wooden doorway was Tohru who seemed to have been awake for some time now. On her face was her ever present smile that Kyo stared at, his body and mind falling victim to the butterflies that he felt in his stomach.

o-o-o

Hm, this chapter came out a decent length. I imagined it to be longer but I don't want to make you guys wait. I was amazed to see that the note on the top took up almost an entire page on my word program thing. Well, maybe it's a good thing since most of it was replies to you guys. Thanks so much, you guys. Great hugs for putting up with me! Oh, awesome news… I have no school (or homework!) for just about a week.