Ahh, another week has been and ended; joy joy joy. I'm happy Work Experience is over, a little less happy that I'm back to school for a final week… then I have 6 weeks of doing nothing, so I guess I shouldn't complain! Lots and lots of writing can be done! :) I also had 126 people view my story yesterday! I nearly cried.

Guest – I see you don't have an account. This upsets me as I'm sure you'd have a very creative and original name if you did. YES A CLIFF HANGER! At least now you guys know how to stop it, don't make the same mistake twice ;)

Brit – Don't worry! The first chapter is always kinda boring, everything gets better :) I promise!

Mockingjay0706 – I'm sorry, I want reviews, because I'm selfish ;) Aww thank you! That's actually just made my day :') I'm glad you like my story, I'm trying really hard!

WishesOfACrazyGirl – Thank you! Reviews like yours make me want to finish this story! Thank you for making me smile!

Animefangirl95 – That was the intention! I was crying whilst I was writing them… Silly me :) I love Cali, I want to live there when I'm older! Thanks I thought I'd experiment with them, seeing as I usually just stick to one person's point of view and thought tracks and all… I'll be updating more frequently now! I promise!

Esther chan – N'aww :') thank you! I will do my best to please all my loyal readers!

Enjoy!

Chapter 12

'Oh no, Kisa!' Hiro called, she turned to look at him, confused but smiling at the sight of his face and the sound of his voice, 'I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Are you hurt?' he asked quickly. It took her a moment to process his words before she shook her head mutely. She looked down at her hands and knees to see them scraped and bleeding. Hiro stood her up and looked her over before pulling her into a tight hug.

'Don't scare me like that Kisa, I thought you'd really hurt yourself!'

Kisa sat bolt upright in her bed, in a cold sweat and breathing hard. She realised what had happened and smacked her head back on her pillow letting out a sigh, waiting for the inexplicable pain in her heart and the unstoppable tears; but nothing came.

She furrowed her eyebrows and sat up looking over at Hiro's messy, empty bed, she walked over to it, fixing the sheets as he'd never been able to. She tucked them under his lumpy futon and a folder piece of paper dropped out onto her lap.

It had her name on it.

Part of her screamed for her to open it, the other told her to put it back under the futon and forget about it. 'If Hiro wanted me to read it, he would have given it to me.' She told herself. 'What if he was going to the day the carriage hit him?' she argued back. She furrowed her brow, 'then he would have told me about it when he woke up.' There was a long pause as she thought of any possible arguments that could contradict her.

None came, so she placed the note in the top drawer of her bedside table, so she could see it; make sure it was real. She lay down again and her eyes closed.

'He died merely seconds after he woke up. He never had the chance.' Her mind told her as she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

~O~

Kyo lay on the roof looking at the stars. The moon's light bleached everything it touched a brilliant white and the crickets chirped a harmonious melody which relaxed Kyo's body as he flexed his toes and his fingers.

It was a hot night so he had opted for a shirtless with cropped shorts look. He smiled as the warm breeze blew over him; warming him to the bone. He loved the roof, it was his favourite place; besides, it was too hot to sleep in his stuffy room.

'Tohru's closer to me there though.' He thought; grinning to himself before rolling his eyes at how cheesy he sounded.

'I thought you might be up here.' Kyo jumped at the sound of Tohru's voice, she was there, on the roof with him, in her nightie with a plate of riceballs. Kyo smirked.

'You couldn't sleep either?' she smiled warmly at him and shook her head.

'Are you hungry? I made a midnight snack' she asked quietly, not looking at him, scared he might not be and she would have wasted her time making them.

'Depends… are they plain like before?' He asked, lying back down with his hands behind his head. He peered over at her and saw her vigorously shake her head. 'Really?' she nodded.

'They're pickled plum.' Kyo's eyes brightened.

'Well, what'cha doing all the way over there? Let's eat!' Tohru smiled at him and carefully walked towards him. He took one and ate it in two bites. Tohru stared at the rice ball; Kyo could almost see her mind whirring. He nudged her, breaking out of her trance. She swallowed loudly, 'What?' she asked.

'What were you just thinking?' Kyo asked looking her right in the eyes.

'You'll think it's silly…' she replied looking away from him, still looking at the rice ball. He took her wrist and she looked at him.

'Try me.' He challenged, never once straying from her eyes, she sighed and shrugged then attempted to change the topic.

'What's you're favourite flavour riceball?' she asked innocently. Kyo smirked at her, loving the way her breath hitched as he did.

'Plain with salt, now tell me this 'silly' thing you were thinking about; because I'm pretty sure that's not it.' He looked into her eyes, waiting for her to answer.

'Do you think people are like riceballs?' Kyo looked at her for about twenty seconds without saying anything, his mouth in a perfect 'o' and then he started laughing.

'What? No, of course not, riceballs are just rice, how can they be anything like people?' Tohru glared at him, muttering something that sounded like, 'I knew I shouldn't have told you.' Kyo shook his head and stopped laughing, 'No. No, I'm sorry, I really am, explain why you think people are like riceballs.' When she remained silent he sighed and leaned towards her, kissing her neck, 'please?' he murmured against her skin causing Tohru to shiver with pleasure, his hair smelt amazing.

'Fine, I will!' She took a deep breath, 'You know how people never realise their own talents or the good things about themselves?' Kyo nodded, giving her his full attention, 'well, say that a person was a riceball and their talents were the pickled plum like these ones, or whatever other flavouring, on their back. So, all over the world you can have rice balls made with all sorts of wonderful ingredients, all different flavours and shapes and colours, but since they'd be stuck in the middle of everyone's back, someone could have a plum and not even know it. They'd look at themselves and think 'I'm so plain, nothing but white rice.' even though it isn't true because, turn them around and, sure enough, there it is. There's the plum. So if someone is jealous of somebody else, well, then, it's probably because it's easier to see the plum on someone else's back than it is on your own.'

She smiled at Kyo and rubbed his back gently, 'You have one you know, Kyo, you have a plum.' Kyo shook his head.

'Yeah, a rotten one.' Tohru hit him over the head and he looked over at her, 'Hey! That's not very ni-' he was cut off by Tohru's lips crashing against his own. He smiled into the kiss, leaning in so he could deepen it. 'I wish I could hold you.' He murmured against her lips. She smiled at him and placed her forehead on his.

'Once I remove this stupid curse you'll be able to.' She replied, kissing him briefly (too briefly in Kyo's opinion) on his lips and lying down so that her head rested on his lap. Within a few seconds he heard her breathing slow and he began stroking her hair, gently combing it with his fingers.

'I love you, Tohru.' He whispered smiling at the back of her head; it felt so easy to say it to her, so right.

'I love you too, Kyo-kun.' Tohru murmured. Kyo was thankful for the dark night that covered the blush that had risen to his cheeks.

~O~

'Hana!' Uo called out. 'We have a real long way to go to get to Thornewood. Get your butt out here or I'm not coming with you!' Hana gracefully glided out of the small cottage wearing a long black riding coat with its hood up only showing her mouth, her hair tied back into its usual long plait over her right shoulder and went to stroke her black mustang Onyx on his nose.

'You would never do that to me, Uo. You couldn't live with yourself if something really did happen to me and you hadn't been there to prevent it.' Uo rolled her eyes, giving her brown shire mare, Sonita, some water before they headed out.

Uo followed behind Hana as exited their small village and made their way down a long dirt path concealed by trees.

'Careful Hana,' Uo cautioned, 'we're in bandit country.' Hana smirked from beneath her hood and looked up at the dark tunnel in front of her.

'We're not the ones who should be careful.' Hana replied coolly, her eyes flashing white at the inviting darkness.

~O~

It had taken him a while, but he had done it, he had found the exact window to Tohru's room and had jumped onto her balcony with the sleeping girl in his arms and placed her in bed, all without waking her up.

He smiled at her face, so peaceful, so beautiful. Her hair haloed out around her head, her mouth was opened slightly and her chest rose and fell fluidly. Kyo shook his head and ran his hands through his hair feeling his face get hot when he realised he'd been staring at Tohru's chest.

It was late afternoon and Kyo had made up his mind about what Kisa had said to him, but he felt like he needed a second opinion. He crept downstairs, hoping Yuki was off doing something and that Shigure was to busy writing to notice anything outside of his study.

He had been so close.

'Where do you think you're going?' Yuki said as Kyo had tried to sneak out the front door in the late afternoon. He inwardly cursed at being caught before sighing and turning towards Yuki.

'I was going to go and see' he lowered his voice, 'Shishou.' Both of them heard a door open and they rolled their eyes as Shigure almost fell out of his study.

'You're going to see Kazuma?' he squealed. Jumping up and down like a little girl and clasping his hands together. Kyo opened the front door.

'You're not coming. I have stuff I have to talk to him about, in private.' He replied sourly, slamming the door behind him. He jumped on one of the horses and rode for two solid hours up the mountain towards his adopted father's dojo. He finally got there and tied his horse to an apple blossom tree in the large field surrounding Kazuma's estate. He knocked on the door and waited.

'Kyo, it's been three weeks since I last saw you; you should visit me more often!' Kazuma beamed pulling Kyo in for a tight hug. Kyo happily returned it before stepping back and facing his father with a serious look.

'We need to have a serious talk.' Kazuma's face fell slightly before he softened his smile and invited Kyo in.

'I'll make some tea then.'

~O~

Tohru woke up smiling. Kyo loved her; she'd heard him say it himself. She felt butterflies flutter in her stomach and she turned expecting to see Kyo next to her, but he wasn't.

'Kyo?' she said quietly, looking around the room before getting up and going out to the double doors that led to her balcony. It overlooked the back garden, the fountain and oak tree all in her sights.

But Kyo wasn't there.

She looked up towards the roof. 'Kyo, are you on the roof?' she asked, more to herself. She waited for a few minutes before realising that he wasn't there either. Tohru felt sick, he'd told her he loved her and then just left her the next morning.

She began to question his feelings; why would Kyo lie to her? He wouldn't, which is what made this question even more confusing. She changed into her old green dress and went downstairs. She felt someone watching her as she searched for Kyo.

'If you're looking for Kyo, he's gone to his father's house. He'll be back sooner or later.' Tohru turned to find Shigure leaning against the doorframe, his bangs concealing his face, 'AND HE DIDN'T LET ME GO WITH HIM, FLOWER! He just slammed the door in my face and told me I couldn't. I'm so upset.' He sat on the floor and hugged one of her legs. 'Your legs are very nice Tohru!' he exclaimed as she struggled to shake him off.

'Shigure you damned pervert, get off Miss Honda.' Yuki said entering the room and tugging at Shigure. After a long struggle Shigure finally let go and Yuki sent him away to finish his novel. 'Mitchan will have an aneurism if she finds that you've not finished!' he stated, pushing him into his study and closing the door.

'Do you know why he went?' Tohru asked Yuki innocently. He smiled at her.

'He said he needed to talk to him about something private, so I don't know, I'm sorry I don't know more Tohru.' Yuki replied shaking his head.

'Did you ever find out the curse?'

'Hmm?'

'The curse, did you find out any of the words?' Tohru asked impatiently. Yuki looked away from her, as if he was deep in thought.

'No, Akito said she couldn't really remember anything, apart from it mentioned the… twelve Chinese zodiac animals.' Tohru frowned.

'But there are thirteen… well, was thirteen in your family. How can that be? My mother's spells never went wrong.' She frowned and Yuki shrugged.

'Sorry Tohru, I have nothing else.' He replied before moving away quickly, his lie repeating itself in his head.

~O~

'So, Kyo, what is it you need to talk to me about?' The dojo was empty; there were no classes today, so they were sat in the main hall on the floor, green tea in front of them.

'I'm going to go to Akito and I'm going to ask her to lock me into the Neko Room sooner than planned.' Kazuma's mouth dropped open and he put his tea down, closing his mouth and massaging his temples with both hands.

'Kyo, you'd better have a damn good reason for doing this.' He said through gritted teeth, 'I told you about my grandfather, you have to stay in that small furniture-less room with a barred hole for a window open to the elements including the rain, and you have to stay there until you die. Do you really want that?' He shouted leaning forward so that Kyo had no choice but to look into his eyes.

'It means Tohru gets to stay with Shigure and Yuki.'

'Tohru, Tohru Honda? The girl Shigure found on the road and employed as the Governess?' Kyo nodded and Kazuma smirked, the same smirk that Kyo had perfected by watching him, 'so you're sweet on her?' Kyo looked down at the floor and nodded.

Kazuma smacked him on the back. 'How is going to the Neko Room going to help Tohru, though?' he asked Kyo looked at him and explained Akito's terms.

'In that case; follow your heart, my boy; listen to what it tells you. You can't go wrong if you follow your heart.'

I know, it's kind of a filler chapter but hey, deal with it! So, Uo, Hana and Kazuma make their debut appearances, they'll all be coming up soon :) I'M UPDATING SO QUICKLY! I'm scared that you'll get used to it and then be disappointed when I go back to only once every 3 weeks or something… Well, let's make the most of it while it lasts!

Hopefully this isn't a sad chapter, but so many questions, what's on the note to Kisa? What does Tohru think about Kyo's feelings? What's Akito going to say to Kyo when he asks to be locked up? OH MY GOD HANA'S EYES FLASHED WHITE, DOES THAT MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS? All will be answered in time my darlings. Also, who picked up on my quote stealing? IF YOU DIDN'T MAY AKITO SMITE YOU DOWN.

Much love! Olivia x