Disclaimer - Character's are not mine.

Warning - boy's kissing.

Chapter Eleven – Cow's Confession

It had been a week since Haru had met little Kisa Tora and since that time she had been into the café four times. Each time she had come the little brat who, Haru had later learned, was named Hiro, Hiro Hitsuji, had preceded her. While Kisa was a sweet little kid, a bit shy but lovely to have around, Hiro complained loudly the whole time he was there and practically sprinted from the café the minute Kisa was out of sight of the window.

It was cute in a way, Haru supposed. The Hiro boy obviously had a crush on Kisa and was making an effort to be noticed by her. It was just too bad that the way he was going about it annoyed the hell out of everyone else, some of the other customers included.

Right now he was once again complaining to Tohru that his hot food wasn't hot, but warm and, if he'd wanted warm food, he'd have asked for it. Poor Tohru didn't really seem to know quite how to handle the precocious kid and Haru found his patience waning even more with each passing insult.

It was just when he was sure his darker personality was going to arise that Kyo, bless him, lost his own temper.

"Listen here you little twerp. I don't care who you are, whether you're a customer of the Queen of England; I'm not going to listen to any more of your crap. You either eat the food as it is and enjoy the atmosphere as it comes, or you bugger the hell off!" Kyo snarled, getting right up into Hiro's personal space to make his point.

Haru took a moment to admire the flushed cheeks and allow his mind to wander to other ways those cheeks could become flushed, before focusing on what was happening.

Hiro stared up at Kyo before his eyes darted over to Kisa for nothing more then a second, before he relaxed back in his chair.

"Well, are you going to leave me alone to eat my meal, or not?" He asked in a drawl.

Making an irritated sound in the back of his throat, Haru watched as Kyo stomped off to behind the counter again. Smiling slightly, Haru turned to Kisa and asked her how her day at school had been. He listened as she spoke, her quiet voice only adding to the cuteness that was Kisa.

It was a few hours later that Haru found himself walking to Master Kazuma's dojo with Kyo. They walked in silence and fairly close to each other, hands occasionally bumping together.

'I wonder how much he would freak out if I grabbed his hand?' Haru wondered, glancing at the orange haired man out of the corner of his eye.

Hs thoughts were, however, interrupted by a sneering voice coming from behind them.

"Yo, you're Kyo Neko, aren't you?" Turning around, they saw three guys walking towards them. Scrapes and bruises were just visible on all three, suggesting that they were street thugs that preyed upon the weak.

"Depends on who's asking." Kyo leaned back into a purposely-casual stance, though Haru knew from many hours being his sparring partner at the dojo, that he could lung at them in a heartbeat.

"You're the punk whose mama killed herself to get away from, aren't you!" The one who had spoken before crowed as his two cronies laughed loudly.

"Poor, abandoned Neko, no one loves you, do they?" He teased maliciously.

Haru looked over at Kyo and the sight before him brought out his darker side faster then it had ever come out before.

The first time 'Black Haru' had emerged had been when Hatsuharu was just twelve, when his parents' divorce had finally been settled and his father had been landed with him. It was the first night he was 'officially' just his dad's, when his father had said something about being saddled with an annoying kid. Haru had felt himself snap and before he'd known it he was shouting that he didn't even want to be there in the first place and would be so much happier without him.

The things he had done had been become blurry with time, but in the end his father had basically ignored him for the rest of his childhood, doing nothing more then making sure that Haru had enough money, food to eat and shelter over his head. Haru had moved out a week after his eighteenth birthday and hadn't seen his father since. His mother had dropped off the face of the earth after the divorce was settled.

Since then, his black side had only emerged when he was feeling particularly angry or cornered. Really, it was because of his parents that he had become like he was today, normally calm and rational, until his black persona took over and he kicked the shit out of someone and wouldn't listen to reason until he was distracted and his white personality could shine through again. He hadn't been kidding when he'd told Kisa he'd been suspended thanks to some kids giving him crap and his black persona had come forth to deliver merry-hell on the annoying brats.

Haru had been sure that this personality disorder – that's what the doctor had called it before Haru's black side had punched him in the face – would keep him alone for the rest of his life. No one would want someone as screw up as he was, no one normal anyway.

Then he had met Kyo Neko, an angry, orange haired young man who told it like he saw it and didn't give a crap about what the rest of the world thought. At least, he appeared that way. But as Haru had gotten to know him, he had found that Kyo was actually quite a gentle soul who cared a great deal for others, was always thinking about them and wanting those he loved to be happy. From what he had heard, Kyo had experienced a pretty screwed up childhood that had left him angry and hurt.

Had first seen Kyo at the café, it had been on whim that Haru had actually been in there. Haru knew he had a bad sense of direction and he often found himself getting lost. He had actually been looking for the dojo when he had found himself hungry and the café was simply the closest food place around. The sight of the cute waiter though, had made him grab one of those outrageously bright fliers on his way out so that he'd be able to come back to the café again, just to see the waiter.

The shock he had felt at seeing the cute waiter at the dojo was immense. He had felt the butterflies start up in his stomach at the sight of that orange head of hair and those gorgeously unusual crimson coloured eyes. For a second all his attention had been completely focused on the man before him. It had surprised him even further to hear that this man, Kyo Neko, was actually the Master's adopted son that he had previously heard mentioned.

Over the past few months Haru had secretly been overjoyed to be able to spend so much time with Kyo. He was lucky Kyo's boss was such a nice and friendly girl, while she was a bit spacey, she really was lovely to be friends with. The other waiters and the various people that came and went through Fruits Basket just expanded Haru's previously non-existent circle of friends.

He could feel himself willingly relenting and allowing his black persona to take over as he saw the defeated look enter Kyo's eyes, his shoulders slumping no longer in false relaxation, but in surrender.

'Why is he allowing them to say such lies about his own mother?'

Without any other thoughts he moved, using the skills he had learned from the dojo until all three of the punks that had dared to insult the person he cared for were stumbling away, whimpering and bloody.

Once he was sure they were alone, he turned dark grey eyes onto Kyo, anger shinning in their depths.

"What the bloody hell was that?" He yelled, advancing on the orange haired man who just stared at him in shock.

"How could you allow some stupid punks to talk such shit to you?" He moved in closer to him, furious at his lack of response.

"Well? Come on Kyo, what the hell's your problem?" Haru pushed him roughly, hoping to snap his out of his silent state.

Kyo blinked before a furious look crossed his face.

"They were right!" Kyo yelled back, crimson eyes flashing in a familiar anger.

"What?" Haru asked, stopping his advancing on the other man. Confusion coloured his tone as he tried to understand what Kyo meant.

"They were right, ok? My mum, what they said about me being the reason, it's true, ok." Kyo turned away from him, shame colouring his voice as his head bowed slightly.

"You think your mum killed herself because of you?" Haru said softly, his white side slowly coming back to the surface in the face of a distressed Kyo.

"Yes, she did! Now kindly take your nose out of my fuckin' business!" Kyo spun around defensively.

Black Haru shoved his counterpart metaphorically out of the way and moved to the front of his mind.

"Don't try and shut me out. I'm not going to be pushed away so easily." He growled, taking a step closer to Kyo, who stubbornly stood his ground.

"Who the hell said you could but into my business like this? We've only known one another for a few months, you don't know anything about me!" Kyo made the mistake of reaching out to push Haru away, but Haru merely grabbed hold of his arms and held them tightly when he tried to pull away unsuccessfully.

"Let go, you moron!" Kyo snarled angrily.

"I know a hell of a lot about you, Kyo. We may have only known one another for a little while, but it doesn't feel like that, does it? It feels like we've known each other forever. You can't say that's not true." Haru's face was only inches from Kyo, his dark grey eyes staring into Kyo's crimson ones.

"Shut up!" Kyo yelled, eyes conflicted, as he pulled again to try and free his arms uselessly.

"Kyo, what those punks said, it's not true. No one would ever even think of hurting themselves just because they know you." Haru allowed a smile full of affection for the orange haired man to appear on his face. "Everyone just loves you too damn much for that." He said the last bit softly, but clear enough for Kyo to be unable to mistake any of the words for something else.

Kyo stared at up at his with huge eyes; Haru silently thanking the slight height advantage he had. After a while Kyo finally closed his eyes and bowed his head, accepting Haru's words.

Throwing caution to the wind, Haru let go of one of Kyo's arms and reached out and lifted Kyo's face by a hand under his chin. Looking into slightly moist eyes, Haru smiled softly before leaning in slowly, allowing Kyo time to pull away.

'I love you too damn much to let anything hurt you.'

Haru thought as his lips finally met Kyo's after waiting so long.