I don't own Fruits Basket or Princess Princess.

"Talking"

Chapter 9

The rest of dinner continued without any more stories of the past; although the tension was still there. After dinner, Mikoto went off with Kyoko to help her with the dishes and to allow Yuujiro to spend time with his father, brother and grandmother.

"You know Mikoto." Kyoko started. Mikoto looked up at her as he handed her another one of the dishes for her to dry. "No one has ever helped me with the dishes."

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm used to doing the dishes." Mikoto replied. "At home I usually do the cooking since none of my family can cook. So I usually take care of the dishes as well. I don't mind helping out around the house."

"I'm glad you can cook Mikoto." Kyoko replied. "That way I know you won't let my son starve." Mikoto froze in mid-wash.

"Wha…What do you mean?" Mikoto asked. Kyoko gave a small smile.

"While my son might be embarrassed by it, I can tell he really cares for you. I could see the look in his eye while he was watching you." Kyoko responded. "He has never had that look in his eye before…he was always so serious. I used to think that maybe it was Tohru…you know Tohru right?" Mikoto nodded. "I thought that he might be love with Tohru since he started to change when he first met him…but it was around that time that he first met you as well, wasn't it Mikoto?"

"I guess so…I mean we had met at the beginning of that year. Tohru transferred in not to long afterwards." Mikoto replied with a faint blush.

"The only thing I can't figure out is why you weren't upset that he didn't tell me straight out." Kyoko replied. Mikoto gave a soft smile and replied.

"I…it can be scary telling your family something new about yourself. You don't know how they would react, and you don't know if they will ever look at you the same way. The only way to know what will happen is to tell them straight away…but that is only if you can gather enough courage." Mikoto replied as his eyes grew distant. They suddenly snapped back to the present. "Plus, I kind of forced him to take me along to visit you guys. So I don't blame him if he's not ready."

"Mikoto…you are a very kind person." Kyoko replied as she stared at him. "I know it's early, but I hope Yuujiro knows how lucky he is to have found you."

"I…Thank you Shinoudani-san." Mikoto replied as he handed her the last dish.

"That's a nice bracelet you have there. I never noticed it before." Kyoko stated.

"Oh this?" Mikoto asked. "You could say my Great grandfather gave it to me when he died."

"Did you ever get to know him?"

"No, he died seven months before I was born…but he left it for me in his will." Mikoto replied. "According to my family, I get my hair and eye coloring from him." He stared at the bracelet. "I never take it off."

"That's sweet." Kyoko replied. "Let's go see the damage my Mother has done to my boys. They had decided to play Rich man, Poor man." Mikoto gave a strained smile. Oh how he hated that game.

The rest of the trip pasted with no incidents. Arisa stayed off of Mikoto's case, and both Yuujiro and Mikoto went back to school. On the train back, Mikoto leaned onto Yuujiro's shoulder.

"Your mother liked me." Mikoto smiled.

"Really?" Yuujiro asked.

"She told me she hoped you know how lucky you are to have found me." Mikoto continued.

"What do you mean?" Yuujiro asked as he stared down at Mikoto.

"She knows we're dating…she figured it out during our first dinner. Something about you staring at me during the whole thing." Mikoto finished. Yuujiro blushed. Mikoto gave a small laugh. Yuujiro looked down at Mikoto and realized that it was the first time he had ever heard Mikoto laugh. He liked the sound of it. Mikoto turned his red eyes towards Yuujiro. "I made you blush." He grinned. Yuujiro leaned down and gave Mikoto a small kiss. Mikoto turned bright red.

"Now I've made you blush." Yuujiro grinned back. Mikoto turned even darker. Mikoto stared at the ground trying to regain some of his normal coloring back. "Mikoto?" Yuujiro suddenly asked. "Is there any relationship between you and Kyou Sohma?" Yuujiro looked down at the red head. "And the fact that all your cousins have the same names as the ones that died?" Mikoto looked away.

"It's complicated." Mikoto replied. "I'm not even sure if we ourselves even understand it."

"What do you mean?" Yuujiro asked.

"The Sohmas…they…died before we were born…in the order of which we were born in." Mikoto replied. "Kyou Sohma died about fifteen years before I was born." Mikoto replied, "Yet I look exactly like him…when I was younger I stumbled upon newspaper clippings of the Sohma's deaths. I told Ka…Hikari about them and when we realized that they looked like us we started calling each other by their names. We were kids and thought it would be fun to have a name that no one besides ourselves called one another. We then let Hat…Dr. Mado found out about it, and he joined in. Soon the entire family joined in and we all adopted a name. It was later that we found out how each of them died. Ha…Dr. Mado wanted to put an end to it, but we had all gotten so used to referring to one another in these names and that we convinced him to let us keep them. Besides, it's like we're keeping their memory alive as long as we used them." Mikoto lied. He knew he was a terrible liar, but as long as Yuujiro didn't see his eyes then he would be fine. "To be honest, I was kind of scared of your Grandmother. I guess, I didn't want her to say that I was just like Kyou Sohma in a way besides my looks. I…you know how Dr. Mado said that I might have three years left to live?" Mikoto asked as he glanced at Yuujiro. This part wasn't a lie, even if it wasn't the whole truth. Yuujiro nodded as his whole body became tense.

"I had forgotten about that." Yuujiro admitted. "You never did explain."

"Kyou Sohma died at the age of twenty…we later discovered that we had many more things in common with the Sohma member we took our names from. Yuki and Kouichi for instance. They both have asthma…Kouichi's family have no record of any of their family members ever getting asthma before. Both Haru and Jun both have Multiple personality disorder. Ritsu and Ichigo both liked to dress in the women's clothing. Ayame and Ryuichi both are fashion designers. They assume that because Kyou and I haven't shown anything similar, then I'll die the same age he did." Mikoto replied.

"But that's ridiculous." Yuujiro replied. "Kyou was murdered."

"I know, I keep telling them that. But…well you know my family can be a little over protective of me." Mikoto smiled.

"I remember." Yuujiro scowled. He remembered getting kidnapped by the Physiatrist of Mikoto's family. Mikoto gave a small chuckle. Mikoto gave him a quick peck on the lips and rested his head on Yuujiro's chest to hide his blush. The things he did to sidetrack his boyfriend. Yuujiro stared down at the top of Mikoto's head. This was the first time Mikoto had ever given him a kiss. It was usually the other way around. Yuujiro could say he was an expert on reading Mikoto's eyes. He just needed to look into them to see if Mikoto wanted a kiss or not. His mind left the depressing matter of the Sohma family and turned his attention on Mikoto. He gently petted the top of Mikoto's head. He couldn't help but feel that there was something nagging at the back of his head. Yet whatever it was, was pushed aside when he heard soft purring coming from the boy in his arms. He gave a soft Chuckle as he tightened his arms around Mikoto. And the boy said he didn't purr.

In the months that followed Mikoto and Yuujiro became closer. No longer did Mikoto blush every time he was kissed, at least not when he was kissed in private. The weather was turning colder and everyone knew Christmas was on its way. Mikoto and Yuujiro had taken a Saturday to go into the city and buy some Christmas gifts. Yuujiro and Mikoto split up to go into two different stores that were right next to one another. Mikoto told Yuujiro he was buying necklaces for all the girls in his family and need to pick them up. Yuujiro just nodded and went into the toy store next door to find something for Shinnosuke. Mikoto smiled as he looked at the necklaces. The first one was on made out of gold and had the Chinese symbol for Tiger on it. The second one was a silver necklace with the Chinese symbol for Horse one it. The Third was a white gold necklace with the Chinese Symbol for boar. The final one was also made out of gold and had the symbol for Monkey on it. Even though Ritsu wasn't one of the girls, Mikoto thought he would like the necklace. He paid for them and placed them in his bag. He waved goodbye to the jewelry and left the shop. He had really come to like the old man, and all the members of his family came to this man for their jewelry needs. As Mikoto stepped outside he bumped into someone. His momentum caused him to fall.

"Well if it isn't little Mikoto Yutaka." A voice called out. "I see you haven't grown in the past few months." Mikoto looked up and groaned at who he saw. Of all the people he could have run into it had to be Kazutoshi Shinmei, looking around he also saw Shoji Toba and Tadashi Tachimachi. "Doing a little Christmas shopping? What did you need to see a jeweler for?"

"It's none of your business." Mikoto growled. "Why don't you leave me in peace and go stick your head under a rock or something."

"If only we could do that Miko-chan…but you see you won't break up with Megumi-chan, so there really isn't much we can do but torment you until you do. After all why would anyone want to be with you?" Shoji responded as he picked up Mikoto's bag before he grabbed it. "Oh look, there are a couple of boxes in here." Shoji grabbed one of them and opened it. Mikoto felt his heart stop when he saw the silver. It was Rin's gift. "Very nice Miko-chan."

"Give it back." Mikoto growled as he stood up. His fists were clenched by his sides. He had gone the past three years without using any of his marital Arts skills on Megumi's suitors, and since he knew he shouldn't hurt them, he tried not to.

"I don't know. Should we give Miko-chan his gifts back? After all he probably is going to give them to Megumi for Christmas…and we can't have that." Shoji responded. "And he did bump into Kazutoshi."

Mikoto's eyes narrowed. Oh how he wanted to punch these people. For the past three years they had been tormenting him. All because of the ruse Megumi and his sister asked him to help them with. Suddenly Shoji yelped as he dropped the box and the necklace into the snow. Mikoto dived for the box and grabbed the necklace in one hand and in the other yanked the bag away from Shoji, he then turned to see what had distracted Shoji. As he looked up he dropped Rin's necklace back in the bag. Seeing a ball of black fur on Shoji's head Mikoto's eyes widened as he dropped his bag again and ran up to Shoji.

"Let him go!" Mikoto ordered as the cat suddenly retracted his claws and jumped off of Shoji. Mikoto then leaned down and picked up the cat and jumped back to where his bag was. All in time to dodge Shoji's punch towards where the feline had landed.

"Let me at him!" Shoji growled as Tadashi and Kazutoshi held him back. Mikoto held onto the cat protectively. The cat hissed at Shoji. Suddenly the door opened and out stepped Yuujiro.

"Mikoto? What's going on?" Yuujiro asked as his eyes narrowing at the two men holding a third one back from lunging at Mikoto who was holding a black cat in his arms.

"Nothing Yuujiro…can you hold this bag for me…stop it. Don't attack, calm down." Mikoto focused his attention on the cat who continued to struggle in his arms. Yuujiro, not liking the atmosphere grabbed Mikoto's arm and started to drag him away. Once they were a good distance away Yuujiro led Mikoto to a seat. Where Mikoto placed the cat on the bench and looked down at the hissing thing. It was then that Yuujiro noticed that Mikoto's eyes were silted.

"Why did you attack him?" Mikoto asked as he stared at the cat, Yuujiro glanced between the two of them. The more he thought about it, the more he thought the cat was more of a kitten. The kitten hissed some more. "I don't recall sending out an order like that." There was a growl and Mikoto straightened before sighing. Kneeling down so that he was eye level with the cat Mikoto gave a soft smile. "I would never want one of our kind to put themselves in danger for me. Please next time, don't do it. If I hadn't been as quick as I was, he could have killed you." There was a soft purr. "I know." Mikoto replied as he looked at the cat. "But all the same, please, unless I send out a specific order, I don't want you doing any heroics for me…how old are you anyways?" there was a meow. "Your still a baby…where's your mother?" there was another meow, this time it sounded sadder. "I see, she was killed…come here. I'll see if I can find you a good home." Mikoto opened his arms and the kitten jumped into them. Mikoto then turned to look at Yuujiro. Yuujiro noted that he slits were gone now. "Sorry about that…those guys were bothering me, and this little one thought it needed to come to my rescue." Mikoto replied. "I just had to explain to it that I didn't want it risking his life for me like that."

"So you talk to cats." Yuujiro gave a small grin as Mikoto blushed. "What do you mean they were bothering you?"

"They were three of the guys who keep bothering Megumi, and because they think I'm dating her, they believe the best way for them to get me to not date her is to bother me. It doesn't help that they saw me coming out of the jewelry store. They opened one of the boxes…Rin's gift, and assumed it was for Megumi. Mikoto leaned over into the bag and pulled out the one box and necklace that had been messed up and looked it over. He gave a small sigh of relief. "It seems to be alright." Mikoto stated as he placed the necklace back into the box.

"I'm glad…but do they bother you often?" Yuujiro asked. Mikoto gave a shrug.

"Only when I go home…that's why I used to stay at Kagura's place so often. Now I stay with Yuki since Kagura is married. Last spring when we all went home, Momiji let stay at his apartment since he was going on tour that month." Mikoto explained. Yuujiro looked at Mikoto, sadness creeping into his brown eyes. Mikoto glanced at him. "Don't give me that look, I don't mind living in different places all the time, besides, I'm used to it."

"You say that about a lot of things you shouldn't use it for." Yuujiro replied as he pulled Mikoto into a hug. "I don't like that you are used to it." Mikoto leaned forward into Yuujiro's embraced.

"Thank you." Mikoto replied. "You always seem to know when I want a hug." Yuujiro tightened his grip, he couldn't very well tell Mikoto that the only reason he hugged him was because he needed to hold the other boy, not because he knew Mikoto wanted a hug.

The rest of the day passed relatively easily. There were no more confrontation as Yuujiro and Mikoto went Christmas shopping. Yuujiro had made it his duty to stick by Mikoto's side as they went to all the shops that he needed to go to. As the two of them were walking back to the train station, Yuujiro looked behind them where the black kitten was still trailing them.

"What are you going to do about him?" Yuujiro asked as he pointed towards the cat.

"Oh, I was thinking that Shinnosuke would like him. Your parents wouldn't mind a cat would they?" Mikoto replied as he glanced up at Yuujiro. Yuujiro just sighed.

"Hate to admit it, but you could send Shinnosuke porn and they would still love you." Yuujiro replied. "They like you more than they like me." Mikoto laughed at that.

"I'm sure they don't like me that much." Mikoto grinned. "But since they like me well enough, then you dear," Mikoto looked over at the kitten, "have just found yourself a new home." The kitten gave a meow.

"You know, I'm kind of glad that I know that this guy," Yuujiro pointed to the cat "can fight…he can protect Shinnosuke if he ever needed it."

"I know, that's why I thought he would be a good pet…I don't want anything to happen to Shinnosuke…he's so innocent." Mikoto's eyes grew sad. "I want to have a hand in protecting that innocent for as long as possible." Grabbing Mikoto's hand Yuujiro replied.

"I'm sure you can." Yuujiro gave Mikoto a small kiss. "I know you can."

Unbeknownst to Yuujiro and Mikoto, there was a pair of eyes watching them.

"Sir," A man asked.

"I've found him." The person watching the couple grinned.

"Sir…would you like to return to the institute…or should I take you home?"

"Take me home. I need to make plans."

"I understand sir."

"I've finally found you, you monster, and now you'll lead me to the rest." The man gave an evil smirk. "Your days are numbered."

Hope you like, sorry for the delay, I'll try to post them a lot faster. Please R&R Unitl next time

C-ya