Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.

A/N: Sorry for the long breaks between updates. I've had a bit of trouble writing this chapter and then a lot of family nonsense happened so it's been a bit rough but luckily the chapter's out now.

Thanks to all of those who bother to leave reviews. It really makes me happy to know that you're willing to take a few moments after reading the chapter to give me a response. This chapter wouldn't be out without all of you and your encouragement.

Chapter 21: On Our Own Terms

"Come on, just one more. I promise, I'll behave later."

"Why can't you just behave now?"

"Because you look all cute and drowsy like you just woke up and your pouty, well-kissed lips are just inviting me to kiss it again." Kyo said as he leaned in closer toward me, his forearm resting next to my head against the wall in the Student Council Room.

I scowled at Kyo in response before sighing in defeat and pulling him close for another snogging session.

He growled enthusiastically in response, placing his other hand on my hip and wiggling his fingers enthusiastically underneath my school shirt. I moaned at the contact, mildly registering that perhaps we should stop now before we went on any further but not willing to let the moment dissipate just yet. Which is why, despite my earlier complaints, when I felt Kyo starting to pull back from the kiss, I followed him eagerly, finally bringing my arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer.

When we finally broke apart, air an annoying necessity, Kyo leaned his forehead against mine and sighed in what seemed like contentment, "Fuck, I missed you."

I raised my eyes to Kyo's just as he was opening them and gave him a small smile as I whispered, "Likewise."

A knock at the door had us breaking apart within seconds and me tucking my shirt back in hastily.

"Yo, Yuki! You in there?"

Kyo and I both groaned with relief before Kyo marched to the door, yanking it open and glaring at Sou as he made his way inside and Kyo closed the door with slightly more vigour than necessary.

"Sheesh, what's the 'Glare of Death' for?" Sou asked, looking between me and Kyo. Gasping, he whispered, "Did I interrupt something steamy?"

"Shut up, will you?"

"What? It's perfectly naturally. It's only been a week since you two got back together, it would be understandable if you wanted to have steamy make-out sessions in the shadows of the Student Council Room."

"I swear, one day I'm going to castrate him." Kyo groaned as he propped himself on top of one of the desks.

"Stand in line." I replied, sliding my hand over Kyo's thigh comfortingly as I made my way past him and to my desk, placing my belongings back into my bag which were still lying out from earlier this morning.

"Hey! I'm standing right here, you know?"

"What are you doing here anyway? You hardly ever come to the Student Council Room? Did something happen?"

"Oh, yes! You better get out of here soon, Kyo. Your crazy bitch is looking for you."

"Urgh, she's not mine."

"Doesn't change the fact that she's looking for you. Kazuki came to the classroom a few minutes ago and said that he couldn't get a hold of you on your cell so I thought I'd come and see if Yuki knew where you were."

"Shit. She's been getting really suspicious lately. I wasn't even able to help out with Hana-chan these past 2 weeks. She's been sticking to me like glue. Who would've thought she would bump into my uncle of all people when she went shopping? The idiot doesn't even like shopping there! I had to go on about how I was planning something special for our 'two month anniversary' and actually had to take her out just to prove it."

"You don't have to remind me." I grumbled, shoving the last of my things roughly into my bag and zipping it up quickly.

Just as I was about to make my way to the door Kyo grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. "She means nothing to me. I was just with her so that you wouldn't get hurt. You believe me, right?"

I sighed exasperatedly, "Of course I believe you but that doesn't change the fact that she's still hanging on my boyfriend in front of everyone and there's nothing I can do about it."

"We have a plan, right? And we're sticking to it. Sooner or later she won't be able to come between us anymore. We just have to wait for the right moment. Until then, we've got to keep her happy. Keep her happy and we get to deal with this at our own speed. 'We're doing it our way', remember?"

I could feel myself pouting but I couldn't help it, "I remember."

"Then stop pouting. You know how that makes me."

I glared at Kyo, "I've gotta meet your uncle about this stupid performance thing he's got the band doing before class starts. You should meet your girlfriend and calm her down before things become fucked up. I'll talk to you later... maybe."

"Yuki-"

I kissed Kyo chastely, cutting off his protests and swiftly made my way out of the classroom and to the principal's office.

"Are you guys all right?" Sou asked, concern lacing his voice, as the door practically slammed shut.

"We're fine. Just the stress with Nidou. I thought it would at least get a bit more bearable if he knew, that way he would understand why I was with her and that I held no affection for her, that it was all for him but I guess it's harder since he knows that although he's got me everyone's under the impression that I'm with Nidou instead."

"Wasn't that kind of the same situation you were in with Mimi at the beginning though?"

I shook my head. "It's different." I leaned against the desk, crossing my arms in front of me before continuing, "With Mimi, it was almost normal if Yuki and I were in close proximity, we could walk home together and if we were seen it was easy to explain that I was meeting Mimi at the house, also Yuki knew that nothing was going on between us. With Nidou, Yuki thought we were genuinely dating for a long time. He never had the assurance that I was only interested in him and we were separated by the lie that I didn't want him in my life anymore. So ya... there's a difference."

"Have you guys decided when you're going to go along with the plan?"

"Not yet but I hope it's soon. I want to be with Yuki and Yuki alone, I don't want to have to carry on this secret relationship anymore. I just want to be with Yuki without hesitation, without having to hold myself back because people don't know yet."

"I get what you mean. Don't worry about it, sooner than you know it you'll be able to grope that cute ass in front of everyone."

I glared at Sou again, "Have you been checking out my boyfriend's ass?"

"Dude, I've known your boyfriend for longer than you have, it'd be weird if I haven't noticed it by now. 'Sides I'm harmless, Yuki's like my brother, it's those weird guys in his fanclub that you should be worrying about, we have no idea what their agenda is all about. Once they find out that Yuki's gay they might feel inclined to act in certain... amorous fashions."

I stood up and groaned in response, remembering how some of the guys literally drooled over Yuki the other day, "At least I know that Yuki will never go for anyone of them."

"Who would?" Sou said as we walked out of the Student Council Room and made our way to class.

I snorted and clapped Sou on the back good-naturedly, "Oh, you're so right about that."

As Sou and I got closer to the classroom I heard a loud, "Well, where the hell could he be then? His bag's here! I'm not an idiot!"

"Ahh, your girlfriend's inside."

"Please stop referring to her as my girlfriend, please? It sends shivers up my spine and not in a good way."

"Anyway, good luck, dude. I'm gonna make my way to Seiji and Aki's class quickly. See you later."

"Ya, thanks." I said, bracing myself for a few minutes after Sou had turned to leave before making my way inside the classroom.

The moment I walked in, Kagura turned and fixed me with a glare.

"Where were you?" She practically screamed making her way over to me.

I kept my cool, answering with a simple, "Toilet."

"I checked the toilets."

I gave her a disbelieving look, "You went inside the toilets and checked for me?"

"Well, not exactly, but you're not answering the question!"

"I did. I went to the bathroom."

"And I said I checked there already!"

"Well, how could you have done that if you didn't go inside? Not to mention that I could've been in any bathroom in the school building. What's got you so worked up anyway?"

Kagura huffed looking at the door as if distracted and then turned back to face me, pouting exaggeratedly, "You've been distant. I just don't want to lose you."

I stared at her questioningly, my mind barely registering the door opening, before realising that it was all a ploy. Majority of the class were staring in our direction, she wanted to play me as the bad guy.

I planted a fake charming smile on my face, "What are you talking about? You're not going to lose me."

Kagura smiled like the cat that got the cream yet her eyes spoke of an evil smirk, before bouncing toward me and hugging me tightly, "You always know what to say, Kyo-kun!"

I wrapped one of my arms around her waist at Kazuki's expectant look and after a few seconds when I tried to pull away Kagura only held on tighter. I groaned internally and patted her awkwardly on the back before saying, loud enough so everyone could hear, "Come on, I don't want you to be in trouble because of me. It's almost homeroom time."

She finally pulled away and tried kissing me, something I managed to barely dodge, but merely got the corner of my mouth. It was better than full-on and Kagura seemed satisfied enough.

"I'll see you later, sweetie!" She practically yelled as she finally moved to leave the classroom.

As I was following her path of departure I noticed the smug look she gave Yuki, when she thought he wasn't looking. Once she'd closed the door, Yuki's amethyst eyes briefly met mine and I couldn't help but notice how void of emotion they looked. His look plus Kagura's distracted moment made me wonder why the hell I hadn't put the pieces together sooner to just shut up in the first place.

"Yo! I'm looking for Seiji and Aki, you guys seen them?" Sou shouted as he scanned the classroom.

"Not sure, dude. Don't think they came into class yet." One guy shouted while another guy said, "I saw them in the Library this morning."

"Thanks!" He said, closing the door and making his way to the library. It was on his way there, the quick route that hardly anyone knew about, that he heard the hushed voices. Frowning at the familiarity of the tones, he did what any normal person would do and pressed his ear against the door in order to hear better.

"You've got to meet her." came Aki's stern voice.

"Why? Not going would send the same message." Seiji's monotonous voice replied.

He thought to interrupt the discussion until he heard Aki's voice once again, "She confessed her feelings for you in person and then kissed you. Do you really think she'd take a no-show as a proper rejection?"

"I don't want to see her. It would do nothing."

"It does something to her. You could see that her feelings were real, she deserves honesty."

"What do you want me to do, Aki?" This was the first time he heard Seiji sound somewhat... desperate, "What am I supposed to say? 'Sorry, I can't go out with you, I already have a boyfriend.'? No one knows about us."

Aki gasped, "That's not fair. We decided together that we didn't need people to know. We're not hiding anything from anyone but our relationship is personal, we don't need to flaunt it in front of the world just to give it substance."

It seemed like forever passed before Sou heard Seiji sigh in what seemed like defeat, "You're right. I'll talk to her properly. For now, I've gotta clear my head. I'll see you in homeroom."

Sou moved away from the door just in time, Seiji walking in the other direction without realising he was even there. Without thinking he made his way into the room that Aki was still in.

"Sou? What are you doing here?"

He looked around sheepishly, "I was looking for you guys... Heard you were in the library."

There was a pregnant pause before Aki spoke, "How much did you hear?"

"Practically everything." Sou admitted immediately.

"Sorry about that... We've been having a rough time since last week."

"Wanna talk about it?" Sou offered.

"It's fi- This chick's been quite adamant about confessing her love for Seiji. She doesn't do it in front of people... well, she does it in front of me but there's not much that Seiji and I can do since people think we're just friends. She's asked him to give her a legitimate reason if he's going to be rejecting her and he just wants to not pitch. Says that she'll take that as rejection in itself but I've been telling him to go meet with her because it'd be better if she were given a straight-forward reason."

"Maybe he doesn't want to do it because of you; doesn't want you to doubt your relationship."

Aki looked at Sou, the fact that he hadn't thought about that reason completely obvious, "What do you mean?"

"Well... did this chick kiss Seiji in front of you?"

Aki looked down, unable to meet Sou's gaze as he nodded.

"And how did you react? Did you scream at him?"

Aki looked up swiftly, "No! It wasn't his fault. Seiji didn't kiss her, she kissed him. There's a difference."

"And when you two walked home?"

"Hanabi was with us so..."

"And when she was asleep and you guys were alone, did you talk about it then?"

Aki blushed a deep red, shaking his head, "We didn't really... talk about it."

Sou's eyebrows furrowed, "Why're you acting so weird all of a sud- You fucked?"

"Can you shut the fuck up?" Aki's eyes went wide as saucers, from Sou's words or his own, Sou wasn't sure. His own eyes were just as wide, he'd never heard Aki swear like that before.

"... please." Aki added after the awkward silence.

"What the hell, Aki?" Sou said, exasperatedly, "You don't have sex to try and get the problem to go away! You talk about it! That's what you and Seiji do, remember? You talk about it, get it all out in the open then you hump like rabbits."

Aki started tapping his foot and chewing on his bottom lip, his face filled with worry, "I know!"

"Then wh-"

"We were going to talk about it! I swear! But the next thing we knew, our clothes were off and... well, by then we were just trying to make sure that Hanabi didn't wake up."

Sou groaned, "You did it with Hana-chan in the house? Again?"

"We're teenage boys, Sou. There's not much we can do otherwise when there's no where else to go. Plus, Hanabi sleeps through almost everything. Remember that time you and Yuki were over and you tripped over the table and yelled so loud the neighbour's dog two doors down started barking but Hanabi didn't bat an eyelash? Besides... we were quiet."

Sou gave Aki a disbelieving look, "Remember that time when the band crashed at my house after we went clubbing and Haru heard those loud nois-"

"Okay, shut up. I thought we said we'd never mention that again." Aki interjected but Sou carried on anyway.

"-es and walked in on you two doing it?"

Aki glared at Sou, "Really, Sou? Really? We were drunk, we hardly knew it was your house... let alone that we were on the washing machine."

"Fucking hell!" I screamed as I walked into the Old Music room, kicking the couch that Sou and Aki were sitting on.

"Yo!" Sou shouted, wiping at the spot on his shirt that his can of Coke had spilled on.

"Sorry." I murmured apologetically, Aki pulling his feet closer to himself on the couch to make room for me as I flopped down between them.

"What's got you so riled up? Did Kyo do something that I have to punch him for?" Sou asked, giving up on wiping at the mark and taking his shirt off completely instead.

I shook my head, "It's not Kyo that's irritating me, it's his daft uncle."

"What did Principal Hayato do this time?" Aki asked automatically.

"Even though I told him that we wouldn't be able to do the performance next week, he's somehow managed to convince me and now there's no getting out of it. I mean, supposedly important people are coming to visit next week. People who may provide donations for the school. Big donations. How can I say no to that? I'm the Student Council President, I'm supposed to be doing things that are going to benefit the school and yet being president is exactly what's going to keep us from practicing properly and blowing their minds away."

"We're all hot and we have talent. How could we not blow their minds away?" Sou said, pride evident in his voice.

"Listen," Aki started, his voice taking on a determined tone, "We can do this. Haru's going to come over to help in a little while. Tomorrow, we'll talk to Manabe about taking on a little more of your duties just for a little while so that we can get more time to practise; he wasn't elected Vice President for nothing, he'll be able to handle it."

"You think so?"

"Definit-"

I watched as Aki's eyes fixed on the front door, a strained smile appearing on his lips. Aki abandoned the conversation and stood up, making his way over to Seiji. Once he was in front of him he looked up nervously, "Hey."

"Hey." Seiji replied simply, taking hold of Aki's hand.

I moved closer to Sou, leaning in close so I could whisper instead of ruining the moment, "What's going on here?"

"Shh." Sou whispered in return, his hand shooing me away as we both continued to watch with rapt attention.

"How did it go?" Aki asked, both of them mildly aware of the two onlookers behind us.

"I told her."

Aki frowned in confusion and slight panic, "Told her what?"

Seiji's free hand came to rest on Aki's cheek, "That I'm already deeply in love with someone else."

Sou and I watched as Aki swallowed, "Really?"

"I may not say it enough but I do. I love you, Aki."

"I know." Aki said, his voice trembling as if he were going to cry any moment, "I love you too."

Before I knew it Seiji had Aki pressed against him, their lips touching gently and exploratory.

Sou and I watched interestedly as Seiji walked forward toward the piano, lifting Aki up easily to sit on it and nestling himself between Aki's legs, his hands splaying across Aki's thighs as they continued to kiss, Aki's hands buried deep in Seiji's hair.

Just when the moment was really getting heated, a loud, "What's up, my people?"

Seiji and Aki broke apart in shock while Sou groaned and I slapped a hand against my face.

"Whoa! What the hell's going on here?" Haru blurted out, blatantly staring at the position that Seiji and Aki were in.

"Way to spoil the mood, Haru." I sneered, pushing myself back to sit in the spot I had previously vacated.

"And why are you guys sitting there like a couple of voyeurs? Tell me! Tell me!"

"It's a long story, Sou can tell you at home later." Aki said from his spot on the piano, arms securely around Seiji's shoulder and appearing to be casually nuzzling the older boy's head which was nestled in the crook where neck met shoulder.

"Haa," Haru sighed obnoxiously, "I always miss the best shit."

"Kyo-kun, you're not doing anything stupid, right?"

I looked up at Kagura who was sitting casually on the edge of my bed, her legs crossed and eyes focused on doing her nails.

"Stupid?" I asked, bemused.

"Ya, like start going out with that damn Sohma Yuki boy again because may I remind you THAT IF YOU ATTEMPT TO DOUBLE CROSS ME I'LL CUT YOU!"

I sent her a look of disbelief/shock and she pulled herself together again, "I mean, I just want the best for you Kyo-kun and obviously," she motioned to her body, "I'm the best there is."

I sent her a charming (fake) smile, "Obviously. Nothing's going on."

"Really? Because you've been hanging around that Sano fella more and more lately. I've seen you two walk together in the corridors. Frankly, it's a bit fishy. Sano is Sohma's best friend after all. You guys have no reason to be hanging out together."

"One of Yuki's best friends," I corrected automatically, "and he's my friend too. We're in the same class and we get along. That's enough reason for me to hang out with him. He's a cool dude."

Kagura scoffed, "Fine. Whatever. If I feel that anything's out of the ordinary then you know what will happen."

"Getting 'your people' to look out for you again?" I replied, sarcastically.

Kagura glared a little before shaking her head and standing up. She made her way over to me, kissing me viciously before pulling away and smirking.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Boyfriend." Kagura practically sang as she passed Kazuki to exit the room. Kazuki closed the door behind her and made his way over to his side of the room. Dumping his bag on the bed and slipping a finger in his tie to undo the knot, he turned to give me a questioning look as I wiped the sleeve of my shirt over my mouth.

"What was that about?"

"She's suspecting something's going on between me and Yuki."

"When did she get that smart?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"She didn't. She's only thinking that because I'm hanging out with Sou more. She's still as daft as ever. I'm lucky she actually believes she loves me otherwise she might not be so blind."

"Silver linings, dude. Have you decided when you're going to break the news to the school?"

"Not yet but I want it now more than ever. Things between me and Yuki get tense every time Nidou's mentioned. I just want to get rid of her constant threat over our lives."

"All in due time."

"And it's even worse now. Yuki's even more stressed because my uncle's got him doing this show thing on Monday after assembly. Yuki said he was going to go speak to him but knowing my uncle he'll find some way to get Yuki to do it."

Kyo looked over to Kazuki to see him deep in thought. The silence was broken when Kazuki's face suddenly lit up, "I've got an idea."

"What is it? It's not something weird again is it?"

"No! Why don't you guys just do it then?"

"Do what?"

"Come out! At the assembly."

"Are you incredibly insane!"

"How is that insane?"

"It just is! There's no way that's ever going to happen." I ended, my arms crossing in front of my chest in a show of finality.

"You're okay with it?" I asked incredulously.

When I'd brought up that Kazuki wanted us to come out during the assembly I expected full-blown laughter, hell, I would've settled for a snort of derision at this moment but agreement? Now that was something that I was not expecting.

I could practically hear Yuki nod over the phone, "Why not? We come out with a bang and then it's over and done with. Though, maybe before the sponsors get there."

My eyes widened in response, "Sponsors? What sponsors?"

"Didn't I tell you? That's the whole reason why your uncle's got us doing this. He wants to show off to some sponsors who could make donations to the school that would apparently help immensely."

"How could he not tell me about this?"

"Well, he's not really obligated to. You may be his nephew but inside the school grounds you're really just another student and why would a principal tell a uninvolved student this?"

"Fine, whatever. I can't believe we're really going to do this."

"About that," came Yuki's uncertain voice, "How exactly are we going to go about this?"

"I... hadn't actually thought of that."

"Well we could- YUKI-NII! THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'M CALLING YOU! TELL KYON TO PISS OFF!"

I whistled lowly, "Mimi's in a mood. What did you do?"

"Nothing!" I defended, "Why is it always me?"

"Fine. What did Ayame do?"

"Almost had sex with Hatori outside of Mimi's door this afternoon. They were on their way to their room and supposedly couldn't control themselves any longer. Her club activities had been cancelled but they didn't know and Aya-nii had called Hatori up with the promise of steamy lunch sex before he had to return to work." He stated without a moment's pause.

"Completely believable."

I heard Yuki chuckling and snickered myself.

"You would think that you'd be a bit more taken aback when someone talks to you about their brother having sex on the floor with his boyfriend."

I smirked even though he couldn't see it, "Ya, well it's Ayame and Hatori-san. What do you really expect?"

"True. I've gotta get going, any longer and Mimi's going to be walking up the stairs to come and fetch me herself. And that will not be funny at all."

"Got it, I'll see you tomorrow."

I barely heard Yuki's 'awesome' over Mimi's yelling voice, catching Yuki's reply of, "Dammit, woman! I'm on my way, don't come up here!" just before the phone switched off.

I flopped back onto my pillows, briefly looking over to Kazuki's side to make sure he was still sleeping as I placed my phone on the drawer next to my bed, before turning to stare at my ceiling and allowing sleep to pull me in, the last thought on my mind being Yuki and how we'd finally get to be together properly soon.

After a long time life was finally starting to look up again.

To be continued.

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