Here comes chapter two! I hope you liked the first one ^^

Chapter Two

I stretched and yawned, sitting up. I looked around at Kyo's room, wondering briefly where he'd been sleeping if I was here. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, letting out a small pleasured sound as my muscles stretched without pain.

It hat been about a week since the accident, and I'd been recovering in this same room the whole time. I'd gotten up and walked around a little yesterday, but I hadn't gone far. Peeking my head out into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, I tiptoed out of Kyo's room in my night clothes, which were actually borrowed from Tohru. I knocked quietly on her door as I came to it.

"Tohru?" I whispered. "Are you in there?"

I stood uncertainly for a moment before the door slid open in front of me and Tohru's smiling face appeared. "Oh, hello Rei! How are you feeling this morning?"

"Erm… I'm okay," I said, keeping my voice down, though I wasn't really sure why. "Could I come in for a minute?"

She smiled at me and stepped aside so I could enter, and I just stood in the middle of her room awkwardly. "I-I just had a question… would you mind if I kind of… borrowed some of your clothes? I mean, I kind of wanted to go out today, and… Since my clothes are ruined, and," I glanced down at the borrowed night clothes. "I can't go out in this."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I completely forgot that you don't have any clothes or belongings, of course you can borrow some of mine! In fact, why don't we all go shopping today?" She suggested cheerily.

"Thanks, Tohru, but um… I don't have any money."

"Oh that's okay, I can pay for some stuff for you!"

I widened my eyes in surprise. "What? No! I couldn't ask you to buy me stuff, I've already been here just taking up space…"

She just smiled a bit more and set out some clothes for me. "You can put these on, and you should come downstairs when you're done!"

I blinked as she left and put on the clothes she left out, a mini-skirt and a plain blouse. I glanced in the mirror on my way out and stopped, staring at it for a moment. I took a step back and then walked towards the mirror, leaning into it to see better. There was a bandage on my right cheek, covering either a burn or a scratch. There were fading purple circles underneath my eyes, and my hair was an absolute mess.

I took the brush off Tohru's desk and brushed through the tangled jungle that was my hair, and after a minute or two of struggling, managed to get it to fall straight. It looked fine now, I supposed, except for the charred ends. Feeling bad, I dug through Tohru's desk drawers until I found a pair of scissors, then, making sure to keep it all in a pile so I could sweep it up, carefully chopped off the ends. I pulled at the new ends of my hair, making sure there weren't any strays, and then grabbed the singed pile and dumped it into a garbage can.

I looked into the mirror and smiled, glad that I finally looked decent, and left the room to go downstairs.

When I entered the room, Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure, who were kneeling around a low table, looked up and stopped talking.

"Oh, don't you look nice!" Shigure exclaimed, and then looked at the boys. "If you would excuse me, I really must get to work on my manuscript." With that he stood up and walked away, singing something about High School Girls. I blinked at the awkward silence that ensued.

"Well, how are you feeling today, Miss Otsuka?" Yuki asked.

"Oh, um, I'm feeling well, thanks. But…" I trailed off, and he looked at me questioningly. "Could you cut out with the 'Miss Otsuka' stuff? That's what my mom was called, my name is Rei."

Kyo and Yuki stared at me for a moment, and Kyo burst out laughing. I blushed deep red, embarrassed. Yuki looked irritated and smacked Kyo upside the head. His laughter stopped immediately.

"Hey, you wanna start something you damn rat?!" Kyo exclaimed jumping up and bristling like a cat.

Yuki stared up at him calmly. "Certainly not, but you were embarrassing our visitor."

Kyo glanced over at me. I was watching with wide eyes, the blush probably still tinting my cheeks. He chuckled again and sat down.

"I just think it's funny. She doesn't fall for your high and mighty formal talk crap that most girls think is sooo charming!" He said, imitating a girl at the end. I giggled at his ridiculous falsetto voice, and he grinned.

"Amazing," Yuki mused, but he sounded sarcastic. "Someone who actually thinks you're funny."

At that point Tohru walked in, carrying a huge breakfast platter, which she set on the table. "Here you go guys, help yourselves!"

Kyo seemed to leap forward to grab some food, and Yuki, Kyo's opposite in every way, it seemed, reached and calmly grabbed a piece with his chopsticks. I stood awkwardly to the side.

Tohru sat at one end of the table, and then beckoned for me to sit too. I took the spot opposite of her and stared at the food, not entirely sure what to do. My stomach grumbled in protest.

Kyo blinked at me. "What're you waiting for? Just grab something and eat it."

I blushed slightly and reached out hesitantly with a pair of chopsticks, randomly grabbing at something and eating it. I chewed for a moment, contemplating, and then blushed again when I realized they were staring at me to see what I thought. I swallowed hastily and smiled. "It's great! Tohru, did you cook all this?"

Now it was Tohru's turn to blush. "Yeah, I almost always do the cooking. B-but Kyo's really a good cook too!"

"Hey, just because I managed to cook for you that one time doesn't mean I'm good at it," Kyo said with a slight scowl.

"I get the feeling that you're generally a grumpy person…" I mused, looking at Kyo.

Yuki chuckled. "He's also stupid and disagreeable."

"Yeah, well at least I'm not some damn rat!" Kyo shouted immediately, jumping to his feet. "You wanna take this outside, pretty boy?"

"So I can beat you yet again? Sounds like a good plan," Yuki said icily, setting down his chopsticks and standing.

"Why I oughta…" Kyo muttered and then leaped across the table at his cousin. Yuki easily sidestepped, and Kyo landed catlike on his feet. He glared daggers at Yuki, his fists up and ready to fly.

"Oh, sit back down," I said irritably. "You don't have to pick a fight over every little thing you know. And for future reference, it would only take you three seconds to walk around the table as opposed to leaping it like a freakin' track hurdle." I blushed suddenly when I realized what I was saying. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I mean, I'm happy you guys have let me stay here and everything, I just, um…." I trailed off awkwardly.

Tohru smiled kindly, oblivious to the confused looks the guys were giving me. "Oh, don't worry about him, Rei. He's not so bad, him and Yuki just don't get along. Besides, it's kind of nice to finally have a girl around who points out what everyone is secretly thinking!"

I blinked in surprise. "Oh, um, no problem?" I said, making it sound like a question.

"Yuki," Tohru said, standing up. "Would you mind doing the dishes for me, please? I'm taking Rei shopping, since she doesn't have any clothes or anything."

"That won't be a problem, Miss Honda, I'm sure we can take care of it," He said, smiling gently at her. I wondered if there was something going on between those two… "Come on, stupid Cat," Yuki said, directing a slight glare at Kyo.

"What?! She asked you, not me! Do the stupid dishes yourself, you damn rat!"

"Hey, that's a lot of dishes for one person. Stop being a butt and help out, Kyo," I insisted. In my mind I screamed at myself. I can be kind of bossy by nature, and I was trying to squash that down, since I was a guest at their house. Apparently, I was failing epically.

To my surprise, however, Kyo didn't get mad at me or anything. He just grumbled and started picking dishes up off the table.

Tohru laughed lightly and then headed to the door to put on her shoes. I followed her slowly, and within a minute or two, we were off on our way to the mall.

Well, here we are with the second chapter. It was kind of uneventful, so I'm sorry for that. Special thanks to my bud, Goldy, who I am now pretty much relying on for advice when I'm not quite sure how I want to word something, among other issues. You're the best!