I'd just like to send a quick shout out to everyone that's reviewed so far. Miss-latina, KoolKat14, ItsNotSymmetrical, Kari Sohma, Rat300, Azura Soul Reaver, MoonlightChaos, and .. You guys are awesome, and especially Takara Rose Oizumi, who as reviewed FIVE TIMES! That's almost 1/3 of all the reviews, heh! Anyway, I think that's it for now. But just a warning, soon I'll be doing theatre rehearsals in the morning and Drivers ed in the afternoon. I should still have quite a bit of free time though, so I'm really going to try to keep updating, and I hope I can be more… regular with my updates. Thanks so much for your support and such!

~Mooney

Chapter Fourteen

Much to my surprise, I actually got along with Hiro, for the most part. Ritsu had left the moment he'd woken up, spewing apologies so loud I swear my ears started bleeding. When I told him as much, he just wailed and darted out the door. Hatsuharu had come to bring Kisa and Hiro home an hour or so before dark.

The next morning I awoke unusually early, for me at least. When I walked downstairs, hair pulled back in a hasty ponytail, still wearing my sweats and a tank top, only Kyo and Tohru were up already.

I sat in my usual spot on the table, then slumped tiredly so I was half laying on it.

"Not much of a morning person, are you?" Kyo murmured. I just muttered a muffled "uhnnnnn," in reply.

A timid tap came from the door, and I heaved a sigh. "You guys would have company on the one morning that I come down looking like crap…"

Tohru went to open the door. "Oh, Kagura!" I heard her exclaim. "Come on in!"

Kyo blanched, and the color seemed to drain from his face. He leapt to his feet, about to run, when a soft voice spoke.

"Kyo? Kyo! I… I missed you so much!" I blinked at the girl that appeared in the doorway. She looked a bit like a younger Tohru, and she was clutching a cat shaped backpack to her chest, she dropped it and flung herself at Kyo, tackling him in a hug.

"Kyo, my love! … Why didn't you call me?" I felt my eyes widen at the girls sudden mood swing, and I wondered if she was bipolar or if she just had pms.

"That's… Kagura," Tohru explained tentatively.

"Uh huh…" I muttered. "And… why is she mauling Kyo?" By now she had flung him through the doorway and was beating him to a pulp outside.

"That's how she shows her affection, I guess…"

I snorted skeptically. "Well that's stupid. How does murder equal affection?"

Tohru and I migrated out to the porch to watch the spectacle. Kagura was twirling him around in crazed circles now, still shrieking about how she missed him and why hadn't he come to see her and this and that.

I felt a vein twitch in my jaw. Judging by Kyo's obvious terror when he'd figured out it was her at the door, this must have been normal behavior… for her, at least. But seriously, I think this was a bit overboard. More than a bit, really. It was ridiculous.

I watched, annoyance growing into frustration, which soon turned into anger. I had to intervene before any permanent damage was done.

"Hey!" I shouted just as Kagura was about to slam Kyo into a tree. Kagura hesitated, and Kyo fell to the ground with a groan. "Really, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded.

She suddenly seemed shy and timid all of a sudden, and she covered her mouth with one hand when she saw the damage she'd done to Kyo. "I… I'm sorry, it's just… I love him so much, sometimes I just can't restrain it. I'm sorry, really…"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not sure what planet you're from, but here on Earth, beating the ever loving shit out of someone doesn't really translate into love," I informed her, hopping off the porch to make sure Kyo was okay.

He propped himself up on one elbow as I approached and wiped a small trickle of blood from his chin.

"I do love him!" Kagura shouted. "I love everything about him! One day we're going to get married, and then you'll see!" Kyo grimaced

"Will you stop saying that?" He glowered. "I only said so because you were about to squish me with a boulder!"

"Seriously, is everyone in the zodiac totally insane?" I grumbled, kneeling by Kyo's side.

Kagura seemed dumbfounded. "She knows about the zodiac curse? You told another outsider!"

I rolled my eyes at her, and she glared at me. "If she knows about the curse, then I can tell her why we're perfect for each other…" Kagura muttered. "Zodiac members can hug each other and never transform!" To prove her point, Kagura grabbed Kyo roughly by the arm and pulled him to his feet, hugging him tightly.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. "Just being able to hug him makes you the perfect match, huh?"

She nodded victoriously.

"Well, if that's the case…" I muttered. I pried her arms away from Kyo and pulled him to me just as she had been a moment before. Kagura's jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

"But... but… you, and… you're an outsider, how's that possible?" She wailed. "That's not fair! Kyo is mine!"

I released the lightly blushing Kyo from the hug and put my hands on my hips. "He's yours? Well excuse me, but I thought that slavery was illegal. Kyo isn't owned by anybody, and neither is anyone else. He's a human being, not somebody's pet, least of all yours."

Kagura gaped at me, but I pressed on, pumped to finally have a good rant, since my last one at Hatsuharu had been interrupted. "You know, I wasn't sure why he suddenly looked terrified when you walked through the door, but if you do this every single time you see him, it's no wonder he doesn't want to see you. You can't just force your 'love' on someone, Kagura. If he doesn't want it, go give it to somebody who does."

Through my little speech, Kagura's expression had gone from shocked to hurt to furious. Amused, I wondered what would happen if she tried to attack me. I certainly wouldn't be the one on the ground in the end; I can assure you of that.

"Why you little…" She growled dangerously. "You're just trying to act tough because you're jealous!" She shrieked. "You just wish you could have the bond that Kyo and I share, but you can't!"

"Bond? What bond?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not the one who has to threaten him to get him to spend time with me."

That got her. She lunged forward and backhanded me across the face. My head snapped to the side, and my face stung. When I looked forward again, there were tears springing up in her eyes, and I almost felt sorry. Almost. Then she tried to backhand me again. She probably would have done it to, but Kyo, with his cat-like reflexes, jumped forward and grabbed her wrist just before she made impact.

Kagura stared at him in disbelief. "Why are you defending her?" She whimpered. "She's trying to ruin our relationship, to tear us apart!"

Kyo, in an effort to stay calm, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his gaze was cold.

"We don't have a relationship, Kagura. We never have." He said coolly.

She gasped and squirmed against his grip. "Are you… are you dumping me?" She shouted, suddenly back to her uncontrollable, furious state. She grabbed his hand where it clutched at her wrist and somehow managed to flip him. She was about to start beating him into the ground again, but I grabbed her fist as she drew it back, and I tugged hard, forcing her to stumble backwards.

She whirled around to face me, re-aiming the punch at me, but I saw it coming and easily dodged it. I did the same with the next two she threw, and on the fourth attempt, I caught her fist and stopped it halfway before it reached me. Our arms pushed against each other, like some strange new game of arm wrestling.

She tried to catch me off guard by aiming at my ribs with her free hand, but I skipped to the side and released her, standing a few feet away.

She looked like she was going to try to fight again, but I just shook my head at her. "You just don't get it, do you…" I murmured.

Somehow this seemed to make her more angry than anything else I'd said, and she started hurling a string of verbal insults at me, all of with I deflected with an amused smirk, until one struck a chord.

Whore.

I blanched and jerked back as though I'd been hit, and she noticed.

"Did I offend you?" She sneered. "Are you going to try to hit me?"

I could feel my eyes filling with tears, but I kept my otherwise calm composure. "And wouldn't it hurt so much more if I didn't?" I asked icily. She tried to retort, but couldn't seem to think of the right words. I shook my head and strode off into the woods.

Once I hit the tree line and was out of sight, I started to run. I'm amazed that I didn't run into a tree, since my eyes were blurred with tears. I stopped eventually to catch my breath. I leaned against a tree and clutched my side, tilting my head up to try and force my tears back into my eyes. That's when I saw it.

A tree house? Out here in the middle of the woods?

I glanced around, and of course, there was nobody there. I walked over to the tree and easily swung myself up into its lowest branch, and proceeded up from there. I still held the tree climbing skills I had acquired as a kid, and I was up to the little fort in no time. It really wasn't much, just a bunch of planks nailed together to create a platform. There were no walls or roof, just a small trap door in the bottom to crawl through once you reached it.

I could hear Kyo yelling angrily in the distance, hopefully at Kagura. I mean, I'm sure she was a nice enough girl, but I just couldn't bring myself to like her. Especially if she's that abusive. I'm pretty sure that Kyo'd never actually been seriously hurt by her, because that just seemed ridiculous, but really, who would put up with that?

I'm not sure how long I'd sat up there, legs pulled to my chest and arms wrapped around my knees, but sure enough, before too long Kyo came looking for me.

I knew there was a very small chance that he'd actually look up and see me, but when he came into my view, calling my name, I couldn't get myself to call back to him. I knew he just wanted to comfort me, but he'd had to do it so often since I'd met him. I sighed and shut my eyes, shuffling backwards just in case he did look—

I winced as I bumped against a dry twig, and it snapped with unbelievable volume. I could see Kyo's head jerk up to find the source of the noise.

"Rei?" He called incredulously. "Why are you in a tree?"

"Why not?" I whispered, even though he couldn't hear it.

Of course, he started climbing up after me. I scooted over to the corner of the platform to give him room to open the little door.

It didn't take him long to get up. Cats are good at climbing trees, after all. He cautiously pushed the door up and peered around. He blinked when he saw me huddled at the very edge.

"You shouldn't sit so close to the edge, you could fall or something," He muttered.

"Or something," I agreed, but I scooted a little closer to the tree trunk that sprouted up through the middle anyway.

He crawled the rest of the way through the opening and shut the door, then moved to sit on it.

"You know… nothing she said was true… right?" He asked, staring me down.

I kept my eyes averted. "I suppose," I mumbled.

"Then why are you letting it get to you like this?"

I shrugged. Apparently that wasn't a good enough answer, because he just stared at me.

I sighed. "Because that stupid word keeps on coming up."

He just looked confused.

"Whore," I whispered, clutching my knees tighter to my chest. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, and saw him about to protest, so I cut him off. "I know, I'm not, really. But… people keep on saying it. So… I can't help but—"

"But believe it?" He snorted skeptically.

"But consider that that might be how people see me, for whatever reason."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Nobody sees you like that. The jerk at the dance was just jealous, and Kagura was just trying to get to you. She's… well, I guess she's not actually that bad, just a nuisance."

"Kudos on a big word," I muttered.

"You're dodging the point. You're not…" He couldn't bring himself to even say the word.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I murmured, wiping dried tears off my cheeks. I'd finished actually crying before he even showed up. "I just overreact. About everything."

"That's not…" He trailed off at the look I gave him. "Okay, maybe just a little… But it's not that bad."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course it's not. I keep on running away from my problems and… I keep on crying! I feel like such a stupid little pansy."

"No one else does…" Kyo murmured. I gave him a questioning look. "You've stood up to Black Haru, Hiro, and Kagura. No pansy would do that."

I just shrugged. "… Can we go back now?"

He simply nodded and stood cautiously, opened the trap door, and held it for me. I dropped through the hole and scurried easily back down the tree until I hit the ground, Kyo only feet behind me. We walked back in silence, about a foot apart. I stealthily got a bit closer to him with each step, until our arms brushed against each other.

Before too long, we arrived back at the house. Tohru was out hanging laundry, and Kagura was nowhere in sight.

I suddenly found myself tired. I sighed and trudged back inside. I kneeled on one of the cushions by the table and sat there for a little while, propping my cheek in my hand. Soon enough, I just gave up and flopped over so that I was laying across the cushion next to the one I was on. Not being able to help it, I fell asleep.

So, I'm pretty much jumping for joy. Do you know what this is? A NEXT DAY UPDATE! You're welcome. Anyway, I'd like to apologize to Kagura fans, but I don't really like her, and that's why she's portrayed as such a jerk here. I don't think she'll be in it again, because THE STORY IS ALMOST OVER! Onoz! But yeah, she was out of character here, so I'm sorry. I hope you liked the chapter anyway!