AN: Surprised to see me again so soon? I am too, to tell you the truth, but let's take this as a good thing, shall we? Sorry this chapter is still a bit of a filler, but it does actually have significance to the rest of the story. So enjoy this bit of poorly executed angst while it lasts.

kurogane1: You'll see plenty later on. I tend to have way too much fun with triangles like this, so it's pretty much a given. Now that you mention it I think we all need our very own Shinichi.

twilightserius: They probably have no clue. These two are so oblivious they wouldn't notice a thing unless someone mentioned it to them.

This chapter is brought to you by the Vocaloid song ACUTE, sung by Kaito, Miku Hatsune, and Luka Megurine. Suggested to me by my friend Mistress as a fit for the story. Continue on and have a great day.

Yuki wasn't sure how he should react to the situation before him. On one hand he could remain calm about the whole thing and simply turn around without getting himself involved. But, on the other hand, it was incredibly hard to do something like that when you were staring at your cousin lying in bed with a boy you greatly despised. In that case, the rat was pretty sure it was perfectly acceptable to resort to some kind of violent behavior. Kyo was being violated, right? Therefore Yuki had to protect him somehow, right? So why wasn't he moving? Why was he frozen in the doorway, afraid to move?

A part of him whispered that this was Kyo's room, therefore it was forbidden territory to him. He could not enter for he, the rat, was not invited. But the wolf was. Shinichi was welcomed wherever Kyo could be found. In his life, in his home, and, apparently, in his bed. There was something about that that made the inside of the violet haired teen's body boil. Something about the way the two were wrapped around each other, cuddled close together, no doubt relishing in the body heat, that made him want to just rip the detectives arm right out of its socket. The action certainly felt justified. So why wouldn't his body move?

Yuki suddenly felt very cold.

He remembered falling asleep next to warmth after a long tiring day of play. It was a weekend, and following the tradition that had been set up only a few months prior, Kyo was sleeping over at Shinichi's house. This time, at the insistence of Shigure, Yuki was allowed to come along as well. The day had been pleasant, spent in the company of Shinichi's parents.

Yusaku told the boys dozens of stories, ranging the terrifying to overly sappy, making pit stops to the mysterious and the extraordinary before his small audience began showing signs of fatigue. Yuki had not wanted the man to stop. He had never heard a voice laced with such incredible story telling ability. It was somewhat like Shinichi's without the bitter bite laying beneath the surface. Yusaku's voice would fluctuate and change whenever the words would shift to create twists and sudden changes in the story. And the way the man spoke with feeling, as though he had been present throughout the entire ordeal of which he was speaking of, was too amazing for the young boy to put into words. He wanted to hear more, even though his body cried out for sleep. The man seemed to notice. With a promise of another tale in the morning, the older Kudo sent the three up to bed.

Yukiko tucked them in with a gentle hand, kissing each on the forehead as she went about making certain that they were all snug where they lie. This was also amazing to Yuki. Shinichi was cold and icy towards him, but Yukiko was kind and soft with all three of the boys she had in her care that night. Each of them, from Shinichi down on the floor in his sleeping bag, to Kyo and Yuki sleeping next to each other on the brunette's bed, were as comfortable as they could be. They could have fallen asleep right then, but Yukiko just had to be sure. So she sang a lullaby, english, but no less sweet to his young ears, until their eyes closed and they were no longer conscious. And Yuki had been so warm.

Then he found that the warmth he had fallen asleep with was gone. For a moment he remained still on the bed. He wasn't quite sure why the chill was there, and thought that if he stayed where he was it would return in due time. But the seconds turned to minutes and the cold, which had quickly become bitter, still remained. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, looking for the reason why he had been awoken in such a way. It did not take him long to discover why. Kyo was no longer by his side.

The rat panicked. In that one moment a dozen possibilities ran through his head. Kidnapping, running away, a monster in the dead of the night, they all seemed plausible to him. He nearly flung himself out of bed, determined to find his cousin and bring him back, until he caught sight of where the other was.

Shinichi's sleeping bag was not intended for more than one person. Yet he and Kyo seemed more than content to lie beside each other within its confides in comfort. It would seem that space had been the last thing on the redhead's mind when he crawled in beside the young detective sometime earlier that night. The brunette next to him seemed to have no qaulms about the arrangements either. They were obviously not bothered by the way their bodies curled up against each other in an attempt to seek warmth.

But Yuki was. The violet haired child was so bothered by it that his lungs refused to function for a second. When they started working again, he started to cry softly, gripping the sheets beneath him harshly. The two on the floor did not awaken. He could not bring himself to move. He could not bring himself to try and separate them.

He knew it would be impossible.

A small noise brought Yuki from the depths of his memory.

Kyo had woken up, and was now going through the small routine meant to sharpen his senses before his day began. It started with the usual rubbing of his eyes, then a loud yawn where his body would stretch and flex beneath whatever flimsy shirt he had worn the night before. Then he would rub at his eyes a second time, mumbling daily complaints to himself about the hour and the tasks he had to complete by the days end. It would end by forcing himself to stand and drag his unwilling body over to the shower.

This particular morning the routine included an extra step. This time Kyo spared a lingering look to Shinichi who was still sleeping beside him. In his eyes there was a small question. Did he wake the other up, or did he let him rest for a little while longer? With a smile he appeared to decide on the latter and ruffled the brunette locks softly. Shinichi gave a soft murmur of protest before snuggling further into the mattress.

Kyo jumped off the bed, ready to head on to the shower while his energy was still high enough, and locked gazes with the rat in his doorway. He blinked, Yuki blinked, and suddenly the air around them was tense.

Kyo was the one who eventually broke the silence. "What are you doing here?"

Yuki was sure his face was about as red as his cousin's eyes. "I came to wake you up." He was surprised at how calm his voice was.

Kyo, for his part, was far less graceful in his retort. "Well...I'm up...so leave."

Yuki rolled his eyes. At least he could still get the upper hand every now and again when Shinichi was around. One of them just had to be unconscious. Speaking of which...His gaze turned to the boy tucked away in some sweet dreams. He just wanted to go and snatch them away. He wanted the other to have a rude awakening. He could not explain why, only knowing that the reason for his harsh intent was a deep seeded sense of bitterness that had been present since childhood.

Something in the back of his mind reminded him that time was irrelevant to this one. Years without seeing the other had not dulled the affection or closeness the two best friends had shared. If anything, he noted in irritation, it had gotten stronger. It made him very, very angry.

Kyo seemed to sense the intentions radiating off of the other, and placed himself almost completely in front of the boy in his bed. "Leave him alone." He told Yuki. "He needs his rest and he shouldn't have to get up just yet."

The violet haired teen raised an eyebrow. "You realize that today is a school day, don't you? Do you intend to leave him behind?"

"Hardly. You know how this works. Where one of us goes, the other follows."

"Shigure is not going to let you skip school again." He did not want the two of them to be alone with each other for too long. Not again, a childish part of him screamed out, not when he could do something to prevent it.

Kyo simply rolled his eyes. "You're a day late. Shigure gave me that same speech yesterday when I got home."

"So what do you intend to do?"

"Take him with me." The answer seemed so simple.

Too simple for Yuki to have an appropriate argument against. So he simply picked at the logic. "Then shouldn't you wake him up? Otherwise you're going to be late."

This seemed to greatly amuse the cat. "Unless you want us to shower together-"

The rat sputtered and angrily hissed out, "You're disgusting."

The reaction made his cousin roll his eyes. "Relax. I was only trying to make a point. I was going to let him sleep until I was done with mine, but since you seem like you're in so much of a rush, the only way to save time would be for Shinichi and I to share one. But it looks like you hate that idea too."

The rat clenched his fists. Kyo had no idea how close he was to being pulverized.

"Just let him sleep." The cat told him. "It will only cost us a few minutes."

Yuki knew that he should leave. If he remained, the boy before him would wind up hurt. There was a rage festering inside of him that he was not entirely too sure he could control. It wanted the sleeping figure, but if Kyo continued to protect him, then soon it wouldn't matter who got hit.

"Just hurry it up." He said, turning to the door swiftly.

In this case, it as better to admit defeat than suffer a greater loss.

Yuki could hardly stand the way all of his classmates flocked to him, to that boy, without a second thought. It was like watching an entire flock of sheep run to their new handler. Or like an overly excited dog rushing up to it's owner for even a second of decent attention. Completely sickening. To be fair, though, it wasn't entirely their fault. He stood out like a sore thumb. He had turned down Kyo's offer of a spare uniform, instead showing up to their classes in his own blue blazer. The outfit was a bit of a trademark. Most knew who he was because of it, others had just heard of his remarkable success as a detective, and were pleased to have such a person in their midst.

A few had less than honorable intentions, batting their eyes and inviting him to sit with them at lunch. Shinichi politely ignored the flirting, kindly turned down the invitations for further plans, simply smiled, and played the part of a good celebrity. However, he always brought his eyes back to the cat he had seated himself next to, faithfully remaining by the teenager's side despite everyone crowding around him. Kyo lapped up the undivided attention like it was milk.

Yuki wondered why he was affected by it so much.

Once class began, things were much quieter and focused. Yet Kyo and Shinichi continued to keep their focus on nothing but each other. Whispering and laughing as though they were schoolgirls gossiping about the latest transfer student. And they were sitting so damn close to each other. It was indecent, it was disrespectful to the rest of their classmates, it was...

Just how the two of them had always been. As much as it pained him to admit, that closeness they shared was nothing new.

Shinichi quickly covered the redhead's eyes and crushed the boy's body to his. Kyo clutched onto the other as tightly as he could, trying his best not to let the images he had seen seconds ago forever imprint themselves into his mind. Yuki could do little more than stare at the body on the floor. A bullet to the head was all the damage that had been done to the man, and yet there was so much blood. How could one person have so much liquid hidden inside of him? How could such a tiny man gush out so much?

"Why?" Kyo cried out. "Why would someone do something like this?"

The police rallied around them, trying to collect evidence from the crimescene before it became too contminated to search. Yusaku tried to usher the children away from the scene they had accidentally stummbled across. It was no place for children. Not when the culprit had yet to be caught. Not when Kyo and Yuki were so visibly upset.

Shinichi did his best to soothe his shaken up friend. "It's alright. It's alright."

"No it's not!" The redhead cried out. "The person who did this is still here! What if he gets us too?"

Something happened to Shinichi just then. His eyes hardened and a determined fire began to spread inside of them. His grip on Kyo tightened a moment before he pushed the other away, just far enough for them to see eye to eye. He wiped away the tears that had begun to form in the other's eyes, and in a rare publicly tender moment he placed a soft kiss on the cat's forehead. "You don't have to worry." He told the other gently. "I'll figure out who did this before the night's through. Then we can go home without a care in the world."

Yuki watched, Yusaku's hand on his shoulder, as the brunette tried to pull himself away. Kyo quickly reattached himself to his best friend's side.

"No! You're not allowed to leave me behind!"

Shinichi hesitated before taking Kyo's hand in his own. "Alright, then we'll go together. But don't let go of my hand for anything, okay? And don't leave my side for a second." The other nodded his agreements.

Shinichi did end up solving the crime that night. The victim, a big tycoon of the business world, had been having an illicet affair behind his battered wife's back. The other woman, as it turns out, had been just as abused as his wife had been. The two met, realized what they had in common, and planned a simple yet effective method to rid them of their little problem. Unfortunately, neither of them thought that a small detective, intent on making sure his best friend felt safe and secure, would come in and unravel their little plot.

Truth be told it was not a complicated scheme, simple in its development and execution, but it was the number of bullet holes that had thrown the police off. There seemed to be one entry and one exit wound, when in reality there had been two. One of a smaller caliber shot from one direction while the victim was alive, and another larger caliber bullet shot postmortem in nearly perfect alignment with the other. Autopsy results would show that the larger bullet had not been the one to cause his death, even though it was the one present at the crime scene. To make matters worse the bullet found was registrered to a gun neither woman owned. Shinichi had found the second bullet, which did belong to a pistol owned by the deceased's wife, and had revealed the culprits in true Holmes fashion. One would not go down without the other, and so both were now within custody of the police.

Throughout the entire ordedal Kyo had kept his hold on Shinichi. There had not been one instant where one had not been touching the other. They remained as close as they could. Even when the murderesses looked ready to rip the small detective's face off, neither had let go. Even as they arrived back at the Kudo residence, even as they were tucked into bed, they still kept their hand locked.

Yuki was oddly sickened by the sight.

Once school had let out, the quartet made their way to a nearby electronic store. Shinichi had come across it earlier the previous day n. He had only browsed the shop's shelves briefly, but there were a few items that had managed to catch his eye. Now that he had a chance to come back, he wanted to purchase them while he was still in town. Those items, the group soon discovered, were some fairly expensive cell phones.

"I don't want to lose contact again." He said, looking pointedly at Kyo. "So I'm going to ensure there's no excuse for it."

Tohru had bashfully tried to refuse the offer. The electronics surrounding them were of exceptional quality and were tremendously expensive. Plus, there was the added expense of the plans the phones would come with. That was a lot to pay for on a monthly basis. Shinichi was still a student. He could not possibly afford such large bills every month. She told him as much.

Shinichi only smiled. He told her that he refused to let them leave until they each had a cell phone in their possession. It would make him feel better about leaving. "Maybe it's because I run into death on such a regular basis, but I get worried when I can't get in touch with my friends."

She couldn't possibly say no after that. Though she did try and convince him to let her pay at least part of the bill. Yuki wasn't quite sure what they had decided on, but after a couple of hours both Kyo and Tohru had a phone and were more than happy to put them on a counter. Kyo had picked out a red and black colored phone, Tohru had settled for a light pink, and Shinichi had, for some reason, chosen a dark purple phone. The detective already had a cell phone on hand, so why he wanted a second one was beyond him, but it was his money he was wasting. More power to the brat.

It wasn't until he was outside, when the brunette tried to hand him the phone, that Yuki understood what that extra electronic had been for. And it brought back memories of another time Shinichi had tried playing nice.

Yuki couldn't honestly come up with a reason why he was putting himself through this torutre. Shinichi did not like him. Kyo barely tolerated his preseance. And he, even on the best of days, could only handle the two of them in small doses. So why he insisted on going with them on these little outings was a mystery. He must have liked being ganged up on because that was just about the only thing that happened when they all got together.

"Kyo, want some ice cream?"

The redhead nodded and Shinichi bounded over to the cart in the park, leaving Yuki and Kyo in the sand box. Up until that point they had all done their best to create little cities in the corners of the large wooden box. Since there were four areas, each took hold of one and decided to leave the fourth open as 'uncharted territory'. Later they would pretend to be presidents and kings of these spots and try to make treaties and peace agreements between them. It was a complicated game to play, but Shinichi and Kyo had played it many times before. They always managed to beat Yuki in this game where there was supposed to be no winner. Yuki had tried his hardest to learn the rules, study the tricks, and come out on top. He read books, paid attention to the way the other two made their decisions, and when all else failed he used his instincts to try and gain the upper hand. It never worked. Two against one was never a fair fight, and victory always went to the ones who could afford to stack the odds on their side.

Shinichi came back with three ice cream cones in his arms. One chocolate, one vanilla, and one strawberry placed in a light and crunchy cone . The strawberry cone was handed to Kyo, Shinichi kept the vanilla for himself, and offered the chocolate to Yuki. For a moment all the rat did was look at the treat, blinking repeatedly before he looked up at the brunette holding it. Was it poisoned? Did he spit in it before coming back to the box? Was there a bug in it?

Shinichi became annoyed after a moment of presumably being ignored. "It's food princess. You know, the kind you eat?"

Yuki glared. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing! Just take it."

The boy did not move. "I don't have any money to pay for it."

Shinichi sighed loudly, irritation lacing every sound that came out of his mouth. "You don't have to pay for it. It's my treat."

"Yeah right, and who's money did you use?"

The brunette's eye twitched. It was all he could do to keep from shoving the frozen food down the other's throat. "I do get an allowance you know, and there's a little something called saving up."

Yuki shook his head. "I don't want it."

Shinichi tried to force the cone on the smaller boy, but Yuki only pushed it back.

"I said I don't want it!"

Shinichi sighed loudly yet again. "Can't you cooperate for once, princess?"

The rat simply glared. "So you can show off? I don't think so."

The brunette rolled his eyes. "I don't need to show off to anyone." He told the other coldly. "The only one whose opinion matters to me is already impressed. You're the one who needs to make a better impression."

Yuki felt the need to hit and scream. He had no idea what the other had said, but for some reason it struck a chord deep within his gut. He wanted to react to it.

Kyo, who had been lapping happily at his ice cream during the entire conversation, rolled his eyes before taking the cone away from Shinichi. Yuki's hand, which had turned into a fist, was pried open by surprisingly gentle fingers. Yuki was so shocked that he did not so much as complain when the redhead made him clasp onto the cone firmly. Nor did he dare try to push the other away when Kyo, with his hand still slightly gripped around Yuki's, brought the frozen treat up to his cousin's face.

"Lick."

The rat did as he was told without thinking. Chocolate was not necassarily his favorite flavor, but this particular chocolate ice cream cone tasted far better than anything he had ever eaten before.

But to his disappointment, the moment he showed an ounce of joy on his face, Kyo nodded in satisfaction and pulled away. His body was then immediately gravitated back to Shinichi's side, where the two began laughing and showing each other what they had done with their 'kingdoms'. Yuki was once again ignored. Though he was used to it, he found he could not stand it this time. Not right now, not when they had been cruel enough to give him an ounce of attention. Not when Kyo had done something other than scowl at him with that furious anger in his eyes.

"I'm paying you back for this." His mouth uttered before he had a chance to stop it. He could not help but mentally tell himself that that had not been what he intended to say, but it was far to late to take it back.

The two paused in their conversation. Kyo shook his head with a rueful smile on his face, and Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Oi, Yuki-Hime."

"What?"

"Shut up."

Shinichi had a very harsh way of getting his point across. He wouldn't blurt it in your face like Kyo would, and he wouldn't lace it with innuendo like Shigure would. Shinichi was subtle in his remarks, sly with his intentions. When he wanted to tell you something, he did it in a way that was sure to make you understand the full brunt of the situation without involving anyone else. Sometimes he was cruel in his methods.

Like now, for example. "Get that thing away from me."

The detective narrowed his eyes. "I got it for you, didn't I?"

Yuki was sure it was only to keep up appearances. It would look bad if he were to buy a phone for the other two members of their group and blatantly refused to purchase one for him. "I don't want it."

"Just take it. Don't make a scene."

"I'll make a scene if I want to. If nothing else it'll make you look like the fool you are."

"Who'd be playing the part of the fool, princess?" Shinichi asked, eyebrow raised. "I've already been accepted into this court, but the king is still debating whether or not he wants to lock you up in your tower."

That had been the intention all along. This was, in reality, nothing new. It was a constant game between the two of them. A secret war that pitted Rat against Wolf. The prize? The Cat's good graces. They had known it when they were kids and they knew it now. Kyo's opinion mattered and it was always being fought over with the most delicate of touches. Shinichi's hand was the one it always landed in, but that didn't mean Yuki didn't fight for it when he could. The other was well aware of this.

"Don't patronize me." Yuki growled out.

The detective was hardly afraid of the action. "You make it too easy."

And just like that afternoon so many years ago, Yuki felt the festering need to rip apart the brunette's face in the bloodiest way he could manage. And just like those many years ago, Kyo was the one to come to the rescue.

The redhead pulled himself away from Tohru and took hold of the phone in Shinichi's hand. Ignoring the looks he received from the two boys, he flipped open the device in his hand and struck a pose for the camera. It was simple, just a wink and a small smile before he plugged in his number, but those were two gestures Kyo would never normally exhibit when in regards to Yuki. Now they were immortalized on something the rat owned and could look back to later on. It felt like a victory, and it was only because of that feeling that he agreed to the keep the thing when Kyo handed it to him after he was done.

And yet, that victory didn't last long. Two minutes later the redhead reached for Shinichi and pulled him into an embrace, both of them smiling when the flash of the camera phone went off. They must have taken dozens of pictures, sometimes dragging Tohru in between them, until they claimed they had finally found the perfect one suitable enough to be shown when one of them called the other. Tohru, sweet Tohru, had done her best to keep Yuki occupied so as to not feel left out, but it was no use. His attention constantly drifted to the two causes of his current misery.

Why could they still affect him like this? No, the better question would be, how could Shinichi still get under his skin so much?

Yuki could not possibly explain how ecstatic he was when it was finally time for Shinichi to board the train home. It had only been two days and his patience had already been stretched to its limits. It somehow always did when the detective was involved. The brunette had to have been doing it on purpose. No one could have angered one person so many times and still claim it was unintentional.

"Are you sure you didn't forget anything?" Tohru asked worriedly, moments before the train was to depart.

Shinichi smiled back at her reassuringly. "I'm sure. I didn't come here with much, after all. Just my school bag."

"Be sure to visit again soon, okay?"

Yuki sincerely hoped he never would. However, as the detective embraced the smaller female and gave her a soft pat on the head, he realized that the offer would be taken up sometime in the near future. The very, very near future. The detective then politely held out a hand for Yuki to shake. It was another act of false cordiality he was sure. This time, though, the rat did not make a fuss. He simply shook the other's hand. It was best not to make a scene in such an open space. To do so would be just be giving the little heretic an ample supply of ammo to be used later on. The less he had access to the better.

Kyo was the last to say his goodbyes. He had raised an eyebrow when all Shinichi did was turn to him with his hand extended. It looked like he wanted a handshake, but the smirk on his face dared the cat to try something else in public. Kyo had no problem in returning the smirk or accepting the challenge. He lunged playfully for the other and brought him into his arms. Shinichi pretended to struggle and the two preoccupied themselves with a harmless fight. However, their fun brought them quite a bit of attention. People passing by seemed scandalized, some just looked confused, and soon it was finally enough to have the two break character and burst out laughing. Instead of going back to try for a second round, they settled for embracing each other in a tight hug.

Kyo lightly tapped Shinichi on the head when they separated. "Next time you had better give me a proper goodbye. Otherwise I won't be so gentle."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Minutes later Shinichi rushed onto the train, shouting a promise to return before long. Tohru looked delighted, Kyo looked happier than anyone had ever seen, and all Yuki could bitterly think was,

"Why did you have to come back?"