A/N- Hola Senors y Senoritas. I'm back in black... Sweatpants. Anyway, I'm sorry that this story hasn't been getting my full attention, but I promise it will get better. Also, I think my previous chapters have been kind of dry, so please review and tell me what I can do better!

"Your friends are coming over tonight?" I ask, cocking my head to the left.

"Um, yeah, Shigure-san said I could." Tohru explained.

I laughed. "Of course he did, you expect him to say 'no' to having two high school girls in his house? Especially if they stay the night."

"Hey! You make me sound like some kind of pervert!" the man in question protested.

I shrug. "I just tell it how it is."

"I wonder what type of girls Tohru's friends are anyways." Shigure ponders aloud.

"A Yankee and a psychic." Kyo growls and I burst out laughing at Shigure's expression.

Then we all hear a knock on the door.

"Oh, they're here!" Tohru beams and leaps up to let them inside.

When she leaves the room, I turn to the three boys.

"Watch yourselves." I say wearily.

"Watch your own back." Kyo murmurs to me.

I smirk lightly. "Unless one of them is a secret transgender, I'll be fine."

I turn my attention to the doorway when the trio walk back into the room.

"Hey Uo, Hey, Hana."

Hana acknowledges me with a casual flick of her head, while Arisa responds with a laidback, "Sup?"

They both sit at the table.

"A dog." Hana says, looking straight at Shigure. I gag in surprise until I notice the real dog she was talking about. I take in the expressions of the other zodiac members and I can tell we all had died a little inside.

"Your names Shigure, right?" Arisa asks.

"The one and only." Shigure agrees.

"So what do you do for a living?" Arisa's eyes are wandering, but we all know who she's talking to.

"I'm a writer, a novelist actually."

"You're a novelist?" Tohru leaps up, her eyes sparkling.

"Why are you so surprised?" Arisa looks rather suspicious.

"This is the first she's heard of it." Hana guarantees.

"I can't believe I know someone as important as a novelist!" Tohru continues.

"Careful, you're gonna blow up his ego." Kyo scoffs.

"What was it again? 'Fine Literature' or something." Yuki asks.

"Porn." I say bluntly.

"Romance." Shigure corrects.

"No, no, in order for a book to be classified as romance, it needs to have an actual plot. Your books make a story line where the sexy pizza man shows up at the neighborhood slut's house seem deep and compelling." I laugh.

"You write that dime store smut?" Arisa scoffs.

I notice curiosity had gotten the better of Hana, and she was now deeply immersed in the book Shigure had flopped down on the table.

"You're actually reading that?" Kyo says.

"What do you think?" Shigure asks her.

"You don't want to know what I think." Hana murmurs, a demonic look in her eye.

Shigure recoils almost instantly. "Oh?"

"But when is volume two coming out?"

I laugh.

"Hey, guys, I have a great idea!" Tohru leaps up. "I'll be right back!"

She then promptly runs from the room.

What's she doing? I wonder privately.

Hana begins to growl something in a rather ominous tone, and Shigure panics.

"Well, that really is a wonderful story." He stutters. "But I just remembered I have some work to do, so if you kids would excuse me." He then slinks away as quickly as he could.

Coward.

"You know, I didn't know what to make of this when Tohru told us, but it looks like Tohru's fitting right in here." Arisa says, sounding more like she was speaking to herself. "She didn't tell us because she didn't want us to worry, I understand that. We made a promise in front of Kyoko's grave that if Tohru ever needed us, we'd be there for her. I know it may sound a bit extreme; but Tohru really is our best friend. She really is." Arisa continues. "She helps us very often, but this time… we couldn't help her. I don't feel good about it. It's like… Tohru is in some kind of pain… and we as her friends can't help her at all."

"No." I cut her off. I know what I want to say, but I struggle to put it into words. Thankfully, Kyo and Yuki seem to know what exactly to say.

"She won't think like that! She's not like that! Not at all!" Kyo growls.

"Honda-san… She is someone who will give something yet ask for nothing in return. That kind of person-"

The door slams open and Tohru enters.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" She beams. "So then, lets play Rich Man, Poor Man!"

"I'm game!" I say instantly, bringing a much more lighthearted atmosphere back.

"Great!" Kyo barks, grinning manically. "Yankee, if I win, you have to dye your hair black!"

Arisa smirks at the challenge. "Picking up where we left off, are we? Great! If you lose, you have to dye out that ridiculous orange and then leave it white!"

"This is my natural color, Dammit!"

I laugh. "And if I win, you two have to kiss each other!"

"HELL NO!" They both yell, actually agreeing for once.

"Cowards." I snicker. Kyo and Arisa exchange looks.

"Fine." They agree.

"You two faced, cross eyed, chauvinistic bastards!" I yell. "That's not a legal move!"

"Not legal my ass!" Arisa yells back.

"That is too legal!" Kyo barks at me.

"Stay out of it!" I snarl. "Look, right there, in the rules!" I thrust the paper into Arisa's face and she reads it quickly, silently mouthing the words.

"Damn." She growls.

"I was right! Suck it!" I laugh victoriously. Then, Yuki calmly places his cards down on the table. Kyo, Arisa and I all freeze.

"No way…"

"Did he just…?"

"You got to be kidding me…"

Yuki had a perfect hand. The three of us exchange looks.

"Now what?" Arisa asked.

"Another round?" I suggest.

"Bring it!" Kyo barks.

"My throat hurts." I whine to Kyo. We are sitting shoulder to shoulder on the roof, something that has become almost ritual.

"That's what you get for yelling so much." Kyo responds coolly. I can tell he's still peeved that Yuki won all three freakin' games that we played.

"You yelled as much as I did."

"But I'm not complaining."

I shrug. "Fair enough."

"We got lucky today." I say. He nods in silent agreement.

"I assumed at least one of you idiots would change." I smirk.

"HEY! If anything, that damn rat would have transformed!"

"I'm just kidding." I laugh. I gently take my arm and link it with his, resting my head on his shoulder. I feel him go stiff, but he doesn't pull away. We stay like that for a few more minutes before I let out a huge yawn.

"I'm going to bed. Night, Koneko." I pick myself up and begin to climb off the roof.

He grumbles under his breath about the pet name. "Night, Nim."

I nestle myself into bed, my mind wandering. Soon, my thoughts become fuzzy and dulled, and then they are nothing.

A/N 2- Ok, I did this chapter based off the manga, because I found the anime ridiculous. I'll see you guys soon, and next up is the culture festival, which I have an idea for that I think you might like. And Kyo will like it, too. *Evil Smirk*. I'll see you soon!

Hey, Guys, I'm a naughty author. You wanna know why? Because I'll take anybodys reviews, and they make me feel soooo good. So you should write one and make me a happy author. What? No, I'm not a pervert, what made you think that?