AN: Okay, so I have twenty-three written, but not twenty-four, so if I don't update next Friday (I think I've decided that that's my update day), it's because I want to have at least another chapter written.

Chapter Twenty-Two- Disappointment

Kyou kicked open the front door, letting loose an infamous call of "What in the hell!"

"What is it?" called the Onigiri from behind him.

He walked in to clear the doorway. "Look for yourself,"

Tohru gasped, "It's... empty..."

The former Neko dropped his belongings, "Shishou!"

Nothing.

"Shishou, are you here!"

Nothing.

"Why the hell is this place empty, Shi-"

Tohru cautiously cut him off, "Kyou... there's a note, here... it was taped to the stair rail."

"Let me see..." he rushed over, and she handed it to him as he began to read it aloud.

To Kyou and Tohru-

I apologize for the lack of furniture. I am also sorry that I am not there to help you move in. Unfortunately, Akito has recently cut off my funds, claiming that the Neko "didn't exist," and that it meant that I, obviously, couldn't rear what didn't exist. (Congratulations on that account, though; lifting the curse.) In any case, I can't afford to furnish your house, only to feed the two of you. I wish that I didn't have to burden you, but Kyou, Tohru's job (AN: I bet you thought I forgot about it! Or you forgot it yourself... or something... never mind...) won't cover it, you'll have to get a job. See you, soon.

I, unfortunately, feel like Ritsu right now,

-Kazuma "Shishou" Sohma

Tohru giggled, "Feel like Ritsu... heh..."

The former Neko slumped to the ground. "I have... to get a job?"

The Onigiri smiled wearily, "I'll go get... as 'moved in' as I can... the newspaper is on... err... the floor."

-

"What the hell do you want, Shigure?"

"Oh ho ho! What else but to see my former house mate?"

"Cut the crap. You haven't come to see me before now, why are you here?"

"Why so rash? I just wanted to see you!"

Yuki glared, his patience running paper thin, "To see me? Don't you mean to mock or even pity me?"

"..." the Inu stood stoically, "I see you don't value the company of one who once saved you." he walked out of the area without another word.

The Nezumi strained to hear as a whisper of a cry fell to the wind, calling, "Shishou...!" He thought the worst.

'That's Kyou... Since when is he here... calling out for Shishou...? Has something happened? Why now, when I'm locked up? If he's here... then, maybe she might be here, too... She'll visit me! And then I can beg for forgiveness!' he stood up, a glimmer of hope finally shining in his eye.

As he rose to his feet, he caught a glance at the one he'd learnt that he hated the most.

The God coiled the whip he'd planned to use of Yuki back up, "Looks like I've got a more fun target lurking..." he grinned that the damned one, "It would be ironic to call it a game of 'cat and mouse,' wouldn't it?"

AN: Also, I'm on a Fullmetal Alchemist binge (did I spell that right?). Meaning that I've been eating, breathing, living everything fullmetal alchemist for the past two weeks... So, my brain my not quite work on the Furuba category. So that may make my pumping out of the next next chapter harder.

In any case, I, as always, appreciate your review, and will reply to you! (this may be news to some of you... hehe... true, though)