For those of you who notice this before skipping to the latest chapter, everything's been rewritten for the heck of it. Minor details changed, so there's no real need to reread everything if you don't want to. Love you all!

Rating: T+
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Ha ha.
Chapter Title: Distance

--Yuki—

When you wake up from a rather... lively dream about him, you realize what a dangerous thing this is. You want it – that idea has already established itself in your mind and you aren't denying it. You're addicted to the feel of his lips and the taste of his mouth/ But now, you're starting to crave more, just like you knew you would. You want to touch him. You want a lot of things, and your subconscious mind is starting to grow bolder.

You certainly aren't allowed it though. That much is obvious. You thought you had accepted it. To push it any further would be going in too deep. Far too deep. You don't have a clue what might lie at the end of that path, and it's risky enough that you know you should not take it. You are starting to think of it more often, though, the thoughts jumping unbidden to your mind in the form of daydreams and fantasies that happen at the most inappropriate times. That forbidden fruit is within your reach, and the more you stare at it, the more tempting it becomes. It's taking a fair amount of control to not simply take it (though you seriously doubt you'd get far enough without him stopping you).

As embarrassing as it is to admit, you are quite lost in this area. Honestly speaking, you've no idea what to do, or how to pursue him, or anything like that. You never really liked girls the way most teenage boys did. They were an object of stress and danger to you, so you kept your distance. Sure, they were attractive enough, but your upbringing has long since obscured your sense of what 'pretty' is, so the thought is nothing but a passing notion. Boys were easier to be around; your guard doesn't have to be up, nor do you need to worry as much about confessions and the way you speak. You never liked a boy, though (never having took Haru seriously). In fact, you've never really liked anyone. After the first time you lost your friends, you closed yourself off much more from the world, and people who started calling you 'prince', keeping their distance, didn't help.

So, you think, maybe that's why you enjoy the sexual contact with him. You certainly don't think you like him, that's for sure. You just have, during a majority of your life, lacked physical contact with pretty much anyone. Your mother abandoned you. Akito isolated you. You isolated yourself. To top it off, you were sickly to start with, and wrapped in that world, not only could you not touch anyone, but nobody could touch you.

You stop your train of thought there, though. You don't feel like getting yourself depressed at the moment.

There is a definite something else there, though. Different from liking, and different from wanting. You aren't quite sure what it is, but the closest thing you can liken it to is the feeling of being… special, in a way. You are certain that the cat has never had a girlfriend. You are also quite positive that he has never kissed anyone, really, before you. You are the only one who has touched him in such a way, and it makes you feel different from everyone else in a way you don't mind. This is your secret alone, and you aren't sharing with anyone.

That leads right to the ever imposing question though. You have your reasons, messed up as they are, but what about him? Why would he let you do that to him in the first place? It was your place to fight him. Your place to hate him. He had made that clear long ago, and both of you had abided by this rule fine until Honda-san showed up. You noticed the small changes in him, sure. How he wouldn't try to start fights with you as much, and how he opened up just a bit more. You suppose that the same happened to you too. But you know that no matter how she changed your lives, there is no way she could have induced this kind of behavior.

You're not quite sure Honda-san would approve of this kind of thing anyway…

Sighing (and finally calmed down), you slide from your bed to get a drink of water before trying to get a little more sleep. You've thought about it enough for now, and you doubt you'll ever know why he let this thing start with you. You're sure his reasons are purely physical – nothing more, nothing less. You are using him, so he's using you.

You don't connect the tightening in your chest to this last thought.

--Kyo—

There is an instinct inside of you telling you to run away. You don't know where it comes from or why it fills your mind so insistently. All you know is that you are feeling threatened by something you can't see or touch. There is no evading an oncoming attack, while that the same time there's no evidence an attack is even coming. But you can feel it there. Every time you wake up, you need to keep that guard up. Every time you look at him, every time you think of him, there needs to be something there, separating the two lives with blurred lines and edges so that you don't need to bother wondering where one stops and the next begins. You know what's going on though.

Your mind is demanding thought – more than that – it's demanding change.

You don't want to think though. You don't want to change. You don't want to change all the fundamentals of this now fucked up situation, even if it tears you up more inside every passing day because at least now you can pretend that everything is fine.

Honestly, you don't know where this desperate want of 'sameness' comes from. There is this fear of change and rational thought inside you – one that has been burned into your skin and memory over years past your existence. It sits in you, demanding you follow it blindly. Your knowledge of it is small – there has always been some sort of foreign part of you that you can't (won't) understand – the most you can do is acknowledge it as some sort of forged emotion. Past that, though, you're unsure. If nothing else, the thought of change has been painted dark colors and stands so ominous against your heart that you've no backbone to go against this fear.

You won't change. You won't think.

You'll save that for later.

--Y—

"You're so unpleasant." You mutter, back turned to him. He's being a jerk again, getting angry and overreacting over little things, and you're done trying to deal with him. It sucks because you thought the two of you had been on decent terms lately, but here you are, at the end of 2nd period with him following you as you walk down the hall, unable to just drop it.

"What was that!?" He snarls at you, indignant as ever. "Just because you let those girls fawn all over you doesn't mean I have to!"

"And that doesn't mean you need to scare them senseless!" You shoot back. Honestly, you could care less about how he treats girls, but seeing as how you're the student council president, you think you should since you'll only receive complaints about his behavior anyway. You're annoyed with him as well, though, so it's possible you just want to make him mad.

"Don't tell me what to do, rat! Why the hell should I go out of my way to be nice to them!?"

"You don't go out of your way to be nice to anyone." Which isn't completely true, you know, but you can't stand the fact that he always denies everyone of at least some friendly chatter. He has a real chance to seem normal around people, yet he throws it away. "That's why no one gets close to you."

Wham

Without warning, a palm slams against the row of lockers you're walking by, inches from your face. You give a little start at the violent action – you didn't think this one would turn into a fist fight – and have to stop walking to avoid being clotheslined. Given no other option with his body trapping you there (and not wanting to start a scene), you turn to give him an exasperated look, but freeze once you catch his eyes. They're extremely catlike, pupils drawn into mere slits, and smoldering with intensity as he leans in slightly, keeping them locked on yours. You unconsciously shrink back, momentarily intimidated by such an angry look, breath catching in your chest as an anticipative shiver runs down your spine. You can't look away.

"I don't want them to get close, fucking rat." He growls in a low, threatening voice before shoving viciously away from you and stalking off.

Your initial reaction is to stand there, eyebrows raised, still just a little shaken. It's been a long time since you've gotten a look that fierce, and you're surprised at his rather vehement outburst. You must have hit a soft spot unintentionally – you know you didn't push that hard (at least not on purpose) – but you're a little unsure of just what spot that might have been.

You don't have time to think of it there, though. People are staring at you, and you don't feel like looking as bothered as you feel. So, you give a half-hearted sigh for the watching audience before walking off to your next class.

No one seems to feel the need to ask what that was about. It's normal.

Perfect as usual.

--K—

You know he doesn't get it.

Still, you couldn't help it. The fact that he didn't automatically just understand made you all the more pissed off, and the fact that you were letting him get to you when he wasn't even trying managed to piss you off even more. Why should he get it though? He's just the stupid rat. He doesn't understand anything.

Probably.

So here you sit: alone again on the roof with nothing other than passing birds to keep you company. You know you shouldn't be skipping class since Tohru will worry and you'll get another mark on your record, but you can't really bring yourself to care. The air up here feels nice, and being in high places has always had a calming affect on you. Besides, you don't want to see anyone right now.

You've told yourself you won't think about it.

Still…

It makes you angry.

And terribly lonely.

The thing is – and maybe that idiot rat has forgotten this one little fact – you're the cat. You are cursed with it's vengeful spirit and something else so revoltingly grotesque that your own mother killed herself. Your family – the almighty Sohma famly won't forgive you for being like that. All these people around you, all these places and things and animals are just going to disappear. You're going to disappear. Has that jerk forgotten that you're not meant to be close to anyone because you don't even have a future? Because you sure haven't forgotten. You'll never forget. You can't.

Right before your eyes, time continues to run out. You can see it falling through your fingers like water, going faster and faster until it's almost gone. Every time you have to think of him, you get yourself confused and it makes desperate fear in you grow. Hell, are you really wanting him? Do you think you can work yourself into a relationship like this without hurting someone? You want to believe that maybe this will have an affect on him. Some stupid, idiotic part of you actually wants to believe that when you go into that cage, he'll actually care.

But you can't believe in that. You're afraid to believe in that.

This is how things are supposed to work. You shouldn't get too close to anyone. Not your family. Not any of your friends. Your so-called family is only waiting around to see you get put away in some dark, lifeless room for the rest of your life. Your friends can only get hurt the closer you get to them.

You are an existence made up of sacrifice.

Review plz? Tell me if there are any mistakes.