Kyo's POV

I watched her as she fought off sleep. If she was so tired, then why have people over? She didn't want to go out with me tonight, so why have everyone over at once? Then it hit me. Maybe she figured that she couldn't say no to everyone. She seemed to give me an apologetic smile as she said yes to Kenzi. She might want us to all have a good time, but she wants to have a good time with me… so she wants to be awake and ready for it perhaps? I don't know. All I hope is that she wasn't lying to me. Hopefully she really did want to take it easy for a while instead of going on a sudden date. Or maybe thinking it'd be better to fall asleep at home, instead of out at some restaurant with me. So she could be polite.

"Hey… is she asleep?" Kenzi asked, stopping his rambling. I suppose he asked her a question. I focused on her, then turned to Kenzi.

"Yeah… she's leaning against the window… she was really tired tonight." I replied.

"She looked tired even though she was full of energy earlier. Is work that tough for her?" Hiroshi asked.

"Well she has to prepare for college too. That's the whole reason she came to Japan in the first place." I said.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. Isn't school starting up in a couple of weeks?" Hiroshi asked. I nodded. Kazuo made a tight turn to the right, and she flew from the window, to my shoulder. I felt the heat rise up in my face and my chest tightened, feeling all aflutter.

I looked down at her peaceful face, hair tousled a bit, and some make up smudged because she rubbed her eyes recently. Her mouth… was slightly open as her eyes… her mouth was… open, lips slightly parted… open.

I felt my heart race and I looked away to see just about everyone else in the car looking at me. Kazuo was even looking at me though the rear view mirror.

"W… what?" I asked. Kazuo smiled slightly and returned his eyes to the road. Kazuo smirked, and Hiroshi gave a smile. "What?"

"You two are pretty cute together. You know that?" Kazuo said. I blushed and looked out the window.

"Whatever…" I muttered.

"Oh, so he does know?" Kenzi questioned.

"Look, you just keep your mouth shut, you got that?" I snapped at him. She rustled against my arm and I tensed up, looking down at her. She yawned, sitting up more to lean on my arm better before sighing and remaining silent.

"Did you ask her?" Hiroshi asked.

"How did you know?" I asked. Hiroshi shook his head.

"Well, did you?" He repeated.

"Yeah…" I said.

"…and? What'd she say?" Kenzi asked.

"She wants to take it easy for a while because of school coming up and stuff like that. She said she'd be happy to hang out at her place or something in the meantime though." I said.

"I thought you were asking her about tonight?" Hiroshi asked.

"I was, but she said she was worn out and didn't feel up to it." I said. "Is it because she's standing me up? Or because she wanted to be polite?"

"Knowing her, she was being polite and didn't want to fall asleep during a date. I mean… she wouldn't have made it through very far. We hit the arterial and she fell asleep." Kazuo said. I nodded and looked down at her.

"Don't worry though buddy. We won't bug her at home unless she invites us over or something. We all know you need your alone time." Kenzi smirked.

"You shut up! We're not even going out or anything!" I said. They all either smiled or laughed at me.

We arrived at her apartment and Kenzi opened up the door and picked her up and held her while I got out, then gave her to me. Kazuo had left Nodoka at a friend's house right before we came here, so we all walked up to her apartment. Hiroshi went into her pocket and we unlocked the door, and brought her inside. I began walking to her bedroom when she woke up.

"Kyo? Where are we?" She asked. I smiled down at her. Adorable.

"We're at your humble abode my princess." Kenzi sing sang behind me. She looked around and her cheeks tinted pink a little. I let her down where we were and she looked at us. We were quiet.

"I'll be ready for the party in a few… I need something to gain my energy." She muttered.

"TO THE COFFEE MACHINE!" Kenzi exclaimed.

"No… to the soda… and candy." She said simply. We looked at her. "I'm anti-caffeine."

"How dare you be that way. We will never forgive you for your deeds!" Kenzi said. She tossed us some soda and gestured to the candy drawer as she picked out some pixie sticks.

"What are… you eating?" Hiroshi asked.

"Pixie sticks." She said. "Flavored sugar. Just try it."

We all watched her take on a whole stick, so we tried the same and gagged a little as the sugar stung at first. She looked at us and laughed.

"If you guys are new to it, you shouldn't take it all on like me; take a little at a time." She instructed. We tried that and it suited us better. She smiled, sipping her soda and grabbing some pocky and snacking at the sticks.

"Pocky!" Kenzi said.

"You … like pocky?" Hiroshi asked. She grinned at us and nodded, since she had her mouth full. We helped ourselves to some and soon she was full of energy and we were all hanging out, dancing to random songs on television. We began joking about different things, embarrassing each other, until Kenzi stepped up with beer. I watched her looked at it edgy.

"Do you like this kind?" He asked.

"I don't really like many things with alcohol." She replied. That's good.

"You sure? I mean… It's sake." He said. Her eyes lit up.

"I've never had sake… I'll try some." I said. That's not good.

Our brains got the better of us and we all ended up drinking glass after glass of sake until we began playing strip poker. Poor Andrea didn't know how to play poker at all, so she was down to underwear, bra and a tank top. Kazuo, who had some how had a bit much himself, was shirtless, while I was in boxers and a tank top. Hiroshi lost his socks and gloves, while Kenzi was without his jacket.

"All in." Kenzi said, shoving his bottle caps into the center of the table. Andrea smiled and pointed.

"I think I got the hang of this… I call that." She said. Kenzi looked at her and tossed his cards in. As did the others, and then she did. She had a full house, eights in aces. Kenzi had… absolutely nothing. He took off his shirt. He tossed his shirt in his lap as he looked at her a moment then at the table. She pulled the bottle caps to her and Kenzi gave us all another round. We added the bottle caps in.

"Royal flush bitches." Kenzi said. Then all of us froze as she reached under her tank top, unlatching her bra and taking it off. She threw it behind her to land on the lamp, and she drank more sake. We starred at her chest for a while. It was a thin tank top. I mean it.

"Wha…" She questioned. We shook our heads and played some more.

"Full house." She said. That started her winning spree, much to our dismay. Another Sake round went through and Hiroshi passed out without his shirt on. That started her winning streak.

"Royal flush."

Out went Kazuo.

"Full house."

"I win."

"Again…"

"Take it off boys…"

"I'm getting tired of this. Don't make me loose on purpose."

"I win."

Kenzi was on the edge of passing out. So were the rest of us.

"You suck."

"Hey guys… I'm… done…" She said. Kenzi flopped back unconscious. Then everything blacked out for me.

The next morning I woke up. I was on the table in my boxers, and she was leaning over the table on my chest sleeping. I had a hangover… that's for sure. It seemed that Kazuo was awake, and he soon ran off to throw up in the bathroom. Hiroshi woke up soon after, while I pretended to sleep.

"Meh…" She muttered after an hour. I had such a sick stomach I was surprised I wasn't throwing up myself. Kenzi and the others were all hogging the bathroom. "Oh my god…"

I looked down at her. She looked at me and moved away, looking at what she was…not wearing. She was still in the tank top and underwear from last night. Then… I had it.

"Excuse me! Got to Barf!" I managed, jumping off of the table and turned to the sink.

"Me first!" She gasped out, before ending up right next to me, and we let it out in the sink.

"Aspirin for you... you… you… and you. Knock yourselves out." She said, and then took some herself and we all laid around the house trying to be completely sober. Hiroshi laid out on a chair, Kenzi took the other chair, Kazuo laid out on the couch, Andrea was in her room on her bed, and I was on the floor.

She called in sick from the phone in her room, and Kazuo was the first to be all right. He said good-bye and thanks to Andrea, and then left for Nodoka. Hiroshi and Kenzi called up a taxi and left a couple hours later.

"Yo." I said groggily as I leaned in her bedroom doorframe. She looked over at me and smiled sleepily.

"Hey. Remind me not to have so much next time." She said. "I've only been drunk once, but I never got anything close to a hangover."

"Heh... I'll try to remember." I walked in and sat next to her.

"Ugh… um... about… dinner…" She said. I looked over at her. "I know I said I wanted to take some time and stuff to get ready for school, and I said I couldn't last night even though I actually got wasted."

"It's all right." I said.

"No… Just… know that I do want to go and catch a movie or a bite to eat with you. I just want to get ready and settled into school and stuff like that before I begin to settle on anything big like that. Last night was the last thing… fun I'll be doing for a while." She said. She grinned and laughed a little. I couldn't help but smile with her. Then she thought a moment, before snapping her fingers.

"Since I called in sick today, you want to play some videogames? I'm pretty good, I'll warn you there." She said with a smile. I smiled back at her.

"Bring it on." I replied. She grinned and got up, holding her head and walking over to her television. She hooked up a play station and hopped onto the couch with a remote, tossing me one. I sat down next to her and we waited for it to start up. She grabbed some pocky on the table and popped some in her mouth.

"You know, at first I thought Japan was just a bunch of perverts and sluts that managed to get some high paying jobs and PhD's or something. Though now I see that it can actually be full of pretty nice people." She said. I felt the heat rise to my face and I looked away. "Ooh hey, come on pick your character Kyo."

I turned to the screen… and chose the cat. She chose the dragonfly. I smiled at it for a moment and then we began playing.

"Thanks for spending the day. It was really… fun." She said. I smiled down at her next to me as we walked to her door. She stood there for a moment and I nervously laughed her own soon following.

"Sure thing."

"Oh, the next time you see Kenzi, be sure to have him not bring the really strong sake." She said innocently. I chuckled a little.

"I'll be sure to pass it by him." I said. We both paused at the door and looked at each other, and I'm sure both of our faces were red.

"I'll see you later, baby." I said. I brought out my hands and cupped her face. I looked into her glazed eyes and gently pulled her closer. My lips brushed hers and I pulled away. She smiled.

"See you later Kyo." She whispered before putting her arms around my neck and our lips met again.

"Kyo? Kyo?" She asked. I realized that it wasn't reality, so I blinked a few times and looked at her. "Your cell phone is vibrating."

I quickly grabbed my phone out of my pocket, flipping it open.

"Hello?"

"Kyo… it's Shigure."

"What? What the hell do you want?"

"Well I'm just here to let you know that there might be a family reunion coming up this year."

"Screw that, you know Akito won't even let me think about those things, and like HELL I'd want to go anyway."

"Kyo… I think it'd be good if you came… just this year. Unless… you have a girlfriend you want to keep away from him?" I felt my face heat up and I looked at her smiling up at me innocently. I quickly turned around

"YOU SICKO! NO I DON'T!"

"Ooh hoo hoo…I'll look forward to meeting the future Mrs. Kyo Sohma. Buh bye!"

"UGH!"

Andrea's POV

"UGH!" He exclaimed. I flinched back and moved. He stayed still for a while. I reached out for him, but hesitated and put my arms behind my back. I cleared my throat and he harshly turned to look at me.

"Are you all right Kyo?" I asked. His expression then quickly changed from surprised, to hurt, to happy, to neutral.

"Yeah… my cousin just pisses me off." He said. I smiled and he quickly looked away. "Eh… I should get going."

I smiled.

"Bye, then."

"Bye."

He waved as he left and I waved after him.