Kyo stopped to look back at his cousin with curious eyes, "Huh? What are you talking about…? I know a lot without you having to tell me anything." But for the fact of his cousin saying that, proved that there was something else that he didn't know about. Yuki looked straight at him, seemed that he was smiling a little bit too. That threw off Kyo a bit. "…Well? Are you gonna tell me? Or what?"

Unless, unless it was a big deal… "Never mind. I couldn't give a damn less."

"Hm." Yuki sighed, "As much as I would like to disagree with that, I will just go along with it."

That would have relieved the cat, but something deep inside concerned him. "Don't do this, okay? If you're going to tell me something then tell me… don't beat around the damn bush and candy code shit… Got it?" Kyo frowned turning around. "I swear, all you like to do is play games… it's annoying."

"Hm…" Yuki placed a hand on Kyo shoulder, "I think we can both agree that Tohru isn't someone to be played around like that…"

Chapter 13 - Exchanging words…

Yuki was leaving tomorrow.

I was not happy but in a way, I was content. Yuki had a goal and he was going to do everything in his power to achieve it. At least I had Kyo to keep me company while my fiancé was gone. "Hm, note to self…" I thought silently to myself, "… never say that aloud to anyone." Yuki wouldn't like that. In fact, there were two very important things I was sure that would anger both men; I couldn't let Yuki know how comfortable and happy I was around Kyo. Not only would he feel uneasy but it seemed like Yuki wanted me to be afraid of him.

…The second thing was, I couldn't let Kyo know that I was getting married to the man he hated with immense passion. Kyo was sweet, but there was no telling what he would do if he knew that. As long as I could keep these things to myself, I was okay for now.

Despite of all that, I was hoping today was going to be a good day. Of course, the slight ache in the pit of my stomach told me otherwise. I shrugged it off. I'm sure lots of stuff was going to happen today, none of which was in my control. Like the large noise I heard at 5am this morning. I recalled jolting up from my bed hearing, what I thought, was a large bookshelf from Shigure's office fall down.

"Kyo…" the name raided my mind. I guess it was fine to be up that late but I wondered why the cat decided to hunt that late if it was him.

Just only a couple of hours later, I decided to get up and make breakfast. I began combing my hair and platting it into a single braid. I softly sighed, staring into the mirror. Right then, I was suddenly reminded of Mom and how she used to braid my hair frequently. I gazed at her picture from right where I was sitting. It was placed on the shelf just above my head. I began to wonder… what she would say to me if she knew my situation between me and the Sohmas.

…She'd probably tell me to stop worrying. "How can you accomplish anything by running away?" I mocked, smiling lightly. Maybe she would say… "A beast and a rat huh? Well as long as they are friendly, I don't see the problem."

"Talking to yourself again?"

I jumped, whirling around in a panicking motion. "Relax it's just me." the mysterious pale Kyo appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes but…" my eyes tried to piece together what just happened. I knew I was alone a minute before he opened his mouth. I glanced at my door, almost positive that he didn't come from there. I had bells that dangled on the knob of my door that I would have heard. I turned to my window and saw that it was closed shut.

"Yes what?" he raised a brow.

"How… did you get in here?"

"The window, duh Tohru." the man was now on my bed, looking straight at me. Once again, I couldn't comprehend the movements of his.

"I get it… I get it." I lightly sighed, "Jokes up, tell me how you did it?" after all, there had to be catch to it all. He couldn't have been that quick, he still had one hand. "You do this to scare me, don't ya?" I puckered my lower lip.

"Scare you?" he frowned at that, "I only climbed up the ladder, opened your window and came in. Simple movements, but too fast for your eyes, I admit." he stared creepily at me.

"Ladder?" I shifted in my seat, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Heh, that's something I wouldn't expect, to be honest."

He tilted his head slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

I shifted again, "I would have guessed something a little more drastic; like flying or clawing your away up the side of the house."

"Flying is more up Rat Boy's ally and I'm not the clawing type. I'm simple." he simply answered my question to why he used the ladder. "Of course you know that… or should, anyway." he assured me.

"I know." I smiled at him. I was stuck in the moment before I realized I had to still make the Sohmas breakfast this morning. "Oh oops!" I jolted up, pacing to the door to open it. "I forgot! I need to make breakfast!"

"Um yeah, about that." Kyo followed right behind me, remaining cool and unbelievably collected. "You can't do it."

I whipped around, after hearing his low voice. "What do you mean?" I was surprised, the cat was gone from behind and somehow appeared in front of me now. I gasped, "I think you are trying to scare…"

"You're not going to make breakfast." he flat interrupted, "I can't let you…" he blocked the door way, forearms resting elegantly on the frames of the door. I found that unusual. He seemed to do it in a playful way, yet, he was serious too.

I stepped back. "…And why not?" I pouched my lips, staring at him with puppy eyes.

"Cus, I'm making breakfast." and he walked out into the hallway. "And don't come out till I'm done." he demanded.

"Wha… What am I supposed to do till then?"

"I don't know…" Kyo never looked back, but waved his only pale hand in the air. "Whatever you human brunette girls do… I'm sure you'll think of something…"

"Kyo wait…"

"Hm?" he shot an impatient, annoyed look my way, "What now?"

"Well." I stared at the floor. "…I know you're not the slightest bit interested in our food … but, you'll be there for breakfast won't you? For me?"

He sighed, his eyes searching mine for a second then traveled to the side of my face. "Yeah, yeah… sure whatever." and he walked down the steps.

I stepped back in my room and pretended to be asleep. That was best thing my girly brain could come up with. How sad?

"Making breakfast again?" Yuki scowled, seeing the pale cat there in kitchen, cooking over a dark heated stove with hand. The other arm, which was handless, was placed neatly behind his back.

Kyo sighed turning around, "Well Tohru is asleep… and you can't do it. So what's your business?" he bit his lip before saying anymore and continued preparing breakfast.

"That's not true and it was just a simple question…" Yuki rolled his eyes, annoyed with the fact that Kyo couldn't answer a question without bite behind it. Yuki paused, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down. "I leave tomorrow Kyo…"

Kyo loosened his look a bit, turning back at the calm rat, "Great. I'm so happy for you, Mr. Lawyer Wannabe." he cooed, "…finally taking responsibility as a big boy now…"

Yuki's violet eyes gazed upon Kyo. "Are you jealous, cat?" he grimaced. "You wouldn't know responsibility if it bit you on the hand."

"Yeah right. That's why I'm the one who moved out… and you're still here supporting Tohru with our cousin's money. I managed to live on my own with a pretty decent job above minimum wage, plus college full time. So, fuck you, Rat Boy. You're not the best thing walking," Kyo's eyes flared, "…and you know nothing about responsibility."

Yuki's lips pressed into a thin line of aggravation, after all the cat was right. He hated when the cat was right. Not only did he live here off Shigure's money, he was also jobless for while too. "You will not have room to say that anymore, cat… Soon you will eat those words." As soon as he started school and work, he would buy an apartment for him and Tohru.

…It was only a matter of time.

"I don't count on it. It will take you years to conquer your goal. In case you haven't noticed, I have already conquered mine." he assured him, "…and who knows maybe Tohru will wake from her faraway fantasy fairytale and realize reality isn't so bad."

Yuki raised a brow. "Excuse me…?"

"I'm saying she seems to be living this psychotic dream of perfect house and white picket fence… worse of all, with you…"

Kyo decided target him with that? Yuki frowned, "She's my girlfriend, and she has every right to think of such things for the future… What are you trying to say?"

Kyo smiled deviously, reading Yuki's frantic face, "I'm saying she's got awful taste in men and a bad habit of making poor choices."

Yuki's hand came down on the table, splitting the poor table in half. The movement was much too fast for Kyo to see. However it didn't scare him. Then a light bulb busted above their heads. "Shut your mouth, you ill-fated, good for nothing beast!" Yuki yelled, "You think she would have fallen for you more? Don't be so stupid!"

"You think I care if she falls for me? I could give two shits! I'm just stating the obvious!"

Yuki chuckled in much to his delight. "Silly cat, of course you care. Why else would you have brought up such things? Besides why do you think I told you that I was leaving in the first place? Hm?" he was now in directly in front of Kyo.

Kyo took a few steps back but hesitated, "I guess you're expecting me to leave too, right?" That's exactly what he expected his rival say. It would be most expected, actually. Tohru wasn't his girlfriend, she was Yuki's. It was apparent that he left if Yuki left at Yuki's request. He couldn't disobey.

"No you stupid cat." Yuki said calmly. "You need not to worry about that. If I had control over your visit, then wouldn't be a visit in the first place." he explained, "But… I'm not in control. Shigure is…" he frowned at that.

Yuki tried to get Shigure to kick Kyo out but it never was successful. "Before we engaged in other topics, my only reason of telling you I was leaving was because I wanted to make clear that while I'm gone, I don't want you thinking you can try to get close to Tohru."

That talk again huh… Kyo frowned lightly. "Listen Rat Boy… I told you already. I don't want to your girlfriend. I never have and never will…"

"Heh…" Yuki shook his head slowly, practically reading the cat's face. "You can't hide it, Kyo… I know you do… you always have. I see the way you look at her and how you intentionally try to avoid her when she walks into a room, especially when I'm here." his eyes narrowed at him, Yuki could tell he had struck a nerve. "I don't want you thinking that there's more of a leeway with me being gone."

"Bull shit." Kyo hissed. "I say there's more leeway with her getting eaten. So you better watch what you say…"

"You must think I'm stupid, Kyo. Trying to put on this tough act of yours, threatening me that you will hurt Tohru. But I know something…" Yuki glared at the cat, "…I know you took her out last night while I was away on my interview."

"…?"

"Come on, Kyo… did you really think I wouldn't find out? She didn't even have to tell me. It was practically written all over her face." Yuki paused. "If you wanted to kill her, you could have done it. I know that now…"

Before he was frightened to leave Tohru here with him. Now he knew Kyo wasn't exactly here to kill Tohru. Whatever beef the cat had, it had nothing to do with Tohru and it seemed Kyo could control himself enough to not hurt her. Maybe Kyo would be vengeful against the Sohma family once he found a way to Tohru's heart. That wouldn't happen, he wouldn't let it.

"You don't know what I'm planning so piss off." Kyo turned around, walking back to the stove. "I wasted twenty minutes talking to you about you and your little girlfriend… twenty minutes I won't ever get back, thanks a lot."

Yuki looked at the broken table then back at the orange - haired man. "You think you know everything… but in the end, you know nothing." he paused, looking at the table. "…Only things from what we tell you."

Kyo stopped to look back at his cousin with curious eyes, "Huh? What are you talking about…? I know a lot without you having to tell me anything." But for the fact of his cousin saying that, proved that there was something else that he didn't know about. Yuki looked straight at him, seemed that he was smiling a little bit too. That threw off Kyo a bit. "…Well? Are you gonna tell me? Or what?"

Unless, unless it was a big deal… "Never mind. I couldn't give a damn less."

"Hm." Yuki sighed, "As much as I would like to disagree with that, I will just go along with it."

That would have relieved the cat, but something deep inside concerned him. "Don't do this, okay? If you're going to tell me something then tell me… don't beat around the damn bush and candy code shit… Got it?" Kyo frowned turning around. "I swear, all you like to do is play games… it's annoying."

"Hm…" Yuki placed a hand on Kyo shoulder, "I think we can both agree that Tohru isn't someone to be played around like that…"

"What do you… mean by that?"

It had been about ten minutes since I heard that loud sound, whatever it was. I stayed in bed in my day clothes, faking sleep. The smell of fresh rice and eggs told me that Kyo had already started cooking. The fact that he wanted to cook, didn't even bother me this time. I wanted know his reason behind cooking this time.

Yuki must have already noticed that I wasn't there making breakfast. Kyo must have told him something but still I would have expected him to come and see about me. Another twenty minutes went by and I continued to stay quietly in bed.

"And don't come out till I'm done."

…So I wondered, what now?

A light knock at the door startled me. "Huh?" it was way too light for Kyo's heavy fist. Plus, Kyo would never knock on the door, especially, while Yuki was still here. "Come in?"

Yuki walked in. "Good Morning, Hun." he smiled lightly, clearing his throat. "Breakfast is ready." It was almost like the man holding back much more than just a smile.

"Okay." I smiled back. That was all I could do at that time. I followed him down the stairs into an empty kitchen. Confused, I raised a brow, "Where is everyone and what happened to the table?" I pointed to the scraps in the corner.

He turned his head, "We are eating outside." he opened the patio door, ignoring my question.

"Oh… But…" I decided to not say anything else. When we reached outside, Shigure was only one sitting down eating. Kyo was sitting on a branch, overlooking the table below. So did this all mean that he kept his word? The cat never looked down to acknowledge me or any of us. It was like he was in another world up there.

I sighed lightly. At least he was here…

"Tohru!" Shigure exclaimed, with his face still stuffed with home cooking. "Morning!"

"Morning…" I waved. I didn't expect us ever eating breakfast outside. So it was sorta awkward but I sat down anyway.

"Seriously… the boys have to stop working you to death, Tohru…" Shigure placed a hand under his chin and sighed, "You seem to sleep in much later…"

"Heh…" I couldn't help but crack an innocent grin. I wouldn't tell them that Kyo was the one that made me stay in my room because he wanted to cook. "Sorry…"

"Shut up, Shigure…" Yuki frowned, "You're the one who is exhausting her. With all the food she cooks for you…"

Shigure laughed, "Haha, you eat it too, you know…"

"But you request it…" Yuki frowned even more.

"You still eat it…"

"…Guess that makes you both guilty, now don't it…" Kyo growled, his eyes flickered a bright red. "Now shut up and eat… Arguing makes you guys sound like you're in a relationship…"

I giggled silently to myself. That shut them up quickly.

Kyo turned back around and faced the other way, without making another sound. After looking at him for a little bit, I came to the conclusion that he really was mad. Mad because I asked him to stay while we ate? I wasn't sure. I felt his anger coming from something else. Maybe he and Yuki had another argument. That would explain the broken table.

Shigure finally laughed, not at all harmed by Kyo's comment. "Then that would be incest…"

"…and nauseating…" Yuki added.

"That would also be cheating, Yuki…" Shigure giggled.

"Thank. You… Shigure…I had no way of figuring that on my own…" Yuki pushed his plate away.

Then the cat shot down from the tree, effortlessly on his feet. "Laters…"

"Awe, really?" I watched him open up the patio door. "Leaving already?"

"Yeah why so soon, Kyo?" Shigure winked at me. I quickly hid my face, did he know something? He had to, if he was winking at me.

"Because… I'm bored." the cat cooed. "No one said how long I had to stay…" an eye twitched at me.

"Now, now don't be like that… We still have so much to learn about you. And we never got to finish the other night." the dark haired man cleared his throat. "Come sit down, let's pick up where we last left off, eh? Sounds good?" Shigure had a way with words.

"Not really…" Kyo frowned, "It actually sounds like a horrible idea…"

"Good. Have a seat…" Shigure motioned with a single to the empty seat by me and smiled.

"Are you stupid? I said…" Kyo sighed, "Never mind." With a light grunt, Kyo joined us at the table. "I'm not just gonna spill my life story to you, you know that right?"

"Of course." Shigure nodded.

Yuki sighed turning his head.

"I'm sure Tohru, Yuki and I, would love to hear about college and that girl you liked while you were there…" Shigure chuckled at the shocked Kyo, "Didn't think I'd remember huh?" he waved a finger, "Well am I right?"

I had forgotten, honestly. When I and Kyo talked about his schooling, he never brought up anything about the girl he liked. I was sure he despised telling me that more than his life story and, I was almost sure he wasn't about to share it with all of us present.

"It's over though. She was dumb and I was an Idiot." That's all I remember him saying. He kept his answer really short and walked off right after, shunning us all that night. So what was his plan for getaway this morning? It was much too early to go to sleep.

"You're right…" Kyo sighed, turning the other way. He didn't want to look at us anymore. I knew that somehow. "She reminded me of Tohru."

Yuki turned back around glaring and all I could do was stare distantly at the cat. Was he really going to tell us about this girl? Kyo sighed again. It was almost like he was tired of talking, tired of living, tired of explaining himself…

…However, he parted his lips, telling one more of his stories. This story, I was more than positive, would conclude our conversation.