When it Rains it Pours

Back at Shigure\'s Tohru was in tears, crying into the rain while Uo and Hanna tried desperately to comfort her as Shigure and Yuki stood by.

“Kyo oh no what have I done. Kyo…” she sobbed.

“Tohru please calm down its okay…” Uo tried holding her best friend as she cried.

“Yes its okay I always knew there was something odd about this family. We don’t mind honestly its okay.” Spoke Hana staring into the rain in the direction the strange creature which had been Kyo had gone.

“No you don’t understand you don’t… the rain… he’s out there. And the storm… Kyo he…”

Yuki turned to look at Shigure and saw the same look of concern on the dog’s face as was on his own.

“What should we do?”

“I honestly don’t know. We should probably call Hatori so he can fix this all… but I\'m not sure if…” the dog’s words trailed off as his eyes fell on the three girls again.

“Surely we wouldn’t have to… I mean there taking it so well and all. But… what about Kyo… and the storm.”

“Now Yuki aren’t you supposed to hate Kyo? You’re showing an awful lot of interest in his welfare for an enemy.” Quipped Shigure, his sense of humour shining through despite the seriousness of the situation and that it was hardly something to laugh at.

“Just because I hate him doesn’t mean I don’t worry… he’s one of us after all.”

Shigure\'s mouth opened to say something in reply but was cut off as the front door slid shut. Both Yuki and Shigure spun to see who had come visiting at this time of day. Hatsuharu stood at the door shaking the water from his hair, from behind his leg peeked Kisa. As soon as the tiger saw Tohru sitting on the floor in tears she bolted from Haru straight to Tohru and into her arms.

“I\'m sorry, has something happened? I can leave if you want it’s just that Kisa wanted to see Tohru and I was asked to bring her over.” He looked from Shigure to Yuki.

“No it’s fine I\'m sure Tohru would love to see Kisa even now. But it’s Kyo, there was an accident and one of Tohru’s friends pulled Kyo’s beads off his wrist.” Haru’s face dropped, an unreadable look falling on it.

“Where is he now?” he asked rather forcefully considering he was still white.

“We don’t know. He took of through the back door almost an hour ago.” Replied Shigure in the same way you would say the sun rose that morning.

“In the rain?”

“Mmm-hmm” was his reply. Haru’s eyes widened.

“And neither of you thought to find him?” he screamed so angrily that both Shigure and Yuki could have sworn he had gone black. After glaring at both of them he ran to where Kisa was and looked the tiger in the eye.

“Now Kisa I want you to stay hear with Tohru and Shigure okay? Don’t leave until I get back. Alright?”

“Okay” she buried her head back into Tohru’s shoulder hugging her tightly.

“Haru-san.” Crackled Tohru’s voice. “Where are you going?”

“To find Kyo.” Was all he said, then he was gone running as hard as he could through the rain and mud.


How could they have been so stupid, they knew how lethargic Kyo became in the rain and they hadn’t bothered to go and find him. Cursing as he ran, Haru headed in the direction he thought Kyo would have gone. There were no tracks to follow, the rain washed them away completely once the dirt had turned to mud. He had a rough idea where Kyo would have gone, when he ran he always headed in the same direction and that was down to the lake.

Something laid in the mud almost buried in it, sliding to a stop he reached down and picked it up. It was Kyo’s pants which meant he had transformed already. Gauging the general direction to the lake and the fact that Kyo obviously had his beads to turn into the cat, and that he would have to be fairly tired he continued his search.

It took him four more hours to find Kyo sprawled out in the mud under a tree.
He looked so pitiful, his fur matted with mud and he was drenched, his breathing was shallow and uneven from exhaustion. Haru wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up with a bad cold from being out here so long.

Removing his long white jacket from his back he picked up the unconscious orange cat and wrapped him in it to keep him warm.

“Kyo why do you do this to yourself?” He whispered as he stood cradling the orange cat in his arms.

Making sure he was completely sheltered from the rain underneath his coat Haru ran again. Running as fast as he could in the mud he headed back to Shigure\'s house.

Jumping a log he slid in the mud scrapping his arm along the wood making it bleed. Ignoring the biting pain he kept running, not caring that the dense vegetation tore into his shirt and cut his skin, it was a quicker route than the path and he needed to get Kyo out of the rain.

By the time he got back to Shigure\'s and kicked open the door he was bleeding from dozens of cuts, his shirt barely intact from it catching on trees and being torn as he ran. A drop of bloody water slid from his forehead running into his eye and shading the world scarlet pink until he blinked it clear, every one stared at him. Walking through the door Haru pulled it shut behind him, bloodied finger prints smearing the knob, as he pulled off his boots.

Tohru, Shigure, Yuki, Hana and Uo all sat at the table looking at him with Kisa wrapped around Tohru’s waist also staring up at him.

“Haru…Kyo…” Kisa queried with a single word looking at him with her innocent eyes. The mood in the house was a fragile one.

“I\'m fine, Kisa don’t worry about me I\'m fine and Kyo hopefully will be to.” There was no emotion in his voice but he felt the answer was enough.

Walking past them all without saying another word he went upstairs. The white bundle of his jacket moving lightly with each breath Kyo took. Reaching the top of the stair he heard Shigure begin to follow him upstairs. He froze in front of Kyo’s room looking back to the top of the stairs waiting for the dog to appear.

“I see you found him then?” Shigure asked when he finally came to stand by Haru, when there was no reply he looked into the ox’s cold eyes.

“Its not that we didn’t want to find him Haru, it’s just that well… Tohru and well… you know how it is. Here, I thought you might want this” he held out the bowl of warm water and a wash cloth he had brought up with him.

“I understand…” was all of a reply he got before Haru walked through the door placing Kyo gently on the floor next the bed still wrapped in Haru’s jacket. Walking back to Shigure who stood at the door, he took the bowl of water from him.

“Thank you…” then the door slid shut in the dog’s face and the lock clicked into place. Shigure stared at the door for a while before turning and walking back down stairs, content to leave Kyo in Hatsuharu’s care.

Haru sat on the floor of Kyo’s room ignoring the stinging of the many cuts on his body. His shirt laid in the far corner of the room where he had thrown it, since it was saturated and ripped to shreds he thought it rather pointless to wear.

Kyo was still in cat form and was wrapped in Haru’s coat; his fur was just a bit damp if all but a little fluffy. After a while Kyo’s fur had completely dried, then there was a poof and instead of the small orange cat it was Kyo’s human form still unconscious beneath the Ox’s jacket. Haru removed his jacket from around Kyo then picked up the wash cloth and began to gently clean the mud from Kyo’s body.

The whole process took almost an hour before Hatsuharu was satisfied that all the mud was well and truly cleaned of Kyo. Moving the bowl of water out of the way he gently lifted the boy placing him in to the bed and covering him with the blankets. He moved to the side of the bed closest to the wall and using it as a back rest sat down to keep watch over the cat until he woke.

Cold water from his white hair dripped to his naked chest as his head drooped downwards. It had been over two hours since he had brought Kyo back to his room and his hair and pants were still a long way from being dry. Lifting his head Haru looked over at Kyo whose breathing had shifted from that of unconsciousness to sleep awhile ago.

Letting his head droop again he allowed himself a shiver from the cold that seemed to have become apart of him. There was a moan from Kyo as he rolled onto his side, his orange hair shifting slightly as he repositioned himself in his sleep.

Haru watched Kyo as he slipped back into a deep sleep before he let his head loll back down to his chest. He knew he was taxing his strength by putting his body through this but until he got to the point where he transformed, he really couldn’t be bothered worrying about it.

Kyo rolled over and snuggled deeper into the blanket, quite happy to just simply doze into a deeper sleep. That was until he realized he was actually under blankets. Bolting into a sitting position, he stared straight at his book shelf.

‘What the hell? I wasn’t inside, I was outside. How the hell did I get back here?’ He thought as he simply stared at the two shelves containing half a dozen books mainly on martial arts. Kyo’s ears picked up on shallow breathing to his right. Twisting his body to give who ever it was an earful, the words never left his mouth.

With his arms wrapped around his legs and his head resting heavily on his knees, Haru didn’t move. Kyo got out of bed throwing off the covers, his skin erupted in goose bumps as he knelt before Hatsuharu. Beads of water still sat on the ox’s back, tinted slightly pink from the myriad of scratches covering his bare skin. It was like he had made no effort what so ever to dry himself even a little. Hesitating a minute, Kyo’s heart skipped a beat as his hands touched ice cold skin that felt like it held no life.

“Haru…HARU… hey cow boy wake up.” He said firmly and a little panicky as he shook the still figure.

“Huh, what…” lifting his head, bleary black eyes slowly focused on Kyo. A little too slowly.

“What the hell are you doing..? Why couldn’t you just leave me out there damn you!? Now look what’s happened.” He quietly screamed at Hatsuharu, not wanting the whole house to know he had been brought back.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He replied meekly, looking at Kyo whose jaw was almost hitting the ground.

“That’s a load of crap and you know it.” He let his hands drop from Haru’s shoulders, his right hand brushing Haru’s pants on the way down. He snarled when he felt that the cloth was still completely saturated.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re soaked you idiot, why didn’t you go and get changed? Are you trying to make yourself sick? Get those damned wet pants off, you idiot! Get them off now.” Haru’s eyes cleared for a moment before clouding over again as he rested his chin on his knees.

“I can’t take them off.” He mumbled. The cat stared at the ox dumbfounded for about two whole minutes before he comprehended his response.

“What the hell do you mean you can’t take them off? I wasn’t bloody well damn asking. I’m telling you take them off. You remembered enough to take your boots of at the door, didn’t you? Why the hell can’t you take them off you idiot? Since when have you been modest?”

“I’m not wearing anything under them.” Again Kyo’s jaw almost hit the ground at the sheer stupidity that seemed to be Haru for the day.

“When the hell did that matter to you? For god’s sake, you walk around with nothing on in front of Tohru. I don’t want your dumb excuses, get those damn pants off now.” Grabbing Haru by the upper arm he dragged him halfway to his feet before the ox even started to help.

After Kyo had finally pulled him to his feet, Haru stared at the cat before finally complying. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of being naked. You got used to that rather quickly when you were a member of the zodiac. It was just that he wasn’t exactly sure why Kyo even cared.

Sure his pants were still drenched and he was rather cold, but Kyo was supposed to be too self absorbed to care about any one else. Undoing his belt then his pants, he peeled the wet material off his skin and tossed them into the same corner as his shirt. Looking back at Kyo, the room seemed to tilt wildly beneath him. He was only mildly aware of Kyo grabbing him as the floor spun out from under his feet.

“What the hell… If you couldn’t bloody well stand up why didn’t you tell me.” Kyo was snarling in his ear as Haru felt the cat strain beneath his weight. Feeling himself being moved he tried to get his feet under him to help, even as the world savagely tilted in the opposite direction. A moment later he fell, hitting something soft that smelt strongly of Kyo but the thought was fleeting.

When the world finally stoped running circles around him Haru realised he was now lying down. Which was the reason why the world had ceased its acrobatics performance, he made a move to sit only to be shoved back down again.

“Will you just stay there damn it?” Kyo cursed as Haru tried to sit up. Sometimes he was just so damn stubborn. Grabbing the covers of his bed Kyo pulled them over the ox to keep him warm.

Kyo climbed into bed as far from Haru as he could possibly get and still be covered by the blankets. Curling his knees to his chest he huddled down under the blankets and closed his eyes.

“I can leave if you want me to,” came Haru’s voice. Kyo opened his eyes, glaring at the ox across the mattress and pillows.

“Will you shut up and just go to sleep? You’re not going to be going any where if we end up having to call Hatori because you get sick.” With that Kyo rolled onto his other side turning his back to Hatsuharu, and tried to ignore that there was another person in his bed with him.

Haru laid in bed with Kyo for what felt like hours before his mind finally drifted off to sleep with the gentle rhythm of the cat’s breathing.