Scarlet Tears

The sun rose over the trees, painting the sky an alluring orange and red. All the people living in the Sohma house were up and bustling before Yuki even began to stir. He opened his practically lifeless cobalt eyes and a despicable taste coated his mouth. The teen sat up and observed his metallic rusted scars. Picking up the knife up off the floor, he wiped it clean with his already stained nightshirt and placed it back in his dresser. Stripping his bed, he put the maroon tinted sheets in the back of his closet.

Making sure no one was in the hallway between his room in the bathroom, he snuck by and slipped into the shower. The lukewarm water sprayed his lean, sickly body, washing away the remnants of dried blood from his face and arms. The cuts stung as he washed them clean with soap.

The shower water slowed to a sprinkle as Yuki turned it off and stepped out. He took the tainted nightshirt and they too were tossed in the back of his closet. A light blue, long sleeve shirt was extracted from the closet and put on over Yuki’s thin torso. He also put on a pair of jeans that used to fight him a little tightly but were now baggy due to his loss of weight, same as with the shirt.

The inky haired teen tried to make himself look presentable as he descended the stairs and entered the dining room. At the table sat Tohru and the owner of the house, Shigure. The paper doors were open to allow the refreshing summer breeze flow in and outside stood Kyo.

Their eyes met, Kyo’s fiery red orbs locked onto Yuki’s placid purple ones. Kyo then looked Yuki over, his eyes melting in minor concern. ‘He doesn’t look good at all, he’s lost a lot of weight’, Kyo noted as Yuki sat down at the table. Kyo narrowed his eyes, still staring at Yuki as Tohru said, “Good morning Sohma-kun”. Yuki nodded back at her and plastered a makeshift smile on his weary face. Kyo looked him over again and chalked his bad appearance up to his bad sleeping habits, although a little voice in the back of his head told him to investigate further.

Yuki could feel Kyo staring at him but decided to ignore it. “Hey ya damn rat!” he heard Kyo yell at him angrily. Yuki looked up at Kyo with a fired glance, “I said hey, you damn rat!” Kyo roared again.

Feeling weaker just looking at Kyo, his heart crying with need and love but faltering in hesitation, he couldn’t bring himself to answer Kyo, he just got up and made his way to the stairs. Tohru began panicking as Kyo cleared the table in one leap and was on Yuki’s tail.

“Rat! Yuki! Yuki, what the hell is wrong with you?” Kyo shouted as he caught up with the silver haired boy.
Feeling a greater need to escape, Yuki walked faster and stared climbing the stairs. “Wait Yuki!” Kyo became exasperated and reached out for Yuki’s hand, “What’s wrong?”

Yuki was already up a few steps on the staircase as he slapped Kyo’s hand away and turned to the orange haired boy, glaring with angry tear filled eyes. “Why the fuck do you care?” he blurted. “Just get the hell away from me! Go back to Tohru since you lover her so much!” he screamed but his voice began to fail and he only squeaked the last piece.

Kyo, confused as usual, stared wide-eyed at the boy breaking down in front of him. Yuki turned to leave again but Kyo shot out a hand and snatched Yuki’s wrist, a loud yelp of pain vibrated from Yuki’s throat as his wound re-opened and began leaking blood onto his sleeve and Kyo’s gripping hand.

Wet blood soaked into the shirt, turning it from innocent blue to deadly red. Yuki gave up the struggle as Kyo pulled him down from the stairs. “What the hell…?” Kyo gasped as he rolled up Yuki’s sleeve to see it hacked up and torn, seeing Yuki’s previous and newly carved scars. “Yuki…why?” the orange haired teen asked, concern coated his tone as he stared at Yuki questioningly.

Their eyes didn’t meet again, Yuki ripped his face away and gazed blankly at the ground. Kyo was too shocked to keep his hold on Yuki so he took his arm back, turning his back to Kyo he murmured, “Because I deserve it…” and stalked to his room.

Kyo could only watch as his rival left him in shock, he looked down at his hand, which was still dripping with Yuki’s blood. “Yuki…” he whispered, tears filling his eyes. He didn’t understand, he always seemed ok. But then Kyo actually thought about it and realized that Yuki wasn’t Ok. He remembered that Yuki hadn’t been eating, that he would hear Yuki talking to himself and rustling at night, he remembered seeing Yuki sleep in class and the appearance of what he used to look like. Of how healthy Yuki used to be compared to now. “How could I have let this happen to him” he ducked his head in shame.

“Kyo-kun? Sohma-kun? You aren’t fighting are you?” Tohru questioned as she dashed around the corner and had a collision with Kyo. Poof, Kyo was transformed into his cat form and lay in a pile of his own clothing. “Oh, Kyo-kun, I’m sorry!” she screamed in apologies.

Kyo growled a little. ‘Stupid girl’ he thought as he leapt out of his clothes. “It’s Ok I guess, I’m gonna go talk to Yuki…don’t come into his room, leave us alone, got it?” he commanded as he stared at her with his red cat eyes. She nodded, blushed and dashed in the opposite direction.

Sighing, Kyo ran up the stairs and crept into Yuki’s room; the door had been left open a crack. There Yuki was, curled up in a pathetic little ball on the farthest corner of his bed, mumbling to himself. Kyo tried to keep himself stealthy as he neared his weeping rival. “I can’t believe he saw, God I hate myself. Kyo…Kyo…I love you Kyo…I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He said in between pained sobs.

The cat’s eyes widened, ‘what? He…he loves me?’ Kyo desperately tried to comprehend this but still couldn’t figure it out so he decided to go straight to the source. “Yuki…” he spoke.

Purple eyes blinked in surprise but still didn’t leave the sanctity of their hiding place under his arms, all he did was sob louder. “Yuki, please talk to me” Kyo begged as he hopped onto the bed and rubbed against Yuki’s back in a very cat like fashion. Yuki shuddered as Kyo touched him, he couldn’t help it if his love was touching him so tenderly. All he was able to do was beg him to stop, but Kyo wouldn’t until he got some answers. Yuki turned around, his eyes were red and puffy, still filled with bitter tears. Doing something totally out of character and to Yuki’s total surprise, Kyo climbed on his lap and looked up at him with begging eyes, “Please tell me why.” He pleaded as he put a paw on Yuki’s arm.

“I…” Yuki choked back as he tried to explain, he was deeply touched by Kyo’s concern for him. Kyo nodded encouragingly and Yuki tried to continue, “It’s because…I…I love you Kyo.” Kyo nodded as Yuki gave him a searching stare, he was searching for rejection, for loss, for something.

“But that doesn’t really explain why you would cut yourself.” The cat investigated further.

“Well…it’s hard to explain, I guess I did it because I thought you and Tohru were…” he couldn’t say it, he couldn’t admit that he thought that Kyo and Tohru might be in love.

Furrowing his brow Kyo said, “You’re the one who spends all that time with Tohru, not me, I thought you loved her.”

Shaking his head Yuki looked down into the orange cat’s red pools, still searching for a response to his admittance. “I only did that to keep you from falling in love with her, or loving her more. I suppose that why I did it, because out of my own selfishness I was hurting both you and Tohru. I felt despicable, lower than human. I lost all the desire to eat and I would just…I would just…” he grasped his still leaking arm and whimpered.

He felt something on his arm, a slow motion from a foreign object, Yuki looked down to see Kyo licking at his open wound, lapping the blood away. The silver haired teen gasped and sighed, he didn’t quite understand why Kyo was doing this, why he was concerned. All Yuki knew was that Kyo should hate him for what he’s done.

“Yuki, you don’t deserve to be in pain. I’m sorry that I didn’t see that you were in love with me. I was too blinded by my own love to notice anyone else’s.” he looked with glittering, teary eyes up at Yuki.

“You…”, he choked again, “You love her…” he gasped and sobbed hard again, his tears falling into Kyo’s orange fur.

Kyo licked Yuki’s hand again and Yuki pulled away, trying to push Kyo off his lap to turn around again but was interrupted by Kyo whispering, “No.”

Poof! Kyo transformed back into his human form, sitting nude in Yuki’s lap. He smiled at Yuki with compassion and said, “No, I love you, Yuki…” The silver haired boy whimpered as Kyo pressed his lips against Yuki’s in a loving kiss. He reached down and lifted the sickly boys arms to his face and kissed each scar lightly, making Yuki moan in ecstasy. “I’m sorry, so sorry I didn’t notice how much pain you were in. I should’ve recognized it, when you stopped eating and I heard you awake at night. I promise I’ll never neglect you again.” He murmured in Yuki’s ear breathing hot air on him and brushing sweet kisses over his ear and neck.

“Oh Kyo…I love you.” Yuki whispered as he cried more, burying his face in the nape of his love’s neck.

A finger was slipped under Yuki’s chin, making him lift his head and looks Kyo in the eye, “Don’t be sorry. It’s ok now…” he kissed him passionately, soothing his worn away lover’s soul. “I love you Yuki…”