Coming around

It had been nearly 2 years since Tohru had broken the zodiac curse, but Yuki still hesitated to embrace Tohru in public. Kyou didn\'t embrace her at all.

Kyou watched silently from the doorway as Yuki took Tohru\'s hand. They walked out of the school yard, looking happy and carefree. Kyou didn\'t really begrudge them that, but he did feel sad. Not really jelous, but just somewhat sad.

When Tohru didn\'t run from Kyou\'s third form, Kyou realized how much his heart belonged to Tohru. It had taken only a year before he realized that he cared for Yuki deeply as well. They were his family, the only family that loved him without judgement.

Even though he thought this, in the back of his mind he imagined that it was him with Tohru and not Yuki. He hated himself for his betrayal in his mind, and tormented himself with guilt the whole way home from school.

Kyou arrived home first, even though he walked behind them. Yuki and Tohru had taken a detour to thier \"secret base,\" and Kyou didn\'t really expect them to come home for quite a while. Shigure was the only person home to meet him.

\"Welcome home, Kyou-kun!\" Shigure said in his sing-song way. \"Is Tohru going to make dinner?\"

\"I guess so.\" Kyou said sulkily, and pushed his hands deep into his pockets. The phone rang, and Kyou, being nearest, answered it. \"Hello?\"

\"Who is it?\" Shigure asked, trying to make a pest of himself. When Kyou turned his back to him and waved him away, he grinned with the challenge.

\"Sure,\" Kyou said, \"If you... oh? Tonight?\"

Shigure stuck out his lower lip and moved to where he could see Kyou\'s face. \"Who is it, Kyou-kun! Who is it?\"

Kyou favored Shigure with a sardonic look and said \"That\'s fine. I\'ll meet you,\" then hung up the phone.

\"Who was it?\" Shigure whined.

\"None of your damn business.\" Kyou said, and turned to the stairs. \"When Tohru comes home, tell her that I don\'t need any dinner. I\'m going out.\"

\"With who?\" Shigure followed his younger cousin up the stairs.

\"I already told you, none of your damn business. Excuse me.\" Kyou pushed past Shigure into his bedroom and shut the door.

Shigure smiled. He liked a good mystery.

~~~

The next morning, Shigure was sipping tea in the diningroom when Kyou walked in the back door. \"Well, well, well.\" Shigure grinned. \"Your mother would be so ashamed.\"

Kyou sat down across the table from Shigure. \"I was going to tell you all about last night, but forget it now.\" He poured himself a cup of tea.

\"Oh, come now. You can tell me. I\'m like your older brother.\"

\"One perfectly good reason why I shouldn\'t tell you, dog.\" Kyou sipped the tea and made a face. \"It\'s black tea. That\'s gross.\"

\"Well, as your gaurdian, I should know where you are spending your nights, don\'t you think?\"

\"Another good reason why I shouldn\'t tell you. Try again.\"

\"Good morning!\" Tohru\'s cheerful voice halted the interogation. \"I hope you both slept well!\"

\"Oh, Kyou had a lovely night, didn\'t you?\" Shigure laughed, and Tohru looked a little perplexed.

\"Didn\'t you sleep well, Kyou-kun?\" Sook ook a step towards him and kneeled next to him.

\"I slept fine, Tohru. No need to worry about me.\" He smiled at her. \"Did you sleep well?\"

At Tohru\'s deep blush, Shigure laughed. Tohru retreated into the kitchen. \"Our little Tohru is grown into a woman!\" Yuki emerged from the stair then, frowning at Shigure.

\"Quit embarassing Tohru, Shigure. You really have no shame.\" He said quietly, and sat down at the table.

Shigure laughed again, and stood. \"I think I\'m going to give Tohru a hand in the kitchen, I\'m sure she\'s worn out from all that growing she did last night!\"

Yuki cast an annoyed glare at Shigure\'s retreating form before turning his attention to Kyou. \"You didn\'t come home last night. Is everything okay?\"

Kyou sighed. Keeping secrets from the dog was one thing, but he couldn\'t keep it from Yuki forever. \"I\'ll tell you all about what happened later today, okay?\" Yuki nodded, visibly perplexed.

~~~

When later came, the cousins were at a local noodle shop eating lunch.

\"First off, I\'m fine.\" Kyou said, and Yuki relaxed a little. Kyou blew on his ramen. \"I just stayed over at... someone\'s house last night.

\"Then what do we need to talk about?\" Yuki asked.

Kyou gave him an irritated look. \"Let me tell the story from the beginning, or it won\'t make any sense, okay?\" Yuki nodded. \"Okay. It was just about six months ago that I realized that I was in love with Tohru...\"

Tohru smiled blithly at Kyou and held up a pair of deep purple mittens. \"What about these?\" She asked, and Kyou had to smile.

\"They\'d look good on him.\" He stepped in a little closer to her, and grabbed a pair of gloves from the rack. \"He might like gloves better, though.\" Her proximity was intoxicating to Kyou. He resisted the urge to draw her to him.

\"I really want to get him something special.\" She touched the yellow ribbon in her hair. \"He\'s been so...\" Her voice trailed off for a nt, nt, and she gazed at the gloves in Kyou\'s hand.

\"Tohru?\" Kyou asked.

She shook her head. \"I\'m sorry. I\'m just so concerned about getting him the right gift...\" She smiled up at Kyou. Even though she didn\'t say it, he could hear it in her voice. She was in love with Yuki. He had known it all along, he supposed, but didn\'t really see it until that moment.

\"Get him the mittens. He\'ll like them because you got them for him.\" The smile that he was rewarded with broke his heart.

Yuki looked horrified. \"I didn\'t know you had feeling for her too.. if I had I never would have-\"

Kyou cut him off. \"Stop it. She loved you, not me. She still loves you and not me. That is not the point of this story.\"

Yuki sought Kyou out after school that day for advice. Kyou\'s advice had been straight-forward, as Yuki had expected. \"Tell her.\" was all he needed to say.

Kyou brooded at the dinner table that night, though he tried not to let it show. Momiji, Hatori and Hatsaharu had all come over for dinner that night, and Momiji and Shigure were making a terrible racket. Kyou watched after dinner as Yuki and Tohru slipped out the back door. He staired at the door for a few moments until Haru came into view.

\"Don\'t go out there,\" Kyou warned, and Haru frowned at him.

\"Why not? Those two are making me crazy.\" He jabbed a finger at Momiji and Shigure.

Kyou sighed. He didn\'t want to be the one to break this news to the younger man, but he couldn\'t see a way around it. \"Yuki and Tohru are out there. They,\" Kyou paused, unsure how to continue. \"They need a private moment. Yuki is...\" He stopped speaking at the broken look on Haru\'s face. Conflict washed over him when Haru fled through the front door. Finally he decided to follow, knowing that it didn\'t take too much for Haru to get lost.

When Kyou found him, Haru was bleakly thowing stones at what was at one point, a landslide. Kyou approached silently, but stepped on a dry twig, betraying himself to Haru. \"What do you want?\" Haru said, his voice sounding black.\"If you came here to bother me, it\'s not a good idea.\"

\"Well, good or not, I guess I did come here to bother you.\" He stepped in front of the younger man. \"I knew you\'d get lost out here, so I came to lead you back to the house. I fogot the rope, though.\"

\"I picked a fight with him.\" Kyou told Yuki. \"I thought it might help him get out the pain he was feeling.\"

\"But--\" Yuki looked confused. \"Why was he so upset?\"

Kyou looked at Yuki, astounded. \"Because he was in love with you, you pea-brained rat.\" Kyou shook his head. \"All the sex has made your brain all mushy, hasn\'t it?\"

Yuki frowned, but didn\'t reply.

\"Anyway, I picked a fight...\"