Chapter 3: Friendship

Author's notes: Hey everyone – back with the latest of my spate of updates this weekend and apologies for the long wait!

Hope you enjoy this chapter and look out for the next one coming soon!

Last chapter:

“Yo”

Yuki started as Hatsuharu's face appeared inches from his own.

“Haru” He let out a breath and settled back down to the desk, ignoring Haru's eyes boring into him. He couldn't help a glance pout the window at the clouds that seemed to have become heavier rather than starting to clear; the weather was sapping all of his energy. A warm hand found his forehead and he looked up again, “I'm fine”

“Kyo?” Haru's eyes were unreadable, but Yuki knew he was thinking of the ticking clock that hung over Kyo's head.

Yuki paused for a second then nodded, just once. He knew Haru would understand. They had been brought up to hate and pity the Cat, to look down on him. It wasn't something he was proud of but it had been reassuring at times to look at Kyo and know that there was someone more cursed than him, to know that no matter how much everyone hated him, they hated the Cat more. He knew Haru understood, that he had felt that way too and that he was ashamed. Life had been so much easier when the Cat was simply a monster to be detested, but now the Cat had become Kyo and Yuki couldn't reconcile himself with locking him up for nothing more than the crime of being born. His head hurt from wrestling with all the possibilities

Haru sat beside him, one hand resting on his brow in silent sympathy as Yuki lowered his head onto his arms once again. Yuki was praying for the day to be over sooner...but for Kyo it would mean one less day of freedom.

I tried to climb your steps

I tried to chase you down

I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground

- Sick Cycle Carousel, Lifehouse

Kyo's ears pricked up as he heard the unmistakable sounds of Tohru sliding the downstairs door open and beginning to climb the ladder to the roof.

He feigned disinterest, only watching out of the corner of one eye as a thermos flask and tray of rice balls appeared over the edge of the roof. The hope that he hadn't even been aware he was forming disappeared whenever Tohru's smiling face didn't immediately follow the tray.

She wasn't going to come and sit with him. Kyo turned on his side so that his back was towards the ladder; it was too cold to expect her to stay outside so he shouldn't be disappointed. If she did she would probably just end up getting sick and he would have to cook her leek soup again...really, it was better if she just left him on his own. But all his protests couldn't change the fact that he really wanted her to come and sit with him.

The sound of Tohru once again coming up the ladder interrupted his thoughts and he turned in time to catch the bright smile she aimed at him.

“I brought some snacks”

Kyo watched her carefully as she balanced the tray, flask and umbrella and tottered slowly towards him. For someone so clumsy she had good balance, but he was still ready to grab her if she slipped. For someone like Tohru it was only a matter of time before it happened.

“It looked like it might rain so I thought I should bring this too!”

Tohru brandished the umbrella proudly and Kyo winced as one of her feet slid on the tiles and she wobbled slightly. It was just a matter of time.

*

*

Hatori did one last circuit of the building making sure that all the shutters were fully closed and locked in place. It was a miserable day and he wasn't surprised to see that most of the other houses were already shut up against the weather.

The Sohma compound felt deserted; it felt to Hatori like a ghost town as everyone moved slowly and spoke softly, wary of the wrath of the God who lived among them.

He paused as he rounded the corner only to see Akito seated on the porch, staring at the approaching stormclouds with unfocused eyes.

“Akito, you should go in before you catch cold”

He was the only one who could speak to her like that; despite the fact that a whim of hers could turn his life upside-down, all he could see when he looked at her was the unloved child who had grown into the twisted adult sitting before him now.

Akito turned her dark eyes on him and Hatori unconsciously tensed before forcing himself to relax.

“There's not much time left now is there Hatori?”

Akito didn't even wait for his reply before unfolding herself from the ground in one smooth movement and retreating inside.

Hatori glanced at the clouds overhead and pulled the shutters closed behind them just as the first fat drops of rain began to darken the porch. A frown creased his brow as he answered, thinking of the life that Kyo had to look forward to.

“No”, he agreed, “Not much time left at all”

*

*

As it began to rain Tohru put the umbrella up and slid closer to Kyo so that they could both fit underneath, knees pulled in towards their stomachs to keep everything inside the small circle of dryness. As night fell the temperature dropped and Tohru pulled her legs closer, unconsciously moving even closer to Kyo.

Kyo looked down at her, his heart inexplicably speeding up at their proximity. She was almost pressed against one side of his body, her head just a few centimetres from resting on his shoulder. One of his arms was stretched behind him to lean on and it now brushed Tohru's lower back...one small movement and he would have his arm around her properly.

As always, Tohru seemed unaware, chatting away gaily about one thing or another. He wasn't honestly listening anymore, just drinking in the sight and smell and feel of the first person who had accepted him unconditionally. She was the first person to make him feel as if he was something more than an outcast...as if he could be something more than a curse to those around him. The thought of losing everything was more acute because it would mean losing her too...and he wasn't ready to let her go.

Some of what he was thinking must have shown in his face because Tohru seemed to lose her train of thought.

Tohru paused suddenly in her babbling as she met Kyo's eyes and a self-conscious blush spread unchecked across her face. He was behaving strangely and it was making her nervous...what was going on in the Sohma family that she didn't know about?

She shivered and moved a little closer to Kyo's warmth, trying to ignore the fact that it made her heart speed up a little as if in anticipation. It felt nice to sit with him, a little huddle of warmth against the cold of the rain and wind.

His arm was almost but not quite around her but Tohru didn't think anything of it because, no matter what her friends said, she knew that neither Kyo nor Yuki saw her in a romantic way. Why would they? She didn't see them in a romantic way either...not that she really knew what seeing someone in a romantic way would be like.

All of her imaginings as a child had followed the formula of princess swept off her feet by a knight on a white horse but, outside of the strange aberration of her dream that morning, she had never imagined anyone she knew as the object of her affections. She could see that both Yuki and Kyo were good-looking, as were all of the Sohma family but this recognition had never led to her acting any differently around them than she usually did.

But sometimes the look in Kyo's eyes as he watched her made her heart skip a beat...it was so soft and gentle, a side of him that was very rarely seen. It gave her a warm feeling inside her chest and she thanked Lady Fate once again for finding her a home.

Tohru met Kyo's eyes and smiled at him, her cheeks feeling slightly hotter than usual for no reason she could discern. Her smile widened as Kyo's lips twitched upwards in response.

His voice was barely above a whisper, “Thank you Tohru”

She opened her mouth to question him, but stopped, somehow realising that it wasn't something he was ready to talk about.

Tohru passed him the umbrella and poured them both another mug of hot tea from the flask, before changing the subject. They sat together in the darkness, chatting easily about anything that crossed their minds.

If Kyo's arm moved closer to Tohru, or her head rested against his shoulder for longer than was strictly necessary, it was nothing that either of the two felt was worthy of comment.

They were friends after all, wasn't this what all friends did?

*

*

Yuki rolled up from his bed and strode across to the window, staring sightlessly at the rain as it beat against the glass. He felt trapped but there was nothing he could do about it. He paced restlessly around the room, pausing to examine anything that caught his attention, but eventually he returned inevitably to the window to stare once again at the heavy clouds as if they could offer some answers.

Yuki was confused. The first time he had met Kyo the cat had told him that he hated him and Yuki had questioned him about it...but inside Yuki had silently acknowledged his answer. He was the rat, the betrayer, and as such he had expected nothing but hate from his fellow members of the zodiac. He had believed Akito when he had said that it was impossible for anyone to love him.

But things were different now and they had been changing for quite some time.

Akito's ultimatum was the main source of his confusion; Kyo had become more than just a name to him now and he couldn't bear to think of anyone going through the same treatment he had once faced. He wouldn't wish that upon his worst enemy, let alone someone who he found intensely irritating but considered as an ally of sorts.

He had seen Kyo in the cat's form and he had seen how a few words from Tohru were enough to bring him back to himself. He no longer believed the main family's preachings that the cat was a demon, a monster that deserved to be locked away. Kyo was Kyo, not a threat or a monster or anything but a person. A person who was the victim to an unfortunate curse, just like they all were.

Nobody deserved to be imprisoned the way he was fated to be.

But the only way Kyo could avert that fate would be to defeat Yuki...and Yuki could never put himself within Akito's control again; he would rather die first.

Things had changed between himself and Kyo since the summer holidays had ended.

For a while they had been getting along, as well as could be expected with their clashing personalities. Tohru had always been there, the buffer between them and the glue of their home with Shigure. In a way Yuki hated himself for his weakness in being unable to break away from the safe world she had created for them; the dream that he knew could never last for long. But the lure of a normal life was too strong and he couldn't bring himself to end it, even as the inevitable end drew nearer.

She wasn't stupid; Yuki knew she could feel that there was something going on and that she would worry about both himself and Kyo.

She would worry and she would try to fix things and she would end up being hurt by Akito. It was inevitable. Therefore they couldn't afford to let her know what was going on.

Yuki didn't even have to ask Kyo to know that he felt the same; he had already seen it in Kyo's eyes that very morning; the pain and the desperation and the protectiveness that he thought he kept so well-hidden.

They couldn't tell her...instead they would live out this fantasy until the end and he just hoped that the memories they created could keep them warm in the bleakness that would surely follow.

Author's note: Thank you for reading – please let me know what you think!

Individual thanks to reviewers below:

Amber – here you go, more to come soon!

Luver – Thank you very much – hope you keep reading!

ArisaWithaLeadPipe – I think you have the record for my longest review ever so thank you very much for taking the time to let me know what you think! I'm really happy that you like my story and I promise to finish the story even if it takes me ages!

Serena Scarlet – Sorry for the long delay but I'm back on track now so will hopefully see you again soon!

Thank you again to everyone for reading (and hopefully reviewing)

See you again soon!

Chrikaru