Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

A/N: Once again, I would like to point out that 50% credit for this story goes to my dear friend and co-author, Ali. *Cuddles her* Thank you, Ali! Much love to ya!

Oh, and, to Shoko: Ali and I are writing this story quite literally as I type this note. ^^; As for the NC-17 rating, it doesn't actually come into effect until chapter three. And, for the vampire and the blood, these are what we like to call plot conveniences! Completely arbitrary events that happen for no other reason than to further the story line. ^^ Don't worry, the story gets better as it moves along. Actually, Ali and I are almost finished writing it, and I must say, I am pleased with the results thus far. Enjoy the new chapter, readers new and old. The good stuff's yet to come.

Blood, I've wept

Chapter Two

Adjusting

The cat had followed at a slow pace. He'd seen when Yuki had zoomed off before, and had no desire to catch up with him. Tohru peeked out of the kitchen when she heard his return.

"He's here, somewhere..." Kyou grumbled going to hide out on the roof for a while. MAYBE if he got lucky no one would bother him. Tohru dried her hands on a towel and went in search of Yuki. "Yuki-kun?" Where is he?

Hastily, albeit reluctantly, Yuki pulled away from the bleeding object, wiping the blood off his mouth. He felt like an animal, no pun intended. And he DIDN'T want Tohru to see him like this. But, he didn't have time to go brush his teeth, now did he.

"Yuki-kun?" she tried again as she pushed open the door. "Oh, I'm sorry..." The girl sweat dropped visibly. "I was just coming to see if you were all right..." This is Tohru successfully pretending there's nothing bloody in the room.

"Oh, I'm fine, Honda-san." Yuki assured her, careful to cover his mouth with his hand. Yes...the next thing he planned on doing was going straight upstairs and brushing his teeth. This...was awkward, at the moment, though.

The onigiri looked thoroughly saddened. She turned to go, but paused. "I guess... you already ate, but you'll come down for dinner later anyways?" This is Tohru trying to deal with a huge change in their lives.

Yuki winced as it became painfully obvious she was quite aware of what he'd been doing. "Yes...of course, I will be." He nodded. Frankly, he wasn't sure if he needed to eat actual food anymore or not.

"Okay..." she gazed sadly at him. "I know Kyou's acting badly. But please, don't think any of us are bothered. You're still the same Yuki-kun." And so she departed! After the hours of waiting for Yuki, it was getting to be that time. The time... of the food. Everyone appeared for said food. Except Kyou. When he heard Tohru climbing up to get him, he scrambled off and hid in a nearby tree...

Tohru had that same sad look on her face as she served Shigure some food. And at least offered it to Yuki.

"I guess Kyou-kun isn't coming..." She murmured looking over at his place at the table.

Yuki felt a twinge of annoyance at Kyou, but didn't comment on it. He wasn't exactly hungry right now, but he did have a relatively large amount of water and tea. He had run into a SLIGHT problem while trying to brush his teeth, however. Yeah, remember that bit about vampires having no reflections? They were a bit more accurate about that one than the burning in the sun part.

Once Tohru got over the fact that Kyou just wasn't going to come, she chatted amiably with the other two males. Then she was bustling about cleaning up. Shigure looked at Yuki over the top of his teacup.

"Yuki-kun." he stated finally "Maybe, you should be the one to talk to Kyou-kun. It might help him to realize it's still you under those fangs." It was a light suggestion, and it wasn't open for discussion. The dog went back to drinking his tea immediately after saying it.

Yuki felt implored to point out that Kyou had been less than fond of him, but didn't bother. After he finished his current glass of water, he shrugged and stood up to go find Kyou. If, indeed, Shigure was correct, then he was doing this for Tohru, not Kyou. If Shigure was wrong...then he was just wasting his time. But, he wouldn't know either way without trying, right?

The cat did not hear vampire boys approach, or else he would have used the same manoeuvre he used on Tohru. When the rat did catch his attention though, he jumped and scrabbled away over the roofing tiles. Finally realizing whom it was he stopped, sitting back supported by his arms with his knees bent.

"Damnit rat boy! Don't fucking sneak up on me you sack of shit!" Kyou panted, wide eyed.

"I wasn't sneaking." Yuki said, calm, as usual, sitting down a ways away from him. "It's your own fault, if you weren't paying attention."

He scowled, thoroughly, and totally scowled.

"Fine, whatever." he muttered tersely. "Now what do you want? If you're up here, because Tohru's worried don't even bother. I'll go down and apologize to her later."

"Only partially." He replied with a small shrug. "I was also curious...why are you so...skittish?" He felt perfectly entitled to the information, since he was obviously the source of said skittish behaviour.

Yuki was blocking off his escape route.

'I could just jump off the roof, he'd fuck off if I managed to break my ankle or something.' he contemplated momentarily, but decided to try one of Shigure's usual methods.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't." Yuki snorted, this was becoming inhumanly irritating. "What's going on? You weren't like this yesterday."

"I'm not acting any different than I usually do." Kyou growled in response. "I don't know what makes you so sure something wrong with me. And I definitely don't know why you suddenly care."

Yuki blinked slowly at him. Because Kyou actually had a reason to act differently? Because he didn't want something that he had no control over to destroy the fragile support system of a friendship that they had built up since Tohru's arrival? "I don't know." He lied finally, not sure if he could have picked a reason to begin with.

The cat glared at him, then demanded hotly

"I'm not scared of you if that's what you think."

Yuki didn't say anything, simply watched him. To tell the truth, that had been what he was thinking. But he wasn't going to admit that. Not to Kyou anyway.

He doesn't need to admit it. That silence told Kyou everything.

"What the hell Yuki. One, why would I be scared of you? And two, you have no reason to care even if I was." He was flat out angry now. The very idea of him scared... Not to mention the fact that he kind of was.

He didn't want anyone to be scared of him. And the fact that it was Kyou who was trying so hard to convince him that he wasn't...it unnerved him. So, unable to answer any of those questions honestly, without admitting previous inner monologue, he simply fell back to, "I don't know."

Kyou snorted, finally relaxing and laying down on his back.

"Fine whatever..." That was good enough for him. As long as Yuki wasn't going to pry, or bring up that goddamn whimper from earlier? It was good enough for him.

Unwilling to stand the silence, or to move, really, Yuki spoke the first thing that came to mind. "I heard you earlier." He could have kicked himself, but it was too late to take it back now, anyway.

Those crimson eyes jolted over too him. They looked fearful, since he was pretty sure he knew what Yuki was talking about. But hey, he can always hope that's not what he's talking about.

"What?" he demanded in a quiet tone.

"When you got me, the second time." He mumbled, not looking at him.

His eyes widened knowingly.

"And what about it then Yuki?" Kyou seethed

"You say you're not scared?" He felt like either crying, running away, or throwing up. But he didn't do any of those, simply went on. Living his whole life with the Zodiac Curse had taught him enough to stay calm in uncomfortable positions. Living years with Akito was enough to do that. "You're lying."

"If I was scared I wouldn't be lying up here talking to you." He pointed out, still furious at being caught.

"You don't need to be!" Yuki pointed out, angry and hurt at the same time. "It's not like I'm going to eat you in your sleep, or anything."

"Goddamn it! DID I SAY YOU WOULD?" the cat sat up immediately looking over at Yuki. Not liking the notes of hurt he caught in the rats tone. Now it's time for some good old-fashioned thinking without speaking. "First off, still. STILL. Why are you so hurt? Whether I'm scared of you or not, it doesn't affect your perfect little life." there was another reason... "And I might never beat you now..."

his eyes flashed. "Am I not aloud to be scared of the person, who's going to get me locked away?"

Yuki didn't say anything for a long moment. What could he say to that? Instead, he took the defensive and retorted to Kyou's other little accusation. "PERFECT?" He repeated, staring at the Cat like he'd grown an extra head. "How the hell is it perfect?"

"Fine rat boy." he growled stalking over to him. "It's not perfect." he used an irritated whiny tone. "My point was: my problems obviously don't affect your life." This is obvious because? Because Kyou gets locked up if he can't beat Yuki. But Yuki doesn't care. Oh no. He hates Kyou too much apparently, to possibly be sympathetic to that kind of unjust punishment. And Kyou hasn't even done anything

Yuki stared at him, and started to open his mouth to reply, when a fury of words assaulted his mind. Or...he thought it was his mind. It was too loud to be out loud, right? Clamping his hands over his ears, his eyes screwed up tightly as he tried to block it out. How was this plan working? Not so well.

Kyou stared pretty much in shock for a minute.

"Rat boy?" the hands over his ears thing, was a good indication to not yell. So, anyways, Kyou will admit he is a little concerned here. But most of his brain was still squealing.

'Cat! Stop! This fucker hates you. For no reason no less. Let him suffer.' He kept peering worriedly at his cousin nonetheless.

"I don't hate you." He bit out when Kyou thought that, but the intentional snap he had meant for his tone, came out more as a groan. And then, the voice was gone. Left to his own thoughts only again, his eyes snapped open again. That...had been weird. So, was he going crazy on top of everything else, now?

The kitty backed away, just enough so he was out of Yuki's personal space again.

"I didn't say you did." He hissed out watching the rat carefully.

"Didn't say--?" He blinked up at him. Maybe he was going crazy? "You were screaming so loudly, I'm surprised people in China didn't hear you!"

The look on his face, made it so Kyou didn't even need to say what the hell. "You had your hands clamped over your ears rat. How stupid, do you think I am? That I would yell at you after seeing that."

"Then how could I...?" he trailed off, not even wanting to finish that. "Oh, God." He mumbled, horrified, and speaking to himself. "I am going crazy." Yes, he was most defiantly speaking to himself. No way would he intentionally say that to Kyou. Nope. Just wouldn't happen.

"Um, earth ta Yuki?" Kyou knew Yuki would never say something like that to him. "You still seem your same, sane, asshole self to me." Blatant lying in the hole! Anyways, it's kind of unsettling, to think something like that, and then moments later have your personal thoughts responded to. Another new reason for Kyou to be scared of Yuki!

Yuki wasn't sure just what to think at this point, except that he no longer wanted to be here. He wanted to go inside, to his room, like he had wanted to hours ago. And then? There he was. Yes, he was no officially frightened. He might be less frightened once he grasped exactly what was going on, and how to stop them. Frankly, he preferred walking as his favourate form of transportation.

Okay, if Kyou wasn't terrified of Yuki before? He is now. His crimson eyes stared where the rat HAD been a few SECONDS earlier. The cat scrambled away from the spot, as if the roof tiles were what had caused it. He was going to hide in the tree. He wasn't coming down. Yes he's a scared kitty stuck in a tree.

So, Yuki is one of the few vampires who didn't change his sleeping patterns when he changed. The only difference was that his vision was apparently more enhanced than he'd first noticed, because the sun woke him up at a much earlier than usual. And it kept him awake too, so he ended up downstairs about a half hour earlier than usual. And earlier than he would have liked to have been too.

Tohru was amazed to see him personally. Shigure was up as well, drinking tea and reading his paper. The girl bustled around the kitchen making breakfast for herself and Shigure. She gave Yuki some tea. The dog peered over the top of his newspaper at Yuki.

"It appears we've lost our kitty Yuki-kun. Do you know where he went?" he murmured before thanking Tohru for the breakfast and exiting the room

Yuki accepted the tea and thanked Tohru graciously. "No." He replied to Shigure, before he could exit the room completely. "I haven't seen him today." He had been up for a while too; he was already fully clothed for school. He'd be damned (again, no pun intended) before he let this little vampire thing get in the way of him leading a perfectly normal life...or, as normal as he could, anyway.

There was no door slamming, like Tohru had been expecting. Because Kyou was not leaving that tree. He was also not going to school today, and if anyone tried to convince him otherwise, there was a high possibility of him harming them physically. At least Tohru's fine though eh?

"I'm glad to see you up Yuki-kun." she commended chirping happily. School, yeah, exciting.

Yuki had a pretty good idea of where Kyou was. So, after some idle chitchat with Tohru, and, of course, his tea, Yuki rose from his place at the table, to retrieve the missing kitty.

"You're going to make us late, stupid cat." Yuki commented, speaking up Kyou's tree. Once outside, it hadn't been hard to find him.

He scrambled farther up the tree.

"Not going." was all he murmured.

"Why not?" He questioned with a quirked eyebrow. The damned thing was going to make Tohru worry, if he didn't make himself known to her soon.

"Fuck off Yuki." Kyou spat closing his eyes and holding tighter to the tree.

Seemingly able to do everything else, the Rat idly and briefly wondered of he could fly too, but didn't test it. Instead he climbed up, straddling the branch Kyou was on, leaving him no escape and repeating his question.

Kyou opened his eyes in a quick fluttery motion. They got fucking huge. "I said fuck off." he quaked. Drawing in on himself as much as possible to get away from the nasty vampire.

Yuki noticed this and raised his eyebrow further. "I don't bite." He had phrased it like a joke, but he meant it too. He had no intention of feeding off of blood again, and certainly not from live prey.

""F-fuck you..." he repeated, thinking maybe now might be a good time to initiate the jumping out of the tree and breaking your ankle plan.

Yuki leaned forward, pinning Kyou to the tree, with one arm on either side of his shoulders.

"I knew you were afraid." His tone was actually pretty empty this time. He was glad of that too. Emotions might be bad right now.

Kyou's breath hitched, and he began to sweat and shake slightly. His thoughts went thus: 'pinnedyukihatefearvampiretreestuckhelpgodgottagetdownnodon'ttouchmegetaway horrorhate NO!' he squirmed intent on getting out of this tree and away from Yuki. Even if it meant falling out of the tree. He could put up with the ridicule about a cat falling out of a tree. Just have to get away from him...

Once again bombarded by alien thoughts, it was Yuki who shrunk back and almost fell out of the tree. Why him? Why?

He took Yuki's shrinking back as his opportunity for escape. He did just about break his leg jumping down from the tree (he's not very focused right now.) But he didn't care at all. Kyou's just going to see how far he can get and how quickly.

'Don't touch me...' was what was ringing loudly in his head, and he wanted to turn and yell it at the rat, but that'd be a waste of valuable running time.

When that thought hit him, Yuki knew. He could try as hard as he dared to convince Kyou that he remained unchanged, aside from the physical. He could try and convince the world, if he wanted. But, it wasn't true. It would never be true. He wasn't the same. He was a monster, a killer. No matter how hard he might try, things would never be the same again.

"Kyou-kun? Yuki-kun?" A worried Tohru Honda sounded. "Come on now, we'll be late for school!"

Yuki climbed down from the tree, but didn't say anything, and walked quite a distance from Tohru on the way to school. The way he saw it, the farther he was from her, the less chance he had of hurting her.

Tohru was a little sad about it, but didn't blame the boy for walking away from her. She didn't even have the courage to speak right now. She still loved him the same as always, but she didn't know what to say that might help make him feel better. It was a silent walk to the school. The onigiri never even managed to ask about Kyou.

Oh, yes but once they got to school there was no way for it to remain silent. Uo was upon Yuki the second he came into sight.

"Heya, Prince, where's carrot-top? You two have a lover spat?" Horrible teasing Yankee bitch, she put an arm around Yuki's shoulders winking in confidentially with him. "Don't worry, ya can tell me."

"I assure you, Uotani-san," Yuki responded to her, careful to use small mouth movements, so as to not expose his fangs any more than necessary. "You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You forgot to deny Kyon-Kyon's your lover." She laughed.

"That's impossible." He made sure to make his tone sound amused, though it never showed on his face for a moment.

The Yankee ruffled his hair.

"Hey, I know that! I was only teasing. That slick little bastard would rather die than have anyone touching him." she flashed him a feral grin "That's what makes it all the more fun to do just that. Ever tried it Yuki? See how much you can make him squirm in one sitting? Keep track of points?" she looked fondly up at the sky "I shall have to play with you next time..."

Hanajima was watching the interaction from her desk, sensing Tohru come up beside her, she spoke up. "His waves." She commented softly to the little onigiri, her head cocked slightly as she watched Uo and Yuki. "They're almost completely gone. Easily drowned out be surrounding people."

The poor girl laughed nervously.

"Oh, I don't know why that would be Hana-chan..." She too turned her attention to Uo and Yuki.

Her tone was quiet as her eyes pivoted to land on Tohru, and she spoke again. "It's like trying to feel someone dead."

Oh, that thin nervous laughter didn't stop. But Tohru did sweat drop.

"Come on now Hana-chan! That's silly, Yuki's not dead he's right there... See..."

"I never said it made sense..." Hanajima didn't take her eyes off the girl. "Just that it's true."

Yay, school... Everyone fucking loves school. Lunchtime rolled around. Food comes out, okay... everyone but Yuki pulls out food. The two women other than Tohru stare at him strangely.

"Sohma, you aren't going on a diet are you? You're already like a walking skeleton." Uo admonished, puzzled by Tohru's sudden silence.

Not exactly a skeleton...

"No." Yuki shook his head, drinking tea out of bottle calmly.

"All right then, Tohru don't let your prince starve." The Yankee murmured from around some chopsticks and a mouthful of food shrugging. The onigiri continued her silence, and ate her food. Would Kyou be all right...? Where was he...? What if he was hungry...?

Judging by the fact that the mere thought of food gave him the distinct desire to vomit, Yuki had come to the conclusion that he didn't need to. He did, however, notice the puzzled look that Hanajima was giving him, not that he said anything. His mind was still on what Kyou had yelled...thought at him as he was running away. He wasn't THAT scary, was he?

So, school. It's amazing. And then it was over. Tohru and Yuki headed back to the house. Uo and Hana headed to their respective homes. And Kyou had yet to even think of returning to the house. Shigure thinks he's safe at school with Tohru and Yuki. Tohru thinks he's safe at the house with Shigure.

Yuki did notice Kyou as he and Tohru headed home, but made no move to go confront him. Again, half of him hoped he could just appear in his room, but the desire to NOT scare Tohru out weighed this want, and he stayed firmly on his feet a few feet next to her.

Tohru didn't see Kyou as he was hiding up in a tree. But Kyou saw them. He froze when Yuki walked by, and was already praying the rat stayed away from him. Once they were gone, Kyou made a quick decision. He couldn't stay here. It just wasn't going to work with vampire boy around. He was going to go get his things, and then go find Master. That is the plan. Oh yes, a bad plan... but still a plan.

Yuki heard Kyou's thoughts about going to find Kazuma loud and clear, but made no sign of it, other than the slight stumble in his step. It probably would have had a hitch in his breath, had he actually been breathing.

The kitty hopped down from his tree shortly after that. Taking a relaxed pace back to the house. He'd just need a few sets of clothes, and then he could go. Yeah he'd feel bad about leaving Tohru, but she would be okay. Shigure may be an irresponsible ass but he wouldn't let anything happen to her. Not to mention... Uotani and Hanajima. He decided going in the front door would not be prudent.

Instead he climbed up the side of the house to his room's window.

Yuki had made it up to his room, and his eyes flickered quickly up to the window when he heard Kyou pass by. He made up his mind rather quickly then. He couldn't let Kyou leave this house without knowing why he was so scared of him. So, open went the window, and he addressed Kyou with a short, "Get in here."

Kyou cursed internally. But by now he's figured out, that if he doesn't go over there, Yuki will come and get him. He wasn't going in the rat's room. He just hung onto the windowsill looking in.

"What?" he asked softly.

"Why are you so scared of me?" Yuki asked him, a little more irritated than curious.

"Because you're scary. Thank you, now bye." He murmured, not even bothering to deny his fear this time. Already climbing back over to his room. Enough was enough, no more talking to the vampire.

Yuki rolled his eyes slightly, catching him by the back of the shirt. "Kyou, you were trembling. I can't be THAT scary."

"N-no!" he exclaimed jerking himself free of Yuki's hold, just about falling off the side off the house in the process. "Don't----"

'Don't touch me?' Kyou's little mind supplied helpfully.

That damned hurt expression was back, and with a vengeance. "Why?" He asked softly. "I'm...you know I won't hurt you. Why are you so afraid?"

"You fucking liar! Everyone! All of you hate me! Hurt me all the time! Tohru and Master are the only ones, who've never hurt me." He grabbed onto his own windowsill. "Before, I could at LEAST defend myself from you. But now you fucking read my fucking thoughts. I KNOW THAT'S WHAT YOU DID LAST NIGHT! And you're even stronger..." Ah, so it's not just Yuki. It's kitty's deep seeded problems.

"I didn't mean to!" Yuki pointed out defensively. "I didn't want any of this to happen..."

"It doesn't matter. Something else would have done it eventually." He murmured pulling himself into his room. He was done with this conversation. Aww poor self-loathing kitty...

"Kyou--" Yuki called after him. Kyou might have been finished with it, but Yuki was far less satisfied. Which is probably how he ended up standing next to Kyou's window a second later. A literal second. This earned another rather irritated curse. He really, REALLY wished he knew how he was doing that. It would make his life so much easier.

"Will you go away?" The poor thing keened, "Damnit all! Just hate me like everyone else and go away!" That would make everything so much easier.

"No." He didn't mention the fact that he hadn't meant to do that to begin with. "This hatred between the Cat and the Rat is stupid. I, for one, am tired of hiding behind it. I won't do it anymore."

He backed up until he was sliding down the opposite wall in a rather unhappy heap. Yuki's hatred, and Tohru's care were all he had. If Yuki didn't hate him, where did that big part of him go? What did all that built up hatred go? Kyou stared wide-eyed at Yuki, again. He didn't have anything he could say to that. Well, nothing he wanted to say to Yuki of all people at least.