Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Perfect Fit ❯ Passive Agressive Bull Shit ( One-Shot )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Kyo's there to help Haru, his friend, when he breaks up with Yuki. But the ox takes it completely the wrong way and asks him out on a date.

2.) http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php/85919/

3.) http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php/90075/

Anime/Manga: Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Songfic | Uploaded On: 03.10.2005 | Updated On: 03.11.2005 | Pages: 18 | Words: 18.6K | Visits: 874 | Status: Completed

The Perfect Fit

Disclaimer: Don't own Furuba.

Authors: Aubreys_Master and BizarreLoveTriangle{s}

Stuff: Inspired by APC's `Passive'. Named after Dresden Dolls `The Perfect Fit'

Summary: Prequel to `Being Broken Ones'. How Haru and Kyo got together.

Passive Aggressive: http://www.passiveaggressive.homestead.com/PATraits.html

Chapter One: Passive Aggressive Bull Shit

If there was one word to describe Yuki Sohma it was cold. When he was young he was forced to be cold in order to survive. But once he was free he never thawed. In all honesty, he was even worse than Hatori. He couldn't even let himself open up with the people he loved. Like Tohru and Haru. He did care about Haru. Sort of... But you'd never, ever be able to tell. It was a miracle if Haru could tell most of the time, actually.

And, frankly, Haru was getting more than a little impatient about it. He understood that Yuki had been through a lot, and that he was just trying to protect himself, but the guy had been out of the main house for years! And, Akito hadn't touched him in even longer. It almost seemed like he was playing the abused thing up for some reason, that the ox really couldn't understand. But, he really didn't need to, he supposed. He was just getting fucking tired of Yuki blowing him off all the time.

The most obnoxious thing to the ox was probably how, even though Yuki blew him off constantly, he still seemed to think he should have some kind of sway over the other. He wouldn't scream or yell, or admonish, or anything like that. He'd pretty much guilt Haru with something about leaving him alone. That Haru didn't care about him. Yet Yuki had yet to mention one word about caring for the other.

And it was beyond starting to piss him off! He'd been FINE with Yuki's little apathetic attitude for a REASONABLE amount of time, given to heal from what Akito had done. But, four years was TOO much! Which was probably why he was sitting with Yuki on Shigure's front porch, leaning silently against the wall to the house, and trying to think of a good way to bring it up. He was bored with pining, and he wanted some sort of clean-cut answer, either way.

The rat was doing a wonderful job of ignoring him, too. As usual. Even though it had been him who had invited the ox over. He wanted the ox around; he just didn't want to pay any attention to him after that. It was kind of disgusting how he desperately depended on the younger boy to fawn over him.

"Yuki." Haru spoke up finally, peeking open one of his closed gray eyes, to look over at him. "Really, enough is enough."

The rat still didn't even so much as bother to look back at him. "What?" He wondered softly.

"I'm tired of this." He stated calmly. He had his whole speech planned out already. "I love you. I care about you. I'm sick of being blown off everyday. I want a yes or no now. Because I really don't plan to chase you anymore." He sighed, and rubbed his temples. "It's not worth it, anymore." Yuki pursed his lips a little, but he didn't answer and just stared out into the forest. "Yuki!" Haru called sharply, both eyes open as he sat up straight, and offered him a pointed look. "I'm serious. I don't plan on being your fail-safe anymore. I want an answer. Right. Now."

Yuki was quick in denying that fail-safe comment, but his answer didn't come. He reflexively wanted to say no, but he also wanted to resist answering all together. He felt like all these feelings were trying to trap him. Haru let out a small, frustrated puff of air, to show his blatant impatience. If Yuki didn't answer soon he was just going to leave. Though, a soft 'what a load of crap' could be heard under his breath, if you were listening hard enough. The rat glanced at him carefully out of the corner of his eye before getting up and moving a little bit farther away down the porch, keeping his back to the ox.

"Haru, this is stupid." He stated quietly.

"No, it's not!" Haru frowned at him. Yuki was starting to annoy him SO much. "I gave you your fucking time to heal from what Akito did to you, but you've had long enough to be able to tell me yes or no."

"I'm not just going to heal." Yuki was the victim here! Pity him! Take care of him! You know you want to.

"Yuki," Haru groaned. "You know as well as I do that Akito hasn't touched you in a good six years. Not to sound insensitive or whatever, but get over it. You've milked it for all the sympathy you can get, and now it's just being annoying." That sounded a little harsh, to his own ears, but he really, honestly, couldn't think of a better way to put it! It was fucking true! The rat frowned a little to himself. His next option was the sulk method. He withdrew a little and still wasn't answering the ox. God was it obnoxious! "Yuki!" Haru tried one more time, unnervingly close to going Black on Yuki. "I've had enough of your crap. Yes or no, right now."

"And what if I've had it with being the center of your tirades?" See? Yuki is the victim.

Haru offered him an absolutely bemused look, raising at eyebrow at him.

"You're full of it!" Hatsuharu informed him.

"It's true." The rat shrugged. He couldn't count how many times. What? Maybe 3 times the ox had innocently asked whether he cared about him or not. The horror. How dare he. Such excessive demands!

"Whatever." Haru rolled his eyes. "You can tell me now, or I'm counting it as a default no, and leaving now." Yuki huffed slightly and continued looking in the other direction. He wasn't going to say anything if Haru was going to be so pushy about it.

Jeeze.

Haru gave him a good ten minutes to answer, before rolling his eyes again and standing up, walking off the porch, but not wordlessly. In fact, not wordlessly at all. He was muttering the whole way about Yuki's 'fucking passive aggressive bullshit'.

The original statement of this story is now in need or retraction. If there was one thing that described Yuki, that was it. When he heard the ox leaving, the rat turned and stared after him.

That wasn't supposed to happen!

***

Well, Haru HAD warned him. Either way, Haru was still feeling quite frustrated. So, he decided to go work some of that frustration out. And, what better place to go do that than Kazuma's dojo? One thing he hadn't counted on, though, was running into one Kyo Sohma while there. He didn't really care, though, in all honesty.

Why wouldn't he count on it? Kyo hadn't been at Shigure's. Where else would he have been? (If people didn't know better you'd have to think he and Kazuma had some sort of weird pedophilic, incestual, paternal relationship. But, we know better. Wink wink.)

"Yo! Haru!" The cat called with a grin. He was usually actually HAPPY here at the dojo.

"Ah," Haru blinked at him a bit, as he pulled his boots off, before going inside. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" the red head wondered, leaving the bag he'd been punching to speak to the other.

"Mmm," He pondered his phrasing for a few moments. "I THINK I just broke up with Yuki." He told Kyo finally. 'Think' was the key word. Didn't you technically need a relationship to begin with, before you could call it off? Either way, it was the same principle, and end result. "He was being difficult about it."

"That bitch is always difficult." Kyo rolled his eyes and made a disgusted noise.

"Hence the calling it off thing," Haru confirmed with a small nod, standing up, and doing some various stretches, before going to find a punching bag of his own, muttering the whole way about how ALL he'd wanted was to know if Yuki gave half a damn about him or not. But could Yuki give him that? Noooo, of COURSE not!

Kyo bopped him absently on the head with a promise to spar him later if he needed to work some more frustration out, then he went a little ways into the room to practice some of his forms.

"Thanks!" Haru called after him, taping up his knuckles, before starting on the punching bag. A sparring match would be fun, either way. He hadn't had a good one with Kyo in a while.

***

When their match started, later, Kazuma heard the noise and warned them sternly not to hurt each other. Both boys agreed and Kyo was grinning like a Cheshire cat. It wasn't his fault he loved fighting. Besides, Haru was his friend and he needed some stress relief. What better way then to have Kyo beat it out of him?

Well, despite getting his ass kicked, Haru enjoyed the fight, and thanked him profusely, once they were done. Kyo snorted and patted his head before puttering off for a shower. Haru blinked up after him, in slight confusion. Kyo didn't do stuff like that. But, he really just brushed it off, for the time being. Maybe he was just being nice.

***

Over the next couple of days Yuki was more withdrawn and Haru was flat out grouchy. Kyo rolled his eyes in annoyance after a day of putting up with them both and hustled after Haru who had already left the school locker room.

"Yo, Haru, I'm goin to a movie this afternoon, you in on it?" He offered to his friend. They hadn't done anything in a while anyways, and it was obvious Haru needed cheering.

"Ah, sure." He agreed with a small nod. "What time?"

"It starts at five. But I'll call before I go to get you." The red head gave the other a dry look. "So you don't get lost."

"Thanks." Haru snorted, a bit sardonically. Well, at least he'd have time to go home and change, first. That was a plus side.

***

The feline waved him off before jogging off in the other direction after sulky Yuki and Tohru. He'd wanted to change too. So, somewhere around four-thirty he called his cousin and told him to wait at the gates, since he wasn't actually allowed in the grounds. Haru agreed, and he was, waiting for him at the gates, when he got there.

"Ready." He told Kyo with a small nod, standing up from where he'd been sitting against the wood of the gate.

"You have money, right?" The red head wondered. "Cause I'm sure as hell not paying for you." A real sweetheart isn't he?

"I have it." Haru confirmed, tugging out his wallet, and waving it in front of Kyo's face. "See?"

The cat batted it back out of his face with a slightly annoyed look. "Right. Then come on." He snorted and they headed out for the theater.

***

"What're we watching?" Haru wondered, once they arrived, glancing idly up at the list of movies playing there.

"The only one with a five o'clock show, dumbass." Kyo answered, rolling his eyes a little. It was a little theater and there weren't that many choices to begin with. Haru offered him a withering look, but didn't comment further. They ordered their tickets separately, paid, and went inside.

***

The movie they went to was in all aspects of the term a b rate action flick. There were times when it was difficult for Kyo to contain his, shall we say, 'mirth'? In short, the movie sucked so badly it was beyond hilarious.

"Thanks." Haru said to Kyo, squinting against the setting sunlight, once they exited the theatre. "That was fun."

"Eh, I'm starving. I'm going to get something before I get you home." The cat shrugged him off and made a path for the nearest fast food place.

"Hmm, right." Haru nodded, following him, a few steps behind.

***

Despite what some might think, Kyo didn't feel the date-like similarities. He'd just gone to a movie with his friend and was now hungry. That was about it for him. Once he had he bag of food he was quite ready to take Haru home and be done with his outing for the day.

"Thanks." Haru repeated, once they got back to the main gate. "I'll see you tomorrow." He added, before turning around, and heading off for his room. That really had been fun. Really.

The cat waved absently over his should before continuing to munch on his food and headed back to Shigure's. Now he was going to go home and ignore Yuki who was, of course, in true passive-aggressive fashion, sulking up a storm.

We won't go into just HOW Shigure found out where Kyo'd been going, or who'd he'd been going with, and just skip right to the mandatory teasing the cat received, when he got home.

"Oooh, Kyo-kun! Did you and Haa-kun enjoy your date?"

"Eh, don't be such a jackass." The red head rolled his eyes, and threw his empty fast food bag at the dog. "It wasn't a date."

"Mmhmm," Shigure nodded, obviously sarcastically. "Does Haa-kun know that?"

"I think Haru knows I'm not gay." The cat stated flatly.

"He might not." Shigure corrected with a small shrug. "You've never shown any interest in either sex. That, and taking little boys out to dinner and a movie, it would be hard to tell, wouldn't it?"

"I didn't take him out to dinner." The cat gave him a weird look. "I bought myself a hamburger." They really didn't seem to be the same thing.

"Well, I couldn't have told that, from you throwing the wrapper at me." He pointed out. "Really, Kyo-kun." He added teasingly. "I'm surprised you'd be insensitive enough to eat a hamburger in front of Haa-kun!"

"It's not my fault he's the cow." The red head stated flatly.

"It's still a little mean." Shigure shrugged. "How would you feel if someone took you to China and ate cat in front of you?"

Kyo rolled his eyes. "They eat dogs in China too." He muttered before turning and heading for the stairs.

"Yes, they do!" Shigure agreed. "Which is why I've yet to go there."

"Shigure, I didn't take him on a date. He's my cousin and my friend. Stop trying to force your sick fantasies on me." Kyo stated very plainly before going into the bathroom to wash.

"Pretty little boys, Kyo-kun!" Was all Shigure said in reply. "And, come pick up your garbage!"

Which didn't happen. The younger Sohma ignored him entirely, and eventually Tohru scuttled by and threw the bag away. The dog was a sick, sick bastard and that was all Kyo had to say on the matter. Only Yuki was desperate enough to go out with Haru and even they'd broken up because Yuki was a dickhead.

***

That was a sweet way of putting it. Haru would have probably smacked him, if he'd known what low standards Kyo held his romance in. But, either way, Haru did indeed keep his word to see him the next day. He was doing a damn good job of ignoring Yuki and his sulking, too, since the incident the other day.

After getting fed up with Tohru and her fussing over Yuki, Kyo went to Haru as his temporary sanctuary. But a few moments of that proved Haru to be in about as good a mood as Yuki. The cat rolled his eyes and began to think up a plan. Maybe they could skip and do something to cheer the idiot up.

Yeah, Haru had kind of not gotten over Yuki absolutely refusing to tell him if there was any point in continuing their psuedo-relationship or not. Really! All he'd wanted was a yes or a no!

So, the cat put up a rather innocent suggestion: "I don't wanna stick around and put up with rat boy's sulking all day. I'm skipping, wanna come?" Haru raised an eyebrow at him. He was pretty sure this was a first, but just shrugged and agreed anyway. Why not? It wasn't like he enjoyed school, anyway.

No one really enjoys school. So the cat and ox made their escape from the confines of the lair. Leaving Tohru, Yuki, Uo, Hana, and Momiji to wonder at their absence.

"So, where are we going?" Haru wondered, once they were off school grounds.

"No idea." Kyo shrugged. Eventually, they ended up on a park bench. Well, it wasn't the most exciting thing to do, but it still beat school by a long shot.

Kyo was plenty entertained actually. A stray cat appeared and jumped up in his lap, and despite his display when the cat's had appeared at school, he liked his animal, a lot. It was just himself and Haru so he held the thing in his lap, and the funny thing was, the two cats were talking. It was funny, but it was also fucking adorable at the same time. Haru actually tuned in to this, after a few minutes, and idly watched them. It really was cute. He didn't comment on it, though. He didn't feel like being subject to one of Kyo's defensive rants.

The red headed human began to stroke the female calico tenderly behind the ears, and conversation ceased as she leaned into the touch and purred happily.

"Does she have anything interesting to say?" Haru wondered finally, leaning lazily against the back of the bench. Kyo cast an amused look at the ox and continued to pet his little friend. He took one hand away from her though and pointed to several people as he spoke.

"That guy's having an affair with that woman. That woman sold all her furniture to buy some drugs, and that creepy guy over there was apparently doing some poor kid last week." He'd love to report some of that to the police, but was he going to say? My cat told me?

"It's amazing what gossip one hears from household pets, while skipping math class." The ox drawled.

"Marcy is just nosy." Kyo murmured, and when he bent down to scratch under her chin she licked affectionately at his cheek.

Haru snorted and shook his head slightly. "Cute." He commented, though, it was barely audible.

The cat mewled and sounded definitely annoyed.

"She says she'll come over there and scratch you if you say that again, Haru." Kyo mumbled, and sounded definitely smug.

"What makes her think I was talking about her?" Haru asked, raising an eyebrow and offering him a small, amused smile. The calico got out of Kyo's grasp and stalked over to the ox, looked him square in the eye and mewled something, very obviously, rude. The red head snorted. He didn't translate what she'd said, but he did answer Haru's first question.

"Apparently she's defending my honor as well today."

"How's calling you cute a dig at your honor?" Haru wondered, eyebrow going higher.

"I'm a seventeen year old boy." His cousin yawned. "Cute is not something I aspire to."

"Then you shouldn't cuddle kittens in public." Haru snickered slightly.

"She's a cat." Kyo warned, but the calico had already jumped up onto Haru's shoulder and was eyeing him with predatory irritation.

"It's the same thing." He shrugged. "Calling her a kitten's less insulting than you calling me a COW."

"Me calling you a cow is less insulting than you calling me cute." Kyo retorted. Marcy hissed a little when Haru shrugged and quickly got her nails into his shirt so she wouldn't fall off.

"Not really." He argued, offering Marcy an odd and pained look, as her claws dug into his shoulder. "You're calling me a girl, I'm just complimenting you."

Kyo clucked his tongue twice and the cat hopped from Haru to her kin and nuzzled him. "Well don't?" He suggested flatly.

"Don't compliment you?" He rolled his eyes. "Bet you wouldn't care so much if I really were a girl." He added under his breath, shaking his head a little.

"I wouldn't be here with you if you were a girl." The red head rolled his eyes.

"Wouldn't you?" Haru snorted. "Where'd you be? Jacking off in the bathroom?"

Kyo gave him a disgusted look. "No, girls piss me off." Marcy made an odd noise and Kyo rolled his eyes again. "Human girls, don't be a twit."

"Honda-san doesn't." Haru shrugged. Tohru didn't piss anyone off. Not even Hatori or Akito.

"She does," His cousin snorted darkly. "I still like her, but she's a spaz, a klutz, she worries about everything, never takes care of herself, AND she is a complete space case."

"Wouldn't she be the same way, if she were a guy?"

"Guys piss me off too." Kyo replied as he took Marcy off his shoulder and pulled up his knees so she could set on top of them.

"You're just a pissy person in general, aren't you?" Haru looked amused again.

"Or just not social." Kyo corrected absently. He tried, sometimes. But he just didn't like people. Maybe he was a bit of a spoiled, pampered, cat like that?

"Whatever." He shrugged, leaning his head against the back of the bench, and closing his eyes against the high sun. It was getting close to noon, after all.

***

Marcy and Kyo continued the conversation that had been halted before in lieu of purrs. Eventually though, Kyo couldn't resist and looked over at the ox.

"Hey, Haru. Does it actually bother you when people eat your zodiac?" He wondered. He wanted Shigure to be wrong SO badly. Haru blinked at him at him, squinting slightly against the sudden burst of light that came with opening his eyes.

"A little." He admitted, with a small smile and a shrug. "Not too much, though. Kinda used to it."

"Hehe! Shigure was wrong." Kyo couldn't wait to shove that right back in the dog's face.

"What?" Haru raised that eyebrow back up again. "What'd Sensei do now?"

"He was being a jackass to me as usual." Kyo explained.

"Ah." The ox nodded, understanding. "Well, whatever. It's not like I can stop anyone from doing it, if they want to, anyway."

That struck the cat with an idea. "Yuki has his student council crap tonight, you want to come to Shigure's for dinner?" He wondered absently. Haru gave him another odd look and Kyo rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that stupid look. You're the only friend-like-person I have and I'm under the impression that that's the kind of shit friends do."

"Mmm," Haru blinked a bit. "Sure. Why not?" It was better than sitting alone, at home, right? Besides, he enjoyed being with Kyo.

***

The two of them found various ways to amuse themselves until later in the day and when they got to Shigure's, Tohru was there and she admonished them as much as Tohru can about skipping class. Marcy had followed them home, but when Shigure came out to greet them she hissed and scampered off.

"Sensei scared your girlfriend." Haru teased slightly, as she ran off into a clump of bushes.

"Haha." Kyo rolled his eyes before giving Haru's shin a good whack with his foot then went upstairs to change out his uniform real quick.

"Haa-kun!" Shigure laughed. "To what DO we owe the pleasure?"

"I've been invited for dinner." Haru shrugged a bit, rubbing his shin.

"Oh?" The dog smirked. He knew it hadn't been Tohru or Yuki. "Kyo-kun has most certainly been sweet to you lately, Haa-kun."

"So?" Haru blinked at him. "Not too much more than usual."

"Oh no, I'm happy for him. Sad as it is, you're the only person he has ever invited over to the house." Shigure sighed dramatically. "He and Yuki-kun are so anti-social."

Haru offered him a withering, and cool, look when he brought up Yuki.

"Whatever." He muttered finally. He was feeling grouchy again. That had subsided slightly, over the course of the day. The red head came back down in his standard clothes a little later and looked triumphantly at Shigure.

"By the way, Shigure. You were wrong."

"Kyo-kun, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Take a guess." The cat shrugged. "And next time you mention it I'm suffocating you with the hamburger bag."

"Oh, that." The dog snorted. "I was kidding, Kyo-kun."

Haru just rolled his eyes somewhat, and followed Kyo out of the hallway, to wherever, making absolutely sure Yuki was going to be late. Kyo noted the return of Haru's grouchiness and almost felt like his friendly efforts were doing the most irritating one step forward two steps back thing.

Haru couldn't help it though! Black was pissed off too! Poor kid had it coming from two directions. It was going to take more than a couple good afternoons for it to completely dissipate.

***

Luckily, Kyo hadn't been kidding when he'd told Haru he was his only friend. Male friend at least, he had Tohru too. He was feeling pretty willing to try and cheer the other up, and continued to do so.

Actually, that within itself was enough to calm the irate thing down, a little. And, the more Kyo worked on it, the more it worked itself. Haru was tempted to shoot a somewhat annoyed comment about how much the cat calmed him down, but decided against it. No, he'd save that. For now.

***

Friendship was a new concept to Kyo, really it was. He was pretty sure he fucked up a few times too, but on a whole he really tried and was fairly certain he was doing okay. He knew about Yuki and Haru so most of the time he simply figured the best thing to do was keep the ox away from the rat, and not mention him. That actually was the thing to do. Even if it wasn't such a great achievement to know about Haru and Yuki. Almost all the Juunishi did, if not all as a whole. Haru hadn't really bothered to try and hide it.

***

Then came the most interesting day.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" The red head yelled at Yuki.

"You were the only one left in the class who wasn't doing something, Kyo." The rat shrugged. "Besides, you're perfect for the job."

"NO I'M NOT! I HATE ANIMALS!" That wasn't exactly truthful.

"It's too late now Kyo."

"What the hell possessed you to sign me up to volunteer at a mother fucking animal shelter?" Kyo hissed, since they were in school.

"Just shut up and do it, stupid cat." Yuki tossed over his shoulder flippantly, leaving Kyo to fume.

Haru was kind of pleased to see he wasn't the only one annoyed by Yuki, when he saw Kyo next.

"What's your problem?" He wondered idly.

"Yuki just stole my time after school and my days off for the next month." The cat was really honest to god pouting.

"How'd he do that?" Haru asked curiously, cocking his head a little. It was lunchtime, and they were sitting in a slightly secluded area, under a relatively large tree.

"Our class was doing some voluntary thing, but he signed me up for something." Kyo frowned. "I have to go work at a damn animal shelter."

"That's not too bad." The ox shrugged a little. "Better than some jobs could be."

"You do it then." The red head frowned.

"Fine." He agreed with another shrug. "I'll go with you. Whatever."

"Eh?" The feline blinked up at him. "Really?"

"Yeah." he nodded. "Like I said, there are worse ways to spend your time."

That made the job sound slightly more tolerable. And Kyo liked cats. Maybe he could just shuffle all the dogs onto Haru, problem solved?

***

And so that was how they ended up in their district of Tokyo's animal shelter. Doing volunteer work, because of Yuki. It really wasn't too hard. Just basic animal work, for about fifty animals. It didn't take more than a few hours, to get all the animals situated. The people who did this stuff more often handled walking the dogs.

***

"See?" Haru prodded Kyo in the side of the arm, on the last day. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Nnn, no." Kyo'd made friends with the cats and he'd had some various misadventures with his human companion. "But it would have been a tedious, and boring as hell without you there to look like a dumbass for me."

"I only got tackled once." Haru muttered, whapping Kyo gently on the back of the head. And, the dog had been big. It hadn't been his fault.

"Better than me getting tackled." The red head shrugged, returning the favor on reflex and hitting the ox back.

"Point being it wasn't necessary to call me a dumbass."

"Right, okay." Kyo snorted. "Sorry," It just flitted off his tongue. He noted it himself but Kyo chose to ignore it. Haru, however, didn't. He blinked up at his cousin in alarm, and felt a pale tint heat up his cheeks. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd heard Kyo apologize to him, if ever. Still, he didn't verbalize these rather confused thoughts. Kyo speaking interrupted his thoughts anyways. "All right, come on. I'm starving." The cat announced, and tugged a bit on Haru's sleeve. He wanted Haru to stay with him because he knew the ox would never be able to find his way home without him.

"Hm, right." Haru agreed, literally forcing his blush back. He was hungry too, actually. "Can we NOT get hamburgers?" He wondered. He wouldn't stop anyone else from eating them, but that didn't mean HE wanted to.

"Sure," His older cousin snorted again. Instead they found one of those spiffy ramen places and it was good. Especially since they were both starving teenage boys.

Haru really wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to tell Kyo, as they walked home. 'Thanks, this was fun'? No, that didn't seem quite right, not that it hadn't been, but it just didn't seem like the right thing to say. The red head didn't notice any of that though. He really didn't feel there was anything more to say; he'd thanked Haru for coming already. Now he was just oblivious to the ox's problem and continued to lead him home.

"I like spending time with you." The ox informed Kyo, finally, as they neared the compound.

"Hn?" The cat blinked back at him. "That's always a plus."

"Yeah," He nodded, pausing in his stride slightly. "You--mellow me out." He continued, frowning slightly. "Make me feel calm." It sounded weird, considering how many times he'd gone Black, because of the cat. But, lately, it had been true.

Kyo gave him a little bit more confused look. "Okay??" He was just being friendly, but whatever Haru said.

"Yeah," The ox repeated, swallowing slightly, and looking determinedly at anywhere besides Kyo, feeling his cheeks and nose flush again. "D'you think we could go on a--real date, sometime?" It was an innocent question. It wasn't like he was going to cry, if Kyo told him no.

"Uh," The red head stopped to stare at him. A month of spending almost all their free time together at that shelter and Kyo never would have expected this. "I guess?" He answered, raising an eyebrow. What'd brought this on?

"Cool." The ox nodded, running a hand through his hair, and letting out a slow, relieved sigh. "Saturday good for you?"

Kyo continued to give him an odd look. "Yeah," he shrugged before pivoting and continuing on their path. Haru had a rather distinct feeling that he should feel awkward about something, but he wasn't exactly sure why. So, he just shrugged that little notion aside, and kept following Kyo. It wasn't like asking each other out on dates was such a strange occurrence for the Juunishi. He had no reason to feel awkward about that, right? And honestly, despite having used to word date, Kyo still wasn't thinking anything along the romantic lines. It was still just a cousin and friends thing. Once he'd gotten the ox to the gates he bid him goodbye and started heading on back to Shigure's.

"See you tomorrow." Haru waved over his shoulder before setting off for his room, a slight spring to his step as he went. You couldn't really notice, unless you were looking for it, though. He had a date. His first real date since Rin. He was looking forward to it, too.

***

His red haired cousin acquired no such bounce, and did not gain any such bounce throughout the next few days. He kind of shrugged it off and didn't think anything more about it, actually.

Or until Saturday, anyway. "What time do you want to do it?" Haru asked him, having sought him out at school between classes.

"Do what?" The cat blinked at him

"Tonight." Haru frowned a little, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It's Saturday. What time do you want to do tonight?"

"Oh," Kyo realized. "Whenever, it's not like I'm doing anything else."

Haru paused, to think it over for a few minutes, calculating it all out for time and such.

"Let's see, I can--hopefully--be at Sensei's to pick you up around seven?" That should give him time to get home, change, and find his way back over.

"I bet five bucks you get lost." The feline snorted.

"I'll get Momiji to draw me a map." He shrugged with some amusement. He didn't intend to be the woman, and the woman never picked up the man for a date. It just wasn't done that way.

"Sure, sure." Kyo rolled his eyes. "If you get lost call me, I'll come find you."

"Right." He agreed with a small nod. "I will." The bell rang, and Haru started off for his classroom, tossing over his shoulder as he went. “I'm paying, too!"

"Damn straight." The cat called back before turning at a leisurely pace and going back to class before Yuki had a chance to admonish him on being late.

***

Sure enough, Haru got Momiji to draw him a map and, leaving a good three hours early, arrived EXACTLY at seven o'clock, with very little mishap on the way, knocking on the door and waiting for someone to answer.

Ah! Smell the cliché irony as Yuki opens the door. “Haru, what are you doing here?" He wondered coolly.

"I'm here for Kyo." The ox shrugged, craning his neck to see beyond Yuki. "Is he ready?"

The rat raised an eyebrow and turned to call into the house. "Cat, come answer the door, it's for you."

"Fuck off, Yuki." Kyo growled out his warning as he padded out into the hall from the living room. He spotted Haru and grabbed his shoes. Once he had them on he pushed past Yuki. "Tell Tohru I'll be back later."

"You do it." Yuki replied flatly.

"Just shut up and do it, ya fucking pussy."

Yuki scowled and just went back into the house.

"Ready?" Haru wanted to confirm, though it was fairly obvious, due to Kyo standing outside.

"Yeah," Kyo cast one finally annoyed look at the house before nodding at Haru, so they could set out.

"Right, so--" Haru handed a piece of paper, with the restaurant address on it, to Kyo. "That's where we're going, if it's okay. I haven't actually been there, yet, but someone in my class said it was good."

"Can you actually pay for that?" The older Sohma wondered idly looking over the address. After all the times he'd broken things in Shigure's house, he knew he sure as hell couldn't.

"Should be able to." Haru shrugged. "Don't really have many expenses, money just tends to pile up."

"Whatever," Kyo finally shrugged. "It's your money."

"Yeah, well--" He shrugged in turn. "First official date, and whatever. I wanted it to be nice."

"Just what makes a date official?" The red head challenged with an odd look. If you looked at it, they'd sort of been doing date-like shit for the past few months already.

"I don't know." He thought about that. "Calling it one, and having both parties aware, I guess."

"Guess you never got Yuki out on an official date, then." The shorter boy surmised.

"Once." Haru mused softly. "But, only the one time. Before Akito went all berserk and possessive about him--when we were little."

"That's cute." Kyo commented sarcastically, finally returning the favor to his cousin.

"Would have been cuter if Akito hadn't fucked him up, about a week later." He shrugged slightly. "Oh well, can't change what happened, right?"

"Yuki's a dick anyways." The cat coughed softly.

"I noticed." Haru confirmed with a nod. "He wasn't then, though." He shook his head, suddenly. No use in nostalgia. "Anyway, do you know how to get there?" He wondered, nodding for the paper.

"Vaguely." Kyo nodded, then he looked over at Haru smugly. "Why didn't you just ask Momiji to draw you a map?"

"He didn't know either." Haru explained. "Tori-nii might have, but I didn't feel like explaining to him, to find out.”

"All right." The cat snorted and just set about getting into town so he could figure the relative direction of the place. If all else failed, he could find an alley cat that knew.

***

Well, eventually they made it to the restaurant, but it turned out you needed a reservation, so they had to wait a bit for a table to open up. This really wasn't going quite as well as Haru had hoped it would have. Kyo just sat back on the bench and waited. It was better than sitting at home with Yuki, and at least Haru wasn't being grouchy from his Yuki withdraw again.

"Sorry about this." Haru mumbled, sitting down next to him. "I didn't think they were tiny enough to need reservations."

"S'okay." The red head mumbled, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall. "Not that big a deal." Yet. Now if he began to feel starving, then it would be a big deal.

"Hmm, right." Haru agreed, letting his face rest in his hands. He'd wanted this to go perfectly but he supposed a wait for a table wasn't such a failure. Then Kyo was peeking open one of his eyes and idly patting the guy's head. He was oblivious to the perfection thing. But he was doing this to cheer things up, and Haru was currently lacking in cheer. Haru glanced up at him, when he felt the extra pressure on his head, and smiled slightly. He didn't mention how irritated he was about not thinking to call ahead for a reservation and either way, they did get a table eventually. "Sorry, it took so long. You can order whatever you want." Haru murmured, accepting the menu from the waiter and opening it, his brows furrowing slightly as he examined the prices. A short inspection of the menu had Kyo deciding, to spare Haru's poor wallet, he would just get something small. Not only that, this was a nice place, full of people, and Kyo wasn't too keen on staying here for longer than necessary. He knew he wasn't the most polite and civil person in the world and this really wasn't the place for him.

Well, Haru had meant what he'd told Kyo, about letting him order anything he wanted. He'd just have eaten the complimentary bread and some water, that was all. But, by both ordering the cheaper stuff, they both ended up with some real food. However, Haru had also meant it when he'd said he'd never been there before, and he felt rather underdressed. This really wasn't shaping up to be the perfect first date he'd envisioned, but, it wasn't turning out TOO bad either, he supposed.

Underdressed was probably an understatement. By the end of eating the red head had had enough of being looked over critically by the other people in the place, and was quite ready to get the hell out of here. The food was nice. Sure. But this whole nice restaurant, date, thing just wasn't for him.

"That didn't turn out quite like I'd planned." Haru admitted. Well, at least it hadn't been a coat and tie required place.

"No shit?" The cat raised an eyebrow at him.

"Promise." Haru nodded, grimacing slightly. "You want some sort of desert? I'm pretty sure the ice cream place doesn't have a dress code."

Kyo opened his mouth to decline, but the look on Haru's face made him sigh and roll his eyes. "Yeah, sounds fine." Kyo even forwent his usual pickiness when they did go for the whole ice cream thing. All in all it wasn't THAT bad a night. Just a little awkward.

"Thank you for putting up with me." Haru told Kyo, once they'd reached Shigure's house again. He'd insisted that he wanted to drop Kyo off, and would find his way home on his own.

"Uh, yeah." The feline shrugged. "You wanna come in and call Hatori to get you?" He wondered. The last thing anyone needed was Haru wandering around for hours on end.

"Nnn," It was getting late--already after dark. It would be hard to read Momiji's map in the dark. "Sure." He agreed finally, pausing before asking--almost as an after thought. "But—first--do I get a good-night kiss first?" He wondered. "Or, do you not kiss on the first date?"

His older cousin paused and stared at him. "I think you of all people know, I don't kiss at all."

Hatsuharu Sohma, at that moment, felt like a complete moron.

"Nnn...right." He confirmed with a small nod. "My mistake. Which way's the phone?" He masterfully changed the subject, moving past Kyo to go inside and find aforementioned telephone.

"Right there," The red head pointed down the hall as he took off his shoes.

"Thanks." The ox deadpanned, moving over to the phone to call Hatori. Damnit! He felt all grouchy again, now.

Well, Kyo rolled his eyes, at least it looked like Haru was getting over that little prick Yuki. But the cat really had to wonder, why the ox wouldn't go after Momiji or Tohru for that matter.

Haru drummed his fingers impatiently on the little table Shigure kept his phone on, waiting for Hatori to just pick his damn phone up. He felt thoroughly displeased with the night in general, and had a feeling there probably wouldn't be a second date, and he REALLY wanted Hatori to come and take him home! The dragon finally bothered with answering the phone and upon hearing Hatsuharu's voice simply inquired where he was with a promise to come get him.

"Sensei's." Haru informed him simply. "Tori-nii," He started, but then just restarted again. "I'll wait for you outside." It wasn't cold out, and the drive wasn't long.

The doctor just agreed, hung up and was soon on his way. Kyo though, had heard that last bit and offered to wait with the ox.

"M'fine." Haru declined, still trying to nurse his pride out of that Supreme Jackass mode and back to Moderate. "I'll see you at school Monday." He added, before going to go sit on the porch, like he'd told Hatori he would be.

"Right." Kyo shrugged and just headed back into the house. He'd certainly staved off Haru easily enough.

***

Well, Haru, for one, was quite relieved when Hatori actually showed up, to take him home. Maybe, if he was REALLY lucky, Hatori wouldn't ask about his rekindled bad mood and, maybe, he'd be over it, by the time he had to see Kyo again, on Monday.

***

Yuki watched all this in satisfaction. There, see? Haru wasn't going be able to get with anyone else! Then he would come back to the rat. His glee, though by gleeful standards not very gleeful, but for Yuki it was pretty damn gleeful, carried on to the next day. That is, until he saw how Kyo and Haru were just getting along all buddy-buddy again. The ox had had time to bandage himself, and Kyo was acting like nothing had happened at all. Well... damn it!

***

Which was how Kyo found himself confronted by said rat, one afternoon, right as school let out. He was just getting into his street shoes, when he felt his cousin's stare burning a hole in the back of his neck.

"What the hell do you want, Rat boy?" He wondered, offering Yuki an odd look, over his shoulder.

"Kyo. You need to stop. Now." The smaller teenager stated his demands.

"Stop what?" The cat wanted to know, frowning. "What're you babbling about?"

"Stop trying to take Haru." The rat elaborated, narrowing his eyes. "You've been all over him since we had that fight."

"I'm not trying to take him." Kyo defended tersely. "And, even if I were, he's not yours to be taken."

"Oh? And that's why you agreed to go on that date Saturday?" Yuki frowned. "It can't have been to spare Haru's feelings. That's NOT like you Kyo."

"One date doesn't mean anything, stupid." The red head pointed out. "It's not like anything happened, anyway WHY am I discussing this with YOU?" He raged for a moment, taking up a goal to start ignoring Yuki completely, from that point on.

Yuki snorted and changed tactics. "Just stay the hell away from him, cat. He's too good for the likes of YOU anyways."

"It's your fault for being a dumbass." Kyo shrugged, dropping the ignorance tactic, and deciding just to make Yuki give up. "Besides, isn't it his decision who he wants to hit on?" It sounded a little weird to think of it like that but, according to what Yuki was implying, it was very accurate.

"He's rebounding and you know it. If you get the hell out of the way he'll come straight back to me." The rat stated calmly.

"Right. Sure he will." Haru was too good for Yuki anyway, as far as Kyo was concerned. "Whatever, ya damn rat. Why should I do you any favors?"

"It's not like you want him, anyways."

"If you like him so much, why haven't you told him before?"

"That's none of your business." Yuki brushed him off in annoyance.

"Then why the hell should I help you!?" The cat bristled angrily.

"Because you're such a good friend to him." The rat suggested darkly. "You wouldn't want to lead him on, would you? He'll be happier once he's back with me."

"Yeah, yeah." Kyo brushed that off. "Like you weren't leading him on for YEARS."

"Just stay away from him." Yuki warned before brushing past the feline to go home .Kyo growled after him for a moment. Roiling over what the rat had said in his mind. Haru wasn't good enough for the likes of him? Just stay away from him? Just rebounding? FUCK THAT! He rolled his eyes one more time before going to find Haru and see about all that. Stupid fucking rat. He'd prove him wrong; take something he wanted for once.

"Hi? Haru blinked at Kyo, as he got his own stuff together. "What's up?"

"Hey," The red head greeted, sidling over next to him. "I wanted to know if you wanna go on another date sometime."

"Uh, sure..?" Haru blinked a couple more times. Maybe he HADN'T been such a supreme jackass, after all?

"I'll pay this time." Kyo nodded thoughtfully. "When's good?"

"Whenever." Haru shrugged, a bit. "You can decide."

"Sunday." The feline replied, patting Haru's cheek a bit. "I'll find us a movie that doesn't suck by then." They hadn't been to see another movie in months and it would be fun. Or at least, that's what Kyo was banking on.

"Sure." Haru agreed with a small nod. "That's fine."

"Right, I'll tell you when I find out the times." The cat promised before turning and heading off.

"Sure." He agreed, blinking once more, in confusion. "Bye!" He added, calling after Kyo. Maybe it had been just a simple matter of not kissing on the first date? Kyo grinned as he walked home. Yuki could just shove that RIGHT down his throat! Actually, HE planned to shove it down Yuki's throat by bringing Haru back to the house with him after the movie.

***

And one really must wonder how Haru would feel about being used as a revenge tactic. Actually, it doesn't take too much thinking to figure out he wouldn't be too happy about it, but we'll get to that later. In the mean time, the days continued to pass, Haru and Kyo agreed on a movie and a time, and then Sunday came. They'd also agreed that Kyo would go get Haru this time, if only so they'd arrive on time, for sure.

The cat hopped on over to pick up the misdirectional ox after telling Yuki, smugly, that he was going out to a movie with Haru. He was still grinning in triumph when he got to the main house gates.

"You're happy about something." Haru commented, upon seeing said triumphant grin on his cousin's face.

"Yeah, yeah." Kyo waved it off. "Come on," He snorted, offering his hand out to the ox. Haru accepted the hand tentatively. There was something seriously weird going on with Kyo but, at least he might get his kiss, at this rate. That would be an upside, even if Kyo was possessed--or something equally judgment impairing. Actually, if Kyo had his way, Haru would get several kisses. Bordering on many, mostly in the dark enclosure of the movie theater too. That'd teach that fucking Yuki.

There was much kissing during the movie. But, that bothered Haru too. The week before, Kyo had been rather adamant about NOT kissing him, and now he wouldn't stop! He couldn't help but wonder about the rather abrupt change.

Kyo hadn't meant to be so abrupt. But, he had noticed Yuki following him after he left the house, then into the movies too. So, he'd figured why not put on a GRAND show for the little shit.

"You hungry?" The cat finally wondered of his date, a definite smugness to his voice.

"Kind of." He confirmed, after pondering it a bit.

***

Yuki was absolutely fuming when he watched the two of them going into a regular restaurant. (No more stuffy overpriced ones!) He had warned Kyo to stay away from this ox and this is what he did? The bastard!

***

"You're much better at picking restaurants than I am." Haru commended, once they had their food, and were sitting down.

"I don't feel the need to impress my date?" The cat suggested absently.

"I wasn't trying to impress you, exactly." Haru frowned a little, and tried to

explain himself. "I just wanted it to be perfect. I haven't dated many people, and neither of them worked out. I thought I might try to get it off to a good start, this time." So much for that theory, huh?

"Perfect is a high goal Haru." The red head snorted a little.

"Well, now I would settle for it not having been so sucky."

"You got a second date either way." Kyo shrugged.

"True." Haru agreed to that. There was no denying it. He just wished the first one had gone over better, so that the second would make a bit more sense.

***

After that they were slightly distracted by the food and then walking Haru home, since now Kyo didn't need to take him home for Yuki to know all the details of their date. Once they left the restaurant, actually, Kyo noted that Yuki had finally stopped trailing them. Despite enjoying tormenting the rat, this was his fucking date. Didn't need the bitch spying on them the ENTIRE time.

"Do I get a good-bye kiss this time?" Haru wondered, trying to keep the slight amusement out of his tone.

The cat thought about that for a short moment and then he wrapped his arms around the other's neck and kissed him earnestly. He wanted at least one kiss tonight that he'd actually really wanted to do, not just one he'd done to piss off the spying Yuki. Haru moaned lightly, and leaned into the kiss. This might work out after all.

When they broke apart Kyo stayed in that position and looked up at the other hazily. He suddenly felt guilty about his reasoning on this date.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He murmured.

"Right." Haru agreed with a small smile. "Tomorrow." And then, he pulled away, and started off for his own room, his stomach squirming pleasantly as he went. Yeah, maybe it really MIGHT work with Kyo, maybe. Maybe, especially since Kyo was actually willing to stand up to Yuki when the rat came at him at the house. He still got his ass kicked when they fought, black eye and all, but the cat didn't really care. He'd had a good night and was now going to bed so he could see Haru tomorrow.

***

And, the ox was quite willing to see him the next day. "Hello." He greeted, when they met up in the not-yet full locker room, before placing a quick kiss on the side of his neck. "Sleep well?" He wanted to know, upon pulling back. He noted the black eye but, Kyo and Yuki fought often enough, there really was no point saying anything.

The feline flushed a little and looked at him. "Yeah," he nodded. Well shit. He felt bad again. Guilt is a horrible, horrible thing

"Good." The ox nodded, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Kyo's neck, before moving up to give Kyo a kiss actually on his lips. The red head sighed. He hadn't much experience in the way of boyfriends (about as much as he has in actual friends) but he was pretty damn sure this was good, but:

"We're at school." He warned halfheartedly against the younger's kiss.

"I know." Haru confirmed, and he did lighten his romantic assault slightly. "I'm just--happy." He struggled to explain, after finally pulling away completely.

"Oh?" Kyo asked, a bit strained. Oh yeah. He took him out on a hoax date and he was happy. Great.

"Mmhmm." He nodded. "You know, when I asked you out the first time, I didn't really think you'd give me the time of day about it--let alone ask me out again."

The older Sohma sweat dropped. "Yeah," He sighed. Well he obviously wasn't going to make it through today without confessing, so, "Hey, wanna do me a favor, and wait for me after classes are out?"

"Sure?" Haru blinked cluelessly, placing yet another short kiss on Kyo's lips. "Where?"

"Uh," The gate and locker rooms were too public for Kyo's liking but where else would the ox be able to find?! "Just down here in the locker rooms. We can go somewhere else from there, even though I don't think it'll take very long."

"Alright?" The ox frowned a little. "Something's wrong, isn't it?" He wanted to make sure, before he jumped to any conclusion.

"Potentially." The cat murmured slowly.

"Right, I'll--see you after school." Haru agreed quickly, trying to keep the worry out of his tone, as he quickly changed his shoes, and went off to his classroom. He didn't want something to be wrong. Kyo watched after him for a moment before sighing and getting his own shoes so he could go to class. Waiting today was going to suck.

***

Indeed, it did. Still, Haru was obediently waiting for him, as promised, when classes let out. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation, though. The cat led him off to a various abandoned park where they could talk.

"Look. Last week Yuki and I got in a fight thing." That wasn't anything new, but he kept going with that. "And he was bitching about that first date we went on and was telling me to stay away from you and shit like that. So, the real reason I asked you on that date and did all that shit, at first, was to piss him off. Since, he followed us around then too." He paused to judge to ox's reaction.

"You asked me out to get back at Yuki." Haru translated slowly, not really looking at Kyo, at all.

"Yeah." But in his defense, Yuki was being a real dick.

"That's not usually how it works, Kyo." Haru pointed out. "Or a great thing to support an entire relationship on."

"No shit!" Kyo gave him a dry look. "But--uh--I wanted to tell you, because I felt bad about it—and--yeah."

"Mmm, yeah. Great. Hope YOU feel better." The poor ox listed off flatly, staring moodily down at the ground. His good moods were becoming shorter and less frequent, each passing second.

"No. I don't." The red head frowned and forced his cousin's eyes back to him.

"Too bad." The younger shrugged. "Cause, you've achieved nothing with this, if that's the case."

"Haru, I told you that to clear my conscience." He already had enough other shit on it. "But I really do--I did enjoy going with you on those dates."

"Right." Haru nodded disbelievingly. "I'm sure you did. Which way's home?"

"Haru, I'm serious. Just listen to me?" The cat said instead of answering the directional question.

"Why should I believe you?" Haru wanted to know, slumping down further onto the bench.

"Cause I'm out of reasons to lie?"

Well… that was a good point. "So, what now?"

"I think we really need to go on a good date." They'd had a shitty one and a fake one so far. A good one would be nice.

"That'd be nice." Haru agreed with a small nod of confirmation. "When and where?"

End

A/N: The fecal matter has not yet hit the oscillating unit.

Sequel: Being Broken Ones: http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php/85919/