Author's Note: Sorry about the massive delay. I really do need to get over my hatred of editing. Someone brought up the chapter 97 spoiler in my last round of reviews. I am aware of the spoiler. If you are curious about my intentions involving that spoiler, I'm posting a ramble of an essay in my livejournal, username writingrose. Look under my memories for Meta: Fruits Basket. Please don't read the ramble unless you know the spoiler.

Warning: There's a bit of implied male/male here.

Disclaimer: Not mine. I make no money. Suing me will get you bellybutton lint.

9
Just because the Dog will make a point of knowing everything about you, it does not follow that he will allow you to know everything about himself.
-Sohma Jiro, Tiger, 1874

Kyo couldn't help feeling pleased at how Tohru hovered over him, even if just watching her made him even more tired. How she could have so much energy after all the work she'd done, Kyo would never know. On the other hand, she'd tucked her jacket around him, and it smelled very nice. Then again, she was hovering and seemed incredibly determined to help him, which was slightly insulting for some reason. He couldn't summon up the energy to do much more than glare at her, and Tohru seemed to take that as permission to continue. It might have helped if he had the energy to think in complete sentences, but there was something hovering at the edge of his consciousness that he just needed to not face.

She suddenly eep'd and vanished into the kitchen, leaving him alone with Yuki.

Yuki was looking towards the kitchen, but his voice was only for Kyo's ears. "How bad is he?"

"Anyone else would be in a hospital." Kyo also kept his voice low, but he didn't think he could be loud right now if he wanted to. Either way, Tohru was worried enough already.

"Did it hu-" Yuki cut off the question as Tohru came back through the room with a tray. She knocked at the bedroom, and then entered. Yuki waited for the door to swing shut. "You know, nii-san was much less annoying than usual."

Kyo made a noncommittal noise that really meant that he agreed. "Shigure is up to something."

"Yes, he is." Yuki sounded distant enough to make Kyo wonder just what Shigure had already done.

Tohru came back out before Kyo could think of how to ask for more information. His eyes narrowed, and his fur stood up on end when Tohru set a bowl of soup in front of him. He was not that weak, dammit! Although, the soup did smell really good, and it would be a shame to waste Tohru's cooking. He glanced over at Yuki and Tohru, to make sure they weren't watching, but they were already pulling out the homework assignment Kyo had done before dinner.

He should at least taste the soup, since it didn't smell like leeks. Not bad. Maybe a second taste would also be a good idea. The soup was actually better. Would it improve again on the third taste? Before Kyo realized it, he had his face pushed into the bowl and had licked it clean.

A strange noise, like a giggle, caught his attention, and he peeked around the edge of the bowl. Tohru was watching him with that expression normally reserved for puppies and sleeping babies. If she said anything about him being cute... "Did you like the soup, Kyo-kun?"

"Um, yeah, it was ok." Kyo was so glad that he couldn't blush in cat form. It was way too disconcerting when she smiled at people like that.

"I'm so glad! Ayame-san suggested that you might like it." There were twin thuds as Yuki dropped his book, and Kyo dropped the bowl. Tohru suddenly frowned. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to say that. You don't mind, do you?" Tohru looked imploringly at Kyo.

Mind? To mind, he'd have to process the concept! He probably would have stared in shock at Tohru for another five minutes, if he hadn't poofed back into human form right then.

Tohru predictably jerked around in horror, covered her eyes, and insisted she hadn't looked. There was something that was either wrong or endearing about how she could face the monster-him, but she couldn't face a naked-him. Kyo tried to puzzle it out, so he wouldn't think about how much effort it was taking for him to get dressed again. He was settling his shirt over his stomach, when Yuki asked Tohru about some detail of the assignment they were working in, signaling that it was safe for her to turn around.

Kyo settled back on the couch, and listened to them talk. Yuki was just so good at talking to her. He never seemed to hurt her feelings or give the impression he was upset with her. Kyo closed his eyes, and tried to figure out just which words Yuki was using that let him do it. It had to be a simple trick, since so many other people could also do it. It couldn't be something as simple as smiling, could it? Kyo scowled, and risked a quick peak at Yuki. Nope, Yuki wasn't smiling; in fact, he seemed to be glaring at the textbook.

Kyo frowned some more, and tried to get comfortable on the couch. It wasn't a bad couch, but it just wasn't the same as a roof for clearing his head. The stuffy room seemed to be muddling his head; he just couldn't put his thoughts together correctly. He yawned, and shifted down farther onto the couch. The last thing he thought coherently was something about not expecting to be able to take over the whole couch.

Kyo was jolted awake by Shigure's return. The idiot was bouncing around like an extra-hyper Momiji. He was also talking almost as fast as Ayame normally did--apparently no mere human could match the Snake's tongue for speed. "You're all still here? Good! Thank you for coming by! Yuki-kun, don't worry about Akito wanting to see you: he's far too tired right now. Kyo-kun, thank you again for staying with Haa-san! Or did I say thank you yet? Anyway, thank you! And Tohru-kun, thank you, too! That soup smells deeeeee-licious! I'm sure Haa-san loved it!"

Kyo didn't quite know how to handle Shigure acting this way. Yuki looked somewhere between relieved that he wouldn't see Akito, and panicked that Akito even knew he was on the estate. Tohru was blushing, but couldn't actually manage to say anything self-depreciating, because Shigure was still talking. "So, yes, thank you all of you. And would one of you make sure to tell Haa-kun and Momiji at school tomorrow? We need one of them to come by tomorrow night. I'd ask you all to come back, but school is very important, ne? So yes, we'll need one of them. And you should all study instead of trekking all the way over here. Unless we call you, but we shouldn't need to. And now, you should all be heading home, because it's getting late, and you all have school in the morning." Shigure stopped talking rather abruptly and looked at them expectantly.

Kyo gave him a death glare from the couch, and very nearly rolled over to go back to sleep, except that he didn't quite trust Shigure enough to turn his back on him. When Tohru spoke up, it was in protest. "But, Shigure-san, Kyo-kun doesn't seem to be feeling well. It took a really long time for him to change back from being a cat, and he didn't even bring a jacket! What if he's sick too?"

Kyo glared at everyone impartially. He hated being talked about as if he wasn't there, even if Tohru was trying to be nice, but he was also fairly sure that he wasn't capable of walking all the way home.

"Hmm, Tohru-kun, you may have a point." Shigure tilted his head at Kyo. "Ne, Kyo-kun, do you think you can stand?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kyo bristled. He really didn't like that gleam in Shigure's eyes.

Shigure gave him that horrible, fake-hurt look and whined. "Kyo-kun doesn't trust me! I'm sure Kyo-kun could get home if he's got the energy to stand, but he won't even try it!"

"Stop it! Idiot!" Kyo shoved himself up from the couch with every intention of beating that look off Shigure's face. He had absolutely no idea exactly how he suddenly found himself running into Tohru. Much later, he was able to figure out that he had been very weak at the time, and she had probably gotten up to interfere somehow, so Shigure had just pushed him into the girl. At that time, all he knew was one moment he was ready to seriously maim the so-called adult, and the next he was a fluffy orange cat that was still ready to maim Shigure. He just couldn't get out of Tohru's grip.

"See? Problem solved! Tohru-kun can carry Kyo-kun, and Yuki-kun can carry Tohru-kun's backpack." Shigure was smiling as if he'd just worked out a way to have world peace, or--more likely with his perverted mind--high school girls parading past him all the time. More disturbingly, Shigure easily dodged the punch Yuki threw at him for threatening Tohru.

Kyo had to admit that seeing Yuki look at his fist as thought it betrayed him was amusing, but everything was getting too damn weird for his tired mind. "Fine. Whatever. Wake me in time for school." He made a show of settling into Tohru's lap to sleep.

"Stupid Cat! How do you know we won't just drop you in the forest somewhere?" Yuki turned on Kyo, probably because Kyo was taking the liberty of, well, taking over Tohru's lap.

"If you do that, at least I won't have to-" Kyo interrupted himself with a yawn, "-see your ugly face when I wake up, damn Rat." His eyes refused to stay open any longer, and he returned to the nice comfortable place that was sleep. Kyo missed the worried looks that Tohru and Yuki exchanged, just as he missed the rest of Shigure hurrying them out the door.

Sensei, you have a bad habit of casually saying things that only pour fuel on the fire.
-Sohma Hatsuharu

From Shigure's point of view, he couldn't get those teenagers out of Hatori's house fast enough. It wasn't that he was ungrateful or anything like that; he just had this almost overwhelming urge to grab onto Kyo and share all the extra energy he had with the Cat. Kyo even smelled tired.

Even so, he'd have to find some way to apologize to Tohru for shoving Kyo at her like that. Later. Right now, Shigure needed to raid Hatori's office for writing supplies. In the morning, he would hate himself for leaving these instructions for Ritsu, but he had to be sure that his timid cousin would wake him up.

It was so hard to focus with all the extra energy buzzing through him. He didn't really want to deal with certain calls of nature, nor did he want to take the extra few moments to get a pitcher of water and some cups from the kitchen. He refrained from racing down the hallway only because he didn't want to drop the pitcher. When Hatori was better, Shigure was going to have to run down the hallway just because he kept denying his urges to do so now.

When Shigure entered the room, Ayame jerked out of a light doze and blinked a few times at the clock. "I thought you were going to edit that story."

"I was. Can't concentrate now. Rather be here." It took so much self-control for Shigure to set the tray where it could be reached from the bed. Even though he wanted to fling himself on his cousins--especially the one coughing--he turned away and made himself put on a sleeping robe.

"'Gure-san, is something wrong?" Ayame sounded worried.

Shigure blew out an annoyed sigh and tried to sound gentle when he answered, "No, nothing you don't know about."

"I see." Ayame studied him thoughtfully. "In that case, is something different?"

Shigure had to laugh a little at that. "Aaya, you know me too well. Scoot over. If he's between us and transforms, we might squish him."

Ayame looked doubtful, but did as he was asked while Shigure fidgeted. Shigure was very grateful that Ayame would listen to him on things that concerned Hatori, even if he didn't listen on anything else. And Shigure really couldn't wait much longer to join them; all the extra energy buzzing along his nerves was starting to get painful. Why was it that every gift from Akito was as much a curse as a blessing?

Ayame picked up on his impatience, but managed to contain his questions until Shigure slid into the bed next to him. "'Gure! Are you sure you're okay? You're even hotter than 'Tori is!"

"Well, it's about time you noticed!" Shigure couldn't resist leering at Ayame, even though he knew perfectly well what Ayame meant. He got an elbow in his ribs for the comment, and yipped in pain. "Okay, okay, no flirting when we shouldn't do anything about it." Okay, he deserved that hit, too. He sighed and spooned himself against Ayame's back. He let his hand wander until it found skin on Ayame's arm, and he half buried his face in Ayame's hair to keep from also reaching out to Hatori.

"Shigure. Tell me."

Oh damn, that was his full name. "I think Akito was worried that we won't be enough, but he didn't want to send Kureno. Instead, he... I dunno exactly, he sent some of Kureno's energy with me. He might have sent some of his own as well. He seemed really tired after he did it."

"He can do that?" Ayame sounded stunned, and a little more energetic.

"Apparently. Anyway, you were with Haa-san more than me, so I'd rather let all this extra go into you, instead of possibly overloading his system." The buzzing was finally starting to fade out a bit, and Shigure felt himself relax just a little.

"Could that really happen?"

"I dunno. Maybe I just wanted an excuse to hug you."

"Didn't you just say no flirting?"

"Oops?" Shigure didn't sound very repentant at all as he slowly relaxed against Ayame.

A/N: Haru's quote is from Chapter 27, my translation.

Also, I've realized that if I respond to individual reviews, this part will be longer than my fic, so I'm afraid that I'll have to stop doing that. Sorry, and thank you to everyone.