YEEESH! It's finally up. ^^ Thanks for being patient guys! I really hope the second part to this story does not disappoint! :D

PS: For those of you who haven't read the first part, Learning to Cope, I highly suggest you go back and check it out. Or else you may be confuzled!!! X) Bare with the first few chapters though.... Didn't have the best story structure back then. =S

~A Happy Medium~

During the long, peaceful hours after his birth, the adoptive parents of Katsuya have ceased to show up. Now Kyou and Tohru have had no choice but to bring him home. Only time will tell whether or not he stays for good . . .

~:~:~::~:~:~

Chapter 1 – Shadows

The house stood dreadfully still a few moments at a time. Only the wind blowing outside provided background noise within its walls. Shadows rose and fell from the closed window as the nearby tree branches slowly swayed, as if dancing to a sad ballad. And it was dark. Only the moonlight and lit the earth below . . .

Kyou and Tohru knelt silently by the yellow cradle, side by side. They rocked it slowly as Katsuya slept soundlessly with a steady breath. Tohru couldn't help but to smile contently. Kyou, however, felt differently. He knew that no matter how much the darkness of the room could seem to hide his grim expression, he wouldn't be able to hide it from her much longer.

"Kyou?" Tohru whispered softly. " . . . Are you alright?"

"Yeah . . ." Kyou replied. "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine. What's wrong?"

Kyou turned his head away and bit his lip. Tohru turned to him and tenderly took his hands.

"Want to talk to me?"

Kyou stayed still but nodded slightly. Tohru left the cradle and led Kyou to her room. Closing the door, she sat on her bed with Kyou by her side. She smiled up at him, trying to see his face within the darkness.

"Want me to turn on the lights?" Kyou asked, hesitantly. Tohru shook her head.

"It's okay. Something tells me that you want the lights off tonight."

Kyou blushed, thankful that it was so dark and that she couldn't see his face burn. Tohru lightly put her hand on his leg and looked up at him.

"Kyou . . ." she said softly.

"I'm . . . I'm afraid . . ." Kyou stuttered suddenly. "I-I shouldn't be, but . . ."

"It's okay to be scared. I'm . . . I'm scared too. But soon the parents will call to take Katsuya with them. When he's gone, everything . . . e-everything will return to normal again. He'll be okay without us."

"But are you going to be okay?"

" . . . . . I'll be fine. I just can't get attached to Katsuya, that's all."

"Tohru . . . . . you know damn well that that's impossible for you at this point. Are you sure you'll be okay knowing that?"

"I still have to try, don't I? Besides, it'll be better for him and for us. We'll have . . . We'll have more time to be together. And when we get old enough, we can get a home together and we . . . can go on from there."

Kyou smiled smugly to himself.

"Soooo . . ." he started, quietly. "You have . . . plans?"

Tohru blushed cheerfully and giggled sheepishly, while keeping her voice low.

"Well . . . I did have a few ideas."

"Wanna share them with me?"

"Umm . . . s-sure. If you want me to."

"Well, I'm waiting."

Kyou smirked and lay back on her bed, his thigh touching hers. Tohru blushed and began.

"I picture a . . . . a small, little condo that we can start out in that's close to a Japanese garden, where we can go have picnics. Then, we could watch the sunset from the roof . . . That's all I can think of right now."

Kyou chuckled.

"Very . . . uh . . . nice."

"Do you have any ideas, Kyou?"

"Not really . . . I don't really care what we do as long as we're together."

Tohru beamed at him with gratitude. Getting up, she grabbed her sleepwear and made a bee-line for the bathroom, while Kyou quickly changed in her room. It was now a beginning habit, just for the fact that Kyou gave up his room for Katsuya. He didn't mind that much, considering that he got to spend his nights sleeping beside the dingbat.

But it was under once condition. Shigure made them vow to hold off on intercourse until the situation with Katsuya was fixed, since the fruits of their labor only created trouble. Neither Kyou nor Tohru really minded much, since their sexual urges only arose once in a blue moon. Still, he was starting to get a bit antsy about it all.

Since he no longer had his room, he couldn't relieve himself of his desires alone. Still, he did everything in his power to hide the fact that he was craving Tohru's sexual attention in order to reassure that it wasn't the only thing on his mind, even with Katsuya around.

Instead, he kept his mind on the comfort and well-being of his girlfriend, who had enough on her plate already.

She came back into her room, finding Kyou pulling up his pajama bottoms. She looked away quickly and blushed, covering her eyes were her hands.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry. Are you done now?"

"You know, you can come in whether I'm dressing or not," sighed Kyou. "You already know what I look like naked."

"I-I know . . . I just figured you might want your privacy."

"Like I said before, I don't really care. You can come in and look at me all you want."

Tohru nodded, shifting uncomfortably. Kyou went up to her and took her hands in his.

"And if you don't want to see me, you don't have-ta to do that either," he said, smiling humorously.

"Oh, it's not that I don't want to see you!" Tohru pleaded. "I do want to see you . . . more than anything! I . . ."

Kyou's eyebrows lifted as a slight flush hit his cheeks. He cursed his suddenly raunchy mind.

"No, no, no!" claimed Tohru, shaking her head and blushing. "Not that! I mean, I do, but . . . I, uh . . . Em . . . I mean-! . . ."

"Tohru," interrupted Kyou, "just say what ya mean. What do you want? Don't be ashamed to say it."

" . . . . I . . . I . . ."

"Yeah?"

"I . . ."

Tohru lowered her voice to an embarrassed mumble.

"I . . . . I want to . . . to do that again with you . . . s-soon . . ."

"S-Soon?"

"Yes . . . . . It's hard to explain because . . . it feels . . ."

Kyou thought for a moment and dragged himself closer to Tohru. He put his hands around her slim waist and held her close from behind. She seemed to shiver under his close gaze.

"How . . . do you feel then?" he asked, purely out of curiosity. He kissed her neck tenderly and lay his chin on her shoulder.

"It feels . . ." Tohru began, " . . . it feels so warm. Like fire is flicking on my skin. And . . . my head is a bit dizzy . . . . And . . . . . . and my . . . my . . . um . . . my area feels like it . . . like it needs to be rubbed to get rid of the sensation down there . . ."

Kyou gently turned her around to face him, and placed his forehead against hers.

"Do you want to . . ." he sighed, his eyes beginning to close.

"To . . ."

"T-"

Kyou placed his mouth on hers with a sense of urgency and need. He made a steady rhythm that she could keep up with, and eventually made it go faster and deeper.

This was leading to a good place. Because of that pregnancy, he and Tohru never had any time alone together. Now was the perfect night. He knew deep down in his gut. His aroused body parts knew it too.

Aiding each other, Tohru and Kyou began to strip themselves bare. Suddenly, a noise interrupted their episode.

Katsuya was crying.

Kyou sighed and slid his shirt back on. Tohru blushed as she did the same.

"I-I . . . I'll go check on him," Tohru stuttered.

"No, it's okay," Kyou claimed. "I'll go check on him. You wait here."

Tohru nodded. Before leaving, Kyou turned around.

"Could . . . could we continue when I come back?"

Tohru sighed at his shy, hopeful smile. She desperately wanted to take his word on that. She still felt that shimmer of warm desire in her, that she had hidden for many months. But her sense got the better of her.

"Kyou . . ." she began, "I . . . I don't think we should. I'm sorry, I really am! But . . . I-I'm worried about what Shigure and Yuki will say if we break the rules. Also we . . . we almost did it without protection. We need to be more careful."

She was right. They almost went too far. He almost lost his control.

"I . . . I didn't even see that coming," he said, ducking his head and covering his eyes in shame. "I . . . It's just that I was so . . . . ."

"It's not your fault, Kyou," claimed Tohru. "I felt the same way too . . ."

"Guess we should be more careful then . . ."

Tohru nodded sadly. Katsuya's crying grew louder the longer they put off going to him. Kyou took his cue to go check on him.

Flushed with anger, he closed the door and went up to the cradle, scowling.

"Dammit," he whispered harshly. "Why'd you have to screw up everything? If it wasn't for you, she and I would be . . . would be . . ."

Kyou growled and kicked the wall. Katsuya, hearing the agitation in his voice, whimpered fearfully. Squirming uncomfortably, tears fell from his eyes as he cried. Kyou, hearing how scared he sounded, rushed to him. He sighed and picked him up, patting him lightly on the back.

"I'm sorry . . . ." Kyou whispered. "Just . . . just stop crying . . ."

Amazingly, Katsuya held his tongue after a minute and drifted off to sleep. Kyou put him back down into his crib, and put a pacifier in his mouth. He gazed at him sadly.

"Those new parents of yours better come get you soon. I'd hate to mess up your life too . . ."

Well, that's the first chapter folks! Sorry it isn't longer! I hoped you all liked it so far. I really can't wait to see where this part of the story goes. Right now, it's kind of a trial and error stage where I don't have a total plan, but it'll work out in the end. Thanks for reading and please leave a review and let me know how it sounds. - Dragondustbubblez