Author: Hae-jung Lee
Rating: PG-13 
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, sadly. This is my first fan fiction, well, first written piece actually, so I hope you will find this story enjoyable :)

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CHAPTER 4

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Yuki yawned loudly before opening his sleepy eyes. A mass of red hair came to view that belonged to....he jolted from where he lay, surprised. Did I fall asleep in the middle of the night? Yuki thought frantically to himself, thanking the gods that Kyo had not awoken first to see such a sight. He eased back down after awhile, finally seeing that he was holding his hand. He smiled somewhat, finding it all somehow amusing. He squeezed his hand firmly in his own before letting go and walking out of the room to give a Hatori sensei a call.

Just as he was walking to the dining room, he already saw Hatori sitting down and eating with Shigure and Tooru. All of them looked up at him and smiled.....a smile that held mischief and controlled laughter.

"I'm sorry Yuki kun. I didn't want to wake you so we started eating without you. I hope you don't mind." Tooru said with a wide, teasing grin, "I'll serve you right now if you would like."

"Thank you, Tooru...I would like that very much." He sat down uneasily, noticing how hungry he had been. "What time is it?"

"Almost two, my sweet sleeping beauty" Shigure cooed.

Wow, he thought, he didn't know that he slept for so long. He than looked up at Hatori who was staring directly at him with his one beautiful eye while a slight smile played on his lips," What are you doing here, Hatori?"

"Tooru called me as soon as she woke up," He replied gruffly, "Kyo kun was just exhausted and made himself grow ill by stress or over thinking. He had a fever this morning but I'm sure it will subside in no time."

Yuki looked at him in astonishment...than at Shigure who was batting his eyes at him. Oh my god.....was all he could think. They saw him! They saw him holding onto Kyo's hand like a lover does to their ill companion. He shuddered suddenly, wishing that he could rewind time, rewind it so he would haven't to deal with Shigure's endless teasing. What if Kyo finds out? Of course Yuki could merely deny it but he couldn't imagine how Kyo would use such an incident against him. He found himself frowning and growing worried over his silly little night of wonders. It was an accident...or was it?

"You two looked so cute snuggling up with each other." Shigure blurted out, unable to keep it in any longer.

"Shut up..." Yuki managed to say, face aflame with fresh embarrassment.

"It was so romantic, Yuki! I wish I had a camera...oh! That would have been such a Kodak moment." Shigure continued, lost in thought as though trying to recollect the image that was still burning into his memory.

"Leave him be, Shigure." Hatori retorted much to Yuki's relief.

"We're all men here, Tori chan! I think it's perfectly normal for men to cuddle when they're lonely. Take you and Ayame, for example."

Hatori smacked him upside his head which led to an even more annoying Shigure whom eventually calmed done and sipped on his cooling tea. Tooru came in at that moment with fresh, steaming food, bringing a big, beaming smile along with it. Not Tooru, too Yuki thought desperately.

"Sorry for making you wait so long, Yuki kun"

He nodded absently and accepted her meal, eating although he had already lost his appetite due to...certain...circumstances.

"Peculiar thing happened," Hatori began seriously, "when I was examining Kyo, I tried to lift your hand away from his...yet, you had the strength to push my arm away rather roughly. What was even more strange was that you wrapped your arm about his body and wouldn't let go...as though he was a favorite teddy bear of some sort. And during all that time, you were dead asleep. Nothing could budge you from your sleep at all, except if we tried to move you away from your....friend." The gleam in his beautiful eye gave away that Hatori also wanted to join in on the fun.

"Oh, Hatori sensei! Yuki is very strong in the morning and he gets really grouchy if you wake him up when he's having a good sleep," Tooru informed him sweetly.

"Well, mostly everyone is. How is your vacation coming along, Yuki?"

The purple haired man looked up quickly from the sudden change of topic, which he was grateful for. He let out a small smile as he saw Shigure slouch in disappointment for not being able to taunt him any further.

"It's all right, I suppose. I'm just glad that I'm able to rest well now that I'm not in the office."

"Well, ever since you accepted that promotion, you have been lacking an incredible amount of sleep," Shigure recalled as memories of an abusive, sleepy Yuki came to mind. "If you hadn't accepted it than I am sure you would have had plenty more vacations. We could have taken many trips together like going to the beach and watch beautiful girls, I mean women---I mean..ocean...and scenery and...stuff."

Hatori rolled his eyes, "some things never change."

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"What's wrong?"

Kyo slowly looked up at the small figure that looked down at him from where he was sitting. The sun was blocking his view and he quickly shielded his eyes against the stinging rays. A little girl slowly made her way in front of him and seated herself down upon the soft patches of grass. He than immediately recognized her as the girl he had played with under that same tree.

She examined his tear stained cheeks and his sleep ridden face, "did you get in trouble with your mommy?"

He looked down at that moment, choking on his tears and he managed to spit out the words that has been lingering on his tongue for so long.

"My mama's sick. They say she going to die..."

"What's die?" She asked, obviously puzzled.

"It's when you never wake up. You don't breathe and your heart stops."

Her eyes widened in surprise, "but isn't there a medicine to make that go away? You should talk to Hatori sensei. He has lots of medicine in his room and stuff because he's a doctor."

Kyo shook his head sadly, "Hatori sensei told me that she was going to die and that there was nothing he could do..."

"I'm so sorry, Kyo chan. I hope that she won't die and get better." She smiled sweetly, reaching for his hand and holding it in hers. She kissed it shyly, but didn't let it go.

"You never told me your name...what is it?" He suddenly grew shy and found himself unable to meet her gaze. He never had a friend before, nor had he received such kindness from anyone in general.

"My name is Souma Yuki."

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"He's awake at last." Shigure said with a smile as he watched the red head slowly make his way down stairs. He looked awful.

"Where are you going so early?"

"Early? It's already six o' clock , silly. Are you hungry?" Well, it was pretty obvious he was since he ate nothing all day, Shigure thought vaguely to himself, and giggled.

"I'm starving. Where's my keys?"

"Are you leaving already? Well, Tooru made you something about an hour ago. We tried waking you up several times but you were like a corpse. So, if you're hungry you can eat what she made you." And with that, he left without saying good bye.

Kyo shook his head and slowly made his way to the kitchen, feeling extremely tense and felt this aching roar at his back. He was surprised that they didn't call Hatori to check up on him, but he supposed he wasn't really worth looking after. He grew angry for only a second until he saw a lovely bowl of oyakodon placed before him. His mouth was watering rapidly as he stripped the plastic wrapping and began gobbling the whole thing into his mouth, not caring if it was heated or cold.

"Oh. You're still here."

He stopped midway and looked up at Yuki whom was looking at him coolly. Growling, he shrugged it off and continued his meal until he was completely satisfied. When he was full and well, he lazily made his way outside, sitting on the porch and trying to massage his shoulders on his own. He had slept for too long that it made him tense, he thought sourly. To his surprise, he felt powerful hands push his own away and massaged deeply into his sore muscles. Stunned, he slowly looked back and saw Yuki kneeling behind him, a look of concentration imprinted on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Shut up."

Kyo sat there, quiet and nervous. He felt himself grow even more tense for he was uncomfortable and uneasy. His eyes wandered about, afraid to turn around, to breathe or to even move away from his touch. What was he thinking? Why was he doing this? He didn't ask for it...Perhaps he pitied him. After all, he got himself stuck in the woods with a dumb fever, lying in bed as though harmed for a severe injury. He displayed weakness by showing that he was bothered by an aching back. He was such a fool for thinking that Yuki had come around to actually care for his well being.

He quickly stood up, which he soon regretted for he felt a slight twinge on his leg for doing so. "I don't need your god damn pity!"

Shocked, Yuki stared at him wide eyed but quickly recovered from that sudden out burst. He sighed loudly, refusing to stand up and continued to kneel.

"Your fake sympathy is sickening and I'm tired of it. You can just shove it up your ass! All of you!"

"When will you ever shut up?" Yuki looked up at him with a flicker of annoyance. "Just sit down and be quiet."

Kyo looked at him warily, unsure of what to say yet angered for feeling like a fool. He stubbornly lifted up his chin, squaring his shoulders and sat back down in a haughty manner.

"Relax, stupid. How do you expect me to loosen these knots when you're tensing more and more by the second?"

"Well it isn't exactly easy to relax when you're around." Kyo replied crisply.

Silence engulfed them, until Yuki resumed into beating Kyo's aching muscles. Not only was he relieving pain from Kyo but he was also letting his anger out. Fool, he thought angrily. If only he knew, if only he remembered! Than maybe he wouldn't be so god damn difficult... After awhile, Kyo broke the silence with a question that took him completely aback.

"Yuki...did we ever have a cousin who had the same name as you? I don't remember her exactly, but I think her name was Yuki. Or maybe it was Yuuki...or Uki...maybe Yuni....I don't know."

"No."

"Are you sure?" Kyo asked, suspicious.

"Well, I guess so. We have so many cousins that I can't really keep up with all of them."

Silence dawned on them again as they sat there, almost comfortable with each other. Kyo's mind wandered and he found himself daydreaming about his dream. He desperately tried to remember the girl's face but couldn't. His dreams were becoming unclear to him now and he almost felt like he was loosing a bit of himself. He felt close to her, happy and safe. Did she really exist? The dream world often seemed realistic so perhaps he created her through his imagination. But was it really a dream? What if they were memories, long forgotten. But if they were memories, than how could he ever forget something so sweet? A slight twinge pierced through his head and he thought it would be best that he should not think any further.

"All done."

Before Kyo could thank him, Yuki was already walking away. Frowning a bit at his sudden departure, he was thankful that he had relieved him of the annoying pain. He felt refreshed and healthy and ready to kick some ass. He smiled goofily until he caught himself and quickly walked inside the house as well.

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"You're spending the night, again!?" Shigure exclaimed, happiness gleaming in his bright eyes.

"Only for a little while," Kyo said coldly, "I want to meet the other's and I'm bored at home. I mean, I'm bored here too but I'd rather be here than there. Well, not really but---!" Finding that he found himself contradicting his words more than once, he was left with nothing to say and quickly stormed off . Within seconds, he could hear Shigure's increasingly loud laughter.

The older man shook his head, far too amused at Kyo who never ceased to entertain him. Biting back yet another bark of laughter, he made his way to his study and was surprised to find that Yuki was sitting in front of his desk.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Shigure spoke cheerfully, as he sat down before him, peering into his solemn face. "Wow, you seem to be in high spirits."

Yuki woke as though in a trance, glancing back and forth until he excused himself and left the room. Shigure lifted a brow and slowly came to a realization that only left a big, fat grin on his lips. Tooru walked in at that moment, holding a tray of warm green tea for him. She looked behind her shoulder, confused on why he was smiling at her in that way. She blushed a little and entered the room, handing him the warm cup.

"Did you get a reward?"

"Huh?" Shigure asked stupidly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You were just smiling so big that I thought something great happened." Tooru bowed, glowing every shade of red.

"Ah, but something great happened indeed," He began. "Yuki kun came to my office for some good, manly advice."

"Really?! Is he in trouble? Did I do something wrong? Is he feeling better? What happened?"

"Well, he walked out before he could talk," Shigure replied quickly, ignoring Tooru's puzzled look, "but! I knew it had something to do with Kyo kun!"

They both stared at each other than; mischief glistening in their big smiling eyes. He stood up and leaned close to her, whispering something for her ears only as her eyes widened and settled. Nodding her head in silent agreement, she smiled at him before leaving him.

"Let the fun begin..."

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I won't be updating everyday anymore since I started school, again. I will update as much as I can though, and besides...the story is almost over. I hope you guys are liking it so far. If it is getting too boring, than please tell me so I can brighten it up a bit and fix it so that it could be more entertaining. And I would really appreciate it if you left a review...I'll be so very happy :) Also, I am planning on writing a new fan fic, but this time it will not be a yaoi. It will be based on an "odd" couple, though...I really love Yukiru and prefer it more than Kyoru...but, I have a weak spot for Hatori. So, if you are a fan of Hatori, than please watch out for it :) It should be coming along very soon!

Hae-jang Lee