Disclaimer: Takaya Natsuki is the rightful owner. I'm merely borrowing her creations for my own diabolical ideals. No, really.

A/N: My second attempt at another Furuba fic, and I'm hoping this one will do a lot better than my other one. XD I'll say this now: Tooru is a bit OOCish. In any case, please enjoy, read, and review. Thank you.

Life's Many Indulgences
Chapter 1: Our Daily Lives

Kyo dreaded going to school this morning - if he showed up (even if it was simply appearing by the school's gate) a ton of girls would flock around him like they were wild animals in heat. It was annoying, really. Kyo was well known for not being very good with dealing with girls, but that didn't stop the crazy minstrels from trying to get him to go out with one of them.

"Ahhhh, it's Kyo! He's here!" a girl shouted.

"Damn . . . Since when did I say it was okay to address me by my first name?" Kyo was completely surrounded today. He sighed and wondered how he was going to get himself out of this one. "Well . . . Do you all need something from me?"

All at once all of the girls started chattering at him.

"That isn't very nice, ladies." All of their heads turned towards the sound of the voice - they squealed in excitement at the sight of Yuki, the school's most popular prince. "Let Mizunashi have his space."

"Prince Yuki! Please go out with me! Kyo won't, so will you?" one girl asked.

Kyo knew all the girls would leave his side as soon as they saw Yuki, because by far, he was much more attractive, and didn't have a nasty side he liked to show to girls. In the red-head's eyes, he never did see the school prince do anything that would upset anyone - he was the perfect role model for any student striving to be perfect. Alas, it was all the more better for him, because now he was girl free, and was able to walk past the mobbed prince to go to his classroom.

"I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer," Yuki replied. The girl's pout did nothing to deter him from his answer. "You're quite beautiful, however, there are plenty of other guys out there waiting to have a chance with you."

"Why? Do you already have someone you like?" another girl asked.

"I'd like it if you do not ask me that." Yuki sweat dropped when all the girls started glaring at one another. His response seemed to have ignited a war (possibly between the ladies) and it was all because he said he didn't like being asked about who he was interested in. "Please excuse me. I need to get to class before the bell rings."

Everyone warmly greeted Yuki when he stepped foot into the classroom; the only who excluded himself from such sweetly sickening behavior was Kyo. The red-haired teen usually faired better if he was looking out the classroom window while the prince was entering into Mr. Katamura's (their teacher) domain.

"Good morning, everyone," was Yuki's usual reply. He was looked up to by all the male students, and idolized as boyfriend material by all the girls. "Mizunashi, good morning." And as usual he never left Kyo out - he was always greeted by the prince as well.

"Morning, Usuda." Kyo didn't bother to look at him, but Yuki didn't really mind. This was how the hot-headed, red-eyed teen was, anyway. No one was ever given more attention than Kyo thought they deserved from him - quite a cold discomposure, really, but likewise, Yuki could care less as long as a greeting was returned.

"Settle down, students; the school bell has rung, and class is now in session. Otakuni, read the underlined segment on page forty-three of your textbook."

"Yes, teacher."

The school day lulled by like any other normal school day; by the time the bell rang Kyo was out cold on his desk. He didn't wake up until he felt insistent gentle prodding on his right arm.

Peeking one eye open drowsily, he asked, "what do you want," it took some time before he was focused enough to see who he was talking to, "Usuda?"

"Nothing. It's just that the bell has rung, and everyone is leaving."

"So?"

"Aren't you going to leave as well?"

"I'll leave when I want to."

"Mizunashi, is something the matter? Are you not feeling well?" Mr. Katamura asked. Kyo sat up straight then, to look at his teacher. "I'm about to close up the classroom, so I'll need the two of you to leave."

"Okay, I'm leaving." Kyo picked up his pencils and papers on his desk as he stuffed them into his backpack. When he noticed that Yuki wasn't budging, he asked, "why are you just standing there? Aren't you going to leave?"

Flushing, Yuki nodded. Kyo quirked an eye brow at his strange behavior. "I will. I was simply waiting for you, that's all."

"Hmph, suit yourself." Unhooking his bag handle from the side of his desk he stood up, slung it over one shoulder, and started to walk towards the classroom door. He was expecting to see girls standing outside waiting for Yuki (and possibly him), but there was no one around to his immediate surprise. "Where'd all the fan girls of yours go?"

"I sent them off," Yuki replied.

"Teach me sometime."

"Teach you what?"

"You know," Kyo was finding it hard to ask for such a simple thing, "how to shoo away girls nicely when you don't want their attention." Yuki literally gawked at the red-head. "Listen, what I mean to say is that whenever I flick them off, they all the more but come after me with unlimited amount of determination afterwards."

The gray-haired teen laughed at Kyo's silly methods. "You are rather brash in everything you do, after all."

Kyo scowled angrily. "Are you trying to make fun of me?"

"No. I didn't mean it like that. As payment, let me tell you a little something I've never told anyone else."

"Don't bother." With the way Yuki was giving him a questioning stare, Kyo knew he needed something to back up his statement. "Since you haven't told anyone else that little something of yours, it's better off if you didn't tell me either. Besides, what makes you think I'd want to know, anyway?"

"Oh, I see . . . Well, in that case, I won't tell you then, although I really wanted to."

"I better get going; my mom's expecting me."

"All right. See you tomorrow in class," Yuki said.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Welcome home!"

Kyo was tackled by a very excited sister. Her long brown hair covered the majority of his face, as he took several seconds to blow it out of his face. They were both on the floor; he was exhausted (as usual); his sister was sick, so she didn't attend school today.

"Dammit, Tooru, how many times must I tell you not to tackle me like this!" Kyo cried. Sitting up, Tooru apologized over and over until Kyo shushed her. "Just make sure not to do it again; you can at least greet me home in a normal fashion."

"What I just did wasn't normal?" Tooru asked.

"Don't let "Daisies In the Sky" get to your head."

"But I love that show!" Tooru's eyes lighted up at the mere mention of it. "Mimi always greets her brother that way, and he doesn't get mad like you. I wonder why?"

"Mimi and her brother are fictional characters. The actors that portray them are not the real Mimi and whatever her brother's name is, because they've never existed in the first place. The characters are from that novel you love to read so much, understand?"

"Ah, I get it now! Thanks for explaining it to me!"

"We're in the same grade . . ."

"Meaning?" Tooru asked.

Tooru was the younger of the two, but she was exceptionally smart, believe it or not. Yet, when it came to technical issues, she was Kyo's lovable air-headed little sister. They were only step-siblings though, because Kyo and Tooru did not share the same father, but they shared the same mother. In fact, Kyo knows very little of his father, and his mother has never told him anything about him, yet the red-head didn't really mind. His family relations were pretty good despite his shady past.

His step-father's name is Mizunashi Kyo; yes, Kyo has the same first name as his step-father, but it was merely by coincidence. At first, Kyo's mother was worried that her son would feel awkward being around someone that had the same first and eventually same last name as him, but as things turned out he couldn't care any less. At a glance anyone would say the teen was a bit of a stiff-neck, but beneath that exterior he could be a really likeable guy if one knew him long enough.

"You're pretty smart, so how come you don't understand punctual things such as these?" Kyo asked.

"Awwww, don't tease me, Kyo! I'm sick; I have a stuffy nose; and my throat hurts an awful lot!"

"Then don't talk so much, because you're only going to make it worse."

"Oh, mom told me to tell you that she's going to be a little late today, and dad has to go to a meeting with his co-workers."

"Guess we're eating dinner alone again, then," Kyo replied.

Kyo and Tooru's father worked as the executive vice-president of a seafood company, while their mother worked as a nurse at the local hospital not too far by their home. Despite both parents not being home too often due to their jobs, they always found the time to spend some moments together as a family unit here and there.

"What would you like tonight?" Tooru was already getting up and heading towards the kitchen.

"Wait, you're sick so let me do the cooking. You should also be the one asking me what you want for dinner, since you're the one who's not feeling well." Kyo stood up as well and walked towards his sister. "You shouldn't always put other people's wants and needs before your own, Tooru."

Tooru merely smiled and said nothing in response.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Yuki was tired and he felt like lying down. After having come home straight from school his father asked him if he would have liked a match of table ping-pong. And like the nice son that he was, he wasn't going to refuse his father's invitation. Much like Kyo, he hardly spent time with his father due to the fact that his father worked as a plastic surgeon. Yuki's mother, however, was a stay home mom, and she and the gray-haired teen usually spent the day quietly in the company of one another. Even though his father was a plastic surgeon, he had a set schedule and always came home at a certain time in the evening, so it wasn't so bad.

"You seem tired, son; would you like to take a break or stop for today?" Yuki's father asked.

"If you'd like to keep going, I won't mind. It's nice to spend time with you since you got the day off from work," Yuki said.

Yuki was an only child, and not to mention an adopted child. His foster mother couldn't bare children, because when she was twenty-two she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which in turn, affected her chances of getting pregnant. The layering within the wall of the cervix was carved away due to the horrid cancer, and that left Ms. Usuda unable to produce children. The only option she and her husband had left was to adopt a child, and that was when little Yuki came into their lives.

Yuki's real mother died during childbirth, and it was because of that that little Yuki was almost never born. Out of pure luck the doctors were able to pull him out of his mother's womb; if he had stayed in there any longer he would have suffocated - her contractions had ended and there was nowhere for the baby to go.

There was no information about the father, and Yuki's mother didn't give out any information about his actual father in the first place. Therefore, the hospital had little to no information.

The baby was born into the world without a name. The person who named him was the doctor who helped deliver him - he found it peculiar that the child had the complexion of the color of snow, and that was how the baby's name formed within his head. He named the child, Yuki, after the snow that would fall down in many areas of Japan every year during the cold months.

"No, it's all right, son. I don't want you pushing yourself too hard."

Yuki placed his racket down on the ping-pong table, before stretching out his cramped limbs. During the course of their little match he had worked up quite a sweat, and being tired, and having cramped muscles could only be his calling for taking a bath or shower.

Fanning himself for a moment, Yuki said, "this may seem a little sudden, but there's something that I've been wanting to tell you and mother."

"Oh?"

"But can it wait until after I've taken a bath?"

"Certainly, Yuki."

Chapter 1: END