((Hello everyone! Welcome to my little Loveless story. It's a sickly sweet tale of teenage friendship, humour, cultural differences, and dumplings. It also involves a good chunk of my own OCs so, don't like it - don't read it folks. :D

Warnings: Light BL, bad language, occasional British slang usage, aye.

Notes: Before you get your hopes up, there is no relation to the spell battle side of Loveless in this particular world. I'm just using the characters for my own spin on a lifestyle-type story that takes place a few years on. Sorry. And my guy's name is pronounced koo-fay. Kay? :9

Cheers~))

CHAPTER EIGHT

The neko-jin called Naoki Kubo was one of the few boys from Ritsuka's 1st grade High School year who had already turned sixteen, though really he had always been quite tall for his age and held the air of a mischievous older cousin. Though his height had given him a certain confidence early on in his school life, it was his love of power over his classmates that ruled him. He had even enjoyed his role as prefect once or twice in his previous schools, though as he grew older the rebellious streak that his older sister had nurtured pushed him away from academia and comfortably into the role of the bully who was admittedly failing a number of his subjects.

He flicked a strand of dusty blue hair away from his cruel but rather handsome face, and looked smugly down on the defensive dog-boy Kufe, helpless in the middle of his group. Dark clouds were descending over the school field, patches of light rolling over the boys as they stood in their P.E. outfits, cornering Kufe menacingly at the very end of the pitch. Naoki eyed him greedily, his mind already set upon the idea of freeing the boy's ponytail and perhaps even giving him a haircut too. He brushed a finger excitedly against the short penknife stashed down the side of his shorts and gleefully watched his cronies making teasing grabs at Kufe's hair. Although he kept ducking away from them, he was running out of space and could feel more of them pressing in around him. His head was spinning. It was his English middle school all over again.

Without warning one of the bigger boys grabbed his arm and wrenched it behind his back, locking it there as Kufe let out a short noise of surprise.

"Stop this!" he then tried.

"Oooh, trying to speak Japanese are we, mutt? Y'hear that guys? Tch..." Naoki sung, his cold face then grimacing. "I don't like it. Your dirty foreign tongue pronouncing our words is disgusting. You should be ashamed." He received a round of agreement from the five other boys. "And what's with the get-up everyday? You tryin' to be some kinda punk, kid?"

"We should rip this dipshit's piercings out!" said one of the smaller boys excitedly.

"See where else he's got em heheh," another agreed.

"Tryin' to fit in with the gay-ass Visual Kei crowd, eh? Tryin' to act like you're Japanese? Speak up you fuckin' mongrel," Naoki spat.

"Well if you won't let him speak Japanese he can't exactly reply can he."

The group's heads spun around to see Ritsuka stood behind them, his soft features set into a scowl. Naoki wavered for a moment before grinning at him.

"Look who it is. Aoyagi's come to join the fun," he said, lifting his arms in a welcoming gesture as the others chortled.

Kufe's eyes shot up and he jolted. "Ritsuka, get out of here!"

"Aw look they talk all English to each other," the big guy holding Kufe said mockingly.

"Cute," Naoki sneered in English.

Ritsuka's eyeline had not shifted from Naoki. "Let him go Kubo."

"Why should I? He's broken some school rules y'see. We're just teaching him a lesson, you understand, you're smart," Naoki replied innocently, the smile still playing on his lips.

"Let him go," Ritsuka repeated firmly.

The tall boy's grin faded slowly as realisation dawned on him. It seemed as though it just wasn't going to work between them. This boy's constant threats to challenge Naoki were finally coming to fruition, and he supposed he would have to deal with it. He didn't want to. Truth be told he rather liked Ritsuka and his whole "air" that meant nobody messed with him for reasons no one quite knew. He secretly even hoped they might ally and team up one day. He had given it a few months and unfortunately things were not playing out that way. And so despite the boy's reputation, he did know that no one had never seen him actually do much yet, bar yelling at a few teachers and self-righteously defending the weak-like now. So chances are he was all talk, he thought.

Naoki cracked his knuckles loudly and decided that he had no choice. He made a long humming noise to simulate thinking and then went, "No. I don't think I will."

"You're all nothing but cowards." Ritsuka shot accusatory glances at the rest of them, but not at Kufe, who was still looking incredibly worried. "Picking on people for stupid reasons-" He found the words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Reasons that shouldn't matter at all! It's like you guys can't find anything better to do. It's pathetic."

Naoki grimaced indignantly, his cat ears flicking around. "We don't need this filthy foreign pig to have a good time, Aoyagi. He was just here. It was convenient. But luckily, you're here now." He opened his arms wide again. "And unfortunately, it looks like you need to be put in your place."

At that, the large boy that had a hold of Kufe dropped him right down to the grass, booted him hard in the gut, and joined his comrades who were advancing obediently on Ritsuka. His eyes flicked towards all of them and he took a defensive stance, his cat ears pinned back with anger and fear for what looked certain to happen next.

What had he done? Diverted their onslaught onto himself temporarily? They would only return to Kufe afterwards. Ritsuka cursed himself for thinking it was a good idea for the asthmatic Yayoi to run for a teacher as they brandished fists at him. The portly one brandished an old plank of wood he'd found nearby, and Naoki, most menacingly of all, eagerly flipped out his knife.

Before Ritsuka could even think, two of the boys had rounded on him. One punched him in the chest and the other clocked him hard on the side of his head sending him straight to the ground. The ringing in his left ear was deafening. He could hear what sounded like Kufe far off in the distance yelling for them to stop. He opened an eye to see him crumpled on the grass behind them, clutching his stomach, but ultimately helpless. He saw the boys blaring obscenities above him amid cackling.

He fleetingly wondered if he was going to die and found an odd sense of calm permeated the pain of the kicks to his body, making time stop in the most pleasant way. This was quickly shattered by a swift kick from Naoki himself, directly to Ritsuka's sensitive ribs. His eyes dilated and he screamed as the pain rippled, the nondescript injury on his torso still incredibly raw. The tall boy's face lit up cruelly and he raised his knee to do the same again with more force, his knife withdrawn for now, when he suddenly heard a distinct snarl directly behind his ear and froze for a half a second.

Naoki was swept to the right with a long and powerful leg as it made contact with his side, knocking him unceremoniously into one of the other boys and they toppled down to the grass. The others spun on the spot to see Kufe lurched into a hunched standing position, withdrawing his leg, his eyes boring murderously into Naoki. Naoki's face then switched almost immediately from confused anger to a blank kind of horror at seeing the intensity of Kufe's expression. The other boys were still and silent.

On the ground, Ritsuka gargled in pain and clutched his side with all the force his hands would allow. The pain that was wracking his body was ebbing away slightly, and it took him a moment longer to register that Kufe had just kicked Naoki and was standing threateningly in front of them all. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed Kufe's wild eyes were lit up with a bright and vivid amber colour, viciously set on Naoki, who was still frozen on the ground. His brushy tail was high and ears pinned forwards, his nails were evening digging into his palms with rage.

The large boy hesitantly made a move and staggered towards Kufe with a yell that sounded distinctly shaky. He was wielding the long plank of wood and drew it right back over his head and swung it down with great force onto Kufe's hunched back. Wood splinted about the place, and it was a few moments before they realised the dog-boy was still standing. In fact, he hadn't moved an inch.

A deep, loud growl surfaced from Kufe's gut, prompting the large boy to squeak and drop what remained of the plank, stumbling backwards. The boys seemed to gasp in unison as Kufe stood up a little straighter, shards of wood pouring from his back, his teeth bared in what look like a very wolfish snarl.

Ritsuka looked up at the shy boy he had befriended and failed to register any emotion beyond shock and awe. Naoki looked utterly terrified and scuttled clumsily to his feet, shoving his friends out of the way, and tried to put some distance between himself and the beast before them. They were yelling fractured sentences like "What the-", "But he was just-" and finally, "What is he?"

One of the smaller boys became incredibly angry with confusion and made a move to kick Ritsuka, whom we was stood nearest to. Kufe saw this with a flick of his eye and lurched over to him so swiftly that the other boy fell backwards in an attempt to retreat. Kufe was hunched, poised strongly over Ritsuka's body, his head dropped low. He glared threateningly at any one of them who dared gave him eye-contact.

"Fuck off," he growled.

Taking the lead of the large boy, the gang took off up the field with quite a turn of speed, shooting confused looks back at the pair. None of them could quite believe what had happened and one or two could not help but laugh very nervously at it, saying things like "Fuckin' weirdo!" as loud as they dared. Naoki however had his eyes pinned on Kufe as they were running, and knew only that this would complicate things a bit, but he was adamant that it wouldn't change anything. Ritsuka still deserved his lesson, they would just have to deal with his guard dog first; or make him theirs.

Back in the dark corner of the field, Ritsuka gaped up at the boy stood over him. Kufe was panting slightly and was visibly shaking. He dropped his head and let out a long and weary sigh as though it were all too familiar to him, then stepping back in front of Ritsuka. Their eyes met for the first time throughout the ordeal, though Kufe looked away quite quickly, his ears and tail dropping to return to their familiar submissive state.

It looked as though he was about to start a sentence he had been dreading for some time but suddenly flinched. "Y-your side!" he pointed, noticing small patches of blood seeping through Ritsuka's P.E. shirt.

It took a second for the words to register and Ritsuka looked dully down to his shirt. "Oh.." he managed.

"Now I know that wasn't from the football game," Kufe remarked, kneeling down to him.

Ritsuka said nothing and tried to sit up with a great deal of difficulty, and only managed it when Kufe's arm snaked around his back to help.

"Be careful…" Kufe muttered in Japanese, easing him up slowly. Ritsuka could feel that Kufe was still shaking next to him. Just then he realised that thoughts were beginning to formulate properly in his mind at last, and he noticed that he felt quite calm in comparison to before. "We need to get a teacher," Kufe said, kneeling up to look around.

"Yayoi get one," he replied in English, making Kufe drop back down. Ritsuka caught his eye and said steadily, "An ookami-jin. You are a wolf, aren't you Kufe?"

The boy's face dropped and he bit his lip. "Sort of," he told him, scratching his messy hair. "I didn't really wanna say anything, 'cause people don't usually take it too well." He looked guiltily at the bits of wood scattered around the grass and managed a small smile. "But I'm not all wolf-type. Just a bit," he said, as though it made the situation better. "Don't tell anyone, kay?"

Ritsuka watched him carefully, the pain in his side aching dully around his entire body, nagging for his attention. He could do little better but lean on Kufe and try not to fall unconscious while they waited in the cold. He gradually felt Kufe calm down next to him and finally his shaking had subsided a little. The cat-boy's hazy lavender eyes blankly watched his own knees, scraped up from a game that felt like it had taken place hours ago. He'd never liked wearing shorts for P.E. and admired Kufe for dodging them so artfully. He realised then that he admired Kufe for lots of reasons, when he thought about it.

He noticed Kufe look up at the school building as the bell chimed from the distance, and heard him sigh, his chest falling beside him. "It's getting late… I wonder if we'll be allowed to go to music class. Wonder if we'll be held back tonight, since we're injured..." Kufe said aloud, looking solemnly around the field. Then out of nowhere, "My dad's in the hospital." Ritsuka jolted and looked at him. He seemed to be wearing that ultimately guilty face as though he was ashamed he had even brought it up, but he continued with a small, awkward smile, "That's why me and my mum are here, in Japan I mean. My dad came for a work thing, so we came too, for a two-week holiday, but there was an accident a few months ago, and… we had to stay with him, since he can't be moved." Ritsuka watched him carefully with his lips parted in shock as the English words translated in his head. He went on, "I go to see him at the Shinagama hospital after school sometimes, which is why I'm not in any after-school katsudou clubs, haha. Wondered if I could even make it today… Sorry... I just wanted to tell someone… y'know?" He hung his head before sneaking a glance at him. "Aren't you in a club?"

"No," Ritsuka replied. "No hobbies, so… choosing a club is difficult..." he said. And it was all he could think to say. He didn't know how to express his condolences in English, and his head was throbbing.

Despite the heavy subject matter, they sat in a very comfortable silence for a few minutes, in which Kufe budged behind Ritsuka a little more so he could lean easier, and they saw a schoolgirl jog nearby, but neither seemed to want to call out to her. Ritsuka felt so privileged to have been allowed to hear not one but two of Kufe's secrets, and could still scarcely believe that he had defended him so passionately not five minutes ago, and more shocking still was the fact that Ritsuka no longer seemed to care about his creed at all. He could feel no malice, or fear, and again felt so at peace against Kufe's body that little else seemed to matter. It was amazing.

Suddenly, once again the words seemed to arrive in his mouth without invitation.

"There's a social worker at my house today," Ritsuka said quite quickly, although then had to repeat himself in English to a very surprised Kufe. "And I don't know what will happen after. It uncertain… My mother… she…"

He had done it; he had broached the unspeakable subject. It didn't matter that he didn't know how to continue it. The fact was that he had mentioned it and it now existed to someone other than himself, and Kufe seemed to understand at once and nodded calmly. Ritsuka's stomach bubbled violently at the words resisting to be said, clawing at his throat, and had to skip over them, else he felt he would vomit.

"Nurse will call… Then she finds out." He gestured to the injury. "...I don't want to go home," he whimpered.

Kufe's eyes narrowed at him sympathetically and he pulled him into a very gentle hug just around his shoulders, making Ritsuka snuffle just under his chin, fighting the emotion that would come next. Though he needn't have worried about it because Kufe pulled away and smiled sweetly at him.

"Want to go to my house?"

Yayoi had not returned with a teacher in time to stop the pair from making a break for it. And by that, I mean that they limped ungracefully into the trees, Kufe lumbered back to the empty changing rooms to find their clothes and bags tucked away, dodged two teachers, and then they made their way slowly into the city, draped over each other's shoulders and drawing a few looks from passers-by. A kindly lady had asked them if Ritsuka was alright, but since they had donned coats that covered the dry blood it didn't look as bad as it could have, save for the bruises beginning to show up in visible places.

Thankfully they arrived at Kufe's place without incident as they had walked at a very snail-like pace with Ritsuka's long purple tail latched lightly around his leg as though for added support. Once they had climbed the stairs gingerly onto one of the balconies of the complex, he unlocked the door to apartment 406 and ushered Ritsuka gently inside, hoisting up as much of him as he could.

By this point Ritsuka's pain was a dull, annoying ache, suppressed by the sensation of movement, but as soon as Kufe had helped him down onto the small two-seater sofa he all but collapsed, the ceiling fading out into a cozy, warm darkness.

Some time later Ritsuka's eyes flickered open in response to the bright orange sunlight on his face, striped by metal blinds hanging down from the living room window. It took a while for his eyes to come into focus properly thought he still found he did not recognise where he was. He groaned weakly and tried to sit up but uttered a sharp intake of air when his side reminded him of the fight. Looking down, he lifted a blanket and realised that his shirt had been removed, his upper torso bandaged right around his back, and there wasn't a trace of blood to be seen. He wrinkled his nose at the bandage and looked around, squinting through the light for the one responsible. All he saw were a lot of boxes piled everywhere and one dead plant sitting sadly in the corner.

Suddenly his ears perked up as he heard a clanking noise coming from a room somewhere behind him. "...Kufe?" he called, his voice cracking embarrassingly.

Said boy then poked his head out into living room and emerged wearing clean clothes and hands dripping with suds. "Welcome back to the land of the living," he said cheerily, though the remains of worry were spread over his long face.

"Am I… in your house?" Ritsuka questioned in a daze, eyes gliding around the room again.

"Yeah, that okay?" Kufe replied, perching on the thick wooden coffee table in front of the sofa and deftly dried his hands on the ends of his baggy green shirt. Answering the look of confusion he said, "Your ribs were bruised all the way down... I'm guessing that's not news to you, but I don't know if you've fractured one though, so you might be best getting it seen to. The fight seemed to cause a few superficial injuries ontop, but I don't think it's serious. I didn't check anywhere else, so, you're gonna need to do that."

"Thanks," Ritsuka said lamely, only understanding about half of it. "Your stomach… okay?"

"Yeah, just bruised. This is the first time I've played hooky in a while. I forgot how fun it was! Y'know, despite everything. In England we call it skiving."

"Kufe, what time is it?"

"Hmm, it's about four. My mum won't be back home for a bit so... and it'll be dark soon but, you can hang around if you want, it's totally okay."

Ritsuka watched him from the sofa, unable to sit up properly. "You're so nice…"

Kufe scoffed and scratched under his chin thoughtfully. "We're friends. It's expected."

His tail wagged softly against the coffee table, making Ritsuka recall certain spilled secrets. "So, you're a sort of wolf?"

"Yeah, my mum's an 'African wild dog,' which is why my hair's this funny-coloured-mix of brown and blonde, but she has bits of wolf from her dad's side too. And my dad's a regular dog-type with some other stuff I think. He told me once but I can't remember. But yeah, basically lots of canine-dog type-So I really am a mongrel."

"No you're not!" Ritsuka told him.

"Yeah I am. It's the definition of a crossbreed, it's okay."

"It's not okay when people use it for insult…"

Kufe smiled warmly at him. "Here, take some antibiotics," he said, pulling a carton of them down from a shelf. "I'll get you some water." Ritsuka downed them as soon as he was handed the glass. "Not worried I'm gonna drug you then huh," Kufe laughed.

"Drug me? No, I know what antibiotic look like," he remarked casually, then looking up at him with an expression of mild interest. "...I didn't know Kufe could get so angry. I didn't guess it."

The boy appeared suddenly drenched in guilt and got up to wander by the window. "I uh… Remember how I said I can get kinda competitive?" Ritsuka nodded. "I can also get… defensive, and confrontational. My psych described it as fits of rage, a bit like bi-polar, but… it doesn't matter. I'm sorry I scared you Ritsuka, I don't really know what I'm doing when I get like that."

Ritsuka narrowed his eyes and thought hard, trying to pinpoint the reason why it had bothered him so much before when he thought Kufe may have been a wolf, as opposed to seeing him act completely wolfish and have it hardly phase him. He supposed it might be because now he knew for certain, there was just no need to worry about it. Although it was equally possible that felt more comfortable now because Kufe had shown himself to have a great deal of emotion, whereas before Ritsuka was having trouble relating to him as he saw him as a static "nice guy." Though he wouldn't admit to the latter just yet.

"Honestly, I was having a hard time to deal with it, when you sent mail about wolf, but…" Ritsuka said, looking up. "I'm happy because you're on my side. I was surprise-surprised-" he corrected himself. "But happy. I'm… honoured because you care.. about...me… sorry, my English is so stupid."

"No, no, thank you," Kufe gasped, flushing slightly. "I just… People like that, you know? I hate it when they pick on others to feel a sense of power. I can't stand it. It's weird, nothing in the whole world gets me angry apart from those petty assholes. Oh, that and animal cruelty," he added poignantly. "But those guys are kinda just assholes too aren't they?"

They both smiled at each other and fought the urge to laugh. What an odd situation.

After that the boys relaxed a little while longer, Kufe flicking on the tiny TV set for him while he finished up washing the plates in the tiny kitchen. As he went around switching a few lamps on, they realised it was probably time to talk about getting him home too. Ritsuka had skated around the topic for as long as he was able until Kufe remarked that he should get started on dinner. The boys eyed each other tentatively and Kufe tried to ease into the decision.

"How're you feeling now?"

"Alright," Ritsuka lied. He was now sat up on one side of the sofa with his legs taking over the other half, his tail swishing cat-like below.

"Do you think you can walk now?" the other boy asked, tipping his head so that his messy pony tail swung round.

Reluctantly, Ritsuka got to his feet and was helped to balance. He was aching like nothing he'd experienced before, but he could move around a little easier now. He sighed knowingly and asked for his coat.

"There's a station around the corner, so I can take a train home," he told Kufe as he dressed up ready to embrace the cold night.

"I'll go with you-"

"No, don't."

Kufe's tail dropped right down.

"I mean, I'll be fine," Ritsuka smiled weakly. "I can text if need you."

"Yes, please do! Actually, text me when you get home okay?" he asked with a note of urgency in his voice, which he then explained. "It's Friday so… I won't see you 'til Monday now. Please let me know how it goes. And you can come back here if you need to, anytime."

Ritsuka nodded slowly, his neck prickling with the awareness that the topic was up in the air again.

"Thank you," Kufe smiled gratefully, walked him to the door without another word on it, and passed over his satchel bag. Ritsuka had had the time to string a few words together as best he could and spoke them together with honest eye-contact.

"I am sorry for your father," he said from the other side of the threshold. "I didn't know of your situation. If I… If can help, if I can help, please tell me."

Kufe watched him bow, mumble something else in Japanese, and fought the lifelong habit of hugging people goodbye. "Thank you very much. Talk to me anytime Ritsuka, okay?"

He nodded. "Goodnight."

"Night."

Kufe's mum Sara had returned home late that night wearing a look of deepest disappointment that her son had not gone to visit his hospitalised father, but rather than argue she didn't say a word-which was worlds worse.

Some miles away Ritsuka had also returned home and tried his best to remove his shoes and tread up the stairs as quietly as he could manage, but failed.

"Ritsukaaa…" his mother called, quickly shuffling down the hall to meet him, a cardigan around her shoulders. He tensed up and suppressed a yell as she threw her arms around to embrace him tightly as he balanced on the first step. "Oh my sweet baby, it's late, where have you been?" She leant back to hold his face and brush his hair away from it.

"Sorry mom," he told her, his long cat ears dropped in submission.

"I was so worried about you sweetheart. Oh my darling, I made dinner but it's gone cold, but don't worry! I'll cook up something fresh for my baby," she sang, taking his hand and trying to lead him to the kitchen, but he resisted gently.

"No mom, I'm pretty tired. I need to sleep," he told her. He was now as tall as her and twice as strong so had little trouble now when she tried to pull him places.

She gazed at him with dark, wild eyes, clear traces of sleeplessness under them. "But honey, you'll get sick if you skip meals, just ask your brother!"

He wrenched his arm away from her and dropped his gaze to the ground. He hardly wanted to think of his late brother now and instead asked her right out, "Did the social worker come?"

She froze for a moment, but smiled widely, madly. "Yes of course. We had tea."

"How did it go?"

"Fine darling, fine. You don't need to worry about such things baby," she cooed, trying to coax him forwards again.

"I'm not a-" he started, but stopped himself before things spiralled. All he wanted to do was get to his room and text Kufe and go to sleep, so he focussed on that with all his might and started up the stairs again. "Goodnight mom."

She stared at him for a few manic seconds before clutching her chest and shrieking, "Goodnight baby! Mommy loves you Ritsuka! Do you need me to tuck y-"

"No thanks mom, night," he chimed ritually as he shut his door. He could still hear her talking to herself downstairs as he got undressed. It was upsetting. And now Kufe knew too. Somehow the thought wasn't as comforting now.

Dropping as gently as he could down onto his bed, he clutched his head tiredly and scratched at his hair, one hand clamped firmly on his ribs. He had been set on doing some firm thinking on everything that had transpired that day but found he was simply too exhausted to do anything other than tap at some buttons. He had even abandoned the idea of dressing appropriately and instead slowly rolled under his sheets, jeans and all.

A few moments later Kufe snatched his smartphone from the edge of his desk and tapped at the screen nervously.

"Wossat? A raunchy text?" came the voice of an English girl with short red hair from his laptop screen. "Ey up fellas, our Koof's got a sext," Nikki joked to the other people in the call.

The portrait of his Scottish J-rocker friend Kane hooted his approval and a shapely girl with a distinctly Gothic vibe gave her thumbs-up.

Kufe disregarded his British friends' usual comments and smiled softly at the text.

I'm at home and things are fine. Good Night

He replied with an, I'm glad to hear it! Sleep tight and have a groovy weekend. And although Ritsuka had to look up the word 'groovy,' he smiled at it from under his sheets too.

"Skype says it's quite late in Japan for sexy shenanigans," Nikki remarked suspiciously from her webcam.

"It's never too late for sexts mon amie," The wild-haired Kane told her, downing the last of his can of cola.

"He's a friend you guys, hold up on the hormones already," Kufe told them, resting his chin on a palm while he sketched lazily, though his reply only made them 'oooooh.'

"Wait, is this that school friend?" Kane asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Which friend?" the second girl said.

"Aw Molly's so behind on gossip," said Nikki. "You should come online more often to talk to Koof. He's done some really interesting shit since he got there. Bedding all the Asians and everything."

"Looks like you'll have to fill me in," the girl called Molly said coyly, brushing some short navy blue hair out of her eyes.

"It's mega nice to see you Molly and I'm glad your modelling is going well, but I'm actually kinda tired tonight," Kufe said, erasing what he'd just scrawled, the edges of a cat tail still just visible on the page. "I'm gonna call it a night, see you guys!" he stretched, waving at them down his lens as they collectively moaned but waved too.

After terminating the group call he scrolled a several blog pages, read a few tweets, and eventually really did call it a night (after about an hour). His friends were awesome and he loved them all, but they were terrible when it came to relationships. All three were sexually active and so rather expected him to be and to hear about it as well. It was difficult to talk to them about having friends other than themselves because they seemed to automatically assume that he was getting off with them on the side. It was funny, but exhausting sometimes-and not something he particularly liked thinking about for certain reasons.

But, like Ritsuka, Kufe was far too drained for any serious thought and climbed drowsily up to bed on his bunk, though only dreams of vicious fights awaited him that night. And in them he could have sworn he were carrying a tiny kitten.