Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all.


'That stupid rat.'

Kyo stood with his back against the wall in the stairwell. From here, he could hear everything that happened in the main room. Often, before school, Kyo would stand in this spot on the stairs and wait until he heard Tohru and Yuki leave. Sure, waiting meant he was usually late to school. But he didn't really care about school, and a detentions for being late was a million times better than having to see Yuki's smirking face in the this early in the morning.

This morning, however, there was an extra person in the house. Kyo had been curious when he stood listening in his usual spot, and heard Hatori's deep voice, complete with its usual air of exhaustion. The Sohma family and its many illnesses, especially Akito's, really ran Hatori ragged sometimes. The guy needed a break every once in a while, at least in Kyo's opinion.

Kyo's curiosity was quickly replaced with irritation when he heard his name coming from the main room. They were talking about him!

'They don't criticize me enough to my face? Now they wait until I'm not in the room and talk about me even m ore?'

"The school called yesterday," Shigure's voice sounded from down the stairs. "It seems Kyo's been late every day for the past month and some days he doesn't show up at all. And the days he does bother to come, he gets into fights and runs off. They said they've called several times about this and left messages, but I've never gotten any. Kyo must have been erasing them. Yuki, Tohru; you're both in Kyo's class. You must have known about his behavior. Why haven't you said anything to me about it?"

"Well…um…," Tohru sounded nervous. "I wanted say something but I wasn't sure if I should! Mom always said it isn't right to gossip and I figured Kyo wouldn't want you to know! I'm sorry! I guess I should have said something."

"No Miss Honda." This time it was Yuki's voice. Kyo's hands tightened into fists almost involuntarily at the sound of his life-long rivals words. "You shouldn't be sorry. Shigure, I didn't say anything because it would serve him right to get kicked out of school or held back a grade. If that stupid cat can't bother to wake up early enough in the morning to get to school, then that's his problem. Besides, only an idiot would get into a fight with the guys he gets into it with. Personally I'm surprised he hasn't had his face beaten in yet. He's really a terrible fighter. Not to mention that…"

"Yuki," Hatori said with a sigh. "Can you please stop berating your cousin for five minutes so that I can properly listen to your lungs? It's bad enough you won't come to the main house for your check ups. Since I had to drive all the way out to Shigure's house, the least you can do is let me do my job quickly."

'Well,' thought Kyo, 'that explains what Hatori's doing here'. He clenched his fists tighter. 'That damn Yuki! How dare he act like he's king of the freaking world. It's bad enough that all the girls at school call him 'Prince'. He really doesn't need his head inflated anymore than it already is!' Kyo felt a sudden pain in his hands. He looked down, surprised to see little half-moons of blood on his palms. In his anger, he had clenched his fists so hard that his nails had broken the skin.

The ringing of the phone momentarily distracted Kyo from his bloody hands. 'Hope it's not the school again.' He heard someone, probably Shigure, get up and walk to the kitchen to answer the phone. Shigure had been waiting the last week for a call from his publisher about his newest novel. 'Novel, huh? More like dimestore smut.'

"Hatori! It's the main house calling for you. Something about Akito having a fever." Shigure called from the kitchen.

Kyo heard Hatori sigh heavily, then the slight creak of floorboards as he walked over to the kitchen to deal with Akito. Kyo was just thankful that he didn't have to deal with Akito or any of the family at the main house. It was bad enough having to live with Yuki. Shigure wasn't so terrible, even if he spent more than half the day being perverted.

"Miss Honda, it looks like this check up is going to take longer than Hatori thought it would. Why don't you start walking to school so you won't be late? I'll try and catch up with you and if I can't, then I'll see you when I get to school." Said Yuki

"Um okay. Are you sure?" asked Tohru. "I don't want you to get lonely on your walk, although… I really don't want to be late to school… I know! Why don't you walk with Kyo when he comes downstairs! You can make sure that he actually goes to school today."

Yuki sighed. "You couldn't pay me to walk to school with that stupid cat. Not the way he's been behaving lately. I know that he'd just try to fight and then he'll just get angrier when I beat him… Like always. He doesn't seem to understand that I'm a better fighter than he is. I swear sometimes he is the densest person I've ever met. No. I'll just walk by myself."

"Ok," said Tohru. "I'll see you later." Kyo heard the sound of Tohru getting up and sliding the front door open and closed as she left the house.

After hearing what Yuki had to say, Kyo was practically shaking with anger. No, not anger, rage. Forgetting about the pain in his hands, and the fact that Hatori and Shigure were in the next room, Kyo stormed down the rest of the stairs and into the main room. Yuki looked up, surprised to see his orange haired cousin burst into the room. He quickly stood. It looked Kyo was more than ready for a fight.

'What else is new?' thought Yuki.

"You damn rat!" yelled Kyo. "I am so sick and tired of you! What, do you think you're perfect? You think you can call me stupid? You think you can say I'm an idiot? I don't get why people even like you! You're just a self-centered, spoiled little jerk!" Kyo stood, breathing hard, fists clenched, staring at the slender, silver-haired boy across the room from him.

"Are you done talking now?" Yuki said calmly, flipping a lock of hair away from his eyes. "Because I'd really like to kick your ass now, so that I don't have to be too late for school. Judging from our last fight though, I'd say it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes to beat you in a fight."

"That's it! I'm going to fucking kill you rat boy!" screamed Kyo. He ran at Yuki, aiming at punch straight at the middle of his face. He wanted to break the rat boys' smug face.

Yuki easily dodged Kyo's punch and got in one of his own as the orange haired boy flew past him and hit the wall. He usually tried to hold back, after all Kyo was still his cousin, no matter how angry he made him. Today though, Yuki didn't feel like holding back. Kyo had stepped on his last nerve this morning.

While Kyo was still on the ground, Yuki calmly walked around and delivered a swift kick to Kyo's ribs. It was a cheap shot and he knew it. Kyo grunted in pain and clutched his midsection. He started to get up and come at Yuki again, but Yuki aimed a quick punch at Kyo's face, catching him on the right eye. Kyo fell back against the wall, one hand on his ribs, the other on his eye. Yuki pulled his arm back for the final blow.

"Yuki? What in the world is going on in here?" Shigure said, as he walked back into the room with Hatori. "Oh, Kyo. I didn't know you were awake yet. Do you think you two could leave your fighting for outside. It really is annoying when my house gets damaged in the process."

"Sorry Shigure," said Yuki. "Kyo and I were just having a little argument, that's all. I think the fight is pretty much over now anyways. Right, Kyo?" Yuki smirked down at Kyo, who was trying hard not to show pain on his face.

"Shut up! Both of you! I'm so sick of this house! I'm sick of living here, with a self-righteous rat and a grown man who acts like a perverted teenager half the time! I'm leaving! Don't expect me home tonight!" Kyo stood up, almost falling over from the pain in his ribs. He ran over to the front door, and grabbing his coat off a hook near the door, left. He left his backpack where he had dropped it when he charged at Yuki.

"Make sure you go to school today!" Shigure yelled at Kyo's retreating back. Shigure sighed. "Honestly, will the two of you ever stop?"

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