Damn Rat

Tohru sighed inaudibly as she looked at Kyo. It was raining again today so he was even more irritable than usual. She then looked across at Yuki, she was a little more worried about him; he'd had a really bad asthma attack two weeks ago and he'd been forced to go back to the main house so Hatori could treat him. They couldn't risk taking Yuki to a hospital where he could transform in front of a load of people, but Yuki had still been very reluctant to go to the main house. To Akito.

Ever since he came back a few days ago he'd changed. He was more withdrawn than usual and spent most of his time staring at the ground and only spoke when spoken to. Not even his fan club noticed yet but Tohru did and it worried her a lot. She knew something must have happened at the main house but Yuki wasn't talking about it. He wasn't even fighting with Kyo anymore; in fact he didn't even seem to acknowledge the cat these days. A few days ago the orange top had landed a punch to the side of the rat's face, but it was only because Yuki was so lost in thought he didn't realise they were meant to be fighting. He didn't even flinch when the fist connected with his cheek. He had shifted his gaze from the floor to look at Kyo for a second before just walking away. Even Shigure was worried. Unfortunately Kyo didn't seem to realise that something was wrong with his rival. He'd called Yuki cocky and a bastard and all the usual things. Yuki didn't reply.

Tohru sighed again. Seeing Yuki so depressed made her depressed 'My candle's gone out,' she thought thinking back to the first time she went to Yuki's secret base.

She just wanted to go home at this point. They were still in class even though school had already ended, the whole of class 2D had to stay back after school to discuss what they were doing for the school festival this year.

"Maybe Yuki should cross dress again" Kyo had sniggered the week before, and while half the class had taken his joke seriously and wanted to do it the other half either laughed it off or told them off for trying to turn their precious Yuki into a cross-dresser. So the idea was put down.

They had decided on doing a play and this meeting was to think up what play they'd be doing.

"What about the story of the twelve Chinese zodiac, and the cat" One student suggested. Kyo, Yuki and Tohru's heads all snapped up at "zodiac"

"That's a great Idea" Naomi Mitzuhri smiled. Normally it would be Yuki at the front of the classroom leading this meetings but Naomi had taken one look at the boy and tactfully took on the job herself.

With general agreement from the class it was decided that the play would be about the twelve zodiac …plus the cat.

"Okay, let's decide on the characters" Naomi chirped happily and wrote all the characters on the board

God-

Rat-

Cow-

Dragon-

Bunny-

Boar-

Horse-

Dog –

Snake-

Tiger-

Sheep-

Monkey-

Bird-

Cat-

"This is not going to be good" Kyo growled under his breath and Tohru couldn't help but agree, tensions were high enough without this. Seeing Tohru's nervous expression Yuki leaned over to her with a soft, encouraging smile playing across his lips "Don't worry, Miss Honda. It's not like anyone could uncover our secret through this silly little play"

Tohru had to smile back, Yuki was back to his old self, even if it was just long enough so that he could comfort her, before his eyes dulled again slightly, she was pleased to note that he definitely looked better today compared to the other days since he came back. She smiled remembering how Yuki had called Kyo a stupid cat the day before. It wasn't something she should have been happy about but she was glad things were getting back to normal.

'Maybe he just needed some time to think' the brunette thought hopefully 'I hope he's completely back to his old self soon'

The characters were all chosen pretty quickly, well, all except three.

"Prince Yuki should be God his beauty can only be compared to something sent from heaven" One of the fan girls argued

"But the cat is the main character if you think about it, Yuki should be the main character" A boy rebutted

"And cats are so cute!" Squealed a girl beside him "Just like the prince"

"Maybe the rat?" Offered a shy girl

The arguing teens turned on her at once "Ew gross!"

"How could you compare the Prince to a dirty, mean rat! He's the bad guy in the story"

"I think the pretty boy would make a perfect rat!" Smirked Kyo

"And Kyo would suit the role of the cat" Yuki added icily "A fool should play a fool"

The room was shocked, no one at school had ever seen the purple eyed boy be mean before. Suddenly Tohru was more concerned than ever.

"Yea well a sneaky bastard like you would suit the role of the sneaky rat best" Kyo bit out and stood from his seat

"If I'm sneaky what does that make you?" Yuki responded "I've never tried to attack anyone in their sleep" he raised a brow pointedly while Kyo fumed

"I swear every time you open your mouth it pisses me off!" Kyo yelled and Tohru wasn't sure if he knew that he was re-enacting their fight from a while back

"And every time you open your mouth you sound like an idiot"

"Well, you'd be perfect for the rat since you both think you're so much better than everyone else!"

Yuki glared in response, Kyo was making this too personal

"And just like the rat sucked up to God by arriving first you suck up to Akito!"

"Don't you dare bring Akito into this! Besides you act like I have a choice!" Yuki stood as well now "Did it ever even cross your mind that when my parents gave me to Akito I didn't have a say in the matter?! I told you before to just shut up about things you know nothing about!"

Tears filled Tohru's eyes, around her everyone was confused or distressed or both, but everyone was silent as the two cousins argued. She wanted to intervene but knew she'd probably only make things worse.

"You know what?! You're right I don't know anything about whatever the hell happened between you and Akito that made you so freaking terrified but I do know you. And you're just like the rat. You're a coward" Kyo's tone was as icy as Yuki's as he stared hard into the eyes of his nemesis.

"You hide behind a fake smile and your stupid manners so you can keep people at a distance. You don't want anyone close to you, you don't want anyone to know the real you because you're ashamed of the real you. The thing that scares you more than anything else in the world isn't Akito or anyone else. What frightens you the most is that people will see the real you and see how pathetic you are"

The tears spilled down Tohru's face, she could tell from Yuki's expression that Kyo had hit the nail on the head

"Kyo, please stop" She sobbed and Kyo and Yuki looked towards her with concerned eyes at once

"Oh miss Honda" Yuki said worriedly and then looked around the room as if just realising where he was. He saw each horrified face and what had happened hit him like a tonne of bricks that weighed on his heart.

Kyo was looking guilty, noticing that he had upset the girl he was kinda sorta in love with.

"I have to go" Yuki said, his voice barely above a whisper before he walked briskly out of the classroom with his head down.

"…Who's Akito?" Asked the shy girl who had suggested Yuki be a rat after a few moments

"The head of our family" Kyo sighed as he slumped down onto the ground, fully aware of all the glares aimed at him "Damn, I'd never thought I'd feel guilty over anything I said to the pretty boy"

"You should apologize" Tohru smiled a sad, watery smile at him "You went too far"

The orange-top jerked his head once. He'd do anything to wipe the tears from Tohru's face, even if it meant apologizing to that damn rat.

Kyo checked the roof first out of habit. It didn't really occur to him that he was the only one who liked high places when he was upset.

"Okay, think like a rat…" Kyo muttered to himself as he scanned the hallways. He remembered the alley type place behind the school and set off there.

He tried not to care about the sight that greeted him in the empty backstreet.

Yuki was sitting on the floor with his face in his hands and his back slouched against the wall.

"Yuki" the cat called softly

The rat looked up sharply; it was obvious that he was holding back tears "Is Miss Honda okay?"

"Fine" Kyo said incredulously "Are you okay? Not that I care but I guess that some of the things I said in there were a little uncalled for"

Yuki let out a humourless chuckle "Uncalled for? You took pretty much everything I've been insecure about for my entire life and no only confirmed it but told everyone else about it!"

"Hey, you said some crap too!"

"All I did was call you an idiot! The same as usual, you were the one who had to bring up Akito! And like you said, you know me; you should have known that I'm not okay! Or maybe that's why you did it, trying to tip me over the edge? You'd finally win" Yuki smiled bitterly

Kyo lifted the rat from the ground by the front of his shirt "Damn you rat boy, I'd never try to beat you like that! I don't think about what I say when I get angry-" he was cut off mid rant by something that caught his well-trained eyes.

When Yuki's shirt had been pulled up it had revealed a portion of Yuki's toned stomach that was covered in bruises and cuts

"What the-?" He pulled up the shirt almost all the way to reveal even more painful looking bruises. Yuki pulled his shirt down harshly

"This is what it means to be close to Akito" he began to walk away

"Yuki… I'm sorry" Kyo called out to him and the rat didn't even pause

"I have never been so humiliated in my life, sorry isn't enough"

'Shit' Kyo muttered under his breath 'what the hell am I supposed to do now?'