𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 ❄️

23: The Cat's Curse

"Of course it stops raining the moment we get home!" An angry Kyo exclaimed. "Unbelievable!"

Kyo had been really tired thanks to all the rain recently. Despite his mood, he stubbornly trudged home in exhausted silence only to have the rain stop right as we reached the front door.

But if the rain had been making him so exhausted . . . "Shouldn't you be glad it stopped?" I questioned. Kyo harshly threw the sliding door open rather than replying.

Yuki sighed wistfully. "It would have been better if it continued raining." I could tell he missed the silence from a more exhausted Kyo.

"What did you say, dirty rat?" Kyo whirled around and fixed Yuki with an angry look, but his anger quickly vanished at the sound of a voice from inside the house calling his name.

"Kyo-kuuunn~!"

Kyo turned his head slowly towards the open doorway, as if he was afraid of what he'd see. I peeked over his shoulder to see Kagura standing just across the genkan, smiling happily. "Welcome home, my love!" She exclaimed. I've been waiting!" She opened her arms for a hug but the moment she got close, Kyo unfroze and threw his whole body slam the sliding door shut. The sound of the door hitting the doorjamb was echoed by a rather concerning thump on the other side of the door.

"Kyo, are you sure that was a good idea?" I asked. Kyo ignored me, but Yuki snickered at my comment. We both knew Kyo's eagerness to escape Kagura only made it worse when she found him. Slamming the door in her face like this was just asking for trouble.

"U-um," Tohru's voice was higher pitched than normal. "I heard a loud noise. Do you think she's okay?" Knowing Kagura, she was totally fine.

"Kyo-kun?" Kagura called from the other side of the door. "What happened? The door closed so suddenly!" The door rattled as she tried to open it, but it didn't even budge a bit. Kyo was leaning his whole body to keep the door shut firmly.

"That's right!" Kyo growled. "I closed the door. And I'm not gonna open it ever again!" Oh boy . . . He's really in for it now.

The rattling stopped and a heartbeat later, Kagura's fist punched straight through the frosted glass. Yuki quickly tugged me away from any chunks of flying glass. His hands left my shoulders just as fast, as if he was surprised by his own movements. "N-Natsu-chan. Are you alright?" He asked.

"Um, yeah," I said, feeling more surprised by Yuki than Kagura.

"That girl needs to be more careful," Yuki said in a disapproving tone.

I agreed. Kagura's fist had been only a few inches from Kyo's face and it was truly lucky that the boy hadn't been sent flying or gotten hit at all. The hole Kagura had punched in the door was perfectly framed by Kyo's body and showed just how narrowly Kyo had avoided doom. His arms were above and below the hole while his torso and head were dangerously close to the right side of the jagged glass. The cat zodiac seemed to realize he could have died just now and froze completely in a combination of shock and fear.

"OPEN IT." Kagura demanded, her eyes glinting dangerously from under the shadow of her bangs as she looked at Kyo through the new opening in the door.

"O-okay," Kyo agreed meekly. But he didn't open it, backing away instead.

It was good enough for Kaugra, who yanked the door open full-force and threw herself onto Kyo. "YAY! I'm so happy to see you! I missed you so much!"

Kyo was frozen in her arms, which was a reasonable reaction after what had just transpired. However, he recovered a second later and began to struggle. "GET THE HELL OFF ME, DAMNIT!"