Nine Lives

Day 4/9

Yuki sat boredly in his large chair in the main room. He always found it rather unsettling that Shigure had these chairs made to imitate that of thrones. "He always has been a bit too ambitious," he thought. Yuki had been given the task of assigning tasks for the masquerade in six days, and he would rather do almost anything else.

It wasn't that he wasn't good at coordinating, in fact it was quite the opposite. He had a natural talent for directing people, which Shigure joked was a great quality in a future Prince, and later, King. But they were things like choosing flowers, security, who would greet people as the guests arrived; that sort of thing.

At the very least, he could count the days until he would see Machi again. He smiled, knowing that she would be present to wish him a happy birthday. He wondered if he could sneak away for long enough to take her to her favorite spot in the garden that evening.

As he was daydreaming about his fiancee, he heard faint yelling down the corridor. "What could that be?" he wondered, sitting up straighter in his chair, placing his list of tasks on the table beside him.

The yelling grew louder, but when he heard metal clashing, he reached for his sword and dashed out toward the main entry hall, buckling it to his belt as he ran. "Who could be intruding? There's no other explanation for all this racket." His mind raced alongside his feet, then he finally arrived to see about ten of his guards scattered across the floor, all unconscious.

When he tore his eyes from the sight, he noticed another small group gathered around someone, attacking them, but having no luck. "It's just one person?" he thought, his brain wracking itself to think of all possibilities.

"Yuki!" He turned his head to see Tohru rushing down the large stairs looking panicked at the chaos on the main floor. "Stay back, Miss Honda!" he called before hearing one of his guards frantically call out a warning to him.

He vaguely registered Tohru gasping as he drew his sword and barely blocked an attack. He expected the attacker to bounce off his sword and continue, but instead, they held the sword against him, seemingly trying to overpower him with the brute force of his sword.

Soon, Yuki realized only one person he knew would do such a thing, and he met his eyes with a matching death glare. "Hello, Kyo." he seethed as they pushed against each other. "Hey, rat boy." he replied with a shit-eating grin. "You ready for another match?"

"Usually you ask that before attacking." Yuki grunted, grounding himself better. "That doesn't answer my question." Kyo hissed, shoving hard, then taking the opportunity to back up on the smaller platform of the stairs that continued up after it. The ginger haired alley cat wore a grin that was just as infuriating as Yuki remembered, and he felt his blood begin to boil.

"First, he tries to get Miss Honda to fall in love with him for his own selfish reasons, then he attacks me in my own home? This audacity will not go unreconciled." he thought bitterly, standing up straight and pointing his sword accusingly at his opponent. "Only on proper grounds. I will not have this place destroyed by your reckless fighting style." he leered.

"Good! I don't wanna fight in a stuck up place like this anyway!" Kyo shouted in response. Then, he glanced at the stairs, finally noticing Tohru's presence, but trying to keep his focus mainly on Yuki. The nobleman didn't miss how he kept his gaze on him, then occasionally glanced back to Tohru.

"What's the matter, cat? Deciding on your prey?" Yuki seethed, his hand resting dangerously on his now sheathed blade. Kyo took a moment to register his insult, then growled. "Hardly. I'm just wondering if this pretty young lady here will be there when I kick your ass!" he called. Yuki could practically feel Tohru's face turn red behind him and he scowled.