Rei had been hurt, though she'd never have admitted it. Really, she was unwilling to think of it at all. To be hurt by being told their fucking was loveless was to admit to an even greater sin. Rei could struggle on with the understanding that she was weak willed with a rebellious body. She was unsure she could accept that she was hungry for another man's affection, too. If there was one thing Nahoya could not be called lacking, it was love for Rei Yoshino.<br/><br/>She'd been troubled until she'd gone to class, slinking out of the gym some minutes after Kit to fret in her office.  Once she'd steeled herself for lecturing in front of her petulant wolf-boy for an hour, though, Rei employed her remarkable ability to forget and stood poised and pretty at the front of her classroom. Today, perhaps on account of the milder weather, she was able to elicit more engagement from her students. Or, perhaps it had happened out of necessity, because Rei needed someone on whom to focus besides Naho's little brother. It was beneficial to both their wants, either way, and Rei did not demand his attention once during the lecture.<br/><br/>When she did reach him at the car, it was well past the last of his classes. Naho had been discreet, but he'd given her Kitato's schedule before his first day, "just in case." Rei had even worked an hour later than she'd planned, in an effort to stave off this particular encounter. She might even have been buying into the illusion that he'd take a ride home without her. But, there he was, brooding and waiting. It reminded her that he was still quite a few years younger than she, or at least that their maturity still differed greatly. He might be at the university, but he still had the hot-headed petulance of a high school boy. She shook her head, barely enough to notice, and got into the car. "You don't have to." Rei said, glancing at him as she started the vehicle. "But I guess I'm still hoping we can find a way to get along." she said it delicately, after a silence that was nearly too long.<br/><br/>It wasn't untrue, because the practical matter of their continued living arrangements nearly required it. When he did not answer her, and she thought he might light her ears on fire with the intensity of that stare he supposed she wouldn't catch, she sighed. "I would tend to say it's for Nahoya's sake, but I think... at this point... perhaps that's unfair." She said. "I'm hoping we can get along because I... want to." She inclined her head, though her eyes were still focused on the dark road. "It's not that I ever disliked you, Kit, though I know things have been strained in recent years." She didn't actually have a good explanation for him as to why, though, despite the admission. "Really, I'm not certain what happened between us at all." It might have been the dumbest thing she'd said to him thus far, but it was some semblance of honesty she hadn't  seemed willing to explore with him before. It seemed, for whatever reason, she was trying a little now.<br/><br/>When he was still uncommunicative, she let the matter rest, though she felt her cheeks warm with some frustration. By the time they reached home, Rei thought she was positively exhausted. Stressful boy. She was, in fact, so tired that she excused herself from dinner to leave the brothers to provide one another company alone. It had been an absurd day. She wasn't even positive why she'd bothered to say anything to Kit on the drive home at all. He'd told her to stay away from him, after all. If they were forced into proximity with one another, the least she could do was indulge silence. She didn't like the thought of rebelling against that request any more than she was content with the fact that he'd made it. Rei rolled beneath the sheets. How completely ridiculous.<br/><br/>By morning, she was sweating and feverish.<br/><br/>Rei had, it seemed, been exerted in too many ways over the last few days. Though her body had been willing, it seemed she had not been used with such intensity on the order of years, if ever. So, she shivered and wrapped herself tightly in her blankets, head pounding and limbs aching, with the vague thought to curse Kit for a fever that she was deliriously certain was probably his fault.