You may want to hold onto something for the next thing I have to tell you: Believe it or not, this story gets serious for a few seconds! That's a first for me, so please tell me how I did, what you liked or hated, and all that jazz us authors/authoresses love. (heart)
EnJoY!
"Come, come, everyone! We've made it!" Shigure chimed happily, easing his way out of a dark, thickly dense forest, knocking over a sign reading: PRIVATE WOODS – NO TRESPASSING while doing so.
Gradually, Yuki and Kyo dragged their feet like lead out of the forest, as well, eyes glaring daggers into the inu's back; every inch of their skin left bare covered in an infinite amount of scratches, scabs, and bruises. "You had us stow away on a plane to the States. . ." Yuki began with monotonous anger in his voice. ". . .then walk Kami-knows-how-many miles. . ."
". . .just so you wouldn't have to waste money on airline tickets and gas?" Kyo finished for him in the same monotony.
All smiles, Shigure began to smell the wildflowers, pretending to ignore the two boys. But suddenly, a series of soft moans and weeps escaped from somewhere back in the forest, and the nezumi and neko spun around in a flash. "TOHRU!"
The said onigiri's head, cheeks red from struggle and embarrassment, poked out from a small gap in the trees, which the other three had recently trudged out of. Yuki and Kyo immediately run over to her, each grabbing hold of an arm.
"Okay, Tohru, just take on step at a time. . ."
"That's it, nice and easy. . ."
They then froze, looking at each other.
"WHAT D'YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Kyo exclaimed in rage, tightening his grip on the girl's fragile limb.
Discreetly firming his own grip, the Prince simply stared at him with an emotionless expression and replied coolly, "Helping this young lady onto her feet, which you are rudely getting in the way of."
"I think it's the other way around, ya damn nezumi!" Kyo growled back, yanking Tohru towards him.
"Coming from someone who can't even eat breakfast without making his clothes a mural of stains, I highly doubt that." Tohru was jerked back towards Yuki.
"AT LEAST I DON'T DRINK MY TEA LIKE A GIRLY-BOY!" Back to Kyo.
"It's really sad how being polite makes you disgusted. Just like baths, I suppose, as I can smell you from all the way over here. . ." Back to Yuki.
"THAT IS THE STENCH OF HARD WORK FROM YEARS OF TRAINING YOU'RE SMELLING!" Back to Kyo.
"Training with bears, right?" Back to Yuki.
"YOU SHUT UP!" Back to Kyo.
"Yahhhhhhhhhhhh. . ." The onigiri's eyes began spinning as her body wobbled about unsteadily. The two boys froze once again, this time followed by a frenzy of pleads for forgiveness.
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"Here it is," Shigure announced, as the four of them stood over-looking the mighty, steaming Niagara Falls.
"It's beautiful. . .!" Tohru breathed, leaning over the railing with sparkling eyes. However, Kyo's dumbfounded glare completely ruined the moment.
"We went through Hell on Earth just to see our bathtub enlarged by a million times. . .?"
"This is the Niagara Falls, baka neko," Yuki replied. "Although I can't expect someone like you to be moved by its awesome and majestic beauty. Only people on a higher scale of self-respect can appreciate such simple things like how that rainbow is made by the sun reflecting off the water-"
Kyo's head perked up. "A rainbow. . .? Where. . . . .?" he asked, curiously but cautiously.
The Prince silently pointed.
"I don't see any damn rainbow. . ." the Neko cursed, squinting his eyes at the spot where Yuki's finger showed. The other lowered his arm and sighed.
"Like I said, only people on a higher scale of self-respect. . ."
Kyo continued searching for the mysterious rainbow, tilting his head, covering one eye, and such, while Shigure leaned over to the nezumi and whispered, "The rainbow can only be seen in the evening, Yuki-kun. . ."
"I know," the latter whispered back with a smile. "I just like to mess with him."
"I HEARD THAT!" Kyo bellowed, nearly shaking the ground under his feet. He then wildly dove for the nezumi, who quickly stepped no more than an inch to the side, causing Kyo fall flat on his face, kissing the concrete. Soon, fists were flown, parries were pulled, and obscenities were out there, as Tohru and Shigure tried in vein to break the two up.
. .Well, it was more of Tohru helping and Shigure pointing and laughing on the sidelines.
THEN.
SUDDENLY.
As Yuki fired a kick aimed for Kyo's stomach, the latter jumped back, slipping on a rock and sending it torpedoing toward the opposite side of the Falls, smashing into a rocky wall. Slowly, one by one, the giant boulders tumbled down into the water below. . .and damming the waterfall above. Everything stopped, the air choked in silence. Even Shigure stopped laughing, while Yuki and Kyo's eyes were wide enough to fall into.
"Nice. . .job. . .baka neko," the Prince choked out hoarsely.
"Um. . . Uh. . . Why don't we, er, take a trip to the Gift Shop now. . .?" Shigure suggested, and the other three all nodded their heads vigorously in agreement.
(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)
Kyo stood outside the Gift Shop entrance, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking bored, while Shigure, Yuki, and Tohru browsed around inside. The Prince was frozen, gaping horrified at a display of Niagara Falls Rid-of-Rodents Mouse Traps, and Shigure and Tohru were venturing through a rack of clothes.
"Excuse me, Shigure-san, but what is this piece of clothing? A headband like Kyo-kun uses for his training?"
The inu tore his eyes away from a T-shirt with a group of dogs lounging on the beach, smoking cigars that had NIAGARA FALLS across the side, looked up, and nearly choked on his on saliva. Tohru stood right in front of him, innocently holding up a, ahem, "nighttime" thong with red frills and NIAGARA FALLS printed on the. . .back. "Oh. . .um. . .y-yes, Tohru-kun, th-that's a. . .headband. . ." he stuttered, quickly taking the lingerie and hanging it between the shirts he had been admiring, hidden from view.
"Do you think we should buy it for Kyo-kun, then?" the girl asked excitedly, clapping her hands together.
"OH! Uh, n-no, I don't think he needs it. . ."
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"So. What'd you guys buy?"
"Yuki-kun got some books about the type of plants they grow in Canada, Shigure-san got a deck of cards, and I got a beautiful red hair ribbon!"
"Cool. . ."
"I apologize, Kyo-kun. All I found that would be of interest to you was a headband, but Shigure-san said you didn't need one. . ."
"Huh?"
(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)(scene break)
The buzzing day soon came to a close, and a crescent of a moon shone brightly in the sky. Wiped out physically and mentally, the gang decided to check into a nearby hotel. Kyo was sprawled out all over his bed, snoring louder than an earthquake, and Shigure murmured in his sleep suggestively, while a shadow rose groggily and quietly staggered out the door.
"Honda-san. . .?"
"YAHHH!" Startled, Tohru whipped around and away from the railing separating her from the rippling water glowing violet in the moonlight below. Seeing Yuki staring back at her with an amused smile, eyes circled with restlessness and gray hair completely disheveled, she relaxed with a sigh. "Oh, Yuki-kun, you scared me. . ."
"I take it you couldn't sleep either?" he asked, taking a few swift steps and leaning against the railing.
"The Falls are just too alluring. . ." she replied with a smile of her own, turning back toward the railing, as well. "It was almost as if it was calling me. . ." Her eyes lit up in amazement.
"I know what you mean. . ." The Prince place his elbow onto the metal banister and rested his chin in his palm, absentmindedly turning his gaze toward Tohru's hair tied up in a high ponytail. "Hey, you're wearing the ribbon you bought. . ." The amused smile returned to his lips.
"Yes." Suddenly, the girl's head perked up with an idea. "You know, it would match with the ribbon you gave to me on our trip to the onsen!" she exclaimed, turning her head to meet his eyes with joy.
"You remember that. . . . .?" he asked in astonishment.
"Of course!" She then gasped. "And I think I have it with me!" Rapidly searching her pockets, her hand finally came upon on small, plain-looking box, but she held more lovingly than gold. "Would you. . .?" she trailed off, handing the container to Yuki.
"Um. . .sure. . ." He gingerly took the box in his own hands, slipped off the lid, and lifted a long, golden-colored ribbon from inside. His fingers carefully made their way around Tohru's head and tied it around her ponytail just above the red one. ". . . . .gorgeous. . . . ." he whispered almost silently, slowly trailing his fingers down her hair and tenderly caressing her soft cheeks. Tohru could feel his every touch tickling deep into her bones.
"Yuki. . . . .-k-kun. . . . ."
"Tohru. . . . ." he breathed, gently meeting her lips with his in a warm, passionate kiss neither one of them had ever experienced before. The ten o' clock fireworks exploded in the black sky right on schedule, and Tohru brought her hands underneath Yuki's nightshirt, feeling his warmth flow into her veins. The boy felt himself come on top of her, deepening the kiss more and more as her back was pushed up against the railing. She leaned backwards more and more over the edge, and, suddenly. . .
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEK. . . . .!"
"TOHRU!"
.The.End.