Hello everyone! This is set after the anime, so in this, there is no Machi or Mayuko ^^ however, in this, the curse IS broken. I hope you guys like this, because I know I enjoyed writing it. Have fun! Yuki x OC, Hatori x OC, and a bit of Kyo x Tohru cuteness on the side (they are already a couple in here ^^)
"I have something to ask, you guys."
Yuki, Shigure, and Kyo all looked up expectantly at their former housekeeper, now Kyo's live-in girlfriend. She stood in the doorway from outside, the portable house phone gripped in her hand. She had been out there for a while, talking in some strange language; one with coughed syllables and harsh rasps as well as melodic lulls. To be honest, it had unnerved Yuki with her rapid talking in hushed tones out there on the porch, like she was planning something.
Tohru smiled happily, and settled onto Kyo's lap as though it was the most natural thing in the world. As he wrapped his arms around her, she continued, "well, I'm sure you don't know this, but I have more family besides my Gramdpa."
Everyone furrowed their brows, and Kyo asked, "Why didn't you mention them to us?"
She blushed. "Oh, well, you see, it just didn't come up. Mostly, I was just too swept up in your family, that I didn't give much thought to my own. They're from my mother's side of the family, though they're quite different than my mother!" She giggled at her inside joke, while the men looked on in bemusement.
"Anyway, they invited me to spend two weeks with them, and when I mentioned you all, they said to bring you along as well! They definitely have the space!" She laughed again.
Singure smiled in delight. "That's wonderful, Tohru! Where do they live? By water?"
Tohru looked mischievous, as though she was hiding something. "Oh, by the water definitely."
Singure was so busy trying to guess, and Kyo was so preoccupied with the woman on his lap, that no one noticed Yuki staring at his lap, silent. Ever since the curse had lifted, Yuki had found himself regressing backwards for some reason. He couldn't place it, but looking and seeing Kyo and Tohru snuggling so comfortably, he had a guess that it was loneliness. He understood his feelings for Tohru were much more innocent than Kyo's, but it still placed his lack of a companion in sharp relief. Many girls at school were vying for the spot, to be sure, but none of them truly understood him, and none of them would ever accept the curse that, though broken, would always be a darkness within him.
No one could touch the deepest wounds inside his soul. Tohru had come close, but in the end, she was born into this world to heal Kyo's scars, not Yuki's.
"I give up, Tohru!" Wailed Singure in despair, falling back onto the floor in exhaustion.
She smiled. "They live in Scotland!"
Yuki coughed on the tea he had just sipped on. "Scotland?! Why do you have family in Scotland?"
Even Kyo looked shocked, and scratched his head in puzzlement. "Yeah, why Scotland?"
"My mom's family has very deep roots in Scotland, so deep they can never be uprooted. They have lived in our family's ancestral castle since it was built in ages long past, before the western world was even discovered, when the Druids still roamed and the Fae still looked over humankind." Tohru had closed her eyes as she talked about her unknown family, as her audience listened with jaws dropped. How could our Tohru have a family like that?
She continued, oblivious. "I haven't seen Castle Naoimhín since my father died, but I still remember it just like yesterday. It's by Loch Awe, one of my favourite places when I was a little girl. My cousin Fìora and I would...WAIT!" She suddenly screamed, making the men jump, startled.
"FÌORA! YOU GET TO MEET HER!" She bounced up and down, Kyo trying to settle her down in vain. "We spent every winter there before I started school, then every summer after that! I grew up there, but when my dad died we couldn't go, but we would still write letters to each other! It was really nice, because I could practice my Gaelic whenever she wrote. She is the most amazing person I know! We would spend all day down by the loch, and in the winter, we would run in the snow, playing with her hounds, and sometimes we would chase her sister's falcons aroun-"
"Sorry to interrupt, miss Honda, but when do you expect us to go?" Whispered Yuki, still looking at his lap. So that was that strange language? Gaelic?
"TOMORROW! Oh, and I expect Hatori to come as well!" She grinned mischievously. "I think both you and him could do well there." But no one was listening anymore.
"What? Tomorrow?" They all cried, the voices of a rat, cat, and dog all ringing out in unison. For once.
*Two days later*
They stood in the circle drive of the castle, and while Tohru was bursting with excitement, dragging her bags through the mud with glee, the other four couldn't move out of sheer...intimidation, and also awe. Maybe that's why they call it Loch Awe, thought Yuki with a ghost of a smile.
The castle was striking, as its many spires rose high in the grey, stormy sky. Thunder rumbled off in the distance, and the castle seemed to groan in protest as its old stones stood the test of time in stubbornness. The castle's former cheery grey had darkened over time to a ghastly burnt-ash, and the castle's wings swooped across the rocky landscape, one side built into the steep rock face leading down to the loch. One of the towers rose higher than the others, a few rocks missing out of one side so that it leaned precariously to the left. The waves of the loch roiled and thrashed against the rocks that the castle was built upon, slamming hard and sloshing up to lick at the castle malevolently. On the loch, the sound of the rain against the dark, angry water created an unsettling sound that hummed through the chilly air.
This was what Tohru thought of when remembering her happy childhood?
Suddenly, the huge black doors swung open, and out poured at least ten giant Scottish Deerhounds, baying and barking as they swarmed the visitors.
From amidst the hoard of grey fur, was the most beautiful girl Yuki had ever seen, and as he looked at her, he felt his heart come alive within his chest and deafen him with its new erratic beating. As if he had come alive.
She was dressed in a dark green flannel nightgown, and wrapped snugly in a silver and red tartan shawl. Her hair was a mass of wild ash blonde curls, springing in every direction and falling in a feverish tumble around her to swirl around her round thighs.
Her hair is even longer than my brother's, he thought in shock.
Her bare feet were slightly larger than the girls at his school had, but he thought they fit her perfectly. She was taller than Tohru, but still shorter than Yuki's spidery frame; however, she had those exotic highland curves that girls he grew up around lacked, giving her the look of a buxom medieval maiden.
Her face was pale, looking almost grey to match the castle in which she lived and the sky she grew up under. Even so, she looked to glow from within with a jovial merriment, both similar and different to Tohru's. While Tohru had this air of innocence and constant optimism about her, this girl before Yuki with her heavy-lidded eyes seemed to be warmed from within with liquid brandy, spicy and comforting, yet as sturdy as the highland warriors before her.
She hurried forward, barking out commands in Gaelic, and soon all the hounds huffed and chuffed their way back into the castle. She then turned to her guests, smiling happily as she hugged an overjoyed Tohru. "Fìora, how are you?! I've missed you so much! You look amazing!"
"You flatter me, Rue! And doona start with me; I've missed you much more!" She pulled away and faced the rest of her guests with a look of apology. "I dinna think you would be getting here till tomorrow! Otherwise I would have bothered to change out of my nightgown, not to mention get into my bra!"
Laughing bawdily at their crimson faces, she stuck out her palm and shook all their hands. Singure did so with enthusiasm, muttering about high school girls; Kyo with a chuckle as he looked at her uncontrollable hair; Hatori with a curt nod and a distant smile; and finally, Yuki.
She smiled, and grasped his perpetually clammy hand in her warm ones, sending his heart to a deafening roar again. How does she have so much of an effect on me?
"It is enchanting to meet you, Yuki."
Alright, there goes the first chapter. I sincerely hope you liked it! If you didn't, please review and tell me ways I could improve for the next chapter. And if you liked, also review and tell me what I did right so I can do it again! XD thank you, and please R & R.