Still trying to get back into the swing of things. Completely unrelated to Ties, which is still sloooowly advancing. Tohru POV, massively OOC because it's my party and that's how I dance. Set sometime during the last book (post-Curse). Try to enjoy.
Disclaimer: I disclaim.
Cat in the Rain
The soft rapping of rain on the roof wakes me. Mornings like this rouse me slowly, so by the time I'm fully conscious I have a lazy grin on my face. This particular morning, I roll over and point my grin at the owner of the arms wrapped around me; the man of my dreams; my beautiful Kyo. The returning smile I am expecting is absent, however, and in its place is a pained sleeping face.
It's been six months since the Curse broke, six months that Kyo and I have been together. With the new freedom of embracing each other, I've taken to sleeping in his bed. (Not that anything happens besides actual sleeping. And kissing. And occasional groping. But that's it.) I've found that being surrounded by his scent, his scent, his entire being...it's the closest thing I know to peace.
But as peaceful as we are, even I still can't raise his spirits on rainy days. Kyo, despite no longer being the Cat, still cannot take water or rain for reasons we don't know or understand.
Frowning nervously, I lean on my elbow in a semi-upright position and place a hand on Kyo's cold-sweat-covered face. "Kyo-kun...wake up," I murmur. He half-whimpers in response. Trying again, I lightly kiss his nose and shake his shoulder. "Please Kyo-kun, it's time to wake up."
My surprised squeak interrupts the rain-flecked quiet when, in a quick bout of strength, Kyo pulls me on top of him. With a weak smile, he hugs me close to his chest.
"Dun wanna," he grumbles into my hair.
"Kyo-kun! We have to get up soon!"
"Sunday..." The dip in his voice tells me he's falling back asleep. His grip slackens and I squirm far enough away to look at his handsome, rain-disturbed face.
"We have Shigure-san's party to go to," I remind him. The words come out of my mouth almost on autopilot, as my mind is focused solely on my hips that straddle his and the large hands that rest very near my behind. The few thoughts that filter in are, er, risque, and would keep us in much past the party.
Kyo must not notice our positions. Surprisingly, he can be devastatingly shy when it comes to our relationship and...advancing things. He told me once that he's afraid he'll go too far too fast and wake up to find I want nothing more to do with him. I told him that that was absolutely, positively ridiculous, then grabbed the front of his shirt to show him how wrong he was. Somehow, red-faced little me is the forward one in this relationship.
"Dun wanna," Kyo groans again now. "Why's...why's that stupid Dog keep writing books anyway? Not like anyone reads 'em..."
I let out a giggle. "I like that you still call him a dog, even after the Curse. You're so cute, Kyo-kun."
He blearily opens his eyes and gives a sly grin. Hands creep from my hips to my waist, digging in teasingly at the spot he knows sends me shrieking in laughter.
I end up under him, grinning madly. The look in Kyo's eyes sets me on fire. Unfortunately, in the second it takes for him to glance at the window, the look is gone. Replacing it is one of rain-loathing dread. He groans and drops his forehead onto my shoulder. The hands he has laced through mine, lying above my head, unclasp. I hear him clearly hiss, "I hate the rain."
While he still hovers above me, I take my free hands and stroke his face. "Why does the rain still bother you, even now?" I ask quietly.
"I really don't know," Kyo sighs. He rolls off to lay on his back next to me. "I can't control this. I thought it was just because of the Cat spirit...Hatori said something about hydrophobia, maybe..." He sighs again. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't give a shit about it either way. It's just annoying, feeling like this every rainy day."
I feel him take my hand again. His much larger fingers clasp mine, holding them gently to his chest. I can feel his heartbeat in time to the dropping rain outside.
"I have to say, I still like it," I whisper. Kyo looks at me, confused. "The rain, I mean. I hate seeing you suffer, you know that. But ever since I was a kid, the rain has comforted me. I guess it makes me happy."
After a long pause, filled with more heartbeats and rain drops, Kyo speaks. "What part?"
It's the childlike curiosity, the uncharacteristic innocence in his voice that makes me beam like an idiot. I need to hide my grin.
Our joined hands come apart again, and I bring his palm to my lips. I kiss it. "Well," I start, "I like the sounds..." Kiss. "The pitter-patter on the roof..." Kiss. "The rushing in the drains..." Kiss. "It's very relaxing."
"Hmmm...what else?" Kyo murmurs. He's wearing the same lazy grin I had on when I first woke up.
I smile against his skin and move up his wrist. "The smell, too," I tell him. "Wet earth after it rains..." Kiss. "Like in the backyard..." Kiss. "And wet sidewalks, they smell good too..." Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.
Nearing his shoulder, I skip past the T-shirt-covered skin to kiss Kyo's collarbone.
"But mostly," comes my whisper, "I like feeling cozy and protected when it's cold and wet outside. Having warmth and comfort all around me..." I kiss his neck and hear a content moan. "It's kind of like how I feel when I'm with you."
The hand I haven't been kissing cups my face now, bringing my busy lips up to finally meet Kyo's.
"Almost makes me tolerate this weather," he breathes when we part for air. I beam, and he pulls me back on top of him. Matching goofy smiles. We're both much too excited for a day so grim and cloudy. Much too excited...
Before we can even get in more than a few kisses, however, a knock sends Kyo's slightly ajar door swinging open.
"I certainly hope that the two people in here are both fully clothed and and very nearly ready to walk out the door," Yuki's embarrassed, if somewhat amused, voice calls. He stands in the doorway with a slight blush on his cheeks and a hand over his eyes.
"Would you knock first!" Kyo snaps half-heartedly while I, red-faced, practically jump out of his lap.
"I did. You should learn to lock your door if there are things you wish to keep private." Yuki peeks through his fingers and visibly relaxes when he sees that Kyo and I are indeed wearing pajamas, as well as sitting several feet apart.
"We'll be ready in just a few minutes, Yuki-kun," I tell him. Kyo chooses this moment to curl into a ball, burrow into his blankets, and groan loudly.
Yuki and I share a look.
"I'll get him up," I say.
"Hatori is picking us up in ten minutes," he reminds me kindly, then adds that it's supposedly going to be pretty casual. With one final eye roll at the Kyo-blob, Yuki smiles at me and leaves me alone with my boyfriend at last.
"Still not seeing the appeal," Kyo says, groggy even now. He nearly fell asleep on my shoulder during the car ride over here. As we shuffle slowly from Hatori's car to Shishou's house, huddled under a large black umbrella, Kyo is remarkably less fond of the rain than he was back in his room.
"You're not getting wet, are you?"
"Well, no," he admits, grumbling. "But still."
We reach the house and linger in the entrance hall, letting Yuki and Hatori go ahead of us. I can hear the voices of various Sohmas in the main room.
"Do you wish we were still in bed?" I ask, grabbing his arm and letting the worry coat my voice.
Kyo smirks and leans into me. "Of course, but I wish that most days." He touches my cheek, which I know is flushed. Then, seeing my anxiety, he sighs. "I'll survive today, if that's what you're asking."
"You're sure? Because we can make excuses if you're not feeling up to it."
My beautiful boyfriend laughs loudly, the way he never did in public before the Curse broke. "Innocent Tohru, lying through her teeth to get out of a family function?" he questions. "What has the rain done to you?"
"I'm not as innocent as people think," I declare, almost proudly, as we begin to walk towards the party anyway. "You should know that better than anyone, Kyo-kun!"
Wordlessly, his arm slips around my waist, as if to say, Yes I do.
We reach the raining morning brunch at last, the group of Sohmas and various others. It's still a shock to see a room where Akito is conversing with Hana-chan and Isuzu is nearly laughing at something Yuki says. I untangle myself from Kyo to greet the room when my foot lands in a wet patch on the hardwood floor, leavings from somebody forgetting to shake the rain off themselves properly.
I think both my feet go up in the air as I slip, and I land like a cartoon character, flat on my butt. The room bursts into applause.
Kyo quickly hoists me up with a wild grin and says, "Still enjoying the rain?"
(Urrrg, stupid ending is stupid but I'm trying not to care so ANYWAY.) In my mind, post-Curse Kyo/Tohru are like constantly sexing each other up. It's not even a secret. So that's how I wrote them, embarrassingly intimate. There you go.
Reviews are good for the soul.
Jax