Always There
(Standard Disclaimer Apply.)
Life can't always be fun. Pleasure has its place, but so does everything else. Tohru found pleasure in helping out the Souma boys in Shigure Souma's house. She always felt happy with the Soumas but there was one time when she felt depressed inside the house and it's because of…
"Honda Tohru, please proceed to the faculty." The speaker box announced. "Honda Tohru, please proceed to the faculty."
Tohru was spending time with her friends, Uo and Hana inside their classroom. It was almost the beginning of the summer vacation. Hana was going overseas with her famil so she wanted to spend as much time with Tohru as possible. Uo, however, had to get a full-time job to save up for college so she won't be able to spend a lot of time with Tohru either.
When Tohru heard the announcement, she remarked, "I paid my tuition before the exams. I completed all my requirements. I wonder what's wrong…"
Uo assured Tohru, "I'm sure it's not bad news. After all, summer's almost here so…"
"I feel some bad waves coming from the faculty." Hana said, "Be careful, Tohru."
Tohru smiled, "I will. Please, excuse me." She stood up and exited the room. She walked towards the faculty. When she got there, she inhaled deeply before knocking.
"Come in." Her teachers said.
Tohru opened the door. "Sensei," She asked, "I was called to come here. Is there a problem?"
Her teacher nodded. "I'm afraid there is, Miss Honda." She motioned her to come nearer. Tohru obliged and stood beside her teacher. "I guess you have to see this." She showed her the grading list. Most of the letters present were C's and D's. There were two B's but still; most of her grades had descended.
"Oh, no." Tohru exclaimed. "How did this happen?"
"I believe that your final exams are rather low." Her teacher sympathized, "I'm so sorry, Miss Honda but you have to make special projects for each subject." She handed Tohru a folder. "This contains all the instructions for the special projects in every subject you got a low score in. I suggest that you begin at once since those are required the day before the summer vacation starts."
"Thank you, Sensei." She bowed and smiled. "I shall start immediately. If you may excuse me…"
"Go ahead." Her teacher dismissed Tohru. As Tohru closed the door, she sighed and walked away. She browsed at the instructions. "Gosh… This is going to cost me a lot. But I can always improvise…" She read the instructions of the special project in History when she bumped into Hana.
"Tohru!" Hana exclaimed, "We were starting to get worried so I decided to go to the faculty to check up on you."
Tohru smiled. "I'm okay. I was heading back to the classroom before I bumped into you."
Hana nodded. "I see. Let's go and join Uo. She must be bored by now." But she didn't take a step. She stared at Tohru's folder. "What is that?" She pointed at the folder.
"This?" Tohru looked at the folder. She groaned inside her head. 'If I tell Uo and Hana about my grades, they're going to worry. I better think of something to say…' She smiled at her friend. "This is just a small project I made. I asked Sensei to give it back to me once she finished checking it."
Hana smiled. "Oh, I see. Let's go back now." Tohru and Hana started to go back to their classroom.
When they got back to their classroom, they saw Yuki and Uo talking. Both people looked like they were in deep conversation. Hana and Tohru approached them in a discreet manner that the two people didn't notice them coming until…
"What are you guys talking about?" Hana suddenly asked them.
Uo was surprised and said, "Hana! Don't surprise people like that. You're gonna give me a heart attack!"
"Sorry." Hana replied. "I just wanna interrupt our deep conversation."
"Oh." That was Yuki's reaction. Yuki observed Tohru. 'Something's different about her…."
Tohru was smiling. But her current smile was different from her usual, cheerful smile. Uo and Hana were still arguing about what happened earlier
Yuki asked Tohru, "Is something wrong? You seemed different today."
Tohru looked at Yuki and smiled, "I'm okay. Nothing's wrong with me."
"Are you sure?" Yuki was concerned about Tohru. For some reason, Tohru made him into a better person and he loved her for that. As a member of the zodiac, he can't just tell her how he felt. If he did, their relationship could end up like what happened to Hatori and Kana.
Tohru nodded. "Positive."
Yuki glanced at his watch. "Oh, Tohru, I almost forgot to mention. I won't go home with you today. I have a meeting. Is that okay with you?"
Tohru nodded. "It's okay. I don't have to go to work today so expect a great dinner later."
"I'll look forward to it." He walked away and waved bye to Tohru who waved back as Yuki closed the door.
Uo and Hana stopped arguing. "So, what were you talking about with the prince?" Hana asked Uo.
Uo answered, "He can't find Tohru so he asked me to tell Tohru that he can't come home with her because of a meeting."
Hana looked at her friend slyly. "Is that all?"
Uo nodded. "Yeah."
Tohru smiled. "I guess I'll be walking with Kyou today."
Kyou came barging inside the classroom. He looked very angry. He sat on his table and muttered, "Damn Cow."
Tohru walked toward Kyou and asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Yes!" He shouted at Tohru but then, he calmed down a little. "I had to go with him because he promised some girl that she could date me if she helps him with his homework."
"That's nice of you." Tohru remarked.
"IT IS NOT NICE! I DON'T LIKE THE GIRL!" Kyou screamed at her again. Everybody was looking at them.
Uo grabbed Kyou by his collar and asked, "Don't vent your anger at her!"
Kyou snarled at her. "Want to fight, Yankee?"
"Bring it on!" Uo challenged him into a fist fight but she was able to avoid Kyou's punches.
Tohru was trying to stop the commotion between her friends. "Uo, I'm okay. I'm okay. Please stop!"
Uo was about to hit Kyou but she let go of Kyou's collar and remarked, "You better thank Tohru for stopping me."
Kyou didn't say anything and stormed outside. He slammed the door shut and everybody could hear him rant and rave outside.
Tohru went separate ways with her friends a few hours later. She walked on the usual path to Shigure's place and for the first time in the day, she sighed. "What am I going to do? Those special projects are going to cost a lot and I needed to save up for the next year and college." Then, she groaned. "Why am I so stupid?" She continued to walk home.
She opened the door and she noticed no one greeted her. "Shigure must have gone to the Main House today."
She went into the kitchen and started to make dinner for Yuki and Kyou. "Hmm… I guess chicken teriyaki and miso soup would do tonight."
She took out a few cups of rice and placed it inside the rice cooker. While the rice was cooking, she made the chicken teriyaki and miso soup.
When she was almost finished cooking, she heard someone open the door. "Yuki?"
"I'm home." Yuki went inside the kitchen. "I smell chicken teriyaki and miso soup…"
Tohru smiled. "Yes. That is exactly what we are having tonight." She continued smiling and started stirring the miso soup.
Yuki didn't make any reply and stared at Tohru. Out of the blue, he wrapped his arms around her but there was 7 inches distance between his body and her body.
"Yuki…" Tohru said softly, "Why are you…"
"If you're in trouble, remember that you can always ask help from me. I'm always here for you." Yuki whispered in her ear. "I'll help you like you helped me."
"Yuki, I can't ask that from you." Tohru said, "You already have given me enough help already."
"I want to help you more because I lo–" Yuki's sentence was cut off when Shigure came in and said, "I'M BACK!"
Tohru was startled which made jump. She bumped into Yuki which made him transform into a mouse.
Kyou came in to see such a funny sight. Tohru ended up sitting on the mouse. Shigure laughed out loud. He was even chanting, "Tohru's sitting on a mouse. Tohru's sitting on a mouse…."
Kyou didn't find the sight funny though. He didn't even make a remark at all since he was there before Shigure did. He heard everything. He felt so stupid not to notice that Tohru had a problem. He felt like a loser because he wasn't the first person to comfort her. He felt like he lost to Yuki because he was brave enough to hug her and "almost" say the things Kyou wants to say to her.
Kyou walked away and went to the roof. He sighed as he stared at the stars. "I guess there is really a point in your life when you realize who really matters and who always will no matter what happens." He closed his eyes. "And in my life, that point is now and the person who really matters to me is her…"
After eating dinner and taking a nice hot bath individually, Tohru and Yuki decided to work on one of the special projects that night. It was for her History project. Yuki read the instructions:
History Special Project
Research: The Russian Revolution in 1917.
Research Paper Must Contain:
Prominent people
Important dates
It should be in paragraph form and must be submitted before summer vacation.
"That seemed easy enough." Yuki looked at Tohru. "I have a book on Russian History. Maybe you could use that."
"Thank you, Yuki." Tohru remarked. "I really owe you this time."
They started working on Torhu's research paper. After an hour, they were done with the report. They don't have classes tomorrow so they decided to work on the other projects for the rest of the night.
Once in a while, Shigure would take a peek on the door. He was smiling seriously, as if he knew this would happen. Kyou stayed up the roof, watching the stars.
Tohru was able to pass her special projects before summer vacation because of Yuki. Now, she was able to relax with her friends. She told them about her special projects and how Yuki helped him.
"You should have asked me to help you." Hana said bitterly. She wasn't angry, just disappointed because she wasn't able to help Tohru.
"I never asked him how he found out about my grades, though." Tohru wondered. 'Does he know me that well so see right through me?'
"I guess he just knows you well. You guys live under one roof after all." Uo replied. "I hope that you'll have a fun summer even if we're not here. Have fun okay?"
"Promise!" Tohru remarked.
Author's Notes: Okay. How is it? Do you think I should make a sequel or another chapter? Review okay?