Ishiba:
"Tooooohru! You have mail!" Shigure yelled from his study, too lazy to go hunt the girl down. It didn't help that he was very curious as to whom this 'Ishiba Ruka' was. The return address was from a city in the U.S.(sadly his engrish lessons were fading from his mind, so he couldn't tell what city it was). His ears pricked up slightly as he heard the light foot falls of the above mentioned girl coming towards his study. As the shoji door opened, a somewhat flustered looking Tohrucame into the room and sat in front of his (messy) desk, while opologizing profuselly for taking so long.
"Nonesense, it's just mail after all," he reasured her with a bright smile, and she smiled just as brightly. 'Works every time...' the inu thought smugly to himself.
"Here's the letter, Tohru. It's from somebody by the name of 'Ishiba Ruka'" Tohru gasped in surprise and her eyes widened in recognition and excitment. She tore the envelope excitedly and unfolded the neatly written letter; Shigure watched her in curiosity.
'Dear Tohru-chan,
I am very sorry, it's been so long since I last wrote! So much has happened in these 5 long years. I so wished to be at Kyoko-chan's funeral, to be there for you...sadly, 'tou-san forbid my leaving the states. He said my 'condition' would become worse and I could die. I didn't care, but I had no choice, you know him...he has complete control over this city, or so it seems. I am also sad to say that 'tou-san has fallen ill and we must return to Japan (though for that small miracle I am overjoyed). There is a slight problem though. It seems I have no where to stay and I was hoping I might stay with you and your friends, but only if it is okay with them! I do not wish to be a burden, but you and 'tou-san are the only family I have that haven't rejected me...Ah, I am sorry. I have upset myself again. My 'condition' has improved and I will be able to fly there soon, so please, send me an answer. I am eagerly awaiting your response, no matter the content.
Love,
Ru-chan'
Tohru hadn't realized she had been crying until Shigure pushed a kleenex into her shaking hand. She looked up and smiled sadly at Shigure.
"Shigure-san...m...may my cousin, Ruka, be allwed to stay here with us?" Shigure looked shockedand Tohru's next words were a rushed jumble of praise for her cousin. "He's very nice, he-he's very very polite and gentle, he can cook and clean; he knows engrish and loves music and-"
"Tohru! It's okay, calm down." Shigure said, very amused.
"So....can he stay?" She looked up at him with big tearful, pleading eyes; there was no way in hell he could say no.
"Yes, yes, he can stay." Tohru shot up and was up the stairs and in her room wroting a response before Shigure even registered she had left. He promptly burst out laughing.
---
It had taken 2 weeks of convincing to make Kyo shutup about another guy moving into their house, and Tohru running around panicking about her cousin's room being perfect. None of them had been able to get much out of Tohru about her cousin, all they knew is that he was polite and from the states. They were currently at the airport waiting for this mysterious boy to make an appearance. Yuki hadn't taken much convincing to accept the fact, he was happy it made Tohru happy.
They were waiting at the correct gate and it had been over an hour since the plain was supposed to arrive, but Tohru was still excited as ever. Kyo was sitting by himself mumbling about 'damn plain's being late just because they were there today.' After a few more minutes of waiting Tohru's head snapped to the side and she got up really fast and was running towards someone before the Sohma's could blink. They slowly followed after her and when they caught up with her they couldn't help but chuckle at the site.
Tohru, in her excitment had jumped on her cousin and they both went down, her cousin taking the brunt of the fall. They both sat there with swirly eyes and that same happy smile on their faces. All of a sudden Tohru seemed to remember sometyhing and she got up panicking franticallt.
"Ru-chan! Ru-chan! I'm so sorry! I forgot! I forgot! Are you okay?!" As she was going to continue her cousin came too and shushed her with a reasuring smile.
"I'm fine Tohru, I did say I was doing better than before, ne?" Tohru nodded at the soft almost music voice of her cousin.
While this was going on the Sohma's were studying the odd boy. He had uneven read hair with orangish stripes in places; his eyes were orange, and his build was fragile looking, but lean and somewhat muscular. On his one visible ear there was some sort of black cap ofer the top of his ear and a small dangling earing with a dark stone. There was a small birth mark under hisright eye and he was wearing a black leather trench coat. All in all, he was a strange mix of what looked like japanese and irish.
After a few moments the two cousins had stood up and were staring at the Sohma's.
"Everyone," Tohru said happily, "This is my cousin, Ishiba Ruka, though here he's known as Honda Ruka. Ruka, these are the Sohma's. This is Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki." They bowed when introduced, but Ruka, being in the states for so ling, gave tham all big, and surprisingly strong hugs to which all but Shigure felt extremely uncomfortable(in fact, the inu seemed to be enjoying it!).
--Oooooh, evil evil me! don't you just love Ruka?(yes, I stole the name from my other story. got a problem with that?!-brandishes a metal base ball bat and a bazooka- hm?!) well, I know I've started two new fics, and it all depends on peoples reviews. If people don't review, I don't update, and the more people the review, the longer the next update will be(words not time). ¬ ah, I love being so evil.......