A tired Kyo pushed the snooze button on his alarm clock. He looked at the time on the digital face. 5:00 AM. He sleepily rubbed his head and stretched. Hell, what happened last night? He thought to himself. His gaze danced over to a sleeping Tohru on his right. He smiled. She's so beautiful when she sleeps, okay so, she's always beautiful or, at least peaceful, or something…I don't know. Well, as long as she's happy… His thoughts trailed off. He rose from their bed and drifted across the room toward the closet. He looked for his work uniform. Where the hell did that thing get off to? He reached down to pull off his sleeping shirt and realized that it was already off. This was strange because, he didn't remember taking his shirt off…
"Hey, Kyo? Is that you?" a woman's voice asked.
"Yeah. You're up early this morning." Kyo commented, continuing his search for his uniform.
"By the way, I washed your uniform. It's downstairs in the dryer. Here, I'll go get it for you."
"No, Tohru it's alright I'll get it myself."
He started down the stairs of their two-story house. At the base of the stairs, there was a small kitchen, with a dining room next to it. The laundry room had an outdoor entrance on the outside of the kitchen. He opened the door to the small space that contained a washing machine and a dryer. He opened the dryer lid, and looked inside. His white pants with a matching karate jacket and shirt were at the bottom. He collected them, the black belt stuck between and carried them upstairs to their room.
Their bed was messy and unmade. It was empty, also. On the left side, his side, there was an unbuttoned shirt. It was blue and striped, and it matched the pants he'd worn to sleep that night. What's that doing there? He wondered. He picked up the crumpled shirt and set it in his laundry bin. He pulled on the uniform shirt. It was white with a red cat emblem that read "Dojo Sohma".
He remembered the very beginning of his career there. Tohru went out with him to find a location, and a logo. As soon as he'd found the location, she picked up her pencil and started to draw. Her words rang in his ears, "Look at this, Kyo. Isn't it adorable!" as she held up, a drawing of a red cat. She smiled with that same goofy grin that he'd grown accustom to. Looking back on that same silly expression, that he remembered from when they were sixteen years old.
As soon as he was finished getting dressed, he headed downstairs.
"Good morning!" An energetic Tohru piped
"Morning." Kyo replied.
"How did you sleep?" Tohru asked him.
"Did I sleep at all last night?" He asked her.
"Huh?" Tohru had her 'huh?' expression on as she said that. It was that same 'huh?' expression that used to drive him crazy. Tohru, in general back then drove him crazy.
"Ah, nothing. " He concluded.
"Okay, well breakfast is ready."
On the table, there were two places set with dishes. When Tohru came to the table, she had codfish and rice. She placed their breakfast on the table. They ate their meal quietly, without much conversation. The telephone in the hallway started to ring. Tohru went to answer the phone, and on the caller ID, it said Sohma, Hatori.
"Hello?" Tohru said into the phone. After a minute or two of concentrated listening, she gasped loudly. "He's had an asthma attack?" She asked. "We'll be right there." She hung up the phone and paced back into the kitchen.
"What happened?" Kyo asked her.
"Yuki's had another asthma attack, a really serious one, too. Can you take the day off at work?"
Tohru looked very concerned. He thought he saw tears well up in her eyes. Although he enjoyed his work, and needed to be there for his students, he wanted to make Tohru happy. He stood up from his breakfast and picked up the phone. He dialed a phone number and listened to it ring.
An elderly man picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Master. I mean Kazuma." "I need you to cover my classes for today. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course. I'll give you a full report."
"Thank you so much." Kyo said, as he hung up the phone. He walked back into the kitchen. Tohru grasped his arm and held it tightly.
"Kyo…I'm really scared." She said.
"I took the day off. Kazuma will cover my classes for today."
She smiled at him. "So, you do care about the 'damn rat' after all." She said. Before he could turn around and spit something cruel back at her, she interrupted him "It's very admirable, Kyo."
His face turned red. He still wasn't completely used to the idea of being married to anyone let alone Tohru, the one who he actually loved. He went back upstairs, to get changed. Tohru followed him, so she could get dressed too.
"Say, Tohru?" He asked her.
"Hmm?" She replied, putting her 'huh?' face on.
"What made you choose me, you know instead of the damn rat?" he said, pulling his uniform shirt off.
"What do you mean 'choose'?" she asked. "I didn't choose you. You're the one who proposed to me…and, I didn't love him, not in the same way. I was thankful for all of the things he'd done for me, but all we ever were was friends." "I love you, Kyo. That is the reason. Truly, I wouldn't rather be with anyone else."
He smiled. The truth was, Kyo had been skeptical about their marriage. Whether, it was really what Tohru wanted, or if she'd married him out of sympathy. He knew what he wanted, though…to spend he rest of his life with her. She was his everything. Ever since they were teenagers, she'd been there for him.
Kyo had chosen a black, pinstripe suit. Underneath, he wore a white button-down shirt. The tie he chose was a deep wine color. He loved that tie, because, Tohru got it for him as a gift for his birthday the year before.
He turned to her, and took a few steps. He reached out and held her hand in his. The diamond ring glowed in the early morning sun, remembering all of the problems that ring had caused him. Kyo remembered the frustration and, happiness all at the same time.
The twenty-year-old Kyo lie on the roof of Shigure's house. He had gotten angry with Yuki for something. Frustrated, he lie there, staring at the full moon. He heard someone climbing the stepladder up to the roof. He wondered who it was. Tohru gingerly stepped onto the roof, trying not to knock any shingles off.
"Kyo… Dinner is ready, if you're hungry." She offered.
"Well, I'm not." He bluntly stated.
"It's codfish, your favorite." She argued
"I don't give a damn about the fish." He said, curling his hand up into a fist. Tohru looked worried, and before she could leave he took his opportunity.
"Tohru…Tohru, could you come here for a second." He couldn't believe he was doing this.
"What is it, Kyo?" she asked him.
"Listen, Tohru…" he started, making eye contact with her. "If you well, you know, if you haven't noticed you're even stupider than I thought."
"…Noticed what?" she hesitated to say.
"…What I'm trying to say is…I love you, Tohru." He fumbled around his pockets looking for something. "Where did that damn thing get to?" He asked himself. Tohru was in too much shock to notice him mumbling to himself. "There it is!" he shouted. He pulled out a jewelry case, and opened it. Inside, laid a flawless diamond. The cut was beautiful, and it looked expensive.
"…Will…Well, will you?" He asked.
Tohru looked even more confused. "Will I what?"
"Do I have to spell it out for-" He shook his head, as if he didn't mean to say that. Instead, he knelt in front of her, on one knee. "Will you ma-!" Before he knew it, he was falling off the roof. Tohru caught his hand in time.
"Will you marry me or not?" He blurted out, clutching her hand before he'd completely fallen off.
He collected his energy and pulled himself back up onto the roof with Tohru's help. As soon as they were both sitting, bathing in the moonlight on the roof of Shigure's house. He tossed her the case, and looked away, so she couldn't see him blush.
"Kyo…Are you serious about this?" She asked him.
"You don't have to, you know. You can say no." "I won't force you into this, I mean all I want is…Well, I just want you to be happy, and…" The color of his face had reached the same red as his eyes. "…And I want to make you happy." "Ah, damnit, this isn't going very well." He concluded, wiping some sweat off his brow.
"Kyo…Remember that time, when we were sixteen and I told you I wanted to stay with you?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I meant it. I want to stay with you. Being with you, is all I need to make me happy." She said.
He finally collected every ounce of courage in him, and looked at her. She'd already put the ring on herself, so he didn't have to.
"Let's go eat dinner." She concluded.
They stepped down the stepladder and into the kitchen.
Yuki wasn't blind. He could see a change in Kyo already, even bigger than him meeting Tohru. Kyo was at peace, and already starting to act more mature. Maybe, it's for the best…for him, and more importantly for her. Kyo, while being the stupid cat that he is, can make her happy. I know that she will be.