A few days had passed since the breaking of the curse. School was finally back in session. Yuki, Kyou, Tohru, and Suki all walked to school together. Of course now that the curse was broken, Kyou had his arm around Tohru the whole way. He enjoyed being able to hold her now.
Yuki and Suki walked together, talking. They had a lot in common. At her old school, Suki had served on the student council, as the president. She was the first female student council president at her old school. She was also very intelligent and enjoyed many of the same things as Yuki. Of course there was some diversity. They were not a couple however. Yuki did like her though, but he wasn't sure how to tell her.
When they reached the school, they met up with Momiji and Haru. "Hey, Tohru!" Momiji greeted brightly, bouncing up and down.
"Good morning, Momiji." She greeted smiling back.
Haru said nothing, but stared at Kyou and Tohru. They were embracing and Kyou wasn't turning into a cat. He would have said something, but Suki was there and she didn't know about the curse. He had to ask, but he couldn't in front of her. Just then a page came over the intercom for Suki to come to the office. Once she was gone, Haru looked at Kyou and asked, "Why aren't you turning into a cat?"
Kyou blinked in surprise. He figured everyone had learned the wonderful news by now. "You mean you don't know?" He asked.
"I wouldn't be askin' if I did." Haru replied.
"Tohru broke the curse." Kyou answered still stunned.
Haru blinked and looked at Tohru.
"You really did?" Momiji asked looking up at Tohru with the wide-eyed innocence of a child.
"I guess so." Tohru said blushing, still humble about her great deed.
"That's great!" Momiji said and jumped up to hug Tohru before anybody knew what was going on. "Thank you." He said burying his face into her shoulder as tears of joy fell down his face.
Tohru embraced Momiji back. Before she knew what was happening, Haru was hugging her, too. Her face was really red now.
"Thank you." Haru told her as the happy trail of tears fell down his face.
"Okay, that's enough. Quit hogging my girlfriend." Kyou said pulling his younger cousins off of Tohru.
Tohru giggled as Kyou pulled her into his arms. She readily wrapped her arms around him too. The bell rang signaling the beginning of the school day. The group went of to their classes.
The day went by quickly and before they knew it, it was lunch time. At the lunch table Kyou pulled Tohru onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Tohru grinned at him and kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You two seem to be more affectionate than usual." U-o observed.
"Yes much more affectionate." Hana agreed.
"Yeah, what happened over the little break we had thanks to the snow?" Suki asked.
Both Kyou and Tohru's faces were a lovely shade of red. "It's nothing." Kyou said, knowing full well it was the biggest and greatest thing to ever happen in his life.
U-o, Hana, and Suki all looked at each other slyly. "Bathroom." They said in unison. They then stood up and pulled Tohru from Kyou's lap. Poor Kyou and Tohru were helpless to their attack.
Kyou glared at the girls' backs as they carried Tohru to the bathroom.
"Do you think they'll be able to get anything out of her?" Haru asked.
Kyou blinked for a minute and then realized that he was talking about the now broken curse. "I don't think so." He said, having faith in his love.
Once in the bathroom, U-o and Suki sent away all the other girls and made sure they were the only group left in the bathroom. "Okay, now Tohru, spill it." Suki said wanting to know what was going on.
"What are you talking about?" Tohru asked trying to play dumb.
"You know exactly what. We want to know why you and Orange Top are so affectionate." U-o said.
"You know you can tell us anything." Hana interjected.
Tohru's face turned red. What could she tell them? She couldn't tell them she had broken the curse and he could now hug her in public. Then she realized she could tell the truth or at least part of it. "I told Kyou that I love him and he said it back." She said hoping that would satisfy them.
The three girls blinked in surprise and then smiled.
"Why didn't you just tell us that before?" U-o asked.
"Well, Kyou and I are a shy couple and well we were just keeping things to ourselves I guess." Tohru answered.
"You know, I could have told you that he loves you a long time ago." U-o said.
Tohru looked up and blinked at them. "What do you mean?"
"Before you guys even became a couple, it was pretty obvious. The boy just can't say no to you, plus the way he looks at you." She answered.
Hana nodded in agreement.
The girls walked back out to the lunch room. Hana and U-o took their usual seats and Suki took her seat next to Yuki. Tohru walked over to Kyou and he pulled her back into his lap once again.
Once in their next class Kyou was able to pass Tohru a note.
What did they ask you?
They just wanted to know what happened.
What did you tell them?
Just that we said, "I love you."
Ok. I was just wondering. And Tohru?
Yes Kyou?
I love you.
I love you, too.
With that their note passing was over. It was time for class to start and they had to start a lab.
Soon the bell rang and it was time to head to gym. Tohru and Suki walked into the girl's locker room to change into their gym clothes.
"I noticed you sitting with the Prince and his family again. And you're still with Kyou. You two really should stay away from them." came the all too familiar voice of the new president of the Prince Yuki Fan Club.
"Yeah, everyone knows that you have to be a member of the Prince Yuki Fan Club to hang with the Sohmas." said another of the fan girls.
"I know why you are talking about us spending time with Yuki, but why do you care if we spend time with his cousins?" Suki asked using Yuki's first name to show that she was closer to him than those chicks could ever be.
"Because, when one of us ends up with Prince Yuki, then the others can be with his family so we can be related to him." The girls answered in unison.
"That's just dumb." Suki said crossing her arms over her chest. Then she turned around and proceeded to get out of her school uniform.
Tohru pulled her gym clothes out of her locker and began to get undressed.
The fan girls all looked at each other with an evil smile. "Hey Tohru! Suki!" The fan girls called in unison.
Tohru and Suki Turned around and saw a flash and the Yuki Fan Club running out the door. The two friends looked at each other confused and slightly worried. What could those girls have done?
The class went by and the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls left Tohru and Suki alone. That, of course, made Suki suspicious. She trusted those girls as much as she trusted an ex-con.
Once school was over, the group walked home. U-o, Hana, and Suki were all coming to visit. Tohru had thought it would be a good idea to have them all over and she was going to make a big dinner. Kyou insisted on helping Tohru.
When they got home Kyou and Tohru began making dinner, a full course meal complete with salmon, rice balls, leeks, and jelly buns. Kyou could have been fine with no leeks, but he stayed away from them. He'd only ever touch them if Tohru was sick.
"So many beautiful girls in this house!" Shigure sang. "I am Shigure, Yuki and Kyou's older cousin." He said walking over to greet Suki. "I must say that my cousins have wonderful taste in women. First they find Tohru and now you! I'm thinking maybe I should return to high school so…"
Shigure was suddenly cut off by two fists slamming into his head, the fists of Yuki and Kyou. "Will you for once just shut up!" Kyou said annoyed.
"I think that's impossible." Yuki said looking abashed.
Suki looked over at Tohru with a big question mark on her face.
Tohru smiled. "This is normal." She said answering Suki's silent question.
Suki nodded and sipped at her drink.
When dinner was devoured the girls headed up to Tohru's room for some girl talk.
"This is a nice room." Suki said looking around.
"Yeah, they really treat you like a princess, don't they Tohru?" U-o said smiling.
Tohru blushed. "Yes, they do."
Hana walked over to sit on Tohru's bed. When she sat down she got a funny look on her face. "I sense some residual electric signals over here. Like some very emotional event happened." She said looking up at Tohru.
Something very emotional had happened in her room, in the entire house actually, but she knew exactly what Hana was talking about. The night that she had broken the curse, Hatori had told the boys that they needed to keep an eye on her through the night because of her head wound. Kyou had stayed with her. He pulled a mat up to the room and was going to sleep on the floor, but Tohru wanted him to stay with her. She needed him to hold her. So, he did.
"I love you." He'd said.
"I love you, too." She'd replied.
"I'm so glad that I can hold you now. I never thought I'd be able to hold you." He'd whispered in her ear as tears of joy and sadness fell from his eyes. Then he'd pulled her face up to his and kissed her.
In that kiss Tohru had felt every emotion that was going through Kyou. She'd felt the joy and love she'd brought to his life. She'd felt the anguish he'd suffered because of the curse. She'd felt the bitterness that had been in his heart left by his mother's obvious hatred of him, and his father's open disgust. Above all she'd felt the love he had for her.
While Tohru relived this night in her mind, her friends looked at her. Tears were falling silently down her face. No one knew why, but they all looked worried.
"Hey, Tohru? You okay?" U-o asked giving her a little nudge.
Tohru blinked and was brought to the present. She wiped the tears from her eyes and replaced them with a smile. "I'm fine." She said, and she was telling the truth.
The other three girls, of course didn't believe her. "Did you do something in here, Tohru?" Hana asked wanting to know what had happened, thinking the worst.
"What are you talking about?" Tohru asked clueless.
"The residual energy, is it from something you did in here…with Kyou?" Hana asked.
Tohru thought for a second trying to think of how to word her explanation. She couldn't tell them about the curse. "Yes." She answered hoping to get by with just one word answers.
Her hope was in vain. "Did you two…you know?" Suki asked.
Tohru just looked confused.
"Did he force you into doing something you weren't ready for?" U-o asked angry. "I'll kill him."
Suddenly Tohru understood. "No! It wasn't anything like that!" She said quickly trying to get them understand.
"Well, then what was it?" U-o asked.
"A few nights ago, I hit my head and Hatori said that somebody needed to keep and eye on me, so Kyou stayed in here with me. He brought a mat in, but I told him that I wanted him to sleep in the bed with me." Tohru said, hoping her explanation wasn't sounding false.
"So you two did…do it? And it was your idea?" U-o asked in disbelief.
"No, no. We didn't do it." Tohru said trying to explain. "We just talked and cuddled."
All three girls looked at Tohru with a big question mark.
Tohru sighed. "We talked about some pretty emotional stuff and I don't think he would want you guys to know about it."
The other girls looked suspicious, but decided that they weren't going to get anymore from Tohru and dropped it.
After a few hours, the girls left and Tohru let out a sigh of relief. She loved her friends, but she didn't like all of this questioning. She also didn't like that their minds had jumped to Kyou forcing Tohru into anything. Kyou could never do such a thing.