Yeah. I really should have uploaded earlier but i was wondering how long it would take for this to get five reviews and...well...
So I would like to thank those who reviewed. You made this happen, Melissa1991, Natlia, AnimeWeirdo123, Mika the Dark princess, and the fifth one TohruLover. I dedicate this to you 5.
Previously...
I walked them to the door and Kisa said, "See you later." She looked so hopeful that I couldn't help hugging her tightly.
"You're so cute!" I said. We all laughed and Kisa said bye. As they walked away Kyo turned back and waved at me. I smiled and waved back. When he turned around Kisa seemed to tell him something embarrassing because he blushed. I smiled one last time as I closed the door.
Now to just wait for Monday to come.
..:~: Tohru POV :~:..
I sighed. Today is Monday and school just recently let out. I was hoping I'd get to see Kyo and ask him what Akito had decided. I would have in forth period but that's free period for us and his friends said he usually goes to the library but today he decided not to. Was that some kind of sign? Did something happen?
I wish it was an A day. I have three out of four classes with him on A days but only one on B days. Tsk. Whatever, I guess.
Kyo's friends were pretty…enthusiastic about me asking about him. They probably thought I liked him or something. I mean he is very attractive and apparently a sweet older brother but I don't really know him. We've been in the same class for almost three and a half years but we've only spoken probably two or three times excluding Saturday.
"Hey! Tohru!" someone called. I turned around and grinned.
"Hi Kyo." I said when he reached me. He smiled a little and said, "My friends said you were looking for me?"
I blushed. Why did I blush? "Uh…yeah. I wanted to ask about what Akito had decided on, you know." I said a bit nervously. What if he said I have to lose my memories?
Kyo frowned. Well actually his lip moved down in slightest way but it was still a frown, Then he rubbed his shoulder a bit before answering. "Oh. That's why. It's actually good news." he paused letting me get what he just said. I gasped.
"I can keep my memories?" I asked, squealing a bit. His smile widened and he nodded.
"You should have seen Kisa, though. She was more excited than you are now." He said walking and inclining his head for me to follow.
"Really? She's so sweet!" I said grinning. Kyo started getting a soft and pride filled smiled when I said that.
"Yeah." he said. That's it?
"That's it? A 'Yeah'? I would've thought you'd have more to say based on how you were acting on Saturday." I said with mock disappointment.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You nearly flipped! You are so protective of her! Watch one day when a boy starts flirting with her you'll rip his head off." I said laughing.
Kyo pouted and said, "I wouldn't do that." Aww.
"Look at that pout. You're so cute!" I said. Kyo looked flustered when I said that and started grumbling some things. I just smiled at him. Normally I'm really shy around most guys but it's comfortable to be around Kyo. I like it. I giggled when he glanced at me.
We were in the park now. I wonder where we're going?
Kyo adjusted his backpack and winced. His shirt collar moved a bit at the shift and I noticed that his shoulder was bruised.
"What happened to your shoulder?" I asked. My voice was full of concern and anger. Concern because I remember when he rubbed his shoulder earlier and it probably hurts a lot. Anger because of when I saw what Akito had done to Kisa's cheek. It's easy to assume where that bruise came from.
Kyo just said, "Why? What's wrong with my shoulder?" he asked not so subtly covering the bruise. I huffed at him and grabbed his shirt exposing the discolored skin.
"This. How did that happen?" I asked pointing at it. He shrugged me off and continued walking.
"Don't think you can get me to leave it alone that easily. Tell me, Kyo." I said a bit forcefully.
"It's none of your business." he hissed. I raised my eyebrow at that.
"So should I ask Kisa?" I threatened. He froze and then glared at me.
"You wouldn't dare." he growled. I looked at him contemplatively.
"She doesn't know?" I asked him, incredulous. He ignored me and continued walking. I followed him.
"Was it Akito? Did he hit you?" I asked after a couple minutes. Kyo stopped again and sighed heavily.
"I told you, it's none of your business." he said, defeated. That was practically a confession. I was concerned again.
"Why did he do it?" I asked him softly.
He looked at me for a minute and said, "It was either me or Kisa. Akito has a really bad temper. He doesn't really like anyone. He especially hates any of the Zodiac who lives outside of the Sohma estate because he feels like we're leaving him. Kisa didn't want to live in the estate when we were younger so she asked Shigure if she could live with him. I obviously wouldn't let her go alone so I left as well. And later Yuki decided to leave with us too. Akito blames her for us leaving so he's particularly harsh on her. This time she exposed the secret to an outsider and got pretty mad when she said how you excepted us. He thinks that it'll drive the rest of the Zodiac away from him if a normal person starts coming into our lives. He thinks it'll make us feel more human and we'll start to interact with other humans and eventually we all will leave him. I wasn't going to let him anywhere near Kisa just because if his insecurity." There was so much determination in his eyes. So much love for his sister.
He extended his hand and I felt him caress my cheek. When he retracted his hand I realized he wiped off a tear from my face.
I blushed and started wiping away the annoying droplets and Kyo said, "I kind of don't blame Akito. He's got some major competition."
"What does that mean?" I asked. Kyo just smiled and continued walking.
"Kyo!" I said exasperatedly. He just laughed and then stopped walking.
"Kisa!" He shouted. I looked to where he was and saw Kisa standing by her Middle School's gate. (What's the name of the school anyway?)
"Kyo! Tohru!" she exclaimed.
"Kisa!" I shouted running towards her. She wrapped her arms around my waist and asked Kyo, "This was the present you were talking about?"
"Yup." he said and took something out of his pocket and put it on my head. Kisa laughed and I reached up to take what it was. It was a red bow.
"Are you serious?" I asked laughing. He laughed as well and caught the bow when I threw it at him.
Kisa just hugged him and said, "You're the best."
He just said, "I know."
"You know I'm going to make you pay for that, right?" I asked him. He cocked his eyebrow.
"You two are coming to my house." I said and started walking in the opposite direction with Kisa hopping excitedly behind me.
Kyo followed and asked, "What are you going to do?" He seemed confident that I couldn't come up with anything good. Let's see…
"I'm going to dress you up like a fairy with glitter and everything. Then I'll take pictures and give them to all of your friends." I said blankly. Kisa was cracking up while Kyo looked like he was about to start running.
"You're too late! I already did that!" Kisa said. Really?
"Really? Do you have pictures?" I asked glancing at Kyo who pouted again.
"Of course! What kind of little sister would I be if I didn't humiliate my brother every now and then?" she said. Kyo grimaced but there was amusement in his eyes.
"A weird one. So can I see them?" I asked.
"No." Kyo said at the same time that Kisa said, "Yes." They glared at each other.
"Or I can ask your friends if they have any pictures. But right now you're still coming to my place." I said. We rounded the corner and after a couple houses we got to mine.
"Grandpa! I'm home!" I called to wherever he was.
"Oh. Welcome home Kyoko. And who are these two?" he asked coming from the kitchen. Kyo and Kisa gave me a look when grandpa called me Kyoko. I said I'd explain later.
"This is my classmate Kyo and his sister Kisa who is now also my new sister." I said hugging Kisa. Grandpa grinned but gave Kyo a look I didn't understand but when I looked at him his face was neutral.
"Well hello Kyo and Kisa. Please make yourselves at home." Grandpa said and started going upstairs for a nap. Kyo and Kisa were sitting in the living when I brought some tea and cookies.
"So why does your grandfather call you Kyoko?" Kisa asked. I sighed.
"Ever since my mother died he's been calling me by her name. I'm nothing like her though. She is, was, very outgoing and loud and colorful. I'm just a shy, quiet, and plain girl." I said a little sadly. I really miss her.
"No. You're a kind, bright, and lively girl. I'm sure your mother was too and that's why your grandfather calls you Kyoko. Not just because he misses her." Kisa said looking at a picture of my Mom on the wall by the stairs. Kyo was also looking at it but he seemed a little confused.
"Is something wrong Kyo?" I asked him. His head snapped towards me and he said, "Oh. No. I was just thinking about something." I didn't think he'd tell me what so I didn't ask.
..:~: Kyo's POV ( I bet you were all just WAITING for that) :~:..
I continued looking at the picture of Tohru's mother. I knew her.
Well not really knew her but I've met her several times when I was just a kid. Yeah. The redheaded lady who annoyed me to no end but treated me like a normal kid. She was like a mother to me. Or at least she was actually my best friend for a while.
"We have the same hair." I said smiling a little. I remember that that was the reason she first came up to me. She would continuously call me carrot top to annoy me and would laugh when I called her that too.
"Yeah. To be honest, when I first saw you that was the first thing I saw. You both kind of resemble one another in a few ways. You're hair, your smile, and sometimes you both kind of…flip." she said a bit hesitantly. I grinned. I remember how Kyoko had once vented out her frustration in front of me when she spoke about Tohru getting bullied.
Yeah. I knew Tohru even before middle school. Kyoko would talk about her every time we met. She would say how her daughter is so sweet, modest, and adorable, and smart, but somewhat ditzy.
And maybe a little too naïve for her own good.
She asked me to watch over Tohru one time when she had to work late and I would always go up the balcony and make sure she was okay. I remember wondering how someone so young and happy could have such a lonely expression even though she was smiling. But even so, I liked her smile.
I may have also built up a crush on her, too. Kyoko knew that because I blushed when she asked what I thought of Tohru. She didn't have any problems with it but I told her to not get her hopes up. Someone like me would never be allowed to be with someone like her. Not by Akito, not by the curse, and definitely not by me.
I felt someone grab my hand and looked down to see Kisa's concerned face. I smiled sadly at her and shook my head. Kisa knew about Kyoko. She was the only one I ever told. She knew I was there when Kyoko was killed. She also knew about the promise I made her right before she died. And why I ran away a couple days later.
I looked up at Tohru and realized that she didn't notice me space out because she was also staring at the picture.
"You know, it's her funeral in a couple weeks." she said quietly. I nodded. I knew that. I couldn't forget it, no matter what I did. In those four moths that I was gone everyone thought that I was doing some kind of special training. In truth I was actually doing nothing.
Absolutely nothing. I didn't eat much. I barely slept at all because I kept getting nightmares. I would work out and train a little but it was only my feeble attempt to distract myself from the guilt. Shishou was really worried. He would have called Hatori to take a look at me but I begged him not to. He knew that something really serious must have happened to me because I actually cried when I asked him not to tell anyone where I was.
Except Kisa. I tell her everything. Which is a habit that I really need to stop doing because she also knows about my ongoing crush on Tohru. She teased me about it all day on Friday.
"So, about your punishment…" Tohru started. I grinned. What's she thinking about?
"Oooohhhh! What are you going to do?" Kisa said, jumping up and down. Sometime's I wonder if she was supposed to be the rabbit and someone up there just made a huge mistake.
"Well I can't do the fairy thing, because you already did. How about this? You have to tell me what zodiac you are." she said finally.
"What? No." I said firmly. It's not that it's particularly bad if she knows, it's just that I don't want her to.
Kisa and Tohru looked at each other before looking at me.
"Well, if you tell me, then I can just find out another way." Tohru said with a mischievous smile.
"Kisa will not say anything." I said glaring at her.
"I'm not going to. It's not fun that way." she replied, sticking her tongue out.
All of a sudden there was a 'poof' and the room seemed to get a lot bigger. I felt a pair of hands holding me up. She did not just do that.
"You're the cat!" she exclaimed.
"Why did you do that?" I shouted.
"Sh! My grandfather's sleeping." she hissed.
"I don't care! This is so stupid!" I said wiggling out of her grasp and went to sulk in a corner.
"Is he really mad?" I heard Tohru whisper to Kisa after a couple minutes. Damn. She sounded really guilty.
"No. He's just a bit self conscious. The truth is that being that cat makes him an outcast since he's not officially in the zodiac." Kisa replied, knowing that I can hear them.
"Oh." Tohru said sadly. Great. Now she's pitying me.
"Well I don't get why he would be an outcast. I always loved the cat in the legend. Remember how I told you about wanting to be the cat, instead of the dog?" Tohru whispered to her again.
…What?
"Look! He's blushing." Kisa said all of a sudden.
"No I'm not!" I said. Then there was another poof.
"Aaahh!" Tohru shouted, turning around and covering her eyes. Kisa did the same but she was laughing. I rounded up my clothes and started getting dressed.
"Well that took longer than usual." I said while buttoning my uniform pants.
"Yeah. I probably should have warned you that when all of us transform back we are naked." Kisa said, still laughing. I slipped on my shirt over my undershirt. I was about to leave it unbuttoned but it showed my bruise.
"No. I should have remembered from when you transformed back." Tohru said.
"You can open your eyes now." I said. They both turned around and I noticed that Tohru was blushing a little. It was kind of adorable.
"You know, I should have seen it coming. You're the tiger and he's the cat. You're siblings and you're zodiacs are in the feline family!" Tohru said, smiling with excitement.
"Yeah. Everybody says that." I said sitting down on the floor next to Kisa.
"It's kind of perfect. You're probably the closest out of everyone else in your family. Kyo is kind of an outcast because he's the cat but Kisa loves him very much so he is never lonely. He's friends with Yuki who is also apparently part of the zodiac so he has him too. You both are kind of like brothers. By the way, which one is Yuki?" she rambled.
Kisa snorted and said, "It's pretty ironic in several cases." I laughed too because of how true that was.
"How come?" Tohru asked, confused.
"Well, why was the cat never part of the zodiac?" I asked her. Her answer came immediately.
"Because the rat tricked him into believing that the banquet was a day after it really was." Tohru said. Wow. I guess she really does love the Zodiac Legend.
"Right. So you really wouldn't expect the one's cursed with the spirit of the cat and the rat to be friends, much less best friends, right?" I told her. She seemed to get what I was saying because I literally saw a light bulb flash over her head.
"He's the rat?" she asked. Kisa and I nodded. Tohru seemed to think about that.
"Wow. I bet you never saw that coming." she said to me.
"I did! I was the one who told him to at least try to be nice if Yuki is nice. Actually Yuki used to be very shy so I guess it was hard for Kyo to be rude to him." Kisa said.
"Well yeah. He sort of reminded me of you." I told Kisa who laughed.
"How?" Tohru asked, confused.
"Well first of all, I know that you know that Yuki looks a little girly. It's kind of hard for me to be mean to girls. I mean i can be but i'll feel really bad after. And he looked a little bit like Kisa. I actually thought he was a girl at first. And because he was also really shy. Kisa was also a very shy girl. She didn't really talk to a lot of people and neither did Yuki. So when we first met all I saw was a taller and a tiny bit more masculine version of Kisa. Did you think I would have been mean to him then?" I explained. Yuki smacked me when I first told him all of this. He's pretty sensitive about being called feminine. It's hilarious.
"Wow. I can actually see that." Tohru said thoughtfully. I really hope she calls him out on his femininity one day. Even though he's very polite to girls who say it, you can see this little vein one the side of his neck pulsing. I named it Fred.
"Maybe you can say it right to his face. He's curious about you, you know." Kisa announced. Pfft. I love my sister.
"Say it to his…no. Just…no. And he knows that I know?" Tohru asked.
"YES. Everyone who knows about the curse knows that you know. Especially the Zodiac. All of them." Kisa clarified to Tohru who looked at me to tell her if she was joking.
"It's true. All of them. Unfortunately." I sighed.
"Why are you feeling so bad? I have eleven people who are curious about me and might hate me!" Tohru said panicking.
"Don't worry. Just be yourself and they'll love you. Just like we do." Kisa said slyly. I gave her a sideways glare. I never understand how she used to be such a shy girl. What happened? I bet it was Hiro's influence.
Tohru obviously didn't notice exactly what Kisa meant by her last statement because if she did she'd be blushing a lot more than she is right now.
"But what if they don't like me? What if they think I'm just some conceited little girl who won't mind her own business? What if they start treating you two badly for having been the one to tell me about the curse? What if-"
"Tohru! Don't worry. I promise that they will love you. And we'll be by your side if they don't." Kisa said reassuringly. Tohru smiled at her a little.
Then my phone rang. I picked it up and saw that it was Haru. Again. This better not be something stupid.
"Hello?" I said.
"Kyo?" he asked, distressed. My face obviously showed my worry because Kisa and Tohru also looked worried.
"What's wrong?' I asked him.
"I don't know. Hiro just came to me a while ago and said that Rin was hurt. Hatori is with her right now but I'm starting to really freak out, man. She's never been in a situation like this since that time with her parents." he said hurriedly. Oh man. This is bad.
"I'll be right there, okay? I'm going to try and see if I can find Yuki. Just stay as calm as possible." I told him as I quickly put on my shoes and jacket.
"Thanks Kyo." Haru said before hanging up.
"What's going on Kyo?" Kisa asked while I was tying my shoes.
"Something happened to Rin and Haru is kind of freaking out. I'm going to leave you here with Tohru for now. Can she stay with you until I get back?' I asked Tohru.
"No way! You are not going without me! Haru is my friend too so if something is wrong then I will be there too!" Kisa stated firmly.
I looked at her for a minute. Besides Yuki and I, Haru did feel the most comfortable around Kisa. She always made him feel better if he ever felt bad which was a pretty rare occurrence in the first place.
"Let's go." I told her. She immediately started getting ready.
"Wait! Tohru should come to!" Kisa exclaimed.
"Eh? Is that allowed?" she asked.
"I'm serious Kyo. She's going to meet everyone eventually. Might as well do it now. Besides, it'll get Haru to focus on something else for now." Kisa said. I looked at Tohru who despite looking very worried and confused, she looked curious about meeting the rest of the Zodiac.
"Okay. We're all going." I said picking up my bag. I really hope that Akito won't be there.
I feel like there should have been more a cliffhanger but I'll refrain from my evil tendencies and not make you want to murder me or pull at your hair more than you probably are now.
Virtual cookies and a glow in the dark ninja shirt for the person who guesses what happen to Rin!
Who wants a preview?
"How's he holding up?" Yuki whispered, sitting next to me.
"He's fine. Speaking to Tohru distracted him for a while but then he seemed to get really tired all of a sudden. So he fell asleep." I whispered back.
"You know that the two of you look like a couple like that, right?" Yuki said bluntly yet mockingly.
"Yes. I know. Just wait, though. The moment he wakes up, he'll be back to shamelessly flirting with you." I told him in the same tone with a touch of annoyance. Yuki shut up when I said that and looked at Tohru who was a couple feet away from us asleep next to Kisa.
"I was very surprised you brought her with you. I didn't think you would bring her to the main house of all place. Especially when if it wasn't for Haru you would never have set your foot here again." he said.
And that shall be it for now. Press the button on the bottom to see what happens.