Chapter One
Tohru woke up the moment the sun rose, wrapped up in a blanket. She sat up and looked around; she wasn't in her bedroom, but instead Kyo's. Instead of her satin pajama top resting loosely against her chest, she had one of Kyo's T-shirts on, and she flushed red. "K-Kyo? Are you in here?" When there was no answer, she quickly got up from the bed. She looked on the chair adjacent to the door and saw her top hanging over it, looking wet. She reached over and touched it, confirming her idea that it was soaked through, and she looked outside.
It had begun raining.
She looked down to see herself in a pair of loose pants tied tightly around her small waist. Apparently, she was completely clothed in Kyo's clothes, and she flushed redder. She pressed her hands to her face and sighed, walking out in as calm a manner as she could, and went downstairs.
Yuki was sitting on the bottom stair, his feet pulled to his chest and his blue hair soaked. She walked quicker and looked over him. "Yuki, are you okay? Did you go out in the rain?"
Said boy looked at her slowly and got off the stair, touching his hair. "Yes, I did, Miss Honda. I'm fine, I covered the Secret Base to make sure it wouldn't get flooded over. There's a flood warning, you know." His voice was quiet and incredibly raspy, and she touched his forehead. "Is something wrong?" he blinked at her, and she smiled in that way she always did that made even his heart flutter.
"Yuki, maybe I should make you some hot tea, okay? Your forehead is a little warm, and I don't want you getting a cold, so I'll go start the water now."
"Thank you, Miss Honda." She smiled at him and headed out into the kitchen, and he followed after her. "Oh, and the Cat wanted me to let you know he went out and would be back later. He said there was something he had to do before the day was through." She nodded and filled the tea kettle, placing it on the stove and turning it on Medium.
"Oh, thank you. And you're welcome." She looked away, making a pouty face as if she was in deep thought, and Yuki chuckled and spun on his heel, headed back over to the stairs. She shook her head, confused at her own words, and sat on a cushion at the table.
As the morning dragged on, and lunchtime came in a flash, Tohru found herself preparing lunch. The rain had died down to a light sprinkle, so Yuki went to check on his garden and perhaps bring things home. Shigure had to made a quick stop into town to drop off a letter to the mailbox and promised to be home before it started raining again. Kyo still wasn't back yet, and that worried the brunette.
She ate her grilled cheese and tomato sandwich alone, saving three for her housemates.
Another hour rolled by, and there was still no sign of Shigure, Yuki, nor Kyo, and Tohru was pacing around the house. She hadn't a lot of experience pacing, but she moved from the kitchen, to the living room, to the hallway upstairs, to her bedroom, and even on the roof. Which, she regretted, because it had started down-pouring again. Even worse, there was occasional thunder and lightning, and she was afraid of lightning.
A loud 'Boom!' shook the ground under her, and she ran back into the kitchen with a loud scream. She covered her heart with one hand and scrambled over to make sure every appliance was off and cooled down. A strong wind blew a branch at the window, and she ran to the opposite wall, falling on her knees. "Whose idea was it to leave an air head like me alone for more than an hour on a rainy day?" her voice wavered as she asked herself, and she sat down at the table, covering her ears and shutting her eyes as a bright flash of lightning appeared out of the corner of her eye.
She bit back another scream.
When she was sure the thunder was moving away, she got back up and went into the kitchen to make sure a window wasn't smashed in or anything (with her being so afraid, she couldn't tell breaking glass from one of her own whimpers). When all seemed well, she heard a crackle outside and figured it was Yuki and Shigure coming back. She ran at the door, and prepared to shout happily of their arrival.
She swung the door open and only got a "Hey, y…" out before she realized the crack she heard was a tree cracking and headed straight for the house. She slammed the door and couldn't find the strength and motivation to yell at herself to run, and just as she found her voice, the tree came slamming down into the house and she let out a loud, terrified scream.
"I still don't get why you had to drag me to your special 'backroom' sale," Yuki mumbled, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk ahead of them. The rain had calmed down a little, enough that they could see the road in front of them, but it was still wet and humid outside.
He hoped Tohru was alright, being home by herself for as long as she was.
"Oh, Yuki, when will you learn that girls wait for sales on shoes while men my age-group wait for 'backroom' sales? Come now, we have no time to discuss this anyway. We have to get back to our little flower."
Yuki growled under his breath and continued walking a little faster.
When they got to the pathway leading up to their house, they heard a loud screech rattle the trees around them. It took a minute for Yuki's brain to register that the scream had come in the direction of their house, and he ran immediately the way up, Shigure not far behind him.
The scene in front of them made Yuki gasp in terror. He scrambled forward, his foot catching on a broken branch and he fell on the cobblestone path.
"My… my house…" Shigure gasped, and he gaped at the tree. "No…" he looked up, seeing a puff of smoke from the hole in the front of the house. An amber flame danced in his vision and a crash from inside made him snap to attention.
"What the hell is going on around here?"
As Shigure bound toward the house, Yuki turned around to look at Kyo. "Hm. It figures you'd be getting back. And I know as much as you, so there's no reason to raise your…"
"T-Tohru!" Kyo ignored the Rat's lecture and ran forward as Shigure carried an unconscious Tohru on his back. He was in his dog form and was having trouble carrying the girl. Kyo looked around, panicked, and tore a sheet from the clothes line, wrapping her in it. A clap of thunder echoed above the group, and Kyo stared at Tohru's unconscious form. "I… I knew I shouldn't have left her here… if you didn't have to go to your stupid garden, she'd still be…" he couldn't bring himself to look anywhere but at the scrape alone Tohru's collar bone, her blouse ripped. He picked her up; making sure the cloth covered her so they weren't necessarily touching.
Yuki glared at Kyo, but knew better than to argue back when there was still an unconscious girl to be dealt with. "You'll pay for that, stupid Cat, but first we have to get Miss Honda to the hospital. Who wants to tell her grandfather about this?"
"Worse than that," Shigure cut in, having transformed and re-clothed, "Who's going to tell Momiji, or Kisa? I can tell the grandfather, that's fine… but one of you two has to tell…"
"Not it." Kyo turned his head and started back down the cobblestone path, walking in fast paced strides and breaking into a trot once he met the road. Shigure put a finger to his nose, and he and Yuki glared at each other before the Rat rolled his eyes and started forward. Shigure grinned triumphantly, and the pair broke into a run after Kyo.
Right... so I guess I'm alright with it. This is where we're introduced to the conflict, sort of. Or at least it's a segue to the conflict. ^^ I hope you like it, please stay tuned for more!
Expect an update sometime next week!
~Cookie
