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Disclaimer: Furuba not mine

Chapter 4 - At Least the Cake Was Good

Izi-chan froze with a bright magenta-colored nail polish in her hand. Her features became pointed with. . .something. Anger? Guilt?

Tohru immediately regretted asking. "I mean, you don't have--"

"No," Izi-chan interrupted. She sighed. "It's fine. Of course you would wonder about that; Shigure loves telling the story. It's just. . .kinda embarrassing. Well, Kagura and I were best friends, even with the six-year gap. We told each other everything, never kept secrets from each other, Jesus--we even did the whole braid each other's hair thing.

"So, yeah, I knew about her crush--if you can call it that--on Kyo. It wasn't exactly something she hid. I'd never really supported her when it came to him, though. A lot of the time I'd try to distract her from him. I think she sometimes hated me because of it. But that's what our friendship was, y'know? Loving and hating.

"In the weeks before her fifteenth birthday, though, it was getting really bad. She was going totally gaga over him, Way past the attacking stuff she normally does. I was getting so sick of all the 'I'm gonna marry him' shit. I felt like I really had to say something to her, before she hurt herself. Or Kyo. Or me. Or, just, anybody.

"Anyway, I'd promised I'd throw her a big birthday party. I invited all the Zodiacs--and Kyo--and ordered a ginormous six-layer chocolate cake, her favorite. And I was trying the whole time to tell her to tone things down, I really was. But she--God, she just wouldn't hear it. She was so stubborn!" Izi-chan was visibly angry by now, but she kept her voice low. Tohru continued to listen patiently.

"She just wouldn't listen to me. So I gave her the bitchy attitude, kinda hoping she'd ask me about it so I could talk to her, But she didn't. Maybe she thought I was, I dunno, in Super PMS Mode or something. She gave me attitude right back, because that's what we did when one of us was moody: Told the other to take a Midol and get over it.

"That's when we started fighting. At first the fights were just stupid: Who got the last onigiri, whether we saw the new romantic comedy or shitty horror flick, blah blah blah. Then, it got worse, because I started eating pork again. Being BFFs with Kagura, I'd sworn off the stuff.

"So, I finally my chance to talk to her, at her birthday party naturally. Have I told you about my awesome luck yet?" She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I told her I thought she was being unfair to Kyo, forcing herself on him all the time when he obviously didn't feel the same way. I told her she knew she didn't really love him, and she was only pretending for the sake of her own ego. I told her I'd always hated how she threw the word around. Love." Izi-chan hid her face with a curtain of her dark hair, not bothering to conceal her scowl.

"Well, you can imagine that she was not terribly please to hear my thoughts on her non-love life. She said friends don't talk to friends like that, and I was just jealous that she had someone to care about and I didn't."

She coughed before continuing. "Some more things were said--admittedly, they were mostly from me--and then she slapped me." Tohru gasped. "And, I mean, I didn't want to hurt as bad as I did, I swear I didn't. It's just a knee-jerk reaction, when someone hits me, to hit them back. Things got out of hand, and then next thing I knew I had broken her nose, she had blackened my eye, and we were both covered in six layers of ginormous chocolate cake in front of all the Zodiacs--and Kyo." Izi-chan finished her story with a long sigh. She quickly blinked away the angry tears dotting her eyes; no way would she let Tohru--not to mention the whole of Joie Salon, who was listening intently (though most of them looked a little confused)--see her cry.

"Everything was pretty shitty after that. For the next few weeks, we had our big, stupid Prank War going on. Very mature of us, huh? At one point, I had no clean clothes because Kagura had gotten green slime over all of them. I'm still not completely sure how.

"I don't like how it ended, with the public humiliation and cake and stuff, but I'd be lying if I said I wish we were still friends. I think that some friendships just aren't built to last, and we have to deal with that. I do miss some of the good ol' times occasionally, but after what happened there's no going back." Izi-chan looked up from her lap, which she'd focused on during her story, ready to see the disgusted, Ohmygod-what-a-bitch look she'd learned not to react to through years of catty girls whispering behind her back. She was genuinely shocked to see Tohru with eyes leaking tears.

"Why are you crying?" Izi-chan asked, wide-eyed.

"I think you made the right choice," Tohru whispered. The tears continued to stream down her face. "It's sad to lose a friend, of course. But it's not just that you've accepted it all, you still think about it. You're human. And," she wiped her face with her sleeve, "you stood up for Kyo. Thank you."

If Izi-chan thought she was shocked before, what Tohru did next threw her for a complete loop: She hugged her. "No, Tohru," she whispered. "Thank you."

Tohru pulled away. "For what?"

"Nothing, nothing." Izi-chan waved her freshly-manicured hands, careful not to smudge them on anything. The awkward post-bonding silence was pushed away by Izi-chan re-embracing her confident aura, starting on her Mindless Girl Babble once again. "So yeah, that color for you toes will totally go with the lavender shirt we got you, are you gonna model the outfits for the guys? Ohmygod, they'd so totally freak if you did! Kyo would go all protective BF on you, right?"

Tohru smiled. Underneath the bubbly, confident social butterfly Izi-chan flounced in front of everyone, there was a vulnerable girl who'd lost a friend, who was surprisingly good at arm wrestling, and Tohru wanted to be that girl's friend.

The girls walked out of Joie Salon, primped and polished like little porcelain dolls. They strutted up to the guys, who looked peeved at having spent the whole day with each other.

"Having fun?" Izi-chan asked sweetly. She had to admit, watching them squirm was pretty fun after spilling her guts to Torhu.

Kyo glared at her. "What the hell to you think? If I have to spend one more goddamn minute with these two, I'm going to explode."

"Same to you, baka neko," Yuki remarked.

Before a fist fight could break out, Izi-chan said, "Fine, you drama queens. We'll go just as soon as Kyo takes Tohru to return the dress, right Tohru?" Izi-chan winked at her. She quickly slipped the receipt and bag in Kyo's hands and shoved the two off in a random direction. "Bye bye!"

The two stumbled away. Yuki looked suspiciously at Izi-chan. "He's not going to return the dress, is he?"

She smirked. "That's not really within my power," she stated, "now is it?"

"500 yen says he let's her keep the dress!" Shigure exclaimed. (a/n: that's a little less than 5.)

Izi-chan replied, "You're on!"

Tohru and Kyo were having a bit of a hard time finding the store. Tohru was sure she and Izi-chan had turned left at the fountain. Kyo was sure that he'd seen some sort directory a few stores back. Neither were sure where they were exactly.

"How long does it take to find a goddamn store?!" Kyo grumbled, low enough so Tohru couldn't hear it and start apologizing for getting them lost. He gave up looking around and walked over to a conveniently located bench. Tohru followed and sat down next to him.

It was now or never. "Um, Kyo-kun," she started, "about the dress. . ."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I know you're worried about boys saying weird things to me if I wear it, but I know how to take care of myself." Kyo snorted. "Well, maybe not, but as long as I'm not alone what do I have to worry about?"

Kyo contemplated what she said. She did have a point: If she were with Hanajima and Uotani, they surely wouldn't allow any sketchy guys within twenty feet of her; Yuki would make sure of the same. And as for himself, he'd kick the ass of any guy that harassed Tohru. Hmmm, he thought. She must've picked up some debating skills from Izi-chan during their 'girl time.'

He smiled softly at her. "Maybe you're right. Do you really like the dress?"

"Yes, of course!"

Kyo stood up and put a hand out to help Tohru up. "Then you should have it. Now, come on. I want to go home."

Tohru grinned from ear to ear as she took his hand. Neither of them let go once Tohru was on her feet.

They did eventually have to let go, however. As they approached the others approximately thirty minutes later, Kyo thought he saw Izi-chan slip something into Shigure's hand and Yuki rolling his eyes.

Before the teasing could start, Kyo muttered, "She's keeping the dress, okay?"

The three smirked.

"Well then," Izi-chan said, "let's head back. I have a few more presents for you guys at home."

so there's chapter 4!! review if you want to know the rest of the tricks izi-chan has up her sleeves (again, nothing dead/disturbing, promise).