Chapter 4

The first thing that Tohru noticed was the fact that he was tall. Of course she'd noticed it before, but when suddenly presented with miles and miles of bare skin, no longer hidden by his normal clothes, she was very, very aware of the fact.

Luckily, her eyes had not left his chest.

She heard him clear his throat and that seemed to snap her out of her daze, and she quickly snapped her eyes shut and whirled around, facing the door.

"S-S-Sorry, Hatori-san!" she said, hastily adding the formal to the end of his name. "I-I-I didn't see a-anyth-thing, I swear!"

He cleared his throat a second time and then she heard a rustling of clothes and she guessed that he was putting his clothes back on. Of course, now, because of the careless way that she had handled them, they would be badly wrinkled and she felt a swelling of guilt.

As he got dressed, she clenched her fists in front of her chest, still screwing her eyes tightly shut, silently thinking, Oh no…what is he going to do now? He's never going to want to be seen with me again! Oh, this is so embarrassing! I hope none of the other Sohmas find out…

…He has a nice chest.

At that last thought, she felt even more embarrassed, and quickly tried to put it from her mind, instead focusing on the sounds behind her. The sounds had ceased, and she wondered if that meant that he was done changing, and she thought about turning around, but she didn't want to risk it.

But then she felt a hand on her shoulder, gently turning her, so she did, but kept her eyes closed.

Hatori then spoke.

"Tohru, I'm fine. Thank you for acting so quickly…and you can open your eyes, now."

Carefully, she peeked open one eye and saw a blur of white cloth, and she knew that he was telling the truth. Letting out a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes and slowly unclenched her fists.

"Oh, uhm…okay. Uh…you're welcome?" she hesitantly added, looking up, and he gave her that smile where his mouth didn't move.

"Yes, that is what you say when someone says thank you, Tohru."

She blushed, and then motioned to the glass sitting on the floor next to their feet and said, "Sorry about that. It was the only thing that I could find, and I didn't think that it would be a good idea to put you in the sink. You could have fallen down the drain."

At her last words, she felt silly, and she ducked her head as she felt her cheeks flush an even brighter red.

But then he reached down and gently tilted her head up to look at him, using the side of his first finger. They locked eyes. She didn't know that he had gray eyes. Goodness, was it just her or had the bathroom suddenly become even smaller?

"Thank you again, Tohru. Now, would you like to go back to the table now? I know the drinks arrived, but I don't think our food has."

She simply nodded, unable to say a word, her tongue suddenly numb and glued to the roof of her mouth.

He gently moved her away from the door and then stepped out of the bathroom, holding the door for her, and she shyly stepped out after him, keeping her eyes trained on the floor just in front of her feet, not wanting to look back up as she knew her face was still red.

She felt his hand at her lower back and she lifted her eyes just enough so that she could see her way safely back to their table.

As they sat down, an elderly man wearing a very nice suit approached them and asked, "Sohma Hatori, is everything alright? We are so sorry for the inconvenience, and we will do anything we can to make up for it, sir."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply, but Hatori waved his hand.

"No, no. It was merely an accident and nothing more. Thank you, though, Hashimi Kaoru."

The man bowed again.

"Please, tonight's dinner will be taken care of. No payment for any food will be necessary, even if you wish something more."

And with that, he quickly left and strode away, his stride short but quick, leaving Hatori behind him with almost a smirk on his face. Tohru felt a faint smile slip onto her lips at the sight, and Hatori noticed it and his smirk turned into an actual smile.

"There it is," he said enigmatically.

"There what is?" she asked, her smile wavering slightly.

"Your smile. I wondered where it had gotten off to."

As soon as he'd said the words, Hatori wondered where they had come from. He almost sounded…flirtatious. More like Shigure then like himself, and he felt his cheeks color slightly, and he looked over at Tohru, wondering if she had noticed, but her eyes were turned back towards the table…and her mouth was wide.

Good. She was still smiling.

She had a nice smile and it made him happy to know that he was the one who had caused it.

After a moment, she lifted a hand and drew a strand of hair behind her ear; a mannerism, he noticed, that usually preceded a carefully thought out question.

"Uhm, Hatori…?"

Yes. There it was. He waited a moment before saying, "Hmm?" and then smiled to himself when she brought her eyes back up to his.

"I was wondering…why…well," she paused and looked around, and then leaned in and asked in a whispered voice, "Why did you change? I mean, after what happened earlier I thought…well…that…"

Hatori finished her sentence for her.

"That I was no longer cursed?"

She glanced around quickly, her head swiveling, as though afraid that someone might have overheard what he had just said, and he had to keep himself from chuckling at the sight. For a moment, she had looked like a squirrel, and it had been quite amusing.

"I-I didn't say that!" she said, shaking her head. "I-I said…"

He gave her a reassuring look and said, "It's alright, Tohru. No one here would dare listen in on a conversation that included me. It would be in direct violation of the full privacy clause that we have in our contract. We can talk freely here."

At that news she looked relieved and visibly relaxed.

"Oh. Okay, then."

He gave her a smile, and then his brow furrowed slightly as he thought about her question.

"Honestly, I don't know. It is rather strange that only you would not affect me, but that any other female would. Hmmm…"

He went quiet and then leaned back in his chair, absently placing his forefinger against his chin, thinking about the possible explanations as to why this was happening. Tohru did not affect him, but other females did. That had to mean that there was something different about her that made her the exception to the rule. But why now?

As he continued to think, he was interrupted when their waiter arrived with their food with Hashimi Kaoru hovering over the young man's every move.

"No, no! Hitachiin, you put the spoons over to the right, not the left!"

The waiter simply nodded to the manager and moved them, while both Tohru and Hatori looked on; Hatori in amusement and Tohru in shock, as she couldn't believe that the man was being so hard on the boy.

Finally, though with slightly shaking hands, their food was put in front of them.

"Thank you very much," Tohru said to the waiter, and the young man simply nodded, gave a brief bow to each of them, and then left the table, the empty tray under his arm, with the manager following behind him, berating him under his breath the whole way.

Hatori, seeing that Tohru was nervous about trying the food, took a bite of his own first to placate her fears and it seemed to work.

Carefully, she picked up her fork and took a tentative bite of the dish in front of her.

And then she froze, with the fork still in her mouth.

He paused in his eating, observing her reaction to the taste, and then watched as she slowly removed the fork and carefully placed it on her plate. Her jaw didn't move for a moment, and then it did. In the beginning, her eyes had been wide, but now, with each chew, her eyes slowly closed.

And now Hatori was frozen.

Tohru now delved into her meal, and she was, there was no other word for it, sensuously chewing each bite.

He was very certain that she had no idea of the fact that she was doing so, and that made it even more difficult for him to focus on his own meal.

Using all of his self-control, he pulled his attention back to his food and enjoyed it as best as he could, though the truth was that he barely noticed the taste of it. He turned the idea over and over in his head about the fact that she was the only one not affected by his curse.

Not the Sohma curse in its entirety, but specifically just him. It was strange.

He went back to the idea that there was something about her that made the exception to the rule. What could it be?

All too quickly, they had both finished their meals and the waiter named Hitachiin came back over to them and offered them both dessert menus. Hatori saw that Tohru was about to object, so he quickly said, "Thank you. We would love to see what you have."

Tohru, surprised, simply nodded, and took the menu and slowly scanned through it.

Wow, she thought to herself. Mom, I think that you would enjoy this menu…

It included several different chocolate confections, as well as a yogurt and fruit parfait that sounded absolutely delicious. It included blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries, all put into a thick, vanilla yogurt and topped with a mixed berry glaze.

She wasn't sure if she should speak up, but finally she plucked up the nerve.

"Uh…uhm, Hatori?"

He looked up from his menu, his hair covering his left eye.

"Yes?"

"Uh…I was wondering if I could get the…the…" She hesitated and then pushed her way through. "The parfait. It, uhm, looks good. Maybe…maybe we could share?"

She was slightly terrified of what he might say, and was certain that she'd gone too far in suggesting that they share a dessert. Maybe she should have just not said anything; that probably would have been the safer thing to do. That probably would have-

"That sounds like a great idea, Tohru. I was looking at that myself."

And with that, he summoned their waiter back over and gave them their menus and their order.

The young man quickly hurried off, bowing deeply as he left, leaving Hatori amused by him yet again. He liked this young man; it was too bad that he seemed to be absolutely terrified of him, and completely baffled and put-off by Tohru's kind disposition.

While he was gone, they were quiet, but it was a comfortable silence, which was nice.

Tohru realized that it wasn't like that with any other member of the Sohma family. Whenever silence fell at the house where she lived with the three other Sohmas, it usually meant that someone was upset or angry, but with Hatori it was…nice.

Soon their dessert arrived, and Hatori smiled when he saw her light up at the sight of the large, Martini-style glass that held the parfait.

Two spoons were already in it and they each grabbed one, and before Tohru could object, Hatori motioned with his spoon and said, "You first."

Instead of blushing, she simply flashed him a smile and said, "Thanks, Hatori!", and then without any reservation that she'd had throughout the rest of the evening, she dug her spoon in and took a big bite. After she'd finished it, again closing her eyes as she savored the taste, she then repeated Hatori's gesture with her own spoon and said, "Now it's your turn."

And the way she looked at him…suddenly, he saw the young woman and not the girl.

The sight was startling.

Part 4/?