A/N: Please excuse my little rant in the last chapter's A/N's - I'm sick and I tend to "Charanari" (shugo chara reference, for those who get it - it's supposed to mean I change my character randomly) when I'm not feeling my best. I just typed whatever came to my head (although reviews would be nice)… Crap, I think I'm doing it again… I'll shut up for now, so uhh… Enjoy~! (I'm addicted to Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations!! Okay, now I'll shut up…) Back to Kaoru and Tohru in: In Memory Of…


Chapter 6: Penny for Your Thoughts

"K-kitten… Tohru-chan! C'mon, wake up already!"

Tohru's head pounded like crazy as she slowly opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a giant, slightly blurred image of Kaoru's face.

Her eyes shot open and the image came into focus; it wasn't blurred anymore, but still incredibly huge. "W-whoa… Why the hell are you so close to me?"

"Actually," he shrugged, "I'm not all that close to you at all…"

"T-then, huh…?" Her head was spinning and she had come to the conclusion that her depth perception somehow became impaired when she had passed out.

"You're mom told you to pack a mirror, right?" Kaoru inquired, holding her travel bag in his hand.

"Y-yeah…"

"Alright then," he nodded as he slowly unzipped the bag, "Please forgive my intrusion…"

"H-hey Kaoru, y-you're not allowed to look through that!" she exclaimed, though couldn't move her body, so was helpless and forced to watch as Kaoru went through her bag.

"Hmm…? Hey, what's this…?" he wondered as he pulled out a small white envelope from the bag.

"I-it's nothing, d-don't touch it!" Tohru pleaded, "C'mon Kaoru, it isn't cool to look through my stuff!"

Completely ignoring her little antics, he opened up the letter and read it aloud.

My dearest Tohru,

I'm sorry… I'm not there with you and I guess I never will be. Feel free to hate me but whatever you do, NEVER hate your mother… for anything. None of this is her fault so there's no reason to feel any hatred towards her. Direct it all, if any, towards me - for I'm the one who truly deserves it. I want you to be strong and take care of your mother. Listen to her, help her, and do anything and everything she tells you. That's all I ask.

Too bad we couldn't have met,

Dad

Kaoru held it in silence for awhile; staring at the words and, more importantly, what was there between the words. He turned to Tohru and bit his lip, as if considering actually saying what he was thinking - it seems he decided to.

"I thought… you said that you hated your father…" He said this, not in his usual cocky, 'I-know-everything' tone, but in an extremely empathetic tone that Tohru had never heard him use.

"I do!" she answered quickly, "Oh, don't get me wrong, I loathe him for leaving me and my mom."

"Then, why would you keep this with you?"

"Well… It's… it's just that…" Tohru averted her gaze and looked off into nothingness.

"W-what is it…?"

She scoffed, "Why the hell do you think I'd tell you?! You've been teasing me and making fun of me for three days now."

"Correction." He pointed out, "You were making fun of me, so I guess you could call it--"

"Justified self-defence…" the two said in unison.

"H-huh…? Are you into law?" Kaoru wondered.

"Damn, it looks we do have something in common." Tohru laughed slightly.

"But… back to this letter. And, I promise I won't laugh at all!" Kaoru swore.

Tohru was silent for a moment, and then started, "Well, back in elementary, I got made fun of for… y'know, not having a dad. To be honest, I don't give a damn where he is right now or what he's doing… but, that letter, told me that he was still out there. So it told me that those kids at school were wrong; I had a father, I still have a father… at least that's what the letter says anyway." She shook her head, "But, I still hate him! The other reason I kept it was so that if I ever did meet him, I'd have it on hand to show him and send him on a guilt trip I hope he'd never recover from!"

Kaoru ran a hand through the spikes of his hair. "I see… But, you know what I think?"

"Hmm…?"

"Your dad is amazing. If you can read between the lines of this letter, you'll see it: love. He obviously still loves your mother and I'm sure he loves you too, but for one reason or another, he had to leave. And, you said it, you may not give a damn where he is or what he's doing… but, I've got a hunch that, wherever he is, he's thinking about you and your mom. That's the kind of guy he is."

"H-huh…? Have you met him?"

"Uhh… At least that's what I can grasp from this letter of his…"

"Oh…" Tohru nodded a little tinge of disappointment in her voice. She smiled softly, "Thanks Kaoru…"

Kaoru smiled back before suddenly turning his attention back towards her travel bag. "Anyway… back to looking for that mirror!"

"Whoa… Hey, nice way to kill the mood Kaoru! We were just having a moment here!"

"Yes, I know and it was quite touching!" he said as he continued to rummage through her bag. "But, I have to show you before the time runs out, or we'll have to go through all of this again! We have to make it in this time limit."

"Time limit to what…?"

"This." He quickly brought out the mirror and reflected it at Tohru.

All she saw was a small, crimson red, kitten with a black and white beaded collar around its neck reflecting in the mirror.

"Aww… it's a cute little kitten!" Tohru said in her childish 'animal-lover' voice.

"Aww…" Kaoru mimicked before looking over to her from behind the mirror. "No, it's you…" he said flatly.

"W-what…?" Tohru motioned to lift up her hand and touch the surface of the mirror and, in the reflection, saw the kitten reach up and lift its paw up as well.

"I told you that you're a kitten." Kaoru nodded. "Now do you believe me?"

"Y-yeah Kaoru…" she muttered quietly and fearfully. "N-now I believe you…"