Me: Yo.
Kyo: Um, yeah, hi. Forgive her, she's in a bit of a weird mood.
Tohru: And she's really anxious about writing this chapter, so she's trying to cover it up by acting all macho.
Me: Tohru! I was trying not to let my readers know about that!
Momiji: Why are you anxious Angel-san?
Me: Because I don't know if I'll be able to write this correctly. I don't want it to be all weird. Anywho… Enjoy and… oh wait! I almost forgot something.
Kyo: **raises eyebrow expectantly**
Me: In an effort to get more reviews, I am hosting a question and comment marathon! Everyone, listen up. I want you, yes you, to drop any questions you have, about me, my writing, my feelings about the fandoms listed on my bio, anything really, into my review or PM box. I will answer them, unless they seem like they could be dangerous to put online. Please, please, please take this opportunity. I will be posting this to my other stories as well and will answer them either by PM or at the beginning of my next chapter. Also, please comment on anything and everything that interests you in the world. I love hearing from you guys! I love you all! Enjoy!
Momiji: And review! **maximum cuteness**
Chapter Nine: Awaken
Tohru carefully opened her door, smelling the familiar scents of miso soup boiling, rice steaming and fish grilling. Slowly putting one foot forward, she could feel that Kyo wasn't by her door anymore. Thinking of last night gave her a hard knot in her stomach, one that she had learned to associate with guilt, and her cheeks were warm with shame. How could she confront him? She nearly went back to bed, but she forced herself to stay put.
Taking a deep breath to screw her determination into place, she started along the wall, finding her way down hall and stairs with no more sound than a whisper of wind. She paused in the kitchen doorway and listened carefully, picking out the soft thud of Kyo's feet as he walked along the countertop. His back was most likely to her, so she hurried forward, wrapping her arms around his waist and refusing to let go. He stiffened at first, surprised, but quickly relaxed and grasped her arms. He pulled them apart for a moment, turning around and hugging her in return.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered, tears beginning to slip down her cheeks. "I shouldn't have gotten angry. You were just trying to help…" She trailed off as he began to hush her, rubbing her back and pressing her face into the crook of his shoulder.
"Shh… No, I'm sorry. I should have let you do it. After all," He pulled back a bit, bringing her fingers to his mouth, both so he could kiss them, and so she could feel him smile. "Who knows better about cleaning, you or me?" She smiled back, sniffling.
"Me." She murmured, laughing softly around the last few tears. He kissed her forehead gently, then turned back to his cooking, leading her arms back around his waist once he was settled. She grasped his body loosely, leaning her head against him and taking in his familiar smell. He was so close, so familiar, so warm and comforting that she almost cried again in pure relief.
The previous night had been terrifying, confronting the night and pain by herself and hearing the whimpers from outside as Kyo wrestled with his own demons. She had nearly gone out to ask him to come back in with her, but she had been frightened that he would be angry with her, so she had stayed in their room alone. It had been a long, long night. It was so good to be with him again.
But something was off this morning. She could sense a difference in Kyo, in the way he moved, in the timbre of his voice when he spoke to her. He was too still, too weary, too… resigned. It was as if he had decided that today was his last day, and that he should take in every moment as though it were his last. She could practically feel him focusing his energies on her every touch, her every breath. She experienced every slow breath he took along with him, imprinting the various smells into her memory. Her ears seemed strangely attuned to every sound; birds trilling, cars passing, water bubbling, steam hissing, floorboards creaking, leaves rustling. She was aware of him listening too, and it was both calming and frightening.
"Breakfast." He finally said, leading her to her seat and setting a bowl of soup in front of her, followed by a newly shaped rice ball and an already cut up fish. He handed her a spoon and turned back around to serve himself. She ate daintily, clearly enjoying it, but trying to take small bites to make it last longer, and to keep any mishaps from occurring due to her blindness. They ate quietly, enjoying each other's company. Kyo finished first and began cleaning the dishes and soon Tohru was putting her dishes in the sink.
"All right, let's plan this." Tohru said, carefully putting a stack of small folders on the table and opening the top one. Kyo turned around, smiling softly and putting the last dish on the counter to dry.
"Plan what?" He asked, drying his hands and walking over to look over her shoulder at the papers in the folder. The top paper was a checklist. He read down it: Flowers; Dress; Location; Invitations; Decorations; Tuxedo; Best Man; Groomsmen; Maid of Honor; Bridesmaids. The list went on, and Kyo realized that it was a checklist for planning a wedding.
Their wedding.
He felt his face pale, realizing that his plans would keep any wedding from going through.
"Our wedding, of course." Tohru confirmed, opening the next folder and feeling along the different fabric textures stapled to the papers in there. "I was thinking of how much I like this one. Is it satin or silk? And for colors, I was thinking some bright colors, maybe orange and red, or yellow. What do you think?" Kyo unfroze slowly, sitting down beside her and slowly reaching over to replace the papers in the folders and move them away.
"What?" Tohru looked confused. "Kyo, what's wrong?" He took her hands.
"Let's just spend today together. No planning, no chores, just hanging out together. After all, soon things are going to get crazy." She smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I guess so. Planning a wedding does take a lot of time. All right, lets do it." Kyo smiled, watching the light inside of Tohru come out through her bright grin. He would miss that light. But he would rather lose it himself then ever let it die. So he would bask in it's radiance today, and then, to save it's brilliance for eternity, he would leave.
Forever.
Kyo was unsure of how to feel about Akito's unexpected appearance. On the one hand, he knew that Akito had changed, but his deepest instincts reminded him of his past experiences with the violence behind that soft smile and that kept him from letting himself relax. She was sitting at the foot of Tohru's bed now, gently rubbing the cold feet of his fiancée and smiling gently all the way. Kureno and Uo talked quietly from the cot and Hiro had gone out to the car to get food and pass the keys to Kazuma. Uo had decided to stay, presumably to spend time with her husband, but Kyo had personally decided that it was probably to keep an eye on the former cat.
A doctor came in, seeming very uncomfortable with the number of people in the room.
"My name is Dr. Miyagawa. You are aware of the 'relatives only' visiting rules in this ward, yes?" Everyone stared at him blankly.
"We are family." Akito said firmly, in a tone that suggested that she was expecting to be obeyed. Everyone nodded and the doctor shrugged, figuring that it wasn't worth fighting over with this strangely lovely group of people. Rubbing a hand down his slightly wrinkled face, he sighed and flipped the top sheet up on his clipboard.
"I have some bad news. Which one of you is Kyo Sohma, the fiancée of the patient?" Kyo swallowed thickly and stood, unsure of exactly why he had, but feeling like he couldn't sit still.
"I am." He choked, around a thick knot in his throat. Hiro chose this moment to come in and find a seat on the floor by the window with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. The doctor looked over and seemed to rethink what he had been about to say, presumably to make it easier for a child to hear, and the former ram noticed.
"Go ahead Doc. I can take it." He scowled and crossed his arms and the doctor sighed, adjusting his glasses and turning back to the expectant Kyo.
"Ms. Honda is going to be removed from the hospital this afternoon." Kyo suddenly felt the color drain from his face. Obviously, the chart contained some information that one of the many machines had told him. Dr. Miyagawa looked over at Akito and her expression and creased his forehead.
"I think you misunderstood what I said." He said. Akito shook her head and smirked triumphantly.
"You were having one over on us. She's waking up? That's great news isn't it?" She looked around at everyone else and noticed that they were grim. "Isn't it?" She said, more quietly and much more hesitantly. Kyo felt his chest constrict and clenched his fists. Behind him he could hear Uo's pained groan and the subsequent muffling of her angry tears as Kureno embraced her. Hiro was uncharacteristically silent, and the doctor put on his most comforting face. It failed miserably.
"I'm sorry, but if Ms. Honda doesn't wake up in the next few hours, then the chances are next to none that she will wake at all. We will provide you with a PICC line to continue to feed her, for at least a few more days. But unless she shows clear signs of waking in the next, " He looked at his watch. It was a little after nine now. "Eight hours, we're going to have to send her home. It will be better for her to expire at home, surrounded by family than in a cold hospital room anyway. I truly am deeply sorry." Then, he left, not liking the looks he was getting from the orange-haired fiancée, the blond woman on the cot or the black-haired youth on the bed. He wouldn't put it past any of the three to strangle him right there.
Sometimes, he was convinced that the most dangerous part of his job wasn't the long hours, the infectious diseases, or the huge stacks of paperwork. It was, invariably, dealing with the families of the patients, their constant whining and demanding and the way they couldn't seem to just listen to the advice of their betters on the care of their loved ones. It was infuriating, and dangerous because of the various lawsuits that he had narrowly avoided. With a sigh, he closed the door, straightened his jacket and went off to get a cup of coffee before he delivered another verdict to yet another family. Hopefully, these ones wouldn't try to kill him.
Back in the room, Kyo fell heavily back into his chair, nearly tipping it over and only just barely managing to right it before he fell. Uo stood and began to pace, stopping by the cot every time she passed it to fall into a hug from her husband and sob for a moment before growling and wiping the tears away. Then she'd stand and make another short circuit around the room and do it all again. Akito fidgeted, unsure of what to do and looked longingly at the door, seeming to want to escape the suddenly close confines of the stifling room.
Kyo was simply numb, unable to do anything, having to remind himself to breath every time his lungs began to burn. His vision tunneled, focusing around the point where wall, door and floor all met and seeing nothing else. His body was hot, then cold, and his thoughts were slowly spinning, becoming more and more dizzy and unintelligible with each revolution.
It was Hiro who finally broke the tense silence.
"What are we going to do?" He muttered, staring out the window and breathing with a rhythm that suggested he was trying to calm himself. Everyone turned toward Kyo, wanting him to make the decision. He didn't notice this attention until Kureno said his name. He looked up to see everyone staring at him. He fought bring the last few minutes under control in his mind. Finally comprehending the question, he let the only clear thought in his head spill out his mouth.
"I don't know." Then, after a few more minutes of expectant waiting, he stuttered out a little more. " I, I guess we should, um… We should call the rest of the family and uh…" He choked on his tears and stopped short. "You guys should go to the house and get everything ready for her." The words were thick and slurred by the agony that Kyo was barely holding back. Tears splashed onto the hands that lay clenched and useless in his lap, soaking his shirt, pants and skin without him even attempting to stop them.
A hand on his shoulder suddenly shocked him into looking up. Uo was standing there, and Kureno had gone around to comfort Akito. Kyo, without knowing how it would be received or even if he wanted to do it, knelt down in front of and threw his arms around the once-Yanki and began sobbing. Uo was surprised, but in a way that Kyo found strangely sisterly, she began to caress his hair and hold him. They might have been only tentative friends, but in loving Tohru, they had found equal ground and so each other's comfort was enough to ease the pain, if only slightly.
While everyone's attention was focused elsewhere, the bed's occupant took one breath that was deeper and slower than any she had taken since arriving.
And, unseen and unnoticed, her finger twitched.
Me: Uh oh, Tohru is in danger, and in her dream, Kyo is planning his own demise. This may be their darkest hour!
Tohru: Why must you write such dark things Angel-san?
Kyo: Yeah, it sucks when crap like this happens.
Yuki: You could stand to be a little nicer.
Me: No! Nice stuff comes after all the crap. That's what makes the nice be nice and not mediocre.
Momiji: And where do I come in?
Me: I'm thinking you will probably be in two, maybe three chapters. Anywho, I have two other stories to work on, so I will see you guys soon.
Kisa: Um, and if it's not too much trouble, please review.
Hiro: You'd better!
Momiji: And send questions!
All Sohmas: PLEASE! **maximum beauty factor**
