Megumi
It was surprising. Tohru would always stop to talk to me whenever we ran into each other, even though I'm just the younger brother of one of her friends. She was always overly friendly and never scared of me, but today, it was strange. She walked right past me without even a wave. She looked directly at me, but I don't think she saw me. Of course, I don't blame her. She seemed rather distracted and distressed. I had tried to call out to her. She glanced over her shoulder, seemingly unsure of why, but again, she didn't perceive me. I got a few strange looks, but none more than usual. Then, she hurried off, glancing around nervously.
What's more strange was how dirty her clothes were. Tohru came over often enough that I knew how clumsy she was. It wouldn't have been surprising for her to have spilled her food or drink on her clothes or have fallen on the ground. But to have created those deep brown and green stains, she must have fallen repeatedly. And I haven't yet mentioned the scrapes on her knees. I just do hope no one forced her to fall, or they'd have Saki to answer to. And perhaps me as well. Tohru has become like my second sister, after all. But oddly enough, Tohru herself didn't even seem aware of her state or how people stared at her. She has always been rather clueless, but not to this extreme. She didn't even seem to notice that she limped with every step she took, or that her arm trembled when she reached to brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear, or even that her fingers got stuck in the tangled mess.
Tohru's waves seemed off as well, though my skill at reading people's waves is not as good as my sister's. I must consult with Saki later. I probably should tell Saki to ask Tohru whether she needs me to curse anyone for her as well.
After she turned a corner and vanished from my sight, I resumed my journey home. Saki had asked me to buy some more incense and candles. For some reason, we went through those rather quickly.
It didn't take long for me to return home. I slid open the door and removed my shoes carefully before stepping inside to look for Saki. I found her in the kitchen, drying a plate. She turned around as soon as I entered. One look at me and she set the plate onto the drying rack. After placing the towel back on the counter, she walked over. She greeted me briefly before taking the bag from my hand and unpacking it quietly as she waited for me to speak. I sat down at the kitchen table, watching Saki's pale fingers reach into the bag and slowly remove each black candle one by one. The slight tremor to her fingers did not escape my notice. Saki never shakes, but she has been quivering for the past several days, though she has tried to hide her unsteady hands behind wide wispy sleeves.
The tremors are what made me realize something is wrong. With Tohru. Because Tohru is the only one who can evoke such a deep response in Saki. Not even the older man that Saki has been seeing recently, who promised to teach me martial arts, makes her react like this. Tohru's behavior today only confirmed my suspicion. Until today, I had refrained from inquiring into the situation, but I can't ignore this anymore, especially after Saki drops a container of incense. She stares blankly at the pile of spilled incense, splayed across the kitchen floor, as I scoot closer to get her attention. I don't think it's necessary to add, but I will nonetheless, that Saki does not drop things.
"Saki, is something wrong with Tohru?"
She slowly lifted her eyes toward me and took a deep breath before responding, "Tohru… I believe so. Why do you ask?"
"She seemed rather upset today."
"You've seen her today? Where did you see her?"
I barely told her the street I had been on before Saki leapt out of her seat. Perhaps this needs a bit of explanation, but Saki never leaps. She did leap today, however, and almost slipped on the incense she had spilled. Again, to clarify, Saki does not slip. The soft cracks of breaking incense were the only sounds Saki left as she rushed to get a pair of black boots on. I got up in time to catch her just as she stepped out the door. Saki cannot run fast, so it was not too difficult to keep up with her, but this was the fastest she had ever run. It must have been quite the site with the two of us running down the street and Saki's long black cape billowing in the wind.
She stopped suddenly at the corner where Tohru had disappeared and looked around for a minute before pivoting and walking back towards a path in a small forest that we had just past.
"Tohru…" she murmured with her eyes widening.
Then, she started walking briskly down the path with one hand upraised to keep her fluttering hair from blinding her. When a small clearing on the side of the forest began to appear and the trees started to thin, she took off, running faster and faster until we happened upon a person crouched over a small patch of dirt. At the sound of our heavy breathing, the person turned around, revealing the person to be Yuki Sohma with old gardening gloves on, a small shovel in one hand, and an open pack of seeds in the other. The disappointment that crossed Saki's face was unmistakable, but all the signs of emotion that were rare in and of themselves soon faded behind her usual stoic mask.
"Yuki Sohma… What brings you here?" Saki asked, her voice showing no traces of our tiring trek or her grave disappointment.
"I was checking on Hon- my old garden. Are you two looking for something?"
"We believed Tohru was here," I informed him.
"Honda-san? Why would she be—Why are you looking for her? Is something the matter?"
He climbed to his feet immediately, dropping the seeds and the shovel. His quick glance back at the fallen bag of seeds after he said her name did not escape my notice. He seemed overly alarmed about the girlfriend of a cousin he wasn't particularly fond of, though I must take into consideration, I presume, his own friendship with Tohru. I believe they're close, but it's hard to tell, given that they haven't interacted very much in the past half a decade. I do recall Saki telling me a lot about this Yuki Sohma and Tohru when they were in high school, so I will trust in Saki's judgment that Yuki Sohma cares deeply for Tohru. Besides, I have enough to witness myself at the moment that I must concede. He does appear rather ghastly at the possibility that Tohru is in trouble.
It may not appear so, but Saki had been scrutinizing him as closely as I had been, so she responded rather guardedly, "I have reason to believe so."
Yuki Sohma turned away before Saki had even finished speaking, but even with his face averted and his hair preventing me from even seeing the corner of his eye, I could feel his distress, and no, you would not have needed a sixth sense to have noticed. It would have been rather hard to miss the twitch in his fingers as he ripped the gloves from his hands and threw them beside the bag of seeds. A minute passed before he faced us again. His lips were firmly pressed together in a straight line, and his eyes were misty but narrowed, as if he were trying very hard to control what emotion was displayed on his face. Again, he only allowed us a few seconds to study his face before he walked past us until we could only see his back. Then, he turned back and looked at us rather impatiently.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go," he demanded softly but urgently.
"Go?" Saki repeats, but this one word was the only evidence of her confusion.
"To find Tohru. She's not here, and you were looking for her, right?" he questioned in a near whisper, and I could tell his patience was fading.
At this, Saki grasped the bottom of her skirt and started hurrying after him. He began to run, but when he got several feet away and peered over his shoulder and saw how slowly we seemed to have been running, a dismayed expression crossed his face for a few seconds. He soon grudgingly adjusted his pace, however, so he was never more than a few feet ahead of us, though I believe he must have wanted to give anything in order to sprint as fast as he could and see Tohru as soon as he could. It's not that Saki and I weren't trying or weren't as concerned about Tohru; really, that was as fast as we had ever run in our lives.
I believe this run must have been much more interesting than our earlier journey to the garden, especially to those who attended Kaibara high school and knew Yuki Sohma as the school prince and Saki's reputation as a gothic witch.
When we reached Tohru's street, Yuki Sohma, who had been slowing down, rather restlessly, to allow us to keep up with him, seemed to have forgotten about our presence because he sprinted down the last couple of blocks to her house, leaving us by the street sign while he pressed her door bell furiously, or I can only assume that was what he was doing, given that I could hardly make his figure out anymore from this distance.
It was strange. For someone who did not visit Tohru very often, he knew the way to her house perfectly.
Saki and I exerted ourselves and somehow managed to run faster. We were only a house away when Tohru opened her door with a rather frazzled expression across her face. Her hand was outstretched as if to grab him, but he grasped her hand first. While he wildly scanned her quivering frame to make sure she hadn't been harmed, she stared motionlessly at him with wide, unblinking eyes. Tohru hadn't changed out of her sullied outfit yet, but at least, she had dressed the wounds on her knees. His expression was accordingly troubled, but he seemed relieved to find her standing before him, despite how unsteady she seemed to be. I quickly glanced at Saki and found her, as I expected, with a slightly hurt expression, which I might have to explain—Saki had been trying to reach Tohru for several days now and had had no success with calling, sending e-mails, or ringing her doorbell, yet, there she was, standing before Yuki Sohma, clasping his hands desperately.
"Honda-san, are you okay?"
"Y-Yuki-kun! I need to talk to you—Hana-chan! Megumi-kun! What are you doing here?"
We had cut across her lawn and were standing a few steps away from her porch. Moments before, Saki had turned away as if to leave before Tohru noticed us, but we acted too late. At the sound of Tohru calling us, Saki slowly turned back around and faced Tohru, not quite smiling. I believe it took too much energy for Saki to conceal her own anguish, but Saki managed to speak steadily, despite the glimmers of horror embedded in Tohru's brown eyes at our presence.
"We were worried. We haven't heard from you. Megumi saw you earlier and informed me that you didn't seem well," Saki replied slowly.
Tohru looked down, ashamed, and seeing her hands wrapped around Yuki Sohma's, she gently slid them out from his fingers, clenching her skirt as a substitute. She avoided his confused gaze and his outstretched hand that he hadn't retracted yet. Instead, she addressed us with a small feeble smile.
"I'm sorry, Hana-chan, Megumi-kun. I didn't mean to make you worry."
"No. Don't apologize, Tohru. We're just glad you seem to be well. Since you want to talk to Yuki Sohma, we'll be on our way then. Come along, Megumi…"
"No! Wait! Hana-chan! Megumi-kun! Please come inside too. I'd love to see you all," she assured us.
Despite how she stepped off the porch and took our hands in hers and tugged us inside, she didn't look or sound like she wanted us to intrude on what she must have presumed to be a solitary visit from Yuki Sohma. Yuki Sohma hesitated uneasily on the porch before following us inside after she, noticing that he hadn't entered with us, looked back at him. Regardless of all of our uncertainty, Tohru was so insistent that the four of us were soon seated around a small table in her living room with cups of tea, trying to converse about weather, work, and school. The small talk was mostly sustained due to Yuki Sohma's efforts since Saki and I were too absorbed with studying them and Tohru seemed too distraught to do much else beside smile and nod.
"Where's Kyo?" Yuki Sohma suddenly asked, looking around the room.
Tohru looked down at her cup before responding quietly, "I don't know…"
Yuki Sohma lowered his eyes at her response, hiding what I believe to be a guilty expression. I didn't think the tension could get any thicker, but somehow, it managed to after that question. It was almost unbearable, but it didn't compel Tohru to look up at Yuki Sohma at all. We could all see her trembling and the tea sloshing in her cup that she held with her shaky fingers. We could all see how sweat made her bangs cling to her forehead, despite the chilliness of the room. We could all see how she kept sneaking partial glances in Yuki Sohma's direction that never made it to his face and how she kept shutting her agape mouth before any words came out. But none of us commented on these observations. We were afraid if we did, the tears she was trying so hard to hide would erupt forth. So a tense silence resettled amongst us, only interrupted by a phone ringing that made Yuki Sohma start.
As he scrounged around his pocket for his phone, he looked up at Tohru, as if for permission to take the call. She nodded once, and he retreated to the kitchen, listlessly, unable to take two steps forward without a glance back at Tohru, and she trembled more as he took the call. It seemed rather unnecessary for him to have left the room, as the silence allowed us to hear enough to understand that his work had called about an emergency that required him to report to the office immediately. He tried to get out of it, of course, trying to explain that his friend was experiencing a personal dilemma and how he didn't feel that he could leave her alone at the moment, but his attempts proved unsuccessful. He ended the call with a vague response about when he'd arrive.
Yuki Sohma returned to the room frowning, but Tohru smiled cheerfully at him (but I use the word "cheerfully" with some reservations as she didn't really seem cheerful, but I believe that was the emotion she was trying to muster).
"Go. There's nothing wrong with me. Really. I don't know why you're all so worried about me. I'm fine," Tohru assured him.
"Are you sure? They can manage without me—"
"I'm sure. Go. Work is more important."
Judging by his furrowed eyebrows, Yuki Sohma didn't quite agree with her last statement, but seeing as Saki and I were still there to keep Tohru company, he left reluctantly. Really, he had no other choice. Tohru had essentially forced him out, gently pushing, prodding, and reassuring him as she led him to the door, though her eyes protested vehemently. He must have detected the almost violent agitation through her poor mask of tranquility, but he melted helplessly against her caress and let her guide him out the door and bid him farewell. After Tohru had shut the door, she leaned against the door and slid down until she collapsed on the floor. She had buried her head in her arms folded across her knees and let out half a sob before she remembered that we were still there, seated at her table. I've never seen anyone jump to their feet so quickly. She stood, swiping at her eyes roughly with her back towards us, thinking we wouldn't be able to tell, but we caught each frantic thrust of her elbow with each swipe.
Then she made her way over to us with the edges of her mouth forcefully shoved upwards, rambling about things we couldn't quite understand and refilling our tea so fervently that the tea spilled over in puddles that collected around the base of our cups, but she didn't notice. Tohru almost poured tea into the small potted plant at the center of the table, but she managed to stop herself right after a single drop landed on the soil. She tried to laugh it off so determinedly that we tried to smile with her. We tried to talk to her, though, I must confess, I'm not sure what she was trying to talk to us about. Truthfully, I'm rather surprised we managed to keep the conversation up for as long as we did, though I don't think she noticed the senselessness of our conversation or how her smile kept faltering.
Tohru seemed so miserable after Yuki Sohma left that we offered to leave first. She tried to weakly protest against our departure, but we both knew she would rather be alone. She couldn't quite manage to smile as we said our goodbyes and again seemed ignorant to Saki's concern. Saki may seem like a person who would be continuously surrounded with a gloomy aura, but this is the first time I've seen her with such a desolate atmosphere since she met Tohru.
As we stepped onto the sidewalk, we could see Yuki Sohma's back a few blocks away, though he had supposedly left half an hour ago. Saki and I were not surprised to see him still there though. We had both sensed him lingering outside Tohru's door, raising his hand to ring the door bell periodically, but he lowered it every time until he decided to leave a few minutes ago. We could also sense Tohru lingering by the window. We could see her hand clenching the edge of a lacy curtain, lifting it just an inch to peer outside and feel the disappointment at his absence.
I know I told some of you that I would update at the end of the week last week, but I got lazy :cc Forgive me! Next chapter will be in less than 3 weeks! I was actually debating about the order of this chapter and the next two, so after those two get posted, I'll need your opinion! Meanwhile, tell me what you think about this chapter and fix my mistakes! This chapter originally was much shorter and focused more on Saki and Megumi's concerns, but I thought I should give you guys more of a glimpse at how Yuki and Tohru are doing! And let them speak to each other.