Chapter 11 – Meeting Kazuma
Mina woke up one late morning. It was a Sunday so she didn't have to worry about school. Ever since Valentine's Day, she hasn't talked to Haru much so school was the least thing from her mind. She went into the shower because she felt a bit stuffy. She stripped and got in and turned on the water.
She sighed and looked at the shower curtain, I wish that Shigure had a hot spring outside… and for decoration, we could scatter sakura blossoms in the water! She started to come up with awesome ideas for a hot spring.
After the shower, with her towel still on, she brushed her teeth and rang out her long hair. She went to her room to change. As she came into her bedroom, she noticed someone outside her window. It looked like Kyo… and a man was with him. The man suddenly looked up at Mina.
She blushed, Oh my gosh!! I forgot to close the curtains! She ran and closed the curtains. She turned over, and sighed, Luckily, my brother didn't see. But that man… who is he?
She dressed into a short black kimono since it wasn't as cold. She put a big, black bow in her hair and some black moccasins (She's going through a kimono phase). She made her bed and went into the kitchen, she didn't find Tohru at the stove.
She waltzed into the family room and found Shigure and Tohru.
"Good morning…" Shigure said, he looked up from his work, "Are you going for something seductive today?" He noticed the color of her kimono.
Mina eyed his work, ignoring what he had said, "Is that a new book?" She pointed to the paper scattered all over the table.
"Yes, but, I'm just making it for my enjoyment, and for Saki's as well, she wanted me to make a second volume…" He trailed off with a weird look on his face.
"If Saki liked it, then the book must be scary." She walked out and put her hands on her hips out of boredom.
Tohru ran after her, "Mina, I made you some breakfast."
Mina smiled, "Thanks, you're a jewel!"
After Mina was done, she walked down the hall to her room when, all of the sudden, Kyo took her by the arm and wouldn't let go. He led her into the family room.
Shigure was crying fake tears, "Oh, Mina. How could you be so mean to me??" He wailed.
Mina rolled her eyes and smiled, "I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to call your book horrid."
"I'm sure it is though if it's the one Saki was reading when she first slept over…" Kyo mumbled.
"Kyo, why do you have to be so… mean??"
"Kyo, apologize to him right now!!" Mina yelled.
Kyo only rolled his eyes. Mina pulled at his shirt and gave him 'the look'.
He grumbled, "Awright… sorry Shigure."
"Ah! I feel much better now." Shigure smiled.
"Is this the reason why you brought me here?" Mina pointed to Shigure.
He cut in, "I'm not a 'this'!" He whined.
"Hell no! I just wanted to tell you that I wanted you to meet my foster father. His name's Kazuma and he took me in when mom died."
Wait, was Kazuma the man that saw me earlier? She blushed slightly, It could be right, he looked Shigure's age…
"So, you up to it?" Kyo smiled.
"Sure, why not?" Mina nodded her head.
Kyo and Mina were walking to the Sohma estate. Kazuma's house was inside the gates because he knew of the secret.
"You'll like master!" Kyo was babbling all about this 'master' ever since they left the house, "He knows more martial arts than Yuki and I combined! He could easily—"
"Brother? It seems like you adore him." Mina looked the other way and enjoyed the silence. It only lasted for a couple of seconds because they were at the gates.
He led her through the gates and into the set of gates that Kazuma lived in. When they got there, Kyo rang the doorbell and stepped back. A man with naturally gray hair pulled into a ponytail and gold eyes answered the door.
He gave a warm smile, "Hello Kyo, Mina…"
Mina blushed and hid behind Kyo, He is the man from this morning!
"Mina, show some respect!" Kyo shouted as he moved to the right, revealing Mina.
Kazuma laughed heartily, "Is all this because I accidentally peeped on you this morning after you came out of the shower?"
"Master!" Kyo yelled, he started to blush.
"Accidentally, Kyo." Mina spoke up.
Just then, there came smoke from inside the house.
Kyo ran inside, "Master? Are you trying to cook again?"
"I wanted to try to cook a good meal for your arrival."
"That's okay!" Mina lifted the cover of the pot and a puff of black smoke came out. Mina quickly slammed the cover back down on the pot before any more smoke could come out, "Why don't I cook us a little something?"
After a little while, Mina had cooked up some shougayaki. They sat down at the table and looked at the hot, steaming shougayaki that Mina had prepared for the three of them.
They all clapped their hands together, "Thank you for the food." Then they broke their chopsticks apart and started to eat.
"I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you at the banquet, there was quite a crowd Mina," Kazuma said, looking up at her, "I was also preoccupied with Akito."
She blushed, still remembering this mornings incident and asked, "H-hows the shougayaki?"
"It's great!" Both Kazuma and Kyo said at once.
"That's good." Mina smiled softly. She took a bite of the gingered pork.
"So Kyo, you and Kazuma are close?" Mina asked.
"Yeah, he raised me when mom died—" He suddenly stopped.
"Why? ... Why wasn't I with you when this happened?"
Both Kazuma and Kyo put down their chopsticks.
"Because you were left at the house, unattended, on the day of the funeral. But, your father found you and had to give you up for adoption to another Sohma family.
I knew that already… Mina titled her head slowly to the side, a saddening look in her eye.
Seeing this, Kazuma tried to brighten up the atmosphere, "But anyway, how are you doing? I haven't seen you since you were a toddler, now you're grown into a beautiful young woman!"
Mina blushed, "Thank you…."
After they were done, they sat down around the fireplace and talked.
"Kyo? What's father like? Our real father I mean," Mina asked.
"He's an arrogant bastard!" Kyo yelled, "He doesn't want anything to do with us and I sure as hell don't want anything to do with him!"
Mina gave a sudden look of sadness, "I never met him, not once. I wish I had a father…" Mina started to tear up. Kyo held her while she cried.
She only cried for a minute. They left when they were all done talking.
"Oh, and Mina?" Kazuma called just as they both were walking out the door, "I have some news for you."
Mina blinked, "What is it?" She asked.
"Your parents, Ryoko and Makono just moved into the Sohma gates today, this morning actually. I thought you would want to know."
"Really? Thank you so much for telling me!" Mina shouted as she gave Kazuma a big hug.
"You're welcome, I knew you'd be happy." He smiled as he hugged her back with one arm instead of two.
"My mom and dad, Makono and Ryoko are here!" Mina shouted gleefully, "Let's go visit them!" She quickly took Kyo by the hand and led him out of Kazuma's house. As they ran for a few minutes she stopped and turned her head slowly towards Kyo.
"You didn't get directions, huh?" Kyo asked.
She bowed deeply, "I'm sorry, I was too excited, I didn't even ask Kazuma papa for their address!"
He scowled quietly, "That's okay, let's just ask somebody…" A hint of anger was shown in his voice.
Mina smiled, So it's true, he is learning to control his temper! She smiled innocently, "Let's ask Hatsuharu!" She let out a great big smile.
"Wha— why does it gotta be him? Are you trying to piss me off?"
She just giggled and took him by the hand, "Let's go!"
As they got to Haru's house, they stopped. To the right of his house there was a huge moving van and there was a woman unloading a box from the van.
Mina let go of Kyo's hand and ran up and hugged her so hard, she dropped the box.
"Oh hun, I'm so happy to see you!" Kasumi shouted joyfully.
"You too mom!"
"Luckily, the box I dropped didn't have anything fragile in it." The girls laughed together while Kyo approached them.
"Hello Kyo," She said, calming herself.
"Hey,"
Kasumi laughed heartily, "You can call me Kasumi okay? Or mom but I think you'd prefer Kasumi huh?"
Kyo turned his head. As Kasumi carried the box in, Haru came out of the garage door.
"Haru!" Mina yelled as she ran up and hugged him tightly. He lightly blushed, and then looked to Kyo. Kyo glared at him and his cat ears went up.
He closed his eyes and smiled, "It's nice to see you too Mina. I see you're talking to me now…"
Mina stopped hugging him and looked at the ground while blushing, "Well… I—"
"No time for chit chat honey! We have to get this van unloaded before dark and it's already 2:30." Ichiro called, while rushing to the van to grab a box.
"Okay dad," She called, running after him.
Haru stopped her and turned her around, he started to fix her bow, "There," He muttered when he was done.
"Can you two stop flirting? We got work to do!" Kyo growled as he carried a box in his hand. Mina grabbed one too, along with Hatsuharu.
The stuff was unloaded, the boxes were out away, and the moving van was empty. It took them until maybe 10 at night. The guy who drove the moving van was also Sohma, although he didn't know about the curse.
While he was walking to the garage door, he accidentally bumped into Mina, "Sorry,"
He turned around to see if she was okay, and Kasumi was standing in his way.
"Thank you so much for your help, I'll walk you out." And with that, they walked out the garage door.
"What are you all looking at?" The horse yelled. A pile of clothes were underneath her.
"Nothing honey, you're a very pretty horse." Ichiro tried to calm her down with flattery.
"Flattery doesn't work on me dad," She said, "But its okay, I'm used to this anyway."
"Well, I'll go and make all of us some dinner," Ichiro stood up and went into the kitchen.
"I'll help you dear!" Kasumi walked into the doorway and out of the garage.
A couple of minutes went by and Mina transformed back. After the smoke cleared, Kyo and Haru looked away.
In a matter of minutes, Mina had put on her kimono, "Okay, you can look now."
Kyo looked up and Hatsuharu took Kyo's hand off his eyes.
"This wouldn't be the first time this has happened…" Haru mumbled to himself.
Kyo
grabbed the collar of his shirt and shook him wildly, "What the
hell did you just say?!?"
"It was an accident; Hatori, Momiji
and I were at Hatori's house—"
"What? Three guys saw my little sister?? I'm gonna—"
"What's all this noise?" Kasumi asked, while coming out of the kitchen. She saw them fighting and pulled Kyo off of Haru, "What's wrong with you?"
No matter how hard she pulled, Kyo wouldn't let go, so, Haru slipped out of his shirt and Kyo's backside landed on top of Kasumi, he then transformed.
"Damn it!" The orange cat, and ran off down the hall.
"Kyo…" Mina mumbled, looking in the direction he ran off.
Haru put on his shirt and helped Kasumi up.
"Kyo left his clothes, I'll go up and give them to him," Haru headed upstairs.
"Wow…" Mina whispered.
"What was this all about?" Kasumi asked her.
"Oh, you know… Kyo just has a bad temper and all, and to make it worse, he's kind of sleepy so he'll pick on anybody right now…" Mina made an excuse for everybody.
They heard yelling upstairs. Haru came down and said, "Kyo's still mad at me…"
I knew him going up there would be a bad idea… A sweat drop landed on Mina's head.
Kasumi just shrugged and went into the kitchen again.
Mina sat on the couch and gave a big sigh and lowered her head to the floor. Haru walked up and sat next to her. In a few minutes, Kyo came down and still looked very mad but he didn't attempt to even touch Haru. He just sat down on the opposite side of Mina. He sat close to her, as if claiming her.
In a couple of minutes, Kasumi came out, "Dinner's ready! Sorry you guys, we had to pull out TV dinners since it was so late." Kasumi explained.
Kyo stood up and went into the kitchen, Kasumi followed him. Hatsuharu stood up too, he looked at Mina.
"C'mon Mina, let's eat." Mina just sat there, "Mina? Mina, let's go!" He sat down next to her and saw that she was fast asleep.
"You coming to eat?" Kyo asked blandly.
"No, I think I'll stay out here with Mina." Haru said quietly.
"Don't get too close to my sister." Kyo warned him, and with that, he walked in the kitchen.
Mina slowly opened her eyelids, instead of sitting on the couch like she remembered she was now lying down on the couch. A blanket was covered over her. There were two armchairs in the living room and Haru and Kyo were sleeping in both of them.
She smiled warmly. She leaned up, her hands supporting her body. My parents must be in their room. After all, we were up until about midnight… which makes today…
Her eyes widened, it's Monday!! She looked at the clock… 7:10.
We still have time! She rose and stood in front of the armchairs, "Haru, Kyo! Wake up!"
Haru rose instantly, but it took some shaking to get up Kyo. After she told them, she rushed up to her parent's room. Kyo and Mina left quickly for home and Haru left for his house. They barely made it.
"Kyo, it's a good thing I woke up. We would've missed final exams." Mina said as they were now walking to school with Yuki and Tohru.
"I don't give a damn…" He muttered sleepily.
If you couldn't care abut final exams then why were you studying? Mina thought sassily.
As if reading her mind, Yuki said, "Well, that is Kyo for you."
Kyo was slumping as he walked, He must have stayed up way long after I got to sleep, that's probably why he's so tired…
When they arrived at school, Haru looked sleepy as well.
Mina smiled faintly, I was right. They must've been up all night fighting…
The exams were tough for all of them, especially Kyo, Haru and Mina.
After the exams were finished, Mina got out of her desk and stretched out her arms wide. Makono went over and joined her. It looked like she had gotten little sleep as well, probably because her mother and Mina's parents moved in at the same time.
She looked over at Makono, "How'd you do on the test?"
"Probably good, you and I did study together so…"
"Yeah. But I have to admit, I got a little help from Yuki." She looked off at Kanako, Momiji and Haru who were talking together in a group. Every now and then, they'd stare at Makono and Mina because they were both sleeping on each other's shoulders. Kanako went over and woke them up when the bell rang.
Lunch came after the tests, so Mina got her lunch and sat by Yuki.
"How did your tests go Mina? Did you understand anything?" Yuki asked while taking a bite of his lunch.
Mina was resting her head on Yuki's shoulder, "Uh, kind of I guess. Yep, I understand everything on the test teacher…"
Now I know she's half asleep! Yuki landed a sweat drop.
"What's with her?" Uo asked, "Orange top's acting a little strange too."
"They were up past midnight helping Mina's parents unpack to their new house." Yuki explained.
"Cool! A new place huh? Where'd your parents move to Mina?" Uo asked.
"Uh…" Mina stuttered, I can't tell them Sohma estate!
Yuki put down his chopsticks, "Mina's foster parents moved out in the country,"
"That's good, the country air helps people unwind and to clear their senses." Hana said.
The rest of the lunch went by slowly, the occasional slipping of Mina's head off Yuki causing her to wake up. Mina slept on Yuki for the rest of lunch.
Tohru trudged home lazily from work, "I do hope that Kyo and Mina got some rest, they looked so tired today." She said.
"I'm home!" She called sleepily as she opened the door. Like last year, Momiji popped out into the doorway.
"Hi Tohru! How was work?" Momiji burst out.
"Uh…" Tohru was lost for words, "F-fine!"
"Can you believe it? Haru's here too, isn't that great? We've been waiting for you."
Tohru instantly woke, "Huh? I'm so sorry for making you wait. I hope I was no trouble."
"It's no trouble. Mina's been keeping me company," Momiji assured her.
Momiji lead her into the kitchen/dining room. Sure enough, everybody was there doing their own thing. Yuki was reading a book, Haru was sitting next to Yuki resting, Kyo was punching air, and Mina was listening to music in a corner following by Shigure who was munching on a snack from the fridge.
"Hello everybody… I'm home from work…" Tohru sighed sleepily.
"Oh, hello Miss Honda." Yuki greeted her.
"Tohru, do you know why Haru and I are here?" Momiji shouted.
"Uh…" Tohru thought, "No… why?"
"Silly! Tomorrow's White Day!"
"Oh... yeah…"
"Guess what I'm getting you?"
"Uh, I don't know… what?"
"Another trip to the hot spring! But this time it's going to be even more fun because Mina and Haru are coming with us along with Yuki and Kyo!"
Kyo gave off a pissed look and grunted, then just went back to punching air.
I'm guessing they forced Kyo into going again. I feel kind of sorry for Kyo. Lately, everybody is pushing him into doing things he doesn't want to… Tohru thought, then she turned to Momiji, "Wow! Another hot spring trip again? Thank you so much Momiji! I'm so happy and I'm so glad that everybody else is happy too. Really thank you so much!"
"It's going to be a blast! Will you come, will you?" Momiji asked her.
"Of course." Tohru gave a great big smile.
Mina took off her headphones and walked up to Tohru and smiled, "Are you coming? It's a very nice gift and my brother's going to be coming and Yuki and Haru. So, are you?"
"Yes I am and I'm glad I'm not the only girl going." Tohru smiled as Mina hugged her, she looked over at Shigure who was being quieter than usual, but that's probably because he was eating and writing a book, "Are you coming this time Shigure?"
"No," Mina cut in, "Shi has to go to the publishing company to give them his book. Mii would do it but she's visiting relatives in Kobe."
Shigure looked up, "I'm sorry I can't go again Tohru, the publishing company can be so cruel!" Shigure cried fake tears.
Mina ignored Shigure and turned to Tohru, "Oh my gosh… we have to pack. We need two sets of clothes, pajamas, and a tooth brush. I need to bring Yugo, oh, what about—"
Kyo interrupted her, "Sis, it's not like we're staying for a week or something,"
"I know but it's so exciting! I mean… a hot spring!"
"I guess it's overwhelming for someone who's never been to a hot spring before." Hatsuharu joined in.
"C'mon Tohru, let's pack together!" Mina smiled.
"Yes," Tohru answered as they headed upstairs.
Mina and Tohru finished packing and Tohru was now asleep, Mina put on a nightgown and went into the family room to say goodnight to everyone.
"Hello all." Mina smiled while waving at the doorway.
"Hello Mina," Yuki said, while looking up from his book.
She walked up to Yuki and bent down and looked at his book, "Hi! Are you almost done with the book?"
Yuki flipped the page. It was blank, "Now I am."
"Oh, I just wanted to say goodnight to everyone…" Mina looked in the room and it was only Yuki, Haru and Momiji, "Where's Kyo and Shigure?"
"Kyo's on the rooftop and Shigure's putting the 'final touches' on his book," Haru explained, looking up from his magazine.
Momiji was at the table spinning an acorn top, "Will you say goodnight to me Mina?"
Mina smiled childishly, "Oh course Momo!"
"You named him peach?" Yuki asked.
"Well, yeah! Momo is shorter then Momiji so I'm going to call Momiji Momo sometimes." She turned to him, "That's okay, right?"
"Sure!" He smiled, "But, Momo is my little sister's name."
Mina approached him and gave him a big hug, "Oh, can I still call you Momo?"
"Go ahead, I don't mind, really." Momiji smiled. But what Mina didn't notice is that is was a painful smile.
She smiled back, "Really, thank you for the White Day present Momo."
He hugged her back, "No problem! I know you didn't get chocolates but I still wanted you to come."
"Well, I didn't have that much money so I'm going to make it up to everybody."
"Oh Mina, you don't have to!" Momiji shouted.
"… Don't worry…" Mina kissed him goodnight along with Yuki and Hatsuharu.
She suddenly stopped in the doorway and turned to Yuki, "Have you read any of Shi's books Yuki?"
"I'm too afraid to pick one up," Yuki playfully smiled.
She smiled back and was on her way. Next, she made her way to Shigure's room and knocked softly on the door. She heard a 'come in' so she opened the door.
She smiled at Shigure who was writing the last page of his book.
He looked up at Mina and smiled, "Ah, Mina. Off to bed?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to say goodnight to you… well goodnight."
"C'mon over here and give your Shigure a hug!"
Shigure spread his arms out. She smiled and rolled her eyes playfully while she opened up her own.
After that, she had one mission, she had to say goodnight to her brother. Shigure had a ladder built on the side of the house, leading to the roof so people wouldn't have to bring out the ladder and, sure enough, there was Kyo. Lying down, looking at the stars.
Mina cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned his head towards her.
"What is it?" Kyo asked her.
"I just wanted to say goodnight to you." Mina crawled up next to him and hugged him, "Goodnight brother."
"Goodnight." Kyo hugged her back and kissed her on the forehead, she did the same.
While she was climbing down the ladder, he waited for a couple of seconds. He took out a picture of a woman and looked at it sadly and slid it back into his pocket.
Mina woke up bright and early the next morning. She just couldn't wait for the trip at the hot spring. All five of them were leaving at noon and it was only 5 a.m. She looked down at the suitcase she had packed and got up to put on a long, dark blue kimono that had the moon and sun sewn into the sleeves. She put on some dark blue socks and flopped down on her bed again. She held Yugo in her arms and put him in her suitcase.
She looked in the corner which was a big empty space, My stuffed horse collection isn't making progress is it, Mina? She asked herself.
After a few minutes of day dreaming, she decided to get up and see if anybody was awake yet in the house. She walked down the hall and looked in their rooms with the doors opened. Yuki's door was opened but, sure enough, Yuki was inside sleeping. There was a sleeping bag next to him and inside was Haru. Mina smiled warmly as she looked at them both as they slept peacefully. She decided to move onto her brother's room. She opened the door and looked inside. She saw her brother sleeping in his own bed. She closed the door.
I guess everybody is still asleep… Mina thought as she scanned the hallway. She quickly took a peek in the living room and saw the Momiji was awake.
"Hey Momo, good morning." She said pleasantly.
He looked up at Mina and smiled, "Good morning to you too. Are you ready for the hot spring trip?"
"Yes and I'm very excited. I'm so excited that I woke myself up."
"Me too. I'm bored because I can't do anything because everybody's asleep…" Momiji trailed.
"Well, I'm going to see if Shigure is up, wanna come with me?"
"Sure, I'd love that."
"Okay."
They both looked outside and saw Shigure and Hatori having a smoke.
"Hi Shi. Hatori, I didn't know you were here." She rushed over and gave him a hug. A surprising look was on his face when she did.
"Hello Mina, you seem well this morning." Hatori observed.
"Yeah, I'm just so excited about this trip." Mina said excitedly.
"Hey! Where's my hug?" Shigure cried.
Mina smiled and hugged him.
All the sudden her stomach grumbled, "Uh, I think I'll go inside and fix myself a snack."
"Well, there's kuzumochi on the counter for you then." Shigure informed her.
"Thanks." Mina waved to both of them as she walked away with Momiji.
They both headed into the kitchen, passing the living room. It was to their surprise when they saw Haru looking off into the distance.
"Good morning, I can't believe I woke up so early."
"Good morning Haru." They both said.
"Do you want me to bring you some kuzumochi?" Mina asked him.
"Nah…" He sighed.
Momiji sat with him while she brought it out. Momiji and Mina started to eat the mochi while we talked.
"I guess I'll go make some breakfast since Tohru's not up yet…" I walked out of the room, leaving them alone.
"Haru, I can't wait for the 'Super Relaxing Hot Spring Vacation Part 2' to begin!"
"You went last year though, why are you so excited?"
"Because you and Mina are coming. It's going to be twice as fun with you two around."
Hatsuharu smiled and took out a small box with a tiny bow on the top, he grunted, as if he was in deep thought.
"Haru?" Momiji asked.
"Huh?" He turned his head.
Momiji shook his head, "Nothing, it's nothing."
It was 8:30 a.m. and everybody was up except for Yuki, and breakfast was served. Everyone enjoyed the kuzumochi and pancakes that Mina prepared.
"I can't believe you made breakfast in my place!" Tohru cried, "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have overslept! I'm sorry I was so much trouble!" She fretted.
Mina put her hands on Tohru's shoulders, "Calm down Tohru, breath. I love to cook so it wasn't any trouble."
Mina walked out and saw that Yuki had gotten himself up, although he was half asleep.
"Good morning Yuki." Mina beamed as she hugged him.
"G-good morning Mina." He yawned.
Just then, they heard a loud voice coming in from outside. Kanako's voice! Mina raced outside and Yuki slowly followed. She saw her friend standing in front of the house.
"Hi Kanako, this is unexpected! How are you?" I asked.
"Mina!" Kanako ran up and hugged Mina.
"Hello Ms Kitano, how are you this morning?" Yuki asked politely.
She was still clung to Mina when she said, "Hi Yuki, I'm fine."
Momiji walked outside because he heard the yelling, "Hi Kanako."
She turned around, "H-hi Momiji." She stuttered nervously.
It was silent for a minute, and then Mina said, "I think I hear Shigure calling us Yuki."
She started walking, "But he's not—" Mina grabbed Yuki's shirt collar and dragged him into the house behind her.
"I have something for you Kanako." He said, "Wait here."
He came back to Kanako with a cute teddy bear. He handed it to Kanako and said, "I bought this for you. It's my White Day present to you. I thought it was really cute and it made me think of you, so…"
Kanako wore a big smile on her face and rushed to hug Momiji. He caught her head just in time. She looked up at him in confusion.
"It's my cold!" Momiji covered for himself, "I don't want you to catch it."
