Tohru isn't sure how she survived the rest of the work week. Well, she didn't make it, really—on Friday morning, her boss had noticed her staring at cell phone anxiously and eventually sent her home because he thought there was some emergency call she needed to wait for. Tohru had just about died of embarrassment. In reality, she was just preparing to decline calls from Asahi, like she'd done all day Thursday, too.

It's immature, but a part of her hopes that maybe he'll just...go away. That he'll take the hint and stop calling, sparing her from having to tell him she's not interested in seeing him again.

He doesn't.

Every Saturday, Tohru and Uo have lunch together at this great cafe halfway between their apartments. Tohru knows she's going to have to give an update about Asahi today, and briefly actually considers telling Uo she can't come, never mind that she's already at the station, waiting for her train to go over there. Then she realizes what an idiot she's being about this whole thing, so she sucks it up and gets on the train, even though her gut is telling her to go home and get back in bed and hide from everyone.

When she gets there, Uo is waiting for her near the back of the restaurant, and waves her over with a big grin. Tohru returns it, about half-genuine, as she makes her way over.

"Hi, Uo-chan!" She sits, setting her phone next to her, as is now her habit, apparently. "How was your week?"

"Eh, you know. Just work. But forget about that. I gotta hear details."

Tohru inhales nervously, but is saved (if she can even really call it that) by her phone ringing. When she looks down at the screen, Tohru crinkles up her nose in discomfort and sends the call to voicemail.

If Uo had read the contact name, she doesn't let on. "Earth to Tohru. So, how'd it go on Wednesday?"

Tohru buys herself a second to think by sipping at the tea Uo had ordered for her. "It was nice."

"Nice? What's that mean?" Uo asks incredulously.

"He's very nice."

"No spark, huh?"

"W-well…"

"He said at work yesterday that you guys got along really well. I guess he couldn't tell how you felt."

Tohru bites her lip and looks down at the table. "I'm sorry, Uo-chan. I told him he could call me, but, uh. I haven't answered his calls."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to hurt his feelings, or make things awkward for you at work. I shouldn't have agreed to go out with someone you work with in the first place."

Tohru's at least grown enough to be able to avoid crying in public most of the time, so her eyes aren't teary, but her heart still aches in the weird way it has since Wednesday night, and she briefly wonders if crying in front of Uo-chan in this cafe right now might help numb it.

"Tohru," Uo says gently. She reaches across the table and ruffles Tohru's hair. "If I thought it would make things awkward, I wouldn't have set it up."

"But you thought we'd end up together…"

"So what? If you don't like him, you don't like him. Telling him so isn't going to make anything weird. What's gonna make things awkward for me at work is you dodging his calls forever."

Tohru hadn't thought about that before now. By not facing Asahi herself and telling him she's not ready to date, she's pushing that responsibility off onto Uo-chan—she'll be left to make excuses for Tohru. And that's not fair, neither to Uo-chan nor to Asashi.

"I'm sorry," Tohru says softly, then pauses in an attempt to steady the pathetic tremor in her voice. "That's really thoughtless of me. I'll call him tonight."

Uo just stares at her for a minute, and it makes Tohru itchy. The waiters here all know them and get their usuals ready automatically—she really wishes their food would get here now so she can use a full-mouth as an excuse to not talk as much.

"You gonna tell me what's really going on?" Uo asks then.

The words spill out of her mouth on their own volition. They're a mess, blurred together by speed, and Tohru's sure they don't make much sense. "I really like him. I can see myself with him. He's nice and smart and fun to talk to. It felt good when he kissed me and touched me. But he's not...Asahi's just not…" Now her eyes are full of tears, and she looks up at the ceiling to try and get rid of them.

Their waiter picks that moment to come up to their table with their sandwiches. "Here you are, ladies. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"Yeah, thanks, the check." Uo says. Tohru knows she must look like a disaster, and it's no surprise that, after all these years of being friends, Uo can tell when she needs to get out of a situation quickly.

The waiter looks confused, but returns with the check just a few seconds later. Uo slaps some money onto the table and grabs Tohru's hand as she stands, pulling her out of the cafe. Once they're outside, they turn down a side street and find a bench.

"He's not what?" Uo asks, prompting Tohru to start from where she left off.

"He's not Kyo," she chokes out. The tears fall, and she buries her face in her hands.

Uo's quiet for what feels like forever, leaving Tohru a sobbing mess next to her. Finally, she says, "You haven't talked about Sohma in a long time."

"I know," Tohru mumbles, voice muffled by her palms. "I'm sorry."

"What made you think of him all of a sudden?"

"I saw him last week." She uncovers her face and wipes at her eyes.

"What? Where?"

"I went to Shigure's for their family dinner. Yuki told me he'd never shown up before, so I figured it would be okay, but then he came. A-and...we talked and he apologized, and now I have his phone number."

"There's...a lot going on here."

"I know..."

"I wish Hanajima were here to keep me in check."

Tohru giggles, but it's watery.

"Listen, Tohru...I know you loved him, and I know he loved you, but he was an idiot, and he hurt you. Even though you loved each other at one point, you've gotta stop settling for less than you deserve."

"Do you mean Itsuki?"

"Uh, duh. You found the asshole in your bed with some other girl, then said it was probably your fault and tried to work things out for a month before finally breaking things off."

"It was hard," Tohru protests, feeling a little defensive of her actions, though she's not sure why. "I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. How could I throw it all away after one problem?"

"Do you hear yourself?! The problem was him. He was an asshole the whole time you were together. If the problem is one half of the couple, how do you get past that?"

Tohru doesn't want to argue with Uo-chan, and really...there's a lot of truth in what she's saying. So Tohru just looks down at her hands, eyes focusing on her left ring finger. All these months later, it still feels bare and light without the ring she'd had, sometimes.

Uo sighs. "I'm sorry. Just...I love you. Asahi's a good guy, and I know he'd treat you well, and that's all I want for you. But if you're not ready, then you're not ready, and that's okay. Just please, for the love of God, don't go running back to Carrots just because you used to have feelings for him."

Tohru nods a little. "You're right, Uo-chan." And her rational side knows that's the truth, even though her heart hasn't quite caught onto that yet.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, then, Uo says, "Felt good when he touched and kissed you, huh?"

Tohru rolls her eyes, cheeks reddening. "Uo-chan…"

"What? You deserve to get laid if you want to. So you got some action?"

"No, not really. I pushed him away before it really went anywhere. If I'm not going to see him again, why would I want to have sex with him?"

Uo sighs dramatically and reaches over, pulling Tohru's head down onto her chest. "You're so cute, Tohru."

When Tohru walks up the stairs to her apartment later after saying goodbye to Uo, she's met by a somewhat-familiar face—Asahi is leaning against the wall next to her front door, a bouquet of daisies resting in the crook of his arm. Tohru freezes a few steps back.

"Asahi?"

"Oh, hi! Uh…" He looks up from his phone, which he'd clearly been on to kill time while he waited. Tohru wonders how long he's been standing here. His cheeks are red, and he rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly. "You didn't answer my calls, so…"

"I know. I'm sorry," Tohru says softly, averting her eyes to the ground. She knows it's time to be brave. She should just say it, just get it done quickly to minimize the pain for both of them. "I—"

"It's okay. I know you're busy. These are for you." He holds out the bouquet.

Tohru takes it and stares at the flowers, trying to gather her words. In the end, what comes out is just, "Thank you. You can come in."

He waits as she unlocks her door, then follows her inside. Having anyone other than Rin, Yuki, or Uo-chan in her apartment feels weird. She's not sure she's even had another guest once since she moved in six months ago.

"You have a nice place."

"Thanks." Tohru heads into the kitchen area and opens a cupboard, looking for a vase for the flowers. Asahi leans against the counter and watches her.

"Is everything okay?"

Not really, no.

"O-oh, yes, of course!"

"You seem a little down. If you don't want me here, I'll go. But…" He bites his lip, then pushes himself off the counter and approaches her once his resolve is apparently steeled. He puts his hands at her shoulders, slides them down her arms, and takes her hands. He leans forward, and Tohru's breath snags in the most awful yet slightly-thrilling way when he kisses her forehead. It's an action so sweet and pure that it makes her want to just burst into tears. "If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know, okay?" he finishes.

What would Kyo do if he were here right now, she wonders. If he were standing in her kitchen and she told him she was upset, what would he do? Probably rap his knuckles against her head and tell her to start talking. And then, if she said it was about him, he'd probably just run away.

This man in front of her, who she's only met once...he's just trying to hold her. He's not pushing, and she's somehow pretty sure he won't leave if she talks about her feelings right now. So she starts talking. Not about Kyo, but about her ex-fiance. She uses him (in place of Kyo) as an excuse about why she's been avoiding Asahi's phone calls. And when she's done, she's crying and Asahi is kissing the tears from her cheeks, and she clings to him.

She's not really sure about how everything else happens after that. But she does know that she wakes up next to him in the morning, and she thinks that, maybe her heart might burn just a little less.

"How was your date?"

The unsent message has been sitting in Kyo's phone since Wednesday night. He hasn't been able to force himself to send it. He's genuinely curious about what kind of guy she'd seen, even though he's 100% sure hearing about it will break his heart. Kyo thinks he must be a masochist of some kind.

So today, Sunday morning, Kyo hits send. Curiosity will always be his downfall. Perhaps the cat spirit will always linger in some ways.

He stays in bed, deciding to be lazy while he waits for a response. It comes pretty quickly, but it's lacking the detail Kyo had been hoping for.

"Fine."

He wants to push, but knows he shouldn't. He can't. If she wanted to tell him, she would just tell him. It's probably weird to talk about this kind of stuff with him. He can't blame her for feeling like that—he feels it, too.

But…

Something he knows about Tohru—or at least the old Tohru, he supposes—is that she doesn't like to talk about her feelings. She doesn't want to "bother" anyone else with whatever's going on in her heart and head.

And Kyo still isn't a reasonable person. He hopes that weirdly-strong perseverance will help him someday, instead of just getting him into messes like it has been up until now.

"That doesn't sound too good."

A reply doesn't come right away, so he gets out of bed and gets dressed to try and keep his anxiety down.

"I don't think I'm ready for anything serious yet."

Her word choice sticks out to him—serious. Does that mean she's considering something casual with that guy instead? Are they already doing something casual? Kyo doesn't quite know how that thought makes him feel, but it's definitely not good.

He takes a breath. He knows he's an anxious person—always has been, especially when it comes to Tohru. But there's no reason to spiral right now. He can't picture her having sex with someone she's not in love with.

And even if she does, it's none of his business, he reminds himself. Because two years ago, he turned her down in the most heartless way possible, then ran away, leaving her to get stabbed and fall off a fucking cliff.

But then, he remembers what Haru said the other day: "She could have just told you to go fuck yourself, but she didn't." If Tohru didn't want to talk to him about this right now, she wouldn't be responding. He takes a second to steady his nerves, then forces himself to send her another text.

"I'm hungry. Wanna get some lunch and talk? Or just lunch, if you want, I guess. My treat."

He hits send before he has time to overthink it, then looks back at the message and cringes—he can tell how anxious he is just by the awkward and stiff wording. He hopes she can't tell, too. Then he gets a response, the most beautiful word he's ever seen:

"Yes."

They meet at a little ramen restaurant she used to like. He's not sure she eats here anymore, since it's by Shigure's house and therefore out of the way, but she hadn't protested when he made the suggestion, so he figures it must be okay.

She looks really melancholy when he first sees her, which threatens to tear his heart to shreds...but she perks up just a little when they head into the shop, so it really must be an okay place, at least.

They sit at a booth in the back. Kyo waits for her to start talking, but quickly realizes that they're not there—she isn't just going to open up with no hesitation like she used to. He desperately wracks his brain for a sensitive way to breach the topic, but comes up empty-handed and just says, "You don't look so good."

She looks up from the menu in front of her, eyes wide with surprise.

Oh my god. What just happened?

"No, uh," he chokes out, attempting to backpedal as quickly as humanly possible. "You look fine, you look great. I just mean, uh...you look, well, sad."

Tohru smiles a little bit, the expression forced and bitter, and goes back to scanning the menu. "Long night."

Kyo waits for her to continue, but she doesn't right away, so he ponders her words. And inevitably, that leads him back down the rabbit hole of wondering if she'd spent a long, casual night with what's-his-face. He bounces his leg up and down anxiously, but it stills when he feels Tohru's little hand on his knee. He glances under the table to make sure he's not imagining things, then looks back up at her.

"You still do that when you're worried?" she asks softly. "Why are you nervous?"

Because he loves her. He fucked up so badly so long ago, and now she's probably with someone else, but he still loves her so much.

"Just...haven't hung out with you in a while…"

"Oh. Yeah." She pulls her hand away. He immediately misses the warmth.

The silence between them is heavy, and he realizes that he has no idea who's sitting across from him right now—she's so different, so grown-up, having been through countless trials since she last really talked to him. Kyo has to say something. He knows what it should be, too, but that makes it hard to open his mouth. After a few deep breaths, he finally blurts, "Tohru, I...I don't want you to feel weird. If you want to talk to me about that guy you went on a date with, you can. Or, hell, maybe it was another girl, but that's not the point. I'll listen. I wanna try to be your friend. If you'll let me."

And even though Tohru's eyes say she's still harboring a breaking heart, she laughs. Kyo hadn't realized how much he's missed the sound until now.

"It wasn't a girl," she giggles.

He runs a hand down his face, hoping to hide his red cheeks. "Didn't you and Hanajima used to talk about getting married?"

"It was just a joke. And besides, Hana-chan doesn't live here anymore."

Tohru waves the waiter over and they order, then she chews at her lip in silence for a minute. Just as she knows that he bounces his knee up and down when he's nervous, he knows that she bites her lip when she's anxious. So maybe he still knows her a little, after all.

Finally, after that long period of hesitation, she says, "You're sure you don't mind?"

"Yeah," he confirms, even though he's really not.

Then she starts talking.

A/N: Yay, thanks for sticking with me, y'all. I hope this ending is a little easier, or at least makes you a little more optimistic about the next chapter? Lol. Thanks for all the love, as always!