A/N: *waves* hello, friends.

Chapter title by "Stay With Me" by Anson Seabra

Tohru doesn't sleep at all. She just sits up in bed, in the dark, staring at the wall in front of her.

When tomorrow comes, she wants to hear it. All of it—every last word. No matter how much it hurts.

But she also doesn't. And that's where her predicament lies.

Kyo won't tell her if she doesn't want him to. She's sure of that. It's not going to be comfortable for either of them, and he's always been one to avoid discomfort when possible. Her, too, she supposes; if she doesn't acknowledge any uncomfortable emotions within herself, then they may as well not exist.

But that's not any way to build a relationship. Life is uncomfortable. Love is uncomfortable. She knows that better than most. So if she wants things to work out with Kyo, she has to hear it.

In the morning, she makes a strong cup of coffee, chokes it down, and tries to go about her day. The minutes crawl by, time feeling absolutely stagnant without Kyo here to tell her everything; if he could just tell her everything right now, she'd be able to stop worrying and just figure out how they can move forward.

She ends up staring at her phone for a good portion of the day. At 6:04, it finally pays off—Kyo texts to say he's on his way.

When she finally hears a knock at her door and opens it to let Kyo in, she immediately throws her arms around his neck, tugging his face down to her level.

"Woah. Hey, you." He chuckles and kisses the tip of her nose. She smiles, and she wishes they could stay like this, happy and warm and wrapped up in each other's arms.

"Do you want to talk first, or do you want your present first?"

"Mmm…" She hesitates, trying to decide what the less painful order would be. Either way, there's going to be a heavy conversation, so what will lessen the blow more easily?

Kyo moves a hand up to her face and presses between her eyebrows with his thumb. "Eh?!" she squeaks, completely confused by what he's doing.

"You're thinking too hard about it. Your forehead gets all crinkled right here when you do that."

"O-oh...I never noticed that. You really do know everything about me, huh, Kyo-kun?" The thought makes her a little bit giddy, in an odd and childish way—he's an expert on her. Becoming that way was a process that was both completely natural, but also due to a lot of hard work. He loves her enough to put in that work. She's so lucky.

His cheeks flush. "Nah…"

She spares him by changing the topic. "Present first."

He nods and lets go of her, dips a hand into his pocket, and brings out a small-ish red box. Tohru sees the logo of a jewelry store on it, and briefly panics before noticing that it's a bit too big to hold a ring. She takes the box from him and opens it. For a minute, she can't say anything; she just looks back and forth between him and the necklace. He rubs at the back of his neck while he waits for a response, clearly feeling a little awkward.

She wants to say thank you and tell him how beautiful it is. But for some reason, what is most meaningful to her is…

"You…you remembered my birth stone?" She instantly blushes—that's not a good response and it really makes no sense to just blurt out, either.

"Huh?" He's obviously just as surprised about what she said as she is. "Well, yeah...if I know your birthday it's not hard to figure out, and it's not like I'd ever forget that…"

Tohru can't count how many times she had to tell Itsuki her birthday before it stuck.

She surges forward and kisses him. It takes him a second to react, but he ends up returning it with just as much passion. When Tohru pulls back, she whispers, "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I—" he hesitates, then starts again. "I was trying to think of a way to, I don't know...repay you, I guess."

"Repay me?"

"You give so much to me, and I'm not as good at showing my love as you are. So I figured getting you a present might show you how much you mean to me. Lame, I guess, huh?" He shakes his head at himself, averting his eyes to the ground.

It's one of the stupidest things Tohru has ever heard. Since he came back into her life, all he's done is make her happy. He makes the past seem a little less painful, makes letting go of control seem a little less scary. He makes her look forward to every tomorrow. She doesn't think she can get all that out without crying, though. She leans forward and rests her head against his chest. "You dummy," she murmurs.

"H-hey...there you go with that again."

She giggles, kisses his collarbone once, then stands up straight again. "Will you help me put it on?" she asks.

"'Course. Turn around."

After giving the box back, she obeys, and pulls her hair up off of her neck. Kyo wraps his arms around to lay the necklace against her chest, then comes back around to the clasp. For a few moments, Tohru feels and hears him fumble around.

"Dammit...why do they make these things so hard?"

She has to bite her lip to keep from laughing at him.

He gets it, though, and then he leans down and presses his lips to the back of her neck. She hums in appreciation as he kisses around and up to her jaw.

"I love you," he tells her, pulling back.

"I love you too."

"Turn around." He puts his hands on her arms and spins her. "It looks good on you."

Now it's her turn to blush. "You picked well, then."

"Anything looks good on you. Now, uh...onto part two?"

Tohru takes a deep breath and nods. This is all she's been thinking about all day, wishing it would get here faster. She'd thought that, maybe, she'd prepared herself. But now that it's time to talk, she feels completely unready.

Kyo gestures toward the couch. He sits, and when she's next to him, he pulls her back against his chest. He holds onto her so tightly that it almost hurts a little, but she doesn't care and hardly even notices. He nuzzles his face into her shoulder as he starts to talk. It's like he can't even bring himself to look at her, like he doesn't want to see how she reacts. Voice shaky, he begins.

"The night you were taken to the hospital, I was still being a coward. I just sat in my room. I felt really helpless and guilty, and I didn't really know how to handle that. Eventually, Yuki came upstairs and beat the shit out of me."

Tohru's shoulders stiffen, and Kyo pauses, pressing a kiss to her neck in an attempt to relax her again.

"It was a good thing, actually. He told me that I was being stupid, and basically that I needed to man up and go make things right with you. So I went down to the hospital, but visiting hours were over, so I had to go back to Shigure's. The next time I tried to go see you...well…"

"Well what?" she whispers.

He hesitates for a few seconds more. "Uotani and Hanajima wouldn't let me in. They said that you thought I dumped you, and that talking about me made you sad. Obviously, if even hearing my name made you cry, seeing me wouldn't be good while you needed to focus on getting better. So I stayed away. No, I...I ran away. First I went to Master's, but he tried to convince me to go back to Shigure's, and to go make things right with you. I didn't wanna do that, so I left his place and went and camped up in the mountains for a while. I stopped going to school. I'm not sure why they even let me graduate after that, really.

"When I finally stopped sulking and went back to Shigure's, you were apparently already out of the hospital and living with Hanajima. I just...gave up on the idea of ever fixing what happened between us. Obviously my family didn't like that. Shigure didn't give a fuck what I did, since that psychopath never cared about anyone, anyway. But Yuki basically told me to go fuck myself, that I wasn't part of the family anymore. Rin pretty much agreed, and any time she saw me, she'd threaten to kill me if I tried to even talk to her...though I don't know how much she meant that. Akito kept calling me to see her and tried to convince me to go to you, but I just kept refusing and talking back, so she kicked me out and told me not to set foot on the estate ever again. I guess that's kind of what did it, really—I wasn't invited to any family events anymore, because they happened on the estate. Yuki didn't want me in Shigure's house anymore, so I went to Master's, then got an apartment as soon as I turned 18. I couldn't stand to stay anywhere near the Sohmas any longer than I absolutely had to.

"Haru kept talking to me, but he kept it a secret so he wouldn't piss Rin off. Kagura hung out with me, too, but she didn't hide it, and I worry that she lost some friends because of it, even though she always told me not to give it any thought."

At the mention of Kagura, Tohru's throat goes dry. She doesn't dislike Kagura, exactly...just isn't a fan of the way she's always inserted herself into any situation, even when it isn't her business. And with how much she's always loved Kyo, Tohru can't help but feel a little jealous now, as ridiculous as it is. She pushes that aside for the moment, trying to process everything else Kyo's said.

The family that he'd always wanted so desperately to belong in...the one that he was never really part of from the start...somehow made his life even worse than they had already. She hates that. Hates it with every fiber of her being. He was essentially alone for two entire years.

How could they do that?

How could they?

"Rin tolerates me now, and so does everyone else, I guess. They seemed fine when I showed up to Shigure's that night, anyway. No one talked to me, except you and Haru, but that's better than them yelling and telling me to fuck off. So I guess things are starting to get better...maybe? It doesn't matter, really. It was hard. But I deserved it. I deserved all of it."

"No you didn't," she insists immediately. "E-even...even though I thought you dumped me, break-ups happen all the time and the world keeps going. They wouldn't have acted like that if you'd broken up with someone else. It's just because...it was me…"

She doesn't realize she's teary and sobbing until Kyo kisses a tear away from her cheek. "I'm sorry…" she mumbles. "I don't know why I'm crying."

"Because you love me," Kyo says simply. She nods. That's the reason for everything she does, really, isn't it? She loves him so very much.

"But I'm okay," he adds. "It's not your fault. And like I said, things seem a little better with them, and now I have you, so none of it matters, anyway. It was a really hard two years. But in the end, we're here now, and everything's perfect."

Tohru sniffles and turns around to face Kyo. Her vision is blurry from the tears, so she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. "Sorry," she says again.

Kyo cups her face in his hands and kisses her. "It's okay," he murmurs against her lips. "I love you. It's all okay."

When they break apart, she wipes her eyes and snuggles into Kyo's chest again. He holds her while she regains her composure. She feels awful for crying, for making this all about her. Kyo's the one who should cry. He was treated so terribly because of her. He has every right to be mad and not want to be anywhere near her. But, for some reason, he's here—he's here holding her, pressing kisses to the top of her head, rubbing her back as she tries to settle down.

She doesn't understand.

But still, a selfish part of her loves him all the more for it.

"I won't mention you tomorrow," she says after a bit. "At Shigure-san's, I mean. We can wait until you're ready."

He shakes his head. "You can tell them if you want to," he responds. "You shouldn't be a secret. You deserve more than that. Way, way more."

And even though she'd spent last night agonizing over that very thing, she doesn't care right now. She can see that woman's face so clearly still, down to the freckles sprinkled across her nose, and the heart-shaped earrings she was wearing. She can hear the tremble in her voice, the way she hesitated and then laughed bitterly at her own despair. She hears her words:

"I guess we were both a secret, huh?"

But...it's not the same. Not at all. Itsuki kept her a secret so he could deceive her and that other woman. Kyo hasn't mentioned her to his family in order to protect both of them. When it comes to Kyo, he's always protecting her in some way, it seems.

"It's okay," she tells him. "We'll wait. Don't worry."

"But—"

"You're my priority, Kyo-kun."

It's not the same. She knows that now. She can handle being this kind of secret a little bit longer, if it makes Kyo feel more secure. He's worth it.

After all, what's being kept a secret for a little more time when they have their whole lives ahead of them to make up for it?

Tohru doesn't know how to feel.

She ricochets back and forth between intense sadness and an odd, unsettling sense of rage.

She's spent all day conflicted like this, to the point that it made work a nightmare, and she's still bouncing back and forth like a metronome-gone-rogue when Kyo gets to her apartment. Just like yesterday, as soon as she opens the door, she clings to him. The amount of relief that washes over her at seeing him brings tears to her eyes. She doesn't want to cry and make him feel bad; that's not his burden to bear. But she can't seem to steady herself enough to let go, either.

"Hey," he coos, petting her hair. "It's okay."

Apparently he can already tell that she's upset, and what it is she's upset about. That doesn't surprise her. She nuzzles her nose into his chest.

"What if I get mad?" she whispers. It's been one of her biggest concerns today—what if she gets angry and snaps at Yuki or Isuzu? She loves them and doesn't want to offend them, but their actions over the past two years have also been completely unacceptable. Yes, Kyo was the Cat. Yes, that automatically means that the other Zodiac members were hardwired to shun him, in a way...but does that really make pure cruelty alright? This was after the curse had broken, too.

One thing Tohru has always loved about Kyo is that he sees her as a person. She's not a porcelain doll, one that never shatters and constantly keeps an overdone, painted-on smile visible. So he doesn't try to tell her that she won't get mad, or that she's not capable of something like that, like a lot of other people in her life might. He just kisses the top of her head.

"You'll be okay," he promises. "Even if you get mad, you'll be okay."

"You think so?"

He laughs a little, and she pulls back to look at him, puffing her cheeks out into a pout.

"Don't laugh at me," she protests.

"I'm not, I swear. You're just cute. I mean, so what if you get mad? It's not like you guys wouldn't be able to talk it out. Well, you and Yuki, at least. I don't really know if Rin talks anything out with anyone."

Tohru smiles a bit. "She talks to me."

"See? Problem solved, then." He ruffles her hair affectionately, then looks away with red cheeks. "But...also don't get mad on my behalf, 'kay? Like I said, all that shit doesn't matter anymore. I just want you to have a good time tonight."

Tohru sighs and tucks herself in against Kyo's chest again.

"I just love you so much. I want everyone to love you as much as I do," she says softly.

He chuckles again. "That's not really possible. And besides, if everyone loved me as much as you do, there would be other girls all over me and I don't think you'd like that."

His tone is teasing, and it's a completely hypothetical situation, but she still feels a pang of jealousy prod at her ribs. She backs up and rolls her eyes at him.

"I'm not the jealous type," she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You're a horrible liar."

"Fine, I want your family to love you. How's that, Mr. Technical?"

"Better. Still impossible maybe, but better."

"Nuh-uh. I'll make it happen!"

He snorts out a laugh. "You're so stubborn."

"You know you love it," she says, shooting him a big, cheesy grin.

"Yeah, yeah. I love everything about you."

Now it's Tohru's turn to blush. She tries to turn away before he can notice, but she's too slow—he pokes her cheek with a fingertip. "Well you're awfully red," he deadpans.

"Stop," she groans, but she can't keep the laugh out of her voice. Kyo smiles in return.

"You'd better head out, yeah?"

Tohru sighs. "I was just starting to feel better…"

Kyo reaches around her and pushes her shoulder, guiding her to the door. "Go on. Have fun. I'll be here when you get back."

She sighs again, more dramatically this time, and shoves her shoes on. She glances at him on her way out the door. "I love you."

"I love you too, dork."

She starts to feel jittery again once she's on the train. Without Kyo to distract her, she has to sit with these complicated feelings again. They make her chest burn. She tries to block it out by playing a game on her phone, checking Instagram, literally anything to make her mind just shut up. On the walk from the station, she counts her footsteps, figuring it'll preoccupy her brain.

She's still a mess inside when she gets there.

"Hey," Isuzu calls. Her long legs are dangling off of Shigure's porch, a beer bottle tucked between her thighs. Haru is next to her, and he lifts his hand in a wave.

Tohru puts on her best porcelain doll smile.

"Hi, you two! Thank you for inviting me, Isuzu-san."

Isuzu shrugs with one shoulder. "You don't need to wait for an invitation at all, you know. Want a beer?"

Tohru crinkles up her nose. "Beer…? No thank you."

Isuzu laughs a little. "There's wine, too," Haru says, stepping in for her.

"Thank you! I'm going to go get a glass and say hello to everyone."

Inside, Yuki and Kagura are talking in the kitchen. At the sight of the two of them, Tohru nearly gives up on getting a drink altogether and just goes back outside. But Yuki sees her before she can give in to that cowardice.

"Tohru! I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Kagura chirps. Tohru has to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that one.

"It's good to see both of you." She lowers her head into a small bow, and when she picks it back up, Yuki's holding a glass of wine out to her. "Oh, th-thank you."

"It's been ages, Tohru," Kagura says, sipping her own drink. She sounds way too happy. Tohru wishes she'd just talk like a normal person instead of an animatronic for a minute. "Whatcha been up to?"

But also...as much tension as there has been with Kagura in the past, Tohru kind of owes her, too. She hung out with Kyo for two years when everyone else had abandoned him, after all. What would he have done, she wonders, if Kagura and Haru hadn't stayed attached to him? He might not be here at all.

She's awful. She should be thanking Kagura. She bites her tongue and swears to do better before answering. "Oh, you know, the usual. Work, mostly. And you?"

"Same here. Being an adult sucks."

Tohru hums in agreement and glances over her shoulder to where Isuzu and Haru are sitting outside. She tries to plan a clever escape. Yes, she needs to do better, but she also really doesn't want to sit here and chit-chat when she feels like her chest is about to burst from nervousness. But Kagura draws her into the conversation again. "Are you dating anyone, or anything exciting like that?"

"Kagura," Yuki says under his breath, then shakes his head a tiny bit when she looks over at him.

Tohru hasn't seen Kagura in a long time, since before her failed engagement and everything that came after with Asahi. She appreciates Yuki trying to protect her, but she doesn't need it. Not from him, not tonight. Not after the conversation she'd had with Kyo.

"Nope," she says.

"O-oh, I see." Pause. "Well, Yuki said you and Kyo were talking last time you came."

"Kagura," Yuki mumbles again. He shakes his head once more, sighs, and gulps down the rest of his wine. He's not sure why he entrusted Kagura of all people with that information if he didn't want her to bring it up—Tohru can tell by the look on his face, one of regret and slight self-deprecation. He refills his glass, still shaking his head.

Tohru grits her teeth. Kagura...she always does this. It's like she asks herself what the most problematic thing to bring up would be, then does that with unabashed thrill. It makes her mad—she can feel the frustration bubbling up in her chest. But she should be better. So, one deep breath later, she doesn't miss a beat when she says, "Yep."

"How was that?"

"Fine."

"Have you talked again since?"

"Nope."

The silence now is so heavy it's almost crushing. All three of them obviously feel it. Yuki looks helpless, like he still can't believe he inadvertently caused this and can't figure out how to fix it. Kagura just seems slightly confused by the suddenly-tight air in the room. Tohru is suffocating.

"I'm going to go talk to Isuzu-san and Hatsuharu-san again," she forces out after a moment, then takes off without waiting for a response.

"Your face is red," Rin points out dryly. Her face is, too, but likely because of the alcohol she's been drinking instead of being interrogated moments before. Tohru fleetingly wonders if anyone actually cooked, or if they all just plan on drinking for dinner; she should have brought something. She sighs, wishing her head would clear.

"Just…" she trails off.

"Ah," Haru comments, looking back at the kitchen, where Yuki and Kagura are now bickering, likely about Tohru. "It's Kagura, yeah?"

Haru's much more observant than anyone gives him credit for, Tohru is reminded.

"W-well...sort of."

Isuzu rolls her eyes and downs the rest of her beer. "Figures." She pats the spot next to her, and Tohru sits down on her knees. "So catch me up," Isuzu says. "I haven't talked to you much since you went on that date a while ago. With what's-his-face. What happened with that?"

For a second, Tohru thinks she notices a crack in Haru's calm facade, but his face returns to normal so quickly that she can't really confirm it.

She really doesn't want to talk about this. Is there a way she can summarize it quickly to just get it over with, without sounding completely jumpy and unlike herself? Probably not, but she's going to have to try anyway.

"Uh...it didn't go anywhere."

"What's that mean?"

Tohru hesitates. "The chemistry was more sexual than anything else, I suppose. It ended up being two nights and nothing else."

"No shit?" Isuzu asks, raising her eyebrows. "You slept with a guy you're not dating. Go, Tohru."

Tohru flushes and averts her eyes to the ground. Then, she realizes that the conversation behind them has stopped. She turns around in horror, meeting eyes with a quiet Yuki and Kagura.

No no no. Tipsy Isuzu is loud. How did she forget that?

"Who? Who'd you sleep with?" Kagura asks immediately, eyes wide. Yuki shifts his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, but Tohru can tell by his face that he's a little interested, too. She wonders if it's because he genuinely wants to know what she's been up to, or if it's because he's trying to figure out if it was Kyo she slept with; probably calculating how hard he needs to beat him up for it.

"O-oh, uh...just a blind date. Uo-chan set me up."

"Dang. Go, Tohru," Kagura agrees, lifting her glass as if about to toast to Tohru getting laid by a practical stranger.

Tohru nods a little and turns back around.

"Sorry," Isuzu mumbles. Tohru shakes her head to let her know it's fine; it's as much her own fault as it is Isuzu's—that's a sensitive topic to be talking about in the open here.

"Was he good in bed, at least?" Isuzu asks, then, as if she's already forgotten what she just apologized for. Haru clicks his tongue in disapproval and nudges her gently with his elbow, but she ignores him. Tohru takes a second to decide how honest she wants to be.

"It was fine," she says finally. And that's the truth—it was fine. It felt good physically; Asahi clearly knew his way around a woman's body. But emotionally, there'd been nothing intimate, so of course it felt like something was missing. Tohru had spent the entire time with a dull ache in her chest from the conversation they'd had right before they stumbled into her bedroom...a pain that she'd unsuccessfully tried to block out by the slightly more pleasant sensation of Asahi pinning her down to the mattress.

If she hadn't just promised Kyo that she was going to leave him out of the conversation tonight, she's sure more would have come out of her mouth: "He just wasn't Kyo."

Because that's been the problem with everyone, really; no matter how great they seem to be, they simply can't be Kyo Sohma. Tohru pulls her knees up to her chest, subconsciously moving herself into an upright fetal position. She feels pitiful, and figures she must look it, too, but she doesn't make any effort to remedy that.

She just wants to be with Kyo right now.

She wants to eat crappy takeout with him, lie on his chest while they laugh at that trashy reality show she'd found, and then fall asleep in his arms.

She just wants Kyo.

A couple hours later, when Tohru throws her front door open, Kyo springs up off the couch. They stare at each other for a second, neither saying anything. After a bit, Kyo cracks a smile.

"Fuck, you scared m—"

Tohru cuts him off by launching herself at him. He falls back against the seat of the couch, her coming down on his chest. Tohru buries her face in the crook of his neck. He smells so good, sort of like pine trees, and he's so warm, too. It feels so good to be in his arms. How did she live without this for the past two years? How had she lived without him?

"Are you okay?" he asks softly. He brings one hand up to the back of her head, threading the fingers of it in her hair, and the other to the small of her back to rub circles against her spine.

Tohru nods. "I just love you!" she blurts. She sounds ridiculous, sort of like a little kid, even though she's supposed to be a mature adult now. But she can't even feel ashamed; being able to against his chest, and getting to tell him she loves him—those are things too wonderful to be ashamed of.

Kyo laughs. Tohru feels her cheeks heat up, now actually a little embarrassed because of it. But his laugh sounds so purely happy that she can't dwell on the emotion. She picks her head up to look at him.

"I love you," he says back. He kisses her forehead, then her nose, then her lips, then her chin. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

Now he sounds goofy like a kid, and it's her turn to giggle.

"You weren't gone long," he points out. Tohru hums and leans down, pressing lazy kisses up the side of his neck. He shifts his hands down to her hips and squeezes lightly.

"I only stayed that long to be polite."

"Mm…that bad, huh?"

She nods. "You don't even want to know."

He chuckles a little and tilts his head, trying to get a look at her face. "Well now I gotta know."

Tohru groans and shakes her head. Kyo's quiet for a minute, then sits up and maneuvers their bodies until their positions are switched, Tohru now lying against the couch with him above her. He balances on his forearms and dips his head down to return the favor of all the kisses she'd just given him.

"Fine. Well, the worst of it was when Isuzu-san asked me about Asahi. I told her we just...you know...and she pointed out that, well…" Tohru pauses, squeezing her eyes shut. These are hard things to say to her boyfriend. She doesn't want to dwell on the fact that there were other men before him anymore. He's all that matters.

"You don't have to be embarrassed to talk about this kind of stuff with me, ya know," Kyo points out. He kisses her neck one last time before moving his face to meet her eyes with his own.

Tohru takes a deep breath and nods a bit. She knows that. She really 's nothing she should be embarrassed to tell Kyo about. Nothing.

"Isuzu-san was surprised that I slept with someone I wasn't dating. But she was drunk, so she was being loud, and Kagura and Yuki heard her. So now they all know about that one night stand," she blurts out in one breath.

Part of her wants Kyo to tell her that it's okay and that it's not that big a deal. But he just cringes instead. "Oh," he says.

Tohru nods and brings her hands up to her face, covering her eyes. Kyo pries them away gently.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world. Yuki loves you and just wants you to be happy. And Kagura, well...fuck, she probably won't even remember tomorrow, knowing her. She doesn't care enough to remember anyone's personal details."

"That helps a little."

"Y-yeah? Well, good. So what else happened?"

"Isuzu-san realized her mistake and apologized, but then immediately asked me if he was good in bed. Loudly."

Kyo's quiet at that. They stare at each other, and Tohru starts to spiral, thinking that she's said too much, that she's managed to find the one thing she shouldn't say to Kyo. His cheeks are a little red, his eyes dark. Even if he says it's okay to talk about, thinking about her being with another guy must sting at least a little. Tohru wishes she could take it back. After a second, he says, "Well, what did you say?"

"I...said it was fine."

"Just fine?"

"Yes," she whispers, and she hates how tiny her voice sounds. Because she knows what his follow-up question will be, and she knows that she's going to be a little scared to say it, even though she really knows she shouldn't be.

"Why was it just fine?"

Tohru takes a second to steel her nerves. "Because he wasn't you," she whispers. "So it wasn't right."

Kyo bites his lip, eyes now dark in a different way. It's somehow the sexiest she's ever seen him, and simultaneously the most boyish, too.

Then he leans down and he kisses her, hard, and suddenly everything that had happened earlier doesn't matter anymore.