A/N: Title from "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5.
It hits him immediately after he wakes up.
That all-too-familiar aching in his muscles and bones, the throbbing behind his temples...the relentless urge to just stay in bed dammit.
Kyo turns toward his window. It's not raining yet, but he knows it will be soon.
In the month since the curse broke, Kyo's felt mostly like a normal human being. Stray cats don't follow him home anymore, blabbering at him as they walk. He suddenly can't really see in the dark too well, which he knows is a normal-human-thing. He's gotten used to these losses, isn't really bothered by them.
Other things haven't lost their novelty yet, of course—for example, the whole being able to hug his girlfriend without turning into a fucking cat thing. And not imagining a future locked in a cage. Other than those prior major inconveniences, there's been one thing he's truly hoped to lose with the breaking of the curse—this weird, inexplicable rain-illness. It's been dry lately, so he hasn't been able to tell before, but now they're entering typhoon season…
And here he is on the first day of rain, still sick like a fucking weirdo.
If he gets up and gets dressed now, he probably will still have time for his morning run before the rain starts. That's why he set his alarm for 6 AM in the first place—to keep his normal routine and go jogging. Most people would still be able to jog through the discomfort of a head cold type-thing, right?
But he doesn't want to, and he hates himself for it.
He ends up downstairs at the living room table because if he stays in bed all day, he'll feel completely worthless. Downstairs, he can at least get some cereal and watch TV.
...Or end up asleep on the table.
He wakes with a start when someone rubs his cheek. He jumps up and looks around, confused about how things turned out like this when he'd come downstairs with very clear intentions. After a moment, his eyes settle on Tohru kneeling next to him. If she's down here, it means it's 8 now, since that's when she starts breakfast on the weekends.
"Sorry," she giggles. "I didn't mean to scare you. But it's weird to see you sleeping at the table when the kotatsu isn't out."
"Oh...yeah, I guess."
She frowns and leans in a little closer, brushing his bangs aside and putting her palm on his forehead.
"You feel warm. Are you okay?"
Kyo hesitates. He's not that sick, right? He doesn't need to bother her with it. Especially not when he burdens her with plenty of other things already—nightmares, the occasional anxiety attack, advice about the future...anything that can be named, really, Tohru comforts him about. It's really not fair to her.
"Kyo-kun?" she asks again. "What's wrong?"
Kyo shakes his head, then has to close his eyes against the onslaught of vertigo that accompanies that action. "Eh…"
"You can tell me."
And when he opens his eyes again and looks at her, her face is so earnest that he absolutely has to tell her, even though he'd just decided to avoid burdening her with this.
She makes him so weak.
"It's gonna rain."
As if on cue, thunder clangs through the air at a distance. Tohru makes a face.
Kyo Sohma, ladies and gentlemen—more accurate predictions than any trained meteorologist in Japan.
"What can I do to help?"
"Nothing. I'm fine, really."
At that, Tohru makes another face, this one suggesting that she already knows you're not fine, Kyo-kun.
"Okay, okay. This...might sound kind of stupid."
"No it won't," she says immediately, and somehow that makes it worse. He cringes a little.
"W-well, would you just—do you think you could...hold me?"
There's an awkward pause in which Kyo actually starts to worry he might get rejected, but then Tohru just asks, "Why would you think that's stupid?"
Afraid he's offended her, he backpedals at an incredible speed. "Well, it's just that I've dealt with the rain alone for 18 years and now we've only been dating for a month, and I suddenly just feel like I need you to get through it, but I burden you with so much already…"
She laughs lightly and leans over, taking his cheeks in her hands. She kisses the tip of his nose, then pulls his head in against her chest.
"I love you, Kyo-kun."
It's a simple sentence. One that says nothing, but yet also everything. For some reason, it makes him tear up a little, and he both loves and hates that. He wraps his arms around her waist.
"I love you too. I'm sorry—I know I can be kinda hard to handle."
She shakes her head. "This doesn't make you hard to handle. You're not ever. But even so...I know I feel like I'm hard to handle sometimes, too," she whispers. He knows what she's thinking about—a couple nights, they'd been sleeping together, and she'd accidentally woken him when she sprang up in bed crying from a nightmare. It was about him leaving. They're always about him leaving.
In an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, he says, "Good thing we're both pretty stubborn. We won't give up on each other."
Tohru giggles, then tilts her chin down to press a kiss to the top of his head. "Never. Never ever ever ever ever, Kyo-kun."
"You know," he drawls, "one 'ever' really woulda been enough."
He looks up at her because he just knows that her face is heating up, and he really wants to see that. Though he won't admit it out loud, he loves the way he can make her so flustered with just one sentence. The way he can make her look so thoroughly undone when he teases her.
He was right—Tohru's face is a mess, glowing so brightly that it looks like someone could have dipped a paintbrush in scarlet and smeared it over her nose and cheeks. Kyo's heart swells a little at the sight. He kisses her, and while he really meant to put more behind it, it ends up being nothing more than a lingering peck. When they break apart, she pulls his face back for more, but also doesn't push. A string of kisses begins, not heated, but relaxed and unhurried—lazy rainy-day kisses, Kyo briefly thinks to call them.
"Do you want to go lie down?" she mumbles against his lips.
"Only if you come," he murmurs back, and then the tables are turned and his own face is hot while she smiles at him.
"Of course. I was going to make some soup first, though."
Soup for breakfast sounds a little weird, but also so good right now that he's not going to say anything.
"I'll wait here, then." She opens her mouth to protest, but Kyo cuts her off by continuing, "I want to be with you."
So she nods and heads to the kitchen. For a minute, he watches from the living room floor while she gets various ingredients and a pot out, humming some made-up song to herself the entire time. And then it's suddenly not enough anymore, so he gets up and moves behind her. He wraps his arms around her waist and lays his forehead on her shoulder.
"Kyo-kun," Tohru chastises, but her soft tone makes for a weak attempt at an objection. "You should be sitting down. And how am I supposed to make soup with you hanging onto me?"
"Fine," he groans, then obeys and sits at the kitchen table. He goes back to watching her process quietly, though his head is overflowing with different thoughts and emotions.
She's so adorable. Listen to her, look at her.
She's mine. I'm so lucky.
I love her so much.
But...when we move away, she'll be doing everything alone on days like this.
Right now, she has Yuki around to step up anytime Kyo's not feeling well, which has always included on rainy days, of course...Kyo knows that's not to help him, but to help Tohru, and he's truly grateful for it, despite the lingering animosity between them.
But Yuki won't move with Kyo and Tohru. It'll just be the two of them.
Alone. She'll be alone.
How weak and pathetic is he that the rain still affects him now, even though he's no longer part cat? He's supposed to be normal now. Normal people don't get sick when it rains, and even when they do get sick, they power through it and help their girlfriends do things like make soup, god damn it.
He lies his forehead down on the table. Tohru hears the thump and turns around." He doesn't move.
"Eh—? Kyo-kun, are you okay?! Is it your head? Do you want some Tylenol?"
It is his head, but it's also his heart and his ego, and painkillers won't help that.
"I just…" he says, tone muffled by the wood in front of his mouth. "I'm sorry." He's apologized already today, he knows, and he worries it might start to annoy her if he keeps it up. But he is. He's sorry.
"Don't apologize for getting sick," she insists.
"But I'm not supposed to be sick, Tohru. But I still am. I get sick and then I leave you alone to do everything yourself."
Silence. Then a hesitant, "...Is this because I'm making you soup?"
"It's because of a lot of things." Kyo turns his head to face her, his cheek against the table now. She looks completely confused, and he guesses he can't really blame her, since he's probably not making much sense. "What happens when we leave town and it's just you and me? And when we have kids? Are you supposed to just do everything whenever it rains? That would be really shitty of me."
Tohru blinks a couple of times, taking that in. "Kyo-kun…" she murmurs, her tone half-annoyed and half-fond. "The curse just broke a month ago. I bet as time goes on, you'll stop getting sick from the rain. But even if you don't...I like taking care of you."
"Not all the time. There's no way you won't get tired of that."
She laughs lightly, and for a second he's a little offended by that, but her eyes and smile are soft around the edges. "Kyo-kun, I love you, so I'll never get tired of taking care of you. Besides, you take care of me lots, too. I know that when I get sick, you'll be there for me, too."
He doesn't really have the energy to argue that more, and she seems so genuine that it probably wouldn't do anything, either—stubborn Tohru always wins.
"Of course I will."
"Then it's settled—we'll take care of each other! Now, let me finish the soup so we can go cuddle, okay?"
While the soup simmers a bit, she gets Kyo upstairs and into her bed. She surrounds him with pillows and blankets, effectively turning him into a Kyo-burrito. He probably looks ridiculous, only his head peeking out from beneath the fluffy pink covers, but he has to admit that it's really comfy.
"Don't move," she orders, turning on her heel to go back downstairs. When she returns with two bowls of soup, she holds his out to him, then tilts her head in confusion when he doesn't take it.
"You told me not to move," he explains, "so I don't have arms."
She huffs and gets into bed next to him, pulling the covers back in the process. He slips his arms loose, sits up, and takes the bowl from her.
"Well at least you're feeling well enough to tease me a little."
"You just make it so easy," he quips, then leans over and kisses her cheek. "Thank you for the soup."
So today, even though there are certainly more efficient ways they could use a Sunday, they eat soup together and watch a movie on Kyo's laptop. They set the empty bowls on the floor because Kyo won't let go of Tohru long enough to let her do the dishes, and she definitely does not seem to mind that. They snuggle up together, still surrounded by Tohru's collection of fuzzy blankets and useless throw pillows. They share more lazy, rainy-day kisses. That evening, he dozes off while she runs her fingers through his hair.
And somehow, somewhere along the line, he's stopped feeling guilty because she just has that effect on him. When she's with him, everything's okay. The world is rotating properly, and life is moving as expected, no matter what. He just needs to have her. After all, she's told him that with her love, he's invincible—and rain can't stop someone invincible.
A/N: I've been looking at and working on this for a week now, and I am OVER IT lol. My next fanfic plans: finish Kyo week, finish Kyoru week 2021, finish Kyoru week 2020 (RIP), and then go back to State of Grace. Day 6 for this challenge will take a bit because it has two fairly lengthy chapters. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed this. Much love, as always.