He's running late.

That won't be acceptable in a few months when he's working for someone who isn't his dad. Kyo is still riding on the high of everything that's happened in the past week—getting a job in a town far away, asking Tohru to move away with him and having her accept, and just generally feeling giddy about the fact that she somehow loves him enough to follow him across the country. But the honeymoon phase that accompanied their decision needs to settle down now—Kyo needs to get to work on their futures, and he can't do that when he's just constantly walking around with a giant grin on his face, daydreaming about the day he gets to take Tohru away to a little town by the ocean.

He jogs the rest of the way up the path to Master's dojo. Rin's sitting on the porch, long legs dangling, a sketchbook propped up in her lap.

"Hey," he says, jumping up onto the porch next to her.

Rin doesn't answer, just keeps gliding her pencil across the page.

She's weird. And considering who Kyo is, that's really saying something, he thinks. He learned a long time ago not to let her cold shoulder bug him, though, and she can't be that bad if Tohru loves her so much.

Kyo glances down at the sketchbook as he passes, then freezes.

"Is that a drawing of me?"

Rin holds the book close to her chest, obstructing his view of the page. "No."

Kyo groans. "You're ridiculous. Come on, what is it?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes, but turns the sketchbook back around nonetheless. It's a shot of him in action at the dojo, gi on, feet spread, right hand out in a punch.

"Wow, that's...actually really good. But why?"

"Tohru asked me to."

"She has you wrapped around her finger, doesn't she?" he teases.

"Like you're one to talk," she shoots back.

"Okay, okay. Anyway, I didn't know you could draw. It looks pretty realistic."

"Yeah, well, you can thank Tohru for that."

"Huh?"

"If she'd given me creative freedom, you'd be sucking a giant dick or something."

He snorts. "I'm not gay."

"That's what you took away from that? Considering what Tohru's told me about you doing in bed, I'd guess not. Would just make a fantastic piece of art."

How can she say that with such a straight face?

He flushes and scratches at the back of his neck. "Hey… do you hate me?"

She shrugs noncommittally. He shrugs back—that's really the best answer he could hope for from someone like Rin. She's important to Tohru, so as long as she doesn't, like, want him dead, that's good enough, he supposes.

"Why'd Tohru ask for this?"

"Ask her." He opens his mouth to protest, but she cuts him off. "I wasn't even supposed to tell you it exists. Now go away so I can finish."

"Uh… sure," he mumbles, walking the rest of the way inside. He stands in the doorway for a second, pondering the rather bizarre experience he'd just had, but is interrupted by a completely frazzled Kunimitsu.

"There you are! Go get changed!" he shouts from the doorway to the practice room. "You're supposed to shadow me today, and these kids are driving me crazy."

"O-oh, yeah, right. Sorry." He kicks off his shoes and drops his bag, rips his gi out of it, and runs toward the dressing room.

No time for thinking. Just work. He's got to get to work.

That evening, he makes it back to the house breathing heavily and caked in sweat. Focusing purely on work had proven difficult, and he's a little embarrassed about being so flighty. Kunimitsu scolded him for it, which means Master will be hearing about it tonight. But after dinner, he and Tohru are supposed to look at apartments online. A chance for him to redeem himself, in a roundabout way—he can show that he has a little discipline, even if only to himself and Tohru.

"Hey, I'm back," he calls, kicking off his shoes in the genkan.

"Welcome home, Kyo-kun!"

He follows Tohru's voice to the kitchen. He kisses her cheek and looks over her shoulder at what she's doing.

"Stir fry," she tells him.

"That'll be good. Thank you."
"Mm-hmm. How was the dojo?"

"Good. It's starting to get really warm outside, though. The walk was kinda gross." She giggles. Kyo picks up a knife and gestures at the carrot lying on the counter. "Diced?" he asks.

"Please."

He starts cutting the vegetable, the two of them falling into a comfortable rhythm as they work together. After a bit, he finally speaks up. "So something weird happened today."

"Oh?" She looks up from the onion she's chopping, stilling her hand. "Good weird or bad weird?"

"Mmm…" he hums, scooping the carrot he's diced into the frying pan. "Just weird."

"What was it?"

"When I got to the dojo, Rin was sitting outside with this sketchbook thing." Tohru's shoulders stiffen. She turns her attention back to the cutting board in front of her in an attempt to hide her red cheeks. She looks so guilty.

Is it bad that he thinks it's really cute?

"Oh?" she squeaks. "W-well, she's a really amazing artist!"

"Yeah, it looked pretty good. That's not what was weird, though."

They're silent for a minute, locked in a stalemate. It's come down to who can be more stubborn, and even though Tohru has the tenacity of a bull, she caves first this time.

"There's a reason, I swear!"

He chuckles. "I'm not mad or anything, Tohru. Although now I'm really curious about this reason."

Tohru sets down the knife and turns around, leaning her back against the counter. And to prove that he's really not mad, he moves over and stands in front of her, resting his hands on the counter behind her. She's caged in, and it seems to comfort her instead of startle her like it might most people. She leans her forehead against his shoulder. He kisses the top of her head.

"It's for Master. I thought it would be a good gift."

"Eh? Why do you want to get Master a present? And why one like that?"

"If… if we're going to move away, I thought that might, well… comfort him a bit. It's a nice piece of art he can hang up in the dojo and think about how proud of you he is whenever he sees it."

Kyo presses his face into her hair. It's a little embarrassing, but he can't keep the growing smile off his cheeks. "That's really nice of you."

"He'll miss you, you know, Kyo-kun. You're his baby."

He snorts in protest. "I'm not a baby."

"I didn't say you're a baby. I said you're his baby."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

"And I'm going to keep you all to myself… it's really not fair to him."

"Tohru. I'm the one who's taking you away from everyone."

"I have a part in it, too. Would you have gone if I'd said no?"

"W-well...maybe not," he admits.

"So I'm taking you away, too."

"Okay, fine. I guess we're both responsible." He pulls back to look at her fully, shaking his head. "Are you going to give it to him when we have dinner over there on Friday?"

Tohru nods. "If it's ready."

"I bet it will be. Rin'll do anything for you, it seems."

"Eh?! No, th-that's not true!" she blabbers, waving her hands.

Kyo smirks. "She loves you."

That silences Tohru, and she smiles a little, then tilts her chin up. He puts a finger under it and leans down, pressing their lips together.

"And I love you, too. Thanks for thinking about my dad… it means a lot to me. I know it'll mean a lot to him, too."

"I hope he likes it."

"Are you kidding? He loves that sappy stuff."

Tohru giggles. "I'll have to get Isuzu-san something to say thank you."

"Hm, how about a broken curse?"

"Kyo-kun."

"After everything, she's not gonna expect anything else from you, is all I'm saying."

"Probably not. But… I love her, too."

He smiles down at her. "Yeah. I know." He rubs circles against her back as he watches her expression. She's been nothing but optimistic about their move this upcoming summer, but she looks a little down now, talking about her love for Rin. She'll miss everyone, and he knows it.

He's selfish.

Even though that's something he's trying not to be anymore… he's selfish.

"You're gonna miss them, huh? Everyone?" he asks.

"Oh, it'll be okay! We can call and text all the time, and Uo-chan told me she'll teach me how to use Skype, and we'll visit for New Year's…"

Kyo puts a hand on the back of her head and gently tugs her in closer. He rests his lips against her forehead and runs his fingers through her hair, something he's discovered she likes. "Hey, listen to me."

"Uh, 'k-kay…"

"This whole thing is still a new idea. It's gonna take getting used to. It's okay, you know. To just let yourself feel whatever you need to."

Tohru stands still for a second, then slides her arms around his middle. She clings to the back of his t-shirt, nuzzles her face into his shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you, Kyo-kun," she whispers.

"I'm selfish for this."

She laughs lightly, pulling back to look at him. She reaches up and cups his face in her hands. "I'm selfish, too, for being pretty excited."

He just grins at her and shakes his head fondly before kissing her again and getting lost in her embrace. The stir fry forgotten, melancholy temporarily left behind, the kitchen dimming along with the fall of dusk outside, they hold each other, and it makes feeling a little bit easier.

The following Monday, Kyo rushes to the dojo straight after school. He was sad to not get to walk Tohru all the way home, but that weight falls off his shoulders when he shows up not only on time, but early.

Much better than last week.

On his way to go change, he sees Master standing in the doorway to the practice room. His eyes are up on the wall above the door, an easy smile painted across his face. Kunimitsu is next to him.

"Perfect," Master says, and Kunimitsu nods in agreement. He notices Kyo, then, and smiles a bit as he excuses himself.

"Oh, Kyo," Master calls. "Come here. I have something to show you."

"What's up?" Kyo asks as he comes to stand next to Kazuma. "What's with the family meeting in the doorway?" Master just points upward, and Kyo's eyes follow his gesture.

Above the doorway to the practice room is a sketch of Kyo. Rin had finished coloring it just in time for dinner on Friday, like Tohru had hoped, so then she'd rushed out to get a frame ("Black like your martial arts level, Kyo-kun!"). Now, that framed, colored portrait is on the wall, in a position that makes it look as though Kyo's watching over the students practicing in the dojo.

Kyo turns toward Master, but finds that no words come naturally. So, he just stares at his dad's profile, as he continues to look up at the sketch. Suddenly, Master reaches over and wraps his arm around his son's shoulders. Kyo tenses, but then leans into the touch.

"I'm so proud of you," Kazuma tells him.

"Thank you," Kyo says softly, trying to disguise the tremble in his voice with an awkward cough.

"You found a wonderful young woman, too. This was a very thoughtful gift."

Kyo smiles. "Yeah, she's really something."

Master pulls back, clapping Kyo on the back as he heads for the door. "Don't lose her."

"Nah. Never."

And then, once he's alone in the room, Kyo pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of the sketch's new home to send to Tohru.

Something. That's really the only way to describe Tohru and her uncanny ability to read the people around her.

Kyo is selfish when it comes to Tohru. He's starting to come to terms with that, and learning to control it so it doesn't ever become a burden to her. Yeah, he's selfish, but he's also really fucking lucky—Tohru knows that about him, lets it be, and loves him for it. Loves him more than he probably deserves.

His phone buzzes, and he lifts the screen closer to his face. A text from Tohru, just an emoji—a cat making heart eyes. He chuckles and shakes his head.

"Kyo!" Kunimitsu shouts from the other room. "You were here so early, get over here before you make yourself late!"

"Ah can it, Kunimitsu!" he calls back, once again dropping his bag, ripping the gi out of it, and running toward the dressing room.

A/N: This one was pretty fun to write. Hope you enjoyed.

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