Chapter 1

"Yuki-kun, are you ready?" Oh, there she is.

We planned to go to her granpa's house to bring the engagement news. It makes it hard for us to contact him after he moved. Yes, moves to a more isolated place. What kind of place is it like, I wonder. Kyou even moved there as well. I imagine it would be calm and peaceful. It's good for Kyou, since he really needs to settle his crazy and noisy attitudes. 

Baka.

Stop thinking about him. It's best to be like this. He should stay out of my way eternally. I can't stand the idea of hearing his complaints and groans again. His voice is just jarring.

Nice pants. Clean shirt. Neatly brushed hair. A polite sight. A perfect sight to see Tohru's granpa.

"Hai, Ho~ Tohru-chan." Next time remind myself to call her Tohru-chan, not Honda-san. I still need reminders okay. I wouldn't survive my future wedding year with the sound of Honda-san. Get rid of it.

I open the door to see a cheerful morning smile. She just gets sweeter everyday. What makes me think that? She wears the typical outfit everyday. Nothing's different, except the smile. It is always brighter.

"Ohayou. Didn't I say not to wake up too early? You haven't had enough sleep for a while."

"Shigure-san asked me to make an omelet for him this morning. Daijoubu, I'm okay. Don't worry too much, Yuki-kun!"

"But, I never ever want to see you sick again. Remember that." Am I mistaken? She just gets sweeter under the red blush that washes over her cheeks just now. Kawaii ne. "Let's go. I asked Shigure if I can borrow his car today. And he lets us." I replied with a smile.

"Eh? But… didn't he say he is going to Aya-san's house today?"

"No… Oni-chan got another wedding dress to make. Shigure is forbidden to go there." Wedding dress? For men, again? Huh. I've gotten a lot better with my brother. But not a whole lot of improvement. To me, he is still the same annoying noisy worm. A snake is too cool for him, and he is not that cool right? I'd call him a worm instead.

Shigure bought a car and got his license (finally), but he still can't run away from the fact that his brand new car is full of scratches already. Hatori never trusts him on driving whenever we go out on vacation, he would volunteer himself to drive. Well, it's better than Shigure, who assumes that he is controlling a roller-coaster rather than a car.

We have a simple conversation while I drive the way out to this written address. One of them is about Tohru's wedding dress.

"Do you think he would have time to make one for me?" Tohru asks, in a full-of-hope tone.

"Tohru-chan, it would be better if you buy one. I don't want to see you in a strange weird dress of his." Of course, I don't trust my brother enough to make a wedding dress for her. 

"Yuki-kun! Isn't it nice to have your own brother making a wedding dress for his sister-in-law? I've talked to him about it once. He agreed. But, I don't know whether he has started to make it or not."

Geez. There's nothing else I can say. I'll make sure he doesn't make any weird type of dress for her. I need to make a regular check on his progress. Oh, time goes by quickly, we arrived there already. Well, given the address on this paper, this house must be it. The environment is somehow different to what I had imagined. It's not in a mountain-like land. But, I can see the mountains behind the house already.

"Kyou-kun must live somewhere further from here, ne?"

"I suppose." What a guess. I know she would say that. I can feel how much she misses Kyou already. Not that I'm jealous. I just don't see the idea of missing him. "So, is this the house? Your grandpa's."

"It should be. I'll go knock on the door." She hastily walks to the wooden door and gives it a gentle knock. "Granpa! Grandpa! It's me Tohru!"

Silent… no answer.

"Is he away?" It would be a dumb thing if he's not home. I really hope someone's here at least. Oh~ the door opens. It's not him. It's one of Tohru's cousin, the one who previously 'bullied' her. Good thing, he has changed. He's been nicer to her since I talked the way out of him that night.

"Aa.. Honda-san. Konbanwa. How are you? Come in. Sohma-san, too? Aw… what a surprise."

We entered the house to find that it is barely empty. I mean, only him is at home. Some simple chit-chat and a sip of tea. Tohru asked if her grandpa is home or not. Great, he is not, how ironic. He went alone outside since the afternoon and the others are now going for a walk. We ended up delivering the message and decided to make our way back, since it's getting dark.

The return trip is almost all silent. The first 15 minutes is all gloomy, since we don't have anything to talk about. But, then Tohru breaks the silence.

"Grandpa rarely ever goes out alone. I wonder where he went." I can sense worry within her sentence.

What should I say? "Maybe he is visiting some of his relatives. Don't worry, Tohru-chan. I'm sure he is home by now." Tohru remains silent, resisting to let go of her worry. "We can go back to visit him again tomorrow." Then she smiles, as if satisfied.

Silence occupies the atmosphere, again.

Tohru looks exhausted by now; I don't want to disturb her half-sleep. She looks innocently tired. I can't resist twitching a little smile when I see her face. At least it keeps me from not going too bored by this long drive. I can't drive fast, I don't dare. We are surrounded by darkness and our car seems to be the only one in this whole long bush-like road. I'll add another scratch to Shigure's car if I'm not careful enough. Thus, I can't get the benefit over it anymore.

Sleepy… sleepy… tired and boring. 9:43 pm, another half an hour drive to home, I just want to get Tohru home soon. Then she can sleep comfortably on bed. Tomorrow I'll have to go to onichan's store, make sure he's not making an---- Shhhiiitt

"KYYAAA!! Yuki-kun?! What happened?!" Damn. Tohru, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to~

Stop. STOP! Why the hell won't the brake work?! "Gomenne, Tohru-chan! Are you hurt? Are you okay?!" I stop dead, so is the car, as if zapped by an electric jolt. I see her seatbelt is still fastened up tight, and she was okay.

Relief. A split-second of terror, I feel as if it took an hour to put the car into a stop.

And what was that?! A person can't move that fast! Lucky I didn't crash into it. I admit that I'm totally unfamiliar with this area, but I never expect a wild animal or whatever it is, would run to the middle of the road while a car is passing by.

"I'm okay. What happened? Are you okay?" She is still in deep shock.

"I… something jumped over the car just then, I don't know what is it, sorry. Sorry to wake you up!" Finally I stop, letting myself to breathe some air in, did my heart just burst out?

Right. I must concentrate fully now, why won't my mind stop wandering around while I'm driving.

"It's okay, you are not hurt? What was it? Where?" More relief. Tohru seems to recover from her shock, but now she is curious. And me, too.

"I don't know, looks like a wild animal. I'm sorry I woke you up. It's okay now." Tell her it's okay, and tell myself it's okay. I'm still shocked. Huh, I need to continue driving now. No time to waste.

"…Yuki-kun. What was that? I'm scared. Can we go home now? I'm scared." No, please don't cry. I can't stand her tears. I admit it is one of boys' weaknesses. Especially her, I never want to see her cry. Since when I started to move my arms, I was going to put her into an embrace. I just want to comfort her, but…

"Aa… gomenne, Yuki-kun! Daijoubu! I'm okay now. Ne? Can we go now?" Her voice seems normal again, looks like she knows what I meant when I hesitated to hold her. Of course, we wouldn't be back home then. I'd turn into a mouse. Funny.

"I'm sorry, Tohru-chan. I can't… we are okay now, it's okay. I'm here… don't be afraid okay." Words. Only words. My only tool to comfort her.

"Truly, it's okay. I'm okay now." She said in a kind of trembling voice. I know she is pretending. She is still scared. I start to drive again, full focus this time and finally got home.

Phew… so tired, so is Tohru. She goes straight to bed, Shigure is asleep now though. His lights are off. I shouldn't mention anything about the wild animal that almost (almost) damaged his car. Otherwise, he'll bite me in his juunishi-form with all his scary teeth. I need to go to bed soon, I'm even surprised that I can still hold my eyes open.

I peek into Tohru's room. Attention. Not because of any particular clever reason. I just wanted to make sure she is okay. "Oyasumi, Tohru-chan."

~~~~

Huh? 7:17 a.m. The good thing about not having school is that you can sleep to your death till the afternoon. Not a usual morning to have though, it's strangely quiet. No sound of birds or Tohru doing some kitchen work. I bet she is still sleeping. Then, Shigure? Where is he?

I hate this stairs. The creaking sound is getting too irritating. I should ask Shigure to rebuild the house someday. I found some breakfast on the table. Surprisingly, they don't look good and right, they are not. What a taste, I thought. Tohru is still sleeping, so all this must be Shigure's cooking. Why does he even bother to cook, he knows himself that he is a nightmare in the kitchen all by himself.

The fork and plate are here, but the spoon is not. Shigure must be having it with him. Man, walking around in the house with food in his hand, it would spoil the whole floor. I better find him right away and one shot in the head, end.

His room, toilet, laundry? No. Upstairs? No. Garden, storage room, outside, Tohru's ro- Oh, there, what is he doing with his car? And the spoon in his hand. Aa… kill me, there must be a scratch from the last night thing. That damn animal thing.

I wanted so much to turn my body away and pretend that I didn't see him. But, he notices me. Good.

"Mmm.. Yuki-kun! Ohayo~ you're up so early ne? I thought you might wake up a bit late, so I prepared some food for you two. Nice?" Why isn't he mad? Hasn't he discovered the scuff on his car?

"Um… arigatou. That's a very nice of you, although anyone would barely call that food. …What are you doing here?" Can't believe I asked that question.

"Oh… now that you asked. Are you two okay? I found several drops of blood on the car. What happened?"

I can imagine the expression that I have on my face when he said that. "Blood? What blood? Where?" Red stain on the white car, not red. It's brownish red by now. It's not much, only a few drops, but you can still see it quite clearly from a distant.

"You are the one who had the car last night. It wasn't there when you first had it out right? So I assume it must've been there since last night. By the look of it, it's dry already as well." I get the feeling that he is somewhat suspicious.

Ooopps.. but, truly, I don't know anything about the blood. "Since when did you have some knowledge over biological matters. Mm.. true. It wasn't there when we headed back from the house yesterday. We would've seen it that time… nor last night, probably it was too dark when we got home."

So, what now? Is he putting the blame on me? We stand there in silence for about 5 seconds already, his eyes gazing at mine. His face suddenly changes to a so-called-smile with his eyes being almost a straight line. Then while waving his hand he says, "Yuki-kun! No, no, don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming you at all. I'm just worried okay. So you two are alright, that makes me satisfied enough."

"… Sorry."

Our conversation is soon broken by a knock on the door. I'm kind of shocked when I heard this familiar voice near the doorway. He just barges in without giving Shigure time to finish his few more steps to the door. Orange hair, red eyes, casual clothes. This is the first time I've seen him since he left. More than half a year I guess.

Baka-neko.

"I never thought you'd come back again here. What business do you have?" My mind was so much distracted by his presence, and those are the only words I managed to say.

"Shut up, kuso-nezumi~ This is not your house remember. It's Shigure's, you dumb ass. It's good already that I come, you at least have to say thank you." That tone, again. I hate it.

"Thank you? Are you drunk? I never want you to come, not even see your face, got it?"

"Heh! I come here to give Shishou's regards to you and Tohru, okay? That's why, treat me the way I should be, baka-nezumi!"

Shigure manages to stop our momentary fight. Which is good. I haven't had any breakfast since I woke up, and I'm damn hungry now. Tohru comes down the stair just when I walk to the dining room. "Ohayou, Tohru-chan. Shigure made some breakfast this morning. Want some? You don't have to wake up this early you know. You must be tired still from last night."

"Mmm… I can't sleep anymore, Yuki-kun. Besides, I notice someone else's voice just then. Who is it?"

Great, not only he disturbs my peaceful life, he also woke up Tohru. I'm going to kill him. "Kyou. He just came. Is he that noisy? He woke you up, didn't he?"

"Kyou?! Where is he? He came?"

Tohru goes energetic, ignoring the fact that I'm going to smack Kyou in about 2 seconds. She even smiles more when she saw Kyou. It's also the first time for her to see him since… 7, 8 months ago? He claimed that Shishou told him to come and help some things out in this preparation. I think he would destroy my engagement, not helping. Nevertheless, arigatou, Shishou.

It's been a while since the last time we had meals together. I feel kind of nostalgic. I am supposed to put the rubbish bag outside when the telephone rings. That stupid cat is answering, I wonder who is it at times like this.

"Tohru, for you." Kyou mutters.

I watched Tohru as she drifts slowly from the kitchen to the phone, still with her apron worn.

"Hai. Honda Tohru~desu. Eh? Auntie? Ohayo~ We came by yesterday but you're not home. How is the others? …Eh? Nn-nani… Grandpa?! Grandpa was killed!?"

Nani?! What did I just hear? The moment I ask myself, I found myself running to Tohru, catching her as she falls. No, Tohru, hang on!

"Tohru-chan! Tohru-chan! Hang on! Tohru!" Her skin feels icy, like a dead person. Her face is pale, she wasn't like this when she had her breakfast. "Tohru! Kyou, open her room upstairs, quick!"

~~~~~

*Hope you all enjoy it. You see, this is like the beginning chapter, so I kinda don't know how to write this story properly. Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience. Review onegai~~~ ^-^