Chapter 4 Afternoon Tea

As Shigure suspected, afternoon tea was going to turn out to be quite an exciting

experience. Before Mamoshira even arrived, it was obvious things were going to be tense. Yuki

had his mind pre-occupied with Hanajima's theory about Mamoshira Kotaru's powers. Shigure

was also concerned, but a little less with her powers and a little more with the Sohma secret. If

Kotaru learned their secret, and Akito found out... there would be hell to pay. It was amazing

enough that Akito was letting Tohru keep her memory; it would be a miracle if another was

allowed to. But the thing that bothered Shigure the most was that as much as he knew it to be

dangerous to have Ms. Mamoshira around, he couldn't help his curiousity.

A knock came at the door around noon, and Tohru was there to answer it. She gave a bright

smile to Kotaru and stepped aside to allow her to enter.

Kotaru slipped out of her shoes, stepped up onto the porch, and entered the building. There

was a practiced grace to her movements, and Shigure could have sworn that she weighed no

more than a feather. She seemed to float instead of walk. Her hair was swept back into a loose

knot at the nape of her neck; and she was dressed semi-casual. She had a pleasant smile on her

face, but there were secrets in her eyes. If Hana-chan couldn't read her... who could? Could

anyone? The idea of introducing her to Akito crossed his mind, but was quickly dismissed.

Akito would certainly percieve any outsider as a threat, especially one with such a secretive

manner. Maybe it was true... that the quiet ones were the ones you had to watch out for.

"Sorry I'm late, Honda-san. I was detained." Kotaru eyed Shigure with calm gray eyes,

the smile upturned more, and she brought her attention back to Tohru. "Your friend Uo-chan

tells me you are staying here. You seem to be doing quite well for yourself."

"Sohma-kun and Shigure-san have been quite generous, yes. Don't worry about being

late.. the tea is not quite ready. Shigure-san... have you seen Kyo-kun?" Tohru was her usual

cheerful self.

Shigure smiled at Tohru. "He's most likely where he usually is." He pointed up at the

roof. Then he turned his attention to Kotaru. "Kyo-kun doesn't really socialize much. He seems

to prefer the rooftop to the company of others, most times."

"Oi.... I don't appreciate being talked about behind my back." A orange headed

gentleman entered the room. He couldn't have been more than 17 years of age. There was an

unruly attitude about him, as Kotaru could see from get-go. This one was a fire-cracker waiting

to go off. A loose cannon.

"Kyo-kun. We have company." Tohru said

The orange headed boy let his eyes fall on the new-comer. If he had had fur on his body, it

would have probably been standing on end immediately. Already, there was a confrontation

going on between Kotaru and Kyo.

"I assume you are the Sohma cousin I have heard so much about. They are right... you

are quite cute." She smiled and chuckled lightly. "Forgive me. Mamoshira Kotaru." She held her

hand out to Kyo.

Kyo merely glanced at the hand and ignored it, causing a grimace to form on Kotaru's face. "I

see the tempermental nature is also not a fairytale. Forgive me if my presence offends you." To

Tohru, it seemed like she was just apologizing, but Shigure knew that this was more of a

challenge, and it was easy to see the reaction from Kyo immediately. Kyo gritted his teeth and

his eyes narrowed involuntarily. It was obvious Kotaru had meant to ruffle his fur a little, and

she had done just that.

Shigure was beginning to like this girl already. Yuki entered the room and gave Kotaru a quiet

greeting, which consisted more of a nod than anything else. Kotaru sat down across from

Shigure and smiled lightly at him, as if they shared some small joke that no one else knew.

Yuki raised an eyebrow at the two of them, but said nothing. Kyo sat down on the floor and

crossed his legs.

"So, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Tohru-chan invited me, with Shigure-san and Sohma-san's consent, of course. I must

admit I didn't really intend to come... and I wouldn't, had it not been for Tohru."

"You didn't want to be here?" Shigure asked, his head tilting to the side.

"Quite an interesting question, coming from someone who intends to grill me." A light

smile appeared on her face. "Yes, I know what you were going to do. If you have questions,

why not just ask? There is no need to be covert about it."

"Alright." Shigure said. "Well, you could start by telling us something about yourself."

"What would you like to know?"

"You notice how she seems to answer every question with a question?" Kyo remarked,

glancing at Kotaru with considerable dislike.

From the beginning, Shigure could tell that these two were going to get along a lot like Kyo got

along with Uo-chan and Yuki. There was definitely going to be trouble.

"You could tell us about your work at the school." Yuki said, glancing at Kyo with an

expression that could have made a fly drop dead. Kotaru noticed this, and a soft, knowing smile

curled the edges of her mouth. These two had little use for each other. Kyo, especially, seemed

to be a loose cannon.

"I work for the same school that Tohru attends. As I said before, I am the music

professor."

"How long have you been working at Tohru-chan's school?" Shigure asked. "Yuki has

never seen you around school. or at least he has never mentioned you."

"I'm afraid this is the first I've seen of Sohma-san as well. I've been in Japan for about

two years, but I've only been working at that school for maybe a year."

"Ah, that explains it." Shigure smiled. "Where were you before you came here?

Overseas?"

"I have traveled quite a bit. I was never really one for staying in one place. I like to

travel."

Tohru entered carrying a tea tray. "They aren't interrogating you too much, are they,

Mamoshira-san?"

Kotaru let out a laugh. "Heavens no. They are all quite nice gentlemen. You are lucky to

have found such a nice place to live. I'm almost jealous."

"They have all been really kind to me."

"I'm glad." Kotaru smiled and placed her chin in her hands, leaning her elbows on the

table. "I would give them hell if they treated you badly. I'm sure your friends Uo-chan and

Hanajima-chan would too, ne?"

Everyone blinked for a minute. Tohru smiled and laughed.

"Yeah. They are pretty protective of me."

How Kotaru could have known that was another question that echoed in the minds of both

Shigure and Yuki. She had to have been watching Tohru for some time in order to know exactly

what her friends were like. One thing was certain.. Kotaru was hiding something, and it was

something big.