Once They Find Out
________________________
Kyou hated to force Tohru to leave so abruptly, but he was taking no chances of getting caught with her in the house. He hastily shoved the first-aid kit back into the cupboard where it belonged, closing the door with a thud. The slow footsteps crept down the stairs in uneven strides. As they neared the bottom of the stairwell, Kyou could tell the zombie-like form that was coming closer was Yuki.
Kyou prepared a dialogue in his head, working out the lines he would dictate to tell Yuki off for the way that he had been treated by him and Shigure earlier in the night. He opened his mouth to speak, but Yuki simply passed by him and poured himself a glass of water. Kyou bit his tongue as Yuki proceeded on his strenuous trip back up the stairs, one hand in his messy lavender hair.
Kyou sighed. There was no way that he was going to pick a fight with Yuki tonight; he was deadly whenever he was exhausted. Maybe tomorrow.
________________________
The next morning, Tohru woke to the sound of dreary rain and wind. Without even stepping outside of her tent, she knew that it was going to be a sombre day. She learned that the ground that she had placed her tent on was not quite level, for water had leaked into the tent and collected in shallow pools near the doorway.
I cannot last much longer out here in the woods alone, Okaa-san. I'm afraid that I'm going to get sick from this damp weather. Oh no! I just realized something. Since I was so tired after being at Kyou's house, I went right to bed without touching my homework. I'm sorry, Okaa-san, but it's not too late to redeem myself! If I leave now, I may still have time to finish it!
________________________
"Wow, Tohru.... If it's not my imagination, you look a little stressed." Uotani had walked into their classroom to find a frantic Tohru, who was furiously writing out math equations. She had been there for half an hour already, but had only finished seven of the thirty five questions. And with only fifteen minutes remaining until class started, there was little hope.
Calculator in hand, Tohru looked up to the clock, and then up to face her friends. "Uo-chan! Hana-chan!"
Uotani took a seat on top of the desk in front of Tohru and looked at the work, reading upside down. With a careless expression, she said, "Ah, the trigonometry homework. I forgot about it."
"You're not worried?" Tohru asked, as she tapped values into her calculator. Before Uotani could answer, Tohru stared at the answer which had appeared on the screen. "Ara! This answer doesn't even make sense!"
"Tohru-kun should not worry so much," Hanajima advised. "Kyoko-san always said that you should try your best, but once in a while, it is alright for you to give yourself a break." She smiled as she sensed Tohru's waves. Her signals were more positive than they had been lately.
"You really think so?" Tohru asked. "You're right, that does sound like Okaa-san." She smiled, set down her pen and prepared her books for class. She stretched her arms, exposing the neat bandage on her palm that had earlier been hidden under the clenched pencil.
"Oy, Tohru, what happened to your hand?" Uo asked, curiously examining the unbandaged hand which still bore visible scrape marks.
"It's nothing, really! You don't need to worry." Tohru pulled back her hand so that she could wave her arms in protest.
"No one tried to hurt you, did they?" Hanajima inquired, her eyes squinting slightly.
"No, no, no! Nothing like that at all. On the way home from work, I feel down and hurt myself." She touched the side of her head with a grasped fist. "Clumsy me. Oh, yes! That reminds me of something a little funny. Yesterday, you guys said that Yuki or Kyou should walk me home from work for some reason. Well, after I fell, Kyou found me and helped me bandage up the largest scrape." She giggled. "Hana-chan, you really are a talented psychic. It was very kind of him, ne?"
Hana nodded in agreement. She suddenly sensed an increase of energy in the room. Without turning around towards its source, she said. "Ara, speak of the devil. He enters."
Tohru turned towards the door, and confirmed. "You're right! I must thank him, I never got a chance to do so last night. I'll be right back!" She walked towards the entrance of the room.
Kyou had joined two of their classmates, merely standing there without contributing anything to their conversation. She would have felt more at ease speaking to him alone, but it would have to do. Feeling brave, she walked up to the three of them.
"Good morning, Kyou-kun, Yasashiku-san, Shinichi-san," she greeted warmly. "Kyou-kun, I'm sorry to bother you so close to the start of class, but I wanted to thank you for last night." Shinichi raised one of his eyebrows. "I hope that you didn't get into any trouble with your family because I was at your house so late." She bowed, fearing the worse. "I'm so sorry, Kyou-kun! Let me - "
Kyou stopped her. "Geeze, calm down, it wasn't a big deal." She stopped bowing immediately and straightened up. "You make it sound like I was heroic or something, I just bandaged your hand like any good person would do." He forced himself to sound indifferent, but he couldn't help but wonder if she was okay. He paused. "Are you alright now?"
Yasashiku, a tall boy with reddish-brown hair, couldn't help but laugh at the scene in front of him. In an overly dramatic voice, he stated, "Gentle Kyon-kyon! Healing the wounds of Honda-san. You truly have a caring nature hiding under your brash exterior."
Shinichi, who was shorter than Yasashiku but still taller than Tohru, joined in. "Yeah, I still remember when all those cats of yours came into the class. They must really be cared for if they came all the way out to see you here. Just a lover of all creatures, that's all that you are."
"Those weren't even my cats! I don't even own a pet!" Kyou scowled, hating the curse and all the useless things that came with it. At times, the animals that they represent would seek them out and 'visit' them unexpectedly. It always seemed to happen in this worst of circumstances; it was very bothersome.
Tohru watched Kyou as his temper rose, but he had yet to lose control. She froze in place, hoping that he would not erupt into a heated battle, like she had seen at the junior highschool. The battle she had caught a glimpse of between Kyou and Hatsuharu had been a little frightening.
Yasashiku remained silent. He always knew when to stop, and he wasn't about to test Kyou's limits. Unlike Yasashiku, Shinichi didn't have a poetic flare to his words. He simply looked for the easiest way to get a rise out of people. It was such fun to tease. Shinichi slid past Kyou towards Tohru. "Ne, Tohru-kun," he whispered loudly to her, draping an arm behind her back, his chin practically resting on her shoulder. "Did Kyou-kun take really good 'care' of you last night?"
Kyou's mouth dropped open. Just what the hell is going on here? How can he ask that kind of question? And to Tohru of all people! She's way too dense to know what he's talking about!
Kyou could tell that Tohru was nervous, she shifted her body, moving her head away. He was much too close for her liking. "Eto...." She knew that there was something more to the question than she knew, because Kyou seemed to be giving her a strange look. She didn't no what else to say. "Eto...hai?"
Yasashiku couldn't help but let out a chuckle, saying "Way to go, Kyou." under his breath.
Tohru looked at her shoes, and continued softly, "And my hand does feel better."
As much as he didn't want to start a fight in front of Tohru, Kyou couldn't just stand there and let Shinichi tease her because of him. "Get your grubby little hands off of her!" Kyou growled, a glint of anger in his eyes.
The chatter in the classroom stopped at the outburst; their conversation had an audience. Uotani and Hanajima looked up from their seats, and quickly came to see what the trouble was. Yuki, who had entered the room not very long before the shout, observed them from his nearby desk with a look of surprise on his face.
Shinichi didn't move, fearing the wrath of the boy standing before him. That stare he has. Like a cat's, it's truly haunting. I can't show fear, hide behind my comical mask. He stepped back, and dropped his hands to his side. He made a slight motion with one hand to Yasashiku, and they headed to their seats. With a goofy grin, he said to him, "You see? He does care, that proves it. He won't let anyone else have her."
"Too bad." Yasashiku said quietly, once he knew that he was out of earshot. "If he wasn't around, I'd bet that Honda-san would be easily persuaded, ne?"
"I didn't think that a girl, even a girl as dumb as her, would run off to his house at night. Did you see that look he gave me? He's such a freak. I think most girls would know enough to stay away from that guy."
"You didn't think that before, you're just saying that 'cause you're afraid of him. Yasashiku laughed. Passing Yuki along the way, they walked down the aisle until they reached their desks at the far corner of the room.
Yuki watched them get to their seats, then looked up to Kyou and Tohru, who still remained where they were. Tohru was looking at the ground until she looked up to give Kyou a smile. A girl as dumb as her would run off to his house at night? What was all that? Yuki replayed the conversation in his mind, and remembered the tail-end of the dispute. All signs pointed to it, Kyou had Tohru over, and it greatly worried him. Kyou could trigger memories for Tohru so strong that it would break her physically. Something has to be done.
________________________
Author Notes:
Sixth chapter; Uploaded May 14th 2003.
Yuki's planning, dun nun nun! *giggles* Yasashiku and Shinichi are my own creations made for this story. I'm not sure if they will ever appear again, who knows yet. Maybe at the dance which will occur eventually...Shinichi calls her Tohru-kun even though he doesn't know her well, which was supposed to show that he's really casual (and rude too). Yasashiku always calls her Honda-san.
I do not own the rights to any of the characters mentioned in this fan fiction. (except for Yasashiku and Shinichi, of course)
Language Translations:
Hai - Yes
Ara - Oh my
Eto - Um
Oy - Hey
