*** Thank u guys sooo much for reviewing.. U really encouraged me.. I was getting so uneasy...didn't noe if this was interesting to anyone at all but yea.. Thank u!! ^_^ Made my day hehe..ok, I'm getting a lil 2 excited but thank u Risa, Nat, Peaches, Wildfire, Momiji, NekoRevolution and Runic for ur comments ^_^ But do u think I should change my summary or something .. Does it sound so boring that I'm scaring ppl off?? I really dunno how to make it more "appealing"...huh, o wells, um, so continue giving me reviews and I'm gonna shut up now and let u read ^_^

Maeven ***

The Preparations

"What do you mean you're going to "borrow" Tohru for the day?" Kyou growled suspiciously at Shigure and Ayame. Yuki stood next to him with his arms crossed and his frigid stare trained on the two men. Both boys were standing protectively in front of the dumbfounded girl and were finally agreeing on something for the first time in their lives: to keep Tohru away from the dog and the snake no matter what.

"Ah, Yuki-kun, since when did your older brother ever did anything that you disapproved of?" Ayame blinked his huge emerald eyes at the boy.

"What - are you kidding me?" Yuki stared in disbelief.

"OK, scratch that," Shigure said. "Since when did I ever do anything...ok, never mind. How about we bring Tori along then?"

"Eh, Tori is coming?!" Ayame asked gleefully. "Oh yay!!"

And so, Hatori was forced to chaperon the "Mystery Mission" (Shigure: I named it! I named it! Doesn't it sound cool?!" Hatori: "Am I really related to you?") and drive the two men and the girl into town. Ayame waved from the car window, "Bye-bye, Kyoukichi-kun and little brother dear!! I'll make sure our Mission is a success! I promise I'll bring home tons of goodies for you!!" (Yuki: "Am I really related to you?")

The rest of the afternoon, Kyou and Yuki went back and forth from worrying over Tohru to fighting with each other. Momiji and Haru sat there with their chins propped up in their hands, amused. So far, the floor was creaking from the amount of pacing they did and the walls had several Kyou- shaped holes. "When will Tohru come back?" Momiji complained. "The house won't be standing soon! The only productive thing Kyou can make are holes." The older boy halted his pacing and swung around to shoot a deadly glare at the rabbit.

"AHHHHHH!!!! KYOU-KUN SO SCARY!! HELP ME! HELP ME!"

"YOU LIL BRAT! I'LL SHOW YOU PRODUCTIVE!"

BOOM! CRASH! "Baka neko."

"Hole number 8. Wow...I never imagined there could be so many different ways to fly through a wall. I give that a nine point five, Kyou. I prefer the last time where you flipped and crashed through upside down...it just had a more artistic feel."

"Grrrrrr, shut up, you fat cow."

"WHADDYA SAY??!!"

"Ah, hell."

"Only you baka neko can succeed time after time again to bring Black Haru out."

"Eh, Yuki...don't worry, I'll make you mine as soon as I'm done with this little neko."

"Get off me, Haru. You get more and more disturbing."

"Ooooo, great!! Now, we'll have Haru-shaped holes!!"

"If you don't shut up, there'll be little bunny holes too!"

"WAHHHH!!! KYOU-KUN IS PICKING ON ME AGAIN!!!"

The warfare was suddenly ceased when they heard Hatori's car pull into the driveway.

"TOHRU!!! I MISSED YOU SOOO MUCH!!"

"I missed Momiji too."

"Honda-san, did they do anything to you?"

"No, Yuki. Thanks for worrying though."

"Where did you go for so long?? I was so damned worried...cause I'm hungry, of course."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Kyou! I'll get started right away!"

"Um, pardon me for interrupting this love fest but can someone please explain the condition of my house?" Shigure cut in with a sweet smile on his face.

"Your payment for leaving me alone with the baka neko," Yuki shrugged.

"Ah, I see," Shigure kept his smile pasted on, but he was sobbing his head off inside. "All right, all right!! Time for the goodies!!" Ayame cheered with a big grin.

"G-goodies?" Yuki paled at his brother's humongous smile. "I'm not sure I want to know what they are."

"No, Yuki, you'll love them!!" Tohru smiled brightly. "At least, at least I hope you will..." Her brow furrowed. Yuki softened and smiled back. "I'm sure I will. I trust your taste, Honda-san." Everyone filed out of the house and stopped in front of Hatori's car. Shigure and Ayame skipped to the trunk and began rummaging. (**OK, before I start, lemme say it's a really, really big trunk... just humor me, kk? ^_^ Maeven**) Tohru went to help the dog and the snake.

First up was a gorgeous white keyboard. Tohru turned around and carried it gingerly to Momiji. The little boy widened his eyes when he saw his name engraved in yellow along the base. A tiny cute rabbit sticker was pasted carefully next to it and after laying his new instrument on the ground cautiously, he threw himself into Tohru's arms and *POOF* into his animal. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!" Tohru laughed and hugged the bunny to her, "No, the ones you should be thanking are Shigure, Hatori and Aya-san. They're the ones who selected, paid, and carried the instruments. I just helped a little with the picking out."

Shigure smiled, "Nonsense, Tohru-kun. You're the one with the insight and thoughtfulness. Without you, I don't think the instruments we picked out would have been half as beautiful or as suitable for each boy." The girl blushed.

"All right! Next, drums for Haru!" Ayame crowed as he pulled out a black and white set. Along the side was also his name engraved in silver letters and a mini cow sticker. The drum sticks were also silver and the tips were black and white. Shigure beamed, "We even made sure they were super- resilient! You won't be able to break them that easily, Haru-kun!!"

Momiji asked curiously. "How'd you do that?"

Hatori groaned and rubbed his face. "These two idiots began jumping up and down on the drums and caused a huge racket. They broke nearly half of the store's drums before they found the "perfect one". You don't know how hard it was to persuade the store not to call the cops...had to say that they were severely mentally ill; not surprisingly, they believed me."

The detached boy accepted the new drums with his usual aloofness but bowed to the girl. "Thank you, Honda-san, for the sticker. It's very kawaii," he murmured monotonously. The girl reddened and tried to point toward the other men again.

"And now, it's Kyou's turn!" Kyou was startled out of his thoughts; he was still dazed at Haru finding something "cute" ... besides the stupid mouse, of course. "Huh? Me?" Shigure thrusted something into his hands and it took him several moments before he could finally take in the beauty of his very own guitar. It was golden, as bright as his hair, with silver strings. Along the base, his name, like the others, was engraved in scarlet letters and the ending stroke of the "u" flowed into the tail of a small cat with vivid red eyes. Lining the guitar were tiny yin-yang signs; never had Kyou received a present that felt so right for him. Then he noticed that Yuki had received his own guitar at the same time and was also busy admiring it.

Yuki stroked his fingers tenderly over the bottom of his equipment where his name was imprinted in lilac. The instrument body itself was sparkling silver, the color of his hair, and the strings were golden. Along the borders, intricate black ivy vines encircled until they reached the base where a tiny white mouse decal sat, watching him with bright amethyst eyes.

"Do - do you guys like it?" Tohru asked hesitantly and both boys snapped out of their reverie to stare at her. She flushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know if these decorations will please you but I figured since Sohma-kun loved gardening so much, the vines will match him and since Kyou-kun like martial arts so much, the closest things will be yin-yang signs...oh no, maybe I went overboard with the design. I understand if you'll be embarrassed by such flashy guitars and if you'll want to trade them in for plainer, simpler ones. I really do... I'm so sorry -"

"Baka," Kyou cut into her rambling gently. "Who said I didn't like them? It's - it's perfect." He looked away, a rosy blush staining his cheeks.

"Yes, Honda-san," Yuki continued gently. "It really is. It's absolutely beautiful and I know that when I play it, it'll sound magical because Honda- san went through so much thought and trouble to pick it out for me."

The girl turned red and smiled. "It wasn't trouble at all. I really enjoyed choosing what I thought will make you guys happy. It was really fun!"

Kyou wanted to kill the stupid mouse again. 'How come that kuso nezumi always manages to blurt out what I've always been longing to say? Well, we'll see who'll get the last word... because even if I can't say what I'm feeling to Tohru right now, I know that I will be able to convey it through song soon. Just wait and see.'

*** OK, OK, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I keep promising to write about their debut and their songs but I just haven't gotten up to that point yet! I do promise that in the next chapter, they will definitely sing!! It's getting ridiculous how this supposed music band just never get the chance to make music... Risa is right...but I will! I will make them sing ... sooner or later hehe... sorry again but please continue reading and giving me reviews!!

Maeven ^_^ ***