All In The (Furuba) Family
Chapter One
* * * * *
Tohru was excited and very happy.
Tomorrow she would be going with Yuki, Kyou and the other Sohmas for a week at the Sohma family chalet. This would be her first time, and she was sure she would like it.
She hummed and smiled as she chopped the vegetables.
Hatori, Ayame, Hatsuharu and Momiji were coming for dinner tonight. She would cook something extra special.
Tohru moved onto the onions, still smiling despite the tears running down her cheeks.
She had bought an extra large fish from the market today because Kyou liked fish. It was probably because he was the Cat. Because Yuki liked cheese and he was the Rat.
In short, Tohru was overjoyed.
Footsteps sounded in the hall outside. A minute later, Kyou appeared at the doorway. Tohru gave him a wide smile.
¡§Ne, Kyou-kun, I bought your favourite fish today!¡¨ she showed it to him.
Kyou sweatdropped. It was the most enormous fish he had ever seen. ¡§Ano¡K why did you buy such a big one?!¡¨
Tohru smiled more, ¡§Because Hatori-san, Ayame-san, Hatsuharu and Momiji are coming for dinner!¡¨
¡§What?!?!¡¨ Kyou looked none too pleased. He turned and stormed out of the kitchen.
Tohru looked slightly worried.
¡§Kyou-kun!¡¨ she called after him, but he had disappeared up the stairs.
* * * * *
Tohru did not have much time to worry, however, as a moment later Shigure appeared in the doorway, grinning as usual. His smile widened slightly as he spotted her.
¡§Ne, Tohru-san, if you have time on the way to work, do you think you could pick up a few things for me?¡¨ the Dog asked, putting on his most charming expression. He fingered a small slip of paper in his hand.
Tohru beamed at him. ¡§Hai! What are they?¡¨
Shigure smirked, ¡§You¡¦ll see.¡¨
He handed over the slip of paper and sauntered out of the kitchen humming (off-tune) to himself. Not looking where he was going, he practically collided with Yuki. The boy stared at him suspiciously, ignoring all gestures from the man to protest his innocence.
Seeing that Yuki would not move till he found out what he wanted, the Dog sighed, ¡§I just came here to ask Tohru-san to help me buy some stuff on the way.¡¨
¡§Why can¡¦t you go yourself? Honda-san has work tonight.¡¨
¡§I have to finish that manuscript before my publisher comes screaming here again. You don¡¦t want what happened last week to happened again, would you?¡¨ Shigure asked.
Yuki¡¦s eyes widened a fraction. And he almost felt pity towards his cousin¡¦s poor publisher. Seeing her in action last week was enough to raise goose bumps on his skin. The woman was insane. And all because of his lazy cousin.
Tohru took the momentary lull in conversation as Yuki relived the horrifying event of last week to chirp, ¡§It¡¦s okay, Sohma-kun! I don¡¦t mind and I¡¦m not too busy. Besides, Shigure-san said it was important.¡¨
Yuki looked from Tohru¡¦s beaming face to Shigure¡¦s secretive, smugly smiling one. He was starting to get a bad feeling about the contents of that shopping list.
¡§What¡¦s so important about it?¡¨ Yuki glared at his cousin through narrowed eyes.
¡§It's a secret!¡¨ a self-satisfied expression pasted itself over the Dog¡¦s features. ¡§And no, I¡¦m not sharing.¡¨
Shigure proceeded to tap Yuki infuriatingly on the head with his fan and walked out of the room obliviously, almost bouncing.
Yuki fumed inwardly as he watched his overly happy cousin leave the kitchen, thus restoring peace and quiet to the room. Then he sighed. He wondered what tricks the perverted Dog had up his sleeve this time. Considering that question, he decided that he would rather not know. Ignorance was bliss after all.
¡§Sohma-kun, are you all right?¡¨ Tohru was peering at him concernedly.
Yuki realised that he had been unconsciously shaking his head.
* * * * *
¡§Tohru-san!¡¨ Ayame exclaimed at the girl standing in the doorway before him, and promptly rushed up to glomp her.
He had arrived a little late after closing his shop and leaving everything else in the capable hands of his maybe slightly demented shop assistant, Mine. From the sounds emitted from the dining room, it appeared as though everyone else was already present.
Tohru beamed at him. A second later, her smile disappeared as her eyes widened.
Poof.
Frantically, she slammed the door shut, praying fervently that nobody was walking past the house, which was unlikely, but one never knew.
A snake slithered out of the large pocket on the front of her apron. It winked at her.
* * * * *
Yuki and Kyou exchanged semi-worried glances from across the dining table.
Then realising just what they had done, they glared murderously at each other and looked away sharply. Shigure had to fight to prevent choking on his rice. Everybody else was oblivious, not caring, or too busy stuffing their faces with the wonderful food that Tohru had cooked specially for the dinner.
Yuki and Kyou had made a quick mental count when the doorbell rang, and both knew that it could only be Ayame at the door. He was the only one not there yet. And they had been hoping that he would conveniently forget to come, or that somebody had conveniently forgot to tell him. Unfortunately, their prayers went unanswered.
Tohru was taking a long time in answering the door.
Shigure was smiling to himself, knowing full well what his two younger cousins were thinking. Personally, he was glad that Ayame had decided to show up, thinking of all the fun they could have later that night. Perhaps they could even persuade Hatori¡K
Speaking of whom, Hatori was making a mental note to remind Ayame not to trouble others. He actually wanted to enjoy a vacation without Kyou and/or Yuki destroying their vacation site in the effort of punishing the Snake.
Tohru chose that moment to re-enter, assuaging Yuki and Kyou¡¦s thoughts that maybe Ayame had kidnapped her again for eating out. She was holding a snake.
A snake that was Ayame.
Tohru blinked in confusion as her hands were suddenly empty, Yuki was standing in front of her looking angry, and there was a snake-sized hole in the shoji screen.
A dull thud sounded from several metres away.
Shigure sighed and wailed, ¡§Why does everyone have to destroy my beautiful house?!¡¨
Hatori made a definite mental note to remind himself to remind Ayame. It was going to be a long dinner. It was going to be an even longer vacation.
* * * * *
Tohru stepped into the supermarket and pulled out the slip of paper Shigure had given her earlier that day, thankful that she had remembered to put it in her pocket. She smiled at everyone impartially. Dinner had gone relatively well. Kyou had stayed for the whole time, there were only two holes in the shoji screen and Kyou and Yuki had not fought at all throughout the meal. The incident where their chopsticks accidentally touched and Yuki threw his away did not count. Neither did Kyou¡¦s attempt ¡¥accidentally¡¦ create another hole in the shoji screen.
She unfolded the list.
Blinked once. Read it over again.
Blinked again. And read it over again just to make sure.
She wondered what Shigure wanted with all those items.
* * * * *
Author¡¦s notes: At last another chapter. ^^ Thank you to all the people who reviewed and gave me the motivation to continue. ^^
Anyway, I¡¦m actually supposed to be studying¡K ^^; but I¡¦m not sure what direction this is heading, especially as far as pairings go. It could easily become Yuki x Tohru.
As for what was on Shigure¡¦s shopping list, I have some vague ideas. Any suggestions? XD
