Chapter Five: Kyou

Tohru moaned softly. The sounds of crashing waves caressed her ears and her legs tingled; she stretched her hands out toward the soothing sound.

"Relax, we're almost there," a low rumbling voice vibrated beside her ear. She shifted, pressing herself against a warm, solid chest and then her support vanished. With a yelp, she landed on the sand; she laid there groggily, too weak to move. An orange cat cursed and patted her cheeks gently with its paws. "You got too close. Damn it, c'mon, the water's so close. Just a little more...you can do it."

She covered her eyes with a hand. "I can't. Just let me rest here."

"You'll turn into a dry fish. All wrinkled and shriveled...humans will salt you up and make you an addition to their dinner. Your tail will be displayed on their wall as a trophy. You won't ever see your home again! Do you want that?!" the cat scowled down at her. She sighed in response.

"Listen to me, onigiri, damn it! Come on!"

She rolled to her side and curled up into a ball. Her head throbbed crazily and she felt parched and desiccated.

Kyou turned quiet. He spoke low and evenly, "Tohru, do you want to end up like your sister?"

Her eyes flashed open in pain.

He continued, "Do you want to die on their land? On the humans' godforsaken property? Do you want them to just throw you -"

"Stop. Stop it," she whispered hoarsely. [Onee-chan...] She struggled to push herself up, her long brown hair hanging down in front of her eyes.

"Tohru..." an orange paw touched her arm hesitantly. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head slightly and began crawling to the water; she felt a few tears trail down her cheeks and drop down into the warm sand, getting absorbed instantly. Kyou padded beside her, quiet. When she finally reached the sea, she dropped herself limply, letting the waves wash over her. Instantly, she felt better.

"Tohru...I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories," Kyou apologized again.

She opened her eyes and smiled cheerfully again. "No...you only did it to help me...I should thank you instead."

The cat twitched its ear and then POOF!

"EEP!"

"Uh, I'm going to change behind that rock over there. Here," he hurriedly threw her long golden dress to her. "You should take the time to change too."

She nodded, avoiding her eyes; her face was beet red. She quickly pulled off the dress the Sohmas gave her and donned her mermaid one. As she felt the long silky fabric glide up her legs, she felt comfortable again.

Kyou stepped out from behind the rocks, his ears still red. He smiled awkwardly at her and then cleared his throat. "Uh...how about a swim?" Without waiting for her response, he ran straight into the surf and dived. He popped up with a huge grin, leaning back with his hands crossed behind his head. "Come in!! Being home's so great!"

She laughed and followed suit, lifting up her long skirt until she could dive in properly. The cool water embraced her warmly. [Home!] Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Kyou grin at her roguishly. "Tag, you're it!" He swam off, his long blue tail cutting through the water quickly.

She smiled, shaking her head. [Well, I guess some things don't change. He's still just like the little kid I used to play with....or...then again, maybe not...] She thought as he turned around and gave her a lopsided grin, the setting sun reflecting off his golden hair like flames, making the droplets of water in his locks shine like diamonds. "Come on! I'm waiting!" he called out to her in his low, husky baritone voice.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and called back, "I'm just giving you a head start!"

"Hah! Like I need it! I know what you're trying to do! You're just trying to make me come back to see if you're okay so you can grab me then! I know all your little secrets, onigiri!" He smirked.

She laughed, "Glad you still remember!"

His smile faded. "I could never forget you..."

They stared at each other and she smiled uncomfortably. "You did just a while ago."

"That was different...you changed so much. There's a difference between recognizing and remembering...I remember you clearly, Honda Tohru." The boy flushed and looked away.

She bit her lip, unsure on how to react. "Well...I remember you too...Kyou- kun."

He turned even redder and smiled softly, still not meeting her eyes. He dangled his fingers in the water. She furrowed her eyebrows and then smiled.

* * *

Kyou played with the water, dipping his fingers in and out; he likely traced Tohru's name and then his. "You know, Tohru, I didn't know what to expect when I came back...but when I saw you, you...you just...I don't know," he took a deep breath and began to draw a heart. "I guess...I guess I realized then that I'm in lo - " He looked up and blinked confusedly. "Tohru?" She was nowhere in sight. He whipped around, looking everywhere. "TOHRU?!" He began to panic. [Oh damn...where the hell could she have gone? She was just sick a while ago and now...stupid! Stupid, stupid Kyou!! How the hell could you have been so careless?! What if a shark just came by and grabbed her right underneath your nose while you're sputtering nonsense? What if she fainted? What if she -"

Something burst up from behind him and he whirled around in surprise. Tohru beamed at him, grabbing his hands. "I got you!! You're it now!"

"Huh?" With the unexpected momentum of her pull on his hands, he felt himself lurch forward...right on top of Tohru.

Her eyes widened as he crashed into her, her arms embracing him at the impact. He closed his hands around her in a reflex to find something to hold onto and POOF!

* * *

Tohru blinked down at the animal she held in her hands and began to laugh.

"Shut up! This isn't funny!"

"Y - you're a catfish!"

A begrudged orange cat glared at her; at the bottom half of his body, his miniature blue tail flipped around flimsily. "I'm glad you find this so amusing...because I DON'T!!! Do you know how hard this is?! My top half absolutely hates water while my bottom part can't survive without it...and to make matters worse, I have to struggle to prevent my top part from EATING my bottom half!!"

She giggled.

"Shut up before I eat you."

Tohru smiled, "I'm sorry...but you're just too cute!" She cradled the "catfish" to her cheek, turning the animal red. "How come when you transform on land, you don't have a tail?"

"Well, that's probably because my pants aren't a part of my body. In water, it becomes my tail so I can't possibly lose that part when I transform," Kyou mumbled gruffly.

"Oh, I see -" POOF!

Tohru found her arms wrapped around Kyou's neck, his widened scarlet eyes meeting her own round green ones. She flushed and pulled away.

"Um, let's go back, shall we? I think you've got enough energy boost from the sea already," Kyou cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah, let's go."

They went back to the Sohma castle in silence, both avoiding each other's eyes....and yet, not quite entirely uncomfortable in each other's presence.

~ ~ ~

You know what to do...hopefully. Just click on the little button down there to give me a review...I live on them ^_^

But anyways, this chapter had a focus on Kyou...but as the summary said...Tohru's supposed to be divided between TWO princes...therefore, next chapter: focus on Yuki! ^_^ This is only fair of course...

Continue your support please! Thanks for reading...hope you like it so far...

~Maeven~