A/N: Sorry about the big delay. I've just been so busy-it's not even
funny. For AX I ended up going as Paiway Underberg from Vandread-the one
with the Kero-Kero purse and pink camera. Did you see me? Well, here you
go with the chapter and I'll try updating soon-just I have so much summer
work for school to do and I'm so busy. So sorry again!
Disclaimer: Sue if you want, but all I got is a piece of gum. Gum makes you smarter! It's been proven! But still, I don't own Fruits Basket.
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~~Truth Hurts~~
Shigure stood there, over his wife's grave, for nearly fifteen minutes. Still, Shigure had no idea what to say or where to start.
"So there you have it. You left us. I guess I have no other way of putting it. I wish I could say that I wish I could have been there for you more or moved in with you, but I can't. You were the one who pulled away. Not me. I still loved you and you still loved me. But why couldn't you just live with my family?"
Shigure stopped, frustrated with everything. He pulled out a cigarette, and started smoking.
"Look what you did to me! You know that I was able to stop almost completely, but then you died and my world just came tumbling down. Now I can't turn to smoking to comfort me anymore; I use to only smoke after seeing you and Mari for those short visits every few months, but after you died. I started up more. But I can't continue like this. I don't want Mari to pick up this habit or breathe in the smoke. But nothing else calms me. only you."
Shigure blew smoke into the air and watched it dissolve into the air.
"So you know what? I'll stop smoking all together this time. I thought I wanted to last time; I said I would for you, but not this time. I'll stop for our daughter. So she doesn't have to watch me slowly kill myself and live in true pain." He finished his cigarette and threw it in the closest trashcan and smiled at the grave. "I'll come back when I've gone a year without one. You'll see. I can take responsibility for all of my actions."
Shigure then knelled in front of the grave and placed a single flower of his own. It was a white rose with a yellow ribbon tied to it.
"I know that this has always been your favorite flower and yellow has always been your favorite color. See, I remember. I'll never forget this beauty that you loved so much."
Shigure then let out a smile.
"Hey. Whenever I end up where you are, you better remember all of my favorites or else you'll regret it."
He let a tear slide down his face and he closed his eyes, imagining his wife laughing and then taking his hand in hers and kissing his cheek, ever so gently.
"I still love you. You know that? And will always."
Shigure stood up and motioned towards Kyou. Kyou carried Mari over and noticed the flower that was now there.
"Kyou, I think it's time for you to read your letter to her." Shigure pulled out Kyou's letter from his bag. "We can leave if you want us to. "
"No; I was expecting for you to read the letter yourself. There's so much in it I want you to hear." Kyou opened the envelope and looked over at Mari and Shigure before he began.
"Even though I never got to know you as well as some of the others, I still feel as if I should talk to you now. Your name, never spoken now and may never be spoken again in our family haunts me. It reminds me of hate, of love, of pain, of hope.
"I've only met you twice-once when you wed Shigure-I was only 12-and once at a New Years at the main house when I was 15. You seemed so gentle, so kind. At your wedding, you could tell that you loved my cousin with all your heart. At New Years, you were so proud of Mari, even though you knew she would never be part of the celebrations.
"That's when I first got to know Mari. You came up to me with Mari waddling next to you. You gave me Mari's hand, asking me to watch her. 'You're Kyou right?' you asked. 'The other cat?' I nodded. 'Do you mind watching Mari for me? The celebrations are about to start. I need to go visit my family and they don't understand why everyone can't hold Mari. I'll be back soon. If I'm not back before the end of the celebrations are done, you can take her to Shigure. He knows about this.'
" 'Sure. It's nothing,' I muttered.
" 'Thank you so much.' You kissed Mari on the nose. 'I'll be right back baby. Stay here and have fun with Kyou.' You touched my hand and gently told me thank you. Then you left.
"I was left with Mari. I hadn't really got to spend time with her until that moment.
" 'So you're the next cat, huh? You'd better learn how to defend yourself then squirt.'
"Then Mari smiled at me. I know it sounds stupid, but that smile changed everything. I felt as if Mari was closer to me than anyone had ever been. From that moment on, everything changed."
Kyou stopped to catch his breath and clear his voice, which was already become shaken with tears.
"I spent that evening playing with Mari. For the first time, I didn't feel as if I was missing a family tradition. I was laughing for the first time in years. Even that rat Yuki noticed the difference. When he came down the hallway, he found me rolling a ball back and forth with little Mari, smiling. He stopped, stared, blinked, and then walked along, refusing to believe what he saw. Mari was the next cat and I had already made up my mind that I didn't want her to suffer the way that I did.
"Over those few days, Mari was the center attention. Even Akito acted gentle towards her. Momiji was even able to find a butterfly to show her. No one cared that she was the cat. It didn't bother them. You must have had something to do with it. You were so open with everyone and everyone could see that Shigure was finally truly happy.
"But, I never saw you again. No one ever did. You pulled away from us. But why did you do that? Everyone thought you were happy. I still remember how Shigure looked after that night you left with Mari. His face tear-stricken, his thoughts never collected. There was nothing he could do. Nothing we could do. But eventually he seemed to recover and so did the rest of us. Those days after he saw you and Mari were when he was happiest; when his happiness wasn't fake. I only Mari a few times after that-Shigure thought it would help Mari get to know her family better-when in reality it was helping me even more. I had let all that training take over my life and I wasn't sure how to recover.
"Then came the news of your death. Shigure seemed so calm when he told us, as if he wasn't affected by it. But that's not true. He was shaken; you could clearly see it. But then he came home with Mari and everything changed. Everything seemed to go at a different pace. It was as if we were living in a dream."
Kyou stopped reading his letter. He thought of ending it there, making up an ending, but he couldn't. He took another deep breath and continued on.
"Mari's growing everyday. So are the rest of us. We all are learning to cope with our mistakes and put aside our differences. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've had a part in that. I can never thank you personality, but I hope that you can hear me now. I just hope that you haven't formed hatred towards all of the cats in our family and are willing to accept each of us."
Kyou refolded his letter and placed it back in the envelop before setting it on the grave. Without speaking, Shigure handed Kyou his lighter and all three of them watched in silence as the letter burned and disappeared into ashes. The wind then blew the pieces around them before sending them off. This whole time Mari hugged her father and buried her face into his jacket.
She didn't know whether or not if she was suppose to cry or if she was suppose to stay silent. She always glanced at her father, then to Kyou, then back to her father. Both of them had on grim faces that never changed. She felt tears coming down her face and the girl tried to rub them away, but they always fell.
"Kyou really loves me," she thought. "Just like daddy does. I never knowed that."
Shigure looked down at his daughter whose eyes were red from crying and her cheeks rosy from the breeze and more tears.
"Mari," he started softy. "Why don't you go to Kyou. I think he needs you more than I do right now."
Mari walked over towards Kyou, who was stilling standing in the place where he read the letter. She wrapped her arms around her cousin and started crying again. Kyou's own face was wet with tears. He brought his hand around the young girl's head and knelled down next her. He let Mari cry all over the collar of his jacket as he tried to stop his own tears from flowing. Yet, they never seemed to.
~~A Few Hours Later~~
The three sat on the train back home in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Soon, Mari was asleep in Shigure's arms. Shigure brushed Mari's bangs away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Hopefully," Shigure said to Kyou, "now she start leading the kind of life a three year should."
Kyou nodded at Shigure and held one of Mari's hands in his own.
"Thank you for asking me to come," he whispered to the girl. Yet another tear escaped from Kyou's eye.
When they got home that evening, both Tohru and Yuki were anxiously waiting for them. Mari, still a bit drowsy from the ride didn't really eat her dinner and Shigure had to go and put her to bed.
Yuki turned to Kyou and asked how everything went.
"It went fine," Kyou started. "We learned things about each other that we didn't know before."
"So Mari is. " Yuki started.
"Yeah. She's going to be okay. I think everything is going to start working out better." Kyou smiled and went back to his dinner.
That night, when everyone was asleep, Kyou sat on top of the roof, just thinking about the day that had just past him when he heard a small voice.
"Kyou!"
Kyou looked over to see Mari climbing across the roof.
"Mari! What are you doing here? Shigure is going to kill you if he finds you up here!" Kyou grabbed the girl to make sure that she didn't fall off.
"I just wanted to be with you Kyou. I hoped that I didn't make you too sad for comin' with us today."
"No. I'm glad you asked me to come. I loved talking to your mother." Kyou held Mari against him and felt her hands wrap around him.
"I lowve you Kyou." Mari reached up and kissed Kyou gently on the cheek.
Kyou ruffled Mari's hair and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too Mari."
The two cats sat there on the roof all night, waiting for the sunrise. This sunrise, unknowing to them, represented their new beginnings; their new chances at life.
Kyou, older and wiser than the smaller one, was learning how to truly love, how to truly live life.
Mari, younger and naïve, was learning how to adapt to her situations and how to accept the things around her.
Both were learning how start over, how to allow people into their lives, and luckily, both were learning these lessons very quickly.
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A/N: Again, I'm so sorry about the long wait. I'll try to add a few more chapters soon. Okay. So I hope you liked this chapter and keep on reading my little story. Kyou rocks! Hahahahaha. Oh, I hope I'm not making Kyou way too soft-it's just that Mari has really changed him okay? So please don't be mad! So I'll talk to ya all later and, well, this has nothing to do with the story but, Kodocha #8 is out and is so good! Everyone has to read it; but it's only really good if you know the chapters, so read #7 and #6 at least before #8. Cheerio folks. I'm off to a party/get-together. ~D- Yai~
Disclaimer: Sue if you want, but all I got is a piece of gum. Gum makes you smarter! It's been proven! But still, I don't own Fruits Basket.
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~~Truth Hurts~~
Shigure stood there, over his wife's grave, for nearly fifteen minutes. Still, Shigure had no idea what to say or where to start.
"So there you have it. You left us. I guess I have no other way of putting it. I wish I could say that I wish I could have been there for you more or moved in with you, but I can't. You were the one who pulled away. Not me. I still loved you and you still loved me. But why couldn't you just live with my family?"
Shigure stopped, frustrated with everything. He pulled out a cigarette, and started smoking.
"Look what you did to me! You know that I was able to stop almost completely, but then you died and my world just came tumbling down. Now I can't turn to smoking to comfort me anymore; I use to only smoke after seeing you and Mari for those short visits every few months, but after you died. I started up more. But I can't continue like this. I don't want Mari to pick up this habit or breathe in the smoke. But nothing else calms me. only you."
Shigure blew smoke into the air and watched it dissolve into the air.
"So you know what? I'll stop smoking all together this time. I thought I wanted to last time; I said I would for you, but not this time. I'll stop for our daughter. So she doesn't have to watch me slowly kill myself and live in true pain." He finished his cigarette and threw it in the closest trashcan and smiled at the grave. "I'll come back when I've gone a year without one. You'll see. I can take responsibility for all of my actions."
Shigure then knelled in front of the grave and placed a single flower of his own. It was a white rose with a yellow ribbon tied to it.
"I know that this has always been your favorite flower and yellow has always been your favorite color. See, I remember. I'll never forget this beauty that you loved so much."
Shigure then let out a smile.
"Hey. Whenever I end up where you are, you better remember all of my favorites or else you'll regret it."
He let a tear slide down his face and he closed his eyes, imagining his wife laughing and then taking his hand in hers and kissing his cheek, ever so gently.
"I still love you. You know that? And will always."
Shigure stood up and motioned towards Kyou. Kyou carried Mari over and noticed the flower that was now there.
"Kyou, I think it's time for you to read your letter to her." Shigure pulled out Kyou's letter from his bag. "We can leave if you want us to. "
"No; I was expecting for you to read the letter yourself. There's so much in it I want you to hear." Kyou opened the envelope and looked over at Mari and Shigure before he began.
"Even though I never got to know you as well as some of the others, I still feel as if I should talk to you now. Your name, never spoken now and may never be spoken again in our family haunts me. It reminds me of hate, of love, of pain, of hope.
"I've only met you twice-once when you wed Shigure-I was only 12-and once at a New Years at the main house when I was 15. You seemed so gentle, so kind. At your wedding, you could tell that you loved my cousin with all your heart. At New Years, you were so proud of Mari, even though you knew she would never be part of the celebrations.
"That's when I first got to know Mari. You came up to me with Mari waddling next to you. You gave me Mari's hand, asking me to watch her. 'You're Kyou right?' you asked. 'The other cat?' I nodded. 'Do you mind watching Mari for me? The celebrations are about to start. I need to go visit my family and they don't understand why everyone can't hold Mari. I'll be back soon. If I'm not back before the end of the celebrations are done, you can take her to Shigure. He knows about this.'
" 'Sure. It's nothing,' I muttered.
" 'Thank you so much.' You kissed Mari on the nose. 'I'll be right back baby. Stay here and have fun with Kyou.' You touched my hand and gently told me thank you. Then you left.
"I was left with Mari. I hadn't really got to spend time with her until that moment.
" 'So you're the next cat, huh? You'd better learn how to defend yourself then squirt.'
"Then Mari smiled at me. I know it sounds stupid, but that smile changed everything. I felt as if Mari was closer to me than anyone had ever been. From that moment on, everything changed."
Kyou stopped to catch his breath and clear his voice, which was already become shaken with tears.
"I spent that evening playing with Mari. For the first time, I didn't feel as if I was missing a family tradition. I was laughing for the first time in years. Even that rat Yuki noticed the difference. When he came down the hallway, he found me rolling a ball back and forth with little Mari, smiling. He stopped, stared, blinked, and then walked along, refusing to believe what he saw. Mari was the next cat and I had already made up my mind that I didn't want her to suffer the way that I did.
"Over those few days, Mari was the center attention. Even Akito acted gentle towards her. Momiji was even able to find a butterfly to show her. No one cared that she was the cat. It didn't bother them. You must have had something to do with it. You were so open with everyone and everyone could see that Shigure was finally truly happy.
"But, I never saw you again. No one ever did. You pulled away from us. But why did you do that? Everyone thought you were happy. I still remember how Shigure looked after that night you left with Mari. His face tear-stricken, his thoughts never collected. There was nothing he could do. Nothing we could do. But eventually he seemed to recover and so did the rest of us. Those days after he saw you and Mari were when he was happiest; when his happiness wasn't fake. I only Mari a few times after that-Shigure thought it would help Mari get to know her family better-when in reality it was helping me even more. I had let all that training take over my life and I wasn't sure how to recover.
"Then came the news of your death. Shigure seemed so calm when he told us, as if he wasn't affected by it. But that's not true. He was shaken; you could clearly see it. But then he came home with Mari and everything changed. Everything seemed to go at a different pace. It was as if we were living in a dream."
Kyou stopped reading his letter. He thought of ending it there, making up an ending, but he couldn't. He took another deep breath and continued on.
"Mari's growing everyday. So are the rest of us. We all are learning to cope with our mistakes and put aside our differences. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've had a part in that. I can never thank you personality, but I hope that you can hear me now. I just hope that you haven't formed hatred towards all of the cats in our family and are willing to accept each of us."
Kyou refolded his letter and placed it back in the envelop before setting it on the grave. Without speaking, Shigure handed Kyou his lighter and all three of them watched in silence as the letter burned and disappeared into ashes. The wind then blew the pieces around them before sending them off. This whole time Mari hugged her father and buried her face into his jacket.
She didn't know whether or not if she was suppose to cry or if she was suppose to stay silent. She always glanced at her father, then to Kyou, then back to her father. Both of them had on grim faces that never changed. She felt tears coming down her face and the girl tried to rub them away, but they always fell.
"Kyou really loves me," she thought. "Just like daddy does. I never knowed that."
Shigure looked down at his daughter whose eyes were red from crying and her cheeks rosy from the breeze and more tears.
"Mari," he started softy. "Why don't you go to Kyou. I think he needs you more than I do right now."
Mari walked over towards Kyou, who was stilling standing in the place where he read the letter. She wrapped her arms around her cousin and started crying again. Kyou's own face was wet with tears. He brought his hand around the young girl's head and knelled down next her. He let Mari cry all over the collar of his jacket as he tried to stop his own tears from flowing. Yet, they never seemed to.
~~A Few Hours Later~~
The three sat on the train back home in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Soon, Mari was asleep in Shigure's arms. Shigure brushed Mari's bangs away from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Hopefully," Shigure said to Kyou, "now she start leading the kind of life a three year should."
Kyou nodded at Shigure and held one of Mari's hands in his own.
"Thank you for asking me to come," he whispered to the girl. Yet another tear escaped from Kyou's eye.
When they got home that evening, both Tohru and Yuki were anxiously waiting for them. Mari, still a bit drowsy from the ride didn't really eat her dinner and Shigure had to go and put her to bed.
Yuki turned to Kyou and asked how everything went.
"It went fine," Kyou started. "We learned things about each other that we didn't know before."
"So Mari is. " Yuki started.
"Yeah. She's going to be okay. I think everything is going to start working out better." Kyou smiled and went back to his dinner.
That night, when everyone was asleep, Kyou sat on top of the roof, just thinking about the day that had just past him when he heard a small voice.
"Kyou!"
Kyou looked over to see Mari climbing across the roof.
"Mari! What are you doing here? Shigure is going to kill you if he finds you up here!" Kyou grabbed the girl to make sure that she didn't fall off.
"I just wanted to be with you Kyou. I hoped that I didn't make you too sad for comin' with us today."
"No. I'm glad you asked me to come. I loved talking to your mother." Kyou held Mari against him and felt her hands wrap around him.
"I lowve you Kyou." Mari reached up and kissed Kyou gently on the cheek.
Kyou ruffled Mari's hair and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too Mari."
The two cats sat there on the roof all night, waiting for the sunrise. This sunrise, unknowing to them, represented their new beginnings; their new chances at life.
Kyou, older and wiser than the smaller one, was learning how to truly love, how to truly live life.
Mari, younger and naïve, was learning how to adapt to her situations and how to accept the things around her.
Both were learning how start over, how to allow people into their lives, and luckily, both were learning these lessons very quickly.
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A/N: Again, I'm so sorry about the long wait. I'll try to add a few more chapters soon. Okay. So I hope you liked this chapter and keep on reading my little story. Kyou rocks! Hahahahaha. Oh, I hope I'm not making Kyou way too soft-it's just that Mari has really changed him okay? So please don't be mad! So I'll talk to ya all later and, well, this has nothing to do with the story but, Kodocha #8 is out and is so good! Everyone has to read it; but it's only really good if you know the chapters, so read #7 and #6 at least before #8. Cheerio folks. I'm off to a party/get-together. ~D- Yai~