~Chapter 4~
~Old Friends in my Heart~
Two days passed much too quickly for Tohru's liking. She was still afraid of going to the funeral. Would she really see Yuki again?
Uo and Hana met Tohru at her work and they went to pick Shinta up from school together. Although his mother seemed put out, Shinta was very happy to learn that his two 'aunts' would be watching him.
Shinta practiced his writing while Uo and Hana helped Tohru get dressed. "You have to look prefect!" Uo claimed. Tohru felt like crawling under a rock.
By the time they were finished it was slightly past six and time for Tohru to leave.
"Good night Shinta. Promise mommy you'll be good for Aunt Uo and Aunt Hana."
"Oh course I will mommy. Please have fun tonight?"
Tohru smiled, although he was so young, Shinta understood so much more than she gave him credit for. "I'll try baby. Good night. I love you."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Oh Yuki!"
"What now Shigure? Haven't I done enough?"
"Of course you have Yuki. But you still need to greet our guests."
"Why? Half the family won't show up and no one outside the family will come. Akito made sure of that."
"Awwww… Come on Yuki. Look! Momiji's here!"
Yuki glared at Shigure as he bounded off to see Momiji. It often seemed to the other members of the family that he wore that look far too often. But whatever they thought Yuki didn't care. He still blamed Akito for Tohru's leaving and was glad the jerk was finally dead.
"Nee-chan still can't come back, can she Yuki?"
Yuki looked down to see the grown Kisa. That girl came in a close second for caring about Tohru the most.
"I don't know Kisa. Akito was the one that made her leave and now he's gone. I don't know if she even knows he's gone."
"Nee-chan knows."
"How Kisa? We don't even know if she's still in Japan."
"She knows, and she cares about you a lot."
"Not enough."
"More than enough."
"Kisa's right, Yuki. She cared about you more than any of us," Haru butt in.
"Is that how she shows it? By leaving us?"
"Nee-chan did it for us. I know it."
He didn't want to hear it anymore. With that Yuki blew the two off and went to the bathroom.
"She didn't care at all. She wouldn't have left if she did. We could have gotten past Akito. We could have made him seen…" Yuki trailed off and burst into tears. He didn't care about anything in the past few years since she left him. He loved Tohru more than anything and she had left him because of Akito.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The streets seemed quiet as Tohru walked them to the Sakura funeral home. For a while she could almost bare knowing what she was going to do and what it might mean. That moment passed the second she saw the funeral home. As much as she wanted to run away or cry or whatever, she walked up to the door and entered.
Very few people were actually there. Some she didn't know, but others she did. Kyo, Shigure, Haru, Ayame, Hiro, Ritsu, Kagura, Hatori, Kisa, and Momiji. Haru was the first to spot her.
"Tohru-chan. Wha-what are you doing here?"
"I came to pay my respects to the family."
"I see."
"How is everyone?"
"Well. Shigure is still the same, as with Hatori, Ayame, and Momiji. I think Ritsu is finally thinking about getting that sex-change. Kyo and Kagura finally got married, but that's another story. And Kisa and Hiro are closer than ever."
"Wow. A lot really has changed."
"Yes, but one thing has stayed the same over the years."
"Really? What?"
"We've all missed you Tohru."
"I've missed you all too. More than you can guess, but …"
"Don't worry. We got it out of Yuki a little more than a year ago. Not that he didn't try to hide it from us."
Tohru couldn't believe he bared that all by himself for so long. It must have nearly killed him.
"Where is Yuki?"
"I'm not sure. But I'm sure you want to see the rest of us too, right?"
"Oh, of course I do!"
"Hey! Shigure! Kisa! Kyo! You guys! Look who's here!"
Most conversations stopped and a great deal of the people turned to see why Haru was yelling. Tohru turned bright red.
"Nee-chan!" Kisa cried, running over and hugging her.
"Oh Kisa! I've missed you so much."
"Tohru! Oh it breaks my heart to see you."
The zodiac members nearly surrounded her. It felt so wonderful to be back. After a moment Tohru started crying because she was so happy.
"I've missed you all so much."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Yuki wiped the tears from his eyes and for a moment thought about passing it off that he was upset over Akito. That would never work. At least not now that the whole family knew.
It was Momiji that found him crying in his room one night and told him everything. Before the week was out everyone knew. Most couldn't believe what Akito had done, but there were a few that stood behind him.
Suddenly there was a loud commotion outside. "What are they doing?"
Yuki quietly stepped out of the bathroom and looked around. Most of the family was still in quiet chit-chat. However, near the door stood the zodiac members, some in animal form.
"What in the world are they doing?" Yuki asked himself.
It was then that he saw. He couldn't believe it though. It was Tohru.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Feeling another set of eyes on her, Tohru looked up. There on the other side of the room was Yuki looking shocked.
And then for a moment their eyes met.
