A/N: Yeah, short fic on FB :P I got the proverb idea thingy from a Chinese movie a while back. I might have some spelling mistakes. Kyou/Tohru hinted.
They came back from the main house. Tohru, who seemed unaffected by her visit, started to cook their meal. Shigure left for his room to change out of his clothes and Yuki aided Tohru in the kitchen. Kyo was on the roof.
'How could that…bastard do that to her?!' he thought angrily. The sky was mostly empty. The sunlight was out of Kyo's sight, so it didn't bother him to stare up. He watched the sky, lying down and with his hands behind his head. He reflected the recent event that happened earlier today. The cat grit his teeth slightly. Tohru was still a little ray of sunshine. But that's Tohru.
A cloud passed his eyes. It was a plain, white and fluffy cloud. With Kyo's moment of exterior peace, he remember something his sensei taught him. He sat up and searched his pockets and found a cotton ball. It was always something he carried with him. He remembered the life lesson taught from the simple wad of cotton.
They were training the forest, the time before he met Tohru. It was early in the morning and there would be a chance of having an exercise before they would start the real lesson. This day was when Kyou would get a little more than learn a new kick.
"Kyou, before we start our lesson, I want to do an exercise," Kazuma commanded. Kyou started to do his warm up stretches.
"Alright! I'll take whatever you bring me," he grinned, rolling his shoulder.
"This will be a different exercise," he said seriously. "I want you only to use your feet and legs only."
"Heh, don't tell me you're going easy on me." He stepped into his battle position.
"Ready, Kyou?" his shishou asked, picking up a stick. Kyou nodded, waiting to see what his master was going to do with the stick.
"I want you to break this in half," Kazuma said, tossing it at him. Kyou had little time to react to such a simple task. He kicked the stick and cleanly snapped it in half.
"Shishou, you're getting soft on me," Kyou joked. "C'mon, I think I'm ready for something stronger than that." Kazuma smiled.
"Very well." The karate master walked to a field of cotton and plucked on from the ground. He returned to Kyou, who looked like he was about to laugh. This was too easy.
"I want you to break this," he softly spoke and tossed the cotton ball into the air.
"Easy," he smirked. He preformed an effortless kick on the cotton ball, but it stayed in its original form.
"Careful, Kyou. It's not as easy as it looks." Kazuma patiently watched. The student kicked it again, juggled it into the air and battered the cotton. He was getting angry and impatient. Why won't it break? When the cotton ball finally fell to the ground, he stomped on it repeatedly.
Kazuma saw Kyou's frustration over not destroying something so weak. Nevertheless, he waited until Kyou was finished.
The furious cat glared at the flatten ball in the dirt, panting from trying so hard to break it. His fists were held clenched for Kyou wanted to rip the ball apart.
"Are you finished?" Kazuma asked.
"Yeah," Kyou scoffed. Damn cotton ball.
Kazuma picked up the cotton ball from the floor and dusted some debris off. He fluffed it back into its normal form. Kyou did not break the cotton ball.
"Do you know why you couldn't break it?" he faced Kyou, holding up the cotton in his palm.
"It's stupid and soft," Kyou bitterly responded. Losing to an object the size of a quarter isn't fun.
"Close. You couldn't break the cotton like how you broke the stick. The stick was a hard, stiff object, ready to snap when strong force is applied to it. But the cotton," he brought it up to his eyes. "The cotton is soft. It's built to absorb hits, so no matter how hard you hit it, it'll stay soft and take whatever there is to take." Kyou understood the surface meaning, and was beginning to understand the deeper knowledge.
"You're heart is build up with anger, very stiff and hard. It is really to break when any force it applied. Don't worry, many people are like this as well. What I want you to know is that I want you to be a little softer, like the cotton. Absorb what other people say and stay soft. That way, no one can break you." The shishou handed Kyou the cotton ball.
"Keep it as a reminder of what you learned today, and what you may learn later on."
Kyou grasped the little ball in his hand and placed it in his pocket. Kazuma smiled.
"Come, we'll train by the waterfall." Kazuma set forth to the spring as Kyou followed.
"Kyou? Are you up here?" a soft voice beckoned. Kyou broke from his memories and saw Tohru, trying to climb up to the roof.
"Yeah I'm up here." he helped her to the roof.
" I thought you were napping. Dinner's ready," she smiled. Tohru spotted the cotton ball in his hand. "Oh, how cute! A little cotton ball. It's so fluffy and soft, like a cloud."
Kyou half smiled. "It was a little gift from my shishou. He taught me something great."
"Wow, something so simple can teach you stuff?" Tohru blinked innocently.
"Yeah, it happens." He looked at Tohru. He really did this time. All the suffering of losing her parents, getting pushed away by Kyou and…the event with Akito; she was still herself. Of course, Kyou was being too general with her life's tragedies, but he knew them.
"Do you like it?" he suddenly asked her; she was admiring the little form.
"Well, I think it's cute," she responded honestly.
"Do you want it?" Tohru looked surprised.
"Ah, n-no! I couldn't take something to precious and important from you! You're master gave it to you! It must be very special." she tried to look serious about her decision. Kyou smiled in amusement.
"Here, it'll be a gift from me to you then." he handed her the cotton ball. Tohru looked at it as if a bug was crawling on her. She refused again and again, but Kyou kept it in her hand. He closed her open palm and put it to her heart.
"Keep it for me, will ya?" he kissed her on the cheek. "Besides, I already have a reminder of what the lesson was." He smiled at her blushing face. He was so grateful to have her.
"Wanna go down and have dinner?"
"A-ah, yes yes!" she put away the cotton ball and descended from the roof with Kyou.