Disclaimer: In no way, shape or form do I own Fruits Basket. Only my character, Takara, is pwned, by ME!
A/N: Takara Arashi here writing chapter 3, There's going to be more of the Souhma family, and what they think about the Akuma's.
Juunishi no Daaku Chapter 3The first rays of light beamed gently through Tohru's window, as the curtains danced with the soft breeze that flowed through the room. Slowly awakening to the sounds of birds chirping outside the window, she slowly lifted herself from the bed, rather weakly. Adjusting her vision, she smiled at how pretty the curtains looked right then and there, silhouetting the sunrise.
The first thoughts that filled her mind were the ones that were bothering her all last night. She was still wondering about it too. It seemed that everybody in the household had been acting rather paranoid, as if they were trying to keep a secret from her, especially Kyou. She hid her worry with a bright smile that could bring happiness to anyone's world as she made her way from her bed, almost stumbling over in the process.
Tohru stretched and slowly paced to the window, breathing in the fresh morning air and headed downstairs to begin making a splendid breakfast for the Souhma's. She smiled to the familiar orange-headed neko-boy as she passed him, but blinked when he hardly seemed to notice her. Kyou seemed to be deep in thought; it was the secret words they've been keeping from her yesterday.
Tohru almost felt saddened at this, but turned back to the kitchen, and putting up another bright smile at the food that awaited her cooking expertise, began to make breakfast. Thoughts rushed through her head, more reassuring ones at that. 'Maybe he just didn't get enough sleep'.
She glanced at the clock and smiled a bit; 'Sohma-kun probably wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, and Kyou-kun, well... he was Kyou-kun', so she took her time preparing their morning meal.
The brunette was almost startled as a sudden voice pierced the quiet room. "Good morning, Tohru-kun!" Shigure lazily stepped into the kitchen, covering up a yawn.
"Oh, good morning Shigure-san; what brings you to be up so early?" She spoke, still smiling with her inhuman cheerfulness.
Shigure raised his finger as if he were about to say something but was cut off. Sighing, he hung his head as two other juunishi members trampled through the kitchen door arguing, sounding as a cat and a mouse, were locked in mortal combat.
"Oh my…" Tohru spoke with a sweatdrop. "Good morn—"
"Damn rat! Ya think I care that 'you're not a morning person'?!" Kyou mocked, continuing his speech. "Look me in the damn eye, and tell me that I care!" The cat shouted, whipping a finger and pointing it to himself, receiving a nasty glare from the other boy. Yuki had been yelling at him about waking him up much earlier than he was used to, as if it meant something to Kyou.
Yuki whapped him over the head with an irritated look. "Tohru just tried to greet you, you stupid cat. Show some respect to the one who does the housekeeping around here." He replied in his calm tone accented with the arrogance that he normally held towards the cat.
"Feh, it's not like you people acknowledge me anyway!" The hot-tempered cat sneered, stubborn as ever. "You pretty much banished me to the roof!"
Yuki smirked. "Would you prefer the woods?"
"Would you two stop shouting already?" Shigure sighed, half in irritation, half sleep-deprived. He knew this would just lead to another broken wall or paper door, in his beloved home. "Do you think Tohru-kun enjoys listening to you two bicker every time either of you catch a glimpse of each other?" At this, either boy shut up instantly and turned opposite ways, cheeks puffed, causing Tohru to smile a bit, turning slightly red in embarrassment that involving her like that, stopped the fighting.
"I'm just…Not feeling well from…the events yesterday…" Kyou mumbled in his version of an apology and sat down without a word at the table. Shigure was right; behind Tohru's smile they probably annoyed her like hell when they fought.
Yuki gave Tohru a concerned look, causing the neko-jin to grumble and roll his eyes. "I apologize if we annoyed you at all, Honda-san." He looked regretful, but was quickly re-assured as the girl blushed again, receiving a charming smile quickly from the boy.
Tohru smiled in embarrassment and held her hands up. "Oh, no, no! I wish you wouldn't fight, but it's certainly not annoying! I understand you two have a grudge against each other and can't help it!" she nervously chuckled as the two exchanged glances and looked to her. Dead silence.
"Ehem," Shigure started, tapping on his door, grinning slightly. "So, Tohru-kun, when's breakfast going to be ready?" he chirped, causing the girl to almost flip. Oh my, she'd forgotten about breakfast during all the commotion! "Oh my! I'm so sorry! I'll get on that right away!" She did a complete 180 that would put Tony Hawk's to shame and darted to the counter, chopping up vegetables and fruits faster than anything they'd ever laid eyes on before.
The three sweatdropped and stared as she darted around the kitchen for a minute, the short-tempered cat deciding to break the silence among them. "Well, I'm going upstairs." He mumbled, turning and heading for the staircase, climbing it as the other two boys paid no attention. Yuki quickly snapped out of his trance and headed for the couch in the living room, not making a noise.
Shigure just sighed softly, watching the girl work in the kitchen, which managed to somehow cheer him up a little. The loyal canine grinned in amusement as she jumped about, gathering ingredients here, pouring something there. Oh the joy of having a wonderful woman in the house, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, basically everything a guy could ask for.
Before Shigure knew it, breakfast was basically done and she was calling for everyone as she set up the dining table nice and neatly, causing him to snap out of his daydreams. He didn't even have time to turn around before Yuki and Kyou were fighting for 'first entry' through the kitchen door. Shigure backed off, not wanting to involve himself in the pety argument, eventually remembering his…
…house…
A huge crash, and the cat and mouse were both on the ground, with shattered wood and sticks among them, torn paper covered the two as they twitched irritably. "This is all your fault!" Kyou sneered, putting the blame on the boy beside him. "Baka neko, you shoved yourself by me, causing this to happen!" he glared back in annoyance. The hot-tempered neko-jin tried to jump up on his own, tripping on his feet and back into the pile of debris.
"Get… off!" Yuki growled, shoving the orange-haired boy away from him, tearing more paper from the wall. "Look what you're doing!" Kyou shouted louder, now on his feet with a finger pointing accusingly towards the rest of the house. "It wouldn't have happened if you had some patience!" Yuki mumbled, carefully getting up and brushing himself off. The boy infront of him twitched in anger.
"You wanna take this outside, Rat!?" He clenched his fist, throwing a hand to the side, pointing to the doorway. "I'll be more than HAPPY to kick your ass!" He continued, steam rolling from his ears. Yuki closed his eyes and sighed, realizing where he was.
"Would you calm down, baka neko; Tohru-kun has breakfast ready for us and you're-" he was cut off by more screaming from Kyou. "What're you, scared? You think I care about breakfast!? I don't need it!" He turned and high-tailed it out of there, grabbing his backpack and slammed the door behind him.
Shigure sighed, looking down at the remains of the door. He whimpered, "My house…" Yuki sighed as well, looking to him, then to Tohru, who had the most fearful and concerned look on her face. "Terribly sorry for that… uhm.." he bit his lip, that damn cat left all the blame on him!
'What to do… what to do…' he debated quickly, making his way to the table and kneeled, flashing his same charming smile to the girl, chasing away her worries as he quickly saw a wave of relief wash over her, and she smiled brightly. Looking over to Shigure, Tohru beamed her cheerful smile and spread her arms, "Come now! Sit down, breakfast is ready!" Shigure grinned in return and patted her on the head as he made his way past, and towards the table. "Ah, it looks delicious!" The dog acknowledged as he kneeled down, giving his thanks before picking up his chopsticks. "It is delicious." Yuki backed up his comment, continuing to slowly eat.
Tohru smiled and sighed happily as they enjoyed, bringing herself to eventually join them and eat as well. Everything seemed fine for the time being, but the thought about the secret words that roamed the Souhma household, were nagging at her in the back of her mind. She couldn't seem to keep her curiousity under control, yet she forced herself to.
'It's surely none of my business, and if they want me to know, then they'll tell me!' She told herself over and over inside her head, each time different as she tested which word-rearrangement worked best to cheer her up.
The awkward silence seemed to linger in the air for quite a while as the other two happily enjoyed their delicious meal. Tohru knew them long enough to tell that they were thinking of other things though. Yuki set his chopsticks on his plate, causing a small ring to pierce through the air and interrupt the girl's thoughts.
She quickly snapped back to reality and smiled. "Did you like it!?" She perked up, rising and taking his plate. Yuki grinned and nodded, "I did, thank you again Tohru-kun." She nodded back as Shigure decided to chime in as well, "If it weren't for your lovely cooking, we'd all starve!"
Tohru frowned inside slightly, keeping her happy exterior. She was looking at Kyou's plate of food that was devoured by the other two, and herself when they decided her wasn't coming back til after school. 'I hope he finds something to eat…' her thoughts trailed off and she sighed, catching the attention of both boys as she took Shigure's plates.
"Is there something bugging you, Tohru-kun?" Shigure looked up at her curiously finishing his drink. She jumped, realizing that she had sighed aloud. "Nothing at all! Just a little worried about Kyou. He didn't eat at all…" she bit her lip and took the dishes to the sink and gently placed them in.
"Pfft, that man has faced worse." Yuki replied, taking his stand, imagining Kagura running after Kyou at top speed, annihilating everything in her path to get to him. He almost twitched and looked down to Shigure, who was getting up as well. The dog stretched and gained his balance, grinning broadly. "Getting old in my age, ne?" He joked, receiving a small grin from the other boy.
Tohru finished the dishes rather quickly, turning and walking to the boys. "Well, school's about to start." Shigure perked up and rolled his kimono sleeve up, checking his watch, then looked back up to the two. "Ah, she's right! You two better get going!" He smiled as they passed him, gathering their bags quickly.
"Tohru-kun, would you like to walk with me?" The prince put on a charming smile in all his glory, as invisible cherry blossom petals danced around the two. Tohru blushed in response, feeling honored to be asked such a question. "S-sure!" she smiled happily, walking to him with a bit of bounce in her step.
Shigure sweatdropped as the two walked out of the door, and glanced back down to the debris and mess on the floor, sighing heavily and began to clean up.
Kyou walked down the hall, watching as everyone passed by. 'No odd feelings yet', he thought, almost convincing himself that yesterday was a lie. Another thought arose in the back of his mind, clawing at him with each step through the hallway he took, each person he passed, every face he saw, he was thinking of that damned rat!
How he envied him! If it were that damned 'prince' walking down this stupid hallway, everyone would want to have him stop and interview, or talk, or something like that! But that's not the case, all he was, was a lowly citizen stuck in the world with a curse that loomed over him, haunting him for the rest of his life. Not only that, but he was left entirely out of the Souhma family, let alone the zodiac!
He absently clenched his fist, growling and not noticing the scared faces that quickly darted out of his way. "I'll beat that damned rat if it's the last thing I do!" Kyou grabbed the door to his classroom, and stormed on in. The remaining people were left in the hallway looking pale and almost relieved, deciding to continue on with their lives.
Yuki hid behind the corner of the hallway, looking to Tohru with an almost frightened look on his face. "They're waiting for me." He mumbled seriously as to what awaited him around the corner.
Bloodthirsty fangirls who wanted to pounce and rape him.
He sighed and looked over to Tohru. "You better get to your class, you don't want to be late now." He nodded reassuringly to the girl, as she smiled with a bit of concern and headed off, leaving him alone on the 'battlefield'. He took in a deep breath and made his way around the corner, quickly dodging a crowd of people asking him numerous dumb questions and practically ran to his class.
'Almost there!' he reached the door, when the same odd feeling he got yesterday, struck him. He looked around quickly, and as soon as it came, it was gone. "What…" he started and was quickly hurried into his classroom, leaving the crowd outside the door frowning and teary-eyed. He sighed heavily and slowly made his way to his desk, taking his seat in the front of the classroom. He was tired of dodging hoards of fans every morning and after school as well. It was getting to the point of being purely ridiculous. Yuki didn't know if he could handle it any longer.
"You look like you're having fun." A sarcastic voice came from the back of the classroom, the mouse not realizing it was towards him until the familiarity of the voice struck him. He turned with an annoyed and irritated look on his face, "Shut up, baka neko." A simple 'hmph' was the reply as he turned back around to face the front of the classroom, relaxing in his desk.
'Stupid cat doesn't know what it's like to be me. He has it so easy… I actually… envy him.' Yuki closed his eyes, and entered his own deep thoughts.
The sensei entered and took her place in the front of the classroom, beginning with a greeting, the rest of the class absently greeting back, sounding rather dull and lifeless. She continued on with her duties, and into the lecture.
Kyou was busy minding his own thoughts, wondering about the Panther-chick that had bumped into him yesterday. Thoughts of her, and what had happened filled his mind. Flashbacks began to flood him…
Both felines stared in complete and utter terror when they came face to face. The Cat noticed the panther carrying a schoolgirl uniform on its back. 'No, this can't be right!' He thought in confusion.
He narrowed his eyes, not a word was spoken today at the house of these matters. 'Damn that Shigure! He was keeping it all to himself, that selfish dog!' he declared to himself, mumbling incoherently under his breath as the lecture continued on, whether or not he was paying attention.
He really didn't care, he just wanted some answers! If there was another that could transform, there must be others as well! He needed to find out… the anxiety was rushing through him; he absently clawed at the desk in anticipation, wanting to get up and run off somewhere else to think. The constant talking of this teacher was getting on his nerves! The hair on Kyou's neck rose as an annoyed expression crept upon his face, holding in the urge to get up and bust out of the classroom. It took a lot of self-control, but he could handle it! Couldn't he!?
'Look at that damned rat! Just sitting up there all calm, almost dozing off! He probably forgot all about what happened!' He twitched. 'Okay, calm… need to calm down, Kyou, before you jump out the window.' His eyes trailed over to the open window which held a breeze that openly flowed through the room. That wasn't such a bad idea, actually. Just jump through the window, Kyou! Worry everyone else and run off! No, NO! Must stay here… must… stay… screw it!
Kyou jumped up and stormed out of the classroom, yelled something back that he was getting sick. The sensei just blinked, almost worried and nodded to the door, quickly marking down his sudden absence.
'What does that baka neko think he's doing?' Yuki glared at the door, then his attention snapped back to the sensei who coughed for everyone's attention and continued her lecture.
He sighed quietly and went back to his thoughts, those thoughts that haunted him, and lured him back to the debating that was going on inside his mind, that involved the 'other family'. Yuki figured that Kyou was getting frustrated over it too, as he was, but he didn't show it as much as the other did. Giving up, the mouse sought it fit to pay attention the rest of the class period, rather than dwelling on such a confusing subject.
"Miss. Honda, are you alright?" Sensai-sama asked as the girl snapped out of her trance, looking slightly pale. "Oh? I'm fine, just feeling a little feverish." She smiled softly to the teacher, who glanced at her again. "Alright, then; if you're sick, then just tell me." Tohru nodded in response and looked back down to her studies. Since she had left the house, she had felt a bit sick to her stomach, with a slight fever taking over after.
She couldn't seem to concentrate either, thoughts hung over her, those that she wished none to listen to, since she titled them 'depressing'. Quickly smiling and disregarding her current fever, she closed her book. The clock announced to the rest of the class that it was almost time to start the next lesson, but first would be a short break. She really needed it, too.
"Remember to write that four page report now, it's due next Monday." Sensai-sama reminded them, smiling. Easy for her to say; 'although she did have to grade all those papers, average them out and a ton of other work.' Tohru glanced back at the teacher who continued speaking. "Those who wish to turn them in early will get five extra points added onto their paper." She added, nodding to the students as half of them grumbled to themselves. The classrooms got up, bowed and were off into the halls for their short break.
Yuki sighed, wanting to just give up avoiding all of his fangirls and go relax. Although he had no choice, so he began mission impossible, yet again, just like every other day. He stopped by one of the windows that lined the building and caught a glimpse of orange in the scenery of green. Spotting the unique color, he quickly recognized what, or rather who, it was. 'What's he doing?' Yuki thought to himself as he squinted his eyes.
The other boy appeared to be sitting in a tree, relaxing in his own world. 'What if I could cut class like that.' The mouse rolled his eyes and continued on his way, avoiding the crowd that awaited him at the end of the hall. Making his way around them, he spotted Tohru, smiling with relief he made his way towards her.
"Hello." His simple greeting startled her. She looked up and smiled back happily "Souhma-kun! How are you?" she asked, receiving an almost regretful look. Chuckling, she brushed some hair off of his uniform. "You look stressed. Well, I mean, who wouldn't with all those people after you." Tohru winced, pinning the nail on the head, and chuckled nervously. Yuki just smiled at her and sighed again, "I'm getting tired of all these people."
The classes soon continued on, and lasted throughout the rest of the day. Kyou stayed in his tree until he heard the last bell, signaling freedom. Although he could have left whenever he wanted, he decided to stay and sleep for a little while. The sound of the bell piercing the air was only his alarm clock. Kyou stretched and cracking the bones in his back, before he began to climb down. He made his way lower and then leapt to the ground, landing gracefully crouched on his feet.
Standing, he brushed himself off and adjusted the strap to his backpack and made his way to the main walkway from the school to the gate exit, automatically being joined in conversation with some of the other students. "You don't look sick, Kyou-kun." One of the boys grinned and nudged him. "Eh..." he sweatdropped and remembered running out of the classroom yelling he was. "Well, I wasn't feeling good, that's all!" He declared, continuing off the school grounds, parting from the other guys after short conversing.
Kyou walked alone, like he always did. He rarely had anyone to walk with him, save for Tohru who was probably the only one, and that wasn't too often either. He took a different route than anyone else did. He had always made his way from the city, through the forest and walked his own path, eventually reaching the Souhma residence, but this time he absently just took the normal way that damned Rat, Yuki took. He felt as if he was shaming himself for taking it, but at the same time he wanted to see what was so good about it as well.
Down the sidewalk, he watched as vehicles passed by. Nothing really out of the ordinary, quite boring from the walk he always took. Where he went, there was entire scenery that you could just sit and relax in for hours. Here, it's just people walking and driving to their destinations. The straight road in life, he guessed. Kyou wondered if anyone else ever took time to wander down other paths.
Before he knew it, the same odd feeling he had gotten earlier that day hung over him. It seemed as if it were in slow motion as he passed a weird girl. She had sandy blonde hair and eyes that seemed to glance right through him. As if she knew what he was thinking or something, or maybe it was just him and she was questioning the same things that were running through his mind at that point.
'Is this girl part of the other family?' he thought to himself as he stopped walking and watched as she passed by, quickly disregarding the boy and continued on. They were walking in opposite directions, so he just looked back and watched her walk away. 'Is that family full of girls, or what?' he continued questioning himself, obvious that he wasn't getting any answers at all. He snapped back from his trance when a hand grabbed his shoulder. Kyou whipped around quickly.
"Whoa, calm down, neko-kun." Kyou twitched as he glanced up at the guy. White hair, underlined with black, creepy eyes, uniform shirt with a few buttons undone. It just had to be Haru. "Nice back end she has, eh?" Haru nodded in the direction the girl disappeared to. Kyou looked absently, then twitched, realizing the trap Haru had made him fall into. He whipped about and swung his fist to knock Haru upside the head as hard as he could, but instead his wrist was caught in the process. The taller boy snickered as Kyou struggled to get free and finally gave up, almost sinking to the ground like jelly.
Haru let go and Kyou nursed his wrist while glaring at him. "Stupid cow…" he mumbled under his breath, grabbing the strap to his pack and readjusted it, turning and stalked off, with the taller boy quickly on his heels to catch up to him. He walked beside him when catching up, looking to the cat with a smirk. "So, why were you checking that girl out? She's part of the other family, if I'm correct." Haru's smirk turned into a grin as Kyou stopped in his tracks and waved his fist accusingly. "I was NOT checking her out! There was his weird vibe in the air and she caught my attention, alright!?" he shouted at the cow, who just grinned back. "Right." Was his only reply as the other boy folded his arms and they kept walking.
"Hmm, I wonder where she was going." Haru thought aloud, looking to Kyou, hoping he had an answer to give him. The cat just looked back with an irritated expression, as if he were telling him 'How should I know!?'. Haru shrugged and looked up at the sky. What a nice day it was, some clouds to keep it cool and warm enough to enjoy it. A flock of bird flew by overhead and he grinned, deciding to pay the Souhma's a visit, and to get some questions from Shigure. He knew he had the answers.
Shigure sat at his desk, working on the few pages of his chapter that was due within the next few days. He grinned, knowing he had enough time to finish it in the time due, but was working on it so he could torture his editor ahead of time. He tapped the pencil to his cheek and pushed his reading glasses up, glancing over the work he had completed so far, reviewing it. His attention was quickly caught elsewhere as he heard another door to the home open, and familiar footsteps making their way in.
He realized that it was time for the others to come home, grinning happily he got up and walked out of his office, spreading his arms to greet the two that had arrived in the living room. "Welcome home!" He grinned, Yuki could of swore he'd imagined a puppy tail and ears on the man, as happy as he was. Shigure was like a dog when it's family comes home from being out of the house for the day.
"So loyal." Yuki grinned and waved, making his way upstairs. "Tohru-kun! How was your day at school?" Shigure grinned and looked at her curiously as she smiled happily and replied, "It was alright! I felt slightly feverish though earlier…" She looked at him almost as if she had regretted telling him that. As soon as the words left her mouth, Shigure's hand was placed upon her forced with a serious expression. "Hmm… you do seem to be a bit warm, Honda-san." He looked at her, smiling like an idiot. 'Her skin's so soft' he thought to himself with a blissful look. "Well then you better get some rest!" He nodded.
"Stupid dog, get your hands off Tohru!" Kyou smacked him upside the head. "Perverted old man!" He shouted afterwards, folding his arms. Shigure whined, cursing himself for not noticing Kyou walk in. He looked over to the cat who seemed quite annoyed, and another person's here! Shigure looked over and grinned, 'Well look what the cat dragged in' he waved to Haru, unaware of the pun he made to himself.
Haru waved back, "Yo!" He walked over to the cow, who was looking around at the house. "Doesn't seem like much has changed… uh, except for that broken wall over there." He nodded to the wall that had been torn apart earlier and Shigure sighed, waving his hand to disregard that, "Yes, yes. Kyou and Yuki fought this morning and that was the result." The cow's eyebrow quirked, and Shigure shrugged.
"Anyways, I came here to ask a few questions," Haru looked around, noticing everyone had left the room and continued, quieting his voice. "-On the 'other family'." Shigure looked at him rather oddly, "What kind of questions?" "Well… who are they!?" Haru's voice level was back to normal if not louder, gathering the attention of Kyou, that caused a chain reaction to gather Yuki and Tohru's. Shigure sighed and waved his hand.
"Alright everyone, sit down. I'll explain."
Takara made her way across the street, avoiding traffic with ease. Her hair stood out because of its light sandy blonde-color, causing people to give her funny looks. She just flashed them a grin as she passed, stopping in front of a rather neat looking shop. It wasn't too big, yet wasn't too small. Her eyes instantly read 'Ayame' across the top, taking it that it was the store's title, like every other title that was written across the top of buildings. 'Duh' she mentally smacked herself and grabbed the door handle, opening it.
A bell jingled above, signaling her entry as she entered. Everything was layered with beautiful royal colors. Her kind of store! Her eyes lit up at the red carpet and gold racks that held samples of clothing and shelves upon shelves that lined the room, full of layers of fabric. Quite nice designs on the decorated fabrics she saw, too. Those were only the ones she saw, 'there was a ton of shit everywhere' she thought to herself and curiousity soon took over. Beginning to walk to one of the shelves, she glanced through the fabrics, touching and feeling them. Some of the fabric was silk, some was just soft, others slightly rough with weird textures, and some just solid colored and stood out.
Her attention was turned to a man with long white hair that bounded up to her. "Hello and welcome to my wonderful shop! My name's Ayame!" He cheerfully stated, slinging clothing over his arm and bowed gracefully. She almost flinched, a weird feeling overtaking her. Deep in her gut, she knew this was another member of the other family that was across town. She didn't really feel hatred towards the boy though, she grinned at his majestic ways and placed a hand on her hip.
"I'm Takara." She replied, watching the man rise with eyes that seemed to question her. She decided to ask first instead, "Are you part of that other family?" Her eyes trailed along the insides of the shop, listening for the answer. "Ah, so you are a member of the family I've been hearing about." Ayame responded, straightening up and looking at her seriously. Takara turned her gaze to him, nodding. "I'm not sure what to think, but you seem pretty nice! And you have a great taste in clothing." She grinned reassuringly, almost arrogantly, followed by Ayame.
"Why, thank you! Only the best." He gestured to the samples he held in his arms. "These are only a few of the orders that I'm working on for some happy couples that are getting married in a few days. These are for the honeymoon." The white-haired man winked and flashed what he'd been working on, as the projects in his hands seem to sparkle. He held a French maid outfit, lace and all, in one hand. In the other was simple white night gown that seemed to sparkle as well. Even with its simplicity, it shined. 'Damn, this guy is good with his work.' Takara grinned, baring a chuckle.
"That's very well done." She nodded to him, gaining a rather perky response. "Really?! You think? I, myself, think when they're finished they'll be even more fabulous than they are right now." Ayame grinned, continuing to show off his works. "Of course!" Takara replied, grinning back as well.
"So, what exactly does this shop sell?" She continued to glance around, and Ayame seemed to sparkle in all his glory while talking, "This shop, sells…" he grinned and draped both outfits over his right arm and motioned to the rest of the shop, "- Men's romance!"
Takara nodded as if she was suddenly enlightened. "Ah, I see." Smiling, she glanced back to him, and decided to ask another question, quietly this time. "So if your family can really transform… what do you transform into?" She quirked an eyebrow and watched him stutter. "W-well… that's really confidential." He laughed nervously. "Nobody outside the family is really suppose to know… but, maybe I could make an exception." He grinned and winked, taking her hand.
Takara sweat dropped, wondering if asking the question was a mistake or not. "Um… so, what are you?" She asked again. He moved closer, whispering into her ear with a lisp, holding the 's'. "Snake." Another look of enlightenment and she grinned, whispering back, "Lizard."
They both pulled back and grinned cheekily, giving each other thumbs up. "Right on, reptiles!" Both chimed cheerfully.