Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
A/N: Hey everyone. So sorry for the delay. I had a hard time writing this chapter, made worse by a hectic month, and a couple of illnesses. But I made this chapter a bit longer than usual and I'm hoping to have the next chapter up in less than a week.
Roses of Glass Chapter 16Kyo and Tohru arrived at the room that Yuki and Shigure were sharing. Shigure answered the door, dancing around and singing, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas."
"Idiot," Kyo yelled at Shigure, "What if we had been hotel staff and you answered the door like that?"
"He's already done it four times," sighed Yuki, who was sitting on the foot of his bed.
Kyo glared at Shigure and was about to yell again when Tohru started laughing. Kyo turned to look at her, saying, "What's so funny?"
"I'm just picturing the hotel staff coming to have Shigure answer the door like that. It must have been really funny. By the way, thanks for breakfast, Shigure."
"Oh, think nothing of it," Shigure replied, waving it off, "Anyway, come in, come in. I suppose, since we're all here now, we should go ahead and exchange gifts. Let me take those off your hands, Tohru."
Because Kyo was still on crutches, Tohru had ended up carrying all of the presents to Yuki and Shigure's room. She had put them all in a large bag to make them easier to carry. They weren't to heavy, but she gratefully surrendered them to Shigure at his request. Shigure began sorting through the gifts as Tohru and Kyo made their way into the room. Tohru took her seat on the floor at the foot of Shigure's bed, and then took Kyo's crutches as he sat beside her and let out sigh.
"What's wrong?" she asked him, "Is your ankle sore?"
Kyo gave a small, lopsided grin, "A little bit, but I'm also kind of tired. I'm not really used to being on crutches, and getting around on them is more work than it looks like."
Tohru got a worried expression on her face, "Oh, Kyo, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. We could have stayed in our room. I could have called Shigure and Yuki and had them come over."
"It's okay," Kyo tried to calm her down, "I didn't realize either. But it's not really that bad. You don't have to worry."
"Besides," Shigure spoke up, "we have a lot more presents here and it would have been a terrible hassle to carry all of them."
Only when Shigure said that did Tohru notice the huge pile of presents that had built up while she and Kyo had been talking. "Where did all of these come from?" she asked, "I don't need all of these."
Yuki answered her, "Shigure actually brought the gifts from everyone else as well. The all wanted to get you something for Christmas."
"Funny though," added Shigure, glancing between Tohru and Kyo, "I don't see your gifts to each other here."
"Oh, well, we decided to exchange our gifts separately," replied Tohru.
Kyo added, "And don't you go thinking something perverted, Shigure."
Shigure feigned shock, "How could you say such a thing to such a fine, upstanding person such as myself."
"Just shut up and open your presents!" shouted Kyo and Yuki in unison.
Once they began opening presents, things calmed down and they were able to spend the next little while in peace. Tohru, completely in awe over receiving so many presents, handled each one delicately as though they were made of glass, and opened them slowly and carefully. She wanted to savor the memory of every single one. Yuki had given her a light blue cashmere scarf. Shigure gave her a set of miniature zodiac animals (and cat) figures, much like the ones she had been admiring when they first met. Kagura had sent handmade throw pillows for her room, Momiji's gift was a pair of bunny slippers and Haru sent her a small box of chocolates (A/N: I got some of the best chocolates ever from a convenience store in Japan this summer). From Hatori she received a small, wooden music box. Ayame had made her a dress of the same shade of blue as the scarf from Yuki. Kisa's gift was a stuffed tiger and a paper fan from Hiro was included. Ritsu had sent her a few tins of different teas. There was also a simple, silver hairclip from Kazuma. Shigure had even packed a gift for her from Uo and Hana. This was a beautiful kimono with a note attached that it was to be worn at "her special New Year's celebration" with Kyo.
After all of those gifts were open, a package still remained next to Tohru. Kyo noticed it and asked, "Who is that one from?"
Tohru picked it up and looked at the tag, "It's from Akito."
The others turned their attention to her at that and watched her open that present. Inside there was a tiny, delicate glass rose.
"That's so pretty," Tohru exclaimed.
Yuki and Shigure exchanged glances. Shigure cleared his throat, "Well, why don't you two kids head on back to your room. I'm sure you're eager to exchange your own gifts. We'll have some of the hotel staff deliver this all to your room."
"Oh, okay," Tohru replied as she helped Kyo to his feet (or foot and two crutches).
When the two were gone, Yuki turned to Shigure, "What do you ting that was about? Akito's gift to Tohru?"
"I don't know," replied the older man, "but we should be cautious until New Year's, just in case."
Meanwhile, in Kyo and Tohru's room, a few more gifts were being exchanged. First, Tohru was giving her gift to Kyo. She handed him two boxes and said, "There are two parts to my gift. Well, actually, there's more too. But the other gift, I can't give you for another week. But Kazuma helped me with part of this. I'll explain it all after you open both parts."
Kyo opened the first box. Inside was a new, high quality, digital camera. The second box contained a photo album. When he opened this, Kyo found pictures of himself at various ages with his mother and Kazuma. The last picture was one of him and Tohru that Shigure had taken earlier that year.
"I noticed that you don't have any pictures. I thought that was kind of sad because pictures capture happy memories. So I asked Kazuma for help getting the old pictures and got the camera so that you could capture your future happy memories," explained Tohru.
Kyo stared at Tohru. Leave it to her to think of something like this. For someone like him, who hadn't had the easiest life, it was actually an amazing gift to remind him that there were good times to remember as well. He glanced back at the picture of the two of them and then returned his gaze to Tohru and said, quietly and sincerely, "Thank you."
Then Kyo pulled out a small, decorative box and handed it to Tohru, "There will be an explanation to go with this, too."
Tohru lifted the lid to the box. Inside was a ring. A delicate band with a modest but shimmering stone.