"Despite Fate"
By Starhopper
DISLCAIMER: I don't own them, because if I did, Yuki wouldn't love his 'Honda-san'. He'd love ME! Bwahahahahaha!
Oh, and just a SPOILER warning: I won't lie . . . there are (big scary music) SPOILERS in this chapter from anime eps 24-26.
Here's a thank you for you loyal readers and reviewers:
Gatogirl – yep, this story takes place after the last episode. I imagined that they carried on with the fights just to cover their respect for each other. I mean, you can't go through what those 3 went through with Kyou turning beast and all without gaining some sort of tolerance at least. Also, I think that just by showing interest and honor to 'Honda-san', Kyou would impress himself on Yuki as an upstanding gentleman; same for Kyou. It was when they both realized how much they liked her that the fights returned to full intensity. Maybe Yuki did initiate it, maybe Kyou. But after some years of duking it out, I don't think any of them remember when jealousy started to erupt . . . except perhaps the Mabudachi Trio. I'm sure Hatori would be watching out for Tohru, and Ayame would be making sure that she keeps treating Yuki all friendly-like. Shigure might just sit back and watch the carnage. Love ya too!
SilverYumeTenshi – Alrighty, here's more! I love Yukiru too, they make the most sense. After what Yuki's been through with (shudder) Akito, he needs "a warm heart, a warm person". Tohru gives him that.
Puffin – I love to hear that I have people hooked. Did ya know that I wrote that prologue in about a half-hour? I definitely needed it for the story. Thanks for the praise!
Nyruserra – I hope I keep your interest and meet any of your expectations!
YuYuAura – Another chapter to keep you going . . . here it is!
Inuficcrzy – As you can tell, this is not a 'stand alone' anymore. I have about 3 chapters left and plenty of warm and fuzzy feelings left to go!
Mimay – Oh, it's . . . a secret! Well, I did kinda spill the beans with my summary . . . but you never know . . . I could slip back into my weird self and drop Akito into the picture. (I kid, I kid!)
". . ." – speaking
' . . .' – thoughts
. . . . . . . . .
Chapter 1:
She Plucks it With a Question
. . . . . . . . .
"Kyou-kun?"
The neko's keen hearing could detect the slightest sense of trepidation lacing his name. Usually that word was made delicate like this doily heart her voice always drew within him, but this time it was different. It was more anxious, more questing than anything. Bustling thoughts could almost be heard backing up behind his name, jostling to be voiced. And he of course, being the cat, was just as curious as ever to know what they were and why they were urgent in their cause.
No matter what subtle angle he tilted his head in; Kyou could decipher all this and more from the uncertain young woman who offered his name to him with shaky hands.
He wasn't the only one.
Yuki observed quietly from the outside looking into the conversation that he would never be apart of. He tried to smile as Tohru continued.
"If it's not too much trouble, could I speak with you after dinner?"
"Uh," the twenty-year old was completely dumb-founded and looked for some strange reason to Shigure for validation. The dog merely looked away, focused on a fly slowly climbing up the opposite wall. "Why sure," scratching his head, Kyou coughed to recover his confident masculinity. "Of course my training can wait."
Yuki could feel his heart drop. He cringed as it crashed to his toes.
"Don't you mean the 'cat-nap' can wait, Kyon-kichi?"
Kyou turned his glowing smile to the writer, goofy grin fading rapidly to an embarrassed and angry sneer.
"Baka Inu, a true fighter doesn't sleep until he beats his opponent! Which reminds me," Red eyes slid expectantly to the left, but did not meet their prey. Pressing on, the urge to pick a fight with his rival too strong to plead otherwise, he swung his head in the rat's direction. "Yuki, how about singin me a lullaby tonight?"
Disdainfully pushing stray water chestnuts around his bowl, Yuki glanced up at the sudden outburst from his cousin. He eyed him coldly, then turned his attention back to rearranging his vegetables. "Baka-neko. You just made a promise to Honda-san, remember?" With eyelids lowered, he signaled his engagement in unadulterated thought. Even the neko wouldn't dare try to bring him out of it.
He knew the beating would be too severe.
Cocking her head, Tohru drew attention to the somber Sohma. "Yuki-kun, are you alright?"
"Forgive me," a sparkle hidden in the shadow of his bangs suddenly flared to life as he made eye-contact with the twenty-year-old girl. "I'm ruining the dinner you worked so hard to prepare Honda-san,"
"N-No!" Tohru shook her head, hands held up to stop him from apologizing further. "You're doing nothing of the sort Yuki-kun. I was the one who brought it up, I knew I should have waited for everyone to finish their supper first before I asked- "
He didn't need to hear it again, he really didn't. "Honda-san." her name was firm and irrefutable: it left her no argument to apologize for.
Holding sway of his sympathy over general amusement, Shigure covered his snicker with a shift in his seat as Tohru begrudgingly shut her mouth and bent her head in respect. It was amazing how fast she responded to a less than jovial request from their prince. He eyed 'Honda-san' briefly before turning his gaze to chastise the brooding rat.
"Now Yuki, is that any way to speak to Tohru-kun?"
Laughing eyes met silent gray and turned a hard black. Could Yuki not even see how hurt Tohru-kun was at that snap embedded in her name? "Well is it?"
Kyou, having finished lapping up the miso broth that had collected at the bottom of his bowl, sat back on his hands and waited for Yuki's answer. No doubt, he would cow to the writer's tone.
"No, it - "
"P-please allow me to collect the dishes!" With the brightest of smiles, Tohru bowed and leapt to her feet. She whirled about the table, picking up plates and chopsticks as she went. The faintest of melodies trailed her progress to the kitchen, effectively silencing any possible complaint as the males sat dumb-founded, though nonplussed by the girl's actions.
"How does she do that?" Kyou mumbled as he rose to his toes for a quick stretch. "More importantly," bending his elbow over his head, he twisted his torso back to face the door. "Why does she do that?"
Yuki snorted, "Baka neko,"
"What makes me so stupid nezumi?" to his own surprise, his tone was held intact, never faltering to the anger boiling within. It was level-headed for the moment, like its master. "She asked me to spend time with her,"
The puff of pride was not missed in that proclamation and Shigure winced. Fingers went to massage a headache soon to be born as the cat stood defiantly over the rat. Then within a flash of an instant, a sudden audible crack of energy sounded as Yuki's eyes snapped up to meet Kyou's blasé gaze.
'Here we go again.'
"You're right," his jaw was locked, eyes unblinking, "I'm stupid." Rising on his knees, the prince took a deep breath and clenched the fists that rested at his sides. Chin resting at the hollow of his throat, he sighed, "So go talk to her,"
Both Kyou and the novelist had to remind themselves to blink as Yuki murmured something about 'the right opportunity'. Shaking his head, eyes closed, the rat bit his lip and looked back up to the most obvious of triumphant victors. He'd lost without planning an attack, or at the very least blocking a punch for defense. Very slowly, the pallid eyelids opened in a dangerous, almost mechanically precise fashion. A sudden smile turned his lips at the idea of her happiness and the threat disappeared from his eyes.
"Baka nezumi."
With that, Yuki shot a smile at the strips of fabric that covered the kitchen doorway. But even the cat knew the gesture was meant for the girl who bustled behind it. He tried to stop his cousin from a rapid walk out the door, but when he turned, he could find not even Yuki's back retreating down the hallway.
Again, he checked Shigure. With question, mirth, or astonishment (a simple combination of the two) the elder Sohma could not decide on one. He reflected the look perfectly, complete with the raised eye-brows and confused mouth. A shrug was forced out of Kyou before he scratched the back of his head and thumped across the room to the kitchen 'door'.
"Eh, Tohru?" Confusion didn't even begin to capture the emotion that was playing across his face. "Do you want to talk - I mean, is this - " After a decisive fist in the wall and a snarl at himself for being stupid about this whole thing, he kicked the material slats aside.
Calling her name for a second time, Tohru whirled about to face him. A reassuring smile spread across his lips as she continued to dry the plate in her hands. There was nothing different about this night . . . no, she was being her same spaced-out self, drying the plate cracked in all the right places. Absolutely nothing was going to happen.
He nodded at that last thought. And immediately hoped afterward that he was wrong.
"Kyou-kun!" the surprise of his entrance took some time to register in her brain. It was currently cluttered with a lot of other thoughts. Looking back at the sink-full of bowls, she picked up a stray towel and tossed it at him. "I'd be grateful if you'd help me dry,"
See, exactly the same polite, mannered girl he'd come to know and love . . . regardless of how annoying those habits could be at times.
"Of course. What, do you think I'm the kind of guy who would let you just do them by yourself?"
"N-no! I didn't mean - " Her entire body shaking in alarm, Tohru almost didn't catch his wink. The nervousness slacked back to relaxation. Taking a deep breath, she pulled out a bowl and handed it to him, not sure if the resulting spark between their fingers was purely static. She pondered over it as Kyou started to talk, but wasn't really listening.
His rambling stopped with her raised hand. "Kyou-kun, now that we're alone,"
They both paused as a breeze moved the door's coverings, and heads turned simultaneously as Shigure popped his head in.
"Oh," he was almost disappointed that he hadn't caught them doing anything . . . questionable. However, he had intruded upon the seminal opening of a friendly conversation, and he knew it. Instead, he fingered a piece of cloth and said, "Did you know that the weave of this fabric is the same as our five hundred count sheets?"
"Really?" Tohru smiled at him while fanning herself with the plate.
"I don't believe it," Kyou spat, hackles visibly rising at the base of his neck. "Go to your room and count them again," as an aside he added, "And after you do, don't come out."
"Did you just threaten the owner of this house?" By now, Shigure was leaning against he doorframe, pulling at the sleeve of his yukata. He looked like he wasn't about to move for a very long time. He inspected his cuticles as he continued, "Because verbal assault is punishable in this district,"
"Shigure-san,"
"Yes Tohru-kun?" the novelist was quick to respond to the placation in her voice.
"Could I please have some time to talk with Kyou-kun?" the dog took notice of how she fiddled with the apron strings knotted about her waist. "It's very important."
"Why of course Tohru-kun!" the bright smile irritated Kyou's skin like a nagging itch. "Even while attending college, you've done so much for our little family." He shot a pointed look at Kyou before bowing gracefully. "It'd be my pleasure to grant your request."
'It wasn't a request that you could refuse, the way you put it,' Kyou thought angrily.
Shigure left with a wave, a "Night kids!", and some flapping door-slats in his wake. He couldn't have exited faster and with less resistance for the anxious cat.
"So, you were saying Tohru - "
She cut him off at the suffix.
"I was about to tell you why I wanted to talk to you,"
'That makes sense.'
"Of course,"
"Well," setting the plate down on the counter, she motioned for him to join her. Once again, she handed him a bowl, setting his dried one next to hers, before finishing a thought. "For a long time now,"
She paused, casting a quick glance out the window they faced before stopping her thought again. 'This is going to be a long night. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long.'
Kyou tried to rein in his smile. As a fighter, he'd learned not to count on his expectations. His opponent could easily come up with an unknown move that'd send him flat on his back before he could defend. Like now, she could easily say something as off-hand as "for a long time now, I've been wondering how you keep your hair so short without a haircut," or "for a long time now, you've been acting strangely toward me." Could he actually def – answer against that?
He hoped the instant would present itself and he would.
For a brief moment, he wondered why - if she was actually going to admit her feelings towards him – why the thoughts were taking so long to order themselves. Couldn't she see how much he wanted to listen to her?
At last, after a gnashed bottom lip and a very – very – dry sushi dish, she finished the question.
He stood stunned, felt the bowl tip under its own weight over his fist and fall to the floor. She'd been wondering . . . thinking . . .
"Well, Kyou-kun?"
"How do I feel about you?"
She nodded darkly. This was the most serious discussion they'd had since she drew him out of his bestial curse four years ago. It could have been the second if he had only watched her expression between Yuki's kicks and his punches. He would have known then what had yet to dawn upon him now. He might've read it in her eyes just as he did now, gazing at the question rooted there from a few months prior.
"Answer me, please,"
He shook his head, the ceramic shards at his feet completely forgotten as he turned and took a step closer to her. "I've told you,"
"You said you loved me, but," she traced the air about his chin, not daring to ruin the moment by a puff of smoke and an orange cat. "has that changed?"
"No." his hands caught the fingers floating over his face and drew them to their side. "It hasn't." With a bold move calculated, but prematurely executed, he leaned in over her, his head dipping down and hovering there as a reminder of what he'd just said. He wasn't anticipating anything, only covering every open corner. "But I remember what you said before,"
He could let go if she pulled away, or keep her arms distant from embrace as he kissed her. There were two options, covering the two moves of defense and offense. Only she could decide which one he would use.
"I told you I loved everything about you," Tohru could remember holding onto his deformed arms, hanging on with an iron-cast grip as he swung both her and Yuki about. He was frightened, disdainful of the world that had created him. If not for her faith in the good that existed in the young man, he would have been lost. There was so much good still to be found.
She shifted, the old smile alighting her features. "And my feelings have not changed."
"Then," whispered over her mouth, Kyou could feel the finality of such a simple word hit him. But he was not scared, or fearful. "What's there to talk about?" As his lips pressed against skin, Kyou roused himself from the soft atmosphere about her to find he kissed the palm of her other hand.
'The unknown tactic!'
"Kyou-kun," her voice echoed about in the kitchen in that repressive, almost sad tone. "There's everything to talk about."
. . . . . . . . .
A/N: YAY! First chapter of this lovely story done. I really enjoyed writing this one, so much angst and intensity. I tried to capture a character from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to embody Yuki's emotions.
Well, how'd I do? I'd greatly appreciate a REVIEW so I can tone up all the weak spots and make the next chapter even better! And the idea should at least be good, it's Yuki with his thoughts and his "secret base"!
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Starhopper