"So, you two can't fight?" Asked Shigure, pausing with a bite of the
seafood dish halfway to his mouth. He snickered. "Well, at least my house
won't be destroyed anymore." He smiled at Tohru cheerfully, ignoring the
black looks Yuki and Kyo were sending him. "This is delicious, Tohru. Where
DID you get the recipe?"
"From a book in the library." Said Tohru. "It sounded really good, so I decided to try it."
"Oh really? What was the book called? I've never tasted anything quite like this." Said Shigure, taking another large bite.
"I don't remember. It was a French title, actually. Afrodisioc.something." Shigure choked on his mouthful, tears running down his face. "Really?" he asked faintly. "How interesting." He put down the chopsticks and got up from the table. He disappeared down the hall and into the kitchen, where they heard him start laughing wildly.
"What's so damn funny?" Kyo asked, popping another bite of the seafood in his mouth.
"Beats me." Said Yuki, eating another oyster. "This really is delicious, Miss Honda. But why so many oysters?"
"I don't know, but it's what the recipe called for." Said Tohru, looking perplexed. "I think I'll cut down on them next time, it makes it a little strong."
"I think it's fine as it is. As all your meals are, Miss Honda." Said Yuki. He watched a now composed Shigure come back into the room and sit down at his place, picking up his chopsticks and resuming his interrupted meal. "Do you feel better now?" Yuki asked blandly.
"Much, thank you." Said Shigure, twinkling. Kyo snorted. "Tohru, really, these oysters are delicious." He popped another in his mouth, then dipped a few more onto the plates of the others. "Please, I've heard oysters don't keep well, we simply HAVE to finish them tonight." He said cheerfully, piling the oysters high.
Tohru was white eyed, staring at the small mountain of oysters on her plate, and the large mountains on those of Yuki and Kyo. "Umm, I don't know if I'm that hungry." She said, hair frizzing.
"Please, Tohru, you don't want to waste food, do you?" Said Shigure. "But if you aren't hungry." he pulled a few of the oysters off her plate and put them on Yuki and Kyo's. They sighed and continued eating, while Tohru took one or two tentative bites, Shigure urging all three to finish their meals.
"You've never been this concerned about what we ate before." Said Kyo. "Why now?"
"No reason!" Shigure cheered, looking innocent. So of course they didn't believe him. They finally finished the small oyster feast and Tohru carried the dishes to the kitchen to be washed while Shigure disappeared into his office and his phone, and if his laughter and carrying on were anything to go by, he was talking to Ayame. Yuki and Kyo turned on the T.V.
"Hello, is anyone here?" A voice called from the foyer. It was Uo.
"Oh great, the Yankee." Kyo muttered. A shoe connected with his head.
"You know you're glad to see me." She said, eyes glinting.
"Are sheep glad to see wolves?" he grumbled, the imprint of a shoe on his forehead.
"Uo!" Tohru said, coming out of the kitchen, a grin on her face. She was drying a dish as she walked. "What are you doing here?"
"Hana said we should come over." Said Uo, rolling her eyes. "She said something about merging electric signals."
Tohru frizzed and dropped the plate. It shattered all over the dining room floor, scattering sharp shards of china. "M-merging?" She asked, voice cracking. She completely ignored the fact that the dish had fallen out of her hands, and was still drying air.
Uo went wide-eyed. "Tohru, are you ok?" she asked, running forward to check on the traumatized girl. She checked for cuts from the smashed pottery, and found none. She gently took the towel from the still drying Tohru. "Wakey wakey." She chanted, waving a hand in front of her face.
"She's all right." Said Hana, coming in. She was carrying a medium sized shirt box. She looked from Yuki, to Kyo, then Tohru and smiled. "How did it happen?" She asked simply.
Well, there was no use denying it, if she could just look at them and tell. "Our damn clan head." Muttered Kyo. "He did it."
"Is it breakable?"
"Is what breakable?" Asked Uo, leading Tohru to a cushion and pressing her down.
"We don't know." Said Yuki. "He's dead. He died right after we put the rings on."
"Did he tell you anything about it?"
"Anything about what?" Asked Uo, getting frustrated.
"Just that the only way to remove it short of death is in a book that we suspect he hid by magic." Said Yuki, sighing. He went to get a dustpan and swept up the broken dish.
"Would you like me to have my brother look into it? He's very good with curses." Said Hana. "He might now something about it."
"Might know something about what?!" Asked Uo, getting fed up. She grabbed Kyo by the hair and pulled him backwards, so she could look him in the eye. "What's going on?"
"OW! LET ME GO, YOU DIRTY BITCH!" He howled, flailing around. She scowled and let go of his hair, so he fell, landing headfirst. He glared at her from a prone position.
"Tell me what's going on!" She demanded.
"They were cursed." Said Hana, calmly. She sat beside Tohru and laid a hand on her shoulder. A small jolt, similar to static electricity, ran down her arm, startling her out of her stupor.
"Oh! Hana! When did you get here?" She asked, still white eyed. She looked around the table, then jumped up. "We've just finished lunch, so I'll get you two some snacks and tea!" she said, once more in familiar territory. She practically ran into the kitchen.
"Hana, if you don't tell me what's going on right now, I'm gonna tell Megume where you hide your diary!" Threatened Uo.
"You don't know where I hide my diary." Said Hana placidly.
"DAMMIT HANA!" Uo yelled, slamming her fist on the table. "TELL ME WHATS GOING ON!!!" She calmed down slightly when Tohru came back in, smiling once more.
"It's really quite simple." Said Hana. "Ah, thank you Tohru." She said, accepting the cup of tea Tohru offered to her. "The rings on their fingers bond them together. They're married." She sipped at the tea and sighed in pleasure at the flavor, totally ignoring Uo's complete shock. Uo did something then that she had never done before in her life. She fainted. Tohru panicked and ran for a cold cloth. While she was gone, Hana ran a few volts of electricity through Uo, successfully waking her. It also singed her a bit, truth be told. She was still smoking when Tohru came running back in, a dripping towel in her hands. She skidded to a halt when she saw Uo awake. "She's fine, Tohru, please sit down. We have much to talk about."
"Like what?" Tohru asked, still holding the towel. She sank to her seat between Yuki and Kyo without even thinking about it. Hana smiled.
"For one thing, the curse has a time limit on it. If it's not taken off in a year, then it's permanent. And even if it were removed right this second, it would be extremely painful."
"How can you tell?" Asked Yuki.
"Your electric waves. They're merging, even as we speak." Said Hana. "By the end of a year, they'll be completely merged. Impossible to break apart, counter curse or no counter curse. And the more they merge, the more pain it would cause when they're ripped apart."
"So, if we can't find the book in a year, she's stuck like this?" Kyo asked, growling.
"Basically." Said Hana. She finished her tea and popped one more jelly bun in her mouth. "We should go." She stood and pulled a protesting Uo to her feet as well. "I'll explain everything on the way home." Hana said soothingly. She pulled the much taller blonde to the door, turned and nodded to Yuki and Kyo. "Take care of her, please. Open the box when we're gone." She said, then disappeared out the door and down the path.
"What was that all about?" Uo asked, still disgruntled.
"Did you notice the rings on their fingers?" Asked Hana.
"Yeah, what about 'em?"
"They're magic." Said Hana calmly. "They're soul bonded to her."
"WHAT?!"
"Calm down." Said Hana. "This could be a good thing."
"How is it a good thing?!" Uo asked.
"This way she doesn't have to choose between them. If this hadn't happened, she would have had to choose eventually. It would have hurt one of them, and broken her heart in the process, making the one she DID choose miserable too. This way, everyone is happy. Eventually." She smiled secretively. "It's actually quite ingenious."
"You're really taking this well."
"It's really for the best." Said Hana.
"So what was in the box?" Asked Uo.
Hana smiled. "Just a little.wedding gift."
"Should they be scared to open it?"
"I don't think so."
"Yep. They should be scared."
"."
* * *
"Should we open it?" Kyo asked. The box was sitting innocently in the middle of the table. They had shaken it, but nothing had happened.
"Why not?" Said Tohru. "She said open it after they left." She leaned forward eagerly and pulled the box to her seat. She snapped the tape and lifted the lid, revealing a pile of white silky fabric. "A dress?" She said aloud, holding it up. She then promptly dropped it, blushing to the roots of her hair. It hadn't been a dress. At least, not a dress meant to be seen in public. They had seen more silk on a kite.
They just sat there staring at the open box like it was going to jump up and attack them until Kyo growled and put the lid on the box, still a bright red. "I'm gonna go train." He muttered, disappearing quickly into the dense bushes outside the veranda.
Coward. Yuki thought. He looked at Tohru out of the corner of his eye. She was still staring at the box, blushing.
She looked over at him and blushed harder, then jumped up. "The laundry!" she said, pounding a fist into the opposite hand. "I forgot all about it!" she ran from the room as if her life depended on it, leaving Yuki alone with the 'innocent' white box. He stared at it, as if expecting it to move.
"What are you looking at?" Shigure asked, coming up behind him.
Yuki jumped and clutched at his chest, hair frizzing out. "Don't do that!" he snapped at the amused dog.
"Why so jumpy?" Shigure asked, settling into one of the seats around the table.
Yuki blushed and glanced at the box, then quickly away. Shigure caught the quick look.
"Ahh, it has something to do with this." he said, reaching for the box.
Yuki snatched it before he laid a finger on it. "This is none of your business." He said, tucking the box under the table. "It belongs to Miss Honda."
"Really Yuki, it's starting to look like you're going to be spending the rest of your life with the girl. Would it hurt you to call her by her name?"
"Shut up. I'm going to the base. Tell Miss Honda I'll be back in an hour, if she wants to join me there."
"Oh Yuki, shame on you! A tryst in the woods, what would Aya say? I MUST go call him, perhaps we could give you some advice on how to please your new wife."
"Curl up and die, you stupid dog." Said Yuki, disappearing down the path. "And leave that box alone!"
"I'm just kidding! I'm sure you'll be more than enough to satisfy your lovely bride!" Shigure called after him, snickering. Yuki kept walking. "Now, what's in this box?" Shigure muttered to himself once Yuki was out of sight. He pulled the box out of it's 'hiding place.'
"Freeze." Kyo said, causing blue fear to wash over Shigure.
"K-Kyo! I was just." Shigure stammered, pushing the box back under the table.
"Snooping." Said Kyo, wiping his face with a towel. "Give it here, Shigure."
Shigure pouted and reluctantly handed Kyo the box. "You're so mean to me!" he whimpered, tears running down his face. "I was just curious!"
"You ever heard the saying, curiosity killed the cat?" Shigure nodded. "In this case, it'd kill the dog." He grinned evilly and took the box to Tohru's room and put it on the bed before going to take a bath.
* * *
Tohru stuck her head out of the laundry room and looked left and right. No sign of them. She ran from the room and up the stairs to her room, where she slammed the door behind her, leaning against it and sighing with relief. She had seen no one. She opened her eyes and looked across the room, and promptly fell over. The box just sat on the bed, and if one didn't know it was an inanimate object, you would almost think it was sweatdropping. She approached the bed and opened the box gingerly. Yep. It was still there. In all it's.not there glory. She held it up. She had to admit, it was quite pretty.
Low cut, with spaghetti straps, it would show just enough cleavage to entice, but not allow anything to fall out. A bow on the chest trailed ribbons that went under the breasts, providing support, and all the way around the waist several times, separating the skirt of the nightgown and the top. The skirt was a lighter woven silk than the top, and came down to mid calf. The seeming innocence of the cut, however, was belied by the slits that went up the sides to mid thigh, showing generous amounts of leg. The skirt had a light, barely noticeable tracing of flowering vines.
She bit her lip and glanced at the door. It was shut. No one would come in without knocking first.oh, why not? She couldn't resist. She slipped the dress she had worn that day off and folded it neatly on her bed, then slipped the cool silk over her skin. It fell smoothly in heavy folds over her breasts, then draped like a waterfall to fit rather tight around the hips and thighs. She ran an admiring hand over the silk and smiled in pure feminine delight. A sudden crash caused her to jump in fright. "I SAID YOU CAN'T GO UP THERE!" Said Kyo, sounding outraged.
"Nonsense!" Ayame's voice said, over what sounded like a war. "I simply MUST welcome dear Tohru into our family immediately! As Yuki's older brother and oldest male member of our family, I HAVE to assure her she will be treated with the utmost respect and." The door crashed open, revealing Ayame, who had Kyo dangling from his back, trying to keep the headstrong snake from barging into a girls room uninvited. They both froze, eyes wide as Tohru shrieked and covered herself with a fluffy pink bathrobe.
A slow, beaming smile spread over Ayame's face, and he rushed forward, dislodging Kyo in the process, whose arms had somehow weakened when the door opened. "Oh, TOHRU! I'm honored!" Said Ayame, clutching her hand to his chest with one hand, the other reaching forward to tug her bathrobe open, causing her to squeal in protest. "You're wearing one of MY DESIGNS!" he said, sparkling. "To think my new little sister-in-law would wear one of MY creations on this, her most special night of nights, her wedding night!" Tears formed in his golden eyes. "I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for this most singular honor, this most glorious compliment to my extraordinary talent!"
Tohru's eyes were spinning. "Ummm, you're welcome?" She said, voice shaking. Kyo still hadn't moved from the doorway, a blush completely covering his face, seemingly unable to look away.
They all froze at the sound of a door opening and shutting. "Miss Honda? Shigure? Kyo? I'm home." Yuki's voice drifted up the stairs.
A look of complete joy spread across Ayame's face. "Oh, my little brother comes home to see his lovely bride dressed and ready for their wedding night. YUKI! We're up here!" he crooned, tugging a furiously red Tohru to the door, where Kyo still sat. "Come up and see the RADIANT surprise Tohru has for you!"
"What are YOU doing here?" Yuki asked, displeasure plain in every word. He started up the stairs with a purposeful stride. More likely than not, his purpose was to throw his brother out on his ear.
"My dearest brother, how can you say that?" Ayame lamented. "Oh, how cruel you are to me!" A single tear ran down his face, and he wiped it away theatrically. Then he sparkled, clasping his hands beneath his chin. "Oh, but I think you and I shall reach a new understanding once you see what Tohru has for you!" He beamed. "And once you know I made it!"
"What are you talking about?" Yuki said, eyes narrowing. He reached the top of the stairs and glanced down at the floor, where Kyo still sat. "And why are you sitting on the floor, stupid.c-cat." Yuki trailed off, as Ayame pulled Tohru forward into the hallway, blushing a furious crimson. He swallowed hard and a blush spread over his cheekbones, darkening his pale skin.
Ayame glanced from one blushing face to the next and clapped his hands. "Ah, young love, was there ever-Ohhhh!" He was abruptly cut off as two fists connected with his jaw, sending him sliding to the floor before he could complete his spiel.
Kyo coughed and rubbed his fist, a small tinge of a blush still running across the bridge of his nose. "I'm going ta bed." He muttered finally.
"Me too. Goodnight Yuki, Kyo." Said Tohru, darting into her room. Kyo looked at Yuki, then disappeared into the room across the hall. Yuki sighed and went into his room as well, leaving his still unconscious brother on the floor in the hall.
"From a book in the library." Said Tohru. "It sounded really good, so I decided to try it."
"Oh really? What was the book called? I've never tasted anything quite like this." Said Shigure, taking another large bite.
"I don't remember. It was a French title, actually. Afrodisioc.something." Shigure choked on his mouthful, tears running down his face. "Really?" he asked faintly. "How interesting." He put down the chopsticks and got up from the table. He disappeared down the hall and into the kitchen, where they heard him start laughing wildly.
"What's so damn funny?" Kyo asked, popping another bite of the seafood in his mouth.
"Beats me." Said Yuki, eating another oyster. "This really is delicious, Miss Honda. But why so many oysters?"
"I don't know, but it's what the recipe called for." Said Tohru, looking perplexed. "I think I'll cut down on them next time, it makes it a little strong."
"I think it's fine as it is. As all your meals are, Miss Honda." Said Yuki. He watched a now composed Shigure come back into the room and sit down at his place, picking up his chopsticks and resuming his interrupted meal. "Do you feel better now?" Yuki asked blandly.
"Much, thank you." Said Shigure, twinkling. Kyo snorted. "Tohru, really, these oysters are delicious." He popped another in his mouth, then dipped a few more onto the plates of the others. "Please, I've heard oysters don't keep well, we simply HAVE to finish them tonight." He said cheerfully, piling the oysters high.
Tohru was white eyed, staring at the small mountain of oysters on her plate, and the large mountains on those of Yuki and Kyo. "Umm, I don't know if I'm that hungry." She said, hair frizzing.
"Please, Tohru, you don't want to waste food, do you?" Said Shigure. "But if you aren't hungry." he pulled a few of the oysters off her plate and put them on Yuki and Kyo's. They sighed and continued eating, while Tohru took one or two tentative bites, Shigure urging all three to finish their meals.
"You've never been this concerned about what we ate before." Said Kyo. "Why now?"
"No reason!" Shigure cheered, looking innocent. So of course they didn't believe him. They finally finished the small oyster feast and Tohru carried the dishes to the kitchen to be washed while Shigure disappeared into his office and his phone, and if his laughter and carrying on were anything to go by, he was talking to Ayame. Yuki and Kyo turned on the T.V.
"Hello, is anyone here?" A voice called from the foyer. It was Uo.
"Oh great, the Yankee." Kyo muttered. A shoe connected with his head.
"You know you're glad to see me." She said, eyes glinting.
"Are sheep glad to see wolves?" he grumbled, the imprint of a shoe on his forehead.
"Uo!" Tohru said, coming out of the kitchen, a grin on her face. She was drying a dish as she walked. "What are you doing here?"
"Hana said we should come over." Said Uo, rolling her eyes. "She said something about merging electric signals."
Tohru frizzed and dropped the plate. It shattered all over the dining room floor, scattering sharp shards of china. "M-merging?" She asked, voice cracking. She completely ignored the fact that the dish had fallen out of her hands, and was still drying air.
Uo went wide-eyed. "Tohru, are you ok?" she asked, running forward to check on the traumatized girl. She checked for cuts from the smashed pottery, and found none. She gently took the towel from the still drying Tohru. "Wakey wakey." She chanted, waving a hand in front of her face.
"She's all right." Said Hana, coming in. She was carrying a medium sized shirt box. She looked from Yuki, to Kyo, then Tohru and smiled. "How did it happen?" She asked simply.
Well, there was no use denying it, if she could just look at them and tell. "Our damn clan head." Muttered Kyo. "He did it."
"Is it breakable?"
"Is what breakable?" Asked Uo, leading Tohru to a cushion and pressing her down.
"We don't know." Said Yuki. "He's dead. He died right after we put the rings on."
"Did he tell you anything about it?"
"Anything about what?" Asked Uo, getting frustrated.
"Just that the only way to remove it short of death is in a book that we suspect he hid by magic." Said Yuki, sighing. He went to get a dustpan and swept up the broken dish.
"Would you like me to have my brother look into it? He's very good with curses." Said Hana. "He might now something about it."
"Might know something about what?!" Asked Uo, getting fed up. She grabbed Kyo by the hair and pulled him backwards, so she could look him in the eye. "What's going on?"
"OW! LET ME GO, YOU DIRTY BITCH!" He howled, flailing around. She scowled and let go of his hair, so he fell, landing headfirst. He glared at her from a prone position.
"Tell me what's going on!" She demanded.
"They were cursed." Said Hana, calmly. She sat beside Tohru and laid a hand on her shoulder. A small jolt, similar to static electricity, ran down her arm, startling her out of her stupor.
"Oh! Hana! When did you get here?" She asked, still white eyed. She looked around the table, then jumped up. "We've just finished lunch, so I'll get you two some snacks and tea!" she said, once more in familiar territory. She practically ran into the kitchen.
"Hana, if you don't tell me what's going on right now, I'm gonna tell Megume where you hide your diary!" Threatened Uo.
"You don't know where I hide my diary." Said Hana placidly.
"DAMMIT HANA!" Uo yelled, slamming her fist on the table. "TELL ME WHATS GOING ON!!!" She calmed down slightly when Tohru came back in, smiling once more.
"It's really quite simple." Said Hana. "Ah, thank you Tohru." She said, accepting the cup of tea Tohru offered to her. "The rings on their fingers bond them together. They're married." She sipped at the tea and sighed in pleasure at the flavor, totally ignoring Uo's complete shock. Uo did something then that she had never done before in her life. She fainted. Tohru panicked and ran for a cold cloth. While she was gone, Hana ran a few volts of electricity through Uo, successfully waking her. It also singed her a bit, truth be told. She was still smoking when Tohru came running back in, a dripping towel in her hands. She skidded to a halt when she saw Uo awake. "She's fine, Tohru, please sit down. We have much to talk about."
"Like what?" Tohru asked, still holding the towel. She sank to her seat between Yuki and Kyo without even thinking about it. Hana smiled.
"For one thing, the curse has a time limit on it. If it's not taken off in a year, then it's permanent. And even if it were removed right this second, it would be extremely painful."
"How can you tell?" Asked Yuki.
"Your electric waves. They're merging, even as we speak." Said Hana. "By the end of a year, they'll be completely merged. Impossible to break apart, counter curse or no counter curse. And the more they merge, the more pain it would cause when they're ripped apart."
"So, if we can't find the book in a year, she's stuck like this?" Kyo asked, growling.
"Basically." Said Hana. She finished her tea and popped one more jelly bun in her mouth. "We should go." She stood and pulled a protesting Uo to her feet as well. "I'll explain everything on the way home." Hana said soothingly. She pulled the much taller blonde to the door, turned and nodded to Yuki and Kyo. "Take care of her, please. Open the box when we're gone." She said, then disappeared out the door and down the path.
"What was that all about?" Uo asked, still disgruntled.
"Did you notice the rings on their fingers?" Asked Hana.
"Yeah, what about 'em?"
"They're magic." Said Hana calmly. "They're soul bonded to her."
"WHAT?!"
"Calm down." Said Hana. "This could be a good thing."
"How is it a good thing?!" Uo asked.
"This way she doesn't have to choose between them. If this hadn't happened, she would have had to choose eventually. It would have hurt one of them, and broken her heart in the process, making the one she DID choose miserable too. This way, everyone is happy. Eventually." She smiled secretively. "It's actually quite ingenious."
"You're really taking this well."
"It's really for the best." Said Hana.
"So what was in the box?" Asked Uo.
Hana smiled. "Just a little.wedding gift."
"Should they be scared to open it?"
"I don't think so."
"Yep. They should be scared."
"."
* * *
"Should we open it?" Kyo asked. The box was sitting innocently in the middle of the table. They had shaken it, but nothing had happened.
"Why not?" Said Tohru. "She said open it after they left." She leaned forward eagerly and pulled the box to her seat. She snapped the tape and lifted the lid, revealing a pile of white silky fabric. "A dress?" She said aloud, holding it up. She then promptly dropped it, blushing to the roots of her hair. It hadn't been a dress. At least, not a dress meant to be seen in public. They had seen more silk on a kite.
They just sat there staring at the open box like it was going to jump up and attack them until Kyo growled and put the lid on the box, still a bright red. "I'm gonna go train." He muttered, disappearing quickly into the dense bushes outside the veranda.
Coward. Yuki thought. He looked at Tohru out of the corner of his eye. She was still staring at the box, blushing.
She looked over at him and blushed harder, then jumped up. "The laundry!" she said, pounding a fist into the opposite hand. "I forgot all about it!" she ran from the room as if her life depended on it, leaving Yuki alone with the 'innocent' white box. He stared at it, as if expecting it to move.
"What are you looking at?" Shigure asked, coming up behind him.
Yuki jumped and clutched at his chest, hair frizzing out. "Don't do that!" he snapped at the amused dog.
"Why so jumpy?" Shigure asked, settling into one of the seats around the table.
Yuki blushed and glanced at the box, then quickly away. Shigure caught the quick look.
"Ahh, it has something to do with this." he said, reaching for the box.
Yuki snatched it before he laid a finger on it. "This is none of your business." He said, tucking the box under the table. "It belongs to Miss Honda."
"Really Yuki, it's starting to look like you're going to be spending the rest of your life with the girl. Would it hurt you to call her by her name?"
"Shut up. I'm going to the base. Tell Miss Honda I'll be back in an hour, if she wants to join me there."
"Oh Yuki, shame on you! A tryst in the woods, what would Aya say? I MUST go call him, perhaps we could give you some advice on how to please your new wife."
"Curl up and die, you stupid dog." Said Yuki, disappearing down the path. "And leave that box alone!"
"I'm just kidding! I'm sure you'll be more than enough to satisfy your lovely bride!" Shigure called after him, snickering. Yuki kept walking. "Now, what's in this box?" Shigure muttered to himself once Yuki was out of sight. He pulled the box out of it's 'hiding place.'
"Freeze." Kyo said, causing blue fear to wash over Shigure.
"K-Kyo! I was just." Shigure stammered, pushing the box back under the table.
"Snooping." Said Kyo, wiping his face with a towel. "Give it here, Shigure."
Shigure pouted and reluctantly handed Kyo the box. "You're so mean to me!" he whimpered, tears running down his face. "I was just curious!"
"You ever heard the saying, curiosity killed the cat?" Shigure nodded. "In this case, it'd kill the dog." He grinned evilly and took the box to Tohru's room and put it on the bed before going to take a bath.
* * *
Tohru stuck her head out of the laundry room and looked left and right. No sign of them. She ran from the room and up the stairs to her room, where she slammed the door behind her, leaning against it and sighing with relief. She had seen no one. She opened her eyes and looked across the room, and promptly fell over. The box just sat on the bed, and if one didn't know it was an inanimate object, you would almost think it was sweatdropping. She approached the bed and opened the box gingerly. Yep. It was still there. In all it's.not there glory. She held it up. She had to admit, it was quite pretty.
Low cut, with spaghetti straps, it would show just enough cleavage to entice, but not allow anything to fall out. A bow on the chest trailed ribbons that went under the breasts, providing support, and all the way around the waist several times, separating the skirt of the nightgown and the top. The skirt was a lighter woven silk than the top, and came down to mid calf. The seeming innocence of the cut, however, was belied by the slits that went up the sides to mid thigh, showing generous amounts of leg. The skirt had a light, barely noticeable tracing of flowering vines.
She bit her lip and glanced at the door. It was shut. No one would come in without knocking first.oh, why not? She couldn't resist. She slipped the dress she had worn that day off and folded it neatly on her bed, then slipped the cool silk over her skin. It fell smoothly in heavy folds over her breasts, then draped like a waterfall to fit rather tight around the hips and thighs. She ran an admiring hand over the silk and smiled in pure feminine delight. A sudden crash caused her to jump in fright. "I SAID YOU CAN'T GO UP THERE!" Said Kyo, sounding outraged.
"Nonsense!" Ayame's voice said, over what sounded like a war. "I simply MUST welcome dear Tohru into our family immediately! As Yuki's older brother and oldest male member of our family, I HAVE to assure her she will be treated with the utmost respect and." The door crashed open, revealing Ayame, who had Kyo dangling from his back, trying to keep the headstrong snake from barging into a girls room uninvited. They both froze, eyes wide as Tohru shrieked and covered herself with a fluffy pink bathrobe.
A slow, beaming smile spread over Ayame's face, and he rushed forward, dislodging Kyo in the process, whose arms had somehow weakened when the door opened. "Oh, TOHRU! I'm honored!" Said Ayame, clutching her hand to his chest with one hand, the other reaching forward to tug her bathrobe open, causing her to squeal in protest. "You're wearing one of MY DESIGNS!" he said, sparkling. "To think my new little sister-in-law would wear one of MY creations on this, her most special night of nights, her wedding night!" Tears formed in his golden eyes. "I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for this most singular honor, this most glorious compliment to my extraordinary talent!"
Tohru's eyes were spinning. "Ummm, you're welcome?" She said, voice shaking. Kyo still hadn't moved from the doorway, a blush completely covering his face, seemingly unable to look away.
They all froze at the sound of a door opening and shutting. "Miss Honda? Shigure? Kyo? I'm home." Yuki's voice drifted up the stairs.
A look of complete joy spread across Ayame's face. "Oh, my little brother comes home to see his lovely bride dressed and ready for their wedding night. YUKI! We're up here!" he crooned, tugging a furiously red Tohru to the door, where Kyo still sat. "Come up and see the RADIANT surprise Tohru has for you!"
"What are YOU doing here?" Yuki asked, displeasure plain in every word. He started up the stairs with a purposeful stride. More likely than not, his purpose was to throw his brother out on his ear.
"My dearest brother, how can you say that?" Ayame lamented. "Oh, how cruel you are to me!" A single tear ran down his face, and he wiped it away theatrically. Then he sparkled, clasping his hands beneath his chin. "Oh, but I think you and I shall reach a new understanding once you see what Tohru has for you!" He beamed. "And once you know I made it!"
"What are you talking about?" Yuki said, eyes narrowing. He reached the top of the stairs and glanced down at the floor, where Kyo still sat. "And why are you sitting on the floor, stupid.c-cat." Yuki trailed off, as Ayame pulled Tohru forward into the hallway, blushing a furious crimson. He swallowed hard and a blush spread over his cheekbones, darkening his pale skin.
Ayame glanced from one blushing face to the next and clapped his hands. "Ah, young love, was there ever-Ohhhh!" He was abruptly cut off as two fists connected with his jaw, sending him sliding to the floor before he could complete his spiel.
Kyo coughed and rubbed his fist, a small tinge of a blush still running across the bridge of his nose. "I'm going ta bed." He muttered finally.
"Me too. Goodnight Yuki, Kyo." Said Tohru, darting into her room. Kyo looked at Yuki, then disappeared into the room across the hall. Yuki sighed and went into his room as well, leaving his still unconscious brother on the floor in the hall.