9
"Hello, Shigure!" Tohru was tired but one would never have guessed it from her cheeriness.
"Hello, Tohru. Come in." Shigure said kindly. He looked at her. He thought she should know about Kisa but he didn't want to worry her, and he wasn't sure if Hatori would approve of informing her. 'What to do, what to do…' he asked himself. He felt silly for asking her in. He looked up and noticed that she was standing before him starting.
"I'm sorry, I must have spaced out. Kisa…" he didn't know what to say.
"Oh no! Is she ok? Is anything wrong?"
"No, no she's ok. I umm… I think perhaps you should invite her over sometime soon."
"Oh yes of course! I love spending time with Kisa!" Tohru was so pleased that Shigure was giving her permission to invite her friend over that she didn't even notice how odd it was that he wanted her to invite the little tiger over.
"Tohru?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm worried that she's having trouble in school again… none of the adults know for sure but, we suspect it." Tohru was totally taken aback. Not just by the news but that he had confided in her in such a serious matter.
"Oh no, that's terrible!" Tohru felt the hot tears pushing against her eyes. She put her head down.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad. I just… thought you should know."
"Thank you. Thank you so much for telling me, Shigure!" The tears were flowing slightly now. She was still holding them back. "I promise I'll do anything I can."
"Thank you, Tohru. That's what I was hoping you'd say. But please, don't let her know that you know or suspect anything. Based on the past, it seems that she's embarrassed to admit to the people around her when she's having a problem. That's all I had to tell you… I'm sorry to have upset you." He knew better than to mention the trouble with her mother. He watched as Tohru turned slowly and left the study.
She hurried up the stairs, the tears now flowing freely. As she rushed to her room, she noticed that Kyo's door was open. 'He must be on the roof'. The thought that her friend could also be upset made Tohru even sadder. She walked into his room and climbed up on the roof.
His keen ears heard the clicks of the shingles as Tohru climbed across them. He also heard her small sobs.
"Tohru!" He bolted up as he watched the girl climb up- something was wrong. "Tohru what's wrong?" She climbed up next to him.
"Hello, Kyo," she whispered, sitting down and putting her head down. He sat down next to her, deciding not to ask any more questions. They sat for a few minutes with only the sound of Tohru's muffled sobs. It was painful for him to watch her like that. She was so sad.
"Tohru?" At this the sobs became slightly louder and the tears fell harder. "Hey, hey, it's ok. Whatever it is, its ok." His voice was gentler than it had ever been before but her sobs did not stop or lessen. He looked at her again- it was killing him. Nervously, he slowly lifted his right arm and placed it around her shoulders. She stopped crying and looked up at him.
"Kyo…?" He looked at her for a moment and then looked away.
"Look, I don't know what's wrong but it will be ok," the sobbing resumed, "there are people here who care about you and will take care of you no matter what so," at this word his voice went form its normal angry tone to a voice almost as soft as his initial attempt at comforting her, "so try to stop crying. Its gonna be ok." He pulled down the left sleeve of his sky blue sweatshirt and put it up to each of her eyes to dry her tears. She looked up at him and then back down at the roof again; it was the only thank you she could manage at the moment. 'What could be wrong? Maybe that damn rat did something to her while they were walking.' Deep down, he knew how ridiculous that was. But, he reached up to make sure his eyes were dry. The moment he had seen them walking together in the dark had been a bit much for him.
Tohru didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she could tell Kyo about Kisa. And she wanted to know why he was on the roof- usually he only came up when something was bothering him. 'Why did I come up here?' she thought miserably. 'I'm only worrying him and acting stupid.' This upset her even more. But… she did love how caring he was suddenly being. It really touched her. His arm was still around her too- she didn't know what to think of that except,
"Kyo, thank you for worrying about me and trying to help me. I really appreciate it. I'll be better later," she looked up at him, "Really." He took his arm off of her shoulders and turned away- embarrassed.
"You're welcome. If… if you wanna talk or anything, I'm here."
"Thank you. Are you ok?" she generally didn't ask him about why he was on the roof but for some reason she felt like it was important to this time.
"What! I'm fine! I just came up here to get form fresh air, it's too stuffy down there." His voice was back to normal, Tohru smiled.
"Oh I'm sorry! I'll try to keep the doors open more when it's nice outside so it won't be so uncomfortable for you!" her voice was still feeble and delicate from her crying, but a little of the old determination was back.
"No, no it's ok. I only meant…ah nevermind."
"Ok. Thank you again. Good night."
"Night." Tohru climbed back down and went to her own room. Her heart felt odd- she hadn't cried like that for a long time. And everyone was so nice to her. 'I'd better go to bed before I make myself cry again,' she thought. And so, Shigure's house returned to the still silence that had made him wish something would happen. 'What a stupid wish,' he thought to himself as settled into bed. 'Whenever something happens around here my house gets broken .
10
'Ah, what's the noise?' Yuki sighed as he woke up. The sun was shining through his window and the smell of breakfast had wafted through the screen door. He allowed himself to wake up slowing as he listened to Tohru struggle with the tea kettle. 'That's odd; she doesn't usually make so much noise.' He rose and stumbled down into the kitchen where he found that it was Shigure who was fighting with the kettle and Kyo who had made the fish stew.
"What are you to doing? Where's Miss Honda?" he demanded.
"We thought we'd give her the morning off." Shigure said, finally getting the kettle onto the stove and the stove lit.
"What? Is something wrong? Is she ok?" Yuki was very worried. It was unlike her to sleep in even when she was sick.
"She'll be fine- go set the table!" Kyo snapped.
"So something is wrong! What is it?"
"Yuki, get some chopsticks and bowls and come with me to the dining room." Shigure said calmly. "Although you do have many different creative ways to serve charcoal I for one would prefer a real meal this morning."
"So?" he began, setting the table, "what's wrong? What did you say to her when you called her into your office?" 'I swear if you did anything to her Shigure,' he thought, his blood heating up.
"Very perceptive Yuki! I'm impressed!" Shigure noticed Yuki's glare and thought that perhaps it would be in his best interest to tell him. "I just told her that one of her friends is having a little trouble in her life and she got very upset over it. I have a feeling she was up late crying and didn't sleep well. So! Kyo and I have been doing her chores this morning." He returned to his usual happy voice.
"Eh?" Tohru heard the kitchen noises. "What's going on?" She quickly put on her uniform and brushed her hair. Then she raced down to the kitchen. "Aaah! What's going on? I'm so sorry I over-slept! I won't do it again I promise! I'm so sorry here let me…"
"It's ok Tohru," Shigure said, "We just thought that you must have been very tired so we made breakfast."
"Thank you so much!" she said, smiling. She noticed Yuki sitting at the table. He looked very thoughtful and even a little troubled.
'A friend of hers? How would Shigure know about Miss Uotani or Miss Hanajima? He did say "her life" didn't he? Could it be a Sohma? She only knows Kisa and Kagura and Ritsu's mother… could it be…' "Kisa?" he was too surprised with his own conclusion to keep himself from vocalizing it. Tohru and Shigure turned to him- puzzled.
"Yuki?" Tohru asked.
"Ah, I'm sorry Miss Honda. I was only thinking out-loud." Tohru was concerned. 'Maybe Shigure told him about her too" she thought. 'I know Yuki likes her a lot, maybe he's upset too.' She realized that thinking of Kisa was making it very hard to hold back her tears. "That smells great!" she exclaimed, walking in the direction of the kitchen. "Did you make it, Kyo?"
"Yeah, I made it. It's not great or anything so don't get your hopes up. Just something we can eat." Tohru carried the stew in a few minutes later and they all sat down to eat. Not a word was spoken. Yuki hardly touched his stew. Tohru cleared the table when they had all finished and Shigure snuck back to his office to avoid having to do any more chores.
"What's the matter you damn rat? Wasn't that good enough for you!" Kyo needed to vent.
"Not now stupid cat, I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO FIGHT!" Yuki snapped back. Kyo wanted to respond but the only thing he could think of was "Oh yeah?" and that didn't seem to threatening. He was angry that Tohru was sad and he couldn't do anything. He got up quickly "I'm leaving!" he announced, brining his fist down on the table.
"Good riddance," Yuki mumbled.
"What did you say!"
"Oh, bye Kyo!" Tohru returned from the kitchen. "I'll see you at school! Be safe!" Kyo found himself speechless so he grabbed his backpack and left- running to school. It was only when he was already half way there when he realized that he had left Tohru and Yuki to walk alone.
"DAMN!" he yelled. A few birds fluttered from the surrounding trees .
11
"Bye-bye!" Shigure called as Tohru and Yuki set off for school. They walked together in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Yuki spoke.
"Miss Honda? Did Shigure tell you something upsetting last night?"
"Yes," her voice was quiet and much more lifeless than usual, "About Kisa. The adults at the main house think she's having trouble with the kids at school again." Here, her voice broke and she began to cry a little, "I just… I just don't know why an…anyone wold be mean to su…such a sweet little girl like her!" Yuki didn't know either. He didn't know why the Sohmas were cursed in this way too; the zodiac-cursed members were often made fun of…why?
"I know how upsetting it must be to you. We all love her but you have such a special bond…" this seemed to calm her down a little. "Please don't cry, Miss…Tohru. I'm sure that we, you, can help Kisa before she stops talking again. You have already helped her so much, and this time Hiro may be brave enough to help too. So please don't cry. It hurts me to see you so sad." Tohru stopped, surprised.
"Yes, you're right. We can help her." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'll try not to be sad anymore. I'll try to be happy and think about what we can do for her." Yuki gave a nod of approval and they continued their walk, though now it was much more enjoyable.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you last night." Yuki apologized.
"Oh no! Please don't apologize! You needed to sleep and it was so late… Shigure and Kyo were still awake so I was ok. Thank you." Hearing her say this infuriated him. 'Why did that stupid dog have to tell her this last night? What was the point? Why couldn't he have waited until morning?' Yuki was suspicious. 'And what did that stupid cat have to do with it?'
"Oh no we'd better hurry! Only five minutes until the bell and we haven't even reached the school yet!" Tohru exclaimed after looking at her watch.
"I'll race you, Miss Honda," Yuki said, really smiling for the first time that day. Tohru smiled back and nodded and they raced down the narrow sidewalk.