It wasn't like Hiro to hide from Kisa, and almost anyone in the Sohma family would have acknowledged that if they'd seen him flattening himself against the side of Shigure's house, waiting for Kisa to finish her enthusiastic goodbyes to Tohru. Tohru was far worse in her enthusiasm than Kisa was, making such an ordeal of thank-yous and you're-so-wonderfuls that it completely sucked the sincerity right out of the whole thing.
Hiro clenched his jaw and started to count to twenty. If they weren't finished by then he'd have to... to... Well, he had twenty seconds to think of whatever it was he'd do. It shouldn't be hard.
It only took until he reached eight, before Kisa stepped cheerfully off down the walk and stopped only briefly to flash a wave and another smile back at Tohru. Hiro was just as glad that he could see her as he was that she could not see him. It was hard not to enjoy Kisa's smiles. It was even harder to accept that she would give them to someone else, someone other than Hiro. He wanted to guard her smiles jealously, stand protectively in front of them and hoard them and maybe, if he were in a generous mood, allow someone else to see one for about five minutes or so.
He would not do that. But sometimes he wanted to.
Hiro bit the inside of his cheek, watching Kisa disappear into the woodsy area surrounding the off-site Sohma residence, and wished she'd walk just a little bit faster. When her back was finally just a pink shape bobbing into the distance, he stepped out from his hiding place and strode purposefully to the door.
Tohru answered his decisive knock almost instantly, as if she'd been waiting for it (although it was more likely she'd still been standing by the door after seeing Kisa off - she was really exceptionally slow like that sometimes, Hiro thought), and looked pleasantly surprised to see him. "Hiro! Hello! You just missed Kisa!"
"Do you think I don't know that?" Hiro said, and sighed contemptuously. As expected, Tohru - who was incredibly easy to play with, especially once you got the hang of her - looked flustered.
"Oh, well, I didn't mean to, er -"
"I don't understand why you think I wouldn't see her. Do you think I'm blind? Maybe you think I flew here and didn't pass her on the path?" The fact that Hiro had, in fact, deliberately stayed off the main roads coming here just to avoid seeing Kisa was not something Tohru needed to know. "Let me guess, you think that Kisa is the only reason I'd come here, right?"
"W-well, no! I mean, well -"
"So you think I'm completely single-minded. Well, that's pretty insulting, saying I'm obsessive." He crossed his arms and huffed. "Just for that, I'm not going to give you your birthday present after all."
"Eh!" Tohru's demeanor changed in a heartbeat. "Birthday present? But -" And just as quickly, she became even more flustered, catching Hiro by surprise. "Oh, NO! You really can't, I don't, just because I, p-please don't!"
Hiro hadn't realized Tohru's eyes could get so much wider than they already were. He looked at her critically, from her expression of shock to her frantically waving hands, and sniffed. "Honestly. All this fuss over a stupid little gift. It didn't even take me any trouble to find it, so I don't see why you're getting so upset."
He withdrew a small, nicely-wrapped box from his pocket, and thrust it at her. Tohru quieted, and seemed oddly relieved that it was so small. After a moment's hesitation, she took the box, and gave him a smile that looked both apologetic and wholeheartedly genuine at the same time. "How did you know that-"
"It was your birthday? Oh, Kisa couldn't stop talking about it." He looked off to the side, and glared at her from the corner of one eye. "It got very tiresome."
She kept smiling. "I'm sorry."
"Forget about it." He shut his eyes, and waited, but she didn't make any sound that indicated she was opening the gift or even moving. In irritation, he said, "Well, open it!"
"Oh!" He heard sounds of paper folding, a small shuffle, and then she gasped joyously in a manner that was completely out of proportion to the gift he'd bought her: a small pin of Mogeta.
"Do you always have to act so excited over everything? It's really overkill."
"I'm sorry, Hiro," she said, smiling cheerfully. "It's a wonderful present! Thank you so much! I'm so grateful!"
Hiro felt, for a moment, as if he were going to blush under the onslaught of her happiness. He covered for it by snapping at her again. "So you think I only gave you that to be thanked? That I'm the type of person who only does nice things for someone if they're going to get recognition for it? That makes you an incredibly presumptuous person, did you know that?"
Tohru seemed to pause, as if wondering whether or not she should be worried, and put a hand to her mouth. "I'm very sorry..." she tried again. "Would you like to come in? It's too bad you didn't come while Kisa was here, we had tea and made onigiri... I, I mean, I can make MORE tea if you want any...! But you probably would have had more fun if..."
"I didn't come," Hiro interjected, cutting her off, "to see Kisa." He clenched his fists and spoke to the ground, and his manner suggested that these were words he would rather not speak now and hoped never to have to speak again. "I am not the type of person who only gives gifts when others are looking. If I had come with Kisa, it would have looked..." He paused. "Selfish. And probably it would have been selfish. I want us all to know that I came to see you." He looked up at her, slightly. "Even if you are an annoying type of person."
Tohru smiled, clearly pleased. All her uncertainty seemed to have melted away. "I'm happy you came. I hope you'll come in and stay a while, too!" She stood up, and backed inwards towards the door, making room invitingly so that Hiro could go inside.
He kept his gaze on the ground, but didn't hesitate before stepping over the threshold. Tohru smiled and closed the door after him.