"OHHH!" a happy voice, one that drawled pleasantly and with a pitch that was slightly higher thanSakura expected, exploded from the suddenly flung open doors. "WELCOME!" his arms flung out to the sides and then caught Tohru up, clinging his hands to her forearms and pressing a chaste kiss on her forehead. "My lovely Tohru!" His hair was solid white, braided in a solid line down his back. For once Tohru saw him wearing pants, skin tight red with tiny snakes embroidered on the large cuffs that covered his feet. Aya, though, wasn't wearing a shirt. Tohru felt her face flush the same red as his pants as he gushed over her outfit and welcomed the rest of the girls inside. "I closed the store the second Yuki told me you were coming with your friends, I wouldn't want anything to interrupt us now would I? Of course I wouldn't!" he answered himself as Tohru nodded dumbly. "Now who are your friends here?" he snagged a white robe from just inside the door and draped it around his skinny frame, neglecting to close it,as he held out a hand to catch whomever happened to be standing near it. Tomoyo stepped up right away.
"Ayame-san?" Tohru struggled toget over her shock, it wasn't as bad as the wedding dress incident anyway, "This is Tomoyo-kun."
"Tomoyo-chan!" Aya bowed lavishly over her hand, "I can tell that you are the creator of these marvelous costumes, your fingers, though soft and delicate, show the rigors of sewing from the heart!" Tomoyo smiled prettily at the comment and curtsied in acknowledgement.
"Ayame-san," she waved toward the others, "I could not come for a visit without showing my own talents. When Yuki told me what it was you did, I just had to meet you."
"Oh, my baby brother!" Aya wiped his eye as if shedding a tear, "finally showing an interest in my work! To let such a vision even know we are related!"
"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't talk so much he would say more stuff. Ever think of that?" Uo muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the front wall. Aya looked over and hummed.
"Oh, the buckles dear are marvelous." still holding Tomoyo's hand he smiled brilliantly. "I have a client who enjoys buckles, I may be able to persuade him as to the color…" he seemed to deliberate to himself, "but he does seem to have a penchant for black leather… You don't, I'm assuming, my dear?" Uo, not quite sure what to make of that comment, shrugged.
"I prefer jeans myself."
"And a lovely look it would be on you. Jean pants, jean jacket, with a little t-shirt top… Oh Tomoyo-chan, I have much to show you! Let us depart to the finished back room!" He dragged the girl behind him, ready to show off his brilliance. Meilin and Uo opted to stay in the front with the bolts of cloth.
"Li, if you tell me one more joke, I'm going to genuflect." Kyo couldn't take it anymore, Li might have had a sense of humor, but his delivery was a problem.
"Kyo, just tell me one thing."
"If it doesn't involve puns, I'm all yours."
"What do you think you'd do if you didn't have the CAT to worry about anymore?"
"First thing?" Kyo asked, leaning back in the swing he had chosen. They were alone in the park, the sky was just starting to turn. He could see tiny stars in half of it, while the other was starting to show the brilliant colors of a sunset.
"Yeah." Li sat in a swing next to Kyo, and started pumping gently.
"Grab that girl and hold on for dear life." admitting it, out loud, to his closest friend, made Kyo realize that it was true. If he could take Tohru and just keep her, he'd do anything.
"Do you think it would be worth the pain? The chance that it might not work?" Li shook his head,"I still don't know what it is that attracted the zodiac to you in the first place Kyo."
"How so?"
"In order for the CAT to be in you, there had to be something missing, from birth, that would let him inside. Otherwise there would have been no room for it and it would have been expelled. Newborns are ridiculously hard to spell cast on because they are so incredibly pure at the start of their lives. But the CAT had to have been in you since you were born to be able to have such a hold on you."
"Not just me though huh? The others in the zodiac…"
"There is something in every member of the zodiac that has to have been missing since birth in order for these curses to take effect. We have to find out what that is, and fix it Kyo, or that empty space will just attract other things when we get rid of the CAT."
"How do we figure that out?"
"Tell me Kyo, does your family have a library?"
Tomoyo was in heaven. She almost cried when Aya pulled out a full length slip, so shear they could see his hand on the other side, but so tough that he pulled with all his might and nothing warped the cloth. Then he showed her the effect it had on the inner slip, made of soft blue silk. It turned the simple silk into a shimmering waterfall.
"Ohh." she sighed, then turned to Sakura, her hand held over her own heart.
"Hoooe?"
"Can we Aya-san?"
"Dress up?" he laughed.
"Hoooe?"
"Yes," Kyo nodded, "We have a library, but you need to ask Akito's permission before using it. And he's not happy with any of us right now."
"Whats wrong?"
"Li, you know a lot about us, the Sohma's I mean."
"Yes, but I still don't know a lot." Li swung a little higher, "I know that you told me to stay away from Akito when we switched, and I learned a little on my own from how the others in the dojo were speaking of him. He sounds like a sadistic bastard to me."
"He is." Kyo nodded and watched as the sky grew darker. "He met with Tohru, almost pulled the hair from her scalp. But I think she confused him, because it's been a couple of years since then, and he hasn't talked to her since. He's pretty much left us alone. But he ordered Yuki to him a couple of weeks ago…" he stopped talking and waited for Li to stop swinging.
"What?"
"He came home white as a sheet. Shaking. He said something about not feeling well and went to bed. I didn't even try to pick a fight with him. He was like something from the living dead." Kyo looked into Li's eyes and shook his head, "I don't even know if I should be telling you this, but…"
"Kyo, if I'm going to help you, I need all the information I can get."
"He keeps waking up, screaming almost. Like whatever is in his dream is so horrible that he can't even talk. So when he wakes up he's smothering in his own fear. The CAT smells it, the CAT likes it."
By the time Aya and Tomoyo had played dress up to their hearts content both Sakura and Tohru felt like the dolls the others had treated them like. Aya had tentatively asked Hana if she would like to play, but only got a vacant stare as the girl went back to reading one of Shigure's books that Aya had on display. Meilin and Uo had stayed in the front, sitting on one of the couches and sipping tea as they discussed various forms of martial arts. It was fully dark when they got back into the clothes they came in, and left, promising Aya that they'd visit again.
"Oh, please do, I know we had such a marvelous time!"
"Please come visit me, Aya-san, I've never had anyone critique my work before, and I just love your style!" Tomoyo was very happy with the looks she tried on Sakura. Some of them were bolder than anything she'd tried before, but she patted her camcorder… the future was something else all together.
They each ended up with a present outfit from Aya before they could get out the door. Even Uo, Hana and Meilin got one.
"I hope you all had a pleasant visit?" Tomoyo asked once they hopped on the train for Tomoeda.She was humming from left over enjoyment.
"It was very enjoyable. I liked listening to you to hash over styles. Pros and cons." Meilin commented. "It was relaxing to really do nothing but sit and talk, and I think that Uo and I might go see what Kyo's martial arts teacher is doing. Apparently Kyo's been bragging about his training again." Uo nodded.
"Stupid carrot top thinks he can brag and not back it up? Meilin's gonna challenge him to a match."
"Really?" Hana looked up from examining the contents of her present. So far she was pleased, it was black, but beyond that she couldn't really see.
"Yup."
"Last time we fought…" Meilin looked a little wistful, "it was cut short."
"You should wear your present when you fight him." Tomoyo commented, whipping her camera out to record the events. "Go ahead, look inside."
Meilin smiled when she opened her box and noticed thered fabric shimmering underneath. It was a short chinese style fight jacket, long with slits up the side until the seperation ended just under the breast line. In fighting they could be used assheilds or whips when used correctly. The under outfit was form fitting black stitched with goldlightning bolts so it looked like a frantic child had tried to draw lines with string. The cuffs of the pants flared out to hide the feet, the expanse of fabric could, once again, be used to confuse the opponent as well as deliver slight hits that would not be expected.
"This is beautiful." she noticed even that he had plucked a pair of soft dojo slippers out of thin air, that would fit her small feet. "The man has some talent."
thank you all for your reviews so far.
cheshire katt- i didn't even think yugi when i made up that outfit, but i had to use the coincidence anyway! thanks!
cheerful-pink star- gosh, you're wonderful for reading this and for cheering me on! thanks!
and- just to let the die hard fans know- i don't know what happens in fruits basket after the 8th book in the series so i'm going pretty much by the anime, where Tohru went to visit Akito and he flipped out.
the scene i promised in my first crossover between eriol and Akito is coming up... it's going to be a doosey once i finish writing it. hope i don't dissapoint!
