A/N: Sorry I've been so slack in updating… um, yeah! Here's another chappie!
3 AA
Lost without you
Chapter 3: Am I awake now?
"Kyo…?" Tohru's face turned towards his. Her face had a tender expression on it, eyes soft, with a small smile on her lips. She was getting closer to him. Far too close. He could feel the warmth of her right up next to him. If he put a hand out right now, he could easily pull an arm around her… He gulped, heart beating a million miles a minute, his throat too dry to say anything in response.
"Kyo?" Again, she called in a soft voice. He felt his face draw closer to hers, now able to smell the sweet scent of her hair. She closed her eyes, lips partly open as she raised her head to meet his mouth.
"Kyooo!"
"Nzzyaglph!" Kyo cried, eyes wide, as he sat bolt upright, the covers falling from his chest. Tohru blinked, then smiled at him, "Ah! You're awake, sleepy head. Did you sleep well?"
Kyo blushed deep crimson, "Y-Yeah, I did… I suppose." He frowned at her, "Why'd you go and wake me up anyway! It's not like I have to get up early. It's the weekend for crying out loud."
"Yes, but I have to go shopping and I wanted to make sure everyone had breakfast before I left." She maintained her smile, "Breakfast will be ready shortly, ok?"
She turned and left the room, humming quietly to herself. Kyo waited until she'd gone before lying back down and closing his eyes. His dream… he'd never had a dream like it before. It made him feel warm; however, terribly nervous at the same time. He sighed warily. Man was he in a bad state…
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Yuki looked up at Kyo as he entered the room, his toast halfway to his mouth. He smirked softly, "Well, well, the stupid cat finally awakes…" He didn't mean it in a bad way… it was just fun to irk Kyo. He was so… irkable.
Kyo glared at him for a moment before sitting in his chair with force, "Shut up… dumb rat."
Yuki suppressed a laugh, taking another bite out of his toast.
Shigure rolled his eyes once before addressing Tohru, "Ah, you're going grocery shopping this morning, aren't you Tohru."
Tohru grinned and nodded, "Yeah, that's right, Shigure. I just need to get a few things. We're running low on supplies, you know."
Shigure glanced over at the two boys, not able to help himself. He put on his wistful smile, "Ahh, where would we be without you, Tohru. Surely, we would be starving to death by now, were it not for your wonderful housekeeping skills."
Tohru smiled sheepishly, waving both hands at him ,"Oh, it's no trouble at all! I don't deserve such praise."
"God damn it, you dumb dog! Give it a rest for once, will you!" Kyo slammed a fist on the table, a drop of tea flying from his cup and landing on the table cloth.
Yuki nodded, "He's right, you know. Remember what happened last time you annoyed Kyo?"
Kyo had a flashback of last morning, when he'd overturned the table. He blushed. Ashamed. With no comeback, other than, "Dumb rat…"
The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence, broken when Tohru stood up, "Well, I have to go now. She picked up her plate and cutlery taking it to the sink.
"Tohru, would you like some company?" Yuki smiled softly at her, also taking his plate out into the kitchen, "I'm sure you could use the spare pair of hands."
"Yuki! Oh.. Um… that is… if you're not too busy… then, sure! It'll be fun!" She returned his smile, grabbing her purse.
Kyo watched the two leave. He couldn't help but feel he was a mistake by staying home…
Shigure glanced at Kyo, smiling to himself. It was funny… you wouldn't think that Kyo would turn out to be a lovesick puppy… but then again, there was something special about Tohru. It was obvious that Kyo had feelings for her. Heck, the only way he could make it more blatant would be to write the words: "I love Tohru!" on his forehead… However… Tohru seemed oblivious to him… Shigure shook his head, muttering, "Ahh, youth…" with a dorky smile on his face before scuttling off.
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"So, Tohru. What's on the list?" Yuki asked as the ambled towards the main part of town.
Tohru pulled the shopping list from her pocket, "Well… just normal food things. Um, rice… miso paste… leeks… oh, and Shigure wanted me to get him some Jelly Donuts. He insisted that he couldn't work without them."
"Hmm… that stupid dog…" Yuki shook his head, smile playing on his lips. He was in a good mood today. The many jobs of student rep could wait.
Tohru halted in mid-step, "Oh!" She cried with a slow smile dawning on her face. She raised a finger and pointed down the street, arm straight, "Hey, isn't that Sasuke?"
Yuki studied the figure in the distance for a moment before nodding, "Yes. I do believe you're right."
"Hey! Sasuke!" She called, waving a hand at him. Sasuke stopped and turned, cocking a head at the caller. When he saw who it was, a smile sprang onto his face,
"Tohru! What a coincidence! What are you doing out?" He asked, waiting for them to catch up.
"I just have some shopping to do. It's nothing much… What about you?"
"Oh, you know… I just thought I'd take a walk to get myself acquainted with the town."
Tohru blushed, bowing her head, "I'm so sorry I couldn't show you around before. I really wanted to." Her face brightened, "How about I make it up to you now? You're welcome to come shopping with me and Yuki. That is… if you want to."
Sasuke gave her a charming smile, "I'd love to!"
"Great! Um… is that ok, Yuki?"
Yuki looked from one to the other. He couldn't say 'no' without looking like an ass, now. It wasn't that he had anything against Sasuke… but he felt it was part of his job to make sure no harm came to Tohru; and Sasuke was an unknown element. He attempted a smile, "Of course it's ok."
"Then it's settled!" Tohru grinned, linking arms with both of them.
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Shigure stared blankly at his manuscripts… God… he needed a Jelly Donut… He rubbed an eye, yawning, before standing up.
"This is no good. How can I work without my donuts?" He whined to himself. He looked around for distractions… anything to get him away from his work. Hmm… reading? No… too much like work… Fixing the new hole in the wall that Kyo had made? No… that was work within itself…
It was then his own words echoed in his head from the day before:
"…So… what did this new person do to upset Kyo?"
"I'm… not exactly sure… Sasuke didn't exactly do anything to Kyo…"
"Ahh, I see…Well, don't worry… I'll talk to him…"
Shigure's eyes lit up after the brief flashback, a goofy smile on his face, "But of course! How could I let Tohru's request to unheeded!"
"Ohhh Kyoooo?" Shigure called, waltzing into Kyo's room.
"Yeah? What!" He didn't sound pleased…
"I've been meaning to have a little… talk with you…"
Kyo groaned and opened his mouth to complain, however, was cut off by Shigure, "Before you start yelling and screaming; I'm talking to you on behalf of Tohru."
Kyo shut his mouth, then blushed a little and looked to the side to avoid Shigure's gaze, "Well… if it's for Tohru… I guess that's ok…"
Shigure beamed and sat on his bed next to him, "Fantastic!" He paused and cleared his throat, getting into serious mode.
"Now, Kyo… I've heard that you're awfully upset about this new person in your class… why are you so hostile towards him?"
Kyo hunched his shoulders, trying to think of an excuse, "He's just… annoying…"
"Come now… I think there's a better reason than tha-."
Kyo cut him off, growling, "He's just annoying, ok!"
Shigure paused, before launching into dangerous waters, "It's nothing to do with Tohru… is it?"
Kyo's blush deepened. He clenched a fist and spoke through gritted teeth, "No! Of course it's nothing to do with her! This new guy's just so… so full of himself."
Shigure fought down a smirk, finding those words very hypocritical, "You can tell me the truth, you know…"
"It is the truth!" Kyo insisted, "And get off my back! It's not a crime to dislike someone, is it!"
"Fine, fine…" Shigure sighed. This was obviously going nowhere… "But if you ever want to come talk to me about it… my door's always open."
He stood and walked to the door. Just as he was about to leave he turned, leaving Kyo with one final piece of advice, "Tohru's growing up, you know… you won't be able to keep her to yourself forever…"
Shigure then shut the door, with excellent timing, as Kyo threw a pillow at the door. Hard. It burst, sending feathers all over the room, "That dumb dog doesn't know anything!"
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Kyo's head perked up as he heard footsteps. He stood up from where he'd been sitting on the porch and peered into the distance, "Finally… I'm starving."
"Oh hell…" He mumbled with wide eyes. He counted one more head than when they had left, "Please don't be Sasuke. Please don't be Sasuke…"
Luck didn't seem to be on Kyo's side today, "God… this has to be a bad dream…" He groaned, closing his eyes.
"Kyo! Look! We brought a visitor home!" Tohru called. Perhaps now the two could patch things over, face to face. At least, that was what she hoped, anyway.
Kyo opened his mouth to give Sasuke a piece of his mind, when he remember what Sigure had said… perhaps he should just calm down. Deep breaths… and count down from 10. Wow… it had worked for once, "Where's lunch! I'm hungry." Well, kind of.
Tohru blinked at him, before bowing her head low to the ground, "I'm sorry, Kyo! I didn't think It'd take that long; but we ran into Sasuke and everything. I promise I'll be on time next time." With each new sentence, she bowed her head.
Kyo sighed, feeling really cruddy about biting her head off like that, "Tohru, I, uh… um… it's ok… just… don't let it happen again." God… that wasn't an apology… he was such a jerk! He cringed, regretting the words as soon as they'd left his mouth.
"I-I'll just go get lunch started…" She stumbled inside, dropping the shopping bags on the kitchen floor.
Yuki followed after her, glancing at Kyo with a 'You-shouldn't-have-said-that-you-stupid-cat' look. Kyo returned it with a 'Well-at-least-I'm-not-a-dumb-rat' look.
Kyo broke the gaze to see where the intruder had gone…
"Oh Tohru! You're so funny." Sasuke laughed, helping her cut up some turnips in the kitchen. Damn! He was fast…
"You really think so?" Tohru smiled up at him. Kyo's eyes widened… was that… was she blushing! Forget whatever Shigure had said! He needed to get this asshole out of his house. NOW!
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A/N: Sorry… I'm going to have to stop it here… but, it's holidays! So I'll be updating regularly over the next fortnight… hopefully…
Catch y'all later! - AA 3