Chapter 2
After Kyo had finally composed himself around 5:00, he had decided to go for a walk. It was drizzling outside, so he pulled his collar up around his neck and continued to walk. There weren't many people outside at 5:00 in the morning, but there were a few people. Kyo wondered if any of them were out walking for the same reason he was. He doubted it though.
As he walked, he heard an almost silent patter of feet behind him. "Hello mister," a little girl said, walking up behind him, almost making Kyo jump.
"Hey," Kyo responded. "Where's your mom? You shouldn't be wandering the streets alone." Kyo looked at the girl. She had brown hair, blue eyes, and looked to be about 3 or 4 years old.
"My mom is back there," the girl said, pointing behind her. "But you looked sad, and I thought you needed a friend."
"Did you tell your mom where you went?" Kyo asked, stopping. He didn't want the little girl getting in trouble for wandering off.
"No," she said simply.
"Well, I think you should get back to your mom. Lets go find her," Kyo said, taking the girls hand and turning her around.
As he started walking with the little girl, he heard a woman screech, "Get your hands off of my daughter!" The woman then ran up to him and began smacking Kyo with her purse. "Let go of her!"
"Ow! Lady, stop! I was just- ow!- going to- ow!- help her- ow!- find you!" Kyo said in between blows.
The lady then ceased hitting him, with a quick, 'Sorry.' She then focused her attention on her daughter. "Samantha Sohma! How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers?"
Sohma?, Kyo thought. He then looked at Samantha's mother. She had the same brown hair as her daughter. It can't be...
"Tohru?" Kyo said quietly, not quite sure whether he was right.
"Yes?" the woman asked, her eyes still focused on her daughter. "Wait... how do you know my name?" The woman then turned to look at Kyo. Her eyes went wide.
"Kyo?" It was Tohru. She smiled at him. "Hey..."
"Hey. It's been a while," Kyo said, smiling back.
"Yeah," she responded. There was an awkward silence in which neither of them could think of anything to say. Samantha just looked at the two adults, somewhat confused.
Kyo broke the silence saying, "So, I see you had a daughter. Yuki's the father, isn't he?" Kyo was trying to remain calm and casual, but you could hear the hurt in his voice.
Tohru nodded. "Yes, he is. We're married now."
"I... I know. I saw on the T.V. this morning," Kyo explained. When Tohru looked confused by his statement, he continued. "The 'Weddings' show. It was on this morning, and I saw."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. That must have been at least 4 years ago," Tohru said, looking down at the ground. Kyo thought that she was trying to avoid his gaze.
"It seems you're very happy now. I heard you were a cooking teacher," Kyo asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Tohru nodded. She still looked at the ground. Then, seeming to remember something, she gasped. "We're late! Come on Sam!" She grabbed her daughter's hand, but before leaving, she turned to Kyo. "It was nice to see you again, Kyo." She then dashed off, to wherever she was going this early in the morning.
Kyo could hear Samantha asking, "Was that uncle Kyo?" and Tohru answering, "Yes, now hurry! Mommy's late for work, and we still have to get you to daycare!" Kyo couldn't help but smile. Same old Tohru. In a hurry and distracted too easily.
His smile soon faded, though, as he began to think about the last time he had seen Tohru. Him and her had been rather close, and one didn't go anywhere without the other. Shigure referred to them as dating. They weren't, of course, but the thought had entered Kyo's mind several times. Once he had finally mustered up the courage to actually ask her, it created a painful memory that he hated to think about. But the memory came flooding back to him as he walked down the street to his home.
..."Tohru, meet me outside later. Around 8:00pm?" Kyo asked. She nodded. "Okay, see you at 8:00 then." Kyo then went to the flower store and bought her a bouquet of roses. It was rather expensive, but Kyo wanted the night to be special, so price wasn't an issue.
At 8:00, Kyo waited outside near the forest in the back yard. Kyo lied a blanked down under a tree, and was waiting for Tohru there. She finally showed up, about 15 minutes late, apologizing for about 5 minutes, saying something about having to talk to Yuki, before Kyo got the point across to her that he was fine with her being late. She smiled and looked up at the starry sky.
"It's beautiful out tonight, isn't it Kyo?" Tohru asked him. He looked up at the sky as well. There wasn't a single cloud to obscure his vision of the stars and the crescent moon.
"Yeah," he responded quietly. He picked up the bouquet. "Tohru, these are for you," he said, handing her the bouquet. She took them happily, kissing him on the cheek and hugging him.
"You're so sweet to me," she said, setting the bouquet aside and turning to face Kyo. "What did you want to see me for, Kyo?"
"I have something to tell you," Kyo said. "Tohru, I've felt this way for a while now, and I need to tell you..." He had trouble vocalizing his feelings.
"What is it, Kyo?" Tohru asked.
"Tohru I... I really like you, Tohru," Kyo explained. He couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted to.
"I like you too, Kyo," Tohru responded. It frustrated Kyo that she didn't get his real meaning. He sighed, looked her right in the eyes, and tried again.
"No, Tohru, that's not what I mean. What I'm trying to say is... is that... I... I love you, Tohru," Kyo stammered. It was a very difficult thing to say. He turned the other way.
"Oh, Kyo," Tohru said. Her voice was full of sympathy; not what Kyo had been expecting. He hoped she would have been excited, and hoped she would have felt the same way. But she wasn't excited, and she didn't say she felt the same way. She sounded the exact opposite, and used an almost pitying voice. "Kyo, I wish I could say the same, but I can't." She glanced at the house nervously, as if she was afraid that someone was watching them.
Kyo looked at her, confused, ready to cry. He hung his head. "Kyo, I'm sorry," she apologized.
Kyo just shook his head at his own stupidity. "It's Yuki, isn't it?" She nodded. He bit his lower lip to keep himself from saying something stupid.
"Kyo, I am really sorry," she tried to apologize again.
Kyo shook his head again. Standing up he said, "You can't apologize for your feelings." He began to walk away, but Tohru grabbed his hand, halting him.
"Kyo..." she started.
He yanked his hand out of her grasp. "Don't even try it! I don't want to listen to it!" he snapped. He knew he shouldn't have been yelling, but he wasn't in control of himself. He let his anger get the better of him. "I have to go." Kyo walked into the house, and up the stairs to his room. He collapsed onto the bed, forcing himself not to cry. He eventually fell asleep, waking up in the morning feeling horrible.
He walked down the stairs to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal. He sat down at the table where Tohru, Yuki, and Shigure were already eating their breakfasts. Kyo tried to ignore them by looking only at his cereal.
"Good morning, Kyo," Tohru said to him pleasantly. When he didn't respond, she too looked down at her cereal. Shigure noticed Kyo's cold behavior.
"Kyo, can I talk to you?" Shigure asked.
"I don't really want to," Kyo said rudely.
"Well, I want to talk to you, so you're coming with me and we're having a little chat," Shigure demanded. Kyo glared at him, but reluctantly followed as Shigure led Kyo to his office.
"You mind telling me what's with you and Tohru? What happened to my happy little couple?" Shigure asked playfully after the door to his office was shut.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Kyo responded. They both sat down; Shigure sat in the chair behind his desk and Kyo sat in the chair in front of it.
"Did something happen last night?" Shigure asked, becoming more serious, seeing that Kyo was really upset.
"Yes, something happened," Kyo said bluntly, ignoring Shigure's looks of encouragement to continue.
"Well, what was it?" Shigure asked, realizing Kyo wasn't going to continue without a little boost to make him do so. Kyo just looked at the ground, not responding. "It was something bad, wasn't it?" Kyo nodded. "You can tell me. I'll try to help."
Kyo sighed. "I told her, Shigure. I told her how I felt," Kyo began, crying slightly. "She told me she loved Yuki."
"Kyo..." Shigure began to say. But Kyo wasn't finished talking.
"I tell her I love her, and she tells me she loves Yuki!" Kyo shouted through tears. He pounded his fist on Shigure's desk.
"Keep it down Kyo. I'm guessing that Tohru and Yuki can hear you in the other room. Do you want that?" Shigure asked, trying to calm Kyo.
"Let them hear! Let Tohru hear how much she hurt me! Let Yuki hear how much trouble he's caused! I want them to hear it!" Kyo shouted, standing up and pacing back and forth.
"Calm down Kyo. I know you're hurt, but you need to calm down. Is there anything I can do?" Shigure asked, getting up from his desk, in case Kyo was mad enough to throw something.
"Yeah. Get me out of this damn house. I want to get as far away as I can from her!" Kyo shouted, pointing in the direction of the kitchen. "I don't want to be around her! Or him! I just want to leave!"
"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I can't guarantee anything, though. I'll talk to Akito tomorrow and see if he'll give you permission to live in the 'outside', without living at mine or Kazuma's house, that is," Shigure explained. "But until I talk to him, you're going to have to control yourself. I don't want any more outbursts like this one."
"Okay," Kyo said, taking a deep breath. Shigure then called Hatori and scheduled a meeting with Akito for the next day. Hatori said that Kyo didn't need to come to the appointment.
Kyo then left Shigure's office, and headed for his room. As he passed the living room, he saw Yuki hugging a sobbing Tohru. Kyo stopped mid-step to listen to what they were saying. Yuki was saying things like, 'It's okay. Kyo's just upset,' and 'He doesn't hate you Tohru. Who could hate you?'
Kyo just rolled his eyes and walked up to his room. He spent the rest of the day in there, doing nothing in particular, mainly sleeping.
He waited patiently for the next day to come. Shigure left for his meeting with Akito, and came back with the news that Kyo could move out, as long as he remained in contact with someone in the family so he didn't disappear again. Shigure offered to be the person Kyo kept contact with and Akito agreed. Then during the next few days, the process of Kyo finding an affordable apartment and moving out took place. It took exactly a week. Kyo kept in contact with Shigure by sending him letters about what was going on. In Shigure's return letter, it always stated how much money Kyo owed him. "So there would be proof that you borrowed the money," Shigure said. Kyo hadn't seen any of them since. The letters had been Kyo's only contact with anyone in the Sohma family- until he had seen Tohru again...
When Kyo got back to his apartment, he found that his mood hadn't improved one bit. If his walk did anything, it made his mood worse. Bumping into Tohru hadn't been a real pleasant experience. He sank into the couch, pushing the thought to the back of his mind. Don't think about it, Kyo. It'll only make your mood worse, he told himself.
Kyo picked up the paper and pulled out the Classified Ads. Maybe there'll be a job I like. Then again, I probably won't get the job. But I can still try. Kyo flipped through the pages. Not seeing a job he wanted, he sat the paper down on the coffee table. Kyo sat there, staring at it, willing the pages to show him something he could use. He knew very well that the ads wouldn't budge, but he still stared. Then something caught his eye. He picked up the ads and searched for the ad he'd seen. When he found it, he smiled. It was perfect; what he'd always wanted to do with his life. And here it was, in the paper. Kyo grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the ad out.
He walked over to his phone, and dialed the number provided. He was greeted with a pleasant, "Hello?"
"Um, hi. Is this Mr. Randall?" Kyo asked, using the name listed in the ad.
"Yes it is. May I ask who is calling?" the voice on the phone, whose name was apparently Mr. Randall, responded.
"Yeah, my name is Kyo Sohma, and I'd like to apply for a job," Kyo answered, trying not to sound nervous. He had never really talked to a manager when he asked for a job. There was always a secretary who answered. She immediately asked if he had a resume, and when he said no, the secretary would always say, "I'm sorry, but you're not the type of person we're looking for."
"Okay, Kyo. Come on over, and I'll interview you. We'll see from there," Mr. Randall explained.
"Sure! But... I don't have a resume or anything," Kyo replied.
"That's perfectly fine. I always thought resumes were a waist of my time to read over, anyways. I'd much rather meet the guy in person, and if I like him, and think he can handle the job, I give it to him. Or her, if you'd rather," Mr. Randall explained. Kyo laughed. He could tell he already liked this Mr. Randall guy.
"I'll see you when I get there then," Kyo said. With that, he hung up the phone and walked out of his apartment.
And a special thanks to my reviewers!
Fallen Angel: Thanks for reviewing anyways, Mary. I'm glad you liked it a second time. lol.
KittySand Katie: Wow! My first fic and already it's in a C2 and on somebody's favorites list! Thanks!
Lilshrimp thingy: I'm glad you liked my story so much! I update when I get 5 reviews on a chapter, so just be patient.
Purejoy: Rest assured, it will be. Just because Tohru is married to Yuki doesn't mean she won't end up with Kyo. Wait and see...