Author's Note: Chapter 7 might be a while because I have a bad case of writer's block. I will finish it, it just might take a bit longer than the 3 days I gave myself. Maybe 5... Anyways, if you would like to be notified of when Chapter 7 is up, leave your email in your review (and if you're a member of FF, you can use their handy dandy alert system, if you're not doing so already, and put my story on your alerts list).
Chapter 6
Kyo knocked a few times on the door of the house that Shigure had given him the address to. It was the second week in May, and he was on his vacation from work, visiting his family. Mr. Randall had hired a sub to take Kyo's place while he was gone. Kyo hadn't gone on vacation the first week in May because he wanted to make sure that his replacement could handle his class.
His class could get... well... a little misbehaved at times. Since it was compiled of students who were almost at black-belt level, the students were very skilled and it was mostly older students. But a few of the students were fairly young. These were the students who's parents enrolled them when they were four or so. The younger students would always provoke the older students, and even though most of the older students knew how to stay in control, some didn't. If the right student was provoked, a fight broke out. Kyo had stayed behind a week to see if his replacement could break up the fight. The replacement did a pretty good job, although he had a hard time with Michael. Michael was a very talented, yet very obnoxious, student. He always annoyed Brett, a student with a short fuse who had a hard time controlling his temper, and the two would constantly begin to spar each other. Kyo had found himself helping his replacement once or twice during his observation week to control the two boys. But eventually, when Kyo decided that his replacement had it down, he left to visit his family like he promised he would.
He was now waiting on Tohru's and Yuki's doorstep, waiting for someone to answer. He had visited Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame when they were all at the author's house the day before and had gotten everyone's addresses from the three men.
He heard scurrying on the other side of the door as he waited. It reminded him of Michelle when she'd hid his key, though he doubted that Tohru would be hiding keys from him. Eventually, the door opened, and Tohru stood in her cleaning clothes holding onto the hand of a screaming Samantha.
"Kyo!" she said happily. She ushered him inside. He followed her gesture and stepped into the house.
"What happened to Sam?" Kyo asked, concerned for the little girl.
"Oh, she tripped and scrapped her knee. She did it just seconds before you knocked, so I was in the bathroom fixing her knee. Sorry it took a while for me to get to the door," Tohru apologized.
"That's fine, no need to say you're sorry," Kyo explained. He looked around the house. It was clean, except for a small area in the living room that was obviously Samantha's play area as there were several toys scattered about.
"Why don't you come and sit down in the living room," Tohru said, gesturing for him to go through the doorway. He did as he was told and sat down on a cerulean couch. "So how are you, Kyo? I haven't seen you in a year!" Tohru exclaimed, once she had settled Samantha in the play area.
"I'm great. I'm renting a nice house, have an awesome roommate, and my job is going good, too," Kyo told Tohru. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but she remained silent. Kyo took a pause to see if she was going to say anything, and when she didn't, he continued. "Yeah, Mr. Randall couldn't find a house for one of the other teachers, Tani Hurotomi, so he made her my roommate. We each pay half of the rent. And over the year, we have become... well... a little more that friends," Kyo hinted. He gave a slight smile, trying to convince himself that he wasn't betraying Tohru by saying it.
"That's great that you found a girlfriend, Kyo," Tohru said. Kyo noticed that Samantha had stopped building with her blocks and was now listening to his and Tohru's conversation. The little girl kept her eyes on her mom, glancing occasionally at Kyo.
"Well, I haven't asked her yet, but we've discussed it. I'm going to ask her when I get back," Kyo explained. "Enough about me, tell me about you. How have you been?"
"Oh, just busy. In between work, taking care of Samantha, and keeping the house clean, I am quite busy most of the time," Tohru answered. "Not to mention that I have to do the shopping."
"Why doesn't Yuki help?" Kyo asked. He knew that Tohru didn't trust Yuki with the cleaning, and he knew very well that Yuki couldn't do Tohru's job for her, but he could at least help take care of his own child.
"He's been off on business trips, lately. He recently got promoted at work, and he has to do the traveling for his company," Tohru said, somewhat glumly. "But I don't mind. I manage since Sam has the daycare center I can take her to when I need to.
There was a silence in which Kyo wondered what he could say to make Tohru feel better about the situation, but before Kyo could say anything, the phone rang.
"Excuse me," Tohru said, getting up and answering the phone. "Hello?... Oh, hi Jina... What?... No, that's okay... No, I'll find another sitter...Really, I'll manage... Thanks anyways... Bye." With that, she hung up and walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch looking stressed.
"What was that about?" Kyo asked.
"Oh, the owner of the daycare center, Jina, canceled on me for Tuesday. Now I need to find another one, or skip work. But I can't very well do that as I have to grade finals that day," Tohru explained sadly. "I guess I just have to find another one."
"Why don't I watch Sam on Tuesday?" Kyo offered. He wasn't visiting anybody that day, so he wouldn't have had anything to do anyways.
"Would you?" Tohru practically begged. He nodded and she jumped up and hugged him.
"It's no big deal, really," Kyo said, trying to pry Tohru off of his neck as he was having some difficulty breathing.
"Oh, but it is," Tohru responded, sitting back down on the couch. "There is no way I would have found another babysitter by Tuesday. Thank you so much, Kyo. How can I repay you?"
"You don't have to," Kyo told her. "The only time I've spent time with Sam was that time when you hit me with your purse for doing so. And you need the break."
"Thank you again, Kyo," Tohru said. The two then began to converse about work, food prices, and random things about life. Before they knew it, three hours had passed. Kyo had said that he would visit Haru and Momiji today, as well, so he had to leave.
"See you Tuesday, then, Tohru," Kyo said as stepped out of the house. Tohru and Samantha were standing in the doorway, letting their guest out.
"Yes," Tohru responded. "At seven in the morning, if you can." Again, she looked like she wanted to tell him something, but she didn't.
Kyo knelt down so he was closer to Samantha's height. "I'll see you Tuesday as well. We're going to have lot's of fun, aren't we?" he asked the little girl. She nodded with a smile. Kyo then stood up, gave a final wave, and left Tohru's home.
On Tuesday morning, Kyo got up from his hotel bed at 6:00am. He showered, dressed in comfortable clothes, and rode the bus to Tohru's house. Once on her doorstep, Kyo knocked three times. The door opened and in the doorway was Yuki.
"Kyo," Yuki said, sounding somewhat surprised to see him.
"Yuki," Kyo responded. He stood on the door step, waiting for an offer to be let in.
"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked.
"I'm here to babysit Samantha," Kyo explained. Didn't Tohru tell him? Kyo asked himself.
"Oh. Jina must have canceled," Yuki said to himself. "Anyways, come in Kyo. Tohru is getting ready, and I was just about to leave for work. Samantha is sleeping, but I'm sure Tohru will wake her for you before she leaves." He then walked off towards the garage, where Kyo heard him start a car and drive away.
Kyo was left standing in the middle of the living room. He waited patiently for Tohru to come in, but he grew tired of being on his feet so he sat down in a rocking chair.
Tohru soon came out of her bedroom and saw Kyo sitting in the chair waiting for her. "Oh, Kyo, how long have you been waiting?" she asked sympathetically.
"Only five minutes or so. Yuki let me in," Kyo explained. "Is Sam still sleeping?"
"Yes," Tohru answered. "Speaking of which, I need to wake her up." She then walked back down the hall, and returned with a still sleepy-looking Samantha.
"Hey Sam," Kyo said pleasantly. She waved to him with one hand while she rubbed her eyes with the other.
Tohru bent down. "Sam, Mommy has to go to work, and Kyo is going to watch you until I get home. Is that okay?" Samantha nodded. "I'll see you later then, Sam." Tohru then walked out the front door, leaving Kyo alone with the five year old.
"You want breakfast, Sam?" Kyo asked her.
"Yes," she said. Her face then took on a thinking position as she pondered what to eat. She nodded when she had come to a decision. "I want waffles."
"Can do." Kyo walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer part of the machine. As he had expected, there was a package of toaster waffles inside. He took out the box, removed two waffles, replaced the box in the freezer, and stuck the waffles in the toaster. When they popped up, he set them on a plate and handed it to Samantha.
"What about the syrup?" she asked.
"Right," Kyo said, getting out the bottle of syrup.
After breakfast was finished and Kyo had cleaned up Samantha's syrup mess, she had asked to go to the park. They had found a swing and Kyo was pushing Samantha on it. She was telling him of the importance of flowers as he pushed her.
"Flowers are very pretty Kyo, and if you're ever sad, just look at one. Almost any kind will work. They remind you that no matter how bad the world seems, there will always be something good about it, something beautiful in the world that will make it better," Samantha explained.
"Wise words for such a small girl," Kyo replied.
"I thought that you might need to hear that. Mommy did after the last time you two saw each other. She was very sad when she remembered what you were talking about," Samantha said. Kyo stopped pushing the swing.
"What?" Kyo asked. She remembered, Kyo thought.
"Yeah. Mommy told me about it when I asked her what was wrong. She told me about how you left," Samantha responded. "I felt sorry for Mommy. You didn't let her explain what happened."
"What exactly did your mother tell you, Sam?" Kyo questioned.
"She said that right before you said you loved her, Daddy pulled her aside and said that he loved her. She had no idea that you were going to say the same thing, so she said she felt the same way," Samantha explained. "Then when you told her, she had to say no because she had already said yes to Daddy. You got mad and left without letting her tell you what happened. Mommy knew that you were mad at her, so she left you alone and went with Daddy, even though she wanted to go with you." The little girl looked up at Kyo.
He felt horrible. It wasn't Tohru's fault that him and her weren't together. It was his. Kyo hadn't let her explain. He had only taken off in a huff. If he had only listened to her, then maybe, just maybe, the two would be together now. "All this time, and I never knew," he said quietly to himself.
"Mommy and Daddy have been fighting a lot lately because of this, too," Samantha continued. "Daddy overheard Mommy telling me this and he got upset. They don't yell or anything, but I can tell they're mad at each other because of the tone in their voices. And when they go into the kitchen to talk about grown-up things, I know Daddy and Mommy are trying to fix things. They do a pretty good job because they don't talk about it for a long time. Until Mommy breaks down, and they have to talk about it again." Kyo could tell it was difficult for Samantha to be talking about her parent's fighting, but he was glad that she was telling him this. "They think I don't know what's going on. They think they hide that they fight. But I know what's happening. Ever since Mommy told me that story, I put it together that they were fighting about you."
"Thank you for telling me this, Sam," Kyo said, pulling the little girl into a hug. She is a very smart child to have figured this all out, Kyo thought. She is also a very strong child to have dealt with it by herself for this long. Neither of them felt like playing outside after that, so they walked back to the house. There, they watched movies, played board games, and read stories until Tohru came home.
"I see my house is still in order," Tohru said, walking in the front door.
"Mommy!" Samantha said, jumping up from the couch and running to her mother.
"Hey, Sammie. How was your day with Kyo?" Tohru asked, catching her running daughter in a hug.
"We had lots of fun! Can Kyo babysit me again tomorrow?" Samantha asked.
"Afraid not, Sam," Kyo said. "I leave on the plane back to my house tomorrow." The little girl was sad for a few moments, but quickly got over it when Tohru told her that she was going back to Jina the next day. "Well, I have to be going. Checkout is at noon tomorrow, and I have to clean up my hotel room. See you." He headed for the door.
"Wait, Kyo," Tohru said, grabbing onto his hand. He remembered what happened the last time he hadn't waited for her to talk and he instantly stopped walking.
"What?" Kyo asked.
"I have to tell you something. I remem-" she began. But Kyo had put his finger up to her lips to silence her before she could finish.
"You don't have to tell me," he said quietly. "Samantha explained."
"So you know what really happened?" Tohru said, on the verge of tears. Kyo nodded.
"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you," Kyo said, beginning to cry himself. He engulfed her in a hug. She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him back.
"I should have told you before you left five years ago," Tohru whispered. " But I didn't. I wanted to call you and tell you, but I got so wrapped up in things with Yuki that I eventually forgot about you and tried to move on. When I saw you again last year, it all came back after you reminded me." She buried her face into Kyo's jacket. When she continued, it was difficult to make out her muffled words. "Then I tried to talk about it with Yuki, but I didn't want to hurt him. So I told Sam and he overheard. We've been fighting a lot ever since."
As the two stood in each other's embrace, Kyo heard a car pull into the driveway. He knew it had to be Yuki. Samantha realized this, too, and went to greet him. Kyo pulled out of the hug, not wanting to get Tohru into any more trouble than she already was with Yuki. "Tohru, talk to Yuki again. I'm happy that we both know what happened in the past, but that's just it. It happened in the past. We have both found a new person and we both need to pay attention to that other person. No matter how hard that may be," Kyo said, kissing her on the forehead andwalking towards the door. It pained him to say those things to Tohru, but he didn't want Samantha to be put in the middle of a divorce. Kyo left out the front door just as Yuki and Samantha walked into the living room.
As he walked away, he could hear conversation coming through an open window. "I knew that having Kyo babysit wasn't good for you, Tohru," Yuki was saying. "I had a feeling you would have another breakdown andI was right. Do we need to talk about it?"
"Yes," Kyo heard Tohru's shaky voice say.
You did the right thing. It's best for everyone if it's this way, Kyo told himself. But another voice, the nagging voice in the back of Kyo's mind told him, It's good for everyone. Everyone but you and Tohru.
And a special thanks to my reviewers!
Fa11en Ange1: I'm glad you liked it! Thank you for reviewing!
Unchained3011: I like Tani as well. And I am flattered by your compliment. Thank you for reviewing, and don't worry yourself about the pairings. Everything will be resolved in the end.
KittySand Katie: Kyo does date Tani, but this is still a Kyoru fic, mind you. I will fix everything in the end. And I have to say, you are one of my favorite reviewers. You continue to leave a very nice review. You're always complimenting me for something and giving me something to laugh at as well. Thank you, and keep on reviewing.
Karen: (You reviewed twice for the same chapter! Don't ask why that's such a big deal, it just is) Only time will tell... But it's a very distinct possibility. As I said in this chapter, he is planning on asking her out soon. Need not to worry, though. This is a Kyoru. But that doesn't mean Kyo can't have other relations on his way. I mean, I don't want him to be lonely and depressed through the better part of my fic, do I? Okay, I do, but that is only when I'm in a bad mood, and I try not to write then because I take all my anger out on my main character, and then I end up causing an irreversible mess. And then I have to erase what I wrote and write a whole new thing. The whole process is very complicated. Anyways, thanks for reviewing!
Aria's Star: That is fine with me, as long as you do review. Very good advice. I was thinking of doing that, but when I wrote it, it sounded icky. So I rewrote it like I had it and I liked that version better. But I will use that advice later (I used it in this chapter, see?)
RayxJade: Don't worry. They will end up in the end (I won't tell you how or when, because that would give away the ending). And in Kyo's mind, since Tohru is seeing someone else, he can too, until they get together anyways. Just trust me.
ILOVEInuyasha07: He will go with Tani, although I can't guarantee that Tohru won't cause a bit of a disturbance in their relationship (not intentionally of course, Tohru wouldn't do that!). Things will work out in the end.
Tywell: Yay! Another reviewer! I'm glad you like my story.
Fallen Angel: I have two reviewers with that name. I really have no idea how I come up with the characters. People just pop into my head when I get a name, I describe that person, and boom! I have a character. I guess I could describe it as imagination, but that just doesn't sound right to me. Oh well. A mystery...
PTDM (easier to type, I think): I'm not going to be that evil to him. I'm glad you like my story enough to put it in your favourites and thanks for reviewing!