Vignette Two: Little Did I Know…

Summary: I have fallen in love with her. I mean, she may be a mean, sarcastic gang girl, but she's my mean, sarcastic gang girl.

A/N: And here we have the second vignette for my collection. Painfully short, I know, but I'm writing all the scenes that play out in my mind. Some are longer than others. ;)

Kyo's PoV again.

xxxx

Ten years ago if you were to ask me, "Do you think you'd ever fall in love with that Uotani girl?" I'd have laughed in your face. But now…

I have fallen in love with her. It was hard not to. I mean, she may be a mean, sarcastic gang girl, but she's my mean, sarcastic gang girl. I didn't think it would happen. I tried so hard to ignore that flutter in my stomach every time she smiled or whacked me over the head. I tried to convince myself that I hated her. That we fought because we couldn't really get along. But then something happened to change that.

I remember the time I caught her walking home after school. It was dark, storm clouds building on the horizon. The wind had picked up, but it wasn't raining yet. She had stopped at the little park a few blocks away. Sometimes I'd like to cut through there…the scenery was nice, and it was a good way to clear my mind. She was just sitting there under a big tree, leaning against the trunk with a book open in front of her. A novel.

It gets hazy there, but my next sequential memory is of me sitting under that tree with her. She looked up at me and put her book down. She smiled – the first real smile she had ever directed at me.

"Hey, Orangey. What are you doing out here?"

Her voice was so calm…so relaxed. She had never been like that at school or with our little 'group.' I always liked to think that she was a sour Yankee with no emotions. I was wrong. I told her that I was just passing through on my way home.

Somehow I opened up to her that day. Spilled my heart. Or at least some of it. Told her how angry I was with Yuki, how much I appreciated everything Tohru had done for my family. She was so accepting of me, as though she knew that one day everything that concerned me would concern her, too. She was perceptive enough to offer me advice. Little did I know that one day that advice would become my saving grace.

Little did I know that one day I would ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.

She offered me her umbrella when it finally started to rain. It was under that umbrella that we shared our first kiss.

End vignette two.