To my one faithful revierwer /bows/ Domo Arigatoh. Seriously, thanks! I'm glad that you're enjoying this story so far. I would have actually had this new chapter posted before Christmas, but...Open Office and I had a minor disagreement and it erased half of what I wrote and I had to rewrite all of it. I was highly irritated and lost all will to rewrite it. Haha...anyways. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor will I have ever have the pleasure of owning, Fruits Basket. Takaya-sensei does. I do own a nifty Furuba messanger bag now though. I lover it.


Chapter 4: Gather Around the Table

Tohru glanced over her chopsticks at her two friends worriedly. Neither had really eaten tonight and Kyo was currently moving this rice around the bowl with his chopsticks, his mind seemingly far off. His orange hair hung down like a curtain, shielding his eyes and his mouth was curved into a very faint frown. He's handsome, she thought. But more so if he's smiling. Inwardly she gasped. She had just thought that Kyo-kun was handsome. With a ever so slight shake of her head, she focused her attention towards her other friend. Yuki had much the same expression has his cousin. The only difference being that his hair wasn't hiding his eyes. Tohru slowly followed his gaze and realized that the young rat wasn't staring at anything in particular.

Shigure quietly ate his food, sparing glances between his three young charges. He had given up on trying to have a conversation earlier in the meal when all his efforts had been squashed by the stony silences of Yuki and Kyo. He could also tell that his little flower was starting to get worried by the silence. She knew something was wrong with them and he knew that it bothered her that they felt they couldn't tell her what it was. She was easiest person he had ever met to read. It was like reading a perfectly written book, where each word was spelled out clearly and the plot had no confusing loops and dangled lines. As he watched he noticed her studying Kyo, and watched as the very slight blush came to her porcelain skin. Oho, what's this?

Quickly the young girl tore her gaze from the sulking orange haired teen, and laid her eyes on the sulking gray haired teen instead. After a short while, Tohru sighed almost inaudibly then stood up, her empty bowl in her small hands. Slowly she began to clear the table of the dishes that weren't being used and began her nightly routine of cleaning up the kitchen.

"Tohru-kun?" Shigure called in in his sing-song voice.

"Hai?" she asked, turning to face him as she smiled. "Is there something you need Shigure-san?"

"Just to thank you for your selfless work and for preparing another of your wonderful home cooked meals for us again." Shigure smiled as she blushed slightly at his praise. Just wait for it, he thought.

"Oh! That's no problem at all! I mean it, it's the least I could do..." Tohru started quickly.

"Of course, if the boys aren't going to eat their portions of this delicious meal..."

"No! No, no, no. That's okay. I mean, obviously they're not hungry. It's okay. I should have known that maybe they weren't hungry and maybe have made smaller portions! It's okay, really."

The heads of the boys in question both snapped to attention when they realized they were being talked about. Both sets of eyes darted back and forth between Shigure and Tohru with varying expressions of annoyances passing their previously blank features.

"Why don't you shut up kuso inu!" Kyo screamed while standing up. "Mind your own business."

"Yes. For once I agree with the baka."

"What! Who asked you to agree with me! You shut up too!" Tohru felt dizzy with all the yelling going on. It always happened this way. The two teens were now standing face to face, just inches away from each other. Tohru vaguely wondered who was going to be the first to throw the punch this time. Then she remembered that Yuki-kun had been going out of his way to not fight with Kyo-kun. So she waited. Finally, Yuki blew a long breath out and backed away.

"What's wrong sissy boy? Decide I'm too much for you this time?" Kyo grumbled.

"No, I simply decided that it was beyond my efforts to teach you a lesson. Again. I really need to find someone who can at least put up a decent fight. You bore me." With that, Yuki turned to Tohru. "Honda-san, I am truly sorry for being distant lately. I just needed time to think."

"Oh, eh? That's fine Yuki-kun. I was just worried...I...I just hope you know that you can always tell me if something is wrong."

"Of course Honda-san. If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go upstairs now. I'm pretty tired. It's been a long day." Yuki bowed slightly to Tohru, then turned around and headed upstairs. All Tohru could do was stand and look at the spot Yuki had been in, a confused look on her face.

"O-of course Yuki-kun. Rest well," she finally said quietly. Bending down slightly, she started to clean up his dishes her eyes resting for a moment on his bowl of half-eaten rice. Slowly and methodically Tohru began her process for finishing the dishes. "Kyo-kun," she started softly, looking over her shoulder at him. "If you're done eating also, it's okay. I'll clean it up." Kyo started to say something but from after a reproachful glare from Shigure, the young neko changed his mind.

"I'm hungry," he said quietly as he picked up his chopsticks. Taking a tentative bite he realized he was hungry and happily dove into his bowl of rice, only pausing to grab at pieces of fish that were in front of him as well. Smiling happily, Tohru turned back to her dishes and started to hum happily to herself as she finished what little she had. Grinning in almost mischievous way, Shigure sat back on his zabuton and sighed exaggeratedly. As he sat there he thought that maybe he wouldn't be as manipulative as he was if people didn't play right into his hands. Really, it was like writing and the people he played with were his pens.

"Well Tohru-kun," he said after a few minutes of happy silence. "I think, after that glorious meal I have the will and inspiration in me to go and finish my novel for Mii tomorrow."

"Finish?" she asked confused. "But I thought you finished it last night? Isn't that what you were working on?" Her head tilted to the side a little bit, questioning.

"Gasp! Tohru, are you implying that I shouldn't exert myself? To make sure that my book is the absolute in perfection, especially after your wonderful meal has made it possible for me to try and improve what will, undoubtedly, be the greatest book I have ever written!" Shigure looked up her standing form, a twinkle in his eyes and a frown to match his mock outrage. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

"Eh! NO! No, no, no, no, no," Tohru exclaimed wildly. "I would never presume so much! Please, forgive me?" she said all this in one breath, while simultaneously waving her arms in front of her, as to ward off some unseen evil, and bowing to a giggling Shigure. Before she knew what was happening her world was moving in slow motion as she began to learn forward, her small center of gravity overcompensating for her many different movements. Things just slowed down as she saw a flash of orange and felt strong arms around her, steading her. She silently waited for the inevitable 'poof' to follow. When nothing happened she slowly opened her eyes and came face to face with Kyo.

"H-how is it that you didn't transform?"

"Well, if I don't hold you my chest it doesn't count right? Thought you would have figured that out by now," he said with a shrug. After a quick glance over the girl to make sure she was okay, Kyo finally let go of her. The two teens held each other's gazes, each feeling the slight blushes coming to their cheeks. Shigure, meanwhile, had quietly gotten up and made his way to his study. If things were to go the way he wanted, then the two in the kitchen would need some time alone, without his jokes. If only occasionally. Shigure didn't honestly think he could pass up opportunities like this all the time, it went against his nature. Tohru broke their locked eyes first, by bending down to pick up the last of the dishes.

"You know, you really shouldn't let that kuso inu get to you so easily. He was just teasing you," Kyo remarked, a very faint smile on his face. "He's a sadistic bastard that way." He said the last thing at an almost low growl, glaring in the direction of Shigure's study. Tohru paused in picking up the dishes, half bent over the table with her hands on a a plate.

"T-teasing? Why would Shigure-san tease me about his work?" she finished, standing up to face Kyo. She knew that Shigure-san harassed his poor editor, but she always thought he took his work seriously. Noting Tohru's confused expression, Kyo shook his head.

"Nevermind. Forget I said anything," he said, his voice slightly annoyed. With a nod, Tohru finished cleaning off the table and set the dishes in the sink. "You...really are hopeless. You know that?" he said quietly with a fond smile. Sitting back down at the table, Kyo was content to watch her do the dishes. He knew he didn't have enough time in his life to spend with the girl, but he wanted to spend whatever time he had before his inevitable confinement with her. "Tohru?" Kyo asked after a few minutes. "About what Yuki said earlier? About apologizing? I...I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to cause you any worry." Even if he knew that apologizing was the right thing to do, it didn't make it any easier. He hadn't apologized for anything until he met her. Tohru turned to him and blinked.

"I should be the one apologizing Kyo-kun. You two told me yourselves that you get quiet when you have a lot on your minds. I just assumed it had something to do with," Tohru paused. She didn't know if they knew about her confrontation with Akito-sama. She knew that there was a chance that Akito-sama had told them, and had taken his anger out on the rest of the jy?nishi. But none of the members had mentioned anything to her, and she had hope that they would. She had been worrying for no reason, she realized. Oh Mom. I just can't stop worrying. Especially after my talk with Akito-sama. Oh, what am I going to do? "I really am hopeless, just like you said Kyo-kun."