Um. Right. So I have no excuse this time for taking so long. All I can say is, I'm incredibly sorry! I'm just soo lazy. But you can probably expect the next update soon since I left off at a cliffy, even for me. I'mplotting this as I go along so I really don't know what's going to happen except for maybe a few vague plotlines. Again, I'M SORRY!

I don't know if I can update every week. But you can definitely expect an update once a month. ABSOLUTELY! This fic is getting finished. In fact, this month, you'll probably get two updates since this is so early into the month. YAY! We get to find out what happens!

Chapter 8

"Shigure-san?" Tohru asked. She was standing in the doorway of his study. He was…working again. Two days in a row. (A/N:Shudder:)

Shigure looked up from his computer screen. "Hai, Tohru-chan?"

"Uo and Hana invited me to go to see a movie with them today. I've cleaned the house already. And did the laundry. I made lunch too since I probably won't be back in time for it. So is it all right if I go?"

"Of course! You don't have to ask for my permission, Tohru." Shigure exclaimed.

"Thanks Shigure!"

She turned around and was about to leave, when Shigure asked, "Tohru, where are Yuki and Kyou? I haven't heard anything from either of them all morning. Not since breakfast, anyway."

"Oh, well, Yuki went to his secret base right after breakfast and I think Kyou is training somewhere in the woods."

"Not fighting some bears, I hope." Shigure said dryly. "Well, have a good time.

"Thanks! I will!" With that, Tohru turned to leave.

Tohru put on her shoes and started walking. It was going to take a while to get to the theatre.

The invitation had come as a surprise. While Tohru was waiting for the laundry to dry, the phone had rung. It was Uo; she had the day off from her job and Hana was free too. So the two of them had decided to go see a movie and wanted to know if Tohru could come too. She had told them she'd ask Shigure and that if she could, she'd meet them in front of the movie theatre at 12:00. And if she didn't show up, it meant she couldn't come. Uo had agreed (unwillingly though, she wanted Tohru to be a little more in charge) and they had said bye.

Tohru was excited to be spending the day with her friends; she felt like she hadn't seen them in forever.

When Tohru finally got to the theatre, it was a little after 12. She found Uo and Hana standing in front of the entrance. Hana was wearing her usual black and Uo had on her Yankee coat. Everyone around them was giving them their space, unsure of what to make of the two girls.

Tohru smiled. She yelled, "Uo! Hana!" as she ran up to them.

"Glad to see you could make it, Tohru. We weren't sure if you were going to come. We thought you might have ditched us in favor of Prince Yuki or Orange-Top." Uo teased.

"No, they both had other things to do today," Tohru said quite seriously. Uo and Hana laughed; their naïve friend hadn't gotten the joke.

"Come on, let's get our tickets. What movie do you want to see, Tohru?" Hana asked.

"Oh, whatever you guys want. I don't really care. As long as I'm with you guys." Tohru said, grabbing her two friends and pulling them into a hug. It felt nice to be able to hug someone and not worry about them changing into one of the 12 animals of the zodiac.

"No, really though. You pick a movie. We always watch what Uo or I want. You choose this time." Hana insisted.

"Yeah Tohru." Uo added unnecessarily.

"All right, all right. You guys are so nice to me. Um…I choose the new Anime movie. That looks good."

"All right then! We'll see the new Anime movie!" Uo yelled. Again, quite unnecessarily.

Tohru laughed. The three got their tickets and then sat through a 90 minute movie about magic and dragons and a hero and heroine who of course fell in love despite all the obstacles they faced. And together they defeated the evil guy who wanted to destroy the world.

As they were exiting the cinema, "That was sooooo cool! I loved it! The Hero and Heroine were so KAWAII together!" Tohru yelled.

"Yeah! But my favorite part was where the Heroine used her staff and hit the bad guy in the stomach with it! He completely doubled over and was WHEEZING! And then she used her magic to kill his pet bird. HE CRIED! It was so hilarious!" Uo eagerly said to Tohru and Hana.

"Yeah, well, my favorite part was the ending. When the Hero and Heroine kissed and then flew off into the sunset to live the rest of their lives together, delegating peace between the dragons and the humans. I almost cried at that part; it was SO SWEET!" Hana put in.

"Oh my god, you are sooo right. THAT was the best part!" yelled Uo and Tohru together.

The three sighed all at once. Then they looked at each other.

And burst out laughing.

"That was the worst movie I've seen in a long time!" Uo said, wiping a tear away.

"I know! It was so bad, it made my face turn green!" Hana said before continuing to laugh in a maniac manner.

"It was bad, wasn't it? It didn't make any sense at all. Although, the Hero and Heroine were kawaii," Tohru said. Hana, who had gotten control of herself, and Uo looked at her. "All right, it was bad all around. I'm sorry I chose such an awful movie."

"No, it's all right. It made us laugh our heads off, didn't it?" Hana said.

Tohru brightened. "Yeah, you're right."

"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Uo asked.

"I have an idea. Let's window-shop. See all the things we'd buy if we had the money." Hana had an idea.

"That sounds like fun!" Tohru said. "Let's get to it. Why don't we start with…" Tohru looked around. Finally spotting a clothing boutique, "There! They have the coolest clothes in the window!"

For the rest of the day, the girls window-shopped. Hana and Uo got plenty of ideas for Tohru's birthday gifts. As for Tohru, well she was pretty much clueless as to why her friends kept asking her 'if she liked such and such'. But then she didn't really care anyway.

When Tohru finally got home, it was a little after 6. Taking off her shoes, she entered the living room. Yuki was there, doing his homework for the weekend.

"Hi, Yuki-kun! How was your day?" she asked him.

"Oh, it was okay. Kagura nee-chan came over, looking for the baka neko. She said she hadn't seen him in a while. He wasn't here so she and I talked for a while. It was nice." Yuki said.

"I'm glad." Tohru said, heading into the kitchen. She had to start dinner soon otherwise it'd be late. Yuki followed her into the kitchen.

"And how was your day with Uotani-san and Hanajima-san? Did you have a good time?"

"The BEST!" Tohru clapped her hands in excitement. "We saw the worst Anime movie but it was so much fun laughing about it. And then we window-shopped! I had such a fun time. And we got ice cream because none of us felt like eating lunch and we could carry them around. And then Hana got some ice cream on her nose because she took this big bite and it was sooo funny. Uo and I laughed so hard and she couldn't figure out what we were laughing at until she finally saw her reflection in the window. It was sooooooo hilarious!"

Yuki laughed, imagining Hanajima-san with ice cream on her nose. And then he smirked, realizing why she and Uotani-san decided to go window-shopping.

"I'm happy you had such a great time, Honda-san. You need to go out with Hanajima-san and Uotani-san more often, if it'll make you smile like this. I like seeing your smile; it's very pretty." Yuki said.

Tohru blushed. She didn't know what to say. Yuki's gaze on her was uncomfortable but for some reason, she was glad it was on her. Why did she feel this way? When had she started feeling this way?

Her thoughts were interrupted when the kitchen clock yelled, "Cookoo! Cookoo!"

Tohru jumped. "Oh! It's 6! I'd better get started on dinner." Tohru got out some pots and pans, a few vegetables, and a couple of knives. She poured some water into a big pan, and set it on the stove, on high. While it boiled, she started cutting carrots.

Yuki watched her carefully, memorizing where everything was. He'd have to know when the time came for him to bake the –gulp- Birthday Cake. Suddenly, Yuki had an idea.

"Honda-san. Would you like some help? I'm not busy at the moment, and it'll make it go faster."

"Um…sure, Yuki-kun! Um…why don't you start making the salad? There's some lettuce in the vegetable crisper along with the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and raddish. And the salad bowl is in that cabinet over there." Tohru was a little bit hesitant in letting Yuki help her. She'd heard Shigure describe Yuki's infamous attempts at cooking and was a little bit nervous. But she decided that he could make the salad. After all, it didn't require any baking or heating.

Tohru turned to Yuki. He hadn't moved since she'd told him where the vegetables were.

"Is something wrong, Yuki-kun?"

Yuki paused and then said, "Um…Honda-san? Where's the vegetable crisper?" (A/N: -sweat-drops-)

Tohru sweat-dropped. "It's in the refrigerator."

"Okay, thanks." Yuki said with a sigh of relief. Tohru got back to cutting up her carrots. Yuki got out the lettuce and the cucumber, tomatoes, etc. He carried it over to the counter, next to Tohru, so he could work alongside her. Then he got out the salad bowl. He also grabbed a knife.

Sorry, I left it off at such an awful place. I just got tired of writing so I stopped. But don't worry! You'll get to know what happens soon! I promise!
-conveniently forgets previous promises broken to update quickly-

Shout-outs:

Angela Dawne: Hi! Really, it's excellent? Aw, shucks, you make me blush! Update your stories soon too!

Willowcrickett: Someone as talented as me? Geez, I've never been this red before in almost all my entire life. THANKS SO MUCH. I'll check out your work soon as I post this! And thanks for telling me about the typo. I'm too lazy to go back and fix it but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll remember to spell-check from now on!

Kea Jaganshi: Thanks so much!

miyahiii miya ha ha: Thanks! And you're right, Tohru will probably go crazy saying, "Oh, that's not necessary! Really I can do it!" LOL. I can just imagine her.

Joyce: Thanks again! And don't worry,I don't plan to stop anytime soon!

hatori obsessor: OH MY GOD! I love you! You gave me such great ideas! Thanks so much! I will definitely give you credit when the time comes! THANKS AGAIN!

Suriana Amaya: "very original and well-written"; "truly a pleasure to read"those words made me soooo happy. I'M SO HAPPY! Thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it!

SerenaClearwater: Oooohhhh! It was a subliminal message. I get it now. (I think).-sweat-drops- Anyway...do you know about Author Alerts? You can make it so you get an email every time a story that you like gets updated. Or you can put the story under favorites. Er...ignore me if I'm being bull-headed and didn't completely understand your review again. I hope you remember to read this story...bye!

Dark Inu fan: THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA! Thanks so much! And keep reading! And reviewing!

Animefreakkagome: Still feel that way? LOL. Sorry. I promise to try and update faster. But I can't make any garuntees. Keep reading please! You're the longest continuing reviewer I have so far and that really makes me happy! I hope you liked this chapter.

eni: your review didn't show up! Oh well, you gave me an amazing one in class! I'm keeping it under general. I just don't think it's that funny. sorry...er...i think...see you in school!

Bye everyone! Till next time!

-RiceBallPlum

Enjoy.
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Otherwise you lose.