Kyo could see Tohru on the porch waiting for him as he crept out of the woods with Haru. She had that usual expression of worry on her face, the one where she thought someone might miss dinner. He sighed and instinctively grabbed Haru's hand, pulling the cow behind a tree before they came in sight of the house. Hatsuharu had that annoying/endearing blank look on his face as Kyo whispered to him.
"Look. I know I'm being ridiculous, but please act normal…normal for you, I mean. Just don't be weird. You know," Kyo tapped the cat collar. "Please?"
The blank look on Haru's face changed to a smirk. "Kytten, you're the one who invited me. Shouldn't you be nicer to your guest?"
Kyo could only worry about what he had gotten himself into as they came out into the clearing and he let go of the cow's hand. Tohru waved to Kyo emphatically but stopped for a second in confusion when she saw Haru. By the time they got to the porch, however, she was all sunshine once again.
"Haru! I didn't know you were coming to dinner! I'm so glad to see you again," she took his arm and led him inside as Kyo followed, looking at his feet and blushing crimson.
Yuki and Shigure were sitting at the table and looking at Hatsuharu with interest.
"Well, Hatsuharu, how nice to have you over again," Shigure said, keeping his face in a sincere smile.
Yuki, however, let his interest in the situation show. "So, what brings you here today?"
Kyo looked up from the floor in horror. This was so fucking poorly planned! He hadn't thought this through. What was Haru going to say? Oh god. He walked faster to try and pull Haru away from this mess. If he could just reach him…
A bump in the carpet ruined the plan as Kyo gracefully stumbled to the floor face-first, bell jangling all the way down.
Everyone turned around, including Haru, whose blank face betrayed no sign of worry for Kyo's accident.
"Kyo are you okay!" Tohru rushed over. "Sorry, I should have smoothed out the carpet. I'm so sorry! Here let me help you up!...What's that? Oh, it's so cute!"
As Kyo managed to get himself into a sitting position, Tohru ecstatically poked the tiny silver bell on his necklace and beamed as it made a tiny 'ping'. "Oh, where did you get it?"
"I was wondering what made that noise when you fell. It sounded like you had dropped a bunch of coins out of your pocket." Shigure took a sip of tea and let the jingling of Kyo's bell fill the awkward silence.
Kyo quickly clutched the bell, stopping Tohru from once again making it ring. She looked a little put out but then remembered her original purpose and got up to reach a hand down to Kyo. "You can't eat dinner from over here…unless you want to…that's okay too…" she added as he didn't take her hand.
"So, Kyo, finally dressing the part of the cat?" Yuki asked.
"Actually, that was me." Haru sat down at the table and reached for some food. "You know me and accessories," he purposely flashed his rings and bracelets to the crowd. "I bought it for him and told him he would have to wear it if I won. I did win, didn't I Kyo?"
"Yeah, you did," Kyo didn't realize that he had just admitted defeat in an imaginary fight with the cow. When his words finally registered, though, he mentally cringed, anticipating Yuki's no-doubt pleased attitude.
"…you beat the hell out of me…" Kyo lied sullenly.
Haru grinned. "See, I was trying to find one of those cow bells for myself, but they didn't have any at the shop, only collars, and, well, I couldn't let an opportunity like that go, you know."
By this time, Kyo had made it to the table and everyone was eating. Shigure was feigning interest in Haru's story and Yuki seemed to have lost all interest whatsoever. Tohru continued to gush over the present.
"Well, I think it makes Kyo look adorable…not that he didn't already…or, " she turned to Kyo. "I think it's very nice." Tohru smiled.
Haru took the opportunity to send Kyo a sidelong glance and the cat returned it with a sheepish grin. Neither of them noticed Shigure watching them over his cup of tea as he drank.
Shigure put his drink down with a loud clack. "Well, Tohru, you've once again delighted us with a marvelous feast. I dare not think what we would do without you." He patted her on the head as he got up, eliciting a 'she's not a dog' look from Yuki. "Now, " Shigure continued, "I must take my leave of you to take care of some business at the Main House. Don't fret Tohru! I will be back soon. I can barely wait for the time to pass until I can see your lovely face again!" And with some flowery hand motions, he left the room silent behind him.
After a minute of everyone exchanging glances at Shigure's stranger than usual behavior, Tohru got up and started to clear the dishes. Haru gave her a hand, ignoring Tohru's pleas not to help her, and both went into the kitchen.
Kyo sat back and sighed loudly. This had been better than he had thought it would be. Truthfully, he hadn't really thought far into the future about anything. Having Haru over had seemed like a good idea at the time…
"You shouldn't lie to Tohru."
The cat looked at the mouse, glaring at him across the table. "She believes anything you tell her you know. If you had told her you had found that collar on the street and decided to wear it, she'd have believed you."
"I don't know what you're…"
"Listen," Yuki got up and started to leave the room. He stopped just short of the door. "I don't personally care what you do with yourself, and as long as Haru isn't in my hair, I don't care about that either. And you should really know something about Tohru by now." Yuki turned around and looked Kyo in the eye. "She won't care either. You know Tohru just wants us to be happy." Yuki quickly looked away and left the room, leaving Kyo totally flabbergasted.
Things definitely hadn't gone smoothly. Kyo had thought Haru's story had been a good one. Obviously not. If Yuki knew that meant…
"Oh, where did Yuki go? I brought out some dessert."
The cat started as Tohru came in holding two bowls of ice cream. Haru held the other two.
"He went upstairs," Kyo said, not able to look Tohru in the eye.
"Well, more for me," Haru said and sat down, spooning the contents of the other bowl he had held into his own.
"Here you go, Kyo," Tohru said, handing him his. Before she went to sit down, she asked quietly, "Is everything okay? You look worried."
"No, I'm fine." And Tohru sat back and smiled.
"Do you have any chocolate syrup?" Haru asked loudly.
Shigure stepped lightly onto Hatori's porch, and the shoji door was just open enough for him to slip through silently. As he had expected, the doctor was bent over a book. But, as Shigure snuck closer, he realized the doctor was asleep. The dog sighed and put his hand behind his head, deciding what to do. There were so many options.
Of course, he had to wake Hatori up, but how was the interesting question. He could get some cold water or just lightly tap him on the shoulder. However, these boring methods were quickly pushed away as more interesting ideas came into his head on how to wake up the dragon.
The dog smirked wickedly as he decided on the perfect thing. Now, just to get closer…closer…
"What do you want?" Hatori asked suddenly with his eyes still closed.
Shigure pouted, his plans foiled. "You're awake? Maybe you should go back to sleep. I was just about to wake you up…"
The doctor closed the open book in his lap and sighed. "Sorry to ruin your fun."
"Oh, no worries. We can have fun when you're awake too." Shigure leered.
Ignoring the dog, Hatori got up and stretched. "What time is it?"
"Probably around eight. I left right after dinner to come here. You'll never guess the naughty things going on at my house."
"I don't need to guess. After all, you live there."
"No. Things not involving me, surprisingly enough."
Hatori opened a desk drawer and took out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter. The two zodiac members moved outside and sat down on the porch. Hatori put two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them, handing one to Shigure.
"Well?" The dragon leaned back and breathed the smoke deeply.
Shigure sidled closer to Hatori as if to share a secret. "It seems that our little Kyo-Kyo has finally become part of a relationship."
"…with Tohru?" Hatori couldn't see Tohru and Kyo…as a couple. Shigure let out a short snicker.
"No, not quite. You see, I found it particularly interesting because…" The dog let silence fall to build suspense and waited for Hatori's inevitable 'get on with it.'
After a minute or two waiting fruitlessly for encouragement, he continued anyway. "You see, my dear Hatori, Kyo seems to be on our side of the barnyard, if you catch my drift."
Hatori looked quizzically at Shigure, who was smirking once again. "Yuki?"
Now, Shigure broke out into laughter. "The day I see those two together…I don't know what I'd do."
"You'd be tired all the time from watching the permanent show in your house."
"Hatori, such words! You cut me to the core. Spying on the actions of children?"
"Well, with you and your high school girls, one never knows."
"Oh, you know I prefer quite the opposite." Shigure lightly tapped some ash off the end of his cigarette.
"Well?"
"Hmmm?" The dog loved making interesting things last as long as possible. It drove Hatori nuts.
"Who's Kyo's lucky friend?"
"Guess."
"I will hurt you in your sleep."
"Why? You can hurt me all you want when I'm awake. You know I don't mind. In fact…"
"If you're not going to tell me, I'll go back inside." Hatori got up to leave, but Shigure grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down.
"Oh, don't be such a killjoy. The lucky fellow is…Hatsuharu."
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"It was fairly obvious when Kyo came in from the bushes with Hatsuharu and wearing a nice cat collar Haru bought for him. I'm not sure how serious it is, but something is going on."
"Really."
"That's all I get? A non-interested 'really'? I didn't see this coming at all! I rushed over here just to see your reaction." Shigure pouted. "Although I guess just seeing you in general is enough."
"Is that the only reason you came?"
"Well, you know…"
"He's busy."
"What do you mean he's busy? What could he be doing? Sleeping?"
"He's watching a movie."
"A movie!"
"You really aren't at your best at the moment."
"…you mean WITH MOMIJI!"
Hatori nodded.
"Well, maybe I should go tell him now anyway. This is pretty important news…" Shigure slowly got up to head for the door.
"Now you want to spy on them? Tsk, Tsk. 'Gure. Things will work out by themselves." The dog stopped as Hatori turned and extended a hand. Smiling absently, Shigure took the hand and sat back down next to the doctor.
"What if this doesn't work? Momiji could get hurt…I didn't think he would actually try this." Shigure said looking at the door.
"We all get hurt eventually. It's part of living in this family." The doctor finished his cigarette and flicked it onto the ground.