Katie: So… do you guys like Tohru's sister?
Tohru: (crying)
Kyo: What's wrong!
Ayame: Don't worry, Kyonkichi! I am sure they are tears of JOY!
Kyo: I told you not to call me--!
Shigure: (pounces on Kyo) Well spoken, Aaya! Unless of course Tohru is simply—
Yuki: (pounces on Shigure) You. No. Speak.
Chapter 2"Um… yes?" Tohru looked down at the girl, "I'm Tohru."
"Oh!" She hadn't expected her sister to open the door, but then again, she did live here. "My name is Kairi Ho--… Well, um… it's nice to meet you!"
Tohru smiled her signature smile, making Kairi feel at least a bit more at ease, "It's nice to meet you!"
A few moments of awkward silence commenced.
"Oh, yes! Please, come in!" Tohru hurriedly moved out of the doorway to allow the visitor in. Why did she always seem to forget that part?
"Thank you, Tohru! …um, -san…?" Kairi ducked through the doorway and looked around like it was the first time she had been in a house before. She walked right through the entrance hall and then, remembering her shoes, ran back and slipped them off.
Tohru followed suit, her shoes slipping off in a more practiced fashion that made Kairi blush even more, now from pure embarrassment. The thought crossed Tohru's mind that maybe the girl was foreign. That would explain her clumsy Japanese. But what was she doing here? Maybe she was a Sohma. After all, for all Tohru knew the Sohma's could be in other countries as well as Japan.
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A few minutes later Kairi was kneeling uncomfortably at the kotatsu (AN: That's the table… with a heater built in! I want one!) , she was used to chairs. Tohru had gone to the kitchen to make her some tea. Kairi wondered how she was supposed to tell her that she despised tea… She definitely couldn't pretend she liked it! The stuff was disgusting!
A few more minutes passed. 'Where is she…?' She played around a bit with her monogrammed socks, making the small kittens elongated. The time alone in this house was making her feel a bit uncomfortable. 'Maybe I should leave?' But she couldn't. Her sister deserved to hear this. Tohru. It would probably be best to stop calling her 'sister'… she deserved to be called by her name, too.
Finally, Kairi heard a banging sound. She looked up anxiously. The moment of truth had come. 'I'll just tell her as soon as she comes through the door! That way if she gets mad and decides to stab me with a kitchen knife I can run out the front door and--'
Her plans for a quick confession were interrupted, however by a tall, orange-haired teenage boy making his way through the door. '…Oh. I didn't realize she lived with other people.' But of course she did! Tohru was only in high school! But it seemed odd to have a guy as a roommate… unless that was normal in Japan? Somehow Kairi doubted that.
The boy looked up, "What the HELL!"
Kairi got up quickly. "Um, uh, it's nice to meet you! I'm sorry for my poor Japanese. My name is—"
"I don't give a damn what your name is! What are you doing in this house!" Before she got a chance to reply he shouted in the direction of the kitchen, "TOHRU!" Now, wait a second… how did he know that Tohru was in the kitchen. That was odd.
A tremendous banging sounded from the kitchen and Kairi started towards the door, alarmed. Tohru couldn't get hurt before she got to tell her The Secret! (AN: She's not really being selfish… it really is important. Maybe I just won't tell you what The Secret is in this chapter! Heehee!)
The kitchen door opened and a cloud of white smoke came out. It completely encompassed one side of the room, including Kairi. The orange-haired boy jumped nimbly out of the way and sighed. "Did you knock over the flour again?"
"Ye-yes!" Tohru was covered head to toe in the white powder. "I'm really sorry! You just scared me so much when you called that I tripped… Not that you're scary or anything! You're definitely not scary! Not scary at all!"
Kairi stared in bemusement at the apologizing girl. Tohru seemed like she might blow-up, she was so upset. Kairi's own clothes were almost completely covered. The only spots that were left at least a little untouched were the place where her hand had rested on her shirt and, strangely enough, her socks.
"It's fine!" Kyo tried to calm Tohru's heavy stream of apologies. "No really, I don't care. You're going to clean it up anyway…. On second thought let's make the rat boy do it." Tohru continued to go on and on. Kairi was afraid she might hurt herself. "I SAID IT WAS FINE!" That stopped her.
With a final, "I'm sorry!" Tohru sat down at the kotatsu with her head hanging.
Kyo rolled his eyes with a slight smile. "You're such a klutz." His attention turned back to Kairi. "Who's she."
Tohru turned to Kairi as well and smiled, "Why this is…!" She gasped. "Oh no! I covered you, too!" She burst into great tears of penance.
Kyo pulled a handkerchief that he just happened to be carrying with him and handed it to Tohru. Well… that's what he told Tohru anyway, he was used to her outbursts by now and was always prepared for them.
"No, it's okay! See! I'm fine!" Kairi brushed some flour off of her shirt but instead of it floating to the floor as she expected, it ballooned out in a cloud and covered her face. She started to sneeze and attempted to wave it away from her face in vain.
Kyo had gotten a firm grip on the Tohru situation until Kairi began sneezing. When Tohru saw the new cloud of flour she began to cry harder and the handkerchief was completely neglected. Seeing as how there wasn't much else he could do, Kyo grabbed Kairi's arm and pulled her to the bathroom. "You. Take a shower. I'll have Tohru get you some clothes. It'll calm her down."
Kairi nodded and was given a little shove through the doorway. She stumbled and when she looked back over her shoulder the door was already clicking shut. "Um… okay," she mumbled unnecessarily.
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Kairi stuck her towel-wrapped head out of the bathroom, releasing a cloud of steam reminiscent to the flour disaster. Kyo and Tohru were sitting at the table, laughing, so she figured it was safe to talk. "Hello? Uh… could I have some clothes?" (AN: Just so you guys know Kairi isn't really that shy…it's just that she's uncomfortable and she doesn't know Japanese perfectly.)
Tohru turned to her with a slightly dazed look, "Of course! I'll get you some!" She got up and 'tip tapped' off to her room to look for some clothes for Kairi.
Kyo smiled after her. Kairi noticed that he had a dreamy look on his face, it seemed so out of place there that she couldn't suppress a small giggle.
He turned and scowled at her. "What's wrong with you?"
"Oh! N-nothing." She said, stuttering with laughter.
"Yeah, whatever. I really can't believe Tohru even let you in." He mumbled the last sentence quickly. Obviously he had realized that Kairi was foreign and thought that if he spoke too quickly it would go over her head.
She gave him a sly smile, because of course she knew exactly what he had said. And besides he seemed like he would be a great person to make fun of. "Oh? Are you that socially inept?"
His eyes snapped onto hers. "No. It's just that the last time she let someone in I was attacked…" (AN: Remember Kagura)
She raised an eyebrow. 'Oh my… he's serious.' Kairi had nothing left to say so she attempted to fill the silence by making the door creak as she moved it slightly back and forth (of course not enough to show her body, even if it was wrapped in a towel). When that didn't work she just nodded slowly and awkwardly. "Sooooo… I never asked your name! I'm Kairi."
"Kyo Sohma." He grunted.
"Ah. A Sohma." She said it as if she knew everything about the family. It had proven to be a good way to creep people out back in the States, so why not here too?
"You know about us!" He looked alarmed, like something had bitten him. Kairi wondered why… was there some scandal his family was involved in?
"Of course I know about you! I know everything! If you know what I mean." She granted him a small wink.
"Damn…" He banged his fist against the table, "I can't have a fresh start if you already know about me being the cat!"
Her brow furrowed slightly. What the heck was he talking about? How could a person be a cat? "Um, no, that's not true. You can have a fresh start."
"Yeah. Right," he snorted.
The sound of Tohru's footsteps grew closer. "I've got the clothes!" She said cheerfully.
Kairi took the offered clothes and smiled. "Thanks."
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Kairi changed into the clothes and came back out into the living room. Tohru and Kyo looked up, startled out of a whispered conversation. Kairi smiled awkwardly at them and sat down.
They both waited expectantly for her to say something.
She closed her eyes tightly and opened her mouth. Then she closed it. Then she opened. Closed. Opened. Closed.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Kyo sighed exasperatedly.
"It's just… really hard to say this." Kairi snapped back.
Tohru looked sympathetically at her, "Don't worry…um… I'm sorry but what did you say your last name was?" (AN: Because Tohru's so formal I figured she would speak in last name-san form at first.)
Kairi bit her lip and looked down. "H…Honda."
They both blinked at her.
"Well that's a funny coincidence." Tohru laughed. Kyo merely rolled his eyes with an amused expression at Tohru's antics.
"NO!" Kairi clenched her fists and stared down at her knees. She kept her eyes closed tightly as the tears fell. This wasn't the way this was supposed to have happened! "It's not some stupid coincidence!"
"What are you talking about?" Tohru cocked her head to the side questioningly.
"It's because I… I'm… I'm your sister," she whispered so softly that it took them a moment to process.
Before Tohru could say a word Kyo shouted out, "What! How!"
Tohru just stared at her, completely stricken. "B-but… how?"
Kairi's shoulders shuddered. "It… it was your dad."
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Katie: The end!
Haru: …I'm ashamed.
Katie: Heh-heh… and why would that be Haru-kun?
Haru: You named her Kairi.
Katie: I'm sorry!
Haru: I can't believe you named her after a video game character.
Katie: I'm sorry! I love Kingdom Hearts! It's just that I was watching all of the pretty new trailers for Kingdom Hearts 2 and she looked so good with her new long hair! I couldn't help it!
Haru: Yes, you could.
Katie: I'M SORRY!
Hisoka: You should be ashamed!
Katie: AH! SHOO! (shove) They don't know who you are yet!
Kyo: Well…at least she didn't steal his name from anywhere.
Shigure: Ah! But if you think about it… she must have. Because somewhere out there…. there is someone else with that name. (sparkles)
Katie: Oh, shut it.
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Quick Note: Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed! And hinthint to anyone who's reading this right now: REVIEW! I'll write faster, I swear!