Yuki stood up from the table as the woman moved closer to him, her brown eyes wide with surprise.
"Yuki?" she repeated, "Are you Yuki Sohma?" she asked.
"Why yes I am," he replied back equally surprised, "Do we know each other?" he said as he handed her back her phone.
"Well we did go to high school together. I mean," she blushed slightly, "I mean I did graduate a year before you did, but it's been a long time" her eyes softened.
"Wait a second. Miss Minagawa?" he held up his finger at a slow point his mouth dropping somewhat.
She chuckled a little nervously.
"I can't believe you actually remember me" she replied.
"I could never forget someone like you" he said back handsomely, "You're were the one who called me beautiful Miss Motoko. Oh although I suppose it's not Minagawa anymore is it?"
"Well actually it is. I've been married but I'm recently divorced."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I was just on my way out. I was supposed to meet someone here today but they didn't show. So I'm gonna go."
"Well if you want" Yuki stopped her, "I'm not eating with anyone. Why don't you join me?"
"Are you sure?" she said not believing her own ears at his invitation.
"Sure. You haven't eaten yet have you?"
"No" she shook her head.
"Then please join me?" he indicated the booth with his hand.
"Okay" she nodded sitting down opposite of him and picking up her menu.
"So" he began talking again much to her surprise, "What have you been up to during these years after high school?"
"Oh" she said a bit startled that he was starting the conversation, "Well like I said I got married. Just a couple years after high school. I finished up college and right now I work in a big office that deals with advertisement."
"Oh really" he replied interested as he stared at her eyes.
"Mhm. How about you?"
"Well let's see. I don't live in Tokyo anymore. I moved down to Kyoto when I went to college. I only come to Tokyo now if I have business. I work in a big office too down there. But we handle government affairs. Mostly for the mayor."
"Oh I see. And" she took a breath as she turned her eyes to him, "Are you married?"
"Um" he said slowly, "Actually I was married. My wife died about eleven years ago. You remember Machi Kuragi?"
"Yes" she nodded sadly at his news.
"Well we never stopped dating after high school. In fact we lived in Paris for a while, while she pursued her art career. But after we got married the sickness that she had been born with got worse and just two months after we had Takara she passed away."
"I am so sorry" Motoko said sincerely, "I really am."
"I believe you are" Yuki said serenely.
"You mentioned a Takara. Is that your daughter?"
"Yes. My one and only" he smiled, "Since Machi's death she has been like a shining light in my life."
"That's wonderful. And do the two of you live together on your own in Kyoto?"
"As a matter of a fact we don't. I don't know if you remember Tohru Honda?" he said a bit sneakily knowing fully well that she did.
"Tohru Honda?" she replied surprised, "Well of course I remember" she blushed a little embarrassed by the way she used to think of her, "What about her?"
"After Machi died Takara and I moved in with her and her family."
"Her family?"
"Yes she married that cousin of mine. Kyo Sohma."
"Oh right. They were going out at the end of High school or so my friends told me."
"Correct. They eventually got married and have two kids of their own. They're expecting another one very soon. They also moved down to Kyoto when the twins were very little. So it helped to have Tohru around at that time" he sighed contently thinking about Machi.
"She's still your saving grace isn't she?" Motoko asked her eyes softening.
"Hmm? Yes I guess she is. That has never changed no matter how old we have gotten. She's like the little sister I have never had."
"That's good to know. That she's been looking after you all this time."
"Mhm. But to tell you the truth sometimes I wonder if I'm too much of a burden for her. Kara and I have been there for so long."
"Knowing her I doubt she minds."
"Well what about you?"
"Hmm?"
"Have any children?"
"Oh yes. I have two boys. But they live with their father most of the time."
"Oh. Is that hard?" he asked sadly.
"No not really. I mean I miss them of course. But I am so busy all the time with work" her voice trailed a little as she took a sip of her water.
"It's still got to be tough though."
"Yes it is," she finally admitted.
Soon a waiter came and took their order, brought back their meal fifteen minutes later, and they continued to chat till they parted from one another in front of the restaurant.
"Well this was fun" he replied as they stood there.
"It was fun for me too" she smiled softly.
"I have to get home now. But the next time I'm in the city maybe we can get together again?"
"I'd like that" she nodded handing him her number.
"Goodbye Miss Minagawa" he bowed.
"Goodbye Yuki" she bowed back as he walked towards the train station, her heart so filled with renewed love for him that it was hard to believe that she had ever gotten over him.
(Next Scene)
The whole train ride home Yuki pondered his lunch date with some trepidation. As he arrived at the house he was still a bit confused about everything except one thing.
"Perhaps I should ask her for some advice" he told himself as he entered the house.
He removed his shoes and then walked into the kitchen where he found Tohru busy preparing for dinner. She turned to him with her warm smile as he entered the room.
"Good evening Yuki" she replied cheerfully, "Have a good day?"
"Fair to moderate" he said as he sat down.
"That's nice to hear. Dinner will be ready soon."
"Good that train ride made me kind of hungry. Is there anyone else around?"
"Mnm. Kyo and Sakura are at the training hall and Kaye isvisiting the main house. Why?"
"Can I talk to you about something?" he asked.
"Of course" she nodded, "You and I have always been able to talk."
"That's true."
"What's on your mind?" she asked as she turned around to face him wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing.
"Well it's like this. I bumped into someone from high school today."
"Really? Who was it?"
Then Yuki began to tell her about the encounter with Motoko Minagawa. When he finished Tohru stared at him surprised.
"Imagine. Meeting her after all these years."
"I know."
"So what's your question?"
"Well I had a really good time with her today. It was like I was on a first day and I haven't been on a date in years. She was still as cute as I remember her."
"She was always pretty" Tohru chuckled, "And it's true you haven't. You haven't been on a date since Machi."
"I know" he nodded.
"I did wonder why you didn't go out with someone some time after she passed on."
"I suppose it's because of Takara. I didn't want to hurt her. Plus I didn't want to belittle Machi's memory."
"But you wouldn't be doing that Yuki."
"Hmm?" he looked up into her kind brown eyes.
"Machi would want you to move on with your life. She'd want you to be happy. Not alone."
"That's true. I mean we did talk about it before she died."
"Do you want to start dating again?" she asked as she turned back to the pot on the stove.
"I can't say that I haven't thought about it. In fact I have been thinking about it more and more since Takara is getting older."
"Well then maybe you should."
"Yea. But I have to talk to Takara first."
"Of course."
"What time is dinner going to be ready?" he asked standing up.
"In about another twenty minutes."
"Is Kara home?"
"She's in her room" Tohru nodded as he walked away from the kitchen and towards his daughter's bedroom.
He knocked on her door softly.
"Come in!" she called back.
Yuki opened the door slowly and saw Takara working on her homework on the floor.
"Hey there sweetie" he replied gently.
"Daddy!" she leapt up, "You're home" she embraced him tightly.
"Mhm. Listen Takara I have to go get changed. But I want to talk to you about something. Can you come with me?"
"Mhm" she nodded.
"Good" he walked to his room and she followed right behind him closing the door.
He removed his tie as she sat down on his bed.
"So what's going on dad?" she asked.
"I just have something I wanted to talk to you about" he replied removing his shirt and replacing it with another, "You know Takara you are getting a lot older, which makes it a little easier to talk to you about this."
"About what?"
He walked over in his new shirt and work pants still on and sat down next to her.
"Takara" he said looking at her straight in the eye, "You know you're the most important person in the world to me right?"
"Mhm."
"And I love you so much. And I loved your mother. But you're getting older now and someday you'll find that special someone and I'll be alone."
"Oh dad" her eyes softened.
"It's okay. It's part of life. But it doesn't have to be that way."
"What do you mean?"
"Lately I have been thinking about the future. About you and me. I was wondering do you think it would be all right with you if I started datingagain?"
"Huh? You want to go out on a date dad?"
"I'm not exactly and old man yet" he smiled, "I'm pretty young. And a lot of times I feel very lonely. I miss your mother. And we used to talk about this very thing before she died. She used to say that she wouldn't want me to be alone. That she would want for me and you to be happy."
"Well then in that case" Takara replied with a nod, "Perhaps you should start dating again."
"Huh?" he said a little surprised.
"I don't want you to be sad dad. Or lonely. And if mama wanted you to be happy then I want you to be happy too. I don't want you to be alone."
"Takara" his own eyes softened at her sweet voice, "Are you sure?"
"Mhm. I just want you to be happy. If you're happy then I'm happy."
"Hmm. You really are the best daughter in the world do you know that?"
She giggled.
"I know."
"I tell you what. I have off this weekend. What do you say the two of us spend Sunday up in Tokyo going shopping together and having lunch?"
"Really?" she said excitedly.
"Mhm. We haven't done that in a long time."
"That's right. We haven't" she nodded, "That sounds like fun. Thanks dad" she hugged him tightly.
"You're welcome. I love you Takara."
"I love you too" she smiled as he held onto her lovingly.
(Next Scene)
Katsuya left Reiji's house that evening close to dinnertime after helping him to prepare for the next day. After classes on Saturday Reiji was planning on taking Sara on a tour of Kyoto and he was very nervous considering he didn't know as much as Kaye did. But after a couple hours discussion Katsuya told him that he was ready. About an hour later Rika came home as he walked out of his room.
"Hey where have you been all afternoon?" he asked her.
"Huh?" she said back absently, "No where" she marched into her room ignoring him completely.
"What the? Why is she acting like that? Oh well" he thought placing his hands behind his head, "Come to think of it, she is almost fourteen years old. Must be a guy" he frowned, "Ah. I don't have time to think about that right now. I have my own love life to worry about" he walked into the kitchen deciding not to give it another thought about his sister's unusual behavior.
The next day he met Sara at the meeting place and then began to give her his own personal tour of the temple district. Around mid afternoon they stopped for some crepes and found a secluded area with a bench to eat them.
"These are really good" Sara giggled as she licked some of the ice cream off of her nose, "Don't you think so?"
"Mmm. Mhm" he nodded a bit distracted.
"What's the matter Reiji? Is something wrong?" she asked concerned lowering her snack.
"Huh? Oh no. No. Nothing's wrong."
"Are you sure? You're acting very distant."
He frowned slightly.
"Yea. I'm okay."
"Hmm" she stood up and threw the remainder of her crepe in the trash, "I know you better than that."
"Huh?" he said surprised.
"I know when you're hiding something just so my feelings don't get hurt."
"What is she talking about?" he thought, "She hardly knows me at all."
"You know you really haven't changed."
"Huh?" he repeated his eyes becoming wider.
"Not in all the years I have known you. You're taller now. Well taller then me. And you used to be shorter."
"What?" he stood up stunned.
"You look surprised" she looked back at him.
"Well I uh. You're acting as if you know me. I mean really know me."
"But I do know you. I've known you a long time."
"A long time?" he practically shouted.
"Yes. We have known each other since we were children."
"Huh? Wait a minute" he put a hand to his forehead in disbelief, "You mean you actually remember me?"
"Of course I do. We were best friends when we were three."
"But I. I. I. I thought I," he stammered.
"Erased my memory?" she finished with a raise of her eyebrows and as she turned around to face him.
"Uh. What did you just say?" he blinked fast.
"That was what you were going to say wasn't it?"
"Uh yea. But how do you?" he couldn't finish.
She began to laugh quite a bit.
"You are so dense" she said through her laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"You were always so easy to trip up. You actually thought," she laughed unable to control it, "That you did it?"
"You mean I didn't erase your memory?"
"No. Of course not."
"But how can that be? You were all in a daze and everything" he replied confused.
"You really don't remember what happened that day do you?" she asked as she sat back down on the bench after moving past him.
"Huh? What do you mean?" he spun around to face her.
"Well it was a long time ago. But I remember it clearly. I had come over to play with you and your cousins. We were playing tag."
"Yea" he nodded still stunned.
"I never got the opportunity to catch you or rather I never chose to. But I was curious. I wanted to know if you were one of them."
"One of what?"
"Zodiac member of course" she replied.
"What? But how did you find out?"
"I have known about that since I was a child."
"Could you elaborate on that?" he asked a bit sarcastically crossing his arms.
"All right. I am Tsukasa's cousin right?"
"Yea?"
"On the Kim's side we have known about the curse for years since we were the close family friend in the old days."
"Oh. But."
"Let me finish. Then I'll answer any question you have."
"Okay" he nodded still completely dumbfounded.
"Anyway I wanted to know if you were a Zodiac member so I tagged you. I wrapped my arms around your waist and you transformed. When I opened my eyes there was this cute little dragon at my feet. I was so happy. But then everything happened so fast" she said sadly, "The next time I saw you was in that room and you were crying. And you told me why. But I was still smiling."
"I remember that. You weren't even afraid," Reiji said uncrossing his arms.
"However when you reached your hand up to erase my memory you became sort of faint. In fact you did faint."
"I did?" he said his eyes becoming wider.
"Mhm. You were out cold for at least five minutes. I thought I had caused you such trouble so when you did wake up I pretended that you had erased my memory. So you wouldn't get into any more trouble. It was like a game to me really."
"You pretended?"
"Mhm" she nodded.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"After that day" she lowered her eyes sadly, "You didn't talk to me anymore."
"Hmm?"
"You were always the one to start the conversations back then so when you didn't say anything I thought you were mad at me. I didn't know what I had done wrong so I didn't say anything to you either. I didn't know that you could really erase a person's memory. I thought it was all a big joke. I was so young after all."
"And I thought that I had really done it. That you had forgotten all about me."
"Mnm" she shook her head, "After awhile I wanted to talk to you but then I remembered the look on that guy's face."
"Guy?"
"The one who told you to erase my memory."
"Yamato" Reiji frowned slightly.
"Mhm. I didn't want to get you into any more trouble so I just."
"Kept pretending" he finished.
"Mhm. I'm sorry. I really am. But you must know I never forgot about you. Not ever."
"Sara" he sat down next to her and took her hand, "I never forgot you either. In fact I blamed myself for so long for losing you. I honestly believed that I would never see you. That things would never be the way they were back then again. But you did that for me. You pretended to forget me so I wouldn't get hurt. That was so sweet of you. Thank you."
"So you're not mad at me?"
"No" he shook his head, "Well maybe a little" he grinned mischievously.
"At least you're honest" she giggled, "Does this mean now that I know that we still can't see each other?"
"Actually we don't have to worry about that anymore. Yamato's not like that. He's changed since he's gotten older. And since you already know my secret" he leaned his head into her hers, "We're home free."
"Hmm. So we can start over?"
"I wouldn't call it starting over. More like picking up where we left off."
She chuckled happily and laughed along with her his heart so light he felt he could just float away.
(Next Scene)
Yamato walked into his mother's room as Hatori finished his conversation with Kagura.
"Well good luck with that Kagura" Hatori ended as he left.
"Thank you Hatori" she nodded.
"Mother?" he moved towards the table.
"Oh hello Yamato" she smiled as he looked down at her curiously.
"What is he talking about? What does he mean good luck?"
"Well Yamato I hope you don't mind, but when I was out shopping today I ran into someone."
"Oh?"
"Mhm. Someone I dated in college. Before I met your father. We had lunch and hit it off just like before. And he asked me for another date for tomorrow."
"You're going out on a date?"
"Mhm" she nodded, "I hope that's all right?" she said a bit worried at the expression in his eyes.
"You know what" he smiled suddenly and his eyes softened, "You should go out on a date mother."
"Hmm?" she replied back a bit stunned.
"After all you're still a young woman. You deserve love too."
"Yamato do you mean that?" her eyes shone through her light tears.
"Yea" he said back his eyes becoming even softer at her smile, "I'm gonna be in my room for a little while."
"Okay. I'll see you at dinner."
"All right" he nodded closing the door behind him and staring into the darkness, "Are you here?" he said to the room.
"Yes" a soft female voice answered back and the next second the young girl ran to his outstretched arms, "I have been looking forward to seeing you all day Yamato."
"Have you" he said gently, "So have I, Rika" he embraced her tightly.
(Till Next Time)
Authors Note: Hey guys! Well were you stunned by the woman Yuki ran into? I hope at least some of you were surprised. And how about the introduction of Yamato and Rika's relationship? Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all later this week for two more!
Next time on Curse Renewed:
Chapter Three: A Breakup?
Tsukasa sets the first part of the plan in motion and is seemingly successful but will Kaye and Stephanie be able to pull off their part as convincingly? Find out next time!
And
Chapter Four: Aligning Oneself with the Enemy
Not telling!