Snails Pace
Thus by chance should I stumble upon a way to find you
Chapter Seven
Shigure Sohma lived in a small Japanese styled home on the outskirts of New York. He felt comfortable there, as did Kyou most obviously, and spent many of his days writing in his study and making cheeky remarks at the young ones living with him. Tohru remembered Kyou saying that he was a bit of a pervert; but he was an all round nice guy with a frivolous sense of humour. Tohru followed Kyou and Kagura towards the house as they arrived, taking a walk along the forest path from the main road. It was a nice place, with a small garden and a lush forest branching in front and behind it. Tohru felt that it was very peaceful.
On the porch as they arrived stood Shigure; wearing plain gray, but smiling nonetheless. He clapped his hands together as they arrived.
'Kyou, you're home; and who is this lovely sweet flower that you've brought with you? I knew there had to be some reason you left, did you elope with this young woman? WELCOME TO THE FAMAILY!' Shigure grabbed Tohru's hands abruptly and held them tight; the next best thing he could have done besides hugging her.
'Kyou is it true?' Kagura whined, turning her face directly to her loves, 'Did you really elope with Tohru? I thought you said she was Yuki's girlfriend!' She began repeatedly hitting him in the head; causing Kyou to retreat inside the house as he attempted to bat her off.
'Tohru Honda is it?' Shigure said, placing a hand on his chin as he studied her, 'I actually have heard about you.'
'Oh… you have?' Tohru said a little flustered. Was Yuki Sohma talking to his relatives about her?
'Well yes. Yuki mentioned you last week,' Shigure then began to elaborate his story, 'he said a beautiful angel had touched his heart in so many ways that he simply found it impossible to live without the beauty and radiance that she had brought into his life. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat; even the very air seemed stale to his lungs.'
Tohru beamed brightly. She knew the story was all dreams and words to a certain extent; but she loved Shigure's dramatic performance. He really was a novelist – and a great one at that. She even considered him a poet; and he knew how to make her smile.
'I have a room ready for you upstairs Tohru,' Shigure said, sliding back the door so that she could step inside, 'Please just take your things straight up; and then we will go out for lunch.'
'Oh no. Please, let me make something for you,' Tohru replied, 'You're letting me stay with you so I insist.' Shigure accepted her kind offer.
The thought of Kagura hugging Kyou was still on Tohru's mind as she made lunch; and she had the time now to think about it, as well as Yuki Sohma, as she chopped up some fruit in the kitchen.
'You're spacing out again,' Kyou said as he entered; going straight towards the fridge for some milk.
'Oh!' Tohru gasped, almost letting the knife slip from her fingers, 'I am? Oh, well I guess I'm just thinking a bit too much recently. You know a lot of things have happened since I walked out of my audition with you.'
'What exactly where you auditioning for anyway?' Kyou asked; as though he were somehow interested in having a conversation with her this time.
'You really want to know?' Tohru replied.
'Yeah.'
'A theatrical version of The Hobbit, modernized to present day times.'
…
……
………
Kyou laughed – he laughed hard; almost splattering milk across the bench top. Tohru nearly found herself laughing as well simply because he looked so happy. She'd seen him serious for such a long time that it was almost a bit of a shock to see him chuckling and cackling over her simple comment. When he had finally calmed down from laughing; he looked up at her and smiled.
'Well… since I stole you away from the performance of a life time, why don't you… uh… show me your monologue now?' Tohru felt this was a very odd comment coming from Kyou; and she didn't quite believe him.
'You mean it?' She asked cautiously.
'I might laugh again,' Kyou replied simply; and leaned back against the fridge. Tohru removed the apron around her waist and placed it neatly on the cabinet before taking a spot in the middle of the kitchen. She couldn't help but smile as she began her monologue; eventually becoming more serious as she delved further into it. She moved gracefully across the room; extending her arms in gesture, raising and lowering her voice for various moods and feelings, twirling in happiness, shuddering in fear and gasping at some of the own comments she made. In that fleeting six minutes, she had become a totally different person. She had become the person she was acting and she was enjoying it like nothing more in the world.
Kyou didn't remove his gaze from her the entire time; and Shigure, watching from the dining room, didn't remove his cheeky stare from Kyou.
Kagura couldn't help but shout in bliss, 'Tohru your cooking is wonderful. The first thing you should do for Yuki is cook him dinner! That's something I should do for Kyou! Kyou, my darling, let me cook for you tomorrow all right! I'll cook for you!'
Kyou's fork clattered against his plate and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Kagura's cooking was an evil that should never be approached. A great evil!
'Thank you Kagura; and you can help me cook tomorrow night then,' Tohru said.
'Wait, I thought the Premiere was tomorrow night!' Kyou retorted.
'Actually no,' Shigure said dryly, taking a sip from his tea, 'you have it all wrong Kyou. The Premiere is actually on Saturday night.'
'SATURDAY NIGHT!'
'Goodie!' Kagura chirped, latching onto Kyou's shirt in a tight hug, 'that means I can cook for you Kyou! I can cook for you!'
'But I don't want you to cook for me!'
Tohru took her leave from the table, gathered up the remaining dishes to be cleaned and retreated to the kitchen. She needed to start the washing; and besides, she wasn't fond of seeing Kagura hang of Kyou so passionately. It was only because Kagura was the Boar of the zodiac that she was able to do so; but Tohru still felt left out when it came to hugging the Sohma's. In truth, she wouldn't be able to hug Yuki Sohma either when it came to the point. As she thought about it more she figured a good way to show her affection for the Sohma's was to simply rest her head against them; that way it could be the same; and yet different as well.
'Yuki Sohma. Yuki Sohma,' she said softly as she filled the sink with bubbling water, 'It's all right if I can never hug you. Just being in your presence is enough to make me happy; just hearing your voice, touching your face – that's all I'll ever need as long as you're willing to stay with me.'
'Tohru! Let me help you with the dishes all right?' Kagura came strutting into the kitchen, obviously kicked out of the dining room by Kyou.
'Well… all right,' Tohru smiled, 'here, you can put these away for me.'
Kagura wasn't so bad.
I remember someone asked me what Tohru's monologue was once...so there it is...Yep.
And I've been getting a lot of questions about whether this is a TohruxYuki or a TohruxKyou... and quite frankly ladies, I dont know. Lol. The end has become foggy for me. Well, enjoy this update. Thank you for the reviews hugs all of you