Chapter 16 – Bittersweet Moments
The deadline for Shigure's new project came and his editor also came to collect his work. As always, he had finished those 500 pages, but wouldn't turn them in that easily. He had never given up a chance in seeing his editor cried and begged for his work; seeing her in such condition made him giggles inside with excitement.
"Shigure!" She cried. "You promised!"
"But, I had a writer block and I couldn't finish it. Come back next week, I'll have it done by then."
"No! If you want anything to be published then I need those 500 pages today!"
"No. No. No. I can't give them to you now…" He ran away from his editor, feeling perky as he laughed his way around the house. Before long, he collided into another body as he noticed two flaming bright yellow eyes staring at him.
"What are you doing?" Speaking in a flat tone, those eyes were still staring at him.
"I'm ah…"
"I see… you're having fun without me." The yellow eyed man smirked.
"Come on, now." Shigure tried to cool those flames by rubbing his hand up and down the front of Ayame's red coat. "She doesn't come ever so often, so I just wanted to have some fun with her before she comes back for my next project."
"Shigure!" The editor caught up to him, huffing and puffing for air.
Seeing the anger of his lover's razor-sharp eyes didn't subside; he gave up. "Alright! They're in the top drawer of my desk in my study." He faked a cry and sniffed, "You can just walk inside and get them."
"Oh, thank you so much! I'll go get them and be out of your way." She cried and hurriedly escaped the vicious glare of Ayame's eyes on her.
"Why are you here so early? Didn't we agree to meet around noon?" Shigure asked.
The yellow eyed man pouted, ignored the taller man's question and walked away.
"Aya!" Shigure called from behind as Ayame welcomed himself to the table where Yuki and Kyo were sitting in the living room watching TV.
"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked.
"Can't a brother come and visit once in a while. After all, we need more time to do some bonding." He replied.
"Here we go again." Yuki sighed.
Ayame then noticed that Kyo was sloughing; his head was on the table in front of him and he was wearing a white sleeveless tank-top which showed his nice form, firmed tight and arched, sucked in, down to his navel. "Kyou looks yummy!" He drooled over the boy.
"What the hell?" Ayame's comment caught the cat's attention.
"It's hot today isn't it?" He approached the cat and in a sexy voice, he continued, "Let go play together. I know somewhere else that's even hotter than here."
"Get your dirty look off me, you pervert!" Kyo dropped onto his hands, moving both palms and soles backward to get away from the snake.
"Aya! What's going on?" Shigure came in seeing Ayame crawling over Kyo, cornering him to the back of the room.
"Nothing." The snake replied candidly as he stood up. He noticed that Shigure was a bit bothered by what he saw, but Ayame could care less because that was the whole idea.
At the same time, Tohru came down stairs and found an unexpected guess. She also found Kyo on his elbows and legs, but quickly looked away to greet the guest instead. "Oh. Hi, Ayame! When did you come? Would you like to join us for lunch? I'll have it ready soon."
"Yes! I would love to." He replied and ran up to her. "I'll give you a hand."
She shook her hands frankly above her waist. "No, it's my job. You don't need to help me, just enjoy yourself. I'm sure that you have a lot to talk to Yuki and… Kyo." She caught Kyo staring at her, but ran away to the kitchen to avoid his gaze.
"Tohru…" The cat dropped flat on the floor. "Why?" He asked the ceiling above him.
"Sorry, Kyo… I just can't control myself if I allow our eyes to meet longer than a second. Everyone knows that I'm marrying Shigure, and I shouldn't be thinking about another man other than him." She said as soon as she entered the kitchen.
It had been two weeks since Tohru visited her mom's grave with Kyo. One that very day, she felt like she was under a magical spell during that exotic moment with him, she melted away completely in his arms. She couldn't forget that moment, but at the same time she couldn't forgive herself; she felt unfaithful to Shigure. As much as she wanted to be in those arms again, it was not the right thing to do or at least, it was what she convinced herself to believe. For the past two weeks, she had been trying to avoid Kyo and not allowing herself to fall out of place again.
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Lunch was ready and set; everyone gather together to enjoy the perfect meal prepared by the only girl in the house. Shigure somehow got stuck in the middle between Tohru and Ayame; Kyo and Yuki were on the opposite end of the dining table; Kyo faced Ayame while Yuki faced Tohru. During the meal, Shigure discussed his plan for the weekends.
"Tohru. Kyo. Yuki." Shigure began after he took another sniff of his delicious food.
"Yes. Yah. Yeah." All three replied at the same time.
"Ayame and I had booked an engagement for all of us this weekend."
"An engagement?" All three asked at the same time.
"Yes, we're going to the Sohma's beach house!"
"WHAT?" All three surprised at the same time.
"Our senior class is taking a three night trip to Okinawa in the beginning of June, so we'll be going to beach then." Yuki explained.
"That's right we'll be going on the school trip soon, so you shouldn't be spending unnecessarily expenses on us and I don't want to be a bother to you and Ayame…" Tohru as usual tried to be considerate.
"It's no bother at all. I love planning trips like these; you get to go out and have fun plus you could be with the one you love." Ayame perked looking at Tohru and then at Kyo. She followed his eyes' movement to Kyo and quickly looked away.
"I don't care." Kyo said in a flat, dull tone of voice. "You guys can do whatever just don't get me involve."
"No, but you must come! You'll ruin everything if you don't!" Ayame aimed his two vicious snake's eyes at the younger man.
"Huh? What's that suppose to mean?" Kyo didn't understand the vicious glare from his weird white blonde cousin.
"Never mind him. So what if you're going to Okinawa. That's three weeks from now and you can always go to the beach more than once, especially in warm weathers like these. Anyways, everything is planned and paid for, so you cannot talk yourself out of it. We're not planning to go for a swim or anything; we'll be having a barbeque. We'll also be spending the night over, so after lunch, you three go pack. We'll wait for the rest of the gang to arrive and leave together." Shigure explained.
"But…" Tohru tried to refuse again.
"Tohru…" Shigure took her hands. "I didn't have time for you in the past two weeks, so let me make it up to you with this trip."
Ayame excavated a sharp and firmed touch underneath the table.
"Ow!" Shigure yelled out his pain.
"What's wrong?" Tohru asked.
"Nothing…" He laughed nervously as he rubbed his pain. "Everyone must go, and that's final."
"Hah…" Yuki sighed. "I guess we cannot say no then, so who else did you guys invited?"
"We invited Hari, but he's too busy with work, so he couldn't go. Kagura is joining us and so is Kisa. Since Kisa is going Hiro wanted to go too. Momiji heard about the trip and wanted to go, but he and Haru have to study for exams, so they couldn't go either." Shigure replied.
Yuki added the headcount. "So there are eight of us in total."
"That's right." Ayame smiled.
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They arrived four hours later at the Sohma's beach house in a luxurious van loaded with food and supplies. Everyone hauled in their baggage and dropped their asses on the couch, exhausted as the rested in the main room.
"Okay, I admit that it wasn't a fun ride getting here, but everyone should find their room and rest for a while. We'll get the barbeque started in an hour or two. Everyone should be hungry by then." Shigure started to assign room. "Okay, we have four rooms in the building, so we'll need to pair up in each room."
"But, we don't have an even number of each gender, so we'll end up having one room with both." Yuki observed.
"Yes, that is the plan. Tohru will be with me."
"What?" Both Kyo and Ayame shouted at the same time.
"Well, we are fiancée, so it's just natural that we stay together, right Tohru." Shigure looked at her, sitting on the couch, legs together, head down and embarrassed by his assignment. He grinned and continued, "Ayame will be with Yuki, Kyo with Hiro and Kagura with Kisa. Okay, everyone move and get settle into your rooms upstairs."
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Shigure dragged his fiancée into their room. He was so excited that he dropped right down onto the bed. "Wow! This bed is bouncy." He described. "Tohru, come and sit next to me."
Tohru came slowly and sat down on the edge of the soft bed. Nervously she said, "Shigure… you see, I'm… I'm not ready for this yet."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You know…" She started broiling, her body temperate shown on her face.
"Tohru… you didn't think that I would… you did, didn't you?" He laughed.
She was speechless; she didn't know what to say, so she just nodded.
"Don't worry; I'll sleep on the couch tonight, so you don't have to worry about a thing. I'm not going to do anything inappropriate at least not until we get married." He replied.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have thought about you like that."
He turned over onto his side. "You don't need to apologize. I am a man after all and I have my needs, but I have to control myself until that special day." He smiled sincerely, "Now, you should lie down and rest because later, there will be lots of cooking to do."
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It was time for the barbeque, Shigure and Ayame lit the coals and started the grill. Kyo, Yuki and Hiro carried the foods into the kitchen for the girls to prepare.
"I've never had a barbeque on the beach before." Tohru spoke to the bowl of drumsticks mixed in with barbeque sauce.
"This is wonderful, isn't it? I love the ocean and being here with everyone like this is fun." Kisa replied cheerfully as she chopped the carrots and radishes.
"Yes, I agree." Kagura said while making sniffling noises from slicing the onions.
"I'm done with the drumsticks, but we still have beefs and trouts and…" Tohru paused and found Shigure through the little window between the kitchen and the patio. "Shigure, do you think that you and Ayame brought too much food?"
"No, it's always better to have more than not enough." Shigure replied with a big charming grin.
"Do you want to start with the chicken first, or wait for me to marinate the rest of the food?"
"No, we should start. There is so much food and it will take us all night if we don't start now." He turned around and found the cat who was staring at the shore. "Kyo, can you go inside and get the chickens for me?" He called to the cat.
"What?" The cat turned around. "You're right there, why don't you go and get it?" He snarled.
"I need to watch the grill and you don't want the house to burn down while I'm gone now, do you?" The dog smiled cunningly.
The cat rolled his eyes. He saw Yuki was chit chatting with Hiro and Kisa on the staircase, and thought that the rat could do it instead. "Why won't Yu…"
"Just shut up and get it!" The dog growled.
Ayame shook his head and laughed. "That boy is so dense."
Kyo walked into the kitchen. Kisa greeted him, Kagura gave him a silent smile and Tohru looked away finding Shigure and Ayame outside; they appeared to be having fun talking about something. Kyo approached the long chestnut hair girl. "I'm here for the chickens." He said bluntly as he looked at her hesitant expression. She handed over the bowl of marinated drumsticks to him. He took hold of it with both hands and slightly braced his fingers over hers. She pulled them back nervously. "Do you hate me now? Is that it?" He asked her.
"No." She replied, still looking away.
"Then, why are you avoiding me? When we're talking; you won't even look at me in the eyes anymore."
"I… I don't hate you… I…" She quickly looked at him, her expression, terrified and confused. 'How can I tell him? I'm shameless; I've been thinking about him all this time.'
He took in a deep breath, looked into her blue eyes once more and left the room. He handed the bowl of chicken to Shigure and got off the patio to find a seat on the shore. "Tohru… why?" He asked the setting sun. "Why are you avoiding me? I don't understand. Why must it be so complicated between you and me?" He took a handful of sand and tossed it into the waves.
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The girls came out to the patio after they cleaned up in the kitchen. Kagura looked around and didn't see the cat. "Where is Kyo? I thought that he was out here with you guys." She asked.
"I think he took a stroll. He looked upset earlier when he brought out the chicken." Hiro replied.
'Oh, Kyo… I'm so sorry.' Tohru apologized in silent.
"Kisa, the food is almost done, so let's eat together, okay?" Hiro asked his little love.
"Sure." She smiled, cute as ever.
"Yeah, I think that we've cooked enough here, so someone should go and get Kyo before the food gets cold." Ayame said.
"I'll go." Kagura volunteered.
Immediately, Tohru felt irritated. The thought of Kagura and Kyo together somehow disturbed her.
"Tohru, is something wrong?" Yuki asked her.
She denied it right away. "Nothing… Nothing at all." She walked up to Shigure. "It looks like you and Ayame made a great team here. Is there anything else that I can help you with?"
"Of course, I need you to eat. It looked like you've been losing weight, so I need you to replenish and be healthy for our wedding day." Shigure's straightforwardness made her blushed.
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Kagura found Kyo sitting on the sand staring into space. She slowly sat down beside him without him noticing. "So, I guess Tohru hasn't remembered yet." She said.
He turned to his side and found her, "What are you doing here?"
"The food is ready, so I came to let you know. We should head back; it's getting cold out here."
"You go on ahead. I need some time alone." The night was setting as the first storm of wind blew and lathered its cold breeze on Kyo's skin; he folded up he legs into his chest and hugged them.
"Come on, you'll get sick out here wearing just that. Let's go back."
"Just leave me alone."
"Kyo…" Her heart ached, feeling guilty for seeing him like this; if it wasn't for her, then he would be with Tohru right now and he wouldn't end up like a living zombie. "I'm so-o-o sorry." Her voice started to break.
The cat sighed, "What's done is done and it wasn't entirely your fault, so just forget it."
"Kyo, but I…"
"What?" He dropped his arms and looked at her.
"Nothing. I'll go back now, but promise me that you'll head back soon too, okay?"
"Yeah."
She sighed both from relief and frustration as she stood up, her sandal slipped and her toes buried into the sand. She fell forward and landed her weight on top of him. "O…" She cried facing down against his chest. He had opened his arms and held onto her that instant to break her fall. She clung closer; she didn't want to leave him. "I know that you love Tohru, but I can't help myself." Tears started to soak his white, thin layer tank top. She snuggled closer and softly she said, "Kyo, I'll try to put my feelings aside for you…for your sake."
"Kagura…" He said, still holding on to her waist. "I know. I understand how you feel, but there is only one person that I love and you already know who it is. I'm sorry, but I cannot return your feelings."
"No, don't be. It's nothing that you can control. Just like me, I can't control how I feel about you. I know that you don't want me, yet I still love you so much."
"I'm sure that there is someone out there that is made just for you."
"Oh, Kyo…" She hugged him tighter, thought hard and felt that this was her last chance and if she didn't ask him now; she'll live the rest of her live regretting it. "Can you do me one last favor?"
"What?"
She lifted her head up and slowly, she pleaded, "A kiss. One last kiss and I'll be out of your way forever."
The desperate looked from her eyes reminded him of his own desperation, feeling sympathy he agreed to her wish. He turned her over and slowly he gave her a gentle kiss. Kagura was overjoyed; nothing could describe her happiness at that moment. Tears of glee washed down her face uncontrollably as she sat up to wiped them.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'm so happy, that's all." She cried and laughed at the same time. "This is the first time that you kissed me…" She explained and managed another smile, "…and it's also the last."
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At the same exact moment when those lips creased together, a shadow from afar felt its heart stopped beating. A knife had crave its way in and rapture it from the inside, opening a scar, an unbearable yet familiar pain that shut down every nerve of its body creating two unbelievable sad eyes.
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Back at the patio, everyone else was enjoying themselves, eating and talking about their plan for the summer. Shigure, of course bragged about his wedding and Tohru to be the most beautiful bride ever. This obviously made Ayame envious, so he ignored the subject and focused his attention on Yuki instead. Kisa and Hiro were so cute together; they took turn to feed each other.
"It's been almost an hour and neither Kyo nor Kagura are back yet. Do you think that something had happened to them?" Yuki asked.
"There isn't anyone else on this beach, but us, so they should be okay." Shigure replied.
"But Kyo and Kagura should be back by now." Ayame added. "Yuki, why don't you go and get them. That Kyo can be very stubborn and that's probably why it's taking Kagura so long to get him back here."
"That stupid cat is just so… stupid." Yuki said and headed out to search for the cat.
"Look!" Kisa pointed to a figure that was running back to the house. "It's Sissy, she's back."
Tohru ran to the front of the house and quickly went upstairs.
"Odd… why did she come in through the front when we're here in the back?" Ayame asked.
"The way that she was running looked like something was bothering her." Hiro observed.
"Really, then I should go and check on her." Shigure suggested.
"Yeah." Ayame, Hiro and Kisa agreed.
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In the room, Tohru was crying her heart out burying her head into the white fluffy pillow of her bed. "Why?" She asked the pillow. "He said that he loved me, so why is he kissing her?" She kept flustering over her thoughts. Did it even matter that he kissed another girl? She never told him that she wanted him. He didn't belong to her, so he had every right to kiss whoever he wants, but it hurt so much to see it, to see the one she desired kissing someone else.
"Tohru. Tohru." Shigure called from outside the bedroom.
She heard him opening the door and quickly hid away her tears.
"Tohru, is everything all right?" He entered the room, shut the door behind him and he walked up to her. She was sitting up with the wet pillow faced down on her laps, looking outside the window, and her back facing him.
"I'm okay." She managed a clear tone of voice.
He sat down at the opposite end of the bed. "Are you sure? It's not healthy to lie."
"Huh...?" She shivered. "I'm sorry."
"Did something happen? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
She whimpered in fear. 'Should I tell him?'
"I know that something was bothering you earlier when you said that you need to take a walk and insisted to go alone. Then, when you came back running like you did. I knew that something is definitely troubling you, so why don't to tell me what's on your mind."
"Shigure!" She flew into his arms, face on his chest, tears on his kimono and sobbed.
"That's good, just get it all out. You'll feel better after you do." He comforted her as he ran his fingers down her head.
After it appeared that Tohru had no more tear to shed, she stopped and apologized again. "I'm sorry."
"No, I wasn't there for you when you needed me, but you can always count on me when you need a shoulder to cry on." He said as he slowly pulled her away from him, giving him enough room, so that he could wipe off the remaining tears from her eyes. "Now, what could have made these beautiful eyes of yours cried like that?"
"I…"
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you'll feel a lot better if you do."
'How can I tell him? He's so kind to me and I betrayed him.' She thought as she saw his dark brown eyes seeping concern.
"Does it have anything to do with Kyo?" He asked and her eyes wide opened. "I thought so…"
She narrowed her eyes again as she heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, I know that I'm engaged and I shouldn't be thinking about someone else, but I just couldn't stop thinking about him. I haven't been faithful to you."
'Only if you knew.' He chuckled silently. "It's okay that you have feelings for him because I know that you like him." She released her clutch from the kimono and pulled back a little more. "I think it's time that I tell you the truth." He continued.
"The truth?" She stared at him.
He sighed. "Yes, you see, from the beginning, I lied to you, so that you would accept my marriage proposal."
"A lie?" Now he startled her.
"Well, not completely. I told you that Kyo and Yuki were sick and promised you that I will cure their sickness if you were to marry me. You were so terrified and worried about them that you accepted my proposal. Along with the marriage, I also made a compromise."
"A compromise?" She asked again, still bewildered.
"The intention of the compromise was to help you decide between the three of us: Kyo, Yuki and I; which one of us will be your groom. It didn't matter who you'll picked because my promise was the same. I promised to cure the sickness that aroused in both Kyo and Yuki no matter who you decided to marry. Before you lost your memories, it appeared that you chose Kyo."
"I did?" She didn't remember such event ever occurred.
"Well, you didn't actually say you did, but the tension between you and Kyo made it obvious and that was also when I'd fulfilled my promise to you. The sickness that was bothering Kyo and Yuki was not any physical illness that you could see. They were like two balloons that were growing and growing everyday. Their emotions were compressed within the growing walls of each balloon and as they got larger; they wanted to express their feelings, but were too hesitant to do so or maybe too afraid to find out the result. That was where I came in, by asking for your hand in marriage, it caused their balloons to explode. When their balloons popped, all the feelings inside were expressed and found the places where they belong. At the end, you found Kyo, Kyo found you and Yuki found his way out of the love triangle, realizing his true feelings and that he was an extra wheel; he reconciled his differences and move on. So, in result, your decision helped me to fulfill my promised and cured the unseen sickness within everyone."
Tohru took a few minutes to allow Shigure's explanation to sink in, but in her current condition; it didn't help her. "I'm sorry, but I'm too confused. I don't understand. I don't remember any of this."
"It doesn't matter anymore. What happened in the past is now history. Now you should be concern of what's ahead. Like I said, Yuki is out of the picture and since you never announced that you chose Kyo, I remain to be your fiancée. Now that I had told you everything; I leave it to you to decide. I know that you're very confused now and I don't want to be too pushy on you, but I could see that without your memories, you were still able to develop feelings for Kyo. I noticed that you were acting strangely since the day you came back from the cemetery, but I kept quiet to see if my suspicion was right and it looks like I was right, right?" He paused to find an answer from her, but she looked away and didn't respond. He observed her remorse expression and continued, "I could also tell that Kyo still loves you and if it's him that you want instead of me, then I'll gladly step aside let him be your groom."
"But…" The thought of Kyo and Kagura still lingered. She didn't know if he still loved her or had he found his heart somewhere else instead, somewhere with Kagura. She again buried her head into Shigure's chest, but her thoughts were about Kyo. 'This is all my fault, if I hadn't ran away, if I didn't avoid him, if I were to be true to my feelings, then it wouldn't end up this way. Could he still be in love with me after how I treated him?' Regrets and uncertainty filled her as she sat quietly in Shigure's arms.
After another long silent, he spoke softly to her hair, "You don't need to give me an answer right away. Take your time and think about it. I'm sure that you'll make the right decision."
His kind words made her realized that she had only been thinking of herself. What about him? How did he feel about this? He must have some feelings for her to propose as he did. What will happen to him if she chooses Kyo? Could he truly be okay with it? Question after question were running through her little head. "Shigure… I'm so sorry. I'm so selfish; I didn't even think about your feelings."
"You don't owe me any apology. It should be me; I should be the one apologizing to you. I'm the one who've put you in this situation. You don't need to worry about me."
She broke away from his chest. "But…"
"No more buts…" He shook his head in front of her.
"Okay." She agreed softly as she focused deeper into the eyes of the man before her and wondered. "Shigure…"
"Yeah."
"How do you feel about me? Have I disappointed you? Can you still love a girl like me?" She asked.
Her question startled him; he blinked once and he blinked twice. "What do you mean? Of course, I love you. Who can not love you?"
"Then, would you kiss me?" She asked shyly.
Double shocked; he jerked back a little. "Why so sudden?"
"I just wanted to know if I could return your feelings. For the longest time, I thought of you as a brother, but just recently it slightly changed. Maybe, it's because of our engagement and my missing memories, yet I think that I could, if I tried very hard; I will be able to love you as a man and not as a brother."
'This doesn't sound good.' He thought. "What about Kyo? I thought that you like him."
"I do, but I don't know what to think anymore, between you and Kyo, I'm lost. I'm stuck in middle and I don't know if I should go left or right. He said that he loves me and so do you. Plus, he has…" She paused, shook out the image of him and Kagura and re-directed her attention to the person in front of her. "My mind is scattered." She paused again and thought hard. "I can't think anymore. I need you to help me to find my center. Right now, I need to feel it." Her voice started to break as she shook her head slowly and pleaded, "Words… don't make sense anymore… Please help me… I need to feel it to understand… to decide…"
He stared at the baffled girl and knew that something was definitely wrong between her and Kyo, but there was nothing that he could do right now to help her and there was no way that he could refuse her request either, so he leaned forward and gently kissed her, holding her in his arms. His kiss was different. It didn't give her the thrilled that Kyo did, but it was sweet in its own special way. He broke the kiss slowly and saw her cheeks turning red, feeling awkward about the situation he quickly remembered a special event that he and Ayame had planned for the night. "Tohru, why don't you go wash up and come outside with me?"
"Why?" She asked still feeling a bit embarrassed from the kiss.
"Aya bought fireworks for us tonight. I think that he and the others should have them ready by now, so we should be out there and have fun with everyone. We don't want to keep them waiting for too long."
"Okay." She agreed softly.
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Like Shigure said, the barbeque was done and everyone had gather together to start the fireworks. Everyone was securely dressed and they even brought along blankets just in case it was too cold.
"Big sis! Come and play with us, we're having so much fun! Hiro is great with the fireworks! Look…!" She pointed into the night sky, the sounds of three sizzling rockets ascended consecutively into the dark sparkling sky and a blast exploded, colored the night with more colors; first a small blue flower appeared and as it get larger, it turned purple, red, pink and slowly flake of yellow line fell, sprinkling above the ocean waves.
"It's beautiful…" Tohru said admiring the wonderful atmosphere above them.
"Thank you, Grandpa Shigure. Thank you, Grandpa Ayame. It was very nice of you two for inviting us here." Kisa said happily in her little girlish, cute, kiddy tone of voice.
"You're welcome." Both men replied.
"There is more! So much more! Kisa, let's go! I want you to play with me." Hiro said excitingly as he pulled Kisa away with him.
"It looks like everyone is having fun." Shigure observed.
"Yup!" Ayame replied.
"But, what's wrong with Kyo? Why is he just sitting there all by himself?" Shigure asked.
The sound of Kyo's name caught Tohru's attention as she found him sitting at the end, further, furthest away from everyone and was staring into the sky.
"I don't know. Since he came back with Kagura; he's been like that. It looks like he's in deep thoughts trying to solve some unresolved mysterious." Ayame replied.
'Kyo… Are you thinking about me right now or is it Kagura?' Tohru wondered as she saw Kagura came over and pulled him up by his hands; she tensed up that instant and creased her eyes tightly together. 'I shouldn't be acting like this, after all, I did the exact same thing.'
Ayame saw her and quietly whispered into the taller man's ear. "What happened to her? You didn't do anything out of line did you?"
Shigure laughed nervously, "Of course not." And quickly he snatched the lighter from Ayame's hand, "I want to play too."
"Shigu! That's mine, give it back!" Ayame chased Shigure around in circles. Tohru and Kisa stood looking at each other then to the two grown men and laughed.
After a few laps, Shigure stopped abruptly when he spotted something interesting in sight. Ayame smashed into the man in front and bounced off onto the beach's surface. "Wow, look at that one! It's humorous!" Shigure exclaimed pointing to the largest firework that he had ever seen.
"Yeah, I saved that one for you; it's a combo." Ayame stood up and swept the sand off his buttock. "So, do you want to light it now?"
"Yes! Let's get everyone together!" He waved his hands to gather everyone together.
"Come on, Kyo! Let go!" Kagura pulled him over to Shigure. Yuki, Hiro and Kisa followed behind.
"Okay, let's color the sky with this baby." Shigure said with excitement in his tone. "Aya, give Kyo one of those sparkling lighter."
"Kay…" The snake replied and shoved a lighter into Kyo's hand.
"This is a big one, on the count of three let's all light this bomb together!" Shigure splurged.
"Lets!" Everyone shouted in agreement. "One, two, three and light!"
Burning sparks immediately ignited from the tail, rapidly reaching the base of the bomb and a "BOOM" blasted out. The shell dropped onto the sandy beach's surface, while its mass expanded and rose into the dark twinkling sky. A rainbow of colors lighted the sky; it was the most eye-catching sight ever. Everyone admired the radiant night and relaxed themselves to enjoy a once in a life time, spectacular moment. Even the cat was dazed by all the colors that he had never seen before. At that moment, Shigure and Kagura caught each other's glances and nodded in agreement; both were thinking of the same idea. Slowly, without the cat noticing, he and another body was only inches away, fingers touching as he turned around still holding onto the lighter in his hand; sparkling lights, glints of bright white flares highlighting his dark red eyes as he met a pair of glittering deep blue eyes staring at him. They stood in silent, mesmerized by the sparks between them and found a tiny ounce of happiness within their heart and so, they smiled.
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Back Stage Discussion:
Smile: Wow! I think that this is the longest chapter that I've written so far. It's not exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but… here it is.
Shigure: Yeah, you're right and it was packed with the most nonsense ever!
Smile: What do you mean by that?
Shigure: I felt like a total idiot in this chapter! When did I become a pussy about Aya? I should be the one in control here. Why is he bossing me around? That just spoiled all my fun…FUN!
Ayame: How can you say that you bastard?
Shigure: Well, it's more fun seeing you getting all jumpy than having you go bruising my ass!
Yuki: That's enough whining from you!
Shigure: Wah! Now your brother is yelling at me! See what I mean Smile?
Smile: Right… I can care less…
Shigure: What? You're mean to me too… (sniff sniff)
Smile: Well, sor-rie… I just type whatever crossed my mind.
Kyo: That's not good enough! Tell me when I'll be with Tohru!
Smile: Don't get me pissed you love sick jerk!
Tohru: Please everyone calm down. We're all work together here, so let's see some team spirit and stop fighting.
Yuki: Tohru is right.
Smile: Hahhh… okay. Just hang in there with me and I'll give you an ending soon.
Tohru: What's going to happen next?
Smile: I'll give you a sneak preview. It's what you've been waiting for or at least the beginning of it plus an unexpected pairing.