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Smile: Hello, it's me, the troubled heart fan-writer who cannot get Kyo and Tohru together fast enough. I'm sorry for the slooooow update, but I'm making it up with another long chapter. I know you probably just want to continue and read the new chapter, but I just want to clarify a few comments from the last chapter. First, I agree completely that Ayame and Hiro were both out of character, but like I said before, it's more fun when I mess around with the characters. In my opinion, everyone is out of character. Second, regarding Kisa chopping food in the kitchen and Hiro lighting the fireworks, I say that they are both about 14 years old in my story, so it's safe for Kisa to be using a knife and Hiro with a lighter. Third, regarding the school trip, I was advised by Klove0511 that the school trip in Fruits Basket occurs in the second year not the third. This is a mistake on my part, but since I'd already mentioned it, I'll just continue with it. After all, this is my story and I don't want to go back to revise that damn chapter 16. I've already revised it four times! Fourth, regarding the last part where Shigure and Kagura met in agreement, they're not falling for each other or anything like that. I thought that you could read through the lines and read my mind. "Slowly, without the cat noticing." Shigure slowly pushes Tohru and Kagura pushes Kyo, so that the two ended up together between the sparks and under the colorful sky. Fifth, Shigure is in love with Ayame and not Tohru. The reason why he hadn't told Tohru about Ayame is because… well you'll have to continue reading to find out. Finally, the unexpected paring is here in this chapter and only here in this chapter. If you like this pairing, then that's great, but I'm not going to develop their relationship any further, because my main focus is to get Tohru back with Kyo.
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Chapter 17 – Acknowledgment
Another three weeks came to past and the senior's school trip arrived. Luggages and duffle bags were stacked up like a mountain. For a three night trip, some may had overdone it. The students were at the airport, probably eighty plus in headcounts divided by four classes and that made twenty or more in each class.
Uo could care less about the other classes. "We only have another week until graduation, so let's have lots of funs and make this trip worth wild."
"But it's a school trip, so how fun can it be?" The orange hair boy asked bluntly.
"You stupid Orange-top! Just use your imagination and with me around there is no way that you'll be bored." She folded her arms around his neck and dragged him to the front line. Tohru, Hana and Yuki paced behind, walking calmly yet amused by the blob of orange waving its arms up and down, in the air like a pair of web wings.
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Everyone got onto the plane. "Okinawa here we come!" Uo exclaimed looking outside the window.
"Can you quit it? You're embarrassing." Kyo said.
"What? Kyou afraid to have fun?" She teased.
"Why did I get assigned seat with you anyways?"
"I guessed it's just your lucky day."
"Yeah, right." He mocked.
"So, who do you wanna be with then? Tohru?"
"Shut up!"
"I'm right! You're blushing!"
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On the other side opposite, Yuki, Tohru and Hana were seated together. What a lucky guy he was sitting in between two girls. They appeared to be very up tight at the moment and each gripped onto the sleeve of his shirt as the plane departed and lifted into the sky.
"I guess that this is the first time that you girls fly…" He observed from their nervousness.
"Yes." Both spoke at the same time.
"Well, I could understand Tohru's case, but Miss Hanajima, this is a surprise for me to see you like this."
"What? O… this…" She released his sleeve, hands folded together, in front and on top of her laps.
"I see… underneath that strong mystery mask of yours, there are still some weaknesses."
"I rather, that you don't talk about me like that." She turned toward the window.
Yuki caught another surprise from an angle of her face. 'She's blushing. I never noticed that her cheek could glow in such a rosy color, maybe it's her dark hair; it compliments her complexion.'
"Look, doesn't that cloud looks like a cat?" Hana said, pointing at the cloud outside the window.
"A cat?" The two companions surprisingly responded at the same moment.
Yuki leaned over to see the cat shaped cloud. "Why, yes it does look like a cat." He said, then shifted his weight slowly back down when a pair of dark violet eyes captured him, blinking at him, long, curled lashes opened and closed before him. Now, it was he's turn to blush.
Tohru, on the contrary, immediately transformed the image of the cat into Kyo. She turned around from the edge of her seat to find him arguing with Uo on the other side. The memories of that vivid night sky three weeks ago found her; the sight of his red gleaming eyes between the sparks of his lighter were genuine. At that moment, she was the only one he saw in his eyes and that sparkling moment made her feel special.
Also, at that moment, she decided not to avoid him any longer and to let their relationship developed naturally. Though, their day to day life became normal, but during the night, she couldn't help but wondered and thought of Kyo taunted her. She kept asking herself questions after questions. 'Is he still in love me? Has he stopped loving me? Is he with Kagura? Did I treat him so badly that he hated me now? Why can't I tell him that I care for him? Why can't I tell him that I want him? Why did I ask Shigure to kiss me? Can I love him? He is different, he's not Kyo, but if Kyo doesn't love me anymore, then maybe I could fall for someone else; someone like Shigure is nice. He's kind and gentle. He's always seems to know exactly what to say to calm and cheer me up. If I marry him, l guess living the rest of my life with a man like him isn't so bad, but why does it feel so wrong just to think about it? It's because… it's because… he is not… he is not … Kyo.' She continued to stare that the rowdy cat.
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By the time they arrived at the designated Hotel, it was in the evening; all the waiting, checking in luggages, making sure that everyone was accounted for took over half a day and the flying made up for the rest. Everyone had assigned rooms of four; Yuki and Kyo were in the same room while Tohru, Uo and Hana were together in another room.
"Oh, what a waste? An entire day gone, just like that… That's why I hate traveling." Uo said as she dropped her baggages on the floor and jumped onto her bed. "This leaves us only two days to play and enjoy ourselves. What should we do?"
"Well the beach here is nice, right?" Tohru asked.
"Yes, and we should do some shopping as well." Hana added.
"Yeah, we'll definitely do them, but there should be something else." Uo pondered.
"What else do you want to do?" Tohru asked.
"I don't know… something fun." Uo replied. "Well, enough with the talk, let's go to the bath house. I saw one in the hotel when we were checking in. We should all go together."
"That's sound good." Hana replied.
"Miya, would you like to join us?" Tohru asked the fourth person in the room.
"Nah, I rather sleep now. Thanks for asking." She replied.
The three friends grabbed their towels and headed to the bath. On the way, in front of the bath's entrance, they met the two Sohma boys walking out; Kyo and Tohru exchanged glances and their faces turned pink; Yuki and Hana did just the same.
"Okay, what's going on here? Why are you guys all red?" Uo asked, but no one answered, everyone just looked away to a corner shyly. She stood in the middle observing the four redden strawberries and speculated. "Alright then, if no one is talking, then can we at least bathe now?"
"Okay. Yes." Tohru replied first, then Hana; they both turned and headed straight for the bath.
"Good!" Uo pouted.
"Enjoy your bath." Yuki said as he walked away with Kyo.
Uo turned around and hissed. "Of course, we will, you ding head!"
"What's up with her?" Kyo asked.
"I don't know." Yuki replied. "Let's head back to our room, we don't want to worry Rin and Ken."
"Yeah" Kyo agreed, and then suddenly, "Hey, wait a minute… when have you started bossing me around? Don't tell me what to do, you damn rat!"
Yuki smiled and kept on walking.
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In the bath house, while Tohru and Hana minded their own business and bathe themselves, Uo decided to stir thing up a bit. "Okay, what is going on with you two?"
"What do you mean?" Hana asked.
"Don't give me that. You know exactly what I mean. You were blushing when you saw Yuki earlier."
"I was just tired from all that heat and traveling." She replied calmly and continued her bathing. 'Why did I exactly?' She asked herself as she lathered the shampoo into her hair.
Uo shifted her attention to Tohru, "And you, what is the deal with you and Orange-top? Don't tell me that you chose him over the Prince and what about Shigure? I thought that you decided to marry him."
"Well, I…" She started, yet hesitated. She didn't want to worry her friends with her trouble.
"Tohru, are we your best friends or aren't we?" Uo asked.
"Yes, of course you are."
"Then, you can always tell us what's on your mind. Share with us your dreams, your pain or just anything at all. We will listen." Hana said with her usually calm and flat voice.
"Yes, I know that… It's just… I don't know…" Tohru replied, still hesitant remained in her voice.
"It's Kyo, isn't it? You like him." Uo leered.
'How is it that everyone seems to know that Kyo is the key to my frustration?' She asked herself.
"If it's true that you like Kyo, then you should let your feeling out and let him know. After all, he would be a much better groom than that crazy writer." Hana said.
"So, do you like him or not?" Uo leaned forward, staring her blues eyes straight into Tohru's narrowed ones.
Feeling the pressure from her friends, she admitted, "Well, yes… I do like him a lot, but…"
"But, what?" Uo asked.
"It's complicated." Tohru replied, looking away.
Hana observed, considering the most logical factor of Tohru's relationship, "Does it has anything to do with the writer?" She asked.
Tohru shook her head. "No, it's not him."
Uo directly turned her attention to the next obvious person. "Then, is it the Prince?"
"No, it's not him, either."
Hana thought again, considering what other reason could be practical, "It's another woman." She declared.
Tohru didn't respond, but her rigid body gave her answer away.
"So, Orange-top has another woman, I cannot believe this! How and when did this happen? Does he like the other girl?" Uo asked.
"I don't know." Tohru replied.
"What?" Uo raised her voice. "Don't tell me that you didn't confront him?"
"No."
"Why not?" The blonde exclaimed.
"I don't know, maybe I'm just too afraid what his answer would be, so I just stayed away from the subject entirely."
"This is just like you. You keep everything to yourself until you have no other choices. Once you get push into a corner, that's when you let it all out. Tohru, this is not healthy. You should be true to yourself and don't hold back; the more you resist, the more tension it will build up and one day, you'll just explode." Hana explained.
"Look who's talking." Uo mocked. "You're doing just the same…"
"Who are you implying?
"You!" Uo pointed a finger at her friend. "This suck! All the nice looking guys are taken!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'd noticed how you were when I asked Tohru earlier about the Prince. There is some chemistry building up between you and him and I just know it." Uo explained.
"No, it's nothing like that." Hana disagreed.
"Don't lie!"
"I'm not…" She looked away and lowered her voice, speaking to her feet, "…and maybe if I am, just a little bit… he'll never notice me."
"How would you know if you never try?" Uo made her point and sighed. "Oh! This is crazy! Let's finish up and go back. I need to do some planning."
"Planning?" The two unhappy faces asked.
Uo raised her brows, "I mean sleeping, yeah… sleeping!" A thought crossed her frisky head and she found the 'something fun' that she was looking for.
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The blazing sun was enjoying its rays; reaching out to everyone, sharing its warmth and marking its signature on every exposed skin. The white sandy beach did nothing less, finding its joy through thousand of sandals, rubbing its rough edges and tickled every foot that came in its path.
"It's beautiful! I've never seen a beach as blue as this one before." Tohru was admiring the sea and smelling the crisp and salty air of the beach.
"Yes, this is lovely." Hana agreed, lying on the beach chair in her one piece, plain black bathing suit.
"This is great." The other girl, Miya was also enjoying the sun in her pink, two pieces polka-dots bikinis.
Tohru continued to admire the beach, digging her feet into the sand and giggled herself from the tingling feeling that she received in return.
"We're not going to spend the entire day just bathing in the sun are we?" Uo asked, lying on her stomach. "This is boring, let's call some guys over." She spotted someone, "Here comes a hot stud."
"Good afternoon." Yuki greeted the girls.
"Hi, Yuki." Tohru replied.
"Yeah, hi." Uo replied.
Hana greeted him with a smile and continued her bath.
"I'm playing volleyball with the guys over there, would any of you like to join us?" He asked.
"That's a great idea!" Uo jumped from her seat. She was wearing a two piece bikinis, in a bright, red hot color. "Okay, let's go girls."
"No, I don't volleyball." Tohru denied.
"Yeah, sport isn't my thing, I get tire very easily." Hana said.
"That's the more reason why you must." She pulled her two friends, each by the hand. "Miya, you come too."
"Okay." The other girl replied.
"Alright then, Yuki… lead the way." He nodded in agreement and Uo dragged her friends along.
They came to the game where Kyo and his other two roommates were playing two against one. Kyo, of course was in an orange swim short and as tan as ever; he must the darkest guy in the group. In contrary, Yuki was the fairest of them and his purple short didn't help much at all. Rin was in blue and Ken in yellow; they're both average, ordinary boys, not much to say about them.
"Orange-top!" Uo greeted him as she approached the game.
Everyone stopped.
Kyo also stopped to admire Tohru's one-piece outfit. It was a white suit with blue diamond shape-like embroidery all over it. She exposed very little skin, yet he still found her very attractive.
She met his eyes and turned away shyly from embarrassment. 'Kyo, please don't look at me like that. Every time we meet eye to eye, it just makes me so nervous that I don't know what to say to you anymore… try to act naturally… act naturally…' She chanted to herself.
"Okay, so how should we divide the team? It looks like we have four boys and four girls." Uo observed. "In all fairness, we should split two in each team, two guys and two girls." She suggested and everyone agreed.
"Okay, let's play ball." Yuki initiated the first serve to Uo's team.
'How did I need up in Tohru's rear?' Kyo asked, staring at the back of the white swimsuit.
"Orange-top! Watch the ball!" Uo called to her teammate standing beside her. He caught it in time and hit it over to Rin on the other side. Rin caught the ball and passed it to Miya in front. She then slammed it over the net to girl in white. Tohru struggled with the ball and passed it back to her friend in red. Uo again passed it along crosswise to Ken in yellow. While the other team played passing the ball, Yuki stood and observed the girl in black.
The game didn't last for long, less then half an hour when Hana collapsed on her knees. Yuki quickly came to held her up. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore." She replied, breathing heavily. "Please continue without me." She broke away and found herself some shade under the umbrella above her chair.
Tohru ran over, "Are you sure that you're alright?"
"Yes. I just needed some rest and I'll be fine." Hana replied, smiling. "Go play. Don't stop in my account."
They continued playing for a little longer. The game probably lasted an hour in total, then Yuki signaled off and went to rest by Hana. "That sun is brutal." Yuki said as he wiped off his sweat from his forehead; drops of liquid, drip by drip sliding down, running along the side of his face as he breathed.
Hana noticed his bare chest; it was pale with a touch of redness, moving in and out as he gasped for air. She had never been with the Prince like this before and even from his side, he was as fine-looking as ever.
"Are you feeling better now?" He asked while turning his head over, his purpled hair flew into mid-air and tiny droplet of clear elements sparkled as he met her eyes. He could feel his heart race as he continued to look at her, admiring her rosy cheeks and mysterious dark amethyst eyes. "Uh…" He opened his lips, hands a bit shaky as he started, but whatever he wanted to say was interrupted when Uo came and took a seat right in the middle.
"Man! That was a good game." Uo breathed as she sat down. Miya, Rin, Ken were right behind her. Kyo grabbed the volleyball and Tohru accompanied him walking back to the others. As they approached, Uo shouted, "Orange-top! I'm thirsty! Go and get me a drink!" She demanded.
He threw the ball right at her. "You go and get it yourself!"
She jumped at him, landing her red buttock right on his bare abs. "That's not how it works! You do not make the ladies go and get the drink! It's the guy's job!"
He looked up and there two bouncy red triangles turned him looking away. Tohru felt disturbed as she watched Uo sitting on top of Kyo and instantly, she volunteered. "I'll go and get everyone something to drink."
"No! You stay here and let him go." Uo argued.
"But, I want to." Tohru insisted. "So… you can get off of him now." She said timidly.
Uo looked at Tohru, then at Kyo, then back at Tohru; both of them looked uncomfortable. "Okay, if that's what you really want to do." Uo said and her friend nodded. She stood up and pointed a finger at the boy on the sand. "You, go with her."
"Why you?" Kyo jumped back up and formed a fist.
"Please, Kyo…" Tohru placed her hand on his arm gently. It sent him a little shockwave. It was the first time in a while that she touched him. He agreed warmly and they both left together.
Uo sat back down, looking at the couple who just left to buy drinks and snickered to herself, 'Two down and two to go.' Then, she noticed that she was sitting in between the other pair. "Okay!" She suddenly shouted. "Let's go swimming!"
"What?" Everyone exclaimed at the same time.
"But, we just finished playing ball." Miya whined.
"Yeah, I'm still tired." Rin agreed.
"We need some refreshment before doing anything else. Let's wait for the drink." Ken suggested.
"NO! You can have some sea water. After all, this is an expensive trip and we won't have many chances to have fun after this, so let enjoy it now." Uo explained.
"But!" All said at the same time.
"NO MORE BUTS!" She yelled and fire ignited in the background.
"OK! We'll go." They ran off to stay away from her rage.
"You too!" She turned around and looked at Yuk and Hana. "Get off your butts and go swimming!"
"But." Hana tried to argue.
"Didn't you hear what I've just said?"
"I can't swim."
"You can still play in the water." Uo wouldn't let Hana talked her way out. She pulled her friend by the hand and Yuki paced behind. Once they reach the sandy part where the tip of each wave reached and soaked the sand beneath; she immediately pushed Hana into the water.
"It's cold!" Hana described.
"Not after you splash for a few times." She started splashing water onto Hana; raindrops of water fell onto her friend while the purple-eyed boy stood still and watched the two friends playing and exchanging laughter's of joy.
Yuki continued to admire the sight of two young girls on the beach and found a little excitement for himself. For some unexplainable reason, he had his eyes fixed on one person in particular; the one with long, shining black hair. Her hair pulled straight down from the weight of the water, it meshed and blended into her swimsuit as her outfit hugged tighter to her skin. She arched back, running her fingers into her hair to pull them in place. The picture of her standing in the clearest and bluest ocean glowed as she held onto her black hair. "She's beautiful." His thought slipped through his lips.
"Who's beautiful?" Tohru asked.
"O… Hi, Tohru." He greeted her.
She observed his blushing. It took her a few seconds for it to sink in and softly she said, "I'm glad that you've found someone."
"What?" He responded.
She ran off to play with her friends.
"What's that about?" He asked again.
"Girls… They're so hard to understand." Kyo said from behind.
"Yeah." Yuki agreed as he saw Tohru cheerfully splashing the sea water. "Tohru looks happy, so did you two patch up things?" He asked.
"No, every time I tried to bring up the subject, she'll just find a way to avoid it. I don't understand her…" He paused, his heart skipped a beat as he looked at Tohru, 'It hurt less when you just avoided me… why bother talked to me now, and won't give me a straight answer? Do I mean that little to you?'
"Hey! Are you okay?" Yuki saw the cat's frozen stiff, staring at Tohru.
"Yeah…want a drink?" Kyo asked.
"Sure." Yuki replied and the cat grabbed a can of cold carbonated, flavored water from the bag hanging from his hand. "Thanks."
"Yuki! Kyo! Come! Play with us!" Uo waved her hands, inviting the boys over.
Kyo dropped the bag, pretended that nothing's wrong. He and Yuki came running into the water, kicking and moving in the icy cold water, enjoying each wave as they cooled off the heat from their burning skin.
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The following day was gone just like that. It passed by quickly as the girls enjoyed their shopping spree in town. Night fell and everyone was back in their room at the hotel. Everyone was to pack and get ready for the flight home tomorrow morning.
Uo had planned a get together for everyone in her class. It was a total night out before they leave and go back home. The time for the gathering was 11pm, after the other classes and the homeroom teachers were asleep. Uo found a vacant beach house about half a mile away from the Hotel, and everyone was to sneak out and meet there. She dragged her two friends who, of course, didn't want to go. Miya came along willingly, so that she wouldn't also be dragged. Everyone arrived at the designated place, and per usually some of them drank, some danced and some just sit around having a good time.
"Okay, people! Now it's time for the grand finale." Uo said as she rose up two hats of crumble papers in each hand. "Okay, I think excluding me, there is an even number of girls and guys in this house tonight, so listen up people. Before we call it a night, there is one last thing that I want to do, I want to have some fun and create some memories. This may be the last time we all get together to do something like this, so here I proposed a making out game!"
"Huh? What? No way! Yah!" Difference voices roused from the crowd.
"Everyone must participate or it won't work! And if you dare to back out, I'll hunt you down." She gave everyone a sharp glared to make sure that they all got her drift. "If you hadn't notice yet, then I'll tell you now. See all the number labeled on those doors in the hallway. Each door has a unique number. Here is how the game works, each female student is to draw a number from the first hat and go to the door with the same number labeled on it. She is to wait inside the room until her destine man comes in. The male will do the same, draw a number from the second hat and go to the room to find his destine woman. Whether or not the two people, who ended up with the same numbered room decided to make out or not is their choice, but everyone must draw the raffle. You may never know… the person you'll pick tonight may turn out to be your soul mate. Okay, enough said. Tohru you're up first."
"I don't like this." She replied as she looked at Kyo.
"Like I said, you don't have to kiss the guy if you don't want to." Uo replied. Her friend sighed and drew a number. "Hana, it's your turn." She called. Knowing Uo, Hana couldn't talk herself out of it, so she also drew a number. When all the girls were done, it was the guys turn.
Yuki came up first, willingly examined the pieces of mashed up paper, he couldn't tell the difference whatsoever, so he sighed. "Here goes nothing." He picked up a ball of paper.
Kyo came up next; he could care less about the stupid game, "Just give me one." He said to Uo.
She sneered back at him, "No, you need to test the fate. I know that you want Tohru, so here pick her out from hat." She shook the hat and all the pieces scrambled together. "Agh! Fine!" He quickly snatched a piece.
"Okay, men go to your women! I'll be outside guarding for at least half an hour, so before that time comes, don't you even think that you can leave your woman alone." At that, she sent everyone down the hallway, each young man stood in front of his door as Uo shut down all the lights.
(Smile: Okay, this is a vacant house, so where did the lights come from? Agh, who cares? The owner must be so rich that they never shut off the electricity bill on the place.)
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Yuki turned the knob of his door and entered. He closed his door gently and leaned against it. He sighed as he thought, 'Why did I even participate?' A vision of a black hair and violet eyes girl crossed his mind.
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At the same time, Kyo also entered his room, shut it closed and leaned his head against the lifeless wood door. He stood silently and didn't even bother to approach the girl in the room. He cursed himself, 'I'm not a fool. There is no way that Tohru is in this room. I was born in agony, to bear the Sohma's curse, to be the black sleep of the family, and to be rejected. I must have the worstest fate ever, my family rejected me because I was the cat, the one animal that the zodiac banded from history. She is the only one that opened up to me, not afraid of the creature I'd become; she welcomed me every time and said the sweetest thing. I missed her goofy smile. Is there no hope for me? I can't take this any longer. I rather end it now and let her go on with her live and maybe I can forget and move on, too.'
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While Yuki stood soundlessly, a voice spoke up. "Yuki?" She asked. He recognized that voice; he opened up his eyes, trying to adjust his vision to the dim room. He didn't say a word, yet he stepped forward to find out if his assumption was correct.
"Don't come closer…" She said with flat, yet smooth voice. She answered him; she confirmed her identity with her words.
"Why?" He asked, as the darkness in the room faded and there he saw her skin emerged, stood out in the night. 'What is this strange feeling I'm having right now?' He felt his heart race once again, looking at her. 'Why her? Why Ms. Hanajima?' He walked up closer to her.
"I'm not the one that you want."
Yuki stared into her violet and shimmering eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that you like Tohru, so we don't have to do you know what… We could just stay in here for a while until the night is over or until we can leave and go back to the hotel." She explained as she found the window curtains and split them opened from the middle. "The moon is beautiful tonight, don't you think?" The moon light found its way in and lit up the room, highlighting the girl beneath it, her dark hair shined, her face glowed and her lips glittered.
"Yes, it is beautiful, but there is something else tonight that I found more beautiful." He said as he walked up and caressed her face.
"What's this?" She asked, confused by his touch.
"I admit that this is a bit strange, but Tohru isn't the one that I've been thinking about."
"But… I don't understand."
"Neither do I."
"What about Tohru?"
"She has Kyo."
"Yes, I could sense that Kyo loves her a lot and maybe even more than she knows it."
He gently lifted her chin up and spoke, "You know what? I've been having this strange feeling inside, it's becoming stronger as I look at you. I want to find out what it is."
'He looks so sincerely, could really be interested in me?' Her cheeks turned rosy again as she stared into his eyes. "But… you're the Prince. I mean…"
"What does it matter? I'd never imagine that you would take such title in consideration."
"I don't. I don't know why I'm feeling so insecure right now. This is not me… I'm usually not like this."
"You're a mysterious one, but that reason why I found you're so intriguing. I want to learn more about you, things that I've never noticed before."
"Yuki…"
"Hanajima…"
"You can call me Saki."
"Saki…" His lips parted as he observed her flushing. "Shall we?"
"I've never done this before." She said softly, her heart race, pounding faster as he leaned forward.
"Then, let me be your first."
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In the other room, Kyo was still fighting his thought; he banged his head against the door.
"Excuse me." The other person in the room spoke up, "I understand completely if you don't want to do this because I don't want to do it either."
He cursed his bad luck no more, "Tohru?"
"Kyo?" Surprised, yet she was relieved to hear his voice.
He quickly found her. "I can't believe that it's you."
"Me either." She breathed and smiled, but her contentment didn't last long.
"Tohru… I was just thinking…" He walked away to find the windows. He pulled up the curtains and looked at the full moon above him as he filled his lungs. "I cannot wait anymore." He turned back to look at her. "I need to know, tonight."
She chuckled nervously, "What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean and don't try to change the subject." Again, he turned away from her to find the darkness outside. "I'm tired of waiting. You may think that I'm a courage, that I'm just running away, but I'm only human; a merely human in flesh and blood. This human is dieing, my essence, my core is unstable. There is a deep wound inside of me, something that I cannot see, but it hurts, it hurts so much that I cannot bear it anymore." He shut his eyes tightly together, so that tears cannot escape.
"This doesn't sound like you." She said feeling very troubled from the tone of his depressing voice and her own racing heart.
He spoke to the window with a pinch of bitterness. "I haven't been myself for a while now, since that very day that you've forgot me. If I were to compare myself to a cat; a cat itself has nine lives and I could strongly say that eight of my nine lives are dead now. My first life died when we first kiss, your tears stole it away. My second deceased when you agreed to marry that damn dog, Shigure. My third one ran away along with my nuisance when I left home. My fourth one disappeared with you when you ran away and lost your faith in me. My fifth one ended that moment you fainted in my arms after the car accident. My sixth one suffocated when I learned that you've lost your memories. My seventh one was shoved away and buried when you deny me of my love. My confession to you at the cemetery was true, but you didn't even consider it. Instead, you shattered my hope and said that nothing happened. Finally, my eighth one; you just killed it earlier with your question, pretending that you don't know what I want." He let out a quiet sighed then walked back to her. "Each live disappears from me before I knew it. They were painful, but I was able to bear them." He paused and ran his finger along the shape of her face. "But, do you know what hurt me the most?"
"No." She managed an answer after his fingers left her skin.
"It's being able to see the one that I love so much in front of me, but knowing that she doesn't belong to me. Your ignoring me didn't hurt as much as you were pretending to be friendly and giving me fake affection and hope. Tohru, I would die a hundred times for just for you. If I were to have that many lives, then I'll die for you anytime in return all I ask is for your love."
"I didn't know that you've been through so much because of me." She quickly covered up her mouth as bitterness started to fill her head, 'How could he love me so much? I didn't know that I've put him in so much pain, but yet he held on, waiting for me, for me to return his feelings. Why didn't I accept his feelings? Was it Kagura? Was it Shigure? Was it because of my missing memories? Do anything of this matter anymore?'
"Regarding my cat's lives, I only have one live left, but its spirit is weak and unstable. Before, I let it die completely, I must know…" He took her arms, "Tohru, please tell me how you feel about me? Why are you avoiding me? Did I do something wrong? Is it because you cannot remember me? Why can't you just accept me? Tell me why!"
"I'm so-o sorry..." She cried, drops of clear bubbles lined up along her liners as they fused together and ran down to her face from the end of her blue eyes. "I'm sorry." She continued to cry, unable to stop.
"Is that all you have to say…" He held on to a side of her face. She couldn't say anything else, all she could do right now was sobbing. He pulled his hand away and utterly feeling pathetic. "I'm such a fool. I should have accepted it sooner and just left you alone then I would have saved you from all these tears. I'm such a loser pleading like I am now. Maybe I should save the last bit of my dignity; the remaining of my ninth life and disappear from your live forever."
"No! You can't you promise!" She cried out. 'Where did that came from?' She immediately thought.
Both stood in silent, staring at each other.
"So, do you remember my promise?" He held up this hand again, but hesitated to touch her, afraid that it was too good to be true.
"I…" She closed her eyes, thought hard. "I'm sorry, but I can't remember." She said softly. "I could feel that something is there, but I can't reach it."
Just like he thought, disappointed as he dropped his hand back down. "I had promised you that I will never to leave you again and that is why I stayed around, hoping that time will help you remember. Yet, all my waiting and efforts had died and now I think that I cannot keep that promise any longer." He looked away, turned his head to the side and thought hard, "I think that it's time to end this."
"What you do mean by that?"
"It's time for me to say goodbye."
"No."
"Goodbye…" He whispered and slowly walked toward the door.
"No. NO. You can't!" She moved around as fast as she could and pulled onto the back of his shirt.
"Why should I stay? You don't remember." He managed with a dried voice facing his back to her.
She leaned against his back and spoke to his shirt. "It doesn't matter; I don't need to remember…"
"Why?" He asked again.
"Because…" She wrapped her arms around him. "…because, I need you." She cried softly to his shoulder blade, "I need you to be with me, to hold me in your arms and to say that… that you love me once more."
"I don't understand."
"I know that I don't remember, but it doesn't matter anymore because I love you, with or without them, I still love you." He couldn't believe what he had just heard. He dropped his head to let it sink in. She held onto him tighter gripping onto the front of his shirt. She didn't want to let him go; she couldn't bear the thought of him leaving her. She clung onto his closer and she said again, "…because, I love you…" The phrase echoed in his mind three times, but he still couldn't believe it. He had been waiting for it for so long, that now it didn't seem real anymore. He didn't respond to her, so she called to him again. "Kyo… I love you."
"Tohru." He woke up and immediately embraced her. He took a good look at her. She looked frightening. "I've been waiting for this moment for so long." He whispered into her ears, inhaled deeply and exhaled all his frustration. He was relieved. He was saved. He released his arms and moved them down to find her hands. He locked his webs with hers and walked her slowly, hand in hand to the bed inside the room. He sat his back against the headboard and pulled her up with him, holding her in his arms.
She sat burying her head under his chin as she listened to his heartbeat. It was playing a very soothing rhythm. She closed her eyes to enjoy her moments allowing herself to breathe the night air of fulfillment. "I've been longing for this too. I wanted to be in your arms just like this."
"Then, why didn't you tell me sooner?"
She replied softly, "I was scared. My mind was stuck between you and Shigure. I'm engaged and I was developing feelings for you and not him. I felt disgusted and shameful of myself for being that way, so I decided to stay away from you. It wasn't easy to avoid you because every time I saw you the more mixed feelings I got and the more I wanted you. Then the night of the barbeque…" She paused per the image of Kagura came to mind.
"What?"
"I… I saw you kissing Kagura." She murmured.
"You did?" He asked calmly and then stared at the ceiling and thought, 'Kagura… she was lonely and sad too.' He remembered the kiss that he gave her. It was a quick and gentle one, nothing that could have been compared to the ones that he had with Tohru. Yet, that one kiss made her so happy; he felt a little guilt formed inside, but there was nothing that he could do. He couldn't lie to her or to himself.
She heaved a little moan and broke Kyo's train of thoughts. "Yes, and it was… very painful to watch."
He could hear the tartness from her voice as he inhaled and looked back down. "This time I did kiss her." He admitted. "I'm sorry."
"Why?" She cried looking at him for an answer. "Why did you do it? Do you like her?"
"No. It was a goodbye kiss." He assured the puzzled girl with a gentle smile and braced his fingers underneath the lining of her lower lip. "I promised never to do that again."
She looked away for a while. "When I saw you kissing her like that, something inside of me broke and I ran back to the house quickly to soak my tears." She drew away from him and squeezed her arms tightly. "After how I avoided you, I thought that you found yourself someone else. At that time, I didn't know what to think anymore then Shigure came into the bedroom and eased my pain. He was so kind and gentle to me, that I… that I thought I was able to forget you and love him instead." She squeezed harder. "I kissed him."
Kyo sat there without any expression of pain or hatred. He just stood there and observed her. He could see that she was feeling repentant as she her body shook in her arms. He wasn't mad at her instead he felt that it was his fault for putting her through it. He raised his hand to find her silky hair that was covering half of her face. He pulled them back behind her ear and whispered into it. "Tohru, I love you."
She turned back to looked at him, pleading for forgiveness.
"You didn't do anything wrong." He continued.
"But, I kissed him." She argued.
"Did it mean anything?" He asked calmly.
She dropped her head back down. "It was different." She could remember how gentle Shigure held her in his arms and slowly he pulled her into an embrace. He kissed her slowly as though he was afraid to break her. After he broke away, she was flustered, but she didn't feel any desire to continue. The kiss wasn't what she expected, but it helped her reduced all the stress that she held inside at that moment. "His kiss helped me felt calm and peaceful." She continued. "I felt that if I tried very hard, then I could live the rest of my life with a man like him." She tilted her head back up, "Then, when I met your eyes in between the sparks under that colorful night, I was confused again. I felt that there was still hope for us, but I was too scared to confront it. I was afraid that you no longer wanted me and that you had fallen for Kagura instead."
He ran his fingers carefully on the soft texture of her facial skin. Moving his touch from underneath her eyes next to her nose bridge to her cheek bone and down along the frame of her face. "I felt the same." He said and continued to trace down to her chin and lifted it. "That moment gave me hope, therefore I tried to approach with every chance I've got, but you always found a way to change the subject and now I know why."
"Kyo…" Feeling her heart raced, she closed her eyes.
He gently placed his lips on hers and drew back slowly. It was just a simple kiss, a quick brace on the flesh, but both knew that it meant so much more. It was a kiss of comprehension, acknowledgement and relief.
"There is only one person for me and she is right here with me now." He confirmed his kiss and bound her into his arms. "I want you to promise that you'll never forget me again, no matter what happens."
"I will never forget…" She started and her heart raced. It escalated an abnormal beat that she had never experienced before. She felt a sudden rush of pressure flooded throughout her body as she continued. "…no matter what happens… I promise." A sharp acute pain instantly ran through her head as she held tighter to Kyo's body.
"What's wrong?" He asked in response to her sudden grasp.
"My head hurts."
"It's late, maybe you need some rest. Do you want to go back to the Hotel?"
"No. I want to stay here. Can you hold onto me for the rest of the night?"
How could he refuse her? Feeling pleased, he took another long and deep breath. Then he pulled up a blanket to cover her. "I'd love to." All the weight on his chest had lifted and flew away as he held onto her warm body. He gave her another kiss on the forehead. "Good night." He said right after the kiss.
She was also pleased as she snuggled in closer and repeated, "Good night."
They nestled and slowly drifted away.
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Back Stage Discussion:
Smile: Okay, another long chapter, but don't expect it as long in the next chapter.
Shigure: What's up with all the new characters?
Smile: Do you mean Miya, Rin and Ken?
Shigure: Yeah, where did they come from?
Smile: I just kinda made them up to fill in the blanks. You can just forget about them. I don't think that I'll mention them again.
Ayame: That's so cruel! It's just like how you treated me, how you didn't want to write more about me.
Smile: Oh, just be quiet.
Ayame: Shigure!
Shigure: What about the school, the teacher or the students in the other classes? You didn't write much about them?
Smile: Who cares about them? I certainly don't. There are only two characters that I really care about and the rest are just side dishes.
Shigure: So, we're just a side dish, an optional thing that you can play or not play whenever you want.
Smile: That is correct.
Shigure: You are mean!
Yuki: That's how every story works; there are main and supporting characters and everyone come together to make the plot flow.
Smile: See Yuki understand how it works.
Yuki: So, what's up with Hana? Why did you pair me with her instead of Kagura?
Smile: Well, at first I thought of pairing you with Kagura, but I think that you look better with Saki.
Yuki: Well… she is pretty.
Smile: See, you agree, but don't expect anymore update on the development of your relationship with her. All I wanted to do was to introduce the two of you getting together.
Yuki: I see, I guess that I'm also just another side dish.
Shigure: So you've given up on Tohru and go for her friend instead. What a playboy?
Yuki: You have the nerve to talk! You two timer!
Shigure: Two timing? Who?
Yuki: You! You idiot!
Shigure: I'm bisexual, so doesn't that means that I need a female lover and also a male lover?
Yuki: But, not at the same time! You can only have one person in your life at a time.
Shigure: So, I could have Tohru in the morning and Ayame at night?
Yuki: No that's not what I mean!
Shigure: Then what did you mean?
Yuki: O… forget it.
Smile: Oh, Shigure… you're so funny.
Shigure: I am?
Smile: Yes, you are.