"So, are you going to tell me who we're going to see yet? Or is it just going to be a surprise until we get there?"
Tohru was walking at Kyo's side, their fingers interlaced and hands swinging. It had been so much fun, making supper and talking with Hana-chan and getting to eat with everyone, but now they were on their way for the exciting Mystery Visit Kyo had set up. It was a beautiful clear evening, and the sun was just starting to set.
Kyo laughed and squeezed her hand. "You're so hung up on the mystery thing, I kinda wonder if you're going to be disappointed when you figure it out. It's not that big a deal, really." He gave her a sideways grin, then added, "And I'm not gonna tell you because you're going to figure it out really quickly anyway. It's not like there's a lot of options with where we're walking."
He was doing his best to stay nonchalant, and he mostly felt it was working. After leaving the kitchen before supper, he had gone straight back to Kazuma's office and collapsed on the floor. Kazuma had just chuckled and left him alone for a while, to gather his nerves and compose himself after his experience with Hanajima. Then when Kyo had felt more normal, the two of them had sat and talked about other, less important things. Kazuma had been supposed to teach another class, but Kunimitsu had stepped in to allow them more time, for which both men were grateful.
No matter how long they visited, it just never seemed like enough time.
But talking was over, and dinner was over, and now Tohru and Kyo were on their way. As they walked along, Kyo tried not to think about the box in his pocket, and not to think too much about what he was planning. It was incredibly hard, naturally; once he made up his mind about things, he always liked to get right in and do them. But he wanted to do this right. He was going to do this right. She deserved that much.
Just like she deserved everything else.
He glanced over at Tohru and it was like he was looking at her in slow motion. The way her eyes lit up when she smiled. The way her hair swirled around her when she moved. The way her color rose when she was excited, or embarrassed. The way she looked at him...
He loved her. So much that it was almost painful in its intensity. It had taken him too damn long to figure that out, and to accept that she loved him. He'd wasted so much time, but for over a year now he'd been doing his best to make up for that. Living together had only confirmed what he already knew; that he loved Tohru Honda, every single thing about her, and he wanted to stay with her for the rest of his life.
"-t can be fun to be surprised, too." Tohru stopped walking, and she smiled at Kyo in amusement. "Kyo, are you even listening to me? You look like your head is a million miles away!"
Kyo blushed, then laughed. "Yeah, sorry, Tohru, I was just thinking of something else for a second there. Something I was talking about earlier with my dad."
"Oh, I hope it's not something bad!"
"Nah, it's fine. Better than fine, even, it's just something that takes a lot of thinking, that's all." He raised their joined hands and kissed the back of hers. "Sorry for spacing out. What were you saying?"
She smiled as they resumed their walk. "Well, if you're sure." She was curious what he was talking about, but if he wasn't ready to talk about it, then she'd wait. She was very good at being patient. "And it's fine, I was just saying that I wasn't going to be disappointed no matter where we are going, whether you told me or not. Because it's fun to know and be able to build up anticipation, but it can also be really fun to be surprised, too!"
He smiled. She was always like this, so positive. Making everything so much brighter than it had any business being.
Kyo had been right, though. As they walked along into decidedly familiar territory, Tohru's smile was getting brighter and brighter. It wasn't until they reached the steps that she knew for sure, and she whirled on Kyo delightedly. "Kyo, are we going to Shigure's old house?"
Her delight was just what he'd hoped for, and he grinned back. "Yeah, that's right! Hope you're up for climbing some steps after all this time."
"Of course I am, I'm so excited! It'll be so nice to see it again!" The house where they'd all lived together for those happy years, the house where everything had started to come together. Leaving that house had been almost as hard for Tohru as leaving any of her friends, and knowing it was about to stand completely empty hadn't helped make their move any easier.
But remembering that the house had been emptied caught her up short. That was right; they'd moved out, then Yuki and Shigure too within only the next couple of weeks. As far as she knew, the house had been empty since then, so who were they visiting?
"Kyo, has someone moved into the house since Shigure left?"
He smiled at her again. "That's right. I wasn't sure if you knew, it's pretty recent. Only a month, I think."
Her eyes lit up. "Oh, but that's wonderful! I'm so glad to hear that, I was never happy about that dear house being empty and alone for so long!" She clapped her hands together and looked up the stairs excitedly. "Who is it?"
"You'll just have to wait until we get there; it's just up the stairs now, anyway."
Tohru grinned and gave Kyo another kiss. "You're just full of wonderful surprises tonight, aren't you?"
Kyo only laughed awkwardly at that, fighting the urge to touch his pocket. Then the two of them were on their way up the stairs, Tohru practically bouncing with excitement and Kyo doing his best, once again, to act normal.
Coming up the path to the house was like seeing an old friend. The yard was looking a little scruffier than it used to, and the house looked a little different; Tohru could tell at a glance that there had been some new paint, and new roof tiles since they'd last been there. The paper doors looked new, too, and there were some more exterior lights. But it was still the same house, and Tohru was happy to see it.
They walked up to the door, and for a moment each of them felt the impulse to just walk right in. But this wasn't their house any more, and they couldn't just barge in. So Tohru pressed the bell, and they waited.
"Come in!"
Tohru recognized the voice instantly, and she turned to fix Kyo in another delighted look. He grinned back and they stepped into the entryway just as Hatsuharu came down the hallway, holding a broom. He looked them over in his usual placid way, but he was smiling, and he bowed slightly as he said "Welcome home."
Kyo was amused at the greeting. "It's not exactly our home any more, is it Haru?"
Tohru didn't care about the details, she was far too happy to see Haru. "Hatsuharu!" Quickly taking off her shoes, Tohru flew over to him and gave him a hug. He chuckled, returning the hug while still holding the broom.
"Hey Honda, nice to see you. Thanks for coming."
"Thank you for having us, Hatsuharu! I had no idea you live in this house now, how wonderful!"
"Yeah, well..." Haru smiled and looked first down the hallway, then towards the stairs. "I don't."
Tohru froze. "You...don't? But you're here, and you're cleaning, so I thought-"
"He means he doesn't, officially. Not yet. But close enough, since I do." At that moment, Rin came walking down the stairs, wiping her hands on a towel. Before she even looked at Tohru, she was shooting a pointed look at Kyo. "You said six. It's not six yet."
Kyo rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Hey, I said 'about' six, and it's pretty damn close. I didn't realize fifteen minutes would be such a big deal." He shifted again under Rin's pointed look, then sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, ok? Next time I'll try to be more punctual."
Rin shook her head. "It's not a huge problem, it just means I just got home from work and haven't had time to do anything other than change. So that's on you." Turning to Tohru, she smiled, then allowed herself to be hugged as well. "It's so nice to see you, Tohru, welcome to my home."
Tohru laughed as she let go of Rin. Out of all the people who could have moved into the house, it was so wonderful to see that it was her! "Thank you for having us, Isuzu! When Kyo said had wanted to go visit someone tonight, I had no idea he meant coming here, or seeing you! And Hatsuharu, too," she said, looking happily over at the other man. "How are you both doing?"
"We're doing well enough, but we're not going to stand and talk about it in the entryway," Rin said firmly. "Haru, why don't you take Tohru into the living room and get her a drink? I need to ask Kyo something about the balcony access in his old room."
Kyo allowed himself to be taken upstairs, while Tohru followed Haru to the living room. It felt so good to be back in their old home! Though she had to admit, it definitely looked a little...worse for wear at the moment.
"Sorry about the mess, Honda," Haru said. It was so much as though he was reading her mind that Tohru jumped, shooting Haru a guilty smile. She hadn't meant to judge...
"No, it's fine, Hatsuharu! Everyone does things a little differently, that's all!"
If by 'differently' she meant piles of clutter, random clothes, books, magazines, art supplies, and empty cans sitting all over, then yes, yes, it was very different system to her regular one.
"No, it's a mess. It's ok, you can say it." He looked around the room calmly, looking as unruffled as ever. "I'd just gotten the sorting done when you guys came in. I'd figured I had some more time to finish, so I wasn't moving as fast as I could have." He shrugged, then smiled self-deprecatingly. "Rin is probably going to kill me for it; it's mostly my mess, anyway. And she wanted it to look nice for you guys. But she only just got home from work, so I was trying to take care of it for her." He looked around the room again. "It really is a mystery, just how messy a place can get in such a short amount of time."
Is it really that much of a mystery, Tohru wondered with a wince. But she wasn't exactly surprised, either; Hatsuharu had never struck her as that much of the 'tidy' sort, and even if he didn't officially live here, she could tell just by glancing around that he definitely spent a lot of time here. Those were magazines she'd seen him reading before, that was the can of his favorite kind of soda, those were definitely his clothes thrown over in the open doorway to Shigure's old room...
She blushed and tried not to look any further in that direction. "Well, why don't you let me help you then, Hatsuharu?"
"No, Honda, you don't-"
"Really, I don't mind! You know how good I am at cleaning, and I'm sure if we work together, then the job will go quickly! And I'm sure Isuzu works very hard, we don't want her to have to do too much here so soon after getting home from work. Especially when she's being so kind and letting Kyo and I come over and visit!"
Haru looked at her and laughed. "You can be really stubborn sometimes, Honda, you know that? But ok, let's get this done."
Tohru didn't need any more invitation and dove into the project with enthusiasm. It reminded her of her first days in this house, back when she'd had to clean up Shigure and Yuki's 'garbage jungle.' Though this mess wasn't nearly as bad; there was no food mixed in, for one (unless you counted empty cans), and most of the mess was simple clutter. And dust. But nothing a little teamwork and elbow grease wouldn't fix!
And it was nice to have the chance to talk to Hatsuharu.
"It's so amazing to think that you're graduating this Saturday, Hatsuharu! Are you excited?"
Haru stopped for a moment considering the question. Then he shrugged again. "I guess I am, yeah. It's been pretty quiet this year without the three of you in school, and there's been a lot less drama. So it hasn't been nearly as eventful." He leaned on his broom for a second and sighed. "A shame, really."
Tohru didn't know how to respond to that. "Eh..."
"So yeah, I guess I'm looking forward to graduation, because I'm ready for it to be over. School, and the whole long boring slog. I'll miss seeing Momiji around, but that's about it."
"That's right! Has he decided which colleges he's applying for yet?"
"I think so, but I'll let you talk to him about that. He knows his own stuff a lot better than I do."
"Oh, of course." How rude of her, to talk to Haru about somebody else, anyway! "Do you know what you're going to do yet after graduation, Hatsuharu?"
He went silent again for a moment, and Tohru wasn't sure if she'd touched a nerve of if he was just...being Haru. But then he smiled.
"Honestly? Not really. But I know the important crap." He patted the wall. "For starters, I'm gonna move in here with Rin. And I guess I'm gonna get some kind of job. And if I can swing it, I'm gonna try to attend some of advanced afternoon classes at the dojo. I can only imagine how much Kyo has passed me by at this point when he spends pretty much all of his time training." He shook his head, then looked at Tohru affectionately. "Beyond that, I don't know. And I don't really care, honestly; we'll figure it out when we have to."
Tohru laughed and took the broom away from him. "Well, if that works for you, then it sounds like a pretty great plan to me!"
"Hey, are you sure that's a good idea? Leaving her with him? He's not going to say anything, is he?"
Kyo and Rin stood upstairs in Kyo's old room, Kyo's ears straining to tell just whether Haru and Tohru were talking and what they might be talking about. He always took for granted that what Rin knew, Haru knew, and while he'd looped Rin into his confidence out of necessity, he wasn't crazy about leaving Tohru and Haru alone.
"Haru doesn't know anything is going on, Kyo, so you're fine. I didn't tell him."
Kyo looked at Rin in surprise. "Really? Damn." It felt strange to have a secret with Rin, even if it was his secret. He felt oddly touched, even more than he had when she'd first agreed to help him. "Thanks for that, I guess."
She brushed him off. "It just made things easier this way. I hate keeping things from him, but I didn't want to worry about him slipping up and saying something. He wouldn't even think about it, just do it." Rin's expression was disgusted, but Kyo could see the softness in her eyes. As strange as it was, this was just her way of being affectionate. Probably. "So yes, it should be fine for them to be together. I just wanted to check with you and make sure you had what you needed."
They walked out of the room and out onto the balcony. The ladder was missing, but Kyo soon found it, propped against the back of the house. Had it been sitting there this whole time, since he'd put it down there himself? He reached down to get it, lifting it back up to the balcony and propping it back against the wall with a satisfying 'thud.' Seeing it there, back where it had always been, he smiled.
He rapidly climbed up the ladder, testing each rung for soundness. Then he poked his head up over the edge of the roof and looked around. The tiles were new, but otherwise everything looked exactly as it had always been; the woods behind, the city stretching out below. The sun was sinking rapidly in the sky, and the lights of the skyline were starting to turn on. Everything looked exactly how he remembered, and exactly how he wanted it to be.
Kyo felt another nervous tremor run through him, and he took a deep breath before sliding back down the ladder. "It all looks good. Everything looks good. It all should be good." He could feel that he was rambling a bit, and the pained look from Rin didn't make it any better. It figured, out of all the people who could be here at the final moment it would be her; while he appreciated all she was doing to help him, he hated that she was the one to see him this way, nervous and awkward.
And Rin definitely thought he was acting nervous and awkward. But in spite of that, she wasn't judging him too harshly. Rin didn't go in too much for the super sentimental, but she knew Tohru well enough to know that this type of thing would be right up her alley. And she could appreciate that Kyo knew that, and was doing his best to make this special for Tohru.
So, she tried to be a little encouraging. "I'm glad to hear it, Kyo. I'm glad it's what you wanted." She turned and looked out over the trees, pointedly giving Kyo a moment to collect himself. "And I'm happy you let me help, you know. I know you've only asked me because I'm the one living here, but..." she smiled, and it was a genuine smile, a smile untouched by any other emotion. "I'm happy I get to be a part of this for her. I mean, I still don't get why she picked you, out of all people,"
"Gee, thanks for that."
"Hey, you can shut the fuck up. You know as well as I do that you didn't exactly...make sense." The two of them went silent there, Kyo silently acknowledging that point even if he resented it. Deeply. "But she did pick you, and she loves you, for whatever reason. And you love her, and you make her happy, so...this all works. It makes sense now, even if it didn't make sense then. And she deserves to be happy. Happier than any of us, probably."
Rin's voice was soft, but Kyo could hear the emotion in it. And he knew that this was Rin being serious; that she truly believed what he was saying.
Kyo and Rin might never be 'good friends' for their own sakes, but she certainly loved Tohru. And he could always understand that. Kyo came up and leaned against the balcony railing, looking out at the view himself. "Yeah, she really does. And I'm gonna keep making her happy, always, even if I never do anything else."
Rin smiled, then looked over at him. "Well, you'd better. Because if I find out you haven't, you'll have a hell of lot to answer for!"
Rin wasn't as demonstrative as Kagura, but she was infinitely more terrifying. Kyo felt if he'd had even the tiniest thought of neglecting Tohru, it would have been scared into submission by that one single look. Fortunately, he had no intention of ever letting Rin down, because that would mean letting Tohru down, too.
And he'd never, ever do that again.
"Well, if we're good up here, then I guess we might as well go down and join them."
"What the hell is wrong with you, Haru? You're not supposed to make a guest clean!" Kyo knew he shouldn't be surprised. He knew it; he'd just gone over this with himself earlier at the dojo. But walking into the living room to see Haru and Tohru cleaning was not what he was expecting to see, and his surprise was evident.
Tohru held up her hands in a soothing manner. "It's not his fault, Kyo, don't worry about it! I offered to help him out, and we've been having fun, haven't we, Hatsuharu?
"Yes, it's been a lot more enjoyable with a partner."
"Haru..." Kyo growled through gritted teeth at the other man; how was it that Haru still managed to make nearly everything sound dirty?
Kyo didn't need to get too riled up himself, though, because Rin was riled up for him. "Haru, what are you doing? I thought you said you were going to get this all cleaned up before they got here!" Rin had only gotten home from work herself shortly before Tohru and Kyo arrived; she'd ran straight upstairs to change without actually looking in the living room, and she was kicking herself for that as she looked around now. She'd wanted so badly to make a good impression on Tohru, to be a gracious hostess, and instead she'd welcomed Tohru to a dump and made her clean it, to boot. She loved Haru more than anything, but he still had a lot to learn about etiquette.
And cleanliness.
Haru was serenely impervious to the daggers Rin was shooting at him. "Well, I meant to, but it ended up being a bigger job that I expected, so it's been taking longer. And then they arrived earlier than I thought, so I didn't have as much time as I planned, either...it's funny, how these things work out sometimes."
"They don't have to work out this way if we'd just do a better job keeping things clean to start with," Rin sighed as she looked around. "Did you even offer Tohru a drink yet, Haru?"
"Oops."
Scowling, Rin turned to Tohru and Kyo. "Do either one of you want something to drink?"
"Yes please, some water or tea would be great!"
"Water's good, thanks." Kyo looked around the room with a shake of his head. It was almost clean, actually; Haru and Tohru had done a great job in the short amount of time they'd had. All that was left was to take out the trash, finish sweeping and run a dust cloth along the doors, and you'd never know how messy the room had just been. Though he knew damn well who had been the driving force in this little cleaning project, and that person only had one-tone hair.
"You just can't help yourself, can you, Tohru?"
"Eh?" She paused, stopping the broom in mid-sweep. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you just can't help yourself when there's something that needs doing. You just jump right in, never mind what you were already doing or thinking about doing. You take care of it" Kyo's voice was gentle, just like the smile he was giving her, and Tohru felt her familiar goosebumps rise. She'd known Kyo wasn't really angry; he just hated feeling she was being taken advantage of. It had taken a lot of hard work on her part to convince him she wasn't; when she stepped in to help people with projects, or chores, or cooking, or anything else, she did it because she wanted to. Because she loved to. Helping people, it was just something that lifted her heart and made her happy.
Almost as much as he did.
And seeing him smile at her like that, hearing him remember; that was a pretty amazing feeling. "That's pretty much it, Kyo! I couldn't just sit back and watch Hatsuharu work when I was perfectly capable of helping him. And it looks so nice in here now, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, it does."
"You're not even looking at the room, Kyo!"
"I know." They smiled at each other, Tohru blushing in a happy way, as Haru returned from taking out the trash and Rin came in with water and tea. Taking their drinks, the four of them sat down around the now-clear living room table and began to talk. They discussed the upcoming graduation, and Hatsuharu's plans; how things were going at Rin's newish job at a marketing specialist and part-time model for an alternative fashion store ("Oh Isuzu, that's such a perfect job for you! I bet you're an excellent marketer!"); what Tohru and Kyo were up to in their village; how Rin and Haru were liking living in Shigure's old house. Even though Haru hadn't officially moved in, he had very clearly moved in in every possible unofficial way, and it made Tohru happy to see them looking so content.
The whole time they'd been talking, Kyo had been keeping track of the sun. When he'd initially planned to propose at Shigure's house, he'd thought a lot about the time. Afternoon when the sky was bright, sunset when the it was ablaze with colors. But he kept coming back to the night; he'd made so many memories with Tohru on that roof, once the sun had gone down. Back before he'd even suspected he cared for her, they'd sat together, in the darkness, talking when they couldn't sleep. He knew it wasn't the most ideal for the ring; he'd have to be extra careful to make sure it didn't get dropped. But the more he'd thought about it, the more he'd been sure.
It had to be the night.
So naturally, the sun had set in the absolute slowest manner known to man. He was well-aware Rin was on to him, but hopefully neither Haru or Tohru had noticed just how often his eyes darted to the window. Or that if Haru did, he didn't say anything about it.
Eventually, though, he was rewarded with the sight of a black sky and he pointedly caught Rin's eye. She promptly stood up from the table, taking her and Tohru's tea cups with her. "I'm going to go make some more tea. But while I do that, Tohru, didn't you and Kyo want to go up and check out the roof since you're here? I know that used to be your thing."
Tohru was surprised, but pleased by the suggestion. "Oh, what a wonderful idea, Isuzu! As long as you're sure to you don't mind." Turning to Kyo, she gave him a big smile. "Wouldn't it be nice to go up and check it out, Kyo? It looks like it's dark outside, so the city is probably all lit up and beautiful!"
Kyo was about to respond, but Hatsuharu beat him to it. "That does sound pretty nice, Honda." He looked over at Rin, asking "Why haven't we gone up on the roof yet? Maybe we should check it out, too."
That was not what Kyo wanted to hear, but fortunately he had Rin on his side. "We can go up later, after I've made this tea. Let's let them have their moment to reminisce before we crash, ok?"
Haru thought about it, then shrugged. "That works too. I just thought it would be cool to see what the big deal is, I've never actually been up there before but you make it sound pretty nice, Honda."
Tohru laughed and patted Haru's crossed arms. "Well, I think it's pretty special, Hatsuharu, and you two should definitely join us soon."
Kyo's eyes locked briefly with Rin's as he followed Tohru out of the room. He didn't have to say anything; they both knew what he meant.
Just not too soon.