Early the next morning, Kyo woke up in a euphoric mood. He still couldn't quite believe it; even though he'd logically known that Tohru would say yes, proposing had still been a daunting prospect. But he'd done it, all of it. He'd said what he'd wanted to say, hadn't thrown up, and Tohru had said yes! And now they were engaged. To be married. He had a fiancée. Tohru was his fiancée, who he was going to marry. He couldn't help himself from grinning idiotically as he rolled the words around his brain, getting used to their sound.

He really liked how they sounded.

Rolling over, Kyo looked at Tohru as she lay sleeping beside him. She looked so peaceful, curled up on her side with her hair swirled around her, and he hoped she was feeling pretty peaceful, too. Last night had ended up a much later night than either of them had planned, but Rin and Haru had brought home some celebratory champagne. They'd ended up sitting up on the roof, drinking champagne and talking until late into the night. By the time any of them realized the time it was it was practically midnight, and Tohru and Kyo still had to walk back to the dojo.

Rin and Haru had pressed them to stay, but neither Kyo nor Tohru had wanted to worry Kazuma by being out overnight. But what followed had felt like one of the longest walks of Kyo's life, because the combination of alcohol and exhaustion had made Tohru...rather uncoordinated. In the end, he'd convinced her to let him carry her, and that was how the majority of the walk had gone, with Tohru on Kyo's back. She wasn't that heavy, but the late hour and Kyo's own state had meant that by the time they got back to the dojo and their room, he'd passed out almost immediately.

They were both even still wearing the clothes they'd worn yesterday, he observed with a wry smile. He wasn't surprised, since he didn't remember much past setting Tohru down on the futon last night. But he didn't plan to make a habit out of any of this; the drinking, the late hours, or the sleeping in old clothes.

He checked his phone and saw that it was just before 5:30. Funny, even when he tried to mess with his schedule his internal clock wouldn't let him. Sleeping in sounded nice, considering how late they'd gotten to bed, but he knew that was a lost cause. He was too excited, and just too awake.

Quietly so as not to wake Tohru, Kyo took off his old clothes and pulled on his running clothes. They might be on vacation, but it was morning, and that meant going for a run. Getting out and moving would be good for his head as well as his body; while he was sure his new high would be lasting a while, he didn't need the related giddiness. That was a downside of proposing so early in the trip; he still had to navigate the rest! And he and Tohru had genuinely looked forward to this visit, since it was only their third time back in a year.

Kyo laced up his sneakers and let himself out of the room, then out of the dojo gates and out to the street. It had been a long time since he'd run in the city; last time they'd been here, it had been New Year's and it had actually been snowy for a change. He was very used to the snow by now; in Hibe, winter was Winter, complete with lots of snow and sub-freezing days. But they hadn't planned for it to be that snowy in Tokyo, and he'd left his cold weather running gear back home.

Today he didn't have to worry about anything like that. It was a clear, crisp morning, and the air was just cold enough to keep him moving without being oppressive. He didn't have any issues setting his stride, and soon he was off at his comfortable, familiar pace.

Kyo had always liked running. It was his thoughtful time, the time when he could let his mind wander and just think about anything. Or everything. Or even nothing. Lately he'd spent a lot of his runs thinking about the proposal, and even though it was over and done with, it was the first thing on his mind again today.

Replaying it back in his head, he just felt so unbelievably happy. It had all gone so well; almost better than he'd hoped, aside of that brief heart-stopping moment when Tohru had lost her balance on the roof. That was on him, though; he should have been prepared for that possibility, since roof tiles weren't the most secure footing and Tohru could trip on a patch of smooth level ground. But nothing worse had happened, and now Tohru was his fiancée.

Because she'd said yes, and she was going to marry him!

He could feel the goofy grin back on his face as he jogged in place, waiting for a traffic light to change. The one other person waiting at the light was looking at him curiously, but Kyo didn't care. He was too happy to care who might be looking at him, or why. Maybe that guy was just wondering what Kyo had to be so happy about.

Well, wouldn't he like to know!

The light changed, and Kyo took off again. Today was going to be a busy day, he knew. He and Tohru had agreed that they wanted to tell as many people in person as they could, but they also didn't want to be telling people at the graduation ceremony since neither of them wanted to steal Hatsuharu and Momiji's moment. Since they'd had this discussion while Haru was present, he'd said he personally didn't mind and they could thunder all they wanted, but Tohru in particular was adamant. They'd come to Tokyo specifically for the graduation and to celebrate their friends, it was already enough they'd get to tell people this week.

But that meant they were going to be trying to see as many people in the next two days as they could. They'd already made plans to visit Tohru's grandfather today even before Kyo had proposed, and they were going to stop after school to see Momiji, Haru and Kisa, who was a first year at Kaibara High. Tohru had already planned to hang out with Momiji and Kisa each on her own later, but since Tohru and Kyo wanted to be together whenever they told anyone about the engagement, they'd decided to wait outside of the school to catch up with the younger Sohmas. Kyo had already committed to some time with Kazuma this morning, and he knew Tohru would also want to talk to Hanajima. And then...whatever else they did probably depended on how long that all took, he supposed.

At least they still had tomorrow between them and graduation, otherwise there wasn't a lot they could do short of getting a megaphone and standing on the gates to the main estate.

Kyo snorted at the idea and shook his head. Wouldn't that just go over like a lead balloon, him trying to share some good news with the majority of the Sohmas? The Curse might be long gone now, but old stigmas and hatreds died hard and there were plenty who felt that Kyo had been let off without what he deserved. He could only imagine what reaction his 'father' would have to the news, and he scowled in spite of himself. He normally tried to avoid thinking about that man, but he tended to pop up at the most aggravating times.

Well, Kyo wasn't going to spare any thoughts to him, not today. Not when he had better things to think about. He came running up to another stoplight and slowed to another jog in place, shaking his head in an attempt to throw off the negative energy. Then the light changed, and he'd just crossed over when he heard his name.

"Kyo? Kyo! Hey, Kyo!"

Well, that was unexpected. Who was calling him at this hour? Kyo slowed to a jog in place and looked around for a moment, then he saw another running figure moving his way, a tall, slender young man who came almost up to his shoulder.

Wait a sec, was that...Hiro?

It was Hiro, and he caught up to Kyo in another second. "I figured it had to be you; there aren't too many people out this early with orange hair." He gave Kyo a surprisingly pleasant smile and patted his arm. "I thought you guys weren't getting to town until later today!"

Kyo was still adjusting to the post-Curse Hiro, the one who no longer constantly used snark as his sword and spear. Kyo had only actually seen him once in the past year, so he'd had very little time to get used to his new and improved behavior. It was a nice change, but it was still unsettling to have Hiro talking to him and actually sounding happy about it.

Also, when had he gotten so tall?

The changes were good, though, and Kyo, to his surprise, felt genuinely happy to see him. "Tohru got an extra day off, so we came in yesterday instead. We thought it'd be nice to have an extra day in town." He mostly managed to keep his enthusiasm in check, there, and fortunately Hiro didn't know him well enough to know there was anything...suspiciously bubbly about him. "Can you run and talk?"

Hiro nodded, and the two of them took off together. Kyo only had to shorted his stride a little bit to match Hiro's, and he was impressed. For a little while, the two just ran in silence, then Kyo commented, "I didn't know you were a runner, Hiro."

"Yeah, I joined the track team this past year. Turns out that I can run my legs even better than I can run off my mouth, can you believe it?"

Kyo snorted; never once would he have thought Hiro could ever run anything as well as he ran his mouth. But Hiro was grinning as he'd said it, and Kyo was willing to take the bait. "I didn't think I'd like to see the day. But that's pretty cool, it's nice you've been able to get involved in some school activities."

"I know, right? I never would have thought I'd want to be part of a team, but now that I can...it's actually pretty fun."

They ran in silence for a little longer, then Kyo asked, "you're just finishing your second year of middle school, right?"

"That's right."

"So you should hopefully have a good year next year, if you're this committed to your training."

"That's the hope. But I've found I like this part of training, the morning runs. It's pretty peaceful out here on my own, and while it's great to be part of a team, it's nice to get out and just think."

Kyo could definitely relate to that part.

"So, what are you and Tohru going to be doing today? I hope Tohru's told Kisa that you're here already, she'd hate to miss the chance to see her before the ceremony."

"I don't know who all Tohru's told yet, but we're planning to stop by Kaibara High and see them all after school today. And I know Tohru is planning to get together with Kisa either today or tomorrow, it just depends on what other stuff we've got going on. That's the trouble with spaced out visits, it gets kinda overwhelming what all to do when we get back."

Hiro nodded. "Well, as long as Kisa gets to see Tohru, then the rest is whatever." He paused for a second, then asked, "Are you guys just going to be hanging out at the school, or what?"

"Dunno. Maybe walking somewhere, but maybe just hanging out. It's not so easy to go somewhere else now that everyone is so spread out."

"Yeah, having Shigure's house to visit was pretty convenient. Though did you know Rin's moved in there now? So Haru's probably going to be moving in with her, if he hasn't already."

"Yeah, we heard. We actually went up there last night to look around and hang out." And... other things. Just thinking about it brought the goofy smile back to Kyo's face, and Hiro raised a brow.

"Well, I guess it was a good visit or whatever. But I suppose Tohru was super excited to 'go back home,' she's definitely the type to be weirdly bonded to places as well as people." Hiro might have matured in a lot of ways, but in some, he was the same old Hiro.

Still, 'weirdly bonded' wasn't the worst description for Tohru. "Pretty much. It was the first time we've been back to the house since we left, so it was nice to get a chance to look around again. And Tohru was over the moon, of course."

Though not just about the house.

And it was funny, how very much Kyo wanted to be able to blurt out his good news to Hiro of all people; he and Hiro only just scraped the surface of 'friendly', not even close to actual friends. But he was here, and he know Kyo and Tohru, and Kyo wanted to so badly to start telling people. He wouldn't do that to Tohru, but he really wanted to!

Fortunately, Hiro took pity on him without even realizing it. "Well, if you guys are going to be at the high school this afternoon, do you mind if I walk over after school, too? It'd be nice to say hi to Tohru, since I missed you guys at New Year's."

That had been one of the strangest parts of New Year's this year: the number of former Zodiacs who left the city completely for the holiday. Hiro's family had gone on a vacation, Hatori had been away on a vacation, Ayame and Mine had been literally out of the country, Ritsu had been away...for so long, they'd all been required to give up their New Year's to Akito and the family celebration, now they were all free to stay, or go, as they wished. And several of them had chosen to go. There had been no "Zodiac Banquet" even for those who stayed, although the Sohma family as a whole had still held their larger festivities. Tohru and Kyo had been invited, but they'd spent the New Year itself with Kazuma, just like the years before.

But it was nice to hear Hiro say he actually wanted to see Tohru and mean it. Hopefully that meant he was no longer dealing with those old jealousy issues, and maybe that meant he'd even come to actually like Tohru. She'd certainly like that, Kyo thought with a smile. It had always rankled her a little bit that Hiro held her at arm's length, even if she'd earned his grudging acceptance.

"Yeah, we can just hang out at the school, so you can just look for us in the courtyard. I know Tohru'll be glad to see you, too."

The two came up to another stoplight, and Hiro checked his watch. "I've got to be heading back; it's time for me to get ready for school. But it was good to see you, Kyo; I'll look for you guys at the high school this afternoon." The light changed, and Hiro took off towards the main estate, while Kyo headed back to the dojo.

He checked the time as he let himself back in, and sighed. It wasn't even seven, yet, so it was still way too early for Tohru to be up. And while he knew she'd want him to just wake her up, he wasn't about to do that after the late night they'd had. So...what to do? He didn't want to risk running into Kazuma, because even though he knew his father already knew he didn't want to say anything yet. He wanted to save all the happy reactions for Tohru. And so he didn't want to go into the dojo, either. But he also didn't want to disturb Tohru...

In the end, he just opted to take a shower, then go lie quietly in the room with Tohru. He might as well enjoy the opportunity; with his schedule, it wasn't often he got the privilege of seeing her wake up. Freshly washed and wearing clean clothes, Kyo slipped back into their room and back into the futon with Tohru. Even though she was asleep, she still snuggled back against him, and he smiled as he hugged her close. He'd just wait here for her to wake up, and do some more thinking. Because there was no way...he...was going...to...fall...back...asleep...

Tohru woke up feeling like she'd been put in a barrel of rocks and rolled down a hill. She'd never thought it was possible to wake up and feel so exhausted, but she did. And she sighed, knowing she had no one to blame but herself for feeling that way. She was a grown adult, and she knew full well that she needed a good night's sleep every night; she'd decided to let loose the night before, and now she would have to pay the price.

But oh, the night before...

Thinking about the rest of the night was enough to drive any thoughts of aches and tiredness from Tohru's mind. She'd stayed up too late, yes, and probably maybe drank too much, but it was because she'd gotten engaged! Kyo had asked her to marry him, she'd said yes, and now they were engaged!

It was such a wonderful thought that it was almost too much to believe.

That's when she realized that there were arms around her, and she looked back in surprise at Kyo's serenely sleeping face. If it wasn't for the light streaming through the paper doors, she'd think she'd just woken up too early. Instead, she was completely surprised; Kyo never slept in, never. He woke up each morning like clockwork, shortly after the sun, and that was that. The only times she ever knew him to sleep in was when he was sick, and even that was under duress.

But that thought was enough to make Tohru concerned. Was he feeling alright? She sat up, reaching over to rest a hand on Kyo's forehead to check his temperature. He didn't feel warm, but all her movement was enough to wake him up and his eyes flicked open to the sight of her leaning over him, her hand on his face. He blinked at her sleepily for a moment, then as she snapped sharply into focus he smiled.

"Good morning, Tohru."

Kyo's smiles always had the power to turn Tohru to jelly, and that was even more the case when he was rumpled and in bed. She could feel the familiar warmth spreading through her from the one-two punch of Kyo's smile and the way he said her name, and she sighed. First a happy sigh, a sigh of amazement and joy that this was the man who loved her, who she got to spend the rest of her life with. And then a disappointed sigh, as she remembered just where they were and that they couldn't actually do anything about it right now.

Still, it was an unexpected treat to find him still sleeping beside her, and she smiled back. "Good morning to you, too, Kyo. I'm surprised to find you still sleeping, you must have been really worn out from last night!"

Kyo sat up with a yawn and cracked his neck from side to side. "I guess. Though I did already get up once." He leaned over and took Tohru's cheek, giving her a good morning kiss that was enough to make her toes curl before pressing his forehead against hers. "I couldn't figure out what to do after my run. I didn't want to see anyone else until I had you with me, so I came back here to wait for you. I guess I just dozed off again."

Tohru smiled, covering his hand with hers. "Well, it was a nice change to actually be able to see you sleeping when I woke up, Kyo, even if it was a second sleep. It was so thoughtful of you to want to wait for me!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to have to worry about what I was saying, especially if I bumped into Master. I figured it would just be best if we stuck together today."

"I think I can manage that quite well, Kyo." She patted his hand again, then pulled back and slowly stood up with a stretch. "Did you have a good run?"

"Pretty good. I actually met Hiro while I was out running!"

"Oh, did you? Kisa mentioned he'd joined his middle school track team, so I guess it makes sense he'd be out in the morning. Did you two talk at all?"

"Yeah, for a bit. That kid's sure grown this past year, I can tell you that. Both height and the attitude." Kyo stood up himself and stretched. "I told him we were going to be at the high school when school got out, and he's going to walk down there after he gets out of class himself. He actually wants to say 'hi' to you," Kyo said in a tone of somewhat amazed disbelief.

Tohru was surprised by that as well, but it was a good surprise. "Hiro wants to come see me? That's so very, very sweet!" She clapped her hands together excitedly. "I guess that now that I'm not around all the time, he doesn't feel quite so threatened by me, so maybe we can start to be friends for real!"

"That, or maybe the kid's just growing up. It happens, you know." But Kyo was still smiling; it was so like Tohru to be excited over something like that. She'd always hated it when people didn't like her, and Hiro had been a particularly sore spot for a very long time.

Kyo doubted Hiro could have given Tohru a better engagement gift if he'd tried.

Thinking about engagement gifts, Kyo's gaze went straight to Tohru's hands and he reached out to gently take the left one. The ring was there, right where it was supposed to be, and he smiled at the sight.

"It really is beautiful, Kyo. I love it."

"Yeah?" Kyo had hoped she would. Choosing a ring had been one of the more stressful parts of the process, largely because he didn't know what to choose. Tohru almost never wore jewelry, of any kind, so he didn't have a lot to go on. And he had decided he didn't want to take anyone else into his confidence about proposing, so he didn't have anyone to ask for help. He'd looked at rings and rings and rings; different metals, different stones, different shapes. He'd seen popular styles, and custom styles, and he'd looked very, very carefully at his budget and thought about Tohru...and he finally came to this one.

It was a simple, non-traditional ring. A thin gold band, with a single oval stone. But rather than a diamond, he'd chosen a golden-orange citrine, which sparked like firelight when it caught the sun. Orange wasn't a color that a lot of people associated with Tohru, he knew. But when he'd seen this one, it had reminded him of the color of Kyoko's hair, and it had just...seemed right. And seeing it on her hand, it looked right, too.

"Yes." Tohru said the word with emphasis, and Kyo laughed and hugged her. He'd never get enough of that, her saying yes, not if they both lived for another hundred years.

Tohru leaned into the hug, then tilted up to give him another kiss. Then she patted his cheeks and stepped away. "Ok, I really need to take a quick shower and change, Kyo. But then we should probably find Master Kazuma, don't you think?"

"Sounds good to me."