A/N: We're gonna pretend that I'm not trying to finish this challenge up 2+ months late, 'kay? 'Kay. This is a random, weird drabble (or is it too long to be a drabble?), but I hope you like it, nonetheless.
The title is from the song, "She is the Sunlight" by Trading Yesterday.
MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD.
"And it will take this life of regret
for my heart to learn to forget.
Tomorrow will be as it always has been,
and I will fall to her again.
For I know, I've come too close…
'Cause she is the sunlight."
Kyo felt absolutely, completely dramatic.
One night. Tohru was just working late one night, and he was already feeling so lost without her. So oddly hollow.
He both hated it, and loved it, how she'd become such a huge part of him so quickly.
He was convinced that, without her by his side, he would have no purpose at all. If she hadn't come into his life, everything would be dark. Each day, each hour, would be the same monotonous routine; get up, go to school, come back here, go to bed. He'd be preparing to spend the rest of his life in a cage starting in just a few short weeks. Forever unchanging.
He owed her his life. He knew that, truly.
So maybe missing her like this wasn't so dramatic, after all.
This was Tohru's first day back at work since the accident, and she'd taken two shifts in a row, already panicking about money again. Kyo'd tried to calm her down; it had only been a week since she'd gotten home and she didn't need to be pushing herself so much. Shigure would take care of whatever she needed, of course. And she knew that Kyo would, too.
Not only had it been a week since she'd gotten home, but it had also now officially been a week since the curse had come to an end. For a week, they'd been officially together.
For a week, they'd slept in the same bed. Kissed countless times. Held each other. Woken the other up from the nightmares they couldn't seem to shake on their own.
For a week, they'd spent every evening up on the roof together, watching the sunset. Doing it without her tonight just didn't feel right.
Kyo pulled his phone out of the pouch pocket of his hoodie and tapped the screen to bring it to life. Three hours to go. Defeated, he slumped forward and rested his forehead on his knees. He tried to zone out, maybe meditate to pass the time. Because of this-or maybe because the cat spirit had taken his extraordinary hearing when it left, or maybe a combination of the two-he missed the sound of someone pulling themselves up the ladder onto the roof.
"Kyo-kun?"
He jumped and lifted his head at lightning speed, coming eye to eye with Tohru. She was still in her school uniform, meaning she'd come straight to the roof when she'd gotten home. But more importantly, why was she home?
"Are you okay?" he asked quickly, eyes roving her body for any sign of new injury. They lingered on the bandage along her arm, and he cringed. Was she in pain from her wounds there? Or maybe it was her head again? "Why are you home so early? Did something happen?"
She smiled impishly and made her way over to him. She sat next to him, knees folded up to her chest. She kissed him sweetly, an action that still made both of them slightly giddy in the realization that it was normal now. Kyo felt himself relax immediately at her touch.
"I'm okay," she reassured him when she pulled away. She brought a hand up to his cheek and rubbed her thumb in light circles against his skin. "Honestly, I just...really wanted to be home with you. I didn't want to miss this part of our day."
Kyo could feel his heart somersault at the way she looked at him. How could an angel look at a monster with such love in her eyes? Pure, unadulterated love. He tried not to dwell on it; she could always tell when his thoughts started to spiral into something dark, and he didn't want her to worry.
"Welcome home," he said gently, tilting his head to kiss her palm. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me, too. I almost missed the whole sunset!" With that, Tohru moved, positioning herself so she was between his legs, her back pressed against his chest. Kyo slid his arms around her, running his fingers over the goose-bumped skin of her arms.
"Dummy. Why didn't you grab a jacket inside?"
"That's exactly why-because I'm a dummy," she said innocently, tilting her head backwards to look at him, a goofy grin spread across her cheeks.
He chuckled and shook his head, temporarily releasing her to tug at his sweatshirt. "Here, you can have mine." Her small hand darted out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him. He looked at her, head quirked to the side in questioning. Under his gaze, she flushed fuchsia.
"U-uh, well, that's very nice of you, but I was just thinking that maybe instead, uh…" she rambled nervously. Kyo leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Hey, take a breath," he told her, and she quieted immediately. "Just tell me what you want. It's no big deal."
She snuggled in tighter against his chest. "Okay. I want you to hold me to keep me warm, instead."
He felt his own cheeks heat up, but he ignored it, nodded, and wrapped his arms around her again. "See? Nothing to be nervous about."
Tohru took a deep breath in, then released it as slowly as possible. Her anxiety had spiked in the hospital, and she was still struggling now, even though she was home and everything had worked out in the best way anyone could have hoped for. To assume that she would be immediately back to normal would be naive, he knew; instead, Kyo prompted her to see the family therapist Hatori had recommended, and made sure she did what the therapist called her "homework." Taking deep breaths was part of that. So was…
"Are you ready?" she asked after a moment, pulling him out of thought. He nodded, then rested his chin on top of her head.
"You first."
"Okay...I'm thankful that I was allowed to leave work early. If that hadn't happened, I wouldn't be with my favorite person right now, getting to look up at a beautiful sunset."
It was a nice sentiment, one that made Kyo squirm a bit (favorite person?), and that slight discomfort led to him teasing her a bit, unconsciously trying to make the implication of her words less heavy. "Well it's dark now."
She huffed, and he smirked. He couldn't see her face, but he just knew she was rolling her eyes at him.
"Fine. I got to watch a beautiful sunset with my favorite person. Better?"
"Better," he confirmed, then put on a serious face as he pondered what he should say next.
Every evening, they told each other three joys-three things that they felt grateful for that day. Supposedly this would help Tohru steady her lingering anxiety and depression, so when she'd asked him to do it with her, he'd agreed immediately. Honestly, before Tohru he would have thought something like this was beyond stupid. But as he discovered on a day that seemed so distant now, back at the Sohma beach house, he would do anything, no matter how dumb, to make her smile. So he tried his best to take this seriously every night.
He hummed for a moment as he replayed the day in his mind. She reached up and put her hands on top of his, squeezing gently. He tightened his grip on her. "I'm grateful that we got to make pancakes together this morning. It brought back a lot of memories."
Tohru nodded, giving his hands another squeeze. She knew not all the memories the pancakes brought back were good, but she also knew he treasured them nonetheless, as did she.
"I'm glad that you walked me to work after school. That made me really happy."
Kyo leaned his head against her shoulder and nuzzled against the side of her neck. She giggled. "I would have walked you home, too, if you'd stayed where you were supposed to."
"I know you would have," she said back, voice dripping affection. Then, she added, "your turn."
"Hmm...I liked that we got to eat lunch alone at school. Usually everyone's buzzing around you, so it's hard to get you alone there."
"Yes, that was nice," she agreed. "But people buzz around you, too, you know."
"Huh? What d'you mean?"
"You've acquired your own fan group over the years, Kyo-kun. It's not just Yuki-kun who's popular."
He frowned. He really, honest to God had not noticed that. "I have no idea what you're talking about. But anyway, none of the girls at school matter, 'cause they're not you." He heard her breath hitch, and he kissed the side of her neck once, hoping he hadn't made her tear up at the sentiment. "It's your turn," he said softly.
"Right." Her voice was strained, and she wiped at her eyes briefly before speaking again. It made his heart ache in the best way possible, knowing that his love had that kind of effect on her. "Lastly, I'm grateful that I got to take my last make-up exam at school today. It feels really nice to be done with those."
Kyo hummed in agreement. "Yeah, I bet it does. Now school's gonna just be easy until graduation."
"But then it's time to job hunt…" she pointed out.
"Yeah, but we're not there yet, so don't stress out about it."
In a perfect world, she would end up not needing to job hunt here in Tokyo at all; she'd have to find work in a new town, one far away, somewhere by the ocean-a place neither of them had visited but would soon call home. He hadn't worked up the courage to ask her about that yet, though.
"So," he continued, "I'm thankful that I'm here, watching a beautiful sunset with my favorite person."
She giggled. "It's dark," she parroted back to him.
"Nah. It's never really dark when you're with me. You're your own kind of sunlight."
It was an awkward compliment, one that he was sure made no sense when said aloud, but yet again, he felt Tohru's breath stutter. She turned around, tears glimmering in her eyes, barely visible in the fading orange, pink, and violet streaks left behind by the sunset.
"I love you," she whispered, blinking in a futile attempt to clear the tears away before they could fall. Kyo wiped at them with his thumb as they dripped down her cheeks.
"I love you, too. So much. But that wasn't supposed to make you cry, ya know."
"Everything makes me cry," she pointed out, a laugh breaking through with her words. He grinned at her.
"Yeah. You know, you might be the biggest crybaby I've ever met."
A/N: Doing a giveaway on my Instagram, so check that out!
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