chapter two

"Tohru Sohma huh …" Kyo said, testing the words in his mouth as he glanced over at his new wife. The pair were currently seated on a picnic bench in a park close by to the festival, the papers from the lady at the shrine spread out in front of them in an organised disarray.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked again for what seemed like the hundredth time since they'd accidentally found themselves married. "Because you don't need to change it if you don't want to. I won't be offended or anything if you want to keep Honda."

Tohru looked up at him with those doe-like eyes he had no clue how to resist. "No, I'm sure about this. Everything else was a little unexpected, so at least this part of our future will be traditional."

"You're completely sure?" Kyo twisted the pen in his fingers. "Alright, alright … here." He said, giving in as she levelled him with a stubborn glance. He pushed the papers towards her. "You just have to sign at the bottom and then I guess it'll be official. You'll be Mrs Tohru Sohma."

"Mrs Tohru Kyo Sohma," Tohru corrected as she took the pen from him. "There really are a lot of Sohma men, so I'd like for everyone to know which one is the most important to me."

Kyo chuckled in response, reaching to ruffle her hair playfully.

"Hey, my ribbons …" she protested with a giggle, swatting his hands away and grabbing them to hold herself instead.

"If you're done with those, I'll go drop them off," Kyo said, nodding at the papers. "I saw a post office on the way over and it's not too far."

"Yes, I'm all done," she said with a smile before noticing his phrasing. "Wait, shouldn't I come with you?"

Panic shot through Kyo like bursts of flames. "No, don't worry about it," he said, hoping she couldn't sense the tightness in his tone. He needed for her to stay here, at least for long enough for him to do what he needed. "You should stay here and rest, it's been … a day," he finished quietly.

Tohru seemed like she wanted to keep arguing her point, but she bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Yeah, okay. Stay safe."

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry."

He turned to leave but stopped at a sharp tug on his arm. He turned and Tohru pulled him down long enough to press a kiss to his cheek. "For the road," she said warmly before sitting back at the table and pulling out a book.

Kyo couldn't stop his smile as he began to walk back to the post office he'd spotted earlier. Although his mind was a little more preoccupied with the store he'd seen opposite it. He shook the thought away, reminding himself to deal with one thing at a time.

He'd woken up this morning excited to be spending some time with his girlfriend and now he'd return home with his wife. This day truly was stranger than fiction. How would he ever be able to explain any of this to anyone without sounding like a total idiot.

Did he even deserve someone like Tohru? She was so kind and precious, whilst he couldn't even read a stupid sheet of paper before signing it. How could he ever protect her from anything more serious in the future?

Kyo shook the negative thought away. No. Whether he deserved her or not, Kyo couldn't bring himself to regret the fact that the two of them were together now. She had him, and he had her. Well and truly.

He had the right to be happy about that at the very least he thought distractedly as he handed over the deeds to change a name and the marriage certificate to the clerk at the counter.

"These are perfectly in order Sir. I'll have to keep these to copy and send to the Registrar's office, but I'll have them mailed back to you very soon. I just need your address," the boy said, pushing over a notebook.

"Yeah, sure," Kyo said, scribbling down the address without much thought.

"Thank you Sir, good day to you."

"You too," he said before taking his leave. As his feet hit the concrete on the street outside, Kyo stared at the jewellery store he'd seen earlier. Instead of heading straight back to the park, he crossed the street and made a quick detour inside.

It didn't take him long to find what he needed, but just as he stepped out of the store, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered without looking and held it to his ear.

"Hey Tohru, is everything okay?"

"Yes Kyo my love … everything is as perfect as your naked body on a hot summer's day," a voice deadpanned down the line. Kyo balked as he recognised the voice and mentally kicked himself for not checking the caller ID before answering.

"Haru," he growled in anger. "What the hell was that?!"

"You thought I was Honda and I played along. Sheesh. And here I thought you'd matured enough to take a joke." Hatsuharu replied, his voice still as monotonous as ever.

"I can take a-" he started before taking a deep calming breath and deciding the fight wasn't worth it. "Whatever. Why are you calling me anyway?" he said deflated.

"Oh yeah, that. Put me on speaker for a second."

"Why?"

There was a murmur from someone else before Haru's voice returned. "It's important."

"Okay …" Kyo said sceptically, hitting the button to amplify his cousins voice.

"Honda! It's Haru. You there Honda? Honda," Haru called out, dragging out Tohru's name for emphasis.

Kyo's face turned bright red as people passing by began to glare at him in annoyance as he struggled to turn off the speakerphone. "What the heck Haru!" he yelled as he finally found the right button. "What is wrong with you?"

"Well, my shoulder does hurt a little today."

"I don't care! Why are you yelling for Tohru?"

"Is Honda there?"

"You can't call her that anymore," he yelled back angrily before realising his mistake.

He was met with silence down the line. And then, "Why can't I call her Honda. Is that not her name anymore? Did she change it or something?"

He couldn't tell his cousin that he and Tohru were married and that she was as much as Sohma as they were. That was exactly the type of disaster he was hoping to avoid.

"It's not important … just … what do you want her for?" he said with a sigh, hoping Haru wouldn't push the issue. The boy was more perceptive than people gave him credit for, so he was going to need to come up with a cover story quickly.

"Rin wants to talk to her."

"Then why doesn't she call her," Kyo grumbled, wondering why the pair had even bothered calling him when Tohru had a mobile phone of her own.

"I tried already," Rin's voice came, sounding as if she was far away from the receiver. "That's why I asked Haru to call you. Isn't she with you?"

"I'm not with her right now," Kyo said slowly. "She's not picking up?" he asked, suddenly worried.

"No."

"I'm going to look for her," he said quickly, cutting the call before either Haru or Rin had a chance to respond. Why wasn't she picking up? Was she okay? Did he make a mistake in leaving her behind?

So many thoughts tumbled through his mind as he broke into a run back towards the park, his feet slamming the ground hard with every step. When the bench he'd left her at was in sight, Kyo was alarmed to find it empty.

Tohru's bag was still there, her book laying open on the table with a fallen leaf holding her place, but she herself was nowhere to be found. He forced himself to remain calm, ignoring the twinge of worry at her absence as he approached the area. Surely she had to be nearby he thought, glancing around for any signs of her. She wouldn't have left her belongings unattended like that for no reason.

There were people milling around the park, so if something bad had happened to her then they would have seen something. Although they did seem busy doing their own things and from what he could tell, there wasn't a pretty brunette with ribbons in her hair in sight.

He reached for his phone instinctively, hoping that wherever she'd gone she'd not been careless enough to leave her phone behind. Perhaps she'd just not heard Rin's call earlier and was just distracted by something else.

He swiped it open and found her contact, but just as he was about to hit call, he heard the light tones of an unmistakeable giggle coming from just beyond the trees behind him. He headed towards the sound without another thought, slipping the phone back into his pocket as he pushed back some overgrown branches.

He found Tohru sat on the bank of the river beyond, several little ducklings quacking excitedly around her. She giggled again as one of the smaller ones hopped into her lap, following her hand with its beak as it no doubt searched out morsels of food.

"Tohru?"

"Kyo-kun, you're back!" Tohru called happily as she spotted him hovering. "I fed some left-overs to the ducks and now they all think I'm hiding more food somewhere." She stroked the little creature in her lap as she spoke, a warm smile on her face.

Kyo shook his head gently as he approached, wondering why he hadn't already expected her to be doing something like this. "I was a little worried when you weren't where I left you, but of course you'd be out here feeding these little things," he said as he dropped to the ground beside her.

The ducklings sidled over to Tohru, giving him a wide berth in their search for food and Kyo couldn't help but grimace at the side effect of having once been host to the cat spirit. If she cared at all, she didn't let it show as she picked up the duckling in her lap and placed it in his instead.

The little creature seemed worried for a second, but the moment Kyo stroked its tiny head it relaxed and seemed to let go of all its fear. "I think he likes you," Tohru whispered, her eyes wide in amazement as the baby duckling curled up and puffed its tiny feathers out to relax.

"Only because you showed it how," he replied softly as he met her gaze. He wanted to reach out to touch her so badly, but he didn't have the heart to move the little duckling in his lap until he absolutely needed to.

"You were gone for a while, did everything at the post office go well?" Tohru asked after a moment.

"Oh, yeah. It was all fine, they'll send us the documents back soon but it's technically official. From now on, you are Mrs Tohru Sohma."

Kyo surprised himself at his own daydreamy tone and suddenly his right pocket felt like it was on fire as his recent purchase demanded to see the light of day. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. It was now or never.

"You ready to head home?" he asked, his voice slightly strained.

Tohru hummed in response and Kyo scooped up the little ducking in his lap, placing it gently on the water before taking Tohru's hand and helping her up. Whilst she was brushing the dirt off her dress, Kyo dropped back down to the floor on one knee.

"Did you drop something?" Tohru asked as she noticed him on the ground. "We can look – oh …" she trailed off with a gasp. A bewildered expression crossed her face as Kyo smiled up at her, a gold ring nestled in his hands.

"I know this was supposed to happen before we were actually married but, given the circumstances …" Kyo blushed wildly as he struggled to finish his sentence. He wanted to look away, but he knew he'd miss Tohru's reaction and regret it if he did. "It's not much to look at but … if we're married then I'd like for you to wear a proper ring at least."

"Kyo-kun, it's beautiful," Tohru said, her eyes shining with happiness. "This is why you wanted to go alone earlier?"

He nodded. His face felt like it was on fire, and for a second he found himself considering how much harder this would have been if the woman before him was not already his wife and he wasn't already sure of her answer.

"I know we messed things up a little, but I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. So, how about it? Will you do me the honour of accepting this ring as my wife?"

"Of course I will Kyo-kun," she cried, surprising him by dropping to the ground too. Her eyes were bright with joy and lined with tears as she let him slip the ring on her finger. He kissed her knuckles once before letting her hand drop and helping her to her feet again.

Her arms circled around him the moment he was stood up. "Kyo-kun," she mumbled, voice muffled by his clothes. "I can't believe we're actually married."

"Me neither," he admitted softly as he held onto her. "But about that … can we keep quiet about this, for a while at least. I'm sorry to ask you but it would just be until we figure out how to tell everyone properly."

His mind flashed back to his earlier conversation and how he had narrowly avoided revealing the truth to him then. If he knew Haru, then the boy had caught onto something even if he didn't quite know what.

"That's okay. It can be our little secret for now," Tohru said, her smile blinding as she finally let go of him and reached to entwine her fingers with his larger ones.

"You're rubbish at keeping secrets," Kyo deadpanned as he led her back out towards the bench.

"Not this time I won't be!" she said with a determined air. "Just you watch Kyo-kun, I'll be so good at keeping this secret no one will ever know anything has changed between us."

"Yeah, we'll see about that," he said with a chuckle. "Hey, you did bring your phone with you when you wandered off right."

Tohru was suspiciously silent and Kyo let out a world-weary sigh. From talking to Rin and Haru, Kyo already knew what her answer would be, but he wanted to check regardless.

"Tohru," he sighed.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time, I promise."

"You dummy, what am I gonna do with you," Kyo muttered, knocking the back of her head gently with his knuckles as he pushed back the branches to let her pass.

"You could kiss me," she mumbled back with blazing cheeks, not looking at him as she released his hand and made a beeline for the picnic bench.

Kyo rolled his eyes at her bashfulness, jogging to catch up with her. He caught her by the hand and spun her back towards him, catching her against his chest. "For the record, that's not a punishment," he said, quirking an eyebrow. "At all."

"I know."

"Good. Just checking," he said, right before fulfilling her original request.