chapter three

The bus ride home had been uneventful, but Tohru was riding so blissfully on her cloud of happiness she doubted she'd have noticed if anything strange did happen. They'd stopped off to pick up some groceries on their way home from the bus station and were now in their little kitchen, expertly working around one another as they prepared dinner.

Tohru was watching the pots on the stove, mixing the contents occasionally as she added spices by eye, something Kyo never understood whenever she tried to explain, whilst Kyo chopped onions for their soup with short sharp movements.

Even after watching him cook several times, it still amazed her how precise he was with such a dangerous tool. Just one wrong movement could be catastrophic, but he was so controlled and practiced it was almost magnetic.

Tohru was watching him so intently that it took her a moment to realise that he was looking at her with a strange look on his face. "Uh Tohru … your phone is ringing," he said softly.

His words seemed to break some barrier, and suddenly the light music of her ringtone was blaring from behind her. "Oh," she said quietly, briefly wondering how long it had been going off for as she glanced back towards the table.

She bit her lip as she looked at the pots in front of her, stirring the soup instinctively, and then back to her phone. Out of the corner of her she saw Kyo risking a glance towards her again as he continued chopping.

"Is it Rin again? I thought you two talked earlier," he said curiously. It wasn't like her to ignore calls and he'd clearly picked up on that, but she also didn't want to go and answer it if it meant leaving him to cook alone.

With Kyo waiting for an answer, Tohru took a single hop backwards, still stirring the pot as she leaned back to read the flashing screen behind her. "It's Uo-chan," she said with a little surprise. She wasn't expecting a call from her today.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Kyo asked with concern as she still made no move to answer the phone, the music still ringing out into their small kitchen.

"I don't know," Tohru said, glancing at the phone with a torn expression. As much as she wanted to answer it and see Uo-chan, she really didn't want to leave Kyo to do the work here by himself.

"Why not? Did something happen between you two?"

"No, but … who will help you cook if I'm on the phone?"

Kyo rolled his eyes, dropping the knife in his hand as he headed for the table. He picked up her phone and handed it to her. Tohru let out an involuntary yelp as he grabbed onto her waist, backing her out of the kitchen.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. Just answer the phone, otherwise that delinquent will have to call me, and she'll be real mad about it too."

Tohru smiled at that. She knew they had no real rivalry, but it was always amusing to watch her boyfriend and best friend butt heads. No, not boyfriend. Husband, she reminded herself. Wow, this was going to take some getting used to.

"Thank you, Kyo-kun."

"You're welcome," he replied sweetly, dropping a quick kiss on the tip of her nose before ushering her further into the living room. Tohru answered the call as she headed for the sofa, glancing back to see that Kyo had disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Uo-chan! Hello," she called happily as Arisa's grinning face appeared on the screen, probably a little closer than it really needed to be.

"Tohru, finally! I feel like this thing has been ringing forever," the girl said dramatically, flopping backwards onto what looked like her kitchen floor.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry Uo-chan, I was a little busy cooking so I couldn't answer right away, but Kyo-kun is taking care of everything now," she beamed, her heart swelling at how easily kind her husband was.

Arisa on the other hand groaned at the very mention of Kyo.

"Ugh, good. Make him do it by himself all the time. It's the least he could do since you have to put up with his face all day every day. How is living together anyway? Terrible I'll bet," she cackled.

Before Tohru could reply however, there was the sound of a muffled voice in the background of the call. She couldn't make out the words, but whatever they were, they had Arisa rolling her eyes with a dramatic sigh.

"Kureno has just informed me that I'm being unjustly mean, so I take that last part back," she said with a grumpy pout. "He can still cook by himself though. Anyway, I was hoping that … oh, hang on a second," Uo said, squinting at the camera.

"What is it?"

"Hana's calling!" Arisa said excitedly.

With a simple swipe, Saki Hanajima's stoic face appeared beside Arisa's, her dark hair ethereal as it spread out on the ground beneath her in magnificent waves.

"Hana-chan, hello!" Tohru said brightly.

"Your timing is impeccable as usual," Arisa said with a pleased grin and Tohru couldn't help but be grateful that she had both her close friends with her, if only in this small way.

"Hello you two. Yes, I too am surprised at how I decided to call at this precise moment in time," Hana mused, a knowing sparkle in her eyes. "How is your new home Tohru?"

"Wonderful. Everything is just perfect," Tohru said, glancing towards the kitchen. She could just about see a sliver of Kyo's clothing peeking through the doorway and smiled involuntarily at the sight of him.

"We knew you would love it," Hana said simply, a rare warm smile on her lips.

"We weren't happy about Carrots dragging you away from us, but so long as you're sure you're happy …" Arisa trailed off questioningly.

"I really am," she reassured them. "I miss you all so much, but I am happy here too. Besides, I'll just have to love you all more when I finally get to see you again!" Tohru said, fighting off the tell-tale sniffles that she knew would lead to her tearing up uncontrollably.

"As much as I love the idea, don't take too long coming back to Tokyo. I can only stand this place without you for so long," said Arisa, her grin slipping a little.

"I won't make you wait too long. We don't know when we'll be back yet, but as soon as Kyo-kun and I decide-"

"Hey Hana," Arisa interrupted, her brows raised in confusion. "What are you making that face for?"

Tohru hadn't noticed before, but Arisa was right. Hana had cocked her head to the side, which wasn't too unusual, but that look in her eyes was unmistakeable. She was sensing something.

"I'm not sure. Something just seems very strange today. Tohru you seem … different."

"Huh, I do?" Tohru squeaked, surprised that the attention had turned back to her.

"Yes," Hanajima said, frowning as she looked at her phone. "Your face … it just seems … different today."

"Now that you mention it Hana, you're right. Tohru does look a little different. Did you cut you bangs again?" Uo asked.

Tohru reached up to touch her bangs before brushing them out of her face. "No, my hair is the same as normal. Maybe it's something else?"

"Oh, that was shiny. Is that a ring on your finger Tohru? I wanna see it," Uotani asked, pressing her face closer to the screen to get a better view.

"Huh!?" Tohru yelped, startled that Arisa had noticed such a thing. No, of course not. That's so ridiculous Uo-chan, it's not like I have any specific reason to be wearing a ring or anything," she stammered quickly, unable to stop the nervous laugh that escaped the moment she stopped talking.

Tohru pulled her hand to her lap, attempting to prise the ring off but without her other hand, there was no way she could do it. Her face burst into flame as spoke, her cheeks burning brighter and hotter with every second the ring remained stuck on her finger.

Without stopping to consider if it was a good idea, she cut the call on her two friends, and with both hands free, she tugged the wedding band off her finger with ease. The phone rang again, but in her hurry to answer, the gold band slipped from her fingers and Tohru could only watch on helplessly as it rolled away from her and under the coffee table and her friends confused faces flashed on her screen again.

"Oh, sorry. I think my finger slipped or something, silly me," Tohru said hurriedly, her mind still contemplating whether she should dive for the ring or wait until later. "What were we talking about again?"

"The ring on your finger," Arisa said simply.

"Oh, yes. Except there's nothing on my hand. Just my fingers like usual, look" she said as she held up her hand to the phone camera. Her voice sounded pitchy and off, but she hoped that the phones natural distortion would be enough to keep it from being too obvious.

"Okay," Arisa responded, dragging out her words in a way that made Tohru suspect she didn't believe her entirely. "I suppose it was just a trick of the light or something. Strange."

"Yes, exactly. A trick of the light," Tohru agreed readily, glad for the excuse. But Hanajima was harder to convince.

"I do not believe that flash to be the result of light refracting at an improbable angle," Hanajima chimed in. "Our phones are not sensitive enough to pick up such irregularities in the world."

"Uhh … how did you fail science again?" Arisa asked in surprise.

Hana only shrugged in response.

"I have a theory about what it could have been," Hana started, and Tohru felt her stomach drop at the words. "But the waves are being especially temperamental today, so I can't say for sure."

"Well, perhaps it would be better to say nothing … until you can be sure that is," Tohru offered, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. Surely Hana didn't know the truth, right? That was impossible.

"Yeah I agree," Arisa added. "I'd love to hear the theory when you have it, but right now I can hear Kureno yelling in the other room, so I should go. I think he just found Mr Leggy Legs."

"Um … Mr … Leggy Legs?" Tohru repeated, thoroughly confused by the name.

"It's the spider I found in the house this morning. I couldn't just kill him, so I let him wander off to wherever he was headed so long as he minded his own business. Little guy was doing great right up until now … I'll speak to you both soon."

"Bye Uo-chan!"

"We shall converse again soon Arisa. Goodbye for now."

"Bye you bunch of weirdos!" the blonde called before cutting the call.

"Well, I won't say I'm not a little disappointed. I for one would be thoroughly entertained by the sight of Mr Sohma running from a spider."

"Hana-chan, I can't tell if your being serious."

"Heh … it doesn't matter either way. You seemed a little frazzled earlier. I wonder why that could be? Have you had anything to eat yet?"

"Um, no … Kyo-kun is just finishing up with the cooking."

"Hmm, yes. I sense he is nearly done, so I shall leave you to your dinner. Do remind Kyo that if he treats you wrong, I'll make sure he regrets it instantly." Hana laughed openly at Tohru's nervous expression "Never mind dear Tohru. Look after yourself."

"Oh, I will. You too, Hana-chan. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye."

The call ended with a simple beep and as soon as she knew she was alone, Tohru dropped her head to her lap with a sigh of relief. That had been too close. She didn't feel good about hiding the truth from her friends at all, but for now, what other choice did she have?

Lifting her head, she realised her finger was still empty and Tohru slipped to the ground on her knees. She was all ready to dive under the table to retrieve the ring when Kyo cleared his throat. Her gaze shot to the doorway where he was leaning casually against doorframe, his hair partially covering his eyes in a way that made her heart skip a beat.

"Looking for something?" he asked, a bemused smirk playing about his lips.

"Yes," Tohru admitted apologetically, ignoring that her heart was racing now for a different reason entirely. "I was trying to hide my ring from Uo-chan and Hana-chan, but I dropped it and it fell somewhere under the table."

"I think I'd be more surprised if you told me you hadn't dropped it at this point," Kyo commented, pushing himself off the frame and walking towards her. He gently rapped the top of her head as he dropped down beside her. "Here, let me get it for you."

With his unnaturally brilliant eyesight, Kyo found the glinting ring in seconds and Tohru scooted closer to him with a grateful smile. "Thank goodness. I never want to take it off again," she said as Kyo rolled it around in his palm, brows drawn together in a frown.

"So, did they see it, or …?"

"Nearly, but I managed to convince them that it was a trick of the light. I told you I could do this, didn't I?"

The frown remained on his face. "Yeah, you did. I'm sorry you had to lie to them like that though." He bit his bottom lip in thought and was silent a moment, seeming to consider something. "You know what, maybe we should just not answer our phones for a while."

"What?"

"Oh nothing, I'm just being an idiot is all. I was talking to Haru earlier and said something stupid, and now with your ring … we're both doing a pretty rubbish job at keeping this under wraps aren't we?" he said with a smile.

Tohru returned the smile, reaching to place her hand against his knee. "I think we're doing great. And it won't be too much longer, right?"

"Right. I'd like to tell Master in person if that's okay with you, and then we can tell the others too."

"Of course it is! Master-san will be so happy, I can't wait to see his face," Tohru said, leaning in towards him without fully realising until Kyo placed a hand against her cheek to keep her from toppling forwards.

"Yeah, I hope he will be" he chuckled, reaching for her hand. His calloused fingers were rough against her own as he slid the ring back onto her finger. Tohru thought he would let go of her, but she was secretly glad when he kept a loose hold of her fingers.

"But until then, you're going to have be extra careful about keeping this hidden." Kyo held up her hand a little so the ring caught the light, its smooth surface glinting just as it had when she'd accidentally shown it to Arisa and Hana.

Tohru hummed in agreement. "I will be more careful. I won't make a silly mistake again. I'll make sure no one suspects anything is different at all, I promise you Kyo-kun. From the bottom of my heart."

Maybe it was something in her tone, or even the words themselves, but Kyo looked concerned. "Tohru … I trust you more than anything, you don't need to promise something like that. Sometimes you can't control things and it's not your fault. I don't want you to feel bad if something goes wrong and we slip up."

"I know, but … being the married the way we were … I just …" Tohru stopped to take a calming breath. Kyo's eyes were still on her, soft and patient as he waited for her to find the courage to voice her thoughts.

She knew first-hand just how much one mistake could cost your respect in another's eyes. Her parent's relationship with her father's siblings was all she needed to know that she never wanted to give anyone the chance to hurt either her or Kyo like that.

"I don't want anyone to find out the wrong way and think badly of you," she said, her voice dropping to barely a whisper.

Kyo didn't say anything in response, but he did let his thumb brush gently against her cheek and that gesture was all she needed in that moment to know that he understood. That he was there to listen to and share her fears whenever she needed.

"Come on," he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "You need to eat something."

He made to stand, but instead of following suit, Tohru flung herself at Kyo and wrapped her arms around him tightly as she pressed her cheek against his chest. If his exclaim of surprise wasn't enough to know she'd caught him off guard, the rapid beating of his heart confirmed it.

"Kyo?" she mumbled into the fabric of his shirt.

"Yeah?" he said, holding her against him gently.

"Please don't ever leave me," she whispered. "Say you'll always be here to put my ring back on if I need you to."

He didn't reply straight away.

They both knew she was being stubborn in asking for something he could never hold himself to. Making a promise like that was just asking for trouble, but Tohru was grateful that Kyo was indulging her with his silence, if only for a moment.

They both knew just how suddenly you could lose the people you loved.

He brushed a hand lovingly through her hair, placing a kiss against her temple. "I can't Tohru, I'm sorry. But I promise you that I will love you as long as you'll let me."

Tohru hugged him even tighter.

"That's enough."