chapter four

"Kyo-kun! Kyo-kun, wake up!"

The orange haired boy groaned sleepily as someone shook his shoulders gently, a familiar panicked voice filling his ears. He opened his eyes lazily, his hazy vision catching vividly on the first thing he saw.

Tohru.

He smiled instinctively, reaching up to cup her cold cheek with his hand. "Tohru?" he asked, noticing the panic in her eyes as he sat up quickly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm so sorry to wake you like this but … you have work soon but your alarm didn't go off," she said apologetically, leaning into his touch as he let his fingers stroke her cheek.

"Oh, that," he said with a tired yawn, letting himself fall back onto his elbows. It still felt strange for him to sleep in a bed – it was somehow always too soft for his liking – but he had no plans to make Tohru sleep on a futon.

She wouldn't complain, but he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible. And he didn't have the strength or the heart to keep away from her, so he gladly put up with the extra comfort. Even if it did make him a groggy mess every morning.

"I guess in all the excitement of yesterday, I must have forgotten to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I called Sensei at the dojo and explained to him what had happened. He allowed me to take the week off work, and I swore him to secrecy, so we don't need to worry about anyone else finding out or anything."

"You really took the week off?" Tohru squeaked, a note of happiness slipping into her tone.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "Since we're newlyweds and all, I guess I wanted to spend this time with you. It's not a proper honeymoon but at least we'll be together."

Despite the ridiculousness of their situation, the timing really couldn't have been more perfect. Tohru hadn't received a job offer yet, and he had accrued some holiday from his past two months at the dojo. So for the next week at least, he and Tohru would be able to spend some quality time together.

"That's wonderful Kyo-kun!" Tohru said excitedly, her voice rising several octaves with every word. He smiled without reserve, getting the exact reaction out of his wife as he had hoped for as she fell into him.

Her arms wrapped around his middle in a tight hug as she squealed words he had no hope of ever deciphering. He gazed at her in quiet contentment as she rested her chin on his chest and looked up at him, her eyes bright with excitement.

"So," he said softly, running a hand through her hair. "What do you want to do this week?"

"I just want to spend all my time with you," she said, the smile on her face refusing to budge.

"That's reassuring since we'll be spending the rest of our lives together but … maybe you could be a little more specific? Besides, I plan to spend so much time with you that you'll be sick of my face by the end of it."

Tohru sat up straight, her face scrunching adorably. "I could never be sick of you. And you have the most wonderful face." Kyo scrunched up his own face to match hers and Tohru giggled. "It's even more wonderful when you do that."

"So, about where you want to go?" he prompted again.

"Well …" Tohru hummed, considering their options carefully. Kyo knew the exact moment she figured out what she wanted. Her eyes lit up with a smile before it found its way to her lips and she let out an unexpected gasp. "Oh, I know the perfect place! We should go to-"

The rest of her sentence was lost to him as he pulled her down and kissed the words away before she could voice them. Her lips were as soft and welcoming as a lazy summer's day and he pulled away from her before he lost himself in the daydream of her; but not before stealing several light pecks for good measure.

"Hey, you didn't let me finish," Tohru said quietly, her voice still a little distracted from their kiss.

"I know that face," he replied, flicking her nose gently. "You want to go to the beach, don't you?"

"I do, but … how did you know that?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied, refusing to give up all his secrets. "But if that's what you want, then that's where we'll go. I'll call Hatori and see if we can get one of the Sohma houses."

"Really!?"

"Yes, really," he chuckled. "Uh, hey. Where are you going?" he asked as she slid out of his reach and hopped off the bed, taking all the warmth with her.

"To start packing," Tohru called over her shoulder. "We're going to the beach Kyo-kun! This is going to be so much fun!"

"Yeah, it is," Kyo replied, letting his gaze linger on her for a moment.

A few hours and a train journey filled with Tohru's bubbly babbling later, the pair found themselves walking along the beachfront hand-in-hand. They'd already dropped their bags off at the house to settle in and were now enjoying the rest of their day in peace.

"You're smiling an awful lot," Kyo pointed out as yet another passer-by eyed them endearingly. Kyo couldn't even bring himself to care that people were staring at them. He was too enchanted by the girl beside him to be bothered by anything else.

"Oh," she said in surprise. "I guess I keep doing it without realising."

Kyo watched on in amusement as she tried to keep a straight face for a moment. As expected, she was spectacularly terrible at it, the edges of a smile lingering on her mouth as she tried and failed to fight it off.

Her smile was daylight incarnate; it couldn't be stopped by anything, not even her own sheer willpower.

"Hey Tohru," Kyo said, attempting to conceal his own grin. "I didn't point it out to be mean or so that you'd stop. You never have to stop yourself from smiling."

"Oh good," she said with an exhaustive sigh. "That was really hard. I kept trying to make it go away, and I even tried thinking of things to make me sad, but it didn't work. I kept seeing you out of the corner of my eye and the smile kept coming back."

Kyo rolled his eyes lovingly, knocking her gently with his shoulder. "I'm glad we're not seeing anyone we know anytime soon," he mused. "They'd take one look at your goofy grin and know something was up."

"Yeah," she agreed, her dreamy smile back in place as she pressed herself closer to Kyo. "They definitely would."

"Should we go and build that sandcastle you wanted?" he asked, noticing that the tide had gone out a little, leaving several glittering shells in its wake.

"Absolutely!" she said, pulling him towards the sand without hesitation with all the girlish delight one would expect from a child.

Despite their efforts, Kyo and Tohru's sandcastle didn't look much better than the one they had made the last time they were out here. As Kyo gazed back at it from the water's edge, it still looked more like a sand igloo than a palace of any sort. Hopefully the shells they were collecting would spruce up its appearance a little bit.

Kyo started with a hiss as the cold surf rushed over his feet, his toes sinking into the wet sand uncomfortably. He hadn't intended to come this close to the water in their search, but Tohru was adamant that the best shells were always the ones freshly washed up, and so he had followed her closer and closer to the sea.

His wife was currently standing knee deep in the salty water, crouching occasionally to sift through the water in search of shells whilst he stood nearby, a bucket of their spoils clutched in his hand.

"Look at this one, Kyo-kun!" Tohru shouted, and Kyo shielded his eyes from the low sun as she held her hand up towards the sky. Despite his good eyesight, all he could make out was a dark shadow clutched in her palm as she bounded over to him.

"Wait, where are you going?" he shouted after her as she completely bypassed him and the bucket in his hands, rushing straight towards the sandcastle instead.

"You have to see it on top!"

He followed after her, dropping the bucket of shells in the sand beside their castle before doing the same with himself. He watched silently as Tohru positioned the shell she'd found on the very tip of their sandcastle, looking intensely proud of herself as she turned to him with a soft 'ta-da!'.

The white shell she'd found sat at the very tip of the sand pile, spiralling towards the sky with speckles in various shades of orange decorating its exterior. "It's looks great," he commented. "Really draws the attention away from … all the rest of it," he added with a chuckle, the girl squeaking in protest before attempting to tackle him with one of her infamous hugs.

He dodged her with a practiced ease, and she missed him completely, toppling to the soft sand in a fit of giggles. "You're not getting any better at that you know, I can see you coming from a mile off," he pointed out as she crawled over to him and reached for some shells in the bucket.

"I'll just have to practice harder," she replied, her eyes reflecting the sun behind him. "Then I'll be able to hug you whenever I want!"

"You can already do that, you know. You don't need to learn how to be stealthy to do it." She didn't respond, and it wasn't until he noticed her busying herself with placing the remaining shells that he realised it was because she was flustered. Maybe now was a good time to tell her, he wondered.

He moved to kneel beside her, letting his hand drift over hers deliberately as he readjusted one of the shells. He saw her watching him from the side of his eye, but he took a lesson from her and occupied his attention by adding to the ring of shells at the base of the castle. "I never told you Tohru, but …"

He stopped, shaking his head as the words he wanted to say refused to find purchase in his mouth. Tohru was watching him curiously, her hand curled tightly by her chest. She didn't normally do that unless she was nervous, and Kyo knew he had to say something to stop her from panicking, even if it wasn't what he'd originally intended.

"I could teach you to be stealthier," he declared after a moment, finally letting himself meet her eyes. "

"That would be nice," she replied softly, but her smile slipped a little as she spoke. She knew him too well to not notice he'd changed the topic, but he was grateful that she didn't push him on it. Maybe he could try and tell her what he really wanted to later, they were going to be here for a few more days after all.

Even still, he didn't like that she'd be dwelling on his unsaid words for the rest of the night. He needed something to distract and lift her spirits, and he knew just the thing. As she reached for another shell, Kyo grabbed the bucket and stood up.

"We've still got loads left Kyo-kun, we don't need any more shells yet," Tohru said, watching him curiously as he shook the bucket in her direction. The contents rattled against each other enticingly but as she went to reach for one again, he lifted it clean out of her reach.

"Uh-uh. You don't get this back until I know for sure just how terribly you can throw a punch. I can't teach you to be stealthy without knowing," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Huh," she said, her eyes wide with alarm.

"Come on. You can either punch me, or you can try and take the bucket back yourself," he said, grinning as Tohru hesitantly got to her feet. With every step she took towards him, Kyo lifted the bucket higher into the air.

He knew that she was too short to ever be able reach it, but he also knew she was too stubborn not to try anyway.

"So which is it?" he asked as she stood in front of him, her hands cradled in front of her. He watched as her brows slipped into a determined frown. She jumped for the bucket, her fingers catching nothing but empty air as her feet landed on the sand again.

She tried a couple more times, and Kyo enjoyed himself entirely too much every time she muttered under her breath when he lowered the bucket only to raise it out of reach as she jumped for it.

"Okay, you win Kyo-kun. I'm never going to be able to reach it," she said breathlessly, collapsing against him and clinging onto his shirt.

He raised a single eyebrow. "Does that mean you're going to punch me?"

She shook her head vehemently as she turned out towards the ocean. "What if I actually hurt you?"

"You're so puny, do you really think you'll be able to?" he said, his tone softening as he finally relented and handed her the bucket of seashells. He'd expected her to return to her sandcastle project, but instead, Tohru placed the bucket on the floor and reached for his hands.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry Kyo-kun!"

"Huh. You're sorry for not punching me?" he asked, suddenly confused by where Tohru's thoughts had drifted.

"No, not that. The days almost over and we haven't done a single thing of your choice yet," she said sadly.

"Oh, is that all," he replied with a soft chuckle. "I'm having fun just being with you, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Are you sure?" she asked, the worry still evident on her face. Kyo sighed and cupped her face in his hands, resting his forehead against hers.

"Yes," he reassured her. "Yes, I'm sure."

"You know, we still have a little time before the sun goes down. Is there anything you'd like to do?" she asked, her voice so quiet that Kyo wondered whether she was whispering. He glanced out at the ocean behind him, the sky a kaleidoscope of oranges and pinks as the sun began to set over the dark waves.

"Actually, there's one thing I'd like to do," he said, letting out a quiet breath before turning back to an expectant Tohru.

"Anything."

Kyo dropped to the sand and tugged Tohru down with him, guiding her into the space between his legs so they faced the sea and the sunset beyond.

"This," he said softly, holding her close and resting his chin against her shoulder. "I just want to do this." A content smile settled onto his lips as Tohru entangled their fingers and the pair settled into a comfortable quiet as the world drifted into darkness around them.

thanks so much for reading! hope you're enjoying the story so far. look, i know this was pure fluff with no sohma interference, but i just really wanted kyo and tohru to have a cute moment at the beach before a certain someone showed up to rain on their parade lol. i hope it wasn't too boring 3