Hi, again guys!
So I just want to say first off, thank you for those who are still reading this story! I fell off it a little bit ago but with the new reboot happening again, it made me want to pick up the pen (er, laptop?) and continue writing! This chapter is going to be a little short mostly because I wanted to get it out before the release of the new anime and also leave it on a cliffhanger.
With that said, enjoy!
Tohru didn't want to eavesdrop.
That's one thing she knew was a shameful habit to have. Listening in on other people's conversations without permission was never justifiable even if you really wanted to know what they were saying. There are much more honest and nicer ways to get information from people and trying to spy on them was always, always wrong!
But it seems like recently, she couldn't help herself.
First, it was on Kyo this morning while watching him from afar. She didn't know how to approach him with her morning greeting, he had looked so in thought and studious while drinking his tea and instead had blurted out her thought and making her already seem like a 'weirdo'. That itself made her already self-conscious about her place in his house and how she would be around him.
And now she was purposely listening in on this conversation happening in front of her through the thin door of his room. It wasn't that hard to hear them exactly, or at least Kyo. His volume and voice were well into earshot with how much he shouted. It was the mystery person behind the wall that intrigued Tohru.
The sudden change in Kyo's attitude had immediately tipped her off that the person on the other side of the door was someone he already knew, and obviously didn't care much for. She had felt those dancing needles slowly poke at her fingers and could see the flame in his eyes ignite. There were a million possibilities that could have explained things and all of them were dancing in her head.
"...But instead, I overheard you having guest over and decided to take a look while you were having breakfast."
The new voice that had entered the scene was such an alarming distinction from Kyo's. Smooth like honey and harmonic like a lullaby, the mysterious speech was almost quiet enough that listening in through the thin walls wasn't enough to even pick it up. It had nearly a feminine ring to it and made Tohru's heart skip a beat. She really couldn't help but be drawn to it. She pressed herself up closer to the surface, nibbling at her lip as they both spoke.
"Tell me stupid cat, what is Honda-san doing here?"
The phrase shot through her chest like a bullet, catching her completely off guard. She nearly leaped back in surprise and tumble backward onto the ground, but was able to cushion the fall with her hands and spared herself from making a ton of noise. The slap of her palms hitting the floorboards was enough to make them creak throughout the house, loud enough for anyone to hear. Her leg spasmed in protest and she nearly bit her cheek from holding back a cry of pain. While laying on the hardwood, she stopped and listened carefully to make sure that neither of the two had heard her against the wall, and thankfully, both had returned to their conversation.
He… he knows me? The person in the other room knows who I am?
Her cheeks felt heated and she clasped her palms over them, trying her best to calm her head as more emotions began to swirl. And he's already upset at me!
"B-But I don't really know any other boys! Or maybe it is a girl?" she whispered to herself, drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging herself tightly. "I'm sure if I met someone with such a pretty voice, I would remember. Do they know me from high school maybe? Maybe I did something that made them upset? Should I maybe-."
She continued to spiral into her personal panic when a large slam shook the entirety of the house. For an entire second, she flinched down into a tight ball and hugged herself again until she heard Kyo's voice roar from outside the door.
"What happened to not scolding me, huh!" he shrieked. His voice was filled with rage and hostility like nothing she had heard before out of him. Tohru timidly made her way over to the wall again, keeping on all fours as more and more commotion sounded from outside. She reached for the doorknob, desperate for just a peek at the disturbances that were taking place, but another bang rattled out and she immediately jerked her hand away. I feel like if I even look outside, I'll get an eye taken out! Maybe it is better to listen from afar…
She silently shamed herself again for spying as her ear was once again pressed against the door, listening sharply to the conversation. The crashes slowly died down and the speaking resumed.
"I don't know what you think you're going to accomplish pulling a stunt like this." she heard the voice warned, seeming to have an edge to itself as well. "You've really astounded me with your stupidity this time, Kyo. What's going to happen when Aki-."
Another slam against the wall that shook the apartment, then there was then silence. Tohru pressed herself closer, hoping that maybe it would pick back up but there continued to be a stillness in the air. She finally let herself release a breath of defeat, clearing out the air that she didn't know she was holding.
"We're taking this outside." she heard Kyo finally announce.
She waited, hearing the other door creak open and then let out a full slam. She waited some more for the air to settle before relaxing. Getting up from the floor, she dusted off her skirt and sighed once again.
"This morning gets more and more confusing, Mom." she huffed out. "First I get taken in by a stranger-I mean Kyo-kun, and now I'm already in trouble with this other mystery person who.-." a realization cut her own thoughts. She thought back to the only few phrases she was able to pick up from the other voice.
"Did they just call him a cat?"
The rain had finally stopped pouring around the city, but pregnant clouds of greys and silvers still loomed overhead. Birds had begun to sing through the leaves of the trees and were accompanied by the low whistle of the wind.
They stepped out and closed the patio door behind them, Kyo slamming it to make note of how irritated he already was. He shot his cousin an expression of disgust, glaring daggers at him. Yuki crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes judgingly, ignoring his stare.
"She's in the other room, y'know. So don't go around saying whatever the hell you want. She's confused enough already." Kyo snarled out.
Yuki returned the scowl readily, his eyes filled with malice as he clicked his tongue.
"So, what's your big plan now, idiot? Force her to go through everything again once they find her sitting in your bedroom? Make her pay for your stupidity twice?" his voice was almost at a hiss, and Kyo could feel a different type of contempt radiating off of him. This was different than their normal, rehearsed banter that they both had established in the past. He wasn't just annoyed with Kyo as he usually expected. No, he was absolutely furious.
"You have absolutely no right to make her stay in hiding just to fill your own personal fantasies of being a hero. Really, have you ever thought about anyone else but your own self? Did you ever maybe stop and ask if this is in the best interest of someone else besides your own pathetic being? Did you even consider thinking about this at all, period?" he cocked his head at him, his eyes turning into nothing but slits. "So I ask again, what exactly are you trying to accomplish?"
Kyo released a low growl that emitted from his throat. He gritted his teeth, Yuki's words pounding in his ears and beginning to stew inside his subconscious. As expected from the rat, he knew exactly how to crawl right under his skin and manipulate his emotions at his every whim. He was conniving, narrow-minded and spoiled like the pesky, diseased rodent he was. Every time he spoke he could feel his cat spirit and himself recoil in revulsion, wanting to claw at face more than anything else in the entire world.
For the past 6 months, Kyo's relationship with Yuki had begun to deteriorate worst than ever before. They had gone from their comfortable rivalry of sparring once in a while and shooting empty threats back and forth to regressing back into not even wanting to share the same house anymore. Every moment they had to be in the same room made Kyo more irrationally hostile than the next. Every time his name was mentioned the agitation course throughout his body, wanting to release the stress of anger on anything nearby. Looking at his face as it is was hard enough, having to relive the last few moments of their somewhat tame relationship before..,
He grimaced.
Before she had to leave.
He remembered Tohru again. The sight she was, closing in on the brink of death and barely managing breaths. How she had been dragged through hell and back and was left to be nothing but a skeleton. How she still felt like a bother when offered a home, just like before. When he selfishly imposed himself onto her, she still decided she wanted to be kind and caring to him.
She didn't deserve what was happening. None of it.
"So that's just it? We're going to leave her to die and go on with the rest of our lives, huh?" he muttered. He didn't wait for a reply before he snagged the hem of Yuki's collar and wrung it close, twisting the fabric in the tight clasp of his hands as he glowered ferociously at him. "Does four years of living in the same house as her mean absolutely nothing to you?" You just going to throw it all out the goddamn window and listen to everything Akito says, right?"
Yuki raised his head in defiance but did not reply.
"You didn't have to see how bad of shape she was in, alright? You didn't have to carry her back because she couldn't stand on her own two fucking feet. I didn't even transform either. She's so damn skinny right now I was able to carry her and still have space left over."
He noticed immediately the breach in Yuki's stone look. His sharp stare has lessened as his eyes began to widen with realization. His face dropped and began to sullen, concern creeping up onto his face.
"I watched her shiver and shake like a sick puppy. Don't call me selfish when you're the asshole who's only looking out for himself!"
His shout was enough to alarm the birds nested in the nearby branches of the tree, and they fluttered instantly in a fright. The flap of wings taking flight into the sky and twigs and leaves being torn through made way into the air before completely abandoning the scene, leaving wind and chimes to carry on.
They both held their stares, Kyo's filled with seething resentment and Yuki now carrying a look of distress. The silence between them spoke volumes, both having said their piece. Casually, he allowed himself to be released from the stare-off and shut his eyes, surrendering out a listless sigh and running a shaky hand through his silver hair.
"So what are you saying, cat? Before her memories were erased, we told her grandfather she'd be moving back with them. How does she not have a home?"
The suffocating air between the two had finally subsided. Kyo huffed out a breath himself, feeling the tension he held before decrease significantly. He was secretly glad, not having much more energy to carry his anger towards anyone, even Yuki. Too much had happened in the last few hours and he hasn't had the chance to even try and relax.
"I don't know what happened either. I don't know how much she remembers and I feel kinda weird asking. All I know for right now definitely doesn't have a place to stay and…," he swallowed, remembering the bruises going up her leg and down her arms coming back to memory. The dirt and blood that was steeped into her blouse and skirt. Seeing her lying there in the street's, unconscious and whilst suffering in silence immediately sent him back to the fateful night that he wished to forget.
I Won't Forgive You.
"She's hurt really bad."
Yuki gave another sigh, covering his chin in thought and eyes glassy. Kyo was still amazed at the sudden switch in his emotions once Tohru was mentioned, the rage that was directed towards him suddenly dissipated.
"And what about you? How much did you tell her about us? How much does she already know?"
Kyo shot him a scowl. "She doesn't know anything, alright? Not until you showed up and had to start blabbing off."
"I wasn't blabbing, perhaps if you let me talk to her directly instead of shoving her into your room, things wouldn't be so confusing."
It was subtle, but he was able to pick up the insinuation in Yuki's voice. It was Kyo's turn to narrow his eyes. Look who's being selfish now.
"Like I said before, she's been through enough. Just let her rest for the day before we try anything else."
Yuki held himself silent, studying Kyo's expression before sighing again in a loss. The luck of having clear weather had finally worn thin, claps of thunder beginning to roll through the air as the wind picked up slightly. Kyo could feel his spirits being drained by the second, both the weather and the current conversation weighing him down.
"Fine...fine. But tomorrow, I want to have a long talk to her, to make sure she's okay. And you'll have no part of it this time."
Kyo clicked his tongue in annoyance, rolling his eyes but not responding. The rain had now come in at a downpour, saturating the ground and filling the air, and he couldn't wait to get inside. He opened the door and much to both their surprise, Tohru was standing there.
"Um, sorry for eavesdropping." she stumbled, twisting the hem of her shirt into knots. "But I'd like to know what exactly is going on and how you both know me."