Author's Note: Well, there really isn't much to say... I'm updating this second chappie on the same day as the debut of the first chappie. I hope everyone enjoys! Chapter three will be coming soon. Since it's New Year's Eve, I'll be up for awhile, I think Chapter Three may be up before you guys know it! Enjoy! Happy New Year!
Chapter 2
Bitter Tears
Even as Tohru walked out of view of Kyo, such emotion overwhelmed her. She wanted to only show him a strong and unflinching side of herself. However, it was so difficult not to cry. She quickly walked towards the nearest restroom and locked herself into a stall. She cried. She shed all of the tears that she had kept inside her for months. She cried so hard that finally, it seemed as though there was no more tears to shed. But she still felt horrible. She felt lonely and empty.
She carefully wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and walked out of the stall. Thankfully, there was no one there. She walked towards the mirror and looked at herself. Although her eyes were a little red, her mascara and eye makeup had still stayed in place, thanks to the wonders of waterproof. Although her physical image looked flawless and professional, she just felt like curling up into a ball and just start crying all over again.
What had she done to deserve this? First she lost her mother, then she lost so many memories of her life in high school. She remembered nothing of it except for Kyo. And then, Kyo left her as well. What had she done that was so horrible that she had to be punished this way? Was she such a horrible person?
She smoothed her hair with one hand and breathed in deeply and let it out. She reached into her purse and took out a small tube of lip-gloss and applied it to her lips. A bit of powder as well to dab and even her facial complexion as well. After all, she didn't want the rest of the world knowing that she had been crying in a bathroom stall.
Although she felt heartless as she went through these actions, she didn't want to dwell in the past and go through a list of what could have and what should have happened. She had been through this before. It was a waste of the life that she should have spent doing something more for the world and for myself.
At last, she walked out again, collecting her dignity. As she walked across the floor of the large lobby, Tohru was just about to push the spinning doors and leave when suddenly a man hurriedly ran towards her.
"Ms. Honda!" he called. It was the same man that she had met on the elevator. What could he have wanted?
Tohru turned around. Her face was inquisitive and questioning.
"I…" he started, however, he seemed to be hesitant, thinking, a quizzical expression forming on his face.
She frowned. Something inside her stirred when she looked up into that man's face. Whatever it was, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it was there. She knew that there was something special about this man."Do I… do I know you?" she asked, quietly.
"I'm… I'm not quite sure," the man returned, looking a bit uncomfortable.
The two stood there, in the midst of time, unmoving and both thinking of a time when, perhaps, they were more than strangers.
"I'm sorry. You just reminded me of a friend from very long ago. Forgive me," he bowed politely.
"No, it's nothing," Tohru inclined her head in return as well, and still stared after the man walked past her towards the revolving doors of the hotel.
Still frowning slightly, Tohru walked out, pushing the sliding door and letting herself out into the crisp, night air of winter. The snow was gently falling and landed upon the already fallen snow from days' past.
She got into the taxi that stood waiting at the front entrance. As she got in, she sat in the back seat, thinking and pondering. At last, she opened her purse and took out a little picture.
There stood the silver-haired man and a group of people that she could not recognize. All smiled happily, even the somber, serious looking man in the back next to the man with black and white hair. There was even a little boy wearing what looked very frilly and blue with blond hair, winking back at her. Another extravagant looking man with long silver hair stood flourishing his hand. The silver-haired man and he were very similar in looks, just as if they were related.
"He looks exactly like him. Who could it be?" Tohru asked herself as she stared at the picture that was a bit frayed and old. She had found it next to her bed the day after she gained her sense of mind enough to realize what was going on around her. She had been very sick quite suddenly before she left high school to transfer to a different one. She was in the hospital, and the day that she was discharged, she took a small picture with her. She remembered feeling a bit dizzy for a few months. All that she had with her after that event was this picture of all these people that she had never seen up until now.
How could it be possible that that man at the hotel would know her? He certainly seemed to know her. The first second that he had seen her, he kept looking earnestly into her face, like he was searching for some recognition that she recognized him. But why would she? He was a stranger.
Tohru held the picture in her hand for a moment longer. She sighed to herself and put it back into her bag. She knew that it was worthless to carry around a picture for so long that had no meaning. It was probably a mistake anyway. Some Nurse had accidentally left it there or something for all she knew. But a certain part of her told her to keep it. Perhaps, just maybe, one day, it may help her. Maybe.
"Thank you," she paid the driver and got out of her car to the front step of her home. She was not a wealthy person, however, she got along pretty well with her patisserie job and lived in a nice apartment. She went up the four floors to her front door and let herself in after putting in the security number.
She placed her purse on the counter next to the sofa and plopped herself down on the soft, cushioned couch. She sighed and blew the bangs out of her face. She was tired, both physically and emotionally. Then, she realized for the first time that tonight was Christmas Eve. However, she had already gone to her father and mother's graves before and cleaned them up. The only family that she did have, she would rather not see. They had not treated her that well, and they probably would somewhat resent her presence. That reason only being because their daughter had eloped with another man, throwing away all the hopes and dreams that her parents' had set out for her.
Tohru had realized just how much her cousin had let her mother and father down when her mother soon fell sick. Although she had recovered, she was never really quite the same snappish, spying lady that she used to be during Tohru's high school years. It was a pity. Everything had changed so much.
"Ah!" Tohru bent over suddenly from the sudden sharp pain that went through her head. Sequences of pictures and stories suddenly filled themselves into her brain and seemed to take over her whole being.
She saw flashes of the silver-haired man again. A small vegetable garden, another man welcoming her into his home. Then another of a doctor-like person, bending over her and giving her an injection. Her thanking him. Walking to school with Kyo and the silver haired man again. She saw an onson and the blonde haired boy, jumping up and down and eating sashimi. Kyo changing into a cat. The silver haired man bending down and kissing her forehead.
Tohru gasped. "Yuki," a name suddenly popped into her mind. "Shigure, Ayame, Momiji, Hatori," she whispered. She breathed heavily for a few moments until she realized who the man at the hotel was. It was Yuki Sohma. Her high school crush. She remembered all these things.
Tears cascaded down her cheeks again. "Hatori," she whispered. "You had erased my memory," she recalled quietly to herself, still clutching to a small pillow cushion. "Yuki," she murmured. Then it dawned on her. "Yuki," she almost blindly walked across the threshold of her apartment and stumbled towards the counter where her bag was set before. She tore towards the front door, shoving her shoes on in the process. She ran out the front door and ran towards the elevator, clicking on the little button with the arrow with her thumb again and again. She waited ten second, however, the door would not open.
She bit her lip impatiently and tore down the stairs instead. She ran four sets of stairs towards the front of her apartment, waving frantically at a passing taxi. Once inside, she quickly told the driver. "Crystal Hotel. Please, quickly," she begged him. There was nothing else she could do. She knew that Yuki was probably already gone from the hotel by now. But that was the last place that she had seen him. That was where he would be now. That was where she would possibly see him again. That was where she would find him.
"Thank you," she paid him and probably gave him more than enough tip and ran towards the lobby of the hotel. She looked all around her, a desperate and lonely look in her eyes. All she wanted to do was find Yuki, and perhaps be able to talk to him again. Finally, she may have the chance to meet the Sohmas' again.
She looked everywhere to no avail. She knew that he was probably already gone. However, she couldn't help but think that he would still be someplace here. Maybe he had come back. Maybe, maybe, he would be here, knowing that she would come back. Maybe….
Maybe turned to despair as she knew that he was not here and that there was no other way of contacting him or knowing his whereabouts.
Tohru turned away dejectedly and walked slowly back towards home, not even bothering to wave over a taxi. The person that she had finally gotten so close to seeing again had just barely gotten out of her grasp. She knew that there was only a slim chance that she would see him again that night, but she had so wished that he may be waiting. However, it was all just ruthless. There was only so much that could be done in one night.
Once back home, she went directly to her room and threw her purse and coat onto a chair in the corner. Once that terribly difficult deed was done, she lay down on her bed and cried, her pillow once again collecting the bitter tears that she had shed this night and many nights before.