CHAPTER 3: Ready for Take-Off!

Tohru was very excited this morning. She had never been on an airplane before! She tugged on the old suitcase (which she borrowed from Shigure, she would never have the proper means to buy something that was so costly…) and climbed slowly down the stairs. She wore a yellow sundress that her mother had given her before her death. It had cute little flowers on it, and Kyoko said it had 'reminded her of her cute little daughter'. This made Tohru smile and made her pick up her pace a little. A little too much though, because she was still in the stairs so she tripped on a shoelace and was about to fall terribly to the floor. This made her reminisce for a short period about some of her mother's wise words…

…

"Will you always be there to pick me up when I fall, Mama?" asked a younger Tohru, jumping into her mother's arms and giving her a tight hug.

" I will try to as much as I can, sweetie… But I might not always be there. Someday, I might not be with you, like right now… Then you'll have to work on your own and help yourself." Kyoko said, brushing her orangey hair off her eyes.

"But Mama! I love you! Why would you leave me?" A blubbering little girl asked.

"Sometimes, life makes us do things we don't all like, but they're usually for the best," Tohru's mother smiled a sad-looking smile. It was important to her to teach her daughter the difficult things, even at such a young age. "And hey! Who said I wouldn't be with you! I will always be with you right here, no matter what." Kyoko exclaimed, laughing and patting the area on Tohru's chest to show that she would always be in her heart. Tohru grinned.

…

Back to where Tohru was now, she realized she was on the floor, only it had not hurt to fall, not the least bit. As Tohru got on her hands and knees, she noticed a flat, blue pillow that had been beneath her head. That pillow, she knew because of occasionally being in his room, was Kyo's. It all started to make sense now.

"Kyo-kun!" Tohru exclaimed, looking up to see tall kyo towering over her even more while she was on all fours. She smiled at him, to show her gratitude.

"Thank you, Kyo-kun… I was just thinking about something and suddenly, I felt myself soar through the air…" She said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry."

"It's okay Tohru… Just try to be more careful when you're walking down the stairs." He said, gazing out the window. "I carried your suitcase to the door, Shigure's gonna drive us."

"Thank you Kyo-kun! However can I thank you!" said Tohru, amazed at how nice Kyo was to her. He seemed distant though, this morning. Hm. Before going into the kitchen to pick up a few more bags, he hoisted her up to her feet. His strength impressed Tohru.

"Okay boys, go sit in the back now please, I'm not waiting for you if you miss the Shigure Express," Shigure said, raising his hands. "But you, my little Tohru, take all the time in the world! I've made a seat especially for you in the front, and I even packed some of the onigiri you made me in your luggage!" Then under his breath, Shigure said "And what an ideal wife you would make… Mmmmm…" After he had said this, Kyo silently entered the room, slyly stepped up to Shigure's backside and slapped his head. "Stupid pervert…" He muttered, as he carried yet another bag to the car.

"So shall we go then?" Shigure asked Tohru, still recovering from Kyo's attack. Shigure held out his hand to her and smiled.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Tohru replied. They both walked to the car to find Yuki and Kyo sitting in the back.

When Tohru got in the car, Yuki spoke to her.

"Good morning, Tohru. How are you today?"

"Oh! I'm doing fine! Thank you for asking." She answered Yuki. He bore aradiant smile and was wearing a sweater over a blouse. As always, Yukilooked very handsome and Tohru noticed some girls staring at him throughthe car window.

"And Kyo, you seem to be doing just fine as well," Yuki said "you stupid cat." Kyo became very angry when Yuki said that last part.

"WHY YOU- Someday, you stupid rat, you'll see. I'll skin the meat off youand hang you bones on my bedroom door so every morning when I wake up, I'll have proof that I finally defeated you. Ha!" Kyo laughed in an evil way.

"BOYS!" Shigure shouted over the soft music of a piano playing on theradio. He also cupped his hands over Tohru's ears, which made her turn a soft shade of pink. "How can you say such things? Firstly, Tohru's poor virgin ears have to hear all this nonsense and also, I cannot hear my classical music! Shame on you."

"Um Shigure…" Yuki began.

"SHIII-GUUU-REE YOU IDIOT! JUST SHUT UP FOR ONCE!" Kyocried, his cheeks turning fiery red.

"KYO I STILL CAN'T HEARRR MYYYY MUSIIIC!" Shigure shouted back,seemingly amused.

"What idiots…" Yuki said with a heaving sigh.

"KYOOOOO" Shigure began, laughing. He was soon interrupted by Tohru's soft voice.

"Look! The airport!"

"Hi Momiji-kun!" Tohru said, as she entered the quiet airport. She spotted Momiji frantically waving towards her and the others. He was wearing a hooded vest that had bunny ears on it. As she walked around and stared at the very empty looking airport, she felt a bit uneasy.

"Momiji-kun, aren't airports usually very busy, like in all the movies?" Tohru asked. Momiji looked up at the roof of the building and seemed like he was trying to think of an appropriate answer.

"Well, not at this time of year… Or at this time of day," Momiji began. " most of the people who are here today are going on business trips. Hardly anyone goes on vacations in the middle of the year… Except lucky us!" Momiji told Tohru. She was relieved to hear nothing was wrong. After having discussed the travel plans and gotten out their boarding passes and passports, Yuki asked an important question.

"So Momiji, where is Haru?"

" Oops! I COMPLETELY forgot about him!" Momiji said, itching his head and laughing with that radiant smile of his.

"Yes rabbit, that's all really great if you forgot about him," Kyo said, spreading lots and lots of mean-spiritedsarcasm on top of their happy atmosphere. "but it still doesn't answer our question; where is he?" Momiji suddenly seemed a bit more concerned, as if he had finally realized something.

"Look guys, I have…" They were soon interrupted though.

"Hey." A voice boomed. Yuki instantly recognized his good friend's voice and smiled.

" Hello Haru" He was saying, but as he turned around, he saw something he wasn't expecting.

There stood that tall, raven haired girl that he knew too well and that he should have expected to be there. She wore nothing out of the unusual by her standards; black stiletto-heeled boots, the shortest shorts he knew to exist, a small, very fitted black cropped top and nail polish of the blackest black there was.

There she was, confident on the outside looking Rin dragging along her troubled and terrorized interior. Isuzu.

"Why, hello Rin. How are you today?" Yuki asked, much more coldly than he had intended.

"Shut the hell up." Rin said simply, terror bubbling in her eyes. She released herself from Hatsuharu's protectivegrasp and headed for the bathrooms. When she was well out of sight, Haru let out a sigh and motioned for Yuki to come towards him.

"Yuki, I'll explain everything to you." Haru began. "I know it's not a good idea to be bringing Rin here, but I don't care about what's good and what's bad at this point. I love her and that's all there is to it. As to how I got her to come… You know she lives with Kagura and her mother? Yeah, well, I phoned Kagura's mother to tell her that some of the Sohmas were going to New York City for the weekend, and I thought it might be fun for Rin to come because she had a lot of stress and maybe that's what she needed to get a bit better? Kagura's mom seemed delighted by the idea, and told me she would make sure that Isuzu would be ready to go today. I know she is mad that I've made her come and that she just wants to protect me from Akito's rage, but I don't care. I love her and I want you to promise me Akito won't find out about this. I trust you and you're my friend. Please do this for me, okay buddy?" Haru pleaded.

Yuki nodded. "… I'll do my best." Yuki was extremely reluctant to hide things from Akito, but this was Haru...

"Yuki, Haru… Is everything okay? Is Rin okay?" asked Tohru looking worried. Yuki smiled at her.

Just maybe… We'll do okay in life…

"Yeah Tohru. Everything's great." It was now Tohru's turn to smile. She ran back to Momiji and an embarrassed-looking Kyo.

With her by our side… Maybe…

Yipee! That sure was a whole lot of fun to write! Well, tell me whatcha think about it if you have time!

To my three reviewers, thanks so much for your support and I hoped I've made my text better with your comments (really they were SO helpful). If you'd like to see the personal thanks I've adressed to you, check out my profile. Thanks again!

Do you think I capture Isuzu and Haru well? I wasn't quite sure… Maybe Rin saying what she said was too harsh or something? The only thing about my text that I thought twice about was the whole Haru forcing Rin to come… Maybe I'll just make her be mad at Haru for a couple days... --

And about where this would be in the books, I'm not really sure. If you have any good estimate, please tell me, okay?

Until next time!

PS Sorry if it takes long for me to update, I'm pretty busy lately. But It's always on my mind!