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The story about a girl who taught a boy a little something called hope...
C R O S S
Chapter T H R E E
Out of the Shadows
Sunlight poured irridescently through the stainglass windows of the dimmed church, making the diamond chandeliers twinkle quietly on the ceilings. The deep tranquility of the air was suddenly interrupted by a deep, calming voice that filled the empty church hall,
"Are you alright, son?"
The voice penetrated Kyo's mind as he squinted open his eyes slowly at first while sitting up on the thin brown bench of the church, rubbing at his head in slow circles, groaning out,
"My head is killing me..."
As if on key, the reverend held out a small plastic bowl of water, kindly offering with the same soothing voice,
"Here, have some water. It will help you."
Kyo grunted his thanks and quickly drained the bowl of water, wiping his mouth roughly with the back of his hand after he was finished. The reverend took the bowl back, asking with concern,
"Would you like to tell me what happened back there?"
Kyo shrugged, muttering out in a tired voice,
"I'd like to know too. Last thing I remember is being at a bar."
"I see..."
said the frail old man thoughtfully. Kyo stared ahead at the blank wall, asking absent-mindedly,
"How'd I... end up here?"
"My granddaughter bought you here. She found you passed out on the curb somewhere. I think she may be coming back from school right now if you want to catch her."
Kyo glanced warily at the old man's face for a moment, and then repeated very quietly under his breath,
"Your granddaughter..."
A sudden flashback of Tohru's words then hit him in the head,
"Well my grandfather owns the church, so we live on another floor of the church. It's really a great place..."
"Do you know her?"
Kyo looked up with a flushed face, answering back immediately,
"No. Not really."
He scrambled off the bench, running a hand through his disheveled hair as he backed up towards the door,
"I'm uh... I gotta go now."
The reverend rose slowly up from his seat as well, folding his hands together as he called out with his signature gentle voice,
"...Is there anything that you would like to share at all?"
Share...? What the hell is this guy talking about? No way am I going to share my feelings with some strange priest I've known for two minutes. No. Way.
Kyo restrained himself from rolling his eyes, as he cracked a small smile, pointing with his thumb at the doors and awkwardly replying back,
"No. No thanks. I...um... I really have to get back home. See ya."
Kyo could hear the old man's voice echoing behind him as he pushed open the huge wooden doors,
"Good bye. I hope to see you around."
Once he was outside Kyo took a deep shaky breath as he leaned up against the cool brick building, his head still pounding as the wind cooled his heated face down.
I don't even remember... passing out. What happened last night?
His thoughts were intercepted by an orange tubby cat that came walking over to his leg, nudging its soft head against his shoe. Kyo tried to kick it away, but suddenly three or four more cats came waddling along, meowing and putting their paws on his shoes.
Kyo groaned in frustration and desperately tried to shoo them away, but they refused to leave him alone.
Damn cats!
"You seem to really love cats!"
Kyo's head snapped up when he saw Tohru walking up the stone path to the church, bending down to pet the orange tubby cat that was purring softly while she scratched the back of its ears.
"No way! They're annoying!"
To show his annoyance, he tried to pry them off again, but no avail. She giggled and picked up the orange cat, petting it lightly against its fire colored fur, looking down at the cat that closed its eyes with content while Tohru said softly,
"I love cats. Every now and then these stray cats come over, it's so adorable."
Kyo looked at her sparkling eyes and asked with a hint of curiosity,
"What's so great... about cats?"
She smiled up at him and replied,
"I always loved the cat ever since my mother told me the story about the cat from the zodiac and how the rat tricked him. I always thought that was just so sad... and from that day on I decided I wanted to be the cat from the zodiac!"
Kyo looked down at the ground, his face flaring up as he grumbled out,
"You really... love the cat, don't you...?"
"Yup!"
Kyo felt moved in a way, but concealed the emotion well. After a bit of strugge, Kyo finally escaped from the crowd of stray cats, knowing somwhere in the back of his brain that he had to thank the girl somehow for picking him off from the streets.
But how?
He had never been good with those kind of things before, the words always got stuck in his throat, and he would always just end up choking on them. Kyo snatched a glance at Tohru and saw her looking over at him with those bright brown eyes that were filled with genuine concern as she asked,
"So are you feeling better?"
He looked to the side, and admitted,
"My head is hurting a little, but other then that I'm fine."
She let out a little gasp and stepped closer to him with a horrified expression on her face as she cried out,
"Your head! Oh my gosh! Are you okay?"
HIs eyebrows drew together and he looked down at her face, seeing that she actually looked really worried, so he repeated quickly,
"I'm fine!"
Kyo cleared his throat, scratching the back of his orange hair, not making eye contact with her as he stuttered out,
"Hey... uhh... about last night...um.."
She tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows raising as she waited for the rest of his sentence to complete, but he could feel the words sticking to his throat again. He blew out a long breath and then willed himself to say it as he gulped and paused for moment before finishing in a very low voice,
"Thanks...you know... for bringing me here."
Her laugh sounded through the air as she placed the orange cat back down to the ground, shaking her head with a big smile, as she told him breezily,
"You don't have to thank me for that! Anyone would have done the same."
He shook his head doubtfully and said morosely,
"No...most people would have just left me."
Her eyes grew wide as she stepped closer to him, replying back with strength,
"I would never! And I don't think anyone would ever just leave you. Sometimes... we have to believe in people."
She's so damn naive... but...
I still find her words refreshing...
Her voice cut into his thoughts again as she asked cheerfully,
"Kyo-kun? Do you go to school?"
He grunted in disgust and replied with detest,
"No way. I don't see the point at all."
Tohru looked at him with clear surprise, asking,
"Really? ...Haven't you ever wanted to experience it though? I know it may seem boring at times... but you really meet a lot of wonderful people there!"
"I rather not go to a place infested with..."
Girls.
"Um... annoying people."
Tohru's eyes lowered a little bit, and then she looked back up, inquiring further,
"But what about education?"
"Screw education! I don't need that. I have street smarts, and that's all I need."
He crossed his arms over his chest, watching as she unexpectedly began to bite her lower lip, a nervous look entering her features, as she timidly said,
"Um... there's this school festival that we're preparing at my high school...and I was wondering if you'd want to come. It's really coming along well... and it'd be great if you came!"
Kyo frowned deeply and almost laughed out loud at the whole idea, responding with a snort,
"There's no way that I'm going to go to one of those cornball festivals!"
A disappointed look rushed across her face as she tried her best to convince him,
"There'll be um... free food! Lots of it! I made some myself."
Kyo shook his head, lifting his chin up, replying with confidence,
"No tempting me with free food because it's not gonna work."
"But there will be lots of good things like, onigiri, sashimi... and um...takoyaki!"
The idea of free food did tempt a small portion of him, but he wasn't about to give in completely.
"I don't have to get dressed up or any of that crap, right?"
"Not at all!"
"Good, because I hate dressing up," Kyo added with disdain.
A hopeful look lit up her eyes as she asked brightly,
"So does that mean that you're coming?"
"I didn't say that."
One look at her crestfallen face and he swore that his stomach churned a little bit. Feeling a morsel of guilt, he finally asked with an audible sigh,
"So... what time is this thing?"
A smile slipped back onto her face as she answered happily,
"Six o' clock tonight at Kaibara High."
"You're walking there by yourself?"
"Yes."
His head lowered while he stuffed his clammy hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, trying his best to regain his composure, as he muttered out to her,
"...I guess I'll go then, because you know...there's a lot of muggers and other criminals out there at night! And since you're a girl all alone in the night and all, you wouldn't know what to do! So um... yeah. I'll... go."
Stop babbling, idiot!
He looked up from the ground just in time to see her actually jump up and down with excitement as she clapped her hands together and exclaimed,
"I'm so happy! I'm so happy! Thank you!"
I didn't think that anyone could ever be so happy about having someone go somewhere with them.
Me, no less.
His lips gradually turned up as he looked into her smiling face,
I have to say that it feels kind of...
Nice.
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