Chapter three of the retake. Enjoy.

Tohru sighed as she taped the last box in her tiny apartment shut ... she had received the details of the move and her heart was torn in two. She was delighted to be back in her old town, to be able to visit with her mother and Grandpa, but at the same time she was terrified ... Uo and Hana would no doubt be furious at her and may even cast her aside, a thought which terrified her, and worse ... what if she came into contact with any of them? If, by some chance, she met one of the Sohma's, she would end up collapsing in tears or running away. And she knew that all the members of the Zodiac would easily catch up to her ... especially Yuki and...

She didn't even have to think his name before the blush fell upon her cheeks. Once again her hand gently clasped the pendant on her neck. It had been a birthday present from him ... she had told all of them her birthday once and once only ... but Kyo had remembered ... and given her the beautiful necklace. Tohru rarely, if ever, took it off. She wondered quietly if Kyo still had ... no, those thoughts would come to no good

Kyo sneezed loudly, snuffling as he wiped his nose.

Kyo had wandered out of the hotel room for a walk. Having been locked in the cat room for six years, he was feeling a tad claustrophobic, and needed to get out into the open every now and then and no one denied him. He was grateful that every one, even Kagura, gave him space when he felt this way ... it soothed his fears of confinement, giving the second strongest feeling of freedom he could imagine ... the first being when he was with...

It wasn't a usual sight to see the orange haired man blush. With him wearing full back, including a long black trench coat, it gave the rough looking male a look of gentleness... of kindness.

Kyo shook those thoughts from his head and looked around to see where he was... the old house ... The Sohma family were the owners (rent was paid to the main house) but Shigure's name was actually on the formal documents, so he could decide whether he put the house up for rent. He hadn't, because the house meant far too much to too many people for him to bear letting some one else live in its walls. He had managed to convince one of the part time maids to go and dust the building out every now and then, so it didn't become too dusty.

Kyo found himself pulling his key out of his pocket and sliding it into the lock, clicking four times as it hit the pins … with a half turn left, he could feel the door begin to give way as he gently pushed it open … the first thing that hit him was the smell … since no one else had lived in the building, the scent that the building developed hadn't been erased …he could smell Shigure's 5000 plus books, and the room scenter that Momiji once bought them, though it was now much weaker. He could also still smell the stink from the spot where Yuki had once spilt some of his cooking …not even Tohru's seemingly magical cleaning ability had been able to entirely get rid of that, but she had made about a thousand times weaker than it was. He could smell the mildew remains of one of his running jackets, left behind when they were forced out … that would not be pleasant to deal with, and he could smell … her.

Kyo's hand pulled a small item from his pocket, and held it securely, as if dropping it would cause the world to end. Tohru had managed to convince Shigure to inform her of Kyo's birthday, and the mangy mutt had done so … so two weeks after Tohru had received her necklace from him, Kyo was given a present too.

Opening his hand so he could gaze at it, Kyo marvelled at how much though Tohru had put into the gift… it was light, and appeared fragile, but was actually quite sturdy … Tohru had payed a lot of money for it, she must have for how personalized it was… a small pendant in the shape of a lightning bolt, with a message engraved on the back … "Fast as lightning, but I hope you stick around! Happy Birthday Kyo! Tohru" Kyo's blush returned as he looked at the little heart engraved next to her name … Where was she now? Was she well? Did she … miss them all? Did she miss… him?

Tohru suddenly sneezed. What had caused that to happen? Well it was pretty dusty …

Tohru was back at work, and trying to convince herself that the non existent dust was the cause of her sneeze, when she felt a small tap on her shoulder. As she turned she immediately regretted acknowledging the person before her. The oldest manager of the building, who was luckily going to be staying in the current building instead of going on the move, was a publically proclaimed pervert … and he relished every thing he could get.

"Hello miss Honda … I see you are all suited up for work today" So saying the man took a good long look. Tohru had grown in six years from being a cute, petite teenage girl, into a … yeeeeah, you get the picture … she was actually well known for her knock out figure, and after one of the more jealous woman colleagues had followed her for a week and found out that Tohru literally did nothing to earn or keep that figure, many women had gone on crash diets and rigorous exercise regimes.

Tohru had never really liked this man, though it may have had something to do with the fact that when she first started working here, he had immediately groped her rear and was about to go for her chest before she slapped him and ran away. Neither reported the other, Tohru for the sexual harassment or the manager for violence, and she always did her best never to be alone with him … she just wasn't that lucky today. She was about to start sprinting when she suddenly heard a voice calling for the manager

"Jiraiya! (Yeah, yeah. Ripped from Naruto) Where have you been? There is a meeting on in two minutes that concerns you!"

Tohru started cheering super loudly in her head because she had just been saved by the vice president. She was in no threat of being sexually harassed when he was about! As he dragged Jiraiya away, Tohru finished her work in that area so that she did not risk being there once the meeting finished … she would be moving tomorrow, and would not have to deal with the pervert any more.

Is the end. Cyber cookie any one?