Chapter 4

Nodoka woke up in Trey's arms, it was noon and as Nodoka came to her senses she could smell breakfast, she looked at Trey who looked happy... Wait... It was noon! And Monday! It was already lunch break at her school! Nodoka flung out of Trey's arms but was stopped by Trey again.

"I did it all, please calm down and eat" Trey was gesturing towards a stack of papers, Nodoka's homework.

"What about my absency?" asked Nodoka

"I lied" said Trey remorsefully "I said you were sick, and I just did you clear for the week"

"The week?!" complained Nodoka

"It was the only way to protect your credits, and make it believable" said Trey defensely

Why was Trey so nice?! Nodoka was annoyed, she didn't want Trey to bother himself too much over her.

"Trey-chan!!! You didn't ne-"

"Nodoka-chan, I love you, I'd do absolutely anything for you, no matter what, please, don't forget that" interuppted Trey

Nodoka felt like melting infront of Trey, Trey could be so sweet sometimes.

"What about your job?" asked Nodoka

"Im in the same industry as my dad, just lower grade" explained Trey

Nodoka knew Tristin worked in a popular fishing industry under a company. Tristin made alot of money, did that mean Trey did?

"I love you" said Nodoka getting to her breakfast

"I love you too" said Trey

Nodoka was struck by one single thought. Trey loved Nodoka with all his heart, would Nodoka love Trey that much? Nodoka was unsure, but who could be better suited for her then Trey?

"Nodoka-chan, are you feeling alright?" asked Trey. Nodoka realized she stopped eating while she was spacing out.

"Im fine" Trey couldn't detect the drop in Nodoka's tone, but it was too late.

"However much you love me, is fine, I'm not going to ask you to love me" stated Trey. Trey found out what Nodoka was thinking through her eyes, he always looked at them whenever he could so he could help her if she ever needed anything. Nodoka's eyes went wide, and she realized what she was doing to Trey.

"No, that's not enough for you I wa-"

"Shh, no, it's fine, don't overwork yourself over me" consoled Trey

"No, I want to love you as much as I can, please let me" asked Nodoka

"Of course... Of course..." said Trey, Nodoka leaned in to kiss Trey and was met halfway, Nodoka had another vision, this one was sweet and reminiscent, it was of Nodoka's mother, Tohru, kissing someone, was it Kyo? Nodoka looked further right to the man, it was Tristin!? Nodoka's last image was about a week ago, she had it when she was with Trey, and the visions always had Tohru and Tristin in them... Was it because Tristin was Trey's father? Maybe Trey had these visions too. Nodoka broke the kiss.

"Trey-chan?" asked Nodoka

"Hai, Nodoka-chan" replied Trey

"Do you get visions when you spend time with me?" maybe this will help her a lot, maybe Trey knew why she was getting visions.

"No, I'm sorry I couldn't help, I really am, I wish to do anything to make it up to you-"

"Its okay, don't do anything" interuppted Nodoka

Nodoka finished her breakfast and got dressed in a royal blue top and a pair of skinny jeans, she fixed her hair in the way that made Trey blush. She went downstairs to see that it was almost time for Trey to go back to school. She was a little sad until she remembered it was Kyo's day off! Kyo was so fun to be around.

"Hey, why aren't you in school uniform?" asked Kyo

"Im having the week off" replied Nodoka

"You can do that in school now?!"

"No" Nodoka giggled

"Then how did you get a week off?"

"I slept in and Trey-chan made an excuse for me, he did a weeks worth of work for me, so I get this week off"

"That idiot really is crazy for you"

"Mmhmm"

"Tell that moron he's doing a good job, he's already cooked, cleaned, done laundry, payed bills and well, everything he said he'd do, Tohru-chan didn't even get a chance to help, he did it so early"

"Thank you Kyo-chan, I'm bored"

"Wanna play cards?"

"Got a new strategy you want to try?"

"Ermmm, yea"

Nodoka sat down across the table from Kyo, he started dealing the cards when Trey came downstairs to go to school

"Good job dork" called Kyo

"Thank you Kyo-senpai"

Nodoka and Kyo spent the afternoon playing cards, Kyo most of the time winning, Nodoka wasn't a very good cards player. Nodoka was a little surprised when Kyo made a European dish for lunch, he usually disliked European food, but he must have found one he liked. Kyo's cooking wasn't "bad" just no match for anyones cooking around her, including herself. After lunch Kyo took Nodoka for a walk to the grocery store to get a few things, by the time they got home, they found Tristin and Trey practice fighting again, as Nodoka passed by Trey she heard him say something along the lines of "dinner is inside, made your favorites" then Trey returned to practice.

When Nodoka opened the living room sliding tatami door, she was hit with a bunch of great smells, she looked on the table and saw all her favorite foods cooked by Trey, herring, caldeverd (the European green soup, improperly translated to English), rice balls, and ice cream, the food looked delicious and perfectly prepared. Nodoka sat down with Kyo who was eyeing the food.

"Awww" moaned Kyo

"Whats wrong?" asked Nodoka

"Trey-kun made this for you" teased Kyo as he patted Nodoka on the head "he loves you" Kyo chuckled. Nodoka knew that, and was struck again by the thought she had in the morning, did she love Trey as much as he loved her?

"I hate European food though"

"C'mon, you liar~ You've never even tasted a lot of European foods" Nodoka teased

"Thats true... Oh fine! I'll try some!" Kyo snatched his chopsticks and snapped at the cooked herring impatiently, the second the fish entered Kyo's mouth, Kyo's head hit the table.

"Whats wrong?!" panicked Nodoka

"Its... It's so... So good!" Kyo's head snapped back to it's original position, Kyo was stuffing his face full of his share of herring. Nodoka giggled at her fathers behavior, she started eating.

"Whats this?!" asked Kyo gesturing to the soup

"Taylor-chan made it for us thirteen years ago, remember?" Tohru intruded. Nodoka had no idea Taylor and Tohru's family went as back as thirteen years, no wonder they were so close.

"Oh yea!" Kyo's hand flung the chopsticks to the table and clambered over to the soup ladle. Nodoka couldn't stop laughing at her fathers behavior, he was so excited at his discovery of European food. Tristin walked in and saw Kyo attacking the soup, looking like a kid.

"This does not surprise me Kyo-san" Tristin teased

"Oh shut up!" Kyo retorted, returning to stuffing his face.

Trey walked in looking bloody and scarred, but he did look particularly cheerful despite his injuries he got from his practice.

"Kyo-senpai, why are yo-"

"Shadup!" spat Kyo returning to his food

Trey chuckled and looked happier to see Kyo liked his cooking, Trey sat down beside Nodoka and teased her with gestures, Nodoka liked to be teased.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Twenty?"

Nodoka was in bed with Trey when she was woken up by voices from outside.

"No, Twenty-five" said the voice

"Wow! Really?!" said another voice from outside the house.

Nodoka whispered "Trey-chan, get up!" Trey was usually slept like the dead when he was asleep, but detecting Nodoka's panic, he got up without any resistance.

"Whats wrong?" whispered Trey

"Listen" gestured Nodoka to the window

"Okay so twenty-five?" said the voice

"Well to be exact, two-hundred and fifty thousand yen" said the other voice. The two voices were of males, the voices sounded oddly familiar. Trey got up and retrieved his sword of the wall and walked to the window casually.

"Shhhh! I think someone might be coming" whispered the voice

"No shit sherlock " said Trey while pulling two boys from outside the window, he pulled them inside and quickly bound them with rags, it all happened so fast the two unidentified males couldn't have done anything.

"And no, it's not two-hundred and fifty thousand yen anymore, it's three-hundred thousand" said Trey to the males. Nodoka was frightened, she couldn't figure out what had just happened, all she knew that two stupid robbers got caught by Trey.

"You again?!" complained the chubbier unidentified boy

"Thats what I should be asking both of you, arsenry then robbery? To the cops you go~" Trey chuckled, the boys clearly were not. Nodoka realized after one thought that these were the two boys who set her house on fire.

"Cheese while your waiting for the police?" Trey said while offering one of the boys a bar of cheddar.

"Yes please" said the chubbier boy biting and taking the bar of cheddar. Trey chuckled at the boy's naiveness, but the boy looked content eating the cheese.

"Senpai?" asked the chubbier boy

"Hrmm?" responded Trey

"Is that your girlfriend?" the boy gestured to Nodoka, she recoiled when she was mentioned, she cowered.

"Yes" answered Trey

"She's cute, say, might you have any milk I could drink?" asked the boy, Trey was chuckling

"Tell me your story first" said Trey pointing to the chubbier boy

"Uhmmm, okay" hesitated the chubby boy "this is my older brother" he gestured to the older looking kid who was bound with him "he talked me into doing these things, I'm sorry, he said something about wanting to ra-"

"Thats good" interrupted Trey, but the last words the chubby boy said was "your girlfriend" Trey looked at the scronny older kid looking merciless. Trey went downstairs briefly, where the scronny boy was shooting Nodoka snide looks, and the chubby boy was focused on a crest on Trey's school uniform. Trey returned with a glass of white milk giving it to the chubby thief, who drank it quickly. Nodoka started to feel sleepy, and the last image she saw was Trey pulling up a chair to monitor the two thieves, Trey gave special attentiveness to the scronny thiefs actions and gestures.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When Nodoka woke up, it was not too much later, but she could tell Trey did his daily chores and was back to monitoring the scronnny boy, who was the only one bound up, Trey released the chubby thief, he was actually a bold kid who helped Trey with his chores, Trey took a liking to this boy, he was so just and innocent. Nodoka got up and out of bed to see that breakfast was conviently placed on her nighstand, she started to eat, Trey started idly talking to Nodoka, about Nodoka's ambition's which Trey had an odd interest in. Nodoka walked to the window, she looked out and saw the chubby boy playing with a rat. She returned to eating her breakfast when Kyo walked in.

"Hey, Trey-kun, how much longer till Chubmeister and get jailed?" asked Kyo

"I know the larger boy is innocent, I know it" Trey sounded sure, how did he "know"? Nodoka thought

"So where is he going?" asked Kyo

"Home, but I'm making sure the delinquent is staying in jail, for a very, very long time." afterall, the shrimpish delinquent wanted to rape Nodoka, Nodoka meant too much to Trey, and he made sure the delinquent didn't even get as much as to breath in Nodoka's direction. Trey was extremely diligent in defending Nodoka. Trey spent the rest of the morning monitoring the delinquent with the merciless look. Nodoka never seen this part of Trey in her life, she almost liked it, Trey was protecting her. Yet Trey didn't eat breakfast or lunch, and hadn't even blinked the whole 4 hours he was monitoring the delinquent, Trey looked passive, ready to strike. After lunch the police came to the house, they went upstairs to see a dark an evil-looking Trey, sitting there, silent. The skinny policeman said "You again?! Oh whatever, this one and-"

"Thats it, the bigger one is going home" said Trey. The chubby one had seemed to be attracted to following the policeman upstairs to see what was going on.

"I don't have a home" said the chubby one. The policeman was dragging the bound up pervert downstairs when Tristin came around and whispered in Kyo's ear, Kyo first looked scared, then oddly happy.

"Hey, tubby" called Kyo to the chubbier kid

"Hai?" replied the chubby one

"You do have a home, here"

The larger face lit up like he just won the lottery. He ran over to hug Kyo, who resisted but was too weak to fight him off, Nodoka giggled and looked at Trey to see his reaction. There was none. He was watching the delinquent bring dragged off property, Trey still had the evil look on. Nodoka was worried about him, what would happen after?

The chubby boy was named Hiro, he was going to help Trey with his chores in exchange for living here.

Later that night a bunch of Tohru's friend came for a visit, Hatsuharu, Kisa, Momiji, and Hiro, when Momiji burst through the door with his blue jeans and plain white t-shirt he pointed at the chubbier kid and said "Who's this?"

"Thats Hiro" said Tohru

Just then Hiro from Momiji's group jumped out of the group and said "Im Hiro!"

"Im Hiro too" said Hiro

"How can you be Hiro if I'm Hiro?!" said Hiro

"I don't know, but I'm Hiro" said Hiro

"That doesn't make any sense, I'm Hiro!" said Hiro

"Yeah, I'm Hiro too!" said Hiro

Tohru's face was blank, she was completely confused at what the two Hiro's were bickering about, but a visit from a large group of her friends reminded her of thirteen years ago.

Momiji used to be a short kid with blonde hair and a rowdy attitude, he was still rowdy but his hair was dyed white due to a bet he won against Haru, Momiji looked a lot more handsome older.

Haru was quiet and calm as always, but his hair wasn't black and white anymore, it was blonde due to a bet he LOST to Momiji. He looked alot gayer with his blonde hair.

Kisa still looked smaller and quiet, but her hair was longer, and she was deadly good at playing cards. She was Hiro's wife now. The whole group was in their late twenties.

"Nodoka-chan!!!" Momiji jumped across the bickering Hiro's to tackle hug Nodoka, Nodoka transformed into a small Siamese cat... (Stealth author note!!! Wait a cat?!?! She was part of the zodiac?!?!) The whole group quieted as Nodoka ran to retreat upstairs, Tohru had no idea Nodoka was part of the zodiac, the only people she ever hugged in her life that was a boy was Kyo, her father, and Trey, her boyfriend... Wait Nodoka never transformed when Trey hugged her! That must mean!

"Trey-chan!!!" Tohru tackle hugged Trey, he looked very surprised, Kisa and Momiji giggled at the look on his face, but that only lasted two seconds which was long enough for Trey to poof into a ox.

"I knew it!" shouted Tohru

The ox didn't even seem amused or surprised that he turned into an ox, but Tristin and Taylor never knew, Tristin didn't care at all, he was still teasing Trey even in ox form, Taylor was a little shocked but she joined in teasing Trey a little later. Trey walked over to Haru, Haru petted Trey on the head, and the ox let out a loud "Mooo!" in enjoyment, you could hear his thoughts, he wanted to console Nodoka, she was upstairs crying about herself.

Trey poofed back to his own form and quickly put on his clothes, he was dressed and ready to go before the pink smoke from the transformation faded away. Trey walked upstairs and started consoling Nodoka.

"No! I! Am! Hiro!!!!!!" shouted Hiro

"Me too~" teased Hiro

It was like the two Hiro's still hadn't the slightest idea of what was going on.