A/N- I'M BACK, BABY! Jk, lol. But anyway, lucky for you guys, the things in my life that we're forcing me to go on hiatus are OVER. I'm back, and here is the chapter as promised. I'm so glad that I'm already done. I mean, it's barely Friday… Here is your glorious chapter, and I hope you enjoy. : 3
No one told me that they were interested in the fic about Kimberly and Hatori. Right now I have two fics that I'm working on, and updating weekly, and one that I'm doing long, long, looong chapters for that I'm planning to update whenever I finish a chapter. Until I finish one of those fics, I don't want to start another chapter story unless I get enough known interest. So unless you want to wait for it, (and I'm going to warn you now, there is a chance I might forget) review and/or PM me and tell me that you're interested.
For anyone interested, this chapter has LOTS of Shigure's POV… yay for you!
Disclaimer- I don't own Fruits Basket, or any of it's characters, blah, blah, blah, we all know the drill. I only own Emiko, Ryuu, Kimberly, and Chikao and Veronica Koga.
Those are Emiko's parents. I figured that since they were in the last chapter and they are in this chapter, I should add them to my disclaimer…
Chapter 10-
"Wow, Pookie. You are ass-over-elbows for that boy," her mom said, sitting up.
"Do you really think so?" Emiko asked, holding her knees to her chest.
Her mom smiled, "I know so. Now maybe we should go rescue your boyfriend from your father." Her mom crawled off the bed, and stood to walk to the door.
"Mom?" Emiko said before her mom left the room.
Her mom turned back, "Yes?"
"Tohru invited me and Kimberly to go with her and some other people to a resort over vacation. Kim wants to go, and so do I. Can we?" Emiko asked quickly.
"Who else is going?" she asked.
"Tohru, obviously. Yuki and Kyo, they've each picked up Tohru a couple of times. Hatori. He picked up Tohru once. Momiji. Neither of us have met him. And... and... well, Shigure," Emiko blushed.
Her mother looked thoughtful for a minute, "Hatori seemed responsible. You said Kim's going?" Emiko nodded. "Sure, you can go."
"I can!? Thank you, Mom!" Emiko squeezed her mom in a tight hug.
Her mom laughed, "Maybe I should let you go on trips with attractive men more often! Now, let's go rescue your boyfriend from your father."
They opened the living room door to find both men staring at anything but each other in absolute silence.
"Well. It either went much better or much worse than we expected," her mom stage-whispered. Emiko giggled quietly.
Shigure stifled laughter while her father looked over at them with laughter in his eyes, "Better."
Her mom sat in the chair next to her father's. Emiko looked around, "I'm going to go get a glass of water. Anybody want anything?"
Everybody shook their heads. Quickly, Emiko filled her glass and walked back to the living room. She sat down next to Shigure, giving him a smile as she did so.
"Shigure-kun, I only have two more questions. What do you do for a living?"
Shigure stated calmly, "I'm a successful novelist, sir."
Her father nodded, "How old are you?"
Shigure's POV-
~Jesus Christ, he should just have an application form. He seriously asked me about health issues!~ Shigure thought jokingly, "I'm 29, sir."
To his left, he heard Emiko choke on her glass of water.
Emiko's father nodded once more, "Your age is slightly... off-putting, but you have my blessing. You may date my daughter."
"That's good, Chikao, because they're going on a trip together!"
Chikao Koga looked like he had been pole-axed, "What did you just say, Veronica?"
Veronica beamed, which was obviously a usual expression for her, "They're going on a trip together! Isn't it wonderful?"
"They're, they're, they're WHAT!?" Chikao yelled.
"Pookie, show Shigure-kun to the door, please. Goodnight, Shigure-kun," Veronica said, grabbing her husband and pulling him towards the bedroom.
"Sure, Mom," Miko said, smiling, "Come on, Gure-san."
Shigure and Emiko walked through the small hallway to the front door. Emiko opened the door, and gestured for him to go through. After he had walked through the door, she followed, closing the door behind her.
"That's the first time my father has ever approved of the person I brought home with me," Emiko said, smiling.
"Are you going to be in trouble because of this?" Shigure asked guiltily.
Emiko shook her head, "No, my mom likes you."
~What?~ he thought. "What do you mean? How does that keep you out of trouble?"
"My mom is a very passive parent. She's a great mom, and one of my best friends. But, mostly, my dad makes the rules. But when my mom decides something, like that I can go with on the trip, my dad may grumble for a while, but what she says goes," Emiko said with a smile.
"So, basically, it all worked out," Shigure said.
"Yeah," Emiko laughed quietly, "Although that wasn't how I planned to introduce you to my parents."
~She... She planned to introduce me to her parents?~ Shigure smiled.
Emiko stared at him, laughing, "Why are you smiling like that? It's the goofiest grin I've ever seen."
"I'm just happy," Shigure said, then turned thoughtful, "Why did you choke on your water when I told your dad how old I was?"
Emiko looked at him perfectly seriously, "You're closer to my Mom's age than my own."
"What!?" Shigure asked in shock.
"I'm turning 18 in a few weeks. My mom is 38. You're eleven years older then me, but only nine years younger then my mom," she said, gracing him with a smile.
~ That's... almost scary...~ he thought, "Does that.. scare you?"
She stepped forward and hugged him, "Do you really think a number will make me walk away from you?"
Hesitantly and nervously, he wrapped his arms around her, "No, I guess not." Slowly, a smile grew in his face, ~I've never had this before... not with anyone...~
He moved his hand from her waist to her chin, pulling her face up to look at him, "I think I owe you a kiss."
She giggled, "What if my mom opens the door again?"
~Did Miko just Giggle?~ He smiled, "She likes me, remember?"
"True," she said, stretching upwards.
He leaned down then paused, "Did you shrink in the past twenty minutes...?"
She laughed, leaning back, "You ask me that Now?"
Shigure laughed too, "I guess it Is awkward for the mood, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Emiko smiled, "And I took off my shoes. They were heels."
"I guess that would do it," Shigure said.
Once again, he leaned in, leaving his hands around her waist. She smiled a gentle smile and wrapped her arms around his neck, stretching towards his lips like a flower towards the sun. Just before their lips touched, he watched her eyelids flutter shut. In response he closed his.
Gently, he pressed his lips to hers, attempting to take it slowly, to wait for her to make the next move. Like last time, he struggled to control his desire to run his hands up and down her body, to find all of her sensitive spots. Instead, he kept his hands wrapped around her, pulling her as close as possible. Eventually, she pulled away to breathe, panting with a faint blush on her face.
Shigure moved one hand from her waist to her face to stroke her blush, also breathing heavily, "You look so pretty when you blush, Miko."
"Koko! Are you outside?" Chikao shouted from inside.
Emiko turned to the door, and called, "I'll be inside in a minute!"
"See you next Sunday, Miko," Shigure smiled, still stroking her faint blush. By this point, her breathing had evened out.
She extracted herself from his arms, and opened her door. Just before going inside, she looked at him, "Bye bye, Gure." Then she shut the sure behind her.
~Did she... She just called me Gure...~ Quickly, an even bigger grin then the one before grew on his face, ~She called me Gure!~
Emiko's POV-
She leaned against the door for a minute, smiling. ~Apparently there is something better than my first kiss. My second...~
Quickly, she controlled her smile and blush, and walked to the living room. Her mother and father were sitting in their typical spots, her father in his chair, and her mother curled up in the right-hand corner of the couch. Emiko went and sat in the left-hand corner, like always.
Once she sat down, her father looked at her, "Your mother and I have decided you can go on this trip."
Emiko smiled, laughing inwardly, "Thank you, Daddy."
"When are you leaving, Pookie?" her mom asked.
"We're leaving early Monday morning, so everybody is staying at Gu- Tohru's house Sunday," she said, quickly exchanging Shigure's name for Tohru's.
Her father looked thoughtful for a minute, "When are you getting back?"
"Late afternoon or early evening Friday," Emiko said with a smile.
Her mom grimaced, "That's so much of your vacation."
"Well, we didn't have any plans for my vacation anyway. And Kim will be in on Wednesday, so you'll have four days to be with her before we leave," Emiko said, then she smirked, "Besides, you'll have three days and four nights all alone with Daddy."
Her father blushed, and hid behind his newspaper. Her mother smirked right back, "You fight dirty, young lady."
"I learned from the best, Mother-dear," Emiko said with a laugh.
She and her mother laughed, then went back to their books.
Saturday- (For anyone confused, there is still a week before they leave, and four days before Kim gets there! : 3)
Emiko was walking down the street with Tohru. Kyo and Yuki had both already run off to fight like they always did. They were heading home, and Emiko was planning her evening.
"Emiko?" Tohru said, breaking the easy silence.
Emiko blinked, and looked at Tohru, "Yeah?"
"You said we should probably study somewhere other then your house on Wednesday, right?" Tohru questioned.
After a few seconds of thought, Emiko nodded, "Yeah."
"Did you have anywhere in mind?" Tohru said, "Because I have a great idea where we could study."
"I was thinking the library," Emiko said, "What about you?"
"Well," Tohru said with a grin, "I was thinking we could study at my house."
"A-At your house!?" Emiko enthused.
"Yeah. It's a good place to study," Tohru smiled.
"I think you're right, Tohru. It is a Brilliant place to study," Emiko joked along.
They walked the rest of the way to the corner, where they both paused.
Emiko looked at Tohru. "Thank you," she said in complete seriousness.
Tohru smiled gently, "No problem."
Emiko had turned to leave when Tohru called out to her, "Emiko!"
Emiko looked back at Tohru, "Yeah?"
"It wasn't all for you, you know. I also did it for a selfish reason," Tohru said.
Emiko raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Because Shigure-san misses you. He's been moping around. My other option was to keep passing notes for him, and what if one was check-yes, check-no?"
Emiko laughed, smiled, and waved goodbye. She was still smiling when she got home.