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Chapter 3 - Picture Shy
"Hey, Honda-san."
Tohru spun at the quiet voice, her eyes landing on Hatsuharu.
"You're here early. Usually with the way Kyo and Yuki fight, you're a little later." The Ox watched as Tohru seemed to remember something and rushed over to him, her hands already clasped.
"We came early so I could apologize to Hatsuharu-san!" She exclaimed, making sure not to be too loud. With Momiji's antics, Kyo's angry outbursts at the energetic younger Sohma, and the fanclub's talking over each other, she might have yelled and still not be noticed. But Haru realized that if she was trying to be quiet, then no one else was supposed to hear. He held up a hand and stood, turning to stare blankly at Yuki.
"Yuki, I'm takingHonda-san to class. Make sure Momiji gets to class on time. I know Kyo can't do it." After an angry yell of "What was that, Haru?" and a quick change of shoes by Tohru, they were heading to her class, Haru waiting until they were out of sight and earshot before glancing at the obviously nervous girl.
"What are you apologizing for?" Tohru spun to face him again, her eyes wide.
"Shigure-san mentioned that I hadn't seemed to like Hatsuharu-san's Zodiac animal. I realized that Hatsuharu-san must have thought so too." Her eyes shone with tears as she gazed up at him. "I do like it! Hatsuharu-san is a very handsome cow! And I don't have to worry about squishing him!"
This earned the usual blank stare and blink from Haru. "Squishing?" He repeated, wondering what she meant.
"Well, the others are so small in their zodiac forms, that no matter how cute they are, I can't hug them or anything, and I have to be very careful, or I might squish them! Hatsuharu-san's form is large enough that I don't have to worry about hurting him when he transforms!" Another blank stare, then a slow, small smile.
"Honda-san, I never told Sensei that. I never thought of that. After all, that first time, I hugged you, remember? Besides, you had to keep hugging me all the way home, and you didn't seem disgusted or upset about it once."
"But! It may have simply been because I was so worried about Yuki-kun!" Tohru looked down, ready to have him remember that and to have her true faults exposed. All she heard was a quiet sigh from the boy in front of her before he spoke again.
"If someone told you to cut off your hand for Yuki to feel better, would you-" He cut off as he looked at her, realizing that yes, she probably would. "Nevermind. It wasn't anything that was upsetting me, I promise."
The first bell rang, signaling everyone to head to class. As the students began to mill into the halls towards the rooms, Haru gave her a small smile that he hoped would reassure her. After all, she had been known to worry herself into fevers before, and Hatori tended to be pretty vengeful to whomever upset her. He had seen it first hand. Hatori would never attack anyone, no. But he was a doctor, and knew all the different ways one's body could be used and manipulated against them. And due to the psychology classes he had to take while preparing for his doctorate, and plus his ability to manipulate memory... Hatori Sohma was not a man to cross.
He blinked as he realized that Yuki and Kyo would no doubt be here soon, and he needed to get to his own class, as well as Tohru to hers.
"Momiji and I'll see you after school, Honda-san." She turned to him then, seeming to have calmed down enough.
"Oh! But Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun are both walking with me already, I don't want to bother Hatsuharu-san and Momiji-kun!"
Haru merely shrugged and mentioned they had nothing else to do, watching as the two elder Sohmas walked over to them.
"Haru? What are you still doing here? Class is about to start." Yuki looked at his cousin curiously as Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima pulled Tohru into the classroom, not caring if the Sohmas were late, just their beloved best friend. Haru looked at him, and merely nodded to him before walking to his own class, leaving the two staring after him as the teacher approached.
"Hey, Sohma! Get to class!" Yuki knew that the teacher was speaking to Kyo, since it seemed they were always at each other's throats. Sure enough, the orange-haired teen turned to glare at his teacher as she arrived, giving Yuki the chance to slip into class mostly unnoticed. Mostly, because the girls in that class seemed to watch his every move. After the sound of someone being hit in the head with a notebook was heard, an annoyed Kyo and a triumphant teacher walked in, and class began.
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Once again, his house was filled with noisy people. Well, mostly just Kyo and Momiji. It was like clockwork to him. Momiji would make a joke or tease Kyo, Kyo would get mad and hit Momiji, the blonde would cry for Tohru, who would try to placate the angry cat until he sat down again, only to have Momiji open his mouth again and repeat the whole process. Yuki, who seemed a little annoyed with the whole thing, decided to go out to his secret base, asking Tohru if she'd like to join him.
"Oh, but Yuki-kun! What about Momiji-kun and Kyo-kun?" Shigure nodded in agreement to Tohru's concern.
"Yes, Yuki-kun, who will stop evil Kyo-kun from hurting poor Momitchi?" This earned him a cold glare from the Rat before he turned to walk off.
"You're an adult, Shigure. Do it yourself. Honda-san, I think we have some leeks that should be ready to be picked." As planned, this had Tohru hurrying over to him, ready to help him tend his garden, and brought forth an outraged yell from Kyo.
After the departure, Kyo glared angrily at Momiji and stood up, going outside in order to work out some more, practicing his punches and kicks. Momiji, ready to continue his teasing, sat nearby and asked questions that had Kyo punching the air harder than usual as he tried to control himself.
Without turning to him, Haru, who had been sitting near Shigure the entire time and watching everything with his usual bored look, asked Shigure the question that had been on his mind since that morning.
"Sensei? Why did you tell Tohru that it seemed like she didn't like my Zodiac form?" Shigure gave a small smile, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table.
"So she spoke to you about it, hm? What did she say?" Now Haru turned to him, the empty expression causing Shigure's smile to widen a little more.
"She apologized for making it seem like she didn't like it. She said you told her that. She was almost late to class, she was so upset. Hatori wouldn't be happy if you worked her into a fever over something like that." Shigure nodded and laughed.
"So she talked to you about it before class? My, Haa-kun, does that mean you've been thinking about this all day long? It must have been pretty important for it to be on your mind for so long." Haru's expression dipped into a slight frown as he watched his elder cousin.
"Why did you mention it, Sensei?" Shigure waved his hand playfully, hoping to calm Haru down, all the while applauding himself at being able to rile the young man's nerves by merely upsetting Tohru. He hadn't liked doing it, but he had learned a few things by it, and achieved his first goal. Tohru liked Haru's Ox form, she was so worried she would run the risk of being late to class to apologize to him, and the fact that the normally absent-minded Haru had been so focused on Tohru's worrying that he would think about it throughout the day.
"Oh, no reason, Haa-kun. I was just mentioning it in passing. I didn't mean to upset her, really!" But Shigure had already started planning his next move, and as soon as Momiji began to let out his usual cry of "Kyo's hitting me!", causing Haru to have to go to relieve his cousin and perhaps challenge Kyo, Shigure had the chance to put it into action. Walking calmly to the phone and dialing a number in, the Dog went over what he wanted to say to the person on the other line.When the other person picked up, Shigure's grin widened.
"Aya! I'm so glad you're there! I need to ask you for a favor..."
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Okay, I'm ending it here for now! I hope I did okay in keeping everyone in character. Seriously, that's my biggest worry! It'll be hard to capture the flamboyany Aya's personality, but I'll try my best! Bye for now!