Title: Living in a Romance Novel
Chapter 9: Re-Write
Authors Note: Hey everyone – thank you so much for the reviews, I appreciate them and I'm glad so many of you are enjoying the story. Now, unless I have some epiphany moment, the story will be coming to a close in five chapters or so – just to give everyone a heads up. LIARN was never meant to a lengthy story but a breaker from my main story Unbreakable Strength (as the writer of that story – I highly recommend reading it ;) ). Anyways, here's chapter nine – enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. Evalena White is my own creation however, and belongs solely to me.
"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." ~ Mary Anne Radmacher
Why was she here again? Oh, that's right. Because Lena was a true sap for anything remotely romantic. To the untrained eye she seemed a fairly logical, reasonable and sane person. As a fairly logical, reasonable and sane person…she should have been on a train sixteen hours ago. She should have left the airport six hours ago, and then she should have been arriving in her apartment three hours ago.
The evidence that this was not her apartment was obvious by the loud arguments and clever (and not so clever) remarks made in the kitchen as the teenagers – Shigure included, battled it out. Then there sounded like a small explosion.
Did Shigure have fire works in there? It wouldn't surprise her.
"Uhm…Excuse me…..excuse me….SHUT UP!" a red faced Lena shot a long glare as all four jumped and quickly quieted. "What…" and at this, Lena calmed down and took in deep drags of breath, "is the problem?"
"Oh…there's no problem, none at all…everything's fine," Shigure exclaimed as he tried to wave Lena out of the kitchen.
"Why is Tohru sitting on the floor….since when did you get a cat…" Lena frowned and studied the orange cat for a moment, "Keep it away from me - I'm allergic." If they hadn't noticed, she was more of a dog person.
"I assure you, Miss. White, the stupid cat will be of no bother to you…we'll just throw him out," and Yuki happily did so as the cat spit and spewed at him.
Lena had never seen such a violent cat, "Are you sure he's safe? Violent animals should really either be put through animal behavior programs or put down."
Yuki seemed to have rather enjoyed that, "What a wonderful suggestion, common sense really. Shigure you ought to put the stupid cat down."
"Now, Now, why don't we all get out of Tohru's way so she can fix dinner," Shigure nervously chuckled and shoved both Lena, Yuki and himself out of the room. "Ah, much better," he said approvingly as they stepped outside.
Lena sighed and let her body slid to the ground to the table. It slightly irked her that there wasn't an official table with dining chairs – American style. How comfy could a pillow be? At least Prince enjoyed it.
He stretched out under the table, grunting with the mammoth effort to twitch a leg or curl his tail every now and then. As soon as Lena had walked through the door, he had run to Shigure to cuddle with him. Lena wouldn't lie – it miffed her, just a little that he favored Shigure over her. Maybe she needed to remind him who bought his food and filled his water bowl every day. Who took him for the long runs in the morning – though she benefited just as much from that.
"Oh, there you are Kyo," Shigure patted the table for Kyo to thump down on and from under the table came a definite growl.
"That's right, I don't know what Prince has against you…" she frowned and then shrugged. "Maybe it's a smell or something you carry around." He had acted the same way out at the lake house when she had brought him – it was a good thing Kyo was fast.
Kyo's hair nearly stood up on ends, "Keep that damn mutt away from me…and why the hell is she even here? She shouldn't be here!" he pointed at Lena accusingly.
"You better get that finger out of my face before I bite it," Lena warned testily, and then turned her soft eyes on Shigure, "Shigure…" she began softly.
"Kyo, don't you have any self respect for a woman?" Shigure asked with a shameful look, "What's Tohru going to think if you don't start to woo her."
"What the hell does Tohru have anything to do with this? And stop listening to her just because she's suddenly your girlfriend or whatever."
"Ehem," Lena cleared her throat and glared, "I don't believe we fully have that established."
"So you say," Shigure replied and patted her knee with a funny little smile.
He wasn't going to take into consideration what she said, at all. "Don't 'so you say' me," Lena bickered, "It takes two people to make a relationship, I'm not sure you're worth my trouble Sohma."
"You say that no-ow," Shigure replied in a sing-song voice that irked Lena even more so.
"Keep at it and I'm picking up fast food for dinner," she warned.
"And offend Tohru by not staying for dinner?" he asked with wide shocked eyes, "When she's been so excited for your visit."
"You're preaching to the wrong choir," Lena replied, "I'm sure Tohru would get over the excitement…" maybe she could make the red-eye flight and stop this terrible mistake she was currently in.
What was she thinking? Staying just because a man came and whisked her off her feet, Literally. Just because that had been the most romantic moment in her life and she couldn't tolerate going to New York and always wondering what may have happened if she had stayed.
Because after all the pathetic let downs and disappointments, Lena still believed in the magic, the fairy tale and the prince on the white horse defending the princess in the fairy pink dress to have their happy ever after.
Yeah, and she was twenty seven, how disgusting was that?
"Food's ready!" Tohru announced as she came out with several dishes that Lena couldn't identify.
"Shigure…dinner will be on me next time," Lena promised as she subtly pushed her chopstick into a squiggly substance. When everyone was busy with their meal, she slipped pecks of food to Prince.
He wouldn't touch it, which was until Lena shoved the food into his mouth. He had to earn his keep somehow, and this was revenge for preferring Shigure.
The meal passed by with idle chatter until Tohru cleared the table, and Yuki helped. They both ran back and forth like little chickens with their heads cut off until Lena heard another explosion in the kitchen.
"Shigure…maybe you should have your pipes checked," she suggested as she craned her neck to look into the kitchen.
"I assure you by past compliments my pipes are fine, but if you'd like to test run them your…"
Yeah, he got hit for that one.
"If you're going to make a sex joke, be more subtle about it," Lena grumbled next to him, "That or save them for Ayame." She had found their relationship to be…interesting over the few days she had observed them.
"In any case, I'm sure the kitchen pipes are fine," Shigure didn't bother to leave the table; he did make sure Lena didn't seem too curious though. Very few outsiders could protect their secret, and the best way to not be hurt, was to not allow an opportunity for oneself to be hurt.
"Why is Tohru apologizing so much?" she could hear the quite loud apologies as well.
"Tohru will be Tohru," Shigure replied.
"Thanks for the cryptic message, that explained a lot," Lena replied dryly while rolling her eyes.
Kyo finally left the table to yell at Tohru, or rather Yuki and then when Tohru got involved, she also was yelled at.
Was it always so loud in his house?
"No wonder you're so late on manuscripts," Lena muttered, the only time he had to truly write was when they all were at school.
"Finally, the sympathy I deserve," Shigure muttered. Prince cuddled up to him, and received a glare for his choice of favorites.
"See if I let you in my bed tonight," Lena grumbled, she eyed Shigure wearily and waited for the crack.
"I'll try to behave better in the future," he promised with a boyish half smile.
Lena hit him for that one too.
"Remind me again why I decided to stay?" she asked irritably.
"Because you couldn't say no to my impeccable charm and writers flattery," Shigure replied in a very matter of fact way, "and I professed my clear adoration for you in front of hundreds of strangers."
"It was dozens, and why is that? That you…find me….interesting," it was the best choice Lena could find.
"Lena, Lena, Lena," he scolded and sat back slightly, he was going to enjoy telling her this, "Your clever, witty, slightly arrogant and independent traits are endearing. Of course this helps," he added as he fingered the soft lace around her plunging neck line, "and this," he also added as he swept a hand down her thigh to the soft hem of her silk skirt.
"Endearing? What am I, five?" Lena asked smartly as she managed not to fidget (or completely jump him) when he began to subtly run a hand down her knee. Her soft skin tingled where his warm finger prints touched.
"Sensual, Exotic, Divine, Sexual, Should I continue?" he whispered into her ear.
A soft, embarrassing giggle left her lips as she leaned closer into him.
"Tease," she accused him, and pushed past the humiliation that when she actually giggled when he began to flatter and try to warm her up in such a way.
"All in fun and games," Shigure replied with a quick wink and leaned away from her.
Lena was about to complain when the teenagers walked in. Of course. She hid her irritation well, disappointment that they chose that moment to walk in on them.
"Were we…interrupting?" Yuki asked as he uncomfortably cleared his throat.
"No, nothing at all," Shigure replied happily and rested his hands against the table. He looked forward, so he didn't see the furious glare that Lena shot him.
Oh, so that was nothing? He was probably some womanizing player that had dealt his cards right and hoped she'd put out for him.
Not this girl. His ass was going to roast over open flames for toying with her hopes and emotions if what had just happened between them was classified as nothing.
"Well, I should be going, damn it…I never called Mii." Lena figured Mii was probably arriving at the house at any moment. This was going to be an interesting conversation. Now she really had to get going.
In a flash, Lena was up, slipping her feet into uncomfortable heels that cost a fortune and shoving her coat on, "I'll talk to you later," she aimed the words at Shigure and there was far too much hostility for him not to shrink away and look a tad bit frightened.
"Mii…I am so sorry, I can't believe I forgot to call. This is just perfect, who's going to watch my ferns now?" Lena groaned and sunk into the couch as Mii watched her with clear amusement from the other end.
"So…You….Sensei?" she asked and began to giggle and snort into her coffee.
"He was sweet and….believable at the air port," Lena grumbled and crossed her arms in a huff, "I'm an idiot, as bad as every other idiot with their heads in the clouds thinking something can come from nothing," because she was on a roll, Lena kept talking, her voice became quicker and louder which happened when she became upset over something, "and really, what girl want's something, even if it does come from nothing? Shigure has nothing to offer, Shigure doesn't want to offer anything, so to expect something from a nothing like Shigure is plain stupid of me….unless something can happen from nothing, in which case I walk away from a nothing that could really turn into something and end up being everything."
"Yeah…I mean…what?" Mii frowned and took another sip of her coffee, "try breathing between sentences, okay?"
"Ugh," Lena flipped over and buried her head into the pillow.
"It's probably all for the best," Mii comforted," The Sohma's are a strange family… the family wouldn't be pleased given the history."
"I don't give a flying fuck about their wishes," Lena replied darkly, flipping back to her stomach and sitting up in a vengeance, "In fact, you go ahead and tell dear Great Auntie and Uncle that I am seeing Shigure Sohma and I'm loving every minute of it," she snarled darkly.
"You have a lot of pent up loathing that's not healthy," Mii pointed out, rather amused and slightly worried by Lena's outburst.
"My loathing is put to good use and merited. I deserve to stew with loath, they had me pronounced stillborn, they locked my mother up during her pregnancy and then had a questionable death, we both know how far this family will go to cover up secrets," Lena bit her lip and sighed, "they finally found one secret they couldn't keep quiet."
"What's that?" Mii asked, without much enthusiasm.
"Me."