It is the night of the 'what do you think about' incident. As usual, Tohru cooked for everybody, and as usual, it was delicious. She went up stairs after doing the dishes to fold the laundry she'd hung out on the balcony.
Tohru was folding a sheet when Kyo walks in. He stops. The sun hasn't completely set and the colors in the sunset make Tohru's face glow. He stops short for a minute; he can feel his heart do the same thing. Tohru senses someone there and looks up.
"Kyo?" She asked. Her voice sounded far away as he watched the sun's last light of the day gently play in her hair.
"Kyo? Are you okay?" She asked again taking a step closer. Kyo swallowed hard. His hands flew to his throat. It was dry and that hurt. Tohru thought something was wrong and rushed over to him. She put her hands on his cheeks and forehead.
"I'm fine." He managed to say.
"Are you sure?" Tohru asked removing her hands from his face.
"I'm fine." He said again.
"Okay. Was there something you came here to tell me?" She asked, turning back to the sheet she was folding.
"I just came for my laundry." Kyo said. Tohru laughed.
"Silly. I already put yours in your room."
"Oh. Then I guess I could take one of these." He said walking over to her and giving her a quick kiss.
"Kyo, you really are silly. You can have those anytime you want." Tohru said kissing him back.
"Tohru! Tohru! I need you! Akito is telling me to put Mahito to bed, but he won't listen! Tohru! Tohru, oh where are you?" Shigure called from the living room. They could here Mahito too.
"Ha ha! Papa! You can't catch me! Ha!"
Tohru started to walk to the door. Kyo grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
"And just where are you going?" He asked in a teasing tone.
"To help Shigure. He needs help." Tohru said struggling against his grip.
"But I need you too." Kyo playfully whined.
"Kyo, honestly. If I help Shigure, I can spend more time with you." Tohru said.
"Can't argue with that." Kyo said as he let her wrist go. Tohru hurried out of the room and down the stairs.
The living room was a scene of disaster. Shigure was on his knees, begging Mahito to slow down and go to bed. Mahito had tied a towel around his neck like a cape. He was bouncing around the living room. From chair, to coffee table, to couch, to just a few inches in front of Shigure. Shigure would reach out to grab him and Mahito would jump back.
"Tohru! Thank the heavens you're here. Now, Work your magic and I'll go get some tea."
"Don't you dare go anywhere." Kyo said from the stairs. He had followed behind Tohru to make sure the dog didn't do anything perverted. Tohru smiled at him.
"Care to make more bets?" Mahito asked, a smile on his face.
"Shut up kid." Kyo said.
"I no kid. I am Super Me. My hero of imagination." As if to prove his point, Mahito jumped up on the coffee table, only to lose his balance and fall off. He hit the floor with a thud.
"Ouch." Was all he said. He stood up.
"Mahito are you okay?" Tohru asked rushing over to him.
"Fine." He said.
"Are you sure?"
"All Papa's fault." Mahito said pointing a finger at Shigure.
"What?" Shigure asked.
"You said I could do whatever I wanna do. I wanna stay up and fly around the living room. Staying up not okay with Mama. Flying? Not okay with back or bottom." Mahito said rubbing his back.
"It's called gravity." Kyo said.
"Wanna bet?" Mahito asked.
"No." Kyo said.
"Come on. It's time to go to bed." Tohru said taking Mahito's hand and leading him upstairs.
"She's so good with children, isn't she?" Shigure asked.
"Shut up", Kyo said and then bounded up the stairs after her.
Tohru was tucking Mahito into bed. He had taken over Yuki's room. All of Yuki's stuff was in the basement. They planned to move it back when he was going to come home.
Kyo watched from the door as Tohru finished tucking him in and then got Good Night Moon off the shelf. She read to him until he fell asleep, which was a while considering he had to find the mouse in each picture.
When he finally fell asleep, Tohru had spent a good hour in there. She stood up, placed the book back on the shelf, turned off the light, and turn to leave the room.
Kyo was still standing in the doorway when she turned. She smiled and walked over to the door.
"I have to go talk to Akito, I'll be right back", Tohru said to Kyo.
"Are you sure? I don't want you alone with her." Kyo said defensively.
"I'll be fine. She's changed." Tohru said. Kyo frowned. Tohru giggled a little and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She then turned and walked down the hall to Shigure and Akito's room.
She knocked on the door. She could hear Akito inside.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's me, Tohru."
"Hold on a second." Akito said. She went over to the door and opened it.
"Hello, Akito. I thought you might like to know that Mahito is asleep. He had a little accident down stairs, but he's fine."
"Oh my goodness! What happened?" Akito asked alarmed.
"He listened to Shigure's advice and took it a little too literally. He tried to fly and fell off the coffee table." Tohru replied. Akito's face became enraged.
"Shigure told him he could fly? How can a child fly? Shigure! Shigure get up here!" Akito hollered. Shigure walked slowly up the stairs and down the hall to Akito.
"I'll be going now." Tohru said.
"Yes, thank you. Here." Akito handed Tohru some money.
"I can't take all this." Tohru said.
"Yes, you can. That is for dealing with the kids, and my husband." Akito said. She then turned to face Shigure and give him a mouthful.
Tohru turned and walked back down the hall to Kyo. He was waiting by his door.
"She's yelling at Shigure now." Tohru told him.
"He needs it." Kyo said.
"She handed me this too. She said it was for watching the kids and for dealing with Shigure." Tohru said.
"Humph. You should get more for dealing with those brats. And don't even get me started on him." Kyo said.
"I have to get to bed. I've got work in the morning." Tohru said stretching. Kyo nodded and gave her a quick kiss, which she returned. He turned to go into his room and she went into hers.
She had been sleeping for a while when a sudden nightmare took over her dreams.
She was in the ocean. It was beautiful. She was surrounded by clear, beautiful, blue water. She was admiring the sun over head when something brushed under her feet. She looked down to see a dark shadow swimming below her feet. She tried to scream, but couldn't. She was being dragged down, down, down. Whatever had her wasn't killing her immediately. It was dragging it out. A long, slow process. She was able to look around with her last strength. The beast was huge. It was dark, and where it was dragging her was even darker. She screamed, only to release her last supply of oxygen. She passed out.
That was when she woke up. She sat straight up in bed. Her heart was beating fast. Any faster, and she was afraid it would fly out of her chest. Her eyes were wide and sweat was pouring down her face. She stood up and walked over to her bathroom. She gave thanks that Shigure had given her a room with a private bathroom.
In the bathroom, she cleaned herself off. Being surrounded by water in the shower wasn't an option at the moment. She instead chose to wash herself with a washcloth. She changed pajamas and went back to bed.
As she crawled into bed, she realized her sheets were wet with sweat too. She changed her sheets and then tried to fall back asleep. She couldn't. She did know one place where she would be safe though.
She crawled out of bed and walked over to her door. She opened it, walked across the hall, and over to Kyo's door.
She knocked softly. Thankfully, Kyo still maintained most of his cat like abilities. She heard him get out of bed and walk over to the door.
The door opened and Kyo looked out. He was in a t-shirt and boxers. He saw Tohru and opened the door the rest of the way.
"Tohru? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Kyo asked. Tohru looked up at him. Tears were starting to work their way over her eyes.
"Kyo", she said. He wrapped his arms around her. She collapsed in his arms and cried into his shirt.
"Tohru. What's wrong? It's okay, you can tell me anything." Kyo said.
"Kyo. It was horrible." She sobbed. He rubbed her back lightly.
"What was?" Kyo asked. Tohru, in response, only cried harder. Kyo continued to rub her back and embrace her.
"Kyo. It was so frightening." Tohru said. Her tears were soaking his shirt, but they were coming lighter now.
"Horrible? Frightening? What did that dog do to you?" Kyo asked.
"Shigure? He didn't do anything. One minute I was there. It was beautiful. The next I was gone. Down, away from the beauty." Tohru said.
"You aren't making any sense." Kyo said. He tilted her head up. He brushed the strands of hair out of her eyes that had plastered themselves to her face with the help of her tears. He then continued to wipe away the remaining tears. She was blushing.
"I was so scared, Kyo." She said burying her face in his shirt one more time.
"Want to talk about it?" He asked. She shook her head.
"It was too creepy." Tohru said.
"Are you sure? I hear talking about it makes it better." Kyo said. He was rubbing her back in a circular motion.
"I feel like I'm going to faint. Can we sit down?" Tohru asked. Kyo nodded and basically carried her over to his bed.
"Want to talk?" Kyo asked.
"If you say it will help."
"I think it will." Kyo said cupping her face with his right hand.
"Okay. I was in the ocean. It must've been near the Bahamas or something because the water was clear. It was beautiful. Then it touched me. It swam right under me. I was scared. I looked down and saw a shadow. It was huge. I tried to scream but nothing came out. Then it dragged me down. It got dark. I tried to scream and ended up wasting my oxygen. Then, I passed out. I was so frightened. I knew I'd be safe here. I'm sorry for bothering you Kyo." Tohru said. She's started to cry again. The tears were falling like a light rain. One after the other.
"I don't mind, Tohru. Honest. I want you to come to me whenever you feel frightened, or worried, or whatever. I want to be here for you, always." Kyo said. He was brushing away tears again.
"Thank you, Kyo." Tohru said.
She fell asleep in his arms. He didn't bother to change his shirt. He figured it was better that way. If she started to cry again, that was.
They stayed that way the rest of the night. She was latched onto his shirt and he had his arms around her. He couldn't think of a better situation. She was with him, he was able to comfort her after a nightmare, and she was still here.
He fell off to sleep shortly after her.