Kyo had laid on the couch all that day. His stomach hurt him too much. First, Reiji and then Shigure. What could happen next? Tohru brought him his meals and sat with him for hours.
"Kyo, dinner's ready." She said waltzing in with a bowl of soup and some crackers.
"Thanks." He said as she set it on the coffee table and pushed it close to him.
"No problem." Kyo started eating a little at a time.
"Hey, can you change the channel?" Kyo asked. Tohru stood up and walked over to the T.V.
"Where's the remote?" She asked him.
"Dropped it under the couch. I'll get it later." He said. Tohru nodded and started to flip channels.
"This?" She asked flipping to a channel.
"No."
"This?"
"No."
"This?"
"No."
"This?"
"Wait a minute. Nope."
"This?"
"That's a commercial. I can't tell what it is." Kyo said.
"So, stop here?" She asked.
"For now." He said. She nodded and took a seat on the chaise.
"Now back to Leroy and Stitch." The announcer said in a way too cheery voice.
"Leroy? What happened to that girl? Lila…Lilia, Lilly, or whatever?" Kyo asked.
"Lilo? I don't know. Want me to change the channel?" Tohru asked standing back up.
"Yeah. Go to some other channel." Kyo said. He rearranged his ice pack and winced again.
Tohru kept flipping channels and ended up on old looking cartoons.
"Leave it. Must be like the History channel or something." Kyo said. Tohru went back to the chair.
They watched as an old looking Mickey Mouse walked over to an equally old looking Goofy and Daffy Duck.
"Wow." Tohru said.
"Cartoons got so much better." Kyo said laughing. The show ended and the Three Stooges cartoon came on.
"That music is annoying." Kyo commented on the theme song. (AN: If you haven't heard the theme song, I recommend you do, otherwise you have no idea what I'm talking about.)
They watched as the three of them did slap stick jokes.
"That was funny." Tohru said.
"That was dumb. Who's stupid enough to fall into a pail of water?" Kyo asked.
"Well, the other guy pushed him." Tohru said.
"Right. No look at that. He just pushed over a paint bucket onto the other guys head."
"All for laughs." Tohru said.
"Stupid laughs." Kyo said.
"Well, I guess." Tohru said.
"Just turn it off. I have a head ache." Kyo said turning over on the couch.
Tohru stood up and turned the T.V. off.
"Thanks. I'm going to take a nap. You can do whatever you want." Kyo said. Tohru went upstairs and started painting.
She didn't know exactly what to paint, so she just painted the first thing that came to mind.
She was choosing between the colors blue and brown the most.
"Almost right, just a couple more touches." She said taking a pencil and adding small, defined strokes.
She looked at the clock and realized she'd been up there for more than two hours.
"Uh. Well, you can't rush perfection." Tohru said looking at her painting.
She heard Kyo come up the stairs and call for her.
"I'm in here!" She called back. She heard him walk down the hall and knock on the door.
"Come in." She said.
He slowly opened the door. He looked as if he'd just woken up. His hair was a disheveled mess, his shirt and pants twisted, and he was squinting.
"I'm beat. I think I'll head to bed." He said slowly.
"Okay." She said. She lifted up her painting and placed it in the corner.
"Did you just paint that?" He asked surprised.
"Uh, yeah. Why?"
"I've only been asleep for two hours!" He said.
"Kyo, are you okay?" She asked walking over to him.
"That couldn't have been done in two hours!" He said walking over to it. He picked up the picture and studied it.
It was a picture of a cottage. It was situated in a clearing in the middle of a forest. The sun was shinning down on it making it look radiant. A cobble stone path led to the door. Different colored flowers grew on the sides of the walk, making the grass look like a rainbow. Even more sprouted from the window boxes under the two front windows. The house was surrounded on both sides and the back by trees. You could see a doe and a fawn grazing in the background.
"Well, it was." Tohru said.
"You really have talent." Kyo said looking it over one more time.
"Well, thank you Kyo, but it really isn't anything special." Tohru blushed and took it from him. She placed it back in the corner.
"It's better than anything I could ever do." Kyo said when she turned back around.
"Well, like I said, that's really nice, but it just comes naturally. I don't feel like I'm doing that much." She said.
"Did you ever think that you had real talent?" He asked.
"It has never crossed my kind. I just took it as a hobby." Tohru said.
"That's surprising. Very surprising. Honestly, why didn't you think you had talent?"
"It's just a hobby I do in my spare time." Tohru said again.
"You never took lessons, did you?" Kyo asked.
"No", Tohru said shaking her head.
"Never had any training." He asked.
"Nope." She said.
"Your mom or dad never painted?" He asked.
"My mom wasn't very artistic. Neither was my dad." Tohru said.
"Never watched that guy with the poofy orange hair on T.V.?" He asked.
"When is he on? I'd love to see him paint something." She said with a child like enthusiasm, or a person who just met a movie star from their youth.
"Never mind when he's on. Tohru you have natural talent. Very good natural talent." Kyo said looking at the picture again and the one of the sunrise.
"So? I can paint, I guess, but what does that have to do anything?" Tohru asked following his gaze to her pictures.
"Tohru. Did you ever consider selling any of your paintings?" He asked.
"I couldn't!" She said.
"You couldn't, or you wouldn't?" He asked.
"Well, I could, but no one would buy them." She said.
"Who are you trying to fool? Look at them. Anyone out in their right mind would buy one, if not all of your paintings." Kyo said.
"But, how would I even start to sell them?" She asked.
"Take them to Akito tomorrow. She knows plenty of people who would want to buy these paintings. She'll help you." Kyo said.
"Akito? But…But…But I'd hate to bother her with this." Tohru said.
"She's very into art, no matter how much of it she seems to have. Who knows? She might even buy one from you." Kyo said.
"So, you're saying I should sell them." Tohru said.
"I'm saying you should consider it. I think you'd make a great professional artist."
"Professional? I don't think so." Tohru said.
"Just start painting a little more and you'll see." Kyo said.
"Alright." Tohru said slowly looking at her paintings.
"If you don't want to, you don't have to." Kyo said.
"No, I think I want to. I could take orders. It would be fun!" She said with a smile.
He gave her a quick kiss.
"I'm going to sleep now. Don't stay up too late." He said turning from the room.
"I won't", she assured him as he left.
She sat the chair in the corner.
"Sell them? Okay. I think it could be fun. Selling them would bring in extra money. Okay, I'll do it. Sell them. I'll sell them." She said standing up and leaving the room.