Different Seasons: Fall: Part 11: Coming Home
A/N: Thank you as always for your encouraging words. It helps. In this chapter Mayu's parents are introduced to the Compound, and Mayu is re-introduced. Will Tori convince her that this would be a great place to raise their children? Also Chris and Gure celebrate their seven and a half month anniversary in true Sohma style.
As always I do not own Fruits Basket
Tori is Reassuring
The week slid by and, with my special incentive training, Mayu improved on the platforms markedly. Granted nothing was set in stone until I saw the stairs. It had been a while since I had ventured to that part of the compound. Akito's funeral had taken place in the more accessible parts of the compound so that the aging among us were able to attend.
Her parents had a long list of questions from what to wear (business casual was fine with comfortable shoes as we would be walking a lot) to what to bring as a gift (fine tea was always a good bet as he drank vats of it) But I was happy to put their minds at ease as it would mean they would take in Kureno's words better. It was decided for simplicity sake that I'd drive as I still had the gate's transponder. They had not in fact taken away my privileges as Gure had once joked they would.
On the day of the tour, I got a text saying my father wanted to come as well, which surprised me, but not terribly so. He had started to take an active role in my parenting. And while I was nearly thirty years old i figured, better late than never. It was touching that he wanted to be there when my future in laws got their first impression of the compound.
The day was gorgeous and would fortunately show the compound to its best advantage, which suited my purposes perfectly. I was hoping that Mayu would find it as breathtaking as I did. I texted Gure to see if he would be around and he said we should definitely stop in.
When I asked how he was he sent a smiley face and added,
"I told Chris what you told me and he was amused. He's bored out of his mind and wishes I was there."
I texted,
"It's good for you to be apart."
He responded,
"You can say that because your partner isn't on a book tour. And it isn't your 7 month anniversary."
"Wow you've been with Chris that long?"
"We started in mid February and we've been married for almost three months.
"That's a record. And now that I think about it Mayu and I have been together for a bit longer than that. Sheesh I should probably have made a big deal but we've been caught up with the wedding. Well, as for Chris being away, just think about how hot the sex will be when he gets back. Has anyone commented on his ring?"
"Not really, but then again he's usually in the background anyway. I'm the one they're going to notice."
"You might tell that to my in-laws to be, they'd like you to give a reading."
"Hmmmm. Not sure about that. They like that sort of thing to go through Chris and Mit-Chan. Especially since we haven't done the actual interview explaining we got married. My ring won't go unnoticed."
"Well. I don't think they had a set time for it."
"I'm sure they'd love me to do a reading there. They had a great response during the book tour."
I left it that we'd be on to see him during the tour of the compound.
Mayu had her own flurry of questions that inevitably landed mostly on what she should wear. I didn't envy her as most of my decisions for clothing were either a suit of varying levels of formality or one of Aya's kimonos of varying levels of formality. Women's dress was a lot more nuanced. She finally decided upon a simple blazer and jeans.
"I wouldn't have been worried if it weren't for your father. I've gotten used to Kureno."
"I get that. You look great."
"So how's Gure?"
"Apparently doing ok all things considered. Chris is bored and misses him."
They are so stinking cute.
I wrapped my arms around her as we looked into the wardrobe mirror and said,
So are we.
I was still feeling stoked from my conversation with the Dog, or Inu as he apparently preferred to be called, and I was so close to sharing our early wedding present with her. But as I knew she was still on the fence as to her feelings about the Kami I didn't want to scare her. I had, after all, just let a cosmic entity shape our future. I knew she would be thrilled to know it was a sure thing we'd bring a daughter into this world, I just wasn't sure she'd be thrilled about the how. And that led me to wondering what the other gifts would be, and would the others give us gifts as well. I was especially terrified about the Dragon. Inu had promised that he'd be on his best behavior as he wanted our prayers, but I wasn't sure what he would bring.
Mayu caught me wool gathering and said,
"My parents will be here soon. We should probably be fully dressed when they get here."
I buried my face in the crook of her neck and took in the clean smell of her shampoo, the flowery scent of her perfume, and the base tone of her own body. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my hands on her breasts. She smiled at me in the mirror and said,
"I had no idea you could be such a horndog Tori."
"I am sorry, I'm just taken with you as always. Mmmm. You're probably right. We've learned what happens when we risk ignoring deadlines. Although you of course make we want to throw the concept of time away altogether."
I'm not complaining mind, it's just that…."
And the doorbell sounded.
We finalized our dress and got ready to go. I definitely thought to myself that it was my vote that we'd be taking a long honeymoon before taking advantage of Inu's gift, although I certainly would relish in its redemption. I'd be taking a few days off then.
Mayu Revisits the Compound
As I watched Tori's reaction to me I almost suggested that we put off tea, but I knew we couldn't. Everyone had incredibly busy schedules. So I tore myself from my seemingly newly invigorated future husband and we greeted my parents. They had never been to the apartment and were quite impressed.
"I think this might be the size of our first house before the bookstore took off."
Tori simply smiled. They hadn't seen anything yet. My mother did a quick check with Tori that she looked fine and that the tea was fine. We assured them everything was fine and we piled into Tori's car.
They were nervous and chatted about the weather and other mundane topics. Tori focused on the road, or gave that impression to us. Although I could tell he was a bit nervous. And I got that. He was providing his future in-laws with their first impression of his family, a family he occasionally looked upon with ambivalence.
Their reaction to the main gates of the compound was comparable to that given by the guests arriving at Jurassic Park during the first movie. I almost thought I'd hear Tori say,
"We spared no expense."
But he of course didn't as the compound had been his home and he didn't consider the lavishness much. And really, given what I now understood about the Sohma's wealth, the gates were quite understated. The simple wooden gates embossed with the Sohma family hanko were flanked by ancient dragon statues. There were far more outwardly extreme properties in the area. But they had the same first reaction as I did.
"Wow! You live in a gated community?"
Tori smiled again. As he approached the gates they opened automatically. Their first impression was the great hall with its traditional tea gardens and koi ponds. The red maples were stunning that day. Tori stood next to me and let us take it in.
"It's beautiful" my mother quietly said.
We heard a quiet clearing of someone's throat and found that Kureno and Tori's father were waiting for us on a nearby bench. After quick introductions were made we began our tour of the compound. Kureno started the tour with the main hall and Tori pointed out the plot map. The land truly did go for miles and was only partially developed. I smiled at him and whispered,
"I guess you were right when you said there was plenty of room for us."
He smiled back and said,
"Just a bit."
I thought back to his stories of the fields of cherry trees and so very much wanted to experience that quiet solitude.
I whispered,
"I can't wait to get lost in the Cherry trees with you.
He caught my look and said,
"That's a springtime thing. In the fall we run through piles of leaves."
I'm sure Gure would like to go crashing through the leaves for old times sake."
As we continued walking through the compound It was getting a bit chilly so Tori held me close. My parents took an instant liking to Kureno as I knew they would. Tori's father even seemed to be amused by their discussion of all the different authors who had given talks at the store. My mother said,
"We hope that Shigure can do a reading."
"Yes" said Tori's father, "He's quite a talented poet, although his latest book is a bit frivolous for my liking. Although it is a vast improvement over his other books."
I was surprised that he had actually read them. Especially those he wrote under a pen name.
"But," he added, "you should get his husband Chris to play the Shamisen while he reads. I've never seen such talent in a young man."
It was touching to see Tori's father talk so favorably about Gure and Chris. Given that neither of them had parents who loved them it was heartening to see him warm to the couple. He turned to Tori and said,
"You are also incredibly talented Hatori. And I'm proud that you've found your place in the field. I would have preferred you to have stayed, but Eichi is a tribute to your guidance. He is a fine doctor as well. And Mayuko, Ive heard that Kyo is improving daily."
"Yes he's making great progress. His last essay on the book we were reading was well thought out."
We continued to walk through the compound and so many people came to greet us. They were all quite excited to meet my parents and they were quite welcoming.
Tori and I walked hand and hand, and broke away from the rest of the group so that they wouldn't overhear us. He smiled at me and asked,
"What do you think?"
"Well you couldn't have chosen a more beautiful day. Did you arrange that with them?"
"I'm not sure they have dominion over the weather Mayu, or if they do I'm not sure they'd bend it for us particularly. That seems a bit frivolous."
"Well I think I'm falling in love."
He gave me a brilliant smile and said,
"I'm glad to hear it."
We reached the greenhouses which were abloom with flowers. My mother sighed and said,
"You have your own corner of spring right here!"
Tori spoke up saying,
"It's heavenly in the middle of winter. There are benches inside where you can sit for hours reading."
My mother smiled at me and said,
"Honey if I were you I'd see if you and Tori can move here. It's just breathtaking."
We simply smiled.
Tori's father caught our look, looked a bit surprised but seemed quite happy.
Kureno looked back at us and said,
"You'd always be welcome."
As we hadn't officially decided on anything we simply nodded.
We stopped briefly by Gure's but as Kureno needed to get to a lunch meeting we promised to catch up later. He simply said they really needed to talk to Chris when he got back.
So that just left…..the stairs...
As we approached the sacred spaces of the compound, we found a slight rise to a hilltop shrine. While the staircase was long, the slope wasn't steep. However, the stairs were old and pitted after hundreds of years of use and exposure. And the slope was enough to risk a broken ankle or worse if one took the wrong step. My parents, who were both in good health but were beginning to feel their age looked at the stairs and back to Kureno. He smiled and said,
"I've spoken to Tori's cousin Ayame who has been planning the wedding and he says that he has had a set of ramps created to go over the stairs so you won't have any trouble getting up to the shrine."
I turned to Tori and bit back a swear as I didn't want to show my ire in front of his father. I had spent hours practicing with Tori. Some of those hours were more pleasant than others. But I successfully danced, climbed stairs, walked around the house, and performed several other interesting actions on my torture devices Aya called shoes. And now I found that he had a set of ramps made to go over the stairs. I finally asked Tori,
"So why did he have me practice in those things?"
"I imagine his thought was that if you could do all that a simple ramp would be nothing. Or perhaps he was told that he needed to reconsider. The matchmaker is approaching 100. I'm sure she could probably still make it up those stairs as she's still quite nimble, but it would be horrible if she stumbled. I'd also remind you that your vision will be impaired by the headdress."
He was of course taking things in stride. He generally did unless confronted with something that completely overwhelmed him.
Kureno smiled saying,
"I may have greatly suggested that he rethink his plan. Fortunately, he wasn't wedded to his design."
While miffed, I had to say I was happier by the development. The idea of traversing even the smallest rise in the kimono and headdress I'd wear made me nervous. This was far more acceptable. I just wish he hadn't put me through it. Although I felt a confidence and poise I didn't have before so it was beneficial I supposed. Tori took me by the arm and helped me up while Kureno and Tori's father guided my parents up the stairs.
The area surrounding the shrine was beautiful. While the rise up to the shrine was gradual, the land dropped off on the other side and a valley filled with brightly colored trees spread out beneath our feet like a brightly colored Persian carpet. The view was breathtaking. Kureno gathered us in front of the shrine, which he explained had been built generations ago. I could feel a resonating power coming from within. He caught my express of surprise and said,
"The ceremony itself will take place outside as the shrine's interior is a sacred space for the worship of the family's Kami, or protective spirits. Objects representing each of the twelve spirits can be found within."
He then took us through the ceremony step by step. I felt calmed by his reassuring presence. My parents also seemed less nervous.
We were all quite hungry by the time we finished and were quite thankful for the tea and cookies he served in his office. Kureno was thankful for the gift and gave my parents a winning smile. He then relaxed back in his chair as if signaling the formal part of the meeting was over. He caught eyes with Tori's father and simply smiled. He turned to me and my parents saying,
"I hope you aren't put off by the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony. It seems old and stodgy to most of the younger generation, but actually, the Shinto ceremony is fairly new in the grand scheme of things. It was popularized at the turn of the 20th century by the Crown Prince. And really, everything old was once "that new fangled thing that the bright young things are doing now." It was Hatori's great grandmother Katsuko who brought the tradition of the Shinto wedding to the family, and so many others have followed suit thus making it a tradition. This included Tori's grandmother and mother. As the years past, that tradition was largely forgotten and newer traditions took hold. We must always remember that while there is a such a thing as tradition and honor we shouldn't hold onto them blindly."
He then focused on Tori and I and asked,
May I ask why you have chosen this ceremony rather than a more secular one? Or something more like Gure's and Christian's?"
I turned to Tori's father and said quietly,
"It was because I saw a picture of your wedding. Tori's mother looked so beautiful that day and I knew I wanted to pay homage to her on my wedding day."
Both Kureno and Tori's father looked thoughtful at that moment and Kureno finally said,
"That is perhaps the best reason to follow traditions. I am sure that she would be touched."
Tori's father smiled pensively as if remembering his own day and nodded, saying,
"Yes that is certainly true."
We fell into a pensive mood as we thought about the upcoming ceremony. Our pensiveness was interrupted by a slight scratching sound on the frame of the door. Kureno sat up and looked at his watch and said,
"Oh, I didn't realize it had gotten so late. I'm sorry but I must run.
But then he considered something and asked,
"Would you like to join me for lunch? I didn't have anything really fancy planned, just a trip to a hot pot place with a friend but you must be very hungry. I didn't mean to keep you so late. We could invite Gure as well."
Tori's father cleared his throat and said,
"I'm afraid I have plans but please do enjoy yourself."
I turned to my parents and they seemed quite happy by the idea of hot pot.
"Please. That sounds wonderful."
Kureno rose and bowed to Tori's father and walked him to the door while opening the door for Kiro. The young man looked nervously at us and asked Kureno nervously,
"Am I too early?"
Kureno smiled at Kiro, saying,
"No we ran over time. You know me. Why use one word when three works equally as well."
Kiro relaxed and smiled. Kureno's magic was eternal. A look passed between the two for a split second and it was gone. Kiro replied,
"Yes you do have quite the flowery way of putting things at times."
"It's the generations of poets and artists in my background."
Tori's father said his goodbyes and Kureno turned to Kiro and asked,
"I hope you don't mind if my guests join us for lunch?"
Kiro smiled saying,
"Of course not."
He seemed to enjoy the fact that he wasn't being treated with a cold shoulder in front of guests. I thought as always that they made a cute couple.
Kureono turned back to us and said,
"Where are my manners, this is my friend Kiro. Kiro, you know Mayuko and Hatori, but these are her parents. They're here getting ready for the wedding."
We all bowed and Kureno pulled out his phone and called Gure who was delighted to join us. He then made reservations at a swanky downtown restaurant. After Gure had arrived at Kureno's, the party reconvened for a delightful meal of hot pot.
As we ate, Tori asked,
"Kiro, I've been meaning to ask if you wouldn't mind being the photographer at the wedding?"
"Of course not. I know Chris will be part of the wedding party so I will be happy to do that."
I turned to my mom and dad and said,
"Kiro is a photographer who works for the same publishing company as Chris."
"Yeah, I should have been on that tour he's on as well but he knew it was my anniversary this weekend and didn't want me to miss it."
Kureno smiled and brushed his hand while grabbing for his glass.
"Hmmm," said Gure. "He was willing to let you celebrate your anniversary, but what about.."
A voice interrupted Gure saying,
"Ours?"
We all turned around as Chris walked through the door. He smiled and ruffled Gure's hair. Gure was nearly bowled over. Chris chuckled and said,
"You didn't think I'd forget our seven and a half month anniversary you silly goose!"
"What happened to the author?"
"As I mentioned before I generally go on tours with a whole team. The author is currently doing a reading at a hotel about an hour away. The company was happy to allow me to get away for a night for my anniversary if…."
"If?"
"If you finish your book in time for Christmas sales."
"I'm nearly finished. I think I can make that deadline."
My parents beamed to hear that Gure was almost finished with his new book.
"Oh we'd love to have you do a reading at our store."
Chris smiled saying,
"We will certainly put you on the tour. The company was very happy with the sales recorded at your store. But before we think about that we need you to finish that book."
Chris interlaced his hand with Gure's and the candlelight caused their rings to glow. We all beamed.
Lunch was delightful. While we were all in different places in our relationships, we all enjoyed the companionship of the moment.
Gure turned to Chris and asked,
"How did you know we'd be here?"
"Kureno had this planned ever since he set up the meeting with Mayu's parents. He thought it would be a nice surprise for you and a perfect opportunity to introduce her parents to other members of the family."
Kiro smiled at Chris who looked at Gure. He smiled back conspiratorially and as usual played the irreverent one by saying,
"Perhaps we'll be planning your wedding next."
Kureno chuckled and said,
"Well I have a feeling Aya and Mine will be the next to be joined. But one never knows. The fates are mum on the point."
"Well, if you'd really like to know…"
"I'm fine with a bit of mystery."
My parents looked a bit confused so Tori changed the subject.
"So are you feeling more comfortable with the ceremony?"
He had been looking at my parents but we all answered,
"Yes."
"Good," he said, and smiled at Kiro, and back the group and said,
"I hope you will excuse Kiro and I. We actually do have a meeting to get to."
Tori and I smiled back, we had been at that stage as well. I only hoped that it would eventually get easier.
"Yes, said Chris, "and I'd like to talk to Gure a little bit more about the status of his book."
My parents were of course amused by all of this. They had been young once and had played similar games about having "meetings" to attend. My mother had been a rep for a book company and my father had a tiny bookstore when they first started out. She often visited his store a few more times that was strictly necessary when her company had new books for sale.
Tori turned to me and said,
"You and I probably have grading to do as well."
"Hmmm. Yes. Grading."
We said our goodbyes and, after my parents left i said,
"Well that turned out wonderfully, I feel so much better."
"I'm glad."
Tori Comes Clean
As we actually did have a bit of course prep to do we reconvened into the study when we said goodbye to her parents. But after only a few minutes I caught Mayu looking at me.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you have any idea how sexy you look right now Professor Sohma?"
I had been wearing my glasses as I had been writing the week's syllabus and I smiled at Mayu.
"Well it's still early. The two of us have plenty of time to prepare for the week. I then picked her up and carried her into our bedroom."
She whispered,
"Is it my imagine or has the sex with you gotten even better lately?"
"A lot has to do with confidence my love. We're much more confident with each other."
I thought to myself,
The other half was that tea. I had been quite horny all week and she had noticed. She seemed happy with my answer and certainly didn't bridge any complaints when I showered her with all the love and devotion I had been feeling. I took it slow and relished every moment with her. She ramped up slowly in my arms and the two of us crested gently. I held her tight and the two of us lay companionably together.
After the final waves went through us, Mayu turned to me and said,
"I want to live on the compound. It's just perfect. I want to raise children there, grow old with you, celebrate all the important events, and have it as a backdrop for all our memories."
I held her close. And I felt a warm presence in the back of my head. Of course Inu was pleased, the proximity of our faithful family would give him even greater power.
She seemed to have picked up on something as she asked,
"Was there a great amount of power coming from the shrine?"
I was a bit surprised that she felt it too. But then again I remembered Inu had done a bit of reweaving of our fates. Perhaps the process had made her more sensitive to the supernatural. I thought about what to say and began by soft pedaling the experience I had with Inu.
"Well the truth of it is I prayed for Inu to bless us. I figured we would benefit from all the help we could get. So the Dog has gained in power."
"Are you leaving things out for me Tori?"
I knew I'd have to tell her. And this was the moment. Holding her close I said,
"There's a bit more to the story. After we had several conversations where we discussed our ages and our worries that we might have issues bringing a child into the world, I did pray to Inu for his blessing and then he gave me our wedding present early. He's guaranteed that we will bring a healthy baby into the world by shaping our timeline."
Her face went through several complicated stages of disbelief , frustration, and acceptance but finally she held me close and said,
"I'm just happy we're going to be parents. He did say we could choose when right?"
"Yes he was most specific about that."
"Well that's perfect."
I curled around her and we dozed happily. I found myself in that tea house once again and I said,
"Well that went better than expected."
"Well she clearly loves you and wants to bring a new life into this world with you. I'm just glad I can do this for you as Chris's and Gure's situation would bring about too much manipulation of outside futures. This was an easy fix. I do know however, that they will remain together as that was something I fixed a long time ago."
"Yes his blue eyed lover. We barely understood what that meant at the time as I recalled. How did you explain it to him?"
"I didn't until much, much later. I wish he would have listened to me but I'm glad in the end I was able to make it happen for them."
"And what about Kureno and Kiro?"
"I can't touch that relationship. While the God has relinquished his grasp on him, he still has access to Kureno's fate. And he has a soft spot for him because he was a large part of why the curse was able to be broken. I can say that he smiles upon the relationship as he began it when still very much in control of Kureno."
"Does the Dragon care that you are meddling with his charge?"
"While he is the older brother, and your guardian, he relinquished control when he almost caused the cycle to start again when he took hold of you and made his thoughts known to you. The Snake also has largely let Aya alone, although there was that interesting situation when he decided I needed help with Gure. I was doing fine without him but he had to stick his oar in. In the end I was happy to have a bit of help and I was happy to get him a bit more energy."
Something occurred to me and I asked,
"Will the Dragon be satisfied with the amount of energy he gets from the prayers and offerings at the wedding or will he expect to be there on the wedding night like you were for Gure and Chris?"
"That was a special circumstance. Do not let him pressure you into anything. If he tries he will be punished."
"And you really will wait until we're ready for the baby?"
"That will be completely up to you."
I woke as I felt Mayu rouse next to me and hold me close. She said quietly,
"We should probably get up. I really do have to prepare for the week."
I held her close and asked,
"Are you really ok with this?"
She kissed my forehead and said,
"Do I wish I had a normal relationship with you, yes. But that's clearly not going to happen so I'm happy that it's going to work out ok."
"I think our life will be pretty normal from here on out. And it hasn't been all that strange and the wedding will be fine. Will we have a few extra guests at our wedding? Yes. Will we need to say prayers? Also yes. But that's the case of other couples. Id wager that one of my friends knew approximately half of the people at his wedding as his parents and her parents kept inviting people. And sure we've consulted a bit of an interesting fertility clinic. But some of the things we think of as routine would have looked like magic during the time of my ancestors."
"You are of course right."
We got up and threw on robes so we could finish preparing for the week. And then she asked the question that I thought would have been her first,
"It will be just us on our wedding night right?"
"Yes. As far as I'm concerned it will just be us."