Summary: She could still feel his eyes on her.


"It's. The. Sea!"

Tohru cheered along with Kisa and Momo excitedly as all three of them raced towards the waters, with Momo pulling both their hands, momentarily forgetting that two of them were supposed to be adults already and should be a little more matured when it comes to beach outings. Alas, Tohru was resolved to just focus on the fun and excitement.

The Soma men were not that far behind, lugging some of the things they needed for the planned barbecue at night, some of them – Hiro – most likely, calling out to the three of them to be a little more careful and to stop acting like kids. The two younger girls stuck their tongues out at him and emphasized how much they cared by starting the most common thing to do when at a beach: splash fest.

By far, Momo was leading by a huge margin, if one could judge who's winning a water fight with the amount of water she's already splashed the two of them with. Tohru was resolved to make her revenge when she made the mistake to glance back at the shore for one whole, precious minute, and abruptly got caught full on the face with salt water.

Momo immediately panicked, asking her if she was okay and was apologizing profusely, worried that the salt water had gotten into her eyes (which luckily, it hadn't) and she hurriedly reassured the girl, her cheeks fiercely red at being caught red-handed.

She could still feel his eyes on her.

Tohru had gotten badly distracted when she had glanced back at the shore – due to the most distracting human being in it.

Soma Momiji had bent down to place one of the ice chests down on one of the blankets, laughing at something that Hatsuharu had said, the sleeves of his yellow beach shirt tightening around biceps which were, very noticeably, filled out in a way that satisfies a woman's eyes if they happened to pay attention to him at that exact moment. He wasn't bulky, he wasn't lanky either – the happy go lucky teen she used to know had grown to a man indeed.

And Tohru found herself wondering why she was seeing him with fresh appreciation now all of a sudden.

There was an unspeakable tension between her and Momiji these days – barely noticeable to those who don't know them as much, but it was there. It felt like they were suspended in midair, like they were waiting for something to fall and crash to this silent balance that existed between them and they in turn would end up crashing into each other because of it. It can be compared to a kettle about to reach the boiling point – only that the water can be compared to some feelings which were close to boiling over.

Tohru absently wondered if Momo is aware of this tension that existed between her adopted older sister and her older brother. She liked to think she wasn't, because if she is and she asks, Tohru wouldn't know how to answer.

At the exact time she looked at him – he turned to her direction, soft topaz gaze immediately seeking her out, quickly landing on her form. She was acutely aware that she was on her yellow one-piece, modest but playful enough for the strings to be tied at the back, and she felt insanely conscious.

Did he think it suits her?

And then the water had been splashed on her face.

She was reassuring Momo but she could feel his eyes on her, still watching her. She has had this realization a few days before this outing – he had always been watching her, always observing if he had the chance to. Not in a creepy, unsettling way, but more like for the sake of being aware of her and how she was doing. Oh he was still playful, silly in a more adult way, but in rare moments of quiet, he liked to observe. She shouldn't have been surprised. He was quick to catch on to anything that concerns her or something she was concerned with, faster than she could even expect. When he filmed their play back in high school and told her he would send it to 'Hari' for Uo should have clued her in already at that simple fact.

Today, this silent tension between them ends… and Tohru would make sure that he knows that it's okay to keep his attention on her as long as he would be hers.

Forever.