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“And Kyo has this amazing opportunity in Nikko, there is a dojo that has expressed that they want to hire him!” Tohru babbles out. She and Kyo are currently at Shigure’s house with Uotani, Hanajima, and the younger Sohma’s telling them about their upcoming plans.
“You’re leaving us?” Kisa asks in a sad voice. Tohru’s heart breaks at the question.
“Not really, Nikko is only 2 hours away by train so we will still be able to visit all the time.” Tohru pulls Kisa into a hug while wiping away the younger girl’s tears.
“But that is still so far, and it will be hard for you to visit if you both are working.” Momiji complains. Next to Tohru Kyo sighs, knowing that they would all complain about distance unless Tohru moved in with them.
“Well, maybe but we will still try to visit every so often. I do not have a set schedule yet because I am still looking for a job, but Kyo’s schedule is already set so we will be able to plan around that for now.” Tohru reasons with them. Kyo can’t tell if she is reasoning with them or with herself. They had spent the last week talking through everything to make sure Tohru was sure. Every time they would sit down to talk Kyo would remind Tohru that she did not have to come, he was leaving everything up to her, but she was set on coming. She would remind him that where every he went, she would follow, it didn’t matter if it was two hours away or two days away, she would go everywhere. From his seat Kyo sees Yuki looking at him, he raises his eyebrows as to ask if he had a problem. Yuki cuts his eyes to the door and wordlessly gets up to walk out.
“I’ll be right back.” He whispers in Tohru’s ear before placing a kiss on her cheek and getting up from his seat. Kyo follows Yuki up the stairs and out onto the small balcony where Tohru hangs the laundry. Yuki walks to the edge looking out over the skyline of Tokyo, the sun slowly setting behind the tall buildings.
“You’ll take care of her.” Yuki wasn’t asking Kyo, he was making a statement.
“For as long as she’ll let me. We both have talked about her staying if that would truly make her happy but every time, she turns it down. You know Tohru, once her mind is made up there is no changing it.” Yuki nods.
“She is very stubborn.” Kyo chuckles.
“You can say that again.” Kyo walks over to where Yuki is standing and glances over to him.
“Don’t worry Yuki, we aren’t leaving for over a year. She will be around for a while, and even then, I’m sure she would love it if you visited some. I’ll be pretty busy for the first few months while adjusting to teaching, so I’m sure having a friend over would help her adjust.” If you would have told Kyo a year ago he would be inviting Yuki over to his future house he would have asked if you were playing a cruel joke, yet here he is, trying to be civil with him for the sake of Tohru.
“I’ll have to see what my class schedule will look like once I move to Kyoto University. That is over 7 hours of travel, so it will be a little hard to plan around that.” Kyo nods.
“Well, if you ever find the time, just know you will be welcome.” Kyo gives Yuki a small smile and Yuki returns it.
“I sure am going to miss this place. A lot has happened since I moved here.” Yuki sighs and Kyo can tell Yuki’s mind is far off.
“It sure has, who would have thought we would get this far.” Yuki nods and the two boys stand there in silence.
While standing there they hear the door open and small footsteps approach. They both turn around and find Tohru standing there with a big smile.
“Is everything ok?” Kyo asks worriedly. Tohru nods.
“I was about to start making dinner, so I wanted to check on you two since you have been up here for a while. Kyo glances down at his watch and sees over 30 minutes have passed.
“Yes, everything is ok, sorry to worry you Ms. Honda. We were just talking about a few things.” Yuki says with a smile.
“Ok, good. Are you two done talking or would you like me to leave you two?” Kyo reaches out his hand to Tohru while glancing back at Yuki.
“We are done, come on I’ll help you start on dinner.”
“Perfect! Two hands make the work go faster.” The three of them head back downstairs to the chaos that is the younger Sohma’s. Kyo laughs when he sees Haru scolding Hiro for a bratty comment while Shigure sulks in a corner, no doubt the recipient of Hiro’s comment.
“Kyo! Tohru said whenever you two move I can come visit whenever I want. Isn’t that good news!!” Momiji shouts from next to Kisa. Kyo grimaces at the thought of Momiji traveling the 2 hours to visit what he believes would be every weekend.
“So exciting.” He says sarcastically before following Tohru to the kitchen. Tohru laughs at his response while she ties her apron.
“Don’t worry I already told him he has to call ahead to make sure we aren’t busy.” Kyo lets out a sigh of relief, as long as he has time to mentally prepare, he will be ok.
“Good, now what do you need help with?” Tohru smiles and quickly gives Kyo some instruction.
After about an hour the scent of Shogayaki, rice, and miso soup could be smelled throughout the house. Tohru wanted to go with something simple since all their friends were over. As Kyo and her brought over the food everyone gathered around the table, laugh as the pushed each other to get the best seat. They each took a place and began filling them with the delicious food.
“I sure will miss our Dear Tohru’s cooking that is for sure.” Shigure says as he takes a bite of his pork.” Tohru blushes as she eats her own.
“Yes, Kyo is one lucky man. He will get to eat her cooking every day without having to share with anyone.” Haru says as he glances the young couple. “Though they will be living alone without a chaperone, who knows maybe he will have to share soon.” Shigure cackles at Haru’s statement and Kyo has to hold himself back from punching his friend. Next to Kyo, Tohru looks deep in thought. The older people at the table watch hoping Tohru understands what Haru was implying so they don’t have to explain. After a few seconds Tohru’s face goes red and she gasps.
“Haru! There are children at the table!” She practically yells, mortified that he would imply such things.
“It’s not like they don’t know where babies come from. Hiro’s mom literally just had one this past year.” He says with a shrug.
“That doesn’t mean you go around saying that we will have one right after we graduate.” Kyo goes to grab Haru by the collar, but Yuki stops him.
“Let him be. We all know half the things that come out of Haru’s mouth don’t make any sense.” Kyo just grunts, still trying to get to Haru.
“Oh please, we all know that it is bound to happen, it’s not like I am speaking nonsense.”
“Haru?” Everyone’s heads snap over to Tohru, whose face was still bright read as she looked down at her food embarrassed.
“Can we please change the subject?” She asks in a whisper volume. Kyo stops fighting against Kyo and goes to wrap his arm around Tohru, shielding her red face. Haru sighs and nods.
“Sorry Honda. I was just trying to make a joke; I shouldn’t have kept pushing.” Tohru lifts her head up slightly and smiles.
“Thank you, Haru.” He smiles back and everyone goes back to eating and talking to one another.
“So, do you know if you will live in the dojo or find a house?” Momiji asks as he finishes his plate. Both Kyo and Tohru shrug.
“We just decided on what dojo I would work at the other day, so we haven’t had the chance to look to far into housing. But I think as of right now we want to try and find a rental property, I could deal with living in a dojo since I was raised in one, but I want Tohru to feel like she has a home and not just a room.” Kyo explains.
“That is very thoughtful Kyo, especially since it will cost more than if you just lived there.” Kyo sighs.
“Yeah, it will cost a good bit but Dad is letting me teach classes now after school and Tohru is going to pick up more hours at work so we will be able to put something into a savings account.”
“What about your bank account from the Sohma’s?” Hiro asks, not bothering to look up from his last bite of food. Kyo hesitates before responding.
“I am refusing to use that money; I want to start our new lives without the Sohma family’s help. To me that money feels like a connection to the way things used to be. That bank account and money was given to me while I was still viewed as an outsider in the family. I refused to use the money then and I refuse to use it now.” Kyo tries to explain without sounding to harsh, he also makes sure to be careful of his wording since Hanajima and Uotani are eating with them. Hiro just shrugs and continues to eat his dinner.
“You know, I’ve heard that Nikko has a beautiful mountain range that you can see from the city.” Uotani says trying to change the subject after noticing how quiet it got when Kyo mentioned being an outsider. Yuki nods agreeing with her.
“They are also known for their beautiful shrines and temples up in those mountains.” He says, adding in on the conversation.
“Kyo and I were looking up Nikko and saw some pictures of everything. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything looked. We found where in the city the dojo will be located and we are hoping to find a house in that area within walking distance, though we are also ok with a short bus ride.” Tohru tells everyone excitedly. Kyo smiles at her enthusiasm, happy that she is willing to make this move to be with him.
As dinner finished up everyone found themselves sitting out on the engawa watching as the sun finished setting and the stars started to come out
“Can you believe it has almost three years since Tohru came into most of our lives.” Shigure says as he fans himself. The Sohma’s looks around at each other, a look of almost disbelief on their faces.
“Has it really been that long?” Momiji asks while glance at the brunette. He smiles at the sight he is met with. Tohru has found herself between Kyo, who is laying down with his head on her lap, and Kisa who has curled up to her side, drifting in and out of sleep. It may hurt now, but he knows that she never belonged with him, and he will gladly step back and watch what she accomplishes with this new life she is starting.
“It’s hard to believe that you three will be starting your last year of high school in only a short week. Why it’s enough to make me shed a tear.” Shigure once again speaks up. Yuki rolls and eyes and Kyo lets out an annoyed sigh.
“Control yourself, you’re embarrassing yourself. You act as if you raised us or something.” Kyo says, never opening his eyes.
“I may not have raised you three, but I have been your guardian for several years now. I think that gives me the right to be emotional.” Shigure starts to sniffle and again Kyo groans.
“I can’t believe Akito puts up with your ass.” Yuki says while rolling his eyes.
“I’m wounded Yuki. How could you say that.” Tohru watches as the three men go back and forth arguing and she just laughs.
After a few minutes of watching Uotani stands up.
“As lovely as this has been I think it is time for me to head home. I have to get up early in the morning to catch my train.”
“Are you going to go see Kureno?” Uotani nods.
“Yeah, he wanted me to come see him before school starts back. I’ll be down there with him for 3 days.” Tohru taps Kyo’s arm, and he sits up to allow her to stand. She pulls the tall blonde into a hug.
“Have a safe journey.” Uotani smiles before heading out the front gate, smiling when she looks back and see Tohru still standing there waving.
After Uotani left it wasn’t long until everyone else slowly started to leave. Each time someone got up Tohru would hug the goodbye and stand there waving until they made it out of eyesight. Kyo smiled as he watched there were some days, he could not believe someone was capable of so much kindness. Once the last person was gone Shigure, Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru were left sitting on the front porch.
“It feels like it was just yesterday that you three were moving into my house. Now here you three are, planning your lives for when you leave this house.” “It’s hard to believe how much you three have grown. Kyo, you had an uncontrollable anger that no one could get through, Yuki, you had no emotion and were just moving through life without making connections.” Shigure goes quiet for a moment, looking at each teenager individually. “And Tohru, you were living in a tent when Yuki and I first met you. Who would have thought that one day would change so much.” Tohru blushed and the two boys sat there looking uncomfortable. It was rare for Shigure to be this serious and they weren’t sure how to react.
“Thank you for taking us in Shigure, there is no telling where any of us would be without you.” Yuki says with a small smile. Tohru nods.
“Without you I would have been trapped in my tent when the cliffs collapsed. I also wouldn’t have this family; I wouldn’t have met any of you and we wouldn’t be a close as we are.” Tohru begins to tear up as she talks.
“Don’t go getting all teary eyed, we aren’t leaving for almost a year. We still have plenty of time in this house.” Kyo says as he pulls a tissue from his pocket. After living with Tohru for over a year he has learned that you can never have to many tissues on you. She takes it with a small smile before wiping her eyes.
“You’re right Kyo! We still have plenty of time, and I plan to make every second count.” She pumps her fists in the air and all three men stare at her fondly. None of them say a word but they are all thinking the same thing.
‘We wouldn’t be who we are today without Tohru.’