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Autumn.
That day, after school, Momiji insisted on going home with them. The summer holidays had just ended and the new semester had welcomed them with an avalanche of more knowledge, homework and tests, but Momiji wasn’t affected. The mood was always the same – and so was the energy, it seemed, considering all the plans he had made.
Kyo snorted on hearing his enthusiastic voice list to Tohru, with a high-pitched voice, what he had planned for that afternoon, which he said would be the best ever . He rolled his eyes and lengthened his pace, passing through the gates of the building and leaving behind the two who kept chatting, their faces lowered and close, with Tohru sharing the same enthusiasm as Momiji.
The boy looked at her out of the corner of his eye as he waited at traffic lights, lingering on the dazzling smile on her lips and the light in her eyes every time someone proposed to do something together. As if she had nothing in the world to worry about and nothing else to do but accommodate the needs and demands of others. He knew that it was not so, he knew that her agenda was far from free, and yet, to see her there nodding and rejoicing at the idea of the afternoon organized by Momiji to do who knows what childish stuff, someone else might have doubt .
He shook his head, intertwined his hands behind the back of his head and crossed the street, always with a keen eye on those two.
When they finally reached Shigure's house, they found him quietly reading a newspaper. Kyo didn't say a word to him, keeping his expression annoyed and ready to go up and lock himself in his room, but the man blocked him.
“Kyo-kun, are you already leaving?” he asked in a voice even more annoying than Momiji's, if possible.
“I have a lot of homework to do,” he deadpanned.
“Don't you think about our guest? And Tohru-kun was just going to make us a nice cup of tea, don't you want to join us?” Then, without being noticed by others, from under his reading glasses he threw him a knowing look.
“Yuki told me that you don't have much homework to do; I saw him in the hallway before meeting you. Isn't it true, Tohru?” the rabbit intruded, moving so much that the resemblance to the zodiac animal he embodied seemed uncanny.
“Yes, tell us, Tohru-kun,” Shigure continued with a smirk, watching Kyo.
Tohru looked first at Momiji, then at Shigure, and finally she focused on Kyo, who was now even more annoyed but was trying to hide it from her while he thought about the many ways to make those two meddlers pay. “I, actually... I wouldn't want Kyo-kun to feel compelled to stay.” She nodded with vehemence and turned to address him. “You don't have to worry about me,” she added, waving her arms, embarrassed. “Momiji and I will have so much fun!” And that said, she threw the latter another sincere smile that, however, made Kyo falter and turn the same colour of his hair.
He recovered as he looked at Shigure again, even if his cheeks remained scarlet. Then, trying to contain the anger that was slowly mounting in his chest to prevent Tohru from getting hurt, he exclaimed, “Stop wasting my time with this bullshit!” and ran straight for the stairs.
Shigure shook his head, reopened the newspaper and adjusted his glasses. “There's really nothing to do with that boy ,” he sighed. “Are you sure you don't want to change your mind, Tohru-kun? A ray of sunshine like you.”
“Uh?” was Tohru’s brilliant response, who had not grasped the implicit message at all.
He laughed, amused, and waving his hand with an innocent expression he resumed, “Oh, nothing, nothing. So, th is tea?”
Winter.
That morning Kyo got up all sore. He sat down and then stretched, already eyeing the sweatpants he had prepared the night before in anticipation of the morning run. However, behind the curtain, he noticed the grey clouds in the sky and the drizzle that was falling and realized the hell that awaited him instead. Another glance at the alarm clock revealed he had woken up well after his usual time.
He groaned.
Just what he needed to face another day at school dodging annoying girls, boring classmates and pushy relatives.
He closed his eyes, throwing his head back on the pillow, and covered them with one arm. He could already feel the pain in his bones increasing to the rhythm of the drops that drummed on the roof and windows, stronger and stronger.
Ploff, ploff, ploff.
He sighed again and contemplated the idea of remaining hidden in his room. What were the chances that Shigure wouldn't bother him or someone wouldn't call from school? He did not have time to think about it, though, because, a moment later, a slight knock on the door joined the sound of the rain.
He pondered ignoring whoever was, but since no one respected his privacy in th at house apart from Tohru, he gave it up. “Come in,” he muttered, his voice muffled by his still-raised arm covering most of his face.
“Kyo-kun” Tohru greeted him with a cheerfulness in her voice that would have been unthinkable for him in the morning – that it would always be unthinkable. “I hope I’m not bothering you, but I noticed you hadn't come down yet and I got worried. Breakfast is ready and Yuki would like to leave soon.”
He finally removed his arm from his face and sat up to take a good look at her: the cheerful notes he had perceived in her voice were also visible on her face, although Kyo was trained enough to recognize the small frown between the eyebrows that indicated she was worried. He knew he was the cause and therefore he bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t give her a grumpy answer. Instead, he only nodded.
“I’m coming,” he offered. And that stupid rat could go to school alone if he was in such a hurry!
In response, Tohru threw him a dazzling smile, the kind that made him blush every time – which he did not fail to do that morning – and turned to leave him alone again. “I made some extra salmon this morning,” she only said before she closed the door behind her.
At that point, a hint of a smile appeared on Kyo's lips too, despite the rain, the pain, and all the annoyances that would invade his day, as if it did not present itself as exhausting before it had even begun.
Spring.
“Forget it,” he said before ignoring him in favour of his lunch.
“But Kyooooo,” Momiji complained, hanging on his arm and preventing him from bringing the chopsticks to his mouth. “We must respect tradition!”
“There is no tradition. Forget it,” he repeated, making a great effort not to let him fly off the roof where he had taken refuge during the break – to be regularly disturbed.
“There will be if you say yes, if we all go together,” continued Momiji. “Haru also said yes this time; isn't it, Haru?” he turned to the other boy.
“Hn,” was the latter's reply, followed by a nod of the head and the expression of one who had no idea what was being discussed.
“They all said yes,” Momiji whined. “Don't ruin our party as usual. Don't you want to give your gift to Tohru for White Day? How will she know you like her, then, huh? Huh? Huh?”
Kyo began to count mentally but got stuck at two and Momiji didn't fly off the roof for real just because he no longer looked like a middle-school student . Now that he surpassed almost all of them in height, in fact, it would have been difficult to mistreat him as in the past.
At that point, Haru also approached, covering Kyo from the warm spring sun. “ You should come, Kyo,” he explained seriously. “Aren't you interested in spending more time with Honda-san away from the intrusive eyes of the sensei?” Then he left, with the same nonchalance he had used to talk, taking with him a jumping Momiji, who was now certain that Kyo would n’t refuse.
And the latter had no choice but to snort, wondering why everyone suddenly seemed aware of his affection for Tohru – except her, even though it was better this way.
And so, a couple of weeks after White Day and the arrival of spring, the y found themselves on a trip to yet another estate/vacation spot owned by the So h ma family to spend a weekend together and celebrate what for Momiji would become the new family tradition , one that absolutely had to involve the only person who did not share that surname: Tohru.
“It's beautiful, Momiji-kun!” she exclaimed as soon as she saw the place where they would be staying for the next two nights.
The villa was surrounded by greenery, but now that the many cherry trees had blossomed, there was mostly an expanse of white and pink that took her breath away and moved her at the idea of how lucky she was to have such a chance.
Momiji, who as usual shared her enthusiasm, d idn’t waste time and taking her by the hand, dragged her away, leaving Yuki, Haru and Kyo to take care of the suitcases.
“Keh,” the latter snorted, before throwing his and Tohru's bag over his shoulders. He didn't understand how could they be so excited to see something that they could witness every year. Yet, he didn’t say no to Tohru’s company, though he would have gladly done without Yuki's glares, Haru's teasing, and Momiji's excited shouts.
He looked back at the couple ahead of him, and even though they were a little far away, he could still read the girl's sincere euphoria.
He smiled, in spite of himself, and thought that although he could not share her sentiment, at least it was worth being there – for Tohru.
Summer .
Kyo had planned everything down to the smallest detail, as he did not usually do, and that meant he had gone far beyond his normal efforts. But evidently, it had not been enough.
Not if he had opened the door to find none other than Arisa and Hanajima in front of him.
He had been sure he had managed to divert all their attention from that day so that they would leave them alone at least once. Just once!
And yet.
“What are you doing here?” he blurted out, not hiding his annoyance.
“What do you think, orange top?” replied Arisa, pushing him with her shoulder and forcing him to let them in. “We are here to oversee your date with Tohru. You thought you had fooled us, huh?” she smiled mockingly at him. “It will be some time before you can do it. If ever,” she snorted.
“It's our duty to make sure everything goes as planned and you don't make our Tohru suffer,” agreed Hanajima, who was dressed in black despite the sultry heat of those days and was just closing her parasol, also black, before entering and leaving Kyo behind. “I'm always willing to convince Arisa to leave,” she added, turning to him, “as long as you agree to call me mother.”
The boy clenched his fists and teeth, trying to control himself. W hat had he done wrong to deserve those two? And, above all, what bipolar disorder did they suffer from? Arisa's aggressive tones and Hanajima's macabre ones had already disappeared now that they were hugging Tohru. It was nothing new, of course, but it was not what he had planned for th e day.
Yet… yet, mother one and mother two had again nipped his perfectly-laid plans in the bud and would be tagging along to oversee their date.
He sighed as he closed the door behind him.
He had to hold on . For Tohru, he could do it.
Kyo had changed since the curse was broken, Tohru knew it well and had not expected anything different.
Of that closed and grumpy boy she had first met there were still corners to be smoothed, but the person hidden underneath those layers, the one Tohru had unrevealed almost immediately and she had fallen in love with, was now under the bright warm sun.
Everyone could see him – and love him – just as she had done for a long time.
Tohru watched h is bickering with Uo-chan and Hana-chan, reading in their at-first-sight complicated interactions an affection they would never admit but they were aware of. She smiled, proud of who he had become, and then secretly wiped away the tear that had escaped from the corner of her eye before one of them noticed and worried unnecessarily. Then, he saw Uo trying to throw Kyo into the fountain in the park, passing it off as a simple accident and burst out laughing heartily at seeing his angry response.
Kyo was probably right, a date without her friends would have been completely different – and even quieter – yet, Tohru couldn't feel bad every time th ey showed up, on time, to join them. With the right company, days like this had a completely different flavo u r.
Besides, she knew she would have plenty of time to spend alone with Kyo in the future.
She was sure of it.