Chapter 30 - Blasf from the past

Yuki's eyes scaned over to the woman sitting in front of him. She had not recognized his presence the entire time she'd sat down and she looked rather intense. He couldn't figure out this strange girl sitting while looking behind her as if she was being chased by a mad man. Why was she even here? He wasn't exactly used to being ignored. It seemed rather cocky but he was after all the prince of the host club. He finally cleared his throat loudly making her gray eyes dart towards him.

"Are you okay?" Yuki asked finally leaning toward the girl.

She looked away. "Why do you ask that?"

"Well, you haven't spoken a single word since you sat down." He responded. She wasn't like the usual group of girls that requested him. Normally the kind of women that requested Yuki were obsessive type of squealing girls. But not this one, this one was quite silent and reserved. What was she doing with a host club? And if she was to choose a host club member, it should have been more of perhaps Hatori's type or maybe even Kyo (since no girl could resist him really).

The girl looked over where a table of screaming girls were, hovering around Kyo's table. Very few other people were attending to the other host members and it looked as if a few of the men even started a card game. She didn't know why she was even dragged here. The day before, her friend, Kimi, took her to a play. She sort of liked plays and agreed to join her, but she was not expecting to find the entire cast to be males. Even the shocker at the end that one of the males turned out to really be a woman was a surprise! Then today, Kimi insisted to go back with her to this host club, and she agreed, just going along with whatever her hyper friend asked. She didn't know why she was so easily persuaded. Perhaps it was her way of avoiding the mundane nothingness of her empty apartment down town.

Upon coming to the Sohma house, she found the beautiful Victorian room lavishly decorated as if someone important, like a queen, was to arrive. It certainly looked different in the daytime. Kimi immediately left her side to join the group of fan girls crowding around a table as she just watched for a moment.

Didn't look like her kind of thing.

Surprisingly no one came to greet her and she just walked over to a basket of fortune cookies. Taking one and opening it, it read, 'Monkey-sama awaits you!'

'What an odd place...' She began walking aimlessly through the mob of girls, trying to find this 'monkey' table. Somewhere...

After a good ten minutes she gave up in the push and shove of rather aggressive young women. She didn't need this right now. She began pushing her way out of the maddness. 'How does Kimi even consider this place fun?'

"Kimi! Kimi!" She fruitlessly called out. She felt herself trip over someone's foot on the floor, stumbling around like a fool. She finally found a passage way out of the maze and burst through the girls as if she had just risen from the depths of the ocean, gulping for precious air.

Trying to escape the mad mob of girls, she sat down at a more seclusive area of the room only to turn around and see herself sitting in front of what looked like a Greek God.

That was their theme, Greece. Indeed everyone was in togas and had a wreathe upon his or her head. There was only one female, who she assumed to be the one actress from the night before, and she was chating with a boy with black and white hair. He was not wearing a toga though, but normal clothes.

Once again, what an odd place.

She turned back to the Greek God before her and realized he was speaking to her. "Excuse me?"

Yuki cleared his throat. "I asked if you were requesting a different host. It doesn't seem that you would go for the 'Prince' type, if you don't mind me saying." He watched her facial expression turn from surprise to nothing. She didn't even bat an eyelash at him. Not even a blush. She really was a strange girl.

She looked him up and down. Rather dark gray hair, a wiry body, violet eyes, a charming smile... a prince he says. She closed her eyes. "You do not remind me of a prince." Yuki's eyes widened at that. "You look rather normal... if you don't mind me saying." She opened her eyes as violet clashed with gray, the pair staring at each other as if something had just sparked.

Normal...

She stood up. "I'm sorry if I was bothing you, I should be leaving now." She bowed and abruptly turned away from Yuki, impressed with how much she'd just spoken a moment ago.

"W-wait!"

The girl turned around slightly to see the prince stand up in a crooked stance.

Yuki walked over to the girl asking, "What is your name?"

"..."

For the first time, Yuki felt his heart race unexpectedly. What an odd feeling in his chest. "I ah... that is if you don't feel comfortable..."

"My name is Machi...Kuragi."

Yuki brightened up at the small tid bit of information he'd collected from the girl. "Kuragi-hime..."

She thought on the horrific 'princess' and shook her head. She was far from a princess, she was too shy, nervous, quiet... anything but a princess. But if that was what he insisted on calling her, she guessed it was okay.

"Yes." She replied. Machi was curious why her voice sounded so dry and unsure.

Yuki frowned. "You don't like that do you?"

"It doesn't matter to me." She quickly covered.

"I can tell you don't like it."

Machi stared at Yuki for a moment longer and only turned around to walk out of this host club. It frightened her how he nearly read her like a book She shouldn't had said anything to this man! She put a hand to her cheek feeling flush.

Yuki watched her leave, completely ignoring the mob of girls, as she walked away from him. He decided she might not really care what his name was, but it was okay.

She said he was normal. Something so trivial might have hurt a man's ego, but not Yuki. All his life, people had told him how handsome he was, how important he was, how special he was. Sometimes he wished to just disappear and be like everyone else. Like no one would be expecting anything of him besides just being alive. Sometimes he just wanted to be normal. Being cursed with the spirit of the rat didn't help his 'normal-ness' either.

Tohru may be one of the very few outside of his relatives that accepted him for who he really was. Sometimes he felt she treated him special though. Like always tending to his table first during hours and such. It didn't bother him really but Machi struck a chord within him. He sat back down in his chair and slapped a hand over his face.

How cliche! Yuki Sohma thinking so intimately about a woman he'd only briefly met! Love at first sight nonetheless! Slowly he slid his hand down his face while releasing a sigh.

The last woman he'd fallen in love with never learned of his feelings. She left to study abroad and never returned. She always treated him normally: played tricks on him, invited him with friends to the movies, go ice skating, sometimes even study together. She didn't place him on a pedestal...

...those happy memories suddenly bubbled to the surface.

So for this girl from out of no where to come and tell him she didn't really see a prince but a normal person made him happy. No one had ever told him that. How strange but beautiful. Something so simple could brighten up his day. Even if he never saw Machi ever again he was happy to know there was someone in the world that saw him for who he was. Not a prince, not a host, just Yuki.

"Yuki-kun!" The young man straightened up and turned to see Tohru's smile and her cute little head bobbing up and down. "There's a message for you from one of the customers!"

"Oh." Yuki returned her smile. It always made him smile to see Tohru so happy. "What is it, Honda-san?"

Tohru cleared her throat and let her eyes float to the ceiling as if she was ready to repeat a memorized speech. "She says, 'It didn't bother me, but thank you for thinking kindly of me.' Hm, that was it." Tohru watched Yuki for a moment and giggled. "She was very soft spoken but she left with a little smile on her face. Almost like she found something fascinatingly cute. Did you know when someone says you're cute, it is usually a form of saying 'I love you'? Yes, my mom used to tell it to me all the time. Maybe that quiet girl thought you were cute, Yuki-kun?" She clasped her hands behind her back while smiling. Smiling because of how cute Yuki's face looked red as a ripe cherry.


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Ayame watched Tohru tell Yuki something and his face go bright red. Ah to be so young.
"Find your little brother interesting, Aya?"

"Of course, Gure-san! What better past time than spying on my little brother and getting the latest gossip! I wonder what it was that Tohru told him to make him blush so hard!" Ayame responded to his long time friend. Ayame placed a card on the table. "Hit me."

Hatori shifted his eyes to Tohru. "To be honest, I'm surprised she'd still living with us."

"The way Rin-san looked livid yesterday. I'm surprised Tohru-kun is alive!" Shigure laughed.

"Don't even joke about that. Remember that time some little boy threw Rin-san's doll in the mud when she was still small? I don't think that child ever walked again."

"True true." Shigure folded his cards as Ayame and Hatori showed their cards. "'Tori-san wins again." Ayame grabbed the deck and began shuffling again. Shigure leaned his chin on his open palm. "Last night went better than I thought it would though."


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Flashback
"Why don't you give us an explanation of what is going on here?" Kagura said.

"It's a long story Kagura-chan." Shigure tiredly explained while rubbing his temples. "Can this wait?"

"NO."

"Scary!"

Hatori stepped in. "We will explain. Come." Ayame, Hatori, and Shigure lead Kisa, Kagura, and Rin away to the office/library. The customers were all leaving and the other host members were busy cleaning up and ushering the ladies out. Yuki and Kyo waited around for Tohru though. The small group went away un-noticed.

Upon entering the enormous library Kagura threw her hands up and spun around as soon as the door closed. "Okay! We've been waiting now tell us what the hell is going on!"

"Kagura-neechan..." Kisa said, rarely hearing Kagura curse.

"Well you see, Tohru-kun has been boarding with us for the entire summer. Wait wait, don't throw that chair at me just yet Kagura-chan!" Shigure panicked seeing Kagura's hand involuntarily tighten on the chair she was leaning on. "You see, Tohru-kun was running away from a bad situation one night. She was alone, scared, confused, and broken. Kyo-kun found her outside the gates and helped her inside."

Kagura nodded silently as Rin leaned against a wall, propping one foot on the wall. Kisa took a seat in the chair Kagura was leaning on.

"Kyo-kun is so nice." Kagura whispered.

"When Tohru-kun came to, she was in a tizzy. Yuki-kun invited her to stay until she could get her debt paid off during her short stay with us, also because she had no where to go. She really wasn't supposed to be a permanant member of this household but after paying her debt off..." Shigure looked up at the large bookshelves lining the walls from end to end. It felt so awkward telling this tale as if it happened so long ago. Had she really been with them so long?

"Well she decided to stay a little longer and we let her." Ayame filled in seeing Shigure was taking too long to answer.

"What? You know that's against the rules!" Rin once again scolded. She stood up straight. "If you won't kick her @$$ out, I will Ayame."

The king put a hand up. "Wait. This is where it gets interesting." He drew out a dramatic pause. "You see, the night before she was supposed to leave we were throwing a summer party in her honor. Weeks before this, there seemed to be a little how do you say... spark between Tohru and Kyonkichi."

"Oh? My little Kyo-kun?" Kagura asked now totally engrossed with the story. "Romance!"

"Yes, yes. That night, Kyonkichi hugged Tohru-- oh but she already knew about the curse since she accidentally ran into Kyonkichi in the middle of a bad storm." He watched the girls faces contort into funny looks. "Ah, long story, but I digress. He hugged her and a miraculous thing happened, the curse broke! Once and for all, Kyonkichi was not cursed, it was splended! A real sight to see, he finally bloomed into a young man!"

"Yay, Kyo-kun!" Kagura cheered. "Wait. So that means...?"

Shigure clapped his hands now cutting in after Ayame. "Well, skipping a few details--"

"You mean a lot of details." Hatori muttered.

"Kyo-kun confessed to Tohru-kun that he loves her."

"That still doesn't explain anything about why that girl is still living with you. Fine. Kyo and her hooked up. But she is not a Sohma. She can't live in the main house with all of you. She's a female and she's a stranger!"

"She already knew about the curse." Shigure said.

"You should have erased her memory."

"She promised she wouldn't tell."

"Damnit, Shigure, don't be so stupid! What if she lied? Hua? You could have put the entire family in danger! So you took in a sad girl and got a love interest for Kyo, I don't give a shoot! What I care about is making sure this family doesn't get messed up because of... of some GIRL!"

"She only means well, Rin-san."

"You don't know that! Even if you do now, what about back then? She knew you were rich people! She could just be hanging around for the money. She knows our biggest secret, she could have done anything with that kind of information. Potentially destroyed our family! Don't you remember making that unspoken rule? No outsiders living with us! And in your case, any female ones!"

"She broke the curse for Kyo-kun, Rin." Hatori reasoned.

"Kyo could fall in love with the wrong person. It happens, you know." She shot back bitterly.

Everyone fell silent after her remark. Kisa felt the tension fill the room, it was almost suffocating. Would they kick Tohru out now?

Ayame saw the hurt run through Hatori's eyes but he gently patted his friend on the back. Rin made a low blow reminding Hatori of Kana like that. He knew she was only trying to think of the good for the Sohmas but he knew Tohru was a different person.

He fished around his pocket and found the metallic circle brush against his finger tips. "You know how we said Tohru ran away from a bad situation?" Ayame pulled out an engagement ring from his pocket and held it up for Rin to see. "Her fiance cheated on her, mentally abused her, and did who knows what else to a poor girl like her. She was in need of help and we gave it to her. I understand that the Sohmas are very important to you, Rin, they're important to everyone! But we all agreed to help Tohru out and so we did take a big gamble back then, letting her keep her memories of our curse, but look at us now. She's still with us, still going on and doing everything she can to help us in return. We really didn't sacrifice much to help her but she'd giving everything up to start a new with us. A new start with Kyo."

"She'd been hurt and she bounced back. She's like part of the family now and if you can't accept that, I'll be happy to leave the Sohma house along with Tohru-kun." Shigure added.

Ayame rolled the engagemnt band between his fingers. "This ring is what bound her to her old life but she gave it up. She trusted us and we trust her. What does it matter if she's an outsider or not? Kureno got married to Arisa-san."

"That's different." Rin interjected. "I liked Arisa-san."

Ayame gave a hearty laugh, clearing some of the tension in the room. He flipped the ring in Rin's direction, the girl catching the glimmering band in her open palms. "Who said you wouldn't like Tohru? FYI, Arisa and Tohru are best friends."

Kagura's eyes widened. "No kidding!"

"Nope!"

"I like Tohru-neechan." Everyone turned to Kisa. "I knew she was a girl the moment I saw her."

"You never told us, Kisa-chan, you little sneak!" Kagura joked.

"I... I thought Rin-neesan would be really mad and I didn't want Tohru-neechan to get in trouble. Besides, Kyo-nii seemed to really like her. I want her to be part of the family!"

"Kisa!" Rin said in surprise.

She smaller girl only smiled. "I can tell she's a nice person. She wouldn't give out our secret. I bet... I bet one day she and Kyo-nii would get marri...!"

Suddenly the library door opened to reveal Tohru standing in the middle with Yuki and Kyo on either side of her. She quickly entered the room giving the three Sohma girls a deep bow.

"I... I'm sorry if I've offended you in any way. To be honest, I would have told you I was a girl, but I didn't want any of my friends to get in trouble because of me. It... it looks like I've already done too much damage-- too much!"

"Tohru-kun," Shigure tried to passify.

"And I hope you can forgive me. I'll do whatever it takes! I'll go to your home and be your housekeeper! I'll move out right now! Please, anything, I just don't want anyone to be mad especially if it's over me."

Rin stared at the girl apologizing like crazy. If she was in Tohru's shoes she knew she wouldn't be so nice. She would have just flicked them off and went on living with the Sohmas. Either this Tohru girl was just too nice of a person or she had absolutely no backbone.

Kagura walked over to Tohru and grabbed for her hand. "It's okay. I understand it must be hard for you living with the Sohma guys. None of them can cook, save for Hatori-san. The day we came to visit a couple weeks ago, I thought there was something different about everyone, but I guess we just didn't see it. I'll admit I was pretty mad and all, but..." Kagura tugged Tohru in and gave her a tight squeeze. "How can I be mad at Kyo-kun's little sugar-bunny! Oh, you two must be so cute together!"

"Uwahh!"

"Knock it off, Kagura!"

"Oh, don't hide it, Kyo-kun! I guess I can't run around screaming how much I love you anymore!" She latched onto Kyo while laughing and tugging at his cheeks making Kyo rather annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. She teased him relentlessly now-a-days.

"Get off me, woman!"

"You're just too cute!" Kagura turned on Tohru who was watching with confusion and happiness. "Tohru-chan, you're going to have to talk to me! I want to know everything about Kyo-kun's sugar bunny!"

"STOP CALLING HER THAT!"

"Aww, why not? You think it's a cute name, don't you, Tohru-chan?"

"I..."

"See? Oh Tohru-chan, we'll have to get together sometime!"

"Ah, o-okay, Kagura...-san."

"No no not like that!" Kagura laughed and did a little twirl. "Ka-gu-ra-chan! Ne?"

"Yes!"

Kisa walked over and also began chatting with Tohru as Kyo blew off some steam and Yuki just watched the three girls with a smile. He was glad they were accepting of Tohru, but Rin...

Rin stood off to the side staring at the ring. "Rin-san." The girl turned around to see Shigure looming over her shoulder. "We promise you, Tohru-kun is no threat to us. You should really get to know her, she's good for your health." He pounded a fist to his chest. "Keeps a man young I tell you to have a cute little maid like her around the house!"

"You're just a pervert." She muttered while walking past him. She stopped to see Hatori standing by the window, watching the flickering of car lights on the street. "Hatori-san." The older man turned his attention to Rin and she only stared back at him. "I... I'm sorry."

He only nodded. She was mad and wasn't thinking, just blurting things to get her feelings out. It... it did hurt but he wouldn't show it to her or them. "It's alright, Rin, don't worry about it." She watched him for a moment, taking a second glance before moving away.

Rin went to Ayame and dropped the ring onto his hand. She didn't look him in the eye, just watching her cousins talk to this Tohru Honda girl. She was like family to them, hua.

She turned on her heel to the door when it opened again. Her eyes widened at seeing Hatsuharu.

He walked in and ruffled Tohru's head earning a little giggle from her as she continued to try and answer Kagura and Kisa's questions at rapid fire. He stopped in front of Rin as she stared at him.

"You knew this whole time too, didn't you?" She asked.

He merely shrugged. "Yes, but just like everyone else, I knew you'd hate the idea. Decided to keep it on the down low."

"You jerk!" She went to punch him but Hatsuharu caught her fist and pulled her in for a kiss. It was rather rough and short as he pulled away from her lips and just held her intimately, holding her gaze in his intense steely eyes.

"She's really not a bad person, Rin."

"I never said she was a bad person. She's just sneaky."

"Naw, we forced her to hide herself. If we let her be, she would have been as open to you as a book."

"Still..." Rin said, beginning to run out of excuses for Tohru to get out of the house.

Haru chuckled and watched Rin glare around the room, looking at everything but him. It was a trait he found rather cute. He kissed her cheek and whispered, "Want to know a secret? Tohru was the one who helped me be with you. Just so you know."

She watched as Haru's hand fell away from her waist and he joined Yuki on the opposite side of the room. She touched her cheek, blushing slightly at Haru's deep voice still echoing in her mind.

Maybe... maybe she wasn't that bad.

End Flashback


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Tohru smiled down at the stationary and inspected her handwritting. She addressed the envelope Arisa Uotani and slipped the paper inside before writing her own address on it. So much had happened since Uo and Hana left from their little vacation. She promised to write and here was her second letter already! Yuki told her about e-mails and how much faster they were than the old snail mail, but she loved writing letters. It just seemed old fashioned and personal. She wrote about the play and how she'd send a copy as soon as Ayame got them in, she wrote about almost kissing Kyo in front of so many people on stage, her confused feelings about Kyo, and about the confrontation with the Sohma girls. She wrote to Uo that Rin said hello as well as how Kagura, Kyo's ex girlfriend, was trying to play matchmaker between Kyo and Tohru. By the time Tohru looked up it was beginning to get to closing time for the Host Club and she wrote about three pages to her dear friends. She got up and went to finish her rounds for the Host Club.

Kyo on the other hand was listening to a few girls chatting around him. Actually, he wasn't really listening but was tuning them out. They wouldn't notice anyway. He didn't understand what girls liked so much about him anyway, was it because they were not allowed to touch him when he was cursed by the cat? Or was it his looks? It was probably something stupid anyway.

He would rather just sit in peace listening to only one voice. He closed his eyes and saw an image of Tohru. One certain voice...

Kyo looked up to see a crowd of girls moving away as a head of light brown hair came into view and finally she came in front of the mob smirking down at Kyo.

"Ah, so you are the famous Kyo Sohma."

Kyo stared at her. "Can I do something for you?"

She tapped the side of her chin while eyeing him up and down rather uncomfortably. "You're pretty cute..."

Just passing by, Tohru looked up to see a rather full bodied woman leaning down to Kyo, showing an ample amout of clevage in his face. She stopped dead in her tracks never seeing such behavior, even in this host club. That woman...

"Hey, sister, back of the line!" A smaller girl cried. The women turned around to see walls of girls glaring at her. "You didn't even pay to visit the Host Club! Kyo-sama doesn't even like a girl like you!"

"Of course he wouldn't want to see a girl like me!" The woman laughed as if they were all imbeciles, "He rather see a real woman."

"Oh you little...!"

From her purse she threw down fifteen thousand dollars on the table before Kyo. Kyo's eyes widened as he stared at the money and then at the woman smiling devilsh. "I'll pay you fifteen thousand dollars if I have you all to myself this afternoon."

From among the crowd, Ayame could be heard asking for people to step aside. When he got to Kyo to see what the commotion was all about he stared at the woman, the money and then Kyo. With these three items, something didn't seem right. "Excuse me miss, is there something I can... assist you with?"

She stood up straight and flashed him a seductive smile. "My name is Yumi Toega."

"Ah, yes, Yumi-san, I'm afraid you cannot just walk in here and claim a host club member. Further more, Kyo-sama here is our special host, therefore unable to be taken for any number amount of dollars." Ayame flicked hair over his shoulder. "But you can monopolize any of the other host's time." He inspected his nails, "Namely the Host Club King is open for single appointments."

"Go away you faker." Yumi said pushing him away.

Ayame glared at the girl. "Of all the nerve!" He turned to Hatori. "Ha-san, she called me a faker and pushed me! Me! The King!"

Yumi turned back to Kyo while rolling her eyes at Ayame's drama. "So what do you say, handsome? You and me for a whole day?" She began tracing her finger down Kyo's toga. "We could have so much fun..." He stopped her hands from trailing any lower than his stomach, holding her wrist rather roughly.

Suddenly the entire hall hushed as a silver platter crashed onto the tile floor, food and liquid spilling everywhere. Kyo shot up as the crowd moved for Kyo to see what it was.

And there Tohru was, with rather shocked eyes with her hands frozen in place where the tray previously lay in her hands, staring at Kyo and Yumi. Her body went fridged and it looked almost like she was frozen in time.

Flash backs of a woman crying out Satsuki's name... a voluptuous body... her fiance's betrayal...

Tohru felt like every breath she took was deafening loud as she only stared at Yumi.

"It's you..."

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