Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Musouka ~ Dare to Dream ❯ Awaited Affections ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten

 

Real generosity toward the future consists in giving all to what is present.

 

Albert Sanotomono - Year 1876

 

The Lion

 

Awaited Affection

 

True to her word, Eriko arrived the next afternoon yesterday after thinking to herself in the woods in the morning. But today was Christmas, and they were all looking forward to their friends coming over. Shigure called yesterday around five saying if it would be all right if two more people came. Dikatou and Sarah agreed full-heartily. And now, Sarah and Yuri were cooking dinner as Dikatou `tried' to shovel the driveway one last time. Eriko was upstairs in her room, reading the journal this time.

 

“How come I didn't know about all this before?” she wondered aloud to herself.

 

“Shigure and the others are here Eriko!” she heard Yuri shout. Eriko sighed and quickly put the two books on her desk. They had come to an agreement, since Hatsuharu and Momiji were sleeping over as well; they had to fit them all into rooms. Yuki and Tohru would sleep in one of the guestrooms, Hatsuharu and Momiji would sleep in the other guestroom, Shigure would sleep in the office on the couch/bed, and Yuri would move into Eriko's room so Kyo could sleep in hers.

 

“Yuri!” Momiji cried as he hurried over to her with a large smile. “Nice to see you again!” Dikatou came into the room; he had finished doing most of the driveway, but gave up and had taken a shower before they arrived.

 

“Same to you!” Yuri said happily, “Oh yes! And these are our parents, Dikatou and Sarah. And these are Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, Hatsuharu, and Momiji. You already know Shigure-san,”

 

“Pleasure to meet you, now Yuri, show them to their rooms. I'll show Shigure,” Dikatou told Yuri as he helped with some of the luggage.

 

“All right, follow me.” Yuri said, “and if you're wondering where Eriko is, she's up in her room. Come on,” They began walking up the stairs as Yuri, Momiji, and Tohru began to chat.

 

“On the way here Kyo, Yuki, and Hatsuharu were squished in the trunk while me and Tohru were in the back seats and Shigure was in the front with Hatori-” It was obvious that Hatori had driven them, it was a shame he couldn't stay though. “And guess what! They were so squished with our luggage and stuff that we had to pull them out!”

 

“Must have been uncomfortable,” Yuri pointed out.

 

You have no idea… the three thought in unison.

 

“Well, don't worry about being like that here. You're lucky we have so much room, now here Yuki and Tohru can sleep,” Yuri went on pointing out rooms from the top of the stairs, too busy to notice Yuki blushing slightly.

 

“There is no way I'm sleeping with you!” Kyo shouted.

 

“No Kyo, I'm going into Eriko's room.” Yuri said quickly, Kyo sighed with relief.

 

“Idiot,” Yuki mumbled from his room.

 

“WHAT WAS THAT!” Kyo shouted.

 

“Are you now deaf Kyo?” Yuki asked as he walked out of the room.

 

“I AIN'T DEAF!” Kyo shouted back in defense.

 

“Apparently you are, or you're just accustomed to being told you're an idiot.” Yuki said.

 

“SHUT UP! I'M MORE ACCUSTOMED TO BEATING YOU INTO A PULP!” Kyo shouted back.

 

“Excuse me, but when was the last time you ever hurt me?” Yuki asked.

 

“DON'T PLAY DUMB! I HURT YOU EVERY TIME!”

 

“Not even in your dreams,”

 

“NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MY DREAMS! DON'T TRY AND CHANGE THE SUBJECTS!”

 

“You really are an idiot,”

 

“AM NOT YOU DAMN RAT!”

 

“You are an idiot,”

 

“I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT AGAIN!”

 

“Id…i…ot…” Yuki mocked. That got Kyo to throw the first punch, Yuri backed up into a wall than quickly hurried into her sister's room. The hall was deserted except for the fighting duo, Yuki and Kyo.

 

“They're fighting again?” Eriko asked as she noticed her sister go a good distance away from the door. “You know as well as I do if they break that door again their heads will be on the platter this evening instead of that pig's.”

 

“Than you better go and stop them now,” Yuri said hurriedly, Eriko sighed.

 

“I probably must if I must,” Eriko growled as she stepped out of the room.

 

Downstairs in the office

 

“What in the world…” Dikatou mumbled as he looked up at the ceiling, which was shaking slightly from the fight. Shigure sighed as he began reading a book.

 

“It's just a fight, don't worry about it.” Shigure said cheerfully, “They'll get it out of their systems in a minute,”

 

“Get it out of their systems? Who's fighting?” Dikatou asked, sweat-dropping at his guest's calm demeanor while there was a fight going on upstairs that sounded awfully dangerous.

 

In the kitchen

 

“If they keep that up I won't be able to finish the meal,” Sarah sighed as she recognized the sound of the fight. She knew it sounded terrible, but she didn't want to walk right in the middle of it. As she thought, she poured some ingredients into the food without realizing it, when she did, she freaked.

 

“Oh goodness!” she cried as she peered over at the bowl of ranch dressing for the carrots and so on, she quickly put in salt in pepper. Making the liquid turn a slight shade of brown, she sweat-dropped. “I wonder if they would notice…?”

 

Back upstairs

 

“Would you two cut it out, Nakkou went to Kyoto for Christmas so there won't be anybody to fix anything if you break something-” Eriko began to say, but when she noticed the two not listening, a vein began to throb in her temple. “HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!”

 

You go Eriko, the whole house thought, except the two shocked people that were staring at her like they just now noticed her, which was true. Eriko was giving both of them a death glare. Not thinking twice, they both put their arms down.

 

“Sorry Eriko-chan,” Yuki said as he walked back into his room with a concerned Tohru. Than Eriko turned to Kyo.

 

“Aren't you going to apologize?” she asked, his arms were folded over his chest and his eyes were closed in annoyance.

 

“Why should I?” he asked.

 

“Because you should for not listening to me,” she growled.

 

“I don't need to apologize for something like that!”

 

“You sure do! It's polite! Not that I'm saying what you were doing before wasn't polite!” Eriko shouted back.

 

“No I don't! So get off my back!”

 

“I'm not on your back! And yes you will apologize!”

 

“You can't make me!”

 

“Can to!”

 

“Can-” His cheeks blazed up at one hundred degrees and his face turned six different shades of crimson as a soft touch was pressed against his left cheek. His eyes went wide as he saw Eriko withdraw, she kissed him! “S-Sorry…”

 

“Apology accepted,” she said with a smile. She had a twinge of pink on her cheeks as well, she probably didn't believe she did that as much as he didn't believe she did.

 

They were lost in time for a moment, like time stopped. Kyo was brought to his senses first.

 

“HEY! WHAT WAS WITH THE-” Kyo began to shout before Sarah announced that they could all put their gifts under the tree than sit at the table for dinner.

 

“I got everyone a gift!” Momiji cried out in happiness as he carried eight presents out of his room, he said he got something for their parents as well. It seemed that Hatsuharu only got something for Yuki, Tohru, Yuri, Eriko, and Momiji. But it did seem that everyone got something for someone. Yuri, like Momiji and Tohru, got everyone a gift. She said she sent Hatori, Kaede, Mei, and Aunt Kita gifts yesterday after lunch.

 

“Yay! We all have so many gifts! We open them tomorrow morning right?” Momiji asked after they all placed the presents under the tree. Yuri nodded.

 

“All right everyone, in the dining room,” Dikatou said as they all followed him in. Their eyes went large from the sight. There was so much food that they could stuff themselves five times! Sarah said this had to be the biggest dinner she ever had, and also mentioned to try her new recipe.

 

“Is it suppose to be brown?” Kyo asked a few minutes later after everyone was sitting down and after Dikatou said `omen'.

 

“Yes,” Sarah answered; Kyo put one spoonful in his mouth before he turned a slight green.

 

“It's delicious, what's in it?” Haru asked as he ate some himself. The others followed.

 

“Let's see…eggs, salt, a bit of ranch dressing (Eriko and Yuri stared down at the soup than tried to get the taste out of their mouth by eating some turkey), and let's see what was the last bit next to hot water…oh yes! Leeks!” Sarah answered, they all watched Kyo turn blue, and he was still for most of the meal with the spoon still in his mouth.

 

“I'm stuffed!” Shigure said, as he hung back in his chair and began complimenting the dinner.

 

“This was really great!” Tohru followed in pursuit, Yuki smiled and agreed.

 

“Oh! Than I guess you would all like dessert as well hm?” Sarah asked happily as Dikatou began collecting dishes. They all groaned, except Kyo, whom was still out cold in the same position. “Is he all right?” she asked.

 

“Don't worry about the moron Sanotomono-san,” Yuki said.

 

“So you and Kyo-kun were the ones fighting upstairs right?” Dikatou said with amusement.

 

“You heard us?” Yuki asked.

 

“You made it as clear as day,” Eriko answered.

 

“But it isn't day!” Kyo pointed out, suddenly awake and his spoon had plopped down into the bowl.

 

“It's a saying Kyo, honestly, you can be so ignorant.” Shigure said.

 

“SHUT UP! I KNEW THAT!” Kyo shouted.

 

“No you didn't!” Momiji laughed. Kyo made a move to go for him, but Eriko pulled him back down.

 

“Not at the table,” she hissed.

 

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF I'M AT THE TABLE OR NOT!” Kyo roared as he struggled against Eriko's grasp.

 

“Because it is not polite Kyo-kun, tsk tsk, such unruly behavior.” Shigure said.

 

“SHUT IT MUTT!”

 

“I have an idea, why don't we play a game. I'll be right back,” Yuri said after she vanished from the table. They all looked at one another.

 

By the time Yuri came back, she was panting, and everyone else was in the living room admiring the decorations and talking about what happened the past few days.

 

“I made Hari some miso soup but when he ate the first spoonful he said it was good than continued to work, I think he was lying!” Momiji pouted.

 

“Don't blame `im, I would prefer to eat miso soup over any rabbit food,” Kyo snapped.

 

“You're just embarrassed!” Momiji cried.

 

“WHY THE HELL WOULD I BE EMBARRASSED!”

 

“Because you fainted during dinner,” Momiji pointed out.

 

“He does have a point Kyo, I would be frankly embarrassed as well for fainting over such a good dinner,” Shigure said.

 

“YA'LL ARE MAKIN' IT SOUND LIKE IT'S ALL NEW!” Kyo shouted.

 

“It's new to my parents,” Eriko mentioned.

 

“NO DUH!” Kyo growled as Yuri came back into the room; Sarah and Dikatou were behind her.

 

“I decided we should play a riddle scavenger hunt,” she said, the Sohmas and Tohru stared at her.

 

“?”

 

“A riddle scavenger hunt is when there are groups of two each receiving a riddle on a piece of paper. Than you must go and find it, if you are correct, than there would be another piece of paper there. After you pick your partners, I'll give each of you a riddle, and the first duo to be back here wins.” Yuri explained.

 

“Sounds fun!” Momiji cried. “Me and Tohru will be partners!” he cried again as he grabbed Tohru's right arm. Yuki and Kyo glowered at the Rabbit.

 

“I'll be with Yuki, if that's all right with you Yuki?” Haru asked as he came to the Rat.

 

“Sure,” Yuki answered dully, even though he preferred to be with Tohru.

 

“Oh dear me, I see that Kyo and Eriko are both partner-less, why don't you ask Eriko to be your partner Kyo?” Shigure asked, nudging Kyo.

 

“HELL NO! YOU BE HER PARTNER!” Kyo yelled.

 

“Fine than, I will,” Shigure said as he walked towards Eriko, whom was glaring daggers at the Dog, as if saying `one more step pervert and I'll send you through the wall'.

 

“I DIDN'T MEAN THAT DAMNIT!” Kyo roared as he slammed Shigure back and marched towards the Fox. “We're partners, got a problem with that?”

 

“I'm fine with it,” she said back.

 

“Oh dear me, than whom should I befriend?” Shigure whined, Dikatou was brave enough to accept the challenge to be Shigure's partner, Yuri and Sarah had plans in mind.

 

“All right, here are you're riddles,” Yuri said, passing them out. When everyone read theirs, they began to wonder. Trust Yuri to make them difficult, it wasn't till five minutes later that Yuki and Haru left, than Tohru and Momiji, Shigure and Dikatou, and the two women left as well, giggling about something.

 

I hang and make the heart sing, my flattery prefers those first actions beneath me. Though I have no wings, I'm sure you feel them flutter.

 

“What the hell is this suppose to be?” Kyo growled as he read the piece over and over again. It wasn't till Eriko figured it out that her bright red cheeks caught his attention. “What?” She shook her head. “If you know what it is, than we have to go there to get the next clue.” She hesitated, but than led him through the living room, than to the coat rack.

 

“Get your coat,” she ordered.

 

“Why?”

 

“Just put the thing on,” she said softly, he growled as he put his coat on and his shoes before following her outside. He had no idea what was bothering her, but he had the strangest feeling that they were being watched as he followed her out to the backyard where he noticed extra decoration.

 

There was one of those white arches in the backyard, the moon's light shining on the snow made it seem beautiful, of course, it was. But Kyo was more interested in the dangling plant tied to the arch's top.

 

“What's that?” he asked.

 

“Just get the next clue,” she ordered, looking down, her face a lighter red.

 

“Whatever,” he growled as he went under the thing and lifted his hands to it, feeling for a piece of paper. “There isn't anything in it,”

 

“Why not?”

 

“How the hell should I know, it was probably all a big hoax ya know…” it hit him, could this be…mistletoe? Maybe that was why Eriko was blushing. It wasn't long till he was blushing too and put his hands down. They were both under it, directly.

 

“Erm…well…should we?” his stomach doing flip-flops all the while.

 

“…” Eriko was silent; her eyes weren't on him, letting him get a better picture of her. She was kind of…cute, he blushed harder. Her black hair was down and wavy, her bangs were slightly longer and were long enough to make her face look shadowy. Her skin was a tan milky white. He began to blush harder as he began to examine her clothes. She dressed a lot like him now that he though about it. Her coat was baggy and black and her jeans were slightly less baggy than his khakis and were blue.

 

Without even thinking, his index and middle finger went to her chin and lifted her face to him. Making them look into one another's eyes. Compared to his demonic copper-red gaze and her steely blue stare, he found what she was feeling, was the same he was feeling. The butterflies the size of pelicans was making his heart burst rather than his stomach. Never had he had such an urge besides to defeat Yuki, was this what people called love?

 

Both cheeks on both teens brightened as their faces inched nearer to one another's. It was strange, the way they first met and now this, it really did feel like God was taking his time on both of them. Maybe, this was what Hatori felt when he and Kana were so close. He never understood it at first, he never did, and neither did many of the Zodiac members get to realize the feeling before their loved ones were wiped away from their memories. This must have been a privilege of some kind, a blessing in disguise, his blessing. Her blessing, but had she ever had an encounter like this? It was possibly something to doubt since she was so nervous next to him, so close.

 

When their lips touched, it was like a giant transparent tsunami wave swept them away. Nothing seemed to matter, except the present action. Her lips aroused him; he couldn't get out of it, like they were both in a trance. He couldn't help but feel, for once helpless. He didn't want to move he wanted to keep together like this forever. If that were ever possible.

 

Their eyes opened as they drew away from one another, the events soaring back into their minds. Eriko blushed deeply as she subconsciously put her fingers to her lips. That was her first kiss, the only kiss she ever hardly thought would ever happen. Kyo was possibly thinking the same thing because he was staring at her and blushing slightly himself.

 

“Come on, we'll get sick if we stay out here too long.” Kyo said.

 

“Right,” she said as they began walking towards the door.

 

Kyo's left hand held Eriko's right in a kind grasp. Eriko looked down at their hands than looked up at him. He wasn't looking her way, but looking away with his eyes closed and his teeth bared slightly. A slight giggle caused him to turn, he looked at Eriko, whom was…smiling, a small smile, but it was a…true smile. Her first true smile, the very first.

 

“You're cute when you smile,” he said, smiling himself.

 

“Arigatou,” she said with a darker blush.

 

Inside the back porch

 

“Omigod! Omigod!” Yuri cracked; they were all doubling over with laughter. Sarah was holding a videotape camera that was still running. Yuki couldn't help, but laugh quietly along with everyone else. Who would have thought it, the Cat actually had such intentions in mind.

 

“I think-we b-better g-g-g-get out of-f-f h-h-here-” Momiji tried to say through a fit of giggles. They all agreed, knowing what Kyo would do, and knowing that Eriko could do something much worse if they discovered what they did.

 

“G-g-good idea!” Haru laughed as they tried to get to their wobbling knees and hurry out of the porch and into the living room, than after spending several seconds trying to act like they hadn't seen anything. They hurried to their rooms, knowing they would snap as soon as the teen couple entered the room.

 

“What's this?” Kyo asked as they entered the porch and spotted a piece of paper, Eriko said it must have been another riddle paper. Kyo picked it up and his eyes scanned it before his expression went blank.

 

“They had better have made their damn wills…” he growled dangerously, Eriko felt heat radiate off of him as she took the paper from him. Anger and embarrassment was radiating off of her too after she read it.

 

“DAMN ALL OF YOU!” they roared as they raced into the house (dropping the paper) and tried to suffocate everyone of the spies, Eriko was too mad too realize she was doing it to her own sister and parents. While on the paper that laid forgotten on the porch's steps read:

 

Go left and go through the office than into the back porch, the true action awaits there.