WEEK 2: Dinner and Conversation

"Thank you," said Tohru.

The kimono clad serving woman she addressed merely gave a nod of acknowledgment before exiting the room, leaving Akito and Tohru alone with the dinner trays, one for each of them, laden with their meal. Tohru looked down at the tray silently, wondering if she should start or wait for the head of the Souma family to begin eating first.

Since the last time she'd come here, she'd gotten increasingly nervous about her upcoming meeting with Akito. Ever since she'd told everyone back at Shigure's house about her decision to visit Akito every week, she'd gotten no end to a string of warnings about needing to be extremely careful. Yuki and Kyou especially had been quite vocal about her needing to watch her step after their attempts to get her to not come at all had failed make her go back on her word. Even Momiji and Hatsuharu had added their own warnings and it had been obvious, when last she saw the little girl, that Kisa had been worried as well. Despite Tohru's replies to their concern that she would be fine, their obvious worry had made her anxiety multiply until she was a nervous wreck when the promised date to visit rolled around.

"Tohru-san, aren't you going to eat?"

Startled, Tohru looked up to find his dark gaze on her from his position directly across from her, looking at her questioningly and holding a bowl of rice in one hand and chopsticks in the other. He'd already started to eat. Realizing he was waiting for her to start in on her own meal, she hurriedly picked up her own rice bowl and chopsticks, selecting a bit of pickle with it from the several other side dishes neatly arranged on her tray.

"Is it good?" Akito asked.

"Yes," she replied after taking a bite. "It's delicious."

"I'm relieved." Akito smiled. "I didn't know what to do if you didn't like it."

"No, it's wonderful," she assured. "I like just about anything so there's no need to go to any trouble on my account."

"Oh, it's no trouble." He waved a hand in airy dismissal. "I'm not the one who does the cooking anyway. Besides, this meal is nothing out of the ordinary here and it's pleasant to share it with someone else once in a while."

"Eh?" Tohru blinked. "Does Akito-san usually eat alone?"

"Of course." An eyebrow lifted. "Is that so strange?"

"No, no," she rushed to say, anxious to not offend. "I'm sorry. I didn't to imply that it was odd."

"That's okay." He shrugged. "Usually I take meals alone in my room instead of here. Having other people around can be so noisy and irritating."

"Oh!" She looked suddenly worried. "Then am I intruding by coming here?" Her eyes widened in panic. "I don't want to do that! Maybe I shouldn't be here. I can come back later."

Akito laughed, a pleasant sound. "No, that's fine." His smile was amused. "I wouldn't have invited you to dinner, after all, if I thought you were intruding."

Tohru relaxed, relieved.

She regarded him curiously as they ate. Despite the warnings everyone had given to her, she felt at ease for the moment. Akito had done nothing yet except be polite and friendly since she'd first arrived a short while ago, just before the trays of food had been set down in front of them. Then, just as now, she couldn't help but admire his looks. How could she not? Everything else in the sparsely furnished room was plain in comparison. His dark coloring was a perfect contrast to his pale features, giving him an almost ethereal type of beauty and, once again, she thought that his looks were a rival to Yuki's princely appearance.

"What are you thinking about?"

"That Akito-san's very beautiful."

Then she froze, eyes widening at how she'd blurted out her unthinking response as a flush climbed her cheeks. She met his startled stare, wondering if he was insulted by her words just as Yuki often became bothered by any comments made about his looks. Hurrying to rectify any offense she might have given, she bowed rapidly as she apologized.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that."

"Oh?" His expression was inscrutable. "Then you mean to say that I'm ugly?"

"What?" She was horrified. "Oh, no!" She rapidly shook her head. "Of course not! Not at all! I meant no insult, really!"

Akito suddenly chuckled. "Don't worry. I was just joking."

"Then Akito-san's not insulted?" She appeared anxious.

"Not really." He tilted his head. "Why? Do you think it's insulting to be called beautiful?"

"No, but," she hesitated, "isn't it a bother when people keep saying so?"

"It's not something said to me often."

Which was true, he thought. After all, most people around him tended to remain silent unless he gave them permission to speak up. Members of the Souma family learned early on not to run off at the mouth around him for fear of the consequences should he become too annoyed over noisy and useless chatter. Thus, they usually refrained from speaking unless being called upon by him to do so.

"Really?" Disbelief clearly colored her tone. "It's hard to believe."

"Then, do you think I'm lying?"

"No!" She shook her head vigorously. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to imply that either!"

"Calm down," he told her, dark gaze resting upon her. "I was only joking again."

"Oh." She was still upset, expression downcast. "But it seems that I just keep insulting Akito-san without even meaning to." She bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

At the heartfelt apology, Akito blinked. Usually, he had to drag apologies out of other people and, even then, they were emotionally lacking in honesty. He certainly wasn't used to someone apologizing to him so readily or with such feeling, especially over such a small thing. In a way, her emotions seemed to fluctuate just as much as his own did and thinking of such similarities unsettled him. But this wasn't the time for that. He had to get her comfortable with him, no matter how tedious a task he found it, and that meant reassuring her. He could reflect on his thoughts later.

"It's okay," Akito said lightly. "I don't think you're being particularly insulting at all." He smiled handsomely. "In fact, I think Tohru-san's being quite cute."

"Eh?" Her eyes widened, face turning bright red. "No, that's not true at all," she protested. "I'm really not."

Akito schooled his expression into one of shock. "Are you saying that I'm wrong?"

"Ah, well." Tohru's face spoke of her perplexity. There really was no other way to answer this. "Of course not."

"That's right." He appeared pleased. "It's not very nice to argue when someone gives you a compliment. Don't you think so?"

"Yes." Tohru sighed a little.

"And you believe me when I say that I think you're cute?" His dark gaze was intent.

It was obvious she really wanted to offer up another denial. Truly, her face was so expressive of her emotions that it was easy to see the inner battle she was waging with herself over whether to staunchly deny her appeal or concede to his opinion. But of course, as expected, the tide turned to his favor and she gave in.

"Yes," she finally said in embarrassment, blush deepening.

Feeling much more pleasant over his victory, he felt cheerful. "There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I'm sorry." She was still embarrassed. "It's just something I have a hard time believing. Even though Uo-chan and Hana-chan often tell me so."

Akito's expression went blank as questions deluged his mind. Uo? Hana? Fish and flower? Were those really names? Or was she talking about a real fish and flower that she believed really talked to her?

"Uo-chan and Hana-chan?" he asked warily.

"Yes," she said happily. "Uotani Arisa and Hanajima Saki. My best friends."

"Ah." He was relieved; they were only nicknames. She wasn't insane. "And what kind of people are your friends?"

"Wonderful people," she answered brightly.

He stared. The reply told him absolutely nothing. And he suddenly found himself curious about just what kind of people she considered friends, never having heard much about them before. After all, the kind of people that surrounded someone could reveal a lot about that person. That could be useful. So he tried to find a different method of questioning to get her to disclose more details about these mysterious friends of hers.

"And how did you meet these 'wonderful people'?" His tone was friendly.

"In middle school."

Silence fell and Akito tamped down his annoyance at how hard it seemed to be to get her to elaborate on this particular subject. She was obviously enthused about her friends so why wasn't she bubbling over to talk about them more? Or was it just that he wasn't being specific enough with his questions towards someone so simple-minded? Either way, he tried to figure out another way to find out what he wanted to know.

"Did you meet them both at the same time? Or different times?"

"Oh, different." She nodded. "I met Uo-chan first."

Now they were getting somewhere. "And how did you first meet her?"

"I accidentally bumped into her at school so of course I had to apologize. But I forgot about the stack of notebooks I was carrying when I bowed to her." She sighed a little mournfully. "They went sliding all the way down the hallway. Uo-chan yelled a lot, too." She laughed. "She really helped me a lot."

"I see." But he really didn't. Her explanation about her meeting with Uotani was confusing so he moved on, thinking he'd have better luck with the other one. "And how did you meet your other friend?"

"Hana-chan? Uo-chan and I met her the first day she transferred to our school." She tilted her head. "I think it was in the middle of our eighth school year."

"Transferred?"

"Yes, there was some sort of problem caused at her school, I think." She beamed happily. "But I was lucky she transferred to mine and we got to become such good friends!"

Akito remained silent, staring. Even he could read between the lines and tell that some sort of trouble had happened at the old school to cause this Hanajima person to transfer. Transferring in the middle of the Japanese school year was done easily and this definitely seemed to have some implication attached to it. But then how was it that this girl before him treated it as if it were nothing?

"Ah!" she suddenly exclaimed. She dug into her pocket and withdrew a tiny wallet-sized book. "I have pictures if Akito-san would like to see?"

"Yes, I would," he said, reaching for the miniature photo album.

It opened in his hands to a photo of three girls standing side by side, Tohru in the middle. But it was the other girls she was sandwiched between that caught his attention. They were a complete contrast to her: one dressed in gothic black with a deep penetrating gaze that he found somewhat creepy and the other in an odd attire of a mask and a long jacket that he was disturbed by. Vaguely suspicious, he held the photo out to her, pointing to the blonde in the mask.

"Which friend is this one? And why's she wearing this?"

She leaned over to take a closer look. "Ah! That's Uo-chan." She laughed. "It's been a while since that picture was taken. That was back when she was still in the gang."

"Gang?" How can she laugh while saying that? "And you didn't mind?"

"Of course not." She looked surprised. "Why would I?" She smiled mistily. "It's like destiny, the legend of the Red Butterfly bringing us together and giving me a wonderful friend."

"Red Butterfly?" He was definitely confused at this new twist.

"Yes," she said happily. "Mother's nickname when she was in the gang."

"Your mother was in a gang?" He couldn't conceal his surprise.

Tohru nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, she was a legend. Uo-chan admired her a lot!"

He glanced back at the photo of the trio of girls, masking his confusion over these surprising new revelations that were beginning to give him a headache because he was having a hard time making sense of any of it. His plan to question her about her friends and get to know her better was backfiring in a major way. Instead of understanding her, the mystery around her only seemed to be deepening in a way that he just couldn't figure out and the attempts of which were only leaving him tired and exhausted.

But he was smart, he told himself. And she was obviously much simpler in comparison. No doubt it was because he was getting sick again, his body becoming fatigued and his mind slower to think which would explain why he was getting so confused and having trouble with directing the conversation. That's right, it had nothing to do with her but just that he wasn't feeling completely healthy. Under normal circumstances, a conversation like this would be no problem with his superior mental agility. He just needed some time to regroup and to rethink his strategy. Besides, he was the leader here, the head of a powerful family, and there was no possible way that he could lose to such a common and ordinary girl.

But was she really so common, a part of him whispered, to keep such unusual friends?

He brushed the annoying thought aside. Because it was wrong, he was sure. She was just another girl with nothing special about her. And she would fall in perfectly with his plans in all due time. But first, he needed to get rid of her and recuperate to get back to his full strength. It was an easy matter to deal with as he let his body slump a little in weariness.

"Tohru-san?" He gave her a pleasant but tired smile. "Are you finished eating?"

"Ah, yes," she said, looking at him with some concern. "Is Akito-san feeling alright? Should I call someone for help? Hatori-san?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, waving away her worries. "I'm just a little tired that's all. I just didn't sleep very well last night," he lied.

"Oh," she frowned. "Then I should probably go."

"That would probably be for the best but I'm sorry." He appeared apologetic. "I didn't mean to have Tohru-san come here only for dinner, traveling all this way just to stay for such a short time."

"That's alright," she assured. "I was happy to. And I don't mind leaving now." Her expression was sincere. "Akito-san's health is much more important so I should go now."

Akito blinked. "Ah, thank you."

"It's no problem." She stood up. "Then I'll leave Akito-san to rest if that's alright?"

He nodded and held out the little album. "Don't forget this."

She accepted it. "Thank you." She hesitated. "Is it really okay not to call for someone?"

"Yes," he said, a little exasperated. Then he toned it down with a smile. "I'll be fine. I'll see you again next week. Is the same time okay?"

She thought about it. "Yes, I think so."

"Well, then." He gave a little wave. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye," she returned and smiled with a polite little bow. "And take care."

Then she was gone, leaving Akito alone in the silent room with his thoughts and the promise of another meeting to come lingering in the air.