'Tanoshitoishi' - By: Lu-Lu

Chapter 2: Stranger

It was a heavenly morning. The enormous sun radiated aloft in the cerulean sky and birds were chirping harmoniously. It was an unusual start of the day, due to last night's rain of snow. The particles of the snow in the streets of Hojinakaze, a suburb in Kanazawa, leisurely dissolved.

The sun's ray hits a beautiful creature's sleeping face. This sleeping beauty's skin is lightly tanned and flawless, its lip colour is natural, and its cheeks were pinkish. It also has orange-coloured and shoulder-length dazzling hair. This creature unknowingly frowns, then flickers its long, dark and curly false eyelashes with such charm, as it began to awake, unveiling its crystalline dark-ruby eyes.

"Hmn.." it groaned and yawned during its stretch. The beautiful creature arose and sat up on its bed -- manly. The seventeen-year-old, Kyo Sohma is the beautiful creature…

"I'm starved.." He inactively stood up. His eyes wandered around the room as he did another stretch. He looked below his body and fixed up the female traditional Japanese pyjama he was wearing.

"That's right..."

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

It is 8:30 in the morning of Monday. Tohru Honda is in the kitchen preparing a big breakfast. She was awake since 6:00am and has done several of the housework, including cleaning the shop. Kyo entered the room delicately blushing.

"Hey…" he greeted her dryly, in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Ohayo gozaimasu (Good morning), Kyo-san!" she smiled cheerfully towards him. She was distributing plates and chopsticks on the dinner table. "Did you sleep alright?"

"It was good… I guess…"

"Oh…you still have a cold. I have some medicine you could take. I just need to do this an--"

"No!" he interrupted her as quickly as he could. "It's okay... I-I'm fine."

Kyo strived to close that topic. Not to be harsh to her, except, to maintain his cold, considering it made him realise that he does not sound like his normal manly voice with it. Ever since he had been hiking down from the mountains, it seemed that his nostrils were blocked every single time he talked, as though someone was squeezing his nose.

"Oh! I'm sorry… Silly me!" she giggled, "you must not like counting on medicines. That's really amazing!"

"Yeah. That's it." Kyo responded dryly, as he can't believe how much of a naive she is.

"Well, I guess all I could do to help you is for you to have breakfast with me!" she announced while she pointed on the dinning table, "it's ready!"

"Amazing…" he mumbles mentally as he sat down on one of the chairs. Their mouth-watering breakfast was served.

"Itadakimasu!"

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

Tohru is wiping the table and Kyo bewilderedly arrange the dishes and glasses on the sink. Actually, Kyo can cook several viands. He is clever in cooking though he denies this talent. However, one thing he is almost never good at is handling and washing dishes. In his mind, dishes are those 'things that you throw when you're angry'. He slowly opens the tap water, as his face expression cries out "I don't wanna do this…"

"Oh! You don't have to do that! You're my guest!" Tohru finally noticed what Kyo was about to do. Her voice was concerned and worried. "Please leave the whole thing to me."

"Okay." Kyo replied so instantly. He was relieved inside. "I'm gonna go change now."

"Okay! Please tell me if you need anything!" she reminded Kyo, who was about to walk out the door.

He stopped and slowly turned to his right shoulder, enabling him to see her. He took a deep, yet silent, breath.

"Uh…T-Thanks for the breakfast..." he stammered a bit, as a hint of shyness showed.

"You're welcome!"

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

Kyo changed to his clothes, his manly clothes. He refused to wear any of the female clothes he saw in one of his three bags. He anticipated that Tohru would consider him as a 'tomboy'. And he was right. She did thought he was just 'tomboy-like'. In fact, she said, "This might sound weird, but, it's actually nice to see a girl wearing manly clothes. I mean, with the fashion nowadays, many girls expose their stomachs. I have nothing against it. Really, it looks fine! -- Though, the weather is rather cool, so, they could easily catch cold! -- And it's nice to be quaint sometimes too!"

"Seriously, so what if those girls catch some cold, flu or fever, whatever. She doesn't even know who they are. The only thing she knows about them is that they are 'girls'. That's about it. So, what gives?" Kyo questioned himself after her.

Tohru is helping Kyo make his bed as she tells him the story about another stranger girl who previously stayed over her house because she couldn't find any hotels around. Whilst she tell him this, he is begins to realise and worry about his situation.

"What brings you here in Hojinakaze, Kyo?" she inquired, "or do you have relatives to visit somewhere in Kanazawa?"

"Actually…" he paused for a while, as though deciding to tell her the truth or not. Finally he spoke. "I don't even know the name of this suburb until you said so. I WAS with a friend on the mountains somewhere on the north, but she deserted me. I woke up and I was alone. -- Hell, I don't even know anyone here! I don't even freakin' know how to go back home!"

"Nani! Doko ni sunde imasu? (What! Where do you live?)"

"…Kagoshima."

"NANI! -- Kagoshima is very, very far away from here! It's on the very south of Japan!"

"…"

"Are you sure you don't know anyone here in Hojinakaze?"

"No."

"Anywhere in Kanazawa?"

"No."

"Outside Kanazawa?…Fukui?"

"Um…Where's Fukui?"

"Oh my!…" Tohru nearly fainted. She couldn't handle his situation. She held her forehead, trying to brainstorm any ideas to help.

"Oh! Any contact numbers?"

"The new owner of my phone is a bear and I don't memories phone numbers except for mine."

"Oh, Kyo…" she said as she cautiously sat on her bed due to her over-shock. "You poor thing… You have no contact with the people you know and you're homeless…"

"Hey, you make it sound like I'm abandoned."

"Gomen nasai…" her face revealed her sadness by Kyo's situation.

"Hey, hey! It's alright! Hell, I ain't even that worried about it, so shouldn't you. I mean, seriously, I'm just a strang---"

"HAI!"

"…Huh?"

"This circumstance have not ever occurred before, but…" she immediately stood up and flitted towards Kyo. She grasped his hands and gazed upon his eyes.

"Please stay here."

"Ugh…" Kyo couldn't conceal his blushing crimson-red face, he was uneasy about the girl holding his hands, let alone staring at him with such sincere eyes. Moreover, only one girl has ever held his hands before…and she was his annoying cousin and…suitor.

"Onegai (Please), Kyo-san?" she tightened her hold of his hands. "I know we're strangers from each other, however, from what I have seen in you, you're a good-hearted girl."

"…Shit."

That's it. It was the fact that she thinks he is a female, is the reason why she is asking for him to stay at her house. Kyo cannot, could not and would not want to lie to the girl.

"You see, I can't stay here. You really don't know me. I really don't know you. Damn it, can't you even tell that I'm a gu--"

"Onegai, Kyo san? -- You don't have to pay for the accommodation, the meals or anything. I just really want to help you. As soon as you find any of your relatives or make contact with them, you can leave without feeling like you owe me something. Onegai, Kyo-san?" She looked at him so genuinely.

"Onegai?"

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

"I'm seriously just being swept away," Kyo comments mentally, "Just about 2 hours ago she was practically begging for me to stay and now what? -- Here I am at the shopping centre -- with her, shopping for her shop. -- Why the hell did I even say yes to her dammit! -- Who knows if that curse - that THING - still happens to me. Sure I'm passed the age, but we're never really sure about anything. She doesn't even know me but she still insisted for me to live at her house and not pay for anything at all. What is wrong with her?…Seriously. -- Why is she so…Why IS she so--"

"Kyo-san, could you please pass me two of those 3kg bag of sugar…Hehe… I can't reach it," she unknowingly interrupted his mental commenting.

"Sure," he reached out and grabbed two packages.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" she warmly smiled.

"…Why is she so nice," Kyo finally concluded his question, mentally, as mystification filled his grey matter.

Kyo's life doesn't involve a lot of females. The only females in his life are his own family: his mother, several aunties and a few cousins including his only suitor. Having the 'curse' of the Sohma clan… Being possessed by the outcast member of the Juunishi (Chinese Zodiac) animal's spirit and transforming into that animal whenever an opposite sex embrace him… Is something the 'real world' cannot and will not understand, thus, it must be kept unknown. To attain the secret, the cursed Sohmas were to attend schools with only the same sex and must stay in the Sohma Residence, a greatly extensive estate with homes that almost seemed like a town, until their curse reach its limitation. Though, aside the curse, he has true belief in his self-made quote "women are not appealing".

"Oh, um, I'm sorry Kyo-san, but could you reach four of those canned cherries for me?" she giggled, "I've always wanted to buy those, but I can never reach them. And what's funny is that whenever my two best friends, Uo-chan and Hana-chan, are here with me to shop, I always forget to buy them and they are able to reach it!"

"How many do you want?"

"Oh, four please!"

Kyo reached and placed the cans in the trolley.

"Arigatou, Kyo-san. Hehe…Lucky that you're so tall!" once more, she smiled after praising him.

"Listen Tohru-kun," he broke the adulating air, which Tohru created, with a soft yet deep tone. "If you don't want me to pay you back by cash, that's fine by me. But, what I'm not fine about is that I have nothing else to pay you back… So, I decided… I…I want to help out with the whole shop thing. I can be a waiter, a cook, a cleaner, a greeter -- whatever, whichever. I want to help out, alright? And you can't refuse."

" …Arigatou! Kyo-san wa totemo shinsetsu desu! (Kyo-san is very kind!)," another compliment from her, as she gave him a warm, sympathetic smile. "If you insist, then yes, I will not refuse."

"Well, that's settled." He blushed and turned away from her heart-touching smile.

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

A couple of hours have passed and it was now 3o'clock in the afternoon. Kyo and Tohru have bought a trolley full groceries for the shop. As a self-reward, they went to the food court and ordered some medium-sized ice cream sundaes.

"I'll have chocolate." Kyo ordered, not even looking at the young lady behind the counter.

"And I'll have strawberry flavoured one, thank you!"

After they received their sundaes, Tohru, who was holding both of the sundaes, spotted two vacant seats and a table and leaded Kyo, who was pushing the trolley. Tohru sighed as they both sat on each seat.

"Whoa, it's only been a couple of hours and we've already bought so much!" she chuckled. "Whenever I went shopping alone, the time seemed to fly so quickly."

"You said you live with your two best friends?"

"Yup! Although, they have been gone for a week and a half and I've been shopping alone ever since."

"Uh… --- When will your best friends come back from wherever they are?"

"Oh, well, Uo-chan is in Yokohama, visiting her cousins and also doing some training. Hana-chan, on the other hand, is in Chiba, spending some time with her family."

"What about you? Don't you have anyone to visit?"

"Well, my mother owns the house and shop that we're living in here in Kanazawa, but since she's not here, I'm its acting-owner. My mother is in South Korea and my father has passed away when I was very little. My other relatives still lives in Yokohama, where we used to live."

"…Do you still go to school?"

"Yup! I sure do! I'm in my third year of high school! But we're currently on our winter break right now. What about you, Kyo-san, do you attend school?"

"The last time I check, yes. But, I'm not so sure about that now…We're on our break too. And yeah, I'm in third year."

"Oh! May I know the name of your school? I know some schools in Kagoshima and I might recognise yours."

"Uh…It's Ka--" Kyo paused and got a sudden shock. He became slightly nervous when he realised what he was about to tell her. Kyo attends an all-boys private school. So, to divert the attention, he purposely, though not obviously, hit his sundae with his hand, making it spill on the table.

"Oh!…Damn…" he pretentiously exclaimed.

"Uh-oh! Your sundae, Kyo-san!" Tohru used her tissues to wipe the table. "Would you like another sundae?"

"Nah, it's all good. It'll just worsen my cold. And anyway, didn't you say before that there are some fresh fruits being delivered at your shop at 4pm?"

"Ah! That's right! Thank you for the reminder!"

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

Kyo and Tohru had so much grocery shopping bags that they had to catch a taxi to go home, since a bus would be too crowded.

It was Kyo's first time in a taxi, and basing on that experience, he did not find it pleasant. How could he when the young taxi driver kept on glancing and checking him out through a car mirror. The two also caught him frequently winking at Kyo.

"Whoa! You're beauty is admired everywhere, Kyo-san!" Tohru whispered at the agitated-looking Kyo.

"Yo, driver!" he called with such firm voice. He paused for the driver to answer.

"Yes, miss…?" the young taxi driver retorted.

"Quit winking at me or else I'm gonna pun--" he broke his sentence after realising it wasn't such 'lady-like'.

"…Or else we're not gonna pay you for the service!" he threatened the driver, as he watched him nodded.

They reached their place at 3:45pm, just in time to prepare the space for the fruits.

"Tohru-kun, the fruits are here!" Kyo announced as he saw the Kawaii Kudamono (Cute Fruit) Delivery's truck parking outside the shop.

Kyo and the truck driver carried the seven boxes of fruits inside the shop. Tohru checks her list.

"Ringo (apples)… hai -- Suika (watermelons)…hai -- Ichigo (strawberries)…hai -- Momo (peaches)…hai -- Meron (melons)…hai -- Banana…hai -- Orenji (oranges)…HAI!" she gladly ticked all the points in her list. "Everything's here Tanaka-san! Arigatou gozaimasu!"

"You're welcome," snorted Mr Tanaka, the middle-aged deliverer and truck driver. "Let me know if there's anything you want to replace, Honda-san."

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

It took a while, however both Tohru and Kyo have finished arranging all the groceries and fruits to their correct locations. The two are now in the shop. Tohru is sweeping the floor, whilst Kyo each collapses the boxes.

"Hey, who named this shop?" Kyo inquired Tohru.

"Well, actually, my mother gave me the honour of naming it!" she said happily.

"So…How did you come up with 'Tanoshitoishi'?…And what the heck does it mean?"

"Hehe…When you break the word down, it's actually 'tanoshii to oishii'."

"Why 'fun and delicious'?"

"Well, I wanted the people to visit here, not just because of the food, but also to have fun and hang out."

"I guess you got what you wanted," he pointed at the notice board that is full of various pictures and messages, "from what I see, it's pretty popular with the teenagers."

"Oh, yes, that board," she giggled, "some of my other friends at school and their friends of friends comes here to hang out, especially on the holidays. That reminds me! We're opened tomorrow!"

"…M-Many teenagers will come tomorrow?"

"It depends, Kyo-san. But, there are some customers that come in regularly. Oh! By the way, tomorrow, there will be a girl who will help us out here in the shop. She works here with me as the replacement of Uo-chan and Hana-chan. She lives next door, not in the one that's on the corner of this street, because that's a vacant. She lives on the right side of this shop. She's a very nice girl and she's our age also."

"Wait -- Tomorrow! She'll work with us tomorrow!…And people many people will come tomorrow?"

"It's alright Kyo-san, you'll do fine!" she comforted him, since she thought he was unstable because he was worried that he won't do good as being a shop employee.

"N-No…It ain't that!… Ugh! Never mind. -- Where do you want me to put these folded boxes?"

"In the stock room please, on the corner adjacent to the door. Thank you Kyo-san!"

Kyo instantaneously left and headed to the stock room. He placed the collapsed boxes on the corner it was meant to be then, stood up, disturbingly. He was disturbed all right. Somehow, he knew that tomorrow is not a very good day for him. Somehow, he felt that his secret would be revealed -- that is he's not a she. Would it really though? Tohru Honda did not figure out or any of the people in the shopping centre, also that taxi driver, so, would the girl Tohru mentioned would? What about the regular customers, would they find out also? And his curse? Oh goodness, his curse. His curse is the worst. What if it is still there? The head of the Sohmas said that the curse will 'vanish' once the person possessed it reaches the age of 16. However, who would believe him? Certainly not Kyo. And even though Kyo is already 17, he still didn't leave the Sohma Residence until the day his cousin and lover, Kagura Sohma, forced him to accompany her in visiting the mountains of Kanazawa…

"What the hell should I do…?"

End of Chapter 2: Stranger

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

Okay. There goes another lengthy chapter. I apologise, really I do. I will try to shorten them in the future…Hehe.. Well, I have no idea on how to commence the third chapter...So, I'm not sure when I am able to update! (

Lu-Lu (a.k.a PSM-chan)

( -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- )

Responce to Reviews:

Demon Tenshi -- LoL. Hey girl. Yes, I read the 6th chapter of NR. Hehe.. And I reviewed also. Indeed, that would be nice if you read it PROPERLY and not RUSHED like the other day.. Anyway, have fun on Kingdom Hearts! I just really want the theme song..:(

Aria's star -- Hey there. Yeah..I didn't explain that much on the chapter 1 because I really wanted to explain it on chapter 2 to just drag the story along.. Hehe. Thank you for reviewing!

darkxnova -- Hey-hey! LoL. Long time no see! Thank you for the compliment.. I do wish that you keep reading as I update along.. Wait, actually, I DEMAND you to:P Hehehe...