6 6 - The long wait

Kyo Sohma sat at the wooden table in this brightly painted kitchen, resting his left hand on a half-drunk mug of coffee. It was early afternoon and the sun had retired to the clouds. It was still too early to go visit his partner, Tohru Honda, at her place of work. He had purchased a beautiful bouquet of tulips, at her second place of work The Happy Petals Florist, and was ready to pick her up from work. His plan for proposing was working out fine so far, but it would only succeed if Tohru was happy to go out for dinner this evening.

The cat let out a soft sigh before draining the rest of his, now cold, coffee. He gulped liquid down and spat, the beverage didn't taste right unless it was piping hot. He got up from his chair to place the empty mug into the sink before looking up at the kitchen clock. The plastic face read one o'clock. Three hours left, Kyo told himself, what to do while I wait? He wondered to himself. After a few moments deliberating, he decided to look around the house to see if anything needed fixing. Today was one of his rare days off and he intended to spend his time wisely.

Kyo set off about the house checking each cupboard and fixing them. A hinge on one of the kitchen doors had become slightly loose, he decided to tighten the screws before moving on. He continued to check around the house but it all appeared fine. The cat checked the laundry, but it seemed his partner had got to that before him. Typical Tohru, he thought with a smile. Kyo was a little lost, even in his own home, the notion was silly but true.

He went to check out the small box room the pair had been using as a part study. The cat opened the door, walking straight to the wooden desk inside. It had been a moving-in gift from Shigure Sohma, his cousin. At the time Kyo had considered the present a little silly, neither one of them had use for a desk with their work but Tohru had been gracious to accept it. It now lived inside the tiny room having little use made out of it.

Kyo took a seat on the worn black leather seat and began looking through the drawers. He was certain somewhere within, the desk was preserving the housing plans he and his partner had drawn up together. The first had nothing more than stationary in, all in a cutesy style. The cat let out a soft chuckle, Typical Tohru, he thought to himself with a smile adorning his lips. He opened the second drawer and noticed a familiar scroll of cream paper. Kyo smiled as he pulls the housing plans from the drawer, noticing it had been tied with a pale pink elastic band. His smile didn't waver, instead, it grew, knowing his partner had tried her best to preserve the papers.

He removed the band carefully, deciding to stand up from his worn seat to get a better look. Kyo unrolled the scroll onto the top of the wooden desk but found the edges kept bouncing back to it's original curved shaped. He frowned, looking about the place for anything that could be used as a paperweight, and that wouldn't damage the plans. He spotted a couple of blown glass ornament sitting on a small bookcase beside the desk. They were round with a colored spiral in the middle and bubbles decorating the inside of the piece. The cat couldn't remember where these had come from and instead assumed they were probably another gift from the Sohma family, the majority of the decorations in the house were. This included the antique desk, the glass paperweights, a carved china vase, the bookcase in the living room and an assortment of house plants.

Kyo left the paper plans to return to their curled form whilst he picked the glasses weights from the shelf. He took hold of one corner of the scroll, pulling it away and placing the weight on top. He repeated the same process on the other side. He looked at it for a minute, readjusted the position of the weights before slumping back down in the worn leather chair. The cat looked over the plans; the current state of the house had been outlined in thick black ink, consisting of the bathroom, the bedroom he shared with his partner, the living room and their small kitchen. In this box, it had a label insisting the room needed to be bigger, or knock a partition in the wall to create a breakfast bar and have a dining table in the living room instead.

The cat remembered planning this detail with Tohru, knowing whilst she claimed the current size of the kitchen was fine, he knew deep down she would love a little extra space. He had offered to knock down part of the wall to give the impression the kitchen was much bigger, with a new part partition in the living room to block off the dining area. The lounge had more than enough room to borrow from. While Kyo liked the kotatsu to eat on, it wasn't overly practical when they had guests. The couple had witnessed this first hand the other night when they had Kureno, Arisa and their daughter Kyoko over for dinner. The idea would be a better investment, especially with the thought of little ones that may come into their life in the future. Whenever that might be, he thought to himself, but he dare not mention that to his partner Tohru, as he didn't want to come across pushy.

Kyo decided to retrieve his spiral-bound notebook from his canvas rucksack, from the dining room table before returning to the silent study. He looked over the plans once more, the breakfast bar and dining room combi would be his first order of business.

"Maybe I could rope the guys into helping me with the construction," he spoke his thoughts aloud, twiddling with the biro in his right hand. He winced at the thought, he could handling imagine Ayame and Shigure taking the task seriously, not to mention Ritsu now he has finally felt comfortable to transition. This had happened shortly after the Sohma family curse broke, leaving many of the zodiac cousins to continue with life plans they had put off. The cat smiled, there were still plenty of relatives that would be perfect to assist with the job; six males plus Kureno and himself would be more than plenty.

He set about jotting a few notes on the lined pad, mainly detailing which materials and tools would be needed to complete the job. All of them could be brought at the local hardware store. He made a note to ask his foster father for a ride in order to collect the materials. Kyo paused from his scribbling for a moment, remember to considering his partner's feelings, he wanted her input for this project, it was her home too. He thought about scheduling time off later in the week, knowing full well that she would be free on Saturday. Perhaps, he thought, the pair of us could look at samples together. He nodded to himself as if to agree with his own thoughts. A smile appeared on his lips, he knew Tohru could never resist an opportunity to look at paint charts.

Once satisfied with his notes, Kyo moved his notepad to one side before removing the blown glass paperweights from the plans. He rolled the paper back up carefully so it wouldn't tear and gently reattached the elastic band around the scroll. He returned it to its usual hiding place in the second drawer and the glass weights to the bookcase before exiting the room and returning to the kitchen. The cat considering making himself yet another cup of coffee but decided against it on the count of the jitters regarding his plan. Instead, he chose to reach for an ice-cold can of soda from the fridge. He broke the seal and took a quick swig, the cold liquid rushing down his throat. It was both refreshing and desperately needed, the sugar giving him a little more energy than he had before.

Kyo put down the can and began looking through the kitchen drawers for his measuring tape. He couldn't do anything about these plans until he had scaled up the workspace. He managed to find a steel one tucked away in the back of the drawer next to the sink unit, which was mostly filled with other junk the couple rarely used and refused to throw away 'just in case'. This was clearly one of the opportune moments where it did in fact come in handy. The cat picked out the tape measure and began measuring up the bare wall opposite the built in wooden cupboards and jotting down both the length and width of the wall. Kyo calculated the ideal size he thought the wall should be cut to make room for the breakfast bar. A rough rectangle that would act more of a window and serving hatch than a walkway. Satisfied with his notes, he decided to move into the living room to measure up a suitable size for the proposed dining room.

He noted down the measurements again, taking both length and width into consideration and added two variations to the numbers to give himself a little more variety to work with, and the addition of space around a full-sized dining table, unlike the one sitting in the kitchen.

Kyo glanced down at his smart sports watch, a gift from his partner Tohru for his last birthday, despite his protests, he was thankful for the present and rarely took it off, much like the monochrome beaded bracelet he wore back in high school. It was both a good distraction and a coping mechanism to get over his past. The cat couldn't help but think back to the day the bracelet broke, how he watched Tohru had painstakingly picked up every single bead to cherish as her own memory. He looked over to the oak bookcase sitting in the corner of the room, a slight smile on his lips as he remembered the glass bowl housing each bead placed proudly on the shelf beside the only framed photo Kyoko Honda.

He walked over to the case, noticing a small fire lighter on a higher shelf. He picked it up and lit the small white candle sitting beside both the bowl and the photo frame. Kyo bowed at the photograph, acknowledging Kyoko as if she was still present. If he couldn't ask the living maybe he could seek the answer he wanted from the departed.

"Mrs. Honda," Kyo spoke softly, his ginger head still staring at the carpet, "I wish to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage." He lifted his head so his brown eyes met the glass frame, "If you feel I am suitable for her, please give me a sign of your blessing," he begged. He knew he had barely a right to ask after how he had treated Tohru back in high school, but he wanted to clear his conscience that he had at least made the effort to ask.

The cat waited a few moments, no physical or spiritual movement occurred within the surrounding area. He bowed once more before softly blowing out the candle. Kyo turned himself around ready to leave the living room to focus on his next course of action. Suddenly he felt a cold chill run down his spine, causing him to shiver just like the day they first met. He smirked, she had heard his call. A ghostly-figure, probably a form of his imagination he thought, had appeared in front of the cream floral patterned curtains. A light orange-haired woman in her early thirties looked back at him. She stood there, her skin pale and transparent, dressed in a simple shirt and jeans just like she had worn when they first met. She came to deliver a short, simple yet important message to the man.

"Keep your promise, Kyon," the ghost of Kyoko Honda whispered to him, "Protect my daughter." She reminded him before disappearing as soon as the sun shone brightly through the window.

"I promise," Kyo replied in a soft whisper, bowing his head in respect to the departed soul. While it all might of been a figment of his wild imagination, he took it upon himself to consider this a sign of her blessing. He glanced back at his sports watch, only an hour till he had planned to meet his partner from work. He decided to discard the notepad on the kotatsu before dashing off to the bathroom for a quick shower.

Kyo stood looking over his appearance in the mirror. He had opted for a smart black shirt, fully buttoned rather than his usual combo of a t-shirt underneath and the shirt left open, paired with dark-blue denim jeans. Happy with his clothes, he ran a comb quickly through his ginger locks before diving into his wardrobe for a pair of black combat boots. He took one finally look at himself in the mirror, thinking he looked reasonably smart. He hoped his partner would appreciate the little extra he had put into his appearance this evening.

The cat exited the bedroom, returning to the kitchen to collect his essentials to execute his plan. He threw on his charcoal leather jacket and added his smartphone, wallet and keys to one of the inside pockets. He picked up a velvet ring box and examined the contents, a smile appeared on his lips. Tonight was the night. Kyo placed it securely in another pocket inside the jacket before gathering the beautiful tulip bouquet, Sakura had made early that day.

His mind began to race, as he departed from his home. I hope she says yes, he thought to himself, determined not to let his anxiety get the better of him this evening. Tonight, he was going to propose to his partner, Tohru Honda, the woman of his dreams, the light of his life. Kyo felt his cheeks ablaze just thinking about it. He shook his head, keeping his head cool as he set off down the street and towards the bakery, where his partner waited.

Tonight's the night. Tonight, I will propose to Tohru.

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