✓ | WITHERED BONDS, shigure sohma [Fruits Basket]

Chapter Forty Two

Shigure was left shaken that night because after Kira confessed to him her secret-She suddenly cried.

It tore him when she did because the last time he had seen her cry was when they first slept together. After that, Kira had not once shed a single tear, which had become something he was used to.

She was callous in many ways and it often led to Shigure not even being aware of how he viewed her.

Shigure did not say anything comforting to her when she cried, because he had no idea what to say, so he just held her until she literally fell asleep from exhaustion. He ended up having to hold her as he also slept because she clung onto his arm and showed no signs of letting it go.

The next day, he had woken up to Kira still asleep and when he took the moment to stare at her face, he had seen below her still slightly puffy eyes had sunken in.

She was emotionally and physically exhausted.

When he got up out of the futon, she did not move or show a sign of waking up at all, so he left the room to make her rest longer.

"Morning~," Shigure said through a yawn as he walked into the living room.

"Good morning," Tohru said brightly

"Shigure...it's already evening, shouldn't you really organize your daily lifestyle better?" Yuki said unimpressed at his irregular sleeping schedule.

"I'm a writer, so it doesn't really matter when I sleep..." Shigure waved him off then turned seeing another person that was most definitely not Kyo," Eh...? This girl looks a lot like Satchan" He said walking over to Kisa," Uncle will buy you some sweets"

"Either your lack of sleep seems to have boggled your mind, or are you really just the irresponsible father we think you are?" Yuki commented

Shigure pouted embracing Kisa tightly," Yuki's his usual cold self as always, Satchan"

"Let go of her, you'll infect her with your evil germs"

Shigure turned his head as he let go of her," What are you people watching?"

Kisa followed his line of sight to the television," A cartoon...it's very interesting. Everyone's talking about it in school...so I borrowed it"

Tohru chuckled while clasping her hands," I've seen it before and the movies quite good!"

"So" Shigure hummed as he faced Kisa," After that incident in school...what happened?"

Kisa looked down before peering up at him smiling," Mm...I'm trying my best...my mother...and brothers and sisters all supporting and encouraging me. So I will keep doing my best"

There was a long silence before Tohru squealed and hugged Kisa lovingly.

"Ah, ha. She really is bursting with love" Shigure mumbled watching the scene before him. He then turned to the Kyo who was walking in," Ah, the benevolent youth is back"

"Oh" Tohru who had finally let go of Kisa walked over greeting him," Welcome back, Kyo"

"I'm hungry..." He mumbled before turning to see Kisa," What's this? Is this little brat really planning on staying here-" He was cut off to a fist being slammed on top of his head, but before he could retort or get angry, he turned to see it was Kira.

"Apologize to her, Kyo, right now," Kira said through a smile, making him cower and mumble his apologies to the young female.

"Oh, Kira, I didn't know you were still here, Good evening" Tohru greeted her with a smile and the older female turned to her and to the members of the Zodiacs shock, she smiled back-it was not that she never smiled at Tohru-it was a smile that they were all unaccustomed with.

"Thank you Tohru, I immediately got up to the sound of food being made, please don't let me stop you"

Tohru laughed unaware of the sudden surprise the others had," You got it, Kira," As the teen walked away, Kira turned to them and also smiled, before walking over to the table and situating herself. The members knew one thing and it was definitely not forced or fake.

They could feel it because Kira had not cared about expressing the overwhelming emotion, even if it confused them.

Shigure took the initiative at the silence and sat next to her," How about some sake? It's been a while"

Kira sighed helplessly at his question and if one looked carefully enough they'd see she almost appeared to break in tears at the sound of 'sake'," Please, that would be lovely"

Tohru had heard the adults and she made way to gathering the alcohol for them and Kira had soon fallen into a casual conversation with the others, asking them just simple questions about their wellbeing since she's really haven't seen them for a while.

At first, they were rigid to the questions, but with soon enough they were going with the flow and the tenseness was gone.