Chapter Text
She thinks he doesn't know that she approaches and truthfully, he loves it.
He waits until she's right behind him to turn around, bringing himself face to face with her, the sight of her pout bringing a chuckle from his lips. "I've told you that you can't sneak up on me," he reminds her as she drops down to the space beside him, her eyes shining as a smile returns to her face.
"I still like to try," she admits, drawing her knees up to her chest as she wraps her arms around them. "It's beautiful," she whispers, staring up into the vast expanse of the starry sky above them. Even here, even at home, the stars are as beautiful has they had been those nights at the beach.
From where he sits beside her, Kyo has long stopped watching the stars. "Yeah..." He breathes softly, but it's not the skies he's speaking of. "I thought you would be asleep," he goes on when he finds himself again. At his words, Tohru's face darkens, as it always does when something painful crosses her mind. But she smiles when she glances his way, shaking her head. There's something she isn't saying, but it's not as if he can blame her. How many things does he himself keep locked inside?
"I had a dream," she speaks quietly, suddenly, bringing him back to the moment. "A dream about you." She shifts so she might face him, those big, bright eyes of hers reflecting the pale moonlight that peers down from behind the clouds. In the confines of her mind, she recalls the shadows of the dream- darkness and confinement, fear and loathing. All things she can't imagine for anyone, but especially not for him. Reaching out, she can't help but touch his hand with her own, the only thing she can do to keep him looking at her. The truth was, she wishes she could hug him, could feel his arms wrap around her without fear of changing, without fear of him becoming something else entirely.
Though despite it all, she does not fear what he becomes- the cat, or the other thing. The monster he claims himself to be. She's seen his every side, seen his every version, and there wasn't a single one that she would not accept.
"A dream," he scoffs, so like himself, that it brings a soft laugh from her lips. "You shouldn't worry about a dream." He wonders if there's more, he wonders what else she does not say, but he doesn't press it. Tohru will speak to him if she wants, when she's ready. She always does. "You need your sleep," he says when she yawns a moment later, the blush that stains her cheeks making him smile. There, bathed in moonlight, she looks so soft and so sweet, she is the girl he's grown to know, the girl he's grown to love.
"I know," she admits, but she does not rise up, but rather she scoots closer and lays her head against his shoulder, knowing that right then, there was no other place she wanted to be. It takes only a moment, but she feels the weight of his head as he tips his against hers, coming as close as he dares, but wishing he could draw her into his arms. Into his embrace. "So do you," her voice comes a few moments later, stifled somewhat by another yawn, which elicits a chuckle of his own. "Let's stay here... Just a while longer."
Knowing there was nothing he could deny her, Kyo nods. "As long as you like," he says, knowing that he would sit there until she drifts off, knowing he would willingly, no happily, carry her to her bed in just a short while. But for now, he would only enjoy this moment with her.
For now, he would enjoy what he has.