STOP RIGHT THERE!

This is a Hatori/Tohru fic. You no like, then you don’t have to read. If you do, then by all means, proceed!

NOTE: In this story, the curse is already broken. Just for reference: Tohru is 21 & Hatori is 32.

Originally Tohru was 16, while Hatori was 27 making this 5-years-later.

Disclaimer: If I owned this then Tohru would end up w/ Hari, Akito would BACK OFF (Sorry guys, but me no likey Akito.) & everyone else would live happily ever after! THE END! Now, as you can obviously see, none of this occurs in neither the Anime OR the Manga. So there! HA!

This story is dedicated, to my good friend Isuzu-chan.

Hatori Sohma sat in his office finishing up the last of the day’s papers, as was his daily routine.

After a while, he straitened up from his once hunched position and sighed. His weary eyes slid over to the clock, located on the corner of his desk, which clearly read ten passed seven. He reluctantly got up, grabbed his coat from one of the hangers and headed out the door to Shigure’s.

A 21-year-old Tohru Honda rushed through the masses of people. “Oh no, I’m gonna be late!” She said to herself between breathes of air. Her flight had been delayed due to weather conditions. She was on her way to Shigure Sohma’s home. Supposedly, the old lecher had planned a “Welcome Home” party for her, since it was her first time back in about 2 whole years. After studying abroad in America, she had begun to miss her home country and her “family”.

Panting, she hailed the nearest taxi, jumped in, and gave the directions.

As soon as Hatori entered the house, he was nearly trampled over by Ayame and Shigure at the same time, but due to years of practice, he quickly side-stepped them, and the two fell flat on the floor behind him. “Now Haa-kun, that wasn’t nice!” Ayame moaned. “It’s about time you showed up, although, the guest of honor has yet to arrive I do hope our little Tohru is okay.” Shigure mumbled from his position on the ground.

Hatori stared. “Would you two fools get up?”

“Well, aren’t you ever the Iceman, Haa-kun. We need to find you a girl to melt that heart of yours!”

“I completely agree with you, Shigure. We must find our Hari a maiden who will be able to warm his, oh so frozen heart!” Ayame exclaimed.

Hatori rolled his eyes, and even went as far as to spare them a rare smirk. Sure they were idiots, but they had still been there for him after the incident that had injured his eye all those years ago.

“It ceases to amaze me how much energy you two can retain at your age.”

“Nonsense, Haa-kun, we are only but 32 as are you!”

“Would you look at that, Aaya. You just rhymed!”

“Why Gure-san, I believe you are correct!”

Hatori walked away from the men laughing in the hallway and headed towards the main sitting room to meet the rest of the guests.

“You stupid rat!”

“Damn cat!”

The yelling increased as he got closer and he could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

Apparently it was going to be a long night, but it would be worth it just to see her smiling face again.

Tohru made her way up the sloping hill. She could see the lights from her old home off in the distance and excitement began to brew within her. She quickened her pace the best she could, after all she was lugging a suitcase along with her.

She stopped for a minute before deciding to knock and simply let the cool winter breeze toss her hair around her. Soon, a warm smile graced her lips as she admired the familiar scenery. Completely lost in her own little world, she failed to hear the door open, or to see a familiar doctor watching her.

“Welcome back, Tohru-kun.” His silky voice broke her out of her reverie and she jumped a little.

“Oh! Haa-kun. Thank you. My goodness I haven’t seen you in ages! How are you?” She stumbled.

Before he could answer…

“TOHRU! It’so good to see you again!” Shigure shouted, from the doorway.

“Shigure-kun! Ayame-kun!”

She walked over to greet them soon followed by Yuki and Kyo who had heard all the corruption from across the house. Hatori just looked on with mild interest and slight annoyance at being interrupted. As they all sat down for some hot chocolate and conversation, he took in her appearance. She had obviously matured over time but, other than that she still looked youthful and carefree. Her eyes were the same warm brown as the chocolate smoking in her cup. He felt as if he were being observed and shifted his glance. Sure enough, Shigure was watching him with a knowing smirk. He glared at the “dog” of a man before listening in on the conversation. Shigure simply chukled.

“So how are Hiro and Kisa-chan doing?” Tohru questioned.

“As matter of fact, they are engaged.” Yuki replied.

“Really? I’m so happy for them! It’s too bad they couldn’t be here.”

“No worries, Miss Honda. They should be back from Honshu tomorrow night and they promised to drop by.”

They continued to talk for about an hour with the occasional verbal spar between Kyo and Yuki until Shigure decided to bring out the sake.

Tohru, naturally, politely declined along with Hatori. As soon as sake was mentioned Yuki and Kyo thought it would be best to head out before temptation could get the best of them.

“We are sorry to leave so soon Toru-kun, but I’m afraid that I have to get home to Machi.” Yuki apologized.

“Yeah, and I’ve got a morning class of teenagers to instruct at the dojo tomorrow. The last thing I need is a hangover.” Kyo added.

“No, no, it’s alright, I understand; just promise me that you will visit again, soon.”

They nodded in unison and left with the assurance that as long as Hatori was there everything would be just fine

At half past midnight, Ayame and Shigure were passed out on the floor still clutching their sake bottles.

Tohru giggled at the sight and noticed that there was something, or rather, someone missing in this picture until she felt a draft that led to a door onto the deck.

Hatori was enjoying his long awaited silence when Tohru came to stand next to him.

“The children are asleep.” She said, jokingly. Hatori chuckled in response. “No wonder it’s so quiet.” He joked back. She laughed lightly and shivered. It would appear that the temperature had dropped since earlier. Noticing this, he questioned, “Are you cold?” she smiled while staring at the sky, “A bit.”

“Maybe we should go inside.”

He turned to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he looked back, he was meet by a dreamy expression.

“Wait,” she whispered, “-look.”

Sure enough, small flakes of ice began to flutter down to the earth. It was the first snow of the season.

“I remember when you asked me that question about snow, and I’ve always wondered where you had heard it from.”

He smiled at the memory, and replied. “She asked me when we first met.”

Tohru gave a sad smile at the mention of Her. “Hmm. Do you still miss Her?”

“I find myself still thinking about her from time to time. She is married and has children now; a daughter and another one on the way, if I’m correct. Sometimes, I wonder if taking a chance at “us” all those years ago was really such a good idea.”

“My mother once told me that it’s healthy to take a chance once in a while. That way, you can’t regret it later, and if you do, well at least you tried.”

There was a slight pause as she allowed the words to sink in and then she did a very “un-Tohru-like” thing and brushed her lips against his.

Hatori couldn’t have been more surprised, but then something within him seemed to snap and he wrapped his arms around her waist and practically crushed her lithe form to his. She in turn, squeaked with surprise at the suddenly very close contact, but had no trouble at all relaxing into his strong frame. Bringing her arms around his neck, she began to toy with his soft hair. He smirked cockily at her responses and was about to deepen their kiss when all of a sudden the sound of an “AHEM!” broke the two apart so fast that Tohru almost fell back until he steadied her with the hand that was still around her waist. This didn’t help any as she was already blushing enough. They looked toward the source of their interruption.

Shigure stood before them with a goofy smile slapped onto his face. Tohru’s blush deepened further and Hatori gave him a look that clearly read, "I WILL MAKE SURE TO MAKE EVERDAY, FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISERABLE LIFE, HELL IF YOU DON’T LEAVE…NOW!"

Shigure, who couldn’t pass up the chance at catching the two and ridiculing them (well, mostly Hari) into oblivion, clearly got the message, as the look on his face turned to fear and he quickly muttered, “Don’t mind me! Carry on!”

Once he left, Hatori looked over to the young women in his arms, “Now, shall we continue?” he asked, while nuzzling the side of her face. She giggled at the older man’s suddenly playful mood, nodded and for the second time that night their lips meet as the snow continued to fall.

In the background, drunken laughter accompanied the sound of a simple camera click, and then silence.

FIN.

READ & REVIEW!

I do not tolerate flames due to the fact that this is the first time I have actually gathered up the courage to post my material up. Therefore, I do not need discouragement. I will, however, accept constructive criticism. If you guys like, then review and you might just get to see more stories similar to this one. I’m more of a one-shot person right now because I’m on a very tight schedule, what with school and all.