Mine to Hold

Tohru stirred blearily rubbing her eyes as she awoke in total darkness. She realized that her pajamas were stuck to her skin from sweat and she was breathing hard. She was also very nervous.

Did I just have a bad dream? She wondered as she attempted to calm the irregular pounding of her heart.

Her eyes darted from side to side in the darkness. Gradually the pitch black softened to dark gray and she was able to see the outlines of the furnishings in her room. She sat up slowly, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. She reached her arm around her stomach. She was really scared! Tohru tried to shake it off, the feeling of unease that plagued her.

Maybe if I get a drink of water I'll feel better. She thought.

Swinging her leg over the side of the bed and tossing the blanket to the side she padded out her bedroom door and down the stairs. She entered the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief as the light of a full moon shone through the window. She got herself a glass and filled it with water drinking slowly, savoring the cool liquid on her tongue and enjoying the chill it spread through her torso as it slid down her throat and into her stomach.

Rinsing the glass she began walking back upstairs, however, the closer she got to her room the higher her apprehension rose.

This is stupid! She thought fiercely to herself. But she could not force her feet to cross the threshold into her room. When she was little she used to climb into her mothers bed after a bad dream. Tohru grinned wryly to herself. Who was she kidding? Her mother had died barely a year ago and Tohru had still crawled into her mother's arms after every bad dream. She had assumed that it would always be so.

If only I didn't have to go to bed alone! An insidious voice whispered inside her head. Tohru began gnawing on her lip. Really, she didn't have to. Sighing in defeat her tummy trembling in anticipation and fear in equal amounts, Tohru tiptoed to Kyo's room. Would he be upset? Would he reject her? Tohru reached a trembling hand up to the door of his room and slid it open. She paused there in the doorway. She could see the lump that was Kyo's body on his futon. Swallowing she tread over to his side, falling gracefully to her knees her hair sweeping forward brushing against the sleeping boys face. Tohru could feel her face burning.

It would be okay, it wasn't as if they were doing anything. She just didn't want to be alone. Was that so bad? She whined plaintively in her head. Shaking her head she reached her arms around Kyo's side and rested her head on his chest briefly as she embraced him. There was a loud Pouf.

"Whuddahell! To…Tohru?" Kyo asked sleepily.

"Shhh." Tohru whispered as she lifted Kyo's furry orange body from his futon and padded over to her room. She rubbed her chin across the top of Kyo's soft fur. He purred loudly nuzzling her neck.

"Bad dream huh?" Kyo asked as he snuggled himself atop the cushion of Tohru's small breasts.

"Yes." She whispered as she lay down in her bed spooning her body to Kyo-cat. Kyo absently patted his claws on the top of her pajama top as he got comfortable. Tohru wrapped her arms around him and soon drifted into a deep sleep.

Kyo lay drowsily in the warmth of Tohru's embrace. Never in his life had he been grateful for the curse until the night when Tohru first came to him. Truth be told he secretly delighted when she had bad dreams. It meant he would be able to spend the night in her arms. Lying next to her he placed his ear over her chest and allowed himself to be lulled to sleep by the sound of her heartbeat.