Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Intervention ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own fruits basket, but if I did, I might be talked into sharing.

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Chapter 2:

Tohru awoke to a faint knocking on her door. Groggily, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Yes!" she called. "Come in."

"Sorry to disturb you, Honda-san," the maid said, head bowed. "Sohma Yuki-san asked me to deliver this to you at once. He said he would be waiting for you downstairs to go to breakfast."

Tohru crawled out of bed and bowed to the maid. "Thank you very much. I?ll be right down." The maid nodded and bowed her way out of the guest room, shutting the door behind her.

With another yawn and a quick stretch, Tohru examined the object the maid had left on the dresser. It was a large box with a blue bow on top. The card attached to the front read, "Honda-san, I thought this was fit for a princess. ?Yuki," in his elegant script.

Blushing, Tohru opened the lid only to find the most exquisite dress she had ever seen. The material was fine white silk with lace accents on the sleeves and neckline, and the skirt was several layers, making it flare out slightly. A wide red satin sash that tied in the back separated bodice and skirt. The same red satin was used to gather the sleeves at the cuff, which would be right above her elbows. Actually, it was rather similar to the dress she had tried on in Ayame?s shop.

The first reaction Tohru had to the extravagant gift was, "This is way too much! I could never accept such an expensive dress. Oh, but Yuki-kun will think I don?t like it if I don?t wear it. Oh, mom! I really do feel spoiled like a princess sometimes." Resigning to her decision, Tohru put the dress on and brushed her hair. As an afterthought, she took two of the red ribbon streamers from her new kite and tied them in her hair. Then she quickly ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Yuki turned around to face Tohru as he heard her approaching. He had seen Tohru in a dress like that before, but that didn?t take his breath away any less. "Good morning, Honda-san. I was right. That dress is very cute on you. And it suits you, too: white for innocence with a little bit of red for the bright sunshine you bring into our lives. It seems that they picked the New Years colors with you in mind."

The thought crossed Tohru?s mind that if she blushed any harder she might burst into flames. "Thank you so much, Yuki-kun. The dress is beautiful, but I?m sorry if I made you think that you had to buy me anything for New Years."

Yuki chuckled at her apology. "Really, Honda-san, there?s nothing to apologize for. A girl like you should have a new dress on New Years. Shall we go to breakfast?" He offered his arm to Tohru, who shyly took it, and they headed to the dining hall.

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Hatori saw Kyou drop his head into his hands with a pained look. Sitting down next to him at the table, he suppressed a smile. "So, now you know what a hangover feels like. Here, drink this. I put a little something in it to take away your headache," he said, pushing some tea in front of Kyou.

The orange-haired boy opened his eyes to glance over at Hatori. "Feeling guilty about dunking my head in cold water last night?" Kyou picked up the cup and sipped from it, grimacing at the bitter taste of whatever it was the doctor had added.

"That was for your own good. And not just for being inebriated. I?ve never seen you blush so hard."

Kyou winced, recalling himself telling Hatori all about Tohru kissing his cheek and how much fun he had with her watching the fireworks.

Hatori had expected to be the target of Kyou?s temper after that comment, but was instead greeted with a humiliated Kyou, eyes and mouth closed tight in a regretful expression. "It?s okay, Kyou. Your feelings for Tohru aren?t exactly secret. Even so, you must be careful; you can imagine what Akito would do if he knew that he could use her to hurt you. He suspects as it is, but blurting out your fondness for her isn't helping the situation." He sighed. "Look, just be mindful of the consequences of your actions."

Kyou let out the breath he had been holding. "Hey, Hatori?thanks." With that, Hatori rose, patted Kyou on the shoulder, and walked into the breakfast crowd.

Kyou downed the rest of his tea and looked around. All of the Sohmas who lived in the main house- those that were part of the curse or knew of it- were gathering for breakfast. The tables in the huge room were filling up fast, but no one except Hatori had come to sit by Kyou in his corner table. 'Always shunned,' he thought. 'I wonder where Tohru and that damn rat are.' As if summoned, the two walked arm-and-arm into the room. Kyou's heart dropped when he saw Tohru's dress. 'Where did she get that? I suppose the kuso nezumi pulled it out of his sleeve.' Kyou sank into depression thinking about how Yuki's expensive gift to her made his insignificant. To make matters worse, he spotted Kagura heading in his direction, looking like a hawk coming in for the kill.

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Yuki and Tohru made their way to the food. "Yuki-kun, doesn?t the ozoni look delicious? Mmm, and I love otoso on New Years!" She gazed around for a minute at the unbelievable selection.

"Yes, Honda-san, it looks very good. Try anything you want." And so they did, filling their plates to the brim with all the freshly made victuals. As they turned to look for a place to sit, Tohru caught site of Kyou and Kagura alone at a table in the back corner of the room.

"Maybe we should go sit by Kyou-kun. I'm not sure he's very happy about sitting alone with Kagura-san." In fact, Kyou was in every way the personification of a bristling cat.

"Wherever you want to sit, Honda-san, although I would really prefer to not eat with the baka neko." Yuki saw that Tohru's face clearly showed her torn feelings in wanting to please him and save Kyou at the same time. He just couldn't stand to make her look like that. "It's all right, Honda-san. He appears to be pretty quiet this morning, anyway." Tohru's face was content once again, and they went to sit with the Cat and Boar.

"Good morning, Kagura-san, Kyou-kun!" chimed Tohru. "Would it be okay if we sat with you?"

"Yeah, anything to get her attention off of me. It's way, way too early for this much talking." Kyou rubbed his temples with his fingers. He couldn't quite bring himself to make eye contact with Tohru, not after how he acted the night before.

"But Kyou-kun! I didn't get to see you last night, and I missed you so much! Where were you? Aren't you happy to see me?" Kagura tried to pull the resisting Kyou into her arms, lips puckered for a kiss.

"Ugh! Get off of me! I was avoiding you last night because you drive me crazy!" He realized that was the wrong thing to say, but he couldn't help himself. As Kagura pummeled him repeatedly, he only thought about how hard his head was pounding and that she wasn't helping any. Finally, she stopped and immediately fawned over his bruises. Kyou could only roll his eyes and try to block the sound of her screeching voice. The throbbing in his brain was unreal.

"?and I promise to take care of you forever, Kyou-kun. I love you!!! Let me go find you some ice," Kagura said, finishing her rant. Kyou felt the tension in his body release as she ran off. 'I hope the nearest ice is in Siberia,' he thought wistfully. Putting her out of his mind, he moved his attention back to the new arrivals at his table.

"You look pretty terrible this morning," teased Yuki. "I guess Kagura must have hurt you more than usual."

Kyou quickly glanced at Tohru, but by the look on her face he could tell that she was oblivious to the cause of his headache. "Uh, shut up, kuso nezumi. You don't like being attacked in the morning, either." He hoped that retort would satisfy Yuki. Kyou really didn't want him to know the reason for his pain, because the last thing the Rat needed was more ammunition against him. Luckily, it appeared to have worked.

"Yes, but at least I'm able to fight back in the morning. You didn?t even defend yourself." Yuki was speaking in the taunting voice he reserved for Kyou.

"I really don't need to hear about it from you!" Kyou replied, shouting. "Did you come over here just to talk about that?"

"No. Actually, it was Honda-san's idea to join you. I would be happy if I never saw you again." Yuki calmed himself down and smiled at Tohru. "I'm sorry, Honda-san. I'll try not to ruin the holiday for you."

Kyou felt like a pot that was about to boil over, but he forced himself to cool off a little, to a simmer. "Sorry," he said in a tight voice.

Tohru looked about to panic, and both boys knew what would come out of her mouth. "No! Don't be sorry! I should be sorry! I know you don't want to be around each other, and it was my fault we came to sit here, and I should have known better. Please say you'll forgive me!"

After reassuring her that it wasn't her fault, they all settled into eating breakfast. Hatsuharu joined them, also. He was looking even more upset than Kyou.

"Is everything okay, Hatsuharu-kun?" questioned Tohru.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little worried about Rin, is all. I think that last night she was trying to prove that she's fine, and now she's lying in bed ill. I told her to take it easy, but she has about as much sense as Yuki when it comes to that." His tone was strained with a frantic concern that Tohru had never heard from the normally laid-back White Haru. Since the day when Rin had come home from the hospital, she had seemed to get a little better. With some typical catalyst actions from Tohru, Rin and Haru had recently become close again. His friendship and love had helped her overcome some of her inner turmoil regarding her family's abuse and neglect. Even so, her health was still quite frail and Hatsuharu watched over her almost excessively.

"Tell Isuzu-san that I hope she feels better," said Tohru, trying to comfort Hatsuharu.

"I will. I'm going to bring her something to eat once I'm done. You know, Honda-san, she values your friendship a lot. I think you've been a good influence on her attitude." Haru flashed his debonair grin at her.

"Glad to know I can help! Isuzu-san has been a great friend to me, too," Tohru said back, her smile so large that her eyes seemed closed. Hatsuharu finished quickly and left to make a plate for Rin. The rest of the meal went by quietly, and after some introductions to various Sohmas that wandered over to their table and a short but stressful chat with the Hot Springs Lady and Ritsu, Yuki was ready to take Tohru to the garden. As they left, Kyou rested his head on his arms and tried not to think either about his headache or Tohru and Yuki's "date."

"Kyou, my love, I'm back with some ice!"

Kyou groaned.

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Yuki and Tohru strolled through the empty grounds to a far-off section of the Honke. Situated in the crux of two houses was a secluded garden. Although it wasn't large, it was the most gorgeous garden Tohru had ever seen. Bamboo lined the edges and willowy flowering trees that Tohru couldn't identify dotted the area. Everywhere else seemed to be hibernating for the winter, but this garden was alive with color. "I didn't know that a garden could look like this at this time of year," Tohru said in awe.

"Actually, Honda-san, this is a winter garden. The plants were chosen because they blossom at this time, and the rocks were specially chosen and placed to enhance the beauty. I spent many hours here when I was younger, because few people came here. And because this was my house." Yuki pointed to the larger of the two houses that encroached on the garden.

"How exciting!" said Tohru. "I got to see Kyou-kun's house last night, and now I get to see yours, too. I always wondered what they looked like." Tohru gazed at the cold house. Although it was very large, it had a stark quality that Tohru had imagined it would. Yuki's family didn't seem like it would be the warm and joyous type.

"Come with me, Honda-san. There is a place I want to show you." Tohru nodded, still entranced by her surroundings, and let Yuki lead her into the trees. They stopped next to the largest in the garden, a twisted tree that had a thick branch that grew horizontally, close to the ground. Yuki sat down on the natural bench and motioned Tohru to join him. "I often came to sit here when I was younger. It was a place I could be alone and pretend not to be in Sohma House." Yuki seemed to drift off to another world, absorbed in his mysterious shell.

Tohru explored her surroundings with her eyes. She noticed that no part of the Honke was visible from this point. It was almost like they were in the middle of a fantastical dream. Now she understood why this was Yuki's favorite place. He could escape from his invisible cage and imagine that he was far away from this cursed life. "Thank you, Yuki-kun," she said quietly. "It means a lot to me that you would share your special place with me."

Yuki smiled down at Tohru and gently laid his hand on hers. "This was my 'secret base' when I lived here. Even though I felt free being in this spot, it was a lonesome feeling, having no one to share my freedom with. There's no one that I could share this place with except for you, Honda-san. Thank you for taking away the solitude."

Tohru's face turned every shade of pink. She grasped Yuki's hand in her own. Sometimes he seemed so abandoned and helpless like a child. She just sat there with him in silence for a long time, breathing in the crisp winter air. The sun was past its peak when they finally stood to leave. They had skipped lunch and both noticed a grumbling in their stomachs that they couldn't ignore. Slowly, they strolled out of the secluded trees and into the garden entrance. Yuki and Tohru stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of someone standing before them, a severe expression on his face.

"Good afternoon, Kureno," greeted Yuki warily. Tohru hadn't recognized the Bird immediately. It had been several months since she had seen him, and she really hadn't had too many interactions with him. At the time, she had tried to convince him to make contact with Uo, but that never happened. Tohru felt sorry for Kureno for being Akito's prisoner, but she couldn't help but feel a chill up her spine at his presence.

"Good afternoon,Yuki. Honda Tohru, you will accompany me to Akito's residence, now. He would like to speak with you." He promptly turned on his heel and started walking away, an air about him that said he knew she would follow. Tohru's eyes grew as big as saucers as she timidly followed Kureno's retreating back.

Yuki felt rooted to the ground. An ominous fear had consumed him at the sight of Kureno. Kureno meant Akito, because the Bird lived under his control. Now, watching Tohru leave to face that monster, he began shaking. Only the idea of Tohru hurt by Akito cured his paralysis. He had to find Shigure. Damnit! He might even need that baka neko for this?

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A/N: Ooh, and so the suspense builds! Please read and review so I know if you like my story. Even if you don't, I can handle criticism. Anything helps! I'll try to update quickly so you don't lose interest. Next time: Akito!

*Note: Please excuse my complete lack of knowledge in regards to plants and Japanese gardens.

Thanks to:

Lady Kara: Thanks for being my first reviewer! I like Kyou drunk too, hahaha. I just hope I did it with taste! Keep reading and reviewing.

Zapenstap: Thanks for getting me into Furuba! You seem to fuel all of my obsessions, starting with MLP so many years ago?Oh, the memories. I tried to put more Yuki in this chapter for you :) I'm not telling you what happens, though. *laughs evilly*