Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Intervention ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: If Fruits Basket was ever disowned, I would gladly adopt it.

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Chapter 3:

Yuki ran through the compound, weaving his way among the buildings. His heart was beating at an alarming pace, making him feel a bit dizzy, but he couldn't slow down. Emerging onto the plaza, he was forced to walk because of the mass of people feasting and enjoying the day. People saw him and tried to engage him in conversation, but he seemed to look right through them. His only thought was to find Shigure. The Dog might be an immature lecher, but he could be depended on when it came to Tohru, and Akito for that matter. Shigure would understand his urgency. And he would know where Hatori was. Hatori might like Tohru as much as the rest, but he was a willing slave to Akito and would obey him if the order came to erase Tohru's memory.

After what seemed like hours, Yuki spotted Shigure and ran straight towards him, rudely pushing through the partygoers. "Shigure! Where's Hatori?" he panted, out of breath. His vision was skewed from lack of oxygen and he had to force himself to breathe slowly.

Shigure looked worried for once in his life. "It's all right, Yuki-kun. Calm down. What happened?"

Yuki eyed the people around him. "Not here." He led Shigure a little ways off so that no one could overhear their conversation. In the Honke, Akito had too many eyes and ears for people to be trusted. "Kureno came and took Honda-san to see Akito. We have to make sure he doesn't harm her. Where's Hatori?" he asked again.

Shigure's eyebrows came together in a frown as Yuki spoke. "This is serious. I don't know what we can do, though. If we try to help her, it might make him angry and cause him to act out. We just have to hope that he doesn't hurt her, at least not physically. Don't worry; Ha-san is checking on Rin right now. He's not erasing Tohru-kun's memory."

Those words didn't comfort Yuki at all. "Damn you, Shigure," he began in a soft yet menacing voice. "You know as well as I do that his words are far more dangerous than his fists. If you won't help Honda-san, than I guess I'll have to do it myself." Without waiting for his cousin's response, he turned and ran off.

Shigure leaned against the side of the building he was standing next to and lit a cigarette. "Don't you understand yet, Yuki? She's going to be broken either way," he whispered.

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Kyou sat in Kagura's house, trying to figure out a way to get the clinging girl off of him long enough that he could escape. His earlier headache had dissipated, only to be replaced with a new one from her voice. "Look, woman, I'm not going to marry you and that's final. We already talked about this. You told me yourself that you only liked me to make yourself feel better because my curse is worse than yours is. I thanked you for being my friend no matter what the reasons were, but I thought that meant you were going to stop nagging me!"

Kagura put on her pouty face. "But Kyou-kun, I've decided that I really do love you now. I won't ever give up on us. I can't ever share you."

Kyou exhaled loudly. "Please, Kagura, just stop. I-I appreciate you caring?but I don't want anything else from you. You know what's going to happen to me when I graduate. It's only three months away, and?I really just need you to be a friend?please?"

Kagura held herself back from the fight she was about to start with him. Looking over at his face, she saw the anguish clearly and rage left her. She laid her hand on his arm and spoke in a soothing tone. "I know that, Kyou. Don't you think that I think about it all the time? I guess-I guess I'm just too mean and selfish. You're going to be locked away forever and all I can think about is myself. You deserve better than that?. I will always be your friend."

Hearing Kagura speak calmly still caught Kyou off guard. "Thank you, Kagura. Maybe one day the curse can be broken and we won't have to live these resentful lives." He gave her a resigned smile as she left the room to give him time alone. He was in shock at the conversation. He had never had such a nice talk with her.

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Yuki burst through the door to Kagura's house, where Rin was living. Kyou, sitting in the main room, was looking at him suspiciously. "Kyou, get up! Is Hatori still here?"

Kyou was taken aback. Yuki sounded upset, but wasn't even taking his anger out on him. The normally subdued Rat was panicked and frightened. Suddenly, Kyou remembered whom he was supposed to be with. "Where's Tohru?" he demanded, feeling a knot form in his chest.

"With Akito. Is Hatori still here, baka neko?!" Yuki yelled, now focusing his anger on Kyou. He looked like a cornered animal.

"With Akito? How did you let this happen, kuso nezumi? I'll kill you if she's not all right!" Kyou was losing himself to rage. "Answer me!"

But Yuki just ran past him to the stairs. Kyou followed him to Rin's room, where Yuki threw open the door and felt his heart beat again at the sight of Hatori. "Hatori, Honda-san is with Akito. We have to do something." Hatori didn't even look surprised. He slowly rose from sitting on the bed and stepped closer to Yuki. His apparent lack of concern was driving Yuki mad with fury.

"I knew that he would want to see her sometime during her stay here. In all honesty, there's not much you can do. Do you dare go against Akito? If he wants to see her, he will, and if you try to stop him you may not be the only one to be punished. The only thing we can do is wait for him to finish with her and take it from there. If she comes to bodily harm, you know I will do everything in my power to treat her, but if the damage is emotional, both you and Kyou will have to take care of her. Hopefully, he just wants to speak with her further. I have been given no order to erase her memory, if that's what you're thinking."

Hatori's words replaced the anger in Yuki with despair. He slumped down onto the edge of the bed. "I can't do that, Hatori. I just can't. I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to her. He could be doing anything to her right now. There's no one there to protect her."

Kyou was still furious. "Tohru's such an idiot! She's going to say something stupid and he'll snap. I won't leave her alone there, no matter what happens to me." He turned to leave but Hatsuharu caught his arm in an iron grip. The boys hadn't even noticed his presence in the room.

"No." His face was sorrowful. "Hatori's right. It will be better in the long run if you leave them alone. If Akito sees that the two of you are worried enough to challenge him then your cozy life at Shigure's will be over. You'll be forced to live here, probably as Akito's pets, and Tohru will have her memory erased. We can't let him think that she's a threat to his control."

Hatori spoke up again. "This might even be a test. I know that Akito realizes you care for her. It's possible that he called her to him this afternoon to see if you will run to her aid, or disobey him, or even work together for her sake."

Yuki was surprised at himself for even thinking that he would put aside his hatred for the baka neko to help Tohru. Nothing was more important to him than her safety. Nothing! Kyou, on the other hand, hadn't even thought of that. Cooperating with Yuki was a morbid idea, but he couldn't handle Akito alone and he knew it. Hatori and Hatsuharu were right.

Rin sat up in the bed and spoke for the first time. "Tohru is a powerful person, in her own way. Nothing will ever break her spirit, not even your true form, Kyou. Let's just be there for her when Akito is done. She's talked to him before, and she's been okay. If anything awful does happen, we'll find a way to ease her suffering. We all will." With that, the room fell silent. Neither Yuki nor Kyou made a move for the door, not because they didn't care but because they did.

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Kureno opened the door to the darkened room and led Tohru inside. Stopping in the middle, he pushed Tohru's shoulder down so that she was kneeling. Tohru was frightened out of her mind, but she promised herself that she would be strong and try not to make Akito angry again.

"Leave us," came a raspy voice from the shadows. Kureno squeezed Tohru's shoulder once to try and comfort the poor girl and left the room, shutting the door in his wake. "So," Akito said, stepping into the faint light. "How is your New Years going, Honda Tohru?"

Tohru was a little shocked at the normality of the question. "V-Very well." She wasn't sure what else to say.

"I see that you're having a good time with Kyou. You should be careful on roofs at night. If you fell and died, many would mourn your passing." Akito approached Tohru and hovered in front of her. "I see by your idiotic expression that you don't follow me, so let me explain; nothing goes on here that I don't know about. Don't you think I know where to look for Kyou on New Years Eve? That disgusting Cat is too predictable. What a romantic time that must have been, alone on the rooftop, watching the fireworks, flying your kite. Kyou seemed to have an especially good time, but he paid for it this morning.

"And let's not forget dear Yuki. You must be quite important for him to take you to that garden of his. He may feel free there, but then stepping out of that false freedom and back into the curse must seem twice as oppressive. When he was a child, he thought he could hide from me there. Once he even spent the night there, freezing from the cold. The asthma attack he got from that nearly killed him. You should have seen his face in the morning when I came to get him. He knew that I had left him there with false hope of escape just to prove that I alone have control over him.

"Are you wondering why I'm telling you this, you stupid wench? You may think your little life is carefree and perfect, but you're wrong. You're living a lie. The only reason I allow you to live with my cousins is because it tortures them. They are experiencing the affections of an outsider, but this is all to change soon. You know that in three months, Kyou will be locked away for the rest of his life. His imprisonment will be even bitterer if he has happiness to compare it to. Yuki will be forced to come back to me, and the confines of this house will be overbearing in contrast to the taste of freedom that you have given him. Don't you see? This is all only happening because I allow it to! They cannot defy me!"

Tohru sat in silence through Akito's tirade, not knowing if she should respond or nod or look at him or sit still. She could feel him next to her, as he had moved closer and closer to her as he spoke, his voice softer and seemingly more threatening. At his last remarks he had put his hand on her chin, cupping it in a fierce grip and forcing her to look at him. Tohru shivered.

"I see that my comments have taken hold. Their increased suffering will all be your fault, and there's nothing you can do about it now. You won't say a word to anyone about what I told you. We'll let them think that I inflicted another kind of pain. Let's see?last time I believe I scratched your face?. This time?" Akito let his sentence fade as an evil smile graced his lips. Using the hand that was on her chin, he pressed his fingers into either cheek and forcefully dragged her to her feet. Tohru flailed desperately, but Akito just gave her his mirthless laugh. Drawing her face close to his, he playfully let his hot breath tickle her lips. "What is it that they like about you? You don't seem very interesting to me. You certainly aren't anything to look at. Maybe I just need to see for myself."

Tohru was frozen with fear of what he was going to do. She was terrified that he was going to kiss her, but that didn't happen. Without warning, he flung her as hard as he could across the room, her shoulder slamming into the wall. All thought left her as the agony from her shoulder consumed her mind. Never had anything hurt like that before. Vaguely, Tohru was aware of Akito calling Kureno back into the room.

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Kureno gingerly helped Tohru to her feet and led her through the house to the entrance. Once outside, Tohru slipped from the supporting grip he had on her good arm and fell to the ground, sobbing unabashedly. Kureno knew that he couldn't get her to walk back to Hatori, so he decided to bring the doctor to her. "Honda-san, stay here. I'll be right back with help. You're going to be okay, I promise." Then he ran as fast as he could to Kagura's house, where he knew Hatori was staying with Rin.

Busting in through the door, he ran up to Rin's room. Hatori, Kagura, Rin, Hatsuharu, Yuki, and Kyou were all there, looking pretty surprised at his presence. Kyou came to life first. "What happened? Is Tohru all right? Where is she?" He was losing his temper, Kureno could see. Typical.

"Hatori-san, I need you to come to her. She's outside Akito-sama's and her shoulder is hurt. I believe it's dislocated." Hatori actually looked a little relieved. 'Perhaps they had been expecting the worst,' thought Kureno. They all rose to their feet, including Rin even after a reproachful look from Haru, and followed Kureno as he ran back to Tohru. She was still wracked with sobs, but only she knew they were from more than her shoulder.

Hatori quickly examined her shoulder and nodded. "Yes, it is dislocated. It's a painful injury, but not too serious. Are you hurt anywhere else, Honda-kun?" Tohru shook her head and looked around through her tears. Yuki and Kyou had identical looks of sympathy and anger on their faces. They appeared to be mute from shock. The Cow had definitely turned into Black Haru; it was obvious from the ferocious glimmer in his eyes. Kagura and Rin were kneeling beside her and supporting her weight. She felt herself going weak from the pain.

Hatori interrupted her surveillance. "Kagura, wrap your arms around her and hold onto her with all of your strength. This is going to be excruciating, but if we do it right the first time, it'll be over. Rin, try to distract her." 'At least he girls have their heads on straight,' thought Hatori. 'Haru, Yuki, and Kyou look like bombs ready to go off.' After Kagura had positioned her arms around Tohru's torso and Rin was talking to her about her dress, Hatori lifted up Tohru's arm and firmly pulled. A few seconds later, a loud pop was heard and Tohru's scream died. She had fainted because of the procedure, but she was going to be fine.

Rin and Kagura carried Tohru back to her room in the guest house. It was quite an endeavor because they couldn't touch her tender arm and Rin was weak from being sick. Kagura was out of breath by the time they got Tohru up the stairs and into bed. Tohru was still passed out, and they didn't want to wake her. Hatori wrapped her arm in a sling he kept in his doctor's bag and told them that she wasn't to use it for at least two days, and it would probably be frail for a week. He ushered everyone out of the room and shut the door.

Back at Kagura's house, Yuki spoke for the first time. "I failed her. I should have gone there and protected her anyway." He couldn't stop picturing her crying form, lying hurt and alone on the ground. He would never forgive himself.

"The situation is the same. There was nothing you could have done. Her injury was minor, thankfully. Knowing that girl, she'll probably say it didn't hurt at all and be back to her normal self in no time," Hatori said.

Black Haru grinned at Kyou. "Hey, Kyou, maybe you can make her some leek stew."

Kyou had no idea how Haru had found out about that, but it pissed him off even more. "Bastard!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the wall. But he wasn't talking about Hatsuharu. He wasn't even talking about Akito, although he was a bastard, too. He really meant himself, for allowing Tohru to get hurt. He sat down on the floor, facing away from the others, brooding.

Rin had a thoughful expression. "I wonder though. Akito doesn't often strike someone without supplementing it with words. What do you think he said to her?"

Hatori answered. "Yes, Rin, I was thinking the same thing. We won't know until we talk to her. We'll all have to take care with her and watch for any damage he might have done. Especially you, Yuki and Kyou, and Shigure, as well. I think you should take her home tomorrow and get her away from Sohma house. I'll drive you in the afternoon once she's fully rested."

Shortly afterwards, they all departed. Rin went up to her room to go to bed, Haru in tow to keep her company. Kagura had some tea and then went to bed herself. Hatori stood outside his office, chain-smoking cigarettes and staring at nothing. Yuki sat at the desk in his guest room and silently gazed at a picture of himself and Tohru at the beachhouse last summer, laughing and running in the sand. Kyou crawled onto the roof, right over Tohru's room, and thought about her goofy smile. Tohru lay asleep, but her dreams were dark and foreboding.

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A/N: Okay, I see from my reviews that people have a favorite between Kyou and Yuki. I do also, but that doesn?t mean this is going to be a Kyouru or Yukiru fic, nor does it mean it?s anti-Kyou or anti-Yuki. Rather, I hope to keep my readers guessing and happy at the same time. I like them both and they?re both fun to write, so I?ll try not to let my bias show in the story too much. I think both types of fans will be satisfied with the end. Anyway, I?m rambling, so I'll shut up about that.

Please keep reading and reviewing. The story is just starting to get juicy!

Thank you reviewers: Lady Kara, MoO-MOo3, Miaka Mouse, bookitty, kireina, and of course Zapenstap.