Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Intervention ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Don't sue me. I don't own Fruits Basket (sob, sob). I'm just trying to feed my addiction.

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Chapter 4:

Tohru awoke in the half-light of her guest room. She knew she shouldn't be awake at this early hour, but she didn't think she could sleep any longer. Besides, with last night's events rushing back to her mind, she felt fully alert and frantic. Slowly, she remembered the cruel words that echoed so true in her heart; the fear she felt at Akito's mouth so close to hers; the breath knocked out of her when she smacked into the wall; Kureno's cautious support; the faces of her friends at the sight of her; and the last thing, Kagura and Hatori seemingly trying to pull her apart at the shoulder. Tohru placed her right arm under the covers and felt at the sling holding her tender shoulder in place. Her mind wasn't on her injury, though.

Could Akito really be so mean as to punish them all in that manner? Tohru knew of some of the things that Akito had done to the Jyuunishi, like how he had punished Rin after finding out about she and Haru, how Kisa had been abused, and how Hatori had lost his eye. She could understand that knowing his life would be cut short was something terrible to live with, something she couldn't even imagine, but Akito was so awful to his own family. Tohru thought bleakly about the lives of the cursed Jyuunishi, especially Akito, until she felt like she might cry.

'I won't let on about anything,' the thought determinedly. 'I don't think Akito is right. I think- I think that Yuki-kun and Kyou-kun could use all the happiness they can get. I'll try to make their last few months as happy as possible. And I'll find a way somehow to break the curse and save them all. Even Akito.' Nothing could keep Tohru's spirit down for long. If Yuki and Kyou were locked up, she would never stop trying to save them, even if it meant interfering with Akito, even if it meant getting hurt. The Sohmas had done so much for her and she just had to do something for them. "I want to find a way to stay with them forever, just like we promised."

A movement caught the corner of her eye. The door was sliding open to expose an orange head. "Tohru? Are you okay? I heard you talking in here." Kyou looked like he hadn't slept all night. His eyes were bloodshot and surrounded by dark circles. As he stepped fully into the room, Tohru saw that he was wearing the same clothes as the day before.

She blushed, eyebrows arching apologetically. "Kyou-kun! No, I'm fine, really. I guess I was just talking out loud again. Sorry! Please, Kyou-kun, don't worry about me! You need some sleep, Kyou-kun. Have you been awake all night?" Tohru started to sit up, intending to lead Kyou back to bed.

Kyou saw that Tohru was rising and quickly moved to the side of the bed, pushing her back down. "No, Tohru, I'm fine," he said a bit angrily. "You're the one who went off to see Akito and got hurt. Why do you have to worry everyone so much?"

"I'm very sorry, Kyou-kun! I didn't know what else to do. I don't think Akito meant to hurt my shoulder. It was an accident." Tohru felt terrible lying to Kyou, but she didn't want to have to explain anything about her visit with him.

"Like hell it was an accident," Kyou admonished. "Just relax. Let me take a look at it." Tohru felt herself blush fiercely as Kyou guided her head so it was tilting away from her left shoulder, giving him a better view. Her skin tingled at his touch, making her feel curiously fuzzy. He swept her hair away from her neck and pulled the covers down a tad, and if she had had the nerve to look at his face, she would have seen that his blush was even deeper than hers was. Kagura had dressed her in a sleeveless nightshirt so Hatori could put the sling on easily, and now Kyou was face to face with her delicate arm. He swallowed hard and began massaging her shoulder with a feathery touch.

An uncomfortable silence developed, so Kyou started babbling. "Dislocated shoulders hurt a lot, but they're not too bad. They?re pretty common in martial arts, you know. I've never had one before, but I saw a ton of 'em growing up at Shishou's dojo. Whenever guys would get 'em, Shishou would massage their arm like this. He told me that it's an old method that makes it bruise less or something like that. I'm probably not doing it right; I haven't seen it done in a long time." Kyou swallowed again. 'Gods, but she's soft.' When that thought crossed his mind, he got scared and pulled his hand away, hastily replacing the covers. 'I shouldn't be thinking about that!' he scolded himself.

Tohru turned her head back to him and smiled. "Thank you, Kyou-kun. That felt very relaxing. I'm sure you did a very good job. Kazuma-san would be proud of you."

Kyou muttered something non-committal under his breath and stood up, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Uh, you know, if there's anything you wanna talk about, you know, like about Akito and stuff, you can talk to me about it any time." With that he walked to the doorway. "Um, Hatori says he's driving us home later today, just so you know. I'm going to go get someone to bring you breakfast or whatever." Kyou left the room and headed to find a maid to bring her food. 'I sounded like a moron! What was I thinking?'

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Shigure quietly emerged from his room when he heard Kyou's stomping footsteps down the stairs. 'He even walks with a temper!' Shigure thought with wonder. Creeping across the hall, he ducked into Tohru's room. "Oh, good morning, Shigure-san!" greeted the smiling girl.

"Good morning, sweet Tohru-kun. I trust you feel better after a full night's rest? Ha-san told me of what happened."

"Yes, I feel much better. Kyou-kun used a martial arts technique to massage my shoulder. It helped a lot."

Shigure smirked at that. Probably there was no such technique, but he let it slide. "Kyou-kun and Yuki-kun were quite worried about you. I think you'll find that you have two doting servants when you get back to the house today. I wish I could be there to see it." Shigure gave Tohru his mischievous smile.

"Are you not coming back with us, Shigure-san?" asked Tohru.

Shigure put the back of his hand to his forehead, closed his eyes, and answered dramatically. "Alas, no, I must stay here until the day after tomorrow, helping clean up after the festivities. The work of the faithful Dog is never complete." Finishing his rant, he returned to a normal pose and laughed. "Hatori says you have to take it easy for a few days, so I guess you'll be stuck with Kyou's cooking and Yuki's cleaning until you're better. Good luck!"

Tohru giggled. "I'm sure we'll do fine, Shigure-san. Kyou-kun's cooking is really very good, and I'm not totally useless." Tohru demonstrated by waving her right arm wildly over her head. Suddenly she put it down and looked upset. "Um, Shigure-san, there is one problem. I don't think I can get dressed by myself, though."

Shigure beamed. "Let me help you!" He took one step toward Tohru when an unseen blow knocked him to the floor.

"No you won't, you disgusting pervert!" Yuki decided that he had arrived at precisely the right time. "Why don't you do something that's actually useful and go get someone to help Honda-san. As in a maid or Kagura." Yuki was still furious with Shigure for his apathy the day before.

Shigure looked utterly chagrined. "Yuki-kun! I didn't notice you there. See you later, Tohru-kun." He sidled out of the room, leaving Yuki alone with Tohru. Immediately Yuki's face lost all of its anger and softened in a smile.

"Honda-san, you seem to be feeling better this morning. I hope your shoulder isn't giving you too much trouble."

Tohru blushed once again. "I'm really okay, Yuki-kun. Everyone is worrying so much. I can barely feel any pain at all anymore."

Yuki pulled the desk chair to the bedside and sat down, his expression becoming sad. "That only shows how important you are to us, Honda-san. I can't help but feel guilty about this whole situation. I shouldn't have let you go by yourself to see Akito, or better yet, I shouldn't have let you go at all. Now look at you. You are hurt and I am to blame."

Tohru responded in a subdued voice that seemed out of place for the normally self-effacing and simple girl. There was almost a sage look in her eyes, causing Yuki to stare at her strangely. "No, Yuki-kun. Akito-san would have been very angry if I hadn't gone to see him. I wouldn't have let you come with me, and neither would've Akito-san. I just want us to go home and live our normal lives. Please can we do that?"

Yuki wasn't used to Tohru talking in this bizarre, uncharacteristic way. "Of course, Honda-san. Nothing will change. We'll go home in a couple of hours and return to our lives. Forget about whatever it was Akito said to you. He can be very manipulative." Now he was convinced that Akito had said something to her, because of the way she had spoken and also the slight flinch at his last statement. Damn him!

Tohru flushed at their discussion. 'I sound really weird!' she thought. 'I hope he doesn?t notice.' Forcing a smile, she changed the line of conversation. "You and Kyou-kun don't have to treat me any differently at home. I can do everything just using one arm?except maybe carry groceries, and doing laundry will take longer, and making the beds might be hard?. That's okay, though. Honda Tohru can do it!"

Yuki chuckled. As quickly as that she was back to herself. "Honda-san, with that attitude, you should consider writing self-help books." He was trying to make a joke, but he was only making himself laugh. Tohru had her head cocked to one side, an obvious look of confusion on her face, which only made him laugh harder. "Never mind, Honda-san," he finally got out. Only Tohru could ever make him do that. Her presence was so freeing. "Well, I suppose if we're going to leave soon, I should let you get ready. I'm fairly hungry, myself. Would you like me to bring you breakfast?"

"Uh, thank you, Yuki-kun, but Kyou-kun is taking care of that."

Yuki's smile disappeared altogether. So, the baka neko had already seen her this morning. What a way to ruin his appetite, thinking about the Cat with Tohru. "Okay, Honda-san, I'll just come to get you later, then."

Tohru watched Yuki walk away with a content feeling. After her experience with Akito, Yuki and Kyou's fighting seemed oddly comforting. It was a comfort that she hadn't noticed so blatantly before, like when her mother had made her hot tea after playing in the snow all day. Yuki and Kyou were as close to her as any family, as even her mother had been. She couldn't help but feel safe with them, the way they protected her.

"I thought I told you that you should only be spacey when I'm here to watch over you," a voice called to her in her daydream. Kyou's face came into focus.

"Right!" She must remember not to drift like that. She really could've been kidnapped, well maybe not in the Honke, but if she was somewhere else and did that she could be, and Kyou-kun would be mad if she didn't take his advice and-

"Oi! You're doing it again. I mean, I'm here now and it's okay, but if you can't even control it what am I supposed to do? Waste my time following you around making sure you don't walk out in front of buses?" Kyou was starting to sound a little mad again.

"Right!"

Kyou moaned melodramatically. "Not this again! Look, snap out of it! All the maids were busy so I had to get you something to eat instead. I didn't know what you wanted, so I got some of everything, or at least until I ran out of room." Tohru finally noticed the plate that was set on the desk. It looked like the leaning tower of breakfast.

"Wow, Kyou-kun! It must have taken all of your martial arts skill to carry that without spilling anything!" Tohru was honestly in awe of his balancing talents.

Kyou looked at Tohru like her hair had suddenly turned blue. "Uh, you're really weird. And I didn't make it without spilling, but don't tell anyone. The housekeepers here can get kinda nasty about that sort of thing. Why don't you stop staring at the food and try eating it?" Kyou folded his arms and started tapping his foot, obviously waiting for her to get up and do something.

"Okay, Kyou-kun." Tohru got up and was going to drag the chair back over to the desk, but before she even closed her fingers around it, Kyou brushed her arm away and moved it for her. He also pushed the chair in as she sat down and hovered over her while she picked and chose what to eat on the plate. He really was overreacting.

As Tohru was about to announce that she couldn?t eat another bite, Shigure came back into the room, followed by Kagura. "Tohru-kun," he began in his singsong voice, "I found Kagura-chan to help you change into clothes. Oh, good morning, Kyou-kun. I see you traveled far to bring Tohru sustenance to fill the void in her midsection."

"If you mean breakfast, you freak, then yeah, I did. Hey, Kagura."

"Morning, Kyou"

Both Kagura and Kyou realized that the other two people in the room didn't know about their newly settled relationship. Tohru stared like she was hypnotized, an open-mouth smile on her face. Shigure looked as though he was going to faint.

Kagura ended the silence. "Oh, Shi-san. You don't have to worry about me breaking your house anymore. Kyou and I have decided that we're just going to be friends." At that, Shigure really did faint dead away.

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After Shigure was revived and luggage was put into Hatori's car, Tohru said good-bye to her hosts. "Thank you all so much for a wonderful holiday," she told the small crowd that was there to see her off.

"Bye, Oneechan. Maybe Hiro-chan and I will come visit you on Sunday." Kisa instantly grabbed onto Tohru's waist and stayed awkwardly in place as she wished everyone else farewell.

"Bye, To-ru! I'll see you at school!" Momiji's tone was light-hearted as ever.

"Bye, Momiji-kun!"

Ritsu panicked as Tohru approached him. "Honda-san, I'm very sorry that I didn't get to spend more time with you! I'm such a horrible person! Please, don't even look at my shameful face!"

Tohru had learned how to deal with Ritsu, though. "No, no Ri-chan-san, I really enjoyed the time we spent together. You should visit sometime and we can talk more." That seemed to appease him.

Shigure and Ayame stood next to each other, identical grins on their faces. "Now, Tohru-kun, I'm counting on you to keep my house in one piece until I get home. Don't let Kyou break any doors."

"And I'll keep Gure-san in one piece!" Ayame cut in. "Isn't that right, Gure-san? You know, I was very cold last night in bed by myself. Your body heat would be much appreciated tonight."

"Aya, you know I can't refuse that offer." Tohru was watching their teasing conversation, realizing that they had forgotten her standing there. Hiro, who was following Tohru around because Kisa was hanging off of her, pushed Tohru away from his older cousins.

Frowning, he reprimanded Tohru. "You're holding up the show, here. I have better things to do than wait for you to watch those idiots flirt with each other." Blushing, Tohru nodded at Hiro and kept moving.

Kagura, Rin, and Hatsuharu were the last people to say good-bye to. Before Tohru could say anything, Kagura and Rin enveloped her in a huge embrace.

"Good-bye, Tohru-chan. I'll come visit you as soon as possible. Don't let Kyou be too mean." Kagura smiled down and straightened Tohru's hair in a sisterly way.

"Hope you feel better, Tohru-kun," said Rin, her smile one of complete tranquillity for once. "I told Haru to keep an eye on you at school for me. Maybe I can come with Kagura sometime to see you."

"Thank you, Kagura-san, Isuzu-san. Your friendship is very special to me. I would love to visit with both of you, as often as possible."

"I don't know if you wanna say that. They like you so much that you may never get rid of them." Haru's remark was in jest, and he accompanied it by playfully rapping his knuckles on Kagura's head with one hand and pulling Rin into his chest with the other. "We want you to get well soon, Honda-san. I'll see you on Monday."

With that, Hatori pulled Tohru out of Kisa's grip and ushered her into the front seat of the car. Kyou and Yuki had also made their good-byes and were in the back seat, pointedly looking away from each other, out the windows. Tohru waved as the car drove off down the road. 'What an eventful New Years!' she thought. 'I hope Kyou-kun and Yuki-kun aren't too mad about leaving early.'

"Now that that's over with!" Yuki sighed.

"Being around all those brats all day gives me a headache," complained Kyou.

"Don't worry, Honda-kun. They didn't want to stay any longer." Hatori said that too low for the boys to hear in the back seat. Tohru looked up at Hatori questioningly, but he only lifted the corners of his mouth in a small smile, eyes still on the road.

'How did he know what I was thinking?' Tohru pondered. 'Oh, well. At least we're going home.'

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A/N: Okay, so nothing much happened in this chapter, but you've got to have that filler stuff to make the action more interesting. I tried to make it funny to compensate for the lack of plot build up. The actual plot of my story will start to develop probably next chapter, which I will rush to deliver. I'll put some more Yuki in, too. He didn't show up much in this chapter because of his total absence of a decent sense of humor. Please, if you read my story, write a review, even if you think my writing is abominable.

Reviewers:

Thank you very much to the people who reviewed my previous chapters. I appreciate it tremendously.

Lady Kara- Thank you for being a dedicated reader and reviewer!

BBsweet- I considered having Akito kiss her to make it extra creepy, but I think Tohru was scared enough as it was. Also, I think Akito is so revolted by Tohru that he wouldn't want to do that. And don't worry, Akito is just getting started!

Celarina- I don't think my writing is above suggestions, but it's a lovely compliment!

Zapenstap- Patience is a virtue, grasshopper. I'm writing as fast as I can, and you already know a lot of the plot, so calm yourself!

MoO-mOo3- yay! i updated again!! J

Sakura Avalon and Snazzygirl- Yukiru? Kyouru? I don?t know! It's definitely one of the two, but you'll have to read and find out. I'm not being mean, I just haven't decided myself yet.