Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Intervention ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

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Chapter 12:

Momiji bounced down the school hallway when he saw Tohru approaching with her friends and his two older cousins, something pink fluttering in his hand. "Happy White Day, Tohru!" he exclaimed. He jumped up to embrace her but was pulled away by his collar before he could make contact.

"Idiot!"

Shaking off Kyou's hand, Momiji returned his effervescent smile to Tohru. "I got you something. You have to put it on!"

"Eh? Oh, Momiji-kun, you didn't have to get me anything," she told him as though reluctant to accept a present. Momiji ignored her and shoved the pink bundle at her with a laugh. Tohru could see that it was a pair of pink roses surrounded in matching ribbons.

"What the hell is that?" Kyou asked him disgustedly. He leaned closer to peer at the pink flower arrangement like it was some foreign insect.

Momiji faced his older and larger cousin with a proud expression. "It's a corsage, silly. Tohru's going to wear it on her wrist today."

"A?corsage?" Yuki inquired timidly.

"Yes, because she's my White Day date!"

Tohru laughed uncomfortably when she heard that, and her eyes glazed over a bit. In her stunned state, Momiji was able to lead her off down the hall without much prodding. Kyou stood stock still, glaring at Momiji's back before finally growling and storming off in the other direction. Yuki's face was one of bewilderment, and he worked his mouth as if to say something but couldn?t find the words.

"It's okay, Prince," Uo said, slapping him on the back none too gently. "I'm sure he'll let you have her when he's done."

Hana nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder. Why did the ribbons on the corsage have 'Momiji' printed all over them?"

Laughing uproariously, Uo slapped Yuki on the back once again. "I didn't even see that! Maybe you won't get her back so easily, Princey."

Yuki's brow furrowed in anger and he left to follow Tohru and his cousin down the hall.

"The Prince sure has been getting angrier more. Maybe he decided to let some feelings out once in a while," Uo postulated to her friend.

"Mmm. Our Tohru-kun does have that effect on people."

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By the time lunch rolled around, Yuki was still a little upset about Momiji claiming Tohru as his "date," but Tohru had convinced him not to get too angry about it. He couldn't stay very mad when she smiled and told him that she would go along with Momiji's request at school, but that she would be Yuki's White Day date afterwards. There had been a fair amount of blushing on both parts, and Yuki had been disappointed when the warning bell rang and interrupted their conversation. Now Momiji was sitting next to Tohru at the outside bench where the small group always ate. He was holding her hand and giving her chocolates from his lunch box, but Yuki decided not to worry about it. Grudgingly, he admitted to himself that Momiji wasn't a threat to his position with Tohru. No, his energetic cousin was like a doting brother to Tohru if anything. He actually found it sweet that Tohru would put up with someone so obnoxious, and not make fun of the little Rabbit like so many others had done in the past. Not that she could ever make fun of someone.

"Why don't you leave her alone, you little brat? It's not like she can eat with you holding her hand like that," Kyou said, the hint of jealousy obvious in his voice.

Kyou. Yuki's only competition with Tohru. If she didn't like the baka neko so much, Yuki would have beaten him to a pulp already. Yuki figured that it didn't matter, though, because Kyou was going to be locked away in a few days. Graduation was that close. And although graduating meant that Yuki would be forced to move back into the Honke, a fact that shook him to his core, Kyou would be much worse off for it. Yuki would still be allowed some freedom, not like the Cat. Kyou wouldn't see anyone except Akito ever again. Wondrously, Yuki couldn't think about that as smugly as he had before. It was probably the knowledge that it would make Tohru sad. He certainly would never mourn the loss of the baka neko. Not him. Not the Rat.

"Kyou-kyou is no fun!" Momiji whined, and let go of Tohru's hand regretfully.

Tohru smiled at Momiji brightly. "Thank you for the chocolates, Momiji-kun. I don't know what I did to deserve all of these presents!"

"Can we hold hands again after lunch?" Momiji asked, causing Tohru to turn pink.

Snarling, Kyou knuckled his smaller cousin in the head. "Don't ask her things like that! Didn't you ever learn any manners?"

"That's pretty ironic, coming from you," Arisa chortled.

"Shut up, Yankee!"

"I think you're just jealous. I bet you wanted to give Tohru your White Day gift first," Uo teased. "What did you get her, anyway? Hopefully it's a set of earplugs so she doesn't go deaf listening to you yell all the time."

Kyou's face became deep red in a matter of seconds. He looked as though he would explode with rage. "I should get some earplugs for myself! That way I wouldn't have to listen to you anymore, Uotani!" Kyou rose from the table and threw the rest of his lunch away violently. Growling, he stalked off towards the back of the school building, where he could get up to the roof.

"What's his problem? I was only joking."

Hatsuharu was watching Kyou as he retreated. "I don't think my talk with him worked. Honda-san, has Kyou been mean to you again?

"Eh? Oh, no, Hatsuharu-kun, he's been very nice to me," Tohru reassured him. "I noticed that he loses his temper with other people more often, though," she added and lowered her head in sadness.

Haru lifted one corner of his mouth in a slight smile. "Well, we can't expect him to change overnight." Haru was just relieved that Kyou had been managing to treat Tohru normally, even if it was at the expense of others. He had an idea of what it was like trying to control himself like that. Trying to imagine repressing his Black side seemed impossible, and Kyou was much more volatile than he was.

"You can't expect much of him at all," Yuki amended quietly.

"Honda-san," Haru said, changing the subject. "I wanted to ask for your opinion on something. You two, also," he said, looking at Hana and Uo. "Do you think Rin will like this for White Day?" Reaching into his bag, Haru pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper, which had flowers and large kanji decorating it.

"Haru, that isn't??" Yuki asked in a frightened tone.

"Yeah, I got it at Ayame's shop. Mine helped me pick it out. She's got some pretty daring taste."

Yuki swallowed hard and prepared himself for the worst as Haru unwrapped the garment. He had seen Mine's work before. What Haru finally displayed, though, didn't look like clothing. It was more like a black lace handkerchief, with some sort of loop and hook fasteners along one side and? "Haru, what is that?" he squeaked out, horrified.

Tohru just stared, her face a mirror of Momiji's as they looked on curiously, still confused by what exactly it was they were looking at. "Honda-san, don't look at it!" Yuki warned her in a cracked voice.

Even Uo was a little put off by the present, her jaw hanging open and her eyes wide. "You actually brought that to school with you?!"

Only Saki seemed unaffected. "Hmm, it's very well-made. Is that Venetian lace?" Haru shrugged and handed her the outfit. "Yes, I thought it was. I have to ask you, though, isn't this more of a present for you and not your girlfriend?"

Haru smirked mischievously. "I guess you haven't met my girlfriend. She's really into this stuff." He glanced at his watch and quickly packed the garment back onto his bag. "Speaking of which, I'm going to miss the rest of the day. I want to give her this before Kagura's parents get home." Briefly waving, Hatsuharu strode over to the chain link fence and hopped over it skillfully.

"Hanajima, sometimes you even creep me out," Uo said half seriously, shaking her head.

Yuki, Tohru, and Momiji still looked stunned by the whole incident. Yuki knew that Haru wasn't shy, but showing off things like that in front of Tohru had surprised him. If he was lucky, Tohru wouldn't realize what it was she had seen, and she wouldn't ask him about it. The ringing of the lunch bell saved him from his fears. Yuki watched as Momiji grabbed Tohru's hand once again and led her off to class.

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When the final bell rang, Uo and Hana hurried to Tohru's desk. Uo glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Tohru, what has the Prince got planned for you today?" she asked excitedly.

"Um?what do you mean?"

"C'mon, we know that he's got something planned. There's no use denying that you guys are an item now, so spill it," Uo snorted, her eyes twinkling with anticipation.

Tohru remained dumbfounded and looked at Hana for support. Hana merely nodded. "It's true, Tohru-kun. The electrical signals between the two of you have been very powerful lately." Her gaze turned skyward as she imagined the intensity of the vibes.

"Oh," moaned Tohru as she rested her head on her desktop to hide her shame. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I don't even know what's going on."

Arisa laughed heartily and ruffled Tohru's hair. "It's called love. Did he ask you to be his girlfriend?"

Tohru kept her head glued to her desk but hook it lightly. "No," she answered quietly. "Oh, Hana-chan, Uo-chan, my feelings are so mixed up. I mean he's so important to me, but I'm just so stupid about that sort of thing. And I know that Kyou-kun is upset that I've been spending so much time with Yuki-kun, and what if-"

"Tohru-kun," Hana whispered warningly. Tohru lifted her head to see Yuki standing right behind Uo. Her face immediately changed to one of humiliation and she felt the heat rising in it. How long had he been there? She would be so embarrassed if he had heard what she said.

"Honda-san, are you ready to go?" Yuki asked her with a concerned expression. She looked upset for some reason, but he wasn't sure why. It probably had to do with why she shut up so quickly as he had approached. Glancing to his sides, he saw that he was getting a smug expression from Arisa and a blank one from Saki. "Good afternoon Uotani-san, Hanajima-san," he told them with a pleasant smile. Getting on their bad sides wouldn't help his position with Tohru in the slightest.

Jumping up from her seat, Tohru grabbed her books and shoved them in her backpack. "Yes, I'm ready!" she exclaimed loudly, her blush escalating.

Yuki just smiled back at her warmly. "All right. Shall we?" He offered his arm to her and led her out the door, after she turned to say good bye to her friends.

"Where are we going?" she inquired once they go to the front of the building. Suddenly she remembered something. "Oh, no! I didn't tell Kyou-kun that I wasn't going to go home with him!" She felt horrible for neglecting to tell him. He would probably be so angry with her.

With a fleeting frown, Yuki responded to her worries. "I told him earlier that we would be spending the day together, so he'll be fine." Of course, he didn't add the part about the fight that had nearly erupted in the hallway after school had ended. That's why it had taken him several minutes to retrieve Tohru from the classroom. "As for where we're going, it's a surprise."

"Okay," she smiled, and felt a little hop form in her step. She was really excited for whatever Yuki had planned, and couldn't seem to keep her mind on anything else, although she was glad the Kyou appeared to be fine with everything.

Yuki let the sharp breeze whip his hair about is face as he chatted with Tohru about upcoming finals. Graduation was only two days away, but he had decided to be hopeful for the future. Akito might keep him at his side as much as Kureno, but his life would be livable. Even Kureno has some free time when he wasn't serving the Jyuunishi God, and Yuki had resolved to spend all of that free time with the girl at his side. And all those hours spent as Akito's pet he would utilize for thinking. If there was a way to break the curse, he would come up with it. He had a lifetime to spend, and nothing more important to live for than Tohru.

"Yuki-kun, is this??" Tohru had frozen in her tracks, searching the area around them with her eyes. "But?it looks so different!"

Letting himself enjoy her bewilderment a little longer, he walked over to a large rock and reached behind it to pull out a picnic basket. "Do you recognize where we are yet, Honda-san?"

"This is, this is where my tent was. But it looks so different! How did you??"

Yuki softly chuckled and set the picnic basket at her feet. "I thought you would be surprised," he said. "I began working on this last month, as a White Day present for you. I wanted you to remember this place happily, not as a place of despair." He didn't go into detail about how much time he had put into fixing the area up; he had gotten some help from the rats in the area and cleared away the overgrown debris from the landslide. Then he had planted some of Tohru's favorite flowers along the riverbank, where they had grown before the area had been destroyed along with her makeshift house. Tohru might never have said it, but he knew that she had developed an aversion to this place, and he didn't want her to have unsavory memories anymore.

"And a picnic, too?" she asked, her face finally breaking into a huge grin. "This is so nice of you, Yuki-kun. I will always remember this place as a good memory now!" Tohru bent to examine some of the tiny flowers that were just starting to bloom with the spring. She was stunned with how kind Yuki had been to make this place even more beautiful than when she had moved in. "It seems like so long ago that I lived in my little tent," she reminisced. "I wonder what ever happened to it. I hope Grandfather isn't mad that I borrowed it and couldn't return it."

"You can return it now, if you want to," Yuki said. Again he reached behind the boulder and pulled out the tent, cleaned and neatly folded. "I washed it out in the river and hung it to dry on the first sunny day. There were a few tears, but I think I repaired them all."

Gathering the tent from Yuki, she clasped it in her arms as if hugging an old friend. "Tent-san! I'm sorry I left you outside all this time. Please forgive me! Oh, Yuki-kun, I have an idea, let's use the tent like a blanket while we eat our meal!"

Smiling, Yuki took the rejuvenated yellow tent back from Tohru and spread it on the ground. Tohru sat down and began going through the picnic basket and extracting its contents. "Yuki-kun, how did you get all of this food here like this?" she questioned, setting canned drinks down for both of them.

"If you recall, Haru left a little early from school today," he said, and waited for her to nod before he continued. "When I told him what I had planned for you today, he offered to pick up the food from the market and bring it here for me. I guess I just wasn't expecting such a dramatic exit from him," he mumbled.

With a giggle, Tohru munched on a potsticker. "I guess he wanted a special White Day with Isuzu-san, too." Yuki blushed and hoped that she wasn't talking about what he expected Haru and Rin were doing. "Maybe he's having a picnic for her, too, although I don't think she can wear that outfit in public," she added with another giggle and blushing cheeks.

Yuki blushed right along with her. "Honda-san, I'm very sorry that I'll have to leave you after graduation. Akito doesn?t give me with any choice, though."

"It'll be okay, Yuki-kun," she assured him with a serious expression. "I'll work twice as hard to find a way to break the curse, I swear!"

"I know that you will, but it worries me, too." Yuki reached across the space between him and swept her bangs out of her eyes. "I don't want you to do anything to get yourself hurt while I'm away. Shigure will take care of you, but I don't trust him completely. Just promise me that you'll keep your well being in mind. If anything were to happen to you?I don't even want to think about it."

"I'll be very careful," she said. "But will I ever get the chance to see you?"

Blushes increased on both parts as Yuki moved himself closer to Tohru's side and rested his palm on her cheek. "Every chance that I get, I will spend with you, Honda-san." The heat of her cheek elicited a tingling sensation in his cold hand. "Honda-san?." Leaning ever closer, Yuki locked his icy violet eyes onto her wide sienna ones and slowly, softly pressed his lips to hers. He lowered his eyelids so he was seeing her only through his long lashes, and felt a hint of satisfaction as her eyes lost the shocked look and closed along with his. Sinking into the kiss, Yuki let the moment linger, but he kept their contact innocent, gentle, a kiss of pure affection, not lust or desire. "I apologize," he whispered when they had finally disjoined. "I should have warned you first."

Tohru shook her head rapidly and made eye contact with him despite the fierce redness in her face. "No, Yuki-kun, you made my first kiss very nice. I wouldn't change anything about it." Sighing, she looked back to her meal and began eating once again. Soon they were laughing and things were apparently back to normal, but both had a glint in their eyes, almost as if a weight had been lifted from their chests. Simultaneously they felt closer to one another. No shame or embarrassment or distance remained, and they basked in the moment until at dusk they had to collect themselves to go home.

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'I should have gotten her something,' Kyou thought to himself. He was furious and heartbroken and confused all at once, and his mind couldn't seem to do anything except focus on the girl that had muddled his thoughts. Tohru was probably getting sweet-talked by the kuso nezumi, and there wasn't one thing he could do about it. Maybe the Yankee was right; he should have gotten her earplugs so she wouldn't have to listen to him anymore. He should have gotten her something for White Day. Why did that damn Prince have to win at everything? Didn't he deserve some happiness? Not that it mattered, ultimately. Not when he had two days until his life ended. He would be normal in front of Tohru if it killed him, though, because the last thing he needed was her worrying about him. It pained him to no end to see her suffer.

A rhythmic knocking on his door dragged him from his inner lamenting. "Yeah, what do you want?" he demanded. He knew it would be that stupid Dog, although Shigure wasn?t in the habit of knocking.

"Kyou," Shigure announced once he entered the room and shut the door, "I have something for you."

Glaring at his cousin from the corner of his eye, Kyou snatched the proffered object from his hands. An envelope? Why the hell would Shigure be giving him a letter? "What's this? And why do you look so serious? Did your editor finally quit or something?" He figured that editor must be brain-dead if she was working for a pervert and dating Ritsu. Shigure remained silent as Kyou tore open the envelope, after Kyou noticed that the front was adorned simply with a drawing of a cat, not his name.

Upon reading the letter, Kyou's throat suddenly felt very dry, and he stared at Shigure only to notice that the Dog had two more like envelopes in his hand. "Why do you have more?" he croaked. "Why?!"

"There's one for everybody," Shigure said, trying to sound nonchalant. "These are Yuki and Tohru-kun's. Mine is in my office and I already handed out the others."

Clutching the letter, Kyou ran past Shigure and down the stairs. He wasted no time opening the door, ripping through it as he went. He didn't care that he would have to pay for the stupid thing later. Running until he collapsed, Kyou dragged himself to his feet and stumbled the rest of the way to the dojo. He pushed open the front door, that his Shishou never locked, and found Kazuma sitting down to dinner at the table.

He looked as though he had been expecting Kyou. "Did you get one, too?" Kyou yelled.

Kazuma rose to his feet and calmly came to stand near his adopted son. "It's time to see if you are truly meant to be the one, Kyou."

"The one what?!" Kyou felt his voice start to tremble and he dropped to his knees in exhaustion.

"The one to break the curse. Now get up. We are going to train."

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A/N: Whew! I had total writer's block on this chapter for some reason. I fixed it, though, and in the process planned out the rest of the story in greater detail, so I'm all prepared to continue now! Writer's block sucks majorly, by the way. Ok, so I'm not too sure when the next chapter will be out. Probably in a week or two, depending on how many midterms and how much reading I have. Yuck! If you hadn't figured it out, the theme of the next installment will be *dundundun* graduation. And you can see what's in those damn envelopes, too, if you were interested.

Thank you so much to all that reviewed (shadowcat15, Zapenstap, BlackDragonFly, Merei-chan). You are truly awesome! I have to say, though, that the number of reviews per chapter has been pretty low recently. Please let me know if you are still reading this story, or if something has made you less happy with it. I don't know if you don't tell me! So in other words, please review if you've taken the time to read this. It's much appreciated!

*note* Oh, and if you're in the mood for Kyoru, I just wrote a one-shot fic for a contest. It's called "One Last Chance."