Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Breathe No More ❯ He'll Never Not Know ( Chapter 5 )

Breathe no More
Chapter Five
He’ll never not know

Hatsuharu didn't go to school the next day. Why? Because he overslept, and by the time he woke up, he didn't see the point. He'd never make it in time, and it was already past noon. He'd be lucky to arrive for his last period. Besides, he really couldn't just will himself out of bed that day; it wasn't going to happen.

Yuki was unhappy about that. He'd intended to apologize, and then the ox didn't show up. Now he'd have to go onto the grounds, or wait till he came back to school. Neither of those options sounded good, especially since being around Shigure was not fun. The dog really wasn't doing anything (for once), but Yuki felt...guilty, jealous, outraged, unhappy. It just didn't feel good...

Well, it wouldn't have done much good, anyway, even if he had gone. Haru slept most of the day. He was so tired, he felt like he'd been Black for days on end. After finally getting a call from the school, Hatori-super-doctor-man made his appearance.

"Hatsuharu?" He wondered as he knocked carefully on the door.

Haru groaned a little, and buried his head under his pillow. That really didn't do much, and just made breathing even harder, so he surfaced again...and tried to go back into a deeper state of slumber. The dragon raised an eyebrow at that, and came into the room all the same.

"Hatsuharu?" he tried again, crouching down and lightly prodding him.

Haru let out an odd, frustrated sigh, and peeked one eye open at him.

"What," Haru spoke up groggily, "do you want?" In his defence, he never had dealt well with being woken up.

"The school is wondering where you are." Ha'ri told him. "I thought I should find out before they try calling Akito-san."

"Sleepy." Haru answered him...like 'sleepy' was a place, or something.

"That doesn't excuse you from school."

"I tried getting up," Haru promised him, still not making an move to do so again, and actually rolling away from the dragon. "It didn't work."

The older man reached over and gently felt at his neck for pulse and breathing and such. It was still there, but neither could get the oxygen they needed.

"You might want to try again, if you don't want Akito-san to find out. Even though it's probably only a matter of time."

"It's over today, anyway." He felt he should point out, with a quick glance at his clock.

"Tomorrow then."

"Mmm...Sure." He agreed, already half asleep again. "Tomorrow."

Hatori sighed before leaving again. There really wasn't much he could do about a terminal, incurable, disease.

The next day, Haru did manage to get out of bed, and into his uniform and off to school and everything. Falling asleep in class that was the problem, then...Or, actually, falling asleep was easy. It was NOT falling asleep that was the problem.

The teacher eventually came over and did what all teachers do; she loudly snapped, or dropped something in front of him, jolting him into the world of the conscious. Then she glared and warned him to stay awake, or else.

Haru was feeling a bit pitiful, after that happened. It wasn't his fault! He didn't ask for this sickness, or any of it side effects!

At lunch, Yuki thought to approach him. He was going to apologize if it killed him... But... he was asleep. The rat frowned and poked him a little.

Haru growled a little, and cursed a few times, before opening his eyes, to see his older cousin.

"Oh." He blinked a couple times, trying to wake up completely. "Hi."

The rodent stared at him for a moment. He had almost been worried the younger boy was really angry.

"Hi?" He tried uncomfortably, and his head hung just a bit. "You haven't been here for a few days." He finally tried, stating the obvious. His pride didn't want him to apologize, but he knew he'd need to eventually... that didn't mean right now?

"I haven't felt well." He informed him, with a tiny shrug, making a mental note to get as much caffeine as he could as soon as possible.

"I was worried about you." Yuki sighed. "You're okay now?" This was getting progressively more uncomfortable.

"Not really." He shook his head, honestly too tired to fully grasp the fact that he wasn't helping with the worried thing. "But...Tori-nii says it's...normal's a bad word for it..."

His older cousin groaned slightly. "I'm so sorry." he finally forced himself to blurt out. No more idle small talk. It needed to be said. NOW.

"It's nothing you can help." The ox brushed it off, not grasping the fact that Yuki wasn't talking about his illness.

"Didn't mean that." The rat sighed unhappily. "I'm sorry about--about--"

"Yuki," Haru sighed after a moment of this. "I'm really tired. Spit it out?"

"I'm sorry about hitting you and having a rather undignified hissy fit." Yuki finally offered.

"Oh..." He blinked, and nodded. "Forget it. No hard feelings, promise."

"You and Shigure both..." The older Sohma frowned unhappily. "Are just so very calm about it. It's unnerving."

"Sorry to scare you..." Haru raised an eyebrow, and resigned himself to not getting anymore sleep just then. "Look, you were pissed, I get that. It's not something I'm going to blame you for."

"I just didn't--" He'd felt like an idiot… "--know." He was struggling for words now too. "How long and--and how?" He didn't want to pry. But the rat had feelings that wouldn't be laid to rest without some good solid closure.

"Not really sure how," He admitted, thoughtfully. "But, only about a month. Not long."

Years after Yuki and only a month with Shigure? And the ox would choose the dog over the rat? That kind-of hurt, but he had asked.

"Right... I'm sorry I woke you up." He finally bowed and hustled off.

"You rejected me, Yuki." Haru pointed out, before he could get too far away. "Just remember that." He added, before slipping back to sleep.

The rodent glanced at him sadly before just walking faster. That could have gone better, but he really had done this to himself.

Haru wasn't sure how he was going to make it through the rest of the afternoon, and stay awake. But...that threat from his teacher bothered him, and he really didn't want to have to explain about his little...problem to her.

That was futile, though. And when he refused to explain to her, she simply dismissed him, and once he was gone she called Akito-san. Obviously this Hatori-san wasn't doing anything about it, so the person paying for his education might. Fun stuff, huh...?

Haru was happy to leave, and just hoped he didn't pass out on the walk home. That would really suck. It might be days before anyone bothered to look for him, what if he died? Well, God only knows how, but he made it home. And he had every plan to just go straight to his room and go back to bed. Or not. Akito was waiting at his door for him.

"Hello, Hatsuharu." The man smirked. "How would you like to come have a chat with me? We haven't talked in so very long." That wasn't really a question, of course.

The poor ox really could have broken down crying, too. God really MUST hate him...

"Sure..." He agreed, though his tone was involuntarily pained, and followed Akito into his little lair. He really just wanted to go to sleep...

"Your teacher called to whine at me about your absence, and then your sleeping in class." He informed the boy simply. Maybe he would be able to put two and two together all on his own.

"Crap." Haru sighed. "In my own defence, I wouldn't have been sleeping in class if she weren't so bothered by my absence." That really didn't help much, but his brain wasn't fully functioning, from the lack of oxygen reaching it.

"Oh?" The head was looking forward to further explanation.

"Mmhmm." Haru confirmed. "I would have been sleeping at home." An explanation Haru really didn't plan on giving him.

"Why are you so sleep deprived, little ox?" Akito smiled. "What have you been off doing?"

"Nothing." Haru blinked a little. "I'm not sleep deprived at all--just sleepy."

"People aren't just sleepy for no reason." Akii crooned softly.

"Maybe I'm narcoleptic?" He offered, quite frankly, unwilling to spill his guts and explain to Akito, just yet.

"Do you really know the symptoms of narcolepsy?"

"Well...not EXACTLY..."

"Did... you know narcoleptics also have catalectic seizures..." His older cousin wondered. "Not just that they can't control their wakeful and unconscious states."

"No...didn't know that part." He confirmed with a frown. Damnit. Stupid details...fucking up his perfectly good excuse...

"The truth would be nice…" Akito mused. "But your lies are far more fun..."

"But...Akito-san...the truth really sucks." He really wanted to cry now...or pass out...or both. People could cry while they were unconscious, right?

"Life... ah... sucks in general?"

"So does dying." Haru grumbled under his breath, for a moment forgetting the fact that Akito already knew that.

"Thank you for explaining that fact to me, Hatsuharu." The head seethed irritably. "But I think you have far too many years left in you to be worry about such a thing."

"Or not." Haru looked up at him tiredly. He really should have known better than to think he could try and keep a goddamned secret in this family...

"Oh?" Akito rolled his eyes. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Haru pondered for a moment whether Akito would actually care or not, but just threw caution to the winds and started talking.

"Tori-nii says I have Pulmonary Fibrosis. And it really sucks, and I can't breathe, and I'm SO tired..." And he was babbling, so he just shut up all together. He hated rambling...and he rarely did it, so it really annoyed him when he did.

Akii grinned. "That's wonderful." He cooed. "You might actually die before I do."

"Thanks for the sympathy?" Haru blinked a few times. That...was what he was afraid might happen if Akito found out. Well, one of the things, anyway.

"Please. Feel free to die any time." Akito snorted, and dismissed him. He most certainly was happy now. Misery LOVES company.

Well, Haru figured as he left the room and headed back to his own, at least he could go back to sleep now. Akito knew, so he wouldn't have to worry about his teacher getting pissed, and he could probably just skip the next day, if he needed to.

To be continued…

~“Cause I know what you want
But you’ll just have to wait
If I had it to give
I would give it away
I’m livin’ it up
While I’m fallin’ from grace
There’s no way
There’s no way
That I’m running away…” –Breaking Benjamin (Simple Design)~
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