Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Ebony and Ivory ❯ "Kyo-nii..." ( Chapter 28 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

A/N: Entire chapter from Kyo's perspective.

Yuki has been staying out late for nearly an entire week, and Kyo, after learning that Tohru has been waiting up for him, offers to do so himself. He's shocked when Yuki comes in at three in the morning, in the middle of a severe asthma attack. It's alarming enough to see that Yuki is thinner and paler than Kyo had ever guessed, and sicker than he's ever seen him. But what confuses Kyo the most is that Yuki, sick and slightly delirious, is suddenly acting like they're friends again.

Anime/Manga: Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.20.2007 | Updated On: 10.12.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.4K | Visits: 4.0K | Status: Completed

A/N: There, see? I told you it would get at least somewhat better. Don't get too excited, though. This is only the beginning of a very, very slow climb.

CHAPTER 28: “Kyo-nii…”

It was Sunday. Yuki was out. Again. And Tohru was worried. Again. Kyo wouldn't admit to being worried, but it kept creeping around corners in his mind, like some stubborn cat that was determined to be noticed. He was irritated, though. Yuki had been isolating himself so much lately that everyone was worried, and Yuki didn't even seem to care.

Yuki no longer sat in the cafeteria. Instead he went outside, and would come in just before class started. And he was staying out late, now, so late that Kyo was often in bed before he got home. He found this out because Tohru's eyes were looking bloodshot, and when he asked Shigure he learned that she had been waiting up every night until Yuki got home. Kyo had promptly gone outside, where Yuki was sitting on the porch, and grabbed him by the collar.

“Quit making Tohru worry!” he had shouted, then started to walk off. Yuki hadn't fought back. In fact, Kyo could have sworn that he hadn't even noticed. He was staring off into the distance, as though he didn't see Kyo. As though he didn't see anything. Like he was dead. Kyo had felt a surge of fear, then a surge of anger, and had gone inside. That had been yesterday morning. And now, once again, Yuki wasn't home, and it was already eleven.

Kyo sighed, seeing that Tohru seemed to have no intention of going to sleep. “I'll wait up for him, Tohru. I'll make sure he eats. Go to bed, okay? You need your sleep. There's a test tomorrow.”

“Um… are you sure?”

Damn it. She must be exhausted if she's agreeing this easily. I'm going to kill that damn rat when he gets home. “I'm sure. Go to sleep.”

“Okay, Kyo-kun. The food is on the counter.”

“I'll let him know. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Kyo climbed to the roof. He watched Tohru's shadow behind her curtains as she climbed into bed and turned off the light. Then he looked out at the snow-covered forest, letting his eyes adjust. Idiot. Moron. What is he doing, worrying her like this? Making her wait up? And he barely acknowledges her when he does get home. He doesn't acknowledge anyone. Doesn't he even care? After a while, Kyo felt himself drifting, then lapsed into a catnap.

He awoke to the sound of coughing, and sat up sharply, instantly awake. He checked his watch. It was nearly three in the morning. Then the coughing started again, and Kyo looked out at the snow. There was Yuki's lean figure on the lawn, bent over, trying to walk. He fell, began to cough again, then struggled to breath. Kyo jumped down from the roof and ran to him. Yuki was struggling to his feet.

“Yuki!”

Yuki looked at him, complete shock and relief filling his face. “Kyo-nii,” he gasped. “In… inha…”

“Okay.” Kyo ran inside, and brought out the inhaler within fifteen seconds. Yuki had collapsed again, and Kyo put an arm around him, helping him sit up. Yuki clung to Kyo's arm and took the inhaler, shaking. Then he coughed hard several times, put the inhaler to his lips, then breathed in. It seemed to be excruciating for him, but he held it. Then he began to fall back. Kyo caught him in his arms, and started. He's so thin! He's like a little kid! Kyo sat for a split second in shock. He wasn't this thin when I used to hug him.

Then Yuki started coughing again. “Kyo-nii…” he gasped, trying to sit up. He held onto Kyo's arms, clutching him. It was then that Kyo realized what he was saying. Since when does he call me Kyo-nii? He stopped that over a month ago. But he didn't think about it, and tried to help Yuki to his feet. Yuki was still clinging to him, and could barely place one foot in front of the other. Finally, Kyo got in front of him and hoisted him onto his back. Damn it, he is so light. What the hell has he been doing? Kyo carried him inside and leaned him against the wall.

“Shigure, get down here!” he called. “Shigure!” Then he went to the phone and dialed Hatori. He had to call four times before he got an answer.

“Moshi-moshi, is this an emergency?” came Hatori's tired voice.

“Yuki's having an attack,” Kyo said desperately. “I gave him his medicine, but he still can barely breathe. Please come!”

“I'll be there as soon as I can. Has he transformed?”

“No… not yet.”

“Thank you. I'll see you in a few minutes. Try to keep him from transforming.”

Kyo went back to Yuki. “Shigure, come on!” he called, then knelt beside Yuki. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Yuki. It was warm, at least on the inside. Yuki began clinging to him again, his breath rasping. He looked scared. White. But then, Yuki always looked white these days. Kyo drew him closer, feeling strangely protective. He could feel the top of Yuki's ribcage against his chest; could feel him gasp for breath. “Damn it, Yuki…” he whispered.

Yuki clung a little tighter, unable to speak. “It's okay,” Kyo whispered, barely thinking about what he was saying, but desperate to comfort his one-time friend. “It's okay. Hatori's coming, and you're going to get better. I'm here. I've got you. It's all going to be okay.”

Yuki's face relaxed, and the faintest hint of a smile touched his lips as he clasped Kyo's hand and nodded slightly. Then he started coughing again and put his hand to his chest as Kyo held his shoulders. He leaned his head against Kyo's shoulder, exhausted. His breath came in short gasps. At last, Shigure appeared.

“Yes? What's happening?”

Tohru was close behind him. “Yuki-kun!”

“Hatori's on his way,” Kyo said. He still had his arms around Yuki. “He just started coughing… I gave him his medicine.”

“Did he just get back?” Shigure asked.

“Like five minutes ago.”

Yuki was on the verge of consciousness. He was still clinging to Kyo, but his grip was weakening. Kyo didn't understand what was going on. Yuki was acting so… so much like before. Why did he call me Kyo-nii? Tohru brought a blanket and they wrapped it around him, but then there was an explosion. Yuki lay in his rat form, still gasping for breath, but now unconscious. “Damn it,” Kyo whispered. He scooped the rat into his hands, feeling a bit awkward, and carried him upstairs to his room.

A few minutes later, Hatori arrived. Yuki was still in his rat form, and Hatori had brought some type of machine to give him oxygen. “He looks thin,” Hatori said after he had done this. “Has he been eating?”

All three of the others looked back at him, slightly guiltily. “It's not like we can shove food down his throat,” Kyo said sullenly. “He wouldn't eat. He eats at school, though. At least… at least I think he does.”

Hatori said nothing, and got an oxygen machine set up for when Yuki changed back. It was nearly an hour before he did so. When he did, Hatori immediately gave him cortisone, dressed him, and got him on oxygen, then gave him a pain-killer. A while later, Yuki woke up, semi-conscious, and a bit off because of the medicine.

“Kyo?” he murmured. “Kyo-nii?”

“I'm right here,” Kyo said, approaching him, sitting down, and touching his hand so Yuki could feel.

Yuki clung to Kyo's hand and looked at him, eyes wide and scared. “Kyo-nii… am I going to die?” he whispered. Kyo didn't know what to think. Why was Yuki acting suddenly like they were friends again? What had happened? At last, he decided to play along.

“You'd better not,” he said, barely keeping his voice from breaking. “You need to get better, so we can spar again.”

Yuki relaxed, and a gentle, genuine smile spread across his face, the first smile Kyo had seen there in weeks. “Okay,” he whispered. “Okay, Kyo-nii.” Then he fell back asleep. Tohru and Shigure were staring. Kyo was just as surprised. At last, he reluctantly removed his hand from Yuki's.

“Shigure, I need to talk to you,” Hatori said, putting some things away. “Can we dismiss the children?”

“Go to bed, you two. Just not together.”

“Shigure, you seem to have a gift for making jokes at the worst possible moments,” Kyo growled.

“Good heavens,” Shigure said. “Can it be that Kyo-kun is too worried about Yuki-kun to get angry?”

Kyo didn't answer.

“Um…” Tohru said, “what…?”

“Go to bed,” Hatori said. “There's nothing you can do for Yuki.”

Tohru hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, Hatori-san. She left the room, followed by a reluctant Kyo. Kyo went to his room and climbed to the roof above Yuki's room.

“—but he always said he'd eaten,” Shigure said.

“Obviously he hadn't,” Hatori replied. “He's extremely thin. Look at him. Before I got him into his shirt, I could see his ribs, but you can tell just from his collar bone.” He sighed. “How has he been acting? Depressed?”

“He's always out,” Shigure said.

“Where?”

“I don't know.”

“Shigure, you are his guardian. You're supposed to keep track of these things. You're supposed to make sure he's eating.”

“I did what I could! I told him to eat. He would eat a little, if I watched him. And I asked him what was wrong. He wouldn't tell me, and would only isolate himself further. I don't know what's wrong with him, and after a while I was afraid to approach him. From what I hear, everyone was.”

“That's no excuse. You should have at least told me.”

“I didn't like to intrude.”

“The boy is sitting here, starving himself, staying out late, and making himself sick and you `didn't like to intrude'?”

“I didn't know it was this bad!” Shigure said, getting defensive. Under any other circumstances, Kyo would have found it amusing to see Shigure lose his cool, but not now. “I didn't know what was going on at school,” The dog continued. “I still don't. I can only assume he hasn't been eating much there either. If you want information about that, you'll have to ask Tohru or Kyo.”

“Very well. Let's ask them.” He opened the window and stuck his head out. “Kyo, will you come down here please?”

How the hell… “Coming.” Kyo climbed through the window. “Just don't get mad at me. I had Haru approach him. But he yelled at me whenever I went anywhere near him.”

“I thought you and he were best friends.”

Kyo felt a jolt of pain at the reopened wound. Memories rushed in… memories that now seemed like dreams. “Man, you're out of the loop. In the last month and a half, he's gone from liking me to hating me. He won't even go to the dojo with me anymore. He hasn't since he started this.” Kyo was sure there had been a starting point somewhere, where something had changed. He didn't know what it was, though.

Hatori looked surprised. “That's… not like him.” He turned to the sleeping boy. “He certainly doesn't seem to hate you. Calling you Kyo-nii when you're about his age is a term of affection.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kyo said. “It's weird. He hasn't called me that in over a month.”

“He just started hating you?”

“It was kind of gradual, but there wasn't a real cause. Ak…” He broke off and sighed. “I guess it was just because… because… I thought maybe it had been a trick or something, him acting like my friend, but… but now…” Kyo stopped, confused. Why would Yuki try to trick him again? And how could he possibly have that ability to deceive when he was on medicine and oxygen, not to mention in pain?

“How has he been acting at school?”

“Like over the last few weeks he's been backing off from everyone.” Kyo frowned, sitting down beside Yuki. “I had no idea he looked as bad as he did… or that he was that pale.” When he was in my arms… it was like he was barely there. “He's been eating outside. He's always outside, even when he's at home. And he's almost never at home anymore.”

“How long has he been like this?”

“Well it wasn't this bad before. He was still talking to people, but he was reserved… or so I've heard. He just always yelled at me. But in the last little while… I think the only time he ever talks to people is when he's on the student council, if he even talks then. But I didn't know he looked that sick because I was never around him.” He sighed, touching Yuki's hand. His fingers felt skeletal.

“How does he act in class? Does he back off there as well?”

“He doesn't raise his hand in class anymore. He used to do that all the time. And he sits in the back, in the shadows, at least in homeroom. I didn't think about that until now. And he takes a long time to wake up in the morning. Longer than usual.” He pressed his lips together.

“What about at physical education?”

Kyo thought. “He's been fouling at PE. I think he's doing it on purpose. I think… I think once he almost fainted. I didn't think so then, but now… I guess there were a lot of signs. I just didn't see them for what they were.” He gritted his teeth. “Not that I could have done anything about them anyway.”

“Have people commented? Has anyone approached him?”

“We tried, Hatori. Lots of people have been trying. But every time people try to move in, he just backs off more, so it's like it's counterproductive or something.”

“Does he seem depressed?”

“Yes.” Kyo felt sick.

“Like he just wants to be alone?”

“Yeah.” There wasn't anything I could do. Angry, helpless tears threatened to escape the corners of his eyes. “Everyone's worried.” Thank the kamis he got caught. Damn it, what if I hadn't woken up?

“Thank you, Kyo.” Hatori sighed. “I'll have a talk with him. I think he'll be okay, but he won't be able to go to school, or go out for a few days. That way we'll also be able to keep a close eye on him, and make him eat again. He has probably been gradually decreasing his food intake. He'll have to increase it gradually, or he'll get sick.” He sighed again. “You can go to bed, Kyo. And this time please do so. You need to wake up for school tomorrow, because I'll have a message for your teacher.”

Kyo sighed. He yawned. “Okay.”

“Goodnight,” Shigure said.

“Goodnight.” Kyo went to bed. The last thing he remembered before going to sleep was Yuki's face, Yuki's smile when he called him Kyo-nii. Something was definitely up. And Kyo was going to find out what it was.