Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Ebony and Ivory ❯ Protecting a Friend ( Chapter 32 )

A/N: I told you Saito-san would be back! He has reappeared in Yuki and Kyo's hour of greatest need. Have I mentioned I really like him?

 

 

CHAPTER 32: Protecting a Friend

 

It was Thursday. Saito Kanto closed up his shop and began to walk home. Then he decided to take a walk instead. It was still cold, but it was a nice night, and there was no longer any snow on the ground. So he decided to take advantage of the dry weather before the rain began in a few days. He ended up at park, a little out of his way. The stars were out, and seemed to rest on the branches of the bare trees. Then he noticed a gazebo further into the park. Inside it was a piano. Saito remembered seeing it before. It had been screened in for the winter, although it could still be played, but now it was open again. Saito went up to it and ran his fingers over it. The bench was different. Strange. It also looked like one of the walls had been broken by something, then fixed. Saito shrugged and sat down. On impulse, he began to play.

 

It started as one of his own compositions, but then his fingers moved into something different. It took him a moment to realize that this was one of Yuki's pieces. What if Yuki heard him play it? Would he come and listen? Would he run away? Saito badly missed his young friend, and wondered what had happened to him. He hoped Yuki hadn't got into too much trouble. He felt like he was responsible. Perhaps he shouldn't have encouraged Yuki so much. Perhaps he shouldn't have asked Yuki to hide it. Perhaps. Had it been worth it to the boy?

 

He moved into “Wish”, the song Yuki had written about Kyo, back when he had wanted Kyo to be his friend and Kyo had hated him. He smiled a little, remembering how happy Yuki had been when they had actually become friends. He remembered Kyo, who was so shy around Saito at first, but gradually began to reveal himself to be how Yuki had described. Full of fire, full of life.

 

Kyo was a good influence on Yuki. Saito was sure of it. Yuki smiled more now, and was even a little more open. His music had gained a new life. Saito wondered how he was coping with the fact that he couldn't play anymore. Would he ever see Yuki again? He had had a premonition for a while that something wasn't right, and he was worried. He wished he had some news of the boy. It didn't matter what the source was.

 

Suddenly Saito heard running footsteps, and panting. He stopped abruptly, and looked out. There was an outline of a tense figure standing nearby. A boy, about Yuki's size. The figure relaxed after a moment.

 

“Yuki?” Saito asked, hoping against hope.

 

“Saito-san? Is that you?” Not Yuki. But the voice was familiar.

 

“Yes. Will you come into the light? I can't see you.”

 

“Why are you playing Yuki's music?”

 

Who was it? “I…” He didn't want to reveal too much. Obviously, this person knew Yuki. “Who are you?” he asked.

 

The boy sighed. “Don't you know me by now?” He stepped closer, so Saito could see his face.

 

“Sohma Kyo!”

 

“Yeah. Why are you playing Yuki's music?”

 

“He said that I could.” There was a pause. “Kyo-kun, will you come closer?”

 

Kyo sighed again and stepped onto the platform. He looked like a cat, still staying as much in the shadow as possible. He didn't look scared. Only a little shy, like he didn't know what to say or how to act. And like he thought he shouldn't be here.

 

“How's Yuki?” Saito asked.

 

The boy frowned, folded his arms, and looked away. “Don't you know? Over the last month or so, you've probably seen him more than I have.”

 

Saito was taken aback. “What do you mean? He hasn't come to his lesson since he got caught.”

 

“What do you mean he hasn't—?” Kyo cut himself off and his eyes bulged. “He got caught?!”

 

Saito blinked in surprise. “He didn't tell you?”

 

“Wait a second! When?”

 

“It's been over a month and a half. Almost two.”

 

“I never… Who caught him? Akito?”

 

“Apparently. He didn't say.”

 

“Why didn't he tell me?!”

 

“I don't know.” Saito tried to sound calm, in hopes it would calm Yuki's fiery friend. “I'm surprised he didn't. You were listening to him, weren't you? You and he are best friends.”

 

The fire went out of the redhead's eyes, and for an instant his face contorted in pain. He slid down the pillar he was leaning against and crouched on the floor. “Wow. You really haven't seen him in a while, have you?”

 

Butterflies began to flutter in Saito's stomach. “What do you mean?”

 

“He… he hates me now. Has for a while, I guess.”

 

Saito felt like he'd been turned to stone for a moment. What had happened since he'd last seen Yuki? “Hates you?” It was almost a whisper. “When did that happen? How?”

 

“Hell if I know.” Kyo's voice was soft. He put his head in his hands for a moment, then looked up. “You… asked how he is.” His eyes pleaded. “Do you really want to know?”

 

Saito's heart skipped a beat, but he nodded. “Is he… not well?”

 

“That's an understatement.” The catlike boy stood up again, sliding. He looked at one of his shoes. “It's kind of a long story, and it doesn't really make a lot of sense…” He looked like he was badly in need of comfort, and help if Saito could give it.

 

Saito rose and walked over to him. “Here,” he said, wrapping his arm halfway around Kyo's shoulders. Kyo jumped a little, but didn't pull away. “Why don't we go back to my house for tea, and we can talk on the way.”

 

Kyo looked down. “I hate tea.”

 

“Warm milk, then.”

 

“I guess so.” Kyo walked beside Saito for a few moments in silence, then sighed again. “He's… sick. He had a really bad asthma attack. The worst one he's had in years.”

 

“Just recently?”

 

“Yeah. But… he wasn't well for a while before that. None of us knows what happened. Maybe it was the piano that did it, but he just… snapped or something. I mean it started that he was getting upset at me over little things again. He was actually picking fights, which is weird for Yuki. And then he never wanted to be anywhere near me… and it just kept getting worse `til we were fighting again and he said he hated me.” Kyo's voice broke a little. “That was… a couple weeks ago, I guess.”

 

“Did you do anything?”

 

Kyo scowled at the ground. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I followed him once when he said he was going to the library… `cause I thought he was playing piano, and I wanted to talk to him. But he really was going to the library, and he got mad when he saw me. But he was yelling at me before that too.”

 

“And since then…?”

 

“Well first he just started snapping at everyone who went anywhere near him, or dared to ask him why he was acting so weird, and then he just started icing everyone. He wouldn't even eat lunch with people anymore, and a lot of times wouldn't even be at home. We realized later that he'd practically stopped eating. He always said he'd eaten when he was out and wouldn't take what we set out for him.”

 

Saito felt sick. His mind overflowed with a thousand terrible possibilities for what might be happening. “Didn't his parents make him eat?”

 

“Yuki doesn't live with his parents.”

 

“Oh, that's right. What about Shigure?”

 

“We tried to get him to eat. But we didn't realize how bad he was getting until he had the attack.”

 

“The attack…”

 

“He got in at like three in the morning, and I was waiting up for him so Tohru could sleep. He couldn't even breathe hardly, just…” He hesitated. “He kept… he kept calling me Kyo-nii. Like he did when we were friends. I don't know if he was just scared or… and he was so thin. I could carry him.” He shook his head. “Anyway… that was like five days ago.”

 

“Is he… getting better?”

 

“I guess so. He's eating. He wouldn't if we didn't make him, though. Hatori makes people sit in his room to make sure he does. I've only been in to see a couple times, and once he was sleeping.” He sighed. “His rooms… all neat and clean and stuff… and it's cold. His books are dusty, and that's really scary for Yuki. I mean… he acts like he's dead.” Kyo's voice shook. “And when people talk to him, half the time you have to say things like three times to get him to pay attention. And he'll just forget you're there.”

 

Saito's blood ran cold. Was this all over the piano? It couldn't be. “But he is getting well? Physically?”

 

“Sort of. Hatori says he doesn't have any will to get better. Oh, and this is the really scary part—Yuki wants to go back to the Main House. I overheard him telling Hatori. Even Hatori doesn't want to take him back. Yuki hates the Main House. I'm not sure why, but I do too… just being that close to Akito is freaky. Maybe that's it. I don't know. I don't know how Haru does it.”

 

“Why does he want to go back?”

 

“He didn't say. He never answers questions anymore. He finally let me talk to him the other day, and I asked him if before, when he was acting like we were friends, was just a lie, to trick me.”

 

“What? Why on earth would he trick you?”

 

“Because he's the rat and I'm the cat.”

 

“You're not going back to that, are you?”

 

“Well, that's what it seemed like!” Kyo snapped. “What was I supposed to think? He randomly starts liking me, and makes me like him back, and then he suddenly turns on me? It sounds like the old story, and I guess I'm still in the habit a little bit of thinking like that. And when I asked him if that was the case, he didn't answer. He didn't answer when I asked if that wasn't the case either.” He sighed. “But the thing is, he's obviously fine with hurting me, if he said he hated me. So the answer must not be `yes, it was a trick,' because then he would have said it. And the only other answer is no. So he did like me before, and now he hates me. And I don't know why, and I don't really care. I mean, I care why, because I think there's something wrong with him, but I doubt he'll ever like me again.”

 

“Do you want to still be friends?”

 

“I don't know why I do, but I do. But it doesn't matter. I'm kind of… I don't know… resigned, or something, about the whole thing. But I still don't want him to die. And whatever's eating him obviously isn't just about me. The piano might have something to do with it. Oh. No wonder he freaked out when I asked if he wanted me to bring him some music.” Kyo sighed. “But still, I don't think that'd make him want to die. Or make him ice everybody like this.”

 

They had reached Saito's house, and went inside. They sat down at the kotatsu. “Was he punished for the piano?”

 

Kyo rested his chin on his palms. “I don't know. I'm trying to think…” Then his eyes widened. “When I went with him. And Akito called him. That must have been when Akito told him he was caught! He didn't want to talk about it…” He paused for another moment. “But he didn't have any bruises or anything. And I never heard of any other punishment. Besides not being able to play anymore, but that's a given. There's no way Akito would be that lenient. For direct defiance?”

 

Saito felt sick, but he had to ask. “Kyo-kun, what type of punishment would Akito give him?”

 

There was a pause. “You can't exactly turn him in to the police, Saito-san. It's not just Akito. Where would we all go? Foster care?”

 

“I understand. But isn't there something…”

 

“Probably not.” He massaged his temples for a moment. “Akito would beat the crap out of him. That's a given. Unless he wanted to do something worse, and keep it more hidden.”

 

“Worse?” Saito's voice was almost a whisper.

 

“Maybe make him come back to the Main House. But Yuki wants to go back to the Main House. Sometimes Akito will punish someone else in place of the person in the wrong, but no one else has been punished as far as I know. There aren't a lot of people Akito could choose from that Yuki really cares about. I mean there's Haru, and Tohru, and maybe Hatori and Shigure.”

 

“And you.”

 

“Not me. He hates me, remember?”

 

“Did he hate you then?”

 

Kyo sighed. “I don't know. Maybe he's mad because I kept it going and he got caught, or maybe it's somehow my fault… damn it, what the hell is going on?!” He sighed again. “Anyway, I haven't been punished. Not by Akito, anyway.”

 

There was a long pause. “How has he been acting toward you lately?”

 

“I don't even know. He won't tell me to go away, but he won't ask for me either. He hardly says a word. I just can't figure out why he was calling me Kyo-nii when he was sick. I mean, if he hates me, why would he do that?”

 

Saito sighed in frustration. “But that doesn't make any sense! Why would he hate you? All he talked about for months was that he wanted to be your friend. Why would he suddenly change his mind?”

 

“How should I know? Why did he stop eating? It's all like this big weird puzzle that won't fit together.”

 

Saito thought for a minute. Then he suddenly remembered. “I might… have another piece for you. He wrote me a letter. Maybe you'd like to read it?”

 

“I guess so.”

 

“Okay.” Saito handed him the letter from his mantelpiece. “Here. I'll go and make us some refreshments.”

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Kyo read slowly, determined to miss nothing.

 

Dear Saito-sensei,

 

I need to stop taking lessons. I got caught, and I can't play anymore.

 

Kyo decided to play detective. “You played piano before when you knew it was forbidden,” he said softly. “Does that mean he has a hold on you or something?”

 

I'm really sorry.

 

“What are you sorry for? It's not like it's your fault.”

 

And I'm sorry… that I don't think I'll be able to come back this time, no matter how much time passes.

 

“Why not?”

 

I guess it was too good to last—all of it.

 

“All of what?” Was the rat talking about more than just the piano?

 

I should have known it.

 

“Yeah, Akito's so predictable.”

 

Maybe I got too careless… I don't know. I only wish that I didn't have to be the one to destroy it.

 

“What are you destroying? I'm the one who broke the stupid piano bench. Are you just saying because you had to tell Saito instead of Akito?”

 

“Who are you talking to?” Saito came in with a tray of onigiri.

 

“Yuki's letter,” Kyo muttered, then continued to read.

 

Please don't come looking for me. I know you're probably worried.

 

Kyo sniffed. “I wonder why.”

 

I'll be okay.

 

“Yeah, right. You idiot.”

 

But I'm protecting a friend

 

“Huh?”

 

“What's wrong?” Saito asked.

 

“Who is he protecting?”

 

“Your guess is as good as mine. What I want to know is, how is he protecting someone by stopping piano?”

 

Kyo's mind started running like mad. “So that's Akito's hold. But still, it shouldn't be that difficult. I mean, stopping so someone can't get hurt. I know Yuki loves the piano, but… that would seriously be enough to make him snap like this?” His hand clenched slightly, but he didn't want to wrinkle the letter. “It's probably Tohru. It must be Tohru. She's always the one. Akito seems to have a grudge against her, or something. But then, why is he mad at me?”

 

“Who is Tohru? You've mentioned… her, is it? You've mentioned her several times.”

 

“Oh. Yuki calls her Honda-san.”

 

“Ah.” That was right. He had said her name was Tohru.

 

Kyo went back to reading.

 

But I'm protecting a friend, and I need to do this alone.

 

“You could have told me, you damn rat. I was your best friend. Then.” Kyo checked the date on the letter. “Yeah… that was right around the time Yuki had to go see Akito. It was pretty soon after that that he started acting weird.” Kyo thought for a moment, then finished the letter.

 

Maybe someday I'll see you again. Part of me wants to, but then I worry if it would just put you in danger. It seems like it's always the ones I care about who get hurt. I'm sorry.

 

“Who's getting hurt? Saito? And why do you keep apologizing? You sound like Tohru.”

 

“I had noticed that,” Saito commented.

 

“It's like he feels guilty about something,” Kyo said. He read the last few sentences.

 

I'll never forget you. Thank you for everything that you've done for me.

 

Yuki

 

Kyo now reread the note, as a whole. It was actually a very confusing letter. It wasn't in any sort of logical order, and Yuki was always logical. But this letter rambled, like Yuki was flustered when he wrote it. Kyo supposed that would make sense. “He has a way of being really vague, doesn't he?” Kyo asked. He looked at the date again. “It was… exactly a month after this that he told me he hated me. And then Akito asked to see me that same day.” He paused, then said it again more slowly. “A month exactly after he talked to Akito.” How weird.

 

“The same day?”

 

“Yeah. Talk about being shot while you're down. But it was during that month…” He thought for a minute. Yuki hadn't started acting like that until after Akito, and things had escalated rapidly for the month after that. Could that all be anger over the piano? “That's still so weird, though, that Yuki was never really punished. I mean, taking away the piano… that's like punishing a bank robber by just taking away the cash.”

 

“Maybe Akito let this one go.”

 

Kyo sniffed. As if. “Akito never just lets things go. Especially not with Yuki.”

 

“Then perhaps he was… punished. It could be that he's still being punished.”

 

Kyo tried to think. Where had Yuki been going all those times he went out? To see Akito? He shivered. But he hadn't been doing that at the beginning, and he couldn't now. “How could Akito punish him if he's stuck in bed? He hasn't been to visit.”

 

“Perhaps he's denying him something, or making him do something.”

 

“Making him… do something?” Of course. That had to be it. Akito would make him do something he didn't want to do. Something he couldn't bear to do. “Something like what?”

 

Saito gave a sigh. He looked like he had suddenly had a breakthrough. “In… in the army… they punish soldiers by making them punish their friends. It's very effective.”

 

The letter dropped from Kyo's hands. He started to shake. “You… mean…” Akito would. Akito would, and had done things like that. “You mean… you think maybe… maybe Yuki… had to hate me?”

 

“Does that sound like something Akito would make him do?”

 

“Yes. Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing Akito would do! I…” Kyo was barely paying attention to what he was saying. His mind was fixed on what he had said. Had Yuki's trick been in the opposite direction?

 

“What do you think—”

 

“Quiet. I'm thinking.” Could it be that Yuki hadn't had a reason because there was none? Was it possible that he had invented all these reasons to be angry with Kyo? And if that was the case… was it possible that it wasn't real? That the hatred wasn't real? But he looked me right in the eyes… Kyo's mind swarmed. “But why wouldn't he tell me? If that was the case. He could have told me just to act like that. Why on earth would he try to trick me into thinking that he hated me?”

 

Saito threw up his hands slightly. “Perhaps he had to make you believe it, so you could convey to others that you believe it.”

 

This sounded like a perfectly reasonable suggestion to Kyo. “I could lie,” he said half-heartedly, knowing he couldn't.

 

“Yuki doesn't seem to think so. He once told me that one of the things he liked about you was that you're as obvious as a freight train.”

 

Kyo scowled. “Damn rat.” He frowned. Then he suddenly remembered the attack. The attack, when Yuki had called him Kyo-nii. If Yuki had been pretending to hate Kyo, his guard would have been down when he was sick, and that might have been why…

 

Kyo's heart beat quickened. “And if he had to hate me… that would explain why he wouldn't ever let me try to make things right… or even talk to him. And that would explain why it kept getting worse even though I wasn't doing anything, because he had to make it get worse. And that would explain why he kept backing off from everyone who asked why he was mad at me, because he had no reason.” His mouth was open. “Is it possible?” he whispered. “Is it possible that he doesn't hate me?” And if he doesn't hate me, could we be friends again? Just the thought brought tears to Kyo's eyes. He realized that they had been threatening since he had heard Yuki's piano music played by someone other than Yuki.

 

“Kyo-kun, are you all right?”

 

“Saito-san, what if he doesn't hate me?”

 

“Then that would be good, wouldn't it?”

 

“Better than good!” Kyo slapped at his face to get rid of the tears that were beginning to fall. “This means we can be friends again! If… if it's true.” He slapped at his face again. “And could that be why he's so depressed? Because he has to keep acting like it even though it isn't true? Because he had to hurt me?”

 

“That would depress me.”

 

“But why is he doing it? If he is?”

 

“Well he said he had to protect someone.”

 

Kyo thought, his mind a whirl of confusion. “Is it possible?” He closed his eyes. “And it was exactly a month later, that Akito called me… he wanted to make sure I thought Yuki hated me.”

 

“Possibly.” Saito looked defeated, like he was ready to agree to anything at this point. “The man sounds absolutely insane.”

 

“Oh, he is,” Kyo replied. “Insane with power, at the very least.” He sighed shakily, then drank the milk Saito had given him. “But he acts like it's so real. He looked me right in the eyes and said he hated me.”

 

“Yuki does have a very good capacity for hiding things.”

 

“I know that, but if this is all an act, he tops any movie star I've ever seen.” He frowned. “That would be a damn hard role to play, wouldn't it? Hating someone you like?”

 

“Hence the depression.”

 

Kyo didn't know what to think. He was happier than he had been in over a month, and was desperately praying that this wasn't all some stupid surmise.

 

“Do you suppose I could talk with him?” Saito asked.

 

“Maybe.” Kyo felt dazed. “Can I get your number?”

 

“Here it is.” Saito wrote it down and handed Kyo the piece of paper.

 

“Thanks. I should go home now.”

 

“Okay. Goodbye. Good luck.”

 

Kyo practically ran home.