Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Selfish ❯ Intuition ( Chapter 9 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Intuition
Chapter Nine
Biting her lip as she stared down at the question, Tohru's frustration at being unable to concentrate left her feeling slightly drained. 'You can do it! Focus!' Narrowing her eyes, she settled in, determined to successfully work the statistics problem in front of her. 'If I can't do it, all of Yuki-kun's efforts would be wasted and that I can't let happen!' Pencil scratching across the paper as Tohru wrote down the basics of the equation, making an effort to appear as if she had understood anything he'd taught her over the past hour.
Truth was, Tohru didn't remember a single thing her friend had attempted to teach her over the past hour. 'Ahh...I am so pathetic! He's taking time out of his busy schedule to help me and I can't seem to understand anything.' She'd been happy to have a class with one of her new friends and had been surprised at how insistent Yuki had been about tutoring her upon noticing the red mark on her exam after their first quiz. No matter how much Tohru had protested, Yuki hadn't relented in his insistence on helping her make her way through the class. Even if classes had only been in session for two weeks, Tohru had noticed a vast improvement in her understanding and patience for the subject. 'Except today! Why am I having so many problems?'
"Is everything okay, Tohru-kun?" Yuki's soft voice soothed her frantic thoughts at the equation in front of her. Looking up to the worried countenance of her friend, Tohru couldn't help the strange happiness that overcame her when he said her name. It wasn't anything she could put her finger on, but...no matter the situation she had to smile when he said it.
"Ah! I am so sorry!" she cried, feeling her cheeks warmth in shame. "I'm probably wasting your time today. I mean, I can't seem to understand anything for some reason and you have been doing a great job." Letting out a loud sigh of frustration, Tohru stared down at the notebook in front of her. "I just can't seem to concentrate today..."
"Everyone has an off day," he answered, giving her a smile as he gathered his books together. "You've been improving and working hard on this class. One off day isn't going to hurt you. Why don't we take a break and get together again at the end of the week?"
Tohru nodded, feeling relieved that Yuki hadn't been upset with how inattentive she'd been today. "I'd like that, I really am sorry about today."
"Kyou should be coming back in a few minutes anyway, right?" Yuki said, turning to look at the crooked bookcase on the opposite side of the room. "I'm really not in the mood to deal with my cousin today. Maybe next time we should meet in the library..."
Tohru sighed, reminded of the fight that had broken out the last time Kyou had come home from class to find Yuki in the room studying with Tohru. She'd known from the beginning that the cousin's hadn't gotten along, but Kyou had been less than thrilled to find Yuki in the room with her. The resulting 'argument' had ended when Kyou landed on his desk from a kick to the chest, tearing the bookcase off one of the hinges and dropping everything to the floor, including the neko. "Yeah, maybe that's a good idea..."
"I'll see you at dinner then?" Yuki asked, getting to his feet with his books in hand. It had become a nightly ritual for Tohru to eat dinner with Uo, Hana, Yuki and the occasional visit from Kyou--when he wasn't in practice. For some reason Kyou only really got upset with Yuki when he wasn't expecting to see him. If he knew that Yuki would be somewhere before arriving, Kyou managed the situation without incidence by simply ignoring his cousin.
On the other hand, news of the boys being in the same Chemistry class had reached Tohru long before that particular class had been dismissed for the day. Their actions that day had forced Kyou to replace a large amount of scientific equipment he'd caused damage to. The fact that the Sohma cousins didn't get along well had quickly become common knowledge throughout campus. Most people found it quite strange to see them eating dinner at the same table from time to time.
"Actually...I won't be at dinner tonight. Kyou-kun's Shishou has invited us over to his place to eat," Tohru replied, taking the hand Yuki offered her as he helped her to her feet. Books in hand, Tohru carried them over to her desk and lined them up with the remainder of her textbooks in an orderly fashion. "I guess he wanted to celebrate Kyou's tournament win from this past weekend. He was so very excited about it!"
"Shihan's?" Yuki nodded his approval, giving Tohru a warm smile. "You'll have a nice time, I'm sure. Just make sure he's ordering takeout."
"T-takeout?"
"You'll see soon enough," Yuki answered with a warm smile, heading toward the door. "You look exhausted, haven't you been sleeping well? Maybe you should take a nap; that could be what's making it so hard to concentrate."
`It's okay. Just be yourself and do things at your own pace. You'll fit right in.'
"I-I'm fine!" she lied, plastering a smile on her face as she beamed up at him. "Everything is great! D-don't worry about me."
Hand on the doorknob, Yuki turned to her, doubt written all over his face as he watched her. "Don't wear yourself out...take a nap, it will help clear your head at least."
`It's not cool making yourself sick from worrying. Just get over it so you can wander around the house with that idiotic expression like you always do.'
Cheeks warming as she nodded mutely, Yuki gave her a smile as he closed the door behind him. Tohru flopped down on her bed and buried her head in her hands in mortification. 'I think I am going crazy!' She hadn't slept well at all last night, and it hadn't been the only night that week she'd had problems. Confused and worried about what was going on, Tohru had started to have dreams that had her really freaked out.
Afraid to ask Kyou or Yuki and confirm her suspicions, Tohru believed that the two girls that had come to watch Kyou's meet at the end of last week were both a part of the zodiac. `The thing you can't give up…what is it? The thing that's most important to you…what is it?' That question had been haunting her all week. Isuzu Sohma hadn't spoken a single word to her at Kyou's meet last week, but the words she'd spoken to Tohru in her dream had distracted her to the point of exhaustion.
Yuki and Kyou were a part of her everyday life, to suddenly have them appear in her dreams, although strange, wasn't completely unheard of. Even Kagura she could find a reason for since she'd been...strangely jealous of the girl when she'd gone down to speak to Kyou. It wasn't a normal thing for Tohru to have those emotions and it was feasible that those thoughts had manifested into her dreams that evening. The Kagura she'd dreamt about had been completely different from the one she met, so she'd been able to write it off as just her imagination playing on her fears of the other girls attraction for Kyou.
`Just as you have things you can't give up, Isuzu-san…so do I.'
`Shut up!'
`There are things I can't give up. That's why-'
`Shut up, Shut up! Shut up! There isn't one! There isn't one anywhere! There isn't a way! No one knows how. At this rate...I…I don't know…what to do anymore.'
Something about Isuzu kept nagging at the back of her thoughts, making her think she was missing something. That she knew the girl...
'But that's impossible...'
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Opening the door to his dorm, Kyou blinked in surprise at the sight in front of him before his mouth slowly curved into a warm smile. Quietly closing the door behind him, Kyou removed his shoes and lined them against the wall next to his roommates. Carefully opening his closet so he didn't wake Tohru, Kyou placed his backpack on the floor in the corner before shutting the door again. The squeak of the rails caused the neko to grit his teeth together in frustration, whipping his head to the side to check to see if he'd disrupted his companion.
She stirred. 'Damn it!' Holding his breath, Kyou fixed his eyes on her, hoping she wouldn't waken from her slumber. She'd looked exhausted this week and he didn't think she'd gotten as much rest as she'd needed, he'd hate to disrupt her now. However, he only knew this since he'd heard her up and around as he'd feigned sleep himself. 'Crap!' Tohru's eyes opened, blinking in disorientation as she scanned the room, her gaze landed on him.
"You're home," she said quietly, giving a slight stretch as she smiled up at him.
"I didn't mean to wake you...you can go back to sleep," he said firmly, closing the closet quickly since she was currently awake. The way she was acting, he was fairly sure she was getting up again though. Looking at his alarm clock across the room before carefully moving to sit up, Tohru attempted to adjust herself to her surroundings and tried her best to appear that she hadn't been interrupted at all.
Kyou couldn't help thinking she failed miserably at trying to convince him of it. The comforter mark lining her cheek gave her away completely. She still appeared half-asleep, her eyes dazed and glassy as she blinked at him, looking back at the clock before turning back to him again. "No! No!" she protested, trying to push down the yawn that he could tell was just begging to come out. "I never meant...we're supposed to leave here soon, aren't we? To go to..." Kyou grinned as the yawn finally emerged, interrupting her words. "I'm sorry!" She said, lowering the hand from her face as she finished. "I didn't intend on falling asleep! I will be ready to go shortly. I promise!"
"Take your time," he assured as she rushed into the bathroom, shutting the door before he could finish his sentence. Kyou shook his head, a small smile covering his face as the sound of water running came from inside. Easy to please, always wanting everyone around her to be happy, Tohru was a rare soul. As much as he wished it wasn't so, Kyou found himself wanting to be near her, to stay by her side more and more every day.
He knew it was the last place he belonged, he didn't deserve her.
His subconscious had been working overtime, bad enough that his thoughts of her during the day distracted him; she'd taken over his dreams at night as well. Something at the back of his brain tugged at him, trying to make sense of it all. He just couldn't understand any of it, why she had such a strange effect on his life.
For some reason, he wanted her to visit Shishou's with him--to show her where he'd grown up. At the same time, he was terrified to let her into his life anymore than she already was. She'd woken up the other evening and it had taken her at least an hour to settle herself back down again, he didn't think she'd actually gone to sleep right away either. He'd been awake himself but hadn't made himself known...too shook up by the nightmare he'd woken up from.
It probably should be taken as a warning, but the plans to visit Shishou had already been made and he didn't want to upset her by canceling them. It didn't help ease the sense of dread he had about taking her there. First, he'd had that nightmare about Shishou taking his beads in front of her. The other night, he'd woken up from a dream where he'd visited her grave--with Tohru. If that wasn't bad enough...Uotani, Hanajima and that damned Yuki were there too.
“Living humans are the strongest…the dead do give off waves…but they are very weak. They're drowned out by the strength of the thoughts of the living. Even now it's the same…even now…your waves are echoing. Why are you standing before a grave with such feelings of regret?”
He'd tried to convince himself it had to do with the strange way Hanajima had been acting toward him, not bad or anything--just different. Even the Yankee had commented about it when Hanajima hadn't backed up her normal teasing of him the other day. It hadn't stopped their teasing completely, but he'd noticed a slight air of sadness in Hanajima's eyes and things hadn't been the way they used to be.
Not that her doing that made any sense, he just shrugged it off as her waves telling her something...
The bathroom door opened and Tohru emerged looking--not as sleepy as she had a minute ago. She wasn't completely awake but she gave him one of her patented smiles, lighting up the room and his mood in that instant. She'd pulled her hair back into a single light blue ribbon that matched her skirt perfectly--which he wondered why he even noticed anyway. "I think I'm ready!" she said, moving to her desk to pick up her purse.
Kyou got to his feet, moving to open the door as he put on his shoes. Tohru followed behind on his heels. Letting her out before him, Kyou locked the door before closing it tightly behind him. The walk to Shishou's wasn't a long one, he'd chosen this school primarily for it's location to the dojo. With his freedom, he'd gained the opportunity to continue his schooling far away from the influence of the Sohma family. Leaving Shishou hadn't ever been an option for Kyou though.
Exiting the stairwell, the pair headed for the front door of their dorm, the bright sunlight making Tohru painfully blink as they left the building. Kyou grinned as she lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding rays. "Still not quite awake yet, huh?"
Tohru's face turned up towards him in surprise, her cheeks quickly flushing as her eyes quickly darted away from his. "I...didn't intend on falling asleep," she answered as she glanced at him again. "I was waiting for you to return...and...next thing I knew, you were there!"
"You probably needed it," Kyou said, pushing the button for the traffic light at corner of the street. "You've been working hard and probably worrying too much about all your classes." Taking her hand as they crossed the street, Kyou tugged her in the direction of the dojo and headed down the sidewalk.
"Is Shishou-san's house close to here?" Tohru asked, moving quickly to catch up to him so he didn't end up dragging her.
Kyou smiled, "About four blocks from school...we're almost there, actually."
The walk was a pleasant trip, located in a quiet neighborhood on a beautiful day, it didn't take them long to reach Kazuma's house. Knocking once before opening the door, if only to alert Shishou they had arrived, Kyou led Tohru into the entryway where they removed their shoes. "Shishou! We're here!" The smell of fish permeated his senses, making Kyou frown.
Leading Tohru into the kitchen, Kyou paused in the doorway blinking at the sight in front of him. "What...are you doing?" he asked his father in disbelief.
Standing at the stove over a full flame, Kazuma held a frying pan over the fire with several carp fillets filling the pan. He saw a hand reach out next to him from the corner of his eye as Tohru whispered, "Too hot...it's too hot..."
"I thought I told you to order take out!"
"I just saw these at the store earlier and I thought they would be great for today," Kazuma answered, looking thoughtfully at the pan in confusion. "I wasn't sure how to cook them but I thought I would give it a try."
"Why? Why do you even try?" Kyou growled, burying a hand in his hair as he shook his head. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed his companion slip past him toward his father. "What are you doing?"
"Um...if you just turn the temperature down a little..." Tohru mumbled, her hands reaching for pan. Internally Kyou groaned with frustration, Tohru loved to cook and watching someone completely inept at the skill attempting the process was probably killing her.
"Down? Oh...I just thought that it would cook faster this way," Shishou chuckled, looking around the stove in confusion. "Now...how do I turn it down?"
"I-I can finish it if you like," Tohru said nervously, her hand hovering next to the handle. "I don't mind, really."
"No!" Kyou growled, storming over to the pair to attempt to separate them. "Guests aren't supposed to--"
"I would love that!" Shishou interrupted, moving away from the stove quickly as Tohru replaced him. "I've heard that you are quite the cook."
"Shishou!" Kyou screamed, warmth quickly rushing to his cheeks as he reached his father. Embarrassed that word of how much he enjoyed her cooking was getting back to her, Kyou averted his eyes from his roommate. "She shouldn't have to cook--"
A large shattering near his head stopped Kyou mid-rant as porcelain rained down on him. Turning around in shock, Isuzu stood in the doorway her glare piercing through him with hatred. Feeling the skin on the back of his neck raise, Kyou pinned his cousin with a deadly gaze. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"You are just an idiot! I can't believe you!" Shoes thumping on the wood of the dojo floor, Rin stormed away from the kitchen door, her black shoulder length hair trailing behind her as she headed for her room. Kyou moved to head after her, but Shishou's hand blocked him before he could get more than a step in.
"Hello...again," Haru said, appearing in the doorway with a smile on his face directed toward Tohru. Barefoot and lounging lightly against the door, Haru looked around the kitchen before locking eyes with Kyou.
"H-hello Hatsuha--" Tohru paused as an eruption of shattering interrupted the quiet of the moment. "Ah...I..."
"Nice to see you both...I'm going to go check on..." Haru jammed his thumb in the direction his companion had recently headed before slowly turning to head after her.
No one said a word for almost a full minute, Kyou stood there dumbfounded trying to understand what had just happened but couldn't fathom it in the least. "He'll calm her down," Shishou commented lightly, letting go of Kyou's arm as he turned to distract an obviously rattled Tohru. "Do you need any help with our lunch, Tohru-san?"
Ignoring the ensuing conversation, Kyou moved to sit down at the table, bewilderment at the recent events fresh in his head. It wasn't a secret that he'd never gotten along well with his cousin but other than the occasional glare or their constant avoidance of each other...Isuzu rarely got angry with him. For her to be that upset...you'd think he'd have a clue as to why...
'It just doesn't make any sense...'
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
I do not own Fruits Basket or the characters affiliated with the Manga and Anime. They are the property of Natsuki Takaya…I am just `borrowing' them for my own nefarious deeds. I own nothing, suing me won't help anyone.
Sari-15