Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Selfish ❯ Beginnings ( Chapter 12 )

Beginnings

 

Chapter 12

 

Knock...Knock...Knock...

 

Blinking unseeing into the darkness surrounding him, the pounding on the door was loud enough to bring his consciousness to a state of minor awareness. Moving in a daze, his feet touched down onto the mat covering the floor as he pushed off the bed he'd been sleeping in mere seconds before. Stumbling across the floor, he managed to get to the door before the person occupying the opposite side had an opportunity to wake up the whole floor with his incessant pounding.

 

Light flooding his vision as he opened the door, the identity of the visitor still a mystery as he found himself blinded as his eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden light. “Eh? Who...?”

“Don't lie to me! Did I really beat you?” The voice yelled, a thread of panic evident to someone who'd known this person for years—like Yuki had.

Lifting a hand to his face, Yuki rubbed his eyes in effort to wake himself up. “Kyou? What time is it?” Turning back toward his room, he couldn't even see the numbers lighting his clock to tell what time it is. “You didn't seriously try to wake me up in the middle of the night to ask me—“

“Just answer the damned question! Did I?” Arm moving without thought, Yuki snagged the hand that was coming at him in thin air, pushing his cousin back a few steps so he could close the door to the room behind him. “Damn it! What was that for?”

“You're going to wake up my roommate with all that yelling,” Yuki stated, feeling slightly more awake as he noticed the panic-stricken expression on Kyou's face. “There better be a good reason for this visit, or I'm going right back to bed.”

Frustration flashed over the neko's face before he turned away from Yuki, hands balled into fists at his side. From his posture alone, Yuki could tell Kyou felt defeated for some reason. “Just tell me that I never beat you...”

Shrugging, Yuki couldn't understand what the obsession with the topic was. Ever since that night, Kyou had maintained his belief that he had in fact beaten Yuki in a fight or something of the sort when he hadn't. To Yuki, it had just been easier to let Kyou believe whatever he'd wanted. “Fine, you never beat me—what does it—“

“Damn it! You aren't supposed to say that!” Kyou yelled, turning back around to glare at him, eyes flashing wildly as he pressed the issue further. “Just tell me the truth!”

“Why does it matter?” Yuki sighed, burying a hand within his hair as he watched his cousin experience something resembling a nervous breakdown. He didn't understand what he had to do with any of what was going on in Kyou's head right now. Yuki would rather be back in bed, and that's exactly what he intended to do once he got rid of his cousin. “What does whether you beat me or not have to do with anything? Just think whatever you want...”

“I shouldn't be here—“ Eyes widening in panic, Kyou looked as if he'd said something he hadn't meant to say but then waged an internal struggle with himself on if he should continue or not. A long moment went by as Yuki waited, but in the end Kyou finally continued, voice wavering as he spoke. “Beating you was the condition, so I had to have...”

Watching as Kyou slowly walked backwards, away from him as his orange head shook in denial. Suddenly, Yuki understood the reason for his cousin's panic and that if he didn't stop him—Kyou would be gone. Hand reaching out to grasp Kyou's shirt as he turned away to run, Yuki refused to let him go. He didn't know exactly what was going on but he was determined to figure it out before his cousin messed up everything again. “No, you never beat me. That's not how you earned your freedom.”

Mouth twisting into a sardonic smile, Yuki released Kyou before pivoting quickly to catch the neko unaware with a foot to the face. Kyou slid across the floor with only a minor protest, lying where he landed for several seconds without moving. “I'm guessing I deserved that,” he mumbled, moving to sit up as he rubbed the quickly growing bump on the side of his face. “Damn...I'm so confused...”

“How you feeling?” Yuki ventured, eyeing Kyou warily as he debated his next action. He wanted to talk to him still but not here, plus he'd need to grab his phone before going anywhere. The risk of Kyou taking off if Yuki went to grab his phone needed to be resolved before he could do that.

“Like shit, thanks...” Kyou mumbled, not looking up as he continued to rub his cheek. His countenance looked disheartened as he stared at the floor, it didn't look like he'd be going anywhere anytime soon without being forced. “I just don't understand anything...”

“I might have a few answers,” Yuki ventured, turning toward his room to grab his phone. “I just don't think discussing them in the hallway is the best choice. Stay there, I'll be right back.”

Quickly, Yuki dashed into his bedroom to grab the phone off the corner of his desk where it was recharging. When he moved to return to Kyou, his eyes lingered on one of the cabinets in his room. Most of Kyou's and Tohru's things were at Shishou's house, things that needed to be removed until there was a time that they could hopefully pull them out again. He wasn't sure if now would be a good time or not, but there was one thing that he had that might come in handy today.

The items that they'd owned might not be accessible but there wasn't a way to get rid of all the proof of the past couple of years. Yuki had his own memories and pictures that he'd kept. Sliding the closet open, Yuki grabbed his photo album off the top shelf that contained his own high school memories.

It wouldn't be as good as the one that Tohru or Kyou had kept, but it would be a start.

 

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Head hanging down, Kyou stared at his feet, wondering just what he was getting himself into by doing all this. Fear flowed through his blood, making his heart pound within his chest as he debated if he truly needed the truth or not. Would choosing to remain ignorant make the pain within his soul dissipate? The truth of his freedom remained a mystery but he knew without a doubt that she had been involved somehow.

The door opened again, Yuki returning with a photo album in his hands as he indicated for Kyou to stand up before closing the door to his room again. Doing as requested, he didn't think he had much of a choice in the matter if he wanted the answers he'd come for. No matter how much the truth worried him, he knew he'd need to know what had happened to get him in this situation.

“How's the roof on this place?”

The question came as a surprise to the neko, halting his movements as he moved to stand. “Why are you asking me?” he asked suspiciously, wondering how Yuki knew about his penchant for hanging on roofs when he was upset.

“Are you trying to say you've stopped going there to pout?” Yuki replied with mock disbelief before getting serious. “Maybe it's just one of those things that I remember and you don't. Again...how is the roof?”

Feeling reminded of why he'd come here in the first place, Kyou sighed before giving his answer. “It's fine...” he said, following behind the nezumi as they made their way into the stairwell. Not a word was spoken as the two of them traveled up to the roof of the building. Kyou, for his part was focused on the fact that Yuki had just pretty much verified that he'd had his memories modified.

The question he wanted to know was, `Why?'

Reaching the final landing, Yuki opened the door and let him out first before following. “What happened?” Yuki asked, not even waiting for the door to shut before turning to grill him.

`What the...I'm the one that doesn't remember!' Stunned, Kyou just stared at him in disbelief. “Aren't I the one supposed to be asking that question? I mean...apparently I'm the one that doesn't know what is real and what isn't anymore!”

“Okay, let me try again. What do you think happened?”

“That Hatori suppressed my memories, what the hell do you think I want to know? God, you piss me off sometimes!” Kyou growled, turning away from Yuki, hands balled into fists as he debated taking out some of his frustration on the bastard. “I want to know why the hell Tohru is having dreams about things she's got no business knowing or getting involved with. I want to know why the hell I'm dreaming about things I have no reason to know about—only to find out they are true. It's like the worst nightmare of my life...” Body finally giving out, Kyou found a place against the wall, settled down before turning his face up to Yuki, and quietly said, “I think I'm ready to wake up.”

“Yeah, well it's a little hard to wake up when it's not a dream,” Yuki said, moving slowly to sit down next to him. “Hatori modified your memories, you're correct about that. Have you actually started to remember things though, or is it just that you've had these dreams?”

“Dreams,” Kyou sighed, dropping his head into his hands, refusing to look up at his cousin as he spoke. “They don't seem real, I don't remember any of them happening...I just...I thought they were just dreams until tonight. I've heard of them doing this to people, but...it's...I just don't understand...why would they do this to me? I don't want to sound conceited or anything but I wouldn't want her near this family. The sooner she got away the better and I wouldn't want her to—“

“Tell me one of your dreams,” Yuki interrupted. Thinking about it, the last dream he'd had immediately popped into his mind, making his face heat with embarrassment as he thought about it. “Besides that one...you can remember that one on your own. Choose another one...”

“Eh...um...” Head reeling from the hearing that dream might really be reality, it took a moment for Kyou to grab one that Yuki might know for a fact to be true or not. “Kyoko's grave...you were there with Hanajima and Uotani.”

“The first anniversary of her mother's death,” Yuki said, smiling as he obviously remembered the memory. “You decided to go at the last minute; I had almost forgotten about that day. Tohru had made a picnic for us all to eat in front of the grave, quite the odd way to remember a loved one.”

“I don't really remember the picnic,” Kyou admitted quietly, looking down at his hands. “Like I said, I don't remember very much of anything. She said she went to school with Uotani and Hanajima, like we did...but I don't remember her. I can remember school pretty clearly, but she's just not there.”

Yuki looked down at the book in his hands before, glancing back up at Kyou, a thoughtful frown covering his face as he stared at him. “Tohru was definitely there. This is something you'll have to figure out on your own though. I can't just tell you what you want to hear.”

Hands clenched at his side, anger swelled within Kyou as he got to his feet. “You aren't even going to tell me anything? This isn't just a case of `an outsider found out', Yuki. She knew everything.”

“I know,” Yuki answered, gaze looking away from Kyou as the words slowly fell from his mouth. “Telling you what happened, it's not going to give you the answers you want. You need to remember everything on your own, I think. Getting a timeline for everything might help. I can help get one started, if you want.”

Nodding, Kyou ran a hand through his hair, still confused about everything. When Hatori had removed Kana's memories, she still remembered him. She remembered working for Hatori, but had forgotten the relationship they'd had during that time. “It doesn't make any sense, shouldn't she still remember me if we'd gone to school together? Kana still remembered Hatori even after everything. Why did they take my memories too? I just...damn it. What the hell happened?”

“Akito's orders were that neither of you could even remember meeting, Hatori had said that if you...wait...” Confusion flashed over the nezumi's face as a dark frown slid over his face. “Hatori...” he mumbled, snatching the cell phone from his side before quickly pounding four buttons in rapid succession and placing it to his ear to listen to the receiver. As he waited, he handed Kyou the photo album he'd been carrying. “Here's your proof.”

Staring at the innocent looking book as he took his seat back near his cousin, Kyou felt his stomach do a fearful flip-flop as he faced the truth of what he'd done. There was no doubt that this was, in fact, entirely his fault. Having any sort of relationship with her would have to be something he needed to be punished for, the only thing he wanted to know was how it had happened.

“What aren't you telling me?” The anger in the nezumi's voice was palpable, making Kyou look up from the closed book in his hands to where his cousin was practically spitting fury over the phone. “Yes, it's me! I just realized you talked Akito into taking the stupid cat's memories without even realizing it was your idea.”

“There's something you aren't telling me, Hatori. This was all your idea...huh? He's sitting right here, he knows something is wrong. They've been having these dreams...yeah...hang on.” Yuki looked up, suspicion on his face as he turned to face Kyou, phone held out in front of him. “He wants to talk to you.”

Frowning, Kyou took the phone from his cousin, lifting it to hear the voice on the other line. The person on the other line knew the truth, but Kyou wasn't sure if he wanted to really know what had happened anymore. With a sigh, he knew in order to protect Tohru now he probably needed as much information as he could get. “What?” he growled, furious at having gotten himself into this situation for what was apparently the second time.

`Yes, I was the one that got Akito to take your memories as well as hers. If it worked the way I wanted it to, the name Honda Tohru would still have memories attached to you. Is that right?'

The hand holding the phone began to slowly shake with the anxiety that filled him, discovering that Hatori knew his secret. “You...How did you find that out? No one but Shishou should know that!”

`You told me, Kyou. Just calm down. All I wanted to do was make the two of you on even ground when you met again. If you had remembered everything and she remembered nothing, it would have been too hard for you and you'd probably just leave her alone from all the guilt. None of us want that.'

“So what I want doesn't matter?” he yelled, angry with Hatori for leaving him so helpless in the situation. Putting him in a place that he wasn't comfortable being in. He couldn't even imagine what could have happened to get Tohru and him together in the first place. “I wouldn't have ever done this! This isn't what I would have wanted, I know that!”

`We need you, Kyou. Akito is very afraid of Tohru, the bonds that connect us all has been fading lately and having an outsider adding strain to them terrifies him. Tohru damaged every single one of those bonds, she became like another member of the family to us and Akito hated that. She wanted to free us all, but one of us had a time limit and the thoughts of losing that particular member obsessed her. She didn't make it in time.'

“So, everyone blames me? She shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place! I—“

`There are some of us who no longer have any bonds.' Rendered completely speechless at the words, Kyou sat there in shock as he absorbed the words. `I'm giving you a second chance to do this. You have your freedom right now, thanks to what she did for you. The easiest way to ensure that she won't put herself at risk is to do the job yourself so she doesn't have to.'

The click of the receiver on the other side indicated that he'd been hung up on. Staring blankly at the buttons on Yuki's phone, he quickly decided it was way beyond his capabilities and just handed the phone back to the nezumi. “He lectured me...and hung up,” he answered in response to Yuki's questioning look.

“Did he at least answer why he conned Akito into taking both your memories?” Yuki demanded, hitting a button and closing up the phone with obvious frustration. “I mean, he didn't need to take yours, did he?”

“Something about putting us on even ground, I dunno... Said something about doing it right this time...” Gaze turning back to the book, he didn't fear it as much as he had before the phone call. There were answers there, he knew, but he had a feeling with every answer he got—there would be more questions. “Hatori said she was like a member of the family, I don't even know how she got involved. How am I supposed to do this when I don't even know what happened?”

“Let's start with the most important thing, how she got involved with our family,” Yuki said, reaching over to grab the book from Kyou's hands. “It all starts with a girl, a tent and a landslide. Her grandfather was apparently doing some construction and she told him she had someone to stay with, which was of course a lie. Shigure and I found her camping on our property and invited her to stay until the completion of construction. She reluctantly agreed, after a landslide had destroyed her tent. Everything would have been that simple, but...you arrived back from your little `trip' and decided you needed to attack me.”

Yuki flipped through the photo album at a rate that drove Kyou insane, watching every page as it traveled from one side of the book to the other. “It was your clumsiness that let our secret out. She fell on you as you tried to attack me, transforming you. It wasn't long before Shigure and I were both transformed too and we thought that would be the end of it. Strangely, when Shigure went to tell Akito what had happened, Akito allowed her to keep her memories and stay with us. Part of the deal was you had to stay there and go to school with us as well.”

Kyou shook his head in disbelief, amazed at how disconnected it felt to hear all that. Yuki apparently found what he'd been looking for as he raised the book up for Kyou to see the picture he'd found. “I don't...this...you're serious aren't you?” Kyou stumbled out with incredulity at the sight. Moving painfully slow, he grasped for the book, never taking his eyes off the photo that stared back at him. “She's so young...hell...we all are except Shigure. So this was...”

`Only four months after Kyoko's death.'

“We were quite the rag-tag family,” Yuki said with an amused smile. “I believe that this is the starting point of your timeline. I'm not sure how much more of Tohru's had been altered, since I'd attended school with her before this date. This was...sometime in the fall...August...September or something like that...”

“September... September 10th,” Kyou said with certainty, staring at the picture as he answered. There was a moment of hesitation as he debated whether to continue or not. Instinctively he didn't want to trust Yuki, but knew he needed to trust someone and the rat obviously cared about Tohru. “I was called before Akito; it's the day I made the bet with him. If I could beat you, I wouldn't be confined...I'd be a part of the zodiac.”

“You never beat me.”

“I know,” Kyou answered quietly, still staring at the picture of the four of them sitting around the table eating dinner. “I just wish she hadn't gotten herself involved in all this. I still want to punch whoever placed us as roommates in the face for doing something so stupid.”

“Actually, I thought it was Hatori at first,” Yuki said with a frown. “But when I asked him about it, he denied it. He actually started laughing, saying it was probably just fate. Tohru said there was a mix up with her paperwork, that they listed her as a male.”

“Shishou laughed too,” Kyou growled, not wanting to get on the subject of things that fate had done to him. “So...if that's the start of my timeline...when is the end?”

It happened quicker than Kyou could react to, rarely the defender against attacks from Yuki, normally Kyou was the aggressor in their fights. When the smaller boy's fist connected with Kyou's cheek unexpectedly, it knocked him over as he hit the back of his head against the wall. “Damn it!” he growled, leaping to his feet as he got into a fighting stance moments behind Yuki. “What the hell was that for?”

“Graduation, you idiot!” Yuki spat out; anger burning within in his eyes as he glared at Kyou. “Damn it, I've wanted to do that to you since I found her that morning. Just trust me; you'll thank me when you remember that.”

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Thanks to everyone that has reviewed during my `lack of updates'. It's been a stressful year and getting myself writing has been difficult. I promise it won't be so long next time. I really enjoy this story and have no plans of stopping it anytime soon. Hang in there. I promise there will be more updates soon!

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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