Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Breaking Tradition ( Chapter 10 )

Kyou: You've made me wait too long.

NK: I'm sorry Kyou... I've been really busy and not really inspired.

Kyou: *pouts*

NK: I'm sorry Kyou... please forgive me

Kyou: Only if they do and only if you say it.

NK: Please everyone forgive me for the long delay in the story and I don't own Fruits Basket.

Chapter 10 Breaking Tradition

Kyou and Tohru arrived at the Sohma compound, hand in hand. When they had started their walk, they had conversed about school and the rest of the Sohma clan, flitting from topic to topic happily. But the closer they had gotten to the compound, the less they spoke. They arrived in silence at the gates and stared at them each lost in their own thoughts. Just as Kyou had begun to worry that perhaps it was too much for her, she turned her face to him, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"I wanted to see Hiro's dance this year, at least I'll be able to now," she said softly, as usual finding good in a bad situation. Kyou simply nodded, and then bowed to her outrageously.

"Akito says your the guest of honor this year, so Madame, your party awaits." Tohru laughed, though it never quite reached her eyes and nodded. Together, they pushed open the gates and entered the fantastically decorated compound.

Tohru's eyes grew wide as she saw the decorations. "It's likes something out of the legends from China."

Kyou nodded. "It's like this every year." He turned his head to look at her. "Would you expect less from a family that lives one of the legends from China? Though why we celebrate it at all still confuses me. Of course, my main purpose here is to be the person that everyone spits on and takes pleasure in tormenting." Tohru looked at him, an odd look crossing her face. "Yes, but in the end, in all the fairy tales, it's the one that's been most abused that gets to live happily ever after." This conversation brought them to the steps of the Sohma main house.

"Are you ready?" Kyou gave her a crooked smile, that in it's own way was an encouraging one.

Tohru's face took on the look he'd seen a thousand times in the time he'd known her. It was a look of determination, or one could have called it stubbornness. "I'm ready. I've got too much in life to look forward to, to be constantly looking behind. It's time to close the chapter on this." Kyou just nodded.

"Well, let's make our entrance, shall we?"

Taking her hand he led her up the steps and then released it long enough to turn the knob and give the double doors a hard shove. He reached back and took Tohru's hand into his own, even as the door banged against the walls of the house within. A sudden hush filled the room as every head turned to the door's that were still shaking on their hinges. The moment held as they stood there, on the threshold, the surprise evident on the faces of the rooms occupants at the audacity of the hated Cat.

Kyou tugged Tohru inside, looking around with a mixed look of hurt and anger on his features. He took a deep breath summoning the strength to get through another year of this. He looked at the crowd of two hundred or so whispering Sohma family members that had managed to attend the New Year's Celebration. They just had to get through this and then the smaller Juunishi Ball that would take place later tonight. It would be his first time attending that particular event. The Cat wasn't invited to the Juunishi only celebration. Then they could make their excuses and leave. He squared his shoulders and gave Tohru an encouraging smile. Akito would be at the front of the room. Kyou took her hand in his once again and the two of them moved forward. The crowd parted for them as they approached. Hushed whispers surrounded them. Kyou was used to the whispers and the barely concealed insults. Tohru, however, was not. She spoke to him softly

"Is it always like this, Kyou, for you, I mean?"

Kyou looked at her, his pain evident in his eyes. "Normally they are louder about it, perhaps it's that they don't want to lose face to a stranger."

"You shouldn't have come here with me then. Normally, you only have to come to the compound, not to the main house, ne?"

They stopped mid way across the room as Kyou turned her slowly to face him. "I have to go through this part of this game every year. They are nothing. You are everything. I would endure any pain for you. Remember that."

She smiled, at him a gentle smile. "I love you too, Kyou."

They turned again and took up their walk to the dais where Sohma Akito was sitting, the crowd once again parting like a wave in front of them. Suddenly there was no one between he and them. They both lowered themselves to their knees, hands clasped between them.

"Sohma Kyou and Honda Tohru do now fulfill their obligations to you and present themselves as proof of their obedience to your command." The words came out of Kyou's mouth harshly as he said the ritual greeting the entire family gave upon their arrival on New Year's. He brought his head up after he spoke, meeting Akito's eyes, daring him to try something here in front of the entire clan. Akito raised an eyebrow at the rebellious act but said nothing.

"Gladly does the head of the Sohma Clan and all its members greet you. We are happy of your arrival and pleased that you once again confirm your loyalty to your Clan." Akito mouthed his part of the ritual in a bored tone of voice. Then he smirked as he added to it.. "I have an announcement to make.

The room silenced around them. Akito stood and walked down the steps of the dais to Tohru. She glanced up through the cover of her bangs, a shiver running through her as he stopped before and held out his hand. "Stand Honda Tohru."

Kyou squeezed her hand before relinquishing it as she stood up. Akito took the hand Kyou had been holding and led her to the dais. He turned them both to face the expectant faces of the family. Tohru locked her eyes on Kyou's as she stood there barely concealing her very real fear. Kyou smiled at her and nodded and her resolve firmed. Akito began to speak.

"The Sohma Clan has a new member. Honda Tohru has been formally adopted into the Clan. Make her welcome as one of us. Let her know what it means to be Sohma. Tonight, she is our special guest of honor."

The entire room looked at the girl as if they were in shock. Gradually the meaning of what had been said hit them. One person bowed to her as she stood there and then another and then the entire room. It was like the oncoming tsunami. She returned their bow and then straightened waiting with an unseen nervousness for what was going to come next.

Akito turned her toward him, feeling her shudder beneath his hands as he leaned forward and lightly brushed a kiss across her forehead. She visibly paled but stood in place determined that she would not show him fear. "You should go to Hatori san now, he will explain everything to you Clan Daughter. I am expected to remain here." He leaned forward and whispered into her ear. 'We will talk more after the Juunishi Ball, you can be sure of that, daughter mine."

He released her then and moved away allowing her to make her way down the dais back to Kyou. He stood as she approached and held out a hand to her. She took it, smiling with what seemed to be relief, her whole countenance changing as their hands slid together. Kyou pulled her gently from the center of the room, taking her around the crowd that had now begun to talk again. The entire room was buzzing at the news of the adoption. This clan, with it's dark secret, had not adopted anyone in centuries. On top of that, it was clear that she was somehow involved with the Cat. Had their clan head decided to ease the treatment of the Cat? Did the girl know of the Curse and the Cat's role in it? Speculations abounded as Kyou and Tohru made their way along the front wall of this main room retreating to a hallway off to the side of it.

Once out of the main room, Kyou led Tohru to a side hall out of the main way of traffic. Tohru leaned heavily upon the wall finally stopping and standing with her head pressed against it, tears she had successfully fought back coming now.

Kyou stood behind her, caressing her back with long strokes, leaning forward to give her the support that she needed, whispering softly into her ear. "That was well done, love. I know it was hard, but you held your head up and showed no more fear than anyone else in this family shows him. I am proud of you." She nodded and turned to him burying her face in his shoulder as she wept.

He slowly wrapped his arms around her pulling her tightly to him. "It's ok, Tohru, it's ok. He's never going to hurt you again, I will never let him hurt you." He looked up at the sound of someone approaching, and found Yuki, Haru and Kagura standing at the end of the hall. "We will never let him hurt you again."

She picked up on his change of tone, his voice was louder now. She lifted her head, wiping her eyes as she followed the direction of his gaze. She smiled at the small group as they moved forward sure now that Kyou was aware of their presence. Yuki looked at her, "Are you ok Honda-san?" Tohru nodded. "I'm fine Yuki, it was just hard being up there, having him...touch me again." Yuki nodded, his eyes sympathetic.

"What are you guys doing here? Aren't you supposed to be doing preparations for the Juunishi Ball?" Kyou asked, still holding Tohru in the circle of his arms and not showing any inclination to remove them, even though they had been interrupted.

Kagura answered. "We were, Ayame had to do some new measurements for some of our costumes, apparently he forgot that some of have grown since last year." She rolled her eyes at the Snake's forgetfulness. "Hatori sent us for you, since we've got nothing to do but wait for Ayame. I think there has been a change of plan of some kind. Hiro is sick and Ayame is saying that he needs you to come get some measurements taken." Kyou and Tohru looked at one another. What could this mean?

Tohru responded to Kagura thru the simple expedient of nodding her head. She reached around her and took one of Kyou's hands in hers and pulled away from him so that they could follow the group to where Hatori and the rest of the Juunishi were. They had to follow, because Kyou had never been a part of the ceremonies of the Juunishi, he had never been even allowed to go to their preparation chambers, he had no idea what went on behind those closed doors, with the exception of seeing them before they did their performances in the main halls with their parents, if they still had them.

Haru reached the heavy door first and pulled it open so that the others could enter before him. He bowed deeply and playfully toward his cousins, playing the nobleman's footman. Tohru entered the preparation room with wide eyes. There seemed to be a blur of activity. People were running from place to place bringing things or taking them away. Ayame had a small staff of people sewing costumes at machines or repairing those that could still be used. Ayame himself was talking animatedly to Hatori and Shigure, though he was being unusually quiet. As the group approached, Kyou saw Hatori nod almost imperceptibly and the conversation between the older cousins broke off abruptly. Ayame turned around. "Ah, Tohru-chan, Kyou-kun! How good of you to come in such short time! But I must be back to work, I'll leave you to Ha-san and Shi-san."

Kyou rolled his eyes as the snake moved back over to where the costumes were being readied, watching the older man flutter about. He really should have been a butterfly, not a snake. Hatori looked at Tohru, and then at Kyou. Apparently the boy was going to be good to his word. The Younger set had said that Kyou wouldn't leave Tohru's side while they were here tonight, he hadn't thought that they meant quite so literally. Kyou knew he wasn't allowed back here, he knew the Juunishi Ball had no place for him. It was quite obvious he intended to be there consequences be damned.

Shigure, of course, noticed what Hatori hadn't. Tohru had Kyou's hand held tightly around hers and if she didn't loosen it soon he'd have no circulation in it. Something had obviously happened between the two of them while everyone else was away. He looked at Kyou and saw in the boys eyes a protectiveness and yet a gentleness that hadn't been there before. he looked even under all the stress of the situation as if he had found some inner peace. The wheels in his head started churning of their own volition on a storyline for his next book. Tohru broke he silence between the four as the others in the younger set joined Ayame as he clucked at them to try on their clothing again.

"Hatori-san, Akito-san said that I was to find you and you would have some explanations for me and also instructions for what I was supposed to do tonight. And how is Hiro-kun? Kagura-chan said that he was sick. Hatori simply nodded his head, then waved them to a couple of out of the way chairs to sit down. Taking the lead he sat down himself, passing a hand over his tired eyes. "Hiro seems to have contracted food poisoning. We are still trying to determine exactly what he ate."

Hatori did not mention his suspicions as to the convenience of the young boy being sick exactly when he was supposed to be dancing. He tried not to think about Akito's not so subtle statement as to how he would insure that Tohru would dance at the ball. He was angry, very angry. One of these days, Akito was going to kill one of them through his selfish senseless acts. The fact that he controlled them so easily despite his senseless demands and irrational behaviors irked him even more. Knowing that one is chained to a madman is bad, being unable to undo the chains was worse.

"Akito has decided that you will dance in his place." Tohru looked at him, still feeling self conscious about the state her body was in.

"No," Tohru said softly.

"You have to Tohru, he has already had Ayame start on a costume for you. Ayame just needs some final measurements for the finished product. If you fight him on this, you will only anger him."

"I will not dance for him. I am only now finishing my recovery. My face and body have been destroyed. I will not be looked on like that." Tears filled her eyes. "I can't do it Hatori-san, it took all of my strength to simply stand beside him, to endure a kiss on the forehead from him. I will not put myself where he can watch me in such a way."

Hatori looked at the girl wanting to very much just let her go. "I'm sorry Tohru, I have no choice in this and you have no choice in this. There is no such thing as 'no' here. The games here are played by Akito's rules, he changes them to his liking when they don't conform to what he wants. Don't push him into causing you even more harm Tohru-chan."

Tohru looked at Kyou and saw him nodding along with Hatori's words. "Just do it, Tohru. I'll be there to protect you if he gets even remotely out of line. The less we defy him now, the more likely he'll forget about us later." *And once he settles back into his usual complacent self, I will deal with him.*

Tohru simply nodded placing her faith in Kyou and Hatori, they had both dealt with his rage on many occasions.

Hatori looked at the pair before moving on to the next item they needed to talk about. Oddly Akito had not given him much of a fight over adopting Tohru into the family. He had personally gone to the old man to discuss the adoption, wanting to ease his fears and wanting to see that Tohru reaped the benefits of the cursed as well as the horror of it. And hers was in it's way so much worse. The Juunishi would turn into an animal if they were hugged by anyone of the opposite sex not also of the Juunishi. Tohru would likely have a heart attack if she was hugged too closely. He knew that she loved her Grandfather very much, she spoke often of visiting him in the park. Not being able to hug him properly, as the only living relative she had was going to be devastating to her when she finally got around to realizing it. She needed to know that she had a place full of family she could hug, and this was the closest thing he could give her. Additionally, given the Hell Akito had put her through, Hatori felt she was owed this. She deserved to have a family, she deserved to be able to go on to college and know she had a home forever here with them. She deserved some peace.

"Hatori-san? Are you ok?

He came back to reality quickly. Kyou and Tohru were waiting for him to speak. He shook his head. "Gomen, I was woolgathering for a moment."

Shigure looked at him, a wicked twinkle in his eye. "Ha-san we aren't that old. Please don't make them think we are becoming forgetful."

Hatori decided to ignore the Inu's comment.

"Now as to the adoption, it is finalized. This is very important, you were adopted by the Sohma Clan, not by Akito, he has no more parental rights to you than I or Shigure, we are all your parents, your brothers, your sisters. Your Grandfather signed over guardianship rights to the clan when he was approached. He felt it was best for you, given the benefits involved. You have the same responsibilities any of us do to the clan, we can discuss those responsibilities in private at a later date. Mostly those responsibilities revolve around one thing. Your clan head's word is law. You would be wise to remember that.

"If you wish to take the Sohma name you can, but its not in the adoption papers. It was felt that you are too old to change that part of yourself now. When you marry you will only change it again anyway."

Tohru nodded as she assimilated the information. "Now for the somewhat good news." Hatori smiled. "You are to be accorded all the rights of any other person of the clan. You will have a home set aside for you upon your completion of school. You will receive a stipend until your completion of school. If you choose to attend college, we will pay for it. Once you leave school, if you have gone into a field where you can be of use to the clan and you wish to work here, you will be put on the family's payroll, If you are interested in outside ventures you can participate in those as well, but your stipend will be discontinued. Your home will be on Sohma land if you choose not to live here at the compound."

I want you to know that your grandfather did maintain his rights to see you, but he felt that this was best for you. He would see you well cared for Tohru-chan. We did not inform him of your condition. Since you were healing so well, we thought it best not to worry him. Please don't think less of him because he hasn't called you or visited, he simply does not know."

Tohru nodded emphatically. "There would have been nothing he could do. And I know that he did what he felt best. I do appreciate this Hatori-san. Now you are all my family. It makes me happy." She smiled at him.

Hatori responded with a smile of his own. "Now, I think Ayame is waiting for you. He had your basic measurements but he needs to finish the details of your costume before tonight."

Hatori couldn't help but be in awe of the girl in front of him again. She had succeeded in taking the bad with the good and seeing only the good yet again.