Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Everything ❯ His Little Flower ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

AN: I've mentioned this in other fanfiction updates so I'll do it here too (apologies to the people that already know), but I've recently had a son so updates will be few and far between. Thanks goes out to the reviewers and readers, I truly appreciate your support! And a final note on Akito's character... Give him a chance; all is not as it seems with him... And maybe he isn't as evil as you think?




Previously...
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"Oh 'Tori-san, hasn't she just turned out the be the most perfect woman?!" His suddenly loud voice startled her and her eyebrows dipped in confusion.



"Ayame," Hatori said threateningly, "Stop flirting with her."



"'Tori-san I'm hurt! I would never seduce a married woman," Ayame's voice grew husky as his eyes travelled across the curves of her body.



Tohru laughed nervously, unsure as to how she would reply to that remark. He was being so silly for someone who seemed older than her. No matter how handsome he looked!



"You would and you know it," the dark-haired man countered, his eyes glinting with an unfathomable emotion, "And besides, you're scaring Honda-kun," he pointed out. At the last minute, Hatori noticed the slip of his tongue and cursed himself for his stupidity.



Honda-kun. He had called her Honda-kun... With such familiarity.



She froze.



Ayame grew still, looking like a deer trapped in head lights as his eyes dared to watch her reaction. His friend seemed even more afraid to look in her direction.



Tohru felt a strange tug of remembrance in her heart. She looked at the two men, blinking slowly. Something wasn't quite right...



"How did you know that was my maiden name?" She whispered, looking fearfully at the dark-haired man.



She was afraid of what his answer would be.




Tohru sat quietly on the raised platform with her legs dangling over the edge. She sighed for the umpteenth time that hour and shook her head. How on Earth did that man know that Honda was her maiden name? After the initial shock she had received, Ayame Sohma had sprung into action by excusing the pair, on the grounds that they had a busy schedule for that afternoon. Which was probably unlikely if the sweat on his brow was any indication. He was lying. She was no fool and she knew when she was being lied to; it was an eerie sixth sense acquired from her mother.



And she never did get an answer to her question.



Perhaps she was mistaken. That must be it. Maybe it was nothing but a mix-up, a highly coincidental mix-up, nevertheless. But... It was the way he had said it. Honda-kun... There was such familiarity and such emotion when he spoke her name. She voiced a strangled sound of frustration and desperately tried to push away the confusing kaleidoscope of thoughts weighing down upon her.



Her eyes glazed over, blocking out the beautiful view of the private hot-spring on the far side of the garden as she began to hum softly to herself.



A few moments later, a crystal wine glass filled with red liquid appeared before her.



She blinked in surprise and looked up.



"Tohru, are you feeling well? You're looking a little pale."



The concerned timbre of her husband's voice made her smile, "I'm fine, just a little tired," she lied. She didn't want to tell him about her discovery, minor as it may be. She didn't want to burden him with such petty details, especially with the busy day he had encountered.



"Toshi was that much of a hand-full?" He joked as he sat down beside her, letting her take the glass from his hand.



She nodded as she took a sip from the delicately molded crystal bell glass "Mm," the liquid was chilled and fruity in her mouth with a hint of bitterness; just the way she liked it. She let it swirl around in her mouth before swallowing, "He was behaving himself, although I believe that our son is quite the ball of energy. I have no idea where he gets it from."



"I'm glad you said our son," Hitoshi teased, "But I'm certain that he gets his excitable tendencies from your side of the family."



Tohru laughed, leaning her head against his shoulder, "And the sad part is that it's completely true," she took another sip, sighing at the wonderful burst of flavor that hit her tongue. "This is excellent wine, where did you get it from?"



"It was delivered to our door, courtesy of one Sohma Ayame to apologize for leaving so abruptly," Hitoshi paused before speaking again, "What happened?" He asked curiously.



Inwardly, she was shocked. It was very courteous of the man to go to such great lengths to appease her for leaving so suddenly. "Ayame-san left with his cousin straight after you, he said he had some forgotten business to attend to."



"Ah. Well it was rather kind of him to go to such trouble to send this bottle of wine in the first place," he remarked, winding his arm around her waist to pull her closer in his side.



"Yes... Very kind," she murmured absently whilst hiding herself from the world in her husband's arms.



"I'm sorry, Tohru."



She looked up in confusion, "For what?"



"For leaving you," he shrugged, "Today was supposed to be our day and I ruined it. I don't know how to make it up to you.."



He was surprised when she started to laugh, "Well," she began innocently, as her eyes wandered towards the private hot-spring at the end of the villa's garden, "Toshi is sleeping and my shoulders are terribly tense so... You could make it up to me in the hot-spring--If you want to," she added softly, her eyes shining with laughter.



Hitoshi grinned and pulled back, "My dear Tohru-kun, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"



"Perhaps," she concluded lightly, swaying her legs in an attempt to make his decision for him. And if he was honest with himself, he would have said yes even before she began to play the expected game of cat and mouse.




Minutes ticked by and the only sound that could be heard was the faint, musical tinkling of rushing water from the nearby stream. The room was suffocating, even though the only objects present were bare essentials for the person spending his life in the self-made prison.




"So. She's here?"



Yuki nodded silently, glancing away from the heated gaze his companion offered to the cold room, "He invited her to stay at the Honke; there was nothing I could have done to stop her from coming. After all these years... She's back."



"This is not right," the weary voice hissed back, "She shouldn't fucking be here! Not after Hatori erased her memory. This is all his fault, if he hadn't--" the voice fell silent as an angry fist slammed upon the wooden table.



Yuki focused his eyes once more upon the angry man sitting across him, "Kyo," he warned, "We have bigger problems to worry about than Hatori's betrayal."



"Like what?" The furious cat demanded.



"What if she remembers us? It will ruin everything."



"But... She's back. And so there's a chance that she probably will remember us; maybe then things can change and go back to normal--"



"That's not the point," Yuki murmured to himself, interrupting the fuming cat from his train of thought, "She has her own life to think about now."



"What do you mean by that... What's the matter rat-boy, are you frightened you might fall in love again?"



The bitter undertone of Kyo's voice was not lost upon him. He sighed quietly to himself, "Don't call me rat-boy. We're hardly teenagers anymore, can't you think of something more original? And who said that I was ever in love with her."



"Oh please; not in love? Your face used to look like it had been slapped with a wet fish every time she came near you. Don't give me the 'I'm not in love' crap because it won't work on me. I'm too clever for your damn lies."



Yuki cast his orange-haired cousin a baleful glare, "Funny; if you're so clever then why are you stuck in here?" He noticed the muscle in the jaw of his counterpart twitch. With a deep breath, Yuki did a thing that would have been unthinkable in his teenage years... And apologised, "I'm sorry Kyo, I didn't--"



"--Whatever," the cat mumbled, reining in his temper before he said more to antagonize the situation.



"She's married," Yuki heard himself whisper suddenly.



A pregnant pause followed, before the walls began to shake from the cat's surprised bellow. He winced at the high range his companion reached, "Kyo," he looked on in amusement as the cat chortled and choked, "I think only Shigure and his furry, tail-wagging friends would be able to hear your high-pitched whistle at the moment. Calm down."



"S-sh-she's married??" He finally stuttered, much to Yuki's insane pleasure; although he too was equally unhappy with her marriage as Kyo apparently seemed to be.



"Yes, or are you in need of a hearing aid?" Yuki cast his wandering gaze to the expensive watch that sat on his wrist, "I better go; Shigure wants to see me and I'm pretty certain it has something to do with her."



The perturbed cat shook his head, "I can't believe she's married..."



Yuki frowned, "What did you expect from her?"



It was true that the idea of her marrying someone other than himself or Kyo had never crossed his mind, but after many hours of soul-searching he realized that he could blame no-one; even though his instinct told him to blame her new husband, it was a path he was unwilling to tread.



In the corner of his mind, he realized he had conveniently left out her child... He knew that the news would be too much for the cat to handle at the moment, and so he stood silently and walked out of the room, leaving the orange-haired man to ponder this new piece of information, in his secluded prison behind the gates of the Honke.




"Don't worry 'Gure-san, we made a swift exit before anything else could be said!" The snake's loud voice rippled through the thin shoji panels of his friend and cousin's villa, forcing the owned to close his eyes and massage his throbbing temples.



The deep pounding resounded through Hatori's entire skull, making him feel more than nauseous. What in Kami's name possessed him to call her that?! Honda-kun He couldn't believe his tremendous failings; in the first fifteen minutes of meeting her, he had made an irreversible mistake that could lead to irreparable damage. How could he even think to call himself intelligent? Even Ayame hadn't made that mistake...



The doctor noticed the other member of the room, sitting in an unusually quiet manner at the low table.



"Akito invited her to stay?" It was the only thing the dog could manage to say at that moment.



"Hm?" Ayame paused in his rambling, "Yes--he did; why?"



Shigure shook his head angrily, "She can't stay at the Honke; she'll remember--"



"But that's a good thing, 'Gure-san!" The snake cried in triumph.



"No, it's not," Hatori interjected, "She's married," he looked pointedly at the dark-eyed novelist, "And she has a child--"



"OH!! He was fabulous 'Gure-san! You should have seen him!" Ayame interrupted once more, causing Hatori to roll his eyes in frustration, "Such a cute little thing; he reminded me of you 'Tori-san, when we were young," he hesitated, "Of course, Tohru-kun's son seemed to be more happier than you at that age, but he does have our little Tohru-kun's love to make him blossom into a wonderful, spectacular--" The snake's speech was cut short by hefty slaps he received from the annoyed dragon and dog.



"Focus Ayame," Hatori muttered dryly.



"We need to find a way to get her and her family out of the Honke," Shigure proposed, "Otherwise they'll only get hurt..."



The nods of agreement from his cousins was all that he needed for assurance. Shigure felt like a changed man... No more plots, no more schemes involving his little flower; he would do everything in his power to protect her from Akito's black touch. If he was honest, he would admit to himself that he was jealous and surprised that she already had a family to call her own--especially when he had nothing and no-one to call his. Perhaps it was nostalgia, but he wished that he could find the essence of Tohru's happiness for himself. He had tried that many years ago, unsuccessfully; but Shigure knew that every bit of joy his little flower received, she deserved.



And so, he vowed that he would disentangle her from the Sohma web once and for all. The only problem now was to get his cousins to agree to his emotionally disturbing plan.