Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ From The Darkness... It All Begins ❯ Naked Men and the Figure in the Woods ( Chapter 2 )

*Hello and welcome to chapter 2 of my depressing fanfiction. I'd like to remind you all that of course, I don't own any characters or any aspect of Furuba. When I'm rich, it will be mine (oh yes it will be mine).

CHAPTER 2: Naked Men and The Figure in the Woods

Everything and everyone had gone pitch black. From the moment I sat down in the car, I grasped that I was neither asleep nor dreaming. The pain in my side had increased, yet I was too tired to continue crying. Through my dreamy confusion, my thoughts wandered through different states of unconsciousness followed by bouts of confusion, pain, uneasiness and a strange sort of happiness. After a long while of enduring my delusions, I realized the car had come to a halt. I opened my bloodshot eyes just a crack, and realized the man was staring at me. After a few seconds his gaze was heartbreaking. I had to look down; I didn't want him to pity me as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced up at him; he continued to look at me with concern,

"There must be a way to get your memory back. Hatori will know." He looked down at my side and stated, "That cut looks mighty painful; Hatori will kill me if I keep you much longer. Don't worry; everything will be okay, I promise. I'll keep an eye out so Hatori doesn't get too frisky." He added.

`That was an odd statement,' I thought. But then I noticed that while he seemed optimistic, his eyes did not lie. He was worried. I had wondered if he was always serious? Makes more sense now, considering I kept catching him looking at my ass. Instead of commenting on that, I meekly told him,

"Don't worry, my cut doesn't hurt that much." I lied.

He bought it, because he slowly led me towards one of the houses, probably in fear of hurting me even more. As we walked, I saw something so completely amazing. I had never seen so many beautiful houses before! It was like it's own village! While the beauty amazed me, it also made me feel very small and insignificant, like I had entered a world that was forbidden. Captivated by the glow of this Villa, I tried to take it all in. The awful pain I had previously felt had become an afterthought, almost a trivial matter. The magnificence of my surroundings had finally hit me. It was so surreal, even in the dark; the moon seemed to amplify the intensity of my surroundings. Sakura blossoms danced as they glided through the air, sometimes landing on the small pond that rippled at every petal, as it hit the surface. A short distance away, the sound of a deer scare knocked to the same gusts of wind; it was a sort of rhythmic symphony that added to the serenity of this new atmosphere. It left me breathless, like it was a place I'd never want to leave. But after thinking this, my body seemed to want to disappear as soon as possible. Maybe this was because this place seemed oddly familiar, although as much as I tried I could not remember. I desperately tried to recall anything whatsoever, yet nothing appeared but a dark empty space, where all my memories used to dwell. Sadness gripping me again, I forced myself to open my eyes and to once again examine the beauty rather than pity myself for forgetting all that was important to me. Snapping out of my daydream, I realized that the man was staring at me again. I wonder for how long? Why would he want to stare at me anyways? At a loss for words, I blurted out the first words that came to mind,

"This place is amazing! It must be wonderful to live here!" I exclaimed.

The man smiled as he watched my astonishment, but said nothing. I sensed that was the wrong thing to say, so I continued walking, using him for support. For some reason he held me rather rigidly, considering he seemed to like me a lot. For a while, I wondered why, but then I remembered that I was covered in my blood. No wonder, I must disgust him.

As we approached the home, I noticed the sterility of this one in particular; it was quite unlike the others. The entire entrance room seemed to be surrounded in darkness. Not bothering to knock, another man appeared from out of nothingness. The only light came from his lit cigarette and the full moon draping through the windows.

He wore a puzzling expression; it was neither of anger nor happiness. It seemed vacant somehow, like the emptiness that had plagued my mind since I awoke in that musty old house earlier that day. Turning on the lights, he surveyed me. Finally, he walked over and took my hand and he led me to a small examination table. He seemed very businesslike; you could say I admired him right from the start.

Looking around the room, I saw nothing to distinguish him from any other doctor, except for a small frame on his desk. It was of a very beautiful woman. `I wonder if she's his wife?' I thought, secretly very jealous.

"I'm very sorry you had to go through this. I should have seen it sooner," he began. "But as you know, the entire family fears him, more than anything or anyone else in this world. I suppose we have good reason to be afraid" With this comment he seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but he continued, "That doesn't matter anymore though. You're here and I can take care of that wound on your side. It seems that it looks worse than it actually is. And of course, Yuki would be very upset if he saw you standing there bleeding."

As soon as I heard the word `bleeding' a sharp stab of pain quickly ran through my body. This man was very similar to this Villa; he had made me completely forgot about everything while he spoke. It was as if he had enchanted me, if only for a few minutes. I was relieved to have the burden removed, if only for a little while.

However, my feelings only seemed temporary. I realized that they seemed to not want to upset me. I had to be strong so I wouldn't cause them any trouble. But of course, I was already a burden on them.

Lying down on the table, Hatori started to clean the area around the wound. He said nothing as he went to work, but he was very gentle. Shigure had left the room a few minutes earlier. Not wanting to look for fear of crying, I turned my head away and was left with only my thoughts.

I closed my eyes to get a different perspective. I had previously been so afraid that nothing made sense. But many questions remained and I could no longer keep them in. My mind screamed, 'How did these men know me!? Why are they so nice to me when all I've caused them is grief?!' They seem to good to be true. I searched through my blank mind, trying to recall my last memory before the musty old house. It was of my mother! Without thinking, I snapped out of my trance and exclaimed,

"Does my mother know where I am? She must be so worried!" I secretly questioned whether she thinks poorly of me for associating with older men. But I said nothing of the sort; I didn't want to offend him.

Hearing this, the attractive man looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. Taking a look at my bruised head he seemed to understand without another word.

"I see…" he said.

His reaction caused my stomach to turn into knots. They are afraid of telling me something, I can tell. I wonder what it is. What memory could be so bad that they refuse to tell me? My mind raced at all the possibilities.

"Please stay still, Yuki will explain everything to you later. He will be able to explain much more than I can."

`Who is this Yuki everyone is talking about?' I thought.

The attractive man didn't say another word; as he continued take care of my wound. I watched him for a second in horror as he pulled out small slivers of glass. Quickly turning away, I had to think of anything else besides this.

"Tohru you will be fine, please don't be so concerned. As for your memory, we can discuss this at a later time."

With that simple statement, he had eased my pain and apprehension somewhat, especially since his visible eye shone of nothing but concern. I thought, `I am such a terrible person to forget these good people. ' The tears that I had fought off for so long, started to pour from my eyes and trail down my cheeks.

After a while, he finished and let me lay down on a futon in his room. I didn't know how I would repay his kindness, but I would somehow. I realized that I didn't know either man's name and it left me feeling very uneasy. Very soon I became so tired that none of that mattered. In my dreams, I could escape.

I dreamt very strange things about cats, dogs, rats, seahorses and other strange animals. `Why am I dreaming about cute little animals? I wonder what this could mean?' Multicolored poufs of smoke filled my mind and it became hard to see through the fog. Peering in front of me, I tried to focus on the figures. Getting a closer view, they started to become clear…

`ARE THOSE NAKED MEN!!?

(Part 2)

While Hatori carefully took care of Tohru's cuts, Shigure was waiting in the other room. He had been pacing back and forth for a long time. While he was always the pervert and the joker, he discovered a new personality trait had emerged, anger. It had been growing for some time. Not only was he enraged with the man who had accosted her but with himself as well. He had let her go to the house unattended, because he believed in the kindness of people. Now he realized that it was too good to be true, and she had paid the ultimate price. That horrible man would never accept outsiders, no matter how wonderful, sweet, passionate, giving, and kind they were. Never.

Sighing at his gloomy thoughts, he began to focus on the fact that Tohru would be Tohru forever, no matter if she forgot about us. But he couldn't stop his heart from aching. The feeling of being forgotten had to be the worst sensation of all. As he paced, he thought of her, and how much she had added to their lives.

`I wonder when I realized how much I truly loved her?' Shocked at his own thoughts he sighed, `I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. I need to call Yuki and Kyo to tell them that she was alive. Yuki would be the hardest considering their history, and what he had just told her. With Kyo, we have to worry about if he finds him. But I doubt Kyo will, that man is too deceptive to be caught.'

Taking a deep breath, Shigure picked up his phone and started to dial Yuki, expecting the worst.

"Damn him. People never change," he said to no one but himself

**********

(Part 3)

Meanwhile, Yuki was tearing through the forest, screaming out her name. By the time it had reached his mouth, it came out as a hideous plea. He was so afraid that he would never see her again. He didn't think he could live any sort of life without her.

`I mean can anyone? She is so essential to this entire family… and to me especially,' Yuki thought as the tears appeared in his eyes once again. Angrily wiping them away he continued his search.

For a long while, he found nothing. He discovered that finding nothing could be more terrifying then finding something. Sometimes...

'I can't believe this is happening, it just doesn't seem real,' he thought as he stopped to catch his breath against a large tree stump.

Random images danced through his mind. They were all of her. They pierced his thoughts; one's of her smiling, laughing, crying…. he had seen them all. And most recently, the look on her face as he confessed...

A loud ring blazed cut through his thoughts, and he realized that it was a call from Shigure. He rapidly pulled it out, hoping for good news. Before he had accepted the call, he knew that something was wrong. He braced himself for the impact… the worst possible scenario.

"Shigure! Tell me now! Did you find anything? " He hurriedly asked him.

From the other end of the line, Shigure's normal easy-going voice was filled with despair.

"We found her, and she is alive…" he slowly started to say,

"That's wonderful, I'll be there in a second!" he exclaimed, so extremely happy, not wanting to hear a single word more.

`I guess my bad instinct was wrong. At least she's okay.' he thought as he hung up without another word from Shigure. `At least she's alive'… the words echoed through Yuki mind, nothing else matters except for that.

************************************

(Part 4)

"I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!!" Kyo screamed at the top of his lungs.

His words tore through the normally quiet forest and scared away every living creature for miles. He had finally lost it. Everything became too much to hold in any longer. The memories of Tohru streamed in, all racing a mile a minute.

He had managed to keep it together until his call from Shigure. She would survive. Starting to be relieved, Shigure quickly added that she had no memory of anyone from the Sohma house or even herself. The only thing she remembered so far was her mother. Shigure had then told him that he should come home and be there to comfort her. But being as pigheaded as Kyo is, he knew that wasn't possible.

Kyo couldn't believe it; he didn't want to believe it. She forgot everything that we had gone through?! She even forgot all about that stupid rat! As much as he liked to see him suffer, even this was too much. The most horrible thing would be the memory of her mother. How would she take it when she realized that her mom has been dead for years? His heart ached as Kyo thought of her having to experience that sting, once again. She had always been suffering with that memory of never saying `take care' to her mom on the day she died.

Stopping to rest, he raked his hands through his tangled bright orange hair.

"This completely sucks! I need to find him. He needs to pay!" He yelled

Softening for a second, he thought of her once again, a small image of her smile appeared, `I suppose the thing to focus on, is that she's okay. This wont change who she is, and hopefully she'll remember us. The first thing I want to do is give her a hug, but I know I can't. Then she'd be really afraid.'

His anger decreased and increased steadily, as he thought about different memories that they had experienced. Finally he settled on their last encounter, when she had told Kyo about Yuki. With this, his confidence increased tenfold. He became even more determined to find him and kick the crap out of him.

As he ran, the moon danced all around him. He paid no attention to it, until he noticed a gleaming yellow string draped among the trees at the beginning of a clearing. As he approached it, he suddenly realized that it was one of her yellow ribbons, which that idiot had given her. Enraged he took it in his hands and looked closer. It was lightly spattered in her blood. `Unforgivable!' he thought.

Tearing his gaze from the ribbon a figure came into view. Kyo prepared himself, knowing he may very well turn out to be like Hatori. But for her, he would do anything. Even die if need be.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Kyo belted as he ran towards the man who was trapped in the shadows; his fist ready to start beating him to death. He didn't move an inch… waiting for him.

*Message from Akai_Hana. I hope you liked it. :-D Please RXR and let me know your thoughts. Pretty Please…?