Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Gone Full Circle ❯ Fight! ( Chapter 3 )

Gone Full Circle

Ali the Co-Authoress Note: Well. That's fixed. Damn thing. Anyways. Since I've failed to put it in so far.

This is a co-write with Aubreys_Master! She's responsible for about 50% of this crap. So, if you want. You can flame her rather than me. Anyways, we do a lot of Co-writes. Some of them are on my account, some are on hers. Some are only on our deviant art accounts.

*-note.-* There is smut in this story. There are three written out scenes. And I take full credit for their bad-ness.

Chapter 3: Fight!

Well the next day, Friday, came all too soon. Kazuma asked that Kyo help with Yuki just like he did with everyone else. But the little red haired boy, oddly enough, really didn't want to. But it was Shishou asking, so he did eventually, reluctantly agree.

When Yuki got there, he'd had Hatori bring him. He eyed Kyo coolly, hiding a little, shyly, behind his older cousin, keeping his mouth closed, as usual. Yes, the poor dragon hadn't had the heart to tell Yuki he would be all right on his own and was now with him at his first lesson. He greeted his gray haired cousin and Kyo politely. The greeting made Kyo extremely nervous. Other people (Anyone other than Shishou and Haru.) were never polite or nice unless they planned to hurt him later. Akito had happily beaten this lesson right into him.

"Hello, Hatori." Kazuma greeted politely. "How's college suiting you?"

"Well enough." The sea horse answered honestly. "I dislike being away from the house though." He missed his friends, and he couldn't be around to help Yuki if he was miles and miles away at college. Hatori carefully pulled the rat out from behind him, but kept a comforting hand on the purple haired boys shoulder. Since he was here for him anyways.

"Nervous?" Kazuma addressed Yuki with a smile. Yuki didn't respond at all, simply watched him through those violet, guarded eyes, one hand staying firmly grasped on Hatori's sleeve. "Would you like to watch?" He asked Hatori then, with a slight chuckle.

"I suppose so." The teenager replied ruffling Yuki's hair affectionately. He didn't mind. He had night times with Shigure and Ayame. Kyo watched this entire display in mind disgust. Stupid rat.

"The lesson today was slightly last minute." Kazuma explained to all three people in the room. "And I already had another student coming. Kyo," He turned to the little red head. "I'm going to get him started, and then I want you to take over. Okay?" Yuki's eyes flashed coldly over to Kyo, but then emptied again and darted back to land on Kazuma.

The kitten also looked fairly unhappy about that. "Yes, Shishou." he agreed quietly. He had already had this discussion with the master anyway. No point in starting it again now, he realized. This was a fine plan of Kazuma's, for about five minutes until his other students showed up. He had a full class at the moment too, so, he asked Kyo to take Yuki into a different room and work with him there. The red head wasn't going to disobey his Shishou, so he did as he was told and tried his best to teach Yuki. Even if he wasn't very warm about it. Yuki watched Kyo carefully, mimicking his movements, though he still stayed quite silent. He didn't feel like getting hit for saying the wrong thing by someone else too.

"Look, rat," The little cat sighed sometime later. "I may not like you, but Shishou asked me to teach you today. So if you don't get somethin' or have a question, speak up." Yuki simply blinked at him; gaze carefully empty, though he was thinking something along the lines of `Yeah, right' at the moment. Kyo rolled his eyes, annoyed. But then he just kept up the lesson. Hopefully, Shishou would come and say it was over soon and stupid Yuki could leave with Hatori. Funny, Yuki was thinking the same thing. He was enjoying being out of the Main House, but this wasn't his idea of fun. He never had enjoyed physical activities much, and this was no different. The fact that he had to listen to that stupid cat wasn't helping him much either. The poor dragon had to watch this all from the sidelines too. They weren't fighting each other right now, at least. That's about all he could say, since they glared at each other the whole time.

Well, the lesson ended eventually. But, it was all Yuki could do to bow to Kyo when it was all over. The little thing's pride took a good bruising in that one motion. He probably wouldn't have done it at all, had he not known that students were supposed to bow to their teacher before leaving them. (Even if Kyo wasn't technically his teacher.) He was looking forward to the walk home, though. That Kyo-less, Akito-less time. Ha'ri even offered to walk him back when it was all done too. He offered up his hand and a smile. He said good-bye to Kyo, and they bid Kazuma good-bye as well. Yuki felt less disgruntled about bowing farewell to Kazuma. Who, by the way, rather liked the quiet boy, He never disliked any of his students, though it would have been easier to like this particular one without the zodiac curse. Not that it really mattered at the moment; neither of the two was in any position to be fighting for Kyo's freedom.

Yuki trotted contentedly a few paces behind Hatori as he tried to keep up. He was going to miss the dragon when he left again.

"I know you're not particularly fond of Kyo," Hatori looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "But, do you think you'll at least enjoy the martial arts lessons?" Yuki frowned a little, thoughtfully. He couldn't tell yet, maybe, maybe not. So, the only reply Hatori got was a shrug.

He got a wry smile. "It's away from Akito though?" The college boy was really happy about that, for Yuki. That was a few hours a week that Akito wouldn't have a chance to touch him. Yuki nodded. He was pleased about that. Any time away from Akito was that less time he had to hurt. They walked a little further before the seahorse spoke again. "I saw Hatsuharu yesterday after dinner." he mentioned casually. "He seems to be very fond of you, Yuki." Yuki blushed a little and nodded. He'd tried to explain before about Haru kissing him, was it possible that Hatori hadn't gotten the whole gist of his point? "His crush is cute." Hatori smiled lightly. "But, perhaps you should warn him against any more kisses?"

Warn him? Yuki blinked slowly, carefully emptying his gaze again. That would require talking to him again and he really didn't want to say the wrong thing to Haru. He'd heard about his cousin's `Black' side, and really didn't want to be on the receiving end of that personality. Hatori watched this and stopped, kneeling down by the little boy. He could already tell what must be going through his mind. "Yuki," he admonished slightly. "Everyone is not like Akito. No one is going to get angry at you like that." Yuki glanced up at him, a little sadness creeping into his eyes, despite himself. Desperately, he tried to convey his message to Hatori. Had he been there when Haru's Black hade had started appearing? Yuki didn't remember anymore. So much of the past few years seemed like one long day.

"Especially not Hatsuharu, Yuki." The older boy pet his hair gently. "He's very loyal to his friends." He would have to be to be able to stick with Kyo. Poor Yuki. He was so confused. He had a feeling Hatori wasn't getting what he was trying to say, and that was rather frustrating to him. Hatori got back up and they continued their slow trek back to the main compound. Yuki really didn't want to go back into the estate, now that he was out. In fact, he flat out halted in his stride just before stepping past the gate, refusing to move an inch further. Tori looked back at Yuki and considered what to do.

"Hey," he finally decided. "Akito doesn't know when you're supposed to be back. Why don't you come have lunch with me?" It might be bad if the nasty little head found out about it. But he wouldn't ever punish Hatori for something like that. Yuki, maybe. But not Hatori. Yuki looked up at him with wide, hopeful eyes. Then nodded several times quite rapidly, a small smile on his lips. Ayame and Shigure would just have to get over it. Hatori figured, as he took Yuki's hand again and lead him off to fix them both some lunch. The little rat must be hungry after his lesson anyways. Well, Kyo hadn't put him through THAT hard a workout, but he was hungry, and the idea of not having to go back to the dark was quite welcome for the little rat as he happily padded after Hatori.

Now, after lunch was a different story. By the time they were finished, Hatori knew he had to return Yuki. Or else Akito would get suspicious and, or angry. Possibly stopping the lessons and probably punishing the poor little boy. That knowledge didn't make Yuki any happier about it. Upon reaching Akito's door, he huffed a very large melancholy sigh, and waved unhappily good-bye to Hatori before knocking to announce his arrival, as Akito had him do since he'd stopped talking to the head when it was at all avoidable---which it usually was. He got fewer beatings for saying nothing than for saying the wrong thing. It was the lesser of two evils. He hoped Akito would let him out of that room again in time to say good-bye to Hatori before he left Monday. Hatori heard the soft call of entry and watched as Yuki disappeared into the head's room. Then with a sympathetic sigh he headed back for his room. Sadly for Yuki, Akito was in a slightly annoyed mood. He didn't care how Yuki's lesson was, and a few minutes after the rat entered he was being pulled off to his 'room'.

As odd as it sounded, Yuki was rather used to this treatment. He'd long since stopped trying to resist and had ceased any whimpering, sighing, crying, or even begging. He knew Akito would just hit him that much more if he tried anything. So, he simply tossed a desolate glance in the direction he knew Hatori had left in, and stumbled a little as he attempted not to trip from Akito's stride. That was good. It honestly did please Akito. But he was still in a foul mood by the time they got over to Yuki's little hole of a room. Well if he was here? He could play with the rat for a while. That might make him feel better. 'Yes. I think I will.' he decided as he opened up the door, and then pushed the boy in and following.

"I saw Hatori took you to your lessons today, Yuki." He really wasn't speaking to the boy. "He's so very kind, it will be nice to have him back around the house once he's done with college." It will be nice to have another juunishi directly under his control again is what he means. "But at your lesson. Did you see that filthy cat?" Akito pet poor little Yuki's purply hair. "I do hope so, because he's really the only person you're better than." He did so love putting the boy down. "I hope you'll train hard so it will continue to be like that." A quick yank to the hair had Yuki looking back at him. "You will try won't you?" It was difficult to see in the dark, but you could still see that scary glittering in the heads dark eyes. The answer didn't really matter. Either way he intended to start his game once Yuki had nodded. Yuki nodded once, eyes empty as they locked on Akito's, just in case the head could somehow see through the pitch-blackness. He always seemed to before. How else would he always, ALWAYS know where Yuki was? It had become something of a game to the little rat to not let Akito know just how scared he really was. It was a challenge, a way to not give his older cousin the satisfaction. At ten years old Akito is already the sadistic little bastard we all hate. So after placing a frighteningly gentle kiss on Yuki's forehead he proceeded to smack him. For no better reason than the sound was just so very agreeable. See? He feels better already! Yuki bit back the grunt of pain as he felt a large amount of pain from the already injured elbow he landed on, tossing a small, unnoticeable glare at Akito.

Later, Akito left the little room humming slightly. His foul mood from earlier completely forgotten, he went to go back to his room and maybe get Kureno to play with him. As soon as the door was shut, and he was sure Akito was out of hearing distance, poor Yuki absolutely broke. Letting out a strangled sob, he simply curled up on the floor, and tried to stay conscious. He wasn't sure why, it must have been principle. He'd long since found that passing out was an easy way to simply escape things. And when they got too much, half an hour after he started crying, he just shut down.

Hatori felt rather bad about just leaving Yuki back to Akito for the rest of the day. So a few hours later he simply had to tell Ayame and Shigure that he was going to get Yuki. Of course he would have to ask Akito first, but that nasty little boy had had his fun with Yuki already, he guessed, and shouldn't need him for the rest of the day.

"Yes, I suppose so." Akito agreed finally after a few minutes. "Big doors at the end of the hall." He directed simply, with a small, pleased smile. That really made the medical student uneasy, that smile. So he bowed quickly and hurried off to get the kid. And he was quite right to be uneasy! He spotted the curled up Yuki as soon as he opened the doors. He wasn't too happy about that, either. Ha'ri hurried over to the little rat and scooped him up in his arms. He needed to take him back to his room where some of his medical supplies were. (He brought them everywhere, out of force of habit.) Yuki tensed up in his little ball when he felt someone pick him up, an involuntary whimper tearing itself from his throat. He didn't know who was holding him, or he'd have been relived. No, he just knew that someone was touching him, and it might be Akito. Hatori held him a bit more closely and murmured something soothing to the rat.

"It's okay Yuki, it's just me Hatori." He repeated this a few times as he quickened his pace. His arms were full, so he had to kick at his door and hope Shigure and Ayame were in there to open it. They were. Shigure got to the door first, and opened it with a wide-eyed stare at the frantic little creature in Hatori's arms.

"Hatori---what---?" He spluttered, moving aside to let his friend in. He'd never seen Yuki right after he'd been with Akito, usually it was several days later, after the boy had already been tended to.

"Hey, the things I need are in the suitcase. Black bag, get them out for me." The dragon simply called over his shoulder as he set Yuki on his bed and started examining the various hurt places. Shigure moved over to Hatori's suitcase, tossing a glance at Ayame. The snake seemed to be in shock, staring wide-eyed at his little brother. Well, it seemed that he had never seen a freshly beaten Yuki either. 'Well, at least being forced to go to medical school is useful for something.' Ha'ri thought sourly. Once he got his bag he hurried to clean up and bandage the abused little rat. His elbow was really hurt and swelling now.

"Ayame, could you please go get some ice?" the seahorse glanced over his shoulder at the upset snake as well. Ayame made an odd little non-committal noise, but didn't move. At all.

"I'll get it, Haa-san." Shigure sighed, scrambling to his feet and out the door, on his way to the kitchen. Shaking his head slightly Hatori returned his attention to Yuki. He brushed the little boys hair gently.

"Yuki?" He called quietly. He wasn't sure if the kid was still conscious or not. Yuki was, but just barely. He wasn't sure what would happen if he woke up completely. Still, despite that, he slid his eyes automatically over to land on Hatori, even though he didn't fully recognize him. The older boy breathed a sigh of relief and continued to carefully pet Yuki's head. "Shigure went to get some ice for you." He told the rat in hopes of helping a little. "That should help your elbow feel better." He wasn't expecting a response, but that's one of the things you learn in school. If your patient is conscious and in pain, you should try to soothe them as best you can. Yuki's eyes just slid away again, half lidded and hallow. This wasn't exactly new, and it would be over in a few hours once he'd regained full consciousness, but it was still an unsettling sight for the moment. It was better if he was unconscious honestly. Hatori turned to face Ayame and sat all the way onto the floor. The snake really could, at least, pretend to care. Oh well, this wasn't the time to argue about it. He just needed to wait for Shigure to return with that ice.

Well, it wasn't that Ayame didn't care this time. He did---that was the problem. Shigure returned almost fifteen minutes later. It was a big building, the Main House, and Hatori's room was clear at the other end from the kitchen. Still, he had the ice that the dragon had requested. His friend breathed out a thank you, and took the ice and the towel it was wrapped in and put it carefully under the injured elbow. That was all he could do for right now. Shigure might not have seen Yuki so soon after being beaten by Akito, but he had seen him like this before, and he knew that once he was taken care of, there wasn't anything left to do.

So, he turned his attention to the other brother in the room. "Aaya," He addressed the snake carefully. "Are you alright?" This is one of the few times where Ayame honestly. Had nothing he could say. He'd known that his brother was beaten, but he hadn't realized he ended up like this. As stupid as it sounds, the beatings never quite connected with the injuries.

"He'll be okay, Aaya," The dog tried to assure him. "These spells never last more than a few hours."

As far as he knew.

"Ayame, come here." Hatori commanded softly. The snake very reluctantly obeyed. The dragon hugged his silver haired friend gently. "Listen to Shigure." he continued to use his commanding voice. "Yuki will be fine."

"I---I've never seen him like this, Tori-san." Ayame admitted, leaning into his love's embrace. Though, his voice was strained, and his gaze never left his little brother.

Ha'ri pet the long silvery strands soothingly. "Don't worry Ayame. He'll be okay." he repeated. That was about all he could say. He didn't know when Yuki would wake up. And, well, this would probably just happen again. Sad to say, but Yuki was probably used to it. Ayame nodded unhappily, and for the first time realized that he really could loose his brother at any time. Silently, he made a vow to try and actually get to know him from then on. It took Yuki about four hours that day before he would move at all, and even then he didn't appear to want to. About five minutes after that before he fully recognized the people who were in the room with him, and where he was to being with. Hatori had to peel Aaya away from him so he could move over and have a look at Yuki. A quick check to his elbow proved that it was indeed very good that Shigure had gotten that ice. It would probably be best if the little boy didn't move it for a while.

"Hey, Yuki-kun," Shigure greeted him with a grin once it was obvious that he was figuring out what was going on. "Feeling better?" He wanted to know. Slowly, Yuki nodded. This was a blatant lie, his elbow really hurt, but he'd never liked to make people worry about him and said he was fine anyway.

"Yuki," Tori had to address him seriously. "I know your elbow must hurt, but is there anywhere else I missed? I don't know exactly what he did, so I need you to tell me." Yuki nodded and nodded sharply toward his shoulder and arm. Now Hatori had to pull back Yuki's clothes to look over it carefully. It was rather bruised and cut up, so the doctor-in-training got some more supplies from his bag and worked carefully on this other injury. As he did this, Yuki carefully considered if there was anything else. There were several numb places on his legs, but he wasn't sure if those were new or not. He'd blacked out a few times, and didn't exactly know what Akito had done while that had happened. Still, just in case, he pointed those out to Hatori too, once his arm had been tended to. 'Akito is so horrible to my little brother.' Ayame thought venomously as he watched his friend move down to take care of the rat's legs as well. Poor Aaya felt quite a bit of guilt now for not caring about his brother as much as he should have. Such a pity Yuki wasn't expecting him to care at this point. Things might have gone much more smoothly in the future if he had been.

"Anything else??" Hatori asked once he'd finished with the rather nasty spots on Yuki's legs. Yuki pondered that question for a moment, but then shook his head. Nothing he could pinpoint, anyway. "Good," Ha'ri murmured quietly, before telling Yuki something else. "I want you to keep the ice on your elbow, and try not to move it around to much. I don't have much in the way of a sling but Kazuma or the other doctor might have one." That last part was some thinking out loud. Yuki nodded simply, quite willing to obey. Maybe if Hatori said he shouldn't move it, Akito would leave him alone for a few days.

Later that night, Hatori had Ayame take Yuki back to their parent's house, rather than back to Akito. He'd heard from the little head that Yuki was allowed to do this over to summer, so he didn't think the young rat would get in trouble for it.

'It's been about three days.' Kyo worried from his place on the porch the next morning. Haru hadn't come for three days. He always came, whether there were lessons or not. But he hadn't come for three days. This really made the cat think Shishou was wrong. The ox really did like the rat over the cat. Just like everyone else. And he wasn't gonna come back.

Haru came back. He'd had time to sulk and think about what Hatori had told him about choosing. He, really, still didn't want to, but he wasn't sure if he would have a choice. He needed to know. So, on that fourth day, Haru waited for Kyo in their normal meeting spot. He NEEDED to ask, and to find his answers. After Kyo's lesson, he walked subdued to the spot. He honestly wasn't expecting the ox to be there. But when he was there, the red head stopped and blinked at him, very confused. (And very adorable we might add.)

"Hi." Haru greeted him with a small smile.

"You're here." Kyo stated rather unintelligently.

"Yeah." He nodded, smile vanishing quite suddenly as he admitted, "I need to talk to you." (See! See! Those words are always scary!)

"Okay," The kitten finished coming the rest of the way over to his friend nervously.

"Look, I'm sorry about fighting with you the other day." He mumbled, not looking at him. "But, I talked to Tori-nii and you wouldn't make me choose between you and Yuki, would you?"

"You really like that s--- rat, don't you?" Kyo looked exquisitely hurt for a moment. Now, if Haru had been smart, he wouldn't have said anything. But, he was six, so that logic didn't really occur.

"Yeah," He nodded slowly, a little blush on his cheeks.

It hurts. When your only friend likes your rival. You hate that person so much, and the one person you thought you could depend on, is turning on you.

"No. You don't have to choose," the cat told him, turning and starting to walk away. The rat's better than the cat. The choice has already been made for you. Haru mirrored that hurt as he watched Kyo walk away from him. That had never happened before. And he hadn't meant for it to happen now. It occurred to him to go after him, or at least call out for him to stay, but his feet stayed where they were, and his throat seemed to close up. It took him a while before he could make himself move again, and even then, he just turned in the opposite direction and headed back for the main gate.

Well. That left him with Shishou. And Shishou was busy. So the ginger haired cat simply went off onto the grounds until he found a nice secluded corner. He doesn't deal well with pain. So he pulled his knees up to his chest and glared off into space. Haru was siding with that stupid rat. Well then, Kyo would just hate him too.

Haru wasn't aware that he had even been heading back for the compound, when he reached the gate. Shrugging it off, he wondered off to go find somebody---anybody. Well, he actually wanted to see Yuki, but after several hours of searching, when he didn't find him, he just set off to go sulk in his room. Why did Kyo have to think that every little thing was a personal offence? Haru hadn't meant to imply that just because he liked Yuki that meant he didn't like Kyo. Of course, he had been really mean to him lately, but that wasn't the point. Point was: he had just lost his best friend.

It's mostly because. He's Kyo. And Kyo was never going to look at Hatsuharu the same way again. We all know they developer a rather hateful relationship actually. Oh well. Summer break was almost over and he'd have school to distract him again. Funny, a couple days ago he hated school. Now he was looking forward to it so badly.

Haru didn't see Yuki again until the day before school started again. He met up with him in the bathhouse. Hatori had left a while ago---almost a week---and Akito had no reason to let Yuki continue living outside the main building. So, it was needless to say that the boy was not in the best physical condition. Obviously, he didn't know anyone was there while he stripped down to get into the hot water, and Haru had to physically bite back a gasp when he saw all the bruises, cuts, and scars on the little rat. Hatori hadn't been kidding when he'd said he was like a beaten puppy. Haru didn't talk to him that day, simply turned around on his heels and decided that he would take his bath later.

ACAN: I hate Yuki. His drama about being raped and beaten bugs me so much. -smacks him.- bitch.