Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ If There Be Sorrow ❯ 05- The CRAZY Boyfriend ( Chapter 5 )

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

05- The CRAZY Boyfriend

"Thank you so much, Kyou, for coming with me," Tohru spoke quietly, smiling up at her friend as he walked at her side. The orange-haired boy grunted, a light pink flush washing over his cheeks.

"Well, ya know…" Kyou trailed off, slipping his hands into his trouser pockets.

Tohru knew. Or, she'd at least act like she did.

Sighing, the brunette moved her gaze forward. She caught sight of the many cherry blossom trees that lined the cement walkway that led through the cemetery her mother happened to be buried in. Today, her grandfathers' burial would too be at this place.

Tohru and her grandfather hadn't be very close in the years following her mothers death, considering the fact that her Aunt and Uncle - who still lived under his roof - had never really taken a liking to her. Although, he had often called her at Shigures house just to see how she was doing, or to see if she needed help with her school tuition when she fell behind in her payments. Tohru had always respected and loved that about her grandpa, that he was willing to help her despite the absence of a firm relationship between the two of them.

"Are ya sure about this?" Kyou's rather deep, cocky tone asked quietly as the brunette folded her hands over her stomach, her pale skin a ghostly white against the fabric of her black dress, "I mean, your Aunt and Uncle are jerks. Are ya sure you wanna be 'round them?"

"He was my grandfather," Tohru spoke simply, "I should pay my respects whether I want to be around my family or not. But, don't you worry!" Tohru smiled brightly, glancing up at the sky, " Everything will be all right, I just know it!"

'Right Mom?' she asked silently to the sky, closing her eyes as a light gust of wind blew through the air, causing her long brown hair to fall behind her shoulders.

And though the brunette didn't know it at the time, the teenage boy that walked at her side just looked at her nearly in awe, a small smile on his lips.

"Yeah," he whispered, "Everythin' will be all right."

"And I'll kick some ass if it's not."

<Hr>

I break a lot, I know. I'm sorry.

"Nice of ya to show up, Tohru," the brunettes aunt muttered smugly as she and Kyou stood along side a small group of people consisting of a bunch of faces Tohru didn't recognize. Sadness loomed in the air like a storm cloud, you know, the ones that choose a certain person to follow around for a long time, raining down upon their unfortunate heads and sending blots of lightening into his or her ass?

While this particular rain cloud wasn't quite as comical as some, it was obvious that it was making its presence known to everyone, especially to the seventeen year-old brunette.

Tohru shifted her weight from her left foot, to her right, sighing deeply as her eyes traveled over the shining, oakwood casket that her grandfathers' body would occupy forever more. Pain settled in the center of her chest, and her hazel eyes filled with the tears she had thought had been completely shed last night.

Maybe, everything wasn't going to be quite as all right as she had predicted.

The same, droning sensation of mourning she had felt when her mother had passed away, soon became the only emotion Tohru could feel.

"I'm sorry," Tohru spoke quietly, eyeing her aunt for a moment before dropping her gaze back to the coffin. The brunette didn't know why she felt the need to apologize for her relatives' rude remark, but at this point she didn't really care. All she wanted to do was get rid of the sorrow that was seemingly engulfing her, overwhelming her to the point that her hands lightly shook and she had to close her eyes to keep from crying.

Tohru soon felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and though she fought the urge to shrug it away, she was grateful for it being there. Especially because she knew to whom that hand belonged.

Kyou.

"Are ya all right, Tohru?" the brunette heard the orange-haired boy ask softly to her ear. She sighed, clearing her head as she opened her eyes once again, remaining as calm as she possibly could.

This was the last thing she had ever wanted for Kyou, or anyone she had ever befriended, to worry him. Why else would she hide every silly, pathetic emotion she felt? Force a smile on her face despite that fact she felt like screaming? Felt like cursing the gods who had stolen some of the most precious things to her?

"Yes, just fine, Kyou!" Tohru said quickly, throwing him a sleepish grin over her shoulder as the orange-haired boy quickly withdrew his hand. Blushing slightly, he kicked at the ground…

"Well, I was juss checkin', since ya looked pretty upset and all…" Kyou trailed off again. Tohru sighed; he seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

"Would you and your boyfriend shut up?" Tohru's uncle asked rather loudly, throwing the pair a look of hate, "We would like to start to ceremony! Don't you have any respect for the dead?!"

Of course, Kyou and Tohru barely heard the second part of his comment seeing as they were both freaking out in their heads.

"NOW SEE HERE…" Kyou started, quickly waving his hand in Tohru's family's general direction. Although, he didn't say much because the brunettes aunt came to her uncles side, grinning devilishly.

"Heyyyy, I remember you," the older woman said quietly, eyeing Kyou, "You're one of the guys that live at the same house Tohru does."

"Yeah… So, is she shacking up with you, too?" Tohru's uncle asked evilly, nudging his wife in the ribs with his elbow as his eyes lingered between the teenagers before meeting Kyou's suddenly infuriated gaze.

Tohru stared blankly at her aunt and uncle, a sort of "deer-in-headlights" look masking her once smiling face. For a moment the brunette couldn't feel her heart beat in her chest, or hear the steady thrum of her pulse in her ears. Her lungs burned as though she had inhaled acid, and she desperately wished to claw at her chest to release the poison of their words. But she found herself immobilized, unable to move, unable to breath, unable to think even. How could they say that? How could they even think that here?

The first time they had questioned the Sohma boys she had been able to forgive them. After all, it did seem somewhat peculiar that she, a blossoming, teenage female, was living under the same roof as three men she was not related to. Tohru knew it wasn't "moral" in the eyes of outsiders, but she and everyone close to her knew that she wasn't doing anything close to what her family so often implied.

Sure, she may have been thrown into a house of men, but that didn't make her a whore.

It wasn't even the fact that her family thought so low of her to actually dream she would do something like that that upset her. It was the fact that they hadn't ever, ever tried to even get to know her, yet they assumed these horrible things. What gave them the right? When they didn't even know what kind of person she was? But most of all, what gave them the right to even speak those words aloud here? At her grandfathers funeral?

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing.

Tohru's cheeks turned so red from embarrassment it as almost as though she had been slapped across the face, though ironically, it wasn't she who received a blow.

Tohru's uncle fell back a few steps, cradling the left side of his face in his hands as his breath whistled through his clenched teeth. Kyou tensed, dropping his fist back to his side, his crimson eyes hard and inhumanly cold. As shocked as the brunette may have been with what her uncle had asked, she was even more surprised with Kyou's actions. What could have drove him to do something like this? While yes, Kyou was very physical when it came to things that angered him, why would a question asked about her infuriate him to the point where he would punch someone?

"What the FRICK!?" Tohru's uncle yelled, only he replaced a certain word with a more "colorful" remark. (HINTHINT: It starts with an F!!) He sounded utterly astounded, as though he wasn't quite sure that the orange-haired teen had actually punched him. However, both Kyou and Tohru knew that the throbbing pain that had most likely came with the blow just made that reality more real.

After all, if it didn't hurt, he wouldn't be holding his face, now would he?

"I'm goin' pound that four-eyed face of yours into the ground, you bastard!" Kyou growled dangerously, raising his voice slightly, "I'm goin make you regret even thinking that question!"

Tohru's uncle looked appalled.

The brunette, who suddenly remembered how to move and speak, raced around the group of people who had come for her grandfathers' funeral, her eyes wide and arms flailing in the air.

"I'm soooo sorry!" she cried, "Kyou didn't mean it, honest!"

"Your boyfriends CRAZY!" Tohru's aunt yelled, hugging her husband around the middle as she eyed fuming Kyou carefully "We should SUE for this!"

"Go ahead and sue all ya want," Kyou whispered smugly, "Ain't like I got nothin' worth takin'," he paused, narrowing his eyes, "Plus, it won't change a damned thing, he's still a spineless asshole."

"THAT'S IT!" Tohru's uncle yelled, dropping his hand from his face showing off the already blackening bruise at the left side of his jaw, "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS ON YOUR ASSES!"

Tohru nearly fell to her knees in front of her realities, panting.

"Please don't make us leave!" she pleaded, "Not until after the ceremony! I promise we'll leave as soon as it's over!"

"Why should we do you any favors?” Tohru's aunt whispered angrily, nodding shortly in the hotheaded cats direction, " After he, punched my husband for no good reason?!"

"NO GOOD REASON?" Kyou yelled, lunging forward, ready to tear apart the brunettes family. However, Tohru had predicted he would do something like that and she held him back as well as she could, considering that she had to keep herself pretty much as far from him as she could. After all, she didn't want her "Crazy" Boyfriend to magically puff into kitty form.

"Kyou, Stop!" Tohru said almost angrily, hugging herself to his right arm, her shoulder lightly pressed against his. She silently prayed to anything that would listen; hoping she wouldn't accidentally brush her chest against his if he fought her away, better yet, she prayed that maybe he would just calm down all together. But then again, this was Kyou Sohma… calming him down was near damn impossible.

Suddenly, that not-so-comical storm cloud that hovered above the groups' sorrowful heads decided to spice things up a bit…

The once rather sunny and blue sky was soon obscured by a group of angry looking storm clouds that stretched across its face entirely. The air smelled thickly of rain and earth, and the temperature dropped a considerable amount. Kyou - being affected by this more than anyone - bristled and gave way to Tohru's touch, scowling at her mindless relatives.

He muttered something under his breath that no one quite caught.

"Well, we might as well get this done and over with," Tohru's uncle spoke quietly, glancing up at the sky, "It looks like it's goin' rain. So seeing as the cops will take a while to get here you can just stay. But I swear boy," he peered at Kyou over the rims of his glasses, "You move once and I'm goin' -"

"Keh, got it old man," Kyou hissed, obviously very uncomfortable with the dramatic change in weather, "Juss get on with it, will ya?"

And he did.

"I'm so sorry for all of this," Tohru whispered, pulling away a little from the orange-haired teen, "I really am…"

"Keh," was all Kyou said.

As the ceremony started, Tohru pulled away from Kyou entirely, only, when her fingers grazed across his - an accident, of course - he quickly reached over and grabbed her hand, holding it so his palm was lightly pressed against hers.

Tohru blushed again. Kyou was acting REALLY funny today. Heck, he had been acting funny all week.

From the way he had checked her temperature, to the way he had held her wrist, it was all so strange and unlike the cat but, then again, not completely out of his range of friendly affection. But this, Tohru took a short glance down at their intertwined hands, mentally noting of how large his was compared to hers, was so completely beyond normal Kyou.

And to be honest, this terrified the hazel-eyed brunette.

Maybe, just maybe, Kagura had been right about the unspoken feelings between the two of them. Maybe… Kyou really did feel something a little more than friendship towards her, and though her heart fluttered with just the thought of it, her heart also sank too.

As the brunette mildly felt Kyou's slightly calloused thumb brush circles against the back of her hand - and heard the soft-spoken tone of the religious leader invited to the funeral, start to speak about her Grandfathers' life - she thought back to when she and Kagura had had that conversation. She remembered almost every second of it in perfect detail.

------

"Do you like Kyou?" Kagura asked in a whisper across the dining table, glancing up from the dinner she had prepared for the two of them. Tohru reluctantly pulled her gaze from the back door, and frowned slightly. She had been so focused on looking out for the hotheaded cat - seeing as he had taken off only a few minutes after he and Kagura had yet another falling out - she didn't exactly hear what Kagura had to say.

Knitting her brows, the brunette sweetly whispered, "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Kagura inhaled deeply, as though regaining her strength and asked again, "Do you like Kyou? Tohru?"

"Oh, of course I like him!" Tohru grinned, going back to her dinner of Trout and rice, "Why wouldn't I-"

"No," Kagura growled sternly, her dark eyes wide, "I mean like him, like him. Love him, Tohru. Love him in a boyfriend way."

If she had been standing, the hazel-eyed seventeen year old probably would have fell back a few steps, utterly floored with the question. Love Kyou?Kyou Sohma? The guy who had been a jerk to her ever since they met? The guy who acted as though he had no care in the world, not even for her? No, she couldn't possibly…

Tohru pursed her lips as her stomach did a 180 spin inside of her, and the food she was chewing suddenly turned to ash in her mouth. She swallowed, slowly, considering both the question, and the possible reasons for the older-woman to ask her it. It was true - and often physically showed - that Kagura was head over heels for the orange-haired boy, and maybe she was just worried that the brunette, bearing in mind that she lived under the same roof as him, had grown some sort of strange, passionate feelings towards the love of herlife.

She couldn't blame the older brunette for asking but Tohru was semi-afraid to answer truthfully since she wasn't entirely sure herself.

"Sorry Mom," she whispered in a voice only loud enough that she and her plate could hear.

"Of course not!" Tohru grinned, a sweat drop forming on the right side of her forehead, "Um, I mean, I love him but" she waved her hands quickly in front of her chest, "not like that."

Kagura didn't look convinced.

"Well," she spoke simply, pushing the food on her plate around, "If those feelings ever do get well, stronger… just remember." Kagura looked up again, her dark eyes shining with something that caused Tohru to feel sick in her stomach, "You can't even hug him."

Tohru felt all the color drain from her cheeks and settle somewhere deep inside of her, so deep that she wasn't entirely sure if she could ever find it again. Kagura continued.

"Think of Hiro and Kisa," Kagura spoke monotone, her glaze flickering over Tohru's shoulder, "They're both members of the Zodiac and Akito still won't let them be together. If you don't want to think about them, think of Hatori and Kana. Hatori loved Kana with everything in his being, and she loved him in return. But then Akito freaked out, and Hatori had to erase all her memories of him, and that love they shared," Kagura's voice grew more passionate as she spoke, "Do you believe that Hatori had the pleasure of forgetting her as easily as she did him? No. Everything is a constant reminder of what could have been, what should have been. Do you want Kyou to suffer as Hatori is? Do you?"

"Of course not," Tohru breathed, her eyes wide, "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him. Ever!"

"Then keep your distance," Kagura growled, "Only you can save him, Tohru," she tore her gaze downward, her eyes welling with tears, "Seeing that you're the one he likes."

-----

"Tohru, we gotta go," Kyou spoke slightly aggravated, "Come on, the ceremony's over, I'm gettin' weaker every damned minute and you're killin' my hand!"

"Huh?" Tohru asked sounding slightly drowsy, almost as though she had just awoke from a nap. Glancing down, Tohru found that her fingers were tightly clamped against Kyou's now limp hand, her nails digging into the flesh of the back of his hand.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized quickly, dropping her hand in unison. Kyou grimaced, cradling his hand to his chest.

"You sure as hell gotta grip."

Tohru only smiled weakly.

Looking over, not fully believing that she had missed the entire ceremony because of her flashback, she found that most members of their group were slowly wandering away as her grandfathers casket was slowly lowered into the hole in the group by two muscular looking men with ropes. However, her Aunt and Uncle remained, frowning slightly at the display.

"Goodbye, Grandpa," she whispered, allowing the air to carry her words to wherever it chose to take them.

<Hr>

"Ya know," Kyou said amused, peaking over the arc of the roof, "This is my sulkin' spot, not yours."

Tohru glanced over her shoulder, grinning sleepily as she tucked her knees closer to her chest, "Um, I'm sorry."

"No big deal," Kyou spoke bored as Tohru watched him hoist himself onto the roof and walk the length of it, lying down on his back next to the brunette. Tohru sighed, Kagura's "Keep your distance" remark echoing in the darkest parts of her mind. Keep her distance, hmm? When it felt this good just to be this close to him?

That would be difficult.

"Tohru," Kyou's voice rang out, "I just wanted to tell you that well," he paused, running a hand through his hair, "That well, ya know, if I could, I would hold you or something…"

The brunette was extremely happy that they were in the dark, because she wasn't entirely sure if she'd die from all the blood in her body hushing to her face - turning her cheeks a odd color of violet-red - or if she'd die from the embarrassment of her cheeks even turning that color in the first place.

"I mean," Kyou added quickly, sitting up straight, "'Cause that's what guys do right? They comfort girls when they're upset, or did I screw somethin' up?"

Tohru couldn't help it… she had to say it.

"You're so cute."

Suddenly, about seven kitties - ninja kitties at that - tackled the hotheaded cat, nearly sending him face first off the roof.