Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ In order to remember ❯ What happened to Kyo? ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Kunoichi Angel 
Anime/Manga: Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.22.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 11.5K | Visits: 4.3K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 08.22.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 11.5K | Visits: 4.3K | Status: Completed
Hatori woke early, just before the sun truly rose, instincts waking him. Something felt wrong. He quickly dressed, pulling on clean clothes and headed for Tohru’s room. From the onset, everything looked fine. She was still asleep. But he felt a slight breeze coming from somewhere down the main hallway and went to investigate. He found one of the window screens open in the main room of his clinic. He looked around with annoyance, wondering who had moved it. The early light swept over the empty room but didn’t reveal anything out of place. He was almost relieved but his feeling of something being off didn’t go away. He retraced his way back to Tohru’s room, checking each corner on his way back. Everything was in order, including his supplies in the laboratory. He went back into Tohru’s room and looked around, the light now on. Then he saw it. A shoe protruded from behind the far side of the bed, a shoe with hopelessly knotted laces. He walked quietly over and nudged it. Its owner groaned and Kyo groggily uncurled from his position on the floor.
“Kyo?” Hatori took a step back. “What are you doing here?”
Kyo put a hand on the bed and used it as leverage to sit up, trembling a bit as he did.
He grumbled. “What’s it look like? I was sleeping.”
He shielded his eyes from the light.
“I can see that, but what are you doing here?” Hari noted that he was in a different shirt, which meant that Shigure and been right.
He’d at least gone home for a while. He must have snuck back in after everyone had fallen asleep.
“Had to see…Tohru.” He stood up with effort, swaying a bit as he did so.
Hari put out a supporting hand but he pushed it away, using the bed instead.
“I can do it. I’m not a baby, ya know. I don’t need any help.”
He looked tired, like someone who hadn’t gotten enough sleep, which was very likely. And his face seemed flushed.
“Sit down,” Hari commanded his younger cousin.
“What for?”
“Just do it.” He forced Kyo to sit in the chair, noting that he didn’t fight as much as he probably would have, unlike yesterday.
That alone told him volumes. He put a hand up to his forehead. It was decidedly warmer than it should be.
He sighed. “How long?”
Kyo grumbled and kicked off his shoes, guessing he could no longer hide it. He folded his arms defiantly. He could play at misunderstanding the question but knew he wouldn’t fool Hari.
“A few days,” he said grumpily. “Didn’t feel like saying anything with Tohru being so sick and everything. It’s no big deal.”
Hari felt his neck, noting that Kyo’s glands were swollen.
“Does it hurt to swallow?”
Kyo glared. “Yeah, ‘specially when you do that. And sometimes I cough.” He tried to stifle the urge that followed his comment.
Hari pulled out a thermometer and stuck it between Kyo’s lips, under his tongue.
“Keep that under there until I say,” he commanded and left the room to get his bag.
Kyo crossed one of his legs, agitatedly bouncing the other one, but obediently left the thermometer in his mouth. Hari returned shortly, his bag in hand. He pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it against Kyo’s chest.
“Breathe in and out, slowly,” he instructed.
Kyo did as he was told, though it seemed to make his throat feel more scratchy, enduring while Hari looked in his ears and up his nose.
“You finished,” he said around the thermometer, trying very hard to keep it under his tongue.
He was almost afraid that if he said anything else, he’d bite the glass instrument in two, just because it would make him angrier to have to talk around it. Hari didn’t answer but took the thermometer and looked at it. He took a long time looking at it.
“Let me look down your throat.” He shone his penlight at Kyo’s tonsils.
“All right already,” Kyo growled with little enthusiasm, thinking he was taking too long over everything. “Just tell me what it is!”
Hari put the light in a pocket of his coat.
“My suspicion is that you have strep,” he said matter of factly. “Not really surprising, all things considered. I can’t be sure without taking a throat culture though.”
He pulled out a long swab from its sterile packaging for that purpose.
“Over my dead body. Looking’s one thing, but jabbing…” Kyo tried to stand but sank back in his chair, his head spinning. He put a hand up to his head and clamped his lips shut.
“Don’t strain yourself,” Hari said. “It will only make it worse. You shouldn’t even be sitting. You’ve managed to make yourself quite sick, though not as sick as Tohru.”
He forced him to open his mouth while he swabbed his tonsils, then walked away with his sample, leaving Kyo gagging.
“Where… you going,” Kyo asked, feeling entirely humiliated but still trying to sound gruff. He wished he’d thought to bite him while his hand was in his mouth.
“I’m going to take care of this and find the spare cot I keep lying around. You’re too sick to send home right now,” Hari replied. “And while I’m gone you might want to think about how you’d like to take your medication. I can start you on the same thing I’m giving Tohru, but it’s only in the form of an injection, or you can wait until I can send someone to a pharmacy.”
It hadn’t taken long for Hari to set up the cot, though he'd waited to get it until he was sure of the throat culture’s outcome. His suspicions had been confirmed. But before he could instruct Kyo to move over to the narrow bed, a shadow filled the doorway.
“So.” The voice was laced with venom. “He is here. I thought I saw something… feline… flitting about late last night.”
Hari turned to look at Akito. Kyo swayed in his chair. He leaned his elbows against his knees, wondering if that would help make the room stay put. He looked up through his orange hair and eyes hazy with fever.
“Akito,” he said, then looked back down at his knees.
His head felt heavy, too heavy for his neck to support.
Akito smirked, glad that for once the cat showed subservience.
“Finally caught sneaking him in?” he asked the older of the two. “Why Hatori, how could you?”
“You needn’t worry about him,” Hari said in a dangerously quiet voice, doing his best to restrain himself as he stood up from smoothing out the sheets.
“Oh really,” Akito replied, hands on hips. “You know the rules, Hatori. He has no place here.”
Kyo clenched his fist, stealing himself to stand up, hoping he wouldn’t flop over the moment he did. He felt suddenly worse with Akito here, as if every breath Akito took spewed poison into the air.
“I allowed Tohru with the understanding of things to happen,” he continued, ignoring Kyo for the moment. “But to allow the cat…” He said the last word with total disgust.
“Why I oughtta…” Kyo said as he stood up too quickly.
The world spun. He groaned and lurched, falling to his knees. One hand went to the ground; the other went to his stomach, his forehead touching the floor where he stayed. He cursed his knees for not holding him up, silently adding a curse at Akito for breathing.
“Oh, I see,” Akito said. “The poor cat stayed too close to the door and got his tail caught. You really should have been more careful. But then you would never think to hide that mop of hair, now would you?”
He gloated over Kyo’s fallen form.
“Miserable are we?”
Hatori’s eyes glittered but Kyo didn’t answer as Akito continued to gloat over him. He knew it would only make matters worse. Besides, he had to keep his eyes closed or the room spun.
“What’s this? The cat whimpering?” Akito laughed. “Yes, I suppose you are miserable.”
“Leave him be,” Hatori said firmly.
“Why Hatori, I didn’t know you cared. How could anyone, especially for this miserable excuse for life,” Akito said as he turned to face Hari. “It’s almost sickening.” His eyes twitched. “Not that it really matters, but how sick is he?”
Hari didn’t immediately answer the quietly spoken question, which only angered Akito more.
“HOW SICK IS HE?!”
Hari blinked but looked steadily into Akito’s eyes. “Sick enough that he can’t go home.”
“Oh really. Is that so? Well, we’ll see, won’t we?”
Akito walked the few paces to Kyo’s side and kicked him with a sandaled foot. Hard. He did so twice, once in the ribs and once in the softer stomach area, where Kyo’s hand wasn’t protecting it. Akito half expected him to do something but he only groaned quietly, gritting his teeth through the pain. His stomach was in knots and started to heave, making it even harder to breathe.Hari looked at Akito with shock, unable to move. He knew how hard he could kick.Akito snorted with disdain.
“I suppose you’re right. How disappointing.” He took a step back, but not quite fast enough.
Kyo’s body convulsed and up came his late night supper. There wasn’t much but it was enough to make a mess on the floor, almost hitting Akito’s shoe, a small amount splashing up onto the hem of his robe.Akito looked with horror at his shoes, the mess of vomit on the floor, Kyo’s convulsing form and almost involuntarily took another step back, making disgusted faces as he did so.
“You…! You…!” He shook with rage, blood vessels throbbing.
“Akito,” Hari addressed him sharply. “I suggest you calm down. This will only do you harm.”
He looked at Hari, realizing he was right. He moved his gaze to Kyo. He really was a pitiful creature. Almost as pitiful as Tohru Honda. He didn’t know which he hated the most at the moment. Perhaps both. How dare he throw up on him?! He was half tempted to vent out in a rage but checked himself. Kyo wasn’t going anywhere and it wasn’t as much fun if there wasn’t a challenge to it. He’d never tell Hari he was right.
“He can stay,” he said with a voice of pure malice as he turned away from the disgusting creature. “For now. But this doesn’t mean he was invited here! And if I see him wandering around the grounds…”
His fists were shaking but he decided it was best to just get out of there before any other part of his clothing was fouled up by that… that disgusting creature. He’d never get the taint of it off, and he’d really liked that robe too. He brushed close to Hari as he walked out the door, leaving his threat hanging. His footsteps were loud on the wood floor. Hatori closed his eyes in relief, letting out the breath he’d been holding, his fists unclenching in his coat pockets. He hadn’t seen Kyo throw up but he’d heard it. And knowing how hard Akito could kick, he wasn’t entirely surprised.
“That was close,” he commented under his breath. “Too close.” I just hope he doesn’t go and do something foolish. He turned to Kyo.
“You can get up now,” he said more gruffly than he meant to.
Of course he’d have to be the one to clean up the mess. Too bad he couldn’t ban Akito from his house. It almost would have made things easier.
Kyo silently whimpered. He’d never let Hari know how bad it was. He weakly hit the floor with a clenched fist when he couldn’t make himself move, angry that he didn’t have the power within him to do as Hari asked. His ribs and stomach hurt and his head was whirling. He was afraid that if he even tried to sit up he’d only fall back over or worse.
“I… can’t,” he said quietly, his voice hard.
Hari sighed and went to help him, doing his best to not jostle him or get him in the mess on the floor, though it was hard. The boy was practically limp in his arms. Kyo hunched over as he helped him over to the cot, eyes tightly closed so that he didn’t have to see the ground spin under him, or anything else for that matter. He was breathing hard before he’d been situated on the narrow bed, clutching his arms to his chest in fetal position and shivering slightly once he was left to lie there. His body was turned to face the wall, knees drawn up. It hurt to breathe, but only partly because of Akito.
Hari pulled a sheet up over his shoulders, his eyes filled with calculated concern, the eyes of a doctor assessing a difficult situation. He debated. Akito’s poison only made things worse, even if it was only the poison of malice. Kyo had been much better before Akito had arrived.Hatori woke early, just before the sun truly rose, instincts waking him. Something felt wrong. He quickly dressed, pulling on clean clothes and headed for Tohru’s room. From the onset, everything looked fine. She was still asleep. But he felt a slight breeze coming from somewhere down the main hallway and went to investigate. He found one of the window screens open in the main room of his clinic.He looked around with annoyance, wondering who had moved it. The early light swept over the empty room but didn’t reveal anything out of place. He was almost relieved but his feeling of something being off didn’t go away. He retraced his way back to Tohru’s room, checking each corner on his way back. Everything was in order, including his supplies in the laboratory.He went back into Tohru’s room and looked around, the light now on. Then he saw it. A shoe protruded from behind the far side of the bed, a shoe with hopelessly knotted laces. He walked quietly over and nudged it. Its owner groaned and Kyo groggily uncurled from his position on the floor.“Kyo?” Hatori took a step back. “What are you doing here?”Kyo put a hand on the bed and used it as leverage to sit up, trembling a bit as he did. He grumbled. “What’s it look like? I was sleeping.” He shielded his eyes from the light.“I can see that, but what are you doing here?” Hari noted that he was in a different shirt, which meant that Shigure and been right. He’d at least gone home for a while. He must have snuck back in after everyone had fallen asleep.“Had to see…Tohru.” He stood up with effort, swaying a bit as he did so. Hari put out a supporting hand but he pushed it away, using the bed instead. “I can do it. I’m not a baby, ya know. I don’t need any help.” He looked tired, like someone who hadn’t gotten enough sleep, which was very likely. And his face seemed flushed.“Sit down,” Hari commanded his younger cousin. “What for?”“Just do it.” He forced Kyo to sit in the chair, noting that he didn’t fight as much as he probably would have, unlike yesterday. That alone told him volumes. He put a hand up to his forehead. It was decidedly warmer than it should be. He sighed. “How long?”Kyo grumbled and kicked off his shoes, guessing he could no longer hide it. He folded his arms defiantly. He could play at misunderstanding the question but knew he wouldn’t fool Hari. “A few days,” he said grumpily. “Didn’t feel like saying anything with Tohru being so sick and everything. It’s no big deal.”Hari felt his neck, noting that Kyo’s glands were swollen. “Does it hurt to swallow?”Kyo glared. “Yeah, ‘specially when you do that. And sometimes I cough.” He tried to stifle the urge that followed his comment.Hari pulled out a thermometer and stuck it between Kyo’s lips, under his tongue. “Keep that under there until I say,” he commanded and left the room to get his bag.Kyo crossed one of his legs, agitatedly bouncing the other one, but obediently left the thermometer in his mouth. Hari returned shortly, his bag in hand. He pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it against Kyo’s chest. “Breathe in and out, slowly,” he instructed.Kyo did as he was told, though it seemed to make his throat feel more scratchy, enduring while Hari looked in his ears and up his nose. “You finished,” he said around the thermometer, trying very hard to keep it under his tongue. He was almost afraid that if he said anything else, he’d bite the glass instrument in two, just because it would make him angrier to have to talk around it.Hari didn’t answer but took the thermometer and looked at it. He took a long time looking at it. “Let me look down your throat.” He shone his penlight at Kyo’s tonsils. “All right already,” Kyo growled with little enthusiasm, thinking he was taking too long over everything. “Just tell me what it is!”Hari put the light in a pocket of his coat. “My suspicion is that you have strep,” he said matter of factly. “Not really surprising, all things considered. I can’t be sure without taking a throat culture though.” He pulled out a long swab from its sterile packaging for that purpose.“Over my dead body. Looking’s one thing, but jabbing…” Kyo tried to stand but sank back in his chair, his head spinning. He put a hand up to his head and clamped his lips shut.“Don’t strain yourself,” Hari said. “It will only make it worse. You shouldn’t even be sitting. You’ve managed to make yourself quite sick, though not as sick as Tohru.” He forced him to open his mouth while he swabbed his tonsils, then walked away with his sample, leaving Kyo gagging.“Where… you going,” Kyo asked, feeling entirely humiliated but still trying to sound gruff. He wished he’d thought to bite him while his hand was in his mouth.“I’m going to take care of this and find the spare cot I keep lying around. You’re too sick to send home right now,” Hari replied. “And while I’m gone you might want to think about how you’d like to take your medication. I can start you on the same thing I’m giving Tohru, but it’s only in the form of an injection, or you can wait until I can send someone to a pharmacy.”It hadn’t taken long for Hari to set up the cot, though he'd waited to get it until he was sure of the throat culture’s outcome. His suspicions had been confirmed. But before he could instruct Kyo to move over to the narrow bed, a shadow filled the doorway.“So.” The voice was laced with venom. “He is here. I thought I saw something… feline… flitting about late last night.”Hari turned to look at Akito. Kyo swayed in his chair. He leaned his elbows against his knees, wondering if that would help make the room stay put. He looked up through his orange hair and eyes hazy with fever. “Akito,” he said, then looked back down at his knees. His head felt heavy, too heavy for his neck to support. Akito smirked, glad that for once the cat showed subservience. “Finally caught sneaking him in?” he asked the older of the two. “Why Hatori, how could you?”“You needn’t worry about him,” Hari said in a dangerously quiet voice, doing his best to restrain himself as he stood up from smoothing out the sheets.“Oh really,” Akito replied, hands on hips. “You know the rules, Hatori. He has no place here.”Kyo clenched his fist, stealing himself to stand up, hoping he wouldn’t flop over the moment he did. He felt suddenly worse with Akito here, as if every breath Akito took spewed poison into the air.“I allowed Tohru with the understanding of things to happen,” he continued, ignoring Kyo for the moment. “But to allow the cat…” He said the last word with total disgust.“Why I oughtta…” Kyo said as he stood up too quickly. The world spun. He groaned and lurched, falling to his knees. One hand went to the ground; the other went to his stomach, his forehead touching the floor where he stayed. He cursed his knees for not holding him up, silently adding a curse at Akito for breathing.“Oh, I see,” Akito said. “The poor cat stayed too close to the door and got his tail caught. You really should have been more careful. But then you would never think to hide that mop of hair, now would you?” He gloated over Kyo’s fallen form. “Miserable are we?”Hatori’s eyes glittered but Kyo didn’t answer as Akito continued to gloat over him. He knew it would only make matters worse. Besides, he had to keep his eyes closed or the room spun.“What’s this? The cat whimpering?” Akito laughed. “Yes, I suppose you are miserable.”“Leave him be,” Hatori said firmly.“Why Hatori, I didn’t know you cared. How could anyone, especially for this miserable excuse for life,” Akito said as he turned to face Hari. “It’s almost sickening.” His eyes twitched. “Not that it really matters, but how sick is he?”Hari didn’t immediately answer the quietly spoken question, which only angered Akito more.“HOW SICK IS HE?!”Hari blinked but looked steadily into Akito’s eyes. “Sick enough that he can’t go home.”“Oh really. Is that so? Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” Akito walked the few paces to Kyo’s side and kicked him with a sandaled foot. Hard. He did so twice, once in the ribs and once in the softer stomach area, where Kyo’s hand wasn’t protecting it. Akito half expected him to do something but he only groaned quietly, gritting his teeth through the pain. His stomach was in knots and started to heave, making it even harder to breathe.Hari looked at Akito with shock, unable to move. He knew how hard he could kick.Akito snorted with disdain. “I suppose you’re right. How disappointing.” He took a step back, but not quite fast enough. Kyo’s body convulsed and up came his late night supper. There wasn’t much but it was enough to make a mess on the floor, almost hitting Akito’s shoe, a small amount splashing up onto the hem of his robe.Akito looked with horror at his shoes, the mess of vomit on the floor, Kyo’s convulsing form and almost involuntarily took another step back, making disgusted faces as he did so. “You…! You…!” He shook with rage, blood vessels throbbing.“Akito,” Hari addressed him sharply. “I suggest you calm down. This will only do you harm.”He looked at Hari, realizing he was right. He moved his gaze to Kyo. He really was a pitiful creature. Almost as pitiful as Tohru Honda. He didn’t know which he hated the most at the moment. Perhaps both. How dare he throw up on him?! He was half tempted to vent out in a rage but checked himself. Kyo wasn’t going anywhere and it wasn’t as much fun if there wasn’t a challenge to it. He’d never tell Hari he was right.“He can stay,” he said with a voice of pure malice as he turned away from the disgusting creature. “For now. But this doesn’t mean he was invited here! And if I see him wandering around the grounds…” His fists were shaking but he decided it was best to just get out of there before any other part of his clothing was fouled up by that… that disgusting creature. He’d never get the taint of it off, and he’d really liked that robe too. He brushed close to Hari as he walked out the door, leaving his threat hanging. His footsteps were loud on the wood floor.Hatori closed his eyes in relief, letting out the breath he’d been holding, his fists unclenching in his coat pockets. He hadn’t seen Kyo throw up but he’d heard it. And knowing how hard Akito could kick, he wasn’t entirely surprised. “That was close,” he commented under his breath. “Too close.” I just hope he doesn’t go and do something foolish. He turned to Kyo. “You can get up now,” he said more gruffly than he meant to. Of course he’d have to be the one to clean up the mess. Too bad he couldn’t ban Akito from his house. It almost would have made things easier.Kyo silently whimpered. He’d never let Hari know how bad it was. He weakly hit the floor with a clenched fist when he couldn’t make himself move, angry that he didn’t have the power within him to do as Hari asked. His ribs and stomach hurt and his head was whirling. He was afraid that if he even tried to sit up he’d only fall back over or worse. “I… can’t,” he said quietly, his voice hard.Hari sighed and went to help him, doing his best to not jostle him or get him in the mess on the floor, though it was hard. The boy was practically limp in his arms. Kyo hunched over as he helped him over to the cot, eyes tightly closed so that he didn’t have to see the ground spin under him, or anything else for that matter. He was breathing hard before he’d been situated on the narrow bed, clutching his arms to his chest in fetal position and shivering slightly once he was left to lie there. His body was turned to face the wall, knees drawn up. It hurt to breathe, but only partly because of Akito. Hari pulled a sheet up over his shoulders, his eyes filled with calculated concern, the eyes of a doctor assessing a difficult situation. He debated. Akito’s poison only made things worse, even if it was only the poison of malice. Kyo had been much better before Akito had arrived.“I’ll be back,” he said finally and went to get something. He returned with another blanket, some cleaning cloths and a hypodermic, which he set to one side. He spread the blanket over Kyo’s scrunched body, hoping that would help him with the shivering. He used the cloths to clean the mess before anyone else stepped in it. That taken care of, he pulled a small phial from his lab coat pocket and filled the needle. “I can’t wait for someone to bring a different medication,” he said. “And I’m sure you can’t either. Believe me, if I thought there was any other way, I would take it. I know how much you hate these kinds of things.” He tapped the needle, squirting some of the liquid back out to get rid of any air bubbles and set it aside. He tried to pull Kyo’s arm out from under the blanket. It took some effort since Kyo didn’t want to move. It was like picking up a pitiful baby kitten that couldn’t help but fight, even knowing that the person trying to hold it only wanted to help. He cleaned the inner part of his elbow with an alcohol swab. He had to keep a firm grip on Kyo’s arm, knowing he would only pull it back towards himself if he let go, which meant he’d have to fight to get it free again. Still holding his arm firmly, he put down the swab and picked up the syringe. “I hope this will help you feel better soon.” He slid the needle into the skin near the crook of his elbow and pushed firmly down on the plunger, the medication entering the bloodstream. Kyo cringed, a shudder running through him, his eyes still closed, but he didn’t fight it. Hari hadn’t been sure if he would and was glad when he didn’t seem to have the strength to. It was over before he’d thought to complain. And with the drug running through him, he suddenly felt even more tired than he had before. “I’ll go call your school, and I suppose I’d better let Shigure know as well,” he heard Hari say as his mind started to drift with the drug.“What… was…. that stuff…?” he slurred, pulling his arm back towards his chest, clutching at it like it were broken.“Try to get some sleep,” Hari answered. Those last words seemed to echo in his mind as everything else went black.“I understand,” Shigure said then hung up the phone. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He’d worried about Kyo, getting up early to check on him but saw that his room was still empty. He’d hoped he was still up on the roof but now he knew otherwise.Yuki entered the room, his book bag in hand. He stopped when he saw Shigure hanging up the phone.Shigure looked over. “Good morning, Yuki. Kyo won’t be going to school this morning,” he said.Yuki snorted quietly. “I’m not surprised.” I thought I told him to keep away from Miss Honda. I guess he just doesn’t know how to listen. “He’s sick,” Shigure said matter of factly. “I guess he went back to Sohma House late last night. Hari found him on the floor.”Yuki shook his head with disgust. Of course he’d gone back. How like Kyo was that? “Serves him right,” he muttered.“You might be interested to know that Akito is aware…” Shigure continued, not sure how Yuki would take that. After all, they all knew that Kyo had basically been forbidden to enter the main house, including any in the inner courtyard.“Akito?” A vessel in his temple throbbed with tension. He didn’t necessarily agree with Akito on a lot of things, in fact he didn’t agree when it came to most things, but it served the stupid cat right if he’d been caught.“Yes,” Shigure sighed. “He wasn’t happy about the situation but it appears that he has little choice but to let matters lie. Kyo’s too sick to be moved.”Yuki shrugged his shoulders, trying to pretend like he didn’t care. Kyo was likely faking it, after all, to keep out of trouble. “And Miss Honda?”“I didn’t ask,” Shigure responded as he headed to the kitchen.“You didn’t…” Yuki did his best to control his emotions, finally turning away. “I’m going to school. I’ll see you after, though I’ll probably go over to see Miss Honda before coming home.” He didn’t get any reply so he just headed out the door.Hana and Arisa watched Yuki from across the school grounds. Both were eating their lunches, watching their fellow classmates coming and going.“There is a lot of tension today,” Hana said. “Have you noticed that Tohru isn’t the only one who is missing? Kyo is also absent.”Arisa laughed. “Who, Orange-top? I hadn’t noticed.” She took a bite of her sandwich but didn’t taste it. She would likely be the last to admit it, but she had noticed his absence as well. The two struck off each other like flint and steal. They were both competitive and she definitely loved the challenge but didn’t seem to care for him otherwise.. “I don’t like it,” Hana said. “There is more going on than meets the eye. I believe it all began the night we found Tohru at Kyoko’s.” She thought about Tohru’s mother, of the night her sensitivity to the electric signals had led them to her grave, how they’d found Tohru there, weeping.“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Arisa said. “But I don’t know what we can do about it. Personally, I think Yuki knows more than he’s telling.” She looked over at the boy as she spoke, her expression unreadable.“You may be right,” Hana replied. “I feel a large amount of emotion coming from him. The electrical signals tell me that he is undergoing a great deal of turmoil. It’s even worse than our last meeting.”“I’ve half a mind to follow him around until I figure out where they’ve got her,” Arisa said, her fist clenching her sandwich. “He’s bound to visit her sometime.”“I’m just as worried about Tohru as you are,” Hana said. “I’m sure that if he thought he could tell us he would.”Arisa shook her head. “I don’t know about that. All the same, I’m gonna keep an eye on him.” She looked down at her sandwich in surprise, feeling the soft filling through her fingers. She looked at Yuki, then back to her sandwich. “Uh,” she said in response to her mangled food.“Grandpa Hatori,” Kisa said, trying to get Hari’s attention, pulling on his coat as he headed from the main room of his clinic. He turned around and knelt to her eye level.“Kisa,” he said with warmth, but a small amount of surprise. “Did you scrape another knee?”She shook her head. “No, you said I could see Sissy today,” she reminded him.He thought about yesterday. “So I did, but I’m afraid Tohru is sleeping right now,” he apologized. “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up.”She looked at him with pleading eyes. “Can’t I please see her, Grandpa Hatori? Just for a little while?”He smiled at her and stood up. “All right, but only for a little while.” He held out his hand and she took it, leading her back to Tohru’s, and now Kyo’s room.She looked around the room with large eyes. Tohru was in the bed she remembered but there was now another bed with Kyo in it. “Is Kyo sick too,” she asked.“Yes,” Hari answered. “You should put this on,” he said and handed her a facemask. “We wouldn’t want you to get sick too.” He helped her tie it, then let her go over to Tohru’s bed, lifting her gently up to sit next to Tohru.She looked at her sleeping sissy. “Why does she have a tube coming out her nose,” she asked.“It’s to help her breathe,” Hari explained. “Remember yesterday?” Kisa nodded. “She was having trouble breathing so we had to give her something to breathe through.”Kisa blinked her eyes, shyly touching Tohru’s hand. “If I get that sick will I have to have a tube to help me breathe too?”Hari smiled again, touched by Kisa’s sincerity. “I hope not,” he said. “Which is why you get to wear a mask, so that you don’t get that sick.”“Okay,” she agreed and slid off the bed. “We should let Sissy sleep, huh?”He couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Yes, we should let ‘Sissy’ sleep.” He took her hand again as she slipped it into his and walked her to the front door where she took off the mask and slowly handed it back to him. “Can I come back tomorrow? Do you think she’ll be awake,” she asked.“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “Tohru’s very sick, but we’ll see.”Kisa smiled and turned to run off. He watched her go, his smile sliding away. He sighed. What would he tell her if Tohru never did wake up?Arisa followed Yuki after school, doing her best to stay out of his sight. She was frustrated that it had taken him so long. He first had to stop and help a lower-classman find her things because she’d lost them. Then he had to stop and talk with one of the teachers. It was almost as if he had nothing better to do than to help other people like that. Finally, he started away from the school, and when he didn’t head towards home, she guessed he was going somewhere more interesting than just the grocery store. He walked with determination and she wanted to know where he was going. If it had anything to do with Tohru, she was going to find out. The route he was taking was not one she usually took, but at least the territory was familiar. They were somewhere near Hana’s house, she was sure, though he seemed to be heading for the more wealthy side. What would he be doing over here? There were no private clinics or hospitals over here, at least not for a mile or two. Surely he wouldn’t walk all that way when he could get a cab or something.He took a short cut through the train terminal and she lost sight of him among the adults coming and going. She cursed softly. “Where are you?” She wandered around for a while, asking every now and again if anyone had seen a boy fitting his description but most were unwilling to help or didn’t have an answer. Perhaps they really hadn’t seen him, but she wasn’t willing to accept that for an answer. They were just all working against her, keeping her away from Tohru. She headed back to the station, hoping to pick up on the trail there.But even after walking up and down the terminal, she didn’t come across any clues. There had to be a better way of following him, short of forcing him to take her to Tohru that is.“You can’t avoid me forever,” she said under her breath with a growl as she sat down on one of the benches, not entirely willing to admit defeat, this time. “I’m going to find out, one way or another,” she vowed, then decided to head home. She likely wouldn’t be able to find him after this, not today. Even she knew that.Yuki bowed respectfully when Hari answered the door. “How’s Miss Honda,” he asked before Hari could say a word.“She’s sleeping,” Hari replied. “Kyo’s here as well,” he added when Yuki didn’t ask, though it wasn’t entirely surprising.Yuki closed his eyes a moment, controlling his emotions. “I know. Shigure told me.”Hari nodded. “Come in.” He handed the younger boy a facemask before they went into the back room, which he put on.Yuki went almost immediately to Tohru’s side, looking at her still face as she slept. He was silent for a while, tracing her outline in his mind. “I feel as though this were, in a way, my fault,” he confessed.Hari leaned against the doorway. “Oh? Why would you say that?”Yuki shook his head. ‘I should have seen that there was something wrong sooner. There was just so much going on, what with Akito and Kyo…” he trailed off.“We only show people what we want them to see,” Hatori said. “We all know that Tohru doesn’t like people to worry.”Yuki clenched his fist. “I know, but I should have done something! I should have at least said more than what I did. I caught her the night before, coughing in the kitchen, but she insisted it was just a cold and that she’d go right to bed.” He glanced at Kyo, who was also sleeping, and his mouth twitched. Part of him wanted to blame it on him. “I never dreamed it could be something this bad.”The door suddenly flew open. “Kyo! Darling! I’m here!” Kagura Sohma burst into the room, her cat-shaped backpack swaying with her haste. Hari fought for balance as she knocked into him and kept going until she was at Kyo’s bedside. “Oh Kyo! Wake up!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, making him sit up as she did.“Huh…wha?” Kyo mumbled as she squeezed him around the middle in a fierce hug. He tried to push her arms off of him but was too weak to do much about it, even though he gave a valiant go of it, struggling with what strength he did have.“I’m so sorry you’re sick! Kisa told me and I just had to come over,” Kagura was practically yelling. “Oh Kyo! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”He was flung around with her expressions of concern and outrage as she shook him. He blinked, his eyes dizzy. “Can you…. let go…” he panted. “Can’t… breathe….”She dropped him and he flopped back against the pillows. “I’m so sorry! Speak to me love! Tell me! Where does it hurt?”“I think I’m going to be sick,” Kyo warned and turned away, hunched in the middle as he coughed.Yuki and Hari both seemed to wake up at this moment. “I think I may have to put a ban on the sick room,” Hari said with a bit of annoyance. “Kagura,” he said sharply and handed her a mask. “Next time, knock before you burst in.”She took the mask with a questioning expression, then saw Yuki in the room with his own mask on. “Oh,” she said and put the mask on. Kyo continued to cough for a while, then moaned as he rolled back over. “What… do you think… you were trying to do, woman,” he asked with not quite a growl; he wasn’t up to anything more than that. “You trying to kill me or something?”“No,” Kagura said through her mask. Several tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She looked away, brushing them aside and saw Tohru behind Yuki. “Is…Tohru sick too?”“Yes,” Hari answered. “You might want to try and remember that and keep your outbursts to a minimum.”She looked embarrassed and turned her head away. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean… It’s just that when I heard that Kyo was sick, I was so worried that I just had to check in on him,” she said quickly.Yuki looked mildly amused, hiding his concern behind his folded arms. So it was true that Kyo was sick, really sick. He’d wondered.Hari wondered who else would barge in, wondering if he should put up a public notice to keep visitors, and outbursts, at the lowest level possible. He could understand having a few visitors here and there, but things were starting to get a little more than out of hand. He had half a mind to shoo everyone out right then but didn’t, though he would insist that they kept away for a few days. At least Kyo hadn’t made good on his declaration of throwing up.Yuki returned home an hour later. He felt weary himself, though he was fairly certain that he hadn’t caught the strep yet. Hari had insisted on checking him over, to be on the safe side. The fact that he hadn’t had as much contact with Tohru lately was probably why he wasn’t sick, but then there was still always the possibility of something happening. Hari had reminded him to let him know the moment he felt the least bit ill. And after watching Kyo moaning and hacking up a lung, he couldn’t blame Hari for being so serious about it.He deposited his books in his room and went in search of something to eat. Shigure was snacking on some jelly buns he’d picked up at the store, talking on the phone in a very dramatic tone.“Oh Mii, I don’t know if I can do any writing tonight,” he was saying. He pretended to cough. “I seem to have come down with something. We might have to put off the deadline a few days until I recover.” He pretended to cough again. “I feel so weak. The room is spinning.”Yuki rolled his eyes. How very like Shigure. He opened the fridge and saw the open carton of chow mien, chopsticks still sticking out of it from when Kyo had put it back in the fridge. He clenched his fist, angrily taking the carton out of and throwing it away with disgust. Shigure hung up the phone. He had a pleased expression on his face. “Ah, Yuki, you’re home,” he said in a happy way that seemed to get under Yuki’s skin. “How was school?”He tapped his fingers on the counter, counting back from ten before he answered. “I saw Kagura at Hatori’s today,” he finally said. “She nearly killed Kyo.”“Oh really,” Shigure answered with surprise. “Hari didn’t mention that.”“Well, it would serve him right,” Yuki added. The carton stuck out of the already overflowing garbage can and he tried to ignore it. Things seemed to rapidly be getting worse without worry about that.Shigure tisked at him, wagging a finger as he did so. “Really, Yuki. Can’t you let him be, even when he’s sick? After all, he’s not purposely trying to annoy you, at least not at the moment.” He leaned forward, batting his eyes. “And how’s Tohru?”Yuki turned around. “Miss Honda? She’s still asleep. It’s strange that she’d sleep so long.”“Yes, isn’t it,” Shigure agreed. “But Hari does know what he’s doing and he did say he’d put her on heavy medication. I just wish I’d made it down there to see her today. But I had to work on my manuscript.” He looked guiltily towards his office.Yuki rolled his eyes, recalling the side of the conversation he’d heard between Shigure and his editor. “I wouldn’t suggest going to see her tomorrow,” he said. “Hari practically put a ban up because things got out of hand today. I guess there were just one too many visitors.”Shigure smiled proudly. “I’m not surprised. Our dear Tohru is quite the popular young lady. And Kyo’s becoming quite the popular young man.”“I’m going upstairs,” Yuki said stiffly and left the
“I’ll be back,” he said finally and went to get something.
He returned with another blanket, some cleaning cloths and a hypodermic, which he set to one side. He spread the blanket over Kyo’s scrunched body, hoping that would help him with the shivering. He used the cloths to clean the mess before anyone else stepped in it. That taken care of, he pulled a small phial from his lab coat pocket and filled the needle.
“I can’t wait for someone to bring a different medication,” he said. “And I’m sure you can’t either. Believe me, if I thought there was any other way, I would take it. I know how much you hate these kinds of things.”
He tapped the needle, squirting some of the liquid back out to get rid of any air bubbles and set it aside. He tried to pull Kyo’s arm out from under the blanket. It took some effort since Kyo didn’t want to move. It was like picking up a pitiful baby kitten that couldn’t help but fight, even knowing that the person trying to hold it only wanted to help.
He cleaned the inner part of his elbow with an alcohol swab. He had to keep a firm grip on Kyo’s arm, knowing he would only pull it back towards himself if he let go, which meant he’d have to fight to get it free again. Still holding his arm firmly, he put down the swab and picked up the syringe.
“I hope this will help you feel better soon.” He slid the needle into the skin near the crook of his elbow and pushed firmly down on the plunger, the medication entering the bloodstream.
Kyo cringed, a shudder running through him, his eyes still closed, but he didn’t fight it. Hari hadn’t been sure if he would and was glad when he didn’t seem to have the strength to. It was over before he’d thought to complain. And with the drug running through him, he suddenly felt even more tired than he had before.
“I’ll go call your school, and I suppose I’d better let Shigure know as well,” he heard Hari say as his mind started to drift with the drug. “What… was…. that stuff…?” he slurred, pulling his arm back towards his chest, clutching at it like it were broken.
“Try to get some sleep,” Hari answered. Those last words seemed to echo in his mind as everything else went black. “I understand,” Shigure said then hung up the phone.
He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He’d worried about Kyo, getting up early to check on him but saw that his room was still empty. He’d hoped he was still up on the roof but now he knew otherwise.Yuki entered the room, his book bag in hand. He stopped when he saw Shigure hanging up the phone.
Shigure looked over. “Good morning, Yuki. Kyo won’t be going to school this morning,” he said.
Yuki snorted quietly. “I’m not surprised.” I thought I told him to keep away from Miss Honda. I guess he just doesn’t know how to listen.
“He’s sick,” Shigure said matter of factly. “I guess he went back to Sohma House late last night. Hari found him on the floor.”
Yuki shook his head with disgust. Of course he’d gone back. How like Kyo was that?
“Serves him right,” he muttered.
“You might be interested to know that Akito is aware…” Shigure continued, not sure how Yuki would take that.
After all, they all knew that Kyo had basically been forbidden to enter the main house, including any in the inner courtyard.
“Akito?” A vessel in his temple throbbed with tension.
He didn’t necessarily agree with Akito on a lot of things, in fact he didn’t agree when it came to most things, but it served the stupid cat right if he’d been caught.
“Yes,” Shigure sighed. “He wasn’t happy about the situation but it appears that he has little choice but to let matters lie. Kyo’s too sick to be moved.”
Yuki shrugged his shoulders, trying to pretend like he didn’t care. Kyo was likely faking it, after all, to keep out of trouble.
“And Miss Honda?” “I didn’t ask,” Shigure responded as he headed to the kitchen. “You didn’t…” Yuki did his best to control his emotions, finally turning away.
“I’m going to school. I’ll see you after, though I’ll probably go over to see Miss Honda before coming home.”
He didn’t get any reply so he just headed out the door.
Hana and Arisa watched Yuki from across the school grounds. Both were eating their lunches, watching their fellow classmates coming and going.
“There is a lot of tension today,” Hana said. “Have you noticed that Tohru isn’t the only one who is missing? Kyo is also absent.”
Arisa laughed. “Who, Orange-top? I hadn’t noticed.”
She took a bite of her sandwich but didn’t taste it. She would likely be the last to admit it, but she had noticed his absence as well. The two struck off each other like flint and steal. They were both competitive and she definitely loved the challenge but didn’t seem to care for him otherwise.
“I don’t like it,” Hana said. “There is more going on than meets the eye. I believe it all began the night we found Tohru at Kyoko’s.”
She thought about Tohru’s mother, of the night her sensitivity to the electric signals had led them to her grave, how they’d found Tohru there, weeping.
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Arisa said. “But I don’t know what we can do about it. Personally, I think Yuki knows more than he’s telling.”
She looked over at the boy as she spoke, her expression unreadable.
“You may be right,” Hana replied. “I feel a large amount of emotion coming from him. The electrical signals tell me that he is undergoing a great deal of turmoil. It’s even worse than our last meeting.”
“I’ve half a mind to follow him around until I figure out where they’ve got her,” Arisa said, her fist clenching her sandwich.
“He’s bound to visit her sometime.”
“I’m just as worried about Tohru as you are,” Hana said. “I’m sure that if he thought he could tell us he would.”
Arisa shook her head. “I don’t know about that. All the same, I’m gonna keep an eye on him.”
She looked down at her sandwich in surprise, feeling the soft filling through her fingers. She looked at Yuki, then back to her sandwich.
“Uh,” she said in response to her mangled food.
“Grandpa Hatori,” Kisa said, trying to get Hari’s attention, pulling on his coat as he headed from the main room of his clinic. He turned around and knelt to her eye level.
“Kisa,” he said with warmth, but a small amount of surprise. “Did you scrape another knee?”
She shook her head.
“No, you said I could see Sissy today,” she reminded him.
He thought about yesterday.
“So I did, but I’m afraid Tohru is sleeping right now,” he apologized. “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up.”She looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Can’t I please see her, Grandpa Hatori? Just for a little while?”He smiled at her and stood up.
“All right, but only for a little while.”
He held out his hand and she took it, leading her back to Tohru’s, and now Kyo’s room.She looked around the room with large eyes. Tohru was in the bed she remembered but there was now another bed with Kyo in it.
“Is Kyo sick too,” she asked.
“Yes,” Hari answered. “You should put this on,” he said and handed her a facemask.
“We wouldn’t want you to get sick too.” He helped her tie it, then let her go over to Tohru’s bed, lifting her gently up to sit next to Tohru.She looked at her sleeping sissy.
“Why does she have a tube coming out her nose,” she asked.
“It’s to help her breathe,” Hari explained. “Remember yesterday?” Kisa nodded. “She was having trouble breathing so we had to give her something to breathe through.”Kisa blinked her eyes, shyly touching Tohru’s hand.
“If I get that sick will I have to have a tube to help me breathe too?”
Hari smiled again, touched by Kisa’s sincerity.
“I hope not,” he said. “Which is why you get to wear a mask, so that you don’t get that sick.”
“Okay,” she agreed and slid off the bed. “We should let Sissy sleep, huh?”He couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“Yes, we should let ‘Sissy’ sleep.”
He took her hand again as she slipped it into his and walked her to the front door where she took off the mask and slowly handed it back to him.
“Can I come back tomorrow? Do you think she’ll be awake,” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “Tohru’s very sick, but we’ll see.”
Kisa smiled and turned to run off. He watched her go, his smile sliding away. He sighed. What would he tell her if Tohru never did wake up?
Arisa followed Yuki after school, doing her best to stay out of his sight. She was frustrated that it had taken him so long. He first had to stop and help a lower-classman find her things because she’d lost them. Then he had to stop and talk with one of the teachers. It was almost as if he had nothing better to do than to help other people like that.
Finally, he started away from the school, and when he didn’t head towards home, she guessed he was going somewhere more interesting than just the grocery store. He walked with determination and she wanted to know where he was going. If it had anything to do with Tohru, she was going to find out. The route he was taking was not one she usually took, but at least the territory was familiar. They were somewhere near Hana’s house, she was sure, though he seemed to be heading for the more wealthy side. What would he be doing over here? There were no private clinics or hospitals over here, at least not for a mile or two. Surely he wouldn’t walk all that way when he could get a cab or something.He took a short cut through the train terminal and she lost sight of him among the adults coming and going.
She cursed softly. “Where are you?”
She wandered around for a while, asking every now and again if anyone had seen a boy fitting his description but most were unwilling to help or didn’t have an answer. Perhaps they really hadn’t seen him, but she wasn’t willing to accept that for an answer. They were just all working against her, keeping her away from Tohru. She headed back to the station, hoping to pick up on the trail there.
But even after walking up and down the terminal, she didn’t come across any clues. There had to be a better way of following him, short of forcing him to take her to Tohru that is.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” she said under her breath with a growl as she sat down on one of the benches, not entirely willing to admit defeat, this time.
“I’m going to find out, one way or another,” she vowed, then decided to head home.
She likely wouldn’t be able to find him after this, not today. Even she knew that.
Yuki bowed respectfully when Hari answered the door.
“How’s Miss Honda,” he asked before Hari could say a word.
“She’s sleeping,” Hari replied. “Kyo’s here as well,” he added when Yuki didn’t ask, though it wasn’t entirely surprising.Yuki closed his eyes a moment, controlling his emotions.
“I know. Shigure told me.”Hari nodded. “Come in.”
He handed the younger boy a facemask before they went into the back room, which he put on.Yuki went almost immediately to Tohru’s side, looking at her still face as she slept. He was silent for a while, tracing her outline in his mind.
“I feel as though this were, in a way, my fault,” he confessed.Hari leaned against the doorway.
“Oh? Why would you say that?”Yuki shook his head.
"I should have seen that there was something wrong sooner. There was just so much going on, what with Akito and Kyo…” he trailed off.
“We only show people what we want them to see,” Hatori said. “We all know that Tohru doesn’t like people to worry.”
Yuki clenched his fist.
“I know, but I should have done something! I should have at least said more than what I did. I caught her the night before, coughing in the kitchen, but she insisted it was just a cold and that she’d go right to bed.”
He glanced at Kyo, who was also sleeping, and his mouth twitched. Part of him wanted to blame it on him.
“I never dreamed it could be something this bad.”
The door suddenly flew open.
“Kyo! Darling! I’m here!”
Kagura Sohma burst into the room, her cat-shaped backpack swaying with her haste. Hari fought for balance as she knocked into him and kept going until she was at Kyo’s bedside.
“Oh Kyo! Wake up!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, making him sit up as she did.
“Huh…wha?” Kyo mumbled as she squeezed him around the middle in a fierce hug.
He tried to push her arms off of him but was too weak to do much about it, even though he gave a valiant go of it, struggling with what strength he did have.“I’m so sorry you’re sick! Kisa told me and I just had to come over,” Kagura was practically yelling. “Oh Kyo! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”
He was flung around with her expressions of concern and outrage as she shook him.
He blinked, his eyes dizzy. “Can you…. let go…” he panted. “Can’t… breathe….”
She dropped him and he flopped back against the pillows.
“I’m so sorry! Speak to me love! Tell me! Where does it hurt?”“
I think I’m going to be sick,” Kyo warned and turned away, hunched in the middle as he coughed.Yuki and Hari both seemed to wake up at this moment.
“I think I may have to put a ban on the sick room,” Hari said with a bit of annoyance.
“Kagura,” he said sharply and handed her a mask. “Next time, knock before you burst in.”
She took the mask with a questioning expression, then saw Yuki in the room with his own mask on. “Oh,” she said and put the mask on.
Kyo continued to cough for a while, then moaned as he rolled back over.
“What… do you think… you were trying to do, woman,” he asked with not quite a growl; he wasn’t up to anything more than that. “You trying to kill me or something?”
“No,” Kagura said through her mask. Several tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She looked away, brushing them aside and saw Tohru behind Yuki.
“Is…Tohru sick too?”
“Yes,” Hari answered. “You might want to try and remember that and keep your outbursts to a minimum.”S
he looked embarrassed and turned her head away.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized.
“I didn’t mean… It’s just that when I heard that Kyo was sick, I was so worried that I just had to check in on him,” she said quickly.
Yuki looked mildly amused, hiding his concern behind his folded arms. So it was true that Kyo was sick, really sick. He’d wondered.Hari wondered who else would barge in, wondering if he should put up a public notice to keep visitors, and outbursts, at the lowest level possible. He could understand having a few visitors here and there, but things were starting to get a little more than out of hand. He had half a mind to shoo everyone out right then but didn’t, though he would insist that they kept away for a few days. At least Kyo hadn’t made good on his declaration of throwing up. Yuki returned home an hour later. He felt weary himself, though he was fairly certain that he hadn’t caught the strep yet. Hari had insisted on checking him over, to be on the safe side. The fact that he hadn’t had as much contact with Tohru lately was probably why he wasn’t sick, but then there was still always the possibility of something happening. Hari had reminded him to let him know the moment he felt the least bit ill. And after watching Kyo moaning and hacking up a lung, he couldn’t blame Hari for being so serious about it.
He deposited his books in his room and went in search of something to eat. Shigure was snacking on some jelly buns he’d picked up at the store, talking on the phone in a very dramatic tone.
“Oh Mii, I don’t know if I can do any writing tonight,” he was saying.
He pretended to cough. “I seem to have come down with something. We might have to put off the deadline a few days until I recover.”
He pretended to cough again. “I feel so weak. The room is spinning.”
Yuki rolled his eyes. How very like Shigure. He opened the fridge and saw the open carton of chow mien, chopsticks still sticking out of it from when Kyo had put it back in the fridge. He clenched his fist, angrily taking the carton out of and throwing it away with disgust.
Shigure hung up the phone. He had a pleased expression on his face.
“Ah, Yuki, you’re home,” he said in a happy way that seemed to get under Yuki’s skin.
“How was school?”
He tapped his fingers on the counter, counting back from ten before he answered.
“I saw Kagura at Hatori’s today,” he finally said. “She nearly killed Kyo.”
“Oh really,” Shigure answered with surprise. “Hari didn’t mention that.”
“Well, it would serve him right,” Yuki added.
The carton stuck out of the already overflowing garbage can and he tried to ignore it. Things seemed to rapidly be getting worse without worry about that.
Shigure tisked at him, wagging a finger as he did so.
“Really, Yuki. Can’t you let him be, even when he’s sick? After all, he’s not purposely trying to annoy you, at least not at the moment.” He leaned forward, batting his eyes. “And how’s Tohru?”
Yuki turned around.
“Miss Honda? She’s still asleep. It’s strange that she’d sleep so long.”
“Yes, isn’t it,” Shigure agreed. “But Hari does know what he’s doing and he did say he’d put her on heavy medication. I just wish I’d made it down there to see her today. But I had to work on my manuscript.”
He looked guiltily towards his office.
Yuki rolled his eyes, recalling the side of the conversation he’d heard between Shigure and his editor.
“I wouldn’t suggest going to see her tomorrow,” he said. “Hari practically put a ban up because things got out of hand today. I guess there were just one too many visitors.”
Shigure smiled proudly.
“I’m not surprised. Our dear Tohru is quite the popular young lady. And Kyo’s becoming quite the popular young man.”
“I’m going upstairs,” Yuki said stiffly and left the room. 'Before I gag.'
“Kyo?” Hatori took a step back. “What are you doing here?”
Kyo put a hand on the bed and used it as leverage to sit up, trembling a bit as he did.
He grumbled. “What’s it look like? I was sleeping.”
He shielded his eyes from the light.
“I can see that, but what are you doing here?” Hari noted that he was in a different shirt, which meant that Shigure and been right.
He’d at least gone home for a while. He must have snuck back in after everyone had fallen asleep.
“Had to see…Tohru.” He stood up with effort, swaying a bit as he did so.
Hari put out a supporting hand but he pushed it away, using the bed instead.
“I can do it. I’m not a baby, ya know. I don’t need any help.”
He looked tired, like someone who hadn’t gotten enough sleep, which was very likely. And his face seemed flushed.
“Sit down,” Hari commanded his younger cousin.
“What for?”
“Just do it.” He forced Kyo to sit in the chair, noting that he didn’t fight as much as he probably would have, unlike yesterday.
That alone told him volumes. He put a hand up to his forehead. It was decidedly warmer than it should be.
He sighed. “How long?”
Kyo grumbled and kicked off his shoes, guessing he could no longer hide it. He folded his arms defiantly. He could play at misunderstanding the question but knew he wouldn’t fool Hari.
“A few days,” he said grumpily. “Didn’t feel like saying anything with Tohru being so sick and everything. It’s no big deal.”
Hari felt his neck, noting that Kyo’s glands were swollen.
“Does it hurt to swallow?”
Kyo glared. “Yeah, ‘specially when you do that. And sometimes I cough.” He tried to stifle the urge that followed his comment.
Hari pulled out a thermometer and stuck it between Kyo’s lips, under his tongue.
“Keep that under there until I say,” he commanded and left the room to get his bag.
Kyo crossed one of his legs, agitatedly bouncing the other one, but obediently left the thermometer in his mouth. Hari returned shortly, his bag in hand. He pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it against Kyo’s chest.
“Breathe in and out, slowly,” he instructed.
Kyo did as he was told, though it seemed to make his throat feel more scratchy, enduring while Hari looked in his ears and up his nose.
“You finished,” he said around the thermometer, trying very hard to keep it under his tongue.
He was almost afraid that if he said anything else, he’d bite the glass instrument in two, just because it would make him angrier to have to talk around it. Hari didn’t answer but took the thermometer and looked at it. He took a long time looking at it.
“Let me look down your throat.” He shone his penlight at Kyo’s tonsils.
“All right already,” Kyo growled with little enthusiasm, thinking he was taking too long over everything. “Just tell me what it is!”
Hari put the light in a pocket of his coat.
“My suspicion is that you have strep,” he said matter of factly. “Not really surprising, all things considered. I can’t be sure without taking a throat culture though.”
He pulled out a long swab from its sterile packaging for that purpose.
“Over my dead body. Looking’s one thing, but jabbing…” Kyo tried to stand but sank back in his chair, his head spinning. He put a hand up to his head and clamped his lips shut.
“Don’t strain yourself,” Hari said. “It will only make it worse. You shouldn’t even be sitting. You’ve managed to make yourself quite sick, though not as sick as Tohru.”
He forced him to open his mouth while he swabbed his tonsils, then walked away with his sample, leaving Kyo gagging.
“Where… you going,” Kyo asked, feeling entirely humiliated but still trying to sound gruff. He wished he’d thought to bite him while his hand was in his mouth.
“I’m going to take care of this and find the spare cot I keep lying around. You’re too sick to send home right now,” Hari replied. “And while I’m gone you might want to think about how you’d like to take your medication. I can start you on the same thing I’m giving Tohru, but it’s only in the form of an injection, or you can wait until I can send someone to a pharmacy.”
It hadn’t taken long for Hari to set up the cot, though he'd waited to get it until he was sure of the throat culture’s outcome. His suspicions had been confirmed. But before he could instruct Kyo to move over to the narrow bed, a shadow filled the doorway.
“So.” The voice was laced with venom. “He is here. I thought I saw something… feline… flitting about late last night.”
Hari turned to look at Akito. Kyo swayed in his chair. He leaned his elbows against his knees, wondering if that would help make the room stay put. He looked up through his orange hair and eyes hazy with fever.
“Akito,” he said, then looked back down at his knees.
His head felt heavy, too heavy for his neck to support.
Akito smirked, glad that for once the cat showed subservience.
“Finally caught sneaking him in?” he asked the older of the two. “Why Hatori, how could you?”
“You needn’t worry about him,” Hari said in a dangerously quiet voice, doing his best to restrain himself as he stood up from smoothing out the sheets.
“Oh really,” Akito replied, hands on hips. “You know the rules, Hatori. He has no place here.”
Kyo clenched his fist, stealing himself to stand up, hoping he wouldn’t flop over the moment he did. He felt suddenly worse with Akito here, as if every breath Akito took spewed poison into the air.
“I allowed Tohru with the understanding of things to happen,” he continued, ignoring Kyo for the moment. “But to allow the cat…” He said the last word with total disgust.
“Why I oughtta…” Kyo said as he stood up too quickly.
The world spun. He groaned and lurched, falling to his knees. One hand went to the ground; the other went to his stomach, his forehead touching the floor where he stayed. He cursed his knees for not holding him up, silently adding a curse at Akito for breathing.
“Oh, I see,” Akito said. “The poor cat stayed too close to the door and got his tail caught. You really should have been more careful. But then you would never think to hide that mop of hair, now would you?”
He gloated over Kyo’s fallen form.
“Miserable are we?”
Hatori’s eyes glittered but Kyo didn’t answer as Akito continued to gloat over him. He knew it would only make matters worse. Besides, he had to keep his eyes closed or the room spun.
“What’s this? The cat whimpering?” Akito laughed. “Yes, I suppose you are miserable.”
“Leave him be,” Hatori said firmly.
“Why Hatori, I didn’t know you cared. How could anyone, especially for this miserable excuse for life,” Akito said as he turned to face Hari. “It’s almost sickening.” His eyes twitched. “Not that it really matters, but how sick is he?”
Hari didn’t immediately answer the quietly spoken question, which only angered Akito more.
“HOW SICK IS HE?!”
Hari blinked but looked steadily into Akito’s eyes. “Sick enough that he can’t go home.”
“Oh really. Is that so? Well, we’ll see, won’t we?”
Akito walked the few paces to Kyo’s side and kicked him with a sandaled foot. Hard. He did so twice, once in the ribs and once in the softer stomach area, where Kyo’s hand wasn’t protecting it. Akito half expected him to do something but he only groaned quietly, gritting his teeth through the pain. His stomach was in knots and started to heave, making it even harder to breathe.Hari looked at Akito with shock, unable to move. He knew how hard he could kick.Akito snorted with disdain.
“I suppose you’re right. How disappointing.” He took a step back, but not quite fast enough.
Kyo’s body convulsed and up came his late night supper. There wasn’t much but it was enough to make a mess on the floor, almost hitting Akito’s shoe, a small amount splashing up onto the hem of his robe.Akito looked with horror at his shoes, the mess of vomit on the floor, Kyo’s convulsing form and almost involuntarily took another step back, making disgusted faces as he did so.
“You…! You…!” He shook with rage, blood vessels throbbing.
“Akito,” Hari addressed him sharply. “I suggest you calm down. This will only do you harm.”
He looked at Hari, realizing he was right. He moved his gaze to Kyo. He really was a pitiful creature. Almost as pitiful as Tohru Honda. He didn’t know which he hated the most at the moment. Perhaps both. How dare he throw up on him?! He was half tempted to vent out in a rage but checked himself. Kyo wasn’t going anywhere and it wasn’t as much fun if there wasn’t a challenge to it. He’d never tell Hari he was right.
“He can stay,” he said with a voice of pure malice as he turned away from the disgusting creature. “For now. But this doesn’t mean he was invited here! And if I see him wandering around the grounds…”
His fists were shaking but he decided it was best to just get out of there before any other part of his clothing was fouled up by that… that disgusting creature. He’d never get the taint of it off, and he’d really liked that robe too. He brushed close to Hari as he walked out the door, leaving his threat hanging. His footsteps were loud on the wood floor. Hatori closed his eyes in relief, letting out the breath he’d been holding, his fists unclenching in his coat pockets. He hadn’t seen Kyo throw up but he’d heard it. And knowing how hard Akito could kick, he wasn’t entirely surprised.
“That was close,” he commented under his breath. “Too close.” I just hope he doesn’t go and do something foolish. He turned to Kyo.
“You can get up now,” he said more gruffly than he meant to.
Of course he’d have to be the one to clean up the mess. Too bad he couldn’t ban Akito from his house. It almost would have made things easier.
Kyo silently whimpered. He’d never let Hari know how bad it was. He weakly hit the floor with a clenched fist when he couldn’t make himself move, angry that he didn’t have the power within him to do as Hari asked. His ribs and stomach hurt and his head was whirling. He was afraid that if he even tried to sit up he’d only fall back over or worse.
“I… can’t,” he said quietly, his voice hard.
Hari sighed and went to help him, doing his best to not jostle him or get him in the mess on the floor, though it was hard. The boy was practically limp in his arms. Kyo hunched over as he helped him over to the cot, eyes tightly closed so that he didn’t have to see the ground spin under him, or anything else for that matter. He was breathing hard before he’d been situated on the narrow bed, clutching his arms to his chest in fetal position and shivering slightly once he was left to lie there. His body was turned to face the wall, knees drawn up. It hurt to breathe, but only partly because of Akito.
Hari pulled a sheet up over his shoulders, his eyes filled with calculated concern, the eyes of a doctor assessing a difficult situation. He debated. Akito’s poison only made things worse, even if it was only the poison of malice. Kyo had been much better before Akito had arrived.Hatori woke early, just before the sun truly rose, instincts waking him. Something felt wrong. He quickly dressed, pulling on clean clothes and headed for Tohru’s room. From the onset, everything looked fine. She was still asleep. But he felt a slight breeze coming from somewhere down the main hallway and went to investigate. He found one of the window screens open in the main room of his clinic.He looked around with annoyance, wondering who had moved it. The early light swept over the empty room but didn’t reveal anything out of place. He was almost relieved but his feeling of something being off didn’t go away. He retraced his way back to Tohru’s room, checking each corner on his way back. Everything was in order, including his supplies in the laboratory.He went back into Tohru’s room and looked around, the light now on. Then he saw it. A shoe protruded from behind the far side of the bed, a shoe with hopelessly knotted laces. He walked quietly over and nudged it. Its owner groaned and Kyo groggily uncurled from his position on the floor.“Kyo?” Hatori took a step back. “What are you doing here?”Kyo put a hand on the bed and used it as leverage to sit up, trembling a bit as he did. He grumbled. “What’s it look like? I was sleeping.” He shielded his eyes from the light.“I can see that, but what are you doing here?” Hari noted that he was in a different shirt, which meant that Shigure and been right. He’d at least gone home for a while. He must have snuck back in after everyone had fallen asleep.“Had to see…Tohru.” He stood up with effort, swaying a bit as he did so. Hari put out a supporting hand but he pushed it away, using the bed instead. “I can do it. I’m not a baby, ya know. I don’t need any help.” He looked tired, like someone who hadn’t gotten enough sleep, which was very likely. And his face seemed flushed.“Sit down,” Hari commanded his younger cousin. “What for?”“Just do it.” He forced Kyo to sit in the chair, noting that he didn’t fight as much as he probably would have, unlike yesterday. That alone told him volumes. He put a hand up to his forehead. It was decidedly warmer than it should be. He sighed. “How long?”Kyo grumbled and kicked off his shoes, guessing he could no longer hide it. He folded his arms defiantly. He could play at misunderstanding the question but knew he wouldn’t fool Hari. “A few days,” he said grumpily. “Didn’t feel like saying anything with Tohru being so sick and everything. It’s no big deal.”Hari felt his neck, noting that Kyo’s glands were swollen. “Does it hurt to swallow?”Kyo glared. “Yeah, ‘specially when you do that. And sometimes I cough.” He tried to stifle the urge that followed his comment.Hari pulled out a thermometer and stuck it between Kyo’s lips, under his tongue. “Keep that under there until I say,” he commanded and left the room to get his bag.Kyo crossed one of his legs, agitatedly bouncing the other one, but obediently left the thermometer in his mouth. Hari returned shortly, his bag in hand. He pulled out his stethoscope and pressed it against Kyo’s chest. “Breathe in and out, slowly,” he instructed.Kyo did as he was told, though it seemed to make his throat feel more scratchy, enduring while Hari looked in his ears and up his nose. “You finished,” he said around the thermometer, trying very hard to keep it under his tongue. He was almost afraid that if he said anything else, he’d bite the glass instrument in two, just because it would make him angrier to have to talk around it.Hari didn’t answer but took the thermometer and looked at it. He took a long time looking at it. “Let me look down your throat.” He shone his penlight at Kyo’s tonsils. “All right already,” Kyo growled with little enthusiasm, thinking he was taking too long over everything. “Just tell me what it is!”Hari put the light in a pocket of his coat. “My suspicion is that you have strep,” he said matter of factly. “Not really surprising, all things considered. I can’t be sure without taking a throat culture though.” He pulled out a long swab from its sterile packaging for that purpose.“Over my dead body. Looking’s one thing, but jabbing…” Kyo tried to stand but sank back in his chair, his head spinning. He put a hand up to his head and clamped his lips shut.“Don’t strain yourself,” Hari said. “It will only make it worse. You shouldn’t even be sitting. You’ve managed to make yourself quite sick, though not as sick as Tohru.” He forced him to open his mouth while he swabbed his tonsils, then walked away with his sample, leaving Kyo gagging.“Where… you going,” Kyo asked, feeling entirely humiliated but still trying to sound gruff. He wished he’d thought to bite him while his hand was in his mouth.“I’m going to take care of this and find the spare cot I keep lying around. You’re too sick to send home right now,” Hari replied. “And while I’m gone you might want to think about how you’d like to take your medication. I can start you on the same thing I’m giving Tohru, but it’s only in the form of an injection, or you can wait until I can send someone to a pharmacy.”It hadn’t taken long for Hari to set up the cot, though he'd waited to get it until he was sure of the throat culture’s outcome. His suspicions had been confirmed. But before he could instruct Kyo to move over to the narrow bed, a shadow filled the doorway.“So.” The voice was laced with venom. “He is here. I thought I saw something… feline… flitting about late last night.”Hari turned to look at Akito. Kyo swayed in his chair. He leaned his elbows against his knees, wondering if that would help make the room stay put. He looked up through his orange hair and eyes hazy with fever. “Akito,” he said, then looked back down at his knees. His head felt heavy, too heavy for his neck to support. Akito smirked, glad that for once the cat showed subservience. “Finally caught sneaking him in?” he asked the older of the two. “Why Hatori, how could you?”“You needn’t worry about him,” Hari said in a dangerously quiet voice, doing his best to restrain himself as he stood up from smoothing out the sheets.“Oh really,” Akito replied, hands on hips. “You know the rules, Hatori. He has no place here.”Kyo clenched his fist, stealing himself to stand up, hoping he wouldn’t flop over the moment he did. He felt suddenly worse with Akito here, as if every breath Akito took spewed poison into the air.“I allowed Tohru with the understanding of things to happen,” he continued, ignoring Kyo for the moment. “But to allow the cat…” He said the last word with total disgust.“Why I oughtta…” Kyo said as he stood up too quickly. The world spun. He groaned and lurched, falling to his knees. One hand went to the ground; the other went to his stomach, his forehead touching the floor where he stayed. He cursed his knees for not holding him up, silently adding a curse at Akito for breathing.“Oh, I see,” Akito said. “The poor cat stayed too close to the door and got his tail caught. You really should have been more careful. But then you would never think to hide that mop of hair, now would you?” He gloated over Kyo’s fallen form. “Miserable are we?”Hatori’s eyes glittered but Kyo didn’t answer as Akito continued to gloat over him. He knew it would only make matters worse. Besides, he had to keep his eyes closed or the room spun.“What’s this? The cat whimpering?” Akito laughed. “Yes, I suppose you are miserable.”“Leave him be,” Hatori said firmly.“Why Hatori, I didn’t know you cared. How could anyone, especially for this miserable excuse for life,” Akito said as he turned to face Hari. “It’s almost sickening.” His eyes twitched. “Not that it really matters, but how sick is he?”Hari didn’t immediately answer the quietly spoken question, which only angered Akito more.“HOW SICK IS HE?!”Hari blinked but looked steadily into Akito’s eyes. “Sick enough that he can’t go home.”“Oh really. Is that so? Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” Akito walked the few paces to Kyo’s side and kicked him with a sandaled foot. Hard. He did so twice, once in the ribs and once in the softer stomach area, where Kyo’s hand wasn’t protecting it. Akito half expected him to do something but he only groaned quietly, gritting his teeth through the pain. His stomach was in knots and started to heave, making it even harder to breathe.Hari looked at Akito with shock, unable to move. He knew how hard he could kick.Akito snorted with disdain. “I suppose you’re right. How disappointing.” He took a step back, but not quite fast enough. Kyo’s body convulsed and up came his late night supper. There wasn’t much but it was enough to make a mess on the floor, almost hitting Akito’s shoe, a small amount splashing up onto the hem of his robe.Akito looked with horror at his shoes, the mess of vomit on the floor, Kyo’s convulsing form and almost involuntarily took another step back, making disgusted faces as he did so. “You…! You…!” He shook with rage, blood vessels throbbing.“Akito,” Hari addressed him sharply. “I suggest you calm down. This will only do you harm.”He looked at Hari, realizing he was right. He moved his gaze to Kyo. He really was a pitiful creature. Almost as pitiful as Tohru Honda. He didn’t know which he hated the most at the moment. Perhaps both. How dare he throw up on him?! He was half tempted to vent out in a rage but checked himself. Kyo wasn’t going anywhere and it wasn’t as much fun if there wasn’t a challenge to it. He’d never tell Hari he was right.“He can stay,” he said with a voice of pure malice as he turned away from the disgusting creature. “For now. But this doesn’t mean he was invited here! And if I see him wandering around the grounds…” His fists were shaking but he decided it was best to just get out of there before any other part of his clothing was fouled up by that… that disgusting creature. He’d never get the taint of it off, and he’d really liked that robe too. He brushed close to Hari as he walked out the door, leaving his threat hanging. His footsteps were loud on the wood floor.Hatori closed his eyes in relief, letting out the breath he’d been holding, his fists unclenching in his coat pockets. He hadn’t seen Kyo throw up but he’d heard it. And knowing how hard Akito could kick, he wasn’t entirely surprised. “That was close,” he commented under his breath. “Too close.” I just hope he doesn’t go and do something foolish. He turned to Kyo. “You can get up now,” he said more gruffly than he meant to. Of course he’d have to be the one to clean up the mess. Too bad he couldn’t ban Akito from his house. It almost would have made things easier.Kyo silently whimpered. He’d never let Hari know how bad it was. He weakly hit the floor with a clenched fist when he couldn’t make himself move, angry that he didn’t have the power within him to do as Hari asked. His ribs and stomach hurt and his head was whirling. He was afraid that if he even tried to sit up he’d only fall back over or worse. “I… can’t,” he said quietly, his voice hard.Hari sighed and went to help him, doing his best to not jostle him or get him in the mess on the floor, though it was hard. The boy was practically limp in his arms. Kyo hunched over as he helped him over to the cot, eyes tightly closed so that he didn’t have to see the ground spin under him, or anything else for that matter. He was breathing hard before he’d been situated on the narrow bed, clutching his arms to his chest in fetal position and shivering slightly once he was left to lie there. His body was turned to face the wall, knees drawn up. It hurt to breathe, but only partly because of Akito. Hari pulled a sheet up over his shoulders, his eyes filled with calculated concern, the eyes of a doctor assessing a difficult situation. He debated. Akito’s poison only made things worse, even if it was only the poison of malice. Kyo had been much better before Akito had arrived.“I’ll be back,” he said finally and went to get something. He returned with another blanket, some cleaning cloths and a hypodermic, which he set to one side. He spread the blanket over Kyo’s scrunched body, hoping that would help him with the shivering. He used the cloths to clean the mess before anyone else stepped in it. That taken care of, he pulled a small phial from his lab coat pocket and filled the needle. “I can’t wait for someone to bring a different medication,” he said. “And I’m sure you can’t either. Believe me, if I thought there was any other way, I would take it. I know how much you hate these kinds of things.” He tapped the needle, squirting some of the liquid back out to get rid of any air bubbles and set it aside. He tried to pull Kyo’s arm out from under the blanket. It took some effort since Kyo didn’t want to move. It was like picking up a pitiful baby kitten that couldn’t help but fight, even knowing that the person trying to hold it only wanted to help. He cleaned the inner part of his elbow with an alcohol swab. He had to keep a firm grip on Kyo’s arm, knowing he would only pull it back towards himself if he let go, which meant he’d have to fight to get it free again. Still holding his arm firmly, he put down the swab and picked up the syringe. “I hope this will help you feel better soon.” He slid the needle into the skin near the crook of his elbow and pushed firmly down on the plunger, the medication entering the bloodstream. Kyo cringed, a shudder running through him, his eyes still closed, but he didn’t fight it. Hari hadn’t been sure if he would and was glad when he didn’t seem to have the strength to. It was over before he’d thought to complain. And with the drug running through him, he suddenly felt even more tired than he had before. “I’ll go call your school, and I suppose I’d better let Shigure know as well,” he heard Hari say as his mind started to drift with the drug.“What… was…. that stuff…?” he slurred, pulling his arm back towards his chest, clutching at it like it were broken.“Try to get some sleep,” Hari answered. Those last words seemed to echo in his mind as everything else went black.“I understand,” Shigure said then hung up the phone. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He’d worried about Kyo, getting up early to check on him but saw that his room was still empty. He’d hoped he was still up on the roof but now he knew otherwise.Yuki entered the room, his book bag in hand. He stopped when he saw Shigure hanging up the phone.Shigure looked over. “Good morning, Yuki. Kyo won’t be going to school this morning,” he said.Yuki snorted quietly. “I’m not surprised.” I thought I told him to keep away from Miss Honda. I guess he just doesn’t know how to listen. “He’s sick,” Shigure said matter of factly. “I guess he went back to Sohma House late last night. Hari found him on the floor.”Yuki shook his head with disgust. Of course he’d gone back. How like Kyo was that? “Serves him right,” he muttered.“You might be interested to know that Akito is aware…” Shigure continued, not sure how Yuki would take that. After all, they all knew that Kyo had basically been forbidden to enter the main house, including any in the inner courtyard.“Akito?” A vessel in his temple throbbed with tension. He didn’t necessarily agree with Akito on a lot of things, in fact he didn’t agree when it came to most things, but it served the stupid cat right if he’d been caught.“Yes,” Shigure sighed. “He wasn’t happy about the situation but it appears that he has little choice but to let matters lie. Kyo’s too sick to be moved.”Yuki shrugged his shoulders, trying to pretend like he didn’t care. Kyo was likely faking it, after all, to keep out of trouble. “And Miss Honda?”“I didn’t ask,” Shigure responded as he headed to the kitchen.“You didn’t…” Yuki did his best to control his emotions, finally turning away. “I’m going to school. I’ll see you after, though I’ll probably go over to see Miss Honda before coming home.” He didn’t get any reply so he just headed out the door.Hana and Arisa watched Yuki from across the school grounds. Both were eating their lunches, watching their fellow classmates coming and going.“There is a lot of tension today,” Hana said. “Have you noticed that Tohru isn’t the only one who is missing? Kyo is also absent.”Arisa laughed. “Who, Orange-top? I hadn’t noticed.” She took a bite of her sandwich but didn’t taste it. She would likely be the last to admit it, but she had noticed his absence as well. The two struck off each other like flint and steal. They were both competitive and she definitely loved the challenge but didn’t seem to care for him otherwise.. “I don’t like it,” Hana said. “There is more going on than meets the eye. I believe it all began the night we found Tohru at Kyoko’s.” She thought about Tohru’s mother, of the night her sensitivity to the electric signals had led them to her grave, how they’d found Tohru there, weeping.“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Arisa said. “But I don’t know what we can do about it. Personally, I think Yuki knows more than he’s telling.” She looked over at the boy as she spoke, her expression unreadable.“You may be right,” Hana replied. “I feel a large amount of emotion coming from him. The electrical signals tell me that he is undergoing a great deal of turmoil. It’s even worse than our last meeting.”“I’ve half a mind to follow him around until I figure out where they’ve got her,” Arisa said, her fist clenching her sandwich. “He’s bound to visit her sometime.”“I’m just as worried about Tohru as you are,” Hana said. “I’m sure that if he thought he could tell us he would.”Arisa shook her head. “I don’t know about that. All the same, I’m gonna keep an eye on him.” She looked down at her sandwich in surprise, feeling the soft filling through her fingers. She looked at Yuki, then back to her sandwich. “Uh,” she said in response to her mangled food.“Grandpa Hatori,” Kisa said, trying to get Hari’s attention, pulling on his coat as he headed from the main room of his clinic. He turned around and knelt to her eye level.“Kisa,” he said with warmth, but a small amount of surprise. “Did you scrape another knee?”She shook her head. “No, you said I could see Sissy today,” she reminded him.He thought about yesterday. “So I did, but I’m afraid Tohru is sleeping right now,” he apologized. “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up.”She looked at him with pleading eyes. “Can’t I please see her, Grandpa Hatori? Just for a little while?”He smiled at her and stood up. “All right, but only for a little while.” He held out his hand and she took it, leading her back to Tohru’s, and now Kyo’s room.She looked around the room with large eyes. Tohru was in the bed she remembered but there was now another bed with Kyo in it. “Is Kyo sick too,” she asked.“Yes,” Hari answered. “You should put this on,” he said and handed her a facemask. “We wouldn’t want you to get sick too.” He helped her tie it, then let her go over to Tohru’s bed, lifting her gently up to sit next to Tohru.She looked at her sleeping sissy. “Why does she have a tube coming out her nose,” she asked.“It’s to help her breathe,” Hari explained. “Remember yesterday?” Kisa nodded. “She was having trouble breathing so we had to give her something to breathe through.”Kisa blinked her eyes, shyly touching Tohru’s hand. “If I get that sick will I have to have a tube to help me breathe too?”Hari smiled again, touched by Kisa’s sincerity. “I hope not,” he said. “Which is why you get to wear a mask, so that you don’t get that sick.”“Okay,” she agreed and slid off the bed. “We should let Sissy sleep, huh?”He couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Yes, we should let ‘Sissy’ sleep.” He took her hand again as she slipped it into his and walked her to the front door where she took off the mask and slowly handed it back to him. “Can I come back tomorrow? Do you think she’ll be awake,” she asked.“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “Tohru’s very sick, but we’ll see.”Kisa smiled and turned to run off. He watched her go, his smile sliding away. He sighed. What would he tell her if Tohru never did wake up?Arisa followed Yuki after school, doing her best to stay out of his sight. She was frustrated that it had taken him so long. He first had to stop and help a lower-classman find her things because she’d lost them. Then he had to stop and talk with one of the teachers. It was almost as if he had nothing better to do than to help other people like that. Finally, he started away from the school, and when he didn’t head towards home, she guessed he was going somewhere more interesting than just the grocery store. He walked with determination and she wanted to know where he was going. If it had anything to do with Tohru, she was going to find out. The route he was taking was not one she usually took, but at least the territory was familiar. They were somewhere near Hana’s house, she was sure, though he seemed to be heading for the more wealthy side. What would he be doing over here? There were no private clinics or hospitals over here, at least not for a mile or two. Surely he wouldn’t walk all that way when he could get a cab or something.He took a short cut through the train terminal and she lost sight of him among the adults coming and going. She cursed softly. “Where are you?” She wandered around for a while, asking every now and again if anyone had seen a boy fitting his description but most were unwilling to help or didn’t have an answer. Perhaps they really hadn’t seen him, but she wasn’t willing to accept that for an answer. They were just all working against her, keeping her away from Tohru. She headed back to the station, hoping to pick up on the trail there.But even after walking up and down the terminal, she didn’t come across any clues. There had to be a better way of following him, short of forcing him to take her to Tohru that is.“You can’t avoid me forever,” she said under her breath with a growl as she sat down on one of the benches, not entirely willing to admit defeat, this time. “I’m going to find out, one way or another,” she vowed, then decided to head home. She likely wouldn’t be able to find him after this, not today. Even she knew that.Yuki bowed respectfully when Hari answered the door. “How’s Miss Honda,” he asked before Hari could say a word.“She’s sleeping,” Hari replied. “Kyo’s here as well,” he added when Yuki didn’t ask, though it wasn’t entirely surprising.Yuki closed his eyes a moment, controlling his emotions. “I know. Shigure told me.”Hari nodded. “Come in.” He handed the younger boy a facemask before they went into the back room, which he put on.Yuki went almost immediately to Tohru’s side, looking at her still face as she slept. He was silent for a while, tracing her outline in his mind. “I feel as though this were, in a way, my fault,” he confessed.Hari leaned against the doorway. “Oh? Why would you say that?”Yuki shook his head. ‘I should have seen that there was something wrong sooner. There was just so much going on, what with Akito and Kyo…” he trailed off.“We only show people what we want them to see,” Hatori said. “We all know that Tohru doesn’t like people to worry.”Yuki clenched his fist. “I know, but I should have done something! I should have at least said more than what I did. I caught her the night before, coughing in the kitchen, but she insisted it was just a cold and that she’d go right to bed.” He glanced at Kyo, who was also sleeping, and his mouth twitched. Part of him wanted to blame it on him. “I never dreamed it could be something this bad.”The door suddenly flew open. “Kyo! Darling! I’m here!” Kagura Sohma burst into the room, her cat-shaped backpack swaying with her haste. Hari fought for balance as she knocked into him and kept going until she was at Kyo’s bedside. “Oh Kyo! Wake up!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, making him sit up as she did.“Huh…wha?” Kyo mumbled as she squeezed him around the middle in a fierce hug. He tried to push her arms off of him but was too weak to do much about it, even though he gave a valiant go of it, struggling with what strength he did have.“I’m so sorry you’re sick! Kisa told me and I just had to come over,” Kagura was practically yelling. “Oh Kyo! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”He was flung around with her expressions of concern and outrage as she shook him. He blinked, his eyes dizzy. “Can you…. let go…” he panted. “Can’t… breathe….”She dropped him and he flopped back against the pillows. “I’m so sorry! Speak to me love! Tell me! Where does it hurt?”“I think I’m going to be sick,” Kyo warned and turned away, hunched in the middle as he coughed.Yuki and Hari both seemed to wake up at this moment. “I think I may have to put a ban on the sick room,” Hari said with a bit of annoyance. “Kagura,” he said sharply and handed her a mask. “Next time, knock before you burst in.”She took the mask with a questioning expression, then saw Yuki in the room with his own mask on. “Oh,” she said and put the mask on. Kyo continued to cough for a while, then moaned as he rolled back over. “What… do you think… you were trying to do, woman,” he asked with not quite a growl; he wasn’t up to anything more than that. “You trying to kill me or something?”“No,” Kagura said through her mask. Several tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She looked away, brushing them aside and saw Tohru behind Yuki. “Is…Tohru sick too?”“Yes,” Hari answered. “You might want to try and remember that and keep your outbursts to a minimum.”She looked embarrassed and turned her head away. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean… It’s just that when I heard that Kyo was sick, I was so worried that I just had to check in on him,” she said quickly.Yuki looked mildly amused, hiding his concern behind his folded arms. So it was true that Kyo was sick, really sick. He’d wondered.Hari wondered who else would barge in, wondering if he should put up a public notice to keep visitors, and outbursts, at the lowest level possible. He could understand having a few visitors here and there, but things were starting to get a little more than out of hand. He had half a mind to shoo everyone out right then but didn’t, though he would insist that they kept away for a few days. At least Kyo hadn’t made good on his declaration of throwing up.Yuki returned home an hour later. He felt weary himself, though he was fairly certain that he hadn’t caught the strep yet. Hari had insisted on checking him over, to be on the safe side. The fact that he hadn’t had as much contact with Tohru lately was probably why he wasn’t sick, but then there was still always the possibility of something happening. Hari had reminded him to let him know the moment he felt the least bit ill. And after watching Kyo moaning and hacking up a lung, he couldn’t blame Hari for being so serious about it.He deposited his books in his room and went in search of something to eat. Shigure was snacking on some jelly buns he’d picked up at the store, talking on the phone in a very dramatic tone.“Oh Mii, I don’t know if I can do any writing tonight,” he was saying. He pretended to cough. “I seem to have come down with something. We might have to put off the deadline a few days until I recover.” He pretended to cough again. “I feel so weak. The room is spinning.”Yuki rolled his eyes. How very like Shigure. He opened the fridge and saw the open carton of chow mien, chopsticks still sticking out of it from when Kyo had put it back in the fridge. He clenched his fist, angrily taking the carton out of and throwing it away with disgust. Shigure hung up the phone. He had a pleased expression on his face. “Ah, Yuki, you’re home,” he said in a happy way that seemed to get under Yuki’s skin. “How was school?”He tapped his fingers on the counter, counting back from ten before he answered. “I saw Kagura at Hatori’s today,” he finally said. “She nearly killed Kyo.”“Oh really,” Shigure answered with surprise. “Hari didn’t mention that.”“Well, it would serve him right,” Yuki added. The carton stuck out of the already overflowing garbage can and he tried to ignore it. Things seemed to rapidly be getting worse without worry about that.Shigure tisked at him, wagging a finger as he did so. “Really, Yuki. Can’t you let him be, even when he’s sick? After all, he’s not purposely trying to annoy you, at least not at the moment.” He leaned forward, batting his eyes. “And how’s Tohru?”Yuki turned around. “Miss Honda? She’s still asleep. It’s strange that she’d sleep so long.”“Yes, isn’t it,” Shigure agreed. “But Hari does know what he’s doing and he did say he’d put her on heavy medication. I just wish I’d made it down there to see her today. But I had to work on my manuscript.” He looked guiltily towards his office.Yuki rolled his eyes, recalling the side of the conversation he’d heard between Shigure and his editor. “I wouldn’t suggest going to see her tomorrow,” he said. “Hari practically put a ban up because things got out of hand today. I guess there were just one too many visitors.”Shigure smiled proudly. “I’m not surprised. Our dear Tohru is quite the popular young lady. And Kyo’s becoming quite the popular young man.”“I’m going upstairs,” Yuki said stiffly and left the
“I’ll be back,” he said finally and went to get something.
He returned with another blanket, some cleaning cloths and a hypodermic, which he set to one side. He spread the blanket over Kyo’s scrunched body, hoping that would help him with the shivering. He used the cloths to clean the mess before anyone else stepped in it. That taken care of, he pulled a small phial from his lab coat pocket and filled the needle.
“I can’t wait for someone to bring a different medication,” he said. “And I’m sure you can’t either. Believe me, if I thought there was any other way, I would take it. I know how much you hate these kinds of things.”
He tapped the needle, squirting some of the liquid back out to get rid of any air bubbles and set it aside. He tried to pull Kyo’s arm out from under the blanket. It took some effort since Kyo didn’t want to move. It was like picking up a pitiful baby kitten that couldn’t help but fight, even knowing that the person trying to hold it only wanted to help.
He cleaned the inner part of his elbow with an alcohol swab. He had to keep a firm grip on Kyo’s arm, knowing he would only pull it back towards himself if he let go, which meant he’d have to fight to get it free again. Still holding his arm firmly, he put down the swab and picked up the syringe.
“I hope this will help you feel better soon.” He slid the needle into the skin near the crook of his elbow and pushed firmly down on the plunger, the medication entering the bloodstream.
Kyo cringed, a shudder running through him, his eyes still closed, but he didn’t fight it. Hari hadn’t been sure if he would and was glad when he didn’t seem to have the strength to. It was over before he’d thought to complain. And with the drug running through him, he suddenly felt even more tired than he had before.
“I’ll go call your school, and I suppose I’d better let Shigure know as well,” he heard Hari say as his mind started to drift with the drug. “What… was…. that stuff…?” he slurred, pulling his arm back towards his chest, clutching at it like it were broken.
“Try to get some sleep,” Hari answered. Those last words seemed to echo in his mind as everything else went black. “I understand,” Shigure said then hung up the phone.
He rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He’d worried about Kyo, getting up early to check on him but saw that his room was still empty. He’d hoped he was still up on the roof but now he knew otherwise.Yuki entered the room, his book bag in hand. He stopped when he saw Shigure hanging up the phone.
Shigure looked over. “Good morning, Yuki. Kyo won’t be going to school this morning,” he said.
Yuki snorted quietly. “I’m not surprised.” I thought I told him to keep away from Miss Honda. I guess he just doesn’t know how to listen.
“He’s sick,” Shigure said matter of factly. “I guess he went back to Sohma House late last night. Hari found him on the floor.”
Yuki shook his head with disgust. Of course he’d gone back. How like Kyo was that?
“Serves him right,” he muttered.
“You might be interested to know that Akito is aware…” Shigure continued, not sure how Yuki would take that.
After all, they all knew that Kyo had basically been forbidden to enter the main house, including any in the inner courtyard.
“Akito?” A vessel in his temple throbbed with tension.
He didn’t necessarily agree with Akito on a lot of things, in fact he didn’t agree when it came to most things, but it served the stupid cat right if he’d been caught.
“Yes,” Shigure sighed. “He wasn’t happy about the situation but it appears that he has little choice but to let matters lie. Kyo’s too sick to be moved.”
Yuki shrugged his shoulders, trying to pretend like he didn’t care. Kyo was likely faking it, after all, to keep out of trouble.
“And Miss Honda?” “I didn’t ask,” Shigure responded as he headed to the kitchen. “You didn’t…” Yuki did his best to control his emotions, finally turning away.
“I’m going to school. I’ll see you after, though I’ll probably go over to see Miss Honda before coming home.”
He didn’t get any reply so he just headed out the door.
Hana and Arisa watched Yuki from across the school grounds. Both were eating their lunches, watching their fellow classmates coming and going.
“There is a lot of tension today,” Hana said. “Have you noticed that Tohru isn’t the only one who is missing? Kyo is also absent.”
Arisa laughed. “Who, Orange-top? I hadn’t noticed.”
She took a bite of her sandwich but didn’t taste it. She would likely be the last to admit it, but she had noticed his absence as well. The two struck off each other like flint and steal. They were both competitive and she definitely loved the challenge but didn’t seem to care for him otherwise.
“I don’t like it,” Hana said. “There is more going on than meets the eye. I believe it all began the night we found Tohru at Kyoko’s.”
She thought about Tohru’s mother, of the night her sensitivity to the electric signals had led them to her grave, how they’d found Tohru there, weeping.
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” Arisa said. “But I don’t know what we can do about it. Personally, I think Yuki knows more than he’s telling.”
She looked over at the boy as she spoke, her expression unreadable.
“You may be right,” Hana replied. “I feel a large amount of emotion coming from him. The electrical signals tell me that he is undergoing a great deal of turmoil. It’s even worse than our last meeting.”
“I’ve half a mind to follow him around until I figure out where they’ve got her,” Arisa said, her fist clenching her sandwich.
“He’s bound to visit her sometime.”
“I’m just as worried about Tohru as you are,” Hana said. “I’m sure that if he thought he could tell us he would.”
Arisa shook her head. “I don’t know about that. All the same, I’m gonna keep an eye on him.”
She looked down at her sandwich in surprise, feeling the soft filling through her fingers. She looked at Yuki, then back to her sandwich.
“Uh,” she said in response to her mangled food.
“Grandpa Hatori,” Kisa said, trying to get Hari’s attention, pulling on his coat as he headed from the main room of his clinic. He turned around and knelt to her eye level.
“Kisa,” he said with warmth, but a small amount of surprise. “Did you scrape another knee?”
She shook her head.
“No, you said I could see Sissy today,” she reminded him.
He thought about yesterday.
“So I did, but I’m afraid Tohru is sleeping right now,” he apologized. “I’m not sure when she’ll wake up.”She looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Can’t I please see her, Grandpa Hatori? Just for a little while?”He smiled at her and stood up.
“All right, but only for a little while.”
He held out his hand and she took it, leading her back to Tohru’s, and now Kyo’s room.She looked around the room with large eyes. Tohru was in the bed she remembered but there was now another bed with Kyo in it.
“Is Kyo sick too,” she asked.
“Yes,” Hari answered. “You should put this on,” he said and handed her a facemask.
“We wouldn’t want you to get sick too.” He helped her tie it, then let her go over to Tohru’s bed, lifting her gently up to sit next to Tohru.She looked at her sleeping sissy.
“Why does she have a tube coming out her nose,” she asked.
“It’s to help her breathe,” Hari explained. “Remember yesterday?” Kisa nodded. “She was having trouble breathing so we had to give her something to breathe through.”Kisa blinked her eyes, shyly touching Tohru’s hand.
“If I get that sick will I have to have a tube to help me breathe too?”
Hari smiled again, touched by Kisa’s sincerity.
“I hope not,” he said. “Which is why you get to wear a mask, so that you don’t get that sick.”
“Okay,” she agreed and slid off the bed. “We should let Sissy sleep, huh?”He couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“Yes, we should let ‘Sissy’ sleep.”
He took her hand again as she slipped it into his and walked her to the front door where she took off the mask and slowly handed it back to him.
“Can I come back tomorrow? Do you think she’ll be awake,” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “Tohru’s very sick, but we’ll see.”
Kisa smiled and turned to run off. He watched her go, his smile sliding away. He sighed. What would he tell her if Tohru never did wake up?
Arisa followed Yuki after school, doing her best to stay out of his sight. She was frustrated that it had taken him so long. He first had to stop and help a lower-classman find her things because she’d lost them. Then he had to stop and talk with one of the teachers. It was almost as if he had nothing better to do than to help other people like that.
Finally, he started away from the school, and when he didn’t head towards home, she guessed he was going somewhere more interesting than just the grocery store. He walked with determination and she wanted to know where he was going. If it had anything to do with Tohru, she was going to find out. The route he was taking was not one she usually took, but at least the territory was familiar. They were somewhere near Hana’s house, she was sure, though he seemed to be heading for the more wealthy side. What would he be doing over here? There were no private clinics or hospitals over here, at least not for a mile or two. Surely he wouldn’t walk all that way when he could get a cab or something.He took a short cut through the train terminal and she lost sight of him among the adults coming and going.
She cursed softly. “Where are you?”
She wandered around for a while, asking every now and again if anyone had seen a boy fitting his description but most were unwilling to help or didn’t have an answer. Perhaps they really hadn’t seen him, but she wasn’t willing to accept that for an answer. They were just all working against her, keeping her away from Tohru. She headed back to the station, hoping to pick up on the trail there.
But even after walking up and down the terminal, she didn’t come across any clues. There had to be a better way of following him, short of forcing him to take her to Tohru that is.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” she said under her breath with a growl as she sat down on one of the benches, not entirely willing to admit defeat, this time.
“I’m going to find out, one way or another,” she vowed, then decided to head home.
She likely wouldn’t be able to find him after this, not today. Even she knew that.
Yuki bowed respectfully when Hari answered the door.
“How’s Miss Honda,” he asked before Hari could say a word.
“She’s sleeping,” Hari replied. “Kyo’s here as well,” he added when Yuki didn’t ask, though it wasn’t entirely surprising.Yuki closed his eyes a moment, controlling his emotions.
“I know. Shigure told me.”Hari nodded. “Come in.”
He handed the younger boy a facemask before they went into the back room, which he put on.Yuki went almost immediately to Tohru’s side, looking at her still face as she slept. He was silent for a while, tracing her outline in his mind.
“I feel as though this were, in a way, my fault,” he confessed.Hari leaned against the doorway.
“Oh? Why would you say that?”Yuki shook his head.
"I should have seen that there was something wrong sooner. There was just so much going on, what with Akito and Kyo…” he trailed off.
“We only show people what we want them to see,” Hatori said. “We all know that Tohru doesn’t like people to worry.”
Yuki clenched his fist.
“I know, but I should have done something! I should have at least said more than what I did. I caught her the night before, coughing in the kitchen, but she insisted it was just a cold and that she’d go right to bed.”
He glanced at Kyo, who was also sleeping, and his mouth twitched. Part of him wanted to blame it on him.
“I never dreamed it could be something this bad.”
The door suddenly flew open.
“Kyo! Darling! I’m here!”
Kagura Sohma burst into the room, her cat-shaped backpack swaying with her haste. Hari fought for balance as she knocked into him and kept going until she was at Kyo’s bedside.
“Oh Kyo! Wake up!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, making him sit up as she did.
“Huh…wha?” Kyo mumbled as she squeezed him around the middle in a fierce hug.
He tried to push her arms off of him but was too weak to do much about it, even though he gave a valiant go of it, struggling with what strength he did have.“I’m so sorry you’re sick! Kisa told me and I just had to come over,” Kagura was practically yelling. “Oh Kyo! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”
He was flung around with her expressions of concern and outrage as she shook him.
He blinked, his eyes dizzy. “Can you…. let go…” he panted. “Can’t… breathe….”
She dropped him and he flopped back against the pillows.
“I’m so sorry! Speak to me love! Tell me! Where does it hurt?”“
I think I’m going to be sick,” Kyo warned and turned away, hunched in the middle as he coughed.Yuki and Hari both seemed to wake up at this moment.
“I think I may have to put a ban on the sick room,” Hari said with a bit of annoyance.
“Kagura,” he said sharply and handed her a mask. “Next time, knock before you burst in.”
She took the mask with a questioning expression, then saw Yuki in the room with his own mask on. “Oh,” she said and put the mask on.
Kyo continued to cough for a while, then moaned as he rolled back over.
“What… do you think… you were trying to do, woman,” he asked with not quite a growl; he wasn’t up to anything more than that. “You trying to kill me or something?”
“No,” Kagura said through her mask. Several tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. She looked away, brushing them aside and saw Tohru behind Yuki.
“Is…Tohru sick too?”
“Yes,” Hari answered. “You might want to try and remember that and keep your outbursts to a minimum.”S
he looked embarrassed and turned her head away.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized.
“I didn’t mean… It’s just that when I heard that Kyo was sick, I was so worried that I just had to check in on him,” she said quickly.
Yuki looked mildly amused, hiding his concern behind his folded arms. So it was true that Kyo was sick, really sick. He’d wondered.Hari wondered who else would barge in, wondering if he should put up a public notice to keep visitors, and outbursts, at the lowest level possible. He could understand having a few visitors here and there, but things were starting to get a little more than out of hand. He had half a mind to shoo everyone out right then but didn’t, though he would insist that they kept away for a few days. At least Kyo hadn’t made good on his declaration of throwing up. Yuki returned home an hour later. He felt weary himself, though he was fairly certain that he hadn’t caught the strep yet. Hari had insisted on checking him over, to be on the safe side. The fact that he hadn’t had as much contact with Tohru lately was probably why he wasn’t sick, but then there was still always the possibility of something happening. Hari had reminded him to let him know the moment he felt the least bit ill. And after watching Kyo moaning and hacking up a lung, he couldn’t blame Hari for being so serious about it.
He deposited his books in his room and went in search of something to eat. Shigure was snacking on some jelly buns he’d picked up at the store, talking on the phone in a very dramatic tone.
“Oh Mii, I don’t know if I can do any writing tonight,” he was saying.
He pretended to cough. “I seem to have come down with something. We might have to put off the deadline a few days until I recover.”
He pretended to cough again. “I feel so weak. The room is spinning.”
Yuki rolled his eyes. How very like Shigure. He opened the fridge and saw the open carton of chow mien, chopsticks still sticking out of it from when Kyo had put it back in the fridge. He clenched his fist, angrily taking the carton out of and throwing it away with disgust.
Shigure hung up the phone. He had a pleased expression on his face.
“Ah, Yuki, you’re home,” he said in a happy way that seemed to get under Yuki’s skin.
“How was school?”
He tapped his fingers on the counter, counting back from ten before he answered.
“I saw Kagura at Hatori’s today,” he finally said. “She nearly killed Kyo.”
“Oh really,” Shigure answered with surprise. “Hari didn’t mention that.”
“Well, it would serve him right,” Yuki added.
The carton stuck out of the already overflowing garbage can and he tried to ignore it. Things seemed to rapidly be getting worse without worry about that.
Shigure tisked at him, wagging a finger as he did so.
“Really, Yuki. Can’t you let him be, even when he’s sick? After all, he’s not purposely trying to annoy you, at least not at the moment.” He leaned forward, batting his eyes. “And how’s Tohru?”
Yuki turned around.
“Miss Honda? She’s still asleep. It’s strange that she’d sleep so long.”
“Yes, isn’t it,” Shigure agreed. “But Hari does know what he’s doing and he did say he’d put her on heavy medication. I just wish I’d made it down there to see her today. But I had to work on my manuscript.”
He looked guiltily towards his office.
Yuki rolled his eyes, recalling the side of the conversation he’d heard between Shigure and his editor.
“I wouldn’t suggest going to see her tomorrow,” he said. “Hari practically put a ban up because things got out of hand today. I guess there were just one too many visitors.”
Shigure smiled proudly.
“I’m not surprised. Our dear Tohru is quite the popular young lady. And Kyo’s becoming quite the popular young man.”
“I’m going upstairs,” Yuki said stiffly and left the room. 'Before I gag.'