Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Light in My Life ❯ Resolutions ( Chapter 4 )

4: Resolutions

Tohru crossed her arms on the table. "Hatori-san... I do have a question for you, but I want to know something." Hatori watched her, then bade her ask. "How are you?"

He blinked for a moment. "E-excuse me?" Hatori furrowed his brow. "I'm fine, I suppose. How are you, Tohru-kun?"

Tohru smiled. "I am well, and I am happy that you are well." She paused. "Do you ever leave the house to go anywhere beside work?"

Hatori shook his head. "No, not usually."

"No eating out, no going out for the fun of it?" Tohru asked, keeping her voice soft and non-intrusive. Hatori shook his head. "Hatori-san, would you like to go to dinner on Friday night?"

He looked slightly surprised, then nodded his head. "Though I don't know why you would want to go anywhere with an old guy like myself," he commented with a bit of humor. Tohru smiled.

"On the contrary, Hatori-san. I very much enjoy your company," she replied truthfully.

Hatori turned away for a moment, letting his hair cover his injured eye. To dinner, with a young high school girl? It would definitely give people the wrong idea if she still looked like a school girl, but she had grown out of it. Was it right to take a high school girl out to dinner? Shigure would tease him for weeks about it.

He glanced up, and Tohru's radiant smile immediately caused him to lift one lip slightly in what could appear to be a smile of his own. There was no avoiding it.

Tohru looked at her feet, her gaze turning slightly more sullen. "I don't know if what I have to ask is a medical question," she said, "but I thought that perhaps, I might need the advice of a very wise person." She looked at him, and it took Hatori a moment to register what she had said.

Wise? Him? This was it; she was definitely insane. "I'm the least wisest of people here," he said in all seriousness. Tohru looked surprised.

"But Hatori-san is the smartest, oldest, most intelligent person I know! Hatori-san is very wise," she assured him. With Tohru, he was unable to deny it further.

With a sigh, Hatori gave her a firmer look. "What was it you wanted advice on, then?"

Tohru smiled, happy to have him finally accept her verdict. "I've been having these dreams, lately," she began.

"I don't die, and they're not like nightmares at all... They're actually quite pleasant. I just don't understand what they mean, and they've been regularly recurring." Hatori put his hand on his chin.

"What are these dreams like?" he asked, then watched with interest as a quick blush spread across her face. "Oh, Tohru...!" She stared at him, then immediately began shaking her head.

"Oh no! Not like that, Hatori-san!" Hatori couldn't stop himself from chuckling. Who could ever imagine a sweet, innocent thing like Tohru having a dream like that? He held in his laughter, letting his mask of seriousness take over again. Still looking flustered, she glanced at him for permission to continue.

"Describe them to me, Tohru-kun. If you can," he added. She blushed again.

"There's a man in them," she started, ignoring the innuendo, "but I can never see his face. He seems like my husband." Tohru glanced at her hands, furrowing her brow. "I feel like I know him very well... and that I love him, and he loves me too."

Hatori looked at her for a long moment. Was she itching to be a bride, maybe? "Tohru-kun, do you like anyone right now?"

Tohru looked at him curiously. "Of course! I like Yuki-kun, Kyou-kun, Shigure-san, Momiji-kun, Haru-kun, Hatori-san, Ayame-san, Kagura-san, Kisa-chan, Hiro-kun, and Ri-chan-san!" she announced happily. Hatori rubbed his temples.

"I mean, as in a more... affectionate relationship. Someone you really like," he clarified. Tohru blinked, then looked down thoughtfully.

"No," she replied truthfully. Hatori furrowed his brow.

"I think that maybe, there is someone you are supposed to be liking... that someone who is in your dream. I think that maybe your subconscious is telling you to grow up, Tohru-kun," he told her. Tohru raised her eyebrows.

"...grow... up?" Hatori nodded.

"Someday, you will have to start liking a boy and go on dates, and get married," he said. "I know you love many people, but you have to grow up sometime."

Tohru lowered her head, making her expression invisible. She stood up slowly, then glanced up and smiled as if nothing had happened.

"Thank you for your advice, Hatori-san. I probably should be getting back to Shigure-san's house so that the others don't worry," she said wisely. Hatori nodded, standing up as well.

Tohru took her coat off the hanger, fixing it around her as Hatori watched from the table. It wasn't right to make her grow up too quickly, he told himself. She was so naive and innocent... he let out a sigh. It wasn't even right that she was still involved with the Sohmas. Nothing good would come of it, and she would only get hurt.

"Tohru-kun," he said. She paused, turning to look at him. "Tohru-kun... Leave the family." Tohru kept her eyes fixed on him, her face unchanging. "I don't want to see you get hurt. Kyou-kun and Yuki-kun love you very much, and I don't want you to get hurt because of them. Go on dates with boys, get married... the Sohmas will never bring anything except pain."

Tohru turned her head, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Hatori-san," she said in a quiet voice. "I love them too. I could never just leave them." She looked up again, tears brimming in her eyes. "I would never leave you."

Hatori walked towards her, forcefully putting his hands on her shoulders. "Tohru-kun!" he said, his voice louder. "I care about you, Tohru-kun. Please, if just for my sake..." She shook her head.

"Thank you, Hatori-san, for worrying about me, but I will be alright. I am not afraid," Tohru told him.

"You are important to me, Tohru-kun, and to the others too. We could never see you get hurt because of us," he said softly.

Tohru smiled, wiping the tears from her face. "Then I won't get hurt, and I won't leave you." She tied the middle of her coat, still unwilling to trust the summer weather at night. "Thank you, Hatori-san."

She turned, walking to the door and opening it. "Wait, Tohru-kun," Hatori said suddenly. Tohru turned around, a questioning expression on her face. "I'll drive you home. It's dangerous to walk around anywhere at night these days," he insisted.

Tohru smiled, and he led her out the door and down the steps towards his own personal driveway, where his dark sedan waited.. "Your carriage, princess Tohru," he said, opening the door for her. Before she could ask him where he had gotten the nickname, he had closed the door. Climbing into the driver's seat, he turned on the engine and they drove away.