Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Set Fire to the Rain ❯ Sound of Madness ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Two
The Sound of Madness

Kyo watched the room silently, twitching now and then as he fought the instinct to get up and move. It had been twenty four hours since Haru had been brought into the bedroom, and he had yet to wake. The room was full of Sohma’s again, Tohru had been in and out of the room too but didn’t want to intrude no matter how many times the men told her it was ok for her to come in and help watch over Haru. Kyo was sitting on the floor of Yuki’s bedroom  his knees pulled against his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, with his head resting on his arms staring into his lap. He was working on forcing his breathing to come in smooth, steady, flows otherwise he knew his rage would get the better of himself. It had taken four people twenty minutes to clean Haru’s wounds and change the bandages. Hatori slowly walked them through the process the night before, and once again when he returned in the afternoon.

Hatori was risking a lot to be away from the main house and Akito’s demands. Being the Zodiac’s god Akito was used to his every whim being catered to. If Hatori wasn’t there to jump to Akito’s side there could be some very nasty consequences. Kyo didn’t know how he had managed to slip away again today, but the cat figured it couldn’t happen too many more days in a row.

Haru was still deeply asleep. He would occasionally whimper and try to thrash as if having a nightmare. This was a good sign according to Hatori, if he could dream and react to them, than he was slowly moving out of unconsciousness and into sleep. The bad thing was with every aborted thrash Haru increased the chance of ripping open some of his wounds upping the infection risk and lowering the chance of coming out of this unmarred.

The cursed cat had seen the evidence of torture, and it wasn’t lost on him that the ox had an exorbitant amount of older scars in the places not covered by fresh wounds. Even with taking Black Haru’s drive towards picking fights into account those were a lot of scars. Kyo himself didn’t have that many, and everyone hated the cat.

So what had actually happened to the hotheaded ox? Most sane Sohma’s tiptoed around Haru for fear of bringing out his Black side. Even Akito avoided Black Haru, in that state of mind the ox had no moral limits and would attack until the fight was over, or something big managed to snap him out of it. Knowing that, who would be insane enough to attack him? Not to mention strong enough to win against him. There was also the oddity of Haru not changing into his bovine form. The only explanation Kyo could come up with was Haru’s body was used to the stress and either didn’t change in the first place, or transformed back to a human quickly.

The whole situation was odd, and despite the evidence against Akito, Kyo wasn’t so sure it was him. Akito’s temper tantrums were quick and violent, Haru would have been found in Akito’s room if it had been the God’s fault, but from what he heard Haru was found elsewhere. Who else both knew about the zodiac, and hated them? That type of person quickly had their memories erased. This was all beginning to be one big frightening mystery.

Kyo’s thoughts were interrupted as Tohru knocked on the open door frame and hesitantly walked inside, “How is he doing?” She asked softly.

“He is still sleeping, physically I believe he will be alright if he continues to heal at the rate he is going. I wont be able to tell anything about his mental state until he wakes up, but he is a tough person to break and should come around with enough time and the right care.” Hatori replied fully, for the benefit of the whole room and not just Tohru.

“I’m glad he should be ok. This is horrible, I can’t believe this is happened to him.” Tohru’s large heart showed itself in her worried tone, but she held herself back from a full blown rant. Self control was something she was slowly learning, and Hana may have had something to do with that.

“None of us can believe it either Miss. Honda,” Yuki soothed, “But we are all going to have to work together to make sure he recovers fully.”

Shigure added his thoughts onto Yuki’s statement, “You’re right of course. Haru is definitely going to need help. However this happened it was not an accident, he is going to have a lot of issues to work through.” He explained.

“Don’t all stampede him at once though, with those injuries it wouldn’t take much for him to go Black, or transform fully. Let him set the pace on how quickly he talks about this.” Hatori warned knowing they would easily overwhelm Haru despite being well meaning.

“When do you have to be back at the main house?” Shigure asked, not sure what kind of welcome awaited the Dragon there.

“Not until the morning, I had the house staff spike his tea with a sedative, it wont wear off until after dawn.” Hatori blessed his forethought, he always carried a dose of that strong sedative with him just in case there was an emergency and he needed Akito out of the way. He had used it before, but never under such dire circumstances.

“I think I will head downstairs and start dinner, please excuse me.” Tohru left the room without waiting for a response. She really did feel like this was a time for the Sohma family to be together without her interference. She was just glad there was a good chance Haru would eventually be alright.

“She is a good girl, she doesn’t have to run away like that.” Hatori remarked quietly, having quite the soft spot for Tohru since the day she first came to the main house and reminded him so much of his dear Kana. Those days were over, but having Tohru around helped him believe there was a future worth looking forward to instead of always wallowing in the past.

“She never quite believed us when we told her this was her home now, Tohru is just giving us family time without realizing she has been a part of the family for quite a while now.” Shigure responded to Hatori’s comment.   

Kyo heard the exchange between the older zodiac members, but he was focused on Haru’s face, or more specifically his eyes, they were darting back and forth beneath his eyelids and he was breathing heavier, as if something was chasing him. He twitched his arms and legs but there didn’t seem to be any sign of the thrashing he had done earlier. “Hey, I think he might be waking up.” Kyo pointed out.

All three Sohmas whipped their gazes to Haru so fast Kyo wasn’t sure if the sound of cracking necks was real or his imagination running rampant on him again. Hatori had kneeled down at Haru’ side, checking his vitals, and putting his palm on the injured boy’s forehead. “He isn’t feverish, that is a very good sign. He might really be waking up soon.” Hatori’s small smile of relief was something rarely seen, but it was definitely a welcome sight.

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The darkness surrounded him like a shroud. He pushed further into it, coming no closer to finding a way out. He felt choked and chained, unable to move or breathe despite the feeling of retreating deeper and deeper. He wasn’t moving, something was pulling him, he realized as the sensations he was feeling sorted themselves out in his mind.

There was burning coming from his hip. It bit into him, draining his strength, pulling every ounce of energy into its fiery maw. Skin muscle and sinew all protested the enemy, sending their own jarring reports to his already overwhelmed brain. Other points of pain throbbed in counterpoint to the all consuming pain of his hip.

He started fighting against the blackness holding him hostage, thrashing and wriggling h tried to free his arms. Getting angrier and angrier as the dark held him tightly in its grasp, not easing no matter how hard he pulled, or twisted. Screaming with suppressed rage he yanked harder and harder, not caring about the waves of pain washing over him, the whispers of memory returning to his brain adding fuel to the fire. One sharp tug and a kick sent him careening out of his captor’s grasp, he felt himself falling, going faster and faster, this time with no restraining energy. A free fall to the bottom of an abyss.

Giving into the feeling, he let himself fall, turning himself so he was diving straight down, ready to hit the bottom of wherever this was. Nothing could hold him forever. He sensed some kind of bottom or wall ahead of him, gravity rushing him to his doom. He broke through the layer of caging night, and came up swinging.

The light stung his eyes, his body registered pain on top of pain, and he felt arms and body holding him. He was being restrained again, and he fought with what little strength he had dazed and delirious from his battle and fall through the darkness.  

When Kyo had pointed out Haru might be waking up, they sat back and watched the ox, hoping he would come to. But before Haru opened his eyes he started thrashing again. This time was the worst he had ever done, it was like he was fighting an enemy none of them could see.

“Quick! We have to hold him down, or he is going to rip everything back open!” Hatori barked as Yuki dived for Haru’s left side and Kyo grabbed his left, they both lay flat against Haru locking Hands around the Ox’s shoulders, using each other to stabilize their grip on the still valiantly fighting boy. Shigure laid himself across their locked hands, keeping steady pressure on the front of Haru’s hips, knowing his left thigh was branded he worked to keep that leg as immobile as possible.

Hatori knew there was nothing more he could do to hold Haru still, so he sat back out of the way of the other three, avoiding the flailing limbs. He was watching Haru’s eyes as they finally shot open, but he knew immediately that there was a big problem, those were Black Haru’s eyes, full of violence and rage. “Careful, he has gone Black, but he is awake, try talking to him. Don’t yell just talk.” Hatori called loud enough for Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure to hear.

All three started calling his name, as gently as they could manage, though Kyo soon stopped when he realized that this was Haru, probably the only voice that could bring him out of it was… “Hey Damn Rat, this is Haru he will listen to you, shut up Shigure.” Kyo ordered, surprising all of them by his conclusion.

“Come on Haru, wake up, its ok. You are safe now. Its Yuki, can you hear me? You are here at my house with Shigure, Kyo, Tohru, and Hatori. Whoever hurt you is gone, relax and come back to me.” Yuki spoke softly and smoothly, saying whatever came to mind that he thought would help White Haru come back.

With a strangled scream, Haru sat straight up despite the surrounding arms, and cried out a single word, “Father!” before falling back onto the pillow. He was exhausted and in pain, but awake and starting to realize where he was. “Yuki? Kyo? Shigure? What happened?” His voice wasn’t much higher than a whisper, much different than the shouted word that had all occupants of the room shocked into silence.

Hatori decided it would be best to avoid that issue for the moment, and after shooting a warning look at the three dumbfounded zodiac members, he addressed Haru. “You were found beaten in your room. I brought you here to treat your wounds in safety. You have been unconscious for over a day now, I don’t know when the attack was but you have been out ever since I got to you.” Hatori spoke slowly and matter of factly so the tired ox could absorb the information.

“Thank you for getting me out of there.” Haru responded after listening to him. Though he was distracted by the three people holding him down slowly releasing him so Hatori could check him over and see if the latest episode of thrashing had done any damage. “I’m sorry about that, I had a nightmare before I woke up.” Haru explained shortly. He did remember what happened when he went Black, but it was fuzzy and indistinct for the most part without the emotional edge that drove him in that persona.

“You couldn’t help it, we understand.” Yuki was quick to reassure, still surprised that it was his voice that had brought Haru out of his nightmare, and that it was that Stupid Cat’s idea in the first place. He was deliberately avoiding the word he heard Haru scream though, that was a mine field best left for when Haru was feeling stronger.

“Is everyone all right? I thought I heard fighting.” Tohru had reappeared hesitantly at the door, not noticing Haru was awake right away.

Haru heard her voice though, and called to her, “It’s alright, I just had a nightmare.”

When she heard that Tohru’s face lit up like the sun and she was grinning from ear to ear, “You’re awake! This is such good news.”

“Come in and sit down with us, you are one of us, as we’ve been trying to tell you.” Shigure teased as Tohru blushed crimson and walked into the room kneeling at Haru’s side beside Yuki.

“How are you feeling?” Tohru asked Haru.

“Like I got run over by a herd of my Zodiac.” Haru replied with a weak smile, his sense of humor was something to cling to in order to take his mind off the pain of Hatori sterilizing and rewrapping the wounds he had torn back open.

“We will take good care of you, and make sure you are healed up quickly.” Tohru promised him, seeing the wince of pain as Hatori checked the thick bandage on his left leg. “Now I’m not running away, but dinner is on the stove in the kitchen and I don’t want it to burn. I can bring up bowls on a tray if you would prefer eating up here?”

“That would be nice, someone had better go help you though as that would be a lot of food for one person to carry. As for Haru, could you please warm up come chicken broth? He shouldn’t have anything too heavy for awhile.” Hatori answered her questions when it seemed like the others were taking a long time to come up with an answer.

“I’ll help Tohru,” Kyo volunteered as he really needed a bit of a break from sitting in that room all day.

“Thank you Kyo, and yes I can do that Hatori, its no problem at all.” Tohru replied before rising and heading down to the kitchen.

When Kyo was finally alone with Tohru in the kitchen, feeling that the crisis with Haru was lessening, he decided to broach the subject Yuki had brought up the day before. “Tohru, where is Hana tonight?”

“She went home, I asked her to please not come tonight. I didn’t think you would appreciate her being here if Haru transformed from his injuries. I was glad we got through last night without Hana getting her memories erased.” Tohru had a tendency to babble when she was nervous, and Kyo wasn’t above using that to his advantage.

“Tohru, you do realize Shigure wasn’t joking right? You are one of us, if Hana is important to you, I mean if she is really close and finds out. We will find a way to protect her. If she is with you then she is under our protection.” It hurt Kyo to say that, he didn’t like it when things changed, and if their theory was right, things were changing in a big way. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to give up Tohru without a fight. Tohru was someone to protect and that’s all that Kyo thought as he offered this to her, if it made her happy it was the right thing to do, despite the aching in his chest.

Tohru’s eyes widened as she listened to Kyo talk. She was about to flip out and deny everything, when instead she slumped in defeat. “Kyo, I don’t know what to say, I just, it’s a lot. Hana and I, well things are happening, and I am so scared. Scared I would be rejected the moment one of you found out, I’m still afraid of being cast out again, of losing another home. To hear you say that is the best thing I could hear but still my mind is telling me to run for the hills.” Tohru confessed, feeling everything she had locked away well up inside.

Kyo wanted to hold her then, to hug her until her tears dried up, but what good would a cat be to her. Instead he searched for the right words, he was always getting in trouble for speaking before he thought and this was a time he desperately wanted to avoid that. “You will never be cast out. Look at me, I am the family pariah, everyone in the zodiac is programmed to hate me, but here I am in this kitchen. I have been given a home here when I should have been thrown out the moment I stepped through the door. You came here a total stranger, an innocent, and when you learned things that would make normal people run screaming. You just smiled and agreed to keep our secret, knowing we were cursed, and that there were darker things in this family than just the annoyance of changing into an animal. You accepted me when you found out about the cat’s curse. We can do no less in return. This family owes you Tohru, even Akito allowed you to come home with us after you went to him directly and fought for the right to stay here.

Tohru was crying in earnest now, big dark tears that clouded her vision, and finally Kyo couldn’t hold back. He held her tightly for the heartbeat it took to change, leaving her cuddling his feline form. “We will protect you Tohru, you and Hana.” Kyo finished knowing it was true, despite his lingering fear of giving her up. “Just promise me that unless there is no other option, you bring Hana to us, instead of letting her take you away.”

“I promise Kyo.” Tohru whispered. Shaking herself out of her tears, and putting him down on the floor so he could change back. If she burned dinner over these tears she would just upset herself again.

By the time she had the brooth heated and the rich stew poured into bowls, Kyo had transformed back and was bale to help her carry them upstairs.

“What happened? We heard the sound of you transforming?” Yuki asked suspiciously looking between the two of them.

“Oh that, I was clumsy and tripped. He tried to catch me and we accidentally hugged.” Tohru spoke frantically, fooling no one, they knew she was covering something up. The older ones let it go as an oddity while Yuki raised an eyebrow. Kyo mouthed the word later to him, before handing out his share of the bowls.

The rest of the evening passed smoothly as Haru was welcomed back to the realm of the living with food and talk. They all silently agreed to keep the topics light for the evening, Hatori’s words from earlier still rung in their ears and they had no desire to have another run in with Black Haru for a good long time.Converting /tmp/phpFvf9Y1 to /dev/stdout