Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Butterfly Effect ❯ The Road Less Traveled ( Chapter 3 )

Special Author's Note: A million points if you can find the "special" quote in this chapter. Hint: It's from a famous poem that was made into a song in a musical.

Quick Vocabulary:

Tadaima: I'm home.

Chapter Summary: Tohru discovers the true advantages of a road trip. The butterfly is evil.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Natsuki Takaya/HAKUSENSHA - TV TOKYO - NAS - Fruba Project.

Warning: Rated R for language, implied rape, torture, and adult situations.

Chapter 3: The Road Less Traveled

Two roads diverged in a woods and I,

I took the road less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost, "A Road Less Traveled"

Their first stop is the train station. From a fencing match she once saw, Tohru knows that this move is a feint. Kyou packs the bags from the taxi, leaving his hood down so that his bright orange hair glows in the station lights. Yuki carries Tohru, moving in that way he has that screams, "Notice me!" They announce their destination to the stationmaster, buying three tickets for a train that leaves in three and a half hours. Then Yuki mentions being hungry and they vocally decide to go find some all-night ramen shop.

Once they leave the station, Kyou raises his hood and exchanges Tohru for the bags. Nobody says anything as Kyou carries Tohru in the opposite direction that Yuki ultimately takes.

Kyou cradles Tohru in his lap, absently stroking her hair. The park bench is hard but Kyou is trying to cushion her as best he can. They are waiting for Yuki. Grey hair is much less distinctive than orange and Yuki is a smoother talker than Kyou. There is a good chance that the car rental agent won't even remember him if anybody asks. Of course, after what has happened, they won't be relying on a good chance. They will be changing cars a few towns over and renting from a different agency. The butterfly finds all of the intrigue amusing. To her shame, Tohru thinks that she might agree.

The sky has the hazy gray that comes just before sunrise. Just over from the bench, a street lamp gutters. "Soon," Kyou almost seems scared. "Soon it will be morning. Where is that kuso nezumi?"

"Right behind you, baka neko."

Tohru is sure that she has lost years of life when her heart finally beats again. Kyou doesn't seem much better. "Don't ever sneak up on me like that rat. I thought that Akito might have found us."

Yuki loses some of his smugness. "I'm sorry if I scared you Tohru."

Tohru can see that Kyou recognizes the implied apology.

"Come on, I left the car running. I want to be out of town before sunrise."

###

It is a beautiful sunrise. Tohru raises her head slightly from the warmth of Kyou's lap. She memorizes the scenery bathed in the early morning light. She knows that she is unlikely to ever see it again. The thought of all that she is leaving makes her whimper slightly.

"Are you hurting?" Tohru can't recall Kyou ever sounding this gentle.

"No, it's silly…. I was just thinking that I didn't get to say good-bye. I was wondering if Hatori-san will erase Hana-chan's and Uo-chan's memories of me. I know it's selfish to think of that right now, but I will really miss them and the rest of the Sohmas."

"Well, you knew that we couldn't tell them even if our plan had worked, so it is silly. But you are a silly girl, Tohru."

Tohru blinks. Kyou sounds almost… playful. She looks up at him and suddenly a soft giggle escapes her. It makes her lungs ache, but the happiness on Kyou's face is more than worth the pain.

Yuki glances back from the driver's seat. "It's good to hear you laugh, Tohru."

Tohru feels warmth spread through her at the thought of pleasing the people most important to her.

*It's more than that silly girl. You're not as naïve as you pretend to be.*

Tohru had been wondering where the butterfly had gone. Now she was wondering why she had cared.

*Oh go to sleep.*

Tohru feels something warm, fluttering, that brushes her mind and body. She doesn't even have time to question it before she falls into a soft darkness.

###

"Tohru… Tohru…. You need to wake up. We need to change cars."

Yuki is gently shaking her shoulders while Kyou… Kyou is not moving. Probably because her face is now inches from the most sensitive part of his body. Tohru carefully lifts her head, allowing Kyou to shift out from under her. She is far too fuzzy to be embarrassed.

*And a part of you really just wanted to move in that extra couple inches. It didn't look like a bad package.*

Okay, it's official. Her butterfly is evil. Fortunately, the boys are going to think that her blush is from the awkward situation and not the graphic images that are currently alternating Kyou and Yuki as the stars. `I haven't even seen Yuki that close.'

*Well here's your chance sweetheart. It looks like the kitty's driving the next leg.*

Sure enough, Yuki is picking Tohru up from the seat while Kyou walks off towards the new rental station. Apparently the boys' cloak-and-dagger intrigue has extended to changing drivers to shake off pursuers.

*Really it's cute in a dorky, they-mustn't-get-out-much kind of way.*

Tohru isn't thinking these thoughts. There isn't an evil voice in her mind that is saying bad things and sending her very, very bad pictures.

"Are you sure that you're alright Hon- I mean Tohru."

*I was wondering when he was going to slip up. *

"I'm fine Yuki." `An evil voice in my head is just trying to make me picture you in your underwear doing something from one of those silly American spy movies.'

*This isn't all me you know. I can't put anything into your mind that isn't already there in one form or another. *

That thought is enough to terrify Tohru into complete mental silence until Kyou returns with the car. Once again, Yuki seems to think that she is just tired and adjusts her on his lap so that she is comfortably leaning against his shoulder. Leaning back against Yuki, waiting on a road curb for Kyou, Tohru is quietly happy.

`This is nice.'

*This is nice. *

It seems that there is something that she and her voice can agree on.

*But you're going to have to face what happened sometime. *

She refuses to let that thought pull her out of her contentment. Maybe later. But not now.

When Kyo finally pulls up in the rental, Tohru only gives a sleepy murmur of protest as Yuki shifts her and snuggles in tighter to his chest. Her ribs aren't hurting nearly as much now and she suspects that the healing process may be even faster than Hatori had thought.

*Maybe you can pretend to be hurt worse so that they'll carry you around longer. *

The idea is manipulative, dishonest and more than a little bit evil. Tohru is disturbed to find some non-butterfly parts of her mind cheering the butterfly on. The butterfly must have worked its way into her very soul with its stupid colorful images of not-completely-dressed Kyou and Yuki.

*Okay, I had nothing to do with that. *

Tohru decides that really, the only thing that she can do is to go back to sleep.

###

Yuki wakes her up for a supper of drive-through food. Apparently, she missed breakfast and lunch during her first nap. Tohru almost instantly realizes that supper is going to be a problem- her hands are still far too sore to grip anything. How she got the door open at Shigure's will forever remain a mystery. The soreness doesn't seem to phase Yuki at all. He merely offers to help her with her food. This turns out to be a monumental mistake. There is something oddly intimate about Yuki placing fries in her mouth. His eyes are darker than she recalls and his grey halo swirls with reds and golds. Suddenly, Tohru is having problems breathing that have nothing to do with her injured lung.

"Thank you Yuki, but I- I think I've had enough. I'm going back to sleep if you don't mind."

*Coward. *

`Oh what do you know?'

He wakes her up again when they reach the gate. As Kyou leaves to open the padlock, Yuki whispers into her hair. "I thought you might want to see our home for the first time."

The words bring reality to Tohru. Their home. In the fading light she can see the trees that line their lane, suddenly opening to a large clearing with a house set beside a cluster of trees. And, oh it is so much more than she had hoped.

"Wow," Yuki seems almost stunned.

They are completely silent as Kyou pulls up to the porch, opening the door so that Yuki can lift Tohru out. They stand there in the half-light, staring at the building in front of them. Finally, Yuki breaks the silence.

"We can return the rental car in the morning."

"Yah, let's just go in and get to bed."

Tohru looks up at Yuki's beautiful, gentle face and then over to Kyou's honest, passionate eyes. She smiles softly, sure that her heart is in her throat.

"Tadaima."

*Tadaima. *