Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Journey Home ❯ Dreams ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or the characters, they belong to Natsuki Takaya. I just have an overactive imagination.

A/N: Well I planned to write 2 or 3 chapters while I was on break this week, but instead I sat around doing nothing. It was glorious! I did make a yummy wallpaper of Ayame. ::stares at her desktop for a while:: He's so pretty! I stayed up way later than I should have to edit this chapter and get it posted, I want to keep a rate of at least one chapter every week. If I don't, I have a feeling the story will never end. Anyway... anyone still unsure of who the father is, rest assured, it's completely unveiled in this chapter. I thought it was obvious who it was with that last chapter, but I guess it wasn't. I got a kick out of the way different readers thought it was Yuki/Kyo for completely different reasons, some things I'd not even thought of. I had planned something different for this chapter, but this is what my muse gave me, so here it is. Does anyone actually read my little notes, I wonder? Standard 'thank you' to everyone who reviewed, to YTR for her invaluable help and encouragement, and to my Elf friend for being a wonderful guinea pig. Also a hello to Ms Videl Son and SangoGoddess. ^_^

Warning: I used some artistic license with the grammar here and there in this chapter (though probably I'm the only freak who would notice something like that). There may be OOC moments (I'm told I'm doing good with the characters, yay!) so if that bothers you, this might not be the story for you. (Hey, this is fiction, it's my world and I can do what I want with it!) Also, if premarital sex and/or unwed pregnancy bother you, this probably isn't the story for you.

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"The Journey Home"

Chapter 7: Dreams

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Clutching a pillow tightly to her chest, Tohru was jolted out of sleep in the middle of the night. She struggled to catch her breath as she rolled onto her back to stare blankly up at the ceiling. It was that dream again. She put a protective hand over her stomach and tried not to remember the disturbing images.

She was making dinner and humming softly to herself when she heard a child's giggle behind her. She turned around and saw her husband entering the room with their son on his shoulders. The little boy's hands were clasped tight in his father's hair, hair the same exact shade of orange as his own. She smiled at them and went back to her task.

"What are you making, 'Kaasan?" her son's tiny voice asked. "Leek onigiri" she teased, and giggled at her husband's sound of pain. "Those better not have leeks, wife." Came the harsh reply, but she could detect the smile in his voice. He came up behind her and rested his hands on her hips, looking over her shoulder. Her son touched her head and she looked up at him. He had his arms outstretched, his blue eyes pleading. How could she resist? She wiped her hands on her apron and took him into her arms for a tight hug. He snuggled against her neck causing her to giggle, a trick he'd learned from his father. She closed her eyes, loving the feel of his solid form in her arms. When she felt a gentle kiss on her forehead she looked up into her husband's loving face as he leaned down to place a soft kiss upon her lips.

In the next instant she felt her husband's yell of pain and surprise against her lips as he was yanked away from her and thrown across the room. His back smacked against the china cabinet, breaking the dishes with a loud crash as he fell to the floor, blood staining his shirt. Her son tensed at the noise and she hugged him tighter, keeping his face averted from his father's motionless, bloody form. Her eyes searched the room, but there was no-one. What could have caused this?

"I commend you for keeping a secret from me for so long, but did you really think you could keep the boy hidden forever?" A low voice said from nowhere, chilling her to the bone. "Akito," she breathed, and then he was there, standing before her in his pretty robes, his face an ugly mask of rage. He reached out and started to pull her son from her arms. She tried to hold on to him as she looked at his panicked face, but she wasn't strong enough. He began slipping from her arms and she cried out.

Akito smiled perversely and said "That's right, scream all you want, it's music to my ears. But it won't help you, nothing and no-one is going to help you. I'm the head of the Sohma family. These two are Sohmas, which makes them mine, and I'm taking them. Get a good look because this is the last you'll ever see them, and the last they'll ever see the light of day." With that, Akito pulled the boy completely from her grasp. Then he turned and pulled her husband up by his hair, and all three of them vanished while she screamed in anguish.

"Kyo," Tohru whispered, her voice filled with love and pain. With a lot of convincing, a little trickery, and some good acting on Yuki's part, she had successfully kept Kyo from being locked up after high school graduation. What would Akito do when he found out about the baby? The worry wasn't for herself, it was for Kyo and their child.

"Mom, you were always so strong, I wish you were here. I wish I had that strength." Tohru said while looking at her mother's picture on the nightstand. "Tohru," Kyoko's voice came, "you do have my strength. I was strong because of you, and you will be strong because of your child. You will have a mother's strength." Tohru imagined the child from her dreams, with his shock of orange hair and blue eyes, and hoped her mother was right.

She lay there for a while trying to sleep, but it just wouldn't come. She kept seeing Akito ripping her child from her arms and Kyo lying there, still and bleeding, surrounded by jagged pieces of pottery. She wished he was here with her now or they were back at Shigure's so she could go to his room and make sure he was ok like she'd done so many times.

Before graduation, she had had recurring nightmares of him locked up. She always awoke needing to see him, to touch him, to make sure he was ok. She would tiptoe into his room and watch him sleep for a while before gently touching his hand, shoulder, or cheek. Once, he had been having a bad dream so she'd sat with him, her heart aching as she held herself back from lying down beside him and holding him tight. As she held his hand and gently stroked her thumb over his skin, he'd calmed in his sleep. She'd kissed his cheek before silently heading back to her own room.

She found herself wondering again where he was and what he was doing. Was he ok? Did he think about her? Had she been too forward? Had she messed up their friendship? Had he not enjoyed it? Did he love her? Would he want the baby? Did he want to marry her? Would he want to marry her because of the baby?

She reigned in her thoughts. He'd left a note saying he had to leave for training on the mountain with Kazuma and he'd be back in about a month. That was almost two months ago now. He must be back at the dojo, so why hadn't he come to see her? Surely if something had happened on the mountain they would have been missed and she would have heard about it. Or if only Kyo had been hurt, Kazuma would have come to tell her. Tohru didn't always pick up on things, but she knew her love for Kyo didn't get past Kazuma. Maybe it was all his martial arts training, for it seemed that nothing got past Kazuma. She suddenly wondered if she could just ask him what Kyo's reaction would be. No, that was a cowardly thing to do. 'No more so than not going over there to tell him,' she thought and sighed.

Yes, she was being cowardly. When she had first thought she might be pregnant, she'd promised herself she would tell Kyo right away. As it was, it had been over a week since she'd found out for sure and she'd not even talked to him. She rationalized it, of course, telling herself that he had a lot to do at the dojo and that she didn't want to force him into anything. Both things were true, but did they really excuse not telling him? ... It wasn't like she was going to hide it from him. She just wanted to know how he felt first. That was normal, wasn't it?

At least she hadn't backed down from telling Yuki that she only loved him as a friend. Even though she'd been sure he didn't have romantic feelings for her, it had still been hard to tell him. She'd stumbled over her words, not knowing how to say it without hurting his feelings. He had understood what she was trying to say and confessed that he felt the same.

Tohru had been surprised when Yuki'd also confessed to having a crush on her until not long ago. She had likewise confessed to the crush she used to have on him. Yuki had assumed she'd met someone and fallen in love, and that was why she'd come to tell him how she felt, which was true. Only, he'd assumed she had met someone recently and had asked her when he was going to meet this mystery man. She hadn't had the heart to tell Yuki that her crush on him had faded in the second year of high school as she'd fallen in love with Kyo.

Even though she hadn't said anything that was untrue, she felt she'd lied to Yuki. If only she'd told him that day, he probably wouldn't have been that upset. Now, though, he'd be hurt because she lied to him. He might even wonder if she'd lied about anything else. Yuki was one of her dearest friends, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.

She usually looked forward to seeing Yuki, but she'd been relieved when he had called last week to say he wouldn't be making his usual visit. That meant it would be next month, or later, before she'd see him. She was glad for the time to think about what to tell him, and to tell Kyo about the baby. Kyo should have been the first to know, but five people already knew before he did.

Tohru looked at the clock and realized she wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight, so she got up to take a long bath and make breakfast for herself and Hana.

Hopefully the next chapter will be what I planned for this one. There was something else... oh yes! Thanks to Shiemi for her wonderful information on pregnancy (and Japan), I used her tip about dreams in this chapter. I made it a little different than what I think she meant to make it fit the story more, I'm glad there's no accuracy police. ^_^;; Maybe that's why I like fiction.

I like the way one author put it, I hope s/he doesn't mind if I quote "if you've come this far you've obviously read, so please review". I will add, though, please be kind since this is my first fan fiction and I'm very sensitive. Bad reviews... "I don't know if I could take that kind of rejection!" (Toy Story... never mind, I'm crazy.) I proofread it myself, which is hard to do, so there's probably still some errors (though I hope not so many that it's hard to read). Please let me know of any glaring errors and I'll fix 'em.