Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Pain of Love ❯ Chapter 9

Don't hate me for taking so long to update, please. I hired a cheap revising muse on this story. He likes to take very long extended vacations. The next chapter should be up much sooner. I pray it is anyway. Thanks goes out to my roommate for next year who will never read this author note for her comments on this chapter. I hope it helped as much as I think it did.

And please, don't hate me for making you wait so long for a short chapter. I'd make it longer if I thought it would fit. I promise. Short chapters...just seemed to work with this story. I can't really explain it. Sorry...

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Chapter 9

 

Tohru woke up early the next morning with a clearer head than she'd had the previous day. In fact, she felt nearly well enough to make breakfast, which is exactly what she tried to do. However, after sitting up without trouble, she found herself becoming lightheaded as she tried to stand. As if on cue, Kyo entered the room on his way outside for his morning workout and found Tohru wobbling unsteadily on her feet. He gently pushed her down onto the couch, tucked her in, and told her to get some rest. Before she could protest, he had disappeared outside. She considered trying to stand again, but as she felt sleep start to tug at her senses, decided in favor of a short nap.

 

When she woke again a few hours later, she found Yuki sitting beside her finishing his takeout. “Oh, Yuki-kun, I didn't know you were there,” she said, quickly sitting up.

 

Yuki laughed and replied, “Well, I suppose that makes sense. You were asleep after all.”

 

Tohru blushed and stammered something unintelligible as Yuki stood to retrieve her breakfast for her. Kyo, watching the exchange from a doorway, smiled sadly to himself and disappeared into another room as Yuki approached.

 

Alone again on the roof, Kyo immersed himself in his thoughts. `At least they seem to be getting along again. Maybe my talk with Yuki did some good after all. And I thought that damn rat was totally dense. Oh well. As long as she's happy, that's what matters.'

 

Tohru slowly ate her breakfast. She was extremely self-conscious with Yuki sitting on the ground beside the couch watching her, having finished his own meal some time ago. `I wonder where Kyo-kun is. I haven't seen him at all today, other than this morning. Actually, I didn't really see much of him yesterday. Maybe he is mad at me. I really should apologize to him.' With that thought, Tohru made another attempt to get up from the couch. Her head was just barely swimming this time, and she was impressed with how much stronger the food had made her. However, to Yuki's eyes she was as unsteady as ever, and upon reentering the living room from throwing away her leftovers he helped her back to the couch and suggested she take a nap.

 

Tohru sighed in frustration. Apparently, Kyo wasn't the only one that wasn't going to let her get off the couch. Before she could even open her mouth to protest though, Yuki had tucked her in, placed a kiss on her forehead, and wandered off to the next room before deciding to go outside.

 

Sitting by the beach, Yuki pondered the situation again. `I'm not pushing her, right? I mean, that last kiss wasn't assuming too much, I don't think. But if for some reason that stupid cat is wrong, then I probably offended her. Heck, if she doesn't love me then all of those kisses have probably offended her. She hasn't said anything to me about it though. So I guess she does love me. Imagine that, the idiot got something right for once.' He smiled softly to himself, confident in his assessment.

The confidence didn't last, however. `What am I doing? I'm treating her like she's already mine. I have no business thinking about Honda-san like this. Loving her is one thing, but this, this doesn't even seem like me. I should know better than to just assume she loves me because she hasn't said anything to the contrary. Honda-san is the type of person who will always put someone else first; if she hasn't said anything, it's just as likely to mean that she doesn't love me and hasn't figured out how to tell me.' Very faintly, a small, tight ball of anger formed in the pit of his stomach as he finished that thought and stood to go inside.

 

Kyo was wandering aimlessly through the house when he found himself sitting beside the couch where Tohru was sleeping. `What am I doing here? This isn't my place anymore. Yuki should be sitting by her, making sure she's ok.'

 

Just then, Tohru opened her eyes. Noticing Kyo sitting beside her, Tohru became unexpectedly embarrassed and began to blush. `What's wrong with me? Kyo-kun is just sitting there, keeping me company as I sleep. Yuki-kun was doing that earlier, and I didn't feel embarrassed at all then. Well, ok, yes, I did, but it was different. That was just being embarrassed about him watching me eat. Kyo-kun is just sitting there, staring off into space. So why on earth would I be like this now? Why is he staring off into space anyway? That doesn't seem like something he'd normally do. Maybe he's thinking about the other day, but, no, he didn't seem like this yesterday. Perhaps I've done something to offend him. But what? I haven't been able to do anything; I've just been lying here on the couch. Maybe that's it. He must be upset that I wasn't able to make breakfast this morning. Or maybe he wants to sit on the couch, and he can't because I'm lying here.' She had just opened her mouth to offer him a seat and apologize for her rudeness this morning when Kyo suddenly stood and left the room without giving her a second look. Her face fell as she watched him leave.