Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Unleashing the Monster ❯ Visitation ( Chapter 3 )

I am on a roll! Ok, here is your next chappie! Bon Appetit!

 

 

 

Unleashing the Monster

 

Chapter 3: Visitation

 

The high school senior slid open his window as quietly as possible and leapt through it, wincing as his many necklaces clinked loudly in the silence. He reached back into the window and pulled out a backpack, then set off down the alley behind the houses. The cool summer night air whipped at his hair, swirling the strands of white and black together.

He crept along the stone walkways between the houses and out of sight of any windows. If anybody saw him, he'd be in a lot of trouble. He finally got to an unused part of the compound. All the houses here lay in disrepair. Nobody bothered fixing them because none of them were in use. None of them but one.

Crouching under the window, the boy scowled at the thick metal bars set in them. He peered inside and saw his target lying on a sleeping mat on the floor. He was being bathed in moonlight, which told the boy two things. One, he was awake, and two, he looked as bad as he had heard he did. His face was thin and pale and his eyes looked very blood shot. Even his usual bight orange hair looked paler in the moonlight. He was staring blankly at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought. “Kyo?”

Kyo looked over, the dazed look still on his face. When he saw the boy standing outside his window, smiling, his eyes widened and he scrambled to stand up. “Haru…is that you?”

Haru winced at Kyo's croak of a voice. “No, it's the tooth fairy. Of course it's me. Who else would sneak out to see you?”

Kyo bit his dry, cracked lips as he moved closer to the window. “You shouldn't be here, Haru. You're going to get in trouble.”

“Do you really think I care?” He countered, digging into his bag. “Ah, here we go.” He pulled out a bottle of water and a handkerchief full of fried chicken. “Here. I heard you haven't been eating.”

Kyo frowned at the offering. “I'm not hungry” he said briskly as his stomach growled in protest.

“Kyo, you gotta eat.”

“Kureno couldn't get me to eat, neither can you.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Oh, really.”

Haru sneered. “I have bargaining power.”

“And what's that?”

“If you eat, I can tell you how a certain girl is doing.”

He watched in mild amusement as Kyo's eyes shot wide open. “Tohru? How is she? Is she ok? What's she doing?”

The cow merely held out the chicken. “Eat, then I'll talk.”

The cat glared at Haru before taking the food. He eyed the chicken leg he was holding for a moment before taking a small bite. His eyes slid shut and he moaned with hunger, shoving the rest of the leg into his mouth. He inhaled the remainder of the food and chugged the water as though he had never had anything better. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Kyo passed Haru back the trash. “Alright, talk. Have you seen her?”

Haru nodded and looked at his feet as though they were mildly interesting. “I went to sensei's house with Momiji after school today.”

“And?”

He gave Kyo a sad look. “She's really upset. Her face is pale and her eyes are blood shot- she actually looks like you, a little.” He added, peering at Kyo's gaunt face. “Anyway, we stayed for dinner and she just kinda frowned at her food the whole time and didn't eat anything. Mmm….” He said suddenly a sort of far off look in his eye. “She made us sausage. It was good sausage…..”

Kyo let Haru have a good thirty seconds to reminisce about Tohru's food before he cleared his throat. “Is…Is that it?”

Haru looked back at the cat and continued talking as though he had not stopped. “I think she feels guilty. She knows you're not eating and she also knows it's her fault.”

Kyo blinked in surprise. “She thinks…But it's not her fault!” He bust out angerly. “You tell her, Haru. You tell her-”

“But it is her fault, isn't it?”

Kyo drew her eyebrows together in confusion. “Wha-… how is it her fault? She had nothing to do with me being locked up like this. She's-”

“The reason you can't accept your fate.” Haru finished for him. “ Before Tohru came along, you were ready to come here and rot. You didn't care. But now…” He gestured at Kyo. “You're wasting away in grief.”

Kyo winced at the accuracy of the cow's words. “She still shouldn't blame herself…” He muttered lamely, leaning his forehead against the cool metal set in the window.

Haru surveyed him for a moment before rummaging once again into his bag. This time he extracted an old bento box. “Here.”

Kyo took the familiar looking box and opened it. It was crammed with many carefully made riceballs. “I think Tohru knew I was going to visit you. She made me these for later, but she knows that I don't like cod…I wish she'd made some from that sausage…”

Kyo swallowed a lump that had formed quite suddenly in his throat. “T-thanks.” He muttered, noticing how cracked his voice sounded. Haru slipped a hand through the bars and gripped Kyo's shoulder. He looked up and noticed the cow's eyes were shining extra brightly in the moonlight.

“We…we miss you, Kyo. It's much too quiet without you.”

The cat forced a smile. “I miss you guys, too.”

Haru took a moment to zip his bag and replace it on his shoulders. He heard Kyo chuckle slightly and looked up at him. “What?”

“I just thought, maybe not letting people see me is a good thing.”

Haru raised an eyebrow. “And why's that?”

“Cause when people finally get to visit, Kagura'll be so happy, she'll probably bust down the door for me.” Haru laughed. “You should get going. If anyone catches you here, you'll probably get thrown in with me.” He nodded and turned back down the path towards his house. “Haru.”

He looked back. Kyo was harder to see farther away, but his eyes were shining in the moonlight. He ran a hand distractedly through his hair, frowning as thought thinking. “Tell Tohru…” He said finally. “Tell her I'm alright. Tell her I'm eating, Ok?”

“I can't lie to her, Kyo.”

Kyo sighed deeply. “If…if Tohru thinks I'm eating, then I'll eat.”

Haru simply smiled. He said his goodbyes and left, retracing his steps back through the darkness to his own house. As he relatched his window and climbed into bed, a thought occurred to him.

Maybe he should tell Kagura that Kyo was starving. She'd probably be so upset that she'd destroy the entire house.