"What do you mean he's not coming out for awhile?" Her brown hair fell past her waist as she untied the black ribbon that had been holding it up.

"He's very sick and since I am the doctor here, I feel it would be the wisest thing to do is for him to just stay in his room for a little while until this flood season stops." His heavy footsteps fell steadily as he made his way down the wooden stairs to his left.

She stood there staring at his door before running down the staircase. She grabbed the older man's lab coat by the tail and asked, "Would it be ok for me just to take him some soup?"

"Well…" He turned to face her and knelt so that they were face to face. "I think that would be very kind of you to do but I don't think he'll be happy to hear that the only kind of food he can have that's going to help him feel any better is good home made leek soup." He smiled as she stuck her tongue out in disgust.

An hour later after the doctor left, she carefully carried a tray with a teakettle and a bowl of hot soup. She balanced the tray on her arm and lifted her hand to knock when she almost lost her concentration.

"Whoa, Miss Honda!" A pretty boy with silver hair ran up and grabbed the tray before she could drop it. "Careful!"

"Thank you, Sohma Yuki," She smiled.

"Hmm… Taking that cat some soup? I don't see why you waste your time."

"He's sick…"

Sohma Kyo sat up in his bed and looked at his door when he heard her speak. The rain pounded outside and soaked all the ground it could hit. He sat in his jeans with no shirt with his legs under the thin sheet on his bed.

"It shouldn't concern you, Miss Honda. He isn't really worth all this," Sohma Yuki held the tray steady as she lifted her hand to knock again.

She lowered her fist and stayed turned away from him.

Sohma Kyo looked at the door as he strained to hear her soft voice.

"When I was a young girl, I always told Mom that I would give up being a dog just to be a cat. I never thought that I would actually be meeting any of you but… Here I am. Standing here talking to the rat!" She smiled and turned toward him with a tear streaming down her cheek that she made no effort to wipe away. "Now that I've had the pleasure of meeting all of you and the pleasure of getting to know you, know what's on your mind, and know what's bothering you…" She wiped her tear away and continued to smile. "I only wish it more now that I could take the curse of the cat away from Sohma Kyo and take it on myself. Especially in times like these when he's barely strong enough to stand… And even though I know he'd never tell me; I know that times like these when it seems there will be no stop to this rain, he doesn't feel well enough to get up or even have his temper…" She turned back to the door. "What I wouldn't give just to hear him yell at me again." She sighed but kept on smiling. "Just to know that he's alright again…"

Sohma Kyo gasped at her statement and crawled back under his sheet as he heard a knock at the door. "Come in." His voice didn't come out as strong as he wanted it to.

Honda Tohru came in then smiling, "I brought you some soup. Sorry to say though…" She lowered her head. "It's leeks. Sohma Hitohri said it'd make you feel better…"