Disclaimer: We do not own Fruits Basket or any characters.
Kyo looked at the bowl of leeks in front of him and frowned.
A moment later the wall behind Yuki was covered in stewed leeks.
"What was that for you stupid cat?" Yuki said impassively.
"I hate leeks! You choose them on purpose didn't you?" Kyo yelled.
Yuki glanced up, "Actually, Tohru chose them."
Just then, Tohru popped her head in through the door, "Did something break?"
Yuki nodded, "The stupid cat didn't like what you chose for dinner."
Tohru gasped, "I'm sorry, I forgot! I can go make something else!"
Inside Kyo's head, a battle was raging – on one hand he didn't want to look weak in front of 'that damn rat' on the other hand he didn't want to put Tohru to work...
Shigure looked up over his newspaper, "Don't worry about it, Kyo can go catch a rat for dinner or something."
Kyo snapped, "Like hell! I've lost my appetite!" He exclaimed as he stormed out.
Tohru, still standing in the doorway, clutched a spoon tighter in her fist, "oh, Kyo..."
Shigure just shrugged and went back to reading his newspaper.
Yuki smiled at Tohru, "Don't worry, he'll just wait until we fall asleep, and then sneak into the kitchen like a thief."
"I heard that, you damn rat!" Kyo bellowed from the top of the stairs.
A small noise came from behind Shigure's newspaper that sounded a bit like a choked snicker.
Tohru was about to clean up the wall when the phone rang, causing her to drop the spoon in surprise.
"Who could that be?" She wondered aloud and she hurried over to the phone.
Yuki watched with mild interest plastered across his face as Tohru's expression went from excited to worried the longer she spoke on the phone.
Tohru hung up and returned to the dining room. "That was Hana-chan," she said, shifting from foot to foot.
Shigure folded over his newspaper, "Is something wrong, Tohru?"
"Maybe…I don't know…but…but…she sounded scared! Hana-chan never sounds scared…." Tohru was near tears now.
She...said I should spend the night at Uo-chans..I don't understand..."
Shigure hid a half suppressed smirk behind his sleeve, like some kind of harry Geisha, "Well, you better get ready to go then, Tohru. And I'll escort you!"
Yuki's eyes narrowed, he didn't trust that dog.
All of a sudden Kyo bounded into the doorway. "I'm coming too!" He yelled.
"If you're going so am I," Yuki said rising gracefully and shooting a dirty look towards Kyo and Shigure alike.
Tohru backed away from them, head shaking furiously, "I-it's fine! I can walk myself! Don't worry about me."
Shigure put his hand in front of his mouth in mock surprise. "Whaaat? Is it really okay to stay behind?"
While Tohru was fervently assuring Shigure, Kyo and Yuki were gearing up for what promised to be a spectacular fight.
Just as they were about to leap for each other Kagura burst through the open doorway, "KYO!"
Kyo, taken by surprise, snapped back and accidently knocked her into the wall.
Rising from the decimated wall, Kagura's eyes glowed red. "Kyo," she snarled
As she lunged for Kyo, Yuki moved out of the line of fire, grabbing Tohru's hand, "Let's go, they'll be busy for awhile."
Tohru tried to protest but they were already well along the path before she registered what was going on.
As the crashing sounds of the house dimmed in the distance, Yuki turned to Tohru suddenly.
The two of them stood there, staring into each other's eyes, slowly their faces edged closer, right before they touched a white snake poked out of Tohru's jacket.
Quicker than lightning, and to Tohru's shock and Ayames's mute protests the snake was throttled mercilessly before being tossed upon the ground.
"Now... is that... any…way to... treat... your... only... brother!" Ayame said through strangled breathes,
"Yes," Yuki said harshly as Tohru watched with wide eyes.
Among all the commotion, no one noticed the crackling bushes until it was too late.
Shuffling for a better vantage point through the shrubbery, Shigure suppressed a howl of laughter.
It had been so easy to slip Ayame into her coat pocket during the commotion caused by Kagura's entrance, now, to watch the scene unfold.
And unfold it did, as Tohru tried to rescue Ayame and Ayame returned to human form in the same instant.
A momentarily disarmed Yuki let go as a naked Ayame climbed to his knees.
Tohru let out a small squeak and covered her face as Ayame struck a pose and grinned, "I'm glad to be human again!"
Before anyone had time to react a washtub fell on his head, and he fell on his face – a strangled sound erupted from the bushes.
Yuki, averting his gaze from a strutting Ayame, noticed a suspicious shadow among the bushes.
An instant later he was dragging a snickering Black Haru out of the woods.
Haru looked at Yuki and smiled. "You need to be more gentle with me," he admonished.
Yuki rolled his eyes in response, momentarily forgetting the chaotic scene they were leaving behind.
Shigure covered his mouth, trying to keep in the snorts of laughter that were threatening to escape, really, this was better than anything he could write!
Suddenly Tohru realized her cell phone was ringing. She looked at it in confusion.
"Oh! It's Uo-chan, I almost forgot I'm supposed to be going to her house."
"Really? you're supposed to be doing something? I thought we were just having a party in the woods," Ayame remarked as he buckled his pants.
Yuki grabbed her hand. "I'll take you there," he said hurriedly, trying to get her away from the madness.
"What about me?" Black Haru called after them plaintively before noticing something snickering in the shadow of a bush.
Shigure realized that he was caught too late. Black Haru had already grabbed him, "What are you doing here?" He said ominously.
Shigure smiled innocently. "Just gate-crashing."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you planned this whole thing," Black Haru sneered.
"Me? Plan something? I would never! I'm just a simple writer that turns into a dog every once in a while," Shigure's face became even more innocent looking - if that were possible.
But it wasn't. At that moment, however, a bear came ambling onto the path and spotted them.
They all stared at one another, "Is that a bear?" Ayame said, arriving seemingly out of nowhere.
Black Haru opened his mouth to give a sarcastic answer, but was cut off by the bear roaring and charging at them.
"Why aren't I in the zodiac?" he roared.
Farther up the path, Tohru was fretting over the myriad of possible bad scenarios that could have upset Hana.
An instant later Yuki pulled her off the path as Ayame, Haru, and Shigure sped by with a bear pursuing them, they were soon out of sight.
Yuki smiled. "I don't suppose you're knowledgeable in Shakespeare, Honda-san? This scenario seems familiar."
Tohru laughed nervously, "Not really..."
"Well, in one of Shakespeare's plays, Winter's Tale, he wanted to stop a fight and get rid of a character quickly, so he borrowed a bear from the bear-baiting ring next door and had it appear out of nowhere and chase the character off the stage. It's a funny little big-lipped alligator moment," Yuki told her.
Tohru glared at him. "Why the hell should I care about that, you fucking nancy-boy?"
Yuki's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "Honda-san what's gotten into you?"
Tohru opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly stopped by an odd feeling in her arm - it was going numb.
Dimly she heard Hana-chan calling her name, but it was too late.
Tohru collapsed into Yuki's arms limp as a doll, "Honda-san," Yuki shook her, "what's wrong?"
But Tohru wasn't hearing him anymore, she was now floating in a black void, all of her senses now turned off.
Yuki continued to shake her, than he noticed that her arm was swelling. He was examining it when Hanajima came down the path, startling him.
"Tohru was bitten," Yuki wasn't sure if it was a question or a statement.
Tohru continued to float in the black void of nothingness, she lost track of time, sensation, reality - devoid of external stimuli she was forced to think about herself and not others.
Yuki was about to lift Tohru onto his back when he remembered the curse. He cast about for a way of transport helplessly.
"Aren't you going to carry her?" Hanajima asked, mildly.
If Tohru had a body in this black void it would be wracked with sobs, she'd been going on for so long, pushing herself so much, trying to carry others, help them through their pain, but the truth was that she couldn't even carry herself.
Yuki took a deep breath. "I can't carry her, and I can't tell you why. Can't you help lift her or something?"
"I'm afraid I have a weak constitution, but she might be able to." Hana pointed past Yuki where Uo was ambling up the path looking irate.
Tohru felt the void sucking her towards a realization that she didn't want to reach, but she had to reach it, if she didn't, how could she carry herself out of this void and back to the people that she loved?
As Yuki and Uotani worked to get Tohru down the path, Hanajima called an ambulance.
Back at the house, Hana watched the tender way Yuki watched Tohru and came to a realization that had been a long time coming.
Tohru found herself where she had dreaded to go, the void had taken her there, forcing her to see the truth for the first time - in front of her was a memory long buried and virtually forgotten.
Yuki began to pace in wait of the ambulance, but his eyes were continuously drawn back to Honda-san.
While Uotani was in the other room and Kyo and Kagura were suspiciously absent, Hanajima voiced her opinion of Yuki, "You're in love with her," she said bluntly.
Tohru watched her old memory from the black void: she was laying on her futon, sleeping, when her mother walked in, she was all ready for work.
Yuki jerked his head and blushed. "W-what? Huh?"
Yuki was saved from further embarrassment when Kyo, closely followed by Kagura burst in, "I said lay off me, woman!" Kyo snarled.
Pain snapped through Tohru's invisible body as she watched her mother lean over and kiss her cheek and whisper softly, "I love you, Tohru. Have a good day."
Kagura grabbed Kyos arm. "Noo! I wanna go on a date!"
"I said no-" Kyo stopped short when he saw Tohru lying unconscious on the floor. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.
Tohru could only feel shock and surprise as her memory self rolled over and whispered sleepily, "Bye Mom, I love you."
Yuki sighed. "Something bit Honda-san, like a snake or some-" he froze.
Kyo seemed to catch on , "I'm going to kill Ayame!" He shouted.
As Tohru watched her mom stand up and walk out of the room to go to work she tried to come to grips with what she had just seen - she had said goodbye to her mom.
Yuki clenched his fist. "No, no, it might not have been him, it might've...might've...I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"
"Not if I get there first! " Kyo yelled as he muscled his way past Yuki.
As Tohru came to this realization the void around her began to change, it began to grow lighter and brighter; and the brighter it became the stronger Tohru grew.
At this moment the door flew open to reveal Aayame. "Everyone! I found a talking Bear!"
Wrapped in his arms like some sort of strange oversized teddy bear was a grizzly bear.
The void quickly became nothing but pure light, when it reached the point of blindness Tohru finally found her true strength.
Yuki and Kyo rapidly found themselves alternating between fury and confusion.
Ayame unceremoniously dropped the bear to the ground while Haru and Shigure stumbled in after him.
Tohru cleared her mind and reached for all of the strength she had just discovered, using it she picked herself up and left the void behind forever.
Yuki's head snapped back as Tohru began to stir.
"Honda-san, you're awake." he went to Tohru's side - temporarily forgetting to murder his brother.
Tohru blinked as the world came back into focus, then, for the first time, she snatched for what she wanted - Yuki.
Everyone stared in shock as Honda-san pulled Yuki into a deep kiss, being careful not to hug him while doing so. Kyo blinked.
He was shocked into speechlessness, he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly but nothing was coming out.
Ayame clapped his hands together, startling the bear, "Finally! I'm so glad my venom made her realize her true feelings!"
Everyone (except for Tohru and Yuki) turned to look at Ayame. "Huh?"
Ayame chuckled, "Well you see my venom is no ordinary venom , once bitten the lucky chosen must face their true desire."
Shigure poked his head around Ayame and the bear, "Really? You never told me that Ayame."
Ayame swished his hair around. "I didn't want you to misuse my power. It can also severely alter a persons brain...temporarily of course."
Shigure nodded sagely as if he'd known all along.
Kyo's hair was standing on end and he looked like he might attack at any moment, "That's why she cursed, isn't it! You altered her brain! I'll kill you!"
Hana-chan silently popped up behind him. "How did you know what she said?"
Ayame dodged Kyo's wide punch, and skittered backward as Kyo prepared for another attack.
Kyo dodged the now re-angered bear and shouted at Hana-chan, "That damn rat, Yuki, told me! How else?"
As Kagura casually punched the bear aside, Uo-chan glanced up. "Wait, what? You just got here!"
Kyo paused, "Yeah, I did... What am I saying, it doesn't fucking matter how I know. I just do!"
Uo-chan rolled her eyes, "Alright, now can you please stop beating up the poor long-haired man with the bear? I really don't want to become bear bait."
But the bear had already escaped, and was cantering back down the path, to Ayame's and Shigure's displeasure.
Yuki and Tohru chose then as an ideal time to break apart.
Everyone's attention focused in on the two of them as they looked around the room in a dazed, confused fashion.
Then Tohru blushed, and Yuki followed suit. Hana-chan smiled as everyone else pretended to be interested in something else.
Shigure broke the tension, "About time you two, now should I move Tohru's things into Yuki's room before or after the wedding?"
Yuki and Tohru turned bright red as Yuki shouted out, "You do that and I'll skin you alive and let you write your next book on your own skin!"
Shigure flinched at Yuki's sudden outburst. "Oh, that's mean. I'm just trying to help out the new couple!" he quibbled, his face dripping innocence.
"I'll comfort you, Shigure!" Ayame shouted throwing his arms open to embrace him.
Yuki took advantage of the commotion that followed to slip out a side door with Tohru, they ran far into the woods before stopping.
Yuki pulled Honda-san closer. "I love you," he whispered. She smiled. "I love you too."
Inside while the others were arguing or laughing, Hana-Jima and Uo-tani shared a look and it said it all, their plan had worked and their friend had found her happiness – even if the process had been a little more chaotic that they'd intended.
Author's Note: First line is Enigmaticrose4, Second line is Nyaneko92, Third line is Nicluly. It continues in this pattern for the rest of the story.
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