Note: This is a redux of my old story on an old account, completely rewritten and reworked. Not sure it'll be much better, but it's a good writing exercise, non?
Tohru fretted and fretted for hours before getting up the nerve to walk to the store. It wasn't fully dark out, but one of the boys would have usually accompanied her if the sun was going down. She didn't want to worry them, especially if she'd just gotten the days wrong. They wouldn't want to know about things like that (girl things weren't so known to sheltered boys like that).
She blushed and waved a hand quickly in the direction of the skeptical cashier, "Th-they're for a friend," she mumbled. Tohru wondered if she could even manage to walk home alright, carrying… well, pregnancy tests. It was stupid; she felt stupid. She probably had just not been eating well and gotten anemic, gotten irregular.
Tohru felt equally stupid for thinking that anyone was watching her walk home. Somebody was, of course, when she got up to the house she was allowed to live in (graciously!). Their Tohru didn't just leave without announcing it, unless she was stressed and forgot to, after all. None of them were consulting each other (yet), but all three men had noticed her leaving and glanced outside to see if they could catch her coming back.
Kyou nearly ran off to go find her, but paused at the door and thought about it for a little while, got flustered, went back to his room to brood some.
The only girl in the house returned, of course, to the inside of the house. She didn't have the will to go and get the test done with right away (could she even pee under pressure, she wondered), opting to make dinner for the boys first. It wasn't her best effort, but it was something to do with her hands, to calm down with. It was much better than any of them could do, at any rate.
After dinner, all male eyes suspicious but none daring enough to harass her for what was probably just a trip to get more eggs, Tohru went to her room and stared at the box.
For one, she didn't know what she could tell Uo or Hana if she was going to have a baby. They would probably be upset. Almost definitely upset. They would probably not be unhappy with her, so much, but definitely irate with somebody. She hadn't told them about the recent trysts she'd been having; as mother hens of an admittedly airheaded girl, they probably assumed that she was too naïve to get into that kind of doings.
And really, Tohru would've been that inept at it if she hadn't actually studied for that one test in Health class. Most of the rest of the class hadn't bothered, hadn't needed to.
For another, she was going to have the baby, if there was one. And that would hurt her chances for working longer hours, which would hurt her ability to earn money to support a baby in the first place. She wouldn't be able to afford daycare if she didn't work all day, and she wouldn't be able to work much at all if she wasn't using daycare.
It was with that sort of foreboding that she nearly put off the test for the next day, week, month (not year, of course). Tohru didn't, though, and put on a brave face. She checked the calendar again, just in case, on the way to the bathroom. And then read the instructions very carefully before taking the test. The results didn't show up for a long while, and then she cried a little bit over it. Two lines. Pregnant. Not good.
She went to bed, couldn't sleep, got up to make an elaborate breakfast and lunch for everyone. Yuki was up early the next morning for Student Council, eating quickly and excusing himself after pressing a kiss to her forehead. Tohru sighed and cleaned up after him, rubbing the kiss away. She hadn't had a voice while he ate, anyway. There wasn't anything she could've said.
Kyou was up later, but appreciated her meal properly, smiling and only making one small, crass comment about it. He was still pretending that he couldn't show her any affection, but it was hard for Kyou to keep his emotions off of his sleeve. He was a silly, typical boy who'd just been caught up in too much drama during his life. Mommy issues, too, of course. Girls were scary.
Tohru walked with him to school, listening to him talk or complain (which was talking, but louder) or just be quiet. That was normal, soothing. She felt like Uo and Hana could see right through her, right down to her heart, when she walked into the classroom. All they'd done was wave and say good morning, of course, but it felt almost accusatory.
During lunch, she made sure that the boys were distracted elsewhere (Momiji and Haru made good decoys, and then Kakeru had decided to help out, so that was a solid hour, at least). Tohru kept her friends aside, offering them an overdone lunch to share.
Arisa, Uo, raised an eyebrow, but was always glad for one of Tohru's bento boxes. Something just looked off, felt wrong, with their little riceball of a girl. She wasn't smiling as much, was looking around too much.
Saki noticed, too, of course. She did a better job of keeping it to herself, though.
They shared a glance, and Tohru knew that her time for keeping any secrets was up, or at least some secrets. They didn't know about the Zodiac or any of that (did they? Uo had been seeing Kureno, but only casually, Tohru recalled).
Maybe… maybe if she just. She could just tell them about the Zodiac; it was an old magic, there were sure to be silly legends. They didn't need to know… how she got around the changes (it was a matter of positioning, really…), or any of that. They could just know that it was magical. Virginal, immaculate conception. Pure and white, like she ought to be.
It wasn't easy for Tohru to lie. It was easy, though, to tell her friends about the curse. To explain what they'd been suspicious of, if only a little, for ages.
There was a certain amount of disbelief, but Tohru wouldn't lie to them, they reasoned. She wouldn't make up some magic story about real people with such a serious air around her.
"A-and… and the curse has weird rules," she began, after they took a little break for the mostly-ignored food, "Really bizarre ones! I really wish they had warned me about them," Tohru said earnestly.
"What sort of rules? Pretty sure that not being able to hug is a big enough one for one lifetime," Arisa frowned.
Good, good. They weren't suspicious, "See, if a girl who isn't related, doesn't have any Sohma blood at all, turns up and lives among them for a long while, there's… well, it sounds crazy," she said, "But…" she pulled out the used-test from her bag, holding it out gingerly so that they could see.
Wide eyes, then furrowed brows, then concerned looks, "Which of them is the father?" Saki asked bluntly after a moment.
"Uhm… well, I'm not sure," Tohru lied, "And anyway, it's not like they did anything! I don't think they even knew about that rule," lie, lie, lie, "It's not like… they couldn't, wouldn't do anything like that anyway! Especially not with me, if they even could!"
They seemed to digest that information, even accept it. Tohru couldn't be with a boy like that anyway, after all. Tohru was their innocent Tohru, and those boys couldn't even hug her if they wanted to.
They hugged her tight and let her go back to class early, brushing off other questions with nervous laughing and shrugs.
I thought it was longer than this, when I was writing. Damn.