Fruits Basket Fanfiction
What if Tohru's childhood was similar to Yuki's?
16 year old Tohru Honda stared out at the rain from her room in Shigure's house. She didn't say it, but the rain brought back bad memories for her. "Hey, Tohru, where are you, it's lunchtime!" came Kyo's agitated voice, no doubt he was reacting to the rainstorm outside. But the teenager couldn't hear him, so lost in her own memories was she. Suddenly a knock was heard at her door, "Honda-San, are you alright?" It was Yuki. Slowly the teenage girl turned her head to look at the door, "yes, I'm alright Yuki-Kun, you can come in if you like," she said in a soft voice. The Rat of the Zodiac quietly opened the door and stepped into the room.
Closing the door behind him, Yuki looked around. Touru's room was spotless and neat as always. The owner of the room was staring listlessly out of the closed widow, her blue, seemingly empty eyes scanning the falling rain in an almost trancelike state. Yuki furrowed his eyebrows together in worry before taking a step forward, "Honda-San?" he said. The girl in question just continued to stare out the window in silence. Yuki steeled himself before walking up to her and gently reaching out to touch her shoulder. As soon as Tohru felt his hand touch her body, something inside of her snapped. Repressed emotions and fears flooded through her, and, before she could stop herself, her hand snapped out and slapped Yuki on the cheek- hard. "Don't touch me!" she screamed, her eyes wide and filled with rage- rage that overshadowed a deep fear.
Yuki fell back from the impact, sitting on the floor in front of the girl he had come to see as a- well, as a mother. His face was white, his eyes wide with shock and terror, staring up at Tohru. Shigure and Kyo, who had heard the commotion, came bursting into the room moments later- that is what they saw. Suddenly, it seemed as though whatever had come over Tohru was now gone, as the girl's eyes returned to their normal kind blue, "Yuki-Kun?" she frowned, wondering what was going on, before catching sight of the red mark on the boy's cheek and the fear in his eyes. Tohru's own eyes widened in realisation and horror, and she held her hand to her mouth, "oh no, what have I done?" she asked, as tears began to flow down her face. She choked on a sob and ran over to Yuki, falling to her knees and clutching his shirt, burying her face into it and crying desperately.
Her tears seemed to shock everyone else out of their stupor's, "what- what happened?" Kyo asked to no-one in particular. Yuki was unable to answer, while Tohru sobbed, crying into his shirt, which was about as close to burying her face in his chest as she could get with the curse. Yuki removed his hand from his throbbing cheek, placing it on Tohru's right shoulder, which was shaking violently with the rest of her body. Kyo watched this with burning jealously churning inside him. Why did she have to go to the damn Rat? His head knew that she was only agonising over the fact that she had hurt him, but he still couldn't help his fists from shaking with repressed rage. After Tohru's sobs had finally lessened, she released Yuki's shirt and sniffed, "I-I'm sorry, Yuki-Kun, really I am," she said quietly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. After letting out one last shaky sigh, she looked up into his big violet coloured eyes, with her big teary blue ones, "I promise I didn't mean it," she reached over to his injured cheek, "are you alright?" she asked worriedly, gently touching the reddening flesh with soft fingers.
Yuki smiled softly, "yes, Honda-San, I'm alright" Touru sighed in relief, and smiled slightly. Just then Shigure came back into the room, shocking the occupants' slightly, as no-one had realised he'd left. Walking up to where Yuki and Tohru still sat, he handed The Rat a damp Face washer, "here, you'd better put this on your cheek to help with the swelling, Tohru, what exactly happened?" The Dog asked curiously. Kyo crossed his arms, "yeah, that's what I wanna know," he'd waited until everything was calmed down, even waited for that damn Rat's injury to be tended too, he wasn't going to wait any longer for an explanation. The brown-haired girl looked at the three people who had invited her into their lives so easily and sighed, well, after what happened, she guessed that she did owe them an explanation, "alright," she said, lowering her eyes, "but we need to go into the Living Room, it'll be easier for all of us if we're sitting comfortably" she said sadly, getting up and leaving the room.
Fruuba
Sitting in the Living Room, Tohru squirmed uncomfortably on the couch. Three pairs of eyes were currently watching her, waiting for a response as to why she had slapped Yuki earlier, and the teenage girl knew that she had no right to keep that information from them. She had to tell them, and really, it would be much better for her if she got it out of her system. The brown-haired young woman sighed deeply, well, here goes. Tohru looked up, "my past," she began, "isn't exactly what you might call pleasant," she said, "in fact, my life before I moved here is not something I like to think about at all," she closed her eyes, shuddering slightly as the awful memories assaulted her.
No one spoke, giving her their full attention. Tohru sighed again, opening her eyes in the process, "the truth of the matter is, when I was only five years old, my best friend died, right in front of me," everyone's eyes widened upon hearing that, but they stayed silent. "He was the only friend I had at the time, and the only person I spent time with both in, and outside of school," she looked up at everyone listening, "his name was also Yuki," The Rat blinked at that, not knowing what to say. "One day we were playing in an old mine, foolish, I know, but we were very young. The mine was unstable, and close to collapsing, except we didn't know that," Tohru gulped, and continued, "after a few minutes of playing, the rocks started to shake, we were pretty far into the mine, but we started to run anyway," the teenage girl took a shaky breath, "I managed to get out unharmed, but Yuki, he wasn't so lucky, we never found his body" everyone seemed sad at this. "After the funeral a few weeks later, I went back to school, but, when I did, bad things started to happen around me".
*Flashback*
A young Tohru Honda walked quietly into her school, her book bag on her back. All of the other children stared at her, whispering, just out of her range of hearing. She did catch snippets of conversation though, and it did nothing but lower her spirits even more: "hey, did you hear about what happened to Yuki-Chan?" "Yeah, they said he was killed in a cave in," "wasn't someone with him though?" "I heard he was with her, that girl was in the mine with him!," "gee, you think she'd try harder to save him?", "nah, I heard that she didn't even get a scratch" Tohru narrowed her eyes in pain, did they think she couldn't hear them or something? Some boys blocked her path into the school building, standing on the concrete steps. Tohru looked up at them.
They sneered at her, "where do you think you're going, you little brat, do you think we're just going to let someone like you in here?" one asked, as his two friends laughed. Tohru felt tears form in her eyes, and she cringed away from the bully's tormenting stares, looking down at the ground. She went to push past the boys, but the one who had spoken pushed her back. Tohru stumbled, but managed to keep her balance, walking backwards down the steps to release the backwards momentum that had been forced into her body. The boy who pushed her wasn't so lucky. He over-balanced, falling sideways off the steps, onto the concrete that the school was built on. Bashing his shoulder, the boy cried out in pain. His two friends gasped, and Tohru was sure she heard everyone else gasp as well. The boys rushed down the steps, and over to their injured friend's side. The boy cried out in pain as he gripped his shoulder.
One of the boys turned and pointed a finger at Tohru, "you did this! This is all your fault, you made him get hurt, didn't you!" he yelled. Tohru's eyes widened, and she took a step back, shaking her head, "no, I-I didn't" she tried to defend herself, but the boy didn't listen, "yes you did! You weren't satisfied with causing Yuki to die, were you? You had to go and hurt someone else as well, you caused this! You're like a bad-luck charm!" he cried, running over to his friend, "why don't you just disappear!" Tohru stood there, tears streaming down her face, until the teacher came outside to see what all the fuss was about.
Fruuba
As Touru sat in class struggling to take notes, she couldn't help but think about what those boys had said. First Yuki died, while she didn't get a scratch, now that other boy got hurt when he went to push her. Was she really a bad-luck charm? She shook her head, no, that was silly. That boy getting hurt was just a coincidence, and Yuki's death couldn't have been her fault. Could it? "Honda-Chan?" Tohru gasped and looked up, the teacher was looking at her expectantly. Uh oh, was she just asked to do something? "sorry, what was that Sensei?" she asked. The teacher sighed softly, "I asked you to come write the answer to this sum on the board" she explained. "Ah," Tohru stood up and moved around her desk to walk over to the blackboard.
As she took a step forward, Tohru tripped on the leg of her desk, throwing her hand out to steady herself. Incidentally, her hand landed on her ruler, which flung her rubber into the air. The rubber landed on her pencil, flicking it up into the air with enough force that it hit the ceiling fan. The fan then knocked the pencil point first downward- right at the eye of the girl sitting behind her. The girl cried out in pain, placing her hand over her eye. The teacher gasped, rushing over to the crying girl, "Miyuki-Chan, are you alright?" she asked. Touru stared at the other girl. There was no way that could have been a coincidence. As the teacher helped Miyuki over to the door, she looked back at the students still in her classroom, "all of you stay in your seats, I'll be back soon" she instructed them. Then, the door closed.
All the children looked over scornfully at Tohru, the malice in their eyes spoke a thousand words to the girl, and she understood them all, 'they're thinking that this is my fault too,' a single tear fell down her cheek, 'what if they're right? Those kind of 'accident's' don't happen around normal people' Tohru looked down, 'why? Why does this have to happen to me?'
Fruuba
Tohru walked to school the next day with her head down, desperately trying to ignore the glares she was receiving. As she sat in her seat, the teacher walked in and began the lesson. She focused on her school work, trying not to stick out, she didn't want a repeat of yesterday. When the lunch bell rang, all the children ran out of the classroom as fast as they could. Tohru stayed in her seat until everyone else had left, so there was less of a chance of someone getting hurt because of her. She didn't want anyone to get hurt at all, so it was just fine for her like this. She was lonely though.
When the last student left the room, Tohru slowly rose from her seat, bid the teacher a good lunch and slowly walked down the halls. Yesterday some of the other children had tried to chase her during lunch, only to all trip over each other and get hurt. This event only made everyone hate her even more. Tohru sighed as she walked, she felt so alone. When she emerged into the open air of the school playground, Tohru walked over to a lone standing tree and sat down by herself. She knew none of the other children would even want to be near her, who would want to be near the 'bad-luck charm'? It seemed the name from yesterday was still popular, because everywhere she went, people would yell: "go away! We don't want a bad-luck charm around us!"
It hurt, it hurt a lot.
Fruuba
"Hey!" an unfamiliar voice called. Tohru blinked, was that directed at her? "hey," it said much softer this time, but also much closer. The young girl gasped and looked up. Standing in front of her was a boy, around one or two years older than her. He had short black hair that matched his eyes, pale skin and wore the boy's school uniform. Touru blinked again, unsure. The boy smiled softly, "are you, alright?" he asked, extending his hand for her to grab. Tohru turned her face away, "yes, I'm fine, but you should leave, every time someone gets too close to me, they end up getting hurt, that's why no one wants to be near me, and why-" here she paused, choking back a sob, as tears started to fall down her cheeks, "I don't have any friends" the girl pulled her knees up to her chest, burying her face in her skirt as she cried.
She felt the boy sit down next to her, and blinked, stopping crying. "You know, there's this thing called mind over matter, and some people believe that if you want something, or think something's going to happen, it will- I've heard what the other children call you, Bad-luck charm, right?" he asked softly. Tohru repressed a shiver at the name, once again hiding her face in her skirt. "You hear them call you that, and you think that just because your friend died in an accident, that that makes them right about you, that that makes you a 'bad-luck charm'- well they're wrong" Tohru looked up and over at the boy, "you're not a bad-luck charm, you're just you" he said, turning to look at her with a smile on his face. Tohru smiled slightly.
The boy stood up, "my name's Akito, what's yours?" he asked, once again holding out his hand for her to grab. This time Tohru took it without hesitation, grinning, "my name's Tohru Honda!" she said proudly.
*Flashback paused*
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, back up, you're saying you met Akito before?" Kyo exclaimed. Touru frowned, "no, it was a different Akito, not the one who's the head of your family, in fact, when I first heard the name of your family head, I was shocked, thinking that the Akito I knew had kept the fact that he was the head of the Sohma family from me, but no, it was a different one" she explained. Yuki nodded, "go on, Honda-San" Touru nodded at him.
*Flashback resumed*
Over the next week or so, Tohru and Akito were inseparable, they ate lunch and played together during break, talked about anything and everything, Akito even helped Touru with her Homework. Then came the day that her mother had to leave home for work probation. She asked her daughter if there was anyone that she could stay with. If not, she could always go stay with her Grandfather. But Tohru didn't want to be a bother to the older man, and Akito had already asked her if she would like to come over to his house. So the little girl packed up her things, and her and her mother drove over to the older boy's house.
Tohru was very excited, Akito's house sounded very nice, and she couldn't wait to spend more time with her only friend. As soon as they reached the house, Tohru and her mother took her things up to the front door where the older boy was waiting. Kyoko Honda (Tohru's mother) put her daughter's things down and kissed her daughter on the forehead, "you have my phone number if anything goes wrong," Tohru nodded happily. Kyoko smiled, "have fun, and be a good girl for Akito-Kun, alright?" she asked. Touru nodded again, "I will Mama, don't worry, I'll be fine!" she said, puffing her chest up and holding her fist up to it as she spoke. Kyoko grinned, and ruffled her daughter's hair affectionately. Then she got back in her car, "I love you Tohru!" she called, as she backed out. Tohru waved, "I love you too Mama!" she called back. Tohru continued to wave until her mother's car was out of sight. She then turned to Akito, "your house is very pretty" she said, beaming. The older boy smirked slightly, "thank you, why don't you come inside?" he suggested. Touru looked back at her luggage, "don't worry, I'll send someone to come get your things for you, now, come on" he said softly, taking her hand and leading her inside without waiting for a response, putting some slippers on before they entered.
He led her to a large living room, or what she guessed to be a living room anyway. There were two plates of steaming noodles on the table, obviously having been prepared for their lunch. Tohru smiled, she loved noodles. Kneeling down in front of the table, they both picked up their chopsticks, "itaidakimasu!" they said quietly, before beginning to eat. After they finished eating, Tohru stood up, "how about I take the dishes to the kitchen?" she suggested cheerfully. Unfortunately, that was when things went bad. Touru had just picked up both of their plates, when she tripped in her own slippers, and everything went toppling to the ground, smashing apart with a huge: *CRASH!*. Tohru gasped at what had happened, staring miserably at the huge mess she had made.
Suddenly, it seemed Akito had snapped, "YOU STUPID GIRL!" he screamed. Touru turned around just in time to be shoved harshly to the ground, landing on the broken ceramic plates and cutting herself quite badly. Tohru cried out in shock and pain, looking up at the black-haired boy with fear in her eyes, "you worthless brat! I thought that maybe, just maybe, you were different from what everyone else said, but no, you really are a bad-luck charm!" tears began to leak from the five year olds eyes, "I-I'm sorry" she sobbed, but Akito didn't listen. He grabbed her by the upper arm and roughly dragged out of the room and down the hall. Opening a door at the far end of the hall, he threw her inside the small room, without seeming to care about her injuries. Touru landed on the hard wooden floor, looking up at the black-haired boy standing in the doorway, which was the only source of light in the room, "maybe spending some time in here will be enough to get you to know your place!" he hissed at her.
As he'd been talking, Tohru had been looking around the room. It was small, about the size of her room in her and her mother's apartment. There were no windows, and only one door, the one Akito was standing in. Suddenly realising what Akito planned to do, and being very afraid of small dark places, Tohru got to her feet, "no!" she cried, but it was too late, the door was slammed shut and locked. The five-year old ran over to the door and tried desperately to open it, "Akito! Akito please, I'm sorry! Don't leave me in here! Akito!" she called, banging on the thick wood when it wouldn't open. It was no good, either the older boy couldn't hear her, or he was just ignoring her, but there was no response from the other side of the door. Tohru turned around, shivering in fear and breathing heavily. It was so dark. Carefully making her way over to one corner of the room as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, Touru sat down, tucking her knees up to her chest as tight as she could. She wrapped both arms around her knees, pulling them even closer to herself.
Looking around the room once again, Tohru cringed, sobbing desperately as she lowered her head onto her knees, a shivering ball of terror.
*Flashback paused*
Tohru shivered as she remembered her first day at Akito's house, assuming the same position she did in her story, clenching her eyes closed, as she fought off the wave of terror that gripped her body in its cruel embrace. The three boys listening stared at her with sadness in their eyes, especially Yuki, who had been through a similar experience at the hands of their family head, Akito Sohma. After a few moments of terror, Tohru seemed composed enough to continue, "Akito kept me locked in there for days at a time, I wasn't allowed out of the room, nor was I allowed contact with anyone besides him," she let out a shaky breath, "the only other people I saw were the servants who brought me food, but none of them said even a single word to me- I was so desperately alone, it began to tear me apart inside" Touru stopped momentarily to wipe a tear from her cheek. Kyo handed her a tissue, which she gratefully accepted. After wiping her eyes, she continued, "after the first couple of days of solitude, Akito returned. I thought he'd come back to let me out of the room, but I was completely wrong,"
*Flashback resumed*
Tohru sat alone in her corner of the room. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the dark, especially after 2 days of sitting in nothing but darkness. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, her arms resting on top of them and her face buried in her arms. It was very cold in the room, and with nothing but a kimono that a servant had brought her to wear, she was constantly shivering, both with cold and fear. She wanted out of this room. She wanted her Mama, she wanted to go home. Suddenly the door stirred, and slowly creaked open. The light blinded her momentarily, and Tohru cringed away from it. As a person appeared in the doorway, the sunspots that clouded her vision cleared, showing her the dark form of Akito standing at the door.
Tohru was happy that she wasn't alone anymore, but she was a little apprehensive of Akito after what had happened the last time she'd seem him. Her wavering eyes followed his movement as he gently shut the sliding door behind him and walked over to her. "You know," he said quietly, "I've been thinking about some things lately, namely about your father," he spoke. Tohru furrowed her eyebrows, what did this have to do with her Papa? Akito stopped and stood in front of her, "do you know what date you were born on?" he asked. Tohru frowned, and shook her head, no. Akito smirked, "you were born on the fourth day of the fourth month in 1994, your father died on your fourth birthday, so, basically, he died, because you were born" Tohru's eyes widened, and she shook her head, desperate to believe that Akito was wrong, "n-no, it's not- it's not my fault-" Akito smirked, crouching down so he was just about eye level with her "it's all your fault, you, killed your own father" tears began to form in Tohru's eyes, "no, no-" she sobbed, her breathing beginning to waver. Akito smiled darkly, reaching over and stroking her hair, "dear Tohru, you truly are a worthless creature, aren't you?" he asked.
Akito then stood up, walking back to the door. Before he left, he turned back to her and spoke one last time, "don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow," He then slowly slid the door closed, "goodbye, dear Tohru". Once the door was closed completely, and the sound of the older boy's footsteps faded away, Tohru laid her head in her knees and sobbed uncontrollably.
*Flashback paused*
Now Yuki and Kyo were both shaking with rage. Both of them wanted nothing more than beat that other Akito to within an inch of his life. Tohru kept her eyes fixed on the ground, while Shigure stared at her, wondering how she could be so truly happy after everything she'd gone through as a child. Tohru took a shaky breath, "it gets worse," she said, clenching her fists in her lap. All three cursed men's eyes snapped to her. Worse? How could it get worse? "Every day, Akito would come and tell me something along those lines, and it got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore, I had to get out!"
*Flashback resumed*
Tohru had a plan. Her door had been left unlocked for some reason today, but she was more than thankful for it. However, even if she could leave her cell, the rest of this house was her prison as well. She had to get to a phone and call for help. And the only phone that she knew of was sitting on a table, right outside Akito's bedroom door. It was just down the hall and around the corner, if she moved fast enough, maybe she could call her mother once Akito had gone for his afternoon nap. It was risky, but it was the only plan she had. Creeping over to the door, Tohru, slid it open quietly and peeked out. The hallway was empty. Opening the door wide enough for her to slip out of, the little girl stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. Moving over to the wall, Tohru kept close to it and crab-walked over to the corner.
The little girl swallowed hard, before looking around the corner using the edge of her vision. There wasn't a single person in sight. But unfortunately, this hallway was longer, and completely open to anyone simply walking down it. Tohru shivered, there was the phone, a few long steps and she'd be able to reach it. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of her face, her eyes shifting over to the closed door of her worst fear. There wasn't a sound coming from Akito's room. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if he should catch her.
Clenching her fists, Tohru took one last deep breath, and ran over to the phone in six long strides. Her heart pounded with fear as she heard how loud her steps were. She only hoped that she could make it to the phone in time. As she reached the object of her salvation, she shoved her hand into her pocket, desperately searching for the piece of paper with her mother's phone number written on it. As she pulled it out and her eyes scanned the paper, she punched the number into the phone with shaking fingers. The dial tone seemed to last for an eternity. 'Come on, come on, come on!' she thought, silently begging her mother to hurry up and answer. As the phone rang for the fifth time, Tohru squeezed her eyes shut in prayer. "Hello? Honda phone" the little girl's eyes snapped open at the sound of her mother's voice, "Mama!" she cried. Suddenly the door next to her slammed open. Tohru's eyes glazed over in shock and fear as she turned her head to look at the source of the noise.
Akito was standing in front of her with a look of pure fury on his face and in his eyes. Tohru froze in terror. She'd never seen the other boy look so angry before. She didn't dare breath, she was sure even her heart had stopped beating for a moment, "hello? Tohru, is that you? what's wrong?" but the brown-haired girl could no longer hear anything over the rapid pounding of her heart. For a moment, they both just stared at each other. Then, Akito flew at her, attempting to wrench the phone away from her hands. "Mama! Please, you have to come get me now! Please, get me out of here!" the little girl sobbed as she wrestled to keep hold of the phone, "I don't want to stay here anymore, please save me Mama!" she cried as Akito kicked her in the stomach, finally forcing her to release her death grip on the phone. After hanging up, the black-haired boy wrenched Tohru to her feet and literally dragged her back to her room. After throwing her in, he slammed the door shut, locking it once again.
Fruuba
Tohru stood in front of Akito's house as her mother's car appeared at the top of the hill. Akito stood behind her. Just as Kyoko Honda pulled up, he leaned down and whispered in her ear: "now, remember, if you tell her anything about what's been happening here, bad things may happen to her, just as they did your father" Tohru's eyes narrowed in pain, but she said nothing as her mother practically jumped out of her car. "Tohru!" she called, stopping in front of her daughter, slightly breathless. The brown-haired girl looked up at her with glazed over eyes. The older woman gripped Touru's shoulders as she knelt down in front of her, "are you alright, what happened?" she asked, frantically searching her daughter for any kind of injury.
"I'm fine, Mama, I'm sorry for worrying you" Tohru said in an almost emotionless tone of voice. Kyoko stared into her daughters eyes. Tohru almost caved right there, but Akito's menacing presence right behind her, reminded her that her mother would get hurt if she stayed around her for too long. So, the little girl forced a smile on her face, "really, Mama, I'm okay, don't worry!" she exclaimed happily. Kyoko frowned, but nodded, "alright, I'll see you later then" she said, waiting a moment for conformation. When her daughter nodded, Kyoko stood up reluctantly. Behind her smile, Tohru was screaming, 'no, don't go! Don't leave me here!' Kyoko got into her car and closed the door. Before she drove away, she waved to her daughter. Tohru waved back, 'don't go! Come back Mama! Please don't leave me here! Take me home! I wanna go home!' she thought. As her mother drove away, Tohru's happy smile faded, to be replaced by a look of fear. Once Kyoko's car had disappeared, Akito grabbed her hand and dragged her back to the house, 'please, save me!'
Fruuba
Akito threw Tohru back into the dark room and slammed the door, locking it as he did. Tohru curled up into a ball, desperately wishing she could be stronger. She wanted out of here! She couldn't take it anymore! A few minutes later, the sound of the door stirring caught Tohru's attention. She looked up, and her glazed eyes noticed that it was once again Akito. She shivered violently, she didn't know what the older boy was going to do to her, but it couldn't be anything good. After closing the door, Akito slowly walked towards her. "You've been very bad today, dear Tohru," he practically purred, the sound of his voice sending waves of terror down her spine.
"Bad children need to be punished," he said, kneeling in front of her and stroking her hair very gently. Tohru shivered in fear, not trusting her voice. The black-haired boy smirked, before standing up and walking over to the door. For a moment, Tohru thought that he was going to leave her alone. But she was, after all bad-luck charm. Akito picked up something that was leaning against the door. Tohru both wanted to know what it was, and was afraid of finding out at the same time. When he turned around, her eyes widened in fear. He was holding a Bamboo stick in his hand. A thin one, but if it hit her it would still hurt. The poor girl started shaking uncontrollably as Akito walked back over to her, stick in hand. "N-no, pl-please, Akito, don't" she begged. The black-haired boy stopped in front of her, "A-Akito, p-p-please" she stuttered as tears formed in her eyes.
Akito stared down at her with malice in his eyes. He smirked again, "you need to learn your place, and since putting you in here isn't enough, it seems I'm going to have to try a bit harder" Tohru covered her head with her hands and closed her eyes as he raised the stick. When he brought it down, it was with all the force he had, which was a lot for a seven year old. *Wack!*, *wack!*, *wack!* the stick hit over and over and over again, each one seeming to hurt more than the last. "Stop! Please, stop it!" Tohru begged. He made sure to hit her only on places that would be covered by her clothes, so if any of her injuries did bruise, no one would see. The beating seemed to last for hours, and by the time it was over, Tohru would have been sobbing, had she not been determined to not let Akito see her tears. Akito lowered the stick and knelt down in front of the brown-haired girl. Tohru opened her eyes, the blue being clouded due to pain and fear and stared at him.
"The next time you disobey me, I won't be so lenient," he reached out and once again stroked her hair, "dear Tohru, why do you make me punish you?" Tohru didn't dare answer, simply stared at him, a single tear falling down her cheek. Akito closed his eyes and stood up, before re-opening them and walking to the door, "I'll send someone with dinner, goodnight, my dear, Tohru" he said, exiting the room and closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, the girl collapsed into tears, 'why?' she thought, 'why am I Bad-luck Charm? What did I ever do to deserve this?'
*Flashback paused*
Tohru was taking a break. The stress of forcing herself to remember all of that had reduced the poor girl to tears. Right now she was sobbing uncontrollably with Yuki's arm around her shoulders, the closest thing he could do to a hug. Kyo was storming around the house in a wild rage. He couldn't believe that someone would willingly hurt a child like that, and especially a girl like Tohru! She didn't deserve any of that! The orange-haired teen swore that if he ever met that other Akito, he would kill him! Tohru was slowly calming down, but she was still sobbing slightly. Yuki sat next to her, his arm around her, rubbing her arm comfortingly.
"Are you alright, Honda-San?" he asked softly. Tohru wiped her eyes on a tissue and nodded silently, unable to answer because she was afraid that if she did try to speak she would lose all her hard won control of her emotions and burst into tears again. Yuki gazed at her sadly, 'Honda-San, you're a lot like me, aren't you?' Tohru closed her eyes and took several long wavering breaths in an attempt to calm herself down enough to continue. Soon they were all sitting in front of her once again, waiting for her to continue her story. Tohru took a deep breath, "alright, what happened next was I went back to school"
*Flashback resumed*
Tohru sat in the back-seat of the black, sleek car, staring out the window at nothing in particular. She was wearing an ice blue winter dress, with a white blouse, beanie, a light blue muff and white leggings. Since it was winter, and a Free-dress day at her school one of the maids had decided to get her dressed up in winter themed clothes. The five-year old didn't really care what she wore; there were too many other things to worry about. Akito sat on the other side of the car, closest to the window opposite to her. Neither of them spoke, just staring out their respective windows. Tohru was lost in thought, her eyes not really seeing anything outside of the car, hoping today wasn't going to be as unbearable as her first day back at school was. When the car pulled up at the gate, Tohru silently got out, Akito following her on his side of the car.
The driver smiled, "have a good day, you two" Akito nodded, while Tohru smiled and replied with: "yes" When the car pulled away, the two children walked silently into the school, then went their separate ways
.
Fruuba
During lunch, Tohru sat against one of the walls of the school, quietly eating her food. There was a tennis game going on in the playground. Touru watched as the two combatants playing each other served back and forth. Without taking her eyes off the game, she picked up some rice with her chopsticks and ate it. It was relatively quiet, a fact that she relished in. Tohru wasn't exactly the type of person who enjoyed lots of noise all the time. In fact, she'd always preferred things to be quiet around her. Well, except the type of quiet that always accompanied her while in her prison room. That type of quiet she could do without.
Tohru closed her eyes and sighed, looking down as she opened them- at least no one was getting hurt- "AAAAHHHHHH!" Tohru gasped and looked up. One of the boys had tripped, falling on the net and then been flung back onto the ground. He'd hit his head very hard on the concrete, and there was a lot of blood. Tohru gasped, horror struck as a teacher came to help the boy. Everyone turned to look at her, glaring with pure hatred, 'no, no! that wasn't me! I didn't do that! It wasn't my fault! It wasn't!' Tohru thought as she stood up, "now look at what you've done! This is all your fault, how many people do you have to hurt anyway?" one boy yelled. Tohru furiously shook her head, no. One person spoke up, "hey! Someone from my class told me that she killed her father too!" Tohru's eyes widened, and she stepped back, shaking with terror. The little girl clamped her hands over her ears and ran through the crowd to get away from everyone.
It was no good, she could still hear everything they said, "Murderer!," "bad-luck charm!," "go away!," "no one wants you, no one needs you!", "worthless!", "just disappear!" "SHUT UP!" Tohru screamed, once she had reached an empty area. She panted, still with her hands clamped over her ears. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT!" "What isn't?" a soft voice asked from behind her. Tohru gasped, and spun around. Standing behind her was a tall boy with gentle brown eyes and short rust coloured hair. He was wearing a uniform of a different school. Tohru guessed he must be some kind of new student or something, since she'd never seen him before. He tilted his head to the side in confusion, "what's not, your fault?" he asked again. That one little question caused Tohru to snap-
*Flashback paused*
"Hello!" Shigure said cheerfully, seeming to pop up out of nowhere. Tohru jumped, turning to look at him. "How do you keep disappearing like that?" Yuki asked calmly. Shigure grinned, "oh, never mind that, never mind, we have a visitor!" he said happily. Tohru blinked, before turning to look at the doorway. A man with short silver hair appeared there, dressed in a yukata, "hello," he said with a smile, "it's been a while since I last saw you all, so I thought I'd drop in and say 'hi'" he explained. Kyo perked up, "Shishou?" Kazuma smiled, "yes, hello, Kyo" he said, sitting down on the couch, "so, what's going on?" he asked curiously. After explaining the matter to master, Tohru continued with her story.
*Flashback resumed*
That one little question caused Tohru to snap, "EVERYTHING! THEY ALL SAY I KILLED MY FATHER AND YUKI, BUT I DIDN'T! WHAT RIGHT DO THEY HAVE TO ACCUSE ME OF ANYTHING? THEY DON'T KNOW ME! THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT I GO THROUGH DAY AFTER DAY! I DIDN'T DO IT, IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IT'S NOT, DAMN IT! IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT! IT'S NOT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. After she had finished her rant, she stood their panting and gasping for air. Her body was shaking so bad, her legs could hardly support her body. Touru collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, as she assumed the same position she would always use when Akito shoved her in that room. The boy knelt down beside her, "of course it's not your fault, how could it be?" he asked softly.
Tohru looked up at him, tears still falling down her face, "you're just a child, you didn't 'kill' anyone," he smiled at her, "people who think that, have no idea what they're talking about" the little girl looked away, "no, I'm a bad luck-charm, everything's my fault. I caused them to die, and bad things keep happening around me, so they say that's why," she sobbed a little, "I didn't- I didn't ask for this, I didn't ask to be born unlucky, I didn't do any of it on purpose, and yet everyone blames me," she paused and the boy looked down at her, "why? Why did this, have to happen? Why does this, always have to happen to me?" she started shaking, sobbing uncontrollably, "why do I, deserve this?" Tohru felt an arm wrap around her shivering form, "you don't, some people, are just handed a bad lot in life," Tohru choked back a sob, trying to calm down, "that's why you have to change the direction of where you're going, choose another path," the little girl wiped her eyes, "you may feel like a bird in a cage, but that doesn't mean you can't try to unlock the door with your beak," the boy looked up at the sky, "it may take a while, but if you keep trying, you'll eventually be free- to fly".
Tohru smiled and looked up at the boy, only to gasp at what she saw, "mister, you're crying!" she said. The boy placed his hand over his eyes, and wiped the tears from his face, "it's alright, I'm fine" he said, before standing up. Tohru followed his movement, standing up as well, watching as the boy looked up at the sky once again, before turning and walking away. "Mister, wait!" she called. He stopped and turned back to look at her out of the corner of his eye, "my name's Tohru, what's yours?" she asked, a small smile beginning to form on her face. The boy smiled softly, "Kureno" he said simply, before disappearing around the corner. Tohru stood and stared after the boy, the first person to care about her outside of her family, and she felt happy. Unfortunately, that happiness didn't last long. "Tohru" a soft, yet menacing voice said behind her.
The little girl gasped, spinning around. Akito was standing right behind her. He scowled, "what were you doing?" he asked. "A-ah, w-well, a-a boy came up to me and asked if I was alright, when I said I was, he left" she explained. Akito scoffed, "he was probably just feeling sorry for such a worthless person like you" he said. Tohru looked down, the pain she felt in her heart increasing even more. He walked up to her slowly. Tohru, noticing his advance, backed away, until her back hit the wall behind her, "it's a good thing he didn't stay, don't you think?" he asked. Tohru couldn't answer, she just stood there, trembling with fear. Her silence angered Akito, and his hand snapped out, smacking her across the face. He then grabbed her hair and pulled her face close to his. Tohru's eyes filled with tears, and she choked on a sob, as the tears began to fall from her eyes, "well, don't you think it's a good thing that that boy left? If he had stayed he might have gotten hurt, and you don't want that to happen again, right?" he hissed, pulling on her hair as he spoke. "Yes! Yes Akito, it's good!" she cried, terrified, with pain tearing through her head and cheek. The older boy released her hair and Tohru slumped to the ground, assuming her curled up position once again. The poor girl shivered in fright, as Akito knelt down to her eye level. Their eyes met, and Tohru shivered again. The black-haired boy smiled, hugging her gently, "don't worry, even if everyone else leaves you, as long as I'm here you'll never be alone, my dear Tohru" he said softly.
Tohru narrowed her eyes in pain and fear, feeling the darkness in the other boys heart creep into her own. "Yes, Akito, I'm happy you're here with me" she said, almost in a monotone voice. She felt so alone.
*Flashback paused*
Shishou handed Tohru a glass of water, as the others waited for her to continue. All of them were shocked. They couldn't believe that she'd really been through all that and was still able to smile like she was. How could they not have seen any of her pain? Why did she have to hide everything all the time? Was she really so worried that if she burdened them with her problems, that they would- what? Leave her? Hate her? Be disgusted by her for not being perfectly happy and having a wonderful life? Tohru sighed, "okay, I'm ready to continue now" she said softly. Everyone waited for her to speak. The girl looked up, as though watching the sky through the ceiling, "that afternoon, I decided to walk home by myself"
*Flashback continued*
Tohru slowly walked back to Akito's house on her own. The other boy had begun to feel ill while at school, so had gone home early. The little girl was deep in thought, when a gust of wind brought her attention from the ground beneath her feet. A young boy, around her own age was walking ahead of her. He wore a uniform of a different school. A very expensive, private school. He had short silver hair, around the same length as Akito's and was staring down at the ground as he walked. Tohru frowned, he looked so sad. She really wanted to go up to him and ask what was wrong. Just as she went to take a step towards him, a vision of herself locked in that dark room appeared in her mind. Tohru stopped and stood very still. If she was late getting home, would Akito hurt her? And if she talked to that boy, would he get hurt?
Tohru closed her eyes as a single tear fell down her cheek. No, it would be better if she just went home as soon as possible. As Tohru walked away, it occurred to her that she'd come to see that prison as her home. Right now she was free, she could run away, back to her house, to her Mama. But then she remembered that there were several reasons why that wasn't possible. One, she didn't know how to get back to her Mama's house from here. Two, she was too terrified of Akito to try. And three, if she spent any longer getting home, Akito would be angry. Tohru trembled, imagining the older boy's wrath. No, it would be safer for her if she just went back to Akito's house now. "Hey, look! It's bad luck charm!" Tohru turned around as she heard the voice, only to find herself surrounded by boys. The little girl gasped, and backed away. "Let's get her!" one yelled. Tohru turned and ran as fast as she could. She didn't want to be hurt again, and she didn't want them to be hurt either.
Tohru ran and ran, and she eventually lost them. But she was terrified that they would still find her, so she hid in an old ally way. She sat there and waited for a long time, and eventually the sun began to set. Tohru knew that she'd be safe from the boys now, but Akito was a whole different story. If she came home this late, who knew what he'd do to her. So she stayed put as night fell. It was very dark and cold. Tohru shivered, at least she was dressed warmly. Somewhere the howl of a dog was heard. She shivered again. The little girl was far too afraid to sleep, so she hugged her knees to her chest as she looked around wildly. 'Mama, Papa, someone, help me, please, I wanna go home! Please, please save me!'
Fruuba
Tohru sobbed as the sun started to rise. She wanted to go home. To her real home. She wanted to feel safe again, she wanted her family. The terror-stricken child looked up when she heard footsteps approach the ally. Standing in front of her was a boy about her age. He was wearing a blue jacket with grey stripes across the chest area, purple shorts, grey shoes and a red cap. He just stood and stared at her. It was slightly unnerving. Suddenly, the boy turned and ran the other way. Tohru gasped and shot to her feet.
'Wait!' she thought, 'don't leave me here, I want to go home!' Tohru chased after the boy, wondering if it was such a good idea to be doing so. If this boy got hurt because of her- "ah!" she cried as she tripped over a stone on the ground and fell over. 'He'll have left me, he'll have run away because I'm bad-luck charm!' she thought to herself in despair. But when she looked up, it was to see the boy standing a little way away from her, waiting. As Tohru stared at him, she couldn't understand why he was still there, 'you did this! this is your fault! why don't you just disappear! Murderer! Bad-luck charm! Go away! No one wants you, no one needs you! Worthless! Just disappear!' the shouts of her classmates rung in her ears, 'dear Tohru, you truly are a worthless person, aren't you?' Akito's degrading words, 'don't you think it's a good thing that boy left?' Tohru blinked, then got to her feet once again.
She didn't know why she was following the boy, most likely, he would just get hurt. Maybe- maybe she was trying to prove to Akito, to prove to herself that her life, her existence in this world did have meaning. That this person, and many others, did care about her. That she was needed, that she was wanted.
Tohru panted and huffed as she walked after the boy, too exhausted to do anything else. She stopped for a break, 'that's it,' she thought, 'I can't run anymore' suddenly she felt something on her head. Opening her eyes, Tohru realised that it was the boys cap. Reaching up and pushing it up so that she could see better, Tohru looked around for the boy. But he had vanished. Looking around, she realised that she was standing in front of her apartment. She was home! Sitting on the veranda of their apartment, Kyoko Honda's bright orange hair alerted her that it was her mother sitting there. Tohru's eyes filled with tears. Mama! It was Mama! "Mama!" she cried, letting all of her pent up emotion loose. Upon hearing her daughter's voice, Kyoko rushed to the fence of the veranda, then down the steps. Tohru ran into her mother's arms, never wanting to let go again.
She was safe! Mama was here and she was safe! After picking up the cap that the boy had given her, Tohru held her mother's hand tightly as the two of them went into their apartment together.
Fruuba
Tohru sat on the couch in her living room, being held in her mother's arms and never wanting to leave them. Through her tears she told her mother everything, from her treatment at school, to her life at Akito's house. Kyoko was especially pissed about the things her supposed "friend" had said and done to her. "Why that little shit! I can't believe that a child would actually do something so horrible! Damn him!" she exclaimed, in a rage. Kyoko turned to her daughter, "Tohru, I've got an idea, why don't we move" she said seriously. Tohru was shocked, "but why Mama? Wouldn't that just cause more problems for you? I've already caused you enough trouble being Bad-luck Charm, I don't want to cause you anymore problems" Kyoko looked at Tohru right in the eyes, "I'd rather have to worry about moving than if you're getting hurt, besides, I don't want you going to that school anymore, okay?" she asked, hugging her daughter close.
Tohru nodded, and they began packing their things to move.
Fruuba
Tohru sat in front of Akito in the living room of his house while her mother went around packing up all of her things. Neither of the children said anything to one another, Tohru pointedly staring down at the ground, while Akito calmly sipped on a cup of tea. The little girl was extremely nervous, hoping that the dark-haired boy wouldn't do anything to her. Tohru knew first-hand how violent and unpredictable his temper could be, and she didn't want to be hurt again. Akito slowly put his cup down, and placed his hands on his lap. Tohru watched his every movement like a Hawk, hoping that if he went off on her she would be able to at least try to protect herself.
Akito, who had had his eyes closed until then, opened them and looked at the younger girl. Tohru shivered, desperately hoping that he would stay calm. "So," he began conversationally, "you and your mother are moving to a new apartment, are you?" he asked softly. Tohru clenched her fists around her skirt, but managed to answer calmly, "yes, Mama thought it was time for a change" she replied, shivering slightly. Akito smirked, "I see, well I hope you have a good life, and maybe come to visit me again soon," after standing up, he walked over and knelt down in front of her. Instinctively, Tohru curled up, bringing her knees up to her chest, and holding her hands over her head to protect it. The black-haired boy reached out and stroked her hair, "I do hope you have fun at your new school and have a happy life, my dear Tohru" he said softly. Tohru shivered, terror and darkness once again gripping her heart, threatening to drown her.
Kyoko came back into the room, dragging lots of bags, "you ready to go Tohru?" she asked. The brown-haired girl turned to face her mother, a happy smile on her face, one that hid her pain, "yes Mama!"
Fruuba
Tohru stood outside Akito's house, as her mother packed the last of her things into the car. Akito walked up to her, hugging her, he smirked, "see you soon" he said softly, before releasing the child. Tohru's eyes widened. 'See you soon?' what did that mean? Did he know something that she didn't? As the five year old girl got into her mother's car, she took one last look back at her past before turning forward again. She hoped that her new life would be a little better from now on. Looking at the car seat next to her, Tohru saw the red baseball cap that the boy who had helped her had given her. She gently picked it up and held it to her chest, things would get better, she just knew it.
*End of flashback*
Tohru sighed deeply when she'd finished her story, "you know what basically happened then, Mama and I moved to our apartment here, I met and befriended Hana and Uo, Mama got in the accident and died, I went to live with Grandpa, moved into that tent while the renovations were going on, and then moved in here after you found me", she gave a teary smile, "I really am grateful for everything you've done for me, and that you accepted me for everything that I am, thank you" she said happily. The four men smiled. Tohru wiped her eyes, "well, it's getting pretty late, and you all never had lunch, I'd better start dinner now" she said, going to stand up. Kyo stopped her, "you've had a stressful enough day as it is telling us about your past, I'll cook dinner tonight, everyone who can't cook, stay out of the kitchen" he said, getting up.
Shigure giggled, and went to follow, only to get kicked by the orange-haired boy, "what did I just say?!" he yelled. The dog sniffed pathetically, "oh, Tohru, help, Kyo's being violent again" he said, while streams of anime-tears flowed down his face. Kyo growled, "stop whining, damnit! You're supposed to be an adult!" Tohru watched with a happy smile on her face, with Shishou and Yuki sitting on either side of her on the couch, 'that's right Mama, I really am 'lucky' now, aren't I?' she thought.
The End