Shattered Bones or Bleeding Heart?
By CallxMexSenseixSenpaixSama

This is a oneshot combining the idea of A Long Way Down and the troubles of Fruits Basket.

The curse doesn't exist.

And I sure as hell don't own Fruits Basket or A Long Way Down.

Sorry if they're a bit off character.

Kyou

My whole life I've never thought about suicide, honestly. After having your mother doing it, you'd think her son would keep away from ledges, knives, and poisonous gas. So what makes me think about doing it now? Because I'm the underdog. Stuck on the undertoe. I'm like the pinky on the hand. Cut it off and it wont effect anything. Maybe I am a bit wrong on that. Let me rephrase it.

People hate me. They look down on me. They'll do anything to get rid of me. Not once have I met anyone that loved me. Do you know what I mean?

Those that commit suicide aren't usually crazy. I think most of them are pretty sane. Because when they receive blow after blow, they want to stop their heart. And sometimes it seems like the best answer. I'm not saying the only answer. The Best Answer. Because killing myself is safer than starting some insane shootout because I hate my life. Not that I can even get a gun in the first place.

So today, the idea hit me. And I've got a long bunch of stairs then a faster way down to end it all.

As the bell rang, I waited to be the last one out of the classroom. I helped clean it up and the teacher left saying "Have a good day."

A good day. Tell me. The day you kill yourself, is that a good day? I was surprised to hear another voice answer her, saying "Thank you, and you too."

I watched her making everything just a bit a neater. I wish she could hurry up so I can get to where I want to be. Then she came up to me, which was surprising.

"Have a nice day, Kyou-kun." How cheerful. May she live a happier and longer life than I do. "Ummm. I hope I see you tomorrow." She took my hand and stuffed something into it and shyly walked away.

It's kind of awkward when someone says, "I hope I see you tomorrow." when you have plans to not to. I think her name was Tohru. I guess I'm sorry, Tohru. Forgetting about the piece of paper she put in my hand, I began to my end.

Yuki

My life is a fake. I act my way, trying so hard to be liked, and I'm not saying that no one likes me. They somehow love me, and that hurts me even more. Because I'm being loved for someone that I'm not. And then that one person that I am myself with, doesn't love me but loves some other guy.

How can this loved but unloved mask wearing person live in this world?

And that's not the only reason as to why I'm walking up the stairs to the roof of this school. But when I opened the heavy metal broken down door, I saw the person that I least expected to see up here.

Kyou

Goddammit. It had to be that Prince fucker to catch me on the act.

Yuki

Honest to truth, I saw him on the other side of the fence, facing to the ground. Half of me wanted to grab him and call him insane to be on the verge of killing himself. But the other half felt guilty because he was here to do the same thing I was about to do. I wasn't expecting him to be here, more or less, anyone at all really. But him? Why? He's the guy that I want to be. He's the guy that I'm jealous of!

"What are you doing here?" He spat out.

"Me? Shouldn't I be asking that question?" I argued, even though my answer for his question would be the same as his. I wanted to get him back on my side of the fence, because I wasn't up for hearing bones shattering and guts flying on the ground. "Could you come over here?"

"I sure as hell would love to but getting over here is easier than getting over there. I mean, how the hell am I supposed to turn around on this skinny ledge?!"

He had a point.

"So what do you want me to do? Run down and grab a pair of fence-cutters and pull you back?"

"No! No. I came here to do it and I'm going to do it. But you coming makes me lose my sense of what I'm doing. Damn it."

I was glad hearing that he was hesitant on committing suicide now, so I walked a few steps closer. Now that the disaster went away, I went back to my hating mode for him.

"Goddamn it. I hate you. You act like you have it all! And the girl I like loves you instead! Why the hell are you on the ledge instead of me?!"

"Hate me? But I hate you! You're just adored and loved by everyone on the campus. You're the prince. Their savior. You actually have it all! Why the fuck would you rather be here than there?!" he retorted.

I was a bit taken aback and then I sighed. I sat down, leaning against the fence. Today was supposed to be my last day and nothing was going right.

"Look. I want to kill myself too. You happy? My life is the worst." I muttered.

He took a quick glance at me. Then he held on tight to the fence chains and sat down too.

"So what's your story?" he asked.

Kyou

I never thought that Yuki would want to kill himself. He seemed like a perfect guy. Perfect grades. People at the house always talk so highly of him. He has the beauty, the brains, and the brawn. And I'm always stuck in his shadow. Always.

"I'm different than you think. I'm not perfect. I'm not the prince of chivalry. No knight in shining armor." He seemed to be thinking, but I'm only assuming that since there was quite a bit of silence and I was never going to turn my head around to see and find myself falling and hitting ground 3 seconds flat. "What would you do if your mother sold you out for her own benefit... ? How would you feel if you were told that your life wasn't needed? And only being reminded of that every day, being repeated to you until you believed it yourself... ?"

Hmm. My mom committed suicide and the blame gets laid on me and I get disowned by my father and everyone tells me that you're just better. But choosing my words carefully, I replied with, "I'd be right here with my good relative talking it over after walking into each other's private business."

It was nice to hear him laugh, somewhat, however short it is. And the irony of him being a little cheered up by my sarcasm.

"It's strange... I feel so weak here, but you seem so strong even when you're on the verge of death." he said quietly.

"Strong? Strong? I'm scared as shit over on this side. I would've just done it if you hadn't come. But now I can see perfectly clear how high I am and how little space I have!" I snapped. Boiling with anger for interrupting me, who wouldn't hate the person that stopped them from committing suicide?

That came out wrong.

Yuki

Standing up furiously, I shouted back. "Oh?! You think you're the only one who thinks that maybe it would be better off if they were dead? That no one would care? Is that right! Well guess what?! There is someone who cares about you! And if you died now, you don't know how bad it would hurt her! You're just being the inconsiderate one aren't you?"

"Ha! Someone cares about me? Don't make me laugh. If you're talking about some highschool girl crush then I'm not interested! Those die away in a flash. And you? The most beloved prince of them all?! Oh I'm sure the entire school wont dress in black and mourn for you."

"Ok! Fine! If you want to jump, go ahead. And when you're done, I'll follow after! Seem fair enough?! After all, this would be the first decision ever that I made on my own! Just go!"

"You think I can?! Didn't you even listen? I'm scared like fuck here! I don't even want to go down anymore! And now I'm on this impossible ledge that's only made for people to jump off of while you're there screaming your fucking problems!! (Ahaha. He forgot that he was the one who even asked what his problems were)" he shouted. The hate for him inside me was growing. "Besides, I don't want to die with my cousin following after, even if I do hate him like a mother."

Stunned, I felt myself collapsing onto the ground. "What about you? There has to a reason to why you're there."

Kyou

A reason. Of course I had reasons... But is it worth telling the oh so perfect Yuki? Taking a chance since there might not even be another one, I suppose it would be nice if someone in the living world knew why I did this. Even if he might join me later...

"Ever since I was born, they hated me. My parents hated me, my relatives hated me. When I was a kid and I'd be crying, there was no one there to cry with me. Or comfort me. My fucker of a Dad would scream at us. Me and my Mom. That our family would've been happier without me. I didn't understand why he was like this. Then... Then when my Mom died... everyone claimed that she committed suicide..." I shuddered from the horrid memories. "It was so upsetting to me. At the funeral, I couldn't stand it anymore and I kept shouting it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault." My voice faltered.

"Who said it was your fault?"

"Everyone... You could hear them whispering whenever they saw me. Look. That's the boy who killed his mother. And later on... my Dad disowned me."

"So you were all alone..."

"You're part of why I'm here. Hearing the same people that were against me praise you. And at school, you're praised even more. But the surprising thing is, you're here with me saying your life is the worst. And I can't help but think, how can yours be worse than mine..?"

Yuki

I wasn't expecting this at all. He was here for the same reason as me. For being so alone... Taking on a better view of him, I decided to let him know.

"I think... I think that maybe we're here for the same reasons..."

"Yeah? And how is that?"

"We hate that we're so alone. We hate that no one seems to really like us. Love us."

"Ahaha. You, alone? You're like a God here. Some afraid to even touch you because your 'shining beauty' is so powerful."

"So you think I have a bag full of friends? People who really know me? Like you said, they're even afraid to touch me. And why? Because of my appearance. That's how shallow I get! I suffocate from it all!" Trying to calm myself, I started over. "Ok... Like you, ever since I was born, I never received any parental love. I hardly even saw my parents after a while, because my mother had sold me out to the leader of our house. ..." I never told anyone about this and the feeling I was getting while I was saying it now... to this person that I hardly knew but saw as my enemy... "Then the leader... he.." Images of the black room flashed into my mind, repeatedly. Holding up my head, and trying to muffle the pain, I continued. "He put me into a room. He hated me. Just like everyone else did in the house. One day.. He... he .. broke down and painted the room black." He could remember the darkness. "My life is needless, he said. If I was dead, no one would care. Everyone hated me." I started breathing in and out very hard.

"Yuki?"

My lungs were burning and my head was screaming. I couldn't breathe very well.

"Yuki!"

Air was running out. Blood rushing to my head, I tried to open up my lungs. Coughing uncontrollably, I hung on to the chains on the fence.

"Yuki! What's wrong?! Are you dying?!" Kyou managed to turn around and stand up. I watched as he, in slow motion, slipped and while reaching out his hand to help me, realized what was happening. As the color drained from his face. Time seemed to stop and I could only feel the pain in my chest as I coughed again and again.

Kyou

I thought I was going to die. And my heart and mind told me, no. You can't die. Not yet. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to help Yuki since he sounded like he was dying. As I started falling backward, I felt my heart stop beating. I want to live. I want to live. Life! I need life! And I couldn't help but think, would I have thought this when I jumped off? Is this because someone came? Staring at the sky, it was splashed with bits of pink and purple and blue. So it was already sunset.

Maybe night will close in on me very soon. Starless. Without a moon. Without a soul. I let go of everything that I was holding.

But then, out of nowhere, someone caught my hand. Coming back to life again, I saw Yuki's red face as he kept coughing, but holding on.

"Don't let go!" he shouted.

Don't let go. Don't let go. My heart started to pump again. The sun was still there. Grabbing on tighter, I attempted to hoist myself up. Instead, our hands slipped. I didn't give up. I can't give up. I need life. I can't die. Using all my strength to grab his hand with my other hand, I managed to find a foothold and grab onto the fence. When my foot made it onto the ledge, he cried, "Jump!" I jumped with this strength that wasn't coming from me.

Miraculously, I flew over the fence and crashlanded.

Wincing as the pain in my body went all over, I looked up. Blood was increasing on Yuki's shirt... when he was helping me up, the sharp points on the fence must've stabbed him! He stood there in front of me, still coughing and looked like he couldn't breathe. Panic rushed in.

Yuki

"You fucker. I can't believe I was running while carrying a guy. So shameful." Kyou said scathingly, yet friendly-like. "God, I hate your asthma attacks."

I'm saved. I'm safe. I'm alive. I stared at the ceiling. My chest still hurt.

"I had no idea how to treat you so I just looked for anything that had the word asthma on it. And sorry if the bandages on your chest isn't good. I suck at these sort of things."

Content, I smiled. Something came into my mind.

"Kyou.. If we live alone... what will dying do? Because wont we die alone as well?" It was still a little hard to breathe. "Maybe... Maybe I made the wall too high. Maybe I made a mistake in building the wall. Be myself... Myself.. Unlock everything..."

"I have no clue for you're saying, but maybe you're right. Dying wont do anything good. It wont do us good."

"Haha." I began thinking about her. The hate I felt when I saw Kyou surrounded by classmates. The hate I felt when she would tell me about him. She was right. She was always right. "Hey. You're not alone. She likes you. She really does like you. And she was someone who understood you. Please. Accept her."

"Who's her?"

"I always liked her. She was the first one to come to me and ask to be my friend. But she likes you... Tohru.. I was always jealous of you. You seemed to get along great with the class. You just attract them and they're filled with laughs. While I'm alone because they're afraid to touch me. That I'm too good for them. It was one thing to be alone because no one was there... but to be alone when people are all around laughing with each other.."

Shifting my eyes to Kyou, I saw that he was looking out the window.

"I.. also.. wanted to be you." he said.

"Pfft. Yeah, I know. You already told me."

"Well!" He looked angry. "You already told me too didn't you?!"

"Haha. I was only elaborating."

Silence fell.

"Hey. If you have notions again of going up to the roof, tell me." he told me, quietly. I smiled as the sun disappeared and the room was dark. But inside, light was springing everywhere.

Tohru began crying as she bent down to pick up the dirty note. She was rejected.

"So that's where it was... I knew I dropped it somewhere." Looking behind her, there was Kyou. "It came a long way down."

He looked at her, sobbing. Unsure of what to do, he took his hand and patted her on the back. Bending down a little, he looked up into her crying face. "Hey. Let's be friends."

Nodding, she wiped off her tears and smiled.

Yuki walked into the school building. He was soon met by a girl ready to confess to him.

"Sohma-san, I--!" He put his finger to her mouth.

"How about... we get to know each other first?"

Smiling, she said yes and ran off, giggling. As he reached his classroom, there were many girls watching him. Also many girls and guys with Kyou, including Tohru. This, perhaps, was the first time he saw Kyou smiling for real. But he still had a feeling of loneliness.

"Oy! Yuki. Come join us!" Shocked, since this was his first time, invited to something, he didn't know what to say.

"Well say something! We need you!"

A smile on his lips, he replied with, "Ok." and walked over, a little hesitantly, to Kyou and them. The crowd engulfed him with slaps on the back and punches on the shoulder.

It was nice to feel needed.