AN: This is the first of a what I plan on having as a series of one-shots. I'll make each one-shot a "chapter" but they are more like snapshots and each chapter will be fine by itself. So, my little onigiri, enjoy and please review (it only helps me be a better writer for you)!
Disclaimer: Obviously if I'm putting this on here, it would be safe to assume I don't own Fruits Basket, any of the characters etc.
The sound of retching echoed through the small apartment. A small, slight girl of twenty-something bent over the kitchen sink, trying to stop her dry heaves. Finally, she raised her head and brushed her brown hair from out of her face.
'I can't let Kyo see me like this,' was her only thought as she turned on the faucet to wash the bile down the drain. She wet a dishcloth and patted away the sweat that covered her face. With effort she pushed herself away from the countertop and shakily made her way to the bedroom.
She collapsed on the bed, drained, and glanced at the trash bin in the corner of the room. She knew that the small box was still at the bottom and her hand absentmindedly drifted down to her stomach, gently caressing it.
The house was empty except for her and it seemed a bit lonely. Usually on her day off her husband would try to close the dojo early to spend time with her, but the past few nights he had been coming home later and later.
She could still vividly remember when she had told him the news. It had been a normal Monday evening for the most part. Kyo was sprawled on the couch watching TV and he had called from the living room, "Hurry up, Tohru, your show is almost on." She had sat on the bathroom tile, staring blankly at the little white stick in her hand, only half hearing him. A pink plus sign was distinguishable on the end, as clear as day.
She had suspected this for a little over a week now, but that plus sign only made everything more real. It took everything she had to pull herself off the floor and go out to meet Kyo.
He had turned himself on the couch to look at her as her soft footfalls neared the living room. Before he knew it he was off the couch and she was in his arms. "Tohru, what's wrong?" his frantic voice had asked. She looked stunned.
"Kyo, I- I'm pregnant."
His arms fell slack at his sides and he had looked at her with a strange expression in his eyes. He seemed to look far into the distance, far away from her and their child. "What?"
"We're having a baby, Kyo," her eyes watered; she was so happy, but Kyo wasn't sharing her joy. Suddenly his arms were around her and he was stroking her brown hair, so gently as if she would break if he were too rough.
"That's…great," he had softly uttered into her hair, but his tone didn't echo the sentiment. His eyes said something that Tohru couldn't quite figure out. "You'll make sure to tell Shishou." He had remained distant after that: they had eaten dinner in silence and when Tohru had rolled over in bed, looking for Kyo's warm body, he was gone. She had found him on the balcony of their apartment looking blankly up at the moon.
Tohru brought herself back to the present by the ring of the telephone. She rolled over on the bed, reaching gently for the phone, hyperaware of every gentle twist and contortion of her body as she pulled the handset to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Tohru, how are you?" Shishou's voice sounded from the other end. They exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes and Tohru braced herself to tell Kazuma Sohma the news.
"Shishou, we're expecting a baby."
"Tohru that's wonderful news!" Kazuma exclaimed; his tone held all the sincerity that Kyo's lacked. "I am so happy for the both of you; you'll be great parents!"
"Do you really mean that, Shishou?" Tohru asked, happiness and warmth welling in the center of her chest.
"Of course, I have every confidence in you and Kyo. Kyo will be a loving father and you will be an extraordinary mother." A pause and Tohru could hear someone talking to Shishou in the background. "Well, Tohru, I'm sorry to have to let you go like this, but it seems I have some business to attend to; give my best to Kyo and we will talk later."
"Okay, goodbye, Shishou," and a click sounded in the phone. Tohru gently hung up the phone and sighed. 'Why can't Kyo be as happy as Shishou?' Tohru lay there for what could have been a few minutes, but eventually got to her feet and walked to the kitchen. Now that her bout of nausea had subsided she was ready to prepare dinner.
She had just returned from the market and put the groceries away when the morning sickness had struck her. Now she pulled the fish from the refrigerator and set to work on dinner for Kyo and herself. Perhaps if she made his favorite food he would come home earlier and be happy with her.
As she cleaned, sliced, and prepared their food, Tohru's thoughts drifted to a happier place. She pictured Uo-chan and Hana-chan's reactions to the news, no doubt Hana would already know, but Tohru still made a mental note to call them both and tell them. A smile grew on her face as she pictured Auntio Uo and Auntie Hana with her future child. She thought of her mother and smiled; she would be so proud of her. Kyoko… What a lovely name for a child.
Tohru set down the dinner plates at the table and sat down in her usual place, determined to wait for Kyo's return. Her glance wandered to the clock on the opposite wall as it ticked out the seconds, one by one. Tick...Tock. The time seemed slow and yet fast at the same time, each second reverberating around the room, but was it really already six? Seven? The hours had passed in the way and Tohru had already slowly picked her plate clean, not eating too quickly lest Kyo return and should have to eat alone. Finally, with a sigh she cleaned her and Kyo's plates, carefully stacking them back in the cupboard once dry. There were leftovers in the fridge for Kyo.
She was still determined to wait for Kyo's return and seated herself with purpose on their small couch. She fought to stay awake every time her eyelids threatened to close on her. It was, however, a losing battle.
Kyo had been pacing back and forth in front of the small apartment complex for more than an hour, as the last warm rays of the early autumn day slipped below the horizon and as the small city was plunged into a frosty fall night. He could see his own breath before he finally mustered the courage to go inside.
He took each step slowly and decidedly, he was dragging it out as long as possible. He just couldn't face her, not while she looked so happy, not while she expected him to be overjoyed. Now he was at the point where he couldn't avoid it anymore; he slipped his key in the apartment door, turned the handle, and walked inside. It was quiet and cozy. He couldn't help but let down his guard when he walked into the home he and Tohru had made together.
"Tohru…" he breathed, looking around for her. He heard a soft snoring coming from the couch. When he walked over and glanced down he saw his wife, his beautiful Tohru, fast asleep on the cushions. He let out a sigh; it was just like those blissful first days together in the apartment when he would come home after a long day at the dojo and she would be asleep waiting for him to come back to her. Now it was different, now it was wrong.
He gently picked his Tohru up, trying hard not to wake her. She stirred in his arms as he slowly made his way to their bedroom. He kissed her forehead as he set her down on the mattress. She opened her eyes to look up at him and he could barely make out, "Kyo," before she was asleep again.
He stood to leave the room and jumped as the phone rang. He rushed to pick it up, worriedly glancing at Toru, afraid that it had woken her up.
"What?" he hissed into the phone as quietly as he could muster.
"Oi! Carrot-top, is that you?" Arisa Uotani yelled into the phone. "We've been worried sick about Tohru, what did you do?" It brought back memories for her to be yelling at him like this.
"How is it your business? Tohru's a big girl, yankee!" he yelled back at her, almost like a dormant reflex.
"Kyo, I sensed a disturbance in Tohru's waves. I am not pleased," the eerie voice of Saki Hanajima dominated the phone.
"Yeah! Hana-chan and I were about to get on the next train out there! You better be treating our Tohru right!"
"Hanajima," Kyo said, ignoring his wife's rather feisty blonde friend, "will she be alright?"
"I'm not a fortune teller, Kyo-san. That is entirely up to you." Kyo sighed as he heard this. "Just know, I will not tolerate anyone harming Tohru's emotional security." As she added this, he could feel a chill run down his spine.
"Don't worry," he said and put the phone down on the receiver with a decided click. He looked down at the sleeping Tohru, brushing his fingertips across her soft cheek. He looked at her stomach that would in a few months swell and grow with the child she carried: his child.
He looked at the phone and felt something like conviction surge through him. He reached for the handset, punching in the numbers angrily. Each ring of the phone as it connected seemed to swell the tide of his anger.
"Hullo?" a drunken male voice asked on the other end of the phone.
"Father?" he asked, surprised that the drunkard had answered the phone on the first try.
"What d'ya want?" Kyo's biological father slurred through the receiver. "Why are ya calling here?"
"I just…just wanted you to know that we're having and a baby and- and I'm going to be a better father than you ever were!" The words that had been biting at the back of his mind, poisoning his thoughts like a venomous snake finally came out, and a wave of relief washed over him like a cooling balm.
"Great, another monster in the world. Don't ever call here again, d'ya hear, you-" But Kyo had hung up on him mid-insult; he had said what he had needed to say.
Tohru's eyes blearily fluttered open. The morning light shone down on her face. She sleepily glanced at the clock on the bedside. 'Eight-thirty…' Suddenly she was wide-awake.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" She was quickly rushing around the room trying to put on all the pieces of her work uniform. She had never been this late before.
With no time for breakfast she was about to rush out the door when she heard his voice, "Tohru…"
She stopped in her tracks and turned to the direction of his voice. "Yes, Kyo?" He was sitting on the couch facing the opposite wall. She put her rush to the back of her mind and slowly walked to his side. He stood, looking down at her.
"I-I'm sorry," and it was as if they were teenagers again and Kyo had done something rash, and she knew that she would forgive him because she loved him and he loved her. It was the only thing that mattered.
"I know."
"I've been acting like an ass. I was scared, and it hasn't been fair to you." She gazed up at him as he uttered the words. She took his face gently in her hands, coaxing him to continue.
"I'm worried, Tohru. Worried that I won't be any good, that I'll end up hurting you and….the baby. What if- what if it hates me?"Years of pain welled in his eyes and he couldn't help the hot tears that spilled down his face. Tohru could hear the uncertainty and anxiety in his words. "What if I can't protect you?" Tohru knew he was talking not only about her but also about their family now and she let her hands drift gently from his face to his own hands, worn and rough from hours at the dojo. She guided them to her stomach and looked up to Kyo's face.
"This baby will love Kyo just as much I do, and Kyo will be a father that Shishou can be proud of." Tohru said the words and knew them to be true. Kyo looked down at her, the doubt and fear leaving his eyes. He took her into his arms, embracing her gently but earnestly. "I think it's a girl, Kyo," she said quietly into his chest.
He pushed her gently away so he could look at her face, "A girl?"
"Yes, my little Kyoko-chan," she cooed fondly caressing her stomach.
Kyo smiled, kneeling down to kiss Tohru's stomach, resting his head there. "Kyoko… I like it." Tohru was filled with warmth and for that moment there was only love and happiness.
