I dont own Fruits basket!

Chapter 2 - effects

The smile fooled everyone. She knew it would. It always had, no one ever looked that closely at her. She went home, changed into long loose clothing, made dinner, and sat at the table with the three juunishi she lived with, not daring to look at anyone in the eye in case he could read the hazel mask she had created. Orange eyes glared into violet as the two continued the fight they started before they sat down to their meal. Shigure sighed as Kyo flew through the back door for the third time that month. Tohru watched Yuki nonchalantly throw the cat out of the house, feeling a sudden constriction on her breathing. She sighed quietly to herself and looked down at her plate. Pushing the food around without eating anything. Her appetite had gone down since the patriarch had called her to him the previous week.

"How could you think he would ever love such a worthless creature like you?" Akito hissed as he circled her, dark eyes glinting maliciously as the girl lay weeping on the tatami mat by the patriarch's feet. She was doubled up so only her bare back showed, a back that was crisscrossed scarlet from the whip in the god's hand. "He is mine, they are all mine" black pitiless eyes stared down at the sobbing creature on the ground. Revulsion welled up inside the kimono-clad figure. The creature needed to be gone. It was taking away all his favorite play toys. "Do you really think anyone will love you after what you let me do to you?" he asked looking proudly at the bruises covered her arms and upper thighs the pearly liquid running thick down her legs, he was proud of his work. He bent down and grabbed her by the throat. "Worthless," he spat, throwing her to the ground again. "You just take up room, not only would they not notice, but they would be glad if you disappeared"

The end of their "chat" kept running through the girl's mind. She felt like she was just going through the motions, not really caring. She got up and went to the sink, she put the leftovers – along with her own uneaten portion – of their dinner in containers in the fridge. As she started washing dishes she didn't even notice her own tears mix with the warm water from the tap. "They would be glad if you died" she started drying dishes and putting them away Akito's words ringing in her ears, oblivious to the fact that the three Sohmas were still at the table, Kyo having had gotten up from where he was thrown. "Worthless". Tohru had accepted what he said without a second thought, especially after he had broken her. That was it, Akito had what he wanted, she was broken. She took a knife from the knife block and held it experimentally against her wrist, her back still facing the table.

"Tohru-kun?" a tan hand took the wrist holding the knife just before it was about to slice her pale flesh. She looked around, orange eyes bored into own hazel, which were still watery from tears. She grabbed the knife with her other hand, attempting to try the other side, but Kyo held that arm at bay also. "Rat" he said, asking the nezumi for help without another word. Yuki however, was already halfway up, and grabbed the knife from her

"Honda-san?" he said concern in his violet eyes. "Why would you do this? What's wrong?" a river flowed from the girls eyes. "Tell me! What is going on?" He said as Kyo held her hands behind her back. A memory from the beginning of that day in the black room came back to her, back when she really thought he just wanted to 'chat'. "if you tell anyone about what happens here today, not only will it prove to me that you are nothing but scum and don't belong with the family, but also I will just have to see you again, in a way that will make this one look romantic and gentle." He smirked, "Oh, and don't forget the punishment I give to the one who knows."

She let out a small cry that tore at Kyo's heart before collapsing onto the ground sobbing silently. "Shigure!" Kyo called, distressed, from his position on the floor behind her, where he was still holding her arms. The dog came running out of his study, picked her up gently like a child, and carried her up the stairs.

"Hatori is on his way," He said sternly to the sobbing girl. "Something's wrong, stop trying to pretend that you are ok when you obviously aren't." He set the still silently crying girl down on her large bed and took his leave. "Please, let us help you." He murmured on his way out. He then closed the door on the girl and asked Yuki, who was coming out of his own room to keep watch. Shigure hated having to be the mean one, but in this case it was for her own good.

There was no noise when Shigure closed the door to Tohru's room. He guessed that she was still sobbing silently. Kyo had taken up Tohru's place at the sink when Hatori arrived. "What happened?" The dragon asked, without preamble.

Shigure went into the story "She got up to do dishes in the middle of dinner, and then Kyo noticed she had a knife poised against her wrist. He stopped her just before she did any damage. There wasn't really a fight, but I picked her up and carried her to her room. I guess she finally went to sleep, she needed it, she is getting very thin." Hatori's emerald eyes looked up at the ceiling worried.

"I need to see her right away" Hatori said, making his way to the staircase. There was a thump from upstairs and they both ran upstairs. Hatori found Yuki keeping guard by the door and pushed it open.

Tohru was lying on the floor with an empty bottle of nail polish remover next to her, legs bent under her as if she had fallen suddenly, arms spread wide, her face, however looked peaceful and she was very clearly unconscious, her breathing heavy and labored. "Yuki!" the rat looked over from where he still stood outside the door amethyst eyes confused at the intensity in his cousin's voice. "Get my bag, now!" Yuki glanced down at the girl as he quickly turned and ran down the stairs.

Hatori started the laborious work of trying to get the girl to reject the poisonous substance she had consumed. Yuki returned, black bag in hand, and tried to help the dragon. "lay her flat," Hatori said, reaching into his bag and grabbing a long tube. He gently coaxed it down the girl's throat with practiced movements and managed to get it down to her stomach. Soon the harmful liquid was out of her body and he removed the tube before she started to choke on it. "Help me get her on to her bed" he said to the young man at his patient's feet. The two of them lifted her and carefully placed her on the queen-sized bed Shigure had got for her when she moved in. "She should be ok," he said to Kyo and Shigure who were in the doorway, and Yuki by the bed. "I will need to give her a work up now that she is going to make it, I am more worried about her mental health than anything else at the moment." While he was talking Kyo had moved to the head of her bed, stroking her soft hair.

"What could have prompted her to act like this so suddenly?" Yuki asked from the foot of the bed, where he had sat down.

"I don't think it was all that sudden" the dragon replied. "I think there is something much deeper behind this. This afternoon she asked me to erase her memories of the family." Three pairs of eyes flicked from the sleeping girl to the dragon. Kyo made a growling sound in the back of his throat, and went back to staring at her, as though by looking at her, she would get better. "I am going to have to ask you three to leave now, I need to examine her." The rat went to the door where Shigure was. The cat, however, didn't move. "Kyo, I need you to leave now" Hatori said again, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I promise you can come back in when I am done" he reassured the young man steering him out of the room.

As soon as the door was closed Hatori took the chair from the Tohru's desk and sank onto it. He sighed deeply, what did Akito do to this girl that could cause her to do this? He wondered as he carefully removed her large tee shirt and rolled her on her side. He gasped. She had whip marks worse than Yuki's, deep and everywhere, most looked about a week old, others, however looked fresh. Some of them even went through the waistband of the sweatpants she was wearing.. He removed that as well and saw dark bruises on her thighs that matched the ones he had found on her arms and neck. Well, that explained why she had been wearing longer skirts and long-sleeved turtlenecks recently. He was going to examine her properly when she woke up. He was determined of that, for if the sadistic patriarch did what Hatori thought, then this girl would need a lot more than bandages.

He gently treated the wounds on her back and rolled her back over, gingerly bringing the covers from underneath her slim body and covering her with them. He was about to leave the room when he decided to check for any other substances or objects that the unstable girl could possibly do damage to herself with. He quietly looked around, emerald eyes scanning his surroundings carefully. He took the nude nail polish from in her closet, along with the scissors in her drawer. He decided that the rest of her sewing must be in the other room, so he wouldn't worry about that just yet. He looked around for medication of any kind she may have around her room. When he couldn't find anything else, he opened the door to find three anxious looking people in the doorway.

Kyo was at her side in a second. "Why would she do this?" asked Yuki again from the doorframe, staring at her sleeping figure.

"Did Tohru go anywhere unusual in the past few weeks? Do you remember a time when she was either gone too long, or she went somewhere she doesn't normally go?" Hatori asked, trying to usher the other two men into the living room. They both shook their heads.

"Yes" the answer came from in the room. Kyo sat in the chair vacated by the dragon, staring sadly at the girl.

"What do you mean 'Yes'?" Yuki asked angrily, grabbing the cat by the collar of his shirt. "Where were we? And how come we didn't know?"

Kyo didn't rise to the rat's attack, even after he had been pulled out of his chair. He quietly walked downstairs, not wanting to wake Tohru if they started to fight. The other three followed him, Yuki looked tenderly at the onigiri before closing the door behind him on his way out.

When the four juunishi were all sitting around the table Kyo started. "Last week sometime, I think it was Wednesday, anyway, Shigure, you were out with Aaya, and Yuki, you were doing some student council thing. Tohru and I came home together, and she asked me what I wanted for dinner, then she left to go shopping. Well, I don't know how long it was before she came back, but Yuki, you were back, I think you were in your base when she returned. I was on the roof. It must have been 3 or 4 hours. She had the shopping with her, so I didn't think much of it at the time, I guessed she had just met up with a friend or something and lost track of time. But, the answer is 'yes', Hatori. She was gone for far too long. And then, that night, though she made dinner, she didn't join us. She just took a bath and went to bed. Again, I thought she had met a friend and had eaten out but now…."

Shigure and Yuki were staring at Kyo shocked, for this was the first either of them had heard of this. Hatori was pensively looking out the torn door, having gotten up sometime during the explanation. "I think she has seen Akito." The dragon said after a tense minute of silence.

"WHAAT?" the other three looked shocked and appalled. They all knew very well what Akito could do to a person. Yuki looked slightly sick. "why would she go there?" Yuki asked, pale face turning slightly green.

"I'm sorry," Hatori said, sitting back down at the short square table. "I should amend my previous statement, I mean I think she was taken to see Akito. Twice." Kyo got up and leaned against the wall looking furious, Shigure's face was impassive, but Yuki sagged in exhaustion. "She has scars on her back which look like they were made by a whip, they are numerous and deep, she also has bruises on her arms, throat and upper thighs. If I had to guess, she was raped. She also has some fresh whip marks and blood stains on her back that suggest that she has been there today too. Which probably caused her to break completely."

The sound of breaking plaster ended Hatori's clinical description as Kyo punched a hole in the wall. "I am going to kill that bastard!" the cat said, obviously outraged.

"Stop it Baka, Neko, " Yuki spat the last word, "If anyone is going to kill him, its going to be me." He said getting up as well.

"Why the hell would a filthy RAT have more of a priority than me!" Kyo yelled straight in the face the violet-eyed teen

"I –" Yuki didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because Hatori had gotten up and was pressing the pressure points on the necks of both of the boys in an attempt to get them to settle down. The two collapsed and nearly fainted, but Hatori had used enormous self control in dominating the young men, and had only applied enough pressure to make their heart rate decrease so they could calm down.

"While I don't disagree that he may deserve it, no one is confronting Akito about anything, as of yet" Hatori said firmly. Seeing their puzzled and angry faces he explained. "Unless I am very much mistaken, Akito has threatened Tohru that if she tells anyone what he did to her then there will be major repercussions for her, or the person she tells, or possibly both. We have to be sure if he raped her or not. Either way, we need to get her intense psychological care." the dragon looked at his watch. "She should be awake now." Kyo ran up the stairs into Tohru's room.

"HATORI!" The cat yelled from where he stood in her bedroom. He was staring at a nearly completely naked Tohru, she had obviously just gotten out from under the covers, lying unconscious on her carpet with a sewing needle in her limp left hand and blood gushing from words gouged deep up both forearms. "WORTHLESS"

A/N Hopefully this chapter makes up for the pitiful chapter before this... sorry about that btw.

Please read and review!

Translations

Baka- Idiot

Neko - cat

Nezumi - rat