Disclaimer: Fruits Basket, I'm sad to say, is not my bitch.

Oneshot #2: Angst, pretty much. This makes me sad. Kyo rejects Tohru, for her own good, and finds that, his heart is, quite literally, breaking from it. WAH!

Broken

Each day. Each fucking day, it got harder and harder to breathe. His lungs seemed to be caving into his body, squeezing the air away from his chest. Even his blood wouldn't pump as fast anymore. He knew that his heart was slowing. Knew that one day, one day soon, he would die. He knew that this was killing him.

Even now, it was hard to listen to his heartbeat, in his deadpan, broken pattern. Th-Th-Th-Thump. Th-Thump. Th-Th-Th-Th-Thu-Thump. It didn't even have a specified pattern anymore. It was broken. All of him was broken.

His eyes watered, and he brought his hands up to his face, over his eyes, teeth gritted. His heart gave another lurch and he reached his hand over too it, giving a short grunt of pain as it stuttered along, trying so hard to keep beating.

Broken.

"Fuck."

It was the only word he could think of to say. His fingers squeezed at the place his heart should be in his chest, as if he wanted to rip the painful organ right out of his body. Maybe he did. Just rip it out, and hold it up, a living sacrifice to a god who didn't give a shit about him. The beating continued, and he wheezed slightly as his breathing was cut off.

He was told he would have this. A certain mental breakdown. But a physical one? He didn't expect it. He thought that them saying he would die was metaphorical. He never connected their words to the physical. But maybe they had meant it in a metaphorical fashion, but since he was so content with bottling up his pain, bottling up his problems, his body had taken on the angst and abuse that he felt itself.

Now he would die.

"FUCK!"

The word came out in a scream, and the boy rolled over, fists hitting the wall as hard as he could, with all his might, so that they broke through the cheap drywall, punching through almost to the other side. His heart gave a slight lurch at this, and he sat up, gasping in pain, as his breath came in shorter strokes.

He choked slightly, then went into a fit, coughing. His hand, the one that was not on his chest, flew up to his mouth. When he pulled it away, there were crimson droplets of blood scattering on his hand. He stared at it for a few moments, stomach churning. Oh god. Oh god. He really was going to die.

He suddenly felt sick, and stumbled drunkenly to his feet, hand still clutching his heart, making his way to the bathroom. The whole upstairs floor was dark and empty, seeing as he was the only one in the house. He didn't see the point in light anymore. There was no one to see.

He pushed open the door to the bathroom, hands clutching the sides of the toilet as he heaved. His heart beat painfully in his chest, breathing coming in long gasps. It was getting worse. His expiration date was coming. With a last desperate choke, he flushed the toilet, wiping his mouth, and stumbled to the mirror.

What he saw shocked him. His amber eyes were no longer alight with the fire they had once had. Now, instead, they were sunken and shallow, the pupils dilated, white turning a sickly shade of yellow. His once healthy, tan skin was flushed and pale, and turning a slight yellowish green in some places. His hair lay damp and dark around his face; even it couldn't be bothered to rebel and stick up anymore.

How had it come down to this? He remembered being happy once. He remembered a house full of people: Shigure, Yuki, Tohru… His heart came to a stuttering halt for a moment as her face sprung into his mind, before starting back up again a moment later, its broken pattern continuing. Ugh. His fingernails dug into the skin covering his heart.

He remembered everything now. He remembered Tohru, confessing her love to him. He remembered pushing her away. Telling her awful things, telling her he hated her… Telling her… Telling her…

"Kyo-" Tohru's eyes brimmed with tears, she reached a hand out, setting it gently on his chest-right overtop of his heart. His amber eyes flashed, shoving her away determinedly.

"No! Don't fucking touch me! What makes you think I love you? I don't love you! I can't stand you! I CAN'T FUCKING STAND YOU! You're always at some extreme or another. DON'T TOUCH ME! LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!" He clenched his fists, turning away, head bowed, hair falling into his face. He tried so hard to drown out her sobs, but they only seemed to magnify in his ears. His own eyes brimmed with tears –but he fought them down. No time for emotions. He couldn't show them. He wouldn't.

He had done this to protect her. Akito would never let him love her – no matter how much he wanted to. She would get hurt – he knew she would. Akito would kill her – he was looking for any chance he could to harm the girl. Not to mention Kyo himself. Who would want to be in love with a monster? They could never hug. Never embrace… Never… love each other. His hand traveled subconsciously to his beads. That's right. He was a monster. And he would only hurt her. He would break her. There was nothing but pain.

And so he gritted his teeth and walked away, determined that eventually it would stop hurting, that some day he would stop hearing her screaming out his name behind him, eventually she would forget him.

But it hadn't worked out that way. She never forgot him. Eventually it got to the point where she wouldn't come home, instead spending weeks at Uo's, or Hana's house. She wouldn't look at him. Couldn't. And so, after graduation, she had moved out. Moved in with Yuki, trying to ease some of her pain.

That damn rat.

So then, it was just Kyo and Shigure. Kyo thought he could live with that, could live with the fact that he would never see Tohru's face again, would never hear the rat's voice. The picture of them together hurt him… But not as much as her screams of pain when he left her behind.

Then Shigure, that damn dog, left. Just left one day. He never came home from the main house, and Kyo later learned that Akito kept him. That Kureno was dead. That Shigure's curse was broken. Akito wanted Shigure to stay. Forever.

Kyo groaned slightly, and he dropped to his knees in the hall, one hand bracing himself. The damn curse. That was the only thing that kept him from Tohru now… That was the thing that was hurting her. Being a monster.

When he had started feeling sick, he called Hatori over to the empty house. Hatori said it was just an effect of the stress that Kyo had put upon his body. That it was mostly emotional, and it would go away. But it hadn't. His breathing had constricted, and his heart…. His heart started beating weird. Like it was off. Broken.

Th-th-ththump. th-th-th-th-th-thum-thump. th-th-thump.

Each and every beat hurt. He closed his eyes in pain, letting it wash over him, letting the tears come to his face. He barely heard the footsteps coming up the stairs, couldn't see the light turn on in the hall, didn't hear the stifled gasp of a girl coming from right in front of him. But he did feel the soft, warm hands on his face, and hands pulling him to his feet. He heard the quiet, so familiar voice of someone asking him if he was alright.

He opened his eyes, tears streaming down his face, to see Tohru, her brown eyes brimming with tears as she held him at arm's length.

"I-I… I just came to get something… " She whispered. "A-And you…" She was awkward, but her voice held concern. Only someone who really, truly loved you could sound as concerned as she did.

Kyo swallowed slightly, still crying. This was the face of the girl he would never be with. The face of the girl he rejected. The face of the girl who thought that he hated her, even though he loved her more than life itself. The face of the girl who still cared about him, even though he had pushed her away. The face of the girl who..

Kyo gave a gasp, his hand clutching for his heart, as he felt the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. As if something inside him was breaking in two. With a slight ripping sound, Kyo was back on his knees, eyes wide, clutching at his heart, while Tohru's screaming echoed around him. It was funny – how everything went hazy, his eyes going in and out of focus. Everything in his system was on overdrive – there were little bells ringing in his head, warning him of danger, but he knew there was nothing he could do. He blinked once, before his eyes closed forever. The last thing he saw was the face of Tohru Honda. The face of the girl who he knew he could never hold.

The face of the girl who broke his heart.

A/N: I feel so angsty today… Have you ever noticed how Akito is always the cause of everything? I wonder what Akito thinks about that… Being the cause of the misery in the Sohma family… Maybe she likes it? And why is Kyo always the one who gets the shitty end of the stick? I guess being the cat really does suck. But it was nice to write about him again. Its so easy to write about him… It just flows…Its probably because his emotions are so vivid. I love my Kyo-kun!