Calico
Chapter 3: Before Your Love
By Takara-Star
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. It belongs to Natsuki Takaya
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I have decided. I will have Tohru and Kyo help me. It may seem cruel…the way I'm going about things; but I have to show them as closely as possible what it was like for me. It hurts that I had to resort to this. But I need help. Desperately.
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Tohru set her towel down on the sand. "How is this spot, Kyo-kun?"
He smiled at her with a nod in approval. "This is fine." He set down the picnic basket, and then stuck the large umbrella in the sand. Tohru slipped her sundress over her head revealing her brand new swimsuit; a pink bikini top and swimskirt with a glitter hearts. She sat down, and began applying sunscreen to her arms, legs, stomach, face and chest. Kyo sat down next to her, and pulled a soda from the picnic basket. "I think I may try getting into the ocean today."
"Really?" She asked in surprise, as she squeezed some more lotion into her hand to apply to her back. She reached back to do so, but struggled with it.
He rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Here, give me that bottle and turn around."
"Okay," Tohru blushed like she had gotten sunburned. She handed him the bottle and turned with her back facing him. "Are you sure you want to get in Kyo-kun?"
He applied some of the sunscreen to her back. "Yeah. I mean, I'm not possessed anymore. I'd like to try it."
"Okay," Tohru said, turning to smile at him. "Let's go now!"
Kyo's eyes widened at her outburst. "Um, okay…" He stood up, and pulled her to her feet. He laced his fingers in hers as they walked toward the water. At the water's edge, Tohru squealed as the cool water reached her toes. Kyo laughed at her, and splashed her.
"Eeeek! Kyo-kun!" She squealed again with a laugh. Tohru kicked some water back up at him.
Kyo laughed as well. "So now you decide to be mean." He splashed her again.
"Eh? Wha wha? M-mean?" Tohru's eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry…"
"Tohru, I'm kidding. It wouldn't be very fair if I splashed you only, now would it?" Kyo rolled his eyes.
"Um…I guess not…," she replied, blushing.
Then, Kyo got a sly smirk on his face. "You know what?"
"What?"
Kyo then suddenly picked her up, and then tossed her into water.
"Ahhh!" Tohru screamed with a laugh. She hit a deeper part of the water with a splash; just as soon as a wave began to break. She seemingly tumbled with it, then came back up panting. "W-wow...that was something…"
Kyo couldn't hold back a laugh forcing itself out. He moved out toward her. "You know…this isn't so bad. I'm actually having fun."
"R-really?" Tohru replied trying to catch her breath. When she finally got it back, she jumped on Kyo's back and tried to wrestle him down underneath the water. Normally she wouldn't do something like this, but...he knew she was playing.
"Gah! Girl, you've gone crazy!" Kyo exclaimed, laughing, and fighting back as well as he could without hurting her.
"You tossed me though, Kyo-kun!" Tohru giggled, pulling on him with all her might, hoping that would do it.
"That's true…but still…you're so little. I really don't think you'll be able to get me down," He said, grabbing her arms, and flipping her over his head, into the water.
Tohru came back up again. "I guess you're right, Kyo-kun." She sighed heavily.
He sat on his knees in the water, and pulled her into a hug and laughed. "I didn't know there was a 'feisty' side of you."
Tohru blushed, but still smiled and laughed with him. "Me either."
Then, without warning, Tohru jumped at Kyo, knocking him underneath her into the water. "Gotcha!" She yelled.
A splash appeared where they were before, and a large wave knocked over them as they went over. When they came back up, Kyo sat there, looking at her, wide eyed. "Wow…" then the corners of his mouth began to turn up at the corners. And a big laugh escaped from him.
Tohru just sat smiling at him. She was really enjoying herself. She had never acted this way. When she was with him, she felt like she could be who she was all the way. She leaned forward and touched his face. "Love you."
Kyo leaned closer to her, and said, "Love you too. Ha, That was great. And here I thought you were predictable."
Tohru quickly kissed him. "I'm not that predictable though; am I Kyo-kun?"
"Now, I'm thinking, 'no'. But, you are predictable most of the time."
Suddenly, a really huge wave crashed over them. The wave crashed and rolled, splitting them apart. Tohru was sent spinning. She was too shocked to even react. She kept rolling and rolling, having no clue where she was rolling to. Kyo was only knocked over for a second, figuring that Tohru was just the same. She wasn't. Tohru couldn't find her way up. She suddenly felt her whole body lose movement; kind of as if her whole body was falling asleep; other than just her leg or arm. Then, it all went black, and she lost her grip on the light she saw in her head.
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"TOHRU!" Kyo screamed. He desperately ran around searching for her. He felt fear and stinging tears rising up in him as he searched. He almost lost her once; he wasn't sure what'd he do if he actually did. Not just the fact that he promised her mother he'd look after her, but because he wasn't sure he could live without her. How he was living before he met her wasn't living at all, as far as he was concerned.
"Hey!" A male lifeguard, and a pretty female lifeguard came running over to him.
"What's going on?" the girl said frantically. "Wasn't there just a girl with you?"
Kyo looked at them and nodded furiously. "My fiancé! Now don't just stand there! Help me find her!" Then, he turned and began to look for her again.
"Hey, Sohma-san. Calm down. We will find Honda-san," The male lifeguard said.
Kyo turned to the guy, surprised that the guy knew his name. Then, when he looked at his face, he knew who it was. He'd never actually talked to him; and he didn't really knew who he was until one of his friends pointed it out to him like he was stupid. "Manabe?"
"In the flesh," Manabe said with a sad smile. "Now, no more talking." He ran off into the water and swam off.
"Stay here," the girl lifeguard said. There's something up with the ocean. There are some dangerous waves today."
Kyo nodded numbly, and stood there staring out at the water. He wasn't sure what to do. Suddenly, another wave crashed, and he saw her. Tohru lay at the water's edge, motionless.
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--Tohru's POV—
It was the weirdest thing. You never get used to that feeling. I had it before when the cliff broke that day, and I fell. That feeling as if your whole body was going numb; It's overwhelmingly frightening and excruciating. That hopeless, darkening feeling. The waves tossed me, and threw me. I then felt my whole body become consumed; just as it did that day. I kept frantically moving my arms about to reach for Kyo-kun. I couldn't feel him. I couldn't feel his embrace around me to pull me out. I couldn't feel his strong arms around me to comfort me and tell me that it was okay. I knew he probably couldn't find me. That's what it seemed like. I wanted to cry, but couldn't. I knew that if I couldn't find him, he couldn't find me. That's what it felt like. I knew Kyo-Kun wouldn't just let this happen to me.
Suddenly, my whole body felt like it was letting go. I was trying to tell it 'no'. But the darkness around me had the power. What was I, but a weak, powerless speck within it. What was I but an insect being crushed by it. This was it. I began to become sure of it; but there was this part of me that still tried to fight back. But, as if I still had some strength in me, the darkness didn't consume all of me. I could feel it. I did have some hope left in me. I began to feel as if I was floating. Coming back to life.
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--Kyo's POV—
I wasn't sure what I could say. There she was. She lay there motionless at the water's edge; and my heart sank, expecting the worst. I ran over to her, and began to shake her.
"TOHRU! TOHRU!" I yelled at her seemingly lifeless body. I placed one hand on her chest, trying to feel if there was a heartbeat. I felt something; like a quiver; as if something was struggling to break through and come back to life. That gave me some glimmer of hope. But, I couldn't do anything. I began to notice people beginning to gather around me.
"Sohma, let me do it," I heard Manabe say. He knelt down, and began to perform CPR. I sat there feeling stupid. I wished desperately that there was something that I could do. I stared down at her as he pumped her chest up and down, pausing to push air into her lungs. I felt pathetic. At least she was getting help. At least she might be the smiling, happy, beautiful girl I know again. If that disappeared…I'm not sure what would happen to me. If she completely left my life…would I fall back into the way I was before? Even though I knew what she wanted for me, I'm not sure if I could follow through with it. I really believe it would be hard to cope without her.
Suddenly, I heard a airy, and raspy breath come from her. It continued that way for about a minute, accompanied by coughs. But then, her chest began to rise and fall normally. I sighed a sigh of relief, and her eyes began to open slowly.
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A/N: I'm sorry I took so long to get back to writing this. But, I hope this story does as well as Lovely Circumstances. I will do my best to get on here to type up these chapters. I'm now in Marching Band at school as a Flag Girl…so, that takes up a lot of my time. I will try to use the majority of my extra time to type this.
GO c/o '09!!
God Bless!
-Takara-Star