Calico

Chapter 7: Killing Me Softly

By Takara-Star-Chan

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. It belongs to Natsuki Takaya. (Do I REALLY have to do this for EVERY chapter?)

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Kyo groaned as he pushed him self up from the cold hard ground. That was some ride. He crashed through what felt like trees. He stared down at his arm, where there was a bloody gash.

He cursed under his breath. "I didn't think you could get hurt in the spirit realm," he whispered. He pulled his shirt over his head, and ripped it, and tied it around his arm. He shuddered as the icy cold wind touched his bare skin. Well, the bleeding needed to be stopped; and that took priority over the cold. Then, he stood up, looking around for Tohru.

"Tohru?" He called. "Tohru?" He felt a pang of fear rise up in him. Their hands had separated during the soul-from-body experience.

He found himself wandering around in the dense, dark woods that surrounded him. When he looked up, he saw what looked like a very peculiar sky. Purple and black swirls churned above.

Then he felt arms wrap around his shoulders.

"Hey, hotness," said the voice of a female.

He felt icy chills go through him. Whoever this was, she was even colder than the wind. "W-who are you?"

"The name's Yuna. I'm a shinigami. You look simply scrumptious," she said seductively. She leaned forward and gently nibbled his ear.

Kyo jumped forward away from her, freaked out. "P-please don't do that. I'm engaged, for crying out loud." He got a good look at her. Her skin was a pale, pale ivory, and her eyes were blood red, and lustful. Her curves were very graceful.

"Oh, Yuna, leave the boy alone," said another female voice. "You don't have to try to seduce every hot guy in sight, do you?" The other shinigami dropped herself in front of Kyo. "I'm sorry. My friend is kind of…how should I put it…desperate? My name is Chii." She reached down her hand to help him up. He stared at her unsuredly. She laughed. "I know. We're cold-skinned. But it won't bite."

She helped him up, and said, "You shouldn't be here you know. You should consider yourself lucky you ran into us instead of some of the crazy ones."

"Crazy ones?" he looked back at the one called Yuna as if to say, 'and she ISN'T crazy?'.

"She means, the head the Shinigami, Noraku; the Shinigami that he's tricked, and the demons," Yuna said rolling her eyes. "And I am not desperate, Yuna. I just can't figure out why no guy wants me."

"Yeah," Chii said sarcastically. "Who knows why…?"

"Anyway," Kyo said, trying to change to the subject. "I need to find Tohru. My fiancée."

"We certainately haven't seen her," Yuna said with a sigh. "We just saw you fall through the trees. Then we followed you."

"Yeah," Chii said, getting a curious look on her face. "How did you get here, anyway?"

Kyo sighed. "Well, I found this letter from someone named Sara-"

"Whoa. Hold up," said Chii, a realization dawning over her. "Sara?" She took a good look at his hair, and eyes. "My best friend's name is Sara. She was just put into prison by Noraku. You're a cat, aren't you?"

"I used to be," he said with a shrug. "The curse has been broken."

"Are you serious?" Chii looked at him in surprise. "Wow. I can't believe it." She paced around for a minute, thinking. Then she stopped and said, "Did it break on its own?"

"Yeah. But I wasn't the first though. First it was the bird, then the sheep, then the rabbit. Then, one day…" his thoughts went back to that day. That amazing day. He got to see Tohru for the first time in two weeks since she had gotten out of the hospital. He finally told her that he loved her. He got to kiss her (again). He got to hold her…without transforming. That was the most amazing feeling. Being able to hold her close without transforming. That had to be the best part. "The rest of us just got freed."

"I see," Chii said, looking down at the ground. Then suddenly, her sharp hearing ears caught something. She looked up, and then back at Kyo. "Don't ask any questions. Get on my back."

"Huh?"

"Shut up, and just do what I say!"

Kyo swallowed hard, and just climbed on her back. Suddenly, Chii threw herself into the air at a outrageously high speed. The branches they crashed through didn't even hurt them. Kyo looked back, and saw Yuna flying right behind them.

"Fly faster, Yuna!" Chii yelled.

"I'm trying!" Yuna yelled back.

"She's a new shinigami," Chii said to Kyo. "She's not a fast flyer yet. But she's improving everyday. She's close to being able to fly faster than a jet."

"What's going on?" Kyo asked frantically.

"A demon spotted us. I know you probably can't see it, and, I can't either. But it's there. They're dangerous. Even more so than us," she said, flying through thick black clouds. "The one that spotted us is a pleasure demon. One of the most deadly of all. It can lure you in with the things you desire most…then BAM! It has you. Because of some of the spirits on earth are being used by the shinigami, the balance of course, has been thrown off. Then, that makes easy access for tons of demons to push their way in to the world and cause total destruction."

Yuna finally pushed her way to fly next to Chii. "Sorry I'm so slow. I finally caught up though."

"Good," Chii said focusing on her flying. Then, something up ahead seemed to be blocking the way.

"What is that?" Kyo said, eyes widening.

"Oh no," Yuna gasped. "It's the Shinigami soldiers."

"Uh-oh. We're in trouble," Chii said angrily. "Kyo, hang on tight. I'm about to start flying at the speed of sound."

Suddenly, Chii dove downward speeding up so fast that Kyo felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't see anything around him. This was the worst case of Nausea he ever felt. The wind around him felt as if it were going to tear him apart. He screamed as the force of going the speed of sound popped his leg out of socket.

"Yikes!" Chii looked back to see Kyo screaming.

From the excruciating pain, Kyo passed out, letting go of Chii. He fell from her back, and began to free fall towards the ground, gaining speed higher than the speed of sound itself.

Chii dove down to try and catch him, but he was gaining speed faster than she could fly. Suddenly, she was surrounded by a horde of demons, and Shinigami soldiers. They attacked her, and bound her. She looked off nearby, and saw Yuna bound as well. She then stared down at Kyo falling, and a tear fell. She couldn't get away now. In this world, if a human came, and fell from this height, there was no telling what could happen. Some died, some didn't. There was a 50/50 chance.

"Just let him fall," said Kirya, a demon. "He's worthless anyway."

"Not necessarily," said Argen, the Shinigami general. "Noraku may have a little fun with him. Kishi?"

A pretty little shinigami soldier turned to face him. "Yes sir?"

"Go get that boy."

Kishi nodded and dove down toward the dark ground beneath them.

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"Tohru-san? Kyo?" Yuki called, walking into Tohru's room. He looked over at them, laying on her bed. "Tohru-san?" He walked over and tried to shake her awake. She didn't budge. He did it again. She still didn't budge. But she was still breathing. Kyo too.

Something wasn't right though. He looked down, and saw a gash on Kyo's arm. When and how could he have gotten THAT? He asked himself. He then found the letter gripped in Kyo's hand. He peeled his fingers from it, and began to read it.

"No way," he said to himself. He looked over at them, still seemingly asleep. "They're in the spirit world?"

"What was that?" Shigure said, walking into the room. "Are they okay?"

Yuki handed Shigure the letter. "Here, read this."

Shigure stood and read it. When he was done, he looked at Yuki in shock. "You can't possibly be serious!"

"They won't wake up," Yuki said shaking his head. "They're still breathing. I honestly don't know what else it could be."

"Should we go after them?" Shigure asked, staring at the letter.

"No," Yuki said, shaking his head again. "You need to stay here. I'm going to go get Machi, Haru, Hana Jima-san and Uotani-san. We're going after them."

"Why shouldn't I go?" Shigure said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Because, Shigure. We need you to stay behind to tell people, 'no visitors.' We can't have everyone finding out what's going on. Besides, I think that the letter is true."

"What's another thing that makes you think it's true?"

"On the news this morning…it seems that a huge war is breaking out. China has just declared war on the United States, and many of the other countries are ganged up with the U.S. to fight back. That's not good. We're right in the middle of it. Hopefully, if things can be fixed up there, maybe all of this will end."

"Sounds like a plan," Shigure said with a nod. "Okay. Do what you need to."

Yuki nodded, running downstairs to make the phone calls.

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Kyo opened his eyes with a groan. He was laying on what felt like a freezing cold stone floor. He sat up, the memories flooding back to him. He reached down where his leg had come out of place. It was back in place.

"Oh, good. You're awake," said a voice in the cell next to him. He looked over at a girl with orange, black and white hair, and amber eyes. She was wearing juzu beads. She reached over and held out her hand. "You're Kyo."

Kyo nodded. "Yeah. You must be Sara."

A pained look appeared on her face. "Afraid so."

"She forgives you," he said looking down at the stone floor. "Tohru does. I…do too. It must have been hard on you."

Sara placed her hands over her eyes and began to cry. "There's not a day that goes by that I cry my eyes out. I'm such a sick, cruel person. You may have forgiven me, but, I don't know if I could ever forgive myself. I just can't believe I hurt you both like that. Nothing is worth that. Nothing is worth putting others through so much pain for your own selfishness!"

Kyo reached over, and placed his hand on top her head. "I'm just like you. I did so many things that I regret…still to this day. I'm the reason Tohru's mother died…the reason my own mother killed herself…people will always have regrets for something. But…forgiving yourself is the hardest part. Selfishness consumed me. So much that…I ended up hurting the one I loved most," he swallowed hard as he remembered the shocked and hurt look on Tohru's face when he had called her delusional; after she told him that she still loved him. Even after what he did to her mother. "But…Tohru forgave me anyway. I don't deserve that forgiveness. I realize that everyday when I wake up. But I'm still able to find happiness because I know I'm forgiven. And in time…I've forgiven myself. When you find that someone forgives you, over time, it becomes easier to forgive yourself."

Sara trembled. "It's so hard though."

"Sara, don't cry," Chii said, coming up behind her. "It'll be alright, you see."

"I hope so."

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(two days later)

Tohru sat and cried, staring into the fire. "Kyo-kun…"

She desperately wanted to know where he was. She hadn't heard any news whatsoever. Ruuka left her house everyday for five hours listening for some news. But, she hadn't heard any yet.

Then, Ruuka came into the house. "Tohru…I've got some news…and some people with me."

One by one, behind her, came in Yuki, Haru, Uo-chan, Hana-chan, and Machi.

"Oh my goodness!" Tohru exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"We decided to come after you, Tohru-kun," Saki said. "You and Kyo-kun need help."

"I found your letter," Yuki said with a nod. "So, we came."

Haru's eyes scanned the room. "Where is Kyo?"

Tohru's face fell at the mention of Kyo. "I don't know."

"Hold on there," said Ruuka shushing everyone. "I have some news about Kyo."

"Really?" Tohru's eyes lit up.

Ruuka nodded. "I found out through one of my friends that Kyo has been thrown into the prison. Along with my friend…Chii. And the new trainee shinigami, Yuna." Her face fell. "Apparently, Kyo almost died."

Tohru's mouth fell open. "Is he okay, then?"

"Better there in prison," Ruuka said. "At least he's not in the dark zone."

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