Me: So my main focus in this Author's Note is to address a huge oversight on my part and to beg your forgiveness for letting this oversight go uncorrected for so long.

Hatori: *sighs* What did you do now?

Me: I completely forgot to explain my formatting to everyone!

Kyo: You mean they don't get it already? Your almighty readers really aren't all-knowing? *gasp of sarcasm*

Me: *rolls eyes* Anyway, here's the low down. The straight (as opposed to italicized) words are the real world, where Kyo is watching Tohru in a coma. The italics are a dream that Tohru is having while in the coma. So when you see this, it's a coma dream of Tohru's. When you see this, it's in the real world where Kyo is watching her in her coma. Capisce?

Tohru: If it makes you feel better, you didn't confuse me.

Me: You didn't even read it, but thanks anyway.

Hatori: We here in Angel's mind would appreciate it if we could get more reviews.

Kyo: Straight to the point, as always. Yes, please. We need more reviews or our little Authoress is going to go crazy from abandonment and us with her.

Momiji: So if you ever cared about any of us, please send in your reviews. *sniffles* I don't want to die young.

Me: Aww! Don't worry, we'll manage. *tear* Somehow.

Kyo: *rolls eyes* Enjoy and ignore them. And send in your reviews.

Chapter Seven: Breaking Down

The room was spare, tiny and neat, with no signs that the quiet building on the quiet street had ever seen human company. The front door, painted an earthy green, led to a small living room with stairs leading up on the right. A kitchen stood straight ahead, through an empty doorway. Under the stairs was a narrow hallway leading off to the right with a small storage area in the space beneath the stairs and a bathroom at the end. Dropping their bags under the window seat in the front room, Tohru took a few dishes and put them in the fridge in the kitchen, smiling sweetly around her new space, despite her inability to see it.

Kyo took her up the stairs, Finding another bathroom to the left and one small bedroom on either side of the hall to the right. A window let soft, evening light through at the end of the hall and as Kyo looked out, he saw a small platform with a fire escape staircase leading down, as well as a second ladder you could extend to the roof. He smiled, remembering his many nights on Shigure's roof, and the nights that he and Tohru had shared there as well.

Turning back to his fiancée, he noticed that her face was slightly pale, and that her blind eyes were darting around, bewildered at her unexplained surroundings. Kyo's smile dropped and he took her hand again, squeezing it gently to get her attention on him. She forced a smile onto her face.

"It's a nice space Kyo-kun. Just perfect for starting out." On an impulse, he picked her up, a protest dying on her lips as he pressed his lips tightly against them.

"Let's start this whole thing over." He said, carrying her downstairs and settling her carefully on her feet by the front door. Standing behind her, he loosely grasped one of her wrists with each hand, leading her hands to the smooth doorknob. Releasing her wrist, he opened the door a moment, then shut it again and retook her wrist.

"We've just walked in the door. If you turn around," He turned her to face the room "there's a living room." He led her to the left, counting their paces until they got to the window seat and holding her left hand against the wall.

"Four paces to your left is a big window with a window seat." He led her hands along the smooth fabric. He kept walking until they hit the wall again, then he turned and followed the next wall. Ten paces later, they turned again, hitting the wall the room shared with the kitchen. He followed the wall, stopping just short of the doorway.

"About a dozen paces, then there's the doorway to the kitchen. He stepped in, and they went around the kitchen, feeling everything out. Then the hallway, the bathroom, the storage area, and up the fourteen stairs. The upstairs was completed quickly as well and then they stood in the hallway and Kyo turned Tohru's face up towards him.

"Is that better?" He whispered. She nodded, smiling with a fragile sheen in her eye that soon broke and dissolved into tears. Pulling her in close, he let her sob, knowing that she was frightened and in pain, and that there was nothing he could do about it, except be there. After she had cried herself out, he carried her back down the stairs, sitting her on a countertop in the kitchen and pulling out a couple of rice balls and some cool, fresh cucumber soup for dinner. She gulped down a few swallows, nodding off before she got much in.

Kyo set up their beds and changed while Tohru brushed her teeth and braided her hair, then she changed while he brushed his teeth. Tohru was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, the long drive and the confusing ordeal exhausting her. Kyo was up much longer, watching her sleep, and watching as her face softened of the lines of tension it acquired throughout the day. His hands restlessly stroked the line of her arms, her face, her side, seeking comfort from the familiarity and security of her presence. She was ok. She was still here. She still loved him. That was all he needed to know.

He thought back to the reaction of the others the night before, when he had told them of Tohru's new handicap. The silence had been so thick; the tension so unbearable that Tohru had began serving dessert early in an attempt to remove herself from the situation. Kyo, more attuned to her body language, had followed her an instant later to find her crying silently into the pie as she attempted to cut equal slices. Kyo had confiscated the knife, reassuring her as he cut the pie from behind her with his arms encircling her. Scooping the ice cream had calmed her some and she was able to smile again by the time she and Kyo brought out the first plates. Everyone had attempted to 'act normal' but even Tohru could tell that they were looking at her differently now, like she was fragile, an invalid.

Broken.

It made Kyo livid just to think about it.

She stirred beneath his hands, half-waking and scooting over to curl up against his chest, sighing in contentment as his arms wrapped around her.

"You ok?" She whispered, words slurred by sleep.

"Yeah." He replied, kissing her forehead and tucking her head under his chin comfortingly. She snuggled against him, falling asleep again quickly. And it was only once he had convinced himself that he really was ok that he was able to fall asleep, clutching her to him like she was his only lifeline to sanity. And with the way his thoughts were going, she might very well be.

Two more long days and two endless nights passed and still, Tohru slept. Her twitching came once or twice a day, Kyo and the hospital staff had become so used to it that Kyo did little more than sigh and run his fingers through his hair when it happened. The nurses didn't even bother stopping by for them. He slept sporadically, and only for a few hours at a time. His meals came whenever he felt like it because whoever was with him would get him whatever he wanted. Honestly, he appreciated everyone's support, but he was getting a little sick of everybody constantly telling him 'She'll be fine,' and looking at him with pitying concern. Yeah, he was definitely sick of the pity.

"See ya, Kyo." Kagura tried for a semi-friendly smile and mostly succeeded as she headed for the door, dragging a groggy Ritsu and a strangely quiet Ayame. In fact, Kyo thought wryly, he had been nearly silent the whole time he'd been there, sneaking nervous looks at Tohru. He paled each time he saw her and he had freaked out completely when she had began twitching the evening before. It seemed that the former snake was a bit frightened of this medical atmosphere. No doubt, he was so used to perfection and carelessness that seeing something wrong that was worse than a loose thread or a ripped seam threw his small mind for a crazy loop. Kyo could have laughed if it weren't for the situation.

Returning to the chair that he was sure his butt had molded into the exact shape of, he retook Tohru's hand, apologizing aloud for the sweatiness of his palm. He had taken to talking and singing out loud to Tohru, after remembering something he had read once about people sometimes being able to hear you while in a coma. The other Sohmas had looked funnily at him, but he had caught them doing it as well when he was supposedly sleeping, so he decided that it wasn't all that weird at all.

He drew his mind back to the present, scanning his eyes down Tohru's form under the thin sheet. Was it his imagination, or were her joints seeming more angular? Was he seeing things or did her sheets seem to hang off the bed more, as though there was less of her to cover? How long had she been in the hospital by now, he wondered. He counted carefully, double-checking his work and not liking the number he came up with. Six days and seven nights, he figured, had passed since she had been taken by ambulance to this hospital. Six day in which her only sustenance had been nutrients drip-fed into her veins in a saline solution. It was no wonder that she seemed so thin; she was.

Sighing, he rubbed his thumb absently across her knuckles, drawing them up to his lips and kissing them softly.

"You've got to wake up soon Tohru. There wasn't so much of you to begin with and I'm worried you'll waste away to nothing." He sighed again as a knock came on the door. "Come in." He called dully. A click announced that the door had been closed, but no footsteps were heard. The hair on Kyo's neck prickled and he whirled around just in time to block a blow coming towards his neck. Panting and enraged, he glared slightly upward into the eyes of his attacker. Then, he dropped his arms and bowed swiftly, a smile threatening to crack his face.

"Hello Kyo. I'm pleased to see that your recent ordeals haven't dulled your instincts too much." Kyo rose from his bow, throwing his arms around the man who stood before him.

"Shishou-san! I'm so glad you've come." The man hugged him back, gently pushing him away after a moment and gesturing to the door.

"You may be glad to see me, but I don't think you'll appreciate who came with me." He chuckled at the confusion that came over his 'son's face. "You'll see." Was all he would say, turning around and glancing at the comatose young woman before going to the windowsill and leaning into it. Not an instant later, the door snapped open and two girls came in. A blond blur came at Kyo and he felt two long-nailed hands grasp the front of his shirt. It took Kyo a moment, but he figured out that his assailant was Uo-chan soon enough as her accusing glare met his eyes with such force that he flinched involuntarily.

"How dare you allow her to be hurt?" She spat in his face. "We thought you were going to protect her, you…" Here, she started inserting in a stream of such acidic profanities that Kyo grimaced. He wanted nothing more than to go and cover Tohru's ears to protect her from the burning words, but he figured that if the ex-Yankee didn't kill him, the dark presence of Hana-san beside him would take him out anyway. So he let Uo get out all her anger until she paused for breath, panting and trying to think of something else sufficiently poisonous to describe Kyo.

"You done?" He said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Gripping her wrists, he squeezed them until she let go, hissing in a combination of fury and pain. Arranging his shirt, he stepped far enough away that he could see both of Tohru's friends at once. Looking them each in the eye separately for a moment, he took a calming breath.

"Look. I understand that you want nothing more than to blame me for this right now. I understand how important she is to you, because she's that important to me too. Trust me, if I could, I would trade places in that bed with her right now, no questions asked." Hana's cold glare cut him short.

"But you can't can you? The only way you could have fixed this is to prevent it's happening in the first place." She cocked her head to the side. "But you couldn't, could you?" Uo snarled, fists clenching and unclenching as if she was considering throttling him that second. Kyo sucked in a breath, feeling as though he had been punched. He could tell that the blush that had come over his face during Uo's abuse had given way to a pale, clammy complexion of fear and guilt. He hung his head, clenching his hands and feeling cold tears drip off of his chin.

"I'm sorry." He choked. He heard Uo gasp as she realized that he was crying. He pushed forward, trying to push the tears down and to choke his words around the lump blocking his airways. He couldn't figure out what had pushed him to this weakness, but at the moment, it didn't matter. He hurt and if he hurt, he would cry it out if he dang well wanted to.

"I tried to protect her. I told myself that I would never let anyone I loved be hurt when I could protect them. I swore. But, just like everything else, she broke when she got near me. It…" He paused, sucking air into his lungs and expelling it quickly several times as his world threatened to turn black from the weight of guilt pressing him into the floor. "You're both right. I'm useless and worse, it's my fault she got here in the first place." He fell to the floor in a sloppy imitation of a traditional bow, or perhaps just because he couldn't hold himself up anymore. But instead of turning his bow toward the two friends, he kept it toward the bed, apologizing through a sob to the still form on the bed.

Behind him, Uo and Hana stared at each other, speaking whole conversations with their eyes. After a minute, they both smiled softly, Hana walking around to his other side so when the girls crouched to the floor, they were on either side of the hopeless youth.

"Sorry." Uo said grudgingly. "We didn't even think… Well, I guess we didn't realize you loved her so much." She patted his back awkwardly as he slowly got control of himself. Hana held out a black silk handkerchief she had pulled from her long, black sleeve and he took it with embarrassment, rubbing his nose and eyes before groaning as he dragged himself to his feet. He glanced at Kazuma, who was standing in the corner still with many expressions mixing in his eyes.

"Get some rest. We'll watch her for a while." Hana said kindly, as though the chill in her voice had never been. Kyo didn't fight, and he slept, fitfully, haunting voices blaming him all over again. And he began to believe them.

Me: Wow, this was supposed to go one way, but it ended up going a completely different direction. And once again, Momiji didn't even make an appearance. Huh. Oh well, I have big plans for him later in the story, so don't fear, bunny lovers. He will be playing a huge part in the story.

Uo: I don't care. All that I have to say is, haha, I got to beat up Carrot-top.

Hana: I do wish Angel-san would have let us go a bit further. After all, they're in a hospital anyway. He could have gotten immediate medical attention anyway.

Kyo: Whose side are you on anyway?

Me: *sigh* Sorry, I love Kyo too much to let you beat him up too much.

Kyo: See? Being me has it's privileges.

Me: Not that I don't have plenty of other ways to make you bleed. Physical pain is too easy for you. So, I'm going to torture you emotionally instead.

Kyo: *pales and glares suspiciously* Oh.

Tohru: But not too much right?

Me: *looks away guiltily* No promises.

Kazuma: *amusedly* Enjoy and please review.