Disclaimer: I do not own, pretend to own, or even want to own Fruits Basket. This is not getting me a profit and if anything, I get reviews… occasionally.

Chapter Seven: Tensions

Kyo woke up several hours later, feeling for the first time, since the pain meds started wearing down at the moment, all the stitch work on his torso. He felt the wrappings around his back and groaned as one of the lashes started to get irritated. He looked at the clock on the wall, groaning at the time. It was only two in the morning. A movement to the side caught his attention, and he looked over, curious, yet scared someone was here so late.

A figure looked over him seeing if he was awake or not, and a breath was released, smelling of mint, covering his face. They reached over the bedridden boy and flicked a light on. Kyo blinked, temporarily blind from the sudden change, and took a good look at the person who was with him. Then he blinked several times, shocked that he recognized her and that she was even there.

"T-t-t," he stuttered before finally asking. "Tohru, is that you?"

The brunette girl smiled at him, and sat down next to him. "Hello, Kyo," she told him pleasantly, albeit tired. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap," he answered honestly. "Where are Hatsuharu and Yuki at?"

She smiled and looked out the window while she spoke. "They had been here for a few days so I told them to go home and rest. I promised to look after you in their absence." She looked at Kyo. "Did you know Yuki and I got into a fight not long after you left?"

He shook his head. "What happened?" he asked. She was sweet to him, like the mother he never had. But also very dense sometimes.

"I yelled at him for letting you just leave like that. If he hadn't made me stay with Ayame then I would've stopped that man from taking you away." She looked at him, smiling kindly. "I told Yuki that if Akito had a problem with it, if I stopped him from taking you, I would take it." Kyo looked at the girl with new light in his eyes. "Yuki can sometimes be so afraid of Akito, but he won't tell me why."

"Maybe… he doesn't want you to hurt over his past," Kyo offered. "Akito was really bad to Yuki when we were younger. I remember seeing him being forced to sit and watch when Akito would hurt me. Then he would leave, crying that he couldn't save his own family."

"I want to help break the curse, not just because of Yuki," she told him. "The whole family is suffering from this and I want to see you all smile."

"Uncle Hatori might be a stretch," Kyo told her, knowing that Hatori never smiled.

"I can still try," she responded. "See, while you were gone, I spent a lot of time with Hatsuharu, and we spoke to finally figure out what was going on in the house." Kyo waited patiently. She looked at him, mildly shocked. "Did you know Haru had a mega crush on Yuki since they were little kids?" she asked. Yeah, she's definitely dense. "I had no clue, but I guess I should've realized that was why he didn't want me dating Yuki."

Kyo smiled at her. "Haru can be an odd one," he told her, smiling. "But it's really common for zodiac members to be homosexual since we couldn't hug members of the opposite gender for a long time. The only reason we can now, is because Ha'ri gave us a shot when we were really little that fixed that."

"Yuki told me about that," she whispered. Kyo looked at her face at the tone she used, and looked confused at what he saw.

"Tohru, why are you crying?" he asked, wiping her tears away, sitting up, despite the pain.

"Oh no! Kyo you shouldn't be moving, what with your stitches and all," she said, making him lay back down. She looked at him, smiling sadly. "I've just been so worried about you and the others. You're so good with helping Haru and Yuki needed someone around that didn't see him as the "Prince" that school makes him out to be." She waited and looked at Kyo steadily. "Yuki asked me if I would marry him after you were brought here the other day," she told him, happy about the change of subject.

"Congratulations," Kyo told her honestly. He smiled sadly at all he seemed to miss as Tohru spoke non-stop about what had been going on at school and at home the last few days.

A few weeks later…

Kyo winced as his stitches were removed and re-stitched in Hatori's office. He got into it with a boy at school again, but this time it was for something completely different than usual, so the school overlooked it.

"Care to explain what happened?" Hatori asked stoically. He finished stitching his nephew's abdomen up and put white gauze and then an ace bandage around his torso.

"He started it," was all Kyo would mutter.

Hatori sighed, and decided to wait and see who would get it out of the stubborn cat. He had been reckless and got into a fight, breaking his stitches only a few days away from getting them out, and now he'd have to wait a week.

As Kyo sat up slowly, Hatori gathered his bag of medical supplies and walked downstairs and spoke to the three teens and Shigure. Kyo listened as Hatori told them all to force him to take it easy and that they needed to figure out what exactly happened. Rolling his eyes at that he thought back to earlier that day.

He got up off of the bed and walked down to meet with the others. He walked slowly down the hall and sat gracefully down in the living area. Haru, having gone black at the fact Kyo was stupid and got hurt again stood in front of him, glaring down.

"What. The. Absolute. Fuck. Kyo." He stated in a clipped voice, trying to restrain from totally killing his cousin of sorts.

Kyo smirked and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for it.

Haru, not in the mood obviously, grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him as he screamed at him. "What in the hell Kyo? Did you not figure out yet that you're still fucking injured?! If you were itching for a fight than it was way too soon stupid cat!"

Kyo glared at the 'stupid cat' but didn't comment, listening to the screaming as Haru got it out and everyone, even Tohru, watched Kyo get angrier every second. His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned into a line. Fists clenched at his sides, nails no doubt biting into his palms. If he had the same personality disorder that Hatsuharu did, he would've snapped already.

But he did the unthinkable. He stood up and walked to Yuki. "Cell phone. Now."

Yuki gave it to him, shocked at the tone, not daring to say no at the time.

Kyo typed in a number, smiling as her name popped up anyways. Good.

As the phone rang, he walked outside and waited.

"Hello?" the indistinct voice asked.

"Hey, it's Kyo," he told the person.

"Hey there, Kyo," they responded. "What did you need?"

"Can I come over, where it's nice and quiet Yankee?"

Now everyone seemed to be yelling.

"Kyo! You need to stay here so we can figure out what happened and take care of you!" was Shigure.

"What the hell're you doing going to that girl's place for?! I thought you two hated each other?!" was heard from Haru.

"You're finally getting along with Uo?" was all Tohru had to ask.

"What in the world are you thinking baka neko?!" was Yuki.

Ignoring them all, he listened to the girl and said bye and hung up.

"She was there when I beat that guy's ass and told me to let her know what happened anyways," he told them all. "She also said to bring Tohru and Haru with me, so I don't get mugged or lost," he finished saying, smirking.

Everyone glared at the grin on his face. It was a grin that Ayame, Shigure, and, occasionally in the past, Hatori all had. Pure evil shit-eating grin.

The three left, Tohru on the right of Kyo, Haru on the left.

When they arrived at the small apartment, Kyo greeted Arisa Uotoni first. "Hey there Yankee," he smiled, waiting for her to invite them inside. "Want to hear a reason why that guy was pulverized and I got a free pass?"

"You bet, come on in," she told the three. They set up in the living area and Kyo told them what all happened.

*Flashback*

Kyo walked over to see a guy yelling at a figure on the floor and noticed a familiar sniffling that the entire zodiac cursed hated hearing. Momiji. Kyo ran over and threw the guy aside crouching down to see faint bruises covered his younger cousin's arms and legs. Glaring, he looked at the guy he threw aside and stood.

"What in the absolute hell do you think you are doing?!" he yelled, eyes aflame. He automatically got into a fighting stance, but it was different than usual. It seemed more protective.

"Teaching this fag not to wear girl clothes," the other boy stated, like it was obvious. He went to walk past Kyo and go back after Momiji when Kyo heard the rabbit-cursed boy whimper.

Kyo grabbed his arm and yanked the other boy back, throwing him into the lockers on the opposite end of the area, growling and changing his stance slightly, completely shielding the younger boy. The other, who was now angry with the interference, charged at Kyo, not realizing his mistake. Kyo didn't think, but acted on instinct from fighting with his cousins for so many years.

He used a quick uppercut, fist landing in his opponent's gut, other hand landing a left hook, and finishing off with a kick to the head that sent the other boy flying. He growled as he felt his stitches tear and turned around and picked Momiji up, carrying him to the nurse's office.

*End of Flashback*

At the end, Arisa was smiling evilly, Tohru was crying, and Haru was… pissed to say the least.

"He said what about Momiji?" was all Haru managed, controlled anger. Tohru sniffled and Arisa gave her a tissue, knowing how emotional the girl was.

Kyo shrugged. "I took care of it." He answered them nonchalantly. He walked over to the kitchenette and looked in the fridge. "Yankee, do you have something to drink here?"

And there it is. I had to change a lot of crap and remind me why I do this when all I get is headaches? Well, I posted two in one day, so I better get some reviews. Nobody has asked about a story… and who all wants to see the romance now? (I'm getting there.) Well, the couple is obviously getting set up but I need inspiration on what would be good! Writers block kills me and the story so a message or review may give me the kick I need.

Annabelle