Haha! Sorry for the short chapter (my ideal chapter length will be from 2,500 - 3,500 words), I was just a bit stuck on where to start as I haven't written for this story in a while but, don't worry, I think I'm getting my flow back! But I don't know what you guys think of my writing or if you like where the story is going because I'm getting stuck since I haven't read Fruits Basket in a while… Fear not, I'm going to re-read it and get my inspiration back! And thank you for all of the follows, favourites and reviews, I appreciate it so much! :)

James Birdsong - Thank you! I'm trying to improve the way I actually write so I hope it gets better (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧

DCKidWing13 - I have actually planned a scene that's coming up in the next chapter somewhere along those lines haha so stick around and find out :O (p.s. I think it would be interesting actually because, she'd want to offer Shigure all the help he needed, yet she wouldn't want to actually go against what Hatori orders... Does her care for the one who took her in trump the respect and kind-of-obedience she feels towards Hatori?)


Only an hour later, Tohru, Kyo and Yuki steps into the house, though not quite as Shigure had earlier expected. On any other day, the trio would stroll in leisurely, laughing and chattering. Except today they are silent, save for them calling out that they've arrived home and the single pair of footsteps that thud up the stairs while two others make there way deeper into the house.

Kyo walks into the living room, his bag hanging from his shoulder before he drops it to the ground and rolls away the ache that settled into his shoulder from the weight of his school supplies and books. His look of annoyance quickly gives way to one of surprise as he spots his older cousin laying on the sofa, a bandaged arm laying idly on his stomach. His lips part as if he's about to say something, though no words leave his mouth as there are none to be found in his head so he just takes a moment to appreciate the peaceful hum of Shigure's snores, and watch his face that's content with the lack of a spiteful nightmare. His face is pale, though not contorted with the ugliness of fear that warps and ages his features in a way that steals his recognition of who Shigure is. That's enough he thinks to himself.

Tohru walks into the room, though seeing Kyo stand there motionlessly makes some cog in her mind pause send some signal that makes her say "Kyo?" in that sweet little concerned voice that lilts with each syllable only to fall silent as she follows his line of sight to the sleeping figure on the sofa. She smiles, her worry forgotten in her new-found joy at finally having Shigure home. Seeing his peaceful face as opposed to one of pain and sorrow somewhat lightens the weight pressing down onto her heart.

"We should let him rest some more," She whispers, moving back towards the door with a silent Kyo following behind her, because she knows that both of them would happily stand there watching him without a thought. "And if he's not awake by dinner, you can wake him up, he need to eat after all." She adds as she trails up the stairs.

"Right..." Kyo mumbles, dragging his feet up the stairs and into his own room.

He slumps back on his bed with closed eyes and allows the soft mattress to bear his weight and the pillows to absorb his tension. He lets out this long long sigh that cleanses out the bad air trapped in the depths of his lungs and orders himself to breath, just breathe, until he's calm enough to open his eyes. There's a kind of numbness that starts to seep into him, and he finds himself staring up at the plain white ceiling that looks as drab and muted as he feels. The blank surface is a canvas he paints his thoughts onto, allows him to analyses them clearly, sift through them and file them accordingly. It works. He lays there and watches his thoughts stare back down at him from the ceiling, taunting and mocking until he has no choice but to close his eyes as to not scream out to the silence. He keeps his thoughts in his head, a storage space that has recently added a sepia lens to the words and images that are processed through. Shigure is home. Sad, but home; hurt, but home and that has to be good enough. Now he had enough opportunities to talk to him and talking seemed like the most logical thing to do, only God knew how long he'd be able to burden the thoughts pressing down on his brain before he snapped. And so he plucked the phone from his pocket, reluctantly opening his eyes for the briefest moments it took to message Haru.


Haru had arrived just before dinner much to Kyo's delight. They had planned to wake Shigure, eat and then talk if everything went smoothly. Hearing the doorbell, Kyo went downstairs to greet his cousin just as Tohru had called Yuki down to join them for dinner.

"Kyo-kun, I think it'd be best to go wake Shigure-san now, who knows when he last ate," Tohru had said, and it made his own heart ache, the way her voice was as cheerful as ever, despite knowing she had a good idea of the troubles that plagued him, the idea that maybe he was deliberately avoiding eating. He offered her a smile, something that would hopefully reassure her, show her that things would be okay when he couldn't find it in himself to actually speak the words or believe the hope he was showing to her.

So he instead headed for the living room with Haru trailing along behind him and then kneeling alongside him as he attempted to rouse his older cousin from his sleep.

"Oi, Shigure, you need to wake up and eat." He said, poking his older cousin's face and repeating the words louder. It seemed to partly work, as two dark brown eyes blinked at him in annoyance before scrunching closed once more, a soft growl reverberating from his throat. Kyo sighed, looking to an unimpressed Haru for help.

"Shigure, wake up," Haru tried, gently shaking his shoulders and then softly slapping his cheek. This proved to be the most effective method of the two as he slowly blinked opened his eyes long enough to see Haru smiling softly at him. "Welcome home, Sensei."

Shigure couldn't supress his own small smile from appearing once his eyes opened and he appreciate the sight of his two cousins through his bleary vision. "Thank you, it's good to be home."

He sits up and closes his eyes, yawning and stretching his arms behind his head, wincing after a moment. He frowns and brings his arms back into his lap, feeling a fresh bout of pain radiating from his right wrist. It's only then he remembers Hatori not giving him medication and his smile falters before thinning into a line.

"Are you hungry?" Kyo says, standing before him with crossed arms and his signature frown. It seems off, as if he's more than just irritated but Shigure brushes it off, his mind too fuzzy to decipher his cousin's body language.

"No." He mumbles as he stares at his wrist, trying to move it without flinching or feeling pain flare through his veins.

Kyo lets out an exasperated sigh and glares at him. "Don't tell me you're not hungry, you're hungry. You haven't eaten in too long, you're madder than a cow if you think you can get away with it."

Shigure's brow twitches and he pauses his ministrations to look up at the challenging firey eyes. He can feel waves of nausea roll and torrent in his stomach, only further fuelled by the intolerable pain that bleeds from the broken bones and is now hammering away at his skull. The fire from beneath his skin only readily boils his blood in such a way he has to make a conscious effort not to snap at the two boys. "I'll eat later." He mutters.

"No you-"

"Kyo, please. My wrist hurts and I have a headache and I feel sick." He doesn't even look up, just labours his breathing to ease the pressure behind his eyes.

"Where's your meds?" Kyo asks, crouching down to be eye-level with the brunette, his eyes narrowing in anger when he's told that Hatori refuse to hand them over.

"Maybe it would be best to talk first, then come and eat later." Haru suggests, and it doesn't seem like a half-bad idea.

Kyo stands back up and considers the idea. "And I can find some paracetamol…" He adds under his breath.

Not as if Shigure was really paying attention, just staring at the plain rice paper doors that had been broken so many times. Any yet each time it was repaired and repaired and repaired until the day there'd be nobody left to repair it. Shigure wants that, he pines for the security of knowing each time the world throws something at him with enough force to rip him to shreds, there will always be somebody to fix him until the day those people are in their respective graves and he's left to join them. He wants to break and he wants to feel and he wants to be fixed. He wants to be healed.

"Shigure." Kyo says, as if he had been trying to get his attention for some time now. "Shigure, let's go to my room."

There are any perverted things he could say in response to that, but right now he can't think of a single one of them, doesn't want to. All of his previous joy of seeing his family has somehow drained since the first few moments he'd been awake. He can only think it was because he'd still been in the numb haze of sleep when he'd offered the smile, still feeling the lingering hush of voices trying to drag him back to a reality far from his own. And now he's trailing up the stairs behind his two cousins knowing they were going to ask him why he felt the need to rip his skin open and expose his blood to the bathroom sink.

As he walks down the corridor, Yuki exits his room. For a moment the two just stare at each other. Yuki's eyes are hard and cold before they even meet Shigure's, even before they glint with recognition and anger. But Shigure's eyes are passive and reveal nothing, except his heart twinges a little when Yuki shoves past.

"C'mon"

He walks into the room, and sits on chair at Kyo's desk. The room is warm and comforting and brightly-lit, it makes him feel tired and worn out because he is none of those things. He waits for Kyo to enter the room seeing as how he went to the bathroom to search for some kind of painkiller. When he enters the room and offers Shigure two pills and a glass of water, Shigure says nothing, just takes the medication and looks at them. He thinks he still feels the way the pills surface grind against his throat as he swallows them, unpleasant and uncomfortable, but he's acutely aware that he'd be more then willing to take a bottle of them everyday if they'd fix the way his mind worked.

"Sensei," Haru starts from where he's sat on the floor at the low table. His eyes are transfixed onto Shigure's own, undeterred by the passive mask and trying to explore the depths beneath them. "Sensei, please talk to us."

"Yeah, we really are worried."

Their concern is playing on the strings of his heart, the ones that haven't already snapped. It's as if they strum out a soft, mournful melody, that's the only reason for the lump in his throat, or the way his eyes water, tears sloshing around as if he were nothing more than a clear glass filled to the brim with water threatening to spill with each movement. They want an explanation and yet Shigure doesn't even have one he could offer to himself. He's confused and worried and scared for himself; how do you speak truthful words to even yourself when your mind refuses to form them? How can you possibly save yourself when you don't know what you're fighting? It's as though he were trapped in some awful, dark room, his ears ringing from the dreadful silence that had settled and covered everything like a thick layer of dust. How can you fight that silence if it devours your words and thoughts? He had the power to do nothing but scream and crying knowing they'd be lost in nothingness.

"It's as you see." He says after some great pause. "I am nothing but blood and metal and that is why I am resented by Hatori and myself alike. What more do you want me to say?"

"How about why you think you feel the need to cut yourself? You have us all worried about you and it doesn't help when you're rattling on about how your life has no meaning!" Kyo snaps, his cheeks flushing with anger at his cousin. He's leaning forward from where he's perched on the bed, staring at the pale skin wrapped in bandages and a kimono, listening to the words he speaks and feeling something rise in his stomach.

"Kyo, you don't have-"

"I am not doing anything because I have to. I'm here shouting at you because I want to. I'm doing this not because I have to, but because you have to realise that we're here for you!"

"You don't mean that.." Is all Shigure can bring himself to whisper, and yet the words are washed away by the passion and intensity in which Kyo speaks.

"Yes I do! I'm here for you Shigure! I am right in front of you, giving you what I have! You are my brother and so you are what I have and I can't lose you. I can't do that so you need to try! Try!"

There's silence for a while after that. Just the sound of Kyo breathing hard to calm down and steady his breath.

I know this isn't a good ending, but I just really wanted to get this chapter out there since I don't update nearly as often as I should… And I just wanted to say that I'm actually scared of making Shigure's condition worse because it'll be seriously hard for them to pull him out (and that's if they can). And sorry for any mistakes I made while writing, I was in a hurry.. And sorry if I wrote too much monologue in this, I'm trying to explore Shigure's thoughts but I can't seem to decide what I'm doing, sorry if that showed in my writing. But yah, there you go! :)