woot woot!! eleven whole chapters done!! this story will probably be really long, cuz i'm planning on ending it around the same time it started (story-timeline-wise, that is). so expect some mistletoe around X-mas time (which probably won't be anytime soon, but whatev).

anyway, i present to you chapter eleven!! (basks in thundering applause. . .or not)

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

Chapter 11 - The Morning After

"Hey!" Someone was speaking. No, not speaking; yelling. Quite inconsiderable, seeing as how Tohru was trying to sleep and her head was throbbing painfully. She attempted to peel her eyes open, only to squeeze them back closed as a blinding light nearly burned her retinas right out of her head.

"Hey, you!" A different voice started to yell. "What the fuck! Can you lower the volume, please?!" It wasn't a request.

Tohru buried herself farther underneath the warm cocoon of her quilt. She felt completely dreadful; was she sick? It felt like a really, really terrible stomach flu. Suddenly the quilt was ripped off her body by some very unkind person. Tohru whimpered.

"Tohru!" It was Izi-chan. Tohru risked opening one eye, just a crack, and saw that the older girl was still in the plaid skirt and white button-down shirt she'd been wearing at the Come As You Aren't party. Hadn't she bothered to change? Peeking at her own body, she saw she, too, was in her costume. "Tohru, are you awake?"

"No," she grumbled as she shoved her pillow over her head. Sick people shouldn't have to get up. Tohru could barely move.

"Tohru!" Izi-chan yelled. "Come on, sweetie! Hangovers suck, but that doesn't give you the right to lie in bed all day." Tohru opened her eyes and sprang up--wincing and cringing after doing so.

"Is that what this is? I'm not sick?"

Izi-chan raised an eyebrow. "No, dear, you aren't. This is just the effects of the ass-load of sake you downed last night. How much of the party do you remember?"

Frowning in thought, Tohru considered the night before. Fleeting images, not quite memories, filtered in. "I remember. . .you and Ayame-san singing. . .and then we played that game, I Never? Um, I drank a lot, didn't I. . .and then, we were dancing on the table. . ." She trailed off. "And then I don't remember anything else. It all gets kind of black."

Izi-chan nodded. "Yeah, that's all right. But after we danced on the table, you and Kyo--" She stopped suddenly and clapped her hand over her mouth. She looked to Uotani and Hanajima, whom Tohru hadn't noticed before; they were still in their costumes, also. "Should I tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Tohru asked. They all looked a little uneasy, and she doubted it was from their hangovers. The air around them felt slightly ominous, like something nasty was about to go down.

The three girls exchanged looks. "Um," Uotani started. "Tohru. . .you're sure you don't remember anything after dancing on the table?" Her eyes were shifty.

Tohru was perplexed. "No, I really don't. Why? What happened? Did I break something valuable of Shigure's? Is he kicking me out of the house?!"

Hanajima quickly said, "No, no, Tohru-kun. Nothing like that. It's just. . ."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Tohru cried. She was seriously freaked out.

Uotani and Hanajima pushed Izi-chan forward to explain. She shot them venomous looks over her shoulder. "Well," she said, "you kind of got really really drunk and Kyo kind of got really really drunk and he took you off the table and you two started dancing and then you sort of kind of made out with him right on the dance floor." Tohru's mouth dropped open. But Izi-chan wasn't finished. "And after you guys macked in front of everyone you barfed into that potted plant Shigure has, and then Kyo took you into the bathroom and I think he helped you while you puked into the toilet. And, yeah."

Tohru was absolutely horror-stricken. "We made out?!" she screeched, then immediately regretted it when the loudness of her own voice hurt her head. "B-but we're friends!" she said quieter. "I didn't kiss anyone else, did I?!"

They shook their heads. "Just Kyon," Uotani said. Tohru let out a breath of relief, then sucked it back in when she realized she right where she started: Panicking because she'd kissed one of her best friends.

Seeing her extremely troubled expression, Hanajima calmed rubbed her back. "It's alright, Tohru-kun," she said softly. "You didn't remember it, so there's a chance Kyo-kun won't remember either."

"Yeah," Uotani chimed in. "He drank about as much booze as you, so he probably can't remember anything past the drinking game." She frowned. "Um, unless someone tells him like we told you. . ."

Tohru whimpered again and dove back into her duvet.

The orange-haired boy that was being talked about only a few rooms over was currently not even conscious. He had crashed into a deep deep sleep last night after holding back Tohru's hair as she vomited into the toilet and making sure she was safely tucked away in her own room. In his present state of comatose, he was not aware of Momiji and Ritsu sleeping on the floor of his room (although they were much closer to responsiveness than he was). If he was, he'd have surely thrashed them.

When Momiji started jumping on him and screaming in his hungover ear, Kyo honestly considered the thrashing. Still, he could barely move, so beating Momiji repeating with a sharp stick was out of the question.

"Kyooooooooo!" Momiji wailed. Incidentally, he was not suffering from hangover, since despite his actual age and the fact that Hatsuharu was allowed sake, all alcohol was kept away from Momiji and he was stuck nursing a Diet Coke all night. "Kyo!! Get up! There's something really important you have to knoooooow!!"

Kyo shoved the smaller boy away from him while muttering a strew of colorful curse words. He snuggled deeper into his sheets and pillows, much like Tohru had only a little earlier. The bitch of a headache he was enduring was enough to make someone mad, but with the complete lack of moisture in his throat, the munchkin bouncing on his back, and the looming threat of his cousins stirred in, he was in no mood for anything that didn't include his duvet and pillows.

Momiji tried again. "Kyo!" he whispered. "This is really, really important! Come on, get up!"

Kyo managed to lift his head and glare groggily at the blond boy. "What the fuck is so important that you're waking me up?!" he barked.

Taken slightly aback by the bite of his words, Momiji shrunk back a little and whispered, "Do you remember kissing Tohru last night?"

The one sentence was like a bucket of ice water dumped over Kyo's head. He sat all the way up, now completely awake. "I did what?!" he sputtered. "What! No! I-I wouldn't do that!"

Momiji nodded solemnly. "I took pictures on Haru's cell phone, just in case you didn't remember." He took out the phone and pressed a few buttons before showing a surprisingly clear picture to Kyo: Tohru, in her form-fitting leather outfit, with her tongue in the mouth of Kyo, his suit jacket long-forgotten and shirt half off his body. The both looked blissfully happy. The present-day Kyo's face drained completely of all color.

"Holy fucking shit."

"Holy fucking shit is right." Momiji and Kyo turned to see Hatori standing in the doorway, no longer wearing Ayame's clothes. "Kyo, what were you thinking?"

"It's not my fault!" Kyo protested. "I wasn't thinking! I was drunk off my ass last night! How am I supposed to control myself with that much sake in my system?!"

Hatori sighed deeply. "You know," he said, "for a lot of people, alcohol is just an excuse to do things they wouldn't usually do." He stared straight at the boy. "Because they're too scared otherwise."

Kyo stared straight back. "Well, that isn't me. God, Tohru's my friend. Why would I want to make out with her?"

"Because she'd so pretty, because she was wearing that leather mini dress, because she so nice to you, because you're kind of in love with her," Momiji rattled off. "Or something."

The color that had previously drained from Kyo's face rushed back, times ten. He once again resembled a tomato with a pumpkin smashed on it. "HELL NO!" he bellowed. "What the hell?! I'm not in love with her!!"

But as he denied it, he couldn't help but think about how comfortable he always felt around Tohru; how sublime it was it talk to her and actually have her listen; how much he loved being accepted fully by someone who wasn't his Shishou. . .

. . .and he realized that, maybe, he really did love her.

Understandably shocked by this revelation, Kyo did something he'd later eschew: He fainted.

Uotani, Hanajima, and Izi-chan chilled Tohru down for a little longer before all all three left for the bathroom to "freshen up." Tohru was left alone with her worry nagging at her brain. Why on earth would she kiss Kyo? They were just friends! And ohmygod, what would she say when they finally faced each other?! What would he say when they finally faced each other?!

Oh, mom, she thought. What should I do? Everything is going all wrong! I never meant to kiss Kyo-kun. . .

Brief flashes of last night came into her head. Laughing with Kyo at Izi-chan and Shigure. . .Dancing as close as possible with him. . .Pressing her lips to his. . .

"Oh God," she whispered. Amidst her arduous thinking process, Tohru got a zap from her head down to her toes that she recalled from the night of Truth or Dare, and suddenly the feeling she'd gotten from Kyo's tongue rubbing against hers consumed her. Her lips tingled, just the thought of it sending that wonderful sensation through her whole body again. She timidly brought her hand up to her mouth.

It shouldn't feel that good to kiss your friend, should it? she thought. This whole ordeal was stressing her to no end. She tried to rationalize with herself. Kyo-kun's really the only person I've ever kissed. So maybe that just means that kissing in general feels good? Yeah, I'll probably get over this whole thing if I kiss someone else! However, something in the back of her mind kept her from believing her self-spun lies.

Suddenly, Izi-chan sauntered out of the bathroom and said, "What's with the constipated look, love? Still hassling yourself over Kyo's incredible kissing abilities?" She walked over to Tohru's bed and flopped down. "Of course, I've never actually kissed Kyo, so I wouldn't really know whether or not his kissing abilities are incredible. Are they, or do you not remember?"

Tohru tensed and blurted, "Well, I mean, I-I don't really remember that well. . ."

"I can tell you're lying, Tohru-chan," Izi-chan sing-songed.

"NO YOU CAN'T!" Tohru screeched. "How would you be able to tell?!"

"Well, first of all, you're exhibiting all the signs of a bad liar: tense body, red face, nervous fidgeting, too-defensive responses." She smirked. "Plus, you kissed Kyo that night we played Truth or Dare, so you'd already know what it felt even if you hadn't gotten completely sloshed."

"Oh." Tohru absorbed the information with an expressionless mask. "Well, um, I should go make breakfast now." She looked at her watch. "Er, lunch. Heh heh, bye then." And the darted out the door before Izi-chan could even scrutinize what she was wearing (Tohru did not realize she was still in the leather mini dress).

Worrying the whole time that she'd run into a certain someone, Tohru made a mad dash for the kitchen. Once she was in her haven-of-sorts, she set to work on making a filling lunch for twelve that would make up for the lack of nutritious breakfast. Soon, domburi and onigiri was out on the table--after Tohru had cleared it of half-empty cups and bottles of sake--and she was calling everyone down from the dark corners they'd stumbled to to nurse their hangovers.

It turned the only party-goers that hadn't drank their weight in sake (figuratively speaking, of course) were Momiji, Ritsu, Hanajima, and Hatori. Everyone else sported at least a small headache or bloodshot eyes. Despite her own post-drinking discomfort, Tohru was hardly ever sitting down, constantly up and refilling everyone's glass of orange juice (Izi-chan had stocked the fridge with the stuff; apparently she'd anticipated this) or asking if there was anything she could do to make anyone more comfortable.

However, this was just a feeble attempt to distract herself from the empty place at the table where Kyo should have been. Tohru's mind was screaming with possibilities of why he wasn't there: He had choked on his own vomit during his sleep and died; he slipped while showering and cracked his head open; he went out early to run, as usual, and was attacked by a bear or a murderer (most of the scenarios ended with his tragic death). Even so, Tohru couldn't help but think it was so he wouldn't have to see her.

It turned out it was none of the scenarios Tohru concocted: Kyo was still asleep from when he'd fainted. Hatori looked him over after it happened, but concluded it was probably best to just let him sleep it off.

Tohru couldn't stop thinking about him: Seeing Momiji perched innocently on Izi-chan's lap reminded her of when she was perched not-so-innocently on Kyo's lap. His abandoned suit jacket still lay in the corner from when he'd thrown it off last night to dance with her--which led her thoughts to the events proceeding that. Finally, Tohru cracked and asked Shigure, who was sitting next to her, "Um where's Kyo-kun this morning? Or, afternoon?"

Shigure smiled pleasantly--he, Ayame, and Izi-chan all looked unsettlingly not-hungover--and chirped, "Still sleeping it off. Why do you ask, Tohru-kun?"

"Shigure!" Izi-chan scolded. "Vous savez très bien pourquoi elle a demandé, our fermer votre visage!"

He stuck his tongue out at her and uttered, "Toute cette chose s'est produite en raison de votre parti, de sorte que je pourrait ainsi tirer le meilleur parti de celui-ci." Izi-chan scowled.

"I didn't know you could speak French, Shigure!" Momiji exclaimed. "What did you guys just say?"

"The weather is nice," they said dryly in unison.

"Well, um," Tohru said. "If nobody minds, I go check on Kyo-kun, and bring him something to eat if he's up." Nobody objected, though quite a few covered their smirks with their hands.

As soon as Tohru was out of earshot, the gossip began. "Ohmygod," Izi-chan said, "should we send someone up with some condoms?"

"No way!" Uotani said. "They're both way too naive to even consider that!"

"After last night's show, who knows what they've been up to behind our backs," said Shigure.

"Honda-san would've told us," said Hatsuharu, "if she and Kyo were hitting the sheets. She couldn't keep a secret that big."

"Yeah," Momiji said. "They seem like they'd a big PDA couple."

"I am sooooo sooooooooory!!" Ritsu yelled. "If Tohru-san gets pregnant it will be alllllll myyyyyyy faaaaault!!"

"Keep it down!" Ayame shushed. "If they hear us, Kyonkichi will surely murder someone, and then our sweet princess Honda-san will be sad."

"If that baka neko hurts her," Yuki growled, "I'll surely murder him."

"I'll help you," Hanajima said.

Hatori watched it all with a morose nostalgia. He shook his head and half-smiled. "I just hope they figure themselves out before it's too late," he said softly.

Somehow, over all the din of their dishing, he was heard by all of them. And they all silently agreed.

uh-oh spaghetti-oh. kyo has sort of realized his love, and tohru is mucho confused about why the hell she enjoys fooling around with kyo so much. also, for those of you who didn't bother copying and pasting the french dialogue between izi-chan and shigure onto a translator site, here's what they said:

"You know full well why she's asking, so shut your face!"

"All this happened because of your party, so I might as well make the most of it."

next chappie: tohru and kyo will have to face the elephant standing in the corner named TohruandKyoarefriendsbuttheywannabeMOREonlytheydon'tknowit.

review please please please!!

Jax