My Monster

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

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Chapter 11:

Strings of Fate

It all felt like an extremely bad dream; something she wouldn't have believed if it didn't happen to her first hand. Holding the phone to her ear with a quivering hand, eyes wide, she could barely think as she asked, "Wha-What did you just say?" The person on the other line only sighed, annoyed.

"Listen, Tohru, for the third time. Kyouko's in the hospital. She got into a wreck on the way to work." The voice on the other line was that of her aunt, annoyed and sharp. The woman tried once more to give Tohru the details of the accident but she simply wasn't listening. The girl, her voice shaking, cut the woman off mid-sentence.

"Can I see her? Is she okay?" Her aunt growled through her teeth, but didn't respond. "Hello? Can I see mom? Can I?!"

"Do you have money?" The question threw Tohru off guard and she tried processing it as her aunt continued. "Do you have a car? Do you even have a license?" The woman paused for a moment, finally replying with a short laugh. "We're not picking you up, so don't even try that."

Tohru sighed, dejected. She spoke in a broken, barely noticeable voice. "I understand," Tohru couldn't do anything other than comply, so, in silence, she stood there, her forehead against the wall. There was silence on the other end as well, and then, shuffling.

"Hello, Tohru? This is grandpa."

Her head shot up, a small smile on her face. She hadn't talked to the man in quite a while, so it was good that she at least knew he was doing okay. "Oh, hi grandpa. How are you?"

"I'm fine, dear. Just fine," He paused, contemplation evident in his silence. Just as Tohru was about to ask what was wrong, he spoke. "Listen, Tohru. Now, you know your mother better than any of us, so does she know anyone named Jari? We thought she might have suffered some trauma to the head, but apparently she's perfectly fine, aside from some cuts and bruises and her fractured ribs. They say she got lucky,"

Tohru could only stand there, shocked. Her mouth hung open, her eyes wide. She hadn't even listened to the description of Kyouko's injuries after the mention of the supposed Jari. Could this really be the same "Jari" that she had affectionately called Kyou so many years ago? Finally, Tohru snapped back into reality, responding to the question. "He's a… friend of ours. Why? What did she say?" the girl hurriedly asked, wondering if her mother had truly remembered Kyou all this time.

"Well, that's the odd part. Ever since they put her in the ambulance, she'd been muttering things about this Jari fellow. Once she became more stable, she still wouldn't stop saying things like: "I remember." She also said: "Tohru, please rescue Jari." We asked if she wanted to be put on the telephone with you, but she refused. She seems very confused, Tohru, but she's set on not talking to you until you do what she asks. Tohru, please tell me, who is Jari, and what trouble is he in? Do we need to come help you, or pick you up? I can't have you in any danger."

"No, no grandpa, I'm fine. Jari is a friend of ours," she muttered, pulling her thumb to her lip, wondering why her mother was so bent on getting her to save Kyou. "The trouble he's in? Well…" She was never a good liar, but she had to give it a shot. Getting the police involved would only make things worse. "It's nothing I can't handle. We lost touch with… Jari a long time ago, but we recently found him on our trip up here. He seems upset about something, so she probably just wants to make him happy." She closed her eyes, sighing. 'What a terrible lie!' she thought, pursing her lips. 'He'll never believe that.'

The man faltered, testing the girl. "You're not serious…?"

"Yes, grandpa. Jari had a very tough childhood," She found it hard to keep herself from blurting the entire story to her kind, understanding grandfather. "Mom and I were his peace, I guess. We took care of him, and suddenly we couldn't talk anymore. He's just really hurt by all this. He ran away, and I guess I should go looking for him."

"Ran away from home? Why not call the police?" the man asked, astonished.

"It's just better like this. That's what mom said." She bit her lip. 'Stupid, stupid! Why am I lying like this?'

The man sighed. "Well, Kyouko was never far from strong-willed. Tohru, always feel free to call us if you need help. You know the number, right?"

"Yes," she muttered with her eyes downcast.

"Good," he sighed, sounding relieved. "Okay, well I should let you go; the doctors need to talk to me. Do you want me to call you with any updates on your mother?"

The girl smiled slightly, knowing she probably wouldn't be home to answer the phone anyway. "Yes, please, grandpa."

"Okay then. I love you, dear, and your mother does too. Bye now."

"Thank you, grandpa. I love you too, and tell mom I said that. Bye."

Tohru hung the phone up loudly, leaning her back against the wall and slipping to the floor with her hands covering her eyes. 'I promise, grandpa. I'll tell you the truth after I save Kyou.'

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The day was sunny, but Tohru payed that no mind as she rummaged through her bedroom closet for a backpack of some sort to use. She threw out age old articles of clothing, papers, and toys, and so on until she finally found a decently stable hiking backpack that she would put essentials into for her search for Kyou. She didn't know where the Sohma house was, so she packed things you'd expect for a three-day trip even though she intended to leave the next morning for him and return that night; after all, it was already getting late in the afternoon and it was dangerous to be alone in the forest at night. She also managed to bring a watch, flashlight, and water bottles… the essentials, and then some. Being overly cautious, you could never expect her to pack the minimal. She even thought to get some of Kyou's clothes.

Hours later, smiling at the small accomplishment, she stood up and stretched, making her back crack at the motion. "Oh…" she muttered, holding her back as she glanced at the watch placed neatly on top of her clothes, on top of the bag. It was seven thirty, and she hadn't even cooked dinner. "Kyou-kun… I hope you're safe," she quietly said, staring out of the opened window into the pastel sky. She continued staring into the lake, mesmerized by the sky that reflected so peacefully in the water. For just a moment, she could forget the stress of losing Kyou for a second time, forget that she was left alone, and forget the situation with her mother in the hospital. She smiled, inhaling the scent of the water as a breeze pushed it through the window.

"Everything will turn out fine," she nearly whispered, turning away from the window. "I'm sure of it." The girl began walking from her room, until she heard a small noise from outside. She gasped, twisting around as she stared, wide-eyed at the spot that the noise was coming from. "W-Who's there?" she asked, her voice wavering. No response; nothing. She attentively approached the window, reaching out a wavering hand to grab onto the window sill.

Peering over the old painted wood, she could only hold her breath as fear constricted her. "Who's there? Come out," She tried to speak in a commanding voice, but only small pleas came from her lips. Closing her eyes, she gulped, but when she opened them, she could only see a small blur run toward the side of the house, leaving her screaming, slamming the window shut. She held her chest as she fell to the ground, controlling the noises she made.

'It's okay,' she told herself, a determined look on her face. 'It's just an animal… maybe a stray.' At that, the girl whimpered, dropping her head into her knees. 'Just a stray,' she thought, images of the cat-like Kyou coming to mind. She quickly tried to find something to distract her from the negative thoughts, pulling out some string and Kyou's Juzu beads to fix the bracelet that she had broken.

She worked halfway through it, but never realized why it was so hard to get the string through the beads. She was crying. Her cries were silent and soft, almost comforting even. She finally welcomed them submissively, knowing that they'd come either way. There was simply no getting around it: She missed Kyou and she felt hopeless without him with her, holding her as she cried like he did the night of the thunder storm.

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The beeping machines were driving Kyouko mad as she tried distracting herself from the sticky situation that she was in. She rubbed her temples, trying to calm the stirred memories of a young Kyou, afraid, of a young Kyou, crying, of a young Kyou, laughing, of a young Kyou, smiling… of a young Kyou, with her young daughter. 'How could I let myself forget?' she asked the memories, the slideshows of the many faces of the boy that she knew she still loved. 'After so much, after telling him I'd always be there… How could I let him be taken away?' She remembered running through the Sohma estate, searching for the boy, soon after finding him in the shaking hands of Akito as she held the battered boy, as she glared at Tohru. It was then, she knew, that she lost her will to fight for him. Seeing him, almost dead, seeing her daughter gaze on in fear, she knew that she had no way of saving the boy.

She just never assumed that Tohru could, and that may have possibly been her greatest mistake.

"Kyouko?" her father's voice broke through the tattered memories, his wrinkled face worried. "Why won't you talk to Tohru? You know how sensitive the girl is,"

Kyouko sighed, giving him a half-smirk. "You obviously don't know Tohru then."

After a very long pause, he replied. "I sure hope you're right then," he muttered, leaving it evident that he had more to say. He gave his daughter another glance before leaving the room and shutting the door, allowing her to slip back into her thoughts.

'For hers and Kyou's sake… I hope so too.'

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Tohru jumped in her hunched position, glancing around the room frantically as she realized that she'd fallen asleep next to the closed window. The girl hurried to her knees, turning to the window and peeking out into the lake, the forest, the bright sky. 'How late is it?' she asked herself, running to the watch on her backpack that read: 7:42. With a sigh of relief, the girl sat back on her rear and stretched properly, standing to start her day. She was getting a later start than she had hoped, but at least she got enough sleep.

The girl felt something hard in her hands, and glanced to find Kyou's half-put together bracelet. With a bittersweet smile, she decided against automatically getting ready. Instead, she decided to work on fixing the bracelet. 'After all,' she thought, sadness sweeping over her gaze. 'I'll always have this, no matter where he goes.'

After getting ready for the long day, Tohru shut and locked the house door and placed the key into one of the backpack pockets, the newly restored bracelet dangling on her small wrist. Her smile wavered as she looked into the seemingly endless forest, the abyss of trees. 'Kyou could be anywhere in there…' she thought half-heartedly, sauntering into the trees anyway.

As soon as she emerged into the darker parts of the forest however, the girl began to feel afraid, jumping at every snap of a twig. She was already becoming lost, and being a bit disoriented by fear, she had trouble controlling the screams that tried to bellow from her chest. "Maybe… I should start at our clearing," she spoke, her own voice sounding alien in the noises of the forest. As a second thought, she noticed how much better "our" clearing sounded better than "my" clearing, and smiled at the thought. That single change of a word almost made Kyou feel closer already.

It was odd, really, experiencing these wonderful memories for the first time in years. It was like being a child again, being told a fairy tale of a girl that happened to be named Tohru and a boy that happened to be named Kyou; it felt like watching a movie, a tear-jerker, of the buds of young love being burned before they could bloom; it was like experiencing an entirely new life.

Lost in her thoughts, the girl unknowingly did stumble upon the familiar clearing. The tree that seemed like it had fallen years ago was still there, but there was no Kyou. She sighed. She never really did expect it to be that easy to find him, but she did have to think that it would've been nice. "Let's face it," she mumbled, closing her eyes as she circled the tree stump that had evaded half of her memories for so long. It still seemed the same, surprisingly. Memories overshadowed reality as she saw a young Kyou crying as a child, only to be overlapped with the image of Kyou in his other form, maintaining the same position, the same emotion, the same distrust.

Her lips quivered as she tried reaching out to the boy, merely meeting flat air as she sat on her knees, her eyes glassy. 'We treated him so badly…' she dwelled, covering her face and turning from the haunting images, only to be met with more. She was so tired of crying; she didn't – no – she couldn't be weak. Tohru dried her eyes for possibly the hundredth time since he left, standing up with a sigh. She still felt them; the heavy tears still held behind her strong eyes. She wondered briefly if running from all of these tears helped her at all, but she did know that they didn't help in her search; they wouldn't bring Kyou back. No matter what she wanted, no matter what she did, he wouldn't come back. She'd have to chase him, and she very well would. There was no way that she was giving Kyou up so easily this time.

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Tohru had been walking for hours, and while she felt she was getting close, she still didn't know where the Sohma residence was. The girl sat down in the nearest clearing she could find, getting out her lunch for the break. Her eyes wandered around the many trees, looking this way and that at any angle she could. She was reconsidering her decision on not asking Yuki Sohma for any help, but the girl wasn't stupid. She knew that if she got the family involved, even one of the people, then it would make it that much harder to find Kyou. She knew from experience that Kyou was the type to run more hastily from a group of people rather than one single person.

She squeezed her water bottle in a small fit of frustration, surprising herself at the act. She stared at her hand, the cold water stringing its way down and onto her jeans. Tohru closed her eyes, exhaling as she thought of what to do. It was now one and she had an entire day ahead of her, and then some.

Suddenly Tohru felt something brush against her hand and she jumped, spilling her water all over herself and the person that surprised her with a yelp. The girl opened her eyes as her heart pounded, biting her lip. Blinking a few times, Tohru tilted her head. "A… cat?" she asked herself, staring at the stripped animal in awe. "Fat cat," she added, reaching her hand out to the creature, but deciding against petting it when it glared menacingly at her.

Suddenly, realization struck and Tohru could only stare. She backed against the tree, eyes wide. 'A Sohma,' she thought, feeling her breathing slow. 'I was just thinking that I shouldn't talk to any of them! Shoot, what should I do?' Tohru tried putting on an airy smile, trying to shoo the tiger away. "Go on, go on!" The tiger only stared, and she sighed. "Do you want food? Here, I have some!" Tohru got a sandwich out of the bag, laying it in front of the tiger, but the animal still only stared. Tohru blushed, packing up her bag and standing up. "Well, I have to go now. You can have that, so bye-bye!"

The girl scurried away, but she couldn't help but notice that something was following her. Turning around to face the extra pitter-patter of footsteps, she sighed. "No, you can't follow me. Go on… eh, Neko-san." The tiger mewed with the sandwich in its mouth, melting the girl's heart. "Aw! Er, no! You can't follow me," It didn't seem to get through. The tiger continued following her, rubbing against her leg. Sighing, Tohru turned around and faced it once more. "Okay, what is it?" The tiger's ears perked up, and it dropped the sandwich, tugging on Tohru's sock in the opposite direction.

'Should I go…?' she pondered, looking down at the tiger in contemplation. She sighed when it mewed again, deciding to follow it. 'What's the worse that could happen?'

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It's only A WEEK LATE. Apparently I've taken on the job of tutoring my sister, and almost continuously writing letters to her school and the board about her failing grades. I honestly didn't think I'd have to write persuasive letters outside of class for another ten years.

WELL BELIEVE IT. D:

Meh, anyway, here's the update. Sorry for the choppiness and everything; I had trouble conveying everything I wanted to here. This time I'll give myself a bit of leeway; expect another one within one-two weeks. I'm on spring break right now, but that just means intensive tutoring. Until then, bye bye.

Oh! By the way, thank you for the reviews and support. :] I'm glad to see that some of my readers still have faith in the story. And yeah, that's Kisa. I love her!