BTSB
By Yori Hayashi
(There's always somethin' there to remind me) Haha. What I really mean to say, is that I don't own Fruits Basket. …Or that song.
A/N: Haha. I was so surprised when I went to check my email, and I saw all of those reviews. Thank you so, so much! I did feel bad about the lecture last chapter, while I was writing it, but you all understand my feelings, right? I am just so glad that you all are enjoying my story! Did more people start to read it after I changed the summary?
I have to say, with all the different things going on, it's so difficult to write a summary. I need to write less complex stories. (Haha)
Oh, and my cat, Kyoko, had her kittens. There are two orange ones, and one black and white one. :D I was so hoping that there would be a black and white one! I wonder what gender it is. They're too young to tell. But, I think they're beginning to open their eyes. I can't tell, though. Mommy-chan keeps them safely under Mom and dad's bed. It worries me, though. So, I check up on them once in a while. They are doing very well.
Ah, well, enough of that rambling. I usually save the ramblings of my daily life for the end. I should have. Oh, well.
I would like to thank these reviewers, for reviewing the last chapter: (If you don't care, which you should, Lol, scroll downs pleases.)
Ioritakitochan-san (Haha. Chan-san)
Rena the Pirate Jedi Wizard-san (awesome name, huh, everyone?)
Murasaki-sama-san (Another one of those double titles, huh?)
Ichigo-2007- Baka-chan (She's my best friend. I call her Baka-chan, now! Bwahaha!)
Sohmakid-san (Since I couldn't reply to your review (Sohmakid was anonomous) I would just like to give you a big thanks, and ceremoniously stuff a cookie down your throat!)
Kyouru-Reviewer-san (Kyouru is the best, don't you all agree? Yes, yes!?)
Otaku-Rehab-san (Ah, don't we all need rehab? I knowses I do!)
Kyki- The Late Night Writer (Hmm. She saw that I didn't enjoy Kyou's Father-Baka-sama. …Hmm. That didn't come out right.)
RinHaru4Ever (She (I assume it's a girl. No, not "it". You all know what I mean. Lol.) asked me if Haru would show up. Thank her, because she got me to thinking about it, and Haru will have an appearance. Haha. More romance! Woot!)
Woo. Done with that! Thanks again, everyone! Sorry for my improper lecturing last chapter. I'm calm now… But that doesn't license you all to stop reviewing! Haha. Thanks!
Onto the story! (cheers!)
Chapter Thirteen- In The Woods
Yuki tapped Haru on the shoulder, and Haru gave a start, turning to look at his friend. "Oh, Hey, Yuki."
"You seem to be out of it. Are you okay?" Yuki gave him a concerned gaze and put his hand on Haru's shoulder to in an effort to comfort him.
"Are you worried about Rin?"
Yuki knew that his question was brainless. Of course Haru was worried about Isuzu! How could he not be? She'd been gone for months, and there were rumors at the main house that Akito was going to scout out the missing group, and hurt them as much as possible. If he could do anything about it, he definitely would, Yuki thought. But the maids were keeping an especially close eye on Hatsuharu. He couldn't get anywhere near Akito.
"Hey, she'll be all right…" The princely boy softly said.
There was a large chance that it would most certainly not be okay, but Haru said nothing.
"Hey, I'll be fine…" Haru shook his head and put a hand to his forehead. "I still have you, Yuki."
Yuki blushed and rolled his eyes. "You really don't need to talk like that when Rin is in so much danger, Haru. You know that if she was gone, you really wouldn't be okay."
Haru looked down, and took a few steps away from Yuki. "Yeah, I know. But, I don't know if you can even imagine how much I really wouldn't be okay." He looked back at Yuki before saying, "I'm gonna go home, okay?"
"Yeah, okay." Yuki smiled. Haru attempted to smile back, but when he failed in doing so, he just continued to walk away.
"…Good luck with that." Yuki muttered sadly.
--
It was the morning of Christmas Eve.
Outside the cabin, rain poured down creating a soft pattering noise on the roof. The calming sound had no effect on Tohru, however, as she moved the kitchen curtain out of the way so that she could see that Kyou was coming.
He had been outside training since earlier that morning, and still hadn't come back. She was worried that he was getting too tired to walk back, and that he would probably transform soon, if he hadn't already. She couldn't see him, and she sighed, moving the curtain back to its original position. "I hope he's okay out there…" she muttered under her breath.
She looked down at her seat.
Then she looked over at her crutches, as nausea overtook her.
Everyone was asleep. Who would be able to figure out if she snuck out to look for him? What could it hurt, really?
Only her.
"Yes… I need to go look for Kyou-kun…" She touched a crutch, gulped nervously, and pulled them both to her. "Kyou-kun… I just pray that we both come back safely…"
She slowly went towards the door. Half of her mind was telling her not to go. He's probably all right, said her conscious. There's no need to danger yourself. He'll come back soon.
Don't worry so much, Tohru.
"No…" She breathed. "I won't risk it. This is too important."
She wrapped a free hand around the door handle cautiously, convincing herself that this was it. She wouldn't come back until she found him. She opened the door, and stepped into the darkness.
Her head was immediately soaked, and it was hard to see in front of her. She could barely see the sun rising in the horizon, but since her hands were full with the crutches, she couldn't very well carry a flashlight with her. Tohru would just have to deal with it, and not complain. Kyou was probably worse off than she was. How could he train when it was so dark outside?
That doesn't matter, she thought as she walked forward, as quickly as her crutches would allow her. "Kyou-kun? Kyou-Kun?" She called out for him, but no answer came. Tohru wouldn't have been surprised if he was asleep somewhere. She looked behind shrubs and trees- anywhere that could have kept him hidden.
"Kyou-kun…" She almost cried, even though she knew it was pointless to do so. In reality, she knew that she was worrying too much, but she couldn't keep herself from doing so.
"Kyou-kuuuuuun!" Tohru screamed as loudly as she could. Her voice choked.
Once again, there was no answer. She hung her head and continued to walk.
She reached a small pathway, where a woman and her child were walking leisurely. The mother apparently said something funny, and the child giggled cutely as the mother reached for her son's hand. Tohru cried as she wished that she could have that sort of security with Kyou. At the moment, she wished that they were walking together under an umbrella, holding hands. In her fantasy, there were no crutches, no curse. It was just the two of them, laughing.
She really wished that it was so secure.
The child looked over at Tohru and pointed excitedly. Tohru became startled and blushed as the woman rushed over to her.
"Oh, goodness! Are you okay?" Asked the young woman in a very worried tone. "You shouldn't be out here in the rain! Especially with no umbrella- and on crutches, no less! You could hurt yourself!"
"Yes, I know… Um… I'm just looking for my friend. He went out this morning to do some martial arts, and he hasn't returned… Um…" Tohru looked down at the child because she felt too awkward to look at the mother. The child looked back at her, curiosity shining in his eyes.
"Do you need help?" Offered the mother. The child looked back at her for a moment, and then his eyes returned to Tohru.
"N-no thank you." Tohru shivered and smiled at the woman as well as she could. She felt happy, slightly, that the rain was making it harder to tell that she was crying. Thank goodness for the rain, in a strange way… "Um… I have to find him on my own, for various reasons. Thank you so much for your offer, though…"
"…Oh, I see." The auburn-haired woman looked at her sadly. "In that case, please be careful…"
"Yes."
The woman nodded, wrapping her fingers around her child's hand once more. They walked away, but as they did so, the woman's heart beat quickly in worry. She looked back at Tohru once more, to double-check on her. Tohru had already turned away, and was walking into the woods. "She's probably going to get hurt…" She muttered so that her son wouldn't hear.
Tohru looked around even more carefully than before, turning her head quickly at every snap of a twig.
Too many squirrels lived in the forest.
Suddenly, she heard a very loud crunch, unlike the ones she heard before. She became very excited again, certain that it would be Kyou that time. "Kyou-kun, is that you?!" She shouted.
She could hear a threatening, low growl, and Tohru backed away quickly, gasping in both excitement and fear.
"What's there?" Tohru asked, even though she knew that she wouldn't get an answer.
Another low growl came. This time, it was from behind her. She gasped again and spun around.
There was a wolf there, growling at her menacingly. Soon, there were three surrounding her. She attempted to find a place that she could back away to, but it seemed almost impossible.
One of them snapped at her injured leg, and she gave a cry of fear. "No, please stay back! Please!"
She raised her arms above her head, as she fell to the ground. Her crutches fell beside her as she remembered what happened with Akito, just weeks before. It all seemed so blurry now, but it couldn't have amounted to her present situation.
This time, she was prepared to die.
--
Kureno had been called to Akito's room. He was apparently in a very large amount of trouble. Either that, or Akito had really gone psychotic. Neither one could be good, so it didn't matter which one it was.
Akito was on her futon, crying while she waited for Kureno to come to her. It had just been reported what Kureno had done with the girl named Arisa Uotani. Didn't he feel any shame for what he had done, at all? Or did Akito not matter to him any more? Akito buried her face into her white kimono and sobbed loudly. How dare he kiss another woman!
Kureno sat down beside her and waited for her to scream at him, as she usually did when he did something terribly wrong. However, he was vain in thinking that Akito didn't know what happened.
"Kureno…" Akito reached out a trembling hand and grabbed his shirt, not looking up.
"Akito, what's wrong?"
"…You very well know what is wrong, Kureno…" Akito snapped, bringing her head up. "A-a maid s-saw you yesterday with some woman… and you were K-kissing her!"
Kureno's gaze widened.
"I'm taking you with me, since I can't trust you anymore, Kureno."
Kureno didn't argue. He didn't even know what Akito meant. "Taking me where? Akito, where are you going?"
"I'm going to the mountains!" Akito shrieked. "I-I'm going to the mountains to kill Tohru Honda! This is all her fault, and I just want her dead!"
--
"I'm going to kill Tohru Honda!" Haru heard Akito yell. He gripped his hands tightly at his side. So, they were in the mountains. That's where Isuzu was…
He grabbed his phone and quickly dialed Arisa's number. Tohru had given it to him, and until now, he never needed it. But now… Well, she deserved to know this important information, didn't she?
Arisa picked up the phone by the second ring, and answered, "Yo?"
"Hello, Uotani-san. This is Haru… I have some information about Honda-san that you might like to hear. Tell Hanajima-san, too." Haru told her. Arisa was suddenly very curious, and remained silent, waiting for him to speak.
Unfortunatly, he hadn't overheard about Kureno and Arisa. She would get no warning for that.
--
"Please, stay back!" Tohru screeched as the wolves closed in on her. She began to sob, knowing that there was no possible way that she could escape the bloodthirsty beasts that surrounded her. In her mind, she was certainly going to die. Tohru wondered if they had attacked Kyou, too. She could see the blood already staining their lips.
Her stomach lurched. Please don't let that be Kyou-kun's blood… Please… Please…
One wolf, apparently the leader, barked loudly at her, and charged quickly at her. She closed her eyes, and only listened to the sounds surrounding her.
Leaves were crumpling… the wolves closed in on her.
She heard a loud thump… Were they fighting?
Tohru could hear the loud gnashing of teeth and one of the dogs yelping loudly.
Huh? She opened one eye.
There Kyou was, wresting with the three dogs. He was obviously worn out. He was sweating and gasping for air. But he was still defending her.
Tears ran down her face. "K-Kyou-kun!" She was about to stand up and come to help him, but she remembered her leg when pain shot through her body, and she knelt back down to the ground once more.
"Don't come over!" He yelled at her, as if she really could have.
One dog bit down on his arm, and he let out a scream of pain. He couldn't fight the dogs off at that point. The rain was making him too weak. Still, he couldn't give up, could he? Not when Tohru was in so much danger.
He glanced over at his wrist, where his Juzu beads were secure on his arms. Sure, he couldn't beat them as a human, but there was a chance that he could take them in his monster form. He stopped fighting for a moment, and rushed to take the beads off of his wrist. He punched one charging wolf away long enough to take them off and throw them at Tohru.
"Kyou-kun!" Tohru screamed as she caught the beads. "No!"
The smell of rotting flesh filled the air again… He would only do such a thing for her.
End Chapter Thirteen
A/N: I wanted to add more into this chapter, but then I realized that it would be more interesting to leave it at a cliff hanger. Haha. Well, Haru as been brought into it, as was requested. Anyway, as you all are probably guessing, the next chapter will be all about… KYOURU! And it's the moment you've all been waiting for… but not the end! Haha.
And if you ever want to find out what happens… You knowses what to do! For those of you who don't know… REVIEW! XD
Thank you for reading!
-Yori Hayashi