Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket

Chapter Twenty-Eight

For Corrupted Justice

Rory: Okay, what's the packing crisis?

Lorelai: That's the thing. I have no packing crisis. For the first time in my life, there is no packing crisis. See? This has never happened to me before. I'm all packed, ready to go, and fully confident that I have everything I'll need or desire.

Rory: So you're creating a crisis out of nostalgia?

~ Swan Song, Gilmore Girls

~ (***) ~

Arisa woke up that morning wondering if she was supposed to be feeling any different. The only reason why she was questioning this was because this was the day when all things would change. She shouldn't have done it but then again she was going to find out eventually. This was something which couldn't go on for long without being noticed. For years she had put it off. For years she had laughed at the concept of this ever happening to her. She placed a hand on her stomach and thought about the little life which was slowly growing inside her. She sighed and threw herself back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had no idea what or how she was going to tell Kureno. She glanced at him and saw that he was still asleep. He had arm dragged on her stomach affectionately, not knowing that his child was inside.

She felt like a rock was resting on her chest. She couldn't breathe and she was beginning to drown in her sweat. She sat up finally and swung her legs out of bed. She couldn't bare to be around Kureno. Without him knowing about it she felt like a liar. She felt like she didn't belong or deserve to be by his side. Over the years he could so easily disclose his inner-most secrets and she couldn't even bring herself to tell him about something such as this. She could tell him at any time. She could've told him at any time during that evening but she didn't. She had so many opportunities to tell him. It wasn't a minor thing. She had to give herself that. She was just afraid of the fact that everything was going to change.

~ (***) ~

Rosalie heard a knock at the door and cautiously answered. "Who is it?"

"Erik."

She breathed a sigh of relief and replied. "Come in."

Erik opened the door and closed it behind him swiftly. "So. What are we going to do?"

She got off her bed and moved to her desk to start writing out the essay due in the next week. She supposed she better start doing things ahead of time so she had no reason to panic or do things last minute.

"What do you mean?"

He gave her a look. "About Faron and Hilda. You what this is, Rosa. It's a message. A warning from Yuri."

She considered this and slowly turned around in her chair. "You think I don't know that?"

"Then why did you ask me what I meant?"

"Because there are many ways you could interpret 'dealing' with a situation such as this." She replied. "What part of the situation do you want to deal with?"

Erik folded his arms. "Well all of it."

Rosalie rolled her eyes and turned away. She was only going to have this conversation with him once he rationalised his thoughts and stopped panicking about the situation. Sometimes Erik could be such a drama queen. He wanted to make out things were worse than they actually were. While Rosalie just had a no-bullshit attitude. If someone asked her a question about the situation of something or about anything in general she gave them a simple, truthful answer. No matter how extreme it would be she would still be truthful about it. To a certain extent. She may intentionally leave out some minor details but only for obvious reasons. She also wanted to get the essay done. Like she said. She didn't want to have to do things last minute. She had had experience from doing so in her first degree she wasn't going to repeat that mistake. That was a degree rife with doing essays deep into the night and being fuelled by caffeine deep into two o'clock in the morning. The only thing she had to say to that was no thank you.

He was only behaving this way because he was at odds with Faron and always would be. Then again she didn't blame him. Faron did hang him out of a window by his ankles. He felt safe here in Japan not only from the oppressive rule of Yuri but also from the murderous clutches of Faron. A few months ago she didn't blame him for hanging him out of a window, despite his usual calm demeanour. Now she could see how it could be considered a bit of an overreaction. Whatever it was that he did she was sure he didn't deserve it entirely. He was always a bit of an idiot but she was sure there was nothing Erik could do which could lead to him deserving to having his life threatened in that manner.

There was of course the other problem of Hilda. Hilda was going to be a huge problem. She was probably someone to be more concerned about than Faron. She was the sort of person who didn't know how to keep her mouth shut. Sure she hadn't told anyone about the secret, then again it was probably going to happen sooner or later. She was surprised Yuri was so worried about her letting the cat out of the bag when there was Hilda to consider. She was the most flippant and careless person she knew. She would probably end up dropping fifty or a hundred euros and she still wouldn't care. That also just showed how selfish she was. Sometimes she just wanted to smack her around the head. Although she knew then that would result in a cat fight. Not a good thing to get into with Hilda. Even though Rosalie would probably win. Still, not a good idea.

"You have thought about the issue of Hilda as well, hopefully." She commented.

Erik froze over. "Oh yeah...She's not going to be able to keep her mouth shut about anything is she?"

"Well...it just depends on what she decides to blab about."

"She's probably claim that I have STDs or something." He muttered. Rosalie gave him a suspicious look. "Wha- I don't!"

"Alright." She replied. She spun round back to the computor. "Still...I think we should be more concerned about her rather than anyone else. I mean there has to be some reason why she came and I think we know what that is. She didn't exactly come here for the the same reasons as us."

"Um, no."

"Yuri certainly wouldn't have asked her to come. Although..." She re-considered this for a moment. "No. Yuri probably wouldn't stoop that low."

Erik chuckled. "No."

~ (***) ~

Arisa was making breakfast when Kureno finally got up. He could smell bacon and eggs from the bedroom drifting from the kitchen. It calmed her down doing housework, strangely enough and it gave Kureno a sense of normality which he had been deprived of when he was growing up. The sizzle of the frying had a calming affect on him and made him feel like he was being cocooned in a sense of security of their own little world. He liked the usual routine which they had. They would have breakfast and sit to the table, discussing what they were going to do or whether Arisa had got any calls while he was still sleeping. Then they would wash and get dressed for their morning walk. Kureno was never allowed outside the main house so he had a life where he was always confined within its walls. So he took this chance to be able to venture out into the world as much as possible. Arisa never had an objections to doing so. She liked walking. She liked the feeling of having her hand in his. It made her feel safe.

Arisa put the food out on the plates wondering what was going to happen to their usual routine now. Everything was going to be so different now. She probably going to come to the point in the pregnancy where it would be best for her not to do any of the cooking. Just for safety's sake. If this going to be the case she was going to try to wait it out for as long as she possible could. She was sure she could leave it until the last month of pregnancy when she didn't have to cook. But their routine...What if they didn't have time and they would have to go to some appointment or check up? What about when the child was born? What then? All these things were going to change everything and it was all because of one little person. It was amazing how a baby could turn someone's life upside down. She put the plates on the table thinking she certainly wasn't going to be having any problems with cooking for the child.

House-keeping was a skill she had actually became accustomed to over the years. Usually she was totally against doing something like that due to her feminist principles but once Kureno showed her how to cook she saw how easy it was and began to experiment. She soon came to the point when she began to make up her own variations of recipes in cookbooks and was able to give Kureno even the smallest of surprises when it came to meals. In fact it came to the point where he was forbidden to enter the kitchen unless making a coffee. If she was going to have any control in the household it was going to be over the food. He even joked at some point that she should do it professionally. She actually considered what it would be like to order a few people around a kitchen in a restaurant and could actually see herself doing it. Although soon her feminist principles intervened and told her no.

"So..." Kureno began as he walked in. "What's on today?"

Arisa was being unusually hesitant and left her mouth agape. I don't know...Perhaps telling you at some point that you're going to be a father but you know...Any time in the near future is fine...She

thought to herself.

"Um...I actually don't have to do anything. I have the day off. I was thinking of perhaps...um..."

Kureno frowned at her as he chewed on his bacon. "Arisa is everything alright?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I didn't get that much sleep last night. I guess its a good thing I don't have work today."

Kureno reached over to the other side of the table and took her hand. "You should've stayed in a bed a little longer. Slept in."

She smirked and shook her head. "You know I'm completely incapable of being able to do that."

Kureno returned the smile. "This is true."

She toyed with a food a little. "We're still going on our walk aren't we? Before you go to work?"

He frowned and nodded. "Of course. We always do. Why did you have to ask?"

She pulled a funny face as if to say stupid-me and laughed. "I don't know."

Yes you do, she thought to herself. You're scared that everything's changed before you've even told him the truth. You know now that everything is changing and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

"So. What do you want tonight? For dinner?"

He smiled. "Surprise me."

She glanced across at him and smiled uncertainly. I'm so sorry...