Disclaimer: Chaos and Era are mine, the Fruits Basket characters aren't.

Pairings: Kyo+Tohru

Chapter 5: The Picnic

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                "Oh there you are! Come on! We need you to help carry the food!" said Haru as soon as he saw Yuki coming in. Yuki went into the kitchen after Haru, picked up some baskets of food, and followed him outside. They set the food in Hatori's car and then went to get some more. On their way back, Kyo, Shigure, and Momiji passed by them with different kinds of things in their hands. 'Tohru sure did prepare a lot for this…How'd she manage to do all this even after she fell?' On his way back for the last bit of food, he spotted Tohru just around the corner of the house, talking to someone that was hidden behind a large tree.  When he got closer to the doorway he overheard,

                "Please…won't you at least try to come? There's more than enough food for everyone and one of the Sohma's that I invited can't come…"

                "I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be a welcomed guest…"

                'That voice…' Yuki's eyes widened as he realized who that voice had to belong to, 'Why is she talking to that creature? …Unwelcome is an understatement…'

                Tohru watched as Chaos took flight, away from the house. It made her sad to watch him go…she could tell that the Chaos they had all seen and heard before wasn't necessarily the true Chaos. 'I wonder if he's sort of like Haru…with split personalities? Or could he be controlled…like the Sohma's are by Akito…'

                "Tohru!"

Tohru was snapped out of her thoughts as Momiji came running up,

                "What's wrong?"

                "What's wrong!? You're gonna get left out of your own picnic if you don't hurry! We're ready to leave for the place you found."

                "Ok!"

Momiji grabbed her hand and led her to Hatori's car…It was amazing everyone could fit…When they got there, everyone scanned the scenery. It was a nice field with a decent sized waterfall that poured into a pool that eventually turned into a small river. Kisa and Hiro ran off to play with Momiji right behind them while Aya, Shigure, and Hatori spread out the big blanket that had been brought. Kyo, Haru, and Yuki worked on setting out the food on one side of the blanket. Kagura and Tohru set the plates and such by the food that was being set out. When everything was done, Kagura was sent to fetch Kyo…who was chasing Momiji around; yelling out threats…and Haru was sent to get Kisa and Hiro who were playing by the water. When everyone was present, they began to eat. Every now and then, someone would compliment Tohru on a well cooked meal. Just as everyone was getting ready for dessert, they heard a voice coming from the massive tree that they were sitting under,

                "Is it safe for me to come down or will you mortals try to behead me?"

They all looked up to see Chaos standing on a fairly low branch while holding onto a higher one with one of his hands. He received some pretty nasty glares from some but Tohru spoke before anyone could say something mean,

                "Come down and have some if you want! There's plenty left."

She kind of shrunk back at some of the looks she received from the others. Chaos glided out of the tree and landed behind Tohru…with the look of a shy little boy looking at some strangers while hiding behind his mother on his face, he scanned the small crowd of people.

                "What are you looking at ya freak!?" snapped Hiro. When he saw Chaos shrink back at his remark, he began to feel sorry for what he had said.

                "Why'd you come here!? Do you want to do something else to us—to make even more chaos and pain surround our lives!?" shouted Yuki, but his face turned from anger to slight shock when he saw a tear forming in Chaos's silver eye.

                "…I ca—"

                An evil feminine laughter filled the air surrounding them and a woman with long hair, catlike ears, and a smooth catlike tail appeared behind Chaos with her arms draped across his shoulders as she looked over at Yuki she said,

                "Come now! Don't get soft on him just because he's acting weak!" she brought her attention to Chaos then said, " …Chaos, I will make you cry, no matter what it takes! Tears will finally flow out of that gold eye of yours—and oh how I will enjoy it!" she began her cruel laughter again as she shimmered out of sight.

                "Who was that?" asked Tohru as she saw him shaking.

                "Era…"

                He clenched his fists as he turned to fly off.

                "Ah…Wait!"

Chaos turned towards Tohru as she held up a small bundle of food.

                "Take this with you since you won't be staying…"

He looked from her to the food for a moment then took it as he said,

                "…Thanks."

Then he flew off before anyone could say anything else to him.

                No one said much during the rest of the picnic. After everyone had finished they just did whatever they wanted. Ayame and Shigure talked with Hatori…Kyo and Haru bickered for a while until Yuki got dragged into it too…Hiro, Kisa, Kagura, and Momiji were playing around in the field…while Tohru cleaned up.

                After she finished, she set out to find Kyo…who was lying up in a tree on the other side of the field.

                "Kyo!"

                "Huh?" Kyo slowly woke up enough to see who was calling his name. When he saw Tohru, he stretched then hopped down saying,

                "Hey, now that you're here, can I ask you something?"

                "Hm?" she said as she sat down beside him.

                "Why are you being so damn nice to that Chaos?"

                "Well…for one thing…he's been nice to me…and another thing is that I feel sorry for him."

                "Why?"

                "Well…think about it. He's hated by many people, at least one person is especially cruel to him…and…he seems to be all alone. I guess I feel sorry for him because he kind of reminds me of how you were. He's even got some cat in him to boot.".

                Kyo just stared at her for a few minutes then sighed and said,

                "Whatever. Your kindness is what we like about you in the first place. If you can be at least half way kind to Akito…then it's easy to see why you can be so nice to him…Just don't expect me to like him, ok?" She smiled as she said,

                "Ok! But I think you like him a little better than you let out." She reached over to hug him and when she succeeded, he kissed her and then sighed as he said,

                "Well…him hanging around does have its good points."

He then held her tighter as he rested his head on hers, which was resting on his chest.

                Yuki walked along the riverside until he found a nice, shady spot that was away from the others. He didn't know what to think about Chaos anymore…and he was getting sicker of the body he was in by the minute. He wanted his old body back. He wanted to be with someone that didn't care about the curse…even if it meant an incident like Hatori's happening all over again. He was just sick of all the chaos…sick of being alone…He laid on his back and drifted into a light sleep as these kind of thoughts went around in his head.

                Kagura walked along in the rivers shallows as she thought about just how much longer could she stand being in Shigure's body. She looked up ahead and gasped when she saw feet sprawled out a little ways away from the water. She ran up to the body but relaxed when she saw that it was just Ayame sleeping by a tree that had it's roots pretty high above ground…that had been hiding the rest of his body when she was further away.

                'I could have sworn that he was with Hatori when I left…Oh well. I'm sure he won't mind if I rest on the other side of the tree…' with that decided, she curled up on the other side of the tree and fell into a peaceful sleep.

                Yuki eyes snapped open. Something had woken him up…but what? He slowly sat up as he stretched, then got up and bent over the shallow area of the river to splash some water on his face. He cupped his hands with water but stopped when he noticed his reflection.

                'I'm…back in my own body!?'

(AN:  So? Was this chapter good or bad?(This chapter is longer…whether you think so or not.)  Reviews please!)