-- Rapture --
Chapter 7 - Feign
Monday November 10, 2003
Scribbler's ramblings: Whoosh, messed up date because I decided to write this part of the fic early. Yay!
Disclaimers: Plot and Furuba don't belong to me! Yay!
-=+=-
Blistering sunshine filtered through the unclear windows, broken by uneven shades. The sheets lay neatly on each bed, each sporting worn-out patches of gray. Each pillow was plumped to its fullest capacity, and artfully placed so that no stains would show. The wallpaper was a bright yellow, a pattern of leaping plush animals breaking the solid colour.
In the entire eerily cheery room, only one occupant was there to "enjoy" the décor. Beside her bed sat a bouquet of strawberry blossoms; white and homely. A few wilted petals littered the table and floor.
The newly painted door creaked open, and in walked a young, violet-eyed man. He strode over to where the tenant sat. "Good morning," he said, his smile replacing his usually sad face.
She looked up from the book she was reading, and smiled a smile as irritatingly cheerful as the room. "Yuki! Good morning! I'm glad to see you today; usually I only have Anne of Green Gables to keep me company," she piped up, motioning towards her book.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing, Tohru," Yuki replied earnestly, grinning back at her with a grin that was ever-so fake. "After your accident and everything…"
"Oh Yuki, I only fell down the stairs," Tohru said sheepishly. "It wasn't anything big and I probably caused Shigure more trouble with the construction workers than I did myself. Besides, it's not like I could've died or anything."
Yuki half-grimaced. If only she knew how close she had been…
"But the doctors say they should be letting me out soon," she continued, blissfully unaware of her friend's inattentiveness for the conversation.
She had been so cold and blue. Dead in his eyes. Her delicate body folded and broken. So horribly twisted. A ballerina in a pirouette of pain.
"… not many things happen here. Sometimes, they let us go into the garden…"
But her life had been not taken. And she had lay there, in her cracked mold, crying because of the pain. Not the pain that spasmed through her body. But the pain that lay so heavy in her heart.
"… so gorgeously yellow. And thank you so much for the strawberry flo…"
Hatori had obviously been called immediately and asked to treat her in more ways than one.
"… oh! But I've been talking too much of myself Yuki. Please, tell me what's happening back at home," Tohru finally stopped, embarrassed that she had been talking for so long.
Yuki shook himself back into room laced with artificial sunshine. "Oh, well… the new baby has come. And unfortunately, it's cursed with the spirit of the … well… the cat," he ended bluntly. The darkness had slowly crept into his words, and he turned away so she would not detect his sadness.
"The cat?! Wow… I've heard of the cat from the Jyuunishi story before, but I never thought that he would be included in your family! That's so amazing!" she cried, her eyes alight with excitement.
She didn't know how much her joyful words cut through him.
"Did I ever tell you Yuki? I felt so bad for the cat, but I loved him with all my heart!" she breathed, clasping her hands together with admiration.
The images flooded back into Yuki's troubled mind. Her tear-streaked face and eyes such a hurtful red. Her hair, limp from the rain, and yellow ribbons turned an ugly mustard. Her suffering. Her suffering all for the sake of the cat. All for the sake of Kyou.
Yuki looked at her strangely, and forcibly contained the emotion in his voice. He murmured words that left her puzzled, "Yes Tohru, you loved the cat so much."
And despite it all, Tohru smiled.
-=+=-
the end
-=+=-
Monday November 10, 2003