Thanks for continuing with my fan fiction. I hope your enjoy it. If you
see anything or have any suggestions please feel free to add it to your
review. I was a little wordy on this chapter but since it's finals week,
and my updating is going to be a little umm... unpredictable this week I hope
you don't mind. Consider it a partial apology.
Also I'd like to apologize for something. Knowing how wonderful Fruits Basket is I'm not well enough versed in the manga yet to put every characters personality into the story or show their curses being broken. Gomen. However, I've been thinking of going back and adding Ritsu's transformation when I get some more time. After all he is the monkey! Must throw in my birth year after all! ^^ Still that will have to wait a little while longer. A-kon is just a few weeks away, and I have to finish a few more cosplays. 'sigh' Ayumu (Spiral); Ryuichi (Gravitation); Takuto (Full Moon wo Sagashite) for me and stuff for friends... plus school & work stuff... 'sigh' It might be a little while... well see.
Challenges are good for the soul! Well anyway... without further adieu....
Chapter 12: Confrontations
Adrian had known from the start that living with Akito when he hated her was not going to be easy. It had been a given, it was just that she never expected it to hurt quite so much.
His every action was calculated, his every word chosen before hand, and his manner so cold it brought goose bumps to her arms.
When she had first moved in he had been truly kind, and there was a gentleness around him that had been completely destroyed the day Ritsu had been freed.
Akito was in pain.
Adrian only wanted to end that suffering, and she knew it was her very presence that was causing it. Yet Akito wouldn't let her move out. She had asked before if she could move in with Hatori, or one of the others, but he had refused.
No refused wasn't the right word.
Using her right hand she reached up to touch her left arm. He'd grabbed her, and sneered at her for asking such a thing. She could remember his recriminations as though he was still yelling them at her. His eyes were flashing in violent rage... but something told her that it wasn't really anger it was hurt. She had done something that had caused him so much pain that he felt he had to lash out at her. What had she done?
She thought back to that day with Ritsu. How he had just held her when she had started to cry. How he had tried his best to comfort her, when she had been thinking that nothing could ever happen between the two of them. Had her thoughts reached through to him somehow and that was why?
No, that couldn't be it.
Emotions and thoughts could be picked up but unless the person receiving them understood what was happening they were usually just confused as their own thoughts and emotions.
Pain was nothing new to her, but why did it hurt so much more coming from Akito? This hurt so much more than all the cracked ribs she'd had growing up. Still this was for the best, wasn't it?
A single tear rolled down from the corner of her eye.
Was it? Was it really?
One tear turned into ten, and soon there was a steady stream of them falling down her face.
Perhaps... perhaps it wasn't. What if she had only been being selfish before? Perhaps if she explained about her powers and the curse... it didn't matter really did it.
A part of her screamed yes, but another part whispered a firm no. What was she to do? It had taken three months to get as far as she had, that meant another three for the others, and another 2 for Akito. Could she live that long with this?
No. There was absolutely no way she could do that. Then what was she supposed to do.
Perhaps find out what was wrong? She could always ask Akito? Still with his temperament lately...
"He needs his bed rest..." Adrian could hear Hatori's voice outside of her bedroom door. Stifling her tears, she listened to his voice outside the door. "We've been lucky that he hasn't gotten sick before this. His body is so weak that it never took much... he needs to take his medicine... I know he will fight it... needs lots of water..." The conversation was drifting down the hallway, and she lost the thread of what Hatori was saying, still one thing was clear. Akito was ill.
She looked across at the wall separating her bedroom from his. It was all that stood between the two of them, and it had been an impenetrable barrier one that she never dared to cross under any circumstances at all. It was one she would have to cross before things became even more unbearable.
Once her face was clean and all traces of her tears were wiped clean from her face. She took a deep breath and walked out the door. A girl she had met before by the name of Kagura was carrying a tray down the hallway. She had refused to being released from the curse just yet. Something about her darling Kyo...
"Is that for Akito?"
"Good morning, Miss Adrian. Yes, Hatori-sensei asked me to see to it that he got his medicine and things. He's been a bit difficult lately."
Kagura always seemed so demure, and mild, Adrian couldn't help but wonder why she was given the task. Surely she was too nice to be able to get Akito to do anything.
"If it's alright I'll do it. I owe him for taking care of me when I fainted. So it's only right."
"But Hatori-sensei..."
"Don't worry, just tell me what he needs to take and I'll make sure he takes it." Kagura gave Adrian a questioning glance but explained. Adrian and Akito's strained relationship was more then well known in the Sohma household, though many attributed it to Akito being in denial over being in love. Several of the older family members, kept talking about how Adrian always seemed to have the minimal amount of interest in Akito and he was just depressed... actually there were too many rumors flouting around. Adrian couldn't help but wonder which one Kagura had listened to.
Kagura explained about the medicine and passed the tray to Adrian. "By the way when are you going to ask for Kyo to come?"
"Kyo?" She thought back on the cat she had seen in the library, and it's menacing aura. "I think I'll end his curse last, it will make things easier. I'll probably pass out from that one too." Adrian sighed deeply. That one would definitely be the hardest curse next to Akito's to break.
Adrian walked over to Akito's bedroom door and knocked; before he could answer she opened the door and walked inside.
It hadn't changed since she had stayed in there. The light was minimal, and the futon was in the center of the room. She could see Akito laying on the futon, sleeping.
It was the first time she had ever seen him asleep. His face was pale, and his hair was very disheveled, seeing him this way reminded her of just how handsome he was when he wasn't angry. A hard image indeed for her to conjure up since it had been three months since the last time she had seen him... happy.
Over the last three months she had come to realize that those first few weeks he had been honestly happy. The thought that something she had done had made him this way brought a strong sense of shame to her, but more than that what she had been thinking at the time made her even more ashamed of herself. She had dared to let her own worries and concerns overcome her and let him hate her. She let him become this way, through her own selfishness. For the first time in her life she hated herself for what she had done to him. She loathed herself, not for making him mad, but for allowing it to develop into this. It had to stop.
If she stopped it would things still work out? Could she stop it? It was definitely possible things would only get worse.
No it couldn't possibly get any worse.
Adrian carefully set the tray down next to Akito. Worried about how he would react when he awoke to find Adrian of all people sitting next to him, she nervously scooted the tray a little further back and away from her. She couldn't risk him not taking his medicine. No matter what happened.
She sat herself next to him and watched him, waiting for any sign of him waking up. Minutes passed by and thoughts of how handsome he was eventually fluttered up into her brain. She knew how kind he could be, but she also had come to learn how cold and cruel too. Still knowing that the cruelty and cold-hearted actions were only to protect his many wounds, she did her best to remember that she also had her own wounds that she protected as well.
The two of them were so much alike it was scary, and yet so different that it was almost terrifying. How could two people so alike end up so very differently?
She wasn't sure as to the why, but she would like to know. She wanted to know. It was a thought that always seemed to lurk at the back of her mind lately. Adrian decided she would absolutely find out why before she broke his curse.
Akito was the first person Adrian had ever met that could get such a reaction out of her. She really just wanted to understand. To Hell with the cost.
Her eyes were glued to Akito's face when she saw the first movements of his awakening
Chapter 12: Heart Sick
Also I'd like to apologize for something. Knowing how wonderful Fruits Basket is I'm not well enough versed in the manga yet to put every characters personality into the story or show their curses being broken. Gomen. However, I've been thinking of going back and adding Ritsu's transformation when I get some more time. After all he is the monkey! Must throw in my birth year after all! ^^ Still that will have to wait a little while longer. A-kon is just a few weeks away, and I have to finish a few more cosplays. 'sigh' Ayumu (Spiral); Ryuichi (Gravitation); Takuto (Full Moon wo Sagashite) for me and stuff for friends... plus school & work stuff... 'sigh' It might be a little while... well see.
Challenges are good for the soul! Well anyway... without further adieu....
Chapter 12: Confrontations
Adrian had known from the start that living with Akito when he hated her was not going to be easy. It had been a given, it was just that she never expected it to hurt quite so much.
His every action was calculated, his every word chosen before hand, and his manner so cold it brought goose bumps to her arms.
When she had first moved in he had been truly kind, and there was a gentleness around him that had been completely destroyed the day Ritsu had been freed.
Akito was in pain.
Adrian only wanted to end that suffering, and she knew it was her very presence that was causing it. Yet Akito wouldn't let her move out. She had asked before if she could move in with Hatori, or one of the others, but he had refused.
No refused wasn't the right word.
Using her right hand she reached up to touch her left arm. He'd grabbed her, and sneered at her for asking such a thing. She could remember his recriminations as though he was still yelling them at her. His eyes were flashing in violent rage... but something told her that it wasn't really anger it was hurt. She had done something that had caused him so much pain that he felt he had to lash out at her. What had she done?
She thought back to that day with Ritsu. How he had just held her when she had started to cry. How he had tried his best to comfort her, when she had been thinking that nothing could ever happen between the two of them. Had her thoughts reached through to him somehow and that was why?
No, that couldn't be it.
Emotions and thoughts could be picked up but unless the person receiving them understood what was happening they were usually just confused as their own thoughts and emotions.
Pain was nothing new to her, but why did it hurt so much more coming from Akito? This hurt so much more than all the cracked ribs she'd had growing up. Still this was for the best, wasn't it?
A single tear rolled down from the corner of her eye.
Was it? Was it really?
One tear turned into ten, and soon there was a steady stream of them falling down her face.
Perhaps... perhaps it wasn't. What if she had only been being selfish before? Perhaps if she explained about her powers and the curse... it didn't matter really did it.
A part of her screamed yes, but another part whispered a firm no. What was she to do? It had taken three months to get as far as she had, that meant another three for the others, and another 2 for Akito. Could she live that long with this?
No. There was absolutely no way she could do that. Then what was she supposed to do.
Perhaps find out what was wrong? She could always ask Akito? Still with his temperament lately...
"He needs his bed rest..." Adrian could hear Hatori's voice outside of her bedroom door. Stifling her tears, she listened to his voice outside the door. "We've been lucky that he hasn't gotten sick before this. His body is so weak that it never took much... he needs to take his medicine... I know he will fight it... needs lots of water..." The conversation was drifting down the hallway, and she lost the thread of what Hatori was saying, still one thing was clear. Akito was ill.
She looked across at the wall separating her bedroom from his. It was all that stood between the two of them, and it had been an impenetrable barrier one that she never dared to cross under any circumstances at all. It was one she would have to cross before things became even more unbearable.
Once her face was clean and all traces of her tears were wiped clean from her face. She took a deep breath and walked out the door. A girl she had met before by the name of Kagura was carrying a tray down the hallway. She had refused to being released from the curse just yet. Something about her darling Kyo...
"Is that for Akito?"
"Good morning, Miss Adrian. Yes, Hatori-sensei asked me to see to it that he got his medicine and things. He's been a bit difficult lately."
Kagura always seemed so demure, and mild, Adrian couldn't help but wonder why she was given the task. Surely she was too nice to be able to get Akito to do anything.
"If it's alright I'll do it. I owe him for taking care of me when I fainted. So it's only right."
"But Hatori-sensei..."
"Don't worry, just tell me what he needs to take and I'll make sure he takes it." Kagura gave Adrian a questioning glance but explained. Adrian and Akito's strained relationship was more then well known in the Sohma household, though many attributed it to Akito being in denial over being in love. Several of the older family members, kept talking about how Adrian always seemed to have the minimal amount of interest in Akito and he was just depressed... actually there were too many rumors flouting around. Adrian couldn't help but wonder which one Kagura had listened to.
Kagura explained about the medicine and passed the tray to Adrian. "By the way when are you going to ask for Kyo to come?"
"Kyo?" She thought back on the cat she had seen in the library, and it's menacing aura. "I think I'll end his curse last, it will make things easier. I'll probably pass out from that one too." Adrian sighed deeply. That one would definitely be the hardest curse next to Akito's to break.
Adrian walked over to Akito's bedroom door and knocked; before he could answer she opened the door and walked inside.
It hadn't changed since she had stayed in there. The light was minimal, and the futon was in the center of the room. She could see Akito laying on the futon, sleeping.
It was the first time she had ever seen him asleep. His face was pale, and his hair was very disheveled, seeing him this way reminded her of just how handsome he was when he wasn't angry. A hard image indeed for her to conjure up since it had been three months since the last time she had seen him... happy.
Over the last three months she had come to realize that those first few weeks he had been honestly happy. The thought that something she had done had made him this way brought a strong sense of shame to her, but more than that what she had been thinking at the time made her even more ashamed of herself. She had dared to let her own worries and concerns overcome her and let him hate her. She let him become this way, through her own selfishness. For the first time in her life she hated herself for what she had done to him. She loathed herself, not for making him mad, but for allowing it to develop into this. It had to stop.
If she stopped it would things still work out? Could she stop it? It was definitely possible things would only get worse.
No it couldn't possibly get any worse.
Adrian carefully set the tray down next to Akito. Worried about how he would react when he awoke to find Adrian of all people sitting next to him, she nervously scooted the tray a little further back and away from her. She couldn't risk him not taking his medicine. No matter what happened.
She sat herself next to him and watched him, waiting for any sign of him waking up. Minutes passed by and thoughts of how handsome he was eventually fluttered up into her brain. She knew how kind he could be, but she also had come to learn how cold and cruel too. Still knowing that the cruelty and cold-hearted actions were only to protect his many wounds, she did her best to remember that she also had her own wounds that she protected as well.
The two of them were so much alike it was scary, and yet so different that it was almost terrifying. How could two people so alike end up so very differently?
She wasn't sure as to the why, but she would like to know. She wanted to know. It was a thought that always seemed to lurk at the back of her mind lately. Adrian decided she would absolutely find out why before she broke his curse.
Akito was the first person Adrian had ever met that could get such a reaction out of her. She really just wanted to understand. To Hell with the cost.
Her eyes were glued to Akito's face when she saw the first movements of his awakening
Chapter 12: Heart Sick