Sorry about how short that last chapter was, but I'm afraid that if I had added anything to it the story would have been pushed a little out of bounds. My old English teacher used to say better short and to the point than too long and in circles.

This is starting to feel a little like a novel, still don't worry I'm an Akito fan girl after all, besides, I don't think the story will leave my brain until it has all been written down. I have a problem with working on more than one project at a time… if I don't give one story my complete attention until it's over with my general writing style suffers… Buddha is his Bride [one of my others] definitely deserves better than to be destroyed via divided attention… the plot is just too cool and the plot line is historically accurate [well as close as something that didn't actually happen can be, you don't want to know how much research I've been doing for it.]. Why exactly am I rambling about my Kenshin fan-fiction anyway? Shakes head in order to clear the brain, must think Fruit Baskets!

Author's Notes:

-sama: formal title; think lord or lady…

Hashi: Chopsticks

Kazuma Sohma: was put in the notes of chapter 6. He's Kyo's adopted father.

Well without further adieu here is…

Chapter 16: Chaos in a Hand Basket

It was a beautiful morning.

When Akito refused to get out of bed, Adrian had threatened to pull Akito out from under the covers and drag him outside if she had to. He didn't find her threat very amusing, however he catered to her whim, after all she was only thinking about his health.

The fact that she was caring about him was enough to make him want to go outside and see the morning sunlight. He was beginning to feel not so alone. The more he thought about it the more sure he was that she truly had nothing to gain from any of this, which meant that she truly wanted to be here.

That thought gave him a feeling of strength.

Just the actuality of her being here was amazing to him. The fact that she wanted to be here in the Sohma family household fixing this curse, when she didn't have to, and the fact that she was taking care of him after everything he had put her through over the last 3 months, and that she was doing it because she truly wanted to it made him feel humbled and in awe of this beautiful young woman that sat beside him.

In the last few days as he had recovered from his illness he had become more and more aware of her strengths and her weaknesses. She shied away from personal questions as though she was hiding a dark secret from the light of the world, yet she was always so… the word failed to catch in Akito's mind, but he was sure it was a word that could only be applied to her. For the first time in a very long time Akito felt like smiling. It was for him a feeling he had long since forgotten.

He sat in the morning light watching the world in its entire splendor as he ate his breakfast. It was just so peaceful, almost perfect.

"Adrian-sama! Good Morning, Adrian-sama!"

Akito watched as a young high school boy approached them. Akito could feel his hands clenching around his hashi and he felt the wood snap under his grip.

Who the hell was this person and what was he doing here?

"Takawa, good morning. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Then leave!

"I heard that you haven't been feeling well?" Whoever this Takawa was he seemed nervous, almost like… Akito's eyes narrowed, and his grip tightened even more around the broken hashi. He could feel the splinters digging into the fleshy part of his hand, but he just ignored the pain.

"Is there a purpose to this?" Akito asked. He was barely able to keep his fury buried beneath a mask of politeness. He really just wanted to throw this moron out by his shirt collar. He was being polite enough, barring the fact that he was pointedly ignoring Akito, but his flirtatious attitude towards Adrian was completely unforgivable.

When Takawa turned to Akito and saw his teal eyes filled with burning rage, something inside of him said that he should run while he still could. Foolishly though he feared for Adrian. What type of a tyrant was he? He was far too young to be the head of the family, was he perhaps his son or something? Was the poor beautiful Adrian, the most delicate of all flowers, stuck living with this tyrant of a man?! The mere thought made him outraged, well at least the head of the Sohma family would protect her from this terrible person.

"A… Ye…. s…. I...hmmm…"

Why didn't that stupid man look away? His glare was making him so nervous he could barely speak to Adrian-sama. He felt like such a coward right now.

"Adrian-sama, I though you might… I mean…"

"Spit it out." Akito hissed at him. Watching Takawa squirm wasn't very interesting, but it aught to at least make it clear to Adrian how weak hearted this fool was.

Adrian was confused. She didn't really understand what was going on right now.

"Notes!" Takawa said it; he'd finally said it! "You haven't been at school so I thought you might like to barrow my notes!"

"She doesn't need them." Akito answered for her. Adrian was starting to get a bit annoyed with Akito. She was perfectly able to turn down Takawa's offer on her own.

"Takawa thank you, but Yuki let's me copy out his notes, so I'm fine really."

"Get lost." Akito snarled. He rose from the porch and took a few steps towards Takawa.

Takawa politely excused himself and ran. Whoever that person was truly scared him. It was kind of like a 'staying around him would only bring misfortune' type of feeling. Adrian-sama must be suffering horribly in his presence; something just had to be done. As a member of the Adrian fan club he had to do something. Her suffering was unacceptable under any circumstances.

"That wasn't necessary!" Adrian snapped.

"I decide what is and isn't necessary in my house." Akito's voice was calm and soothing, nothing like the mountains of fury it had been only moments before. "Either way that idiot won't be back, and that's what really matters."

How did he know where to find Adrian anyway? Akito mused.

Well, either way something like this was not going to happen again. He headed over to Hatori's home to see what could be done about unwanted visitors.

Adrian sat there fuming over Akito's behavior, when she noticed his hashi. They had been completely destroyed, when had that happened. He'd been using them just before Takawa had dropped by… perhaps… had he broken them when he was still there? A smile threatened to show itself on Adrian's face. Maybe, just maybe, he hadn't been doing it to be rude… what if?

Adrian threw that thought aside it was impossible after all. Still the memory of being held in his arms even though it had only been a moment so very long ago was something that was still ingrained inside of her heart.

Her hands reached over and gently held the hashi Akito had broken. Did they mean anything at all? Perhaps she was just letting her imagination run away with her? She was so pathetic; she couldn't afford to fall in love with such a moody person, especially one that she needed to save. If her magic failed her…

"Adrian-sama?"

She looked up to see 6 boys standing in front of her, one of them being Takawa. What was going on?

"We have to get you out of here quickly!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Hurry, before that guy comes back."

"But…"

"We have to let the head of the Sohma family know how dangerous that man was! Your safety, no your life is at stake! We have to hurry!"

"Akito IS the head of the Sohma family." Adrian cut in. "Really I'm not in any dang…"

"Then we don't have any choice!" Takawa motioned for the others to grab her. "We must save the Princess at all costs!"

Things were definitely getting out of hand. Adrian tried to explain but they were already carrying her off. She tried to stop them but they just wouldn't listen. She couldn't hurt anybody; the three-fold law rang through her brain as a reminder… "Bid ye the three fold law ye should, three times bad or three times good…" With the difficult magic she was working for the Sohma's she just couldn't risk it. Still, these idiots were kidnapping her!!!

Momiji, being late for school, saw them dragging her off. This was bad. Where was Akito? Akito probably couldn't stop them anyway, so he ran to get Hatori.

"Hatori, we have a big problem! A group of guys are stealing Adrian away!" Momiji barely had time to register the fact that Akito was in the room with Hatori, before Akito shoved Momiji out of the way. Momiji had never seen such a look of desperate rage on Akito's face before. He thanked heaven he wasn't one of those boys right now.

"Where were they taking her?"

"They were headed to the front gate."

They raced after Akito, hoping that they made it in time.

Akito had somehow managed to get there ahead of Hatori and Momiji; fortunately Kazuma had been at the family estate instead of the dojo. When he saw Akito's expression of outraged fury he knew something had to be horribly wrong. When he got close enough he noticed the fact that Adrian was there, and it didn't look as though she was there willingly.

Akito wasn't a fighter. He lacked severely in any form of martial arts skills, but the way he threw himself unhesitatingly into the middle of the group to protect Adrian… Kazuma didn't hesitate any longer. Before they could hurt Akito, they found themselves on the ground, unconscious.

"Adrian?" He rushed over to her side where she knelt on the grass. Her shoulders were shaking. Hesitantly, he reached over and pulled her into his arms, her fingers clutched at his kimono and she buried her face into his shoulder.

"You didn't… You could have been… Don't do anything so reckless again!" She screeched into his shoulder.

Akito didn't know what to say to this. If she hadn't been clinging to him so tightly he thought that he would have just let her go, but her body pressed so close to his own made him wonder at his own actions. He felt relived. He didn't care really what she said as long as she was right there in his arms.

At first he had thought that she was their simply to break the curse, and that she needed someone to take care of her, now he was beginning to realize how much he needed her to be there. He needed her there because she was the only one who truly wanted to be there with him. The thought of her not being there with him clawed at his heart. That dream the other night had truly terrified him, more than anything else.

Adrian was still telling him what an idiot he was, so he did the only thing he could think of to shut her up. He kissed her.

Kazuma politely ignored them and began to carry the young whelps to the front gate and dump them outside. Who was dumb enough to let them in anyway?

Chapter 17: Spring to Summer