The Sohma Institute
By Lady of the Ink
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, but you knew that. I hope. I do own this story, and all the plot twists it contains.

Chapter Six
Enter Ayame


Tohru continued to stand in state of stunned silence, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the man's entrance. She had never come across anyone who looked or acted even remotely like him before. She suspected that if someone else were to mimic his actions, they would appear foolish and overdramatic. But in Ayame's case, he pulled them off with a flair that just seemed to fit.

Finally collecting herself enough to move, Tohru stepped back to the table with its selection of magazines. Unconsciously restoring the stack to order, she found her eyes drifting more than once to the brothers on her right.

After his first, sudden outcry, Ayame had yet to speak again. He remained on one bent knee, a hand on the floor beside him, the other gripping the back of Yuki's chair. He was just watching his brother, an expression of hope clearly visible on his unguarded face.

Feeling as though she were intruding on a private moment, Tohru cleared her throat to catch the new arrival's attention. She had planned to quietly excuse herself, leaving them to their visit. That plan flew out the window when golden eyes locked onto her.

"Hello," Ayame said, a charming smile coming to his face. Gracefully rising, he crossed the room to her side. Catching one of her hands from where it rested on the table, he seemed to examine her from head to toe in an instant.

Feeling flustered, Tohru managed to stammer a reply. "H-h-hello." Her gaze flitted around the room, settling on anything and everything but the man. She wasn't exactly sure of how she was supposed to handle this situation. The manual had only said that visitors had to check in with her before seeing the patients. She was to take them to the rooms, and then return to her office or other patients unless she was needed. In no way did it come close to covering how to handle something like this.

Going on the little bit of information Ms. Almont had given her, Tohru carefully phrased her question. "You're Ayame? Yuki's brother?"

Another smile, this one bigger and brighter than the one before it spread across his face. "That's me. How did you know? Did you see the resemblance? We do have a similar look, don't we?"

Tohru hesitated in answering, not wanting to upset him. He seemed so happy at the thought that she had recognized him from a resemblance to Yuki. Deciding that honesty was the best thing, she took a breath and tried to get a word in.

"Well, there is something alike about the two of you, but no, that's not how I knew who you were. Ms. Almont, she told me that Yuki's brother was coming in sometime today. And since you're the first non-employee person I've seen on this floor, I just assumed that you had to be him."

She almost winced as his face fell in the picture of disappointment. His lower lip pushed out just slightly, and he sighed forlornly. Reaching out a cautious hand, she patted him gently on the shoulder. She could never stand to see anyone in pain, even over something like this, which seemed somewhat trivial to her. That being so, she hurried to try and comfort him as best she could.

"But now that I'm seeing you up close, there's definitely a similarity between the two of you. Something in the complexion, and the . . .the cheekbones, I think?"

It worked. The brilliant smile was back, and he clasped both hands in front of him, letting go of her hand to do so. Tohru sighed in relief, hoping a little space would make it easier for her to think. She smiled a bit weakly, struggling to keep up with his train of thought as he began speaking again.

"I wasn't always a good brother, but I'm trying to be one now. That's why I come and visit every chance I get, to let him know that I'm here for him. I want us to be close, and it's so hard sometimes, with him being here and all. But just hearing someone as nice and pretty as you say that we look alike," he sighed again, more loudly this time, "Well, it just makes me feel like Yuki and I are getting closer. And that's what I want. I want to the kind of older brother that I always should have been."

"That sounds like a nice thought," Tohru told him when he paused, obviously waiting for her response to his admissions. She found herself feeling slightly breathless just from listening to him. He spoke at a normal speed, but there was just something, almost a type of urgency, in his tone that made it seem like he was speaking much faster.

"So, I haven't seen you here before. I'm sure I would remember a delicate beauty such as you flitting about the halls."

Blushing at the compliment, Tohru turned her head to the side. "Th-thank you," she managed. "I just started a few days ago." As her eyes had traveled across the room, they finally landed on Yuki. Sensing something different about him, she frowned a little, looking closer to figure out exactly what it was.

While she had been trying to get his attention with the magazines, he had shifted slightly to the left to see the pictures better. Now, though, she saw he had resumed his earlier position, and he was again looking straight out the window. His shoulders were held stiffly, and there was a tenseness to his posture that had never been there before.

Lowering her gaze to the floor behind him, Tohru struggled to find the cause of his apparent unhappiness. It was as she was thinking that Ayame turned to his brother again. Catching the movement out of the corner of her eyes, Tohru suddenly gasped. Maybe Yuki was upset because she was intruding on his visit with Ayame!

Twisting toward the silent boy by the window, a horrified expression crossed her face. She was supposed to be taking care of him, and the second day of work she was keeping him from something he had probably been looking forward to.

Shaking her head at her own foolishness, Tohru hastily started backing toward the door. When Ayame saw that she was leaving, a look of confusion crossed his pale face. He opened his mouth, but she didn't give him a chance to speak. Not wanting to waste anymore of the time the brothers would have together, she hurried to explain and be on her way.

"I'm sorry that I was intruding on your time together. I wasn't thinking, or I would have realized it sooner. I'm so sorry and I promise that it won't happen again. I may be kind of slow when it comes to figuring some things out, but once I know something, I don't forget it. I hope that you have a really nice visit, and I'll be across the hall if you need anything from me. Okay? Bye, then." Smiling brightly, she ducked out into the hall, pulling the door closed behind herself. She had seen the bewildered look on Ayame's face, but since a lot of people tended to wear that expression around her, she wasn't too worried.

As she slipped inside her office, she noticed that Ms. Almont had yet to return. Dropping into her desk chair, she sighed. She had nothing else to do now that her one patient was tied up, but it didn't feel right to just sit there doing nothing. This was her job; she was supposed to be working. But was there that she could do?

Thinking about the interest Yuki had shown in the magazine earlier, Tohru decided that now would be a good time to write down her thoughts and discoveries. Though no one had mentioned her needing to do anything other than the small notations on the clipboards, she knew that it would be necessary later on. Now would be as good a time as any to practice taking notes on what she learned about her patients.

Grabbing a few sheets of paper from the drawer of her desk, she uncapped her pen and set to work. At the top of the first page, she carefully wrote the date, time, and Yuki's name. Below that, she described what her plan had been. Skipping a line, she then went into detail about her results, both the failure of the first magazine, and the success of the second one. After a moments pause, she also listed her thoughts on what she thought it might mean, and a few of the ideas she had to use this new knowledge to help Yuki.

It was as she was in the process of writing about letting him grow some plants in his room that something occurred to her. Though she had read the rulebook cover to cover, she didn't recall any specific mention of the rules regarding bringing outside items in. Would she have to get permission from someone? Would they even allow it? Although she could see no harm in it, she was the first to admit that she had little experience with this sort of thing.

Tohru decided that the first thing she should do was go through the rules again, making careful note to any that might pertain to what she was thinking of doing. If after that, things were still unclear, she could simply ask Ms. Almont the next time she popped up. Feeling eager to get started, she reached into her tote bag for her rulebook . . . And came up empty-handed.

It was only then that she remembered leaving it at home to make enough room for all the magazines. She'd never thought she might actually need it. Groaning quietly, she leaned back in her chair. She didn't want to waste the rest of the evening doing nothing, and that had been the only productive task she could think of.

Pushing lightly at the floor with the toe of one foot, she set her chair to spinning in a slow half circle. She came to a stop facing Ms. Almont's disorganized desk. Eyeing it bleakly, she supposed she could always try and straighten it up for the other woman. Looking more closely at the amazing disorder, she knew that that would really be her last resort.

A familiar cover caught her eye, and she leaned forward to get a better look. Was that . . .Yes, it was! There was a copy of the Institute rulebook hanging off the left side of the desk, almost hidden by a thick dictionary and what appeared to be a wadded up sandwich wrapper.

Glancing at the door, Tohru debated tracking down Ms. Almont to ask permission to borrow it, then decided against it. From their earlier chat, it had sounded like the other woman was going to be busy tonight. Besides, it was such a little thing, she doubted that she would mind. After all, wasn't she the one who had gone on and on about how important it was to follow all the rules? She'd probably appreciate the fact that her new assistant was making an effort to stick to that.

Rising, she gave the precarious mess a good once over, trying to figure out the best way to get what she wanted without causing everything to fall. Grasping the book by one corner, she gave an experimental tug. It slid out an inch; nothing else moved. Emboldened, she gave another, harder tug. When the book came free, the whole pile seemed to shake slightly, and she caught her breath. A moment passed, and there was no avalanche, and Tohru allowed herself a small laugh of victory.

Carrying her prize back to her own desk, Tohru wondered how Ms. Almont could ever find anything. Then again, remembering the frantic search she had walked in on that morning, maybe she couldn't. Shaking her head once more at the chaos behind her, she settled herself back into her chair. She flipped through the rulebook, carefully jotting down the names of all the sections that seemed like they might have the answers to her questions.

About halfway through, she noticed something odd. Some of the section headings seemed to vary from what she remembered. The wording was different, less strict sounding. Some of what she remembered from her copy wasn't there at all; other things were there, but altered.

Frowning slightly, Tohru wondered what it meant. After a moment's thought, she came to the conclusion that this might be an older edition, and because of that, listed different rules. That would explain why it seemed less dictatorial. If this was a rulebook from before The Institute became the forerunner in its field, it only stood to reason that the rules would be different. They would have been less concerned about their work leaking out.

It seemed to make sense to her. Feeling better, Tohru continued flipping through the pages.