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 Eighteen

Doubts and Determination


Dead.

Momiji's mother had said that her son was dead; that he had been for five years. Since Tohru highly doubted that she had been playing cards and board games with a ghost, it meant that Mrs. Sohma had to be wrong. But just because she was wrong didn't mean she was lying. Based on the amount of pain in her expression when she spoke of her son, Tohru would have bet her entire life savings that she truly thought he was gone.

So the question she was left with wasn't whether or not Mrs. Sohma was lying, but rather who had been lying to her. What kind of person would tear a child from his mother's life in the most traumatic way achievable? What possible reason could there be for such an action?

All of these thoughts and their dozens of offshoots were running through Tohru's mind later that afternoon. After Mrs. Sohma had walked off, Tohru had drifted around for a while, not really paying attention to where her feet led her. When she finally started to notice her surroundings, she found herself in front of a small diner in a part of town she recognized only from having seen it from the bus window.

Now that she had stopped, she realized that she was feeling tired and drained from both the encounter and the walking, so she went inside. She took a seat in the back, as far from the windows and door as she could get. She knew she had a lot of thinking to do, and she didn't want to be disturbed. Ordering tea from the waitress who appeared at her side, Tohru sank deeply into the booth's cushions while she waited for it to come. After a moment, she folded her arms on the cool surface of the table and rested her head against them.

In less than two hours, she was supposed to report to work. It was an important night, since she would be working solo as Ms. Almont continued her work on another floor. But it also meant that she would have to face Momiji and the sadness he hid so well behind his open smile. She knew that she would spend the entire time remembering the expression on his mother's face, the bone deep pain in her eyes.

Did he know? Did he have any idea that his mother thought he was dead? Had he been informed of the deceit, given a reason for it?

Five years was a long time for a parent not to visit their child, especially one as young as Momiji would have been in the beginning. Someone must have told him something about her absence, but what? Was it possible that he had been told a similar untruth; that he believed his mother was dead?

Tohru sat up abruptly, startling the waitress who had just returned with her drink. She couldn't even manage a smile for the woman, so trapped in her last thought that she barely even noticed her presence. Anyone cruel enough to tell his mother he was gone might be cruel enough to say the same to him about her.

It was a situation so horrible that Tohru could barely fit her mind around it. She remembered how she had felt when her mother died, the unbearable sadness that she had thought would never go away. Kyoko had been her support in life, always there to help her when she stumbled and encourage her to believe in herself. It had taken a long time for her to come to terms with her loss, and in some ways she was still learning to cope. It was moments like this, when there were a million more questions than answers, that she missed her mother the most. She had always been able to help her make sense of things, or at least send her down the right path.

But her mother was gone, so there would be no help from that corner. There was always Saki and Arisa, but Tohru wasn't sure she wanted to involve them until she had a better idea of what was going on and who was behind it. For all she knew, there could be some risk involved, and she would never be able to forgive herself if she put her friends in danger in anyway.

Tohru looked down, finally noticing the tea in front of her. She picked it up and took a small sip as she continued her thinking.

Her first urge was to pin it all on the Institute. It had given her a bad feeling from day one and her experiences there had only added to that. If there really was some sort of conspiracy like she had suspected, it would be reasonable to assume that Momiji's circumstances were connected to it. She couldn't imagine a woman like Mrs. Sohma, who had obviously cared so much, allowing anything to happen to her son if she could help it.

In that context, the lie about his death made a sick but perfect kind of sense. If she didn't know, she wouldn't make any attempts to get involved. The question still remained: Get involved in what? What was happening there that would create the need for such a massive untruth?

Tohru sighed, shaking her head. She could try to make it all about secrets and lies in that building but the reality of the situation was that she had no proof. All of the odd little things that had led her to believe something was up had been at least somewhat explained. The secrecy of the twelfth floor was a measure to maintain the privacy of patients who wouldn't have gotten it otherwise, due to their family name. The same reason held true for the second rulebook and the additional rules she was subject to follow.

But something, an instinct or some quirk in her character, refused to let her lay that thought to rest. The explanations she had been given now seemed paper-thin, excuses to hide rather than reasons to safeguard. It was like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces she was finding one by one. She was fitting them together, but they didn't match the picture on the box.

Counting out the money for her drink, Tohru rose and walked back outside with one thought in her mind. It was time to get some real answers, which meant going to the people who were the most involved. It was time to talk to Yuki, Kyou, Haru, and Momiji.


All through the process of getting ready for work, Tohru found herself wanting to dawdle. Knowing it was a reaction to the plan she had prepared, she refused to give in to it. In fact, she rushed through showering and dressing so quickly she had to wait almost twenty minutes for her bus to arrive.

When she finally made it to the Institute, she worked her way through security at twice her usual speed. From the moment she stepped off the elevator until the moment the door clicked shut behind her, she kept her eyes locked determinedly on the floor. Now that she had made up her mind about what she was going to do, she didn't want anything or anyone to affect that resolve. She had a feeling that one look at Momiji's face would have her breaking down.

After hanging her sweater over the back of her chair, Tohru moved to sit her tote on the surface of her desk. It was then that she noticed the note. Dropping the straps of her bag, she picked up the single sheet of paper. She recognized Ms. Almont's handwriting almost immediately as she scanned the neatly formed words.

Tohru

Tohru's eyes caught and held on one of the last lines. "'That's all that you need to know from me,'" she quoted. "Hardly." She folded the letter in half and slipped it into her pocket. Even if she didn't need it, she wanted to have that number close by, just in case.

Taking a seat, she began compiling the papers she would need for the rest of the evening. Even as she sorted them into order, her mind was far from the task. Not for the first time, she found herself wondering just how involved Ms. Almont was in the secrets of the twelfth floor. It was almost impossible to reconcile the level of caring she showed with the possibility of her being behind some of the less than acceptable practices.

Did she know about Momiji's mother and the lie she had been told? Had she ever wondered about the other woman's lack of visits, or the reason behind them? Or was it possible that she was in on the whole thing?

Tohru blew out a loud breath and slumped down into her chair. She leaned her head against the backrest, staring at the wall until her eyes lost focus. The ordeal with Momiji's mother was starting to color her thoughts on everything and everyone connected with the building. She could only imagine what would happen when she saw the person most affected by her knowledge.

"How am I supposed to get through the night with Momiji, knowing what I know about his mother?" she questioned aloud. "It's not like I can just ask him if he knows that his mother thinks he's dead."

"He knows."

The voice came from the door, startling Tohru so badly that she jumped almost out of her chair. As it was, she tried to spin around so quickly that her foot caught under the base of the chair, sending it onto its side and her to the floor on her knees. Her hair drifted forward to cover her face; a face she knew had to be a vibrant shade of red. She debated remaining there until the witness to her humiliation left but knew it was an unachievable solution. Gritting her teeth, she scrambled to her feet and faced her audience.

There was a girl standing in the doorway, her dark brown hair pulled back with a green clip. She wore a white skirt a few inches shorter than Tohru's own, topped by a green sweater. The hand that wasn't resting on the doorknob clutched a woven bag with a small key chain swinging lazily from the zipper. She looked to be about the same age as Tohru, give or take a few years, and she had a serious expression on her face.

"Wh-who are you?" Tohru asked, self-consciously smoothing her clothes as she struggled to regain her composure.

"I'm Kagura Sohma. I'm here to see Kyou." She smiled shyly, the change of expression adding a little girl quality to her appearance.

Tohru returned the smile shakily, unsure of exactly how to proceed. She was facing another Sohma, and one who had just heard her say something she shouldn't have even known about. There was a very good chance she was in big trouble.

Since there was no proper etiquette that she had ever heard of for a situation like that, Tohru decided to just forge ahead. Whatever happened, she would deal with when it came. With that philosophy in mind, she skipped right to the heart of the matter.

"You said Momiji knows? About his mother and what she thinks, I mean?"

Kagura nodded, not seeming at all surprised by Tohru's choice of topic. "Yes."

"But how? And why?"

The other girl shook her head sadly. "Those aren't questions you're supposed to ask in our family. It's one of many subjects under the 'Accept What We Tell You And Let It Be At That' header. A bit annoying, but generally safer all around."

"Safer?" Tohru asked, latching onto the word. "So there is something dangerous involved here?"

Kagura blanched a bit, seeming to withdraw mentally. "I'm not really supposed to talk to you, especially not about this." She eyed Tohru's crestfallen expression before adding, "You really care, don't you?"

Tohru nodded.

"Why? You haven't been here long, so you don't really know any of us. Why do worry about people you only just met?"

Tohru paused, thinking over her reaction. Kagura was right; she didn't really know much about the Sohmas. What she did know was that there were four boys housed on this floor who needed help, one way or another. And she couldn't walk away from that, not and live with herself.

Raising her chin a bit defensively, she told Kagura as much and watched as her features softened. The other girl threw a quick glance over her shoulder, as though making sure they were truly alone. "Just being there for them is the best thing you can do. It's a lot more than they usually get."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Kagura stepped away from the doorframe. She raised her bag to press it against her chest with both hands, almost like a shield. "Is it okay if I see Kyou now?" she asked in a polite but distant tone, as though the personal part of their conversation hadn't happened.

Tohru, more than a little puzzled at the sudden change of her demeanor, just stared at her for a long moment. Finally getting a hold of herself, she gave a quick nod. "O-of course. You know which room is his, right?"

Kagura nodded, a vague smile firmly in place as she stepped into the hall. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Honda," she said before moving out of sight. Tohru remained where she was, pondering the older girl's words. She was still standing there when Kagura reappeared a few serconds later. Catching Tohru's eye, she gave her the same serious look she had worn while speaking of Momiji and his mother.

"Oh, and Miss Honda?" she said. "Good luck while working with Haru. He has something of a temper you know. He's always saying things he shouldn't when he gets angry. And he gets angry so fast! All it takes is saying the wrong thing once . . .like asking if he dyes his hair . . .and he's off on a tangent." She paused before adding, "You should keep that in mind." Another vague smile and she was gone.

Tohru was speechless. It had sounded like she meant . . .but that couldn't be possible. Could it? Had Kagura really meant to imply what she thought she did? Shaking her head, she reached for the papers still stacked on the desk. It was time to make her rounds.

Good luck on flying solo tonight! I put the number where you can reach me in case of an emergency at the bottom of this paper, not that I think you'll be needing it. You've been doing a wonderful job so far. Momiji hasn't been able to stop talking about your game all day.

There are a few things you should know for tonight. First, Yuki's still feeling a bit rundown from his attack, so nothing too strenuous for him. Secondly, Kyou will be having a visitor tonight, so keep an eye open for her. (Oh, and don't worry if you hear yelling or thuds while she's there; it's normal.)

That's all you need to know from me. Have a great night and I'll see you on your next shift.

Ms. Almont