Need Advice

By zafranks

Hey, I'm back from vacation!!!! :) And I'm happy I can write again.

To all those who have read the original first chapter of Need Advice, I'm really sorry but I need to change the whole thing. Hehehe… I really thought about it and I kinda like the concept of Lys-san's (lys3) story.

Read "Change of Fate" By Lys3. It's GOOD ::Claps Wildly with Standing Oblation::!

Simon: Honestly, I think it's the most pathe--

Zoe: Oh shut up, Simon!

Anyway, here's the story. Have fun! :)

… and please tell me if you hate it.

----

It was 1:00 in the evening. The heavy rain poured at the city where the main house resides. Despite of the damp atmosphere at the outdoors, there was piece and quite inside. Nobody was awake at that time of the night.

Well, at least, nobody should be awake. But there was one who tried to stay up a shattered mug woke him intensely. Great, there goes my savings… he thought.

College graduate Sohma Yuki sat upright from the couch and slowly stretched his arms. He checked his watch for the time. He yawned and groaned sleepily. Then he sat back again on the couch. He did this amazingly ten times already for the night.

Obviously, he was waiting for someone to come in the house.

"Where could she be?!" he whispered to himself. For the fifth time in his life, he was forced to wait for her in the living room for almost eight hours. He couldn't help it. He tried to sleep. He tried to close his eyes and think that she would be home soon.

"Yuki…kun?" Yuki turned to look at young Kisa Sohma coming down from the stairs. She stared at him sleepily. "Ne-san is not here yet?"

"Yeah, there might be some late business thing, I guess." He said. That was always her excuse. In fact, that was the excuse he was forced to understand.

"… is that Gure's mug?" she pointed at the broken mug on the floor.

"I'll… fix that up later." He said hastily. "You can't sleep too? Would you like some warm milk?"

"No… I'll think I'll have apple juice." She dragged herself to the kitchen while Yuki relaxed himself on the couch. After that, his phone rang.

"Yuki Sohma---"

"Yuki, come to my office this instant." The voice almost yelled at him on the phone.

"Hatori-san, all of this seems normal to you: awake past midnight and calling everyone for you to bother but," Yuki yawned again, "I feel so sleepy and I'm still waiting for Honda-san to---"

"She's here." Hatori pressed. Yuki winced for that tone. "Come to my office. I think her sickness is getting serious."

"Sickness? I thought you said there was a cure?"

"I'm afraid…" Hatori sighed. "… I am wrong this time."

----------

The year before Yuki's graduation was Akito's funeral.

Every Sohma was there and it crowded the whole main house. Everyone was dressed in black and of course, there were hired mourners around the corner. Nobody would like to mourn for the clan head.

"It's a wonder," Tohru whispered, "why would Akito-san spend his last days inside his room and not go outside and face the world?" She stared at the cherry blossoms that were planted at the entrance of the main house.

"That's because he's such a jerk."

"Kyou-san!" Tohru hissed.

"Why? That's the reality!" he laughed. "Hey, Tohru, guess what? I just passed all my final exams!" Kyou jumped up and down. I'm actually going to graduate with you!"

"Really?! That's great!" she smiled happily. "I didn't know Kyou-san is a very good artist."

"It's in the genes, Tohru." He boasted. "I'm really into fine arts."

After the funeral, Yuki stood by the grave of Akito Sohma, the one who tortured him, the one who kept him in the dark, the one who gave him fear and suffering. Now, it has all ended in one final moment. He sighed softly, not knowing what other things might happen after this.

"Yuki… kun?" Tohru slowly approached the Sohma near the grave. "How are you feeling?"

"Tohru-kun… what did you feel when your mother died?" he asked unknowingly.

She stared at the tombstone. "Empty. Like something went missing, taken away… and I had nothing to do about it. It is a feeling of being alone and forgotten." She smiled. "But that only lasted for a moment. Okaa-san told me that she would be with me always. I had nothing to fear at all."

"Yuki-kun?" she glanced at him. There was an unreadable expression on his face. "Are you alright?"

"…why can't I feel anything?" he looked at her. "Is that bad?"

"No…" she shook her head. "You just don't understand him."

---

"Sohma Kyou" Kyou hastily stood up from his seat and hurried up the stage.

"GO my beloved!" Kagura called from the audience. "That's my love! That's my future husband!"

Kyou groaned angrily as he got his diploma and bowed in front of the audience. After the bow, cameras began flashing.

"I… hate cameras…" he hissed to himself.

"I need to order of his graduation pics." Kagura smiled.

"Honda Tohru" the loudspeaker called. Tohru got up from her seat, wearing a long black graduation gown and went up the stage. The Sohma crowd applauded, which was inappropriate at this time. One of the people in the crowd was Yuki himself and next to him was Hatori.

"I'm glad you can make it in her graduation." Yuki whispered to the doctor.

"I decided to see this moment." Hatori whispered. "I can't believe it that you two are not in the same course."

"Tohru-san decided to be a nurse." He grinned. "I think nursing is not appropriate for me."

"That's why she graduates first. Engineering courses lasts for five years--"

"I know and Nursing is four years." Yuki replied.

"Are you sure you are okay about this?"

"Hatori, Tohru is standing on the stage, getting her diploma and bowing in front of the audience. Do you think I have the right to go up there and stop her? And besides, this is her mother's dream. I don't want to be a hindrance." He explained.

"I see… I suppose you can last another year in college without her?"

"Of course I can." He smiled. "I'm still member of the student council, remember?"

Hatori laughed. "You still are the same old--"

"Oh my GOD?!" Kagura almost yelled as she pointed at the stage.

There, Yuki saw Tohru falling down the steps.

-------

It must be some accident. But it wasn't.

Tohru is sick.

"Where is she?" It was 2:30 in the morning. Yuki was completely wet from the rain. He didn't bother to bring an umbrella. He was too worried, too sleepy and too tired to understand the words Hatori mentioned to him on the phone.

"She's dying, Yuki, and I can't do anything to stop her sickness."

"She's resting in the guest room." Hatori explained. "I found her unconscious at the steps of her office. She still has the same symptoms and…it has gotten worse. I'm really sorry, Yuki. She has about a month to live."

---

Yuki entered the guest room and found Tohru sleeping peacefully on the bed. He silently pulled a chair towards the bedside and sat on it. He stared at her and sighed.

Now he felt like crying.

But tears wouldn't come out.

He was too tired… the heavy feeling on his chest… he was about to lose somebody in 30 days the woman he dearly loved since high school.

And he has nothing to do about it.

How come I don't feel anything? He asked himself.

Tohru voice rang on his head. You just don't understand…

"What is there to understand?" he whispered. He closed his eyes slowly and just before he went to sleep, a small tear ran down to his cheek.

And everything was quiet.

---------------

Finally I finished the first chapter. But I still consider this as the prologue. It sounded like a climax to me. :) Am I going to kill Tohru this time? Maybe yes… maybe not. Oh well, there goes the first chapter… and 29 more chapters to go!

That's right, countdown of 30 days.

I think I need to change the title "Need Advice"… :)

R&R!!!