Disclaimer: Hopefully you all know by now that I do not own Fruits Basket.
A/N: Okay, this chapter has a bit less of a cliffhanger than the last few. Akito has gone back into the shadows for now, but he will be back. And for those of you who are (like me) big fans of Kyo, I'm sorry he hasn't been around much lately. He will come back in the next chapter.
Roses of Glass Chapter 20As soon as Akito was past him, Yuki ran to Tohru's side, "Miss Honda? Are you all right? Your back is bleeding."
Tohru, in shock, reached a hand up to feel the ends of her hair. The shorter strands now reached her jaw line and the ends were very ragged. She looked over her shoulder at Yuki and her eyes filled with tears.
At that moment, Hatsuharu entered the room, "Yuki? What are you doing in here? I saw you run off, so I came to find you." Noticing Tohru's chopped hair and bloodstained shirt, he added, "What happened to her?"
"She had a run-in with Akito's temper," replied Yuki, "Haru, I need you to go get Hatori and Kagura. Bring them back here. We're going to need their help."
Haru nodded and ran off, returning more quickly than Yuki would have expected, with Hatori and Kagura hurrying along behind him. As they entered, Yuki heard both newcomers gasp as they caught sight of Tohru's condition. Hatori made his way to Tohru and began carefully checking the wound on her back. It was a long cut, but it was not very deep. Not really a dangerous wound however, Hatori imagined, it probably hurt like hell.
"Tohru?" he questioned, "I want to get you back to my place so I can properly take care of your back. Can you stand up?"
Tohru nodded slowly and shakily rose to her feet. Hatori watched as she swayed for a moment, then he nodded to Kagura, who ran over and put Tohru's arm around her shoulders. She then placed her own arm around Tohru's lower back, trying to avoid causing Tohru any more pain. Tohru winced momentarily and leaned into Kagura, but was able to walk with the older girl's support. By the time they reached Hatori's house, some of the shock had worn off and Tohru was a bit steadier on her feet. Hatori took her into one of the small rooms he used for treatment and have her a robe to cover her front as he more thoroughly examined the injury.
As he was working, he talked to her, "Well, the good news is that it's not very deep. The bleeding is already beginning to stop. If I put stitches in, it's going to be more obvious to others that something happed. And if I know you, you'd rather not worry the others, right?"
Tohru sniffled, wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and nodded in response. When she looked back at Hatori, she even managed a small smile.
"So," Hatori continued, "I'll put some butterfly closures on it. We'll put some gauze over that, and I'm going to wrap you up, as much as possible, in a tensor bandage (A/N: tensor bandages are the generic name for ACE bandages, and since the A in ACE is American, they typically aren't called ACE bandages outside the United States) for a day or two. I'll come over to Shigure's tomorrow to check on you. If the cut has closed up nicely, we'll take all this off."
"Okay"
When he had finished with his ministrations, Hatori lead Tohru out to his main office, where Yuki, Kagura, and Haru were waiting. Kagura had a sweater in one hand and scissors in the other. "I'm going to straighten up the ends of your hair for you," she told Tohru, "I also thought you might want a shirt that doesn't have blood stains and a huge tear running down the back. Kyo's going to be mad enough just hearing about it. I don't think he needs to actually see all the evidence of the damage."
Tohru's eyes widened at the suggestion, "No, I mean, thank you fro the shirt and helping with my hair, but nobody can tell Kyo."
"Um, I think he's going to notice something, whether we tell him or not," Haru said, pointing to Tohru's hair.
"I know. I'll think of something to take care of that. But you have to promise me, you won't say a word to Kyo about what happened today."
Kagura and Haru looked confused but promised anyway. Hatori and Yuki, both agreed readily, for they understood Tohru's reasoning. If Kyo found out what happened to Tohru, he would not allow her to come for New Year's, then he himself would not come, preferring to stay with Tohru. And if Kyo were not at the Sohma main house for New Year's, Yuki's plan would fall through.
"I guess for now, we can tell Kyo that your hair got caught in something while you were decorating and they had to cut a piece out. So you had the rest of it cut because otherwise you would have just had a big chunk missing," Yuki told her," It's a reasonably believable story."
"And because of the curse, he shouldn't be able to tell that your back is injured if you wear thick sweaters for the next few days," added Hatori.
Tohru thanked everyone and went back to the treatment room to change into the sweater Kagura had brought for her. When she re-emerged, she sat down and let Kagura fix her hair. By the time Kagura had finished, Tohru's hair had been fashioned into a short style that curled under at the ends. It was shorter than she had worn her hair in a very long time, but when Tohru looked in the mirror, she thought the result was actually quite cute. She thanked Kagura and gave her a small, quick hug, glad that the awkwardness over the situation with Kyo had passed awhile back.
Tohru turned to Yuki, "I'm going to go say good-bye to Kisa and the others and then I want to go home. I think I've had all the excitement I can handle her for one day."
"Are you sure you're going to be okay with coming back her for New Year's?"
At Yuki's question, Tohru gave him a determined look, "I'll be okay with it. I have to be. It's important, after all, for you and for Kyo."
Yuki shook his head in amazement. Then he went to grab the groceries out of the refrigerator and returned to escort Tohru to the main hall to say her farewells. He hoped his plan would not endanger her, but he had a feeling she would help even if she were certain it would cause her pain, as long as it meant that others could be happy. He sighed and, for the moment, decided not to thing about it. Tohru was, after all, perhaps a stronger person than anyone gave her credit for.