Disclaimer: In case you didn't know yet, I don't own Fruits Basket.

A/N: Okay. It's almost New Year's (in the story). I think the whole New Year's part might start in the next chapter (but don't hate me if it doesn't, I don't always know what's going to happen when I actually sit down to write). But I can tell you that New Year's will take more than one chapter. I mean I took eight chapters to do the Christmas ski trip that I didn't originally plan to have in the story, so who knows how long New Year's will go. Anyway, here is chapter 22.

Roses of Glass Chapter 22

When Hatori arrived at Shigure's house the next morning, Kyo and Tohru were still asleep, as was Yuki. Hatori was actually somewhat relieved to discover this. He wanted to speak privately to Shigure before administering to the two teens. He wanted to discuss the plan for New Year's without offending Yuki, scaring Tohru, or letting Kyo in on the plan.

Shigure lead Hatori into his office, "What's on your mind, Hari?"

"Yuki's plane," Hatori replied bluntly, "What do you think the chances are that it will actually work? If it fails, you do realize that things are going to get much worse for those two?"

Shigure thought for a moment before answering, "I really don't know what the chances are. It seems like such a simple thing, you would thing someone would have thought it up and tried it before."

"Even if someone in one of the past generations had thought of it, it wouldn't have worked before. The cat and the rat have never been able to get beyond their hatred of one another before now. And that will be the key to the whole thing, if it works," reasoned Hatori.

"So, indirectly, Tohru will lead to the breaking of the curse. After all, she's responsible for getting those two to see more than the cat and the rat."

"Don't take this all so lightly, Shigure," Hatori said, reprovingly, "Did Yuki tell you what he overheard between Tohru and Akito? There's no telling what Akito will do to her if this doesn't work out."

"I know, you're right. We're going to have to come up with some kind of back up," Shigure spoke seriously, then, shaking his head, he added, "That girl really is something, you know? She stands up to the one person who has the rest of us shaking in our skins at the thought of him. I wonder where that courage comes from?"

Hatori did not answer Shigure's question. Instead he turned toward the office door and asked, "Where are Tohru and Kyo? I think I should probably go attend to them now."

Shigure smiled in response and pointed to the room across the small hallway. As Hatori left, Shigure turned to the drawing on his desk, trying to look innocent as he awaited Tohru and Kyo's reactions to being discovered.

Kyo awoke to the sound of someone clearing their throat. He woke suddenly, looking around the room until his eyes rested on Hatori, standing in the doorway. The eyebrow of Hatori's visible eye was raised and he had the faintest hint of a smirk on his face. Kyo was about to ask him exactly what he found so amusing, when he felt something move behind him. Realizing what her would see, a somewhat mortified Kyo turned around. Tohru was just beginning to stir on the sofa behind him. Kyo whipped his head back around to face Hatori, "It's not what you think! We were watching a movie and we just fell asleep. It was nothing weird. I mean, nothing happened."

"Did I say anything?" was Hatori's response.

Back in his office, Shigure was chuckling to himself. Kyo could be so predictable. That sometimes made him a lot of fun to have around. It seemed Shigure had forgotten his earlier decision to refrain from teasing Kyo and Tohru until after New Year's, when hopefully the curse would be lifted. It was just too much fun to give up.

Meanwhile, as Kyo was searching for a good response to Hatori, Tohru sat up and opened her eyes. Having decided the night before that she didn't care that someone had seen them asleep together, her reaction to seeing Hatori was quite different from Kyo's, "Oh! Good morning, Hatori! Good morning, Kyo!"

Hatori nodded in response but Kyo just stared at her. How could she be so calm? Didn't she realize what had happened? But somehow, looking at Tohru's smiling face slowly rid Kyo of his embarrassment. After all, as he had told Hatori, nothing had happened. And if Tohru wasn't upset, why should he be? 'At least it wasn't Shigure,' Kyo thought. He then realized that since Hatori had known where to find them, Shigure probably knew they were there. Looking back at Tohru, though, he didn't even really mind that, much.

Hatori noticed the change in Kyo as he watched Tohru and thought that Shigure had been right earlier. It made perfect sense to give Tohru at least partial credit if Yuki's plan worked. It was probably mostly her doing that allowed Yuki to think up the plan in the first place. Coming out of his thoughts, Hatori walked over to Kyo and placed a hand on his shoulder. Kyo, who had still been staring at Tohru, nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to glare at Hatori. The doctor ignored Kyo's look and said to him, "I want to take a look at that ankle. We'll see if we can move you towards getting off those crutches. Then I want to check Tohru, as well. I'm sure you have no objections to that."

Kyo grumbles something, but nodded. He really was sick of the damn crutches. He couldn't do anything while he was using them. And he did want to make sure that Tohru was okay. So, he extended his leg out for Hatori to look at. While this was going on, Tohru excused herself to change into something that buttoned up the back, so it would be easier for Hatori to check her wound. It was also an opportunity to get away from Kyo before Hatori checked up on her. After all, it would ruin everything if Kyo say the injury on her back. She knew that Hatori would come up to her room to examine her wound.

About ten minutes later, the expected knock came on her door. Hatori took a look at her back and told her, "That's healing up nicely. I don't see any sign of infection. I'm going to let you take the bandage off, but I want to keep the butterfly closures on, just to be safe. If it starts to hurt worse or itch badly, I want you to come see me."

Tohru nodded before asking, "What about Kyo? How's his ankle doing?"

"Well, there's still some swelling. But I've got him putting partial weight on it now. If he wants, he can get around with just one of his crutches. He may be off them entirely by New Year's. I'll be back here the day after tomorrow to check on him again."

Tohru nodded again and followed Hatori as he left her room and headed downstairs. Kyo was at the bottom of the stairs, using one crutch and glaring at Shigure, who was laughing his head off. Shigure looked up and saw Hatori, "Ah, Hari, did you have to tell him he could get around more? Things were really peaceful the last few days."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kyo yelled.

As the argument continued, Tohru and Hatori exchanged a glance. Some things would never change.