Four chapters! Thank you to the people who read and/or reviewed the third one! I really appreciate it! I would like to thank LilyEvansPotter4456, and FearlessDranzer, for reading parts of this story for me before it's published. You two are the greatest! There is one little spoiler in this chapter, regarding chapters ninety-six and ninety-seven. If you don't point it out, that's great! It's very hard to find, but for those who have read those two chapters, you'll understand! Okay, now time for the chapter to begin! It's a little short, but I kind of rushed it. Please read and review! Thank you!
Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Fruits Basket, nor do I have any association with Natsuki Takaya, Hakusensha publishers, Hana to Yume Magazine, or TOKYOPOP (I wish I did!). I do own the nurse in this chapter though!
Chapter Four: Explanations
There were a number of children running playfully about a small wooded area. All the children wore casual clothing; the boys sporting T-shirts and shorts, and the girls with dresses and skirts. All but one small boy, who was wearing a traditional kimono. The children laughed and shrieked as they all chased each other around trees and bushes. The one boy with the kimono seemed to be enjoying himself the most, for he usually didn't get out much. He ran and played tag with the children, sticking around one girl in particular.
This girl had thin brown hair that was both short and silky. Her face lit up whenever she smiled, and she was the kindest girl of them all. She had been very nice to the young boy, causing him to feel a warm spot in his stomach when he was around her. Of course, the little girl began to feel the same. During the game of tag, the little boy and girl found themselves alone behind some bushes. They both sat side by side, their backs against the hedges, getting acquainted with one another. They talked and laughed, suddenly feeling a quick bond of friendship beginning to bind them. Once they heard the voices of the other children, they both got up and began to brush themselves off and made sure they were each free of dirt and grass stains. As the boy began to make his way around the bushes, they little girl politely stopped him. "I really like you," she told him in her sweetened, innocent voice. "I'm happy we can become friends!" She made a step towards the boy, quickly wrapping her arms around him in a friendly embrace. "Ah!" the little boy yelped as he fell to the ground. Now, he wasn't a little boy.
When the girl had hugged the boy, there was a loud 'POOF', followed by a cloud of puffy grey smoke. As the smoke vanished, a small little white rat appeared instead of the little boy in the kimono. The young girl stood there, her eyes large and surprised. She opened her mouth to scream, but fortunately for the boy, nothing came out. The other kids came running over since they heard the small explosion and saw the smoke. They had all emitting screams and yelps, the girls shouting, "It's a rat! It's a rat! Ew!!!" The rat was trembling with fear, and was sitting in a pile of clothing. The children had noticed that the clothing belonged to the little boy that the girl had hugged. They had all last saw the two together, and in the midst of their panic, they managed to ask her where the little boy had gone. Still in shock, she lifted a shaking finger and pointed it at the rat. "I-It's him! Yuki-kun turned into a rat when I hugged him!" This was all impossible to the children. They all had found it disgusting, and weird, that a boy could turn into a rat if he was hugged. All but the young girl who hugged him in the first place, she felt tears trickle down her face from sympathy. She felt bad for the boy, whom she had addressed as Yuki.
As the children still shouted, a tall man came over. His face was emotionless, yet looked stern. Without a word, he guided the children out of the wooded area and away from the rat. There, the children were all united with their parents. They still began to holler and cry about the events that had occurred back in the forest. In moments to come, the man had come out of the woods with the little boy, now dressed and not a rat anymore, clinging to his pants. The man bent down and whispered something in Yuki's ear. Yuki ran from the group of children and their parents, and headed to a car. He opened the door and scurried inside, wiping his eyes in the process. As he did this, the children watched as the man talked to their parents, excluding the children out of the conversation. The man looked quite angry, as if something that other people weren't supposed to know about had just took place. The adults quietly gasped here and there, mothers shaking their heads in non-belief. One mother began to sob as she looked over at her son. The other parents had turned their heads to face their own children. The little girl who had hugged the boy ran to her mother. Her mother kneeled down and took her daughter in a warm embrace, stroking her head as she let the girl cry into her shoulder.
Then there was a large, empty room. The little girl was seated on the floor, silently crying for her mother. She was frightened, for she was in new surroundings that were strange to her. But there was another person in the room. It was the man that had spoken to her mother and the other children's parents. Now, the little girl began to feel safer with the presence of an adult, but cringed in fear when she saw the cold look on his face. Without the girl's notice, the man's expression softened when he saw her crying. She was scared of him, and he was unfortunately aware of it.
"I'm sorry," he told her softly. "But this has to be done. I know you are still a young child, and you may not understand me, but you have found out a terrible secret when you were playing with Yuki and those other children a few days ago. No one except Yuki's family is supposed to know about what happened…Now, I am going to help you forget what happened. I'm going to place my hand on your forehead and eyes, and you will forget everything that went on. Once again, I am very sorry, Tohru Honda-kun, but I was ordered to do this." He covered Tohru's forehead and eyes with his warm hand, and as she was contemplating what he had told her, her eyes shut and she fell back onto the floor.
Tohru froze and dropped her ink stick as she unconsciously slammed her hands onto her desk. What had just gone through her mind was definitely new to her. "Yuki-kun," she said quietly to herself. Class 2-D was currently taking finals, and now all of their students had their eyes on her. The teacher sat on her desk at the head of the classroom. She got up and began to tap her foot on the floor, crossing her arms over her chest and clearing her throat. "Honda!" she shouted. "You're supposed to be taking a test! If you wanna stay after school and finish it that's more work for me! Now stop stalling and take your test! If you fail, it's not my problem!" Tohru nodded as she felt sweat run down her face. She began to feel dizzy and nauseous, and suddenly couldn't focus on her test. She picked up her ink stick with a trembling hand and began to take her test again. Tohru was lacking concentration so much that she had to reread one word ten times before it programmed through her mind. Her vision was faintly blurred and her throat became parched. She was in no condition to take a test anymore. She got up from her seat and walked down the row to Mayuko's, stumbling once due to her dizziness and nausea.
"Sensei," Tohru quietly moaned to her teacher. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can finish my test...I-I…I feel sick."
"Well," Mayuko said as she looked at Tohru, bothered. "What do you want me to do about it?"
Searching around the classroom, Tohru nervously tried to form words on her tongue. All she could think of was playing with Yuki, hugging him, and then that man…Could he have been...?
"Um, may I please go to the nurse? If it's not too much trouble, I-I need to lay down…I think I might pass out…" Mayuko looked at the pale, grim-like expression on Tohru's face and sighed with frustration. "Fine, Honda, go. Suggesting that we don't have much time left, I'll be seeing you after school. Thanks for wasting my time." Tohru bowed anxiously and headed out of the classroom, but turned to take a glance at Yuki, who was staring at her, and then Kyo, who had his test booklet closed and his chin in his palm, looking in the same direction as Yuki. She gave them both a reassuring smile, then left the classroom. Devoid of noticing, Tohru walked in the opposite direction of the nurse's office. Her destination: anywhere she could think peacefully.
Yuki-kun has told me about this before, she thought. He told me that because of the girl who hugged him, all of his friends had to get their memories erased because they all saw…Was I that girl? Tohru couldn't bare that thought. That meant that she had her memories erased when she was younger…Didn't it?
So many questions formed in her head. Did Yuki recognize her as that girl? Who were the other children that were playing there with them? Was that man who suppressed her memories Hatori? And was this even real? Tohru stopped walking and stared at the patterns the colorful hallway patterns made. Am I just imagining things? Should I question Yuki-kun about it? But it had to be real. She had called him 'Yuki-kun', and Hatori had addressed her as 'Tohru Honda-kun'. Maybe that's why she had all of the sudden remembered playing with Kyo. Maybe that was why she barely remembered her father. It was all coming together, just like a puzzle: Tohru must have had her memories erased.
Tohru began walking again, along with thinking. So, I knew Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun when I was younger? Did I know more Sohma's then? I also had encountered with Hatori-san…And he knew my name! But how? I must have known some other people in the family then! Did I know Shigure-san? Kagura-san? I'll have to ask them…Then Akito's face appeared in Tohru's mind. Just thinking about Akito sent a chill down her spine. And Akito-san…Did she know too?
All of the ways Tohru could confront the family, without putting them through any discomfort, played throughout her brain. She questioned Kyo so easily, so she figured there would be no problem with asking Yuki. It was just the other family members. "Should I go visit Hatori-san too?" she questioned herself, the tone of her voice no louder than a whisper. Hatori would have some answers that she needed, and so did Yuki. Yuki would be questioned first.
Tohru continued to walk until she reached the nurse's office. She decided to go so she wouldn't be dishonest with her teacher, but also because she really didn't feel good. When she walked into the office, there were two other students ahead of her, both of them being first years. As one of them walked out, Tohru flashed them a bright smile, but didn't receive one back. The next student was there for about five minutes, then left. The nurse then sat down at her desk and began to rummage through some papers, unaware of Tohru's being there in the room. After a few minutes she looked up and smiled, getting up from her chair. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said apologetically as she walked over to Tohru, clipboard at hand. Tohru shook her head and smiled. "It's alright! I wasn't here for long!" The nurse smiled and circled Tohru, scribbling notes onto the clipboard. "Okay, what's the matter dear?" Tohru turned around in a circle as she watched the nurse examine her. She cleared her throat politely and laced her hands together behind her back. "Well, I was taking my finals and then I began to feel very dizzy, and I felt like I was going to pass out. I went up to my sensei's desk as I did, I almost fell a few times began I was too dizzy to walk, and I feel like I'm going to vomit and…Oh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to complain! I'm so sorry!" The nurse chuckled and pressed the back of her hand against Tohru's forehead. "Hmm…Your head does seem a little warm." She brought her hand down to Tohru's cheek, in order to look at her face. "And you do look pale. Do you know what time the tests are over?" Tohru shook her head. "Alright," the nurse said. "I'll call your house and have your mother pick you up. Does she work during the day?"
Tohru stammered as the nurse walked over to her desk to pick up the phone. "Um, I don't live with my mother, or my father." The nurse looked at her with a bewildered expression. Tohru continued. "I live with Shigure Sohma, who is also the guardian of Yuki and Kyo Sohma. Should I give you that phone number instead?" The nurse nodded and picked up the receiver. "Okay, that number will do. What's your name dear?"
"Tohru Honda."
The nurse nodded once again and listened as Tohru told her Shigure's phone number. She sat down in one of the chairs that were rested against the wall as the nurse talked with Shigure.
"Hello Sohma-san, this is Hotaru Nakamura, the nurse at Kaibara High. I have Tohru Honda here in my office, and she seems to have a little temperature. Her forehead is warm, and her face his pale. She came down here explaining to me how she felt very dizzy in class…Yes…Yes, I know. Finals can be very tedious for some students…" She laughed. "Oh, yes! I know...Uh huh…Okay, thank you very much, Sohma-san. I'll tell her that you'll have someone come and pick her up. Goodbye." Then she hung up. She picked up her clipboard once again and wrote down a few things. She then put it down and sat down in her chair. She pushed back her hair and took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes. "Sohma-san said that he'll have some come to pick you up…He was a very funny man! You must enjoy living with him." Tohru nodded and smiled, and became a little dizzy once again. "Yes! I enjoy living with Shigure-san very much!" The nurse chuckled and put her glasses back on. "Why don't you lay down a little bit before you get picked up? I'll get you a pillow to put on the bed." Tohru got up and bowed, thanking the nurse. Hotaru led her over to the small room within the office that the bed was in. It resembled the kind of bed's they have at psychiatrists' offices. Tohru sat on the bed and swung over her legs after taking off her shoes. The nurse laid a pillow at the head of the bed for Tohru to rest her head on, and left once she helped Tohru get comfortable. Tohru thanked her gratefully and watched her head out.
"I really like you…I'm happy we can become friends!"
Tohru rethought of what she had remembered in the classroom. It amazed her that she recalled so many thoughts in so little time. That's where I might have remembered those voices from a few days ago! She sighed as she closed her eyes. When I began to remember playing with Kyo-kun, it didn't even occur to me that I could have had my memories erased! But remembering sitting in a room…And Hatori-san talking to me that way…It must have hurt to erase a little child's memory. Poor…Then Tohru realized something. Hatori must be the person coming to pick her up. Shigure didn't drive, and Ayame certainly didn't, so that left Hatori. Tohru couldn't decide whether to ask Hatori about it in the car, or wait until another day. If Hatori was by himself, she would consider it, but if he had company, she was going to wait until another day.
As she began to fall sleep, Tohru heard two pairs of footsteps walk into the nurse's office. Along with that, she heard two brawling boys. "Yuki-kun! Kyo-kun!" She got up, swung her legs off the side of the bed, and got up. Tohru stumbled out of the room from dizziness and met up with Kyo and Yuki as they made their way towards the resting room. "Ah, Honda-san," Yuki said. "How are you feeling? You've been down here for a while, and since I was finished, I asked Sensei if I could come down to see you." Kyo then grunted and crossed him arms over his chest, looking away. "And Kyo insisted on coming."
"No I didn't!" Kyo hollered as he balled his hand into a fist. "You dragged me here, you damn rat!" Tohru found some strength to laugh as Kyo calmed down. She flashed them both a smile, telling them that she felt fine and that Shigure was sending someone over to pick her up. Yuki smiled in return, and Kyo sat down in one of the chairs, sighing. "That guy's gotta get a drivers' license soon," he mumbled to himself. Yuki sat down also, and Tohru did as well. "Do you have a temperature?" Yuki asked her. "Um, well," Tohru began. "She said my head was warm…But I can still do housework and cook dinner! I'll get tonight's dinner ingredients on the way home from school!" Yuki and Kyo both shook their heads and shot each other deathly looks. "What did I tell you that last time you got sick?" Kyo said with annoyance. "You have to sleep so you can get better! Never mind about getting tonight's dinner ready," he lowered his tone, "I can…Make you food…If you want…" Kyo's face was now beat red. Tohru beamed and nodded towards him. She loved how he cooked leeks for her the last time she was sick.
"Don't worry Honda-san," Yuki told her. "All you have to do is sleep and you'll be fine."
"I just said that!" Kyo snarled. "Why do you have to go around repeating what I say?"
"I was just making a point, you stupid cat."
"Eh, um, please stop fighting!" Tohru pleaded. "I don't think the nurse will like it…" Yuki nodded and got up. "You're right," he said as he walked toward the door. "Of course, he can't go anywhere without starting a fight with anyone." Kyo began to boil with anger. "I'll see you at home Honda-san. Should I tell Sensei that you're going to have to stay after one day to finish the exam?" Tohru shook her head and went to the door with Yuki. "That's okay! I can tell her on my way out!" Yuki smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you're going to do great. You did really well on the practice questions I gave you, and the ones on the exam are pretty similar." Tohru's face reddened a little bit, and Yuki smiled. "Okay, I'll see you at home. Tell Kyo he has to come back to class eventually, or else he'll get into trouble. I'll see you at home!" And with that, Yuki started down the hallway for class 2-D's classroom. Tohru stretched out her arm and waved at him, then returned to her seat in the office, where Kyo was now calm and free of rage.
Kyo was muttering words to himself, probably about his hatred of Yuki. Tohru sat herself down in the chair next to him and placed her hands in her lap, twining her fingers together. "I saw Yuki-kun turn into a rat when I was younger," she blurted out. Tohru slapped her hands over her mouth as Kyo stared at her with a baffled look. "You saw what?" he inquired, looking around the room to make sure the nurse was out of earshot. "Did you just say that you saw Yuki turn into a rat when you were younger?" Tohru squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, biting her lower lip. Oh, why did I say that? How come it just came out all of a sudden? Kyo straightened out his shoulders and lowered his head so it was closer to her ear. "How long have you been keeping this from everyone? Have you told anyone in the first place?"
"No," Tohru whispered in reply. "I-I just remembered while we were taking our tests. I remembered playing with Yuki-kun and some other children…Then I hugged him, and he transformed!" Hotaru walked out of the room, while they were both talking, so now that they were the only ones in the room, they could raise their voices a little higher. Tohru continued with her story. "Once he transformed, all the kids we were playing with ran over and started screaming and shouting! Then a tall man, who I'm guessing was Hatori-san, came over and…" At the entrance to the nurse's office, the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the room and grabbed Tohru and Kyo's attention. They turned their heads to see Hatori standing in the doorway, his expression blank like it usually is. "Hello Honda-kun, Kyo," he greeted the two in a monotonous tone. Tohru smiled nervously as she got up and bowed to him. "Oh, Hatori-san! Good afternoon! Thank you so much for coming to pick me up!" Hatori nodded and kept the same blank expression. "Shigure called me up and said you weren't feeling too good, is that correct?" Tohru nodded in response. Kyo got up and gave her a light punch in the shoulder. "See you later. I'm going back to class." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and brushed passed Hatori and out of the room.
"I think we should go too," Hatori told her as he stepped out of the room. Tohru went over to the nurse's desk and signed the sign-out sheet before she followed Hatori out of the room. As they passed her locker, Tohru politely asked him if she could stop to get her messenger bag and her coat. He let her go, and then they stopped at Tohru's classroom so she could tell Mayuko that she was leaving, and that she would have to stay after one day to finish the final exams. As she headed out of the room, Tohru gave one last wave to Arisa, Saki, Yuki, and Kyo. She and Hatori walked quietly out of the building and to the car that was parked next to the curb. Hatori offered Tohru the passenger seat, and she gladly accepted. He opened the door for her and she sat down, brought her legs in, and let him shut the door. Tohru put on her seatbelt and settled herself in. Hatori did the same, and he started up the car and drove away from the school.
Tohru listened as the car drove smoothly on the neatly paved road. Once in a while, she could hear the sound of the tires running over small rocks, or the car driving over a sewer. Outside, the sky was clear and blue, and the puffy white clouds slowly moved as the earth turned. Bare trees now began to sprout leaves, most growing Sakura blossoms. Tohru ran her hand through her hair and looked at Hatori from the corner of her eye. His gaze was fixed on the road before him, and he occasionally moved his hands as they clutched the steering wheel.
"I was listening to what you were talking about with Kyo when you two were in the nurse's office," Hatori said briskly as he broke the silence. Tohru jumped in her seat with a, "Nya!" Hatori took no notice to this and only continued. "It seems that there's a lot of explaining I have to do…Because I do know what you're talking about. I remember it very clearly.
"I had brought Yuki to the park that day because I was watching him for Akito. There were children playing together in a small area, and he wanted to join them, so I let him. I knew that the curse being discovered was a huge option, but he had been through so much the past few days that I let him go. After a while, the children brought the game to the forest, and I let him follow. I remained at park for a while, keeping to myself. That's when I heard the children screaming, and I knew it could only be for one reason. I went into the forest to find out that my horrors had become reality, which Yuki had transformed. I quickly brought the children to their parents and waited for him to turn back and get him dressed. As I brought him out of the forest, I knew what had to be done. I had to erase all of those children's memories. I had to roughly explain the situation to their parents, which I wasn't keen of doing. It crossed my mind once in a while that I should have erased their memories also, but at the time I was very aggravated and was thinking quickly. I had to receive the names of the children from their parents, one of the names being Tohru Honda." Tohru stared at Hatori in awe. He had explained it exactly the way she remembered.
"After a few days, you were brought to the Sohma house. I brought you to one of the rooms where no one would likely be so the suppression could be done. I remember the look on your face…You seemed so frightened of me. All of the children were. You all had a right to be. I'm not the nicest looking person around. I erased your memories, and let you rest for a little bit before your mother brought you home. She was very understanding, unlike the other parents who were shouting and crying. Yuki cried once all the memories of his friends were erased. He for once had found children who wanted to play with him, but had to lose their friendship due to the curse. I found myself angry for the longest time…I knew it had to be done, but I also knew that Yuki didn't deserve that…" Hatori stopped at the sound of Tohru's silent sobs. He decided to let her cry, and he wasn't going to speak unless she had a question for him.
Yuki-kun, Tohru thought. He…He had to lose all of his friends…Because they found out about the curse…And I was one of them! I wish I never had my memories erased…I would have loved to be his friend! Could that be the reason why Kyo-kun stopped playing with me, because I didn't remember him anymore? Tohru pondered at this, then a question blossomed in her brain. "Hatori-san," she said quietly, grabbing his attention. "I thought when someone gets their memories erased, they only lose that little moment when they found out the curse. I couldn't remember anything from before I was eight, but then I remembered something…" Tohru cut herself off, recalling the promise she had made with Kyo about not telling anyone in the family about their childhood friendship. "In some cases," Hatori explained. "The memory loss can be more drastic than others. In your situation, you seemed to lose more than expected."
"Does everyone regain their memory eventually?" Tohru asked as she fiddled with the hem of her skirt. Hatori shook his head, his eyes still on the road. "It's very uncommon that someone will regain their memory once it's suppressed. Luckily, you knew about the curse so you had an idea about what was going on. But if it was someone else who didn't know about it…It can cause mental problems sometimes." Tohru slowly nodded and watched as Hatori pulled up to Shigure's house. She was unaware that they had even turned into the forest in the first place. Tohru put her hand on the door handle ready to pull it so she could open the door, but was stopped by Hatori. He had wrapped his hand around her arm to get her attention. "Do not tell anyone about what we just discussed," he told her firmly. "And if you would like to talk to me about this again, you're welcome to come to the Sohma house and ask me." Tohru bowed and thanked him for the offer, and for taking her home too. "I'll be by tomorrow to check on your temperature. Get some rest, and make sure you're not running about the house…You need to sleep to get better." Tohru smiled, and Hatori returned it with one of his rare grins. He drove away as Tohru reached the door of Shigure's house.
Tohru opened the door and slid off her shoes. From the entrance of the house she could smell steamed leeks and miso, which told her that Kyo had probably began cooking her dinner. Since Hatori had picked her up at the end of the school day, Kyo and Yuki had probably just gotten home. She slowly walked to the kitchen, beginning to feel groggy again, and told Kyo that she was home. As she headed out to tell Yuki and Shigure, Kyo told her to forget it and go straight to sleep. "But…Wouldn't they like to know that I've come home?" she asked him after he told her. Kyo stirred angrily at the miso soup as the steam from the pot floated around his face. "I'll tell them when I'm finished cooking. Just go to bed!" Tohru jumped and thanked Kyo for preparing her dinner, then ran up to her room. She changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. She felt so bad that she had to lie in bed like that while Kyo was off making her dinner, but he, and Hatori, insisted that she should sleep. As her eyelids began to droop, Tohru thought about how she would tell Yuki that she was the little girl who had hugged him. Hatori's voice echoed in her head.
"Do not tell anyone about what we just discussed."
That was going to be hard.
I'm sorry to say, but the next chapter is going to be the final one! I felt that the topic of this story really couldn't go a long way, and I'm also eager to start my next fiction, Painters! It's going to be a Kyoru story! Well, I hope you all liked this chapter, and I'll see you next time for the finale!
-September Whisper