Story note: This takes place on episodes 25 or 26 in the anime. This a AU of those episodes, of what would have happened if Tohru didn't go chasing after Kyou. I give thee a warning, it is very depressing, well...not too much, but I try! .
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. Enjoy!
As the Rain Falls
Chapter One- Misplaced Hopes & A Broken Soul
"Don't look at me!" He shouted into the rain day as the beads coloring black and white were ripped from his hand.
"You understand that if this fails, he will be broken this time. He may never smile again..." Shigure spoke quietly.
Tohru stared at the true zodiac form of Kyou. She couldn't believe her eyes as he stared back at her. The look in her eyes was what told him something; something that ripped him away from reality. Something inside him shattered into pieces, not repairable.
His heart was ripped in two. He jumped backward into the air, disappearing into the dense forest that was as shadowed and dark as his look on life.
For the first time in a long time, memories flooded back from his childhood. The people that blamed him for his mother's death. He didn't even remember his father clearly; he had run off. He had the guts to leave him, afraid of what the young boy was.
His master was the only one kind to him, but...now he had betrayed him! For the first time in a long time, Kyou allowed himself to cry. He had given up, given up on everything, even life. Did it even matter to him?
Tohru hadn't run after him, how could she? She was barely standing as it was. Yuki ran down the stairs to her, easily catching her as she passed out. His face bore a worried expression.
Up in the room, behind the curtains of blue, Kagura let herself cry. She couldn't imagine how Kyou would be like now. Nothing Tohru said would ever make him be able to change how the moment affected him. She even doubted if she could heal the deep scars Tohru had formed just by looking at him that way and not doing anything.
Falling to her knees, she let some silent tears fall as she prayed for Kyou's sake, hoping he was safe. If he weren't back by the second morning after tonight, she would go in search of him. He needed time to think, but the wry caressing her heart would not cease.
'Please,' She heard her mind whisper softly as it filled the vacant sorrow in her mind she was feeling. 'Be safe, Kyou...' She loved him, any form whatever he took shape in. Nothing could change her love for him but...would that be enough?
The question made her stumble. Would it be enough?
Shigure looked at the crying form of Tohru. She had woken up minutes before and Kagura had refused to see her. 'Can't imagine why she would.' He thought drearily.
"Forgive me." He found himself whispering. Yuki turned to look at him, a little bit shocked. "Tohru, it's painful I know. You can stop the pain...you don't have to go through with this." Yuki's eyes widened a bit as he comprehended what he was talking about.
Take away her memories. "S-Shigure..." He warned to the man. 'How can he even think about that?!' He angrily shouted mentally.
Tohru didn't respond, she continued crying, a little softer as she looked away from them. They thought she was crying from fear of Kyou, but she was crying for him. For his curse and what he had to live with. How she could do nothing but be transfixed by the image in front of her.
"Miss Honda..." Yuki tried to comfort her, by touching her shoulders lightly. That seemingly didn't help the case anymore than he hoped it would, which wasn't very much.
She spoke, her voice quivering as her body shook with sobs for the cursed teenager, what he had to hide for the same reasons that made people look at him with even more disgust. "How come h-he has to live w-with that?" She questioned no one in particular. Yuki and the others weren't cursed with something such as this. It wasn't fair.
Yuki looked at her, understanding she wasn't crying out of fear, but for him, Kyou the cat. "Miss Honda." He spoke soothingly, his eyes softened at this. The only reaction that he got was her falling forward from her upright position.
She had cried herself to sleep and fallen into Yuki's chest. His eyes widened and the 'poof' sound filled the thunder-sounding air. She fell forward, almost strangling the transformed Yuki who, currently, was in his rat form.
It had been two days, this was the second day's night. Kyou hadn't returned yet. The Dojo master said that he should have returned to normal by now. He had left the beads in the forest and they were gone the next day. It was still uncertain about his well being, or his state of mind, but Kagura made a promise to herself.
"I have to go find Kyou." Kagura said to a downcast Tohru and a quiet Yuki and Shigure.
"I want to come too." Tohru asked quietly. "Please." She added in a whisper.
"Uh...Tohru, I don't think that would be a good idea." Shigure said quietly. "I-"
"No." Kagura said with force. "I'm going by myself." She left with that said, putting her shoes on as she walked towards the forest. There was the densest part of the forest in there and, maybe, just maybe she could have help finding them.
She closed her eyes and all the sudden; wild boars came around, circling her with a soft expression in their eyes. "Please, help me find someone." She whispered to them. Five minutes later, they were gone, her walking around in search of him with her friends.
She stumbled into a clearing where there were trees with giant scratch marks on them. Before she knew it, her eyes looked at her hands as she felt herself fingering the carves that marred the once lovely trees. 'Kyou...' She mumbled.
She turned around and there he was, without his shirt looking almost dead. "Kyou..." She whispered loudly enough for him to hear. He didn't respond.
His head was leaned against his arms, which were leaning on top of the knees he had drawn up near his torso, leaning against a tree. His orange colored bangs hid his lovely crimson eyes from her.
She ran up to him, expecting him to jump away from her like he always did. He didn't even budge as she plopped to the ground next to him. He didn't bother lifting his head, his eyes were closed, he turned his head away from her.
The beads that his master had torn away from him lay on his wrist. She sighed at this, happy he ended up getting them. In fact, it wasn't him but a cat that had found them and brought them to him, trying to cheer up his cat friend.
Kagura realized how much the two days had taken out of him; ho his body seemed exhausted and he was skinnier. He hadn't eaten a single thing, and he didn't feel like it. She could faintly see the dark circles under his eyes, though they were much darker than what she saw. His orange bangs were unruly and he had scratches marring his body along with bruises.
"Kyou..." She whispered. She touched his arm, feeling how cold he was. 'That's too cold for his body!' Her mind screamed. He was sitting there, not moving with nothing to eat and no shirt! "Kyou," She demanded. "We have to get you back to the house!"
"I-I'm not going back, I'm going to stay here." He sounded exhausted and the tone of his voice made her flinch inwardly. There was no fighting strength in it anymore.
"Kyou you have to! Do you want to die from the cold?" She questioned, it was beginning to get colder and colder with the winter and many rainfalls they were having.
"..." Was his response, which made her drag him to his feet. She got to hers too.
"Kyou, you're coming back to the house right now." She commanded, noticing he didn't put up a fight. He lifted his head and she saw how much the lack of sleep had taken its toll on him. His eyes, they were dull and shallow. Nothing like the piercing gaze he could give her that made her fall further into a helpless love that caressed her in sorrow and in happiness. It gave her comfort in just the mere memory of the tempered teenager.
She dragged him off, trying to remove herself from the look in his eyes. He didn't smile once or say anything. He let her drag him through the forest. It was silent except for the shuffling of their feet on the leaf covered forest floor.
She was dragging him so hard that he tripped on a hidden root. He fell onto the dirty floor, getting even dirtier than he already was. Kagura gasped when she saw him slowly rag himself off the pile of dirt he landed in.
"Kyou! I'm so sorry." He didn't even respond, but she clasped his hand in hers. His whole body was freezing and now, she had to get him back before he got anymore sick!
She pulled him with her. 'We are almost there!' she thought furiously. Tohru flash through her mind. Look what she had done to him!
She opened the side door that lead to the eating area where the others were sat around. They turned around sharply and gazed at Kyou, shock and surprise that he had willingly agreed to come with Kagura home. Her hand was till in his and he simply stared past them in seemed, not even glancing at Tohru.
Shigure looked into Kyou's eyes and saw how dull and hollow they seemed. This time, he was broken. He had simply given up. "Dear god, what have we done?" He found himself whispering.
Yuki stared at the once defiant and tempered boy that had been his rival. He seemed just a shadow now, and Yuki actually felt...a different feeling towards the boy. Why couldn't they be friends? Right now, Kyou needed someone to bring a light into his darkness. Tohru was out of the question since he could never find it in himself to get over this experience.
Kyou walked right past them and headed up the stairs without saying anything. The door to his room was heard below as it silently closed, hiding him in the world he was trying to shut himself away from.
Outside where there are lies,
On the inside just let me die.
"He's so thin!" Tohru gasped to the others in concern as she looked at the stairs leading up to his room with worry.
"Yes, so it seems." Shigure said thoughtfully, he was thinking about Kyou's condition. They would have to get the family doctor over here in an instant. A thought reminded him that he couldn't call the Souma's. They didn't care about the cat, why would they want to heal him?
Kagura sat down without a word, taking her spot and looking at the empty place of where Kyou would be sitting. She sighed heavily and audibly for everyone to hear.
"He willingly agreed to come?" Yuki skeptically asked, hiding his concern for the baka neko. 'He's bound to come down with a high fever after so long.' Rang through his inner thoughts.
Kagura wanted to beat him for that comment. "Yeah," She said, not willing to succumb to her anger. That was all she said for the time being as the sound of the clock was heard from the other room. Everyone except Kagura, who hadn't touched her meal as of yet to come, sat in silence eating.
She grabbed another plate and loaded it with some food. "I'm going to go and bring Kyou some food." She whispered to them, getting up and walking down the hall to the stairs and climbing them slowly.
She creaked open the door. "Kyou?" She meekly asked. She opened it fully now and saw the orange-topped boy sitting in a shadowed corner as a haunted look played across his features. He didn't even acknowledge her.
"I brought you some food, Kyou." She tried to sound as happy as she could to see him again, but it didn't help to get rid of the depressing atmosphere hovering over his broken frame.
His body was wounded, but it was everything inside that was torn and decimated. His spirit, his will, his hopes, all the blame and guilt consumed him, swallowing him whole. "I'm not hungry." He hadn't eaten since that night he ran into the forest. His stomach was empty, but he wasn't hungry.
Whenever he thought of the night when...she looked at him, made him want to throw up, though nothing but bile came up. He had already thrown up twice out in the forest, a sickening feeling came over him at times when he was recollecting or just sitting in the solitude that consumed him. Some times he threw up blood, the metallic bitter taste still haunting him as his body shook from the whole ordeal.
"But Kyou, you need to eat." She placed the plate of food down beside him, but he made no move to eat it. "Kyou?" She let her hand fall onto his forehead to see how he was doing. He was burning hot.
She gasped and pulled away quickly, he seemed to flinch at this. 'Monster...' Hs muttered 'She's afraid of you too!' It hissed coldly.
"Y-You've got a fver! I'll go and get a docot rove rhere right now!" She ran off, closing the door after she laid him gently down into the bed. He didn't pull away or even retaliate, much to her dismay she knew something was wrong with him internally. He would never act like that...
She thumped down the stairs and ran to call the nearest doctor, not one of the Souma house. The line rang and finally after quite a wait (actually, to her it was, though in fact it was only about twenty seconds) a lady's voice came onto the phone.
"Hello?" She asked seriously, yet kindness was etched into the voice so as not to creep the caller out.
"Hello." Kagura said in a hurried voice. "K-I have a sick friend and he's got a very high fever, but I don't know what's wrong with him! Can you send a house doctor as soon as possible?!"
The woman on the other side of the line knew this was serious, judging by how frantic the caller sounded. "Yes Miss, we'll send a doctor over as soon as possible. Please give us your address." She commanded, trying to calm the frantic girl's nerves.
After giving the nurse at the desk her address, the woman replied in a cheerier voice, "Well, we have a doctor on his way since he's close by currently. He'll be over in about ten to fifteen minutes." She lifted the girl's heart with these words.
"Thank you so much!" Kagura graciously told the older woman and hung up the phone to go and tell the others.
"A doctor is coming over." Kagura said, sitting back down to her current seating at the time.
Shigure looked at her, shocked that she was telling them this. "Why? Is Kyou sick already?"
"He won't eat, he's got scratches all over his body, he's got a high fever, what more do you need to call a doctor?" She questioned with a death promising tone of voice that said 'You had better agree, or the promise of death will be with you.'
"R-Right." Shigure muttered, edging away from the vicious looking infatuated girl.
It wasn't even fifteen to ten minutes until the doctor arrived, for it seemed he was closer than that to the house and found it with little difficulty.
"Where is my patient?" The man asked Kagura who quickly lead him up to Kyou's room.
"Here's his room." She said with concern woven into her voice.
"It would be-ah, best if you were to stay out here incase it's contagious." The doctor suggested as he opened the room and closed the door with a worried glance from Kagura.
The doctor looked at the young boy siting upright on his bed. A worried look crossed his features as he set about trying to help the boy.
No matter what he did though, it seemed that Kyou just didn't want to heal, like he wanted to die.
TBC
Author's Note: Hope y'all loved it and let me know if you did, or if you hated it. I'm not really sure what to write for this now, so suggestions would be wonderful. If you think Yuki, Tohru, or Kagura should heal him let me no, or if you have questions. . Ja ne Mnemosyn