A/N: Thanks for the reviews, my homefries ;D You people are the coolest people in the entire world of worlds. Welps, read on my buddies and ENJOY! :)

And to answer a question from a fellow reviewer: Yes I made this storyline up from the top of my head and used Kyo and Tohru as characters :D hehe I always write AlternateUniverse versions of Fruits Basket cuz they're funner than following the storyline, plus I can make them hug and that's always a plus. hope that clears things up. Thanks for the review btw!

WILTED FLOWER

Chapter 6 - Crying for Help

Kyo fidgeted quietly in his seat on the rickety brown chair in the corner of the room, unable to comprehend how the whole gang was able to watch the tainted television, that was illegally taken from another person, without even feeling a speck of remorse. Kyo couldn't even bare to watch another second of the blaring television, so he sighed audibly, turning his head away from the blue glow of the lighted screen.

Why does my heart continue to ache...? Can't I be satisfied?

Unable to take anymore of the guilty noises that filled the cabin, Kyo stood up to his feet and took a deep breath as he raised his voice so that it conquered the volume of the television,

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go out for a little while."

"Yea, yea, whatever,"

answered the rest of the group in a murmur as they suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter when a mustached man appeared on the screen, shooting a middle aged bearded man in the left arm with a gun. Kyo clenched his teeth together and then stormed out of the house, breathing in the cold, clean air.

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"What an ASS!"

yelled Uo at the top of her lungs after school. She banged her knuckles against the gritty brick wall of the crumbling school building, causing Tohru to cringe backwards from watching Uo's violent way of venting her anger. Hana patted Tohru on the shoulder lightly and then shut her eyes, asking casually,

"Do you want me to kill him for you?"

Tohru's eyes froze and you could see the whites all around her pupils as a spill of nervous laughter fell from her lips. In her head she knew that she shouldn't have told them of her recent experience with Kyo, but they were her best friends, so it was expected for them to blow the whole situation out of proportion, right? She shook her head with a tight lipped smile and then she waved her hands in front of her, in a frantic manner,

"Guys, please don't worry about me!"

"How can we not?! That bastard can't just hurt you like that and get away with it!"

Uo rolled up her sleeves in fury and stomped ahead of the two of them, angrily shouting out with her fists raised in the air,

"Where does he live?! I'll cream him!"

Tohru rushed up behind Uo and grabbed her by the sleeve, pleading softly,

"Please don't do anything... I... don't want to make things even worse, and no one needs to get hurt. So please... just leave it alone."

"But..."

protested Uo softly at Tohru's humble request. Hana was the next to come up behing Uo. She pulled Uo aside, away from Tohru, whispering softly in her ear,

"Just leave her alone for a while... we'll check up on her tomorrow. For now, let's just go... she needs time to herself right now."

Uo sighed with defeat and nodded warily, knowing that Hana was usually correct most of the time,

"All right... but sometimes I really worry about her..."

"Me too,"

answered Hana with her monotonous voice. Tohru tucked a thick chunk of silky brown hair behind her rounded ears and then she lifted her hand up in a tentative wave,

"Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye!"

They both smiled at her tiredly and then nodded positively before turning their heels to walk home. Tohru blew out a shaky breath and then began to walk home alone, feeling the old tears prick the back of her eyelids for what seemed like the millionth time that day, but she blinked them away as quickly as she could, trying her best not to cry. Her head was bent low and her vision was blurring again, but she kept on blinking rapidly in attempt to make the tears disappear. She sniffed noisily and dabbed at her eyes with her fingers while staring down at the blurred concrete. Before more tears could come forth she bumped into a solid body and looked up with an apology ready in her mouth,

"I'm sorr..."

The words died from her lips immediately when she saw herself staring into a pair of intense crimson eyes that made her want to melt right into the ground. She gulped and found herself unconsciously staring into his maroon eyes for a lingering moment, and she swore she saw a speck of guilt fill his usual empty eyes. His eyes flew downward before she could analyze his feelings any further, and then he turned his head away from her, a slight blush crawling across his heated skin, but he ignored his feelings and continued to walk on, brushing right past her. She opened her mouth and yelled out what she yearned to say,

"Wait! Kyo-kun!"

He froze for a second at her voice, but forced his legs to keep on walking. Her chest tightened, but her determination sent her forward, making her chase after him and grab his arm with desperate hands, asking,

"Can we just talk?"

"No."

His terse answer caused her hands to slowly fall limply back to her sides and he could feel the beginning of an endless waterfall of pain flooding out from beneath his heart as he lifted his legs again, leaving her alone on the street corner, hands trembling.

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Wasn't there always a place that a person would go to, to ease their pain? The park was the place where Tohru would go. She went there just to think things out whenever she was in pain.

She stared up at the glowing moon as she hugged her knees to her chest at the top of the metal slide. She rested her chin to her knee and closed her eyes, but the tranquility only lasted for a moment because the sound of a terrifying snap of a stick being broken loudly against the pavement sent her eyes flying back open again She looked around in alarm and her heart frosted up into an icy cage when she saw the source of her worries staring right up at her with glistening eyes. The look on his face was so open... so doleful, that Tohru felt the need to assuage his pain. She gulped when the familiar deep voice that sent chills running up and down her spine sounded throughout the silence of the vacant park,

"You mind if I join you?"

She felt her hands clam up and she shook her head from side to side, feeling a cold sweat prickling down the side of her head as she answered back quickly,

"No, not at all!"

Kyo stepped out from the moonlight and approached the slide, climbing up the shiny blue ladder slowly while she scooted down a few inches so that he could sit down next to her, their hips grazing each other ever so slightly. Tohru looked over at him with concern filling her deep brown eyes and she asked,

"Are you okay? You look pained..."

Kyo stared ahead into space for a minute, feeling his fists tighten so badly that his knuckles were white. She glanced down to see his hands shaking and she felt the urge to take his hands into hers, but she was scared of how he would react, since he had been acting pretty surly towards her lately. He looked in her direction for a moment, his eyes overtly covered with vulnerability. But then he whipped his head back down to hide his face in the shadows before she could see any more emotions that were pent up in his eyes. He gripped the edges of the cold metal slide and then lifted his head up slightly so that she could see his face clearly now... it was so sincere as he softly stated with a hoarse voice,

"I'm sorry."

The two words shocked her somehow, and Tohru looked down at her lap, at loss of words, feeling a slow blush creeping up onto her cheeks as she finally answered back,

"It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Yes I do! You know I was acting like a jerk... so just admit it."

"You were probably in a bad mood! Nothing big... please don't blame yourself for anything."

His voice was back to it's usual gruffness, but then at the end of his sentence he voice choked up,

"I wasn't in a bad...mood..."

Her mouth dropped open a bit when she swore she saw a silent silver tear streak down his tanned complexion, making her immediately yelp out, her voice pouring out with thick emotion,

"Kyo-kun! P-please don't cry. Just tell me what's bothering you, I promise to help you to my fullest!"

Kyo's dry lips opened up and nothing came out at first, not sure of what to say next, but after realizing the sweetness to her voice... the honesty, he couldn't help but hear himself utter out the words that he had wanted to say to her for so long,

"I... I need help..."

After the words struggled out of his mouth, he began to tremble a little, and his breaths became small gasps as a fresh batch of tears spilled out from beneath his eyes. Her eyes filled with sudden sadness and after a moment of hesitation, she touched his cheek with a tender hand, making him look up at her with his wet eyes. She then held him close to her, embracing him into the warmest hug he had ever endeared. He shut his eyes, resting his chin on her petite shoulders while she caressed his soft head of flames. She listened to him sob soundlessly through the night for a moment before squeaking out softly,

"I'll help you with whatever you need help with... you can tell me anything."

He sobbed lightly on her right shoulder and choked out a coherent sentence,

"I've wanted to tell you for so long. So long."

She answered back as soothingly as possible,

"Tell me what?"

Silence filled the air and then the warmth rushed away as Kyo removed himself from her cozy embrace, looking at her with tinted red eyes, admitting with a voice full of sorrow,

"I'm not who you thought I was. I'm not that innocent little kid I used to be. I'm... I'm ..."

He looked away in shame for a second but then looked back at her with newfound fierceness and strength as he stated firmly,

"A bandit."

Her eyes widened and she blinked a couple of times with celerity, repeating his last statement with overt shock,

"A...bandit?"

He looked down with wary eyes and then back at her, croaking out with a thick voice,

"I've done so much wrong... so much stealing... and I used to be fine with it. But then something happened...."

Tohru prodded quietly,

"What?"

He chuckled softly and then tersely answered,

"You."

She gulped and wanted to say more, but nothing came out of her mouth for a long moment, so he filled in the rift of silence with his words,

"You come along and make me feel... different... better different. You make me want to change into someone that can amount to something more, you know? And I didn't want to accept the changes at first, so that was why I was being so cruel to you, but... but the sins I've committed are still haunting me now. They're torturing me still, and I regret all the pain that I've caused you. I'm... sorry."

She bit her lower lip and paused before offering strongly,

"Change happens to all of us... it's inevitable. Sometimes it can be bad, and sometimes it's beautiful, but no matter what I'll accept everything about you because you're still Kyo to me. So just do what your heart tells you to... you can stop the nightmare and the sins. I'll help you, I promise."

He protested promptly,

"I can't just stop! I'm part of a...a group!"

He sighed and then leaned his head against the cool pole that was next to him and muttered quietly to her,

"I never told you this... but after you left the orphanage I guess I sorta ran away. Then they found me, and took me under their wing. How am I supposed to break away from people that I've known almost my entire life? They're like family."

She replied softly and simply,

"Kyo... if they really care about you, they will understand. Tell them how you really feel..."

He banged his fist on the metal part of the slide and cussed under his breath,

"Damn..."

Tohru bit her lower lip again and then looked down at his lonely hand, she then followed her instinct by grabbing his hand into hers with one quick movement.

They were as cold as ice.

She covered the top of his shivering fingers with her other hand, and held his hand tightly within her petite fingers. He looked up at her in surprise before flashing her his first warm smile, making her smile back diffidently at him, adding softly,

"I know that everything will turn out okay, I'll support you all the way, no matter what."

His shoulders relaxed for the first time in weeks, and then he whispered out into the night,

"Thanks."

HOPE YOU PEOPLE ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. REVIEWS PLEASEEEE. THANKS A BUNCH!!