Chapter Three: Fading Memories
The next day Kyou refused to come out of his room so I walked to school by myself. I didn't see Haru or Momiji anywhere but I planned on finding them later that day to talk to them about Tohru.
Everything seemed so empty without Tohru around now…
I opened the sliding door to my classroom and saw Hana and Uo sitting by the windows. Saki looked like she was on the verge of crying and Arisa's eyes were red and puffy from hours of shedding tears. Apparently they had both received the news…
Despite the fact that I had never been a close friend with either of them, I felt like I should try to comfort them or offer my help. Neither of them looked at me when I approached them. "Hello…" I said quietly to them and sat down beside them.
Arisa bit her lip to keep herself from bursting into tears again and Saki gave me a sad look but one that held nothing against me. "Is there anything I can do for either of you?" I asked hesitantly, hoping that they would not blame me like Kyou did.
Arisa turned away to look out the window, hiding her pain and Saki didn't respond at first. "No… except one thing."
"What would that be? I'd be more than happy to do anything for you." I tried to muster a weak smile but to no avail.
"Take care of Kyou… I'm sure he's suffering terribly and it's what Tohru would probably want you to do." Then Saki wiped at her eyes and continued with a slightly more cheerful tone in her voice. "I'm sure Tohru must be happy to be with her mother again…"
"Yes…" I agreed softly.
The black-haired psychic looked up at me and I could see the pain and longing in her eyes. "For Tohru's sake, we should try to keep ourselves happy so that she does not worry where she's at."
I nodded and bowed my head, not knowing what else to do. But I hope… that I can take care of Kyou like Tohru wishes.
"Yuki?"
I jerked my head up at the door to see Hatsuharu and Momiji in the doorway. Momiji looked utterly depressed and Haru looked very worried. Standing up, I walked over to them with a grave expression on my face.
"So you heard?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah, I came to check on how you're doing." Haru removed his hand from his pocket and touched my face lightly. "Are you okay, Yuki?"
"I'm more worried about Kyou than myself." I said honestly.
"We'll try and think of a way to cheer him up." Haru reassured, seeing that it really bothered me how Kyou was.
Momiji sniffled. "Why did it have to be, Tohru…?"
I didn't answer and neither did Haru. There's no real way to explain such a situation… things just happen.
"I fear this will eat away Kyou from the inside out…" I mumbled. "So I think I'll try and be there for him as much as I can."
Haru gave me this weird gentle smile, which gave me an uneasy feeling.
"What?" I asked innocently.
"I see what's going on here." Haru winked. "I think I'll also try and help when I can."
Uh… I have a bad feeling about this…
When the first bell rang, Hatsuharu and Momiji headed back to their own classes and I took my seat for the lesson.
What could Haru have planned in his head, I wonder?
Argh! This was bothering me so much I could hardly think about anything else! The zodiac cow had told me to meet him after school in an empty classroom for some reason. Maybe it would go something like this…
"Oh HELP!" I screamed loudly, trying to free myself but Haru had me pinned down on the floor.
"Today Yuki, you shall be mine!" Haru would grin.
"What are you going to do once you have me?" I would ask, a little scared.
"Oh come on Yuki, have some common sense. I mean let's think... You're my bitch from now on since Tohru's gone. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I cried out.
Other students turned in their seats to stare at me, some even giggled a little. Blushing furiously I raised my hand and asked to be excused to wash my face. I found the cool water to be quite refreshing but it did little to help my embarrassment. I guess I got a little too caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't realize I was talking aloud until too late. But what if that really happens?
I shuddered. Man that was creepy… I hope that never happens!
Isn't it interesting how long the day can drag itself out when you're waiting for it to end? And it didn't help that I kept glancing at the clock every five seconds. But when I finally gave up on waiting for the day to end, the final bell rang and everyone started filing out of the classroom. I dragged my feet to the empty classroom where Hatsuharu told me to meet him and waited patiently for him to arrive.
This wait wasn't nearly as agonizing as the first because only a couple of minutes after I arrived, Haru walked in through the door.
"'Sup, Yuki?" Haru asked casually.
"Why did you want me to meet you here?" I asked hesitantly.
"Just to talk, man to man." Haru shrugged. "What? You didn't think I was going to do anything… nasty, did you?"
"Of course not." I laughed nervously.
"Well, I never would have seen this coming…" Haru mused. "You love Kyou, don't you?"
I blushed and at first was a little annoyed and embarrassed by the question. But Haru wasn't so stupid as to be fooled by such an obvious lie, so telling the truth was the only option. "Yes…"
"I knew it! Well, my advice to you is simply to be there for him in the time when he needs someone the most." The white-haired Sohma nodded. "Of course knowing Kyou, he won't be very grateful at first but I think that if you give him some time he'll warm up to you."
"Thank you for the advice, Hatsuharu." I said gratefully. This evening I would go home and try to reason with Kyou about all of this.
"You're very welcome." Haru smiled at me gently.
I turned around and started exiting the room when Hatsuharu grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face him once more. "Don't I get anything in return, Yuki?"
"Cut it out, Haru." I growled because he was leaning especially close to my mouth.
"All right." Haru backed off, letting me leave in peace.
The walk home from school was rather lonely now that neither Kyou nor Tohru were here to join me. I found myself thinking about all the times when it had just been the three of us. Like for New Years and when we went for a walk around the lake…
Those were good times…
It was even a little funny reminiscing all of the arguments between Kyou and I and how Tohru would always try and keep the peace.
"I'm home." I called through the house, slipping my shoes off at the door before going in search of Shigure. He was in his office reading the newspaper when I slid the door open. "Gure-san, where's Kyou?"
At first, Shigure didn't look up at me…
Sighing, he stared blankly at the wall in front of him before answering. "He's gone to see Hatori…"
Huh? Hatori? Why would he want to see Hatori…? Wait! That doesn't mean-!
"He's going to get his memories erased!" I demanded.
Shigure nodded solemnly. "It's his own choice… so I didn't stop him…"
"I don't believe this!" I flung my school bag onto the kitchen table on my way to the door. Nearly tripping over my own feet and shoes in my haste to race out the door. I started running to the last place I ever wanted to go to again… the main Sohma house.
When the Sohma estate loomed into view I burst through the gates and saw that up ahead of me Hatori was standing outside his office while Kyou trudged over to him.
"Hey Hatori…" Kyou muttered in an emotionless voice.
"Are you sure about this, Kyou?" Hatori asked uncertainly with his face like an expressionless stone mask.
"Yeah…" Kyou replied.
"Wait!" I shouted and crashed into Kyou from behind. In my anger, I turned him around and slammed Kyou into the wall right next to Hatori, pinning him down so he couldn't run.
"Don't you stop me, you damn rat!" Kyou spat at me.
Not even wincing at being called what I hated most, I narrowed my eyes at the person dearest to me. "Getting your memories erased of Tohru won't do you any good!"
"Last time I checked your not my damn mother, rat!" Kyou retorted.
"Put her behind you! But don't forget her completely!" I insisted, tightly gripping Kyou's shoulders. "Tohru wants you to be happy but she doesn't want you to forget her."
Kyou's red eyes avoided mine and he mumbled quietly, "Why should you care?"
"We may have not gotten along in the past but this is hard on all of us, not just Sohmas." I remembered the teary eyes of Tohru's best friends and looked down. "I don't want to watch you waste away before my eyes, Kyou…"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hatori… smiling. Or at least I thought he was smiling because never before had I seen him smile. "Yuki's right, Kyou."
My orange-haired cousin stopped trying to fight against my grip and he stared down at the ground in thought. I backed away, letting him have his room but I do think he was re-considering having Hatori erase his memories.
"Fine…" muttered Kyou. "I won't erase Tohru from my memories…"
"Good." Hatori nodded. "Yuki, Kazuma will be stopping by Shigure's house this evening to see Kyou."
"All right." I returned a nod and gently tugged on Kyou's arm.
Silently we walked back to Shigure's house and every time Kyou started falling behind I would slow down my pace to match his, so not even once did I take my eyes off of him. I want to be sure he doesn't do anything else drastic…
"Yuki…" Kyou mumbled.
"Hm?" I gave him a sideway glance while the two of us walked along side by side.
"Thanks…" Kyou muttered quietly. "You damn rat…"
I smiled slightly. This was the first time Kyou ever thanked me.
TO BE CONTINUED