Chapter 15: It Just Can't be Explained
Author's Note: (starts sobbing) All reviewers alike! This is the final chapter of "Never Too Late"! Questions will (…hopefully…) be answered, fears of the end will be resolved, I… will be crying because I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to stories and their endings! And I'm dreadfully sorry I didn't update sooner, I got sick for a few days . Well, let's cut the chat until the end.
"Why isn't he getting better? Kyo beat him in battle, he should be fine!" Tohru cried as she gently held onto Yuki's warm hand. It was slightly shaking, but she was positive half of that was from her own hand. "This shouldn't be happening, he didn't win, he lost!"
"Yes, he did, but do you really think it was even a fair battle?" An eerie voice came from the door and everyone turned around to see the only person who could have such a cruel voice: Akito. He stood there with a smirk, leaning against the door frame. "I mean, is fighting against someone who is sick really fair?"
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"A-akito, what are doing… here?" Shigure asked, slightly taken aback. Akito held his smirk and slowly walked inside the room. He took a look at everyone there and then to Yuki, who was still in a state of unconsciousness.
"I came to see how the fight went," Akito finally answered. The smirk left his face, though hatred still filled his eyes. "Obviously, it didn't go well. That was expected."
"Expected?" Shigure muttered to himself, slightly confused, yet somewhat suspicious. However, Akito, nor anyone else, heard what the dog had said; instead, Kyo was the one to speak up loudly.
"Why is he like this still?" he asked viciously. "The battle was fair, you bastard. Even if it wasn't, how would we be able to have a fair one if he was already sick to begin with? No one could help that!" Akito turned towards Kyo, and everyone in the room held their breath; no one ever dared to speak to the Head like that. What shocked them the most was the fact that Akito only smiled mischievously.
"He could have still fought a fair battle with you. Only, it would have had to be at the beginning, when his health was still somewhat there," Akito pulled out the parchment that had the curse and cure on it, but there were now two sheets, though this new thing went unnoticed bymost of the peoplein the room. "It's a shame, you know. If only I didn't, oh say, realize this sooner. I would have been able to get this information to you earlier." Shigure stared at Akito, as if he was trying to see through him and his dark mind. Then it clicked; if only he perceived this months ago.
"So you weren't planning something, were you Akito? You had already planned something," Shigure quietly said, his eyes not leaving the now smiling boy.
"How'd you guess that?" Akito said sarcastically. "I suppose you could say that, though. I had not, in fact, planned on telling you about this when I first knew. What's the fun in that?" He let out a short, hollow laugh, but something about the way Akito was acting made Shigure even more suspicious about the whole thing.
There was something else…
"S-so, does that mean Yuki-kun w-will…" Tohru tried to finish the sentence, but was unable to let the words slip from her mouth. It seemed so final to say such a thing like that…
"Of course," Akito said in slightly pleased voice. Shigure was carefully moving his way towards Akito, now staring at the paper in his hand… "As I said before, it wasn't a fair battle, therefore Yuki will die. What a pity, too. I hope the new Year of the Rat will be worth it." Before anyone could react, Shigure reached out, snatched the pieces of paper from Akito's loose hand, and backed away from the now furious Head.
"How dare you!" Akito yelled, as he started to make his way towards Shigure. Before he had even gone two feet, Hatori and Kazuma firmly grabbed a hold of the young boy. "Traitors! Let me go!" Shigure quickly looked at the bottom paper, which only had, not even, a paragraph on it. He read through it twice so he could fully understand, and looked up at the struggling Akito with a smirk.
"You didn't win this time, Akito," Shigure said as he cleared his throat to read the paper.
The battle should be planned within the beginning of acknowledgement of the curse. However, even if the battle is later fought, the Rat will take time to heal, but will so nonetheless.
"There are two things against you in this. For one, it says that 'the battle should be planned within the beginning of acknowledgement', which we have planned since we found out. Besides, either way he'll get better," Shigure said with a triumphant smile. By then, Akito stopped struggling against, the now smiling, Hatori and Kazuma. "What were you planning to do, exactly? We'd know when he would be getting better. There wasn't a point in this." Tohru, who sat silently through the whole thing, looked between Akito and Shigure, and sometimes glancing down at Yuki.
'Yuki-kun… you'll be able to live… you can to go back to being healthy again…'
Akito glared at Shigure, but didn't answer right away. He then turned his stare at Tohru and the still unconscious Yuki. Everything he planned, everything he worked for… it was all going against him now…
"Akito, why did you want Yuki dead?" Shigure then asked. He expected Akito to stay silent once more, but was slightly shocked when Akito quickly turned his gaze onto him.
"He defied me, he was betraying the family name by being with her," he barely was able to swing his right hand in Tohru's direction, as that arm was currently being tightly held onto by Hatori. Tohru looked at him, surprised that she was brought up so suddenly in the conversation. "Don't you think I noticed? It's my job to know what exactly goes on in this family!" Hestarted struggling against Hatori and Kazuma's hold, but was still unable to break free.
"Well, Akito," Shigure said with a smirk as he lightly moved forward. "I don't think you have any need to know what happens here… not anymore." Akito once again stopped struggling with the two older men and raised an eyebrow at what Shigure said.
"You have no right to tell me what to do," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I'm the Head of this family, I make the decisions!" Shigure was starting to enjoy the scene Akito was putting on, and was even surprised Yuki wasn't awake yet, considering how loud the boy was being. Akito finally was able to pull free, but didn't move towards anyone; he just stood there, breathing heavily. "You won't be able to live without me, and you know it. You'll come crawling back to me on your hands and knees. It's not as if you can cast me out from this family." Akito, now notably angry, turned around to exit the room with the characteristics of a young child. Shigure, nor anyone else, couldn'tquite understand the way Akito acted… it was less violent from other encounters with the Zodiac members in the past. However, that was the last thing on their minds, when they all remembered about the paper in Shigure's hand.
"We should just keep this safe somewhere," the dog finally said. "When the next Rat is born in another five generations, they'll know what to do."
Hatori went back over to Yuki and quickly looked him over to see if everything was still alright. He put a hand to Yuki's forehead and gave a very small smile. "Everything looks fine to me. He should be up in a few days, maybe a week. Though, he'll probably still be a little exhausted, but that should be all."
"So this'll be all over with now?" Kazuma, who was mostly quiet since he arrived at the house, said. He was delighted that Kyo won against Yuki, because not only was everything alright now, but Kyo was able to do the one thing he wanted to do for ages. Even if Yuki was sick, they still both put up a good fight nonetheless.
"Yes," Hatori replied as he slowly got up. "After so many months, it's finally over." The amount of relief and happiness in the room couldn't even start to explain how everyone felt. Yuki was now able go back to normal and be healthy, and even Kyo seemed happy about this… though, it could have been because he wanted to gloat in front of Yuki about how he won. Nonetheless, no one could be any happier about how everything happened for the best for everyone.
Yuki grumbled in his sleep as he turned onto his side, his eyes still closed. For some odd reason, he felt extremely comfortable and peaceful. Slowly, Yuki thought about this much welcomed feeling that was now returning to him, and he felt very appreciative to a good sleep. However, that feeling soon left when Yuki's mind started to clear from his state of sleep. He hadn't had the feeling of being comfortable and peaceful, especially as he slept, forpractically six months; why was he feeling it now?
'Oh god, I'm dead!' Yuki thought frantically, afraid to open his eyes to seeany proof of it. 'I'm too young to be dead!' A voice suddenly sounded, though it was a bit faint at first.
"Yuki-kun?"
That voice… it sounded much too familiar to Yuki. It sounded so welcoming, yet it also had a slight cautious tone to it. Yuki slowly opened his eyes to find what he expected; a blinding white light. Though, that very light slowly became dim, and Yuki could recognize his surroundings; the light came from the sun outside the window. Realizing that all the things around him were familiar, his brain slowly registered to the fact that he was indeed not dead. He looked up to his right and saw Tohru kneeling beside his bed, smiling.
"How do you feel?" She asked happily. Before he could answer, Tohru's hand went up to Yuki's forehead, and she gave an even bigger smile. "You don't seem to have a temperature anymore." Everything was going too fast for Yuki to have time to even think about it. How could he not have a temperature, when he practically had one every single day for several months? Not only that, but why was Tohru so happy? She hadn't been like that ever since she found out about his curse.
"What happened?" Yuki mumbled before clearing his throat, since his voice sounded slightly cracked; it feltlike it was unused for months. "How long have I been here?"
"Well, after you lost the fight, you blacked out," Tohru explained, not knowing whether or not to be happy about the whole Yuki-losing part; he hated the fact thatKyo had to beat him in battle. "You've been hereout foralmost a week."
A week… and he was still alive?
"So, I really did lose to him, huh?" Yuki asked with a small smile. He could barely remember the day that they had the fight. Tohru gave a nod to Yuki's question;he didn't really need to know about what Akito was going to do, at least, not yet. Besides, she just wanted to enjoy the fact that he wasn't going to die, and that she could still be with him.
"LITTLE BROTHER!" A high pitched voice sounded outside Yuki's room, and the door suddenly slid opened. Ayame stood there with a grin plastered on his face. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything, but when I heard that you lost, well, I just had to come!"
'No you didn't…' Yuki thought with a shudder as Ayame joyfully laughed in a somewhat creepy tone. Then again, for now at least,Yuki was content, considering he was still alive. Just one day of his brother's immaturity wouldn't be too bad…
"You know, dearest little brother, I heard Kyon-Kyon really kicked your butt!"
... but then again…
Tohru smiled at the familiar scene, and enjoyed the fact that there would be plenty more of these similar fights from now on. Yuki turned back to Tohru after throwing a random object at Ayame, who just continued speaking and not paying attention to the things around him. He smiled back at her and gently took her hand into his.
"Ah, young love," Ayame said after he finished his half-heard speech about nothing. "Have you set a date for the wedding yet? Oh, I can make your dress, Tohru-kun!"
"Wedding? We're only 18 years old, you idiot!" Yuki yelled in complete shock and anger. Ayame ducked another object thrown by Yuki as if he expected it, and went on about setting everything up for the ridiculous and non-existent wedding.
Yes… now everything was going to be back to normal.
Fin
Author's Note: (Sorry if the ending kind of… sucked XD) (cough) Akito went crazy for a second there. I will no longer be like Shigure! I started classes to get my driving permit today, bye perverted-ness and lack-of-license, my Shigure counterpart is gone! Erm.. on to more important things… I am thinking of posting an 'alternate ending'. What do you guys think? Because, you see, I spent some sleepless nights, thinking about how to end this story. Well, I finally picked an ending, but the other is still in my head. Shall I write it down for you, so you can see what I was so close to choosing as the ending? If I do, it'll be up in 2-3 days of .. now. And I'll be getting out some more Fruits Basket fanfics, please check them out!
Oh, and chapter 1, I said I'd explain what the title meant. 'He Wasn't' was used to say that: He wasn't meant to die so young. He, himself, was a good person, he didn't deserve to get the fate of the Rat's curse. (This chapter's title means that everyone's feelings about how Yuki's doing can't be explain, sorry for a not-so-good-title) Feel free to ask me any questions if I didn't answer them, Email me XD (wow I talk a lot mwahaha) To my lovely reviewers:
Yugata Tenshi- Ah, I completely understand. I've been busy too, that's why I haven't updated for almost 2 weeks .;; Well, Akito shall never be right again. Ever. He's too stupid and evil to be right. Thanks so much for your reviews!
kishe- Thanks much for all your reviews! I really appreciate it!
Sakura A. Moon- Sorry I didn't get this out sooner .;; But thanks so much for your reviews!
crimsonsun37- Akito almost planned the whole thing perfectly, didn't he? Trying to make everyone think Yuki will still die… but no, his (stupid) plan was foiled! I could never kill Yuki; I've never killed anyone in my stories (err, yet anyways.. and without the intention of bringing them back). And yes, poor Tohru, she already lost her parents, but then she almost loses Yuki… she's so strong, though! And yes, that dream was pretty awesome. Now I don't remember it as clearly… well, it's better then my first ever Fruits Basket dream… Yuki died in that one from being too sick.. Oh, maybe that's where my idea for this story came from? I just changed the ending to make it less sad! Ah well.. someday, Akito will be killed off… by a pack rabid hyenas. Thanks so much for your nice reviews!
White Haru Sohma- Ahh, I think everyone deserves Tohru, too (Just Yuki deserves her more XD). I decided to make it a happy ending, though if I were to change it to a sad one, I have it all pictured in my head. That's why I'm thinking of that alternate ending. Just for kicks (well, not in this case but you know… XP). Thanks so much for all your nice reviews!
animefreak- I'm sorry I was so late on updating T.T However, I was able to update under a month, new record on my fanfic endings.. or something! And I agree, Akito is cruel. He's a cruel little man. Thanks so much for all your reviews!
MegTao- Mwahaha, I didn't kill Yuki because if I did, I'd kill a part of me (I'm a fangirl.. a crazy, crazy fangirl). Thank you so much for all your nice reviews, I really appreciate it!
whiterose-kiss- Korea, eh? I wish I could go there (or anywhere, really). I've only been out of the U.S once… and I went to Canada . I hope you have (or, maybe by the time you read this, had) a good time there! And thank you so much for the reviews!
QueenOfHearts3- Well, Kyo's thinking about seeing more of Kagura, at least. Maybe she won't kick his butt so much if he treats her with some respect XD. I'm glad you liked the Yukiru moments, I was never the type to write a romance scene without laughing (which I did when I wrote some of these lovey dovey parts XP). I hope the fight scene was somewhat good, Yuki couldn't fight too long against Kyo, so it had to be a bit short T.T Well, thank you so much for all of your reviews!
Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, and/or putting this on your favs list. I really appreciate it, thanks so much!
