Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. But I DO own Kyo-kun. :P


CHAPTER 6

About a half hour after Tohru awoke, the sun started to rise and along with it, Yuki and Kyo. They both sat down next to Hatori and Shigure and waited for an explanation. After a few moments of silence, Yuki asked, "Where is she?"

"Sleeping," Hatori answered.

"Is she okay?" Yuki asked.

"As okay as somebody will be after an attempted suicide." Shigure answered grimly. Kyo flinched at the word "suicide".

"It wasn't an attempted suicide," he growled. "It was and attempted murder."

Silence followed Kyo's statement as the words sunk in. Murder was better than suicide. Or was it? In this case it was. What nobody was saying is: In each case somebody dies.

Tohru hadn't gone to sleep; she wasn't remotely tired. She was just...numb. She was now sitting on the roof, watching the clouds go by and leaves swirl. Today the sky didn't seem so blue and the sun didn't seem so bright. One thought kept running through her head, "Every winter the leaves die, but by spring they come back. Will I really be the same; my old self; by spring?"

A noise came from the left side of the house, causing her to jump and slide down a little bit. Kyo popped his head up and looked surprised to see somebody sitting there.

"Watchya doin' up here?" he asked.

"Thinking," she answered, closing her eyes and leaning back.

"About what?" he asked, lifting himself upon the roof and making his way towards Tohru.

"I'm wondering if clouds taste like cotton candy. The pink kind or even the blue. If clouds taste like candy, then maybe rain tastes like a smoothie. You know, I've never tasted the rain."

"Well, that's something to add to your to-do list."

"But...but what if it never rains again? What if something happens and I can never taste the rain!"

"Don't worry Tohru. No matter what, I'll make sure you taste the rain."

Tohru started crying and Kyo rubbed her arm to comfort her.

"You shouldn't be sitting here with me." Tohru cried, "I failed. You could be happy now."

When Kyo didn't answer, she got up and ran down the ladder. She hurried into her room, grabbed a heavy sweater out of her closet, and ran out of the Sohma house.

Thump, thump, thump. Went Tohru's feet against the hard pavement. She didn't know where she was going; she just needed to get away. The Sohma house was mocking her. All she felt there was pain. The house itself seemed to ridicule her for everything she wasn't. I failed.

She found herself sitting next to her mother's grave. No surprise; her feet knew their way there by heart.

"I don't know what to do mom. I'm a failure." She cried to the lifeless grave stone. "You know what makes death easier mom? Seeing you again. Before I thought of that, death seemed scary. But now I see me and you in heaven, sitting at a corner store laughing about nothing. Then we pick flowers in a never ending meadow. The days in heaven are always sunny, the nights are always starry. Now...now days are bleak. I don't know what to do anymore. The sun is too bright or not bright enough. The darkness of the night consumes me. Stars and moons don't exist now. I don't know what to do anymore!"

She cried and cried. Sixteen year old Tohru Honda cried until her throat was sore and her eyes ran out of water. What now?

One step at a time. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one single step. But which direction to travel in? In no time, Tohru found herself standing in front of Akito's chamber.

"Come in," Akito said quietly. He had been taken aback when he saw tear streaked Tohru standing in front of him at nine at night. Tohru stepped into his room, bowed, and lowered herself to the floor. He shook his head, "No, no. On the couch Tohru." She stood up and walked over to the red silk couch. He sure does like the color red, Tohru thought to herself.

"What are you doing here Tohru-kun?" Akito's voice drawled from next to her.

"I'm sorry Akito-sama. I failed you." Tohru whimpered from beside Akito.

"You know what must be done now, don't you Tohru. We talked about this."

"Yes I know, Akito-dono. I'll come by tomorrow."

"Very good, Tohru-kun. Being selfish is no way to live now, is it?"

"No it isn't," Tohru sniffed.

"That's what I thought. I shall have everybody report here by noon, you shall be here by then also."

"Yes Akito-dono."

The estate was eerily quiet. The twelve members of the zodiac (along with Kyo) sat at a long mahogany table, etched with their year in the dark wood. Akito had summoned everybody here, not coming would be unthinkable.

Hatsuharu stared blankly at the wall. Momiji, who was beside him, glared carefully at the carvings on the table. Shame, even poor Momiji knows how to act in front of Akito.

They all sat in an ear shattering silence and minutes later, Akito showed up before them. He looked weak, yet he still had a wicked aura about him.

"My dear Juunishi, I have asked you all to come here this fateful day, because one you so dearly love is betraying you."

Movement had left the room ages ago, but now it seemed as if nobody breathed. No, Yuki thought. Not Tohru. Not Tohru!

"Please come in, dear flower." Akito floured, facing a door behind him. After his words, in walked sixteen year old Tohru Honda, looking more terrified than ever. Akito stepped to the side, allowing Tohru in front of him.

Tohru bowed and shakily said, "As you all know, my mission to end the curse failed." She paused, regaining her posture and trying not to cry. "You see, me and Akito-dono had a deal."

Every back went rigid as they heard the words, "Akito-dono" escape Tohru's lips. She was gone now.

"If I failed, then I would have to get my memories suppressed. Not just about you," she sniffed, "But of everything. I will no longer remember the time I spent with you, the memories we've shared. I will no longer remember my mother, or the things that she's taught me. And I will no longer remember my friends, Uo and Hanajima." Tohru paused and then went on, more regained than before, "But if I could do it over again, I would in a heart beat. All I want for you all is happiness, and I am truly sorry that I could not bring it to you. This is for the better. I could not make you happy; I could not break the curse. I failed."

Silence followed Tohru's speech. Suddenly Momiji said while crying, "Tohru, why do you want to leave me? I love you. We all love you. Please don't leave us."

"I'm sorry Momiji," Tohru answered, eyes brimming with tears. "I just have to."

"No!" he shouted. "You don't! You're running away from your memories Tohru! Didn't you tell me that no memory is okay to forget! Then why are you giving away the most precious memories that you have! You can't keep running away Tohru!"

"Akito," Shigure growled, "Don't make her do this. You cannot allow her to do this."

"I cannot allow her?" Akito snapped. "I! I can to anything! This wench has no right living with my family! Do you really think she, she could break the curse?"

"Yes, we do. We all do." Shigure retaliated.

"Not Hatori. Hatori is still waiting for Kana. Do you remember Hatori? You thought Kana could break the curse also. What makes Tohru so different from Kana, hmm? They're both WEAK! They do not deserve my family."

"We are not your family! She is our family." Yuki roared.

Akito slowly turned to Yuki and softly said, "Yuki. Dear Yuki-kun. You would choose this girl - this wench - over me?"

"In-a-heart-beat." Yuki said through clenched teeth.

"ARGH!" Akito yelled as he threw Tohru into the brick wall behind him. She crumbled to the ground but Akito continued to kick her and kick her.

"Hatori!" he screamed still beating on a bleeding Tohru. "ERASE-HER-MEMORIES. IF-YOU-LOVE-HER-DO-IT. IF-NOT-LET-ME-KILL-HER."