Disclaimer: I do not own anything. My time is not my own, my house is not my own, my car is owned by the bank, and I am so far behind at work that as of today, I can never die. Therefore, I must not own Fruitsbasket (Fuburu). That is owned by Natsuki Takaya, who probably has less free time than I do. I only borrow these characters to relieve stress and entertain my readers, loyal and otherwise. Enjoy

Chapter 11: Home Maintenance

When Yuki arrived home, Shigure was sitting in his room behind the computer, four empty frappaccino cups piled up on the desk. His fingers were clicking furiously, stopping only long enough to push the glasses back on his face.

"Hey Gure-san."

"Mmmmf"

He didn't even look up, so Yuki grabbed a snack out of the cabinet and headed up to his room. A few minutes later he scrambled back down the stairs and shoved his head into the utter chaos that Shigure classified as a room. "I'm going to my secret base now, be back later."

Shigure looked up from his gulp of melted frappaccino and blinked cross-eyed at the rat. It looked like he was getting ready to say something when suddenly he got an idea and put his cup down to start typing furiously. "Bye" he grunted before turning back into the love machine that paid the bills and kept his editor in emotional misery.

Instead of heading off to his garden, Yuki headed back towards the school. Half-way he met up with Saki who nodded in passing and started on her part of their mission.

Shigure was working through a very difficult scene when he heard the chimes that hung beside the door. Picking up his printout with one hand and his empty frappaccino with the other, he walked out of his room to answer. "As he reached for the front clasp of her bra…" he read aloud, stopping only to try and take a sip of his drink. Realizing it was empty, he shrugged and set it on the first flat surface, which just happened to be the top of the fish tank. "The phone rang and he woke up, dripping in sweat and very aroused." He slid the shoji open and turned back around, walking back toward his office. "As he turned to get out of bed, he brushed up against a soft, warm body and…"

"He wondered if it had been a dream after-all."

Shigure turned and grinned at the dark headed girl standing all prim and proper, hands folded demurely in front of her. "Exactly!" He turned away and then turned back suddenly. "Ayame and Mine would LOVE you. Hold on." He disappeared into his cave of a room and Saki could hear him furiously typing. Suddenly it stopped and his disheveled head popped back out. "You're Tohru-kun's friend Hana-kun, right?"

"Yes. Is she here?"

He scratched the back of his head, absently thinking that five frappaccinos in fourteen hrs was NOT conducive to playing it cool. "No, she's out right now."

Saki slowly walked up to him and put a finger on his nose. "And where exactly is this 'out'?"

"She's at the store." Her finger tickled where it touched him.

"I can see by your Denpa waves that you are lying to me on purpose."

He backed away like she'd clawed his face with that finger. "WHAT?"

"I talked with Principal Umikata today, he said you called in and told him that Tohru had to be out for several days because one of her family members was sick and she had to leave to take care of him. However," she poked his check for emphasis, "the only family member she has left is her grandfather and I stopped to see him because I was worried and guess what…" Gure blinked, wondering how he could get this girl to wind down. "Exactly! He's in perfect health…and Tohru-kun is NOT there."

Hanajimi had managed to back him against the shoji screen while he was focused on trying to talk his way out of this pickle. As he tried to back up again, he banged his head on one of the wooden braces used to hold the rice paper tight. Suddenly he realized he had no other choice except to tell the truth.

"Hatori and Tohru eloped together. We've been trying to keep it on the quiet side because she's only sixteen, and he's twenty-seven."

WHAT? Three minds thought simultaneously. One was standing in front of Shigure, the other two were eavesdropping on the other side of the Shoji. Since two of those minds were NOT supposed to be there, all they could do was sit silently and hope their thoughts didn't transmit through the screen.

Inside, Shigure was wondering why he suddenly felt like a cornered…dog. The visage on the girl standing in front of him had turned very dark and several strands of hair had worked free of her braid and were standing out slightly. As the hair on the back of his neck started to tingle, he wondered if there was a thunderstorm headed their way and the static in the air had increased.

Very quietly Hana-chan spoke. "My little Tohru-kun ran off with a twenty-seven-year-old to get married, am I understanding you correctly?"

Small sparks were beginning to shoot through the tip of her finger where it met his chest and Shigure wasn't sure if it was the worst pain or the sweetest torture he'd ever been through. "I might have exaggerated a wee-incy bit."

"Mmm, hmmm." She zapped him strongly to emphasis the seriousness of her next question. "Why don't you tell me the not exaggerated version."

Shigure stood there staring at the young lady who was surprising him with both her almost dogged desire to protect Tohru and her really neat ability to stimulate his body with electric shock. It reminded him of the time Akito had put him in a shock collar to punish him for making time with Mayu-kun. As much as he'd resented Akito's reasoning, the method had been kind of…exciting.

sssss

Unknown to either of them, there were three other individuals who did not find the electric treatments enjoyable at all. When Saki had become outraged and started venting her anger in the form of electric waves, Yuki and Kyo had also been affected. They were both writhing on the front porch, not finding the experience pleasant at all.

It was the third person who was most caught unaware. One minute Hatori was trading barbs with Rio about her beliefs on why Sohma men wanted to leave legacies of themselves in the form of babies. The next instant he suddenly found himself transformed and gasping from both a lack of water and the acute stabbing pains shooting through his tiny body.

Rio jumped up and ran down the hall to Tohru's room. "Tohru-san, come quickly, Hatori needs you!" Grabbing the young girl by the wrist, Rio didn't give her time to answer. Pulling her into the kitchen, she pointed at the pile of clothes on the floor.

Seeing the tiny sea-dragon on the floor, Tohru picked him up. "Oh Hatori!" Suddenly she ran for the porch and threw him into the pond.

Rio was still standing with her mouth wide open when a quiet "Poof" sounded and a very wet and naked doctor filled her sight. Tohru had turned away to fetch his clothes and missed the look that passed between the two of them.

Hatori waded through the shallow water, wishing the water lilies came up a little higher than his knees. He also would have liked BOTH of the young ladies to have turned away and given this grown man some privacy as he dressed. However, there only appeared to be one shy and demure lady of the group, and she barely glanced his direction as she put his clothes on the deck. As he approached the deck, Rio reached a hand down to help him up. He thought for one instance about throwing her over the rail to punish her for her impertinence; but quickly realized that there were much more adult methods of seeking revenge. Smiling evilly, he looked at her until she blushed. Then he grabbed her hand, preventing her escape and let her pull him back up.

"I've never seen anything like it."

He was buttoning his trousers and glanced up through the fall of hair. "Thank you."

She waved a hand at him. "Not that! When Tohru-san scooped you up and threw you in the pond, silly boy." She started to smile. "I would have chosen the soaking tub myself, but it was effective."

"Mmmm. Effective indeed." He held a hand out to allow her to precede him into the house. "But the question still begs to be asked, why did I suddenly transform?"

Tohru was wringing her hands, concern written on every surface of her face. "Are you okay?"

He gently rubbed her head. "Of course, the dip in the pond was very refreshing. Just what I was needing." He leaned over and whispered in Rio's ear "and it would have worked well if both girls had been abashed enough to look away when presented with a nude male form."

And miss all the fun? "So why did you transform Tori-san?" Rio was more than curious since she'd been around Sohmas her entire life and knew this was not normal.

"One moment we're discussing the importance of progeny, the next instant I was slammed with unbelievable waves of pain. Then I was transforming and gasping like a fish out of water."

The Onigiri blushed and looked down at her hands. "I know what happened. I can't stay here."

Before Hatori had a chance to respond to Tohru's suggestion, his cell phone rang. Digging it out of his pocket. He flipped it open to answer. "Moshi…"

"Where are you Hatori-chan?"

Hatori flicked his gaze over to Tohru and walked into the other room. "What's wrong Akito-sama?"

"What just happened?"

"What do you mean? Tell me what you are talking about."

Akito started explaining about the same symptoms Hatori had just experienced. He was very angry about it, and it took Hatori a long time to get him calmed down. "When are you coming back?"

This time Tori looked at Rio. She was staring at him, unashamedly listening to his conversation. "Do you absolutely need me?" He listened quietly. "Okay, then I'll be back late tomorrow." Clicking the phone closed, he carelessly dumped it back in his pocket and returned to the kitchen.

"Tomorrow huh?" Rio slid a hand up his forearm. "Doesn't leave much time for a vacation."

"True. Guess I better make the most of it." Leaning over, he placed a hard kiss on her lips before turning to a blushing Tohru to find out why she needed to go home.

After Tohru had explained about Hanajima's denpa-waves, Hatori handed her his phone. "Call Shigure and make sure she's okay with your retreat. You can explain why you're here, but please don't tell her where here is."

Tohru shook her head in confusion. I slept the whole way here, I don't know where we are. Quickly she cleared everything up with Hana-san. However, before she could hang up, Hatori said he needed to speak with Hanajima. Relaying the request, Tohru handed the phone back to its owner.

"Hana-kun, how are you today?" He listened and they talked for a few minutes. Walking out of the room again, he got to the reason for the discussion. "So, who did you zap a few minutes ago?"

"Shigure, why?"

"Well, I don't yet know if it was ALL of the Sohma clan or just some of us, but I was also a recipient."

Saki's jaw dropped on the other end of the line. "I zapped Shigure because he was lying to me and I felt he had caused Tohru pain. So I zapped him for causing Tohru pain." Both sides of the phone went silent. "By chance, have you caused Tohru pain recently?"

Hatori had to think for a minute. Although he hadn't meant to, by taking her away, he'd made her fear for her memories. He suddenly remembered her flinching when he reached to turn on the CD Player. "Yes, inadvertently."

"I guess that means I need to find Yuki and Kyo. Yuki told me they hurt her yesterday."

He chuckled. "Yes, I believe you do. As bad as it hurt me, they probably received a much stronger dose. Did anything strange happen to Shigure when you zapped him?"

"Not besides him liking it. Why?"

Figures "Because I am his doctor and I was just checking on him." And I needed to know if I was coming back to erase memories.

"Is Tohru-kun staying at that retreat for a while?"

"Just until we can straighten the boys out. As far as we can tell, she was completely innocent of the accusations those boys heaped on her. We want to protect her heart from emotional damage that future words could cause."

"I understand. May I talk with Tohru-kun again?"

"Yes." Hatori walked back into the kitchen and handed the phone to a worried Tohru.

Saki was very gentle. "Tohru-kun, I believe you need to stay there and enjoy your vacation. Eat plenty, rest lots, and enjoy whatever distractions you may find."

"Ano…"

"And do you want me to zap the boys for being such cretins?"

Tohru barely thought before she shouted "No!" at the same time as Shigure yelled "Yes!"

Hanajima put the phone down and turned back to the dog. "Shigure-san, if you or the boys have harmed her in any way, emotionally or mentally, the next time I'll bring Uo-chan and her pipe for you. I believe you received too much pleasure from my shockwaves."

Shigure leaned close, brushing her satin cheek. "How could a child so young understand such complex adult emotions?"

Saki just blinked and smiled evilly. "I've heard all about the Mabudachi Trio from sources at school." He blinked and removed his hand. She leaned forward to place a finger on his lips. "I have no doubt you understood much more than I at this age." Without blinking, she turned and walked out the door, waving a casual hand behind her. "Behave, I'll be back to check on you."

Shigure chuckled. I'm looking forward to it. He watched her leave before suddenly remembering that he was in the middle of writing a torrid love scene.

A/N: Ah, another update!

Trunksgirl: Good question, I just thought that a highly volatile guy needed a highly volatile girl. Just have to watch and see ;-)