Chapter 20: Froze to the Core

Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba… the truth sucks don't it…lol.

Sorry about leaving everyone on just the ending of chapter 19 for a couple of days. My mistake. I shouldn't have ended chapter 19 like that.

Continuing to cry wildly, looking down at the ground, Tohru rests her forehead on the shoe she had taken a tight grasp on. The person looks down at her in slight confusion and gets to their knees, meeting Tohru's eyes. "Di…Did you hear… anything?" She asks, still shivering. Her hands were on the person's now.

The voice gently rang, his eyes a little shaky. The person that had entered the room was Kyo. "…. Hear… what?" He asks, wiping away some of her more recent falling tears. Keeping his index finger on her left cheek he smiles at her. "Tell me… when we get back to Shigure's house…." Kyo whispers to her, getting to his feet and pulling her gently to her own feet. Staring at him, she goes to open her mouth but his finger quickly presses against her lips softly stopping her from speaking. "Rat boy and Kisa are waiting for you back at home… now let's go…" he takes a quick hold of her hand and pulls her along.

Tohru glances back into the room and sees a gentle grin cross Akito's face. She now had to discontinue her love for Kyo, and pretend it was never meant to me. Maybe… she was wrong. Was it really just 'aikyou'? Her heart was pounding as they cautiously exited the Sohma Estate and crossed the street.

x

Back inside the room, Haru stood behind the newly turned around Akito. "How dare you force someone to stop loving someone! She isn't apart of our family! You have no right giving her orders!" A quick, powerful backhand rips across his right cheek and his hand jerks to the side. He finds himself staring at a wall to the left of them. The force of Akito's hand had made him look to the side of them both. "Eh…." Haru lets out a quiet gasped and turns his head to stare back at Akito angrily. "Even if I deserved that… I won't take back what I said…." He mumbles as he passes Akito and walks out the door at an extremely fast pace.

Grinning evilly, Akito advances to the door after Hatsuharu disappears into the distance, and into his house. She claps her hands together once and holds them that way. Turning around, she walks to the side of the house and looks at Kureno smiling proudly. "It seems as though Ms. Honda didn't need to be harmed in order for her to understand what I was saying…." Her voice was gentle and falsely soothing. "All that we have to do… is refresh Haru's and Rin's memory a little. I understand that you saw them together, talking and holding hands…." Akito's voice carefully slips out of her mouth as she moves closer to Kureno, resting her head on his chest gently. "Tell Isuzu and Haru to come see me as soon as they can…." Slowly, she moves away from him and walks ineptly back towards her home within the Sohma Estate.

x

After reaching Shigure's house, Kisa was the first to catch a glimpse of Tohru out the window as they were approaching. She runs outside and jumps at Tohru, getting captured in a big hug. They stayed embraced for many minutes since she was now holding Kisa in her arms lovingly. Katsuro's head pops out from the door nervously and he too comes out and runs to her. He hugs her legs and she bends down and cuddles them happily. "Onee-chan!" Kisa exclaims resting her head on Tohru's shoulder gently. "I thought… Akito-san might have done something bad to you! I'm so happy you're okay!" She continued on, tears dripping from her eyes gradually.

Kyo sighs and looks at Tohru who was on her knees in the middle of the pathway to the door into Shigure's house. With her, of course, were Kisa and Katsuro. "Tohru-chan! I thought you weren't coming back! I was so worried!" Katsuro whimpers, nuzzling his head into her free shoulder.

"I'm…. sorry I worried you two…" her voice masked the fact that so much had happened already. It was as if nothing had happened to her. Like she wasn't shivering from the cold, like she wasn't just locked up in a steel room with completely no lights, and like she wasn't recently being told what she was doing and what to stop doing by Akito. "L… Let's get inside…." She whispers to them softly, getting to her feet, hesitating a little before finally walking into the house with Katsuro and Kisa.

Rubbing his head, Kyo watches the three of them walk inside. Everything was now doing extremely well at confusing him. He couldn't figure what was making Tohru look as lifeless as she does at the moment. Suddenly, he sees Yuki come outside and practically glare at him. "What's that for!" he exclaims in annoyance, charging up to Yuki.

"What happened to Ms. Honda-san…." He says plainly, but as he finished his voice sounded more and more demanding.

Kyo glares at him getting angrier by the second. "How should I know!" Kyo shot quickly, growling and narrowing his eyes.

"Of course you don't. The stupid cat can't know anything. It's truly incredible that you're even allowed to pass. I was astonished when I saw that you didn't fail the year…" he mutters mocking everything and anything about Kyo he could think of.

He begins to glare at Yuki with hatred. "…I … don't know why she's sad…. Okay?" Kyo says quietly, dropping his fist and replacing his angry expression with a quiet, soft stare at the ground in front of him. "Tell her I hope she feels better… I'm going to Shishou's. I wont be at school for a month…." He whispers and turns his back to Yuki and begins to approach a path that leads straight to Kazuma's dojo. Turning his head slightly, he calls to Yuki, "That makes you happy doesn't it…." Kyo continues on down the path and walks for a few minutes. He advances towards the dojo and stares in utter shock.

x

Back in Shigure's house, Yuki and Tohru were sitting at the kitchen table. Katsuro and Kisa were sitting on both sides of her, hugging her arms. "Yuki-kun…. Where is Kyo-kun?" She asks curiously, looking around the kitchen since she couldn't really look anywhere else at the moment. "Did he go out to get something?" Tohru questions quiet, though she didn't sound rude at all.

"He's going to Shishan's dojo…" Yuki replies softly, getting to his feet and heading to the threshold of the kitchen. Just as Tohru was setting the plates, she puts one down for Kyo. "He won't be back for a month Honda-san…" he adds gently, then watches Tohru's slightly happy expression vanish and sees her put the extra plate away. As he leaves the kitchen, he mutters under his breath, "Stupid cat… you're making it worse…."

Tohru slowly began to make dinner, Katsuro and Kisa cheerfully helping by handing her the packages of food and other ingredients she'd have to add to spice it up, or sweeten it and such. Kyo was right about what he told Yuki, she really did look almost lifeless.

x

Kyo's eyes grew wide; the rush of raw anger ran throughout him. His body was growing very hot from the flames in front of him. Kazuma's dojo was in a blazing fire. Someone's hand touches his shoulder, as he was about to run into the flaming building. "Let me goo!" he exclaims trying to pull away from the person. He is spun around and he sees Kazuma. "You're… okay…." He says gasping for air, and then he sighs in relief. "Where is Kagura and Kunimitsu?" Kyo asks anxiously looking around.

Kazuma smiles friendlily, and stops Kyo from moving by grabbing his shoulders. "Stop moving already Kyo…" he laughs as he stops him. "They're fine, they just went to find a fire hydrant to help put the fire out. We have a hose you know…" Shishou says, and then rubs his head.

"I'm staying here to train with you for a month!" He exclaims to Shishou out of nowhere. It had taken Kazuma by surprise but he smiles and pats Kyo on the head gently. "I'm serious Shishou!" He says quietly, but in a louder tone then a whisper. "And what happened to the dojo?" Kyo asks in sheer confusion.

Shihan looks around in embarrassment. "Well… I was cooking…" He watches Kyo slap his forehead. "Oh come on… it was actually going good. Then, I left the dojo to get something and soon enough, the dojo was on fire."

"Are you sure you were doing good?" Kyo a little confused and curious about what he was saying now.

"Well yeah Kyo, I was using the microwave and put the rice in for ten minutes just like you always do. I copied everything you did and next thing I knew… there was this blazing fire." He points to the burning dojo blankly.

Kyo rubs his head with both hands and thinks, How does he say all of this so calmly? Sighing, he pulls his hands off his head and stares at Kazuma. "If you did everything I do… then how could it have created a fire…" he whispers under his breath then tries to think about some possibilities.

"I did see a few kids though. All dressed in black…" Kazuma says, yawning a little now.

His eyes grew wide as he heard Shishou's last sentence. "Akito…. Sent people to burn down your dojo Shishou!" Kyo exclaims angrily. " That bas-tich is beginning to piss me off!" He continues to yell loudly until he finds himself being hugged by Kagura. "Hi …" he frowns a little after saying this. Kunimitsu waves as he runs past them and fires water - from a hose- at the blazing fire. "Shishou… you have to let me train here for a month…. Please…" Kyo whispers to him, dropping his head in slight embarrassment as he sounded like he was begging him.

Kazuma's hand touches the top of Kyo's head and he smiles, they both hear Kagura giggle then turn around. "Okay Kyo…but don't you think Ms. Honda will be upset about not seeing you…?" He asks curiously, glancing at the dojo for a moment to see how much they had progressed since Kunimitsu tried to extinguish it. It was out within a few minutes and the dojo was completely black from being burned. They hear a loud beep, Kyo groans and stomps passed Kazuma and goes to the kitchen and opens the microwave. "I…told you I put it in for ten minutes!" Kazuma calls.

Kyo begins to eat it as he walks back to Kazuma. "I… need to become stronger... Tohru… will just have to wait for me to return." he whispers after swallowing a mouthful of rice. Kazuma lightly smiles and orders the three of them to begin building a temporary shelter that is actually inhabitable.

They begin and tear down wood from the old dojo and find tools that were unharmed in a bedroom of the dojo. Kyo sets the wood up slowly, his mind completely on Tohru even when he tried to stop thinking about her. He wanted to see that happy smile again. But, he didn't get to before he left the house. Slamming a hammer down, the nail is driven through a few boards. He stands them up and slams more nails into the wood as Kunimitsu holds them up. Many hours pass and they have the fairly large shelter almost finished. All they needed to add was the roof and cut a few spots for windows and they'd have built a livable, mini-dojo.

Each of them claims a spot on the one bedroom floor. They lay in the sleeping bags, (Kyo slept on top of the sleeping bag instead). It was barely nighttime, but Shishou was telling them to get to sleep early for some reason. All Kyo knew, was that he was going to miss school until graduate comes so that he can be as strong as he possibly can. He rests his head on the fluffy part of the sleeping bag and closes his eyes.

"Sleep well Kyo…" Shishou whispers as he exits the shelter. He begins to tear the roof off as quietly as possible. Setting it on the ground as a giant slab he uses sand paper so that it wouldn't be rough and splintery. "Here's where we practice when you awake…" Kazuma mumbles, and then goes back into the small shelter to sleep.

The wind began to pick up and it made everyone very cold. Kyo wakes up and looks at the roof in confusion. The first thing that came to mind was that the wind had torn it off. He sighs and stays on his back, lying down. "Be safe Tohru…." He whispers to himself and turns onto his side, closing his eyes. "I'm going to become stronger so that I can stay with you…." Kyo adds extremely quietly and then eventually falls asleep.

This story will most likely be about 23-24 chapters now. It will move ahead a month after chapter 22 ends.