Disclaimer: We two Bakkas, Bakkas we two. We don't own Fruits Basket, and neither do you!
IS:
Expectedly, Momiji and Hatori had invited themselves to dinner to check up on everyone else. Kaye had not, by far, encouraged this. The last thing she wanted was more members of her family to cozy up to Tohru. But, from the very start of dinner to the end it was all downhill from where she was sitting.
Hatori eyed all the food on the table as he sat down to the right of Shigure. "You've outdone yourself again Tohru," he said in his emotionless voice.
"Yes," Shigure agreed, "the lo mein looks delectable." Kaye didn't eat much.
"Yuki, would you like more rice?" Tohru asked, standing.
"Yes Miss Honda, thank you."
"What about you Kaye?" Tohru said suddenly, turning around. Kaye jumped and frowned slightly. "You don't look you've eaten much."
"I'm fine."
"But Kaye, I thought you loved-" Momiji began, but Kaye tackled him.
"I'm fine," she called as she stood up and headed for the stairs. "Fine." Tohru sighed and went into the kitchen to fetch Yuki's rice.
When she sat back down Momiji couldn't help but notice Tohru's long face. "Don't worry Tohru, I'm sure it will just take some time."
"That's exactly what I told her," Shigure murmured around the food in his mouth. As he swallowed he said, "Then again, Kaye has been known to shun anyone not part of the family…"
Hatori took a sip of tea, "Tactless," and took another.
"But," Tohru said in her half-hysterical voice, "but what have I done? I just don't understand. I just want to get to know her."
"Well, Kaye doesn't really trust anyone who does not share the same blood as her," Kyo said softly. Tohru looked at him sadly as if to ask 'why'? And it was as though, as he looked at her looking at him, he answered her question. Kaye had been hurt somehow and now she knew no better than to judge everyone by her experiences. But… what had happened?
"What… what happened to her?" Tohru asked, giving her thoughts a voice. She caught a glimpse of the men at the table sharing a solemn glance and sighed. She lifted her tea to her lips and took a sip, but just as she did, Hatori decided to speak.
"She was raped."
Tohru choked on her tea and fell over back ward, sputtering and coughing. "Tohru! Tohru!" Momiji shouted, scrambling over. "Are you okay? Look at the ceiling!" Momiji pulled her up and Tohru took another quick sip of tea.
"Miss Honda, are you okay?" Yuki said as he patted her back.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said in a raspy voice. She coughed a few more times and put a hand over her chest. "Did… did I hear you wrong Hatori?"
"No, Tohru… by your reaction I'd say you heard correctly," Shigure said quietly.
"But that's… that's awful." No one said anything. Kyo was staring intently at his lap, his fists clenched tightly. But, Tohru had now begun to understand. Her mother died and then with a loss of paternal figure in her life she found herself in a helpless situation. From then on she was never quite the same. She lived with Hatori because she trusted only her family, since they were there for her after the incident. Because of the incident she didn't feel she could trust outsiders anymore. "Is that why she went through such vigorous army training? To better prepare herself for defense?"
Kyo nodded, sighing. "The guy was killed, though. He died in a car crash trying to get away from Akito after he went after him."
"Akito? Akito went after the guy who did it?" Another nod was given.
"Yes, and it meant a lot to Kaye. Akito's acceptance and protection over her deepened her dependency on her family, seeing as Akito normally doesn't do so many random acts of kindness," Shigure explained. Tohru began to cry softly. What an awful story.
"That's why you shouldn't be too upset about Kaye being cold towards you Miss Honda," Yuki voiced from her side, a hand on her shoulder. "She just dislikes anyone who intrudes upon her family, or anyone who threatens to become a part of it. You're like family to us here, Miss Honda."
"Or perhaps she feels your taking her place," Momiji submitted and Tohru looked up, horrified.
"But I never meant to intrude! That isn't and never has been my intention, never!"
"Those are all just hunches Tohru. I wouldn't take any of them too seriously," Hatori said, lighting up a cigarette. Tohru stood up, wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, and began to clear the plates. "But I do agree with Shigure. Just give it some time." Tohru nodded slowly and, with a handful of dishes, disappeared into the kitchen.
KS:
"Damn, this so sucks," Kaye voiced her opinion to the wall, willing it to speak back. Of course, it didn't. Again, she spoke, "I only trust Sohmas, and only a select few at that." she 'hn-ned' at the wall when it, again did not respond. "I wish I were touring again. Man, I miss America."
"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity." Kaye had smelt the smoke of the cigarette before he spoke. Hatori was in her doorway, looking sadly at the dismal figure before him.
Kaye smirked, "You know, smoking causes all sorts of cancer and stuff like that. Blackens your lungs 'till ya can't even breathe." Hatori began to speak, but Kaye interrupted him. "I already know you told her. Army training. I can hear pretty darn well!" She sighed and sat up, continuing. "I just hope you don't tell everyone you meet my story, happy and butterfly filled though it is." Hatori smirked at her remark.
"She's not gonna act the same around me, you know." Kaye spoke softly, almost regretfully. "She's gonna act like I have some sort of... disease..." she slowed upon hearing a song on the radio. "Greenday." She instantly recognized the band.
"Toured with 'em you know," she said matter-of-factly. She ran to the corner of the room where an electric guitar was hidden. She grabbed a pick out of her pocket and put her fingers on the right frets, plugging in her guitar to the amp. She stepped on the distortion pedal, letting out a blast of music. She sang as she played for her adoptive father.
"Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new mania.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind fuk America."
She hit each cord correctly always in beat of the music. Her voice wasn't half bad either. She put her heart and soul into training and music. It was just the way she was. Of course, the song was in English, so the others could hardly understand it, but thanks to English class in school, they understood some... especially the loved curse words entered in.
"Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the idiot nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue."
She could lose herself in the music, no matter what the problem was. She would sing her problems away, drown them out in the sound of her electric guitar.
"Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America."
She laughed during the musical interlude, carefully playing her guitar, but head-bopping at the same time. The guys of Greenday were the coolest, and thinking of all the fun they had partying increased the intensity of the song. She wouldn't have been even close to them, except that one of the Sohma's was a big time music man and was making a deal with Greenday for a Japanese version of their CD's.
The song ended, "For that's enough to argue,"
And it was over. She let the last strum fade out and she took her foot off the pedal, swishing her hair back.
IS:
Hatori smirked, blowing a puff of smoke from his cigarette out the side of his mouth. Kaye looked up at him and grin, her cheeks flushed pink, and Ha'ri applauded for her with a little golf clap.
"That was very good, even if it wasn't my style of music," Hatori complemented, taking another deep puff of his cigarette. Kaye set down her guitar back on its hidden stand in the corner and advanced over to Hatori. She stole his cig right out of his mouth and took it into the bathroom where she proceeded to flush it in the toilet.
Hatori chuckled quietly, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. Kaye laughed when it fell right back where it had been. The two headed back into Kaye's room where they sat on the bed side by side.
"Tell me Kaye," Hatori began softly, "do you remember Kana at all?"
"I've spent all these years trying to forget about her," was Kaye's only response.
Hatori gave her a look but said nothing in Kana's defense. Instead he continued in the same soft voice. "Do you remember how you treated her?"
"Yes."
"And do you remember how it made me feel?" Hatori pressed. Kaye nodded in an ashamed sort of way.
"Yes, I do. I know. I hurt you. I know you loved her. I was just… possessive I guess."
"Yes, well, that goes pretty much without saying, but it's perfectly understandable. Now tell me, Kaye," Hatori stood up from the bed and walked, ever so slowly, towards the dressing table, examining its contents, "do you know what you're doing now?"
Kaye looked genuinely confused. "I'm, uhh… Well, I'm sitting on my bed answering your questions, why?"
"No," Hatori said, shaking his head. "No, Kaye, you're doing to Kyo what you did to me." Kaye's eyes widened a considerable amount as the realization of this washed over her. "And you're doing to Tohru as you did to Kana." Kaye blinked a few times and looked down at the ground.
Hatori sighed and sat back down next to her. He put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. "Kaye, what you have to understand is that your family, the people you trust so much, have all found ways to co-exist with others outside the house of Sohma. We pick things up from others and without them our family would live lonely lives with only our curse as company. Your army trainers weren't members of the Sohma family were they?"
Kaye sighed in a way that showed defeat. "No, they weren't," she admitted. "But that's not the-"
"It is the same my child," Hatori interrupted. Kaye looked up at him and then slowly looked back down to listen more. "If you want proof I can surely give you an example you'll understand." Kaye seemed interested, for she said nothing. Hatori continued. "Your brother has lived his life in the shadow of his own family, the outcast even within the Sohma walls because of who he is. Yet, he has found comfort and acceptance in 'outsiders'.
"I wish you could see him when he's around Tohru and her friends, Kaye. He and Yuki don't go at it as much. Momiji and Haru go to their school now and the group of them is near inseparable. They have gained the opportunities you will never get to have because you're so possessive." Hatori stood up form the bed and walked out the door, pausing just outside in the hall. "And, for the record, Tohru would never treat you like you had a disease. I'll bet you anything I know and all my years of practice and knowledge on the fact that she's not going to treat you any different than she has tomorrow."
"That speech you just gave me won't change my mind, Ha'ri," Kaye called to him.
"I didn't expect it to." And then he was gone. In his place stepped Kyo.
"Hey, what was that noise we heard?" he said, looking around thoroughly. Kaye grinned and revealed the guitar from its shadowy corner again. What a convenient place to hide something! Kyo looked at the guitar with slight reproach. "Where'd you get that?"
"America," Kaye explained, "when I was touring with the guys from Greenday."
"What the heck is Greenday?"
"It's an American rock band. Y'know…" Kaye played the opening chords to American Idiot. "…and all that."
Kyo narrowed his eyes. "And by toured you mean traveled around with them, right?"
"Is there another definition of toured I haven't learned about?"
"Gah, no, I mean… Did they hurt you at all?" he asked outright.
Kaye's eyes widened. "What? No!"
Kyo's head dropped and he nodded, turning away. "I'm sorry. Oh, Shigure's taking you to have an entrance exam tomorrow, so uhh… you should get some rest." He began to walk away.
"Wait Kyo," Kaye called, hurrying over to where he stood. She hugged him tightly and he returned her embrace. "Good night."
"'Night Kaye."
The next morning Kaye woke up a little bit later than the others had. She walked into the dining area with a weight in her hand, flexing her arm. She greeted the boys and sat down at the kotatsu. Tohru came out of the kitchen with platefuls of food, just as she always did. Tohru smiled brightly at Kaye. "Good morning! I sure hope you're hungry!"
Kaye nodded curtly and looked away quickly, still flexing her arm. Hatori was right so far. Tohru seemed to be her chipper, cheerful self. Kaye could scarcely believe it.
"Dig in everyone!" Tohru called. Kaye loaded up her plate and everyone looked at her.
"Don't take what you won't eat, it's a waste of food," Yuki said as he watched her set the ladle back.
"LEAVE HER ALONE YOU DAMNED RAT!!"
"No it's okay Yuki," Kaye said quietly. "I'm really hungry." Kyo and Tohru smiled at her.