Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Fruits Basket. I never have and I never will.

A/N: Hey everyone. This chapter came out to be mostly filler but the next chapter will be worth it. Next chapter will show you a lot more about Aiko when she meets with Hatori. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Shadows of Intrigue Chapter 7

Tohru sat up, still groggy from having been sound asleep. She glanced around to see what had woken her. What she found was Kyo, standing in her doorway, with fear written on every inch of his face. When he saw her sit up, the fear was partially replaced with relief and he let out a shaky breath. He closed his eyes to calm himself and then asked again, "You're okay? You're not hurt or anything?"

"I'm fine," Tohru answered with a concerned look, "Why? What's the matter, Kyo? You look like you've seen a ghost or something. Are you okay? Come in and tell me what's going on."

Kyo slowly moved to sit on the floor by Tohru's bed. He was surprised when she got out of bed and joined him on the floor. She grabbed a sweater for herself and an extra blanket for Kyo to wrap around his shoulders. She turned to face him with the anxious look still on her face. It struck him as rather odd that she looked so concerned about him when he had come to make sure that she was all right. If he could have seen himself, though, he might have understood her worry a little bit better. The color had drained out of his face and he was slightly shaking.

"What happened?" Tohru prodded again.

Kyo let out a shuddering breath, "I had the dream again. But I could see and remember a bit more this time. The guy's name was Kei, Tohru. Just like Aiko's been talking about."

"Well, it could just be a coincidence," suggested Tohru, "Or you could be imposing things from real life into your dreams. Mom used to tell me that that could happen sometimes."

"I really don't think that's it," Kyo sighed, "But, Tohru, there's more. You remember I told you one of the girls got killed at the end of the dream? Well this time I could see what she looked like. It was just for a second, but I saw her face. Tohru, she looked exactly like you."

Tohru blinked. She didn't know what to say. At least now she understood why Kyo looked so terrified. She imagined she must look much the same at the moment. While, just a moment ago, she had been the one trying to wave off the existence of Kei in the dream, it sent shivers down her back to find out that the same dream also contained the death of a girl who looked exactly like her. It now had her really creeped out. She did not think she was likely to get back to sleep that night. Looking at Kyo, she doubted he was going to be able to sleep again either. After all, he was the one who had actually had the dream; the one who had actually seen the girl get killed. Next to her, he was still shaking.

Despite her own fear, she realized Kyo was probably worse off. She needed to find a way to try to comfort him. She put a hand on top of his head and pulled it down to her shoulder. She was careful not to allow too much of him to touch her. The last thing he needed in his current condition was to be transformed. She sat stroking his hair until he stopped shaking. When she glanced over at him, she found that he had fallen asleep. Tohru looked at him incredulously. His panic must have taken a lot out of him. He now seemed to be utterly at peace. Tohru had to smile, knowing that he was beyond the reach of that terror. She went back to stroking his hair. It was a soothing activity, and without realizing it, Tohru soon fell asleep as well.

The first thing Kyo realized when he woke up the next morning was that he was incredibly sore. The muscles in his neck, particularly, were unusually stiff. He then realized that he was sitting up, and apparently had been all night. He took a quick moment to wonder what his head was resting on before he remembered the events of the night before. When he remembered, he finally opened his eyes, afraid of what he might see. His suspicions were correct. He was still in Tohru's room. He had fallen asleep with his head on Tohru's shoulder. A nervous glance told him that Tohru was still asleep.

Kyo blushed as he shook the shoulder he had been using as a pillow, "Tohru! Wake up!"

"Huh?" responded Tohru, slowly opening her eyes, "What's going on?"

"We fell asleep. It's morning now. What are we going to do? If Shigure or Yuki finds out about this, I'll either never hear the end of it, or that damn rat will start a fight and he'll be really pissed off this time."

Tohru's eyes had grown wide as she fully woke up to Kyo's words. Kyo had spent the night in her room. The thought caused her cheeks to turn red. It did not escape her, however, that Kyo was right. Their top priority was to try to make sure that neither Shigure nor Yuki found out. She knew as well as Kyo what their reactions would be and she really wasn't in the mood to deal with either's response just now. She turned to look at her clock and let out a sigh, "It's still pretty early. Yuki, at least, won't be awake yet. So I think you can probably just be extra quiet. I'll look out first and make sure the hallway's clear."

"Okay," Kyo replied and then he added, "By the way, do you think I should talk to Aiko about the dream? I mean, she seems to be connected to it somehow, or, at least, she seems to know more about various strange things than she should. Maybe she can tell me something."

"No. Not right away, at least," answered Tohru. She didn't like the idea of Kyo running off to Aiko with his problems, "After all, we don't really know anything about her. You don't know that she would help even if she could. I'm supposed to try to take her to Hatori's after school today. Let's see what happens there before we talk to her about this. If you want to tell someone, I think you should tell Hatori. You seemed to think he knew something about this, too, when we were talking to him yesterday."

Kyo nodded, taking in everything Tohru had said. He stood up and reached out a hand to help Tohru up. Together they snuck over to the door. Tohru leaned her head out. The coast was clear. Kyo moved silently out into the hall and to his own room. When he reached his room, he and Tohru both let out sighs of relief. The rest of the morning at the house continued without incidence. It wasn't until they approached the school that Tohru's nerves began to falter again. She was determined to get through the invitation calmly. But the new girl did make her a bit on edge.

Still, when she reached the classroom and spotted Aiko standing next to her desk, looking out the window, Tohru marched over to the other girl and tapped her on the shoulder. When Aiko turned to look at her, Tohru smiled and said, "Good morning! I was wondering if you would like to come with me to a friend's house after school today? I mean, you're new here and you probably haven't had a chance to make a lot of friends yet. I thought it might be nice for both of us if you could meet some of my friends."

Aiko looked thoughtful for a minute. She seemed hesitant to accept the invitation, but finally she looked back to Tohru and nodded, "Thanks. If you really want me to come, I suppose I could. I'm not doing anything else after school today. And then, you and I can get a chance to get to know each other. I was hoping we could become friends. I mean, since we look so much alike, I thought it would be kind of fun. It would almost be like having a twin sister, don't you think?'

Tohru raised an eyebrow. She hadn't thought about it that way, but she smiled anyway and replied, "Yeah, I guess it could be like that."