Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the Fruits Basket characters.

A/N: I have to start off by saying that while I was writing this chapter I was eating potato leek soup. I just thought that was kind of funny. This chapter is written with the idea in mind that the characters attend school on Saturday. For those of you that read Roses of Glass, I am thinking about starting a sequel to that and am open to title suggestions. By the way, I love all the reviews where people say they are annoyed with or hate Aiko. That's what I want.

Shadows of Intrigue Chapter 12

Tohru didn't wake until the next morning. When she did, she snuck over to the screen, wanting to see how Kyo had fared the night. She called his name softly through the screen. When she received no answer, Tohru pushed the edge of the screen inward and peered around it. Tohru smiled at the sight before her. Kyo was still fast asleep, seeming blissfully unaware of the world around him. Not wanting to wake him, Tohru stealthily closed the gap in the screen and moved back to her own side of the room.

When she was washed and dressed, she headed to the kitchen, where she found not only Kazuma, but also Hatori. Both looked up as she entered the room. She gave them a small smile, "Good morning. I'm surprised to see you here again, Hatori."

"Here still, actually," replied Hatori, "I didn't leave yesterday. I wanted to make sure that both of you, but Kyo especially, got enough sleep. I gave Kyo and extra strong dose of that medication but I wanted to be around in case either of you needed more. I'm leaving some here for you to use over the next few days. Is Kyo still asleep?"

Tohru nodded, "He was when I left the room. He looked like he was sleeping peacefully. I guess the nightmares didn't bother him last night."

"Given how exhausted he was and the amount of the drug I administered to him, I imagine he was too deeply asleep to dream. I hate to say it, but I don't think that just because he didn't have the nightmares yesterday or last night that he's seen the last of them. In fact, it's possible that it will become longer, if he continues to use the sleep aid, which I still think he needs to do," Hatori answered.

Tohru gave a small nod of understanding. She had wanted to hear that Kyo's nightmares would be gone, but she knew that hope was unlikely. Still, hearing Hatori confirm her suspicions made them seem so much more real. She felt bad for Kyo. She wanted to be able to take his nightmares from him, to ease his suffering. But that wasn't possible. At a loss for what to say or do next, Tohru let her gaze wander around the room. Her eyes came to rest of the clock and she nearly became hysterical, "Oh, my goodness. The time. School. I'm gonna be late for school. What am I going to do?"

"Calm down, Tohru," Hatori spoke firmly as Kazuma grabbed Tohru's shoulders to stop her from running around the room, "You should stay home today. You don't need to go. Take the day off and continue to rest up."

"I can't do that. I'm feeling much better, really. And I need to talk to Aiko. You wanted me to do that, right? Besides, if Kyo and I are both gone, don't you think it might look funny?"

Both men raised their eyebrows. Kazuma turned to Hatori, "It doesn't look to me like she's going to do much resting if she stays here. And she could disturb Kyo."

Tohru shrunk back in guilt as Hatori sighed, "Fine, I'll drive you to school before I go home. But I want you to take it easy. If you get too tired, I want you to come back here."

"Thank you, Hatori," Tohru almost rushed forward to hug him, but remembered just in time about the curse. Instead, she gave him the biggest smile she could manage. Truth be told, she was still quite tired. But she didn't want to miss school if she wasn't actually sick. She had a promise to keep to her mom, after all.

Tohru began to regret her decision not to stay home as the school day wore on. She was having trouble paying attention. There were a couple of times when she caught herself starting to fall asleep. Aside from the fact that she was more tired than she cared to admit, even to herself, she was worried about Kyo. She hoped he had gotten, or was still getting, enough sleep. She was struck by anxiety as the thought occurred to her that he could have had the nightmare after she left. If he woke up from the nightmare to find her gone, how would he react? Come to think of it, she wondered how he would react to wake and find her gone even if he hadn't had the nightmare. The whole reason she had gone to Kazuma's was because Kyo wanted to stay close to her. And she had gone and left him. She would have told the teacher that she didn't feel well and gone back to Kazuma's house except that she really did want to talk to Aiko. She hadn't had a chance to during lunch because Yuki had wanted an explanation as to why she had gone with Kyo. So now, she had to wait for school to end.

When the final bell rang at last, Tohru hurried over to Aiko's desk and announced, "I have something I want to talk to you about. Let's go someplace more private."

Tohru followed Aiko outside to the space behind the gymnasium. Once there, Aiko turned to Tohru and asked, "Does this have anything to do with Kyo not being here today?"

"No. I mean, not really," Tohru stammered, "It's actually something Hatori wanted me to tell you. But he told me when he came over to take care of Kyo, so, in that sense, it does have to do with why Kyo isn't here."

"So what did he want you to tell me?"

Tohru looked momentarily confused, "What? Oh, he wanted me to let you know that he was helping Kyo and me. He told me to tell you he was trying to make amends. He didn't tell me what for, though."

"Is that so?" asked Aiko, "Well, I suppose I should go have a chat with him. Do you think he's at home now? I would hate to go out of my way for nothing. But I would like to visit as soon as possible."

Tohru nodded, "Yeah, he was going home after he dropped me off this morning. Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, that's all right. I'm a big girl. I can handle this on my own. Besides, you should get home. You look exhausted. And I'm sure you're worried about Kyo. He's probably waiting for you. Go on, I'll be fine."

Looking uncertain, Tohru turned and left for Kazuma's house. By the time she got there, Tohru felt ready to crawl into bed again. That wasn't going to happen, though. Kyo was indeed waiting for her. He looked agitated and Tohru assumed she must have guessed right about how he had reacted when he woke up to find she wasn't there.

"Why?" he demanded, "Why did you go to school? When I woke up and you weren't here, I didn't know what to think. Besides, you don't look like you should have gone."

Tohru was almost on the verge of tears, "I'm sorry. I didn't think about what you'd think. I had to talk to Aiko. Hatori asked me to tell her something. She's over at his place now, discussing it with him."

"She what! What if she runs into Akito? She was supposed to have her memory erased. If Akito finds out she didn't, there's gonna be hell to pay. How could you let her go?" Kyo's voice rose in volume with each word.

Tohru recoiled as if Kyo had slapped her. She had been relieved when Aiko had said she had no feelings for Kyo. That had been stupid. Just because Aiko had no interest in him didn't mean that Kyo had no interest in Aiko. It certainly appeared that he cared right now. The tears that Tohru had been holding in spilled over and she raced from the room.

"Damnit!" yelled Kyo, "Why do I always do that?"

Kazuma, having overheard the whole thing, went off to find his ladder. He had a feeling that Kyo would be spending the evening on the roof.