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

A/N: Hello again. I have recently found out that in November I might be able to take a trip that will span the entire length of Japan. I'll start in Sapporo and travel to Kyoto (maybe with a stop in Tokyo). I would stay for maybe a week in Kyoto and a couple of days in Osaka before going on to Okinawa. I'm really excited about it. But, about the story: this is not the last chapter. There will be at least one more chapter maybe a few more. I don't know for sure yet. I won't be able to updated next week though, because I'll be in Hakodate, away from my computer.

Shadows of Intrigue

Chapter 24

"Kyo? Are you awake, Kyo?"

He wasn't really, yet he could hear the voice calling to him. He couldn't tell who was speaking, only that they were trying to wake him up from a sleep he was reluctant to give up. He struggled against the voice, trying to force himself back into deeper sleep.

"Kyo, please wake up."

This time he recognized the voice and gave up on the idea of sleep, allowing himself to grant her wish and slowly returned to consciousness. When he opened his eyes, his first thought was that he had dreamt of the voice calling him. He didn't immediately see anyone and he was still too groggy to sit up and survey the room. Tohru's voice had sounded close enough that he expected to awaken to the sight of her leaning over him with a look mixed with concern and relief, but all he saw was the ceiling and a light that was altogether too bright for his newly opened eyes.

His confusion was eased as she spoke again. She was not leaning over him, she was somewhere off to his left. Turning his head in that direction, he could see her sitting up in what appeared to be a hospital bed, her face half-turned towards him. She was wearing the expression he had been imagining.

Tohru grinned when Kyo looked at her, "Oh, I'm so glad you're awake. I woke up a little while ago and Hatori told me we'd both been asleep for two days. He told me not to worry about you; that you were only exhausted, but I saw that you were bandaged up, too, so I couldn't help but worry. I'm glad he was right. Are you in a lot of pain?"

"This? This in nothing," Kyo answered, smiling at Tohru's nervous rambling. He tried to push himself up into a seated position and almost fell back down when the pain returned to his right arm as a result of the weight he placed on it. With a grimace, he continued, "At least, it's not anything that's gonna kill me. Where are we?"

"Hatori said this was the back part of his clinic. I didn't know it was so big. It's almost like a regular hospital."

At this point, Kyo began to notice that since he had first looked in here direction, Toru had not turned entirely in his. He got the distinct impression that she was trying to hide something from him. He knew that Akito had managed to cut her. Hatori had told him that much. He knew from everyone's positions that night that her injuries were likely on her left side; the side she wasn't showing him. He wondered if that was what she was hiding. Surely she must know that he knew. Unless it was worse than Hatori had led him to believe. At that thought, Kyo had to suppress his panic so he could speak calmly, "Tohru, look at me."

A confused expression passed over her face, "I am looking at you, Kyo."

"No," he replied, "you're only halfway facing me. I want you to look directly at me. I want to be able to see you, to make sure that you're okay."

Instead of turning to face him, Tohru turned in the opposite direction and wouldn't look at him at all, "I'm fine. You don't have to worry."

"Then look at me!" demanded Kyo, a bit more harshly than he meant to. He saw Tohru tense at his tone of voice and felt regret at having allowed himself to yell. He took a deep breath and repeatd, more calmly this time, "Then look at me. Let me see."

"I can't," Tohru answered, shaking her head.

Kyo was silent for a moment. When he did speak, his voice was barely above a whisper and the tone was completely different from any Tohru had heard him use before, "Fine. I see how it is. I guess I was wrong then. I though…I hoped…but I guess that was stupid. I must look pretty awful, huh? I though it wouldn't bother you, but you're like them, aren't you? You still see me as a monster, too. You can't even bring yourself to look at me."

Tohru's eyes grew wide at Kyo's speech and she finally did turn to face him, to reassure him that she felt no such thing, "Oh, no, Kyo. I'm sorry. I didn't think you would take it that way. You're not a monster to me. You never were. I didn' t look at you because I was afraid of how you would react, but I didn't want to hurt you. Don't you know by now? I love you, Kyo."

Kyo, hurt by Tohru's refusal to face him, had been staring at the floor but finally risked looking up when Tohru spoke the last line. As his gaze landed on her face, Kyo gasped. Now he understood what she had been hiding. The left side of her face had a large scrape and an even larger bruise covering it. Taken completely by surprise, Kyo asked in a much louder voice, "How did that happen? I don't remember Akito hitting you or anything."

Tohru shook her head again and, pointing to her face, answered, "Akito didn't do this. You did. It was an accident. It happened when you saved me, apparently. Hatori said there was probably a rock or something on the ground where I hit. I didn't want you to feel guilty about it. That's why I wasn't looking at you."

"I do feel guilty, though," admitted Kyo, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry I did."

Tohru smiled and slowly slid off her bed and walked across the room to sit on the edge of Kyo's bed. Kyo looked surprised but Tohru had a perfectly calm expression. She smiled at him and leaned forward until their foreheads were resting against each other, "I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You saved my life, Kyo. You have nothing at all to be sorry for."

"Sure I do. I didn't get there fast enough. You still got hurt."

"So did you," Tohru reminded him, "In fact, Hatori told me that you're hurt worse than I am. I am glad that you saved me, but it hurts me to know that you were injured doing it."

"Well, I couldn't really just watch. I had seen what would happen so many times, I knew that seeing it in real life would be a hundred times worse. I mean, yeah, I got hurt, but this cut will heal and then I can get back to training and be stronger than ever. If Akito had killed you, I would have been hurt a lot worse."

Tohru took that as an acknowledgement of Kyo's feelings, which it was. He was still too unsure of himself to say more, but Tohru was able to read between the lines. She put one hand on his shoulder and one behind his head, pulling him into her embrace and held him there, giving him all the reassurances, hope and love that he had not had before. Kyo, meanwhile was reveling in the new feeling of actually being held in a woman's arms.

Some time later, Tohru glanced at the door to the room. Hatori stood there with a look of surprise on his face. After a moment, however, he smiled at the sight before him and backed away, closing the door behind him.