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

Chapter eleven

I'll protect you

Kyo woke up and sat up. 'What woke me up?' he asked himself as he listened to the darkness. Suddenly he heard footsteps. He jumped up and continued to listen. By the sound of the footsteps, there was only one person who was small and seemed to be stumbling a lot. 'It could be a trick but someone could be hurt.' Kyo thought. He rushed to the front door, slid it open, and walked out into the cold night air. He peered threw the darkness and saw someone walking towards him. Kyo readied himself to attack as the figure drew nearer. Suddenly he saw it was a girl. "Tohru?" he asked. Tohru looked at him with sad eyes. Her hair had dried blood in it and her lip was bleeding and she had cuts on her face and hands. Kyo stared at her and his eyes wondered to her feet. "Tohru? What are you doing? You're not even wearing shoes!" he cried. Tohru stumbled and fell against Kyo. "Tohru?"

"Kyo-kun, you have to get out of here, Akito-san will be here soon," she whispered. Kyo touched her face and gently forced her to look up at him.

"Did Akito do this to you?" he asked. Tears formed in Tohru's blue eyes and she berried her face in Kyo's shirt. Kyo hesitated for a second then pulled her closer to him. "It's ok. Come on inside, we need to have those cuts looked at,"

Tohru opened her eyes and sat up. She found herself changed into a white kimono and her cuts cleaned and bandaged. She pushed her hair back and saw that the dry blood had been washed out. 'That's right. Kyo-kun drew a bath for me then gave up his room so I could sleep. I owe him so much. There must be some way for me to repay him.' Suddenly Tohru came up with an idea. She got up and walked into the kitchen and started cooking. 'I'll surprise Kyo-kun and Kazuma-san with breakfast! That's all I can do to repay them.'

Kyo opened his eyes and sat up. He could smell something cooking. "That can't be Shishou's cooking, it smells too good," he said to himself. He climbed out of bed, got dressed, and walked into the kitchen. "Tohru?" he asked when he saw her. Tohru looked over at him.

"Oh Kyo-kun, good morning!" she greeted. Kyo smiled faintly.

"You seem better," Tohru nodded but her smile vanished.

"Kyo-kun, you really do need to get out of here, Akito-san will be here soon,"

"Did you tell her I have what she wants?" he asked. Tohru shook her head.

"No!" Kyo smiled at her.

"Then how are you sure she'll be here?" he asked.

"Because Akito-san is very cleaver. She'll figure out that you have it and come to collect it. Please, Kyo-kun Akito-san will do anything to get what she wants! Anything!"

"Who cares? Akito can do what ever she feels like, I'm not backing down! I won't let you back down either! Understand?"

"But-"

"Don't worry about it! There's nothing Akito can do to me. I promise," Tohru looked into Kyo's confident eyes.

"Alright," Kyo nodded.

"So what's with you making breakfast?" he asked.

"Well, you and Kazuma-san have helped me so much; I thought this was the best way to repay you. I hope it'll taste ok," Kyo gave a small laugh.

"There's no way it's worse then Shishou's cooking,"

"Kyo-kun, are you going to continue working?" Kazuma asked. Kyo shrugged.

"I don't know. But I know that Tohru should stay here for awhile,"

"No! I can't impose any more!" Tohru cried. Kazuma smiled.

"You're not imposing Tohru-san," he said.

"Alright. But I'll cook and clean for you guys to pay you back," Kazuma nodded his head.

"That sounds good. I'm sure Kyo-kun well be glad to taste something besides my cooking,"

"I'm sure you're cooking isn't that horrible Kazuma-san," Tohru said. Kyo laughed.

"Yeah right. Shishou can't even make rice the right way," Kazuma cleared his throat.

"We'll talk about my poor cooking skills later Kyo-kun now we need to think about what we're going to do about Akito. Of what I heard, Akito has many assassins on her side and has ordered many people to be killed and I'm sure she won't hold back with us," Tohru nodded.

"That's correct. When Akito-san finds out that we have what ever he was sopost to collect, she'll go as far as killing to get it,"

"So what do we do?" Kyo asked.

"The government have been tracking Akito's movements but never got proof that she was helping with the black market. Now, we can give them the proof they need to arrest her," Kazuma explained.

"But we don't have proof that Akito bought whatever it is," Kyo added.

"That's correct. We'll have to find out a way to make her admit that she has been involved with the black market," Kazuma said.

"If we're going to do that, we're going to have to very clever," Tohru said. Kazuma nodded.

"Yes. But right now let us rest and we'll think about this later,"

Kyo stood in the back yard, practicing his punching. Tohru was a few feet away doing the laundry. "Is it hard for you and Kazuma-san to live with just the two of you?" Tohru asked. Kyo stopped training and looked at her.

"Not really. I like spending time with Shishou; he was the first person to get to know me before judging me,"

"That's wonderful that you are able to live with Kazuma-san," Tohru said, handing up one of Kyo's Yukata. "I still don't understand why you're family was so rude to you,"

"It was just the way it is. It happens in families some times. But I'm ok with it. I have two people who see me as who I truly am," Tohru turned to face him.

"Two people?"

"Yeah. Shishou and you," Tohru blushed but smiled making Kyo blush even harder. He looked away and ran his fingers threw his hair. "That's all I need. And I'll protect you," he turned to face her again. "I'll protect you like a friend should,"

How sweet. And that's the end of chapter eleven. Please, please, review.

UBN