Fruits Basket

Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 42

((Author Note:Edited!))

Kyo had never felt so alive in his life. He felt as if the world had been lifted from his shoulders. His chest no longer felt like a twisting and turning of feelings fighting over each other for control. He could breathe freely and enjoy his life again. Things were beginning to look up. Now all he had to do was beat the curse!

Kyo felt his chest exhale the cool breath from his nose in a form of a sigh. "I'm back where I started. Damn it! How many times do I have to try and stop-" Kyo suddenly felt something hard hit the back of his head, which almost caused him to fall off the wooden beam he was balancing on. His hands frantically shot down to grab hold of the wood he was sitting under. "What the-?"

"Stop talking to yourself, you stupid cat, and get back to work," Yuki said in a bit of an annoyed tone. He was busy hammering a nail into piece of wood that was beginning to form a section of Shigure's ruined house. The two boys had been recruited to fix Shigure's house upon Akito's request.

"You damn rat, I could have fallen off!"

"Hmm? Don't cats fall on their feet? Nothing to fear then." Yuki never looked back up to Kyo as he worked at hammering another nail in.

While Kyo felt like his internal anger had dispersed after recent events, that didn't mean he no longer felt anger. He still hated Yuki. Sure he had some respect for the rat, but he couldn't bring himself to say that Yuki was a friend or anything.

"How about I fall and crush your fragile little rat body."

"If you could fall on your feet - after all, you're not a very good cat."

"Alright! That's it. Here I come, rat boy!"

Kyo leapt right off the beam from the roof to pounce on Yuki who stopped working to see if he could block the attempt to tackle him. Kyo felt like this was going to be the first time Yuki would be the one pressed against the ground. He needed his girly face dirty once in awhile.

Kyo had his hands stretched out to tackle Yuki - at least he did until he suddenly found himself crashing into an unsuspecting Shigure, who had only come to check up on the boys. Instead he found a certain orange headed boy on top of him. Yuki stood there staring at the two before he went back to work. "At least he landed on his feet."

"Ow…Kkkyooo," Shigure whined as he lay on his stomach with Kyo standing on his back. "You're crushing my back after you destroyed my-"

"I did not destroy your house!" Kyo yelled. "Stop saying it was me!"

"Stop yelling. You were the one trying to kill everyone," Yuki said while Kyo's eyes grew wide.

"It wasn't me! How many times do I have to tell you?" Kyo stomped his foot down.

"Ow, ack my back…Kyo," Shigure whined again.

"Another thing, didn't Rin jump through the house? What sort of dumbass idea was that?"

"Once again, you were trying to kill people," Yuki replied before he sighed. "Would you get back to work. I'm not cleaning up your mess."

"Oh yeah?" Kyo said shaking his fist at Yuki. "Let's fight then, and we'll see whose mess we're cleaning up."

"No, no, no, not here. My house!" Shigure cried out.

"I brought snacks!" Tohru said as she trotted towards the boys with a tray of rice balls. She paused a moment when she saw Kyo and Yuki fighting while Shigure cried underneath Kyo. It felt like old times again, and she was glad to have the old Kyo back. She really appreciated times like these.

After everyone had settled down, they all ate in the backyard under a tree. The day was fairly warm, so the boys were glad for a rest since they had been working all day. Well, only Kyo and Yuki were; Shigure was busy messing around, as usual.

"Miss Honda, thank you for such a lovely meal. I had almost forgotten how good your cooking was. I hope you didn't go to too much trouble."

"Oh of course not, Kazuma was very nice to allow me to use his kitchen."

"Hmm, master doesn't cook much anyways," Kyo said as he nudged Tohru lightly with his knuckles against her head with his fist. "Good job."

"Thank you, Kyo" Tohru said with a grin.

"What sort of poetic words flow from Kyo's mouth? 'Good job,'" Shigure said in a dramatic voice as he threw his hand against his forehead as if he was going to faint.

"Shut up, Shigure. I don't do poetic crap. I say it how it is. Tohru knows that."

"Yet you should surprise her, and be nice once in awhile," Yuki said before he took a sip of tea.

"Shut up! I don't need advice from you, and I am nice! Right, Tohru!"

Tohru nodded her head,. "Yes, Kyo is very nice."

"See."

"Tohru is always nice. She wouldn't say anything to hurt anyone's feelings," Shigure commented as he patted Tohru's head.

"You-"

"As enjoyable as this is, we need to finish our jobs. It is taking us far longer than I had expected," Yuki said as he set his tea cup down once he finished drinking its contents.

"Maybe the other zodiac members can help you?" Tohru asked as she looked from Yuki to Kyo.

"Why would they do that?" Kyo asked not really sure if they would help.

"I can ask them."

"It's perfect!" Shigure said as he patted the table. "Our adorable Tohru can charm them and bring them here."

"Shigure-" Kyo and Yuki began to say before Tohru interrupted them.

"I'm on the mission! Don't worry, I won't let you down."

Kyo shook his head. "She never does hear Shigure exactly, does she?"

"For once, you're right," Yuki said as he watched Tohru clean everything up. Excited about seeing all the zodiac members again.