Disclaimer: Don't own Fruits-Basket...

A/N I was re-reading this story trying to make sure I got all of my info correct when I noticed in the first chapter I said Tohru was third in line for the throne. Sorry about this mistake but she is NEXT in line for the throne after her grandfather. I've also started a forum for this story so go check it out! Okay, so on to the chapter...

Chapter 7: Memories

Yuki marched up and down the hallway, under the watchful eye of Miss Linya, feeling rather foolish with a book balanced on his head. Who would have thought that behind that innocent face was a slave master? If the book even gave the slightest of a wobble she would make him do ten more laps around the palace. And the palace was huge! Yuki's neck was beginning to cramp and sweat was rolling down his face and into his eyes causing his eyesight to blur. He didn't dare move his hand to wipe it away.

Don't wobble. Don't wobble, he prayed fitfully.

Loud, quick footfalls caused Yuki's head to instinctively snap around in the direction of the noise. The hardcover book tumbled to the ground and Yuki groaned in dismay. He glared at the cause of the disturbance, a liveried man, and as he dashed by Miss Linya called out, "What's going on?"

The man did not stop but shouted out as he ran, "The princess is injured, I've been sent to get a doctor!"

Yuki, who had been busy gathering up his book, dropped it again in shock before sprinting off from the direction the man had come from.

"Wait," Miss Linya called racing after him her skirts held high above her knees in a desperate attempt to keep up with the young man, but it was no use. "You don't even know where you're going!"

Yuki was soon out of sight and Miss Linya stumbled to a halt gasping for breath. "Stupid men," she growled breathlessly.

Yuki did not even notice the absence of his new teacher; he was too deep in thought. He could clearly remember every time Tohru had been injured since she had begun living with the Sohmas. The small, and large injuries. It was one memory in particular that kept ramming its ugly head into Yuki's psyche.

Yuki had been summoned to the Sohma House. He had no choice but to obey Akito's will and so he went against his better judgment, a warning burning in the pit of his stomach. Yuki remembered entering into Akito's chambers and then...nothingness.

When he awoke he found himself trapped in a small dark room. The same room he still saw in his nightmares. The same room he saw whenever he looked into Akito's eyes.

"LET ME OUT!" Yuki screamed frantically pounding on the cement walls, "Please! Let me out! Please!"

"Do you really want to leave here," Akito's voice echoed through the room, "Would you do anything? Anything at all?"

Yuki shoved his fingers into his ears in an effort to get rid of the sound of the voice. But it was already in his mind, in his very soul.

"Make it stop," he cried softly, "I can't do this again. Not again..."

"I'll let you out," Akito's promise boomed and echoed, "If you do one simple thing for me."

Hope flared in Yuki's body. He was going to be freed. He would not be locked away forever in the darkness. He would not be alone. Not alone...

"All you have to do is say you do not love Tohru Honda."

"I--" Yuki's voice faltered and tears blurred his vision. He unsteadily rose to his feet.

"Say it! Or you'll never be able to leave!"

"I don't love Tohru Honda," he whispered.

"LOUDER!"

"I DON'T LOVE TOHRU HONDA!" Yuki shouted and his voice echoed back to him mingling with Akito's mad laughter.

The door swung open and light flooded in caused Yuki to flinch in pain, but what he saw next caused a pain so deep he could feel nothing else. Empty of all else. There stood a pale and shivering Tohru Honda, her eyes filled with the pain that pierced his own heart...

Kiyoshi entered the room and his soldier trained instincts immediately kicked in as he surveyed the room. Tohru was lying on the floor; her head was surrounded by a small pool of blood that appeared to be coming from the gash in her head that Kiyoshi supposed was the result of a collision with the ornate table she was laying beside. Mademoiselle Leiko was sobbing into her silk handkerchief and was babbling incomprehensibly.

He rushed over to Tohru removing his jacket as he went and leapt over an overturned chair before kneeling beside her. Gently lifting her head he applied pressure to the wound using the jacket as a bandage. He'd never be able to wear that jacket again knowing what it had been used for. He hadn't really liked it anyway; too many medals attached.

"Get yourself together," he snapped at the older woman. "Fetch the king. Now!" he added in a loud, commanding voice, causing her to jump and even curtsy before hurrying of in the direction of the throne room.

Kiyoshi breathed deeply in an attempt to keep his emotions under control. An impossible task, especially when his charge was practically dying right in front of him. Kiyoshi had seen death before; even killed a few people to protect those he had sworn to protect, but only once before had he seen someone he cared about die. As he looked at Tohru's pale face he could not help but remember that day not so long ago...

Kiyoshi had been doing a bit of detective work, trying to discover the identity of the royal family murderer when the crown prince himself disappeared from his home. The servants hadn't seen anything unusual, nothing caught on tape, and the alarms hadn't even gone off. Another flawless kidnapping.

Kiyoshi had returned home, his temple throbbing in rhythm with his heart. It felt like someone was playing the conga in his head. He found his father sitting on the couch staring morosely into a wine cup. The Prince General did not even twitch at the sound of his son's approach.

"Father," Kagawa Kiyoshi greeted formally, "Is anything the matter?"

"It's all my fault," The older Prince General said in a monotone voice, "All of it my fault."

Kiyoshi's nose twitched as it detected a strange scent but he ignored it. He took the seat next to his aging father.

"What's your fault?"

Kagawa Yukuke's hands shot out and clasped his son's shoulders, dropping his wineglass in the process; spilling the blood red wine across the patterned carpet.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "So sorry."

His gray eyes bore into his son's. Kiyoshi would always remember those eyes that seemed to smile at him whenever they talked, but they weren't smiling know. They were dead empty eyes and suddenly Kiyoshi knew what that strange smell was.

His father had been poisoned.

Voices. Words she could not understand. Darkness. She felt like she was floating and wished she could just float away into the peaceful darkness, but could not because of the voices. They sounded louder now. Clearer.

What was that beeping? It reminded her of an alarm clock, but with a steady rhythm. Like a heartbeat. Beep. Beep. Beep...

Wake up, Tohru, it seemed to be saying.

I'm trying, she whispered back, but I'm so tired...

Awake!

Tohru's eyes shot open. Light. Pain. She screamed.

"You may leave now," Kiyoshi told Yuki as he took a bedside seat Tohru's hospital room.

Somehow he made the comment sound like a dismissal from a superior to an inferior, an order. Yuki's spine stiffened stubbornly.

"I'm fine right here, thanks."

"You've already been here three days. Go back to the palace, get some rest, than you can come back refreshed."

Kiyoshi sounded so calm, and when he put it that way his advice sounded reasonable but...

"You've been here just as long as I have if not longer," Yuki argued though it hurt him to admit that Kiyoshi had been the first to arrive at Tohru's side. "Why don't you go back. Besides, what if..." Yuki's voice retreated into a whisper. "What if she wakes up?"

Kiyoshi's eyes softened, if rock could look soft, and he opened his mouth, but whatever he had been about to say was drowned out by a sudden scream. It sent ice down Yuki's spine and at the same time it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard because it meant Tohru was awake. Finally, she was awake!

"Get the doctor," Kiyoshi ordered as he rushed over to the screaming and flailing Tohru to soothe her and stop her from pulling out any of the tubes connected to her.

Yuki did not hesitate. He would kick himself for following the directions of that...man... later, but right now Tohru needed help, and Yuki would be the one to get it for her. He could not do a lot of things, but for once he could help. For once he would not be useless.

"She is stable," Dr. Ayathon told the two young men who continued to watch him worriedly. It was clear to him that they both had feelings for that girl. The princess, he corrected himself absently.

Who would've thought that another member of the royal household would end up at this hospital. So many of them, and in such a short amount of time too. At least this time there was something the doctors could do for the patient. Unlike all the others...

"We put her on a weak tranquilizer, but you should be able to speak with her as long as she stays relaxed. It is critical that she be kept as calm as possible for the next twenty-four hours, otherwise she may regress and fall into another coma. I do not know if she would awaken a second time..."

The two men nodded their understanding in unison and then eyed each other warily as if surprised to be mirroring each other's movements. As one they sprinted towards the hospital room door in a type of race.

Dr. Ayathon stroked his graying mustache worriedly. Those two were so competitive he could practically taste the testosterone in the air. He feared their feelings towards her, whatever they were, may do more harm than good.

But what could he do? He was just the doctor.

Kiyoshi internally groaned in defeat when Yuki entered Tohru's private hospital room first. It wasn't like they were racing or anything. He had just wanted to be the first one into the room… Kiyoshi tried to convince himself. It didn't work.

He peered over the bed and Tohru's eyes fluttered open. They looked strangely blank. All of the sparkle was gone, suppressed by the sedative he supposed. That was not the only thing different about her.

Her face was pale with a sickly yellow tinge. Her skin was stretched tight across her cheeks giving her a gaunt appearance. Her lips were dry and chapped or bleeding and her hair hung limply on the pillow tangles evident. All together she looked weak. Helpless. Lost.

Her blank gaze fell on Yuki and a small glimmer of recognition entered her otherwise dead eyes.

"Yuki Sohma?" Her voice was hoarse from three days of disuse, "What are you doing here?" Then she noticed Kiyoshi, "Are you the doctor?"

A/N Gomen for the long time between updates! How long has it been, two months?dodges rotten fruit I kept meaning to update but I wanted to add more to the chapter...finally I just gave up and have decided to post it as is. Now that I'm focusing on this story the next update will be much faster I promise. I've also started a fanfiction reading forum if you're interested please check it out! And although I know I don't deserve it please review.

Arigatou!

MegTao