Hey everyone! It's the seventh chapter! I have to say I'm a little surprised that chapter six only got two reviews, but that's okay. Hopefully this one'll make up for it! I got to use one of my books in this chapter called The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Dream Symbols, and I even got to use some French! Although I'm not sure if some of it's right, it was still fun to use. I'm sure my French teacher will be happy to hear that I used French in a story that I wrote, even though I'll never see her again -giggle- Anyway, I actually enjoyed writing this chapter … and I hope you'll all enjoy reading it!

Title: Unexpected
Author: Swaying Cherry Blossoms
Chapter: Dream Symbols
Summary: Tohru Honda's mother and Kyo Sohma's father have been friends for thirty years and their children have never met. But on one fateful day, the two teens meet and their lives are changed forever.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or any of the song lyrics I add at the beginning of each chapter. In this chapter's case, I do own Jacque, but I don't own The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Dream Symbols by Klaus Vollmar.


I really hope you'll always be

-

So in love with me

-

I really hope we'll always stay

-

So attached this way

- I Really Hope by the Cranberries

It was now the morning of December fifth, meaning five more days in Paris. Tohru sat up in her bed, skimming through her mother's dream symbols book. It was a small book that explained how the little things in your dreams could mean a lot. Tohru had quite a strange dream, which was why she was up at three-thirty in the morning reading the book. Her dream was anything but scary, but thinking about it made her face redden up and grow hot. She thought that maybe this book could tell her what it all exactly meant.

She had been sitting in a garden on a white cement bench, surrounded by different types of flowers. Before the bench was a little walkway that led to a path which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The path wasn't on the side of a road, nor was it in a forest. It was simply surrounded by fields of never ending green grass. The path was long and seemed to be never ending as well. Tohru didn't know why she was in the garden or what she was doing, but she did know that the flowers that were around her were extremely beautiful, and she didn't seem to notice the person coming up the path as she admired them. It wasn't until she looked up that she saw Kyo standing at the beginning of the walkway, smiling at her. Tohru's insides warmed up, and she flashed him one of her happiest smiles. Kyo started up the walkway, still smiling, and sat next to Tohru on the bench. He looked at her with soft eyes and an expression she had never seen him give her before. Slowly, he tenderly lifted up his hands and cupped her face, his eyes reflecting the light of the sun that shone over them so brightly. His face drew nearer as Tohru tried to find something to say, surprised by his sudden actions. Before she could say anything, and as if everything flashed before her eyes, Kyo pressed his lips softly against hers. Tohru stiffened for a minute, but grew more relaxed as she laid her hands on Kyo's shoulders as the kiss grew more passionate. Despite the deepness of the kiss, Kyo was still gentle with Tohru, which made her enjoy the kiss more. Kyo then pulled away gently, staring into Tohru's eyes. Tohru looked back lovingly, never wanting the moment to end. Kyo then opened his mouth to say something. His lips moved, but Tohru couldn't hear anything he said. She looked puzzled and shook her head, asking Kyo to repeat what he said, but found that no words had come out of her mouth either. What had he said to her? Going into a panic with the thought that she might be deaf, Tohru took her hands off of Kyo's shoulders and stood up. Kyo stood up as well, this time taking her hands in his. His expression turned from happy to hurt, and his lips still moved, but nothing came out. What had he said to her that she couldn't understand? As tears began to fill Tohru's eyes, everything went black. The next time she opened her eyes she was facing the white ceiling of hers and Kyoko's hotel room.

What had been the key symbols in the dream? There was the garden, the flowers, the field, the path, the sun, Kyo, and the kiss … Yet how could she explain what had happened with their voices in words? Silence, maybe? Tohru looked through the book, which everything was in alphabetical order, for 'garden'. She then found it and read aloud (but in a whisper) to herself what it said:

"'Garden: See Field. The garden is the place where our soul joins nature. It symbolizes longing, fertility, and a satisfying love life. A place of harmony and relaxation (as well as sin, as in the "Garden of Eden"), a place to become grounded and a place of civilized nature, corresponding to a "civilized" inner life. It is the domestic, fenced-in area in contrast to the untamed Field, or even Forest. Stepping into a garden is like retreating from the harshness of the outside world, looking for protection and relaxation. In Egypt the garden has always been the symbol for woman.

"'According to Freud, female sexuality.'"

Tohru blushed as she re-read the paragraph. A satisfying love life? Longing? What did that all mean? Biting her lip, Tohru then skimmed the book for 'flowers'. She found it and quietly read it to herself:

"'Flower: Traditional symbol for emotions ("Say it with flowers"). Beauty and fertility. Growing and fading away, like life. Expectations of and hope for love and relationships. Important is the type and the color of the flower. Red roses point to sexual love, white roses and other flowers point to innocence, blue flowers to the strength and soul of emotions. Snowdrops point to overcoming the cold of winter, asters to autumn and death. Picking flowers is considered a symbol of sexual experience.

"'In the Middle Ages, flowers with broken stems mean sexual intercourse. In India, in dream interpretations, the flower is the symbol of the highest pleasure. In Freud's dream interpretations, the flower is dealt with extensively and symbolizes women, tenderness, female genitals and genitals in general, as in Blossoms (see Anaïs Nin's The Delta of Venus).

"'According to C. G. Jung, flowers represent emotions/feelings.'"

Tohru thought of the color flowers that were in her dream, blushing when she realized that some of the flowers were red, white, and blue, even some of them roses. She had a feeling to what this was all coming to, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Tohru then looked through the book for 'field', found it, and then read:

"'Field (area): Symbol for women—your field of work/profession. (This patriarchal interpretation, which often does not correspond to the dreamer's conviction, is nevertheless appropriate, because out internal attitudes do not change at the same rate as our ideology. Our conscious awareness is much more eager to change than our subconscious).

"'Fallow or ravaged field: stagnation, grief, and troubles. Green field: work and good compensation, growth. Overgrown field: disorder in the inner as well as the outer world.'"

Well, the field was green, which meant the growth of something. But of what? Baffled, she turned the pages of the book in search of 'path'. When she found it, she read what it said:

"'Path: As in Street; a frequent symbol of a life's path. See Wagon. Your personal path is laid out for you. You are walking down your own life's path. Or, difficulty on the path.'"

Tohru thought about this, but it didn't make any sense at all. She hadn't been the one walking on the path, Kyo was. She had only been looking at it. Still puzzled, she now looked through the book for 'sun'. She found it and read:

"'Sun: See Summer. Creative energy. If the sun is shining in your dream, it always refers to the consciousness. If the sun does not shine, you are either approaching the unconscious loss of energy. The sun is also a symbol of the father, midlife, the danger of being dazzled.'"

Dazzled? Tohru already was dazzled as to what it all meant. There was still one more symbol she had to look up, and that was 'kiss'. She slowly turned the pages of the book until she found it and read the paragraph:

"'Kiss: Uniting, connecting, and good luck. Intimate closeness, intellectual communication, desire for closer contact, maybe making up after a fight. Rarely is a kiss a sign of betrayal (the kiss of Judas).'"

Tohru closed the book and gently placed it on the small table next to her bed before she lay down and drew the covers over her. She folded her hands over her stomach and stared at the ceiling, putting everything together. Everything mostly had to do with emotions … and love. Were her feelings towards Kyo more than just friendly? Had her feelings grown for him over these two months she's known him? But it was all happening so fast … She hadn't even known him for a half a year, so how could she be feeling this way? Of course, she didn't mind these feelings. Kyo was a very special person to her, and she liked him a lot. But what about him? How did he feel about her? Surely he didn't feel the same way … How could someone like Kyo feel that way about a person like Tohru? It just didn't make any sense. All of this thinking had made Tohru tired, even though she was already sleepy because it was now four o'clock. She slowly drifted off to sleep with visions and thoughts of Kyo in her mind.

Later on that morning, around eight o'clock or so, Tohru stood before the mirror of her hotel room bathroom, brushing her hair. She thought about the dream she had earlier that morning and what the book had said the symbols meant. It couldn't be love … could it?

"Come on Tohru-chan," Kyoko said, knocking on the bathroom door. "Kazuma-chan and Orange are waiting in the hall. We're gonna go to one of the museums today! Let's go!"

"Okay Mom!" Tohru said happily as she finished tying a ribbon into her hair. She put her brush back in its place in the top right drawer of the bathroom counter and Kyoko handed Tohru her coat as they started out of the door and into the hall. Tohru immediately felt herself grow hot being near Kyo, especially in her winter coat. Being that it was December now, the Paris air had become chilly and the group had to wear their winter jackets when they went out. They still ate at outdoor cafés though.

"Which Museum are we going to today?" Kyoko asked Kazuma as everyone stepped into the elevator. Kazuma looked at the brochure he was holding and read the name that was printed on the cover. "Musée du Louvre," Kazuma said with difficulty, for he didn't know how to pronounce French words correctly. "I can't read what the brochure says but I thought it looked nice, so I picked it up at one of the other museums we went to a few days ago. From what I've heard, it's supposed to be the biggest museum in the world."

"And where'd you hear that from?" Kyo asked. "You can't speak French, so I doubt you heard about that here."

"No, you're right. I looked it up on the Internet when we were home. Everything was in Japanese. It's a very nice museum. I'm sure you two would enjoy it," Kazuma said, directing his last sentence at Kyo and Tohru. They were all now walking in the lobby, then out the door, and onto one of the waiting trolleys. A trolley left every morning at eight thirty, which was the trolley the group always took to the busy part of Paris every morning.

Musée du Louvre was indeed the biggest museum in the world. It was bigger than the hotel, and everything about it was wonderful. Tohru loved all of the old European paintings and sculptures that were on display, and Kyoko used almost a whole roll of film before they were halfway through the museum. Kyo thought that it was sickening that there were sculptures of nude people, and also woman without shirts. Kyoko could have sworn she saw Kyo blush when they were looking one of those types of sculptures, and she taunted him about it all throughout the rest of the day. As for Tohru, she immediately grew nervous when she saw the first sculpture, and took a few glances of the other ones, trying to avoid the exposed body parts. The rest of the group's time spent at the museum consisted of taking a tour around the building, looking at paintings and more sculptures, only these weren't as graphic and revealing as the previous ones they were looking at.

It was two o'clock when they left the museum, Kyoko in somewhat a bad mood because she ran out of film too quickly, and Kyo in a bad mood too because the museum bored him. Kazuma and Tohru discussed where it would be nice to have lunch. They decided on a small outdoor café just a few blocks away from the museum. When they arrived there was only one table available outside, and it only seated two people. Kazuma and Kyoko let Tohru and Kyo sit at that table, while the two adults ate inside. Tohru instantly felt her face grow hot at the thought of sitting at the table alone with Kyo, almost like a date. But she knew it wasn't a date, of course, but it almost seemed like one.

They were handed their menus as the waiter went over the specials in French. Kyo never liked eating out when they were in Paris because he thought the food was disgusting. Not only did he not know how to speak French, he couldn't even read the menu to see what was actually decent. He always just picked the lowest priced item and it always turned out to be something gross. Fortunately for Tohru, whatever she picked out always seemed to be something she ended up liking. "I hate eating at these French places," Kyo said as he scanned the menu. "I don't even know why I came on this trip."

"Are you not having a good time, Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked with concern, looking at him over her menu. "I-I'm sorry if I bored you this whole trip … I know I'm not that much of a fun person to be around, and we don't have a lot to talk about, b-but … I've been enjoying this trip, Kyo-kun. I've had a lot of fun with you."

Kyo wanted to hit himself. Why did he always say the wrong things to Tohru? Whatever came out of his mouth seemed so harsh and insensitive. He looked back at her over his own menu, seeing her expression filled with sadness and a little bit of hurt. Kyo looked back to his menu but instead of looking for what he wanted to eat, he thought of something to say to get out of this situation. When nothing came to his mind, he set down his menu and pushed his chair away from the table. "I'll be in the bathroom," he told Tohru as he pushed in his chair and headed into the restaurant.

I must have said something to make him feel uncomfortable! Tohru thought to herself. Biting her lip, she put down her own menu and wrung her hands together in her lap. Oh no! W-what if I offended him by thinking he wasn't enjoying this trip? Now he must really hate me!

As Tohru's thoughts flooded with reasons why she must have made Kyo uncomfortable, she didn't realize that at the table across from hers and Kyo's, three French boys were smiling and whispering to each other, "Oh la la, elle est jolie!" as they all stared at her. Finally, one boy stood up and made his way to the table, bending down on one knee and gently taking one of Tohru's hands in his. Tohru turned to him and squeaked in shock as the boy pressed his mouth to the back of her hand gently. "Je m'appelle Jacque," he whispered to her. "Et toi?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Tohru stammered, drawing back her hand. "I-I don't s-speak your language!" The boy who called himself Jacque didn't seem to understand her either, but despite that he took her hand again. "Voulez-vous aller au cinéma avec moi?" Tohru shook her head, drawing back her hand once more. "I'm sorry! I don't speak your language!" she repeated in a pleading voice. Jacque then stood up, smiling. "Allons!" he said to Tohru in a delighted tone as he gently took her by the arm and lifted her off the chair, pulling her away from the table. "N-no, I-I … that is," Tohru stammered as she tried to retrieve back her arm.

At the same time this was happening Kyo was making his way out of the bathroom. He didn't even have to go, he just needed to wash his face and calm down for a minute. Kyoko and Kazuma waved to him as he passed their table and made his way back outside, only to see a strange boy pulling Tohru away from their table. "What the hell?" Kyo growled under his breath as he ran over to the table. "Hey!" he shouted before he reached Tohru and the boy. Tohru turned in the direction of his voice, her face in distress. "Kyo-kun?"

"Eh?" Jacque said as he let go of Tohru's arm. Kyo stomped over to Jacque and looked him square in the eye, his hands balled into fists. He pointed to himself with his thumb. "I'm with her, get lost!"

"Qui tu es?" Jacque questioned. Even though Kyo didn't know what he was saying, he knew Jacque was saying it with disgust. Without thinking, Kyo gently pushed Tohru away and struck Jacque in the face with his fist. Tohru shrieked behind him, but Kyo didn't care. No one had the right to treat her that way. Jacque stumbled, but didn't lose his balance, and his two friends ran over to him, shouting at both Jacque and Kyo. Jacque held his hand over his eye, his jaw clenched. He pushed away his friends, balled his fist and threw a punch, but Kyo blocked it easily. He smirked and pushed him away with a big thrust that almost sent Jacque to the ground, but he managed to keep his balance. Kyo then grabbed Tohru's hand and stomped away from the restaurant. Tohru looked both stunned and relieved, yet felt flattered at the same time.

"K-Kyo-kun? What happened?" Tohru asked. Her voice squeaked as Kyo still dragged her down the street until they turned a corner. He then let go of her hand and crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze never meeting hers. "Nothing," he said flatly. The two were silent for a few moments, listening as people walked by as they talked and laughed. Carriages passed and vendors wheeled their carts. Tohru tenderly placed a hand on Kyo's shoulder. "Thank you," she said softly. "I … I was really scared. I didn't know what to do, especially since I didn't understand what he was saying. But then you came and—"

"It was nothing."

Tohru smiled and walked closer to Kyo and took his hand in hers. Kyo didn't look up, but instead entwined their fingers as they walked up the side of the road. A gentle breeze blew, slightly pushing back Tohru's hair. In her mind, she knew the book of dream symbols was right. Being this close to Kyo made her heart skip beats and her insides go on fire. And when he had fought for her she … Well, she didn't know how to explain her feelings, but she knew that it had made her feel wonderful. The idea of Kyo punching someone, though, was a different story. Kyo then spoke, breaking Tohru away from her thoughts. "Hey."

"Yes, Kyo-kun?"

"Just so you know, I am enjoying this trip … I just don't show it."


Aw, Kyo's so sweet. He can be such a softy sometimes! Anyway, Musée du Louvre is a real museum in France and it is actually the biggest museum in the world, according to the website I was at. As for everyone who thinks Yuki should have a bigger part in this story, he'll have a much bigger part in my next story! -giggle- Yes, I have been planning my next story! And the story after that, too! So I won't be gone for a while! Thank you for reviewing, and thanks for reading! I'll see you all before next week!

xoxo Swaying Cherry Blossoms