Hey everyone! Before everyone jumps at me and yells at me for not updating for over a month, I have a very good explanation: I had no computer. I can't type out my story if I have no computer! giggle What happened was, on January 30th I turned on my computer and it kept shutting off. My father brought his computer into work the next day because there's a guy there who's kind of like a computer technician, so the guy said he'll look at it and see what the problem was. About three weeks went by and the guy hadn't even touched the computer, so my mother kind of got fed up and bought me a laptop. When I got the laptop I started writing the last chapter, so I got some Fan Fiction progress done. We finally got the other computer back at the beginning of the month and I transferred this chapter to my laptop and finally got it done! I'm so happy that I can start my new story by next month. I might give out a sneak preview of it after the last chapter, but I'm not so sure if I want to ... I'd rather make it a surprise! Well, I'll stop talking and I'll let everyone start reading this chapter. Thank you so much for all of the reviews I received during my absence (over 20!)! Enjoy!

Title: Unexpected
Author: Swaying Cherry Blossoms
Chapter: Coping
Summary: Tohru Honda and Kyo Sohma's parents 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. I also don't own the song "Heaven" by Ayumi Hamasaki.


At the end of the world

-

Or the last thing I see

-

You are never coming home

-

Never coming home

- The Ghost of Youby My Chemical Romance

Kyo kicked and punched the air furiously, an intense, fiery gaze set on his face. It was a week after Tohru's departure to Kumamoto, and Kyo's life was nothing but a living Hell ever since the taxi drove her away from the house on that sorrowful, rainy day. Kyo found it hard to concentrate on things, hard to be at ease. He would constantly be twitching and bursting out in anger whenever Kazuma asked him a simple question. It was as if Kyo could only be sane if Tohru was around to make everything better for him.

He needed her.

His vision becoming blurry from the heavy end-of-summer heat, Kyo thrust his fist in front of him for a direct punch. The blow landed right on the trunk of a tree, sending shocks of pain through Kyo's hand. "God dammit!" he cursed. He watched as blood began to flow from the newly open wounds on his knuckles, but all of the pain he was enduring from it was nothing compared to the way he felt when Tohru had to leave him.

Even from inside, Kazuma could hear Kyo's outburst. They were more frequent now, for every little thing Kyo seemed to do would always result in a rage shouts and yells to no one in particular. Kyo was back to the way he was before Tohru entered his life, and things weren't always easy for Kazuma back in those days. Kyo's temper would not only hurt himself, but it sometimes got so out of hand that it hurt others around him.

Kyo would constantly get into fights with students of Kazuma's older classes, mostly because the boys would make smug comments about Kyo's hair color. This caused them to lose Kyo's trust and respect, and whenever they ended up doing something wrong resulted in Kyo yelling at them, which then produced bloody fights involving the martial art moves they had learned in class that day. Once Kazuma switched Kyo to teaching classes of younger students, things began to get better.

In a nutshell, Tohru was like a tranquilizer to Kyo: she comforted him, soothed him, and smoothed out the rough edges of his personality. Kazuma had never seen something so magical and miraculous in his entire life.

But now she was taken away from him, and Kyo was back to square one. If only there was a miracle that could bring Tohru back.

Kazuma placed down the newspaper he was reading, got up, and headed out to the back of the house to see what was wrong with Kyo. When he stepped outside he saw Kyo clutching his balled fist, blood slowly trailing down his arm. Kazuma took a few steps closer to his son. "Kyo, what happened? Are you alright?"

"…I'm fine …" Kyo replied through clenched teeth, his eyes closed tightly. He slowly shuffled into the house and left Kazuma outside, shaking his head.

Kyo was a mess.

Meanwhile, Tohru was doing housework at her family's house. They had her cleaning up a storm; never before had she ever worked this hard just cleaning a house before. They had her do dusting, wiping, sweeping, mopping, and possibly every other cleaning method you could apply on a house to make it tidy. Tohru's fingers ached from holding onto sponges and rags all day as she scrubbed away at floors, windows, and other glass-made objects throughout the house. He knees were red from leaning on them so often and her clothes were somewhat dirty from the outdoor work she did. Her family seemed to greatly appreciate it though, especially her grandfather, so as long as she was making people happy, she was happy.

The sleeping conditions weren't so bad for Tohru, but they were for her cousin Nariko. While living in Tokyo, Nariko didn't have her own room, for the family lived in a small apartment. When her grandfather started living with Nariko and her parents, Nariko had to sleep out in the living room. Now that they moved to a bigger house, she had her own room, but the opportunity was taken away from her when Tohru was asked to live with them.

Cooking, on the other hand, was tough for Tohru. Her aunt, uncle, and Nariko were terribly picky when it came to what Tohru cooked, and sometimes Nariko would even refuse to eat whatever Tohru had made. "It looks uncooked," she'd scoff. "I'm ordering myself some take-out, does anyone else want some?"

"Nariko-san, I—"

"Sure, that sounds good," her parents would say delightedly. They would all leave the dining area and Tohru would bow her head down, thinking she did something wrong. "Don't worry Kyoko-san," her grandfather—who had a habit of calling her 'Kyoko-san'— would say. "They're all just evil people."

Now, Tohru scrubbed at the windows that were in the family room. Her uncle was out, Nariko was at the movies with her friends, and her aunt was out grocery shopping. They always left Tohru and her grandfather at home by themselves, even when they did things together as a family.

Just then, Tohru's aunt, Naomi, called for Tohru from the font door. "Tohru-chan! Come help me with the groceries!"

"Oh, right away! I'm coming!" Tohru dropped her sponge and hurried to the front door, taking the heavy packages Naomi held out for her. Tohru padded into the kitchen and placed the bags of food on the kitchen table and began putting them away. "After you put these away," Naomi started, landing more grocery bags onto the table next to the other ones. "I need you to do the laundry—we've got a lot of it this week—and then I need you to clean my bedroom. Kenji's a great husband, but he can be such a pig sometimes!"

"O-Okay," Tohru said hesitantly as Naomi started out of the room. "Um, Naomi obasan?" Naomi stopped in the doorway and turned around to face Tohru. "Yeah?"

Nervously, Tohru began to fiddle with the hem of her skirt. "Um, if it's not too much trouble … I'd like to know if I'm enrolled in school yet … I-I told my mom I would finish school for her, and I don't want to break my promise. Please, if it's not too much trouble ..."

Naomi ran a hand over her face and sighed. She had completely forgotten about sending Tohru to school. "Oh, right," she said, pausing. "We'll get you to take the entrance exam to the nearest school." Starting out of the kitchen, she added, "It shouldn't be too hard, you're a pretty bright girl."

"Th-thank you!" Tohru felt a sudden boost of self-esteem at her aunt's words.

After Tohru finished putting away the groceries she headed back into the family room to finished washing the windows. A sudden burst of sadness overcame her as she thought about Kaibara High, Arisa, Saki, Kazuma, and Kyo. The thought of being back at Kazuma's, eating meals and spending time with Kyo filled her mind. She tried to hold back her tears, but found herself unsuccessful. She let the tears fall, thinking about how much she truly missed her boyfriend.

Over the next few days Kyo's hand swelled up and displayed bruised colors of purple and blue. Kazuma insisted on taking him to a doctor to have it examined, but Kyo would gruffly refuse. He at least had it bandaged, but because of the swelling, the cloth was beginning to tear.

"You really should get that checked out," Kazuma suggested one day while he and Kyo were having lunch (take out, of course). Kyo shoved his noodles in his mouth and ignored Kazuma's comment. "I don't care," he finally replied. "I can take the pain. Besides, there's nothing wrong with it … It's just bruised and swollen. It'll go down."

"Yes, but you should have it looked at … It can be broken for all we know."

Kyo shrugged, showing no sign of caring. "I don't care."

"Kyo, if you are acting like this because Tohru-san—"

"I don't wanna talk about that," Kyo groaned. Kazuma began to lose his patience with him. "If that is why you are behaving like this, sulking about and acting rowdy towards everything, you should take a step back and look at the situation; Tohru-san was forced to leave, she did not have a choice. You know that if she did have a choice, she would have stayed here. You are displaying behavior of a child, not a seventeen year-old." Kyo opened his mouth to object to this, but Kazuma didn't give him a chance. "I know you are tense and upset about these circumstances, and I understand that very much, but you need to stop acting like this, Kyo. It is unhealthy."

Kyo was silent after Kazuma's lecture. He stared at his dish of noodles, his hair shadowing over his eyes. He hand began to ball into a fist. "You don't understand," Kyo said at last. "You don't love her …"

"But I did love Kyoko-chan."

Kyo looked up at Kazuma, wanting to kick himself in the face for making him bring that up. He bowed his head shamefully and then got up from the table, storming out of the dining area. Kazuma heard his steps follow all the way to the front door, followed by the sound of said door being opened and then slammed shut. He sighed and continued to eat his lunch.

"Sometimes I do not understand him," he said, shaking his head.

Kazuma didn't know where Kyo went for the rest of the afternoon, but when he returned back home he was out of the breath, sweaty, and his skin was bright red. Without a word after entering the house, Kyo had gone upstairs to his bedroom and turned in for the night.

The next day at Tohru's family's home in Kumamoko, Tohru was making Nariko's bed when she heard the faint sound of music coming from the radio downstairs in the kitchen. The tune was soft and mellow, then the beat changed as the voice of Ayumi Hamasaki filled the house.

Kyo woke up around noon the next day, still exhausted from his long, tiring outing the previous day. His alarm had gone off its normal time, but something inside Kyo let him sleep through it, all the way until the beginning of the afternoon. He scowled when he saw the time as he reached over to turn off his alarm, which was the radio, until he heard the song that was on.

Saigo ni kimi ga hohoende
Massugu ni sashidashita mono wa
Tada amarini kirei sugite
Koraekirezu namida afureta

Then, Tohru realized what the song was: it was their song. As if in a sudden trance, she slowly sat down on her cousin's bed, humming the tune to herself. She gently wrapped her arms around the pillow she was holding, clutching it tightly to her chest and she leaned her head against the soft material, suddenly feeling tears emitting from her eyes.

As Kyo listened to the first lines of the song, his mind went racing back to Tohru and to the night where they first heard this song together. It was a cool summer night, the crickets chirping, the moon shining. He and Tohru were both sitting on the porch at the back of the house while the radio in the sitting room was on, the music drifting through the open window. They sat side by side, their legs dangling off the porch and their hands twined together, and Tohru had leaned her head on Kyo's shoulder. It seemed like at the moment, they both knew that the song that was playing was meant for them. Kyo hadn't heard it ever since then, and now, hearing it again, it surely brought back memories.

Ano hi kitto futari wa
Ai ni fureta

Tohru felt herself smile; she could hear Kyo's voice in her head, feel his touch on her skin. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine that he was there with her, like this horrible reality was, in fact, a bad dream and maybe if she opened her eyes she would wake up in her bed at Kazuma's house and then run into Kyo's room, get swept up into his arms, and she would tell him the silly, yet upsetting, dream that she had. But when she opened her eyes and the song was still on, she was aware that this unbearable dream was reality.

Lifting his head up from his pillow, Kyo let the lyrics of the song sink in. He stared at the radio clock on his night stand, wanting to smash it, anything to stop playing that song, but he sat still and listened, a smile softly grazing his lips, as he thought of the wonderful eleven months he'd spent with her, the summer they spent together.

Watashitachi wa sagashiatte
Tokini jibun o miushinatte
Yagate mitsukeatta no nara

Donna ketsumatsu ga matte ite mo

Feeling the tears coming out more abrupt than before, Tohru pushed her face into the pillow, softly gasping with each sob. She slowly rocked herself back and forth, trying to remind herself that it was just a song and that she would feel better if she just got up and continued making the bed, resumed her cleaning, letting the song carry on as she avoided it. But there was something that held her down to the bed, something that wouldn't let her get up; the thought of Kyo and the song being one of the only things she had left of him, besides the memories.

Unmei to iu igai
Hoka ni wa nai

Kyo sat up in his bed, never taking his eyes off of the radio clock, and swung h is legs over the bed. He stared at the floor, thinking about how Tohru had come into his life so suddenly, just like one day she was there, at the dojo, selling tickets for her school play. Kyo wondered what would have happened if there was no production of Cinderella at Tohru's school ... Would they have met then?

La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la

It all then came to Kyo, sudden and quick, like a strong gust of wind in the middle of winter; in Cinderella, Cinderella and the Prince were separated and then the Prince went out to look for her, and he did, and they lived happily ever after.

Kimi ga tabidatta ano sora ni
Yasashiku watashi o terasu hoshi ga hikatte

Was that what he had to do?

Soba ni ite aisuru hito
Toki o koete katachi o kaeteFutari mada minu mirai ga koko ni
Nee konnanimo nokotteru kara

Tohru sighed and stood up, wiping her eyes with such intensity that they began to sting, like someone had just dropped rubbing alcohol into them. She placed down the pillow and went back to making Nariko's bed. It didn't help though, because she could see the tears that were falling, splashing down onto the sheets and blankets, leaving little wet spots all throughout the bed.

Soba ni ite aisuru hito
Toki o koete katachi o kaete
Futari mada minu mirai ga koko ni
Nokotteru kara

It was her favorite part of the song, the part that always reminded her that they would be together forever. The future would be theirs, but never before had she ever thought of being here in Kumamoko, away from Kyo.

Shinjite aisuru hito
Watashi no naka de kimi wa ikiru
Dakara kore kara saki mo zutto

Sayonara nante iwanai

Kyo padded out of his bedroom and went downstairs. He headed outside and stepped into the warm summer air, watching the clouds pass the sun, and that was when he knew what he had to do.

Ano hi kitto futari wa
Ai ni fureta

It was destiny.


How was it? As you probably already know, I'm very big on music. I'm not really going to use music in my next story, but I'll probably use some quotes. I don't think I'll even go back to writing with song lyrics, but I just thought it was a cute little touch to the story. I hope you all liked the chapter and aren't too upset with me about how long it took! But, the last chapter (gasp!) is already in progress, so it'll be out this month as well, just like I planned! So until then, keep your fingers crossed and hope that Kyo's plan to get Tohru will work out! Oh, and here's the English translation to the song "Heaven".

What you offered straight to me
With a smile for the last time
Was just so beautiful
That I gave way to tears
Surely, that day
The two of us touched love

We sought for each other
Lost ourselves at times
And found each other at last
So whatever result may be waiting for us

It's nothing but
Destiny

La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la

In the sky you set out for
Stars are shining tenderly upon me

Stay by my side, my love
Crossing over time and changing your shape
You see? the future we haven't yet seen
Remains here like this

Stay by my side, my love
Crossing over time and changing your shape
The future we haven't yet seen
Remains here

Trust me, my love
You live within me
So 'll never
Say good-bye to you

Surely, that day
The two of us touched love

I'll see you guys soon!

xoxo Swaying Cherry Blossoms