Chapter 16:

Kyo sat in the back seat holding Tohru's hand. 'Oh, God, please don't let her die… I've never asked you for anything before…please don't let her die. She means the world to me, I love her…please…' Kyo wanted to kiss her and tell her it was okay, but she seemed to be fighting something. They reached the hospital after fifteen minutes of steady praying.

Tohru was lying in a meadow. The sun was shining, and she could feel the rays warming her skin. She had on a dress that was her mother's; it was white with red polka dots. The dress that her mother had worn the day she'd gone to her first parent-teacher conference. That day had been quite odd…

"Mom?" Tohru had asked.

"Yeah?" her mother responded, putting on some high boots.

"What're you doing?"

"I'm getting ready," her mother said and then patted her head, "One day, when you're all grown up, and you have kids of your own, you'll get to dress up for stuff like this."

"Really?" Tohru asked awe inspired.

"Yup," she said smiling, "I'll be back soon Tohru-kun, go to bed at nine if I'm not home by then, okay?"

"Yes," she replied and bid her mother safe travels.

Tohru's eyes filled with tears. Where was she? She wasn't wearing the same clothes like she had been before. She curled up into a little ball and started to cry tears of grief.

"I'm lost!" she whispered through tears, "Mom! Where are you?"

Kyo sat in the waiting room, and the whole "waiting" thing… yeah, that wasn't working too well. He stalked up the corridor and back down the corridor so many times that he was dizzy, but nevertheless, he kept on walking and worrying. Was Tohru going to be okay? The doctors wouldn't tell him anything. A little kid had been following him for some time now.

"What do you want?" he snapped at the child.

"Hi!" he said undiscouraged, "My name's Kumara!"

Kyo was stunned by this kid's straight-forwardness, "I'm Kyo."

"Nice to meet you Kyo-sensei!" the kid said. Kyo'd never been called sensei before.

"Kid, why are you calling me sensei?"

"You're teachin me."

"Teaching you what?"

"I dunno!" the kid said smiling. Kyo for the first time in an hour smiled.

Tohru was still crying in the meadow when someone thrust a tissue at her. She took it, wiped her eyes, and then looked at who'd given it to her. They were turned away from her, hiding.

"Thank you." Tohru said quietly. They turned and Tohru gasped, it was Akito! "I'm so sorry Akito-san!"

"It's okay," he said smiling, "You didn't know." There was something different about him… maybe it was because he had smiled, or it was because Tohru got the feeling that he was trying to be nice to her.

"What're you doing here?" she asked cautiously.

"This is where I go when I'm in trouble." He said.

"Like when you get yelled at by someone?" she asked.

"No," he replied flatly, "This is where I go when I feel like I'm losing the family… when I feel alone."

"Oh," Tohru said, "But you have a… I don't know what to call it, a…?"

"A leash on the whole family?" he finished for her, "Tohru-chan, in here I can visit all the family members who've passed away. In here, I feel like I belong."

"Akito-san… why are you telling all this to me?"

"Because you deserve better than I've been treating you." He snapped, "I'm not good with my temper as you can see, but Kyo said something to me… he told me that I needed love… Tohru, I am asking this and I want you to answer truthfully, I will not do anything to you, for fear of the zodiac spirits, they like you."

"Oh, why?"

"Because you're trying to break the curse." He said, "How would you like to be a celestial power and have to be tied down to a human?"

"I see…"

"Look, I want to know what you think," he said, "Do you think that I have control issues?"

"Umm… I don't think that you have control issues per say, but you do like to have your way with people." She said quietly.

He smiled and offered her his hand, "Thank you."

"Sure!" she said taking it and he helped her to stand.

"Another question," he said to her, "do you think anyone could love me?"

"Akito-san," Tohru tried to answer, "the whole family does love you."

"No they don't."

"Sure they do! All you have to do is start to treat them with more respect and regard their feelings more kindly." She said smiling.

"I could see how Kyo-san likes you so much." He commented.

Kyo was sitting with the kid and thought about how much he was helping him. He would run down the corridor with him until they got yelled at. Then Kyo told him the story of the zodiac, and somehow this kid knew. He knew that Kyo was telling him for a reason.

"Are you Kyo Sohma?" a nurse asked.

"Yes?" he asked shooting back to reality.

"Tohru has just stabled, and she is doing fine now." The nurse told him, "But the doctor wants to keep her here until the x-ray results come back."

"That's great!" he exclaimed, "Can I go in and see her?"

"Sure, if she's awake."

"What do you mean?" Kyo asked.

"Sir, Tohru is in a coma." The nurse stated.

His world came crashing down in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it. 'This shouldn't be happening!' he thought, 'Why did this happen? What was so stressful?'

"Kyo-sensei?" Kumara asked quietly.

"Do you want to come in and see her?" he asked as a tear formed in his eye. Kumara smiled and took his hand as Kyo led him into the room.

Immediately, Kumara ran up to her and looked at her face.

"She's really pretty," he stated.

Kyo smiled and looked at her flushed face, "Yeah, she's beautiful."

"Kyo-sensei?"

"Yeah?"

"Who's he?" Kumara said pointing to the doorway.

Kyo turned and saw Akito there, he walked through, guiding something. First he saw the faint outline of a hand, then an arm until he saw the dress and body.

"Tohru…?" he asked with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"No," Akito said, stopping Kyo as he went to hug her, "If you touch her Tohru-chan will die."

"It's true Kyo-kun," she said smiling, she too had tears in her eyes, "I need to go back into my body, Akito took me."

"Huh?" Kyo asked confused.

"I found her roaming the Field of the Zodiac." He said, and led her to her body; "I was able to save her from death Kyo-san."

"Why would she have died?"

"The field is only for people of the zodiac." He said.

Tohru looked down at herself and thought, 'This is what I must look like to others… what's gonna happen to me?'

"Tohru-kun…" Kyo said, "They said that you're in a coma…"

"A coma, huh?" she smiled, "I can live with that, I've dealt with worse."

"Worse? Like what?" he asked.

There was another knock on the door; Hatori was standing there drenched.

"What happened to you?" Kyo asked turning.

"It's raining, stupid." He said, and looked past him to see Tohru.

Kyo turned, but Tohru's spirit had vanished.

"It's okay," Akito told him, "She just went into her body."

"What happened now?" Hatori asked annoyed.

"Tohru is going to be fine. I just know it." Akito said to Kyo, and for the first time, Kyo smiled at him and gave him a warm hug.