Disclaimer: I don't own Fruit's basket!

Tohru and Kyo OOC.

Kuro Sangai

Chapter 4

By: Sakoko-chan

- - -

"It's still quite hard to believe that Kyon has amnesia." Said Shigure as he poked at some food with his chopsticks.

"Yes." Replied Tohru, staring sadly down at her food with a sigh.

It had been a week since the storm, and Shigure, Yuki and Tohru were sitting at the table eating lunch.

"Where is Kyon anyway? Maybe he forgot there was such a thing as lunch!" Shigure laughed at his own thought.

Tohru stood up then made her way to the stairs.

"Kyo-kun!" She called.

After a minute of silence Tohru quickly climbed the stairs to look for their orange haired friend.

When she was gone Shigure turned to Yuki.

"So what do you think Yuki-kun? About Kyo that is. If you want to talk about what you think of Tohru you'll have to come to my room later, since I know it will be a few hours until your done talking about her."

Yuki stared impassively at his food, but did nothing. After a moment he spoke.

"I'm not going to pick fights with him, if that's what you mean."

Shigure took a drink from his coffee mug. For the first week back everyone had been helping the city by accompanying the school to regular clean up's everyday. Kyo had gone too, and though he was teased a lot for acting so different, he had managed to keep the fact that he didn't remember anybody a secret. Somehow he still remembered all his school work and such, like how to do math and science, so no one suspected anything there.

Shigure and Yuki had also been leaving often to the main house for whatever reasons Akito had, so Kyo and Tohru had quite a bit of time to spend together. During that time Tohru had been telling Kyo a lot about himself, and the rest of his family. Of course she only told him the good parts though, like how he lived with Shishou before coming to live with them, and how she liked to make tuna for him because he liked it. She hadn't the heart to tell him yet of the bad stuff in his life.

But today was the start of holidays, so everyone was now getting together for the first time for lunch, but Kyo had yet to show up.

"But something's not right." Yuki continued. "It's not just the fact that Kyo's lost his memory, but... there's more." Yuki looked up at Shigure, who for once was actually acting serious. "Something's wrong. And I think all the Juunishi, even Kyo, can feel it. It feel's...like it ties in with that..."

"Hmm..." Shigure put his mug down. "I agree Yuki-kun! Something's afoot in them thar hills! Want some coffee?"

- - -

Kyo leafed through a small book that was filled with pictures. He sat on the floor, his back leaning against the wall.

The album (for that's what it was) was filled mostly with pictures of a woman who looked to be in her twenties. The rest of the pictures were an assortment of people young and old. But there was one picture that had caught Kyo's eye. It was a picture of a small, four year old boy with orange hair. He was sitting on a couch, and he seemed to be smiling brightly for whomever was holding the camera.

Kyo stared at it intently, wondering if that was him in the picture. His eye's soon drifted to a picture of the woman in her twenties that was to the left of the picture of the small boy. She had shoulder length blond hair, and was posing for the camera in front of a small cottage that lay beside a lake in the wilderness. Her smile was wide and unlike some of the other pictures, she looked truly happy.

I wonder what caused her smile to become so forced Thought Kyo as he began to flip through the pages once again.

Kyo was brought out of his thought's when a soft knock came from his door. Without thinking the cat quickly put his album away then went over to the door, opening it.

"Oh! Tohru!" He said, a smile coming to his face when he saw who it was.

Tohru smiled back, then asked,

"Lunch is ready Kyo-kun. Do you want to come down?"

Kyo's eye's widened as he realized he had totally forgotten about lunch.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I was busy and I-I guess I forgot."

"Oh don't worry! It's alright!." Tohru took the boy's hand and blushed as a sudden thought came to her mind.

"Are you alright Tohru?" Asked Kyo when he saw her red face.

Tohru looked up at him, her blush deepening.

"Ah! Yes! I'm fine! I was just, uh... thinking."

"Oh."

Tohru continued to blush as she took a step forward. Then suddenly she turned around, leaned up, and kissed Kyo.

Kyo was shocked to say the least. He knew that he had temporary amnesia, but something told him that this was very out of the ordinary for this girl to do.

Kyo began kissing the girl back, and started to put his arms around her when Tohru suddenly stopped and pulled away.

Kyo didn't say anything, but he didn't do anything either. He just stared at Tohru, as though not sure what had happened.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Kyo-kun." She said, looking at her feet.

How am I supposed to tell him that if he hugs me he'll turn into a cat? Oh this is so weird! He's supposed to keep that secret from me, not me keep it a secret from him!

Tohru took a deep breath, then looked up into Kyo's blank face. She couldn't help but smile when she saw that awkward and confused look he held.

"Um, Kyo-kun-."

"No, it's okay Tohru." Said Kyo, putting his hand on her arm, trying his best to reassure her. "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay. I understand."

Tohru shook her head, and took another deep breath.

"Kyo-kun...if you hug me, you'll turn into a cat."

Kyo's eyes widened a little and he took a step back, not knowing whether to believe her or not.

"A...cat?" He said.

Tohru nodded.

"Yes. It's because your under curse... the rest of the Sohma's have it too. I mean, well some of them do. Shigure-san and Sohma-kun have it."

Kyo looked down at his feet. After a moment he asked,

"Does everyone turn into a cat when someone hugs them?"

Tohru quickly shook her head.

"Um, no! Only you. Shigure-san turns into a dog and Sohma-kun turns into a rat. There are ten others who have the same curse. It's called the curse of the zodiac."

Kyo looked up to see Tohru doing her best to smile at him. He tried to smile back, but failed miserably.

"Kyo-kun...are you okay?" Tohru asked, taking a step towards him.

"Yeah...I'm fine." He said, taking her hand.

Tohru smiled and the two walked down the stairs and into the kitchen together.

Shigure and Yuki both looked up when they saw Tohru and Kyo enter the room. When the two sat down and began gathering their food Shigure asked,

"So Kyo-kun! How are you? I haven't really got a chance to talk with you the past week, when I was at the main house! Oh by the way I'm Shigure! Your most favourite cousin in the entire world!"

Shigure gave a goofy smile to his orange haired cousin.

Kyo looked at him with his eyebrows raised, as he did to almost everyone whom he barely remembered these days or if they said something he didn't understand.

"My...favourite cousin?" Repeated Kyo. He had a hard time believing that this man would be his favourite anything.

Shigure's grin widened, obviously pleased to see that Kyo actually bought it.

"Yes! And this here is Yuki! He's your servant-."

Thwak!

"Shut up baka" The rat of the zodiac said after hitting Shigure rather hard over the head. "And I'm not your servant." He added, unintentionally glaring at Kyo.

Kyo stared back at Yuki, not sure why he was so mad at him.

"Well Kyo? You didn't answer my question!" Stated Shigure promptly as he set down his coffee mug.

Kyo was slightly taken aback, as he did not remember having been asked a question.

"I'm sorry..." The cat said quietly. "I don't remember-."

"No no that's fine that's fine." Said Shigure, waving his hand as though brushing the apology aside.

To tell the truth Shigure didn't really like this new Kyo. It was too...different. For one, apologies were never really Kyo's thing. Well verbal apologies anyway. And for him to apologize to Shigure, well that was practically un heard of. Oh well. At least he would believe almost anything he said!

"But what I asked was if you were good!"

"I'm...fine." Said Kyo as he took some tempura and put it on his plate.

Tohru smiled, happy that everything was going fine at the moment. Then suddenly, a thought hit her..

"Um! Shigure-san! Yuki-kun!" The two said said men looked at the girl. "I just told Kyo-kun about the zodiac curse! I uh...forgot he didn't know. But...I think it would be good if you two told him all of it, since I...uh...I think it would be best. Since I-I really don't know all ofit like you do."

Shigure looked at Kyo.

"You only just found out?" He asked. "I would have thought for sure since you and To-."

Yuki jammed his elbow into the older man's side to shut him up. Shigure got the hint and coughed, for change of subject or from Yuki's elbow in his side no one knew.

"Well, Kyo-kun, the zodiac curse..."

- - -

"Hiro's thirteen and he's the sheep... Kagura is nineteen and she's the boar... Haru is sixteen and he's the cow...and Kisa is thirteen and she's...she's the...the...um-."

"Kisa-chan is the tiger!" Said Tohru, a smile on her face from all the progress that Kyo had made so far.

Shigure, Tohru, Kyo and Yuki were all sitting in the living room with pictures of all of the zodiac member's and their respective zodiac spirit. Shigure would hold up pictures of each and Kyo would try and say their names and what animal's they were. Tohru was sitting beside him, helping him when he couldn't get the names right. And Yuki was sitting on a chair, watching the entire scene.

"The tiger, um...right..."

Shigure put down the pictures onto the floor.

"So has any of the pictures reminded you of anything yet?" He asked.

Kyo looked down at his feet. Then suddenly a memory flashed in his head.

"I remember... A girl."

"A girl?" Shigure repeated.

"Oooh! Suppose it could be... a past girlfriend?"

Yuki stood up and walked out of the room.

"I'm going to call Shi-han. He knows Kyo better then we do." He glanced back at the said boy who was still looking at his feet as he put the phone to his ear. "The old Kyo, any way."

It was then that Kyo looked up. He looked over to Yuki.

"Shi...han?" Kyo shook his head, as though that name didn't belong. "Shi...shou."

Tohru nodded and smiled widely.

"Yes! That's what you call him Kyo-kun!"

Kyo glanced up and smiled at Tohru. He then turned his head and gazed out of the window. He watched as a bird flew and landed onto one of the branches. But then as quickly as it came, the bird left. It had looked around for a second, then flew off into the sky. A sudden prickle throughout Kyo's body alerted the amnesiac boy.

Something's wrong Thought Kyo. Something's very wrong...why did- why did that bird-

"Kyo-kun!"

Kyo was snapped out of his thought's at the sound of Tohru's voice. He looked back at her to see her smiling broadly, seemingly unaware of the danger that Kyo was feeling.

"Kyo-kun! Sohma-kun says that your Shishou wants you to come over right away!"

Kyo stood up, and was about to walk to the door when he stopped. He turned back to Tohru.

"I don't know the way."

Tohru walked over to him.

"Don't worry Kyo." She said, resisting the urge to take his hand. "I'll show you."

- - -

Throughout the trip Kyo could not shake the feeling that he was being watched. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, checking to see if anyone was following them. Tohru noticed this and asked,

"Kyo-kun is everything alright?"

Kyo looked down at her, then started walking faster. Tohru did the same.

"Kyo-kun?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Beside's its probably nothing. Let's just get to this Shishou guy's house and get this over with."

Tohru didn't understand. Why was he acting so weird? And what was he mad for? Didn't he want to go see Kazuma-san?

He's been acting like this ever since I told him about the zodiac curse. Maybe he's remembering stuff that's not very good?

Tohru was about to ask another question when she saw that they were nearing Kazuma's house.

"Ah! Here we are Kyo-kun!" She said as she pointed to the house.

Kyo didn't say anything. He had a frown on his face that clearly said that he was upset with something. For a moment he looked like the old Kyo did when he had just been in a fight with Yuki and lost.

This is so stupid Kyo thought to himself as they walked to the house. Why are my emotions so jumbled up? It's probably because of that stupid rat. He alway's causes problems for me. He and Haru are both-

Kyo stopped what he was doing.

What did he mean Yuki and Haru are both-? Was his memory coming back to him now?

Kyo shook his head. Right now he'd work on getting all his memory back. He'd think on the parts he had got back later.

The two teenagers walked to Kazuma's door. When they got there, Tohru turned to Kyo.

"I hope you have fun Kyo-kun!" She said happily. "Try hard on getting your memory back! I know you can do it!"

"Your not staying?" Asked Kyo.

Tohru shook her head.

"No, I have to go back and, uh, get...groceries! Yeah! So I can make supper!"

"So I'm staying here for supper?"

"Um, yes! If that's alright with you!"

Something told Kyo that he didn't want to have supper at Shishou's.

"Uh, yeah. That's fine."

Tohru smiled.

"Good. I'll see you later then, kay?"

Kyo nodded.

"Kay."

Tohru started running back down the path, then stopped, turned and waved. Kyo waved a little back, not so sure about what he was doing anymore. Tohru then turned and disappeared among the tree's.

Kyo took a deep breath, then turned and opened the door.

"Um, Shi...shou?" He asked as he walked tentatively inside.

The teenager closed the door quietly and took off his shoes. He looked around at the unfamiliar place, not sure what to do next.

"Shishou?" He said again, this time a little louder.

Kyo walked into the kitchen. All was quiet, and it looked as though no one was home. He then spotted a lone piece of paper on the table. Kyo went over and picked it up.

Dear Kyo,

I'm sorry I'm not here to greet you, but I was called away and unfortunately I had to go. I'll be back around four, so please wait for me! Oh yes! I'm Kazuma, your Shishou! I'll talk to you more when I get back. But until then, have a look around. If you go down the hallway, go to the room on your right, it was yours. I hope it will help you remember anything!

Shishou

Kyo unconsciously put the paper into hit pocket and looked up at the clock.

3:00pm

He had an hour to look around, so he made his way for his room.

When he was inside, Kyo looked around only to see a bed and a closet. Everything else seemed to have been moved, probably to Shigure's. He looked around, trailing his fingers on the wall absently as he walked towards the closet. Maybe he'd find something in there, since that's where he had found the photo album back home.

When he opened it, he knew instantly that all his stuff hadn't been moved to Shigure's, but in fact, had been moved into the closet. Piles of clothes lay on the floor, while objects were strewn on top of them, then on a shelf up top. Kyo then noticed something odd.

A brown book lay underneath all the clothes on the floor, a picture poking out from the pages. Kyo bent down and picked it up, taking the picture out. He glanced at it quickly, and saw a picture of an older man and a young, orange haired boy. They were both sitting on the ground, in front of a bunch of trees. The older man, who had pitch black hair and a long trench coat on was trying to put his arm around the boy, but the boy obviously did not want to have a picture taken. At least, not with this man. The man put up with this, but his smile turned out quite fake.

Kyo looked at the man, and an immediate dislike welled up inside him. He quickly cast the picture aside and opened the book. He skimmed a few pages, his eye's widening as he read. Then without warning, pain struck at his head.

"Gah!"

Kyo let go of the book and clutched his head, his head bent down. Memories flashed through his mind at breakneck speed. He saw images of a girl with curly blond hair, and a man in a trench coat. Every time he saw the images a sharp pain would strike at his head, almost saying that the memories would come at a price.

Then as quickly as it had started it stopped. The pain was now a distant throb, almost un noticeable. Kyo lifted his head slowly.

I remember

He thought.

I remember about Kasaida and the man in the black trench coat. I think his name was... Toya.

Kyo took a deep breath, then stood up slowly. He backed out of the closet, the book still in his hand. He looked out the window and saw a bird sitting on the sill.

Hey, that's the same bird from before...

He thought as he took a step closer to the window. He watched as the bird moved it's head around, as though looking for something. Then as Kyo walked closer, it suddenly took off. The feeling of something wrong welled up inside Kyo once again.

Then suddenly red flags were appearing all over Kyo's mind, but just as he turned around a fist appeared, then darkness.

- - -

Tohru felt a jab of pain in her heart as she lifted the sheet onto the clothe's line. She winced and put her hand on her chest.

"Honda-san? Are you alright?" Asked Yuki as he walked over to her.

Tohru smiled as the pain passed quickly and nodded.

"Ah, yes! I'm fine! Sohma-kun. Thank you for asking."

Yuki nodded, though he kept a close eye on the girl after that as he helped her hang up clothes.

Tohru moved the clothe's line so that she could put a shirt on it. She lifted the shirt up, then noticed that the shirt was Kyo's.

The girl stopped what she was doing and stared at the piece of clothing.

I hope Kyo-kun's remembering everything. Although I do like this Kyo a lot, I fell in love with the old one.

Tohru lifted the shirt and hung it up. She put the pins on it, then moved the line again. This time she happened to look out into the yard. She watched as a small bird flew over to her, then landed on the roof nearby. Tohru smiled and hung up another shirt.

When she was finished putting the clothe's up for the day, Yuki had already left and gone to a school meeting. Tohru sighed, glad that this little chore was done. But when she looked up, she saw that the bird from before was still sitting on the roof, in the exact same spot it had landed in. She looked at it curiously, tilting her head to one side. Then suddenly the bird spread it's wings and flew off.

Tohru stared after it until it disappeared, then turned and went back into the house. But as she did so, she couldn't help but have the feeling that something was wrong.

- - -

Kyo opened his eye's blearily, doing his best to stay awake. He looked around and found that he was in his room.

Why am I in my old room? Oh... oh yeah I came here to talk to Shishou and try and get my memories back.

Suddenly it all came rushing back to Kyo. Memories hit him from all side's of his head, causing a sudden and painful headache.

"Gah!"

Kyo clutched his head, but as he did so he realized that his hand were tied up. Ignoring the pain, the orange haired teenager looked up. His eye's widened, then narrowed as he realized who the person was in front of him.

It was the man from the street. The man in the black trench coat. Also known as Toya. It was the same man from the picture that had been taken when Kyo was a child. But this time, Kyo remembered him.

"Toya." Kyo spat out the name angrily as though it had burned his tongue.

Toya smiled.

"Ah Kyo, I see you remember me."

It was then that Kyo realized that not only had he recovered his memory, but he had also recovered those memories that were taken away from him all those year's before.

- - -