The Secret Sohmas Chapter 4, a fruits basket fanfic

-The Secret Sohmas-

I don't own Fruits Basket, though I would have liked to have thought of it first… that would've been sweet.

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I'd like to thank dear Damki for finding me and reviewing all three of my chapters. I'm very glad you like my story and my notes and such. I'm gonna be needing more notes when I start introducing more of the characters.

Since I'm writing in the Fruits Basket style, I will be making jokes and comments that would only make sense if one knew Japanese. I will leave notes to explain them at the end of the chapters.

Keep reviewing me, please!

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I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a little long, I think.

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Chapter 4 -

He tilted the screen in his hand carelessly and when the servant arrived in the door to tell him that they were gone, he merely grinned.

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"Oh, good. You woke up."

Kyoko teetered into the kitchen, a hair-band in her mouth and her head cocked to the side as she tried to gather the bits of hair on the back of her neck. "Ornin'" she said between gritted teeth until she removed the band. "Breakfast with Kyo. This should be exciting."

Kyo growled at her and she ruffled his hair to tick him off more.

Tohru held up her hands to try to calm them, but Kyoko was amusing herself in a similar fashion as Shigure would.

"Hey, Kyoko-chan. Your cousins are coming back again today, right?"

Kyoko grumbled and sighed. "Probably. They'll probably keep coming back until I go back or they buy a house here."

"Then why don't we have a big dinner?"

Kyo looked up after trying to fix his hair. "I thought we had a big dinner last night."

Kyoko shoved her elbows out on the table, hitting Kyo's, as she ate her cereal. "There's a difference between a dinner for a lot of people and a big dinner, moron."

"Who ya calling a moron, moron!"

They were growling at each other when Yuki hit them both over the head with the cereal box. "You two are so loud."

"Good-morning, Yuki-kun!" Tohru chimed. Both Kyoko and Kyo mumbled something under their breath and returned to their food.

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"I got worried, you idiot! What'd ya do with your phone?"

"My mom confiscated mine when we got back so late." Hara sighed, readjusting her cowboy hat. Haru joined them when they went to meet the girls outside the subway station. It was a pleasant surprise when they found that the pairings were wearing identical outfits except for Hara's cowboy hat and Kyoko's cap.

"Yu- Bu- How-"

"Shigure told us what you were wearing. Now we're really twins."

Haru nodded in agreement. Hara's serious face just made the others feel awkward, except for Tohru who thought it was adorable.

"I should've know Shigure would do this," Kyo and Yuki fumed together.

Kyoko and Yukiko both sent side-glances at Hara. She had been the one most adamant about dressing up and had basically talked them into compliance. Hara's expression did not change.

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"A party? Like a festival?"

"Of course. Why not?"

"Now, that's an idea."

"You'll be good this time, right Hara?"

"Yes, ma'am."

They had dropped the girl's bags off at the house and went on to the store when they realized they didn't have enough food for a party.

"What should we eat for the party?"

"Watermelon."

"Alright, what else?"

"Watermelon."

"Ya gotta have more than just watermelon at a party."

"You do?"

"We'll need leeks, miso, and spring onion."

"STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!!"

"Fireworks would be fun."

"Well, you're not getting any."

"I love fireworks!"

"..."

"Fireworks it is."

"So we got watermelon, leeks, and fireworks."

"Sounds yummy."

That's basically what the conversation was like for the entirety of the walk down the street. They got a lot of glances for being such an attractive group of young people strolling down the sidewalk. (Well, that, and they were making a lot of noise.)

When they got to the small supermarket (which was really more of a convenience store), the girls parked the boys outside.

"Why do we gotta wait out here?"

"'Cause it's crowded in there and it's mostly woman. You wouldn't last a minute."

Kyo was about to shout something else when Kyoko plopped her cap on his head. "Here. Watch this for me."

Kyo fumed and ripped the cap off his head. Hara looked at her own hat and placed it on Haru's head before vanishing into the super market.

Haru turned to Yuki and Kyo with the cowboy hat on his head. "How do I look?"

"It completes the outfit," replied Yuki, surprised with himself. He wrapped his coat tighter and Kyo moaned on the corner. "This sucks. I hate waiting."

"Maybe you'd feel better if you put the hat on."

"Screw you."

Haru offered the cowboy hat but Kyo just looked at it with greater disgust and Haru placed it back upon his own head.

"So they're Sohmas too, right?"

"Yup."

"You'd think we'd have made a bigger deal about that."

"Yup."

"Do you think there's one of them for each one of us?"

"But the opposite sex."

"I can hardly stand one of them."

"Can you imagine if the two Akitos got together."

"And bred."

A shudder past over all of them and they zipped and buttoned their coats up. It suddenly got very cold.

Then, without warning, they blacked out. Knocked out from behind and bound, the three boys were tossed into a tinted car that then casually drove away. The only sign that they had been on the small sidewalk at all was the Kyoko's cap abandoned on the street.

The girls strolled out of the store laughing amongst themselves, or at least, the ones that laughed were laughing amongst themselves. "We got the fish." Kyoko grinned."

"And the cheese." Yukiko smirked.

"And the grass."

"Ewwww!" the two other Sohma girls exclaimed at once. "You didn't actually do that, did you?"

"Haru-san asked for it."

"That was a joke, you idiot."

"It was? It's hard to know what to take him seriously."

Kyoko and Yukiko moaned. "It's hard to know when to take you seriously." They weren't sure if Hara was joking about the grass or not. "They sold grass in there?" Tohru asked. The girls chose not to answer.

"Hey, Kyo-chan, you lost your hat."

Kyoko stopped and looked down at the street. There was her cap, nicely stepped on. Tohru looked around, suddenly worried. "Where are Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, and Haru-kun?"

"Perhaps they got tired of waiting and went home." Yukiko suggested.

"Or they thought of something better to do and lost track of time." Hara suggested.

Tohru clutched her bag. "Do you think something might have happened to them?"

Kyoko picked her cap up off the ground and brushed it off with her free hand. "Stupid Kyo dropped my hat."

Yukiko sighed and nudged Tohru since she had no free hands. "Come along, Tohru-chan. We'll deliver this and if they're not home then we shall look for them."

"Yes, don't worry, Tohru-chan. Yuki-chan can find them," Hara commented.

"You're coming too."

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I don't need to tell you that the three Sohma boys did not like waking up blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs in a strange car.

"What the hell is going on!?" Kyo shouted when he realized he couldn't see.

"Is everyone alright?" Haru asked, flinging his head to keep the cowboy hat from falling over his blindfold.

"No, I'm not alright!" Kyo shouted, shifting angrily. "I've been kidnapped!"

"Yuki?" Haru asked, bending forward. "Yuki, are your alright?"

Yuki's response came in small gasps. "It's very hot."

Kyo stopped kicking. They were all still in winter coats and the car was very warm and dark.

Haru shifted. "Kyo, can you reach his coat?"

Kyo growled at the darkness. "Dang, it's not so easy when your hands are bound and the car's moving."

Just as Kyo said that, the car started to slow down. It turned and pulled off the road and came to a stop.

"Can you see where we are?"

"I can't see anything, ya moron! If I ever find out who did this I'm gonna bash his face in."

The car door opened and light and chilled air poured in. A fourth person entered the car. "You called, Kyo?" The voice, though the tone attempted friendly, was mischievous and sinister. The boys' blood began to run cold, and Yuki's breath became more staggered as the fourth character sat across from them in the back and shut the door again.

"Oh, Yuki. Are you warm? Here, let me help you with your coat." The fourth person reached out through the darkness and groped the buttons of Yuki's coat. Yuki's voice was strained. "A- Akito."

The master of the hands on Yuki's coat grinned as he loosed the buttons one by one. After the top few, the hands became harsher and the coat was thrown open. The voice of the fourth person became an infuriated growl as his hand spread across Yuki's flat chest. The hands moved to Kyo's coat and unzipped it with an angry flourish, and then Haru's.

"What?" The voice was more of a hiss from some dying creature than a human's. Their blindfolds were ripped off and reveal an extremely contorted face. Kyo's face replied with a look out for blood.

This was not their Akito. This was a male, and not fragile or sickly at all. He was young and strong, looking to be a bit older than their Akito, but his hair was still dark and in his face and his eyes were dark and sharp and greedy.

Akito grabbed Yuki by the collar and pulled him up to his face. "Who are you? How'd you know my name?"

Yuki's coat was hanging on his arms and his breathing was having trouble stabilizing in the heat and darkness.

Kyo's feline eyes glared through the darkness. "Are you the one that did this to us?"

Akito's head snapped in Kyo's direction, wide and angry. He dropped Yuki back into his seat and directed his attention at the orange-haired boy. Akito's eyes slowly transformed into keen, interested slits as he took Kyo's face with his hand and tilted it. "My, my, you really do look like them, don't you."

"ARE YOU THE ONE THAT DID THIS TO US!?" Kyo screamed into Akito's face. The man merely smirked devilishly and returned Kyo's head. "You're feisty, aren't you? Kyoko always was the fiery one." Akito's face was uncomfortably close to Kyo's. "She was always so much fun to play with."

Kyo's eyes flared with a burning hatred and he kicked violently. Akito went flying against the car window and they heard it break behind him.

"Is that what you did to them?" Kyo hollered in a blind rage. "Is that what drove them away?!"

Akito was slowly picking himself up from the window, small bits of tinted glass falling to the floor. There wasn't much room to stand in the car, but Kyo was angry and this wasn't his Akito, this Akito held nothing over him and he was prepared to destroy him. Haru, now that Kyo had leaped up from the seat, had shifted over to assist Yuki, which was proving difficult.

Akito brushed himself off, seeming to have almost enjoyed being thrown. "You know them, then. I guess we had the right location after all."

Kyo threw himself headlong at Akito who opened the door and sidestepped him. Kyo went tumbling to the ground, his face getting scratched up on the assfalt. Akito looked down at him with a sneer of pure disgust. "Rebind them and let's get going. And fix that window."

Kyo growled at Akito's feet as the young man stepped into another car. Kyo's feet were bound and he was rethrown back into the car.

"Way to back me up, Haru."

Haru looked at Kyo bound on the seat across from him and then back to Yuki who had fallen into a fitful sleep. "At least the window's open now."

It was sealed with a bag and tape a moment later.

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"Shigure-san? We're back." The girls stepped through the entrance and almost immediately they could tell that something wasn't right.

"Their shoes aren't here." Yukiko pointed out.

Tohru's anxiety increased ten-fold. "I hope they're alright."

"It's the Sohma guys. Of course they're alright."

"Umm." Hara had strolled into the house while the other girls had tried to consul Tohru, and in passing had stumbled by Shigure's room. "Are you alright, Sensei?"

Tohru ran to his room, quickly followed by Yukiko and Kyoko. Hara was helping Shigure sit up. His room had fallen into disarray again.

"It's alright. I've had worse." Shigure chuckled a bit, rubbing his head.

"I'll go get an icepack!" Tohru yelped and ran to the kitchen, returning a moment later with the first aid kit and a cold bottle.

"That's the last time I host refugees, eh?"

Kyoko stood in the door as Yukiko kneeled down to Shigure. "What happened?"

It was a small recount. Shigure had been at his desk when he heard people come in the front door. He went to his door to investigate and they knocked him out cold, though the bump on his head was from hitting the floor.

"They didn't wreck my house, did they?"

Kyoko leaned into the main house and glanced around. "The floor's a little dirty, but it doesn't look like anything was broken."

"Oh, good." Shigure allowed himself to fall back into Hara's lap and he smiled to himself. "I'm glad to have you girls here."

With a growl and a grumble they traded Hara's lap for a pillow and dragged Tohru out of the room. "You rest now." And they closed the door after them. Shigure sighed heavily.

Tohru was fretting outside the door. "But, Shigure-san."

"He'll be fine," Kyoko hissed. "He just needs to recollect himself."

Tohru shuddered a bit, looking back at Shigure's door. "Who do you think would've done something like that?"

Kyoko and Yukiko looked at each other. Hara was looking downward in thought. They brainstormed as they put away the groceries.

"You don't think the main house-"

"Impossible. They have no idea where we are."

"Maybe they put a tracking device on us."

"Akito doesn't like rice cookers. It's not possible for him to use a tracking device."

"Then how could they have found this place? You didn't keep the directions, did you?"

"Of course I didn't! The only one who had directions here was- Hara!"

Hara looked up from her bag. "Yo."

"Did you save those text messages with the directions I sent you?"

"Yup."

There was a painful pause as a silent moan rose up from Kyoko and Yukiko.

"Should I not have?"

"YOU IDIOT!" Kyoko barked.

Tohru blinked, severely confused. Yukiko was shaking her head with her hand against her forehead. "You see, Tohru-chan, Hara had the directions here on her cell-phone which was confiscated the other day."

Kyoko was hitting her head against a beam in the doorframe. "And they probably looked through her cell phone to see what she was doing and found the directions there."

Tohru looked up at the orange-haired girl hitting her head on the wall. "Then, Kyo, Haru and Yuki..."

Kyoko's head stopped centimeters from the wall. She turned to Tohru, Kyoko's eyes unnaturally wide. Tohru's eyes began to shine with tears under Kyoko's sightless glance. Kyoko spun to Yukiko who looked up from a shared glance with Hara. "You don't think that they- you don't think they could've taken- instead of-"

Yukiko broke eye contact. Tohru was looking back and forth at them. Kyoko sealed her eyes shut before her brow broke in anguish. "NO!" With a terrible swing, Kyoko clenched her fist and punched right through the beam of the kitchen doorframe, her arm through the hole.

"Kyoko!" Tohru's hair stuck out in all directions as she leaped off the ground in panic. "I'll get the first aid kit."

"No!" In Kyoko's anger she tried to pull her arm back, but her fist was preventing her. Splinters were sticking in her arm and Yukiko stood and stopped her from pulling. "Stop it. Open your fist. It's alright now."

Yukiko had coaxed Kyoko's hand out of the hole when Tohru returned with the first aid box. Yukiko sat her cousin down and started pulling out the splinters. Tohru was there was a warm cloth to wipe off the blood.

"Why did you have to find me?" Kyoko's voice was squeezed out of her anguish, her face hidden behind her hair as she looked down at the floor. "Why couldn't you have just left me alone?"

Yukiko glanced at her for a moment before moving onto antiseptic. "There was people back home that wanted you back."

"No one wants me."

Tohru nearly threw herself at her. "Don't say that!"

Yukiko was startled backwards, wrapping Kyoko's hand, as Kyoko was startled into looking up. "You have so many people that care about you right here. There are more people that wish they could be with you. They're right here with you because they didn't want you to be alone." Tohru's feelings began to jumble together. "People are happiest when they can share their own joy with others, when they can see them smile. They didn't want you to be alone. I don't want you to be alone."

Tohru's eyes were streaming. "Being alone can be scary and it can be so sad when you think no one cares for you, but they do. There's always someone, even if it's someone you don't know." Her voice began to quiet. "Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun had closed their hearts and I know they suffered because they kept everything they meant to say inside. It's all right to feel sadness. It's all right to say how you feel. It's alright to let someone love you, you just have to believe that someone can."

Kyoko looked up at the girl crying over her. Hara was looking at her too. Yukiko couldn't bring herself to look at her. Hara smiled at Yukiko when she could get her eye. "Sounds like Ru-kun, doesn't she?"

Kyoko's bandaged hand wiped away one of Tohru's tears. Don't cry for me, not now, she thought as she stood Tohru up. Save them for the people who need you to love them.

Kyoko turned and marched out the kitchen to her bag in Tohru's room. "Yuki-chan? You know how to get to the main house from here?"

Yukiko was walking Tohru down the hall. "I've done it twice, haven't I?"

"Alright. Let's go get back Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun."

Tohru smiled a bit brighter, her cheeks still wet. "Yes."

"And Haru," she and Hara said, pulling her gloves on. Kyoko was digging through her bag for a belt. "Can you ride the subway in that, Tohru?"

Tohru giggled, blushing a bit.

It only took a minute for the girls to change. They went for darker colors. This was perhaps the one time Tohru would be seen in pants ever. This was one of the few times Yukiko ever wore pants, as well. They slipped on their shoes, tightened their laces and they were off.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Shigure chimed, hopping up on the step. The girls gave him varying degrees of attention. "Say cheese!" With a quick shot on a disposable camera, Shigure had captured this small moment that would never again be repeated.

"Can I see it?" Hara asked.

"It's a disposable."

"We're in Japan. Why do you have a disposable?"

"It's for moments like this!"

Kyoko turned back to the house. "Oh shoot, I forgot something. You go."

"Shouldn't we wait?"

"No, no. You guys go and get tickets or something. I'll be inside."

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The Sohma boys didn't know how long they had been bound in the back of the car. Time seemed to blur in the heat and the dark. It seemed like an eternity before the car slowed again. There were shadows passing by and they could hear a gates opening; several gates. It almost sounded like they were entering a compound. Perhaps they were.

The car came to a slow halt. Footsteps scuffled across gravel and the daylight blinded them when they opened the door. The boys were dragged out one by one, their bonds loosened. Then the cars drove off again and vanished behind more gates. Haru was picking Yuki off the ground when footsteps echoed across a wooden patio. "Good to see you're all back this time."

The boys turned and looked up into a pair of soft, brown eyes.

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"Aren't you going with them?" Shigure fingered his fan as he spotted Kyoko curled up in a darker corner of the house. Her eyes seemed glazed over and sightless. "No. I can't go back there. I swore I'd die before I went back there."

Shigure tilted his fan instead of his head. "So you're just going to sit there? What about what Tohru said about not suffering alone?"

Kyoko shifted so her back was to him and she hugged her knees tighter. "I don't want anyone to love me. It's safer that way."

"So you're scared?" Shigure hid part of his face with his fan, though Kyoko could not see it.

"No, it's just..." Her chin rested against her knees and her free hand found its way to her ankles. "I'm jaded... I hate it."

Shigure stared at the back of her head for a moment and then dropped his fan for maximum volume. "So staying here will heal you?"

"No. I'm not here to heal-" She straightened up, eyes wide, and she spun around to meet Shigure's devilish smirk. She couldn't help but smirk back. "You know I hate you, right?"

"Of course." He grinned for the last time. Kyoko scrambled to her feet and stumbled to the door in a half run.

"Where are you going now?"

She had her shoes on in two seconds flat and held her cap to her head as she bolted out the door.

"I'm going to get them, you moron!"

Shigure watched Kyoko vanish into the distance. He shook his head with a mischievous grin and closed the door behind her.

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Did you notice we've met a new character each chapter? I did that on purpose! I'm so clever!

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If you don't mind, would you review me?

I don't like when people command their readers to review so I'm politely asking my valued readers to leave a review since I often don't update until I know someone's read it i.e. leaves a review.