Tohru opened her eyes in a sudden rush. Her head ached, waiting for relief. She found herself in her bed.
"Tohru you're awake. Hey guys she's up!" Kyo exclaimed as he knelt down to Tohru. Kyo, Haru, Momiji, and Hatori came up to her bedside as well.
Tohru tried to sit up but Hatori said she needed to lie down for a little longer.
"What happened?" she asked rubbing her eyes.
"I found that damn Akito trying to kill you!" Kyo shouted with a clenched fist.
She had flashbacks just then about the night; Akito being aggressive with her and choke her. She felt her neck with her hands.
"That's right. I heard a noise in his room and just took a peek inside. I saw," she looked at Yuki, "You and him. He whipped you didn't he?"
Yuki got weak in the face, "That doesn't matter. Let's focus on what happened to you. Go on with what happened after I left."
She knew he didn't want to discuss this, so she let go of it and continued, "I made a noise and he saw me. He threw me against the wall and floor and he grabbed his whip to hurt me. But I slapped him before he touched me. That's when he snapped and started choking me. That's all I really remember."
Kyo frowned, "I heard the commotion from the roof. I ran in there and threw him off you. He started having breathing problems, that bastard. Yuki came in after that and fetched Hatori."
"Is Akito all right?" she asked.
"You shouldn't be concerned for him. He's lucky I didn't smash his head in," Kyo grunted trying to be all manly. Yuki just shook his head at the cat.
"Is Tohru going to be all right Hatori?" Momiji asked peeking his blond little head from the group of tall males.
Hatori smiled at Momiji, "She'll be just fine. Just as long as she gets sleep and isn't pushed to stress."
"Thank you Hatori for taking care of this. Honestly the whole thing was my fault. You should really go check on Akito. I'm sure his condition is worse since his physical state isn't always the best," Tohru said as she assured everyone she was fine. Hatori went along with her suggestion and went to tend to Akito.
Soon after a little visiting, Momiji and Haru left. Yuki and Kyo stayed behind to keep Tohru company.
"Thank you Kyo for well saving me," Tohru smiled gently.
Yuki cursed at himself. If only he didn't leave so quickly or if he had only went to check up on her. He felt like a total complete failure. Also he didn't like the fact the Kyo had shown him up in protecting Tohru. He didn't know why but he was flushed with jealousy. He wanted to be Tohru's hero.
"You should be more careful. I won't be around to bail you out of every trouble you get into," Kyo smirked.
"I know. I'm sorry I've cause all of you to worry. I feel terrible about this whole thing," she frowned a bit.
"You shouldn't feel sorry about anything Miss Honda, Tohru. Akito is a very impulsive person. His aggression is known to every Sohma, especially me," Yuki inputted to the conversation at hand.
"Yuki, I know Akito whipped you last night. That's the noise I heard. Why did he do that to you?" Nosy she was being of course, but she just had to know.
Yuki looked at Kyo trying to get him to leave. But Kyo looked just as interested so Yuki decided to tell both of them, "Well it wasn't the first time Akito has done that to me. I moved out of this place to avoid that very thing. He usually does what he does when he sees any independence in my personality. He wishes that every Sohma obeys him. I'm only one of the few that have dared to go up against him. I was young when I did this, very young. He's never been able to let go of it and won't stop until I'm completely under his control."
Tohru's eyes began to water, "Oh Yuki! That's horrible! No wonder you lived with Shigure and now you're back here where he can get to you the most. It's my entire fault, everything is. I've messed up so much."
"No Tohru, not at all. I knew one day I'd have to come back here. Akito's actions have nothing to do with you at all. He wishes everyone to be miserable because that is how he himself his. He's miserable every day and the only time he gets joy is when he causes other people's pain," Yuki spoke with such knowledge of the subject.
After awkward moments of no conversation at all the boys left so Tohru could get some sleep. But she couldn't sleep at all. She was wondering how Akito was doing. She always felt compassion for everyone, Akito included. Even though he did what he did, it doesn't change that he's still a person that somewhere has a kind heart buried beneath his anger and hate.
She got up from her bed, a little too quick because she got a tad light headed. She walked over to the very same door that she stood at the night before. She was pausing to open the door. Would Akito be ready to pounce on her right when she opened it? Did he have a lethal weapon by his bedside?
She pushed back all the If's that could happen and decided to see for herself. She slowly opened the door to Akito's room.
She found Akito sitting in his bed. His face was paler than usual and his breathing was loud and hoarse. He was awake and looking directly at Tohru with a confused look.
"Do you wish for death?" He asked amused. Tohru shook her head no and walked closer to his bed, but still kept her distance.
"Are you all right?" She asked with her hands clasped before her.
"I'm never all right you twit. Does it look like I'm doing all right?" he snapped at her.
She bit her lip, "Well I hope you do get better soon."
He was puzzled by Tohru, "Are you not going to kick me when I'm down? Yell at me for what I did?"
"Why would I want to do that?" she sounded so innocent and pure.
Akito was even more confused, "Because I hurt you last night; would have killed you if that damn cat hadn't interfered."
"Yes, you did hurt me. But I was snooping when I shouldn't. Normally people would just yell at people who do that, you resort to violence instead. I'm not one to hold a grudge, so I hope that we can put this behind us," Tohru said.
"Well you probably think you're so high and mighty for trying to be the bigger person here; you stupid little girl. Let me clue you in on how things go on around here. If someone angers me in any way, they pay. They don't go smiling around afterwards; they go around frightened I might pop up somewhere. I don't allow anyone to put my anger behind them. I want them to remember the pain and hurt forever so that they will never be cross with me again," he ranted.
"I see…it makes me sad that you don't wish to resolve the matter. But this is your home and I am your guest. So if you wish not to be any way civil about this then I will abide by your wishes. I just want you to know that I don't think you're as bad as you act. I know there's good in everyone; you're just refusing to allow the good in you to surface. Maybe one day you'll release it. I'll leave you alone now, hope you return to better health," she bowed out gracefully.
After she left, Akito was stunned. No one had ever said those things to him. It really disgusted him to think someone thought he could be good and also wished him good health. Usually everyone wished that he would die by a miserable death. This girl was showing him something very rare, someone who cared. It made him sick that she thought he could change, if he did he would lose his control over the Sohma's. He would not allow that to ever happen. He'd show her how terrible a person he truly could be and that no essence of good could ever linger within him.
Tohru
Tohru figured she would check on Yuki and see how he was holding up. She opened his door without knocking.
"Oh Yuki!" she exclaimed. Yuki was sitting on his bed with his shirt off, his back facing to her. His back was slashed with fresh red marks.
"Tohru?" He turned to see her shocked expression. She rushed over to his side and frowned.
"You should have these bandaged or sanitized or something!" she was trying to be somewhat helpful if that.
"Hatori is coming by later to put some special ointment on them. Please don't worry over them," he pulled a shirt on quickly.
"Yuki I wished I could do something to help everything," she sighed wallowing in sadness.
"You don't need to bother with anything. Now to change the subject, I called the school to let them know that the Sohma's and Tohru Honda would not be showing up for today due to the death of the family pet. So if anyone asks, Snuggles the Dwarf Hamster got eaten by a cat," Yuki smiled lighting up the room.
Tohru chuckled a bit, "All right. Yuki, can we go walk around outside, I really want some fresh air." Yuki agreed and they went to walk around in the garden.
Garden
Yuki held Tohru's hand as she walked, "Are you feeling well enough to walk Tohru?"
"You bet! I'm feeling a lot better, after all it wasn't that much of an injury," she smiled assuring.
Across the garden on the roof sat Kyo. He was feeling quite jealous seeing Yuki with Tohru. After last night he knew for certain he felt feelings for Tohru. Feelings of like and maybe love. He needed to find out how she felt; did she see him anymore than a friend? Does she like Yuki? It all plagued his mind with such torment.
He bounced off the roof and joined the two, "Tohru nice to see you up and about."
"Thanks Kyo, it's nice to be walking. Do you want to walk with us?" she asked.
Yuki wished him not to, Yuki wanted some time alone with Tohru. He himself was still trying to figure out his feelings for her. But Kyo accepted her offer and held onto her other hand and they walked side by side along the garden.
As the three of them talked and walked they were observed by Akito through his window.
He still was bewildered by the girl. When the rat and cat were around her they did not fight, but stayed calm and rational. He's heard from every other Sohma that has met her that she's quite a delight and wonderful person. That's one of the reasons he compromised with them living here. He was interested in finding out for himself how delightful she was and why every Sohma that meets her is drawn to her so.
Sure he was cruel to her last night but his intension was never to kill but only to scare. It was a simple test that he wished to see how she would react and it seemed she was basically apologizing for the incident. She certainly was a strange one and he looked forward to seeing how things would unfold in the Sohma household.
A/N:
Ok well that's that! Hopefully you liked this chapter, sure nothing interesting really happened but it revealed quite a few things. Thanks for the reviews so far everyone!