Preparing for school the next day was quite hard for Tohru. She had bruises of her neck and other random places all over her body. She tried her best to cover up the bruises with makeup, but you could still see a bit of purplish blotches.
Putting on the best smile she could, she walked out to meet the boys.
"Tohru!" Momiji cheered as he ran to say good morning to her. She happily joined in on the boy's good energy as the gang began to walk to school.
Momiji was skipping in the front, Kyo and Yuki were bickering in second, Haru was trailing behind them, and Tohru was lagging in last.
She was still a little worn out from all the events that had happened that week. She wondered if Uo and Hana would notice her bruises. She would just have to wait and see if they do.
With a sly grin Haru slowed his pace to be at Tohru's position. "How you feeling?" he asked smoothly.
A little startled she responded, "I'm perfectly fine and you?"
He stretched and put his hands behind his head and looked up at the sun, "Can't complain."
She smiled and then caught a real good glimpse of him. The sun was bouncing off the tip of his nose, giving shine in his eye. This just reminded her of how attractive the Sohma men were, which made her face a little pink.
Haru chuckled when he saw her blush. "Tohru who do you like?" he blurted out.
"What do you mean?" she felt awkwardness towards him in the few seconds that followed.
"Well everyone likes at least one person. Who do you like? They don't even have to go to our school."
Tohru paused. She really didn't know who she liked. She likes everyone really, but that wasn't the question. Haru wants to know who she would like to date, but she just didn't have an answer for him.
Suddenly Yuki and Kyo realized that Haru was alone with Tohru. Remembering Haru's likeness towards Tohru they jumped in to stop him from doing whatever he was doing.
"Just wondering Tohru, did you ever finish your math homework?" Yuki asked positioning himself between her and Haru.
"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot! Oh I'm so stupid! I'll get a zero for sure!" She exclaimed metaphorically kicking herself.
"That's all right you can copy mine," Yuki said pulling out his homework from his backpack.
Her eyes lit up. She never cheated before, but the way this week's been going she's up for change, "Thank you Yuki! I'll repay you with something when we get home. Maybe some cookies, or anything really." She took the paper and stuck it in her math book.
Kyo kind of trudged with the group. He wasn't quite good at math, so he couldn't help Tohru with that. He really wasn't good at any school subject; it's a wonder how he even was passing any of his subjects.
Finally they got to school. Haru and Momiji went their way while the cat, rat, and girl went to their room.
"Tohru are you all right? I heard about your hamster. I didn't even know you guys kept a pet," Uo said as Tohru sat between her two friends.
Tohru made sure her hair covered her neck, so not to alarm her friends.
"Yeah it was quite some tragedy. But I can't talk now, I forgot to do that math assignment and Yuki and letting me copy his," Tohru began copying.
"I can't believe you're taking hand outs. Tohru are you feeling all right? You've been acting strange lately," Uo said tapping her pencil on the table.
Tohru sighed rushing through her copying, "Look, something is going on with me right now, but I can't explain here. I'll tell you two at lunch."
Hanna and Uo looked at each other in confusion, and allowed her to finish copying.
Lunch
"So you're living at Prince Yuki and Carrot Tops family home?" Uo said in surprise. Tohru nodded and Hana went on about some vibration she was feeling from the girl behind her.
Tohru tucked her hair behind her ear and took a bit of her sandwich. Uo's eyes went wide.
"What the hell happened to your neck?" She shouted a little loud causing people around them to gawk.
Tohru quickly shielded her neck with her dark hair and looked down at her food.
"I fell…" she mumbled. Uo narrowed her eyes and flipped Tohru's hair away.
"Fell my ass! Those bruises look like they were made by a hand. Who did this to you? Is this why you weren't here yesterday?" Uo was quite enraged. How dare some one hurt innocent Tohru?
Tohru sat there in silence, ashamed that she couldn't tell her friends the truth about everything.
Kyo quickly ran up to the table. "Yankee stop making a scene. You're embarrassing her."
She growled at the orange haired boy, "You know who did this, don't you? Tell me or I'll punch your lights out."
Kyo's eyes widened and he took Tohru's hand, "Come on, we need to talk."
Kyo quickly whisked Tohru to one of the buildings roof. A place he hung out a lot.
He examined her neck, he didn't notice the markings before, she must have hid them well.
"I can't go on lying to my friends," she said sliding down to the ground.
Kyo scratched his head not knowing exactly why he brought her up here. Was this the right time to tell her he was in love with her?
Tohru looked up at him, "So what did you want to talk about?"
Kyo shifted his feet then sat down next to her, "I really don't know. I figured that you probably wanted to get out of there. You don't need everyone knowing your business."
"I guess," she murmured laying down and looking up at the sky. It was clear blue with little spongy white clouds.
She heard some foot steps and looked to find Yuki standing at the roof door.
"I figured you'd bring her up here," Yuki said as he joined the two.
Kyo was a little upset that Yuki had interrupted their alone time but was also glad because he didn't know what he was going to say to Tohru.
"Uo and Hana are good people," Tohru said quietly, "They don't deserve to be lied to everyday."
"Well you can't tell them the truth about everything, about us," Kyo said a little worried.
"I know, but I wish I could. It would make everything a lot easier," she frowned a little.
Yuki spoke up, "We know how you feel Tohru. I mean we've had to lie our entire lives to our friends. We have to sacrifice dating girls, going to dances, and basically everything. So you're not alone in this matter. You know that right?"
She nodded, getting herself to sit up, "Yes I know. But it's just that I care about them and don't want to see them get hurt over me."
Yuki placed a hand on her shoulder, "We won't let anything, or anyone hurt your friends. Will we Kyo?"
Kyo smiled, "That's right! Even if they are a little weird…what matters is that they're important to you. And we'll fight to keep them in your life."
Tohru smiled gleefully, "Thanks you guys. I really needed some comfort. Come on we got to get back before class."
After School
The rest of the day was awkward. Uo was a little ticked that Tohru was hiding things from her, but she would cool down soon. Hana really didn't she much, she never does.
Tohru slumped behind the group all the way home. She really was still in a rotten mood from lunch. Momiji tried to cheer her up but it only made her present a fake smile. Haru would have worked some charm on her, but Yuki and Kyo made sure he didn't go near her.
When they reach the Sohma home, they all went their separate ways again. Yuki invited Tohru to go visit with some people, but she declined. She was not up to any type of socializing.
She quickly went to her room, making sure not to make contact with Akito. That was the last thing she needed to deal with at the moment.
Yuki
"She seems pretty upset about the whole thing," Yuki said as he sat in Hatori's office.
"I see. Maybe I should talk to her about this. She might tell her friends about the Sohma's and we can't risk that anymore," Hatori said folding his hands in his lap.
Yuki bit his lip, "If you are going to talk to her Hatori, promise you won't tell Akito."
Hatori smiled warmly, "I promise Yuki."
"Thanks," Yuki said softly before leaving.
He walked under the pink pedals of trees worrying over Tohru. He just had to go see her, make sure she was doing all right.
He made his way through the rooms to Tohru's, so not to be stopped by Akito.
"Yuki? What are you doing here?" Tohru said as she sat crumpled under her covers.
Yuki observed that her eyes were glossy and her face was blotchy. She had been crying obviously.
"I'm worried about you. I just want you to be happy," Yuki said sitting in her chair.
"I am happy," she said unconvincingly.
"I know you're not. Otherwise you wouldn't be secluding yourself in here. I know your upset over Uo and Hana because you can't tell them. But remember we're all your friends too. You make all of us happy Tohru, and that's important," Yuki had gentle eyes.
Tohru looked down and then at Yuki, "I know that, but still. I want to make everyone happy."
"But you do. Uo and Hana are just upset right now, but they'll get over it. They love you and can't stay mad at you forever," he comforted.
Tohru sniffled, "True, yet I feel like they'll hate me forever."
Yuki went over to her and held her hand, "They won't, you'll see."
"Thanks Yuki," she smiled and couldn't help but hug him. He transformed into his adorable little rat form.
"Sorry Yuki, I couldn't help it," apologized Tohru as she scooped Yuki into her hands.
"That's all right, I would have done the same I suppose," he scratched his snout with his round tiny paw.
Tohru smiled, "Well I'll leave you until you get changed and all that. I'll be in the garden."
Feeling much better Tohru walked into the calming garden. She sat on one of the flat rocks and took deep breaths. The fresh air felt good against her skin.
Soon Yuki came out and joined her, "It's almost dinner time."
She pushed back her hair, "I know, but this breeze feels so good."
Yuki agreed. It was the perfect time of year for a cool breeze. But what made it even more perfect was that Tohru was there.
He knew his feelings for her were growing rapidly. He also could tell Kyo was growing some interest in her as well. Haru also has questionable motives. It would soon become a nasty battle for Tohru's affection, and Yuki planned to be on top of it.
A/N:
Well hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. Nothing really interesting yet going on, but I promise the next chapter will have something exciting! Maybe some confessions or acts of love!