Disclaimer: I do not even own Kyo's leg. But I wish I did…because Kyo's yummy. So is Haru…and Yuki…and Hatori…And, well, all the guys really… Hell, even some of the girls are yummy… I want all of them… But, the point of this disclaimer is to say I don't own Fruits Basket.
Authors Note: Wow, I almost didn't have time to update, between schoolwork and family. I was going to leave this off until tonight, but because of my crazy sleeping patterns, I guess I'll give you all an update now.
Book of the Cat
Chapter 11
Shigure, Tohru, and Hatsuharu sat around the table, waiting for Hatori to come out of Kyo's room with his medical report. Hatsuharu was reading a book, Tohru was setting some freshly baked cookies down and Shigure was attempting to complete a crossword puzzle. None of their minds were on their tasks however, they were thinking of a far larger problem. Finally, Hatori entered the room. The second he entered Tohru bombarded him with questions.
"Is he okay? What happened to him? What can I do to help? Did you find out why he…why he… Did you find out what caused him to…?" Before she could continue, Hatori stopped her.
"Kyo will be fine, he has only sustained a broken wrist and a few cuts and bruises. In a few weeks the cast will come off."
"And do you know why he… you know?" Tohru asked hesitantly again.
"No." Hatori replied as they all cast their eyes down. After several seconds, Hatori turned back to Haru. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Haru put his book down. "After lunch passed, Kyo didn't come back from his training, so I went to find him. Uo and Hana had left at that point. I walked into the woods, got lost, and shouted out Kyo's name. A few minutes later I heard someone screaming, so I followed that. Kyo was on the ground, so I picked him up and put him on my back. Then I found my way home. Yuki called you, and then I walked through the door, slipped, and… Kyo… you know… he…"
Hatori nodded, indicating that Haru did not need to go on with the latter details. "Was he conscious when you found him?"
"Barely, he was mumbling something about 'the bodies.' I didn't see any bodies."
"Hallucinations." Hatori continued, "Do you know why he was soaking wet?"
Haru opened his mouth to reply, but a voice from the doorway responded.
"From the rain."
The group turned to see Kyo leaning against the doorframe. He wore pajama pants and a t-shirt with a towel around his neck for his damp hair. From the middle of his hand to the middle of his arm, he had a blue cast on. He walked into the room.
"The rain?" Hatori asked. Kyo reached for a cookie.
"Yup."
"The rain?" Hatori asked again, pulling the cookie from Kyo's hand.
"Yes, the rain!" Kyo reached for another cookie, but Hatori pulled it from his hand.
"Kyo, it did not rain today."
"Um, yea, it did." He turned to face Shigure, "You could've warned me, you know. It was not a pleasant surprise."
Shigure put his pencil down. "Kyo, it did not rain. It was so dry today, that some of the bushes out front dried up and died."
Kyo raised his eyebrows and reached for another cookie, but Hatori swatted his hand. "Aren't you going to thank Haru?" Hatori said icily.
Kyo scowled. "For what?"
"For helping you." Hatori's eyes narrowed at Kyo's rudeness.
"I could've gotten home by myself." Kyo mumbled like a stubborn child. He locked eyes with Haru, but looked away quickly. A new voice entered the conversation.
"Oh please, you didn't even remember your own name when Haru found you." Yuki walked in. Kyo stiffened, and the cookie he had managed to steal crumbled in his hand.
"I'm going to train." Kyo grumbled. He walked past Yuki. Yuki gave him a funny look, but turned to face the rest of the group. Just as Yuki had his back turned, Kyo swung out his arm, and the thick plaster cast collided with the back of Yuki's head. Yuki stumbled, but regained his balance, instantly going into a fighting stance.
"Kyo!" Hatori shouted. Surprisingly, Kyo dropped his stance and turned to listen to Hatori. "Please take these painkillers, your wrist is going to feel that whack in a minute or two."
"I don't need them." Kyo growled, but he took them from Hatori anyway. He glared at Yuki after he swallowed them, then walked upstairs.
Yuki rubbed the back of his head. He stopped when he noticed Shigure chuckle. He looked up as Shigure turned to Hatori.
"Hari, the blue pills are the painkillers, right?" Hatori nodded.
"So?"
"And you gave Kyo the red ones…right?"
Hatori nodded and Tohru could almost see a slight grin on his lips.
"Which ones are the red ones?" Tohru asked.
Shigure burst out laughing. "The sedatives! Hari, you're so bad!"
Hatori shrugged. "He seemed to be in need of them. And in five minutes, we'll finally have some peace and quiet." Sure enough, the thump noises that came from Kyo's training upstairs ceased to exist after several minutes. Shigure chuckled a bit, but the mood changed again after a few seconds. It was somber once more.
Yuki sat down and picked up a cookie. He felt someone staring at him. Sure enough, Haru's eyes were locked on Yuki.
"What?" Yuki asked.
Haru buried himself back into his book again. "Nothing."
Yuki waited a few minutes. Finally he turned to his companions. "What's wrong? You guys are being way more serious then you should be."
"Nothing is wrong." Shigure said a little to quickly. Yuki stared at him, then excused himself. He went up to his room, passing Kyo's. The door was slightly open, and Yuki could see Kyo sprawled out across his bed. Then he heard soft, arguing voices echoing from downstairs. Yuki walked back to the kitchen and stood by the door. Shigure had his face towards Hatori. Tohru and Haru were listening intently to the conversation.
"So, how do we tell Kyo?"
Yuki entered the room. "Tell Kyo what?" Everyone jumped at Yuki's arrival. He sat down next to Tohru, but his eyes remained on Hatori.
"Tell Kyo what?" He repeated. He could tell something important was going on because Shigure's constant smile was non-existent. Shigure sat down at the table across from Yuki.
"We didn't tell you this before, but, when Haru returned with Kyo, while you were calling Hari… well, Haru slipped at the door. Tohru went to help catch Kyo…but when she grabbed him…he transformed again."
Yuki looked at Tohru, who nodded. He turned back to Hatori. "So…he's still cursed?"
Hatori nodded.
"But…why? Why did it go away and then come back?" Yuki asked.
Hatori shook his head. "I don't know."
Yuki looked down at the plate of cookies. "And Kyo… he doesn't know?"
"No," Haru interjected. "He was too far out of it to notice."
Tohru shook her head. "Poor Kyo, he was so…happy…" She seemed guilty for saying this in front of her cursed company. Shigure patted her back.
Haru stared off. "You'd better tell him soon, or he's going to have a hard time explaining to the girls in school why he turned into a cat after they hugged him."
Yuki looked back up. "So, who's going to tell him?"
Shigure glanced around. "Why, Hari is, of course!"
Hatori nodded. "If I must…"
Haru shook his head in disagreement. "We should get someone else…someone like…Kazuma. He knows Kyo best." The group was silent, each member only nodded in approval. Finally, Shigure stood up to make the phone call. The rest of the party was still as he made the call. Somewhere in the back of their minds, they realized that whatever was going on was far from over.
Kyo woke up about two hours later. He scratched the arm around the cast, clearly irritated that he had to wear it. He never really had a broken bone before. Sure Yuki had knocked him around hard a few times and stiffened his limbs, but he had never actually broken something. It was…annoying.
Kyo had no intention of going back to sleep. He had too much rest for that day, and he desired no more. Just as he was thinking about ways to train with the cast on, his door opened. Kyo's eyes opened in shock as they fell upon Kazuma's friendly face.
"Master..?" Kyo's face broke out into a large grin.
Kazuma nodded and walked up to Kyo's bed to greet him. "I see you've gotten yourself in a bit of trouble." He smiled.
Kyo grinned sheepishly as he looked down at the cast. "Yea… You know… I was being stupid or something."
Kazuma grinned. "And what's this I hear about a dance? When I heard that my little Kyo had danced with a girl…well, I nearly fell over in shock."
Kyo smiled, "It was nothing really. Um, master… did you hear about the curse? Did anyone tell you?" Kyo was beaming, but stopped when he noticed Kazuma's face fall.
"What? What's the matter?"
Meanwhile, outside of the room, Tohru was on her way to deliver clean clothes to her housemates. She paused at Kyo's room when she heard Kazuma and Kyo talking. She slunk out of view, careful not to attract Kyo's attention. Tohru felt guilty. She wanted to listen, but she knew it was wrong. Just as she was debating whether or not she should eavesdrop, a hand shot out from the hall closet and pulled her in. Tohru nearly screamed, but she realized it was Yuki. He put a finger to his lips, and then he placed his ear to the wall that divided the closet from Kyo's room. Tohru copied Yuki, and found herself listening to Kazuma's calm voice.
"Kyo… I have something to tell you."
"Yea, what?"
"You may want to sit down for this."
"Why…?"
"Because it's going to upset you."
"Are you okay? Are you sick or something?"
"No, I'm fine. What I'm about to say is regarding… well, you."
"Okay…"
Tohru and Yuki listened, barely breathing so they could hear the faint voices.
"Kyo…when Haru brought you back… he slipped at the door…"
"Ha. Clumsy cow…what happened, did he fracture something? Stupid…"
"No…he dropped you…"
"Stupid cow!"
"…And Tohru went to catch you…"
"Oh, don't tell me I hurt her when I fell on her!"
"No…you didn't, because…when she caught you…you…you…well, transformed."
"I…what?"
"You turned back into the cat again. I'm sorry Kyo."
Silence followed. Yuki and Tohru did not move a muscle.
"Kyo, would you like me to stay the night?"
No noise followed, but Yuki and Tohru assumed Kyo had nodded because Kazuma continued to talk.
"Alright, I'll go get my stuff from downstairs. I'll be right back." Yuki and Tohru waited for Kyo to make a sound, but the silence coming from the other room was overpowering. They finally heard the door to Kyo's room close, and they followed the thump of Kazuma's shoes to the staircase. Yuki and Tohru looked at each other, a silent signal to leave the closet. Yuki's hand reached for the door when a faint noise carried through the walls, catching his attention. Kyo was crying.
Authors Note: Ok, so I'm quite pleased with myself. I had originally written for Hatori to tell Kyo, but I decided I wanted Kazuma to do it instead. Sorry Hatori-fans! Don't worry; he'll appear more in other chapters! Also, I realize this chapter is mainly dialogue as opposed to descriptions and whatnot, but I hope you all still enjoyed it. I liked writing it.
Let me answer my reviewers:
Callindead: "Show, don't tell." Ha, that's crazy, but true. I'm glad you thought the chapter was descriptive though, that makes me very happy. Keep reading; I'll try to add more descriptions in my other chapters!
Sesshumarusgirl101: Yup, Kyo has to kill Yuki. Laughs evilly Keep reading!
Ren: Ha, wow, that was a very long review. As I said before, just write whatever you have going inside your head. If you are proud of what you've written, then go ahead and post it, ok? Your ideas all sound wonderful and you seem excited about your story, so write out a chapter or two and decide what you want to do.
Dark-wolf-soulx: Yea, I love torturing Kyo too… I don't know why. And, while I read your review about bodies hanging like rice grains, I was eating rice. Thanks for ruining rice for me… forever. Ha, just kidding. You made me laugh so hard that rice went flying. Keep reading!
Dark Inu Fan: I love the little details you pick up on and point out. Your ideas were great, but you'll have to see what happens as I write it. Evil laughter again
Imbrium4: The edge of your seat! Really? I'm proud of myself! And I'll put more Haru in later, so stay put! Keep reading!
ShadoWalker: You're on the edge of your seat too? Wow, I've got to start putting these chapters out faster, or all of my readers may fall and hurt their bottoms…
The Cheshire Katt: Ha, yes, never trust a book that speaks to you… I guess Kyo's never read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. And, I don't want him to kill Yuki either. Yuki's yummy looking, too… Keep reading!
And Last But Not Least:
Narutofreak22: Ha ha, yes, you are my first reviewer for that chapter… Don't worry; I wasn't offended by your request. I love longer chapters, but it's all depends on whether I have time to write it (I do all my writing in study hall), time to plan it (I do that before I go to sleep, in Chem. class, and in Euro, ha), and time to revise it (last minute). Then I have to decide where I want the chapter to leave off, because if I've got a good cliffhanger, and then I add another part to it, the cliffhanger gets destroyed (unless I leave a double cliff-hanger, which I really don't want to do just yet). But, longer chapters, I'll try.
And now to all my silent readers: Review if you can! It tells me how I'm doing… The bigger response I get, the more happy I get, which means the more energy I get, which means the faster I write, which means that I can write more, which means that… something else will happen… (Yea, I just zoned out and forgot what I was typing).
Review if you can!