T . i . t . l . e :: The Banquet
Authoress: Thea Rea.
R . a . t . i . n . g :: Teen, a very slim chance on changing. If it does, it goes up.
Paring: Leaning on Tohru and Kyo

W . a . r . n . i . n . g . s :: Kyo's dirty mouth. A couple of swears here and there.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that relates to Fruits Basket in anyway. The plot line is mine, but if you find a story similar, please remember that I did not steal it. I do not write for money, I write for fun.

N . o . t . e . s :: Okay, I've got the third chapter up already, woot! I hope you enjoy the third installment of, The Banquet, and please, please review, it helps me write. Thanks a lot for reading!

• Chapter Three •
.Restriction xx

The dream fogged her mind, and she felt like she was falling still, the lurch of her stomach still evident in such an area. She could hardly breathe her throat closing up as she tried. She flailed her arms helplessly. She was going to die, she was going to die! Then she heard a voice.

"Honda-kun."

Tohru's ocean blue pools opened, their depths swirling with confusion. She gasped for air, and inside of ocean blue eyes there was the evidence of the pain she was feeling as well as the helpless feeling of being confused. There was a source of heat flushing her cheeks and forehead, and she immediately arose from her position of lying down. Her wide eyes glanced around, her body alert and tensed. Where was she?! And then she noticed the white ceiling, and the white beds that surrounded her. She sighed softly, and then looked to the right, where Hatori's eyes gazed into hers with some kind of strange intensity.

"Ah, hello, Hatori-san," Tohru's reply was shaky, her breath caught in her throat from the sudden confrontation with the man she had heard talking earlier. She felt the memory flooded her mind, the quiet words that passed through his lips. Something about the Banquet. She was going to be involved this year and something about Kyo. What was it? Or had they not said it. . . She grasped her head at the headache that had struck her mind. "I'm so sorry to bother you, Hatori-san, I didn't mean to intrude," she murmured weakly, watching Hatori as he glanced at her out of the corner of his purple hued eyes. He was back at his desk now, sorting through some papers.

"Don't worry about it, Honda-kun, you were intruding upon nothing," he spoke to her, his voice strong as he did so. She nodded meekly, and looked down at the crisp white bed sheet that covered her.

"Hatori-san, am I able to leave?" she asked with a bit of worry strained in her dazzling blue depths. He glanced at her again, before shuffling through a few papers. He didn't seem to want to talk to her. She tilted her head to the side, signaling her question in his behavior.

"Yes, Shigure will be in a few seconds to pick you up," Hatori muttered dryly, his fingers dancing along the desk, as if anxious. "Honda-kun, before you fell unconscious, do you remember anything at all? Did you hear voices or something?" Tohru's eyes grew rigid as he spoke. He knew that she was listening, didn't he? But then why was he asking her? She had to lie to him, no matter how much it made her pain on the inside. She shook her cranium, hoping that he would not ask any more questions before Shigure came into the room.

"No, Hatori-san, I just got to the corner when I collapsed," she whispered, her eyes averting from his own. Her fingers laced together as she stared down at her lap, her eyes trembling as she did so. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she disobeyed her body, not letting the tears that clotted her eyes fall. She didn't know why she had the sudden urge to start crying, but it was coming faster then she expected, and it took all she could handle to make them stay put. "Hatori-san, how long was I out?" she inquired, her fingers trembling as she felt the heat in her face increase to another degree. Her fever was spiking.

"Only twenty minutes, Honda-kun," he replied, his voice once more dry. Then he saw a spot of liquid fall from her face onto the sheets. He moved his chair over, and lifted her face to see why she was crying. When his fingers came in contact with her face, they felt the heat radiating off of her body. He let go, and she trembled a bit. "You have a high fever, Honda-kun, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to stay put for a moment," he scrambled off, his form disappearing from the door way.

Tohru shook her head, trying to escape the pain that had suddenly enveloped her mind. Her chocolate locks moved as she did, and some flew over her eyes, hiding her face from the world. Her hands were brought up to her face as a shock rippled through her body. She felt like she was dieing right there on the spot. She felt the after shock of the tremor rip through her body and she tore her hands from her face as her body gave a jolt. She coughed, her body still trembling. And as she released her hand from her mouth, her trembling hand, she caught a glance of her own crimson blood staining her hand.

This was the aftershock of the connection.

x•x•x•x•x

Hatori turned the corner, only to come face to face with Shigure, who had somehow gotten inside of his house. A small smile was quirking the dog's lips, and Hatori could only raise an eyebrow in question at such a gesture. Shigure let a laugh collapse the tension filled air, and Hatori grew irritated.

"Shigure, if you have something to say, say it," he practically snarled, his lip pulled back in the gesture just said. "I have to get Honda-kun some ice before that fever spikes past one hundred and five." Hatori brushed past his cousin, his shoulder bumping his as he did so. He really hated it when Shigure hid things from him, but that had to be the last thing on his mind right now. The major one that was hitting his cranium with annoying intensity was Tohru's condition. He had seen her earlier, and she had been fine. But getting sick so sudden wasn't healthy, or usual.

Hatori fished some ice out of the freezer, stuffed it into a towel. Growling at himself because he didn't have any of those ice things like they did at the nurse, he moved back towards the room in one fluid motion. For being so irritable and tired, he sure knew how to do things quickly. Shigure took notice of this. Hatori must have really cared about Tohru's condition. He pulled back laughter; he could tease his friend another time.

"Ha'ri!" Shigure whined as he walked towards his friend, his face expressing his boredom. But when he got no answer at all, he glanced inside of the room, hardly able too because Hatori was standing in the way. "Ha'ri, move," he groaned with mock seriousness, as he pushed past his friend. A smirk devoured his face as he turned towards Hatori, "God what's your problem." He joked, and then turned around to face Tohru. Her eyes were wide, and he gazed down at what she was looking at, blood soaked her hand, and the sheet below it.

"Honda-kun," Hatori snapped out of his stupor finally. He came towards the bed, leaving the ice and towel abandoned on his desk. She was trembling, and he moved towards her and gripped her arm, trying to make her stop. But he felt the tremors pulse through her arm, and he gripped her shoulders to turn her towards her. "Honda-kun, what's wrong? Did Akito do something?" he asked. Tohru's ocean blue depths turned towards him, and the only emotion placed in them was fear.

"I can't feel my right arm, Hatori! I can't feel it!" she cried out suddenly, and gripped his with her left hand, the one that was stained crimson. The blood scattered as she did so, some landing on her face, and the rest on his sleeve. Clear worry was evident in her eyes, and as she gazed at him with those fear dazzled gems, he freaked out a little bit too. "Akito didn't do anything, nothing," she murmured, "all we did was talk." She was looking away now, and the dream was starting to bounce back and forth through her head.

"You made the connection, now you must suffer the consequences."

"Suffer the consequences," she whispered, looking at Hatori. "M-my dream. They said 'suffer the consequences'." She looked genuinely scared now, her heart beating erratically inside of her chest. She breathed in a few times, her eyes widening. He had never seen Tohru so afraid before, never in his time of knowing her had she looked this frightened. And he was thoroughly confused at what she said about the dream, actually. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and thought, and thought.

There had only be one other person with symptoms like this before, and that was many years ago. A few years and a decade. And that girl. . .

Hatori's eyes widened and he finally realized that Shigure was in the room too. With Tohru still clinging to his sleeve, he turned around to face Shigure, a grave expression on his face. Shigure was looking at him, expecting something to come out of the other's mouth. But he was unsure if he would like what he had to say.

"The next in line is her, Shigure. She's the next one."

x•x•x•x•x

"Hey, Orange-Top, Princey, where's Tohru?" A blonde-haired ex-Yankee asked the two Sohma's as they ate lunch. Orange and grey eyes peered up at her, a smile on the grey-eyed face, and a scowl on the orange-eyed face. Truly two different people, but they both had the same desires... desire.

"She's out today," Yuki responded politely, his grey eyes traveling over towards Hanajima who stopped eating whatever it was that she was eating. That was a surprise. "Is there a problem, Saki-san?" Yuki asked with a raised eyebrow, he was slightly curious as to why she was staring at him so intently with those creepily dark eyes.

"You don't seem to be telling the whole truth, that's all," Hanajima said with no emotion in her tones. She was a very scary person when Tohru wasn't around. Very dark, less emotion then a stone, which was saying a lot. Kyo twitched an eyebrow and Yuki was smiling in an almost unconcerned way. "I haven't been getting any waves from her today either," she said quietly, her fingers finding their way back to her chopsticks to continue what she was eating.

Arisa sent the boys a glare, and then continued to eat as her friend was. Kyo and Yuki were slightly curious, the two of Tohru's friends seemed a lot less active then they usually were. Perhaps Tohru was their source of energy...? Sighing, Yuki let go of the topic, while it floated in his orange-haired cousin's mind. Today was beginning to be extremely boring, no one was talking that much, and they all realized that Tohru was their main talker. She was always so happy and energetic, and when she wasn't around it was much more sullen over anything.

"I'm going," Kyo said suddenly, standing from his chair without so much as a reason as to why he was going. He wasn't one to elaborate, and he couldn't explain why he needed to leave either. Perhaps something in his mind had clicked about all these happenings lately. The dream, the calling, and this sudden feeling of nausea as he walked from the lunch room. But there was that yearning to see her as well, and so he began to sneak out from school, no one would notice if he was gone anyway. All he wanted to learn was what exactly Akito wanted Tohru for, and that wasn't going to be taught in school.

Something bad has happened, I just know it, Kyo's thoughts raced as he ran from the school, narrowly making his escape. Something happened with Akito and Tohru. Something bad. He ran faster, hoping to make it to the Main House before anything did happen. Too bad he didn't know that it was already too late and that Akito had already made her connection with Tohru. Next was his turn, and he couldn't get out of it now.

It takes two to dance the dance of death.

x•x•x•x•x

"I'm sorry, Kyo Sohma, you are not allowed to enter the Main House," a cool womanly voice emitted from the speaker. Kyo's eyes were flaring a dangerous shade of crimson as he snarled viciously at the air, at the speaker. He flung his hands to his head, the snow wrapping him in a vicious cocoon.

"Let me the fuck in!" he growled angrily, and pried at the bars that restricted him from entering the Main House. He hated the Main House, but he could not just leave Tohru there with no one sane to watch her. Okay, Hatori was somewhat sane, but he certainly didn't have a mind of his own. Stupid bastard would erase her memories without so much as a second thought it he was told too. Another growl ripped from his throat, and he screamed again, "Let me in the fucking house before I do something illegal!"

The womanly voice was raised into a high pitched cackle, like some crazy witch. Kyo's eyebrows rose in confusion. What the fuck was wrong with this place? For some reason he was happy that he didn't have to go here every single year, or live here for that matter. The voice called from the speaker again, a taunting tone suddenly taking over, "I'm sorry, Kyo Sohma, but it is restricted to let you inside of the Main House." Kyo was about to scream again when he took a double take. Restricted? What the hell?

Suddenly, Kyo's legs fell beneath him, but he was more then conscious of it. He growled in anger and frustration and all those good things. He was restricted in every sense of the word now. The snow brushed itself past his fingers again, numbing his body to a certain extent. he growled viciously, and tried to get up, only to realize all feeling in his legs had ceased.

"What the fucking shit is this?" he snarled hastily, and tried to get up once more, but failed miserably. His arms flung towards the gates, and he dragged himself towards them, clinging to the ice cold metal. As he breathed, the white cloud of his breath appeared before him and lingered in the air. "If I can't get in," he shouted agitated, "can you at least tell me what the hell is happening, and how Tohru Honda is?" His worry had gotten the best of him when he said such a thing.

"Restriction, Monster, restriction." The voice belonged to that witch of a person, Akito. And Kyo struggled to lift himself up. "And Tohru Honda is fine; she just coughed up a few cups of blood here and there. She's currently with Hatori. And don't worry, Kyo, you'll get to see her, soon." A maniacal laugh was heard through the static, and then the speaker when dead and Kyo cursed everything. Damn restriction. And then it registered, Tohru had coughed up blood. He screamed in frustration, his fangs glinting in the dim sun light that dared pass through the clouds.

He knew that he was going to be worse then her soon, if another person did not come soon, he would get hypothermia. But then again, Akito probably wanted that.