Title: Ever After
Author: Shiori Asuka
Summary: When Akito orders Hatori to erase Tohru and Kyo's memories and their love is forgotten, what will happen to the two teens? What secrets are being kept?
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters associated with the Fruits Basket anime/ manga. They belong to Natsuki Takaya.
Dedication:
Authors Note: I'm back! (Sorry for the delay, exams wait for NO ONE, not matter how much you beg, grovel and plead). Thanks for such great reviews for the first chapter! I wasn't sure whether to continue or not, but after that I decided that I would have to continue! If only for those who reviewed!
Oh, my head… Tohru blinked her eyes open and slowly sat up, tentatively bringing a hand to massage her aching head. The pain and tension was inside her head was the first thing she noticed when she awoke. Taking a moment to gather her bearings Tohru pondered where she was. She had no idea of where she was, what day it was, or anything of the sort. Tohru decided to start with the basics. The last thing she remembered was…
Oh no! No, no, no, no, no!
The tent, her mother's picture, that boy from her class…
Frantically searching for any clues as to what happened, and seeing her mother's picture safely situated beside her, she let herself relax a little and tried to remember the boy's name, the one from her class.
Suki? No, it started with a Y. Yuki, I think. Tohru thought to herself.
Looking around at the room she was currently resting in she found that she did not know the room, or where she was exactly. She was lying in a light pink bed, not futon, and the walls were a neutral colour of pale crème. There was a bedside cabinet next to her with what seemed to be a roughly scribbled note saying:
Tohru-kun
Take your time and get a good rest.
When you feel up to it, come and see me downstairs and we'll discuss what's going to happen now.
Shigure.
Unsure as to whom this 'Shigure' was, Tohru decided to heed the advice written on the note made the executive decision to rest a little more. As she felt the edges of sleep creeping up to take her into unconsciousness, she couldn't help but feel that, although the room was unfamiliar, it had a comforting presence to it, like the soft lull of happy memories past…
5 months later
"Ah!' Tohru exclaimed upon seeing her two good friends in the rush of people flooding the campus grounds at the last minute before the semester started.
"Uo-chan, Hana-chan!" She cried out. Seemingly not able to hear her pleas, Tohru tried to push through the ever-growing crowd to reach them only to be swept away by the currents of college students brushing past with no regard to anyone along the way. Stumbling as a particularly large, burly looking guy pushed past, Tohru grabbed at air, trying to stop her untimely descent to the ground. A light 'oof' escaped from her mouth as she landed, but the fall lacked any real power as it was onto grass and the young man hadn't pushed her all that hard. Still, unbidden to her, tears sprang to her eyes and it was all she could do to let them fall. It was her first day of college; she was getting pushed around, her friends didn't even know she was there and she had no one to help her. She was entitled to a few tears. A picture of her mother flashed into her head briefly, giving her strength.
Be strong! She told herself, Mum would want this for me! I have to just… bear with it and hope I make it out alive! Mum wouldn't give up so easily, she'd never give up! Yeah!
With her resolve set, Tohru began to pick herself up when two hands wrapped them around her arm and helped her stand. Turning around to thank the person, she put a grateful smile on her face.
"Thank-you! I'm new, so I'm a little lost. Are you…" Tohru trailed off when she realised that the person was staring at her quite intensely, more so than you would to the average person you help up off the ground. She looked into the person's eyes, all the while trying to keep a straight face, and saw that, in the deep crimson, there was a brief flash of recognition in them.
Why does he recognise me? Does he know me?
"Um… Is there something on my face?" She asked quietly, averting her eyes from the man's intense stare. He seemed to struggle with himself for a few moments, but managed to put a smile on his face that matched her own forced smile.
"Nothing, unless you count beauty as something." Tohru blushed at his words but smiled all the same.
This time, her smile wasn't so forced.
"You flatter me, thank-you. But I can't say that I think I'm overly beautiful." She blushed more under his heated gaze. Why won't he stop staring?!
"And that's what makes you cute, you're modest." A new shade of red was discovered as Tohru turned an even darker shade of red.
"Ah, you know, that blush is rather cute as well." By this stage Tohru could be mistaken for cosplaying a tomato.
"Really, I'm not that great! I bet you, though, are very popular with girls, you're very good looking." She said, trying to get the attention off of her and it seemed to work, for he smiled and laughed a little. It must have been at some inside joke, because she couldn't find anything funny about what she said. Not unless…
"Only for one girl," was all the young man said to her.
Only for one girl… Must be a lucky girl… Tohru laughed lightly at her own thoughts, and also a bit at the man in front of her. It was quite amusing to watch their light banter.
"Tohru!" A loud, brash voice interrupted her time with the youth standing before her, and she could tell that he wasn't pleased by the telltale signs of the clenching and unclenching of his fist.
"Uo-chan!" It seems that they spotted me finally. She thought, quite disappointed now that they did. And I had just started to enjoy my time with him. Trying to keep the disappointment off her face as her friends approached her, Tohru settled for;
"I'm so glad to see you! And Hana-chan too!"
Not quite true, but close enough.
"Orangey? You're here? You actually managed to get into a university?" Tohru tried to hide her shock.
"You know him Uo-chan?" Though Tohru could see the pain on said boys face, she painfully ignored it in favour of Uo.
"Ha ha Yankee, I'm not that dumb." More shock.
"You know Uo-chan?" She asked him. Tohru didn't know what to be more shocked at; Uo's "You don't know him?" or the fact that Uo knew him in the first place.
Or should I say, remembers him…
"Your waves, they are rather… chaotic. Is there something you are not telling us, Tohru-kun?" Hana's statement silenced all of Tohru's thoughts instantly. She had almost forgotten Hana's… gift.
"Ahaha… Hana-chan, what are you talking about?" She looked away from Hana to the crowd.
"Your waves are jumpy, indication nervousness. What are you nervous about Tohru-kun?" It seemed that their conversation had warranted the attention of Uo and the boy.
"Oh leave her alone Hana, she's obviously nervous about a new school, new people, etcetera etcetera." Smiling, he turned to her. "The names Kyo. Sohma Kyo. Nice to meet you." Forcing herself to smile, she replied with the customary,
"My name is Honda Tohru. Pleased to meet you as well, Kyo…san." It was having to put a 'san' at the end of his name, not the ridiculously polite introduction, not the fact that Uo could remember him, but the simple use of 'san' that broke Tohru's heart. At least until…
"Leave off the 'san'. It makes me feel uncomfortable." Shocked beyond belief, Tohru's head shot up and her gaze rested on those crimson eyes that held such a passion it almost scared her. Unadulterated joy filled her heart, making it swell. It was reflected in Kyo's eyes as well. Those words… they made her more happy than anything he could have said… almost. But as it was, that was all he could manage.
"Well Tohru," Uo said, obviously confused as hell, "I think we should show you your dorm room now." At the obvious sign of her friends uncomfort at being so out of the loop that she wasn't even following small talk between her and Kyo, Tohru decided that this could wait till another day. After all, what's a couple of days compared with six months of agony?
"I suppose I had better go then… Bye, it was nice to… meet you." Smiling as Uo led the way, Tohru left the smiling Kyo.
Looking back as they were about to round a corner, Tohru smiled a smile just for him.
He smiled back.
No one knew, no one suspected a thing. And it would stay that way.
Tohru had to wonder though, what had made Hatori lose his powers?
Alrighty! Done and dusted! Maybe I'll revise it sometime… but for now, it's done. Not too happy with how it turned out, but hey, lack of beta'ing does not help. If anyone wants to do it for this story and revise it… feel free. Pm me first though, okay?
Please review!
Ja ne,
Shiori Asuka
