Disclaimer: sorry this is taking forever, I'm in school now and I'm also working now so I have less free time but I'll still try my best. Oh and I don't own fruits basket. Oh and as a warning, this is where the story starts to get more serious, just a heads up.

Chapter 4:

Mother Issues

Terrified expressions appeared on the Sohmas faces as Kyo and Hiro reported what the saw, "We asked around and one of the other store owners told Hiro that the old hag had a stroke two nights ago and decided to sell the store."

Hiro looked at the shocked faces of his relatives and scowled, "And that's not even the best part, turns out her family had a going out off business sale yesterday, guess what time it ended. Eleven PM."

"Wait so you're saying we could have been out of these bodies yesterday and now we're stuck in them!?!?" Hatori said in near outrage, loathing the way he had went through as Ayame and ruing the thought that he'd have to repeat it everyday for the rest of his life.

"Don't complain, at least you don't have to go through puberty again!" Kyo yelled at the man who was being uncharacteristically hostile.

"Well at least you still have a chance t a normal life, I can't go back to being a doctor. I went to school with Ayame, I know what his grades were, I'm not even sure how he graduated,"" Hatori told him in an attempt to win the argument but Kyo only shrugged his shoulders and began to walk away. The child's utter disconcern was what finally snapped the normally calm Hatori and in a second he tried to attack him but was held back by to pairs of arms.

"Hii-kun calm down, he's not worth it," Shigure told him trying to calm him down. Unfortunately Hatori was the least of his worries as the news began to affect the other Sohmas as well.

"I can't believe I'm going to be stuck as this pervert for the rest of my life," Yuki whined before Ayame wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Don't worry little brother; your loving older brother will be here for you every step of the way!"

"Great."

"I can't go through high school again, I hate writing essays," Kureno stressed as Momiji cried and Haru twitched slightly.

"Hiro-chan, I don't understand anything Kagura-chan's teachers say!" Kisa cried into Hiro's chest.

"It'll be alright Kisa, we'll fix this," Hiro comforted her then began to look around the room, 'Where is that stupid woman?"

Five minutes later the sliding door opened and a brunette girl entered nervously, "I... I...I have some bad news for you, I'm so sorry but, that shop I bought the sutras from has closed down."

"We know stupid woman, I went with Kyo earlier. This is all your fault," Hiro fumed at the girl but felt a tug at his shoulder.

"Hiro-chan, don't yell at Onee-chan, she was just trying to help," Kisa told him with the look in her eyes that made his heart melt even if they weren't her eyes.

"No, the kid's right, we wouldn't be in this mess if someone hadn't meddled," Kureno pointed out and Tohru received several angry glares from the normally peaceful Sohmas.

"Leave her alone, she was just trying to help, it's not her fault it blew up in her face. Besides we all agreed to the risk when we tried this out so don't blame her!" Kyo argued making the others look away in embarrassment.

'Thank goodness Kyo is here, I don't know what would have happened if he wasn't," the brunette girl thought as she looked at Kyo's small body standing in front of her. That was probably the hardest part of everything, how could she have done something so horrible to someone who cared so much about her. She didn't deserve his kindness, not after the selfish way she acted, after what she'd done to him.

Tohru was snapped out of her daze when the doorbell rang suddenly. "I'll get it," Yuki said then walked to the front corridor. He opened the door to find a woman in her mid thirties.

"Shigure-san, is my Hiro-chan here?" Satsuki asked the man she believed to be Shigure.

"Um yes he's in the living room with the others," Yuki replied nervously then led the woman into the room where the other twelve Sohmas were currently arguing.

As the two of them walked into the room, the noisy room went quiet and all eyes focused on the only person in the room who did not know what happened, "Mo… I mean Mrs. Sohma, what are you doing here?"

"Oh Kyo-kun I just came to pick up my cuddly little Hiro-chan. Oh are you having a Zodiac meeting I'm sorry I interrupted," she answered as she looked around at her family.

"We were just finishing up, but would it be alright if Hiro stayed another night," "Shigure" asked the woman.

"It's alright, I just need somethings," Kyo told him, realizing the inevitability of the situation, as much as he hated to admit it, Kyo was stuck this way and probably would be for the rest of his life. But still something in the back of him mind was trying to stop him, but Kyo just tried to drown it out as he headed up the stairs to his room.

The former cat was in front of the dresser when the door opened behind him and he looked to find himself in the doorway, "If you're going to go back to my house you'd better not screw up and spill our secret."

"Trust me that last thing in the world I want is for it to get out I'm stuck inside a little brat like you. So you got any real advice?" Kyo said, leaning against the dresser casually.

"Yeah, watch out for my mom, she's clueless. I honestly have no idea how she survived twenty three years without me," Hiro shrugged then left the room.

Kyo listened until he was sure the boy was on the stairs before opening his sock drawer. He pushed the garments around and underneath he found the only possession of any value to him, a picture taken of him and his mother a few months before her suicide. He slipped it into his pocket then headed down the stairs to where Hiro's mother was waiting for him, "Are you ready to go honey bear?"

"Whatever," the boy replied, scowling at the nickname, as he picked up his backpack, having agreed earlier to do Hiro's homework until he understood the work.

"Oh he so cute when he acts all moody," Satsuki smiled making Kyo blush.

"You're so cute, I won't let anyone else see you."

Kyo sullenly looked away as hi s mother's words echoed through his head. Noticing "her son's" strange behavior, Satsuki bent down and felt "Hiro's" forehead, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, let's just go," Kyo insisted as he pushed the woman's hand away then walked towards the door.

When the two of them were finally out of the house the Sohmas, with the exception of Hiro, took a sigh of relief, "So what were we talking about again?" Kureno asked and the focus returned to a very nervous Tohru Honda.

Kyo sat in silence in the back seat the whole ride back to Hiro's house despite "his mother's" attempts at conversation. When they arrived at the house, Kyo immediately headed towards Hiro's room, "Where are you going honey?"

"I've got a lot of homework to do," he replied and continued towards the stairs.

"Well dinner will be done in about a half an hour, I'm making chicken. Oh and your father won't be home till late so it will be just the two of us, well three," Satsuki smiled as she rubbed her stomach that would begin showing in a few weeks.

"Um, ok," the boy answered then thought he should try to sound like who the woman thought he was, "and uh, don't run around the grill, you might fall in."

The worried mother watched her "son" sprint up the stairs and disappear into his room. She knew something was going on with him, after all a mother can always tell. Over the next forty-five minutes, Kyo tried his hardest to concentrate on his homework but found that his new young mind lacked his normal focus. His mind continued to drift to the picture in his pocket, and the memories that came attached.

"That poor woman, having to burden herself with that thing."

"They should have locked him up the moment he was born." Kyo could hear the women in the hall way gossip as there eyes darted back and forth between him and each other. His eyes began to water when he felt the grasp on his hand tighten.

Kyo looked up to see his mother smiling down at him, "It's alright Kyo, they don't know what they're talking about. How about we go back home and I'll make you some hot chocolate." Kyo smiled widely as they walked towards their home.

A small smirk crossed Kyo's face as he thought of the memory but it was quickly replaced by a more morbid one.

Kyo could feel the cold stares from his family as he stood alone after his mother's funeral, "I guess it was so hard on her having the cat as a son that she killed herself."

"If only she hadn't had that child."

"He's the one who pushed her to suicide."

'It's not my fault, it's not my fault,' Kyo found himself yelling in his head as tears began to form in the wells of his eyes.

Kyo was snapped from his memories by a soft knock at his door, "Honey dinner's ready."

"Just give me a second," he yelled in his unchanged voice then closed his notebook and placed it back in his bag then headed towards the bedroom door which was covered by a Mogeta poster.

He followed the smiling woman down the stairs to where the dinner was waiting on the table. Once more, Kyo was silent as he ate his chicken and could feel the worried stares of the woman who believed he was her son. Something in the boy urged him to comfort the woman but he couldn't seem to look up, because when he did, all he could see was his own mother, a kindhearted woman who had been destroyed all because of him. And Kyo knew if he let himself get close it would happen again.

Satsuki watched as tears began to roll down "her son's" face and reached over to grab his hand to attempt to comfort him, "Are you alright?"

Kyo pulled away from the woman's grasp and immediately locked himself inside Hiro's room.

Back at Shigure's Residence

The arguing had finally ended though an awkward tension still lingered between them. As Momiji watched cartoons with Kisa and a brooding Hiro, the phone began to ring. When no one seemed to respond, Momiji pushed himself off the sofa and picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Who is this?"

"Mo-Haru, who's this?"

"It's Hiro's mother, I was just wondering if anything happened while Hiro was with you and the other zodiacs." Momiji could hear a worried tremor in the woan's voice and was beginning to wonder if Kyo had revealed their secret.

"Not much, why?"

"It's just that he seems to be acting a bit strange you see…" before Satsuki was finished with her sentence, "Haru" had already cut her off.

"Oh he's probably just being a sour puss because he had to wake up early this morning," Momiji lied, thinking that the strange behavior was just Kyo normal disposition.

"That's not it, if Hiro was just cranky then I wouldn't be worried, my little Hiro-Chan is always cranky. No something's definitely bothering him. He's barely said a word since I picked him up and just a few minutes ago he just started crying at the dinner table. He's locked upstairs in his room and I just don't know what to do," large sobs came from the other end as Momiji tried to find the words to comfort the woman.

"I am sorry, I'll ask around and see if anyone knows anything."

"Thank you Haru-chan, you're a good boy," Satsuki said then hung up the phone.

"Who was that, Momichi?" Kisa asked when he approached the couch.

"That was Hiro's mom, she says that Kyo-chan has locked himself in Hiro's room and is very upset," Momiji told them

"What's his problem?" Hiro snarled while not taking his eye off the television set.

"It figures you wouldn't understand," Rin stepped forward from where she had overheard their conversation with a disapproving scowl on her face.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hiro yelled as the girl began to walk away.

She seemed to be ignoring the boy's complaint until she opened the sliding door to the outside, "Let's just say not everyone's had it as good as you." Rin said before stepping into the cold air.

"Hmph, what's her problem?"

15 Minutes Later Back at Hiro's House

Kyo was curled up in Hiro's Mogeta sheets when he heard a faint knock at his window. At first he just thought it was just a branch from the tree outside the window, but when two minutes went by and it still persisted, Kyo got up from the bed, wiped his reddened eyes, and opened the blinds to see Rin sitting on the branch outside. He unlatched the lock and pushed up on the wooden frame, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I heard you were down, I thought maybe I could help," Rin said casually as Kyo scowled.

"I'm fine, go away!" Kyo yelled but his relative just sat there staring out you.

"Listen Kyo, I understand what you're going through…" She started but was cut off.

"Oh really, are you trapped in the body of a twelve year old brat!?!" Kyo began to turn away, not expecting a response, but he got one anyway.

"No, but I know what it's like to constantly reminded of what you can never have," something about the tremor in Rin's voice made Kyo stop and listen, "When I moved in with Kagura, I used to cry too. I saw the way her parents loved her so much and I just couldn't handle it. It just didn't seem fair, why should someone sharing the same curse as me, still be loved while my parents left me out on the streets. I know it's not exactly the same circumstances but I do understand, and I just want you to know if you want to talk I'm here," Rin told him as she wiped the tears from her eyes. When Kyo still didn't turn around, Rin prepared to descend the tree.

"You know if you want, you can come inside for awhile, it's cold out there," Kyo said and Rin smiled slightly as she entered the window.

I'm FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!! THIS TO FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no time since I started work but I promise that I will continue this fic so if you like it so far make sure to put it in your favorites so you don't forge, I've done it a lot. Oh and I promise I'll get back to the humor next chapter. Till then R&R.