Special Note: Yes! An update! I did it! Yay!

Disclaimer: You think I own any of this? (dies laughing)

Note, 1: This is one of my first attempts at writing the Fruits Basket characters. Please forgive me if anyone seems too out of character. Advice is always appreciated; just don't be mean or uppity about it.

Note, 2: I don't like curse words. Nor am I certain that my parents would allow me to type them. Therefore, all swearwords will be written as follows: -CENSORED-. The strongest words I'll ever type out in this fic are: dang, shoot, and crud.

Verisimilitude

Twenty-Two: Doctor Shigure?, Part Two

"Momiji—off—!" Yuki half-pleaded, half-ordered.

"Ow…" Momiji mumbled.

"You're saying 'ow'?"

"Oh, did I hurt you? I was just really happy to see you awake…"

Kyo, hauling himself into a standing position, glanced curiously at Hatori, who was lying back down and closing his eyes. Wasn't the dragon going to help?

Shigure came rushing back into the room then, Tohru waiting anxiously at the bedroom door, and quickly hushed the rabbit and rat.

"Don't wake up Hatori!" Shigure shushed.

"Too late."

The dog jumped and whirled around at the sound of Hatori's voice.

"Ha'ri! Good morning, nothin' to see here, go back to sleep!"

"That's enough out of you," decided the dragon. "Go stand in a corner."

"…Why?"

"So that you won't get in my way. Yuki, Momiji, are you alright?"

"Fine," Yuki muttered, getting up and leaving the room.

"I'm not! Look!" Momiji sat up and held up his injured foot for Hatori to see.

Hatori got out of bed and squatted in front of the bunny. "What happened here?"

"I stepped on a broken cup! And it hurt really bad!"

"'Badly', not 'bad'. Did you bandage it yourself?"

"I did," Shigure piped up.

"Remind me to give you a lesson in first aid. Or maybe even fourth or fifth aid. Anything would be an improvement." He glanced at the incompetence that was his writing cousin. "The corner."

"Wha—oh. You meant it?" Shigure answered his own question with, "Of course you meant it. You don't joke. …But… the corner…? Ha'ri, you're so meeeeeeeeeeeeaaaan!" Hatori glared at him, and Shigure went to stand in a corner of the room.

Haru stepped into the room then, asking what the heck had happened.

Hatori answered. "Momiji was a bit overenthusiastic about seeing Yuki again, so he tackled him. Shigure was being himself, so I sent him to stand in the corner. What happened to your nose?"

"Dis? Oh, nuttin'. Don' mind me. I'll just stan' 'ere and bleed to death."

"Momiji, Haru, come with me." Hatori stood, holding Momiji's hand. He hesitated upon hearing the shower running. "Who's in the bathroom?"

"The only person not in this room," Shigure supplied from his corner.

"Thank you, Mr. I-am-left-alone-for-all-of-five-minutes-and-the-whole-house-runs-amok."

"Shall I take that comment as a hint that you want me to shut up?"

"Permanently, if you don't mind. We'll clean up your nose in the kitchen, Haru, and then we'll get everything bandaged or re-bandaged once Yuki's finished in the bathroom." Hatori looked at Kyo. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," shrugged Kyo. "I have a headache, but it's not that bad, I guess."

"Do you think you're up to coming with us to the kitchen? I want to talk to you."

The cat shrugged again and followed the three other zodiacs into the kitchen.

"Ha'ri, can I leave the corner now?" Shigure asked.

…

"Ha'ri?"

"Hatori-san has left the room, Shigure-san," Tohru informed him.

"Oh, good. Then I don't have to stand here anymore."

Just as Shigure stepped away from the wall, however…

"Leave that corner and you're puppy chow," Hatori's voice stated from the kitchen.

Shigure returned to his corner.

-

In the kitchen, Momiji and Kyo were standing near the table while Haru was sitting on the counter. Hatori took a clean cloth and wet it before going over to the ox to tend to his injury.

"So," Hatori cleaned Haru's nose while speaking to Kyo. "Tell me about yourself."

"My name is Kyo Sohma. I live here. Don't you know?"

"Yes… did you remember all that?"

"That lunatic back in the bedroom told me."

"You mean Shigure, of course."

"Duh."

"Whad's goin' on?" Haru piped up.

"Yeah!" Momiji put in his two cents.

"You, keep your mouth shut," Hatori lightly scolded the ox. "Or I might accidentally ram this down your throat," he added, brandishing the damp cloth he was using to wipe Haru's injured nose.

"If Momiji doesn't keep 'is mout' shut," Haru said quickly, "will you ram id down 'is throat?"

"Wah!" the blonde shrieked. "Haru is picking on me!"

"Shut up!" Kyo scowled, glaring. He muttered, "What a brat…"

"WAH! Ha'ri! Kyo's picking on me!"

"SHUT UP!"

"All of you, be quiet," Hatori ordered. "I have some news for you."

"Whad?" asked Haru.

"Didn't I tell you not to open your mouth?" Hatori asked back.

"What! What!" Momiji exclaimed gleefully.

"Shh." The dragon paused. "…Kyo's lost his memory."

"He did?!" yelled the rabbit.

"Whad? How?" Haru demanded.

"Yeah, how?" Kyo wanted to know.

"I erased it," Hatori stated, bracing himself for the explosion that was certain to follow. Sure enough…

"You DID?!"

"Whad?! Why?!"

"…You can do that?"

"Yes, because it was either his memory or all of our lives, yes," Hatori answered their questions.

"Poor Kyo-kuuuuun!!" Momiji wailed, glomping Kyo.

"Hey! Get off me!" Kyo shouted in return.

"Hey," Haru suddenly realized. "If he doesn't remember anyt'in', den he doesn't know aboud da curse, does he?"

"Clogging again," Hatori mumbled to himself, quickly beginning to clean Haru's nose again.

"Curse?" Kyo asked, finally managing to pry himself out from Momiji's death grip.

"Yes," Hatori nodded. "I'll explain later, when Tohru-kun isn't around. Until then, just don't hug any girls, okay?"

"…And I'd want to do that… why?"

"Just try not to bump into any females, alright?"

Kyo shrugged. "I never try to bump into anyone. …Do I?"

"No."

"Then what's your problem?"

"Not just his," Momiji supplied. "Yours, too. And mine. And Haru's. And Yun-Yun's. And—"

"I get it, already! It's everyone's problem."

"Except for Tohru's," Hatori commented.

"Tohru's that girl that's staying with us, right? That's what the nutcase—pardon me—Shigure said."

"Yes," confirmed Hatori. He stepped back from Haru. "Well, I've got some more news for you, Haru."

"Bedder or worse dan de erasin'?" Haru asked.

"Let's just say that your nose is probably broken, alright?"

"Dat stinks."

"It's better than getting your memory erased!" Kyo glowered. "Now that's something that can really get on your nerves!"

"Which reminds me." Haru suddenly reached out and grabbed Hatori by the collar with one hand. "You are really getting on my nerves."

The Black hath descended.