Author's Note: Hmm no one is reading this, and I find it strange. It might be because there hasn't been any real interaction between Tohru and Akito yet. Rest assured there will be in this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: FRUITS BASKET AND ALL OF IT'S CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME, BUT TO RIGHTFULLY TO, I'M JUST A FAN

CHAPTER 2

Tohru began running, hearing their footsteps getting louder and closer. She felt the moisture in the air, as it began to dampen her long brown tresses. It was dark, and a soon to be stormy night and yet here she was alone being chased by some unidentified people. She didn't know exactly where she was running to, all she knew is she wanted to escape.

It was then, that out from a nearby ally a car suddenly appeared before her. As it's window rolled down and revealed it's driver, she didn't think twice to hop inside.

The car screeched away, leaving the figures behind shouting something that Tohru couldn't hear. As Tohru gazed back at the figures getting smaller and smaller in view, she noticed there were really only two of them, one apparently still violently yelling.

As she turned back in her seat, and breathed a sigh of relief as the first drops of rain started to fall; the driver besides her spoke up.

"Tohru, Tohru, Tohru tell me how is it, a innocent and pure high school girl as yourself gets wrapped up in messes as this."

Tohru quickly blushed at her mistake, as she quickly bowed her head in apology. "Oh I'm so sorry Shigure, I must have woken you up from your sleep. I owe you for saving me back there." She said quickly in her formal tone.

Shigure simply chuckled as he fixed his yukata. "Well I wouldn't say I was asleep, I saw you leave when I went to get myself a drink. I would say I felt something was up and I quickly just threw this on me, and followed you. Despite now though I'd wish I were wearing something under it, I got caught in the rain and am now freezing in my bare skin." He said as he let out a sneeze.

The ever caring Tohru quickly shifted into her nurturing mode, as she quickly placed her hand on his forehead. "Oh my gosh, Shigure you're burning up. You could get something worse then a simple cold, we have to take you to Hatori!" She said with a determined look on her face.

Shigure just blinked twice. "You want me to go to the Honke, and wake up ol Hari at two in the morning to treat my simple fever, instead of just returning home." He held back his laugh.

"Home is farther away then the Honke, and...I...don't want Yuki and Kyo to worry about me." She added the last part of her sentence slowly and quietly. The reason why she ran out of the house in the first was to not interfere with Kyo and Yuki's future. She wasn't about to go back there, and inform that she left in the middle of the night.

Shigure smirked, at his revelation. "Aha, so that's why you don't want to return home eh then I guess it's to the Honke." He said as he let out a cough.

Tohru smiled, if it were Kyo, Yuki or Hatori they would've asked why she was running away. This however was Shigure, the carefree dog who wouldn't bother asking if the person wasn't saying. She was grateful he was her rescuer in this occasion.

As they arrived at the Honke, Shigure let out a sigh. "I guess after this, we won't be seeing you again will we?" He said as he glanced at her. "I noticed you had your suitcase with you. It's not like you'd go to a sleepover at this time of night. So where were you headed?" He asked as they waited for the Honke gates to open.

Tohru breathed in a gasp. He may of been a pervert, or so Kyo called him; but he sure caught on fast. Tohru close her eyes in anticipation for the response, as she said slowly. "Since it's nearing graduation, I thought getting a job at the Honke would be a great place to work and stay. It is afterall so grand, so it would be an honor to work there besides working for Momiji's company." After she breathed out those words, she couldn't believe she said them. Her plans didn't even include the Honke, but that was the first place that came to her mind without mentioning Hana or Uo, and even less Momiji.

"Really the Honke? Well I guess it's not a bad place in general to work, as long as you don't work near Akito that is. Tohru I don't want you to get hurt. " He said as he stroked her hair, causing her to blush deeply.

"I'm sure I wouldn't get hurt Shigure, besides now mentioning it; I believe Akito is the one who needs the most help now." She said as she got lost in thought. "Kyo and Yuki not only became good friends of mine, but they are happier now then they used to be. Akito deserves that chance now." She said as she recalled the previous incident yet again.

Shigure shifted in his seat, and tightened his grip on Tohru's shoulder; his face changing from that of worry to rage. "Akito is a very different person from how Kyo ever was. He has no limits, and no use of ones personal boundaries. If he decides he wants your help, by humiliating you, torturing you, or tainting you. He'd do it without holding back, even if he let you go last time. By you coming in his grounds, he'd have complete control of you. "He said displaying a emotion Tohru couldn't believe was even in the usual cheerful dog.

Shocked by his words, and even more his firm strong grip on her, she slowly tried to shift away from his hold. "S-Shigure I'm thankful that you worry for me, but if Akito's as sick as he is; I can't just sit around and wait for him to die." She said as her eyes turned glassy. Another reason she now in the spur of the moment decided to go and live at the Honke, was to try and find out as much about the curse as possible. There had to be a way to save the Sohmas, and maybe even Akito from dieing.

Shigure stayed silent for a while, until he suddenly lunged towards Tohru without warning. "No I can't just let you stay there Tohru. I won't let you get hurt by Akito." He shouted in a voice that sounded so menacing Tohru thought it was completely out of his character.

In a matter of seconds he was struggling with her, trying to hold her down in place; whileas Tohru squirmed to get out of his surprisingly strong grip. In the midst of her struggle she banged her head on the car's side and slowly started to drift unconscious. As her vision was beginning to fade, the last things she remembered seeing, feeling and hearing was Shigure's loosening yukata to reveal his bare skin, something stroking her legs, and a quick glimpse of a dark figure approaching the car in the heavy rain outside.

Tohru felt like she was slowly drifting back to a conscious state, as she started hearing voices near her. Her whole body felt numb, and she fought to open her eyes; but they felt like two weights to lift open. As she fought to open her eyes, she listened to the voices she could hear.

"Akito although what you did helped Tohru a great deal, but you should have been more careful yourself. Breaking a car window with your bare fists is definitely not good for your current state. I'm still trying to figure out how exactly you knocked Shigure out, and got Tohru into your room." A soothing monotone calculating voice said slowly. Tohru somehow recognized it, but her memory bank was blank at the moment. One thing that surprised her however was who the person was talking to and about.

The replier spoke out in a striking tone, displaying no emotion whatsoever. "Continue figuring it out Hatori, because I simply don't know myself how I managed. That scatterbrain weighs a ton; I thought I'd break my back dragging the little twit. I should have left her there instead." Despite Tohru not seeing the speaker, she recognized instantly who that peculiar voice belonged to. Had the God of the Zodiacs saved her? But from what?

Tohru moaned a bit, as she tried desperately to regain consciousness; causing Hatori to speak to her.

"Tohru can you hear me, are you awake?" He said softly, as she felt his presence over her. She then felt a warm hand placed over her forehead, followed by Hatori mumbling something she couldn't hear.

"Hatori this is annoying me, just give her the damn injection to wake her the hell up." Akito spat out, sounding sort of like Kyo in his choice of words.

She heard Hatori give a slight sigh. "I can't give her any drug medication right now, not until I run further tests."

She then heard the door open, and a female voice spoke up. "Excuse me Doctor, you have a few calls for you, and Kureno-san is awake."

"Thank you, I'll take care of them after I'm through with tending to Akito's arm." Hatori replied in a professional tone, as he slowly started putting away his medical bandages. "Now that should do it, try not to move this arm as much Akito. If anything else arises just give me a call, for now please just let Tohru sleep. She should be waking up soon"

"Oh Hatori, this will not leave outside the Honke; you hear me." Akito added before Hatori went out the door. The tone of his voice seemed threatening and good enough of a warning for anyone. "Leave" He ordered as Tohru heard the door close shortly after.

Being alone with Akito in a room made her nervous, especially if she couldn't see what he was doing.

Being unable to open her eyes, Tohru drifted back to slumber after hearing nothing but silence when Hatori left the room. It wasn't until what seemed a eternity later, that she slowly woke up from her sleep. This time however, she could open her eyes, and look at her surroundings.

Her eyes hurt from the sudden burst of white light of the room, but after a while she adjusted. She noticed she wasn't back in her old room, as the room she was now in appeared to be styled as a traditional home, complete with a futon, and bamboo shoji slide door leading to a veranda outside. If she wouldn't have thought any better, she'd think she was in a traditional hot springs resort.

Other then the style of the room, she couldn't identify who brought her here. The room was plain, and had no personal belongings whatsoever. It wasn't until she looked at the floor beneath her, that she realized where she was.

Lying on the floor, sprawled out and apparently asleep was none other then the Sohma Head dressed in his usual red and white yukata. She noticed he had a cast on his right arm, and recalled her memory of hearing Hatori conversing earlier. He had broken though a car window? She knew Akito had a bad temper, but she wouldn't of imagined him doing that? It was then that she remembered the last thing she did when she was awake. She was running away from home, got chased and ended up with Shigure in his car that he rarely used.

She dimly remembered his face when she mentioned she had decided instead to stay at the Honke, and from then on she couldn't remember a thing. What happened that she ended up here, and that Akito of all people supposedly dragged and saved her? Was the car window Akito had smashed, Shigure's? She was clueless to the answers, and wanted to know them for sure. As she gazed at Akito's sleeping form. She couldn't help but smile. The fearing powerful god of the Sohmas looked so young and serene when asleep.

Without realizing the amount of time she lay there, staring at him; he suddenly opened his resting eyes. For a spilt second Tohru saw his eyes. His eyes weren't menacing, dark or chilling as they usually were. Instead they look deep, endless and somewhat lonely. The effect however didn't last long for soon after they changed to his regular mocking conniving ones. He smirked as he sat up, from his laying position.

"So she finally awakes. About time too, since it's been over almost half a week you've been taking my bedroom as your recovery unit." He said as he looked at his own cast, curling his lip in disgust.

Tohru was speechless, as to what he said. Half a week, asleep; in his bed of all places. She then saw him quit fiddling with his cast and letting it be. She let out a quick gasp, and sat up in bed. Despite feeling numb, and a bit dizzy, she quickly asked him, biting her lower lip.

"Oh no Akito, you got hurt. Why am I in your bed, when it should be you the one on here?"

Akito looked at her, blinking a couple of times. He didn't know if to feel amused or confused as to why she was worrying about him instead of wondering why she was here. Deciding this will be his best chance to break the harsh news straight to her, before an annoying Hatori would barge in; stopping him. He slowly stood up, and walked towards the futon.

The silence he was giving her was making her more nervous and made her think just exactly what was going though his mind. Her heart rate started pounding even more, when he sat next to her on the bed. " Well aren't you the one to quickly ask questions. Shouldn't I be the one to be asking questions to you?" He asked her in a mocking tone making Tohru quiver a bit under the covers, as he leaned forwards towards where she was seated.

"After all, you're the one on my bed, am I right?" He said with a devilish smile.

Tohru wrapped her arms around her legs, feeling uncomfortable with his closeness. "U-um you're right, what's your question."

Akito sensed her uneasiness, and overall fear of him. As he sat there looking straight at her, he saw the fear in her eyes. He felt a new feeling inside of him, he couldn't quite explain, but it was very similar to the pleasure he felt when he would put his fellow zodiacs in place when they needed it. Now looking at Tohru's fearful reactions towards him, brought him a whole new wave of satisfaction that he couldn't help but crave more of it.

He smirked as he asked his first question. "Taken from what all my annoying zodiacs tell me, you're quite the pure hearted girl. So what was such a pure girl doing out before dawn? Even more with Shigure no less." He knew he was forcing information from her, she didn't feel like mentioning. That however was the very reason he choose that question.

Tohru gasped slightly. He seemed to know exactly which question was the one she didn't want to bring up. When she took a glance at his eyes however, she knew she had to speak up. They had gotten this glaze over them, turning them into dark marbles, making her get goosebumps. "I-I was being chased, and Shigure picked me up in his car. I was out...thinking about something. I had alot on my mind." She said quickly trying hard not to stutter, as she slowly shifted farther down on the bed away from him.

Akito let out a "hmph" sound, and admired his long nails casually. Though not as long as a feminine girl would have them, for being a guy; Akito indeed had left them longer then the average guy would. "You know Tohru, you're quite the pathetic liar as well. You're worse then any of my servants." He spoke up casually, turning his glaze towards her. "But fine then, I'll buy that for now, though do you realize then that your ignorant stupidity lead you to your current fabulous outcome? I should've leave you bleed to death out in that rain with that mangy mutt." He spat out to her with a disgusted tone.

Tohru's interest piqued once she realized what was he saying. She was lost as usual, and had no clue to what he was referring to. 'Bleed to death, had she gotten hurt?'

Akito, then rose from the bed, shaking his head as he walked towards the veranda door. "In the end however, I guess I hated him more for what he did."

Tohru twisted her lip confused. Was he referring to Shigure? Now thinking about it, she hadn't heard more from him since that night. What had happened to him?

She waited a few minutes, incase Akito himself answered her question. When she saw he stayed gazing at the veranda, with his back towards her. She decided to muster up the courage to raise the question herself. "Um...Aki-"

"SAMA, you are to inform as sama while your in my grounds." He quickly interrupted her before she hardly got the chance to say his name.

"Akito-sama, I'm sorry but I don't know what are you referring to. What happened to Shigure that night?" She said in the most polite way she could think of.

Not bothering to turn around, he simply glanced at her through the corner of his eye, and answered her in a tone that expressed no emotion whatsoever. "The dog was hardly ever my favored Zodiac animal besides that grotesques cat. Which means there's even less reason to keep him here as a relative, when he commits such a defying act as raping an outsider."

That was when; Tohru's mind came to a sudden halt. Akito couldn't be serious, could he? Before she had a chance to continue asking him, he slid open the veranda shoji door, and stepped out. Before closing he added one final word. "Hatori will soon be here to check on you, you will remain here unknown to everyone else until further notice." He slammed shut the shoji door.

Tohru felt the heat rise to her face, and suddenly felt a extreme headache develop. As she look down at herself, she realized she was no longer dressed in her green pajamas; but in white yukata tied with a indigo colered sash. There wasn't a mirror in sight, so she had no idea how she herself looked. Even so, she couldn't come to realization that what Akito said had happened to her was true. For there was no possible way.

Author's Note: YAY Akito and Tohru finally interact with each other. Don't worry their interactions are tame so far, and Akito hasn't done anything severe yet due to his anger and other emotions being focused on someone else at the moment. I also decided to do this chapter a bit shorter since the others were extremely long. Lol thought I'd give you a rest a bit from loong chapters.

As for Kyo and Yuki don't worry they'll still appear in the story. As for Shigure lovers, I'm sorry but Akito is ahem different in the anime, so Shigure will change a bit too in that case. Plus Shigure did indeed have a hidden dark streak in the manga.