Surprise! I'm back! And so soon after my last update.I'm so proud of myself. XD I've been trying to write every spare minute I can get. I may not be able to update for a little while, since I'm expecting to have a fairly busy semester, but I'll do my best to get my chapters written and posted.

A big shout out to my mom for helping me out with formatting issues I had while I was trying to write. The stupid border line wouldn't go away, even when I hit delete! But then my mom fixed it for me! Yay Mom! Thank you for your magical Microsoft Word wizardry. :D

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited me and my stories. I've had more hits than ever and it's all thanks to you guys. Thank you so much!

Enough of my rambling, on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Fruits Basket. It is the genius creation of Natsuki Takaya.

The Art of Teaching

Chapter 12

"No, Miko! Don't do it!" Shigure cried.

"This is for your own good!" Kumiko yelled in return.

Yuki entered the dining room, feeling very confused. "What is going on in there?" he asked, looking in the direction of Shigure's office.

"Oh, Kumiko is cleaning Shigure's office," Tohru replied as she passed through the hallway with a basket of dirty clothes. "She said it was impossible to find his address book yesterday because it was so messy. I offered to help but…"

Kumiko's voice floated into the room. "Why in the world do you have a kite under your desk?"

"Oh, I've been looking for that," the writer replied.

"You have not, or else you would have found it."

"No, don't throw it away! No! Miko, you're so mean!"

"I am not!" she replied as she opened the door and stepped into the hall. Yuki peeked into the room to see his cousin laying on the floor with exaggerated tears streaming down his face and his hands outstretched as if he had been begging at Kumiko's feet. The boy rolled his eyes.

"I see Shigure's making a nuisance of himself, as usual," Yuki remarked.

"Yes, but we're at least making progress." Kumiko brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "I've found at least a hundred candy wrappers in there." The boy smiled.

"You are a brave woman, Miss Hishida."

Tohru came back down the hall, this time with her arms free of laundry. She stopped suddenly with a dumbfounded look on her face. Yuki and Kumiko looked on in confusion.

"Tohru, is something wrong?" the dark haired young woman asked.

"Well, I…just remembered…Yuki, Hatori called this morning and said he's coming over to give you a check-up today," she explained. The pianist raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Oh. What time?" he inquired politely, so as not to make Tohru feel guilty.

"Noon…"

"That's fifteen minutes from now," Yuki observed. She looked flustered.

"I know. I'm sorry! It completely slipped my mind," she told him apologetically.

Kumiko looked on as the boy calmly approached Tohru and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. With a soft smile he said, "It's alright. These kinds of things happen to everyone."

His teacher knew that, had anyone else made this mistake, even if it had been Kumiko herself, Yuki would have been irritated at the very least. But Tohru was different. He could never be angry with her. There was a difference in the way he conducted himself around her. He seemed more at ease; more free than he did around others. There was a certain brand of acceptance and an unwavering kindness that was Tohru's alone that caused everyone around her to have nothing but affection for her. At times, Kumiko wished she could be more like her; she admired her.

She was snapped out of her reverie by Tohru's determined reply. "Okay, but I promise I won't let it happen again."

The older girl smiled at the scene playing out before her and continued on her way to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Young love, she thought to herself. She washed her glass and turned to go back through the living room and into Shigure's office.

"What's got you so happy?" the novelist asked upon seeing her face. She hadn't even realized she was still smiling.

"Oh nothing," she replied, keeping her grin.

"Does it have anything to do with Hatori's visit?" he asked cunningly. She sucked in a breath too fast and choked. "Have I struck a nerve?"

"As a matter of fact, no, it does not have anything to do with Hatori!" she exclaimed when she had stopped coughing.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Shigure sang. She waved it off.

"You're stalling," the young woman observed. "Time to get back to work." She sat down on the floor and began sorting through a stack of papers.

"So what does it have to do with?" the novelist pressed, sitting next to her and watching as she worked. She held up a paper with a plotline sketched on it.

"Do you need this?" He shook his head and she put it into the garbage pile. "Shigure, have you ever watched two people who care for each other interact?" The man nodded with a soft expression. "It's the sweetest thing, isn't it? Seeing how their relationship grows, even if it's plutonic. You know what I mean?"

"I do. I've been watching a certain relationship blossom for a little while now, and it really is a beautiful thing." He rested his chin on his palm, gazing up at her. She glanced at him with a questioning look.

"Whose relationship?" she wondered. He smirked.

"You'll figure it out soon enough." She looked at him skeptically and rolled her eyes.

"Must you be so cryptic?" she joked. The man laughed. She frowned suddenly. "Hey, why aren't you helping?" He quailed at the question, holding his hands up in defense.

They continued on that way for a while, until Kumiko decided that that was enough for today, to which Shigure all too happily agreed. She opened the door and straightened up her clothes before looking up. The young woman felt herself blush a little when she saw him. There he was in her house, or her land lord's house, anyway, well dressed as always, hair falling over his left eye—which was odd to her, considering his otherwise clean-cut appearance—and holding a stethoscope to Yuki's chest: Hatori.

Without even thinking about it, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear as she walked into the living room.

"Good morning, Hatori," she said casually.

"It's the afternoon," he responded simply. She mentally slapped herself.

Stupid!she thought. "Oh, right," was all she could think to say. "So, Yuki, what's with the check-up?"

"It's just a routine visit," the boy answered just as Kyo came into the room.

"Yeah, and Rat Boy's got the lungs of a pre-mature goldfish," the red-head quipped. Kumiko's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Yuki used to have acute asthma," Hatori answered. "He's grown out of it for the most part, but it's best to check on it every once in a while." She looked around at them all, open mouthed.

"Why didn't anyone mention this to me?" she demanded.

"It's never come up," Yuki said in reply. The young woman was mildly dismayed that she hadn't known about her student's potentially serious health problem.

"But, what if you had had an attack and I didn't know what to do?" Her voice was worried. The boy looked at her as if he hadn't thought of that. Kyo smirked.

"Then maybe we'd get lucky and that idiot rat would be out of my hair for good," he stated. Kumiko was no longer surprised by some of the things Kyo said about Yuki, she knew how much they cousins despised one another, and now that she knew about the zodiac curse, it made more sense. Although, she still wasn't sure what all this talk of winning against Yuki was about…

"You'd love that wouldn't you, stupid Cat?" Yuki hissed. Kyo growled and stepped forward as if he were going to attack the other boy. The musician put an arm out to stop him.

"Not now," she told him quietly. "You're better than that." He huffed and crossed his arms. But, for just a second, Kumiko thought she saw a small smile on his lips as he left the room and went about his business.

Hatori spoke up. "Miss Hishida is right, Yuki. You really should have told her." Yuki sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry, Miss Hishida," he apologized. She held up her hand.

"It's alright. Any other health conditions I need to know about? Transplants? Leprosy?" Yuki laughed and Hatori granted her the honor of seeing his little smirk at her joke. The boy shook his head. "Well, then, I think I'll go help Tohru with lunch. Hatori, would you like to join us?" she asked politely. He glanced up at her.

"Yes. Thank you," he replied.

She smiled at him and went into the kitchen. There, she found Tohru chopping up some vegetables.

"Is there anything I can do?" the older of the two asked. The younger looked around.

"There's some beef that needs to be cooked. Do you mind-?"

"Of course not," Kumiko said quickly. "I came in to help, didn't I?" She washed her hands and began to prepare the meat. "Hatori said he'd like to join us, if that's alright."

"Oh yes, I'm always glad to have company over to eat with us," the teenager told her happily.

They talked with each other as they cooked, the occasional laughter floating out of the kitchen. When the meal had been prepared, the girls set the table in the now empty dining room. (They assumed Yuki had gone to his room and they could hear Hatori and Shigure chatting in the other room.) Once everything was ready, they called the rest of the household to eat.

"Smells delicious as always, girls," Shigure complemented as he seated himself. Hatori came to sit beside Kumiko, and Tohru was sandwiched between Yuki and Kyo.

"Miss Hishida, Shigure tells me that the two of you cleaned his office today," Hatori said, "though I'm more inclined to believe that you cleaned while he whined."

"Hey!" Shigure cried in protest. Kumiko snickered.

"Your protest just means that I'm right."

"It's alright," the young woman said, interrupting the coming banter, "I have to earn my keep around here."

"That was far beyond just earning your keep," the doctor responded, taking a bite of his food. Shigure sniffed.

"So, kids, are you excited for Winter Break?" Kumiko asked, redirecting the conversation.

"What's there to be excited about?" Kyo grumbled.

"Lots of things. There's Christmas and New Year's eve…"

"There's nothing good about New Year's," he growled.

"Sure there is. You get to spend all night celebrating with friends and family ringing in the-"

"Yeah? Well I hate New Year's!" Kyo exclaimed suddenly. "It just reminds me of what I don't have!" He jumped to his feet and stormed out of the room. The musician stared after him.

"I didn't mean to upset him," she said, feeling guilty.

"It isn't as if it's very hard to do," Shigure told her nonchalantly. "I wouldn't worry about it." Kumiko looked around at them all and saw that Tohru was the only other person who was watching the door that Kyo had slammed behind him. His cousins just continued their meal.

"Excuse me," Kumiko said, getting up.

"It won't do any good, Miko," Shigure said as she left the room. She glanced over her shoulder.

"It's better than doing nothing," she said, just loud enough for them to hear. She went up the stairs to the boy's room and knocked on the door.

"Kyo?" she called. "Kyo, I'm coming in." She opened the door and looked around. He wasn't there. "Kyo?" she said stupidly. She went into his room and out onto the balcony. He wasn't there either.

He couldn't have gone too far, she thought as she came back inside. She went downstairs and checked the bathroom, it was empty. Confused, she began to search the rest of the house. When he was nowhere to be found, she put on her coat and her shoes and headed outside. She started in the back yard and worked her way around to the front, checking each tree she passed under.

Kumiko sighed as she came to the front yard, beginning to wonder if Shigure had been right. Just as she was about to give up and go inside, something caught her attention. On the side of the house she hadn't checked was a fire escape that led all the way up to the roof. She jogged up to it and began to climb.

She peeked up at the roof and saw his hair before she saw anything else. Feeling accomplished, the young woman stepped onto the shingles where he sat.

"I finally found you," she said. Kyo practically jumped out of his skin. She laughed a little at his reaction. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

"You didn't," he replied stubbornly. She frowned and came to sit next to him.

"Listen Kyo, I didn't mean to upset you back there, you know, at lunch. I was just trying to make conversation." Kyo didn't look at her; he just scowled into the distance. "I know that I don't really have any idea what you're going through, but-"

"No one knows what I'm going through, not even my own relatives. I'm an outcast, even in a family of sideshow freaks."

Kumiko's expression changed to one of sadness. "You're right, they don't. But you know what? You were given this challenge for a reason." He turned to face her.

"What reason?" he asked.

"It's because you're strong enough to take it. Could you imagine if someone fragile like Momiji or Yuki had been cursed with the cat? It'd be a disaster."

This seemed to cheer him a little and he smirked.

"You're the strongest person I know, Kyo," she said sincerely. "You're not an outcast, either, by the way. You've got me and Tohru and we care very much about you. And what about that Shishou you're always talking about? He cares about you, too, I'm sure."

The red-head's face brightened as she patted him on the shoulder. "So, you see? It's not as bad as you think it is." She ruffled his hair and he waved her hand away. "Come on," she said, getting up. "Let's go back inside."

"Nah, I think I'm going to stay out here for a while," he told her.

"Okay, just don't be too long." She started her descent down the ladder.

"Hey, Kumiko," he called out. She popped back up over the roof top. "Thanks." She smiled at him.

"You're welcome."

Kumiko came back inside and walked into the dining room. The table had been cleared and Shigure and Hatori were watching the news. She sat down at the table quietly, feeling a bit sheepish.

"How'd it go?" Shigure asked, keeping his eyes on the television.

"Fine. I think he feels a little better, at least." She wrung her hands under the table. "Listen, Shigure, I didn't mean any disrespect by what I said earlier. I just…" The writer's eyes came to rest on her worried face.

"It's alright, Miko," he replied reassuringly. "I understand that you aren't the type to sit back and watch if you think something is wrong." He grinned and got to his feet. "I'd better get to work on my book, or my editor is going to have my head," he said as he traipsed into his office.

"He's right about you, you know," Hatori commented after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you aren't afraid to stand up for yourself," the man explained. "I heard about what happened between you and Haru," he began. "Momiji told me the whole story, or his version anyway." Kumiko felt herself turn red with embarrassment.

"I was hoping you'd never find out about that," she confessed, not meeting his eyes.

"Actually, I was glad you defended yourself. Not many can literally slap the sense back into Haru and get away with it." The young woman gave a half-hearted smile, then looked away from him again.

"It's not something I'm proud of. I can't believe I lost my temper like that."

"From what I'm told, your anger was justified." She glanced over at him, feeling relieved that he didn't think she was a violent maniac. "Still, I wouldn't make a habit of hitting teenaged boys."

Kumiko let go of a genuine laugh. "I don't plan on it." They sat in silence for a little while, watching television.

"I think it's time I leave," Hatori announced not much later, getting up and heading into the hallway.

"I'll walk you out," Kumiko said, following him. "It was nice seeing you today," she told him as they left the room.

"Likewise," he replied. "It's good to know there's at least one sensible person in this madhouse." She giggled as they put on their shoes.

"You know, I'm glad I moved here," she confided with a smile, "even if it is a madhouse." She got to her feet and looked up at him. "Thanks for convincing me to stay."

"You're welcome," Hatori said, his voice a little warmer than usual. The pair of them stepped outside. "Things have been…different since you came here; happier, I suppose."

"Really? I thought that was all Tohru's doing," she answered with sincere surprise.

"Some of it, yes. But, not all of it." She beamed at him with a tinge of pink on her cheeks that wasn't entirely due to the cold.

"Gee, I didn't know I could have that kind of effect on people," she said bashfully.

"You most certainly do. You have a number of gifts, Miss Hishida, not all of them musical. You have changed so many people for the better in the last four months." Hatori put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her seriously. "Including myself."

Kumiko's face was ablaze. For a moment she thought her heart would stop for all the joy she felt in that instant.

"Well, goodbye, Miss Hishida," he said, turning to leave.

She just stood there for a moment, feeling the butterflies erupting in her stomach at the thought she was entertaining. A little voice in the back of her mind said, He's leaving! He's leaving! Do something! Say something! Move, you idiot!

"Hatori, wait!" she called just as he made it down the walkway. She jogged up to him and, standing on tip-toe, kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye."

With that, she turned and went back inside, leaving Hatori stunned in the snow.