A Family Affair bySimply Hopeless a.k.a. Assassin's Kiss
Warning: Refer to first Chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own or make any profit from the anime/manga 'Fruits Basket'and/or own any of the characters from it. This product is the sole property of Natsuki Takaya and TokyoPop. I also do not own or make any profit from the anime/manga 'Inuyasha'and/or own any of the characters from it. This product is the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media. I am, however, the sole author of this fanfic. So please do not steal my story. It's happened before. Please let me know if you see anyone who doesn't have my penname trying to pass it off as their own so that I may report them.
Author's Note: Hey guys, it's me your authoress. I thank you so much for your reviews. Once I get things more organized I'll post comments to your reviews and send you the link to where I have it on livejournal, so watch out for that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and look forward to your reviews.
Italic means flashback
A Family Affair
Recap
"It can't be… I can't be… Aunt Gome. I haven't… I…" Tohru's voice cracked; she couldn't seem to finish her sentence as she began to sob against her Aunt's shoulder. It had been so long that she couldn't keep the tears back. The last time she saw her was at her mother's funeral and she remembered herself wanting badly to go with her Aunt only to have her sadly decline.
"What the hell is going on?" came a gruff voice as Kyo stuck his head inside the hallway. He looked in shock as he saw Tohru hugging and crying against a black haired woman. Two pairs of watery brown eyes looked up at him for a measured moment before they filled up with more tears.
"She's my… my aunt. Her name is—" began Tohru before feeling herself nearly buckling under Kagome's weight. The older woman smiled weakly and touched Tohru's wet cheek before murmuring an apology. "Sorry… Souta in the car outside," she barely managed to gasp before collapsing.
"Oh gods, Kyo help me," cried out Tohru in shock. Her legs nearly buckled under the dead weight.
Kyo quickly grabbed Kagome and scooped her into his arms before Tohru fell over. The stress of all that was happening to Kagome seemed to have all crashed over at once. Neither seemed to realize that Kyo was holding Kagome and the cat had not transformed.
Chapter Two
The events seemed to happen so fast that they didn't realize the importance of Kyo being able to hold Kagome until they were upstairs. Shigure, who had disappeared to call Hatori, came back to look down at the unconscious girl in Kyo's arms. His finger quickly pointed to the spare guest room.
"Inside, inside," he ordered as he slid the door open. He held it open as the others shuffled pass him before Kyo sat the girl down on the bed. "Haa-san will be here shortly," Shigure quickly reassured before sitting down in a chair. He clicked his cell phone close with a small, satisfied smile before frowning at the anxious Tohru. "Are you alright Tohru-chan?" he asked soothingly ready to stand up again.
"I… of course. It's just that… that she's burning up," Tohru cried out placing her hands over her mouth.
"Maybe you should get a cold compress for your aunt, Honda-san," suggested Yuki smiled gently at the girl.
"Mmm yes and maybe some tea too if you don't mind," chorused Shigure. He ignored the disapproving look that his younger cousin threw him to smile warmly at Tohru. "Of course after you get the cold compress."
"Great idea," Tohru smiled brightly and nodded her head. Quickly running to the door she turned and bowed. "Please look after my aunt," she breathed before rushing out the door.
"Ah are flower is so gracious even in the grips of despair," sighed Shigure. He pulled out his fan from his sleeve before tapping it thoughtfully against his chin. "And to think we have another flower among us. Such a fortuitous moment," exclaimed the older male.
"Can it Shigure," growled Kyo. He eased himself into a sitting position on the edge of the occupied bed. Slowly he peeled back the fingers that had gripped onto his shirt among the chaos of the moment. "Damn it she won't let go," he grumbled trying to loosen another finger.
"Inuyasha please…" sighed Kagome. She let go of Kyo's shirt to wrap her arm around Kyo's waist in a one armed hug. Her face burrowed up against his side.
"Hey quit it!" he squeaked uncharacteristically. His tanned cheeks flushed slightly at such proximity to a girl, and a strange girl at that.
"Oh Kyo-chan don't mind her. She's thanking you for carrying her up the stairs," laughed Shigure in amusement. He ran his fingers through his hair before popping his fan open to laugh behind it.
"Not when she's calling some other guy's name she isn't," growled Kyo in protest. He started to busy himself with easing the girl's arm from around his waist. His teeth sunk gently into his bottom lip at the effort to do it carefully. Slowly he pried the arm free and was grateful when the girl rolled away from him.
Back facing the others, Kagome snuggled her pillow and murmured another name. "Shippo," she sighed before burying her face against the pillow in her arms.
"I guess she's not too bad off if she's calling men in the middle of her sleep," snickered Shigure, his eyes shining with amusement.
"Didn't I say can it pervert," snapped Kyo before slowly standing. He looked suspiciously at the patient's back, unsure if he could trust her. "What if she finds out about the family secret Shigure?" he asked finally after looking at Kagome for a few more heartbeats.
"We just won't tell her then, will we?" smiled Shigure happily snapping the fan close. "As long as she doesn't hug one of us we won't go 'poofing' into our respective zodiac animals," clarified Shigure breezily.
"Wait a minute… you did say that Kyo carried Honda-san's aunt up the stairs right?" Yuki asked thoughtfully. His amethyst eyes turned to the sleeping girl who seemed to curl more and more into a ball as if protecting her self against something. Her body started to tremble slightly until he was embolden to draw up a blanket around her shoulders.
"Yes… why? I mean you saw me bringing her up the steps yourself. Or did you think she just levitated up there on her own?" the red head snorted before leaning against the wall. His arms firmly crossed against his chest as he scowled.
"And Kyo isn't a cat right now, is he?" Yuki turned to Shigure to ask him the question, a thoughtful look on his face as he ignored his other cousin.
"Astute as always Yuki," chirped up Shigure jokingly.
"Stupid rat do I look like a cat right now," snorted Kyo and then rolled his eyes.
Yuki scowled at Kyo over his shoulders before fully turning his back on him to look at his cousin. He gave a faint smile when both Tohru and Hatori, the family doctor, entered the room.
"Please tell me you didn't come just for her Haa-san," pouted Shigure as he hopped up from his chair. He attempted to wrap his arms around the lanky doctor only to laugh nervously at Hatori's glaring eyes. "I… I think I'll sit now," he laughed then looked at Tohru. "Did you get the compress and tea?"
"Oh I… I forgot," Tohru blushed, feeling quite flustered. She quickly bowed her head and excused herself, shutting the door firmly closed as she left.
Yuki let out a sigh as Hatori set his leather bag down on the floor next to the bed. He slowly pulled up a chair and began the slow process of checking up on Kagome. Seeing as Hatori was preoccupied the gray haired boy began to continue on that note. But as soon as he opened his mouth Tohru barreled inside.
"I… oh I'm sorry was I interrupting something?" asked Tohru, apologetically; her cheeks still stained a slight pink.
"No, no of course not Honda-san," Yuki smiled kindly at the brunette.
"I… okay I wanted to tell Hatori-san that Kagome is allergic to a type of medicine. I mean just in case she needs to take some or needs a shot. I forget what it's called but if you… if you show me the medicines you have I'll be able to identify it," Tohru ventured out in a rushed voice. She looked down at her hands before smiling weakly at Hatori.
"Oh Haa-san please forgive our flower and humor her," Shigure waved off loftily. The dog sat slouched in his chair, his leg thrown over one of the arms of it. With a flick of his wrist his hand gently popped open his fan so that he could fan himself.
"Fine then Honda-san please look at these bottles and tell me which one. And Yuki you may continue your explanation, while we conduct the search silently," Hatori sighed before lifting an amber vial to Tohru to look at. He watched carefully as the girl shook her head no before moving onto another one.
"Well what I was trying to say is… is… don't you think it odd that he didn't transform? I mean when Kyo caught… caught… I excuse me Honda-san but who is she again," he nodded his head towards the unconscious girl. He knew that it was impolite to point unlike some other people he knew who had have done it at a drop of a dime; Kyo came to mind.
"She is my Aunt Gome. She's my mother's younger sister… or half sister. It doesn't make a difference because she's still family," Tohru nodded her head firmly. Her brown eyes went to look at Kagome for a moment before turning to look helplessly at Hatori.
"Well yes. As I was saying Kyo was able to catch Honda-san's Aunt without being caught. But he didn't transform, I mean if Shigure or say I were to have picked up Tohru we would have turned into a rat and a dog. But Kyo did not change at all and I know it isn't a fluke because this woman had also hugged Kyo a few minutes ago in bed without him changing," Yuki quickly rationalized.
"Damn rat why shouldn't I have changed. I'm a zodiac too even if I'm a cat. It doesn't make any sense. What is so special about he—" but suddenly Kyo's protests were interrupted by a cry from Kagome.
"Quickly the compress," Shigure ushered Tohru on until she ran out the door.
Then all four Sohma men turned to look at the flushed Kagome. "Please Naraku… not my family. Please!" she gasped breathlessly. Her black hair was damp with sweat as she fought the covers, her body only settling down when she was taken up in another feverish dream.
Kagome let out what seemed another sigh that day as she stood there among all the mourners. And it seemed clear that she was the only out of place person because she couldn't cry for her half sister. It wasn't in her to cry anymore after spending a day and a half crying until she couldn't cry anymore.
So she stood there almost defensively, looking around her surroundings with her arms crossed over her chest. She had been surprised that the half demon, Inuyasha, had actually given her permission to attend. But was overall grateful and promised her friend that she would hurry back as soon as possible.
'Well duh, he's not totally heartless,' she scolded herself. 'Though then again he and his brother fight like rabid dogs,' she thought with another heavy sigh. She was really starting to get a headache so it was no surprise that her fingers gravitated to her temples to rub soothing circles into it. All the while she was letting her eyes slide close she knew someone was watching her.
"Kagome it has been a long time," ventured out a voice as brittle as aging paper.
"Ah it's you father," murmured Kagome in relief. A smile slowly forming on her lips as she open her eyes. She blinked once, twice then folded the smaller man into her arms. She kissed his bald head and gave him a watery smile. "I am so glad you came to your daughter's funeral," Kagome breathed.
The old man waved Kagome's advances off good-naturedly with a slight flush to his cheeks. "You'll give this old man the wrong ideas," he blustered placing his hands behind his back. Then tilting his head back to look at her he couldn't help but smile at the teenaged girl that was so like and unlike his daughter-in-law.
"But I am like a daughter to you… aren't I?" pouted the raven-haired girl. Her bottom lip began to tremble even as her doe brown eyes shown with unveiled amusement.
"Improper, that's how she is," hissed someone in a loud whisper.
"She's wearing Kyoko's trench coat. Like we need reminding that that woman was in a gang," another breathed fervently.
"I've heard that she's terminally ill and doesn't have long to live," cooed an old female voice soothingly.
"Well I've heard she's following in her sister's footsteps by running with a bad crowd," came the first voice.
"Can you believe she's only fif—" began the male voice before letting the words die on his lips. He was face with Kagome's doe brown eyes turning relentlessly towards him, an obvious frown on her pouting lips.
"I'm glad that you could come Yoshi, Nami, Sanyu," she smiled coldly at the three gossipers. She seemed to take a slight pleasure at them fidgeting before her scrutiny before she turned away. Her arms hugging the jacket closer to her heat as she began to greet the guests. She knew already that as soon as she left their vicinity they would start talking more fervently then ever.
"Aunt Gome!" cried out Tohru and barreled into Kagome's back. Her tear stained face buried between the older woman's shoulder blades as she began to cry. "I should of… I should have said 'Have a safe journey,'" she hiccupped. "If I… If I only said that she'd… she'd still be with us," she cried soaking the back of the black trench coat.
"Ruru-chan…" trailed off Kagome as she slowly turned. She gripped Tohru's chin and bent her head down. Lips brushed against first one closed eyelid and then the other as she kissed the tears away. "Kyoko would have my head if she saw you crying. She'd want you to laugh," murmured Kagome soothingly.
"L… laugh?" Tohru stuttered. Her big brown eyes trained on her aunt, noticing almost for the first time that she was wearing her mother's trench coat. Her fingers began to slowly pet the collar of her mother's coat as she looked with almost unseeing eyes at Kagome.
"Yes she'd want you to laugh, even if you're crying when you're laughing. Just tilt your head back and laugh," Kagome suggested and as if Tohru didn't get the idea she threw her head back and laughed. Just a chuckle left her lips before she flushed and looked to the side. The whispers around Kagome had increased in volume at her strange actions.
"Laughing… and at a funeral too…"
Kagome cringed before throwing them all scathing looks. 'Uh, and you wonder why Kyoko didn't want to be around you guys,' she thought moodily to herself before looking at Tohru. She couldn't help a giggle escaping at Tohru's surprised look before she hugged the girl close to her. "I'm not saying laugh here, or laugh today. But maybe next week you'll manage. Just for now… remember to smile, because you make my heart skip every time you do it," breathed Kagome into Tohru's ear.
A smile tugged on her lips as she pulled away from Tohru to see the girl lightly blushing. Her eyes trained down on the floor so that Kagome had to tilt her chin up again. "I… thank you Aunt Gome," she breathed softly.
"Think nothing of it Ruru-chan," chirped Kagome.
"I… uh Aunt Gome?" Tohru asked hesitantly looking away.
"What is it Ruru-chan?" Kagome asked once again using her childhood name for Tohru. She furrowed her brows in concern as she looked at her young niece. "Is it the fact that your Uncle Souta isn't here? I'm sorry but he's out with the flu. He sends his love though," she quickly reassured.
"It's not that Aunt Gome it's that… that… I was wondering how long you were staying this time. I was wondering… wondering that if it was possible if I could stay with you…" she trailed off feebly. She looked up at Kagome for a moment, her cheeks flushing deeper before she looked quickly away.
Kagome looked around at the others around her to make sure they weren't listening before looking to her niece. "I can't watch you now," she conceded. "It's not that I don't love you enough it's just that I don't want to endanger you. Where I go when I'm not at home is no place a teenager like you should go," she sighed heavily.
"I'm sorry… for… I'm sorry for bothering you th… then," stuttered out Tohru quickly. She lifted her head up to smile reassuringly at her aunt out to show she was okay. "I… I think I should greet the other guests now," she squeaked before quickly backing away.
Tohru bowed to the person she accidentally bumped into before quickly moving away. Not even noticing the pained look in her aunt's eyes as she watched on.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I can't bring you," Kagome breathed. Tears that she couldn't shed now starting to slowly cloud her sight. She quickly moved to Tohru's grandfather and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry I have to… to go," she said brokenly before making her quick exit.
'I can't drag her to the feudal era. She wouldn't make it there and nor should she have to deal with the fear,' she thought fervently. But that still didn't keep the tears at bay as she stopped to wipe the back of her hand over them. "So sorry… I'm so… so sorry," she whimpered falling to her knees.
"I'm so sorry… Ruru-chan I…" Kagome whimpered, tears coming to her eyes. As soon as someone tried to pull up her shirt to press something cold against it she thrust out her hand. A burst of red energy flew from her palm knocking the person, who disturbed her sleep, off his feet. Then slowly she woke, blinking away the remnants of her dream from her eyes with a yawn, her other hand fisting in her blanket.
"What did you do to Hatori!" growled Kyo as he grabbed the miko's shirt. He glared at her but it seemed that Kagome looked right through him. Another yawn battled to come out past her lips.
"Haa-san… haa-san, are you okay?" Shigure asked hesitantly as he shook his childhood friend's arm. His brow was furrowed in concern. As he sat the doctor tentatively up, a slight sigh of frustration coming to his lips as the doctor nearly slumped over. "Quickly Kyo ask her what she did. Make her fix it." Shigure looked frantically at the cat that still had a hold of Kagome. It was very unusual and rare to see Shigure loose his cool like this.
"I'm trying to but she's acting like Yuki. She won't wake up no matter how much I shake her," he growled in frustration. He gave the girl a violent shake then embolden by no response he slapped her across the face.
Everyone in the room including Yuki and Shigure froze as they looked at what Kyo had done. It was so quiet that they could hear a pin drop and it would have stayed as silent if Kyo didn't venture to say something.
"It… it had to be done," Kyo ventured out feebly before he felt fingers gripping tightly to his hair. They tightened and wrench his head back as doe brown eyes glared at him.
"The same thing I'll do to you if you don't let me go," growled out Kagome slowly, fully awake now. She gave his head another jerk before she started to peel his fingers from her shirt.
"I've got the cold compress and some green tea for everyone to—Aunt Gome what are you doing?" Tohru squeaked. She quickly settled the tray and compress on the dresser before she rushed to her aunt, a worried look on her face. She was almost there when she suddenly tripped, smashing into Kyo's back so that they both fell on top of Kagome.
And with the popping sound of a zodiac's change, Kyo was enveloped in colored smoke. He nearly yowled in pain at being squished between two people until Tohru quickly pulled away.
"I… I'm sorry," cried out Tohru, close to tears. She would have reached to pluck the orange cat that suddenly appeared on Kagome's lap but suddenly her aunt hugged it close to her.
"I didn't know you had a cat Tohru," murmured Kagome as she began to scratch the cat behind its ears. She had barely noticed or cared that Kyo had disappeared leaving behind a pile of his clothes next to her on the floor.
"I… Honda-san's aunt I think you should put down the cat," Yuki ventured out gently. His finger was raised in the air to grab her attention as he took a step forward.
"It's okay, he likes me… it is a he right?" Kagome asked before lifting the cat up. She laughed when she saw that indeed the cat was a 'he' not even noticing the faint blush that crossed over almost all the occupants' faces in the room. "I'm sorry about that kitty, I was just checking," she soothed and scratched under the cat's chin until he couldn't help but purr. "So what happened?" she asked curiously noticing the man on the floor before looking at Yuki and Tohru.
"You happened. To put it quite frankly," sighed Yuki. He was still anxious about the eventual transformation of Kyo, hoping that he would stay a cat until he got him free.
"What do you…" trailed off Tohru before gasping as she noticed the same thing. She quickly kneeled at the doctor's side, sighing in relief as he slowly came to.
"It's nothing important. But after the guy finishes waking we are going Tohru," Kagome sighed before standing. She ventured to stand on wobbly feet with, Kyo in her hands before falling back down. "I must have overdid it," she groaned.
"Please… what did you do to Haa-san?" ventured out Shigure still knelt beside Hatori. He knew that even if the doctor did come to it still didn't mean that he would be okay. He knew he may be seen as selfish but he needed to know about his friend's condition before dealing with the idea of Tohru leaving them.
"What did I do actually in my sleep?" asked Kagome as she scratched Kyo's furry head. The orange cat purred loudly despite himself at the attention until she found herself looking down at Kyo with a smile.
"Well a bright, red light burst from your hands and—" began Yuki before they heard the telltale sound of a pop. The sound once more ushering the sound of a changing zodiac as the orange cat was surrounded in colored smoke, before he reappeared a few seconds later.
Naked… and sitting on Kagome's lap with the older girl's hand still in his hair, in the act of petting the boy's head.
Everyone froze while red eyes looked in surprised into doe brown ones. Slowly Kyo gulped as he watched Kagome's brown eyes travel down to see his naked body then back to his startled face. And before he could barely scramble off of her he felt a necklace of rosary beads swiftly fall over his head and his body pushed down.
"Roll over!" she barked activating the beads.
To be continued…
A/N: Hey , this is your longtime authoress Simply Hopeless here. I've been on since 2003 and I'm thinking about hanging up my keyboard for good. I've danced around the subject off and on for three or four years now, but I'm honestly thinking about doing it for real this time. Maybe I've lost my edge or something, but I don't think I love fan fiction writing as much as I did when I first started out. Back then three reviews could have spurred me to write even if it was 'I like, update, more'. Sure I wasn't the best writer then, but I know I've grown leaps and bounds, despite my grammar. I'm still growing and I'm proud to say that a lot of people have favored my stories and me as an authoress. But as my skills improved I've found that I desire reviews that will help push me to improve and/or encourage me/ stroke my ego. That, however, has sorely been lacking for a lot of my stories and the alerts/favorites frustrate me because it shows that you guys like it, but won't put in the effort to tell me why.
So long story short, for better or worse, I'll try to update 6 times in 5 months for a few of my stories from different fandoms. By the beginning of June 2014, if I feel dissatisfied, I'm going to hang up my fanfic writing hat for good guys. If I do find that I'm loved I'll start writing again in August 2014 in time for an anime convention in Baltimore. I've thoroughly enjoyed my ten and a half years of writing and growing as an author, but I don't think I can put up with the disappointment of writing and feeling like some of my readers don't care. It doesn't mean I think all my readers don't care. I know there are tons of people out there who have written well thought out reviews from one or two sentences to mouth-watering paragraphs that have made me just itch to write just to see what you might say next. But as I look back at some of my reviews for inspiration for a new chapter I've realized that some of my reviewers write the same thing over and over again and I'm beginning to question why bother agonizing day in and day out how you might react to something in the story if no one tells me.
So if you have ever liked any of my stories, please remember to review. It doesn't have to be fancy but I need to know that I shouldn't retire. If I do retire, I'll keep my stories up for the rest of the year before deleting my account on here and the other websites. This might leave a lot of stories with unresolved endings but I will not be giving any of the stories up for adoption. I've put a lot of effort into my work, they are my children and I'd feel hurt to see someone else continuing on where I left off. So if I find anyone trying to adopt and finish my stories for me I will report you. But hopefully it won't come to that. =/
Next Update: March 25, 2014
Now it's time to respond to the reviews.
sango92: Thanks very much and I will try.
Geminia:Lol. You sound like a matchmaker. And by seeing by your last comment it seems you don't know about the anime Fruits Basket… do you? That's okay. I've seen you reviewing mostly my Inuyasha story. The people in the story will explain to Kagome the significance of the cat. But if you're still confused then... Yuki, Shigure, Kyo, and Hatori belong to the Sohma family and are four of thirteen affected by the curse. They were born with the avenging spirit of one of the Chinese zodiac and if they are hugged by the opposite sex or are very weak they turned into their animal. So Yuki is the rat, Shigure is the dog, Kyo is the cat (and outcast of the zodiac) and Hatori is the dragon. Hope this helped a bit.
animechickie: I'm glad you liked the twist. At first I was actually planning on having Kaggy bleeding from her back from claw markings. But then I was getting to carried away… I need Kaggy to get to know the zodiac first before having her meet her first wave of demons in the modern era.
Mannd1068: I'm glad that you've enjoyed it and I can't wait what my imagination thinks I should do next.
LadyAkina: I knew it would seem confusing unless I put those… though me personally I like keeping my author note's at the bottom so it doesn't distract the reader. The dead family thing is reminiscent of my story 'The Color of Blood' except at least Souta is alive. And yes she wants to protect Tohru because that's her older sister's only child. And I did update.
Hakkai-my-youkai: I updated now just because of encouraging reviews like yours though part of me wished to wait for more reviews. But maybe next time I'll actually wait a week or more unless you wonderful people review quicker. Then I'll have no choice but to update.
Chisuto: Lol is this soon enough? Actually I was finishing up the story when you reviewed. So lucky you and I'm glad you like it.