Orenji Neko

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket does not belong to and was not created by me. I am merely borrowing the characters for some creative action. I do however, hold the creator in high esteem and thank them for a wonderful story and even better characters.

Author's Note: Since I have never read the manga for fruits basket before I will have to suffice with my knowledge of the anime series. To all of those hardcore FuruBa fans, I apologise. Akito, if mentioned at all, will be a man. This will most likely be a very graphic lemon. I don't write M/M or yaoi pairings though I find them a fun read. In this case, I'm much more interested in the emotional development of the characters.

This story takes place two years after the end of the anime.


Orenji Neko

By Miss_Led


Chapter 4: We Belong Together

'Oh my gosh! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do!?' Touru's mind raced for an answer as she stared up at her friends from the floor. Kyo had come barreling into the house at breakneck speed, naked as the day he was born except for one pantleg which had been wrapped around his calf. He'd been in such a hurry to get upstairs that he'd run right smack into her. When she instinctively reached out for him to steady herself, all hell broke loose. Now an angry Kyo-neko was yowling on the floor in front of her in frustration, one paw rubbing his head where he'd bumped her. He was sitting on his pants and Touru was sprawled on the floor in front of him, still a little dazed and confused. To make matters worse, Touru's beloved friends had dropped in to welcome her home.

Touru felt like crying. She'd forgotten how stressful life in the Souma house could be at times. Kyo-neko sensed her distress and rubbed his head against her hand. He couldn't stand to see her cry. He never wanted her to cry again and this time he knew without a doubt that he was the cause. Touru patted him on the head affectionately and rubbed his back. To everyone's surprise the usually onery Cat began to purr. Yuki was instantly jealous, but for the sake of saving face (and hiding the truth) he decided to get back at the Cat later. There was a time and place for revenge.

He dropped the luggage he was carrying and rushed forward to help her. "Touru-san! Are you alright? That stupid Neko-Aah!-Kyo knocked you over didn't he. Baka-Kyo. He wasn't even nice enough to help you up!" The Cat growled and swatted at Yuki as he bent to help Touru to her feet. Yuki placed a well aimed kick at the Cat's rear-end and earned another swat in the process along with a rather loud hiss.

"Naked."

"Huh?" Touru, Yuki and the Cat all turned to look at Saki.

"Kyo. He was naked. That's probably why he didn't stop to help her up." Saki's face was deadpan as she said the words and Arisa grinned next to her.

"Yeah, that Yarou was nothing but skin. He ran inside so fast I didn't get to see too much." Arisa had never really been too fond of Kyo, but a good body was a good body even if it was his. She had a healthy appreciation for the beauty of the male form and they had a healthy appreciation of her "talents".

Remembering what he had to do before it was too late, Yuki reached down and scooped up the Cat, holding Kyo away from him as he hissed and complained. "Touru-san, could you take 'the Cat' upstairs. I think there are too many people down here for him right now." Understanding finally dawned on Touru and she reached out to take the Cat from Yuki. Her fingers had only just touched the soft hair of Kyo's fur when another "poof" sounded.

Shigure had a feeling something was up when he heard all the commotion outside his office and rushed to see what was going on. He came at the perfect moment. Right when the "poof" happened he walked into the room and redirected the attention from the surprised pair holding the cat to himself as he welcomed their guests.

"Hanajima-san, Uotani-san. How are you doing? It's been a long time since we've enjoyed the company of beautiful young ladies in the house." His smile was cheeky and unusually large, but his Dog senses were trained on what was going on behind the girls. Yuki breathed a sigh of relief that the scene was over. Kyo was now safely curled in Touru's arms having almost been exposed. Touru had grabbed him mid-"poof" and he was changed back. There was a bit of a struggle in the process because Kyo was being handled by both Yuki and Touru, but things were alright now. 'Thank kami-sama, Gure-kun and his canine side are right on. We almost didn't make that one.' Yuki rubbed a scratch on his wrist absently marking another thing he owed Kyo for and turned to shoo Touru upstairs.

Touru didn't protest instead opting for a quick retreat upstairs to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her laid the Cat on the floor before throwing herself face down onto her bed. She hadn't even looked around at the room yet, but she could tell by the musky smell on the white sheets that this was no longer her room. Kyo "poofed" back to his human form, sitting with his legs crossed on the floor he scolded her. "Dummy! That almost cost us big time! That damn rat always has to interfere, you should have just minded your own business and left me alone!"

She couldn't stop the moisture from overtaking her field of vision. All this time she had just wanted to be close to him again. Now it was evident to her that he thought of her as nothing more than a mere burden. She couldn't stop the tears. She didn't even care if Kyo was naked on the floor and she was crying into someone else's pillow. It was just too much to deal with. She was beginning to regret her decision to come stay at the Souma house.

Kyo was fuming at the fragile girl on the bed who had made him feel guilty for yelling. 'It's all her fault for being so stupid! Ghah! Why do girls have to cry all the time!' But he was worried. In all the years that he had know Touru she had never just broken down like this without a good reason. "Touru-chan..."

He never called her "chan", but now he wanted to bridge the distance between them and heal the wounds he'd created. "Touru..." Kyo rolled to his knees and scooted over to the side of his bed. "Onegai, Touru, stop crying. Gomen. I shouldn't have yelled." Kyo reached out a hand to stroke her silken hair, rubbing her shoulders and neck to ease the tension he felt there. Touru hiccuped a few times before she was able to stop crying but she still wouldn't look at him.

"Kyo-kun...Whose room is this now?" Touru was still face first in the pillow so the question was a weak rasp which he had to strain to hear. When he was able to discern what she had asked he blushed.

"Ano...Mine. I took it over after you left. Since there was already a bed, we thought it would be cheaper if I just moved in here." It was a lie, a boldfaced lie to save his pride. When she had left he had locked himself in her room for days, wrapped around her covers, praying for her to come home. He missed her so much that the separation had almost broken him. When he came out a few days later to go outside for a while, Shigure and Yuki had moved all of his things into the room. There was no explanation needed. No one knew Kyo's feelings better than his family.

Touru was mortified at the fact she had been crying on Kyo's pillow. She jumped up quickly and looked at the floor embarassed. Kyo wasn't thinking and stood in front of her trying to calm her and make and excuse for his room. Unfortunately, his privates were directly in the field of Touru's vision, she flushed a molten red and froze like a deer caught in headlights. Kyo facefaulted and ran for the safety of the closet when he realized what he had given Touru open view of. It wasn't like she had never seen him naked before. As a Souma, one got used to being naked relatively quickly. The thing was that she had never really seen their parts or pieces close up when they changed back to humans. The closest she had ever gotten was seeing a random rear end.

Kyo had just stood before her and let her see what she had missed in all his well sculpted male glory. It was fairly large, she knew that without having to be told. Even though she had no experience to compare it with, she instinctively knew THAT part of him was above average. She tought she would die of embarrassment right there. Blankly, Touru turned around and walked out of the room before anything else could happen.

When Kyo had put on a decent pair of pants he came out of the closet expecting to see Touru waiting for him. With the realization that she was gone, Kyo knew that Touru would probably not speak to him for the remainder of the day. He huffed in frustration and threw himself onto the bed where she had so recently lain. He could still feel the wet of her tears under his shoulder and smell her scent on his pillow. Kyo grabbed his pillow and hugged it close. 'Why doesn't she understand? I just want to be with her!'

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Author's Note:

I have to say that I beleive this chapter is almost perfect. Yeah, I know it's not the greatest thing in the world, but for me, it's just right. More kitty angst and showdown with a mouse later. I think a few more Souma's might arrive by the end of the evening.

Miss_Led