I know that this one chapter here was long over due and for all of you guys that waited and waited and waited . . . I truly am sorry for the wait. :bows head: I have no excuse that is good enough but I wanted to make sure that this one chapter I had to get right for the rest to come. I re-read all of the previous chapters and realized that I did lose the arc at some point but then again there was a lot of naked Kyo which was great too! Tee hee!

I want to thank all of you again. Those that have read this since the beginning, those who caught it towards the end and for those that just found it: THANK YOU!!

I made this one the longest chapter up to date so I hope that you guys enjoy it!.

Disclaimer: Furuba is owned by the wonderful Natsuki Takaya.

Chocolate

Chapter Sixteen

"Tohru Honda." He whispered into his tea. "The only girl that looks like she might actually have broken through some of the Sohma defenses", he thought. There's no way that she can be thrown out now, she knows too much. If he were to listen to Akito, he could have her mind erased, leaving a shell of the girl.

Just the thought of that stopped him. He knew that he couldn't do that, not to her, not to Uo . . . He's done so much to hurt her already that he knew that he couldn't hurt Tohru because that would cause Uo a pain that he could never heal.

Thinking of Tohru usually lead into thought of Uo . . . and the first time that they met. The way that she smiled at him to get him to smile back, the scent of her freshly laundered shirt when she faced the wind, as it ripped across her, bringing him her scent along the wind as they stepped out the restaurant.

Getting up from his chair, he silently treads over to the window to look at the pouring rain as it hits the ground. Pressing his forehead against the cool glass, he wishes that he could be with her, walking in the rain, holding hands as they race across streets, laughing at their foolish acts to stay dry. He smiles to himself, albeit a bit ruefully as he can imagine that Uo would be one to play in the rain, while he would try to chase her down.

Kureno open his eyes to gaze out across the yard into the darkened room knowing that inside was the only thing that kept him in the compound. If it wasn't for the shattered child, he would walk out and not look back.

If it wasn't for that disillusioned kid, he would cast aside the Sohma name. If it wasn't for the promise he made to a grieving child, he could close the door, finally. If it wasn't for the tear stricken girl he lied to as he promised to stay, he would leave her, casting everything aside as he walked away.

"Damn her!" he whispered whole heartedly into the glass, hoping that voices carry and be heard in that darkened room.

Sheets rustle against one another where in a different Sohma house, someone was running into fears and darkness of their own.

"It's so dark. How can anyone see through this?"

The dream was filled with cold and despair covering everything in its shadows. The air itself was brimming with unwelcome as she tried to move along and not fall.

"I've been through this", she thought to herself. It wasn't that long ago when she ran into this sensation. It was a rainy night, too cold to be outside if truth be told. "There was something different about that night", she thinks, but couldn't imagine what that meant then. She was told by Sensei to meet outside after dark, which is a bit strange but she remembers that he had mentioned Kyo and that's all it took. She looks back at that scene and remembers that with a simple tug on a bracelet, the boy turned into something that she couldn't put a name to. The true form of the Cat. She was scared, yes, but underneath that fear was the love that she slowly realized she had for Kyo. That same love that made her stand her ground as she told him that she wanted a life with him, together in hopes and aspiration.

Walking along the murky edges of her dream, thinking about that night and the events after, she doesn't pay attention to the dark figure lurking to the side. The figure looks at her, twisting his head from one side to another, as if attempting to study her just to realize that it has come up short. He knows her yet doesn't, he has seen her in glimpses and this is no different, it understands.

It walks along beside her, in shadows, unsure what she's doing in this dream. It knows that she doesn't belong and therefore it will make sure that she gets tossed back in her rose-colored dreams and leave the boy's alone.

That was the only night that I saw him, she thinks, and all though that was frightening, he was in there somewhere behind those eyes that were not him. They belonged to the other and the realization that he may just hate her stopped her. Not his eyes or the foulness that followed him stopped her as the idea that Kyo will hate her now and every day after.

She walks on unsteady legs, unaware of where anything is, much less where she's going when she stops. The stench hit her before she actually saw him slip out of the shadows, and what she saw made her unsure of what to do next: two Kyo's.

One was overlapping the other as it started to walk towards her. Her Kyo with a slight smile, hair covering his eyes, he puts his hands into his pockets, as he shuffles over to her while the Other raises his paw to bring it slashing down her torso, slicing shirt, bra, and skin as he screams for her to get out.

Tohru wakes up gasping from the nightmare. . . Shaky hands creep up along her torso where she was slashed to feel her tee. She drops back onto the bed, heart thundering in her ears, shaky breath rattling in and out of her chest, wondering what it meant.

After Kyo had locked himself in, she had walked over to the door but knew that he wouldn't open it again while she left so that's what she did. She gathered her clothes and crept along the hallway back into her room where she collapsed on the bed, crying and trembling from the cold.

"Shigure must have cooked" she thought since no one woke her up. That and the faint smell of burning that wafted along the staircase. She sits, insure what to do. She can't pretend nothing happened last night nor does she want to. What she did and felt was done and she wasn't taking it back. She meant everything she said and did last night.

"Did he mean all those thing?" She thought to herself. "I wonder if he knows that I love him. I saw him once all ready and I still love him so he has to know right?" She shook her head against the pillow, figuring that she doesn't need to face the morning and gives into the tears that she felt coming.

She's crying, he thought to himself as he heard the slight sniffle from where he stood outside her door with hand ready to knock. I'm such a jerk! He wanted to pound at anything and anyone . . . . Something to vent on. He lowered his fist back to his side, unsure what to do now. He originally wanted to apologize for running away. He was and still is scared of what she might have seen. How am I gonna fix this? He thought to himself realizing that there was no clear cut answer.

I can't just ignore this. I can't go back to what we were. That's not gonna work for me!

He looks out the door wondering if he should just go in anyway and hug her, say he was sorry and move from there but what she let him? He wanted to think that she would but it was hard to tell right now.

She loves me. I know she does, she's told me.

—Flashback—

"That's the cat's true form. It's disgusting. He's a freak and that smell . . . is that you Kyo? Is that foul odor coming from you?

—end flashback—

With Akito's voice still ringing in his ears, he steps away from the door and walks downstairs. There's no way that she can still love me.

Days passed with neither one talking to each other nor really seeing each other. Tohru was busy trying to be mean as she practiced for her role as the evil step sister during the day while working hard at night. Whatever free time she had, she spent studying for all the makeup exams she had to do thanks to not so stellar grades.

Kyo on the other hand, refused to go to practice in case that he would say something stupid to her. He spent his afternoons with Sensei and nights on the rooftop waiting for her to come home from work. He wanted to say something but could never come up with the right words to give her. After pushing her away, he couldn't really blame her if she never said anything to him again.

"What am I gonna do?" they both thought to themselves on the night before the play as the both looked up into the sky.

"It looks like a ransom note."

"I like it." came from a voice to his right.

Hiro looks up at the banner that reads Kaibara High School Cultural Festival and shakes his head. It really does look like a cookie cutter version of a ransom note, what with all the letters and the haphazard way it was glued and cut together.

"A third grader could do better." he said knowing that it was true. Hell, even he could do a better job. . . . Maybe.

"That's not a nice thing to say."

"Look at it Kisa."

"I am looking at it." She replied back, unaware that people were walking around them, grumbling about children and manners, due to the fact that they were blocking the main doorway.

He looks to his right at the person that dragged him here, wondering why. It wasn't the first time that he thought of it. It may not be the last but it's a constant thing right now in his head. WHY?

He knows the answer. He may not recognize it for what it is but he knows that when she's around, he wants to be better, stronger but mainly there for her. He wants to be able to put that smile on her face every chance he can get.

He looks at her again, "seeing her smile like that was worth coming" he thinks to himself. He may not like Nii-san but she meant everything to Kisa so that meant that in a way that Nii-san was important to him too.

It was that simple but then again young love usually is.

So busy in his thoughts, he failed to notice that she was being picked up in the arms of another.

"Hey!"

"Eeek!"

"Kisa!"

"Will ya put her down already? It's embarrassing her." Hiro yelled.

Stupid ox! Thinks he can do whatever he wants.

"There's a lot people running around here."

"Isn't this great?" Momiji asked

"Ummm . . . Do you know where Ni-san is?"

"Oh! She's getting ready backstage."

"It'll be lots of fun. Kisa let's go grab some seats before they're all gone!" Momiji gushed.

"Yeah, let's go!" She replied as she tried to scramble off of Haru.

"Oof! Watch where you're stepping!" he mentioned good heartedly as she kicked him in the stomach on her way down. "And be careful!" He yelled after them.

Both stood there as they watched Momiji and Kisa run off laughing.

I can do this! I can let her go for a few minutes. This is no big deal. You can endure this! C'mon it's only to get me a seat; it has nothing to do with that rabbit. She has no interest in him. She likes me . . . Or does she? I can endure this . . .

"You shouldn't see him as competition. You know him better than that."

Hiro looks up towards the voice knowing that he's right. There's no way that Momiji could ever steal her away.

Minutes pass by as people chatter around them, coming and going thru doorways. It's a nice kind of quite, a chance to let each one think a bit which leads Haru to ask:

"You gonna tell her someday?"

""Tell her what?" Hiro asked suspiciously.

Haru turns and looks at him, a smile hovering on his lips, unsure whether to laugh or shake his head.

Being young, you tend to find humor in all things at least that's what he thinks.

"Everything" he whispers.

I hate this! This whole thing is stupid. What's the point of putting on the play anyway? He grumbled to himself. Sitting in the wings, Kyo was pissed. Ok more than pissed. He was trussed in an outfit with ruffles. RUFFLES!? First thing, guys DO NOT wear ruffles and two she was talking to the rat. Again!

She's always doing that to me. So rather than go over there and opening his mouth to0 blast him, he's just gonna sit back here and not do a damn thing. Damn her. I don't need her. It's her fault that I'm like this anyway. He was still pretty upset with himself about the night before and just how bad he messed it up. He wasn't sure at who he upset about but he knew that it had nothing to do with Tohru. It would be bad if it did, but he knows that his problems started before her.

He looked away from them and thought, she said that she loved me, so what is she doing over there with him?

"You might be over thinking things here."

"What's it to you?" he growled out

"Yup. Over thinking. That's what's got you so pissed. You may just stop that since it turn you into this and just do what you want to do."

"Riiiiight! That's gotten you pretty far."

"Further than you think." With that parting phrase, Haru walked over to Tohru to whisper good lucks and walked off stage.

Looking at her, he whispered "Maybe . . ."

"Come on Princy. Get over there and say hi to a few ladies."

"NO!"

"We threw this big shindig for you so that you can score and you're gonna sit in the wings." Uo, dressed as a boy, exclaimed "What kinda guy are you?"

"Shut up will ya? You sound like an old broad!" Kyo yelled back from his perch on the stage floor. It was well into the second half of "Sorts Cinderella" and he was still pissed. About the ruffles and the girl. This is not where I want to be, the thinks to himself. He would rather be at home with Tohru trying to explain what happened. Not sit here where an auditorium full, maybe not full, but with people watch him while he tries to remember what he needs to say and to figure out what to do next.

"Old broad? If you were only so lucky."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you should get your ass off the floor and hit up the girl in the yellow dress." She told him as she bent down to try to lift him off the floor.

"Look! What part of NO! Did you not understand?"

"No wonder you're a virgin." She said in a monotone that carried across the stage to the audience that in shock weren't sure whether to laugh or gasp.

"You're shameless, you infuriating sack of skin! Take a trip to the store and buy yourself some dignity!" He claimed to her, outraged that she said that put loud.

"I'm worried about you, you big lug. And this is my thanks?" She yelled back.

Before they could further throw insults, Kakeru acting as narrator stepped in "Despite the most gentle of persuasions from his fellow prince, Charming could not be convinced to dance."

They both turned to look at him with looks of contempt that this thing still has to go on and the other with gratitude for moving it along.

Following that announcement the girl in the yellow dress came up to them, asking Charming for a dance, which he said no. Followed by another girl and another and another but the answer was the same. He didn't want to dance with anyone, he just wanted to get out of there and that's when he heard:

"Pr-"

"I'M NOT DANCING!" he yelled, not paying attention to the girl until he turned and looked at her.

"Oh . . . I- I see. . . . Excuse me then." Tohru said with a small smile as she stepped away.

"WAI-"

"Of course", Kakeru without missing a step, "He also refused to dance with the stepsister." When he realized that Kyo was still standing there, looking after Tohru, he repeated a little louder, entirely for Kyo, "Refused to dance with the stepsister."

Depressed, he dragged himself back to Uo, "Why am I doing this?" he grumbled.

That's when she walked in, dressed in a beautiful confection of black silk and tulle, was Hanajima as Cinderella, pushing her way through all the extras on set and straight towards a table of food.

"Hey. . . Check out that piece of tart. Ask her to dance." Uo told a still befuddled Kyo.

"NO!"

"Ahem. . . After falling instantly in love with Cinderella's beauty, Charming asked the fair maiden to dance." Kakeru informed both Charming and the crowd that was still trying to figure out why is Cinderella in black?

"NO WAY!!" he screeched

"Yes way, as per the narrator." He replied with a smile.

Summoning his courage, tightening his fists, he walks over to Cinderella and in a demanding voice, "Get over here . . . A-and dance with me."

She looks away from the platter of yakiniku and replied with an ". . . Eh."

Not worrying about it too much, he walks back to Uo, attempting to not sound too happy says,"She turned me down."

Tired of him, she pushed him hard saying "Try again," and right back to where Cinderella was cooking up her meat.

"W-would you like to talk to me rather than eat that."

"Not really but . . . your aura is so bright that it's making my brain throb. I'm begging you. Choose another topic please."

That's when through the speaker system came the sound of a bell striking midnight, to which she said,"Oh. Midnight. I'm afraid I must leave." And Kyo was pumping his fist in the air with exuberance.

She turns to him and says, "Now you can't say that I never gave you anything," as she puts one of her slippers in his hand and walks off the stage.

With this, the play progresses, changing sets and people change out of uniforms while Charming is going from home to home, trying to find the girl to his slipper. He had just finished having the stepsister try out the slipper and asks "Are there any other young ladies in the house?"

Kinoshita as the evil mother, responds "Oh nope. No one at all."

"B-but wait, you haven't seen Cinderella yet."

"That was unnecessary information!" Charming snarls at her.

"I was expecting you, Prince. That slipper is certainly the one that I left you . . . Now give it back." She says as much to him as to the audience that now realizes that this is not your mama's Cinderella.

"I know why you're here. You anted to ask for Onee-sama's hand in marriage." She says as she walks over to Tohru.

"Why would I . . . she's not. . . . Are you stupid? No of course, not." He yells at her, not sure where this is leading to.

"B-but I . . . NO! That's not. . . ." stutters Tohru at the same time.

"Oh then you're here for me? That rather nightmarish."

"More like HELL you mean!!"

"Then be clear, Prince why are YOU here?"

"No answer, then tell me this. Do you plan to live a lie for the rest of your life? Locked away in your castle, deceiving yourself daily . . . and stopping only at the moment you die?"

Kyo pulls himself up, arrogance etched on his face as he looks Hanajima down, "So what if I do? You can't tell me that it would bother anyone. What happens to me is my own-"

"WAIT! But that would make me . . . very. ." cried out Tohru before realizing "Um . . . I-I'm sorry. Never mind what I just said. I interrupted you, sorry! Please go on!"

Speechless, he looks over at her. Shock, admiration, fear and love show across his face. He's unsure of what to do. This is what I needed. I can still win her back. I didn't lose her yet. He wants to go to her, hold her and tell her that he needs her

"We need to rap things up here." Yuki informed the crowd. Dressed as the Fairy Godmother, he was happt that he only had a few lines.

"Ah my loyal servant."

"I am most certaintly not your servant. Now Cinderella, I realize that you marrying the prince will only end in heartbreak. What is it you truly wish for?"

"I want to manage a yakiniku shop with Onee-sama."

"Well in that case, the Prince may support you. As to you Prince. . . I won't ask what you wish for. I only hope that it may come true by your own hands,"

"Wha-"

"And so Cinderella choose a path with no princes. Her yakiniku shop was blessed with good business, She most certaintly lived hapilly ever after."

The auditorium erupted with cheers and applauses. Shouts for more could be heatd throughout the entire place.

"What. Was. That?" asked a terrified Hiro.

"Didn't we tell you?" cried the trio of Haru, Momiji and Kisa. "Sorta Cinderella."

I hope that this worked out for you guys. I know that there was no naked Kyo but i figured he should at least wear clothes when other people besides Tohru are around. I may resolve that in the next upcoming chapters. A lot of the quotes were taken straight out of Volume 15 of Fruits Basket. Due to the fact that I would like to stay true to at least this part of the story because the play is a truly funny piece, it cinches a very good moment that i needed and couldn't figure out another way but this to use it.

Any comments and critics are welcome as always. Can't wait to get the next chapter done and posted for you guys. I hope that it won't take me this long!!