Eternal Bond of the Tiger

A/N: Hello all, I haven't been back to the writing scene in a long time. But I'm making my return with a whole new "Toradora!" Fanfic. I hope you'll enjoy! Please read and submit your reviews! Toradora and all character herein are properties of their respective owners. I own nothing but the original plot for this story.

Chapter 1: The fall

It has been one year since their reunion at Ryuuji's graduation. Ryuuji now works part time at the bakery that he and Taiga had worked since 2 years ago. He continues to work nearly to the bone to bring back a decent income to cover his tuition out of his own pocket. He also is in a cram school, in preparation for making the step to get into the college of his choice. He knew he had to attain a degree in order to fulfill the dream of taking care of Taiga. He and Taiga had announced their engagement officially since spring of that year. Taiga had moved back into her old apartment and now currently is in the same cram school, studying hard to try to match the same college with Ryuuji. Yuusaku Kitamura is now in the United States, attending a college of high reputation. He comes back to japan to visit his friends and family as often as he could. Minori Kushieda on the other hand, is at a well renowned university in Kyoto with a magnificent athletic program. Ami Kawasumi is currently modeling in the United States, her photographs on every cosmopolitan magazine across the 50 states.

On this cold October evening, Ryuuji is just completing the last task for the evening at his workplace. "Takasu-san, thanks for staying longer than usual, I appreciate your hard work!" His boss said as they worked to clean up and close up for the night. "Sometimes I feel like you're going to work yourself to death. If you need to take a day off, don't hesitate to ask me." Ryuuji just nodded and went back to cleaning up the place with vigor. Seeing his employee work so hard as always, the manager just sighed. He then looked at the clock and looked back at Ryuuji. "Takasu-san, It's about half past 8 right now. I'll be able to take it from here. Why don't you head home? I'm sure Aisaka-san will be worried if you stay too long."

Ryuuji put down the cloth and looked back up at his boss. "Are you sure, boss?" The manager nodded his head. "Alright, thanks. I'll see you tomorrow after classes then." With that, Ryuuji went into the changing room and prepared to change out of his baker's uniform. As he took off his shirt, the drafty cool air chilled him for a bit. After putting on his shirt, for a moment he felt dizzy and his vision blurred for a bit. Grabbing onto a locker to stabilize himself, he shook his head for a moment. "I must be more tired than I thought." He said to himself as he resumed putting his clothes on and grabbing his backpack, he slung it over his back. "Good night!" He said as he waved at his boss and walked out the front door. The cold October air chilled him to the bone. "Brrr…better get home quickly, I don't want to upset Taiga. After all, I bet she still expects me to cook her dinner. Heh, silly tiger." He smiled as he thought of her, and started the walk home.

Taiga was sitting in the living room, keeping herself warm with the kotatsu, watching a tv show on Ryuuji's television. She looks around her surroundings and smiled. "I've been back in town for a year now, and every time I come over, I can't shake the fond feelings of this place. It still gets me." She thought as she started to remember all the good times she spent in the Takasu residence. Looking towards the kitchen, she recalled the image of Ryuuji slaving over the stove, cooking up her favorite dishes in the past. She then looked up at where the birdcage was. "You know, that bird was ugly, but I was fond of it. It's such a shame it passed on during the summer." She looked up at the clock and notices it starting to get late. "He sure has been working late the last couple days." She muttered. She let out a sigh as she went back to her television show. Her eyes started to droop a little as she started to fall asleep. The sound of the front door opening jolted her awake as she looked towards the hallway.

"I'm home!" Ryuuji said as he closed the front door, and started to take his shoes off. He noticed Taiga's shoes were in her usual spot. "Guess she's here waiting on me, like I thought." He looked towards the living room as she came out to greet him. They embraced briefly and had a quick kiss. "Sorry that I'm working late again Taiga." He watched her smile for a bit when the audible sound of their hungry bellies pierced the silence. "I'll get to work in preparing dinner right away. Do you want tonkatsu with curry tonight? I'll make your curry sweet as always." She nodded and he put his coat in his closet and washed his hands and started the stove.

Taiga helped him by rinsing the grains of rice and placed it in the rice cooker like how he had shown her in the past. As she helped him with the cooking, she heard him ask her how class was today. "It was kind of boring as always. It was not really exciting without everyone there, especially you." She said as she started to chop the onions. "I really miss Minorin…"

Ryuuji was putting batter on the pork loins as he listened to Taiga talk about how she missed the days when everyone was all together, and how she wished she and Ryuuji had the same schedule for their cram school. Half way through her talking, he felt that surge of dizziness and blurry vision again. He then began to be distracted.

"Are you listening to me?" She muttered a little annoyed when he stopped responding. She looked over at him and noticed something was odd. He appeared to have stopped in his tracks, appearing a little bit trapped in a trance. "Ryuuji?" He didn't answer back but he started to blink profusely for a while. "Ryuuji? Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?" He heard her ask for the second time, as he came back to his senses. His vision cleared up again and he turned his face to her . "Huh? Oh yea…I'm okay. I just felt a little bit tired. Sorry I didn't catch what you were saying." He went back to putting batter on the raw pork, thinking to himself. "What was that?" He became distracted as the frying pan was starting to bubble a lot with hot oil. "That was the second time I felt that sensation…what's going on? Probably nothing. Or probably is something…" "RYUUJI!" He heard his name being called out loud again as he snapped back to his senses and noticed the pan was starting to bubble over with hot oil. "Oh shit!" He muttered as he shut off the flame.

The two of them finished cooking dinner, with Ryuuji having some hiccups along the process. They set the table and set aside a portion in the fridge for Yasuko to have when she returns from work in the morning. Taiga said her thanks and picked up a piece of the fried pork and bit into it. She noticed the breading wasn't seasoned as good as he usually does. "What the?" She muttered as she swallowed the food. "Are you sure you okay? You've haven't been acting like yourself since you've started cooking." She asked him as she watched him take a few small bites of his meal. "Ryuuji?" He didn't seem to hear her. She called his name again and this time he noticed her and just replied quickly.

Taking another small bite, Ryuuji suddenly felt full as he placed his chopsticks down. "I think I'm just not in a good appetite tonight." He said as he looked over at Taiga. He started to sweat a little bit and his face started to turn a little pale. "I hope the tonkatsu wasn't that bad." He said to her. He was about to say another word when he suddenly felt nauseous and got up quickly and ran to the bathroom and knelt in front of the toilet, throwing up what little bit of food he just ate.

Seeing him run off and throw up in the bathroom worried her as she stood up to go see if he needed anything. "Ryuuji? You okay? Need some water? Want me to get some medicine?" She asked as she see him put his hand up to say he is alright. She bent down to help him up and she briefly grabbed a cloth to help him wipe his face. Her fingers briefly came in contact with his forehead and she pulled her hand back in shock. She put her hands back on his forehead and was really worried as his forehead felt very hot to the touch. "You're burning up!" She screamed as she looked at him worriedly. She looked into his eyes as they started to roll back into his head as he passed out. "Ryuuji?! Ryuuji?! Wake up!" She screamed, shaking him and listening to his chest. He was still breathing. She didn't know what else to do and decided to call the ambulance. She knew his head felt way too hot to be an ordinary fever. As she waited with him for the ambulance, she held his head in her lap. "Stay with me please…" She whimpered, her eyes starting to tear up. "Don't you dare leave me like this…"

A/N:

Well that's it for now. I hope you find this first chapter interesting. Chapter 2 is already in the works, so stay tuned for the next Chapter to this Toradora story! –James of Vale