Tainted Souls chapter 2

Kyo's POV:


Why didn't she tell me? Why? Something was definitely bothering her; we could all tell. She changed; she stopped eating, she acted jumpy all of a sudden, and sometimes I could hear her crying in her sleep. Or maybe she was crying herself to sleep. I don't know; does it really matter?

Oh! And that smile of hers; the one that could give light and joy to the world all on its own, was disappearing little by little. It wasn't gone completely, but I started seeing it less and less. Something was eating away at her inside, but not like a parasite. Those things are nasty! I mean, they're bugs that feed on your insides. Disgusting!

Anyway, something bothered her greatly, and I don't understand why she didn't come to me and explain what was wrong. Although, with my temper, I bet I was the last person she wanted to see. But she still could've at least confided in that damn rat. Or Shigure. Or possibly Wave-Girl and that yankee.

It must've disturbed them too, because one day they came up to us, asking if we could all discuss this in private. Yuki and I were reluctant at first, but we soon showed them to our secret spot; the roof.
This is where we could go and think in peace. Yuki and I have had our fair share of times where we needed to escape and this was my top spot. It was the perfect location for us to talk.

"She hasn't been herself lately" Hana brought up the subject as soon as we set foot onto the roof.
That was the friend that supposedly sent poison waves out at people and could sense others electric waves. I could not, for the life of me, understand that girl's ways.

"Yeah, but whenever we asked her what was wrong, she just kept insisting that she was fine. Has she said anything to you two?" Uo asked us. We simply shook out heads.

"No. She…she's just been acting strange at home as well." Yuki's voice made my skin crawl. Man, that voice always pissed me off and I have no idea why.

"Tohru's trying hard to not be obvious, but…it's kinda hard not to notice" I added.

Yuki threw me a look, to which I hissed quietly. That must've seemed weird to Wave-Girl and Yankee, but I can't help it. When you've carried the cat part of the Zodiac curse, you get used to your animal behavior. Or course, they wouldn't know that since they don't know about our secret. He looked back at Tohru's friends and continued;

"Even Shigure noticed. He said that it could be the stress from work and school-"

"But that's the thing;" Uo cut in, "school work hasn't been that much of a hassle lately. Tohru told us herself. And I thought work was easy for her lately."

"That's what we thought. Shigure told us to leave her alone and let her have her space. That way, we won't pressure her more and make her worse. Who know?" Yuki shrugged, "Maybe she just doesn't want to tell us."

That seemed to piss me off; it looked as if like Yuki didn't care either way. I hated the way he shrugged, but I also hated the way they worried about this. To me, they were kind of overreacting. I got up from my seat on the roof and started toward the exit, but a strong hand gripped my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" that yankee growled. I shook myself free from her grasp and muttered,

"I'm going home. I'm tired, and hungry, and I find no point in sitting around, talking about this when I can go ask her right now. Instead of worrying myself sick about this, I'm going to do something about it…whether you guys approve or not."

And I left them in silence. No one objected to my actions for once. It felt great to have them off of my back this time.

To tell you the truth…I was kinda overreacting too. Inside of course, seeing as I never expressed it to
anyone else before. And I missed that cheerful smile of hers; the one that made me feel like it controlled the sun's rising the next day, and the sun's setting that evening. To see Tohru beam like that was one of the greatest rewards ever offered. But, hey; I'm not trying to act all mushy and whatnot. It's sort of gross to be talking about that stuff. At least for a guy like me.

All the way home, I pondered about Tohru's strange behaviors and what could've made her act this way. Maybe she was sick. Or she could be depressed about something. But about what? Her mother? That was understandable, but she grinned each day despite the fact that her mother was gone. And the anniversary of her death was months away.

'Maybe she just doesn't want to tell us'

Maybe, Yuki. But it hurts that she won't even confide in her friends and family; the ones that are closest to her.

I was thinking these same thoughts when I walked up to the house and slammed the door open. I
guessed I was pissed, seeing that I managed to make the house shake a little. Shigure's head appeared from the kitchen.

"Kyo, is that you?"

"Who else could it be? Santa Claus?"

"Ah, welcome home, Kyo. Bright and happy as ever, I see"

"Mmmm" was all I replied. Something smelled weird, and I inhaled deeply.

"Hey, did you fart in here or something?"

"Heavens no!"

"Well, it smells like crap in here."

"Oh. Maybe it's my cooking. Would you be a dear and help me?"

"Aw, why do I gotta help?"

I stopped in my tracks, realizing what he had just said.

"Wait; did you say you were cooking?"

"Yes I did. And I need your help because Yuki isn't here yet and Tohru is in bed, sick"

Those last few words caught me by surprise. I sped into the kitchen, ready to demand an explanation to his answer, when the sight horrified me. Sprawled out all over the stove and counter were various foods and items. Some places were covered in slop, and it was just an absolute pigsty. Shigure grinned sheepishly at me and giggled. I didn't think it was so funny.

"WHAT THE HELL?! DID THE REFRIGERATOR EXPLODE?!"

"Kyo, you're so mean. No, it didn't. I'm trying to cook you a nice home-made dinner here, and this is the thanks I get?"

"SHUT UP!! It looks like a bomb went off in here! Why are you cooking dinner again?"

"Didn't you hear me before? Tohru is sick."

"Yeah, I got that part. What happened? She was fine when we were at school."

"Well, she came home, ran into the bathroom and threw up. Ever since then, she's been resting in
her room."

"Is she okay?" I asked nervously. Not only was Shigure surprised, but I was too, to hear concern
shaking my voice.

"I honestly don't know, Kyo." All humor was gone from his tone now, "She only threw up once, although her stomach is still giving her difficulty."

"This has got to stop. All of her suffering. I don't care if she won't tell us, there's something wrong and we need to find out what." I muttered bitterly.

"I know. I already called Hari to come and check on her. He'll come after dinner."

"Hatori's smart, you know." I started. Shigure looked at me confused. I walked out of the kitchen and continued,

"He's smart…for coming after dinner. If he came during dinner, he'd probably be poisoned!"

I was on my way to Tohru's room when I heard Shigure comment,

"Like you could do any better!"

'Touché,' I thought. 'I'll give you points for that one Shigure.'

"Just for that," he continued, "I'll make a plate of LEEKS!! Just for you!"

I growled. 'But for that, I'll give you a whack in the head.'

I was only a few steps away from the door when I could clearly hear moans coming from inside her room. 'She must be sleeping', I thought, taking a grip on the doorknob. But there was something strange about her moans. They were accompanied by something else. It was almost…almost like she was…crying.

Quietly turning the knob and opening the door, I poked my head in. The only light was coming from the window; all the other lights were turned off. However, the orange beams were of little help, because the setting sun was causing the room to dim. I followed the glow and stared at Tohru.

She was lying in her bed, the covers pulled up to her neck so all that was uncovered was her head.
Her back was facing me, so I couldn't see her face from this angle. I saw her twitch and fidget in her sleep, letting out the occasional groan or sniffle.

I tiptoed into the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. Now I could see her face more clearly, and it didn't soothe my worries. She was pale white; the color of the chalk that they use at school.
Little beads of sweat were everywhere on her face, and dark gray bags lay underneath her eyes. Her features were sunken a little, probably from feeling so crappy. I also noticed that her body seemed smaller than usual. Not that I stared at her body! Like a perv! That's Shigure's job! But…I wouldn't let him do that in a million years, uhh…aw, you get the point.

At any rate, I laid my hand delicately on her shoulder. Tohru jerked in response and let out a small whimper,

"Oh…oh…oh g-god, p-please…d-d-don't hurt…me…"

I shook her a little, trying to get her to snap out of it.

"Tohru…"

"D-don't…please…!"

"Hey, Tohru…"

"No…No…NO! DON'T! PLEASE!"

She suddenly sat up straight, breathing heavily. Her thin figure trembled furiously as she brought her hands up and covered her face. I was unsure of what to do. I read some place that you weren't supposed to wake up people who were sleepwalking, so I applied the same theory to those who
woke up startled.

But nonetheless, I once more put my hand on her shoulder. She jolted and looked up at me. It took her a good while to notice who I was. Once she did know, she relaxed.

"Kyo…"

"Hey, Tohru. How are you feeling?"

"K…Kyo…"

Tears started to drip from her eyelids. I got startled by the sudden emotion. I mean, it was all unexpected. The big drops of water rapidly flowed down her face in small streams. She suddenly sprang toward me, but I caught her shoulders in mid-lunge so she didn't make it any farther. Tohru hung her head and let her arms droop beside her.

"Heh, sorry about that. Guess I forgot" she apologized, embarrassed.

"It's ok. But I don't think I'll be that much of a help if I transform into a cat." I let go of her shoulders, and tried to keep the uprising steam in my emotion under control. "Tohru…" I started, but I paused. She waited intently for me to continue. I took a deep breath and resumed,

"Tohru…what's wrong?"

"Oh, w-well…I…I felt kind of weird t-today, and when I was…walking h-home…I…felt really nauseous…a-and when I got home, I threw up…I still…f-feel sick…b-but it's mostly my stomach."

I looked her over, (not in the perverted sense!) and found that I wasn't mistaken; Tohru did appear smaller in size. Body size! Not…ya know…cup size! Don't ever tell anyone that I said that!

I laid my hand on her forehead, to which she looked up at me and blushed. I felt my face turn red too, so I quickly brought my hand back.

"Well, you don't feel warm."

And then, I don't know what in God's name made me do this, but I put my hand on her stomach. She exhaled sharply, confused as anything. I drew back harshly again, but for a different reason.

"Tohru, you're stomachs as tight as a knot!"

I read somewhere that when you're sick with the vomit-thing, then your stomach muscles tense up, and it feels like a basketball is laying in there. But it felt like she ate a huge stone. Tohru stared at me, lost for words.

"Uh, Tohru?" I snapped my fingers a few times. She jolted again.

"Huh? What?"

"You…spaced out…I said that your stomach feels hard…"

"Oh! Well…I, uh…like I said…my belly is still disagreeing with me…it's nothing…"

"Don't feed me that bull. I can tell your still feeling really awful. It's written all over your face"

Tohru looked down in response and I heard small little cries coming from her again. As she cried, I noticed that her face started to turn an ugly shade of green.

"Tohru…why can't you tell me what's wrong?"

She stayed silent for a while, but took a deep breath and replied in a shaky voice,

"Be…Because…because…I…"

Suddenly, Tohru jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway. I sprinted after her and followed her into the bathroom. She leaned over into the toilet, and threw up a great amount. I mean, if she hadn't aimed for the toilet, there would've been ridiculous projectile-vomit all over the restroom. Her body shook with each heave and she coughed after each throw up-episode.

I swear to God, I was going to see a boot come out of Tohru's mouth. She upchucked more than
anyone else I have ever seen. Because of her being sick earlier, I assumed that she hadn't anything to drink or eat, but this made it seem like her stomach's contents never ended.

"Kyo, is Tohru getting sick again?" I heard Shigure yell.

I hollered back over Tohru's hurling. "Yeah, she is. And it's bad too."

I watched a movie once where someone threw up. The person helping was to hold their hair back, so they wouldn't spew all over their hair. I decided to mimic this and hold Tohru's hair out of range.

For what seemed like an hour (but was really only about five minutes), Tohru's dry-heaving had finally subsided, and she clung to the edge of the toilet, crying. I wanted to hug her so much, but this curse made everything inconvenient. Besides, she had just thrown up, so…it would be kind of disgusting.

Trying to think of tricks to help, I rubbed Tohru's rock-hard stomach lightly. She belched in response, and moaned. Another burp and she spit up into the toilet. 'Man, this girl wasn't empty yet?' I thought.

"Ohhhh…Kyo…" she whimpered, shakily trying to face me. I could tell she was a tad woozy, since she moved like a drunken idiot and moaned as if her insides had just been taken out. I grabbed her shoulders.

"Take it easy, Tohru. You're disoriented."

She gulped, but then wrinkled her nose at the taste in her mouth. I guided her to the sink and waited until she washed her mouth out. I then held her shoulders and led her to her room. She got under the covers and groaned again. That was a close call; she almost didn't make it. Suddenly, a thought came to mind. Just in case Tohru was too late to reach the bathroom next time, I went into the other room and brought back a trash can. That way, she could barf in there and not get it all over the floor.

I sat on the edge of the bed again and laid my hand on her forehead once more. Again, no fever. Could the mental strain cause her so much…pain and discomfort? Without inducing a fever?

I heard the door close and Yuki call out in his smooth, annoying voice, "I'm home!"

"Welcome home Yuki! How was school today?"

"Are you…cooking?" I had to try and stifle a laugh, so it came out in some sort of snicker.

"Why yes. I am. Tohru isn't felling well today."

A long pause lay thick in the air until Yuki's voice cut through it like a sharp knife.

"She's sick?"

"Yeah. She vomited as soon as she got home. Actually…you missed her have an episode just a few minutes ago. She's resting in her room right now."

That was enough for Yuki. I heard him approaching and I stayed there, waiting until I heard the door being pushed aside with a creek. He stood there, looking at Tohru, then at me, then back to Tohru.

"She just finished puking her guts out." I cursed myself inwardly for saying it in such a disgusting way. But Yuki didn't seem to mind. He walked right over to her and felt her forehead like I did.

"This is bizarre." He finally muttered.

"Yeah. Shigure called Hatori so he could look at her. Maybe he can figure out what's wrong with her."

Yuki just stared seriously at Tohru, and did not utter a word for a few minutes. Maybe that remark he made earlier wasn't said without concern. Maybe he did care about how sick she was. But soon, he gently stroked her hair and whispered her name. Probably because her stomach was so sensitive and uneasy, it didn't take much to wake her up. She turned her head from the wall to look at Yuki at her left. She smiled weakly and quietly responded,

"Oh…hey Yuki…h-how was school…?"

"It was good, Miss Honda. What happened? Are you okay?"

Tohru looked down and I could tell she was ready to cry again. But she took a deep breath, smiled and hoarsely replied, "I…must've caught a stomach…v-virus…or the stress at school…I'm fine, really…I'm sorry b-but I won't be able to make d-dinner for you guys. And I certainly don't feel like eating…s-s-so…if you guys want to order out, I can…pay for it-"

"Stop."

Tohru looked at me, confused.

"Do not-and I repeat DO NOT- say that you will pay for something like that. Your money is YOUR
money; not something for us to take. You do whatever you want with it, but DON'T use it on us. We
have you own money; we can pay for it. And we sure as hell are NOT going to eat Shigure's cooking!"

I was a bit shocked to see Tohru giggle at this. But, I was really steamed that she would do something like that. We were fine on our own. She was already paying for her keep here by cleaning the house and doing the other chores. There was no need for her to use her money for us. I smiled slightly, and so did Yuki. Her laugh was just as warm and cute as her smile. It made you feel good to hear it.

"We'll pay for the food. If you want any, you're more than welcome to have some, Miss Honda."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we're sure" I finished, laying my hand on her head and ruffled her hair a little. That made her chuckle again, and I felt great and warm when she did.

"I better go tell Shigure not to make anything. Or we'll all be as sick as you, Miss Honda." He grinned and left the room to go talk to Shigure. I got up from my spot on the bed, turned to face Tohru and explained,

"I'm going to join Yuki. You try and get some rest before Hatori comes. Again, if you want anything-"

"Uh, Kyo, wait!"

I felt something tug the hem of my shirt behind me. I twisted my head to see that Tohru had grabbed it. She looked up at me, her beautiful eyes welling up.

"Can…can you stay for…a little bit? Please?"

I didn't budge, but I turned and stared at her confused.

"I…I just w-want you to stay h-here for a little…while…just until I f-fall asleep…" She clutched the covers tightly and held the covers over her mouth and nose. Something that a little kid would do if they were frightened.

That dream must've shaken her more than I imagined. I sat back down on the edge of her bed. She settled underneath the covers and sighed contently. I wondered if my being there really made her feel protected.

It didn't take long before she fell asleep. Every so often, she would let out a small moan, probably because of her stomach, but she once again relaxed and quieted down. Even though she told me to
stay until she fell asleep, I stayed there, gazing at her cute, sleeping face. Even when the food came,
I disregarded Shigure's calls and stayed there. Wait! Did I say' cute' before? W-wait, it wasn't l-like that! I mean…uh…I…aw forget it!

Then, once again, she started to toss and turn, yelling out names and distress calls. I tried my best to quiet her down, but it didn't work.

"No…no…n-n-no…!"

"Tohru, come on. Wake up."

"No…leave…l-leave me alone…please"

"Tohru…" I rested my hand on her head, but suddenly she knocked it out of the way. I was startled to see her act like that. It wasn't her. Just who was she fighting in her dream?

"Leave me alone…Please! Please! I didn't do anything! Get away!" She violently thrashed about, her arms swinging wildly in the air. I was completely startled, but it got worse once she opened her eyes and sat up straight. Tohru was panting hard, staring into space. I looked into her beautiful eyes, but the friendly glow was replaced by a shine of fear and defense.

"Tohru, what's the matter?" I slowly extended my hand out to her, but she knocked it away, and stared at me. It looked like she was a cornered animal, her eyes gleamed with ferocity and fear, and she was trembling. I tried to reach out to her again, but she shrank away, and held her hands up in front of her face.

"Please…d-d-don't hurt m-me…Please"

"Tohru…it's me; Kyo."

She still flinched and whimpered. 'She must be sleep walking, er-talking', I thought. Which was true; she was in a trance and after several attempts, I still couldn't get her awake. Until finally, I thought of something crazy to wake her up. It would be something stupid, but it was the only thing I could think of on short notice. I lunged toward her and…hugged her. I know! I know! It was REALLY dumb! But hey, what else could I do?

A loud POOF was heard, and I opened my eyes to see that I had become shorter. Yep; I had turned into a cat. A small orange cat; the shade of orange that was the same as my hair.

Well, I guess my plan worked because Tohru blinked several times, saw my clothes sprawled on her bed, and spotted me. She opened her eyes wider and whispered, "K…Kyo?"

"Yes" I replied, irritated. It took ALL that to wake her up. She looked at the clothes and started, "How…How did you-?"

"You were fussing in your sleep, and acting all scared, so I hugged you…to try and wake you up."

She giggled a little, but it evolved into a full-blown laugh. If her giggle can make someone happy, then her laugh will make you feel overall wonderful.

The door creaked open and there stood Yuki, Shigure, and Hatori. Now I felt embarrassed and on the whole stupid.

"Kyo, what in the world are you doing?" Shigure asked me, confused.

I stuttered, unsure of what to tell them. Say the wrong thing and they'd take it the wrong way.

"I…uh…well, er…that is…"

Tohru was at a loss for words too and I could see her panicking out of the corner of my peripheral.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yuki started, smiling. "Kyo tried to pull a move on Miss Honda, and in return, transformed. I heard Miss Honda yelling."

"Kyo, you perv!" Shigure overdramatically gasped.

"NO! It's not like that!!" I defended, losing my nerve.

"It IS something you would try, you stupid cat."

"SHUT UP!!"

"That's enough" Hatori's deep voice cut in. He walked to Tohru and then turned back to us.

"I need to examine Miss Tohru here. That means you three need to leave. And Kyo; bring your clothes for when you transform back"

"I know!"  I spat, taking my clothes in my cat fangs and running out the door. Yuki and Shigure followed me, closing the door behind them.

After a while, a loud POOF was once again heard and I transformed back. Before the smoke could clear away, I changed into my clothes, so that I wouldn't need to be naked in front of those two. That's just plain weird and awkward.

We all migrated to the living room. I turned on the TV, but we all stayed quiet and couldn't focus on the program. We were all wondering about Tohru and why she was acting like this.

'Tohru…please be okay…' I internally hoped. I then scoffed at myself. 'I'm sure she's fine. She's tough. She lived in the woods for God's sake. She can handle anything'