Fruits Basket: Yuki Ptsd

Chpater 14

"In his time there he almost died from his asthma, you know that from Hatori and Haru right? Well, when he was first with me, he was sick with terribly high fever, incredible stomach pains, so bad he couldn't even keep water down and had a bad cough. Hatori and I looked after him 24 hours a day, not daring to leave him alone. Akito was away for a meeting at that time, so Hatori was free to take care of Yuki, otherwise he would have died back then. But as soon as Akito had returned, I was left alone with him. Luckily, he was already recovering at that time"

Shigure hoped for one of them to say something, so that he didn't have to explain in detail how Yuki came to live with him, why Yuki would probably die soon and why the rat was such a hated animal, but neither Thoru or Kyo spoke up.

"The first time I went to the room of the rat, I was in the believe that Haru was over reacting, when he said, that Yuki would die, if no one did something. I snuck into the room and found a half starved child, half sitting in a corner, he was injured and hadn't received any food for at least thee past three days, and who knows how little he had gotten before Akito left him alone there.

Even I could see, that if I hadn't taken him, he wouldn't have survived the night. I decided to take him with me right there and then. He weakly reached out to me, his boney hand too heavy for his weak arm to hold, so he shook like a foal, trying to stand for the first time. He couldn't even stand up on his own, so I supportet him, we tried to walk, but after three steps his legs gave in under the little weight, he wasn't putting on me. It was winter and he was only wearing a shirt, he had lived in a room without a heater. I wrapped him in the top layer of my Kimono and carried him, it was scary how light he was back then.

I ran into a servant on my way out, she was with Hatori, none of the servants had ever personally seen Yuki, no wonder, he hadn't been allowed to leave his room, was probably too weak anyways, and no one was allowd to enter, considering the conditions inside that room, it was no wonder. When she found out, that that was Yuki, she brought a set of clothing and drove him, me and Hatori to my place. Afterwards she quit her job." Shigure ended his story.

Kyo visibly wanted to say something, Shigure, knowing the three kids, who lived with him well enough, waited until he was ready to do so.

"Shigure, how...how did that room ... look? I mean ... what ... what did it feel like ... being in there? I mean, the rat is the gods favourite isn't it?"

"it was a room covered in black paint, not entirely, but the wall and floor were full of black drizzles, there were no lights, no window, no food or water, the room was ice cold, the only furniture, a table and a medical arm chair, which Yuki had required, when his asthma was first discovered. The air was bad, foul, it smelled used up, stenched with paint, blood and vomit. It was quite literally a cage."

"But why would Akito tread his favourite like that?" Kyo asked, a slight hint of anger in his voice.
"The rat is the favourite, yes, but that doesn't mean, that he's theone Akito wants to save from the truth of the world, like he wants to do with the other zodiacs. The favourite in this case simply means, that god likes his presence the most, because he won't fight back, Akitos words have a stronger effect on Yuki, than they have on me, Haru or you. Like I said, the rat is perfered to be an unresisting stressball."

"But, but, ... he was a child!" Thoru sobbed.
Shigure nodded "I know, he was a sick child, in physical and psycological torture and no one cared until Haru begged me to save him."

"What's more important, you said, that Yuki didn't have much time, what do you mean by that?'' Kyo interrupted, way to interested into finding out all Shigure knew about the rat, to notice the desperation in the voice of Thoru, who had already puzzeled most of it together.

"Yuki hasn't had such a bad asthma attack in a long time, he's sixteen now and most of all, his condition hasn't improved within the past six days. I don't want to believe it, but I fear..." Shigure didn't dare to say it out loud.

"NO! There has to be something we can do! I refuse to just give up like that." Thoru suddenly blurred out. Kyo looked at her confused at her unusual loud voice.

"Well, there is something, however, I'm afraid, that it won't work. Akito has requested his presence at the main house and is sending Hatori to pick him up. I'm supposed to tell you, that Hatori simply wants to keep an eye on Yuki, but it wouldn't be fair to leave you in the dark like that. It will after all most likely be the last time we all see him."

"What is that something Shigure?" Kyo now asked, knowing, that if he hadn't Thoru would have asked.

"Yuki would have to get out of reach for Akito, the pressure of Akito on Yuki is heavy, Yukis body health won't improve much, but he'll heal from his fever. An old scroll I once read says, that in order to be free, three rats once disobeyed and gained itself freedome, these particular rats grew 51, 45 and 43, it's not really old age and they did in the end die on terminal and chronical diseases, but considering they were zodiac rats, transfered to a human, they were 250 years old. I was hoping, that I could get Machi and her brother to take Yuki far away, maybe to america or europe for a couple of years, but Akito requested him, before he had been able to heal enough to leave with them." Shigure sighed, not mentioning, that Yuki would have to stay away from Akito for either the rest of his life, which was gonna be shorter, than the one of a normal human, wether he recovered or not, or wait until the curse broke.

Even if that wouldn't solve the problem of his weak health.

"So, you're saying, Yuki's gonna die?" Kyo asked, while Thoru brought her hands to cover her eyes.

"Probably, he isn't recovering from his dilema last week in any way, and whenever he is with Akito, his asthma and general body strength gets terrificly worse. So I fear, once Hatori picks him up, it'll be the last time we see him."

"When?... When will Hatori come here?"

"He'll come today for a check up and then again in three days to take Yuki back."

"No!, We ... we have to get him ... we have to get him away ... away from here, away from Akito'' Thoru said

''I was planing to, but ...''
"He'd die, if anyone would force him onto a journey like that'' Kyo continued the sentence Shigure couldn't complete.

They sat there in silents until Thorus phone rang, it was Machi, she had sent a messagge.
"lunch's ready." Thoru said, reading the message out loud.

Shigure stood up. "Alright, then let's go.''