The goal of these longer chapters are to tie everything into the manga and anime. So, yes, some things are direct quotes from the anime. However, keep in mind I do not own any part of what was used from Fruits Basket, apart from my own character and whatnot. :) 

So, enjoy what is most definitely the longest chapter so far!

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Now that school is back in session, I have the days to myself, mostly. Granted, I have the homework Hatori left for me, but I'm so far ahead that I finished the last set of work the week before. So, I've been spending my time sneaking into Kyo's room to borrow his books, since most of mine are still back at the main house.

This afternoon, I tagged along with Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru to the store to pick up some things for dinner. While my brother and Kyo wait outside, Tohru and I quickly navigate through the aisles to get what we need.

When we are checking out, Tohru looks over at me and asks, "How are you liking living with us, Kasumi? I'm sorry that I haven't gotten much of a chance to ask."

I grin. "I really like it. I haven't seen Yuki in three years, and Kyo in about one. They haven't been eager to talk to me lately, but it's been so nice to reconnect with them." There's a pause while she pays, and I take hold of the bags.

"I'm so happy for you! I can tell you've been happier lately, and even Kyo has been less argumentative." We laugh and then make our way outside into utter chaos.

"Wipe that smug little smirk off your face before I come over there and do it for ya!" Kyo threatens in a dangerously low voice, staring Yuki down. "Yeah, you'll be sorry then, woncha, and I'll make you say it."

"I'm sorry." Yuki responds dryly, not the least bit intimidated.

"SHUT UP! You're a real wise-ass, ya know that?!"

"At least I'm not the noisy idiot who's causing a scene in front of the store."

Kyo, as miffed as could be, begins to roll the sleeves of his jacket up. "Oh, you've done it now girly-boy! We're taking this outside!"

"We're already outside, you stupid cat."

"Sorry we took so long!" Tohru interjects lightly as we walk out, in an attempt to calm the storm that was my brother and friend.

Yuki immediately backs out of the argument and turns to us with a smile, while Kyo's brooding to the point of exploding. "Ah, find everything you needed?"

"Um, uh-huh!"

I glance at Kyo. "Uhh, Kyo?"

"WHAT?" Definitely not in the best mood today, are we?

I lift the bags overflowing in my arms, and tilt my head towards Tohru, who holds a couple as well. "Care to help? That's why you two came, right?"

His anger cools a little, and he looks down for a moment. "Yeah, yeah." He moves around Yuki to stand in front of me. "Let me have them."

"Do you gotta walk so close to me? I'm already pissed off, and I don't want to be out here with you."

"So why did you come?"

So much for being less argumentative... they have it out for each other today. I glance between the two boys. "Yuki—"

"You know, you are starting to get on my nerves." Yuki finally says, turning to Kyo with a death glare.

"Oh yeah?" Kyo challenges, setting down his bags and jumping into a fighting stance. "So why don'cha try to do something about it, girly-boy—" Yuki shoves some of the fresh leeks we had picked up into his mouth, making Kyo gag.

"Yuki!" I gasp, only getting more annoyed with their childish antics.

"Yuki! Kyo!" Tohru cries, and stands there in shock as I pick up Kyo's load of bags to join my own.

"There, that should keep him quiet for a little while." Yuki says, coughing a little.

"Alright, alright. Why don't both of you just back down so we can get home?" I ask dryly, rolling my eyes. "We don't need Shigure thinking up any dirty stories to explain our late arrival."

That night, we're gathered around the kotatsu having tea and snacks when Shigure walks into the sitting room, donning a robe as well as a towel on his head. "Hey! I'm out of the tub. Who's in next? Yuki?"

Yuki sighs, and puts his head on his hand, avoiding everyone's eyes. "I think I'll skip it today."

Shigure, being the dramatic he is, acts like the world is ending. "How could you stand to be so dirty?!"

"Just once I'd like to knock him through the roof." Yuki mutters into his cup.

"Are you alright?" I ask him, setting down the book I'm reading.

"I think I'm coming down with a cold..."

"Ehh?! A cold?" Tohru is up in a flash, checking his forehead. "You do have a bit of a fever..."

"Well, it's best to treat these things early." Shigure says, turning to the little table by the door. "Take some medicine, get some rest, all that... I think I have just the thing here..."

"Maybe you should stay home from school tomorrow." Tohru adds.

"No, I'm alright," Yuki insists, "It won't have to come to that."

"Are you sure?" I ask. "There's nothing wrong with doing that." I push his tea towards him, and he shoots me a thankful look before taking a sip.

"We are supposed to do our endurance run tomorrow." Tohru says worriedly.

"Oh, so they still have those." Shigure muses while rummaging through the medicine, "Almost seems cruel, making you kids run around in the cold...."

I hear a sound behind me and turn to find Kyo, who had obviously heard the conversation from wherever he was. "An endurance run, huh?" He asks, holding back his excitement of a true challenge against Yuki that wasn't martial arts.

"Here we go..." I mumble. This is probably not the best time for either of them to be setting challenges. Not when Yuki's sick...

"Yes. You mean you didn't know?" Tohru asks, looking over at him.

"An endurance run. A set distance. A certain time to beat! In other words..." He clenches his fist with a determined grin, "IT'S A RACE!!" He points at Yuki, "Alright, Rat-Boy. Tomorrow, we're gonna find out who's the fastest!"

Tohru hesitantly speaks up. "Uh, Kyo? Yuki's starting to come down with a cold."

"So you better give him something to eat and put him to bed. He's not getting out of this one!"

I roll my eyes as Shigure calls Yuki over and gives him some medicine. "Kyo, calm down. You're being arrogant."

He ignores me, and pumps his fists in the air. "The race is ON! OH YEAH! WOO HOO!"

"Kyo!"

The next morning, following breakfast, I pull Yuki aside before he leaves with Kyo and Tohru. "Yuki, are you sure you should be going out? With your asthma and cold, I wouldn't want you to be pushed too hard..."

He puts a hand on my shoulder, and with a weak smile, said, "Don't worry, Kasumi. I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've had a cold. You know how they can be."

"Alright..." I say doubtfully as he moves towards the door. I don't really know how colds can be, but I'll take your word for it. "But come home if you don't think you can handle it, before anything happens."

"I will!" He replies before the front door slid open with a smack.

"You coming or are you giving up on the race already?" Kyo yelled from the doorway. "Let's go, Rat-Boy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. No need to yell." Yuki snaps at him before turning back to me. "Well, I'm off." He slips on his shoes and pulls the door open the rest of the way. "Itte kimasu!"

After seeing everyone off, I turn to head back up the stairs when I see Shigure leaning on the wall next to his office. "Do you really think he'll be alright?" I ask, glancing towards the now closed screen where the trio had disappeared.

Shigure tilts his head in thought. "I hope so. I'm not quite sure what will happen if he's reckless about it." He switches his thinking over to a more positive view and smiles at me, waving his hand. "Either way, que sera sera, as they say!"

"That does nothing to make me feel better about this." I mumble, and climb upstairs to my room. "Come get me when you want lunch! There's no way I'm eating anything you make."

I'm sitting on the walkway at the back of the house, reading, when I hear a commotion from the front. I walk through my room, setting my book on the table, and go over the genkan. Coming up the drive, I find what I could easily mark as the oddest thing I'd seen since moving to Shigure's. "Uhh... Shigure!" I call, turning back into the house for a moment. "I think you need to come out here..."

I slip on my shoes and run out to meet Kyo, Tohru, and Hatsuharu, who is, incidentally, in his zodiac form— a cow— and carrying Yuki on his back. "What on earth happened to Yuki?! Why is Hatsuharu in his zodiac form?" I bend down to check Yuki's temperature. "He's burning hot!" I frown as I heard his breathing. "Did he have an asthma attack, too?! What do you two think you were doing?" I spin around to glare at Kyo, and he looks down guiltily.

"I didn't know he was that sick."

"Both of you should have known better." I snap, "Let's get him in bed." I turn and go back towards the house, and group trails after me.

Shigure meets us at the door, and attempts to hold back a laugh. "So you came all the way here looking like that, did you?" he asks Hatsuharu, snickering.

"It's not funny." Kyo huffs.

"Let's get him upstairs, shall we?" I interrupt, taking Hatsuharu's jacket off of my brother and hanging it by the door. "We don't want him getting worse."

We all gather in Yuki's room once we get him settled. Hatsuharu hasn't transformed back yet, and Kyo is cooling down in the corner. I'm tucking my brother in when Shigure sits down at the foot of the bed and says, "There. We'll let him sleep for a while. Looks like it was just a mild attack. He still has a slight fever, but he'll be alright."
"Thank goodness!" Tohru breaths, hovering next to him.

"Sorry for the scare, Tohru, but it's really okay. You can go back to school, now, if you want." He replies with a smile.

"I mean, school is important, but I just wouldn't feel right going back when I know that he's lying here sick. I'm sure mom will understand if I miss a day. Besides, I feel a little bit responsible." Hatsuharu's head whips in her direction. I don't even want to know what all is running through his head at the moment. "I should have asked him to stay home today. His cold might have not gotten this bad."
Shigure stands up. "I'll tell you what," he says, "How about I go to the school and pick up your things for you?"

The momentary panic that flashes through her eyes was incredibly obvious. "Uh, you really don't have to go through all that trouble!"
"No, no. No trouble at all! In the meantime, Kyo, why don't you call Hatori? And Kasumi, why don't you start on some lunch with Tohru?"
Kyo turns around, annoyance coming back to his flushed face. "Huh? Why do I gotta do it?"

"Watch yourself though," Shigure warns, "Hatori's been overworked these days, so he's probably not in the best of moods. From what I hear, practically the entire family has come down with the flu."
And in that very moment. Hatsuharu transforms back in a puff of smoke, and I spin around and cross the room. "I'll call him," Hatsuharu offers as Tohru squeals and turns away. "Where's the phone again?"

Kyo moves in between us and our directionless cousin. "Dammit, put some clothes on, first!"

Hatsuharu stops me in the hallway a little while later as I come down to help Tohru. "How's Yuki?"

"He's asleep. His fever's gone down, too. Also, sorry I didn't give you a proper welcome when I saw you earlier."

"It's alright." He says, leaning against the wall and shoving his hands in his pockets. "How are things here? Definitely different from Sohma House."

I nod. "Yeah. It's really different, but it's nice. I don't think I can ever fully appreciate the freedom I have here. It's unbelievable. And I'm here with such great people. It's wonderful." He nods off and on as I talk. "It's weird, I'll admit, how my life never went very far before I came here, yet everyone's so grown up. They have lives now, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it." Hatsuharu replies, glancing at me, then down the hallway towards the kitchen. "It seems to be the case for anyone who gets out of the main house. No matter how long that leash is. You get used to it, I guess. But at least now you aren't left behind."

A sad smile flickers across my lips. "True. Very true." I glance around. "Speaking of freedom, where's Kyo? It's really quiet."

Hatsuharu smirks for a second. "Ah, he went back to school a few minutes ago... I gave him a bit of a hard time about Yuki."

I roll my eyes. "You should know better than that by now."

Hatsuharu shifts uncomfortably. "Yuki and Kyo... do they still get in fist fights every day?"

I think for a moment before shaking my head. "No, but that doesn't mean there's any less arguing around here."

"That means they're getting better, though."

"It does. And I'm grateful for that. A while back, I would have never imagined it being better than it was."

He nods. "It could be because Tohru's here."

"I think it very well may be."

I begin to make my way over to the kitchen when he stops me. "You can go watch your brother for now. I'll help Tohru."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." I turn back towards the stairs. "If you need my help, just let me know."

I quickly make my way upstairs, and rinse Yuki's cold towel with fresh cool water before putting it back on his forehead. After pulling his desk chair over, I sit down next to him. "I haven't done this in a while..." I whisper, knowing he wasn't going to wake up in the next few minutes. At least his fever is going down. "The last time I sat by you like this, you had gotten back from a visit with Akito. I hadn't even gone to live with Hatori, yet." I look at him with a sad smile. You're all grown up now. And so am I. Well. Mostly. "It feels like it was just a few days ago when you and I would spend our time away from Akito playing until Mother reprimanded us for something. And even then, we weren't all that close." My memories run rampant, and before I know it, Tohru is sliding the door open.

"We've brought a cold compress!" Tohru says as they enter Yuki's room.

"Perfect." I stand up as my head clears, and cross the room to leave. "I'll let you two have some time with him. Maybe he'll wake up for you." I add with a wink.

It's dark by the time Kyo and Shigure get back, and I just finished cleaning the sitting room from dinner. I corner them in entryway before Shigure can sneak away. "Where were you? Tohru was worried sick!"

"Ah, nowhere special," Shigure replies, sliding a hand into his hair. "We ran into Tohru's friend, Hana, and took part in a card game. We lost track of time after someone refused to leave before he had won a round." He shoots a pointed look in Kyo's direction.

"HEY! Don't make it sound like I was losing every time, like you did!" Kyo shouts while yanking his shoes off.

I shake my head, holding back laughter. "Well, anyways, I can prepare some leftovers for you two, if you'd like. We just finished eating a little while ago."

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Kyo exclaims, and nearly runs to the sitting room.

"Count me in! I'll just be in my office for a bit." Shigure disappears down the hall, and I slip into the kitchen to heat up their dinners.

"How long were you two playing cards, anyways?" I ask, as I watch Kyo and Shigure finish their dinner.

Shigure flicks his hand in response. "Oh, not long. 8 hours?"

"8 hours?! How are you two not sick?"

"It's not like we were in the rain or anything," Kyo mumbles, looking exhausted. "It wasn't even that cold out."

"Whatever you say," is my reply as I start to gather their dishes.

"Well, give Tohru my thanks. The food was delicious!" Shigure says, standing up, "I'm so full I could—" He stumbles, grabbing onto the doorframe for support.

"Shigure!" I jump up and go over to him, and out of curiousity, check his forehead. "You have a fever! Serves you right, after being out there so long. Kyo, stay where you are. I don't want you to get hurt trying to seem tough."

"HEY! What are you talking about?! I don't do that!"

"Quiet. I'll help you to your office, Shigure, and as long as you don't end up needing too much of my support, we'll make it without ending up on the ground!" I turned back to Kyo. "And Kyo, if you've moved at all by the time you get back, you're going to regret it."

"What does that mean?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know..." I muse before taking hold of my elder cousin's arm and carefully helping him down the hall. We get to his office, and I help him ease down in front of his computer. "Sorry. I would have tried to help you up the stairs, but I didn't want to risk us falling down. You're just a tad heavier than Kyo, and that will be hard enough."

Shigure laughs before dissolving into coughs. "It's alright. I understand."

I hand him some of the medicine Yuki had gotten earlier. "Take this. I'll help Kyo and then I'll get ahold of Hatori."

"Thank you, Kasumi."

Back in the sitting room, luckily, Kyo hadn't moved an inch. "You're worrying too much, you know." He mumbles, frowning at me.

"Says the one who's hardly talked in the past hour. I had a hunch far before now that you two came down with something." I kneel next to him at the table, smirking.

"I do not have a cold!" He argues.

"Fine." I get back up. "Stand up and let's see if you can make it to the door."

"FINE!" He gets to his feet and wavers, but sets a determined face, and looks to me. "See?"

"Sure. Now let's get you upstairs."

Kyo took a few steps. "Ah..." His eyes closed for a second, and he reached out to steady his balance.

"Thought so." To end a larger argument that was to come if we kept going like this, I reach out and slip under one of his arms to help hold his weight. 

He nearly jumps out of his skin. "Hey!" Kyo yells. "What was that for?!" He struggles for a moment before relaxing a little.

I look up at him with an amused smile. "It was either this or end up yelling at each other the entire way up, and probably getting to your room like this, anyways."

He shifts his weight a little and glares at me. "You know, I'm only letting you get away with it because it's too late to fight."

"Alright." I reply, carefully helping him make his way up the stairs. "Don't go on the roof until you're better. Promise?"

There's silence until we get to his door. "I promise."

"Good" We get to his bed, and he gently shoves me away. "Get some rest, Kyo. I'll bring some medicine up after I call Hatori."

Downstairs, I play with the rotary phone chord as I wait for Hatori to answer. 

"Moshi moshi."

"Hatori?"

"Kasumi? What is it? It's late. Did something happen?"

I glance up at the ceiling, towards where most of the boys were holed up. "Sort of. I don't know if you want to come out here again— Hatsuharu, Tohru and I can handle it if you want us to— but Shigure and Kyo were out playing cards for hours outside until a little while ago, and—"

"I'll be right there. Get both of them a cold compress, and let them rest until I get there."

"Alright, Hatori. Thank you. See you soon."

Hatori arrives, and checks up on all three of his patients.

"They'll be alright." He tells me as he finishes up. "Just be sure to keep them resting as long as you can for the next couple days."

"Of course." I hand him a stack of papers. "Sorry to give you more work, but here's my school work."

"Done already?" He asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah. I finished it last week."

"Of course you did." He said dryly. "Let me know next time before a week goes by, alright? I'll be back later this week with some more work for you."

"Alright. Thank you!" I look to Hatsuharu, who just came to the entryway so that he could head back to the estate with Hatori. "You two have a safe drive back to Sohma House."

"Goodnight, Kasumi."

"Goodnight!"