Could it be...that the author of this story is NOT dead?! -le gasp-

Anyway, sorry for the long wait, it's now summer and I just came back from the beach and I have some time to write. Thank you for putting up and waiting (patiently?) for an update. I don't own Furuba.

Curses Are Meant To Be Broken

By: Meirou Kitsune

Chapter 4: In Which a Hopeful Solution is Found

"Hey Hatori..."

"Yes Haru?" The doctor tiredly replied back, having just come down from helping Momiji.

"Why aren't you going after Tohru?" He asked, the question perking Rin to turn his way, the question raising ones of her own.

"Well, you see... Kyo will easily find her so I really don't have to follow. And if he doesn't come back soon, then I will go out in search." Hatori replied, choosing to leave out the chance that he might die if he touches her.

"How do you know that?" Rin butted in.

Hatori sighed as he placed his tea cup down on the table. He had intended to have a moment of silence to think, but knew that the others were full of questions he knew he was obliged to answer.

"Well, you see, she can only remain in that form for so long before she must revert back to her normal, human form."

"Why's that?" Haru continued to ask.

"Because if she went any longer, her body wouldn't be able to tolerate the darkness and she'd lose herself. There is a self-preservation blackout that the mind and body of Tohru does so that she may keep herself and not become one with the beast spirits."

The two teenagers were silent as they looked at Hatori, choosing to believe his words.

"And how long does that time period last?"

"Well..." Hatori said as he looked at the clock, "It should be starting to activate now..."

She shakily took a small step towards him. Then another, her eyes now closed and her head lowered to his height.

“That’s it, beautiful…” Kyo said with a small smile, happy to finally be connecting with her.

He stretched his hands out, mere inches away from Tohru’s deadly form…

"I'm not going to let you go this time." He declared just as he was about to place his hands on her face.

As if she suddenly realized the situaiton they were in, she reared her head back and kicked away, bucking at Kyo. At her sudden attack, Kyo stumbled back and fell down on the dead ground, allowing Tohru to run further away.

"Damn." Kyo swore as he got up. But when he heard an odd sizzling, he looked down to find that one of the cuffs to the jacket he was wearing had been burned away, having obviously snagged Tohru when she'd reared her head.

"Wait... if I touched her... what would have happened?" He asked as he finally noted that everything she touched died.

"I'm SUCH an idiot! What good would I have been to her if I died?!" He continued to furiously question himself as he set off once again, making sure to throw his jacket off before continuing to run off after her.

"I guess I'll just have to convince her to come back with words." He groaned, knowing he wasn't exactly the best person when it came to prep talks.

Finally seeing her massive body up ahead, he slowed down to keep a slight distance, suddenly feeling a little scared. But he shook the feeling off just as soon as it had come and sprinted ahead, intending on trying to stop her again.

But just as he was about to cry out, he saw her stop before cocking her head back and doing something like a mix between a howl and moan. The orange-head watched in fascination as her body was surrounded by a second eruption of smoke. And when it finally cleared, he looked around in curiosity as he wondered where the large animal had gone off to.

Warily stepping forward, he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a naked Tohru lying down on the forest floor, obvious unconcious.

"Damn..." He drifted off as he tore his eyes away from her bare figure and shrugged off his shirt, putting it on her with some difficulty as he refused to look at her.

"Tohru..." He whispered as he looked down at her angel like face, absently moving a few long strands of hair away from her closed eyes.

"It's time to go home." He whispered as he held her close to his chest before starting the fairly long walk back to the house.

"Now, I know that I have only skimmed the surface on Tohru, and so will now explain further. But I first want to start by thanking Kyo for bringing her back." Hatori said as he looked at the other ten people sitting around the table. Everyone mummbled their thanks in their own way, Kyo scowling. He had just done what he thought was right.

He had just returned with her not an hour ago and she was now sleeping in one of the room's beds, fast asleep. Hatori had done a simple check over her body to make sure nothing had changed. When he had finished, he had called everyone for another meeting.

"I think it's high time that I explain all the aspects of her condition. If touched in her transformed state, that thing will die. Also, it doesn't matter who hugs her, for both sexes will cause her to transform. When she does transform, she can stay in that for no more then an hour before she reverts back to her normal human appearance. Also, I will have to give her a shot and she will have to take pills everyday that will help her with the overwhelming evil that's trying to eat away at her body."

Everyone else at this heavy information, not even imagining that it was this bad.

"Now, I know this is a lot to swallow, but we must now think of Tohru not as a human being but as a cursed spirit."

Kyo was about to interject here, but Yuki silenced him with a glare. It was no use arguing against fact.

"But that may not always be."

At that sudden statement, everyone gasped and a spark of hope lighted in all of them.

"For you see, she is in this condition because the spirits inside her are displeased. But if we are somehow able to appease them, Tohru may have a chance at surviving to be a regular human again.

"But... how are we going to do that?" Kisa asked as she leaned against Hiro who had been thinking similar thoughts.

"To answer truthfully? I have no idea." Hatori said, causing everyone's hope to deminish.

"But Tohru didn't give up on us just because she didn't know how." Hiro offered as he squeezed Kisa's hand in encouragement, Hatori nodding before saying his next statement.

"Yes, and that's why I think that what we must do is just as Tohru had done to slowly healed us those two years ago... with unconditional love."

Yuki starred at Tohru as she slept peacefully, her chest rising up and down in a constand rhythem that made Yuki's own heartbeat go faster. Without a sound, he sat down on the edge of the bed, putting a hand on the side of her cheek affectionatly, confirming that she was indeed real.

"What are you doing?"

At the voice, Yuki didn't bother to turn around to look at who was standing at the door. He already knew it was Kyo.

"Checking to see if she is indeed real or not." He answered truthfully, extracting his hand from her pale face.

"I could have told you that." Kyo snapped as he went to the other side of the bed to have a better look at the other two.

There was silence for few minutes as Yuki starred at Tohru while Kyo starred at Yuki, occasionally glancing at Tohru.

"Well, she's real. So can you leave now?" Kyo snapped again, not liking this situation.

Yuki was silent still as he got up from the bed's edge and went to the door.

"Just so you know Kyo..." He drifted off as he turned his head to side glance at Kyo.

"I don't love her the same way that you do."

Kyo stood there, dumbfounded, only having enough sense to blink his eyes at Yuki's bold assertion.

"What..."

"I love her like a mother. Thank you for returning her to me." He said with sincerity and a nod before he was gone.

Kyo blinked. Again.

"I don't think I'll ever get that guy." Kyo finally sighed after a few minutes of starring at the door frame that Yuki had just stood at, his confession echoing in his mind.

"I'm sure you'd understand. You always did and no doubt still do." He said as he looked down at Tohru who was seemed to still be fast asleep, yet to wake up.

"You gotta wake up soon so you can help me with this dumb family." Kyo said as he patted her head tenderly before leaving.

He resisted the urge to look back as he lingered at the doorframe before leaving, and so missed Tohru's grey eyes blink open.

Well...things are now cleared up for the most part. Sorry, not a super long chapter to make up for the half year absence, just regular, but at least I updated yes? And no cliffy, yes? And with the whole Yuki mother thing, he said it himself in the manga so don't go yelling about it to me.

Besides that, hoped you liked the chapter and please REVIEW! I usually update my stories faster if I have some feedback that motivates me.

Till next time! (May be long yet again...DX)