Fruits basket by Natsuki Takaya
publisher Hakusensha/Hana to Yume Magazine
Synopsis/Summaries done by Kevp
Summaries for Chaps 43-45

Momiji enters Tohru's class to find Kyo upset with being in the same 
school trip group with Yuki. Momiji wants to go, too, and when told 
he can with his own money, he becomes excited. Kyo angrily tells him 
not to, though. When Kyo complains about the school trip 
arrangement, Momiji asks him if he hates going on a trip with Tohru, 
to which Kyo frantically denies(sweet, isn't he? ^^ )

Yuki enters, then Momiji remembers why he came in the first place : 
the Black Haru is going berserk in his class. Yuki & Kyo : "You 
should've said that earlier..."

Everyone goes to Haru's class to find the classroom in mess. Yuki 
tries to calm down the Black Haru, but not much success this time. 
Haru says "who cares if they find out about us. It'd be a great 
relief not to have to worry about it any more."

Tohru tries to talk to Haru, but the Black is being a bit more 
aggressive today, even to Tohru. When the Black violently grabs 
Tohru, Kyo jumps in and punches the Black, and says "You might have a 
point, but I won't let you vent your anger on TOHRU."

Now, this is really significant because Kyo had NEVER called Tohru by 
her name. It was always "omae" or "oy", or "aitsu" when referring to 
her, never her name. Yet this time, he actually calls her name. 
Very significant.

Yuki also realizes this, and startles. But the Black and Kyo still 
go at it, but before the fight escalates, Mayuko appears and dumps a 
bucket of water on both. She takes them away to the office.

Later, Kyo tells Tohru not to get near Haru when he's Black as he's 
too dangerous. Tohru hesitates to agree, since it'd be rude to 
Haru. Kyo becomes more insistent, which Momiji describes "I don't 
want you to do that! ...that's what he's trying to say." 
Kyo : "Momiji, go back already!" ...he doesn't deny it. :)

Yuki is with Haru now, trying to comfort him. But instead, Haru is 
talking about Yuki. "Yuki... you should call her Tohru, too..." But 
Yuki says "I don't care about me right now. Right now, I should be 
more worried about you! ...you're not good with people, but you 
still have strength to say it out loud even in hard time. ...I'm not 
good with myself." Haru : "...someone like that wouldn't come after 
me to say things like that."

Haru then confesses about his problem. He was dumped(by Rin). He 
was fine for a while afterwards, but more time passes, more anxious 
he became. At the end, he became Black...

Tohru is on her way home, and meets a beautiful girl(?) who dropped 
things because of the tear on the paper bag. When helping to pick 
those up, Tohru notices something familar about the girl(?)'s 
behavior. Tohru : "Ritchan...san?"

Ch 44

Shigure, Tohru, and Ritsu in Shigure's house. Shigure is surprised 
to see Ritsu coming for a visit.

Ritsu : "I'm sorry. Am I being a burden?"
Shigure : "Yes." ^_^
Ritsu : (panics)
Shigure : Just kidding, just kidding.

Ritsu : "I was gonna buy fruits as a present at first, but didn't 
know what to get, so got some books about fruits instead. ...I'm 
sorry. Did I do something wrong?"
Shigure : "Not at all." -_-+++ <--
Ritsu : "SorrysorrysorryIwillgoandbuysomethingelse..."
Shigure : "Just kidding, just kidding."

Ritsu panics and regrets coming, to which Tohru replies, "not at 
all! I was so looking forward to meet you. I'm glad you came!" 
Ritsu finally calms down and smiles. "...thank you."

Yuki finally comes back.

Yuki : (looks at her(?) outfit) "...you haven't changed at all, 
Ritsu."
Ritsu : "IamsorryIwilltakeitoff...!"

Later.

Yuki : "How are your parents?"
Ritsu : "They are fine. How about you? ...Yuki-san, your face is 
becoming more like Ayame-niisan. Eeeck?! Did I say something 
wrong?!"
Yuki : "Forget it." -_-+++

Ritsu tries to leave, which Tohru insists him to stay. In the 
process, Tohru drops a disk, it's broken(and Tohru cuts herself), 
Ritsu panics, Tohru tries to calm him down, she falls accidentally, 
poof! Ritsu becomes a monkey.

Tohru : "Transformed...?" (realizes Ritsu is a guy) O.O
Ritsu : "Blood...?!" (Sees that Tohru has cut herself) O_O

Later, Shigure calls Hatori to come over and checks on Tohru's hand. 
Hatori gladly accepts, to which Shigure jokes "why so easily okay? 
Could it be that you're secretly in love with Tohru?"

Hatori : "..........."(silence)
Shigure : "Am I right!? I guessed it right?!"
Hatori : "...I was just too dumbfounded by your stupidity." -_-+++

As Yuki tries to bandage Tohru's hand, failing miserably I might add, 
he tells her about Ritsu's crossdressing, which Shigure explains "he 
does it because it calms him down."

The three of them finds Ritsu standing on a roof, which Tohru sees 
and panics. Ritsu rants on about his horrible mistakes which injured 
Tohru. Tohru : "but it's just a small cut!" Ritsu goes on talking, 
and says "I don't have a reason to live on. I, I don't have strong 
will to try not to waste my life. Yes, I'm not someone who's strong 
enough to stand up against the life's hardships." Yuki's face darkens
(since he himself feels the same...)...

But Tohru pleads with tears. "It's okay if you don't have strong 
will. Still, still people are alive, so they cry, and suffer, and be 
happy... Things like a reason to live are... they are not..."

But Ritsu stumbles and almost falls down. But to everyone's 
surprise, he grabs onto the edge and easily gets himself up.
Ritsu : "...I sprained my ankle."
Shigure, Yuki : '...I'm outta here.' -_-+++

Later, Hatori comes and treats Ritsu's ankle. "...I thought it was 
Tohru-kun who needs to be checked."

Afterwards, Ritsu asks Shigure for a favor, much to the novelist's 
surprise.
Ritsu : "Can stay here tonight?"
Shigure : "This is very unlikely of you, asking for a favor."
Ritsu : "I have something to ask..."

Small eyecatch.
Since Takaya-sensei was away for a while due to her injury...
Tohru : "It's been a while! It's Honda Tohru. We're finally back. 
Again, wish us luck!"
Shigure : "Tohru-kun, Tohru-kun. I got a great idea."
Tohru : "?"
Shigure : "Since we were gone for so long, no one would notice it if 
we changed the title to "Love Love Living Together" of Tohru-kun and 
me. Wanna change it? Wanna change it? Let's change it!"
Yuki, Kyo : "DON'T CHANGE IT."

Ch 45
As Tohru asks Hatori for his taste in food, Shigure comes in and 
teases, "you're envious of my pretty new BRIDE, aren't you?"
Tohru : "EHHH?!" O_O
Hatori : (seeing angry Kyo) "Cut it out, or HE'll blow you up to 
heaven."
Kyo : "Don't you dare say things like that again!!"
Shigure : "Kyo is so scary!" ^^
Tohru : "Good morning, Kyo-kun..."
Kyo : "You say something too! It's because you're like that he's 
saying things like that!"
Hatori : "You're blinded by jealousy and venting your anger on wrong 
person."
Kyo : "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

Kyo then finds that they're out of milk. Tohru hurriedly offers to 
go out to buy some milk, which Kyo stops. But Ritus, again 
panicking, blames himself for eating corn flakes for a breakfast. He 
offers the milk already in his bowl to Kyo, which the catboy refuese, 
much to his panic.

Yuki appears, apparently overslept.
Ritsu : "Oh nooooooooo! I'm sorry I made you overslept! I'm sorry I 
made you late for school!"
Yuki : "...how do you figure that?"
Ritsu : "Ahh I'm sorry to have made you late for school, get 
suspended, and kicked out of school!"
Yuki : "Don't decide the future of my school life on your own!!" 
O_O++

Ritsu keeps panicking, but Shigure puts a stop to it by poking him on 
his waist.
Shigure : "Justice always win!"
Kyo : "...who are you calling justice?"
Yuki : "For Shigure, that means EVIL."

Later Hatori and Shigure sit down with Ritsu to tell him to be more 
confidant, and ask for any role model he has.
Ritsu : "I want to be like Aya-niisan, who is always so full of 
confidence."
Shigure : "No can do."
Ritsu : "Ehhhhhh?! Why not?! I'm not good enough?"
Shigure : "Aya's confidence is beyond the level of a human. In some 
way, so are you." ^_^

Unlike Shigure, Hatori is more helpful and tells him to be more 
confidant. But what Ritsu remembers is his parents keep 
apologizing...

In the school, Tohru and others are talking about Ritsu. Momiji also 
mentions that Haru is away today, but will be back tomorrow. Momiji 
wonders about the bandage on Tohru's hand, and makes fun of its 
shape, much to Yuki's discomfort.

On her way back home, Tohru thinks about Ritsu's words, and her 
memory with her mother.
Ritsu : 'For what am I on this earth...?"
Kyoko : 'I'm glad. I'm glad Tohru is born. Because of Tohru, I can 
smile everyday."
Young Tohru : 'Then Tohru is born to meet Mother.'
Kyoko : 'You're right. I'm so happy.'

Tohru then finds Ritsu in panic because of a cat after his bag of 
takoyaki. After they get a new one, Ritsu explains that Shigure sent 
him to buy takoyaki because the novelist can't write without eating 
takoyaki(probably to get Ritsu out of the house). After a bit of 
chaos, Ritsu asks if his mother mentioned anything about 
being "embarrassed" or "ashamed" to have a son like him, since he is 
accident-prone, and doesn't have any special talent like other 
Juunishi people. As he remembers his past, he says he doesn't have a 
reason to live on, and he's ashamed to be alive despite that. Tohru 
replies, "everyone is looking for such a reason. A reason to live, a 
reason to stay there, a reason to exist. For example, a dream or a 
work or someone else's heart. How ambiguous, how uncertain, and how 
unstable it is, as long as I'm alive, I want to keep searching for 
the reason. If I can... I want to find it in a heart of someone 
else. ...<cut>... Then one day, you might meet someone who you want 
to eat your takoyaki with."

Ritsu : 'Thank you, thank you. I really wanted to hear that once 
more. And I wanted to ask again.'
"Will I be able to find one, even someone like me..? Is it okay for 
me to search for it? If I can... can I be that someone for another 
person?"

Two of them then finds Mitsuru(yes, this is her full name) leaving a 
will to her parents... something about not being able to stand "a 
certain novelist's torture"...

Shigure appears, and Mitsuru nags about the paper, which Shigure says 
he couldn't finish it because he didn't get to eat TAKOYAKI. Both 
Mitsuru and Ritus panic, but... when they both look at each other, 
somthing clicks...

Haru is surprised to see Yuki coming into his room. "Wow, amazing. 
Someone who exactly looks like Yuki came in. A mystery."
Yuki : -_-++ "It's me."
Haru : "Then how did you come into the Main House?"(remember, Yuki 
HATES coming to the Main House)
Yuki : "I sneaked in."

As Haru keeps taking pictures of Yuki for a momento, Yuki asks about 
what he is going to do about Rin. Haru replies "I can't give up 
yet. Even though Rin doesn't seem to know how much I like Rin..."

Then Haru asks Yuki why he still can't call Tohru by her name, and 
asks if he's still too embarassed to do so, to which Yuki replies 
with a blush, "...well, excuuuuuse me." -_-++

Back in Shigure's, Mitsuru is talking about "a certain novelist"'s 
terrible tortures and mean pranks, while Ritsu says "what a mean 
novelist!", much to Shigure's mild annoyance... "Some novelists are 
really mean."



...it became a lot longer than I anticipated, especially 45. I'll 
try to do the next 3 chapters next...