Fruits Basket ch.92

May 8, 2004 | 4 Comments

It looks like my theory about Katsuya's motivation is completely wrong. I still think he's a bit 'off' somehow, but it seems the only 'secret' he possibly kept from Kyoko is simply a matter of his own health. This bothers me a little bit because the entire Katsuya and Kyoko story ends up not being any different from what Tohru said before in the earlier chapters. It feels as if the manga is being stretched out thin when there is no need to do so. Oh well, at the very least, this story will provide some insight into Kyoko's struggle in rising Tohru on her own. But if there is something that I really want to see coming out of this mini-plot is the knowledge on how Kyoko gets to know Kyou Sohma when he was a little kid. From what I've read so far, it looks like Kyou knew her for quite a while so I wonder if she also knew the other Sohma family members.

The chapter starts with Kyoko and Katsuya shopping for a wedding dress. Kyoko, however, is horrified when she finds out the sort of wedding dress that Katsuya has in mind. She thinks that the wedding dress is too thin that she'll feel cold if she wears it. Kyoko also said that besides, she didn't agree to marry Katsuya because she wants this kind of items anyway. Well, the two ended up getting married to one another regardless of the wedding dress. Not everything is smooth sailing, however. Katsuya's relatives were completely against the marriage with the exception of Katsuya's father. Katsuya's father simply tells them that there's nothing that will make a person happy than to marry a person that he/she loves. Having said that, he thinks that the two of them are still very young and wisely advises them to take into account the opinion of those who object to their union. And then to slowly prove to those people that Katsuya and Kyoko are happy because they are together.

Hearing this, Kyoko is surprised because Katsuya has always said that his father is very strict. She really thought Katsuya's father will at least get angry at her for wanting to marry Katsuya. Katsuya simply laughs and tells her that he did tell her that he likes to exaggerate a bit. Anyway, once Kyoko and Katsuya are married, they end up living near the sea and the two seem to enjoy being together. One day, however, Kyoko notices that Katsuya has, for some reason, comes home earlier than usual. Katsuya simply tells her that he feels like going home early sometimes. However, I get the impression that this is the first indication that Katsuya probably suffers from some kind of sickness. Never the less, the focus ends up being on Kyoko for the moment, because she inexplicably starts vomiting in the sink. Katsuya quickly finds out that Kyoko is pregnant. He, however, wonders why Kyoko went to the hospital all on her own and if there is some kind of a problem.

Kyoko tells Katsuya that the truth is, she feels that she doesn't have the right to give birth to a child. Kyoko is happy that she's carrying Katsuya's child but a child is a human being, and she's not sure if she can bring a human being into existence. Kyoko believes that she's a failure as a human being and therefore should not give birth to another human being. Kyoko is afraid that she won't know what to do if the child becomes unhappy because of her, or if the child got bullied, teased, hurt or sad. She also fears that the child will tell her that he/she regrets being born from someone like Kyoko. Kyoko then remembers some of the cruel things that she said to her own mother and regrets her own behaviour. Katsuya, however, assures her that the child she'll give birth to is a person just like herself. Therefore, she should be able to take care of it. She simply needs to remember the things that have made her sad and happy as a person.

With these knowledge, they should then attempt to hug, touch, and listen to the child. If the child makes a mistake, then it is their responsibility to teach the child what he/she has done wrong. And if there are times when their emotions lead them to strike the child, they should apologise to the child and try to hold them again. Katsuya tells Kyoko that this is how the two of them are going to raise the child so Kyoko is not going to be on her own. Katsuya, however, looks wistful at this stage and seems to know that he may not be able to keep the promise. Never the less, the two end up being blessed by what they considered the most important thing in the world: Honda Tohru. Katsuya's father thinks the name is a bit masculine but Kyoko smiles and tells him that's because Katsuya wants Tohru to be 'the hidden flavouring'. Katsuya likens it to adding savoury to an otherwise sweet dish and wish that Tohru will be this kind of girl. Katsuya's father doesn't seem to understand the meaning very well but is very happy never the less.

He then tells Kyoko how happy he was when he first heard that Katsuya is about to get married because Katsuya has never shown any kind of affection to anyone before. He thinks that Katsuya getting involved with Kyoko is the best thing that has ever happened to his son and thanks Kyoko for it. Katsuya's father believes that he wasn't a good father to Katsuya and ends up making life hard for his son. Because of this, he can't help but thinking that his son resent him for it. Never the less, he's glad to finally see his son achieving happiness with Kyoko. Kyoko, however, tells her father in law that Katsuya can't possibly hate him because if he did, he wouldn't have come to see his father to begin with. Katsuya then interrupts their conversation and tells Kyoko that the weather is getting cold and wonders if Kyoko has Tohru's jacket. Katsuya ends up going inside the house to fetch Tohru's jacket on his own initiative.

Anyway, Tohru herself has always been uhm, klutzy and way too happy ever since she was a kid. At one point, she absent-mindedly stands behind a cupboard door and accidentally got hit by the door when Kyoko opens it. Kyoko obviously panics when Tohru's nose starts to bleed. But Tohru herself doesn't cry and instead smiles happily. Katsuya laughs when he finds out that Kyoko passed out from seeing Tohru bleeding. He praised his daughter for being able to scare off an ex gang member like her mother that easily. It is obvious that after Tohru was born, Kyoko, Katsuya, and Tohru were very happy. The tender look on Katsuya's face when he held his daughter in his arms always make Kyoko feel like crying from happiness. Unfortunately, the happy story ends one night when Katsuya has to work late at night. He obviously is suffering from severe cough but decides to continue doing late night shift. Kyoko asks him if he has gone to the hospital but Katsuya admits that he never managed to do so.

Kyoko wants to go over the office to pick up her husband but Katsuya doesn't want to infect her and Tohru so he tells her to stay at home with Tohru. The last conversation the two have is about the possibility of giving Tohru a little brother or sister. The next morning, Kyoko receives a phone call informing her that her husband is dead while working in the office due to severe cold which turns fatal. The incident causes a lot of nasty whispering amongst the Honda relatives. They seem to think that Kyoko hasn't been a good wife and often neglects Katsuya. Some don't waste the time to tell the others that they have been against the marriage right from the beginning. The others think that Kyoko somehow tricked Katsuya into marrying her.

Kyoko, however, is too deep in her grief to be bothered with such comments. She even wished that Katsuya had blame her. That way she'll never be able to recover again from the heartache. The incident also didn't go unnoticed by Tohru, who ended up looking confused and worried about her mother but doesn't seem to be able to know the reason why her mother looked so sad. After Katsuya was cremated, Kyoko eventually made a visit to his workplace to take care of his belongings. Katsuya's co-worker made a comment on how Katsuya would have been happy to know that one of his family take care of his things. Kyoko is then left alone inside the room to stare at a portrait of herself, Katsuya and Tohru. She finally comes to the realisation that her husband is not coming back anymore and ends up crying inside the office on her own.

Okay, although I think that this chapter feels a bit repetitive, I have to admit that it's a very powerful chapter that puts forth all of its efforts in trying to rip the heart of its readers. However, this chapter also puts me right back at the beginning when it comes to forming an opinion about Katsuya. I still don't know the guy at all. He's a very mysterious character and I often don't know what he thinks. He did part some good wisdoms on childbearing to Kyoko and it is possible that Kyoko took some of his advice to heart and later on developing some of her own. I am glad to see that the manga spent a rather good portion of this chapter giving out hints that Katsuya has some kind of health problems. It is sad to see Kyoko losing the safety net that she just gained for a short period of time. But now I want to see if she can pulled herself together for Tohru's sake or if she actually self-destruct herself when she's all alone and away from Tohru.

One problem that Kyoko will most likely face to begin with is the seaside apartment that she and Tohru occupied while Katsuya was alive. I have no idea if Katsuya rented or own the place, but given the fact that Tohru has no place to stay at the beginning of the series suggests the possibility that neither Katsuya nor Kyoko ever owned a place of their own. If Kyoko ends up living in the place, then she obviously has to work somewhere to afford it and I wonder if her work actually revolves around the Sohma house and that was how she eventually met little Kyou Sohma and possibly the rest of the Sohma family. I thought it was interesting how the series started with Tohru recalling the story of the 12 Juunishi + the Cat from her mother and how the recent chapters have now revealed that Kyou somehow knew Kyoko back when he was a kid. It feels as if the story is now interconnected to the beginning.

© memento 2003