Chapter One
Monday: Manuscripts and Interviews


Disclaimer: No, I do not own Fruits Basket. How many times do I have to say it?


"Eh..."

Really, she didn't know how she had gotten into a situation like this; it was disastrous and plain stupid. It was hurting her pride to be seen like this, and hurting her legs even more. This wasn't suppose to be happening; not here, and certainly not now.

-:; one day ago :;-

"Mondays, oh how I despise them," she muttered softly as she slowly walked down the busy streets of New York, her brown hair fluttering infront of her face, bringing her into an even more pissed off mood. Today was the first day of the week, and the most horrid one at that. She had to do job interviews today, because her stubborn secretary said that he wouldn't do them for her. She had not thought about his refusal at first, but as she stormed down the streets with a very agitated air around her, she really wondered why it was so hard to just do the interviews for her.

Rushing into her building, she looked up at the sky once last time, reviewing the sapphire tinted atmosphere before rushing into the large black building, her brown eyes floating around it with ease.

"Morning, Miss Honda," one of the men who passed her said, and she gave a slight nod to single that she had acknowledged him.

Breathing in, she turned towards the elevator, one where there was not a crowd of people before. It was only to her later regret that she stood at the one that had Felix standing before it. Her brown eyes had not caught him before, but now that she saw him, she groaned to herself with regret. The guy hadn't left her alone since she gotten the job here. It was sad that the raven haired man did not realize that she wasn't interested in his kind, and it was his own fault that she attempted to escape every encounter with him.

Tohru knew that she couldn't escape now, seeing that the elevator had just pulled up, and she didn't want to wait another twenty minutes for another one to come. She rushed in quickly, and stuck herself as far as away as possible for him, but knew that he'd attempt to spark a conversation despite all of her efforts.

"Miss Honda," he started, and Tohru's attention was slightly turned towards him, "How has your day been so far?" It was almost sick how he talked to her, because his voice always held this weird purr in it. She didn't know if he did it to try to seduce her, which he was horrible at, or it was just the way he talked. But for some reason, she really did doubt the latter.

"Felix, I've been good," at that, she cut off her speech, not even attempting to inquire about his own happenings. He responded, despite her lack of interest.

"As have I, but I feel much better now that your here," he did that weird purr thing, and she tapped the button again, as if willing the elevator to go faster. Luckily, they were one floor away from her stop. Turning her attention to the flashing numbers, she felt the familiar lurch of her stomach as the elevator came to a stop, and she hurriedly left, not even giving a simple goodbye as she parted.

The auburn eyes of Tohru Honda met that of orange, and she held in a growl. Her secretary, Kyo Sohma, that lazy ass who couldn't even hold reviews today. She didn't even bother with a hello and stormed off to her apartment, looking for the comfort of her favorite chair.

"Good Morning, Miss Honda," she heard as she began to close the door. It was the ever so taunting voice of her employer, Shigure Sohma.

Oh, Tohru really wondered why she worked in a place that was infested with the Sohma kind, she really did. But this job gave good pay, so she could hardly refuse. She took the liberty of becoming Shigure Sohma's Editor two years ago, and hadn't been able to escape the grasp of him yet. His stories were always interesting, though they sometimes seemed childish at how much romance they contained.

She interlocked her gaze with his, and hen came to the side of the desk and tapped at the mahogany wood. He took the message and lifted himself from her seat, and she gladly smoothed her suit before sitting down. She placed her hands on the table, interlocked them, and then set her chin atop of her fists.

"So Shigure, have you made you deadline?" she asked in a rather blunt tone, her words slower then normal. Usually, he'd have the mail deliver his manuscripts, and only came to her office when requested, or when he didn't make his deadline. But as she watched that devilish smile falter his expression, she rolled her eyes. He must have made it. "I'm guessing that's a yes then, Shigure?"

"Oh yes, and I think you'll love the new idea." Shigure's eyes were sparkling with some kind of scheming glare. Tohru took no notice; she really didn't care to look him in the eyes. She saw a pretty big pile of typed pages land on her desk, and an eyebrow rose curiously. Usually she only got half the manuscript from him, but this seemed like much more then his usual book.

Tohru nodded absent-mindedly, and then waved her hand quickly, motioning him to take his leave. Shigure didn't seem to notice, for he loomed over her desk with an excited look on his face. She glanced up at him, an irritated expression wrapping over her features. She looked down at the pile of papers, the clean white sheets filled with words. Her eyes traveled towards the title, "Written in Love". She raised a curious eyebrow and picked up the stack of papers, deciding to read the first few lines, she hadn't noticed Shigure walk out of her room.

If you're reading this, I haven't finished the manuscript yet. About twenty pages in you'll find the first half of my story, haven't gotten around to finishing the other yet. Well, see you around!

Much Love, Shigure.

Tohru's eyebrow twitched, her face contorted into pure anger.

"SHIGURE!"

And Shigure swore he heard the scream all the way from his war, a completely sadistic smile wrapping across his lips.

;;&&-

"Next."

Tohru had been doing this same thing for the last two hours. Each applicant wasn't really that worthy of becoming her personal assistant. The job was open, because her last assistant, Yuki Sohma, went off and eloped with some woman in Canada, or Mexico. She had been extremely infuriated when he suddenly quit on her, but she couldn't blame him. Being her personal assistant required being able to handle random break downs, tones of paper work, and sometimes even editing papers that she couldn't do. It was a very stressful job, so she knew she had to have someone sturdy to do the job, and do it right.

Her secretary was making paper airplanes and having fun shooting them at her head. For being the same age as her, he really did seem much more immature. She didn't even care to turn her head to look at him, for she knew that he'd just act as immature as he was now. For all she knew about him, if she turned around, he'd probably go stick out his tongue at her. Her eyebrow twitched noticeably as he threw another paper airplane at her head. Seriously, he was knowingly antagonizing her.

Tohru looked up as she heard the sound of high heels clicking against the floor. Her eyes dropped considerably when she set her eyes upon the woman who had entered the room. Rin Sohma. God, she didn't know how many Sohma's there could be in the world, but she certainly did know that there had to be at least a thousand of them. And the last person she would want would be another Sohma hanging around her, especially one that kind of just hated her guts.

"Rin," she said politely, and watched as the dark haired woman sat down before her. Brown met charcoal, and for some reason, Tohru knew that it went down the drain from there.

"Miss Honda," she said, and Tohru could already tell she was seething, even though they had just began to talk. Rin wasn't exactly a nefarious woman, but she was very vexatious. The woman made you want to rip out your hair just standing next to her. There was no need for conversation, just a look through her empty eyes told you that she wanted to rip out your soul and eat it.

"There is one question I want to ask, why is it that you think I'll pick you?" Tohru queried, her voice not wavering. She had pulled back her brown locks, pinning them up into a loose ponytail on the back of her head, a few strands on her face. Her auburn eyes sparkled with curiosity, and she actually took the chance of staring directly into blank, lifeless pools.

"I just know," Rin stated without emotion suddenly, all anger gone, but no other emotions staining her voice. "You know I'm good at working around the office--"

"Rin, I've never even seen you work before..." Tohru stated a matter-of-factly way. She pushed a few strands of brown hair from her eyes, and brushed her nose, staring at the woman who was her senior of only a few years. Suddenly, charcoal orbs lit up with flames of anger. Mood swings.

"I am a good worker! Don't try and tell me otherwise!" Rin spat, and then suddenly rose from her seat, her long jet tinted locks falling all around her before she turned around and stormed out the room, but not before shouting, "You don't know anything!" Tohru blinked, unsure of what to feel or say at the moment. Really, she didn't care about what Rin thought, and Tohru wouldn't have accepted her either way. Her assistant had to be able to handle their personal lives, and her own personal life. They couldn't be weak minded.

"Next."

And then there came someone she knew would be her next assistant. Someone she didn't know and she was certain he wasn't from the Sohma family, which she actually was wrong about. She didn't know it, because when he entered he didn't even acknowledge Kyo, and sat directly in the seat across from her. She smiled, brilliant white teeth shining in the dim florescent lights.

"Hello--," she stopped herself and waited for him to continue, not knowing his name or anything. His grey eyes flickered with emotions, but she knew none of them, and it made her slightly frustrated. It perplexed her as well because she was so good at reading people.

"Vincent Cicly," he stated rather calmly, his body completely relaxed against the chair. He hand his arms behind his head, on his black and white hair, which she thought was intriguing. When she first set her eyes on it, she suspected him to be some kind of gang member, with the hair and the whole pendants and tattoos, but he did have a nice voice.

"Ah, Vincent," she smiled, looking down at her chart. "Have you ever had a job before?"

"Yes," he was very blunt with his words, which she noticed from the start. He wasn't one to elaborate apparently.

"Where did you work before this?" she asked with wonder etched in her tone, her eyes traveled towards him with curiosity flickering through her gaze.

"I was a tattoo artist," another blunt, yet completely honest answer. Tohru restrained the feeling to twitch her lip or eyebrow, because she really didn't want to scare him off yet. Though she didn't really like knowing that he had been something like that, she only nodded and then continued.

"Do you think you're fit for this job?" she questioned, looking down at her chart with her large eyes. Her hair fell in her face again, but she cared not to push it away just yet.

"Well, if I didn't, would I be here?" Tohru grimaced inwardly, was he being sarcastic? She looked up at him with a slight distaste in her eyes, and a twitch of her lip was given. Pushing away stray bangs, she began to question again.

"I guess not... Anyway, when are you available, for work that is?" she had added the last part because she felt as though she had been asking him for a date otherwise.

"Every day." Tohru looked up in plain shock; she had never had someone say that before. It was always "maybe once or twice a week", but it was the full timers that she needed. She couldn't just have someone be in and out only twice a week.

"Really?" her voice was thick with curiosity, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Blunt, she was beginning to think that he had no other way of speaking. Despite some of his tributes, she liked him. He seemed to be in good temperament, and in good shape. He'd be perfect for some of the things that she'd have him do.

"Well, that sums it up, you're hired," a happy smile lifted the corners of the tired Editor's lips, finally getting someone to work for her. It had been a long hectic day, and she really wanted to just get home and rest for a long night. She never liked doing any of this kind of thing, but alas, it was her job. Wait, no it wasn't it, it was her secretary's. She felt a frown falter her expression, and Vincent look at her with curiosity. She waved her hand with amusement, her expression flickering back to happy. "Don't worry, you should be getting home, Vincent, you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

Tohru watched as he left the middle office, and she glanced towards the secretary's desk to see him gazing at her boredly. She held back a chuckle and walked over to her office, collecting various things before exiting the room once more. Taking one last glance at her desk, neatly arranged papers, including Shigure's manuscript, and her name tag with had her name on it. She smiled softly, and then walked out of the room, locking it.

Once more her head turned towards the secretary's desk, which was know empty of a person. She suspected that Kyo must have rushed off as she did her cleaning up. She almost regretted having him on the team at times. The man was about as useless as a rock, but when he did finally do something, he did it very well. If only he did his job more then once a week. She laughed to herself, and was about to exit the room when she noticed something glittery by the desk she had used for interviews. Walking over, she lifted the pendant and immediately recognized it to be Vincent's. Admiring the simple charm for a moment, she stuffed it in her pocket and locked up the rest of her office.

"I'll get it to him tomorrow; after all, he's going to be working here."

;;&&-

Authoress Babble: Okay, I wanted to say, Tohru is suppose to be out of character, as is Kyo. I made them that way on purpose, believe me. Also, this is going to be relatively short, so please no harming me. XD Thanks for reading this, and I hope you've enjoyed it.

Review, pretty please.
Thea.