The Multi-Talented Author

Shigure liked to reflect, sometimes, on what would happen if Akito ever found out how he supported himself. Even with his allowance as one of the Jyunishi, he couldn't make enough writing books to support himself and all three of his rambunctious, hungry, destructive charges (well, his two cousins who fit that description, plus the lovely Tohru-kun). There simply wasn't as big a market for literature as Akito seemed ready to believe there was, whenever Shigure mentioned how well his books were selling. His novels were selling well, granted; he'd heard a rumor that a couple of literature courses in high schools now used them as material. He hoped it was true - he fancied them rather better than much of what he had read in high school, and forcing a hundred students to buy his book helped sales enormously.

Even so, it was the rare author whose literary talent could put food on the table and fix the door that people just kept getting thrown through (although not everyone might have that particular problem). A writer with other skills was much more likely to capture the spotlight, the multi-book series contract, and the top of the bestseller list for weeks in a row. Shigure was one who had a whole host of talents to draw on, and a never-ending wellspring of inspiration, the tangible evidence of which was an editor who stayed with him no matter what he put her through and enough money to live far away from the Sohma main house.

Although really, now it occurred to him, he wasn't entirely sure why Mit-chan put up with him. He had a guess, but even he wasn't conceited enough to believe that she put up with it all just to be the first to read his books. Surely not. She could have joined the fan club (with weekly updates on his work, which were made up by people who had never met him), or just put her name down at a bookstore to be notified when a new one was coming out if she wanted to get a copy right away. No sense being driven close to suicide at least once a month just for a seedy romance.

Even if the characters were gorgeous and wonderfully fleshed out.

Even if the settings were amazing, and so poetically described that the reader could hear the birds singing in the trees, even on a dark and lonely winter night.

Even if the plots were superb, with intricacies and twists that could only come from the mind of a true genius.

After all, those were the things that people might look for in a literary novel, and he had the sales figures to indicate that those weren't doing nearly as well as his… ah… other works. Plot and character development held no interest for anyone outside of a literature class and, if he remembered right, little more for the poor students of those classes. Which left...

Mit-chan couldn't possibly be putting up with him because of the romantic episodes in those books. She was too logical, too organized, too proper (except when he tortured her by with-holding a manuscript that was due to be printed the next day, claiming he couldn't remember where he left it).

Even if he would be (a close) second to declare those episodes extremely well-written (Aya declared them so even before Shigure had written them, making him the first). Even if Hatori had once required a rather brisk walk through the snow to recover after proof-reading one of Shigure's early books. Even if they really were that good… surely not.

But if he ever caught a hint that maybe, just maybe, Mit-chan put up with him for any reason other than a large masochistic streak, well… it would be fun, in any case.

At any rate, it would no him no good to let Akito find out about those books. Aya and Ha-san knew about them, of course, as did many of the younger cousins (although even Momiji wouldn't admit to reading one, no matter how much Shigure teased them all). But Akito was a different story.

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with it, per se. It was just that those books were Shigure's guilty hobby, his way of stealing cookies from under the nose of a watchful (and violently controlling) mother. The mother might not mind him snacking right before dinner, but cookies always tasted better when they had been cleverly misappropriated. Ha-san had rolled his eyes when Shigure had offered that analogy for why he didn't just tell Akito, since no one actually cared anyway. Aya had stood dramatically, nearly upsetting the tea things, to declaim Shigure's great courage, and cleverness, and beautifully chosen the analogy was before the speech began to extol Aya's own virtues.

It had lasted until Shigure had, cleverly in his opinion, asked for Aya's opinion on a brotherly-love segment he was thinking of for his next book. Aya had listened, enraptured, as Shigure sketched out a hazy idea involving two beautiful estranged brothers being reunited, giving the elder a chance to help his dear little brother win over his true love. Aya's eternal monologue soon turned to musings on his relationship with Yuki, how they had begun to understand each other better and create beautiful memories, how Yuki was developing a great respect and admiration for his older brother, and how 'would Gure-kun please not give Aya black hair in this one', especially if he meant to dress him in red, since it clashed with his eyes and wasn't at all in keeping with the image he strived to create.

Ha-san had rolled his eyes when Shigure grabbed one of his many notebooks and started taking notes, but hadn't said anything. Even if Ha-san thought he was being dumb, and even if Aya whined that the characters based on him didn't live up to his true greatness, they both knew how important this sort of thing was for Shigure's work. The curse aside, the Jyunishi were the greatest source of inspiration a romance writer could ask for. They had it all: money, stunning good looks, deep friendships, ancient rivalries and, aside from the three serene and mature Mabudachi Trio, boatloads of teenage angst. If Shigure had simply written down what happened in his house each day (changing the character's names, of course, and omitting the parts where various members of the household turned into animals) he could have sold it as a first rate teenage romance.

Not that he did.

Well, not very often, anyway. But they were always the seed, and when a phrase, a look, a stammering denial or an angry exclamation took root in the fertile soil of his imagination, the story that blossomed truly was fruitful. He thought it was poetic how, when Yuki threw Kyo threw the door, the episode would eventually make its way into a book that would pay for that very same door to be fixed, just so Kagura could throw Kyo through it.

He sometimes thought about telling them. Someday he even might, when they were no longer at an age where they might be inclined to throw him through that dratted door. That day was coming closer; he could feel it.

Already they had begun to grow up and learn a little of what love was. Hadn't he seen the shy smiles, the blushes, the hesitant comments that could give rise to either (and then transformed all of that into some good, solid smut of a caliber that they couldn't begin to appreciate in his latest novel)? Didn't Yuki and Kyo each have one of his books, well-thumbed and securely hidden where they thought he wouldn't know about it?

Still, it would be a few years before they were ready to admit to reading those books, by which time the thin paperbacks would have disintegrated from being stored under loose shingles and behind watering cans. It would be a few years after that before Kyo was ready to hear that the lovely, pure-hearted peasant girl he had fallen in love with was based on Tohru, and that Yuki had provided the inspiration for her love interest, the noble, yet tragic, samurai that Kyo so admired. Around that time, Yuki would be ready to learn that the heroine of his gang-war romance had grown from the terrifying Uo-chan, and that the two gang leaders that competed for her heart and possession of the city, who so fascinated the boy, came from Kyo and Hatsuharu.

Yeah, he mused, it would be a few years before they were ready to hear all that. And Akito would never be ready to hear about any of those stories. What if the Clan head actually enjoyed them? What if Akito wanted to appear in one of Shigure's ridiculous, smutty books instead of just being prime inspiration for deep introspective novels? If that happened, Shigure thought, he might have to seriously consider retirement.


Huh... that went on a lot longer than I planned for it to. I was hoping to keep all parts under a thousand words, just because I tend to ramble on endlessly elsewise (it's actually 1500). Anyway, this is actually just an introduction; my plan right now is for the rest of the 'story' to be a series of not-really-connected romances between for any Fruits Basket pairing that catches my fancy. Hehe, I kinda hid my explanation of how I plan to do it in here: it doesn't matter if it's totally unrealistic, Shigure will use their 'personalities as inspiration'. I want to try is with a bunch of different styles, based on how feasible I think a pairing/situation actually is, compared to how it would work in a romance novel.

Whether it works out or not, I can promise no cliffies ('cause they aren't sequentially building to an overall plot!) that last a year because of my attention span and work ethic, or lack thereof (looks guiltily towards Harry Potter fanfics).

Also, even though I feel really kinda cheap saying 'give me suggestions,' if there's a pairing you'd like to see (either 'cause it's a fave, or you can't find it anywhere, or whatever), let me know. I tend to write challenge fics way faster than anything else, 'cause they inspire me. That said, don't feel obligated: new stuff will come out regardless of feedback. I already have a number of sections planned, and the squirrels that live in my roof are always willing to offer me inspiration. I want to stress that this is not one of those fics that is written expressly to what the readers dictate in the hopes of garnering reviews - I'm just offering another avenue for feedback.

I think that's about it... this note is plenty long enough as it is. Cheers Adali