Disclaimer: I DO NOT and NEVER WILL own fruits baskets. I give full ownership rights to Natsuki Takaya. grudgingly hands over rights to her favorite bishi's to their creator However, I do own the OC's such as Tatsuya, Michi, Yumi, Sam, Katsuko, and all those other wonderfully randomly crazy characters. Oh, and I also own the best pair of vintage green vans. XD they're my favorite shoes, Vans rock!
Never Forget the Simple Things: Two Too Many Cheeks
"Sam, get over here!" A young girl with jet black hair and jade eyes perked up and looked around for the owner of the more than slightly annoyed voice. Her eyes settled upon a younger girl who also had this astonishingly black hair, but instead of jade orbs rested orbs of a mocha color. The smaller girl seemed easily excitable and a bit flustered at that particular moment. Her face carried the rosy tint of a peach's skin and she tapped her foot impatiently as she blew a lock of hair from her face. Sam, you can all safely assume that was the green-eyed girl's name, walked towards the little girl with a smile turning the corners of her lips.
She let out a loud laugh and said, "Don't have a cow Katsuko-chan." The little girl's cheeks took on the hue of a strawberry in her embarrassment. (A/N: Bear with me folks, pardon the fruit references, but they just spilled out. Also I will try my best not to interrupt the story too often.) This is all a shelf-restocker at a local supermarket could catch. He was very amused, but found he needed to get back to his work.
I looked down at my little sister and ruffled her hair a bit. I couldn't help it. Getting people riled up was just my typical Samantha Hart nature. Even poor little Katsuko-chan isn't safe from my wrath. (A/N: Sumi masen, but I really must remind you that the rest of the story is from Sam's POV from here on out. bows -; Believe me, this is the last you'll be hearing from me in a long time.) Although, she isn't really that little. If I can remember correctly, she's turning eleven soon. I know, lucky me getting shopping helper's duties. Eh, whatever, I'll just go over to the magazine stand. Sadly I didn't find anything interesting, but I found my consolation in a bottle of black nail polish. Looking down at my chipped finger nail polish, I knew it was time for a new bottle. Tossing it into a basket, I rummaged through the other necessities Katsuko had acquired. Basic necessities such as soba noodles, rice, tea, and dashi littered the bottom. We paid for the items and walked out to my car in silence.
I climbed into the driver's seat-well what could you expect? Katsu-chan can't drive. I have been a citizen of the driving population for five years, from when I was sixteen up until now when I'm twenty-one. Okay, so maybe I was often told not to drive, but being the opinionated little rebel I am, I couldn't exactly pass the opportunity to show this, now could I? Looking utterly disapproving, my sister turned on the radio. It was fine with me, I could be just as content letting my mind wander. Wait, scratch that; I looked dazedly out the window and slammed on the brakes. Katsuko was praying with her eyes shut tight. This made me want to laugh, but I contained myself. Poor kid, he had been through enough of my antics for today.
We had pulled into a parking lot so jammed with cars that it resembled many keyboards lined up. Tossing the keys to her I said, "Take these, lock up, only open for me, and I'm sure you know the drill kiddo." She complied, but begrudgingly did so since I had managed to slip in the word "kiddo" when I had addressed her. I had come to the shopping mall, it was Michi-chan's birthday soon and I was going to pick up a few things. The jean jacket that I had grabbed so quickly was soon thrown over my shoulders. Why had I chosen to wear that darn black tank top that day? Sure it was flattering to my already slender figure, but common sense should have ruled over vanity. Just as suspected, the stores were crowded. Luckily I was only picking up an online order. Walking along towards the doors with my "you better not try to get on my bad side buddy" pace, I made it through the throng of mindless shoppers easily. Never fails, I busted out the doors as the unusually cold summer winds nipped incessantly at my nose. I felt an odd burning tickle in my nose that meant I was going to sneeze. Instinctively, I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to hold my nose.
Before I had time to react, a bustling man had bowled me over. One of the cd covers shattered and lodged splinters of plastic into my skin. I muttered curses under my bread and turned to tell the man off. All I could manage was a breathless, "Watch where you're going you jack-" The man that stood, or rather sat, before me could only be described as drop-dead gorgeous. I've always been one for long-short hair and this seemed to be the guy that hand been haunting my dreams ever since I had gotten over the whole "cootie" thing.
He brushed a lock of that silky hair aside and replied, "G-g-gomen nasai-What's wrong with you?" Noticing that I still hadn't closed my gaping mouth, I closed it in vain for a smile had already crept onto his lips. Get a hold of yourself, time for a mental face slap. Apparently the dreamy voice and ferociously good looks didn't come with a humble personality. No, that would be asking for too much.
Instead he sneered at me and remarked, "I know it'll be hard for you to gain your wits about you on account of my stunning good looks, but we both probably have other things to do."
Gathering my words back from wherever this man had hidden them, I replied, "Don't flatter yourself." Who was I kidding? This guy was, to put it most accurately, hot! Curse this infernal heat that was making it its job to burn off my cheeks!
He laughed and said, "Two of your four cheeks beg to differ with that comment." Hah Mr. Smooth-talker! I only have two ch-ew! Pervert! Those cheeks should never be brought up in everyday conversation! Trying to make a run for it, I grabbed my things and walked off only to be yanked back to the ground by the painful grip of gravity. I winced and noticed my knee was far worse than I had expected.
Maybe I had misjudged this guy, for when he noticed my situation, he picked me up and said, "We'd better get Grace here over to the hospital." Okay, maybe I could have done without the sarcasm, but a start was a start.
Then it sunk into me, "Hold it right there! You can't take me to a hospital!"
"And just why is that?"
"I just hate hospitals, okay?" Call me whatever you please, but I just have a thing against hospitals. I mean, the concept of putting your life in the hands of someone you don't know is just, what's the word for it, uncomfortable?
He placed his index finger on my nose and said, "Lucky for you, I have a friend who's a doctor." I slapped the finger angrily away from my nose as he continued, "I'm Sohma Shigure, and you are?"
"Sam Hart, but my Japanese name is Takehara Miyeko." Sohma, the name seemed to ring a bell, ah yes, but it wasn't Sohma Shigure. Almost, yes I must emphasize that little word of almost, forgetting my hatred of the guy, I questioned, "Are you related to a Sohma Ayame?"
He looked at down at me with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Yes, but how do you know Aya-oh! You must be one of his customers." With that remark, he grabbed one of my breasts and squeezed it. At that moment I was too furious and dumbfounded to say anything, but he did. "They look and feel so real."
Slapping him I managed a, "That's because they are you idiot! My cousin took me to that shop once." I remembered the racks of questionable couture and the occasional elegant pieces that I had encountered on my visit. After my "little" outburst, I was panting slightly. We made it to his car and he drove me past a large estate. I loved watching the trees speed by. Everyone told me that it made them sick, but how could something so beautiful as trees make you revisit you last meal? We pulled into a drive attached to what I assumed to be his place of residence as I wondered how this guy had gotten his license. Sure I was bad, but he had to have been ten times worse than me and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had gotten his license from one of those "Driving for Imbeciles" books. He hoisted me bodily into his arms again and opened the door to house.
As he walked in, he yelled a hearty, "I'm home Tohru-kun!" A petite girl with dark brown hair emerged from the kitchen. Oh great, he had a girlfriend. What? Just because he's a creep doesn't mean he can't be a cute creep.
She looked down and as she noticed my bloody leg, her face took on a pale shade. "Blood! Food! What do I do? Food's going to burn!"
Shigure laughed and said, "Don't fret my little flower. Just call Ha-san for me please." She apparently obliged, but I couldn't tell because I was being whisked off into another room. He dropped me on a bed and left the room; he was probably off to properly greet that airhead of a girlfriend. Just after this thought, I was distracted by a ring. I grabbed my phone and answered with my usual cheerful, "Moshi, moshi."
I was immediately blasted by Katsu-chan's irritated, "Mi-ye-ko Ta-ke-ha-ra!" Oh great, she brought in my real name. Yep, she usually called me Sam, but when she was mad at me it was like when your parents add your middle name in. For some reason everybody just found it difficult to say my real name when I was an exchange student in America.
Rubbing my head nervously, I realized why she had called and answered, "Call Michi-ko and ask her to come pick you up. Tell her that I'm busy and to call me after she drops you off."
After that, I ended the call and heard two pairs of feet walking towards the door. Shigure opened the door and was accompanied by a man that definitely looked the part of a doctor. He held a syringe in his hand and before you could say, "He's got a syringe and he's not afraid to use it!"-Okay, bad example but you get the point. He was a speedy little bugger- it was injecting something into my arm. My vision started to blur and I muttered a muffled, "You son of a biscuit." Of course I couldn't remember anything since I had blacked out. As soon as I woke up, my leg was bandaged. But how could I see my leg? I was expecting a pair of blood-crusted, dull green cargoes. Somehow I had found my way into a schoolgirl's uniform. It seemed so wrong on so many different perverted sicko levels. What was he doing with this uniform? That was explained when Tohru walked in wearing an identical uniform.
"Oh good, you're up Takehara-senpai. I made you some tea so that you can calm yourself." Girl, you couldn't drug me up enough to calm me down.
"Thanks, so where are the others?"
She put a hand up to her mouth as if remembering something and replied, "You're right, I was supposed to tell Hatori-san when you woke up." She rushed out of the room as I took a sip of the tea. Soon the doctor I had only the chance to catch a glimpse of before had come into the room. Instinctively, I backed as far away from him as I possibly could in the mess of bed sheets. Looking at him, I had the time to analyze him. He seemed indifferent to the world; it's as if he had gone through a great deal of trouble in his life. A sympathetic smile had somehow relieved the distrusting scowl from its duties on my face. He brushed some hair to the side of his face and just started to talk to me.
"Shigure did quite a number on you, so you'll have to come back for daily examinations so I can make sure everything heals up as it should. I knocked you out because it would have been excruciatingly painful if I had pulled out each of the pieces of plastic while you were awake." Wow, you sure don't sugarcoat it now, do ya doc? "We had to throw your clothes because they were too bloody and beyond either Honda-kun or Ayame's help." Oh no he didn't! Never throw out a girl's favorite clothes! Another man with long silver hair rushed in at Hatori-san's last comment.
He put his hand on my cheek and said, "You have a wonderful complexion. I'll make you something to compensate for the outfit that Tori-san and Gure so inconsiderately trashed." He put my hand in his-wow he had soft skin-and lightly kissed the top of it. I couldn't help myself from blushing as both of them left.
A little later, I heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was Tohru, I said, "Come in, its open." Surprised by the tall form of Shigure instead of Tohru's petite one, I pulled the covers up further over me. The disgusted scowl once again took lodge upon my lips and I said in as nasty a tone as I could muster, "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
He replied with an uncaring, "Nice to see you too. Hatori-san says you should probably stay here for the night. Just so he can keep an eye on how you're doing. He was certain that I could convince you to and I said 'fat chance,' but he forced me to come here." I glared at him and his usage of the fact that he had been "forced" to convince me then called Yumi-chan.
As I heard Yumi's familiar laugh I said, "Is it okay if you pretend that I'm over at your dorm? I'm at another friend's house and I don't want Katsu-chan duties."
The laughter had faded from her voice and she replied uncertainly, "Sure, Whatever you say Miye-chan."
Trying to sound as if nothing was wrong, I said a little overenthusiastically, "Domo! See you later Yumi-chan!" Then it was time to take care of my mother. I was sure that I was in for a lecture for leaving Katsuko in a car at the mall.
"Takehara residence. May I ask who is calling?"
"Hey mom, it's me. I'm going to Yumi-ko's to work on Michi-ko's party. Just telling you so you won't bring Katsu-chan over to my dorm for me to baby sit." This had brought about the long lecture that I had been expecting and after many "yes mom"s and "uh-huh"s, I hung up the phone with a sigh. Just as I had, a redheaded boy came flying into Shigure, creating a new door in the room. This wasn't the strange part though. Shigure had been pushed towards me. In place of my dream hunk, there sat a shaggy dog. I truly am a dog person, but this was just too weird. Thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me again, I closed the deceitful emerald orbs and massaged my temples. When I opened them back up, there stood the same black canine. But this was not to last. A few seconds later, there seemed to be a small explosion and a nude Shigure in my lap. Maybe I'm bad when it comes to dealing with surprise, but who wouldn't faint when a man turns into a dog then back into a man in your lap? Not to mention the fact that he was wearing less clothing than Britney Spears!
I don't know how long I was unconscious for, but when I regained consciousness, there he lay, asleep in a chair. A kimono lay at the foot of the bed. Hoping it was for me, I took off the uniform and folded it neatly and put the small pile on another chair. It was so quiet, wait, too quiet! Shigure had been snoring when I first awoke. Forgetting my own nudity, I ran over to him and punched him in the face screaming a blood curdling, "Pervert!" My scream had probably awakened every living creature in the house, for soon I heard feet rushing towards my room. Hastily, throwing on the kimono, I opened the door and was met by three out of breath teenagers.
Tohru looked at me and gasped out, "What's…wrong…Takehara-senpai?"
I looked back in my room at the now cursing Shigure and smiled at Tohru, a boy like the silver haired man only with violet eyes, and the surly redhead from earlier today and said, "Gomen nasai. Must have had a bad dream. I'm sorry for alarming you all." Bowing politely, I closed the door and went to take care of the real problem.
He was rubbing his cheek as he whispered a whiny, "That really hurt! You know, you shouldn't hurt the guy who saved your life!"
Furious with his lack of ability to address the real problem, I whispered, "Cut the act Shigure. I know you weren't asleep! You're such a perverted, I don't eve know what you are anymore!" He looked away and replied matter-of-factly, "It was just retribution. You saw all of me; so naturally, I get to see all of you.
I slapped him again for good measure and said, "Oh this is hardly the same thing. By the way, I'm out of here dog-boy. Then I'm going to the police so they can find out whatever you are!" Grabbing what remained of my belongings, I started walking off but was stopped as he grabbed my arm. "Let me go I-" I started to say. His face seemed scared and he put a finger to my mouth to silence me. Those chocolate brown eyes were usually shining with a bright fire, but now they seemed to be dull and weary.
He smiled and said, "Please don't. I probably deserve it, but can you find it within yourself to take pity and just stay and keep this all to yourself?" My own fire seemed to shrink to ashes and more than anything, I just felt like lunging at him and kissing the saddened man. Instead, I only nodded and lay down in bed as I had been before. Shifting in my covers, I heard him go back to his chair and not so silently fall asleep. Part of me was supremely creeped out, but the other, more foolish, part of me wished he would still be there when I woke up the next morning. Sleep pulled teasingly down on my eyelids and I obliged only too willingly.
People say that your dreams mean things. What kind of crackpot wrote a book on that? Of course they do, they show what your heart ultimately desires but what you're mind will not consciously accept. Why else would they call the goals you spend most of your life pursuing your dreams? Now comes the relevance. I had a dream about actually living in Shigure's house. Yeah, so what? Well, it makes me think about what it's going to be like once I no longer have the excuses to come here. Will I still want to come, or will they even want me to want to come? More importantly, why was I thinking about this when I barely knew them? Maybe it was because of the whole curse thing. I had been informed when I woke up to a sleeping Shigure in a chair that the whole Sohma family was cursed and turned into the certain animal of the zodiac that's spirit had possessed that certain person when embraced by another person of the opposite gender.
My jumbled thoughts were interrupted by the smell of miso in the morning. It had been such a long time since I had had the time to eat breakfast. Now I'm not talking about those little toaster pastries, they're so good, but death to your thighs! I had to admit, Tohru would make someone a very good wife. I thought wistfully, someday she would, but I still had time to intervene before it was that someday. Perhaps I was jealous and acting stupid considering that I was older than she and should be expected to control my emotions for a guy better, but something had forced her to grow up so fast and she wasn't a teenager. She was like me only different; where I had life and gusto, she had empty happiness. The longer I watched the dynamics of this household the more I figured out; I learned that Tohru-chan's suitors were Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun. She was more of a little sister to Shigure. Besides, he's twenty-seven and she's nearly ten years younger than he. Quickly finishing my soup, I grabbed what remained of my possessions and bowed to Tohru-chan with a quick, "Domo."
-smiles- So this is it. Hope you like it so far. Gomen if it seems to go really tediously slow or something of the sort. I really had to introduce the characters, so this first chapter will be a little uneventful in my opinion. You may think differently, but if you do happen to be bored with it, bear with me and don't condemn my work. Hopefully I can get to updating it often, but I do have a busy life. (Including trying to get an online manga up and running) Ja ne and before I forget, next chapter, we should have some visitors. Or so I'm hoping
