Disclaimer… I do not own Fruits Basket or its characters. I just like to use them in my stories putting them in awkward and funny situations for my readers' enjoyment. LOL.
A/N: Well I decided that I was going to write a holiday story for each of my normal fiction series that I write. So here is the Fruits Basket Christmas story. Twilight's story is already up for those that are Twilight fans and Ouran High School Host Club will be up tomorrow. I hope that all of you have a wonderful holiday and all of your wishes and dreams come true. Enjoy…
Tohru and the Sohma family were getting ready for Christmas. They houses were decorated and trees with lights were put up. Akito had even ordered the decorating of a tall tree in the middle of the main Sohma complex. Christmas was coming and this year more than any other year, they were grateful for their many blessings. The curse had been lifted earlier in the year and they were fortunate to have Tohru Honda in their lives.
This year in order to give back, they decided to help out a local children's home. These kids did not have their families to spend the holidays with either because they were orphans or because they were taken out of bad situations. They needed a little extra cheer and when Tohru had heard about the home, she wanted to help and the Sohma family wanted to help her. What started out as donating some gifts and food, soon turned into a full production. They were going to carol and then Hatori was going to dress as Santa and hand out the presents they got for the children. He was the most logical choice since Shigure was, well Shigure and Ayame was a bit too dramatic (we all know how those two can be).
Tohru was in charge of organizing it all and she was becoming more and more flustered as time drew nearer to the date. Kyo tried to keep her calm as any good boyfriend would do, but it didn't help much when he still fought with Yuki and lost his temper. He was getting better, but he wasn't a saint. So he and Yuki tried to stay as far away from each other as possible. That was hard to do though when they were both part of the caroling group. In fact the group consisted of Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, Shigure, Ayame (he wanted the chance to spend quality time with his brother), Uo, Hanna, Kagura, Momiji, Hiro, Kisa, and Hatsuharu. The others were helping collect and wrap gifts, making sure that every child had something to open.
Being an orphan herself, the home was near and dear to Tohru's heart. She had been lucky enough that her grandfather had taken her in and then she had found the Sohma family. She was not alone and although she may not have her parents around any longer, she still had family and people that loved her. She thought back to the past couple of years and found herself smiling. There were a lot of wonderful times that she shared with her friends and many things had changed, but they were still together and that would not change regardless of any distance that separated them. She looked at her rag tag team and although it hasn't always been an easy road, it was always worth it.
The chorus of voices echoed in the air like nails on a chalkboard. No one was paying attention. Some people were singing the wrong verse and Tohru was sure she heard someone else singing a different song from the others. She knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but it had to be better than this. She shook her head and wondered why she decided to have carolers in the first place, "Stop!"
The group stopped singing and looked at their leader. They weren't sure why she stopped them, they thought they had started to sound pretty good. Momiji spoke up for the group, "Is there something wrong Tohru?"
She looked at the former rabbit and wondered why he asked that, "Did they not hear themselves?" Tohru shook her head at her own musings and figured that was what the problem was: no body was listening to anything beyond themselves. "Yes, there is. We are singing the first verse of Silent Night. I heard two people singing the second verse and one person singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing."
"Really?" Momiji asked surprised.
Tohru looked a little irritated and Kyo convinced her to take a break. He sent her off to check the progress of the gift group and when she was gone he turned to the carol group, "Man we suck!"
"I agree. So does this mean we want to stop the insanity now?" Hatsuharu asked.
"Miss Honda has been really looking forward to this and the kids are expecting carolers on Christmas," Yuki injected.
"Yuki is right. Tohru really wanted to do this for them," Kyo said thoughtfully.
Momiji thought for a minute, "But if we sound this bad on Christmas, don't you think it is better that we don't sing?"
Everyone was in agreement with the little blonde boy. No one wanted to disappoint Tohru, but they felt that if they continued on the path that they were on, she would be disappointed and embarrassed. Kyo, Momiji, and Yuki were sent to talk to Tohru since she was the closest with those three, plus Uo and Hanna had been unable to show up that day. The group felt that sending them in would soften the blow for her.
The trio walked towards the building that the other group was in and secretly prayed that she would understand and not be too disappointed. As they walked closer to the building, all three of them heard voices up ahead. One of the voices belonged to Tohru and the other two sounded like Akito and Ren.
"I just hope they start to listen to each other and pay attention. I know they can do it, but right now they are in their own world and it doesn't sound pretty," Tohru said sadly.
"I am sure they will get their act together. If you need help, let us know," Akito said trying to comfort the young girl.
"How important is this to you? I know that helping the kids is important, but is the caroling?" Ren asked.
There was a long pause before the three carolers heard a reply, "Very important. After dad died, mom was always there and she made Christmas special. We didn't always have a lot, but it was always a fun time and full of joy. Each year we would make sure that we tried to do something to help someone that didn't have as much as us. Mom always told me that it was important to help others. After we were done, we would sing Christmas carols. Sometimes it was just us and sometimes we would go caroling with others. I know it may not make sense and it may sound stupid, but when I sing carols now, it makes me happy and helps keep my mom close to me during Christmas. I thought it would help the kids too."
Yuki, Kyo, and Momiji backed away slowly and turned around. They couldn't break her heart after hearing her reasoning behind the caroling. They needed to talk to the group and rushed back to the others.
"Were you able to tell our little flower without hurting her too much?" Shigure asked when the three youngsters walked back in.
"No, we couldn't do it," Kyo grumbled.
"Why ever not? She has to know," Ayame said.
"Because it is too important to her to break her heart. She has done so much for us, the least we can do is this for her," Yuki said quietly.
"Oh my dear Yuki, you sounded so grown up just now! I do believe that I am starting to have an influence on you, but we sound horrible!" Ayame exclaimed.
Yuki did not respond to his older brother and just rolled his eyes. They still did not really get along, but Yuki tried. Ayame was just so dramatic and didn't really listen to anyone very well, the exception being Hatori.
"No! Everyone listen to me! The rat is right. Tohru has done a lot for us and she asked us to do this one little thing for her. So we are going to do this for her and the children! We need to make sure that we listen to each other and to her. We have been doing our own thing so far, so let's start working together and showing her that we do care," Kyo instructed.
The group looked at each other and then at the three teens standing before them, the three messengers looked so serious. Finally one by one the group nodded in agreement. They would do what they could to make sure that they were the best caroling group they could be for their friend.
Tohru returned about 30 minutes later and was determined to get the group in line. She wanted to do this for the children and could only hope that a Christmas miracle would happen and they would shape up. When she got back in the room, everything was quiet. She looked at them all and took a deep breath, "I know that this isn't really your thing, but all of you volunteered, so can we at least try to listen to each other so that we could make the kids happy?"
The group looked at their leader and nodded. They had already decided they would do this for her; she didn't need to know about the meeting that had just ended.
"Ok, let's try Oh Come All Ye Faithful from the beginning, the first verse," Tohru said cringing. She counted them off and together they started. Tohru looked up suddenly, the group was together and everyone was singing the same song and it didn't sound half bad. "Maybe miracles do come true!" She thought to herself. For the first time since she started the group, she had a feeling that everything would be alright.
Two weeks later, it was Christmas. Everyone was going to meet at the main Sohma estate gate at 11:30 and they would ride over to the home together. When Tohru arrived with Kyo and Yuki, she noticed they were the last ones that needed to arrive. Hatori was already in his Santa suit and the people that were helping with the gifts were dressed as elves. Everyone was ready for the kids. She looked at her watch, it was 11:15. She gave them all a big smile full of excitement and gratitude. Everyone loaded up in the vans and they were soon on their way.
The vans pulled up to the children's home and everyone helped to unload the food and presents. Hatori was even given a red bag that contained little stocking stuffers for all of the kids.
The workers at the home saw the vans pull up and made their way to help unload and to direct everyone on where things needed to go. They were surprised that the Sohma family had done so much. There was a huge feast and so many presents and they knew without a doubt that this would be one of the best Christmases that the children had ever had.
The day went off without a hitch. The singers were in tune (for the most part) and together. Santa made every child smile and no one was left out of the festivities.
Tohru watched on after the singing was done and watched the glowing faces of all of the children. The sparkle in their eyes and the grins on their faces told her that everything was worth it. She looked on as the Sohma's interacted with the kids and got such joy out of being there and helping. That is what it was all about. Tohru spoke to her mom silently, "Can you see this mom? It was perfect. I am so happy that they decided to do this with me, now I can carry on our traditions with them."
Kyo walked up behind Tohru and put his arms around her waist, "Thank you for bringing us here."
Tohru turned her head and looked at him in the eyes. She smiled and gave him a small kiss, "Thank you for coming with me."
He noticed the tears in her eyes and knew that they were happy tears, but he also knew that she was missing her mother, "She would be very proud of you."
"Yes, she would. I think this has been a wonderful day. Not everyone has as much as we have and this has taught us that better than anything. We owe you a lot Tohru and although it hasn't always been a smooth road for us, we thank you for everything you have imparted to us," Akito said and a small group gathered behind her nodded.
Tohru looked around her and it seemed most of the family was gathered around her and Kyo. She blushed and ducked her head. "Thank you," she said so quietly that it was almost missed.
The group dispersed again to play with the kids or to talk to the employees of the home. Tohru felt Kyo give her a little squeeze and then he whispered, "I love you, Merry Christmas. You showed me that I could be loved and that I deserved it. You were my savior in more ways than one and I will always treasure you." He released her and walked off towards two children that were pretending to karate chop each other. She watched him separate the two boys and then talk to them before showing them a couple of moves. They were excited to learn and held onto everything he said.
Tohru watched Yuki next. He was sitting with a little girl and boy. They were coloring with the crayons and coloring books they got as their stocking stuffer. She smiled.
Yes the Sohma family had changed and the curse was lifted. They said they thanked her, but she thanked them because they took in an orphan that was living in a tent and gave her a family once again. Christmas had always been special to her, but this year it was so much dearer to her and she realized that as she watched everyone before she moved to join Hiro and Kisa and the group of children surrounding them.
Merry Christmas everyone!