DISCLAIMER: Fruits Basket belongs to Natsuki Takaya, which is too bad since I couldn't make money with it .
TIMELINE: AU. This is strictly anime-verse. All events that took place in this story are right after the end of episode 26 of Fruits Basket. I'm going to disregard whatever happens in the manga since I have yet to complete my collection. Which means, the only Zodiac members Tohru have met would be Yuki, Kyo, Shigure, Hatori, Momiji, Haru, Kisa, Hiro, Kagura, Ayame, Ritsu. Rin and Kureno have not yet met her acquaintance.
NOTE: This is the first of my "Yoshimi no Nagano – Eternal Friendship" series (I don't know Japanese so I hope I'm getting it right) Right now, I'm concentrating on the friendship between Tohru, Yuki and Kyo so it's safe to say that she has not made any decision yet. Since I love experimenting with Original Characters, so yes, this story will contain OCs. Enjoy!
TO STAND ALONE I: THE NEW BOY
By Arayelle Lynn.
"Baka neko."
"Kuso nezumi."
Tohru sighed, as she and the two Sohmas made their way to school. The two were at it again, though in truth, she was not going to complain. In fact, she welcomed it almost full-heartedly. She missed all the bickering so much.
"It's your fault that the door broke. Again."
"You're the one who kicked me."
"Who told you to yell your lungs out early in the morning?"
"You were going to sit on me!"
"You could've move away, baka!"
"Why couldn't you sleepwalk, say, to the nearest cliff?"
"Go drown yourself."
The fight continued, with Tohru walking in the middle of the trio, acting as the unofficial referee. She tucked her soft brown hair behind her ears, all the while smiling as she listened to them bickering. Her heart was at peace, pushing away the bad memory that only happened recently.
Nearly a week ago, after Kyo's true form was revealed, things between the three of them had gotten from bad to worse. For days, the three of them had barely said a word to each other, each lost in their own thoughts of what happened that night. And Tohru had to shamefully admit that, she had been avoiding Kyo and Yuki for the first two days and they both had happily given her the space she needed.
It was only until after the visit to the Sohma's main house, had things finally improved. Tohru still could not forget the look of open longing in Kyo's eyes as he watched them entering Akito's house or the look of sudden bravado on Yuki's face as he unwittingly held onto Akito when the head of the Sohma family attacked her. In the end, they all left Akito clearly flustered by the unexpected turn of events and the minute she, Yuki and Shigure stepped out of the house, the two boys had started arguing again. From that onwards, it was a little awkward but the three of them had managed to look past the changes and lived as they had always lived… together.
The battle of the rat and cat slowed to a stop as they were nearing the school compound. Tohru watched as Yuki straightened himself, appearing calm and compose, befitting his status as class representative. Kyo purposefully looked away, feigning ignorance as he put on his 'I-am-a-rebel-so-don't-mess-with-me' mask to ward off his admirers.
However, only until after they arrived at the classroom, did they notice that the world around them had changed as well. The minute Kyo opened the door, they were presented with a sight of their classmates, huddling together at the front end of the classroom, eyeing suspiciously at a male student sitting alone at the back.
"A new student?" he heard Yuki say, surprised.
"Oi, you guys!" one of their friends waved them over. Seeing Uo and Hana among them, Tohru, Yuki and Kyo joined the group. "What's going on?" Yuki asked them. "Isn't it a little too late in the semester to be receiving new students?"
"He's not new," Uo answered. "He's from the next class, 2-E." She then bent closely to them, conspiringly. "Rumor has it that he was transferred to our class because he hit a female student from his old class."
"Right, right," Yoshio, one of their classmates, confirmed. "The girl's parents were so displeased, they demanded that the school expel him but the principle just transferred him to our class." He then sighed, sulkily. "What a bummer! He's going to cause more trouble than he's worth." The other students nodded, supporting his statement.
"I heard he has a criminal record!" a student declared.
"I heard he killed someone." Another student declared.
"What?" the girls cried, holding onto each other.
"Which is why," Uo turned to Yuki and Kyo. "I hope we can cooperate to protect Tohru. A girl like her can easily be taken an advantage of." She waited until the two boys nodded in agreement before continuing. "And Tohru, you need to stay away from…" she broke off, seeing that Tohru was no longer with them. Scanning the room, she discovered to her horror that Tohru was walking up to the boy in question.
Tohru stared down at the new student. He did not appear as harmful as her friends had described. In fact, up close, he seemed small and fragile. He had his head bent down, staring at his bony hands on the table. His jagged, unkempt light brown hair was long enough that it covered the sides of his face and his eyes. His crumpled and worn out black uniform hung loosely on his skinny, pale frame. His posture was stiff and rigid, as if aware of what was being said about him.
Unable to contain herself, Tohru bowed. "Welcome to our class. My name is Honda Tohru. Call me Tohru. I hope we can be friends," she said, smiling sweetly at the startled boy. Tohru delightfully noticed that he had a beautiful pair of emerald green eyes.
Then a hand was thrust towards him. Tohru turned to see Yuki, smiling welcomingly at their new classmate. "I'm Yuki Sohma, the class representative. If you need anything, just find me," he said, welcoming him just as easily as Tohru. Like her, he was not going to listen to rumors unless proven.
The boy pointedly stared at Yuki's outstretched hand, and then eyed both Tohru and Yuki. Ignoring the offer of friendship, he returned his gaze at the table. "Beat it," he said, off-handedly dismissing them like insignificant bugs. Both female and male students gasped at the rude treatment of their beloved class representative as Kyo bristled at the way the new student dismissed Tohru's nice intentions. Forgetting to count to 10, Kyo stormed to the back of the classroom and slammed his fists on the table.
"Of all the rotten… she was just being nice, you know. You could've at least say thank you," Kyo growled, ready to jump on the boy. "I don't know why she did it but let me tell you this… you don't deserve to even breathe the same air as her."
The boy looked up, his face impassive as he regarded Kyo. Then he shook his head to himself. "Hn," he muttered. His response sent Kyo's temper right to the top. Before he could throw the first punch, Yuki held him back.
"Let me go, kuso nezumi," he snapped, struggling against Yuki's surprising firm grip.
"Hai, hai but before I do, let me inform you that there's someone approaching our classroom," his cousin said, calmly. "Have you ever wondered that it could be our teacher?"
Just as he said that, their class teacher Ms. Mayuko entered. All of them returned to their seats, the new student temporarily forgotten until Ms. Mayuko brought him up when the class quieted.
"I know he's not really new here but I would like you to welcome him," she gestured the boy to come forward. "Please introduce yourself so your classmates could welcome you properly," she requested.
Feeling all the unwelcome eyes regarding him suspiciously, he stood. He did not even bother to walk to the front where the teacher had indicated. "Kotono Hikari," he said, monotonously. If he had not been rude to Tohru and Yuki earlier, everyone would have thought him to be shy and timid. His voice was so soft; it was a far cry from the cold tone he had used earlier.
Ms. Mayuko gestured, encouraging him to speak more about himself. But much to everyone's disgust, the boy sat back down, ignoring her attempts. Again, he kept his eyes firmly on the surface of his table.
Taking note of the slight chill in the atmosphere, Ms. Mayuko addressed the rest of the class. "Very well, let's continue where we left of."
VVVVVV
When the bell rang, everyone sighed, thanking whatever deities above that prevented their English teacher, Ms. Kaoru from going on and on. As they collected their things, the students talked among themselves, discussing their after-school activities.
Tohru watched Ms. Kaoru left the room, a smile of satisfaction etched on her pretty face. Although English will forever be one of her weaker subjects, she liked Ms. Kaoru's class. The young teacher loved to tell them stories of her experience while studying in England. The students always found her stories captivating, even more interesting than listening about grammatical rules and syntaxes.
Then Tohru's eyes landed on the table at the back of the classroom. She was disappointed to find the occupant gone. "He left," Hana answered her unspoken question. "He left the second the bell rang."
"Perhaps it's a mistake to give him a seat so close to the exit," Uo observed, joining them.
"I don't think anyone else care," Hana responded, looking at the other students who were completely oblivious to the fact. "The less he spends his time here, the better for everyone. At least, that's how I read the waves I'm receiving from everyone."
Tohru listened to the conversation, feeling a little downcast. After what happened to Kyou, she was more sensitive towards other people's feelings, especially those quiet ones. Actually, she had wanted to get to know the student more. She had tried searching for him during lunch but the boy seemed to have disappeared without a trace until it was almost time for the next class.
"Tohru," a voice brought her back to reality. She blinked only to see Uo leaning, staring at her face. Her eyes were serious. "Stay away from him," her friend warned her. "He's bad news."
Unable to respond to her friend's deep concern, she nodded. "Hai," she answered.
"Honda-san," a soft-spoken voice said from behind her. She turned to find Yuki, his bag slung over his shoulder. "I have a council meeting today," he said, regretfully. "So, I won't be able to walk home with you."
"Ah… who needs the pathetic nezumi anyway?" Kyo walked over to them. Without even looking at Yuki, he took her hand and pulled her away. "Come on. I'm hungry," he said, waving good bye at Uo and Hana.
Yuki watched Kyou and Tohru left together. His face softened as he saw the blush on Tohru's face. Beside him, Uo looked at Kyou and Tohru, then back at him, surprised. "He just insulted you. You're not going to fight back?" she asked before she could stop herself.
He looked at her, clearly surprised by her question. Then he smiled. "I just want to make sure Honda-san is fine. As for Kyo, I'll get back at him later." Uo and Hana watched as he left for the council meeting. Both were surprised to see the changes that had occurred between the three housemates.
VVVVVV
Yuki walked towards the council meeting room, feeling surprisingly at ease. He was glad that Kyou was there to escort Tohru home. After what had happened, he was a little more than concern over her welfare. Now that she finally shown a trace of her old self, Yuki was happy again.
"I will not abide to this!" an arguing voice, coming from the council office stopped him in his steps. "He has done nothing great to be rewarded with this opportunity."
A calm and cool voice answered the angry voice. "It's only a consideration. He's only one of the three qualified candidates."
"A consideration? It's an insult to even think that Sohma is one of the candidates for presidency. It's an insult to even put the circus master amongst the more qualified candidates like me."
"Takeshi-kun, believe me," the voice Yuki now identified to be the current student body president, Makoto Takei, said. "Yuki Sohma is as qualified as you and Midori Yamanaka. It's going to be a tough one for me but I only have the student body's best interest at heart."
"No, you only proved to me that you're just like everyone else, blinded by Yuki Sohma's 'sparkling' personality. Well, I'm not giving up. The presidency shall be mine even if I have to damage somebody to do it."
Suddenly, the door swung open. Yuki was startled to find himself staring at a pair of angry grey eyes. "Eavesdropping, Sohma?" the boy sneered. "That's very low." Then, he continued walking away, whispering only to Yuki's ears. "You're going down, teacher's pet."
Surprised by the loathing in his voice, Yuki was frozen. Aside from Kyou, he hadn't thought that there were others who hated him. He had sometimes thought all the affections to be a little stifling at times but happily received it anyway. So, he was surprised to find that there were people who envy the attention that was given to him.
"Yuki-kun?" Takei broke through his reverie. "Don't mind what Kudou-kun said. He was just upset." He changed the subject. "Come, we don't want to be late for the meeting." They walked to the meeting room in silence. Once there, Yuki noticed that the members were all there, including Takeshi Kudou who was sitting on the vice president's chair. The vice president ignored Yuki's presence, turning to talk to the vice secretary instead.
"If everyone's already settled down, we'll begin our meeting," the president cleared his throat, motioning Yuki to take his seat. Yuki sat as Takei begin by first validating the minute of the previous meeting. As he listened, Yuki kept his eyes on Kudou. Although the 2nd year student had not been the friendliest to him, he been civil enough with Yuki albeit some times, he had the tendency to over-criticize Yuki's every suggestion in the council meetings. Now that he knew exactly what the boy felt about him, it did not make Yuki feel any better.
"Right, let's go right to the main agenda," the president's voice cut through his thoughts, bringing Yuki to the present. "As we are all aware of, two days ago, six of our students have lost their homes due to a fire."
Yuki looked startled. No, he was not aware of that!
"So, we are going to organize a charity drive to help these students." The president looked at each of his members. "I need suggestions, people."
"What about selling cookies?" a girl suggested.
"Or chocolates?" another student interjected.
"A charity dance would be nice," a 3rd year student put in, while all the girls chattered excitedly about the suggestion.
"It's still too early for a dance," the president turned it down. "We need something that does not involve us using the money from the fund."
Takeshi spoke up. "What about a car wash? All of us take a weekend and wash cars for a certain payment."
The president considered. "Hmm… that could be possible."
Feeling the need to speak up, Yuki raised his hand. "What about a garage sale?"
"Hey, that's a great idea," a student cried excitedly. "My mom has always been meaning to throw away some stuff after that spring cleaning. Maybe she'll feel better if I sell them."
"Hey, me too. I got plenty of old manga collection to throw away."
The council members went on and on about the things they need to throw out. Everyone was talking at the same time. The president looked at Yuki, smiling. "A garage sale? I like that," he said. "If everyone has not any objections, we'll proceed with the sale."
Hearing the ominous 'hai', it was then decided. As they discussed the details, Yuki turned to look at Kudou.
His look was even more murderous than Kyou Sohma's.
VVVVVV
That evening, Yuki returned home to find Kyou banging on the tv set. "Kuso! I'm going to miss the tournament," he yelled, frustrated. He kicked the tv set again and the screen, which had been filled with statics winked and blanked.
"Now you've broken it for sure," Shigure whined as Kyou tried fruitlessly to get it back on. "I'm going to miss my soap opera."
"Quit whining! If you hadn't been so cheapskate, we could've had a better set," Kyou shouted, waving his fist at the novelist. Hearing the ruckus made Yuki's head started to ache.
"Sohma-kun, you're back!" Tohru greeted him. "How's the meeting?"
He smiled at her. "Um… it went well. We're organizing a garage sale for some unfortunate students." He sat down to explain. "Two days ago, a fire destroyed an apartment not far from the school. Apparently, some of our schoolmates lived there."
"I didn't know about that," Tohru said, surprised, looking at Kyou, who shrugged. He had not known either.
"Seems we're the only ones who didn't. The whole school knows," Yuki confirmed. "I guess we were a little out of it after everything…" he didn't continue, knowing that it was still a painful subject for Kyou and Tohru.
There was silence. "That's great!" Tohru responded, breaking the depressing moment with a delightful smile on her face. "I'm sure we have plenty of stuff to give away in the attic."
"Let's begin with this useless piece of junk," Kyou suggested, giving the tv another kick.
"Hey, hey, stop kicking it," Shigure protested. "I'll get it to the repair shop first thing tomorrow, okay?"
Kyou grunted, stepping outside to train. Yuki shook his head and headed for his room.
VVVVVV
So throughout the week, everyone was talking about the garage sale. By Friday evening, they had managed to gather many used things for the sale. Everyone was excited by it. All students, including the teachers, participated, all except one particular student who totally ignored the obvious excitement until…
Crash!
"You idiot!" a shrill voice drew everyone's attention to a group of girls crowding around a broken booth. "We spent hours decorating this booth!" Then the girl who had spoken fell to her knees, crying into her palms.
Kyo, who had been with some boys nailing up some booth, looked over and saw the girl's companions consoling their friend, throwing murderous looks at Kotono Hikari who stared down impassively back at them and the broken booth.
From the corner of his eyes, he also noticed Tohru staring sympathetically at them. She was about to walk over but was held back by her best friends.
"What the hell happened?" the voice of President Takei boomed, obviously attracted by the loud noise.
One of the girls straightened up. "It's his fault. He purposely broke our booth."
"Hikari-kun?" Takei turned to the guilty party. "I hope you have a very good explanation for this." He crossed his arms, raising his eyebrow challengingly. Hikari took in the older boy's posture, his fists clenching and unclenching but instead of answering, he turned in his heels and took off.
Takei sighed, shaking his head. "I don't understand why the principal hasn't kicked him out yet," he muttered then kneeling before the crying girl. "Akemi-san," he said, blushing a bit when the most beautiful girl in school looked up at him. "Don't worry, we'll have your booth fixed in no time."
He was surprised when he looked up to find all the male students in the vicinity had crowded around them, their eyes looking sympathetically at the crying girl. And seeing the eager crowd of males, she sniffed and smiled. "Thank you."
All the male students sighed.
VVVVVV
"And then he practically broke the booth just because it was in his way!" a first-year council member, Sakuya said. "At least that's how the story goes according to my classmates."
"That's terrible!" Midori, a 2nd year student, cried while they were busy tagging the sale items. "Why does he act as if the whole world is against him?"
3rd year student, Hotaru answered. "Ask Akemi-san. She seemed to know the guy. And it was her booth that he demolished."
"You mean Yuri Akemi? The student he hit the other day?"
Hotaru nodded.
"I heard she was all bleeding and bruising after he was done with her!"
"What! Don't tell me he hit such a gorgeous girl so hard," Daisuke, the council treasurer, who had been working with Yuki at the other end of the room, interrupted.
"Damn right! She told me that she thought she was going to die. He was practically strangling her before the teachers broke them apart!"
"I swear I think the guy has something against her."
"Maybe at some point Akemi-san rejected his advances so now he's making her life hard."
"Yeesh! Talk about obsessive," Midori commented. "I mean, I understand that she's so beautiful and the boys are all head-over-heels for her but that doesn't mean he should be so vengeful to her for rejecting him. No one ever wants anything to do with him."
"Especially since Yuri Akemi is practically our school's goddess!" Daisuke interrupted again, his eyes dreamy. "Ahh… she is so beautiful." Then his eyes sparkled, his fist raised. "Never mind, from now on I will protect Akemi-san even if she refuse to go out with me."
Hotaru giggled. "You and the rest of the boys in school, Dai-kun. It seems every boy in school have taken a sentry duty around Akemi-san just in case Kotono acts up again, which everyone is certain he will."
"So why is he still here?" Yuki asked quietly, drawing all the attention. He closed the ledger book with a snap and stood. "If he is as dangerous and bad-to-the-bones as you say it, why hasn't the principal suspended him for attacking a fellow student?"
His questions drew on confused looks. "Uh…"
Shaking his head, Yuki handed the ledger back to the treasurer. "Daisuke-senpai. I think we're done for the day, don't you think?"
"Y…Yes," he agreed, then dismissing the other members. As Yuki was gathering his stuff, he went to him. "Uh… do you mind doing me a favor, Yuki-kun?"
"What is it, Daisuke-senpai?"
The curly-haired 3rd year student scratched under his chin. "Well, the thing is, I won't be here tomorrow because of a family emergency. I need someone to be in charge with the collection and Mokoto-kun seemed to think you're the appropriate person."
"I'll be delighted to."
VVVVVV
Yuki walked along the corridor, thinking over what was said about the newest addition to his class. Personally, he was anxious because of the feeling of dread that was slowly filling his heart. He had wanted to believe otherwise about Hikari Kotono, something told him that there was more than meets the eye but on the other hand, what happened to Yuri Akemi couldn't be ignored.
It was not like he really knew Akemi and Kotono so well to know the problem between them but something told him to hold off making conclusions and taking sides.
A crash was heard, coming from around the corner as someone hissed in pain. Yuki ran to see a girl on the floor, the items from the box that she was carrying lay strewn all over. "Are you alright?" he arrived, helping the girl picked up the items.
"Yes," she answered, looking up. Yuki found himself staring into a pair of beautiful baby blue eyes.
The owner of the eyes was equally beautiful. Her long red hair framed her heart-shaped and delicate face perfectly, her lips were red and full. She was tall and had a nice figure and her skin was fair and flawless.
Indeed, he was staring at a goddess.
"Akemi-san?" he found himself say, breaking his stare. The girl, Yuri, blushed and looked away as well. "Uh… you shouldn't be carrying these all by yourself. Why didn't you ask for assistance?" he asked.
One fact about Yuri Akemi. She was the only girl in school who has a group of female students privileged enough to follow her around. The group members were all as elegant as her. And they were all very highly regarded, both by students and teachers.
Another fact, since both Yuki and Yuri had fan clubs set up by their admirers; people often think that they should be a couple, much to the dismay of Prince Yuki's fan club members.
"Um…" she hesitated, her voice so sweet and soft. "The girls had their hands full so I thought I should get the box to the storage area alone."
"Here, let me help you," Yuki offered, hefting the box up. Together, they made their way towards the council room. But none of them noticed the curious eyes that were watching them.
VVVVVV
Hanajima Saki watched as the girls from the Princess Yuri's fan club left the shadow of their hiding place. The six of them were smiling and congratulating each other before leaving to follow the couple. A few seconds later, Hikari stepped out from his hiding place, crumpling a piece of decoration in his hand and threw it to the floor. He then spared a last look at where the others had gone before leaving towards the opposite side.
A rush of feelings tingled in her spine. She had seen the whole thing. "Interesting. Very, very interesting," she commented, leaving.
VVVVVV
The door chimed when Shigure entered the shop. A middle aged man in white tank top appeared from behind the counter, grinning. "May I help you?"
Shigure rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful and serious. "Well, it depends. Most of the repair shop I've visited today said that it was a lost cause. Then someone pointed out that this shop can repair almost anything, as long as it's broken."
"Yup, that's what people say." The shopkeeper nodded. Then he quickly added. "As long as they're not broken bones."
Shigure laughed. "Almost got you there, Nakajima-san."
"Still as sly as ever, Sohma-sensei." He then looked at Shigure almost appraisingly. "So, what did those boys of yours break this time?"
The younger man sighed. "The tv. My dear cousin Kyo broke it yesterday afternoon!"
"From the sour look on your face I say, you missed the opera, right?"
"Hai" he responded, sighing almost exaggeratedly. "I missed the part where Alberto confessed his love for his mother's aunt's second cousin's friend, the luscious Victoria!"
Mr. Nakajima grinned. "No worry, my boy will fix it in no time."
"Oh, he's here?" Shigure blinked, looking around the stuffed shop. "I'd like to meet the genius who has fixed all my stuff all these while."
"Nah, the boy's at school right now. He'll be coming over right after then. Maybe one of these days, you'll finally get to meet him. And don't worry about the tv. By tomorrow, he'll have it fixed."
"Thanks. You're a life saver, old man."
VVVVVV
The sale started and ended successfully. Almost all items were sold, thanks to the participation of the students, teachers and parents. By the evening, Yuki, Tohru, Kyou, Haru, Momiji, Hana and Uo found themselves helping out with the clean up.
"I'm so excited that I finally get to complete my favorite manga collection," Momiji said, as he sauntered off with a garbage bag.
"And I got this very lovely bracelet," Tohru looked at her new possession lovingly.
Kyou snorted. "And who could ever think that Saki could sell off that crystal ball of hers!"
"It was a thing teenagers are into these days," Hana responded, watching them working. "I only hope that the student wouldn't be visiting that magic shop downtown anytime soon."
The others froze. "Why did you say that?" Uo asked, curious.
The black-haired girl shrugged. "Oh, no particular reason."
But Yuki caught on pretty quickly. "Saki-san. How much did you sell the crystal ball?"
"A few hundred yen."
"And how much did the shop sell their crystal balls?"
"Maybe a few hundred less."
"What?" Kyou shouted. "Are you telling me that you purposely bought a crystal ball from a magic shop a few days before so that you could sell it for a few hundreds more for the sale?"
"Basically."
"This was a garage sale! You're supposed to sell used things."
"Aww… shut up, Kyou-kun," Haru interrupted, tossing an item into a box. "You're starting to give me a headache."
"You want me to add to the pain?"
"Be my pleasure."
As the two started to bicker, Yuki picked up the box. "Well, these are the last ones. We'll return home after I keep these in the council room."
"Let us help you," Tohru volunteered, bending down to take the second box. Uo took the last one. After telling Momiji and Hana to look after Kyou and black Haru, the three of them walked back to the council room. By then, the school was empty, save for a few council members who were still cleaning up.
"Say, Prince. Heard you have a nice little encounter with the Princess Yuri?" Uo began, looking teasingly at the silver-haired Sohma.
Hearing that, Yuki was startled. He almost dropped the box. "Where did you…"
"Oh, come on. It was all over the school." She wriggled her eyebrow. "Well, did you ask her out yet?"
"Wh..what?" Yuki stammered. "I… I didn't..."
"Why not?" Tohru jumped in, staring innocently at him. This was the first time she heard about this though so she was excited to hear Yuki was attracted to someone as beautiful as Yuri Akemi. "She's so very beautiful like Sohma-kun. I think she's perfect for Sohma-kun."
Yuki's cheeks reddened and he had to look away. "I'm not interested in her."
"What?" Tohru let out, oblivious to the true meaning in his words
Uo considered for a moment. "Oh, now I remember. You like the innocent, clueless type." Yuki blushed some more.
"He does?" Tohru looked at her, still unable to figure it out.
"Let's just drop it, alright?" Yuki requested as they were nearing the council room.
"There you go," Tohru said, placing the box at the corner of the room. She wiped the bead of sweat on her forehead. "Whew, that was tiring." Yuki smiled at her, walking over to the locker.
"Can we leave now?" Uo asked dumping the box onto the floor.
"Wait a second," Yuki said, fishing out a set of keys to the locker. "I need to get the collection money so I could count them up at home. Besides, it's safer that way." He unlocked the locker and pulled it open. Suddenly, his pretty face paled.
Tohru came up to him. "Sohma-kun, what's wrong?"
He looked at her, horrified. "The money. It's gone!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
AN: My first try at a Fruits Basket fic and already Yuki's in trouble. Right, now tell me whether or not I should continue this!!