Announcement: Idiotic Stupidty Person and Gwen the Kakashi Obsesser each made a comment in the initial reviews of this story that I agree with. It is hard to understand which Fruits Basket character is which Pride and Prejudice character; with that in mind, and with the understanding that this story is posted as a Furuba fanfic and not a Jane Austen fanfic, I am changing all the names of characters back to their Furuba names. If you want to know which Pride and Prejudice character is which, you will have to refer to the cast of characters list at the beginning of each chapter. Hopefully this will make the story easier to follow for anyone who is interested in it. So, this is a re-posting of Chapter One….
AN: While sitting here at work, I suddenly crafted a diabolical and devious plan. What if I took the characters of Fruits Basket and transported them into a piece of classic literature or cinema? Fruits Basket becomes Pride and Prejudice or Star Wars or Grease? The possibilities are endless and each more absurd than the previous::::maniacal evil laughter:::::: I really should be finishing up my Origins story story but I cannot resist my muse (although I probably should!!!!!) All apologies to poor Kazuma-san who is married to a cross-dressing, hysterical neurotic! He so deserves better! And apologies also to Kisa-chan…who by inference alone will be linked romantically to Shigure within the context of the Pride and Prejudice story! That's not a pairing I have any intention of exploring further…Shigure is a pervert, not a pedophile! Kyo was too cool to cast in this story. He said that no one was going to make him participate in another stupid costume-drama again and he threatened to kick my ass. Haru got lost on the way to the meeting in which the characters were cast and was only located just in the last hour on the other side of town at a biker bar where he had transformed into Black Haru and taken out an entire cadre of Hell's Angels after one of them had had the temerity to make fun of his black and white hair one too many times. Hiro also chose to not involve himself in this lame story (although he was secretly jealous that the others will be performing with Kisa while he sits at home watching Mogeta re-runs). Ren simply was not invited…She's a bitch and she would have tried to upstage and unnerve Akito!
At times this story may not follow the Pride & Prejudice plot to the letter. I am taking creative liberties to further my personal plot line. I do not own Fruits Basket; if I did, I would have more money and a more interesting life :::sob:::
Pride and Prejudice(Fruits Basket Style)
Character:Cast:
Elizabeth Bennett is Arisa Uotani
Jane Bennett is Tohru Honda
Mary Bennett is Mi'i
Lydia Bennett is Mine
Kitty Bennett is Kagura Sohma
Mr. Bennett is Kazuma Sohma
Mrs. Bennett is Ritsu Sohma
Fitzwilliam Darcy is Hatori Sohma
Charles Bingley is Yuki Sohma
Caroline Bingley is Isuzu (Rin) Sohma
Lady Catharine De Bourgh is Akito Sohma
Mr. Collins is Ayame Sohma
Charlotte Lucas is Saki Hanajima
Mr. Wickham is Shigure Sohma
Georgiana Darcy is Kisa Sohma
Colonial Fitzwilliam is Kureno Sohma
Arisa Uotani, known to her friends and family as Uo, sat impatiently on the davenport, frowning with irritation as the near constant chaotic chatter of her garrulous family raised in volume. Over the inane babblings of her younger siblings Mine and Kagura, and the ponderous and uninspired melody of her sister Mi'i's pianoforte, Uo could hear her mother's hysterical whining to her father.
"Oh, b-b-but Kazuma-san! I would have never suggested that you needed to invite Yuki Sohma over to supper if I had but only known you had already done so! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I'M SO SORRY!!!!! A STUPID PERSON LIKE MYSELF SHOULDN'T BREATHE! I SHOULD GO DROWN MYSELF IN THE DUCK POND BEHIND THE STABLE! I'M SO SORRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!"
Uo's sister Jane looked up from her embroidery at the sound of their mother's piteous wails and met Uo's eyes and smiled sympathetically, knowing how much their mother's histrionics put Uo on edge. She set her embroidery down on the occasional table and then ran to Ritsu's side. Uo sighed and listened to Tohru murmuring words of compassion and reassurance to Ritsu. Tohru was so patient and loving; even their mother's histrionics were met with understanding and gentle concern. Uo's natural inclination when met with Ritsu's drama was to slap the woman into silence; since that was not strictly an appropriate response for a young lady of good birth to demonstrate, she found it best to avoid her mother when such behavior manifested…which was fairly often.
She found her ears perking up again as she caught the faint sound of her father's voice wafting 'neath the steady chatter and thrum of the household.
"My dear, I do not recommend drowning oneself in the duck pond, as that is liable to make the water unfit for either the ducks or any other creature who might seek to assuage their thirst in its waters," he commented dryly and with some amount of good humor. Ritsu sniffled and blinked watery eyes in his general direction.
"If you fear that you have in some way discomfited me, then I recommend you make recompense by making preparation for a fine supper tomorrow night, as I anticipate Yuki Sohma to join us anon." Kazuma-san returned his attention to his farming almanac, tuning out the frenetic activity and frenzy that erupted in the wake of his announcement.
Ritsu had leapt to her feet to summon the serving staff, only to trip on the hem of her gown (which she really should have fixed last week after she rent it upon the iron grill of the kitchen stove) and fall into Mi'i, knocking her off the bench of her pianoforte and headlong into the occasional table at which Mine and Kagura were sorting beads, spilling the entire lot across the sitting room floor and eliciting wails of protest from both girls. Tohru, uncertain as to which injured party to comfort first, ran from woman to woman, attempting to offer whatever assistance was deemed most necessary.
In the ensuing chaos and cacophony of Ritsu's histrionic declarations of worthlessness, her youngest daughters' belligerent indignation, and Tohru's futile attempts to offer comfort and succor, Uo slipped out the door and fled to the relative quiet of the barnyard, wondering at her father's ability to maintain equanimity and concentration in such an environment. Of course, Kazuma-san had had at least two score and ten years in which to cultivate such selective deafness, whereas she was just a mere chit of a girl, no more than one and twenty years. No doubt with age came the ability to filter out such nonsense.
Leaving the confines of her family's manor, Longbourn, Uo walked briskly past the neighboring estate of Sir Bushido Hanajima, encountering her dearest friend Saki Hanajima, Sir Bushido's eldest daughter. Hana was an oddity among young ladies of good birth and consequence. Graced with an exceptional amount of exotic beauty and the good fortune to born into the most prosperous and only titled family in the Hertfordshire, she had a curious quirk of personality that rendered her somewhat unappealing to the opposite sex. Unlike Uo whose impertinence and sharpness of tongue discouraged suitors from seeking her hand, Hana had a calm deliberation about her and a unblinking gaze from her ebony eyes that seemed to pierce through the façades of the gentlemen who met her and leave them somewhat uneasy that she might in fact know exactly what they were thinking and why.
Both and Uo found their unique abilities of repulsion of gentlemen to be vastly amusing and quite in keeping with their shared goal of sheltering Uo's gentle and beautiful sister Tohru from any untoward, amorous advances. With Tohru's sweetness of temper and innocence, she was quite at risk for being propositioned by any unscrupulous character that aroused her sympathies and whisked away in a clandestine elopement; however, most men-folk, when faced with the combined force of nature that was Uo and Hana, deemed it wiser to seek their fortunes and favors in safer waters, leaving Tohru to the relative safety and obscurity of her family's bosom, the alluring purity of her charms forgotten in the onslaught of ferocity from her self-assigned protectors.
"Fleeing the attentions of your relations again, Uo?" said Hana in her curious flat intonation, making the question seem more of a statement of fact; which indeed it was, although it did not take the ability to read minds for Uo's friend to determine the cause of her perambulations. More often than not, the quantity of forays across the shire that Uo indulged in was directly proportional to the volume of ensuing chaos in Longbourn, a circumstance in which Hana was well versed.
"Guilty as charged," Uo laughed, looping her arm companionably through Hana's as she flanked her.
"Let me guess," Hana said smiling softly, "your honored mother, Ritsu, has learned of the arrival of a certain young wealthy and single gentleman who will be letting Netherfield for the season, and she has dreams of making an advantageous match between him and one of her five ever-so eligible and lovely daughters." Uo sighed, and nodded in affirmation.
"Yes. As you are well aware, due to the entitlement of Longbourn, the estate will pass directly to my cousin, Ayame Sohma, when my father dies, leaving my mother, my sisters and myself with only ten thousand pounds a year each to live upon. This weighs heavily on mother's mind as father is so much older than she, and she fears for what is to become of us when he is gone." Uo paused and grimaced with distaste.
"I suspect that what would please Mother best would be for Ayame to settle upon one of us sisters as a bride so that Mother's stay at Longbourn could be guaranteed. I see little reason why one of us girls should be sacrificed on the matrimonial altar just for my mother's convenience." Uo's tone was becoming heated and her cheeks flushed as she warmed to her vexation.
"I am not certain I even approve of or understand the legality of a document that deems a property inheritable only by a male in the family line. The implication of such a thing is that a daughter is of less value to the family line, a burden and …," Hana gently placed a gloved finger over Uo's lips, interrupting her enraged diatribe.
"Hush Uo," she said gently. "Both you and I are well versed in the expectations and inequities of society. Choose your battles well, and save your strength for those you can win." Uo sighed and nodded, still vexed but willing to suspend her arguments for a day in which their logic might find some purchase in the ears of someone who could extend her some practical assistance. Neither she nor Hana had access to the resources or privilege of barristers; she would have to bide her time.
"Perhaps the esteemed Yuki Sohma will find one of you to his fancy," Hana suggested mildly. Uo eyed her cynically.
"Have you met said gentleman, Hana?" Uo asked.
"Indeed I have, Uo," Hana responded quietly. "Sohma-san seems to be a man of good character. He took his mid-day meal with my father earlier today, and I made his introduction shortly thereafter."
"Tell me of Yuki, Hana," Uo said with some mild interest. "Is he a man of consequence?" Hana considered Uo's inquiry carefully before answering.
"He is quite handsome and has much to recommend him. His father is a merchant who has done well for himself and his family. He provides for Yuki and his two sisters a living of fifty thousand pounds yearly each. Yuki conducts himself well with modesty and graciousness, but he also seems a bit off put and unsure of himself in crowds. He seems to be a man unaccustomed to new society and slow to warm. And yet still, I would have to say that he appears to be quite amiable and of good intent," Hana said thoughtfully. "I do not think you have to worry of protecting Tohru from his society; he might actually be gentleman enough to be worthy of her." Uo was taken aback. She had never known Hana to offer such recommendation for a potential suitor to Tohru before. She laughed playfully and lightly pinched Hana on the arm.
"Now Hana! Surely Yuki must have you on his payroll. Such endorsement of a gentleman you have just met! The gentleman in question has not yet even met our Tohru and you are already pleading his case for him!" Uo teased. Hana smiled knowingly at Uo's jest.
"It is true, he has not yet been acquainted with your sister, but I foresee a potential match between them before the fortnight," Hana said thoughtfully. Uo knew not how to respond to Hana's remark, and so she chose to keep silent. It was strange to her to imagine her Tohru marrying anyone and leaving her close-knit family behind; and yet certainly it must happen some day. There were few options for the daughters of a family, noble or of low-birth. If you did not marry, then you sought gainful employment as a governess or servant. A few women chose to earn their bread by the lightness of their skirts, but proper young ladies like herself must pretend to not know about such things. Shaking her to clear such ill thoughts from her consciousness, Uo changed the subject, asking Hana if she wished to walk to the village to help her look for some fabric and ribbons for Tohru's new dress.
AN: This chapter has been very weird to write! It's been bizarre changing my "voice" to fit that of Jane Austen. On the plus side, I have discovered that I possess a larger and more diverse vocabulary than I had previously believed! Please read and review and let me know what you think. Whether or not I continue with this experiment is dependent largely on whether or not I believe there is an audience for this sort of story. While I enjoy writing, I don't enjoy writing in a vacuum; having an audience is an inspiration for me and motivation to continue. Thanks! Magpie