Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of its characters. All I own is my own original character Sonki Moore.
Fruits Basket
Chapter 1: Arrival
Saga: Paint the Walls Black and White
Rain was pouring down as taxi pulled up the driveway of a solitary wooden house. After paying the driver a girl got out, dragging a black guitar case after her.
After she shut the door the trunk popped open. Setting the guitar on the ground beside her she stepped over to the trunk, pulling out a plain blue backpack, containing three compartments and slipping it on her back. Next she pulled out two red duffel bags and a black suitcase about half as tall as she was, five foot three.
Sliding the duffel bags on her left shoulder she closed the trunk and picked up her hard case with her left hand. Dragging the suitcase in her right hand she stepped away from the cab, allowing it to back out as she let out another heavy sigh.
This was it.
Climbing the steps in front of her she approached the door. She set down her suitcase and drew a deep breath. Reaching her hand out she knocked on the door.
A muffled voice was heard from the inside and foot steps sounded from within, heading toward the door.
Panic flickered across her face. Maybe I shouldn't have done this… What if this is the wrong house! Dear God, please let this be the right house!
The door pulled open to reveal a short orange haired boy. He wore a skintight v necked, elbow length, black shirt that stopped a little bit above his midsection. His pants were moss green, with two straps connecting from the front of the back. Around his wrist was a black and white beaded bracelet and he was barefoot. His red orange eyes gave her a once over before he opened his mouth.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked, one of his arms still behind the door as if waiting for any chance possible to slam it shut.
"Moore, Sonki… from the States?" she said, a nervous look spreading across her face. "This is the Sohma residence, right?" Her voice trailed off as she finished her sentence, the boys star was not giving her any confidence at all.
"Oh… you," the boy replied, rolling his eyes. He stepped back and then cupped one of his hands around his mouth. "OI! PERVERT! SHE'S HERE! HURRY UP AND GET DOWN HERE ALREADY!"
"Don't be so loud Kyo!" a new voice whined from within. "You don't have to yell! I can hear you perfectly fine from the other room!"
"Hurry it up already!" Kyo shouted, stepping out of the way to let the man he was calling for come into the girl's view.
He came bounding into view wearing a grayish brown kimono, wrapped around him loosely with a bright smile on his face. His hair was a dark shade of brown and was almost shoulder length, his eyes a dark shade of brown and gray.
"At last you've finally arrived!" he shouted, happiness raising his voice a few decibels. "I've been dreaming of this day ever since our lovely Tohru told us of this wonderful program!"
"Eh?" Sonki asked, obviously confused. This guy's nuts!
"Come in! Come in! You're soaking wet! We don't need our little exchange student getting sick on us now do we!" he called, ushering her inside. "Kyo!" Back to the whining voice. "Get her other bag for her please! Be polite to our guest!"
"Why don't you make that damn rat do it!" Kyo grumbled, anger brimming in his eyes.
"He's not here at the moment Kyo!" the other replied, lowering his eyes in frustration. He then put on a childish face and looked up at him, tears in his eyes. "Just do it Kyo! Come on! Please!"
"Eh…" Kyo answered, horror marring his face, and he begun to back away from him. "And you call yourself an adult?"
Kyo walked out of the door of the house, and a satisfied look crossed the man's face as he began to usher Sonki further inside the house.
"I… Thank you!" Sonki stuttered as Kyo picked up her suitcase and dragged it inside, giving her a slight grunt as he passed by. Eh… I hope he's not mad at me!
"Oh…" the man said, noticing Sonki's expression. "Don't worry about Kyo. Things will settle down once you've been here for a few days. He's always like this around new people."
"O-oh okay," Sonki answered, a small smile of reassurance spread across her face as she tried to kick off her shoes. As soon as she finished she set down her things next to the suitcase Kyo had abandoned in front of the stairs.
"Kyo!" the man went back to whining. "Why'd you leave it in front of the steps! Someone could trip on it! Why didn't you bring to up to Tohru's room!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kyo screamed back at him. "Do it yourself!"
"But Kyo-!"
"No, really!" Sonki intervened, hands at the sides of her face as a nervous smile appeared. "Really! It's okay! I can do it!"
"Okay…" he replied, defeated.
"AARAGH--" a longhaired brunette called out, tripping over the suitcase in front of her.
"Miss Honda!" another voice called, this one stopping in front of the mass of bags and the hard case.
Sonki yelped as the brown haired girl pinned her to the floor.
"Tohru!" the man called, hurrying over to their sides. "Sonki? Are you two all right?"
"I think so," Sonki answered, pushing Tohru off of her and into a sitting position.
"I'm so, so sorry!" Tohru said apologetically to her, bowing profusely. "I'm such an idiot!"
"No, no," Sonki replied, scratching the back of her head nervously as she stood up. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have stacked all my stuff in front of the steps. I guess it was hazardous."
"I should have seen them!" Tohru shot back, tears in her eyes as she stared up at Sonki.
"No really! Don't worry about it! It's not your fault!" Sonki answered, getting more nervous by the minute. Damn, this girl apologizes too much… Kind of like me…
"No, really-!" Tohru began, only to get herself cut off by Sonki placing her hand over her mouth.
"Lets start over. Hello, my name is Moore Sonki, and yours?" Sonki said, a smile on her face as she removed her hand from Tohru's mouth.
"Honda Tohru," Tohru replied, not sure as to how introductions had come about. "Oh! You're the girl from America!"
"That would be me," Sonki spoke with a nervous smile.
"You're Japanese is superb! You can speak it so fluently!" Tohru said, amazed. "I'm so glad we can communicate! I was so worried that you weren't going to know much Japanese and we were going to be stuck! I'm so, so-"
"Uh, Tohru," the man said, waving at her.
"Oh! Sorry Shigure!" Tohru answered, bowing towards him.
"It's quite all right Tohru, you've done nothing wrong," Shigure answered, sighing softly. "As you know this is Honda Tohru, the angry boy in the other room is Sohma Kyo--"
"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Kyo shouted.
"I am Sohma Shigure, the man who so gladly has taken you in to living with us…" Shigure smiled proudly
"More like forced to," the girl…or boy? spoke from the stairs.
He/she had short purple hair, one side longer than the other, that clung to the side of his/her face. He/she was wearing a short sleeve white turtleneck that was zipped down to about his/her neck. His/her pants were black and almost skin tight, revealing the stick like figure he/she had. Finally his/her eyes were a darker shade of purple and looked at Sonki calculatingly.
"And this is Sohma Yuki," Shigure finished up introductions. "So for the next whole school year you will be spending it with us, the Sohma family, and Honda Tohru!"
"Heh… Heh…" Sonki said looking around, nervous. So many boys… No wait I think Yuki's a girl? No… Boy! DAMN! TO MANY PEOPLE! Maybe if I corner Tohru later I can ask her what it is… Mmmmmm…. This is so frustrating!
"Now that you've be introduced you may go around and do what you like. This is your home now, so we'd like you to be comfortable in it Miss Moore," Yuki said, smiling at her.
"Uh… No Miss Moore please, just Sonki if you wouldn't mind," Sonki smiled back at him/her. "If we're going to become friends we shouldn't have this little rank difference between the two of us."
"Yes, of course…" Yuki replied, a little startled, but a smile spread across his/her face.
"Thank you." Sonki bowed to him/her. "But if you wouldn't mind, would someone please point me in the direction of the room I'm staying in? I'd like to clear up this hazard before it causes anymore trouble." She gestured to the pile of bags.
"I'll do it, if you don't mind," Tohru said looking at Yuki and Shigure with a bright face. "After all, she will be staying with me."
"You do what you want Tohru," Shigure said, patting her on the head and then exited the room, Yuki only a few steps behind him.
Yuki paused for a moment in the doorway and looked at the two of them. "You don't need anymore help carrying your things up do you, Miss… Uh, Sonki?"
"No thank you, I think I have it," Sonki answered. "But if I do I'll let you know."
"All right," Yuki smiled in return to Sonki's. "If you need anything don't hesitate to ask. We want to make your experience here a good one."
"Yes, thank you," Sonki answered bowing again, a shade of pink starting to spread across her face. I'm going to go with a boy… This was be just a little to awkward if it was a girl…
"Um, what would you like me to carry?" Tohru asked, eyeing the pile nervously, and bringing Sonki back from her musings.
"Here," Sonki said, picking up the two duffel bags, lightest of the pile. "You can take these. They're the lightest."
"Thank you," Tohru took them in both of her hands, smiling at Sonki.
Oh… She kind of looks like me…The longhaired brown girl stared back at Sonki. On both sides of her head were two yellow ribbons in her hair. Her eyes were a deep blue and looked back at her with all the warmth in the world. She was wearing a knee length long sleeve yellow dress, her collar was flipped down around her neck. Her feet were bare and a smile was still plastered on her face.
"Should we go now?" Tohru asked, ascending the stairs.
"Oh, yeah," Sonki answered, snapping herself out of her thoughts. Slinging the backpack back over her shoulders she picked up the suitcase in her left hand and then placed it on her shoulder, balancing as she bent down to pick up her hard case with her only free hand.
"Wow! That must be so heavy! You must be really strong Sonki!" Tohru exclaimed.
"Not really," Sonki laughed nervously. "I'm positive anyone in this house could beat me in a fist fight… I just don't like to sit around and do nothing…"
"Oh," Tohru replied, sounding a little guilty. "Well…" She paused at the top of the stairs. "I'm sorry that you don't get your own room. For the time being you're going to have to share a room with me, unless… If it bothers you that much I could sleep somewhere else, or if you don't like my room… We could find one more suitable to your-"
"It's fine," Sonki answered, giving her a reassuring smile. "All that means is that I'll get to know you better."
"That's a wonderful way to look at it," Tohru smiled back at the girl.
Tohru pushed open the door in front of her, stepping in and out of Sonki's way she entered.
The room was almost bare except for a huge, at least king size, bed pushed up against a wall that was opposite a window. A closet hung at the very end of the wall that was across from the door. The only other thing in the room was a desk with a small yellow lamp.
"Kind of bare? Don't you think?" Sonki asked, raising her eyebrow at Tohru. "What you need is a dressing table or something right there." She said pointing to the wall at her right. "Or maybe over there, I don't know." She grinned at her.
"That's what Uo said to me," Tohru replied, smiling at her, her eyes lowering. "But I can't ask anything else from Shigure or the others. They've given me so much already…"
Shit… Now I've gone off and made her sad. Way to go Alyssia, you're here for less than an hour and you've already made someone sad. This is going to be great on your record!
"I'm sorry," Sonki said, setting down her bags. "I didn't mean to make you sad…"
"Huh?" Tohru glanced at her, a little shocked. "I'm not sad!" She quickly wiped her sleeve across her eyes.
Great… So I made her sad and cry… Just great…"Don't worry about me!" Tohru shouted slamming her fist against her chest. "I'm fine! Now let's get your things unpacked and you suited into this house." She gave her a proud smile.
"Sure…" Sonki said, laughing nervously again. This is just too weird…
"That was fast…" Sonki said, wiping the back of her hand across her brow.
"Uh-huh," Tohru smiled happily as she put her hands on her hips and gazed around the room. She then turned to look at Sonki. "It isn't as bare anymore, huh?"
"Yeah," Sonki a little confused.
All they had actually added to the room was a single poster of her favorite band. Bremen.Kasuga Romio, the singer, Hino Reiji the guitarist, Hayama Ryo the drummer and finally Fujii Ran the bassist. Pushed up against a corner was her guitar in its hard case and all of her clothes had been added to the closet and all of her school stuff was stacked up against the desk.
"Maybe…" a voice said.
"KYO!" Tohru shouted, her voice on edge, she hadn't even noticed him entering the room.
"Oh?" Sonki asked, turning around to face him, he hadn't scared her in the slightest bit.
"Uh… W-what are you doing here! Is there something you want! Something I didn't do maybe! I'm sorry for taking so long!" Tohru spilled, trying to think of all the reasons he might be up here, all the reasons that she might have done something wrong to upset him. "Just tell me what it is and I'll do it right away! Excuse me Sonki…"
"You didn't do anything!" Kyo shouted at her, rage starting to build up in his eyes. Then he sighed and ran a hand down his face, trying to calm himself down. "No, I'm sorry… I… I was just wondering what you were doing was all. You didn't do anything wrong."
He then turned to leave.
"You don't have to go Kyo," Tohru said, causing him to stop in his tracks. "I don't mind, and I'm sure Sonki doesn't mind either. You can stay here if you like."
"It's all right…" Kyo answered, picking up his walk again. "Have… Have a nice night Tohru."
"Wait…" Sonki said, speaking up. She gulped as she saw him stop again.
Kyo turned around to face her. "Huh?"
"Don't be so shy around me, okay?" Sonki said, gulping again, sweat trickling down the back of her neck. Boy did this guy make her nervous. "I uh… I guess what I'm trying to say is I'd like to get to know you too. Not just Tohru."
"What ever…" Kyo replied, sighing as he made his way down the stairs.
Sonki sat at the table, nervous once more as all of the Sohma's plus Tohru looked at her apprehensively.
"Go on! You can pick first!" Tohru repeated.
"I uh… No… This is all too much…" Sonki said, laughing nervously.
"I insist!" Tohru replied her smile widening. "You're the guest!"
"But I…" Sonki started, only to get Kyo's interjection.
"Just do it so we can eat already! Is it that difficult!" Kyo yelled, slamming his hand on the table. "I'm starving over here!"
Sonki looked around at the Sohma's, who were looking at Kyo as if he had said his last words.
"Kyo, learn some manners or you might as well just leave. She doesn't deserve to be yelled at by a stupid cat," Yuki shot at him, his/her brow furrowed up in frustration. "How would you like her to go back to America with only memories of you yelling at her?"
"I don't care!" Kyo yelled back.
"Hey! This is really good Tohru!" Sonki declared, as she had gotten started on the cod. "You're such a good cook! Do you think you could teach me sometime?"
"I… Sure?" Tohru said, looking at her a bit nervous. "It's nothing special…"
"No really! This is better than I can cook by a thousand folds! My mom's all ways yelling at me for burning things… Don't burn the rice! No watch out for the meat as well! God you're hopeless at this Sonki! Stuff like that," Sonki answered giving her a smile. "But if I learned from you I know I'd at least make it somewhere, right?"
"Yes, our flower seems to have the best cooking skills in the house," Shigure said grinning at her happily as he let out a muffled laugh. "Come now Tohru! Teach her your ways in the kitchen!"
"Okay…" Tohru said, still caught back with the subject of Sonki's mom.
Sonki let out a big yawn, stretching her arms above her head as she slid in to bed next to Tohru.
"You're tired, a long ride to Japan, right?" Tohru asked, smiling at her.
"Kind of," Sonki answered. "I tried to sleep on the way over… But obviously it didn't work out to well…" She then laughed. "Oh, by the way… What is today?"
"Saturday," Tohru answered. "School starts on Monday."
"I can't wait to meet all your friends," Sonki said, trying to drift away from the thoughts of actually having to go back to school. "They must all be nice people if they hang around you."
"Yeah," Tohru said lowering her eyes fondly. "Uo and Hana are really nice people."
"That's good…" Sonki said laying her head back against the pillow behind her. "Oh… By the way…" A nervous smile spread across her face.
"Yes?" Tohru asked, blinking at her in surprise.
"Is Yuki a boy or a girl?" she asked laughing.
"Huh?"
"Well… I think he's… no she… Well?"
"Yuki's a boy," Tohru answered laughing. "Why do you think he's a girl…"
"Never mind…" Sonki said gaping at her. "Let's… Just sleep now… Okay? I'm sure we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Right… Goodnight!"
"Goodnight Tohru."