Disclaimer: All the Detective School Q and Fruit Basket characters belong to their respective creators. Slight AU and OOCness.

Akito is male for the purpose of this fic and there is no curse. The Fruit Basket characters will be a lot darker than in the actual series. The Sohma family is going to be very dysfunctional, I mean it. No Honda Tohru in this. I can't turn her nasty, no matter how I try.

This fic is set after the manga canon but before the Hell's Concerto arc.

Chapter 1- Country Road

Toyama Kintaro was rushing a ramen delivery when his scooter hit another scooter in a narrow alley. "Hey! Watch where you are going, buster!" Kinta yelled. The other rider retorted with an unprintable curse word and showed him the finger. "You punk!" Kinta cursed. Their front wheels were buckled together and both riders were stuck. Kinta removed his helmet and the other rider did the same.

"Kinta-kun?" A cascade of blond hair fell onto the shoulders of the lanky scooter rider. "Uotani Arisa?" Kinta recognized his old classmate, and promptly caught the punch she threw his way.

"Whoa! I see you are still training!" Kinta laughed. Arisa smiled. "It has been a while, hasn't it, Kinta-kun…" She tugged at her scooter and he tugged at his. "Well, guess we have to get a mechanic to untangle this mess," Kinta whistled. Their vehicles were smashed up good.

"Isn't that ramen you need to deliver?" Arisa pointed at the carrier on Kinta's scooter. "Right, just wait a sec. I'll send it up two blocks and come back for my scoter," Kinta slapped his head. "I know a good mechanic three blocks that way… Yokoma's. Meet you there…" Arisa smiled and wheeled both entangled scooters in the opposite direction. "Man, she's as tough as ever…" Kinta remarked under his breath. Those scooters were heavy, but his former classmate was strong. Tall, hot-tempered and with a bat-swing that could make the Yankees proud, she was a typical tomboy who spent her summers playing baseball with the boys in her elementary school.

Kinta allowed himself to admire the young lady she had blossomed into. Not much curves, though her figure was definitely female. Her face was plain and without makeup, but her blond hair was silky. She wore long skirts and Kinta wondered how those long legs would look like under a mini. Sister material, yes. Girlfriend material, no. She towered over him by a good four inches. Kinta preferred his women on the petite side.

A few hours later, both friends were sitting on an overhead bridge drinking from soda cans. Underneath, the vehicles rumbled on the expressway. "What brings you to Tokyo? I never thought I would see you after you moved back to your father's hometown," Kinta asked. Arisa ran a hand through her hair. "It's a long story… Look, I don't want to talk about it. I'm now helping my aunt at her store. Don't you have school or something?"

"Na, DDS is off today…" Kinta gulped his soda. "DDS, as in that famous Detective Dan's School for training detectives? Gosh, maybe you can help me!" Arisa grabbed his arm.

"What's up?" Kinta asked.

"Well, I have some problems back home…"

"Whoa! My pad is small and a pig-sty. Even if I could let you stay, we'll have to answer to your old man…" Kinta protested. Arisa bopped him in the gut. "Moron! I'm not cohabiting with you… I'm talking of what got me kicked out of Juniyama High School. And what happened to him… They must have done something to him because we were seeing each other and he knew I was innocent. Look, Kureno's too honest to just take off like that." She was almost in tears.

"Maybe you could come with me to DDS… Dan-sensei may be able to help…" Kinta awkwardly offered her his hanky. It was unsettling to see his friend cry. Arisa was a strong girl, had always been since they were in school.

So that was how three members of Class Q found themselves in a small town in northern Japan…

"Dan-sensei, do you think it is wise to send them out there alone?" Nanami asked. Perhaps it was too soon after the final showdown with Pluto. Dan nodded. "It is time that they went out on their own."

"We're sending them out on a regular case. Utoni Arisa, a known problem student based on her school records. She was expelled from the town's only high school for theft," Katagiri consulted her notes. "Details of the incident are sketchy but she was involved in a relationship with a trainee teacher, Sohma Kureno. Sohma left town for further studies, so his family claims. Uotani Arisa came from a low income family. Her father's a fishmonger. In all likelihood, the theft was an excuse to expel a possible embarrassment. The most powerful family in the town is the Sohma. The schools, hospitals and most of the stores and facilities are tied to them in some way."

"Toyama should be able to handle this case with Kyu and Ryu's help," Hougou added.

"It's a pity Minami has to go to Switzerland to join her parents and Narusawa has to stay here and provide IT support to Class A on that insurance fraud case. It would be good to let them go on a case together…" Dan smiled. "This'll be more like a vacation for them, a chance for Kinta to help out a friend. We don't expect any payment from Uotani for this."

"Wow, the maple leaves have turned here already. Ryu, pass me the camera!" Kyu said and pointed out the window of the train. Ryu obligingly passed it to him. Kyu happily snapped away. Kinta and Arisa had loads of catching up to do. The pair was sitting off to the side of the carriage chatting. The train was almost empty as it was off-season.

"So you were dating your teacher?"

"Actually, he was a trainee teacher," Uotani toyed with a lock of her hair. "We weren't exactly showing off. We kept it quiet. But it's a small town and news got around. I think that was why they told me to leave the school."

She looked at Kinta straight in the eye. "I love him, Kinta. And I am not sorry for that. He would never just up and leave without telling me. I'm afraid they did something to stop him from seeing me…"

"How long was it since you last saw him?"

"It should be last month, just after I was expelled over that theft. He had to leave the school then, they said it was the end of his contract… I would say three weeks ago…" Arisa frowned as she tried to recall. "I tried calling at his place but they keep telling me that he doesn't want to see me. He stopped showing up, even at that bookstore where he normally goes to buy his books. He stopped taking his evening walks… I am afraid… Sohma Akito's temper…"

"Whoa, who's this Akito now? Some-love rival?" Kinta asked. Arisa whacked him on the head with a tourist brochure map. "Love-rival? Master Akito's the meanest guy in town. He's the head of the Sohma household and his word's law. Almost the entire town's owned by the Sohmas. I bet he was the one who asked the school to expel me and fire Kureno. They say he's so mean, he has his own ma locked up somewhere in their mansion."

"Wow, that's mean…" Kinta rubbed his head.

"Not only that… they whisper that he shoved a cousin off the third floor once, and he crippled another who could have made the Olympics team. Akito's the nastiest piece of work and was so since he was a kid. He's not much older than us, but he's the clan leader. The elders let him have his way because they couldn't be bothered, just so long as he doesn't screw up their profits. The Sohmas own almost everything in town."

Author's Notes:

Uotani Arisa – the 'bad girl' friend to the series' heroine in Fruit Basket. She has some mutual attraction with Kureno.

Sohma Kureno – the series' Rooster in the Zodiac. He is rather mild and gentle character, the type open to getting bullied.

In the last chapter of the manga, Detective Dan dies shortly after he entrusts his badge (or the pieces of it) to Class Q. I may delay his death a bit for the purpose of this fic.