Oooh! Look! A new story. I should get back to the other one, but frankly I've writers block on it. I can't figure out what to have happen next. For now, a new story! I dunno if it should be chapters or a one shot. What do you all think? Please let me know what you think! Enjoy~!
Disclaimer: I own not Fruits Basket or any of it's characters saddly. If I did then I'd make Yuki and Kyou a couple! Just because I love yaoi! Or I'd put Shai into it and make Kyou hers. Story and my characters mine!
Update! I noticed a few mistakes and decided to update before continuing. Sorry for the wait! More will come, it's just a matter of when. Although it does make it interesting, never knowing when a new chapter will come and when it does, it's a pleasant surprise. Sorry, anyways. I have no Beta, so sorry for the mistakes.
She's never had a real family. Well, not unless you count all the rats and mice that scurry to her side no matter what she's feeling in the moment. When she was old enough, she was able to make her own little lean-to. The rats and mice always came to it, and often stayed weeks on end with her. So perhaps all the rats and mice are her family.
As she was growing up, the rats taught her how to survive, and the mice taught her their tongue. So really, she wasn't human, but she definitely was not a mouse. She didn't know what she was, only that the rats and mice are her family, Don and Rea Avel her parents. Don and Rea were the first to find and care for her, and named her Shai Avel.
She's sixteen now, and not once has she spotted another human. Living deep in a forest might have something to do with that, but she cared naught. All she needed was her family and friends. They are what makes her happy.
On her birthday, October 31 as Rea had once told her, she and the rodents had a party with her. A cake made of cheese and much dancing. So how was she supposed to react when a fire claims the forest, her home? Panicking is her first reaction, but she desperately pushes that down and looks for her friends and family, screaming their names loud as she can.
As the forest came down around her with crackling of flames, thuds of trees falling over, and cracks of limbs and branches falling off the trees, a realization hit her. Where did this fire come from? And why does it claim my home and kin? Her eyes widen the second she spots Dan and Rea, side by side, crushed by a tree, and the thought leaves her entirely. She couldn't understand. Why won't they move? Why won't they come to her? Why do they just stay there? She didn't want to accept it, but her brain kept telling her over and over They're dead. She couldn't stand it, and slumped down to the ground, her bright chocolate-brown eyes wide with terror, shock, fear, and sadness. She couldn't take her eyes off of them.
After what felt like days but really was only a few seconds, she screamed, a very primal and animal like scream that no human vocal chords should be able to produce, and pounced, having new-found strength that was no doubt due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She was able to shove the tree off them this way and growled, daring the trees and flames to try to cover them once more. As if they understood, or feared her, no tree fell on them, nor did the fire claim them.
Ignoring the splinters that no doubt are embedded in her palms and the fire licking away at her exposed skin; she wore coverings made out of leaves; she scoops up their bodies, sobbing, for once glad that her body was the way it is. Shai begged and pleaded for Don and Rea to awaken, to open their eyes and laugh as they always used to do, to say that it was just a cruel joke. But after cradling them to her chest for what felt like ages, she stood and screamed, again having a primal, animalistic sound, but the difference is that it had a sad tone, instead of rage. Placing Don and Rea in her pouch; the one that sits on her side so that she may carry food for herself or for her family and friends; she started to run.
No matter where Shai went, she saw the dead bodies of her kin. Tears poured down her cheeks and she stopped to retrieve the bodies of those she was closest to before continuing on. She didn't, or wouldn't, acknowledge the fire licking at her skin, burning her and no doubt causing burns that wouldn't heal for a while. All she cared for now was saving those she loved most and crying for the ones she didn't stop to carry. Though she would love to pick up all of her kin and carry them to safety, she knew she didn't have the ability, for her pouch was only so big and her arms only carried so much.
After a while of running blindly she comes across a river and immediately jumps in, knowing instinctively that water will help her burns and give her time to rest. She never lost her grip on those she carried, and she had made sure the latch on her pouch was tight. To her luck, the river was only waist-high and the current wasn't that strong. It is here that she breathes a sigh of relief, glad at the brief rest and the water cooling her burns. Slowly, she made her way to the other side, since she knew the fire couldn't cross the river, and gently set her kin on the ground, then she flopped on top them and rested a little, keeping them safe and never loosing consciousness lest a predator come to eat her and her kin while she slept.
Softly, she heard the footfalls of something she'd never heard before. Those footfalls happened to belong to a human, and said human was coming to see the disaster that lay on the other side of the river. When she turned her gaze up, she growled. She won't let this, whatever this two-legged thing is, take her kin. Her growl deepened and got more ferocious the closer the two-legged thing got, and swiped at its paw when it tried to touch her. The creature only chuckled and pat her head. Stunned, she forgot to growl when the creature picked up one of her kin, her closest friend Dima. With a snarl, she grabbed Dima from his hands and hissed. "My friend! Don't touch!" The creature raised its paws and spoke in a tongue she vaguely identified as human. Don and Rea; mainly Rea; taught her very little, but just enough that she was able to guess at what it said. "Not harm? Be my friend? Name Yuki?" She only caught a few words, but could piece together the creature said. Her eyes narrowed, then widened at it, or rather Yuki, as it said it's name was, spoke in the tongue of her kin.
"I do not wish to harm you. Please do not attack me again, I only wish to be your friend. My name is Yuki Sohma. Will you allow me to see them?" Yuki spoke. She managed a small nod, trusting it since it knew her tongue, and Yuki took Dima from her gently and softly held her. It's face fell into one of sorrow as it handed Dima back to her, and picked the others up one by one, the sorrow only growing. When she took Don and Rea from her pouch and cradled them close, she looked at Yuki.
"All dead...parents too. Help me bury them?" She asked, looking up, and Yuki nodded it's agreement. Together they dug deep holes and placed her kin inside them, not without many tears on Shai's part. After filling the holes back in, she felt slight happiness that no wild beast or creature would dig them up and eat them. But she still felt sad that they were gone. She still had so much to learn! How can she when they're gone! Sitting at the foot of Don and Rea's graves, she grieved, tears falling fast and thick. She couldn't stop. Her only family and friends were all dead, lots burned to a crisp and her closest ones buried here in front of her. It's too much to take, and finally she falls unconscious, only vaguely noticing Yuki catch her before her head could slam into the ground.
When she awoke, the first thing she noticed was that she was covered. She didn't know why. She's never had any covering, so why now? Her eyes flutter open and the only thing she sees is a cover, much better done than the one in her lean-to. Eyes widen as realization hits. Don! Rea! Everyone! Tears prick her eyes as she sits up and stares at her lap, pain lacing her every move but she didn't really notice it yet. Her eyes blink rapidly as she realizes that something was clothed on her. She stood up and frowned a bit when they didn't fall off. She didn't like it, it felt too constricting. Swiftly, she started attempting to pull the cloths off, but a voice stopped her.
"Please do not do that. It's a bit uncomfortable to look at you when you are near naked." With a start, she spins around, the cloth on her torso half undone, since she's never had any experience with clothes. "Do not freak out, alright, it's all okay. You're in my house, and I promise I will not hurt you." She nods, trusting Yuki fully, since it spoke her tongue.
"Why am I in your house? Why did you not leave my with my kin? And what are these things that cover my body?" At the last question, she plucks at the top cloth. It chuckles and comes to stand in front of her. As it redoes the covering, Yuki replies, answering each of her questions.
"You are in my home because I could not leave you alone in the wilderness in good conscience. Another reason is because my family is cursed. Our curse is that thirteen members of the Sohma family, three girls and ten males, are possessed by the vengeful spirits of the Zodiac. I am the Rat, and turn into one when a girl hugs me. And for some reason unknown to us, when I caught you at your kin's graves, I did not transform." Her eyes widened and she slid to the floor, Yuki moving to sit next to her as he continued answering her questions. "I didn't leave you with your kin because I could not leave a young girl alone in the wild where she could be killed. There are many dangers out there that I could not, in good conscience, let you face them." At that she scoffed. He obviously did not know that she was capable of protecting herself. "As for your last question, they are called clothes. And it is a bit rude not to wear clothes in the presence of other people. It makes us quite uncomfortable. I, for one, cannot look at you while you are unclothed since it is very uncomfortable, me being a boy and you a girl."
People? That must be what it is! And it called himself a boy, and since boy and male are the same, it must be a he. And she's a girl? Her head tilts some and she nods, understanding, and does not try to remove the clothes again so as to not make it-him- uncomfortable. He stands and she looks up at him. "Come, I wish you to meet my family." And with that, he takes her hand, pulls her to her feet. He leads her down a long tunnel and down some stairs, then to a room that has more People inside.
It's then that she realizes that her burns are covered with itchy material. She reaches to scratch her arm, only to stop when she sees the white material covering it, only then realizing that she'd gotten splinters when she'd moved the tree off her parents, and the pain flared, causing only a grimace.
Yuki then speaks in the Human tongue, bringing her back to reality and she looks around. She manages to catch a few words, but she doesn't focus on them, only the smells of the others. She only now realizes that there are different scents in the air. That of a cat, a dog, a rabbit, and a snake. But the brown haired Human had a different scent, not an animal. This must be a human's scent! Oh mother, father, I've finally met a human! I know their scent now! Please come back so I can tell you about it! But of course they won't come back, how could she be so baka. She then blinks when she senses the dog scent draw nearer, and refocuses. The tall black haired Human was coming towards her and got right in her face. She withdrew behind Yuki, lips pulled back in a snarl.
"Stay away!" But the dog scented Human; or was it male? Since all but brown haired human had a flat chest, like Yuki. And if she's a girl, then her rounded chest would mark her as one and the brown haired human too!; just looked behind Yuki at her and spoke words she didn't understand. Yuki promptly pushed him back with a few curt words she didn't understand, giving her some space, and looked at her, speaking a bit slower that he had earlier so she could understand the difficult language.
"I'm sorry for Shigure's actions. He likes to make others uncomfortable" He waited patiently for her to figure out what he said, knowing she didn't know Human tongue well. When she worked it out, she nodded and looked at the dog scented human now named Shigure, and attempted to speak the human tongue as well, but it was very incomprehensible and had to tell Yuki what she'd wanted to say when she gave up. He nods and relays her message for her. "She would like to apologize for her reaction, and apologizes for being unable to tell you herself. She does not know any but the language of rats." A scoff is heard and her head snaps to the cat scented human. "What is it baka neko?" All she under stood was 'neko' Cat. Well, that's all she caught, and Yuki and "Baka Neko" got into a heated verbal fight, quickly becoming a physical fight, which ending with the cat kicked through a doorway. She gave a small smile, crouched against the wall watching their fight, having decided she'd had enough standing and wished to observe in a more comfortable position. She might enjoy her stay here. The fight certainly amused her. And their actions spoke of this not being the first time, but one out of several times.
Yuki walks back to her side and crouches down with a very small smile and words of apology for the fight. And she just smiles back slightly to him, a bit uncomfortable since she still resided in an unknown place with unknown persons.
I hope you liked! If any were to OOC, let me know.