Disclaimer: Fruits Basket, and anything associated with it, belong to Natsuki Takaya. Reiko Souma, her deceased parents, and anything associated with her (such as her Cursed form) belong to me.

This started off as a general conversation with a friend of mine, but then it quickly became a tiff that inspired me to turn it into this story. Enjoy!

Summer has arrived, which meant vacation time. The school-age Sohma and Tohru were enjoying their time off, even when boredom was prone to happen. Today was one of those days. Tohru had the day off from work, Kyō didn't have a lesson with Kazuma today, and Yūki had spent the early morning tending to the garden at his secret base. That left Shigure to laze around the house as he usually did, sleeping until noon.

A rather unexpected guest changed the boredom around. Showing up on the doorstep was Reiko. How unexpected indeed. She never liked to come over when Tohru was home, but here she was, walking through the house with her boots still on.

"Reiko-san, you're walking inside with your boots still on," Yūki pointed out, but the pink-haired woman waved the younger Sohma off before continuing to Shigure's room. Typical. She's in one of her usual moods. What mood was that? Considering her childhood, it was a wonder that she was still keeping herself together.

Not a single day passed by where she wasn't thinking about this thing or that. At the moment, she was knocking on the door. "Gure-kun, it's a bit late to be sleeping...I'm coming in." Reiko slid the door open a small crack and peered inside. Sure enough, there was the sleeping Inu. She slid the door open wider and walked in before sliding it shut behind her. Time to wake this man up. Creeping over, the woman knelt down. Then she, being more than familiar with Shigure's whims, blew gently into his right ear.

Doing so led to him reaching out and pulling Reiko on top of him.

! Pushing at him, Reiko tried to move herself away. She was instead pulled closer, and a soft kiss was landed on her neck. "Gure-kun, the kids are home...wake up, dammit!" Whap. The backhand to his face ended that and finally woke him up. "You pervert, you almost reenacted one of your smut scenes on me!"

Finally, the older man's arms came down from around the woman's waist. Reiko moved away. "Sorry about that. So, you've decided to come over when everybody's home? I bet Tohru-kun will be more than happy to see you."

But, Reiko shook her head no. "You know better," she said, "You should know why I'm here. Don't insult me." She was avoiding Hatori yet again. Avoiding appointments seemed to be her favourite pastime as of late. "At least let me sleep here for awhile...I had a hard time just knowing that he's going to track me down and humiliate me with an appointment soon." She laid down on the floor and shut her eyes.

"If it's rest that you want, then at least make yourself more comfortable." Laying on the wooden floor had to be uncomfortable for her posture. Her health wasn't the greatest either, so Shigure rose from his bed. He then lifted Reiko from the floor and moved her onto the bed before covering her over. She was already out cold, so he left her alone to sleep. "I'll let her sleep in there for awhile. She's been avoiding Hatori so much that she's tired herself out."

Such was the reason for the American staying at Shigure's house all day. When the afternoon started to transition into evening, and Reiko didn't wake up, the others were starting to become worried. Hatori was called as a result and has been at Shigure's house since his arrival to check on her. She was simply in a deep sleep was all, albeit she eventually did wake up and moved to the dining room to find Hatori there.

Shit.

"I will be the one to marry you someday, Tohru-kun!" Shigure was saying as Reiko plodded out sleepily. She stood a short distance from Hatori, her safest vintage point in being the furthest away from Tohru. Good thing she was. That meant she was safe from Kyō's reaction to the Dog's lewd remark. A good pummeling came about in the next moment, eliciting an eye roll from the pink-haired woman. "Ah! So mean..!"

"I'm sure he means well, he's just...highly spirited." Leave it to the brunette to jump to the Cat's defence, all the meanwhile smiling softly and happily. Like the rest of the Jūnishi, Reiko had her reservations for Kyō. She did try to be nice to him since they were both equally unwelcome to the Jūnishi. Her drawback was how easily he got jealous of the attention she received from Kazuma. It wasn't her fault that she had been sent to Japan before Kyō's mother committed suicide.

Fortunately, Kyō's yells broke into Reiko's thoughts before she could dive deeper into what she knew of the Cat's past. "Tohru-kun's not the housewife of anybody! And if I hear you say it again, I'm gonna knock you through the roof!"

"Kyō-kun's being mean~!" Shigure whined. The woman had to step aside in order to get out of the Dog's way as he hid behind Hatori. So much for him being an adult. When was Shigure going to grow up?

"Settle down, Kyō-kun," Hatori said, "jealousy is very unbecoming." He leaned against the pantry counter with his hands inside of his pocket. Reiko remained quiet, but glanced over at the taller man. Part of her wondered if he enjoyed taking subtle jabs at people whenever the opportunity allowed. It certainly seemed like it from where she was standing.

"Oh, Hell no! What are you even doing here, anyways?!" Kyō's retort came incredibly quick and, in all of this, Yūki was just as quiet as Reiko was whilst Tohru blinked in confusion.

She was also the only person in the room who was smiling. "I think everyone should have some tea," she said with a nod, "Welcome, Hatori-san." Maintaining her bright smile, she headed to the kitchen to make tea for everyone like a "good housewife." As her small figure vanished from sight, Reiko was silently shooting dirty looks at Tohru's back. She couldn't stand the girl for the life of her, and everybody else knew it. Shigure fired a wary stare at Reiko in return with the "Don't even think about it" look.

"A moment please, Souma-san?" Hatori suddenly asked. All eyes were on the doctor and the pink-haired woman, who was trying to not look confused. She nodded and, standing straight again, followed him outside.

The atmosphere lightened about ten layers almost immediately, and Tohru's gentle smile and soft wave contributed at least a little bit. Oh, how she so desperately wanted to earn the older woman's friendship like she did with Rin! Doing that had taken some time and a lot of patience, but optimism and persevering determination prevailed in the end. Even if Reiko shot the dirty looks at her and ignored her like she did now, she had her hopes and wouldn't give up. "Never give up!" her mother had always told her when she had been alive. Those three simple words had been her cornerstone philosophy since her mother's death two years ago.

"I wouldn't mind her all that much. She's just having a difficult time," Shigure said. He was clearly lying through his teeth; such was obvious to Yūki and Kyō. Tohru, however, was too naïve to notice.

She's going to pine and worry away at this all night, at this point. With this thought, the soft-spoken boy spoke up. "Honda-san, what he means to say is that Reiko-san's had terrible experiences with outsiders in the past that affect her outlook of them is all. Hatori's probably just making sure that she's all right." He hoped that would relieve any of the girl's worries about Reiko, but when she bit her lower lip innocently whilst nodding, he had to wonder. Yet she smiled brightly once more, her smile brighter than the one before it to hide her insecurities, and Yūki's doubts vanished.

"Of course...but I promise to one day make her see that I don't want to hurt anyone, and I just want to make friends." Determination was set in her eyes as she spoke.

We'd better let that one slide... All three of the others thought in unison.

Completely unaware of their thoughts, Tohru's mind returned to dinner preparations at once. "So, dinner time! I hope everyone likes miso!" she said cheerily before retreating into the kitchen again.

A world war had might as well erupted in that next moment. "Gross! Who can eat that crap?!" he demanded.

"Everybody but you, apparently," Yūki answered calmly.

"You trying to pick a fight with me, you damn Rat?" Kyō could be heard shouting from everywhere.

Shigure put up a passive hand. "I think you need to settle down now..." he said, not really putting in much effort to calm things down. Secretly, he was enjoying every minute of this.

—•—•—•—

Outside, the conversation between Reiko and Hatori wasn't going any better than the confrontation inside. Because of who the New Jersey native was speaking with, she had blocked out everything around her that didn't directly involve either of them. Reiko was, at this point, trying not to be rude and yell at - or run from - Hatori.

Unfortunately, her patience was dwindling. Her colours as an American native with a bitter chip on her shoulder were really starting to show. "Why should I even give her a chance?!" she yelled. Because of the number of years that she had taken up complete silence for after her parents' deaths, the volume of her voice whenever she yelled was equal to most others' regular speaking voices. So, whatever she said remained between the two of them outside. "They're all the same...filthy germs! I can't stand being near one without the need to wash my hands five times over!" Her face was filled with disgust.

"That's a drastic improvement over fifteen times," Hatori said with a slight smirk.

—•—•—•—

Tohru hummed happily as she made dinner for everybody comfortably. "Kyō-kun, you'll want milk, right? Yūki-kun, Shigure-kun, what would you like to drink?" She pushed the curtain aside some. "Oh! I should invite Reiko-chan and Hatori-san to sit with us as well! Food can be a great way to touch another person!"

"Somehow, I don't see that being a good idea," Shigure said. He had been able to hear parts of the conversation from outside.

So had Kyō. "They should just get a room, already," he commented.

With that, Yūki took it upon himself to go outside to make sure everything was all right. "Excuse me, you..." He paused when he saw Reiko in Hatori's embrace. Hatori's arms were definitely around her waist, and she was definitely standing millimetres from him with her arms about to return that embrace with one of her own. "...two..." His voice trailed off, but it didn't last. Embarrassed, Reiko quickly separated and took off running. "I'm sorry if I interrupted something important?"

"No, it was nothing at all. I was just leaving to check on Akito-san," was Hatori's quick response. He didn't really know how to explain what the younger boy had seen.

"All right, then. Goodnight." He went back inside and sat down. "Reiko-san took off, and Hatori-san had to head back to the Main House...so they won't be eating with us."

A thoughtful Shigure rested one hand beneath his chin as he remembered the more pleasant days of the past. He, Hatori, and Ayame always hung together and were inseparable, forming the Madubachi Trio. Now the three of them have grown up and, whilst they still spent time together once a month (or more), went their own ways and became successful in their own ways. "Poor Ha'ri. He's been so busy lately, what with the younger children coming down with colds," he finally said. Dealing with those who had the tendency to avoid him when it was time for their appointments was another thing. Although it made the Dragon's job easier in that he had one less patient to deal with for the time being, he would have more work on his hands should they end up getting even more sick from avoiding him.

—•—•—•—

A moment was being shared at the Main House. The quiet Rooster of the Jūnishi, Kureno, was lightly petting Akito's hair as she rested her head in his lap. They were watching outside as the sun slowly set behind her garden, Akito laying on the porch with a cold stare in her eyes. She lifted her sleeve-covered hand to her mouth, coughing gently against the fabric. "Akito-sama?" The chestnut-haired male peered down at his goddess. "You should go inside where the cold air can't hurt you."

"No. Your warmth is good enough...besides, it was a simple cough. Nothing to worry about," came the raven-haired goddess. This left the man to take in a deep breath as he wanted to push Akito aside, but decided against it instead. He knew how stubborn she was and simply tried to hold her a bit closer, keeping her warm against his own body heat.

So, here we have the start of another story that's based on a role-play I'm doing with my friend Sew Madd. Please let us know how we're doing with a review! They would be appreciated. :)