Ehee... This story in the 'Connected by Fate' series is dedicated to Silvana and Ash... Purely 'cuz they gave me the idea for it! :D
Unfortunately I do not own Fruits Basket :(
I carefully watched him through the window. I didn't want to be seen. I knew what would happen if I was. He trained hard, sweat dripping down his beautiful face, high kicking at his sempai, blocking a punch from him. Silently I rooted for him, willing him to beat his sempai and pass his test. He glanced over in my direction, and I ducked down, knowing I had to go. I walked away from the dojo without looking back.
...
"Arys! Hey, Arys! Wait up!" I heard my 'best friend' Alice call out to halt me. I stopped, without looking behind, and then continued to walk when she was beside me. Alice was the outgoing, 'confident in a cool way' type of person, whereas I was quite the opposite. I looked at her for a while, watching how her hair flowed behind her in a loose ponytail, jealous of the natural pitch black colour of it, the lone blood red highlight in her hair. She looked at me with her emerald green eyes, and I instantly looked away.
"Admiring my beauty, are we?" she laughed, and I scowled at her in my silent way. I hated how she was so… confident. I was the socially awkward one, the one people called 'Hermit'.
It was lunchtime at Kaibara High, our high school in Kyoto. A pretty ordinary school, with pretty ordinary students. In fact, you could say boring, which sucked.
"So, are you joining any clubs this term? I hear that the Chess club are looking for new recruits, and the Prince Yuki Fan Club are thinking of trying to get a Host Club running." We walked through the halls of our school, to our bright and sunny lunch-spot. I stayed silent the whole time, not even nodding or shaking my head to indicate answers to the questions Alice threw at me. She annoyed me, really, but there was something about her that made me allow her to stick with me. Probably the fact that she didn't mind I barely spoke. We sat down in unison, and then I pulled out my bento box, picking at the contents. A normal, ordinary way, that was going exactly like yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that day.
Ergh, life was so boring.
"The Prince Yuki fan club thing have been acting strange, lately." Alice continued to babble on. I nodded my head, indicating I was listening. It didn't matter to her, she'd only carry on.
"Yeah, since that Tohru girl started hanging around with he and Kyo." I froze momentarily. I knew Tohru, she was in my class, but I never knew she hung around with him.
"That club is over rated." I said, my silence broken. It was a rare thing for me to talk, but it always made Alice smile. I remembered the first day she approached me in middle school, the way she told me I was quiet, didn't just ask me if I was. After that, she just followed me everywhere, even though she was in the year below me. I had about a year away from her when I started high school, but even then she was around. I hated her at first, her voice, her face, her whole personality. But, after about two years, I warmed up to her. I didn't mind her presence any more.
"Arys, what are you thinking? You're staring into space like you always do when you're thinking." Alice snapped me out of my memories and I glared at her. All she did was laugh and take a bite out of her sandwiches. I hated it when she did that.
For the rest of lunch, we ate in silence, with Alice throwing a comment or a question every so often.
Back in class, I observed my classmates trying to decide what to do for the school fair. Half wanted to make cakes and sweets, while the other half wanted to do something more interesting. Eventually, they turned to Yuki, who I felt sorry for. In a way.
"What do you think we should do, Yuki?" One girl, part his fan club, gazed at him adoringly. He flashed her a small smile, and she practically melted on the spot. Stupid female.
"Well, why don't we do a hit and miss stall for rice balls? That way everyone is happy, and our customers can have fun, too." He said, a smile on his face. Everyone agreed, no questions asked. When it's Yuki Sohma making decisions, everyone agrees, no matter what. Bah! A load of mindless sheep.
"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Some one behind me cheerfully agreed with Yuki, making him blush slightly. The only person to be able to do that is Tohru, so I turned and stared, accidentally catching Kyo's eyes. I blushed and looked away, having no doubt that he saw me turn red. A hand slammed my desk, and I jumped, startled.
"Hey. You. We're choosing who does what. Naturally, we're helping Tohru and Carrot-Top. Want in?" Arisa the yank rudely spoke to me, earning a glare from me.
"Your electrical waves are negative, as usual, Arys. You should join us, the atmosphere might change them." Hanajima offered. Tohru squealed in delight and rushed to the from of my desk.
"Yes, Arys! Join us!" She giggled, grabbing my hand and dragging me up. Instinctively, I tore my hand away, stepped backwards and pushed her over by accident in the process. Arisa helped her up, while I just stood there, emotionless. Kyo didn't make a move to help her, either. Yuki, on the other hand, was over in a flash.
"Miss Honda, are you alright?" he asked, taking her hand. She nodded and blushed, noticing that he had her hand in his. He sharply looked at me, muttering something under his breath, and then spoke out louder.
"Arys. You are now on the cooking team. Go home with Kyo and Miss Honda to make them tomorrow night." I coldly looked at him, sure that he was evil and wanted to make my life hell. I grunted and sat down in my chair. Not once did Kyo say anything, or look at us. Throughout the rest of class, Yuki stared at me every so often to keep an eye on me, all the way up until the bell went to go home. Choruses of 'see you tomorrow', and 'have a good evening' rang out through the crammed halls, and a small tug on my arm made me look to the left.
"Hey, Arys. You ok?" My talkative companion caught up beside me and stayed silent for most of the time while we were still in school. Once we were out of the gates, however, she spoke up.
"So, for the fair, what is your class doing? We're holding the raffle and tombola~!" She sang, letting her black hair out of it's loose ponytail and fluffing it about. It was very different to my white-blonde hair. I changed the colour nearly every month, and that month it was blue, but it still didn't compare to her beautiful locks. I scowled and replied as quickly as possible.
"It's nothing to be singing about." I turned left as she carried on walking. I heard her call out 'goodbye' to me as I walked past a variety of shops and flats. I stopped outside one, thinking about what might be for dinner, and started walking as quickly as I had stopped. That's when I bumped into something. I fell to the floor on my behind, looking up and realising that I bumped into Tohru and a very shocked Yuki. I looked to the floor, sighing, and when I looked up, Yuki had disappeared.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I should have been looking where I was going!" I ignored the apologies of the brown haired air-head and stood up, gathering my things. I searched the area for Yuki, wondering where he might have gone in such a short time, and then walked home.
~x~
"Arys! Dinner will be ready soon!" My mother called out. I was yet again puzzling over the sudden disappearance of the class president. That was at least the third time that night. How could he have gone in not even a second? Stupid boy. Should have been looking where he was going. I sighed, getting out of my chair and pulling a jumper on to keep me warm in the freezing kitchen. We weren't poor, we could afford heating fine. It's just that my family always had the windows open in our flat, whether or not it was hot.
I wandered downstairs, into the cramped living room that held my father, two sisters, three brothers and our dog, Frou-Frou. Before you ask, I did not name him. I actually hate the thing. Cinnamon, my ginger cat, jumped down from the bookcase and settled on my shoulders, curling around them like one of those fox scarves. Now cats I loved. They're mysterious and smart, and very independent. Dogs on the other hand… not so much. Frou-Frou was in his own category, though. Once, he went swimming in the local dog pond, but just kept chasing his paws around the pond, thinking they were something else. He even laid down in the water on his back to try and get them. Stupid animal.
"Arys, how many dumplings do you want?" My mothers voice pulled me out of my musings and placed two dumplings on my plate. She knew what I wanted. She served everyone else, and sat down to eat her own dinner, something with tofu in it. She's a vegetarian, you see, and when she and my father had my oldest brother, they compromised that we could be veggies or meat eaters, which ever one suited us the most. I chose meat… Only because I had health issues when I was younger.
"Arys, your friend Yuki rang. He wanted to make sure that you would be at his house tomorrow for you stall at the fair." I froze, knowing he did that on purpose. "Naturally, I said yes, after all, a friend like Yuki doesn't come along very often!" I knew my father did that on purpose, too.
"Ohmigod, Arys has friends?" My sister Usagi gasped. She's what you would call a stuck up bitch.
"Wow, who'd have thought it? Someone's coming out of her shell~." My brother Morris laughed, leaning over to playfully punch me. I turned to him and glared, making him cower, and yet again broke my silence.
"Shut up, Minor." I said through gritted teeth. To those car freaks out there, my brother was named after the car Morris Minor, hence the nickname. He winced and returned to eating. I shoved some beef into my mouth and chewed. I hated family time. I just wanted to be alone.
You know what to do ^^
Much love! xx