It's everyone's favourite sadist...Akito! And her loyal servant, Kureno.
She hasn't been out into the deeper Sohma gardens for years, but it gets far too hot inside...and thus begins a circle of self-doubt. Oh dear. Oh, and she finds out how pretty everything is when viewed from outside!
Fluffy.
And it doesn't really make any sense at all.
Fruits Basket will never be owned by me.
But I live in hope.
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I get a little bit ambitious, and that's why you love me,
Because you can't resist it, you'd do anything for me
You want out, but we're off the ground, so pick up your parachute,
'Cause I'm not good at letting you down
No I won't let you get away
Not that easy, anyway.
-Take It Like A Man, Dragonette.
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Why is it so hot today? I can't go outside, because I might burn. And it's so humid inside.
Have they never heard of air-con?
Wait a second. Wasn't I the one who stopped air-con being installed? Yes, I was, wasn't I? Those idiots. Do they not realise that when I'm opposed to useful things, they should just do it anyway?
The stupidity of these people amazes me.
I had breakfast this morning. It was this...cereal. Different, but nice. I might have it again, if Hatori'll let me. Speaking of Hatori, he gave me these new pills today. They're...huge! More likely to belong to that stupid horse than me. They taste disgusting, too. Bitter and grainy. And when you try to swallow them they stick in your throat and make you gag. Vile things.
I'm naked and it's still far too hot. Kimonos are too heavy to wear in this weather, even though I wear nothing but my yukuta underneath them. Maybe I should go outside. They say I'm not allowed out there...but I'm the ruler of this househould, am I not? There seems to be a breeze. It might be fine. And if I start to burn, I'll come back in. I won't bother to put anything on...nobody'll see me. And if they do...I'll make sure they don't remember anything. Hatori'll do anything for me.
Akito pulled the kimono up to her chest, stepping towards the wall that led out onto the gardens and dragging the door across, gasping with the effort. She shielded her eyes against the sun and strained to see the real gardens, past the lawn, as you might call it. Looking around to check that there was nobody there, she dropped the kimono and danced across the lawn, curling her arms around her body and laughing wickedly to herself, thinking about the looks on the maids faces if they saw their 'lord' like this. She ran, quickly, down the path that led into the real gardens and stopped still, lost for words.
Oh, my.
Why didn't I do this long ago?
It's so refreshing. So...pretty. Everything's so colourful. My life isn't exactly filled with colour, but now! It's beautiful. Hah, look at the flowers! Blue and red and pink and yellow, all up towards the sun. And the grass is so green! I've seen it from inside, but out here it's an awful lot lusher. And...we have another pond? Oh, I have to see this. Look at the water...the fish! I didn't know that we had fish. They're relatively attractive, I suppose. But I wonder if they're tame?
Akito smiled to herself and stepped into the pond carefully, testing the water a toe at a time. The water swirled around her ankles, and then up to her knees as she waded in deeper. Carefully, watching out for slippery rocks or deep mud, she walked in up to her thighs. Sighing, she sat down in the water, her chin on her knees and white arms wrapped around her legs. She smiled and tilted her head back, feeling the tickle of the fish's fins and tails as they swam round her feet, nibbling her toes. The ends of her hair floated in the water, then slapped against her pale back as she pushed her head up again. Slowly, she spread out on her back, floating. She was underwater when Kureno found her.
It's so peaceful under here. Of course, I'll have to come up for air sometime soon, but while I can hold my breath, I'm perfectly happy.
'AKITO!'
What the-?
The rooster had stood on the deck outside the estate, having found Akito not in her room or in any other rooms. There was a chance she was outside, but it was very, very unlikely, seeing as she burned so easily and her supposed loathing of the outdoors. Sighing, he rubbed a hand through his hair and scanned the first part of the gardens for a pale figure with black hair, clad in a vibrant kimono. He had seen nothing and walked to the second area of the gardens, when he saw a white figure, underwater in the pond with the carp in. Panic rising in his chest, he had hurtled at full speed across the grass, crushing flowers underneath his feet, and dived into the pool, dragging the spluttering, enraged and very much alive Akito out of the pond, her hair sticking like wet ice to his face and her voice rising higher and higher with every syllable.
'What did you do that for? You total imbecile! Look!' She prodded him in the chest, glaring at him furiously, pointing with her free arm back towards the way he had come. Hundreds of flowers lay crushed and bruised against the grass. 'YOU IDIOT! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!' she screamed, her hand flying out and slapping him across the face, the nails scratching afterwards. She leapt out of the water and sat, naked, by the flowers, examining the once-beautiful plants in her lap, clutching at the stems in mixed anger and sadness. She turned to face him, her eyes wide with fury. 'Don't even come near me!' she shouted, cradling the flowers, stroking the injured petals with white fingers. She turned back and crooned at the flowers, one of her loyal canaries flying down from the sky and resting on her damp shoulder.
That IDIOT! I can't-I don't-this is ridiculous. It was perfectly obvious to anyone with half a brain that I was alive and very much awake. If I were drowning, I would be screaming for help, or at least thrashing around. If I were dead, then I'd be floating near the surface and have a slight tinge of green. I have a lot of spare time so I read Hatori's biology books. Very useful, especially when I want to see him but he's busy, or just being awkward. Ah well. Maybe I should be grateful that my rooster cares about me more I thought...he's been distant recently. Maybe I should try harder? Or maybe...maybe he no longer loves me. But he ruined the flowers. They did nothing wrong, just sat there being pretty...
Kureno shook his head. Akito appeared to have gone insane. Getting angry over mere plants, lying naked in the pond, going out in the sun without a kimono...this wasn't his Akito. He gazed at the back of her body, wet with sweat and water, strands of pondweed clinging to her body, mud scrapes on the back of her legs. Her dark hair stuck to her face and neck, so close it looked like it'd been drawn on with a marker pen. She was very thin, the curves of her breasts and hips barely noticable, but her body looked healthier than it had been a few weeks back. Suddenly, she turned to face him, smiling serenely, holding a pink flower in her hand, stroking the canary on her shoulder.
'Kureno?'
'Yes, Akito?'
'Do you like the outdoors?'
She looked up at the sky, kneeling in front of him, not embarrassed at all about her nakedness.
'I do like it, yes.'
'When you were a bird...did you ever fly?'
'Well...yes.' He tried to keep the that's-a-bit-obvious tone out of his voice.
'What was it like?' She stared right at him, her head on one side.
'Fun.'
'Fun?' She mimicked his tone. 'You don't have fun, Kureno, you have me.'
'Of course, Akito.' Inwardly, he gave a sigh.
'Do you love me?' She sat on his lap, arms curled around his neck, gazing up at him.
'Yes. And only you.' She smiled and kissed him softly on the lips, fingers tracing patterns on his neck. Then, just as he was about to move his hands from her back to her hips, she pulled away and stood up, the canary and the flower seemingly stuck to her.
'Come on, Kureno. Give me the tour.'
'And we have another pond here...and there's some bamboo over there...and some more trees...' Kureno squinted and pointed at the huge green trees towering over them both, looking at Akito out of the corner of his eye. She was still naked, her white skin shining almost green underneath the heat of the sun, but at Kureno's pleading, she'd resisted and carried a rather large fan he'd fetched for her in case she got too hot - or to cover her body with in case anyone decided to take a detour through the gardens. She was smiling like a child, hands clasped together, leaning back against the tree, eyes shut. 'And then we've got some more flowers, and some-'
'Sssssh!'
Kureno blinked and lowered his voice to a whisper, rubbing his forehead in confusion.
'What is it?'
'Can you hear it?' Akito opened her eyes and waved her arm up in the air.
'Hear what?'
'Oh, come on, Kureno. The birds! Listen!'
Her eyes shut again and she waved the fan in front of her face, cooling herself down and smiling still. Kureno shook his head for the fortieth time in forty minutes and strained his ears. Sure enough, there was birdsong. But he and Akito heard it all the time, from her canaries and the sparrows that occasionally flew down and she let rest on her fingers. And he had heard it constantly when he was still cursed...he'd even joined in with it a few times. But how did this birdsong make any difference to the stuff they heard all the time? He clutched his ears, realising he'd come back to where he started. Gah! This was far too confusing. Suddenly, the goddess' eyes opened.
'Did you hear it?'
'Yes.'
'Beautiful.'
'Of course.'
She grinned and danced up to him, hovering inches away, tempting. She put the fan jokingly across the left side of her face, pouting like a geisha and twisting her body to one side. When Kureno only gave a faint laugh in response, still in mild shock from seeing his Akito joke around, she hit him with the fan.
'Ouch.'
'Aren't you glad I'm happy?'
'Of course I am.'
'Then why are you so...' she eyed him up and down '...blank?'
'I'm not. But...why are you so happy?'
'Oh, Kureno...' her eyes softened and she sat by his feet, motioning for him to sit beside her. The rooster obeyed and lay back when she pushed him in the chest, allowing her to lie across him like a blanket of some kind.
'The birdsong? You didn't get it?' she lifted her head and sighed as Kureno shook his head.
'We hear it all the time.'
'But...it reminded me of you.'
'But I'm here!'
'No...when you were the rooster. You sang. I heard you. I followed you. And it was beautiful. It was stupid for me to hope, I suppose...' she trailed off and sat up, looking down at him.
'But it's a pretty garden anyway.' she concluded, stroking his copper hair and looking at the sky, in which fluffy white clouds were starting to appear. They sat in silence for a while, Kureno propped up on his elbows, and Akito leaning against his chest, stroking through his hair with white hands, both watching the clouds thicken and dissolve into the blue.
I thought he'd get it. I really thought he would. But that was so stupid of me. I should've known better. I wonder what the garden looks like in autumn? Or winter? Winter is my favourite...everything's so cold. An excuse to wrap up and eat nice foods, unlike the horrible muck they serve in hot season. How is it that Kureno knows everything about me, and yet I know none of the personal things about him. I was right, I'm not trying hard enough. I need to get him closer! I must! I can't lose him now...
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I think I'll carry on with this one.
Review, all flames welcome.
Messages welcome too!