Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, Natsuya Takaya does; also, the musical alluded to is Wicked, and the song is What is this Feeling. I don't own either of those, but I'm not quite sure who does, so I'll just leave it at the fact that I DO NOT own them.
Yes, I'm quite sure you're all thinking I'm nuts, starting something else when I have so many other huge projects going on... But, well, this was something written for a friend (who should be obvious; I mean, who else do I write anything for?) quite some time ago - like, back in the 2009-2010 school year - and it was really just a matter of fixing it up as my writing style changed and now posting it. It isn't going to be a one-shot, as was the original intent, but will, in the end, be about three chapters; the first and third are written, but I need to get around to writing a middle one to tie them together. I'll also be publishing a few other things from that same time frame (09-10) over the next few days, so if anyone has me on alert (which I seriously doubt...) you'll be getting a mini flood of new things to read. Aside from that, I hope you enjoy this, and I hope the person it is dedicated to enjoys it as well.
She met him on the way to Shishou's dojo. Well, she was leaving and he was coming, but as she held his gaze, the details seemed insignificant. (She also seemed to forget that her companion was now rather far ahead of the small group.) She looked him over briefly – his eyes, the dark color of blood, his hair, a flaming sunset – before returning her gaze to his. Ice and ruby met once more. A beat of silence – a pregnant pause. And then, he spoke.
"Hey Evelyn, long time no see." The ice-blue-eyed girl, Evelyn, was about to reply before she caught sight of who was standing beside and just behindKyo. Honda Tohru, with her brunette locks neat as ever, her eyes the color of melted chocolate… Evelyn was put in mind of a song from a musical she adored, but found that it didn't quite describe her feelings. She both hated and loathed Tohru as much as she could hate or loath anyone, but the root of this was her envy for the girl. Of course, she hid it well; only one other person knew of her feelings for both the people standing before her, and she would like to keep it that way. However, she may have under mined this, as the smile that had been forming on her lips died. She said coldly, "It's good to see you, Kyo; you as well, Honda-san."
Evelyn winced inwardly at how the words to Kyo had come out; she wasn't sorry about speaking to Honda so. She never did like how the obliviously, sickeningly naïve brunette hung off of Kyo and Yuki – though the blonde's concern for the Prince was simply sisterly in nature. Tohru, however, remained predictably oblivious, and if Kyo noticed he didn't seem to care. Neither made any attempt to reply, and for a moment, one disgusting moment, Evelyn was glad of the brunette's being too polite to say anything in such a situation. The awkwardness seemed unwilling to pass, and so Evelyn simply took her leave; she would say – or try and fail to say – something cruel to Tohru and end up embarrassing herself in front of Kyo if she didn't. That, and she needed to catch up with her companion anyways, whom it seemed she had just remembered, now that the little encounter wasn't the focus of her thoughts.
Once she was home – one of the many houses in the Sohma estate – she couldn't help but torment herself, as she had done on other occasions, wondering what Kyo saw in that Honda girl that she didn't have. A call from a friend and cousin, Haruka – her fellow blonde wouldn't stop with the piano pieces dedicated to her girlfriend Michiru – however distracted her for now. It seemed the elder girl needed help with harmonizing again. Of course, she was glad that the elder blonde didn't comment upon what had taken place that afternoon; however they did trade good-natured barbs once in a while about the fact that Haruka seemed to be one of Kazuma-shishou's better students, while Evelyn would simply stick to her own sporting ares of expertise.
Later, though, she knew she would muse on the irony of her unlucky love: the cursed cat of the Sohmas. Yes, she had been told by Kyo many times that she was like his sister, but she wouldn't give up until she could fight no more – a trait she had picked up from a certain cousin of hers. No, she wouldn't give up, not until the cat himself told her he could love no-one else but Honda Tohru. Then, and only then, would the blonde with eyes of blue ice give up on her love for Kyo Sohma.
When he finally did tell her so, she was too busy crying over her broken heart to stop Haruka from beating the Cat to a bloody pulp. Though she had known it would happen – in some small, more rational part of her mind, she had known from the first time she saw them together – it didn't make her hurt any less. Even if she had known that it would happen, it didn't lessen the pain when her heart seemingly shattered one bit.
Even if she knew she had brought it upon herself by insisting, by pushing the issue, by refusing to give up what she knew was a lost cause, that didn't mean that she felt any less pain at being rejected so wholly and completely by the only man she had ever loved.