Story's in Kyo's POV
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, but I wouldn't mind owing Hatori … Unfortunately I don't. TT
Sleep. I was trying to sleep but I was having difficulty trying to achieve this goal. It was not because I was lying on the tiled roof of my uncle's house, it was because my immature uncle was causing a huge fuss over the gift he had bought Tohru for her birthday.
Wait a minute…Tohru's birthday! I had forgotten to get her a present!
The ladder top which had been resting against the side of the roof began to rattle and I opened one eye to see my cousin Yuki climb onto the roof; my roof.
"Go away," it was a known fact to everyone that Yuki and I did not get along, although our relationship had improved a little.
"That stupid uncle of ours is going crazy over the gift he got Tohru; it is very annoying."
I gulped, obviously Yuki had been able to get a gift for Tohru's birthday.
Why couldn't I live in a normal family? Why did I have to live Shigure, Tohru and Yuki. Life was so unfair
Tohru lives with us, but only under one condition, that she is our house keeper.
But, back to my current problem, it was her birthday and I had nothing to give the world's kindest, most caring and thoughtful person. I was in a lot of trouble.
"Hey, Yuki, what did you get Tohru for her birthday?" I cautiously asked the pale haired nineteen-year-old who had settled himself down on my roof.
"What?" He was definitely not in a mood to speak, so I repeated my question. I knew he was doing it to irritate me; everyone knows that I have a short temper.
"Oh, well I got her a …" he stopped and watched me carefully; his gaze was making me feel uncomfortable.
"You forgot to get her a present!" I felt my face grow hot with anger and embarrassment.
"I did not! I just wanted to see what- " I didn't finish my sentence as Yuki smacked me across the face.
"Don't lie to me!" He was such a pest. Sometimes I just wanted to strangle him and hang him by his tail.
"Okay, I completely forgot, what time is the party?"
"About seven in the evening," Okay, so judging by my estimate of the current time I had about six hours. I flipped open my cell phone. It was twelve noon, I had six hours to find a present and one hour to get ready for the party.
I looked down to the front part of the house; I cursed as the pond water glimmered brightly and blinded me for a couple of seconds.
I jumped to me feet and climbed down the ladder as quickly as I could. Where on earth was that idiot Shigure?
"Pretty! The pink will go perfectly with her bedcover and I love the way that the carvings match the carvings on the chest of drawers!" I had found him.
"Oh, hello Kyo, do you like my gift for Tohru?" I nodded my head, anything to make him happy; after all, I definitely was not going to walk to the shops from this place.
"Yes, it's nice," mentally, I was cringing, I hate that word. "So, since you've got Tohru a gift I was wondering, if you could be so kind as to drive me to the shops so I could finish buying my gift for Tohru."
His facial expressions were looking promising; it looked as though he was going to say yes until…
"He forgot to get her a gift and is going to buy her a last minute one." Yuki strolled into the room and began inspecting the gifts from Shigure.
His facial expressions then told me that there was no way in hell that he was going to take me.
"Oh! Kyo! You cruel heartless boy! That poor girl who lives with you, cooks for you and cleans your house is turning nineteen and you didn't even manage to get her a gift! Have mercy upon his soul!" I suddenly had the urge to grab the chest of drawers and shove it down his throat, to stop his unmanly banshee-like wailing. Shigure was such a drama queen.
I glared at Yuki, walking around the room inspecting the quality of the wood, opening the drawers acting as if none of this was his fault. I was angry if he had not mentioned that I had forgotten I would well be on my way to purchasing Tohru a present. Bastard.
Thank god she was not at home right now; thank god she wasn't. Since the party would be held over here her friends had decided to take her out for the day while we set the place up.
I slammed the door shut, in anger. Now I was going to have to walk to the nearest store, and Shigure had a lot of property that I had to walk past until I got to the closest footpath.
I hurried to my bedroom searching for my wallet and a jacket in case the weather went bad. I found my wallet in a pack of half eaten chips and I grabbed a jacket from underneath my bed. I ran down the stairs and slipped on my comfortable sneakers and set off at a brisk walk to the closest shopping centre.
I strode past the pond and into the forest, in a great hurry to get a gift for Tohru. I was walking on a small dusty track, littered with small stones and fallen autumn leaves. The trees were part bare most of them being deciduous and a couple already completely bare.
Too busy contemplating the colours of autumn I tripped over something, most likely my own feet or my undone shoe laces. I landed on my rear and promptly leant forward to tie my shoelaces but I was squinting, having difficulty trying to see my laces.
I had not really noticed before but now, I realised that in the forest there was not much sunlight. I began to strain my eyes to try and see ahead. I flipped open my cellphone to check the time, but unfortunately I had no reception and I had one of those difficult phones that refused to tell the time when reception was unavailable.
I began to walk off the track, of course at the time I had not known this but I eventually realised when I began to walk through smaller bushes and tripping over the roots of various plants. I tried to look for the path, but I soon realised that the path had disappeared.
Now, I was definitely on the verge of losing my sanity. I was lost, in my own forest because I had forgotten to look at my calendar to get Tohru a present and now I was walking in the forest because that stupid Yuki had to enter that room and open his mouth. Oh yes, one of these days I was definitely going to murder him.
I kicked a nearby stone and watched as it rolled out of the shadows and into the sunlight.
What? The sunlight? I almost did a little victory dance, I had reach an edge of the forest. I quickened my pace only to find Yuki's vegetable garden.
Just as I reached the edge of the forest it began to drizzle. The drizzle was not annoying, just the fact that all the dirt around my feet had now turned to mud.
But back to my other thoughts…
Whythe helldid he put a vegetable garden in the middle of nowhere?
It looked like one of those vegetable gardens you see in children's picture books.
Each row was evenly shaped, dug and buried carefully. The little green sprouts peeping out over the top of the dirt were looking healthy and delicate. I noted the different types of plants growing. There were carrots, lettuce, some spices and … leeks, my worst enemy.
Just looking at them made me feel sick, like vomiting. I wanted to rip out all the leeks and throw them far away from the garden.
Maybe I could give Tohru a leek for her birthday, I don't think she'd mind, she's the kind of person who'd except any gift and not really care what it was, she would love it just as much as the most expensive or most thoughtful gift she'd ever receive.
It was hard to stay sad around Tohru. She was always so damn happy! Sometimes it annoyed me, her grin being everywhere all the time; but then, when I stop to think about it, and all the stuff she's been through, she's still going through and I realise that I shouldn't get annoyed at her unnatural state of constant happiness. I should try to be more like her, seeing the good in all around her and not paying any attention to the sad things; trying to push them away and ignore them, maybe even learn from them and then just cast them aside, not looking back or trying to reflect on them.
In a way Tohru was a flower; a human flower. She was bright and happy, but if she was neglected or people refused to tell her what was on their mind she would wilt, feeling left out and alone and thinking maybe she had done something wrong to deserve neglect.
That was it! A flower, I think if I got Tohru a bouquet or something and then get her a better gift later she wouldn't mind, and then Yuki wouldn't try to irritate me by constantly reminding me of the time I forgot to get Tohru a birthday present.
I looked around near the vegetable and just as I expected. Yuki had also planted a little flower garden nearby. I did not know much about flowers but I didn't need to be a rocket scientist to see that these weren't ordinary flowers. You know, the kind where you shove the seeds in the mud and they begin growing the next day.
I grabbed a couple of the healthiest ones and pulled, yanking them out by their roots, hoping that the mud was soft enough for them to just get pulled out. I grinned in triumph until I realised that the petals were already falling out.
I began to curse the plants and their fragility. So I knelt down in the mud and carefully dug around the plant until I managed to get one of the flowers out of the ground in which it was firmly rooted. Once it was out and safely laid on the ground at my feet I flipped open my cell phone, I was out in the open now, so I should have some reception. I called Yuki hoping that his phone was charged and nearby him.
Thankfully, it was.
"Hello?"
"It's me. How much longer till the party starts?"
"It's started, Uo and Hana decided to start it at about four thirty. You're already half an hour late. Where are you?"
"Uhh at the flower shop." I didn't want to tell him I was at his garden in case he decided to kill me.
"Get her something more creative than flowers you asshole. And just make sure that you have a gift, because I'm getting annoyed with you always letting her down, you forgot to see her concert and you keep forgetting to walk her home from her job. I think you don't appreciate Tohru very much."
Now I was strangling the air in front of me; imagining Yuki's neck was where my hand was squeezing. I don't think he would mind if he lost one flower.
"Just tell her I'm running late because I'm at Ecko's place."
I quickly hung up and looked at the flower at my feet. I carefully placed it in the back pocket of my jeans and then decided against it. I held the stem cautiously in my hand and ran as fast as I could back to the house.
To be honest I had no idea where I was going, so when I ended up on the footpath to the nearest shopping centre I screamed in rage. Why now? All I wanted was to go home and get to Tohru's party on time! Why did things like this keep happening to me?
Just as I was about to head back towards the forest a black car pulled up beside me and a tinted window rolled down, only for me to see Hatori. He offered me a ride to the party.
He looked at me in my muddy state through the rear view mirror but did not say anymore. We spent the entire three minute car journey in total silence until Shigure began to speak.
"That's your gift for Tohru?" I nodded.
"It's a good looking flower, looks pretty rare if you ask me."
I shrugged, not really in the mood for conversation.
He gave me an unnatural smile and turned off the ignition and got out of the car.
I kicked off my shoes and entered the family room only to find Tohru, Yuki and Shigure packing up.
I looked around in confusion.
"What! The party's over already?"
Tohru nodded. "I'm sorry you couldn't come, I should have chosen a better time, a time where everyone would have been able to come. Oh, yeah, how was Ecko?"
Huh? What was she on about? Oh yeah, Ecko, I was supposed to be at his place, obviously Yuki told her what I said.
"Did you finally decide to get a tattoo of a goldfish?" Huh? I looked at Yuki and watched as he tried to suppress his laughter. Oh yeah, real mature, everyone knew that Tohru was really innocent, so innocent she was almost considered gullible.
"Uh, no, I decided not to get a tattoo at all." Oh yes, Yuki was going to pay for his immature pranks…I would never stoop so low as to play jokes, so a couple of slugs in his school shoes sounded like a good comeback to his lie.
"Oh, well, would you like some tea or maybe cake?" She held out a plate which what resembled a cake after a bomb had exploded in it.
"Uh, is that even valid enough to be called a cake?"
She gave a sheepish smile. "I guess not, I don't think we should have let Momiji get to the cake first… But I'm sure it's still edible."
I didn't really want to eat that cake anymore. I knew I had to give her the flower but that stupid Yuki was still in the room, he was mocking me! I knew he was, even though he was wiping down the table I could tell that deep down inside that stupid moron was laughing at me.
"Tohru, I have a present for you." She turned from the table and grinned.
"Oh really? Wow! That's so thoughtful of you Kyo!" She beamed at me expectantly.
Suddenly I felt like the worlds biggest shithead. Even more of a shithead than Yami, this was as I had said before the world's kindest, most caring and thoughtful person and it was her birthday. All I had got her some stingy flower I dug up from a vegetable patch in the middle of my uncle's forest.
Yes, I really was a shithead.
I held out the flower to her and looked away. I really didn't want to see her disappointed; little did I know that she was a flower connoisseur.
"I can't believe it! This is an African Swan Rose! These things are very expensive! I can easily make this one drop seeds and then regrow it just outside in the garden! Oh Yuki! Isn't it wonderful?"
Yuki looked at the rose and glared at me. "I would just like to know where he got it from…" Oh crap, he guessed that I dug it up from his garden.
"I ordered it over the Internet, you know, I didn't find it lying around or anything."
Tohru nodded. "Of course not, these things are expensive!"
She came back with a water filled vase, placed the flower in the vase, hugged me (A/N kyo gopoof) and then fainted.
I would have shouted at her for turning me into a cat… but…She was unconscious… It would make no sense what so ever.
Yuki, on the other hand looked at the flower and then at me, his face seeming to have electric sparks running all over it in his anger.
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?"
"You know, that little vegetable patch in the forest…"
Oh shit…
…I was in trouble…
Later-
I was now nursing a broken arm and a split lip; courtesy of Yuki.
Tohru was fussing over the plant; measuring out how much water and all that stuff. Yuki was helping her and after explaining how to take care of them ( since it really was his plant) he left the room.
Tohru sat down and crawled over to me until we were sitting so much our shoulders were almost touching.
"Kyo, I just want to thank you, this is the best present I've ever been given."
"You say that about every present you get."
"No! But this time I mean it! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"It's okay, really…"
"I'll get you another gift, because to me, a flower isn't worth much."
Damn! I was blushing! I knew it! But for some reason, so was Tohru...
"Kyo, could you do me a favour? I mean, for a gift?"
"Yeah sure, what is it?"
"My first kiss."
Seriously…. Would you say no to that?
That's all, just an English project that I thought could be fruits basket-ified. But i'm contemplating continuing it and making it a Kyoru fic...
LoL
Anyway, plz review!
