Author's Note: Hey! This'll be both my first Fruits Basket story here and my first chaptered story here, so I'm rather excited! In case you're wondering, then yes, the pairing really is KyoxHanajima. Eventually you'll see my logic. Or not. Anyways, without further ado, on to the story!
Love Works in Mysterious Waves
Chapter One
"DAMN RAT!! GET BACK HERE!!"
"Idiot. You're going to destroy the house."
"OW!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YUKI!!"
Sohma Shigure sighed, typing in the final line—most likely something the other three residing in the house would be disgusted by—in chapter two of his newest novel, Sinful Love. It wasn't in Shigure's nature to take sides, but Yuki was right—they really were going to destroy to house. And that meant the only adult (using the term loosely) in the house would be forced to pay for the damage. Oh, woe…
"Er… Sh-Shigure-san, should we stop them?" asked a nervous-looking girl sitting in the chair opposite Shigure's desk. "It looks like Kyo-san is hurt…"
"SHUT UP!! HE HASN'T EVEN MADE ME BREAK A SWEAT!!"
Tohru gulped, raising a hand to her mouth as if to obey Kyo's request and keep herself silent. "Kyon-Kyon, be nice. I'm beginning to question your flirting tactics…" murmured Shigure, adjusting his glasses. "She's new here, after all. Show some hospitality."
"I AM NOT FLIRTING AND--AGH!!" A fierce punch hit home right in the middle of his forehead, and Kyo was thrown backwards, narrowly missing Shigure's pride-and-joy glass vase. The part-time dog let out a sigh of relief. "A-And Tohru's been here longer than I have…" he finished, a good amount of the fight blown out of him.
"Hmph. Stupid cat." Not even pausing to check the (poor) status of the surrounding furniture, Yuki half-walked, half-sauntered up the stairs, his head held high as usual.
"Dammit, you cocky, pretty-boy rat…" snarled Kyo, the pain in his head momentarily pushed aside by his anger. Tohru silently rushed towards the kitchen to get a towel and some water for the hotheaded teenager's wound.
"Kyon-Kyon. You nearly broke my vase. Calm down." ordered Shigure with as much sternness as he could muster. "You're going to school tomorrow anyways, and if you get into a fight there, you'll get in trouble."
"I DON'T CARE!!" roared Kyo, startling Tohru as she attempted to place the wet towel on his now-swelling forehead. "I'm going to beat that damn rat, and I'll beat anyone who tries to get in my way, too!"
"Ooh. Tough words coming from little Kyon-Kyon."
"SHUT UP!!"
The next day, much to Yuki's before-the-fact embarrassment ("He's going to make a scene trying to fight me... Great.") and Kyo's protesting ("I'M NOT GOING TO SCHOOL WITH THAT DAMN RAT!!") all three high-schoolers made their way into room 2-E, where all hell was likely to break loose some time between the beginning of home room and 11:00, according to Shigure's prediction. Yuki led the way, trying his best to act as if he had no idea who Kyo was. Kyo followed, snarling various death threats and insults at him as Yuki tried his best to ignore them. Tohru trailed somewhere farther back, grinning broadly with oblivious cheerfulness, excited at going to school with two Sohmas, a first for her.
"Damn rat, I'm going to destroy at lunch today. I've been practicing. You haven't been practicing at all. I know that. I'm going to destroy you!"
"Shut up, sit down, and act like a civilized human being for once."
Still growling something under his breath, the almost-Zodiac made his way to a free desk near the back of the room. What he didn't know was that there was a reason most students abhorred the seat—it was in the direct view of the much-feared Saki Hanajima, known as the "Psychic Freak" by a majority of the high-schoolers (who were unskilled at giving nicknames) and "Just Stay Away" by the rest. However, she did have two friends, who were, at the moment, sitting on either side of her. Also staring with interest at Kyo were Arisa Uotani and Honda Tohru, known by the other students as "The Thug" and "The Eerily Happy Girl," respectively.
"So this is the new Sohma, huh?" murmured Uotani, cradling her prized lead pipe in her hands, "He doesn't look like that Yuki guy. For one, he's dyed his hair a ridiculous color."
"Oh, it isn't dyed, I think," replied Tohru, "It's his natural color. And he seems nice!"
"Everyone seems nice to you, dear. How do you know him? Did you talk to him on the way to school or something?"
"O-Oh, I…" Tohru frowned, realizing the mistake she had made. Though Uotani and Hanajima were her two closest friends, she hadn't told them about her new living arrangements quite yet—in fact, she hadn't even mentioned her days in the tent to them. "Er, yes… I did."
"Mm, okay…" Uotani could tell she was lying—hell, everyone could tell when Tohru was lying. She sweated like a pig and stuttered like a moron, though she was neither of those. Still, not wanting to push the fragile girl, Uotani decided it best to drop the subject.
"I sense strange waves from him. Funny, they're almost… feline…" Tohru nearly jumped out of her skin, and both of her friends turned to look at her with concern.
"Really?! That's strange! I've never noticed—I m-mean, I have, but I… n-no, wait, I h-haven't! H-Honest! He's n-not a c--… Um, er…"
"Don't hurt yourself, dear. What do you mean, Hanajima?"
"I'm… not entirely sure…" Hanajima frowned, closing her eyes in concentration. "It's… almost as if…"
"U-Um…!!" cried Tohru, once again nearly jumping out of her skin, "W-We've got ten minutes until class! I'll introduce you two. Kyo-saaan!"
Pausing from his strenuous cursing of Yuki under his breath, Kyo looked up to see the three girls staring at him. "Uh… Tohru-kun…?"
"Let me introduce you to my friends! See, this one…" She gestured erratically to Uotani, "This is Uo-chan! Uo-chan, meet Kyo-san! Kyo-san, meet Uo-chan!"
"Your hair looks idiotic. I really want to dye it black," growled Uotani bluntly.
As most of the Sohma family had already learned, Kyo's rage built fast. Particularly when he had been insulted. "SHUT UP, THUG!! I COULD BEAT YOU TO THE GROUND IN ONE MINUTE FLAT!!"
Luckily, the chatter had already escalated to the point where only a few students looked back at Kyo in alarm, Yuki included, but Uotani was not in any way nervous. Gripping her lead pipe fiercely, she rose from her chair, eyes shining. "And how much do you want to bet, Orangey?!"
"Uh—E-Eep!!" squeaked Tohru, rising to break up the potential brawl. This was not how she had planned the meeting of her beloved friends with her beloved cat. (In fact, she hadn't planned her beloved cat that way at all.) "K-Kyo-san! And, um… this is Hana-chan! Hana-chan, Kyo-san! Kyo-san, H-Hana-chan!" The last two sentences came out in a nervous squeal.
Seeing that she had upset Tohru, Uotani quickly sat back down, turning away from Kyo with a "Huh!" Kyo, however, was not so generous. "What, are you scared, thug?! Because you should be! I've been training for years! I can even beat Yuki!"
His final lie was drowned out, though it was much louder, by an innocent, though ominous, statement: "He's a cat."
Both Kyo and Yuki, who had been listening for the last few minutes of the conversation, jumped. Uotani and Hanajima, fortunately, didn't notice their odd reaction. They were too distracted by another rather strange reaction to a simple metaphorical statement. After Hanajima had murmured her verdict to herself, in fact, Tohru had fainted.
"Hm… that is rather strange. I'd recommend that she sit the rest of the day out of the classroom." Announced the school nurse as Yuki, Kyo, Hanajima, and Uotani stood over the bed where Tohru was lying, still unconscious. Casting a dubious glance at the four worried students, she added, "You four can go back to class, you know…"
"No," replied all four in unison. The nurse shrugged and went back to sit at her desk (which was really just a table with a surplus chair from one of the classrooms added).
"Oh, Tohru…" sang Hanajima in her usual sighing voice, "I wonder why you fainted like that…?"
"It's because you say stupid things, freak!" growled Kyo. He hadn't known Tohru for very long and had to admit her overly-cheerful attitude bugged him, so he was less angry about her reaction to Hanajima's statement than his own.
"What, about you being a cat…?" Hanajima placed her chin on one hand, humming slightly as she pondered the statement. "Well, you do act like one. Always giving off agitated waves when something doesn't go your way, just like Uotani-chan's cat. Besides, you give off feline waves. It is odd…"
"Hanajima, don't freak out Orangey. The real focus here is poor Tohru-chan…" reminded Uotani, switching quickly from thug-mode to mothering-mode. "She must be tired out. And you two…" She gestured towards the two Sohmas. "What are you doing here, anyways? Charming, I've only seen you talking to Tohru once or twice, and Orangey, I thought you guys just met!"
"Well… she…" began Yuki, flustered. If Tohru hadn't told who seemed to be her best friends about her living situations, surely she couldn't be happy with him doing so! "We've talked some on the way to school. And Kyo's my cousin; he follows me everywhere I go like a lost kitten…"
"WHAA!? THAT ISN'T TRUE, RAT!!"
Kyo immediately tensed, ready to start a fist-fight as Uotani and Hanajima quickly backed away until they got into a comfortable position to watch, but the nurse glanced their way and called, "Don't spill any blood on my floor. The janitor just cleaned it."
Such would never stop Kyo, but Yuki sighed and turned back to Tohru. Not to be outdone, Kyo ran over to mimic his protective stance. Hanajima stifled a sly giggles, and Uotani outright exploded into laughter. "Oh, he's a lost kitten, all right! Hahaha!! Hey Orangey, lost your collar? Oh, it's too much, heh!"
"STOP YOUR TAUNTING OR I'LL EAT YOU ALIVE, THUG!!"
"Ooh, that one was creative, eh, Orangey?"
"Idiot cat, people in the hallway are starting to stare…"
"Hey, I said no blood on my floor!!"
Hanajima was the only one to stay silent, not counting still-unconscious Tohru, of course. His catlike personality and identity as a bitchy lost kitten weren't enough to account for the catlike waves emanating off of him. Forgive me, Tohru-chan, she thought solemnly, But I must do some investigating on your newest friend…
