Author's note: This is my first fanfiction, and I actually think it's pretty good. Don't be deterred by the M rating; it's really just the characters backstories and some language that call for it. If you think about it, Fruits Basket would be rated M on this first few chapters might be kind of slow, but it will speed up.
Enjoy!
Prologue
The crowd pushes on him incessantly as he struggles forward towards the departing subway car; the little boy with dark blue hair. The lights are flashing and he knows the car will leave soon. Fear of being left behind propels him further and further forward, as fast as he can. But it is not fast enough, the train pulls away from the station right as he nears it, and he is left screaming at the empty tracks. The people surrounding him shush him, not understanding the situation.
As he watches the subway ride farther and farther away, a deep fear growing stronger in his stomach every second, a thousand thoughts flash through his mind.
Now I'm alone.
I don't know how to get home.
Do they know I was left behind?
Breathing deep four year old breaths, he tries to calm himself, and remind himself what he was always told to do if he got lost.
Go find a police officer. Or a nice lady with children. Don't talk to anyone else.
Regaining some iota of composition, he begins to turn away, searching for a blue uniform.
He sees one, running towards the tracks, right after he hears a loud explosion and feels a wave of heat behind him. Down the tunnel, the subway train is in flames.
"Did you see that?"
"What happened?"
"I think it collided with another one!"
"Now I'm definitely going to be late."
"We have to get out of here!"
He's deaf to the comments though. All of his attention is focused on the blazing ball of twisted metal just barely visible down the metro tracks.
Mom. Dad.
A bag is dropped at her feet.
"Get out."
She stares up in numb shock at her mother's eyes. As usual, they are calculating, deciding what actions would produce the best results. A businesslike, cold, computing mind, with no room for emotions. No room for mistakes. Not like her.
"You've disgraced me to the point of no redemption. Get out. I won't have you around anymore." Her lips are pulled up in a snarl. The girl knows that nothing she says would change her mind; her mother has no heartstrings to pull on. It is most reasonable to cut the girl out. Therefore, that is what she will do.
Seeing her still standing there, the mother take an angry step forward. "Get out! Take your crappy HSA scores and cigarettes too! Get out you little whore!
Suddenly, a fire spreads throughout the girl's body. She grabs the bag, not really caring what's in it, and runs out the door, leaving her mother's critical remarks about her less than perfect track record behind her.
Running and running, there seems like no reason she should ever stop. The sky is a monochrome grey, painting the world in mute colors. Her breath comes faster and faster, her muscles ache, but she keeps going, certain that she needs to get somewhere, but without an idea of where that somewhere is. Whipping her head up, she's surprised by the sight of a white haired boy jogging towards her. She slows down and he speeds to meet her.
"What the heck are you doing running around like this?" He asks. She tries to pant out an answer, but only winds up choking on her own breath. Raising an eyebrow, he reaches out and steadies her, holding her hands in his own.
Looking up into mismatched blue and green eyes, the girl feels something inside her. A feeling? A reaction? Spitting words out between gasps, she manages to say " She…Kicked me out…"
He blows out a puff of air and pulls her into him with one arm, holding tightly around her waist. "I guess that was gonna happen sooner or later." he speaks nonchalantly, as if trying to blow the memory away by making it seem minor. "Just stay with me, huh?" She feels the numbness pile back onto her, followed by a hesitant bit of calm. Remembering that she had them, she pulls out the cigarettes she had been holding onto for him and hands one upwards. Watching him stand there with her, blowing out smoke as if all his troubles would go with it, and then leaning down and kissing her fervently with lips tasting of ash, she thinks.
Is this where I was trying to get to?
Chapter One: Setting
The boy strolls into the classroom just as the bell rings. Setting his books down he gazes around the spacious teaching space which is different room his class's usual room. For some reason, a sign directed the class here today.
He is in one of the many buildings of Arden University for Arts and Sciences, a college specializing in a remarkable number of fields. Rocket engineers and sculptors alike earned degrees here, and anyone who exited the school was bound to be one of the best and brightest in their chosen career. In fact, Arden University was well-renounced as a mass producer of useful and prosperous young people.
A pile of books is plopped down next to him and a familiar pink-haired girl takes the corresponding seat. "Good Morning Kaito" she exhales.
"Morning Luka. Any idea why we're in here?" They were only a month into their 3rd school year, giving the schedule and placement of their classes the possibility to be sporadic, but all the same, they had only ever met in their designated room. The girl shakes her head.
"No clue. Hope it's not something big." She lends her elbows on the table and puts her head in her hands. "I am so not in the mood."
Kaito chuckles. "When are you ever?" Giving him a glare, she pulls out an MP3 player, popping the earphones in and deciding to ignore him until the class starts. Disregarding her obvious antisocial behavior, he leans forward and surveys her choice of music. "Ah, our old childhood friend" he murmurs after observing the face on the album of the song. Her face turns red. "I should have known you'd be listening to Gakupo."
"The album was on sale! He's just popular-" Luckily, she is saved from justifying her actions by two professors striding in and calling everyone to attention. Luka quickly pulls out her earphones and sticks the music device back into her bag.
"Good morning classes" Luka and Kaito's teacher starts. Surprised by the plural, Kaito glances around and notices that indeed, there seems to be another class mingling with his own. "As you may have noticed, we are not in our usual place today." Murmurs circulate around the room at this obvious statement. "We needed a room with enough space to hold two classes, because as of now we will be working on a partner project."
Conversations begin to buzz as to what the project could entail, some friends calling out to each other across the room, claiming each other as partners. Before the classes erupted in utter chaos however, the other teacher claps and speaks up. "Don't get ahead of yourselves; we already have you all divided out. Besides, you don't even know what the project is yet." Curses and utters of disappointment flow openly out of mouths and students seat themselves again. All the while, next to Kaito, Luka's face has reached the tabletop out of sheer gloom that her hunch had been correct, and that they were about to get a ton of work dumped on them.
"The two classes here today are the advanced architecture class and the graphics design class. You will be in groups of two, one person from each class." Kaito sighed. So there wasn't even the chance he was going to be with Luka or any of his other classmates then. He'd probably be paired up with a total stranger. "We want you two to work together and design a house. The specifications are on the sheet we will hand out to you soon, but other than that use your complete imagination. The blueprint should be planned out by the architect, and the digital artist should design a 3-D model of the house on the computer." The professor picked up a sheet of paper and began assigning partners.
Kaito sat there rather dully as one by one people stood and glanced over to be acquainted with their coworker. Luka gave a slight grimace when she was assigned to a kid who looked like he knew absolutely what he was supposed to be doing, meaning, a nerd. Kaito just smiled and wished her the best of luck.
"Kaito Shion." He stands up. The professor notes his position and reads the name listed next to his. "Miku Hatsune." A quiet scraping sound comes from behind Kaito and he glances over his shoulder at the small girl getting up from her chair.
A pale and tiny thing she looked, with teal twin pigtails that fell down to her mid-back. Wide blue eyes that held traces of disquiet were shadowed by light grey circles which seemed to be further enhanced by the studio lighting. Although it was only October, she was dressed as if preparing for an Artic storm, with clothes covering practically every inch of skin below her neckline except for her fingers.
So perhaps they weren't total strangers – they'd been in a few math and English classes together – but all the same, they weren't exactly familiar with one another. Kaito smiled friendlily at her, trying to ease the tension that suddenly seemed to gather between them, and she raised one hand slightly in a half-hearted wave before sitting down again. He quickly followed suit.
The teachers went on for a little longer about the assignment before turning them loose for the last few minutes to begin discussing things with their partners. Turning around, Kaito noticed that Miku had not moved. She was still sitting there quietly, looking over the handout. Deciding to take the lead Kaito walked over and leaned one hand on the table. "Hello, Miku right?"
The girl jumped a little and slowly turned her head up, nodding. He continued "I'm Kaito. I think we had a few classes together last year, am I right?"
A nod again. "Yes, I remember." Her words are so soft that he can barely hear her. To better promote conversation, he sits down on his knees, now at about eye level with the seated girl, who tenses up almost unnoticeably every time he moves. They are silent for a moment.
"So, I make a plan and you bring it to life?" He questions.
"…I suppose that would be a way to put it."
Somehow Kaito is beginning to sense that the girl is not a dialogue master. "Do you have any kind of house in mind?"
"Two story, and not square." She surprises him with a quick answer, although her voice is even quieter than before. "Windows."
"Two stories, irregular, and lots of windows?" Kaito repeats, a little confused on how she pulled that image out of her head so clearly. She gives another small nod again and the bell rings. "Alright," he says, standing. "I'll see what I can do."
A girl with goggles pulled over her forehead bounces over to Miku and chirps that it's time to go. Kaito seems to remember her name as Gumi Megapoid; also a graphic designer. She must be a friend of Miku's.
"I'll show you what I have in a few days," I call after her as she leaves "at lunch." The nod which seems to be her default for every response is used again and she strides out the door, blue-green twin-tails flowing slightly behind her.