I'm still working on Straight Lines, so here's something to distract my brain from all the darkness and woe with more darkness and woe. Enjoy. This takes place shortly before the end of the manga (not the anime). A note: I draw characters' eye and hair colors from the MANGA, not the anime. The manga came first, so I go by it. Let's do this.
I do not own Fruits Baskets.
Part I: Graduation
There was a scandal about the valedictorian. Traditionally, the student with the highest exam scores would read the stuffy, pompous masterpiece that had saluted students on their way out for the last thirty years. It was either an honor or a farce, depending on who you listened to. In Sohma Yuki's case, it was a humiliation.
He hadn't gotten the highest scores on the exams. That was fine. His scores took him to where he wanted to go, which was far, far away. Far, far away from his idiot cousins and maybe, if he went far enough, away from himself. He thought he was an idiot too. But somehow, people were still convinced that he was the paragon of humanity, an utter perfection. Besides, when the newspapers took pictures of the ceremony for the local news, wouldn't the Prince Charming be the perfect poster valedictorian? Thus, the frankly horrific, bloated monstrosity of a graduation speech was pried from the sweaty palms of Ichiban-san and pushed into Yuki's chest.
Chapter One:
He stared in the mirror, wishing he was drunk. Drunk or struck down by the Plague. But no, it was manifest that Sohma Yuki would look as beautiful as he did for the day he would graduate and make himself look like a complete asshole in front of his peers and, more importantly, Honda-san. She'd been Tohru since December, but as graduation drew near and his impending departure - escape - loomed, he tried to think of her as something less personal. Farther and farther away. He rubbed hair away from his eyes, groaning at his reflection. Well, at least you weren't allowed to smile during a graduation ceremony. He wouldn't have to pretend to do that.
The silver-haired teen turned his attention to his bed, which was dominated by a hulking monolith of a duffel bag. In it was everything he wanted to take with him and relatively nothing he needed. That would be defeating the purpose of escaping. He hesitated, feeling his will weaken as his gaze bore holes into the dresser next to his bed. Maybe one thing, one thing to steal away with him. He slipped his hand into the drawer and pulled it out, feeling relief spread through his body as it settled in his hand. He was opening up the duffel to tuck it inside when Tohru knocked on his door, calling, "Yuki-kun! We have to leave soon." Kyo added, his voice muffled, "Don't spend too much time on your hair, Pretty Boy."
Yuki crushed it in his hand, actually hearing his heart break as it was deformed in his fist. Striding to the door, he stuffed it into his uniform's pocket. He opened the door and said to the brunette waiting for him, "I'm ready to go."
She smiled, sweet face tipped up to his, brown hair brushed away from her face and held back by a sparkly clip left over from her childhood. Tohru was opening her mouth to point out that his tie was undone when she discovered that it wasn't. Her hands, already in the act of rising to his collar, went limp and seemed to die, falling back to her sides. For a moment, Yuki could tell she knew. She took a breath that seemed to suck in the dead air between them, then smiled again. She said, already beginning to head back down the hallway to the stairs, "Well then, let's go. We can't let the valedictorian be late."
He followed her down the stairs and watched silently as she and Kyo put on their shoes at the door, the cat's hand covering hers protectively. He watched them stand, Tohru scrutinizing Kyo's uniform for lint or wrinkles. She had convinced him to wear his collar buttoned properly, his tie straight and tight. Kyo said something funny, her face lighting up as she laughed. She went on tip-toes to whisper something in his ear.
Yuki was going to go far, far away. He would accept the goddamn truth, read the ostentatious speech he had been awarded by eclipsing a deserving classmate for the adoring masses, let his eyes glaze over with the gratitude that finally, finally, it would be over.
Tohru and Kyo, still holding hands, stepped out into the frothy light of a spring morning. Pastels washed around them, saturating the turquoise sky and promising great things. The brunette spun in a circle, arms out as if to embrace that technicolor sky. Kyo said, "What're you doing?"
"Rejoicing."
Unlike Yuki, who seemed to let words sink into him slowly, broth seeping into bread, Kyo seemed to chew on words. He did so now, rolling it around, tasting the implications, mashing it. He replied, grinning, "I guess it's something worth celebrating, grown' up." She took his hand and lifted it with hers to the sky. "It looks like you can touch it." He laughed and let their arms drop, orange hair setting the world on fire. He glanced over his shoulder back at the house, asking, "What d'you think that rat's doin', putting in curlers?"
"He's doing something important," Tohru replied, not really knowing why she was defending Yuki-kun when he was, when he was… She continued, "Probably packing up one last thing before we have to go."
Kyo sniffed, shrugged, and turned in the direction they would have to walk to get to school. "Well," he said, "we have to go. Let him be late if he wants to be."
Tohru thought about waiting, really. But the candy-striped world around her opened its arms and welcomed her into its embrace. The brunette caught up with Kyo and took his hand, swinging it absentmindedly before he yanked it away, face red. And it was that, him shaking his hand from hers, that changed their future. If Kyo had held her hand, Tohru would have never looked back.
She would have never seen Yuki standing in the house's doorway, chest simply caved in where his heart used to be.
Then Kyo said, "C'mon, Tohru, we'll really be late." And he was gone.
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The principal was finishing up his speech, concluding his usual tirade against the delinquency of the modern age with an optimistic note about the class graduating. This was to be expected. The man nodded his head in what he supposed was a sagacious nod, the nod of a scholar, but rather looked like he was ducking a wasp. Then he stepped away from the podium and gestured to stage right. "And here is your fellow classmate and student body president Sohma Yuki for final remarks."
Well, at least that introduction make it sound somewhat acceptable. He strode out onto the stage, shaking hands with the headmaster before standing before the podium. He looked like a model student. Handsome, clever, uniform perfectly straight and pressed. Bullshit. He looked down at his hands, then at the photocopied speech he was supposed to read. In his mind, he could hear himself saying it. As spring is upon us, our time at this school ends. Just as blossoms have bloomed on the trees around us, we too must leave this place with hope in our hearts… The light from the stage around him seemed to blanch out the words on the page. He tried to look out into the students to find Tohru, but it was so bright the audience was left in darkness.
Fine, if not the Plague, then perhaps lightning? The gymnasium had fallen silent. Everyone was patiently waiting for him to confirm how much of a charade the whole ordeal was. He opened his mouth. As spring is upon us, our time at this school ends. Just as blossoms have bloomed on the trees around, we too must leave this place with hope in our hearts… Absolutely nothing. Now the page seemed to shake. Yuki sucked in a breath and leaned forward on the podium, wishing that the lights would go away and the page would stop moving quite so much. Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of light form the hidden audience. Tohru's hair clip. Everything seemed to settle back into a flat line and he stood properly, his back rigid. His hand snuck into his pocket and clasped the totem there, feeling it crackle even more against his touch. By the end of the speech, it would probably be completely ruined. But just as the blossoms have bloomed on the trees around us, we too must leave this place with hope in our hearts.
Yuki opened his mouth again and delivered the speech.
So, here's how this is going to work. There are three parts, the first being Graduation. I'll tell you the names of the parts as we get to them, but for now I'll keep them secret, just to annoy y'all. Each part will have three chapters, mostly because it's the school year and I am only thinking in bursts of about 1500 words at a time. So yes, they're short, but in the end you'll have a three-part story with about 15000 words or so under its belt. So have patience with me. Lots of love to returning readers and welcome mats to new ones!
