Hi there reader!

Leaf here and I've got a new story for you

I know, I know I have other stories to update and I'm definitely working on those

but this story is special

a Christmas special to be exact

and it's been in the making for about... 2 years

Yup it got postponed a couple times

Anyway! I wrote this story with a good friend of mine WarriorSeadra

You should definitely go check out his stories too!

For warning this is an OC centric story so there won't be any familiar characters

WarriorSeadra wrote all of Hitsuji's lines and PoV and I did Takako's

lastly I nor WarriorSeadra own Fruists Baskets just so you know

without further ado

ENJOY!

Chapter 1

Punishment

"This is your fault!" I stop cleaning to scold Takako. I'm still here on the last day before break cleaning the classroom because of her.

"I didn't do it on purpose, Hitsuji!" she defends while wiping the blackboard.

"Then why'd you break the vase? We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you!" She is such a klutz. I look at Takako a bit longer before returning to wiping the tables.

"It was an accident. Something tripped me!"

…..

"No, you were only supposed to move three spaces." Takako informed me as we walk to class from lunch.

"I drew a card saying 'go an extra space' for a total of four."

"Liar~!"

"I won. Quit being a sore loser."

"You cheated."

"I did not!" I retorted while opening the art classroom's door.

Takako walked forward, but freezes within the door frame. Peeking over her shoulder, I see a bunch of students crowding the way inside. I stepped forward and take Takako's hand to lead her through the crowd. How troublesome. We'd change into animals if anyone gets too close.

Takako must be feeling pretty relaxed now. She's still arguing, "I would have won if- wahhhh!"

"He-hey, what are you doing?" I cried as she comes crashing into me.

Oh no, sensei's vase! I caught it with my arms, but with Takako pushing me forward, I couldn't stop.

The vase shattered within my arms as it hit floor. I grunted as the shards dug into my arms. Still, I managed to keep my face from falling onto them. Finally, to Takako who clinged to my back.

"What is wrong with you?"

Takako sat up on my back and snapped, "It's your fault for being in the way!"

"Yeah, well now the vase is broken!"

"Look, Takako is being bold! The clumsy slut." a female classmate commented on the scene.

Various snickering followed from some of our other classmates as well.

"Will you just get off of me already!" I tried to push up with my hands, but it was too painful.

"Well if you weren't so comfortable, I wouldn't want to sit on you all day." Her sarcasm sucks.

We got up and continued arguing. I don't even remember when sensei entered the classroom. Apparently he repeated himself a few times before we noticed him.

"What happened here?" We finally heard Sensei. His firm voice hide his fury.

"Sensei," a classmate called, "Takako and Hitsuji broke the vase."

"I had nothing to do with it!"

"Really? You should have done a better job catching it!" Takako snapped back.

"Stop arguing this instant!" Sensei commanded with his irritation rising. "Now who broke the vase?"

His anger easily regained our attention.

We point at each other, "She/He did!"

Sensei sighed. That was it for us, his patience snapped.

"Both of you, see me after school."

Not only did he give us an hour lecture, but he's having us clean the art room. Seriously, it was just a vase. There are so many other things I could be doing!

Takako mumbles "This is so unfair..." as she finishes washing the black board.

"Oh, whatever..." I say more to myself than her in resignation.

With the table tops clean, I grab a chair to put on the desk. The loud clang from dropping the chair masks my gasp. I force my grimace into a annoyed look before Takako can see it.

Sure enough, she walks up to me, saying, "You know, I knew you were a weakling, but I didn't realize you couldn't even pick chairs up on your own."

"Just shut up!" I turn away as she picks up my dropped chair.

"Hey, come on. It was only a joke." She's disappointed, but I don't care.

"Funny." I respond walking to different row of chairs.

"Okay, what's wrong? You usually have more fight in you." she states.

Uh, I'm not even looking at her, but I can picture her expression. She's narrowing her eyes and sticking out her lip like she always does when something bothers her.

"I'm sorry." I sarcastically apologize while grabbing the next chair.

"I just love picking chairs up. I definitely don't have anything better to do."

I flip the chair over and slam it onto the desk. The anger on my face overshadows the pain from my arms. That same anger forces me face Takako again.

"I know you do..." Takako trails off as she notices something on the chair.

She leans towards it and sniffs.

She jumps and points a finger at me, "Hey, this is blood! You're bleeding!"

...Did she really have to sniff it? Her action stops my thought process. I'm not even angry anymore. I flip another chair with a sigh.

"Why would I be bleeding?" I sneak a look at the chair to make sure there's no stain left on it.

"Oh ya' know… Maybe because… you fell on the sharp, broken, vase shards!" Her eyes widen as she remembers me falling on them, "You can't hide things from me, Hitsuji."

I was doing pretty well up until now…

"Relax, I am fine." This isn't something I want to concern her with.

"You're a bad liar, too."

"Just leave me alone already! You're the reason we're in this mess anyway!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Takako cries.

"Look- I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I'm so clumsy, I'm sorry I fell on you, and I'm sorry you got dragged into my mess!"

With a huff, Takako turns away. A sniffle escapes her as she tries to suppress her trembling. Great, now look at what I did. Just what am I mad about? Myself? Does getting hurt bother me that much? No, but I am angry at myself. Getting hurt made me lose my composure in front of the entire class.

I slipped up and let everyone see me. More than that, I'm still letting others see me. With a sigh, I walk up to her and take her wrist.

I whisper into her ear, "I know. If you say it's an accident, then I believe you. Let's just finish cleaning the classroom already."

Takako shakes her head "No, you're going to the nurse's office."

"Look, I'm fine." I respond.

I release her and hold up a pair of bloody hands.

Her wrist is covered in blood, "Maybe I should change my bandages…"

"Come on." Takako expression softens, "I'll come with you."

"You might want to wash the blood off your wrist, first."

"Don't worry, I'll wash it off later." Takako takes my hand and leads me out of the room. "Let's get you all fixed up."

So whaddya think?

I hope you liked it!

I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope to do more co-written stories in future

Thanks for reading if you have any questions, suggestions or just wanna chat send in a review or PM me and hit WarriorSeadra up too, send him your love!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year!