A/N: Just a little Fruits Basket fic I tried to write forever ago lol. D: It's all ancient so... Forgive any mistakes, please. -bow bow-
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Six thirty. Time to get up. A bleary-eyed Yuki Sohma rolled over and wearily hit the snooze button on his alarm clock, shutting off the incessant beeping that indicated that the time for sleep was over.
Five minutes later, the half-awake, messily-dressed adolescent stumbled downstairs and into the kitchen of the spacious house, where he was greeted with the familiar scent of freshly-cooked breakfast and the welcome sound of a cheerful voice wishing him good morning.
"Sohma-kun! You're up early today!" Tohru Honda -- the only female resident of Shigure Sohma's household and its unofficial maid, cook, and cleaner -- grinned cheerfully as she juggled a basket piled high with freshly-dried laundry in her slim arms.
"Am I?" Ever-chivalrous despite his dazed state, Yuki stepped forward and took the cumbersome load from the brown-haired girl. "Good morning, Tohru-kun. Let me help you with that."
"Oh, but you don't need to--!" Biting off the protest, Tohru blushed and followed her purple-haired friend as he carried the basket effortlessly towards the room where she did most of the folding the house's laundry required. "Thank you, Yuki-kun."
"It's nothing. Just show me where to set this down." After setting the laundry out of the way, the two walked back towards the kitchen together.
"So, Sohma-kun, don't you have a Student Council meeting today?"
"Ah, yes. We have to discuss the upcoming field trip. Which reminds me -- I have to get to school early and organize some things before class." Yuki stifled a yawn, rubbing his eyes with pale, slim fingers. The handsome boy was the farthest thing possible from a morning person -- a fact well known to those who lived around him. He was known to sleepwalk in the mornings, without any clue of what was going on around him, until someone broke through his daze and woke him up.
Tohru observed the signs of his tiredness sympathetically. Sohma-kun is so dedicated! He gets up early, even though he hates mornings, just so he can fulfill his duties as Class President. "I see. So, will you be wanting break--?"
"Shiguuuuuureeeeee!!"
A furious shout interrupted Tohru's question.
"Come, come, Kyo-kun, let's not get violent. My house has endured enough pain without you adding to its misery."
The sight that met Tohru and Yuki's eyes was one that was surprisingly not all that…surprising. Kyo Sohma -- an orange-haired, angry-looking teenager of the same age as Tohru and Yuki -- stormed furiously into the kitchen. He was following Shigure Sohma -- the "adult" member of the household. The mischief-loving novelist nonchalantly waved off Kyo's angry complaints.
"Besides, there's nothing I can do about it. The application has already been turned in, and I can't take it back now."
Tohru frowned in worry over her friend's upset state. "What is it, Kyo-kun? What's wrong?"
"'What's wrong?' I'll tell you what's wrong! What's wrong is that this idiotic excuse for an adult signed me up for some stupid talent competition!!" He paused to glare expressively at the older Sohma. "What on earth am I supposed to do at a talent contest, huh?"
"Oh, b-but Kyo-kun, I think you're very talented!" Always the first to find the good in others -- this was Tohru Honda. And, judging by the serious crease of her brow and the feeling put into her words, she meant every bit of it.
Kyo blushed and looked away, angrily muttering to cover up his embarrassment. "Yeah, well, what do you know, anyway?"
From where he was sitting at the table, Yuki gave Kyo a sharp glare and spoke up in a voice that was quiet, but full of something close to but not quite anger. "Don't take your inadequacies out on Honda-kun, you idiot cat. If you're so worried about it, just pull out of the competition. I don't see what the big deal is." Having said his piece, he calmly began to munch on a bowl of rice, one of four that were set out on the table.
The orange-haired adolescent twitched with fury at Yuki's disdainful attitude. He clenched his jaw, and doubtless would have launched into a shouted speech involving many references to the phrases "damn rat" and "high and mighty" and "superior attitude" and probably "pretty boy" and "girly man" and other such insulting terms, but Shigure -- who had taken a seat at the low table -- beat him to the punch.
"Oh, haha, didn't I tell you? Yuki-kun is signed up, too."
There was a loud choking noise from Yuki's direction, as the rice he'd been in the process of swallowing momentarily obstructed his flow of air. After recovering himself, he glared incredulously at his black-haired relative. "What?!"
Kyo grinned triumphantly. "Hah! Serves you right, you damn rat! Not so cool and collected now, are ya? Bwahahaha!" You could almost track the thoughts filling his orange-haired head. A talent competition was, after all, a competition. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all, if it meant another chance to beat the rat…
If looks could kill, Yuki's would have become a murderer at that moment.
Shigure wagged his chopsticks at the pair of them. "Now, now, you two, stop acting like such children." He placed a clump of rice in his mouth and spoke while he chewed. "Besides, that's no way to treat your partner. Really." Shaking his head in a superior manner, he took another bite of rice.
Yuki twitched.
A vein pulsed on Kyo's forehead.
Tohru wore a dazed look as she looked on with concern and confusion. "Uh… uh… partners? You mean…" Still confused, she looked from Yuki to Kyo and began to put two and two together. "Shigure-san, does that mean that they're working on a…team?"
"Exactly!" Seemingly unaware of the painful fate that was imminent if he continued to speak, the mischievous adult carried on. "It's a talent contest where you have to sign up in pairs. So, of course, upon learning of the event, my first thought was to sign up our beloved Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun! After all, they just get along so well; it's like they were made to be on a team! Here…" He paused, placing a hand inside his kimono and pulling out a green sheet of paper. "…would you like to read the flyer Aya provided, Tohru-kun?"
Tohru accepted the colorful advertisement, but did not read it over, for she was currently occupied with staring in horror at the figures who loomed ominously over Shigure. "Uh… uh… Yuki-kun…? Kyo…kun?"
"Shigure. I'm going to strangle you."
It was a rare occasion indeed when the two Sohma teens agreed on anything. This was one such occasion.
It was a good thing Shigure's house was on such a large property, secluded in the woods as it was.
Otherwise, the racket would surely have merited a call to the police by the frightened neighbors.