Hello all! This is my first fanfic and I am very nervous but excited to be publishing this! This is a shounen-ai fic eventually, so please be aware. In this fic, you will see some OOC - this is because the past of many of the characters are different, but please bear with me it will all be explained in future chapters! I hope that you enjoy it and please review below, with comments, questions, or corrections!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, regretfully. That belongs to Natsuki Takaya. But the story idea is my own.
The familiar hush of voices filled the corridor as Kyo made his way to class. His hands were tucked deep into the pockets of his black pants. He focused on his path ahead of him and the cheerful voice of his best friend, Tohru Honda, speaking beside him.
"There he is! Yes, that's the prince, right there." The whispers were something by now he had trained himself to drown out. It saved himself buckets of public embarrassment – not to mention, the squeals and twittering giggles of fan girls always ignite a blush and irritation across his face, something the school found to be his 'vulnerable face'.
"The homework was pretty difficult, wasn't it, Kyo?" Tohru fretted worriedly. "I'm pretty sure that I messed up those graph transformations." Kyo reassured her, "Aw, you always worry too much. I'm sure you did fine. Better than me, anyway."
A rude voice cut in at this point. "Of course she did. I doubt an idiot like you can beat anyone in something concerning brains."
Kyo turned, seeing the tall blonde looking down at him with her judgmental fire. He sighed. "Like you can do any better. And I'll have you know, my grades are just fine!" he flashed Uo a harsh glare. "Unlike some people I could mention." With a glance to the left, and only a slight flinch, he faced the black robed witch.
Her dark, concealed eyes seemed to see everything and nothing. It always made him nervous. "Yes, that is a relief to hear," Hana murmured. Her voice always held an air from another age, one where tradition and magic intermingled and blended. A blanket of silence, a peaceful and eerie pocket of time hovered over them after her words before lifting.
"Yeah, Hana, you could work on your own grades, Didn't the principal say that if you failed this set of exams as well, they'd add extra homework over winder break?" Uo criticized. The group began to walk leisurely towards the classroom. It was also a convenient barrier to guard Kyo from his always present fan club.
Hana's calm voice continued. "My parents say that they as well will got to the shrine twice as much as before to pray if I fail these midterms. It seems they fear for my future."
Tohru, as expected, chimed in with a frantic but kind rant. "If you really need help, Hana, let's study together! I'm sure we can bring your grade up!" Hana smiled warmly. "Thank you, Tohru."
The door slid open and they gathered into their usual corner of desks. The room was about half full at the moment. A couple of boys came to chat with Kyo, clapping him on the back. Kyo greeted them with a grin and laughed at the news they had about a couple of pranks the third years were doing above them this morning to the vice principal. Although, he did threaten to stick their fingers into the pencil sharpener if they called him Kyo-Kyo one more time.
The girls gathered – if they were unlucky enough to not be in Class 2-D – at the door, taking in their morning dose of the handsome and edgy Prince Kyo. He was said to be kind enough, but shy and not attention seeking. Add in a hint of added danger and it was the perfect mix.
Kyo never liked this – frankly it bothered him to no end. Who wouldn't be ashamed to be looked at with such expectant googly eye? There were worse things to be famous for though, so he didn't complain.
Other than the sighing girls, the snoring boys and Kyo, Tohru, and their friends was only the loner of Class 2-D. Without a doubt, it was the violet-haired nerd that always had his head down, reading or doing homework. If it was a solitary activity, it was fair game.
His hair was shaggy and always crazily tangled. It stuck out in different directions like a mosaic. Bangs hid the front of his face and his eyes, which held a pair of thick rimmed glasses and even thicker lenses.
The hair didn't suit him very well. Although it was definitely in style to have a messy, uncaring look, Yuki Ouma's hair had the idea that he had been mauled by a bear and afterward did not give any care to wash himself, leaving a dirty and grimy head of hair on top of what otherwise seemed to be a decent uniform.
Yuki pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before going back to writing in his math notebook. He had transferred in abruptly a couple of weeks ago. Although some had tried to befriend him, he'd been cold towards all of them, brushing the advances with single word responses.
Even in PE, he changed methodically, never looking up from the bottom of his locker. He tried only as much as he needed to pass the class and only stayed as long as required before moving to anywhere new. As much as Kyo knew, he wasn't in any clubs or had successfully made a single friend.
Even though Yuki was rude and reticent, he was intelligent though. Two days after he arrived, monthly exams began again. Although he didn't have to, Yuki took them. The school was shocked to see his name as first in the year on the rankings chart that day. Even so, any advances to ask for help was just as rudely rejected and finally, people gave up on asking.
Now, he was class nerd, class loner, and class genius all in one.
Kyo's eyes widened in surprise to see Hatsuharu waiting for them outside of their door after the bell rang that afternoon. If Kyo was considered the reluctant prince of the school, Haru was the kind duke. He was always polite, cool and collected – unless he was angry. Then the sight was simply hellish.
"Haru! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?" Tohru greeted him happily.
Haru nodded politely at Tohru. "I was just going to walk with both of you home today. Shigure said that we could do our training together, Kyo, before I went back to the main house."
Kyo nodded. "Sounds good." He grinned, excited as Tohru made plans for the extra member for dinner. He would finally have someone to train with in a sparring match instead of by himself! But then again, that was what he got for moving away from Sohma house – it was something he had even chosen to do, so there was no point complaining.
"What about Momiji? Is he coming over for dinner?"
"No, he had to get back to the main house, sorry," Haru said regretfully.
"Oh, that's perfectly alright, I'm sure he's busy." The three of them said good bye to Uo and Hana before walking out of the school. Yuki quickly brushed by them as soon as they had finally unblocked the doorway, with downcast eyes and pressed lips.
The smell of curry wafted through the house enticingly. Kyo stretched out his neck, sniffing the air. He had to finish this fight soon – his stomach growled loudly as if to second his desperate thoughts.
Once Shigure's Japanese-style house had come into view through the trees, Haru immediately pounced on Kyo, flying into the air with a kick aimed at the head. Kyo jumped back, careful to take the fight as far away from Tohru, who was already looking fearful and slightly crazed. They continued to fight for a half an hour in their human forms. The fight was even better than Kyo had hoped. He was able to try out the new punches he had been working on while Haru's reflexes evaded most of them, faster than Kyo had ever seen before.
The cow had improved tremendously over the past month since the last fight, but the cat had as well. Since leaving the main house, he still visited the dojo religiously three times a week to spar with Kagura and his adopted father's other students.
Kyo evaded another blow, then hurdled towards Haru, landing his fist into the ox's chest. Haru gasped and jumped back to create space between them. He took the second to close his eyes and draw a slow breath. When he opened his eyes, the large black and white had taken the spot where Haru had been. The animal charged at Kyo full on. Kyo grinned. With a swift stroke, pulled off his black and white beads, and roared. The powerful form of his cat form flexed before he evaded the cow and pounced once more. The beautiful fight of martial combat changed into the primitive attacks of their animal spirits.
The zodiac battle continued until the smell of Tohru's delicious cooking drew Kyo back to his senses. His growling stomach forced the cat to end the fight.
Kyo pounced again, using one of his large, clawed hands to grab the beast's powerful leg and pull Haru into the grass. The cow groaned angrily before a white poof enveloped him, leaving Haru to wince as he collected his clothes in the grass. Kyo followed with an orange cloud.
"I didn't lose, I only wanted dinner," Haru murmured, eyes glinting unhappily in the rays of the bright sunset. Kyo rolled his shoulder, hearing the satisfying crack. Haru had lost, but not by much. The throbbing on his head reminded him of that. "Yeah, yeah. I'll give you a rematch any time." His companion grunted in agreement. Shigure's idiot voice trailed through the air as the two Juunishi walked the path towards the house.