A Rat's Blossom
Summary: A girl lives in the woods but goes to high school. She has a connection with animals and- what's this? Which Yuki?
Yuki looks like Yuki when he's in rat form. Kyo looks like Kyo when he's in cat form. Shigure looks like Shigure when he's in dog form. Yuki means courage.
Sort of following the plot of the actual show.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fruits Basket. All rights go to their rightful owners.
A girl walked out of a cave on a bright, sunny morning in a high school uniform after waving good bye to the other inhabitants of the cave. As she walked through the forest, consisting of thick trees, she saw a hawk holding a small silver rat flying close by. "Hey!" The girl yelled as she jumped onto a strong, sturdy tree branch in front of the hawk. The hawk slowed down and landed on her shoulder with its head downcast, in shame. The girl sighed, "What have I told you? Only older rats." She said as she caught the mouse which the hawk once had in its claws before he dropped it into her hands.
The small rat was terrified but tried to make himself look as big as possible. The girl giggled at this and said, "How brave of you." Her eyes then softened. "So brave when you're so scared. May I call you Yuki? To show what courage you have." She asked as she started to pet the small rat. The rat thought about it for a few seconds and then squeaked as it nodded its head. "That's great." The girl said as she giggled a bit. She then looked to the sun and saw that she was going to be late if she didn't start moving now. "I'm going to be late! Yuki do you want to come with me?" The girl asked as she faced Yuki, who was still in her hands. The small rat nodded in response to her question. "You can go now." She said as she turned her to the hawk. It nodded its head once and flew off. She then jumped down from the tree and started walking towards her school again.
As she was walking to school, she saw a nice little home and went over to see who lived near the woods that she lived in. "Yuki, I'm going to need you to go into my bag for a little bit, okay?" The girl asked as she opened her book bag, which had a strap that held it over her shoulder, a little. The rat nodded and jumped in. The girl giggled a bit again and started to walk towards the home.
When she reached the home, she looked around the porch, you could call it, and saw twelve eggs that were painted to look like the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. "Ah, how cute." She said as she bent over to get a better look. "Well, I never expected a pretty girl to come and complement my work." A man with neat black hair, black eyes, a green kimono, and a fan said. "Ah, sorry! I guess I shouldn't have come onto your property." The girl said as she waved her hands around frantically. "No, no. You're fine. Also, what are you doing here? A young girl like you should be careful around here, with all the weirdoes who wonder out around here." The man finished as a book bag hit him upside the head. "The only weirdo around here is you." The one who hit him with the book bag said. He was a young man, sixteen years old, with silver hair that had fringe on both sides of his face; he was wearing the male uniform for the same school as the girl. "Yuki! What's in your bag, a dictionary?" The man in the kimono whined. "No, I have two dictionaries." The boy replied calmly. "Also, what are you doing here Ms. Haruno?" Yuki asked as he faced the girl whose last name is Haruno. "Oh, Yuki, this is your home?" 'Ms. Haruno' asked as she looked at the house more. "Why, yes. What are you doing here, Ms. Haruno?" Yuki asked as he got off of the porch. "Yuki, first, can you call me Sakura?" The girl, Sakura, asked. "As you wish, Sakura." Yuki replied. "Thank you, and second, to answer your question, I live nearby." Sakura said as she turned a bit. "Yuki, aren't we going?" Sakura asked over her shoulder after turning completely. "What do you mean, Sakura?" Yuki asked as he just stared at her. "Well, we do need to get to school, don't we? Anyways, we're both here, so we can walk there together." Sakura said as she turned to face Yuki fully. "Ah, yes, I guess we could." Yuki replied, surprised that she wanted to walk with him. "Have fun Yuki! Don't do get into trouble!" The kimono man yelled as Yuki and Sakura walked away from Yuki's home. "Stupid Shigure." Yuki mumbled under his breath. "Who's Shigure? Is he the man with the kimono?" Sakura asked as she faced Yuki. "Yes, he is the man with the kimono and he's also my uncle." Yuki said as the duo continued to walk. "He's an interesting uncle, you're lucky Yuki." Sakura mumbled the last part as she looked up at some passing birds. "What was that, Sakura?" Yuki asked as he looked at her. "Oh, nothing Yuki." Sakura said as they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.
Once Yuki and Sakura arrived at the school, they bowed to each other, said good bye, and then walked different directions to their lockers. While Sakura was putting and taking stuff in and out of her locker, she noticed that there was a little rat that was missing. 'Yuki!' Sakura thought as she dug through her bag and locker. 'I'll have to find him.' Sakura thought as she got the last of what she needed and then took off to a hallway where no one else was. "Yuki! Yuki, where are you?" Sakura called out as she cupped her hands around her mouth so that she could be louder. She didn't notice the supply closet.
Yuki was in the supply closet, getting more chalk for his classroom, when he heard someone calling his name. He walked out of the supply closet, closed the door with chalk in his hand, and started walking to where he could hear someone calling for him.
When he saw who was calling his name he asked, "Sakura?" Sakura, who was walking towards him, just walked by while saying, "Oh, hey Yuki. Yuki, where are you?" Sakura called out after walking past Yuki. "Sakura, perhaps I can help you?" Yuki asked as Sakura turned around. "Thank you Yuki, I'm looking-" Sakura started, but was cut off by screaming girls. Sakura saw a little ball of silver moving very quickly around a corner and recognized the figure right away. "Yuki!" Sakura said while having her arms outstretched. Yuki saw this and jumped up, into Sakura's arms, with tears flowing from his big, sparkly, and watery rat eyes and sparkles trailing after him. "Oh, Yuki! Don't ever run off like that again!" Sakura cried as she hugged the little rat closer to her. "Sakura, is that who you were looking for?" Yuki asked as he pointed to Sakura and Yuki. "Yes, I found him this morning and it seems like he ran off while I was putting stuff into my bag." Sakura said as she stood up fully, she had to kneel to get to a level where Yuki would be able to jump into her arms, and held Yuki out in her palms, for Yuki to see. 'He looks a lot like me.' Yuki thought as he scratched Yuki's head. "He likes you." Sakura said as she giggled a bit.
Yuki looked down to see what she was talking about, but was met with an odd sight. Yuki was sitting in Sakura's hands as she giggled and was glaring at Yuki, and his glare told Yuki, 'Don't mess with me, I won't back down.' Yuki stiffened a bit and shadows went over his eyes as his mouth opened a little bit.
As Sakura opened her eyes, Yuki started rubbing his head against Yuki's hand again, acting like nothing ever happened between him and Yuki. Sakura looked up to see that Yuki was still in the same position as from when Yuki sent him the glare, which Sakura missed, and asked, "Yuki, what's wrong?" Yuki snapped out of his slightly shocked state and answered Sakura with, "Nothing, I'm just fine Sakura." 'That rat doesn't like me Sakura.' Yuki thought with an inward sweat drop. "That's good. Come on, we need to get to class." Sakura said as she grabbed Yuki's hand and pulled him after putting Yuki back into her bag. "Sakura, please let go of me." Yuki said as he thought, distressfully, 'I can't let her find out! I don't want to leave this place. To leave a friend. To leave her.' You see, Yuki may be popular with the girls but he is very socially awkward. Sakura just didn't hear him.
When they were by the door Yuki stopped, thus causing Sakura to jerk to a stop because she was still holding Yuki's hand, and asked, "Sakura, what would you do or think of me if I transformed into a rat?" "Well, at first I would be shocked, but once the initial shock passed, I'd hug you. And I wouldn't think any different about you, except for maybe the fact that you would be so cool!" Sakura finished with her hand in the air. "Really?" Yuki asked as relaxed a bit. "Yeah! I wish I could transform into an animal. That way I could roam around and be free without a care in the world." Sakura said as she kept her arm in the air. "Yeah, that does sound nice." Yuki said as he looked out of the window that they were standing by, in front of their classroom.
After a normal school day, Yuki and Sakura walked until they came to a cross section where Sakura said that she needed to go the other way because she had to go to work. Yuki didn't like that he had to leave Sakura, but she just told him to go home. So he did that and planned to walk with her again.
"What a long day." Sakura said as she walked through the woods in the dark, after a three hour cleaning shift at her job, she was tired, her cheeks were tinted red, and Yuki was on her shoulder. "Just need to get home and then get some food." She said as she walked closer to her home. She didn't notice the small house with two men on the front porch as she passed.
After Yuki had gotten home and finished his homework he and Shigure decided that they were hungry, and that's how a small debate began. "Guess we're having take out… again." Shigure said as he read a magazine while lying on his side. "I could cook." Yuki said as he walked onto the porch where Shigure was lying. "Please. You'll just end up burning it… like everything else you cook." Shigure said, looking up from his magazine. "I guess you're right." Yuki said as he looked down in defeat. He then rose his head and was about to ask Shigure what he wanted, but he saw a flash of pink and looked over and saw Sakura. "Sakura?" Yuki asked no one in particular, gaining Shigure's attention. "Hm, what's she doing out here?" Shigure asked no one as he got up. He then got a weird smile and said, "Why don't we fallow her? Then you can pick her up instead of her picking you up." "I guess you have a point and if she's sick one day, I can take her homework to her." Yuki said as he started walking to where he saw Sakura. "Hey, Yuki! Wait for me!" Shigure whined as he got up and caught up with Yuki.
"Hey guys." Sakura said as she walked into the cave. She put Yuki on a leaf because, somewhere along the way, he had fallen asleep and put another leaf over him. "I'm going to go get more food, okay?" Sakura asked as she faced the other inhabitants. They nodded their okay so Sakura walked out of the cave, cheeks still tinted red, and walked a good ways into a forest and started to pick some berries until she heard some rustling above her. She looked up and saw Yuki and Shigure.
Yuki and Shigure were walking when they heard some rustling ahead of them, so they continued to walk forward, to a berry bush. When they got there Yuki just stared down with a slightly open mouth while making a sound that sounded like 'uh' for a few seconds while Shigure just started to laugh. "T-That's p-pathetic!" Shigure said between laughs. "Shut up!" Yuki told Shigure as he knelt down to look Sakura in the eye. "Hey Yuki." Sakura said as she lifted her hand, the one without berries in it. "What are you doing out here?" Yuki asked with concern in his voice. "I live nearby." Sakura replied with an airy voice (I mean something like zoned out). 'That's impossible.' Yuki thought as he grabbed Sakura's hand. "Sakura, why don't you come with me and Shigure and we'll get you some tea." Yuki said as he helped Sakura stand up. "Okay." Sakura said; her voice still airy. Yuki took notice of this and took Sakura to his home as quickly as he could. Poor Shigure didn't notice until they were out of sight. "Yuki? Yuki, where are you?" Shigure asked as he looked around while getting up.
By the time Shigure caught up to Sakura and Yuki, they were all home. "Sakura, do you want some tea?" Yuki asked as he helped Sakura into the house, to a table, and to a seat. "Yes please." Sakura said, looking up to Yuki, who was by her side. "Okay, Shigure, can you get Sakura some tea?" Yuki more commanded than asked Shigure. "Sure Yuki." Shigure sighed as he got up and went to make the tea.
A few minutes later, Shigure came back with the tea and handed a cup to Sakura and Yuki and held onto one for himself. After a few minutes everyone heard a wolf howl. "A mudslide, and close by." Shigure said as he took a sip of tea. "Where?" Sakura asked. "I'll take you two there." Shigure said as he got up.
After a few minutes of walking, Sakura started to notice something. When they arrived, Sakura yelled, "NO!", and ran to the entrance of the cave that was blocked up by the rockslide. "Guys! Guys!" Sakura called as she dug at the mound of dirt and rocks before losing the strength to keep herself up. "Sakura, calm down. You're not well." Yuki said as he went over to Sakura's side and picked her up bridal style. "I have to get them Yuki. They're stuck in there. I… have… to get them… out." Sakura said before she passed out. "Should I take her home?" Shigure asked as he walked up behind Yuki. "Yes please." Yuki said as he turned around to face Shigure and give Sakura to him. "You're going to stay and dig out that cave, aren't you?" Shigure asked as he watched as Yuki walked over to the mound of dirt and rocks. "Yes. There's something important to Sakura in here and I'm going to get it to her, whatever it might be. Even that rat that doesn't like me." Yuki said as he started to dig through the dirt and rocks. "A rat that doesn't like you, never thought I'd see the day. Well, I'll see you later." Shigure said as he started walking back to his home. "Shigure…" Yuki said before Shigure was too far away. "Yes Yuki?" He asked without turning around. "Make sure she's taken care of." Yuki finished as he continued to dig through the mound. "Will do Yuki." Shigure said as he walked away. "Take care Sakura." Yuki said to himself as he continued to dig.
When Sakura awoke, she was in a room with light coming through the windows. 'Where am I?' Sakura thought and then gasped. 'The guys!' Sakura thought as she sprung up. "Relax Sakura." Shigure said from the door way. "Shigure?" Sakura asked as she got up. "Don't worry, Yuki's getting whatever it was that was in that cave for you." Shigure said as he walked down the hall. "Yuki?" Sakura asked no one as she sat down again.
Soon after she sat down, the roof was smashed in and a boy fell and landed on his feet after the shrapnel fell. "Yuki!" The boy called. He was also a young man, sixteen years old, with orange, messy hair, baggy green cargo pants, and a black shirt. "Who are you?" Sakura asked as she got up, again. "Huh, who're you? And where's that stupid Yuki?" The boy asked Sakura. "Well, I'm Sakura and Yuki is getting some of my friends." Sakura replied, and as soon as she finished speaking, a loud thud could be heard coming from the front of the house and the scratching of claws. "What the heck is going-" The boy started but was cut off by an orange cat jumping on his face and scratching it. "AHH! What's with this cat? Get it off!" He yelled as he rolled around the floor trying to get the cat off of his face. "Kyo! Get off of that boy's face right now!" Sakura ordered as she ran over to Kyo and the boy.
The cat looked over its shoulder and stopped scratching the boy's face long enough to get a good look at Sakura and then its eyes became big, sparkly, and watery as it jumped over to Sakura after she outstretched her arms. As soon as the cat was in Sakura's arms, she looked down at the boy, outstretched an arm, being sure that Kyo could be held up with one arm, and held it in front of him. "Sorry about Kyo, he doesn't really like other people that much and he can be a bit of a grouch." Sakura said as the boy, still clutching his face with one hand, grabbed her outstretched hand and got up, with Sakura's help. Sakura and the boy then heard scratching and what sounded like Yuki and Shigure, mostly Shigure, screaming.
They ran down the stairs and looked at the scene before them. Shigure was on top of the fridge with a newspaper in his hand while swatting at a black dog while Yuki was being dragged, by his foot, across the carpet by Yuki, who was running around with his hostage while making sure he hit something whenever possible. Kyo took notice of this and attacked the boy's face again. "AHHHHHH! What does this cat have against me?" The boy yelled as he fell to the ground. "Shigure, Kyo, Yuki, stop!" Sakura yelled, catching everyone's, human and animal, attention.
When the animals saw Sakura, they got big, sparkly, watery eyes and jumped to Sakura and knocked her onto the ground. "S-Sakura." Yuki called while getting up, holding his head from all the things he hit. "Stop it. I missed you guys to." Sakura said while laughing from all of the licks she was getting. "Sakura, dear, why did those animals attack us, and why do they all have the same names as us?" Shigure asked as he got down from the fridge. "Well, I don't know. Usually everyone, besides Kyo, get along with anyone. So I don't know why they attacked you." Sakura said as she got up and got into a thinking position. "Okay, so that answers my first question, but what about the fact that they all have the same names as us?" 'And they look like us.' Shigure said as he added the last part mentally. "Well, I named them Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki because the names seemed to fit them." Sakura said as she started to pet Shigure. "Then, why do they hate us?" Shigure asked as he tried to bend down to pet Shigure until he growled and Shigure hid behind Yuki. "I don't know." Sakura said as she shrugged and bent down to pick up Yuki. "We'll just have to find out." Yuki said as he started walking towards the four forest dwellers.
The boy then took notice of Yuki. "Yuki! I challenge you!" He yelled. "Not now Kyo." Yuki said as he continued to walk towards Sakura. "Yuki, fight me!" Kyo yelled as he charged at Yuki's back. Yuki just spun out of the way but tried to go back after realizing that Sakura was in Kyo's path. Kyo also noticed this and tried to stop but still ran into Sakura.
There was a puff of smoke, Kyo's clothes lying on the ground, and another orange cat. The puff of smoke caused Sakura to be caught by surprise and caused her to start falling backward. "Sakura." Yuki said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, but Kyo, coming out of his clothes, was in front of her feet and caused her to trip and fall on Yuki. There was another puff and then Yuki's clothes were lying on the ground with another silver rat coming out of them. Sakura continued falling and Shigure, who had been fallowing Yuki, caught her before there was another puff of smoke, his clothes were on the ground, and there was another black dog.
"Sakura, be calm." Yuki said as he crawled up to her. "Wow, Yuki, you really do turn into a rat!" Sakura said as she grabbed Yuki and hugged him close to her. "You're not freaking out?" Kyo said as he walked up to Yuki, Sakura, and the three look-a-likes. "Why would I be? It's so cool! I wish I could transform too!" Sakura said as she grabbed Kyo when he was close enough. "Sakura, you can't tell anyone about this, do you understand?" Shigure asked as he stayed where he was; afraid that he might get trapped too. "Of course, I would never tell anyone about this. People fear what they don't understand and try to destroy anything before they learn or even try to understand it." Sakura said as she started crying. "Most people don't show remorse or selflessness, they only worry about themselves. They don't care what happens to others. They would leave a child on a street to fend for themselves before even trying to help." Sakura said as she continued to cry.
Yuki, concerned about what happened to Sakura like the others, asked, "Sakura, what happened to you to cause you to live in that cave?" There was a long silence fallowing Yuki's question until Sakura replied. "My family happened."