fruits basket fan-fiction: chapter 1
Torn between two...
Prologue
From generation to generation; the Sohma clan was cursed! The curse that forbid them to hug the opposite gender unless, that person was part of the Sohma family curse. The curse was that they turned into one of the twelve animals of the zodiac (plus the cat) if they were under a great deal of stress or if they were hugged by the opposite gender. The curse has not yet been found but to be honest, many think that one particular girl could lift the Sohma curse, that girl would soon be birthed into the world soon enough, when the right time came, they kept faith. Somehow, they kept faith...
Tohru woke up with an enormous stretch, followed by an equally enormous yawn. Her silky, brown hair was not at all in perfect form, but rather, she had bed hair due to the amount of tossing and turning she did in her sleep.
She combed her hair to perfection and dressed in her everyday clothes. They consisted of: The ribbon she got for white day – she had gotten this ribbon from an anonymous sender, with the curiosity of an eight year old child, she longed to know who the sender was. You could say that she had fallen for the sender – the dress she had hand-made from the materials Shiguré provided for her for her birthday and her pink, fluffy, indoor slippers her mother had given to her before she had passed into the next life due to a house fire.
She kissed her mother's bedside picture and skipped down the stairs to start her household chores and then hopefully meet Yuki at the secret base.
There to greet her at the bottom of the stairs was Yuki himself. His beautifully combed silver hair was still as perfect as the day she had first started living with him.
Flashback:
Tohru lay in her cold, yellow tent as she struggled to sleep; the ground was hard and lumpy making it humanly impossible to get sleep. Many insects and slugs had found their way into the tent, making it frightening to be in there now.
She had moved into her tent when her mother unfortunately passed away in a house fire, to this day, Tohru regrets that it wasn't her that perished in that putrid house fire.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming her way, she shuffled around to find a baseball bat to defend herself. She peeked out of the tent and saw two black figures in front of her hiding place. she rapidly opened the tent while lifting the base ball bat forward and then she saw him, the school pretty boy, Yuki Sohma.
"Ms. Honda?" he asked "is that you?"
"Yuki, thank goodness, it's just you..." Tohru fainted from exhaustion
She found herself laying in a soft futon and the picture of her mother beside her.
"Ms. Honda?" said a voice from behind.
She turned back and saw Yuki. "I'm fine, thank you Yuki." she smiled "what time is it?"
"It's 9:15."He replied looking at his watch.
Tohru jumped out of the futon with a gasp and screamed: "OH MY GOSH! I'M GONNA BE LATE! IF I DONT HURRY, FIRST PERIOD WILL START WITHOUT ME AND MOM WONT LIKE THAT AT ALL!" She said in a fast and panicked voice.
She quickly got in her uniform and headed for the door. Yuki stopped her half way there and put his hand on her forehead. "You're burning up; which means you're sick and can't go to school."
"But..." she tried to answer but she almost collapsed in the process. Luckily Yuki was there to catch her. "Ok, maybe mom won't mind it if I'm sick this time," she said in a feeble voice. "But I'm never going to be sick again!" she promised
"Ok." Yuki answered "but for now Ms. Honda, get some rest." he was walking out of the room when Tohru asked "where are you going?"
"I'm going to get the rest of your stuff, you'll be living with us from now on." he said laying her back down on the futon.
"Am I?!" she screamed in embarrassment "but, you've done so many wonderful things for me already, I'd hate to impose! Mom always told me not to impose!"
"Ms. Honda we can't let you get a fever again and anyways we'll pay you for your services if you're willing to be our maid because, none of us here know how to cook or clean and we are going broke because we keep eating at expensive restaurants when we can't cook, so you see..." he said weakly.
"I do see, now..." she paused for a few seconds and said "Ok, I'll do it! But you don't need to pay me, you've done so much for me already, so I'll do it for free to say thank you!"
"Oh thank you Ms. Honda!" he said in utter relief
And from that day on they became closer and closer as friends.
End of flashback
"Good morning Yuki!" she said in a cheerful voice.
"Good morning Ms. Honda," he said in a similarly cheerful voice "you seem awfully cheerful today, did you sleep well last night? A good dream perhaps?" he suggested.
"Just cheerful today I guess." she beamed as she said it. "Pancakes today Yuki, I hope you like them."
"That's only if that stupid cat will give a damn about how I feel when I see his face every morning." he said angrily.
"I'm not so sure about that Yuki." she said uncomfortably as they walked to the kitchen. "He's still your cousin Yuki; can't you just get along for once?" she recommended
"I'm afraid it's not that easy Ms. Honda..." he murmured
"I'm sorry Yuki, what was that?" she asked
Yuki suddenly looked up; faked a smile and said in his best and cheeriest voice "nothing at all Ms. Honda, do you want help making the batter for the pancakes?"
"Um, I think I can manage by myself Yuki, thank you for the offer though." she said
"No problem." he said.
Tohru walked into the kitchen with Yuki alongside her. Yuki sat down and Tohru started to make the batter for the pancakes. Soon Kyou and Shiguré came into the kitchen guided by the smell of freshly made pancakes.
Shiguré is one of Yuki's older cousins, a perverted and hypocritical member of the family but everyday would be dull if Shiguré wasn't there to liven things up.
Kyou is another one of Yuki's cousins. A rebelling and violent part of the family due to the hatred he feels toward Yuki but deep down, he's just jealous. He has tried many times to defeat Yuki in a battle but his day of victory has not yet risen.
They all sat down to greet the meal and to thank the gods for what they were about to receive and then, they ate. Half way through the meal, Yuki and Kyou started glaring at each other. There was a long, awkward silence while Yuki poured chocolate syrup on his pancake before, Kyou finally spoke out:
"You damn rat! Would it kill you to stop staring at me every morning?! You're annoying me rat!"
"I could say the same thing to you, Stupid cat!" Yuki said in an irritated voice, anyone could see that he was trying to keep his cool by the scowl upon his face.
"Oh~ boy~, this could get ugly, Tohru I think we should eat in the living room until the wind dies down. Hmm, wink, wink?" said Shiguré in a slightly agitated voice.
"Good idea!" Tohru complied nervously and walked out of the kitchen without as much as a hint of noise.
They sat in the living room, hoping, praying that they wouldn't break anything that would cost them money like last time. Kyou broke the sink and dishwasher and Yuki broke the windows as well as some of the rice bowls.
They just got them fixed last week; they didn't want to have to call the repair woman because last time she almost fell on top of Shiguré and almost transformed him into a dog. Luckily they were able to cover him while he changed back. On top of that, they were dead broke because of how much money it took to repair everything. After that they only had enough money to buy ingredients for Tohru's home cooked meals.
BANG! The end of the world had begun, fists, kicks and upper cuts were all they could see from the side of the living room door.
They watched in horror as their precious kitchen was torn to pieces.
"NOOOOO!" Shiguré screamed as his favourite rice bowls were destroyed before his very eyes.
"It's too painful to watch!" Tohru's eyes watered as her pots, pans and cooking utensils were disintegrated right in front of her and she couldn't do anything to prevent it.
Their battle lasted for less than five minutes and in that five minutes; their kitchen was obliterated, in shambles; in a word, destroyed! Tohru cried her eyes out and Shiguré silently mourned for the loss of their beloved kitchen while comforting Tohru.
While all of this was happening Kyou went to take a nap on the roof while Yuki went to the secret base. Typical, for prideful men.
The rest of Tohru's chores were done in the kitchen, tidying the broken and putting them in the bin. Sadly, her favourite cooking utensils and favourite cooking pots were broken and beyond repair so she had to bid her farewell to them.
When she had finished her everyday household chores; she headed off to the 'secret base' where Yuki would surely be, if she knew anything about Yuki; it was that he loved his own company, but once in a while he liked her company as well.
The 'secret base' was where Yuki liked to plant fruits and vegetables. Tohru got most of her ingredients from this place when they were dead broke as well as when they were alright with the finances.
"Hi Yuki!" she said cheerfully, "are you planting strawberries?"
"Uh, well as a matter of fact; I am..." he replied "how did you know?"
The previous day, Yuki had asked Tohru liked strawberries.
Flashback
Tohru, Yuki and Kyou made their way out the front door saying their goodbyes to Shiguré. They walked at a steady pace taking their time as both Yuki and Kyou started their everyday argument about the most random of things. This time, it was whether or not they should have miso soup or soba for dinner tonight.
"I think we should have soba tonight!" Yuki exclaimed.
"No you damn rat! We're havin' miso tonight!" Kyou argued.
"Stupid cat, we had miso yesterday! I think it's about time we had a change in the dinner menu."
"Look, stupid soba makes your fingers smell funny after you've had so much"
"But we haven't had it all year! So I think it's about time we had something different other than miso!"
"Miso!"
"Soba!"
"Miso!"
"SOBA!"
"MISO!"
They both glared at each other for less than three seconds until Tohru finally acted: "OK! i think we should have chicken curry tonight! Is that ok with both of you? Because I can't make soba or miso, i haven't got the ingredients for them. So is that ok?"
"if that makes you happy Ms. Honda, I'd love a chicken curry!" said Yuki cheerfully.
"Yeah, whatever the hell you wanna cook is fine just as long as I got somethin' to eat. Don't put leeks in it!" demanded Kyou.
"I'm glad that's over!"
They strolled on a little longer and then soon Yuki asked: "Ms. Honda?"
"Yes?" she replied
"May I ask you a question?" Yuki asked
"What is it Yuki?"
"This is sort of random of me to ask but, do you like strawberries?" he asked nervously.
"Strawberries? You want to know what I think of them?" she asked again.
Yuki nodded
"i absolutely love them! Sometimes their sour but that's only because the farmers at their farms didn't take proper care of them and-" she paused from her frantic delight "uh, why do you ask Yuki?"
"Oh no reason, c'mon were gonna be late for class and you don't wanna miss first period." he said odd as if he was surprised at her answer, as he walked ahead of her mysteriously Tohru wandered why he was asking that sort of question, it wasn't like him.
End of flashback
"Listen Ms. Honda" Yuki started "I really am sorry for your pots, pans and cooking utensils..."
"No don't worry about it seriously! All those things can be replaced but if it was you and Kyou that were seriously injured after that fight, you can't be replaced... but take your fights outside from now on! Ok?"
Yuki smiled and nodded
"So Yuki, strawberries?" Tohru asked trying to change the subject
"Yes Ms. Honda, you said you liked them so I planted them hoping that you would make a fruit salad after they were good enough to eat." Yuki pleaded
"Of course! I'm sure your strawberries will be delicious! When do you think they'll be ready?" she asked.
"To be honest, I don't know!" he laughed
They both laughed hard at his statement. Like old friends they would talk and talk about irrelevant things that meant nothing to normal people but, they weren't normal!
They talked for what seemed like forever to you and me but to them, it went so fast that when the time came to finally go home, they passed curfew. One of them would fall asleep at the end; and that someone would always be Tohru.
Tohru was sound asleep in Yuki's arms as he walked home exhausted from planting seeds and caring for them like she told him to do. But somehow, he found the strength to carry her home.
He gazed at her with loving eyes, secretly kissing her forehead as she lay peacefully in his arms. He looked at her beautiful brown hair and spotted the ribbon she was gifted anonymously at white day. His eyes widened and his nose began to itch. Water trickled down from his eyes down to Tohru's rosy, red cheeks. And still she slept.
A smile came upon his face. Those were indeed tears of joy! It brought him joy to see her wearing his present from white day. Yes, it was him; Tohru's anonymous sender was in fact none other than Yuki Sohma, the high school pretty boy of Tohru's school as well as one of her secret admires...