Title: Ripples by the Pond
Author: Gia
Rating: PG
Pairing: None.
Time: 90's. The Mabudachi Trio are in still in high school.
Summary: A wish Ayame made in the past sends Yuki reeling back in time. Finding himself sharing a class with the Mabudachi Trio themselves, Yuki must find a way to keep his secret hidden or risk losing himself in the past forever.
Disclaimer: The story here is non-profit and for purely entertainment purposes; nor is it affiliated to Takaya Natsuki, Hakusensha, or any other publishers of Fruits Basket. The characters belong to Takaya Natsuki and the plot belongs to me.
Author's Notes: Yes, I've gone back to re-write (re-word?) a lot of my chapters. For the new readers, the only important things (maybe basic things) to keep in my here are that Yuki is in the past and will be entering the second year of high school with his brother. Now onto the story!
They were… He was… Yuki shut his eyes tiredly, pausing in his quick stride. This couldn't be happening. The tight clench in his chest brought him back too reality. He smirked bitterly, clenching his fists. It would be all too easy to let this attack take him, if he let it. His smile faded. Now was not the time to be overly dramatic, he needed to find someone he knew.
Technically speaking though, he knew those three he had just met.
A small laugh slipped through his lips. 'I'm going crazy… but I don't seem to care.' Wrapping his arms around himself, in a semblance of an embrace, he walked down the street. The first thing to do was to find a place to stay since it would be getting dark soon, and he couldn't stay outside in the cold.
Ripples by the Pond
By Gia
Chapter Two: First Day of School, A New Student
With a flick of the switch, light filled into the kitchen. Akio brushed his fingers through his short brown hair, pushing up his glasses, and dropping his keys on the counter. Ever since the run-in with the mysterious boy—and staring into space for a good 15 minutes after—he had gotten back into the car and drove home. He had tried to get his mind off the strange encounter, but it just wouldn't leave him. Now that he thought about it, the uniform reminded him of the uniform in Kaibara High, but he didn't remember teaching a student that looked even remotely like him.
Sock clad feet padded into the kitchen, as Akio brought out the pan and oil. Maybe stir fry would be good today.
'I wonder if the boy has gone home yet.'
The stove was on, and he needed to get the vegetables. His hands made quick work of the ingredients, slivering baby bok choy and julienne carrots. Minced garlic was already sizzling in the wok, and he added a dash of soy and oyster and dark vinegar. 'Perhaps I'll ask Ms. Okita about any new students. I might see him later and ask him myself.'
Grabbing the brown spoon, he made sure to move around the stir fry so it wouldn't burn. Afterwards, he tipped the pan over onto a plate, grabbing chopsticks from the side and sat down.
'Perhaps he'll be in my class.'
Yuki cursed, remembering he didn't carry change in his pocket. Despondently hanging the payphone back, he continued on his way. It was already dark, and the cold wind didn't help the situation. His uniform wasn't thick, so it didn't prevent the chills that rang through his body. Gritting his teeth, Yuki decided he had to go to a house and ask to borrow the phone since the stores were closed already. His uniform wasn't dirtied, he had a presentable image, so hopefully he wouldn't be ignored.
Randomly choosing a house, he reluctantly walked up to the door and knocked. He waited a few minutes, but still no answer. Sighing in frustration, he knocked once more. Still no answer. Rolling his eyes, he turned to walk away when the door suddenly swung open. Yuki turned his head, ready to ask if he could use their phone when he stopped.
He recognized this man.
"What a surprise," Akio muttered dryly, ushering Yuki in without question, although he sent a reproving stare at him for not wearing a coat in the chilly weather. Yuki stood uncertainly in the hall, staring at the wall to the side. Akio smiled warmly, "And what can I do for you, uh…"
"Yuki. Yuki Suyama." Yuki mentally blanched, he was close to giving a different last name, but he had to remain consistent with his lies. He had told Hatori his last name and he might see him again.
"Well, Yuki, my name is Akio Kentaro. What can I do for you?"
Yuki sent him a trembling smile. "May I borrow your phone?"
Akio looked surprised. "Have you lost your way home?"
Yuki's smile turned into a frown. He wasn't an idiot. "No. I-I just need to use your phone."
Akio nodded, still staring at him oddly, and gestured towards the small table that held up the phone. Nodding his thanks, Yuki grasped the phone and automatically dialed Shigure's home phone number. Akio watched from the side.
Yuki listened to the rings, and belatedly realized he called a phone number that didn't exist. Before he could hang up, he heard the sound of a woman's voice on the other line, "Hello?"
"Ah, sorry! Wrong number!"
"Oh, that's okay. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Yuki blushed, hanging up the phone. He was aware of Akio watching him, and knew he'd be suspicious. "Can't remember your phone number Yuki?" came the amused statement.
Yuki spun around, glaring at him. "I just made a mistake." Akio sighed dramatically, reminding Yuki much of Shigure, and he strode towards the phone. Akio picked up the phone, laying it on his shoulder. "Tell me your number, I'll dial it."
Yuki panicked, and gave a strained but polite smile. "You don't have to do that Kentarou-san. I'll just try again."
Akio waved his hand. "It's no problem." He waited expectantly.
Yuki's smile slipped. "I…"
Akio looked at him, and suddenly, realization dawned on his face. "That explains it! Why you were in the street. Why you're here now. Why you can't dial the number!"
Yuki tilted his head confusedly. "What explains it?"
"You're homeless and you must've stolen that uniform!"
Yuki sputtered. "I'm not homeless! And I didn't steal this uniform, it's mine!"
Akio's triumphant finger fell. "Then why can't you remember your phone number?" He didn't wait for Yuki to explain when it clicked. "Oh, well of course, why didn't I think of that?" He balled his fists and rapped them lightly against his head. "Amnesia! You were lying on the street so maybe you were hit in some kind of accident. Can you remember what happened?"
Yuki blinked. 'I'm in the past.' He had to clench his arms to his side to keep from reflexively covering his mouth. For a moment, he had thought he blurted that aloud.
"No," Yuki rushed to say, noticing with some panic at Akio's expectant face.
"Then you've probably lost your memory. This happened to an old student of mine, it took two months for him to get his memory back." Akio shook his head sadly. "Can you try to remember your parent's address? Anything that could lead to you back to your home?"
"No," Yuki began, trying to quell his nervousness, "I can't remember anything."
"Well, you don't look injured, but I'm not a professional. Do you feel okay, or should I take you to the hospital?"
Yuki paled, shaking his head no. If he were to run into a nurse, or a female doctor, or a female visitor—it would not be good. "I'm fine. But I have no place to go." He smiled sheepishly at Akio.
Akio looked thoughtful as he regarded him. Yuki found the staring more than a little unnerving but waited for whatever the man had to say.
"Then I will act as your temporary guardian."
Yuki did a double-take. 'That was sudden.' He shook his head to clear his surprise. "A-Are you sure? You don't even know me."
"True, but you don't even know yourself, Yuki, apart from your name apparently. You seem like an intelligent boy, it will be no problem for me. My only rule is that you help me around the house in return." He grinned.
Yuki returned the grin surprisingly. "Thank you, Kent-"
"Mou, Akio-san will do. Kentarou-san makes me sound old, and I don't look old, now do I?"
"Er…"
Akio adopted a martyred look. "Don't answer that."
Yuki laughed. "Yes, Akio-san."
"WHAT!"
"Well, I couldn't very well let you stay cooped up in this house, could I? You'd miss school."
Yuki crossed his arms. Last night, Akio had let him stay in the guest room and lend him his clothes. He had insisted that he washed Yuki's uniform so Yuki had let him. Unfortunately, he knew now why Akio was so adamant. Apparently Akio had called Kaibara High and spoke with the principal about Yuki. Today, Yuki was going to attend his first day in the middle of the term. 'I need to focus all my attention on getting back to my time. I can't go to school now.'
"Over my dead body." Yuki retorted.
"Is that a way to treat your guardian, Yuki? After feeding you, taking care of you, and putting a roof over your head, this—!"
"You make it sound like you've been taking care of me my entire life!"
"But—!"
"No! I will not attend that all boys' school! You can't make me!" Yuki knew he sounded childish, but still, Akio could've asked first.
Akio suddenly turned until his back was facing Yuki. "I see."
Yuki frowned when he noticed Akio's shoulders tremble. 'He wasn't…crying, was he?'
He could see Akio reach into his pocket and pull out a handkerchief. Before Yuki could so much as take a step forward (or more preferably) back and out the door, Akio blew noisily into the cloth. "D-Don't mind me," Akio said, sniffing loudly, "I was just s-so excited t-to get you i-i-into school!" And at the last word, Akio's voice cracked and he began to bawl—quite obnoxiously in Yuki's opinion—like a three year old.
As soon as Akio had opened his mouth, Yuki had a feeling something horrendous was going to happen. But this? 'I wonder if he's right in the head.' Yuki thought to himself, 'because I don't know any adult that acts like him…'
Yuki wrinkled his nose when Akio blew again into his handkerchief. Now that he regarded him, a person did come to Yuki's mind: Ayame. 'They're both just as dramatic, aren't they? The idea caused a sudden pang for home back in the present time.
Sighing loudly, Yuki stepped closer to Akio. "Look, Kenta—Akio-san, I'm sorry. I was just surprised and I'm really very grateful that you managed to—!"
Akio swung around and grasped Yuki by his shoulders. Yuki could almost see the stars shining in the man's eyes. "So does that mean…"
Yuki nodded with a defeated sigh, but glared up at Akio sharply when he felt the other pat him on the head. "Oi! I'm not a dog."
Akio raised his hands in apology. "Ah, sorry, but you remind me of my little brother."
Yuki raised his eyebrows in surprise. Seeing the boy's expression, Akio grinned sheepishly back at him. "Anyway, I've already ironed your uniform. Go change, and we'll eat breakfast."
Yuki stared at Akio for a little longer before he trudged upstairs to change. So he was going to Kaibara High. The same school his brother, Shigure, and Hatori attended. What were the chances he was going to run into them?
Ayame shut his locker closed, waiting for Shigure to finish putting his books and shoes away. Hatori had already gone to class, and with some begging, promised that he would tell the teacher that they would be a bit late because of a family incident. Shigure shut his locker, grinning over at Ayame.
"Have you been waiting long, love?"
"I would wait an eternity for you Gure-san."
Both gave a thumbs-up. "Yes!"
Grinning madly, they hurried to their classroom, waved cheerfully to their teacher, and sat down next to Hatori. The bell rang just after they sat and Ayame winked at the teacher. Smiling at their antics, Akio cleared his throat.
"Quiet down now. We are having a new student today. Now, I am warning all the boys ahead of time. He has slight amnesia, so he doesn't remember anything personal. So please refrain from asking about his life story, okay?" He ended the last bit sarcastically, earning a few scattered chuckles from the boys. That must've been the cue, because the classroom door slid open slowly.
The boys watched as a slender boy stepped inside, shutting the door behind himself. He had purple-grayish hair that fell in tendrils around his face, slightly shielding his eyes. His skin looked as if it had never seen the sun and because of his stature, made him appear alarmingly breakable. A pale, thin arm picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name out with thin strokes.
The boys watched in silence as his name was written out. It was as if some kind of spell had been cast in the room, causing the usually rowdy boys to wait in bated breath for the boy to turn around and greet them.
When he finally did turn around, the first thing to catch anyone's eyes were his amethyst colored eyes. Despite the vivid color, the boy's expression was shuttered off so that no one could tell if he was happy or nervous to see them.
"My name is Yuki Suyama," Yuki said before bowing low, "pleased to meet you."
And like that, the silence was broken.
Akio coughed uncomfortably before straightening up and giving Yuki a reassuring smile. "Yuki, why don't you sit in that vacant seat beside the window? It's the desk in front of Hatori's." Akio nodded in the direction he was pointing to. "Hatori, raise your hand please."
Hatori complied automatically, but he was too busy staring at Yuki. Shigure and Ayame were just as surprised, but neither made any move to show they recognized the new student. Yuki kept his face perfectly blank as he took his place in the desk in front of Hatori. He placed his bag on the desk, then his elbow on top so he could cradle his head in the palm of his hand.
Akio inwardly sighed at what had transpired. He had had a feeling that Yuki was shy but to this extent?
'It must be first day jitters.'
Yuki's eyes slowly trailed off to the side, staring at the trees that lined themselves inside school grounds. It was almost relaxing to watch the leaves drift to the ground. He could hear laughter in the background; Akio was busy describing the finer points of English with much gusto, throwing in comical jokes to make the lesson interesting.
Yuki felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, alerting him that someone was staring at the back of his head. He knew it was one of the three, most likely Hatori, but more to the point, it was very disconcerting. Shifting in his chair, Yuki kept his face blank, and pretended to listen to Akio's lecture. It took five solid minutes, but the stare left the back of his head, and Yuki could relax.
That is, until a small ball of crumpled paper landed on top of his desk.
Raising his eyebrow, he picked it up and carefully unfolded it. Drawn messily across the sheet of paper were three cartoons of the three boys behind him, all giving Yuki a thumbs-up. A grin was tugging at his lips, but he squashed it down. He glanced down at the bottom of the page to see a message scrawled at the bottom. It read: "After class, we can help you to your classes, what do you say?"
He paused to digest the question before he crumpling it up into a small ball and throwing it deftly over his shoulder to land on Hatori's desk. Yuki couldn't possibly deal with his relatives, not if he wanted to find a way to get back to his own time. And while he knew he'd need all the friends he could get, Yuki didn't want them to be them. His mind brought up the image of the hand-written message. It was odd, now that he thought about it, but Yuki was almost certain that Ayame had written it.
Before he could pursue that train of thought, Yuki turned back to the board to focus on the lesson. Just because he was Ayame's age now, it didn't mean he was going to treat him nicer. No, even if he was sixteen or seventeen now, he wasn't going to—wait a minute. He, the younger Yuki, he was still in Sohma House.
Yuki didn't want to think what would happen if he saw his younger self. He remembered all too well what went on at the house and he certainly didn't want to revisit those memories.
The bell ringing brought Yuki from his daze. Yuki picked up his bag, and made for the door but Akio suddenly called out. "Yuki, wait!"
Yuki slowly swiveled around with a strained smile. "Yes?"
Akio glanced at the remaining students in the room: The Mabudachi Trio. "You three! Could you please wait a moment before going to your next class?"
Yuki looked from the three boys and back to Akio. He had a small idea as to what Akio was going to ask but he was hoping that he was wrong. It was more than a little annoying that as he approached the desk Akio was standing behind, he could clearly see the wide smiles on both Shigure and Ayame's faces.
"Here Yuki," Akio said as he held out a sheet of paper, "this lists your classes. I know I didn't have time to show it to you at home, but these three can help you around. Ayame happens to be class president, and Hatori and Shigure are very capable students. I'm sure they'll give you a warm welcome."
He inclined his head at the three with a small smile. "You'll be sharing the same classes with them, so you can have start off your friendship now, right?" Akio grinned in a friendly way, but it was gone when he met the icy stare of Yuki's eyes.
Yuki nodded wordlessly and took the paper from Akio's hand. He shifted his body away from touching Hatori who had suddenly stepped forward, clearly indicating that he would lead them all to their next class. Hatori turned back to him, inwardly wondering at the boy's aloof personality.
The tension between the two was only broken when Shigure and Ayame each wrapped an arm around Yuki's shoulders. "Let's go then Yuki, we'll show you to our next class." Shigure stated.
Yuki's bland expression had morphed into one of surprise. Hatori thought the expression was more fitting for the other's face. He started when he felt Shigure nudge him in the side. Was he caught staring at the new kid?
Shigure eyed the pink flush dusting Hatori's cheeks and grinned. Maybe having a new kid would be interesting.
TBC
AN: So it's the end of chapter two! I want to point out first that the last scene, I hope no one is thinking I'm implying something. Because I'm not; I'm just trying to show that there's some kind of connection between them that makes Hatori uncomfortable. There will be other scenes where Yuki interacts with each of them individually—Ayame moreso, of course—but I just wanted to show the different effects on each of them. So basically, there is NO PAIRING. Just brotherly love here!
