Chapter two! All about soup

I hope it is to your liking.

Disclaimer: I do not own. Fruitsbasket. Why would I lay claim to it, when I was writing fanfiction about it... O.o

(There aren't any spoilers that i can think about... let me know if there are, and I will write it here.)


Soup

Machi lay in her bed, her sheets twisted around her beyond recognition. Used tissues littered the floor and every available surface, and her small Mogeta charm was clutched to her chest, as if it would heal her. Her body wracked with bouts of coughing, her nose sub sequentially streamed and damned up as it pleased, and her head felt as though something was trying to burrow its way out, from the inside.

She grabbed the thermometer that was abandoned on her bedside table and crammed it in her mouth, with thoughts of absolute misery crossing her mind.

She should have worn a coat, she concluded, as the thermometer told her that she hadn't cooled down at all. She should have worn a coat, instead of going out in the rain with just an umbrella. But at the time she had had more pressing matters to deal with, such as the retreating back of Sohma Yuki.

Looking back on it, lying in bed, her body burning up and freezing in equal measure, it was stupid. But she had wanted to greet him. 'Goodness knows why…' she thought bitterly, as she struggled to stand.

She stumbled into her kitchen and started looking for her medicine amongst the general debris. However, she was interrupted by a knock on her front door. For a moment, she considered ignoring whoever it was, but dismissed this idea as pointless. They would only keep knocking until she got pissed off.

She opened the door ready to tell her visitor where they could shove their social politeness, but grasped the doorframe for support instead, because standing on her doorstep was- speak of the devil- Sohma Yuki.

"Hello Machi." He said, concern wrought over his all too perfect features. Machi just stared, too shocked to even say hello back.

Yuki noted her pallid face and mussed up hair. He was right. Machi was ill, and had not absconded to the nearest temple to devote her life to Buddha, as Manabe Kakeru had suggested...

"Machi, may I come in?" Machi stepped aside, too stunned to do anything else. Yuki made his way into the kitchen and forced her to sit down.

"I started to worry about you when you didn't turn up to Thursday's meeting." He said, as he rummaged through the cupboards for some sort of food substance. Machi just watched him without expression, trying to absorb what he was saying. 'Worried?' About her...?

"Um..." She tried to speak, but not using her voice for days, combined with her current state rendered her a coughing mass. Yuki hurriedly poured her a glass of water and made her climb back into bed.

Machi wondered what the hell was going on...

Ten minutes later, Yuki reappeared, balancing a tray of hot steaming soup in his clumsy hands. Machi sniffed: It was potato and leek.

He smiled slightly as she stared incredulously at him. "Leeks are the best things for colds," he explained as she struggled to sit up. "Plus, when I am ill, I like to have soup." He placed the tray gently on her lap, and then looked apologetically into her face. "I'm sorry. I should have asked you what you wanted..."

Machi immediately took a sip of her soup, scorching her already raw trachea, but at the same time, proving that she appreciated him coming over the way he had. She coughed and spluttered, and in general, made a mess of everything. Yuki, alarmed at her reaction, removed the tray out of harms way and proceeded to pound her on the back.

When her coughing abated, she managed to croak out a 'thank you'. Yuki smiled, relieved that he wasn't going to have to perform the Heimlich Manoeuvre- that would have been rather difficult, considering his 'condition'...

Yuki left the room to tidy the kitchen up slightly- not too much or Machi would have gone berserk- and Machi herself proceeded to finish her soup, all the while her mind racing.

When his mauve eyes peered at her from around the doorframe, she only had one question.

"Why?"

He gazed at her for a long time, considering his answer. Finally, he simply stated: "Soup is a miracle cure" and patted her fondly on the head.


They weren't ooc were they? O.o...

The next one will be about...red ribbon.

Until then!

And please leave a review on your way out. Thank you