Update (06/23/2018): The main thing during this rewrite that I wanted to focus on was the names~ Like, the nicknames, the new side characters' names (and nicknames), and all of that fun stuff. For instance, what was I thinking when I had Alayna's nickname have two 'l's (Ally) as opposed to one 'l' (Aly)? I guess there's nothing wrong with two 'l's, but I'm pedantic, okay? I need it all to make sense, and two 'l's in this instance doesn't make sense to me for some reason~
—Dinner (with a Side of Doubt)—
—Skylar—
"I get what you're saying, Als, I really do, but I still can't believe you wanna talk about getting a job of all things. We're in Fruits Basket, you know," I say incredulously. Leave it to Aly to think about logical things when we're practically living every fangirl's dream.
Not that she doesn't have a point—as always, she does—but can't we just embrace being in Fruits Basket for, like, a year before we start thinking rationally?
She sighs. "Skylar, if we're determined to stay here then we need to start acting like we belong here, not like we're from another planet."
"But we kinda are from another planet," I grumble.
She rolls her eyes. "At any rate, do you really want to have to ask Shigure for things when we need them?"
I make a face. She has me there. I hate asking people for things as it is—I still refuse to eat at Aly's house unless invited, and I've been friends with her for years—but asking Shigure of all people for something isn't my definition of a good idea.
"Besides, the only money we have left is the two dollars and twenty-three cents from when we went shopping for energy drinks," she continues.
"I know that, but you realize that we're in Japan now, right? Even though we read it in English, Fruits Basket is set in Japan, and I don't know about you, but, sadly, I don't speak Japanese. We're just lucky they speak English."
It's her turn to make a face, playing with her hair as she gets lost in her thoughts.
I lay back and enjoy the bright sun, letting her work out whatever thought she has.
After Shigure left us to ourselves, I thought it might be fun to explore the yard to get a feel of everything while we waited for Yuki to get back—and to really let it sink in that we're here—but leave it to Aly's brain to go from ecstatic to logical in zero-point-two seconds. Now, she's off like a well-oiled machine, thinking of all the things we need to do.
"I've been thinking," she starts.
"A dangerous pastime," I mutter.
She shoots me a look but continues, "Maybe they're not speaking English. Maybe… maybe, somehow, we're actually speaking Japanese."
I prop myself up using my elbows, giving her a what-in-the-hell-are-you-implying-here look.
"I know it sounds crazy, but look around you. We're sitting next to the river by Shigure's house. Anything is possible at this point. Besides, everything else is Japanese: the house, the doors, the designs. Shigure was even wearing a kimono!"
I nod slowly. It makes sense—in an unbelievable kind of way. "Well, there's only one way to find out, right?" I say, standing up.
"What do you mean, Skylar? Hey! Wait! Where are you going?"
I head towards the house. "Shigure thinks we don't remember where we were before we came here, so all we have to do is ask him what language we speak."
"But we don't want him to think we're crazy!"
"We're not crazy—just confused, remember?" I look back at her to see she's giving me a look. "Come on. It'll be fine."
She sighs but follows after me nonetheless as I slide open the main house door and tread down the hallway barefooted.
When we come to a simple door that was only shown in the anime once, I slide it open enough to peek in. "Shigure?"
He looks up at me through thin-rimmed glasses. "Yes, Skylar?"
I open the door completely, stepping into the room.
It's smaller than I thought it would be, nearly claustrophobic. Piles of paper are scattered everywhere, a particularly large pile on a small desk. An old 90's computer is sitting next to it with a few newspapers folded on the keyboard. Shigure himself is sitting on his knees in front of the computer, a manuscript in his hands.
I glance at the letters on the page. I can read them, but does that mean they're English?
"I was wondering…" I start.
He takes off his glasses, tilting his head.
"What language do we speak?" I ask.
He chuckles a little. "Oh, I see. We speak Japanese," he answers politely.
A grin breaks out on my face. That's so cool!
"Actually, Yuki should be home soon," he says, glancing at the clock on his computer, "and I was thinking we could all eat out tonight."
"But we don't have any money," I say.
He shrugs. "It's no big deal," he says easily. "Besides, I figured we'd use tonight's dinner to discuss a few things regarding living arrangements."
Aly tenses behind me, but I keep the smile in place. "Of course~"
His eyes trail to our outfits, brows furrowing. "First, let's get you out of those clothes and into something more comfortable."
"You don't have to—"
He smirks. "Now, now, of course I do! Young ladies should only be dressed in the best! We wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, would we?"
"The wrong idea?"
"Exactly." He nods as if he answered a question and pats my head. "Follow me."
We do as he says, leaving the cramped room and going down the hallway. As soon as we get through the living room's door, Shigure tells us to wait before disappearing through another door.
Aly looks at me. "He said he wants to talk about living arrangements, Sky!"
"It's fine, Aly. He's probably gonna make the same deal with us that he made with Tohru—cleaning instead of money. Shigure and Yuki are horrible when it comes to cleaning, remember?"
"Yes, and then we're gonna run into Tohru! It's possible that they'll kick us to the curb in favor of her."
"We can worry about it later."
"Your 'later' is always when it's happening," she grumbles.
"Exactly~ We can worry about it when we find Tohru~ For now, let's just focus on the fact that Shigure's gonna give us clothes!"
She rolls her eyes. "You're so hedonistic, you know that?"
I sigh. "We're in a manga, you know? Right now, at this moment, we've defied everything logical and are now, currently, standing in Shigure's living room. At this very moment. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I got that. You only repeated it fifty times," she grumbles.
"The point, my dear, logically-oriented friend, is that we should just enjoy being here. If things go south, we'll deal with it then, but for right now, let's just go with it."
She purses her lips, unhappy, before she lets out a breath. "You're right," she agrees finally, practically deflating. "I'll chill out."
"Thank you~"
"But if things get messy, then we'll have to—"
"Aly, this's Fruits Basket: things always get—"
The front door slides open suddenly, stopping our mini argument immediately. From the hallway, we hear, "What was such an emergency that you called me here all of a sudden, Shigure?"
We share a look. That sounds suspiciously like…
Hatori Sohma slides open the living room doors, stopping as soon as he sees Aly and I.
My mouth drops open as Aly's eyes widen.
He's wearing a violet vest over a white button-up—his long, white lab coat draped over his arm—and his dark hair is falling over his purple eyes, covering the confusion in them.
Holy crap! The Sohma family's personal doctor is here, standing in the living room! But Tohru doesn't get to meet him until the second volume—or the seventh episode of the anime—so why is he here already?
Not that I'm complaining; it's the opposite actually: I love Hatori almost as much as I love Shigure! Which is why I have to bite my lip to keep from grinning, shooting Aly a look just as she manages to compose herself as well.
"Oh, Ha'ri~ I see you've finally made it~" Shigure says, two kimonos in his arms.
"Shigure, why didn't you tell me the problem was two girls?" Hatori asks gruffly.
I'm too excited to see him to be mad at him for that comment.
Shigure shakes his head. "That's not very nice, Ha'ri," he berates playfully, "and they're not a problem. They're the reason I called you, but they're not a problem."
He sighs. "Then what is it?"
Shigure ignores him in favor of handing Aly and I each a kimono. "Here," he says, smiling. "You can change into these while I take care of mean ole Ha'ri here~"
Aly and I nod, laughing a little as we head to the bathroom.
As soon as the door slides closed behind us, though, we put our ears against it, straining to hear.
"Shigure, this has to be the worst idea you've ever had," Hatori says, and I can practically see him shaking his head. "How could you let two strangers into your house, let alone two strange girls."
Shigure doesn't sound bothered. "I know, but they don't remember anything. What could it hurt?"
"Plenty. What are you going to do if they accidentally stumble into you or Yuki?" he demands. "They can't know about—"
"It'll be fine." Shigure waves him off. "We'll just have to be careful."
Hatori eyes him. "You're not scheming anything, are you?"
"Of course not~" Shigure says innocently.
It's silent for a few beats before Hatori sighs. "Well, at any rate, if you don't need me to suppress their memories, then why am I here?"
"Because they don't remember anything," Shigure explains. "I want you to make sure there's nothing wrong with them."
"I see," Hatori agrees. "Most amnesia cases are caused by trauma, like post-traumatic amnesia, which is generally caused by a head injury, but there are other types of amnesia, like dissociative amnesia, where it's more of a psychological trauma than a physical one, so I understand your concern."
"Yes. I'm hoping it's just the result of a bump to the head, but if it's not…"
"I understand. Just one problem."
"Hm?"
"I strictly work for the Sohma family."
"Well, they're a part of the Sohma family from now on."
Hatori sighs, and I peel my ear away, looking at the kimonos Shigure had handed us.
"So, they're wondering how we got amnesia," Aly says, thinking.
"Well, Hatori has a point—amnesia usually is caused by trauma—so it makes sense." I shrug. "Why else would we forget everything?"
"Yes, I know, I was just thinking that this might be the thing that keeps us here," she says.
I look at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we didn't even know what language we spoke, right?" she explains. "So what will we do if they kick us out? Shigure may have been a lot of things, but he wasn't heartless."
"That's fair," I agree, pulling my nightgown over my head. "But, again, just enjoy this, Als."
She follows suit, stripping out of her damp gown and holding a soft blue kimono up to her chest. "I am, but that doesn't mean I can just turn off my brain. I'm not someone."
I stick my tongue out at her, making her laugh, and pick up the white kimono with cherry blossom petals on it as she gets dressed, staring at it. I usually don't like floral patterns, but the way the petals are scattered on the fabric, as if they're falling, is actually really pretty, so I slip it on, wrapping the light pink sash around my waist just as Aly finishes.
"Why're you so worried about us getting kicked out anyway?" I wonder as I fumble with the sash. "I mean, I get that we're gonna meet Tohru and all, but what makes you think they're gonna kick us out instead of her? Better yet, why don't you think they'll let all of us stay?"
"Because Tohru's nice," she explains, sighing for the umpteenth time. "I love you, Sky, but you're not nice. Kind? Sure. Always. But nice? Not hardly. Tohru's always nice, though, and Shigure's a good judge of character, so he might think… Well, might think that she'll be able to help them more than—"
I flick her forehead, effectively stopping her. She looks affronted, but I grin. "You're thinking too much again," I say easily. "We didn't come here to be Tohru; we came here to help her—because she's too 'nice' to do what you and I want to, right? We wanted to come to mix things up, anyway—get revenge, say what we wanted to say, change what we thought needed to change. We came because we wanted to yell at Shigure, and fight Akito, and protect Kyo and Yuki, right?"
She blinks a few times, staring at me, before she relaxes, returning my grin. "Yeah, you're right. My bad. I guess I let my doubts get ahead of me."
I shrug, gathering up our dirty pajamas. "That's what I'm here for~"
She rolls her eyes, still smiling, and slides open the door.
Shigure smiles as we walk out, making Hatori sigh again.
"I'll take those," Shigure says, holding his arms out for our clothes.
We hand them to him, and he smiles. "Ha'ri here is a doctor," he explains, nodding to the Sohma next to him. "He's going to give you a quick check-up to make sure everything's okay."
"Do you think something's wrong with us?" I wonder innocently.
"Not at all," he assures me. "Just can't be too careful, can we?"
"I guess not," Aly joins in.
"All right. I'm going to put up your clothes while Ha'ri looks over you, okay?"
We nod, and he heads to the laundry room, leaving us with Hatori, who turns to look at us with a cold, even stare.
I decide to break the silence by bowing. "I'm Skylar Hayes," I say.
Aly follows. "And I'm Alayna Marsh, but you can call me Aly."
He stares at us for a few more seconds before letting out a breath, pulling on his lab coat. "Yes, I've heard," he says. "I'm Hatori Sohma, the Sohma family's doctor."
"Nice to meet you," I say a little too enthusiastically.
"Likewise," he returns, but his face is grave as he pulls out a small, stream light stylus. He motions me over to him, and I listen, standing directly in front of him.
"What's the last thing you remember?" he asks, using the stylus to flash light in my right eye.
"Uh…" I think about it for a minute, trying not to blink. "Well, I remember waking up in the middle of the woods," I say slowly, pretending to piece it together. "I remember thinking Yuki wasn't real…"
He stops, staring at me. "You didn't think Yuki was real?"
I shake my head. "He was too pretty, you know?" I lie. Honestly, I just want to make an excuse for the way Aly and I practically groped him when we first ran into him—if Yuki tells Hatori about it without any explanation from us, Hatori could think we have something worse than amnesia, like psychosis or something.
Hatori blinks, shaking his head, and goes back to flashing the light in my other eye. "But you knew your name?"
"Yeah," I say. "It was weird because I even knew Aly and I were supposed to be, like, really close, but I knew we weren't sisters."
"Mm," he hums in acknowledgement. "Any headaches?"
"Just a slight one when I woke up," I answer.
He hums again, turning off the flashlight to touch my head. I wince when he probes the back of my head a little too hard, and he nods to himself before motioning for Aly to come over. I step out of the way and watch as he asks her the same questions. She answers roughly the same way— "And you? What's the last thing you remember?" "I remember Skylar waking me up, asking my name." "What about headaches?" "A bit of throbbing when Skylar nudged me too hard, but nothing major."—and Shigure's back before I know it, watching.
"Are they okay?" Shigure wonders as Hatori steps away from Aly.
He looks at Shigure and sighs. "Yes, they're fine. A bump on the head—probably from a fall—but nothing serious enough to warrant hospital time."
Shigure smiles. "Great!"
Hatori sighs. "Still, it would be better to keep an eye on the headaches. Keep track of how often you two get them, and how long they last. Understood?"
We nod.
"Don't worry, Ha'ri~ I'll watch them with my life~"
The look Hatori sends Shigure could literally freeze the dog. "I don't want to hear anything from Yuki about you messing with these girls. Understood?"
"You wound me, Ha'ri," Shigure replies, but he's smiling.
We laugh as Hatori sighs yet again. "I'll be going then. Remember: don't do anything stupid."
"Yes, yes, I understand~ Bye, Ha'ri~"
As soon as the door slides shut, Shigure shakes his head. "You'll have to excuse Ha'ri," he says, turning to us. "He's a little shy."
I smile at him. "Don't worry about it~"
Aly nods, agreeing. "Yeah, we did kind of barge in here, after all."
Shigure shakes his head. "Now, now. Don't think like that." He smiles at us. "Yuki brought two here because he was worried. Just think of this place as your home away from home.
Aly returns his smile, and I have to stop myself from hugging him.
Stupid curse.
The door slides open again, Yuki popping in. "I'm back," he says, slipping his shoes off. "Was that Hatori I saw pulling out? What was he…?" He fades out when he sees all of us gathered in a circle in the entryway.
"Welcome back," Aly chirps.
I snicker quietly, earning an elbow to the ribs from her.
"Ah, just in time," Shigure says. "I was just telling the girls about dinner tonight."
"Dinner?" Yuki repeats, confused.
Shigure nods. "I was thinking we'd eat out tonight."
"As always," Yuki says.
Shigure tsks. "Now, now, Yuki, don't be silly. Tonight's different because we have two cute girls with us!"
Yuki shoots him a look. "You didn't do anything to them while I was gone, did you?"
"Of course not~" Shigure says innocently.
He stares at him for a few more minutes, disbelief written all over his face, before he gives in. "I'll put my bag away, and we can go," he says finally.
"Okay," Shigure agrees.
It doesn't take him long—within ten minutes, he manages to change into a short-sleeved, baby blue shirt with gold lacing alone the collars, and a pair of dark blue pants before meeting us at the base of the stairs. His hair is more disheveled than it had been, and I'm momentarily distracted by it because his hair is never messy in the manga.
"Ready," he says blandly.
Shigure grins. "Alright! Let's go!" he cheers, making Yuki roll his eyes as we follow after him.
Yuki trails behind us grudgingly, sliding the front door shut with a few muttered words, and Aly looks back at him, deep in thought. I snicker a little, causing her to look at me, and lace my fingers behind my back as I catch up with Shigure.
Let those two have some time alone~
"So, where're we going?" I ask Shigure to strike up a conversation.
He thinks about it for a moment. "I'm not sure yet. What are you in the mood for?"
I purse my lips. "Meat."
He chuckles. "Then how does yakitori sound?"
I blink, tilting my head. "What's that?"
"It's essentially skewered chicken," he explains. "I know a food booth that makes the best tare sauce."
My mouth's practically watering. "That sounds perfect~"
Shigure chuckles again, and the conversation dies.
It doesn't matter, though, because after a few more minutes of walking, we finally make it out of the woods and onto paved roads. Despite the fact it's still fairly early, there aren't many people out, but the ones that are stare at us.
"Right…" I mutter to myself. "Blonde isn't a common hair color in Japan…"
Not that my hair is naturally blonde. Actually, it's a dark brown, but I've been bleaching it since middle school because I like changing the color of my hair, and it's hard to do that with dark hair. Here, though, it looks natural. Aly and I got to stare at ourselves in a mirror before wondering the yard this morning, and I noticed that my roots weren't showing through anymore, so, for whatever reason, my hair is naturally blonde here.
Which is, like, a dream come true in its own right. Especially if I can somehow continue dying my hair different colors.
"Here we are!" Shigure announces, pulling me from my head.
I blink, coming back to Earth, and look at the small food booth. It's simple: a short, plum curtain overhanging the stall, white, bolded letters spelling out "Meshi." Several chairs are lined up against it, most of them empty.
I sit down, excited to try some yakitori, and Aly laughs a little, taking a seat next to me. Shigure sits on the other side of me, and I have to bite my lip to keep from grinning when Yuki takes a seat next to Aly.
As soon as we get situated, a man comes to take our orders. "What can I get you folks?" he asks.
Shigure examines the giant menu on the wall behind him. "Can we get three orders of yakitori and a nabe?"
The man jots it down and immediately gets to work, turning around with a whirl to start cooking.
"What's nabe?" I wonder.
"It's short for nabemono," Shigure answers easily, picking up chopsticks for everyone. "I guess you could say it's a bowl full of different types of food."
I nod, thinking. I'm not a big fan of mixing my food, but I might still try it… It's a different type of cuisine, after all…
"That sounds good," Aly pipes in.
Yuki smiles. "I'll let you try some then."
She brightens. "Really?"
Shigure nods. "Sure. We can have him give us an extra bowl to put some in it for you."
Aly looks excited, and I smile because it finally feels like she's calmed down a bit.
She catches me looking, raising an eyebrow at the grin on my face, and I just wink before turning back to Shigure.
"So, Shigure, you said you needed to talk to us about something?" I mention innocently.
He takes a sip of his green tea before grinning a very Shigure grin. "How good are you and Aly with housework? Say... things like cooking and cleaning?"
"I'm decent at cooking, but Aly's really good at it." I say. "I could do the cleaning, though."
"Then you two have the job as our new housekeepers!" he sang. "We'll pay you for your trouble, of course, but—"
I shake my head, interrupting him. "No, that's okay. You letting us live with you is payment enough," I say. "Aly and I were thinking about getting jobs, though."
He raises an eyebrow. "Really? Are you sure?"
I nod as the chef comes back with our food. The skewers are made of metal interestingly enough—for some reason, I thought they'd be made of bamboo since this stall was more of a yatai than an actual restaurant—with chicken dripping with tare sauce hanging off of it. It's steaming, and I can't stop myself from taking a bite before continuing talking to Shigure even though I know it's rude. The chicken is hot, burning my mouth, but it tastes too good to wait for it to cool. After another bite, I manage to pull myself away long enough to address Shigure, who had set his skewers on a plate to cool.
Thankfully, he looks more amused than offended as I wipe my mouth with a napkin, clearing my throat. "Right. Sorry about that. Anyway, we don't have any money, and we can't rely on you guys to buy everything for us."
"Are you sure?" he repeats, unsure. "You're suffering from amnesia. Maybe it'd be better for you two to rest for a while."
"We're sure," I say. "Hatori said we couldn't be sure our memories would return, right? So we can't just wait around for them to come back when they might not. We need to move forward."
"That's mighty brave of you," he says, smiling. For the first time since we'd met him, it's a soft smile, the type of smile he usually had when Tohru did something that moved him.
It throws me off enough to have me stammering. "I-I don't k-know about that."
But the smile stays on his face as he says, "You can get jobs, but you shouldn't work anything more than part-time. And you should enroll into school as well."
I nod. "It's a deal."
"You are nice, you know," he says suddenly.
My eyes widen. "What?"
"You're a good kid," he repeats innocently. "Both of you."
I blink, caught off guard. Aly's spiel about me not being nice flashes in my mind.
Did he…?
"Anyway, we should dig in," he says easily, unbothered by my staring. "We can talk more business later."
"Right…" I say slowly, unable to really process what he just said.
The rest of our meal is eaten in silence. Even Yuki and Aly's conversation dies down as they both get engrossed with their food. I watch as Yuki makes Aly a small bowl of nabe and hands it to her, smiling as she gushes about how good it is.
Cute as they are, I can't focus on them, stealing glances at Shigure every now and then.
Did he hear what Aly and I were talking about in the bathroom? Or was his comment a coincidence? I mean, he was talking to Hatori when Aly and I were talking, and it's not like we were loud—we may have been whispering fiercely, but we were still whispering—so how…?
I shake my head, clearing it. Aly's paranoia is rubbing off on me—there's no way Shigure could've heard. If he had, he wouldn't be sitting here with us right now; he would've sent us packing way before this.
"Miss Hayes? Are you okay?" Yuki asks, looking behind Aly at me. I notice she's staring at me too, worry lines creasing her forehead.
I smile at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I thought… I thought I remembered something just now, but it's gone."
"I'm sorry," he says earnestly.
I shrug. "It's not your fault."
He looks like he's about to ask something but decides against it, taking a drink of tea.
"How much do I owe you?" Shigure asks.
I turn to him in time to see him pulling out his wallet.
The chef smiles. "3,400 yen," he says.
As Shigure plucks out three bills and a ¥500 coin to give to the man, I make a mental note to pay him back. 31 US dollars isn't terrible for a meal of four, but I still think we should give him the money back—at least our half of it.
After he's done, we head back to the house just in time for the sun to set, painting the sky in pinks, oranges, and yellows.
"Are you sure it's okay if we stay?" Aly asks again, checking.
Yuki smiles at her. "If it wasn't, we wouldn't have invited you."
"It's it wonderful?" Shigure says happily, wrapping an arm around Yuki's shoulder. "We don't have to eat out ever again; we can have home cooked meals now! And it's all thanks to the lovely flowers living with us!"
The smile on Yuki's face falls as he looks at his cousin coldly. "Somehow, when you say it, it sounds indecent."
Aly and I laugh.
"Don't let him fool you, girls," Shigure says, winking. "Under that cool, calm, pretty face is actually a beast waiting to pounce." His eyes light up in fake horror. "Now that I think about it, maybe I should install a lock on your room that only I have a key to, just so Yuki doesn't attack you in your—"
Yuki punches Shigure, effectively stopping him. "Idiot," he growls.
Aly and I double over in laughter as Shigure rubs his head. "That wasn't very nice, Yuki," he whines, but he's smiling.
"You'll live," Yuki says.
Shigure stands up, dusting himself off, before his eyes trail to something in the woods. "Oh! Isn't that Tohru?"
Yuki rolls his eyes. "Of course you remember her name. You don't know the name of the delivery boy we've had for years, but a girl's name…"
Shigure grins. "Yes, I do have a gift, don't I?"
Aly and I share a look.
This is where the story really begins.
—x—
BLAH BLAH BLAH:
Welp, I decided not to do honorifics since not everyone knows what each means, but I did decide to keep some of the overarching terms in Japanese (things like "yatai" which are food carts, and literally translates to "shop stand," and most of the food names because I feel like it can be a fun learning thing for you guys, and I can use some of the useless Japanese culture knowledge I have lol).
Anyway, look forward to a new PoV next chapter: we finally get to get into Aly's mind! Woo~
Happy reading, cupcakes~(: