Chapter One
I headed out of the classroom as my teacher finally finished telling me off. Despite the crappy mood I was in, my heart leapt a little when I saw that Rin was leaning against the wall, waiting for me. But her expression was grim.
"Wow, she must've gone off at you for a long time. Your mom's already here."
Oh, joy. My mother has gotten called here many times because of my 'behavior issues' as they're called in this school. Let's just say, she could care less what I've done. It matters more to her that she looks 'presentable' to be around other human beings.
Around other human beings. That's how she described it to me. I asked her why she didn't look like that at home. Since it was just the two of us she told me I don't count. I don't think she meant it the way I took it. I was thinking of the whole zodiac thing. I don't think she was. Or, I like to think that she wasn't.
Anyway, I snapped. Again without meaning to. I don't usually mean to of course, but let's just say there are some times when I let my temper slip. 'Accidentally' of course. In my mind there are just certain people who deserve to feel my wrath. Like the kid today. The one I was forced to stay after school for, though I must say that I got just a little carried away...
That one time I snapped over the whole 'human being' thing, I'd never seen my mom look so scared. Of me. It was a horrible feeling, but I'd completely lost it at that time. There had been no sudden going back to calm for me that day. It was after that that my mother put me into karate. Don't get me wrong. Kazuma's great, and that's where I became friends with Yuki, Kagura, and Kyo, but it just didn't help.
Sure I'd needed to vent. But not physically. I'd needed to vent emotionally, which I'm forever grateful to Yuki for allowing me to do so.
I'd finally reached the main office. My mom was in there talking to the secretary. I knew they were talking about me because they shut up as soon as I entered. My mother looked great of course, but it really didn't matter. Not to me at least, and I'm the one who'd have to live with her for quite a while considering I'm only thirteen.
She said goodbye to the lady behind the counter who gave me a look of absolute hatred. She despised me, I knew that much. But usually it was just disappointment. For a second I had to wonder, what exactly made this kid so special? Oh yeah, the kid I'd landed in the hospital had been her nephew or something. For all I knew he could've been her grandson. Oh well. Too bad for her I guess.
My mom did say anything until we were outside. "Where is that man?" she snapped irritably. She must mean Hatori. There was no way she would've walked here. He must've driven her.
We waited for a few seconds. Her phone rang. It was Hatori. I couldn't hear the exact conversation, but I got the point. Something had happened and he couldn't come pick us up. She called him something I'm not allowed to describe anybody as but do anyway.
Big deal. I walk home everyday. It's not like it's gonna kill you. But I bet my mom thought it might from the look she was giving the ground.
She decided to start our conversation once we started walking. "Hatsuharu, what were you thinking? Were you even thinking?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but not thinking isn't really possible," I spat at the ground. My mother was less than impressed with my answer. "That poor kid."
Ugh. There was the sentence again. "I don't get it," I muttered bitterly "Why does everyone think that kid has it so hard?"
My mother's face paled. She knew almost instantly what I was getting at. "Haru," she said through almost clenched teeth. "This boy and your cousin are in completely different situations. That kid has nothing to do with him."
"It has everything to do with him! Why do you think I lost it today!?" My mom has a major talent for being able to get on my nerves just about every time we try to hold a conversation. Even more, I hated how she never said Yuki's name. It was always 'your cousin' or 'that Rat'. It was like he was some kind of disobedient animal! No pun intended.
To most of the Sohma family, my mom included, Yuki had gone from being the Rat, the special one, to nothing more than Akito's stress ball. And believe me, Yuki could feel his stress. Anger, disappointment, just about anything that wasn't happiness. But when it came to pain, no Akito felt none of that. Yuki felt it for him.
"Akito can do what he pleases with the Zodiac members. He is the head of the Sohma family. There isn't much anyone can do."
I gritted my teeth. I hated Akito. But there was worry under all that hatred. My mother was obviously scared of Akito. She obviously wasn't going to do anything to help Yuki. And Yuki's mom obviously didn't care. But would my mom do anything if it weren't Yuki? I bit my lip. Would she act this way if it were me Akito decided to make his punching bag? I'll be the first to admit that I was scared to find out that answer.
We finally arrived at the Sohma main gates. I was still ticked as we entered. Right inside were a lot of people, Sohmas obviously, but these people were always different to me. It was because we were inside. These people weren't staring at me because of my hair color or attitude problems. These people knew my secret. Or, our secret I guess. I didn't like most of these people very much.
My mother smiled broadly at them all. Like she was putting on a show. Like no one knew that she'd had to come get me from school 'cause I was in trouble again.
And worse. Akito happened to be in this crowd. He had a smug smile on his face and I was sure he was about to make another damn joke about my brainpower. I'm honestly not that far behind everyone else! The worst thing anyone ever did in this fucking hellhole was letting Akito know that he was in charge. That he was special. Remind me to strangle whoever told him that.
It seemed to be a small crowd surrounding us. They were trying to look like they were busy, but they were all waiting for a scene. And everyone here knew it was bound to happen eventually. Akito liked making a fool out of me. But he loved doing it in front of other people.
"So," he started.
I glared at him and his smile vanished. I was dangerously close to snapping again. There are people out there (most of them actually) who think the whole problem with my 'black side' is a mental thing. But it's not, it's emotional, and I'd had it today.
"Why don't you just go drop dead, you old hag?!"
Maybe it was a pretty lame threat because 'hag' usually refers to a woman, but it was the first thing that came to mind.
It sounded like every adult there sucked in their breath. They, Akito included, were all looking at me like I knew something I shouldn't. Which was strange because I'm usually getting looked at like there's something I should know but don't. I didn't wait for a response; I strode past our startled head of the family.
"Hatsuharu!" my mother yelled, "In front of all these people... how could you!?" my mother was so pissed, it wasn't possible for her to complete a sentence at the moment.
Unbelievable, my cousin gets tormented for no reason just about every night, and my mom was more upset about me raising my voice in public.
What the hell was wrong with everyone in this world?
Read and Review Please! Yuki should get introduced in the next chapter. It never says much about Haru's mom, but this is my best way of trying to describe her through this chapter. (Personally, I think I got the message across.) I don't own Fruits Basket!
