Title: Laughter
Chapter Three
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Tohru and the Sohmas (minus Yuki) were finding the whole situation awkward. Satsu looked disheveled and had tearstains down her dusty cheeks. Yuki was quieter than normal, his pallor deathly pale and his fingers trembling. The two would not meet one another's eyes.
"Ano…" Tohru murmured. She was the most bewildered. Her turquoise eyes met the gaze of each member of the Madubachi Trio and that of Kyo. Their reply was a shrug of the shoulder or a concerned look.
Satsu had barely touched her food. She continuously rearranged it with her chopsticks, a sullen glaze to her usually bright eyes. She placed her chopsticks down on the table with a subdued click.
"Tohru-chan, I apologize for not eating much. It was truly delicious, but I have lost my appetite. Anyway, I should be getting home." She rose unsteadily to her feet.
"Satsu…would you like me to walk you?" Yuki asked suddenly. Hatori glanced at his cousin's white hand clenching his chopsticks in his left hand. Something was not right.
"No thanks. I can manage on my own." She moved to leave the room when sudden downpour began with a distant clap of thunder. "Oh dear," Satsu whispered.
Hatori stood up and looked to Yuki. "I will drive her home," the doctor informed his cousin.
"Thank you, Hatori-san." She bowed to Hatori before addressing Yuki. "I'll be fine, Yuki. Don't worry about me."
With her words said, Satsu left followed shortly by Hatori.
"Dear brother, what happened?" Aya questioned. Yuki glanced up at his older brother. He sounded concerned.
"I-I told Satsu that I liked her, but then…I said we couldn't be in a relationship. I did not tell her why though."
"But why?" Shigure wondered.
"It's better to not have any chances for her to get hurt by Akito. I don't want her involved in this mess."
"You're pathetic," snapped Kyo. They were the first words he had spoken all night. His red eyes flashed dangerously, staring coldly at the rat.
"Excuse me?" Yuki sputtered. Tension was rising in the room causing dizziness on Tohru's part, as almost any dissension did.
"You are pathetic. Yuki Sohma, the rat, isn't even strong or brave enough to stand up to Akito and date the girl that he's half in love with. I see the way you stare at her when you think no one's looking. And I've seen the way her eyes always find you every time you speak or move. She's changed you. You laughed! You danced! And now you're throwing it all away because of your own Achilles' heel. You're afraid of getting too close to her, of loving her too much! I'm sick of Akito controlling our lives! We're doing just what he wants, giving in and not fighting back!" His honest words hung heavily in the air. Yuki looked away from his cousin and heaved a sigh.
"Why not follow your own advice, baka neko?" he retorted. But, Kyo's reasoning hit him. He was running away again. Yuki, the rat-special, gifted, superior-was only good at running away. A slitherer-outer.
"You know what? Fine! Then you can't throw it in my face." Kyo turned to Tohru. Those same crimson eyes that held all that hate and fervor had turned soft and gentle when they landed on his Tohru. "I LOVE YOU TOHRU HONDA!" He shot to his feet and ran outside into the falling rain. Tohru, along with the others, stared amazed after him. He held his arms out to feel the rain on his body. "I don't care who knows anymore! I LOVE TOHRU HONDA!"
Tohru rushed outside to stand with Kyo. A wide, happy smile graced her face, her eyes shining with her unspoken love.
"I LOVE KYO SOHMA!" she screamed, her voice echoing.
"T-Tohru…?" The cat stared down at the riceball, both had a terrible red blush on their cheeks. In spite of himself, he reached down and pulled her into a tight hug.
The amazement did not end with their confessions. No untimely 'poof' interrupted their hug. Kyo was left in his human form, relishing the feel of his one love in his arms.
"Oh my."
"What the?"
"Impossible."
Their reactions fell on deaf ears. Tohru and Kyo were lost in their jubilee. The new couple stayed out beneath the night sky and rain, dancing and laughing. They were overcome with joy. Kyo shouted to the retreating rat, "It's your turn, kuso nezumi!"
He ignored it and went to his room and locked the door behind him.
"What do you think this means?" Aya asked Shigure.
"It means that Akito is losing his power. The end is near. Love is what broke Kyo's curse. He blatantly defied Akito's wishes and that is what needed the curse to be broken. And he opened Yuki's eyes. Hatori will have to know."
"Not just yet though. He's probably getting the gossip from Satsu."
"How very true."
……
Thirty minutes earlier Satsu sat in the passenger seat unaware of the happenings inside the house. Her escort was silent, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Hatori-san. You probably want to know what happened…" Satsu said.
"It's your business. Not mine."
"Oh okay…" She stared aimlessly out the window, her mind retrogressing back to a few hours ago. Oh god, the chill that went up Satsu's spine when Yuki called her 'Satsu-hime.'
"Is there anything you wish to talk about?"
"Not especially. I just wish that he had told me his reason for the brush-off. Well, not really a brush-off…but a 'break' maybe. I don't know what it was. He told me he liked me…and then said we couldn't have a relationship. I wish I knew why. I figure he kept it a secret for a good reason though."
"I assure you that he did. Give it time, Satsu-san."
He pulled to a stop outside her apartment complex. Satsu gathered her bag and jacket and ran for cover into her home.
The information she had divulged seemed enough to satisfy his interest.
"Yuki, Yuki, Yuki," he murmured. "How stupid can you be?"
……
News of Tohru and Kyo's new relationship spread like wildfire throughout the school. The couple was barely able time to take in the glorious day that befell the town. The day for them was a bright and happy one, simply because they had one another.
Satsu appeared to Yuki as completely unaffected from the previous night's events and he decided to treat her as such.
Unfortunately, the Prince Yuki Fan Club had called in back up to deal with this 'special' situation. It was rather humourous to observe, if your name wasn't Yuki Sohma or Satsu Oshiro, of course. The former was being followed nearly everywhere, while the latter was obstinately snubbed by those same girls for no virtual reason aside from her apparent "closeness" to their beloved Yuki.
School was slowly turning into a dreary affair for Satsu. She didn't show it though. To her peers she was the same lively Satsu.
"Satsu!" Yuki exclaimed, approaching the brunette. She glanced up from her book and flashed a bright smile.
"Hiya Yuki-san," she hailed. But, then bent her head back over her book, resuming her reading.
The prince was unsure of what to do at this point. Had she just snubbed him? It was after school and he had come across Satsu in the park. Sitting on the bench underneath the wide blue sky, she was completely still. Yuki stood only a few feet away from her, but he had the feeling she was miles away, maybe even years away.
Without asking her permission, he sat down on the opposite side of the bench. Whatever it was Satsu was reading, she was not the least conscious of her surroundings.
Their silence was comfortable, a departure from the awkwardness of the past days.
An exhaled breath signaled Satu's return to the "real" world. She shut her book and turned her head to look at her comrade.
"Oh, Yuki-san, hello. When'd you get here?" She asked him. She did not seem to remember the greeting they had exchanged earlier. Yuki decided not to tell her.
"Just a little while ago. You seemed engrossed by your book, so I resolved not to bother you."
"But, you wouldn't be bothering me, Yuki. I wouldn't have minded."
"I'll keep that in mind. By the way, what are you reading?"
"Wuthering Heights." She answered with a bittersweet smile.
"What's it about?"
She feigned a gasp at his inquiry. In Satsu's little world that was a crime, a heinous crime. Nonetheless, she was always up for converting another soul.
"A tragic love story. Very touching. It's sort of hard to explain though. I'm not very good with summarizing. But, to put it shortly: Kathy loves Heathcliff but marries Edgar because Heathcliff is lowborn. Heathcliff marries Isabella, Edgar's sister as part of his revenge. There's a lot of back-story though. They end up together in the end though: in death."
"It doesn't sound that interesting," Yuki spoke, voicing his thoughts. A sharp look was Satsu's reply. And she scoffed.
"Because you are a male and males have no feelings and stupid books, movies and stories create these remarkably unrealistic expectations. We expect guys to be gentlemen, to be emotionally open, to express their jealousy, to whisk us away. In reality, they fall short. Men suck. Not to mention the fact that one girl is not enough for them. They need more than one. Dirty rotten sluts."
"Don't hold anything back," joked Yuki.
"You're the worst kind of male of all. Sometimes I seriously hate you. Even though every day I find my feelings for you growing. God, Yuki! Can't you see how miserable I am? Why can't you take a chance?! I want you to smile only at me and touch me with those fingers. It's such a simple desire, but I can't have it."
"S-Satsu…" he began, voice meek and filling with hurt.
"No! I am talking now! You talked before! Because of you, I don't want to know what it is like to fall in love with someone! I wish I never had these feelings! I wish I never asked you out! Even if I do retain tender moments, it hurts the rest of the time…it hurts so much. I know that I alone cry until the morning comes… Nevertheless, I wait. Nothing changes. No one cares what happens to me…no one cares…"
Satsu's falling tears silenced any further words she might have shouted. Yuki closed the space between them and captured her lips with his in a desperate kiss, one full of all the angst and emotion that was bottled up.
The fazed girl stared dumbly at Yuki. Never before had she been kissed, and she had not expected her first one to come after she had yelled at the bestower.
"Satsu-hime, I want to be your prince. I would like for you to be my girlfriend."
All the resolve that Satsu had built up and all those vows she had taken dissipated with his words. It's amazing what a prince's words can do to the oaths a teenaged girl makes to herself. Satsu wasn't the first or the last to be cajoled by a prince's lexis, nor would she be the last. Cinderella was to blame.
"O-okay…" Her reply was most uncharacteristic. Normally she would have a wonderfully thought out response. But, words failed her.
"Thank you," the rat whispered.
"For what?" wondered Satsu, her face flushed and eyes bright. Yuki leaned his forehead against hers, his words coming out softly.
"For loving me…"
"You don't have to thank me."
"But I want to."
"Why?"
He pulled back and turned to face the walking path. His body was tense suddenly and face taut.
"I'm not a good person, Satsu. I do not deserve happiness, for I am a simpering coward."
"Everyone deserves happiness or at least the right to hope and dream for it. We are but humans; we're not perfect. It is not in our nature to lack faults. Even the most honourable, brave people have faults. There is no reason for you to punish yourself. I want to be with you and you want to be with me. Isn't that all that should matter?"
"It is. But, usually it isn't. There are many things that can inhibit a relationship: jealousy, envy, anger, paranoia."
"That is not what we should concern ourselves with now, Yuki-ouji."
"I guess your right. Hopefully we'll have a lifetime to worry about them."
Yuki gasped at his words, unintentionally speaking his thoughts again. Satsu just smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
"With any luck we shall." She got to her feet. The sky was darkening; it was dusk. To the east, the faint glow of stars rising in the sky signaled the beginning of the night. To the west, the sun was visible above the trees, glowing a crimson red mixed with hues of yellows, pinks and oranges. High above them, on the top of the dome of the sky night met day and melded into an array of brilliant colours. "Wow, it's beautiful," Satsu breathed, inhaling the warm air. It was in intoxicating. The air went down to her core, filling her body with new life. It seemed Yuki was experiencing the same exhilarating, new emotion.
"The world seems different, doesn't it?" Satsu asked, her arms held straight out from her sides, relishing in the sky.
"Yes, it does. I wonder what happened," he replied, joining her.
Author's Note: Sorry this one is a little short. . .