The New Girl
Like the day before Anju woke up enough to realize Tohru-kun and the others were already starting the day. Anju went back to sleep. She had blurrily looked at the clock Shigure-san had given her and figured she didn't have to really get up for another two hours. With that thought, she slipped off into the warm dark world of her dreams again. Those people were crazy for waking up so early.
Anju could swear she had just fallen asleep again, but Tohru-kun was still knocking at the door jam and calling her name. Anju mumbled some incoherent responses to the annoying 'knock, knock' and rolled away from the door. She still had time. She didn't have to wake up yet.
"Anju-kun," Tohru-kun spoke softly into her sliding door. "We have to leave for school soon; even Yuki-kun is up!" Tohru rationalized. Anju sighed heavily and sat up glaring at the glowing door. She wasn't really angry with Tohru, just the fact that she was being forced up. The hall light was on and it illuminated that half of her room leaving a Tohru shaped shadow stretched across the floor.
"I'm up, Tohru-kun." Anju called stripping out of the pajama's Tohru had lent her last night. An enormous yawn racked her body and she couldn't open her eyes completely. "I'll be down in two minutes, promise." Anju's voice was muffled because of the shirt half pulled over her head. Not to mention she was hardly awake at all; it didn't matter that she wasn't lying down anymore; she was just as asleep as ever. Anju had low blood pressure.
"Well," Tohru-kun said actually sounding a bit worried over her. "I'll just wrap up your breakfast so you can eat it on our way to school, okay?" Tohru-kun really had a way with packing as many emotions as she could into a few simple words. She had been worried, sympathetic, and motherly all at once; it was crazy.
"Sounds good." Anju said loudly as she fell on her back to pull on her winter stockings that matched the rest of her uniform. In reality Anju hadn't a clue what Tohru had just said Anju had only yelled a universal response after Tohru had stopped talking. Anju dragged herself to her feet and smacked her skirt straight before heading out of her room intending to visit the bathroom where Tohru-kun's brush was waiting for her. Sleep walking or not Anju wasn't arriving for her first day of school with bed head. Anju washed her face but still couldn't get the ultimately tired look from her face. It was no use, she should have known. No matter what she did Anju wouldn't fully wake up until far later in the morning. Just in time for lunch, she guessed.
A nice bath with real soap had cured the stringy symptoms from her hair last night and she felt refreshed for the first time in a few days. Her hair was actually shining like it was supposed to and laid flat across her back and around her face and into her eyes. Today was going to be a good day she convinced herself as she slugged down the stairs trying not to trip. Coffee had always shortened the time it took for Anju to wake up, but she doubted Shigure-san the tea lover would have coffee in his house. Heck, she doubted all of Japan had coffee. She silently mourned the loss she felt from being separated from her Starbucks before Tohru-kun jumped out of no where in front of her and shoved Anju's (new) school bag into her hands with some breakfast toast.
"Arigatou." Anju yawned, "We ready to go?" She asked from behind her bangs if the fear of exposed panties wasn't still plaguing Anju's mind she would have happily collapsed and fell asleep right there in the hall. But exposed underwear kept her on her feet.
--
"Where do you think she came from?" "She looks kind of stupid." "I don't like her; you can't even see her face." It was too bad for the bushel of girls whispering about their new student because the new student was presently sleeping while sitting up in her chair and was unable to hear their intimidating whispering. And by angling Anju's legs together she had solved her exposed underwear dilemma and was taking the time to get more sleep.
Tohru and her two best friends, Hana and Uo, were standing at the back of the class watching the scene unfold. Tohru frowned as she worried over Anju-kun because the groups of girls from their class were whispering terrible things about Anju-kun, and even more people from other classes were crowding their room door to get a look at her. Tohru clasped her hand tightly with anxiety. Anju hadn't even said a word yet and people were claiming they didn't like her.
"So who's the new student, Tohru-chan?" Uo asked. Uo was a very tall blond girl who would look more at home with a cigarette between her fingers then the pencil she was toying with at the moment. Uo had managed to get her hands on one of the skirts Anju-kun had tried so hard to get for her uniform. Her skirt hovered above the floor and covered her legs from the public.
"Yes," Hana said softly. "I heard you walked to school with her this morning." She added keeping her eyes on Anju. Tohru wondered if the gossiping girls on the other side of the room knew she was asleep. "Is she a Sohma?" Hana asked. Uo and Tohru looked at their friend confused.
"Why would you say that?" Uo inquired. She pushed herself off the wall of their classroom to complete their tighter circle. It sounded to her like they were going to start talking about something no one else needed to know. Uo felt like they were conspiring in their small circle.
"She's not," Tohru answered. "Her family just knows the Sohma's and," Tohru paused looking embarrassed. "She's living with us too." She said quietly. Tohru would hate for the infamous Yuki Fan Club to find out she and Anju lived with their prince. School was hard enough for her. She didn't need death threats to add to her hectic days.
"Oh," Hana said glancing back at Anju as she took in the information. "She has the same electrical waves as Yuki Sohma, Kyo Sohma, and their cousin Shigure Sohma. I just assumed the feeling had something to do with their family. But I guess not." Tohru laughed nervously. How did Hanajima do that? When her friends' attention turned to her curiously Tohru mentally backed into a corner. Change the subject, she thought. Quick.
"Ah…ano, it's nothing really." They didn't buy her explanation. Change subject, she thought again. "Her name is Anju-kun, and she's really beautiful. That is probably the reason so many girls don't like her already." She added sadly. Poor Anju-kun, she thought. All of those girls were jealous, and that jealousy caused horrible thoughts from them. "She just got here two days ago." Tohru explained to her friends.
"I see." Hana said quietly. "Yuki-kun is here." She added. No long after Hana said so the Yuki Fan Club broke out in a cheer for him, and it woke Anju up.
Anju jumped a little in her seat as an annoying high-pitched cheer filled the classroom. She yawned and looked for the source of the loud noises; she regretted it later. Anju had never seen something so disturbing in her life. But as she turned away from the impossibly disfigured girls, she caught the many looks she was getting from across the room and flooding into the classroom door. Why were they glaring at her? Anju just shrugged though, she was too tired to deal with glaring girls.
"Ohayou, Mamoto-san."
Anju turned to her right and watched Yuki take his seat next to her. "Oh," she yawned again. "Hey, Yuki-san," she said with a subdued sleep-filled voice. He took the time to smile at her as he started taking his things out of his backpack for class. Anju felt a prickling at her neck as soon as Yuki smiled. She turned around in her seat, letting her stocking-clad knees block the aisle between her and Yuki. She glanced toward the back of the class searching for the source of her discomfort. Anju found it very easily. "You're getting me in trouble with those crazy girls." Anju said slowly still staring blankly at the group that had woken her up. They were glaring death and despair her way with a dark vengeance. Yuki turned and they were suddenly all smiles for him. "That's really creepy." Anju said turning back around in her seat and dropping her head into her arms for more sleep. "And it takes forever for this class to start." Her voice was muffled by her desk and arms.
The teacher arrived soon after Anju complained.
Anju yawned for the last time just as lunch started. She fully awoke to realize she hadn't packed anything for lunch. She stifled a yelp when three desks simultaneously pushed closer to hers and the desks boxed her into her seat with no escape. She sighed loudly with relief when Tohru-kun turned out to be the person taking the desk in front of her. But two girls she didn't recognize had situated themselves on either side of her.
"Hi Tohru-kun," Anju greeted brightly, "Who're…" Anju looked at both of the girls cluelessly and motioned to them. One was a pretty thuggish girl that was obviously taller then Anju herself and –jealously—Anju noticed the super long skirt she wore. Her hair was a much lighter blond then her own and fell into her face and covered half. The second girl was pretty in a very subtle gothic way. She had long black hair braided and hanging over on shoulder, dark eyes and Anju couldn't help but notice she had a very creepy feeling about her. This second girl had Anju's second choice of uniform. She frowned wondering why she couldn't have had a longer skirt too.
"These are my best friends," Tohru introduced happily. She just hoped her friends liked Anju-kun. "This is Uo-chan and Hana-chan." Tohru said, "Uo-chan, Hana-chan, this is Anju-kun." Tohru finished smiling. A chorus of 'hello's' and 'nice to meet you's' followed Tohru's introductions.
"So, Tohru-chan tells us you're living with those boys too now." Uo said dropping her lunch on the surface of the desk she had hijacked. "I don't know, but it kind of makes me feel better to know there's another girl in that house." She added as she unwrapped her lunch. Hana said something in agreement with Uo before Anju's stomach protested the lack of lunch on her desktop. Tohru-kun laughed in response but immediately broke out in apologies. Anju was quick to stop her.
"Anju-kun, I made you a lunch too." Tohru explained after she had stopped apologizing. "It's in your bag."
"No way," Anju mumbled to herself as she leaned down for the bag. "How do you do that Tohru-kun?" Anju asked opening her bag in her lap and digging for the lunch Tohru said was in there. "You do so much at that house, and then make a lunch for me too." Anju pointed out as she finally located the lunch. "Now I feel kind of guilty." Anju added frowning at the lunch she had placed in front of her. Tohru did so much for everyone, Anju felt badly for becoming another one of those persons to take care of.
"Don't worry, Anju-kun." Tohru said kindly. "I like to help; it made me happy to fix you a lunch today."
Anju sighed. "No offense, Tohru-kun. But you sound like a brainwashed slave or something." Tohru sweat dropped when Uo and Hana nodded their heads in agreement.
"It looks like you have admirers already, Anju-kun." Hana interrupted. Uo, Tohru and Anju followed Hana's eyes to where she was looking and saw the door to their classroom bursting with male students. "Their waves are very hectic." As soon as Anju turned to see, they erupted with greetings for her and waved energetically with charming smiles and yet they were still not brave enough to enter the classroom. Beyond the door jam must have been forbidden territory or something, Anju thought. Anju smiled nervously toward them and slowly turned back to her unopened lunch. How embarrassing.
"If boys weren't so shy, I'd say they had already started an Anju fan club." Uo said after she chewed through a portion of her lunch. Anju slouched in her seat frowning. Anju didn't think she could deal with a Fan Club like Yuki-san had, but it wouldn't be a first for Anju. "What?" Uo asked turning to her. Tohru and Hana had turned toward her too. "Tohru-chan didn't make a bad lunch, did she?"
"No, of course not. It's impossible for Tohru-kun to make bad food." Anju assured Tohru. "But…this always happens," Anju said quietly nodding her head toward the full threshold. In response Uo laughed loudly.
"You're complaining because most of the boys in our school are waiting outside that door for a peek at you?" Uo said laughing again. "I would find it annoying, but it's flattering, too, if you think about it."
"It does make me look a bit egotistical and selfish, ne?" Anju asked with a small smile. "It just makes getting out of school without being touched very hard." She said. Tohru instantly understood after she said that, but Uo and Hana didn't follow. Tohru knew Anju's secret about her foxy form, and if one of those boys accidentally hugged her in anyway: 'Poof' Anju wouldn't look too human anymore. But before Uo or Hana could question further, Momiji saved Anju.
"Anju-chan!" He yelled happily. The four of them turned toward the door again to see Momiji drag a much taller boy into the classroom with him. "I came to eat lunch with you!" Momiji announced with an ever-present smile. Anju smiled back happy to see him.
"Hey, Momiji-kun." She greeted. Anju wanted to stand, but she was boxed into her seat. She glanced curiously at the boy Momiji had brought with him. If he hadn't been wearing their school uniform, Anju might have guessed he was in college already. He had a calm, handsome, and stoic face with a white mop of hair over a bit of black. Anju had the suspicion that he didn't even dye his hair, it just grew that way. He glanced down at her and their eyes momentarily met before Momiji grabbed everyone's attention again. Anju had lost her chance to introduce herself. Momiji seemed to be good at grasping everyone's attention. The boy with Momiji was wearing several earrings and other punk-like apparel that made Anju ponder his relation with Momiji even more.
"Awe!" Momiji complained noticing the seats around Anju. "There's no room for Haru-kun and me." He said. "Oh! Anju-kun, this is Hatsuharu-kun. He's a Sohma too!" Oh, Anju thought, he was literally a relation. With the knowledge that he was a Sohma, she looked at him a bit more closely. Yep, she recognized him. He had been in the room with Akito when she had first arrived. He was part of the zodiac. Anju and Haru exchanged very brief pleasantries—his only a friendly nod her way. It seemed to Anju that he didn't speak as much as Momiji. Though Anju knew of very few that were even capable of out speaking the boy.
"We can make room." Tohru interjected after she had greeted Momiji and Haru as well. Tohru stood and scooted her hijacked desk back to make more room with Uo and Hana following suit. Soon Momiji and Haru were seated with them; Momiji was sitting next to Anju like he wanted to and a lollypop had appeared in his mouth.
"How'd you find me?" Anju asked finally digging into her lunch. Tohru-kun really was a good cook. Anju had been just guessing earlier but now she could confidently vouch for her.
"It was easy." Momiji said pulling his own lunch out of nowhere. "We heard these guys in our class talking about a really pretty new student up here. I told Haru-kun that it must have been you—because I wanted Haru-kun to meet you! —So we followed them and there was that huge crowd at the door and it was really hard to get through all of them. Haru said he didn't want to bother with the crowd but I pulled him through anyway. And we found you!" He ended smiling up at Anju. "Isn't this great? All of us go to the same school. Where's Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun?" He asked looking around the class.
"Kyo is trying to beat Yuki again." Haru spoke almost monotonously. "They're outside." Anju looked to the window curiously. She calculated the probability that they would be fighting underneath their classroom window against her common knowledge that said people don't fight at school out in the open. In the end she had slipped out of her seat and was curiously looking down the two floors to the ground below. She could hear Tohru gasp and rant about fighting at school could get them into so much trouble, and Yuki was their student body president!
"Who would have thought," she said quietly to no one in particular.
"Are they really down there, Anju-kun!" Momiji asked loudly bounding over toward her at the window. Anju didn't quite realize it before, but as she watched Momiji untangle himself from their group around her desk she couldn't help but ask.
"Momiji-kun?" She questioned glancing down at him again.
"Hai?" he answered back looking up at her brightly and giving her his full attention despite the extremely interesting one-sided fight out the window. He had even removed his lollypop.
"Are you wearing the girl's uniform?" She asked baffled. Momiji didn't even hesitate with his answer.
"Yep!"
"Doesn't it look good on him?" Anju stepped back alarmed and discovered that it had been Haru who had spoken. He was way taller than her and she had to look up at him to meet his gray eyes. She hadn't even realized he had joined them at the window. Momiji smiled happily up at her still. She instinctively smiled back. Momiji sure had an effect on her.
"He looks absolutely adorable." Momiji practically glowed from her compliment. "Demo…," Anju said furrowing her eyebrows, though no one could see them hidden under her bangs, her eyes were barely visible. Hatsuharu had narrowed his own eyes expecting something mean to flow from Anju's mouth. His subtle glare only confused Anju, though. Perhaps he was just used to protecting Momiji from the more ignorant portion of the population. Momiji was an eccentric boy. "How come you get shorts? I want shorts." She said frowning. Momiji laughed telling her to watch Yuki kick Kyo's butt. Anju obediently complied but still made a mental note of his shorts. The day she didn't have to wear a skirt to school but still stayed inside the schools dress code was going be a very happy day for Anju. She couldn't wait.
REVIEW!
-BS