Heh heh, clumsy me. I forgot about the whole disclaimer deal, didn't I?
Fruits Basket doesn't belong to me. The characters (not including the ones I made up) all belong to Natsuki Takaya.
The quotations at the beginning of each chapter are pulled from songs, and they belong to the original artist or group that sang/wrote them.
This should cover for the chapters before and after this one.
Enough of that; enjoy this chapter! 3
Chapter Three
'Love is all around you. Your universe is full. But in my world, there is only you.' -Sr-71
When I woke up this morning, there wasn't such a heavy weight on my chest and I briefly wondered why. Maybe today wont be so bad? I could only hope.
Poor Miharu, though. She didn't exactly wake up as gracefully as she does most mornings-and when I say that, I mean she woke differently then just cursing the rising sun for being so bright.
"Maru! Kitani! Mom says, up, up! Get up!" Miharu's younger sister barged into the room with some kind of noise makers and began to run about, yelling back and forth.
"Agh! Curse you, Telane!" Miharu exclaimed as a flying object landed atop her head, waking her up even more since, "What the hell?! Why is this wet?!"
"Mom says get up!" Telane then ran out the door, slamming it behind her.
Miharu groaned as she lay back into her sheets. "Ah! My blankets are wet!" Before I could register what she had said with my groggy mind, I saw she had jumped over the railing, landed on the floor and sprinted out of the room.
"Dang, Miharu, you better have made the team." I muttered while scratching my head and rolling over to get out of bed. I looked over at the clock on the wall and felt my eyes widen slightly. "It's that time already? Shit, we're going to be late." I pushed myself up and started looking for my school clothes.
Miharu and I ended up having a rushed morning, though being the lazy beings that we are, we weren't as fast as we could've been. What also seemed to slow us down was Miharu rambling on and on about how annoying her sister was and how she could've had just a few more minutes of sleep.
"And I was having a good dream too!" She exclaimed as she jumped over a puddle of water in front of a corner store.
"Look, there's the school up ahead." I panted.
The very first bells could be heard and we pushed ourselves to go faster.
"So you didn't make it on time to first period, huh?" Risu remarked dryly as she sat down in the desk in front of mine in second period.
"Who told you?" I asked while resting my chin in my palm, having already taken my seat.
"Segi. After he saw you standing out in the hall by your classroom." She answered with a sigh.
"Geez, nice to know I'm being watched." I muttered. Risu pushed against my forehead with two fingers. "Don't go getting a big head on me. He was on his way to the restroom."
I rolled my eyes. I guess I need to make my sarcasm more obvious.
Segi; my best friend's boyfriend. He's a quiet guy, keeps to himself most of the time, except, of course, when it comes to Risu. Tall swimmer dude with dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Don't really know much about him, just that he has other friends and he's head over heels in love with Risu. Why would I get a big head over him? Come on, Risu.
The teacher, Sensei Hirotachi walked into the room with a folder of papers in hand and an air that let everyone know something was up. He had a small smirk on his face and his hair fell just over his eyes, signaling that we were in for a surprise. Could you guess?
"Once everyone is in their 'assigned' seats, we will begin." He stressed the word 'assigned' as he looked directly at Risu and I.
Risu, being the brave girl she is, raised her hand as she stood from the desk.
"What is it, Miss Hakai?"
"Sensei, if we don't get to our assigned seats, does that mean the class wont start?" She asked hopefully, though there was a hint of tone that let everyone know she wasn't really serious.
Sensei Hirotachi's smirk grew. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Miss Hakai? No. I'm afraid that if you don't sit in your assigned seat then you'll just have to be sent out of the class room. Would that work for you?"
Risu shook her head and sat down in her own seat two rows over. "No, that's alright."
"Okay, now moving on. Today you will all be assigned a take home project. It will be due one month from now. You will not be allowed to work on it in class, if I see it, it will be sent to the trash can. You may use the school library, that is what it's there for. Outside of class is fine, though I'm sure, here at school you already have enough work." He moved over to the chalk board and raised his hand to start writing down a list of names.
Haku, who was sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered, "What do you think those are for?"
I shrugged.
"Okay," The teacher turned back around to face the classroom. "Up on the board, you see your names paired off, two to a set. The name you are paired with is the person you will be working on this assignment with." As he spoke, he walked about the classroom, up and down the rows, placing a sheet of paper on certain desks; including mine. He circled back to the front of the room. "These are your topics. You are to get together with your partner and work on this on your own time. Now. Putting that aside, let's get to today's lesson."
I fingered the sheet of paper before slowly flipping it over. After silently reading the topic I lifted my eyes back to the chalkboard where the characters read: "Machi Kuragi and Kitani Hiratai."
I glanced across the room to where Kuragi sat. She had her head bent so that her hair fell over her shoulder, like a veil shielding her face from view. I've never talked with her before, and the times I've had her in class, I've noticed that she's not one to talk much. This would most probably mean that I'd have to do the talking. I don't mind really, its just...
I sighed.
It's nothing. It's just a project.
"So we've both got people who don't talk much, huh?" Risu was saying at our lunch spot under the tree.
I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Who's your partner?"
Risu broke her chopsticks and started on her lunch before answering, "Haru."
"Haru? Who's Haru?" I asked.
"Haru. Souhma. Hatsuharu." She said each slowly, only getting a reaction from me on the last one.
"Oh, him." I said with realization. "He talks, doesn't he?"
Risu shrugged. "I guess. Yeah, more than your girl does."
"Who are we talking about?" Kovu questioned as he sat down.
"Our partners for a project we have." Risu answered. "Where's Kaze?"
Kovu shrugged at her question and asked his own. "Which class do you have the project in?"
"Hirotachi."
"So I hear you guys have a project in Hirotachi's class." Airesth said as she and Haku joined us.
"Yeah, big surprise there." Risu grumbled. I shook my head.
Airesth rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a baby, it's not that bad."
Risu stopped eating. "Who's being a baby?"
"You are." Airesth replied as she began to share her food with Haku.
"I am not! Even if I were, I think I'd have a right to be complaining. It's only the third day back."
"It's not that bad." Airesth repeated.
"So what's your topic?" Kovu questioned me on the side as Airesth and Risu continued their little dispute.
"Oh, um," I pulled my bag over and pulled out the assigned paper. "Something about athletics and whether they help or hinder students when it comes to school education." I passed the paper over to him.
"That'll probably be fun." He commented dryly before passing the paper back to me. "Hopefully I'll get an interesting topic. Like video games."
I stopped, looked up at him, and we just shared a funny look for a moment.
"Video games, are you serious?" I questioned. Kovu just gave a small smile as he started on his lunch.
"Serious about what?" We both looked up to see Segi standing over us with a curious look on his face. He crouched down by Risu and wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a brief hug.
"Oh, before I forget; you're going to have a project for Hirotachi's class." Risu informed as she pulled away from Segi and went back to eating her food.
"What kind of project?" He questioned curiously.
"It's a partner project over random topics he hands out." I answered.
"So he assigns the partners?" Kovu asked.
"Yeah, Haku got stuck with some random chick in their class." Airesth informed followed by a nod from Haku.
"Who're you partnered with?" Segi gently questioned Risu. She gulped down the food she had been chewing and casually replied with, "Hatsuharu."
For some reason Segi seemed to be troubled by this. His eyebrows furrowed together and his palm came up to rest around his mouth. "Souhma?" He mumbled to Risu.
"Yes," She turned to him curiously, catching his troubled tone. "Are you okay?"
"Is there any way you could get a partner change? See if you can get with Kitani or something?"
Risu and I glanced at eachother in confusion.
"No. I think we're both fine with our partners." She answered slowly. "What's up with you?" She questioned, trying to see into his eyes, but he wouldn't look at her till he stood up. "Can I talk with you?"
Risu rolled her eyes and looked around at us. "Are you going to make me stand up and leave my lunch behind?" She retorted, annoyed at the fact that she already knew the answer and that she'd end up having to do that anyway. "Fine." She sighed, rising to her feet and walking off with Segi.
Weird, I thought.
"It's hard to tell who's whipped more, Segi or Risu." Airesth commented as she watched the two walk away, taking a bite from her food.
"Mm," Kovu mumbled as he began to play with a strand of Airesth's hair.
Kaze joined us a little after that, though she didn't give a clear answer to where she had been. Miharu hadn't shown up so that left me with the couples. That. Was. Great.
I looked around at the small group of people sitting under the tree before standing up and stretching. I caught Airesth's and Haku's attentions.
"I'm going to go see where Miharu's at. I'll catch up with you guys later." I gave a short wave before leaving the shade of the tree. Miharu hadn't said anything this morning about doing something for lunch. Maybe something came up? I sighed and looked at my watch once I left the courtyard. The chances of finding her before the bell rang weren't high, so I decided to just walk around for a bit. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself.
Man! Then why the heck am I so worried?!
I was back inside the building, taking my shoes off and placing them inside a little locker. Walking down the hallway I didn't know where I was going and to be honest, I felt pretty stupid. I stopped and leaned against the wall to look out a window.
Everyone out there was playing, laughing, talking; they were out there, doing things.
'Useless'. Miharu had used that word the other day. Why would she say something like that? Stupid question, nevermind. I sighed. The way her eyes dulled when she said it...bugs me.
The bell rang for third period.
Third period. Not much really happens in this class and being the third day of the school year, that says, well, very little actually. None of my friends are in this class so I just sit quietly while others converse and joke.
Today, however, I have to break out of my little shell and go over and speak to Machi Kuragi.
She sat on the other side of the room from me, so I actually had to go out of my way for this. Way to make me nervous you dang seating chart.
"Um, Machi?"
She slowly glanced up at me with a dull gaze, saying nothing.
"I'm Kitani Hiratai. We're partners for the project in Sensei Hirotachi's," I explained. She just stared at me for a moment before moving her eyes back to the book before her. Feeling a bit discouraged, I looked to the book, then back up at the clock at the front of the class. "Um, you haven't seen the paper with our assignment yet, have you?" I rumaged through my bag for a moment and pulled out the paper, handing it over to Machi. She didn't exactly take it, so I placed it on her desk before her.
"It's on sports and such. Do you think...er...do you have any ideas on how we can approach this?" I asked hopefully.
Her index finger toyed with the edge of the paper as she slowly moved the paper over her book to read through the topic.
"You can sit down." She indicated the empty desk in front of her and I gave a small smile before taking the seat.
It was slow and a little uncomfortable, but we were able to get through some ideas for the project. It was interesting, listening to her thoughts on the subject and some ideas on how to carry them out. I had a feeling, though, that Machi's heart wasn't really into the whole thing.
There isn't a student who is exactly ecstatic about having to do a project, but I don't think that was necessarily it. It made me wonder for a moment, but then I decided that it wasn't any of my business.
The bell rang, startling me. I saw that Machi was giving me a blank look so I mumbled an apology before getting up and getting my things to leave. Machi was heading out the door so I had to call out to her before she left. She stopped and turned to me.
"Um, do you think we could get together sometime to work on this some more?"
She remained quiet as she thought. "I don't know. Whenever is good for you." She answered before turning back around.
I hesitated. "Um, can you make it to the library tomorrow after school?"
"Fine." She replied and walked out the door.
Okay. A little strange, but...I think it'll be alright.