Wow… so I'm working my way through the manga, and I just finished number 18 and read the preview for the next volume… it sounds a lot like this story, haha! I guess I'm either psychic or not actually creative. Ah well… now I have to finish this story before I read the next volume so that I'm not influenced!
I did start this story before I'd read more than a few volumes of the manga, so let's see how close I got!
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"In here, Arisa." Hana led the way into her room. Her friend had come with her after school to meet the rat that may or may not have been Tohru's.
"So that's him, huh?" She bent down to look in the cage. The rat seemed to be asleep, his head tucked under an arm. "What makes you think he's Tohru's rat and not some sewer rat?"
"We can test it, if you like." Hana stood by the doorway, looking out into the hall. "Tohru, are you coming?" Uo turned back in surprise.
"What are you-" Hana put a finger to her lips, and pointed back to the cage. Uo looked back and was surprised to see the Little Prince huddling in a corner. Hana walked over and knelt next to her friend.
"I'm sorry, Little Prince. I just wanted to see how you would react if you thought Tohru was coming. I haven't forgotten our deal, although you do look better today."
Uo was looking from the rat to Hana in disbelief. "You have a deal with the rat? You mean he can actually understand you?"
Hana nodded. "He seems very… human. It's rather odd. I promised him I would let him go, but not until he's strong enough. Right, Little Prince?"
Yuki's heart was racing. He didn't want to see Tohru right now… although she might be able to help him. Still, he had run away for a reason. He wasn't ready to go back. As he began to calm down, he slowly uncurled and crawled back towards the front of the cage. Hana lifted off the lid and reached down to place some food. As Yuki began to eat, he noticed that he really was feeling stronger than he had.
"Well, he's a good-looking rat. If he weren't Tohru's, he'd probably make a good pet here," Uo commented. Hana shook her head.
"Even to a rat, a promise is a promise. I can't keep him. Although," she added sadly, "Megumi and I would both like to." She started stroking the Little Prince's hair.
Yuki swallowed a mouthful of food, and froze. He felt stronger already - too strong. He felt like he could transform at any moment. Now what? With both of them here, I can't… I can't! What do I do? He looked around frantically for a moment, and then was struck with inspiration. He turned and climbed onto Hanajima's hand, bolting up her forearm into the crook of her arm.
"Oh!" Hana was taken by surprise. "He's never done that before." Yuki gave a tiny sigh of relief as she folded her arms into what he hoped counted as an embrace.
"Poor fella looks scared," Uo noted. "Maybe it's because I'm here." She leaned close to the rat in Hana's arms. "Hey, Little Prince, do I look scary to you?"
Yuki decided to respond by retreating further into Hana's arms. The dark-haired girl smiled. "No need to worry, Little Prince. Arisa won't hurt you."
Uo folded her arms, mocking offense. "I don't care. He's just a rat. He doesn't have to like me."
Yuki held back a chuckle, then scurried quickly from Hana's arms to nestle in Uo's. The girls both gave surprised exclamations, then laughed. Yuki had another idea to weaken himself. He spent the nexy few minutes running from one girl to the next, trying to trick them. He would appear to start running, then settle back down. He would turn around halfway and run back to the girl he had just left. Sometimes he would even turn around several times, only to dart under a bed or desk rather than run to either girl. After playing this game for a while, he plopped down in the middle of the floor, thoroughly exhausted and pleased with himself. The girls laughed as Hana scooped him up, gave him one last small hug, and deposited him gently in his cage.
"I'm so glad to see you've found some energy, Little Prince." She smiled at him happily. The two girls then moved to sit on Hana's bed, where Hana began braiding Uo's hair. "I do hope he's Tohru's. I'd really like to continue seeing him," she commented.
Uo shrugged. "The way he was just acting, he might not want to be let go. Who knows, maybe Tohru will find her rat under the bed and you can keep the Little Prince." She laughed. "Maybe they can have playdates! Do rats have playdates?"
"I really do hope they find Yuki, though. I worry about him."
Uo twisted as much as she could to look back at her friend. "Why are you so worried about him?"
Hana was silent for a moment as she braided her friend's hair. Finally she took a deep breath. "Do you remember when Tohru and Yuki first became friends, and we thought she would leave us for him?"
"Yeah, of course," Uo replied, surprised. "I remember you taking it even harder than I did. You'd get really quiet whenever he was around. You really acted like you disliked him."
"Did I?" Hana gave a small grin. "Really, it was just the opposite. I had a crush on Yuki."
"What?!" Uo tried to turn to look at her friend, and yelped when the attempt resulted in her hair being pulled. Yuki also looked up in shock, but neither of the girls seemed to notice. "You mean you of all people had a crush on him, of all people?"
Hana couldn't help chuckling at her friend's reaction. "I didn't, at first, and then it took me a while to realize it, of course. When he became good friends with Tohru, I started to see him more as a person, and less as a lone wolf. At first I thought I was just jealous of him because he seemed to be stealing Tohru away, but then… then I realized I was jealous of her." Hana laughed softly, but it was a sad laugh. "Can you imagine, being jealous of Tohru?"
Uo shook her head. "It does seem weird. Still, I never guessed you had a crush on Prince Charming, Hana."
Yuki had never guessed it, either. His exhaustion gave way to tingles down his spine as he listened intently.
"I tried to hide it. I knew I was being foolish. Tohru was happy, and I would not be the one to take that away from her. Besides, it was only through her relationship with him that I saw the qualities I grew to admire in him. Still, I suppose that explains why I made an extra effort after that to drive off the girls of his fan club - if I couldn't have Yuki, I wanted Tohru to have him." She tied off her friend's hair, and Uo immediately turned around excitedly.
"Yeah, but now Tohru's going out with Kyo and you can sweep in to comfort the Prince and make him fall in love with you!" Uo grabbed her friend's hands as Hana laughed.
"Perhaps. Perhaps it won't be that easy. In any case, we'd have to find him first."
"Right!" Uo stood suddenly and pulled her friend to her feet. "Let's go look for him! YOO-HOO! YUKI!" she cried, pulling Hana out of the room, as if she believed that wherever Yuki was, he could hear them then.
Yuki's head was swimming with confusion. Hana had a crush on me? For how long? He shook his head. Getting close to Tohru is risky enough. I can't bring in another outsider. I'm sorry, Hanajima. He looked up and noticed that the lid of the cage was loose. Maybe I can escape while she's out. It would be better for both of us. Suddenly, he heard her voice out in the hall.
"Just a moment, Arisa, I promise. I just want to make sure the Little Prince's cage is secure so he doesn't run away." Yuki's heart sank as Hana came back into the room and adjusted the lid, locking him in again. "Sorry, Little Prince, I just don't want to lose you." She strode back to the doorway and stopped, looking over her shoulder. Just before sweeping out of view, she commented, "I hope you don't mind what I told Arisa earlier. I hope it wasn't too bold of me to speak like that in front of you… Yuki."
