I'm happy to announce that I have managed to post once a month, as promised. Not so happily, I was fired from work recently. I start at my new university on the 26th, so I might take a little while to get settled in. I'm excited because I'm taking a Latin Dance Class for college credit. Isn't that kinda crazy? Anyway, thanks to BunnyCatBear for reminding me I need to update. You will be hearing from me with an interesting offer at some point, Bunny. So, to the diclaimer! Orangey! Also, I upped the rating to M, not for anything soon, but in later chapters, I might try something more adult. sorry if that loses me readers.
Kyo: Damn you, I thought you'd forgotten about me!
Me: Not likely. I like you. Now do it. *hiss*
Kyo: *sigh* Jessi Kitty doesn't own Fruits Basket. Just the insane ideas tossed into this plot.
School
Kaibara High School was abuzz with excitement all around. In class 1D, the class president and vice president were discussing their booth in the upcoming cultural fair. The decision had been made and the health inspections passed, so the class was gearing up for their onigiri booth.
"Does anyone have an idea about what the ingredients for our onigiri should be?" Class president, Yuki Sohma, asked. Several girls in the class were doing nothing more than staring at him dreamily. most others in the class began thinking deeply. Tohru, resident kitsune, was delighted about the idea of an onigiri booth. She smiled up at Yuki.
"We could have kitsune onigiri!" She suggested. "They could have tofu flavored, azuki bean flavored, and aburaage flavored, and I think they'd be well liked." Tohru said happily. Yuki smiled softly at her, much to the dismay of the Prince Yuki fanclub girls.
"I like that idea, Honda-san. It's cute." He said. A girl near the back make a disgusted sound. She and her two friends piped up.
"That's a terrible idea Sohma-san!"
"Yeah! Who would eat any of those flavors?"
"Ew, how disgusting!" Before their outburst, Arisa Uotani had been resting her head on Saki Hanajima's desk while Saki braided the blonde girl's hair. Some time during their attack on Tohru's idea, the nekomata had gotten up and now at the end of their tirade, she slammed a rusted metal pipe onto one of the girl's desks.
"What's really disgusting is your blatant jealousy." Arisa hissed as the girls fell backwards from the cat. Tohru, distressed now, felt a familiar pop and slammed down into a seat, placing her arms over her head. Yuki, realizing the issue, began to turn attention to himself. Kyo Sohma, cousin to Yuki, beat him to it.
"What about Battle Onigiri? No rules, except no deaths! Weapons and blood are allowed!" He started to continue, but everyone blatantly agreed.
"No!" Came the consensus from the class. Kyo twitched in anger as Yuki brought up his own idea.
"How about whoever buys three gets a fourth one free, and the fourth one can be chosen from a section of surprise ingredients?" Yuki suggested. Everyone in the class quickly agreed, causing a certain orange haired boy to become even more angry.
"Why do we have to listen to him?" He shouted.
"We don't have to listen to him. Your idea is just too weird." Someone called out. "Who would want a fight to the death just for an onigiri?"
"Stop playing around, Kyou Kyou!" A boy from the class laughed, patting the orange haired Sohma on the head. Yuki watched enviously as Kyo interacted with the class in a way he never seemed to be able to. He turned to the vice president.
"I have to go to the student council meeting. Please begin looking for materials to build our stand." He asked her politely. She nodded, and Yuki turned to leave, but the boy was accosted by numerous classmates with questions. Kyo sat fuming in his desk until he finally snapped. The snap did not come in the form of an angry outburst, but in the form of many cats coming to see if the orange cat spirited boy was okay. Tohru, Saki, and Arisa sat looking in amazement at the cursed Sohma. Everyone in class began questioning where the cats had come from and why they had appeared and were targeting Kyo. The poor boy, once again unused to all the attention barged out, dropping cats in his wake. The class was left in utter confusion, but Tohru followed the angry boy. She found him on the rooftop yet again.
"You really like rooftops, hmm, Kyo-kun?" she giggled. "How are you kittens?" The kitsune grinned as she picked up a gray one and began petting it. "Cats are so cute, and they really seem to like you."
"That's just how it is. With the dog it's dogs, with the rat it's rats." He seethed.
"Oh wow! How wonderful!"
"Wonderful? I was walking in the woods with Kagura once. We were suddenly surrounded by boars! I thought we were going to die!" He hissed. "Why are you here anyway?"
"You stormed off so quickly. I was wondering if you were going to help with the cultural festival." Kyo turned away, shoulders hunched over. Tohru changed forms easily, going to sit beside him. The orange haired boy rested his hand on her silken head.
"They don't need me. They have Yuki. He's always been better since we were young. Always popular. People respected him. I even started training in martial arts first, but he's always been better." He said softly. Tohru cocked her head. She knew so well how he felt. "If I could, I'd be him!" He shouted. Tohru was reminded of similar words from Yuki not too long ago.
After Work
Tohru was dressing slowly, mulling on the day. On her way out of work, she went through the complex relationship between the two Sohma boys. Both was jealous of the other, without realizing that the other was feeling just the same. Not quite the same as her issue, but still to be so envious of another she could understand. She yelped loudly as she slid on a candy wrapper on the floor. When she looked up, groaning lightly. A boy, at least she thought it was a boy, the clothing could suggest otherwise, was laughing lightly at her. Finally, he glanced down at her spilled items, eyes widening.
"Tohru? Tohru Honda?" The boy asked haughtily. Tohru nodded slightly.
"Was für ein Glück! Unglaublich!" He cried, removing pink tinted sunglasses to reveal brown, soulful eyes. He got to his feet, throwing his arms wide. "Sehr angenehm! Ich freue mich, sie zu sehen!" He leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Sehr hübsch!" Tohru, while she knew German, felt all knowledge fly from her in embarrassment. She skittered back and away from the foreigner, and out the door of her work place. She bumped into Yuki, who was waiting politely for her.
"Honda-san? Are you alright?"
"A weird ... for ... fore ... " She huffed, unable to catch her breath and processing the German boy's rude behavior.
"Honda-san? A pervert?" Tohru looked up, shaking her head.
"No, no. Thank you for coming to pick me up, Sohma-san." She bowed deeply.
"If anything's troubling you, please let me know. I'm here to help you." Tohru felt herself blush and bent more into a bow.
"Th ... Thank you, Sohma-san." She closed her eyes. "But I shouldn't need help!" She cried. Yuki just looked at her, unsure of what to say.
The Next Morning
A cheery kitsune, ears and tail out completely, was busy in the Sohma kitchen. Her slim hands moulded onigiri carefully. Tohru took her time with each, perfecting them before sittign them off to the side to start on a new one. She heard a noise behind her, and turned to see Kyo fresh from the shower.
"What are you doing, trying to open an onigiri shop?"
"Good morning, Kyo-kun! You're up early as usual!" She said gleefully. Her smooth brown tail wagged lightly in her excitement. He smiled softly at the sight, turning to pick up an onigiri and bite into it. Tohru made an attempt to stop him, but it came too late.
"Ah! Kyo-kun! That's a leek onigiri!" She cried just in time for him to spit the food out and urn to her, raging.
"Why the hell would you make something like that?" He shouted. Tohru flinched away and Kyo felt himself softening in remorse. "I'm sorry." He said so softly if Tohru didn't have enhanced hearing, she never would've heard it.
"I was making them for the cultural festival. I was deciding on the surprise flavors." She explained softly. "Once I finish, I'm going to try them. Would you like to help?" Kyo started to answer, but suddenly became surly.
"Salmon and Cod roe are all that belong in an onigiri." He grumbled. "I'll just make my own. He began forming a ball with all the care that Tohru had, and almost as quickly. Tohru watched, eyes widening.
"Kyo-kun, you make them so well. I never would've guessed you'd be almost as good as me!" She cried. Kyo moved back, his face flushing brightly.
"I had to make my own while I was training!" He said, calming. "Having it look good and taste good are too different things." he said, walking off. Tohru sighed. She couldn't understand why the boy couldn't ever see his own good points. She clicked her fingers.
"Maybe it's on his back!" She said to herself. Kyo, who was fiddling with the radio, turned to her just in time to see a brown fox face in his. He cried out, dropping his onigiri. "Your good points. They're like an umeboshi on an onigiri. you can't see it, so you don't know it's there. You can, however, see others umeboshi so clearly. So you envy them so much. I can see one on your back too." She smiled brightly, revealing sharp, milky white teeth. "Sohma-kun is Sohma-kun, but you are amazing too Kyo-kun." She sat beside him near the table. He seemed thoughtful for a minute.
"See, this is what I'm talking about!" He yelled. "Who uses an onigiri metaphor? And why use an umeboshi?" He growled. Tohru looked at him, ears pinning back in annoyance.
"I used that because any other wisdom I might impart would go over your orange head." She snarled. She transformed, beginning to stomp off. Kyo finished his onigiri, calling the kitsune's name softly.
"You have one too you know. On your back. An umeboshi." Tohru turned around, smiling brightly. Her tail was waving widely. She sent him a smile, glad he had understood. She went back to her work. Kyo found his eyes lingering on her form before walking away. There was no way he was going down that road. He couldn't.
Later at School
Kyo and a few other guys of 1D were working on the booth for the cultural festival. Kyo, in a better mood than this morning, was working calmly. He tapped the side, noticing the instability.
"This frame's a little shaky." He said. He looked up in time to see the guys laughing and teasing him lightly. They picked up on a new nickname and rolled with it. Kyo, getting flustered, raised his voice, but kept calm otherwise. Arisa, annoyed at Kyo's volume, growled an insult before laying her head back down. Yuki just shook his head.
"He didn't get violent. How unusual." He noted. He turned to Tohru, who was sewing a cloth for the booth. He watched as she turned to look at him affectionately.
"That's because Sohma-san is Sohma-san and Kyo-kun is Kyo-kun." She said softly. Arisa snorted at the words.
"If this keeps up, Orangey's gunna have his own fanclub." Arisa stated. Someone else agreed behind her, causing the whole class to begin laughing. A call from behind Yuki cause everyone to turn toward the door. Several third year girls stood standing and smiling widely.
"We got something for you Yuki! We all chipped in to get it! We'd love for you to wear it at the cultural festival!" They squealed together. They produced a frilly dress and Tohru watched in amazement as Yuki balked. The whole class were unable to say anything. Tohru looked on, brown eyes wide. She sidled up to the boy.
"It could meet an ashen fate." She whispered. A girl from class found the opportunity to tumble into the kitsune. Tohru fell away from Yuki, turning to glare at the girl with fire in her eyes. A firm hand on her shoulder made her turn around. Kyo looked down at her, ready to help her up. She allowed the orange haired boy to do so, just in time to see Yuki shake his head in her direction.
Ahh, there wasn't much opportunity to do much with this chapter as far as Tohru and her other form. I did try. I'm hoping the next chapter I'll be able to do more. wish me luck in my real life endeavours, guys. I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker. Read and review guys!
Jessi Kitty(Brambleheart)