Thank you everyone for your never ending support! It really keeps me going on the worst of days! It's awesome to still see some Fruits Basket fans out there, I never thought my story would be popular so early on in the story and so far, No Flammers! Yay!

(c) Natsuki Takaya


I was so happy when you smiled

Your smile breaks through the clouds of grey

Far from the sunny days that lie in sleep

Waiting with patience for the spring

When the flowers can bloom, renewed again

Knowing there's more beyond the pain~ of today

Although the scares of yesterday remain

You can go on living as much as your heart believes~

You can't be born again, although you can change

Let's stay together always


Chapter 8: New Years cleaning?

The year went by so fast! It seemed that only a few days ago we were celebrating Christmas and now December's over and we're getting ready for New Years. It's the last day of the year so we're getting some New Years cleaning done.

Tohru was on duty for dusting the tatami mats, blankets, and rugs. Yuki was cleaning/dusting the doors and windows. Kyo was moving furniture outside. And I was sweeping and wiping things in the living room.

Yuki was cleaning the door when he accidently poked his hand through it.

"Dammit, can't you do anything right?" Kyo snapped at him as he walked by carrying the TV.

"You're the last person I need to hear from right now." Yuki retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean? You tryin' to start something?"

"Quit horsing around, you two," Even Uo and Hana agreed to come by and help us.

"Who asked you, you dirty b-"

Uo whipped her duster around Kyo's mouth. She pulled his head towards her, cracking his neck. "You gonna talk to me like that after I came here to help you out of the goodness of my heart?"

Kyo's reply was muffled by the duster.

Thankfully Tohru came to the rescue and patched the hole right up.

"I...uh...I'm sorry about that," Yuki apologized.

"Don't worry," she replied with a smile. "It was just a little tear. It's easy to fix."

Shigure hopped by, whining, "I think I'm going to wet my pants." Sadly Shigure and his editor were the only ones around the house not helping. Half the time they were in the way of the cleaning.

"Hey, Kyo, can you help me move this bookshelf?" I called out to him from Shigure's room. Mii was nice enough to leave while I moved some of the books off the shelf to make it lighter to move.

"It's going to be too heavy for you," Kyo said coming into the room with Yuki following him, "Let me and the rat do it."

"Nah, it's alright. I want to help." I assured them.

Yuki was the first to give in, "Alright, but if it gets too heavy you can let go."

"Alright." I agreed grabbing onto one part of the shelf in the middle while Kyo and Yuki grab the other ends.

Steadily we moved our way from Shigure's room and into the living room. We were almost to the middle of the room when we started struggling with it.

Shigure was sneaking by again, apparently trying to escape his editor again.

"Shigure!"

"Just in time! Give us a hand!"

Shigure grabbed part of the case next to Kyo. "Put your backs into it!" he said, lifting up.

Shigure's editor ran as well. "Hey! Shigure...!"

"Mii! Come grab that end!" Shigure whined.

"You should be working on your manuscript!"

"Come on, hurry!" I yelped when the bookshelf nearly teetered over.

"Right!" Mii said, grabbing on and lifting.

"Heave, ho, heave, ho, heave…"

We managed to shuffle the bookshelf all the way to the door when the weight of the shelf started shifting. Shigure somehow vanished quickly and when Mii realized it, she released the bookshelf so quickly that we all lost our bearings!

"Wait!"

"Hold on!"

"You're gonna drop it!"

"Timber!" Shigure sang from outside in the bushes.

Unfortunately we couldn't save the bookshelf…or the door…or the books…

"Ah, lovely. They smashed the house again," Shigure sighed before disappearing in the bushes. It was kinda his fault that the case fell in the first place.

"It's your fault!" Kyo accused, pointing at Yuki. "Your end fell first, you damn rat!"

"Really, your eyes must be as weak as your arms, stupid cat." Yuki retorted, turning away.

"Um...is everyone okay?" Tohru asked.

"That's it!" Kyo shouted. "Let's go!"

Uo came out and grabbed Kyo's head with her duster again, pulling him to the ground.

"Why does it always gotta be me?" Kyo grumbled.

"Now get off your ass and start cleaning it up," she ordered.

Tohru started fixing the door for the second time today. Yuki decided to stack the books that fell off the shelf. Kyo was dusting off the over head light while I was removing the framed pictures off the wall. That's when Mii stalk through the living room yelling for Shigure, again. "Shigure! Shigure!"

I let out a soft irritated sigh, "I wish Shigure would stop fooling around and get his work done so she would stop running around the house yelling."

"Same here." Kyo whispered back.

"There, good as new," Tohru cheered when she finished the door.

Mii stomped by Kyo still yelling out Shigure's name. Her obliviousness to everything else around caused her to knock into Kyo's stool. Of course she didn't notice Kyo reeling back and falling through the newly fixed and now newly broken door…

"You clumsy idiot!" Uo yelled grabbing Kyo with the dusters by his ankle and dangled him off a cliff.

"It's not my fault!" Kyo cried.

-0-

Yuki and Uo held the door up while Tohru fixed it again for the third time.

"If you're not helping, you could at least get out of the way," he said to Kyo, who was sitting in front of us on the porch.

"You're the last person I need to hear from," Kyo shot back feeling miffed about being knocked through the door and being tortured by Uo.

"Maybe one of you better go on and do the shopping." Uo suggested.

She was right. At the rate things are going, we'll be spending most of the day fixing the door rather than cleaning. The sun was going to go down soon and we barely managed to clean everything.

"Oh, good idea."

"Shopping!" Shigure sang, popping in, "Great! But you'll need someone to carry your things! I'll go too!"

Suddenly, a lasso came from behind and wrapped around his middle. When it was securely tightened a livid Mii was on the other end of the lasso dragging Shigure back to his office.

"Oh, girls. I'm sorry. Something's come up. You'll have to find someone else to go with you," Shigure literally cried.

I turned to Tohru, "At any rate, I'll go do the shopping. Since Tohru's best at fixing anything that's broken, she'll stay here and help. Knowing Shigure and Mii a lot more things will be broken."

"Are you sure?" Tohru asked.

I nodded reassuringly, "Yeah. Don't worry; I'll be back in a flash!"

"Okay, well try to be back soon."

-0-

While everyone else held down the fort back at the house, Yuki volunteered to go with me to go do the shopping. Tohru and Uo agreed that that was best, since Kyo was still in a sour mood and probably wouldn't be patient with me.

Not that I would admit out loud but it was a bit refreshing to shop with someone quiet and polite. Sure, Yuki doesn't talk much but it's a little better than having a spaz or a loud mouth cat…and I say that with endearment…

"So, Miss Kojima, what are you and Miss Honda going to make?" he asked curiously

"New Year's cakes," I said, grabbing any kind of good filling for the cakes, "Mostly Mochi."

"Uh, New Year's cakes?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just hope we picked out ingredients everyone likes," I looked in my basket and counted everyone's favorite dish.

"Oh," Yuki said, looking a little sad. "Shigure, Kyo, and I will be going back to the main house tonight. I'm sorry." He softly apologized.

I looked up at him a little startled by the sudden news.

"I really should've explained earlier to the two of you. It's sort of a Sohma family tradition. I, uh... I guess it was just such an obvious thing to us that we'd be going, that we completely forgot to mention it to either of you."

'That means Tohru and I are going to be alone this New years coming…It'll be the first year Tohru will celebrate the new year coming without her mom…It's okay, I won't let her be depressed by herself! I'll be there with her even if the Sohma's won't be!'

"That's alright," I struggled to smile to cover up my inner sadness, "But in that case, I guess I'm getting a little too much, huh?" I stiffly put Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure's favorite foods back in a random aisle. 'We'll get through this Tohru…'

I looked up when I heard the sound of giggling. Two little girls were blindly running down the aisle and they were headed right for Yuki!

"Ah! Yuki, behind you! Look out!"

-0-

A few hours later after Yuki transformed back the rest of us finally finished cleaning and organizing the entire house…the sun had begun to set just in time for dinner…

"Thank you for this meal!"

We all broke our chopsticks and got ready to dig into our soba noodles when Mii burst in, holding a kite with the symbol for "dog" on it.

"What happened now?" I asked with my mouth full of noodles.

"Shi...gu...re..." Mii panted, ready to collapse.

"Ah, Mii," Shigure said, smiling. "You look tired. Sit down, have something to eat." He let out a good natural laugh as if he hadn't tortured her for the last few hours.

She started bawling. Really she should just quit her job; it's not worth it when you have to deal with Shigure.

-0-

After dinner, Tohru and Uo brought the dishes into the kitchen so I could wash them and so Hana could dry them. The boys told us to keep a closer eye on her after what she did to the downstairs and upstairs bathroom. They were not happy…

"Ah, New Year's cakes!" Tohru exclaimed, eyeing the little cakes sitting on the counter. "My favorite thing about New Year's."

"But is that going to enough for the five of you?" Uo asked.

"Oh, I just made enough for us," I told her giving Hana another bowl.

They looked at me.

"Yuki, Kyo and Shigure are going to be spending New Year's at the main house." I explained briefly to them.

"Why didn't they say something earlier?" Tohru asked. I could hear the sadness in her voice right away.

"Yuki said they weren't really thinking about it because it's a tradition in their family

"Oh…" She looked down, depressed. I net she was looking forward to spending New Years with everyone.

I grabbed her by her shoulders, "Don't worry! We can celebrate New Years together!

"It's okay, guys," I said. "We'll spend New Year's together, right?"

"Right," She nodded and tried to smile, but it was a broken smile.

-0-

After waving good-bye to Hana and Uo, Tohru and I decided to venture into the living room to watch the New Year count down, however we were surprised to walk into the living room and find Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki still sitting at the kotatsu table.

"Oh, girls, it's terrible," Shigure whined. "Neither one of these two wants to go back with me to Sohma House..."

"Dammit, quit whining! You're supposed to be an adult!" Kyo shouted, pounding his fist on the table.

"Um...you're not going back?" I asked as we took our places at the table.

"I haven't been to that place in four months, I'm not gonna go back just 'cause of some stupid New Year's thing."

"And you, Yuki?" Tohru asked.

"I had my reasons for leaving. They'd seem almost meaningless if I went back tonight."

"Why do you have to be like this?" Shigure whined, "You've both gone every year before now, haven't you?"

"Is it a big deal that they do go?"

"You see, New Year's is a big night for the Sohmas. It's the one holiday that the entire extended family gets together to celebrate."

"That does sound big."

"Getting through all the introductions can be an event, but I'd have to say the real highlight of the evening is the Zodiac Banquet."

"A banquet?" Tohru asked excitedly.

"Yes, and it's probably the most important part of the Sohma New Year's celebration," Shigure explained, "As the name might imply, it's an event that only members of the Zodiac are allowed to attend. The Zodiac member of the New Year performs a dance. This year, it's Momiji's turn." Shigure then sighed happily. "Ah, but nothing could compare to the beautiful dance Yuki did three years ago."

"I wish I could've seen it!" Tohru said excitedly.

I nodded, "Must've been beautiful."

Yuki picked up three slices of fruit and slapped them against Shigure's face, "I told you never to talk about that!"

"Right," Shigure whimpered fearfully.

"So the Zodiac Banquet is just like the old folk tale, huh?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Kyo cut in.

We looked at him.

"I mean, it's not like I can even go to that stupid banquet anyway."

"Why not?" I asked.

"It's been a long-standing rule that the Cat isn't allowed to attend. I suppose that's in keeping with the old folk tale as well," Shigure said.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, 'But if Kyo can't go to the banquet why go to the event at all?'

Kyo looked at me for a moment, his cheeks flushing a little. "Ah, it's nothing you gotta be gettin' all upset about, I don't care. It's not the reason I'm not going back, if that's what you think."

"I think he's afraid he'll get hurt, what with Kagura so excited to see him and all," Shigure whispered to us.

"Shut up!" Kyo shouted at him.

"In any event..." Yuki cut in. "If we go back to Sohma House tonight, we'll have to stay until the third, won't we? So for three days, we'd be leaving the girls here all alone."

Kyo looked at him, as if he hadn't known this.

"Stupid cat, did you just realize that?"

Kyo jumped up and grabbed Yuki's shirt in his hands. "Don't call me stupid!"

"Then don't act stupid, stupid."

"Please wait, you two," Tohru said cutting in on their little argument, "Thank you for worrying. But you don't have to. We'll be fine by ourselves…but it's funny just knowing you're both thinking about us, well..." She trailed off getting a bit flustered.

"What she means is, we're happy! And we want you to be happy, too. So, go enjoy yourselves and be with your family. This is your family's special night and you'll get to see your parents for the first time in a while, right? I'm sure they're all looking forward to seeing you."

They looked a little...strange at that comment.

"Promise, we'll be fine! And we'll take great care of the house while you're gone." Tohru declared confidently pounding her fist to her chest, "Promise! You're talking to the girls who-Ah! The bath water! I left it running again!" She ran out.

I sighed and went after her. 'Hope she didn't flood it again…'

(Down stairs)

"If that doesn't inspire confidence, nothing will," Shigure chuckled eating one of the pickled radishes that Yuki threw at him earlier.

Yuki and Kyo stood.

"Okay," Yuki sighed, "I'll go back."

"Guess I've got no choice," Kyo stated not happy that he was backed into a corner.

'If it's what she wants,' Yuki thought.

'When she says it like that, and all,' Kyo thought.

Shigure looked at them curiously.

-0-

"Try to be careful. Watch out for all the crowds." Tohru said motherly.

"We'll be fine. There won't be many people out right now."

"You two be careful, too. Make sure you lock all the doors." Yuki reminded them.

I nodded, "And the windows. Got it."

They nodded and walked out.

"Be safe!" We called, waving after them until they were out of sight.

Tohru sadly lowered her hand and went into her little depression corner in her mind. I know there was little I could do to make her happy, but I was going to try my hardest.

I grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her into the living room, "I'll go get us some tea and cake so we can cry together…okay?"

Tohru nodded stiffly, "Do you think mom would like to join us?"

I gave her a weak smile, "I'm sure she would." 'Great! Now I'm about to cry! I promised to keep it together!'

Tohru scampered her way upstairs to get her mom's picture while I went into the kitchen to make some mint tea with our New Years cakes.

(Every now and then I'm going to start adding other view points to make it interesting)

Yuki and Kyo stared at the ground as they followed Shigure through the quiet streets to the Sohma house.

"You know," Kyo thought aloud. "Zakura always used to leave that window in her room wide open..."

"What were you doing in her room?"

"I wasn't! I saw it from outside!"

"Miss Honda is rather careless herself…this morning she tripped on the stairs again…"

"And she's always bumping into walls and stuff," Kyo commented, finding it ridiculous how clumsy the two girls were on a daily basis, "Clumsy as she are, if there was a way to choke on rice, she'd find it." He almost laughed at the thought.

"Don't even joke about that!" Yuki scolded, "Miss Kojima almost isn't any better, with the martial arts lessons she takes from you, she gets a little more violent at school whenever someone picks on Miss Honda."

Kyo jammed his hands in his coat pocket, "I can't be responsible for every stupid thing she does! Besides she's only doing it because she's protective of Tohru."

"Those two are rather close…"

"You two...You sound like a couple of old ladies, the way you worry." Shigure teased, turning to face them. "Don't get me wrong, I understand your concern for the girls, but you've already made the decision to go back to Sohma House."

"Now hold on! Who said I was concerned?" Kyo shouted.

"Stop talking nonsense, let's go."

They walked past Shigure.

Shigure thought for a moment. "Oh, now that I think about it I did see an article in the evening paper about a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood." Yuki and Kyo froze. "The culprit is still at large, or so they say."

'Oh, great. If a burglar came to the house, Tohru would probably invite him in!'

'She would give him a seat at the table and serve him tea and then ask him questions about himself!'

'And then when they find out that he is the burglar Zakura probably try to take him out herself …'

'…And knowing her, she'd do it. And then the burglar would come back with a whole mob of burglars and then…

They both groaned with worry as worse case scenarios clouded their minds.

"Let's be on our way, shall we? If you two stand in the middle of the street like that-"

"You'll get run over." Hana appeared out of the darkness of the night before them.

They all jumped and yelled in fear. Kyo fell to his knees while Yuki and Shigure managed to keep their footing.

"O-oh, Saki," Shigure whimpered, recovering from the near death scare, "What a pleasant surprise."

'Why can't she just say "hello" like a normal person?' Kyo wondered.

'Where in the world did she get that cloak?' Yuki wondered. (Best thought he ever had!)

"Can we help you with...something?" Shigure asked.

"Yes...Perhaps."

"Are you looking for the girls? They're back at the house. We were just on our way to visit our family."

"I see..." she before looking at the ground sorrowfully, "Then for them, this will truly be a lonely New Year's. Until now, the girls spent every New Year's Eve together with Tohru's mother. Zakura's father passed away when she was young and her mother was never around for her so she spent most of her life with Tohru and her mother."

Realization swept over Kyo and Yuki.

"This is the first year they will ever see without their loved ones by their sides. Instead, they will have to spend this night alone. Zakura's probably doing her best to comfort poor Tohru, but she's probably being consumed by sadness aswell. I offered to stay with them, but they wouldn't hear of it. They just said I should be with my own family. But what about them? What family do they have tonight? And how will they feel, sitting there by themselves, remembering the New Years of the past and will never share with their families again? How will they feel when the New Year's bells begin to chime, the same bells they used to stay up late to hear with their parents?"

'How did they feel? Standing there as we were leaving?'

'When they were smiling and waving goodbye?'

"Do you really think they'll be unaffected by that?" Hana continued. "Do you really think they'll be alright?"

'How does she feel right now…?'

'All alone in that house…?'

Suddenly Yuki and Kyo cried out in pain, holding their heads.

"Do I even want to know what happened?" Shigure asked.

"I can explain." Hana stated.

"What are you doing? You know Akito's just gonna get pissed!" Kyo growled holding his injured head.

"Kyo bumped his head as he was standing up…" Hana narrated.

"And what about you?" Yuki smirking, rubbing his injured cheek, "I wouldn't keep Kagura waiting."

"The thing he bumped into was Yuki's right cheek. This happened due to the fact that both of them started moving at the same time. End of commentary." Hana concluded.

"Shut up!" Kyo shouted to Yuki as both of them walked back down the street the way they had come.

"Why don't you go see her if you're so worried about it?"

"I'm busy."

"Um, wait a minute. Where are you going, exactly?" Shigure asked watching his young cousins storm down the street.

They both stopped, then turned back to Shigure. "I'm going home!" they said in unison, then took off running back for home.

Shigure looked at Hana. "So, Saki. I'm suddenly under the distinct impression that you had all of this planned out."

Hana gave him a sideways glance. "I didn't really know what would happen if I came. I only knew that I wanted to do something for my friends. And that is all." She turned, her cloak blowing out behind her. "I wish you pleasant electric waves this coming year."

Shigure scratched his head. "Not sure what to make of that one..."

-0-

'Why?' Yuki wondered running along side Kyo, 'Why didn't I realize sooner?'

'I just didn't see it!' Kyo scolded himself, pushing his legs harder to get to the house, 'But how could I? She looks so happy all the time even when she's upset!'

'She always has a smile... Sometimes, it seems like even the simplest thing can make them smile for hours. But still...'

'Saying they don't mind being alone, that they're alright...There isn't a person alive who'd really feel that way!'

-0-

Tohru and I shot up in panic when the front door burst open. I blinked away my tears, shocked to see Yuki and Kyo standing in the doorway, both of them breathing heavily.

"Kyo? Yuki?" I wanted to ask them why they were suddenly here but my voice was cracked.

Yuki walked over to Tohru. He raised his hand to her face and lifted a single tear from her eye and showed it to her.

She and I gasped and furiously wiped our eyes.

"Oh, we weren't crying!" I babbled.

"It's just the holiday season and all!" Tohru lied, "People get a little emotional this time of year!"

They both sighed and collapsed on their hands and knees.

We rushed over them, concerned for their health.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" I asked nervously.

"We have to watch the first sunrise," Yuki panted.

"Yeah," Kyo said, panting as well. "And I wanna have some more of those New Year's soba noodles."

They looked up at us, still trying to catch their breath.

'…they came back for us…' Just the thought almost made me start crying again, '…they ran all the way back to spend New Years with us…'

(1 minute to sunrise!)

The four of us went up on the roof to watch the first sunrise of the New Year after we had our fill of tea and New Years cakes.

"So, you talked to Hana?" Tohru asked once we were all safely sitting on the roof.

"We sort of...ran into her on the way." Yuki replied.

"Is that right?" Tohru asked.

"I guess we should call Hana first and thank her…but, uh...are you sure this is okay?" I asked. "I mean, what's the rest of your family going think? They won't mind that you stayed here, will they? We don't want you to get in any trouble over us."

"It's no trouble," Yuki smiled, "We'll just go back sometime before the third and visit with everyone."

"Oh, okay," Tohru smiled, turning back to look on the mist-covered forest before us.

I checked the watch on my wrist, "Hey, the sun should be coming up any second now!"

Tohru gasps in awe and stood up with her hands clasped to her chest, "You're right! The sun's coming up!"

"Have you decided what to wish for yet?" I asked them.

"I've got mine all ready to go!"

As the sun peeked over the horizon the dawn of a new year was upon us…

Kyo grunted and jumped to his feet. "This year, I'm gonna beat that damn rat!"

Yuki smiled softly. "Ah, you're wishing, aren't you?"

We laughed a little as Kyo sighed dejectedly.

'My wish for this year is for everyday with the Sohma's to be blessed with happiness, laughter, and love.'