Author's Note: I am so sorry it took me so long to put up Chapter Nine. Things have just been a bit busy with school. Plus, I'm a bit of a procrastinator. But anyway! Here is Chapter Nine! At long, long last! Just to let you, I was inspired by the crossover "The Alchemist and the Zodiac" by Primitiveradiogoddess. I was also inspired by the sixth episode of the Fruits Basket anime. Please, please, please, review and tell me what you think! Also I have an idea for another fanfiction (another Tsubasa one). However, I'm still in the middle of writing "Animal Guardians" and "Idiot Blonde and the School Witch." Should I start on another fanfiction or concentrate primarily on the fanfictions I already have? The poll is on my profile. Please, let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fruits Basket. It is owned by Natsuki Takaya. I do NOT own The Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. It is owned by CLAMP. I do NOT own Candy Land.
"Very good, Fai-san!" Tohru beamed as he dipped the raw chicken breast into the egg batter. The small blonde looked away shyly at the compliment.
"Next, you put the chicken into the breadcrumbs." The teenage girl told him. "And once it's all covered, we fry it!"
Fai glanced over at the bowl which held the flour and tiny breadcrumbs before placing the dripping piece of meat into it. He stared in fascination as Tohru turned it over to reveal one side covered with white powder and specks of brown crumbs. Just as he was about to dip another chunk of chicken into the bowl, someone rapped at the front door.
"Oh! That must be Momiji-kun and Hatsuharu-san!" Tohru said, delightedly. Quickly, she took off her apron, and began to walk out the kitchen, but not before she called out to Fai, "I'll be right back!"
The child stood there for a moment, not really sure what to do. A couple of hours ago, not long after Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo had returned from school, Yuki had told both Fai and Shigure that Momiji and Haru would be visiting, whoever those two were. When he had seen the child's bewildered face, Shigure had given a reassuring smile. "Oh, don't worry!" He had said. "Momiji and Haru are cousins are ours. You'll like them a lot!"
Still as Fai stood there in the kitchen, he couldn't help but feel…nervous. At that moment, he heard the door slide open and then a high-pitched voice cried out delightedly, "Tohru!"
The scamper of small footsteps sounded before Kyo's shout rang out, "Momiji! Don't!"
Fai bit his lip; then, plucking up his courage, he walked forward towards the front door.
"Tohru!" Momiji cried out, happily as he ran forward to her. Just as he was about to hug her, Kyo grabbed onto the cuff of his shirt, halting his movement altogether.
"Momiji! Don't!" Kyo snapped.
"Awww! Kyo, you're so mean! I just wanted to say 'hello' to Tohru!"
"You can do that without hugging her!"
"Kyo-kun..." Tohru squeaked out, meekly. "Please, don't be angry!"
"Erm," A little voice spoke up, "Onee-chan?"
Tohru looked up to see both Hiro and Kisa Sohma standing behind Hatsuharu. She immediately perked up at the sight of the orange-haired little girl. "Kisa-san!" She cried out, happily, as she rushed over to embrace her.
"What the—what are you two doing here?!" Kyo shouted upon seeing the two younger Sohmas at the door.
Hiro just shrugged. "Ask the Rabbit. He's the one who dragged us here."
Kyo glared at the blonde Sohma while Yuki only sighed. "…Momiji…" He moaned.
Momiji grinned. "You what they say!" He chirped up, brightly. "The more, the merrier!"
"Says you!" Kyo yelled, as he banged his fist onto his cousin's head.
"Waaah!" The blonde Sohma sobbed. "Somebody! Kyo's hitting me!"
"…Brother…?"
Everyone turned at the small voice and saw another small blonde staring at them from the hallway.
Fai inhaled quickly, not daring to believe it. When he had entered the hallway, more or less ready to greet the guests, his eyes had caught sight of a short figure with light yellow hair. Was that…? No, it couldn't be! And yet, Fai continued to stare at the other blonde, with hope rising in his heart.
"…Brother…?" He whispered.
The other blonde turned (along with everyone else) and Fai found himself looking into unfamiliar brown eyes. Despairingly, he hung his head, with hope now dead, once more. He should've known. There was no way…no matter how much he wanted it to be…that that other blonde boy was his brother.
"Hello!" A bright voice called out. Fai looked up, and was startled to see that the other blonde was now mere inches away from his face.
"I'm Momiji Sohma!" The other blonde smiled. "You're Fai, right?"
"Um…uh-huh." Fai nodded, somewhat nervously.
"Wow!" Momiji cried out, enthusiastically. "It's so great to meet you!" Then he proceeded to give Fai a very, very wild hand shake (1).
"Let's be friends, okay?" He suggested, still shaking the other child's hand very wildly.
"Ah…erm…o-okay!" Fai managed to squeak out. Thankfully, Momiji put an end to the handshake, and Fai tried secretly to shake some feeling back into his limb.
"Hey, don't mind us." A teenage boy's voice coolly said. Fai and Momiji both looked up to see the three other strangers gaze at them. "We're just the new decorum around this place." The voice had come from the boy with white hair. And what white hair he had! Fai could almost swear that it was whiter than any hair he had seen on old men.
"Ah…" The child just didn't know what to say to the white-haired teenager.
"I'm Hatsuharu." The white-haired boy bowed politely. "Nice to meet you."
Fai, reminded of proper manners, immediately bowed back. "Um…hello…"
He glanced up a bit to see a girl, only a few years older than him, with beautiful orange hair. She smiled somewhat shyly. "Um, hello Fai-chan!" She bowed in greeting. "I'm Kisa Sohma."
He blushed a little, before stammering back. "N-nice to meet you."
Someone let out a sharp cough, causing Fai to jump a little. He looked and saw a young boy about Kisa's age, with light brown hair. The last guest glared at Fai so coldly, that the blonde found himself glancing away, almost immediately.
"Hiro Sohma." The other boy grunted.
"Ah…hello…" Fai whispered without meeting Hiro's eyes.
"Hey, you're not supposed to look away when people are talking to you!" Hiro snapped. Fearfully, Fai at once obeyed. "It's rude, y'know."
"Like you're one to talk, Hiro." Hatsuharu remarked as he placed a hand on his younger cousin's head.
"Hey, I'm just stating the facts." Hiro replied, holding up his hands defensively. But even so, he gave a quick, cold glance towards Fai's way, causing the small blonde to flinch.
"Fai! Hey, Fai!" Momiji exclaimed. "Let's play a game, okay?"
The other blonde hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. "O-okay."
At that, Momiji immediately reached his hands into a large paper bag he had been carrying and pulled out three rectangular boxes.
"Pick the one you like!" The blonde Sohma grinned happily.
Fai blinked, before glancing over at the cases of the board games. After a moment, he pointed to one that showed a lot of bright colors and odd shapes.
"All righty!" Momiji cried out exuberantly. "Toy Land it is (2)!"
Seemingly disgusted at Fai's choice, Hiro snorted. "Toy Land?" He said in disbelief. "Who'd wanna play that baby game?"
"Er, Hiro-chan," Kisa spoke up, sheepishly, "I-I want to play."
Said-boy stopped at that, before abruptly saying, "All right! Let's play."
Tohru rolled the die, and smiled when she the number five as a sum. "Okay, here I go!" She exclaimed as she took her rubber duck figurine and moved it five spaces forward on the board. "Your turn, Momiji-kun!" She said, once finished.
Eagerly, the blonde Sohma took the die and shook them very rapidly before letting them loose. The result was two threes.
"Yay!" Momiji cheered. "I got doubles!"
"Oh! That means you get to pick a card!" Tohru cried out, just as happily. "Congratulations!"
Hiro rolled his eyes. "It's not necessarily a good thing, y'know."
But that did nothing to deter Momiji's joy as he quickly picked a card from the pile and smiled as he saw what he got. "Hooray!!" He whooped. "I get to go to the Fairy Doll!"
"What're you so happy about?" Hiro said incredulously. "You only get to move two spaces."
"Now, now, Hiro," Haru stated casually, "don't ruin the moment."
"Yeah, Hiro!" Momiji chimed in. "Don't ruin the moment."
Hiro only grumbled as his blonde cousin moved his little Bunny figurine forward. "All righty!" Momiji grinned. "You're next, Fai!"
Hiro sharply turned to the other blonde as Fai began to roll the die. He had recognized him earlier as the blonde he had seen his mother with. Personally, he couldn't see what was so great about the kid. He had hardly anything to any of them since they arrived. And every loud noise that sounded (be it a chair squeaking across the floor or a door slamming) seemed to scare him (3). Seriously, what was everyone making fuss for?
At that moment, Kisa spoke up, waking him from his thoughts. "Um, Hiro-chan?" She whispered. "It's your turn, now."
Haru was quiet as he stared into the empty snack bag.
Apparently his silence didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group, as Tohru spoke up, "Er, Hatsuharu-san? Is something wrong?"
Haru gave her a blank look before replying, "No more chips." He raised the empty bag for emphasis. It had been well over an hour since he, Momiji, Hiro, and Kisa came over to visit. During that time, everyone had finished playing Toy Land and were now playing "Rich Man, Poor Man." Of course, they had to explain the rules a bit to Fai. But during their whole time playing games, the cookies and chips Haru had brought had soon found their way into everyone's stomachs.
"Oh! That's too bad!" Immediately, Tohru stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "Wait here! I'll go get some more snacks for everyone!"
"Honda-san…" Yuki started. But Tohru was already out of sight.
Exasperatedly, Kyo slapped a hand to his forehead. "Sheesh! That girl…!"
At that moment, the telephone rang, causing Fai to jump at the sound. After a few moments, they heard the receiver being picked up, and Shigure's voice saying, "Yes…Yes…All right." Then, "Oh, Yuki-kuuun!"
The grey-haired youth sighed as he stood up. "Yes?" He called back.
"There's someone named Makoto Takei-kun on the phone (4). He wants to talk to you about next year's plans for the school."
Sighing again, Yuki walked upstairs towards the phone. Silence incurred for a few moments before Kyo stood up, himself. "I'm gonna go check on her." He said. "Knowing her, she's probably likely to trip on something." And with that, he left for the kitchen.
With Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki occupied somewhere else, Fai felt very uncomfortable around the four guests. His discomfort was further increased by the blank looks Hatsuharu gave him and the glares he received from Hiro. Shyly, he glanced over at Kisa, who was staring at her cards. After a moment, he paid attention to his own deck of cards before slumping in his seat. It was at that moment that he heard it.
Poof!
Fai started at the loud sound, which was soon followed by Tohru's shriek, "Kyo-kun!"
The small blonde was about to stand and run towards the kitchen where the commotion had sounded, when Momiji immediately jumped in front of his face.
"So, Fai!" The blonde Sohma grinned brightly. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"I-er—
"Do you like any movies?" Hatsuharu asked. Suddenly, he was barely a foot away from Fai.
"Well-I—
"Um, I-I think I brought a Mogeto video with me." Kisa added, as she also stared at him.
"But-I—
"Then it's settled!" Momiji declared as he punched his fist into the air. "We're gonna watch Mogeta!"
Within the next thirty seconds, or so it seemed to Fai, everyone had placed him in front of the television set, and they were soon all watching the brightly colored cartoon. As Fai began falling into the television screen's trance, he heard Hatsuharu whisper to Momiji, "Nice save!"
"Eh?" Fai turned to him, puzzled.
"Nothing." Was the automatic response.
Then, just as he was about to turn towards the television set, again, he heard another poof come from the kitchen, followed once more by Tohru's shriek. But before he could do anything about it, Momiji grabbed his arm, making him flinch.
"Look!" The blonde Sohma exclaimed as he pointed towards the television. "Here comes the best part!"
A few minutes later, footsteps sounded, and Tohru's cheerful voice rang out, "Oh! Is that Mogeta?"
Everyone looked up to see her standing in the doorway, holding a bowl full of pastries (5). Kyo was right behind her, looking somewhat annoyed. "That again?" He said.
Hatsuharu, upon seeing the food, remarked, "Ah! You brought snacks."
At that, Kyo angrily yelled, "You little brat! That was the whole reason she went into the kitchen in the first place!!"
"Kyo-kun…please…" Tohru nervously stammered.
"I get first dibs." Hatsuharu stated, matter-of-factly, as he stood up.
"I call seconds!" Momiji cheerfully proclaimed as he followed suit.
"You two…!" The orange-haired youth growled. "You're making yourselves way too comfortable!"
"It's all right." Tohru said, in a peaceful manner, as she set the bowl down. "Food's meant to be eaten anyway."
Immediately, Hatsuharu and Momiji dug themselves into the pastries. The latter, however, then realized that the other three had not joined them and at once called out, "Hey, Kisa! Hiro! Fai! C'mon and have some!"
Hiro scoffed. "Like we're that desperate to eat some sugary junk—
"Hiro-chan!"
The young boy froze when he saw Kisa's tearful eyes stare at him. Giving in, apparently, he sighed, and said, "Save some for us."
Fai stood up last after Kisa. But as he walked towards the pastries, his foot slipped on the empty bag of potato chips Hatsuharu had left on the ground. Arms spinning wildly, he fell forward, crashing into Kisa in the process.
Poof!!
"Fai-san!!" Tohru's panicky voice sounded. "Kisa-san!!"
Fai blinked as he opened his eyes, stunned by the sudden appearance of smoke in the room. Something squirmed under him, something that definitely did not feel like a human being. Slowly, Fai stood up, blinking through the fading smoke to see a small, striped orange feline under him with clothes beside it. Very familiar clothes.
Fai stared at the tiger cub before stammering out, uncertainly, "K-Kisa-san…?"
Author's Note: Please, review and tell me what you think!
(1) Think of the handshake that Lt. Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist usually gives to the people he just met. God, he was such an awesome guy, and I'm still angry at the fact that he was killed off. Curse you, Hiromu Arakawa!
(2) A spoof off of Candy Land. As far as I know, no such game exists.
(3) Hiro and Kisa have not been told that Fai may have been raped. In fact, neither Hatsuharu and Momiji have been told as well.
(4) To who forgot or who doesn't know, Makoto Takei was the student council president at Kaibara High. He gave Hatsuharu grief because of his hair color.
(5) She made them beforeheand:)
