Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket because if I did, I'd be rich and awesome. Unfortunately I am poor and awesome...oh well!
AN: Okay so my "n" key has been sticking so if a word looks weird, add an n in there somewhere and it'll probably make sense. I've tried to find all of them but who knows...
I woke up to the sound of a doorbell and dragged myself to the front door after throwing on some sleep clothes. I looked through the peek hole and saw Stan waiting so I unlocked the deadbolt ad the lock on the door then opened the door and looked at him. He stared back.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I only called you a million times last night. I wanted to make sure you were okay," he said warily.
"I've been sleeping," I replied, gesturing to the PJ pants and the tank top I had thrown on.
"You sleep a lot," Stan remarked then said, "Can I come in?"
"Such is the life of the creative mind," I said, smiling at the quote from Fruits Basket, then opened the door all the way so he could walk in.
He came in and said, "Okay you are going to get dressed and I'm going to take you out today. You need to not be stuck inside the house all day."
"I just found out my boyfriend was cheating on me. If you take me somewhere, it better be to take me to get ice cream," I said, crossing my arms.
Somehow he convinced me to go out and we hung out all day. You'd think it'd be weird, being with my "boss" of sorts but he's a cool guy. No where near comparison to Hatori of course but a good friend. I got back to my house around 9 and went into my room, diving into bed.
I woke up sitting with Shigure in his study. It was about nighttime and Shigure was getting ready to go take his bath. He turned to me with suggestion written across his face and said, "You know you could join me if you want."
"No thanks," I said and went into the living room where Tohru and Yuki were watching TV.
When Shigure got out of the bath, he said, "Hey! I'm out of the tub... Who's in next? Yuki?"
"No, I think I'll skip it today," Yuki said, staring at the TV.
"Ugh! How can you stand to be so dirty?" Shigure asked, covering his mouth with his hand.
"Just once, I'd like to knock him through the roof," Yuki mumbled.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling okay?" Tohru asked him.
"Well, no. I think I might be coming down with a cold," Yuki responded.
"A cold?!" Tohru jumped up and felt his head, "You do have a bit of a fever."
"Well, it's best to treat these things early! Take some medicine, get some rest, all that..." Shigure said then started digging through a random drawer, "I think I have just the thing right here."
"Maybe you should stay home from school tomorrow Yuki," I suggested.
"No, I don't think it'll come to that," Yuki reassured.
"Are you sure? We are supposed to do our endurance run..." Tohru said, looking at him with worry.
"God! I hate those! It's like torture," I said dramatically.
"An endurance run, huh?" Kyo asked from the doorway where he had appeared.
"Yeah you didn't know?" Tohru asked, looking at him.
"The endurance run: a set distance, a certain time to beat... In other words, it's a race!" Kyo said excitedly the pointed at Yuki, "All right, rat boy, tomorrow we find out who's the fastest!"
"Um, Kyo, Yuki's starting to come down with a cold..." Tohru informed him.
"Well, you better give him something to eat and put him to bed cause he's not getting out of this one!" Kyo instructed.
"Here take one of these..." Shigure held out a package of cold medicine, "And all joking aside, remember, if you strain your body too much, you'll transform. Don't overdo it."
"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Tohru whispered to me, "I'd feel much better if he stayed home tomorrow and got some rest..."
The next day, the three of them headed off for school even though it was obvious Tohru really didn't want Yuki to go. After they left, I wandered around the house trying to find something to do. Today Tohru would meet Hatsuharu and I debated going to meet him with her but decided against it. He would end up here anyway.
"Shigurrrreee!" I whined, laying on my back with my feet up on the wall in his study.
"Yes?" Shigure asked, turning away from his writing and towards me.
"I'm incredibly bored!" I said, looking at him, "Entertain me!"
"What about Ha'ri?" Shigure asked with a smirk.
"What?!" I said, blushing.
"Isn't he your entertainment?" Shigure asked smiling.
"Okay one, I didn't mean that kind of entertainment," I said, holding up a finger then held up another while saying, "And two, do you see him here?"
"So, what's up with you two?" he asked, returning to his work.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I mean, I like him and all but I dunno... will he be able to invest fully in a relationship after Kana?" I asked, letting my legs fall and sitting up.
"I don't know, to tell you the truth," Shigure said, smiling.
"I don't even know if he likes me back," I claimed, pushing away the memory of New Year's.
"Oh I would know about that," Shigure said, smiling.
"Really?" I asked, standing and walking over to him then kneeling next to him.
The phone rang and he jumped up then ran into the hall to answer it. I crossed my arms and glared at him when he came back in a little while later.
"What'd I do?" he asked, turning to his work.
"Shigure! Samii! Could you come help us?" I heard Tohru yell.
We ran into the other room and there was Tohru, Kyo and... a cow with Yuki on its back.
"Oh, Haru, this is Samii, Samii, this is Hatsuharu," Kyo introduced, "Samii is Tohru's older sister."
"So, you came all the way here looking like that, did you?" Shigure asked, trying to hold back laughter as we stared at the cow.
"It's not funny!" said Kyo angrily.
We brought Yuki to his room and laid him in his bed. "There. We'll let him sleep for a while," Shigure said, "Looks like it was just a mild attack. He still has a slight fever, but he'll be all right."
"Thank goodness!" Tohru said happily.
"Sorry for the scare, Tohru. But it's really okay. You can go back to school now," Shigure said smiling.
"Oh no-- I mean, school is important but I just wouldn't feel right going back when I know that he's lying here sick..." Tohru said, looking at Yuki as he lay on the bed, still out cold, "I'm sure Mom will understand if I miss a day. And besides-- I feel a little bit responsible... I should've asked him to stay home today. His cold might not've gotten this bad."
"I'll tell you what. How about I go to the school and pick up your things for you," Shigure offered with a smile.
"You really don't have to go to all that trouble..." Tohru said.
"No, no, no trouble at all..." Shigure assured, then turned to Kyo, "In the meantime, Kyo, why don't you call Hatori?"
"Huh? Why do I gotta do it?" Kyo asked, annoyed.
"Watch yourself, though. Hatori's a bit overworked these days, so he's probably not in the best of moods. From what I hear, practically the entire family has come down with the flu..." Shigure warned.
Haru changed back and said, "I'll call him." Tohru and I turned around with Tohru freaking out of course. Haru walked towards the stairs, "Where's the phone again?"
"Damn it! Put some clothes on first!" Kyo ordered.
Haru changed and I went downstairs to see Shigure off. He turned as he was leaving and said, "Well, I'm off. Take good care of Yuki while I'm gone."
"You are so selfless," I said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"I know," he smiled and left and I was pretty sure I heard him muttering, "High school girls, high school girls, all for me, high school girls!"
When I came back in, Haru was on the phone with Ha'ri. He was saying, "Mm-hm. I understand... R-Right. Samii? Yeah she's right here.
He handed me the phone. I just stared at it then at him and Kyo who were staring at me expectantly. So I brought the phone to my ear and said, "This is Samii."
"Hi, how are you?" I heard Ha'ri's deep voice on the other line.
I smiled and said, "I'm fine."
"I have a favor to ask of you. Don't let Hatsuharu leave the house until I get there okay?" he asked and I glanced at Haru.
"Understood, I will be very watchful," I replied.
"Good girl. See you soon," he said then the phone went dead.
As I replaced the phone on its hook, Kyo said, "What was that about?"
"He wants me to make sure Haru doesn't leave again," I responded.
"Yeah he sounded mad at me for some reason... Strange huh?" Haru said, nodding.
"That's what happens when you disappear for three days," Kyo said, "So, what now? I guess we got that damn rat taken care of... Wanna finish our fight?"
"Nah, forget it..." Haru responded, shocking Kyo, "You really have gotten stronger, Kyo. I think I need more training."
Kyo put Haru in a head lock and said, "You think you can pick a fight and then just walk away whenever you feel like it? Huh?! Just cause you changed back to 'White Haru' doesn't mean you get--"
Tohru had walked into the room and she chose this moment to interrupt, "So... you're not 'Black Haru' anymore?"
"Uh...no," Haru responded awkwardly.
"I'm sorry... It's just, you seem like a completely different person..." Tohru said.
"How's Yuki?" Haru changed the subject.
"He's still sleeping," Tohru said.
"Don't attack him while he's passed out, Kyo," Haru reprimanded.
"Shut up! What good does it do me if I beat him with a cheap trick like that?! The day I knock that damn rat on his tail it's gonna be fair and square!" Kyo proclaimed, obviously pissed off then headed toward the door, "Aw forget it, I'm going back to school." With that, he slammed the door and left.
Tohru, Haru and I went into the kitchen to get an ice pack for Yuki when Haru asked, "Yuki and Kyo, do they still get in fist fights every day?"
"No, but they argue just about every time they see each other," Tohru replied, dumping ice into a pack.
"Huh. Well that means they're getting along a little better, at least... It wasn't long ago that the idea would've seemed pretty hopeless," Haru said
"No, hopeless?" I asked.
"That's how it seemed... But I can tell they've both changed since then... There used to be so much tension between them, if they were in the same room you could feel it in the air..." Haru said, sadly, "Things seem much more relaxed now. It could be because you two are here..."
"No, I doubt we've made that much of a difference..." Tohru said, blushing.
"Well, I can't prove that yet. But I haven't been around enough to see what's going on. But I guess the reason isn't really important. I'm just glad to see they're doing better..." Haru said and we started up the stairs when he said, "Especially Yuki... He was my first love, after all. Nothing against Kyo. Yuki is just very special to me... Although when we were kids, I couldn't stand him. I hated his guts."
Tohru balked, dropped the ice, and said, "Oh... Really? Why?"
"Because he's the Rat... It's in the old story, right? How the rat rode on the cow's back to the zodiac banquet," Haru replied as we walked into Yuki's room, "I used to hate that story when I was a little kid... The Cow... the Cow was a stupid fool...letting the Rat use him like that... That's what all the adults used to tell me anyway... I know they were probably half-joking when they said it...still, I couldn't help but feel I was the one they were laughing at, calling stupid... And after hearing it over and over, I had so much anger towards that Rat bottled up inside that I couldn't contain it. I started losing my temper over the tiniest things... I guess that's when my 'Black' personality first began to appear," Haru looked like he was going to cry and I almost hugged him then mentally slapped myself, he continued, "It got to be too much for my parents to handle, so they had me take martial arts lessons, hoping that would give me a way to vent... It really didn't help like they thought it would... I enjoyed the training itself but even there, it seemed I was getting laughed at a lot. And then one day... I happened to bump into Yuki. The truth is up until then, I had never even said a word to him. The only time we ever saw each other was at New Year's... But that day, seeing him sitting there, all of my anger began to swell up at once. I exploded."
"Did Yuki hit you or anything?" I asked.
"No actually when I told him it was his fault that everyone called me a fool and an idiot he simply asked me if it was true. If it was true that I was a fool. When I told him I wasn't he just said he didn't think so. After that interaction, I began to lose my temper less and less. Yuki had finally allowed me to vent the anger that had filled me up for so long. It felt as though my heart had suddenly been set free. I was surprised. In every possible way, Yuki was different from the person I imagined him to be. It's true. Until that point, it never occurred to me that he could be anything other than the mean rat and to think... If I hadn't met him that day... That's all I'd see even now and then I'd really be a fool..." Haru finished.
"That's a wonderful story!" Tohru exclaimed, clasping her hands together.
"I was surprised today too... seeing Yuki next to you, with that little smile on his face. That was a first for me... He never smiled like that when he lived at the main house..." Haru said, observing Yuki, "That's why I was thinking, maybe it's your influence that's helped him to soften up a bit..."
"Oh, no that can't be! I'm sure it's something else! I mean, I don't know what I could have done that would be so great--" Tohru almost started on her panicky rants when Haru interrupted.
"I can prove it to you," Haru said, "When he wakes up, trying calling him by his nickname once, I'll bet it cheers him up."
Yuki came to a little after that and said slowly, "Uh... Miss Honda?"
"Hi. Welcome back," Tohru said, kneeling down next to him as Haru and I stood behind her.
"That's right! I was... I hope I wasn't any trouble..." Yuki said, sitting up quickly.
"No, it's all right... Hatsuharu transformed and carried you here on his back," Tohru said calmly.
"Well... thank you. It must've been a sight..." Yuki said awkwardly.
"No... I didn't mind at all. You were asleep by the time we got home... And since then I've been telling Tohru and Samii the story of why I like you..." Haru said, blushing.
Yuki frowned and said, "What is that the only thing you could think of to talk about? I at least hope you didn't bore them with too many details..."
"They seemed interested..." Haru said, downhearted.
"It's okay. It was a very nice story... 'Prince' Yuki..." Tohru said, pausing before saying his name.
"Yes, well, don't pay any attention to Haru he-" Yuki started but when he realized what Tohru said, blushed and transformed into a rat.
"There, you see... It doesn't work at all when I say it..." Tohru said.
I caught Haru's eyes and smiled at him which he returned.
"Hello?" we heard Ha'ri come in downstairs and I went down there to get him.
"He's upstairs in bed," I said and started to pull him upstairs when he pulled back on my hand so I almost ran into him.
"How've you been?" he asked me.
"I've been good," I said, trying to hold back my smile.
"Listen, Shigure called me earlier..." he started but we heard Tohru and Haru coming down the stairs so he released my hand and we started up them.
In Yuki's room, Yuki got scolded for doing the endurance run when he already had a cold. Around six, Shigure and Kyo came home and instantly transformed. It turned out they had been sitting outside playing card games with the gym teacher and three other students. Ha'ri shook his head in frustration as we sat next to their animal forms.
"That's what you get for sitting out in the freezing air for hours playing Old Maid," Haru told them.
I locked eyes with Ha'ri and smiled sadly as the scene faded.
AN: Like I said, my n key is sticking and it's pissing me off. So I apologize if there are misspelled words.