"And Then…" for "Fruits Basket"
Disclaimer: Fruits Basket isn't mine, though I do have a fruits basket.
As Always, For Caiti
Chapter Twenty: Wolves
Out of habit, Tohru woke up around seven o'clock a.m., just seconds before her cute little alarm clock was set to go off. She gently smacked it at the very moment the buzzer started its annoying, rhythmic beeps, silencing them. Mellow golden sunlight was pouring in through her bedroom's one shared window. Looking over at Motoko's bed on the other side of the room, she could only see a mound of blankets and scattered pillows. Some of the girl's long auburn locks were sticking out between the sheets, dangling down and nearly brushing the floor. Tohru rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and sat up, kicking aside the bedcovers. As she swung her feet over the side of the bed, her eyes fell on Motoko's poodle-themed calendar. She counted the days and did a double-take.
"Ahhhh!" she cried, galvanized into alertness. "It's today!"
The mound on the other bed that was Motoko scarcely stirred, even as Tohru ran in and out of the room, dressing, grooming, and packing her bag for school. She didn't even move when Tohru zoomed out of the apartment, calling out "Bye!" to Reiko and Tash, the only other girls up and having cereal for breakfast in the living room.
"See ya', Tohru!" they called after her.
Outside, the sun was just rising over the mountains, and the air seemed to have a warm, pink glow to it. The street was already busy with people and cars passing by, most of them headed in the direction of the campus. Tohru looked across at Kyo's and Yuki's apartment building. Boys were going up and down the stairs, saying hello to each other and carrying books. None of them resembled Yuki and Kyo, but Tohru remembered that the boys' schedules both started a little later on.
She hurried down the stairs, getting strange looks from older girls hanging out around the complex. She caught a muttered "Freshman" and amused looks from one tall brunette she brushed by.
"Sorry!" Tohru said quickly. She trotted down the street to the corner where the bus stop was located. To her alarm, the bus was already there, boarding passengers. Tohru sped up to a run, but the bus pulled away and drove on just as she reached the stop.
"Hey, wait for me!" she yelled, waving her arms, but the driver ignored her. Panting from the brisk exercise, Tohru stared down the road and swung her heavy bag off her shoulder; it hit the cement with a loud thud. Staring at her watch and at the bus schedule—she was exactly thirty seconds late, she allowed herself a brief moan.
"My first day of college," she berated herself, "and I'm already a space case!"
The next bus wasn't due to come by for another twenty minutes. Tohru stared at her watch some more. She had to be in her first class in ten. Could she make it if she ran?
There was only one way to find out.
Panting, tired, and a little disheveled, Tohru sank down into a narrow desk gratefully just as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the hour. She looked around and realized with a touch of surprise that the majority of the students in her homeroom class were boys, most of them wearing glasses and shirts with ties and pocket protectors. They all stared at her as if she had blazing neon arrows pointing in her direction. What, did she have some of breakfast still on her face or something. Tohru quickly reached up a hand to check.
The professor wrote his name out on the chalkboard as well as the title of the class, voice droning in a barely understandable drawl. Tohru's eyes scanned the characters when he stepped away, and she did a double take.
"Engineering 401!" she screeched. "What happened to 'Methodology of Food Preparation!"
The teacher stared at her with consternation.
"No yelling, please, in the classroom," she thought she heard him say. "Miss…..?"
"Um, excuse me," Tohru said hastily, getting up and bowing deeply, chagrined. "I think I've got the wrong classroom." In a feeble attempt to save herself from further embarrassment, she grabbed her backpack and made a break for the door.
Ten minutes later, after poring over her map of campus, Tohru slipped into the right room for her foods class. Turned out she'd had the map upside down all along; starting her first day of college had her so flustered—it was amazing someone as ditzy as she could be accepted to such a prestigious school in the first place, she thought. Most of her classmates were girls, though there were some boys as well, of all ages. There was even a wrinkled, bald man old enough to be her grandpa there, pursuing his dream to become a chef after a lifetime in an office job he didn't really like. Several workstations—complete with a miniature fridge for ingredients, an oven, a sink, and counter—were laid out evenly on both sides of the room, and students were pulling out cooking equipment while the teacher at the front talked about their uses at his own station at the head of the classroom. He caught sight of Tohru and she had to explain why she was late. The teacher smiled forgivingly and invited Tohru to find a workstation with a group. Tohru, pink-faced, slunk towards the back and took a stool next to two other young women who were turning a pot upside down and peering at it dubiously. Luckily, the teacher just went on with his lecture for the rest of the hour and assigned some pages to read out of one of the textbooks Tohru had bought soon after coming to Tokyo.
Her next class was P.E. Tohru didn't mind working out—she thought she probably could use a bit of exercise after the past summer. There wasn't much to do this period, though. The teacher mostly talked about the objectives of the class and handed out some paperwork and disclaimers to the students to fill out and sign before dismissing them early. Tohru had a chance to get a head start on her homework, which was already beginning to accumulate.
She had to cross nearly the whole of campus to get to her next class, which was in a small, block-shaped building by the athletic field. It was a world history class—a general requirement for all students—and although Tohru normally found the subject fairly interesting, the teacher's nasal, monotonic voice and the dim lighting in the auditorium the class was held in was nearly enough to put her back to sleep again. When the bell rang shrilly, several dozing students jumped out their seats, startled. Tohru hoisted her loaded backpack once more and trudged to her next destination.
Looking at her timetable—she only had four classes today, with her foods class held daily and three more (sewing, biology, and financial management) tomorrow and twice a week—she had English next. Tohru was a little unsure about this one. She felt she'd only scraped by in her high school English exams. It wasn't her best subject.
The building for humanities and language studies was close to the center of campus, a white stone edifice that looked almost like a mansion and might have been one, long ago. The interior was rather domestic looking, too, except with classrooms instead of bedrooms, and public restrooms and an office in the back part of the main floor. Tohru threaded her way up a long flight of stairs choked with students on their way to their next classes to the second story--this floor looked a bit more like a conventional school—and found the room number she was looking for (she checked it a few times just to be sure), taking a seat somewhere in the middle of the room. She stared at her hands on the desk for a few moments until a familiar voice broke her mindless concentration.
"Good morning, Tohru," Yuki's silky smooth voice said. "It's nice to see you."
Tohru looked up to see his pale, teardrop face smiling down at her. She wasn't the only one to notice his entrance; almost every girl in the class was chattering excitedly, all eyes on him. Yuki took an empty desk on her right, and, like the tides pulled by the moon, suddenly the better part of the female population in the classroom gravitated over to sit as near to him as possible. Tohru even recognized a couple of faces from high school.
"I didn't know you were in this class, too, Yuki," Tohru said, slightly bewildered. "I thought your grades senior year were good enough to waive the English requirement."
"Well, they were," Yuki admitted with a shrug. "But I thought it would be nice to have at least one class together. Besides, a little extra work at English can't do any harm, right?"
"I guess not," Tohru replied. The class was starting to fill up now. It was quite large—maybe about fifty or sixty students in all. One of the last to come in had bright orange hair and a grumpy expression. He wore an old Kawaia High uniform—black pants and a long-sleeved shirt of the same color with a white border on the collar, which was loose and open. Kyo scanned the room and caught sight of Tohru. And Yuki. Jaw still set in a scowl, he marched down the aisle over to them and stood to the left of Tohru's desk.
"What are you doing here?" he barked.
Tohru blanched. "I….." she began, then realized it was Yuki he was talking to.
"I could ask you the same thing," the gray-haired boy replied serenely, acting as if Kyo's presence there was about as important as mud. "I saw your schedule. Don't you have a calculus class you ought to be in right now?"
Kyo folded his arms over his chest and bared his teeth at his enemy.
"I changed my schedule. Works out better this way."
"One would almost think your being here is rather coincidental," Yuki responded.
"What's that supposed to mean, Rat-Boy?" the other demanded, quivering.
"Um, I think you'd better sit down, Kyo," Tohru said. "Class is about to start." As soon as the last word left her lips, the bell sounded like an alarm, and at the very same moment, a slim woman in a green dress suit entered the room, wearing narrow glasses and her brown hair coiled into a bun atop her head. She didn't look very old—her face wasn't even lined—but the lady had an air of discipline about her, like she'd spent several years in the military. The hard set of her mouth betrayed her as a stern teacher, the type that brooked no nonsense. She stood behind the desk at the front of the room and surveyed the students with her hands clasped behind her back, reminding Tohru even more of a drill sergeant facing ranks of troops. She stared at Kyo severely until Kyo dropped down into the desk on the other side of Tohru.
"Good morning, class," she told them all, unsmiling. Her accent was crisp, but just a little unusual. "My name is Mrs. Mikazuki," she informed them, turning around to write it on the blackboard. It was clear from the way she wrote it—in syllables instead of characters—and from the way that she spoke, that she was not a native. Her name was Japanese, though. Maybe she was born abroad. Or perhaps she had married a Japanese man and was here as a teacher. She'd said "Mrs." right?
"I've heard some guys from my classes talk about her," Kyo muttered. "They say she's a real beast." Mrs. Mikazuki was now passing out sheets of blue paper and explaining the itinerary for the class, as well as some rules. There were quite a lot of them, it turned out.
"All of you here should have a working knowledge of and intermediate or higher proficiency in English," she announced. "If there is anyone here who does not meet these qualifications, get out of my class."
Tohru blinked in astonishment. Many of the students were looking around at each other nervously, a few looking like they did want to get up and leave, but no one seemed brave enough to move. Tohru certainly didn't want to attract this teacher's attention.
Mrs. Mikazuki continued explaining the outline of the course and her grading policies for the next twenty minutes then had each student make out a name card from folded paper for her to see. Tohru wasn't sure if she'd ever had a teacher this strict before. She wondered if Mrs. Mikazuki was an American. By her accent, she probably was, though Tohru had always believed Americans to be lax, easy-going people. Not this one, it seemed! She looked over at Kyo. From his expression, he was reconsidering his decision to transfer. Yuki was paying close attention to the teacher and taking notes on just about everything she said; he didn't seem troubled at all.
"Now, then," Mrs. Mikazuki stated once she was finished with the disclosure, "from this point on, class will be conducted in English, and only English will be allowed from the time the bell rings to the time it rings again. Is that clear?"
The students nodded and mumbled their responses. Tohru felt paralyzed. She had a very, very bad feeling about this class. She could already visualize failing grades in her head.
"Don't worry," Yuki whispered over to her quickly. "I'll help you out if you need it."
Tohru swallowed and bobbed her head in agreement.
"Alright, class," Mrs. Mikazuki said, switching into English. "Let's begin."
The rest of the grueling class period—it felt like hours rather than thirty minutes—was spent reading the first selection from a literature textbook. Tohru was practically shaking when it came to be her turn to read, but with some promptings from both Yuki and Kyo, she managed to slog her way through it, if not very gracefully. The professor complimented her pronunciation—that felt like winning a medal—but told her that she needed to read ahead more to predict the next words instead of stopping on each one and slowly sounding it out. Tohru let out a long sigh of relief when it was a sandy-haired boy's turn to read, behind her.
Kyo was about to take the next paragraph when Mrs. Mikazuki stopped the exercise.
"Miss Kawazaki," she said warningly, still in English, to a girl with plum-colored hair in the third row. "Note-passing is absolutely not allowed in my class. I believe I mentioned that earlier. Hand it over, please." When she went to stand right before Kawazaki's desk—Tohru almost thought she'd start tapping her foot on the floor impatiently—Kawazaki turned a sickly shade of green and slowly turned over the contraband. A couple girls in the back were snickering softly. Mrs. Mikazuki's sharp eye whipped over to them, and they immediately stopped. Too late, one of them tried to conceal another folded piece of paper under the literature book, but Mrs. Mikazuki proceeded over to them and held out her hand for the note. They grudgingly gave in and surrendered the note, looking about as sick and embarrassed as Kawazaki. Mrs. Mikazuki stode to the front of the room, almost swaggering, and told them,
"I deal very harshly with rule breakers in my class." She unfolded the notes one at a time and looked them over. The girls who were involved in the crime looked mortified, and one gasped softly. Mrs. Mikazuki finished reading and opened her mouth, and the bell rang. Most of the students in the room, especially the girls with the notes, hurriedly got up to go, but Mrs. Mikazuki shouted, now in Japanese.
"Take your seats, class. You go when I dismiss you. The rustling of papers and sounds of zippers zipping died down, and the professor ignored the handful of groans circling the room. "Who wrote these notes? I want to see some hands in the air. Now! Or you will all get a twenty page essay due next class!"
Everyone looked around to see who the cause of all the hubbub was. Two girls sitting next to each other in the back timidly raised their hands. They seemed to wither under the English professor's steely green-eyed gaze.
"Ah, Miss Kumojima and Miss Takada. You two will remain after class. And you as well, Miss Honda."
Tohru jerked like she'd been pinched, and she stared up at the front of the room, eyes so wide it was a wonder they didn't fall out.
"What the heck does she want you for?" Kyo questioned in a low voice. "You didn't do anything wrong!"
"Your reading wasn't that bad," Yuki supported. "Fujiwara's was much worse."
Trembling from head to toe, Tohru rose unsteadily to her feet. Other students milled around her, and Yuki and Kyo collected their things.
"I still have two more classes, a study period, and then a club meeting," Yuki said. "I'll see you again in a few hours." Whether he meant that for Tohru or Kyo, or both, she wasn't sure. He grabbed his bag and exited the room.
Kyo and Tohru watched him disappear in the crowd of students eager to make it out the door with their hides intact. Kyo also clutched his backpack and gave instructions to Tohru.
"Meet me at the bus stop when the hag's done with you, and we'll go home together. If she takes any longer than fifteen minutes, I'll come bail you out."
"Thanks, Kyo!" Tohru said, feeling a little more relieved. Then he, too, left her behind.
When the class was empty, Tohru, and the girls called Kumojima and Takada stood in a shifting, guilty-faced line before Mrs. Mikazuki's desk. Mrs. Mikazuki took a seat, still turning over the illegal notes in her fingers. She began to read them aloud.
"Tohru Honda is a smelly skank. Why doesn't she just fall in a well and die?" She looked up at Tohru with an arched eyebrow then turned that fierce eyebrow on the other two and recited the second in just as steady a tone as she had the first.
"That's the Prince you were telling me about, right? Oh, he's so sexy! Hey, when did you say tonight's fan club meeting was starting? Eight? I'll be there, though I'll have to skip out cheerleading practice. Isn't Mikazuki a witch? Hard to believe she's married. Must take a strong guy to put up with her!"
There was an awkward silence after the notes were read. Tohru was staring down at her shoes, trying to hold back a couple of rogue tears that were threatening to spill over.
"This is inexcusable behavior," the professor said severely. "Which one of you wrote the note about Miss Honda? Speak up!"
"Me," answered Kumojima weakly. She was one of the girls Tohru thought she recognized from Kawaia. Tohru didn't face her, though. She was embarrassed enough without letting the other girl see that her nasty note had cut her deeply.
"And you wrote the other, Miss Takada?"
"That's right," the green-haired girl admitted, though she tried to sound a little more confident in the presence of this iron woman.
"Well, Miss Takada, you won't be able to make it to your club meeting tonight, I'm afraid. You'll be in this classroom performing detention."
"What!" Takada exclaimed then lowered her voice as she realized students for the next hour were starting to file in. "You can't make me do that! I'm in college now, not high school!"
"Can't I? Miss Takada, if you care at all about passing this class, then I can make you sing and dance. Detention! Eight o'clock. I want you in here, on time, and respectful. I'll be doing paperwork until late, right at this desk, so I'll know if you skip out."
Tohru heard the young woman growl softly, but she finally gave in, with a defeated,
"Yes, ma'am."
"And as for you, Miss Kumojima," Mrs. Mikazuki continued, "you will apologize to Miss Honda for that note."
"What? What do I have to apologize for? You're the one who read it to her…..ma'am," she added, trying to tack on some politeness for the professor a bit too late and without any real feeling.
"You can apologize here in person or in a twenty page essay in English. Which do you choose, Miss Kumojima?"
Kumojima made a disbelieving sound. Tohru looked up at her through the corner of her eye, but Kumojima was staring straight ahead, slouching to the side and saying rather crisply,
"I'm so sorry, Tohru, if I hurt your feelings. Please forgive me." She didn't sound terribly sincere.
"That's better," Mrs. Mikazuki said. "If I catch you two passing notes or breaking any of my other class rules again, you'll get detention and an essay. You're all dismissed."
They started to file towards the door, but Mrs. Mikazuki called after them,
"And Tohru, you will need to work very hard in this class if you want to keep up. Your performance was acceptable today, seeing as it's the first class, but you'll need to shape up if you expect to make it the rest of the semester." Tohru ignored the tittering of the other two girls as they left the classroom, and nearly had her nose taken off when Takada slammed the sliding door right in front of her. For one with eyes like a hawk, Mrs. Mikazuki didn't seem to have noticed. The door opened again to admit the next round of students. Tohru excused herself and began picking her way through the throng, head bowed so no one could tell she was crying.
Fifteen minutes later, and past the time she was supposed to meet with Kyo, Tohru looked around at her surroundings in frustration. Somehow she'd misplaced her map of campus, and she felt like she was stuck in a maze of buildings. She'd passed the same statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu at least three times already. She'd asked a passing student if he could give her directions, but he brushed her off, jogging towards a large glass building to the south. Another young man was helpful at least, and gave her a long list of turns and building names to remember to get to the main gate and the bus stop she needed. She set off, hoping she wouldn't get further entangled.
"Hey, hot stuff," a male voice called out to her when she passed the steps of what she thought was the library. Two students were squatting on the steps, playing a game of dice. Tohru stopped in her tracks.
"Huh? Are you talking to me?"
The one who had spoken, a tall, well-built guy with glasses and messy hair, straightened and leaned casually against the iron railing.
"Yeah, you. Where are you headed?"
"Uh……" Tohru uttered, feeling a cold sweat come on. "I'm actually looking for the bus stop. I have to head home now, you see….."
The young man looked over his glasses at her and smiled.
"C'mon. Spare a few minutes. We'll let you in on a little fun," he said, indicating his companion, who was looking her up and down in a way that made Tohru feel distinctly uncomfortable.
"No, thanks, I've really got to go," she answered, then hurried off without a look back, just as the second man said to his friend while he shook the dice in his palm,
"You gotta stop hittin' on ever girl that goes by. Besides, if Ryoko finds out, you're dead meat. You up for a game of blackjack?"
Tohru finally discovered the right bus stop, and it was just her luck that the bus back to her block was arriving. Kyo was nowhere in sight, though.
"Oh, no," Tohru said to herself. "He probably went back to try and find me."
She looked back in the direction of the humanities building. Where she thought it was, anyway. The bus pulled up alongside the curb, huffing and letting off bursts of hot air as it braked. People began boarding or got off. Tohru was still staring off towards the center of campus when she heard the bus driver yell to her,
"You getting on, missy, or are you just gonna stand there all day?" Tohru, startled out of her spacey thoughts, replied,
"Um, I'm staying." She backed away from the doors while the bus driver rolled his eyes towards his warty forehead and engaged the lever to close the doors. They flapped shut almost rudely. With another gust of hot air, the bus rolled away from the stop and glided down the street.
"There'll be another one," came a voice from behind her. Tohru whirled around to find the zodiac rooster, Kureno, standing hardly a foot away. He didn't look much like the rest of his family, as well built and tan as he was. Dark red eyes under a swath of greenish-blue hair that shone in the sunlight gazed down at her.
"You must be Kureno!" Tohru cried, excited to be finally meeting the last member of the zodiac. The tall man smiled at her and said with a jovial tone,
"Sure am. And you're Tohru Honda, right? It's good to finally meet you. I hear a lot about you at the main house. You used to be staying with Shigure, if I'm not mistaken."
"Uh-huh," Tohru answered. "What are you doing here? Not that it's odd for you to be here," she corrected herself. "I mean, you can be anywhere you want, of course! It's just that I've never met you before, and now I finally am! Oh, this is so wonderful!"
"Wow," Kureno said, taken aback. "I can't say I've ever seen anyone with your spirit before. Especially not at the first meeting."
Tohru could hardly believe she finally had the chance to get to know the zodiac Rooster. Vague memories of conversations with Yuki and Hana nudged at her thoughts, but she was itching with curiosity over this new Sohma. She had to put a cap on it before she started asking him to tell all about himself and his whole life story. She spotted a drawstring bag slung over his shoulder and said,
"Ah, are you a student here, too, Kureno?" He looked a little too old to be a college student, but who knew? There was a grandpa in her food prep class!
"Sort of," he replied with a quick and ready smile. "I'm doing a bit of research around here, but my work takes me all over the place, so I commute quite a bit. My motorcycle's in the shop right now, so I have to take the bus."
"You have a motorcycle?" Tohru gushed. "That's so cool! Have you ever heard of the Red Butterflies? My mom used to be one of them."
"I have heard of the Reds," Kureno replied warmly. "I think they're really awesome. Best motorcycle gang in Japan, if you ask me. But I've never been in a gang like that. I prefer solitary riding. It's nice to just enjoy the scenery and let your mind wander while you're cruising along the freeway. It feels like you're flying."
Tohru was thrilled that they were hitting it off so well. Could Yuki and Hana possibly have been mistaken in their judgment of Kureno? He didn't seem that bad, other than the fact that he owned a motorcycle, which maybe a lot of people would look down on. Tohru supposed that could be a little dangerous, if he didn't wear a helmet and protective gear and all that. Maybe he just liked to live a bit on the wild side. He seemed like a friendly enough person.
"What do you do for a living?" she wondered.
"Uh….." Kureno said, voice pitched a little higher before answering smoothly, "I…..guess you could say I work in merchandizing and supply-chain management. Just for a small business that deals with various commodities and services."
"Sounds pretty important," Tohru responded.
Kureno deflected her words with an idle wave.
"Eh, it's a living. So, you said you were on your way home?"
"Yeah. It's been a long day."
"Rough day of classes?" he inquired sympathetically.
"Yep," Tohru acknowledged gloomily. "I always expected college to be hard, and I wasn't disappointed. That's for sure. But I'll do my best and stick with it. My motto is 'Never give up!' And I don't plan to. I want to make my mom proud of me."
"Someone as cool as a Red Butterfly no doubt is. Are you living around here then?"
"Just a couple miles away," Tohru told him. "I live in an apartment complex really close to Yuki and Kyo."
"Oh, I see," the dark boy said. "I haven't seen those cousins of mine for quite some time." He gave a short laugh. "I don't think they'd be too glad to see me, though. Neither Yuki nor Kyo is particularly fond of me."
"Why's that?" asked Tohru, before she could help herself.
Kureno rubbed his chin with his thumb and smiled ruefully. "Well, it's kind of lame, really. I don't know what they've told you, but whatever it may be, it's probably not true. You see, I'm sort of the favorite in the family. I don't mean to sound arrogant or anything, honestly. But Akito's always favored me a bit above the rest. So, naturally, the rest of the Sohmas are a little jealous. Most especially Yuki and Kyo. If either of them isn't in the spotlight, he's not happy about it. When we were growing up, until just a few years ago, even, they used to play mean pranks on me and spread rumors to try and make other people not like me. Heh. They used to make fun of me and call me 'bonehead' or 'smelly' or whatever."
Tohru pursed her lips thoughtfully. She knew how that felt. She couldn't believe that Yuki and Kyo would do things like that, though. Maybe when they were kids, but she was sure they were mature enough now not to act like that.
"I don't know if they've changed much," Kureno continued. "I'd hope for the best, though I've had too much experience with both of them to really believe it. I hope they're kinder to you than they have been to me. Sorry, I really shouldn't be speaking ill of them. I just get a bit resentful when I remember how they've treated me. Just forget everything I've said."
Tohru didn't say anything to that, so he went on.
"Just one thing, though. Be cautious with those two, Tohru," he warned. "I'd hate to see a sweet girl like you get caught up in their games and their pretending. Not all the Sohmas are what they seem, whatever face they wear on the surface. They have secrets of their own. And not very pleasant ones."
"Um, thanks for the advice," Tohru responded uncertainly. Much to her relief, another bus was pulling up; she leaned over to try and catch the number. She was somewhat disappointed that it wasn't hers; all thoughts of leaving with Kyo were temporarily forgotten. She thought it best that she go now, in light of what Kureno was telling her.
"Guess I'll be on my way," Kureno said, saving her further discomfort. He adjusted the drawstring bag on his shoulder. "This is my ride. I hope to meet you again, Tohru. I really hope we can be friends." He flashed another grin at her. "I really like you. It's easy to see why Akito talks about you so much. He thinks very highly of you, you know."
"He does?" Tohru said in amazement as Kureno boarded the bus. Kureno didn't reply, just waved goodbye and called out, "Later," over his shoulder. Then the doors closed after him, and the long, blockish bus crawled away from the stop. Taking a seat on a bench , Tohru resigned herself to wait for Kyo, mulling over Kureno's testimony and what she knew from experience about the Sohma boys. She had faith in them. It was hard to accept what Kureno said about them as the truth, but what if she was wrong? But then again, what if Kureno was the one mistaken? About another fifteen minutes later, she heard her name called irately and looked up to see an angry-faced Kyo stalking up to the stop.
"Where the heck have you been?" he demanded, almost yelling in her face. "I've been looking all over this crappy campus trying to find you! I thought for a while maybe that creep of an English teacher did you in or somethin'!"
"I'm sorry, Kyo," she apologized. "I just got a bit distracted and got lost. I've been here the last little while." She omitted her talk with Kureno. She wasn't sure how happy he'd be to know Kureno was in town. Kyo seemed to really dislike the Rooster.
"Ugh. Figures. Well, let's go home already. I wanna get some lunch. I'm starvin'.
Tohru bowed her head and nodded. Kyo's eyebrows narrowed and he looked like he'd just stepped on something valuable and fragile.
"Hey, don't look so down," he exclaimed. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I just wasn't surprised when you said you got lost since you've always got your head in the clouds, and…..oh never mind. I'll just shut up now."
He sat down on the bench next to her, though he was as tense and rigid as a board.
"So what did Mikazuki want with you?" he asked. "She throwing you out of the class?"
Tohru managed to look cheerful, even if it was kind of fake.
"No," she said. "Not yet, anyway. She just wanted me to hear what was in those notes. Those girls in class were talking about me. The things they were saying weren't terribly nice." She folded her hands together and kept her gaze glued to the road.
"That's a stupid thing to do," Kyo said, giving his two cents. She wasn't sure which he thought was stupid—writing the notes, or telling Tohru what was in them—until he added, "it's almost like she wanted to insult you, just like those other girls. Man, she really is a—"
Tohru would just have gladly not heard what he said next. While Kyo continued ranting, the bus finally pulled up to the curb to pick them up. They showed their passes to the driver and found a seat. Kyo kept talking the whole way home; Tohru fortunately got him to change the subject to how his own classes had gone that day. She only listened with half an ear, though. She was wondering why she seemed to be rubbing so many people the wrong way since she'd arrived. Those girls at the festival, and now in her English class. They all seemed upset that she was Yuki's friend. Was she doing something wrong? There had to be a way to smooth everything out somehow. She stared out the window at the traffic lights and pedestrians flowing by as the bus rounded the city blocks, taking them back to the apartments.
"What is she saying?" Chie asked excitedly, her expression that of manic eagerness. Minami had to struggle to retain her hold on her cell phone, which all of the other club members were clambering to rip away from her. They were all crammed into Minami's moderately-sized bedroom, and it was the first weekend of the new school year. Most of the girls here were the ones who had decided not to pursue college, Minami included, but a couple of the key members, like Chie and Michiko, were going to local community colleges and insisted that the club get together on days when they could all make it. Only a handful of the truly faithful remained of their once powerful army.
"Shut up, already! I can't hear what Rika's saying!" she told them off, baring her fang-like incisors at them. "Uh-huh. Yep. That's great." She put her hand over the phone and declared to the rest, "Rika's started up the Collegiate League of the Prince Yuki Fan Club! It's a big hit! They've already got, like, fifty members already. And it's just the first week of school!"
Number 2 turned up her nose at that. "Hah. We had that many the first day."
'Rika says Motoko's been too busy with her homework to do much with the club, so Rika's kind of taking over for the time being. She calls herself "the presiding Vice President of the Tokyo University Prince Yuki Fan Club."
"Wow!" said a brunette junior with a piggish nose and a mouth that was unusually wide. "That sounds so important and official and stuff."
Minami rolled her eyes while Mio announced,
"I could care less if I ever went to college, so long as I could worship the Prince all my life." She went frozen and sparkly-eyed as if she was immediately caught up in some romantic daydream. Minami ignored her and went back to paying attention to her contact in Tokyo.
"What? Oh, sure. Uh-huh." She put down the phone again. "Rika's already got the presidency set up and they've made the new badges and stuff. She say's they're real cute." She pressed her ear back to the phone again, and the rest of the girls in the top circle of the Kawaia fan club gathered closer together, whispering and waiting in anticipation for news of their beloved Yuki.
As Rika went on, Minami's face grew redder and redder. Number Two asked what the matter was, and Minami pushed the "End Call" button on her cell phone firmly.
"This totally bites!" she cried. "According to Rika, Yuki and Tohru are a pretty tight item, and she's afraid they might even be dating!" The horrified gasps and moans rippling through the group echoed her own feelings. One girl even screamed. She thought it might have been Mio. "Not to worry, girls. The College League's on it. They won't let the she-devil take him!" Minami hoped against hope that they could do it. Just the thought of Tohru and Yuki together made her want to explode!
"What should we do?" Number 2 wondered, pale as a sheet.
Minami opened her mouth to tell them exactly what they should do, but words failed her. She honestly couldn't think of anything. All of their earlier attempts to make Tohru unattractive and unpopular to Yuki had failed dismally. And they were far from Tokyo, far from the action. Without the Prince in their midst, the Prince Yuki Fan Club that had its roots at Kawaia High School seemed rather obsolete. Not that she could tell the girls that. She didn't want to admit it even to herself. Minami was beginning to wonder if there was any way remedial classes could raise her scores high enough to get into Tokyo University.
"We'll stand by until Rika gives us instructions," Minami said. She hated turning over the wheel to Rika, who she always thought was kind of a snob, but she hated waiting on the sidelines, helpless, even more. She hoped Rika had more success with Operation: Split Up Yuki And Tohru than they did. The fate of the Prince Yuki Fan Club depended on it.
'Oh, dear, sweet Yuki, please wait for me!' she mentally sighed, and ran through one of her favorite Yuki fantasies to calm her anxieties.
Akito coughed—bone-bruising heaves that felt like sledgehammer blows to his chest—and while he was in this uncontrollable fit, Hatori gently pressed a cold stethoscope to his bare back. Akito's sheets were sodden with cold sweat, and his hair was damp and clung to his shrunken, pallid skin. He took breaths like he would sips of water; too much air at once wracked his lungs with long, painful spells of hacking. The shades on the windows were kept shut not just so he could rest, but also because too much light hurt his eyes. He hadn't been outside for over a week.
Hatori shifted the stethoscope to various positions on his back and wordlessly marked a medical chart. He next pulled a thermometer out of his black bag and carefully inserted it into Akito's ear.
"You're fever has gone down; that's very good. But I don't need my instruments to know the coughing has become more severe."
"You have such a knack for stating the obvious," Akito said snidely, though the effort of speaking threatened to set him off again.
"Have you eaten anything yet today?" Hatori questioned.
Akito shook his head, no. By the dampened lamplight in the room, he could make out the frown on Hatori's face. The doctor had been in to see Akito every day for the past two weeks, but had commuted from his office in the city nearly every one of those days. He was putting a lot more time into his clinic these past couple of months. Akito had reprimanded him for neglecting the Sohmas so much and threatened to punish him; Hatori apologized humbly and promised to try harder not to let his work at the clinic interfere with his duties at home. Akito had been so preoccupied lately with his worsening illness that he hadn't had the time or the energy to hound the family doctor. An ironic idea suddenly crossed his mind, and a small smile crept over his features. Perhaps he could "hound" the doctor later on. Hatori's frequent leavetakings were somewhat suspicious. Akito wished to know what the Dragon was up to when all of his time wasn't consumed with him.
"That's three days now. Any longer, and I'll have to have you hooked up to a feeding tube. If you don't get ample food and water into your system soon, you'll dehydrate and starve."
Akito lay back on his pillows when Hatori was through examining the rest of his emaciated body. The doctor took his pulse as well; his fingers felt hot against Akito's clammy skin.
"Are you still having the headaches?" Hatori asked next.
"Yes, and they're becoming more frequent," Akito answered.
"I'll step up your dosage then, for the painkillers, though I don't think I can increase it much more without risking serious, permanent harm to your nervous system."
"What about the dizziness?" Akito asked. "Can you do anything about that? Or the lack of energy?"
"I can only do so much," Hatori replied, putting his things away in the black medical bag. "The causes of many of your symptoms are still unexplained. A person of your age should be normal and healthy, except….."
"Except that I carry the brunt of the Sohma family curse," Akito finished for him, sneering.
"A lot of the symptoms you have are normally associated with severe depression," Hatori said. "Sleeplessness, mood swings, nausea…if you were any other of my patients, I'd probably say that it's all in your head." He paused and added quietly, so softly Akito almost didn't hear and likely wasn't meant to, "Sometimes I wonder if it is."
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Akito demanded with as much force as his frail body could project. The jackhammers in his head began pounding again, right behind his temples. "I am the head of this family, Hatori! This is the curse I must live with!"
"Yes, Akito," Hatori responded, looking downward. He snapped his bag shut and pulled on his white lab coat. He took a step towards the door, and Akito croaked out the question he asked at the end of every visit,
"How much longer?"
Hatori paused, back still to him, and gave the usual reply, but in lesser amounts with each passing week.
"Two, maybe three months. It's hard to say with the curse."
Akito clenched his teeth. With his straw-thin fingers he grasped one of the pillows from his bed and hurled it with all his strength at Hatori. It bounced harmlessly off the Dragon's back.
"That's not enough!" Akito hissed venomously. "I want to live long enough to put Tohru Honda through hell! I want to test her to the very limits, make her suffer the way we do!"
"I suggest you do it then within the next couple of months," Hatori replied flatly. "Because that's all the time you have left, Akito. I'll see you again tomorrow morning. Good day. Oh, and do remember to eat something, or I'll have to bring an IV."
He left the room unhurriedly and closed the door just as Akito's hand found a glass of water at his bedside and threw it after him with a gurgling yell. The glass cracked apart against the doorframe. He stared at the dripping spot sullenly, not even caring about the mess. He grabbed his bed sheets and flung them aside violently, padding barefoot over the tatami mats to a dressing screen painted with mountains and trees in the corner. His white yukata was slung over it, and he donned it. Wiping the sticky sweat from his brow with an equally sweaty palm, Akito slowly shuffled to the sliding partition that kept barred from the outside world. Despite his dislike for bright light, he hurled it open, though it took some energy that he hardly had much of to begin with. The eye-wrenching sunlight outdoors blinded him, and he shielded his weakened pupils with his forearm and retreated a few steps. Gradually lowering his arm to adjust, he breathed in the fresh air that began filling the stifled room. He found his garden outside—a serene courtyard surrounded by a high, gray-bricked wall, with raked gravel spread evenly along the ground and rocks and fountains and cultivated shrubs beginning to turn color with the season—still in the same, impeccable condition it was always in. The servants kept it up, not he; the garden greeted him indifferently. It hardly cared that he existed, after all. The Sohmas were a lot like that garden in many ways. Only hedged in and dominated did they attain their highest beauty—the beauty of a carefully controlled and protected life.
Akito wondered how Yuki was doing. Not a day went by that his younger brother was not in his thoughts. He wondered how Yuki was faring in college, so far from the influences of the clan. Akito did not worry about letting him, or Kyo, get too far removed from the family; Kureno, the faithful watchdog (even if Akito had to torment him to it) would see to that. They would remember whom they served. They would never forget they were Sohmas, no matter how far away they went. And they'd always come back to him. They had no choice, in the end. Akito would make sure they never forgot him. He was afraid to be left behind. Forgotten. The Honda girl had seen that in him.
She was different from all the other outsiders. Akito didn't know why he felt so repulsed, and yet so attracted, to her—not in any romantic way; he hardly had the time or the energy to bother himself over women. It was more like obsession. The same kind he harbored towards Yuki. Only he wanted to punish Tohru more, and in so doing, punish Yuki. He was not unaware of how his younger brother felt about her. Akito wanted her to feel loss and pain and sadness like he did. He wanted to push her to the limit, to see if she'd break. Maybe then…..maybe then he could finally be understood. Maybe then…..he could be saved.
He turned away from the garish daylight and surveyed his bedroom, which looked even darker now than it had before. There was a wire cage on a stand a few feet away. The perch inside the ornately designed wires was empty. Akito could just see above the base the toothpick-thin, curled-up claws of the tiny bird that until today had sung sweetly in the corner. It would sing no more.
Tohru wiped down the kitchen table in Yuki and Kyo's apartment before laying out paper plates and cups—the real dishes were dirty and overflowing in the sink…..and everywhere else it seemed—a matter she'd have to remedy after dinner—and carefully carried a big, steaming pot of her famous, wonderful-smelling beef stew to the center of it. The boys' apartment was mostly empty and quieter than usual, except for the occasional whines and shouts of Masaaki and Hiroshi in the living room where the twins were playing some kind of war game. When Tohru arrived they eagerly invited her to play with them and offered to show her how. They also pelted her with questions about herself and her marital status until Kyo clobbered their heads and threatened to cut their game controller cables if they didn't knock it off.
Yuki had just come back from a soccer club meeting; it wasn't the actual school team—Tohru thought he could easily make it on, even though he was a freshman; the cheerleading squad practicing on the field at the same time had taken notice of him, too, and Yuki now had a whole set of cheers dedicated solely to him. No one else in the club, except for the club president, Ryuunosuke Takaguchi, who also played for the school team, could say as much. Yuki was just interested in playing as an amateur, though, so he signed up. He returned a few minutes ago and went to the back to unload his things and shower and change. When he came into the kitchen, he was dressed in a green button-up with long sleeves and gold embroidery on the collar and cuffs, and black pants.
"That's such a stupid-looking shirt," Kyo teased. He was sitting at the table, with his elbows on it of course, impatiently waiting to eat.
'Miss…..I mean, Tohru, gave it to me for my birthday last year, dolt," Yuki replied. "It's my favorite shirt, actually."
Tohru couldn't help smiling at their tirade, which had begun as soon as the two were in the same room together. They may not be living with Shigure anymore, but their arguing did make it feel more like…..home. Not that Tohru wouldn't have preferred they get along more often.
They sat down and said their thanks for the food, and Tohru served them. Kyo commented on how much he missed her cooking; he claimed Abe was horrible at it, and Yuki never made him anything. He didn't know how the other three roommates survived on nothing but junk food.
"I'd be happy to cook for you guys, if you'd like," Tohru told them, giggling a little at the way their eyes both lit up, watery and appealing like puppy dog eyes. "I need to practice for my Foods class anyway, so I'd love it if you'd help me out with my homework and do some taste-testing."
Kyo pumped his fist up into the air. "Yes!" he exclaimed.
"I would love to help you out," Yuki said breezily, interlacing his fingers beneath his chin. "And not just for the free food. Which, by the way, can't be beat."
"Alright, then," Tohru laughed. "It's settled." She looked over at the kitchen sink. "I'll have to straighten up a bit if I'm going to start cooking here. It's just a bit of a hassle to have to carry food across the street."
"I'll help!" said two voices simultaneously. Masaaki and Hiroshi had poked their heads into the kitchen; apparently, they had been keenly listening in to the conversation and the prospect of free meals was rather appealing.
"If we do the dishes and keep the kitchen clean—" began Hiroshi,
"—can we have some of your food, too?" Masaaki finished.
Tohru gaped at them. "Sure," she agreed. "That would be great."
The twins slapped hands in a high-5 and returned just as quickly to their game and began blowing each other's armies up with tanks and machines guns. Tohru and the boys dug into the beef stew; Kyo and Yuki finished it off so that there wasn't a drop left, then sat back in their chairs, full to bursting, with heavy, satisfied moans.
They spent a pleasant while chatting and describing their days. Tohru kind of wished Kyo hadn't brought up her experience with Mrs. Mikazuki earlier. He could have left some of the details out, at least. Yuki's face darkened with each new turn, and when he heard that the Prince Yuki Fan Club was behind it, his violet eyes were flashing angrily.
"They're inexcusable," he said. "They have no right to treat you like this, Tohru."
"It's not that I don't mind," Tohru objected. "I'm used to being bullied and teased."
"Yeah, but you shouldn't have to be," Kyo argued. He punched a fist into his open palm. "Those snotty twits had just better run for their lives if they ever bump into me."
"So are you volunteering to be her bodyguard?" Yuki asked condescendingly. He flicked aside a stray lock of gray hair that was dangling before his face. "Some knight in shining armor you'd make. I should be able to handle them. They profess to be my fan club after all, of all the ridiculous nonsense."
"Thanks, both of you," Tohru said, rising from her seat and picking up her finished dishes. "I'm glad you two are looking out for me. I need to be getting back, though. I have tons of homework already, even on the first day of classes, and I've gotta get started if I'm going to keep up."
"I'd be happy to help you if you need it," Yuki volunteered.
"Same here," Kyo said. "I may not be all that good at cooking or English or anything, but….."
Tohru beamed positively at them. "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind. I'll probably need you both if I'm going to survive this semester. College is going to be pretty tough. I'm glad that I have the chance to be here with you, though."
Kyo and Yuki both volunteered as her escort and walked her back across the street to her own apartment. They went hand-in-hand, just like in the old days, with Kyo carrying her washed-out stew pot and other utensils in a plastic bag. The girls who were out socializing on the lawn and by the pool stared at the three, but Tohru was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice, but neither Yuki nor Kyo let go of her; they both just stared, almost challengingly, at the females beginning to gather. As they reached her floor, they found a note on the door from her roommates; there was a party going on at a house a few blocks away. Tash's pretty handwriting invited Tohru to come, too, if she felt like it, but Tohru had more important things to take care of. She could just imagine what Uo would say. Back in high school, Uo hardly ever cared about homework and studying. She much rather preferred to hang out with her two best friends, usually crashing parties rather than just going. She had a saying, "You can always retake a class, but you can't retake a party."
Remembering Uo brought Tohru's spirits down a little. She dearly missed her friends from back home.
Kyo gave her hand a tight squeeze, hard enough to break her reminiscing and make her say, "Huh? Is something wrong, Kyo?"
"I just saw some people I don't like too much," he muttered flatly, under his breath. Tohru looked in the direction he was gazing off into and her spirits lifted immediately. Was it just a coincidence?
"Uo! Hana!"
Saki Hanajima, or "Hana" as her friends and family called her, sat down politely on the sofa Tohru proffered and smoothed her ankle-length black skirt. As calm and collected as she made the outward appearance of being, all around her, waves of energy danced and exploded like fireworks—or maybe a war zone. Life back in Kawaia hadn't been terribly interesting of late, ever since Tohru had moved away. Uo was too busy working most of the time to visit much, and Hana had quit her job, having grown bored with it. It was Uo who had suggested coming out to Tokyo to see their old friend, and Hana had readily agreed to the excursion. More than just longing to see Tohru again and feel her comforting aura surround her, she wanted to see that Tohru was safe. Hana stood by her predictions. Trouble was looming overhead, like thunderclouds threatening to burst with rain and lightning at any moment. The premonitions had only gotten stronger lately. They were like purplish swirls of color in her head, spinning about like whirlpools. Whenever she thought of Tohru and her own distinct aura, a happy, light pink mist, the whirlpools swallowed it up. The Sohma boys, Yuki and Kyo, were caught up into it, too. Hana could only postulate why. Their own auras were so tangled up with Tohru's sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. And at other times, they were in such fierce battle with each other that Hana felt pins-and-needles sensations throughout her whole body for hours. There could be no doubt as to the cause. They were most often locked in combat whenever the light pink mist was around. She vaguely wondered if either of them would ever act on the surges of energy they were no doubt feeling around Tohru. Keeping that sort of energy bottled up was never a good thing.
"I had the day off of work, so we thought we'd come see if you were still in one piece," Uo was telling Tohru, after nearly crushing her against her black leather jacket in a hug. "I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I already miss you like crazy." She ruffled Tohru's hair fondly. "Hana's been driving me nuts. She only ever talks about you nowadays. Which just makes me miss you more."
Kyo Sohma and Yuki Sohma were on two opposite couches, glaring at each other as often as at her and Uo. Kyo's wave patterns were the more forceful of the two right now, and his discomfort was echoed in his dark red eyes. Yuki at least didn't seem to mind their presence, even though he was slightly uncomfortable around Tohru's friends. He was smiling peacefully, not taking his eyes off of Tohru. Hana couldn't decide herself which of the two boys she would pick for Tohru. They were both haunted by that deep, purple whirlpool. There were thunderclouds in their futures, too, though Hana couldn't piece the details together much further than that. Yet.
"It's so good to see you!" Tohru cried happily once Uo had released her. "Can I offer you anything?"
"Tea, would be nice," Hana said, voicing her own opinion. Tea helped to clear up her sixth sense a bit. At the moment it was threatening to overload.
Tohru made them all a pot and within a quarter of an hour they all had piping hot cups of tea in hand. Hana breathed in the steam from hers as Uo informed Tohru,
"We almost missed you. We came by the apartment just a few minutes before you guys showed up. We saw the note on the door and figured no one was home. But then we overhead some girls mention Yuki, and sure enough, there you were. Nice coincidence, huh?"
Tohru nodded. "I would have been really sad to miss you," she said.
"Something one girl said kind of made me wonder though," Uo continued. "She had short, ginger-colored hair, kind of up to here," she indicated with her hand perpendicular to her neck. "You know her?"
"I don't think so."
"Well, anyway, she mentioned the Prince, and she said something about how irresistibly sexy he was and how bad she wanted him and so on….." The blonde girl quirked a matching eyebrow at Yuki, over on the couch. "No offense."
"None taken," Yuki answered, slightly pink, but not with embarrassment, as his electric signals informed Hana.
"Then she went on to say that you were some kind of player or something. Of all the hilarious things I've ever heard in my life. She thought you and Yuki were going out, Tohru! And Kyo, too, like some sort of threesome! Can you imagine? Two guys all to yourself!"
"Huh?" the bewildered Tohru uttered.
Uo laughed and slapped her knee. "Oh, it was great, but it gets even better. Another girl beside her said that one of your roommates was going out with him, and had been snapping at anyone who so much as looked at him! And if that's not enough, another one of your roommates has dibs on Kyo!"
Uo was really in a row now, hugging her sides and roaring with laughter. "Better not let Kagura hear that!" she mocked Kyo, proceeding to tease him more about his fiancée. Kyo leapt up, looking so red-faced with rage that Hana expected steam to spew from his ears at any moment, but to his credit, he schooled his feelings and sat back down, grumbling undecipherable words under his breath.
Both Sohmas faces were stone-faced. They mirrored each other almost perfectly, sitting with their arms crossed and with lowered eyebrows. Their auras were dancing furiously. It was positively splendid.
"It seems the rumors are getting out of hand," said Yuki, exchanging a glance with Kyo. For a wonder, their electric signals were on the same wavelength, something Hana almost never witnessed.
"It's gotta stop, or we'll have every girl in the whole friggin' university hounding us," Kyo added.
"Hah! Get over yourselves!" Uo cried, her chuckles subsiding. "You guys aren't that magnetic."
"You'd be surprised," Yuki grumbled. Hana didn't need to sense the red sparks shooting out around his personage to know he wasn't being cocky about it.
"True or not, these rumors are annoying. A bunch of girls are messing with Tohru because of them," Kyo added.
Uo planted her fists on her hips and leaned to one side haughtily. "They are, are they?" She addressed Tohru, who remained silent thus far on the sofa next to Hana, not offering any details. "I can't stick around for long before I have to go back to work, but do you want me to beat the crap out of a few people for you while I'm here?"
Hana shook her head uselessly. To Uo, threats seemed the only option sometimes. Besides, the real danger wasn't coming from a gang of jealous, hormonally driven girls.
"We've gotta go," Yuki said, and Kyo rose with him. "We need to get started on our homework." He looked fondly at Tohru before leaving. "We'll let you three catch up. Call us if you need anything, okay?"
"Right!" Tohru chirped, cheering up immediately. Yuki's electric signals lashed out at Kyo's and vice-versa until they were out the door and Hana lost sight of them. Uo was still talking to Tohru about how she should handle those other girls, giving her advice for good comebacks and mean things to say, as well as using a sofa cushion to show her a few slaps and punches to help drive the point home. Hana sank deep into contemplative thought, musing over those strange electric signals the Sohma boys shared and that massive violet whirlpool, all bruised-looking and raging, that seemed about to engulf them and Tohru.
Tohru invited them to her bedroom; Hana was mildly displeased to learn she had to share it with Motoko Minagawa; she had never been a favorite on Hana's list. Rather, she caused most of the problems Tohru had to deal with at Kawaia High and had sent spies to Hana's house to try to find out how to disarm her. Tohru confessed her woes to them as they all shifted to find room to sit together on her twin-sized bed. She was overwhelmed with the move, and with school, and unsurprisingly, the Sohmas. Hana knew she was holding something back—there were distinct traces of a reddish-brown aura still lingering around Tohru's, the same she had felt on their picnic out by the playground. Tohru must have encountered that man who had been watching them. Hana wondered if she had told Yuki or Kyo about him. He had the same electric signals, just like them. They had to be connected somehow.
Uo offered her comforting words and told her to tough out the semester, reminding Tohru of how proud she was that her friend was going to college. She also told Tohru she'd be just fine. She also offered to take out Tohru's English teacher, once Tohru related the events of that day.
Tohru's alarm clock read 9:30 when Hana spoke in more than just simple answers to the questions directed at her.
"Tohru, what exactly are you feelings towards Yuki and Kyo Sohma?"
Tohru, who had been talking about how fun her foods class was, looked completely taken off guard.
"What? Yuki and Kyo? They're my best friends! Aside from you two, of course!" The pink mist shimmered a shade of fuchsia. "Why do you ask?"
Hana looked at her, heavy-lidded and dull. "No reason," she responded.
Uo put an end to the awkward silence that followed by glancing at her wristwatch and exclaiming, "Whoa! It's late." She looked at Tohru, a pained expression on her half-hidden face. "We've gotta run, kiddo! I've got work in the morning, and we still have a long drive back to Kawaia. Sorry."
"It's okay," Tohru replied. "I still have homework to do, anyway. I do kind of wish you guys didn't have to leave, though," she pouted.
"Hey, we can always come visit," Uo said. "Though I think it'll be faster next time just to take the train. "Traffic around here is a nightmare. And you can always come visit us, you know."
"Of course!" Tohru said, a little brighter. "The next holiday I get, I'll come back to town and visit you. And Shigure and the other Sohmas, too."
Uo grinned at the suggestion, but Hana kept her thoughts to herself. Shigure and the rest of the Sohmas. All with those same electrical signals that were linked to the vortex threatening to swallow her beloved Tohru. Hana wished she had the clairvoyance to see just what was going to happen, but her powers failed her in that capacity.
On the freeway heading back to Kawaia, Uo remarked to Hana as she drove,
"Why'd you ask that, about Yuki and Kyo, back there?"
"There are strange electrical signals coming from them, and they're getting stronger," Hana replied quietly. "They have to do with Tohru somehow, and I don't like what they may mean."
"Is this the same as the prediction you had a year ago? About those two both having the hots for her?"
"Yes, and no," Hana said without emotion. "Either way, the signals bother me."
The car hugged a curve as they rounded a hill. The interior of Uo's car lit up orange with each street lamp they passed beneath. To Hana's mild displeasure, Uo laughed lightly.
"You worry too much. Our Tohru's going to be just fine. She's Kyoko's daughter, after all. And she's got her friends around her. Besides, it's just college. Naturally she's going to start looking into guys. I mean, honestly, can you see her as some old maid years down the road? She's gonna get married and have a ton of kids, and be a super mom, just like hers was. There's no harm in a little bit of puppy love. And those boys are so besotted it's quite hilarious, actually." She laughed again but kept her grip on the wheel firm. "You don't need to sense electric signals to see that."
"I sense that both Yuki and Kyo genuinely love Tohru," Hana said. "Deeply. But they are both so hurt and so overshadowed by an ominous presence that I'm afraid that they're going to pull Tohru into whatever downfall they're destined for. But at the same time, they will both feel immense heartache. And I'm afraid Tohru is going to be the one to cause it."
"Tohru wouldn't hurt a fly," Uo protested gently. "Especially not her friends." She paused for a moment. "Unless…..she has to choose between them," she concluded.
"Or someone else altogether," Hana added in a gloomy tone. "I'd almost prefer that she fall in love with someone else. Those electric signals worry me too much."
"Hey, how 'bout we let her make that choice?" Uo recommended. "It's her life after all. She may be a bit sheltered, but she's grown up now—hard to believe, I know—and capable of making her own decisions. She's shown her strength before. She's really quite a tough chick."
"Don't get me wrong. I believe in Tohru. I believe she can accomplish great things. I just wish I shared your confidence about this," Hana stated blandly, as they swerved onto the ramp that would lead them back home. The rest of the drive passed in excruciating silence, except for the occasional shocks of energy waves colliding in Hana's head and the shuddering of the pink mist.
Author's Notes:
Yay! Another chapter done! Hope as always that it's good. I always enjoy writing for Fruits Basket. It was good to bring back Uo and Hana again. Haven't seen them in quite some time. Did you like how I threw myself into the plot as well? Heheh. And no, I'll say here and now, Mrs. Mikazuki isn't going to be getting the hots for Yuki or Kyo. Or anyone else for that matter. This is NOT a Mary Sue. ; Well, it's become fairly obvious who the main contenders for Tohru's affections are going to be. A lot of people email me asking if this fic's going to end up being a Yukiru or a Kyoru. Heheh, for all my joking, I'll say now that it will be one or the other, though I find my feelings sometimes switching back and forth, depending on whose POV I'm writing. I'm a bit reluctant to say at this point, considering some of the death threats I've received from both factions, should Tohru go one way or the other…..But at any rate, I hope you're all enjoying reading this. This has probably been my favorite story to write so far. But it's far from over. Next Time: "And Then….." for "Fruits Basket" Chapter 21: Cocks and Horses (Hey, there are only about eleven chapters left!)
Ja ne, and arigatou, mina-san! Yonde tsuzukete kudasai! Mikazuki Yuriko (now known as Chipman)