Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
Chapter 28: Emerging Bush
Tohru inspected the house in awe, diverting her steps from off the path. The wooden house sat comfortably between the thinning trees, and a smoke trail puffed out around intervals from the stone chimney jutting out through the structured roof. The smoke crawled roughly through the canopy of the trees, smouldering amongst the pouring rain as it continued down on them.
Closer up the house appeared to be more of a cottage than anything, structured neatly to fit below the trees and to use their cover as a shelter and wind-stop. But the exterior of the roof was rotted and slippery in some corners due to the dripping raindrops that had escaped between the leaves and branches above.
Tohru's eyes stopped on a figure sitting on a wet rock, his posture bent forward with a crooked back, wearing tatters of cloth for clothing. His face was young but his body looked ragged, neither parts fitting well with one another.
Tohru stepped towards the man to partake in conversation when a sharp rustling caught her off. She whipped around at the sight of a shaking bush as Fen hopped off her shoulder and ushered her behind a nearby tree.
She held her breath, gripping the rail of her umbrella tightly as a foot emerged from the bush, followed shortly by a leg and a body. The man on the rock turned his head in the direction of the sound, completely missing Tohru's poorly concealed body behind the tree.
The man from the bush pulled out a sheer white envelope and handed it to the younger one sitting comfortably on the rock. "For the Duchess," he handed it over, "an invitation from the Queen to play croquet."
The crooked man on the rock nodded, skimming his fingers across the envelope. "Does it include a date?" he inquired, crossing his ankles over one another.
"Yes, it's a few week from now."
"A few weeks?" he repeated, leaning back on the slippery rock with a huff. "Why so long?"
The other man shrugged like it wasn't his business. "You know what the Red Queen is like, she hates it when her...guests are late." He muttered before bowing and departing back through the bush.
Tohru felt Fen's clawed feet dig into the flesh of her shoulder at the sound of the Queen's name, making her wince involuntarily from the pinch. She dared a look at her bird friend only to find his shaking slightly, keeping his wings tucked in as he tried to control his breathing.
Tohru patted his head in a comforting way, not stopping until he calmed down. And as soon as his claws retracted from her skin she smiled, mumming quietly with a smile, "What should we do?"
Fen nodded at the house with a shake of his feathered tail. "...Enter I suppose," he suggested before glancing at the man on the rock. "Or we could talk to him."
Posting Date: 30th May 2014
Words: 495
Symm: Here's another chapter for you all to enjoy! The previous few chapters had gone off track a bit since I was trying to distinguish a few things from the actual story, and I've also added and changed the old story in which Hatori gave her stamps instead of a charm bracelet. The whole story with the White Queen is something I'm making up as I go along because I don't have a clue on where I'm taking it or where the Queen has disappeared off to! ^o^ But have faith, my friends!
