Ellen: Hiya! This is just a one-shot fanfic that I started thinking
about when I was watching the second Fruits Basket DVD, and heard
Momiji's little song (isn't he so cyute?!). I heard that Vanishing
Roses and I are kinda each doing our own version, so there might be a
few similarities, but I think hers is a bit more upbeat than mine. I
labeled the second genre "tragedy" because, well, it's just kind of a
depressing fic the way I wrote it in my mind... Let's see how it turns
out.

Fwooshy: This fic wasn't my inspiration, for once. You brought this on
yourself, you know!

Ellen: -__- *Sigh*... In this AU the Fruits Basket anime/manga was
around, but hasn't been popular for decades. The characters from
Furuba aren't real or anything.

"Who's in the forest strolling?

The birds and the bees sing Momiji,

The frogs in the pond are calling,

Momiji, yes, it's true!"

It's the year 2032. My name's Cecilia Minamoto, and I'm a choir teacher for fifth graders. In the years since I've been in school myself, the world has been completely mechanized. Not one blade of grass exists anymore, much less a whole forest, but Momiji's little song is a nice vocal exercise for my students because of its varying tone.

"Excuse me, Ms. Minamoto, but what's 'Momiji', anyway?" That's Tommy, always asking questions.

"Well, Tommy, er... Momiji was... a certain philosophy back when the song was written."

"But what about 'frogs' and 'birds' and 'bees'? My mommy told me that they were just legendary creatures."

I smiled wistfully, thinking about my long walks in the country before factories and houses took over. "No, class. I remember having frogs and birds as pets, and being afraid of bees stinging me."

The entire class let out a gasp.

"But Miss Minamino," little Sakura protested, "we aren't supposed to be talking about things like this. My daddy works for the government and he gets mad at me if I talk about animals or imaginary things like that."

I sighed. I knew the people had made a big mistake in electing Arnold Schwarzennegger (A/N: Is that how it's spelled?) for president. I had even protested in front of the White House but oh no, they said, a big movie star can solve all of our country's problems. He was bad enough as California's governor... "Okay Sakura. Let's save our voices for singing. Now, who would like to sing next? ..."

A bit later, Sakura excused herself to go to the bathroom. What I didn't know was that instead, she called the police. Apparently a relatively unknown law had just been passed that prevented anyone from mentioning anything related to nature in school, and Sakura was the only one at the school who knew about it. So, a few minutes later, the cops came and arrested me. The last thing I saw before being taken away was the smug look on Sakura's face; the hatred of all things natural and good.

++++ A few months later...++++

Two guards walked down the long hallway of the state prison. One of them was new to the job, so when the pair passed each cell, he tarried a bit to look at each of the prisoners. Usually they would just stare or snarl at him, and he would keep walking. At one particular cell, however, he came to a complete stop.

"Hey, boss, what's with this one?"

"Oh, her. They got 'er a while ago for the whole nature in schools thing. Pretty stupid if ya ask me, but then again, I like my job. Heh heh. But she just keeps repeatin' the same thing over an' over. I think she needs mental help, but... C'mon, let's keep walkin'.

And from the quiet jail cell, the rookie guard could hear...

"Who's in the forest strolling?

The birds and the bees sing Momiji..."

Ellen: Ever wonder what would happen if that were true? For all you
Schwarzennegger fans, sorry! I had to have some reason for all this.

Fwooshy & Cheddar: Boo Schwarzennegger!! Booooo!

Ellen: Shut up! They might flame me!

Fwooshy: So?

Cheddar: Oops! Please don't flame us.

Ellen: So I'm asking everybody, please, reduce, reuse, recycle!! Save
the rainforest! It's what's keeping us alive! Save the whales! Save
the manatees! Save the...

Fwooshy: She's a nature fanatic. When she gets a car, she's going to
be one of those people with a whole bunch of tree-hugging bumper
stickers on the back.

Cheddar: Well, I guess anyone would be after reading the Dragon
Quartet by Marjorie B. Kellogg (which you should read if you like
fantasy/sci-fi books! It's really very good! Start with The Book of
Earth!).

Ellen: Read and review!