Author's Note: I think I've decided how the fanfic will go… Hopefully it's good enough for all you readers out there! Oh, by the way, when I started this story, I had only seen the anime for Fruits Basket—episodes 1-13 in a language I could understand, and episodes 14-26 in a language I didn't understand. But now I've read some manga scanlations, so I can better understand what the characters were saying in the Ayame episodes… *grin*
Title: Ayame Sohma
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Episode 20 of the anime… and some other stuff…
Summary: Mine is Ayame's best friend. Will she be able to handle knowing his secret?
Disclaimer: I don't own Ayame (*sigh*), Mine, or anything else in Fruits Basket.
Setting: This story takes place after episode 20.
*** = setting change
italics = emphasis
italics = thoughts
CAPITALS = emphasis
~Love and Friendship~
Ayame was sound asleep on Mine's couch. Mine was sitting in a chair, watching him sleep. She had done this before—sometimes Ayame took naps at work. He was adorable when he was sleeping. When he was awake, Ayame was loud and energetic. When he was sleeping, he looked innocent and vulnerable. Very cute.
"Mi—" Ayame mumbled.
Mine held her breath.
"Mizu…" (AN: That means water, according to my sources.)
Mine exhaled. For a second there, she had thought that he was going to say her name. She looked out the window. The sun was rising, and the rain had stopped.
Ayame groaned and rolled over. A second later, Mine saw a flash of gold and realized that Ayame had opened his eyes. "Tencho, you're awake."
"Good morning, Mine," Ayame replied charmingly, albeit sleepily. He looked into her eyes and smiled.
Mine stared at him. How did he do that? Ayame always took her breath away when he watched her with that soft look in his eyes. "Ten—tencho…"
"Hmm?" Ayame sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Are you hungry? Do you want breakfast?"
"I've imposed on you enough, Mine. I'm going to take you out for breakfast!" Ayame said, becoming the enthusiastic man we all know and love.
"Oh… okay," Mine replied. "Um…"
"Yes?"
"You—when you were sleeping—you said 'mizu.'"
"Did I? I had a dream that I was in the desert. It was horrible." Ayame fell back onto the couch in a dramatic position. "I had no food, no water, and worst of all, I was wearing clothes that didn't flatter me at all! And the colors clashed!" He shuddered.
Mine stifled a laugh.
***
After Ayame had cleaned up, he and Mine headed to his place so he could change his clothes. Then they went out to eat.
As Ayame and Mine walked into a restaurant that served breakfast, they received several stares. Ayame was always attracting attention just based on his looks, but today it was because he was laughing so heartily at something Mine had said.
The two sat down at a table, oblivious to the strange looks they were getting. After they ordered, they began talking about work.
"I think we'll be getting a lot more teenage customers," Ayame said. "When I went to Yuki's high school, I handed out a lot of business cards."
"Tencho, we already have more business than we can handle." Mine gave him a you-should-know-better look. "Unless you want to hire more employees."
Ayame felt a slight twinge of panic at that statement. More employees meant a higher possibility of accidents. He couldn't let his secret be found out. Besides, he enjoyed the closeness that he had with Mine. "There were so many excited teenagers there… How could I resist? I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It's your business, tencho. You make the decisions. I'm just giving you a suggestion."
"I know." Ayame's face brightened. "Well, with so much business, we might as well start discussing things we need to do…"
***
"Tori-san!"
A month after Ayame's shop reopened, Hatori opened his door to find Ayame standing in front of him. "Ayame, what are you doing here?"
"I'm sick!" Ayame attempted to fall into Hatori's arms, but didn't quite make it. "Tori-san, you dropped me!" he exclaimed from where he was lying on the floor.
"You're not sick, Ayame." Hatori walked away without even trying to help him up.
"Well, no. But I do want to talk to you! So drop everything you're doing and have a chat with me!" Ayame said, standing up and brushing himself off.
"I'm busy."
"No, you're not!" Ayame said, looking at Hatori's appointment book. He gasped. "You lied to me, Tori-san! How could you?"
Hatori sighed. "What is it, Ayame?"
"I forgot."
"…"
"I'm just kidding! It's about Gure-san. His birthday is coming up soon!" (AN: I don't know what month the story is in now, so let's just say that it's the beginning of October. Shigure's a Scorpio, so that'll work.)
"So?"
"We need to throw him a party!"
"Why?"
"Because he's turning twenty-nine! It's important!"
Hatori stared at Ayame. "I thought the important birthday was the thirtieth one."
"For my dear Gure-san, every birthday is important!" Ayame danced around. "I know just what my present will be! Wanna know what it is?"
"Not especially."
"It's me! Gure-san loves me, and I'm sure he really wants to keep me…"
"Ayame…"
"Oh, Tori-san, you know I'm just kidding. I did get him the best birthday present ever, though." Ayame wagged his finger at Hatori. "And I'm not telling you what it is. I don't want you to steal my idea."
Hatori looked at him. "Ayame, why would I want to steal one of your ideas?"
"Because they're the best!"
Hatori ignored that comment and walked outside to sit on the porch. Ayame followed him. Hatori took out a cigarette and lit it.
"Tori-san, we have to throw Gure-san a party. Let's have it be before his birthday so he's surprised!"
"Fine. But please don't pop out of a cake like you did last time."
Ayame pouted. "Tori-san, you're such a party pooper."
Hatori exhaled. He watched the smoke from his cigarette rise, then disappear. "Who are we inviting?"
"Well, Tohru-kun, of course. And the rest of the Jyuunishi. I don't know if we should invite anyone else."
"What about that assistant of yours?" Hatori asked with mild curiosity.
"Mine?" Ayame thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "What if something happens? I don't want you to have to… you know." He glanced at Hatori's face, knowing the condition of Hatori's left eye.
Ayame is a good friend, even if he is a bit stupid at times. He tries to spare my feelings when it comes to erasing people's memories… "Akito wouldn't like it if someone else found out," Hatori murmured. "Do you think you can trust her?"
Ayame paused. "I tell Mine everything… Except about the curse. I really want to tell her, but what if you have to erase her memory? It would be so strange… Our relationship wouldn't be the same." He fell silent, thoughts of Mine running through his head.
Hatori nodded.
"Mine's special," Ayame told Hatori. "She's my best friend. She helped me with my problems with Yuki. She appreciates me for who I am… She understands me." He clenched his fist. "I hate keeping secrets from her. I want—I wish I could—" He stopped.
Hatori looked at Ayame. "What?"
Ayame looked away, embarrassed. "Nothing. Let's just get on with the party preparations!"
"All right. But I refuse to let you dress me up."
"Aww…"
***
"Happy birthday!" Shigure's birthday party guests shouted as Ayame ripped off Shigure's blindfold.
Shigure looked around at the decorations and the guests. "A-ya, what a wonderful surprise!" Shigure said, looking at Ayame, who was wearing a dress. "And you look ravishing!"
"Thank you, Gure-san. You do too," Ayame replied, referring to the outfit that he had made for Shigure.
"Thanks for throwing me this party. You always have the best ideas."
Ayame grinned. "I know."
Ritsu came over to them. "Aya nii-san! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Rit-chan!" Ayame and Shigure exclaimed.
Ritsu looked at Shigure. "I'm so sorry, Shigure nii-san! I didn't greet you, and this party is in honor of you! Gomen nasai!" He went on like that for a while until Shigure poked him. When he got back up, Ayame put an arm around Ritsu's shoulder and led him away from Shigure.
"Rit-chan, let's talk about your wardrobe," Ayame said. "I think you could use some—"
***
"Hello, Ayame-san, Rit-chan-san," Tohru said happily to Ayame and Ritsu. "Ayame-san, it was so nice of you to invite me to Shigure-san's birthday party."
"Well, I'm glad that you're here!" Ayame said. "I hope you come to my birthday party too." He winked flirtatiously.
Tohru blushed.
Of course, with this display of confidence, Ritsu gazed at Ayame with stars in his eyes.
"Tohru!"
"Momiji-kun!" Tohru excused herself and went to talk to Momiji.
"Yuki! Where is Yuki?" Ayame said loudly. He found Yuki standing at the edge of the crowd and pranced over to him, Ritsu following close behind. "Yuki! My dear brother!"
Yuki looked past Ayame.
"What are you looking at?" Ayame asked, looking over his shoulder. "Oh. Rit-chan, would you mind going—I don't know—somewhere else for a moment?"
"Gomen nasai! I have disturbed you with my presence!" Ritsu ran off, uttering apologies to no one in particular.
"Yuki, did you miss me?"
"No." Yuki gave him a weird look. "Why are you wearing a dress?"
"Because Gure-san likes it!"
Yuki shook his head and walked away.
Ayame started to chase after him, but before he had gone two steps, he crashed into Hatori. "Tori-san! You made it! But you're late."
Hatori said, "Rin and Kureno aren't coming." (AN: That's just because I don't know anything about them.)
"Oh." Ayame blinked. "Are you sure you don't want me to dress you up?" he asked, eyeing Hatori's choice of clothing for the evening.
"I'm sure."
"I don't want to eat it!" said a loud male voice.
"Kyo-kun! Eat it! Eat it!" a female voice retorted.
"No!"
"Eat!"
"Ow! Ah! Stop!"
Ayame looked in the direction of all the yelling. "Kagura-chan found Kyon-kichi," he announced. He felt a tugging on his sleeve and looked down.
"Ayame no oji-chan."
"Kisa-chan!" Ayame exclaimed, bending down to his young cousin's eye level. "How are you?"
Kisa smiled. "I'm fine," she said quietly. "When is Shigure no oji-chan going to open his presents?"
"Oh." Ayame stood up and yelled to Shigure, "Gure-san, present time!"
"Okay!" Shigure sat down and took a small box off the top of the pile of presents. "Hmm… I wonder what it is," he said as he opened it. A four-inch tall ceramic dog lay inside. "Oh, how cute! It looks just like me! Who gave me this?"
Ayame pushed Kisa forward.
"Saa-chan, I love it!" Shigure said, patting Kisa on the head. "Thank you very much."
"You're welcome." Kisa smiled.
Shigure went on to open Yuki ("Yuki-kun, you shouldn't have!"), Tohru ("Tohru-kun, how very thoughtful of you!"), Momiji ("Momicchi, what is it exactly?"), and Haru's ("Ooh!") presents. He opened Kagura's rather large present, saying, "Kagura, what will I do with a stuffed cat?"
Kagura shrugged.
The pile of boxed presents was gone, but there were still some guests that Shigure had not received gifts from. Shigure looked expectantly at Hatori. "Ha-san, where's my present?"
"What makes you think I got you a present?"
Shigure looked hurt. "Ha-san…"
Hatori rolled his eyes and handed him what seemed like the world's supply of cigarettes.
Shigure then turned to Ritsu, who looked like he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. "Rit-chan?"
"Gomen nasai! Shigure nii-san, I seem to have misplaced your present! I'm such a bad person! I should die!" Ritsu started freaking out again. "I brought it! I did! But I'm so shameful that it must have disappeared just to teach me a lesson!"
"Rit-chan…"
"Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!"
Shigure poked Ritsu in the ribs. "Rit-chan, your present is right here." He pointed to a bag on the floor. "I must have missed it before."
After he opened Ritsu's present, he looked at Kyo.
"I don't know why I wasted money on you," Kyo said. He gave Shigure an unwrapped book.
Hiro didn't have a proper present for Shigure, so he just gave him a drawing of a dog.
Finally, Shigure came to Ayame, who had been dancing around the entire time, waiting for his turn. He wanted to surprise Shigure with the "best present ever."
Shigure grinned, seeing his cousin so excited. This was going to be good. "A-ya, you didn't forget to get me a present, did you?"
Ayame pulled out a package from behind his back. He plopped down next to Shigure and said excitedly, "Open it, open it, open it!"
Shigure ripped off the wrapping paper to find… a photo album! He opened it, reading what Ayame had written on the inside cover—"To Shigure, with much love. Ayame." Then he started looking through the pictures. The first two-thirds of the album was filled with photographs of pretty high school girls wearing Ayame's designer clothes. The last third contained pictures of Ayame posing in different ways. "A-ya! This is the best present ever!"
"See, Tori-san?" Ayame said to Hatori. "I told you I'd get him the best present ever!"
Hatori didn't reply. It wasn't as if he had argued with Ayame about it or anything.
"A-ya, I love you even more now!" Shigure was flipping through the album, admiring each girl in turn. "How did you get these pictures?"
Yuki and Tohru leaned in close to see. Yuki said suspiciously, "Those are girls from our school…"
Ayame said, "Well, some of the girls I gave my business cards to came by the shop… When they tried on their outfits, I asked if they would mind having their photographs taken. Most of them let me."
Tohru broke in, "These photographs are very tastefully done!"
Ayame graciously accepted the compliment. "Would you like me to take your picture?" he asked, suddenly right next to her. He was holding a camera, which he had produced from out of nowhere, apparently.
Yuki and Kyo objected to that, of course. They both moved forward to hurt Ayame, but Shigure got his attention before they had a chance.
"A-ya, what is this?"
Ayame turned around. Shigure was holding up a photograph that Ayame hadn't purposely placed into the photo album. "Oh," Ayame said, taking it. "That wasn't for you."
"Then who was it for?" Shigure asked, raising an eyebrow. "That was a picture of Mine-san." (AN: *grin*)
Tohru had a puzzled look on her face. "Why was a picture of Mine-san in the album?"
"I must have accidentally put it in there."
"But why did you take one in the first place?" Shigure asked, curious. "She's not modeling anything."
Haru pushed in close to see the picture in question. "And she's not even looking at the camera."
Ayame tried to find somewhere to put the picture, but the dress he was wearing had no pockets. He ran off to change into his regular clothes (AN: I think the red thingy that he wears… yah?). Well, he didn't really have pockets in that either, so he just tried to keep the photograph out of sight.
He went outside, where Hatori and Shigure were enjoying a good smoke. He sat away from them so he wouldn't breathe in so much smoke. He wanted to think, anyway.
The three on the porch heard a voice from inside yelling, "You did that on purpose, kuso nezumi!"
"Why would I bother doing anything to you, baka neko?"
Yet another fight was breaking out between Yuki and Kyo.
"Kyo-kun, don't fight with Yun-chan! It's Shi-chan's birthday party!" Kagura.
***
Mine was sitting in the shop, hemming a skirt. It was too quiet in the store by herself. It was almost never quiet when the storeowner was present. Ayame just had that way about him.
Mine wondered how Shigure's birthday party was going. I wonder if tencho is having fun, she thought. Working isn't so much fun when he's not around. Ayame had told her that he was throwing his cousin a surprise birthday party, and he was only inviting close family and friends. He had pulled another dramatic scene, apologizing for not taking her to the party. Mine had reassured him, saying that she would be fine by herself. But now she wasn't so sure.
I hope tencho comes back soon.
***
Ayame looked at the picture he had taken of Mine. He didn't know why he had taken it. He had been standing in his store, having just sent a high school girl on her way. He had turned around and seen Mine adjusting something on a mannequin. Before he even realized that he had done it, he had taken her picture. She hadn't noticed.
Now he was sitting on Shigure's porch, wondering why he had done that. Mine… She always made him feel better when he felt bad about Yuki or other such things. And when Ayame went to work and saw her smiling face, he just felt… good. We get along really well, he thought. We never get mad at each other or anything. He remembered all the times that Mine had comforted him. I want to comfort her like she comforts me. I want—I want to hold her. I want to help her when she's sad. I know she is sometimes, even if she doesn't talk to me about her problems as much as I talk to her about my problems. Ayame felt his lips curving into a smile as he continued to look at Mine's picture. Mine is beautiful, he thought. She might not be glamorous and stunning, but to me, Mine is beautiful. She's one of the few people in this world who actually care about me.
"A-ya?"
Ayame looked up to see Shigure and Hatori looking back at him.
"You're thinking about Mine, aren't you?" Hatori asked.
"Ah, Tori-san, you know me so well."
"What are you thinking?" Shigure asked, interested.
Ayame scooted over to Shigure and put his head on his shoulder. "I was just thinking about how wonderful Mine is. She's so sweet and cute and—" His face turned a little red. (AN: Wah, Ayame blushing! Kawaii! *grin*)
Shigure put an arm around Ayame's shoulders and put out his cigarette. "What about me, A-ya?"
"You too." Ayame looked at Hatori. "I love you too, Tori-san."
Hatori remained silent. He extinguished his cigarette as Shigure asked Ayame teasingly, "Do you love Mine-san too?"
Surprisingly, Ayame answered the question seriously. "Maybe."
Hatori looked out at the night sky. "Ayame, what do you mean? Be honest with yourself."
"I—I love her," Ayame realized. "I do."
"Eh?" Shigure looked curiously at his cousin.
"I love her—like I love you two… but deeper. But I'm not in love with her." Not yet, anyway, Ayame thought. He smiled, happy that he had finally figure out how he felt about Mine. "I think—"
"Aaaah!" came a scream from inside.
POOF!
"Ah!"
POOF!
Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame rushed inside. Haru and Hiro had turned into their animal forms. Tohru was freaking out. "I'm sorry! It's my fault! I shouldn't have done that—"
"Tohru-kun, what happened?" Shigure asked.
Tohru turned around—too quickly, it seems—and crashed into Shigure. POOF! Tohru fell.
"Honda-san!" Yuki tried to help her up, but slipped—someone had spilled something on the floor—and fell onto Tohru. POOF!
"Sumimasen!" Ritsu's panicked voice was heard. "I spilled my drink and I didn't clean it up! I have caused this entire disaster! Gomen nasai!" Uh oh. A panicked Ritsu running around can only lead to one thing—an accident. He fell onto Kyo, who, in turn, ended up on the floor.
"Kyo-kun!" Tohru got too close and caused him to turn into a cat with a POOF!
Kagura grabbed feline Kyo so he wouldn't be crushed by Ritsu, who had tried to steady himself but failed. She moved the wrong way, though, and hit Hatori. Hatori fell onto Tohru, who had just gotten up from the floor. Hatori weighed a lot more than Tohru did, so she ended up on the floor—again.
Ritsu bumped into Tohru as he fell down. POOF!
Shigure was trying to be a cute dog, but he went about it all wrong and pushed Ayame into Hatori, who was seahorse-sized at the moment. That meant that Ayame was actually pushed into Tohru. POOF! Snake Ayame tried to get Hatori away from the chaos, since Hatori wasn't really capable of doing so himself.
"Tohru!" Momiji ran over, trying to be helpful. However, Ritsu had apparently spilled a lot on the floor, because Momiji slipped and Tohru fell onto the floor with a male Jyuunishi on top of her yet again.
Tohru finally stood (with Kisa and Kagura's help) and surveyed the chaos. A dog, a snake, a seahorse, a monkey, a mouse, a cat, a cow, and a sheep were in Shigure's living room. The room looked completely trashed. She sweatdropped. "I'm sorry, everyone. I ruined things."
"It's okay, Tohru-kun," Shigure barked. "This party has been really fun." He poked Tohru with his nose. "The best birthday party I've had in years."
Ayame laughed heartily. "What about the party we threw for you when you turned twenty-two?"
"I'll never forget that one," Shigure said with a chuckle.
Hatori muttered, "Neither will I."
"What happened?" Tohru asked innocently.
"You don't want to know."
POOF! POOF! POOF! POOF!
Kagura and Kisa tossed Yuki, Ayame, Haru, and Ritsu's clothes to them. Of course, they got hopelessly mixed up, so there was a bit of trading before any of them actually started getting dressed. Tohru turned away and hid her face. "I didn't see anything!"
POOF! Kagura ran over to Kyo, holding his clothes.
POOF! POOF! POOF! Hatori, Shigure, and Hiro changed back. Kisa gave them their clothes.
And with one final POOF!, Momiji turned back into a human. He got his own clothes and put them on.
When they were all dressed, Tohru turned around to face them. She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'll clean up everything."
(AN: Okay, so that part was mostly for laughs, but I'll try to work it into the plot somewhere. *grin* And yes, that was a lot of accidental hugging, but hey, it would only be a disaster if they all changed…)
***
Ayame was saying goodbye to Shigure. "Till next time, Gure-san."
"Of course, A-ya. Thank you for the fantastic present." Shigure winked and whispered, "Maybe next time you'll bring Mine-san."
"Maybe." Ayame grinned, then left.
***
It was late, but Ayame decided to check on his shop anyway. When he had left to go to Shigure's party, he had left Mine in charge of the shop. He just wanted to make sure she had locked up and taken care of everything.
Hmm. The light was still on when Ayame entered the shop. "Mine? Mine, are you still here?" He walked into the other room and found Mine asleep on the sofa. She had an unfinished blouse in her hands.
Ayame smiled softly and took Mine's work away. He sat down on the cushion that Mine wasn't stretched out on. He looked down at her and lightly brushed her bangs away from her face. He remembered the events of the party and thought, It's a good thing I didn't invite her to Gure-san's party. Otherwise I'd have a lot of explaining to do. Then he curled up on his cushion and within minutes, was fast asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Notes: I like it! I wrote it kinda strangely… And sorry that they're kinda out of character… Mine, mostly… I think I get Ayame right when he's around Shigure and Hatori… Why can't I get Ayame and Mine right when they're together?! It's driving me crazy! But um… review, please!
BIG THANK YOU TO: lostlight, Azn ChibiSweetpea, Emmi-chan, Neko-P, Silent Sage, Pseudonym Sylphmuse, Chi-san, White Meteor, Lauren, Lady of the Ink, Shirodachi, Maeven, Digi-riven, and all the anonymous reviewers!
Replies to:
Lady of the Ink: *grin* Thank you very much! "Ayame-ness", huh? I try to make all the technical stuff good so people can better understand what I'm writing…
Emiko-san: Haha, I still have unfinished fics out there… About my grammar, umm… I try to make sure that it's fine before I put up a chapter…
GoodGurl: Thanks for your comments, and did I really inspire you to write your own fic?
Everyone else: I still thank you all very much for reviewing! I feel so loved!