Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot, (There's a plot? -.-) probably belongs to me.


The Stream's Winter
By Ela-chan


Chapter Two

Handling Things and People


The walk to the Cafeteria was unusually quiet. Only the sound of their muffled footfalls could be heard as they bounced off the walls and into Adriana's ears, amplifying them to an extreme volume she so sorely desired to smash in. As she inhaled, her breaths seemed to echo around her, and she cast a furtive glance at Yuki, half-hoping her abnormal breathing pattern had not frightened him away.

She cleared her throat, as though wanting to say something truly intelligent, but the words became caught and jumbled on her tongue, and she was forced to emit a rather peculiar noise, like an ostrich caught choosing between an apple and a kiwi. Yuki looked side-long at her, mildly curious. Adriana looked back, and plastered a bright smile on her face, stretching her full lips. Yuki raised an eyebrow, and allowed a small smile in return.

They faced frontal again, one amused and the other relieved at having not made a fool out of herself for the second time that day. Honestly, if the current slight awkwardness was going to be anything like the rest of her days here at Kaibara High, Adriana was not going to be pleased at all. She was about to demand half a dozen answers from Yuki when her companion veered a sudden left, and walked down an entirely new corridor, one that was wafting of heavenly aromas. Adriana decided she liked the change of scenery.

The corridor was long and wide, with its ceiling high, and from it hung several twirling fans. The generated air lifted strands of Adriana's hair, tickling her chin, and withdrawing from her a smile. Her nose suddenly twitched; the scents were becoming a little overwhelming, a passing musing told her.

'I think lunch isn't over yet,' said Yuki lightly, pausing before the Cafeteria double doors. He threw Adriana an encouraging smile, before he unlatched the handle of one, and pushed it open; and with that, uncurtained a scene that both irked and aroused happiness within Adriana. She stepped in, then stilled, feeling as though she had entered an entirely foreign world, and all eyes suddenly speared through her and only her.

Boys – or rather, young men – were yelling and laughing, banging on tables with silvery, winking coins and their well-sized fists. Girls – or rather, young women – were whispering excitedly with one another, giggling and squealing over gossip. As her heavily-lashed eyes raked over the atrium with growing mingled curiosity and dread, Adriana was sure a large group of girls in the farthest corner had shot her an icy glare. Feeling tendrils of her annoyance twitch, she stuck up a finger as a sarcastic response.

Yuki concealed an amused smile, having seen Adriana's rather ill-concealed display of affection. He let the girl absorb the things around them, letting her settle into the world she had to get used to for comfort. But as the moments stretched and trickled through their fingers, the chatter surged, then fell, and all eyes strayed to Adriana.

Yuki coughed discreetly, shifting uncomfortably at the eerie silence looming around them now that the target of the gossip and numerous bets came into the student body's view. He quickly stepped beside Adriana and put a slender, craftsman-made hand on the small of her back. He guided her away from the stares and toward the most secluded table in the whole Cafeteria. Adriana let herself be led away, allowing her eyes to wander about the atrium and the people staring unabashedly after them.

It was a very large room, and it looked to comfortably house most of Kaibara High's nine hundred students. The noise level in some places peaked at an almost unbelievable pitch; the spatter of oil, the banging of fists, the booming laughter, the threats and some explosions from some tables rose to such a volume that the human ear-drum could have been shattered if not for the distance she was being taken to. Adriana had a sudden itch to block her ears and bolt away.

As though sensing her spontaneous anxiety, Yuki nudged her ever-so-gently. Adriana sighed with much heaviness, and wrenched her watering eyes from the surroundings. Her brows furrowed instantly as she found herself face-to-face with six unfamiliar people.

'Miss Aziz,' said Yuki, letting his eyes wander over those before them. 'Allow me to introduce you to a few friends of mine.'

'Who you calling friends?!' belted an orange-haired boy without missing a beat. He glared through his fine early-sunset coloured strands and banged a well-sized fist on the table. If not for his defined human features, Adriana was sure he could have hissed right then.

A girl with golden-sunrise hair glowered menacingly at him. Adriana suppressed a smile as the orange-haired boy visibly shrank that little bit, yet kept that violent façade toward Yuki.

Adriana liked that girl. Whoever the hell she was.

'This is Saki Hanajima,' Yuki resumed, looking mildly irritated by the interruption. Nevertheless, however, he kept his usual cool, collected expression.

Adriana directed her gaze to the girl he gestured gracefully to, and almost openly stared. The introduced denpa looked back at her with an expressionless, pretty, porcelain face. Adriana felt a shudder streak through her like a bullet through the blood, and something cold trickled down her back, like a melting ice-cube of blood.

'Hello,' Hanajima greeted monotonously. Her eyes were a few shades darker compared to Yuki's, and held so many voices and secrets, things that were preferably left to the dead and rotten. Within those dark violet orbs, Adriana could swear that she saw tiny sparks of electricity crackle, like lightening bolts across the moon's face. The sitting girl moved to brush away her embracing black fringe, and Adriana saw that her slender fingernails were painted a haunting ebony.

'I see that you have fine electrical waves.'

She paused, and surveyed her for a few moments.

'Had that not been the case, I would have corrected you.'

She allowed herself the tiniest of tiny smiles.

'Welcome to Japan.'

With the slightest bow, she pierced the new comer with those bullet eyes, and Adriana found herself entranced.

'This is Momiji Sohma,' Yuki blurted hastily, casting an uneasy glance between the near tipping-over Adriana and the deadpanned Hanajima. The new comer blinked, then blinked, and blinked again. Her eyes withdrew from its unfocused haze, and she shook herself, breaking away from Saki's zealous stare. She, instead, let her gaze settle upon a boy with golden locks, who was bouncing in his seat, and sending Adriana a brilliant smile.

'Hi!' he greeted energetically, flailing him arms with a wildness that seemed almost inhuman. 'You have a really pretty face!' He bounced on the soles of his feet, and nearly toppled off the chair. He somehow kept his balance, though with much manic flapping of the arms. With brown eyes glittering, he adjured: 'Ooh! Can I hug you?'

Adriana blinked blankly.

Why is he wearing a girl's uniform …?

'Err …'

But, he really is very cute!

The orange-haired boy glared.

'You sick little – you don't even know the girl, and you want to hug her?!'

Momiji turned to his cousin, and stuck out his tongue.

'You just want to keep her all to yourself 'cause she's so cute – you probably want to hug her, too, Kyo!'

It seemed that a wash of déjà vu swamped over the older boy as though he was under the beating of a waterfall, and he ground his teeth together in attempt not to verbally pummel his younger cousin. Adriana looked on, blatantly bemused.

'Shut up, you little brat!'

He shook his fist, and banged the other on the table. Momiji pulled a grotesque face.

'Excuse them,' put in a boy with the most peculiar hair, tugging on Kyo's uniform patiently. Adriana blinked again. Her eyes then switched to the boy who had spoken, and she felt herself smile.

The new speaker had the first three buttons of his school polo undone, revealing much of his toned chest, something that Adriana couldn't nor wouldn't object to. A considerable amount of glittering chains hung off his neck, and that blankness in his eyes intrigued her. There was a dangerous, almost deadly moon-like shade somewhere in the expression he held; where, Adriana could not put a finger on.

'I'm Hatsuharu Sohma,' the boy said, voice almost as deadpanned as Hanajima's. He stood, held out a hand, and, without permission, grabbed Adriana's, flipped, and kissed it. 'It's very nice to meet the object of the week's gossip.'

He sat himself back and surveyed her with an inquisitive air, almost like a doll maker admiring his creation. Adriana felt cloudy inside.

'That's Kyo Sohma,' Yuki interrupted her fantasies unfavourably, inclining his head rudely at the sulking orange-haired boy at the corner of the table. 'Unfortunately, we're all related,' he added with a deliberately raised voice and an unpleasant look toward a certain someone.

Kyo bristled visibly, and shot Yuki a furious stare.

'Who said I wanted to be related to you, you damn rat?!' he growled, slamming his fist on the table again. Yuki sighed exaggeratedly and ignored him. Adriana looked mildly amused.

'Can't you shut up for a minute, orange-top?' sighed the golden-haired girl across Kyo, crossing her long arms and glaring at him pointedly, one eye concealed with a menace Adriana grinned inwardly at. 'You're giving me a headache, and it's only lunch.'

Kyo altered his gaze to the golden-haired girl, and glared even more.

'Ngeh, shut up, Yankee! Who asked you!?'

Yuki turned to Adriana: 'That's Arisa Uotani –'

Arisa cut in savagely, eyes glinting.

'And damn proud of it, too!'

Kyo suddenly turned a steely glare toward Adriana.

'Sit down already! You look stupid standing up!'

Adriana felt her annoyance surge like the ocean tides within her, but kept her temper in check. She wouldn't want to cause such a violent ruckus on her first day at a foreign school, anyway. Especially to someone shooting her petty insults. Besides, Yuki came to her defence with a glare that looked to be especially reserved for Kyo, his beauty changing from mysterious to crackling so fast that Adriana's head spun.

'And you look stupid doing anything, stupid cat.'

Kyo growled, and his eyes flashed.

'Those are fighting words, you damn rat!'

He leapt up, fists raised in defensive stance.

'You trying to start something!?'

Yuki sighed and flicked strands of hair away from his provoking eyes.

'Sit down. I'm not in the mood for you.'

Amazingly, Kyo did as he was told, though with an icy stare toward Yuki, and much, much persuasion from the girl beside Arisa Uotani. Adriana turned her gaze to the sea-blue eyed girl, and found herself smiling warmly with the new stranger.

'Hello,' the girl greeted with utmost warmth. She stood up, and bowed to Adriana, brown hair spilling over her slender shoulders. 'I'm Tohru Honda. It's really nice to meet you. The school's been buzzing with rumours about you, you know.' She looked around, still with that smile, at the many furtive, shifty glances being shot their way. 'But, I think you already know about that.'

That smile was just contagious.

'I didn't expect someone like you to come to the school,' Arisa remarked, casting a dismissive glance toward Adriana, who just barely pushed down the bubbling annoyance she suddenly felt. Uotani flicked her hair with two long fingers, and narrowed her eyes almost suspiciously. 'You're not from around here, are you? Japan, I mean,'

'Let's let her settle for lunch first,' Hatsuharu intoned pointedly, moving a place down and deliberately yanked Kyo's hair as an indication for him to budge up. The orange-haired boy grumbled something incoherent – Adriana heard 'metal pipe' and 'asshole' – and moved without any grace along with his black and white-haired cousin.

Adriana sat in the nearest seat, which was next to Tohru, and squirmed a little, the feeling of being out-of-place overwhelming her again. She cast a side-long glance at Tohru, uneasy and nervous. The girl smiled warmly, and Adriana relaxed somewhat.

'Would you like something to eat?' Tohru inquired. 'I could go up to the Cafeteria lady and ask for a late lunch order if you like. It'll be no trouble at all!' She stood, ready to go, but Adriana put a hand on her arm, alarmed at her kindness.

'No!' she exclaimed a little too loudly. She swallowed, and chuckled nervously. 'I mean – n-no, it's all right. I had s-something on the plane, and I don't feel like having to eat anything in case the taste of it comes back somehow.'

Tohru frowned.

'Are you sure you're not hungry? Really, it's no problem. I can go now –' She moved, but Adriana stopped her again. She understood that they wanted to make her feel welcome, but the inquisitive questions and overwhelming offers were beginning to annoy her. Besides, Adriana could see the Uotani girl looking at her from the corner of her eye, either challenging her to blatantly refuse Tohru's offer, or agree and make Tohru go through all the trouble of fetching her lunch. Either way, Adriana felt caught.

'Really, Tohru. Umm. I'm not hungry, but thanks very much for offering. It's very nice of you to do so, you not knowing me and all.'

She offered her best kind smile, and felt the flaming glare boring through her back from Uotani soften slightly ever so slightly.

Thank God, Adriana thought, that girl's sure got something huge up her ass. And I'm not talking about her enormous broom –

'So, where're you from?' Uotani insisted languidly, cutting through Adriana thoughts like a crap of a whip in the darkness. 'You look from around here, but that accent tells me different. American?'

Adriana shook her head, holding twin fists in her lap tightly. She was trembling somewhat, yet she knew not why. She thought it was because of the very individual vibes each person on the table radiated, especially that Uotani girl, and the funnily angry boy with the orange hair. And not to mention that strange Hanajima girl.

'I was born in America,' she replied hastily, noticing that she had let Arisa's question hang in the air uncomfortably. 'California, to be exact. But I didn't live there. My parents were travellers, and Mum gave birth to me unexpectedly. I was raised in Malaysia, but somehow the American accent stuck to me. I lived somewhere in Sydney until I came here. That's in Australia,' she added at the look on Tohru's face. 'My dad transferred me here yesterday.'

Uotani hummed placidly, placed her chin on a pale hand, and looked extremely thoughtful. A short pause followed Adriana's speech, all contemplating on the emotions she must be feeling right now. Except Kyo, who was quietly plotting either world domination, or how to break out of the Cafeteria without appearing to be an escaped convict.

'Must have been hard, having to leave all your friends back in Sydney like that?' Arisa brought out, blinking, lashes caressing her cheeks as she did so. She looked at Adriana with an appraising gaze, an eyebrow cocked challengingly. The asked gave a slow nod, recklessly determined to keeping a fresh wave of tears from crashing to shore.

'It was the same for me. Well, sort of, anyway. When I left my gang, I was really close to some of them, you know. But when they heard I was planning to quit, they turned on me without missing a beat.' She looked into space, and sighed. 'Still, I loved them as friends.'

Tohru tilted her head, and rested it on her friend's shoulder.

'Oh, Uo …'

At that moment, the bell sounded, cutting their conversation short. The Cafeteria's noise surged and faltered as the students stood, and filed out in their own paces, shoving and streaming to their afternoon classes. Glances again were shot Adriana's way, and a debate to whose class she was going to go to began with much aggression.

'I'll see you back at the Office at the end of the day, Miss Aziz,' Yuki called, as he joined the throng of students, careful to avoid the female populace. Adriana furrowed her brow, mildly puzzled, but waved nonetheless. The others went on ahead, having gotten a gentle negative from Adriana to their offers of leading her to class. She pulled out the crisp, cold map she had been given from her skirt pocket, and took a deep, calming breath.

'Here we go,' she whispered, and stepped out of the Cafeteria and into her new world.


Read? Review, then!

As of August 18th: Edited x 2