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 Three
Bitterness and the Sohma Household
-
The bell chimed, its sound echoing in every corner of every unusually stuffy classroom there was in Kaibara High. The pleasant harmony of the bell was the signal of yet another school day ending, and the students trapped behind their daily prison walls couldn't be happier. The growing teenagers burst through their numbered classroom doors like exploding fireworks amidst wispy clouds, as rowdy as black-market hagglers. The pristine halls of the high school were filled with chatter and emotions of relief as friends and enemies departed the buildings for home.
Adriana, however, was not as elated as everyone else. She took her time trudging to the School Office once more, keeping her head bowed as though in mourning, and trying desperately to keep her emotions in check. The brown-haired girl sluggishly stepped up to the to the Office ladies, and found herself being squawked at to wait in the same Office once again. She ground her teeth at the answer, and made her way there, willing herself to endure another hour, or eternity, of waiting.
Once she stalked in, however, she found that she was not alone.
Violet eyes glimmered with amusement as he turned his gentle gaze toward her.
'Hello, Miss Aziz,' Yuki greeted from where he stood, leaning his lithe and long adolescent body against the wall, arms crossed and one leg bent with his foot resting behind. He had been staring through the large window behind the Principal's chair, a thoughtful expression camouflaging his eyes like a Halloween mask. Fine strands of his hair fell around his face as though he were a fallen angel with a broken halo.
'Hey, Sohma,' Adriana grumbled lowly, slamming the door behind her. She stepped up to the seat she had sat in earlier that morning and threw herself onto it. She sighed, her breath blowing at the stray silken threads of her brown hair. Twisting in her seat, she meddled with the hem of her blasted skirt, muttering things concerning delinquent tailors and improper measurement lengths.
'Good Afternoon,' came the sudden voice of the same man Adriana had encountered that morning. He had burst into the room, looking haggard and aggravated, almost rather horrifying. The girl watched his every movement as he took out the same papers as he had before, sifted through them, ran tired hands through his hair, and then fixed her with what he must have thought to be a kind gaze. Adriana thought he looked mildly frightening, but pushed those thoughts aside as he spoke. She tried her very best to listen to what he was saying, but the familiar prickling feel at the tip of her fingers was beginning to creep back, and it served as a worthy distraction.
'I don't think you know why you're here again, Miss Aziz.' He said this as one would state "Oh, spiffing weather we have, really." Adriana's nostrils flared, annoyed, and resorted to only rolling her eyes and sinking further into her chair.
The man turned on her a stern eye.
'You will be staying with the Sohma Family,' he said, handing her several more crisp papers after he had signed them. Seeing that she wasn't going to take them from his grasp, the Principal coughed delicately and set them on the desk before her.
Adriana seemed to be in another world; but those words had not settled in yet. When they did however, it seemed her blood had iced over and that the winds had decided to swallow her whole.
She felt the bottom of her stomach fall into a gaping black chasm, and her heart began to race at a peculiarly abnormal pace. The words, as though made of finely chiselled stone, etched themselves in her skull, bringing to Adriana a painful realisation, one that she could never, ever escape, no matter how much she wanted to. She tried to speak, but words failed her yet again.
'All the necessary arrangements have been made. Your father has contacted the school and your legal guardian here in Japan, and he has given his approval of the Sohma Household's environment.'
Adriana openly gawked.
'My father contacted you?' she demanded incredulously, her eyes becoming slits of sudden rage. 'Wait, wait, wait.' She stood with much stealth, and slammed her hands palm down onto the desk with so much force that several pens and papers began littering the ground.
'I have a legal guardian here in bloody Japan And I'm – staying at the Sohma – !'
She halted suddenly, mid-word, and took several deep, deliberately fierce breaths. The girl closed her eyes, folded her arms, and let herself fall back onto her chair in an array of almost visible sparks. Her hair fluttered around her as though it were a veil made from dove feathers. From afar, Yuki had to blink several times to clear peculiar images in his mind.
'You know what?' resumed Adriana as evenly as her temperament would allow. 'Whatever. I don't care anymore. If people want to push me around and dictate my life, fine. Just don't expect anything but bitchy co-operation from me because that's all you're going to get.'
She snatched the papers off the desk, turned, and stalked to the door, hair flying behind her like a severed cape. Adriana didn't bother to wipe the rebelling tears streaking down her flushing cheeks, nor did she take notice of her quivering fingers and heart.
With her bag swinging on her shoulder, she threw open the door, stepped through it, and slammed it shut. Anger pulsated through every vein in her body like a disease, and the familiar dizziness she felt when her emotions were on a high almost overwhelmed her, eating her away. It was as though she was drowning in a sea of ghosts, and the voice she wanted to call out for help with would not oblige, seeming oblivious to her needs. She turned down the corridor and strode furiously to the nearest exit she could see, eyes curtained by fresh, furious tears.
'Miss Aziz!'
Yuki was calling out to her, but she couldn't care less. The young man's footsteps were quick and light as he caught up, and he eventually fell in step with the easily aggravated girl. Adriana saw from the corner of her eye, by the slight look on his face, that he was immensely concerned. This only caused her emotions to surge with more intensity, with more fighting vigour. Her mind reeled and the world spun in a canvas of smeared oils around her.
'Miss Aziz, I'm sorry if I did anything to offend you. If you're uncomfortable living with us, I could arrange for you to stay at someone else's home. I could ask the school to place you in a house where you know someone. I could –'
Adriana halted. So did Yuki.
'Don't bother, Sohma,' she spat acridly. 'You didn't do anything to offend me. It's everyone else so far who's pissing me the hell off. I'd rather stay with you since I know your name. I don't know anyone else. Bloody Japan – why did I have to come here?!' As she spoke, her voice rose higher in pitch. With an enraged yell, she kicked the concrete wall – and dented it.
Yuki stared and felt his jaw drop the tiniest amount.
'Who do they think they are, dictating what happens in my life?! I don't want to be here! Away from home, away from friends, away from every goddamn familiar thing I've come to know!'
Yuki suddenly reached for her, but Adriana jerked away, as though burned with an icy flame.
'Just take me to wherever you're supposed to, Sohma,' she hissed, raising her burning eyes to him for the first time since she had stormed from the Office.
Yuki found himself wishing she had not looked up. Those eyes; they were colder, emptier right then than Hatori's; than Rin's: even Akito's. Those dark brown eyes of hers, framed by the thickest and darkest lashes he had ever seen; they sparked with electricity, jolting him through and through, and baring an emotion so raw, Yuki found himself frozen inside and out. A shudder trilled with a screech down his spine, and he shivered involuntarily.
'This way,' he muttered, turning slowly. His footfalls echoed in the corridor with a darkening emptiness as he led the way back toward home. His lavender hair tumbled hither and thither, concealing every emotion that might offend the girl he had just come to know. Adriana followed even slower behind him, head bowed, and hair curtaining her from the rest of the world.
-
Shigure's Home
'Yu—ki!' Shigure sang out as he saw his younger cousin walk inside, raising an arm in the air dramatically as he grasped a freshly inked pen. He frowned as he saw the Rat's expression, enclosed and insecure behind his usual bangs. The Dog of the Jyuunishi lowered his arm and tilted his head questioningly. But that playful glimmer in his eyes did not leave him.
'Yuki, what's wrong? Had another fall-out with your secret love?'
He sniggered gracelessly behind his hand, and raised a slender hand to the heavens – err, roof.
'Oh, the inevitable romance laid out by the vines of fate destined for one Yuki Sohma to stumble upon and become entangled amongst its twines for the remainder of his beautiful human life! The inspiration! The awe! The wonder!' He brought down his hand and stroked his chin thoughtfully, one eyebrow quirking. 'I must have this written before the devil's hands have their way with it!' He scrambled up from his place on the floor and skipped to his Study, belting out songs he had sung with Ayame during his high school days.
Yuki blocked out all sound as the phrase 'My enormous broom and your awfully cramped cupboard' came to be sung, and he kept them that way, knowing the coming verses as he had heard them dozens of times in the past. Nevertheless, he did not want the unnecessary dark mental images which were sure to burst into his head upon hearing 'broomstick', whatever perverted context it was used in. Whatever Shigure and Ayame did with their 'cleaning utensils' was not any of his business, nor did he desire to make it his.
'Ignore him,' he intoned to Adriana, who had heard and just came into the threshold of the house. 'I'll lead you to your room. You don't mind sharing with Miss Honda, do you?'
He walked on ahead.
Adriana, however, halted. Yuki, sensing her restrained footsteps, turned to look at her. There was a wet pause, as though a dark discovery had been made, ignored, and then its true impact realised moments later.
'Umm. I do mind,' she said, twining her arms loosely, not meeting his eyes. 'I'm not used to sharing with other people my personal space. It's always been like that for me. So, do you mind if I sleep in the living room? If it's big enough, that is.'
Yuki looked surprised.
'The living room's fairly sizeable, yes. But, are you sure you want to sleep there? Kyo lives here too, and he normally sleeps there, as well. I wouldn't want to put anyone through torture like that.'
Adriana was reminded of the orange-haired boy's rather bright and amusing temperament, and a slow smile stretched her lips. It wasn't necessarily a humorous smile, nor an amused smile --- it was more of a gesture that an executioner would display, one that was enclosed, yet bare; one that showered everything, and nothing. Yuki was not quite trusting to that expression of hers by the looks of his pained grimace.
'Oh, that's quite all right, Sohma,' she said, flicking her hair with a jerk of her head. 'I'm a big girl; I can handle rats like him.' She cocked her head toward him, smiling even more widely at the misinterpreted reaction she perceived. 'I've seen worse, believe me.'
Yuki found himself returning the smile, though still slightly sore over that rat comparison.
'Well, I'll just get your things for you, then. They're in Miss Honda's room. I'll tell her what you said so she'll understand why you don't want to stay in the same room as her.' This forced an indignant "You make it sound like I hate her!" from Adriana, and a laugh from Yuki. 'I'll just be a minute.'
He offered her another smile, before turning and climbing the stairs by twos.
Adriana watched him until he disappeared by the curve of the stairs, completely lost and swimming in passing thought. Her eyes then wandered about the whole house, curious, prying, and somewhat frightened. She walked placidly, and peered curiously, but cautiously, into every room, appreciating its surroundings, and taking in everything presented to her. It was silent now, and the tiniest movement she made seemed to make a sound loud enough to bang through the walls.
It was going to be difficult fitting in, she knew that. It had taken her the better part of a month to settle in back in Australia, and there, she knew the culture, the people and things around. But here; it was like Adriana was a dirty little lost duckling, carelessly hurled into a silk basket full of trained silver swans. It was the feeling of being out-of-place that really got to her, but she would not let it eat her away.
Her feelings of anger were quickly dissipating, and emotions like curiosity and numb sadness were starting to tick like a clock within her, or like a bomb. She was feeling a little better, now that her emotions were in check, and it was even not that difficult to see clearly anymore. Her body was at peace for the time being, and she was grateful for the release.
Sound came, and her ears suddenly pricked up. She could hear the strange man in his study still singing like a drunkard.
'Oh, how cruel the sta-a-ars of night, their blades a-swish and a-swipe. Come and comfort me beneath the blankets of Lo-o-o-ove …'
Adriana clamped her hands over her ears, suddenly grinning, and bolted to help Yuki with her things.
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As of August 21 - Edited x 2
