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 belong to me.
The Stream's Winter
By Ela-chan
Chapter Five
Fighting and Shigure Sohma
Above the perpetual Earth, Lady Moon's borrowed illumination throbbed through the thinning clouds like a dying heart, gifting the star-sprayed sky with an open, heavily lashed eye, like a Mother's, watching over them as they played and twinkled joyously. The air had a sweet sick smell about it, like wilting roses dipped in heavenly blood, both coating and lacerating lovingly each living creature alive. But, for some, the atmosphere's well-being was the last thing on their minds.
Kyo's eyes widened, and a fear of sorts thudded through his blood like a disease. He moved to pull her back, his stealth-lacquered reflexes getting him to the edge of the roof in a blink of an eye; but – she had already fallen beyond that terrifying edge, like a cliff's threat, and out of arm's reach, and so he was left there, a bare arm extended, unable to help in any way. His stunningly anxious eyes involuntarily closed, and his head turned away, in fear of seeing death's accusing face loom right before him, whispering of a new accusation it wanted Kyo to believe. He waited to hear the sickening crunch of her body as it collided with the cold soil, waited to hear it shatter into a million pieces of misery and mocking mirth –
But – it didn't come.
Kyo's eyes flew open, as though curtains were torn apart, revealing raw emotion from the past swirling like uncategorised thought, and he raced to the edge, legs aching from the sudden muscle stretch. His eyes darted toward the ground immediately, and saw Adriana on the ground, curled up like a newborn kitten, but more or less appearing perfectly safe, unharmed. But despite that, Kyo could see that she was paralysed with fear at having fallen from such a great height, and he could also see, as his eyes strayed and narrowed, Yuki's clothes! The damn rat! He must have heard the racket they were making and came out to see. Usual prying little bastard, Kyo thought fiercely, that same anger he reserved for the Jyuunish Rat surfacing like a dead body in a river. And the wise ass caught her, and he must have transformed!
With a menacing growl grating from the back of his throat like a nail on rusted tin, Kyo leapt off the roof, and landed lightly on his feet. He strode furiously to Adriana's side, and promptly jabbed her on the head.
'Hey, you,' he spat, prodding brashly. His brows crunched together when he received no response, and he bent slightly, putting long hands on his knees. With an observant temperament, he eyed her tense form, and the way she was curled into herself so tightly. His brows knitted even more.
'Are you dead or what?'
Without warning, Adriana turned and lashed at him with a bony hand. Her composed fingers gripped his wrinkled collar, and she hauled herself up that little bit, bringing their faces so closely together that Kyo could almost feel the electricity sparking from her eyes, the warm breath ventilating from her parted lips.
'You insensitive jackass,' she hissed. Her hand released him, and Kyo let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, much to his chagrin. 'I fall from the highest roof in bloody Japan, and you ask if I'm dead or what?!'
She leapt up, and immediately went into defence stance, eyes as fierce as a lioness hunting for prey. The clothes Kyo discreetly kicked aside went unnoticed. Adriana's lips were curled into a smirk, a scowl, a sneer – everything, anything.
'That's it, you daisy carrot ass sissy!' she yelled, eyes glinting with a gleaming brightness Kyo was now growing steadily annoyed with. A smirk found its way on the boy's lips, and he straightened gracefully, with the grace of cat, and crossed his arms over the broad shoulders sculpted from endless training.
'I don't hit girls,' he smugly threw at her, condescendence netting his every feature.
Adriana's hair crackled, thoroughly and utterly pissed off. Her upper lip curled, and she attacked with speed that could melt a bullet. Kyo barely had time to block the high kick she had literally hurled at him, sending electrifying jolts through and through his very blood, and even less time to keep himself alive from the upper cut she hammered at him, catching the flesh straight across his forearm like burning metal. Adriana withdrew from her attempts stealthily; hands splayed out, and surveyed Kyo with an intensity that had steadily begun to gather within her, letting him absorb the tip of the iceberg.
'I don't hit girls either,' she said, grinning wolfishly. Glints of superiority and experience shimmered in her eyes like cracked bits of crystallised coal. 'But in your case, I'll make an exception.'
Kyo's once amazingly baffled face contorted into that of anger and annoyance, and, he too, went into defence stance, blood pumping into his ears like the beat of bee's heart.
'You're a wise ass, you know that!' he hollered, blocking another heavy punch Adriana hurled with a readiness he himself did not know he possessed. Pain jetted through his arm as she tried another way of penetrating his defence. She certainly was no Hatsuharu, nor even a Yuki. No, she was stronger; much, much stronger. He wouldn't be surprised if he lost to her, (he would be more surprised if he won) but he sure wasn't going to be prancing about, incredibly happy over it either.
'People have said that,' Adriana gasped, quickly ducking a kick Kyo threw at her neck. As Kyo's weapon soared above her head, she flashed him a cheeky grin, eyes twinkling in the strong rays of the moon. As fast as she had ducked, she straightened, grabbed his leg as it was in mid-air with both hands, and hurled him several feet away, looking as though she had flicked a fly. Kyo rolled thrice, landed on flat on his back, and stayed that way as he let the pain jet through him slowly, then fade away.
Clapping greeted her ears, and Adriana turned, breathing deeply.
The man she had earlier heard sing was on the patio, enthusiastically applauding her clear win. A brilliant smile graced his lips as he clapped, and Adriana noticed that he was wearing a traditional kimono, baring a portion of his toned chest and abdomen. She found herself not minding that he may have forgotten to close up his kimono fully.
'Dazzling!' he praised, trotting down to stand before her, all in his cheeky glory. He bowed formally, and held out a well-sized hand. 'I'm Shigure Sohma, owner of this house, and your guardian.'
Adriana swallowed, and took several breaths before accepting his handshake. Shigure shook her hand, and the rest of her thoroughly, leaving her still moving as he broke the gesture. The older man looked into the distance, squinting as he saw Kyo finally get up, then bolt away. He caught the look of alarm on Adriana's face, and consoled her quickly.
'Don't worry about Kyo,' he said with a cheery face, slapping Adriana on the back none too gently. 'He can't take it when dear Yuki beats the living daylights out of him, but now, being beaten by you like that, in no less than ten moves, and your being a girl, and in ducky pyjamas no less!' He slapped her again, and this time, Adriana slapped him back equally hard, a non-appreciative look settling over her face. 'Well, let's just say I won't be trying anything on you in the near future.' He coughed slightly, and winked, grimacing.
'I'll see to it that you don't,' came another voice, and Shigure found himself being glared at by his younger cousin. 'Your perverted nature seems to be a hopeless case, doesn't it, Shigure?'
The older man sobered quickly, and looked at Yuki with utmost solemness.
'I know, Yuki,' he said sadly, hanging his head. A moment passed; then his head was up again, the same cheery face plastered there once again. 'Isn't it just marvellous!' He turned back to Adriana, who was staring at him blankly. Shigure flicked her nose, and grabbed her hand. 'Let's have some tea since we're all up. Then you can tell me all about your lover's spat with Kyo.'
Adriana let herself be led away. It looked like there was nothing she could do to help the situation she had now been caught in. Besides, she wanted to savour the win she had just achieved, and wouldn't it be a little more pleasurable if there were some tea at hand? Of course it would.
Yuki followed in their wake, glaring daggers at the back of Shigure's head.
Some time later
-
They sat around the table, steaming mugs of green tea clutched in their hands. Adriana took a careful sip. Shigure took four. Yuki was still glaring.
'So, Adriana,' he began, fixing her an amused, sly look. 'How did you end up fighting with Kyo? It's not very often he has a fall out with someone in the middle of the night.' He hummed, stroking his chin thoughtfully. 'Except that one time when Yuki was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and Kyo heard him from his room and thought that he was being sneaked up on, and he ambushed Yuki in the bathroom half way through his –'
'What he means,' Yuki cut in sharply, like a blade into raw flesh, before his cousin could reveal any more of their nocturnal secrets, 'is that what did you do to provoke Kyo to fight? He doesn't hit girls – one of his few good traits.'
Adriana blinked.
'Well,' she said carefully, not wanting to burst out laughing as the scenes of Kyo's fright due to her little prank played over and over in her head like a broken camera. 'It's – a funny story, actually. I heard someone on the roof when I was trying to get to sleep tonight, and I remembered Yuki saying that Kyo slept in the living room, too. But he wasn't here yet, so I figured it was the daisy carrot ass sissy —' here, Shigure gave a gigantic snort – 'who was up there. So I went up on the roof, snuck up behind him, and stuffed what was left of his dignity up his ass.'
'And I imagine he turned into a girl, started waving neon pink pompoms while brandishing his fake silicon breasts?'
Adriana blinked again. Yuki coughed and drank some more tea.
'He didn't, um, wave anything around,' replied Adriana, careful not to think of anything else that could be waved around, namely broomsticks and whatnot. 'He just yelled as loud as I did and jumped off the roof. Then he started to kick the air around him for quite a while. That's when I started to laugh at him.'
'He fought you because you laughed at him?' came the deadpanned reply.
Adriana blinked once again.
'No, he didn't fight me just because of that. I laughed so hard that I fell off the roof, right? I still don't know how I landed on the ground without breaking anything though.' At this, Yuki looked away uncomfortably. Shigure saw his display and nudged him under the table, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the only girl present. Adriana turned thoughtful for a moment, looking at the table in thought, before breaking out into speech again.
'Anyway, he poked me and said "Are you dead or what?" I didn't like how he said it, so I kicked his ass.'
Shigure made a dramatic show of gasping. Yuki allowed himself an ill-concealed smirk.
'You attacked him?!'
Adriana drank the last of her tea, and got up.
'Well, it's been a long night,' she said, sighing contently, amused at their expressions. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal that she had sent that idiot flying like that.
She stretched, and yawned, showing a portion of her stomach, which Shigure did not miss out on blatantly appreciating.
'Better hit the hay, gents. G'night.'
Adriana walked around them, and thumped Shigure on the back once more, causing him to snort in a considerable amount of his scalding tea. Yuki laughed as Shigure nearly cried from the pain, flapping about his long hands frantically.
The girl exited the kitchen, and entered the living room, where her blanket lay exactly where she had thrown it. With a sigh, she settled into the soft couch, and snuggled into its warmth. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.
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