Hiya! SakuraBubbles here. ::bows:: Thank you all very much for the reviews!! They are, as always, very much appreciated. If all goes well, I should be able to update this once every week or so. If I start getting spacey with my updates, it's 'cause I haven't gotten the next couple of chapters done!! Hehehe… but I believe I'm up to ch. 10 or 11 already… HEHEHE… so, we should be good for a while.
Minor shounen ai references and scenes in this chapter. If you're only here for the Kyo/Tohru aspect of it, please, don't be rude enough to flame me for it (as I bitched about last time). You must have an open mind. And JEEZ this is Fruits Basket, you seriously NEED an open mind for this anime! ::slaps… people::
By the way, the chapter titles don't have a whole lot to do with the chapter itself. I'm just going with the Japanese names of the zodiac animals until I can think of proper chapter names.
Chapter Two: Nezumi
Tohru was ever so polite as usual when Haru entered the house with a soft smile on his face, his bags either at his feet or around his shoulder.
"Welcome to the house," she greeted him, bowing. He bowed in return, "Sorry to intrude…"
"Tohru-san, what are you doing out of bed?" asked a deep voice behind Haru. Haru fluttered to the side to reveal Hatori.
"Hatori-san!" Tohru bowed again. "I didn't want you to think me as rude!"
"Idiot!" Kyo snapped, appearing at her side. He glared to Haru. "Gimme your crap."
Hatori whacked Kyo on the noggin and said, "Don't get Hatsuharu angry. We don't need him going black while Tohru is trying to recover."
Kyo rubbed his head and plucked Haru's things from the ground and heaved them inside. Haru was staying for Tohru's two month recovery and thanks to the lack of rooms, he was sleeping on the couch. He didn't really mind, but he brought along all of his pillows, including a little rat stuffed animal that he slept with every night. He kept it well hid in one of his pillows' cases, of course, naming it "Yuki-chan."
Speaking of Yuki, the boy was outside, tending to his secret base as usual. He was anxiously awaiting the strawberries to become ripe so he could pick them and give them to Tohru as a "get well" gift. But as he tugged lightly on one or two, he saw that they just weren't red enough yet, sighed, and stood up. Maybe I should just buy some and say that they're from the garden…
He shook his head, having a feeling that Tohru would somehow figure it out. He headed back toward the house, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he contemplated what to do. He had two months for them to ripen, but he want to give Tohru a present now… he'd do anything to hear her say, "Souma-kun, I'm okay!"
/-/
Kyo was even more on-edge around Yuki ever since the fight. Shigure had hoped that they could have gotten over it after their fight, but apparently not. Kyo was even more mad at Yuki for hurting Tohru even though it was an accident. They had a little spat every time they saw each other up until Haru started yelling, which made them realize how they probably sounded, so they stopped.
Hatori and Shigure found it odd that the very same person who ended the fighting so well had also brought forth an even more serious fight, one that didn't date back to thousands of years ago. Tohru stayed away from the both of them most of the time except during dinner, where she only spoke to Haru and Shigure. However, if Kyo or Yuki started a conversation with her during dinner, she didn't have the heart to ignore them.
One night, six days after the fight, Haru was cleaning the dishes and Kyo came down for a midnight glass of milk. Haru held out a bowl.
"Here, kitty…"
"Shut up! Give me a cup!"
Haru grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and handed it to the enraged red-head. He sat and poured the liquid into the glass. For a minute, Kyo sipped from his glass and Haru silently continued drying and washing the dishes. Suddenly, Kyo asked, "You like Yuki, right?"
"That I do!" Haru almost purred. Kyo shook slightly with disgust.
"Ick… whatever. Listen, I'm going to take Tohru out of the house tomorrow. I need you to cover for me. Keep Yuki busy long enough for me to take her out."
Haru blinked, looking at Kyo with a blank expression.
"'Take her out?' What do you mean?"
Kyo didn't answer but hid his eyes with his bangs and sipped his milk with a red face. Haru grinned and sat down with his chest toward the backrest of the chair.
"Ahhhh like on a date!"
"SHHHH!" Kyo snapped, glaring at the ox boy. Haru scratched his ear.
"All right. That sounds good to me. Gives me time alone with Yuki."
"I figured you'd go for that," Kyo said sourly. Haru smiled.
"Actually, if you think about it, I'd like to see you with Tohru. That leaves Yuki all to me."
Kyo nodded, sipped his milk again, and thought about it more.
"I mean, I wouldn't be mad if Tohru herself picked Yuki instead of you," Haru continued. "I'd give Yuki up just to see him happy."
"You sound like Kagura… only you're not psycho. … Wait, yes you are… screw it, you're not as psycho," Kyo stammered. Grinning, Haru replied, "I'm less psycho than Kagura?"
"To me, yeah. You don't abuse to show your 'love,'" Kyo stated, a dark aura under his eyes. "… Well, you show it in a different way when you're Black Haru…"
Thinking about it, Haru chuckled mischievously. The cat-boy was getting creeped out, so he whacked his younger cousin (though none of them were direct cousins anyway, but it was simply easier to tell people that they were cousins rather than "the nephew of my father's cousin's sister-in-law…") on the head and bade him good night.
/-/
In the morning, Tohru was greeted by Kyo's face.
"W-waaaaah! Ky—Kyo-kun!" she yelped, squirming up into a sitting position. Kyo was always a morning person while Yuki was not. He had this advantage, at least.
"G-good morning, Kyo-kun…" Tohru said, smiling slightly.
"Wanna go out today?" he cut straight to the point only because if he hadn't, he would have lost his nerve.
"Go out? Where?"
"A-anywhere you want," Kyo offered. He hadn't even thought of what to do or where to take her; he only focused on being with her.
"Me? Well, that wouldn't be fair to you and Souma-kun if I picked—"
"No," Kyo interrupted almost harshly. "Yuki isn't coming with us."
"Oh, he isn't?" Tohru wondered. "Is Kagura-san coming?"
"No! Hell no! It's just you and me!"
It took a moment for this to register with Tohru. She pointed to him then to herself. He did the same in return. Tohru aimlessly kept wiggling her finger back and forth between her and Kyo, thinking desperately about the matter.
Aaah! Kyo-kun is asking me out on a date? I never thought… he'd… oh wow! A date with Kyo-kun! It could be fun! Oh wow!
"Got anything in mind for where you wanna go?" Kyo reiterated.
"W-well, we could… ah… go to… the… grocery store!" she stammered, and once she finished her sentence she had that determined but stupid look on her face. Kyo looked at her blankly.
"The grocery store?"
Tohru face faltered.
"I don't know!"
Kyo chuckled, reminded of their game of ping-pong back at the hot springs, and smiled his awkward smile. "Why don't we do that before coming home and do something else beforehand?"
"Then… where do you want to go, Kyo-kun?"
"Maybe for… a walk somewhere and then lunch?"
Tohru nodded gleefully. "That sounds like fun!"
"All right. Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes," he ordered lightly, standing up (he had been leaning on the bed) and heading toward the door. He looked back as he slid the door to the side. Tohru was staring at him with an empty but thoughtful expression on her face. Figuring that she was once again spacing out, Kyo left the room.
/-/
Yuki, on the other hand, was greeted with a Tohru-less house, with Shigure visiting Hatori, Kyo somewhere, and Haru… on the couch, reading something. He was tapping his foot as if keeping in time with a song and it was then that Yuki noticed that he had headphones on. So that's what that buzzing was…
Yuki slinked into the kitchen, looking around for Tohru. Perhaps she was outside? Yuki opened the fridge, trying to not think of it. The milk was gone.
"Stupid cat probably drank all of the milk…" he grimaced, rummaging through the rest of the fridge's contents. He plucked some unidentified red juice and studied the bottle, wondering what it was, what was the expiration date, and if it was even drinkable. He decided against taste-testing it for sourness and decided to pour the liquid out. It was a lucky thing that he hadn't tasted the liquid for as he poured it out, some of it poured out it clumps. He hollered in disgust and then lost his grip on the bottle, dropping it.
Haru was nodding his head to his loud music when he heard an even louder noise. He tugged his headphones off and blinked, waiting for another sound to occur. Nothing did. He paused his CD and got up, placing the book down on the table.
He froze before entering the kitchen. Yuki was on the floor of the kitchen, a broken bottle next to him on the floor, and a lot of red liquid. Obviously, the first thing that came to Haru's mind was…
"YUKI!!!" he yelled, running forward. Yuki looked up at him with a cross look upon his face.
"What?"
"YOU… you're not dead?!" Haru asked, dumfounded. Yuki sighed.
"No, of course not. I dropped the bottle that contained this… stuff and when it spilled, I tried to move out of the way, but I slipped on the liquid."
Haru glared at said liquid and bottle as if they were murderers. He looked back to Yuki and reached out for him.
"Need help getting up?"
"Not really," said Yuki, lifting himself up. Almost as soon as he was halfway standing, he slipped again. Haru caught him in his arms.
"Hah! I knew you would fall for me!" Haru grinned. Yuki smirked, slightly amused and blushing a tad.
"Cut it out."
Haru lifted him away from the mess and set him down so he could sit down at the table. He looked to the mess and chuckled.
"You can be a klutz when you let your guard down."
Yuki looked away with a pout on his face. He felt gross; that stuff had gotten on his clothes. Haru was cleaning up the liquid and the glass, careful not to slip in it. Yuki noticed this.
"Ah, you don't have to—"
"It's my job, the reason I'm here, to clean, right?" Haru asked in return.
"But I made the mess."
"And I'm cleaning it up for you. Maybe you can just give me something in return," Haru suggested, tossing the glass into the trash bin. Yuki sighed, wiping some of the liquid out of his hair.
"You can wash me," he said sarcastically.
Now, if there was a time for Haru to turn black, this wasn't it. Sometimes, all it took to change him were his feelings for Yuki. He turned and scooped him up in his arms, leading him through the hallway to the bathroom.
"What—Haru, I was joking!!"
"I didn't think that you were," Haru replied, his eyes glimmering. Yuki realized that he had gone black.
"Haru! Put me down!! There's no way I'd ever let you—"
"Oh come on! You just said I could!" Haru grinned, placing Yuki down at the bath's edge. Yuki glared.
"Don't you dare…"
"Dare what?"
"I don't want to have to hurt you, Haru. Just get out."
He wasn't about to be weak. Aside from maybe the elder Soumas, he was the best fighter, and wasn't afraid to let loose on someone if they pissed him off enough, like, for example, Kyo.
"But what would be the fun in that?" asked Haru, reaching for Yuki's shirt. Yuki grabbed his arm, threatening, "If you do this, I'll call Hatori and tell him to bring you back."
"Who'd do the cleaning?" asked Haru coolly. Yuki's eyes flashed.
"I would. For Honda-san."
It wasn't the threat that stopped Haru, it was the fact that Yuki was willing to do things for Tohru. He backed away.
"To…" was all he managed before hitting the door from backing up. Yuki was glaring at him differently than if Haru was just teasing. Haru exited the room, but could still feel Yuki's glare on his back.
Uh-oh spaghettios!! Haru's in big trouble now. Him and his horny self. Oh well. More on Kyo and Tohru's date next chapter. I love ch. 3! It's adorable. If you want it, you must EARN it, biznatches! ::cackles:: … Yes, well, please review. Ch. 3 will be next week if I feel satisfied… ::bows and runs away::
Minor shounen ai references and scenes in this chapter. If you're only here for the Kyo/Tohru aspect of it, please, don't be rude enough to flame me for it (as I bitched about last time). You must have an open mind. And JEEZ this is Fruits Basket, you seriously NEED an open mind for this anime! ::slaps… people::
By the way, the chapter titles don't have a whole lot to do with the chapter itself. I'm just going with the Japanese names of the zodiac animals until I can think of proper chapter names.
Tohru was ever so polite as usual when Haru entered the house with a soft smile on his face, his bags either at his feet or around his shoulder.
"Welcome to the house," she greeted him, bowing. He bowed in return, "Sorry to intrude…"
"Tohru-san, what are you doing out of bed?" asked a deep voice behind Haru. Haru fluttered to the side to reveal Hatori.
"Hatori-san!" Tohru bowed again. "I didn't want you to think me as rude!"
"Idiot!" Kyo snapped, appearing at her side. He glared to Haru. "Gimme your crap."
Hatori whacked Kyo on the noggin and said, "Don't get Hatsuharu angry. We don't need him going black while Tohru is trying to recover."
Kyo rubbed his head and plucked Haru's things from the ground and heaved them inside. Haru was staying for Tohru's two month recovery and thanks to the lack of rooms, he was sleeping on the couch. He didn't really mind, but he brought along all of his pillows, including a little rat stuffed animal that he slept with every night. He kept it well hid in one of his pillows' cases, of course, naming it "Yuki-chan."
Speaking of Yuki, the boy was outside, tending to his secret base as usual. He was anxiously awaiting the strawberries to become ripe so he could pick them and give them to Tohru as a "get well" gift. But as he tugged lightly on one or two, he saw that they just weren't red enough yet, sighed, and stood up. Maybe I should just buy some and say that they're from the garden…
He shook his head, having a feeling that Tohru would somehow figure it out. He headed back toward the house, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he contemplated what to do. He had two months for them to ripen, but he want to give Tohru a present now… he'd do anything to hear her say, "Souma-kun, I'm okay!"
/-/
Kyo was even more on-edge around Yuki ever since the fight. Shigure had hoped that they could have gotten over it after their fight, but apparently not. Kyo was even more mad at Yuki for hurting Tohru even though it was an accident. They had a little spat every time they saw each other up until Haru started yelling, which made them realize how they probably sounded, so they stopped.
Hatori and Shigure found it odd that the very same person who ended the fighting so well had also brought forth an even more serious fight, one that didn't date back to thousands of years ago. Tohru stayed away from the both of them most of the time except during dinner, where she only spoke to Haru and Shigure. However, if Kyo or Yuki started a conversation with her during dinner, she didn't have the heart to ignore them.
One night, six days after the fight, Haru was cleaning the dishes and Kyo came down for a midnight glass of milk. Haru held out a bowl.
"Here, kitty…"
"Shut up! Give me a cup!"
Haru grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and handed it to the enraged red-head. He sat and poured the liquid into the glass. For a minute, Kyo sipped from his glass and Haru silently continued drying and washing the dishes. Suddenly, Kyo asked, "You like Yuki, right?"
"That I do!" Haru almost purred. Kyo shook slightly with disgust.
"Ick… whatever. Listen, I'm going to take Tohru out of the house tomorrow. I need you to cover for me. Keep Yuki busy long enough for me to take her out."
Haru blinked, looking at Kyo with a blank expression.
"'Take her out?' What do you mean?"
Kyo didn't answer but hid his eyes with his bangs and sipped his milk with a red face. Haru grinned and sat down with his chest toward the backrest of the chair.
"Ahhhh like on a date!"
"SHHHH!" Kyo snapped, glaring at the ox boy. Haru scratched his ear.
"All right. That sounds good to me. Gives me time alone with Yuki."
"I figured you'd go for that," Kyo said sourly. Haru smiled.
"Actually, if you think about it, I'd like to see you with Tohru. That leaves Yuki all to me."
Kyo nodded, sipped his milk again, and thought about it more.
"I mean, I wouldn't be mad if Tohru herself picked Yuki instead of you," Haru continued. "I'd give Yuki up just to see him happy."
"You sound like Kagura… only you're not psycho. … Wait, yes you are… screw it, you're not as psycho," Kyo stammered. Grinning, Haru replied, "I'm less psycho than Kagura?"
"To me, yeah. You don't abuse to show your 'love,'" Kyo stated, a dark aura under his eyes. "… Well, you show it in a different way when you're Black Haru…"
Thinking about it, Haru chuckled mischievously. The cat-boy was getting creeped out, so he whacked his younger cousin (though none of them were direct cousins anyway, but it was simply easier to tell people that they were cousins rather than "the nephew of my father's cousin's sister-in-law…") on the head and bade him good night.
/-/
In the morning, Tohru was greeted by Kyo's face.
"W-waaaaah! Ky—Kyo-kun!" she yelped, squirming up into a sitting position. Kyo was always a morning person while Yuki was not. He had this advantage, at least.
"G-good morning, Kyo-kun…" Tohru said, smiling slightly.
"Wanna go out today?" he cut straight to the point only because if he hadn't, he would have lost his nerve.
"Go out? Where?"
"A-anywhere you want," Kyo offered. He hadn't even thought of what to do or where to take her; he only focused on being with her.
"Me? Well, that wouldn't be fair to you and Souma-kun if I picked—"
"No," Kyo interrupted almost harshly. "Yuki isn't coming with us."
"Oh, he isn't?" Tohru wondered. "Is Kagura-san coming?"
"No! Hell no! It's just you and me!"
It took a moment for this to register with Tohru. She pointed to him then to herself. He did the same in return. Tohru aimlessly kept wiggling her finger back and forth between her and Kyo, thinking desperately about the matter.
Aaah! Kyo-kun is asking me out on a date? I never thought… he'd… oh wow! A date with Kyo-kun! It could be fun! Oh wow!
"Got anything in mind for where you wanna go?" Kyo reiterated.
"W-well, we could… ah… go to… the… grocery store!" she stammered, and once she finished her sentence she had that determined but stupid look on her face. Kyo looked at her blankly.
"The grocery store?"
Tohru face faltered.
"I don't know!"
Kyo chuckled, reminded of their game of ping-pong back at the hot springs, and smiled his awkward smile. "Why don't we do that before coming home and do something else beforehand?"
"Then… where do you want to go, Kyo-kun?"
"Maybe for… a walk somewhere and then lunch?"
Tohru nodded gleefully. "That sounds like fun!"
"All right. Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes," he ordered lightly, standing up (he had been leaning on the bed) and heading toward the door. He looked back as he slid the door to the side. Tohru was staring at him with an empty but thoughtful expression on her face. Figuring that she was once again spacing out, Kyo left the room.
/-/
Yuki, on the other hand, was greeted with a Tohru-less house, with Shigure visiting Hatori, Kyo somewhere, and Haru… on the couch, reading something. He was tapping his foot as if keeping in time with a song and it was then that Yuki noticed that he had headphones on. So that's what that buzzing was…
Yuki slinked into the kitchen, looking around for Tohru. Perhaps she was outside? Yuki opened the fridge, trying to not think of it. The milk was gone.
"Stupid cat probably drank all of the milk…" he grimaced, rummaging through the rest of the fridge's contents. He plucked some unidentified red juice and studied the bottle, wondering what it was, what was the expiration date, and if it was even drinkable. He decided against taste-testing it for sourness and decided to pour the liquid out. It was a lucky thing that he hadn't tasted the liquid for as he poured it out, some of it poured out it clumps. He hollered in disgust and then lost his grip on the bottle, dropping it.
Haru was nodding his head to his loud music when he heard an even louder noise. He tugged his headphones off and blinked, waiting for another sound to occur. Nothing did. He paused his CD and got up, placing the book down on the table.
He froze before entering the kitchen. Yuki was on the floor of the kitchen, a broken bottle next to him on the floor, and a lot of red liquid. Obviously, the first thing that came to Haru's mind was…
"YUKI!!!" he yelled, running forward. Yuki looked up at him with a cross look upon his face.
"What?"
"YOU… you're not dead?!" Haru asked, dumfounded. Yuki sighed.
"No, of course not. I dropped the bottle that contained this… stuff and when it spilled, I tried to move out of the way, but I slipped on the liquid."
Haru glared at said liquid and bottle as if they were murderers. He looked back to Yuki and reached out for him.
"Need help getting up?"
"Not really," said Yuki, lifting himself up. Almost as soon as he was halfway standing, he slipped again. Haru caught him in his arms.
"Hah! I knew you would fall for me!" Haru grinned. Yuki smirked, slightly amused and blushing a tad.
"Cut it out."
Haru lifted him away from the mess and set him down so he could sit down at the table. He looked to the mess and chuckled.
"You can be a klutz when you let your guard down."
Yuki looked away with a pout on his face. He felt gross; that stuff had gotten on his clothes. Haru was cleaning up the liquid and the glass, careful not to slip in it. Yuki noticed this.
"Ah, you don't have to—"
"It's my job, the reason I'm here, to clean, right?" Haru asked in return.
"But I made the mess."
"And I'm cleaning it up for you. Maybe you can just give me something in return," Haru suggested, tossing the glass into the trash bin. Yuki sighed, wiping some of the liquid out of his hair.
"You can wash me," he said sarcastically.
Now, if there was a time for Haru to turn black, this wasn't it. Sometimes, all it took to change him were his feelings for Yuki. He turned and scooped him up in his arms, leading him through the hallway to the bathroom.
"What—Haru, I was joking!!"
"I didn't think that you were," Haru replied, his eyes glimmering. Yuki realized that he had gone black.
"Haru! Put me down!! There's no way I'd ever let you—"
"Oh come on! You just said I could!" Haru grinned, placing Yuki down at the bath's edge. Yuki glared.
"Don't you dare…"
"Dare what?"
"I don't want to have to hurt you, Haru. Just get out."
He wasn't about to be weak. Aside from maybe the elder Soumas, he was the best fighter, and wasn't afraid to let loose on someone if they pissed him off enough, like, for example, Kyo.
"But what would be the fun in that?" asked Haru, reaching for Yuki's shirt. Yuki grabbed his arm, threatening, "If you do this, I'll call Hatori and tell him to bring you back."
"Who'd do the cleaning?" asked Haru coolly. Yuki's eyes flashed.
"I would. For Honda-san."
It wasn't the threat that stopped Haru, it was the fact that Yuki was willing to do things for Tohru. He backed away.
"To…" was all he managed before hitting the door from backing up. Yuki was glaring at him differently than if Haru was just teasing. Haru exited the room, but could still feel Yuki's glare on his back.
Uh-oh spaghettios!! Haru's in big trouble now. Him and his horny self. Oh well. More on Kyo and Tohru's date next chapter. I love ch. 3! It's adorable. If you want it, you must EARN it, biznatches! ::cackles:: … Yes, well, please review. Ch. 3 will be next week if I feel satisfied… ::bows and runs away::