Wishing Not to be Alone
Disclaimer: All the Fruits Basket characters and plot are property of Natsuki Takaya… whether I like it or not.
Chapter 2: A Surprise VisitReturning from school one afternoon in May, Hiro set aside his backpack by the door of the living room.
"Hiro-chan! Is that you?" he heard his mother's voice, calling out from the kitchen.
He called out to his mother, "Yeah, it's me. I just got home…" He rushed into the kitchen, where his mother stood making noodles and a little, 3-year-old girl, with short brown hair and eyes – his sister, Hinata – played with her dolls in the corner of the room.
Suddenly, Hinata dropped her dolls onto the floor and rushed forward to hug him, crying out (in third-person, as many little kids do), " Onii-san! Hinata-chan wants to play!" She hugged him tightly, making the teenage boy disappear and be replaced with an adorable sheep, sitting squarely on the floor and seething.
"HINATA!" the aggravated sheep complained loudly at his little sister. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"
As Hinata giggled at the sheep on the floor, their mother giggled as well, telling her son, "Hiro-chan, she's only three years old… beside, your sheep form does look absolutely adorable! Who wouldn't want to hug you?"
The sheep's eyes softened slightly as he heard his mother's words. He replied, still slightly fuming, "Well, at least I'm going to make sure she isn't around when I change back!" At that, Hiro, in his sheep's form, left the kitchen promptly for his own bedroom.
After about five minutes, he emerged from his bedroom, changed back to his normal state. Again, he entered the kitchen, to find Hinata playing with her dolls and his mother still fixing the noodles she had been making before.
Noticing her son had entered the room, Hiro's mother, handing him a telephone, said, "Hiro-chan, Kisa-chan just called a minute ago. She was wondering if she could come over today. Would you like to call her back?"
Hiro answered, "Oh sure… I'll call right now." He seized the phone from his mother's grasp, as he quickly dialed Kisa's number.
Ring! R-r-r-ring! R-r-r-ring!
Somebody answered the phone. A voice Hiro recognized as Kisa's mother said, "Hello?"
Hiro asked, "Can I speak to Kisa?"
The woman's voice on the other line answered, "Oh, yes, Hiro-chan… of course you can!"
"Thank you, oba-san…"
"Just wait a second, as I go get her…" There was some shuffling on the other end, and a loud, almost too audible, "Kisa… Telephone!" was heard in the background.
And finally, somebody picked up the telephone, and he heard Kisa's voice on the other end. "Hello, Hiro-chan!"
Hiro answered briefly, "Hello."
"Can I come over today, then? Is that all right with your mom?" she asked hopefully.
Hiro replied, "Yes. Mother is ok with it, so you can come."
Kisa exclaimed with great excitement in her voice, "That's great! I'll be right over…" She immediately hung up, and Hiro put the phone down.
Hinata asked, with an adorable lisp in her voice, "Hey… Onii-san… who was onii-san talking to?"
Hiro answered, looking down at his baby sister, "A good friend of mine, and her name's Kisa."
About a half-hour later, the doorbell rang. Hiro immediately jumped up to answer it. As he opened the door, Kisa, grinning cheerfully, greeted him. That was one thing Hiro had noticed changed in Kisa, she seemed to smile much more than she used to back in middle school. Hiro wondered who sponsored that change. Could it have been her new friends? Or maybe it was that "stupid woman"… Either way, Hiro didn't care. He was glad that Kisa smiled more now, because she certainly did deserve to.
As they entered the kitchen, Kisa immediately hugged Hiro's mother, Satsuki, saying, "Oba-san… Good evening to you. I don't think I've visited for a while, have I?"
Satsuki answered lovingly, "No you have not… I don't think Hinata-chan and I have seen you at all since New Years…" Motioning her daughter, who was sitting in the corner of the room, clasping her doll, she said, "Hinata-chan, come and say hello!"
Hinata answered with that cute lisp of hers, "But mommy… Who is she?"
Satsuki replied, kneeling to Hinata's level, "Don't you remember what Hiro-chan was saying earlier? Her name is Kisa, and she is one of Hiro-chan's friends."
As Kisa smiled sweetly at the three-year-old, Hinata replied, "Kisa-neechan… Hinata-chan thinks Kisa-neechan seems nice. Hinata-chan wants to be Kisa-neechan's friend, too!"
Kisa answered cheerfully, "I'd like to be your friend too, Hinata-chan. Hiro-chan has been my friend since he was your age, you know…"
Hinata said excitedly, "Really? Hinata-chan thinks that's neat! But she wonders… Are Onii-san and Kisa-neechan going to kiss?"
At the sound of Hinata's comment, Kisa and Hiro's cheeks turned bright red. Satsuki laughed, commenting, "Hinata-chan… you can be really silly sometimes. Of course not! I wonder where you get all of those silly ideas from…"
Still slightly blushing, Hiro grabbed Kisa's hand, leading her out of the room (stuttering at his mother, "C-c-call when dinner's ready!"). They went upstairs to Hiro's room, where they quickly shut the door, as they started to converse.
Hiro apologized, slightly embarrassed for his sister, "I'm sorry for what Hinata said just now… umm… I'm not quite sure where she gets that stuff…"
Kisa answered, "That's ok, she's very young… I forgive her."
Kisa paused for a moment, thinking about what to say. All of a sudden, a question came to mind, "Hiro-chan… Does Hinata-chan… Does she know about the curse?"
Hiro replied, "No… she doesn't, not yet. Although she is aware that I turn into a sheep when hugged by a girl, mom told me that we shouldn't tell her why I transform until she is older."
"Well, that's good, at least, that she accepts your sheep form… hopefully that'll be the same when you and oba-san tell her in detail about the curse…"
"I'll keep my hopes up, definitely…"
Suddenly, Kisa remembered what Sakura was telling her about how it was unusual how she called Hiro, "Hiro-chan", and how most boys did not like being addressed in that manner. She inquired, "Hiro-chan… are you offended when I call you that?"
"What exactly do you mean, Kisa?"
"I was wondering because most boys feel offended when addressed using the '-chan' honorific… right?"
"I guess they do… but personally, I don't care at all. You can call me whatever the heck you want."
"Well, you aren't 'Hiro-chan', anymore… so maybe you'd be happy if I called you 'Hiro-kun' instead?"
"Erm… I guess so…" Hiro wondered what Kisa could mean by saying that he wasn't "Hiro-chan" anymore… he was same as always, right? Lost in his world of bewilderment, he gazed off in Kisa's direction, wondering what exactly the girl was thinking.
Bringing the two back to reality, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by Satsuki's call. "Hiro-chan, Kisa-chan! It's time for dinner!"
The two rushed out of Hiro's room, their faces expressing curiosity, wondering what the other's true feelings were.
Neko's Rambling Corner Part 3: This chapter was oodles of fun to write… although it was mostly an excuse to bring in Hiro's little sister and mother into the story. Hinata is just the cutest, with her dolls, the lisp, and the third-person speech. I would've had her say some other adorably hilarious things, but I had to focus on other events in this chapter. However, I can almost guarantee that Hinata and Satsuki are going to have some importance later on in the story, so they will be back! (YAY!) Anyway, I've been updating rapidly, and I hope to do so for the rest of the series… but I might lose interest if nobody reviews. I'll still finish the story, of course, but I'd really appreciate some reviews for this story. (hint, hint) See you next chapter!