Author's note: Hey, now! I like the idea for this fic, so just keep reading, okay?
Also, a special thanks to my first reviewers on this fic:
Sango Twin: Thank you so much! I've noticed that you read most of my stories, and I'm glad that you like this one too! Thanks for being a patron! ((salutes))
Lil Angelic Baby: Domo Arigato .! I feel lucky all ready! So glad you like it, and I am so deeply honored that I get the privilege of being your first furuba fanfic! I'm glad you like the actual books, but you might want to hurry up and read the rest of them. I'm just worried that my story will include some spoilers or some characters you don't know about yet. But I'm sure you wouldn't mind reading the other six books, would you! Hope you like this chapter!
Disclaimer: you know the drill.
CHAPTER TWO: On My Way"Flight 72 to Tokyo now boarding"
"Flight 72 to Tokyo now boarding"
Crap! Therese thought franticly, hurrying to pull up her pants. I'm gonna miss my flight!
Therese burst through the stall door, shocking some of the other girls in the bathroom, and made a hasty exit. Flying through the hallway, dodging past people and luggage, she finally made it to her loading dock. Her seating area wasn't boarding yet, so she flopped down on one of the hard plastic chairs to catch her breath. Perhaps changing into my guy clothes in the ladies' restroom wasn't the brightest idea, Therese told herself, Although I probably would have gotten even more stares if I had just waltzed into the men's room to change. Ah, well. It doesn't matter- as long as I can make it to Japan without any problems, I'll be Scott-free.
Actually, Therese was still surprised at how easy it was to get her ticket to Japan. Though Lana argued at first, Therese finally got her to agree to give her a haircut. Therese had to admit, she was sort of sorry to see her long, well-kept brown hair be snipped away at first, but Lana did a good job, and Therese thought she looked pretty cute.
Because she had been to the Headmaster's office so often, Lana had advised that Therese talk to his secretary instead, to avoid being recognized. The headmaster's sectaries never stayed for more than a year, and the new secretary, Mrs. Stephanie, was all too easy to fool. She was a very timid middle-aged woman, and constantly had the look of a worried mouse. Therese had once said that Mrs. Stephanie would probably burst into tears if you looked at her crooked.
Before meeting with the secretary, Lana gave Therese one of the boy's school uniforms to wear. When Therese was done changing, her best friend laughed asked jokingly, "Hey, Therese, would you take me to the prom? I bet you'd look really spiffy in a tux."
Lana walked Therese to the headmaster's office, telling her to act like a snobby, rich little boy, and try to intimidate Mrs. Stephanie.
"Just say anything you can think of, and you gotta sound real important and full of yourself. But you can't laugh, okay? Go get in there!" Lana finished, giving Therese a shove through the door.
Mrs. Stephanie looked up at the sound of the door closing, and gave Therese a weak smile.
"Hello, young man," The secretary greeted, "May I help you?"
Suppressing a grin at being called "young man," Therese stood straight, and swaggered over to the secretary's desk before laying her hand on it and leaning against it.
"Yeah," Therese said, trying to be as rude as possible, "I got a problem with the foreign exchange program. All the other…er…boys in my dorm got their acceptance letters a while back, and I ain't got mine yet. You know something about that?"
Mrs. Stephanie was taken aback for a moment before turning to her laptop and stammering, "W-well, um, if you could give me your name, I could look it up to…um…check."
"My…name?" Therese asked, stalling for time, trying to think up a name quickly," Uh- Thomas. Thomas…um-Rouna. Yeah, that's it- Thomas Rouna."
"All right, then Mr. Rouna, let me see," Mrs. Stephanie said, typing at a million keys a minute.
After a few seconds, Mrs. Stephanie said, "Well, it seems we don't have you in our foreign exchange program database. Are you sure you got your application in on time?"
"What, are you saying I'm a liar? Why else would I have you look it up? You're accusing a kid of just coming here and stirring up trouble for no reason? Is that what you're insinuating? I don't appreciate being called a liar, Mrs. Stephanie."
"No! I- uh- please, don't take it like that, I just wondered about your application-"
"My application was boosted to the top of the line, courtesy of my father, Daniel Rouna, head of the executive committee. In fact, if I were you, I would be more concerned with your application,"
"M…M-my ..application?" Mrs. Stephanie had stuttered.
"Yes," Therese answered smoothly, plopping down on the chair and resting her feet on the lady's desk, "You did apply to stay here for next year, didn't you? Perhaps I ought to tell my father to consider your application very carefully."
"What do you know!" the secretary exclaimed suddenly, "Of course- I remember the headmaster saying something about your application, how silly of me to forget-"
"But the database-"
"The database was wrong!" Mrs. Stephanie trilled unconvincingly, slamming the screen to her laptop down, and going over to one of her many file cabinets, "Now let's see if I can find you an assignment somewhere."
"Somewhere?" Therese asked, tossing her short hair back haughtily, "I don't want some dinky left-over assignment,"
"Aha!" Mrs. Stephanie said, pulling a small packet out of an otherwise empty folder, "Oh- No! nononono! This is your- er- special reserved assignment, right in the middle of Tokyo!"
The secretary handed over the packet, and Therese flipped through it, not quite sure what to do for a minute. Then she asked, "So…?"
"So…what?" Mrs. Stephanie asked fearfully.
"So- where on earth are my plane tickets? You don't expect me to flap my arms all the way to Japan, do you?"
"GAH! No- of course not! I'm so sorry! I can't believe I was so inconsiderate! Yes, yes, naturally you will need your plane tickets!" the frazzled secretary quavered, pulling a plane ticket from a different file cabinet and handing it over to Therese as though it were going to explode any moment.
Therese snatched it out of the woman's hand, suppressing a giggle with supreme difficulty. Looking at the ticket, Therese feigned shock and said in mock outrage, "PASSENGER SEATING? You might as well just put me in cargo with the animals! How dare you! My father paid for me to fly first-class! I only travel first-class- even a community college graduate like you should know that!"
"WAHHHHH!" Mrs. Stephanie shrieked in horror, running back to the filing cabinet and searching through it hysterically, "I'm SOOOO SOOORRRYYYYY! Please forgive me- I should have known! I can't believe I made such a crucial error! Please forgive me! Here-! One first-class ticket left! Now then, anything else I can do for you, Mr. Rouna?"
Therese considered for a moment demanding the three hundred dollars she was "supposed" to receive from her "father", but then decided that it would be pushing it a little far, so she said "No, thank you," in a dismissive tone before exiting quickly.
Lana, who had been listening right outside, burst into a fit of giggles as soon as Therese snapped the door shut, and she praised her best friend for such a great performance.
"First-class seating is now available"
"First class passengers may now board the plane"
The voice from the intercom interrupted her thoughts, and Therese picked up her book bag and headed over to the boarding area. Therese was a notoriously light packer, and never traveled with more than her leather suitcase and her book bag. Therese's backpack was her most treasured possession. It was made of canvas dyed a dark purple, with green fabric on the bottom and a brown suede flap with an old belt buckle to keep it shut. Therese's mother had given it to her when she was in the fifth grade, and Therese took it everywhere she went.
Therese remembered the fight she had had with the airline stewardess at the bag check earlier that morning. She had only wanted to check her suitcase, but the stewardess took Therese's knapsack also, saying it, too, had to go in the cargo hold with the rest of the luggage. She had practically knocked the poor woman down grabbing her bag back, and she wrapped her arms around it tightly, saying that she was taking her bag on the plane with her, and there was no way they could stop her. The stewardess looked like she was going to say something, but she merely sighed and said, "Fine, just go. You're holding up the line,"
Therese was about to get in line with the other first-class passengers to board the plane, but then she heard a very familiar voice.
"Hey, Mike, excited to go to Japan?"
"Yeah, but I'm even more excited to check out the hot Japanese babes!"
Oh, no! Therese thought panicked, stopping in her tracks, It's Mike!
And there he was- Mike Fawro- standing amidst about six other boys, all from her class. Dammit! I forgot that all of the St. Jude's students have to sit together! I can't sit by them- they're all way smarter than Mrs. Stephanie, and some strange boy from their class that they've never seen before is sure to be noticed! Scanning over the group of boys, Therese recognized them all- and was sure that if she sat by them, they would all recognize her.
Therese was very social at St. Jude's, and like to be involved in many different activities. Though her best friend, Lana, was considered the princess of the school, Therese got a fair number of boys asking her on dates, usually more than once. She never accepted, though. Having a boyfriend just seemed like stress and aggravation she didn't want to deal with. All of the boys in that group had asked her out on at least several occasions, and Therese was certain that a haircut and a simple change of clothes wouldn't fool a single one of them.
Therese held back around the end of the line, until the boys had boarded the plane. Then she gave the man her ticket, got on the plane, and immediately walked to the back section until she found a few open seats. It wasn't exactly first-class, but it was better than being caught, reported, and possible kicked off the plane. Luckily, she had three seats to herself, and she sat next to the window, gazing out onto the runway, waiting nervously.
She was certain that any minute, the stewardess would check her ticket, and tell her to go up to first-class to her correct seat, or one of the boys would walk by on their way to the bathroom and spot her.
Nothing of the sort happened, and a few minutes later, Therese felt her stomach drop as the plane started to take off. Sighing deeply, Therese thanked God that everything was working out. If I can just pull this off, and I can make it to the Japanese airport without being caught, I can complete the plan and no one will be any the wiser.
The last step of what Lana titled, "Operation: Sex Change" was for Therese to make it to the airport in Japan and head straight for the bathrooms. With luck, Therese would be able to change back into a girl. That way, when the host family picked her up, she could say that the program made a mistake, and she was actually the student who was supposed to stay with them, instead of "Thomas Rouna".
I hope they're not too disappointed that a girl will be staying with them instead of the boy they're expecting. I don't think they will be- just a little startled. I mean, it's not really that big of a deal, right?
Therese silently thanked Lana, and for a moment she was filled with sadness at the thought that she wouldn't see her best friend for a whole year. It was all because of her that this worked out. I never would have thought of such a flawless plan. Therese also made a mental note to write Lana at least once a week, and to send her all sorts of Japanese goodies.
I'm on my way, she thought, to a whole new adventure. A new school, new language, new country, new family…Hmm…The family…wonder what they're like? I never really looked at that information Mrs. Stephanie gave me on my host family…Now, where'd I put it?
Therese dug through her bag until the found the sheets, and she scanned it quickly before she found a page titled, "Host Family Information". Therese looked through it to try and learn about her new family, and thought about what the family was like.
Their family name is "Sohma". I wonder if there is more than one family named Sohma. It could just be that sort of name, like Smith, or something.
Okay, so it says that there's one adult, some guy named…uh...Sugar Ray? Well- I'll figure out how to say his name later- and he's...some sort of…novelist! Hey, that's cool! But it doesn't say anything about a mother…Maybe he's a widower or something…
Okay- kids. There are three kids, and all my age, too! How about that!
There's a girl…um.. Toh…Toorrr…Tohru Honda- okay, I got her name- but she doesn't have the same last name. Wonder what that's all about? Maybe this Tohru chick is Shiger-key's niece, or something like that.
Now then- it looks like this Shiggorey character has two sons. Now let's see if I can say their names…Uh- this guy…Kay-yo…um…Kro-eyo? No..lemme think…Kyo! There we go- this isn't so bad. That guy is Kyo Sohma, then and this other one…. hm…Yew-key? Yuki? Hm- Kyo and Yuki Sohma. They sound like quite a pair. I bet they're the best of friends!
Damn- three guys in the house? That's a little…creepy. Especially with just that one girl there. But I'm sure there's gotta be some explanation. I just wish there could be a mom or something- just some sort of feminine influence. Guys can get pretty stupid, and they really tick me off sometimes. But I can't jump to conclusions. Japanese culture is smothered with manners, right? The guys there will probably be way more polite than in America.
Now it says here that this Yuki guy is the Student Host- wow, look at that list of clubs! He's really involved, isn't he? And he's the student body president? His grades are top-notch, too. He's gotta be way popular. He sounds like a pretty likeable guy- we actually have a lot in common, school-wise. He must be really cool, that kinda guy that's comfortable in just about any situation and makes friends really easily. He probably has tons of friends! It looks like he's just a real easy guy to talk to and get along with. I'm sure we'll hit it off real quick.
It doesn't say anything about that Kyo kid, though. Maybe he's not really into school activities. He must be that quiet, shy type that likes to sorta be by himself. I can see that- especially since his brother, Yuki, is so involved. They must be almost total opposites, but together, they make a great team and they work together really well. I can picture it now- quiet, thoughtful Kyo, and happy-go-lucky Yuki.
I wonder what the other two are like- Tohru and..um..Shi..Shigure. Shigure's a novelist, so he's probably pretty soft-spoken and solemn, too. I don't really know what to make of Tohru. Oh, well, I'll meet her soon enough. I hope she and I become really good friends! It'll be weird without Lana around, but at least if there's one girl there, I won't be so lonely, right?
"It's finally happening….My great adventure…I'm finally…on my way…" Therese yawned, shutting her eyes and falling fast asleep.
My Two Cents: YAY! I really like this chappie! I hope you like it, too. Let me thank all of the readers of this story for their encouragement and support. It makes me just want to keep writing forever and ever. I especially like all of Therese's pre-conceived notions about what Kyo and Yuki are like. I've been wanting to do something like that for a while. But how will she react when she sees how the Sohmas really are? And will her plan really work out at the airport? I'll give you three guesses…
