Disclaimer: I don't own Fruit's Basket….
Hey peeps! This is the fastest I've ever got chapters up before in my life! COOL! Be happy and read and review!
The Forgotten
Chapter 6: Rain Check
Every time another crash of thunder came, Hatori would hold Olivia's hand tighter, as if he was afraid she'd run off like a little child. Either way it was oddly comforting. They were about half way to the main house when it started raining. At first it was just light but after five minutes it was a complete downpour. Hatori pulled Olivia under a big tree, out of the rain, and lean against it.
"Let's wait until it stops, or at least lets up. I don't want you wet. It's too cold to be raining," he sighed, shaking rain off his coat. Olivia did the same, but she was already slightly wet and very cold. Trying not to shiver, the girl pretended to be wiping water off but she was already shaking too hard to stop. The two simultaneously sat down against the large tree trunk, looking around. They were still somewhat close to Shigure's and hadn't yet got off the forest path. Olivia tucked her knees to her chin, trying to cover herself with her long black coat. She closed her eyes and concentrated on not shivering.
'Oh no, she's cold again' Hatori thought as he glanced at the shaking girl. Thinking of how to keep her warm, the doctor found himself slightly cold as well.
'Livee, stop shivering! Concentrate!' Olivia scolded herself. 'Maybe if I concentrate on something else I won't notice the cold as much. Hnn…I know! I'll write a poem, or think a poem really, since I have no pen and no paper.' She thought for a moment more before whispering lines of a poem to herself. The doctor heard her whispering but couldn't tell what she was saying.
"Olivia, what are you whispering?" he looked at her curiously. She opened her eyes, embarrassed.
"Sorry, I was trying to write a poem…"
"Could you say it louder?" he asked shyly. She was surprised; the girl thought for sure he was going to ask her to say it in her head.
"Oh, sure, um, I'll start over." She stammered nervously. Taking a minute to re-think the first few lines, she closed her eyes and recited her poem, taking time every once and a while to think of the next line.
"Once I wished,
I wished to be free,
When they locked me away,
And destroyed everything me,
I wished for a window,
To see the stars in the sky,
But I'm better off without one,
Keeps me from aiming too high,
For what can I be?
Locked in this cage,
Who can I become?
With all this rage,
To never know freedom,
Is a sorry thing,
But it keeps you from wanting,
What freedom can bring,
Sitting here now,
Counting the nights I've cried
I realize it's true,
I'm only lonely inside,
My reflection doesn't show,
All that I've endured,
This prison doesn't give me,
The rights I'm ensured,
It does no good to cry,
It does no good to whine,
Through the dark of night,
Starlight softly pines,
I lean out the bars,
Of the hole in the wall,
Where I can see buildings,
Guessing that they're tall,
For I can't see the tops,
Nor stars in the air,
I still wish upon them,
Just knowing they are there,
And knowing gives me comfort,
Something I can't explain,
In knowing I find wisdom,
No wishes to obtain,
I dream of sweet freedom,
A beautiful place of my own,
But I open my eyes here,
And I'm no longer home,
The keepers of my cell,
Don't even know my name,
They come and go quietly,
Hating without shame,
As I stare at these bricks,
Not gazing off too far,
I make my silent pleas,
And wish upon a star."
Hatori listened with interest, liking how differently it flowed when someone said it, rather then if he had read it. And Olivia really made it flow nicely; each word seemed to fit almost perfectly. It was hard to believe she was making it up as she went. Realizing she had stopped, the man looked over at her. She still had the same serene look on her face as she did when she was speaking, like she had gone off into some alternate dimension.
"That was beautiful, do you write a lot of poetry?" he complimented her, watching her silver eyes change teal and she snapped back into reality.
"Oh, thank you." Olivia blushed before answering his question. "Yes, I write whenever I find time, when I'm not in class or symphony, or at track. But a lot of time when I'm not there, I'm doing homework, practicing, training or working." She sighed. "I can't wait until winter break. Then I'll only have work and symphony, we perform a lot during the holiday season."
"Symphony?" She nodded at his question.
"Yes, I play in my University's Symphony Orchestra. It's mainly violins, violas, cellos and string bass' but we have a small band and a pianist."
"What do you play?" Hatori asked curiously and she smiled. 'She did say she played in an orchestra in High School,' he thought remembering when she was sick.
"I play viola, the clef has a softer tone and a nice ring, it doesn't screech, it's not too low, and it shifts to treble clef, like piano."
"You play piano?" Hatori looked over at her. She nodded,
"Yeah, I'm a music student," the girl smiled, casting her eyes downward.
"And a writer." The doctor added. She blushed and nodded, still looking down. The rain was still coming down really hard, leaving the two Sohmas stranded under the tree.
"I don't mean to sound nosy, doctor, but the picture in your office, is she your girlfriend? She's very pretty." Olivia asked, breaking the silence. When he sighed and didn't answer, she knew she had hit too close to home. Finally his answer came, in a sad and shaky voice.
"No, not anymore. We were going to get married but, something…happened." Looking down he added "but that was almost two years ago now." Having regained his composure, he looked up again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up, I shouldn't have, I'm sorry-" she stammered, "Really, it wasn't my place to be asking such things, I'm sorry,-"
"You apologize too much," he scoffed, smiling slightly.
"Sor-" she stopped herself from apologizing again and returned the smile.
"It looks like we might be stuck here until dinner," Hatori commented sarcastically, gazing at the sky. Olivia laughed shyly,
"You really think so?" she smiled. He smiled again, a little less reserved then before and shrugged.
"Maybe, I hope not though, it's cold."
"We could wait for the rain to let up a little and run into town, maybe we could find a book store or a coffee shop to wait it out in. you know, somewhere warm?" the girl suggested, shivering again.
"That's a good idea, so far the rain has only let up for short periods of time. How fast can you run, Olivia?" the doctor asked her, smirking.
"I can run a mile in six minutes and seven seconds," she challenged, a sly smile settling on her slender face.
"Would you bet on that time?" he raised an eyebrow. She nodded.
"Yes I would, doctor."
"Well let's put that to the test, come on, now's our chance," he grabbed her hand and the two ran along the path for about two minutes before they got into town. They found a window table. The warm air enveloped them as they slipped off their wet coats and sat down.
"This is much warmer," the wolf sighed comfortably. Hatori nodded.
"Yes, good idea by the way."
"Thank you," she blushed. Again he nodded.
"You are a fast runner," the doctor rested his head on his hands. "I suppose I owe you a coffee then, decaf or regular?"
"Why would you owe me anything?" she asked him innocently, remembering the bet. He smiled, catching her fake innocence.
"Our bet remember? Or have you forgotten, Ms. Sohma?"
"Ah yes, my 6:07 mile run, correct?" Olivia cocked an eyebrow. Hatori shook his head at her, the small smile still on his face.
"Do you want regular or decaf?"
"It's nice to be a little hyped up on caffeine every once and a while," she said, shrugging a shoulder. He got up and pushed in his chair, turning to go. "Oh, Hatori?" she stopped him.
"Yes?" he turned back to face her.
"Thank you," the girl said, meaning it. He nodded, still unable to shake the smile off.
'What is going on with me?' Hatori thought as he waited for their drinks. 'I haven't smiled this much in a long time.' He glanced over at Olivia. 'There's definitely something a bout this girl,' she caught his eye, waved, and smiled. He waved back and grabbed their coffee before returning to sit down. They talked and drank their coffee, looking for an opportunity to go home, but the rain never let up enough. They sat for almost three hours, before deciding to show up early for dinner.
Somehow they made it back to Shigure's without getting too wet. Hatori hung up their coats and went to tell Shigure they were there while Olivia tired to wipe some water off, and get rid of the ridiculous smile on her face. She heard the pitter patter of little feet and a cry of joy.
"Ha'ri!" the little voice called excitedly.
"Momiji, what are you doing here?" came the doctor's startled response.
"Haru and I came over with Yuki; we found his student council at the library and dragged him home! Silly Yuki was doing school work on a weekend!" Momiji giggled.
"Oh so Hatsuharu's here as well?"
"Yep!" the voice chirped. "Ha'ri, where's Olivia? Shi-chan said she was with you,"
"How did you hear about her, Momiji?" Hatori asked, a sliver of worry in his voice.
"Oh, Yuki said something and then Shi-chan told us about her when Haru and I got here! Don't worry Ha'ri, I don't think Akito knows." Momiji explained happily. "So, where is she?" Hatori sighed.
"She's in the entry hall but leave her be for now, go tell Shigure we're here, please." Came his answer.
"Oh, you're no fun Ha'ri," Momiji whined s he slumped off to find Shigure. Olivia took this as her chance to come out. Hatori was standing in the back of the living room and the girl walked over and stood next to him, a few feet away from the kitchen door.
"Who's Momiji?" She asked.
"Year of the rabbit, and Hatsuharu, or Haru for short, is year of the ox." The man told her.
"Oh so they're Sohmas too," she commented, looking over. He nodded. As if on cue the short blonde Sohma opened the kitchen door and poked his head in.
"Ha'ri, Shigure said-OLIVIA!" the boy exclaimed. Running through the door and jumping up to hug her, Momiji successfully knocked her backwards. Hatori reached out to catch her, but Momiji (who was clinging to Olivia's waist) caused a great unbalance and they all fell down. The doctor was able to keep the girl's head from hitting the ground so his arm was around her shoulders and her head was resting on his chest. They were somewhat overlapped, with Olivia's right let draped over his left and Momiji still clinging to her waist. Of course Shigure and Haru picked this exact moment to walk into the living room. Momiji let go of Olivia and sat up onto his knees. Shigure smiled.
"Getting a little frisky there, Ha'ri?" the dog teased, holding back laughter.
"Shigure," the doctor sighed, easing up into a sitting position. He stood and reached a hand out for Olivia, who gladly took it.
"I'm sorry, you aren't hurt are you Olivia?" Momiji looked up at her with big light brown eyes. She smiled at him and shook her head.
"I'm fine, Momiji." The rabbit smiled back,
"Hooray! Now we can go play, come on, let's find Tohru!" he grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her off upstairs.
"So that's Olivia I take it?" Haru shrugged.
"Indeed it is," Shigure piped. "Lovely isn't she?" Hatori shook his head at the dog's foolishness. "She really has nice-"
"Shigure!" the doctor cut him off.
"What?" the man asked innocently, "I was going to say eyes."
"Sure you were Shigure," Haru said casually. Shigure was appalled.
"Must you always accuse me of such dishonorable thoughts and intentions?"
"No, really, we believe you," the ox smiled lazily. The dog pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. Hearing Kyo yell at Momiji and Olivia snap at Kyo, Haru left to go save Olivia and Tohru from Momiji and to save Momiji from Kyo. This left Shigure and Hatori in the living room and soon they sat down and got to talking.
"So, what did you and Olivia do since we last saw you?" the dog asked playfully.
"Well we never really made it home," Hatori complied.
"Just couldn't keep off each other aye?" Shigure winked. The doctor glared at him. "Sorry, couldn't resist, but really Hatori, what is going on between you two?"
"Shigure! Haru went black!" Momiji's cry followed a loud crash.
"My poor house," Shigure cringed, getting up and stalking towards the hallway. He turned back to Hatori. "Think about your answer, Haa-san, there's definitely some chemistry between you and Olivia, and you can't deny it." Then he quickly ran up the stairs to stop the destruction of his house. Hatori smiled.
"No, I can't."
Review Replies
BloodFlavoredDoghnutsRoxMySox: Lol thanks for the review, don't let the thunder get to ya, I was like hnn… I need to find a way for them to hold hands cuz there's nothing else to do with this chapter so I'm like ahha! She can be afraid of thunder! Ha computer skills 15 minute long thunderstorm… cool lol
Peeka-chan: Dude, Olivia was flipping because you didn't invite her to the Seder; I know you invited me I wasn't that- never mind… Anyhow thanks for reviewing! I'll see you tomorrow at Midrasha! THE LAST ONE! We have to find time to get together during the stupid summer Growl I hate summer…COOKIES!
AraelMoonChild: Yup! She's all good. Isn't it more interesting when they dig each other? I think so! So thanks for your wonderful review! So glad to have readers who like my work! It's so awesome! Keep reading!
Oh and sorry to anyone who reviewed after I posted this but yeah… I posted early and most of you probably won't be checking for another year or so for my updates…then you'll have two chapters to read! Lol review!
-The Water Sprite