Disclaimer: I'm just an 8th grade student who's best friend got her into Furuba and who has way too much time on her hands. If I owned Furuba…you don't want to know what'd happen if I owned Furuba. But I'm thinking yaoi. And maybe marmosets…
Tohru pranced up the steps of the Souma house the next morning, wearing her school uniform, and her schoolbag hung from her left shoulder. The brunette knocked sharply on the frame of the door, and called, "Yuki-kun! Kyo-kun!"
Several seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Yuki, looking far more conscious then he had in her previous encounter with him. He greeted her. "Good morning, Honda-san."
She smiled. "Good morning, Sohma-kun! Is Kyo-kun almost ready?"
A wry look came into the teenage boy's violet eyes. "I believe the baka neko is currently yelling at Shigure for finishing the last of the milk last night. But on a more serious note, did you really sleep-walk to the kitchen last night without knowing, or was that just a dream?"
Tohru blushed. "Unless we dreamed the same thing, I think I did. Gomen, again!"
He raised one hand dismissively, and said, "It's no problem, I was just wondering whether that had actually happened or not. Let's get going, we don't want to be late."
"Shouldn't we wait for Kyo-kun?" The girl tilted her head. That same strange quality still seemed to be apparent in Yuki, but now it was lesser, simply a faint tug in the back of her mind instead of a clearly visible question. Tohru tried to remember exactly what had changed about Yuki in that brief flash from last night, but although she wracked her memories, she couldn't precisely name it. Rats are all right for eating if there is no other food available, but they are not appropriate right now, when plants are plentiful. Besides, he's different, he is also human. Humans aren't for eating.
What? That voice again! But, no, this voice was different. It was slower, less musical then any of the voices from her dream."I suppose," her friend was saying now. Yuki, noticing her faraway look, met her eyes with his own to draw her attention back to reality. With some concern, he questioned, "Honda-san? Are you all right?"
Tohru snapped back to the present. She laughed nervously, and proclaimed, "Of course! I was just daydreaming. I apologize, Yuki-kun." The rat Sohma looked at her skeptically. Thankfully, she was saved from further questioning as Kyo stomped through the doorway.
The cat Sohma growled softly, "Damn inu, I specifically told him not to touch the milk," He slammed the door shut, and swung his own schoolbag over his shoulder. "Well, let's go. If I'm late again, Sensei will give me detention."
"Like you'd even go," Yuki replied snidely.
Kyo whirled fiercely to face his cousin, and snapped, "Shut it, nezumi!"
Just to infuriate the redhead even further, Yuki raised an eyebrow and asked, "And if I don't?" Tohru groaned inwardly. Couldn't those two ever get through a morning without snapping at each other's throats?
Kyo snarled, and his fist lunged towards Yuki's face. Yuki blocked the blow with one hand, and with the other sent a swift hit to the side of Kyo's head. Caught unawares, Kyo staggered sideways. He retaliated with a fierce, slashing strike that caught Yuki in the ribs. But as he took the blow, the rat Sohma reared back, and Tohru watched sympathetically as Kyo was thrown off the sidewalk by Yuki's straight kick. The cat was up again in several seconds, but the fight had been settled.
Tohru's smile returned as she saw that only Kyo's pride has been injured. The redhead fumed silently for several seconds, then settled for glaring at Yuki as he rejoined the other two. They began walking in the direction of the school. Although Yuki didn't gloat verbally, Tohru saw the satisfied gleam in his eyes.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Tohru turned to Kyo and queried, "Kyo-kun, do you remember what page we were supposed to do for math homework? I completely forgot to do it! I'll have to get it done during poetry class."
His head jerked up. But her ploy had worked, he'd snapped out of the sullen silence that usually took place after a loss to Yuki. "Hm? Oh yeah, I've got it here," Kyo took the strap of his bookbag off his shoulder and began to dig through the bag's main pocket. "Got it done during history yesterday." He showed her the assignment.
"Arigatou, Kyo-kun!" Tohru took out a scrap of paper and scribbled down the page number; she really hadn't gotten the math homework done last night. Something occurred to her. "Wait…weren't we supposed to taking notes in history yesterday, on the chapter Sensei was reading outloud?"
"Probably," Kyo replied without concern. Thankfully, his cousin chose not to comment.
However, several minutes later as they turned a corner into the school's parking lot, Yuki commented, "It looks like you've gained some friends at your level of intelligence, baka neko."
Kyo looked over his shoulder to glare at the violet-eyed Sohma. "What are you talking about now, you damn ne-" He broke off in mid-sentence, however, when he spotted the 4 cats that were tagging at his heels. The orange-haired Sohma halted dead in his tracks, and so did the 4 felines. One let out a high-pitched meow while another padded at Kyo's pants leg with a paw. "UGH! Get away!" He swatted fiercely at the cats, to absolutely no avail. A particularly bold calico kitten jumped onto Kyo's shoulder, purring loudly. "GET OFF!" With a growl, he swept the kitten off his shoulder and bolted towards the school doors. The cats, looking dejected, scattered.
Tohru said with bemusement, "That's the first time I've ever seen Kyo-kun eager to get into the school. We'd better hurry, too. We don't want to be late!" She grabbed Yuki's hand and pulled him through the school's doorway. However, as they quickly walked to their first class, the rat Sohma suddenly froze. With surprising roughness, he grabbed Tohru's shoulder and pulled her back to keep her from entering the corridor their class was located in.
She looked at him with surprise. "Yuki-kun? What was that for?" He didn't respond in words, but gestured to the left of the corridor. She glanced down it, then pulled back just in time to avoid being mown down by three members of Yuki's self-proclaimed "Fan Club" who were stampeding down the hall.
After they passed, Yuki said with both exasperation and amusement, "In the art of self-preservation, you learn to avoid them."
"Hai." She replied cheerfully. As the pretty brunette slipped into the classroom, she glanced briefly at Yuki, half-hoping the other presence would comment, so she could get some clue of exactly which way she was going insane. But the bizarre voices that had appeared the night before and this morning apparently didn't have anything helpful to say.
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"It will not work, Lone One."
"No being is that pure. If not this, then somehow I will find a way to get to the girl."
"Perhaps, Lone One. Or perhaps she is special. Immune to even your power. Perhaps she is proof purity does exist."
"The proof of purity is its ability to be contaminated. Black does not absorb black. But drip black ink onto the finest snow-white paper, and it will stain. And once it does, you can clean all you wish, but the stain never completely goes away. I will find a way to break her."
"We will see, Lone One. We, will see."
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Kyo twitched suddenly as he sat at his desk, shaking his head nervously. The girl behind him looked up from her horror novel and glanced at him inquisitively. Actually doing his homework for a change of pace must not be as healthy as it was supposed to be. Now he was hearing voices inside his mind. That probably wasn't a positive sign when it came to analyzing your mental state. And the Sohmas didn't need another bi-polar psycho in the family. The cat chuckled inwardly. Nah, they had Haru to cover that department.
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A hush fell over Room 1-D's occupants as the morning bell's ring pierced their ears, signaling the beginning of the first class. Two girls, one of whom had frantically been copying their history homework from the other before class began, jumped guiltily and hurried to their seats. A brown-haired boy dug through his desk and cursed under his breath as he realized he'd left his stash of pens inside his backpack. The teacher rose from her desk and picked up a pile of papers. As she began to hand them out to the front row of the classroom so that they'd be passed to the back, there was a loud squeal of protest from the rickety door as it was opened forcefully. Both students and teacher glanced up as a girl skidded into the classroom breathlessly.
Her sides heaved as she came to a halt by the teacher's desk. She wore not the standard school uniform, but powder blue jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a light-blue base and flowing navy-blue sleeves. A long indigo sash of a belt circled her waist, and the blue outfit was shattered only by a pair of beaten sneakers that might have been white, once. The girl's long, tawny hair lay in a thick mane down to her ribs, an occasional strand flying wildly in a random direction from the main mass of hair. Apparently unaware she'd committed any sort of felony, she handed a sheet of typed paper to the surprised teacher and announced, "I think I'm in the right room. Room 1-D, right? I'm a new student. My name's Kate Davis!" Her voice trilled up and down the musical scale like a cat walking upon the keys of a piano. She spoke brokenly, as if not accustomed to the Japanese language.
Several murmurs of laughter rippled throughout the room at the girl's strange name. Every gaze but the teacher's, who now was studying the transcripts from the school office, lay upon the new student with both curiosity and hostility, wondering what this strange new female was doing in their territory while vigorously violating the school's dress code and obviously unskilled in the Japanese tongue.
Their sensei straightened, and placed the girl's papers on her own desk. She told her firmly, "Very well, Davis-san. Please take the third row seat second from my right. After you collect your school uniform and change into it."
The girl's expression fell slightly, almost as if she were pouting. But she still inclined her head and replied respectfully, "Yes, Sensei-sama."
Room 1-D's teacher scanned her room for a moment. Her eyes landed on Tohru. "Honda-san, will you please show Davis-san to the girls' locker room?" To Kate, she said, "I will leave your textbook on your desk. You do have pens and paper, correct?" Kate nodded, gesturing quickly with one hand to the purple bookbag that hung over her shoulder. "Good. Return quickly."
Tohru rose from her seat and walked over to the door as Kate slipped into the hallway. The pretty brunette chattered merrily to the new student, "I'm Tohru! Did you just move here? You have such a strange name, are you from another country? I couldn't help but noticing your outfit, it's very pretty!" Pausing for a moment, Tohru noticed that Kate was singing softly under her breath in English. Though Tohru couldn't understand the words, the melody was quick and cheerful.
For the first time, Kate met her gaze. The new student tossed her head, making her long golden mane swirl in the air commandingly. She laughed, "I know, in a way, any name can be strange, I'm not from here, and thank you. In that order. I can't believe you have to wear uniforms here. So where is the girls' locker room?"
But as even as she showed the stranger the way to the locker room, Tohru once again was thrown off mentally. When the girl had met her gaze, she'd gotten a full picture of the girl's eyes for the first time. They'd been blue. Just a simple grey-ish blue. And yet…
Laughing blue-grey…Somehow those eyes were very similar. Had she seen them before, in the eyes of another? Had it been a dream? Or had they never existed anywhere at all but in the foggiest realms of her mind, appearing in the corner of her eye as she slept and yet vanishing if she ever turned for a closer look?
As she waited patiently outside the changing room, Tohru shook her head with both worry and bemusement. The only definite preposition here, she decided, is that I need to get more sleep. My mind's acting as delirious as Shigure when he's daydreaming about…well, I'm not sure whether I want to know what he daydreams about.
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"Please?" begged Shigure, dogging Kyo's footsteps as the redhead made his way up the Sohma driveway.
He snarled, "No!"
"Please?" Shigure persisted.
"No!"
The dog Sohma was silent for several seconds. Then he tried again hopefully, "Please?"
Fangs flashing against his lips, Kyo bounded up the steps and shouted, "NO!" He slammed the door in the 27-year-old's face.
Sighing exasperatedly, Shigure turned, leaned against the doorframe, and pouted for several seconds. Then realization hit him. "Wait…wait I live here too!" With a whuff of amusement, he whirled and opened the door, slipping off his shoes as he stepped inside the Sohma house.
Humming a very off-key tune, Shigure gamboled down the corridor on a path to the kitchen. He'd spent the better portion of the day helping his editor polish a manuscript that would begin printing in a couple weeks. Mind, when Shigure said he was "helping" someone, it usually meant getting in the way and making pointless comments, or hanging around and informing them of all the things they were doing wrong. More often, it was a combination of both these strategies, such as his version of "helping" had been on that day's occasion.
Absent-mindedly, he took stock of the house's residents. Call it his canine side barking, but Shigure liked to keep track of where each family member was. Besides, he was responsible for the three teenagers. He loved pups, of any shape, form, or size. Particularly cute female pups…
Pervert.
Shigure looked over his shoulder. Who'd said that, Yuki or Kyo? Wait a minute, he hadn't said that out loud. At least, he didn't think so. Ah well, he could be wrong. The writer shrugged, and continued down the hall. He wasn't one to worry about many things. His instincts told him to worry about writer's block, serious bodily wounds, and anything that interrupted food or sleep. He was not at all impressed by a mysterious voice that spoke without making sound.
The dog Sohma mused to himself, Well, Kyo's got to be either sulking on the roof right now or pounding the heck out of some unfortunate tree. Judging by the smells, Tohru's in the kitchen. So where's Yuki-kun gone off to?
"So what was the baka neko yowling about now?" Shigure yelped in surprise, and jumped several feet off the floor. He spun to face Yuki, who'd spoken from the hallway behind him.
"Don't sneak up on people like that!" he exclaimed, mostly annoyed that he hadn't heard Yuki come up behind him. Yuki just narrowed his eyes. The violet orbs glittered, a silent message that said Give Me My Answer Now, And I Won't Break Your Arm In Three Different Places. Shigure blew his bangs upward, just to be aggravating, before finally relenting, "I was asking him if he'd be willing to go grocery-shopping for the house. We're running low on…" Shigure thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Actually, it'd be better to ask what we're not running low on."
Yuki replied flatly, "You should've told him that the only thing we had left in the fridge was leeks. He'd have been gone within seconds."
Shigure slapped his hand to his forehead and winced. He grumbled good-naturedly, "Now why didn't I think of that? Speaking of food, what's Tohru-kun making for dinner tonight? I imagine she had a hard time finding enough of any one type of food to make a meal."
"I'm not sure. But it smells like she's making fish." Yuki turned and disappeared down the hallway. Shigure licked his lips, pleased at the prospect of fish for dinner, and trotted into the kitchen. "Hello, Tohru-kun! I just got back from-"
His sentence was punctuated with a short yelp as Tohru, who had been walking across the kitchen with a container of oregano in one hand (presumably to mix in with the white fish she was cooking), rammed into his chest. There was a flash of smoke. Resignedly, Shigure looked over his shoulder at the long black tail that now curled over his haunches. Now in his dog form, he shifted his coal-black paws and picked up his clothes with his muzzle.
Shigure looked around, expecting to see Tohru kneeling apologetically, babbling a string of apologies at having turned him to his dog form. To his surprise, she was absent. Her smell had been replaced by a scent that was a mixture of bamboo, thick fur, and the warm smell that pertained to land mammals.
With shock, he glanced down at the floor in front of him, his tail straightened with astonishment. The small animal that had replaced Tohru opened its mouth, perhaps in an attempt to speak. But all that escaped was a miserable wail.
Author's Note: After finally reading Volume 1 of the manga (I plan to go read Volume 2 after I put this up. I finally got around to going to the bookstore and getting them! dances), I realized all the mistakes I made in Chapter 1, so I fixed it. Hopefully I got all of them.Y'all wanna know what animal I picked out, don't you? Come on, admit it, you want to know. Well, you'll all just have to wait for Chapter 3. Don't worry, it's a good one, and no amount of guessing from you reviewers is going to be successful. Feel free to try, though, if only for the author's amusement. If any of you actually get it before I put up Chapter 3, you'll have…um…(looks around) A cookie! If you don't like cookies…well who doesn't like cookies? Please review!