Forgotten Flower (tm)

Author's Note: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! I FORGOT KAZUMA! GOMEN NASAI! ...ok... sorry. Let's just...pretend...that Kazuma was bidding Tohru farwell that day. Ok? Ok.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. At all. Not the mangas or anything. Just this story.

Chapter 3-School

"Bye, Grandpa! See you after school!"

Tohru walked out of the house with a smile on her face. Her school uniform was clinging to her in the cold as she hurried to get to Kaibara High School. Her chestnut hair trailed behind her, some strands falling onto her eyes which she quickly brushed away. It was now autumn in her Senior year. At orientation, the students were introduced as the role models of the school. It seemed that time was flashing by so quickly. She vividly remembered meeting Uo-chan and Hana-chan; the night her mother passed away; living in a tent. The strange thing was that she couldn't remember much after that. Of course she couldn't forget when her aunt, uncle and cousin earned enough money to move into another house and when she got a raise on her job cleaning the building she worked in. But some part of her told her she was missing crucial parts of her life. She quickly shook off that thought and reminded herself to be grateful about everything she had. She absentmindedly checked her watch and realized that she only had 5 minutes left to get to school.

"Aaaaaah! I'm going to be late!"

Tohru quickly ran the rest of the way to school, forgetting what she had been thinking and not noticing the house she passed on the way.

Yuki Sohma was in a mess that morning. He burned the breakfast he had made for himself, he couldn't find his coat in the heap of mess in the house and he was running late for school because Kyo had challenged him to another fight that morning. As if he wasn't already stressed enough. If he was popular before, it was nothing compared to how he was now. Not only is he on student council, but in his senior year of high school. He couldn't get through an hour without being chased down the hall and risking having his secret being revealed. This was even more of a problem now, since no one has ever found out about the zodiac curse since he was just a kid.

"Aaaaaah! I'm going to be late!"

Yuki jumped as someone yelled outside. He turned to the window and soon after sighed in relief as he saw who had yelled. It was that girl from his school that sometimes passed this way. He never remembered seeing her before this year walking by, but then again, he didn't remember much from the year before. The silver haired teen grabbed his bag and headed towards the door. If she was late, chances are he was too.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, YOU DAMN GIRLY RAT!"

Yuki moved just in time for Kyo to come bursting into the room, breaking the door and running towards school.

"I'LL BE ABLE TO GET THERE BEFORE YOU..."

CRASH!

As could've been predicted, Kyo ran head-first into the unexpected Tohru, knocking her down a hill and leaving himself face first in the ground. But with Tohru at the bottom of the hill, when Kyo looked up, no one was there. What the hell did I just run into? He thought to himself.

"Stupid cat." Yuki said as he breezed by. "What did you do, trip over your own two feet?" A vein throbbed in Kyo's head.

"SHUT UP, YOU DAMN RAT! I KNOCKED INTO SOMETHING!"

"Oh, really? And did it run away to go meet the tooth fairy?"

"STOP BEING SO SMUG! I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!"

And soon, the two animals were arguing all the way to school. Meanwhile, Tohru was climbing up the hill, rubbing her sore head.
What on earth was that?

Once Tohru got to school, the orientation had already started. After apologizing profusely to her teachers, she took a seat in the auditorium next to Hana-chan. Uo-chan was skipping school again.

"It's not like you to be this late, Tohru." Hana-chan pointed out. They were both keeping an eye out for Megumi. He was going into his first year in Kaibara High School. (A/N: I don't know how old Megumi is, so let's just say about 3-4 years younger than Hana-chan.)

"I'm sorry," Tohru whispered, since the people in front of them were getting annoyed, "I guess I lost track of time on the way to school. I've had a lot on my mind lately." She gave her friend a small smile. "But please don't worry about me." Hana hid her concern. She remembered everything like it was yesterday.

"Tohru's mind was getting too over-worked because of the Sohma family problems, so we relieved her." The young doctor said.

"Relieved her! What's that supposed to mean?" Uo raged. Hana was the only thing stopping her from killing the man.

"She'll be exactly as she was before, with no memory of her time with the Sohma's," he explained, "We've discussed this with her grandfather. Everything will be back as it was."

"And what good is that?" Uo yelled, "If you really knew her, really watched her and how she got along with other people, you would know that those two guys made her truly happy! As happy as she was before her mother's death! And how can you take that away from her?" Hana's words were lost in her throat. She knew it was all true, but she could also sense that deep caring for Tohru was inside the doctor. He hadn't wanted this.

"Come on, Uo," Hana said, "There's nothing we can do." Uo turned in shock to her friend, ready to snap back at her. But it was the tears running down Hana's eyes that stopped her from saying anything. Reluctantly, they left.

"You really don't remember anything, do you?" Hana-chan muttered under her breath. Once orientation was over, Tohru and Hana-chan met up with Uo-chan again.

"So, was it another lame and boring show the student council put up with?" Uo-chan said, not really needing an answer.

"Well, now that school's over, why don't we go back to Hana-chan's house and have some Takoyaki?" Tohru said. "That is, if it's all right with you, Hana-chan." Hana-chan simply smiled and nodded her head. Megumi joined them and the group walked together, eager for some Takoyaki.

So long, and good-bye for now!
Satsuki Anasake