Disclaimer: Fruits Basket in no way belongs to me. It belongs to Natsuki Takaya
a/n: thanks for the reviews. just to let you know, reviews motivate me to write more and update.
a/n: this is king of au. And I have a couple of my own characters in this fic.
a/n: the title has nothing to do with the fic if you're wondering
Now let's begin…
Chapter 2
"…and that's it for our lesson today," the sensei finished while closing her book. "Feel free to mingle in the classroom. Just don't get too loud. And don't forget to clean up before you leave! cough I must be coming down with something…" She left the room.
"Time for…," Hanajima reached into her desk. Her eyes held a glint. Everyone in the room held their breath. "Dai Hin Min." She flashed a deck of cards. Everyone, minus Ookami Karasu, cheered.
Suddenly the sensei slid open the door, "I SAID BE QUIET!" She then slammed the door shut.
After their initial shock, a few students gathered around Saki's desk to play.
"Yuki-kun, are you going to play?" Tohru asked.
Yuki smiled softly, "Maybe just one game. Then I have to go to student council." He pulled up a chair.
"If the kuso nezumi is playing, I'm playing too! This is just one more thing I'll beat him at!" Kyo exclaimed while roughly pulling up a chair.
"Baka neko, you never beat me."
"You wanna fight!"
"I don't see the point, but if it'll force some sense into that thick skull of yours…"
Tohru sweatdropped, "Eheheh…" She gave a nervous smile. They were always fighting. She started to imagine them actually getting along.
Kyo and Yuki were holding hands.
"Kyo, I'm so sorry for always beating you and throwing you into walls…"
"I'm sorry I keep on annoying you."
"Can we be friends?"
"I'd like nothing more!"
Kyo and Yuki hugged.
Tohru stopped imagining. She decided it would be really odd and farfetched to see the two cousins acting that way. She looked around the room while the cards were being dealt. She spotted Karasu sitting alone at his desk reading a book. From where she sat, the title looked like Juuni Kokki. The book had scary pictures on the cover. She stood up and weaved her way around all the desks to get to Karasu. She stood next to him and shifted nervously.
"Ano…would you like to play Dai Hin Min with us Ookami-san?" Torhu asked nervously. She didn't know how'd he react. He hadn't spoken all day, and when the sensei asked him a question, he used the least possible number of words to form his answer. He kind of reminded Tohru of Saki, in the way he spoke nonchalantly.
Karasu was in the middle of a great, action-packed part of the book he was reading when he heard someone address him. He looked up from his book to find the girl that sat in front of him in class. He briefly took in her appearance and evaluated her personality. She was a few centimeters shorter than him with dark brown hair and yellow ribbons in it. She had teal eyes that looked nervously at the ground. Even though she was obviously nervous, she held a genuine smile. Karasu guessed she was that shy girl in every school that always tried to be kind to everyone. She was the first student all day that approached him and talked to him directly. Karasu simply stared at her for a few seconds with those piecing green eyes of his.
Tohru was already nervous to begin with, but now she was freaked out. She started fidgeting. The boy, Karasu, had been staring at her silently for what seemed like forever to her. Many of the students in the room stopped what they were doing to watch the new student and Tohru interact. Tohru was the first person (besides the sensei) to actually talk to the Ookami kid.
Yuki and Kyo were also watching the two. Yuki watched curiously while Kyo glared daggers at the boy. Saki stared with those blank eyes of hers. She was examining them curiously.
Uo watched also. She swears she knows the Ookami Karasu kid from somewhere (or heard of his name), but she couldn't remember where. She racked her brain for the answer but came up blank. Where, where, where have I heard of this kid…Wait! I remember now! There was this Karasu kid in my pre-school who I liked to pick on! Sure, they don't look alike or have the same last name, but that must be why that name sounded so familiar to me… Uo inwardly grinned stupidly to herself for figuring out the mystery.
Tohru's smile was beginning to falter. "Ano…" She caught Karasu's eyes with her own and started to stare rudely.
Karasu decidedly he should give the uneasy girl an answer before she fainted from nervousness. "No thank you."
Tohru realized he answered. "…okay. Well, you're welcome to join whenever you want to…" She was slightly disappointed that he refused her offer. She quickly made her way back to Saki's desk, tripping once along the way. She sat down in her seat with a huge sigh.
Karasu watched her almost flee back to the group of card playing students. He saw her trip over a backpack. He decided to add clumsy to Honda Tohru's profile.
"Hurry up and pick up your cards Tohru before I play them for you," a boy said.
"Shut up and let her take her time!" yelled Uo.
"It's fine Uo-chan. Let's begin!" Tohru exclaimed.
Yuki smiled inwardly. Tohru was back to her usual happy self.
"Loser cleans the whole classroom by their self!" One of the students declared. Thus, the game began.
About an hour later, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Yuki left to go to a student council meeting. Kyo ran around the room moving desks and pushing a broom like a maniac. He ended up losing, again. Karasu closed his book, packed it into his back pack, and left the room without a word. Prince Yuki fan club girls left to stalk Sohma Yuki. The only few still in the classroom were Kyo, Uo, Saki, and Tohru.
"Are you sure you don't need any help Kyo-kun?" Tohru aksed.
"I'm fine. I lost. I get the clean the room. It's only fair…" Kyo paused then put his foot up onto a chair and held up the broom to the ceiling. "But next time, I'll win! I'll beat that kuso nezumi!" He grinned.
"Stop grinning like an idiot Carrot Top." Uo said has she slid open the door. "Come on Tohru, Hanajimi. Let's leave before his stupidity spreads to us."
"WHAT'D YOU SAY!"
Tohru smiled, "Bye Kyo-kun. See you at home tonight!"
Outside, it started drizzling.
"Eep! I don't have an umbrella!"
"Calm down, Tohru. It's just a light shower. The weather forecast didn't even say anything about it raining today." Uo said.
"That's what happens when you rely on the average human to predict your weather." Saki said in her usual monotone.
Uo was surprised, "Eh! Hanajima, where'd you get that umbrella?" Sure enough, Saki held a black umbrella over herself.
Tohru tilted her head to the side.
"Here Tohru-chan. Take my umbrella." Saki passed the umbrella over to Tohru.
"Eh! Iei! I couldn't possibly! I'll be fine. Look, the rain is starting to stop." It was true. The shower was passing. Tohru gave Saki back her umbrella.
"Tohru! Tohru!" A certain blond-haired boy came bounding towards Tohru. Tohru panicked. It looked like Momiji was going to jump onto her. Then Saki and Uo would know about the Juunishi curse! Moments before Momiji was going to plow into Tohru, a hand shot out and grabbed onto Momiji's collar.
"Aw…Haru…." Momiji whined.
"Control yourself Momiji." Haru said before putting Momiji down.
"Hey hey! Tohru! Is it true there's a new student in your class? What's he like!" Momiji asked excitedly.
"Ano…," Tohru thought for a moment. "He's kind…"
"How would you know Tohru? He said three words to you." Uo said.
"Well, he said 'thank you'," Tohru blushed.
Uo smiled at Tohru. Then she turned to Momiji, "Well, the guy is real serious and quiet. And he has looks to almost rival the Prince."
"His waves are interesting…" Saki put in.
Momiji and Haru looked at Saki. Momiji said to no one in particular, "Interesting?"
"Yes. But not as interesting as the waves of the Sohma family…"
Haru stood there expressionless. Momiji and Tohru started laughing nervously. Uo stared at them oddly.
Momiji switched the subject, "Hey Tohru, want me to walk you to work?"
"Eh? Oh no. I'll be fine, really. I have to stop by the store to buy some things first anyway."
Tohru told Momiji.
"Oh." Momiji thought for a moment, "In that case! I'll go to Daddy's office first and start your work for you! That way, you'll still get done your work early, I can walk you home, and we can start your gift unwrapping party early!" Knowing Tohru would protest, Momiji ran off before Tohru could say anything.
"Wah! Wait! No, Momiji-kun…!" Tohru sighed, knowing the bunny was probably two blocks away already.
Haru blinked a couple of times, "Well, I'll head over the Shigure's house now." He started walking away.
"Wait, Hatsuharu-san! Why are you going to Shigure-san's house now when the party will be tonight?" Tohru was confused.
Haru responded, "It'll take me a while to get there…Bye Tohru."
Tohru mentally slapped herself. She forgot about Hatsuharu's bad sense of direction.
"Sorry about not going to your party Tohru. I have to work tonight." Uo said sadly.
"Yes, Tohru-chan. I am also very sorry I can't come. I must watch Megumi." Saki said.
"Oh no! It's fine! Uo-chan's work and Hana-chan's brother are more important. I must be going now. Bye Uo-chan! Bye Hana-chan!" Tohru started to walk away with a smile on her face.
"Bye Tohru-chan." "See you Tohru!"
Tohru went around to various shops and picked up various items. By the time she finished buying everything that she wanted, she was sure it was past 5 o'clock. She rushed to work, put her things in her locker, changed into her working clothes, and got her supplies. She discovered from her fellow workers that Momiji left already. They told her that he was so excited about something that he unintentionally annoyed some people. They also told her some tall man with dark colored hair and green eyes came to pick up Momiji. Tohru guessed that it was Hatori. Knowing Momiji went home, Tohru was very astonished when she saw that Momiji finished half her work for her already. Tohru worked diligently until 7 pm. She changed, grabbed her stuff, and walked outside.
Tohru gasped. She suddenly wished she had accepted the umbrella that Saki had offered her. It was pouring buckets outside. Tohru sighed. She tied up all of her bags to protect the things she bought from the rain. She then started the long walk back to Shigure's house through the dark and through the rain.
She had been walking for about ten minutes when she suddenly fell back and dropped her belongings.
"Ouch…" Tohru moaned. She looked up and saw a tall dark shadow standing over her. She started to panick when she saw the shadow reach into its jacket. She swears she saw the glint of metal. She panicked even more. She then looked closer the figure's face and saw that it looked familiar. The figure stopped its movement. They stared at each other for a long while until the shadow spoke.
"Oh! Sumimasen!" The shadow spoke. It held out its hand towards Tohru. She stared at it suspiciously then looked at the figure's face again.
"….O-Ookami-san?"
"Yeah?"
Tohru started to calm down. She then blushed madly and scrambled up. She bowed low to Karasu. "Sumimasen! Sumimasen for bumping into you!"
Karasu stared at her. "Um…iei. It's fine. I wasn't hurt. You were the one that fell anyway. If anything, I should be apologizing…"
Tohru stared dumbstruck. She mentally counted. Karasu just spoke about 20 words to her. That's the most she's heard from him all day!
Karasu stared curiously at the girl, "Umm….yeah…"
Tohru snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh iei! I'm so clumsy." She laughed nervously and picked her stuff up. Thank goodness that the stuff she bought today was in plastic bags. Unfornutely, her backpack wasn't so lucky to be dry. She sighed. She nervously raked her hand through her soaked hair.
Karasu noticed she was soaked to the bone. "You don't have an umbrella." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Well…iei…" Tohru blushed slightly, knowing she probably looked like a wet rat. Then she decided she just looked extremely bad, not wanting to offend Yuki.
Karasu reached into his jacket. Tohru got nervous, remembering the glint she saw. Karasu took out a tote sized umbrella and opened it up. "Here."
"Eh! Iei! I don't need it! I'm already wet and it's yours!" she shook her head violently, sending the droplets trapped in her hair flying.
"I'm fine. I don't really like umbrellas anyway, and I don't mind the rain. Plus, I have a jacket."
Karasu forced it into her hand. Tohru reluctantly accepted it.
"Don't you know it's dangerous to walk alone at night," Karasu stated. "There are a lot of crazy things going on in the shadows."
"But I always walk this way at night. I work so I get out late. I usually have Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun picking me up though."
Karasu vaguely remembers the two boys in his class that watched him all day.
"Well, I have to be going now. Bye Ookami-san!" She smiled brightly at him and started walking away.
Karasu watched her. He knew he should offer to walk her home. A girl like her should not be wandering around alone late at night. But he really really didn't want to walk her home. He had better things to do. He watched her walk away and turn towards the woods. He lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. Why would that Honda girl go into the woods. He saw her stop and look back the way she came. He saw her wave. He turned around and headed down the street away from Tohru.
Tohru waved but saw he didn't wave back. She wasn't sad though. Since Karasu was still standing in the same spot, watching her until she was going into the woods, she figured he was silently making sure she was safe. That was her logic. She watched him walk away. Under the glow of a street light, she saw the picture on his black windbreaker. It seemed to glow at her. It was the outline of a green metallic wolf. She watched Karasu until she couldn't see his form anymore. Then she went onto Sohma property and made her way towards Shigure's house.
On the way, she bumped into someone yet again. There was that all too familiar POOF. Tohru stopped and looked down to see the familiar white mouse with violet eyes.
"Honda-san! You're alright!" Tohru reached down and picked up Yuki.
"Yuki-kun! Gomenasai for bumping into you."
"It's okay Honda-san. Honda-san! You're soaked!"
"Eheheheh…" She smiled nervously. "Yeah. I kind of bumped into someone on my way home and fell into a puddle…."
Tohru continued to walk and arrived at Shigure's. Yuki transformed back and wondered how Tohru can get that wet by falling into a puddle. She looked like she went swimming in a lake with her clothes on. He didn't notice that Tohru didn't take an umbrella with her this morning. Kyo was in his moody self because of the rain. He was so tired, he didn't even yell at Tohru that much for being clumsy. Tohru herself went upstairs to shower and change before she got sick. The Juunishi and Tohru had yet another feast this week. Tohru smiled happily.
Momiji was now really really excited. "Now that that's done! Presents!" He hopped madly up and down. Everyone slowly moved to Tohru's room where the gifts were.
Tohru sat on her bed and watched them all excitedly. She's come to think of them as her family.
"Onee-san, open mines first please…" Kisa came up to her with a pretty medium-sized metallic orange gift bag. Kisa stared at Tohru with those beautiful, sweet eyes of hers.
"Kisa-chan is so kawaii!" Tohru couldn't help it. Kisa was just too cute for her. She took the gift bag and gingerly removed the tissue. She smiled and took out an orange pillow with autumn leaves and tigers on it.
"It's so kawaii just like Kisa-chan! Arigatou!" Tohru nearly squealed in delight.
Kisa blushed a little and hugged Tohru, "I made it myself at home. Ayame ojii-san taught me how to sew pillows."
Tohru placed the pillow next to her with Kisa at her other side. Momiji came to her next with two wrapped gifts. Both were small. Tohru accepted them with a bright smile and took the time to examine the wrapping paper. It was odd because it was Valentine 's Day wrapping paper.
"Eheheh…" Momiji rubbed the back of his head and smiled brightly, "I didn't have any other wrapping paper…eheheh…"
"It's okay Momiji-kun," Tohru said. She unwrapped the first gift and found it to be an alarm clock in the shape of the most adorable bunny she had ever seen (besides Momiji of course). "Kawaii! It looks just like Momiji-kun!"
"Yay! Tohru-hime likes my present!" Momiji jumped for joy and hugged Tohru. POOF. A bunny to match the alarm clock (but bigger) sat in Tohru's lap. Tohru laughed. "Open the other gift Tohru-hime before it melts!"
"Melts?" Tohru repeated.
"Must you repeat what the rabbit says. It's not really necessary you know." Hiro stated. "And Momiji, why would you even wrap something that could melt. That's not very smart. What would happen if she did not open her gifts until next week, and Japan has a sudden heat wave. Would the melted liquid soak through the box and ruin everything?"
Momiji began to feel bad and his bunny ears drooped.
"Hiro-kun, why don't you be nice…" Kisa said softly.
Hiro immediately shut up. "…gomen…." He looked away.
Tohru quickly opened the gift and discovered it to be a white chocolate bunny. "Yum! It's kawaii and it tastes good! Arigatou Momiji!"
Momiji was really happy. Then POOF! A naked blond-haired boy was sitting in Tohru's lap and hugging Tohru.
Kyo, even in his tired state, yelled, "Baka!" He grabbed Momiji by his ear and pulled him off. "Go put on some clothes!"
Tohru had fallen off her bed and looked flustered. She stood up and brushed herself off. There was silence until Momiji announced he was fully clothed.
The unwrapping of gifts went on.
Tohru received a knitted set of a scarf, hat, and gloves from Ayame. They were red with a white snake pattern. But not ugly snakes. They were cute cartoony type snakes. Ayame announced that Tohru would be needing them when winter comes next season. He also made her pajamas with a snake print on them. Then he revealed yet another gift. Claiming it was for summer season. It was a one piece pink bathing suit with white snakes on it. Ayame enthusiastically said he couldn't wait to see Tohru in his creation when summer comes. Kyo punched Ayame screaming that he was peverted. Yuki sent his brother out Tohru's window. Shigure was glad that wasn't him.
Shigure wrote Tohru her very own novel which he will not get published. It was just for her. Tohru happened to be the main character in the novel. She was a princess and all the Sohma's were other various characters. Momiji happily announced that he read a little of the novel and said that Kyo was a peasant in the book. Momiji ended up holding his head and whining that Kyo hit him. Shigure ended up out the window like Ayame had been a while ago. The novel also came with a cute puppy dog bookmark.
Hatori's gift was a photo album of all the Sohma's and Tohru together. The photo album looked expensive because it was bound with real leather. There was a majestic Chinese dragon flying across both the front and back covers of the photo album.
Kagura got Tohru a new backpack. It was brown and had all the zodiac animals sewn onto it, but the boar and the cat seemed to be bigger and closer together than the rest. Tohru was very grateful for the new backpack since her old one was soaked from the rain. Her school books and things were currently drying.
Hatsuharu gift was odd to say the least. It was a rock. Everyone sweat dropped when Tohru opened a small gift box and saw a rock in it. Haru then realized he wrapped the wrong thing by accident. He reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a jewel. It was a peridot. Tohru, along with everyone else, was shocked to say the least. Peridot was a semi-precious gemstone. Haru gave it to Tohru. Tohru just stared at it. It was a pretty big peridot. Well, to her it was big. It was cut into an odd shape and had an ox carved and painted black into it. Haru explained that it was a totem animal stone. Well, that was what he thought it was. He didn't know what it stood for though. He asked if Tohru was a Virgo (a/n: I know she's really a Taurus, but that means her birthday shouldn't be now so I changed her b-day), and she said yes. Haru said that peridot was her birthstone then. Tohru refused to accept it at first, but Haru said he had that rock for a while now and she should keep it. Tohru just couldn't accept it, then Haru turned Black and Tohru nervously accepted the gift before anyone was hurt.
Ritsu gave Tohru a box full of different pastel-colored origami flowers and a little origami monkey. Hiro commented that it was stupid. Ritsu went into his usual apologies. Tohru actually thought the gift was really sweet and that she loved it. She arranged the flowers on her dresser. She commented that their beauty will never die and go away. This seemed to calm the monkey down.
Kisa asked Hiro about his gift. Hiro sighed and brought Tohru a small package. Hiro got Tohru a keychain. It was a keychain of a cute fuzzy sheep. Kyo was screaming at the poor sheep for getting Tohru such a stupid, cheap gift compared to everyone else. Hiro retorted back to Kyo that Ritsu's gift was stupid and cost nothing. Ritsu started screaming his apologies again. Tohru actually liked the simple keychain. She thought it was rather cute and fastened it onto her new backpack. She told everyone that she liked the keychain and explained that it was the thought that counts. Kyo retorted that Hiro must think very little of Tohru then. Tohru responded by saying it was better than being not thought of at all.
After everyone was calmed down, there were only four gifts left. Two of the gifts were from Saki and Uo. The other two were from Yuki and Kyo. Yuki nervously picked up his large wrapped gift. He brought it over to Tohru.
He shifted uncomfortably, "I wasn't sure what to get…" Tohru mused that Yuki's fan club girls would be really surprised to see their prince actually nervous. Tohru accepted the gift and slowly unwrapped it. She smiled brightly at what was inside. It was a bath set. It was a basket full of lotions, oils, shampoos, and soaps. There was also a towel with a small mouse on it that was similar to Yuki's mouse form. The lotions, soaps, and shampoos were all light scents.
"Arigatou Yuki-kun! It's wonderful!" She put the basket aside, eager to use the strawberry scented soaps tomorrow.
Yuki let out a breath in relief. He didn't even know he was holding his breath.
Kyo was last and everyone looked at him expectantly. He brought his gift over.
"I didn't know what to get and I was low on money, so don't expect much." Kyo warned Tohru.
Tohru smiled softly, "I'm sure it's a great gift."
She removed the tissue from the gift bag and pulled out a small orange cat plushie.
"Kawaii!" She smiled. The cat plushie also held a plushie yarn ball. On the yarn ball was sewn in white thread 'thinking of u'. Tohru smiled wider.
Shigure gushed, "Aww…that's so sweet…OW! Kyo-kun, what was that for!"
"For being stupid!"
The party ended and the juunishi that didn't live in the house slowly trickled out of Shigure's house. Tohru decided to open Hana's and Uo's gifts when they were actually there.
The phone rang and Tohru answered, "Moshi moshi! Tohru desu."
"Ah! Tohru-chan! How are you?" an old man's voice replied.
"Ojii-san? I'm doing great! I've missed you Ojii-san." Tohru said.
Tohru's grandfather chuckled a little. "Happy Birthday Tohru-chan. I'm sorry I'm a little late."
"It's okay Ojii-san. Better late than never, ne?"
There was a pause. Her grandfather said to Tohru in an almost tense tone, "Tohru-chan, why don't you come over and visit tomorrow. I've missed you dearly and I have your gift too."
"Sure thing Ojii-san!"
"Alright Tohru-chan. I'll see you tomorrow," the old man replied almost happily. Almost. "Oyasumi."
"Oyasumi nasai, Ojii-san!" Tohru hung up the phone and went to bed with a light heart and a happy smile. Today was great, even if she did get caught in the rain. That reminded her she needed to return Karasu's umbrella.