Disclaimer: Fruits Basket is owned by Natsuki Takaya and her associates. Please don't sue!
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HelloKat- Thanks for reviewing again! Your input is always appreciated! Yeah, Yuki's definitely moving fast, but don't worry. Things might slow down a bit in future chapters! Maybe...
kiki- It would be cute if Yuki was Romeo and Tohru was Juliette, but I decided against putting them in a play. But you will see the topic come up again in later chapters. Oh, and thanks for pointing that out! I fixed it!
miyu-chan- I'm flattered! I'm trying to make them longer, but it's kind of hard, so bear with me... I'm really trying.
kitsunedemon- That's okay. I understand. Better late than never! That's why you'll have to excuse the late update. Hehehe...
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Within The Hidden Soul
Chapter 5: Garden of Thoughts
The school was obsessed. After only a week and a half, Yuki was the fantasy of half the school, maybe more than three-fourths if you included the part of the male population. And within this time period, Tohru was the envy and hate of the Sohma-obsessors. At the head of this massive group of admirers was Motoko Arima, the self-proclaimed President of the unofficial Prince Yuki Fan club. It was with the belief that Tohru Honda was a conniving witch who wanted to tear Yuki's heart from his chest and put into a blender that Motoko Arima took it upon herself to put Ms. Honda in her place, or, at the very least, to make her life very miserable indeed.
Motoko had spied on her beloved for hours at a time, devoting her time and effort to keeping him under her guarded watch. With this duty, Motoko came upon a most unusual observation. The Prince, as many liked to call him, was seemingly always near the evil Tohru Honda. He was the most courteous towards her; opening doors, carrying books, even eating lunch with her and her equally evil friends, a gangster and a queen of darkness. Motoko had lost sleep pondering his motives. Then it struck her, Tohru was stalking him! Not only that, she was forcing him to be her personal slave!
As the President of the Yuki Fan club, she immediately called a meeting with the three other club representatives.
Subject of the meeting: Protect the Prince!
Location: Empty Classroom
Rapping her grapple on her desk, Motoko adjourned the meeting while effectively waking up the sleepy representatives. "Please sit upright ladies! This meeting is of the utmost importance in regard to our beloved's safety!" she barked.
"Well, excuse us, but it is," representative number one paused to look at her watch, "about 2 in the morning!"
"I wouldn't have woken you up if I didn't have something important to relate to you! I am well aware that we are losing beauty sleep, and may not be able to look our best for Yuki in the morning, but it is necessary!"
At her words, the representatives began to whip out skin products and facial creams.
"What do you all think you're doing!" the President shrieked.
"Well, this will help enhance our facial features in the morning. We won't look tired at all!" piped representative number 3.
"Hand some over then," exclaimed Motoko, grabbing a jar. After all had applied some green goop to their faces, they commenced with their meeting.
"I have come to a most startling discovery. Under my close watch, I believe I am able to confirm that Tohru Honda, class 2-B, is stalking and forcing our beautiful Prince to be her servant!" The representatives gasped in horror, or at least attempted too for their pore cleansing masks had hardened. Motoko continued, "As the leaders of the Prince Yuki Club, we must ensure that no woman break Yuki's heart or treat him unjustly. So in response to this event, I have come up with a plan. Ladies, if you will please look at the board."
Scrawled in neat handwriting with the occasional heart around it was a plan.
---
Operation: Yee Ugly Kook Is Irking Sexy Sweet Enticing Xylitolic Yuki AKA YUKI-IS-SEXY
Mission: Keep Honda away from the Prince.
Plan: -
Step 1: Warn Honda. Send note telling her to stay away.
Step 2: If she does not heed, begin to give due punishment i.e. harsh treatment, etc.
---
After reading what was written, representative two was assigned the laborious task of somehow delivering the note to Tohru, and the meeting began to close.
"At 2:45, the meeting is-" the door opened, revealing a very disheveled janitor who seemed to have woken up from the noise made by the meeting. Upon seeing green faced, wild-haired beings, the janitor ran out and disappeared just as quickly as he appeared, screaming incoherently about Martians. After such an episode, the girls quickly gathered their things and left, forgetting all formalities of a meeting and quickly headed for their dorms.
The Next Morning
Representative number two carefully slid a note into locker number 546 and crept away just as the bell rang and swarms of students ran to their lockers.
She watched from a corner as Tohru walked to her locker, the Prince chatting politely next to her. She watched as Tohru pulled out a note. As she saw her read the note carefully, representative #2 walked away, feeling that she had finished a job well done.
"What is it Ms. Honda," Yuki asked curiously. He leaned in over her shoulder, his face inches from hers.
"Oh, it's just a note from Uo, she was wondering if I wanted to go to town this tomorrow with her and Saki!" Tohru beamed as she held the note for him to read.
"I see, that sounds like fun," he replied, smiling.
"Do you want to come? We can show you around. We haven't really been able to anywhere lately, but tomorrow is a Saturday and is the perfect chance to relax don't you think?"
"That sounds like fun. I think I'll go." With that, the two of them walked away to their separate classes, leaving locker number 544 behind them.
A teenage boy walked up to a locker nearby, opened it, and read a letter he found inside. The letter reads as follows:
If you don't stop stalking Yuki the Prince Yuki Fan club will make your life a living hell. You must
a) stop staring at him, b) stop attempting to flirt with him, and c) stop this incessant obsessiveness
of Yuki! You have been warned.
The boy read the note incredulously, his bangs covering his eyes. "Damn, how did they know?" he wondered aloud, as he crumpled the note and threw it in the nearest trashcan.
Meanwhile, Motoko was secretly meeting representative 2 somewhere behind a trashcan.
"Did you give the note," the president whispered from behind the large metal can as people passed through the hallway.
"Yes, ma'am. Mission accomplished," replied representative 2, saluting to what onlookers thought to be a plain garbage can.
"You fool. Try to be more discrete. People are getting suspicious!" Motoko whispered harshly as representative 2 received mixed stares and glares, along with people making circles in the air next to their ear.
"Oh, sorry."
"Well, phase one has been completed, we'll just have to observe to see what Ms. Honda does now," Motoko said, drawing out Tohru's last name in a malicious drawl.
"Yes ma'am!" said representative 2, again saluting.
"Will you cut that out!"
"Oops, sorry. My dad's in the military. It's a habit." Both girls then proceeded to unsuccessfully sneak into their respective classes and receiving detentions for tardiness.
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Yuki felt satisfied as he emerged from class. Shakespeare was his favorite thing to study. When he studied abroad, his various instructors all had one thing in common- they were all Shakespeare fanatics. It was true he was a bright student, but he understood this material more than most things in his life. He understood it better than he did himself, his family...
Shaking off the thoughts that would inevitably lead him into a depressing state, Yuki thought of his current success.
A day spent with Tohru and her friends. Granted, it wasn't a day spent alone with her, but it was one with her nonetheless. He was still puzzled though. He was spending more time with her than anyone else and yet she showed no sign of romantic interest. Yet, Yuki added. After much debating with himself, Yuki had decided on being the more subtle polite-friend-who-showed-the-occasional-interest-in-her type.
Soon after picking this approach, he discovered his mistake. Tohru could be wise, but she was a little dense when it came to romance. Being subtle was not the best choice. Maybe polite gestures weren't enough...
His thoughts were interrupted, however, by a loud whisper.
"....YUKI-IS-SEXY."
Just around a corner, representatives 1-3 were huddled discussing their supposed success in delivering the letter.
"Did you give the note," asked one of the girls.
"Yep, and before anyone saw me deliver it, too."
"Okay, part one completed of YUKI-IS-SEXY."
At the last statement, Yuki had accidentally walked in on their conversation. His eyes reduced to dots as they turned around and stared at him, wondering if Yuki had heard anything.
"Um...excuse me ladies," Yuki said as he scurried away, hoping to escape his crazed fans before they snapped out of their drooling dazes.
"Do you think he heard anything?"
"No, at least I hope."
Well, at least they didn't say 'Yuki is pretty', he thought as he firmly shut his dorm door behind him, completely oblivious to the plan being hatched by his rabid fan club. He sighed contentedly, lying down on his bed as tactics, methods, and plans swirled through his head.
-------------------------------------------
Saturday morning greeted the sleepy headed students of Kaibera with sun, warmth, and the picture of perfection.
...Or so the students wished.
Instead they awoke to the peal of thunder and pitter-patter of rain. Cold winds blew and dark clouds lay looming in the sky. Visions of frolicking in fields of flowers and the new outfits they had bought vanished from the minds of many a teenage girl, while visions of girls in mini skirts and tank tops dissolved into oblivion as boys groaned looking out the window. Except for one boy, who groaned all for the sake of a possibly ruined appointment.
Yuki looked ominously from his window, which gave nothing more to look at except an empty lot and the dreary sky.
I guess I could ask her and her friends to play cards... thought a very glum prince. How was he supposed to woo a girl if people and the weather were against it?
No he thought, he'd gone to far, endured too much to lose now. It had taken training and skill, but he had finally reached some worth to someone. He couldn't let Akito down, no mater how much he hated what he did. He couldn't shame the family, he couldn't let shihan down. Acceptance had cost him dearly... He had gained it, but in the process, lost all respect for himself.
Yuki looked down at his hands. He had prepared himself for years. But for what? To soil his hands, to soil his soul, to soil his hands? The thoughts that he had shaken off just yesterday came flooding back. What did his family need secret agents for? What did they need a black market business for? To support their empire? What a load of bullshit, Yuki thought bitterly. There had to be something else...
Was their business so important that they needed to take nine-year-old children, or in his case five-year-old children, and make them their henchmen?
It was said by family members to be grateful for their position. They were blessed, they were chosen. Supposedly even special. They were given the finest education in everything essential to function normally. Like Math, Literature, History; all of it at an advanced level. Given instruction in every aspect, no matter how small, that may be needed in their line of work. Acting, martial arts, dueling, business... The dirtier things were saved until the teenage years. Blackmail, kidnap, stealth... even murder.
Yuki, still staring at his hands, suddenly punched the nearest wall, leaving a gaping hole. Yuki vaguely noticed that his hand was bleeding, but right he didn't care. He was... scared. Not angry. Frustration, yes. But anger, no. He had ceased to let rage completely take him at a young age. He saw what anger did to people. It ruined his parents, and because of that, it ruined him too.
He snorted at the thought of what his 'lovely' fans would think of a frustrated, messy, bleeding Yuki. Perfection was something people thought they found in him, but the truth was that he wasn't perfect at all. He was dirty and loathful.
He thought of his fellow agents, all of them cousins. He wanted them out, away from here. Away from torment and torture. Yuki slumped back into his bed.
Accompanying another loud crash of thunder was the sound of light knocking on a door. He sat up and quickly got out of bed, slightly unaware that he was still in his pajamas, which consisted of faded baggy cotton pants and a matching not-quite-buttoned-up long-sleeved shirt.
There stood the ever pristine figure of dun dun dun Hatori.
"Hatori," was all he could manage to utter at the surprise. From what he learned, a visit from Hatori was nothing good. In fact it could only mean one thing...
"Yuki, how are things going," the doctor asked, stepping into the room. Yuki stepped aside as he brushed past him. Yuki shut the door and then made sure it was locked.
"Going smoothly," he lied in response, "What are you doing here?"
"You're bleeding," the older man stated, ignoring the question. Hatori put his suitcase on the bed and pulled out his medicine kit. Yuki wordlessly let Hatori clean and bandage his hand before questioning him of his motives.
"I simply came here to give you a check up," Hatori stated professionally. Yuki sighed in relief. Hatori hesitated before saying, "And to bring you news," his voice faltered and lost its professional air.
"What news, Hatori," Yuki cautiously asked.
"Well, you're going to have a visitor next Saturday," Hatori couldn't look Yuki in the eye.
"Who," Yuki's voice was barely a whisper now.
"Akito."
To be continued...
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Sorry for the cliff hanger. I know I went a bit angsty towards the end. I was trying to keep the beginning light because of the heavier things that were going to be addresses.
If anyone remembers the names of the reps in the fan club, I would appreciate it if you could gently remind me. And I know that the name is Motoko Minanagawa, not Arima. I had a temporary lapse of memory, but it was too late to change by the time I posted it in one of the earlier chapters, so I've decided to stick with that name.
When I write about the fan club, I find them as eccentric, obsessive, and completely silly as I try to portray them. Even if I don't really like them, I love writing them. They're just so over the top and so much fun to write.
As for Hatori. I find him so sexy! I know he's a little somber, but I hope to write about him later and show his history with Yuki in this story. Out of all the Juunishi agents, Hatori is the one he has worked most closely with, at least in this story and I hope to elaborate on that, too.
Excuse my pathetic attempts at acrostics. I know it was kind of pathetic... Oh and xylitol is a sugar-like substance. Yeah, I know. I suck at acrostics.
This is my first stab at something even resembling humor. To say the least, I failed miserably. I fell into the angst trap again... But don't worry. There's more Motoko madness later! Oh, and sorry to the Tohru fans, I just tried to portray her as Motoko would think.
I felt like making a change, so I put it partly in Motoko's view. I'm not sure, but I think my writing style changes slightly. For good or bad, I'm not sure.
Oh, I have to apologize for the late update. I got kind of busy with school... sweat drop. Sorry....
To make up for it, I've already started the next chapter.
As always, please read and review. Comments and constructive criticisms would be highly appreciated!
Ja ne!
S.B. Kisses