Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. If I did, I would not need to constantly borrow money from my parents. Or look for a job. It would be nice.
A/N: This was the hard chapter to write because it introduces my OC. I always find that part a little bit challenging. On top of that, I broke my heel (my heel!) and then two days after I got my cast on, I slipped and fell down my front stairs and I got all bruised up and sore. But I'm doing a bit better now and now that my OC has arrived, I can start with the real story. Yay!
Shadows of Intrigue Chapter 2When Kyo woke up in the morning, he had only vague memories of his dream left. The names and faces wouldn't form in his head. It now seemed ludicrous to him that he had been so shaken up. It really had been just a dream. And it couldn't have been as vivid as he had originally thought or he would surely remember it better this morning.
Mentally shrugging off all thoughts of the dream, he got up, got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast. When he reached the kitchen, he found only Tohru. So, Shigure and Yuki were not up yet, or at least they weren't ready to come downstairs. When Tohru turned to greet him and asked him is he had slept better after the tea and snacks, he was glad they had the kitchen to themselves. But he also wanted to smack himself. Tohru's face looked really tired. Kyo groaned, knowing it was his fault. He opened his mouth to apologize but was interrupted by Shigure bursting into the room.
"Good morning! My, my, my, Tohru. Something smells delicious. What are we having this morning?"
Kyo, somewhat disgusted with Shigure for being so, for lack of a better word, idiotic, spun around on his heel, only to find himself face to face with Yuki. Kyo saw Yuki start to stagger forward and jumped out of the way before his cousin could use him for support. He stormed over to the table and sat down heavily in his spot. His chance to talk to Tohru about the night before was gone and he was irrationally upset about that.
Despite Kyo's grumpiness, Yuki being half-asleep, Shigure's idiotic banter, and Tohru's lack of energy, the meal went as smoothly as one could ask for in that house. After breakfast, the three teens headed off to school. It was rare these days for the three of them to go together. Yuki seemed to have early meetings all the time. And there were times when Kyo took off on his own before the others, as well. But this day they all walked together, though without much conversation. Kyo would have preferred it if Yuki had gone in early. Now he lost another chance to apologize to Tohru.
Kyo was lost in thought to the point that he didn't realize when someone stepped in front of him. Yuki had to pull his cousin out of the way to keep him from running into the girl and transforming. The girl continued to walk as if she hadn't noticed, but, as she got several steps ahead of the trio, she stopped and turned around briefly, catching Kyo's eyes as she did so. Getting a look at the girl's face, Kyo gasped. It was a face he knew very well. When the girl looked away, Kyo shook his head. He must have just been imagining things.
That's what Kyo thought, anyway, until class started and the teacher announced that there was a new transfer student joining. When the girl entered the room, Kyo noticed several of the other students also seemed jolted by the surprise. The girl, while differing in coloring, bore an eerie resemblance to another student in the class. He face was that of one Miss Tohru Honda. A handful of students turned to look at Tohru, but she appeared just as startled by the newcomer's looks as everyone else. So she wasn't a relative.
The new girl introduced herself as Aiko Hikawa. She had moved overseas with her family when her father's company had transferred him two years ago. They had just recently moved back to Japan. She had one sibling, a younger sister, and she was interested in history, mythology, and astrology.
As she spoke, Kyo stared at her. It wasn't just her resemblance to Tohru. There was something else about her that seemed familiar, too. He felt as if he should some how know her, but at the same time he knew he had never met the girl before. She caught his eye and smiled. Kyo blushed slightly and dropped his head, trying to feign indifference to the girl's presence.
Meanwhile, Yuki was also having the strange feeling that he had know the girl before, although he too was pretty sure he had never actually met her. He tried to shrug the feeling off, telling himself that this Aiko Hikawa just reminded him of Tohru. He wasn't very successful, though. He knew there was something different about this girl. Whenever he glanced at her, he felt a shudder go up his spine. That certainly wasn't something she had in common with Tohru.
Speaking of Tohru, she was also staring at the new girl. The face was so much like hers; she almost thought she was looking in a mirror. But the other face moved independently of her own. And Aiko had shorter, black hair, styled more like Uo's than like Tohru's. But the similarity in facial features made Tohru decide she should talk to her grandfather to see if she had any cousins she didn't know about. It was too much to be merely a coincidence. Then Tohru watched as the girl smiled at Kyo and turned in time to see his reaction. For reasons she could not explain, Tohru found herself starting to get rather annoyed with her look-alike.
The teacher instructed Aiko to take the seat behind Kyo. Kyo's back stiffened at the comment, and Tohru, who was still watching Kyo, felt her irritation with the girl flare up again. But as Aiko walked past her with a friendly smile, Tohru felt some of her anger dissipate. There was some kind of connection there between the two of them and as much as Tohru might like to deny it, she knew it was true. Tohru gave a half-smile in return and watched as the new girl headed toward her seat.
As she walked past Yuki, Aiko paused long enough to meet his eye. Involuntarily, Yuki shivered. Something told him that this girl did not like him one bit. But that was ridiculous. They had never met before. She had no reason to dislike him. He shook his head, thoroughly confused by the negative feeling he got from this girl who looked so much like Tohru. When he returned his gaze to his desk, he saw a note from Hana. It read: It seems that she doesn't particularly like you. Yuki sighed. So he wasn't the only one who had noticed.
By this point, Aiko had turned away from Yuki and taken her seat behind Kyo. Kyo, not knowing what else to do, dropped his head to his desk and tried to ignore the girl behind him. He was reasonably successful as accomplishing this until about halfway through the class, when she tapped him on the shoulder.
"What do you want?" Kyo asked sharply.
"No need to bee such a grouch," Aiko pouted, "I dropped my pencil and it rolled under you desk. I was just wondering if you could pick it up for me."
"Oh," Kyo bent to pick up the pencil and handed it back, over his shoulder, without looking back.
Aiko took her pencil then leaned forward to whisper, "Thanks a lot, kitten."
Kyo froze.