Onward with the story, then!
Discovered Talent
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Fruits Basket. It belongs to the wonderful and talented Natsuki Takaya… (Sighs)
April 30th – during the day
Leaning over the windowsill, Tohru Honda looked out the huge window of the boat. Breathing in the salty seawater, she smiled and turned around to thank her 'family'. "Thank you so much, Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun, Shigure-san!" she said gratefully. She smiled again and continued, "You guys mean so much to me!" her eyes started to tear up.
"Don't cry, Honda-san," the silvery gray haired teen said as he walked over to her, wiping a tear off her cheek, "You deserve this. It is your birthday after all and besides, you don't want to cry on your birthday." He smiled and cocked his head. Understanding, the brunette nodded and smiled through her tears.
"Jeez, you don't have to cry about everything," the red head said, scowling. He crossed his arms and leaned against a wall next to a small square table and four chairs. Two figures walked into the room and came into view.
"Oh, hello Uotani-san, Hanajima-san. I'm glad you could make it," the slivery gray haired teen said as he smiled. "Uo-chan! Hana-chan!" the brunette greeted with an excited shout, "What are you two doing here!" The taller of the two figure spoke first. "You mean no one told you that we were coming? Some lousy hosts they are…," she said with a snort.
The two females walked over to the birthday girl to give her a group hug, leaving the two males watching.
The red head snorted, walked over towards a chair, sat down and leaned against its smooth surface. "Why, thank you," he replied sarcastically and a fake smile. "And you're such kind guests, too."
"You're welcome," the blonde yankee said, as she removed herself from their group hug. "It really is no problem." She smirked at him. He only scowled and ignored her, turning to look another direction.
And all the mean while, Tohru was looking between the two hot-headed teens, as if they'd erupt into fighting again. She, too, released herself from the group hug and went over to the two teens. "Please…" she started, "don't fight." Her tear-filled eyes were enough to make the two stop insulting each other.
"Awww… Tohru, don't worry… I won't hurt a single hair on Kyon-Kyon's head!" the yankee tried to comfort the brunette.
And the red head's only thought was, as if… He growled to himself before getting out of the chair in which he was sitting in and turned to Tohru, "Oi," he said, "I'm going to go to the deck for a bit," he said in the same rough mannered tone.
Yuki only tilted his head and frowned while the girl in which the red head had spoken to smiled and nodded.
"Alright Kyo-kun!" she said, smiling. "Ah!" she said suddenly, clapping her hands together and her smile broaden as if she had had the greatest idea ever. "Let's all go out on the deck! We could get some fresh air too!"
Yuki smiled at her and nodded. "Sure Honda-san. It'll be fun, maybe we'll see some animals…" he added as Tohru began to head towards the open door. He followed Tohru and Arisa and Saki followed him.
Arisa yawned a bit. "Ah, I can't understand how Carrot-Top or Tohru wakes up so early!" she said as she stretched her arms a bit.
"Arisa…" Saki said faintly, "You almost hit my head with your hand…"
"Ah! Sorry 'bout that Hana," the Yankee said as she lowered her arms. They reached the deck and soon found Tohru leaning over the siding.
"Uwah! The water is such a pretty color!" she said, amazed by the gentle ripples washing along on the surface. "Look at it!" she said once again, staring at the beautiful hues of blue, green and clear.
Yuki stood next to her and leaned over a bit to the siding. He looked down and smiled. Leave it to Tohru to see something beautiful in such a simple thing. His thoughts, however, were interrupted by a very unwanted person.
"AH! Precious love these days! I remember when I was younger, I'd get so many love letters! It seemed almost just like yesterday that I was the one getting love letters crowding in my locker instead of my beautiful little brother!" the booming voice nearly shouted as the figure appeared.
"What are you doing here?" chorused Yuki and Kyo as they turned around to meet Ayame, Hatori and Shigure. Both glared at each other before proceeding to glare at Ayame.
"I drove them here," Hatori spoke up without even a hint of amusement.
Ayame only grinned and patted Hatori on the back, "That's right Ha'ri!" he gleamed, "He drove us here because he knew Shigure and I couldn't drive very well and we wanted to come! Of course, the journey itself was very beautiful! We saw many trees and roads, and more trees! Ah… If only you could have come! Then I would have shown you the beautiful scene!" he went on.
"Don't you ever shout up?" asked the bewildered Yankee as she watched the older man blabber. And while she said, that Ayame wasn't even listening to her. He was listening to Shigure's complaints. ("What do you mean I can't drive? I can drive perfectly well thank you very much!")
"Nisan…" Yuki muttered, head bowing and fists clenched, "Why don't you ever shout up!" he yelled suddenly as a vein popped on his head.
Ayame turned his direction to his little brother, "Ah! Yuki!" he went all melodramatic, and bent on one knee, "Forever shall we stay together my little brother! On the morning that we saw that sunrise together, we both vowed to always be together no matter what!"
"WHAT VOW!"
Shigure went onto laughing his head off, Hatori's mouth only curved up a bit, and Arisa was, too, laughing her head off. Tohru only sweat dropped, while Kyo completely ignored his enemy and his brother, and Saki disappeared. She had found a snack bar, went onto picking each food and eating it.
As the two brothers continued to argue and yell about, Arisa inched over to Tohru, lowered her head a bit and whispered, "Do they always get like this?" She grinned at Tohru who smiled back.
Tohru laughed for a bit before replying. "Yes!" she replied cheerfully, "Ahaha! They do! Just like what brothers do…" She continued to watch the two brothers argue as Saki reappeared with a pair of chopsticks in hand and a bowl of rice in the other.
"My, my, what are they doing?" she asked in a deadpan voice. She carefully and skillfully picked up a piece of grilled meat with her thin chopsticks and placed it delicately in her mouth.
"Ah! Hana-chan!" Tohru exclaimed as she jumped several feet towards the sky after hearing Saki's voice. "What are you doing?" she asked after she had settled down quite a bit.
"I was on my way to the restroom when I found a snack bar. Feeling a bit hungry, I just took some food and made my way back," she said plainly including the details of how she felt. She picked up another piece and ate it.
"Ah! So, did you find the restroom, Hana-chan?" Tohru replied, tilting her head a bit. Saki only shook her head. "No… but I did find many snacks…" She continued to eat. Those who were listening (Arisa, Kyo and Tohru) sweat dropped quite a bit.
"So how is your birthday so far Tohru-kun?" asked the Goth snacker as she stuck another piece of meat in her mouth, "Hopefully it's fun so far…"
Tohru nodded frantically. "YES! I'm having so much fun! Thank you so much!" she exclaimed excitedly as she waved her two fists around.
"Honda-san?" asked a voice.
Tohru turned, lowering her fists, to look at Yuki. "AH! Yuki-kun! Are you done arguing with your brother?" she asked quite cheerfully.
Yuki only sweat dropped and nodded. "Haha…" he laughed, "Yeah…" his eyes seemed to be away for a while before he snapped back into reality. "Ah, happy birthday," he added.
Kyo seemed to have heard and also said, in a gruff mannered way, "Happy birthday…"
Tohru smiled and her cheeks tinged pink. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed. She then made a move to hug the both of them but remembered the curse and thought the better of it.
Arisa raised an eyebrow and Saki stopped eating at this peculiar motion. Both glanced at each but said nothing of it.
"Come now Tohru! You simply MUST try this beautiful dress that I, the magnificent Ayame, have created!" the bouncy man announced as he danced his way towards the birthday girl.
He grabbed her hand and dragged her back inside the boat. In there, he quickly and at an inhuman speed, set up a dressing area for him to put on Tohru. Before Kyo and Yuki could react at that.
Cries of protest soon began to ring out as clothes were tossed onto the ground. Both Kyo and Yuki doing the protesting of course. They wanted to push Ayame out and let Tohru do it herself, but that would mean seeing her… Gulp…
Soon the tossing was done and now the fitting was in process. Both Kyo and Yuki – who were standing outside the dressing area – waited patiently. They each heard Tohru's soft voice saying that she was so happy.
Of course we couldn't forget Arisa and Saki now could we?
They were furious that their friend was just snatched away just like that. Now they were marching – er – pacing in front of the dressing area each with an aura of – okay… let's just say they wanted to kill Ayame.
"TA-DAAAA!" Ayame shouted as the flimsy board separating the dresser and dresse from the angry mob of people fell to the ground. He waved his arms around like a manic and directed them towards the girl.
Tohru was beautiful. For an amazingly annoying person, Ayame had quickly put eye shadow, mascara and a bit of lip gloss on her face AND in fact managed to dress her in a beautiful long pink Chinese-style dress. Her hair was already tied neatly into two buns on each side of her head when in fact, they had been let down earlier.
Both Kyo and Yuki were left speechless.
Arisa and Saki walked over to Tohru now. Arisa grinning like she was at her daughter's wedding while Saki merely smiled. Both their "killing" auras were gone now.
"Wow, look at you Tohru! You look beautiful!" Arisa was the first one to speak, "Awesome!" She stuck a thumbs-up sign and hugged the timid girl. "Betcha you can hit it off with one of the guys tonight!" she winked at Tohru.
Tohru turned beet red and shook her head, bangs waving about, "No, no, no! I couldn't! I mean…!" she tried to stutter out, "T-Thank you…" she said referring to the compliment.
"Tohru-kun…" Saki started as she walked closer to the timid girl, "I'm so happy for you. May the best wishes go to you…" she finally said as she hugged Tohru with tears streaming down her eyes.
"H-Hana-chan! I'm not getting married!" Tohru protested as looked around for help. She that nowhere 'cause both Kyo and Yuki were slack-jawed and downright speechless.
Ayame wasn't going to help either. He was too busy talking to himself.
Tohru was glad to see Hatori and Shigure when they walked into the inside of the boat. One look told both men all they wanted to know. Shigure burst out laughing while Hatori walked over to her and helped get the other two teenage girls off Tohru.
Shigure wiped a tear from his eye. "T-That was hilarious!" he laughed as he looked over to Kyo and Yuki's expressions. Now, both of them were standing back-to-back, crossed their arms across their chests and glaring at Ayame.
"T-Those expressions!" Shigure said once again and fell over from the laughter.
"Shut up. It wasn't that funny," Yuki replied as he walked away from the cursed-cat now. Of course, he couldn't tell Shigure that he was day-dreaming… He looked away.
Tohru stared at Yuki and only looked hurt. She turn her gaze to the ground and remembered what Ayame had said earlier before Yuki, Kyo, Arisa and Saki had interfered.
"La-la-laaa!" Ayame sang as he began digging through his duffel bag looking around for something. Tohru watched him – not knowing what to do.
"Um… Should… I… undress?" she asked uncertainly as her head stuck out from behind the flimsy paper "door".
Ayame turned his attention towards Tohru. "Of course!" he tossed her a pink dress, "Put this on and we'll work on the make-up!"
Tohru nodded and quickly did so. As soon as that was done, she brushed her hair thoroughly and sat down on the floor. Ayame kneeled while doing her hair.
"You… Tohru-kun… Who do you like?" he asked suddenly.
Tohru jumped a bit. "Eh? W-What do you mean?" she quickly asked, turning her head a bit.
"Don't you like Kyonkichi?" he asked again while taking a hair band and tying it on one of the buns of her hair.
She didn't reply at first. Then, "He has Kagura…"
"I'm guessing that means you like my little brother?"
She didn't have to reply this time. She knew that she liked him.
"But I don't think he likes me…" she suddenly answered.
"Eh? How can he not love such a sweet loving girl like you?"
"I…don't… know…" she replied sullenly.
"Exactly. Give him a chance. I'm sure that he likes you. Try asking him to say your name…" Ayame finished as he just ended tying on the last hair band on the second bun. "There! Finished with the hair! Now it's for the face!"
"F-Face?" Tohru asked nervously.
"Yep! We need to bring out your natural elegance! Now… Move your chin up!"
Ayame brought a brush and quickly and skillfully covered her face.
"What if he doesn't like me?"
"I'm sure he will. Now down! That's right! There you go!" as Yuki, Kyo, Saki and Arisa came in followed by a few noises that Ayame certainly didn't want to know.
Tohru turned her gaze to the ground. Ayame had said that Yuki would be in rat-form by now because he had hugged her but… She looked up at Yuki who was trying to look anywhere but there, but… He didn't even want to look at her.
Tohru stared at the ground once again as Saki came up to her.
"What's wrong Tohru-kun?" she asked faintly as she tilted her head. Strands of pitch black hair wove from the braid and came loose as she did so.
Tohru looked up at her friend. "Ah! I'm alright Hana-chan!" she reassured. She smiled just for good measure. Was she being selfish that…she wanted someone to love her? Was she that selfish? Or did she just want to know the truth?
"Tohru-kun…" Saki suddenly spoke, "What do you think of the Sohma Prince?" she asked as Yuki and Kyo had just gotten into an argument while Arisa cheered them on. Ayame was about ready to be pounded on top of.
Actually, Yuki and Kyo were arguing about who would pound Ayame first.
"E-Eh!" Tohru exclaimed as her eyes widened. "W-What do you mean?" she managed to stutter out.
"I'm just asking…" she replied in the same dead-pan voice.
Tohru turned her gaze to whom they were talking about. "I…really…don't know yet…"
"Tohru-kun…" Saki started as she stared at the sad riceball, "You are like a sunflower… Always so sunny and happy… You share your joy with everyone around you, like brightening the room. And… if Sohma-kun was a flower…what do you think he'd be?"
Tohru gave a thought to it. Fingering her chin, they stood in silence for a while before Tohru got the idea. "A rose…" she finally said, "Beautiful and he attracts other people – the flowers – but if you get too close, you might get hurt by a thorn… But if you avoid the thorns you'll find the real beauty inside of him…" she trailed off.
Saki smiled at her friend. "You're right…" she agreed. She was glad that even Tohru had gotten it right… Pleased really… "And I guess that's how you think of him…" she added almost silently so that Tohru didn't hear.
"OI! Tohru!" Arisa suddenly yelled as she waved an arm. "I heard that dinner's ready!"
Tohru looked surprised for a moment before running after Yuki, Kyo and Arisa. She looked back, "Hana-chan! If you don't hurry, you'll miss out on the food!" she giggled, glad that Saki had helped her get things off her chest.
"I'm coming…" Saki replied as she quickly followed.
--
Dinner went along quickly, as did cake. Tohru had been so surprised when she saw the cake. She hadn't really expected it but the cake really was beautiful. Kyo had helped Kagura baking it and decorating. Tohru was even more surprised that Kyo had put up with Kagura while baking. Actually, she heard that the two were getting closer as cousins.
The cake itself had the many zodiac animals decorated around the cake in different color frosting, but Kyo had insisted that they add a riceball while Kagura pleaded that they include the cat in. The background frosting was pure white and "Happy Birthday Tohru!" was written in pink icing. Pink and purple flowers were dancing around the border of the round cake.
Tohru actually almost refused to have a piece since it was so beautiful, but Kyo made her eat it. Yuki only watched the two with a smile.
When present time came… Well… Let's see…
It was Shigure who insisted that everyone gather around Tohru while she opened her presents. She was in a frenzy because everyone had gotten her a present and she almost cried out of happiness.
Tohru slowly took a small pink bag from the pile and looked at the tag. "Kyo-kun!" she said, "I got yours first!"
Kyo only grumbled along the lines of "it was dumb" or something and looked away.
Tohru proceed to open the present. First she took out the tissues and looked inside. She reached in and pulled out the present. Eyes shining with pleasure, she stared at Kyo and thanked him.
It was the zodiac bracelet. Well, only two of the zodiac anyways. One charm was an orange cat, another had a gray mouse, the other two were a man-eating flower and a fish while the last one was in the middle – a riceball.
Tohru gasped and tears came welling out. "T-Thank you so much Kyo-kun!" she exclaimed gratefully as she tried to hug the flustered cat. Kyo only moved away from her almost finished hug. Thankfully, Tohru remembered.
"It… It was nothing…" Kyo muttered, side-glancing at the damn rat who in turn, only looked away.
It was after all, Yuki's idea.
Tohru moved onto the next present. Her hands shook as she tried to grasp the package firmly. It was quite big and wrapped in a dark blue wrapping paper with a pretty light blue ribbon. On the tag, she read, "To: My lovely flower, Tohru-kun" and "From: The great novelist, Shigure Sohma". She had to giggle at that.
She slowly pulled the ribbon and carefully peeled off the wrapping paper. She gasped and pulled out the machine. The "machine" in fact was a laptop of the highest quality. The newest Apple laptops, a pure white color – even the keys were white – and even had plugged wireless internet installed.
Tohru looked up at the novelist. "S-Shigure-san!" she managed to stutter out as her eyes once again, welled up with tears. "I-I can't accept this! This is too much!" she protested.
Shigure only pouted. His bottom lip stuck out. "Aw… Does my little flower not like the present I gave her?" he asked tilting his head slightly.
Tohru's eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. "NO, NO, NO! I LOVE it, Shigure-san! It's just…" she trailed off into her own thoughts.
But those thoughts were interrupted by a slap on her back by one of her friends.
Arisa grinned. "C'mon Tohru! Keep it and thank the man! He did go out and buy it for you, ya know!" she persuaded. Saki came up behind her.
"I agree that Tohru-kun should take it. She does deserve it and after all…" she turned her lightless eyes to stare at the novelist, "he did go out and buy it for her… Just especially for her…"
Shigure couldn't help by shudder.
Tohru looked around worried, and finally she gave in. "Y-Yes… Thank you so much for the laptop, Shigure-san!" she thanked him.
By now, she really felt that those two presents were enough already but Arisa and Saki just MADE her go on opening the others.
Tohru picked up an odd-shaped present and read the tag. She looked up smiling at Saki and said, "Thank you Hana-chan!"
Saki only smiled and said, "You haven't even opened it, Tohru-kun…"
"Ah! Okay!" she said and then went onto opening the odd-shaped package. She pulled the ribbon off once again and the wrapping came unraveling. She looked up at Saki gleefully. "Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.
It was, indeed, a singing and dancing sunflower. A normal one, surprisingly.
"C'mon Tohru!" Arisa commanded, "Open up mine next!"
Tohru nodded and picked up the package that was from her other friend. "Um… Okay…" she muttered to herself as she picked up a square and flat shaped package. She carefully once again, pulled the ribbon and peeled off the tape that held the wrapping paper together.
"Do ya like it? It's what you can eat when relaxing and stuff," Arisa explained with a grin.
Tohru wanted to cry again. She put the box of chocolates down and hugged her two best friends. "Thank you! Thank you!" she said over and over again. "Thank you!"
Yuki watched the trio of girls hug each other with envy. He really wanted to hug someone…but… He glanced at his brother and cousins and turned away. No way would he hug them!
But…really… He turned his gaze to the floor and stared at his feet for a while.
Present-time, as Arisa called it, went on for a pretty long time. Finally, Tohru reached the last present. She looked at the tag and smiled at Yuki who in turn, smiled back.
Slowly, once again, she pulled the soft pink ribbon apart and peeled the tape off the pink decorated wrapping paper. This time, though, she let out a surprised gasp.
She carefully, took out each fragile, glass figurines. Each figurine was in the shape of an animal. There in fact, were thirteen animals. Each for the members of the zodiac – this time, including the cat.
And this time, Tohru cried – she tried so hard to keep the tears back but she couldn't. Blinking back the tears, she truly wanted to hug Yuki. "T-Thank you so much Yuki-kun!" she thanked him with the deepest gratitude.
Even Kyo was surprised that the "damn rat" had included the cat in the zodiac. He looked away from where he was watching. He actually hoped that maybe… he wouldn't forget this… ever.
Hatori spoke up, changing the subject. "I think Honda-kun would like some dessert," he commented quite blandly.
Tohru nodded quickly, wiping her now-running nose and still flowing tears with her sleeve. She looked up and gratefully accepted a tissue from Saki.
"Thank you so much…"
-End of Part 2-
Chapter start date: October 25th 2005
Chapter finish date: June 11th 2006
Chapter post date: June 16th 2006 (Sorry, I didn't get around to updating...)
Author's Note: Well… Originally, I planned that this would be split into two parts. Well, actually, I think it's going to be three parts now. Maybe an epilogue. And just so you know, I had a HUGE case of writer's block on this story. And another thing, this story is BEFORE volume 13. Okay?
Anyways, I thank the people for waiting so long. Fact 1: Did you know that reviews make authors happy? XD