Lola: Voila! A new chapter! I'm amazing, huh?

Paris: ahem You're forgetting something.

Lola: Whoops. You're right. I figured that shiny objects are great, but SHARP AND POINTY shiny objects are even better. So, to all who reviewed (Paris-Rose, MiniMi, XPinay and Ihuntathraeil) You can pick a prize out of my erm...basket o' fun!

TMM: Disclaimer.

Lola: Oh yea, do it, TMM!

TMM: Lola-Gurl doesn't own Fruits Baskets, but she does own Akemi Kamikara and company, except Amaya who belongs to Paris Rose. Happy?

Lola: Yea. That's good. I'd like to warn you that I suck at fight scenes. Really, they totally suck. I can see it in my head, but describing it....well, it doesn't go so well. This chapter is...sorta weird, I'm warning you. You may find it well, stupid. You'll have to wait and see how things fit in later. I'd also like to say thank you to all who reviewed (and I hope you like your weapons...err I mean 'prizes o' fun'. Thanks so much for all your support!

Bright And Beautiful

Chapter 5: Change is good, right?

Akemi had predicted right. Kyo had completely disregarded her advice...and made the first move. Urging forward, he swung his right arm around in attempt to grab Akemi's wrist. She stepped backwards and instead grabbed his. She grinned slightly when he saw this. She twisted his arm backward behind him and held it in this position briefly, before letting go. Shaking out his arm, Kyo approached her from the left and knocked into her shoulder. Surprised, Akemi fell backwards but stayed on her feet.

"You didn't think I was going to go easy on you because you were a girl, right?" Kyo said, smirking. Returning with a grin, Akemi shook her head.

"Not at all."

She charged forward and kicked high, grazing his right shoulder. Then Kyo did something Akemi didn't expect: He promptly placed his left foot behind hers and pushed hard against her shoulders, sending her toppling to the ground.

Sitting up, Akemi coughed slightly. "Congratulations," she said, getting up and dusting of her pants (which she was thankful for changing into before coming over)

"You're weak," he commented teasingly. Akemi shrugged. "Well, yea, that's true, but you followed my advice all the same. It definitely caught me off guard. I told you I wasn't a very good fighter." Kyo shook his head.

"No, that's not it. You're pretty good. You've got good form; you just need some help that's all. I want to see how good your sister is. It'd feel good to beat her too." Akemi smiled and nodded. "Kyo, does this means...we're friends?"

Kyo was still for a moment, then said hesitantly, "You wanna be friends with someone like me? I'm sure that damn rat's easier to get along with." Akemi shrugged and said, "Maybe. But I still want to be your friend. I got the impression that you didn't like me very much." She blushed slightly as she realized what she had said.

"I'm not very comfortable around people sometimes," Kyo said truthfully. "And I get mad, and lose my temper. But I guess if you want a friend like that...you can count me in." He looked away from her uncomfortably. Akemi smiled brightly and said, "Thank you, Kyo, thank you!"

Suddenly, the door opened and Shigure came out giggling like an elementary school girl. "Oh, how cute! Kyo's got a crush!" He said in a sing songy voice, hopping along on one foot.

"Shigure, stop being such a damn idiot!" Kyo yelled at him, causing him to stop.

"Toohruuu, Kyo's scary. Make him stop hurting my feelings!" Shigure whined, pulling on Tohru's sleeve. Tohru gave a slight laugh and turned to Yuki, who shrugged.

"What are you guys doing out here anyway?" Shigure said, becoming serious (A/N: well, serious for Shigure, anyway) "Fighting." Both Kyo and Akemi said simultaneously. Shigure raised an eyebrow.

"I hope you didn't beat the idiot too badly, Akemi," Yuki said dryly. Akemi shook her head vigorously and replied, "Actually, Kyo beat me. He put up a good fight. Although, I'm not all that good anyway." She laughed nervously. Suddenly, she looked around and said, "Um...Shigure? Where's your dog?"

"...d-dog? What dog?" He replied, stuttering.

"You know, the beautiful black dog that Tohru called 'Spot'. He was a gorgeous dog, if I you know what I mean. His coat was so shiny! And he had a beautiful face! I'd be surprised if you haven't considered breeding him!" Akemi gushed enthusiastically. Shigure stared at her starry-eyed, "Really? You think he's that handsome?"

Akemi nodded. Yuki sighed and said, "Please don't inflate his head any more than that. I don't believe he can take it." Tohru laughed nervously as Akemi giggled. "Alright, but I don't see the problem in him being proud of his dog." "If only you knew," Kyo muttered, shaking his head.

"Now, what did you say your last name was?" Shigure said, hastily changing the subject. "Kamikara," Akemi replied happily, hardly paying attention. Shigure's face paled as he said slowly, "Did you say...Kamikara?" Akemi nodded. Shigure looked distressed, and both Yuki and Kyo could tell. Tohru and Akemi however, chatted happily and hardly noticed. "Well, I must get going. Hatori wanted me to stop by the main house today; I'd better get going. I'll see you all later. It was very nice meeting you...Akemi." Shigure bowed his head and left.

"Why did he leave so suddenly?" Akemi asked uncertainly. 'It's almost if my last name...scared him away' She knew that her family was an important business family, but she couldn't imagine what that had to do with Shigure or his family. "Don't worry about it," Yuki assured her. "Shigure's a very busy person." "Yea," Kyo said, "being a novelist and all."

Immediately Akemi perked up. "A NOVELIST?!" She exclaimed. Tohru nodded. "I couldn't believe it either." "He doesn't act like one. I mean, his editor is here every damn day trying to get him to make his deadline."

Yuki sighed and said, "Consider yourself lucky. If he were still here when you found out, he would have showed you EVERYTHING he's ever written." "I wouldn't have minded! That' s so exciting to have met a novelist without knowing. Although, I've never heard of any of his books. I'll have to look for them in the library, it'd be interesting to read." "You wouldn't want to," Both Yuki and Kyo said sighing.

"I should probably call for a ride home, it's getting late, "Akemi said sadly. Tohru nodded and said, "yea, probably. But we enjoyed you coming over. Please come again soon! I had lots of fun!" Akemi nodded and followed her inside.

"Hey, why do you think Shigure freaked out when he found out Akemi's last name?" Kyo asked. "I'm not sure," Yuki said thoughtfully. 'Although the name 'Kamikara' seems oddly familiar in the first place,' he thought to himself.


"Hey, hop in," Amaya said cheerfully as she pulled up in front of Shigure's house. Instead of doing so, Akemi stayed rooted to the ground, mouth agape.

"What?" Amaya asked.

"Your.... Hair," Akemi said, blinking unbelievably.

Amaya laughed. Instead of its normal length, which was down to her waist, it had been obviously cut to a length just below her shoulders. It had not, however, lost any of its bright red tints.

"Oh yea. I forgot to tell you. That was one of my prior engagements." She looked bashful, which was quite unusual for Amaya.

"One? What do you mean 'One'?" Akemi asked getting into the car and closing the door. Amaya started the car and pulled her hair back to reveal her ear pierced all the way up her cartilage. Akemi couldn't help but gasp. Amaya laughed. "Different, huh?"

Akemi nodded. "Yea, but not bad. I just can't believe that you'd...wow. What will mom and dad think?" Amaya shrugged. "Who cares? I sure as hell don't. I'm in my last year of high school! In a few months I'll be an adult, on my way to college. I can't follow everything mom and dad say. And besides...change is good, right? "

Akemi was silent and just listened to her sister talk about how freeing it was. Akemi sighed. She wished she had the opportunity. When she was little, change was never an option.

###FLASHBACK###

The young girl ran to her mother and elder sister, who sat on the damp summer grass. She plopped down on her knees next to them, her auburn hair in many wisps across her face. Looking at her daughter, her mother clucked her tongue disapprovingly, making a 'tsk' noise.

"We need to get your hair cut. It's all over the place. We should have never let it get past any more than your cheek. It's so easily tangled!" She stood promptly and grabbed the young girl's hand.

"But mama, I don't want it cut! I wanna grow it out like Onee-san!" She looked at her mother pleadingly, then at her older sister.

"Akemi, no. You know what the rule is. You must have short hair," Her mother said, pulling her up and dragging her back to the house.

"But Nami and Aisu said I look like a boy!" Akemi whined, tears forming in her eyes. All the same, her mother continued to pull her into the house. "What needs to be done, will be done. That is the rule of the Kamikara family." She whispered, before snipping the hair her daughter cherished.

###END FLASHBACK###

"Amaya," Akemi said thoughtfully. "Do you remember when we were kids, and mom would never let me grow my hair out?"

Amaya nodded in reply. 'Yea, That's why I grew MY hair out. For you. Since you couldn't, I decided I would do it for you, so there would be enough hair for the both of us. Pretty stupid of me, huh?" Akemi shook her head.

"No, that was thoughtful. Thank you. I just...don't really see the reason as to why my hair has to be this short. I've gotten used to it now. I never bother mom whenever she nags me about it being too long."

It was silent for a moment before Akemi said, "I used to cry. Every time she cut it. Sure, I'd sit in the chair and be a good little girl when she did, but when I got to my room, or to the bathroom, I'd cry. I wanted so badly to grow it out long, just like yours. Why couldn't she give me the one thing I wanted as a child?" But both Akemi and Amaya knew perfectly well why Akemi had never been allowed the simplest of things. And that reason was Kaiya Kamikara.


"So, you're lucky. You made it through the rest of the day without mom and dad freaking out about your haircut. And they didn't see your ear. Or at least, I don't think they did." Akemi said as she flipped through a magazine on her bed. Amaya sat in the small padded chair by her sister's bed.

"Yea. But mom was disappointed all the same. She keeps making off hand comments about how it looked better long. She even told grandfather. Why does it matter to him?" Amaya pondered as she typed up her homework on her laptop. Akemi turned to her and asked, "What else did you do while I was at Tohru's house? Well...Shigure's house. Why couldn't you meet me there?"

"Oh yea, well, that wasn't the only thing I did. I made some calls, visited, all that stuff. I've got a pretty big surprise for you too. But first, I've got some explaining to do." Amaya suddenly looked excited, as if she had forgotten all about this good piece of news.

"Ok, what is it?" Akemi asked skeptically. She knew whatever it was could be one of two things: 1. Good news for only one of them or 2. Good news for both of them equally. She doubted it was the second. It was most likely good news in Amaya's favor.

"Alright, so after getting my hair cut and ear pierced, I drove around a little bit. The day we got here I did a little speed searching in the car. In other words, I checked out the places down town. And it turns out that we've got quite a few nightclubs. Not the dirty kind, although we have those too. The one I particularly liked was called 'The New Tomorrow' and do you know why I liked them best?"

"Why?" Akemi asked uninterestedly.

"Because they're in need of a new house band!" Amaya exclaimed gleefully.

"So?" Akemi asked.

"So? SO?! I sighed us up," Amaya said simply, resting her feet on Akemi's bed. Akemi dropped her magazine and looked at Amaya. "You...sighed us up? As in you AND me?"

"Yea...why?"

Akemi stood up, enraged. "Amaya! How could you do that without my permission? I can't believe it. I can't do THAT! Call them and cancel, I just can't. Amaya!"

"Hey, chill out. You so can. We'll be fine. So you may be a bit rusty on your piano skills, but that's ok. I was thinking we could do a little Fly me To the Moon, you know, by Sinatra? And then do our version of -

"No. No Piano. Not ever again. No band. No nightclub. No lounges. So Sinatra. No audition." Akemi stepped off her bed and went into the bathroom, promptly shutting the door. Amaya got up and knocked on it.

"But Akemi, why? Don't you want this chance? I mean come on! Both you and I have been talking about this since we were kids, and now you're going to let it get away this easily?"

Akemi put her head between her hands, eyes closed shut. The familiar feeling of nausea threatened her as she tried to deepen her breaths. 'Not again,' she thought desperately, 'please, don't let this come back to haunt me,'

'Do you want to bring disgrace to your family? Do you? Then be perfect, or suffer the consequences...'

'I want this chance,' she thought suddenly, 'but to embarrass my family and shame myself...never again'


Lola: Whoo, creepy ending.

Lupi: No not really. Just creepy that you think it's creepy.

Lola: You're just jealous cuz' I've written more than you.

Lupi: Actually, I'm low on Caffeine. Wanna get more?

Lola: Sure! But first I have a message for the readers. I know that this chapter was...weird. You may not know who Kaiya Kamikara is YET. But you will. Eventually, she plays a large role in this fic. And I know the whole hair-cutting thing is weird, but like I said, it plays a larger role later. Oh yea, and so does that quote in the last little bit of the chapter comes in next chapter, which will be mostly music oriented. Oh yes, and if you review, I'll give you some left over caffeine when me and Lupi are done, ok? Till then!