Disclaimer: (I know, I forgot it for the first chapter!) Anyway. I don't own anything, except for all four Fruits Basket DVDs!
A/N: Aw, only three reviews? Oh well. The three of you that DID review are awesome! And my responses are down at the end of the chapter.. BTW, this chapter is NOT very exciting. It's just the start of the interaction between Kyou and Tohru. I did make it a little longer than the first chapter, though! So, enjoy.
'Italics' : Thoughts
(Italics) : Author's Notes
"Italics" : Announcements over the school speakers
--------
It was Enlish class, and Kyou sat boredly in his desk near the back of the room, not listening to the announcements blaring over the speakers in the ceiling - that is, he wasn't listening until he heard...
"I'm sure several of you have heard rumors of an 'incident' that took place last night on campus." Pause. "A group of students pressured another into jumping from the school roof into the pool, in order to join a 'club' of sorts."
Several gasps were heard around the room, and a few students murmured things to each other. Tohru, who sat two seats to the right of Kyou, peaked up from her Literature book and stole a glance at him, receiving a glare in return. She shuddered, and immediately pretended to be interested in their assignment once again. 'I'm guessing he's not happy that I'm the one who has to sign his papers...'
"The student - identified as Kenji Yamasuke - is currently being hospitalized in downtown Tokyo, and though we're not sure of his exact condition, it is clear that he will be bedridden for quite some time." Pause. "While we haven't yet determined how many students were involved, we have gotten a hold of one, and he is being properly punished."
Kyou flinched, but immediately calmed himself.
"To anyone who might have information regarding any other students involved, please come to the office during your lunch period or after school and speak with our administrator, Mr. Hatori Sakai. That would be all." And with that, the microphone clicked off, and Kyou breathed a sigh of relief.
'As long as they don't mention my name, I'm okay.' Kyou thought as he drowned out his English teacher, Mr. Shigure Matsumoto.
As the bell signalling for the end of third period rung, Tohru stood from her desk and collected her things. 'It's just about time for lunch... I hope Uo and Hana are in the mood for cucumber rice balls. That's all I had time to make this morning.'
She walked slowly through the crowded hallways and outside to the outer cafeteria. Recognizing the tall, blond-haired Uo waving her over, she smiled and tried not to seem as exhausted as she felt. She didn't do that great a job this time.
Uo looked on in concern. "Tohru...? What's wrong? You look like you had a rough night."
Tohru took her seat across from Uo and Hana as she pulled out the tupperware containing her cucumber rice balls. She tried to smile brightly. "I'm fine."
"Something happened yesterday," Hana the 'electric girl' said monotonously as she set her own tupperware on the wooden tabletop.
Tohru sighed. 'No use hiding it now...' "Um, I almost got fired again yesterday; OH but don't worry! I was just having another clumsy moment. I just need to be a little more careful..."
"That's not all," Hana put in. "There's something else; I can feel it."
Uo frowned. "You'd tell us if something was bothering you, right, Tohru?"
"Tohru." Uo pushed.
"Well, it's just that," Tohru paused, not knowing quite what to say. "I went to visit Mom yesterday..."
"Yeah? How's she doing?"
"Eh, well-"
"She doesn't want to talk about it." Hana stated bluntly.
Tohru gave Hana a grateful smile, receiving a slow nod in return.
Uo sighed. "Anyway... what else is going on?"
"Yesterday, the group of Kyou Souma stalkers were prowling around my house." Hana said in her usual monotone. "Megumi followed them, and," Pause. "he cursed every. Last. One of them."
Uo sweatdropped.
"Oh no! Did it really work?" The concerned Tohru asked.
Hana shook her head. "I'm not really sure."
The final bell of the day rung, and Kyou found himself reluctantly opening the door leading to the drama club's normal meeting place. It was a decent sized room, with two windows on each wall, and on the parts of the wall without windows or whiteboards, there was nothing but posters. It was hard to tell what the actual wall color was because of all the posters. There were about 15 desks against the back wall, forming a half-circle, and right across the semicircle was a single chair, which Kyou assumed was for the teacher. The floor was white tiled - much like those you see in science classes - and in the back righthand corner of the room was the teacher's desk and one filing cabinet.
Seeing that Tohru was the only one there, Kyou stomped his way to the desk she was seated at and slammed the signature sheet in front of her. The brunette jumped back in her seat, startled, and looked up to see Kyou glaring down at her. Her eyes widened and her arms flailed about as she tried to say her greetings all in one word. "OhgoodmorningKyou-OH but it's AFTERNOON! Um. GoodafternoonKyouhowwasyourday? Thanksforopeningthedoorthismorningbythe-"
"Just sign the damn paper so I can leave already." Kyou said calmly, cutting her off.
Tohru's arms rested at her sides and she stopped blabbing, simply saying, "Huh?"
Kyou roughly snatched her pencil from her hand with a frustrated scoff and violently stabbed it onto the first line on the page. "Are you STUPID? I said: Sign. The. Damn. PAPER ALREADY!" The easily irritated Kyou said, pronouncing every word carefully.
Tohru flushed at the word 'stupid' and glanced down at the paper, where the pencil Kyou was holding still was, and made an 'o' with her mouth. She glanced back up at the glaring Kyou and smiled. "I'm sorry, I can't." She said sweetly, although it wasn't fake sweetness.
Kyou demanded, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T!?"
Tohru 'eeked' and then quickly said, "WellMr.SakaisaidI'mnotsupposedtosignituntiltheendofthemeetingsandtutoringsessions."
Kyou sighed and took a seat at the other side of the room. "Forget I asked." He practically threw himself into the desk as far away from Tohru Honda as possible, folded his arms across the desk surface and rested his chin on them.
"I'm sorry.." Tohru's soft voice traveled over from across the room, causing him to avert his gaze towards her.
Kyou shrugged, feeling a tad guilty for calling her stupid and being mean for no reason, and contented himself with staring at the wood on his desk.
He must've fallen asleep, because when Kyou looked up, the rest of the seats in the semi-circle were filled. Some of the desks contained a small group of girls pointing and giggling at him. He grunted and looked straight-forward, making direct eye contact with Tohru, who was sitting right across from him. She blushed and continued writing.. drawing, whatever she was doing, in her notebook. Kyou sighed. The downside of sitting in the seat furthest from Tohru, was that it was also right across from her desk. 'I guess I'll live as long as I'm not facing one of those giggling girls the whole time.'
Tohru was having slightly different thoughts. 'Oh, I can't believe I have to work with Kyou Souma of all people - in the drama club and tutoring sessions! He used to pick on me all the time in middle school..'. She broke her thoughts momentarily and stole a glance at him again. He looked very bored, with his fingers tangled in his orange hair, and his crimson eyes staring intently at his desk. Tohru bit her lip and glanced back down at her paper, continuing her sketch. 'But, Mom always said to give people the benefit of a doubt - maybe he's changed.' She paused again, adding some final touches to her drawing, and the closer she got to finishing her sketch, the more determined she felt. 'I need to try. I need to try to get along with Kyou.. who knows, we may even become friends!' Her thoughts were cut short, however, when she saw the eccentric long-white-haired drama club instructor glide through the doors.
Ayame Hamasaki.
"Hel---lo, again, fellow thespians," He proclaimed with a big smile playing his features. "It is my understanding that we have a new member joining us today. Isn't that right..." He paused as he scanned the semi-circle, and his eyes rested on a crimson-eyed Kyou Souma. "...Kyou? Kyou Souma?"
Kyou grunted and sat up as best as he could, and prepared to snap something about not coming by choice, but he stopped when he figured he would probably be marked down by Tohru for poor conduct. "Eh... yeah."
Ayame's grin widened and he paused in front of Kyou's desk, with his hands tucked in the pockets of his rather long trenchcoat. He gazed down at Kyou with his bright yellow eyes sparkling in interest. "So, Kyou, are you as thirsty for the performing arts as the rest of us in this classroom are?"
Kyou couldn't stop the scoff from leaving his mouth, but he did manage to keep himself from saying something... insulting. "Uh, no, not really."
Ayame folded his arms across his chest. "Ah, so what Ha'ri says was true. You really are being forced into joining us." He sighed, shaking his head disappointedly. "It's tragic, yes, but I'm sure that in time, you'll come to love the performing arts just as much as we do!"
When Ayame left to sit in the chair across from the semi-circle, Kyou sighed and sat back in his desk. 'I doubt that.'
Kyou didn't pay much attention to the lesson Ayame was giving about their upcoming play - he was mainly covering its background - not that he really cared about it, anyway. His eyes swept the room for something, anything interesting to look at, so of course they rested on Tohru, who was listening intently to everything Ayame was saying. Kyou perked up an eyebrow. 'She actually cares about what the idiot's talking about?'
He shrugged subconsciously and continued staring. Tohru was pretty cute, Kyou had to admit, the way her eyebrows were lifted slightly more than usual (showing that she was, indeed, interested), and how her big blue eyes reflected her interest.
Then, he knit his eyebrows together in disgust. 'This is Tohru Honda I'm thinking about here...' He told himself and immediately focused his gaze on the floor.
When the time came for the drama club meeting to end, Ayame said as everyone was leaving, "Don't forget. We won't be having another meeting until Monday next week, and bring the scripts I handed out! We'll be looking over them." When everyone was gone but Kyou and Tohru, he paused before stepping out the door. "Kyou, I trust you'll come."
Kyou rolled his eyes. "Not like I really have a choice..."
Ayame smiled brightly anyway, and left.
Letting out a breath, Kyou stood and approached Tohru again. She was currently stashing everything in her bookbag, and all she had left to put inside was her folder of assignment sheets. She hadn't noticed Kyou standing over her.
"HEY," He said loudly, shocking Tohru and causing her to knock the folder to the ground, her papers scattering to the floor.
"AH!" She exclaimed and stooped down to the ground to gather her papers. "I'm such a klutz..."
Kyou felt a pang of guilt, again, since it was mostly his fault for scattering her papers. "Eh... let me help..." He stooped down to the ground, too, and helped pick up a few sheets.
Tohru felt her eyes widen when she saw him lean down to help her. 'Wow, this is the first time Kyou's done anything, well, nice, for me.'
When all the papers were collected and stashed neatly in her bookbag, she stood to her feet and smiled up at Kyou. "Thank you very much for your help."
Kyou felt the heat in his face increase slightly. "Ah, uh.. I-I just felt bad for scarin' you like that, so don't go thinking I like you or anything."
Tohru frowned and her eyes fell. "Oh, I see. Well, thanks anyway." She smiled again, and then noticed the paper she was supposed to sign on the desk beside hers. 'Hm, Kyou must've set it down before he helped me pick up the papers.' She slipped a pen out of her bag and signed her name and the date on the first line on the sheet, and then handed it to Kyou. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye!"
Work didn't start for another two and a half hours, so Tohru had plenty of time to spare. She trotted out the room, and took her normal route home, all the while thinking, 'Kyou still doesn't seem to like me. I'm just going to have to try extra hard.'
--------
Reviewer Responses:
Kute Anime Kitty - Props to you, being the first reviewer! XD ((gives you a brownie)) Anyway, I'm glad you liked the first chapter! I hope you found this one enjoyable as well!
luvHaru7 - I updated, and I'm so glad you liked it! Hehe yeah, A Walk to Remember and Fruits Basket are great ) Thanks so much for your review!
Amaya Hanyou - Hey, judging by your name, I'd say you're an Inuyasha fan, which makes you cool in my book Plus, your fic "Tainted Angel Feathers", I think it's called, is AWESOME! So I'm glad you 'wub' mine, hehe. Thanks for reviewing!
A/N: Not sure when the next update will be! Not more than a week, hopefully. But, if you want another chapter, I need at least 5 more reviews!