Author's Note: Second Chapter up! Yes, I know it's been a while, but I'm involved in this thing at school that's taking up SOOO much time. This one will be a little more fast-paced, and more Sohmas will appear, but I wanted to get Tohru's and Uo's basic backgrounds out of the way. As you can see, they are a little different than in the Anime/Manga. Remember, children, I LOVE reviews! (Yea, I just made up Mr. Komisei ; and I learned the name of their high school! YES!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, never will. However, disappointment is a part of life, and I do own this fanfiction!
Chapter 2- Sohmas... They're Everywhere!
Tohru, Yuki, and Uo skidded into class, panting. Yuki managed to straighten up slightly to address their teacher, Mr. Komisei. "Sir- I'm sorry- that we're- so late- they're the- new students- and we- were on the- other side of –campus..." he puffed.
"Well, Yuki, in light of the fact that they are new, and you are class president, I will excuse you this one time. However, I must ask you not to repeat this little incident." Mr. Komisei said, trying to sound stern, but ending up sounding hopelessly amused.
He found it funny, the way Yuki was so obviously attracted to the new girl with the light brown, hint of gold, hair. He kept sneaking glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking, and had an almost puppy-like look in his eyes, though his demeanor was very calm and self-assured, despite the panting.
It was also funny how Yuki's cousin, Kyo, was staring at him in such obvious outrage, unable to believe he'd gotten away with being late. Kyo was resentful of Yuki, and Mr. Komisei thought it went way back.
Tohru stepped forward a little, having regained her breath, but was too nervous to really say anything. Uo, seeing this, decided to rescue her friend.
"Hello, sir. My name is Arisa Uotani, and this is my best friend, Tohru Honda. We just transferred this year to Kaibara, and we look forward to our time here," she said, as solemnly as she could with out cracking up. What kind of people regularly said this kind of crap? And meant it, too!
She glanced over the class. They looked pretty typical, except one guy with bright orange hair, who was scowling furiously in the direction of the guy with the purple hair. Yuki, she remembered, was his name.
This boy's left eyebrow kept twitching, and she thought he reminded her of a cat who has had its tail stepped on. She put a hand over her mouth to keep from chuckling at the mental image of this guy with a big, fuzzy tail and ears.
She also noticed one girl sitting in the back with long, plaited (braided) black hair, and calm, distant deep purple eyes. She was staring calmly at Tohru, who was frantically apologizing to the teacher for being late on the first day, typical Tohru.
"Well then, class," he said, turning to the rest of the students, "We have two new students joining us this year (it was the first day of the school year), Arisa Uotani and Tohru Honda. Please make them feel welcome. In fact... since this is the third year, you won't have time to find your way around the building, so I will assign you each two helpers, to help you with your new schedule, and finding all of your classes. Hmm... Let me see... Got it! Miss Honda, your guides will be Saki Hanajima and Yuki Sohma, this young man," he said, gesturing towards Yuki. Well, now, he thought, this should be pretty interesting to watch... "As for you, Miss Uotani, your guides will be Motoko Minagawa and Sohma Kyo," he finished, slyly glancing out from underneath his short grayish bangs to see Kyo's reaction to this. Sure enough...
"You want me to do what?" the young man hissed, springing out of his chair. "You're seriously asking me to show some new girl around like she's a princess or something? There's no way in hell!!!"
With this defiant exclamation, he turned around, standing perfectly stiffly. Uo chuckled to herself; in her imagination his poofy tail was stiff and straight with indignation. "What the hell do you think you're laughing at?!?!" The cat-boy screeched, whirling around, his stiffly insulted pose forgotten.
Arisa crossed her arms calmly. "Cool it, orange-top. If you must know, I was imagining what you would look like big, fluffy ears and a tail, like a cat." At this, muffled giggles erupted around the classroom. She noticed, however, that the Prince (as she had heard some freshmen girls mutter on their mad dash to class) and Cat-boy had gone perfectly still, the color drained completely from their faces.
At Lunch, under the cherry trees:
"Wh-what did you say earlier, Uo?" Yuki asked unsteadily, still shaken from Arisa's revelation earlier. And, of course, just a little distracted by the fact that Tohru was sitting less than a foot away from him on the small blanket they were all sharing.
Tohru, thinking that they must have taken it as a deadly insult, immediately jumped in with, "Oh, please, don't be mad at Uo-chan! She didn't mean it as a d-deathly insult or anything, so please don't be mad at her and fight her to the death or anything! I-in fact, Yuki, I'm sorry, but I-I was thinking you reminded me of a mouse earlier. N-not a timid one, I mean! Quiet, but, you know, strong, too. Brave, or I guess maybe courageous is a better word for it." She finished a little more calmly.
Kyo, caught in the act of biting into his soba noodles, choked at the mention of the word 'mouse', disregarding the rest as typical female-of-any-age-around-Yuki behavior. Yuki flushed this time and nearly fell over. She thinks I'm courageous? Strong? No one's ever said anything like that to me before... and I think she's wonderful. Beautiful, humble, and so cute when she blushes, like now... If only I could reach out and touch that beautiful hair, that's shining so perfectly in the sunli- WAIT A MINUTE! What was that all about? Never mind, just get a grip, she's staring at you! Wait- she's staring at me... No! Stop it!
Tohru, meanwhile, was somewhat relieved by their expressions, hoping that they meant it hadn't been a deadly insult after all! Her gaze was caught on Yuki, noticing a soft, almost-but-not-quite silly smile crossing his face as he looked at her. She wondered what he was thinking.
She stared into the lavender depths that were his eyes, wondering what he was thinking in them. Was it about her? No, it couldn't be, someone as wonderfully sweet and gentle and caring as him HAD to have a girlfriend... right? Hold on! What was she thinking? Girlfriend? Why was she wondering if the Prince of Kaibara High (she had picked up on the title too) was romantically involved with anyone? She shouldn't care; he was just a new friend, right? Oh! He was saying something, she should pay attention or he might think she was rude!
"-and so I assure you, Ms. Honda, we were not offended at all by your friend and yours comparisons. Or, at least, I wasn't. I can't speak for Kyo here. In fact, I almost like being compared to a mouse. It's kind of... cute!" He popped a hand over his mouth, turning the deepest shade of scarlet he could ever remember being. Cute? What on earth had possessed him to call Ms. Honda, a girl he had just met and barely knew, cute?
He knew, though. It was the way she had ducked her head after admitting she thought he was like a mouse, the delicate shade of rose her ears were turning now, the way she smiled, the way she was always joyful, it was... everything. Yuki Sohma, the Prince of Kaibara High, who had fangirls screaming after him every day, admitted to himself that he had a huge crush on the girl sitting next to him, now a deep cherry with her bangs falling over her eyes, who he had only met five hours ago.
During this little epiphany with himself, Kyo had been rolling around on the ground laughing hysterically at the ice-prince making a (he thought) complete idiot out of himself, while Hanajima had watched silently and observantly, noting everything coolly for future reference. Arisa had been alternating between peering curiously at Saki, glaring heatedly at Kyo while involuntarily noticing the way his bright hair fell just so over his eyes, and sneaking peeks at Tohru and Yuki, neither of whom seemed capable or coherent speech, as they were both making odd, vaguely apologetic noises in each other's direction. She snorted. Clearly, she was the one who had to start the conversation again. Jeez, what was with these people?
"So... How distant cousins are you two to each other?" Uo inquired, leaning back on the strawberry-printed blanket Tohru had brought. She crossed her legs casually as Kyo shut up and Yuki and Tohru jerked back from wherever they had been.
Kyo, seeing that Yuki was still recovering from what ever had been rendering him incapable of speech, sighed loudly. "Well, not too for away, in fact, I just moved in with Yuki and Shigure, another cousin."
Yuki, now fully recovered, grimaced at his cousin's blunder. "No, you idiot, she's talking about whether we're first cousins, second cousins, whatever. Baka neko..." he muttered this last part to himself. Uo and Tohru glanced at each other curiously, wondering why he was calling his cousin a stupid cat. Maybe Kyo reminded him of a cat too? "I think we're second cousins, maybe third- oh, wait, no, we might be first... Well, um, I actually don't know exactly, but I think its pretty close..." he trailed off, aware of how idiotic he must sound.
He tried not to look at Tohru, sure of seeing a look of total disgust written on her features for his ignorance. He snuck a quick look at her out of the corner of his eyes. She was laughing! Happily, even, her head tossed back and eyes sparkling. Yuki felt his heart lodge somewhere in his throat as he watched her so happy and carefree. Just then, Arisa opened her bento and pulled out her onigiri.
"AARRGGGHHH!" Kyo yelled frantically, scooting away from her at full speed. Uo, unused to this reaction to a rice ball, looked at her hands, wondering if they had turned purple or sprouted tentacles. "Leeks! You have leeks in your rice ball! What the hell are leeks doing in a perfectly nice onigiri? What has the onigiri ever done to you to make you torture it???" His voice trailed off as he realized everyone was staring at him incredulously with little sweatdrops, except for Yuki, who wore his usual look of disgusted disdain.
"Um, I just really- don't like leeks..." Kyo murmured lamely, hanging his head. Yuki grinned.
"Hey, Yuki! Kyo! Hey!" Everyone on the blanket whirled around, searching for the high-pitched calls. A small, vaguely not completely Japanese looking boy wearing a girl's uniform with the shorts come pelting towards them at full speed, and, upon reaching them, flung himself frantically behind Yuki.
"Get back here, Momiji, you little brat!" yelled a second voice, right before it's owner skidded into view. Tohru's jaw fell open, giving her a momentary resemblance to a fish, before she snapped it shut.
This newcomer was quite... different... in appearance. He had short black hair behind his neck, going just up to the bottom of his ears, but then a mushroom-type cloud of white hair exploded up and out. He had clear, gray eyes, which seemed to be rapidly darkening in color. He wore the usual school uniform for boys, but he had no tie, instead he seemed to have a collection of weird bands around his neck, although they did go with his earrings...
"Haru." Yuki said soothingly, trying to calm his bipolar cousin down. "Why are you trying to attack Momiji?"
"Th-that little idiot pulled my hair! Said it looked- funny- didn't you, ya little German kid?" This last was hissed over Yuki's shoulder, towards Momiji.
"Waaah! Haru's picking on me!" The little boy sobbed, waterfalls of crocodile tears streaming down his cheeks. "Make him stop, someone, make him stop!"
"Awww!" Tohru cried, seeing the 'poor little boy' crying. She went over to hug him, saying, "It's okay, don't worry, it'll be alright, really!" But just as she stretched out her arms to embrace him...
"NO!", "No, Ms. Honda!" and, "Tohru, don't!" came flying at her from three different directions, and black-and-white, lavender, and orange blurs streaked past her to grab the small freshman and drag him away from her.
She stared. Why had they stopped her from hugging the poor little boy? Oh! Maybe he had a phobia of hugs, or some thing equally horrible. Oh no! What could she do to make him feel better? He wouldn't want pity, she was sure. Maybe she should apologize! Yeah, that's a good start, she told herself.
"It's okay, you guys. I already know your secret." Everybody froze. Kyo, Yuki, Haru, and Momiji all turn dead white. Jaws tighten. Eyes narrow. And Tohru continues hastily, "I know Momiji has a phobia of hugging people, and I'm SO sorry, I promise to never never never do that again! Really! I-I swear!"
Yuki suddenly starts to laugh. Haru, Kyo, and Momiji just stare at him, their jaws making contact with the picnic blanket. "M-ms. Honda! That was hilarious! I can personally assure you, Momiji does NOT have a fear of hugs. He is just using the tears to gain affection from those around him. We try to prevent this, so he will stop crying sooner... But the look on your face was so adorable! And-" He stopped him self effectively by clamping a hand over his mouth.
It was, however, a little too late. Haru suddenly grinned, and, going over to Yuki, clapped him on the shoulder saying, "Congratulations, my friend. I knew this had to happen someday soon." Yuki flushed deeply.
Kyo also grinned, but his had none of the friendly laughter in it that Haru's had. His was distinctly evil-ish, and his eyes shone at the thoughts of all the ways he could make Yuki's life a living hell now that he knew that he had a crush on someone. He started immediately, saying, "So... Yuki. How's that giiirlfriend of yours doin'?" He made sure to stress 'girlfriend', and sure enough, saw Yuki's eyes narrow into icy slits while Tohru's widened in surprise.
"Baka neko." Yuki bit out. "I don't have a girlfriend, or a giiiirlfriend! Why would you say such an idiotic thing?" he demanded furiously, aware of Tohru's look of surprise and- could it be? - slight disappointment. She brightened up a little, though, when she heard this. Oh, good, she thought to herself, and then started a little, asking herself, now why would I think that? ...
"Oh, gee, I don't know! But Haru might... hey, Haru, why would I say such an 'idiotic thing'?" Kyo tossed over his shoulder towards Haru, who was, by now, also grinning evilly.
"Well, Kyo, ol buddy ol pal, maybe it could be just to see how our friend Yuki over here would react to such an... interesting... statement." He let his voice trail off, enjoying the sight of Yuki burying his head in his hands and groaning. It was going to be a fun afternoon...
So? Come on! What did ya think? Tell me, you know you want to!
Also, the next line of the song will be in Ch. 3, for those of you who are wondering!
Now, push the pretty lil' purpley-blue button... COME ON! DO IT!!!