Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, or the wondrous Mabudachi Trio, or, for that matter, littlefiction's challenge idea.
Pairing: Slight Hatori x Ayame x Shigure, mainly slight Ayame x Shigure. As well as some Hatori x Shigure.
Summary: Ayame convinces Shigure and Hatori to set aside a day for a fun-filled time at his shop—during which they make calendars for one another. Hatori winds up in a dress, Shigure's all over the place, and the lofty snake that planned it all feels some unexpected emotion.
Note: Where did December go? Suddenly, it's 2007 and I haven't updated in a month... eesh! Well, make sure to read the author's note at the end.

Challenge: Mabudachi Calendar! Our favorite trio sets aside a day for playing, posing and picture taking, leading up to the creation of the calendars they will give each other for Christmas. Each of the three is responsible for the making of a different person's calendar. Harmless flirting and lots of fluff. I would love it if at least one of the photos involved tickling.

C-day: Ayame
chapter three

"Mayuko-sensei, do come inside," cheered Ayame as the pretty schoolteacher was promptly pulled inside his shop by Shigure. Hatori still stood outside on the pavement, stunned and embarrassed. "I'm so happy you're here. Want to join in on the fun?"

"Not particularly," stammered Mayu as she gazed around the garish shop and feared that she might be put into a dress like the one Shigure was wearing. "I—I have to go, Ayame-kun. I'm sorry…"

"Stay a little while!" pleaded Shigure.

Mayuko looked back over her shoulder to see Hatori wandering despondently in, eyes to the floor. Sympathetically, she said, "What are you doing?"

"Making calendars for each other!" boomed the snake and the dog in unison. Mayu stared back at them in slight apprehension, and turned when Hatori mumbled into the plush carpet, "I'm making Shigure's." He looked up at the dog with furtive hope on his stoic face as he said with heavy pleading implications in his tone, "I think we're just about done, don't you?"

"No, no," burbled the dog, wagging a finger. "You have to take at least a couple more pictures of me! How about… how about…" A grin lit up Shigure's features. "How about if Haa-san takes a picture of Mayu-chan and I?"

Mayu backpedaled. She knew where this is going. "I'm not trying on a dress," she said firmly.

"Pleeease?" begged Shigure playfully. He knew he was torturing her.

Aaya frowned at Mayu's "No!" and placed a hand on her shoulder, his eyes alight. "If you won't do it for Gure-san, do it for me, won't you, Mayuko-sensei?"

Mayu hesitated. Silence reigned in the shop as she failed to notice that Hatori was trying to get her attention with a desperate 'Don't do it!' look on his face. Finally, she muttered, "Okay, I'll do it. Only for one or two pictures, okay?"

"Can I choose the dress?" exclaimed Aaya.

"No," Hatori decreed before Mayu could say anything, embarrassed for the young woman and then also for himself as all the people in the shop turned towards him with curious expressions on their faces.

"Why, do you want to choose her dress, Haa-san?"

Hatori could have killed him. The doctor swore that he would get Shigure back for this as he said, "N-no! I mean, I don't care."

Mayuko stared back at Ha'ri with her arms folded across her chest. She looked nearly amused. Nearly, but not quite, and Hatori knew what she was going to say even before she spoke. "Why don't you choose," Mayu suggested. "I'd like to see what… um, what kind of fashion sense you have."

Hatori groaned despite himself, and walked over to the pile of despicable dresses. There was much rustling and grumbling before Ha'ri finally turned and displayed the dress that he had chosen. "…This one?"

Mayuko's face went white, then progressed to a lovely shade of maroon. Behind her, Shigure and Ayame couldn't contain their laughter, and were all but rolling on the floor, guffawing loudly. Watching them, Hatori couldn't understand why. He wet his lips nervously and wondered, Is there something wrong with the dress I've chosen?

"Hatori-san!" sputtered Mayuko as she stared at the dress in shock. "You… you pervert!"

The doctor was aghast. "What?" he exclaimed, face pale. He looked down at the dress in horror, and finally saw what he had missed before. The white, nearly translucent dress was a low-cut, strapless thing that all but exposed the chest of the one wearing it. It was about thigh-length—Hatori had wondered before why it was so small, but thought it was because he was holding it wrong, or maybe it was not completely unfolded—and had a slit running up what part of a skirt there was.

"Ayame!" Hatori shrieked. "Why do you have something like this?"

Behind the embarrassed Mayu, Ayame caught his breath and managed to gasp, "Just in case of emergencies. You never know, Tori-san!"
Mayuko left soon after that, too mortified to stay for even one picture. Hatori, annoyed because he had messed up so terribly and not having any idea how to apologise, refused to take any more photos and left Shigure to start Ayame's calendar.

"Okay, Aaya," Shigure decreed as he raised the camera and looked through the viewfinder. He gazed over Ayame's purple robe in satisfaction and snapped a shot of him as the snake struck an outrageous pose.

"Kuramae-san!" called Shigure as he took photos of Ayame lounging back in his armchair. Mine poked her head out of the back room and the dog beckoned to her. "Could you come here for a moment?"

The young woman's face lit up at the prospect of joining in, and she raced over. "What is it, Shigure-san?" she chirped, and Shigure motioned to Aaya.

"Pose with him," Gure ordered, and Mine dashed over and Aaya seized her shoulders, angling himself so that he was nearly embracing her, but was far enough away to keep his human form. A flush spread across the assistant's cheeks, and Shigure took the picture.

Squinting at the picture on the digital camera's screen, Shigure beamed and declared, "That'll be the cover photo. You both look so sweet!"

Mine squeaked in joy and tore herself apart from Aaya, moving to Shigure to see the photo. He showed it to her with a grin, but when Ayame went to look, the dog snatched the camera away and sang, "No, Aaya, you can't see it yet. Wait until it's done!"

The snake frowned in disappointment, but complied.
Soon after that, Shigure requested something that brought Hatori to the brink of protest, and it wasn't even the dragon's calendar.

"Aaya, why don't you dress up like Haa-san?" Shigure suggested, to which Ayame replied in his usual fashion: "I would love to, Gure-san! I think that's a brilliant idea! What do you think, Tori-san?"

Ha'ri bit his lower lip and looked at the ground. Eventually, he said, "I'm afraid I don't have another doctor's ensemble with me." Then, pointedly, "I don't usually carry around more than one."

Shigure brushed this off as if it were nothing, catching the doctor's sarcasm but ignoring it completely. The novelist put a finger to his chin in thought for a moment before smiling and turning to Aaya with a glint in his eye. "Well," the dog said pleasantly, "this is a clothes shop. Aaya, don't you have something like that around here somewhere?"

"Of course," smiled Ayame, disappearing behind some clothes racks. There was silence for a moment before a, "Ah-ha!" rang out, and Aaya swept back into the view of his friends. In his arms, he held a black and white doctor's robe; nearly identical to the one Hatori was wearing.

The doctor spluttered in protest, but was drowned out as Aaya vanished into the dressing room with a giggle.

"Isn't this great?" Shigure exclaimed as he waited for the snake to return. The dog was completely aware of Ha'ri's unhappiness, but continued to smile. "You'll be like twins, Haa-san, only with different hair."

"Quite a lot else is different, thank you," grumbled Hatori.

"I heard that," sang Aaya from behind the fitting room door. "I hope you meant that kindly, Tori-san!"

"Of course," said Hatori hastily, causing himself to wonder afterwards why he had been in such a rush to apologise. This was Aaya, after all, not someone of power like Akito.

"Tada!" cried Ayame then as he flung himself out of the dressing room, jerking Hatori out of his thoughts with a start. When he saw Aaya, the pensive expression on the dragon's face vanished in an instant, a shocked one taking its place. Amused by his reaction, the snake winked at his two friends and spun around, gushing, "Well, what do you think?"

"Perhaps you should become a doctor, Aaya," joked Shigure, standing back to admire Ayame further. The snake had swept his hair up and pinned it behinds his head, leaving a few strands to cover his left eye. Also, he wore the grim expression that was so commonly on Ha'ri's face. "Or, maybe," continued the dog, "Hatori's silver-haired doppelganger."

It was true. Though Aaya's face was more sculpted than Hatori's, and though his hair was silver where Hatori's was black, they did look very similar.

"This is weird," Hatori couldn't help but declare as he watched Ayame playfully mirror his movements. "Ayame, do me a favour and take those off—"

"Come on, Tori-san!" insisted the snake, drowning out Hatori's pleas. "Now that I've gotten into this, we might as well have our pictures taken!" Grinning, Ayame motioned for Shigure to raise the camera, and latched onto Hatori's waist, hugging him close. Ha'ri felt his face go red, and determinedly hid it behind his hands just as the flash lit the room.

"Oh, Haa-san," complained Shigure when he saw the photo. "You've hidden your face!" A grin appeared on the dog's visage when he realised why. "Aww, you were blushing, weren't you?"

"No," spat Hatori, breaking out of Aaya's embrace. "Now, hurry up, I want this picture taking to be over with."

"I've hurt your feelings," clucked Shigure, laughing. Then, "Okay, I thought of a good pose. I want you two to stand back to back."

Hatori resisted rolling his eyes, and did as told. It was, after all, for Ayame's sake.
The Mabudachi Trio were surprised to receive a phone call from none other than Sohma Yuki not an hour later, once all the picture taking had been done. Aaya immediately picked up the phone and declared, "Hello, this is the famous Sohma Ayame, and you've reached his wonderful store of men's fantasies. What can I do for you?"

"Nii-san?" said the voice on the other end.

Aaya's eyes went wide and he boomed into the phone, "Yuuukiii! What a pleasure to hear from you!"

Across the room, Shigure and Hatori looked up in surprise and walked over to where Aaya was babbling enthusiastically into the phone. Knowing this would scare the poor teenager off, Shigure calmly apprehended the mouthpiece and said, "Hello? Yuki?"

"Shigure," Yuki could be heard saying on the end. "Thank you. I thought it would never end…"

"Don't worry," laughed Shigure. He eyed Aaya, who was desperately making hand motions that the novelist could only just understand. Finally, though, everything clicked and the dog asked of Yuki, "Aaya wants to know if you'd like to come over to the shop for a little while—"

"No thanks," cut in Yuki curtly. "Thanks to Kakeru, I've had enough idiocy for one day…"

Ayame waved his hands wildly in the air to get Shigure's attention. The dog turned to the snake with raised eyebrows and silently interpreted the movements. Finally, he said into the phone, "Aaya says that you can bring that girl… the one that liked Mogeta…?"

"Machi?"

"Sure," agreed Shigure. He was hearing all of this second-hand, and understood little of the context. Who was this 'Machi'? Yuki had yet to bring her home. At this thought, a mischievous glint appeared in Shigure's eyes and he teased, "So, is this girl your girlfriend, Yun-Yun?"

Shigure could practically see Yuki frowning as he replied, "Don't call me that."

"You didn't answer me, Yun-Yun."

"Look, Shigure, I have to go."

Shigure laughed and let his cousin go with a smile and a final word of, "Remember, Yun-Yun—safe sex!" When the dog hung up the phone, Aaya promptly pounced on him to hear the news, but Shigure proclaimed there was none and that Yuki wasn't joining them.

Ayame's shoulders slouched in disappointment and Hatori found himself reaching out and giving the snake a comforting squeeze before he said, awkwardly, "Well, I guess we finished the calendars."

There was silence. Then a simultaneous "Yes," from the two remaining Mabudachi Trio members. Hatori nodded dumbly, knowing he should have been relieved to finally go, and was surprised when he realised he wasn't. Instead, he felt like spending a little more time with the friends who he rarely saw any more; the friends who he missed despite constantly labeling them a drag.

"So," the doctor said, clearing his throat, "I suppose it's getting late. Hey... would you two like to join me for dinner?"

Shigure and Ayame couldn't have been happier to accept that proposal.

Fin.

Author's Notes: It's over! Well, sorta. Yes, that may say, "Fin," but the epilogue, albeit short, is still to come. I hoped you enjoyed this fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look forward to the epilogue, it'll be up fairly soon! (Probably.) It will certainly be up faster than this chapter was. (Maybe.)