Fruits Basket

For Justice, Romance, and Good Health

OPENING NOTES: It took me nine days to finally post the introduction for case two. I'd have to say that it must be extremely horrible because people who don't support this pairing will end up thinking it's too sappy and boring so please, bear with me. I chose this pairing for case two because the others will have their certain time to shine. Enjoy. :)


Case Two: Introduction

Kureno Sohma walked out of Akito's room silently. He had to call Hatori again- Akito was feeling sick. Kureno sighed, thinking about how monotonous life was in the Sohma main house. All he had to do was sleep, wake up, take a bath, eat, visit Akito, eat, visit Akito, take a nap, eat, visit Akito, clean up, and sleep again. Free time came rarely, and was spent quite unproductively. Small errands arrived shortly as well, but never was he required to do anything else much.

For the rooster spirit, life was something that wasn't very important to him. He didn't have a real purpose or a valid reason to exist. If he died, some people would grieve, and then Akito would get another Zodiac member to be his personal assistant again. Everything would resume to its normal state as usual.

Kureno felt worthless.

The only times he didn't feel like this were when his parents still cared for him. That was long gone already, and he couldn't wish for his parents to come back anymore. Another time was when Akito said he really needed him, and oh how Kureno felt that he was lied to a little while afterwards. He would always feel worthless once again.

Yet something had changed. Arisa Uotani entered his life.

It was simple, as if she had just walked by and exchanged glances with him. Nothing else. But at that time, Kureno felt for the first time in a very long period of time that someone actually thought he was worth something. It amused him how the girl got along with him well although they barely even knew each other. Well, because of his privilege of being faithful to Akito, he couldn't delve deeper into their relationship; he couldn't stay long with her.

Kureno felt worthless once again. He had the urge to just leave Akito but then he remembered his promise to the head of the Sohma family- that he would never leave him. Arisa Uotani seemed more than just a girl he was eating yakisoba with on one lazy afternoon. Kureno hoped for more, and only met up with her once again, when he had almost turned her down completely.

Brilliant, just brilliant. He hadn't met her again ever since, and the light that shone at the end of his dark tunnel went out, just like all those other times. Kureno Sohma lost hope. Confident that he would remain worthless forevermore, he lived monotonously as always, serving Akito and watching the curse hover softly upon the Juunishi.

Would things ever change?

"Kureno? Kureno. Hey, Kureno!"

Said person looked up, snapping out of his daze. He was contemplating on his life again, something he had done a lot ever since he met Arisa Uotani. The things he was pondering on were getting deeper and deeper. Apparently, Hatori Sohma, his cousin and the dragon spirit of the Zodiac, noticed this as well.

"What are you thinking about? You knock on my door and when I answer, you give me no indication whatsoever of why you even came," he commented curiously, "Are you all right?"

Kureno sighed. "You gave me a check-up a few days back already, and I'm still fine. Akito wants you to come over- he's not feeling well."

"Again?"

"Yes. Again."

Hatori paused before he went to Akito's room. He looked concernedly at Kureno once more and softly muttered, "Are you sure you're all right? Nothing's bothering you? You can tell me anything…"

"No, nothing. Seriously, everything's fine, Tori-nii," Kureno lied, giving a fake smile, which hurt. Hatori stared at him suspiciously but walked off.

The rooster spirit went back to his house. If only everything really was fine, if only things were really that easy…


Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, Arisa Uotani was thinking of Kureno Sohma. She was working on a group project with Tohru Honda and Saki Hanajima, and wasn't exactly helping a lot.

"Uo-chan! Can you please hold the yarn while I'm cutting it?"

"Eh?" Arisa said. She looked at Tohru beside her, who was trying to cut the yarn, and held it. "Right. Um, what's after step two?"

"We're on step four, Uo-chan," Tohru reminded her, tying two sticks with the yarn. Saki grabbed the book and flipped to page nineteen, where the steps were. She started reciting them to Tohru, who was now coloring a wing-shaped paper green.

Arisa had absolutely no idea what they were doing, and realized that they were in art class, and were supposed to be making paper statue things. She, Saki, and Tohru were assigned to make a sparrow paper statue. She then wondered why Tohru was coloring the paper green.

"Uh… Isn't that supposed to be brown?"

Tohru looked at the crayon she was holding and squealed. "AAH! I made a mistake! Hana-chan, can you hand me a new piece of paper? Please and thank you!"

Arisa sighed, fixing the half-bird statue's eyes. She made a mistake and then noticed that she accidentally made a tiny blob appear underneath the left eye. The half-made bird now looked like it was crying. "Great. I made it shed a tear."

"It's alright, Uo-chan, it looks cute," Tohru said earnestly, finishing one wing. She tried to attach it to the upper body, but failed.

"I'll do it," Arisa volunteered.

Unfortunately, her mind and heart wasn't exactly into attaching the wing to the body properly, so she failed. By now, Tohru and Hanajima were busy with the other parts and she was expected to fix the wing.

"Great," she told herself quietly, "They're relying on me to do part of this hopeless project, which is turning out to be a complete, epic failure. And I'm even starting to talk to myself!"

She sighed and tried again, her mind still on other things. 'Other things' actually meant her life and Kureno Sohma. Yes, that was it. Arisa Uotani couldn't stop thinking about her life and Kureno Sohma.

If she was to give a short summary of her life, she would've made it short and blunt as always. She would tactlessly say it was nothing much turned into a little of something, and end up hurting her own feelings, which was really pathetic.

Arisa always thought of her early gangster days as a way of escaping from reality, a way of trying not to think too much about her hopeless, useless life. When Kyoko and Tohru Honda entered her life, she felt great again. She served a purpose as Tohru's friend, and later on, Hanajima's friend as well. Everything was turning out fine.

Her only problem was that it was a little lonely sometimes as well. When school was done and classes were over for the day, she'd feel as if nobody needed her then. If there was nothing to do involving either of the two girls or school stuff, she'd feel as if nothing was worth living for any longer. No, she wasn't going to resort to hurting herself or others; she was done with that. She just felt slightly lonely.

She just wanted to add a little more spice in her life.

And the spice came- in the name of Kureno Sohma.

No, Arisa didn't expect to meet a life-changing person at a convenience store or eat delicious food with him, but it turned out amazingly well. She liked it. This Kureno person was someone with similar feelings as hers, and they could actually relate with each others' lives. Even if she knew little about him, she felt that they were going to be good friends.

Arisa wanted to see him again- badly. This resulted in her shout-out during the Sorta Cinderella play, and ended up in people thinking that she was a crazy, biased, star-crossed lover.

It was all excellent, marvelous, and through the roof. Arisa Uotani fell in love with Kureno Sohma.

The thought crossed Arisa's mind, and she almost dropped the wing. She figured it out. She fell in love- deeply. That was why she felt like complete shit whenever thinking about both her life and Kureno- it was because she inevitably loved him and wanted him to be in her life.

"Now, if only he would just come see me…" she muttered to herself.

Hanajima appeared beside her, holding up the finished bird. "Is it just me, or are the waves exceptionally emotional today? This bird's tears affect the waves, I believe…"

Arisa Uotani couldn't tell if Saki Hanajima was joking, or if she was trying to tell her something.

Hell, how can she tell the difference if she couldn't distinguish star-crossed love from a hopeless case of romance?

Kureno and Arisa both didn't see the big thing called 'Case Two' coming their way. Nobody did. That is, except for Saki Hanajima, who might have felt the waves.

Yes, nothing was ever going to be the same again for Kureno and Arisa.

Nothing.


Author's Note: Once again, I believe this is terrible. I hate making introductions because they turn out somewhat forced, don't they? I just feel the need to make them. Anyway, I hope people are still actually reading this. Hopefully so. Well, to get you people worked up, I shall tell you that Case Three will be dedicated to a Mabudachi member and his loved one. Is it Shigure, Hatori, or Ayame? Find out. Read Case Two first. Please. :D

Review and/or favorite and/or alert and/or message and/or WHATEVER. As long as I receive an indication that my cousin isn't the only one reading this, then I shall be happy. The author's notes will actually get shorter, and I will be EXTREMELY glad.

Please and thank you, from Pasta W 19. :P