Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, do you think I'd be here?
Chapter 6:
Hatori winced. Hatori didn't even know what was going on, but he winced. It was pain, he realized. But from what? His eyes squinted at the small jab of pain poking at his ribs.
It didn't hurt that much. But even so… He looked up, what's going?
And then he knew.
A black car pulled up in the parking lot of the school and two figures came out. The taller one, one with brown hair motioned the shorter one - with black hair – towards Hatori's direction. An unexpected third figure slowly climbed out of the car afterwards.
Akito…and Kureno…and… Is that…!
--
"Ah-ha! I knew it!"
"Eh? Knew what? What the heck are you talking about, Kakeru?"
"I knew it, I knew it!"
"…"
"You like Machi!"
"EH!"
"Am I right? Am I rig—"
"Don't speak nonsense."
"But she likes you."
"How do you even know that for sure?"
"Positive! I asked her myself!"
"She…actually gave you a straight answer?"
"NOPE!"
"Then…how?"
"I said, 'You sure like red, don't you?' and she blushed!"
"And… What does that mean?"
"Wow. For being Student Council President, you sure are dense!"
"…huh?"
"Anyways, since my sister—"
"Your sister!"
"Oh yeah! I forgot to mention! She's my half sister!"
"Really? Oh yeah! Mhmm! Yeah, that's right."
"What are you agreeing to yourself about?"
"Never mind."
"Well, technically, she's my half-sister. We have the same father but different mother."
"So, to be blunt, your father hooked up with two different females?"
"EEHHH! How could Yun-Yun be so mean to our father!"
"'Our'!"
"Eh… Anyways, we have a big family… Sorta like you Sohma's. But well… It's kinda hard to explain but… Since we have the same father, but different mothers, our mother's wanted us to compete for our father's money and stuff…
"So…it's like…we were trained for perfection… You know? It was like we were caged…"
"…like us, Sohma's huh?"
"Eh? What'd you say, Yun-Yun?"
"Nothing… Go on…"
"Well, I soon got tired of it… So during an important dinner, I…sorta blew it."
"'Blew it'?"
"Yeah. I made a mess. My mom stopped trying to get me to be perfect. It felt so good to be free…
"So…Yun-Yun?"
"Hm?"
"I don't think Machi is free yet. Please…free her…"
Why did that memory appear in his head at this moment? At that moment, Kakeru looked so serious. Like he really meant it. As if…there were more than what Kakeru really seemed. It seemed like a while since he had spoke to the vice president of the student council…but…
…Maybe it was because he had been so busy – the both of them – with getting ready for graduation and all… Now it had passed…
Come to think of it… Yuki hadn't even seen Kakeru all this morning.
/Just one girl. She's awful cute. I really do love her/
Yuki blinked. Where'd that come from? He kept running after Machi, despite his growing lack of breath. He had to keep running…
…maybe something good would come out of this…
--
"I didn't think you'd make it, A—" Hatori started with a frown but was interrupted by the person whom he was speaking to.
"Non-non! Of course I'd never miss such an important event like this! My little brother's graduation! Even as we were walking along the sandy beaches, we swore that everyday, on an important event, we shall be there for each other! And so I shall keep my promise! I'll never miss out on such an event!" Ayame started to say as he struck a weird-looking pose.
"Stop it, Ayame."
The cursed-snake immediately stopped blabbing and shut up after hearing the clan head's tone. Instead of talking some more, he walked up to the "god of the Juunishi" and tilted his head as if questioning him.
"Are you alright Akito-san?"
--
"So…? What happened?"
Kakeru Manabe looked up from the cardboard box in which he was carrying and simply decided to listen in on the gossipers.
"I-I don't know. I saw the P-Prince chasing some g-girl."
Kakeru smiled at the thought of his president chasing a girl. He wondered who it was…
"Well? What did the girl looked like, Mio?"
Kakeru pretended to be a bystander. He walked very slowly with the cardboard bow still in his arms as he peered at the two gossipers.
Both of them were from the Prince Yuki Fanclub. He had to roll his eyes at that thought. Those stupid girls… He shook his head. One of them, the one girl who appeared to be demanding to know what had happened with the Prince had two pig tails each on the side of her head. She stood, towering over the younger girl.
The younger girl had short shoulder-length black haired and appeared to be named, "Mio". He continued to watch.
"I-I only saw that s-she was crying. Her hair was a bit like Y-Yuki-san only darker…" she managed to mumble out as she kept her head down, "I-I'm sorry President Minami! I'll try harder next time! I'll figure out who she is! I'll track her do--!"
The one called Minami only rolled her eyes and interrupted the younger student. "There won't be a next time. He's already graduated. And you should act more like a president. Wait… She was crying?" Minami asked suddenly. "She was crying?"
Mio nodded feebly.
Minami grinned. "She must have been rejected."
Mio made a wrong decision. "But Yuki-san was chasing after her."
The elder girl frowned. "Well… That girl… Ah! Forget it! Just go and get more info!" she dismissed the girl.
Mio nodded and quickly made her way across the hall.
It was Kakeru's turn to grin. Wonder how he's fairing… He thought as he heaved the boxes into a more comfortable position and walked on. Soon, his back began to ache. "Ugh… Why did I even volunteer to help…?" he asked himself as he kept walking, making his way towards the student council room, "ugh, I sound like an old man… Although… I can use some sleep… Hmph, maybe I can sneak in some time for a nap," he said to himself.
Upon arriving the student council room, he saw a tall girl with long black hair looking up at the sign he had made two years ago. The sign that had said, "The Student Defense Force".
He grinned at the memory that followed. He remembered when he first put it up. He had been so proud of the sign he had made. Yet, only a couple hours later he found the sign pull a disappearing act. At that, he remembered that Yun-Yun had not liked the name so he was the first suspect.
Of course, when he had ran into the room, crying and wailing, as demanding to know where he had hidden the poor sign, Yun-Yun claimed he didn't know what he was talking about.
Then Chibi-suke admitted that he was the one who threw away the "horrible" sign. Therefore, Kakeru had awarded Chibi-suke with his "divine punishment". He grinned again. Later, he made another one and put it up. Soon though, he found the sign in one of the school dumps. But he didn't give up. He kept making them and putting them up and soon he won.
He won the fight.
"Excuse me?"
The sweet, familiar tone reminded him of a certain someone… He awoke from his trance and remembering his memories.
He woke up with a jolt. "Yes?" he asked, not looking at the person, instead, heading inside the room. "Are you lost? Is there anything I can help you with?" After all, he was vice president of the Student Council or as he liked to call it, Student Defense Force.
"Awww…" the girl said, "You don't remember me, Kakeru?" she asked in a sing-song tone.
He looked up with a surprised look.
"Komaki-chan!"
--
He found her near the school gate after chasing her all around. He panted. "M-Machi… W-Why are y-you running…a-away?" he tried to say through each pant.
She, too, was panting but harder because she had been trying to get away. And then, for some reason, she broke down crying.
Yuki was startled. "EH! M-MACHI! Are you alright!" he asked as he walked over to her.
"I-I'm so stupid! W-Why do you even like me! I thought you liked that Honda girl!" she exclaimed suddenly letting out her frustrations.
Yuki started to calm down. He smiled. "Oh. Is that it?"
She looked up, surprised. She stopped crying. "'Oh'! Is that all you're going to say?" She stared at him.
He smiled again. "I never loved Honda-san that way," he bent down, "I've…" he looked down shyly, "…always liked you…"
Machi blushed and looked away. "I-I've never been confessed to before…so… Sohma-san… I don't know how to react…"
Yuki smiled even wider. "I'm not 'Sohma-san'."
She stared at him hard. Biting her lips, she struggled to say his name. "Y-Yu… Yu…KUN!"
He had to laugh at her effort.
Author's Note: No Kyoru moments in this chapter… Ah… Kyoru fans, don't kill me. I'll put in tons more in later chapters. I hope Yuchi fans like those Yuki X Machi moments. :D This chapter is kind of short though… Anyways, review.
Thank you to:
Raven-4ever
Blueyedluv
Rubyfire – I don't know how long this story will be… I'm writing it as I'm posting it. Sorry… And as for the cutting thing. A couple weeks maybe… Not years though. And thank you for reviewing. As for pairings, I really have no idea. A lot though. Probably as many as there are in the manga. I will try to make it happier later. :D
Cocoke5
Anime.freakazoid
Orange sodap0p
A-Ah! I'm sorry! I'm very slow at getting to the point! But I'm sure it will be in the next chapter! I'm sure I'll get there the next chapter or at least I'll try to!
Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Please review now. (P.S. I have a really bad cough right and reviews will help me feel better. ;D)