Disclaimer: I don't own fruits basket or its characters. I do own Rika and anything change etc.
I have the next two chapters (well almost the next one and the one after that is done) done. The 21st chapter reveals everything.
Ukitakeitalialover041757: Shigure doesn't know anything he and Hatori, at the end, we just suspisious of where Rika got the hair pin.
Rika walked downstairs and saw Ayame and Tohru sitting at the table.
"Hey Aya." She said walking in. He stood up with a big smile.
"Rika, my princess! You're looking rather lovely today." He said taking her hand and kissing it. Rika smiled.
"Thank you Aya." He motioned her to sit so she sat next to Tohru. Ayame sat down then handed them each a card.
"Wow is this your business ad?"
"Mhm!" Ayame said with a nod and a big smile.
"Aw these are so nice." Tohru said
"Oh yes I know." Ayame said shuffling the cards between his hands. Suddenly Yuki walked by the open doorway. "Don't worry Yuki I have plenty to go around you get one too." Ayame spun a card at Yuki and he caught it. Yuki flipped over the card and glared. "Business has really perked up at these new advertences it seems more and more people are coming to realize what I've known all along; in all the world there isn't a lovelier shop to be found than mine."
"I want to see." Yuki said. Tohru and Rika looked at him shocked and Ayame dropped all the cards he was holding. Ayame turned to look at Yuki.
"What did you say?"
"I'd think I'd like to take a look at this shop of yours, to see if it's really as good as you say." Ayame remained frozen then suddenly flew away and opened the door to the bathroom where Shigure was bathing.
"Listen to this Shigure, just now Yuki came to me and do you what he said. He wants to see my shop he practically begged me to let him come. I never thought I'd live to see the day!" Yuki had his head against the wall and Rika and Tohru looked after Ayame, looking shocked. "I can't contain myself!" Ayame ran back past Yuki and over to the phone. "Hatori I have wonderful news it's Yuki-" Yuki suddenly swiped the phone.
"Stop it!"
"I'm sorry, it's just I'm so excited. Of course you could come, let's make it this Sunday!"
"And girls, you'll come along too I hope. After all the princesses should always accompany the princes." Ayame opened the door to Kyo's room where he found Kyo working out with dumbbells. "And as for you Kyo you really don't have to come. You won't be needed."
"Huh? What are you talkin' about?"
"Aww, don't look so disappointed. Here have one of my ads."
"Get outta here you sicko!" Rika winced hearing a lot of noise. Tohru looked at Yuki who still had his head against the wall.
"Listen…" Yuki said.
"Uh yes?" Tohru asked.
"About my- my brother…"
"Uh-huh?"
"I've decided I'm going to try. Even if it's- even if it's just a little bit. I want to understand him more. And Miss Honda I'd like it if you came with me." He said.
"Sure I'd love to come!" Tohru said. "If you don't think I'd be in the way."
"No, not at all."
"Good, because actually I really have been wanting to see what Ayame's shop is like. Hatsuharu told me a little bit about it. He said he sold outfits for nurses and stewardesses and maids." Yuki looked shocked.
"Nurses? Stewardesses? What the-?"
"I hope Yuki knows what he's in for." Shigure said from the tub.
SUNDAY
That Sunday Yuki, Tohru and Rika paid a visit to Ayame's shop. When they got there Yuki put a hand to his head in frustration.
"That's the same design as the one used in his ad." Tohru said seeing the sign and holding up the card. "And the sign above the door looks really nice too."
"I don't know; I'm starting to feel very uneasy about this." Yuki said. The sliding doors opened and the three walked in. There were many shelves, racks and bins of fabrics and ribbons. "A fabric store?"
"I'm sorry but we're closed today." A girl from the back said. She stepped out from behind a shelf and the three could see she was in a blue maid's uniform and had her hair in two short braids and she had a maid hair thing and glasses.
"Mine, we still need to lift this-" Ayame trailed off as he walked into view. Yuki froze with wide eyes. Rika bit her lip to keep from laughing as Ayame came over, in a white wedding dress with bows, laughing.
Tohru, Rika and Yuki sat on a couch in the back. Ayame laughed, now in his normal red clothes.
"Oh well sorry about that." He said. "That wedding dress was a special order; Minne and I were just making the final alterations."
"You're using your own measurements?" Yuki asked with his head down.
"Well yes, the man who ordered it was about my size." Ayame said.
"You mean… it's for a man?" Yuki asked.
"Oh it's very interesting the things people do in their private lives. Everyone has a secret of two they keep tucked away."
"So exactly what kind of store is this?" Yuki asked.
"It's really not so mysterious." Ayame said sitting in a chair. "Maybe of my customers simply come here to buy fabrics or other handcraft supplies but often a customer will come to me with a request for a specially made garment, as the owner of course I design and make all of these outfits myself, like the dress I made for Rika's birthday," He added with a smile. "Whatever my customers desire if it can be imagined I can make it a reality." He grabbed two hangers, one with a pink dress with yellow ribbon and white frills underneath, and the other with a white dress. "These are but a few samples of my finished creations."
"Oh so this is what Hatsuharu was talking about!" Tohru said excited getting up. "That's really incredible absolutely amazing."
"Well of course; I'm an amazing person. Now, what do you think Yuki? There's no need to hold back you're perfectly free to shower e with praise."
"So you get a lot of orders for these dresses?" Yuki asked.
"Very popular, especially the maids uniform."
"They're popular?" Yuki asked in shock.
"That's right, you may not understand yet Yuki but my services are very much in demand. I bring men's fantasies to life. Be it a maid, a waitress, or stewardess, nurse, doctor, secretary, teacher and or student a female cop, a lawyer, cat ears, bunny ears, believe me the list of fantasies goes on and on. These are but a few I've helped my clients to live out. I tell them it's no crime to explore any fantasy if you're grounded in reality. Unexpectedly walking up on a woman in a bath is another popular fantasy."
"That is a crime!" Yuki pointed out. Mine walked over to Tohru and Rika, sitting on the couch, with a tray of tea.
"Oh my, this is so much fun." Mine said. "I wondered if we might have special visitors today when you asked me to close the shop. But you didn't tell me your younger brother was coming." The two brothers looked over and Yuki looked shocked that she knew then he looked frozen while Ayame had a big grin. "Mhm, I could tell right away you look just like Ayame." Ayame started laughing. "It's very nice to meet you finally. I'm Mine Kuramae. I work here. I'm Ayame's assistant. I also make clothes."
"Nice to meet you." Yuki said. "Oh so then your outfit, that's your uniform when you work."
"Oh no, I'm wearing this because I like it. Isn't it the cutest thing?"
"Yes, it's really adorable." Tohru said.
"So today it's the maid dress, tomorrow who knows. It all depends on what mood I'm in. But I have tons of outfits.
"And Mine's glasses help give her a look that's actually very popular among our male customers. What do you think Yuki, how do feel about girls who wear glasses." Yuki's face was blank.
"Well…uhh.."
"The whole looks not as popular as it used to be but it hasn't gone out of style by any means." Minne said.
"Oh, that's the face of a man who likes what he sees." Ayame said pointing at Yuki. Yuki flinched. "That's right brother, and the appeal of a girl in glasses is one that's been recognized by men throughout the ages. If history has taught us anything at all it's that the intelligent look never truly goes out of fashion.
"What other dresses do you wear?" Yuki asked a bit in shock.
"Other dresses? Well since you asked I pretty much wear anything as long as the mood is right. There's really no style of outfit that I don't like. Oh I should say for a tennis outfit or a school uniform, I do prefer a plaid skirt and dark knee socks. And for a nurses uniform instead of the usual white or pink I prefer to go with more interesting colours, like pastels or sometimes even red and without the nurses cap. I guess I like my *** and *** uniforms to have a splash of colour too. Oh but for the *** outfits I usually stick to pink; I guess I agree with the masses." By now Yuki was even more in shock. "Especially when you add a cute little apron to go with it. Well it's no wonder it's one of our hottest sellers. Ya know, now that I think about it, maybe I won't just wear anything like I said at first, I guess I'm really a lot pickyer than I thought."
"Which is nothing to be ashamed of; it's the same sort of attention to detail that makes us the artist that we are." Ayame said.
"Haha Yay I got a complement yay!" Mine said jumping up and down.
"Yes well I give praise where praise is due." Ayame said. "But I also have to disagree with you on one thing."
"Huh?" Mine stopped jumping.
"I still think the best *** for a ***'s uniform is *** although recently I had been experimenting with a few designs using ***ly."
"But why would you chose a *** scheme like that?"
"*** self is the whole point, I'm striving for something a bit more stoic." Mine put her hands on her hips and faced Ayame.
"Well that is a good quality for a nurse to have but aren't you worried grey might be more somber than it is stoic."
"Ah but you probably imagined this nurse wearing dark stockings since you know that black and navy are typically wore with greys but what if she were instead wearing gleaming white knee-highs and a white nurses cap on her head."
"That might be interesting."
"Of course it is. Remember it's important to be mindful of tradition but we cannot let out ties to the past prevent us from soaring to the future, in search of new things."
"Ay-Ay captain." Mine said raising a hand.
"Uh Yuki?" Tohru asked seeing Yuki looking dizzy.
"By the way," Mine said. "There's something I've been wondering about. You two over there!" She pointed at Rika and Tohru.
"Oh uh hi I'm Tohru Honda it's really nice to meet you." Tohru said.
"I'm Rika, nice to meet you."Mine came up close to them.
"Tohru, Rika, so tell me what do you think of all our dresses?"
"Uhh."
"You want to try one of them on don't you? I think you do!
"Ah, she's found new victims I see." Ayame said to Yuki.
"Let's go get something picked out for you."
"I should have warned you, Mine has this uncontrollable urge to dress up any cute girl she sees." Ayame said. "She's quite ruthless."
"Wait, Miss Kuramae, hold on a second!" Yuki said.
"Oh did you have a request for something you'd like Tohru to wear? I thought we'd try something innocent."
"Uh- well I think- uh no! No, that's not what I meant! Please!"
"I think I know just the thing you should have her try on." Ayame said.
"You mean the thing?" Mine asked.
"What's the thing?!" Yuki asked.
"Yes the thing is a perfect choice." Mine said
"What's the thing?!" Yuki asked desperately.
"Right this way Tohru." Mine dragged Tohru behind a purple curtain. "Don't worry you're just going to love the thing we have picked out for you." Yuki stood there reaching out in shock.
"Like I said, Mine's ruthless once she has them there's no escape." Ayame said holding a cup of tea. "At any rate relax it's not like she's going to cook Tohru and eat her." Yuki turned to Ayame with a serious face.
"What's the thing?" Yuki asked. Rika couldn't help but start laughing quietly at the whole situation. Suddenly Mine came back out and took Rika's hand.
"Don't think I forgot about you." She said with a smirk.
"Huh? Wha- hey!" Yuki looked concerned while Mine dragged Rika behind the curtain then glared at Ayame.
"There, this should do it." Mine said looked back towards the curtains. "We'll stay back here for a while and give the brothers a chance to spend some time by themselves. This may be medaling on my part but it's not often they get to see each other. You don't mind do you?"
"No."
"Good."
"But I hope they can talk to each other without fighting."
"Well, even fighting is better than nothing; it's at least proof that they still acknowledge each other. That's what Ayame fears the most you know. To… To have nothing. But if they do fight I hope they don't get too rough, it would be a bad thing if they got blood on any of the dresses." Tohru laughed lightly. "Okay enough about all that, now let's hurry up and get you into your new outfits."
"We really have to change?" Tohru asked.
"Oh yes you do."
Yuki and Ayame were sitting on opposite couches drinking tea.
"So Shigure tells me you're the new student council president. Congratulations, but I must say I can't help but think it had something to do with my influence."
"No, that's not true." Yuki said.
"It's only natural you'd want to follow in your big brother's footsteps."
"I told you that's not true."
"Hm?"
"It's because I don't want to do it, that's why I'm doing it."
"I'm sorry I guess I- I'm not sure I understand what it is you're saying." Ayame said. Yuki put his tea cup down.
"Well to tell you the truth I would be surprised if you did. I don't expect you to understand, just like I have trouble understanding this place. We're just too different you and I, in the way we act and the way we think. In the end maybe there's no way we can understand each other.
"Yes you may be right." Ayame said with a slight chuckled.
"You don't have to agree so easily!"
"But we can't give up! A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. Try hard enough and nothing is impossible."
"You don't sound like you're trying at all!"
"Fear not Yuki, I may smile in the face of adversity but I'm no stranger to the hard work and dedication required to overcome it. After all without years of diligent effort I'd hardly be the extraordinary person you see before you today." Ayame said before laughing. Yuki fell back against the couch with a sigh.
"I just don't know what else I can do. You're hopeless."
"I'm sorry." Ayame said after a short pause. Yuki opened his eyes to see Ayame covering his. "You're right, I guess I- I got a little carried away there perhaps. It's just that I was so happy that you wanted to come here today." After a few moments he moved his hand down and opened his eyes to look at Yuki. "It's true Yuki, you and I are very different people. But isn't that okay? Isn't it possible to realize the good qualities in else even if you don't share them in yourself? As for me, I think your kindness is- it's truly something to be admired. And I do… just as I'm sure you really have no choice but to admire me for my incredible charisma and charm, not the mention my impeccable sense of style." Yuki lowered his head slightly. "It's okay to admit it, I know you do." Ayame started laughing. Then Yuki suddenly looked at Ayame with a slighted shocked face. Suddenly Mine poked her head out from behind the curtain.
"Hello! I hope I'm not interrupting.
"Oh, are the girls finished getting dressed already?" Ayame asked standing up. "Well what are you waiting for let's have a look at them."
"As you wish. Tohru, it's okay come on out. Come on." Mine said coaxing Tohru out. Yuki stared as Tohru walked out. She was in a long yellow and white dress with ribbons and bows with a big bow in the back. She also had two bows in her hair. Along with that she was wearing gloves.
"Um, so how does it look?" Tohru asked. Yuki was about to open his mouth when Ayame spoke loudly.
"Excellent! Tohru you are a picture of loveliness and innocence if only we had a white puppy and a white parasol to complete the look."
"Mhm." Mine nodded. "And maybe a little tea set and book of poems oh it would just be so perfect."
"What are you doing Yuki? You should be giving this lovely girl the compliments she deserves."
"Oh uh-"
"What's wrong with you? Here she's dressed up so nicely for you and you're completely tongue tied. Well if you won't do it then I will honor her the kiss."
"No you won't!" Yuki said hitting him.
"Oh no I've gone and made him angry again!" Ayame said with a big smile before laughing.
"Hehe, yes you certainly did didn't you?" Mine said.
"As cute as Tohru looks it had to be done. I really must say something to you: wonderful job."
"Aha Thank you another compliment!" Mine said happily. "So how did it go while we were in the back?" Mine asked quietly. "Were you and your bother able to do a little bonding?"
"Hmm, I'm not so sure. It's hard to say really. In the end, I'm not sure what he got from it. But I know that I at least will always cherish the memory of the time we had today."
Yuki and Tohru were sitting on the couch.
"Miss. Honda, I think- I think I figured something out about my brother." Tohru looked happy. "I don't necessarily like what he does and half of everything he says is nonsense. But if I'm ever going to understand him I have to except that's just the way he is and then try to look beyond his faults otherwise I think the more I see him the more it's only going to wear me out."
"Oh." Tohru laughed nervously.
"So now it makes me very sad to say that. But still, Miss. Tohru, I'm glad we came here today." He looked at her. "Because I also got to see you looking so adorable." Tohru blushed.
"Uh- No really- I mean I'm not-" Tohru put her hands over her face.
"You don't have to hide it." Ayame put a hand on Yuki's shoulder.
"Romance. That's the emotion that you're feeling in your heart right now, believe me I know it all too well how easily a man's heart can be swayed by a dress alone. And really I must say I'm truly honored that my work has affected you so deeply. Today will forever live in my memory as Yuki's day of romance.
"Cut it out!" Yuki said holding Ayame by his collar.
"Well I guess they're fighting again." Mine said. "I hope they're careful of the dresses. But I suppose that's better than nothing right?" Tohru giggled.
"Mhm."
"Oh, I almost forgot about Rika!" Mine said. The two brothers stopped and watched Mine disappear behind the curtain. "You can come out now." They heard her say.
"Uh- No that's okay, I'm fine back here."
"Oh don't be silly, come on."
"No- really I- Hey!" Mine pushed Rika into the open. Both brother's eyes widened and Tohru smiled happily.
"Rika you look wonderful!" She said. Rika looked away, embarrassed, a light blush on her cheeks. She was in a dress similar to Tohru's with the ribbons only it was black with white. The dress was also a lot shorter and instead of the same top part as Tohru's Rika's was shoulder-less but still had sleeves that went down to her elbows in a solid fabric then continued as wider lacy fabric. Instead of while gloves she had black lace ones with little white flowers on them. For shoes, instead of the kind Tohru had on with white socks, Rika had black stockings with heeled boots that went up to below her knees. What really caught the boy's attention were the black cat ears Mine had added. Yuki snapped out of it and blinked. He looked at Ayame who was still staring, his mouth hanging open, and elbowed him. Ayame snapped out of it and blinked a few times.
"Cat got your tongue?" Rika asked before laughing nervously.
"Mine, be a dear and get my camera!" Ayame said excitedly. Yuki face palmed and sighed while Rika tried to run back behind the curtain.
"Oh no you don't." Mine said with a big smile holding up the Camera. Mine pulled Rika back out from the curtain and Ayame held Rika by the shoulders.
"A-Aya." Rika whined. He laughed and Mine took the picture.
"This is defiantly going to Shigure and Hari!" He said happily. Rika hung her head in defeat along with Yuki while Ayame laughed.
Hatori was holding the phone away from him, as Ayame spoke loudly into the phone, and read a piece of paper.
"And that's when Tohru came out in this adorable dress, my own design I might add, which is what inspire today to be Yuki's day of romance. Oh Hari shame on you, you were just imagining Tohru in a dress weren't you, hahaha not that I blame you. You should seen her, the picture of innocence. Then Rika," Hatori looked at the phone. "She was beautiful, and quite sexy with the cat ears if I do say so myself." Hatori glared at the phone then rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Hari, I'll send you a picture!" Hatori looked at the phone, eyebrows up, as Ayame continued to laugh.
Next one out as soon as I finish it, I only have a few more things to type from the show then I gotta reread it and stuff. Reviews make me smile ^_^.