Chapter 5: New Day, Same Shit

Disclaimer:

I do not own Fruits Basket. Please review and give me some feedback if you can! & thank you for the first review orangejuice_MONSTER! I was actually gonna take a break from this story but I read your review and I wanted to keep writing :)

== Misa's Point of View ==

"Hey everyone! We have a guest!" Shigure announced as he helped me settle into his home.

Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru came out in curiosity.

"Mi.. Misa?" Yuki and Kyo both said in unison, which irritated the both of them.

"Hey Yuki… long time no see Kyo!"

I haven't even been in this house for 10 minutes but I felt so good and calm… like a ton was lifted off my shoulder.

I approached them both to embrace them.

"It's good to see you guys.. it's good to be here…"

"Oh, Tohru, this is Misa Sohma, she's gonna be living in our house from now on."

Yuki and Kyo gave Shigure a surprised and bewildered face.

"Oh yeah, sorry I didn't mention. It was a last minute thing." Shigure had his goofy smile on.

"Hello Misa! I'm Tohru Honda, it's nice to meet cha! It's great to actually meet you in person and I see you're part of the zodiac curse as well seeing that Yuki and Kyo didn't transform when you hugged them…" She had the most vibrant voice I had ever heard. It's been a while since having contact with a person outside of the curse.

"Hi Tohru, and yeah I am part of the curse but I'm not going to openly tell you about it… Sorry to disappoint."

Tohru's face dropped, she felt embarrassed that she even asked.

"Don't worry about it… and I'm sorry for the scar on your face.. Akito could be... rough…"

Tohru shook her head as if she was having a seizure, "Oh no! Please don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault! It was mine actually.. I shouldn't have approached him like that.. I should have.."

"Don't ever apologize for something that wasn't your fault," I interrupted her. That was what annoyed me the most, finding people apologizing for the wrong reasons.

Tohru didn't know what to say.

Kyo broke the silence, "wait so why the hell are you here in the first place? Akito had you on lock down for a good what? three years now? What's changed?"

"Oh.. we broke up," I gave them a 'I don't have a care in the world right now' smile.

They weren't sure if I was joking or not.

"So where's the food? I'm starving!" I asked to break the awkwardness.

"OH! We have um… beef curry today I think, I'll get you a bowl!" Tohru ran to the kitchen.

Kyo and Yuki were still skeptical to why I was there, I confessed.

"Akito kicked me out of the house and I am not kidding on this one. I don't know what's going on so I'm the wrong person to ask," I pointed to Shigure, "I'm pretty sure he knows more than I do."

Suddenly, we heard a huge crash at the front door. Hatsuharu had broken down the sliding doors to get in.

"MY DOOR! Why can't you guys opens my door like normal people!" Shigure spazzed out for a moment but was used to his house being broken in to.

My face dropped to see him here.

"I rushed here when I found out that Misa was living here from now on… Where is she?" soon Haru's eyes met mine.

I freaked out. My first instinct was to run.

There was an awkward silence with Yuki, Kyo, Shigure, and Haru once they realized that I practically ignored Haru's rushed search for me.

Tohru was surprised to see me in the kitchen she asked why I was so red in the face.

"HIDE ME!" I told her, I emptied out the bottom cabinet and stuffed myself inside the small space and closed the cabinet door.

My heart was going faster than the speed of light, I don't know why but I felt so awkward.. so vulnerable when Haru entered the room. It was odd because when I'd see him back in the Sohma estate we'd be civil but now it was just strange. I was free to be myself now. From now on I could do whatever and not be punished for it.

But why was Haru here? I knew there was some bitter resentment between us but from the look on his face he looked… happy to see me. Happy to see me away from Akito. It scared me a little.

"Where is she?" Haru demanded. Tohru just started spazzing out, "I..I don't know! Where is she? Who's she! Oh Misa? Erm… uhhh she's she's.."

Haru looked down to see all the misplaced pots and pans, he rolled his eyes and opened the cabinet door.

"Get out of there Misa. Stop being silly."

…

Then I remembered a memory from long ago…

"Misa, people fight. It's healthy." Haru was trying to comfort me because I felt like shit that day. The ironic part was he was the reason I felt like shit that day.

"No it's not. I hate when WE fight. We barely fight and when we do it sucks cause we both hate losing so no one ever wins!" I whined like a baby.

"Shut up Misa. You're acting like a child."

"What? So you don't like when I act like this? What if it's not acting, what if this is my personality! You wouldn't love me then would you!"

"If you don't chill out right now then I'm going to have a headache. You're being annoying right now."

I got up and ran away, it was too frustrating to be next to him. I found the nearest closet and hid myself in it. I buried myself in my arms, the coats in the closet kept me comfortable.

A few minutes later, Haru opened the door.

"Get out of there Misa. Stop being silly. If anything I love your imperfections as much as I love you… your quirks are what make you so… adorable."

Stop being silly…

Haru lend me a hand to get out of the cabinet, I took it but I was too embarrassed to face him.

He pulled me into a long, tight embrace.

"Everything's gonna be alright now.. You're gonna be good here.."

I buried my head in his bold shoulders.

And at that very moment, three years of awkward, bitter tension disappeared. We were gonna be good now. There were no more consequences for our actions. We could act in whatever way we wanted to.

Everyone was at the dinner table enjoying a good dinner Tohru had made.

"Wait, so you're gonna be staying here too?" Shigure pouted but he knew he couldn't refuse Haru.

"Yeh, I'm not gonna go back to that house when I know Misa's here…" Haru didn't even look up, he was too busy fighting against Kyo for the last piece of eggroll.

"Akito won't be happy about that." Shigure sighed.

"Well he's not happy with a lot of things." Haru grinned as he won his eggroll. Kyo growled.

"You should go back Haru, if anything, Akito will look here first for you and I don't think anybody wants Akito anywhere near here…" Yuki wasn't just standing up for himself but he was standing up for Tohru. Yuki didn't want her to ever see Akito ever again. Tohru felt uneasy just thinking about it.

"The rat's right for a change," Kyo added.

"I don't care, I'm staying here." Haru persisted. He was being selfish but he didn't care.

"You can't… Yuki's right, Akito will look for you and none of us want him anywhere near here…" Haru looked at me with uneasiness but sighed in acceptance.

"Fine, but I get visitation rights all day, any day." Haru settled for a compromise.

Tohru had set up a separate room for me to stay in. It was significantly smaller than the one I stayed in back in Sohma estate but I appreciate it. I appreciated having a new start, being with people that understood the way I felt. We all wanted to be free or something. Whether the curse or our insecurities, we all wanted the same thing.

I heard a knock on my door.

"Misa, can I come in?" It was Haru.

"Shouldn't you be leaving now? It's almost midnight…" I told him.

"Just let me in."

I sighed and opened the door, "what?"

Haru breezed himself through the door, "just wanted to talk a bit before I left."

I shrugged, "kay, I guess."

I sat down near the futon and so did he.

"If you don't mind me asking but, what exactly happened between you and Akito?" Haru asked.

I hesitated for a bit, "I honestly don't know, he just practically kicked me out. I don't know what's going on…"

Haru sensed the confusion and hurt in my voice and moved closer to me, I set a pillow between us to give him a sign that I didn't want him any closer.

I tried to change the subject, "what about you and Rin? how've she been?"

"She's in the hospital." Haru said calm and collected.

"The fuck? She's in the hospital and you're here? Aren't you guys dating!"

Haru became more tense, "We're not dating anymore! How many times do I have to tell you that!"

I became silent. I didn't want to talk anymore if he was just gonna snap at me like that.

Haru noticed my silence.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that." Haru apologized.

I still didn't say anything.

Haru tried to look at my face but I was too concentrated on the floor.

"Well if you were wondering, Rin's in the hospital because of Akito…. After you left, Akito fainted or something and Hatori asked Rin to get him some hot towels for his head. I don't really know what happened but Hatori said Akito had a panic attack and just started attacking Rin…"

I gasped. I felt so sorry for Rin, she was just trying to help…

"I was gonna go visit her but then I asked where you were and Hatori told me something unbelievable.. that you were.. here…"

"Wait a minute… you ditched checking up on Rin, for all we know could be in serious condition right now, to check up on me, who's practically in the safest place in the world right now?"

Haru looked away shamefully, "… you make me sound like a jackass when you say that."

I was gonna tell him that what he did was a pretty jackass move but… I felt appreciative that Haru would go through such trouble to check up on me, even if I shouldn't necessarily be priority right now.

"Let's go see Rin tomorrow." I asked, or it wasn't even a question, it was a command. Rin and I used to be pretty close when we were younger but there was a period of time when it was difficult to keep in touch so we inevitably drifted. But once I came back to the Sohma house three years ago things became a lot more complicated. After Haru and I stopped dating, I soon after found out they started seeing each other. It hurt to know Rin, a childhood friend of mine, would go after Haru when we never really got closure yet; but I wasn't bitter, they had the right to date whoever they wanted.

I was just a bit jealous since they had freedom to choose who they got to love when for me there was no choice.

I had a good suspicion that Rin was just Haru's rebound after me but then again… I could be Haru's rebound after Rin.

"Okay. Sounds good," Haru nodded. He had no emotion so I couldn't tell if he really wanted to go or if he was just doing this because I asked.

"I'm glad you're staying here Misa, I'm really glad." Haru added.

I didn't know how to respond,

"Now, Akito doesn't have direct control over you. We don't need to be scared anymore, for ourselves or for each other. I'm glad." Haru put on a smile any girl would melt for. It made me blush a bit.

"I.. I'm glad too." I told him.

After that confession, we just started to catch up with each other. He talked about what went wrong between him and Rin and I talked about how I haven't seen and heard from my parents since I've moved to the Sohma estate. It was nice having someone to talk to, someone who was willing to listen and who actually cared. As the night got longer, we ended up laying down on the futon together, our bodys' keeping each other warm.

"Feels like old times doesn't it? Those nights we'd stay up all night just talking…" Haru reminisced.

I looked at the time, it was already 5 in the morning. No wonder my eyes were getting heavy.

Haru let out a big yawn and went silent for a long time. I assumed he fell asleep, despite everyone in the house telling him to return to the Sohma estate.

& then I remembered Akito. Even if Haru distracted me for the whole day from any thoughts of Akito, Akito would always be the last person I'd think about every night.

It was hard to break the habit.

Suddenly, I heard a crack on the window. It sounded like a rock but Haru continued to sleep.

I looked out the window to see what it was and I found a small dead bird on the window still. It disgusted me.

I wondered how it go there and looked around the bushes for any evidence.

A figure of a man hiding behind the trees soon came in vision, I blinked again to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

The figure disappeared.

I rubbed my eyes and the figure wasn't there anymore.

I wasn't sure if I was that tired I was seeing things or if someone was actually there. I shrugged it off, turned off the lamp, crawled back under the warm blanket and went to sleep.