Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or any related characters or objects. Rats! …No offense, Yuki!
A Note on Flashbacks: Flashbacks will begin with two close parentheses and end with two open parentheses. Like so – )) Flashback ((
A Note on Censorship: "Hi," Yuki Sohma smiled. "No, the story hasn't started yet. Please be patient. Lihau just wanted me to tell you that, instead of putting swearwords all over the page, she has decided to censor the stupid cat's language."
"Don't call me 'stupid'!" yelled Kyo Sohma. "-CENSORED- mouse! Hey… what's going on?"
"I repeat: Lihau has censored all of the stupid cat's foul language from this page."
"I'm not stupid, -CENSORED- it—whaaaa?! You can't censor me, -CENSORED- it!"
"Too late… stupid cat…"
Thanks Yuki—
"What about me, you -CENSORED- author?!"
—And Kyo. Now, on to the story!
Life
Three: The Quitter
Next day, after school, Tohru peeked into Shigure's study. The dog was sitting at his desk, talking to Hatori about something… and smoking a cigarette. Actually, both of them were smoking.
Tohru rapidly gave a few knocks on the doorway.
Shigure looked up and exclaimed, "Tohru! My beautiful flower! What brings you here?"
"I… may I talk to you for a moment, Shigure-san?" she asked meekly. "Ah! That is, if it isn't too much trouble! It can wait—I mean, actually maybe it can't, but that's okay! If you're busy—!"
"Ha'ri," Shigure interrupted, "I'll be back in a minute. I have to speak with my lovely blossom!"
"Fine," the dragon said. Hatori tapped at his watch briefly. "Make it a short minute. I have to go."
"Abso-tutely!" Shigure exclaimed cheerfully. He doused his cigarette on the ashtray and followed Tohru into the living room. "Yes?"
Tohru stammered incoherently for a few moments before falling to the floor, bursting into sobs. Shigure knelt down in front of her, a look of surprised bafflement plastered on his face.
"Tohru… Tohru, what's the matter?" he asked. He smiled, "You didn't just burn dinner, did you?"
"No!" Tohru shook her head tearfully. "I-it's not that! At—at school they had a special program about s-smoking and c-c-cigarettes and—and—!" Tohru sobbed for a moment more before concluding, "You and Hatori-san smoke! Y-you're gonna get black lungs a-and you'll get l-l-lung cancer and you'll d-d-d—oh, Shigure-san!"
Shigure was dumbfounded for a moment. Finding his voice again, he finally said, "It's alri—"
"No, it's not!" Tohru wailed. "Y-you're going to—I don't want you to d-d-die!"
"If you're so upset about it…" Shigure mused, standing up. He took a cigarette pack off the coffee table. "Look." As soon as Tohru looked up through her fingers, he dropped the small box into the trash can. "There. I quit."
"Shigure-san!" Tohru exclaimed. She couldn't resist the urge to jump up and hug him.
POOF
"I'm so sorry!" cried Tohru, dropping to her knees next to the black dog. "I was just so happy that I—I couldn't help myself!"
"It's okay," Shigure said, nuzzling her hand with his wet nose.
Having heard the poofing noise, Kyo and Yuki entered the room to see who'd transformed.
Kyo immediately kicked dog-Shigure halfway across the room, shouting, "Pervert! Get outta here before you transform back!"
"Oh, Tohru," Shigure said with mock tears. "Kyon-Kyon is so meeeeaaann!"
"Ah! Please be nice to Shigure-san, Kyo-kun," Tohru pleaded, handing Shigure his clothes just before the canine trotted out of the room. "He's just quit smoking!"
"He did?" the rat and the cat chorused, clearly surprised. Tohru nodded happily.
"Good," Kyo decided. "Now he won't stink up the house any more than he has to." He left the room.
"Don't you want to help him quit, Kyo-kun?" Tohru called after him.
Kyo's laughter echoed throughout the house as he went outside.
"You'll help me help Shigure-san, won't you, Yuki-kun?" Tohru asked pleadingly. "Ah! I mean, only if you want to!"
A small smile curled Yuki's mouth upward. From what he'd heard, quitting smoking could be an unpleasant (but, of course, rewarding) experience for the quitter. Help Shigure feel miserable for the next several weeks, or longer? Oh, yeah.
"Of course I'll help, Miss Honda," Yuki replied. "In fact, I already have an idea on how to help him."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Tohru clapped her hands ecstatically. "What is it?"
-
"This was such a wonderful idea, Yuki-kun," beamed Tohru.
She picked up the last pack of cigarettes in the house and dumped the cigarettes into a black garbage bag. Ripping open a packet of stop-smoking gum, she dumped the contents into the empty cigarette container. After discarding the packaging, she put the gum-filled cigarette box back onto Shigure's desk.
Yuki smiled back. Even if Shigure hadn't truly been planning to quit, he sure didn't have any choice now!
-
"So," Kyo, an evil glint in his eye, looked at Shigure. "How's the quittin' goin'?"
"Shut up."
"Are you alright, Shigure-san?" Tohru asked anxiously.
Shigure smiled brightly, "I haven't smoked in five days!" Slumping down onto the table, he moaned, "I feel awful…"
"You'll get over it," Kyo scoffed. "Stop whining."
"Meanwhile," the rat commented coolly to the dog, "you might want to get your face out of your dinner."
"M-m-mm-mmm," Shigure mumbled into his bowl.
"Is the food not good, Shigure-san?" Tohru said quickly. "I can make you something else if you'd like!"
"He's fine," Kyo decided. "He's just being an idiot."
Yuki, picking up a spoonful of his stew, agreed, "Yes, you certainly—oh, you were talking about Shigure…"
"Shut up, you -CENSORED- rat!"
"You always say that," Yuki murmured. "Funny, it never works… I'm still talking…"
"We're taking this outside!" Kyo shouted, jumping up and nearly turning the table over. "Get up and fight, coward!"
"No! Please!" Tohru exclaimed. "Don't fight!"
Too late—Kyo had already swung a wild punch at Yuki's head. The rat bowed his head slightly, causing the attack to miss him completely.
Shigure snapped back into an upright position, finally hearing the commotion.
"No! Not again!" he yelled. "My hou—outside!" Shigure pushed Kyo and dragged Yuki outside. "Fight outside! Kill each other! But don't hurt my house!"
Yuki began to walk back inside when the cat lunged to attack him from behind. The rat paused and held his right foot back slightly, causing Kyo to smack his face and sprawl to the ground.
Closing the door, Yuki muttered, "Baka neko."
-
A few weeks later, just before going to bed, Tohru looked at the picture of her mother and smiled.
Oh, Mom, we did it! We got Shigure-san to quit smoking! He was pretty grumpy for a while, but now he feels great—and he wants to take us all to the lake again to celebrate and spend more time with us! Kyo and Yuki got very… excited…
)) "That sounds wonderful, Shigure-san," Tohru smiled. "I'm so glad that you've quit smoking, and it's really good that you want to spend more time with Kyo-kun and Yuki-kun!"
"Why the -CENSORED- would we wanna be stuck with you, day and night, for two days?!" Kyo shouted.
"How would we be getting there, anyway?" Yuki added, glaring slightly. "I doubt if Hatori would enjoy having to drive us again."
"That's the wonderful thing about it!" Shigure beamed. "Guess who just got his driver's license!"
Kyo and Yuki stared in horror at the dog.
"You didn't," they said.
"Of course not!" laughed Shigure. "It's Aya! He's passed the driving test and—"
"No," Yuki interrupted, before even Kyo could protest.
The door suddenly burst open and… ((
Ayame-san came into the room then, explaining that he was all set to leave whenever we were.
)) "Wonderful, Aya!" Shigure smiled. "Just wait about three days and we can leave!"
"You mean… all my hard work packing my own bags has been wasted?" Ayame gasped. He sobbed, "Oh, Gure-san, surely one of us is mistaken! It cannot be me, as I am perfect in every way—"
"Except for the sanity department," Yuki muttered, coldly staring at his brother.
"YUKI!" Ayame shouted. "My DARLING little brother who is so much like me and is therefore ALSO perfect in every way! Come, come! We shall do some brotherly bonding by the lake!"
Yuki gave a small smile. "I'll make a deal with you, Nii-san."
"My brother wishes to make a deal with his wise elder!" Ayame announced dramatically. "Yes, my beloved brother!"
"You go to the lake. You bond. I stay here. …I don't."
"But YUN-YUN!" Ayame bellowed. "How can we bond if we AREN'T TOGETHER?!"
"We can't," Yuki nodded.
"Then WHY—?!"
"Why don't you go get in your car and crash into something?" Yuki suggested darkly. ((
We managed to hurry and pack our things right away, and Shigure-san even helped me persuade Yuki-kun to join us.
)) "Let go," Yuki demanded.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Shigure laughed. "Why would I do a stupid thing like that?"
"Because you are stupid," Kyo muttered, slumping down in his seat.
"If I let you go," reasoned Shigure merrily, "you'll run off!"
Yuki continued to squirm furiously. "I'll get in the car myself! Just let go!"
Tohru looked worriedly at Yuki, flung over Shigure's right shoulder, as she followed after the dog and the rat. "Your face is very red, Yuki-kun—are you alright?"
Yuki stopped his thrashing protests for a moment. Just long enough to say, "Yes, Miss Honda, I'm fine."
"Good," she smiled. "…Because you always look very cute. Blushing, I mean."
The rat once again stopped his fight to stare at Tohru.
"Thank you," Shigure sang to Tohru as she scooted over to sit next to Kyo. The dog, since Yuki was still a bit surprised and a lot embarrassed, had no trouble sitting Yuki down next to Tohru.
"Our princess is so tactful!" Ayame proclaimed, jiggling his hands against the steering wheel excitedly. "Well, let's off to the lake!" ((
I'm sure we'll all have a wonderful time at the lake, Mom. I'll talk to you again soon.
Yay, alright! I got Shigure to quit smoking! (dances) Maybe I'll make Hatori quit in a few chapters, too!
Hatori: Joy.
You're a doctor! You oughtta know smoking is bad for you!
Hatori: I can quit on my own. I don't need an insane, superfluous author to help me.
No fair! Big words! (grabs dictionary) ...Hey! I am so necessary! I'm the one typing this story! I'm giving you LIFE!
Hatori: (yawns)
Grr... I'll make you quit yet!
Hatori: I'm petrified.