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disclaimer: I do not own Fruits basket. No, seriously. If I did... Well, let's not go there.
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Ritsu's head was still swimming when Ayame had offered to walk him home. Ritsu tried to refuse, insisting that he would only be a burden, but Aaya wouldn't take no for an answer. So now the two were headed down a poor neighborhood towards Ritsu's home.
"And so then I said, 'But Kyon-kyon, you'd look marvelous in pink!' and he would, wouldn't he?" Aaya chatted. He hadn't stopped talking since they left the shop. Ritsu nodded occasionally, fascinated by his cousin's crazy tales. Ayame had so much experience in life!
"Turn here," said Ritsu meekly, leading his cousin down another street full of dilapidated homes and rough, pothole-filled roads.
Ritsu couldn't help but marvel to himself at the turn of events. What a wonderous occasion! He got to be near his idol! In fact, pretty soon he was gonna be near his idol on a daily basis! The thought almost made Ritsu gasp out loud. How could anyone want to spend time with him?
"And then Gure-kun said...," Ayame continued, with an encouraging nod from Ritsu. Suddenly, though, the chestnut-haired teen stopped.
"Here it is," said Ritsu.
The building he referred to was, to say the least, a wreck. Half the windows had either one shutter or none. The chimney was going to collapse soon. You could tell by the buckling bricks. Two of the windows were broken and covered in plastic. The yard was mostly dead, but not as dead as the small tree leaning on the fence for support. Ayame mentally cringed at the uneven path to the porch, which looked ready to either give way or crumble into the dust.
"Oh, hey Ritsu," came the voice from the yard. Ayame looked over and saw a brunette woman, standing near the clothesline and holding a lacy slip in her hands. She didn't seem at all embarassed, for some reason. "Something's wrong with the damn gate again. You're gonna have to keep pushing it open."
"Oh," said Ritsu. "I thought it was fixed."
"Keyword there is 'was', kid," said the woman, grabbing a clothespin from a nearby grill and hanging up her slip for the world to see. "It broke again. Oh, and I have to warn you, the kitchen smells worse than usual. The freezer's busted again."
"Oh, no!" said Ritsu. "I had a few things in there!"
"Well, don't worry," said the woman. "It's all in a cooler. I emptied everything and set it in with some dry ice. It's gonna be hard as a rock for a while, unfortunately, but the dry ice was all I had. Maybe you can fix the microwave again and we can thaw some stuff out."
"Oh! Gomen for not thinking of that myself!" cried Ritsu. "I'll take a look at it as soon as I'm inside."
"Oh, thanks," the woman said, looking visibly relieved. "I'm not gettin' paid till next weekend, and I can't afford to get that stupid thing fixed. Thought this time I was gonna hafta."
"I'll do my best," said Ritsu. Suddenly he remembered his guest. "Oh, this is Ayame-sama! Gomen ne for not introducing you two earlier!"
"'S fine," said the woman. "Nice to meet you. I'm Lisbeth Landerson."
"Hello," said Ayame, trying to keep his cheer. Which was hard, considering he'd just realized how badly off Ritsu was.
Lisbeth picked up another personal item and grabbed another clothespin. "You friends with Ritsu?" she asked conversationally. Speaking of the monkey, he was kicking the gate open. He would pry the thing towards him, and then put it back and kick it hard, and pull it out again. Each time, the gate came a tiny bit further out. But not enough, clearly.
"We're cousins," said Ayame distractedly. Lisbeth nodded, and looked over at Ritsu.
"Need any help?" she asked sympathetically.
"Oh, no! Gomen for distracting you! I'll get the gate open," said Ritsu, desperately tugging it harder to that they could step into the dying yard.
"'S fine," said Lisbeth. "Hey, I hope you don't mind that I did a load of laundry. I needed my work outfit clean for tomorrow, and since I have early shift, I won't have time to wash it then. I was gonna was it in the tub, but the chemicals do weird stuff to it."
"Oh, I remember," said Ritsu, kicking the gate twice.Wait. Saying he remembers inplies that he saw. Could it be that... They're sharing a bathroom!?" Ayame wondered.
"Oh," he said, trying to sound casual. "Do you share a bathroom?"
"Yeah," said Lisbeth. "And it's a pain in the butt. Stella has her own, lucky duck. You either get first shower or second. And then you usually forget which turn is yours, so you wake up early only to find out that the bathroom's already in use. And Stella makes her boyfriend use our bathroom if he has to puke from his alcohol consumption. So then we have to jog up to her room and ask to use her bathroom, cause her dear old boyfriend's using ours."
"Oh," said Ayame, relieved. "Do they live together?"
"Nah," said Lisbeth. "He's just freeloading offa her. He can't get a job cause of his reputation, and I shudder to think of what his criminal record looks like."
"H-hai," said Ritsu, finally pulling the gate out enough that he could walk through it. "He does seem to cause a bit of trouble from time to time."
"More like generally cause a disturbance every time he shows up," snorted Lisbeth. She seemed to be about done hanging up her laundry. She grabbed one last sock and attached it to the line with another clothespin.
"A-ano," said Ritsu nervously, turning to Ayame. "Would you like to come inside, Aaya-kun?"
"Well, now that you mention it, I am a bit thirsty," said Ayame. Truthfully, he just wanted to see what Ritsu's apartment looked like.
"Oh, okay!" Said Ritsu. "Then Gomenasi that it took me so long to open the gate when I could have been getting you water. Gomenasi!"
"It's fine, Ritchan!" said Ayame, some of his usual cheer back in place. "I don't mind. Now, why don't we go inside then, ne?"
"O-of course," Ritsu stammered. He began to guide his cousin to the door, both of them calling out their 'good-bye's to Lisbeth.
When they reached the door, Ritsu reached out and tugged, hard. The wood made a horrible scraping sound, and Ayame cringed. But it opened at least, letting out a breath of stale, turpentine-scented air.
Ritsu stepped onto the threshold, gesturing that Ayame follow. Aaya complied, and soon he was standing in Ritsu's apartment building. Well, more like a boarding house.
Aaya was awed at what bad condition everything was in. In front of him was a staircase. The wall encasing it was obviously damp. The banister had come apart in places and was actually sagging. The floors looked like someone just spent their entire lifetime attempting to beat it into oblivion. They barely failed.
And of course, the smell of turpentine was worse. Now, though, it was mingled with the scent of something rotting. Ayame twitched slightly. How could his cousin live in such a place? The side of the stairs literally had bits of wall plaster lying around it in chunks. Bits of insulation were everywhere. Not to mention the one cracked, yellow, filthy window that looked like someone had sat there for about an hour and smeared dirt all over it.
"A-Aaya-kun," said Ritsu. "Are you alright?"
"Of course!" said Ayame, trying for his usual flambouance and falling a tad flat. Ritsu didn't appear to notice. He just looked less concerned.
"Alright, then," he said. "The kitchen is this way."
He gestured to his right, and Ayame barely stifled a gasp. The floors were cracked yellow tile, and the doorframe was missing a post and about to collapse. At least, it sure looked like that, since the base was cracked and the wall was leaning in spots. The lighting was so bad, the entire place was either cast in the ugliest yellow light (With a few spots for dead insects) Ayame had ever seen, or cast into shadow.
'...OH MY AKITO-SAMA,' thought Ayame in horror. Poor Ritsu!
"Gomen for the mess," said Ritsu, leading Ayame into the filthy room. "The vacuum cleaner broke again, and I haven't had time to fix it yet." He gestured that Ayame sit at the ancient-looking table.
"Shouldn't the landlady do that?" asked Ayame slowly.
"She won't, unless we file a serious complaint. Then, we usually have to pay a higher rent for the next two weeks," said Ritsu, heading over to the sink. He grabbed a cup out of the cabinet and turned on the water. The pipes gurgled and convulsed, and then a stream of yellow water flew out of the pipe and into the sink.
"I'm not sure what's wrong with the pipes," said Ritchan worriedly. "I better take a look at it."
"Do you do all of the repairs?" asked Ayame.
"Most of them," said Ritsu. The water had cleared out, so he put the glass under the flow and filled it to the brim. Then, he carefully walked over and placed it on the table in front of Aaya-chan. Ayame took a polite sip, glad he wasn't really thirsty in the first place. "Lisbeth helps whenever she can, but sometimes she has trouble with things like that. She's a good boarding-house mate. Oh, Gomen ne! I shouldn't talk so much about myself when you probably have things you'd rather discuss! Gomenasi! Please forgive me!"
Ayame smiled his dazzling grin (You know, the one that almost blinds you to look at?) and waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'm afraid I must be going now, my dear Ritchan. I'll see you tomorrow! Arigatou for the drink."
"Oh, you're welcome! Here, let me see you out!" said Ritsu, hopping up and accompanying Ayame to the door. His cousin opened it and smiled one last time at him.
"Ten O'clock tomorrow, Ritsu-kun!" said Ayame brightly.
"O-okay," said Ritsu.
With that, Ayame stepped out, leaving Ritsu alone in the front entryway to his home. He sank to the floor in shock. What a day!
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Meanwhile, Aaya was deep in thought. His poor cousin! Having to live in such bad conditions! Yet, in all the times he had seen Ritsu since he moved to the city, Ayame couldn't remember hearing a complaint pass through Ritsu's lips. Which, quite frankly, awed Ayame.
"Ritsu," he whispered to himself. "I promise you that so long as you are working for me, you'll never have to suffer another day in that place. Cross my heart."
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Before you get mad at me for the general weirdness of this chapter, I'd like to say that I wanted to write this for a while now. I hope you found the bit at the end fluffy enough. I did. Then again, I go on fluff overload with the smallest things.
Please review. Please?