Disclaimer: You think I own any of this? (dies laughing)
Note, 1: This is one of my first attempts at writing the Fruits Basket characters. Please forgive me if anyone seems too out of character. Advice is always appreciated; just don't be mean or uppity about it.
Note, 2: I don't like curse words. Nor am I certain that my parents would allow me to type them. Therefore, all swearwords will be written as follows: -CENSORED-. The strongest words I'll ever type out in this fic are: dang, shoot, and crud.
))))(((( NOTE, 3 - READ IT OR I'LL SIC AKITO ON YOU!!!: Now that I have your attention, I'd just like to inform you that Kyoko is still alive at the time of this chapter. Please note that, in the last chapter, I said "perhaps never to return", not "never to return". There is a difference. I just felt like being evil, there. (evil laughter) Don't worry, Kyoko - I'll let you live a little longer! (more evil laughter, until Akito comes out and beans me for using him to scare the readers)
Eleven: To School or Not to School
As the years passed (only four, they're not, like, eighty or anything!), Kyo and Yuki got to be very good friends. Kyo had yet to find that Yuki was the rat, and Yuki still didn't know that Kyo was cursed by the cat. Due to their friendship, they teamed up to face Hatori and Shigure.
"Come on," ten-year-old Kyo snapped. "Why can't we go to regular school like normal people?"
"A, because we aren't normal people," Hatori, now twenty-one, stated. "B, because I want to make sure that no one finds out about the curse."
"But it's not like we're going to go around hugging every girl we see!" Kyo protested. "It's just Yuki and me who wanna go—not Momiji 'I'm-a-raving-hugging-lunatic' Sohma!"
"WAAH!" Momiji, who'd been just about to go back to the bedroom with Haru, wailed loudly. "Hatori! Kyo's picking on me!"
"Haven't you outgrown that yet?" Hatori asked with a frown.
"Apparently not," whispered Yuki, as nine-year-old Momiji skipped into the bedroom.
Hatori gave Yuki a look.
"…Sorry…"
"Why are you apologizing?" Kyo demanded. "He'll see an apology as a weak spot and eat us alive!"
"Starting to sound like Ritsu," Shigure commented on Yuki's apology, clucking his tongue in mock scorn. He grinned evilly and poked Yuki in the side. Yuki jumped nearly a foot away in surprise. "Nope," sniggered Shigure. "I guess you aren't Ritsu in disguise!"
"Who the -CENSORED- is Ritsu?" Kyo glared.
Rubbing his temples exhaustedly, Hatori warned, "Watch the language, Kyo."
"Who the -CENSORED- cares?!" yelled Kyo. "Why can't we go to regular school? You said we'd talk about it when we were ten! And we're ten!"
Yuki gave a firm nod, showing his support and approval of Kyo's previous three sentences.
"Fine. Now you're ten," Hatori sighed.
Kyo and Yuki, thinking that Hatori was about to cave, glanced at each other triumphantly.
"Now we've talked about it."
The ten-year-olds eyed Hatori warily.
"Now we can stop talking about it."
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Kyo shouted. "Give me one good reason why not!"
Hatori, realizing that he wouldn't be able to continue typing that thesis any time soon, logged off of the computer and turned to face his two oldest charges.
"Look, Kyo, Yuki," Hatori said, trying to reason with the pair. "You can be home schooled all the way up to the college level. Once you're eighteen—"
"Eighteen?!" Kyo and Yuki chorused.
"—you can go to a public, regular university. Can't you settle for that?"
"No!" Kyo scowled.
"Please, Hatori," Yuki added, trying to reason with Hatori. "We know not to get too close to girls. Kyo and I haven't had any trouble not hugging Honda-san, in all the years she's watched us during the day, have we? We aren't Momiji. We don't go around trying to hug people. We'll be really careful. …Please?"
Shigure put in, "I think they're right, Ha'ri."
Kyo and Yuki stared at their older cousin.
"They should go to regular school," Shigure continued. "I mean, they aren't like you. They actually have a chance at a social life!"
Hatori gave Shigure the evil eye, saying crisply, "That's the problem. Socializing. More than half of the human population is female. Odds are that they'll eventually make a feminine friend." He muttered under his breath, "And for your information, I was in the high school chess club for two years."
The other three in the room gave a collective smile. They were, slowly but surely, beginning to get to Hatori.
Hatori turned back around and began typing at the computer.
"Whatcha doing?" Kyo asked.
"Looking up local schools."
"Yes!" Kyo and Yuki exclaimed, giving each other a high-five.
-
"Hey. Hey. HEY!!"
Kyo flung the blankets off of Yuki.
Yuki pulled the covers back over his head.
"Five more minutes," Yuki muttered, still mostly asleep.
"C'mon! We're gonna be late for school!"
Yuki leapt straight up and stared wide-eyed at Kyo.
"What?" Kyo demanded.
Glancing around to make sure that Momiji and Haru weren't in the room, Yuki admitted quietly, "I'm scared."
"Scared? Of what?"
"…School."
"But I thought you wanted to go," Kyo mused.
"I… do… but… now I'm scared. Maybe—maybe you should go without me."
"No way am I going to face those weird normal people alone!" Kyo hollered, grabbing Yuki by the arm. "Go! Take a shower! Get dressed!" The orange-top rammed a few random clothing articles at his cousin's chest, forcing Yuki to hold them.
"GO!" Kyo shouted, literally pushing him out the bedroom door.
Shigure and Hatori, preparing to leave for their first college classes of the day, looked at each other. Shigure grinned.
"Little bundles of joy sound excited, eh?"
Momiji looked up at Shigure and asked, "Why can't Haru and I go to school?"
"We'll talk about it next year, okay?" Hatori said. It wasn't really a question, because Momiji and Haru didn't really have a choice.
"Okay," Momiji sighed.
-
Yuki, still scared stiff, had to be literally pushed and pulled by Kyo to the school building.
"Don't be such a baby," Kyo said, dragging his cousin along by the arm. "Are you a man or a mouse?"
Needless to say, Yuki wasn't quite sure of how to answer that question.
"It'll be great!"
"But… won't you miss Honda-san?" Yuki queried.
"Yeah, sure, but come on! Freedom! Breathe it! Taste it! Feel it!"
"You're starting to sound like Shigure," warned Yuki.
"Never say that again," Kyo glowered, dead serious as he turned around, now walking backwards, to look at Yuki.
"Look out!" Yuki suddenly exclaimed, seizing Kyo by the jacket and stumbling a few feet away.
"What the -CENSORED-?!"
"Oh-h! I'm so sorry!" a girl's voice exclaimed. "I'm so clumsy, I almost bumped into you!"
The two Sohma boys turned to look at the wide-eyed brunette.
She bowed respectfully, continuing with, "I'm Tohru Honda, and I am so sorry! I was just thinking so hard that I walked right past the school and almost bumped into you!"
"Yeah, well, just watch it," Kyo snapped at her.
"Tohru Honda?" Yuki repeated.
"Yes," Tohru confirmed, bowing slightly again.
"Hey, you related to Kyoko Honda?" Kyo asked.
"Yes," Tohru smiled. "She's my mother."
"She 'sits for our family," stated Kyo. And you visited us one day, thought Kyo.
And you got your memory erased, Yuki thought.
"Then you must be Kyo Sohma-kun!" Tohru beamed at the orange-haired boy.
"Lucky guess," Kyo frowned, folding his arms over his chest sourly.
She turned her grin to Yuki. "And you must be… Yuki Sohma-kun."
Yuki gave a vague smile and a short bow. "It is an honor to meet you, Miss Honda."
"Oh!" Tohru suddenly cried. "We're going to be late to school! Let's go! Um, I mean, if you want to walk with me the rest of the way, that is…"
"Of course," Yuki politely nodded.
"Since we're goin' there, anyway," Kyo muttered.
"Great! I hope we get to be good friends," Tohru smiled.
Kyo rolled his eyes. "You're gonna break your mouth, smiling so much."
Tohru tried to set her mouth in a straight line, but ended up giggling, "Let's go!"