Chapter 2: Riceballs of Doom

Toru lifted her cover into the air. She folded it in the middle and placed it neatly on herbed. The 16-year-old looked satisfied at her now made bed and smiled happily. She simply loved to tidy up her room. Well, house chores in general. She was so lucky that neither of her three housemates was any good at these things or maybe she couldn't have used it as a payback for her stay here. The brown-haired girl pulled the top of her pajama over her head and slipped out of the matching pants. She tossed them into the linen chest next to her bed and moved through her closet to dress herself.

The school uniform was fitting as snuggly as always and she pulled out her brush from a drawer. Toru hummed softly while she de-tangled her hair and was thinking about which bow she would like to wear today. When she decided, a blue one would be perfect, a knock on her door made her turn around. "Yo, Toru!" Kyo entered the room and looked grumpily at her. "You are kinda late if you still want to make breakfast or lunch boxes or whatever." He brushed through his hair with his finger while looking at her.

"What? Oh no!" Toru exclaimed and looked at her watch, "I forgot the time! I'm so sorry, Kyo-kun, I will be starting breakfast in the next five minutes!" Before Kyo could reply, Toru hurriedly tied the bow at the back of her head, grabbed her school bag and moved past Kyo, brushing against his arm while passing. She didn't see him back away from the touch or blushing slightly.

When the girl—humming softly—skipped through the kitchen door, she was surprised to see a still sleepy Yuki standing in front of the kettle. "Good morning, Sohma-kun! Did you sleep well?" Yuki turned his head towards her, his eyes full of sleepiness. "Good morning, Honda-san," he muttered under his breath and turned to look at the kettle again.

'He is so cute when he's not fully awake yet,' Toru gushed in her mind and started to prepare breakfast. Kyo peaked into the kitchen and when he saw Yuki standing there drowsily, he couldn't resist the urge to wake him up. "You stupid rat," he called, "Is all you can do stand stupidly next to Toru while she's working? If you're no use then go back to bed where I won't have to see your-"The punch of the rat skillfully ended the cat's sentence and sent him spiraling backwards onto the table in the living room.

Kyo moaned heavily and Toru was by his side in a matter of mere seconds. "Oh my God, Kyo-kun, are you alright? Do you hear me?" The girl was almost screaming at the boy who stared at her through narrowed eyes. His one hand was covering his nose while the other was clenched into a fist. "Yes, I hear you so stop screaming at me, God dammit!"

Toru backed away slightly and wanted to support him but he swatted away her hands. "I'm alright," he grunted and looked away from her face. "If you say so," she replied uncertainly and looked to Yuki who was watching them with a knowing look in his eyes. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I fear that we have to go without breakfast." He pointed to the clock. "It's almost half past seven."

Both Toru and Kyo looked at Yuki—Kyo angrily and Toru seemed to be shocked. "Oh no! But I didn't make lunch boxes yet." The rat smiled charmingly and said, "Please don't worry, Honda-san, we'll simply have to buy lunch today. I'll be gladly treating you."

Toru slightly blushed and nodded and the three of them put on their shoes and jackets and left the house.

When it was lunch time, Yuki slowly approached Toru's table and smiled at her, Hanajima and Votani who were standing next to their friend. "Hey, Honda-san," Yuki greeted the girl and she smiled happily at him, "Are you ready?" Votani looked at the grey-haired boy and smirked. "Oh, is your highness treating you to lunch, today, Toru?" Her smirk got even wider as she moved to lightly punch Yuki's shoulder. "You have our allowance," she announced and Hanajima nodded while licking her lollipop.

Toru stood up and started to head for the door. "Then let's go, Sohma-kun!" Feeling that Toru's two friends were giving this lunch far too much meaning, he followed her and they went to the cafeteria. He bought them both sweet and spicy bread and orange juice. "Do you want to eat outside?" Yuki wanted to know and wished, she said yes. It was rather sunny and warm outside and the sky was a fabulous shade of baby blue.

"Yeah, I'd really like that," Toru answered and they found a quiet place under a tree behind the school building. "Are you excited for the school's culture festival tomorrow?" the girl asked and took a bite of her curry bread. "I feel like it has been yesterday that we decided to sell riceballs!" Yuki laughed quietly at her words. "That's because it was yesterday that we decided that," he pointed out and saw her blush immediately.

For a moment, they ate in silence, listening to a few birds chirp and the far away chatter of their school mates. "Yes," the boy on her side suddenly said and Toru was so startled that she almost let her bread fall to the ground. "Yes what?" she wanted to know and looked at him. "Yes, I am excited," Yuki confessed and gazed at his bread in thought, "I really like doing things with everyone. And this time, it actually feels like I'm a real part of the class." She had the feeling that he wanted to say more, so she stayed silent and munched on her bread. "Every other time, I always felt as if I stood on the other side of an invisible wall. I wasn't really part of the event, I was simply observing."

He leaned against her so that their shoulders were touching. "I think, it's thanks to you that I'm able to experience this."

The brown-haired girl stretched out her arm and grabbed his hand. "No, Sohma-kun, it has been your doing. What became different is your thinking. I was simply lucky enough to witness it." Toru grinned stupidly and then turned to look at the sky. "It's really nice to sit here like this," she chimed and held his hand for a bit longer than she needed to, "I hope the weather is just as nice tomorrow!"

***

Akito lazily sat in front of his favorite window. Toru had been visiting for the last two hours and she had made pancakes for him. While he had coughed and sneezed, she had chatted about the up-coming culture festival at her school and how she wished that he could come. But ever since their fateful meeting, Akito had made it clear that he would never ever go to her stupid festivals, weather it was her stupid elementary or high school.

As usual, she had looked at him with those kind brown eyes and nodded. He found it actually hard to believe that she liked him that much that she still didn't mind his lashing out at her… but it seemed to be true. Sometimes, he was being mean to her on purpose to see how she would react. Most of the times, she smiled his words away.

The head of the family turned away from the pretty sunlight and walked through his room until he could let himself fall down on his bed. He most of the time wished that Toru would be with him more often than her two to three visits every week. It wasn't that he liked her or anything but she simply belonged to him. So why shouldn't a person who was his—and his alone—move in with him? He had enough space and he had enough money to be able to tolerate her existence within the main house. But for some reason, Toru had declined politely and looked as surprised as if he had proposed to her. After her mother had passed away a year or so ago, Akito had wanted to be kind. He had felt that it was a good decision to present Toru with his generous invitation but he hadn't thought for one second that she would deny it.

Pondering why she could have said no, Akito turned and rolled on his stomach. Maybe it was better that she wasn't living here because then, sooner or later, one of the stupid animals beside Hatori would have noticed her. And he wouldn't let them get involved with her. Although they both belonged with him, the stupid animals and Toru weren't meant to mingle. So yeah, maybe it was for the better.

Then why the hell wasn't he satisfied with this answer?

The doors to his room were slid open and Hatori entered. Akito looked at him, a slick smile plastered on his lips while he sat up and opened his arms for the man to hug him. Compared to his times as a teenager, the dragon had grown. He was more than one head taller than Akito himself. His shoulders were broad and all in all, one was safe to call him handsome. 'Of course,' Akito thought satisfied, 'That I blinded his left eye gave him a mysterious side to his looks.'

"How are you feeling today, Akito-sama?" the doctor asked and felt if his God still had a high temperature. "Good," Akito clipped, "Except for all the coughing and all the sneezing… Oh, and my head is hurting. Do something about this!" The black-haired man nodded faithfully and pulled out a clinical thermometer. "Toru was here, right? You know you could have infected her with your cold." The younger male pushed Hatori's hand away which had been holding the thermometer. "Well, she wants to visit and it's not my problem if she infects herself."

Hatori thought for a moment that Akito looked as if he pouted but he wouldn't dare to voice his observation. He got the flyer out of his pocket and showed it to Akito. "Kyo and Yuki have a cultural festival at their school tomorrow. I would ask you if you wanted to go but you can't leave the house." For a moment, Akito looked as if he wanted to go, simply to anger his doctor. Then he lied back down at looked at the ceiling. "If you say so, Hatori… I didn't want to go anyway." The thermometer beeped and Akito pulled it out from under his arm.

"What's up with high schools these days by the way? Why are they all having culture festivals at the same day?" The dark eyes of the God moved to gaze at the dragon who knelt by his side. "Toru's having one tomorrow, too." Hatori wisely kept what he thought about that to himself. It was pretty unlikely for two high schools to have their culture festival at the same time… unless Kyo, Yuki and Toru were at the same school.

Later that evening, Hatori was sitting in his office at the main house. He was going over Akito's blood data and analyzing it. It was about half past eight and he didn't have dinner yet. Maybe sometimes these days, he would simply work himself to death.

While he was wondering how much work Akito could make him do, his mobile phone went off and the ringtone sounded loudly through the air. He picked it up and pressed the green button to accept the call. "Hello?" he muttered and perked up when he heard Toru's voice answer. "Good evening, Hatori-kun! I hope I'm not interrupting your work?" He wondered how well she actually knew him because she would know that he was still working although most people would have gone home to eat dinner.

"No, it's fine," he answered and was really glad about the disturbance. He wouldn't mind anything that took his mind away from work. "How I can help you?" She called him from time to time to make sure he was fine or when she wanted to do something special with Akito like going on a picnic but she usually didn't call this late. "I was visiting Akito today," she told him and he could hear that she was smiling, "And I forgot my scarf."

Now that she said it—Hatori remembered himself seeing the piece of dark red material lying in a corner of Akito's room. He had wondered what a woman's scarf was doing there but forgot to ask his God about it. "Yeah, I saw it when I checked on him." He heard her giggle and found himself smiling along with it. "I would very much like to pick it up and chat with you for a little bit but I have my school's culture festival tomorrow." His hand was pulling out the flyer that Momiji had given him. Should he ask her about this?

"Hatori-kun?" The black-haired man snapped out of his thoughts and answered, "Hm. I will be at the Kaibara high school tomorrow at twelve o'clock; we can meet at the front gates, is that alright?" Would she now tell him that that was also her school? Her voice sounded hesitantly when she said, "Kaibara High? That is-"

"Toruuu-kun? When will you be making dinner?" a voice whined from the background and Hatori was shocked to say the least. Another black-haired man was immediately coming to his mind—Shigure. But that couldn't be because Toru was living with relatives of her. She had made sure to convince Akito that it was better for her to stay with her relatives when her mother had passed away. That was what she said and she wasn't someone to easily lie. Right?

But he couldn't let this go easily. "Who was that?" he asked and tried to sound as unconcerned as possible. "My uncle," she replied, laughing a little bit, "He is always so impatient for dinner! Anyway, you should stop working and eat now, too, Hatori-kun! I'll be seeing you tomorrow!" And with those words, Toru hung up and there was only silence which was lying heavily against Hatori's ear. Something wasn't right, he knew it, but he couldn't quit lay his finger on it. He continued to look at Akito's blood data but the nagging feeling never left him.

***

"Oh my God, Sohma-kun! This is wonderful! Look at the classroom." Toru looked as if heaven itself came down to earth and was displayed right before her eyes. "You made wonderful riceballs," Yuki complimented his friend who turned beet red at his praise and looked down. "Oh, no, it really isn't anything special…" Her voice turned meek at the end and Votani and Hanajima appeared from out of nowhere.

Votani wiggled her eyebrows at the prince of Kaibara high with a knowing look in her eyes. "Hana-chan, can you believe your eyes?" she asked and slung an arm around the still red Toru, "Our dear prince is making Toru blush! How adorable!" Hanajma smiled at Yuki but he felt uneasy while she did that. It wasn't that he didn't like the black-haired girl but she somehow made him feel uneasy. Found out.

A crash from the other end of the classroom pulled the attention of the small group to the things that happened there and Toru scurried over to her classmates, excusing herself with an apologizing look. The table on which they had presented the riceballs had partly collapsed and the brown-haired girl bent to pick up a few plastic plates which had fallen to the floor. She patiently picked them up one by one and moved to the right to throw them away. You couldn't expect anyone to eat from a plate that had been lying on the floor, right? Kyo was working with a hammer in his hand, making sure the table remained standing safely.

It was then that a hand curled around her shoulder in a familiar way and when she turned around, she looked at the pale eyes of Hatori. For some reason, she noticed, he looked much more sternly and concerned than usual and she titled her head in confusion. "Hatori-kun," she greeted happily and took his hand in hers. It was her way to greet him because he told her a long time ago that he wasn't one for a close display of affection. "It's not 12 o'clock yet! How did you find me?" Her smile turned soft when she reached for a riceball from behind her and presented it to him. "I made these riceballs! I'm sure you'd enjoy them. Please try it!"

Another hand came out of nowhere, grabbed her elbow and pulled her back forcefully. "Hatori," Kyo grunted and stared at the man almost hatefully, "What the hell are you doing here? Are you about to erase Toru's memories?" Confused, Toru looked at her orange-haired friend. Did they know each other? "Oh, do you-" Her question was interrupted by the cat, who slightly pushed her behind him. "He's one of us, Toru," he grunted and looked at her over his shoulder. "He also erases the memories of people who found out about the curse."

Toru remembered Yuki telling her of how he lost his first friends at a very young age but surely the person who had made Yuki suffer that experience hadn't been Hatori? And moreover, Hatori was supposed to be one of the animals? She would have never thought that "her" three housemates and Hatori were even related! Her brown eyes stared hard at the black-haired man. "You are also a part of the Zodiac?" she asked meekly and didn't really know what to make of this. Maybe she had misunderstood. He nodded.

What should she do now? How should she behave? And more importantly—how should she explain to Akito that she was not living with relatives but with people who he had strictly forbidden?

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket and I don't earn money with this. (Yeah, don't believe anyone would pay for this…. :D)

Hello and welcome back to the second chapter! So, Toru, Akito & Hatori have kept contact over the looong time of a little bit more than 10 years. I guess one could have figured that Toru wasn't about to escape Akito's wrath… I mean friendship. As you might have already noticed, this takes place at the festival where Momiji and Hatori meet Toru for the first time! (And do not worry about Momiji, he's coming. Soon.)

Question for me/you guys/the next chapter: How the hell will Toru manage to explain things to Yuki, Kyo, Shigure, Hatori and most importantly—AKITO? (Different formulation: How will she avoid being thrown out Akito's window after he found out that she has been lying to him?)

New Differences to the manga:

None so far!

XOXO Padlock