A/N: A couple of days ago a friend of mine introduced me to the world of Fruits Basket. I have since fallen in love with several of the characters, and this idea popped into my head. Basic idea: What if Yuki had taken the opportunity to run away after one of Akito's punishments and was found by our favorite young wizard? Not sure if I'll ever get to write the whole thing, but I though I'd put up what I had. Hopefully it will kick start the muses.
This one is a crossover between Fruits Basket and Harry Potter.
Disclamer: I own nothing related to either Harry Potter or Fruits Basket. I just like to play with them once in a while. Don't bother suing; I don't have anything you'd want anyway.
Harry smiled as he walked through the woods that surround his property. Hermione had been right again; this vacation had been just what he needed. Ever since he had finished off old Snakeface two years ago, his life had gone insane. Between the media's almost instant canonization of him and the Ministry's constant requests for his attention and skills, Harry hadn't had a day off that didn't involve a trip to the hospital in over a year.
And yet, Harry still didn't know what he was going to do for the rest of his life.
While he had a standing invitation to the Aurors, Harry had found he had no desire to spend the rest of his life chasing around after dark wizards. Being a professional quidditch player might sound good at first, but with the way things were going, he wasn't sure that was a wise idea. He was a bit afraid that any team that signed him would basically use him for his name, not his talent on a broom.
Here in Japan, however, no one seemed to pay one iota of attention to him.
Since his arrival last week, he had had the pleasure of walking around the town, and no one had called out his name or started gushing about how grateful they were or any such rot like in England. Granted he had stayed mostly away from the purely magical areas, but even there, while a few people had instinctively glanced at his forehead and bowed to him, no one had made a big fuss. It was so refreshing.
Glancing around, Harry started to turn back toward the house when he heard a quiet whimper. Freezing in place, Harry listened carefully and was soon able to distinguish the sound of harsh breathing. Moving quietly in the direction of the sound, Harry soon found the source of the sound. Lying at the base of a large tree was a small boy. He looked to be about seven years old with dark silvery gray hair. He was wrapped in a dirty kimono and curled up in a ball panting for breath.
Harry frowned in concern. What was such a young child doing out here on his own? Making sure to make some noise, Harry stepped forward to offer his help.
Yuki lay panting on the ground, pain lancing through his legs and chest. After Akito had finished with his 'lessons' last night, Yuki had finally snuck out of the house and run as fast as he could into the woods. That had been several hours ago, but Yuki wasn't sure how far he had gotten. He had seen the property line a little while ago, but soon after that his legs had given out.
Yuki tried to force his breathing to even out, but the tightness in his chest warned him that his lungs were getting irritated and his asthma was acting up. Hearing a movement nearby, Yuki jerked upright in fear, still panting for breath.
Looking up Yuki saw a strange man with wild black hair watching him with an odd expression on his face. Pressing his back against the tree he had lying beside, Yuki watched him, still trying to get his breathing under control.
"Are you alright?" the man asked as he crouched down in front of him.
"I'm fine, sir," Yuki answered quietly between gasps for breath. Yuki couldn't help but cringe when the man frowned at him.
"Hey, it's all right," the stranger said soothingly. "My name is Potter Harry. What's yours?"
Hari? Yuki thought. This man didn't look life Hatori at all, but it was funny that they would have the same nickname. "I'm Sohma Yuki, Potter-sama." Yuki relaxed just a little when the man smiled at him. It was a friendly smile, not one full of hate like Akito's smiles.
Harry gave the boy in front of him a smile even as he frowned inwardly. The Sohma's owned most of the land to the east of his property. It was a very large estate, and according the few things he had heard about them, they were a very wealthy and powerful family. So why was this boy out here in the woods alone? Harry also didn't like the way the boy kept moving away from him and gasping for breath. He was frightened and running from something.
"You can call me Harry, Yuki-kun," Harry said still smiling. "You look tired. Why don't you come to the house and rest for a while?" Harry pointed off to the right toward his house. He could see the boy weigh his words, before nodding hesitantly. Smiling again brightly, Harry stood and extended his hand to help the boy up.
Yuki hesitantly took the offered hand and pushed himself up, but his exhaustion caught up with him and his legs collapsed again. Moving quickly, Harry scooped the slight form up in his arms and in so doing the kimono slipped open to reveal the boys legs...which were covered in welts and bruises.
"Dear Merlin!" Harry exclaimed quietly. Glancing back at the boy's face, Harry saw fear on the flushed face. "It'll all right, Yuki-kun. I won't hurt you." Seeing the boy's breathing seemed to be getting worse, he asked, "Yuki, your breathing, what's wrong?"
"A...Asthma," he managed to mumble through his increasingly strident breathing.
Nodding, Harry didn't say another word as he started striding quickly toward his house. He might not have much experience with healing, but he did remember Madam Pomphrey giving Dennis Creevey calming potions to stop asthma attacks during his first few years at Hogwarts, and he always kept a few on hand himself. A little soothing balm for his legs and then Harry would worry about finding out who had hurt the boy. And making sure they never got the chance to do it again.
Only after he had gotten all of that done would he worry about why his arms tingled with magic as he carried the boy.