Dislcaimer: Don't
own Fruits Basket.
Author's Note: To those of you who want Rin to whack out... Sorry! I thought I was being too mean to poor Hatori, so I gave him a bit of a break. Don't worry; that's the only one he gets. Maybe I should change the name of the story to "Poor Ha'ri" because I say that enough...
The Joys of Driving
"Alright, Rin. Get in. Haru, you'll be next." Rin glared first at Hatsuharu, then at Hatori, and got into the car. She looked at the roof. "To get Kagura to drive, I told her that Kyo had been cheating on her." Rin nodded as if that explained everything - which, actually, it did. Rin needed no persuasion or help, buckling her seat belt without prompt and pulling smoothly out of the drive way. Hatori glanced at her in surprise when she turned on the radio.
She returned the glance with a scowl and kept driving without problem. She went once around the block and, upon pulling back into Hatori's drive way, the happy doctor proclaimed that she obviously didn't need any help. Thank goodness. One less person to wreck his car. She changed places with Haru.
Haru's session, too, started without hitch. He got part way around the block. The stoplight had turned red and, as everyone else so far had had a little trouble braking, Hatori gave instructions. Haru grunted and followed them.
"That was good, Haru," Hatori praised. A rare thing, but, hey! after being put through what he had already, a smooth stop was something praiseworthy indeed.
"You think so?" Haru asked, looking at him. The light turned green. Haru didn't notice until someone behind him honked loudly.
"MOVE, grandpa!" came the yell. Haru moved it, choosing to ignore the insult. This time. Unfortunately, the person who had yelled decided it would be a fun idea to follow them and yell more insults. Finally, Haru snapped.
"Alright, that's it!" the enraged bovine yelled. He pulled a wild U-turn that reminded Hatori of Akito's lesson, the day previously. He felt slightly sick. Anyway, Haru pulled in behind the other driver and pressed the gas pedal almost to the floor. The other driver seemed to believe that Haru would stop before hitting him and kept going his normal speed. At the last instant before collision, the other panicked and sped up.
This led to a true high-speed chase throughout the outer suburbs of Tokyo, the chasers a cackling teenager who was generally ticked at the world and a doctor who was making mental notes to see that mortician, the chasee some poor driver who had decided it would be a good idea to yell insults at aforementioned cackling teen.
The chase went on for half an hour (traumatizing countless pedestrians, again in some cases) before Hatori realized something. "You're almost out of gas!" he told Black Haru. By some miracle, Haru instantly turned White again and pulled away from the chase, Hatori sighing in relief as he gave directions to the nearest gas station. At least the police hadn't gotten involved.
The beat up car got many a weird stare at the gas station. Hatori, being of legal age and all that, went inside to pay for the now-full tank of gas. "What happened to your car?" the acne-covered teenaged cashier asked, pointing out the window. Hatori just stared at him.
"Do you know any good morticians? I'd like to schedule my funeral..."
The cashier kindly gave him a discount on the gas (read: was so freaked by Hatori's answer that he kicked the dragon out and refused to accept anything from him, including money).