****I do not own Fruits Basket****
If you are new to the series and don't know what happens in the cannon version of Fruits Basket, I should warn you there are some spoilers in this story.
"The Water Soaked His Grey Hair Black"
5:30 AM. Late November. A crisp, chilly morning. Yuki took a deep breath and gulped down his black as night coffee. His eyes were beet red
from the night shift he had been working since 9:00 PM.
It was always hard at this time of his shift. His body ached for sleep, but he always built up enough wind to make it until the end of his shift.
He fantasized every time about going home and soaking in a piping hot bath and sinking into his bed. Naked.
Hopefully this morning, his fantasy wouldn't be wrecked by a certain someone who had the key to his apartment.
His dear Machi, who liked to wreck his appliances.
After the Sohma curse was lifted, he moved away from his old life. Away from the Sohmas, away from his dreaded childhood. Once Machi graduated from
high school, she started attending a college close to Yuki's.
She often came by with that damn key he had given her when he graduated and she was still in school. It made him cringe every time he thought about it.
He worked almost full time and and resorted to taking only part time online classes.
He wanted to support himself. He didn't want any debts to his family. It was the first time in his life that he felt free...almost.
At last. It was time to leave. He clocked out. He liked his job at the factory, even if it was monotonous.
It paid for all of his bills, with even a little leftover to save. Even though he grew up in a wealthy family, he enjoyed being crafty and frugal.
Unfortunately, he made the very poor decision to start a joint savings account with Machi. She started wrecking that as much as she did his apartment.
He still felt sorry for her, so for the time being, he let her enjoy some of his savings. However, he knew she'd rip him up a good one if she knew he opened a up a secret savings account at another bank with his name only.
He made damn sure to hide his statements asap, as she would often rummage and rip up his mail before he got home.
As he drove back to his apartment (he bought himself a simple little black Corolla), he saw everyone going to work, starting their days. His was just ending.
They were drinking their coffees, probably complaining about how tired they felt, soaking in the sunshine, enjoying having regulated circadian rhythms. It made him feel a little isolated, as if he was living in his own dimension, his own little world. Just like he did when he was locked up all the time by Akito.
He shook the feeling off. He needed the money. It was a decent paying job for a college student, and it wasn't forever.
All he wanted was to go home, rip off his dirty work clothes, and relax in every way possible.
He attempted to walk into his home in his cloudy haze and he stumbled. He tripped over his desk that was flopped on it's side. He was pretty sure he sprained his ankle, but he was too tired to deal with it.
He looked around and saw that his mail was scattered over the ground, as well as his beloved coffee maker. There was some sort of strange black substance
on his wall.
There went his damage deposit...how would he explain this to the landlord?
Machi always threw his stuff around, but these black marks was a first.
"Machi, where are you?" Yuki asked in his soft, calm voice.
No answer.
She must have came, wrecked it, and left. At least he locked the door when she left.
Yuki decided to put the cleaning off until he got some sleep. Between the possibly sprained ankle and no sleep for over 24 hours, he couldn't clean if he tried.
He decided to draw a bath in the tub that Machi threw a bunch of random objects in. He removed them begrudgingly, cursing to himself and noticed the black marks on the bottom of the tub.
He couldn't get it to wipe off. What the hell. He'd just bathe in whatever it was
.
He didn't care. He as a night shift worker.
The water was murky black as he laid in the tub. At least the water was piping hot as he had hoped, even if it had possibly carcinogenic black muck. Then he heard his front door slam.
He heard Machi cursing and fuming. If he haden't been so tired, he would have gotten up immediately, stark naked, and seen what was wrong. Hugged her. Consoled her.
Not this Monday morning.
He sighed and submerged his head face down under the water.
It would have been a good way to drown out most of the noise for a bit if it wasn't for her damn black muck in the tub.
Under the water he gurgled "Crazy Bitch". Something he would never say to her.
But on days like this, it was hard.
He was so tired from his shift and Machi's antics that he could have fell asleep under the water.
"Sounds like a good idea" he thought to himself.
"Nah"
He lifted his head from the black water, got straight out of the tub and plopped his wet, naked, black substance soaked body on the bed and tried to sleep.
He opened his eyes and started to worry.
He wondered to himself, "Would the black muck cause an infection?."
Looks like he wouldn't be sleeping too well today.