Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Horse of a Different Color ❯ Prologue ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A Horse of a Different Color

By Bain

Disclaimer: This work of fiction was not created for commercial purposes, but was done for fan entertainment only without profit. I do not own any rights to Ranma 1/2 or Fruits Baskets.


Prologue

Rin moaned softly as she slowly awoke. Her body felt sore... a delicious kind of soreness that came from a long bout of heavy sex. This was not too uncommon for the young woman. However, the night before she swore to herself she would not end up in Haru's bed again. It seemed that she didn't keep that pledge.

Fighting off her morning grogginess, Rin senses slowly began to take in her immediate surroundings. For one, she was laying on top of a naked Haru, their legs intertwined and his arms around her. She could hear the steady beating of his heartbeat with her ear pressed to his muscular chest. His calm breathing that indicated that he was still slumbering. Another thing she noticed was she wasn't wearing her shirt. She never took off her shirt, as she hated showing anyone the scars on her back, even Haru.

'Dumb cow,' Rin thought to herself. 'I can't believe he got me in bed again. God, he did me good last night. I'm so sore.' She sighed, enjoying the intimate embrace even knowing this was not a good position to be in. Too many problems could arise if Akito found out they slept together again. Still, she missed waking up in Haru's arms, and tried to enjoy this small moment of bliss.

Slowly Rin opened her eyes, wincing in pain at the morning light as it filtered into the small room through the window. "Crap, I don't remember drinking that much," she muttered to herself. As she opened her eyes further, she realized she did not recognize this room.

This wasn't anywhere in the Sohma house that she could remember existing. It looked similar to her own dorm room here at the university, at least it was about the same size and similarly furnished. The walls were mostly bare except for a few action movie posters, and clothing scattered around the room along with books and papers. In the far corner, she could see a set of free weights.

'Damn it,' she mentally cursed, trying not to notice how nice and well toned the body below her felt on her naked skin. 'We must have ended up in someone else's room. I hope they don't get mad at the stains we left.' She slowly turned her head to look at Haru's sleeping face when she got a surprise. She was not lying on top of Hatsuharu Sohma, but a young man she did not recognize. He was very handsome, with black hair that was in a braid that was splayed across the pillow. He looked peaceful, with a slight smile on his face as he slumbered.

'Who the hell is this guy?!?' Rin started to berate herself, trying to remember what happened last night and who this young man was laying on top of. She wasn't thinking too clearly, still not completely awake, and still feeling the effects of all the alcohol she consumed the previous night. Rin put her head back down on the young man's chest and closed her eyes again.

'Okay I know I was invited to this dumb party in this dorm last night...' Bit by bit she started recalling the previous night's events.

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It was her first collage party, and being a freshman she didn't know that many people. The neighboring dorm building was throwing a "house party" in their dorm. Mikki, her roommate, convinced Rin that she should go, and not be so anti-social.

Trying not to get on Mikki's bad side Rin agreed to go. Last thing she wanted to do was to cause problems with the girl she had to room with for the duration of her stay at the university. Besides, she could use a drink. Rin had another fight with Hatsuharu on the phone earlier in the morning. As much as she wanted to be with the young man, she was more afraid of what Akito would do to her if they were found together again. She did not want to end up back in the hospital or worse.

So here she was at the party. While she didn't exactly want to socialize, she decided to make the best of it. She was only a freshman, her first year and the university, so she knew she should get to know some people.

Besides, Shigure kept telling Rin that she needed to be nicer to people. Not everyone was out to use her or hurt her. Nice people were out there, like Tohru. Collage would be a good opportunity for the young Sohma woman. Being away from the Sohma house and away from Akito was something Rin needed greatly. She owed much to Shigure for getting her into Tokyo University. How he got Akito to let her go, she had no clue.

Rin sighed. She needed to stop thinking of her problems and just enjoy things for tonight. She started to get a good buzz going and flirted with various people while turning down every proposition she received from various guys and girls. It was fun temping guys yet keeping them at arms length. She never really worried about if someone took things to far, she could take care of herself. Besides if a guy got too close, he'd get the scare of his life.

Girls on the other hand, she took a bit more seriously. Even though she preferred men, being with a woman was something she considered a great deal because of her curse. Besides, with Haru always chasing after Yuki, why couldn't she go after the same sex as well? Still she wasn't looking to hook up with anyone tonight and continued to just flirt and play around. She just wanted to have some fun and forget her problems for the night.

Enjoying herself, Rin stumbled around the room avoiding getting to physically close to any guy. She spotted a young man with black hair in a braid, wearing a cream-colored turtleneck and black slacks standing in the corner of the main room nursing a beer. He seemed to be watching the crowd trying not to get noticed by anyone without much success.

The first thing Rin noticed about the young man was he was cute in a boyish kind of way, with an innocence about him. She started to wonder if she was ever that innocent. She watched the boy from a distance. A stream of young nubile women came up to converse with only to leave a few minutes later with a dejected look. It was kind of fun watching girl after girl go up and get turned down, like she herself was doing to everyone approaching her.

As the night progressed, she continued to keep a mental count of how many girls he turned down. It was up to 37 when she realized he still had the same beer in his hand. He wasn't drinking. 'Gee, he must be one of those "goodie-good boys",' she mused to herself as she watched the count go up to 38.

With a mischievous glint in her eyes, she grabbed one of the "special" cups of punch and walked over to the young man. She took the beer out of his hand and threw it in a near by garbage and handed him the plastic cup filled with red punch.

"Here, drink this since you don't seem to like that beer you were holding for the past couple of hours." Rin smirked watching the startled expression on the young man's face.

"I don't like to drink," he said a bit timidly. The young man looked Rin over, looking like he wasn't sure what to make of this dark haired young woman that boldly started talking to him.

"Don't like the taste of beer?" she pressed gazing directly into his deep blue eyes.

"Well, not particularly."

"Well try this, see if you like it."

"What is it?"

"Some punch mixed with something. Not sure what exactly."

"I don't think I should."

"What are you, chicken?" she challenged with a smirk trying to get a response.

The young man bristled at the question and took a small sip. "Hey, this is pretty good," he exclaimed, obviously surprised at the pleasant taste. "I can't tell if there is any alcohol in it. What is it?"

"Who knows, but it's pretty good, isn't it?"

The pigtailed man nodded and downed the rest of the drink. After he threw away the cup, the young man suddenly found himself being dragged by his hand to the center of the room where everyone was dancing. The music was fast and loud and many bodies were moving around the room.

"Hey what'cha doing?"

"WE are going to dance."

"I don't dance," stated the young man and started to turn way, but was stopped by Rin, as she didn't let go of his hand.

"Come on, there's nothing to be scared of," the young woman said with a sly smile.

"I ain't scared of nothing!"

"You sure? You keep turning away all those girls, are you sure you aren't scared of girls? Or is it you're gay?"

"I'm not gay! I just..." he looked around nervously. To his relief, no one noticed his outburst or was paying him any attention except the girl in front of him.

"Just what?" Rin pressed.

"I..."

"Oh you don't know how to dance?"

"Well, umm, I've never done it."

Rin giggled. "So you've never done IT."

"No I haven't," he stated a bit sheepishly.

'He's so cute,' She noted to herself. Still giggling, Rin started to tease the young man. "Wow, to find a virgin as old as you..."

The young man blushed profusely. "I didn't say that!"

"Oh you're not a virgin?"

"Well... I... umm..." the pigtailed boy fidgeted, not daring to look the young woman in her eyes.

Rin moved closely to the dark haired boy and seductively whispered into his ear, "don't worry, I find virgins sexy."

The young man just stood there wide-eyed, gapping in surprise. "I... I..."

"Hmmm, so articulate too," she commented arching her eyebrow stepping back a bit. She smiled sweetly at the young man. "Come on, don't you want to dance with me? No need to be scared of little ole me." She then gave him a smoky look and whispered once again in his ear. "I promise I won't bite... unless you ask nicely."

Still blushing, the young man started to move toward the table with all the drinks with Rin following close behind. "I need another drink," he croaked. He quickly downed two more drinks before braving the dance floor with the dark haired young woman.

Being close to the same height, with Rin being slightly shorter than the dark haired man, the two moved together fairly well to the fast tempo'd music. She held both of the young man's hands and tried to get him to move to the music and loosen him up. The young man's rigidity lessened as the night progresses as he became more comfortable with Rin's proximity. The increasing consumption of the "special punch" also added into it.

Rin was feeling wonderful dancing with this young collage student. She ignored the hostile stares she received from many of the female partygoers. She hadn't felt this alive in a while. They barely said anything to each other as their bodies moved in synch with the music. She could not remember exactly when they started kissing, but making out while dancing was extremely pleasurable. With the haze of alcohol and the euphoric bliss of sexual arousal, she never noticed when exactly their bodies started grinding against each other, with their lips locked, both embracing each other tightly.

The short haired girl knew something was not right about this, something nagging in the back of her mind but she ignored it. This just felt to good, and she hadn't thought about Haru or any of her problems since meeting up with this young man. She didn't want this night to end.

The young man nodded dumbly when she asked him if his room was in this dorm building. He led her to the 3rd floor to one of the rooms. As soon as the door closed behind them, their lips fell upon each other once again, their hands and bodies caressing and fondling all over. Clothes started to fly around the room as they fell into one of the small beds...

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'Christ, we were at it for hours,' thought a bemused Rin still enjoying the afterglow of the previous evening's escapades. 'Shit. I don't even know this guy's name. I can't believe I just slept with a complete stranger.' She let out a content sigh. 'Still, he was great for a virgin.' And she knew he was. The young man had no idea what to do until she showed him. But after he was shown what to do, he took to sex like a fish took to water.

Rin tried to stretch her legs out a bit and winced. 'Damn, I'm not going to be able to walk straight for a while.' Slowly she disengaged himself from the pigtailed man and got dressed as quietly as she could. Rin took one last look at the sleeping man. 'God he's gorgeous. I can't believe I slept with him.' Grinning like an idiot, Rin gave slumbering man a small peck on the lips and covered him with a blanket. After she double-checked she had everything, she snuck out of the room.

Rin knew hooking up with a total stranger was a very bad thing to do, but she felt too good to give it much thought. She did not want to think about how Haru would react if he knew Rin had slept with another guy or what the rest of the Sohma family would think of her. She especially did not want to think about Akito's reaction.

Rin signed to herself as she enjoyed the morning sunlight as it warmed her. 'Why can't I be happy like this all the time? Why can't I be normal, and have normal problems?' And the young woman was feeling happy, the first time in a long time. Still a creeping feeling was still in the back of her mind, nagging her that she forgot to notice something very important.

Rin was over half way to her dorm building when she realized with complete surprise what it was that was bothering her. Rin Sohma had spent the night with a man, kissed, touched and embraced... and she stayed human the entire night.

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Author's Note:

Greetings. If you can't guess who it was that Rin spent the night with, I'm truly sorry, but I think I made it a bit obvious. If you have no idea who Isuzu "Rin" Sohma is, do a yahoo search for Rin Sohma. I know this story will be difficult to understand if you don't know anything about Rin and especially if you don't know about Fruits Baskets.

I have always found Rin Sohma a very interesting character, a truly tragic character in the tragic Sohma family. The idea for this fic has been brewing in my mind for a little less than a year. I was sure someone would have already wrote more crossovers with Fruits Baskets and Ranma 1/2 but surprisingly there are not. I mean can you imagine Kagura and Ryoga as a couple? That could be so cute or truly frightening if you think about it one way or another... and you know how Ryoga and Hatsuharu have no sense of direction... maybe Ryoga is a Sohma? BTW, neither of those elements will be in this story.

I know how the two characters met is very cliché, but it is a cliché because it happens all the time. Whatever works that gets the story rolling is good, right?

I have Chapter 1 almost completed and will post that soon. Unfortunately I do not have any proofreaders or someone to help me bounce ideas off of so double checking my work takes a little while.

I'm a sporadic writer at best, don't expect timely updates. I write when I get the urge to write. Post your comments, flame me if you must but helpful criticisms are always appreciated.

Bain