Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Ayame's New Assistant ❯ Prologue: How to Start a New Life ( Prologue )

Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, Kyou would have landed a nice punch across Yuki's face by now. Is the rat's princely face bruised? Don't think so.

 

A/N: Hola people! I've written plenty of fanfics here and there before, just never decided to post one. I grew tired of all the “Hi guys! I'm the zebra from the zodiac! But it's okay! We can still hug!” stories, and so came up with this. Hope you enjoy!

 

~.~

 

Prologue: How to Start a New Life

 

“Well, this appears to be it,” the girl said to herself, glancing between the sign in front of her reading `Trust comes first; Ayame; Value from the heart' and the crumpled slip of paper in her hands.

 

Himawari Samuels had recently moved to her aunt's house in Japan from her dad's house in New York. Once settled, her aunt sent her into town to find a part time job while she visited the nearest high school to enroll her in. The teenage girl had very little luck, until finding a business card thrown to the pavement by an angered red-head the previous day. The design had intrigued her, and Himawari soon found herself calling the number listed. She was greeted by the sweet voice of a lady by the name of Mine Kuramae. Mine had insisted that Himawari visit the next day, at the time that the girl was now standing in front of the shop.

 

“It looks…cute I guess,” Himawari continued talking to herself, unsure of how to describe the small building in front of her. She made her way closer to the door, her heart starting to pump faster as she held her hand out for the knob. This was it!

 

Except….there was no doorknob. It took the poor, nervously wrecked girl to realize that she was in Japan. The door in front of her was, indeed, a paper door. Himawari retrieved her hand and wiped the sweaty palm on her jeans before opening the door.

 

The sound of the door made a small `whoosh' while opening and then closing behind Himawari as she entered. She stood in the doorway, taking in the sights of the store she would soon be working at. There were shelves of all different fabrics to her left, baskets filled with accessories on shelves to her right, different types of dresses hanging…the store was incredible! Himawari couldn't help but let a small gasp escape her lips.

 

“Samuels Himawari? Is that you?” a voice from further within the store came. Himawari took a minute to register the Japanese spoken to her, and instantly recognized the voice as the woman from yesterday.

 

“H-hai! That would be me!” Himawari replied with a shaking voice, trying desperately to sound more confident.

 

The clicking sounds of heels on hardwood echoed through the currently empty and soundless shop, revealing a woman of something in her twenties. She had thick, dark brunette braids on either side of her head, a pair of glasses on her slender face, and wore a rather frilly maids dress.

 

`I wonder if I'll have to wear that too…' Himawari thought to herself, trying to decide whether the idea appealed to her or not.

 

The woman's smiling face was a warm welcome into the shop, until she laid a good eye on Himawari. The sweet smile twisted into an evil grin as her eyes seemed to light up.

 

“Why you're pretty cute…” she stated and made her way towards Himawari's side to check out the girl. “Long blonde hair, chocolate eyes, small figure, and cute little bust!”

 

Himawari's face paled, uncertain of what was going on. “Um…Kuramae-san?” she squeaked out.

 

Mine shook her head a little bit, and giggled to the girl. “Gomen! It's a bad habit…” she apologized, but didn't press the subject further. Himawari decided it would probably be best to ask about it later.

 

“Anyways,” Mine continued, “Welcome to the shop! What do you think of it?”

 

The blonde's eyes drifted over the store again before returning a smile to Mine. “It's amazing! But I'm starting to think…am I really going to be of help? I don't really know a lot about fashion, or making clothes.”

 

Mine put a thought hand to her chin. “Yes, your English resume showed that,” she stated before lowering her hand and taking Himawari's in her own, “But don't worry about it! You'll learn all you need to know. Your previous bosses all said that you were always striving to try something new, so you'll fit right in!”

 

Himawari was a bit embarrassed about the fact that Mine had grasped her sweaty hand, but kept quiet about it and nodded instead. “Yes, I'll try it,” she agreed. “But I must ask…Sohma Ayame is the owner, ne? Where is he?”

 

“He's visiting his brother today, so the shop is closed,” Kuramae replied as she let go of Himawari's hand, quite positive that the girl wouldn't run away if she did so. “But that worked out nicely, so I can show you around the store in the privacy of us two women! Now would you like to start the tour?”

 

Taking a deep breath, Himawari nodded once again. “Yes, I'm ready.”

 

And so, the new life of Himawari Samuels began.

 

~.~

 

A/N: That was a bit shorter than I thought it would be…. Oh well.

 

I know that Himawari is sort of acting like Tohru Honda in a way, but that was unintentional. I based the character off of the meaning of a type B blood type to Japan. It said that they were “easily excited, always looking for something new, optimistic…” and the such.

 

So that's the prologue. Reviews are welcome and flames will be used to roast my marshmallows!