Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Defying Heaven ❯ Crucial Resolve ( Chapter 3 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki-sensei and Hana to
Yume comics. This fic is done only for the glorification of Furuba!
Random spoilers for Fruits Basket manga beware! I'm basing this fic on
the manga, so there will be some time inconsistencies in according to
the anime. I'll explain in my notes at the end of the fic.

December 27, 2001

Defying Heaven

3rd Perception: Crucial Resolve

By Ina-chan

The light of the morning sunshine smiled generously over the chilly
day. A child sat by a window, letting its warm breath stroke and
envelop him. This was one of his few pleasures in life, sitting and
basking under the light of the sun from this quiet spot of the house.
Being under the warm bright light of the sun seemed to energize him,
most especially during this time of the year...

... most especially after a day like yesterday.

The boy shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts from remembering
the events that happened the day before. Instead, he focused on what
was going to happen on the days ahead. New Year's was just around the
corner. In his family, celebrating the New Year has always been the
most important event of the year. Soumas from all over the country,
even those who lived abroad, most whom he only saw during New Year's,
have already started to arrive to the Main House.

This was actually one of the reasons he retreated to this quiet
isolated spot. Some of his relatives, his cousins in particular, can
be too... `energetic'. In fact, he just barely escaped a
hyper-talkative hyperactive rabbit a few moments a go. Being around a
lot of people had always taken a lot from him. Being around
hyper-energetic perpetually moving balls of energy sapped his strength
right away.

And he still hasn't fully recovered from yesterday.

The child ground his teeth in frustration. No matter how hard he tried
to avoid it, his mind keeps on going back to what happened the day
before... to what was said the day before. He should be used to it by
now. Akito had been tormenting him for as long as he could remember.
He tried so many times to figure out why Akito hates him so much. What
was it that he had done, for Akito to treat him the way that he did?
He never did come up with an answer. So his logic simply concluded
that, Akito was simply mean.

["You're so pathetic."]

Deep in his heart, he knew he wasn't. But sitting here now, he
definitely felt that he was. He had lost count of all the times he
wished he had done something else when he faced Akito. He lost count
of all his daydreams of how he would stop Akito from pushing him
around and locking him in that room. But somehow, whenever he actually
sees Akito...

["Being afraid of the dark..."]

The warmth of the sun suddenly didn't feel adequate enough to warm the
air anymore. The boy clutched the hem of his yukata and pulled the
material tighter around him. It wasn't really that he was afraid of
the dark. He only feared that one particular lightless, windowless,
suffocating dark room. Everything about that dark room reminded him of
Akito... everything about Akito reminded him of that dark room,
forming an irrational vicious cycle of fear that he simply could not
break away from.

["Mice like the dark, and that's what you are."]

"But I don't, I'm not," The boy whispered to no one in particular as
he hugged his knees and tried to curl into a tiny tight ball, "I'm not
a mouse. I'm not a mouse. I'm a person. I'm Yuki. I'm Yuki."

["You're abnormal"]

"I didn't ask to be born this way," The boy started to rock back and
forth and covered his ears with his hands, attempting to block his
thoughts

["No matter how hard you try... YOU CAN NEVER CHANGE WHAT YOU ARE."]

/SHUT UP!/ The child mouthed in a silent scream

"I HATE YOU!"

The child opened his eyes, startled at the sudden cry behind him.

"I'M A LAUGHINGSTOCK BECAUSE OF YOU!! YOU FILTHY COWARD, IT'S YOUR
FAULT, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!! THAT'S WHY EVERYONE SAYS THAT I'M...
STUPID...!!"

The boy straightened up from his curled position. He felt the corner
of his lip twitch involuntarily in irritation. It would seem that yet
another person hated him as well. Not because he did anything wrong,
but simply because he's the mouse from a stupid folklore. "...is that
so?" He paused, carefully thinking of the right words to say, "Are YOU
like that?" He slowly turned his head to make sure his voice was heard
clearly, "...truly stupid?"

Silence.

"No... No, I'm not... I'm... not stupid... not stupid."

/That's right./

Despite of himself, a small smile found its way on the boy's lips.

/I'm not the only one who feels that way. Though my body turns into a
mouse, I'm not the manipulative dirty heartless mouse of the Jyunishi.

No matter what Akito says...

...no matter how hard ANYONE tries...

They can't change WHO I am.

I'm a person.

I'm Yuki./

"Yes."

The boy finally turned around to completely face his accuser, his
intense purple eyes, once again clear.

"I understand."

End of 3rd Perception

End of "Defying Heaven"

Ina-chan's squawk:

WAAAAAI! I finally finished it! My FIRST "Fruits Basket" fic! ^_^.
Haaaaah! Well, until inspiration hits me once again (heh-heh... I'm
one of those types of people who needs to be inspired to write a
fic...), looks like I will be concentrating on finishing up the rest
of volume 1. Hmmm... I dunno if I can finish it, but there's still
three more days until the New Year and one more day before I go back
to work! GANBARU! Ina-chan FIGHT-O! ^_^.

Thanks for reading this fic and all your wonderful support (along with
the FURUBA Project). Uhmm... just a little reminder though... My
sister, Jessi-shcn, is my partner-in-crime with this project. And the
message board is actually her baby. So if anyone is interested with
the FURUBA Message Board moderator or the RPG thingy she's starting...
please feel free to contact her. I'm not sure what e-mail addy she's
using, but I think she already put up her address in the website.

Okay... Usual stuff with the... Comments, criticisms, bricks... you
know where to send them!

Ja!

Ina-chan