Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Good Chemistry ❯ HELP!!! ( Chapter 1 )

Good Chemistry

By: Firetrixs

Disclaimer: Can barely afford ramen noodles, do you think if I owned Fruits Basket I would be thinking about ramen?

I thought that since the sequel to this sucked that this should deserve a second look. So this has been revised. I would like to thank the brave few for reading this originally and actually gave words of praise. So before the story starts, I just want to say thanks and that reviews do make a difference to writers that are just starting out with fanfic writing.

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"I'm sorry, Sohma-san, that is just the way it is. Your lab grade in chemistry has much to be desired. If you don't get some help, I have no choice but to give you a failing grade."

To say the least, Yuki was shocked. This wasn't what he was expecting when he was asked to see his chemistry lab teacher. He knew that his grades in lab were, how do you say, less than desired, but he didn't think that they were this bad. Usually when a teacher asks to meet with him, it is usually to help tutor another student but now the tables have turned.

"Sensei, is there anyone or anything that I can do, to help me out? It will be embarrassing to ace the lecture and fail the lab."

"Well…you could look at the class standings and ask someone that is the proficient and that you feel comfortable with to help you out and tutor you in laboratory techniques."

"Thank you, Sensei." Hanging his head in what many would consider defeat, he makes his way to the closet door where the class standings were posted. He looked at it in disbelief as his gaze made its way up from the bottom of the paper. There was his last name there with the letter grade that he has in the class so far. A "D" I've never gotten a D before in my life and here is one now. The only thing that I ever expected to fail in is normalcy and home economics. Thankfully, I'm a guy so I don't have to take home economics.

His eyes moved their way up the listing and finding Kyo there with a C. So he isn't doing very well either but for him this is normal and since he doesn't plan to do much but go to college to learn how to manage a dojo, he doesn't need to pass this for future reference for his education.

His gaze reaches the top of the list that has a lot of girl names. He really wasn't comfortable asking the girls since most of the girls belonged to "Prince Yuki fan club." The thought of them teaching him let alone asking, made him tremble with disgust and shiver in fear. Flashes of his tutor conveniently and seemingly innocently going behind him to show him the proper aspiration technique and POOF there is a mouse there mingled with my clothes. The girl either shrieking in fear because there was a mouse or Hatori erasing most of the student body's memories with him being shipped back to the main house to attend an all boys academy. Shaking the images and the thoughts of leaving Shirgure's house as weird and perverted it was lately is paradise compared to the main house. He finally made it to the top of the list when his shocked eyes widened as he spotted the name there.

Later that night…

"Honda-san, could you…um…please …um…tutor me in chemistry lab?"

"Sure, Sohma-kun that isn't a problem, it's just are you sure that you want me to teach you? You are usually the one that is tutoring me. I didn't think that our roles would be reversed."

"I understand Honda-san, its just that there are other people that I could ask but you are at the top of the class standings and I know that you'll be discreet about helping me. I really don't want everyone to know that I am nearly failing lab class."

"Sure, no problem. We can start tomorrow night after school."

"I have a meeting for the student council after school, and you don't you have to go to work."

"That's no problem, just meet me in the kitchen before I start dinner."

"Uh, okay." Yuki was confused at this point. How was he to learn more about chemistry lab at home in the kitchen?

The next night, Yuki did as he was told and met Tohru in the kitchen before dinner with her apron on. Confused still he got out his chemistry books and notes and started to get ready for the session.

"Here you are Sohma-kun, put this one and we'll start."

Yuki looked at the pink apron blinking at it. He slowly put it on and turns to Tohru.

"Sorry about the color but all the other aprons had frills on it except for the apron that Shigure bought for me."

Yuki gagged at the thought of wearing an apron that say "Kiss the Cook, Spank the Dog" on it. He remembered when Shigure gave the completely red Tohru that apron and how Kyo, Hatori and himself beat Shigure up for giving that to her.

"Uh, Honda-san, why are you making me wear an apron and why aren't we at the school's chemistry lab if you are tutoring me for lab?"

"You'll see," was all she would say.

"Sohma-kun, I need you to fill a pot with four cups of water and put the stove on at medium-high and wait for it to boil."

Still puzzled, Yuki did what he was asked, because for Tohru he would do anything he could.

"Now, go measure out a half a teaspoon of salt and a half a teaspoon of sugar and put both in the pot."

Getting more confused, Yuki still did what he was asked. He looked at Tohru starting to feel hurt and betrayed. He asked her for help with chemistry lab not with cooking. Was she mocking him? No, she would never do that, I don't think she knows how to intentionally do anything mean to anyone. He stood there waiting for Tohru to finish her task of dicing the onions. When she finished with the onions she put them in the saucepan that was heating up next to his pot with some oil in it.

"Now, go get the chicken bouillon cubes, read the instructions for how many cubes you have to put in for four cups of water."

Yuki was getting far past hurt and bridging to anger. When is she going to tutor me? Yuki read that there is suppose to be one cube for every cup of water. Yuki opened the bottle and removed four little packaged cubes from the bottle. He started to drop them in when Tohru stopped him.

"Oh, no, don't do that Sohma-kun. Unwrap the cubes and then put them in the pot."

"Well how was I supposed to know that? When are you going to tutor me for chemistry lab, that is what we are suppose to be doing right now, not cooking dinner."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sohma-kun I thought that you knew. Usually you can deduce and figure things out long before I can, so I thought that you would understand that cooking is a form of chemistry. My mother always said that there is more than one way to use a skill. I just always thought of chemistry as cooking. I really don't find the labs in chemistry as fulfilling as cooking because there isn't the good feeling of feeding your loved ones or the smiles and dreamy looks on their faces when they eat one of their favorite meals. However, I find it comforting to know that I can use a skill that I know in something that seems total foreign to the skills that I know. That everything is connected and effects one another."

"Huh, how is that? Chemistry involves powders, liquids and atoms, not spices, vegetables and meat."

"Think about it Sohma-kun, what did we do in lab at the beginning of the semester?"

"We made this solution by putting in two powders and it made a precipitate that we had to measure out."

"Yes, that is what I'm talking about. You just put technically three powders into a solution. Although, we aren't going to get a precipitate, the principles and the techniques are similar. Even though, we aren't going to measure what get, we are going to eat it."

He thought about it and he smiled. He didn't think that cooking was going to be he would be tutored in chemistry lab. He reviewed some of the experiments that they have done thus far and as long as you realize that the ingredients or the chemicals that you use are treated a little differently. I guess that is like caring for different kinds of plant, you have to use different techniques in handling and growing plants. The problem is that you can't mix plants together to get a precipitate or else I would be flying through this course. But, if that happened then I wouldn't be able to see how clever Honda-san could be teaching someone about chemistry lab.

"Thank you, Honda-san. What else do I need to do?"

That night, at dinner…

"Oh, my little flower, you out did yourself tonight, especially with that soup that you made ever so lovingly with you delicate little hands."

"Oh, thank you so much, but I didn't make that soup, Sohma-kun did," Tohru smiled pridefully at Yuki because she taught him how to make that soup.

"OH, Tohru-kun, how could you do something like that? You know how bad Yuki-kun is at cooking and cleaning."

"He needed help and I helped him figure connections between school and real-life applications."

They took a sip of the soup, smiled.

The soup was good chemistry.

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Author's Notes:

I would like to thank Beeper whose love is my guiding light in this dark world.

I know some people get annoyed with interspersing of Japanese words in an English fic, but using the word "sensei" is a term of respect and prevents me from making a fool of myself in making a name up.

I didn't use "Yuki says" much if at all in this story mainly b/c their speaking patterns and when addressing people is so distinct that it would be redundant to add it.

The recipe I used was one I use for egg-drop soup, and it is good if I do say so myself.