Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Mouse Trap ❯ Chapter One Of ? ( Chapter 1 )

Mouse Trap

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I/?

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“Ha! Got you, you dirty lil' bastard!”

Tohru Honda blinked herself awake at these loud, racuous words, and then yawned and stretched. She got up hastily from her futon and threw on some old clothes - she had no school today, so there would be plenty of time to catch up on the Sohma household's laundry.

Tohru left her room a few moments later, tying a neat bow in her long brown hair as she sleepily pondered her tasks for the day ahead.

There was a lot to consider when it came to doing laundry for the three Sohma males - for instance, Yuki's uniforms must be starched and pressed to achieve the clean, crisp lines that everyone had come to associate with him, and Shigure's dark yukatas had to be handled with great care, the simple-but expensive fabric had to be hand-washed and air-dryed, and his sensitive nose didn't react well to any kind of chemical detergent, or softener, so she had to use that special mild soap that was usually only used to wash infant clothing, and Kyou -

“What did you do with that rat, you stupid cat?”

“Huh?” Scrubbing at her eyes, Tohru stopped dead in her tracks as she reached the ground floor and came upon Kyou and Yuki, still in their pajama's, arguing loudly, and blocking the hall.

“What d'you think I did with it, you moronic rodent - I got rid of it! Any dumb ass knows rats shouldn't be infesting their house!”

“Meaning that I shouldn't be in the house either, I suppose? Do I deserve to be killed, then?” came Yuki's dry reply.

“Actually - yeah!”

“Good morning!” Tohru trilled, trying to break them up. She smiled brightly as they turned to look at her.

“'Morning'?” Yuki frowned slightly at her chore clothes and hastily tied-on apron.

Kyou snorted. “Dumb girl, it's not morning - it's not even four a.m. yet. It's still dark out. What were you thinking?”

Tohru's cheeks burned - she hadn't even thought to look outside her window, or at her clock to see what time it was. She'd just assumed -

“Watch it, cat,” Yuki warned coolly, his violet eyes staring at Kyou with distaste. “It's not her fault - you're the one who woke her up and confused her with all your thumping around and yelling.”

Tohru waved her hands frantically. “Oh, no, Kyou-kun is right, I should have - “

“I was catching a rat, you bastard! Isn't that what cats do? I heard it sneeking around in the kitchen! Would you rather I'd have just left the nasty-ass thing for Tohru to find in the morning?”

“You didn't have to bother. You needn't have killed it, either. It was harmless.”

“Oh, yeah - that's why millions of people died across europe during the dark ages because of the fucking black plague!”

Yuki's eyes narrowed dangerously. “Clean up your mouth in front of Honda-san, you crude creature. At any rate, you could have come and gotten me - I would have just told it to go back outside. You were needlessly cruel to slaughter it.”

“Gah! They carry diseases, you - “

Tohru sniffled, and with that small noise, the two boys went silent. They turned their attention back to her to see her eyes brimming with tears, and they both groaned.

“Oh, Kyou-kun, Yuki-san! I'm so sorry. Kyou-kun was trying to protect me, and Yuki-san, you lost a friend because of it! It's all my fault!”

Glaring murderously at Yuki, Kyou cursed and threw his hands up, “M'goin' back to bed!” He pushed past Tohru and pasued for the smallest moment, his back tense, before snorting again and heading back up the stairs.

Yuki came over and took her hands, his serene eyes soft on her troubled expression.

“None of this is your fault, Honda-san. As much as I hate to admit it, the cat has a point. Wild rats have no place in the house. Anyway, I would have hated to see you frightened by seeing it in the kitchen first thing in the morning.”

Tohru smiled at him reassuringly. “Oh, no, I wouldn't have been scared, Yuki-san! Well, a little startled, maybe, but - “

“You should go back to bed for a bit, Honda-san. Surely it's far too early for you to begin breakfast?” Yuki teased softly.

Yawning suddenly, Tohru excused herself. “I suppose you're right. Well...goodnight, Yuki-san. Or is it 'good morning'?”

Yuki smiled, shook his head at her endearingly befuddled state, turned her around and gave her a gentle push towards the stairs. “Sleep well, Honda-san.”

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“Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!”

The shrill scream echoed throughout the house, and brought in short order, three panting, running males to the door of the laundry room.

“Tohru?!”

“Honda-san?! What is it?”

“You called, oh lovely Tohru-kun? Is lunch ready so soon?”

“Dumb dog,” Kyou muttered, elbowing Shigure in the ribs as they crowded inside the laundry room.

“What's wrong, Honda-san?” Yuki asked, placing a hand on the girl's trembling shoulder.

“Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you rush in here like that, they just startled me, is all!” Tohru said weakly, her face still a little pale.

“'They'? the three males said in unison.

“Oh! The babies!” Tohru elaborated perkily, and motioned to a bundle of sheets in a basket on the floor.

Confused, Yuki frowned - until his nose caught the scent of feral rat. He looked down cautiously, and saw a tiny, squirming bundle of naked baby rats nestled in a hollow in the linen.

“Ah, so that's what you were up to last night, Yuki-san,” Shigure sing-songed dramatically, sounding disturbingly like Ayame. He nudged his shoulder with a wink.

“Helping Tohru-chan, in-deed.”

As Yuki narrowed his eyes at the disgusting inference, and opened his mouth to coldly point out the obvious fact that there was no way he ever could have mated a feral rat - not to mention the number of weeks it took for infants to grow - and Shigure very well knew it, Kyou took that oppurunity to sneer.

“Yeah, so that's why there were two dirty rats in the house last night, huh, rodent? Now look what you've done - you're a daddy!”

“Yuki-kun is...a papa?”

The tiny, faltering voice brought all three pairs of eyes to Tohru, who was now holding the bundled sheet in her arms, the naked babies carefully cradled into a little nest in the center of it. She looked pale, and her eyes had gone swirly in shocked disbelief..

Yuki sighed, and knelt on one knee beside her as he rolled his eyes at a silently laughing Shigure. “No, I'm not a papa, Honda-san. These two shameless idiots are just making a joke at our expense. There is no way that even as a rat I could produce offspring with a feral rat.”

“Oh.” Tohru looked relieved for a moment - and then scarily dissapointed. Yuki didn't wish to dwell upon that disturbing fact.

“So...that rat from last night left her babies here? Oh...oh, no!”

Yuki sighed as Tohru's eyes began to well up. This was not going to be fun.

“The babies! What's going to happen to them! Their mama...their mama is...” she trailed off, looking at Yuki helplessly. “What are we going to do?”

Yuki was about to explain that, sadly, since they had lost their mother, the baby rats would most likely die of starvation, when Kyou stepped forward and snarled, “You aren't going to do anything! I'm going to get rid of them! Just hand 'em over, and you won't have to worry about it.”

“Get rid of - ? No!” Tohru surprised them all by standing up and, still holding the sheet to her chest, running past them out onto the porch.

“What the hell was that all about?” Kyou snapped, scratching the back of his neck.

“Fool.” Yuki shook his head. “You truly are a marvel of stupidity, cat. In only three sentences you told a girl who recently lost her own mother that those infant rats didn't have any reason to live since their mother was gone.”

Kyou looked taken aback. Sputtering uselessly, he finally turned to Shigure and yelled, “ I didn't say that! He's just tryin' to make me look bad! I didn't say that! Did I say that?!”

“In essence, I'm afraid.” Shigure hummed sadly.

“Yes. Not only that, but you further hurt her by inferring you would kill them. You should know by now that Honda-san has a deep and abiding love for all living things.”

'Even you,' he added silently, watching as realization finally struck home, and the cat's eyes widened with the knowledge before they guiltily darted away.

“You are right, Yuki,” Shigure nodded, eyes closed. “Look at how she treats Ayame-chan in snake form. Oh, to be so favored, to be able to rest inside those clothes against the warmth of such full, satiny flesh - ow!” He rubbed the stinging sides of his face, where Yuki and Kyou had slapped him simultaneously, and glared at them with dark eyes. “Now, now - was that physical violence upon my person really necessary?”

“Yes,” the boys both answered fiercely in unison. For once they agreed on something.

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TBC