Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Out of the Bag ❯ 3 Hot springs and Jealousy Part One ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fruits Basket, nor do I make any claim to

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII

Chapter 3 Hot springs and Jealousy Part One.

Kyo stormed into his room slamming the door shut with a loud bang. I thought Haru was the one I’d have to worry about not Momiji–how dare he take my Yuki away for the weekend. He wasn’t upset with Yuki since he knew the purple eyed teen had been really stressed lately and needed the break. But why can’t he spend the weekend with me? He stood in the middle of the room with his fists clenched from frustration. He knew that Yuki had no idea that he loved him because if anyone but Tohru knew then Kyo could practically guarantee that Akito would find out.

If the so called god of the zodiac found out then Yuki’s life would be in danger. Akito had always had a fierce obsession with the rat since they were children. There was no way he would ever allow someone else to show Yuki affection.

However, with the prospect of Momiji possibly being a rival for Yuki’s love Kyo’s worries about Akito faded to the back of his mind. The orange haired teen knew he could overcome the challenge Haru represented with only a little difficulty. Yuki wouldn’t seriously consider the ox as a partner. At least I don’t think he would. The rabbit, on the other hand was a whole other matter. Momiji had always been close to Yuki.

Part of the problem lay in that he never considered the blonde as a rival. It wasn’t until Kyo actually accepted that, that he could see in hindsight how the rabbit’s actions weren’t so innocent anymore.

Screw Akito, there’s no way in hell I’ll let that rabbit have him.

This was the one thing that Kyo truly wanted for himself aside from his master treating him as his son. He didn’t care what the rest of the Sohma family thought, which was a first for him considering that before he fell in love that was all he wanted. Now, however, all he wanted was for Yuki to love him in return. He wanted to be the other teen’s everything. He sprawled out on his bed.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIII

Shigure stared at Tohru in shock when she informed him of Momiji’s invitation to Yuki for a weekend hot spring trip. Well, that explains why Kyo’s so angry. This was completely unexpected; though, he felt he should’ve seen it coming. Earlier Hatori had hinted about the rabbit liking Yuki, but Shigure hadn’t taken him seriously. Now he was faced with reality. The writer was unable to talk to Aya because the long haired man was out looking for a certain fabric that a client wanted for an outfit. Instead the writer talked with Hatori on his private line that not even Akito knew about. Hatori seemed pleased with the prospect of their two younger cousins getting together; though, he made sure to caution Shigure about secrecy since no one wanted Akito to ever find out. Shigure knew that they would have to deal with Haru’s feelings for Yuki, but he never once considered that another member of the zodiac besides the ox and cat would have feelings for the rat.

Tohru left him to go start dinner leaving Shigure the chance to ponder over the new development. Since Yuki had all ready accepted the invitation the dog wouldn’t try to discourage him from going. He could use the break; though, how relaxing it will be is questionable. The dog was unsure of Momiji’s plans for the weekend. If anyone knew what they might be, it would be Hatori since he spent the most time with the small blonde outside of school. I wonder if he knew about Momiji’s plan beforehand. I doubt it because he would have mentioned it earlier if he had. I’ll call him after dinner and see if he can tell me anything more about this.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIII

Unlike this morning when she was happily preparing breakfast, Tohru made dinner with a somewhat anxious air about her. She wasn’t sure what to make of Momiji’s sudden invitation for Yuki to go to the hot springs with him. The invitation seemed pretty harmless to her, but it obviously wasn’t if Kyo’s reaction was anything to go by. Today was going so well. Neither Kyo nor Yuki fought the entire day; they even had conversations with each other without threats. Then all of that changed once Momiji mentioned the trip to the hot springs; I just don’t get it. While they were walking home, Tohru thought Kyo was just overreacting but Shigure’s reaction to the news made her reconsider her opinion. She still didn’t understand what made Kyo get so upset. After all, it was just a weekend trip to the hot springs; and it was only Yuki and Momiji going so she didn’t see a problem. There was no chance that either teen would come into contact with a girl thus no need to worry about transforming.

Momiji had been so happy when Yuki said that he would go with him. He was so excited that he tried to convince Yuki to go tonight, but the rat declined by saying that he wanted a good night’s sleep before they went. Momiji pouted but was consoled when Yuki agreed to meet him first thing in the morning.

I don’t understand why Kyo’s so upset.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The following morning was almost as tense as the night before. Yuki didn’t know what was going on in Kyo’s mind that was making him act like this. There were a couple of times when the orange haired teen looked like he wanted to say something to Yuki. However, he always backed off without saying a word. This unusual behavior worried the rat, and as a result he didn’t sleep very well. He went over everything that occurred the day before but never found anything that might have contributed to Kyo’s change in mood. As they sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, you could’ve cut the tension surrounding them with a knife.

When Tohru refused to let him help her clean up after they ate Yuki went back upstairs and lay on his bed. A glance at the clock showed that he still had another hour to go before Momiji’s arrival. The bus that would take them to the hot springs would pick them up from Shigure’s house. They would spend tonight and tomorrow night at the hot springs and return Sunday in time for lunch. He turned onto his side so that he now faced the window. Outside promised to be a very nice day he mused.

Originally Yuki was going to turn down the blonde’s invitation. In the end, though, he accepted because of all the stress from school. The student council president wouldn’t let him have a moment’s peace to just breathe. Once the shock of Yuki actually agreeing to become the next president wore off, the older teen pulled him along to witness every single duty he performed. Secondly, their teachers were all ready talking about end of semester exams trying to encourage the students to start studying or at least not cram the night before. Then there was his fan club. They were bad enough on their own and were usually harmless-creepy-but harmless. Now they seemed to be stalking him. Finally, there was the incident with Mia. Those types of incidents were becoming more frequent as the girls became bolder.

The only person Yuki wanted to get that close to him was Kyo plain and simple.

The slamming of a car door alerted Yuki that Momiji had talked Hatori into bringing him early. Sure enough a few minutes later the teen could hear the blonde talking to Tohru downstairs. Soon after, someone softly knocked on his door. “Come in,” he said tiredly.

“Yuki?”

The teen wasn’t surprised to hear Momiji. He didn’t turn over and could hear the blonde move closer to the bed.

“Tohru said that you weren’t feeling all that well.” The concern in Momiji’s voice helped to pull Yuki back from his thoughts. “Are you okay?”

This time Yuki did turn over so that he could face his younger cousin. Momiji was dressed in his normal unusual style minus the hat and was giving him a very concerned look. The older of the two sighed as he reassured the blonde, “I’m just tired from not sleeping well and stress from school, that’s all. I’m really looking forward to the hot springs.” His words had the desired effect and Momiji brightened up considerably.

“I can’t wait to go,” he said excitedly. “The last time I went was when the three of you came with me for Tohru’s White day present. I’ve tried to talk Hari into taking me, but he always said no. Hari can be such a stick in the mud sometimes.”

Yuki chuckled at the blonde’s energy. While he still had a few misgivings about this trip, they were out-weighed by the benefits. Besides, he’s never had too much of a difficult time calming the blonde down. Though, in the back of his mind he wished Kyo was going with them.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII

This trip to the hot springs was certainly much quieter compared to the previous one. Tohru had waited outside with them for the bus telling Momiji all about the time Uo ambushed a possible thief trying to enter her apartment. In the end it turned out that the guy wasn’t a thief–he was her next door neighbor who just happened to lock himself out of his apartment. Being the genius he was he knew that he’d left the bedroom window open so all he had to do was go outside and crawl through it. Except once he got outside he couldn’t remember which window was his. The poor guy got the shock of his life when Uo threatened him with a baseball bat. Even Yuki chuckled once she was done telling her tale. When the bus finally arrived the brunette waved them good bye as they boarded.

Yuki slowly felt some of the tension ease from his body the away the bus drove. The release of tension combined with the long drive made him drowsy; yet, he was still able to pay attention to Momiji who was talking about his classmates’ latest antics.

“Yuki?”

The older teen lifted his head, which had fallen back, to find his cousin now sitting right next to him rather than sitting opposite of him. “What is it?”

The blonde looked away, “What do you think of Tohru?” His voice was laced with curiosity along with an undercurrent of seriousness.

“Miss Honda,” he winced mentally at the idea of what she would do to him if she heard him calling her that still, “is a very good friend.” It was going to take some time for him to get used to the idea of using her first name. However, judging from what he could see of the blonde’s face his answer wasn’t satisfactory.

“Do you think of her any other way?”

Yuki tilted his head in slight confusion, “I guess you could say that I consider her my sister. If you’re asking if I’m in love with her then the answer is definitely no.” I wonder why he’s being so persistent about this…unless… “Do you like her?”

Momiji’s head whipped around to face him with his eyes the size of saucers. He froze for all of two seconds before his hands came up and started waving frantically while he shook his head so hard that Yuki got a headache just from watching. “NO! NO!” I don’t like her like that–I swear! She’s a big sister!” At Yuki’s skeptical look, the blonde stopped his frantic movements saying in a much quieter voice: “I don’t like her like that, honestly. I just know a few guys who do. None of them feel like they could ever compete with you so they asked me to find out how you feel.”

Yuki couldn’t stop the deep sigh that escaped him. I don’t understand why everyone persists in thinking that I’m so great. I’m nothing special. He let his head fall back against the chair. “Well, you can tell them that I’m not interested in her.”

The rabbit was quiet for a few minutes before he broke the silence, “Is there anyone you like?”

The older teen turned his head to the side to look at his cousin, “Why do you ask?”

Momiji smiled, “I’m just curious.”

Yuki acted like he was actually considering answering before he grinned mischievously. “It’s a secret.”

Predictably, Momiji pouted and begged to be told. “Tell me, tell me. I want to know. You can tell me; I promise not to tell anyone.”

“Nope, I’m not telling.” Yuki ignored the blonde’s pleading. “Is there anyone you like, Momiji?”

The blonde smiled softly. “There is one person that I really like. He’s really smart and a little bit older than I. He even goes to our school. Every time I’m around him I feel warm. He’s always been nice to me.”

His answer surprised the older teen. It wasn’t the fact the person the blonde like was male. Since they were members of the zodiac being involved with members of their own sex was the only way for them to have a real relationship with anyone. No, he was surprised because he’d never really thought about Momiji growing up and being interested in things like that. While the rabbit was only a year younger, he looked-even acted-much younger. He opened his mouth to comment but was interrupted when said rabbit became excited.

“Look, I can see the sign for the hot springs! We’re almost there!”

Yuki smiled softly at the younger teen. I don’t know where he gets his energy from. If I had a tenth of that energy I would be high as a kite. He decided to question Momiji about this guy he liked later. He would have to check the guy out to see if he was a good person for the rabbit to be with.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII

About twenty minutes later the two of them changed their clothes in the room they shared. They still had about two hours before lunch and neither felt like getting into a hot spring just yet so they decided to play ping pong. Yuki always enjoyed spending time with Momiji. The blonde boy had never looked at him differently because he was the rat like so many of the others in their family. The two of them had always been close. Even though his mother had chosen to forget all about him, though he wasn’t allowed to be a big brother, and he wasn’t allowed to be a part of his father’s life full time because of this Momiji still retained his gentle heart. The rabbit had his own scars to bear courtesy of Akito; but he bore them better than the rest of the zodiac members.

“Yuki, are you all right?” Momiji’s soft voice pulled the older teen from his thoughts. The blonde’s brown eyes radiated concern for Yuki.

Yuki smiled to reassure the blonde. “I’m fine. I just got lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

Momiji nodded even though he didn’t look convinced and let the matter drop. Suddenly he perked up, “I know what we can do now!”

“What?”

“Let’s play hide and seek!”

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Shigure sat in his office with Hatori trying to pull answers from the reserved man. It was like trying to pull teeth using a piece of string and a door.

“I’m telling you for the last time, Shigure, I didn’t know about Momiji’s plans to invite Yuki to the hot springs until this morning.”

“How could you not know?” The frustrated writer demanded.

Hatori took a sip of his tea before responding. “Momiji asked me if he could bring a friend to the hot springs. I said yes. That was the end of our conversation. I didn’t find out that the friend was Yuki until Momiji told me to come here.” He ignored Shigure’s dramatics since he was quite used to them.

“But, Hari…” Shigure trailed off. How were they supposed to help Yuki and Kyo get together without hurting Momiji? It would’ve been better if Kyo’s rival had been some random guy from school. Shigure wouldn’t care about breaking some stranger’s heart, but this was Momiji they were talking about. “Can you tell me how serious this is, at least?”

“I don’t know,” the doctor responded. “You know as well as I do that Momiji is as good as Yuki when it comes to hiding his feelings. Though, I suspect that he’s liked him for some time now.” He took another sip of tea. “Have you managed to get a hold of Ayame yet?”

Shigure shook his head. “No. Apparently he’s in one of his moods. You know how Aya gets.”

“If you were to tell him that this concerned Yuki, I imagine he would get in touch with you immediately.” Hatori said dryly.

Shigure chuckled, “You’re right. Aya would do anything to help Yuki.” He paused to take a sip of his own tea. “You know, I just might leave him a message along those lines.”

“How’s Kyo?”

The writer smiled ruefully. “Oh, he’s holed up in his room refusing to come down. Tohru’s worried about him, of course. However, I doubt he’ll come out until Yuki gets back. Is there any way you can make the two of them come back tonight?”

“You really are an idiot.” The dragon retorted. “I haven’t been around lately, but even I know that Yuki needs the break.”

“Spoil sport.” Shigure pouted; though, he knew the other’s words were true. Yuki didn’t handle stress very well. He might’ve handled it better if Akito hadn’t abused him for several years. “I guess I would feel better if it were Kyo with Yuki instead of Momiji even if the idea of those two alone together scares me. Momiji could’ve invited Tohru and Kyo to come along so that it would be less obvious.”

“It probably hasn’t occurred to him that Yuki might like Kyo. More than likely he thinks that Yuki likes Tohru. In that case, it makes perfect sense that he didn’t invite Tohru. Besides, if he invited Tohru she would immediately talk Kyo into going; and obviously, Momiji wants to spend some time alone with Yuki.”

“Why do you have to be so logical?” Shigure whined.

Hatori rolled his eyes, “Someone has to be. You and Ayame couldn’t be serious if your lives depended on it.”

“That was really mean, Hari.”

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIII

That night Yuki lay on the futon staring at the ceiling. Beside him lay Momiji who had pleaded to sleep in the same bed with him like they used to when they were much younger. There was no reason for the older teen to say no to the blonde’s request. Just like then Momiji lay with his back pressed up against Yuki’s side and was curled into a ball.

He’d always had a hard time telling the blonde rabbit no. He couldn’t deny his cousin the affection he needed then and still couldn’t now. As he lay there with sleep slowly overtaking him, Yuki wished that it was Kyo beside him. It would be nice to spend a weekend like this with the orange haired teen–just the two of them.

However, he was extremely grateful that Momiji had invited him to come because all ready much of the stress that plagued him was gone.

Next time maybe Kyo can come with me.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIII

End Chapter 3


I originally didn’t intend to break this up into two chapters, but I like to keep my chapters about the same length. If I kept going this chapter would’ve been so long it wasn’t funny. Besides, I figured this was a good stopping place for now.

I hope you liked this.