Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Punishment ❯ Caught in the Chaos ( Chapter 3 )

Punishment
Chapter 3: Caught in the Chaos

        The afternoon seemed a lot easier now that Saki knew that there were truly people who cared about her. She could feel warmness spreading through her body, and the waves she could hear crackling in the room seemed to be less potent than usual. Her concentration was focused on the problems scrawled on the chalkboard in the math classroom. Saki enjoyed the class, even if she always 'forgot' to do her homework. (She always wondered what the point of homework was. If you passed the remake exams, then you automatically passed. It didn't make sense to work so hard.) Math was so predictable since emotional variables never affected the results. Quadratic equations just made so much sense.

       Not only was math easy (at least once she learned and memorized all of those blasted formulas), but she was seated in front of Tohru because their surnames. She thanked her lucky stars for the alphabetical seating plan. She also felt lucky that they were not seated near Yamagishi Mio, one of those obnoxious fan club members who was also in their class.

       The class was nearly boring and regular, but it was interrupted by that particular girl's jealousy of Tohru. Near the end of the period, they were given some free time to complete homework while the teacher marked a pop quiz. Tohru took the moment to give something to the charismatic Yuki. She quickly walked past three rows of desks to the 'S' section of the class. She handed him two simple envelopes. "Sohma-kun, could you take this home with you today? It's from my mom. You know, for Shigure-san." She lowered her voice when she realized how loud she was speaking. "And one from me to you."

       Yuki took them from her and placed it in the breast pocket of his uniform. "Sure, Honda-san," he said as he gave her a small secretive smile.

       "I can't believe it, she'll even talk to him during class!" Mio grumbled from the 'Y' section at the far left of the room to a fellow club member. Even from that distance, she could clearly see gorgeous smile he made exclusively for Tohru. "She talks to him so casually, she should call him Sohma-san." She would have to report this 'faux pas' to Motoko. She was in charge of enforcing the rules set by the fan club members; everyone, member or not, had to address Yuki in a particular way. Mio hated Tohru at that moment with all of her being, and she wasn't going to allow her any more time alone with him.

       Saki turned to glare at the girl, but Mio took no notice even her. She had already pulled a piece of loose leaf out of her notebook, scribbled a swift message and crumpled it into a ball. With an exaggerated pitcher's arm, Mio wound up and threw the ball across the room towards the unsuspecting Tohru.

       "Thanks, I really appreciate it." Tohru smiled, and bowed to prove her thanks. The crushed paper ball whirled over her back, straight into Yuki. Tohru returned to her upright position to see Yuki with his hands clasped around the paper sphere right in front of his face. "Sohma-kun, where'd you get that?"

       "It just flew towards me," Yuki replied, bewildered as he pulled the ball apart into the form of a wrinkled sheet. Written on the centre of the page in messy cursive were the words, 'You don't deserve Yuki.' He immediately crushed the ball in his fist before Tohru could read it and peered around the room. "Oh well, this isn't at all important." Tohru said something quietly, and Yuki replied, "You worry too much, Honda-san." Again, that same mysterious, clandestine smile graced his features.

       In her desk across the room, Mio put her head down on her desk. "Oh my God, I just hit the Prince with a paper ball!" she whispered loudly to her friend. Her unevenly cut hair was swept into a dishevelled fashion as she shook her head madly, red hair hiding her face. "I'm going to die," she muttered, the visible parts of her ears turning bright red. Several people snickered from the back of the room as another fan club member threw her own paper ball towards Mio as a penalty for hitting their treasured Yuki.

       The absentminded teacher still sat at the front of the room with a red pen in his hand, absolutely unaware of the small-scale war taking place in front of him. Tohru scurried back to her seat to get back to work, and the class eventually settled down. Ah, the nefarious jealousies of these fan club floosies were ridiculous. Saki found it ironic that Motoko had said earlier that she must have been trying to redeem Tohru's honour even though she did not even know Tohru yet. And after all that, those angry words became the truth as Saki had glared at Mio and her actions.

       With another day of school out of the way, Saki and Arisa agreed to walk part of the way home together. Tohru, with her job, regrettably couldn't come but she promised to walk with them later in the week when she would have a day off work.

       "I'm sorry for this lunch hour. I don't know what has gotten into me lately, but thank you once again, Uotani-san." The weather was a little chilly so Saki drew her cloak closer to her body. The sky was lined with looming grey clouds. They looked like they might have burst open with rain at any second, but the rain stayed safely inside their billowy containers.

       "Hey, you don't have to be so formal," Arisa laughed as she tied her dyed hair into a loose ponytail. It was getting in her way because of the wind which was picking up. "Arisa's fine. It makes me feel a little awkward when people use honorifics with me. Tohru still can't get out of the habit; she's called me Uo-chan for a long time. And it still took me a while to convince her not to use -san. I feel bad for it now, at first, I yelled at her for talking to me so casually; after that, she was always extra polite with me, even though it's really unneeded."

       "Ah, Arisa then." Saki nodded in understanding. "You and Honda-san seem really close now."

       "Yeah, we didn't use to be though. When I first met her I kind of treated her like 'just another person' because I didn't know her at all. I thought she was just like all the other girls who only seem to think about makeup and boys all the time. You may think less of me for this, but I used to be involved in a local gang. One of the senior members was Kyoko. She was a real legend and everything. I couldn't believe it when she had left the gang to settle down with her daughter. She wanted to make a living for herself and Tohru; a true, honest living. I hated it, that Kyoko would back out of her gang oaths for family life. Once I met Tohru, I learned that she was totally different than the confident Red Butterfly that I admired. I was disapointed, and I hated her." Arisa looked sad at her thoughts.

       "Then, how did you end up getting to know her better?"

       "I started to get in trouble with some other people in the gang. I didn't want to go through with some things that they wanted. I was trying to hide, and I ran into Tohru by chance. She helped me escape, and welcomed me to my house to hide. It was a comforting thought, having her help someone like me. I started spending time with her and Kyoko, and it was great. I returned to school full time to be with Tohru more. Kyoko had gotten out of the gang; she had been influenced by a man she knew to get out of the gang, and out of their affairs forever."

       "So everything worked out for the best for you two," Saki sighed, it was a beautiful story.

       Arisa grimaced, "Not exactly that well at that time. I was still in the gang, and I guess it's general knowledge that I was a bad influence for Tohru, even though I was trying to set things right. Everyone was scared that I would hurt Tohru because of my reputation. I guess I tainted Tohru's status too; people thought if she were hanging out with the likes of me, she must have been horrible too. I wanted to change myself to become the sort of person that could be Tohru's real best friend, one who wouldn't shame her. I thought it would be best if I got out of the gang, but when you get involved in one, it's a life time deal, you can't just duck out whenever you want unless you are a special case. I told them my plans, and was nearly 'immobilized' forever for it. I wanted out of the gang life permanently, but I knew too much about some of their activities. I was attacked with no one on my side, and there was nothing I could do but wait for their attacks to stop."

       Arisa frowned and stopped talking for a few minutes, remembering the agony. Saki nodded to give her support; she knew very well about waiting for it all to be over. "Before I passed out, Kyoko stopped them from hurting me worse than they already had. She was the legendary Kyoko, so her word was a lot stronger than mine ever could be. She took me home to Tohru to get me fixed up. I was only okay thanks to the two of them. It makes me glad that I've become someone who can be Tohru's friend, but it makes me feel even better than she had accepted me even before I became that person.

       Saki smiled at her, and nodded her head again. It was the same way with her. Tohru was such a welcoming person. "That's a bittersweet story, but it all ended well."

       "I thought so too." Arisa grinned. "You know, you really should meet Kyoko. I think that you could use some of her words of wisdom," Arisa said wisely.

       They walked the rest of the way home in comfortable silence, each girl lost in her own thoughts. Saki's thoughts barely registered the electric waves swirling around in the wind. It was sensational.

       * * * * *

You're caught in the chaos, sustained by its reprise.

Fuelling the addiction, suckling its disease.

       * * * * *

       From then on, the three girls became an inseparable trio. As time passed, they came to learn a great deal about each other: their strengths, their flaws and their beliefs. But even still, each girl seemed to carry something that was kept from the others, a grand secret.

       They experienced times of happiness, times of quarrels, and even brief times of uneasiness. After these experiences they only grew closer. Saki did indeed get to meet the legendary Kyoko, the Red Butterfly as Arisa had once called her. She was just as kind and wonderful as Tohru and Arisa had described, and Saki would never have known that she used to be a gang member if she hadn't been told earlier that it was so. She seemed like such a motherly figure; not at all like those characters from gang movies and books.

       At that little gathering at Tohru's house, Kyoko, Tohru, Arisa, and Saki knelt around a square table in the kitchen. Kyoko passed out miniature champagne glasses and plates of triangular cheese sandwiches. Two platters of different kinds of crackers had been set in the middle of the table, one platter on either side of a vase of white lilies. The centrepiece was surrounded by several types of bakery goods.

       "What's the champagne for, Mom?" Tohru asked she poured from a bottle into each of the glasses.

       "Well, I have a reason for us to celebrate. Let's get the table set first." She took a small bite out of her sandwich. "This has been a great day for me. Not only do I get to meet Hana-chan after hearing so much about her, but I've also earned myself a new higher paying job!"

       "Congrats!" Arisa shouted, raising her glass as the others clinked theirs against hers.

       "I can't believe it," Tohru said happily, rising to give her mother a loving hug. "That's so great! I'm proud of you."

       "Yeah, and I lucked into the position. I've been talking to the writer Shigure Sohma about a book that he wrote about gang life and gave him some advice about it to make it more realistic."

       "Shigure Sohma...." Saki remembered the name. "I own several romance novels by him. Excellent characterization and interaction." Although some scenes were a little graphic for her tastes, she had enjoyed them.

       "You know of him? I wasn't sure how popular of a writer he was." Kyoko grinned. "Several years ago, I read a book called 'Hidden Smile,' and it was about this girl Mika, a daughter of two gang members. Her mother and father were both very involved in the gang, and pretty much left Mika to fend for herself in life. After her father was killed in a fight, her mother tried to get out of the gang without success in order to raise Mika properly. Mika ended up getting into a lot of trouble because of her innocent nature. Even after the worst of the worst happened to her, she could still smile because of the love she had for her mother. It was a good book and was interesting to read, but it wasn't a realistic depiction of gang life. I contacted him after I read it and he agreed to meet me to go over some details. That was a long time ago when I helped him out with the book's second edition. Even after its completion, we met for dinner and other outings totally unrelated to business. We've been talking a lot lately over dinners and lunches, and he spontaneously asked me if I would be his researcher and motivator. He going to pay a better rate than what I'm getting at the grocery store, so I'm all for it."

       "A researcher, that sounds like it's going to be a lot more interesting than be being a grocer," Arisa commented. "And a motivator, you said? I wonder how he expects you to do that."

       "With the sort of books he writes, who can say..." Saki trailed off and smiled, pretending that she hadn't said a thing. "Congratulations, Kyoko-san."

       "Thanks you guys! I'm really excited about it." She took another bite of her sandwich, and the conversation turned to their school life. Kyoko seemed like a teenager with the way that she acted. It was like she was just one of the group, and it was wonderful. She was as remarkable as she had been described as.

       "Though with the way you're describing it, it sounds like he's more of a boyfriend than a boss," Arisa teased her idol.

       Kyoko laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. "Maybe, who knows. He did change my life for the better." Had Shigure been the one who had influenced her to leave the gang forever? Saki couldn't help but wonder. "Though no matter what our status is, I'm still six years older than he is! I feel so old now."

       "Aha, going for a younger man!" Arisa chuckled, giving Kyoko a playful shove. "But hey, you look really youthful so maybe he has no idea about the age difference."

       "Shigure-san is very nice, I'm sure that he'd be happy with you as his girlfriend." Tohru said with a silly looking smile on her face. She told them that she had been introduced to him and his younger cousin by her mother. Arisa somehow managed to convince her to tell them what Shigure looked like. "Quite handsome," she eventually admitted.

       As they neared the end of their celebration dinner, Tohru excused herself to go to the washroom. While Tohru was out of the room, Kyoko talked very seriously with the two remaining girls.

       "I was hoping I would get a chance to talk to you both alone. I'm going to be getting some long hours with this position, and I'm not going to home as much as I used to be with Tohru. I wanted to know if you'd both check in on her via the phone sometimes, you know, to make sure that she isn't in any trouble. I worry about her a lot when I'm not around to defend her."

       Arisa nodded gravely, grasping the concept. She worried about Tohru a lot too, especially with the long hours she put in at her job. She was surely earning her college education that way, but it left her walking home alone late every night. Saki could tell that Arisa got her protective nature from Kyoko; they seemed very alike. She also felt honoured that she was being considered to be in the same league as Arisa. She was being asked to be a protector of Tohru, and she was proud to agree.

       "Here, for you both." Kyoko pulled two equally beautiful lilies, the colour of pearls, out of the table's vase. With a smile on her face, she placed each delicate flower in their hands. "Thanks, it really means a lot to me."

       * * * * *

It has dragged you down, please don't turn around!

You're broken and battered, you've tried with all your means.

       * * * * *

       School became a never ending pattern of rotating classes; the day would start with homeroom, change to Japanese Language, then shift to History. The lunch bell would ring, and Saki would search on the first floor for Arisa and Tohru, then they'd proceed outdoors or to the cafeteria to eat lunch. After eating, classes would start again; with Biological Studies, then the final Mathematics class. The cycle would occur each day with hardly anything to distinguish one day from another. Months passed and their friendship grew stronger.

       Indistinguishable, that is, until one homeroom that changed their lives eternally.

       It was a day like any other, and homeroom started and had been in session for several minutes. The teacher was in front of the class reading out the day's announcements, but his spiel was interrupted by the loud sound of knocking at the door. The principal, dressed in a professional brown suit, didn't wait to be addressed. The atmosphere of the room turned dark as he asked, "Is Honda Tohru-san in the room?"

       Tohru immediately stood up and walked up to the door. In a low voice, he whispered something that only she could hear. Her already light face paled further at his words. She stared at him for a moment in disbelief, then fled the room. In all the time that Saki had known her, her waves had never been this distraught. She didn't know exactly what was wrong, but it had to be horrible. She rose from her chair, and Arisa did the same. Saki looked to the teacher, and he gave nodded in consent to their leaving, and they headed to the door to follow Tohru.

       At the opposite end of the room, Yuki stood up as if he were going to go after her too, but then he sat down in his seat once more. Saki's watchful eyes caught this movement before she disappeared out the door. She couldn't help but wonder if there was more going on between Tohru and Yuki than met the eye. Tohru never really spoke that much about Yuki to them, but once in a while it sounded like she knew him quite well.

       Is it something so secretive that he had to stop himself from coming along? What a foreign action. Something is definitely astray. This isn't going to be good.

       They followed the principal down the hall into his office, and he told her more information about the situation. Tohru's mother had been in a car accident and was in critical condition at the hospital. Tohru was permitted to go to the hospital, and he offered to drive her there. He turned to Saki and Arisa, and said, "You two had better run along now, there's nothing you can do here."

       Saki looked to Tohru who had tears in her eyes. No, she couldn't possibly leave her alone. "No, sir. There is something we can do. We need to be there for Tohru." She was determined.

       Arisa couldn't do that either. "Yeah, we promised her mother that we'd always be there for her no matter what. We can't break it, not now when she needs us the most."

       Teary eyed Tohru smiled weakly at their kind words. "Thank you," she whispered.

       He caved in and ended up driving all three girls to the hospital. He dropped them off in front of the large rectangular building and they entered through the automatic doors.

       The hospital was a hectic place, with doctors coming and going every which way. At the main reception desk, Tohru tried to give her information, but her words were cut off by teary hiccups. Arisa asked where they could find Honda Kyoko, and they were given the directions to the fourth floor.

       "At this point in time, only those related to Honda Kyoko-san may visit," a stern old woman in a nurse's uniform told them.

       Tohru looked back to Arisa and Saki and nodded. I can do this, she told herself.

       "Go on, Tohru," Arisa told her as she wrapped her in a tight hug. "We'll stay in the waiting room. Kyoko's the strongest person I know, she'll be okay."

       Once Tohru was released, Saki followed suit. She wasn't the type of person who gave hugs regularly, but she thought that Tohru needed it to be strong herself. The dense air around her was full of conflicting electric waves. The waves told her that she shouldn't try to comfort Tohru; Tohru would be better off if she didn't, they said. "It will be alright, Tohru-kun," Saki tried to say, but her voice sounded garbled. She went against the will of the waves, doing what her mind thought was best to help Tohru.

       Even with her broken down voice, Tohru was able to understand Saki's words. She gave them an apprehensive smile and convinced herself to go inside the room. The door closed behind her. Saki and Arisa took the nearest seats in silence and watched the hallway for Tohru's reappearance.

Author Notes: Chapter 3; Completed July 12th 2003, Revised and Uploaded August 11th 2003.
I hope that you guys do not find that the story is going at too fast of a pace. I realize that I'm being pretty long winded. It's only three chapters and it's already longer than my other fics. I can't help it, the words are flowing and I can't just stop them. It would be unconstitutional, I tell you! XD
* * * * * Altered Excerpts from "Master & The Margarita" by The Tea Party; Fruits Basket characters to N.T. at Hana to Yume Comics