Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Rising Affections ❯ A Dog's eye view ( Chapter 12 )

I don't own fruits basket, no one pays me for this

Warning: Well, none really… but don't worry the story isn't over yet.

chapter 12 a dog's eye view

 

000ooo000

 

Shigure looked over his mother's shoulder as she prepared dinner, a roast browned to perfection then seasoned and cooked with sweetened soy sauce and vegetables, mostly cabbage, one of his favorite meals. His mother was being unbelievably good about his fight at school, he still had to wait to see about his father's opinion on things He was working nights and wouldn't hear of it until he woke up for dinner. He had only screwed up bad enough for his father to drag him from bed in the early am once. Even then it was more for the fact that his mother couldn't sleep and had told his father all about it as soon as he got home. Not so much what he had done to merit her wrath, but still, it was not something he wanted to have happen ever again. His mother was in frail health to start with and anything he did to upset her got swift justice from his father. Neither of them were spring chickens deciding to start a family late in life, so health issues were bound to crop up as the years wore on, his mother had already had a heart attack and surgery to unclog arteries in her legs, she was bedridden for a while before and just afterwards. The family chose to take care of itself, forgoing the servants and trappings Ayame's pretentious parents obviously preferred. A nurse did check in weekly. “If you want dinner, you have to help me clean this stuff up and get the table ready before we eat.” His mother informed him.

 

 

Shigure set the table and cleared the dirty dishes and utensils his mother was no longer using. Washing them in the sink and placing them into a rack to dry. `When I get my own place I am never going to do housework again' he vowed to himself. `Maybe I will get myself a little maid and make her wear one of those French maid outfits. Yeah, I could have her wear one that is really short and when she bent down to scrub the floor I could see her…' “Okaasan, is it all right if I call Ayame-kun to check on him?”

 

“Yes, I guess there is no harm in that, don't be on the phone all night though. I'll need your help with the serving platter in a while.” She answered tiredly.

Shigure pulled the old fashioned dial phone into the coat closet for some privacy before dialing. After a few rings someone picked up “Aaya” he said smoothly.

“Well, your knight in shining armor is in the dungeon until my suspension is over at the very least… Terrible she made me clean the house today… Yeah, me cleaning I will have nightmares about scrubbing the toilet for years, can you think of anything worse Aaya? Nothing gets you down does it? So do you want to have some fun over the phone? Just don't yell out Ha-san's name at the end it's kind of hard on the ego you know. No not really, as long as it works for you, I'm fine with whatever it takes to float your boat my friend… Hmmmmn, Alligator skin, interesting choice, I bet it would have an amazing texture up against bare skin…

After this very “stimulating” conversation, Shigure was sure he had plenty of material to fuel his fantasy life for the next few days. Sometimes he did feel a bit hurt that Ayame had never truly shown him the interest he did Hatori. He was beginning to feel like the odd man out in their little group. As if he were intruding on their time together by hanging around with them. Of course he didn't really care about it. It was not like he would try to stop them from seeing each other. If they wanted to do things to each other right in front of him, he wouldn't mind it a bit. He sighed smiling a bit at the thought. He crawled back out of the closet and placed the phone back on the desk just in time for his mother to holler that she needed him to serve dinner. Quickly checking to confirm that the loose yukata he wore would conceal the semi-aroused state he was in he went to assist her.

Later that night after his father had pronounced a sentence of grounding and yard work on top of whatever his mother had him do in the house Shigure lay down in his bed and let himself mull things over. His parents had never really liked Ayame, but they weren't too upset over the fight, it was one of the first “normal” things he had been in trouble for at school. They seemed to be almost happy it wasn't another mysterious disappearance or practical joke gone badly. They had seemed nonplussed about why the other boys would try to hurt Ayame. “That is just how the snake is, Aki was much the same and Tatsuya before her. His father started, but got an elbow in the ribs from his wife “remember dear the school doesn't know about the curse, they just think young Ayame is weird without reason.”

 

“Ayame is not weird!” Shigure defended his friend. “I don't think he is weird anyway.” He added quietly gesturing surrender with his hands to make up for shouting.

 

“That's because you have known him all of your life Son. To an outsider he looks and acts pretty peculiarly. Avoiding extreme temperatures, insisting on keeping his hair long…”

`That's not the snake spirit, it's just his overflowing vanity.' thought Shigure.

“And you know about the curse, his physical looks and limitations make sense to you like they would no one on the outside. That is why I am so glad you have good friends your own age in the zodiac. In the past individuals born between generations have not fared so well. Think of it, someone with the curse, with Ayame's flamboyance and no close friends to turn to when life weighs them down.”

 

Those words haunted Shigure as he drifted toward sleep. He was feeling alone and lonely, and now that things between his best friends were sort of… complicated, he wasn't sure where he fit in anymore. He was sure he hated Hatori at times for being such a stubborn ass, but he knew that if Ayame had approached him he would have jumped him at the first opportunity and every one after that, and they would likely have gotten into deep trouble by now. So maybe it was a really good thing Aaya fell for the one person in their group with some common sense.

000ooo000

 

AN: This is short. I apologize. I have more written but not finished enough to post yet. It has been a while since I put anything up, so I am posting about half a chapter here.

Once again, thanks heap and gobs to my reviewers. I am so glad you still like this story. You guys are what keep me writing on this. If you lose interest I will too, that's just how it is. I had a rough month and on top of everything else, I still haven't worked out the beta situation here, (my usual beta is having a baby and won't have time to do it for a while.) So things are slowed down until I can find someone else to bounce ideas off of and correct my many errors for me.