Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and all its characters are properties of Takaya Natsuki-sensei and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else in this fanfic are figments of my imagination. Any similarities to name, places, yada yada yada are simply examples of the world's many coincidental mysteries

January 27, 2003

Seven Days : Day the Third

By Ina-chan

The cool breeze danced gently around him, causing wisps of his soft gray bangs to sway playfully along, as if oblivious to the cumbersome weight of weariness bearing down on his entire being. He leaned on the railing at the roof of the school and rested his chin on his arms. The faint sound of voices talking in the ground floor barely registered in his ears, as well as the enthusiastic chants of the track team carried by the breeze from the track field in the near distance. His eyes drooped, only to quickly snap open again, his mind quickly reminding him the danger of falling asleep.

/The student council meeting should be over by now,/ The thought flashed through his mind idly.

He sighed in annoyance. The entire school council voted unanimously and literally threw him out of the council room, insisting that he go home early to get some rest. Most especially after the spectacle brought by his anxiety attack back then. But… thanks to Manabe-san's little episode the day before, the entire school was all over him with all sorts of ridiculous propositions to "cure" him from his "illness". The last thing he wanted right now was to meet Kinoshita-san and her legions of followers.

"So you took the coward way out and hid in the roof," A familiar monotonous voice said out loud from behind him

Yuki made another sigh and gave his cousin a sidelong glance from the corner of his eye, idly and silently wondering if Haru is some kind of mind-reader

"Yuki's actions simply states aloud what he thinks," Haru replied, "…and because Yuki's heart is close to mine, it makes it easier for me to read."

Yuki frowned and turned his gaze to the group of students cleaning the courtyard on the ground floor.

"There's no need to be angry, I was just simply stating the truth," The Ox continued as he leaned his back on the railing beside the Mouse, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Yuki sighed, finally speaking out load

"You should have followed Hatori's advice and stayed home today. That was a bad spasm you had yesterday," Haru commented

"It wasn't even that," Yuki groaned as he buried his face in his arms, "It was just an anxiety attack. Please stop making a big deal out of it."

"You were lucky that you didn't transform and that Mayuko-sensei came before hell broke loose in your classroom," Haru continued, unwilling to let the subject go

"A rumor has an average run of 65 days… In a few weeks, everyone will completely forget about this entire stupidity," Yuki replied

Haru cocked his head, "But it's only been a day and you already look half-dead."

"I'm fine," The older boy insisted stubbornly

"No you're not. You're so stressed, you're like an elastic band stretched to the limit that could snap at any minute," The Ox let out a long sigh, "It won't hurt to skip a few days off school… lay low and relax until your system's recovered."

"Skip a few days off school…" The Mouse echoed as he shot the younger boy a dirty look, "I suppose around four days would be perfect?"

Haru gave his cousin a thoughtful look, "Well, technically three… since the last day would be on Sunday."

"I KNEW IT!" Yuki growled as he pushed himself up from the railing to face his cousin angrily, "This is about that stupid curse, isn't it? Don't tell me that you believe that it's true, as well…"

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not," Haru replied monotonously, "Whether or not it's true, it's affecting you. At this rate, you ARE going to get sick and you WILL die within the seven-day deadline."

"And I suppose you also support Niisan's idea to break the curse," Yuki replied sarcastically as he turned away and leaned once again on the railing

"Well…" Haru paused thoughtfully

The mouse shot the cow a reprimanding look, "You can't be serious."

Haru gave his older cousin a mischievous grin, "You have to admit, it is a rather fun idea."

Yuki shook his head in exasperation.

"I bet more than half of the female student population is willing to throw themselves at your feet," Haru continued

"Will you stop it? That's NOT funny," Yuki groaned as buried his face in his arms

"Actually… I think… ah… here…" The younger boy pulled out several envelopes from his pockets, "Some girls in my class wanted me to give you these… Momiji probably has a few more. And I'm afraid to take a look at your shoe locker right now…"

"Throw them in the garbage," came the older boy's muffled reply

"That's cold, Yuki! The least you can do is read them. It's the most honorable thing you can do. After all, these girls wrote these letters with all their love… " Haru berated as he waved a pink one in the air, "…like Watanabe-san… she's 32-26-34 and willing to comfort you in every way…"

Yuki spun around to face his cousin in shock, "You opened and read them!?!?!"

"Of course, how else am I supposed to know what's in them?" Haru replied non-chalantly with a shrug, "But personally, I don't think Watanabe-san is a virgin anymore. Then again… it's you who needs to lose it anyway… Ah… Saiki-san. I was surprised that she actually sent one. She's so quiet and shy in class…"

"Come on, Haru… stop it," Yuki moaned as he rubbed a hand on his temple, as if trying to ward off a headache

"But it's interesting," Haru opposed, "Ara? There's a letter from Sawamoto-san? But he's a guy…"

"I SAID STOP IT!" Yuki hissed in low and dangerous tone

Haru studied his cousin's angry features before shrugging, "Fine, I'll throw them all in the garbage... Though I still think it's a waste. I didn't even get to read Honda-san's…"

Yuki froze at his younger cousin's words, "Honda-san? She wrote a letter?"

The cow nodded as he pulled out a white sheet of paper from his wad of letters.

"You're lying," Yuki shook his head and once again turned away from the other boy, "There is absolutely no way Honda-san would have written such a letter to me."

"Dear Yuki-kun," Haru began in his bland monotone, "I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to say this to you face to face. I know that you are going through a hard time and I'm sorry that I was too much of a coward to come to your side when you needed someone to support you the most. The whole situation is just too awkward and weird… so I'm sorry for hesitating as well. I simply don't know what to say or what to do in these kinds of matters. Nonetheless, I just want you to know that…" Haru stopped as he extended his arm and offered the letter for his cousin to continue reading

Yuki stared at the piece of paper in front of him, his pulse beating loudly in his ears. With shaking fingers, he tentatively took the letter from his cousin's hand and stared blankly at the neat scribbles in front of him. Haru buried his hands in his pockets and strolled casually a short distance away to give his cousin some privacy.

"…I just want you to know that I…" Yuki whispered softly, needing to hear the words aloud as much as he needed to read it, "…I do care for you deeply. Even though I will probably be completely useless in helping you, I will be willing to listen to anything you need to say. And I'll do my best to cheer for you, so that you too will have the strength to do your best. I will be waiting for your reply… Honda…" Yuki closed his eyes as he folded the letter in his hands after reading the signature. His lips thinned into a straight line as his right eyebrow started to twitch involuntarily, "…Haru, come here."

"What? You didn't like it?" Haru stated innocently from across the roof, "I thought Honda Misato-san's letter was the sweetest of the lot."

"Haru…" Yuki stated again, more commanding and more firmly, "Come. Here."

"Why?" Haru replied slowly, as he inched slowly towards the open stairwell door

"Because," Yuki smiled sweetly as he turned around once again to face the younger boy, "I want to push you off the railing so I can hang you upside-down from the side of the building."

"You know," Haru said, his voice laced with uncharacteristic exasperation, "I don't understand why you're making such a big deal of this. Any normal red-blooded male will take advantage of the opportunity being served to you in a silver platter. You can have any girl for the picking, and yet you choose to stay in your pedestal of high morality. Why do you have to be so prude and boring?"

"Pru… Buh… WHAT!?" Yuki stammered, genuinely getting annoyed now, "That has nothing to do with this! Had it ever occurred to you that I may not want to do THAT with just ANY GIRL? That maybe I would prefer to do it with the girl I love?"

"So… you already know who you want…" Haru gave his cousin a knowing smile as he challenged him with a look, "Then… what's the problem?"

The older boy stopped as his younger cousin's words stabbed at him, every last ounce of whatever irksome feelings he felt, immediately evaporated. His arms dropped to his sides as he closed his eyes and bowed his head, feeling a bit humbled by the Ox's wisdom. Without another word, he made his way to the stairwell door beside his cousin.

"What's stopping you?" Haru asked again, in a soft whisper

Yuki lifted his head and gave him a sad smile as he handed back the letter to his cousin, "She has to love me back."

The younger boy blinked in surprise, before returning his cousin's smile…

…just before the mouse roughly grabbed him on the collar and gave him a glare so cold that the very air around them seemed to drop several degrees in the thermometer, "Now if you ever… EVER… pull a stunt like that on me again… I will skin you alive… roast you… and feed you to the birds. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?!?"

"Hai, hai, hai…" Haru replied in his normal monotone, raising his hands up in surrender

"Ah! Yuki and Haru are up here!" Momiji's voice filtered a flight of stairs below, "To-ru! I found them. They're right here!"

Within seconds, a hyperactive rabbit and a very breathless girl came to view at the bottom of the last flight of stairs. Tooru immediately leaned on the stair railing for support, swirly-eyed and wobbling as she panted to catch her breath.

"Honda-san? Are you all right?" Yuki asked in concern, a nervous bead of sweat appearing on his forehead

"I… I-I'm… so… re..lieh…lieved!" She managed to gasp, "I was… loo… king… all… all… everywhere… for you… Yuki… kun."

"Eh?" Yuki blinked, "Why?"

"Shame on you, Yuki! To-ru was so worried!" Momiji scolded his older cousin in a huff, "She waited for the school council meeting to finish just to make sure you're okay. But weird Mr. Vice-President said that you already went home. We called Shi-chan, and he said you weren't home yet!"

Haru quietly smiled to himself, as he saw the gentle look automatically appearing on his older cousin's delicate features, before letting out a hopeless sigh.

"I'm sorry," Yuki said sheepishly as he gave Tooru an apologetic look, "I went to the roof for some fresh air before I headed home. I guess I forgot the time."

"Why don't we just all go home," Haru suggested as he made his way down the stairs

"Yes~~~ I'm starving!" Momiji agreed as he led Tooru by the arm, "Nee~~~ To-ru, what are we having for supper?"

"Don't invite yourself," Yuki berated calmly as he followed his cousins down the stairs and walked by the girl's other side

"Don't waste your energy arguing with him," Haru cautioned from behind him, "Specially at your tired state… you're sure too loose anyway."

"Heeeh? Yuki is tired? Isn't Yuki getting enough sleep?" Momiji asked worriedly

"I'm okay…" Yuki sighed

"It's not okay," Tooru said quietly, as she turned her concerned eyes to the mouse, "I could hear you toss and turn from my room half of the night. If you don't get enough sleep, you could get sick."

"I'm fine," Yuki insisted, "I've just been having some weird dreams that keep waking me up."

"Weird dreams? Like what?" Tooru stared at the gray-haired boy beside her, her eyes widening in alarm

Yuki felt heat rush to his cheeks and immediately looked away in embarrassment, "I… uh… don't really… remember them…"

"AH! I read something about dreams when I did my research paper. There was one whacked-out theory on why we can't remember most of our dreams when we wake up," Momiji offered helpfully

"And what's that?" Haru inquired

"It said, that we have dreams in our entire lifetime that can be so traumatic to our conscious psyche, that our brain decides to block our memories of those dreams," Momiji replied in a matter-of-fact tone

"And what are those dreams?" Tooru asked curiously

"It said, that in our entire lifetime, we will dream that we will…" Momiji paused for dramatic effect, "…sleep with every single person we know."

Haru blinked.

"EH!?" Tooru froze in super shock mode.

Yuki lost his balance in surprise…

…and tumbled straight down to the bottom of the stairs.

For a few moments… a deafening silence filled the stairwell…

"…ittai…"

"YU--YU--- YUKI-KUN!!!"

Haru sighed as he pulled out his cell phone and pressed a button on the speed dial option.

"Harii?" Momiji asked mournfully

"Hatori-niisan," Haru nodded blandly

To be continued…

Author's squawk:

One more chapter down! ^_^. This one turned out completely different as I originally planned. But, ah, well… The dream theory… I dunno if it's real. My cousin Bry told me that he picked it up from a Freudian theory… but I haven't seen it. I think that theory is simply taken out from the Tao of Bry… so don't take it seriously. ^_^.

Comments, criticisms and flame throwers at ina_chan@yahoo.com

Ja!
Ina-chan