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

February 13, 2003

Seven Days : Day the FOURTH

By Ina-chan

"Well… today was a good day," Momiji commented cheerfully as he skipped backwards, facing his three cousins. Yuki and Haru silently walked beside each other. Kyou was walking a few steps behind, lazily cradling the back of his neck in his hands, as the four boys made their way back to Shigure's house.

"That's true," Haru mumbled quietly, as he gave the older boy walking beside him a significant look, "This was the first time in the entire week that we made through the end of the day without any incident."

The mouse neither replied nor made any indication of even acknowledging his cousin's comment. For the past four days, he survived the horrors of various near death experiences. From a range of, and often heavy, objects falling on him, an out of control delivery truck, and public humiliation. It was suspicious. It was almost as if everyone and everything was bent on making him resign to one of two inevitable fates that he has no desire to pursue.

"But…" Momiji continued, "Yuki's luck seems to be stronger. That was a spectacular fall from yesterday, and Yuki managed to get away with just a few scratches and bruises."

The mouse winced as he is reminded if the incident that happened the day before. Hell, even the very laws of gravity seemed to be going against him. He swore silently under his breath, fighting the urge to clutch his throbbing wrist, which was agitated once again by his fall. He already managed to psychologically numb the pain since this morning, but Momiji had to go around and jog his memory of it.

His mind's eye wandered to the small plastic bottle of painkillers that Hatori had given him yesterday. He purposely buried in a corner of his drawer. He always hated the idea of taking medicine… period. He would only take it if necessary. But painkillers and sedatives were another story. He never liked the sedating side effect of those pills. For some strange reason, he seemed to be overly sensitive to it. The last time he was forced to take small amount codeine, he was knocked out for a day and a half. And with his current circumstances, falling asleep and falling prey to those weird dreams he keeps having was the last thing he wanted to happen.

"Geez! Stop hovering over him like a mother hen, already! Tooru does enough of that for the past couple of days, and it's already getting tiring," Kyou muttered in annoyance, "It's his own damn fault with that infernal clumsiness of his that he keeps getting into all these accidents."

Normally, Yuki would have sent the stupid cat flying with the insulting comment. Of course, the fact that he's too tired, miserable, and in too much pain to do anything close to that sort had a part on stopping him from doing so. He actually felt relieved that at least there was one person who was still treating him normally. Even if it was just the stupid cat.

"Heeeeh…" Momji intoned impishly as he stopped in mid step to turn his attention to his other cousin, "If I didn't know better, I would think Kyo is actually jealous of the extra attention To-ru is giving Yuki!"

"NA!?" The cat bristled, face flushing with embarrassment, at the younger boy's comment, "YOU CARE TO REPEAT THAT, YOU LITTLE SQUIRT!?"

"WAAAAA!!! Kyo is blushing! Kyo is bluuuuuuuushing!!!" Momji cried out in a sing-song voice as he turned around to sprint for his life

"WHY YOU LITTLE--- COME BACK HERE, YOU DAMNED LITTLE---" The cat sputtered angrily as he ran after the fleeing bunny

The mouse let out a long sigh at the sight of his cousin's antics.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Haru's quiet voice suddenly spoke beside him

Yuki made an involuntary inward groan, "Here we go again. How many times do people have to ask that question in a day? Are you and Honda-san striving to get a world record or something?"

"Hnnnnnnn…" Haru intoned idly as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "That would be an interesting accomplishment."

The older boy let out another sigh, "I'm fine. And you and Momiji didn't have to walk me home either."

"Promising Honda-san that we'll get you home safe was the only way to reassure her so she could go to her part-time job in peace," Haru replied, before changing the subject, "Did you get any sleep?"

"I suppose Honda-san also made you promise to interrogate me with my sleeping habits as well…" Yuki muttered irritably

"Hnnnnnnn…" The cow replied nonchalantly as his eyes wandered in the near distance where the cat finally caught up with the rabbit and was in the middle of giving the wailing younger boy a punishment noogie, "…have you been sleeping?"

The mouse ran his fingers through his hair and simply made another sigh, trying to squash his quickly budding annoyance. The truth was, since his verbal admission the day before, his nocturnal restlessness had finally become full-blown insomnia, "I don't understand why you are making such a big deal out of this."

"It's only natural to worry over people you care about," Haru stated solemnly

The older boy suddenly found himself unable to think of an answer to counter a comment like that that.

"Is it those strange dreams?" Haru continued, "Are those the reason why you can't sleep?"

"What?" Yuki gave his cousin a startled look, "How did you…"

"You mentioned yesterday that you were having strange dreams," Haru explained, giving the older boy a curious look, "What were you dreaming about?"

The mouse stared wordlessly at the other boy's gaze and immediately felt heat rushing to his face, as the half-remembered images from the dreams that haunted him since his older brother suggested "the cure" to his situation flooded his head. He turned away and quickened his pace to leave his younger cousin behind.

"I see…" Haru's knowing tone filtered after him, "Was she good?"

"SHUT UP! THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!" Yuki sputtered in total mortification as he spun around to face the younger boy.

"Ne, ne, ne? What's going on?" Momiji asked curiously, immediately breaking away from Kyou and rushing forward to his other cousins

"I just asked a perfectly normal question, then for some reason, Yuki got angry all of the sudden…" Haru gave his cousins an innocent look,"…mystery."

"Feh, any question coming from you is far from normal," Kyou muttered as he crossed his arms and turned around to walk ahead

"So what was the question?" Momiji continued

"Say another word, and I swear, I won't be held responsible for what happens afterwards," Yuki glared at the white-haired boy

Haru shrugged, "I don't understand why you're making such a big deal like this. Every hot-blooded male have dreams like that. You should be worried more if you don't. Just sit back and enjoy the show."

"Dreams?" Cute rabbit ears automatically poked out of Momiji's head at the mention of his latest interest, "What kind of dreams?"

"The kind that has a rating only suitable for adults…" Haru explained a matter-of-factly

"HARU---" Yuki growled dangerously

"Geez, you're getting all worked up for THAT?" Kyou smirked at the Mouse, "You're such a tight-ass. Everybody has dreams like that."

"Heeeeh? So Kyou is saying that he also has dreams about Honda-san that way," Haru stared at his other cousin in genuine surprise

"NA!!?!?!?" was all the Cat managed to utter out loud as his eyes grew wide as saucers and his face started to make a good impersonation of a ripe tomato right to the very tips of his ears

"Unglaublich!" Momiji covered his mouth in shock, "I know I tease you about it, but I didn't realize that it was true."

"STOP PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH!!!" Kyou yelled angrily before instinctively pointing an accusing finger at his rival, "AND WHO ARE YOU TO TALK!?!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ADMITTED HAVING PERVERTED THOUGHTS ABOUT HER!!!"

The Mouse bristled at the orange-haired boy's comment, "WHAT!? I DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!!!"

The Cat blinked in surprise as his thoughts raced back and realized that the Mouse, had indeed, refrained from spouting his usual holier-than-thou morality comments. In fact, the other boy had done absolutely nothing to drag him into the current argument. All these time, he was so used to Yuki being the first to make fun of his dirty laundry that his brain was starting to freeze with the shock at the turn around that the dirty laundry being aired for all to see belonged to the normally pristine and perfect prince… hey… wait a minute…

Cat-like ears sprang out of orange-haired boy's head in indignation, "HOW DARE YOU DREAM ABOUT TOORU IN THAT WAY, YOU PERVERT!!!"

"Ara? What happened to 'Everybody has dreams like that', ne, Kyo?" Momiji asked mischievously

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE IMP!" The Cat glowered at the Rabbit before turning his attention back to the Mouse, "All this time, I was making sure to protect her from whatever perverted plot Shigure and that Ayame-person is planning to save you from this stupid seven-day curse. NOW I FIND OUT THAT YOU'RE JUST AS PERVERTED AS THAT BROTHER OF YOURS!!!"

Yuki's jaw dropped, as his face started to flush again, this time caused by the pure rage bubbling inside his chest, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW, YOU STUPID CAT! DON'T PAINT ME WITH THE SAME COLOURS YOU'RE WEARING!!!"

"THE HELL!!! BRING IT ON, YOU DAMNED MOUSE!!! LET'S FINISH THIS RIGHT NO-----" The cat raised his clenched fists and fell into a fighting stance, but not before Haru's open palm smacked him hard at the back of his head. The orange-head immediately squatted down to his heels and nursed his injury "---OOOOW! THE HELL!!! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR, YOU FAT COW!!!"

"Bad form Kyou, you know that Yuki is not in any condition to fight. If you're really itching for a battle…" Haru began in a low and dangerous tone, as he flipped his middle finger, "…I'LL TAKE YOU ON!!!"

Yuki scowled before burying his face into his good hand as he sensed that familiar annoying dark aura emitting from his younger cousin, "I really don't want to deal with this right now…"

Black Haru immediately turned to Yuki and roughly lifted the older boy's chin and forced his cousin's delicate face close to his own, "Don't worry Yuki, as soon as this is over, you won't have to worry about dreaming. I'll make those dreams a reality."

"Du miene Güte…" Momiji mumbled nervously as a bead of sweat appeared on his forehead

"Idiots!" The Mouse spat coldly as he immediately wrenched himself away from the younger boy's grip

The rabbit looked at his cousin in surprise. It wasn't a reaction any different from the past when Haru turned black and behaved this way. But somehow, there was something in his older cousin's voice… something in the way his older cousin's eyes narrowed into angry gray slits… that caused the silent alarm in his head to ring sharply, "Yuki?"

"All of you are complete idiots!" Yuki's angry voice rasped quietly as he spun around on his heels to leave them behind

"Yuki…" Momiji called out after him, concern lacing his voice

The older boy showed no indication of even hearing him, neither turning around, nor slowing down his pace

The rabbit shot the cat and the ox a look, before running after the retreating Mouse, "Yuki, wait!"

The rabbit felt his heart beating wildly. He had a feeling that something very bad is going to happen if he didn't manage to keep up and stay with Yuki, just as he promised to Tooru. He could hear Haru and Kyou's still arguing loudly behind him… He let out a sigh. At least they were following… It was just a joke. He had witnessed Yuki's rare, volatile but icy outbursts in the past. But somehow, there was something oddly different on how Yuki's reacted today. The rabbit was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that the Mouse stopped in walking until he crashed onto his cousin's back.

"Itte!" Momiji whined, rubbing his nose as he stepped away to see what caused his older cousin to freeze on his tracks. A near distance from the path to Shigure's house, was parked a dark sedan.

"Ha? Why is Hatori's car here?" Kyou wondered out loud before anybody could utter

"I guess he came on his own…After all, Harii has been coming over pretty much everyday since…" The rabbit's voice trailed as he gave the Mouse an uncertain look

"…since this whole stupid mess began," Yuki finished for him in a quiet whisper. The Mouse bowed his head, hiding his eyes behind his bangs as he clenched his fists on his sides. "I'm sick of this… why is everyone doing this to me… why won't people just leave it alone…"

"Yuki…" The rabbit began worriedly as he leaned toward his older cousin.

Only to find the mouse continuing to stand where he is, unmoving… his lips moved silently, as if having some kind of internal conversation within himself.

"Yuki?" Momiji tugged on the older boy's sleeve to get his attention

"Yes…" Yuki mumbled almost inaudibly as he raised his chin, a small smile touching his lips,"…that IS a good idea."

"Yuki? What are you talking about?" Momiji asked, feeling a little alarmed as his cousin briskly walked away and moved towards the Souma Family doctor's car, "Yuki? What's a good idea?"

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing, you damned mouse?" Kyou called out apprehensively as the Mouse opened the unlocked driver's seat door and slipped inside. Kyou nervously turned to the younger boy beside him, "He's not doing what I think he's doing, is he?"

"Heh," was all the Cow said in reply, an amused smirk lining his face, as he himself scrambled to the passenger seat

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!?!?!?!!" The orange-haired boy yelled in bewilderment

"Trying to prove a point," Yuki finally calmly replied as he moved his fingers through the folds and crevices of the car's consoles, "Haru, check the dash… Niisan lost Hatori's keys once, so Hatori always keeps a spare somewhere…"

"NO! NO! NO! You can't do this!" Kyou yelped, almost pleadingly, as he stepped as close to the car as he dared, "What is wrong with you? This is HATORI'S CAR!"

"I don't see anything here," Haru answered

"Well, then, without a key it won't work," Kyou reasoned, feeling a little relieved, "So why don't you two just step out quietly and no one will even have to know…"

Without another word, the Mouse gave the steering wheel a sharp jerk. Kyou's eyes widened in shock as a quick sickening crack of the steering wheel lock breaking boomed in his ears. The Cat scanned their surroundings, half-wishing for Shigure or Hatori to come out and catch them… but the empty wooded path was the only thing that greeted him. He turned back to his cousins only to find the Mouse bending over gutted wires he pulled from the ignition key base.

"WHAT THE--- WHERE DID YOU--- HOW---!?!?" The Cat sputtered incoherently as he pointed at the sight before him in disbelief

The Mouse didn't reply, he simply turned away from the orange-haired boy dismissively as he bent down to inspect the wires in his hands.

"Look, even if you survive this, HATORI WILL KILL YOU!!" Kyou finally stepped forward and glared at the Mouse as he leaned through the open passenger door window

"Heh. Just admit it," Haru scoffed, as he whispered softly to the cat's ear, "You're writhing in envy, because Yuki is even better as a delinquent than you."

"NA!?!" The Cat shrank back and glared at his younger cousin. He stepped backward and folded his arms over his chest, "FINE! Be an idiot. Go get yourself killed. I don't care. I don't want anything to do with this. Come on, Momiji, let's leave before we catch this idiot's disease."

The sound of a car door slamming shut was the only reply to his command. Kyou turned around and bristled at the sight of the rabbit buckling himself to the back seat of the car.

"HAVE ALL OF YOU GONE INSANE!?!?!?" Kyou yelled incredulously, now frantically pointing a finger at the blonde boy at the back seat, "I WOULD THINK THAT YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE, WOULD HAVE ENOUGH SENSE AND GO GET HATORI OR SOMETHING!!!"

"Yuki is still Yuki," Momiji explained calmly, "As long as Haru and I are sitting as passengers, I know Yuki won't do anything that would put us in any danger."

Kyou stared at the younger boy as if a second head sprouted on his younger cousin's neck, "What kind of an idiotic reasoning is that? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? If Hatori finds out… HATORI. WILL. KILL. YOU."

"Besides, we promised To-ru," Momji continued, ignoring the cat and giving him a sweet smile, "We need to stay with Yuki until he's safely home or To-ru will worry."

The orange-haired boy opened his mouth in rebuttal, but closed it immediately upon realizing that he was unable to think of a counter against that ultimate reasoning. So he simply gave the blonde boy another glare just as Hatori's car roared into life. After a loud groan of defeat, the last door opened and slammed shut, with a reluctant cat scowling on the back seat sitting beside an excited, squealing bunny.

"This is serious, you know. If you get caught, the police don't go lightly on stealing cars. And you don't even have a driver's license yet!" Kyou put a restraining hand on his younger cousin's head to stop his infernal bouncing, as he glowered at the Mouse through the rear-view mirror, "Not to mention that Hatori will kill you."

"Who said anything about getting caught?" The Mouse replied blandly, "You don't need a license to know how to drive a car."

Momiji's eyes widened as he leaned forward from his seat, "Heeeh? Yuki knows how to drive a car? How?"

A small smile touched the older boy's lips, as he shifted the gear to drive, "There was an Initial D marathon last month.

Haru blinked. A bead of sweat appeared on Momiji's forehead. And Kyou automatically reached to open the door, only to find the mechanism unresponsive.

"WHAT THE---" The cat stared at the door in surprise

"I think the child lock is engaged," Momiji explained nervously

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HATORI!?!? HE LEAVES HIS CAR UNLOCKED BUT KEEPS THE CHILD LOCK ON!?!?!" Kyou bristled visibly at the revelation, he took a deep calming breath before leaning forward to grab the driver's headrest, "Look… you know better than this. Let's just forget the whole thing and let's go home…"

"Roll down the window and open the door from outside," Yuki replied blandly

"DAMN IT!!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!!!" Kyou screamed as the Rabbit immediately lunged forward for the Cat's hands to prevent the older boy from clawing the indifferent Mouse.

"It's so simple," Yuki retorted dismissively, "You step on the right pedal to move, the middle pedal to brake, and the left pedal to shift gears…"

"Yuki…" Haru began, finally reverting back to white mode, "…this car has automatic transmission…"

The Mouse turned to the Cow, and blinked, as if waking up from a deep sleep, "There's a difference?"

Haru nodded solemnly.

"Can you still drift with it?" The gray-haired boy asked curiously

"The transmission will probably get shot, but you can, if you go fast enough on a hairpin curve…" The younger boy explained

"Good," The mouse grinned evilly as he gunned the accelerator.

The sound of screaming overpowered the loud screeching of tires…

***@@@***

"When I heard those boys' names and saw that boy's face, somehow… I don't feel at all surprised that they're related to you… most specially to the one with the white hair…" A middle-aged sighed tiredly as he tipped his navy blue cap uniform away from his face, to glare at a very apologetic-looking Shigure, "It seemed like yesterday when I was hauling YOU THREE home from a stunt like this… I even strongly suggested for THAT ONE, NOT to be even allowed 10 feet near a car…"

"Heh… heh… well… boys will be boys…" Shigure laughed lamely, "So about the charges… maybe you can be easy on them. Specially Yuki… he's been going through a lot of stress lately."

"Driving without a license is a serious offense," The traffic enforcer eyed the writer warily, "Besides… the one with the orange hair. I've already had several run-in with him before as well."

"But Officer Tanaka, Kyou and the two others are just innocent bystanders, trying to watch out for their cousin in this case…" Shigure said smoothly, "Yuki, as you checked from his record, is normally a model student. There are just some stressful circumstances happening right now…"

"Such as?" The older man raised an eyebrow

"You know how it was like being a teen-ager and being in high school… Ah… your youngest daughter Natsumi, she will be graduating high school this year, right?" Shigure bowed his head solemnly, "Yuki is actually in a middle of a crisis right now. On top of that… he has this… uhm… terrible… life-threatening… illness…"

"I see…" The police officer continued to look unconvinced

"Come now… you've known our family for so long…"

"Too long…"

Shigure sighed, "I apologize on behalf of my cousins. I'll ensure that they will be properly reprimanded for their actions. Ah, by the way… isn't there that community fundraiser that your division is heading for that children's safety and literacy program. Perhaps you would like my publishing company to donate some books or maybe even help publicize the event?"

"Since it seems that the only damage done was scaring the wits out of the passengers… and some stray cats… and I caught them before they managed to cause any property damage or got in the main roads… and if Souma-sensei doesn't press charges…"

"Hatori won't press charges," The writer replied automatically, "He'll prefer to punish them, himself."

The older man made an involuntary wince at the younger man's words, "Very well then. Since the young offender has no past records, I can let this slide as a warning…"

"Thank you very much, Officer Tanaka," Shigure said gratefully

"BUT," The policeman intoned firmly, "I better not catch that boy on a driver's seat EVER again!"

"Hai," The writer smiled cheerfully as he waved to the departing traffic enforcer.

Only when the police officer was out of sight, the man dared to breathe a sigh of relief. That was totally unexpected. It's only been four days… he didn't expect Yuki to snap that quickly. Though he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of admiration. Very few people dare cross the line with Hatori. The doctor hasn't spoken a single word since the Police arrived to deliver the young delinquents home a little over an hour ago. Knowing Hatori… he won't be in speaking terms with anyone until tomorrow afternoon. But one thing was for sure after Hatori is done with him… the young Mouse will have very little defenses left and will be sure to fold to what he and Ayame have been patiently waiting and planning for. After all, their little flower was sure to be more than willing to cooperate…

An impish grin slowly made its way on the dog's lips.

Yes… things were just starting to get thoroughly interesting.

To be continued…

Author's squawk:

This has got to be the longest chapter so far in this fic! I just wanted to point out some stuff. The German babble Momiji spouted are just little simple terms. I believe "Unglaublich" means something like "Unbelievable!" "Du miene Güte" is something like "Oh my goodness!" or "Oh my God!"

I wanted to poke fun on the reason to why Hatori didn't like the idea of Ayame driving… that, and I think "Initial D" rocks! ^_^.

Again, please feel free to let me know of any grammatical errors you catch. And thank you for continuing to read and review this fic! ^_^.

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

Ja!
Ina-chan