Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Butterfly Effect ❯ Guns and costumes ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 4: costumes and guns

“Okay, you can come in now!” Tohru called from her room. Ayame stepped in and gasped.

“This isn't fair for our princess! Not fair at all!” luckily, Ayame shut the door behind himself; unluckily, Yuki saw enough to last him the next year.

“It's bad, isn't it? I didn't really have a choice—given my mission and all—but I usually have a different costume.” Tohru rambled, allowing Ayame to make small adjustments here and there: re-tying the lace, tugging an arm seam straight…

“Do you have everything on for your mission?” Ayame asked, taking out his small sewing kit.

“Everything but my weapons.” Tohru gestured to the small pile on the bed.

Ayame whistled lowly, “well, I would suggest you put on the ones tat you'll take on this one. How long have you been doing this type of stuff?”

“I've been doing this all my life, but this is only my second time doing this type of mission.” Tohru stroked one of her needles, repositioning it in the holder.

“Then you must have seen some of my other outfits! Don't they look fabulous!” Ayame changed the subject, snipping a loose thread.

“Oh, yes! They all look wonderful, and the girls love them also! You really caught what they wanted in each one! Wylde really likes hers, especially that she can keep her modesty with it.”

“Where have I heard that name before? Can you describe her costume?”

“A hippie. At least, that's what everyone else calls it.”

“Ah, yes. Such a sweet girl, you should get to know her, it doesn't look like many of the others like her too much.” Ayame took out a roll of lace trim and compared it in several places.

“Yes, most of the girls don't think she belongs there. She's really smart when it comes to conversation though. She would have been better as a hostage negotiator, that's for sure.”

“If you needed money, you could have asked…”

“N-no! I couldn't do that! When I moved in her I said no money, and I meant it! I just couldn't take your family's money!” Tohru panicked and started shaking her head frantically.

Ayame laughed and put his hand on Tohru's head, “don't worry, you're practically family and we wouldn't leave one of our own on the streets, would we?”

Tohru stopped, shocked at what she heard. Family? She was an orphan, how could she be family? She worked for them, cooked for them in exchange for room, and they would call her family?

“Hey now, a pretty face like yours shouldn't cry,” Ayame wiped the liquid off with his thumb, “and besides, you wouldn't want to ruin my magnificent creation, would you?” Tohru gave a small smile and nodded, now she would work extra hard not to disappoint the Sohma!

Lunchtime. It wasn't as if something could happen at any moment, but Tohru was the exact definition of jumpy. “Are you okay Tohru-kun?” Momiji asked, watching Tohru close her hers and listen for the fifth time that minute.

“It's nothing.” Tohru gave an embarrassed grin, “I just thought I heard someone in the bushes.” The boys exchanged looks and Kyo shrugged.

“Your imagination is getting to you.” Tohru nodded and set aside a bread roll.

The wind shook some leaves off the trees and one landed on Tohru's head, much to Uo's chagrin. Tohru shook off the leaf with a smile and Hana nodded, setting aside her roll also. “Bang,” Tohru turned her head up to the tree, “you're dead Wylde. I bet you haven't' had anything to eat either. Why don't' you come down and join us?” the girl identified as Wylde looked down in shock, her climb was perfectly silent! She nodded slowly and dropped down into the middle of the bunny-shaped blanket that the group was sitting on.

“I shouldn't be here too long, but I'll eat if you want me to.” Wylde looked around nervously before kneeling halfway behind Tohru and Uo. Tohru nodded and handed over her roll. Wylde took it gratefully and tore off large chunks at a time. The others were worried that she would choke sometime.

Tohru placed her hand over the bread gently, “we're not like there, we won't take your food.”

“Th-thank you… Blue,” Wylde gave a small smile and slowed down her chewing.

“Blue?” Yuki asked, arriving late from presidential duties.

“Long story. It's a code name, really. Don't worry about it.” Tohru brushed it off with a small blush. “Speaking of… they don't let you out without a reason, so…”

“The date's been moved up.” Wylde flinched slightly, as if she was going to be hit, “so you have to go to the range this afternoon.” Tohru signed and nodded. Hana handed over her roll and Wylde grabbed it quickly.

“That's okay. I'm not surprised really.” Tohru smiled and waited until Wylde finished before standing up and offering her hand. “I would suggest that you get back before you get into too much trouble, okay?” Wylde took her hand, shocked at the rare kindness, and stood. Tohru pulled her into a brief embrace, “don't be afraid to get out sometime, okay?” she whispered into her ear.

Uo and Hana stood up also and gave Wylde small hugs also. “Up `n' over?” Uo suggested, grasping her hands together. Tohru nodded while Hana watched out for teachers. Tohru and Uo formed a four-handed brace that Wylde stepped on. On the third count, the girls pulled up and Wylde flipped over the fence nearly-flawlessly, only landing slightly off-balance and falling into the bush that graced the far side of the chain-link.

After recovering from her none-too-graceful landing, Wylde gave one wave and disappeared into the bushes.

“So… what's `the range'?” Kyo asked, having somewhat of a clue from the previous day's car ride.

Tohru held her hand up like she held her hand weapons, closed into a fist. “You saw the training center already,” she straightened her indeed finger and pointed at Kyo, “bang. That's what the range is for: target practice.” Momiji's eyes widened as he leaned away slightly. Haru shrugged and Yuki looked away to hide his shock.

“Have you renewed your license?” Hana asked, digging into her potato chips.

“Not yet, but I'm still proficient.”

“What's `proficient'? Hitting the side of a barn?” Kyo grinned.

Tohru closed her eyed and sighed. “Don't judge until you see,” she opened her eyes with a silent challenge. “It may be something you might like to see.”

“Now why are we here again?” Kyo crossed his arms and followed Tohru down a covered walkway. Out of morbid curiosity, the entire high-school Sohma were following Tohru though the firing range; which consisted of a covered walkway behind the station with targets that were strung on wires at various distances across the field.

“The closer ones are for close range, further for far range. The papers for guns and the hay bales behind it are for the arrows. Wanna try?” Tohru gestured to a high-tech bow with arrows or a handgun that was strapped to her thigh. “I can show you both.”

“I'll try your gun.” Haru shrugged with his hand out. Tohru nodded and pinned up a regular target.

“Have…”

“Yeah, yeah. Point and pull the trigger, I got it.” Haru didn't leave any room for argument as he snapped the ear mufflers into place and took a very movie-like stance with the gun, holding it straight out from the side of his body with his arm locked and only one hand holding the gun.

Tohru cringed, but didn't correct Haru. She shook her head as nearly all but the first shot went wild. Tapping Haru on the shoulder, Tohru held her hand up for Haru to give up the gun. Slumping slightly, he handed off the weapon handle-first. “Not bad, but how's your arm doing? Sore right?” Haru nodded and Tohru brought in the target, seeing one nick in the outer ring. Nodding to herself, Tohru decided not to waste another target and put the same one back up after marking that the hole was Haru's. “The kickback is what happened, and you locked your arm. Brace your hand with your other hand and don't lock your elbow next time—like this.” Tohru shot off a few rounds, hitting the target each time. “Do you want to try again Haru, or are you going to let someone else have a go.” Tohru smiled at Momiji, who had his hand raised and shaking around, trying to get her attention.

“Me! I wanna go next! Pick me, pick me!” Haru shrugged and stepped back, rubbing his sore arm. Tohru nodded and brought in the target again, marking her holes before pinning it back up. Momiji stepped up and mimicked Tohru's stance with the gun. Frowning slightly, Tohru realized that the shorter rabbit had suddenly grown taller and reached around to adjust his hold so he wouldn't get a gun burn from firing. Hatori would have a field day if she let that happen. Tohru nodded and stepped back, allowing the rabbit to shoot off his rounds. All but one of his bullets hit the target.

“Have you fired a gun before?” Tohru asked seriously, pressing the button to bring in the target. Momiji shook his head and put the gun down on the table before stepping back.

“No, that was my first time Tohru.” Momiji said, hanging his head slightly.

“Okay.” Tohru raised Momiji's chin, “it's just that not every first-timer gets that many shots hitting the target on their first try, that's all.” Tohru gave a smile, resisting the urge to hug the blonde boy. Turning back to the target, she held it up to the light. It was starting to look like Swiss cheese, thus time to replace the target. “Sohma-kun? Kyo-kun? You guys trying or are you just going to watch?”

“No thank you Honda-san, I am just surprised that you would know about guns, that's all.” Yuki complemented, a fair pit paler than he usually was. Kyo shrugged, but didn't say anything to the point of offering to try.

Seeing that the boys were done and fairly bored with her handgun, Tohru shrugged and packed the weapon away. Looking at the clock she sighed. She had signed up (or more like her boss did) for an hour on the range and had a grand total of… 37 minutes left. “You can go if you want; I'm just going to practice with this thing,” she gestured to a bow on her back, “for the rest of the hour.” Expecting them to leave, Tohru unstrapped the bow and placed a target arrow in the notch. Thinking about it, Tohru admitted that it wasn't the most practical weapon in a modern fight, but it gave her something to do that was a challenge. She stretched the string as far as she could, her arm shaking with the tension, and released. The arrow flew, yes, but bounced off the target hay bale to land flat on the ground. She refused to look around, knowing, just knowing that they were trying not to laugh at her, even though they didn't make a sound.

“Go ahead and laugh, I know I can't shoot.” Tohru commented mulishly over her shoulder, grabbing another bolt to try with. This new one didn't fare much better.

“Try aiming higher so it'll hit at a different angle.” Yuki offered up softly from the wall where he and the other boys were leaning againsst. Blushing, she drew back her third bold at a higher angle and it flew in a relatively smooth arc, sticking for a brief time before falling to the ground. An improvement, not much of one, but one nonetheless. In a resigned way, Tohru pulled another bolt, this time sticking in the ale.

“Oh, hey!” a voice called from the opposite end of the hall, half drowned out by the gunshots going off. Tohru turned, recognizing the voice. A man in a Hawaiian shirt smiled and waved, jogging up to the teen girl. “Didn't think they were telling' the truth when they said you'd be here, Blue.” The 25ish man leaned against the wall separating the shootings stalls and crossed his arms. “Have some ballistic gel `n' bone whipped up and was wondering if you'd be game?” Tohru nodded and unstrung her bow.

“What're you investigating this time?” Tohru asked, smiling at the boys so that they would follow.

“Nothin' much, just some new toys.” Tohru nodded and opened the door for all of the boys to pass before letting it swing shut. The man led them to an indoor room, filled with various artifacts of a more dangerous degree.

“What type of new toys?” Tohru asked with an inflection in her voice that the boys didn't necessarily know that she could have. A dangerous glee was hidden under the carefully modest words.

“Guns mostly, and a new way to use those ever-lethal pencils!” the man joked, plucking a relatively large automatic pistol off the wall and handing it to Tohru.

“You never did like paperwork, did you?” Tohru joked back, “no wonder you're so far behind on it!” the man blushed and turned away, gesturing to a block of what looked like amber colored jell-o in the shape of a body with a skeleton infused in the proper places.

“That's X-sama. In this case, he was shot in the inner thigh,” the man paused to wince, feeling sympathy for `X-sama,' “and the higher-ups are wondering if he shot himself, there's a better way to become a eunuch, or if someone else shot him and missed their target.”

Tohru coughed, covering up her blush, and walked up to the jell-o man. “Hello X-sama, I'm going to be your firing squad today. Don't worry, I don't usually miss unless it's on purpose.” With that, she gave a small bow and stepped back to a tape line in the floor, aimed and fired. “Home run,” Tohru said quietly, taking the rest of the bullets out of the gun and going up to inspect her hole. She grabbed one of the colored dowels and stuck it in the hole, indicating the angle and depth the bullet went.

“Not exactly. X-sama was supposed to have an angle like this:” he stuck a differently colored dowel into the leg at a completely different angle. Tohru nodded and looked at the difference in the angles. “So he shot himself then.”

“No, he didn't.” Tohru said, positioning herself with the same angle the jell-o man was. Taking a third dowel, she angled her own thigh to point the dowel where the bullet supposedly entered. “The body's in the wrong position, let me show you.” She positioned the jell-o's legs so the bullet would hit in the right place. “X-sama was running when he was shot. And most likely, depending on what surface he was running on, had some sort of skid mark when he landed and bled out, dying.”

“But I didn't—“

“I know. But I watch the news and X-sama was in a street fight, supposedly, two days ago. Or…” the man winced, “something like this could have happened.” Tohru took the taller man's shirt in her fist and looped her leg around one of his, throwing him off balance. She stuck the dowel in his thigh where the bullet went in. “if I was taller than you, more powerful, and holding a gun to one of your major blood veins in this position, you'd listen, right?” he nodded and Tohru let go, letting the man fall to his butt. “You're smart Hiraku, but I know the streets… and more than enough fighters.” Tohru held her hand out and helped Hiraku to his feet. “And just a warning: since your promotion, the girls have been eyeing you. If you want one, I would suggest not wearing that shirt anytime soon at work again.”

The boy blushed and turned away, hanging up the pistol again. “Thanks.”

Tohru nodded and went back to the doors and the other boys. “Anytime. It was nice to see you too.” She didn't see, but Hiraku's blush became brighter as she left the doors swinging.

“What did you think of the gun range Kyo?” Tohru asked, sitting down beside him on the roof, looking out at the stars and surrounding forest. Once they had gotten back home, Tohru was once again the `innocent little orphan girl.' Kyo found the change in demeanors from one place to another disturbing slightly.

“You know how to use a gun.” Kyo admitted, turning away slightly. The smile on Tohru's face fell and she clasped her hands under her knees.

“I stand by the fact that I don't really like violence, but sometimes it's necessary, isn't it?” Tohru asked quietly, remembering all the fights that Kyo and Yuki had on an almost daily basis, but not as frequently or damaging as they were originally.

“Have you ever shot anyone?” the silence in his conviction was deafening.

“I would like to say that I haven't, but apparently I don't lie very well.” Tohru gave a half-hearted smile at the attempt at a joke. “But it didn't kill them though… sometimes I wonder if it would have been better if it had. They have life in jail, but they'll get out early if they're good enough. I was twelve at the time.” Kyo had rolled back onto his back and looked over at Tohru.

“Who's the real you? Tohru or Blue?”

“We're both real, I act sometimes like the tough chick they think I am at the station, and I act sometimes like I don't know anything here. I hate doing that, but sometimes it's easier to pretend to be oblivious, don't you think so?” Kyo shrugged and looked up at the stars, seeming to dismiss Tohru's presence.

“…it's not good to B.S. about being true to yourself when you don't follow your own advice.” Kyo admonished, not bothering to look away from the stars.

Tohru nodded in agreement, “okay, I'll try to follow my own advice… but it won't be easy after this long.” She got up to leave and was at the top of the ladder before Kyo spoke again:

“You knew there was a house out here, didn't you?” Tohru nodded.

“But I didn't know that Sohma-kun lived out here, or that I get caught up in your family by pitching a tent in your forest.” She laughed lightly, “If you would have told me what the consequence of pitching my tent there was, I would have called the police on you for being a stalker!”

Well, it's Thanksgiving in America and I have the week off. I might as well spend it updating (I have nothing else to do!). Ryoko: tell your sister to stay strong. Dark