Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Cat that sings ❯ Setting Out ( Chapter 2 )

Kyo wondered, and not for the first time that day, if he was insane and just hadn't figured it out up until now. It would certainly explain why he was sitting in Uotani's tiny matchbox of an apartment, watching her puzzle through his admittedly unusual request while she sprawled on the couch. Kyo was not sprawling anywhere. He was too anxious, and instead was sitting ramrod straight in the chair opposite her. He was very uncomfortable with asking her for help. But dammit, he hadn't known anywhere else to go! He needed advice, and this certainly wasn't something he'd ask Tohru about. And he DEFINITELY wasn't going to go ask Hanajima! That girl was damn scary. Kyo had never met an UberGoth before her, and he personally never hoped to meet one ever again.

Not that the Yankee in front of him didn't have her own issues, but at least the two of them usually understood each other on some level.

"So lemme get this straight," Uo finally said, spearing him with a look that was a mix between amused and annoyed. The annoyance was most likely from the fact that Kyo had shown up suddenly at her door at seven in the morning, carrying a tiny duffel, and demanded to be let in. "The head of your family wants to force you into an arranged marriage with someone, and you're not willing."

Kyo nodded, letting Uo work her way through the story he had given her. He had stuck pretty much as close to the truth as he could manage, but how does one explain curses and animal transformations without actually SAYING anything about curses and animal transformations?!

"You struck up a deal with this guy, betting that if you could beat Prince Yuki in a fight by the time you graduated, you wouldn't have to marry anyone. But if you couldn't do it, you'd shut up and get married to whoever this guy chose for you."

Kyo nodded again.

"But now you've come to the conclusion, two weeks before graduation, that you're never going to be able to bust the Prince's pretty nose, so you need to disappear."

The redhead nodded a third time. "Call it weak or cowardly, I don't care. I can't beat Yuki, and I'm not about to sacrifice my freedom just because Akito wants to make my life miserable. I'd rather dump my pride than be chained down and locked in some dark hole for the rest of my life."

Uo raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you exaggerating just a little? Marriage isn't the end of the world."

"It is if you've seen what Akito wants to chain me to. And I'm NOT going to let the damn bastard run my life!"

The blonde girl grinned and sat up, running a hand through her hair to keep it out of her face. "Good. I'd be worried if you'd just decided to knuckle under, Kyon-chan."

"Don't call me that!!!"

"I'll call you whatever I please, Carrot Top. You're the one coming to me for help. Now, exactly what do you need from me?"

Kyo sighed, glad to just get to the heart of the matter. "I've got to leave. If I stay, I'll just be forced to do what Akito says. But I've got to find some place where my looks are going to blend in, and it can't be out of the country. I don't have a passport. The Head hates my guts and forbade my ever getting one. Not only that, but I've got to disguise myself in some way that my family will never recognize me once they start searching. I've already worked that out, but I still need a place to go. I figured you'd know some possible destinations."

"Why's that?"

Kyo gave Uo a Look, pointedly glancing at her hair and eyes. "Because if you're not at least half gaijin, Yankee, then I'm Yuki's biggest fangirl in disguise."

"Wow! I never would have guessed! There really IS a fine line between love and hate!" Uo exclaimed in mock-surprise.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny. My sides are just bursting from pent-up laughter." Kyo replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Yankee chuckled. "Tell ya what, Kyon-chan. You get me a cup of coffee from the pot over there, and I'll help you out."

"I said don't call me-you will?"

Uo nodded, her expression slipping to something more serious. "I don't like seeing pals of mine forced into situations that would make them miserable. And you're not the first person I've known who's had to skip town for one reason or another. But I don't think clearly without my morning dose of caffeine, so GET ME THAT COFFEE!!!"

Kyo scrambled to do as ordered. Something about the way Uotani's eyes had taken on a maddened gleam with that command made him very nervous. "Damn, you're scary before coffee," he muttered as he handed her the hot java. "Remind me to keep my own addictions simple."

"Like what?" Uo asked, taking a long sip.

"I dunno, air, water…that sort of thing. Definitely not that disgusting sludge, though. Evil brown brew of death."

"Keep knocking my coffee, and you'll never get any help out of me, tangerine head." Uo growled, giving a mild glare.

Kyo growled back, but shut up. He needed her help to pull this off. "Fine. So where should I go?"

"Hm. I've got a friend who lives up in Hokkaido. There's a lot of gaijin tourist traffic there, and a sizeable district filled with foreign immigrants. It's my hometown. No one's going to notice another redhead showing up there, and Bess could get you settled in easy." The blonde gave a slight chuckle at the face Kyo made at the sound of the female name. "Relax, Kyon-chan, I rather doubt she'd be interested in your scrawny girl-shy ass. Bess is a lesbian, and finds the idea of sleeping with anything male so ridiculous that even the sight of a dick makes her crack up into helpless laughter."

The neko blinked, then blushed. "That was way over the TMI limit, Yankee." But it did reassure him. The last thing he needed was some crazed female trying to glomp him like the ones in school seemed obsessed with doing.

Uotani shrugged. "True, though. So what else are you planning? You said you were going to disguise yourself. How?"

Kyo suddenly went bright red and looked down at his hands, which lay fisted in his lap. "………."

The blonde blinked. "What was that?"

If anything, Kyo went even redder and muttered something, a little louder but still unintelligible.

Uo rolled her eyes. "Kyo, if I have to beat the information out of you, I will." she threatened, taking a sip of her coffee.

"I SAID I'M GOING TO BECOME A GIRL!" Kyo burst out, the blush spreading from his face to the rest of his body in humiliation. He was distracted from that, however, in the sudden need to dodge the spray of coffee as Uo choked and spat it out in utter shock.

"You?!" she gasped, "A GIRL?! Oh dear lord…" She started howling with laughter.

"What?!" Kyo demanded, scowling. "It's the one thing my family would never expect me to do! They'll never think to look for that!"

"I know!" Uotani gasped between giggles, "I agree with you! But GODS, just the thought of you with breasts and a little skirt, sitting pretty in a salon somewhere and reading girly magazines…" She fell off the sofa, she was laughing so hard.

"Who says I'll read girly magazines or wear skirts? You don't, unless you have to." Kyo replied sulkily.

Uo forced her laughter back under control and gave the redhead as serious a look as she could manage. "You'd better. If you wanna become a girl, Kyo, you're going to have to learn everything you can about it. That means reading girls' and womens' magazines, learning how to wear skirts, learning about fashion, and etiquette, knowing what society expects of women today…"

Kyo blinked. "Why? You don't care about any of those things, and nobody accuses you of being a boy. Well, not seriously, anyway."

"Because I already KNOW all that stuff, Kyon-chan. It's stuffed down every girl's throat from the day she's born. I just ignore it all. But for you to break the rules, you're going to have to know the rules backwards and forwards first. That means learning everything you can about women, and fast. Hells, you'll even have to relearn how to walk!"

Kyo blanched, but looked stubborn. Becoming a woman would be the only way to slip out from under his family's gaze, and he knew it. Freedom was worth any stab to his dignity. "So what do I do?"

The blonde girl raised an eyebrow. "Damn, you're really serious, aren't you? Well, start with reading those girly magazines. They make no sense, but there's some useful information in them. Also, watch women closely, and learn that way. How they act, how they move, how they talk."

Kyo nodded. "I'll definitely have time for that, I guess."

"Huh? How so?"

"I'm gonna be walking to Hokkaido."

"WALKING?!"

"Buying a ticket for the train or bus would leave a trail. If I walk, it'll make me that much harder to find. Especially if I stick to the woods until I get out of the local area. It's going to take me weeks to get up there, but I'll have the time to study up."

The Yankee nodded, seeing the sense in that. "Fine. And it'll give you some time to grow out that orange mane of yours, too. Most girls don't wear their hair that short. You might want to consider getting contacts, though. The red hair will be common enough up there, but red eyes aren't common anywhere. And once you reach Hokkaido, Bess can help you polish your act." She suddenly snickered again.

"What are you laughing at now?!" Kyo growled.

"I just realized, you're going to have to learn about makeup! And shoes with HEELS! Not to mention practicing to change your voice to something more feminine! Man, I would so give anything to be able to see all that! Maybe I'll ask Bess to send me pictures…"

"NO!" Kyo burst out, horrified.

The violence of the outburst caused Uo to stop laughing and stare at him. Kyo flushed slightly and bit his lip.

"Look, my family's going to search for me everywhere as it is. And I know they'll ask you, since you're connected to me through Tohru. Having pictures of me in drag wouldn't help me hide. You have to promise not to tell anyone about this. Not even Tohru."

Uo narrowed her eyes. "She's going to be worried sick about you, just vanishing into thin air like this. Not to mention your closer relatives. From the bag you're carrying, I'm assuming you're going to leave town as soon as you're done here."

Kyo sighed. "I've already left a note for Tohru in my room, explaining why I left. She'll worry anyway, but at least she'll know it wasn't anything she did. As for the rest of my family, none of them really gave a shit about me anyway. I doubt anyone will really care, except Akito."

"What about the blonde kid and the cowboy? Momiji and Haru?"

An image of a certain ox flashed through Kyo's mind, but he stuffed it down. The Cat had never dared to confess his feelings to Hatsuharu, and there was no chance he would ever be able to, now. Besides, Haru was in love with Yuki, and probably would only miss having a convenient sparring partner. "They'll probably forget all about me. Really, I'm not all that close to anyone. And that damn Yuki will probably be glad to not have to deal with me anymore."

Uo sighed, but nodded. "Fine, fine. I'm not sure I agree, but I promise to keep my mouth shut." She stood and walked over to her desk, pulling out a scrap of paper and writing something down on it. Then she handed it to Kyo. "This is Bess's address and phone number, for when you get to Hokkaido. I also wrote down her full name, in case you ever need it."

Kyo nodded and glanced at the paper. "Elizabeth Howard?"

"Sharrup. I'm sure that Sohma Kyo sounds just as silly to an American. Just don't call her by her full name if you can help it. She'll hit you if you do."

"Joy. Another violent woman. Between you, Kagura, Hanajima, and her, I don't know how most men dare to date." Kyo muttered.

"Bess doesn't care about men anyway."

Kyo rolled his eyes. "Oh. Right." He stuffed the address into his pocket and stood. "I should get going. It won't be too long before Akito finds out that I've run for it, and I need the head start."

Uo got up as well, walking him to her door. "I'll phone Bess and tell her to expect you in a few weeks." The corner of her lips quirked up in a slight smirk. "Should I describe you with or without a water bra?"

Kyo bristled, but forced himself to keep a lid on his temper. It was a good question, and he gave it a moment's thought before answering. "With," he sighed. "That's one bit of insanity I'd rather do alone."

Uo nodded and opened the door for Kyo, giving him an encouraging slap on the back. "Good luck, Kyon-chan."

Kyo nodded and shouldered his duffel. "Thanks, Yankee." He gave her a small fanged grin. "Take care of Tohru for me, okay?"

The blonde girl grinned. "You need to ask? Just take care of yourself, idiot. If I hear that you've been dragged back and married to some old crone, I'm going to come kick your ass."

"As if you could." Kyo replied, his grin getting wider. As he turned and headed out of the apartment building, he was startled to realize that he was going to miss the damn Yankee.

Kyo stepped outside and began his journey towards freedom.