Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Chime Child ❯ Of sisters and rivalries ( Chapter 3 )

Uo curled up warm within the fluffy quilt (given to Tohru from Ritsu) and she was not pleased with have it yanked away from her unceremoniously. "Rise and shine!" warbled Shigure.

"Get out of here, you pervert! or did you come here just to see Tohru in her nightie?"

Shigure sighed loudly. "Do you think everyone in the world thinks Tohru is Playboy's centerfold? As a matter of fact, it's nearly seven in the morning already, and you're going to be late for school if you don't get up now. Everyone else is ready."

"Awwwww, hell." Uo clambered out of bed, pushing tufts of blonde hair from her face. Hurriedly she rinsed her face, and struggled into her uniform, running a wet comb through her hair. Walking out, she saw Tohru, Hana and Yukika waiting. "Sorry," she said.

"Good morning, Uo-kun!" chirped Tohru in reply. "Did you have a nice rest?"

"So nice that you forgot to wake up, Yankee?" muttered Kyou disparagingly. Uo bopped his orange head.

"Be quiet, carrot-top. No one was talking to you."

"Let us go," said Hana quietly. "Or we'll be late."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Yuki looked at Yukika. "Excuse me, Minake-san, but yesterday you said you were sixteen, so why are you in our year group?"

"My parents are old, and I think they want to see me graduate at least. I'm their last hope of a respectable child," replied Yukika.

Everyone looked at her. "Ah… `respectable'?"

"My parents are very old school. They expect me to graduate with honors, marry a doctor and have five lovely kids. My sister is a disgrace because she's twenty-something, works and if she's seeing anyone, she's certainly not telling them. My brother is also something to be ashamed of, because he didn't take over the family business and lives in the city instead of going along with my mother looking for a prospective bride." Yukika said this all very fast, like she had been dying to get it off her chest for a long time. Indeed, she looked lighter suddenly, and more cheerful. "The fact that they've disappointed my parents is the only things I like about my siblings."

"Oh-ka-a-a-ay," muttered Uo. She looked around the group. "Excuse me; is there anyone here who has a good relationship with her parents?"

"I do," said Hana softly.

"I did," murmured Tohru, biting her lip. Uo was instantly remorseful.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tohru-chan. I wasn't thinking when I asked that question."

"Do you ever?" muttered Kyou.

Yuki clapped his hands. "Alright, enough with these cheerful topics," he said.

"Are you ordering us about, nezumi?" snarled Kyou. Yuki looked down his pale nose at the cat, and then disdainfully sniffed. "Whatever rocks your boat, neko."

"Why you--"

The girls moved on, with Yukika and Tohru looking backwards to see how the fight was going. "Do they often do that?" asked Yukika.

"Oh yeah. Loads of times," answered Uo. "Gets quite irritating actually. Still, they make a cute couple, right?"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," said Hana. "But as the Prince said, `Whatever rocks your boat.'"

"Oh Hana," said Uo sarcastically. "I can always depend on you for moral support."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, are you being sarcastic back, or did you really not notice?"

"What do you think?"

Uo was getting flushed and flustered, while Hana was the same pale calm, when Tohru suddenly said, " I wish they would get together. As long as they stopped fighting!"

"Tohru-kun…"

"Tohru…"

"I don't know," said Yukika, with all the assurance of a person who has never really known Kyou and Yuki. "I don't think they'd ever stop fighting. But there's a time when the fighting actually becomes the way they care."

"Funny, you know, I could have sworn Hana said the exact same words…" started Uo, but was cut off by the sight of Yuki, smirking, and Kyou, furious and battered and bruised, rushing towards them. "Anyway, who know Tohru-kun? Maybe this year, they might finally get their act together."

***

Yukika was looking at the girls in her class with frank curiosity. "Hey look," she would exclaim every once so often. "She's wearing one of those Prince badges too!"

After this happened about twenty times, Uo asked, "Did we ever tell you that more than half the girls in school belong to this group?"

Yukika shook her head. "That many?"

At that moment, Yuki walked over to their table. "Minake-san, may I borrow your scissors?"

"Oh, yeah sure." Her hand brushed his as she handed the stationery over.

As Yuki walked off, Yukika was suddenly aware of a dozen baleful stares. Uo was grinning. "Oh, you've done it now, Kika. You've had actual bodily contact with the Prince!" She sobered, and put a hand on Yukika's shoulder. "I think you might be hauled off for Inquisition at break time. Want me, Hana and Tohru to help?"

"I feel like I've walked into a mafia movie," muttered Yukika.

"Live with it, Kika," Uo informed her. "Oh, and can I call you `Kika'? It's only two syllables, instead of Yu-Ki-Ka." The bell rang, and she started to walk off, towards Hana and Tohru. "And if you need any help, give a call, yes?"

Yukika nodded, and started to put her things into her desk. Suddenly a commanding hand was clapped onto her shoulder. She looked up into the face of a pale, blonde girl, her hair in two thin tails on either side of her head. "Minake, you have been summoned."

Yukika was beginning to understand what Uo had been talking about. She was hauled bodily up, not too hard since Yukika was small, and dragged from the room. Yukika caught Uo, Hana and Tohru looking her way, Tohru looked stricken. Uo's mouth was hard, and tucked in at the corner, later Yukika realized she did that when a prophetic remark had gone unheeded. Hana just watched her with calm eyes, not blinking at all. But they didn't come to her aid and she was dragged into the toilet.

"Hana, Uo, quick, let's go!" gasped Tohru. "What if they stick Minake-san's head into the toilet bowl? Or if they wrapped her in toilet paper? Or if they-"

Hana and Uo started to walk towards the canteen. "Uo! Hana!"

"Let her handle it," said Hana quietly.

"Kika will do it, we'll go check up on her later, but it wouldn't do for us to wrap her up in cotton wool, if you don't want her to be wrapped in toilet paper either," called Uo over her shoulder, breezily.

Tohru looked stubborn. "Well, I'm going in!"

"See you then, Tohru-kun."

Tohru was left there, blinking back tears. Her mind was whirling. Why are Uo-kun and Hana-kun being so cold to me? Oh no! I must have offended them! But how? Maybe they don't like the way I treat Yukika-chan? But there's nothing wrong, right? Maybe they think I mollycoddle her too much? Maybe I've influenced them to make sure that Yukika can defend herself, instead of relying on people like me?

"Eh? What's the matter with you?"

Tohru realized she had been standing in the same spot without moving for exactly five minutes. "E-e-e-e-eh?" She gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, nothing! Nothing! I'm alright! Don't worry!"

What am I going to do? Should I go to Kyou-kun? Or Souma-kun? But what if they too are cold like Uo-kun and Hana-kun? What if they too think I'm too weak for my own good? After all, both are such strong fighters…!!

***

While Tohru was out there agonizing, Yukika was being rigorously interrogated. The blonde girl, whom Yukika had been instructed to simply call `senpai' strode back and forth before Yukika, who was seated on the sink. She was sandwiched between two girls, one with fluffy red hair, and the other with shoulder length, curling black hair. There were other girls in the bathroom as well, and Yukika got the feeling she was in a courtroom, with all of them as prosecution, and herself only in defense.

"You, Minake," snapped the blonde girl, "were seen talking to the Prince Yuki! Do you deny that?"

"No…"

There was a sharp intake of breath from all the girls assembled.

"You were seen touching his hand!"

"Yeah…I was just-"

"Spare us your mealy-mouthed excuses!" thundered the fluffy red haired girl, nearly taking out Yukika's ear.

"Don't yell," snapped Yukika. "You nearly deafened me!"

"That remark will be added to your charges," snapped the blonde haired one.

"What charges?" demanded Yukika, though she had a pretty good idea. "The most contact I had with Souma Yuki was to pass him a pair of scissors that he needed!"

"You were conniving to keep him to yourself!"

"Don't be stupid, if you can help it, which I doubt."

The grip on Yukika's arms was suddenly increased, and it hurt her.

Then the tone of the blonde's voice changed. "But we might forgive you," she purred. "After all, you're a newcomer in the school, and you have fallen into the clutches of the witch, the Yankee and the devil woman."

Yukika bit back the smart-ass remarks that were rising inside her.

"If you join the club, devoted to protecting the Noble Prince Souma Yuki," she declared, "all will be forgiven. If you join, and obey all the rules, you will be cleansed of all your previous sins."

"Are you a missionary or something?" asked Yukika, squinting at her. "What are the rules anyway?"

The blonde girl reeled off a list that started with "You must never talk to Prince Yuki without at least two members of the club with you" and ending with "There are eight different ways with which you must refer Prince Yuki to, according to grade and rank in the club." At that propitious moment, Tohru rushed into the toilet.

"Minake-san, are you alright?"

"The witch!" the cry went up and around. "The witch is here!"

"Repent!" screamed the blonde girl. "Repent of your sins!"

"I think I'll keep my sins, thanks," remarked Yukika. And she couldn't resist adding, despite Tohru's pleading eyes, "After all, I get the feeling this club might get in the way of my Grand Master Plan to date Yuki-chan."

"Now why would you want to do a silly thing like that?" asked a familiar voice. Like two heroes in a movie, Hana and Uo stood framed in the doorway. She grinned at Yukika and Tohru. "Did you think we would let you be chopped into little pieces and dropped into the loo bowl, huh?"

"I'm sorry if we worried you, Tohru-kun," said Hana softly. Slowly she raised her dark eyes and glanced around the room, and everyone felt the crackle of electricity.

No one moved. Hana made it clear that the first one who did so would get whacked with enough power currents to fry an elephant. Tohru's face was flushed, as she held out a hand to Yukika on the sink. "Are you alright, Minake-san?" she asked like a mother hen fussing over her brood.

"You can call me `Kika' if you like," whispered Yukika, glancing at Uo, who was brandishing an iron pole, and looking like she was enjoying everything hugely.

Tohru hugged Yukika hard. `Kika' sounds a lot like `Kisa'!

"Let's go, Tohru-kun, Kika-kun," said Hana finally. The four girls left. Through out the school, the rumor spread, the witch, the devil, and the Yankee had been joined by (maybe because of Yukika's wings of black hair) the moth.

***

Yuki stared out of the window in a dream. There was a crisp breeze out, and the wind was ruffling the tall trees. He started as he felt something brush against his back, and turned around. It was Kyou, who must have accidentally touched him while passing, because the orange-haired boy never would have felt him on purpose. Yuki felt a strange warmth work its way up from where Kyou's hand had stroked him. As he stared numbly at Kyou's back, the other boy seemed to sense something, because he turned around.

Their eyes met, and both boys turned abruptly away. Kyou cursed his heart which had seemed to stop beating in that moment, and was now trying to make up for it, apparently.

Both thanked the gods that no one had seen.

But someone had.

***

"Kika, this is Momiji!" Tohru introduced the smiling boy to her. "He's your age!"

Yukika looked at Momiji dubiously. "She is?"

"I'm a `he'!" announced Momiji.

Uo poked Yukika. "Stop staring. Didn't I warn you that all the Soumas are weird?"

"Are they?" asked Hatsuharu vaguely.

Yukika was saved from answering by the teacher. She entered the canteen, looking around. When she caught sight of Yukika, she said, "Oh, Minake, that's where you are! Your sister has informed me that she will `be waiting at your apartment with the key'. Are you holding up ok?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good, good." The teacher walked off again, pausing on the way to separate Yuki and Kyou from each other.

"She's the only one who can separate them, when they're fighting," Hatsuharu said to Yukika in his hazy way. "Anyone else would get totaled. Well, except for Tohru-kun, of course."

"Does Tohru-kun want Kyou-kun and Yuki-kun to stop fighting?" asked Momiji loudly. His big brown eyes sparkled as Tohru nodded. "Then Momiji knows something that will make Tohru-kun very happy! Kyou-kun was feeling up Yuki-kun's butt!"

The whole canteen grew silent.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" howled Kyou, storming towards Momiji, who promptly attached himself to Hatsuharu. "YOU STUPID KID!!"

"Momiji!" Yuki followed Kyou, not looking very happy either.

"Momiji," said Uo fondly, "you have made Uo-kun very happy at least."

Momiji grinned at her, then burst into tears as Kyou bopped his head of yellow curls. Uo rose up. "Oy, Carrot top," she said in dire tones, "how many times must I tell you not to bully little kids?"

Tohru could almost see the orange cat ears rising from Kyou's hair. "And I suppose you'd still be so angry if that brat had said something like `Uo was fondling Minake Yukika' right?"

"Hey!" protested Yukika.

"You keep out of this," both Uo and Kyou told her. Yuki put his head in his hands.

"Well," Hana said to Yukika, "at least you can't say this is dull."

***

"Bye Kika! Bye Tohru!"

Yukika and Tohru waved goodbye to Hana and Uo at the school gates. Uo had a large bandage on her cheek from her scuffle with Kyou. The orange headed boy, on the other hand, had been bandaged up by Yuki like a mummy, more out of spite on the latter's part than necessity.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!"

"Kika, what's your sister like?" asked Tohru, images of a grown-up version of Yukika running through her mind, with a heart-shaped face and large eyes with a small mouth that seldom smiled and rosy cheeks and - technically Yukika, except taller. "Does she look like you?"

"No. Her hair is longer. Her eyes are narrower." Yukika didn't look happy as they approached her apartment. "I don't really like her, Tohru-kun."

"Why not?" asked Tohru, with concern.

"She's so… cynical. Not like you, you're very optimistic; you make me feel more cheerful just beside you." Tohru blushed, and smiled very happily.

"I'm glad, Kika-kun!"

"It's true," said Yukika, "you may not be very popular, but you're nice, and everyone likes you and looks up to you."

"Well… not everyone looks up to me," smiled Tohru, "a lot of people think I'm very silly and weak. I'm really glad to have someone I can look after too!" She hugged Yukika. "Does you sister and brother hug you often?"

"No. We never really have physical contact, except taking my hand when we're crossing the road or something. They're ten years older than me, you know. I was a surprise."

"Oh… is that woman outside your door, her?" It was a rhetorical question, really, because who else would have been waiting outside Yukika's door, with a key blatantly dangling on a finger. Yukika nodded, with an expression of distaste on her face. Tohru was getting strong waves of Ayame/Yuki sibling rivalry. She didn't have to be Hana to see that.

As their footsteps were heard, the lady whirled around. There was something magnetic about the way she turned. Her long black hair swirled out in a full circle, before coming neatly to rest in one straight mass down her back. Tohru heard Yukika mouth, "Show-off."

Tohru gaped at Yukika's sister. She was tall, and slender. Everything about her spoke of sophistication, from the elegant brown boots that peeped from the hem of her long black trench coat, lined with a thin layer of white faux fur, to her oval face with long eyebrows and lengthy narrow almond shaped eyes with elongated lashes. Her black hair was held off her face with a black leather band, and only a soft fringe brushed her forehead. The hands that held the key were manicured a soft shiny shade of pink. She gave off a feeling of calm, inscrutable power that would have cowed the most egregious salesman.

"Hello, Yukika." Her sister smiled, and slotted the key into the lock. "Welcome home." She turned to Tohru. "And who are you?" she asked, her tone quite friendly.

Tohru blinked, and then bowed. "Honda Tohru, ma'am!"

"You can just call her Ryuu," said Yukika wryly. She batted Ryuu's hand off the handle of the key and turned it, stepping inside.

The floor was littered with purple traveling bags. The couch too. Yukika knew that she had arranged all her things inside the room she had taken as her bedroom. She didn't even have purple bags.

"Are you staying the night?" she asked, apprehension filling her heart.

"With all this luggage?" said Ryuu. Yukika didn't like the tenor of her voice. "No. I've got a new job here, and I hope you won't mind if I stay here." She put her head to one side and smiled. "It'll save me money, and give you some company, right, Yukika?"

Yukika whirled around. She was breathing heavily, her eyes flashing. "You better be joking," she hissed.

Ryuu spread her hands out wide. "Do I look like I am?"

Yukika's fists curled. "DAMN YOU!" she screamed, anger flushing her cheeks. Turning, she ran out the door, bumping past Tohru. Her black school bag clattered to the ground, Yukika kicked off her sturdy black shoes and just ran. She was filled with rage, and it was either run or scream, and if she started screaming, she didn't know if she could stop. Yukika was furious. She'd been dying to get away, to be able to be her own person finally, after all those years, sixteen years of living under everyone's thumb. A fresh new start in a town that would know her only as Minake Yukika, not as `Minake Takeshi's youngest daughter' or as `Minake Ryuu and Minake Goyjun's younger sister'. And now Ryuu had to take it all away.

They never let her be. They never let her rest. Ryuu with her city's sophistication, and her parents' with their outdated country virtues.

I'm so sick and tired of it all!

***

Ryuu looked at Tohru. "Oh dear. I made a mess of it, didn't I?"

She didn't look cynically amused, or even sardonic. Her face seemed tired, her voice weary. Tohru nodded gently. Ryuu took Tohru's hand pleadingly. "I don't dare go after Yukika. Please, go after her. Make sure she comes to no harm."

Tohru nodded. "Hai! I-I will."

"Thanks." Ryuu leaned against the door for a moment, as if for support, then straightened. The moment of weakness had passed. She would not let herself cry, or be hurt. Walking inside without a second glance at Tohru, the door was shut with a firm click.

She might have seemed rude to everyone else, but Tohru had been around, and she had seen almost all the manifestations of an unhappy soul. But Minake Ryuu had more elegance than most in concealing it. Tohru wished that she could be like her. The optimistic girl started to search for Yukika.

Half and hour later, she found her, at the edge of the Souma wood. The woods seemed to draw hurt people there. Whenever Kyou was angry, or Shigure sad, or Yuki hurt but not wanting to show it, they would head straight for the wood, sitting in the dim shadows. The trees seemed to remember the anger, the sadness and the hurts. Yukika was sitting, curled up in a fetal position under a large banyan tree.

"Kika? Kika-chan?"

At the sound of Tohru's voice, Yukika looked up. Her eyes were red-rimmed. "What?" she croaked.

Tohru dropped down to her side and hugged Yukika tightly. "Your sister is very stylish, her clothes are very chic. She's very beautiful. Very graceful," she whispered. "She loves you, and cares for you, Kika-chan."

Yukika cried into Tohru's shoulder, and Tohru had the feeling that Yukika had never done that before. "No she doesn't," sobbed Yukika. "She doesn't at all."

Tohru rubbed Yukika's hair, and the younger girl clung to her.

***

They were out of the woods, Yukika back to some semblance of calm. "I'll have to find a new place to live," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm not staying in the same place as Ryuu is."

Tohru thought it was rather silly, but said nothing.

"Do you know any places I could board?"

"No…" Tohru thought hard. Then suddenly she snapped her fingers. "Kika-chan, where are you going to stay tonight?"

Yukika had obviously not thought of that. "I don't know… I guess I'll sleep outside the apartment, or something."

Tohru looked disapproving. "No. You'll come back with me to Souma-kun's house, alright? Then I'll ask Shigure-kun. He might know. And Uo-kun or Hana-kun."

"I don't want to be a burden…" Yukika's protest was only half hearted, especially when it began to rain. Tohru insisted on putting her school bag over Yukika's head.

As they squished up the path to the Souma house, Tohru said again, rather wistfully, "Ryuu-san is very pretty. I wish I could be as stylish as her."

Yukika paused, then hugged Tohru. "Don't. I like you better than her, any day."

And that, thought Tohru, considering she is your sister, is rather sad…

***

"Back again?" smiled Shigure, at hand with two towels which he threw to the girls.

"Sorry to be so much trouble," Yukika started to say.

"No, no. Friend of Tohru-kun is a friend of ours," laughed Shigure. "Go and take a bath, child, you're soaked."

"Hai, thank you." Yukika walked off in the way he had pointed, to the bathroom.

"Now what is it you wanted to talk to me about, Tohru-kun?" asked Shigure knowingly.

"Well," said Tohru, suddenly feeling shy. "Shigure-san, I hope you don't think I'm taking advantage, but could you… do you have any empty rooms?"

"Yes, you know there are a few upstairs."

Tohru gulped, and said, "Could- could you rent out a room to Yukika?"

"For free?" asked Shigure with a raised eyebrow.

"No-no. She was thinking of boarding anyway. So I think - she has the money to pay…"

"Did she ask you to ask me?" asked Shigure.

"No… but… she's- she doesn't really have anywhere else…"

"Say no more, Tohru-kun," replied Shigure with a debonair swing of the arms. "I assure you, I could do with some income anyway. But… then… there's the small matter of her bumping into us in the middle of the night while going to the toilet…?"

Tohru swallowed. "That's a risk," she said slowly. "But I'm quite sure… I hope I'm not being selfish, Shigure-san, but can't we manage?"

Shigure sighed. "Oh… alright then. But you are going to be the one to tell Kyou-kun and Yuki-kun. You know how they get."

Tohru smiled. "Hai, thank you so much, Shigure-san!"

Shigure smiled. "No problemo. But go and dry up, Tohru, before you catch a fever."

As soon as she had exited the room, Shigure leapt for the phone. "Hello? Hey, guess what Ha-san? I've got another high-school student in my house!"

"WHAT?"

"Apparently she's been kicked out of her own house, and Tohru-kun wants her to board here."

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO IT ARE YOU?"

"Oh Ha-san, you know that none of us can resist Tohru-kun…"

"NOW WAIT A MINUTE SHIGURE, I'M THE ONE WHO HAS TO ERASE THE MEMORIES…"

"I think there's something wrong with my phone, it seems to amplify your voice. I'm going deaf." Shigure grinned. "Well, just calling to gloat. Bye, Ha-chan!"

He hung up.

***

"Get into the car, Momiji," growled Hatori. Momiji obediently startled pulling on his parka.

"Why, Hari?"

"We're going to Shigure's house."

"YAY!!"