Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ What's Left Unseen ❯ 6th Testimonial ( Chapter 6 )

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. Earlier chapters are available via Fanfiction.net and Mediaminer.org

August 23, 2004

What's Left Unseen: Sixth Testimonial

By Ina-chan

I don't really remember what I was thinking when I first heard the news. I was in the middle of work when I received the phone call from Hanajima. It didn't really register right away. When it did, I was... shocked. I couldn't believe that something like that can happen. They were so in love. She went through so much, I wanted this to work so badly that it hurt, you know?

/Magazine cover article #1: AT THE STRIKE OF TWELVE, When a Fairytale Romance Ends/

I would be lying if I told you that I had no reservations about their relationship when it started.

It's true that it was a romance right out of a fairytale. Tooru seems to have the penchant to attract misery. She didn't have an easy life when she was growing up. She still doesn't have it easy with all the problems she's having with her family right now. As for the Prince... well, I've known him since high school. I met their family, and had my own run-ins with... other members... of their family. I suppose, in a certain way, you can say that Tooru, me, and Hanajima, the Prince and Kyon... we were pretty close, as close as school buddies can be anyway.

But there was something about the Soumas that I couldn't understand. There was something about them that I couldn't touch. It's like they kept this deep dark secret that I couldn't figure out. Tooru was probably the only person that they let through their walls. As much as I liked them, I never really trusted them a hundred percent. So when Tooru told me that she was marrying the Prince... there was definitely a tiny feeling of hesitation inside me.

Then I saw how happy she was. I saw how happy he made her, and how much he really loves her. So in the end, I gave in, despite my doubts. He made her happy. Tooru's happiness was really the only thing that counted, right?

The Prince was the perfect guy in class. More than half the entire female population in school were in love with him. He even had a rabid fan club. He was... well... Prince Charming. I suppose he was in some ways. I know first hand that Tooru's family can be a big pain in the ass. But he tried very hard to be part of that insanity. So when I left, I felt comfortable enough to leave knowing that Tooru would be safe in his hands. So when Hanajima called me, it hurt.

It felt as if he betrayed me as well.

So I took the first flight home. Tarepan-chan, my agent, nearly blew a gasket when he learned that I walked out in a middle of a job. But this was an emergency. Tooru needed me, since she obviously can't depend on certain people whom she invested a great deal of her trust with. So nothing was going to stop me from going home to be with my best friend...

...and to break her fiancée's legs.

Well... yeah. I ended up not doing it. Breaking the Prince's legs, I mean. Tooru wouldn't let me do it. She has a beautiful heart. That's what I love the most about her. Even though he did that to her. Even though he hurt her so badly--- she still loves him. What else can I do? Though, I would probably still give him a good sock or two on places that won't leave any evidence. A woman needs to appease her anger, you know.

Then again, who am I to talk? I wasn't here to be by Tooru's side to keep it from happening.

/Magazine cover article #2: GEEKS, FREAKS, AND PRINCESSES; Personal Tales from a Class Reunion/

My work is a blessing and a curse.

People who knew me from before still can't believe what I'm doing now. I'm still having a hard time believing it myself. I mean, who would have thought that good-for-nothing-old-man-Uotani's brat who used to beat people up for fun was now running up and down a stage to hawk Prada and Versace for a living?

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

I live in New York now. But my work makes me travel all over the world-- Milan, Paris, Hong Kong. I love my work. I met a lot of people of all types. I went to a lot of places that I never imagined myself visiting even in my dreams. I even met my mother.

We met in New York, of all places. She's married now. You know, with THAT guy. It was pretty awkward at first. I was still pissed at her... for leaving all that crap. Yeah, but we've gone for coffee and lunch when our schedules allows us. It was nice, I guess. Sometimes I can't help but imagine what my life would have been like if my mother didn't leave.

The hell, I really shouldn't think that way. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for what happened in the past. I wouldn't trade anything in the world if it meant that I would miss the opportunity to meet Hanajima and Tooru. This all happened because of her. Hanajima and I ended up where we are thanks to her.

Hanajima opened up a restaurant, by the way. At first it was just her, her family, Tooru and I helping out to put it together for a while. It was up and down, but eventually it took off on its own. Especially after that TV show restaurant review thing that Mr. Novelist helped arrange. Though personally, I think people initially came in to catch a glimpse of the beautiful and mysterious owner, rather than the food. Of course, once they were there, most of them became regulars. The rest is history.

Speaking of which, I wasn't the only one who went through a transformation. You probably won't recognize Hanajima when you see her now. She stopped wearing black - at least, not all the time. I think it started when Kyon made a side comment about his Shishio liking women who wear red.

God, yes! Hanajima is still chasing that man. It's been years. She's turned down so many offers just for that man. Jeeez! Here I thought that Kyon was probably the densest person on the face of the earth. Either he's gay, or that man really came from another planet... it's just hard to believe that he has this beautiful woman in front of him, and he doesn't even flinch. She even told him point blank several times, and for some strange reason, he always misunderstands it. While he never made it clear that he's interested, he didn't show any hints that he's not interested either. I keep telling Hanajima to just get it over with. Bludgeon him on head unconscious and drag him home, otherwise just forget about it and move on.

Forget about it and move on...

Yeah. Part of the reason why I let Tooru to convince me with going through with the modeling was to forget and move on... I wasn't blessed with Hanajima's patience for those kinds of things. Or maybe I just wasn't strong enough to find out his answer.

It's funny, huh? Hearing something like that from a tough girl like me?

It all started with just a joke, you know. This modeling thing, I mean. I only said that in the career interview because it was the first thing that popped in my head at the time. I didn't realize that Tooru would actually take it seriously. She was worried about me. So she was focused on helping me get over it and keep my mind busy. So she got Mr. Novelist to help us out. His manager set me up with an agent, and I went to modeling school and crap.

It was so freaking hard. I didn't have that natural grace and patience that they demanded from me. I didn't fit in "what the Japanese market wants" category. Too tall, too rough, too blonde, too strong... it was all crap. I was categorized in so many extremes and was never "just right", it was just so freaking frustrating. With all that and school, and working... I almost gave up. I was like, the hell with it all! I'm not going to put myself through any more of this.

But Tooru didn't give up on me. It's funny. I was the one who vowed to Kyoko-san that I was going to take care of her until I died, but all this time, she was really the one taking care of me.

Eventually, I finally got hired in this stupid TV show thing with the most obnoxious host in the entire freaking universe. The jerk tried to cop a feel on my rear during commercial break so I almost ended up killing him. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment when the show went back on the air from break.

Needless to say, my first job was my last. That incident insured that I would never get a modeling job in Japan ever again. And ironically, that's how I met Tarepan-chan.

/Magazine cover article #3: RISING BEAUTY; Birth of a New Runway Superstar/

That's not his real name. It's uhm... Phillip Gu...something or whatever. His last name's French or Italian. I can never pronounce it. But he's actually an American gaijin. I think one of his grandparents was Japanese and he was visiting relatives when he saw the TV show. He's actually quite young for an agent. Only three years older than me. He's also a little strange. He tries to act cool all the time but only ends up looking like a complete geek. But even though he acts like that, he's a genius when it comes to his work.

Another strange thing about him was that always wears these pair of dark sunglasses wherever he goes. Even when he goes to the toilet! It's just freaking hilarious! Since I couldn't pronounce his name, I simply started calling him Tarepan-chan. It kind of stuck. He's a nice guy, and we get along very well.

Though it didn't start out that way... To tell you the truth, he freaked me out when we first met. He suddenly barged in at work and got completely excited when he saw me. Then he started yelling incoherently in broken Japanese about it being an absolute must for me to go back to America with him. If a total nut job suddenly came to you like that, how would you react?

Exactly.

So I was very surprised to see him again after he came out of the hospital. Though this time, he brought one of his more coherent cousins with him to talk for him. Well, there's not much you can do to make yourself understood with limited Japanese... and with your jaw... wired shut.

That's when we found out that he's actually an agent this big modeling agency in New York. He wanted to sign me up. I actually felt bad for doing that to his jaw. In a way, I felt obligated to go to make it up to him. But of course, if I accepted, that meant leaving Japan... and leaving Hanajima... and my old man... everyone...

...and Tooru.

That was hardest decision that I've had to make in my entire life. I almost didn't go. If Tooru hadn't insisted... if the Prince hadn't proposed to her... if I hadn't seen them so happy together... I probably wouldn't have left.

/Magazine cover article #4:SHE WANTS YOUR MAN:How to Tell if Your Best Friend is a Best Fiend /

I only met Kagura Souma a few times. I didn't really know much about her other than she was one of Kyon and the Prince's relations... and that she used to chase Kyon back in high school. That incident that happened on Valentines during our 1st year was all over school for a couple of days. Everyone was talking about Kyon's psycho girlfriend. But it didn't last long because Kyon kept beating up the boys who teased him about it.

After I left, I started hearing a lot more about her from Tooru. She was worried about her. She didn't say much because it was some private family matter... but from what I gathered, that woman must have gotten herself in a lot of trouble. Tooru had to sacrifice a lot because my best friend's fiancée had to tend to his ailing cousin.

My ass. I should have sensed something was going to go wrong right then and there.

Tooru wasn't doing too well with her problems either. She wouldn't tell me directly, so I had to force it out from Hanajima. Her grandfather was getting worse. His needs were taking most of Tooru's time and attention. She even had to take time off work for a while, to take care of him. Knowing Tooru, she probably wouldn't have told the Prince about it.

Not that he would notice anyway since he was busy playing with his kissing cousin.

Shit, I know... I'm being totally unfair to him. I know that it's not entirely his fault. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that things happen. Like those TV dramas that have patients falling in love with their nurses or doctors. Sure. But hell, he had a fiancée. If he's tired of Tooru already and wanted to fool around with a new woman, the least thing he could have done was make a clean break. And dammit... of all the people in the world that he had to do this with, he had to do it with his cousin. HIS COUSIN!

Fuck.

.........

I'm sorry. I'm okay now. I'm just so angry. I'm so fucking frustrated about this whole fucking thing. Tooru should have at least let Hanajima do something. But no... Tooru wouldn't even hear it. Everyone suffered enough as it is.

Goddammit Tooru!

Tooru... the Prince... they both... all of those Soumas... they just fucking piss me off! Why does she have to continue acting so kind and compassionate to them after they hurt her like that? Why can't she just stop it and be mad?

YOU HAVE EVERY FUCKING RIGHT TO BE MAD!!!! YOU DESERVE TO GET MAD AT THEM!!!

You know, that bitch even had the gall to come and try to talk to her. I barely contained myself when I saw her face to face. Good thing for her, Kyon just happened to have arrived earlier because he saved her life. If he wasn't there, I would have torn that fucking bitch limb for limb!

GOD HELP ME, I WOULD HAVE!!!

/Magazine cover article #5: THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY: Rekindling an Old Flame/

Okay. Okay... fine. I'm calm. I'm very calm. I am forgetting about her. Okay? Let's forget about her. Why don't we talk about something else? What do you want to talk about? Kyon? Sure, let's talk about Kyon.

Kyon... Kyon... He's actually quite dependable, despite being an idiot. At this point, he's actually the only Souma whom I could tolerate within my sight. I knew that he was in love with Tooru back in high school. You had to be literally blind not to see it. Tooru was actually much closer to him than the Prince back then. For a while, I thought Tooru was going to go for him.

But for some reason or other, it never happened. He never went forward to pursue her. As for Tooru... well, Tooru was Tooru. So nothing happened. And then he did something surprising after graduation. He left home to go to University. I think he's taking some kind of sociology program or something in Okinawa.

After hearing what happened, I imagined that Kyon was also mad as hell. I also knew that he wouldmake a beeline to comfort Tooru. He tried to visit her everyday, but Hanajima and I refused to let him through. Tooru was already confused and vulnerable as she is. If Kyon saw her before she was ready, it'd just make things worse.

Hell, there's more to it than that. Tooru told us that she didn't want to see any of them. She didn't want to see anyone or anything that would remind her of him-- at least for now. Somehow, it felt cruel to tell Kyon the real reason why we kept Tooru away from him.

I asked Kyon if he had the chance to see the Prince. He said that he didn't, at least not yet. He didn't know how he would act if he saw him. He said that he might end up committing murder if he saw his cousin at that point. Heh. It seems that Kyon wasn't such an impulsive idiot, after all... at least not anymore.

Lucky for her that Kyon was there when that bitch appeared at the doorstep...

FUCK!

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!!!! WHY? WHY THE FUCK DID THEY HAVE TO RUIN IT FOR HER? WHY DO THESE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO HER?

She was going to be happy.

The princess in the fairytale is supposed to be happy in the end.

She deserved it, Goddamit!!!

DAMMIT!

I prayed...

And I cried...

And I hoped...

...that out of the three of us...

...hers will work out...

Somehow, hers will work...

...and she'll be happy.

End of Sixth Testimonial

To be continued

AUTHOR'S SQUAWK:

First of all, my thanks to the members of the FRUITY ROBINS for beta-reading this fic, most specially to Adria who is a wonderful editor, and to RJunkie who always gives me great feedback on how the story is going and if the characters are remaining true to how I intended them.

Okay… on with the notes crap…

Re: "Tarepan-chan"... heh-heh. That is loosely based on a famous panda character called "Tare Panda". If stuff like collecting Sanrio junk and you don't know who that is… shame on you! Look it up in the internet, you lazy @$$3$! (Damn... Uo-chan's potty mouth is taking over me...)

As you may have noticed, I started writing this fic roughly before the revelation of Akito's deal with Kyou, so I decided to omit that particular part of the storyline for my convenience. In this AU, Kyou doesn't get imprisoned after high school. Instead he makes Kazuma's prophecy in the career interview chapter come true (he goes to college and becomes a student of sociology… ^_^.) But I am keeping other elements prior to chapter 97. Such as Uo-chan's reference to wanting to become a model and Kureno not appearing to her anymore… I'm also borrowing the element from the Cinderella play with the shop thingy. ^_^. As well as Hana-chan continuing unsuccessful bid to win completely clueless Kazuma's heart. Though, over the years… it seems that Kyou has become tolerant (and maybe even accepting) of the idea that Hana-chan can become his stepmother!!! WAAAA!!!!

Anywayz… thank you to everyone who has been patient with this fic. For you guys who haven't read the earlier chapters, this fic is available in both FF.NET and Mediaminer.org. Anywayz....Comments and criticisms @ ina_chan@yahoo.com

Ja!

Ina-chan