Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Sickness ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Authors Note: The Prologue (which is this chapter) is rather short, but the following chapter will be longer once they are posted. Please forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes (which would be much appreciated if they were pointed out) for English is not my native language. Also, remember to review once you read this instalment, for it may help me get the next part out faster. Thank you again, and enjoy reading!

Prologue
Winter Sickness

Written by: Nao

The vast estate which was owned by the Sohma family was dusted with a light snow. The snowflakes which had been falling from the sky above for the past hours of the day had finally started to stick to the ground and give the area a early winter effect. The effect that made it seem as if it were the first snow of the year, minus one thing. That one thing was that almost all of the members of the Sohma family were inside their homes with the heat turned up in their house. Even the younger children remained indoors, having played in the last snows that had drifted over the Sohma Estate.

But the season of winter would soon come to an end, seeing as it was now February 19th. Valentines Day had come and went in the blink of an eye, leaving many (especially Yuki Sohma, the prince of Kaiwaia High School) with chocolate that would last them many weeks to come. Now there would be no holidays of the kind until White Day rolled around on March 14th, when the males would in return give females presents. And then would arrive the much awaited first day of spring on March 20th.

But even as most of the members of the Sohma family were indoors, there were some that remained outdoors as well; one of those people being Shigure Sohma, a male whom was cursed under the sign of the Dog. He was practically skipping through the snow to one of his best friends house; Hatori Sohma. Hatori was the doctor of the family, and he too was under the Sohma family curse, he under the sign of the dragon.

`Skip, skip, skip…' Not many interesting thoughts ran through the young mans mind at the moment, for there was nothing worth pondering over as of now. There was nothing which would be a subject of thought, or anyone at the moment, that would keep his mind occupied for more than a few scarce moments. So he was just repeating the same word over and over again so that he would not be entirely bored as he continued to venture through the snow to the doctors house.

The journey didn't take long, and a couple minutes later he arrived at the front door of the Dragons' house. He rapped his knuckles against the door a couple of times and then waited for his arrival to be acknowledged. After a couple moments of no answer he once again knocked on the door and waited. This time though he received a muffled reply from inside the house which much sounded like a, "The doors open." Shigure grinned at this and turned the handle before pushing the door open, then looked around for any sight of his best friend from where he was standing. Upon not seeing Hatori he let out a sigh and removed his shoes, slipping on a pair of slippers by the door which had Shigure written on the bottoms, and ventured into the next room, which was the living room.

His grin widened more as he saw the slightly messy as of now, dark hair of his friend from over the armrest of the couch. He grinned and went over. What he saw next made his grin fall, and a frown cross his face. Hatori was sitting face down on the couch with his arms straight at his sides. It would've been a funny sight for Shigure to catch the dragon in if it had not been for the fact that he hadn't even turned over to greet his guest. He sighed and then decided to lighten up the mood even slightly. "Good Morning Ha'ri!" He announced in a sing-song voice, much more overdramatically then need be. The only reply he received was a mumbled "Shut up, Shigure" which was muffled horribly by the couch.

If Shigure had truly been a dog at the moment, his tail would've stopped wagging and his ears would've drooped. `What's with Ha'ri this morning? He's acting strangely.' Right when that thought finished passing through his head a red-nosed Hatori rolled over on the couch to stare at the ceiling. His eyes looked glazed over and unfocused, and he was paler than usual. Shigure's jaw dropped, and he didn't even bother to conceal it. His always healthy friend looked as though he had become sick. But in his opinion, he didn't know doctors could even get sick. Was it possible?

Hatori groaned and rested the back of his wrist against his forehead. He felt terrible at the moment. `Maybe I'm just overly-tired?' He thought to himself before his back arched slightly as a wave of coughs began. That went a momentary grin flashed over Shigure's face. "I'll call Aya!" He practically squealed before prancing out of the room.

To be continued…