Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Winter Sickness ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Authors Note: Thank you all so much for such nice reviews! I'm glad that you all seem to be enjoying it, as much as I'm enjoying writing it. And yes, as most of you said, poor, poor Ha'ri, having to suffer being cared for by the two other people of the Mabudachi Trio.

Also, I had not previously planned on this fic containing other people then the Mabudachi Trio and Tohru, but I decided that it might be more interesting with more people other then them as well. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter Two

Winter Sickness
Written by: Nao

After Shigure and Ayame had finally left his home, he let out an over exasperated sigh and laid back down on the couch. His eyes remained closed, as he just relaxed in the silence of the house. Every so often he would turn onto his stomach, side, or back to lying on his back. The silence seemed slightly unnerving, but he wasn't sure why.

From his position of lying on his back he opened his eyes and searched (without moving) around what he could see of the room with his eyes. Nothing was what he finally concluded. There was absolutely nothing or no one in the house, no signs of movement, no noises other then his very own breath, nothing. He shook his head at this, he couldn't let a natural paranoia like this get him in a state where he was constantly looking around, like he was right now.

Upon realizing that he was indeed still looking around he tightly closed his eyes and sighed. He was acting strangely, most likely because of his sickness, but what if something had been in the medicine Shigure had given him. What if the clumsy dog had accidentally added something by leaving the cap off and spilling something that got into it, or what if it wasn't medicine at all, and Shigure had just mixed in who knows what into a medicine bottle and decided to give it to him as a trick.

Hatori's eyes once again opened and he sat up, but what he saw next startled him beyond all belief. There, standing in the doorway to the living room, was Momijis' mother, with her little child Momo standing at her side. Hatori could've sworn that he heard the door lock when the snake and dog had left earlier, and it was still closed, and he had even been listening to see if he heard anything the entire time he was standing there. He just stared, mouth slightly agape.

"Hatori-san, I have come here to speak with you." She said to him, taking a few steps towards the still shocked dragon. Hatori shook all the suspicions out of his head and then nodded to her. From there, she continued on with her explanation as to why she came here to ask him something. "My son, Momiji, is desperately ill at the moment. High fevers, developing a rash, coughing, and everything else. You are not a highly respected doctor, such as our lovely cousin Ritsu is, so we are requesting you allow us to switch doctors so that our son will live." She said, smiling the whole time as she said that to him.

Hatori blinked in confusion. Her son, Momiji? But, he had been erased from her memories completely. And now he too has come down with a sickness? And she wanted to switch doctors? "Mrs. Sohma, I can assure you that I am completely suited as the fa-" --for RITSU?! What the hell was going on? Ritsu wasn't attending medical school, nor never did, and was most definitely not suited to becoming a doctor.

"Please? Please allow us to do this, Grandpa Hatori?" He blinked. Something at the end of her sentence hadn't quite sounded right; it was almost like her voice changed. And why did she call him `Grandpa Hatori'. There was only one person who did that, and he was positive they weren't there right now.

"Please Grandpa Hatori?" She asked him again. His head was spinning now. What was going on? He watched as Momo took a step towards him.

"Yo, wake up!" She opened her mouth and was the one to speak, though it was not her voice. First off it was a males' voice, and it sounded like her voice was years older then it should've been.

He suddenly felt someone shaking him slightly, and he heard voices again, but this time, he noticed that his eyes were closed, and he could feel that he was lying down on the couch again. Had he fainted or something? "Yo! I said wake up!" He felt something like a hand slap him across the face and his eyes fluttered open. He looked around from his lying position for a moment, but it didn't seem that the two in the room had noticed his awakening as of yet.

"Hiro, stop it. You're going to hurt him. Besides, look, he is awake." The little girl with dark orange hair pointed over to Hatori whom was still lying on the couch. He looked over and blinked in confusion. It was simply a dream, but he hadn't even remembered falling asleep in the first place. He sighed and sat up.

"About time." The sheep cursed boy replied and crossed his arms across his chest. Hatori looked over to the duo and sighed.

"What brings you two here?" He asked, no cheerfulness apparent in his voice. He wasn't in the mood for company right now, no matter who it was. But he had to say, that these two were much less to handle then the two others in the Mabudachi Trio.

Hiro, like usual, was the first one to speak, as well as voice his opinion on the matter. "Tohru was told by Ayame or something like that, that you were coming down with a cold. Kisa wanted to come and make sure you were okay. I only came because Momiji and I wouldn't have been able to finish our board game without her."

Kisa walked over closer to Hatori and just looked at him for a moment. "Sissy is making some soup for you right now; she said she would be over as soon as it's finished to give it to you."

Soup actually sounded very good right now. He would have to make sure to thank Tohru extra for this, especially since she didn't even have to do this for him. He nodded to the children and watched as Hiro sat on a chair opposite of the couch. Kisa just remained standing and then looked around.

The door suddenly burst open and there was Tohru with oven mitts on as she was holding a steaming bowl of soup. She rushed over to an end table and smiled at Hatori, still slightly out of breath. "I came as fast as I could once I finished the soup. I'm sorry it took so long, it's just I had to go grocery shopping quickly to get some ingredients. I hope you're feeling better now that Shigure-san and Ayame-san have come over to visit and make you feel better." When she had finished talking, she had succeeded in scooping some of the dark coloured soup into a bowl which she had brought with her, and handed it to the sickly dragon, along with a spoon. "I hope you like Miso soup Hatori-san, I wasn't sure what you would and wouldn't like, so I settled with this. If you don't like it I could make you something else."

"Its fine, I rather enjoy Miso as it is. Thank you Tohru." He replied and sat up and took the bowl from her. He then dipped the spoon into it. The room seemed quiet again, and he looked up to the three faces watching him, almost as if waiting for an answer to how it tasted. He shuddered slightly; he didn't like being the center of attention. But he pushed all those thoughts to the side and brought the spoon to his lips and then into his mouth. He then swallowed the soup and brought the spoon back down to the bowl to get some more. He smiled up at Tohru. "Its perfect, thank you again Tohru-san."

Tohru blushed a little and waved her arms in the `no no no' type manner of hers. "No, it's nothing Hatori-san. If anything I feel bad for not being able to help you out more then by giving you soup."

He chuckled slightly and shook his head. "Trust me, this is probably the best help I will get and need until I feel better." He answered. Kisa walked over and peered into his bowl before looking over to Hiro.

"Hiro, do you and Momiji want to go and make some soup that we can give to grandpa Hatori?" She asked, looking down slightly, out of not having enough confidence in herself,

Hiro sighed and nodded a little. "Then can we try to finish our game?" He replied, trying to keep his temper down. Kisa then grinned and nodded, looking back up to him.

"Thank you so much Hiro!" She gave him a quick hug (which made him visibly blush) and then she looked back over to Hatori. "I hope you feel better soon, Grandpa Hatori." Hiro nodded in agreement, probably not being able to say anything, even if he wanted to at the moment.

Tohru grinned and nodded as well. "Would you like to come over and cook the soup at Shigures' house, Kisa? I could help if you want."

Kisa nodded and smiled, but then her smile dropped a little as she looked over to Hiro. "I mean, if it's okay with you Hiro. Is it?" She asked quietly. Hiro rolled his eyes slightly and nodded (which made the tigers' grin widen again).

"Fine, fine, whatever. Come-on, lets just get going. I don't want to catch whatever Hatoris' caught." With that he walked out of the house. Kisa quickly followed, waving goodbye to Hatori as she did so. Tohru on the other hand stayed put for a moment. She smiled lightly to the dragon and waved.

"Get well soon, ok Hatori? We'll bring you over some more soup later." He nodded with the spoon in his mouth and then Tohru waved again and followed the two children out of the house, and towards Kisas' house where they were to pick up Momiji so he to could help them make soup.

Hatori sighed in contentment and took another spoonful of soup into his mouth. This truly was going to be the nicest and most helpful thing someone would do for him while he was sick. He leaned against the backrest of the couch and continued eating his soup, enjoying the warming sensation that passed through his body as he swallowed its contents.

After about fifteen minutes of eating the soup, all of its contents were gone. He looked over to the pot which Tohru had brought that still had more in it, but he felt as though he couldn't take even one more bite. He sighed and stood up, took the pot with the oven mitts, and walked into the next room which was his kitchen.

He opened the door to the refrigerator and placed the pot in there, then put the oven mitts on the counter beside it. He closed the door and slowly made his way back to his resting spot. As soon as he got there he laid down and closed his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep due to having a full stomach and feeling a little better then he had previously.

To be continued...