Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Then came an angel ❯ Case Proceedings ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

 

By: Sapadu

 

Samantha chewed on the end of her pencil. From what she'd seen thus far, nobody trusted her yet. But what was she supposed to do? She was only one body- she couldn't be in two places at the same time.

 

'If you give Tatsumi-kun that argument, he'll tell you that you don't NEED to be in a school.' The voice in the back of her head told her, firmly.

 

'Dear Solar-san- Please stop mocking me. Sincerely, Samantha Phastine.' Samantha thought right back.

 

'You were the one who needed me to tell you you had Rei-chan's Tongues of Fire chocolates in your bag- don't tell me to stop mocking you when you've earned it.' The voice affectionately known as 'Solar-san' replied.

 

'You still technically owe me rent.'

 

'Only the unique circumstances surrounding your death allow me to stay with you- and even then, it's only temporary.'

 

'So, you admit that this is necessary.'

 

'But you didn't and still don't want to tell anyone about it- hence, the secretiveness.' Samantha didn't dignify that with a response.

 

There was the sound of a bell, and the teacher left, while students started to move around. Samantha had gotten used to the idea that the whole class had every subject together, and that the teachers moved from room to room, instead of the students, but she wasn't too clear on why everyone was acting like they didn't have a class soon- lunch wasn't for another hour.

 

"Hey, new girl- get up and talk to people, or you're gonna be all by yourself in this classroom." A girl with blonde hair and wearing a long skirt had come over and was sitting on her desk, poking at her to move. Samantha cocked her head.

 

"Why's everyone acting like they're on break? We have a class in a few minutes." Samantha responded. The girl blinked, then waved her arm to Tohru across the room.

 

"Oi, Tohru- she has a question." The girl called. Tohru came over, with another girl with black hair.

 

"Ah... Uo-chan, you've met Samantha-san..." Tohru said, looking quite happy about this.

 

"You don't have to call me 'Samantha-san'... Using a Gaijin name with Japanese honorifics doesn't exactly sound right, does it?"

 

"...So~o.... how about 'Sapadu' then?" Uo suggested, which made Samantha blink.

 

"Are there kanji that you can use for that?" She asked, figuring she should know that much about this language.

 

"Who cares?" Uo asked, with a shrug. Samantha blinked, then turned to Tohru.

 

"We've got class soon- why's everyone moving around?" She asked, still confused. Tohru blinked, then seemed to understand.

 

"Ah- actually, between classes we have ten minute breaks. That's why everyone's relaxing." Tohru explained to the perplexed foreigner.

 

"Ah... Sorry... American schools are so different- my school only allowed us two minutes to move from class to class, because we didn't stay in the same room. And in every class, there are different people." Samantha moaned, resting her head on her desk.

 

"Ooh... we don't learn about this stuff in English class... what else? Is it true that in American schools, someone's granny comes and makes you lunch, but it's always got cockroaches and the her hair in it?" Uo asked, leaning in with curiosity.

 

"Um... no... but there is something called Lunch service, where you can buy your lunch from what's on the menu, and then you eat in the cafeteria. And you're not allowed to eat in the classrooms, unless the teacher says it's okay. And even then, it depends on the school." Samantha told her, then decided to throw in the towel, while she was at it,

 

"And they can't make rules that restrict behavior outside of school- once school gets out, you can do whatever you want, as long as the police don't arrest you... and even then, I knew kids in my old high school that were drinking underage and didn't even follow the rules in school- for example, you're not allowed to chew gum in class, but so many kids did it that the teacher couldn't stop one of them." Uo laughed at this, while Tohru looked singularly uncomfortable.

 

"And only Catholic schools have uniforms, but they're all the same black thing, so you can't tell which one a student goes to." She added. This caught Hana's interest.

 

"All black?" She questioned, with sincere interest. This caused all three of the others to sweatdrop.

 

"A-Ano... Sapadu-san... would you like to sit with us at lunch today?" Tohru interrupted the gossip with an offer, one which Samantha took to gratefully.

 

"Since you mentioned it, did you pack a lunch today?" Hana asked, giving Samantha a look. Samantha blinked, then went red.

 

"...no..." She whispered, meekly. Tohru chuckled a little, somewhat embarrassed and sympathetic.

 

"Well, if you have the money for it, the school does sell fruit and bread downstairs. If not, we could probably share." Tohru offered, which caused both Yuki and Kyou to snap to attention, not liking the idea of some stranger getting to eat out of the same bento as Tohru. Particularly not this one.

 

Samantha's ears perked at the sound of 'fruit'.

 

"Do they have apples?" She asked. Tohru looked confused, but nodded.

 

"I think I'll eat with you." Samantha said, with something of a leer.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"So, people continue to die, and their souls aren't moving on for some reason. Each dying in a very gruesome manner, and some sort of seal burned onto their foreheads. Possibly a serial killer." Hisoka read off as they patrolled the streets. Tsuzuki wore his more serious face, stopping himself from flinching.

 

"It just gets better and better, doesn't it?" He muttered, and glancing in the direction of a crowd of people, where, apparently, police tape was blocking off the area. Alarmed, Tsuzuki ran over with Hisoka on his heels, both of them stopping right as they saw the body.

 

"Another one..." Tsuzuki whispered, looking horrified. Hisoka looked around for a moment, then gave his partner a nudge.

 

"We might be able to find whoever did this- I can sense someone nearby." He said, which snapped Tsuzuki out of his potential daze and the two of them split up, looking for anyone out of the ordinary.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Why are you attending high school, if you don't mind my asking, Sapadu-san?" Yuki asked over lunch. Samantha finished gnawing on her third apple as she was asked, and seemed to take no offense to it.

 

"I'm older than I look, if that's what you mean by 'why'?" Samantha replied, which seemed to answer the question thoroughly enough. Uo hadn't bothered her for more stories about American schools, as she was busy fighting with Kyou over something. Instead, a boy with white hair- called Haru by the others- and another in a girl's uniform spouting on and off German called Momiji had come over to peer at the new girl. Momiji took a shine to her immediately, hugging her and saying it was like having another Tohru around.

 

Kyou stopped his argument with Uo long enough to give Momiji a look, which Tohru and Yuki shared, as they were the only ones who had witnessed exactly how incorrect that comparison was that morning at the gates.

 

"You like apples..." Haru observed, as Samantha began to eat her fourth one. She went pink in the cheeks, but responded as soon as she'd finished chewing.

 

"It's gotta get me through the day." She explained. Everyone made noises as thorugh they understood, but they really didn't.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tsuzuki hadn't found anybody when he stopped to catch his breath. He'd managed to get hopelessly lost, but he had apparently gotten himself into a woody, hilly park.

 

For some reason.... it felt very familiar... Then, he saw, on top of the slope, there was a small chapel, just barely visible through the trees.

 

He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.

 

"It's been a while, Tsuzuki-san." Tsuzuki froze, knowing the voice all too well.

 

A/N: Lovely... ju~ust lovely... Samantha's enjoying her apples, while Tsuzuki's been cornered by Muraki... figures...