Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ All I Ever Needed ❯ Wishing Star ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

CHAPTER 2: Wishing Star
 
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But look, friend,
See the stars?
Count them
Keep them
Cherish them
Remember them
Don't forget the stars
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-Don't Forget the Stars
By: Jasmin Kolu Zazaboi
 
 
“Miss Honda?” Yuki called through cupped hands. Where was she? It was getting late. She should be in the kitchen fixing dinner. And that idiot cat was missing too. Stupid cat. Yuki forcefully pushed the thoughts that were all ready creeping into his mind. “Miss Honda…” His only reply was the not quite silence that emanated from the woods surrounding the home. He was getting frustrated now. “Miss Honda, where are you? It's almost time for dinner.” He called. He was starting to get worried. Not just about Tohru, but the cat. It wasn't that he was worried about the cat. But it was the thought of her with the cat that worried him…
 
 
“Miss Honda?” Tohru peeked open an eye. Her face felt flushed and hot. She heard the call again: it sounded far away. “Miss Honda…” She now opened both eyes. She looked over to see Kyo asleep next to her. They were lying on the black shingles of the roof, the sun beating down on them while they slept. “Miss Honda, where are you? It's almost time for dinner.” She heard Yuki call from the ground. She shook her head to clear the fog. Her hand felt all sweaty and hot. She looked over. It was still clasped in Kyo's, who still slept under the late afternoon sun. “Miss Honda!” Yuki shouted with a little more force.
“Yuki-kun! We're up here!” She called letting go of Kyo's hand. It felt strangely cold without his hand around hers. She crawled to the edge of the roof and peeked over the side, carefully gripping the edges to make sure she didn't fall. Yuki, who had been facing the other way, swung around, and tilted his head up as a smile lit up his face.
“Oh, there you are, Miss Honda. I was starting to get worried.” He said, watching her.
“Yes, I apologize. The sun just felt so nice up here, we accidentally fell asleep.” She said, feeling her cheeks burn slightly.
“We?” Yuki asked, dreading the answer.
“Kyo-kun and I.” Yuki was glad for the distance between them so she wouldn't see his face fall. She and Kyo were up on the roof again. She and Kyo. “But I really should start to get dinner going. I'll come down right away.” She said, inching on hands and knees over to the ladder to climb down.
Suddenly, Kyo's sleepy face appeared over the edge of the roof. In a `not quite woken up' voice he half-heartedly said:
“What the hell is going on? What time is it?”
“We fell asleep up on the roof, Kyo-kun. It's almost four.” Tohru answered. Kyo put a hand to his head. Was it really almost four? Wow. They'd been up on the roof since two. Two hours alone with Tohru.
“Stupid cat. You lost track of time.” Yuki smirked from the ground.
“Shut up, you damn rat!” Kyo shouted, standing up a bit too fast on the slanted roof. Kyo lost his balance and toppled onto Tohru with a POOF! and a cloud of orange smoke.
“Damn…”
“I-I'm sorry!” Tohru stuttered, apologizing, her cheeks growing red for no apparent reason. This was the second time she'd caused him to transform today. Not that he really minded. Not that he allowed himself to think this, though.
“Stupid cat. Can't even keep your balance. And you call yourself a martial artist.” Yuki scolded from the ground below.
“Shut up, damn rat!” In the form of a cat, Kyo charged to the edge of the roof and launched himself into the air.
“Kyo-kun!” Tohru shouted.
“Don't worry,” Yuki assured. “Cats always land on their feet…” Kyo flew through the air at Yuki, who stepped aside a spilt second before Kyo hit the bushes hard with an ungraceful belly-flop of a landing. Yuki finished: “Well, most of them anyway.”
“Shut. Up!” Kyo said through gritted teeth.
“Oh! Kyo! Are you all right?!” Tohru exclaimed, running towards them, having sped down the ladder.
“I'm more worried about the bushes,” Yuki commented, sighing at the squashed and dented bushes in the yard. I'll have to fix those later too… he ran a frustrated hand through his silver hair. Stupid cat…
* * *
“Kyo-kun?” Kyo pulled the towel from off his head, having finished drying his hair. “Are you sure you're okay?” Tohru walked in, sitting down on the edge of the bed, near him.
“I'm sure,” he confirmed, looking out the window, only the slightest bit embarrassed about being only half dressed. But then again, she'd seen more of him than this, so it really was no big deal.
After he'd transformed back, Tohru had fretted and fretted over him like a sickly child. He'd finally been able to convince her he was well enough to at least go upstairs and take a shower.
She was studying him, when he looked back at her out of the corner of his eye.
“What?” he said. He shook her head slightly, looking like she'd just snapped back from daydreaming and said:
“You have a piece of hair in your eye…” she said quietly, reaching out to push the wet strand of blazing orange hair out of his watchful, crimson eye. When her finger touched the side of his eye, his skin tingled slightly, and he unconsciously closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, to find her fingers still resting on his forehead.
He looked at her for a moment, and then she drew back her hand, her face glowing with the slightest hint of a blush, before offering the weak excuse of:
“W-well…at least you don't have a fever…?” She looked down. Kyo smiled a bit, and bopped her on the head.
“Why would I have a fever, idiot? Now you go downstairs, let me get dressed, and then we'll have dinner.” The information seemed to deliver with a slight delay. She nodded after a moment, and then seemed to notice for the first time that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Her eyes lingered on his bare chest for a moment, before she turned away, blushing a deeper red then before.
“Okay. I'll see you in a little while then.” And with that, she quickly left the room. He heard her footsteps speeding down the stairs. He sighed, closed his eyes, and thought:
Three…two…one…
“AHH!” the shout was followed by a CRASH! BANG! and a worried voice:
“Ms. Honda, are you all right?” Her reply sounded embarrassed and distracted, as if the reason she fell in the first place was that she had something else on her mind.
“I-I'm okay. Just…uh…clumsy me!” He could almost see her little `clumsy me' smile. Distracted, huh? He thought, and looked down at his bare torso. No…it couldn't …but maybe…no… Kyo shook his head and walked over to his dresser to find something to wear.
* * *
Tohru lay in her bed later that night, drifting between the worlds of conscious and unconscious. From time to time an orange cat slipped into her mind's eye, playfully chasing a small grey mouse across the yard. Other times it was a dripping strand of blazing orange hair in front of a deep crimson eye. She pulled her blankets up to her chin and nestled deeper into her downy blanket. So soft. Like orange fur…
* * *
Kyo pulled his shirt up over his head, and threw it into the laundry basket in a corner of his room. He climbed into his bed, and lay sprawled out on it facing the open window. His gaze traveled up, up, up into the heavens to the stars above. Glittering. Winking at him. Hinting of something better. Whispering of unspoken hope. Something sounded in the back of his mind. A soft, muffled tune…like a music box in a dusty attic.
How do the words go? He thought Oh yeah…
The music box opened:
 
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
 
Yeah, he thought, his eye lids dipping sleepily, Please keep twinkling…little star…
 
End of Chapter 2
“Wishing Star”
 
A/n: Geez, it took me a while to finish that chapter! Huh! I actually debated about the title of this chapter while I was writing it. First it was: All I Ever Needed. Then it became Wishing Star. But I still like to first one, so if I use it on another chapter in the future, don't be surprised. All right! See you next chapter! See you then!
 
A/n from a month later : I have finally decided to name my story! (2 chapters into it) anyway. Huh, funny. I liked the first title so much; it ended up becoming the title of the entire story…
Anyway! Enjoy the next chapter of All I Ever Needed!
 
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Fruits Basket is the creation of Takaya Natsuki, and is licensed in North
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