Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ In Pursuit of Happiness ❯ Stage 1: Life is a sadist... so just smile ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki-sensei and Hana to Yume comics. This fic is done only for the glorification of FURUBA! This storyline is entirely an original introspective on a theory of mine. It's not a part of the FURUBA canon.

October 2, 2002

In Pursuit of Happiness

Step 1: Life's a sadist… so just smile

By Ina-chan

"Ne, Yuki-kun, do you have a student council meeting today?"

I looked up to face the owner of that familiar melodious tone, only to jump back in surprise upon seeing a pair of hopeful looking eyes, staring back at me. She was so close that I could see my own reflection in those beautiful eyes… and those smiling lips. They were so invitingly close that if I just lean a few centimetres forward…

I took a sharp intake of breath and quickly pushed the urge from my mind as I tried to regain my composure. All I could do is desperately hope that she won't notice the embarrassing flush I'm feeling that's rising on my face as I idly arranged the already neat books sitting on my desk and shoved them into my book bag.

"No, I don't have a meeting after school. Do you need help with anything today?" I heard my voice say out loud casually, very pleased that the tremors I felt inside me didn't reflect on my voice.

"I'm glad," She sighed in relief before giving me a sheepish look, "I don't have my part-time this evening, so I was hoping to do some shopping after school. I know Kyou-kun is going to Shisho-san's doujou today, so I was wondering if you could come with me."

I couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of jealousy at the fact that she also considered that baka neko for this errand. Nevertheless, I pushed those feelings away too and let out a laugh, "Honda-san, you know that you don't have to ask me about such things. All you have to do is say it and I'm there right away."

"Ah… eh… tha…" She stammered, a little bit taken aback at my words, feeling a bit satisfied at the sight of the slight blush touching her cheeks as she lowered her eyes down shyly, "…tha… thank you very much, Yuki-kun."

Seeing her so shy and demure, it took everything I got to keep me from taking her in my arms to give in to that strong urge to kiss her from earlier. Though I admit that the fact that several of our classmates in the room, eyeing us suspiciously, helped curbed my overenthusiastic impulses. Thus, I simply contented myself with lightly touching her arm to lead her out of the classroom away from prying eyes.

"Ah! Souma-senpai!" Another voice called out from the hallway the moment we stepped out of the door, "Senpai, please, wait!"

My heart fell as I saw Hagayui-san, one of the student council first-year representatives, waving at me desperately from down the hallway. I gritted my teeth and plastered on a forced smile, while we waited for him to reach us.

Please don't let it be an emergency school council meeting.

"Yes, what is it Hagayui-san?" I said aloud in the most polite tone I could muster.

"Ma… Mayuko-sensei…" The younger boy gasped as he paused to catch his breath, "She… asked me… to fetch you."

Oh, God… PLEASE don't let it be an emergency meeting.

"For what?" I asked patiently, hoping that the strain in my voice is not as obvious as the strain of the muscles in my cheeks.

Kagayui-san took one last deep breath, before continuing, "There's a phone call for you at the teacher's lounge. She said it sounded somewhat urgent."

Thank you, God. I felt a strong sense of relief washing over me upon hearing those words.

"Ara, Souma Yuki… watch what you're doing," Hanajima's bland voice filtered through my consciousness, "Tooru-kun is very fragile."

With that, my mind blinked back to the present as I turned my attention back to Honda-san. My eyes widened in alarm upon the realization that my hand had unconsciously clamped around her elbow in a painful death grip while the short duration of my conversation with Hagayui-san. All the while, she was wincing wordlessly, and taking the undeserved punishment in silence.

"I'm sorry, Honda-san!" I cried out in utter horror, let her arm go as if suddenly scalded, "I-"

"Iya, it's okay! I'm fine! Don't worry about it!" She immediately cut me off before I could even start my babble, "Why don't you go ahead and take your phone call. I'll wait for you outside by the gate. Besides, I forgot that there's something that I need to talk to with Hana-chan with. So take your time."

I felt absolutely awful. Never! Never even in my wildest imagination, that I would find myself in a situation of ever hurting Honda-san. Even by accident. The only thing I could do was to bow my head and clutch my hand in shame.

"Yuki-kun?"

She leaned over to meet my eyes, her own pair full of genuine concern. That only made things worse. It's one thing for me to hurt her, it's absolutely unforgivable that she had to be the one to worry over it. I pushed all my negative feelings aside in one clean sweep and forced myself to give her a reassuring smile, "Just wait for me, I'll be right back."

I could see from the look on her face, that it didn't erase the troubled look in her eyes. But nonetheless, she returned my smile with her own sunny beam, "Hai!"

And once again, I waged a silent battle within myself and barely won from the impulse of taking her in my arms and carrying her off to a place where it feel as if she and I were the only person left on Earth.

"Try not to be too long, its rude of a man to make a woman wait," Hanajima-san intoned blandly

Damn. Almost forgot Hanajima-san. Her deadpan eyes was cutting through me like a hot knife slicing a stick of butter. It felt as if my thoughts are clearly broadcasting itself on a giant screen on top of my head complete with subtitles and she's watching every single moment of it. All at once, I felt that familiar sense of embarrassment washing over me. "I'll be back as soon as I can," I managed to mumble before retreating down the hallway to the teacher's lounge.

By the time I found myself in front of the door to the teachers' territory, my brain finally started to function normally. Now who would try to phone me at school at this time? Shigure would simply wait until he came home. Anyone from the Main House will simply relay the message to either Haru or Momiji. Ni-san wouldn't call. He'll simply make his way into the school grounds and make a dramatic entrance. Somehow, I couldn't help but shudder as that particular thought occurred to me. If it were an emergency, Hatori or Shigure would come to fetch him personally, rather than relay the message by phone.

Aaaah! Enough already! Might as well get this all over with. Honda-san is waiting for him by the gate.

"Excuse me…" I called out hesitantly as I opened the door

"Ah, Souma Yuki-kun, take your phone call over there," Mayuko-sensei called out gruffly pointing at the phone in the corner

"Sorry for the trouble," I said apologetically as I made my way across the room and cradled the receiver in my hands, "Hello, this Souma Yuki speaking."

Save for the faint sound of music playing and people talking in the background, the other end of the line remained silent. That was strange, "Hello? Is someone there?"

Another pause. Just as I was about to hang up the phone, a deep voice suddenly spoke. "Yuki."

I felt another frown lining my forehead. The voice sounded familiar, but for some strange reason, I can't seem to put a face on in, "Yes? Who is this?"

The person in the other line chuckled good-naturedly, "Of course. I didn't expect you to recognize me right away. It's been such a long time after all."

That laugh.

My blood froze as I finally realized who it was on the other side of the line. All of the sudden, I couldn't get my body to obey my will. I could only watch numbly as the receiver slipped from my unfeeling hands and clatter noisily on the desk. Everyone in the room stopped and I felt all their eyes turn toward my direction in surprise. That shook me out of my stupor and I grabbed the receiver again, mumbling my apologies over and over. Everyone turned away and pretended to ignore me, but I can still feel their glances studying me curiously from the corner of their eyes.

"I'm sorry…" I stammered into the phone, "My hand slipped."

The other person in the line laughed again, "Still clumsy as usual, aren't you? That's alright. In fact, I'm glad that you haven't changed that much."

"You… why… are…"

"I'm in town," he answered before I can gather enough coherent words to form a question, "Not for long though. I'm catching a flight to New Zealand around midnight. Until then, I have some time. Do you have time to come and meet me?"

My heart pounded at the question… Do I have time? What kind of a question is that? I couldn't help but feel an ember of anger starting to heat up inside of me. How can he request something like that from me and expect me to come running at his beck and call? I've known from experience that he would never make the same effort if I requested that from him. Besides, Honda-san was waiting for me by the gate.

"I would really like to see you before I leave," The voice continued, upon sensing my hesitation

I closed my eyes and let my shoulders slump over as I gave my reply, "Where?"

***

I stood in front of the café that he instructed. Actually, I've been staring at the door from across the street in the last thirty minutes. I've seen several passer-bys giving me funny looks when they noticed my silent vigil. By this time, I'm feeling like a total heel. I hurt Honda-san twice within the short span of fifteen minutes. And here I was hesitating to face the reason why I had to stand her up.

As expected, she became her understanding self. She didn't even bother to ask the reason for my sudden emergency, stating that Hanajima-san was willing to help her with the shopping in my place. Of course, Hanajima-san didn't buy anything I said. I could still feel the blank but knowing look in her eyes boring through my soul. She had an idea on the reason behind my forced apologetic smile. But somehow, I think she also understood my silent plea not to push the subject matter for Honda-san's sake.

So now after exchanging our goodbyes and instructing to let Shigure know that I was coming home late, I ended up here…

…standing in front of the café that he instructed…

…like an idiot.

I turned around and faced my reflection at the shop window behind me. I took a deep cleansing breath before glaring at the image I saw there, "You sacrificed an afternoon with Honda-san for this, so take it like a man."

With those words said aloud, I forced myself to turn again and started to cross the street… silently praying for a truck… a car… I'll even settle for a goddamn bicycle to stop me in my tracks. Of course, by this time, I've convinced myself that God, all the heavenly beings and the goddesses of Fate have some grudge against me. So I before I knew it, I was across and my way through the doors and stopping in front of the table where he sat.

He was about to bring the cigarette between his fingers to his lips to take a drag while reading a newspaper, when I arrived. He stopped midway as he sensed my presence before slowly lifting his head to look at me. We stared at each other silently for a long time, somewhat trying to get used that the other person is really standing in front of us right then and there. I bit my lip nervously, suddenly feeling like a four-year-old again, as he scrutinized me from head to toe. Finally, a small wry grin broke into his tired face.

"Hi, how have you been?"

"I'm fine…" I replied in a small, almost childlike voice, "… Father."

To be continued…

AUTHOR'S SQUAWK:

Waaaaaah! This storyline first hit me at the back of my head since "Beautiful Stranger". And it's been nagging me ever since. Originally, I wanted to do a nice family dinner type of think with Ayame, Yuki, and their parents. But while I was formulating it… having four characters in a scene doesn't have the same impact. So this story eventually evolved. Well, it's been bothering me! So I had to write it before I went nuts! ^_^.

Heh-heh… I was getting tired of the romantic tinged Tooru-Yuki angst I was writing in the "Wandering" storyline… and since I wanted to explore the unexplored Yuki/Ayame Family dynamics, I figured this would be the perfect outlet for it! Of course this fic is going to be YukixTooru romance scented, but its not going to focus on that. And the good news is… their romance this time won't be the center of Yuki's angst! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Gotta cut the guy some slack, after all the hell I put him through in my fics, ne? ^_^.

Anywayz… C&C to ina_chan@yahoo.com if you have time!

Ja!

Ina-chan