Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Learning to Stand ❯ Love Stories ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: Love Stories

I was assigned to clean his house today. To be so close! My hands shook as I went about my duties. To touch the things he has touched feels like I'm intruding on a place I should never be. I saw him as I was polishing the floor. He was in the small garden adjoining his house. I saw him bend down to touch a flower and he looked at me. He looked at me! I blushed so hot my face must have been bright red. I immediately resumed polishing the floor and when I looked up again he was gone.

They haven't reassigned me, which is strange. Usually I am reassigned in a matter of weeks; I don't think they want any of the servants to have extended contact with them. I work every day tending to his house. I see him often. His beauty is blinding. Once, I saw him smile. I could only look at him in awe. He is beautiful when he is solemn, but when he smiles I have no words to describe how he looks. It's as though light shines from his face, blinding. He doesn't smile often. None of them do. I wonder why?

They still haven't reassigned me. Dare I hope that he has noticed me and wants me near? I am so silly. How could he want someone like me near him? He should be with company as beautiful as he is. Perhaps they have overlooked my extended stay here.

It's winter now. I see him more frequently as the cold becomes deeper. He spends most of his time in the study, which is hot from the fire that is constantly blazing. He seems particularly affected by the cold. He doesn't go out. Sometimes when I work a shiver crawls up my spine and I imagine that he is looking at me. I am a silly, foolish girl to think such thing. What would he see when he looks at me. A simple girl, with calloused hands and a face chapped from cold. I am nothing compared to him.

He spoke to me! He asked me my name. I was so nervous I couldn't speak. I just stared and stared at him. Finally, he sighed and turned away. I felt it like a blow. But he saw me! I am grateful for that. It is more than I had ever hoped for.

"This is it? This is all you've got?" Isuzu-chan demanded. She shook the paper impatiently.

"Gomen, Isuzu-chan! Between finals and my summer job I haven't been able to spend as much time with it as I'd like. But it's nice, isn't it? A love story!"

"A silly story, if you ask me."

"Isuzu-chan, you are not romantic in the slightest." I sighed.

"Sometimes, Tamae-chan, it amazes me that you aren't throwing yourself at any guy who happens to look your way, you're so romantic." There was an edge to her voice. I heard it, but decided against saying anything just yet.

"Gomen, Isuzu-chan." She sighed.

"I know you're working hard, Tamae-chan. I'm sorry I'm so impatient. It wasn't an easy summer."

"Did something happen?" I took the opening she offered.

"Hai. A couple of cousins graduated from high school. I saw Hatsuharu at the ceremony with them. He goes to the same school."

"He…does? He's in high school? I would never have guessed!"

"Hai. He's two years younger than I am." She waited for my response. I wasn't quite sure what to say. I mentally shrugged. Love is love…

"He certainly doesn't look it. He seems much older." Relief flickered across her face before she continued.

"He didn't look at me once. He avoided me all summer. I think…I think I've lost him after all." She buried her head in her knees, her long hair spilling around her like a waterfall. I knelt beside her and hugged her. She was rocking back and forth like a child, her shoulders shaking with the effort not to cry.

"It's okay to cry, you know." I told her. Kami, I hope she can trust me with her tears! "It doesn't make you weaker. Sometimes you're stronger afterwards." Like a dam breaking, her body jerked and she suddenly threw her arms around me and wept for what seemed like hours. I could do nothing but hold her. I had no words that could comfort her.

We didn't have any classes together that semester, but we still managed to find time to spend with each other. She seemed to have lost something. That spark of defiance I had known was gone. She was still blunt, but her words sometimes bore a cruelty that stung me. Once more I threw myself into the translation, hoping it would somehow help her heal.

He asked me my name again, and this time I found the courage to answer. "Sohma Haruko, Sohma-sama" I told him. He smiled at me, a gentle smile. "Arigatou, Sohma Haruko. I am Sohma Minoru." I bowed to him and continued my duties. My hands were shaking so much I'm surprised I was able to complete them. I think I saw him smile more after that.

He called me to him today. "Haruko-san, I would like to ask you something."

"Hai, Sohma-sama?" He closed his eyes at my address. "Please call me Minoru, Haruko-san." "Hai, Minoru-sama." When I said this he seemed sad, but he waved me closer. "Tell me what you think of this." He pulled a scroll from the wall and unrolled it carefully. I couldn't help but catch my breath at the lovely drawings on the paper. They were all of a girl, a servant girl like me. There were pictures of her kneeling as she polished a floor, standing as she swept. There were even pictures of her brushing the tatami mats and hanging laundry. Every scene held a grace and a dignity that I could only dream of. "They are beautiful Minoru-sama! Who is she?" He looked at me sharply. "She is you, Haruko-san." I blushed so hotly my face felt it had been set on fire. I bowed as low as I could. "Arigatou, Minoru-sama. That girl could not be me. She is far too pretty!" "I have drawn these, Haruko-san, and I say the girl is you." He leaned down and wrapped his hand beneath my chin, making me stand and look into his face! He smiled at me, and something in his eyes made my heart beat fast in my chest. "You are a very pretty girl, Haruko-san." I couldn't look away from his eyes. They were so golden, like chrysanthemums in autumn. I don't know how long we stood like that, but I never wanted it to end. But it did end, and he pulled away from me. I bowed again. "Arigatou, Minoru-sama. Minoru-sama is very talented to draw me this way!" He closed his eyes and sighed. "You can go, Haruko-san. I do not want you punished for not completing your work."

I still clean his house and serve his meals. When I work, I can feel his eyes on me. He hasn't approached me since he showed me his drawings. I don't know what to do. I have been given a taste of heaven. I should be grateful, but I find myself wanting more. I want to hear him say my name again, to tell me I am pretty. It is spring now but it is still cold. He sits in his study most of the time. I don't know what he does in there. Every day he is visited by one of the others. Why doesn't he go outside? I see him looking out the windows sometimes and he looks like a child wanting something he cannot have. I wish I could give it to him.

He left the house today. I feel lonely without him here. This house is so empty without him. I worked more than usual today to make myself forget that he was not there. When he came back, I was so tired I nearly fell asleep before I could serve him his evening meal. He noticed. I think he notices everything. He stopped me before I could clear the table. "You are tired, Haruko-san?" "Hai, Minoru-sama. I worked hard today." "Why do you work so hard?" I could only blink at him. "Because that is what I am supposed to do, Minoru-sama. I am your servant." He was quiet for a while. "Are you happy being a servant Haruko-san?" He was looking down at the empty bowls on the table and looked at me when I took so long to answer. "Haruko-san?" I felt tears sting my eyes. Happy? "No one has ever asked me that question before, Minoru-sama. That you ask it makes me happy." My tears fell down my cheeks and I buried my head in my hands in embarrassment. How could I cry when he asked me so tenderly? He pulled my hands away from my face and raised it so that our eyes met. The softness in his eyes made my tears flow faster and he bent and kissed them off my cheeks. When my tears were all gone he whispered, "I am glad that I could make Haruko-san so happy."

When I sleep, my dreams are all of Minoru-sama. I love him more now than I thought possible. Before, I loved him as a child would a sweet. He was something unattainable. Now I can see his heart, which is gentle and kind and sad. He is lonely. I want to be with him forever.