Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Learning to Stand ❯ Fact Checking ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: Fact Checking

"How are you holding up?" I asked Isuzu-chan as we waited for our order. She shrugged.

"I'm okay. It still hurts, but I'm okay. What about you? How are your classes going?" She deliberately changed the subject.

"They're harder than I thought they would be. One of the sensei's is fun, though."

"Is he?"

"Yes. On nice days he likes to go out into the gardens and pretend he's Buddha. We all gather around him and take notes as best we can with our arms cramping from holding our books for a stable surface!" she laughs with me. It's the first time I've heard her laugh in a while. "Isuzu-chan, I think I'm ready to buy some of those outfits you've been pushing me to try on for the past year. Would you come with me so I don't chicken out?" She grins.

"Would I?!"

We spent the day touring her favorite shops. I didn't realize her costumes require so many different stores to complete! I think I spent my entire allowance for the semester but I didn't care. It was good to see her smiling again. She even managed to talk me into buying a new perfume. I've never worn perfume before, but I found myself enjoying the slightly spicy floral scent. I couldn't stop smelling my wrist.

"What did you say this scent was called again?"

"I didn't. It's not a fragrance you can pick up at just any store." She sniffed indignantly at my ignorance.

"It's not?"

"Ie. That's made with sandalwood, linden blossom and carnation. With a tiny hint of jasmine."

"Oh." I was mystified. She snorted.

"It was blended just for you. They have the recipe on file if you want to buy it again. Since you didn't name it, it's filed under your name. They can add it to lotions, oils, soaps, whatever you want."

"I like it." I hugged her. "You are so good to me! Arigatou!"

"Arigatou, Tamae-chan." She replied. "I think you're the best friend I've ever had."

I stared at her. "What?" she snapped, and I laughed uproariously.

I know he cares for me. He shows me every day when he says my name. He sees me. Does he love me? I don't know. I'm not sure I want to know. How could someone as splendid as he is love someone as simple as I? But I want to know more about him. He called me to him again today. "Haruko-san, are you finished with your duties?" I had been scrubbing the floor and I looked up at him. It's hard for me to look at him sometimes. I feel shy. "Ie, Minoru-sama. I will finish soon." He nodded and walked into his study. When I had finished, I followed him. "Did you wish to speak with me Minoru-sama?" "Hai. I wanted to ask you a question." He gestured me closer. I knelt as close to him as I dared. "What do you know about me and the other jyuunishi?" "Jyuunishi, Minoru-sama?" "Yes, the twelve people you see visiting me. What do you know about them?" I thought about it. "I don't know much, Minoru-sama. I know that you are just beneath Katsuo-sama in power. I know that the servants are often rotated through the houses of the inner court so that none of us stay too long in one place. I know that we're not allowed to speak with you or even look at you Minoru-sama." I looked down at my hands. He was quiet for a while. His hand covered mine. "You aren't allowed to touch us either, ne?" he asked. I blushed again. I think I will never stop blushing around him. "We are never to get close enough to be able to Minoru-sama." He squeezed my hands. "You are breaking a lot of rules aren't you Haruko-san? Aren't you scared what will happen to you?" I found the courage to look into his beautiful eyes. "Ie, Minoru-sama. I am not afraid. I am so grateful that Minoru-sama has seen me that I could never be afraid." "Seen you? Is that so important to you Haruko-san?" "Hai," I whispered. "Before, I was invisible. I cleaned and served meals but no one wanted to see me. I was just a face. To them, I had no name. I was no one. But Minoru-sama asked me my name and asked what I thought and asked if I was happy. Minoru-sama saw me." I looked down at my hands again. I am such a silly girl! He was silent for so long that I looked at him again and I saw that he was looking down at our hands. His shoulders shook and I realized he was crying. "Minoru-sama, please don't cry!" I begged him. I held his hand in both of mine and kissed it over and over. "Please don't cry! I don't want you to every cry! Minoru-sama makes me so happy! I love Minoru-sama! Please don't cry." His hand was holding my cheek and I looked up to see tears streaming down his face. But his eyes were not sad. He leaned towards me, one hand on my cheek and the other on my shoulders and he kissed me! He kissed me! It was a gentle kiss, sweet and I felt all my love for him well up inside of me in that one kiss. I held his face between my hands, never wanting it to end. But in the end he pulled away, resting his forehead against mine. "Haruko-san has made me very happy." He whispered softly and for the first time I smiled in his presence.

"Wow," Isuzu-chan said in a low tone. "I wonder if this really happened?"

"There's one way to find out," I replied. "We could always sneak back into the records room at the Honke and dig around for some birth records. I get the feeling that this story didn't take place when the record was originally taken. I think that Haruko was sneaking into the records room and writing it down on something that had already been used."

"She seems like a smart girl. She's a little dippy in her writing, but if she was smart enough to know how to write ancient Chinese and write in code, I guess it's worth a shot." Isuzu-chan sounded reluctant. "I don't know if I could go back there, though. Maybe there's another way." She grabbed my hand.

"Ayame?" I asked her. "Why are we at a lingerie shop?"

"Because he's a sucker for a love story." She waved the translation she had never released in the general direction of the store. "And he's less suspicious than I am. And supposedly he knows his way around the records room." She dragged me into the shop. I looked around me in awe. Bolts of fabric and notions were everywhere. Normally I would have made a beeline right out of a place like this. Isuzu-chan pulled me further inside.

"Hajimemashite! How may I help you?" Came a light, feminine voice. I saw a grown woman wearing a schoolgirl outfit, complete with loafers. Her hair was in braids and she wore glasses. "Rin-san! Have you come to speak with Ayame?"

"Hai. Is he here Mine-san?" There was a rustle from the back of the store and I heard a man say "Mine, who is it?"

"Rin-san is here to see you Ayame!" Mine clapped her hands in excitement. Isuzu-chan cringed. And I beheld the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen in my life. If I were someone who swooned, I probably would have. Ayame had long silver hair and wide green-gold eyes. His features were so delicate that I would have mistaken him for a woman if his voice hadn't been so deep.

His eyes rested on Isuzu-chan and he exclaimed, "Rin-san, finally you have made it too my shop! After all my years of begging you have accepted my plea to model my most splendid creations! Mine, surely the angels have smiled upon us again!"

"Surely they have, Ayame! She is as beautiful as you said she was!"

"Of course she is, Mine! She is nearly as beautiful as I." He peered around Isuzu-chan and spied me trying to look invisible. "And who have we here! Rin-san, you never told me that Haru spoiled you for all other men! Who is this lovely girl?" I could feel her trembling as he continued, "Come out, come out! Of course you're hiding in Rin-san's shadow, no other woman compares to her physical perfection but you are simply too lovely to hide away! You must stand out in the light!" He grabbed my hands and pulled me (he was stronger than he looked) away from my friend. She had a glazed look in her eyes and I'm sure I did as well.

"I am the soon-to-be-famous Sohma Ayame, wondrous designer who brings fantasies to reality! And you are?" I blinked.

"O-o-overwhelmed." I said the first thing that came to mind. Isuzu-chan stared at me and her mouth curved in a smile. Bluntness is best…

"Of course you are, beholding such splendid a man as I know myself to be! I would be surprised if there was a woman anywhere who wasn't overwhelmed by my charisma, my charm, my style!" I stared at him as he continued to stroke his own back. Isuzu-chan finally came to her senses and walked to my side.

"He's a bit swishy, isn't he?" I asked her quietly. She laughed, breaking into Ayame's monologue.

"Ah, but I digress," he changed topics abruptly. "What brings you to my humble shop Rin-san?"

"I'd like to speak to you about something in records." His eyes widened. He turned to Mine and asked her to mind the shop. Then he ushered us into the back room, closing the curtains with a snap!

"Something in records, you say?" He peered at the two of us, all fruitiness now gone from his demeanor. "Sit, sit! I'll make us some tea. I think you have an interesting story to tell me, Rin-san. And you must be Tamae-san. Shi-san has told everything he knows about Rin-san's best friend." He winked conspiratorially at me and I blushed. What had Sohma-san told him? He rushed off.

"Is he always like that?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Most of the family can only take him in small doses, myself included. He, Shigure-san and Ha'ri grew up together. They're best friends."

"Ha'ri?"

"Sohma Hatori. Another cousin. He's the only one that Aya-san will listen to without being obnoxious."

"Oh. I think I remember Hatsuharu-san mentioning him when we ran into him six months ago." Isuzu-chan nodded. Her eyes had dulled at the mention of Hatsuharu-san's name. We sat there in silence while Ayame finished the tea. When he returned, she thrust the pages in her hand at him wordlessly.

"Read, onegai." We sat in silence, sipping the tea as Ayame read what I had translated. His face was even more expressive than Sohma-san's; at one point his eyes widened and as he finished he blinked way tears.

"Where did you find this?"

"I took a record from the Honke. There were these odd marks on it and Tamae-chan here has been deciphering it for the last year. This is all she's been able to translate so far." He looked at me with new respect.

"You've had the record for the last year?" He directed the question at the both of us. Isuzu-chan looked at me.

"Hai." I replied. "It took me six months to realize that the odd marks that looked like mildew or ink stains were really ancient Chinese characters written into the kanji. I've been trying to decipher it ever since." I looked down at my teacup.

"It's a wonderful story. Why did you bring it to me?"

"We wanted to ask you if you'd go through the birth records and see if either of these two people actually existed. I figured Aya-san is in there so often that it would raise fewer eyebrows if you went. You know how Akito-sama watches me like a hawk." Ayame nodded in understanding. "Besides, I know I can trust you with this. You kept my other secret when we could trust no one else."

"But of course I did, my dear girl! Who am I to stand in the face of young love and proclaim it false!" For a moment his former ebullience resurfaced before he became serious once again. "I will look for you on one condition," and he shook a finger at Isuzu-chan's groan, "You must model for me, Rin-san. I would love to see you in something other than those horrid, confining garments of yours. Beauty such as yours should be worshipped by clothing, not screamed from the rooftops as your attire so often does!" She rolled her eyes.

"Promise me, Rin-san!" She bit her lip, closed her eyes and nodded.

"What was that? I can't hear you!"

"ALL RIGHT! I'll do it." She yelled at him. He smiled so joyously that I couldn't help smiling in response.

"Mine! Did you hear that? Rin-san has agreed to model for me! She practically BEGGED me to do it and Tamae-san is beside herself with joy at the idea of our dear Rin-san in my magnificent creations!" I blinked. Huh?

"One other thing, Aya-san," Isuzu-chan bit out. She grabbed one of his hands as it gesticulated wildly. "No one is to know about this. Not even Shigure-san. Especially not Shigure-san. He's bothered Tamae-san enough as it is." Her eyes were fierce. Ayame winked and nodded.

"Of course, Rin-san. Shi-san isn't the only Sohma who knows how to keep a secret." Isuzu-chan nodded, gathering up the pages and grabbing my hand.

"Let's go," she said. "Before Mine decides to dress us both up."

"H-hai." I replied. Dress us both up?