Title: Ripples by the Pond
Author: Gia
Rating: PG
Pairing: None.
Time: 90's. The Mabudachi Trio are in still in high school.
Summary: A wish Ayame made in the past sends Yuki reeling back in time. Finding himself sharing a class with the Mabudachi Trio themselves, Yuki must find a way to keep his secret hidden or risk losing himself in the past forever.
Disclaimer: The story here is non-profit and for purely entertainment purposes; nor is it affiliated to Takaya Natsuki, Hakusensha, or any other publishers of Fruits Basket. The characters belong to Takaya Natsuki and the plot belongs to me.
Author's Notes: Yes, I've gone back to re-write (re-word?) a lot of my chapters. For the new readers, the only important things (maybe basic things) to keep in my here are that Yuki is in the past and will be entering the second year of high school with his brother. Now onto the story!
"Make a wish Aya!" Shigure called to his friend. They were standing atop a small bridge, a small creek running underneath. School had ended for the day, and they were taking the long way towards home. It was a ritual that the three did whenever they took this particular route home; it was because it gave them a chance for the three to pretend that no curse existed for them; a chance to forget the real reason they attended an all-boys school.
But most of all, a chance for the three to spend a simple, peaceful moment together.
This particular routine involved standing atop the bridge and making a wish. Having already made their wishes, both Shigure and Hatori were impatiently waiting for Ayame to make his wish.
"Ayame," Hatori called, eyes flashing, "Hurry up."
The small sound of a ping was heard, followed by a small splash. "Done!"
Ayame headed over to them, and they headed down the path. "Ne, Aya, what did you wish for?"
Ayame winked, pushing strands of his hair back behind his ear, "A surprise."
Ripples by the Pond
By Gia
Chapter One: Welcome Back, Stranger
Yuki raised his eyes from dully staring at his reflection on the table. Ayame had chosen this particular day to visit Shigure's home—completely unplanned—and had wasted no time in re-telling childhood stories. Normally in these situations, Yuki would have stayed clear from any interaction with Ayame, especially since he had just come home from school and he had some pressing homework to do, but today, Yuki didn't have the energy to even respond to Ayame's antics.
Yuki brought up his arm to rest his elbow on the table. Placing his head on his palm, Yuki allowed his eyes to trace the expressions on the others' face. Unsurprisingly, Tohru's was one of rapt attention. Shigure was complacently nodding here and there at Ayame's current story. And Kyou?
Yuki smiled faintly. Kyou looked torn between bolting from the room and strangling Ayame.
"—and I took the snakes and gave them a proper burial under the apricot trees in the back of the school! I couldn't bear to see it mutilated by the hands of my own peers!"
"Amazing, Ayame-san!" Tohru uttered, eyes wide as Ayame stand up and pose dramatically for the end of his story. "The teacher didn't find out?" she asked.
Ayame made a dismissing gesture. "The teacher did catch me but I knew I did the right thing!" He turned to Shigure and winked. "Shigure agrees with me."
Shigure nodded seriously. "A truly noble deed."
"And Yuki, you think so too, right?" Ayame focused his gaze on Yuki who had, throughout the Ayame's stories, remained silent.
Yuki shifted uncomfortably. "You can't save everyone," He said after a lengthy pause.
Ayame blinked at the response, finding Yuki's words more hurtful than the usual insults Yuki threw at him. Unsure how to respond, Ayame tried switching tactics. "Ah, but Yuki, don't you want to know how your charming older brother got out of getting into too much trouble once he got caught?"
Yuki sighed and slowly pushed himself up to stand. How was it that he always felt so tired around his older brother?
"No."
Ayame tried pouting at him. "But Yuki—"
Yuki kept his back to his brother and quietly left the room.
Kyou, who was watching this brief moment between the brothers, rolled his eyes at Yuki's behavior. "Tch. Whatever." Kyou didn't really care either way on the poor relationship of the two brothers. Personally, Kyou thought Yuki was right in ignoring his brother. Ayame was too loud, too annoying, too much to handle. For once, he and the rat were in complete agreement.
"I'm going out," he called out over his shoulder before exiting the room.
Tohru gazed worriedly at the doors Kyou just left through. It seemed rather abrupt for both boys to leave, but then again, they were probably had other things to work on. Which reminded her…
"I need to prepare dinner!" Tohru cried out, standing up hastily and bowing to both Ayame and Shigure. "You'll be staying for that, won't you Ayame-san?"
"Of course!" Ayame smiled brightly. "I wouldn't miss Tohru's famous cooking."
She flushed at the compliment and left with a small wave.
Ayame kept his smile on his face as he stared at the closed doors where the three had previously left through. It was suddenly very quiet in the room.
"Aya-san," Ayame felt Shigure move to sit beside him.
"Shigure, no need."
Shigure frowned. "Ayame—" he tried again.
Ayame lightly nudged Shigure's shoulder. "Will I be sharing my bed with you tonight, Shigure?"
Shigure paused for the barest seconds in surprise before catching on. "This and every night, forever, Ayame…"
"Shigure…"
They began to lean toward each other.
"—the hell?"
Mere inches away from each other's faces, they stopped and turned back toward the doors.
Where Kyou was standing.
"Gaarghh—" Kyou gave a sort of strangled yell before falling over.
"Maa, maa, that worked out better than I thought it would." Shigure said cheerfully.
Yuki shifted in his seat, trying to focus on the book in front of him rather than the commotion downstairs. He had heard the rather dull thud and definitely wasn't keen on finding out what warranted said sound.
Yuki's eyes scanned the book in front of him. Several chapters were assigned for reading and he wanted to get it out of the way before tackling his other homework.
'To be perfectly frank with myself and with the reader I had no very lofty motives when I took the King's shilling…the King's shilling…shilling…'
Yuki sighed in frustration, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
There was obviously no point in trying to read if he couldn't stop reading the same thing over and over. Not for the first time, Yuki wondered at the recent difficulty he was having in regard to his brother. He had done so well in showing nothing but indifference in the past, but recently it was just easier to avoid him. Yuki had to admit that Ayame's persistence was wearing him down, but to what end? Yuki couldn't imagine any sort of reconciliation in the near—or far—future.
And yes, Yuki could admit that was very strange. Isn't this what he wanted? Ayame to finally accept him and act like the brother he never had? Why did he constantly push him away if Ayame had changed?
'I'll tell you why,' a voice in his head retorted. 'Because he was a good for nothing brother who didn't have the heart to spare one single moment with his only brother. Someone who needed him then, and doesn't need him now.'
Yuki sat up from his chair, hands catching the edge of his desk as his vision momentarily went fuzzy. A nap would certainly solve whatever the heck was going on with him.
Not bothering to even take off his uniform, Yuki dropped down onto his bed and let sleep claim him.
Akio Kentarou idly tapped his fingers on his steering wheel, letting the soft music flow over him. He pushed his glasses back up and yawned tiredly. Classes had ended for the day and all Akio wanted was to go home and take a nice long nap. That is, until he saw a body lying on the road.
SCREECH!
His car managed to swerve to the side and luckily didn't hit a lamppost. Cursing, Akio got out, and ran towards what he saw on the road.
A body. A body of a young boy!
Tie flying in his face, Akio ran towards the immobile body and got on his knees to check on him. It was quite a surprise to see that the boy wasn't injured. Not even a scratch. In actuality, he seemed to be sleeping. Akio didn't know much about medical things, but he was pretty sure that a fatally wounded person on the ground wouldn't be sleeping peacefully.
With slight hesitance, he reached forward and shook the arm of the sleeping boy. He either must've done it too lightly, or the teen was a deep sleeper, because there was no reaction. Trying again, he managed to get a response. If you could call an arm flying out and hitting him in the head as a response, that is.
Akio grabbed his head painfully, hearing a quiet murmur (Baka neko…snorein the background. He eyed the frail-looking boy warily, and almost decided not to wake him. His conscience got the better of him, and he tried again. Being a quick learner, he managed to duck from the first arm, but he didn't see the other arm. Not a moment later and Akio Kentaro was nursing quite a large bump on both sides of his face.
'Obviously the boy's awake now, right? Wait a minute. I'm an adult. Teenagers can't treat adults like this.' He walked over to the teen and gazed down at him. 'He has to be pretending! What sort of person would still be asleep after all that?'
He scooted closer to him to see if the boy was awake or not. The face was pretty lax and his breathing was quite deep and even. Frowning to himself, Akio bent his head closer to the boy's face. At this distance, he could make out faint snores emitting from the boy's mouth.
'I don't believe it… he's asleep!' Akio thought incredulously to himself.
Feeling completely incredulous at the entire situation, Akio shook the boy once more, grunting a bit when he heaved the boy up from his armpits. He kept one hand on his arm to prevent him from falling back to the floor. "Hello? You can stop pretending to be asleep, I mean, you're standing in the middle of the street," Akio pointed out, nudging the teen once more.
Akio regarded the boy for any reaction.
Slowly, almost painfully so, the boy's face cringed before vivid violet eyes revealed themselves to Akio's curious face. As soon as the boy's eyes met Akio's own, he took a step back.
He didn't know what to make of the situation. Here was this high school student who looked, for all intents and purposes, like he was just taking a nap in the middle of the road. And more to the point, he had hit him with both arms while he was asleep! Akio felt that some stern scolding was called for but that look in the other's eyes, that confusion, that wariness, it was quite convincing of the boy's complete ignorance of what had occurred.
This undoubtedly meant Akio was at a loss of words. Sighing to himself, he tried to convey a friendly smile without startling the teen further, "Are you alright there, kid?"
The boy blinked at him. He gave a polite smile and bow. "Yes, I'm quite alright, although..." He looked around. "How did I get here?"
'Ah, I thought as much,' Akio thought to himself, watching with some amusement at the other's bewildered expression.
"This may sound shocking, but I found you asleep on the road. I know you boys like to try new things, but sleeping in the middle of the road wasn't something I'd expect."
Yuki glanced at him sharply. "Sleeping? On the road?"
Akio nodded slowly. "I take it you didn't realize that. Well," he glanced at his watch, "it's about 3:34. You might've been heading home by now. I'm sure your parents will be worried by now."
Yuki smiled tightly. "Yes, you might be right. Thank you for," he paused, "waking me."
Not looking back, Yuki quickly walked away, turned a corner, and vanished. Akio stared after him, scratching the back of his head. 'Today is a decidedly odd day.'
Walking down the walkway, Yuki glanced at the shops to both sides. Everything seemed normal, although he didn't recognize a few stores. Where was that grocery store down at the corner? Since when did they have a salon on that street? Shaking his head, he passed by a window and stopped in his tracks. Turning his head slowly to the side, he looked at a large calendar hung on the wall of a hair salon. In block numbers, 1990 was stamped next to the date.
'Impossible!' Yuki thought to himself, his footsteps quickening as headed down the street. A cursory glance in all the stores revealed a similar date. '1990, 1990, 1990! This can't be real! It's not possible!'
Heart hammering in his chest, Yuki stepped back from yet another store's window and ran.
"Thank you!"
Ayame grinned, and accepted the ice cream cone. They were on their way to the Sohma Estate, and both he and Shigure had the sudden urge for ice cream. Before Hatori could even protest, they dragged him with them to buy from a vendor. Unfortunately, Hatori wasn't in the mood for it, and proceeded to glare at the two coldly.
Far from being fazed, Shigure calmly replied that his glare was only making the ice cream colder, which made it more enjoyable. Not seeing the logic behind that statement, or rather not wanting to work it out in his head, Hatori gave up and waited for them to finish.
He rolled his eyes in exasperation at the enthusiastic sounds Shigure and Ayame were making, merely to attract the attention of bystanders lingering by the vendor. Hatori wondered when it was that he had gotten used to their antics.
Turning around to survey the surrounding park, Hatori found himself appreciating the serene view. The days of normalcy were the days to be treasured in Hatori's opinion. When things were blissfully simple—easy route home, ice cream at the park—Hatori could appreciate life's simple pleasures in silence.
But today was not the day for simple pleasures because before he could fully appreciate his own musing, someone ran full tilt into him. He hadn't even had the time to notice the person, much less jumping out of the way. It felt like the breath had been knocked out of him as soon as they crashed to the ground.
Hatori winced when his head made a dull sound against the hard concrete, but more so at the sudden weight from the body sprawled awkwardly on top of him. There was a momentary pause, before two things happened simultaneously. The person who ran into him gasped and suddenly a pair of surprised violet eyes was invading his personal space
Hatori distantly heard Ayame and Shigure hurrying over to pull the boy off of him and help him, Hatori, up.
"Hatori…?" Ayame asked concernedly, hooking an arm under his own to help him up.
Shigure turned to the boy who ran into him. A cross between purple and grey hair fell in wisps over the boy's face. His pale alabaster skin was flushed, and the boy seemed to be breathing heavily. The face titled upwards, and Shigure was struck with sudden familiarity, although he couldn't put his finger on it. The boy put his hand to his mouth, coughing. Shigure felt a bit concerned but tried to focus on the matter at hand. Namely, who the stranger was.
"Sorry, I-I didn't see you." the boy spoke softly.
Hatori, dusting himself off and assuring Ayame that he wasn't hurt, turned towards the boy. "It's fine. Just watch where you're going next time."
The boy nodded, taking great care not to look either of them in the eyes. Shigure only got a glimpse of deep amethyst eyes and again, he was struck with familiarity. The boy bowed in apology and turned to go before Ayame abruptly called out.
"That uniform," Ayame noted, "Do you go to Kaibara? I don't remember seeing you there."
At this the boy looked up, and Ayame also saw his eyes. Violet. Ayame's breath caught in his throat and it was like a sledgehammer had been taken and rammed into his stomach. Such a wave of familiarity had literally robbed him of his breath.
"No," the boy said simply. He turned again, but this time, Hatori called out to him.
"What's your name?"It's the least I could ask of someone who practically ran me into the ground." There was a touch of humor to his tone that removed any doubts that he was being accusatory.
"Yuki So—Suyama." The boy tilted his head, glancing at each one of them slowly. When those eyes settled on each of them, they couldn't help a brief shudder. Pursing his lips, the boy turned and left.
"Strange boy," Shigure said thoughtfully. "I felt as if I've met him before."
Ayame stared after him silently.
TBC
AN: I sort of rewrote the first chapter because I realize that it's not as strongly written as the later chapters. Anyway, for those who have already been with this story in the past, any re-writes I did here didn't include anything important. Although, I'd like for you to read it again since it's new. XD
I hope everyone likes the story and continues reading! You'll find that the length of future chapters are agonizingly long, but as far as I know, that's a good thing. XD Oh, and for the newbies, this is a part of my SBBOrg Movement. I hope that it'll catch on and spread like a disease. Only, a good disease… my, I have a way with words.