Halloween had gone off with a bang, and though the next holiday was still over a month away the girls were already thinking of ideas. For Christmas they wanted to give everyone plushies of their second forms, but that could be problematic seeing as there were no Fruits Basket plushies in this world. They figured that they could try and make them, but neither of the girls had any sewing skills whatsoever, so they decided to petition Ayame and Mine for lessons.
They called up Hatori to drive them to Ayame's shop, refusing to tell him the exact reason, but insisting that he would find out soon enough. Once they were halfway there Michiko decided that she would start to work on her plan for her deal with Mine.
"Hey Hatori?"
"Hmmm?"
"I was wondering if you could tell me what sort of girl Ayame likes?"
"I'm not really sure, I can't remember Ayame ever having a long term relationship, its always difficult with the curse, so I haven't seen him try too often. Plus we went to an all boys school, so there wasn't much opportunity for female relations."
Micharu gave her sister a questioning look. "Why would you ask something like that? Did you give up on Hatsuharu and decide to go for Ayame instead?" The words were out of her mouth before she really had time to think.
"Excuse me?" Hatori glanced back at the girls in surprise.
Michiko paled slightly, whacking her sister upside the head. "Micharu I can't believe you!"
"It was just a question, why else would you ask about Aaya's taste in girls?"
"Because I made a deal with Mine, and FYI, I was doing it for you!" Michiko huffed, hitting her sister again, who retaliated and created a slapping fight.
Hatori pulled over, turning around in his seat to try and separate them. Unfortunately, Micharu fell backwards into him causing a tiny seahorse to appear and fall between the girls on the seat. Michiko squealed trying not to crush him as she fell over her sisters legs.
"Oh crap!" Michiko exclaimed, seahorses and air do not mix. "Micharu grab a container!"
In her haste, Micharu grabbed Hatori's coffee cup, wincing as the liquid spilled over her. She dropped the container, almost hitting Hatori had Michiko not snatched it out of the air, successfully spilling the remainder on her jeans. Giving the cup a quick rinse with a water bottle she found on the floor, she filled it up again and dropped Hatori in. Sighing in relief the girls flopped back against the seat.
Micharu glanced out the back window hearing a car pull up behind them. A police car. Micharu grabbed Hatori's coat and dragged it over the top of the coffee cup, knocking it over. Seconds before the cop approached the car, Hatori changed back, soaking wet and covered only by his jacket.
The cop knocked on the window, unsure of what to make of a nearly naked man in the backseat with two coffee soaked teenage girls. "Is there a problem here?"
Michiko answered, since Micharu seemed completely speechless. "No sir, we just had a bit of a problem with a coffee cup." She smiled brightly despite her nervousness at trying to explain the situation. The cop gave them a strange look, but decided that they weren't in danger, so he nodded and returned to his car before driving away.
Hatori released an audible sigh and Micharu looked close to tears. "Hatori, I'm sorry, I didn't mean too, please don't be mad, we'll never fight again, I'll even clean your car for you, and I'll walk next time no matter how far away I need to go."
"No, it's fine, I'll take it to the cleaners later." He sighed again. "Please turn around so I can get back into my seat." Both girls complied as Hatori held the jacket firmly around his waist and crawled into the front seat.
It was another couple of minutes to Ayame's and the ride passed in uncomfortable silence. Arriving, the girls thanked Hatori for the ride, gave him some money for the cleaners and entered the shop quickly without looking back.
Mine greeted them. "hey girls, how's it going?"
"Could be better," answered Micharu. "we just made a mess of Hatori's car when we spilled his coffee."
Mine frowned slightly. "Don't worry, Hatori is pretty sensible, I'm sure he won't be angry long." Her smile returned. "So what can I help you with today, more outfits?"
"Umm," said Michiko, "we were actually hoping that you and Ayame could give us sewing lessons."
Mine tilted her head slightly in a questioning glance. "I can, but you'll have to ask Ayame. Why the sudden interest?"
Micharu fielded this question. "We want to make plushies for the Sohma's as Christmas presents."
"Ah, Gure-san's little friends!" Ayame flounced out from the back room. "What brings you here?"
Mine answered for them. "They'd like sewing lessons."
"Really? That's wonderful, I'm always happy to teach my art."
The girls grinned. "You could help us make Yuki's present first so that we get the hang of it, then we should be fine to make the rest."
"What are you going to make him?"
"A tiny stuffed rat." Answered Michiko.
Ayame smiled brightly. "That's so perfect!"
"I could always give him mine, but I'd like to make him one instead."
"Of course, and you're planning on making these things for everyone?"
Micharu nodded. "We're making you one as well, but it won't be a surprise since you'll be teaching us."
"That's alright, I don't really mind."
They spent the next few weeks in the company of Ayame and Mine learning to sew under careful supervision. There were several injuries with the sewing needle, but nothing serious, by the end of November they had finished eight of the eleven plushies they were going to make. Having devoted most of their spare time to finishing them, they hadn't gotten much else done.
Michiko was currently working on the Momiji bunny plushie and Micharu was working on the Shigure puppy. Setting her work aside Michiko sighed. "I'm tired of sewing, let's do something else. Don't we have anything entertaining to do?"
Micharu thought for a moment. "We could play a game, I saw Disney Scene It somewhere in the house a while ago."
"Are you serious?" Michiko sat up quickly, "We have to play that!" Pushing her sister off the couch into a standing position she squealed, "Find it, find it!"
"Ok, ok, I'm going." Micharu bent down and shuffled through the stacks of movies and other things under the TV in the cabinet. "Found it!" she announced triumphantly holding up the multicolored box.
"Awesome possum! I'll go get everyone to play with us." While Micharu set up the game and board, Michiko rounded up Shigure, Yuki, Kyo and Tohru. It was mid afternoon so they had a while to play before dinner.
"What are we doing?" asked Tohru.
"We're going to play a game, now we're going to be divided into teams, I'm thinking guys against girls."
There wasn't too much argument so they sat on their respective sides of the gameboard and rolled the dice.
(AN: This chapter could be very long, but we're getting bored with lots of detail, so we'll be wrapping this up semi-quickly.)
"Choose a card."
"Solve the puzzle."
"Lady and the Tramp!"
"Cinderella!"
"Lilo and Stitch!"
By the time the game was half finished the girls were staring at Kyo with a look of astonishment, he had answered nearly every single one of the questions directed at his team, they were actually ahead of the girls at the moment.
Michiko picked up a card to ask the question to the guys. "What is the name of the dragon from Mulan?"
"Mushu." Kyo answered. "When are you going to get to the hard questions?"
"We thought this game would be challenging for you, we never knew you watched Disney so much."
"What do you think I did before bed every night during that four month training session?" They all looked at him oddly. "Oh, nevermind, just roll the dice."
Tohru rolled for the girls, coming up with a three and a mousellaneous. Yuki asked the question for them. "What Disney movie is based on the legend of an ancient civilization?"
Micharu answered for her group. "Atlantis."
This continued for a while until they were at the All Play to Win, the girls were only one roll behind the guys, if the boys answered this question right, or rather if Kyo answered it right, then they would win. It was a 'spot the difference' clip, where two nearly identical pictures were shown and you had to find out what was different. It was a picture of Belle and the Beast sitting a large chair in front of the fire, reading a book. They all stared intently for a moment before Kyo shouted out, "The bow! Her hair bow is dark green in one and pale green in the other!"
The boys had won the game, much to the surprise of the girls, it turns out that Kyo was even more fanatical about Disney then they were, not something you'd expect from the cat. The girls pouted as they returned to their sewing and Kyo glowed with pride over his win, completely ignoring how much Shigure was bugging him for watching Disney.