Title: House Call
Series: Fruits Basket
Focused Characters: Souma Yuki and Kuragi Machi
Summary: During his childhood, Souma Yuki never got the chance to play "Doctor". What happens when he finally gets the chance with Kuragi Machi?
Disclaimer: Natsuki Takaya is love.
Note: I wrote this in what... 20? 30 minutes? Please don't mind the grammar mistakes, odd character portrayals, and narrative writing. Spoilers for Chapter 112. This is slight AU considering we find out Kakeru has only been to Machi's house once.
During a student council meeting, Yuki couldn't help but notice Machi's face as it got paler and paler by the minute. Rather than not listen to a class representative's proposal, he decided to confront her about it after the meeting.
And confront her, he did. Right after the meeting, when most of the students left, he took her by her shoulders, and slammed her into the wall. "Did you stay up late last night?" he asked harshly, conveniently forgetting to add "in the cold" to his question. He stared directly at her eyes, making sure no predators were trespassing on his territory.
No, it didn't happen like that. It'd be nice if it did though.
Anyway, after the meeting, he said his goodbyes to the rest of the members. Except to Kakeru, who had left in the middle of the meeting for his part-time job. He then spotted Machi, who was currently walking through the gateway of the school campus. Yuki then called out to her telling her to wait a bit. In turn, Machi stopped and turned around waiting for the person that called out for her. As Yuki got closer, she stared at him with a quizzical look.
"Machi... do you mind if I walk home with you today? I'm going this way anyway." After all, he was worried that she wouldn't even make it home in her state. Of course, if he told her that bluntly, she would just be her stubborn self and walk away from him. However, Machi responded, "No! You can't! ... That you can't!"
Yuki, knowing that kind of answer from her was actually a yes, sighed in relief. He then decided to grab her hand, and lead her towards her apartment. With Yuki keeping a straight face, and Machi blushing as they walked for a while, he was intent on getting Machi home as fast as he could.
Until he saw the convenience store, that is.
He then let go of her hand, and literally bounced into the store. After a few minutes of Machi waiting pondering what was wrong with the president today, Yuki suddenly came out with a spoon and some medicine, and shoved it into her mouth.
No. He didn't do that either, but it would have been really amusing if he did.
Back to the actual story, as he saw the convenience store ahead of him, he took this as a chance to buy some medicine and some other supplies. So, he asked, "Ah, Machi, do you mind if I buy something really quick?" Machi replied, by shaking her head, still trying to figure what the hell he wanted from her.
With that, he walked off towards the convenience store, trying to be as fast as he could. He realized that she shouldn't be left alone outside, but he was already here. So he headed straight for the items he wanted to buy, and then went to the cashier, while occasionally glancing outside the windows to make sure she was alright. After paying for his purchases, he went outside, and shook her to wake her out of her thoughts. "So. Let's go?"
They then kept walking towards her apartment, until Machi couldn't take the silence anymore. "Hey, Kaichou. What is it you want from me?"
Yuki then turned his head to her and asked, "What makes you think I want something from you?"
"Surely you need something."
"I don't."
"You're a really rotten guy, you know?"
At that, Yuki couldn't help but laugh. He didn't mind hearing that from her, knowing that someone else from his school would not be that blunt with him. Well, except maybe Kakeru, but he didn't really appreciate him teasing him in that way.
He then saw her apartment complex a few meters or so away from where they were standing. But while they were walking, Yuki had forgotten exactly why he was there, until he saw the pale face again. So, seeing that even if she tried to walk away from him, he already knew where she would be.
"You've been sick since this morning, haven't you?" Yuki then smacked himself mentally. Like that was any way of trying to take care of someone.
"No. I don't know." She then walked off towards her apartment, leaving him, not turning back, knowing that she is indeed sick. He didn't need to worry about her after all.
Finally, she was about to unlock the door to her apartment, until a hand came out and snatched away the key. Not noticing that Yuki had followed her earlier, she tried to take the key out of her hands, until Yuki had already unlocked the door.
Once the door was unlocked, Machi hurried inside and attempted to close the door before the other person had a chance to come in. Apparently, the person on the other side of the door realized this, and tried to keep the door up. So, we now had two people on each side of the door pushing against each other.
"Stupid. Are you trying to tire yourself out and make yourself sick on purpose?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief after hearing Yuki call her stupid. While she was frozen in shock, Yuki took this as a chance to get inside her apartment. Thus, he took her hand and told her to go to her room and change her clothes, so she wouldn't feel worse. After she grudgingly went to her room, Yuki couldn't help but notice the mess her apartment was in.
"Always the unorganized one, isn't she?" he murmured to himself as he remembered the time she brought a can-opener last time she went to a student council gathering. "It's cute somehow."
Deciding that he should get some medicine for her, he went off to try and locate the first aid kit. Though, after a few minutes of searching, he finally gave up and decided to make home-remedy, taught to him by a certain onigiri. He went back to the previous room, and decided to get the items he had bought earlier, than walked off to her kitchen. Sure, it wasn't the correct way of making this remedy, considering he was just using pre-made green tea from a can and mixing honey, but at least he wasn't going to kill the already-sick girl.
Just when he was going to find a kettle to boil the recipe, Machi decided to step in, and quietly asked, "What are you doing?" She then eyed the cans and bottles. "... I don't think I want to know."
Stepping out of the room, she went off to sit on the sofa, not knowing exactly why he was doing this. This was definitely not the person she knew a while ago. Was he just feeling lonely? Would he have done this for anyone else? If anything, he was definitely weird.
Breaking herself away from those thoughts, Machi couldn't help but want to rest. She could have missed school and stayed home, but not being able to do anything with yourself wasn't always great. Trying to keep herself awake, she tried to think of something, even though her mind was refusing. Maybe Yuki would burn down her apartment. That'd be nice.
Realizing what she just thought of, she decided she should sleep, rather than having him witness a delirious persona of herself. So, she closed her eyes, and lied down on the sofa she was currently sitting on, blocking out her thinking process.
After awhile, Yuki went into the current room with a tray with two cups of honey-green tea, just to find that peacefully sleeping Machi. Containing his joy at actually not burning her apartment down, he sat down the tray on the nearby table, and sat down next to her feet on the sofa where she was sprawled out.
Stealing a few glimpses of her, Yuki hoped she wasn't too sick and that he did a good job. Sitting back into the sofa, he could only hope one thing.
Get well soon, Machi.
AN: Finally, I'm done typing! I think my want to finish typing and go to sleep caused this fic to be rushed, quite OOC, and have many other flaws. If you review, you could tell me what those flaws are. Ah well. Irrelevant to this, but I want to say to everyone who's even reading this that: My reviews here for some fanfics get cut off in the middle of the review. So, I won't review as much, but I'm still reading your fanfics! Now with a sudden urge to type more, here are some random ideas.
Extra-cut-scene #1--
He didn't actually think something bad could happen while he was gone.
But boy, was he wrong...
While a certain pair was resting, an unsuspecting Kakeru walked into the apartment and called out with a sing-songy voice, "Machi! Your loving, wonderful big brother has arrived!"
Not seeing the usual sight of his sister at the table studying, he walked around the apartment expecting to find her, only to find--
"WHAT THE HELL! YOU PERVERT! GET OUT OF HER HOUSE!"
He then grabbed the closest thing, which was in fact a tissue box and not a bottle-opener, and proceeded to throw it at the unknown person. Well, unknown until Yuki turned and looked at Kakeru, just to see a flying object coming right at him.
Dodging the flying tissue box, he stared at Kakeru incredulously. "Kakeru! What in the..."
He was cut off by a simple "Yunyun? It's you!". But after staring at the sleeping girl, then back at his beloved friend, he failed to grasp the situation. "YUNYUN?"
Kakeru walked towards Yuki, on his way to attempt to suffocate him. "I always knew you were a pervert, but I never knew you would go this far! Evil molester-loving monster! I shall punish you!"
"There you go again shouting random nonsense! You're overreacting again!" Yuki retorted and decided to choke Kakeru in return.
"OVERREACTING? Protecting an innocent sleeping girl from someone like you is overreacting?" Apparently, Kakeru still hadn't grasped the situation.
"Oh..." Yuki then dropped his hands from Kakeru's neck when he realized what Kakeru was thinking of. He started to protest. "It's not like that! Your sister was sick, and you left for work, so..."
At hearing those words, Kakeru moved his hands away from Yuki's neck, and put one arm around the Souma's shoulder, as if he was never angry. He glanced at Machi, then back at Yuki. "Sorry about that. But, you really didn't do anything to her?"
"No, no!"
"Good. Thanks for taking care of Machi while I was gone! But I still can't trust you and your two-timing!"
Yuki stared at Kakeru with confusion. Two-timing? After a few moments, he groaned mentally. Not this conversation again!
"You still haven't chosen between Machi and me!"
"Why you?"
"WHADDYA MEAN? I'm a perfectly good candidate too!"
"But..."
While the two boys were bickering as if it was their usual pastime, they didn't notice a pair of eyes watching them from the direction of the sofa.
There was no doubt about it. The two closest men to her were the strangest people in the world, and she would never figure them out.
Extra-cut-scene #2--
Sitting down at his usual spot in the school library, he began looking through the books he had borrowed for background information of Natsume Souseki, for his History class. Sure, Yuki didn't have anything against literature, but having to write an essay was something not quite enjoyable. Getting lost in the novels, haiku, and fairy tales around him, he didn't notice the small group of underclassmen starting to surround him.
The younger students all stared at each other until one decided to be the one to address the Prince of their school. "Yuki-senpai!"
"EHHH?" Yuki jumped back at seeing the group of boys suddenly around him. "Oh, hey."
He then looked at the guy who addressed him, expectantly. "Do you need anything?"
"Right. We heard history was your specialty, so we were wondering if you could explain something for us?" The group of guys looked at Yuki, hoping for his approval. When they saw it, they all sat down in the surrounding chairs near him. They then went off to ask him about the Battle of Nagashino, Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and what not.
After a while of studying, the guys stared at each other as if daring each other to ask. One boy piped up. "Ne, Yuki-senpai. Some of the guys saw you leaving Kuragi-chan's apartment complex really late last night. Really late last night."
At hearing Machi's name, Yuki looked up from his textbook. "What?" He answered, wondering how they knew where she lived but also not knowing what to expect.
The same guy leaned in and whispered. "Was she good?"
After a few moments of wondering what they were talking about, he finally realized what context that was used in. He stared at the group, who were waiting for an answer. "That would be shameful!"
Another guy from the group went to quietly retort against his classmate. "She was probably good! He wouldn't just choose anyone."
Shaking his head at the thought of other guys talking about his personal life, he leaned forward, gesturing the group to come closer. He answered with a stoic face. "I think it's time for... the little boys to go back to class now."
With that, in a few seconds; the younger boys stood up, bowed, said their appreciation for helping them, and hurried off out of the library. Yuki then leaned back into his chair, and went back to his homework.
He then made a mental note to himself that he would visit Machi later knowing she had not come to school today.
After all, patients did need their regular check-ups.