Hello everyone! I'm back on the Fruits Basket scene and it's great to be back! I hope all of my usual readers will check this story out as well. My first FB fic "Dancing" was a huge hit so I just hope you'll enjoy this one as well. It's another one of those weird relation ones. One of my friends had a ton of weird relation ideas and I promised her I'd turn them all into stories with my own twists and ideas, so here it is. This is "Darkened Hearts," enjoy! This one deals with some of the characters you don't see much of and in my opinion don't see enough of. This story starts after volume 10 of the mangas, after the chapters about Mayu, Kana, and Hatori. A little note here, I don't know how soon I'll be able to post chappie 2. I'm working on a few other things I have to finish up before getting back to work on this one. I haven't even started writing chappie 2 but I was just dying to post up chappie 1, so bear with me. I promise it will be up ASAP!
Darkened Hearts
Chapter 1
Saki Hanajima sat in between two rows of bookshelves, engrossed in a book entitled The Witch's Doom. She was usually found sitting in the floor of the horror aisle reading some book with a glossy black cover and creepy title. She would spend hours on end reading there in the store so she wouldn't have to purchase the book; she didn't have all the money in the world.
"All right, Mom, I'm here!" cried a voice. It was an annoyed, tired, and exasperated voice but it was also familiar. Hana, as everyone called her, did not look up though, but continued reading. When she heard the footsteps moving closer and growing fiercer with every step she allowed her eyes to peek over the rim of the book as the figure passed her aisle. It was her homeroom teacher.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Mayuko!" came the cry of a much older voice.
"What's the big idea calling me down here?" her teacher shouted.
"Your father had to go to some bookselling conference and I can't manage the store by myself," the woman, obviously her mother, replied.
"Mom, you really need to start hiring; you and Dad aren't going to be able to run the store forever and you know how much I hate filling in, I won't run the store for you when you can't, I've got my own life now," Mayu said.
"We'll see," her mother sighed tiredly, sick of her daughter's complaining. "You know we don't have the money right now, though."
"So you call up your daughter," Mayu sighed in return.
"Why shouldn't I call my daughter to work in the family store?" she returned heatedly.
"Mom, you don't even pay me," Mayu said.
"And why should I?" she asked.
"I'm sick of arguing!" she screamed, grabbing the employee apron from the rack in the back room and huffing back through the bookstore and behind the counter.
I can't believe this. Who does she think she is? Just because she's my mother, it doesn't give her the right to call me up to fill in for Dad. I have a life and a full-time job. I'm a teacher. I have papers to grade.
Just as this thought came to her she gasped and fled back into the back room, returning with a backpack. She slung it over the counter and hopped over herself. It was slow today, in fact, there seemed to be no one there, she could grade papers. The store returned to silence and Hana returned to her book. Not for long. The door swung open, the little bell at the top of the door jingling to signal the entrance of a customer even though it was obvious, especially from the front check-out counter. Another familiar voice, this one more friendly and comforting, rang out.
"Sensei!" it cried.
"Honda!" came the surprised return from the teacher.
"Oh, Sensei, I didn't know you worked here too, that's amazing! I don't think I could manage two jobs, especially one as time consuming as teaching," Tohru exclaimed. Mayu's gaze softened ever so slightly. Tohru Honda was such a sweet, kind person, but mostly truthful. It was impossible for that girl to lie. She was also the girl living with the Sohmas which gave Mayu a twinge of jealousy. She was sure she practically knew the whole family by now, including Hatori.
"Well, I don't work here, not really. This is my family's store so I fill in when Mom needs me sometimes," Mayu explained.
"I had no idea this was your store!" Tohru cried, just as excited at this piece of news.
"Well, it's not really mine," Mayu protested, not really wanted to be associated with the store. Tohru had no time to respond because another customer entered. It was him.
"Hatori!" Tohru shouted happily, utterly surprised be delighted to see him.
"Tohru," he said, surprised himself though he didn't show it nearly as much.
"It's good to see you," she said.
"Likewise," he replied in his usual, stiff manner. "You too, Mayu." He turned to the teacher behind the counter. She nodded.
"You know each other?" Tohru questioned.
"You could say that," Hatori replied. It was such a vague answer to such an obvious question. He must have assumed it was such an obvious question that no matter what he had said the answer was "yes."
"You must excuse me, I've got to go look for some more cooking books," Tohru said, bowing slightly and then rushing off. Hatori and Mayu both smiled softly after her as she rushed off to the cooking and gardening section, which had two uses for her.
"Shigure told me my book was in," Hatori said solemnly, wiping the slight smile off of his face and turning to face Mayu.
"He's just your little messenger, isn't he?" she asked, half jokingly and half smugly.
"Since he's always down here, mainly just staring at his own books, I asked him to make himself useful and check up on the book for me," Hatori replied.
"Oh," she said plainly. "Well, it is in." She dug underneath the counter and pulled out a medical book as he handed her the money for it, taking the book from the counter. Hatori always purchased the new medical books through the Shiraki Bookstore. That was one good thing to filling in.
"Thank you," he said, walking out the door. Mayu stared after him longingly.
Unknowingly, Hatori had affected everyone in the store. The moment he had entered a piercing pain had shot through Hana's head. She dropped the book immediately, hands going straight to her head. It ached as it never had before. She closed her eyes tight in the pain. She heard voices, cruel voices, soft voices, inundating her brain. It gradually began to cease as Hatori exited. Strange. Then she heard a concerned voice.
"Hana!" it cried. She looked up to see Tohru leaning over her, peering into her face.