#does Momiji like the heat?

[the-blossica-fan]

Happy Halloween regardless ^-^

Rule of thumb: If you have a cool surname, you can keep it

It's how Alicia kept Kruggermann and Momiji kept Wildfire lol

The father of Momiji is that of Oswald Wildfire, who is the Chief of the Peace-Keepers; the police force of Diianas, who are VERY good at their job, with zero brutalities ^-^

To those of Diianas, while they strive for Peace, that of Order and Harmony also intersect.

Unfortunately, The Guilty make use of how loose a statement Peace is; as they do it through violence. Over the years, they're now moreso a private group of attack dogs, should anyone outside Diianas seek trouble

Much like the Attempted Invasion of Diianas by King Carolus X of Haravin... Diianas' rules state if you stated you're going to invade and step over the territory that is belonging to Diianas, they have all the right to fire cannons at you. Which is exactly what happened.

Besides, it's subzero there you wouldn't survive, especially as Haravin is based in the desert

If Philip or anyone from Diianas went to anywhere that isn't "cold" they'd get a heatstroke 😭

Hell yeah. I would implement this rule in every marriage. If your last name sounds cooler than your partner's, don't change it.

Fight for the last name

Well for some reason I did imagine a last name like Wildfire to be of some sort of peace group, dunno why

Sub-Zero actually sounds like a cool zone, I would die there but it sounds cool

I can imagine this group of people watching the climate go a slightly bit hotter and they're all dramatics

Dramatic queens

(same I can't be anywhere too cold or I'll be trembling like that's my name)

[cinderella-ish]

Masterpost: Fics Alphabetically by Title

See my fics listed by Character/Pairing | Fandom | Genre | Wordcount | Series: lovers alone wear sunlight | Series: That Day in the Rain

A-I

Along a Pitch Black Path | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket M | Tohru/Kyo, Akito/Shigure, Mayu/Hatori | AU & tragedy What if Akito's slash to Tohru's arm had been fatal? This is the darkest timeline.

Baby's First Birthday | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | Tohru/Kyo, Tohru & Yuki | mild hurt/comfort Tohru can't seem to get her camcorder to work.

Bloom Within Us | WIP - 200,000+ words | Fruits Basket T | Saki/Kyo, Momiji/Hiroshi | AU, angst, drama, & hurt/comfort What if Tohru Honda didn't survive her fall from the cliff? Kyo, Yuki, Saki, Arisa, and the rest of Tohru's loved ones mourn together and figure out a way forward without her.

Burn Me | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | Angst If Tohru had to pick one word to describe how Kyo makes her feel, it would be heat.

Completely Hopeless | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | hurt/comfort Tohru swoons on the way home from school after failing one of her midterms. How does Kyo get her home safe?

Don't Be a Stranger | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Gen - Arisa & Akimoto | slice of life After a draining day at work, Arisa Uotani runs into someone from her past.

Fly on the Wall | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Gen - Machi | angst Machi's thoughts on the day Haru destroyed her classroom.

Furedi | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Gen (ensemble cast) | fluff & humor When his younger cousins come over to watch Mogeta, Shigure finally tells Kyo the true nature of Jason, just in time to invent a new threat in the surrounding woods: Freddy.

Hold Me | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | hurt/comfort A year after the curse breaks, Kyo still gets nightmares.

ichigo ichie | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, your name. T | Tohru/Kyo, Akito & Haruhi & Tohru | crossover, drama & romance Tohru Honda wants to break the Zodiac Curse and free Kyo. Haruhi Fujioka wants to get out of the time loop that's kept her and the Host Club from advancing grades. One morning, Tohru and Haruhi wake up in each other's bodies. Will they be able to break the cycles that keep them and their found families trapped? Fruits Basket x Ouran High School / Your Name AU

In a Pickle | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Machi/Yuki | hurt/comfort While Yuki is on the phone with Tohru, she asks about Machi, like she always does. As he answers, she notices some signs that their lives are about to change in a big way.

J-Of

Jellyfish in the Water | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Mayu/Hatori | humor & hurt/comfort Mayu gets stung by a jellyfish while on her honeymoon with Hatori

Lifeline | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | angst Tohru sat on the floor of her room, clutching her knees to her chest. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay... She clung to the words like a lifeline, desperately seeking to reassure herself that she wouldn’t lose her mother again.

Like a Bolt Out Of the Blue | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | Tohru/Kyo, Hajime/Mutsuki, Momiji/OMC | fluff & pining At their annual family beach trip, Hajime wrestles with some big feelings.

Like Father, Like Son | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another T | Gen - Tohru & Kyo & Hajime & Yuma (Tohru/Kyo as well) | fluff When Tohru and Kyo can't find their two young sons one morning, they turn up in an unexpected-- and very cute!-- place.

like the flowers and the bees | WIP - 10,000+ words | Fruits Basket E | Machi/Yuki, Momiji/Hiroshi, Saki/Kyo | smut In a world without Tohru Honda, three couples explore intimacy as they fall in love, process their grief, and deal with the many twists and turns of life.

Lonely Future | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Kyo | angst Kyo Sohma didn't believe in soulmates.

Love Me Not | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | angst Tohru finds Kyo on the roof. Kyo convinces himself it doesn't mean anything. French Translation: Ne m'aime pas

Melon Splitting | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Gen - Tohru & Yuki (Tohru/Kyo and Machi/Yuki appear) | humor & hurt/comfort Back at the beach house, a game of watermelon splitting goes wrong.

Of Lost Cats and Half-Shadows | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket & JuJutsu Kaisen T | Tohru/Kyo, Megumi/Yuji | crossover, drama & romance Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara enroll at Kaibara High School to investigate the Zodiac curse and free the souls it binds. Kyo is immediately suspicious of the three new students and rejects their attempts at friendship. Will they be able to break this ancient curse before Kyo is locked up forever?

On-Z

The One Who Stays | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo, Akito & Yuki | AU, drama & romance What if Yuki hadn’t run after Kyo? Tohru confesses her love. Kyo confesses his sins. Yuki sees it all. And then Akito arrives.

On Top of the World | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Kyo | fluff Tohru has a surprise planned for her date with Kyo.

Over (Un)Easy | Short Story | Fruits Basket G | Yuki & Shigure, Yuki & Haru | slice of life Yuki moves into Shigure's house and stumbles through his first day outside of that dark room.

Same Thing | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Gen - Kyo (background Tohru/Kyo pre-relationship) | angst As Kyo watches his senpai graduate, he reflects on the upcoming year; the last year of his life outside of the cage.

So Lucky | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | hurt/comfort Kyo always wanted to protect her. She was so incredibly precious to him. He never wanted to let anything bad happen to her. But, as he quickly learned, protecting Tohru was a lot easier said than done.

Something to Talk About | Flash Fiction | JuJutsu Kaisen M | Megumi/Yuji | hurt/comfort & romance Megumi and Yuji's relationship deepens after Sukuna is defeated.

We Have the Rest of Our Lives | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | fluff & hurt/comfort Kyo helps Tohru change her bandages after she's released from the hospital.

Welcome Home | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Kyo | fluff Tohru anxiously awaits Kyo's return from a training trip.

Where We Left It | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Momiji (one-sided) | angst Momiji reflects on his love for Tohru in the wake of his curse breaking.

Wish | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | Tohru/Kyo | fluff Tohru and Kyo take their three children to their small town's Tanabata festival.

[nek0mars]

My thoughts on Akito Sohma

In the beginning, I hated Akito Sohma. Every episode made me more and more heated; I’d honestly never felt so much hate toward anything, especially not a fictional character. But the more I watched, the more I started to understand why Akito Sohma acts the way she does.

Akito has been raised knowing that people were awaiting her presence even prior to her birth, and on top of her being the “God” of the zodiacs, she feels like everyone should listen only to her. It doesn’t help that after her father’s death, her mother was insistent on telling Akito she was to be forever worthless and unloved.

In fact, Akito acts the way she does because…

She's afraid.

Afraid that someday, everyone will leave her, and that she’ll be completely and utterly alone. Afraid that she was a mistake.

And deep down, she knows her outbursts have consequences, yet she refuses to acknowledge them.

Akito is just an emotionally and mentally unstable woman. Back then, she was just an emotionally unstable little girl with no one to guide her or correct her cruelty. And so she grew up with that same instability where people were too afraid to oppose her.

She suffered emotional and psychological abuse, and because of that, she took to emotionally and mentally scarring the people around her. She felt it was her right to treat the zodiac members as she pleased because…she was their God. She believed it was her birthright, and she had every reason to act how she did toward them all.

But that never gave her the right to treat those people the way she did. Although her trauma affected her in that way, she should never have taken it out on the people around her.

She hurt people. Not only psychologically or emotionally, but physically as well. She almost killed Rin (twice). She scarred Yuki. Hurt Kisa, Hatori, Momiji, Kyo… and the list continues on. Every zodiac was affected in a negative sense by her in some way.

But it was never entirely her fault. Even though she was the one who carried out the actions, she just didn’t know when to stop. She was the victim of abuse. She was spoiled and entitled, but only because she was told she could be. And when Kureno’s curse first broke, she got scared, realizing that the zodiacs might all someday leave her; it very literally made something within her snap. She pleaded with Kureno to not leave her, and out of pity, he stayed. He couldn’t bear to leave the crying little girl who just seemed so…lost.

Someone like Akito doesn’t know how to control their feelings. Nor do they have someone to tell their worries and woes. Even if she did have the four eldest zodiacs to talk with, it never meant she’d believe they’d always be there to listen. It never meant that she really believed her own feelings either.

She truly was lost. She didn’t have anyone to turn to, and reacted the only way she knew how. With anger and outbursts and insults.

I still dislike her as a character but that means she’s just a very well-written antagonist. I told myself I wouldn’t accept her “redemption arc,” but that’s completely untrue.

I’m about to finish watching season 3 of Fruits Basket soon, and I think I’ll be content with how it all plays out.

I very honestly want Akito to finally be free. Free from the curse, and free to live her life how she really wants to. I want her to finally feel like she can love and be loved without restriction or fear that the person she loves might leave her.

Everyone deserves to know love, regardless of actions or upbringing.

And someone born into her life deserves to know what real love truly is. x-x-x Thanks for reading!! :)

[a-weird-writer]

Do you think a polyamourus relationship would work with Shuten and Ibaraki? Personally, idk. I was just thinking. Like they are vastly different personalities 😂

Yes!

These best friends differ as one can be, indeed. An unlikely duo.

A chilling drunken deity of demons and an Oni marked by supreme enthusiasm, ready to set foot-rage into battle when the moment calls for it. Thus, lead to these 2 supernaturally powerful strangers eventually crossing paths. Shuten Dōji was clearly annoyed, but strength and unwavering determination-the soul of a warrior-changes a person's mind very quickly, something Ibaraki Dōji is fueled plenty of. Along with his beat friend's regained memories.

Their love of sparring, of worthy battles, soon pushed them together. And when Shuten finally had enough of the endless badgering. After learning they share a multitude of things in common, bonding over Mt. Oe's specialty wine and a few needed laughs, things just went up from there. Far up, extended in death. They aren't ashamed of how close they are, Ibaraki Dōji least of all. Can't stress it enough how much Ibaraki gossips about his best friend. Brags and brags, he just doesn't have an off switch; if he talks Shuten's ear off this much, how long do you think he'll go on about his love?

Obviously, they hold trust and pixie dust. Willing to perish protecting their connection. Such a strong bond is beautiful to witness. Even in the heat of battle, scarred and battered by their foes-they live, laugh and love each other. Same deal for their beloved, you're treated no less; meant to be there with them as a part of their overall whole, a family. It's no party without their lover, without all of you there to share and happily indulge together as one. From how insistent they are to hang all over you, why complain? Always expecting you to join their hang outs, and honestly, knowing how Ibaraki is, he'd convince you. Ask Shuten Dōji himself. If there's a will- no, if Ibaraki has a will, there's a way. He'll make a way himself, underestimating him is a terrible mistake.

Whether or not you join their friendly little punch ups, there is a lot of consideration for your wellbeing, how greatly you impact their lives, and how much meaning you generously give them. Out of all the humans and shikigami, a polymerous relationship with 2 of the world's most powerful demons is one of the top lively and exciting ones out there. Especially from Shuten's end. Funny how annoying he finds Ibaraki's constant pestering, yet he is the exact same towards his lover. He is crazy about you, can write an entire book about it if he had time. Can never seem to cease complimenting you, and oh boy he can't make it more known how he misses you. How much you would lighten up this boring party with him and Ibaraki. Sometimes even Ibaraki can't stand it, pure cringe.

Speaking of Ibaraki.

Depending how you entered this relationship and how much Ibaraki personally knows you expect...jealousy. He either introduces you as dramatically as an English anime voice actor-like Shuten just knows he will-or he tries to make you leave. Force you to fuck off in the most brutal methods known to man, furiously protective of his dear friend. It stems from a main source, the trauma his dear friend suffered from the seductive hands of Momiji, who broke Shuten's poor heart into millions of itty-bitty pieces. Shuten nearly abandoned relationships entirely. Ibaraki loathes her for it, forgiveness will never bliss her.

Envy is next to nonexistent within Shuten. As one of the strongest demons to roam the Earth, as well as their deity, there is no reason to envy insignificant people. Or anyone really. If anything, others envy being so beneath Shuten in power. They can be mad all they want, Shuten couldn't care less if he wanted too. Just not that type. Slightly possessive in his own demonic way, but it's a fact; nothing to worry over Shuten's rival, no more than he usually does. Ibaraki is the only one to worry about fortunately. But also, unfortunately. Because Ibaraki loves making "that's a you" problem everyone else's problem. And it will take him longer to accept a new "lover" then it would Shuten.

Patience is a virtue. An important one. Give time, let Ibaraki go his comfortable pace, prove you mean no harm or ill will. Ibaraki maybe overdramatic but he isn't illogical, or immorally demeaning. Immortals like Ibaraki value it-time-greatly, like Jewelers selling their gems, rare treasures and antiques. Know him inside and out, he`ll warm up...

sooner or later.

[ghostietea]

Furuba autistic headcanons

With it being April, or autism acceptance month, I wanted to finally drop my list of characters from Fruits Basket that I read as autistic! This is based a lot on my own experience, as well as that of other autistics I know or have seen talk online. I hope some people can get something out of it, feel free to tell me what you think 😊, though please refrain from getting upset that I would dare suggest your fave is autistic.

Hanajima

Before becoming able to better control her powers, she would be constantly overwhelmed by the things she heard to the point that she couldn't even really go out in public. This reads a lot like sensory overload.

Constantly picked on in school because other kids thought she was weird. Eventually reclaimed this weirdness and turned it into a whole persona.

Seems to talk usually in a relatively flat tone.

Had trouble socializing with no friends outside her family until middleschool.

Has a very funny, dry sense of humor that I find very similar to a bunch of autistics I know, including myself.

Hatsuharu

Listen. You have seen the funky little man, you have seen the way he talks, the way he acts around others. He is, and I mean this in the best way, a weirdo. I do not know how you could look at him and see a neurotypical.

Once again, like Hana, Haru is funny in a way that feels very autistic.

Very flat, dry, tone delivery. Sometimes just Says Things that make everyone else go huh??? Suuuuper blunt. Doesn't emote facially a lot of the time.

When this man sees a social norm he doesn't get he WILL NOT follow it. Pierces his ears just because his hair got flak, defends Momiji wearing whatever he wants because sometimes y'know the social rules are just dumb and don't make sense. Especially dress codes.

Sometimes says things not befitting the current tone of the situation.

Represses (masks) a lot of his emotions, leading to outbursts that seem uncharacteristic.

His main childhood trauma revolves around adults branding him as "dumb" and ridiculing him. Haru, however, is super smart and wise!! Just in an offbeat way that not everyone may get.

Machi

Reads as very "flat" emotionally to the point that others would call her boring. Also has a flat vocal delivery.

Relies on specific habits or ways of doing things or else she gets super upset (her hatred of imperfection.

Has trauma surrounding adults completely misconstruing her intentions and thinking she's doing something malicious when she's not.

Generally behaves in a way that's hard for others to understand, one of her formative moments with Yuki was him saying he wanted to "see how the world looks" through her eyes.

Once again, trouble socializing.

Tries super hard to please her parents but in the end they still see her as somehow inherently "defective."

Listen. A lot of this one and the last two are mostly vibes, hard to verbally define. You just have to look at them and trust me.

Tohru

Displays behavior very reminiscent of masking throughout the story, a huge part of her arc is about how she hides a lot of herself and has a very controlled persona. I think it would fit very well if she had other autistic behaviors that she suppresed also it helps explain why she is relatively socially adept, it's learned behavior to make people like her more.

Yes she is very good at saying what others need to hear, but especially early on she is pretty blatantly imitating her mother's words. She only gets better at getting through on a more personal level later on (see her with Rin and Akito v. early series Tohru). She does this by relating her own experiences, a very autistic way of showing empathy that often gets us written off as self centered. The way she relays things her mom said could also be seen as this, and she even worries at a few points that she's being insensitive for going on about things like that.

While emotionally repressed she is hyper empathetic and feels other's emotions so strongly she cries.

Her speech patterns are all imitated from her father and she often copies verbal things from others (see Ritchan-san). Noted in canon that people think her way of speaking is slightly off/not befitting of someone her age. Additionally, her father was polite more sarcastically, while she plays it straight and sometimes takes things very literally or fails to get the message, indicating trouble with reading tone. Has numerous strange verbal tics, including saying parts of her internal monologue out loud without context.

Very expressive with her hands including waving them around and flapping them up and down.

Does have a bit of trouble with accidental insensitivity in social interactions, like how she constantly fixates on her mom and realizes that might bug the Sohma.

Has trouble paying attention in school since it doesn't have much to do with her interests

Her only friend until she was a middle schooler was her mom

Has a pretty unique outlook on things compared to others, people seem to think she's pretty eccentric. There's always a "this girl is nice but in an odd way, she's our weirdo and we love her" vibe.

Sometimes has an "inappropriate" emotional response to situations

Has a lot of trouble with change, similar to Akito. Which oh, look at the time, next hc coming up.

But first, a disclaimer. It is cathartic for me to read Akito this way, but with that reading comes the baggage that she would, mayhaps, be showing a more negative side of things... It doesn't bother me since it's a joint hc with other characters and she does develop at the end but yeah, general villain hc baggage. This is in no way me trying to excuse her being The Worst being autistic doesn't absolve you of being able to do wrong . Also, a lot of these points can and do have other explanations related to her upbringing, but things can be for more than 1 reason. With that said, she really strongly comes off as autistic to me, in a way that's sorta hard to explain. I wrote a lot more for her than the other, both because I felt I needed more to convince people and that this headcanon was more sensitive and I needed to be careful in my explanation. Also hey! She's my special interest within a special interest.

Akito

Shown to have a dislike of summer weather due to heat and brightness, could be due to sensory issues in tandem with sickness things. Also covers her ears when people raise their voice sometimes which is partially her trying to shut down opposition but also 🤔 can read a different way. She'd also avoids louder Juuni like Ritsu and Ayame because she can't handle them.

Wears pretty much the same outfit every single day. Said outfit is also pretty loose fitting.

Always seen sitting in a pretty unconventional way. Evidence:

Of course this is also the isolated in a cult thing and there is a level of her purposefully doing things to intimidate but: doesn't follow a lot of social rules (overly touchy with strangers, legit doesn't get that what she's doing is wrong, ect.). Repeatedly confused when people indicate she should act otherwise without explanation. Has a breakdown when this comes to a head and approximately says that "they" shouldn't expect her to know "common sense" if "they" never explained it to her, that the way that she was was her "common sense."

Often talks in a way uncharacteristic of her age when shown as a child in a more faux mature/pretentious way. Might just be the translation and idk how to explain it but her speech as an adult also seems off from what one would normally use in conversation. Additionally, when she tries to fake being friendly in her intro chapter, it comes of as extremely stiff and unconvincing.

Generally displays behavior that could be thought of as childish as an adult, but a lot of this behavior could also read as autistic (covering ears, emotional deregulation and meltdowns, ignorance of basic social norms, ect.). It's also important to note that she knows that this behavior makes her seem younger and more helpless to the older zodiac and uses it as a manipulation tactic. Has issues regarding people treating her like a child or only hanging out with her because of pity. While she does weaponize it, we can tell that this grates on her, as seen with her finally blowing up on Kureno, which is partially triggered by the maids saying some sorta infantalizing stuff about her. Irl, a lot of autistic adults and teens struggle with being infantalized for our behavior generally or treated as little babies that can do no wrong. Even in fandom, you see people doing stuff like jumping to call autistic adult characters, such as Entrapta from Shera, "minor coded." It is also common for us to have at least one bad experience with someone hanging around us out of pity. This is something that really gave me a similar feeling in Akito's arc. She's not a baby and she can understand and do better if she is given the chance to learn and break from all the freaky cult indoctrination she's been subjected to instead of just being constantly enabled. In the end, a lot of her growth is represented by her showing that she is capable of changing and being independent.

Shows particular difficulty with socialization, often sits by herself spacing out at social events. A lot of her fear is rooted in the fact that she doesn't know how normal relationships work, becoming overly reliant on the curse because she doesn't know how to make friends.

Clings desperately onto the notion of being "special" and in some way superior to others to be worthy and to make up for perceived inherent "flaws." It's the nd gifted kid burnout vibes for me.

Easily bothered by things that don't bother others. Feels emotions very strongly to the point of getting physically ill and has bad emotional regulation.

Relatively good at reading others in an analytical sense (though has more trouble when it comes to seeing how they feel about her since she's wildly delusional) but brings up her observations in a very cold, detached way and hurts people even on the rare occasion she didn't mean to. Has extreme trouble connecting to others and understanding their point of view. This makes her come off as pretty unempathetic even though that might not fully be the case. Also thinks that people like Momiji are trying to look down on her when they try to empathize with her. A lot of why Tohru can get through to her is that she manages to convince Akito that she's not condescending by relating shared traits and experiences. As I said earlier, autistics often empathize by sharing their own experiences with someone, and I know I often have an easier time confiding in other autistics because of a fear of being seen as lesser by those that don't understand me. I think the connection between these charachters and the way that Tohru manages to reach Akito like that while others couldn't makes a lot of sense through an autistic lense!

Additionally, when Akito herself gets around to trying to help others instead of just projecting trauma, she tries to reach out to the old maid by relating back to her own experiences. This however, doesn't work.

Has "cold" emotional reactions sometimes even to things that do make her upset. For example, how sort of calm and detached she acted after her father's death can make her seem uncaring. However, we know that this event did mess her up a lot and she is still (poorly) dealing with a lot of grief from the death of her father years later.

Copies mannerisms from others, the most blatant example is with Ren, who she directly parrots lines from as a child to Yuki.

Partly just her posturing, but gestures a lot with her hands when she talks. Also seen several times clutching her hands in her hair.

Deals extremely poorly with the idea of things changing to the point that it is a driving force of the story.

Does not understand when people tease her.

Ect. Ect. Ect. Listen, I could go on for ages but just trust me, the mean gremlin lady is autistic.

[eurydicees]

at the whisper of a violin

summary: momiji gives one last violin performance, just for the two of them, in which he bares his soul. a story in which tohru doesn’t understand, until she does. 

prompt: momiru for @eroshiyda ! i hope you enjoy <3 

pairings: momiji sohma/tohru honda

words: 1495

warnings: none

note: here is a spotify link to the violin piece, “none but the lonely heart” by tchaikovsky, that i listened to on a loop while writing this :) 

“Tohru!” 

Tohru turns away from the stove, catching just the sound of Momiji’s voice as he pauses at the front door to tug off his shoes. It takes only a moment before he comes into the kitchen, a bright smile on his face. 

Tohru grins at him. “Hello—” 

“Before I chicken out,” Momiji cuts in, “I promised that I would give you a private concert.” 

Tohru blinks. “Oh, Momiji, you didn’t really have to—” 

“I wanted to!” Momiji interrupts again. The excitement is bleeding into nervousness which bleeds into his voice, into the slight shake of his hands, into the grin at his lips. He hoists the violin case in his hands up, just showing that he has it. “Come on, take a break from cooking. You work too hard, Tohru.” 

Tohru glances between him and the vegetables that she had been cutting on the counter. Slices of carrots and scallions are resting in piles at the cutting board, the knife still in her hands. The miso soup in progress is simmering on the stove. “I suppose this can wait a few minutes.” 

“Great!” Momiji grins, grabbing her hand. 

He pulls her out of the kitchen and towards the table, Tohru following him with a yelp. She sits down at the table, legs folded underneath her. Momiji stands across the table from her— he sets down the violin case and pulls out the violin. 

“I got all prepared earlier,” he says, putting the violin to his shoulder. “I didn’t want to have to warm up while you were watching.” 

Tohru smiles at him, something warm coming to her cheeks. He’s more considerate than people give him credit for, she thinks. There’s something about the brightness of his smile and the energy that’s constantly running through his veins and coming out in bursts of laughter and movement that makes him seem childish, that makes him seem like he’s less than he is. Seeing him here, holding the violin, in his element, Tohru thinks that maybe she’s beginning to see through all of that. 

“What are you going to play?” she asks, rubbing her palms against her knees. 

She’s sweating from standing over the heat of the stove, and she can feel a kind of nervousness rising up in his throat. She can’t place why it comes, but Tohru has always had a good sense for people, and she can’t shake the feeling that Momiji is saying something with this performance that he can’t say out loud. 

Last time that they had talked, Momiji had said that he was going to quit playing violin, but he had promised her a concert, just between the two of them. Tohru is, with a sudden and acute awareness, terrified that this is going to be the last time that he plays violin. She doesn’t know what to do with that, with this gift— if she’s the last person to hear him play, play for real, that means he’s given up on his dream of a concert just for his family. 

She can’t let that happen. 

For the hundredth time that week, Tohru promises herself that she’s going to find a way to break the curse. This isn’t going to be Momiji’s last concert. His mother hasn’t heard him play, not yet. 

“Wish Upon A Star,” Momiji says, smiling, “just like you asked for. I’ve been practicing all week.” 

“You learned it so quickly,” Tohru says, more of a breath than a sentence. 

He shrugs, the violin hitting his chin. “I wanted to do this for you. As a thank you.” 

“A thank you for what?” she asks, frowning. 

“For being my friend,” he says, a soft smile on his face. It’s sad, though, and she can’t quite figure out why. “Are you ready?” 

Tohru nods wordlessly, and Momiji begins to play. 

She doesn’t know that she’s crying until she feels the tears drip from her cheeks to her clasped hands. She didn’t know, before this, how much music can move a person. How much it can say. 

Even in such a simple song, Tohru can hear the talent that rests in Momiji’s fingertips, she can feel the longing in the notes— the wishing for something that you can never have, the aching desire to hold it in your hands and the coldness in your palms where you know it will never lay. She can hear every emotion that she’s ever felt poured into each note.

Momiji closes his eyes while he plays, swaying back and forth slightly, his hands moving deftly across the instrument— fingers pressing down at the strings, wrist at a sharp angle, the bow of the violin falling across the strings as if it were the wind brushing through the trees. He gets lost in the music, lost in each dip and trill. 

Tohru watches with wide eyes, feeling the tears falling from her face as Momiji brings the song to its climax. He picks up speed, the bow moving quickly, his fingers flying across the strings until she can’t differentiate between ring and pinky. She watches him as he stands there, his stance strong, rooted into the ground with a kind of force that she doesn’t understand— like he’s scared that the music will give him wings and let him fly above the house and up to the sun. Like he’s afraid of the flight of sound. 

The music spills out from the violin in a kind of heartbreak, in a kind of longing, in a kind of wanting. There are no words for this, Tohru thinks. There is only sheet music. There is only song. 

She can’t put all of her thoughts together as she listens, can't string together a coherent sentence. She loses herself to the music. She lets herself fall into it, swimming among the notes, letting all of the feeling spill out of her chest and into the violin. She feels the tears falling faster, and she loses her breath as Momiji curls out one last note. 

It’s filled to the brim with longing and wanting and words that can never be said out loud.

The two of them let that last note hang in the air for a moment, let it disappear into the wind. Momiji keeps his eyes closed for that second, just drinking in the sudden silence. 

When Tohru finally brings herself to clap, Momiji opens his eyes. He turns to her with a sad smile. 

“You’re crying,” he says softly. 

Tohru wipes at her cheeks with her shirt sleeve, trying to clean herself of all sadness. She feels drained, in a way, like the song had taken everything out of her. “It was beautiful.” 

“Thank you,” he murmurs. He places the violin carefully in the case again, exhaling slowly. “I can’t continue my lessons anymore, but I’m glad I got to perform for you.” 

Tohru swallows. “Thank you, Momiji.” 

“Anytime, Tohru,” he says quietly. He chews at his lip for a moment before sitting down across from her. He busies himself with loosening the violin bow, with setting it away, with carefully strapping the violin into its case, with everything he can do but look at her. “Do you understand?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“What I’m saying.” Momiji takes a breath. “Tohru, do you know that I love you?” 

Tohru stares at him. Her cheeks are still wet. There’s a new kind of longing in the air, a new kind of song. “What?” 

Momiji doesn’t look at her, just closes the violin case and takes a breath. “You don’t have to say anything. But I’m glad you liked the song.” 

“I loved it,” Tohru says softly. 

Momiji stands up. He’s gotten taller; when did that happen? When did his eyes get so sad? “I’ll see you later, okay?” 

Tohru nods as Momiji takes his violin case and starts to leave the room. Just as he passes her, she grabs his wrist, her arm hitting the violin case. She winces at the bump, but doesn’t cry out. She just stares at the space where he had been standing, holding onto him. Momiji stills. 

“I loved it,” Tohru repeats, and Momiji makes a startled noise. “Do you understand?” 

Momiji is quiet, and Tohru takes a breath. She says, “Will you play for me again, eventually?” 

“Whatever you want,” Momiji says, his voice choked. “I’ll play whatever you want.” 

Tohru lets go of his wrist, standing up. She looks at him, searching his eyes for something, for some kind of question, some kind of answer. Carefully, she brushes a curl of hair away from his eyes. “There’s a new Mogeta movie in theatres.” 

“I’m free tomorrow,” Momiji breathes, voice catching on a new brightness, a new music. 

His eyes meet hers, and she smiles at him. She can still hear the song in her head, she can still feel the tears drying at her cheeks, she can still taste the sound of the violin in his words. “I’ll see you then.”

[darlingpanslove]

Furuba Characters in Among Us

Tohru: Is actually really good because everyone believes her, and no one wants to accuse this precious bean of a crime. Only Hiro has the ability to accuse her, but no one will listen because Tohru is just too sweet to murder someone. Little do they know, she uses that to her advantage. Only weakness is the guilt she feels. Once cried for an hour because she won, but betrayed all of her friends to do it

Kyo: Gets very heated, very quickly. Sometimes gets voted off even when they know he isn’t the imposter because it is hilarious to watch him get mad. Tries to chime in even when killed off but Yuki says “shut up, the dead can't talk.” When he is the imposter, it is obvious because he is too impulsive (and keeps chasing Yuki first)

Yuki: Very polite. Tries to mediate the conversation in discussions in the beginning, but when everyone starts arguing, he stays silent because then they are not suspecting him. When everyone begins targeting another player, he will join in for a second and say “murderer,” even though Yuki is the actual imposter. Will help/go-easy on new players.

Shigure: Gets voted off even if they are not the imposter because they made a dumb joke

Hana: Very good at knowing who the imposter is. They get off-track because they actually like doing the tasks and got slightly annoyed when a dead body interrupts her. Stealthy killer. 

Arisa: When she is the imposter, it is a bloodbath. She is also super petty and never forgives. 

Momiji: Is very good at manipulating the conversation. When people like Kyo start getting suspicious of them, Momiji flips it and says, “you just don’t want to accuse Tohru because you like her.” Then Kyo is too busy being in denial that the attention is no longer on Momiji 

Haru: Usually very stoic and is quiet unless he has to talk. Just keeps saying that he is innocent and will not elaborate on why. No one knows what to do when he does that. Once, when him and Momiji were both imposters, he turned into Dark Haru after Momiji threw him under the bus to protect himself. He flipped his desk. 

Rin: Says they don’t want to play, but actually gets very invested. Follows Haru around when they are not the imposters. Determined to find the killer. Once Tohru and Rin were both imposters and they were the Dream Team. 

[yuusa]

𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝟏𝟗

𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐𝟑𝟔𝟗

𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝟏𝟗:

"Hello (Y/n)-kun!" Tohru waved at you as she and Yuki entered the store, the same short-haired blond girl from yesterday stood silently by their side while they approached you. 

Your eyes widened at the sight of her skipping over to your crouched position that was still reorganizing the shelves. You were wearing an apron that Aikyo gave to you since the most recent package was filled with calligraphy ink, she instructed you to wear the garment to avoid any of the black substance staining your clothes. Yuki gave you a smile while you turned away from him, feeling a tinge of heat smeared across your cheeks as you stood up. 

"I didn't know you were coming today," You said, wiping your forehead with the back of your hand to clear any dust.

Kisa looked up at you as she held onto Tohru's clothes, her timid eyes quivering slightly underneath your intimidating form. You crossed your arms over your chest as you listened to Tohru explain that she was taking out Kisa around town since she seemed to be stuck to her like glue. She noticed that you looked much more mature and had sharp, cold eyes that could pierce through steel walls, your figure was hugged by the fabric of your pants and sweater as your hair was back. The young Sohma looked around the room, seeing Aikyo wave to her from behind the counter as she wrapped up a customer's purchase in a neat bag. 

The store was certainly very colorful and eyecatching to a child. There was an array of notebooks and stationaries that were placed neatly in each of the shelves and boxes, she wondered if you were the one who organized most of what was displayed. It didn't seem like there were many workers aside from you and Aikyo. The shop itself was slightly old but it still held some charm to it, the lights were a warm color that emitted a sense of comfort within her. Kisa looked back up to you to notice that you were smiling at her before telling Tohru to look around the store and ask for help when she needed something.

Tohru looked down at her and gave Kisa a small pat on the head before guiding her around the store. Yuki stayed by your side while the other two began to check out the variety of erasers and pencils that were stacked against each other. 

"Do you work part-time here (L/n)-san?" He asked, looking around the store as he followed you around when you reshelved items. 

"I just volunteer." You replied, trying to place the notebooks on the higher shelves by going on your tippy-toes, "the owner is quite nice and she doesn't have many employees working for her." 

You struggled with the top shelf and almost sighed in exhaustion, as you were about to turn around to grab a nearby chair Yuki already grabbed the notebook from your hand and began to reshelve the top shelf. He smiled at you innocently, trying to act as if he simply didn't steal your job. 

"You didn't have to help me, you came to visit didn't you?" You huffed, turning around from him and grabbing another box from the floor. 

"You looked like you needed it, reminds me of the time I first came over to your house huh?" You could feel a rush of heat flow to your head as you began to speedwalk towards the other side of the store while he followed you. "You don't have to act all shy about it (L/n)-san." He teased. 

"I-I'm not shy." You mumbled, taking out the stacks of paper from the box and placing them on the wooden shelf. Yuki only hummed in response, feeling slightly proud of himself to see you in a state of embarrassment. 

"Are you sure about that?" He reached out to pat the top of your head, further emphasizing your height difference as you puffed out your cheeks slightly, an action that almost went unnoticed by Yuki but was quite cute.

"You really treasure that don't you?" He saw that in your pocket was your phone, the eagle charm dangling off of the side as you continued to stack school supplies together.  

You looked down to see where exactly he was suggesting and quickly shoved the rest of the notebooks into the corner, "w-whatever! I-It looks nice okay?!" 

"Yes yes. . ." He laughed, causing you to turn away once more to hide your glowing face. 

You noticed from the corner of your eye a group of young students walking into the store, their parents standing next to the door as they let their children roam the area. They seemed like good friends based on the way they interacted with each other, the smaller children began to run around the store, exploring the variety of school supplies that they wanted to beg their parents to buy. Although you were used to having small kids at the store, there were moments where they could be real brats. 

The group was staring at Kisa from across the room, their eyes narrowing in disgust while Kisa and Tohru looked at the different styled notebooks that were stacked on the shelves. It didn't seem like Yuki had noticed anything wrong within the group but you felt as if there was something that didn't sit right within you when you saw those kids. They pointed their figures at Kisa's figure and walked closer towards her, surrounding the blond-haired girl like a circle of sharks while acting calm. You pressed your lips together in a frown as you watched Kisa's eyes widen at the sight of her classmates at the store, she clutched onto the clothing of Tohru tightly, bundling the fabric into a tight ball under her fist. 

You could hear them snicker at her from across the room, disgust filling your veins as you clenched your wrist tightly, restraining yourself from any violent actions that had occurred in your mind. Your frown deepened as you dropped the task that was in your hands. Yuki focused his attention on your movements, seeing the way you maneuvered around the room quietly towards Tohru and Kisa without a single word. Before one of the girls could poke at Kisa, you grabbed onto her wrist. 

"Do you girls need help finding something?" You innocently smiled, your intimidating glare hidden underneath the warm lights of the store, "oh, sorry!" You let go of her hand and stepped back a few steps, "it seems like your hands are quite small, would you like to try out this product?" 

"We have it in pink and blue colors as well." In your hand, you held a small bear pen that was fitted to the size of her palm that you swiped from the table. You watched as their eyes sparkled as she reached out to the pen to examine its painted details.

Her friends gathered around you as they looked at you in awe, your figure was alluring and the smoothness of your voice attracted them like moths to a flame. You couched down to the girl's height as you peered up to see Kisa staring at you, still hiding behind Tohru in fear at her classmates. 

"Are you friends with Sohma Kisa?" You asked, watching as some of the girls flinched at your question. You could see the small beads of sweat beginning to form on their necks as their eyes flickered to somewhere other than your (e/c) orbs. 

Your suspicions seem to be right then, they really weren't friends of Kisa. Yuki walked over to your side and tilted his head over to Tohru, wondering what was happening in the situation. His eyes widened at the sight of you crouching next to the children while Kisa stood away from them. Tohru reached out to hold onto Kisa's shoulder to comfort her. She wondered if these were her classmates that she heard about from Momiji during lunch, you hadn't heard about this conversation but you seemed to have jumped the gun and intervened on your own accord.

Your blood began to boil as you silently watched them whisper to each other in the back. There was something about these children that made you frustrated but you couldn't put it into words. Perhaps it was because of their childish ignorance or naivety that annoyed you, or it was the way they stared at Kisa with disgust. There were too many factors to add up that you simply didn't want to focus on. 

"She's our classmate!" One of them perked up, the rest of them nodding in agreement. You could see that many of the children were lying based on their reactions, their eyes made it all too easy to see the hidden intent that was wrapped underneath their seemingly innocent eyes. 

"I see. What do you like about her?" You smiled at them while placing the weight of your chin on your open palm. Kisa's eyes widened at your question, unsure about how she should feel about the situation as you coaxed the students into answering you. 

"W-Well. . . Um. . ." One of the girls mumbled, fumbling with her hands as you stared at them intensely. 

"Do you not like anything about her?" You asked, the girls flinching.

The same girl dropped her hands to her side as her friends closely surrounded her, "h-her hair is different and her eyes aren't natural!" 

"No one has gold eyes in our class!" Her friend added. 

Yuki took several steps forward to talk to the girls but your voice interrupted his movements.

"Since when did her hair color matter?"

Kisa felt her grip on Tohru's clothes loosen slightly as she listened to your voice, her heart beginning to beat faster, "if she is unnatural, what does that make you? Normal? Doesn't that make you the same as everyone else? If anything, she's special compared to the people in your class." 

"The color of her hair isn't a good reason to dislike her," You picked up one of the erasers from the table and began to toy with it in your hands, flicking the material up into the air like a coin, "so what if she's different? It doesn't make her less human than the rest of us." 

They fearfully flinched before tearing their eyes away from you. Her friends gripped onto the edges of their clothes as they stared down at the floor, their eyes full of guilt and frustration. Kisa watched as you smiled at her, a sense of warmth filling her body as you slowly stood up. Your knees began to ache but it was nothing you couldn't handle. 

"You shouldn't judge your classmates based on how they look," You scolded, holding up your finger to the tip of their noses as the children quietly mumbled apologies. 

Kisa didn't know who you were or your connection to the Sohma family, but there was a sense of a physical burden being lifted off of her chest as she watched her classmates scramble to the door when their parents called out to them. You sparked a different kind of feeling that was similar to Tohru, yet different in your own way. Although Tohru's words and compliments made her feel motivated and accepted, you were the one to set the stage through physical actions. She wondered if she will see you more often in her life or would this simply be the last time you would ever meet. 

"Are you okay?" You smiled at her, the intimidating glare wiped from your eyes as she slowly nodded, "that's nice to hear." 

"A-Ah (Y/n)-kun I didn't know that you came over! You surprised me!" Tohru let out an awkward laugh, trying to lighten the mood. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you that way, do you still want to check out the other areas of the store?" You pointed at the separate section that was across the room.

Yuki pressed his lips together as he tried to formulate a thought into the conversation. Despite the boiling anger that was bottled up within you, you decided to handle the situation in a mature fashion with wise words. There were many mysteries about you, but there were also a lot of things that Yuki found to be jealous of. Whether it was your outer confidence or awareness of someone's emotions, you looked as if you were also very capable of protecting others. He felt his hand grip the side of his arm as he watched you interact with Tohru while Kisa stared at you in interest. 

He wondered if it was worth stressing out about, but he couldn't help but think that there was truly something special about you that he couldn't express in words. 

There was a lot he wanted to talk to you about, some of which were things that may break or advance your friendship. He wanted to learn more about you, even if it was something as simple as your favorite color or food, he wanted to try to open up to others the same way you have. Before he could dive even further into the sea of his own thoughts, you turned your attention back to the grey-haired male that was standing frozen.

"Sohma-san, are you alright?" You reached out to brush some of the strands of his hair that blocked his vision but quickly retracted your hand back. Although Tohru and Kisa left to look at the other notebooks in the room, you had almost forgotten that you were in a public space and something as simple as touching his hair may be a sign of something else. 

"A-Ah sorry. . ."

Instead of letting your hand fall to your side, he held onto it and kept it against his cheek, feeling the warm feeling of your skin giving him comfort as he slowly inhaled. The flush feeling rose back to your cheeks in strong waves as he looked at you with his doleful eyes, the two of you standing next to each other while Aikyo pressed her hands over her mouth in shock at the sight. 

"It's nothing."

[kuriquinn]

A Tender Harvest [one-shot]

Disclaimer

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25994254

Pairing: SasuSaku

Summary:  Sakura and Sasuke help a village with their apple harvest, and Sasuke thinks about his relationship with Sakura. The thing about traveling together is it makes it that much easier to fall in love.

Author’s Note: So, I wrote this for the fanzine Seasons like a year or two ago and then completely forgot that it existed? And then I was trying to organize the mess that is my writing files and stumbled upon it again and figured, hey, why not post it? Especially since we’re coming up on Fall again lol. (Also, I don’t want people thinking I’m dead or something. I am working on some stuff for SasuSaku, but the creative juices haven’t been flowing as easily as they used to for this fandom…or, well, any fandom if I’m being honest. Kind of stuck in one of those “I should be writing original stuff” funks that hinders all of my fanfic efforts of late. But I am trying!)

Anyway, so here’s something (sort of) new for your enjoyment!

________________________________________________________________

Sasuke curses at the sudden lancing pain in his hand and yanks his arm out of the foliage to glare at his palm. In the centre, a wasp sticks to his skin by the stinger, its tiny wings and appendages flailing to remove itself. Sasuke gives a harsh flick of his wrist, dislodging the insect and sending it flying off somewhere near the ground.

He doesn’t kill it; if there is a nest nearby that would attract others, and there are enough of the little pests buzzing around the trees as it is.

It is early October, the hot autumn sun unimpaired except for some light haze and few bulbous white clouds in the distance. Crickets chirp, and the scent of wet earth inundates the air, mingling with sweat and the distant smell of a brush fire.

The little village where Sasuke and Sakura have been staying the last few days has an economy based largely around produce. Their apple trees, vineyards and rice fields require rigorous tending, as the yield is what keeps them from starving during winter months. They plant a lot, which means they harvest a lot, and any extra hands are welcome. Originally, Sakura and Sasuke travelled here because there was a need for a healer, but they chose to stay and help.

That’s a common enough pattern these days. Sakura keeps an ear out for places that need extra medical attention, and Sasuke fills his days with odd work. The routine is also an excellent cover for gathering information. People rarely ask them questions, too thankful for Sakura’s medical skills, and even without them, Sasuke’s arm usually discourages comment. There were enough men and women badly wounded in the war that no one needs to ask.

It also lends credence to his and Sakura’s wandering, since many people’s homes were destroyed by the war; first by the Zetsu army, and then marauders in the aftermath.

And we’ve encountered quite a few of those, too. Some friendly, some…not.

While Sakura makes house calls, he helps in whatever field where they need him. There were initially some who looked uncertain of his ability be useful, but he soon showed that his missing arm was barely a handicap.

Today he works in the apple orchard. It’s fairly large, maybe twenty acres, and there are a hundred or so people working alongside him. Clumps of men and women are scattered throughout, picking and packing apples in large baskets. A similar number of people sit just beyond the orchard, slumped or lying on the ground, or gathered around the few wagons with water. A few children squeeze into the tiny bit of shade provided by the wagons, but in this heat there’s barely any point to it.

The only ones happy in this weather are the wasps, Sasuke decides, frowning at his palm to see if the stinger is still attached. It’s not, but the skin is already beginning to puff up from the venom.

He shrugs it off—it’s not his first injury of the day, and he’s endured much worse in his life—and goes back to twisting the gleaming red fruits off their branches. It’s uncomfortable, but he finds he’s more irritated by the sweat drenching his clothing than the minor wound.

The orchard workers have had to work in shifts because of the rising temperature, and because Sakura insists that everyone who works needs to stay properly hydrated.

Sakura…

Sasuke became aware of her proximity about a half an hour ago, obviously finished with her work in the village and now arrived to help. Since then he has been vaguely conscious of her bringing people water or traipsing into the orchard to retrieve anyone who she thinks looks tired. No one bothers to protest the way she’s taken charge, either, and though it could be her status as a respected healer, he somehow doubts that’s the reason.

He remembers what she was like back in Konoha, carrying out important errands for Kakashi and running the hospital.

As always, on the tail of that thought he experiences a half-second of guilt for having taken one of their village’s most important resources on a mission of indeterminate length. The second half-second he buries that feeling, reminding himself it was her choice.

And he has no intention of admitting it out loud, but he can’t imagine how the past few months would have been without her by his side.

Well. He can imagine; he just doesn’t care to.

A bell rings in the distance, and someone shouts, “Break time! Change shifts!”

There are groans all around—relief from the orchard workers, and resignation from the vicinity of the wagons.

Sasuke ignores the call, intending to finish filling his basket before heading in, but even as he reaches for the next branch, there is a cough from down below.

When he glances down, he is unsurprised to find Sakura there, hands on her hips. “That means you too, Sasuke.”

“I’m almost finished.”

“No, you are finished. The foreman told me you started with the morning crew and didn’t switch out with the rest,” she informs him. “Just because you’re about the greatest shinobi alive, doesn’t mean you can’t get heatstroke. And just because I will take care of you if you get a fever and start throwing up everywhere, doesn’t mean I’ll like it.”

Sasuke’s mouth tugs upward a little.

It’s been an interesting dimension to their travels, Sakura speaking to him so frankly. There were a few days when they first set out together that she was still stuttering and wordlessly following his lead in everything; a few bandit encounters and a shouting match later, she found her backbone again.

Now, the only time he sees her flustered or nervous is because he’s caught her gazing at him, or when she realises she’s said something with unintended innuendo. 

“Annoying woman,” he murmurs into the tree, but the words have long since graduated from contempt to affection.

With an affected air of reluctance, he picks up the basket he was filling and raises an eyebrow at her. She grins, and says, “Come on.”

Sasuke trudges after her toward the nearest wagon, sets down his basket, and heads for the water barrels. Children pour it into cups for the workers, some darting among the amassing crowd to pass them out. This is how Sasuke ends up with one of them, and he is quick to put it to his lips.

He takes several slow mouthfuls, to minimize the risk of brain freeze, and takes pleasure in the way the liquid dissolves the dry, gummy feeling in his mouth and throat. The second cup he is offered, he pours over his head, enjoying the sensation of the cold rivulets cutting through his sweat-streaked hair and down his neck.

Sakura lingers nearby, the look on her face conveying an ‘I told you so’, which he patently ignores before joining the line for lunch. The women of the village pass out rice balls and beef skewers; he accepts gratefully, and then he searches out the nearest bit of shade he can.

There’s an old momiji tree several yards away from the larger group of workers, its leaves already turning red and gold, but still providing enough cover from the sun. He heads for that and is unsurprised when Sakura joins him.

As they pass, he notices people shooting them knowing glances or smiling in something like approval. Several young girls whisper conspiratorially. When he was younger, he would have purposely ignored such scrutiny, at times not even realising what the whispers meant. Though he still pretends obliviousness now, he now fully understands the reason for the unspoken interest.

The implication that he and Sakura are more than just travelling companions doesn’t bother him the way it might have before. In fact, he finds odd comfort in the thought. These days, they are on the cusp of something more, something inevitable. They’ll get there eventually, but he finds himself in no great hurry to do so.

Not because he doesn’t care for her—there’s no question that he does.

But too much of his life was spent hurtling from one state to the next, never content with his current existence and always wishing for more. With this—with Sakura—he wants to take his time and experience every moment.

He’s pretty sure Sakura is of the same mind.

As they sit, she sets down the plate she was balancing between her forearms, and two cups. He takes the latter, still more thirsty than hungry, and drinks deep.

Noticing his blink as a bitter taste hits his tongue, Sakura says, “There’s cold tea mixed in. That quenches thirst better than just water alone, and the electrolytes will keep you going.”

“Hm.”

They eat in companionable silence, yet another new quality to their relationship. Part of it is that now Sakura has an appetite that rivals his own and doesn’t like to waste time talking when she could be eating. The rest stems from the indescribably pull that has always existed between them, an ease one only experiences with the most trusted of kindred spirits. Words would mar that somehow, and neither seems willing to do that right away.

It is only when her meal is finished that Sakura reaches into her pack and produces—of course—two bright red apples.

“I may have snuck a few,” she admits with a smile.

Sasuke snorts. “You’re in an apple orchard. I think you could be forgiven.”

She laughs at that and bites into one of the fruits, making a tiny noise of pleasure at the flavour that has Sasuke swallowing uncomfortably. A rivulet of juice drips down her chin, and he finds himself tracking its progression.

Sakura notes his attention before he can look away, and her cheeks darken.

“Sorry!” she says, a little flustered, and puts aside the apple. “You probably want some too, right?”

There is something I want.

The thoughts present themselves unbidden as Sakura digs around in her kit for a knife, and starts to peel the second apple over her empty plate. His cheeks a little warmer than earlier, he looks away and pretends disinterest.

“Don’t trouble yourself. I haven’t even finished my lunch.”

“Then it will be ready when you are,” she quips without stopping.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watches her carefully dispose of the peel and then cut the apple into eight equal slices. Anyone else would think she was babying him, but he knows this is just her way. She genuinely enjoys doing this. He is, of course, perfectly able to cut up his own fruit, or eat an apple as is. But he doesn’t like apple peels, and never has.

He wonders when exactly Sakura noticed that about him.

She holds out the plate of apple slices to him, beaming, and he remembers a similar scene, many years ago. Of her worried and smiling face, her nervous chatter and her hand holding out a plate of apples. And then the clatter as the plate and fruit itself were knocked to the floor.

This time he accepts, forgetting that he hasn’t finished his lunch, and bites into the first slice. The white flesh is sweeter than the apples he usually eats—he prefers them tart and sour—but it’s perfectly in season and tastes good. 

Sakura’s lips part in surprise, and the motion causes him to nearly miss as he pops the rest of the fruit into his mouth. Thankfully, she doesn’t appear to see; instead, her eyes flick toward his hand, mouth firming.

Damn. I meant to keep that hidden.

Sakura barely waits for his hand to be empty before taking him by the wrist. “You’re hurt!”

The skin of his forearm and hand is crisscrossed with welts and scratches, as well as several wasp stings from when he was reaching into the trees. He’d forgotten about them, but with her attention, the dull hurts flare to life.

“It’s nothing,” he tells her, trying to take his hand back, but she doesn’t relinquish it.

“You always say it’s nothing. I’ve stopped believing you.”

“I guarantee everyone else working in the orchard has the same thing.”

“And I’ll get to them. But you’re here right now, and knowing you, you’re going to throw yourself back into work right away, so it won’t be until this evening when I get my hands on you again…” He raises an eyebrow at her. Her eyes widen. “That…didn’t come out right…”

He can’t help the slow smirk that pulls at his mouth, and she scowls at him.

“Shut up,” she grumbles, twin spots of rouge flaming even darker across her cheeks but holds his hand closer to her. Green chakra flickers between her fingers, seeping into his muscles and tendons, easing the sharp aching of scraped skin and pulling muscles.

While she heals, her expression relaxes, embarrassment giving way to concentration. He’s noticed that about her: when she uses her medical ninjutsu, everything else appears to fall beyond her awareness.

Still, there’s a tiny smile upon her lips and the fading colour across the bridge of her nose and cheekbones that has nothing to do with the autumn swelter. 

When she releases him, she is unabashed and cheerful again. “Better?”

He flexes his fingers, studying the newly healed skin, and nods.

“Thank you.”

Sasuke straightens and reaches for another apple slice, frowning at a mild pinching sensation behind his neck. He hasn’t even rolled his shoulder once to disperse the tension, before Sakura is leaning toward him again, eye filled with concern.

“You’ve strained your neck,” she says, and it sounds accusing, as if she thinks he deliberately kept it from her.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have! I know what that looks like.”

“I haven’t done anything strenuous enough,” he replies, a little indignant because he knows his body’s limits.

“Spending the day with your arm raised overhead and twisting fruit off branches requires different movements than kenjutsu or taijutsu,” she lectures. “If you don’t take care of it now, you’ll regret it tomorrow.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Stop being so stubborn! Lie down and I’ll fix it for you.”

“No.”

“Sasuke…!”

She is growing annoyed, not understanding the reason for his refusal. He is easier with her lately when it comes to touching or being touched. It’s happened often enough—huddled together in the shelter of a tree when it rains, elbows bumping when they crowd into communal meal halls, or checking each other’s wounds.

If they were alone, he would let her ease the knots from his neck and shoulders, but right now they are in front of an entire village of people. Some of whom are viewing the interchange with blatant interest and amusement, others barely concealing the smiles on their faces.

The back of Sasuke’s neck feels warm. He dislikes such attention.

A look creeps across Sakura’s face, the one that Sasuke knows he will have no recourse against, and he has to act before it fully manifests..

“If you don’t lie down right now…” she begins, her voice rising with each syllable.

“Sakura,” he says, his tone soft but firm in its finality.

Her expression freezes at that, and she blinks, coming back to herself. Then, glancing around, she spots what he has been aware of for a while—the audience of workers pretending not to be observing them. 

Her look of surprise is almost comical, and her cheeks flood red once more.

“I didn’t mean— I wasn’t going to— not in front of—” she stammers, all apologies and embarrassment and avoiding eye contact. She jumps to her feet, nearly slopping tea over them both. “I have to get back. They, um, probably need help cleaning up, and I have to go out and check on the other workers, and you…well, you’re right…we can, um, your arm…I’ll just…”

He’s enjoying her fluster more than he should and opens his mouth to speak—to say something smooth in delivery or laden with implication—so that it continues.

But she’s biting her lip as if to physically stop herself from stammering, and her eyes are shining just so, even as they dart about trying to avoid his gaze, and as has become a frequent occurrence, Sasuke discovers every word in his vocabulary suddenly vanishing from his brain.

It takes him several seconds longer than he expects to remember at least one.

“Later?” he suggests.

Sakura stops her fidgeting and meets his gaze. This time he doesn’t bother hiding his small smile from her.

That unnameable something passes between them, bolstered by the rustling leaves and dense heat around them.

Then she smiles back, a gentle and pleased upward curve of her lips, and nods. “Right. Um…later.”

She hurries away after that, tripping a few times before her posture straightens and he watches her transform from his Sakura to the no-nonsense, hyper-confident medic and director.

Sasuke finishes his meal and eases to his feet, ready to head back into the orchard. On his way, he passes one of the workers who is staring Sakura with an air of awe.

“Your girl is something,” he says, impressed.

Sasuke considers Sakura once more, as she directs a group of villagers to go around picking up discarded plates and cups.

In his mind’s eye, he sees a skinny girl with long pink locks, hands on her hips and lecturing him or Naruto or Kakashi for some misbehaviour or other. In a blink it’s replaced with the brave kunoichi, bruised and battered, caring for him when he was ill, or holding him back from throwing himself into danger.

A girl who wouldn’t give up on a boy filled with darkness, even when he shoved away what she offered, be it a plate of apples or her heart.

It’s not the first time he wonders what he did to deserve her.

But he doesn’t reveal any of this to the worker. Instead, he shrugs and says with complete certainty, “She is.”

終わり

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I am trying to figure out how to fit this one into the Legacy of Fire series, but it mostly depends on me writing a completely different fic to allow that to happen, so this can exist in the same series as Miso Soup Everyday and You Are Cordially Invited. So for now it’s not part of the series...

I want to know what you think of my story! Leave kudos, a comment or if writing comments isn’t something you’re comfortable with, as many of these (or other emojis) as you want and let me know how you feel!

❤️️ = I love this story! 😳 = this was hot! 💐 = thank you for sharing this 🍵 = tea spilled 🍬 = so sweet and fluffy! 🚔 = you’re under arrest! the writing’s too good! 😲 = I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER 😢 = you got me right in the feels 🤯mind blown 🤬god damn cliffhanger 😫 whyyyyyyy?!?!?

栗

[kumeko]

A/N: For the once in a lifetime zine! I just wanted to write all the siblings.

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1.      Past

 “Gure-san!” Ayame crooned into the phone, delight spreading to his toes at the sound of his friend’s voice. It had been ages since they’d last called, since they’d last played this game of lovers and midnight escapades. He pouted. “You took too long to call me.”

 “Aaya, you know I could never leave you for long,” Shigure breathed on the other end of the phone, his tone perfectly serious. It was the thing that freaked out their teachers’ the most: the absolute lack of a teasing lilt or mocking smirk. The inability to determine if he was serious or not. “There’s no one who could replace you.”

 Really, it had been too long. Ayame closed his eyes, his finger twirling on his antique phone’s cord. It was too bad there was no audience for this performance, no Hatori to give them a dry look, no Mayu tossing a table. He would have even taken his mother’s disgusted expression. Glancing around his empty shop, Ayame noted the light escaping under the sewing room’s door. Mine was still here then.

 Mine was here. His lips tugged up into an involuntary smile as he sat down on an empty couch. “So you weren’t cheating on me, Gure-san?”

 “Never.” Shigure chuckled. There was a short pause, the breath between actions, and while his tone was still light, Ayame could almost see his slow smirk. “Though that might change. Yuki’ll be staying with me.”

“Yuki?” Ayame blinked, confused. Yuki. Yuki. A familiar name. An old classmate? A younger cousin?

“You still don’t remember your brother’s name?” Shigure let out a short, bark-like laugh. After a long pause, he added incredulously, “Or did you forget that you have a brother entirely?”

 Both. Ayame didn’t respond, his grip tightening on the phone. Yuki. His brother. Faintly, just faintly, he remembered small fingers reaching for him, a tiny voice and teary eyes. A black room and Akito’s smirk. A hazy image with a hazy name. “He’s moving in with you?”

 Shigure didn’t press the matter, to Ayame’s relief. “Haru asked. Haru. Can you believe that? The cow helping the rat? I guess your brother actually has friends outside of Akito.”

 A cruel comment. Ayame couldn’t refute it; he had thought the same thing, on those rare instances he thought of his brother at all. “Akito let him leave?”

 “I know! Amazing. And he’s even going to our high school.” Nonchalantly, Shigure changed topics. “Well, they managed the three of us, I think they can handle one well-behaved kid. It’ll be like having a second Hatori. He’s a quiet kid.”

“He’s in our high school,” Ayame muttered, his brow furrowed. Yuki was in high school. His tiny fingers were bigger now, his voice deeper. There must have been a time—at the new year’s banquet, at any of the million times he’d visited the main house—that he’d seen this Yuki, an almost grown-up Yuki.

 But his memory was still that of a child and a heavy feeling settled in his belly.

 “Don’t tell me you forgot high school too!” Shigure teased playfully.

 “No…I just…” Ayame struggled to find the words to describe this feeling, this aching, gnawing feeling. “I didn’t know.” That his brother was in high school. That his brother was leaving the compound. That his brother had friends, had at least one friend. Even the facts he barely remembered, favourite foods and toys, were all circumspect. “Does he know that we went there?”

 “I don’t think so. He’s never brought it up.” Shigure paused and Ayame could tell before he even took a breath, before the first syllable was uttered, that this would hurt. “He hasn’t mentioned you either.”

 It was like the twist of a knife. A punch in the stomach. Ayame was left winded and he didn’t even know why.

 “It’s not like you two talk.” There was a pounding sound on the other side of the line and Shigure sighed. “Well, I suppose I have to let her in eventually. Or she might actually hang herself. See you in my dreams, Aaya.”

 “Not if I see you first,” he responded automatically. On the other end, the phone went dead, a dial tone echoing in his ears.

 “Ayame?” Mine poked her head out of the door. Spotting him, she cocked her head. “Is something wrong?”

 “Yes. No.” He stared down at his shirt, at the edges of his right sleeve. Tiny fingers had reached for it once, tiny fingers that he had never considered once. “I…I don’t know.”

2.      Present

 “Heya, squirt.” Arisa ruffled Megumi’s hair as she walked past him to the kitchen. Yanking open the fridge, she rifled through its contents for drinks. “Didn’t realize you were home.”

 “I just came back.” Calmly, he ran his fingers through his locks, brushing any stray hair back in place. There. Much better. While he liked the attention, there were times when Megumi wished Arisa would be less physical about it. Noting her cotton shorts and white tank top, he cocked his head. “A slumber party?”

 “Yep.” Grabbing four cans of pop, Arisa closed the fridge with her shoulder. She held out one can to him with a grin. “Come on, you can join us. We’re playing some card games and I’m tired of Saki winning all the time.”

 “She’ll beat me too,” he pointed out, still accepting the cold can.

 “Then at least we can change who’s losing.” Arisa shifted the cans from one hand to the other, rubbing the cold appendage against her leg to warm it up. “I feel like Tohru should be doing worse than she is, and Saki’s screwing me over.”

 The chances of that happening were almost a hundred percent. Megumi didn’t even need to ask his sister to know. Trailing after Arisa as they headed upstairs, he asked, “So all three of you today?”

 “Mmmm, yeah. It’s been so long since it’s been just the three of us.” Arisa practically bounced up the steps. Looking over her shoulder, she winked. “I kidnapped her from the prince and the pauper. Just because they live with her, the Sohmas think they can hog all of her attention.”

 “The prince and the pauper?” Megumi raised a brow. That was a new nickname. “I thought he was an orange-haired bastard?”

 “He can be both.” Arisa shrugged, reaching the top landing. She spun around, a mischievous smirk on her face. “He’s a pauper because he almost always loses at Rich Man, Poor Man.”

 “That would make you one too.” Saki suddenly appeared behind Arisa, grabbing a pop can. Ignoring Arisa’s surprised jump, she stared at the can. “It’s cold.”

 “Warn me a little, would ya?” Arisa leaned against the wall, calming down. She shot Saki a disgruntled glare. “At the very least, I beat Kyo. And sometimes Tohru.”

 “A grievance I shall never forgive,” Saki remarked, rolling the can in her hands. “This feels good.”

 “It is hot today.” Megumi pressed his can against his cheek. The cool aluminum sent a shiver down his spine. Ah, that was much better.

 “…I can never tell if either of you are serious or not.” Arisa rubbed her forehead, torn between exasperation and annoyance. She glanced at Megumi, and then at Saki. “At least you’re wearing short sleeves today.”

 “I am not completely immune to the heat,” Saki replied, fanning herself lightly. “Ah. It truly is hot.”

 “Now you’re making fun of me.” Straightening up, Arisa barged into Saki’s bedroom. “Alright, time to kick everyone’s asses.”

 “K-kick?” Out of sight, a surprised Tohru squeaked. “It’s a card game!”

 Still standing in the hallway, Saki leaned against a wall, closing her eyes with a pleased smile. Quietly, Megumi stood next to her, his shoulder bumping into her arm, listening as Arisa crowed excitedly, as Tohru stuttered and panicked. His sister chuckled softly and he could feel the vibrations through her skin.

 A laugh. A smile. Megumi watched her, transfixed.

 “Yes?” Saki cracked open an eye. Even the aura around her felt light and teasing.

 “You’re happy,” he said, more a statement than question.

 “Hmm.” Saki considered it before nodding. “I am.” She opened both her eyes and smiled fondly at him. “Your prayer came true.”

 3.      Future

 “She’s here!” Momo peeked out the living room curtain, into the main garden. She quickly let go of the cloth, letting it fall back into place as she stumbled back. “And so is everyone else.”

 “Ahhhh…” Momiji’s smile dropped a notch as he tried to figure out just how did his cousins know about this concert. There was Tohru, of course, but while she was a terrible liar, she wouldn’t actually tell anyone. Standing behind his sister, he drew back the window curtains just enough to get a glimpse of everyone. Haru. Yuki. Kyo. Shigure—

 Shigure. Momiji rubbed his forehead. Yep. That was the root cause. It would have been hard for Tohru to hide it from him, her face gave everything away. From there, it was a single call to invite all of the ex-zodiac members. Add in their friends and a performance for three became a performance for a crowd. Frowning, he shot a glare at his older cousin. “It’s always him.”

 “That’s a lot of people,” Momo muttered, clutching her violin tightly. She glanced at him in askance. “Are we really going to perform?”

 “Yep!” Smiling at her encouragingly, Momiji pointed at the few cousins that she’d met. “There’s Kisa and Haru and Hiro—actually, never mind Hiro.”

 Despite the things that had changed since the curse was broken, Hiro’s tongue was not one of them. Even Kisa couldn’t sweeten his barbed words by much. Still, he was at least moderately kinder to others and Momo hadn’t come back in tears whenever she played with the pair.

 “Kisa.” Momo brightened. “And…there’s Yuki. And Mine and…” She stumbled, trying to remember the names of all their friends. “And…and Uotani and Hanajima…”

 “Yep.” Momiji grinned, counting them off himself. There were far more outsiders in the Sohma compound these days, the doors open to all now. High school friends, coworkers, that guy from the bakery—wait. Momiji cocked his head. It was good and all that anyone could come and go, but why were all of these random strangers here for a single violin recital?

 Momiji’s eyes landed on silver hair. Of course. He should have known. Ayame. Who else could it have been? As though sensing his thoughts, Ayame spotted him and shot him a thumbs up. He winked, mouthing, Good luck.

 It was hard to decide between Shigure and Ayame which one deserved more punishment. Maybe he could sick Hatori on both of them later. Turning back to his sister, he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her to his side. “We have so many friends! I think they’ll be happy to hear us play.”

 “Right.” Momo swallowed, peeking back through the curtain once more. She took a deep breath, stood up straight, and then moved back into the center of the room. Staring at her violin for a long moment, she squared her shoulders and raised it. “We have to tune up.”

 Part of Momiji missed the baby chick, the little girl who was always peering around her mother’s skirts. As a teenager, the only part of that left was the tremble of her hands as she raised her violin, the slight shake of her bow as she tried to settle herself. Yet this girl was able to talk to him, was able to be with him, and he would take that over the baby chick any day. “Right.”

 Momiji raised his violin. Finally, after all those years, they were playing together. Like real siblings. Like a real family.

[animegenork]

Fruits Baskets Final Season Episodes 2 & 3

What? No, I didn’t watch these on the Fridays of the weeks they came out. No, I wasn’t dying from school---

Anyway, back to the grind.

Episode 2

I swear the gif search function HATES me and what I’m trying to do---

Anyway.

I would like to make this very clear. Shigure is a little bit evil. A little bit. But it’s mostly from being twisted by the zodiac curse and his strange form of love. So if you wanted to punch him this episode, that’s good. He needs to be punched. A lot. Like a lot. God, he’s so evil. Moving on.

So the episode begins with young Akito asking Shigure if he loves her. This is, as we’ve seen, something that Akito fixates on, mostly due to her father accidentally warping her with the idea of being eternally loved by the zodiac members. He responds with a very earnest love confession that sort of explains why they spend so much time together, but it also confuses things a bit, at least at first. What with the zodiac spirit, it’s unclear how much of Shigure’s love is real and how much isn’t up to him. That may factor in to whatever the hell is up with him now.

Cut to Tohru working on graduation ceremony flowers and nearly asking Shigure about breaking the curse. Of course, she can’t, because it’s hard to bring up, and she’s only seen 2 sides of Shigure at most. Naturally, he already knows what she’s thinking about, because he’s Shigure. He’s just that good.

Tohru continues to struggle even at school, when she realizes that there’s so much she knows that she probably can’t talk about with Momiji or Haru or anyone else. And since the curse is this ever-present thing to them, she’s not even sure if they’ll believe her or how they’ll react. Rin is the exception to this, of course, since she was already looking for information on it.

There are some shenanigans with the Prince Yuki Fan Club, and Tohru and Kyo are left alone (probably on purpose) by Hanajima, Uotani, and company. But I’ll get back to that in a sec.

Yuki tries to help out other classes with things, but they won’t let him because... well, uh, they think he’s too busy... and he... isn’t... I’m sorry, that’s just so funny to me. So anyway, he runs into Machi, who is being all adorable and stubborn because she wanted to say hello and chased him all over the school to do so. It’s cute, because Yuki’s not used to that much effort being put in to something for his sake. I love Machi like that UwU

Back to Tohru and Kyo, they’ve been waiting for HOURS. Tohru decides to tentatively try out her Kureno talking point, but as soon as she brings up the curse maybe being broken, Kyo tells her that hypotheticals like that are pointless (this is implied paraphrase). He does this mostly because he’s in that pit of despair of “I’m never getting out of this” but also because he doesn’t want to give himself a false hope that might never come true. Tohru, however, becomes sad, because of course she wants to save him from having to be locked away like the previous Cat. So there’s a bit of moment where she’s about to cry.

And then Kyo *sniffle* gives her a flower to make her feel better. *sobs*

Technically speaking, this scene should’ve been in the last season or SOMETHING, I honestly thought they WEREN’T going to put my FAVORITE scene in the anime, and then they did. What’s cute about this scene is how torn up Kyo is from hurting Tohru’s feelings, and how almost desperate he is to make her feel better. It’s a sweet moment, if slightly awkwardly animated, but it’s a rare Tohru and Kyo moment where they don’t even say anything and you can SEE everything they want to say. Of course, they’re interrupted, because they always are (HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT LIKE NEVER HAPPENS WHENEVER YUKI AND TOHRU HAVE A MOMENT?), but hey, I got my fluff, I am fed.

There’s brief mention of Rin and how Tohru hasn’t seen her lately, and I hate it because I know where she is.

Anyway, now on to Shigure being Shigure.

He’s torturing his poor editor again, and he walks away from what appears to have been a heated conversation with... HIS PARENTS. THEY EXIST. I dunno what it is with rarely seeing zodiac parents (besides the obvious cases of Kyo and Momiji), but there you have it. We see then that there’s a big Sohma dinner outing with Akito there, so clearly Shigure planned that. His skills of perception and foresight are serious scary, and I really wonder how the hell he developed them.

There’s a flashback to before Tohru and Kureno’s revealing conversation, and we see that Shigure hates Kureno for being so close to Akito. Of course, Kureno makes it clear that Akito doesn’t love him, that she’s always wanted.... well, he doesn’t say, but I think all of us are familiar enough with how this anime works that we know who he means. But Kureno basically wants Shigure to stop being so cold to Akito, and this is because of how much he wants to keep her happy more than any personal feelings about Shigure.

This is where it gets a bit dicey. I’ve actually got a strange fondness for this scene, if only because it sort of but also not really gets to the heart of why Shigure is the way he is.

Shigure appears in Akito’s room, and she’s basically jealous that he was out with another woman. Then she brings up his sexual relationship with his editor (nonexistent), which is rather petty, but then, when was this duo not about pettiness? The implication Akito makes is that he sleeps with every woman he meets (explains a lot). She then mentions that Shigure slept with Ren, Akito’s mother (I’m not going to touch on how screwed up that is), which is why he’s living in a house away from the main estate. Shigure acts all cool and says that was a long time ago, he’s been punished, but Akito points out that he almost wanted to leave. Which... he did, but not for any lack of love on his part. And he says that. He recalls the conversation we see at the beginning, in which he tells her he cares about her more than anyone else. Understandably, she’s frustrated, and she asks why he always tests her.

It’s because she slept with Kureno. Petty, I know.

The phone conversation comes back. Everything you need to understand about Shigure is in one sentence: “I love her so much that sometimes I want to spoil her rotten, and sometimes I want to crush her into a pulp.” This is nearly verbatim of the manga translation I read a long time ago, and it’s always stuck with me. The thing is, Akito was always told she’s special and she can do with the zodiac as she pleases (which she says directly in this episode). It seems a part of Shigure didn’t like that that extended to those that weren’t him (Kureno), and his love for her warped and twisted into this kinda toxic relationship. (Kinda, she says, as if it’s not very.) This makes him want to be kind to her, but at the same time, he wants to be mean to her and show her how much pain she’s put him through, too. It’s pettiness at its extreme, but it’s somehow more believable than other forms of petty jealousy I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, and then they have sex.

Once again, there’s brief mention of Rin, perhaps she’s in the hospital, we don’t really know. But the main part of this all is Shigure remembering that before Akito was born/in his life, he had always been sort of waiting for her, which is mostly the zodiac spirit talking but is also interesting nonetheless. How much of Shigure’s love is influenced by the zodiac curse? How much of it is him? I don’t know if we ever find that out, because frankly, the curse did a lot of things to everyone involved, including him.

I still love Shigure, don’t get me wrong, but this is SUCH an interesting episode.

Episode 3

Precisely the gif I wanted. Hehehe.

IT’S A MACHI EPISODE! AND I LOVE HER, SO THAT’S ALRIGHT!

Still pissed about Kyo’s screentime being so awful lately. ads;fkjsad;fklsda

Some student council shenangians occur as always, and it’s revealed that Nao has a crush on someone, which is why he declared Yuki to be his rival on day one. Also, Kimi is a golddigger.

Some girls come in and gossip about Machi making a mess again with one of her outbursts, and they mention a rumor about her trying to kill her brother, which is why she lives alone. Kakeru looks quite displeased to hear this, and Machi walks in on the conversation and runs away, with Yuki wanting to go after her. 

Kakeru tells Yuki later that the rumor is “mostly true”--that is, that’s the story he’s been told as well. Of course, he’s wary to believe it, because while they’re not terribly close, he knows her a little better than the parents do. He then tells a story of seeing Machi making footprints in the snow, almost obsessively, and he’s not quite sure why she did it (but Kakeru has a Shigure streak, so I wonder if maybe he does know?).

So Kakeru decides to pull a sort of jerk move and visit Machi while with Yuki, and she tries to turn them away to no avail. Of course, Yuki isn’t put off by the mess, since he and Shigure used to live that way, so he’s all cheerful about it while Machi is dying in the corner. I will not talk much about the bra incident, but that was honestly the most hilarious few seconds.

Finally left alone, Machi asks why Yuki is there, assuming it’s about the rumor her classmates mentioned. She says she’s done trying to correct everybody, since no one ever seems to believe her anyway. (That is all too relatable, especially in high school.)

But Yuki doesn’t even mind. He asks something else instead: does she hate perfection? And she says yes. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR.

Wait. My bad.

Anyway, Machi has a flashback to what I believe I’ve mentioned before, which is Machi’s mom forcing her to be perfect so that she could beat Kakeru in the succession war (England?) with her family. When that was called off, her mother would say right in front of her face (jerk) that Machi was boring. Machi asked her why she would say that when she was just trying to do what she was told. Her mother has the gall to be offended by the implication that it’s her fault (IT IS, YOU IDIOT--) and then turns around and says maybe she raised Machi wrong.

Here’s a hint: that’s not what you say to your CHILD.

Poor Machi didn’t know what to do with herself. What is she supposed to do if she’s just a “mistake” her mother made?

Yuki, in his cute way of knowing precisely what she means, tells her she’s worked hard to get where she is, and that he’s glad she’s here. She’s not used to compliments like that, and it’s a very sweet moment. That’s when she admits that she was just trying to take care of her brother, but her parents wrongly and automatically assumed she was jealous and trying to kill him (which says a lot about how god awful they are). And she’s finally able to let it out and cry with Yuki, who offers to go leave footprints in the snow with her.

My heart might’ve burst during that, not gonna lie--

I think my favorite part of the episode is the next day, during a student council meeting. A new, perfect box of chalk is placed in front of Machi, and you can see in her eyes that the perfection is about to make her snap. Yuki, knowing this, calmly reaches over and breaks a piece of chalk, ruining the “perfection” of it. It’s very sweet of him and a very cute moment for both.

Then we cut to Tohru handing Kyo a flower, which is whiplash to the previous episode I’m glad we got.

The next sequence was a bit confusing at first, as I thought we’d sort of covered this already in season one, but we get to see Motoko. She’s called Yuki out in order to tell him that he made her high school days happier, and that she truly loved him. Motoko also hopes that Yuki himself will find happiness, which I think is a nod at her recognizing Tohru’s influence on him. It’s kind of cute, because even Yuki seems to appreciate her words, and we get to cut to a nice graduation song that actually kind of made me cry.

Motoko is still in a classroom when someone finds her. It’s Nao, and it appears that she was the girl he was in love with, which I LOVE. I HOPE HE OR SHE OR THEY ARE HAPPY TOGETHER OR EVEN APART, JUST THAT HE EVENTUALLY GOT TO TELL HER OR SOMETHING AND AHHHHHH. He tells her that goodbye is not the end, and it always leads to “nice to meet you,” which is sweet for both of them, considering her graduation and his being left behind.

Then we get to meet Hiro’s baby sister, Hinata, a true cutie pie. I think I cried here, too, for different reasons.

Finally, we see Kagura having picked up Rin’s diploma (YAY SHE GRADUATED YAYYYY), and wondering where she is despite her mother’s warnings not to investigate. Hatori and Shigure are a bit suspicious, too, and we see Akito with a pair of scissors.... OwO

[I know what happened and I hate it.]

I’m glad I could finally do these, it’s been a couple of weeks of hell, to be honest. Hopefully, Fruits Basket will be back at it again and I’ll have something more to wax poetic about, haha. Thanks for reading!

[red-elric]

The student council meets monthly for dinner. Every member must host at least once. What does each member's gathering look like?

okay so first of all this is literally canon (!! a use for the MY furuba tag!!) so jot that down. also i’m setting this during their college years for fun lmao. anyways:

when it’s nao’s turn, his stress is up to eleven. he doesn’t even WANT to have them over (or so he says--he actually loves going to everyone else’s dinners and would miss them if he wasn’t included) but he feels very strongly that he has to do it RIGHT. so: he spends about a week beforehand trying to clean his apartment within an inch of its life in between his busy busy work and school schedules, which inevitably ends with him NOT having the time to do any cleaning before the day of, besides like. maybe doing laundry while he does his homework. it’s a mad scramble to get the last of it cleaned up the day of so his ambitious home cooked dinner plans always get scrapped last minute for something more manageable within his remaining time frame. the consensus from the group is that nao’s cooking is ‘fine.’ nao is ENDLESSLY bitter about this, because his sisters taught him how to cook and he’s really quite good at it if he actually has the time to pull something impressive off--

kimi is the asshole in college who’s juggling as much if not more than you, while still managing it all just fine with perfect hair. (her secret: she doesn’t sleep. what an asshole, able to function on no sleep.) as such, she has the time to go all out when it’s her turn; every party has a theme with decorations and everything. also, booze. she doesn’t drink much herself, but everyone else in the stuco does and she takes FULL advantage of that by buying enough nice booze to get them tipsy before the actual dinner so they don’t notice that her cooking................ isn’t that great LMAO. (when she starts dating/living with momiji, the food quality goes up QUITE a bit, but the booze level does not drop and the decorations and themes only get wilder).

kakeru forgot when the party was. you can remind him weeks in advance. you can remind him the day before, or even the morning of. you can remind him CONSTANTLY every day between the last party and this one. doesn’t matter. the stuco shows up at his door and he opens up and says ‘oh shit, was that today? wack. anyway come in!’ his apartment is in its natural state of being: kinda cluttered couple socks on the floor, but mostly fine. kinda smells like sweat. he makes no effort to clean anything up when he lets you in. he serves cheap beer and cup ramen and they all play video games and honestly??? it’s a blast.

yuki has nightmares about forgetting when it’s his turn to host, so he never does (he’s got like a hundred reminders in his phone for it). his apartment is very clean, his food is AMAZING, everything’s all prepared, nao hates him for it. ‘but wait,’ you (the reader) are thinking, ‘that doesn’t sound like yuki at all!’ you’re right! his secret? tohru. yuki would have been SCREWED except for the fact that tohru can’t keep a plant alive to save her own life. the problem is, many people give her plants as gifts and visit her regularly and it would be SUCH a slight if she just let those plants DIE!!! so they have an agreement: yuki keeps her plants in his apartment and takes care of them until she has visitors and needs to show them off, and every couple of months she visits the day before he hosts his party, helps him clean up, and cooks dinner for him that he can easily heat up the next day. it’s a secret they’ll both take to their graves.

machi takes everyone out to dinner (it’s a blast).

[cinderella-ish]

Masterpost: Fics by Main Pairing or Character

(Longer fics with more than one main pairing may be listed multiple times)

Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyo - Pre-Relationship

Along a Pitch Black Path | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket M | also Akito/Shigure, Mayu/Hatori | AU & tragedy What if Akito's slash to Tohru's arm had been fatal? This is the darkest timeline.

Burn Me | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Angst If Tohru had to pick one word to describe how Kyo makes her feel, it would be heat.

Completely Hopeless | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | hurt/comfort Tohru swoons on the way home from school after failing one of her midterms. How does Kyo get her home safe?

Lifeline | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | angst Tohru sat on the floor of her room, clutching her knees to her chest. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay... She clung to the words like a lifeline, desperately seeking to reassure herself that she wouldn’t lose her mother again.

Lonely Future | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Kyo | angst Kyo Sohma didn't believe in soulmates.

Love Me Not | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | angst Tohru finds Kyo on the roof. Kyo convinces himself it doesn't mean anything.

Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyo - Getting Together & Early Relationship

ichigo ichie | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, your name. T | also Akito & Haruhi & Tohru | crossover, drama & romance Tohru Honda wants to break the Zodiac Curse and free Kyo. Haruhi Fujioka wants to get out of the time loop that's kept her and the Host Club from advancing grades. One morning, Tohru and Haruhi wake up in each other's bodies. Will they be able to break the cycles that keep them and their found families trapped? Fruits Basket x Ouran High School / Your Name AU

Of Lost Cats and Half-Shadows | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket & JuJutsu Kaisen T | also Megumi/Yuji | crossover, drama & romance Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara enroll at Kaibara High School to investigate the Zodiac curse and free the souls it binds. Kyo is immediately suspicious of the three new students and rejects their attempts at friendship. Will they be able to break this ancient curse before Kyo is locked up forever?

The One Who Stays | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket T | also Akito & Yuki | AU, drama & romance What if Yuki hadn’t run after Kyo? Tohru confesses her love. Kyo confesses his sins. Yuki sees it all. And then Akito arrives.

On Top of the World | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | fluff Tohru has a surprise planned for her date with Kyo.

We Have the Rest of Our Lives | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | fluff & hurt/comfort Kyo helps Tohru change her bandages after she's released from the hospital.

Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyo - Established Relationship

Baby's First Birthday | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | background Machi/Yuki | mild hurt/comfort Tohru can't seem to get her camcorder to work.

Hold Me | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Tohru/Kyo | hurt/comfort A year after the curse breaks, Kyo still gets nightmares.

Like a Bolt Out Of the Blue | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | also Hajime/Mutsuki, Momiji/OMC | fluff & pining At their annual family beach trip, Hajime wrestles with some big feelings.

Like Father, Like Son | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another T | Gen - Tohru & Kyo & Hajime & Yuma (Tohru/Kyo as well) | fluff When Tohru and Kyo can't find their two young sons one morning, they turn up in an unexpected-- and very cute!-- place.

So Lucky | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | hurt/comfort Kyo always wanted to protect her. She was so incredibly precious to him. He never wanted to let anything bad happen to her. But, as he quickly learned, protecting Tohru was a lot easier said than done.

Welcome Home | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | fluff Tohru anxiously awaits Kyo's return from a training trip.

Wish | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | fluff Tohru and Kyo take their three children to their small town's Tanabata festival.

Other Pairings

Along a Pitch Black Path | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket M | Akito/Shigure, Mayu/Hatori, also Tohru/Kyo | AU & tragedy What if Akito's slash to Tohru's arm had been fatal? This is the darkest timeline.

Bloom Within Us | WIP - 200,000+ words | Fruits Basket T | Saki/Kyo, Momiji/Hiroshi | AU, angst, drama, & hurt/comfort What if Tohru Honda didn't survive her fall from the cliff? Kyo, Yuki, Saki, Arisa, and the rest of Tohru's loved ones mourn together and figure out a way forward without her.

In a Pickle | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Machi/Yuki | hurt/comfort While Yuki is on the phone with Tohru, she asks about Machi, like she always does. As he answers, she notices some signs that their lives are about to change in a big way.

Jellyfish in the Water | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Mayu/Hatori | humor & hurt/comfort Mayu gets stung by a jellyfish while on her honeymoon with Hatori

Like a Bolt Out Of the Blue | Short Story | Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket Another G | Hajime/Mutsuki, Momiji/OMC, also Tohru/Kyo | fluff & pining At their annual family beach trip, Hajime wrestles with some big feelings.

like the flowers and the bees | WIP - 10,000+ words | Fruits Basket E | Machi/Yuki, Momiji/Hiroshi, Saki/Kyo | smut In a world without Tohru Honda, three couples explore intimacy as they fall in love, process their grief, and deal with the many twists and turns of life.

Of Lost Cats and Half-Shadows | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket & JuJutsu Kaisen T | Megumi/Yuji, also Tohru/Kyo | crossover, drama & romance Yuji, Megumi, and Nobara enroll at Kaibara High School to investigate the Zodiac curse and free the souls it binds. Kyo is immediately suspicious of the three new students and rejects their attempts at friendship. Will they be able to break this ancient curse before Kyo is locked up forever?

Something to Talk About | Flash Fiction | JuJutsu Kaisen M | Megumi/Yuji | hurt/comfort & romance Megumi and Yuji's relationship deepens after Sukuna is defeated.

Where We Left It | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Tohru/Momiji (one-sided) | angst Momiji reflects on his love for Tohru in the wake of his curse breaking.

Gen

Bloom Within Us | WIP - 200,000+ words | Fruits Basket T | Kyo & Yuki & Saki & Arisa, Kyo & Kazuma, Kyo & Momiji, Kyo & Hiroshi & Yusuke, also Saki/Kyo, Momiji/Hiroshi | AU, angst, drama, & hurt/comfort What if Tohru Honda didn't survive her fall from the cliff? Kyo, Yuki, Saki, Arisa, and the rest of Tohru's loved ones mourn together and figure out a way forward without her.

Don't Be a Stranger | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Arisa & Akimoto | slice of life After a draining day at work, Arisa Uotani runs into someone from her past.

Fly on the Wall | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket G | Machi | angst Machi's thoughts on the day Haru destroyed her classroom.

Furedi | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Ensemble Cast | fluff & humor When his younger cousins come over to watch Mogeta, Shigure finally tells Kyo the true nature of Jason, just in time to invent a new threat in the surrounding woods: Freddy.

ichigo ichie | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, your name. T | Akito & Haruhi & Tohru, also Tohru/Kyo | AU, crossover & drama Tohru Honda wants to break the Zodiac Curse and free Kyo. Haruhi Fujioka wants to get out of the time loop that's kept her and the Host Club from advancing grades. One morning, Tohru and Haruhi wake up in each other's bodies. Will they be able to break the cycles that keep them and their found families trapped? Fruits Basket x Ouran High School / Your Name AU

Melon Splitting | Short Story | Fruits Basket T | Tohru & Yuki (Tohru/Kyo and Machi/Yuki appear) | humor & hurt/comfort Back at the beach house, a game of watermelon splitting goes wrong.

The One Who Stays | WIP - under 5000 words | Fruits Basket T | Akito & Yuki, also Tohru/Kyo | AU, drama & romance What if Yuki hadn’t run after Kyo? Tohru confesses her love. Kyo confesses his sins. Yuki sees it all. And then Akito arrives.

Over (Un)Easy | Short Story | Fruits Basket G | Haru & Yuki, Shigure & Yuki | slice of life Yuki moves into Shigure's house and stumbles through his first day outside of that dark room.

Same Thing | Flash Fiction | Fruits Basket T | Kyo (brief mention of Tohru/Kyo pre-relationship) | angst As Kyo watches his senpai graduate, he reflects on the upcoming year; the last year of his life outside of the cage.

See my fics listed Alphabetically | by Fandom | by Genre | by Wordcount | Series: lovers alone wear sunlight | Series: That Day in the Rain

[alphacrone]

the sun shines and fights for your day (2122 words) by the_one_that_fell Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga), Fruits Basket Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kuragi Machi & Sohma Kisa, Kuragi Machi & Sohma Hiro, Kuragi Machi/Sohma Yuki, Sohma Hiro/Sohma Kisa TW: Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Verbal Abuse, Slight Victim Blaming, Manga Spoilers

Summary: Machi didn’t get harassed or catcalled often. But that didn’t mean it never happened.

Or, Machi is rescued by the two youngest members of the Zodiac.

***

Machi didn’t get harassed or catcalled often. 

She chalked it up to her talent at being virtually invisible in public more than anything else. Her entire life, she had been quiet and dull and very good at ignoring men. But that didn’t mean it never happened. 

“I have a boyfriend,” she told the man blocking her path. She’d only run out to pick up some groceries before Yuki’s visit this afternoon, but this—admittedly tall —jackass was making it difficult. 

“Oh?” The guy smirked at her. “I don’t see him.” 

Machi bristled, but kept her expression neutral. “I don’t need a chaperone to run errands, do I?” 

“C’mon, smile a bit,” he told her, stepping closer. “You’re being rude. We’re just talking, aren’t we?” 

“Leave me alone,” Machi said, frustration leaking into her tone. Yuki had taught her a few self-defense moves before he graduated, but people were starting to notice as the guy in front of her grew louder. She couldn’t just kick him in the balls for being annoying. 

“Hey, I’m just being friendly,” the guy snapped, smile dropping. “Don’t you know how to make friends?”

“No,” Machi replied truthfully. She didn’t intentionally make friends; friends generally wormed their way into her life against her will. “Go away.” 

“You’re such a bitch,” the guy spat. “Bet you think you’re so much better than me, is that it? Get off your high horse, you stupid slut.”

“Okay.” Machi sighed. All she wanted was to get some ingredients for soumen. Why couldn’t this guy just leave her alone? He was starting to make her nervous; what if he followed her home? Steeling herself, Machi ducked around him, but he caught her arm and yanked her back.

“Hey!” He shouted, fingers digging roughly into the soft flesh of her upper arm. Machi let out a surprised yelp of pain. “Don’t walk away when I’m talking to yo- OOF. ”

Suddenly the hand was gone, and Machi turned to see the guy sprawled across the sidewalk, clutching at his stomach. Standing above him was a kid, probably middle school aged, who raised a fist in warning. 

“She didn’t wanna talk to you, you dumb bastard!” The kid shouted, his voice cracking almost comically. “Go jump in a lake!”

“C’mon.” A small, soft hand took Machi’s, and she looked down to see a young girl tugging at her to move. “Hiro’s got him distracted, let’s get away.” 

Machi nodded mutely and let the girl drag her down the street, away from the man and the boy who’d saved her. They ended up at the entrance to a busy park, and the girl let out a deep sigh of relief. She looked up at Machi with brilliant, amber eyes. Despite the difference in color, Machi was reminded of Yuki. 

“Are you okay?” The girl asked, nose scrunching in worry. She was cute in a way Machi didn’t know existed in real life. Was this some sort of child model? A tiny idol? A robot escaped from a laboratory? 

“Did your friend...headbutt that guy in the stomach?” Machi asked. Everything had happened so quickly that it was a blur, but she was certain the kid hadn’t come at them with his fists alone. 

“Aha, um...yes.” The girl looked down at her feet. “It’s a bad habit of his from- it’s a bad habit.” 

Machi felt her lips twitch upwards. “I don’t think it’s a bad habit to save people.”

The girl beamed up at her, clasping her hands together. “So, you’re okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he? He was so scary.” 

“Ah, no, I’m fine,” Machi said, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Thanks.” 

“Oi! Kisa!” 

The boy was jogging towards them, face pulled into a deep scowl. To Machi’s relief, he didn’t have a scratch on him. 

“Hiro!” The girl—Kisa—waved him over. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Hiro said, scowl lessening as Kisa checked him over. When he caught sight of Machi, however, he huffed and pointed an accusatory finger at her. “You . Learn how to stand up for yourself! I can’t stand people who let themselves get walked all over. What if we hadn’t been there? You can’t expect others to fight your battles!” 

Machi quirked an eyebrow. Who did this little punk think he was, her father? It was almost funny, getting lectured by a child. She let her thoughts drift to Yuki as the kid rambled on. He’d be here in an hour and she still needed to pick up groceries. Neither of them could cook, even after lessons from Tohru, but they had fun trying. Sometimes Yuki would purposefully smear sauce across her cheek, just so he could lick it off. The bastard thought he was so smooth ...but Machi would be lying if she said it didn’t make her heart race. 

“Hiro!” Kisa shouted, disrupting Machi’s train of thought. “Stop it! If she’d hit that guy, he could’ve hurt her! You’re being mean. I’m...I’m disappointed in you.” 

Machi hid her laugh behind a cough as the boy’s face grew bright red. He was a piece of work, but Kisa seemed to have him wrapped around her finger. They very suddenly reminded her of Tohru and Kyo, and this time she couldn’t help but snort a little. 

“I-I-” Hiro bowed, first to Kisa, then Machi. “I’m sorry,” he said, head lowered. “I just got scared, seeing that guy grab you. I- I don’t like bullies.”

“It’s fine,” Machi said with a shrug. “I know a few self-defense moves, I guess I just froze. So, thank you. For interfering.” 

Hiro nodded, looking at Kisa sheepishly until she smiled at him. Machi really wasn’t sure if these two were dating or siblings or whatever, but the way they interacted made her feel warm inside. They clearly knew each other well. 

“I’m Kisa, by the way,” the girl said to introduce herself. “Kisa Sohma. And this is Hiro Sohma. Do you mind if we walk you home, just to make sure you get there safe?” 

“Soh...ma?” Machi’s brain short-circuited. 

“Ah, yeah. Sohma,” Kisa repeated with a smile. 

“Are you related to Yuki Sohma?” Machi asked slowly. Surely that was too much of a coincidence. But these kids were unnaturally pretty, and Kisa’s hair -

“Yes!” Kisa clapped her hands together. “He’s our relative. You know Yuki?”

“Uh, yeah. He’s my boyfriend.” 

Kisa’s mouth fell open. Hiro snorted. “That guy has a girlfriend ?” 

“Really?” Kisa asked, ignoring Hiro. “It’s so nice to meet you! Onee-chan mentioned Yuki was dating someone but I haven’t talked to him in a while so I never got to ask.” She paused, tilting her head to the side to look Machi up and down. “You’re pretty.” 

Despite herself, Machi felt her face heat up. “Um. My name is Machi Kuragi.” 

“You could do better,” Hiro said off-handedly. Kisa smacked his arm. 

“Yuki is nice, don’t say that,” she whispered. “Onee-chan, can we walk you home?” 

It seemed yet another person in Yuki’s life had already adopted her—first Tohru, then Ayame, and now Kisa. Machi couldn’t really complain, though. It was nice to have a family. 

“Uh, sure.” Machi decided she and Yuki could just go out to eat. Their cooking was pretty atrocious. “I’m just a couple blocks this way,” she said, jabbing her thumb in the direction of her apartment. 

Without warning, Kisa grabbed Machi’s hand again and took the lead, despite not knowing the way. Hiro trailed after them, mumbling about older women stealing his girlfriend, but he didn’t seem too angry. “If you’re dating Yuki,” Kisa said. “Does that mean you’re friends with Tohru?” 

Machi nodded. “We’re not close, but she’s easy to be friends with.”

“She’s the best, isn’t she?” Kisa asked, grinning from ear to ear. “I miss her a lot.” 

“She should dump Kyo,” Hiro butted in. “He’s such a loser. Then she could move back here.” 

“Hiro,” Kisa warned, her tone more playful than upset. “Don’t say that. Kyo isn’t too bad, and Onee-chan really loves him!” 

Hiro snorted derisively. “Tohru loves everyone. She can find someone here.” 

Kisa looked up at Machi with a conspiratorial glint in her eyes. “Hiro misses her too, he just won’t admit it.” 

“I don’t!” Hiro protested, but Kisa waved him off. 

“Do you go to school with Yuki?” Kisa asked. 

“I did,” Machi said. “I’m in my third year at Kaibara, but he and I were on the Student Council together last year.” 

“Oh! So you know Momiji and Haru?” 

“Yeah.” Momiji had transferred out this year, but they had been acquainted. Alternatively, she couldn’t get rid of Hatsuharu Sohma, who asked for “Yuki Updates” almost every day before class.

Machi had never been great at small talk, but her curt nature didn’t seem to faze Kisa. “I never get to see Momiji anymore, since he moved out of the compound. But I get to see Haru and Rin a lot!” 

They rounded the corner to Machi’s apartment, Kisa still rambling about people Machi didn’t know. Kisa stopped talking abruptly and began waving to someone in the distance. Machi glanced up to see Yuki standing outside her building, typing on his phone. 

“Yuki!” Kisa called. He looked up, noticed the three of them together, and waved, confusion visible on his face, even at this distance. 

They approached and Yuki reached out to kiss Machi’s cheek in greeting. Her face flushed, but the kids didn’t seem to notice. “Hey,” he said to her. “I see you met these two?” 

“A guy was harassing her, so we stepped in,” Hiro said coolly, arms folded across his chest. 

“He headbutted the guy,” Machi deadpanned. Yuki let out a surprised bark of laughter, covering his mouth with his hand. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Yuki said, taking Machi’s hand. “Are you okay?” 

Machi nodded. “They insisted on making sure I got home safe.” 

Yuki smiled at his cousins. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “That was very kind of you, Kisa.” 

“Hey!” Hiro protested, but he was ignored as Yuki patted Kisa’s head. She smiled up at him, eyes darting to Machi. 

“I like your girlfriend,” Kisa told him. “Hold onto her, please.” 

Yuki laughed, and the sound warmed Machi’s heart. “I plan on it. As long as she’ll have me.” 

“Gross,” Hiro muttered. Machi turned to him, and bopped him lightly on the head with her fist. “Hey!” He shouted.

“Thanks,” she said. “For walking me home. And headbutting that guy.” 

Hiro’s cheeks turned pink and he shrugged dismissively. “Whatever. Guy deserved it.” 

“Can you two get home safely?” Yuki asked, grip tightening on Machi’s hand. They hadn’t seen each other properly in weeks, and she could tell he was antsy to get her alone. She bit back a smile. 

“Of course we can,” Hiro snapped. Kisa smiled at Yuki sweetly. 

“Yes,” she said. “Come visit us soon, okay? Haru misses you.” 

Yuki nodded. “Will do.”

Kisa waved to both of them as Hiro took her hand and started pulling her back down the street. As soon as they were out of sight, Yuki pressed a proper kiss to her mouth. Machi melted against him, the whirlwind of the past hour finally over. “Are all of your relatives weird? Are you the normal one in your family?” 

Yuki laughed against her lips, knocking their foreheads together. “You ask me that when Kakeru is your brother.” 

“That Hiro kid headbutted a guy twice his size in the gut,” Machi said. “And that’s pretty normal after meeting Momiji and Ayame.” 

“Have I introduced you to Kagura yet?” Yuki asked with a shit-eating grin. 

“Your family is weird ,” Machi said, pulling her boyfriend towards the entrance of her building.

Yuki let himself be pulled inside. “I’m very aware.” 

“Nice, though,” Machi admitted, cheeks growing warm as they climbed up to the second floor. “Your family’s pretty nice. The ones I’ve met.” 

The unspoken truth of Yuki’s parents hung between them, but it didn’t dampen the mood, They’d bared themselves to each other before, whispering the untold abuses of their parents where no one else could hear. Machi knew Yuki didn’t go to the family compound to visit because those who hurt him were still there. Yuki knew Machi would only meet with her father in public, where he couldn’t raise a hand against her. 

Yuki smiled at her. “They seemed to like you, Kisa and Hiro. Oh, speaking of, Ayame was asking about you yesterday…” 

Machi unlocked her door and pulled Yuki in behind her, still chattering about his brother and her brother and silly schemes they were brewing. She smiled at him, and felt her heart expand to let her new family grow just a little more. 

[someoneoffthestreet]

Fruits Basket 2x02

HI I JUST SPENT MY TIME GLEEFULLY TWIRLING THROUGH THIS EPISODE SO LET’S GET TO IT.

Arisa and Kyo’s frienemy status is a beautiful thing. And Kyo seems to have accepted the nickname given by his classmates.

Saki “if anyone’s marrying Tohru it’s gonna be me” Hanajima everyone.

Poor Kyo and Yuki had no idea what they were in for when they were assigned to be Tohru’s primary love interests. Saki and Arisa are the fiercest of mom friends and they will be giving a test at the end of this, study up.

Yuki’s life has been so rigid and stifling that the future leaves him nervous and uncertain. Meanwhile, as is revealed in this very episode, Kyo has no guarantee that even has a future at all.

The sheer joy and adorableness of these scenes at Kazuma’s home are going to make me explode. Kazuma doing his fatherly duty by sharing embarrassing facts about Kyo, while Kyo is totally at home around Kazuma and Tohru. It does a heart good to see him be so open and himself in this episode, especially when paired with Kazuma’s flashback to how Kyo was just last year. It puts Tohru’s influence and just how far Kyo’s come in that time into stark, blessed relief.

Kazuma learns that Kyo cooked for Tohru and is delighted, leaving no choice but for his son to kick him out before the poor boy can lose anymore face.

“You’ve got a phone call... It’s from Kyo’s father.” That’s weird, how is Kazuma calling himself? ((((((:

I’m just kidding (I’m really not) HEY GUYS LOOK THE GARBAGE STAIN ON THIS WORLD HAS ARRIVED.

Like, look at this introductory scene. How Kyo’s bio-father spends the whole time looking almost unhinged. How he consistently, stubbornly refers to Kyo as “it”. THE SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS AND DELUSION IN EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH HOLY CRAP SIR YOU ARE THE ACTUAL WORST.

And then Kazuma- Kazuma does the worst thing he possibly can to this dude: he compares him to Kyo and is absolutely right. Kyo’s bio-father is in the same headspace that Kyo spent season 1 (and arguably most of his childhood) in, focusing all of his anger and hate onto a single source, and perceived wellspring of all his misfortune in a desperate attempt to keep going. But the difference is: Kyo was, and is, a child, focusing on his peer. It makes the extremity of his emotions more excusable, and he’s more malleable to change, just as he’s already started to. Kyo’s bio-dad is a grown adult, and he’s taking this all out on, again, a child, which is bad enough, but also his own son.

“It’s not my fault!” he shouts, and the record player becomes stuck, begins playing the same refrain over and over. It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!

KAZUMA PROCEEDS TO MURDER THE MAN IN HIS OWN HOME AND LEAVE WITHOUT ONCE LOSING HIS COMPOSURE OR DIGNITY WHAT A BADASS.

Meanwhile, getting back to ~future talk. Tohru, too, is feeling anxiety about the future, but it’s different from Yuki and Kyo. Tohru’s life has been a tumultuous one, presented here with the different homes she’s lived in at different points in her life. In the first episode, Tohru says to Shigure, “I lost my home again.” Now, she’s being forced to consider leaving her home once again, once again being uprooted, once again having to adapt in order to survive. Where will she go next? What will she do when she gets there?

Kyo, perceptive kitty that he is when it comes to Tohru, picks up on this, and instead of letting Tohru sit and stew decides to address it plainly. On the one hand, I relate hard to Tohru not wanting to talk and being embarrassed by crying in front of Kyo like this; on the other, Kyo reinforces that it’s ok if she needs to cry, it’s not a big deal, she can be like this around him and she doesn’t have to be embarrassed.

In the heat of her panic, Tohru reaches out for Kyo’s beads like a lifeline, this confirmation that Kyo has his own burden to bear, that he’s just as in over his head as she is, she’s not alone. And Kyo doesn’t freak out. We know perfectly well what happens when those beads come off, and Kyo, while naturally startled, doesn’t panic when she grabs them. And instead takes her hand. I am GOING-

Finally, Shigure swoops in (how long was he listening) to grant Tohru some sage advice. It’s not often that he does this (the last I can remember is with Kyo back in episode 2) but somewhere in that miasma of clownery, deviousness, and shady meddling is a genuinely perceptive person who, on occasion, uses his powers for good.

Poor Kyo, he just wanted to share a quiet dinner with Tohru and she goes and invites the whole household, which just happens to be the two people Kyo cannot stand, because she’s Tohru.

Spoilers under the cut (YES I HAVE EVEN MORE TO SAY!)

Arisa’s met someone at work. I AM LITERALLY CLAPPING IN GLEE.

That cutaway before Kyo’s mom gets hit by the train is so unsettling, 10/10 storyboarders.

“Are you saying it’s my fault?” YES. YES IT IS YOUR FAULT. DEAL WITH IT.

I know exactly what Momiji wants. I know exactly what he’s wishing for and I love him and he actually gets his wish in the end I’m-

MINE AND AYAME ARRIVE IN ALL THEIR GLORY NEXT EPISODE HECK YEAH.

[osakaso5]

Spirit Kaleidoscope: Empty Absolution

Chapter 16 - The Same Goal

Chapter Index

Forest Plaza

Hokuto: The yokai are in the lead, with two victories. It's just as I expected... Not that I care either way, as long as my pockets are full.

Sana: Hokuto-san! There you are!

Hokuto: Oh, Sana! And Azuma, too. I've been making a killing, thanks to you. You'll both get a cut later...

Shisei: ........

Hokuto: ...Wait, Shisei!? Why are you in Hikagemachi!?

Shisei: ...o.

Hokuto: ...Huh? What was that? You need to speak up.

Shisei: ........ ........I want to return... To the grotto...

Hokuto: Huh!?

Azuma: He's been like that for a while now.

Azuma: He said he wanted to come to the city, but he's probably not used to all the yokai...

Sana: He's been gripping the hem of my coat ever since we left the grotto. Ehehe, it's so cute..!

Shisei: U-ugh...

Hokuto: ...No, hold on a minute. I know I told him to leave the grotto, but if it scares him this much, then he shouldn't force himself...

Shisei: ...No. I'll come with you... Urk...

Hokuto: ...This is no good. Why is he so insistent..?

Sana: Um. I know Sana-san is scared... But this was still the first time he's ever wanted to go outside.

Sana: I'll stay by his side! And he might grow accustomed to the outside world while we search for the kaleidoscope..!

Hokuto: ...I guess we shouldn't leave him alone in the grotto when he's like this.

Hokuto: Speaking of which, how's the kaleidoscope thing coming along? From the sounds of it, you haven't even found it yet.

Azuma:  About that... We're in a bit of a pinch.

Sana: The truth is...

- - - -

Hokuto: What!? You lost the kaleidoscope immediately after stealing it!? And you got it mixed up with a katanashu's stuff...

Sana: W-we were really in a hurry...

Hokuto: You've got to be kidding me... How'd it come to this..? Whatever, it doesn't matter.

Hokuto: Can you fix this if you get into the katanashu camp..? It hasn't been long since you lost the kaleidoscope, so that katanashu might still have it on him.

Azuma: Yes. It's a good thing we've got access to the tournament.

Hokuto: I'll leave the guys from the gambling den to keep the books. Let's go. The tournament's halfway done... We don't have much time left.

Sana & Azuma: Yeah!

Shisei: ........

Forest Plaza - Katanashu Camp

Hanabusa: The fourth match is next...

Momiji: Commander...

Madoka: ...Do you really think we can keep going? Are you seriously planning to fight?

Hanabusa: ........

Madoka: You're going up against Mizuchi, right? I know you're a real powerhouse, Commander, but with an opponent like that...

Uta: Yeah. They used to call him a water god back in the day. Hard to imagine that a human could beat that.

Momiji: But he's probably not a real god. We don't know unless we try...

Uta: We don't need to try! ...He's much stronger than Kyubi-no-Kitsune, y'know? He's the most broken character in the game, we might as well give up now.

Uta: Even Commander Hanabusa's most likely planning to call it quits. We'll save precious time if we go back and start packing now.

Momiji: ........

Momiji: Commander Hanabusa. Make sure to defeat Mizuchi.

Hanabusa: .....!

Uta: Huh!? Wait, Momiji... Were you even listening to me!?

Momiji: I was. But I'm relying on Commander Hanabusa.

Uta: Huh..?

Momiji: ...I need to battle Ungaikyo. In order for me to do that, we need to win the fourth match.

Momiji: So, please. Defeat Mizuchi for me, Commander.

Hanabusa: ........

Madoka: Ah... Come to think of it, didn't you say something along those lines when you were picked for the tournament?

- - - -

Momiji: May I ask you one thing?

Momiji: Can you make Ungaikyo my opponent?

- - - -

Madoka: Does it have something to do with the memories you talked about?

Momiji: ...Probably. I'm not completely sure...

Momiji: I have a lot to ask him. Whether we really met in Hikagemachi, and why he has my kaleidoscope.

Momiji: ...No... Maybe I don't even care about those things.

Momiji: I... I just need to...

Click

Uta: ...Momiji..? Why do you have your hand on your sword? You look like you're about to draw it...

Momiji: ........ ...When did I..?

Uta: Huh? You didn't even notice?

Momiji: ........

Aoi: Momiji's right.

Momiji: ...Aoi.

Madoka: Ah, you woke up? What about the wounds you got from Onibi?

Aoi: Don't worry. The medicine is doing its job... Ow...

Madoka: Oh, geez. You're trying to play tough.

Aoi: ...Shut it. The tournament is more important. I want Commander Hanabusa to win his match, too.

Aoi: The same goes for you, Momiji. Make sure to beat Ungaikyo. Don't let these yokai defeat us.

Madoka: ...What's gotten into you? You're all fired up, even though you hated doing this more than all the rest of us.

Uta: Losing to Onibi must've really upset you.

Aoi: ...Shouldn't it have? In all honesty, I'm so furious I feel like I'm losing my mind.

Aoi: I'm not going to let them defeat us and drive us out. I'm no going ot be a loser.

Aoi: ...I'm a soldier. Even if I lose a battle, I must win the war.

Madoka: Wow. Someone's getting heated.

Momiji: What do you think, Commander?

Hanabusa: What are you going on about..? I told you from the start that we'll win.

Hanabusa: Our plans have changed, but we're not done yet. There's no need to run from the fight.

Hanabusa: We'll win both matches and secure our victory. That is all.

Momiji: ...Yes!

Hanabusa: Also, about Mizuchi... ...Hmph. I hear he's exceptionally strong, even for a yokai.

Hanabusa: I'm lucky to be able to fight a water god. I've always wanted to face off against him. ...The fact that we're cornered only excites me more.

Madoka: ...Commander Hanabusa looks really excited...

Uta: He's earned his nickname as an ogre not only in Hikagemachi, but on the battlefield, too.

Aoi: That's bloodlust...

Madoka: Everyone's so into this... Not that I want all my hard work to go to waste, either.

Madoka: Since I'm the only one of us who's won so far.

Uta & Aoi: Ugh...

Madoka: I'd love to quit all this military stuff and go home, but I'd prefer an honorable discharge.

Uta: At least you have a home to return to. If I get chased out of here, I have no place to go.

Uta: Sigh... I guess that means I've got a lot riding on this tournament, too. ...Please, Commander. I'll give you all my support, just this once.

Uta: I'm a good strategist, you know.

Hanabusa: Hmph. Will you apologize to me if I win?

Uta: Ahaha. I'll apologize plenty, if that's all you need.

Aoi: ...This doesn't change the fact that he's not someone you can take head on. We need a plan...

Aoi: Mizuchi is of an ancient dragon species. Considering that he's so well-known as a serpent god that rules the waters, it's safe to assume his powers are practically on the level of a deity.

Madoka: Whoa... The more I hear about the guy, the stronger he seems... Does he have any weaknesses?

Aoi: Weaknesses... I believe he can't handle gourds...

Uta, Momiji, & Madoka: Gourds!?

Madoka: And we obviously don't have any...

Uta: Should we go look for one in the city? ...Is Commander Hanabusa gonna throw the gourd at Mizuchi in the middle of their fight, or something? Wouldn't that look really weird?

Madoka: ...Pfft! Hey, cut it out... Just imagining that is making me... Pfft...

Aoi: ..I wasn't joking. Other than that, he's a water yokai, so he should be weak against anything with earth powers...

Aoi: That being said, there's honestly no real weakness for us to take advantage of right now...

Kasane: Hold up. I've got Mizuchi's weakness right here~.

Uta, Momiji, Madoka, & Aoi: Commander Kasane!?

Hanabusa: ...Kasane, you bastard... Where have you been wasting your time up until now..!?

Kasane: Yer makin' that scary face again. Why don't ya chill out and listen to my side of the story, first?

Hanabusa: Your side of the story..?

Kasane: I figured somethin' like this might happen, so I was investigatin' yokai traits.

Kasane: I tried to wrap it up before the tournament... Sorry for missin' out on the beginnin'.

Hanabusa: ........ So you didn't run?

Kasane: Unbelievable. I'm still commander of the second squadron, ain't I? I'll do my most basic duties, at the very least.

Hanabusa: Kasane, you...

Madoka: That didn't mean you had to fake a stomach ache... You could've just explained what your plan was!

Kasane: Huh? But that would've taken too much energy.

Madoka: Ugh... This guy...

Kasane: Besides, Hanabusa-han's better suited to fight than me. I figured he'd handle things here.

Momiji: Commander Kasane...

Uta: ...Crap... I'm kinda starting to think Commander Kasane's cool...

Aoi: Him, of all people...

Kasane: Yer not bein' very nice. It hurts my feelings.

Madoka: This is payback for everything you've put us through.

Kasane: Like what?

Kasane: In any case, let's give it our all. All of us katanashu, comin' together for this one fight, yeah?

Madoka: Coming together... That's not exactly our style.

Aoi: ...Just this once, it's fine. Our goal of winning this fight is the same.

Uta: Yep!

Momiji: Exactly.

Hanabusa: Yes. ...We must win.

Uta, Momiji, Madoka, Aoi, & Kasane: Yes, sir!

Forest on the Outskirts of Town - Large Maple Tree

Ungaikyo: ........ This blade...

Click

Ungaikyo: I thought I wouldn't need it anymore... I knew I should've thrown it away. ...Are you the one telling me to fight him?

Ungaikyo: Telling me... To avenge the others...

Ungaikyo: ...Uuh... Hic. I'm sorry... I'm sorry, everyone... I'm sorry that I'm the only one who ran away to a place like this...

Ungaikyo: ...Sniff. Fine. I'll fight him.

Ungaikyo: ...I won't run away anymore. I'll cut him down with this blade.

Ungaikyo: Maybe then the others will forgive me.

To be continued...