Eternal Bonds: A Fruits Basket story

See You After School

If there was one thing Lea hated most in the world, it was the school uniforms. She despised wearing skirts and would much rather wear pants. Alana always tried to get her to wear a skirt, but it would never end well. She walked over to her mirror that was hanging on her door and straightened out her shirt. She wouldn't say that she looked horrible in it, but she didn't like wearing it. She reached over for a cropped, grey jacket from her desk chair and put it on and took in her appearance again. Satisfied, she grabbed her bag and raced down the stairs.
It had been a year since Evelyn, Yuki, and Lea had moved into Shigure's house. At first, they had no idea what to expect with Shigure, but his house was quite nice and it was out in a wooded area, so it was kind of relaxing. When Lea reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw Yuki and Evelyn waiting for her. The two of them turned to greet her but stopped when they noticed she was wearing a jacket.
"Aren't you going to get hot wearing that?" Yuki asked her pointing to her jacket.
"It's eighty degrees outside, Lea." Evelyn told her .
"Relax guys," replied Lea. "You are talking to the girl that wears hoodies during the summer. Besides, this jacket makes wearing this uniform a little more tolerable." Lea threw her jacket open to show off her uniform.
Yuki sighed at Lea's exaggeration.
"If it'll make you quit complaining about the uniform, then I'll take it." Evelyn piped. She was about to say something else when she heard Shigure's voice. It sounded like he was talking to someone. Evelyn turned to the others and placed her finger to her lips to quiet them.
"What is it," asked Yuki.
"It sounds like Shigure is talking to someone."
"He's probably talking to himself." Lea suggested.
"Come on," Evelyn gestured as they all headed towards the living room. They peeked and saw Shigure sitting on the deck talking to a girl around their age. She quickly recognized her as Tohru Honda.
"So then, year of the Dog," Shigure asked her. "That makes me feel so much closer to you already. After all, I'm a Do-"
Shigure couldn't finish his sentence as he was cut off by Yuki hitting him on the head with his book bag.
"Will you at least try to control your baser urges?" Yuki said.
"Yeah, come on. Resist old man." Lea chimed in punching him on the shoulder.
Evelyn sighed at the scene in front of her.
"Miss Honda, hello," Yuki greeted. "I hope my cousin here hasn't frightened you too badly."
"Just forget anything he says." Evelyn spoke up walking towards them.
"You too, Evelyn?!" Shigure complained as she was taking the other's side. He then started to complain about Yuki's bag being heavy. "That thing hurt. What do you have in there a dictionary or something?"
"Wait, Sohma? Why are you here?" Tohru asked. "I mean, good morning!" Tohru quickly bowed.
"Two dictionaries, actually." Yuki answered placing his bag on his shoulders. "But you should be thankful Evelyn didn't hit you with yours." He then turned to Tohru. "Morning."
Lea and Evelyn greeted her as well by giving her a wave.
"What's this? You four know each other?" Shigure questioned.
"We're all in the same class." Evelyn answered.
"I'm Tohru Honda. It's nice to meet you," she introduced.
"Same here. My name's Shigure Sohma. Yuki's my little cousin, and Lea and Evelyn are family friends."
"What brings you to our house this morning," asked Yuki.
"I live around here that's all." Tohru answered.
"Around here? Really," Shigure said confused.
"You do?" Lea asked.
Tohru immediately got nervous. "Well, I'll just be going!"
She started to run off but was stopped when Evelyn called out to her. She turned around.
"You're headed to school? Why don't we all walk together." Evelyn suggested with a small smile. She never really talked to Tohru that much, but she knew that she was a nice girl with a good heart.
"Uh...huh?" Tohru sounded.
********************
Once the school day had ended, Evelyn was walking towards her locker when she noticed Yuki was there as well.
"Hey, Yuki," she greeted.
Yuki turned to her as he grabbed his outdoor shoes. "Hey. Where's Lea?"
"She already walked home."
Yuki hummed and shut his locker door.
"Sohma! Elsher! Thank you for this morning!"
The two turned to see Tohru standing there.
"It's quite alright. I should be apologizing for Shigure." Yuki replied.
"Oh, no, not at all! He's a very nice person. And he even let me look at his cute zodiac figurines."
The three of them walked outside as the sun setting turned the sky into a golden hue.
"That's right. I believe you were saying something about being a Cat?" Yuki asked her.
Evelyn pulled her earphones out of her ears to listen.
"Yeah, I was kind of a strange little kid. Sorry." Tohru said shyly putting her hand on her forehead.
Evelyn let out a chuckle. "It's okay. We are all strange at some point."
Yuki sighed. "The Cat is an idiot."
Evelyn and Tohru look at Yuki as he walked ahead.
"Stubborn too," he added. "Did you know the zodiac animals actually began as part of a system for telling time? They were first used as clock divisions. Later, Yin and Yang and elemental relationships were folded in, and they became fortune-telling tools.The truth is, the math never left any room for the Cat to begin with. But honestly, I that's for the best, anyway. I mean, being allowed to join the zodiac? What's so great about that? Better to be alone. Stupid Cat."
Evelyn grabbed his forearm and squeezed slightly as a sign of comfort. She knew very well that being a part of the zodiac wasn't a blessing and an honor. It was more like a curse.
"Sorry, but I don't really understand." Tohru spoke up, clearly confused as to why Yuki was talking like this. "Are you trying to say you hate cats?"
Yuki and Evelyn stopped and turned to Tohru. The wind picked up blowing all three of them's hair. They gave her a small smile. Evelyn shrugged her shoulders .
Suddenly, Tohru remembered her destination. "Oh, no, I'm sorry! I have to hurry up and get to work!" She quickly walked past them.
"Miss Honda?" Yuki called to her.
She turned around. "Uh, yes?"
Yuki reached up and plucked a stray leaf off of Tohru's bangs.
"There hasn't been much color in your face today. And it's still so hot. You should be careful not to push yourself too hard."
Yuki walked away with Evelyn tailing behind. She turned to Tohru and waved goodbye before catching up to Yuki.
********************
Shigure sighed. "I'm so tired of eating out or getting delivery every single night."
"The obvious solution is to make dinner." Yuki suggested.
"He's got a point." Lea added.
"Except that you three complain every time I cook something," argued Shigure.
"Well, maybe we would quit complaining so much if someone would stop putting pickled radishes in the curry." Yuki retorted, while Lea shivered at the mention of pickled radishes.
"As if you're any more competent than I am. Please, you're awful around the house. Two slovenly bachelors like us could really stand to have a woman around."
Both Lea and Evelyn stopped and whipped around to the two of them.
"Excuse me?!" Evelyn exclaimed.
"Are we a joke?!" Lea crossed her arms.
"Come on you two," Shigure started. He pointed to Lea. "You can't cook to save your life." He then pointed to Evelyn. "And I don't trust you with a stove."
"Watch it old man," Lea threatened.
"Quit calling me that! I'm not that old!"
Both Evelyn and Yuki sighed as the two continued to bicker. Suddenly, Evelyn felt Yuki tap her arm and gesture to the forest path below. She looked over to see Tohru walking down the path.
"Hey, speaking of, isn't that the girl from this morning? Tohru, right?" Shigure asked them.
"Maybe she does live nearby." Lea spoke up. "I heard her mother passed away a little while ago. So she could have moved."
"But none of the land's been rented. Not outside the family." Shigure explained.
Evelyn placed her hand against her chin in thought. They all got curious and took the path and wound up finding a tent. They heard rustling coming from inside to reveal Tohru crawling out of the tent. She looked up at the people standing in front of her tent with a surprised look.
Suddenly, Shigure bursted into laughter at the sight in front of him.
The three teenagers accompanying him looked at him with confused looks.
"It isn't that funny," they said simultaneously.
********************
They took Tohru to their house and sat her down in the living room to hear her explanation.
"I thought something was strange. The Sohmas own all the land in this area" Yuki pointed out.
Meanwhile, Shigure was still holding back his laughter. Lea elbowed him in his side to try and get him to stop but to no avail.
"Um, would it be okay if...if I lived there a little longer? I'll leave as soon as the renovations are over, I swear. Please, I don't have a lot of extra money, but I'll pay." Tohru pleaded, her voice quiet as she stared down at her hands that were placed on her lap.
Evelyn felt her heart clench. She felt pity for the girl. Having her mother taken away from her and no place to stay is truly not fair.
"That's a dangerous spot," Shigure spoke up. "The cliffs aren't too stable, and there are creeps around."
"Oh you're finally done laughing." Yuki said sarcastically.
"Not to mention, a young girl can't spend months living alone in a tent."
"No, it's all right! I'm even used to the slugs." Tohru reassured them.
The others in the room were thrown off by her statement.
"I've got the strength and willpower to see this through. So please, just let me-" Tohru couldn't finish as she fell to her knees from exhaustion.
"Miss Honda!" Yuki exclaimed in worry as Evelyn rushed to her.
Evelyn placed a hand on Tohru's forehead and noticed it was abnormally warm.
"She's got a fever."
"I'll go grab some ice to help cool her down a little." Shigure told them as he stood up and slid the doors open to the kitchen.
Immediately they were all hit with a strange stench coming from the room.
"Though, getting to it could take a while."
"It's the Toxic Jungle." Tohru observed.
"Nice analogy!" Lea complimented. Her ears perked up at the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. She looked at Shigure and noticed he heard it too.
Shigure placed a hand on his chin. "There, see? What did I just tell you? Part of the cliff has crumbled."
"What? It did? But how can you tell?" Tohru asked.
"Hm? Oh, I like to call it my animal instinct."
"Yeah. An animal instinct." Lea said as she held up her fingers in air quotes.
Evelyn smacked Lea's arm and glared at her to be quiet.
"Enough joking. Do you know exactly what part of the cliff collapsed?" Yuki changed the topic as he held the first aid kit in his hands.
"How awful," murmured Tohru. "Surely it was nowhere near my tent, though."
"Surely not." Shigure said with confidence.
Evelyn felt unease was over her. I don't like this feeling now.
********************
They all stood there in shock as they saw Tohru's former home under a pile of dirt and rock.
"Wait a second! Mom's picture is still inside!" Tohru realized as dread washed over her. She ran over to the pile and began to dig frantically for her mother's frame.
"You need to calm down." Yuki stated as he knelt beside her.
"But she's still in there!" Tohru wanted to keep digging but she was exhausted. "I have to get her out. She-she can't breathe."
Shigure placed his hand on top of Tohru's for comfort. "Why don't we come back in the morning when there's more light? What if something happened to you? I doubt your mom would want you to get hurt, right?"
"He's right." Evelyn wiped Tohru's tears. "It'll be okay." She gave her a reassuring smile to show her.
********************
Evelyn sat with Lea in her room thinking about everything that had happened.
"I feel bad for her."
Evelyn looked up at Lea who was fiddling with the strings of her black hoodie.
"To have so much happen in your life like that at once must be painful."
Evelyn nodded as she propped her fist against her face.
A knock sounded at her door. They looked up to see Yuki standing in the doorway as it opened.
"How is she?" Evelyn asked him.
"She's asleep. Shigure is gonna handle it."
"And what are you gonna do?" Lea questioned.
"I'm gonna go dig up the landslide."
"You sure you don't need help?" Lea's pupils turned to slits and her eyes glowed a golden color.
Yuki smirked as he turned away. "I'll have help."
Knowing what he meant, the two girls nodded and bid him goodnight.
********************
The next morning, Evelyn was sweeping outside while Lea was still asleep in her room. Out of nowhere, Tohru burst out of the living room in a frenzy.
"Good morning."
Tohru looked to see Evelyn with a broom in hand and Yuki walking towards them with a bag in his hand.
"Are you feeling better," he asked.
"Oh, um, yes. Good morning!"
Yuki held out the photo of Tohru's mom to hand it to her. "Here. I think I got all the rest of your things too, but could you check and see?"
"No way! You mean you moved all that dirt by yourself? But-" Tohru stammered.
"No, of course not, I couldn't."
"But...then how?"
"I can't tell you." Yuki stepped onto the porch. "Well, I'll just bring your things upstairs. I know the house is a mess, but we do have a spare room on the second floor beside Evelyn's. You can stay here until the renovations are done."
"Oh, how fun," exclaimed Evelyn. "It would be nice to have another girl living here!"
"Ah! I couldn't do that!" Tohru disagreed.
"The bedroom doors all have locks on them." Lea piped in as she walked outside rubbing her eyes. Her hair was still a mess, clearly evident that she just woke up.
"No, that's not what I meant at all!"
"Do you enjoy doing chores? Housework? You know like cooking and cleaning." Shigure slid in to the conversation.
"Uh, yeah. I mean it's kind of calming." Tohru answered.
Shigure pondered for a moment. His face then lit up with joy. "Wonderful!! Welcome home!" He walked away and said, "Your room's not aired out, so you should open a window, and I'll get you a copy of the house key, too."
"I can't! If I moved in here, I'd only be a burden on you!" Tohru reasoned.
Evelyn grabbed Tohru's hand and smiled. "We don't consider it a burden. Just say yes." She really hoped that Tohru would stay. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this girl would make a big change in their lives.
They all began to walk away and Tohru chased after them.
"Okay, but if I'm going to impose on you by living here, at least I should know if there are any special rules to follow," she said.
"There are none," Yuki answered. "You should just be you, Miss Honda, and live your life at your own pace. It's that simple."
Lea wrapped an arm around Tohru's shoulder scaring her.
They all begin to walk up the stairs towards the guest room. As Evelyn walked by the window, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She reached her hand to her neck and looked out the window. Strange, that felt familiar. Once they all came upstairs, they headed down the hallway towards the room where Tohru would be. Shigure opened the door to the empty room.
"Is this really all right?" Tohru asked hesitantly. "It feels too good to be true."
"Don't worry, Tohru. It's fine with us." Evelyn turned to Lea. "Go get the dusting stuff."
Lea nodded and exited the room with Shigure who was going to get the vacuum. Evelyn walked over to the window and leaned against it, pushing her hair behind her ears. Her eyes widened as she rubbed her neck again. Yuki noticed and looked at her with concern.
"What's wrong," he asked.
"I keep getting this feeling. I don't know what's causing it," she replied confused.
Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed causing the house to shake. Evelyn covered her eyes to avoid the dust and wood. Once it cleared, she took notice of bright orange hair.
"Never mind, I know what was causing that feeling know," she said knowing who it was.
"Yo," the boy spoke up. A smirk plastered on his face. "Are you ready for a beating Rat boy? Let's do this."
Evelyn sighed knowing what was to come.
"Honestly," Yuki sighed. "Why don't you just accept it already?" He leaned against the window and smirked. "You're too weak to take me."
"Kyo, please," Evelyn begged to the orange-haired boy, but he didn't listen to her.
"Think so, huh? Well too bad for you I'm not the same fighter I was before," Kyo said as he lunged forward.
"Wait! I'm sure we can settle this without-" Tohru started, but was cut off as she slipped on a piece of wood.
"Wait Tohru-" Evelyn tried to warn her but was too late as she fell onto Kyo.
Both Yuki and Evelyn tensed up as Kyo erupted in orange smoke.
"Hey, Yuki, Evelyn, was that Kyo's voice I heard?" Shigure asked them as he peered into the room.
Both teens were avoiding eye contact as they knew they were done for.
"Um...I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Tohru frantically apologized as she picked up what was now an orange cat.
"Yeah, that's him," said Shigure.
"He was a boy." Tohru muttered.
"Stupid jerk." Yuki said.
"Cat's out of the bag," muttered Evelyn with dread.
"And now he's a cat... I landed on him wrong and somehow turned him into a cat." Tohru panicked.
"Well this is awkward," started Shigure. "Okay, so here's the thing..."
"We have to hurry!" Tohru exclaimed, but was hit on the head by another piece of wood causing her to crash into both Shigure and Yuki.
Evelyn couldn't do anything but watch as Tohru now looked at a dog and a rat.
"Hey, I heard all sorts of noise. What the hell is going-" Lea started to say but stopped herself as she peeped into the room and saw Tohru on the ground with a cat, rat, and a dog. She sighed, "Well, this is gonna fun to explain."
Evelyn hummed in agreement.

.......~~~~~~.......
Hi guys!!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is the longest one I have written yet and they are probably going to stay like this considering I'm doing one episode per chapter. We are getting into season 1 and I am sooooo pumped for where this story is gonna go. Don't forget to comment and vote and I'll see you guys next Monday.