50 Fruits in a Basket (A Fruits Basket Fan-Fic)

Chapter 9 -- A Saturday in Tokyo

Yuki's scowl softens a bit at that, and he leads us around the corner. "True." Off to our left, a little ice cream parlour comes into view, and I can see trees stretching over the canal at the end of the road. "Here we are."

"Whoah..." I breathe. "It's so quiet here for being in the middle of Tokyo."

"That's why I like it," my brother responds with a small smile. "It's a bit nerve wracking being in crowded areas, but I like coming by once in a while to sit by the canal. It sometimes makes me feel like I'm actually in the hustle and bustle, but without the stress."

Yuki holds the door open for me, and we duck inside. "Irasshaimase!" The employees chorus as we walk in. He leads me up to the counter, where there are upwards of two dozen flavors of ice cream to choose from.

"There are so many to choose from!" I exclaim just before Yuki starts making his order. I wait until he finishes, and then I tug on his sleeve. "You choose for me," I say, ignoring his surprised look, "There's no way I could decide!"

"Ah, um, alright,let me think." He turns to the employee and after a moment of thinking, orders a strawberry and matcha ice cream, handing me the cone once it's prepared. "Shall we go down to the canal and find a spot to sit?"

"Yes, let's!"

Yuki leads us out of the shop and down to the canal. "This is one of the canals that all of the famous pictures of the cherry blossoms at night get taken." He looks around a bit sheepishly, "Though this isn't quite the time of year for that."

"It's still beautiful, though," I add, "We have spots kind of like this at the main estate, yet it's so different. I love it." We get settled on a bench near a bridge, and sit in silence for a few moments. "I don't mean to be rude," I start, gaining a questioning look from my brother, "But why did you ask me to come out for ice cream? Don't get me wrong -- " I add hastily, "I love it and this is a lot of fun. But it just seemed sudden."

Yuki gets a bit of an embarrassed look on his face. "Well, I felt bad." He begins, "I should be taking better care of you. Spending time with you." He looks down at his ice cream, his face sobering, "Ayame didn't do that with me, and we both left you hanging when everything happened and Hatori took you in. And that's not fair for me to do. I shouldn't do what Aya did to me." Yuki looks back up at me. "We all go on living our lives, but you've barely even gotten to experience the world. And that's coming from me, who pretty much spent more time in that room than anyone. I should be helping you fix that."

He looks so anguished. "Yuki..."

Yuki sighs and looks out over the water. "I held back when you came because I was getting jealous about that stupid cat being able to do that so quickly with you. But I want to get to know you better. I want to show you what the world is like beyond the Sohma estate. Mother and Father so desperately wanted to have all of their kids be part of the zodiac since it gave them more power in the family. I want to give you a fighting chance to actually break free, because even though Akito doesn't want you to think about it, you are free, unlike the zodiac. Unlike me."

He looks back over to me, and I shoot him a small smile. "Thank you, Yuki. Truly. Thank you for doing this." I take a bite of my ice cream, and change my position on the bench so that I can face Yuki properly. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Let's get to know each other better starting right now!" He looks a little surprised, but nods. "I really appreciate your wanting to do this. Ayame tries sometimes, but his interest reaches only as far as my fashion choices. First three questions. Favorite book, favorite hobby, and favorite spot."

He smiles a little. "Interesting questions. That already tells me a lot about you." He looks up towards the sky in thought after taking another bit of ice cream. "My favorite book... ah, I would say really any book by Haruki Murakami. I don't think I could choose."