Fruits Basket: Give me wings

Epilogue I- New Beginnings

As promised, here is the first of several short epilogues. Enjoy, and let me know what you thought! :)

EPILOGUE- FOUR YEARS LATER

Haruhi grinned and twirled the phoneline around her index finger in anticipation, as she heard the toneless ringing on the other end of the line. Tsuneo had completed his three years at Tokyo university a few months ago, studying literature. She was more amazed with him every day. The boyish look had now disappeared from his face, he had (at last) received a haircut, and he had adopted the same serene, yet solemn visage of his father. His hair tone had evened out into a honey brown, his voice had deepened further and he really sounded like a man. Well… he was in his early twenties now.

“Tsuneo?” she asked, when the ringing stopped.

“Haruhi! I thought you were supposed to be at the main house, making the preparations, by now.”

“Well yeah,” she scoffed, “but I’d talk to you over talking to those damned servants any day of the week. So, what’s new?”

“Well, even though I’ve already left, I went back to Tokyo and it has found me a decent publishing company and editor, to get a career in writing novels started. They have been very helpful. I can finally start documenting our ordeal… letting the world know about the curse, but in a subtle way, through the use of novels.”

“Awesome! I can help you write them, too. Oh, will you be back soon though?”

“Yes.” He sounded enthusiastic- as enthusiastic as Tsuneo could get- about this. “I don’t want anything like that to go on again for so long. At least, our story highlights the importance of comfort, in anyone’s life, and the importance of family. Anyway, what about you? What are your plans? You’ve been out of school for a long time, lounging around at home…”

“Not lounging around! I have an excuse, right?” she laughed. “I’ve been helping out with the move and everything as well, and getting all our stuff together. We’ve got a huge job ahead of us, remember! You can’t be a writer all the time, Master Sohma!”

“And you cannot slack off and constantly watch anime… Mistress Sohma.”

“Ew, don’t call me that…”

“Why not? It’s what you are.”

“Why did they even decide this for us? I don’t get it… I am looking forward to it, though.”

“Yes…”

“Well, they made us the new heads of the Sohma family, right?”

***

The main house was in chaos. Haruhi burst in through the gates to see furniture being hauled about by Kyo, tea served by Tohru, Ben, Kairi and Raiden taking measurements for new fittings and running about the site, and Naoko and Sora chatting casually in a corner. Haku was sat on a wooden box, looking pale and weak, but there was a miracle sat on the floor beside him. Her name was Sayuri, and Haku’s hard shell had smashed to pieces the moment he had laid eyes on her at the CD store. Everything was coming together.

Naoko and Raiden were going strong, and so were Sora and Ben. Kairi seemed perfectly content to watch everyone else pair up, simply happy that he was there.

“Is everything running smoothly?” she asked Naoko, as she jogged towards her.|

“Yeah yeah, it’s going fine. I can’t believe they chose you and Tsuneo!”

“Don’t complain- you still get to live here!”

“We all get to live here. No-one ever planned on leaving, you know.”

“We’ll all stick together… But we can still have our own lives. That works out for everyone, right?”

“It sure does.” Naoko’s eyes crept down to Haruhi’s belly, which had a soft expansion. “How’s it going?”

Haruhi pressed a hand lightly to her stomach, and smiled down at it fondly. Being the new head of the family was one thing, but she had never imagined that her own family would start this quickly.

“What are you gonna call it?”

“Hang on- it’s only been a few weeks!”

“So?”

She sighed dramatically. “If it’s a boy, we’re calling it Kureno, ‘cause he really helped us out in a pinch. But… if it’s a girl, we’re definitely calling her Akito.”

Naoko smiled. “Good names.”