The Guardian | fruits basket

5: Art of Cultivation

Himiko groaned and rolled onto her side, the futon mats wrapping tightly around her body like a fajita wrap. Her long hair was stretched out across the wooden floor, her eyes and nose peeking out from the end of the duvet. Tohru next to her sat up, strands of hair spiking upwards as if there was hair gel holding the strands towards the sky.

"Mmm," Himiko groaned louder this time, shifting to her other side, "I don't wanna' go to school." She stretched under the thick duvet and yawned loudly, only partially awake. Tohru, however, was already off of the lifted bed, and pulling on her school uniform. She leant over and shook her sister awake as she pulled up her socks.

"Himi-chan," she pulled up her other sock, "get out of bed..." Himiko slowly rose into a sitting position, still wrapped tightly in the duvet. Her long hair flopped in front of her face, "give me one second to gain the will to actually get out of bed."

"One!" A loud voice yelled loudly before Tohru could give a proper reply.

The bedroom door slammed open and in stepped Kyo, looking ready to pounce on top of the caterpillar-like girl. "There's your second, now get out of bed. I ain't gonna' go to school without you and suffer by myself."

Himiko glared up at the cat before burying her entire body underneath the duvet. She wiggled and bit her lip in concentration, thinking of a way to get downstairs without leaving the comfort of her warm bed.

Fur should keep me warm...

She forced a transformation; gold smoke billowed out of each end of the duvet and Tohru stared at the blanket in wonder.

"Did she just change into an animal?" Tohru whispered quickly and glanced at the orange haired boy who seemed to have a large grin on his face. They waited with tension, awaiting what animal she decided to transform into.

The duvet wiggled before a small pink nose poked out from the end of the duvet. Golden-white fur shimmered as a small cat darted across the room and launched itself at Kyo. Himiko dug her claws into his shirt and climbed to his shoulder, curling into a small white ball of fur and relaxing. The warm she felt under the duvet was returned as she ran her small head across his unbuttoned school shirt.

Kyo sighed and ran his fingertips across her head, scratching between her ears. Himiko mewed quietly and Kyo grinned, "ready for breakfast?"

"When am I not?" She replied smartly. She opened her eyes, the golden orbs shimmering a white.

"Fair point," Kyo left Tohru to brush her hair and lifted Himiko into his hands, rubbing his fingers across her back. The hair stood on end every so often as she purred, her claws extending and retracting along with it.

"Wait," she hissed, Kyo stopping in his footsteps at the bottom of the staircase. She leapt off his shoulder, and a puff of smoke covered her quick transformation back into a human. When the smoke disappeared her tall lean figure emerged, her frame graced by the school uniform, "Shigure doesn't know yet. If he sees you acting all friendly with a cat and I'm missing, then he'll speculate."

"How will he assume it's you automatically?" He deadpanned back to Himiko. She tossed her long black hair behind her shoulder, giving Kyo a hard stare.

"He's still aware he didn't transform when I landed on top of him the other day." She continued down to the bottom of the staircase, passing Kyo with a tiny smile.

Kyo followed Himiko into the kitchen, "is he around?" He whispered.

Himiko expelled a minute amount of power to feel the surrounding area, finding him on the roof. "He's hanging laundry on the roof, we're clear."