That Brief Warmth.
A Fruits Basket Ficlet from Oddzilla Productions.
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She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was growing impatient. Curiosity
tended to do that to a person. Still, she knew that people had secrets, so
she let him keep his, at least for now. It just had to be an odd secret,
if he wouldn't allow himself to be hugged, but could still kiss.
The kisses were nice, though. He was pretty good at it, had been so from
the start. And it made her feel good in a giggly, silly way that she was
the only girl he'd ever kissed. She was kind of sorry that he wasn't the
only boy she'd ever kissed, but hey.
He was sitting in their spot again with his back to her, on that hill
behind the athletic field, just as his note said he'd be, though he had
skipped classes that morning. She walked up to his side, also looking out
over the field.
"You're blocking my sun."
"I know."
Arisa supplied her half of their usual greeting and turned to him,
smiling...and then stared in horror.
"Dear gods, Kyou, what the hell happened to your face?"
He squinted up at her through two black eyes, also sporting a couple
bandages on his cheek, and grunted. "Kagura."
She looked at him blankly for a few moments, and then her lips formed an
'o' of realization. "And you...told her? About us?"
Kyou nodded, moving a bit stiffly. Probably sore elsewhere on his body. "I
think she took it well."
She'd heard stories. A lot of them. Seen one scar on his arm from years
ago. Heard more stories. Seen the amusement in Yuki's eyes, the worry in
Tohru's expression, and the abject dread in Kyou's face. And heard yet
more stories. And they were, apparently, quite true.
"Oh. Huh. Damn." She sat down, shaking her head, and gently touched her
hand to his undamaged cheek, to steady him and inspect the injuries
closely. He scowled as much as he was able to, but did not otherwise
resist. "She really did a number on you. And this is her taking it well?"
He grunted again, and she sighed, leaning back.
"She...she's upset."
"I imagine she would be."
"And I feel like crap."
"Beyond the way she beat the hell out of you?"
He scowled again, and she couldn't help but chuckle softly at the look of
wounded pride that was added to the decorations on his face. The ego was
strong in this one. Her smile dropped quickly, though, and she reached out
to rest her hand on one of his, on the grass.
"You're feeling guilty?"
He nodded. "Yeah," he whispered, just barely audible.
For a moment, Arisa's world wobbled as a faint stirring of jealousy bit
her mind. Of course he'd feel bad about...making her feel bad. Even if he
didn't love Kagura like that, they'd been childhood friends, had grown up
together. It couldn't be helped that he cared about her, probably would
care about her for the rest of his life in a way that she, Uotani Arisa,
might never experience from him. Not quite.
"She also wants to meet you sometime, Arisa."
The wobbling got worse, but in a completely different manner. "Huh? She
does?"
He nooded, looked at her...and laughed. Well, briefly, at least; he
stopped very quickly and looked rather pained, holding his free hand to
his ribs. "Ugh...."
"Why'd you laugh like that?"
"The look on your face...I don't think I've ever seen you scared like that
before."
"I...huh? Sca...no, I wasn't scared! I mean...well...."
"You were worried she wanted to bounce you like she did to me."
"I was not!"
"You're lying."
"I'm...not." Arisa looked away, because she was, and he knew it.
He laughed again, though more softly and carefully. "Don't worry. She
isn't going to hurt you. She promised."
"She promised."
"After I regained consciousness."
"...ah."
They sat in silence for a bit, staring out over the green field.
"When?"
"Not for a little while, I think."
"Oh. Okay."
More silence. But it was comfortable, at least.
"You do care about her," she said, quietly. And much to her surprise, he
didn't protest, like all the other times she'd teased him about Kagura.
"You've known each other too long."
"Does...does that...do you feel...."
And he was uncharacteristically astute today. She looked down at their
clasped hands, and sighed. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me."
"Um. Well."
"It's all right, Kyon-Kyon. It's my problem, not yours. I understand...I
mean, you two...yeah. You know. It can't be helped, and I don't blame
you."
He squirmed a little, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah."
She then smiled at him. "But I'm glad you were honest with her too. She'd
have to find out sooner or later, and it's better that it came from you."
"I owed it to her. Not just to tell her, but...to tell her face to face,
too."
"Even if it meant your face getting beat in?"
He grumbled again, but nodded.
"Well, at least she didn't damage your lips."
"Huh?"
She kissed him lightly when he looked at her, puzzled. "That would have
hurt if she did."
He grinned a bit lopsidedly and kissed her back. "Yeah. You're right."
She leaned forward to kiss him again, and, as these things would tend to
happen, her hand slipped slightly on the grass and her elbow buckled,
making her--
"Gah!"
--almost fall right on top of him, except that he'd shifted his hands to
block her torso from actually landing on him, even as he fell onto his
back.
Shifted his hands...right...there.
A thoughtful look crossed her face, even as he sighed in relief. "That was
a close one," he muttered.
"Getting fresh with me, Kyon-Kyon?"
"Huh?
That was, of course, the moment he squeezed lightly with his hands, as if
in reflex.
"You going to keep doing that, Carrothead?"
It was amusing, really, the look of horror that spread across his face as
it finally dawned on him. His hands clenched again, probably really in
reflex this time. And this time, she grunted slightly. "I suppose you are.
Not that I really mind, I guess, since you are my boyfriend, but still,
you could be a little more romantic about it. You don't just grab and
squeeze, you need to, you know, caress a bit, that kind of thing."
It now seemed like he'd forgotten how to breathe. She rolled her eyes.
"Goddamn, you're spineless sometimes. It's okay, I'm not going to smack
you." She grinned, and levered herself off him and out of his, ah, grip.
And he still was just lying there, pale as a sheet. But he was breathing
again.
Pale? Didn't boys usually blush after something like that? And Kyou did
blush, still did occasionally after a really, really good kiss.
"Kyou? What's wrong?"
He closed his eyes, pressed a hand over them (heedless of the bruising
there), and took a deep breath. Some color returned to his cheeks, and he
let out a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Arisa. I'm sorry."
She was confused. "You lost me there, Kyou. Though I can guess this isn't
simply about you grabbing my chest just now."
He did not move his hand from his eyes. "No. No, it's not." His voice
barely more than a whisper.
She bit her lip as the impatience reared up in her heart again. What was
his secret? Why couldn't she hold him, like she really wanted to do? Like
she wanted him to hold her sometimes?
"Kyou," she said, startling herself. She hadn't meant to say anything at
all just yet.
"Yes, Arisa?"
Thoughts tumbled around in her head, and she finally answered, "No, it's
nothing."
He lay there a while longer, while she watched him, unsure what was going
to happen next. Finally, he took his hand from his eyes and stared up at
the sky.
"Screw it. Screw Akito. I can't hide this any longer." He sat up abruptly
and looked at her. "Arisa?"
"Wha, what?"
And he lunged forward and engulfed her in his arms.
He felt warm and strong and safe for just a moment, for just a single
moment, something that even the best kisses couldn't exactly give her.
There was a pop, a cloud of smoke, and the feeling was gone, but she could
remember it and knew she hadn't imagined it.
Now on her lap, there was an orange-furred cat, one that appeared a little
bit beat-up. Kyou wasn't anywhere in si....
"Holy...."
The cat, who she just knew was Kyou, looked away and spoke in his voice.
"Yeah. This is what happens when a girl hugs me. Or I hug a girl. It's why
I couldn't let you before."
Arisa felt her eyes starting to glaze, and she shook her head quickly to
keep it clear. "How the...I mean, this is...oh man."
Kyou sighed and crawled off her lap, looking faintly miserable (even as a
cat). "The short story is, there's a curse on the Souma family. I've got
the curse of the cat. The other time it gets triggered is when we become
physically weak or emotionally flustered. Which is why I got so scared
just now." He looked embarrassed. "When I...touched your...I got kinda--"
"Flustered, yeah. I guessed." She closed her eyes, opened them again. No,
the cat was still there, and no Kyou. No human-shaped Kyou, anyway. "This
is really weird."
"I know."
"Uh, how do you change back?"
"It happens naturally, after a while. Um. When I do, I'm gonna be...." He
lashed his tail, flicking it over his clothes, lying next to them on the
grass.
"Buck naked?"
"Uh. Yeah."
She looked thoughtful again. "Well, you did just feel me up...."
"It was an accident!"
Arisa laughed. "I know, I know, I'm just jok--"
There was another popping sound, and she managed to get a nice little
eyeful before he managed to snatch up his shirt and cover his lower body
with it. This time, he was blushing, and not at all pale.
She laughed, and laughed, and laughed, even as he glared at her, picked up
his pants, disappeared behind a nearby tree, and emerged dressed a couple
minutes later.
"Oh, man, Kyou...and you are quite a man, I might add--"
"Arisa!"
"What? I'm sorry! It was an accident too, you just happened to change
before I could turn around."
"Not like you were trying to look away after I changed!"
"What can I say? You're not bad-looking at all. And I do mean 'all'."
The glare he gave sent her back into laughter.
"Dammit." He looked away, sulking. She calmed down quickly.
"Well, if it helps, I really do think you look pretty good." She grinned
at him, and though he still looked irritated, perhaps he was just a bit
less so. She leaned on his shoulder, taking his hand in hers, gently
rubbing her thumb over his palm. "Thank you for telling me, Kyou," she
said softly.
"I couldn't...I didn't want to hide it. But there's rules, in the Souma
family."
"Does Tohru know? I mean, with her living in the same house with you
three--"
"She does know. And the clan leader decided to bend the rules just for
her. I don't know why...no one knows what goes on in Akito's mind, but
there you go."
"What are the rules?"
He frowned, then said, "Any outsider who finds out is supposed to have his
or her mind erased. Not everything, but knowledge of the curse
and...usually all knowledge of the Soumas, as well."
She stared forward sightlessly. Erase memories? But that was no stranger
than a boy who hugged a girl and got turned into a cat. Her hand clenched
around his; his grip tightened in response.
"I'm not going to let that happen. No one knows that you know now except
us two. If we have to, we can keep it a secret. And if it gets to Akito
anyway, I...I'll figure something out. I'm not going to let you forget
me."
She sat up, taking her head from his shoulder, but not releasing his hand.
This was...a lot to take in, really.
"Arisa, are you okay?"
Good question.
"I...well, uh, I think I will be, but--right now, um. I...." She sighed
again.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It's not your fault. Right? I mean, you didn't go and
personally piss off some god somewhere and get cursed, did you?"
"No! It happened a long time ago and gets passed down to random members of
the family!"
"Okay, because you seem like the kind of guy who just might do that."
"Hey!"
She smiled at him, and he just snorted. Bring things a little back closer
to normal. She reached up to turn his face toward her again, and picked up
where they'd been interrupted by a near-fall a little while ago by kissing
him long and hard.
After they finished catching their breath a short while later, Arisa said,
"It'll be tough, a little bit, knowing that you really can't hold me, I
mean, actually physically incapable of it, but...we'll manage. I think.
Somehow."
"I...yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before. But like I said...screw
the rule."
"You sure this is all right, though?"
"You said it yourself. We'll manage somehow."
"Yeah."
Silence returned, and it was only a tiny bit uncomfortable.
"So...is anyone else cursed like that?"
"I...shouldn't tell you. It'll be easier to keep a secret if you don't
know about the rest of it."
"Does Yuki turn into a mouse?"
"...damn."
"So that's why you two call each other those names."
"Grumble."
"All right, I won't ask any more. You're probably right about knowing less
being safer."
"Yeah."
"So, you want to touch me again?"
"...what?!"
She grinned as she reached for his hands. This was a much better way to
pass the time than ruminating over old secrets and unpleasant
possibilities. Though she hoped he wouldn't turn into a cat too often
while she taught him how to do this properly.
End.
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Takes place not too long after "On Names...". It was requested, and so, it
was done.
There's definitely more. But I think I should get back to Tohru and Yuki.
I've left them unattended to, after all, for such a long while now. Or
maybe I'll experiment with Hana and Haru....
