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The Fox and The Rabbit	By : naturechild02 Category: Manga Misc > General Views: 4788 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fruits Basket, nor do I make any monies from this fanfic. For entertainment purposes only.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
WARNING! There are some intense scenes in this chapter and the next one. Not for the faint of heart!
The pressure was building. She could feel it like needles under her skin. She’d suspected that she would need to release some of her gift’s power soon but she’d honestly thought she had a few more days. Or at least until tonight.
Aimi shifted uncomfortably in her chair near the window, the heavy clouds lurking outside reflecting her dark mood. The idea of having to do this at school again both irritated and terrified her. Too many prying eyes. Too much that could go wrong. Why had she been cursed? Why did it have to be her?
Taking some deep breathes to calm her mind, she felt the gift beating against her brain, urgent, screaming to be let out. Could she do it between classes? Would she be able to hang on that long? Why did it have to be now?
The bell for lunch finally chimed and Aimi bolted from the room. At this point, she knew she wouldn’t make it all the way to the roof. It was beginning to sprinkle outside. Perfect. No other students would be out there now. Racing down the halls, ignoring any who yelled at her to slow down, Aimi exhaled loudly when she finally stepped outside.
Catching her breath, she approached the greenhouse where the garden club worked. Seeing no one around, her strawberry blonde hair already getting soaked, Aimi neared the potted plants left out by the door to the greenhouse.
These will do, she thought. Concentrating, Aimi closed her eyes and imagined taking the intense energy burning inside her into her hands and molding it into a rounded ball. It was difficult, and sweat broke out on her already moist skin. Though she still could not control when the gift tried to escape, she had, after all these years, mastered the ability to manipulate it to perform a certain task. When she opened her eyes again, she extended her hands, pointing her fingers towards the slightly wilted flowering plants. Willing the gift out of her body, she pushed it at the plants and they immediately perked up and began to grow. Right before her eyes, buds shot up and flowers bloomed. Leaves grew long and dark, the plants now lush and twice their original size. Aimi sighed in relief.
And heard gasps behind her.
Whipping around, she saw two girls observing her. They carried their own potted plants, apparently trying to take them inside the greenhouse so they wouldn’t be drowned by the rain. Their eyes wide, their jaws slack with fear and amazement, they just stood there, staring at her. Aimi froze, staring back, her worst fears now realized. Then she ran.
Each step seemed to grow heavier as she reached her classroom. When she entered, even the teacher gasped at her. She must look a complete mess, soaking wet, her expression doom and gloom.
“You need to go dry those clothes,” Sensei said.
Tohru, her face lined with concern, immediately offered to help. She took Aimi by the arm and tugged her back out of the classroom. Aimi said nothing, struck mute by her situation. Tohru calmly walked her down to the locker room where she waited patiently as Aimi changed into her gym clothes. While they waited for her clothes to dry, Tohru found a towel and started drying Aimi’s hair. Aimi sat on a bench and stared at her hands.
“Are you okay?” Tohru’s soft voice sounded for the first time.
Aimi shook her head slightly.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Did she? Tohru knew her secret, so if she was to tell anyone about what happened, this dear friend would be the best bet. But did she even feel like rehashing the story right now?
Her hands shaking, Aimi realized that silent tears were dripping down her cheeks. “Tohru-chan, people saw me. They saw me use my gift.” As she began to sob, tender arms encircled her, wrapping her in a cocoon of warmth and love.
“Don’t worry, Aimi-chan. It will be alright. We’ll figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out! This so-called gift is a curse! Now I’ll have to move again…”
“Oh please don’t!” Tohru cried, surprising Aimi. “You can’t leave now! You’ve made so many friends here. We all love you dearly. Please don’t go!”
Aimi stared at her in wonder. No one had ever said such things to her before. It was obvious that Tohru cared about her. As warm and fuzzy as that made Aimi feel, she knew that things weren’t going to be the same now. Word was going to get around, like it always did, and once again she would become the pariah of the school. The outcast. The freak.
But even as she sat there thinking about how horrible her future was about to become, she worried about Tohru. She didn’t want her friend upset over Aimi’s problems. Tohru was the sun, beautiful and bright. She had no business being brought down into the dark cave that was Aimi’s world. She would not burden her with this. So she pasted a smile on her face and hugged the frail girl tightly.
“I won’t move, don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.” The words tasted bitter in her mouth. Dealing was something Aimi wasn’t very good at.
Clothes dried, Aimi and Tohru walked back to class in silence, Aimi maintaining her fake smile for her friend’s sake. Rounding a bend, they passed Momiji. His face lit up when he saw them and Aimi’s smile became a true one. The three chatted for a minute, Momiji’s small face lighting up at every word Tohru spoke. And that’s when Aimi finally realized the truth.
Momiji was in love with Tohru.
He wasn’t showy about it and might never admit it to her, but she felt the vibe from him. His heart belonged to her best friend. And Tohru was completely unaware.
Something squeezed in Aimi’s chest at the realization. What horrible luck! She couldn’t possibly be jealous of Tohru about this. It wasn’t her fault; she certainly couldn’t help it. And could she blame him, really? What guy wouldn’t fall for the soft spoken, lovely, kind, perfect Honda Tohru?
Dark thoughts crowded into Aimi’s mind but she brushed them away. Not now. She would think about this revelation later. No point dwelling on it during school.

The school day finally drew to a close, the dark clouds rushing away to leave the world shiny and wet. Normally, Aimi would take her time walking home, appreciating the fresh scent in the air that rain always left behind, looking for spider webs glistening with beads of moisture. Not today. Today she gathered her things and rushed home ahead of her friends, avoiding all conversations. She noticed some girls in the hallway staring at her and talking behind their hands. So, it had begun.
Habitually checking the mail, she was surprised to find a package with her name on it. It was a medium sized brown box. Stepping inside, slipping out of her muddy shoes, she turned it over in her hands as she walked into the kitchen and saw that it was from her mother. Finally! Aimi couldn’t help but to grow excited. All these years of letter writing and she was finally getting a response!
Glancing at the note her father had left on the kitchen table about running to the grocery store, Aimi took the stairs up to her room two at a time. She couldn’t wait to open the package. What could her mother have sent her? A toy of some kind? An electronic gadget like a cell phone or a game? Would there be a lengthy letter inside?
Dropping her school things on the floor of her bedroom, Aimi grabbed up some scissors, placed the box on her bed, and started opening it. Her heart beating wildly in excitement, the horrible events of the day nearly forgotten, she yanked the flaps open to reveal…
Letters. The box was filled to the brim with over fifty letters. Grabbing one up, Aimi’s throat went dry when she realized that it was her letter. Her handwriting on the front, addressed to her mother in America. Pulling more of the envelopes out, she quickly saw that they were all from her. Her mother was returning the letters she had sent her. And then she realized the worst fact of all: they were all unopened.
Why? Why would she return them? Why hadn’t she even bothered to read them? She could have just slapped Return To Sender on them individually and returned them that way. Why send them in bulk like this?
And then it hit her. This was a message. This was her mother’s way of not only saying “Stop sending letters” but “I want nothing to do with you.” Yes, there was no doubt about it. Why else would she hold on to them for so long but never open them? Perhaps at first she had considered keeping one and reading it later. Maybe she had even thought about sending her own letter asking Aimi to stop writing her. She could have thrown them away. But this method, returning them like this, just showed that she didn’t want any lines of communication whatsoever. She didn’t want to hear from her. She didn’t want to know anything about her. She didn’t even want to keep a letter from her.
If she had thrown them away, Aimi might keep sending them. She didn’t want that. Helen no longer wanted anything to do with her daughter and she wanted her daughter to know that.
Aimi felt cold as the letters slipped from her hands and littered the floor. How could this be? How could the woman who birthed her hate her so much? No, she didn’t hate her. It was worse than that. Hate implied that she felt something for her daughter. The woman obviously felt nothing. She wanted to pretend that Aimi didn’t exist.
Stumbling to her feet, Aimi dragged herself into her bathroom. Flicking the light switch, she stared at herself in the mirror. She had never felt so ugly or unwanted in her entire life. She kept seeing the looks on those girls’ faces today. The hopelessness in her father’s smile. The way Momiji’s eyes followed Tohru. Her mother’s voice rang in her head from all those years ago.
“You are not my daughter! You’re just a monster!”
“A monster,” Aimi muttered to the glass. “A useless monster. How can anyone love a monster?”
Leaning her head back, she slammed her forehead into the mirror, over and over again until the glass broke into pieces. Snatching up the biggest piece, Aimi hummed to herself as she raked the shard across her wrists as hard as she could.
- 8
- 9
- 10
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The Fox and The Rabbit