Yui Miyamoto 
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Disclaimer: Yui doesn’t own Fruits Basket. This is just an appreciation for
it.Music Without Words
Chapter 7 – I can’t
think of anything better to talk about
“Ah…” he answered while taking out
his hand from my shoulder, while concentrating and looking at the sight before
him. “Haru, you may not be good with directions, but you seem to be focused more
than most people at this time of their life.”
“What do you mean?” I asked
him.
“What I mean is that you know the flip sides of the coin. You only
know the extremes because you know exactly what you love and because of that,
you know exactly what you fear.”
I just looked at him, not really
understanding what he meant.
“This is one thing Akito doesn’t know yet.”
I was half-surprised, yet half-not-surprised that he had replied in a
similar way and with the same message as Hatori.
“I don’t know about
that.”
“Sometimes, a person is blind to what they see and what they want
to see.” Smiling at me, he continued, “Haru, we all know you have two sides. And
yet, you’re not ashamed of these sides of yourself. Why? Because they are a part
of you.
“You also understand what can be controlled and what cannot. For
that alone, I commend you. But for being able to get this far in life, even if
you’re hurt, you still choose to go on.”
Sighing, he looked away. “Some
are not so brave.”
Was I really as brave as they were thinking?
I
wonder…
I’m still not convinced of it myself.
He put his index
finger to his mouth slyly. “I will tell you something that I’ve never told
anyone, but I will tell you.”
I nodded my head politely.
“Once, I
had a crush on someone.” He started to laugh as soon as he said that while
looking up through the leaves of the trees above us. “I would watch them for the
longest time from afar. I know it seems out of character, doesn’t it? Shigure,
the person who loves to play practical jokes, especially about love lives, can’t
live up to this in his own life.
“I saw this person talk and talk to
people about many things and I was fascinated about how this strange person
could just come up with these stories. But I liked these stories, no matter how
far-fetched they were.
“And because of that person, I became a novelist.
An odd one at that, but hey, it’s not like writers aren’t screwy anyway, right?
My point is that person changed my life, but they never knew about
it.
“When we became friends, we talked day after day about all sorts of
things. We’d tease one another, but sometimes, I meant what I said when it
looked like I half-joked.”
“What do you mean by that?” I tilted my head
while keeping my eyes focused on him.
“I said things like, ‘Don’t get
with anyone unless they meet my approval.’”
“What’s wrong with that?
Friends almost always say that.”
Okay, so I didn’t always express my
opinions aloud, but I was pretty sure a lot of people did feel this way about
their friends. They’re just looking out for their well-being
right?
Shigure shook his head. “No, not all friends. For a little while,
I was jealous. That’s why I said that.”
I just nodded my head trying to
comprehend his story.
“I was jealous because this person was admiring
someone else.”
I looked away for a second from Shigure knowing full well
what that meant.
“I couldn’t do anything about it. I was scared what my
feelings would lead to. It would not only ruin our friendship, but it would ruin
our lives once Akito knew I favored someone more than anyone else.” With a deep
sigh, he finally said, “It seems you and I have the same problem.”
I was
still confused as I watched his eyes betray a sense of sorrow that I had rarely
seen.
“You love Yuki…but I’ve admired that stupid Ayame longer than
you’ve been alive.”
My eyes blinked at him in shock. Okay, so I didn’t
expect that one at all…
I didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t let
me.
He then sighed as he put his hands on his knees and looked up to the
sky again. “It was the same when Kyo never wanted to show his other form, but
when Tohru saw it, she accepted it. In the end, she did.
“At the time,
though, I apologized to her. I told her I was sorry for putting such trust on
her, not because I wanted her to fail, but I truly believed in her. The fact was
that I still allowed that responsibility to be put on her shoulders was wrong,
though, when she didn’t know the consequences or all the details. It was unfair
to her.”
We were silent once more.
“Do you know what I’m trying to
say? These stories may be different, but they’re not.” Shigure shook his head.
“No, they’re not. Haru, you accept Yuki for who he is. And you’ve already
accepted who you are. You know you don’t need anyone else’s approval for any of
these things.
“And because of that, you were strong enough to get past
that obstacle that Kyo and I couldn’t go through for such a long time. Kyo got
over it, but I didn’t want to put Ayame in that type of position.
“And
now, you’re in Tohru’s situation. You don’t have to be, though. You shouldn’t
bear this alone. I know you’re not planning to tell Yuki, but it’s unfair to
him.
“I don’t have any control over that though. This is your decision. I
may not fully understand what’s happening, but I know this isn’t heading
anywhere wonderful. I will just trust and believe in you, Haru.”
I lifted
up my head while smiling at him. “Thank you.”
“Everyone just has their
own way to do things and live. And this is yours.” He then smiled and scuffed my
hair again. Once, he told he liked doing that because he was boring for having a
normal hair color.
When then walked back into the house to find Momiji
hiding behind Tohru and laughing at Kyo while Yuki sipped his tea calmly on the
table. When they saw us, Momiji waved while Tohru greeted us back.
Kyo
eyed Momiji as I sat by Yuki.
Shigure, evil as he was, went back to his
ever silly disposition and asked, “And who’s wallet is this?”
I pouted as
I saw him raise the black leather wallet to the air. “Give.”
He teased,
“Prove it.”
I blushed while pouting more. Then, I crawled over and
whispered into his ear.
“It has a picture of Yuki when he was little?”
Shigure said outloud while I glared at him for a moment.
I turned super
red and immediately turned away from Yuki’s direction.
I heard Yuki spit
out some of his tea and the rest of the house became silent. Well, for a moment.
They pushed me out of the way while Tohru said, “I want to see.”
Momiji
bounced up and down. “Me too!”
Kyo, who had stayed in his place while
folding his arms, said, “There’s nothing special. He’s just shorter.”
I
looked at Kyo and laughed while eyeing him with a smug look. “Well, just compare
it to the picture of I have of you and Momiji.”
“How’d you get them to
take a pic?” Shigure, who was still holding the wallet, rubbed his chin and
looked at me curiously.
“I didn’t,” I said as I took my wallet from his
hand. Blushing again, I opened it and showed a pic of Momiji. He was
three-years-old and he wore a white bunny suit, but the right ear would flop on
one side of his face. “I asked him for a picture when he was little if I gave
him this large piece of candy.”
“Aww…” Tohru commented as she peered at
it.
Next, I flipped to the next picture. “I found this somewhere in the
main house, but I’m not saying anything else.”
It was Kyo looking at the
camera with this great big happy smile, but someone was holding out their hands
to him.
“Whose hand is this?” Shigure asked as he pointed at
it.
“That’s Kagura.”
Kyo had a soft expression on his face as he
gave a side glance at his own pic. “Geh.”
They were expecting a picture
of Yuki to be the next one, but I told them, “No, this is Hatori when he had
both of his eyes.”
He was in his clinic with Kana next to him. She was
shaking her head while laughing that she didn’t want to take a candid shot.
Hatori was smirking, doing nothing about it.
“It took me the longest time
to get this picture. I stole the camera from Hatori, and even though he lectured
me, he still got the picture done for me.” I smiled as I flipped to the last
picture of my wallet. “This was Yuki with a yukata on.”
All of them
looked at it, but Yuki was looking at the picture, then at me.
It was the
same yukata he had on when I saw him in the window. Here, he was looking out the
window with a soft smile as he looked up to the sky.
“Why do you have
pictures of them in your wallet?” Tohru asked. “And they’re all so
cute!”
“They’re my family…” I softly said.
Later that night, Yuki
remembered something and said to me, “Oh, I have to show you
something.”
I then followed him to his room. He then went over to one
drawer and took out something. When I closed the door, he turned to
me.
“Okay, so I wasn’t really coordinated when I took the picture and
it’s crooked,” I started to say, but I lost my words when Yuki shook his head
with a smile. As he walked up to me, he then kind of did something
unexpected.
Yuki brought a crumpled paper before me.
I looked at
it weirdly as I began to unwrap it. Then, I just stared at it.
“Do you
remember this, Haru? You couldn’t buy me a gift when we were little and then you
made this picture for me?”
I just looked at him, not believing that he
had this with him all these years.
“I didn’t give this to you because I
thought it was dumb.”
“I found it crumpled, but I kept it all these
years. After all, it was addressed to me.” Yuki sighed as he remembered while
not looking at me and focused on the floor. “It wasn’t dumb.”
I looked at
him and then at the picture of a child who was smiling while holding a
rat.
“If only Hatori knew how I felt when he erased the memories of my
classmates…”
With tears in his eyes, he jumped into my arms while holding
onto my shoulders tightly. “You baka. Did you really carry that picture of me in
your wallet for this long?” he asked while sniffing a little.
Holding
him in my arms while patting his hair, I nodded my head.
Then, he
whispered the exact same sentence as when I had told Tohru about how I had
fallen in love with him. Sincerely and warmly, he asked me, “Couldn’t you have
found anything else to talk about?”
I laughed while smiling. This time, I
replied,
“Nope. I can’t think of anything better to talk
about.”
Tsuzuku…
--
Author’s note: * sighs * I’m sorry I’m
making Yuki really angsty, but I think it fits here because with Tohru and Haru,
he can be honest with himself. They’re two people who accept him for who he is,
so he’s able to freely say as he pleases without the restraints he puts on
himself when he’s around other people.
But isn’t this so cute?!
Yui Miyamoto
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