Fruits Basket: The New Zodiacs

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The first day of school at Rengoku Academy; a very nice private high school in Japan. It was a nice morning; the sun was out and white, puffy clouds decorated the sky above.

It was around twenty-five minutes before the first warning bell was set to ring when Hikari Sohma jogged up to the front gate of the school. Despite not really being that involved in sports or other athletic activities, Hikari was a rather athletic person. Running to school had always been a breeze for her; she could even out-run the track team. She leaned up against the outer wall of the school and waited for her little brother, Nobunaga Sohma, to catch up.

The Sohma Family was fairly notorious for being very distant, very secretive, and very VERY large; a good number of them living on one single estate. While many people don't understand this, there was a reason for it. The Sohma family had an odd curse upon them where thirteen of the very numerous family members were possessed by a vengeful spirit of the Chinese Zodiac. Hikari and Nobunaga just happened to be two of those Zodiacs; Nobunaga representing the Dragon and Hikari representing the Rat.

Hikari continued to stand around outside the front of the school; keeping a casual lookout for Naga.

Suddenly, Emile was back, just as fast as he left.

"Holy crap man, that was friggen FAST!! How much do you get paid for this job?!" Hikari exclaimed astoundedly as Emile set everyone's drinks in front of them.

"Not enough." Emile laughed, rather loudly. He snuck a peak at the door to the manager's office. The door opened a crack and a hand appeared through it, flipping Emile the bird. Emile set down the tray he had brought the drinks on and flipped the hand off right back... With BOTH middle fingers. The hand simply retreated back into the office, and the door shut again slowly. Emile pulled out his pad of paper and his pen. "You guys know what you want to eat?" he asked.

"I'd like a grilled chicken Panini, hold the tomatoes please." Hikari reported cheerily; her depressed mood drastically reversed into a rather sunny one.

Tenshi looked at the menu for a moment and placed it down. "I'll have the cheeseburger with Swiss cheese and grilled mushrooms, light on the onion. And some chili cheese fries." she said. She felt a pair of eyes on her and she turned around to see two small kids holding a small book and a pen. "Excuse me miss? Could you sign my autograph book? You're an awesome singer." the boy said. "Sing-song!~" the girl sang. Tenshi blinked, "But I'm not really a-" she started but was cut short.

"Ah come on, Tenshi. Look at those eyes and you tell me you can't say no?" Tobi put in. He watched as Tenshi looked at the kids, who both now had their best puppy dog eyes. "D'awwww. You win this one kids." she grumbled. The kids cheered as Tenshi signed the book, and trying to hide her blushing face.

Giving the book back to the kids, Tenshi turned and took a sip of her drink. "Now beat it before I take your book and shred it and use it as kindle for the fireplace." she said jokeing about shredding the book. Both kids got scared and ran away with small whimpers. "Your Welcome!" she shouted after them.

Hikari could only laugh when Tenshi scared the kids away. She knew Tenshi hadn't meant it, but... She just had her own special way of doing things; that was all.

Emile missed part of the action while he was writing Tenshi's order down. He had a rather annoyed face on, but it flashed to confusion as the children ran from the table like a mad dog was at their heels. "Uhhh...?" was all he managed.

"You look kind of annoyed Emile. What's up?" Hikari questioned, noticing his demeanor from before.

"Huh? Oh, my manager likes to force me to wait tables right before my shift lets up. I think it's a spite thing." he commented with an eyeroll, but he shrugged it off. "What about you, Tobi? You eating?"

Tobi looked at Tenshi in mild shock. "Uhh, I'll have a Chicken Sandwich." he said.

Tenshi felt Tobi's eyes on her. "What?" she asked. She liked the item that she ordered, it was her favorite dish. "How's school, Hikari? I hardly ever see you, except during lunch." she said.

Emile nodded and suddenly vanished once again with their orders.

"Oh, it's going well! I've managed to keep an A avarage and still keep a prancing schedule all at the same time, heh heh heh..." Hikari grinned slyly. "I got a warning for the lunchroom shenanigans, but it's all in good fun." she grinned.

Tenshi chuckled. "Wait, you said the Rangaku Academy?" Tobi asked. Tenshi looked at Tobi with a funny look. "Yeah, all the Sohma's go there." she explained. Tobi got out of his seat and pointed at Tenshi, after he had realized something. "It was you!" he shouted. Tenshi took another sip of her drink. "What was me?" she asked getting annoyed. "You were the one that hit me with your school bag!!! I recognized that black hair and those red highlights!" he said still pointing at her.

"Uh-ooooooh..." Hikari snickered. She leaned forward and sipped her tea daintily, her green eyes following the two at the other end of the table with curious eyes.

Emile suddenly re-appeared at the table with the food on his arm. "Okay, here you guys... Woah what's with the sudden tension?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Hikari grinned mischeviously up at him, the straw from her drink still held between her lips. "AWW, don't TELL me I missed another genius prank!!" Emile complained, but in a lighthearted and joking manner.

Hikari giggled a little. "Nope; I was a good girl! But Tenshi on the other hand..." she explained to a somewhat confused Emile.

Tenshi glared at Hikari, "I just put my bag over my shoulder, you were just an unlucky victim." Tenshi said. She took a bite of one of her fries and smirked, remembering the panic and the unfortunate victims.

Tobi just grumbled and took a bite out of his meal. "Sorry, for hitting you by the way." he heard Tenshi mumble.

Hikari just sighed with a tiny grin on her face. "It was just an accident, there wasn't... TOO much harm done..." she commented cheerily, and Emile just snickered. He passed everyone's food to them; and it was then that Hikari realized Emile had changed out of his work clothes and into some everyday clothes. "Jeez, you even change fast!!!" she commented.

"Yeah, well I mean my shifts basically over. I just have to take care of you guys and then I'm home free." Emile chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh really, why not tag along with us then?" Hikari asked cheerfully, a mischevious smile crossing her face.

Emile blinked, then grinned. "That would probably be a good idea, since I left my boss a nice little present in his office today and I shouldn't be anywhere NEAR this cafe when it goes off."

Hearing what Emile had said Tenshi literally wolfed down her food. "Dang you were hungry." she heard Tobi say. "Well, gulp, how knows when this whatever it is goes off. I don't want to be near it." Tenshi said. Slapping down the tip on the table, she grabbed Tobi's hand and started to drag him away from the table. "B-but my sandwich." he complained. "Then get a doggy bag." Tenshi snapped.

Hikari choked down what food she could, excited for what might happen. Emile stepped away for a moment, then returned with a black breifcase and a dark smile crossing his face. "Any second now..." he muttered quietly, holding a small silver camera in his hand.

Suddenly, a huge "BANG" was heard from the back room, followed by smoke pooring out from under the door labeled "manager". "What the...?" A muffled and disoriented voice could be heard saying from behind it. "EMIIIIIIIIIIILEEEE!!!!!!!" the voice screamed in a rage, shocking many already-startled patrons of the resteraunt.

"Was that a SMOKE BOMB?!?" Hikari squealed giddily, her eyes sparklingling with excitement and intrigue.

"Yep; only the finest for my boss! Designed it myself; down to the very trigger mechanism." Emile snickered back, pointing the camera at the door. Hikari's excitement added to his own, he found, as well boosting his pride for some strange reason. He couldn't explain it, but it made him more happy because she was happy.

The door labeled "manager" burst open with a large "BANG" and I tidal wave of both grey and blue smoke poored out. The man from before, now completely blue in the face (literally) shot out and then paused, still looking dazed but with a tinge of frustration. Emile burst into gales of laughter and snapped a picture, then slipped the camera into his pocket.

"IS THAT INK?!?!" Hikari squealed even louder, now even more excited. Emile was laughing too hard to respond at first.

"Nah.... It's just washable marker; I couldn't do that to my boss. ...But he doesn't have to know that..." Emile told Hikari very quietly between chuckles so that the manager wouldn't hear. The manager directed his sharp glare over to Emile, but you could visibly see him fighting a smile at the same time. Nevertheless, Emile jumped back, laughing harder. "Uhhh... RUN!!!!!" he yelled while grabbing Hikari's arm and ran.

Tenshi was already running, Tobi was right behind her with a doggy bag. Lenshi went into a narrow ally and glanced behind her with a smirk. This should be fun she thought.

Tobi was behind Tenshi already panting, I'm not used to trying to outrun living humans. he thought. "Tenshi where are we going?!" he asked the girl. " There's a carnavil just ahead, follow me!" Tenshi shouted behind her.

Emile was suprised at how easily Hikari was able to meet his stride, even if he was taking it easy. "Hey, are you okay? Don't hurt yourself!" he joked, although there was a tinge of worry in his voice. It was hard for him to believe it, but for some reason he couldn't explain, Emile already genuinely cared for this girl. It unnerved him a little, but at the same time he felt a need to look out for this strange girl.

"Pfft, please! Not even the entire track team can beat me in a race!" Hikari boasted with a grin in response. Hikari may not have completely looked it, but she was very athletic without really trying.

Hikari and Emile blasted past Tenshi and Tobi at a breakneck pace; fully invested in their new little game. Every time Emile would quicken his stride, Hikari would quickly meet it. They flew out of the alleyway like madmen, catching the attention of a calm-looking blonde boy on the other side of the street. He watched them curiously, as if he recognized one of their faces...

Tenshi had stopped to catch her breath barley passing the blond haired boy. "Dude this isn't a 100 meter dash." Tenshi panted and ran after her cousin. Tenshi noticed a Ferris Wheel near by. "Guy, suggestion, Carnival!" Tenshi gasped.

Hikari and Emile screeched to a vault when they heard Tenshi's suggestion. By now; the manager of the cafe had laughed the prank off and returned to his store, so they didn't have much to worry about at this point. The blonde haired boy across the street had seemingly disapeered...

"Woops, sorry!" They laughed unanimously, waiting for the two to catch up and then jogging along at the same pace as Tenshi and Tobi. They looked at each other for a second after their unanimous response, then just laughed.

"So... where did you learn to run like that?" Emile asked Hikari. He had never met a person that could even come close to matching his slowest speed... not after that day.

"It's natural I guess... I'm not much into sports and junk so it must be!" Hikari laughed with a shrug as they approached the Carnival.