What The Cat Dragged In

What The Cat Dragged In

DISC: I do not own Fruits Basket or its characters. I do not own Azumanga Daioh or its characters. I don\'t own anything. I just borrow these things to make me feel better about my own ownin\'- nuthin\' life.


NOTE: This story takes place the day Kyo starts college. I\'m not worried about how he got to go to college instead of being locked up. You shouldn\'t either. Oh, and I used the author of Azumanga Daioh for Sakaki\'s first name. Sorry. No one knows what Sakaki\'s given name actually is.


It was a good day for the cat. His first day of classes at the local university. Yeah, he still had to live at home with Shigure and Yuki, but… he was still living with Tohru, so it was bearable.

And Kagura had chosen the day BEFORE his classes started to come over and beat him until he allowed her to accompany him on his book-buying trip. So he could expect a Kagura-free day. And once this class was done, all he had left to do for the day was walk home and eat whatever delicious dinner Tohru would place before him.

Yep a good day.

He looked around the room at his classmates. It was quite a wide assortment of characters in his freshman composition course. The class was mandatory, so that was probably why there were so many different types of people in the class.

The teacher came in and introduced himself. Then, he made the announcement. For the first day of class, they were to pick someone in the class that they didn’t know, interview that person, write an introduction of that person, and then introduce their partner to the class.

He sighed. It figured his day had to throw him a twist.

He picked a guy sitting next to him who looked like a bit of a wimp. The interview was easy for both of them, and so was introducing the guy to the class. Turned out that the guy was studying karate for the first time as his elective physical education course. He was more the studious type – he was going into medical research, and he had a thing for mysticism. Kyou bit his tongue and didn’t say anything at that.

After the introductions were done, Kyou was very happy. His day was now done. Home to Tohru and her fabulous cooking.

XXX CHANGE POV XXX

Her first day at the university was a little bumpy for her. She never thought of herself as pretty. But these guys kept coming up to her and talking to her for no reason. And a couple of them had attempted to put their arms around her. It was just… odd.

Finally, she was in her last class of the day. One she’d actually been looking forward to. Freshman Composition. When the teacher announced that she’d have to interview someone, AND THEN introduce the person to the class, she thought she’d die! She hated being the center of attention.

And then, before she knew it, everyone was paired off except this one guy who was obviously in love with himself. He kept calling her “babe”. She reminded him everytime that her name was Sakaki. He just didn’t listen.

She sighed and muddled through.

When the introductions were done, though, she was fascinated. There was this one short boy who introduced a boy with orange hair as “Sohma Kyo”. The small boy said to the class, “Sohma-kun swears his hair is naturally this color, so leave it at that. He doesn’t seem to like to talk about it.” She looked over at this “Sohma-kun”. From the moment she saw him, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. She didn’t know why. She didn’t find him at ALL attractive. But… she felt this odd compulsion.

After class was done, she packed up her bookbag and went to leave the class. But on the way she would have to pass Sohma-kun, who was still packing up his bag. She went to walk past, and slowy she turned toward him. Her hand started to reach out toward his head. For some reason, she was reaching out to pet him.

As she realized what she was doing and was about to pull her hand back, the orange-haired boy turned toward her and bit her hand. Hard.

Shock covered both their faces.

‘He acts just like a cat toward me!’
‘What the hell did I do THAT for?!’ He was so shocked that he didn’t even think about it. Normally in a situation where he’d done something dumb, he’d get all mad and start yelling, transferring the blame to the person he’d injured. But he was so surprised, he actually apologized. “Sorry. I… don’t know… why I did that!”

She cradled her injured hand to her, and looked at him in surprise. “Uh…”

“You’re Sakaki-kun, right?” He noticed that her hand was actually bleeding. He’d gotten used to the toughness of his cursed relatives. “Oh, man. You’re bleeding.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and grabbed her good hand. “Come with me. My cousin’s a doctor.”

He dragged the girl behind her practically running, all the way to the main house. When she saw the size of the complex, she gaped as he dragged her along.

Finally, they made it to Hatori’s office, and he burst in with her in tow.

“Ha- gasp! Tori! Wheeze!”

“Kyo. And friend? To what do I owe this unexpected interruption?”

Kyo grabbed the girl’s wrist, and thrust her hand in Hatori’s face. There was a distinct bite pattern – human, and it was still bleeding. “Help her!”

His doctor’s instinct kicked in as he looked at her hand. He instantly grabbed some disinfectant and some sterile cotton and began gently cleaning the wound.

“I’m sorry, miss, for my younger cousin’s lack of manners. He was obviously more concerned about your well-being than in proper introductions.” He continued to dab gently at the wound, as Kyo glowered at him. “My name is Sohma Hatori. I’m the Sohma family doctor. It’s a bit unusual for me to see ANYONE other than Sohma family members.” He turned her hand over and began working on the other side. “But I’m sure there’s a reason why he brought you here. And I’m sure there’s a reason why you have a human bite pattern on your hand, Miss…”

“Sakaki,” she responded. She was a bit taken aback. This was all a bit much. First she feels herself compelled to pet him like a cat – then he bit her like almost every cat she ever met did. And then, she got dragged halfway across town to be thrust into the presence of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MAN she’d ever seen!

Kyo looked embarrassed, as he said, “Yeah. She’s Sakaki Azuma. She’s… in my Freshman comp class. I bit her.”

Sakaki-san saw the man grimace and close his eyes, shaking his head just a little. He sighed, then opened his eyes and went back to work as he said, “I see.

“I don’t suppose there’s a reason you’d like to tell me why you bit her.”

“I… I really don’t know,” Kyo replied lamely. He looked at the beautiful, tall brunette and said, “I’m really sorry, Sakaki-san.”

“Uh. It’s okay, Sohma-kun,” she said to him. “I’m… I’m sure you didn’t mean to…”

Hatori interrupted her. “Miss Sakaki. I’m noticing a lot of scars in the same general location as… Kyo’s bite. A whole lot of scars, actually…” He looked at her face questioningly and she blushed.

“I… uh… I get bit a lot,” she said quietly. “Whenever I try to pet a cat. For some reason cats just don’t like me. Except Yamamaya.” (AN: Yamamaya means something like wild cat)

Kyo and Hatori got quiet then. Hatori broke the silence. “I see. So, why, may I ask, do you continue to try to pet them?”

She smiled shyly. “I just love animals.” Kyo and Hatori both blushed at that for some reason.

“Yeah, that’s right. In class that guy said you were at the university to study veterinary medicine. So you and Hatori have a lot in common!” He snickered at that.

“Well, that’s very interesting.” Hatori finished bandaging her hand. “And you attend the same class here as Kyo. Well, I guess you’ll get to see first hand whether or not Kyo is wild or domestic – by whether he bites you again.”

Kyo humphed at him. “I’m really sorry again, Sakaki-san. But I do have to get home. Maybe the doctor here will walk you home?” He ran out before Hatori could say anything.

Hatori sighed and shook his head.

“I appreciate your help, Sohma-san. How much do I owe you?”

Hatori looked startled. “If anyone owes anyone anything, it’s I who owe you an apology for my younger cousin’s… rude behaviour. Now let’s see about walking you home.”

“There’s really no need,” she said, blushing. “I’m sure I can find my way…”

“The Sohma family complex is very confusing until you get used to it. I couldn’t let a beautiful young girl run the risk of getting lost.” He held out his arm like a gentleman, and she took it with her good hand. He closed the door behind him and walked her out the door.


END CHAPTER