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.



Her plan had been to make just a light dinner for herself – a ramen bowl, and a hard boiled egg. Now, she wasn\'t really hungry for even that. If the doctor had stayed, it would have been quite a feat putting together a decent meal to feed him. She knew that. Still, the fact that he wasn\'t there, that he had left so easily, somehow caused her hunger to vanish.

She cleaned up the tea set and set out some food for Maya, reviewed her class schedule for the next day, then gave up and went to bed.

There, sleep eluded her. Each time her eyes closed, she saw a pair of emerald eyes gazing into hers. Or she\'d feel his hands holding her injured one. The harder she tried to sleep, the more she seemed to toss and turn. The more she tried to not hear the rich baritone voice calling her name softly as he did just before he left, \"Miss Sakaki Azuma,\" the voice deep with promise of… what she wasn\'t exactly certain, but it made her feel like her belly was on fire, and made her twitch, legs rubbing against each other as if… something was missing.

When sleep did finally claim her, it provided little respite from her thoughts. She would have gotten more rest running in an all night marathon. Poor Maya slept on the floor for the first time since he\'d come to live with her – for safety\'s sake. Otherwise the buxom brunette might have kicked him, or rolled over on him in her sleep.

Her dreams didn\'t help either. She knew that the doctor, Hatori – she had a hard time even thinking his name without blushing – was prominently featured in her dreams. And she remembered at some point, he had held her hand in both of his and began tracing his fingers up and down her hands as he said… something to her that made her heart feel somehow light and tight at once. At another point, he had been looking into her eyes, and his face came closer to hers, and in her dream she had thought, `He\'s going to kiss me!\' and she felt herself close her eyes in anticipation. But all the rest of the dream was lost to her when she awoke. All she knew was that parts of her body that she normally either didn\'t pay much attention to, or deliberately tried not to pay much attention to, felt tingly and wanting more.

She left for her classes the next morning yawning and groggy.

XXX END SCENE XXX


Over at the Sohma estate, a certain doctor was having insomnia problems of his own. However, being a lot less innocent than the 19 year old woman he was dreaming about, his thoughts and dreams were similarly less innocuous.

When he\'d arrived back at the compound, Akito had already retired for the night with Kureno, so there were no immediate needs for his services at the present. He sighed when he found that out. `I could have stayed. Wait. What am I saying? I couldn\'t have stayed. She was just being polite. She\'s 9 years younger than me. And a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman. She\'s destined to be with some nice young man who won\'t ruin her.\' A flash of the last woman who had touched his life, his former fiancée, ruined and in tears in front of him, begging for release flashed before his eyes. `I couldn\'t do that to her.\' The pain of his loss tore at his heart still. `I couldn\'t go through it again.\'

With that thought, he turned back to his kitchen and fixed an instant ramen bowl, pulled a hard boiled egg out of the fridge, and ate his makeshift meal. He knew it was a plain meal. He didn\'t really care. The only time he found food didn\'t taste like ashes in his mouth was
when Tohru prepared a meal for his family and included him. This was true not only because she was an amazing cook, but more so because those rare occasions marked a family event – and the joy of it was almost immeasurable in his life.

After he\'d finished, he threw out the plastic bowl the ramen had come in, put the spoon in his dishwasher, and sat on the back porch looking into his little garden. Reaching into his front pocket, the doctor pulled out his pack of cancer sticks. He knew they were bad for you, but for those cursed, it hardly merited worrying about – although if any of the younger jyuunishi ever picked up the habit, he\'d have some choice words for them.

Once one was secured in his mouth, and he\'d lit it with the flick of a match, he leaned back and stared out at his little garden.

Chocolate almond-shaped eyes smiled up at him. He shook his head to clear it. He had no right to think about her. Still, she was quite a remarkable young woman. It was probably illegal for her to have an actual wildcat as a pet, but from what he saw, it didn\'t look like it would be a problem for her. To be safe though, he\'d ask Kyo to go visit and talk to the cat – make sure the girl would come to no harm.

He dragged at the cigarette irritably. There was absolutely no reason why the thought of Kyo in her house should make him feel uncomfortable. So obviously, his discomfort was coming from something else. He adjusted his position on the porch to find a smoother portion of wall. He scowled again. Took another long hit off the cigarette that took it down to the filter. He stubbed out the butt in the ashtray and rose with a sigh.

To bed. To sleep. Perchance to dream. Not that his dreams were ever pleasant.

Grudgingly, he went through his end of the day routine, stripped down to his boxer-briefs, and climbed into bed. Which brings us to the insomnia problems mentioned earlier.

Staring up to the ceiling, he remembered the curves of the young woman he\'d met that day. Nothing like Kana. Kana was slender and diminutive. He towered over Kana. But Azuma was more akin to him – more his height, and it seemed, more like in thought and spirit. Where Kana always had been light and carefree, Azuma was thoughtful, cautious.

And when he and Kana had made love, she\'d been enthusiastic, but somehow a bit timid. Her small breasts were perfectly shaped and burned into his memory, but as he remembered his former love, he saw those perfect pert breasts grow in size and shape – he glanced up at the woman he remembered riding him to sweet bliss that he had never thought would ever be granted him, and instead of the short bouncy brown hair of his former love, long raven tresses formed a curtain around him and tickled his chest.

He heard her rich voice moan his name and he knew he was asleep and dreaming. Still when he looked up at the young girl\'s face, he knew it was wrong and he forced himself awake.

The second time he fell asleep, he\'d dreamed of the time Kana first asked if she could please him orally. But when he looked down and saw the petite mouth of Kyo\'s classmate engulfing him, again he stopped himself and pulled himself out of sleep.

After that he gave up, went into the kitchen to brew some coffee, and pulled out one of Shigure\'s novel – one of the ones that actually was literature NOT one of the ones filled with the kind of smut usually reserved for pornos and fanfiction lemons. Shigure actually was a very talented writer. It was kind of a shame that he wasted so much energy and effort on idiocy.

With a Herculean effort, Hatori was able to actually focus on the novel in front of him and not think about how soft those curves must be, and how soft her lips would be on his or his… He was used to schooling his thoughts, though. It wasn\'t as difficult as it would have been for say Ayame or Shigure.

The night passed without incident for him. And also without sleep. It wasn\'t the first night like this for him. He was certain it wouldn\'t be the last. When morning came, he was on his third pot of coffee. He made sure to eat breakfast. Otherwise the amount of coffee he was sure to consume that day would eat a hole right through his stomach lining.

XXX END SCENE XXX


For each of them, the day went by without too much hassle. After all, missing one night of sleep never killed anyone. She went to her classes, did her homework, came home, played with Maya, fed him, changed clothes and went to her job.

Her parents were helping pay for school, but she was covering most of the costs as well as paying for her books, her apartment, and her living expenses. So before she even moved out, she found herself a job waiting tables at a very respectable restaurant. Her experience at her high school cultural festivals paid off. That and her stunning looks. She was hired more quickly than she had anticipated. And with as thoughtful and courteous as her nature was, she quickly became a favorite of the regulars and made some respectable tips.

That day, she was a little slower than usual, but being thoughtful took her above the exhaustion and she didn\'t make any mistakes that she couldn\'t recover from.

His day went similarly. Routine helped him over the tiredness hurdle. He made his normal rounds at the Sohma family clinic. He checked in on Akito-sama. He filed paperwork. He ate his lunch – a small salad and a small piece of tuna. Second rounds came and went. A few Sohmas who were ill were visited and medicine was prescribed. Then, it was back home to cook dinner. Which was again was ramen and an egg. Topping it off with a glass of milk he\'d covered the food groups for the day.

At the end of the day, they each took a bath – to relax them some more so that sleep wouldn\'t be an issue. It had been more than a day now since they\'d met the intrusion to the previous night\'s sleep. Surely, once their bodies were relaxed, sleep would come to refresh them.

Except as she sank into the tub, she saw emerald eyes again.
Unconsciously, one hand slid down her flat stomach toward where her heat pooled. Her fingers brushed through the curls, lightly grazing her secret jewel and she sighed \"Hatori.\" The sound escaping her lips brought her to consciousness. Jolting upright out of the water, her hands flying up away from where they had been wandering, the water splashed violently and drenched her poor cat – who had been sitting on the tub lip purring contentedly, and occasionally drinking some Sakaki-soup.

She flushed magenta from head to toe. \"What was I thinking?!\" Bending over, her face was thrust below the water and she scrubbed her face as if she could wash the thoughts she was having out of her head. Coming up, her head flipped back and water flew from her long tresses. And again splashed poor Maya.

Luckily for Sakaki, Maya could hold nothing against her – ever. The cat sighed, shook itself off and walked out of the bathroom to dry out.

`Why can\'t I start thinking about Hatori-san? Okay, yes. He\'s
beautiful. Unbelievably beautiful. But still… There\'s no way he\'d
ever be interested in a girl like me. Sakaki, you just have to get
over it.\' She nodded her head and stood up, the water dripped down
her body, clinging to her curves as tightly as the boys in her class –
and Hatori – had only dreamed of doing.

Once she was dried, she pulled on her pajamas and climbed into bed. Maya was already lying on the bed waiting for her when she came in. But she sniffed the air, and then jumped down to the floor. The pheromones clearly indicated her human was not going to sleep that night, and the floor was definitely going to be the safe place to settle down.

Meanwhile, over at the Sohma complex, Hatori had sunk deep into the bubbly water. Yes, that\'s right. Bubbly water. When he really wanted to relax, he took a bubble bath. It was actually a secret he guarded very well.

The bubbles softly enveloped him, and the warm heat relaxed him. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to drift.

It didn\'t take long for the soft splashing of the water to arouse memories. The sound of a mouth on his long hard rod. He didn\'t realize his hand had even worked its way down there. The rhythm both relaxing and stimulating him. When his memory played a voice in his head moaning his name around his cock he sighed contentedly. Then he heard the voice call his name again, and it was a sonorous contralto.

Releasing his member, he sat bolt upright in the tub – the action causing water to splash everywhere. Groaning he looked down at the problem that was now apparent – the tip stuck up out of the water. `What the hell is happening to me?!\' Chocolate eyes floated before him. Swaying hips replayed in his memory. He forced these thoughts from him, and began thinking of the last time Shigure had come to his office for a fungus that appeared to be growing on his toenails. It was quite repellant.

That helped a little. So he thought about the last time Yuki was in Akito\'s special room and Hatori had to treat his back. That helped a little more. And thinking about Akito made him remember the mess that was Kana before he wiped her memory clean. With that, the problem receded completely.

He sighed as he toweled off, and thought, `I\'ll try for ½ hour to sleep. If I\'m not asleep by then, I guess it\'s coffee and reading again.\'

Another sleepless night for them both.

XXX END CHAPTER XXX