Work Text:
In Memory of Good Taste (Fruits Basket)
By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)
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Souma Shigure yawned as he walked into his living room and saw that he, Kyo, and Yuki already had guests that day. "Good morning, Momiji-kun, Haa-kun. You're up early."
"Actually, you're up late, Sensei," Hatsuharu pointed out. Shigure glanced at the clock.
"You're right," he admitted with a chuckle. "I must be late if Yuki-kun is up before me!" He noticed that Momiji was deeply involved in writing something, his usually cheerful expression rather melancholy. "Is something wrong, Momiji-kun?"
The blonde boy looked up. "I'm trying to write an elegy for a friend, Shii-chan."
Shigure blinked. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Who died?"
Kyo answered for him, "A wild rabbit who lived in the woods behind the main house."
"Oh." Shigure tried to keep his expression neutral as he sat down. "Read us what you have so far, Momiji-kun."
"Okay!" Momiji held up his paper and read aloud, "'There once was a bunny named Fluffy. His hay fever made him quite stuffy. A cat he did see, but it also saw he. Now the cat's stomach is puffy.'"
There were a few seconds of silence, then everyone spoke at once.
"Domestic cats don't EAT rabbits!"
"Rabbits get hay fever?"
"I thought it was a fox that killed him."
Momiji looked at Hatsuharu. "It WAS a fox, but using a possessive on 'fox' would have thrown off the rhythm of the last line."
"Isn't an elegy supposed to be a poem or song?" Yuki remarked.
Shigure was trying very hard not to laugh. "A limerick is sort of a poem."
"An elegy isn't supposed to be humourous," Yuki insisted.
"I know, but Fluffy deserved some kind of tribute." Momiji frowned thoughtfully at his paper.
"At least change the 'cat' part to 'dog,'" Kyo grumbled.
"Domestic dogs don't eat rabbits, either!" Shigure protested.
Yuki shook his head. "Domestic dogs and cats will both kill a rabbit, eat it or not. You're both idiots."
"I'm sick of cats getting a bad rep!"
"Well, I'm sick of YOU!"
Hatsuharu patted Momiji's arm. "Let's go home. It's too noisy for you to create here."
"You're right." Momiji bounced up. "I think I'll just play something for him on my violin. He always liked to listen to my music through the window."
Shigure watched them go, shaking his head and smiling. "Promise me that when I die, you two won't write me an elegy like that."
"No, it won't be as nice as THAT," Kyo retorted. "Something more like, 'There once was a pervert named Shigure –'"
"'Who would nose into your business every day,'" Yuki continued.
"'He made us all mad --'"
"'When he died we were glad.'"
"'We'd been planning to off him soon, anyway.'"
Shigure stared at them with wide, puppy-sad eyes. "You're really be glad if I DIED?!"
Kyo and Yuki shared a rare, conspiratorial grin. "Nah," Kyo replied, "but if you don't stop being a pervert, we might have you fixed!"
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(Word challenge - Elegy)
(2005)
Fruits Basket belongs to Natsuki Takaya.
This fic is not to be re-posted.