Spread My Wings (Fruits Basket)

Equanimities

Hatori's POV

Shigure's eyes lit up when he saw her, "Fujikawa-chan!" Before I could stop him, he was bounding over to her, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "Isn't it beautiful today?"

"Very much so," Fujikawa said stiffly.

"Mm-hm! All blue skies and sunshine. Just fantastic!" He beamed at her, before leaning over and nudging Ayame in the ribs. "Hey, I just had the greatest idea! Want to play a teeny prank on the darling little first-years before classes begin?"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Subtlety really wasn't Shigure's forte.

"Ooh, really?" Ayame snapped to attention. "I would absolutely love to."

"Alright, let's go, partner!" He snatched his friend's wrist and took off at top speed towards the entrance of the school, successfully leaving the two of us alone at the gate.

"So, how are you today?" I asked conversationally.

She shrugged, her eyes glued to my cousins' retreating backs. "I'm okay, I guess. You?"

"Oh, yeah? Same here," I said, with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. "Nothing to hide, nothing at all."

Fujikawa narrowed her eyes at me. "If you've got something to say, just spit it out."

Now, how to say this without sounding like a total creep? Maybe Shigure could get away with saying it upfront, but I had a reputation to uphold.

The mature one, the responsible one. The one who erased memories and kept his head held high.

I took a deep breath. "I heard about what happened to your family."

Her face froze in surprise, but before long, she was laughing sheepishly- not at all what I expected from her. Maybe she was used to it by now? "Oh, right. That. I didn't think anyone knew about that, but- um, okay."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Oh no, it's fine." Fujikawa waved a dismissive hand. She was being weirdly flippant about the whole thing- she'd watched her parents die, hadn't she? How could she be so casual? "I hope you don't mind me asking, but- just where did you hear about all this? I wasn't aware that my secrets were on display."

I couldn't tell her I'd searched her up online- that'd come off as stalkerish, like I was trying to pry.

"Just around," I said nonchalantly. "Rumors and things."

"Uh-huh." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Rumors and things."

We lapsed into awkward silence.

"So you're okay with it?" I asked.

"What, the fact that you're prying into my personal life?" Fujikawa said coolly. "No, not particularly."

Ouch. I grimaced. "I understand you're upset-"

"Oh, I'm upset? Stop the fucking presses." She let out a derisive snort. "It's a funny world we live in, you know- people tend to get the teeniest bit upset when you dig up their traumatic pasts without a care in the world. I mean, who would've guessed?"

I opened my mouth to apologize, but she ignored me.

"If there's one thing I've learned, Sohma, it's don't ask, don't tell. You've got some dirty secrets of your own, don't you, Ha'ri?" she leered, jabbing a finger in my face. "But you know what, Sohma? Who gives a damn? You stay out of my business, and I'll stay out of yours. We'll be much better off that way."