𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 | Fruits Basket FF

(34)

unrevised.
/ chapter 34 /

"Is it okay to be clingy with you like this..?" She asked, but more so to herself as she dug her head into his back.

He had always been a warm person, inside and out. She didn't want to let go.

The Doctor froze in his spot.

Realising what she did, Ichika quickly let him go with reddened cheeks. She tried of thinking words to explain her sudden actions but all that came out were 'uhms' and 'ahs' from her embarrassment.

She didn't dare to look at him and kept her eyes locked on the hands on her lap. Hatori didn't make a move to turn around and look at it her either, and she was thankful for that. She didn't want him to see what a reddened mess she was.

He excused himself and left to get the warm beverages he spoke about, and once she was left by herself, she couldnt help but scream into her pillow.

She was embarrassed of her actions. What came over her? Of course he couldn't reciprocate her actions.

She really hoped her stupid mistake didn't mess the chances of him viewing her more than what she thinks he does.

To be fair, she didn't even know what their relationship was. He had saved her many times, and even now, he remains by her side. Why? She was nothing special, and often felt like a burden to him. What had she done for him? Yet despite all of this why did she want him to still stay by her side?

By the time Hatori returned, he found a round curled up ball of a blanket in the middle of the bed.

He placed the tray down onto the coffee table in confusion.

"Ichika?" She nervously snuck her head out in call of her name. He looked at her with furrowed brows in confusion. "Why are you hiding?"

"I-I was just thinking.." She told him half-truthfully. To be honest, she was also too embarrassed to face him properly after suddenly latching onto him like a leach before.

"You curl up into a ball when you're thinking?" He coughed away his snickers. "Tell me the full truth, won't you?"

Then she mumbled under her breath with a pout.

"Hm? What was that?"

"I said, I'm embarrassed of what I did. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She repeated her words, a bit more audible this time.

"Uncomfortable?" He lifted his brow, not understanding her.

Then something inside of him clicked.

"Ah, you mean when you hugged me?" He said with a slight lopsided smile while emphasising her source of embarrassment.

Ichika's face grew warm and she hid away her face again. She heard movement within the room and footsteps drew near to her. Then she felt her body bounce slightly from the mattress being sat on, indicating that Hatori was sitting on the side of the bed.

Hands reached out and with a gentle tug, the covers were quickly pulled off of her head, revealing her blood-stained cheeks on her pale skin and tousled hair that framed around her face.

"I wasn't uncomfortable. I'm okay with your touch." The Doctor stated, which surprised her. "Are you okay with mine?"

Ichika responded with a shy nod in which earned a soft smile from him.

"When you asked if it was okay to be clingy with me, did you know what I thought?" The bluenette shook her head and he continued. "I thought that it was completely fine, because I want you to be. Sometimes I find that you're too afraid to depend on me."

Her gaze drifted to her fingers in her lap as she played with it. "Because I feel like I'm burdening you, and I haven't done anything to help you the same amount that have with me."

"There it is. You think you're burdening me and have a need to repay me." He sighed softly, before turning his body to face her properly. "The acts that I give and show you don't need repayments. I'm not doing this because I want to gain something from you. It's simply because I just desire to. I do what my heart tells me to do."

The blue-haired Sohma bobbed her head as she processed his words.

"Believe it or not, you have helped me way beyond what you think you have," He added, with another soft sigh. "So don't put yourself down, okay?"

"Okay." She agreed.

"Now. I've brought us some tea and some books. Care for another reading session?"

Ichika beamed with a smile. "Of course."

Hatori finally had a chance to look up from his book after being completely absorbed in it that he'd forgotten his surroundings.

The weight on his shoulder was very noticeable now as his gaze travelled to the girl beside him. Her head was rested upon his shoulder and her eyes were shut closed. The book she still had in her hands was open ajar to a random page, indicating that she must've fallen asleep while reading.

Hatori found this quite cute.

He tried carefully moving so he could lay her on the bed to sleep comfortably, but with sudden movements resulted in her nuzzling even closer to him all while mumbling in her sleep. The position they were in made it harder for him to move and he gave up in defeat, not wanting to wake the girl up with his fidgeting.

He couldn't help but watch her sleeping face in the mirror that reflected them. She looked serene, at peace, and her lips were slightly ajar.

He reached down and slowly took the book from her hands. Then he placed a bookmark at the page she stopped at so she could return to it when she wanted to before setting it aside.

He returned to reading his book and sooner or later, he found his eyes slowly drooping closed and wounded up fast asleep, his head unknowingly resting atop of Ichika's as she lay on his shoulders.

He fell into a land of dreams.

The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by the sound of children's high pitched laughter.

Who was laughing?

***

Fun fact:

Sometimes I find writing Hatori's character a bit challenging when it comes to displays of affection or anything involving him romantically. I'm always thinking whether this or that is too much out of character for him and end up erasing and adjusting a lot.

I don't know. What do yall think?

I've watched Fruits Basket and seen the relationship between him and Kana or him with Mayuko. Both girls obviously have different personalities, so the way he shows his love differs (though it doesn't mean he loves one more than he does with the other, if you get me). In my opinion, it just means he doesn't try to overlap his new love with the old.

Love varies between people.

My OC is another character with also a personality that differentiates between the girls. Her character has a lot of trauma and she is quite fragile, so I also have to take in that fact as well while writing romance happenings between them.

Side note: Hatori and Ichika's little consent on touch in this chapter is adorable ahhhh ><