Garbage Breath (OHSHC x Fruits Basket)

Chapter Four: Interrogation Gone Wrong

Haida returned to his lonesome home in a daze. He was too distressed to eat so he just went straight to his bed. Curling up on the mattress and pulling the blanket over his head as he sobbed into his pillows. Akito's words and taunts swirled in Haida's mind; he would never be good enough for anyone. He was too naïve to ever believe he could be friends with normal people.

His body was under such extreme stress he transformed. He was used to not being able to maintain his human form after seeing Akito; despite his attitude he was quite sensitive. And getting really upset caused him to transform into a raccoon. He curled up his small yet chunky raccoon body and soft tail easily molded into a small ball; a lump under the covers. He laid there for hours like that too upset to move nor transform back.

He heard the door open. "Haida?! Where are you?!" Shoyo. It was Shoyo. Still Haida didn't have the energy to get up.

"In here." He called quietly, barely above a whisper.

Luckily Shoyo was used to this so he identified Haida as the lump on the bed quickly. "Are you sulking again? Did Akito say something to you?" The kind boy said sitting down on the bed and uncovering the little raccoon underneath. The raccoon was curled into a ball laying on top of his uniform and tear stained pillows. Shoyo wasted no time picking Haida up to gently pet his fluffy fur holding him against his chest so Haida wouldn't transform back.

"Is your volleyball practice already over?" Haida asked, just trying to stray the conversation away from himself. He didn't want to admit to Shoyo how pathetic he was right now.

"Yeah. I could have stayed longer but I remembered that this was your day to see Akito." Shoyo said scratching behind the raccoons tiny ears.

"So you left early for me?" Haida asked voice breaking slightly in sadness. He didn't want Shoyo to worry about him he wasn't worth worrying over. "You didn't have to do that."

"What do you mean? I'm your best friend. It'd be a crime if I didn't." Shoyo laughed with one of his signature large kind smiles. He swore Shoyo had the best smiles. "And I wanted to. I'd hate to leave you here all depressed by yourself."

Haida didn't say anymore his ears laid back and he just enjoyed the embrace. He was grateful for Shoyo. He was so grateful he had such a wonderful best friend. But he also knew that it wouldn't last forever. Once Haida is imprisoned in the cage after graduation; Haida doubted Shoyo would visit him. Would probably forget about him. He couldn't even be mad about it. Shoyo had big dreams of being a big volleyball player and Haida didn't want to drag him down.

After a an hour or so of just talking and Shoyo trying his hardest to cheer him up, the tangerine haired boy had to leave so he wouldn't be late to dinner with his family. Haida said his goodbye and watched his best friend leave.

He was feeling better. Shoyo could always cheer him up, he was going to miss having him in his life. He transformed back after a while of waiting; threw on some pajamas and went to bed.

Going to school the next day was hard but Haida forced himself to. He wasn't in a great mood and it seemed like the twins and Haruhi had noticed his gloomy expression.

"You look sad. What's wrong?" Haruhi asked worriedly.

Haida considered if he even wanted to continue and pursue a friendship with the host club. It was all in vain and he knew that. They would never like the real him. He should just spare them all the time and effort and just stay away. But Akito was right.. he was selfish and he still wanted to be their friend. "I'm okay. Just had a bad day yesterday." He said mumbling softly, a big differ from his usual loudness.

"How?" Karou questioned. "You got to become a host yesterday." Hikaru elaborated.

Haida shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when I got home." He explained pouting a little.