Aishuu Offers:
Somewhere Slightly North of Reality
A Fruits Basket fanfic
mbsilvana@yahoo.com
Disclaimer:  Fruits Basket is the brainchild of Takaya
Natsuki.  Haru-kun is merely being borrowed- he'll be
returned when he finds his way back to her... which,
knowing him, could be a while!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



	There was an art to asking for directions.

	Sohma Hatsuharu had, by necessity, learned it.

	First off, asking old ladies was a really bad idea.  
Due to his white hair and somewhat... punkish style,
he knew he seemed somewhat intimidating.   Most of
them just turned around and walked away really
quickly, but every now and then one of them would
attack him with a cane.  

	Or worse.

	Asking young females was another no-no.   He may not
have been as popular as his cousin "Prince Yuki", but
many of them fell at his feet-- and never managed to
form a coherent sentence.  Once he had naively agreed
to let a girl lead him to his destination, only to be
led home via a route filled with boat rides,
resteraunts, and movie theatres.   It had taken the
girl six hours to lead him a distance of a mile to a
taxi station.   And it was only through very quick
reflexes that he'd managed to avoid getting hugged at
the end of it all.

	He hadn't asked a female for directions since.

	It could almost make him wish he has Kyou's Juunishi
curse.   Cats at least always knew where they were.  
Oxes didn't give a damn.   It was a problem. since he
was human as well, and had human responsibilities.   

	Asking older men for help was a chancy thing.   If he
was lucky, they'd assist him while only muttering a
few things about "kids these days".   If he was
unlucky, he'd get a sermon, threatened with the
annoying old proverb "The nail that sticks up will be
hammered down", and sent on his way without
directions.   A few times the lectures had been severe
enough to bring out his darker side, and the resulting
incident had got him a day in juvie until Hatori had
arrived with a large sum of money to hush the incident
up.   Akito had been more amused than anything by the
incident, for which Haru was profoundly grateful.   

	Haru wasn't stupid enough to ask children.   He knew
that many of them were smarter than most people gave
him credit for, but with his appearence, he'd be
accused of trying to kidnap them or worse.  That was
if he was able to get near enough to ask- most of the
times mothers dragged their kids across to the
opposite side of the street when they saw him coming. 
So process of elimination left one group.

	Teenage guys.

	It was actually kind of fun to ask for directions
from guys.   Some of them cowered before him, others
stuttered, and others puffed up and got flushed.   No
matter who he asked, though, he always got an honest
answer- the guys always seemed to be eager to get rid
of him.   He wasn't that fond of being viewed as a
threat, but it wasn't an assumption he'd go out of his
way to correct.

	So when he got lost for what must have been the
umpteenth billion time in his life, he didn't panic.  
Instead, he patiently waited until he ran into a
teenage guy, which luckily didn't take too long.  
"Excuse me, I'm looking for the Sohma house.   Have
you seen it?" he asked politely.

	"Sure.   I just passed it- less then a mile to the
North," the young man answered.   "I don't suppose you
could tell me how to get to the Tendou dojo, could
you?"

END

Yes, it was a xover with Ranma 1/2.   If you haven't
seen that series, you wouldn't have gotten this.   And
yes, it's an old joke, but I could just SEE this
happening.  Sorry for the lack of warning, but that
would have ruined it.  ^_~   Feedback is appreciated!

=====
"No matter what the bible says, the battle always goes to
the strong. And I am strong. I don't need to prove that to
anyone anymore."
-Excerpt from Sainan no Kekka- Act Seven, Scene VII

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam

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