Disclaimer: Don't own Fruits Basket - I could never write anything like what Natsuki Takaya has, with her amazing creation!
Chapter 1
"Highness, the speed at which our soldiers are dying is incredible. It's not the battles that kill them so fast; it is the diseases that our enemy employs against us. They have a powerful healer on their side, and he is able to deploy sickness in ways we can't comprehend, let alone the idea of stopping him."
Akito boredly looked at the council member, and sighed. "I'll take care of it. You may go," she dismissed him with an arrogant wave of her hand. Examining her fingernails, she boredly called out, "Bring me that monster."
Sohma Castle was a quiet place on the inside, almost as silent as a tomb as the saying goes. As the new council member walked through the halls, being shown around by the member she was replacing, Machi wondered if she would go deaf for the silence.
"Now, if you are going to be on the council, you should know that Akito is a woman, and not a man. And she really does not like other women, so you should watch yourself around her." The previous council member glanced down at Machi, her wrinkled face trying to express the importance of being careful around Akito. Machi nodded slowly to show her understanding.
"You do not understand some things about the Sohma family. Akito will be suspicious of you for a while. She also can be perfectly calm one moment, but if you say the wrong things you can make her extremely angry instantly, but you might not know it instantly. Many things like this are daily occurrences that you will learn to deal with and ignore if needed. Just come visit me if you have any questions."
The old lady stopped as she heard some yelling. Motioning for Machi to follow her, she hurried through the corridors until she came to the source of yelling.
"I AM SOO SORRY THAT I MISSED THAT SPOT ON THE SILVER PLATE!! I DO NOT DESERVE THIS POSITION, PLEASE REMOVE IT FROM ME NOW!! IN FACT, I RESIGN SO THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF FIRING ME!!"
"Ah," The previous council member said. Calmly she walked up to the panicking person and pushed his side. Turning to the other servants she smiled and calmly said, "As Ritsu has resigned, I suggest that you take him to the castle gate, and get his things for him. When he awakes, please tell him to go visit Shigure Sohma up in the Western Mountains." The servants nodded and began to carry out her orders.
Turning again to Machi, she told her, "I was going to warn you about Ritsu's temperament, but now it seems I do not need to. Now follow me again please. We shall continue the tour."
A red haired, golden skinned man kneeled in front of Akito, before bowing, almost as an after thought. "Yes lady?"
"The healer called Grandfather. He has grandchildren yes?"
"Yes lady, two of them, a 27-year-old man and a teenaged girl."
"Which of the first two would you say is more important to the Grandfather, the boy or girl?"
A small pause was allowed, before the man looked up at Akito and smiled. True it was forced, but Akito liked to have him act like he enjoyed what he did. "That would be the girl, lady."
"And why not the male, monster?" Kyo's eyes flickered slightly at the word monster.
"Because, Lady, he is not a blood relation; his mother remarried into the family after her 1st husband died…" Kyo trailed off, seeing that she was no longer interested. He thought she actually would like to know who the male was, but that would only make her angry considering who it was.
"Go now, and kidnap the girl, alive and unharmed."
Standing, Kyo backed slowly out of the room, before turning and grimacing. Akito did not like to have him in her presence for long, but he was the monster right? This he was the one to do all the dirty work, because he was the monster of the family, of the zodiac. Something so hideous shouldn't mind doing unpleasant work, right? This last thought made him snort in disgust. As he slammed into his room, he muttered, "bastards."
His room was actually very well sized, decorated nicely (In black and deep red) and located in the nicer wing of the castle. He figured it was because one of the previous heads of the family thought that the monster should have some 'payment', though it was more of a reminder of their status and what they were. He had to do the ruler's will, whatever it was. Usually it wasn't a council job or bringing them their meals, he thought sarcastically.
Walking back to the closet in his room, he changed out of his stable hand clothing into something cleaner. All of his clothing that he didn't use for around the castle was black or deep red. It just seemed fitting to Ayame, who'd made all of his clothes; he'd probably thought Kyo's room and clothing should match. Kyo hadn't even chosen the colors, they came with the room.
As he pulled on black gloves, they covered two small tattoos of a fire with a black space in the middle on the webbing between his thumbs and forefingers. Grumbling, (so many jobs lately, he wanted to relax!) he blew out the only candle lit, and walked out the door.
Tohru was humming as she washed the bandages Hiro had given her. Hiro was the heir to a business that sold very high quality fabrics (Most were made from wool), and her grandfather was a good friend with the previous head of the business.
Lifting up one bandage, she looked over to her two friends Hana and Uo, who were trying to discreetly do more than their share of bandages. They were her bodyguards in a way. She laughed, and they looked over at her, Hana with a fond smile, Uo pretending to jump in surprise at being caught.
"It was nice seeing Hiro-san again, and this time he brought his fiancée, Kisa-san!" Tohru said happily. "She is sooo cute!"
Hana smiled. "Oh yeah, Hana!" Uo said after a moment. "Have you heard about a person named The Heartless Fire?" Tohru finished a bandage, trying to think of what she might know.
The Heartless Fire was a thief, assassin or other random things; he didn't seem to do any one particular job. Lately he'd been even busier than usual, it must be because of the war. The odd thing was, he always found a way to leave a mark, which always had red around a black space. Maybe he just wanted his work to be known, but if he was caught that would make his punishment even worse, wouldn't it?
Hana began to tell what she knew. "He has naturally orange hair, which partly gave him his name, and he's taller than regular men. And that's all anybody knows about what he looks like." Tohru looked at her questioningly, and Hana explained. "People only know this much because when he first stole something, he slipped up and was seen. Of course, he is better now and you wouldn't even know if it was him who did anything if he didn't leave his particular mark."
"His height suggests that he has some noble blood of some kind. As a noble shouldn't have any reason to have the occupation he employs, and no noble has any relations with orange hair, this points to the fact that he is the illegitimate son of a noble." Hana paused in her assessment, seeing that all the bandages were now washed and drying. Standing she offered a hand to Tohru saying, "We should get back now Tohru. Uo, I shall finish telling you about him as we walk, if you wish."
Tohru nodded absently, humming again. Uo walked to the side and slightly ahead with her sword across her back, while Hana walked directly beside Tohru.
"Now, there is the fact that The Heartless Fire is an old name. He appeared about 1,000 years ago, when the kingdom first began being ruled by the Sohma's, which might indicate that he didn't like the Sohma family. Unless he has some power that is unknown, we can assume very safely that it is a name passed down. This fact is supported by the slight differences in marks. Yes, the marks vary, but the thinking up of how to make the mark is remarkably different to my point of view."
"NOOOOO!! SHIGURE-NII-SAN I'M SOOOO SORRY!! I DON'T DESERVE TO EVEN BE BREATHING THIS HEALING AIR; I SHOULD JUST D—"
The shriek that had so suddenly cut through Hana's talking, just as suddenly cut off. As the group walked around the corner, they found Shigure standing over a pretty woman on the ground. He looked up at them, gave them a thumbs up, and smiling said, "Justice prevails once again!"
"You fight for justice now?" Uo asked, an eyebrow rose in disbelief. "What, did you get tired of writing all that smut, or have you gone entirely mentally unstable?"
"Your attitude wounds my heart!" Shigure said, the picture of dejection. "It's hard to remember that you are a ranking lady when you walk around with swords and slash at people with them!"
"So who's this poor lady right here, you're new secretary? Didn't Yuki tell you that you couldn't have a woman secretary?" Uo asked boredly, already tired of his dramatics.
"This happens to be one of my cousins! HIS name is Ritsu, or Rit-chan as we like to call him," Shigure said, looking down at Ritsu and nudging him with his toe. "He arrived about 2 hours ago saying that he didn't have his job cleaning the castle silver anymore, and would I please, if it wasn't too much trouble, find him a job?" Shigure took a deep breath before continuing.
"Well, Yuki walked by at this point, and told me that Rit-chan as my secretary would be acceptable, and then set Rit-chan to work for me." Shigure paused for a moment, before saying, "You should have seen the smile Yuki was wearing when he made Ritsu my secretary. It was really, really scary!! I can not understand what I could have done to make him smile in such a way."
"But why was this Ritsu apologizing?" Hana interrupted, staring at Shigure suspiciously, while Uo rolled her eyes at Shigure's question. The wind lessened momentarily in Shigure's sails, but then came back strong as ever.
"Oh that. He dropped an inkwell," Shigure dismissed this simple accident with a wave of his hand. Ritsu was starting to awaken again, so Shigure excused the both of them, before somehow coaxing Ritsu to follow him without a fuss.
Tohru watched after them, before asking worriedly, "Is Ritchan-san going to be all right with Shigure-niisan?"
"I'm sure they will Tohru," Uo said reassuringly, before murmuring to Hana, "But with Shigure it's not all that sure…"
A few minutes later…
"Shigure-niisan? I brought the quills you requested…" Ritsu said hesitantly, pushing open the door to Shigure's office.
"Ah yes, thank you very much Ritsu," Shigure said, finishing the Onigiri he'd been eating. Offhandedly he asked, "Are you going to wear women's clothing after today?"
"Why? Is it unsuitable?" Ritsu asked worriedly. "Does it make you upset that I wear these?"
Shigure smiled, but still looked annoyed. "Yes, it does," He said in calm voice.
"I'M SOOO SOOORRRYYY!! I SHALL TAKE IT OFF RIGHT NOW SHIGURE-NIISAANN! PLEASE FORGIVE MEEE-" Ritsu collapsed as once again Shigure poked his side with a book.
A few houses away, a silver haired, silver eyed male closed his eyes, before asking a black haired male beside him, "When does he move into that house farthest away from the hospital?"
Manabe held his fingers up and ticked off a list. "Well, first we have to fix the roof over the cafeteria, then we have to," Yuki stopped listening, knowing the list already.
"And then, after all that long, hard work, which I shall somehow end up helping with all of it, making me sooo tired, we need to remodel that house. THEN he can move in."
"Well, make remodeling that house a priority," Yuki muttered.
So, what do you think of it so far? I'm working really, really hard on this to make it really good writing and good pacing, no holes in the story…and all those good things!!
Ayame: Please transport yourself with that little button that takes you to the review page, and write a review! It would be very much appreciated if you have any advice, so do not hesitate if you have any! But if you simply wish to praise this story it is welcomed very much as well! So chop chop, get clicking! (Me: Aya, we don't order them to review…;;)