It was a warm spring day as Tohru made her way to the Sohma main house. "I hope that the guys don't get too mad at me…" she thought absently. She hadn't told them where she was going only that she would be out for most of the day. "Just about now, Kyou will notice that I'm not home and have a fit." she sighed, "Oh well, it can't be helped I guess…"
She could just see the gate to the main house up ahead. "I really hope that Hatori can answer my question." She thought. She had called him up the previous day and asked, but he had told her he couldn't answer that question over the phone. It seemed strange to her, but she shrugged her shoulders and agreed to come over the next day. He also requested that she not tell Kyou or Yuki about her coming over.
She reached the main gate and let herself in, careful to close it behind her. The only sound she heard as she walked across the courtyard to Hatori's house was her footsteps on the cobblestones. Her sharp rap on his door startled her, and Hatori's prompt answering of the door startled her more. Taking a deep breath to calm herself she stepped through the door. Why did the main house always make her feel so nervous?
"Hello Tohru." Hatori greeted her as he showed her to the front room, "Would you like some tea?"
"Yes please." Tohru replied, as she settled onto the sofa.
Hatori disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared shortly with tray which he set down on the coffee table.
"About your question," he started as he poured the tea, "Why do you want to know?"
"Well, I thought that if I knew how your family got the curse, it would be easier to know how to break it." Tohru explained.
Hatori nodded. "You can't tell any of the other Juunishi what I'm about to tell you, it may make breaking the curse harder if they know."
"You know the story about how the 12 were chosen, and how the cat was left out, right?"
Tohru nodded, she knew that story quite well.
"Well, there is a second part to that story that has been nearly forgotten…
The cat woke and realized that the rat had lied to him and that he was missing the party. The rat, who he thought was his friend, had betrayed him. He was mad. He went to a sorcerer, and asked to be made bigger and stronger. The sorcerer agreed, and set about fulfilling the cat's desire. When he was done, the cat didn't look like a cat, he looked like a monster out of someone's nightmare. The cat didn't care, the only thing he could think about was his revenge.
When he arrived at the palace, the guards tried to stop him, but he just knocked them aside. All though the palace he searched for the rat, destroying anything that got in his way. Finally, he found the throne room where the Jade Emperor and the animals were still enjoying themselves. He crashed through the doors and began killing everyone he could grab. Finally he found the rat, and held him in his terrible clawed hand and asked, "Why did you lie to me?"
The rat simply replied, "Because you were much more beautiful and agile than me, and I didn't want the emperor to like you better than me. But I don't have to worry about that now, because you turned yourself into this."
The cat howled in rage and ripped the rat into pieces. Just as he finished he looked up and realized that the emperor's guards surrounded him. He knew that he couldn't win against so many. They attacked him, and as he lay on the floor dieing, he looked at the Jade Emperor and said, "Until the cat outsmarts the rat, your family will be burdened to carry the spirits of the animals that died here." Then the cat died."
"Th- Then the Jade Emperor was a Sohma?" Tohru whispered.
Hatori just nodded.
"Th- thank you for answering my question." Tohru stammered. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone, but how can Kyou outsmart Yuki?"
Hatori smiled sadly, "If we knew how the cat could outsmart the rat, we would have broken the curse many, many years ago."