Author's Note: This is a continuation from the anime, so the history is based only upon what information is given in the anime. I know this may contradict the manga, but this is what we've decided to go with. This story is a partnered work, and I've teamed up with Serella in order to do it.
By Tyger
Prologue: Shigure ----------
"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."
That was a quote said by an American journalist by the name of Gail Lumet Buckley.
We Sohmas consider family one of the most important things in life. As an adult, I look to my cousins—Yuki, Kyo, Hatsuharu, Momiji, Hiro and Kisa, among the other youths of our family—and see that they are what will carry on our family name, our family traditions…
…and our family curse.
They are what our name, bloodline and honor rest upon. They are the ones that must ensure that the pain we suffer is ours and ours alone. They must prevent anyone from being sucked into the misery that is Sohma life.
But with our family's head, our future seemed quite bleak. Insisting on isolation, on secrecy and on breaking one's spirit, Akito controlled our lives with an iron fist. Even has his body had been dying, the price he paid for being born as the "core" of our family curse, his will was strong, intimidating, refusing to allow anyone to stand up to him and stop the abuse.
A great American woman by the name of Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The things you refuse to meet today always come back at you later on, usually under circumstances which make the decision twice as difficult as it originally was."
For years, the family was aware of how unstable Akito's mind was, and for years, we all caved to his will, letting him do as he pleased to whoever he pleased. He made sure we all suffered alone in the pain of the burden we were cursed with, and he forced his will upon us all.
Until Tohru Honda entered our lives, that is.
When I first met Tohru, I found her near the door to my house looking curiously at the Jyuunishi stones I had just finished painting. To make a long story short, we found out that Miss Tohru not only went to school with Yuki, but she was also living in a tent somewhere in the woods on Sohma ground. Believing that a tent was no place for a young, beautiful high school girl, we invited Tohru to live with us until the renovations to her grandfather's house were complete; this was the reason she was living in a tent in the first place.
And of course, with her living with us, she soon learned of our secret. She found out on the first day, in fact, when Kyo crashed through the roof of her room. She tripped over a piece of wood from the ceiling and fell into him. She then panicked when the boy had disappeared and a cat was in his place, and bumped into both Yuki and myself.
Once we explained everything to her, Tohru agreed to keep our secret, but Yuki and I knew that if she were to tell, we would have to have Hatori suppress her memory and the memory of anyone she spoke to of our secret.
She stayed with us for quite a while, and never told a soul of our curse. Good times were had by all, and we all grew quite fond of Miss Tohru. It was a joy finally having a woman in the house, to somehow manage to keep the house clean with three less-than-tidy males running amok. She became close with both Yuki and Kyo, and looked at all of the Sohmas as her new family. And we sure felt as though she was a part of our family, as well.
But then, Akito realized how close Tohru was to the rest of the family, and I suppose he felt threatened. He had allowed her to stay in my home, but soon began scheming how he would "make her suffer as the rest of the Sohmas suffer."
He planned to shove the ugliest side of the curse into her face, expose her to something Kyo had been trying to hide from her from the start, something only a few of us had even seen ourselves.
Kazuma Sohma soon returned the lives of his young martial arts students, Kyo and Yuki—though he also trained Kagura and Hatsuharu—and seemed to have merely wanted to visit with them. However, he planned to test Tohru's friendship with Kyo, and I soon found out what he wanted to do. I knew what it would do to Kyo, but Kazuma insisted, and since he had acted as the boy's father, I felt I had no room to interfere.
One stormy night, Kazuma asked Tohru to meet him behind the house. While he awaited her arrival, he brought Kyo to the same place and exchanged words with him. I watched from the shadows of the doorway as Kazuma snatched the beads from Kyo's wrist just as Tohru arrived.
Weakened from the rainy weather, Kyo fell to his knees and changed into his "true" form. It is said that this monstrous form is the true cruse of the vengeful cat spirit Kyo had been possessed with. Kyo, horrified that Tohru had seen him, assumed he was instantly rejected and took off into the night.
Contrary to what one would assume—though those of us who knew her could only assume different—Tohru dropped her umbrella and ran into the forest after Kyo.
The minutes dragged on like hours that night, and after I finally regained the sense to follow Tohru and Kyo, I found Tohru on her knees near a muddy tree with Akito murmuring cruel words to her, telling her she deserved the pain for thinking she could save us from our curse. My presence managed to cause Akito to leave her be, and once he was gone, my own tears sprung forth.
No one, aside from Akito, had wanted to hurt her. Tohru was too beautiful a flower, too bright of a light shining within the darkness of the Sohma curse. No one had ever done as much good for our family as she had, and no one had ever been so accepting. No one had taught us so much about kindness and no one had ever been so thoughtful of us. Tohru was one of a kind, and something we all cherished.
But like I said before, Akito wanted us to suffer as he suffered, and he knew hurting Tohru would break us all.
I fell to my knees, apologizing to her for being unable to protect her, telling her that she would have been better off never meeting us. She said nothing to my apologies, and merely climbed to her feet to wander off into the night.
And I had thought she had gone from our lives forever.
But once the rain stopped and the skies cleared, I heard Kazuma's voice while I was within the house. I stumbled out, and had to support myself on the wall as I began to laugh aloud with giddy and almost crazed relief at what I watched slowly emerge from the gloomy forest.
Tohru had returned to the house, carrying a dozing Kyo in cat form within her arms, while a smile played upon her face.
It was then that I knew she would be here for good.
She later wished to formally visit Akito. Shocked, I pulled her aside and stressed to her how it would be in her best interests to stay as far away from our family's head as possible. But she insisted, so I made the phone call to Hatori and arrangements were made.
In Akito's presence, Hatori, Yuki and I sat behind Tohru as she faced our psychotic leader. My gaze was locked on Akito, watching his every move. However, from the corner of my eye, I noticed that Yuki was just as tense as I, ready to spring into action should events call for our intervention.
And sure enough, they did.
Akito's temper flared and he dug his thin, sickly fingers into Tohru's silken chocolate strands, yanking her forward and thrashing her about violently. Yuki and I were immediately on our feet, restraining Akito. Hatori, too, was ready to get involved, though once Yuki and I had Akito in our grasp, our leader stopped thrashing Tohru and merely held her fast.
Akito continued to rave, but even through her tears, Tohru was able to utter the comforting and kind words needed to soften him…and those words came from her heart. But even if they didn't reach Akito the way she wanted them too, he still ended up releasing her, silently leaving us to go on our way.
Tohru put on a smile when Kyo approached us, and while she, Kyo and Yuki ran ahead, Hatori and I exchanged glances.
It is Tohru, I believe, who brought light to us. She was a shining beacon amid the dark. But even the brightest lights cannot help but cast a shadow...
