DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Fruits Basket, it belongs to Natsuki Takaya. I onluy own Emiko blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc. I wrote this around Halloween time so, some of the plot was inspired by the holiday and my friend helped me perfect the idea. So thank you, you know who you are! Oh, by the way, happy new year!
"Emiko! Emiko you have a visitor!"
Her head shot up from the desk, drool attaching a paper to her face. Groggily, she stood and stretched her arms before waltzing down the stairs at a leisurely pace.
"Umm, Hun? There's a paper stuck to your face. Do...do you want me to get that for you?"
Staring at her mother blankly, the ebony haired woman reached up and plucked the paper from her face. Scrutinizing it, she realized she had taken a nap on her notes for the new veterinary practice she was learning in college. Looking up from the paper, her azure orbs met those of a fairly handsome man. Recognizing him instantly, she scowled.
"Awww, why the face Emiko?" the male at her door whined, "It's almost like you don't want me here."
"Maybe, that's because I don't want you here. Did you ever think of that Shigure, huh?"
Clutching a hand to his heart he feigned hurt. "Ouch, that hurt right here."
Scoffing, she slammed the door in his face. A loud screech of pain could be heard clearly through it as she had hit his nose.
"Whine about that pain instead, you rotten letch," she scoffed.
Turning from the door, ready to return to her room, Emiko was interrupted by her mother, who had scurried away during her encounter and just returned to the foyer.
"Where is the nice man, dear? Did he leave already? I could have made tea, he should have stayed..."
"Mother, it's fine. That, erm, nice man had to go early; he just dropped by to say 'hi'."
Making the trek up the stairs, the woman paused to go look out a window, only to find the man still at the door. Not in the mood to deal with his crap, she walked back into the confines of her room, prepared to begin her studies once more. Cracking her knuckles and plopping her bum into her nice, cushy chair Emiko opened her book to read up on her lesson.
Shigure Sohma: A pest, a lecher, and a stalker all rolled into one wonderful package. One package that would not stop delivering itself to her, no matter how much she wished it would stay away. Almost like a lost puppy, except he was not lost and most certainly was not a puppy. If anything he was a dog. And much like a dog follows its master, he follows her. Ah, the joy of being stalked, it was true bliss. Not.
The man had started small, confronting her on the streets and calling her phone number consistently. Unfortunately, they had gone to high school together and she was the one that got away, always refusing him and ignoring his flirting. As a bonus to being in the same school, he received her phone number from the directory. That just made her day, wait scratch that, it made her life. I mean, come on, who wouldn't love being stalked by a perverted male your age who just happens to know how to contact you regularly. That is why, after high school, she finally got her number changed. Thinking she had found her reprieve from him, she began to relax. Until he looked her up online that is.
The man had found her address, as she had learned yesterday. She and he hadn't seen each other in over a year, and he still follows Emiko. He just took a lengthy break, that's all. And during that break he'd apparently written smutty novels to pass the time. Unfortunately for her, that knowledge had been revealed at a book signing he was having at the bookstore. And while she was there, no less. It went a little something like this:
Smiling to herself, Emiko walked briskly over to the bookstore. Her eyes glowed with the warmth of happiness as she gazed upon the splendor of books you could view from the windows. Sighing happily as she inhaled the scent of the printed paper, azure eyes opened and widened in shock.
"Oh, God...no...not now," she muttered trying to sneak away from the table covered in perverse novels that some may confuse with literature. Turning for a random aisle of shelves, the woman groaned as she was stopped by the man sitting behind that desk; Shigure.
"Emiko! Is that you? Long time no see, huh? When we last met you were just a...high school girl, mmmm..." A stream of drool tailed down his chin as he got googley eyed.
With a slap to his face, now a bright red, she fumed.
"What the hell, Shigure?! We don't see each other in so long, not that I minded or anything," Shigure frowned, "BUT when we do see each other again you get all perverted on me once again. I thought it was over. And now you write smut for a living, shame on you!"
"Heh-heh, well it isn't smut really it's just-"it is smut, deal with it."
"No
"...Soooo..."
Raising an eyebrow at him, she waited for what words he would spew from his mouth next.
"...Do you want to buy a copy, I'm here today to sign it."
"NO! I do NOT want a copy of that...that...that crap! I'm going to go find the book I needed for my veterinary course and be done with this excursion, now if you'll excuse me..."
Thinking about it now, she felt a little guilty. Wait! What was she saying, or to be more precise, thinking! The man deserved it. Mostly. Too bad she only felt bad about it now. Looking back to her book she began to study again.
The blaring ringing of her alarm caught her off guard and she fell to the floor. Grumbling, she rose from the ground and trudged over to her closet. Today she was taking a break from college stuff and was going to walk around town to look for something to do.
"I'm heading out mom! I'll be back later!"
And with that she left. Ambling through the streets she looked at the different shops. Looking in through a window she noticed something that caught her eye. 'Is that...carrot orange hair?' Intrigued, she examined the boy with the orange hair's companions. He was with a pretty boy, a girl with humongous brown eyes, and...oh lord. He's with Shigure. Slapping her forehead and rubbing her temples in frustration, she looked back at the group.
As expected Shigure noticed her.
"Emiko-chan! We meet again!"
"Yes, apparently, we do. How's your face? Did the door hurt it?"
"Yes, that was mean of you to slam it in my face," Shigure pouted as his male companions a) chuckled into their hands(Yuki), or b) roared with laughter(Kyo).
"Oh, I'm so sorry, should I kiss it better?"
Suddenly beaming and standing up straight, he nodded vigorously. With a grin she leaned towards his face, lips puckered. Centimeters away from his nose, she pulled back. As a result, Shigure toppled over landing on his face.
"Real nice, Shigure," the pretty boy drawled out, nudging the depressed lump that was Shigure with his foot. "Yea, real smooth," the orange one laughed.
Whereas the males were so unkind, the girl looked worried. "Shigure, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Nah, I'm sure the only thing that's hurt with him is his pride. Poor mutt."
The boys looked at her with confused yet shocked faces where the girl opened her mouth and asked an odd question; "So you know about the curse, miss?"
Cocking her head to the side, Emiko looked at them with confusion pooling in her eyes.
"The what?"
"The Sohma's zodiac curse. You do know about it...right? I mean you called Shigure a mutt."
"Oh, that's 'cause he's a real dog, you know a perv?"
The boys howled with laughter as Shigure picked himself up off of the ground.
"Tohru, you said a little too much there," Shigure said in a serious tone, for the first time Emiko had ever heard. "She doesn't know about the curse." The girl, Tohru, processed this information, the realization sinking in. Her mouth formed an O in recognition of something. Then she suddenly freaked out, waving her arms around and apologizing. Her panic caused Emiko to stumble, running into Shigure, who caught her in surprise.
POOF!
Blinking slowly, Emiko looked down at the dog before her and the clothes next to in.
"Oh, wow...what just happened? Is Shigure really that dog? It's too cute to be Shigure!"
Barking in glee, Shigure pranced around due to the semi-compliment.
"So, um, what happens next? Will he stay like that or?"
POOF!
She turned in confusion, her color draining from her already fair complexion.
"GOOD GOD, SHIGURE! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"
After that, they brought her back to Gure's house for an explanation.
After Tohru explained, Emiko just sat there munching on a rice ball she had been given.
"Huh, I didn't know things like that really happened. I should be going now, I have to go make dinner and then get some sleep; I'll be busy tomorrow. I'll be graduating from college soon. Thank you for that lovely secret, and the food Tohru. Shigure I have a feeling that, whether I like it or not, I'll be seeing you soon."
As soon as she left, Yuki asked Shigure a question.
"So, Shigure. Are you actually sincere about your attraction to this girl? Or is it just her looks, like all the others?"
Even Shigure was unsure of the answer to that question.
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, now Shigure and Emiko saw each other on a regular basis. And she had come to the conclusion that it was no longer called stalking, seeing as they were on good terms now. Even with the change though, he's still the same pervy hound he was before. Emiko was just glad he hadn't molested Tohru yet, and she was hoping he wouldn't ever.
With a sigh, she fished her house keys from her pocket and went to unlock the door, which was curiously left unlocked. That's strange, she mused, mother always has the doors locked if she's home alone. Stepping into the house and eyeing the clutter that had magically accumulated, Emiko made her way through the rooms of her house looking for her mother. Stepping over a fallen table and magazines, she made her way to the kitchen. There were trace amounts of blood and signs of a struggle, but her mother wasn't there.
Senses piqued, Emiko moved to the living room. Seeing her mother's arm on the armrest of her favorite chair along with her foot at the base, Emiko let out a sigh of relief. Stepping over to the armchair Emiko smiled, "Mother I-"
Emiko paled, a look of shock adorning her face. Her hands flew to her mouth as she suppressed a scream, taking a few small steps backwards. "M-mother, what...? What the hell happened here?!" The sight before her was gruesome, and extremely unexpected. Sitting in the armchair was one of Emiko's mother's arms and legs. Gulping, Emiko rushed to the next room.
Nothing.
Running, and practically falling, up the stairs, Emiko checked her room.
Nothing.
Next was the bathroom. Blue eyes welled up with tears as her pale, shaking hand pulled back the shower curtain to find her mother's other leg lying in bloodstained porcelain. Shaking her head, hands to her mouth, she backed up into the wall, tears cascading down her pale cheeks.
"No, no, NO!" She screeched dashing down the hallway towards her mother's room. Practically busting the door down in her haste, Emiko rushed into the room. Puffy eyes that were rimmed with red and filled with tears searched the room, the blue irises displaying her panic, sorrow, and fear. Spotting her mother's head in resting on her pillow, eyes closed as if in sleep. Her mouth was parted slightly and her skin looked quite pale, but Emiko was convinced it was just the lighting.
Delving deeper into her delusion of her mother having just been resting and that those limbs were not her mother's. Emiko found herself drowning in her fantasy of everything else being an illusion. And a cruel, cruel illusion it was. Pulling back the covers in one quick sweep, she collapsed to the floor. Her reality had shattered. There lay her mother's torso, three limbs torn from there sockets. Her remaining arm looked battered, twisted at an unnatural degree. Blood pooled under her crippled form, the red liquid dripping out lethargically from the gruesome rips and tears along her mother's body, especially from the empty sockets where her arms and legs once were.
Emiko looked up at her mother's broken form and something snapped within her. Her head turned slowly, eyes wide as tears leaked from them in an endless stream. The window to her mother's room was open. Getting up and walking to the window almost robotically, Emiko stuck her head out. There, at the base of her home, lay a rope. Leaning back into the room, Emiko turned to the phone adorning the wall of one of the room's walls.
"Hello? Um, Shigure....could you...could you come over? Alone please? Thanks."
Sniffling, Emiko sat in the chair across from her mother's. She hadn't moved anything, leaving it as it was made her feel as if she was still with her mother, in a strange, twisted sort of way. She stared at the door, her eyes lifeless as the unending stream continued to pool and spill out over her porcelain cheeks. Hearing the doorknob being twisted, she stood, wobbling slightly. Shigure opened the door peeking head in. Seeing her mother's arm and leg along with Emiko's figure by her chair, he figured they were just sitting around talking and what not. Looking at Emiko more clearly, though, he noticed the tears streaming down her face and staining her shirt.
"Emiko," he started "What's-"
His question was interrupted as she let out a strangled yell and hugged him tight, knees buckling when he turned into a dog. Nuzzling her face with his nose, Emiko clutched on to his fur and cried her heart out. Whimpering, Shigure licked her face in an attempt at comfort.
"Shigure, if you were not a dog right now, I would beat your face in for licking me."
Drying her tears, she told Shigure the story. At the end of her tragic tale he poofed back into his regular human form, naked as the day he entered the world. With a screech, Emiko shielded her eyes and yelled at him to clothe himself. With a chuckle, he did as he was asked, then requested that she call in the authorities to clear the air on the matter. With a nod, she reached for the phone, her face red as a cherry.
After the incident, Emiko had been staying with Shigure in his lovely abode. Kyo had a huge problem with it, and got into many little fights with her about it. These spats, bitter as they were, made her enjoy Kyo's presence, almost making her forget her dear mother for a moment. Tohru had also helped her out by offering comfort; after all she had gone through the same thing even though her mother's passing wasn't as brutal. But she had been younger than Emiko when it happened, so it must have been harder to cope. Shigure was a great help too, he offered kind words, though his perverse nature did have a tendency to rear its head in the midst of a conversation.
The authorities had been a comfort too. They had been searching for the man, or woman, who committed the act. The DNA evidence on the rope has lead to some clues, though it isn't crystal clear yet who the culprit was. Emiko was patient though, and if need be she would hunt them down and give them hell. Shigure advised against it though for her own safety. Amazingly, he'd kept her sane. He'd even offered permanent residence in his home to her. After a bit of thought, she'd accepted the generous offer. Her mother had already been given a funeral, and the house had been cleaned of her remains. The house would also be sold as soon as the police confirmed that they had gotten everything they needed from it. Even with the good memories, those bad memories would be awfully hard to cope with and Emiko didn't need that.
Of that, she was sure.
Time had flown by, and the case was solved. A man who had apparently had a fallout with Emiko's mother earlier on had brought her time on this Earth to an end. After he was locked up, Emiko felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
That day, when that man's fate was determined, was just somewhere along the line though. Time had gone by after that and it continually ticks away. Emiko had sold her old house and had made her stay at Shigure's official. She and he had come so close that she finally realized what had been welling up inside her over the time they've spent together was something very hard to believe, yet at the same time it wasn't. After all, Shigure is attractive, he's kind, he's been helpful and welcoming and, yes, he's still perverse, but she'd come to love him. The curse however would not do, a relationship would be hard and with his flippant ways he may or may not be truly attracted to her for her.
And it made her heart ache to think so negatively. But at the same time it was true; with Shigure you could never really tell.
"Emiko-chan~"
Her head shot up, searching for him. Eyes settling their view on the doorway, Emiko registered that Shigure was entering.
"Yes, Gure?"
"I want to know, if you're truly happy here. Lately you've seemed kind of...off. Distant."
Her eyes widened in realization. She had been quiet lately, trying to sort out her feelings and how far she should let them wander before she had to tighten her hold on them and rein them in.
"O-oh, um, that. Yeah. Well it's been...difficult."
"Oh? Well I...um, Emiko?"
She let her head fall forward in her embarrassment. Even with her face hidden, Shigure could tell she was flustered. Almost like Tohru was around Kyo, save for the fact that she made it so blatantly obvious it was painful to watch.
Wait a minute, back that up a few steps, Shigure thought to himself, almost like Tohru and Kyo, huh? Hmmm...
Lifting her face up with his index finger so he could look her in the eye, Shigure prepared himself for a truth he almost wasn't ready to admit, but with his suspicion, the time may just be right.
"So, Emiko, how do you really feel?"
"What? What are you getting at, Gure?"
"About me," he gestured to himself frantically, something unknown swirling in his eyes, "How do you feel about me? I have to know, or this isn't going to work..."
"What? W-well, Shigure I..."
Looking at her with seriousness written all over his face, Shigure motioned for her to continue with his hands.
With a gulp, blue orbs met brown ones, and Emiko's mouth opened to speak. "Honestly Shigure, I think you're a goofball, a pervert, quite the lecher," Shigure flinched visibly with each word listed, "BUT you're also kind, generous, if it benefits you, and overall you're a good guy. You need to work on you're behavior with your editor though; you really drive her up a wall. All in all though Shigure, I can say that though I hated you once upon a time, I think I might, well, I might just love you now."
Looking at his awestruck face, azure orbs welled up with tears, and she shook her head violently from side to side.
"That...that was too much for me to say, I know how you are; you're a wanderer when it comes to women, you never truly loved any of your high school girlfriends and I don't wanna get put on that list of girls who got their heart broken now after all the time I've avoided it. I'm sorry, I was too bold."
When she got up to walk past him and out the door, Shigure grabbed her hand and pulled her into his lap. She squirmed for a minute or two trying to escape, but realizing her efforts were in vain she stilled and sniffled quietly waiting for him to speak.
"I think I can finally answer Yuki now..."
Confused, Emiko looked up at Shigure, his eyes were alight with happiness as he looked down at her small, petite form huddled in his lap.
Stroking her cheek mindlessly he spoke softly, "Yuki had asked me once before if I truly held affection for you, or if was just your beauty that had entranced me. I almost thought it was the latter, but now Emiko, I realize my mistake. Thinking with my heart I've come to a conclusion," his brown eyes bore into her own as he grabbed her hands in his, "I love you, Emiko."
Her lips moved as if to speak, but no words were released. New tears, happy tears, welled up in her eyes as she gazed upon Shigure.
"Do you...really mean it?"
"What?! You don't believe me. Of course I mean it! It was hard enough to say it, and now you make me feel bad about it."
She giggled, the sound like bells tinkling gently in a breeze. Leaning up, she locked her lips with his in what was supposed to be a short kiss. When she tried to pull away, strong arms wrapped around her; one around her waist and one holding her head in place. After she pulled away and returned to her sanity, the kiss having taken up all the space her brain had at the moment, she realized something.
"You're holding me? Shigure you can hug me now!"
"Well, I guess I can. It felt liked something had changed."
Throwing her arms around him, Emiko smashed her face against his chest, inhaling his scent. A chuckle rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her face.
"I'll bet Yuki would be absolutely enthralled with an answer, but I have you to deal with first."
"Oh, really? And what, may I ask, do you need to do with me, my dear Shigure?"
"Well there is a punishment waiting for avoiding my affection all those years..."
"You know as well as I do you weren't sincere for a while, and I still can't completely trust that you've turned over a new leaf on the matter either."
"...and then I have to prove my love for you. Hmmm..."
Raising her face from his chest, Emiko noted the glint in his eyes and the smirk crawling across his face.
"Good lord, Gure, what are you up to now?"
"Oh, nothing~ I just know the perfect punishment for you."
And with that he swept her up into his arms, and led her off to his room. I'll leave the rest to the imagination~