A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update! There are a couple of reasons why but the biggest ones were: I'm easily distracted, writer's block, and my sister introduced me to Soul Eater... I watched the entire series in three days and I have some ideas hopping around in my mind for stories but the will only come after I feel like I've made good progress on this one.
BTW, This chapter kicked my butt. Even now I am not completely satisfied with it so if you have any suggestions, constructive criticism, or if you see any errors please tell me. I don't have a beta and I really want to make this story good.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, the wonderful story of The Nightingale, or the song Amsterdam by Coldplay. (I also do not own the allusion in the title of this chapter)
Travelers from every country in the world came to the city of the emperor, including the palace and gardens, but when they heard the nightingale, they all declared it to be the best of all. And the travelers, on their return home, related what they had seen, and learned men wrote books containing descriptions of the town, the palace, and the gardens; but they did not forget the nightingale. Those who could write poetry composed beautiful verses about the nightingale, who lived in a forest near the deep sea. The books traveled all over the world, and some of them came into the hands of the emperor. He sat in his golden chair, and, as he read, he nodded his approval every moment, for it pleased him to find such a beautiful description of his city, his palace, and his gardens. But when he came to the words, "the nightingale is the most beautiful of all," he exclaimed, "What is this? I know nothing of any nightingale. Is there such a bird in my empire? And even in my garden? I have never heard of it!"
It had only been two days since Tohru had first spotted the mysterious girl. Two whole days and she found that she could not get that voice out of her head. It chased her thoughts around with little snippets of haunting melody, and completely distracted her at the most inopportune times. The music itself was beautiful but the meaning behind it was full of a sadness which only made Tohru sad as well. It filled her with the desire to understand that girl; to make her feel better and give her friendship.
She was walking home along the same road she had used that day. However, today she was accompanied by the almost constant bickering between Kyo and Yuki. Used to their antics, Tohru let their voices fade into the background. Her mind began to wander and a phantom song drifted through her thoughts. It was enough to bring her back to that fateful meeting.
I wonder who she was and if I will ever see her again.
Tohru let out a little unconscious sigh which immediately had the attention of her two companions.
"Honda-san, if you don't mind my asking...What are you thinking about?"
Yuki looked at Tohru, his large amethyst eyes that seemed to overflow with concern. Tohru paused a moment, as if collecting her thoughts before turning towards the two slightly worried looks with a bright smile.
"What? Oh, nothing really." Laughing a little hysterically and waving off Yuki's comment, she continued, "I was just thinking about someone I met in the woods a few days ago."
It took her a few seconds to realize that both of her companions had stopped walking and were looking at her with identical expressions of horror. It was almost comical to see the two acting so similarly but anxiety was clearly etched onto their faces (along with a couple of other emotions that Tohru couldn't read).
"Let me get this straight..." Kyo began very slowly, his voice bristled with barely contained anger. "You just saw some random person in the woods and decided to go talk to them?!" His voice had risen to a shout by the end of his sentence.
"Yes, but..."
"Honda-san, don't you know how dangerous that can be?" Yuki joined in, voicing his own objections.
"Oh, well... I didn't think..."
"Exactly! You don't think about these things! Jesus Christ, you can be really naive sometimes!"
"You could have been in trouble and neither of us would have been there to keep you safe!"
"Only perverts and psychopaths hang out in the forest!"
"I lived in the forest for a little while."
Her quiet comment brought them both up short. Unsure how to continue, Yuki stepped forward towards Tohru, who had stopped a little ways further down the path. Laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, he let out a sigh. "In the future, perhaps it would be best if you didn't talk to strangers."
Kyo walked forward as well, reclaiming his usual spot on Tohru's left before muttering, "Yeah, and try not to do any stupid stuff unless we're around."
"O-ok, I understand."
Both boys nodded before the three of them continued down the road.
They carried on in silence for a while, Yuki staring off into the woods while Kyo scuffed his shoes in the dirt and kept his hands shoved into his pockets. It came as a surprise to the other two when Kyo stopped suddenly and cocked his head to the side.
"What is it now stupid cat?" Yuki scoffed, stopping as well and crossing his arms.
"Shhh, do you hear that?" Kyo was too distracted to give any notice to Yuki's derogatory comment.
"Hear what exactly?"
"A voice...It sounds like someone...singing?"
It was then that Tohru interrupted, her voice gushing with excitement. "You hear someone singing?! Oh my goodness! What does it sound like? Do You know where it's coming from? How do you..."
Her constant flow of questions was cut off by Kyo's hand shooting out to cover her mouth.
Kyo grit his teeth, as if trying to control his temper, but his voice came out soft, as it usually did when he was talking to Tohru. "If I take my hand away are you going to continue to babble like an idiot?" Tohru shook her head in response. The motion itself was a little awkward considering Kyo's hand was still covering the lower half of her face, but her message was clear and, eventually, he let out a huff and said, "Fine, now try that again, slowly."
Tohru blinked her large eyes at Kyo as he gently removed his hand.
"Well," She began a little hesitantly, "It's just that...The person I met was a girl, about our age. She was singing when I saw her so I thought that it might be the same person."
Both boys looked at her in surprise. They clearly hadn't expected the description of Tohru's 'friend' to be so... harmless.
"I suppose we should go and see who it is then" Yuki said and started along the path again.
Kyo and Tohru quickly caught up and soon they were all walking and listening for the phantom voice. It was a few seconds before Yuki could hear the singing (his mouse ears were slightly less sensitive than Kyo's cat ones) and a few minutes before Tohru could as well.
It came from just down and a little to the right of the walkway, that same hauntingly beautiful song that had floated through Tohru's mind for the past two days. She gripped Kyo's arm tightly. "It's her!" came the elated whisper.
Yuki paused a moment, his fist resting thoughtfully against his lower lip. Tohru recognized it as the face he usually made when contemplating a particularly hard math question or when trying to figure out which plants would be ready to harvest soon.
"That voice sounds so familiar but... I can't place it."
The three of them moved closer and soon they were able to see the singer through the foliage. It was in fact, the same girl Tohru had run across only days before. She was sitting similarly to the way Tohru had first seen her: eyes closed with her back resting against the trunk of a tree she had perched in.
Kyo and Yuki crept along the trail, years of martial arts training kicking in as they instinctively quieted their footsteps, using stealth to approach the tree. As they got closer they each took up positions on either side of the branch to keep the girl from running away while Tohru waited a few feet away for fear that her clumsiness would only make some sound and startle the girl again.
Once they had the branch in between them Yuki gently cleared his throat to announce their presence. With a startled squeak the girl sat up, cutting off her song as she looked down at the boys on either side of her seat. Tohru noticed a tiny flash of recognition pass between the girl, Kyo and Yuki.
Had they met her before?
What Tohru didn't see was the subtle hardening of the boys expressions. Yuki's eyes shot wide in shock before narrowing in contempt, and Kyo's almost constant aura of anger intensified as he subconsciously clenched his fists.
The girl hadn't yet recovered from her initial shock, but the shadow of some emotion crossed her features so briefly that the others, distracted with their own thoughts, missed it.
Unaware of the tense atmosphere that had descended over the others, Tohru ran towards the tree.
"Hi there," She began, her friendly personality taking over. "I heard you singing a few days ago, but you ran away. You have a very lovely voice. Would you come down so we could introduce ourselves properly?"
The girl looked unsure, her glance shooting between Kyo and Yuki who were both openly glaring at her. She looked back at Tohru, determination set in her features, and nodded once before gripping her branch tightly and swinging herself over it so she was dangling by her arms.
Despite having seen the girl accomplish a similar feat a couple days before, Tohru couldn't help the small gash that escaped her lips as the girl dropped to the forest floor. Standing gracefully, she took a deep breath before turning to face the three people who had her cornered her with her back to the tree she had just been sitting in.
Now that the girl was on the ground, they could see that she about the same height as Tohru and had a similar build. Her face had delicate features that were not overtly beautiful. However, it was her eyes that stood out. They were a vibrant green and reminded Tohru of the forest floor, speckled with sunlight.
She stood there quietly, as if waiting for them to say something.
It came as a shock to everybody when Yuki was the one to speak first.
"What are you doing here?" he snarled. "Spying for Akito?" He spit out the name like poison.
"What?! No!" The girl retorted, trying to hide the hurt expression that covered her face. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves before continuing,"I-I just... needed to get out of the main house for a while."
The boys seemed surprised by this statement.
"Now why would Akito's shadow want out of Sohma house?" Kyo said causticly, crossing his arms.
The girl looked slightly embarrassed and cast her eyes downward.
"It was like... I couldn't breathe in there," she began quietly. "I was out, wandering in the gardens near the very edge of the estate when I saw that there was this cherry tree, just growing up along the wall, so I climbed it. I couldn't really help myself..." She peeked up through her eyelashes, Her glance shifting from Kyo to Tohru, and then, finally, Yuki. "I don't know why I did it or how I ended up here but I needed to get out... Just for a little bit..."
"That was when I last saw you, right?"
The girl gave a small nod as Tohru smiled, trying to ease her discomfort. "Oh, I don't think I've properly introduced my self." Tohru said, friendliness filling her voice. "My name is Tohru Honda. I'm sorry if I frightened you the last time we met, I didn't mean to."
"It's ok, I was startled, that's all." The girl offered a tentative smile in response. "My name is Aikame Sohma."
"So that's how you know Yuki and Kyo!" Tohru exclaimed, obviously excited about meeting another Sohma.
"Yes," Yuki said, joining the conversation again. He had obviously calmed down after his uncharacteristic outburst but his voice still held a frosty edge. "Aikame-san has the family curse as well."
A/N: Ok, so I know I didn't actually use the song within the story but I think the song Amsterdam by Coldplay works really well with this chapter, the lyrics and music just fit.
Also, I wanted to thank all of you who followed, favorited and/or commented on this story. You all make me feel like I'm doing something right :)
P.S. It doesn't really have any pertinence to these chapters but my story is going to be based more on the anime than the manga. What that basically means is that Akito is male and he is dying of the curse (this won't really matter until later chapters but I just thought you should know).