What would happen if Tohru had a younger sister? I hope you enjoy my story. Please note that I do not own Fruits Basket.
His words are running through my thoughts. Could it be that easy to forgive myself, to keep on living happily? Would mom really be proud? I'm feeling both sad and happy. In a reflex I pull Yuki closer to me for a comforting embrace. Suddenly I hear a dull sound and I'm hugging Yuki's clothes and a rat. "Yuki? Is that you? Did I do something wrong?". The rat is staring at me, remaining silent. I'm slowly getting worried and I'm starting to doubt my mental health, until I hear a sigh and the rat finally replies "Yeah... I changed because you embraced me. But it's not your fault, you didn't know.".
I couldn't do anything, but to stare at him in shock. Is this real or am I dreaming? I pinch my arm. Ouch… It hurts... Yuki studies me for a while before again speaking up. "You know… It's not a dream… You're probably disgusted to find out I'm a monster.". I find it difficult to reply, it's just so confusing… Why is he so afraid of my reaction? "Disgusted? Why would you say that? I think it's cool… Can I learn that too?". Apparently he didn't expect my response. He seems to be lost in thought for a moment, before silently whispering "Umm... no, sorry ... It's a family curse. Currently 12 people are like this. When they embrace someone of another gender, they change into animals of the Zodiac."
It couldn't help it… I'm getting excited by my new discovery. "So there are others like you? Like Shigure?". Yuki seems to ponder whether he should reply to my question. I'm happy that he decided to do so. "Yes, Shigure is also a member of the Zodiac.". I knew it! "I guess he is a dog… It would really suit him. I also remember him listening to the howling earlier.". "You're right. He is a dog. But maybe it would be better that you wouldn't tell him that you know of our family secret. One time when I was little, a few children found out that I could turn into a rat. The memory of each of those children was erased that day. I don't want them to erase your memory, because you seem to accept me this way." Yuki shyly comments.
It looks like he doesn't want to further explain his comment, because his turns his attention to the huge pile of earth near us. I follow his gaze. Only now I notice the hundreds of rats that are digging out our stuff. "Thank you, Yuki. My sister will be really happy." The moment I told him, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. For some unknown reason my hart clenched. It was pure coincidence that he found me here. He only came here to dig up mom's picture for my sister. I have again been fooling myself. People are friendly to me, because Tohru is my sister. I'm afraid that it's the same for Yuki…
Suddenly I hear again the same dull sound, resulting the human shaped Yuki to be sitting in front of me… naked. He quickly grabs his clothes and hides in a nearby bush. Well… that was… surprising… While Yuki is getting dressed, I decide to organize my thoughts. I quite like Yuki, but is he only being nice to me to please Tohru? Maybe it's better to just ask him what he thinks of me… The moment he is back, I speak up "Yuki?" "Yes, what's wrong?" he replies with a worried tone. "Will you be my friend?" I ask unsure. My incertitude immediately disappears when I see a warm smile appearing on his face. "I would love to…". His reply makes me really happy.
Once we have retrieved all our stuff, we walk back in silence to the house. I'm again thinking of my sister. She's really too nice. She will never blame someone else. She will do whatever it takes to make people happy. Mom always told me that Tohru started to act like dad, because mom had a hard time getting over his death. Now my sister is suffering, because mom is gone… Before I had problems on my school, I was always energetic, happy and a bit rebellious like mom. Maybe it's time to go back to those days, to act more like mom. I want to cure Tohru and if possible myself too. I look at Yuki and say "Thanks for agreeing to be my friend. I decided to change back into my energetic self. I want to be able to make Tohru smile.". Yuki nodded at me and smiled as he understood my logic.
Bird tjirping pulls me out of my dreams. I open my eyes and find myself in an unfamiliar room. It takes me a while to register that I'm in the room where Tohru was laying with a fever yesterday. More exactly, I'm laying down in her bed… Didn't I fall asleep in the living room? I enter the hallway, when suddenly my sister appears. She's looking much happier, holding mom's picture in her hands. "We can stay here in the empty room on the 2nd floor, until grandfather's renovations are finished. We only have to do some house chores!" she happily exclaimed. Goodbye tent and mosquitoes! I decide to go for a little morning walk outside.
When I return to the house I hear a delivery boy saying "ah haha, what a clever dog. Thank you for the business!". A dog? Oh no… Shigure… I go inside and see three animals arguing. "Who's the cat?" I ask. Tohru looks at me and exclaims "They all turned into animals!". I sigh and answer "Well yeah… Yuki is the rat and Shigure is the dog. But I still don't know who the cat is…". "A boy crashed through the roof… and he… he wanted to fight against Yuki… I … I … I wanted to stop him and he … turned into a cat… and … when I was feeling a bit dizzy… I fell into Yuki and Shigure… they also changed!" Tohru is completely freaking out. "So far for the family secret" I sigh.
I listen to them explaining my sister the family curse. Suddenly I hear the dull sound again, so I cover my sister's eyes. I also close my own, but leave one a bit open for a little glimpse. I must say… It was worth it! Further listening to the conversation I learn that the cat's name is Kyo. I notice my sister happily watching Kyo, as she always liked the cat more. Time to spice things up! I jump behind Kyo and roughly rub his hair while shouting "Wow! It's an orange head! Mom would have liked this!". Kyo tries to pull away, causing me to fall against him… So now an orange cat is yelling at me. The situation is just so funny… I couldn't do anything else than grinning. All this time I see my sister watching the scene with a silly smile. I really hope I can make her happy again…
A bit later Kyo has turned normal again. Shigure is teasing him, which causes him to again start yelling. Oh my… someone has a bit of a temper. Suddenly Kyo smashes his hand on the table, splitting it in two. One side of the table hits my sister forehead. While Yuki is taking care of 'punishing' Kyo, I take the bandage from Shigure to take care of Tohru myself. Once the wound is covered, I flick my finger against the bandage and with a big grin I sing "pain, pain go away, please do not come back another day", just like mom always did. My sister is staring at me. Suddenly she sends me a big smile. I'm not sure how to react. It has been 5 months since the last time I saw her give me a real honest smile like that. It makes me feel warm inside. I carefully place my forehead against hers and close my eyes, enjoying the moment.
Yuki, Tohru and I again go to home together from school… It's nice… Something I really want to get used to. When my sister and I arrive in our new room, we find something unexpected… Kyo is fixing the hole in the roof, where he fell through in the morning. He turns his attention to Tohru and tries to apologize with a completely red face. It's so cute… Not really like him… I again couldn't keep in a remark "Good kitty, you deserve some milk.". Immediately he starts yelling. Seems he's again in his comfort zone. A bit later we hear that Kyo will also live with us. Hmm… Maybe I shouldn't have said that before…
That evening Tohru and I make a huge effort in cleaned the kitchen. While I'm doing the finishing touches, Tohru is preparing dinner. She's really good at house chores. For me, cleaning is ok… But cooking is a complete disaster. During dinner, Tohru is getting excited over Yuki's secret base. I don't really understand her excitement. I often played in a secret base when I was little. On the other hand… maybe it was because the boys didn't allow Tohru to enter… they found her to girly. Hey! I'm a girl too! Way to go… getting annoyed by my own thoughts… Ow… I hear Kyo is joining Yuki's and Tohru's school… That will be interesting…
I come home from school and find Kyo already skipping classes, although it's only his first day of transfer. Ok… I have to be honest… I'm also skipping sports… But only because I didn't find a partner and I had to sit on the sidelines… Apparently Kyo and Shigure are having a conversation. I know it's not nice to listen to other people's conversations… but I just sounded interesting. I hear Shigure say "If you know you'll regret it afterwards, don't yell at her. You're hopeless." Kyo replies "It's impossible… I… am not suited for living with other people.". "You are just purely lacking experience. In dealing with others, sometimes you hurt others, or get hurt. If you don't learn from other people, in principle you will never become an understanding person." Shigure advises. So it's probably about Kyo yelling at Tohru…
I decide to help Kyo a bit by pushing him to talk to Tohru "If you really need to yell, pick me as your victim. If you act that way with Tohru, she'll think you hate her. So please tell her you don't mean it like that." I'm currently walking with him on the road towards my sister's work. When I see my sister heading our direction, lost in thought as usual, I say "Go get her tiger… Or kitty.", before hiding myself in the bushes. I'm doing my best to hold in my laughter when I see Kyo's hair straitening in annoyance, just like a real cat. Ok… Breathe deeply… in and out. Oh my… Did she really hit him with her bag? Hahaha… Now it's impossible to keep it in. phew… But I must say… the conversation is going well. Tohru even declared her love for cats, which turns Kyo's face completely red. Maybe it's time for me to leave… I head back to the house… alone, but somewhat relieved… I'm glad we got the chance to live together with the Sohma's and I hope we can stay here a little bit longer…
That's all for now, Folks! I hope you like it!