Already on chapter three... My how time has flown. I hope this chapter will clear a bit of the fog surrounding the Kinobu's mystery for you. Though, mind you, I won't divulge all their secrets just yet.
A big thank you to all my lovely reviewers.
Disclaimer - All Fruits Basket characters belong to Natsuki Takaya
Chapter 3 - The Forgotten Constellation
The walk home was silent. The four newcomers noted their surroundings with interest, taking in the name of every street and any familiar landmarks that could help them either find their way back there or escape.
Tohru smiled and chatted eagerly with Yuki and Kyo, sometimes addressing one of the twins, Tiaret or Zale, only to receive short answers.
"Here we are," Yuki smiled as he address the four guests.
"Nice place..." Tiaret trailed off, taking in her surroundings with a critical eye.
"Come in. Shigure is probably waiting for us," continued Yuki as he lead the way inside.
After taking off their shoes, they all trooped inside to the dining room, where Shigure sat at the low table. Looking up from his paper he grinned, dark brown eyes shining curiously. Standing, he ran a hand through his dark hair. "Hello. I'm Sohma Shigure. You must be the people Yuki was telling me about. Please, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable. What, may I ask, are your names?"
"I am Kinobu Tiaret. This is Zale, Tameka and Gem." introduced the brunette before sitting at the table along with her sister and the twins, soon accompanied by Yuki and Tohru. Kyo slid open the door leading into the back yard and laid across the porch, hands resting under his head like a pillow.
"So, Yuki and Kyo have told me about you being circus performers?" began Shigure as he rested his chin in his hand and gazed from one person to the next.
"Yes, we are," nodded Tiaret, face blank. "And we'd all appreciate it if you wouldn't spread it around either."
"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with us. Promise."
"Why should we believe in your promises? We've no idea who you are," frowned the brunette as she placed an arm around Zale's thin shoulders.
Shigure examined her carefully. Hm... She's quite a looker, but very protective and untrustworthy from the looks of things. Wonder why... "Can I ask what made you run from the circus?"
Silence fell upon their shoulders as the four circus performers exchanged looks. After a minute of silence Tameka sighed. "Fine. We might as well. Tia-san's father, Itwel, is the leader of our little... family. Because of our... special talent of being able to transform into different beings he uses us to keep people coming to the show. Endless hours of training, endless 'you can do better's or 'your just freaks, this is where you belong's."
"My father has a cold heart if there ever was one," Tiaret glared at nothing in particular. "We only exist to make money for him and every 'normal' person in the family."
Everyone was stunned by this revelation. "Your father uses you?" Yuki asked in a soft voice.
Gem nodded, fists clenched on top of the table. "We all got sick of it and ran away. Libera-sama said we have hope as long as we leave the family. If we can make it out on our own maybe..."
Tiaret gave him a stern look and a tiny shake of the head. He became quiet, letting his sentence hang in mid air, unfinished.
Yuki exchanged a puzzled glance with Shigure who gave him a look that said, 'in time they'll tell us. We need to earn their trust first.' Tohru looked from one guest to the next. "I have a question..." she stated in a shy voice.
All heads turned to her, listening attentively. "I was wondering how you guys transform when hugged."
Zale looked up at Tohru and said, "We can't tell you."
"Why's that?" asked Kyo who lay with his eyes closed.
"It's... a secret!" grinned the girl.
Rapid flurry of soft footsteps and the door flew open. "I'm baaaack!" sang a voice as someone with long silver hair stepped into the room, wearing a long red overcoat with frilly clothes underneath.
A look of horror crossed over Yuki's face as Sohma Ayame nearly danced across the room and flopped down next to Shigure. "Hello, hello!" he greeted cheerfully. "I am Ayame, Yuki's older brother! You must be the circus folk! The whole family is talking about you!"
The 'circus folk's eyes narrowed dangerously as Ayame continued. "It isn't that often you find a cursed family, is it, Shigure? Hm?"
"You're right, Aya," nodded Shigure.
Tameka exchanged a glance with her twin, who said, "What makes you think we're cursed?"
The Sohmas also exchanged a brief glance. "I don't know if we're allowed to say anything..." began Shigure, but was interrupted by Ayame.
"Now, now! They're like us! We've nothing to hide and nothing to gain! We're both in the same position here so we might as well tell them."
Tiaret looked from one Sohma to the next, wondering what each were talking about until Shigure sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll tell them. Kinubo-san... All of you. The Sohma family has a secret we keep from everyone. Except Tohru, who stumbled upon it and was allowed to stay here, as long as she promised not to tell anyone."
Tohru smiled, "Yes, and I'm glad I did."
"So are we," Shigure nodded in reply before continuing. "You see, thirteen people in the Sohma family are possessed by the vengeful spirits of the zodiac. I'm the dog, Yuki's the rat, Kyo's the cat and Ayame here is the snake. We all transform when hugged by the opposite sex or when our bodies become weak."
The circus performers were stunned to say the least. So, they're cursed by the zodiac? Strange... thought Tiaret but shook her head to clear those thoughts away. "Why are you telling us this?"
"Because we believe you're possessed by vengeful spirits as well. You are a lioness and the young girl by your side is a crab," smiled Ayame.
"How... You saw our act?" inquired Tameka.
"Oh no. I found all the information online. Wonderful thing, computers," he sighed happily.
"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Without waiting for an answer, Tiaret ushered the twins and her sister from the room and closed the door as they stood in the hall.
"What do you think, onee-chan?" whispered Zale as her sister knelt down to her height.
"I'm not sure..." was her sister's reply. "They seem trustworthy, but looks aren't everything. We need Libera-sama for this..."
"But she isn't here," Gem pointed out. "It's our turn to make a decision and it better be the right one too because there's no going back."
"We want you to make the decision, Tia-san," Tameka whispered. "You're the oldest and wisest of the four of us. We trust your decision."
Everyone else nodded as Tia pursed her lips in thought. "Alright," she finally nodded, opening the door and letting them reenter before her.
Once they were all seated again, Tia scanned the room, looking at one person then the next before sighing. "Alright, you guys win."
A faint smile crossed Shigure's lips as she continued on, eyes focussed on the table. "The four of us are cursed by the spirits of the Sun Signs. Leo, Cancer and Gemini are our signs. I am Leo, Zale is Cancer, Tameka and Gem are both Gemini. If we're hugged by the opposite sex or our bodies become weak we transform into our sun forms."
"I have a question," stated Yuki. "During your act when you transformed you didn't lose your clothes..."
A faint smile tugged at Tameka's lips. "That's because we keep out clothes when we transform."
"How?" asked a curious Shigure.
Gem looked at Tohru for a moment, lost in thought, then said, "Because some of us transform into things with human bodies, like Tameka and I. It makes it so we have clothes after we transform, you know. Watch."
Without the least amount of hesitation, he stood and strolled over to Tohru and hugged her. A small pop sounded as they were both engulfed in a pale green smoke. After a moment the smoke cleared to show a very tanned man with jade eyes and messy emerald hair. A pale green cloth wrapped around his waist and thighs before trailing to the ground. "See? Some of us have human forms. It makes things much simpler," stated Gem in a deeper voice than before.
A soft voice respond, "Yes. I'd hate to transform into this form with no clothes on."
Every turned and stared at Tameka, who had somehow transformed as well. Her emerald hair flowed to her mid back as her jade eyes danced. The pale green cloth that wrapped around her chest and another that wrapped around her waist and thighs before flowing to the floor accented her tanned skin nicely.
"Why did you transform as well?" asked an awe Tohru. They're so beautiful...
"Because our sign is Gemini. The Twins," explained Tameka. "If one twin transforms so does the other. Gets annoying after a while though..."
"Especially when someone goes and gets hugged by every guy around them," muttered Gem only to receive a glare from his twin as he sat down once more by her side.
"I do not."
"Could'a fooled me."
"This isn't the time," stated Tiaret in a soft voice.
Both stopped bickering almost immediately.
"How long does it take before you transform back?" asked Shigure.
"Depends," replied Zale as a smile tugged at her rosy lips. "Sometimes it lasts only a few seconds, others a few minutes. The longest time ever was an hour."
"A very long hour at that," grimaced Tiaret.
"So, tell me, what made you finally gather the courage to leave your family?" inquired Ayame as he sipped his tea thoughtfully once Tohru passed it to him. "Wonder tea, Tohru-chan! Another great achievement!"
"Our reasons are each our own," replied Tiaret as she nodded her thanks to Tohru as she passed the cup filled with tea. "Every one of us has his or her different reason for leaving. Though, Libera-sama stayed behind to cover our exit..."
"Who is this Libera-sama?" asked Kyo as he sat cross legged on the porch. "You talk so highly of her. Sama."
"Of course we speak highly of her," snapped Gem. "She is possessed by..." Looking over at Tia, who nodded, he continued, "by the sign of Libra. The Scales. She knows what to do and when to do it. Right and wrong. Black and white. Yin and Yang."
"So there are thirteen of you? One for each sign except Gemini, who has two?" asked Yuki.
"No. There are fourteen of us," corrected Tameka as a grin played at her lips.
"Fourteen? Does Pisces have two then?" frowned Shigure.
"Oh, no," grinned Tiaret. "Just like in the zodiac there is a sun sign mostly unknown to human kind. You have the forgotten cat. We, on the other hand, have the one by the name of Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer."
"Ophiuchus?" frowned Ayame. "Never heard of him..."
"And if he were here he'd bash you across the head for saying that," muttered Gem with a wicked grin on his lips.
"Oh don't exaggerate, onii-chan," sighed his sister.
"I'm not!"
"Let me try and explain," interrupted Tiaret before the twins could begin a true argument once more. " Over two thousand years ago the astrological sun sign system was set up by dividing the sun's path in twelve equally spaced 'signs', each approximately thirty degrees wide and each was alined with a constellation."
"A lot of things were wrong with this. For example, the Cancer constellation is small while Pisces is huge. But back then both were accorded one twelfth of the sun's annual path."
"And this is where things get complicated. The constellation Cancer never coincided exactly with the sign ofCancer which would be the thirty degree zone along the sun's path. That means the constellation was, in fact, smaller than the thirty degree angle it had been given. That caused a lot of disputes as to the division of the sky and of how many sun signs there truly was."
"But, finally, after centuries past with no proof, someone redrew the sky with different divisions and the real constellations. Come to find out, the sun travels through thirteen constellations and not twelve. The sun is in front of the thirteenth constellation, Ophiuchus, during the first half of December."
"There's a lot more complicated things behind the constellations of the sun but I won't bother going into them. But, the forgotten Ophiuchus was the reason we were cursed," finished the brunette as she sipped her tea thoughtfully.
"So... anyone born in the first half of December is an... Ophiuchus and not a Sagittarius or whatever the sign is?" asked Kyo, a bit shocked at this revelation.
Tameka nodded. "Exactly. Because of Ophiuchus being brought into the solar dividing, the dates have all changed."
"How much of a change are we talking about here?" frowned Kyo.
"Let's see. You are Capricorn if you're born between January nineteenth and February fifteenth," Tameka began thoughtfully.
"Aquarius is February sixteenth to March eleventh."
"Pisces; March twelfth to April eighteenth."
"Aries; April nineteenth to May thirteenth."
"Taurus is May fourteenth to June nineteenth."
"Gemini is June twentieth to July twentieth."
"Cancer; July twenty-first till August ninth."
"Leo is August tenth to September fifteenth."
"Virgo; September sixteenth till October thirtieth."
"Libra from October thirty-first to November twenty-second."
"Scorpius, or Scorpio, is from November twenty-third till the twenty-ninth."
"Ophiuchus is November thirtieth till December seventeenth."
"And last, but certainly not least, is Sagittarius who is found from December eighteenth till January eighteenth," finished the female twin as she gently placed her cup on the table.
"Man, that just screws a person up," complained Kyo.
"Oh be quiet, stupid cat," sighed Yuki.
"That's quite the story you have," commented Shigure. "You said that Ophiuchus was why you became cursed. Would you wish to explain a bit more about that?"
"Now, now, Shigure. Give the poor folks a break! They've told us about their curse as well as some of its story! Take small steps, not large ones!"
"Well you take large steps to get Yuki back..." muttered Shigure.
"Don't even go there," glared Yuki as an idea seemed to pass across his older brother's face.
"Yuki, dear, why do you hate me so?" sniffed his brother sadly. "One would think you didn't like me, or worse, hated me!"
"But I do!" growled Yuki through gritted teeth.
"But Yuki! I am your brother which means..." Ayame stood up straight and pointed a finger down at Yuki as dramatically as he could. "You must love me for I am your brother! I order you to love me!"
Silence. Shigure sighed. "Here we go again."
Yuki smiled up at his brother and in the most polite voice possible said, "Get out."
Another silence.
Ayame flopped back down by the table. "Where have I failed you, Yuki... where...?"
Of course, that being a rhetorical question, no answer was given.
Tohru gazed from one Kinobu to another before saying, "I'm glad you trusted us enough to tell your story. We don't have much place... but if it's okay with Shigure-san you could stay for the night..."
Two small pops sounded as pale green smoke filled the room. Once it cleared, Tameka and Gem sat, each now human and still in their school uniforms.
"Sorry, but we have to decline," stated Tiaret as she stood up. "No offense meant though, but we have things to take care of. And it's getting late so we should head back now."
Shigure nodded in understanding. "Of course. Come back whenever you feel like it."
The guests all nodded before waving good bye and leaving.
"Think we did the right thing, Tia-san?" asked Tameka as the house disappeared into darkness behind them.
"Don't know. I just hope we did."
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Well, I hope this chapter hasn't been too confusing. A link to the site where I found the information on the thirteen sun signs will be placed in my bio page for those who may be interested.
Any comments, questions, and so on are welcome. Until the next chapter, bye bye!
