A/N: okay this chapter is dedicated to my friend who read this series and inspired me.
We walked up stairs and Yuki started to give us a tour of the upstairs.
"So, this is the bathroom…" Yuki said opening the first door in the hallway.
Tohru trailed behind him all gushy and excited to be living in the same house as him… poor girl, I'm just glad I'm not all hung up over a guy. [buahahahha foreshadowing….] He continued his tour as I spaced out a little.
When we reached the room Tohru and I would be staying in Yuki started to apologize.
"I'm sorry the room smells a little off, we just haven't used this room so you might want to keep the window open for a little while." He said as he opened the window. I looked outside and saw what a beautiful day it was already.
Tohru and Yuki began to talk and I was trying to listen to their conversation but I got distracted when the roof started to make noise. I wondered if their where some chipmunks or something fighting up there or if the reason they left the room closed was because of the roof was weak here but then I was distracted again, when the roof caved in and debris fell everywhere.
I saw from the other side of the room Yuki push Tohru behind him as she yelled "Ah!" I was lucky to have Yuki standing by her.
"What the heck-"I asked cutting myself of when I saw a boy with orange hair crouched down on top of all the debris. His orange hair was kind of spikey and his bangs hung over his eyes a bit, he had a slim figure like Yuki's. I thought he was kind of cool, I mean who has enough strength to break down a roof? He stood up, and cracked his knuckles.
"Uhh Yuki?" I asked confused "What's happening?" I added tilting my head to the side a little.
"Yo!" The orange haired boy said with his back to me, "Time to pay the piper rat-boy. I'm here to collect." His voice sounded very appealing to me…. I noticed as Tohru kind of snaked her way next to me.
"Really? I thought he would've sent someone bigger." Yuki said smirking at his comeback.
Angrily Orange head clenched his fists and spat out "Yeah get your tough talk out now because I'm about to wipe that smirk off of your pretty boy face!" Then he ran at Yuki.
"Oh no!" Tohru cried, "Their going to fight we have to stop them!" she added running at the orange haired kid.
"Tohru, wait!" I called out as I tried to step in front of her but ended up tripping on a piece of wood and fell onto the orange haired kid. I blushed as I realized as I was falling that I was going to be lying on top of him. But when I landed his body felt like it changed into something small and furry…
Shigure decided that that was a good time to walk in, "Yuki? What where those crashing noises I heard, Kyo isn't here is he?" Shigure asked sticking his head in the door.
I got up and when I looked down I saw a small little orange cat where I assumed the orange haired boys name is Kyo, was. I grabbed him and held him at arm's length.
"Uhh Tohru I think I broke him…" I said sheepishly.
This totally put her into a panic attack. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry we turned him into a cat! We need to get him to a hospital or a vet or something! Come on Manami we have to go!" she zipped around and she tried to pull me up with Kyo still in my hands and she tripped and she fell straight into Shigure –who was trying to get her to calm down- and Yuki –who was just standing there trying not to laugh.- And then they both turned into animals! One was a little rat and the other a black dog….. What's happening!
"What the heck!" I cried out. Kyo got too angry at me and scratched me and I dropped him. "Ow!" I cried out staring into Kyo's eyes, and for a second I thought that he looked sorry but then he got mad again.
"Manami! Call a doctor or a vet!" Tohru cried running downstairs with her arms full of the little rat and the dog while I walked down calmly with the orange cat walking in front of me. She startled the mail man who looked at her like she belonged in an insane asylum as she ran to the front door.
"Mr. Mailman it's terrible! Their animals!" she cried out.
"Well yes they are, here's your mail." The mailman said handing her the letters.
"No! We have to help them! "She cried as she put the animals down to grab the letters but the dog grabbed them in his mouth before Tohru grabbed them. We all froze for a second. Then the mailman laughed and rubbed the dog's head.
"I wish my dog was that smart!" he laughed before he said goodbye and left.
Tohru looking exhausted sunk to her knees.
"Uhmm…. Should we take them to the hospital? Or will they think we're insane?" I asked looking at the animals.
The cat ran from his spot close to me and ran to the dog and rat hissing. "Dammit! How the hell am I supposed to make up an excuse if you two transformed too!" he yelled at them, his voice sounded like Kyo….
"Don't you dare try to blame this on us you stupid cat!" the little rat yelled back at him.
Wait what? That little rat sounded like Yuki… what?
"Go ahead! Say that again!" the cat yelled
"Stuu-pid cat."
"Why you little!"
"Cut it out you two!" the black dog said.
Wait…. Shigure? I don't know how much more of this I can take…
(this little part I kinda borrowed off of LadyAmazon, who also wrote a fanfic for fruits basket and I just really love this part.)
I walked over to Tohru and sat down next to her. Grabbing her hand i turned it into a fist and held it over my head, "Hit me. Really hard. I want Amnesia. "I told her. (Back to originality)
Tohru looked at me with huge wide Bambi eyes.
"Stop it, all of you!" Shigure yelled. He sighed "I guess there's no use lying to them, We might as well tell them the truth." He looked at Yuki and Kyo, He looked at Tohru and I shaking his head, probably because Yuki was on his head…. "Manami, Tohru, im a dog, Yuki is a rat, and that little orange ball of moping fur over there is Kyo, don't let him scare you though he's got a chip on his shoulder." He said all of that like it was the most normal thing ever.
"Are you shape shifters?" Tohru asked like a total air head.
I face palmed. And it seemed like Yuki and Shigure did too, Kyo was still fuming in the corner.
"No," Shigure said shaking his head. "Our family has lived with this curse for generations, twelve of us transform into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac." Kyo turned around in his little corner and glared at Shigure. "Sorry the twelve animals plus the cat." And at that Kyo turned back around and glared at the wall again. I frowned. "Anyways, when our bodies are put under a lot of stress or we are hugged by a member of the opposite gender, we transform.-" he was cut off by Tohru, "So you're kind of like shape shifters?" she asked sounding really curious. "Okay no Tohru, you need to stop reading Twilight!" [Sorry I don't know any shape shifting mangas/animes] I said seriously. " OKAY SO, " I'm pretty sure Shigure was tired of being interrupted… "After a little while we change back but the only problem is that-" He cut himself off when we heard 3 individual little booms and 3 puffs of different colored smoke. "Were naked." He added a little embarrassed.
The smoke began to clear and their bodies started to become clear.
"OHMAHGOD!" I screeched lying down with my face pressed against the floor so I couldn't see anything.
"AHH!" Tohru screamed, I don't know what she did because I was too busy squeezing my eyes shut.
When everyone was fully dressed we sat down at the dining table to talk everything over. Well only Kyo was outside on the deck being angry. I started to take Shigure a bit more seriously, because he was right about that chip on Kyo's shoulder.
"Haha…. Sorry about all of that…" Shigure said with a grin, I wonder if he really is sorry, I can't really take him seriously with that idiotic grin on his face. "How are you two?" He asked us sincerely.
"Stressed, confused, exhausted, distressed, but either than that I'm pretty sure I still have no idea what's going on." I said a little sassily. I was tired of all the stress, I needed sleep.
Tohru hung her head "It's not their fault their family is cursed!" she said to all of us but me mostly. I sighed frustrated.
"I'm going to get some water." I said standing up. I walked into the kitchen trying to clear my head. As I was aimlessly trying to made a path to the fridge from the door so I could actually get some water I heard Tohru and Shigures conversation, Shigure was teasing Kyo loudly.
"I know it's hard to believe! And it's funny because of the saying "cat-like-reflexes" which doesn't really apply to Kyo because he just let Manami fall on him, but he is still a cat, even though he is clumsier than most!" Shigure said laughing. "And all that martial arts training too! I'm sure he would tell you the same thing if he wasn't outside brooding like a child." Shigure finished almost yelling the last part. Man this guy really knew how to get under someone's skin.
I heard a loud growl. "Will you shut up?!" Kyo yelled, "I told you it's not my fault! If you want someone to blame, blame her and that other girl!" He yelled, I assumed he pointed at Tohru, and that he was talking about me. I decided that now was my time to come back.
"Back off." I said plainly to Kyo. He looked at me like I was insane.
"What?" Kyo asked angrily.
"I said back off, they invited us into their home, and besides, you know nothing about us, so if you want to blame us, why don't you try to get to know us first." I said angrily. I'd had it; my stress level was waaay past its maximum. I started to walk towards the door. "I'm going for a walk I'll be back later." My shoulder brushed Kyo's as I walked past him. They all stared at me in shock.
When I was far enough from that house as I wanted I sat down at the base of a tree and put my head between my knees, so the world would stop spinning.
More flashbacks, these ones more painful with the added stress from this morning.
I turned spun around and ran, just ran. 'It can't be true' I thought to myself while I ran out of Kyoko's house, down the street, I wasn't looking where I was going. When I finally looked up I was in the park around two miles from Kyoko's and Tohru's house. I collapsed under a willow tree. Kyoko's words drifted into my mind and made the gaping hole in my chest bigger, "I'm so sorry Manami, your parents…. They…. They didn't make it…." I clutched at my chest because the hole threatened to tear me apart. I cried for what seemed like forever until I fell asleep on the cold, damp grass. "I'm so sorry Manami…."
"Hey there you are!" a voice startled me out of my flashback. I jumped up. Oh, it was just Tohru…. I shook my head.
"Whats wrong?" She asked me reaching her hand out to hold my hand so she could pull me up.
"No!" I cried out, "Don't touch me!" I cried jumping up. I turned around and ran leaving Tohru there shocked at my sudden outburst. I didn't want to hurt Tohru but it seemed like everyone I cared about deeply died and I didn't want Tohru to die too….
Again I ran away from the people I loved most. I ran all the way to the same park from my flashback. I collapsed under the same Willow but from complete and utter fatigue rather than emotional pain. Curling up into a ball another flashback overtook me.
It was raining, what a cliché, raining at my parents funeral. I stood next to Kyoko and Tohru and cried, I cried the whole entire time. I didn't even go to "pay my respects" in the viewing at the beginning of the funeral. I didn't want to see them that way, cold, pale, lifeless. They played "Amazing Grace" as their caskets were lowered into the earth. I can't listen to that song ever or else I will break down into tears and the hole in my chest that still hasn't been filled gets torn into shreds and I'm thrown into a state of confusion and tears. I was surprised that I had so many tears in me; I couldn't stop the constant flow of tears until three hours later. After their funeral I didn't speak to anyone for around two weeks. I was a silent girl who had lost her parents who everyone pitied. I hated people who tried to pity me, like they knew what it felt like to have your parents ripped from your life, taken away to someplace that no one knew anything about and have them never ever come back.
"Get up." An angry voice said to me. I looked up. Oh great Tohru sent Kyo.
"What the hell do you want." I said glaring at him through swollen eyes; I hadn't realized I had been crying.
"I want to know what the hell your doin' here." He said still angry.
"Why do you want to know that?!" I said getting angrier at him.
"Because, you're being just like me ya know? Your layin' here moping!" He yelled back at me.
"Stop yelling at me! You know nothing about me at all! Don't pretend like you care!" I screamed at him standing up.
He glared at me, "Oh yeah what are you going to do about it? Run away and hide from the world?" he said quietly but it was still filled with anger.
I pressed my hands to the sides of my head, trying to make my headache go away, to shut up the constant noise in my head.
"What if I need to be alone? What if I'm happy with that? Being alone, I've gotten used to it anyways! I mean who wouldn't if your parents went off and died leaving you in this awful world alone!?" I couldn't believe I had just said that to Kyo….. He looked a little startled about the whole dead parent's thing but then he glared at me.
"You know what, stop this bull**** because you know you're not alone! What, Does Tohru mean nothing to you?! I just met you two and I can see that bond you two have! You're being stupid if you're going to sit here and pout and be mad at the world!" I was surprised on how observant he was for a person who is always angry himself.
I didn't know Kyo very well but he still didn't know me and I was going to take his crappy lecture.
"You know what?! Shut up. You can't just waltz over here and try to give me a lecture! You don't know what is like to lose BOTH of your parents in one day, and then what it's like to lose another person who you looked up to like a mother! So just leave! Tell them I'll be back, but you can't judge me when you don't know what I've had to deal with." I ended my rant quietly, too tired to yell anymore.
Kyo looked hurt as he turned around and started to walk away.
It was funny the way I felt, I wanted to talk to someone about this, but I still wanted to hide in my little corner and never speak or interact with anyone or anything ever again. I decided that maybe human interaction was the best way to go to temporarily stop this crippling depression that kept threatening to consume me. Exhaustedly I made my way to Kiri's house.
A/N Sorry I posted so late, I had a busy day and tomorrow isn't going to get any less busy. So I hope you liked this over emotional chapter and I will try to post another chapter by Saturday! Thanks and please review it makes this extremely worthwhile.
