Friends of a Rice Ball

DG32173 & Aniasin

Sarah: here's chapter 4. We hope you have enjoyed the story so far. We don't own Fruits Basket. We do own Sari, Casey, and this story, so please don't steal. Please enjoy the chapter!

Aniasin: Yes, stealing makes me very angry…ENJOY!!

NOTE
(Authors note)
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Scene change
POV change
Memory
Scene change


Chapter 4

WHAT?!

Casey puts the little animal down as she looks at Yuki, Kyo and Shigure, a mischievous smirk on her face. She sneaks away into the kitchen, seemingly disappearing from the face of the earth… or at least disappearing from the room. Sari knows that smirk only too well. Her sister is up to something, and it isn't going to be at all innocent.

Suddenly Casey comes up behind Shigure and hugs him. A surprised yelp escapes her mouth as she falls to the ground. Beside her is a dog sitting on Shigure's clothing.

"HA, I was right!" Casey yelps happily, "I'm NOT crazy!"

Sari stares at the large black dog. This is turning out to be one very … surprising day. She looks from the sheep, to the dog, to her ecstatic sister, and back again. "This must be a dream," she mutters. Casey pinches her. "OW! WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR?!" she yelps.

"To prove to you that this isn't a dream," Casey says happily. Then she turns her attention towards Kyo.

"NO!" Kyo yelps. He has a feeling what Casey is up to and he doesn't like it. "Don't even…" Too late. Kyo yelps as Casey wraps her arms around his neck.

POOF.

Kyo glares up at Casey. He was in his orange cat form. His red eyes sending daggers into the back of Casey's head.

"See, I knew it!" Casey sticks her tongue out at Sari. She was just too happy to prove her sister wrong for once. It usually happens the other way around, but not this time!

Yuki knew what was coming and prepares himself. Yep, it happens. Casey hugs him as well and he turns into a small, grey rat.

"My nose knows!" Casey gloats as she looks over at Sari. The girl laughs at her sister as she sees the dumbfounded look on her face.

Sari looks at the four animals that were once humans, then shakes her head. "I'm going crazy," she mutters to herself. A sheep, a dog, a cat, and a rat all watch her, trying to anticipate what her next action will be. She sighs, and looks at the piles of clothes next to three of the animals. "Casey-nee-chan … let's get To-chan outta here before they change back," she says. Casey looks at her in confusion, causing Sari to motion to the piles of clothing. The older girl looks at the clothes for a few seconds, then turns tomato red. Sari grabs Casey's wrist and Tohru's arm and drags them upstairs to Tohru's room.

All four of the Sohmas transform back to their human forms and put their clothes back on. Hiro has to borrow some of Yuki's clothing, which absolutely swallow him since he's so much smaller then he is. They walk outside to talk out of the girls' hearing range…or so they thought.

"So what do we do now?" Yuki asks as they find a spot near the lake and sit on the rocks they placed there as sitting places. "Guess you'll have to go to Akito again, huh, Shigure?" he adds as he suppresses a shudder.

"Guess so…" Shigure sighs exasperatedly, "I don't think he'll be as kind to them as he was to Tohru. They might have to have their memories erased. Akito was already ticked when I told him about Tohru. Thinking about how mad he'll be when I tell him about Sari and Casey makes me shudder."

"Bah, I wouldn't worry about him." Kyo spits out, "Even if he says to erase their memories, who says that we have to obey him?"

"Stupid cat, are you out of your mind?!" Yuki leaps to his feet as he stares the cat down, "If he finds out that we didn't erase their memories when he told us too, he'll get very mad!"

"Just because you're afraid of him doesn't mean I am, ya damn rat." Kyo mutters nonchalantly, gaining indignant stares from Yuki, Hiro, and Shigure.

"We have to have our memories erased?" Casey pipes up fearfully as she comes out from her hiding place behind the trees. She was daydreaming while staring out the window and had noticed them walking out of the house and decided to follow them. "What are you talking about? I don't wanna lose any of my memories!" She added as several tears fell down the side of her face.

"Casey!" Shigure yelps in surprise as the four guys look up at the girl. How much had she heard? A lot, considering she is crying.

"Hey, didn't someone ever tell you it's not polite to eavesdrop?!" Hiro spits out angrily. This is the first time he has talked since his unexpected transformation.

"Who asked you?!" Casey retorts angrily as she glares at the little boy. Then she looks back at Shigure. "Is that true?" She mumbles as she looks at the ground trying to hold back her tears. She didn't want to forget meeting the Sohmas. They had become some of her best friends. She didn't want to loose that!

"Eh, Casey-nee-chan, you're forgetting something," another feminine voice says from behind her. The shape-shifter and all four Sohmas jump and whirl to stare at Sari. Unlike Casey, who's about to cry her heart out, Sari is grinning like a lunatic.

"Forgetting what?" Casey asks, confused.

"The Hinori 'influence' … and the fact that our memories have been tried to be erased before, but nothing worked at all," Sari says, cocking her head to the side with a smile.

"'Hinori influence'?" the four Sohma men say as one. Something about that sounds very familiar to them, but they're not sure what or how.

Sari cocks her head to the side in thought, trying to figure out how to explain it. "Well, the Hinori clan is also a 'cursed' clan. But unlike you Sohmas, where it seems only certain ones of you are 'cursed', every member of the Hinori clan is captured by the 'curse'. And our 'curse' is a bit more complicated than just transforming into animals when hugged by someone of the opposite gender," she says. "Every member of the Hinori clan, even those wed into the family, is cursed with 'talents' that make us stand out greatly from our peers. Like Casey is a shape-shifter; I'm a psychic; our mother, who wed into the family, was a prophet on occasions; our father was able to twist 'reality' for someone and make it seem to become something entirely different through mental illusions; Grandfather has hyper speed healing and can heal anything, even cancer, with just skin-on-skin contact; and I'm not sure about most of the rest of the family. Our 'curse' also prevents any outside 'influences' to our existence, such as memory erasing or being deceived by illusions from someone not in the family. Our father was part of the family, and that was also his 'talent', so he was an exception."

"WHAT?!" the four Sohma men yelp.

Sari scowls at them. "You heard me perfectly well; I'm not going to repeat myself," she says acidly, causing them to involuntarily shudder. Casey lets out a huge sigh of relief as she wipes the tears off of her face. She begins to blush slightly out of embarrassment. How could she forget the Hinori 'influence'?

"Either way, I still have to tell Akito." Shigure sighs as he stares back at the lake, "I'm not looking forward to that. Let's just hope I come back in one piece…," he mumbles, gaining Casey's attention rather quickly and in the bad way too.

"One piece?!" She yelps cringing at the thought of someone getting hurt because of her. "ONE PIECE?! What's that supposed to mean?!" She adds, panic ridden. She was so panicked that she was about to transform again… "What are you talking about?!" Casey yelps as she lets out a shrill neigh. She did transform, but this time into a brown horse with spotted patterns in black and cream … although she hasn't realized it yet. She walks up in between Shigure and Yuki. Yuki yelps in surprise as he falls backwards into the lake. Kyo bust out laughing as Yuki clambers back to shore.

"WHAT?!" Casey yelps as she turns to Yuki. The boy looks up at her indignantly as his clothes are now sopping wet. Then she catches her reflection in the water. Oh, she did transform after all. Damn it. Oh well… She helps Yuki to his feet and looks back at Shigure. "What do you mean by 'one piece'?!"

"Let's just say Akito has a really short temper." Shigure replies as he shakes his head.

Sari cocks her head slightly. "Well, then we'll go with you!" she says, as if that's the most obvious thing in the world to do. "We won't let him vent his anger on you on our account," she continues, smiling brightly at the older man.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Shigure protests. "No 'outsiders' are allowed at Sohma house without express permission from Akito himself. He'll be furious!"

Sari just grins. "I don't care. Let him get mad; we won't let you get hurt by him because we found out about your secret," she replies.

"Yeah!" Casey nods her head, which is a very funny sight from a horse. "Some of you can ride on my back. He'll never know the difference!" She adds as she head butts Sari in the back. "What will you do Sari?" She wonders as she remembers something else. Someone would have to take her clothes with them.

Sari grins at Casey. "You mean you'll actually let people other than me ride on your back?" she teases. It is extremely rare for Casey to do such a thing.

"Yeah," Casey insists.

"Well, someone will have to carry your clothes," Sari says softly, looking at the pile of clothes on the ground where Casey had transformed. "I suppose I could carry your clothes. I can keep up with you, even if you trot in that form. Psychic powers are quite helpful," she murmurs. "Just don't gallop, even I can't keep up with a galloping horse. And I don't feel like going to the house to get my bike."

"Bike?" Kyo asks. "What sort of bike can keep up with a galloping horse?" he demands.

Sari grins. "My custom built motorcycle," she says.

"Do you even have a license to drive it?" Yuki asks curiously.

Sari smiles brightly. "Nope!" she says happily, causing everyone else to sweatdrop. "But I've never been stopped by a cop before, and I doubt it'll ever happen. I'm a good driver. Been driving my bike since I was eight, when I built it."

"You built it?" Kyo asks in surprise.

Sari grins. "Yup!" she says. "I bought every part from a custom motorcycle parts shop and put it together myself. It can even keep up with a bullet train. I used my psychic powers to build it to perfection."

"What sort of 'psychic powers' do you have, Sari?" Shigure asks.

Sari stares at him oddly. "What do you mean? I have all the powers related to a true psychic. I can read minds, levitate, teleport, move stuff around with my mind, change the entire structure of an object with just a thought … the list goes on and on," she says. Then she smiles. "But I rarely ever use my ability to teleport or read minds. Teleporting gives me horrid headaches; the further the teleport distance, the worse the headache. And reading minds without permission is just plain rude."

"Woah," Kyo says softly. "So there are drawbacks to your 'powers'?" he asks.

Sari looks at him blankly. "There're drawbacks to every form of power. When Casey shape-shifts a lot, she will then require a lot of food and rest to get back to full strength. Mama's prophesizing happened randomly, taking over her body. After prophesizing, she slept for days. Casey and I both have a small bit of her prophesizing abilities. Hinori children always have a smidgen of the same ability as their mother, but it randomly selects the strength to appear in the child. Like I am just like mama; I prophesize on occasion, but it takes over my body. Then I sleep for at least a day afterwards. Casey can only get 'feelings', so we always trust her instincts since my prophesies only happen randomly and only when the prophesy is about something major that will affect many lives, just like Mama."

"Can we get moving now?" Casey snorts impatiently as she waits for someone to get onto her back but no one seems to want to get onto her back. "Well??" Casey looks back at the Sohmas indignantly. Then she walks up behind Kyo and headbutts him in a way that sends him flying in the air to land on her back. She does the same to Yuki.

"Why do I have to ride with him?!" Kyo demands.

"It's not like I wanted to ride with you anyways," Yuki growls.

Sari scowls at Casey. "You know perfectly well those two don't get along and yet you force them both on your back! How rude!" she says to the pleased horse.

"If they get too rowdy, I'll just buck them off." Casey replies nonchalantly and smirks as she notices the boys giving her a horrified expression. Sari and Shigure bust out laughing. Then Sari whips out a digital camera and takes a quick picture of the looks the boys are giving her sister. The flash catches their eyes and they turn to see what caused it, only to see Sari looking at the picture on her camera with Shigure, Hiro, and Tohru looking at it with her. Hey, when did Tohru arrive?!

"How interesting…," Hiro says blandly as he looks at the picture. He was vaguely wondering where that camera came from.

"Hey, I wanna see!" Casey trots over to the group and pushes her head in to where she could see the picture. She chuckles as she sees the looks on Yuki and Kyo's faces. "Wow that's priceless!" She laughs as she looks at Sari. "Hey sis, you should so put that on the school website!"

"You think so?" Sari asks curiously. "Maybe I should. I mean, it's not often that you get to see them so expressive."

"DON'T!" Yuki and Kyo yelp at the same time. If Sari puts that on her mini-site with the school website, their reputations will be ruined! Sari's mini-site has like a million hits a day! Well, maybe not a million, but a whole lot of hits!

Sari looks up at the two boys on her sister's back. "I don't see the problem. Everyone would finally know you two don't always fight each other," she says, truly not understanding the problem. "And everyone would also finally know that you actually have more emotions than what you show at school."

"THAT'S THE PROBLEM!" they yell, causing Casey to bust out laughing. And that's a rather peculiar sight for a horse.

"Um…if we're going to the Sohma house, I'm going to go get my clothes." Hiro states as he walks back toward Shigure's house, "If I showed up in Yuki's clothes, I'd cause mayhem," he adds as he gives Tohru a nasty glare. Casey snorts at him, sending him running.

"That kid can be a real jerk sometimes." Casey glares at where Hiro had been standing. She couldn't stand that guy! "Well we better get going if we're gonna get there before dark. I take it that the Sohma house is far away." She adds as she turns to Shigure.

"Not that far, but we have to be careful about the crowds at this time of day," Shigure replies, glancing at the sun that's directly above their heads.

Sari scowls at the sun. "I hate noon," she mutters, causing everyone except Casey to look at her funny. Casey merely shakes her head. Sari hates noon because she hates being in such bright sunshine. She has slightly enhanced senses as well, because Hinori siblings often share trace amounts of their 'talents'. The only part of Casey's 'talent' that Sari has is enhanced senses while the only part of Sari's 'talents' Casey has is to move objects with her mind if she concentrates hard enough. But it always gives her a nasty headache afterwards.

At this moment, Hiro returns, dressed in his own clothes. He looks at Yuki. "Your clothes are in the laundry. I don't think you'd want dusty clothes in your room," he says.

"Hang on tight, boys." Casey says as she suddenly bolts. Yuki strings his fingers through the mare's long fur. Kyo yelps as he wraps his arms around the horse's neck. Casey neighs happily as she feels the wind blowing through her mane. About five hundred yards ahead she stops leaving Yuki and Kyo dazed and out of breath. "That was awesome!" Casey yells excitedly as she lets out an excited neigh.

"That was NOT awesome!" Kyo yelps as he tries to untangle his fingers from Casey's thick mane. "Not mention it HURT!"

"I guess that's what we get for riding bare back." Yuki hisses as he rubs the bottom of his back.

"CASEY-NEE-CHAN! I TOLD YOU NOT TO GALLOP!!" Sari's enraged voice yells from behind them as the white haired girl runs towards them at top speed, trailed by Shigure, Hiro, and Tohru. Sari pulls to a stop beside them, bending over to place her hands on her knees. "Are you trying to make me collapse?!" she demands, gasping for breath. "And I do not want to have to use my psychic powers to keep up with a galloping horse!" she yells at her sister. "And what about them?!" she demands, motioning to Shigure, Hiro, and Tohru, who have finally caught up. "It's impossible for them to keep up with a galloping horse!"

"Aw, I just wanted to give Carrot-Top and Mouse a riding experience." Casey whines as she bobs her head. She had stolen Sari's nicknames for Yuki and Kyo.

"NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME CARROT-TOP?!" Kyo blurts out as he glares down at the mare angrily. Casey just snorts making Kyo jump. "That's it! I'm gonna walk!" He yells leaping off of Casey's back. Before he can take more than three steps, though, he feels feminine arms wrap around his waist. POOF! He glares up at Sari, who's carrying him in her arms while he's in cat form. She has his clothes tossed over one arm, along with Casey's clothes. "WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!" he yells.

Sari just grins. "Cause I know how four people can ride Casey-nee-chan," she says, smiling happily. Kyo scowls as Sari leaps up onto Casey's back in front of Yuki, Kyo still in her arms. She half twists and wraps an arm around Yuki as well, turning him to a rat. "C'mon up, To-chan," she calls, holding Kyo with one arm and Yuki with the other. Tohru blinks, but obeys. Once she's settled behind Sari, Kyo is suddenly shoved in her arms. "You carry Carrot-top," she says.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Kyo yells at the white haired girl. But he doesn't' complain about having Tohru carry him. As long as he doesn't have to ride next to that rat!

"Um, what about us?" Shigure asks, motioning to himself and Hiro.

Sari blinks at him in surprise. "I guess you'll have to walk. I just want to make sure Carrot-trop and Mouse don't fight the whole way there," she says.

"DON'T CALL ME CARROT-TOP!" Kyo yells.

"Aw, don't worry." Casey looks backs at them, "I promise I won't bolt. I only did it to mess with the cat and the rat back there." She says, much to Yuki and Kyo's dismay.

"Well we better get going." Shigure says as he walks up to Casey's face. He pats the top of her back, running his fingers through her thick fur. Casey begins to trot towards the Sohma house with Shigure showing her the way.


Aniasin: Well, this is the end…sad isn't it? Just kidding!! This really isn't the end, its only the beginning! Right Sarah?!

Sarah: :P next chapter will have a little itty bitty teensy tiny surprise. Please review if you want to find out what it is!