Chapter 3: God's Banquet
"Glad you came, Kitten." Kaoru smiled as he saw Tohru approaching him.
"Yeah well…" she shrugged because, honestly speaking, she didn't even fully understand why she had come either. "They say curiosity killed the cat…"
Kaoru laughed, "Good choice of words!"
She rolled her eyes, "I get it, okay? I like cats. You don't have to make a crack at it every time it comes up in conversation."
Kaoru shook his head, "After I'm done explaining, even you'll understand what's so funny!"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Nothing in the way that you're thinking, so don't worry." He nodded, "Well, let's walk, shall we?"
Tohru hesitated for a moment, but then followed. How did he know which direction my house was in? Coincidence, right…? Maybe he lives the same way…
Unbeknownst to the two supposed 'cousins', the boys from that morning, and a few others had seen all they needed to.
"N-no way…! Mizunashi-san is going out with someone after all!" a boy remarked, pointing at Tohru walking off with Kaoru.
"So that's why she rejected me today…" another boy added, "Since there's no other possible reason."
"I can think of a couple!" Yet another mocked at the second boy.
Many other boys had chimed in by now; yelling things like: "There's no way they've been going out! That guy just moved here!"
"I thought her mom was strict against her going out!"
"What kind of spell did that new kid put on her anyway?"
How wrong they were…
Meanwhile, the two were walking away; completely oblivious to what was going on mere steps behind them.
"Alright, you got me to come with you, so start explaining." Tohru demanded.
"Well firstly, you have to accept the fact that we are related. Otherwise it'll just seem like I'm idiotically speaking nonsense."
Tohru smirked and was about to speak when Kaoru put his finger up in front of her face to wait. He shook his head, "Don't even dare saying what you're thinking."
Tohru laughed, "Maybe we really are related." She shrugged, "You know just how I think…"
"It's not exactly rocket science Kitten…"
"Are you going to keep calling me that?"
"You'd understand why if you'd just let me explain."
She sighed. "Fine, fine… Hypothetically speaking," she emphasised, "let's say I believe we're related and, in some weird, strange, impossible way…" she paused, "You and I are… somehow, Sohma's."
"Finally…!" Kaoru smiled, "Well, let's start by saying that you and I, and a bunch of others in the Sohma family… or what's left of it, anyway, are very different from the rest of the world."
Tohru nodded, "Right. Now say that again, but this time, please make sense!"
Kaoru rolled his eyes, "Man, you're irritable."
"Shut up."
"They're so alike, it's almost scary…" Kaoru thought.
"What're you grinning about?"
"It's nothing, really… Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Have you heard of the Chinese Zodiac?"
"Heard of it, yes," she answered; wondering how they had suddenly made the jump from their family ties into ancient history, "although, my mom never let me research much on it."
"What of it do you know about?"
"Well… Every year it's a different animal, right? And, there are twelve animals in the zodiac. I can't name them all off but I know there's a sheep, and a rat, and a… snake too? Oh, I do know that there definitely isn't a cat, that's too bad."
Kaoru nodded, "Mhmm, go on…"
"And umm… people's personalities can be predicted by what year they're born in; that's it, isn't it?"
"In perspective, you've got the gist of it. But, you forgot the most crucial part."
"Which is…?"
"God's banquet…"
"Huh…? What's that?
"Did you know that there was really supposed to be a cat in the zodiac? That makes the count thirteen animals instead of twelve."
Tohru gave him an increasingly usual confused look. He can go through topics like water through a dribble cup. She smiled a little, courtesy of the little prank demon inside of her. Although, she was also happy to discover that the cat would've been in the zodiac, but she thought it over.
"Wouldn't the cat throw off the whole system though?" she asked, "It won't work with the number thirteen; it has to be even, right?"
He gave her a quizzical look. "So, you don't want the cat in the Zodiac, after all?"
She scoffed, "Of course I want the cat in the Zodiac! Why can't they just kick another animal out? The worthless rat should do just fine!"
Kaoru smirked, muttering, "Interesting…"
"Seriously, is that your favourite word or something?"
He laughed, "So it is…"
She rolled her eyes; she quickly had become used to his presence - his smile, his laugh, and his annoying way of jumping through subjects in the blink of an eye. She wouldn't mind spending a little more time with him.
Kaoru stopped walking, causing Tohru to do the same, silently waiting for the rest. "This should shine a light on a few more things…"
He began the story of God's Banquet; how the rat had tricked the cat into thinking the banquet was a day later than it really was and how the cat was, in turn, completely abandoned and shunned from the rest of the animals.
Tohru was silent for a long while, but she finally spoke up. "T-that's… That's all the more reason to kick the rat out! God is all-knowing so he should have found out the rat's trick at some point! The cat deserves a place in the Zodiac way more than that self-serving little…"
"Rat…?"
"Yeah, that's why it's a rat! He turned against the cat for who knows why and now thanks to that stupid rat…" her rant had suddenly lost its volume as she nearly whispered, "the cat can't be in the Zodiac anymore…"
She didn't understand it at all. Why had saying those words suddenly made her feel like the loneliest person on the planet? Images of a dark cage, people in panic and the silhouette of some kind of monster ran through her head. The sounds of screaming and small objects falling one by one rang through her ears. What was going on?
She held her head in her hands and crouched on the floor, hoping that would make it stop. Kaoru quickly went down beside her. "Hey Kitten…! Tohru, are you alright?!"
She shook her head, "I-I'm fine…" She looked right up into Kaoru's red-ish brown eyes and stated, "Okay. Whatever you're trying to prove, I believe you know! I believe that we're cousins, I believe my father's still out there, I believe that the Sohma family is still in existence, and I'll believe whatever else you have to say." Her determined look quickly turned into that of a scared, lost child as she said, "I-I don't know what's going on anymore…"
After awhile, Tohru and Kaoru were back to walking and talking; and Tohru was back to her old self.
"So… before, you said that we're very different from other people in the world, how come?"
Kaoru sighed, "This is the hard part so, let me just start by saying that I really don't expect you to believe me."
Tohru wanted to say: "I said I would believe anything you say" but that sounded too naïve a statement now. She would debate on whether it was possible or not after he told her.
"Shall I go on? No matter what you may think after I tell you and no matter how far-fetched it seems, what I say now is complete truth…"
He breathed in and out, and began. "There are thirteen people in the Sohma family, you and I included, that are possessed by the twelve vengeful spirits, and the cat, of the Chinese Zodiac. No one knows why or how it happened but our family has been cursed this way since ages ago. This curse is as strange as its origin and through generations, these vengeful possessions have been passed down. Each person is possessed by a different animal in the Zodiac. For example, one of our cousins is the snake and another is the cow; and this is very important. Whenever anyone in the Zodiac is weak, or more commonly, when they are hugged by someone from the opposite gender who isn't in the Zodiac, they… we transform into our designated animal. We do, however, transform back into a human after awhile. The reason I call you Kitten is because you are possessed with the most vengeful spirit of all: the cat. I need you to realize that you belong to something that many people look past. You and I, and the rest of the twelve… no, thirteen, we're all part of that special group."
"W-wait…" Tohru's voice was quiet. "You said that there was no cat in the Zodiac…"
"Y-yes, well… Let's say that the cat is… the most unique kind of curse in the Sohma family. In fact, the cat before you even made a deal." He told her jokingly. "He said that if he beat the rat in a fight, he would then be accepted into the Zodiac."
Tohru had a blank expression painted across her face. She sighed, "I'm sorry Kaoru… I waited for the part that would clear everything up, but I didn't hear it. I thought you'd explain everything but I'm just as lost as when we were at school." Her voice was getting increasingly more annoyed with each word spoken.
Kaoru smirked unfittingly as he shrugged, "Yeah well, I didn't expect you to believe me anyway!" He paused. The two had already made it to Tohru's house and Kaoru eyed a certain car that definitely didn't belong to Tohru's mother. "They came out already, huh?" he muttered before turning to face Tohru again.
"Anyway, meet me at school, tomorrow when you're ready to leave, 'kay?" He smiled before walking off in the opposite direction.
"Leave? What're you talking about? Kaoru!" she shouted after him.
"See you at school tomorrow… Kitten…" And with that, he crossed the street and disappeared behind a corner.
Tohru's face showed nothing but anger and annoyance as she yelled, "STOP CALLING ME THAT!" She then, stormed up the steps and into her house.