Fruitcakes and Basket-cases

Chapter Six

"So…" Ichigo began after a while, taking a bite from the tasty snack, "what's the deal with the cat?" he noted that the air became heavier, as the three Sohma's visibly stiffened at the question and Orihime blushed at the sudden memory.

"I'm going to go check on the tea," Yuki said, brusquely retreating out of the room without waiting to be excused. He could feel the piercing daggers that Kyo targeted at his back, 'I don't care if I look like a coward, I'm not the idiot that put us in this mess,'

"Well…" Shigure cleared his throat and shot a look at Kyo, "it ran away after the two of you fainted,"

"Ran away?" the boy questioned, "But I'm pretty sure it transformed into…" he trailed off, his eyes landing upon the increasingly reddening person in the room.

"I-Ichigo, can't we just let it go?" Orihime beseeched nervously.

"Inoue…" he said, looking at her in surprise.

"I see I returned too soon," came Yuki's exasperated tone, as he re-entered the room with a full tray, "can't we just explain and have Hatori deal with it afterwards?" he said, as he proceeded to serve the fresh pot of tea.

"A fair point," the elder Sohma said, taking a sip.

"No way! You're actually going to tell them?!" Kyo burst out.

"Well, I won't if you're going to do it," the man replied, as the boy grit his teeth.

"Don't you think it's fair to explain?" Ichigo asked simply, "Especially after we told you about us,"

"It's our house you crashed into!" Kyo stressed, "So you should tell us about yourselves,"

"Not if we disappeared right after, or took the time and ran for it!" the boy snapped back.

"You're outsiders, so we don't have to tell you our family secrets!" the elder teen retorted.

"Quiet!" Shigure snarled, "It's bad enough having Yuki and Kyo duke it out on a regular basis, now you're on the list too?" the man sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll explain everything," he turned to his younger cousins, "and no protesting," He took a sip of his tea and placed a serious gaze upon his guests, "Are you familiar with the story of the Chinese Zodiac?"

"The one about the twelve animals invited to a banquet or something?" Ichigo replied, "What about it?"

"It wasn't twelve, Ichigo, it was thirteen," Orihime corrected, then elaborated upon his puzzled expression, "the lion was invited too, but it lost the race because there were only twelve seats at the table, and all the invited animals raced to get there,"

"Lion?" the boy echoed, "Now that you mention it, yeah, but I'm pretty sure it was a cat and it was tricked into thinking it was the next day, so it missed out,"

"A cat? Really?!" the girl said in surprise, "But a lion would be so much cooler, then it could wreak revenge for being tricked like that," she continued animatedly, "but wait…I'm pretty sure that's why the lion was made king of the jungle, because the person who held the banquet felt sorry about it losing the race,"

"Pfft, and I bet the simpleton bought into the consolation prize," Yuki chuckled coldly, as Kyo began to emit a dangerous aura.

"Regardless," Shigure cut in, attempting to diffuse the atmosphere, "a curse is passed down through the Sohma family, in which thirteen members transform into the zodiac animals," he paused to gauge their reactions, of which there was none, "so the cat you saw was Kyo, and including myself and Yuki there are twelve others, it should be noted that we only transform when hugged by the opposite sex or under extreme physical stress,"

"So, that girl Tohru…" Ichigo uttered, "she's…"

"Normal, yes," the man replied, "I understand it must seem odd that we'd let a normal girl live with us, considering we're all cursed males, but I suppose one could say the circumstances are…complicated," The young boy seemed to be mulling over the information, when he fixed a steady gaze upon the man.