Chapter IX: More Truths Revealed part 1

He had seen it:

He was watching from afar as a very unfamiliar girl walked into the compound. And yet her features were very distinguishable:

Cyan eyes.

Titian locks.

How dare that stupid bird bring that bastard child into their home? He had no right to do that. She had no right to be here. She was the reason for his ailment; he could already smell the racid ugliness of the cat emmitting off of her. She was as ugly as her mother, and as intolerable as her father.

He didn't miss the smile the young boy held when he ran off, and she had the same look on her face. How could he be smiling? How dare he feel happy about being with that girl!

How dare she be happy!

She's not even supposed to be alive!

He would make her suffer. He would make her feel the pain they had all been suffering.

I'll make her regret entering the lives of the Sohmas!

Tsubaki felt abashed by how immature she responded to Daisuke's sudden transformation, and then his sudden preservation back into a human. A nude human. Sure, everytime she turned into a human, she also lost her clothes, and each time it was as embarrassing as the last. This was, however, biologically different. Daisuke was a boy, which meant she saw a lot more than she should have.

Oh god! What am I thinking!

Tsubaki quickly brushed that thought aside. What was even worse about the situation was that Daisuke's mother was now in a frenzy. She must've known her son could turn into a bird, but she was acting like this was the first time it had ever happened. She was now locked up in her room. Both Tsubaki and Daisuke were in the kitchen drinking tea, trying to make themselves feel more comfortable with each other.

"Is your mom alright?" the young pre-teen asked Daisuke while looking in her tea cup. She couldn't look him in the face after what happened.

"Yeah, she acts like this everytime I transform. She usually calms down after a while," he assured her. "But since you saw my Zodiac form this time, I think she's going to have to tell Akito." His voice suddenly turned grim.

"Why? Who's Akito?"

Anger was apparent on the boy's face. "Maybe I should explain from the beginning."

Tsubaki gripped her cup tighter. Now she was going to get the truth.

"You know the story about the Zodiac animals and the cat, don't you?" She nodded. "Well, our family was cursed-is cursed. Thirteen of our family members are cursed to possess the forms one of the Zodiac animals, including the cat. We turn into our chosen animal whenever we're hugged by the opposite sex, but we don't turn when we hug other members of the Zodiac. We haven't figured out why, though." Diasuke stopped to see if she was still paying attention. When she nodded in confirmation, he continued. "I turn into the rooster in the story, or in this case, a sparrow. Akito, the guy I mentioned before, represents God, which automatically makes him the leader of our family. Nothing happens to this family without him finding out. If we do something to make him mad, he gives us harsh punishments."

"That's awful!" Tsubaki suddenly exclaimed, nearly knocking over her cup. She quickly caught it before any droplets of tea spilled. "He has no right-"

"Yes he does. We can't live without Akito, so we have to do what he says, or else."

"Or else what?"

Daisuke didn't answer. This must've been hard for him. It had to be hard for him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"It kinda explains a lot, though." Daisuke looked up at her, not feeling as uncomfortable as he did before. "Why I turn into a cat. My mom always says I'm her little kitten, always referring me turning into a cat to the story of the Zodiac animals, and the cat, of course. I never thought it was actually true. But what I don't get... is why my dad..." Her hands were trembling as she gripped her cup harder. "I wish I could do something."

"You can stay here."

Tsubaki gave him a strange look. "What? No, I-I can't do that. I'm only staying here because-"

"I know, but from what my cousins told me, you're the cat. Well, you're not the only cat. My cousins keep mentioning another cat who was the original."

The carrot top knew who he was talking about. Apparently, her father had a family before he went into hiding. A cursed family, which explained why he transformed into such a... she wouldn't say monster. No, she knew her father behind all that atrociousness. He had a kind heart, and he cared about his family. He had to hide because if anyone saw him, they would surely tell... someone. Someone who would take her father away from her and her mother forever, maybe even perform experiments to see how he turned out that way.

A curse wouldn't suffice to a scientist.

"Now thanks to him, and you apparently, Akito's been sick for a very long time because of the disorder of the curse." Tsubaki winced at his tone. The frustration was evident in his voice. "Do you know this other cat?"

"No!" Tsubaki answered rather quickly. "I-I mean... no."

Daisuke knew she was lying, but he let it go. From the look on her face, the topic was something she would rather forget than drone on about. "What do you want to do now?"

"I think I should go. I don't want to cause anymore trouble."

"Tsubaki-"

"It's okay, really. I still have a bunch of homework to do. I'll see you tomorrow, Daisuke."

"Yeah, see ya." She gave him a sad smile before leaving.

"Did I just hear Tsubaki leave?" His mother suddenly entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, she went back home-I mean, back to Kisa's house." he answered disconsolatingly.

"I hope I didn't scare her away." Daisuke's mother gathered up Tsubaki's cup and put it in the sink before joining her son at the table with a fresh cup of tea.

"Nah. She would've ran away long ago after I transformed."

"She handled the situation better than I did, that's for sure. I wonder why she wasn't so disturbed by it..."

'Cause she's exactly like us, Daisuke thought to himself. He continued to sip his tea in the company of his mother.

It had officially been a month since Tsubaki started living in the Sohma Estate, and the week had gone by faster than she had expected. The weekend would take a load off her shoulders. She was thinking about so much during the week, it practically hurt her brain. The curse, the secret romances, Akito...

I have to meet this Akito guy, she thought to herself.

Akito was probably the reason why everybody kept their relationships covert, she realized. If he were to found out... She was afraid to know what he could possibly do to make them suffer more than they already had to.

Meanwhile, Daisuke had been watching her for the duration of the week. She seemed to be planning something; if only he knew what it was. She must've been stressed about the whole family curse ordeal, he figured, and he knew she wasn't going to let it go; Tsubaki was stubborn like that. He couldn't allow that. If she tried getting involved, Akito would find out, and he didn't want her to get acquainted with him anytime soon. He needed to do something to distract her.

"I'm gonna plan a party for you," Daisuke said to her, impromptu. They were walking together after school when he suddenly came up with the idea. No members of the Zodiac-or anyone in the Sohma family, for that matter-knew who Tsubaki was, and it was probably best to keep it that way, but Daisuke wanted her to feel more welcome in the estate. A party would be a great way to welcome Tsubaki into their family.

"What?" Tsubaki asked, not really sure if she was talking to her classmate or some lunatic.

"A party. Don't you know what a party is?"

She scowled at him. "Of course I know what a party is! I've just... never gone to one. Sometimes people invite me, but I refuse because..." She didn't need to continue. "Besides, I usually stay at home with my mom and we would have our own little parties on holidays and our birthdays. I like it that way."

"Well, that's gonna change 'cause in a few days, I'm going to throw a homecoming party at my house!"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because you're technically a part of this family too, and I want you to feel welcome. You should meet the rest of us, you know, Zodiac members. They'll want to meet you."

Tsubaki pondered on this. That was an awfully nice gesture for Daisuke to do and completely unnecessary, but she couldn't deny him for some reason. "Okay." She said, reluctantly.

"Sweet!" They were already at the entrance of the estate. "The party's next Friday. Look your best! Oh, and tell Kisa! Bai!" And then he was gone.

"There's something wrong with Daisuke..." Tsubaki thought out loud.

She was on her way to Kisa's house when something abruptly bumped into her leg. She stumbled back a bit, but she managed to keep her balance. She looked down to see a little boy clinging to her skirt. He looked up at her, his eyes growing teary. From what she could see, when he ran into her, he tripped, grabbing the closest thing in his grasp so he wouldn't fall cover. The closest thing in the little boy's grasp just so happened to be her skirt and her legs, now covered in blood. Apparently, grabbing her legs wasn't enough to retard his fall. His knees were scraped and so was his other hand. Soon, the tears brimming at the corner of his eyes fell and he began to cry.

Tsubaki dropped her bag and knelt down to help the young boy. "Don't cry," she tried to console him. She took his scraped hand, which already began bleeding, and licked away the blood. Then she looked into her school bag and took out her handkerchief. She wrapped it around the little boy's hand and kissed it. "Better?" she asked with a smile.

He sniffled and nodded. Tsubaki ruffled his hair and he giggled.

"Ryuuji!" A voice called out from behind them. Tsubaki saw a blonde young woman running towards them. "Ryuuji!" The little boy ran to her, but he was weak in the knees because of the scrapes. Once mother and son were in each other's embraces, the woman breathed, "Thank goodness you're alright." She then released her son and checked him for damage. "Oh my gosh! Your knees-! See, this is why I didn't want you to run off like that. Never do that again. I was so worried."

"Sowwy, Mommy." Wrapping her arms around her boy, the woman picked up her son and faced Tsubaki, who was still kneeling on the ground.

"Thank you for helping my son."

Tsubaki quickly got up from the ground. "Oh! It was no trouble at all." She bowed.

"I don't think I've seen you around. You must be one of Daisuke's friends."

She hesitantly nodded. She never thought of Daisuke as a friend. She never even considered it. But after the events that had happened a few days ago, she could honestly say that she trusted him more than anybody else in this family. "My name's Tsubaki."

"It's nice to meet you, Tsubaki. I'm Mayuko. I'm sorry that my son ran into you."

"It's okay, really."

"Your uniform is dirty." Tsubaki looked down. Her shirt was spotless, but her skirt and her tights had patches of dirt and blood from when Ryuuji grabbed onto her. "You can come back with us and I'll wash it for you."

"But..." Tsubaki stopped her protesting when she saw Ryuuji's face. He was pouting, which was cute and affective. She couldn't resist that face; it was just so darn cute! "Alright, if you insist."

With that decided, the little boy jumped out of his mother's arms and ran up to Tsubaki. He took her hand and, supposedly, pulled her in the direction of their house. She had only known him for sixty seconds and he was already attached to her. This must've been what it felt like to have a younger sibling, Tsubaki thought. She didn't have any siblings and she wasn't expecting any in the future, but if she were to have one, this cute little boy would do just fine. Even though they just met, Ryuuji clung onto her, literally, and she felt rather attached to him, too. In fact, he was so attached to her, it hurt. He was pulling on her hand so hard that she nearly fell over. He sure was eager to take her home with him. To ease her stretched-out arm, she picked him up and his mother began to show her the way.

When they got there, the young girl wasn't surprised to see a traditional Japanese home. It looked so similar to the others she had seen so far. They entered through the back where Ryuuji began leading them. He obviously wanted to show her something before she picked him up.

Once they got closer, the dark green-headed boy struggled out of her arms and ran up to the house. He was sure excited to see whoever was there. Without knocking, he slid the doors open and shouted, "Daddy!"

Tsubaki laughed at the little boy's eagerness. He really loved his father. It reminded her of her own relationship with her father when she was three.

"Daddy!" She called out to her father.

"Hey, kitten," he said, lifting her up from the ground. "What is it?" She gave him a kiss on the cheek and giggled. It was the kind of kiss she loved to give to her parents just because. Her mother had always told her kisses made others feel loved, and it told them you cared about them. Her father gave her a warm smile and returned the kiss. "Thank you."

"I wove you, Daddy."

"And I will always love you, Tsubaki."

The thought literally brought tears to her eyes. "Are you alright, Tsubaki?"

The said girl turned to see Mayuko looking at her, worry was written all over her face. "Y-Yeah," she stuttered. "I'm fine."

"But you're crying."

Tsubaki quickly wiped the stray tears from her eyes. "I-I'm completely fine. I promise. This was just... nothing."

Mayuko still looked unsure, but she let it go. She didn't want to cause this girl anymore pain by prying into her business. "I'll take you inside so you can change. I'll wash your clothes and you can change into something more comfortable."

"Thank you, Mayu..." Tsubaki froze when she was finally in the house. The back room was an office, and Ryuuji's father, the man he was so anxious to see, was Hatori.

"Who got married to Mayuko-sensei?" Arisa Uotani inquired, clearly surprised by this new information.

"I didn't say-" Hatsuharu was soon interrupted by Tohru's other friend, Saki Hanajima.

"Who is this Hatori?"

"Isn't he the guy who came to the school to do this random checkup for Yuki or something?" Uo shrugged. "I don't know, that's what someone told me."

"And he also showed up with Momiji."

"I don't remember. I wasn't there, remember? Tohru, do you know this Hatori guy?"

Tohru didn't respond. She was still trying to process this new intel she had just acquired. Hatori was married, to her old homeroom teacher nonetheless, and he had a son. This was obviously something that would make their formidable leader very, very upset. After all, Akito didn't like it when the members of the Zodiac fell in love. Everyone insisted that it was for theirs and other peoples' own protection, but she wondered what her daughter had to say about that...

"Hatori-san," she said without thought. Tsubaki hadn't seen the man in over a month. It was thanks to him she could still walk, but she never had the chance to thank him; she didn't know where he lived or if he even lived inside the compound (if Yuki and Shigure could live on their own, anything was possible).

The viridian-headed man held an impassive façade, not really surprised to see the girl again. "Hello again, Tsubaki," he said. "I trust you're doing well."

Tsubaki nodded without steering her eyes away from the older man. She could see the resemblance between Hatori and his son. They had the same hair color and skin pigment. The only difference was their eyes, Hatori's being green and Ryuuji's being the same color as his mother's blue eyes.

Hatori watched the girl observe them from the corner of his eye. He could tell she was dazed by the sight of him. He knew they would eventually meet again, he just didn't know when. He certainly didn't expect her to meet his family. He knew it had something to do with Ryuuji, seeing his son's wounds and the dried blood that soiled Tsubaki's skirt. He was a little adventurer, which always made him and Mayuko worry. Thanks to his little adventures, Ryuuji was his number one patient.

"You two know each other?" Mayuko suddenly asked.

"Yes," he said as he unraveled the filthy hankerchief on Ryuuju's hand and retrieved a small first aid kit. "She was my patient a while ago. Daisuke asked me to come over and treat her ankle." He failed to mention the new discovery about the curse, but that would be a story for another day.

"I brought Tsubaki here so I could wash her uniform. Since you two have already been acquainted, I'm sure you won't mind if she stays a while until her uniform is set." Hatori didn't give any sort of response for he was preoccupied redressing his son's injuries. "Let's go, Tsubaki."

The pre-teen glanced back at father and son before following Mayuko.

Tsubaki arrived at Kisa's house late due to Mayuko and Ryuuji's persistance. Everybody she met so far was beginning to warm up to her, and she was warming up to them, too. Even though she was at their home for hours, her uniform still wasn't dry so she had to go home in one of Mayuko's outfits.

As soon as she walked through the door, the blonde rushed into the foyer to greet her. She was a bit confused as to why she was wearing a grown woman's clothes, though. "I was at Hatori's," Tsubaki explained.

"Y-You're were." It wasn't a question, but Kisa was still surprised. No was usually went to Hatori's place unless it was a medical emergency. Everyone in the Sohma Estate started avoiding him because of the incident that happened five years ago. Of course, no one told Tsubaki this; no one knew her, and it was implied to never go there. Bad things always came to those who went near him. The only people who went to Hatori's home on a regular schedule was Mayuko and their son Ryuuji. Their lives were already bad enough. "Tsubaki, I think it would be wise to stay away from Hatori," Kisa started.

"Why? His family's so nice, and Ryuuji is so cute!"

"I know, but..." Kisa felt bad for telling her this. She loved her Grandpa Hatori very much, but it was very good advice for Tsubaki to stay away from him. As long as she was near him, Akito would be able to get to her easily. "Come here." Kisa pulled Tsubaki into the living room and led her to the low table. She wanted the young girl to brace herself for the tale she was about to tell. "Did anyone tell you Hatori was a member of the Zodiac?"

Tsubaki shook her head. No one was telling her anything, unless they had no choice. Though she wasn't surprised to hear this piece of information. "Our leader Akito has a strict rule that Zodiac members aren't allowed to fall in love. A few of us broke that rule a couple times, and Akito would treat us abrasively for disobeying him." Tsubaki nodded in understanding. Daisuke had explained this to her before. "We all couldn't help our feelings for whoever we loved, thought. Even those who were more impassive, like Grandpa Hatori, had a hard time hiding his feelings."

Kisa paused, trying her best to hold in her grief. She took a deep breath before continuing. "You see, Hatori first fell in love with another Sohma named Kana. They didn't know each other very well because they lived very far from each other. They first met when he took her in as his intern. Their relationship grew, and it soon blossomed into love; nobody had seen Hatori look so happy before. We all liked Kana too; we thought she was good for him. But then, one night, she saw Hatori in his Zodiac form. She was shocked, to say the least, but she eventually accepted who he was. That was when he knew she was the one he loved.

"Then, finally, he asked Kana to marry him, and she gladly accepted. But when they went to ask for Akito's blessing, he refused. In fact, he was so enraged by their request for marriage, he injured Hatori's eye and he would've attacked Kana if Shigure hadn't interfered." Tears flowed freely out of Kisa's eyes, but her voice didn't falter. "Kana blamed herself for what happened. She tortured herself, and her grief enfeebled her. Hatori tried to console her, but everytime she looked at him, she would burst into tears. To end her agony, Hatori erased her memories, but he never forgot about Kana."

Tsubaki was now in tears. This was such a sad story; and from the look on Kisa's face, it wasn't over.

"Five years ago, though, Hatori made another mistake that really infuriated Akito. If he wasn't so sick..." Kisa stifled an oncoming sob before continuing again. "Long before that, Hatori met Mayuko through Grandpa Shigure. She was friends with Kana, and she was very happy to hear about her friend's engagement with Hatori. When she heard that they broke off the engagement, she was devastated. But the truth was she also had a crush on Hatori. She didn't want to break her friend's heart by dating him, but then she discovered Kana was 'never engaged with her boss.' She was engaged to somebody else. She confronted Hatori to find out what happened, and then she... she also saw his Zodiac form. He later explained to her why he transformed, then she fled."

That doesn't sound like Mayuko at all, Tsubaki almost said the thought out loud, but she keep her mouth shut as Kisa prolonged the story.

"Mayuko began avoiding him so it would never happen again. Hatori felt miserable about it too, so he went after her. I want to say he learned his lesson with Kana because they decided to have a steady relationship, but soon, things became serious. No one could replace Kana, but Mayuko soon found a place in his heart. But then," Kisa's gave a breathy sob. "Grandpa Hatori suddenly disappeared for a short while five years ago. When he came back, Akito wouldn't punish him. It was a shock to all of us until we found out why. Hatori and Mayuko had a baby."

"Little Ryuuji."

Kisa nodded. "Akito demanded to see Mayuko and their son, but Hatori denied. Akito tortured him until he agreed, but he never did. Shigure fortunately went to Mayuko and told her what happened. She immediately agreed to take her son to Akito. When the day came, Akito... he..." Kisa couldn't control herself any longer and silently wept. Tsubaki's had never stopped falling, but her sobs suddenly joined Kisa's.

They contined to cry for a few more minutes before they could finally stifle themselves. With the bits of self-contol she had left, Kisa hiccupped, "I think we should go to bed now. It's getting late."

Because she still wasn't able to speak, the red-head nodded and went upstairs. As soon as she was in her room, she fell onto her futon, not even bothering to change her clothes. She couldn't stop thinking about the story Kisa had just told her. She thought Hatori looked like a solitary person, but she could never imagine the pain and suffering the doctor had endured. She definitely couldn't picture benevolent Mayuko going through of all that. She saw the look on her face when Ryuuji ran off; she just couldn't imagine what she'd do if he was gone. She never wanted to see that woman without a smile on her face.

After a few more hours of contemplation, Tsubaki finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

This was a pretty long chapter, probably the longest. YAY!

R&R!