I do not own Fruit Basket.
Enjoy!
"Dear God Buddha" Ritsu Sohma said, on top of the roof, ready to jump.
"R-RITCHAN-SAN, PLEASE GET DOWN FROM THERE!" Tohru yelled, worried that he might exactly jump.
"Tohru-chan…an apology cannot solve the problem" Ritsu said, turning around with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry for causing you great harm…."
"I'M NOT THAT BADLY HURT! IT'S ONLY A CUT!" Tohru yelled.
"I'm so sorry, I lack the courage to tell you I'm a boy" Ritsu said, "I feel so ashamed"
So he does fill shame. Both Shigure and Yuki thought.
"It's not like that!" Tohru said, "I don't feel wearing women's clothes is shameful especially when you look so pretty wearing it!"
"Tohru, you not really helping the matter" Shigure said.
"Why, is it always like this? I bring trouble to those around me!" Ritsu cried. "I'm only cable of troubling other aren't I…?"
"This is not the first time" Shigure said with a sweat drop. "Why are you doing this now?"
Ritsu either didn't hear him or just ignored him and continued. "Some-one like me, who has no right to live in this world, doesn't have the courage to be any use to this world, but I still keep existing. I am truly shameless! I hate this….!. Heaven please punish me….heavenly punishment…."
"Rit-chan…."Shigure said, speechless.
"It's not necessary?" Tohru said, "It's all right to lack even courage!"
Yuki had to turn to her.
"So what? If you're shameless?" She continued, "people are originally living because they can….cry, smile and have worries! Existence on this earth doesn't nee-"
Ritsu lost his footing and began tumbling down the roof, everyone went into panic and Yuki and Shigure sprang into action.
Ritsu senses kicked in and he managed to grab a ledge before pushing himself back on the roof top.
"I've sprained my ankle…" He said, lamely.
"You really shameless" Shigure said, while Yuki had stop caring.
"Tohru-chan, that was truly a wonderful speech, how do you come up with that?"
"It's what my mom would have said" Tohru answered, thinking she was talking to Shigure.
"….Tohru-chan, that wasn't me" Shigure said, seeing Tohru address him.
A hand wrapped around Tohru waist.
"You are truly beautiful" she heard whispered into her right ear.
Everyone turned to the voice.
They all saw Xisto valentine, wrapping his arms around Tohru thin waist.
This time, Ritsu really did fall off the roof.
"RITSU-KUN!"
Ch 12: The Monkey and the promise
"….I thought only Tohru-chan, could get hurt" Hatori Sohma, said, not at all happy that he was called at this time in the morning.
"I'm sorry, Hatori-niisan" Ritsu cried, while Hatori wrapped a bandage on his injured ankle.
"Don't question it" Shigure said, turning to Hatori with a look. "Many things have happened"
"Well, what about your wound?" Hatori asked, turning to Tohru.
"My hand….is fine" Tohru said, as Yuki came in, after all Yuki did his best to wrap it up. "I'm sorry for making you come here"
Tohru and Yuki eyes met and they both smiled at each other.
"Since when were you two dating?" An annoying voice cut in, destroying the mood.
"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!" Yuki yelled, turning to Xisto who had decided to invade their cookie jar.
"Obviously to visit, Tohru-chan" Xisto said, as if Yuki had just said something stupid before adding. "And of course I want to develop a deep brotherly relationship with you by the end of today"
"Get out" Yuki said, coldly.
"Tohru-chan, Yuki-kun is so mean!" Xisto cried to Tohru, who looked absolutely lost.
Ritsu had finally noticed Xisto, after all it was hard not to when the red head was making so much noise.
"Um, excuse me" Ritsu said, as the red head turned to him.
"Yes" Xisto said, removing himself from Tohru side like a cat.
"Have we met before?" Ritsu asked.
The whole room went quiet and Shigure secretly shot Hatori a look that said 'I told you so', there was no doubt in their minds that the red headed teen had a connection to their animal spirits.
But the question was, what part did he play in their pasts?
Xisto sighed and said, "No" before saying "You must be a Sohma. Is it a thing for all the Sohma's to ask me the same question? Hatori-san asked the same thing."
"Really?" Ritsu said, shocked.
"You're so pretty" Xisto said, before adding "Even though you're a boy"
The whole room stopped again.
"Xisto, how do you know that?" Shigure asked, truly intrigued.
"Well I just know" Xisto said, "I don't feel the urge to flirt with you despite you being so pretty so you must be a guy"
That's your reason!? Yuki, Shigure and Hatori thought, this guy can't be serious!
"Hi, I'm Xisto Valentine, nice to meet you" Xisto said, putting his hand for Ritsu to shake
"R-Ritsu Sohma, nice to meet you" Ritsu said, this boy was pretty too, shaking for his hand.
The moment their hands touched, Ritsu suddenly had a flashback.
#the monkey memories#
The monkey was sad because he wasn't as brave as everyone else and always messed up everyone hard work so he had banished himself to the top of the tree to sulk.
"What wrong?" A voice asked and the monkey turned around expecting it was rat or his brother snake but startled back.
Ritsu couldn't see what had frightened the monkey so much but he could feel the overwhelming fear.
"Go away!" The monkey yelled, throwing rocks at whatever it was and Ritsu couldn't have been more horrified. "I'll scream and call the others! My family told me how evil you were! Even god hates you!"
The thing froze, Ritsu was suddenly thankful that he could barely so anything because he didn't want to see such a heart breaking expression before the thing said, in a hurt tone. "I just wanted to help…." Before saying with venom.
"You're just like everyone else. I thought you were different!"
Ritsu felt like crying.
#Real world#
"Ritsu-kun, are you okay?" Shigure asked, the man had been staring into space for a couple of minutes, they all saw the different facial expression on the man face and it worried them that there was such much sadness on the man face.
Ritsu shook his head, noticing everyone was staring at him with a kind of worried look and placed a smile on and said. "Yeah, just lost in memories"
Everyone exchanged looks while Ritsu was wondering what the heck did, he just see.
The memory was so blurrily, he could barely make anything but all he know was that he had never seen the monkey act so aggressive in any of his memories before, he was suddenly fighting hard not to give into the suddenly loneliness.
"Please make yourself at home" Xisto said, knowing he would have to check Ritsu memory block when the man was alone.
"Get out, this is not your home either" both, Hatori and Yuki said, automatically.
The air was suddenly lighter.
"Shigure-san, can Ritsu-kun stay here?" Xisto asked, to Shigure.
Shigure looked at Ritsu and said. "Sure"
And that's how Kyo found them.
"Why is Ritsu, Hatori and Xisto, here all of a sudden?" Kyo asked, it was getting more crowded every day.
"I'm sorry" Ritsu apologised, automatically.
"Welcome back" Tohru said.
"Do you want a Cookie?" Xisto asked.
# a day later#
"For those of you who haven't turned in your course preference sheet's, please turn them in before the finals, okay?" Mayu-sensei said, "Make sure to tell your parents about it."
"Kyo-n, Kyon. Have you decided on what you'll be doing" a classmate came up to Kyo.
"Shut up! That's none of your business" Kyo said, annoyed by the nickname.
Arisa suddenly kicked his table down.
"IT'S FINALLY LUNCHTIME, I'M STARVING DAMN IT!" She yelled.
"You don't have to kick the table down" Xisto said, sweat dropping.
"I'M PISSED BECAUSE I'M HUNGRY!" She yelled, "I GET IRRATED WHEN I'M HUNGRY!"
"Then why did you kick down, Kyo-kun desk?" One of the classmates said.
"BECAUSE IT'S EASY TO KICK!" Arisa answered back while the rest of them were sweat dropping.
"You should be thankful for being born a girl" Kyo grabbed Arisa by the shirt, "I would have killed you for doing that!"
"I act this way because I was born a girl, you moron!" Arisa shot back, grabbing his shirt also.
"Bye guys!" Xisto said, ignoring the mood and going with a group of giggling girls.
"Even to this day" someone said. "I still hate the guy" his statement was met with agreement from a good portion of the guys that made up the class.
# Meanwhile with Shigure and Hatori#
"So did you check?" Shigure asked, in the main house.
"I checked all the teachers" Hatori said, "Luckily the number was manageable and I could go in and out, erasing the encounter from their minds"
"And…." Shigure said, burning with curiosity.
"None of them but the expected know about the family curse" Hatori said, before adding. "However I did find something quite unusual in a couple of their minds"
"Unusual?" Shigure asked, his curiosity reaching its peak.
"I heard whispers so quiet that I would have missed it" Hatori said, thinking back to that moment, he found the first teacher that had such a thing in their mind. "I couldn't even hear what was being said but it made me extremely uneasy"
Shigure rose an eyebrow at this, nothing could make Hatori feel uneasy when it came to the mind arts and asked. "So their minds had been tampered with them?"
"Yes" Hatori said, "You were right, Shigure. Whoever did it. Has a very advanced mind ability. I didn't even find out what the purpose was"
"And I assume you removed, the mind alteration?" Shigure said.
Now this was the part that Hatori, had been shocked about.
"Shigure I couldn't" Hatori said, admitted.
"Huh?" Shigure said.
"Whoever did it, did it so well that I didn't even know where to even start" Hatori said, not liking to admit that someone out there was greater than him when it came to mind. "The only way I can even make sense of what I saw, is if I saw that person preforming whatever they did and they provided notes"
Shigure sat in stunned silence, not yet fearing the worst.
This person was in the school!
Shigure asked "When are you going to start on the students?"
"In the student fiscal exams" Hatori said, "and before that." It was the only way to get in and out without looking suspicious, obviously he would go in disguise.
"Man, what a mess" Shigure said, hoping they catched the person before he or she, graduated. "We can't pull the children out or we'll alert that person to the fact that, were on to them"
Just than the door slid open to reveal an anxious Ritsu Sohma.
"Ritsu-kun, how rear it is to see you at the main house" Shigure said, lightly. "Are you here to visit Akito-kun?"
Ritsu flinched at the name, he suddenly became aware of a no doubt sleeping Akito not that far away from him and he put on a brave face and said.
"I need to talk to you both. It's about the monkey"
At the mention of the animal spirit both Hatori and Shigure gained a serious expression.
The door closed behind him.
#after school#
"I'm home" Xisto said, removing his mask and going into the kitchen for a snack, he was surprised to see that his father was home.
"Father, why are you back so early?" Xisto asked, it was rear for the man to be at home at this time of the day.
"I took several days off from work" The man said, before saying "Do you remember the promise I made to you all those years ago before you started school?"
Xisto eyebrow rose, trying to think that long back, he didn't remember any promise.
"I see you've forgotten" The man said, smiling cruelly. "Allow me to refresh your memory. I said that if you can survive a whole year without the Sohma's finding out who you are, I will teach you the method to break the curse"
Xisto eyes grow widened, his father did say that before wiping to the calendar to find the date.
Had it been a year already!?
"However, I only know the technique to remove the curse from the current generation" His father said and Xisto hope's immediately got lower. "The serpent himself, has to let go of his hatred and forgive the other animals because as long as that hatred and loneliness still remains, the other's will continue being reincarnated into future generations"
Xisto listened to this with interest, was the serpents grudge that strong even after so many years?
"Learning this technique mean's I will accept you as the family head" The man said, "I want you to adjust your current mask, I will not have my successor acting like a fool and you will let your driver, drive you all the way to school and back, seen." emphasis on the last word.
And all Xisto, could think of was.
HE KNOWS!
In his head, he started forming plans to get his current driver, fired. The reason he didn't want to be seen driving around in such a car was because he didn't want people staring at him and knowing he was rich.
Everyone knows rich guys stand out like a sour thumb and he couldn't fly low even if he wanted to, it would become increasingly difficult to be around Sohma's now.
"Do I make myself clear?" his father tone was firm.
Meaning Xisto had no choice in the matter.
Xisto replied back in an emotionless tone.
"Yes, Father"
And scene!
This chapter has been long overdue, I thought it was about time for a memory to slip through since it would have been boring if he went through the whole of high school scot free. Next chapter, a very different Xisto comes to school, one that isn't such a fool and less of a womanizer and Ritsu talks with Hatori and Shigure about what he recalled. I will check this later. Review/fav and follow!
