Thank you for all those who waited patiently for this chapter.

This was a very long and difficult chapter for me, what with me struggling with Writers block. Special thanks to all those people who are cheering me on in the background.

I do not own Fruit Basket.

Enjoy!

The usually busting and loud classroom that held some of the nosiest students in the whole school.

Was silent.

And why was it silent, you ask?

It was due to the change at the very heart of the classroom.

Xisto Valentine.

Chapter 13: The tweaks to the mask and the Monkey's seal.

Darmn that man. Xisto thought with annoyance, on his ride to school, the Valentine family ring was on his middle finger. He had been forced to have the family driver, drive him all the way to school instead of place him far enough for him to walk to school like an average student.

And now walking through the gates, was going to give him such a headache.

"Young Master, are you alright?" The family drive asking, seeing the boy was unusually quiet.

"Do I look alright to you?" Xisto shot back, quickly losing his composer before his eyes narrowed at the source of his current problems "You better have a good reason for telling my father about the drops near the school"

And the man did.

Vasco Valentine, was by far the scariest person, the man had ever met.

"Your father merely asked about your coming and going from school. I could not disobey him" The drive said, knowing Xisto father was like a human lie detector when it comes to people lying to him, in fact, both of his parents were scary that way and their child wasn't any better.

"Count, yourself lucky that you're not fired because I can't deal with the hassle of finding a new driver." Xisto said, in dissatisfaction, wondering if he could poison the man as soon as he found a suitable replacement.

The man visible gulped, being the driver of such a big family made sure that he was payed more than a regular driver would have and something told him, he wouldn't be walking away from the family alive.

The car stopped at the dreaded school gates, already some students were looking at the luxurious car parked in front of the school.

Xisto made sure that the tie, he was forced to wear was not crooked and his hair was neat and presentable, his coat was wrapped around himself and waited for the door to open to begin what will no doubt be a troublesome day for him.

The family driver got out of the car quickly sensing Xisto mood, get looks from the surrounding students before going to the guest door, with the elegance you would find in someone who was proud of his job, it also didn't hurt that he was being paid highly for it and out came Xisto, his red wavy hair had been mostly straightened, only wavy in certain parts which spoke of a status of high nobility.

There was no goofy smile or hyper activeness about him instead he actually seemed a little bit annoyed.

"Young master" The man said, as he handed Xisto his bag that had been replaced with a black shiny one, it didn't look cheap at all and unlike the other one, you could tell even from far away that it was made from the finest material money can buy.

"Thank you" Xisto gave a small smile before taking the bag. "I trust, you'll be picking me up at this exact spot after school"

"Of course, young master" The man said, before turning around and getting back into the luxurious car and driving away.

Xisto ignored how everyone at the front gate was now staring at him as he walked inside the building with elegant steps that you could only find from the very rich, knowing that within minutes, the whole school would know about what had happened in front of the school gates and how Xisto was not even good looking but he was apparently very much loaded.

The girls he walked by, were shocked to see, Xisto hadn't stopped and giving them the usual morning greeting before walking passed them.

Usually at this time, he would be found flirting in the corridor before school had officially begun while receiving hateful looks from the male half of the school.

Those, who were in his class, couldn't have been any more surprised when Xisto walked in, not only with his apparent new look but the very way he walked spoke volumes as he sat down in his usual seat and took out a school textbook from his defiantly, not cheap looking school bag.

Xisto ignoring his shocked classmates, who had stopped and stared at the red head, who didn't even say good morning to them.

When Kyo, Tohru and Yuki came in, they were shocked to find such a down beat classroom, you would think somebody had died in there.

Without anyone knowing, Xisto had somehow become the liveness of the classroom ever since he transferred a year ago and now?

They didn't even know what was going on now.

Kyo sat down and kept giving Xisto strange look as he sat down, near the red head while Yuki was wondering why the atmosphere was so heavy this morning.

Poor Tohru sat in front of the cause of the very unease in the classroom.

"ALRIGHT YOU B-"Mayuko-sensei, barged in, only to trail off as she noticed the deafly quite atmosphere in the usually very lively room. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY CLASS!?"she asked.

Nobody said anything but several students gazed at Xisto who was still flicking through his textbook with an almost bored expression.

Mayuko followed the gazes of some students and her eyes landed on a very professional looking Xisto, the nitrous lady-killer who was not currently trying to chat up some girl near him and just managed to stop herself from staring while other's had no problem with this.

"Right, class" Mayuko-sensei said, peeling her eyes away "Today, is the last day before summer break so please make sure you pay extra attention in class"

Xisto actually got out a notebook and brought his own pen with him this time, making many of them stare.

"Let's beginning" She said and they started class.

Only to start realising how different the Xisto they know, compared to the one sitting in his chair.

Every time, he was asked to read, Xisto stood up and did it so accurately and efficiently that it was frightening as if he already know the source material like the back of his mind, there was no overly happy voice or smiles from him either.

"Xisto, please read this next line in English" Mayuko-sensei said.

"Hai, sensei" Xisto said, getting up and reading.

" I would like to order, the lobster dipped in sweat and sour sauce"

And it was in perfect English too, the way he said it, you would think he had lived in England all his life.

And Mayuko-sensei couldn't help it.

She openly stared at the red head wondering if someone had cloned him, kidnapped him and had taking his place.

Where was the infamous playboy that all the males loved to hate?

"Is that all sensei?" Xisto asked, polity.

"Ah, no, that will be all" Mayuko said, she needed to sit down.

Xisto politely sat back down in his seat for the rest of day before break came.

"Okay. Who the heck are you and what have you done to the red haired idiot?" Arisa Uotani demanded and Xisto suddenly found an iron bloody pole slammed onto his desk. "Speak" she ordered.

"Arisa please calm down" Saki said, she too was disturbed by Xisto know behaviour "He's still Xisto, he's just different" she said and indeed, the waves coming off him were the same but seemed more 'open' somehow.

"Would you mind if you get that pole off my desk?" Xisto asked, with a look of pure boredom on his face making Arisa look at him in shock and in her shock she complied with his wishes and he said. "Now, if you wish to know about my change. My father has simply expressed that he doesn't what the next family head to be a numeric moron and has expressed his distaste in my previous 'attitude'." They all now noticed the official looking ring on his left hand, middle finger, the ring was in the shape of heart with a snake going through it.

The group of girls who usually came to sweep Xisto away where now looking reluctant to do so.

"And as the head of the Valentine family, I must not bring shame to the family as a whole." Xisto said, reciting his father words, word for word. "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to read up on next year's class textbook" looking down at his desk.

"Great, he sucks now" Arisa said, tched.

"Arisa!" Tohru said.

"It's the truth!" Arisa said, "Damn it, it's like he's brainwashed somehow"

"I agree" Saki said, "I secretly always liked the infamous playboy" before gaining a gleam in her eyes and said "I will do my best to free him from whatever he's under"

Both Yuki and Kyo sweat dropped, it wasn't such a big deal that Xisto became more serious, wasn't it a good thing that Xisto was less annoying and in your face while flirting shamelessly in front of them, not to mention his advances at Tohru?

"But don't you think, Xisto is a bit creepy like this" Arisa said, looking at the red head "he kind of unnerves me" trying to put the air around the red head into words and she wasn't the only one who thought so too.

Both Yuki and Kyo exchanged a look with each other in confusion and as the day went on, Yuki and Kyo started to see what Arisa meant by Xisto Valentine, the infamous play boy of the school being unnerving with his new found attitude.

It made them shift uneasy, something in the way Xisto was behaving struck a chord in them, they didn't know how to describe it.

It was like Xisto had become somewhat of a snake, always watching everyone without giving anything away, always projecting a false air of friendliness but you just know you had to tread carefully with him.

Nobody could bring themselves to even be in the same path as him, as every students gave him a wide breath when they saw him coming.

The classroom atmosphere as a whole was tense and uneasy but at last, it was the end of the day.

"And as a teacher" Mayuko-sensei began. "This is all I can say"

"You may all go"

Despite the heavy atmosphere, most of the class erupted into tears of joy.

"Everyone enjoy your summer holidays" She said quickly added before she made her escape to what was no doubt be the best 6 weeks of her year.

"I'LL PLAY, EAT AND SLEEP!" Arisa shouted, kicking her desk "AND I WON'T GIVE ABOUT HOMEWORK!" everyone was practically dancing in celebration.

"The summer holidays, really makes everyone happy" Tohru said, seeing the joy around her.

"RIGHT NOW, I CAN SERIOUSLY SMASH A CAR WITH MY BARE HANDS!" Arisa said and immediately Tohru tried to stop her.

"Arisa. Can you calm down just a bit?" A new voice said, which they all turned around to see Saki already in summer mode. "I can understand, the summer holidays are exciting but you need to calm down"

"Yeah, but when I see you. I don't feel excited anymore" Arisa deepened seeing the Ice cream and floaty, before shouting to Xisto who was already packing his stuff away. "Hey, Mr Creepy what do you plan on doing this summer?"

Mr Creepy?! Everyone thought, amazed how bluntly she put it.

"If you must know. I'm going to a resort my family owns this summer" Xisto said, knowing he would see Kyo and the other's half way, they would most likely meet him near the Sohma summer house.

"Lucky" Arisa said, in envy, she wished she had the money to spend 6 weeks doing nothing but sit in the sun and chill.

"So Tohru-chan, are you coming?" Xisto asked as everyone turned to the shocked Tohru-chan who was suddenly put on the spot and he said. "Just because I have to act differently doesn't mean, I'll stop being your friend" and like teleportation he was beside Tohru and had already taken her arm and was already moving towards the door before anyone realised what was happening, only to be stopped by Kyo and Yuki from pure instinct.

Xisto smiled seeing both of them and said. "Oh, are you coming too?"

"Too what?" Kyo asked, his brain had now fully rebooted and was now eyeing Xisto suspiciously, he didn't know how to deal with the new Xisto and neither did, Yuki.

"To the place that Momiji wanted to show me, of course" Xisto said, "He said, he would show me something fun and he said, I should bring Tohru with me when I come so the three of us can go together" and at the mention of Tohru, both Yuki and Kyo were immediately on guard, the old Xisto was too strong in their minds to be ignored and there was no telling what the new one would do, alone with poor naïve Tohru even with Momiji there.

Xisto suddenly smiled with a knowing look and both Kyo and Yuki, know they had just been manipulated into somehow coming along.

Did he just? Both Yuki and Kyo were feeling greatly unnerved, when it occurred to them that they had fallen into a well-placed trap.

Tohru immediately tried to lighten the heavy atmosphere and said. "Isn't summer vacation great?" she said, with a smile that came so easily to her, immediately the atmosphere lightened.

"You're too naïve" Kyo said, his eyes torn away from Xisto form.

"I don't think you should call someone naïve when you're so naïve yourself" Yuki imputed, annoying Kyo in the process.

"So you're saying that I'm naïve!?" Kyo said, with a tick mark on his head.

"Don't you feel like you're a bit of simpleton? Idiot" Yuki said, quickly injected the insult before turning to Tohru with a smile and said. "Shigure, won't be coming home today" he informed her.

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT, DAMN IT!" Kyo shouted. "Don't pick go picking a fight and then run away, you damn rat"

"Can you please keep it down" Xisto said, with a tone that spoke of boredom. "I am clearly trying to read and I don't want a certain someone's loud voice shouting down my ears" both Yuki, Tohru and Kyo looked shocked at his attitude.

Than Kyo registered he had just been insulted and another tick mark formed on Kyo head.

He didn't like this Xisto at all.

"Well said" Yuki said, looking at Xisto in a whole new light.

Clearly a fight was going to break out between Kyo and Xisto.

So Tohru quickly said. "So what would, you two like to eat today?" she asked.

"Roasted sweet potatoes" A whole new voice injected and they all turned to see Hatsu, relaxing under some sprinklers. "I feel like eating roasted Potato's"

"What are you doing?" Yuki just had to ask.

"Obviously getting cool" Hatsu said, like it solved everything.

"Are you really getting cool?" Kyo asked, hating getting splashed with water, just looking at Hatsu soaked form made him feel tired.

Suddenly a toy dolphin came out of nowhere and squirted water at him with a "Ha!"

"The best thing to do in summer is to take a bath" Momiji suddenly appeared with a smile, unaware of the consequences of his actions.

Immediately two hands started rubbing against both sides of Momiji head as he cried out along with an enraged Kyo.

"You damn brat!"

"K-Kyo-kun." Tohru tried to stop the fighting.

A new pair of sprinklers came on and splashed both Kyo and Momiji immediately.

"You're all wet. You're all wet!" Momiji sang, finding it funny.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU LIVE IT DOWN, DAMN YOU!" Kyo growled.

Hatsu ignored the scene behind him and went to Yuki and said. "It's best to have roasted potatoes in the summer"

"You already told me, that" Yuki said with a sweat drop.

"And by the way" Hatsu said, turning to a reading Xisto who was completely ignoring the chaos in front of him instead of joining in. "What's wrong with him?" he asked, shocked that Xisto hadn't gotten his phone out and wasn't currently snapping pictures of him.

"His father gave him a talk to" Yuki said, with a sigh "And now he's" trying to describe it.

"Broken"

Hatsu didn't really get it but he didn't know that he would soon find out what Yuki meant by 'broken'.

"So, Momiji." Xisto said, getting Momiji attention. "Didn't you want to show me something?" he asked, stopping all activity.

"Oh, yeah!" Momiji said, cheerfully. "Follow me!"

#in a nearby shopping complex#

"Over here!" Momiji said, dragging Tohru along by the arm.

Tohru wondered what they were doing in a shopping complex when they weren't going to shop.

"You guys hurry up" Momiji turned to four guys trailing behind him.

Behind them was a mob of girls, who all looked flustered at seeing four, young beautiful guys walking passed them, all of them had their own unique style which they couldn't turn their eyes away from.

"…I want to go home" Kyo complained, he didn't want to ogled at and in such a large building.

"One of my classmates came here and he said it was a fun place" Momiji said, talking to everyone as they turned a corner to their destination, most of them were expecting a somewhat kiddy bounce house.

This was not what they got.

In front of them, was the stuff of horrors.

It was a building that had its front door covered in blood, the very walls had blood stains everywhere and the sign above the house was something that would make little children break down crying.

No matter how you look at it.

It was a haunted house.

"It does look fun!" Momiji exclaimed happily, while everyone looked on at the building with passive eyes, wondering what was wrong with Momiji eyes.

No, matter how you look at it. It's a haunted house. Both Xisto, Yuki and Kyo thought at the same time while Hatsu was currently thinking about his stomach.

"LET'S GO IN!" Momiji exclaimed with a happy face, as he immediately rushed in, only to be stopped by Kyo.

"Hold on a second, brat..." Kyo said, with a sweat drop.

Xisto turned to Tohru and immediately saw her pale complexation and asked. "Tohru-chan, are you alright?"

"…U-Um, I'm alright" Tohru barely made out, she didn't want to ruin this for everyone but it was already too late, Hatsu had seen her pale face.

She was clearly terrified.

"Your proposal gets rejected, let's go home" Kyo immediately said, dragging Momiji along.

"Don't you want to go in Tohru-chan?" Momiji asked with disappointment. "Don't you like this sort of thing?"

"Tohru-chan is clearly terrified but she doesn't want to ruin it for everyone" Xisto said, he spoke up "Isn't that right?" and Hatsu stared at the red head in shock.

Tohru unconsciously nodded.

"But she wants to overcome her fear so allow me to pay for our tickets" He said, with a smile getting out his wallet while the ticket woman had a blush on her face.

This guy is planning something.. Hatsu, Yuki and Kyo thought at the same time, finding that the smile was beginning to unnerve them with each passing second as they watched Xisto pay with warily eyes and a sweat drop.

# In the haunted house#

"WAAAAHHHH!" Tohru let out the first of many screams, as a fake doll made to look like a person came out with a knife in its mouth.

Both Kyo and Yuki didn't know what to do, it hadn't escaped their attention that Xisto was still smiling.

"Why are you so scared?" Kyo asked, believing he could get to the bottom of this.

"Um.." Tohru said, she didn't know, everything was just too scary.

"Maybe laughing out loud will stop you from being scared" Yuki suggested, finding it odd that Xisto wasn't saying any comforting words.

While Hatsu and Momiji were amused to see a 'dead corps' hanging from the ceiling.

"T-that's right. Laughter will drive my fear away!" Tohru said, with a new found determination.

Only for seconds later to have her slumped down in despair.

It was just too scary.

"… scary!" Tohru said.

"Your, even scarier than they are" Both Yuki and Kyo said, with a sweat drop.

But Tohru was still determined enough to get through this and had decided to close her eyes and walk forward.

She smashed her head against a wall.

She's going to die! Yuki thought.

They all watched as Tohru continued on, despite the pain in her head, only to scream at everything she touched and bump into things.

She really will die at this rate. Both Kyo and Yuki thought, with concern and a sweat drop.

Tohru tried to find something to latch on to in hope that it would guide her.

"Give me your hand.." both Yuki and Kyo said, at the same time, only to immediately glared at each other and insult one another.

And while they were distracted, Xisto made his move.

"Tohru-chan take my hand" He said, smoothly and Tohru took it while both Yuki and Kyo look dumbfounded.

He then made sure, both Yuki and Kyo could see him holding Tohru hands and gave both Yuki and Kyo, a teasing smile and said. "And you call yourself man. Here, poor Tohru is defenceless and scared and you're arguing amongst yourself. Don't you have any shame?"

Which left them both gapping.

Tohru still blind, couldn't help but lean on him for support while Xisto gave them a slyly smile and began to walk away with Tohru, making sure to thoroughly touch her in a suggestive way.

HE PLANNED THIS! Both Yuki and Kyo thought, in shock.

Everything up to now had been part of the plan to get to Tohru and make them look like fools.

At that moment, both Yuki and Kyo agreed on one thing.

Xisto was scary.

Very scary.

"Hold on" Kyo said, something just occurred to him "Why are you still fluttering with Tohru-chan? Weren't you surprised to give up on your playboy ways?"

And Xisto stopped and gave him a look as if he was stupid which annoyed Kyo to no end and said in a calm tone. "My father said, I shouldn't embarrass the family. He never said, I couldn't go after cute girls like Tohru-chan here" touching her cheek and Tohru faced instantly turned bright red.

"I see..." They all said and for some reason both Yuki and Kyo were getting mysteriously close to him and Xisto suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a beat down delivered by an angry Yuki and Kyo, clearly this had been coming for a long time and Momiji want to cover Tohru ears and Hatsu gave her a perfect distraction to the scene behind her in the form a beautiful story.

# In the Sohma house hold, one day previously#

"Are you sure?" Hatori asked and Shigure looked shocked.

"Yes" Ritsu said, weakly. "The memory I was shown was so sad. I can feel the monkey sadness. I never know he could act so unfair to someone. It shocked me"

And it was a shock to both Shigure and Hatori too as Ritsu went on to describe a very fizzy memory that he had scene.

They didn't know what was more shocking, the fact that THE monkey had lashed out at someone at one point or that the other animals too had apparently being just as hostile or even worse.

They couldn't understand why even their own animal's spirits would behave so negatively towards this being.

All their memories they had from their spirits were not only clear but most of them were friendly except for the memory of them mocking the cat who couldn't eat with everyone also at the feast.

Nobody had yet to receive such a memory that told them otherwise.

"And you said, this happened to you when you touched Xisto-san?" Shigure said, finding it odd, ever since that boy should up, a lot of weird things had been happening to the family lately, one that made everyone feel like they had met him before.

Could it really be true, that Xisto sheared a past with their Zodiac spirits?

If so, what and why couldn't anyone of them remember it?

Judging by Hatori face, he too was thinking along the same lines and asked "Ritsu, would you consent to having me search through your mind, to examine the memory you saw?" maybe this was the push they needed to find out what connection they all had to the red head.

There was no denying it now, there was clearly something there.

"Um, of course" Ritsu said, surprised about Hatori request and understandably scared about the whole process.

"Don't worry, I just want to look" Hatori said, "I'm not going to touch anything" he reassured.

"okay" Ritsu barely made out, still scared but determined, he wanted to know why the monkey had been so hostel to something, he clearly thought, didn't deserve it. He could feel the Monkey's deep regret after the thing left, their friendship forever destroyed.

Shigure watched with interest as Hatori put his hands on Ritsu head, a second later the light dimmed in both of their eyes, as the connection was made.

# Ritsu mind#

Hatori wasn't surprised to see Ritsu mindscape was that of a jungle, after all, their Zodiac spirits affected them one way or another.

He walked through the fake grass.

If he was right, than the place where Ritsu kept his memories was in the shape of a banana and sighed as he opened his mouth to ask Ritsu, if it was okay for him to look at his memories, after all, for something like this, the person had to be willing.

When he went about surpassing memories, he usually had his patient asleep so that he didn't need to ask if they were unconscious.

He felt himself being lifted high up, to the top of the trees and sure enough there were bananas at the top but they were the wrong bananas.

Hatori went through over a hundred of them, each holding one memory or two from Ritsu himself but no sign of the Monkey's.

He immediately wondered where the monkey's memories were and stood up to his full height and notice a giant tree up ahead, its fruit were a golden colour.

Clearly he had find the monkeys memories as he floated towards it only to have the shock of his life.

So force slammed into him and he was shocked thrown back, the moment he reached a certain distance.

What the hell, was that? He thought in shock, why was he thrown back when he had Ritsu permission to search his memories?

However, he got his answer quickly when the tree itself shimmed and out came something carved in stone to block his path.

There in front of him was a giant seal and the whole tree was locked down by giant chains.

Hatori could only look at what was in front of him with nothing but shock.

Why was there a seal here and for what purpose?

He slowly touched the seal hoping he could unlock it and find out what it was hiding.

His eyes immediately widened.

It was complex.

Really complex.

The seal itself only really targeted specific memories.

The Monkey's memories had been chained down.

"W-What the hell is this?" He stuttered in shock.

And why was it in Ritsu mind?

And scene!

4000+ words! It took me a long to do this! Next chapter, Akito is shocked to hear about the seal that might be in his mind and God unconsciously fights back and breaks it. Yes this will be the chapter you've, all being waiting for.

The chapter where God remembers the Serpent.

I've even got the name for the next chapter.

Chapter 14: Tears for the forgotten Zodiac

Review/ Fav and follow!