I do not own Fruit Basket.
Enjoy!
Hatori Sohma, know he didn't sleep last night.
The things he learned in the past 24 hours, after calming Akito down made him want to sit down and rethink his own profession.
What good was a doctor, when you can't even heal the wounds that really counted?
The one's inflicted on the heart.
He had never felt so dirty in his entire life, his whole world had been flip over and spun around, with the reveal that there was a ligament reason why he and all the members of the Sohma were cursed, to think that there was such a side to his own animal sprite that he hadn't know about, made him wonder one thing.
WHY!?
Why was he suffering for the sins of his own Animal spirit?
Hatori didn't think he could ever think of his own animal spirit the same way ever again, not with what he learnt that day.
So after a long sleepless night, what with his head a buzz and checking up on Akito condition which took a nose dive the moment the seal was broken, to the point Akito was now coughing up a lot more blood.
He had pulled everyone, out of their busy schedule and called a family meeting, knowing a family meeting was rear especially without Akito being present and he could tell by all the faces of his fellow family members that they were thinking the same thing.
Hatori took a deep breath, knowing that was he was about to say next was not only going to affect him but the family as a whole and said.
"Akito is dying"
The whole room erupted into an uproar.
Ch 15: The Sins that they carry
"What do you mean, Akito is dying!?" Kyo said, just as shocked as everyone else, sure Akito always looked like he was on his death door every time, he unwillingly came to visit but the young man was never dying.
"Is Akito really that sick?" Momiji said, shocked to hear the news just like everyone else. Kisa looked worried and she wasn't the only one.
If Akito died than what would happen to the Sohma family, especially since Akito doesn't have an Heir to pass on the spirit of god to?
A world where the spirit of god didn't exist was something nobody had thought of it before and all the Zodiac spirits automatically went into panic mode.
Akito can't die.
He just can't!
"Can't you give him medicine to make it all better like you usually do?" Hiro said, looking calm even though even he was panicking on the inside.
"Everyone calm down" Shigure said, in an uncharacteristic serious tone as he opened his fan and said. "I'm sure, Hatori must have figured out why Akito is dying" making them all turn to the man with some kind of hope in their eyes that he could fix this.
And Hatori know what he said next would not so equally received as well and said. "It's my belief that, Akito is dying of guilt"
They were all silent as they all looked at him in surprise.
Akito was dying of guilt!?
Guilt for what?!
It can't be that he was actually feeling guilty for being a complete ass to all of but few? It was years too late for that now.
"Guilt for what?" Kyo voiced all their opinions, "Don't you think it's a little too late for him to start regretting anything, now?" since Akito had sacred them all in some kind of way, many of them were still healing from childhood trauma.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Kyo does have a point" Yuki said, surprising all of them. "We've all suffered from one ideal or another."
"Then allow me to rephrase it" Hatori said, making them all listen. "It's not Akito own guilt that is killing him, it's god own guilt that is slowly killing his already weak host"
And they were all further shocked.
"God?" Hatsu said, in shock and he wasn't the only one.
"The reason for God's own guilt is how he treated one of our spirits in the past" Hatori said and understandably they all turned to the container of the Cat before saying. "No, he doesn't feel extreme guilt towards the cat."
"Then who is it?" Kagura said, it can't be her spirit, she remembered her spirit was quite happy.
"Does, this have anything to do with the memories blocks that you found on me and Ritsu?" Shigure said, making most of them look at him in shock, the fact that someone had tempered with his animal spirit own memories, angered him.
"Wait, what, memory block?" Ayame said, feeling concerned and by the looks on the other's faces this was news to them too.
"It does" Hatori said, confirming with Shigure already know.
"Can someone please tell me, what's going on!?" Kyo said, and he wasn't the only one that wanted to know but it was surprisingly Ritsu who answered.
"I asked, Hatori to look into my mind, a while back." Ritsu said, surprising all of them. "I received a memory from the Monkey, that didn't add up to the Monkey that I know, so I asked Hatori to look into my mind. He found out, that a part of my monkey's memories where chained."
"Chained?" Momiji said, shocked, he couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have a part of yourself closed off from him.
Oh, the irony of his thought process.
"I have reason to believe that not just Shigure and Ritsu spirit animal memories were tempered with but every single Sohma member has a memory seal placed on them to hide certain memories of your animal spirits from you. Akito himself confirmed it, when he broke his memory seal and his true memories were returned back to him" Hatori said, dropping the third bomb today.
They were all once again in uproar.
Nobody like the idea that someone had messed around in their minds, violating their own wills, as expected this was news for their animal spirits as well.
"Then take it off!" Kyo said, he didn't like the thought that someone had tempered with the cat's own memories, tempering with his own identity.
"I for one agree with him!" Yuki said, if there really was something in his mind than he wanted it gone and fast.
The others were demanding the same thing, to be done to their own minds as well.
"Everyone be quiet. Do, you think, Hatori would have done already if he could?" Shigure said, stopping them all his tracks. "The mere fact that, I am living with a block in my mind long after I found out, shows that it's either too dangerous to break or he doesn't know how"
"Hatori?" Rin said, Shigure was kidding right? Hatori was second to none in the mind arts.
"It's true" Hatori said, confirming what he wished wasn't true and said. "I've never seen such an advanced Seal in my life, I can't make heads or tails of it. The only reason why only God could break it, is because he's the most powerful one out of all of us. If you want your seal removed it has to be removed by the cast themselves" shocking them all.
Things were really that bad, if Hatori was admitting that he couldn't do something in the field that he specialises in.
"So were stuck like this?" Hatsu said, feeling his dark side coming out.
"That person could be dead for all we know" Rin said, not feeling very lady like right now.
"Hold on" Yuki said, making them all pause to find him thinking. "If we all have memories seals inside of us, doesn't that mean someone doesn't want us to remember something?" making a whole lot of sense as they all thought about the mystery that was, locked up in their own spirits memories.
"What aren't we all, not supposed to remember?" Ayame said, troubled that someone had tempered with his spirits own memories but he was also intrigued to find out what he wasn't supposed to remember.
"And I assume, you have find what were all not supposed to remember" Shigure said, "Isn't that right, Hatori?" making them all turn to the doctor of the family.
"Yes, once I managed to calm Akito down, I found out what we are all not supposed to remember, it's the reason for God's current guilt" Hatori said, as they all leaned in with interest as, he was ready to drop the fourth bomb today.
"So, what did you find out?" Hiro said, sounding impatient.
"I found out that our history is wrong" Hatori stated before dropping the forth bomb, "On that day of the great feast. There weren't 12 animals but 13"
The whole room went into an uproar even Shigure looked shocked.
"A-Are you sure?" Shigure said, in shock.
"I didn't want to believe it myself but Akito said it with his own mouth" Hatori said, still in shock. "Our memories were modified to forget that the 13th member ever existed, as it stands we should have one more Sohma here with us instead of the 12 here"
They were all still in shock, trying to process that their very basic of their family history was wrong, that even the Chinese very calendar was wrong.
"The animal that our own spirit's were made to forget, is the very first Zodiac spirit that god has ever created." Hatori said. "It's the Serpent, he's the reason behind the Zodiac curse"
WHAT!? They all thought.
They all remembered all too well, the suffering they all had endured, the suffering and the pain that had followed them the moment they were born.
Their shock turned into rage.
"Why?" Kisa said, with tears in her eyes. "Why would he be so cruel? What have we all done to deserve the curse we have now? The suffering, each and every one of us were born into?"
The whole room was silent, silently hating the Serpent very existence, until Hatori broke the silence with the most shocking statement they had ever heard in their lives.
"It's because we deserve it" He said.
"What?" Yuki said, convinced he heard wrong.
"Each and every one of us, carries the sins of our Animals Zodiac" Hatori said, with hair overshadowing his eyes. "The reason why those who possess an animal spirit are born into their own personal hell is because of what our spirit's did to the Serpent. The curse is punishment for the actions of each and every one of our spirits and even now, we can never make up for what the spirits did to own family"
Everyone was silent, too much in shock to say anything.
"B-But" Momiji said, "Our spirits never did anything"
"The Serpent sealed off the dark sides of each of our sprits so we would believe that our own spirits could do no wrong when in actual fact, it's a whole different story" Hatori said, still in shock. "Akito told me, each and every one of us are experiencing what we did to the Serpent. In the very beginning he was just like the rest of us, he was more like an older brother figure to all us and then the fall of man came and everything changed. Akito seemed to have been, in too much shock to give me detail on how we treated our own brother but I got the jest of it, that it was horrific. The animal ended up hating each and every one of us, the festival was the event that sealed our current fate"
"So what you're saying is that the reason, where all suffering today and the next generation following after us is because of what our spirits did thousands of years ago?" Shigure said, summing it up for everyone.
"The curse is that night result of foolish actions." Hatori said, "Only the Serpent can lift the curse, with his memories now returned to him. God wants to break the curse and apologies for all those years ago, he hopes that one day, the Serpent will forgive him and lift the curse. And until that is done, Akito health will continue to get worse. At most Akito has one year left to live. However, God is convinced that the Serpent is nearby, if we can find the Serpent than we can break the curse that has plague the family for centuries."
"And as much as the very idea of breaking the curse, appeals to me" Ayame said, "Finding the Serpent is easier said than done. It's like finding a needle in the hay stack. We don't even know where to start looking."
"He's right" Yuki said, there was just more surprises today. "Finding he or she, will be next to impossible and there is no guarantee that even they know about the spirit they hold"
"That's true." Ritsu said.
"Guys.. don't you think the Serpent is Xisto?" A voice said, making them all turn to Momiji who said, "Think about it. All these strange things started happening when Xisto appeared and I keep on having the strong sense that I've met him before even though I know I haven't, plus isn't Xisto family ring a Serpent?"
Every eye widened in shock, it was true, ever since the red head appeared, strange things had been happening.
"Who's Xisto?" Both Ayame and Rin said, since they had yet to meet the red head.
"A Classmate of Yuki, Kyo and Tohru" Shigure said, with a thoughtful expression.
"Xisto, being the Serpent?" Yuki said, it was unimaginable. "It's true that things have gotten strange the moment Xisto appeared but isn't it true that we all take after our animal spirits in personality? Do you all remember what Xisto was like at the beginning of the year?"
Oh, they all remembered all right.
Most of them, who had the pleasure of meeting the red head sweat dropped.
His personality was very interesting, indeed.
"But he's changed hasn't he?" Hatsu said, remembering how different Xisto is now.
"But didn't he change because he was going to be his next family head?" Kyo said, shooting down another possibility. "And besides he didn't completely change".
Yes, Xisto was still too free with Tohru for his own good.
"But isn't it worth checking out?" Hatsu said, "Maybe someone in the Valentine family could lead us to the Serpent. It's our only lead so far"
"Fine" Kyo said, "I'll ask him the next time I see him but I don't he even knows what I'm talking about."
Meanwhile out in the middle of sea, away from the Valentine recently purchased summer home, one Xisto Valentine in a tight red, flamed speedo, sneezed.
He not only sneezed but his senses were acting up.
Something told him.
The tides have turned.
And scene!
I'm finally finished with this chapter; I can't decide on the plan for the next chapter so it will take me some time to start writing again. Please Review/Fav and follow!
