Disclaimer: I do not own fruits basket & its character.
A/N: This story is inspired by The Matrix. However, it is of different context. Please read & tell me what you think about it. Thank you!
Different Realities
Tohru hummed her favorite song happily as she walked home from grocery shopping. Both Sohma Kun & Kyo Kun had offered to walk with her & carry her groceries. However, they ended up fighting when they realized that the other one was going. Tohru had slipped away from them quietly when she realized that the shops were closing soon & she might not be able to make it should she stay around & wait for them to finish their fight.
It had been a month since she had met Akito. She was hoping that he would open up more now that she had implanted the idea of kindness & understanding in his mind. Besides, she could see that Yuki had gotten stronger & more courageous. She had learnt to be understanding when she met the demon form of Kyo's. Ever since then, Kyo became happier & less defensive. Tohru smiled to herself serenely when she thought about the 2 boys & their earlier fight over who would get to walk to the grocery store with her.
'I hope Sohma Kun doesn't hurt Kyo Kun too much. It will be terrible if Kyo Kun got hurt because of me. I will never forgive myself. I must gambatte & be useful around the house. I…' Tohru's thoughts were interrupted as she began to hyperventilate in her distress. She fainted on the streets.
"Oi wake up! You stupid girl! Wake up!" said a rough but friendly voice.
'Oh my,' thought Tohru stupidly, 'that's Okasan's voice. Okasan!'
Honda Tohru's eyes snapped open when she realized that it was her mother's voice calling out to her. She looked around her wildly before realizing that it was indeed her mother. "Okasan! What are you doing here? When did you come alive? Or," Tohru swallowed with anxiety & fear, "am I dead? Have you come & receive me & bring me to the other side?"
Tohru's mother looked at Tohru strangely & said, "my dear child. Have you forgotten who you are or who I am?"
Tohru looked at her mother confusedly. What was her mother talking about? She hadn't forgotten her mother. Hadn't she addressed the older woman? These thoughts swirled about in Tohru's head.
"Child!" said Kyoko (Tohru's mother's name) sternly & sharply, "Wake up!"
Tohru flinched in fear. Her mother's admonition sounded both foreign & familiar to her. 'What is wrong? Mother has never raised her voice at me in the past. Yet, this is strangely familiar. What is this that I am feeling?'
At that moment, Tohru felt light-headed. Thoughts in the form of pictures flashed before her eyes in her mind. She saw herself kissing a blue hair guy, sobbing over the limp & lifeless body of a blond boy & joking with a red colored hair guy. 'What are all these images? Who am I? Where am I?'
As if reading her thoughts, Kyoko, or rather the Kyoko's lookalike, smiled. "Do you remember who you are now?"
Tohru nodded slowly & said, "I am Honda Tohru but I am more than her. She is… she is… Honda Tohru is… just another name, just another me."
The Kyoko's lookalike smiled & said, "Good! You have finally woken up from this dream. I was watching you from a far & I'm afraid you've gotten too involved in this story & this lesson that you were supposed to learn."
'Lesson? Dream? Story?' confusing thoughts swirled around Tohru's head. Slowly, Tohru remembered where she was. She was right into saying that she was more than Honda Tohru for Tohru is just a character in a book or a lesson that she has to learn. She sighed. 'So Yuki Kun & Kyo Kun are just characters from a storybook? Pity. I miss them already.'
Her mentor looked at her with narrowed eyes. She knew what the trouble was. Her student was too emotionally involved with the characters in the story. "Child. We've been through this before. This is not your 1st lesson. Why are you taking this so hard & serious? I thought you had learnt your lesson well that's why I pulled you out."
"I…," said Tohru hesitantly, "I think I have yet to learn my lesson well. I've not stayed with Kyo long enough. I…" Her voice faltered off when she realized that her mentor was staring at her indignantly. "I'm sorry Mentor. I understand. I'm stalling. I wished to go back to be with the characters from my lesson."
"Child," said The Mentor softly, shaking her head, "what went wrong? You know that our mission here is to learn & absorb lessons from these stories. We do not have all the time in the world to experience everything. Besides, at this moment, we are inadequate to experience these. We have to learn these themes of love, understanding, patience & others from these lessons. Here, we refer to each other as The Mentor & The Disciple. I want you to recall with me all the stories that you had learnt." With that, she closed her eyes. Tohru nodded & did likewise.
Her 1st story was with Fushigi Yuugi. As it was her 1st lesson, her mentor chose that story with a similar context. She learnt about betrayal between friends, forgiveness & love. However, she did not become too attached with the story characters because she was well aware of her status as an outsider of the "The Universal Book of the Four Gods".
The 2nd story was Gensomaden Saiyuki. There, she learnt how friends & comrades support each other in times of trouble & how to be there for a friend. Then there was Sakura Wars where she learnt to control her spirituality. Next it was Ayashi no Ceres. It got pretty painful for her as she learnt how to cope with losing a loved one & a close kin. In that, she learnt about letting go.
Her mentor opened her eyes. "The theme in Ayashi was chosen carefully. I thought since you had learnt about letting go, you should have no problem letting go of the characters in these stories."
Tohru nodded. With the lesson fresh from her mind as she had recalled it, she wasn't as attached, at the moment, to the characters from Fruits Basket.
"Do you remember what you were supposed to learn in Fruits Basket?"
Tohru thought for a minute & replied, "I'm supposed to learn about being kind & being understanding about others. Learning to appreciate differences between people. Her mentor nodded with a smile. "You learnt the lesson fast. Good."
At that moment, Tohru thought of her mentor's striking looks in Fruits Basket & asked, "How come you were in this story?"
Her mentor chuckled & said, "couldn't resist a bit of fun. Sorry. But the characters in the story are fun. I can see why you got attached to them so quickly."
Tohru blushed.
***