Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
One of the most painful parts of family reunions is when your elders take out your kawaii baby photos & circulate them about. Then they remark on how not kawaii you turned out. Next to that is listening to the war stories... & having the WWII vet show off his battle scars, (curses the soldier who bayonated him for not finishing the job).
9. A Father's Pain
Kyo found his master standing at the foot of the stairs. The same flight of stairs Akito had fallen down that very morning. The man was deep in thought. "Master?" Kyo asked. Sohma Kazuma snapped out of his reverie. "Kyo?"
He wasn't supposed to be at the banquet! What can he tell his Master? Lying will be unthinkable…Kyo respected the man too much to lie to him.The Cat struggled with himself. He should have waited for Hatori to sober up. Maybe if he left now, Kagura will be having her ankle treated by Hatori in his office…
"Déjà vu." Kyo's ears pricked up at the wistfulness in Kazuma's voice. They say the man took him in because his grandfather was the former Cat. Did he miss having Kyo spend New Year with him at the dojo? Kyo remembered with a sickening jolt that the Cat will be imprisoned on Sohma grounds like tradition dictated. Akito never ceased to remind him of that. His real father had asked Akito to confine him…
"Sorry, Kyo. I was thinking of the past…"
"Of your grandfather, you mean… why you took me in then…" Kyo avoided meeting his gaze.
"Actually, it was an incident in my grandfather's life. He married, you know. Another cursed Sohma. My grandmother was the Rat then. The clan head then allowed their marriage. He was a very different character from Akito. My grandmother died after she fell down this same stairs before I was born."
The stairs were both old and steep. They were at least sixty years old. Back then, the Sohma household had a kinder head. And now they're stuck with psycho Akito… "You know Akito-san…" Kyo stopped. Does he know?
"Akito's accident? Yes, I know. I also know Kagura cares for you although she has a funny way of showing it…"
"Kagura? But I don't like her one bit!"
"Really, Kyo? I just thought it'd be good to have someone who cares for you in the main house. I'm losing ground. You know the confinement…" His face darkened. That was the purpose of his recent visits to the main house and Akito. Kyo was running out of time. "I thought it'll be good to have someone to support you like my grandmother supported my grandfather."
"Master! I need only you!" Kyo blinked away tears. He was surprised when he saw that Kazuma was crying as well.
"Kyo, I'll be there to help you the best I can… I just thought it'd be better if you had a fellow cursed Sohma you can rely on. Someone who can understand what it is like…"
"I'll run away! We'll leave the main house forever…" Is running the answer, Kyo? Kazuma was asking him in that steady gaze. Haven't you learnt that by now?
"I don't feel for Kagura that way. She's a good girl…" Kyo confessed in defeat.
"Kyo, do try to get along with the others, even Yuki. No man's an island." You all need each other's strength and support. Kyo shut his eyes. Whatever happens…
"Father!" Kyo shouted out. Kazuma had gone. Kyo hadn't heard him leave. He was alone. The Cat decided to return to the banquet.
Left to his own devices, the man Kyo respected and loved as a father found himself in the deserted hallway where the portraits of Sohmas lone gone were displayed. Among them will be his grandparents. Kazuma found the portrait of the clan head who had given his heart-felt blessings to the pair.
He was a thin, frail-looking youth in the picture. Like Akito, he wore a yutaka and had black hair and eyes. The similarity ended there. He had an aura that told of respect won through love and gentleness rather than fear. It was something Akito will never have with his current behavior.
They say pressures from the other Sohma elders to confine the Cat drove him to an early grave. He lived long enough to attend the wedding. Poor chap…
Finally, Kazuma found his grandparents' photo in the dimmest corner of the hall. It was a wedding photo, or part of it. Someone had torn his grandfather out of it. But he recognized his grandmother from the family album. She was smiling as she held her groom's hand in hers, as if she were defying any attempt to part them. It was daring move for a Japanese lady in those bygone days. Was his grandfather smiling then too?
They say his grandmother had staunchly refused to have her portraits taken without his grandfather by her side. She was always reminding everyone of the Cat's existence ever since they first met as children. She always wanted to include him.
When the clan elders forcibly confined the Cat, she had visited him almost every day, even till the day she died. The fall killed her instantly. She was found still holding the quilt she had stitched for her husband. So he had heard from his father.
Her husband outlived her by a good twenty years. The Sohmas waited a long time before Yuki was born. Somehow, there was a lapse in the cycle. Akito's predecessor oversaw a household without the Rat. And everyone had blamed his grandfather for it. His poor lonely, ill-treated grandfather. He felt the familiar stab of guilt.
Will Kyo be standing in the snow, waiting? Or will he have gone back to Miss Honda at Shigure's? Tohru is a good girl too. Only thing is, Akito loathes her.
With a sigh, Sohma Kazuma left. His siblings would be expecting him to join them. He couldn't take Kyou because like most of the other Sohmas, they disliked the poor boy who was like a son to him.
Author's notes:
Was it possible to have a nice clan head? Maybe it was. Or else the Sohma house wouldn't have stuck together so long, even with the curse. I just wanted a bit of a serious discussion between Kazuma & his foster son.
Ever noticed that Akito has nothing to say about Kagura & Kyo? Maybe he likes the sight of Kyo running from Kagura.