Crimson Thread


I'm obviously bored, so I'll continue the series. :DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Fruits Basket, but I do own Mike, Ari, and Mayra.
Freaks of Nature
Ari woke up to a insanely sunny Wednesday morning. Groaning, she got out of bed, and dressed into her normal outfit. She slipped into a baby tee, only to cover it up with a giant hoodie. She wore baggy jeans, a bit too long for her. Ari tied her long black hair into a high ponytail, although she knew by the end of the day, she wouldn't care how her hair looked. She went downstairs, grabbing a book from her favorite series, Fruits Basket, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Today was going to be another boring day of spring break, with no where to go.

She silently ate her cereal, while her parents were outside, working on their garden. She read the book. She was a true Fruits Basket fan. Her friends knew she could relate anything to Fruits Basket. Eventually, once she saved up enough money, she would get more wall scrolls and plushies.

Her silence was ended when her parents came in the sun room, sweating from working so long. Her mom was the kind of person who was occasionally strict, but otherwise, caring. Her father, however, didn't pay a speck of attention to her. To Ari, it seemed he would rather take care of his beautiful plants than her.

Ari's mother sat down by Ari, grabbing a can of soda. "Honey, I think a friend of yours is outside in front of the garage." She gulped down her root beer as Ari closed her book and went to greet her friend.

Ari walked to the front of the house, and saw someone on the driveway, putting away their bike. It was Mike, a friend of hers. They had known each other since 2nd grade. They even had the same schedule for school. Ari used to have a crush on him, but she knew it wouldn't work out. After all, Mike was the most popular freshman, while Ari was the insanely hyperactive girl who went around, kicking people for the fun of it.

Ari skipped over to him. "Hey Mike!"

"Oh," Mike looked worried. "Ari, I really need to talk to you! Something really weird is going on!"

"Mike, what's wrong?" Ari asked.

"Um," Mike thought of how to explain it. "Well, it might be easier to explain if we were in your room." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the house, up to her room.

Ari plopped onto her bed and grabbed a nearby plushie of Kyo. "So, what's up?"

"Hug me."

Ari was suddenly confused. "What?

Mike repeated himself. "I told you, hug me."

"Mike, are you okay? I mean, what's all this about?" Ari was suddenly concerned about Mike's strange behavior.

"Well, if you won't hug me, I guess I'll have to hug you."

"Fine! I'll hug you," Ari said. She thought about how Mike was acting. This wasn't like him. Ari got off the bed to where Mike was standing and gave him a big bear hug. After a couple moments, she let go and backed away from him a little. "Now what?"

"This doesn't make sense."

Ari looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Uh, well," Mike stuttered, "I don't know how to explain this. And it's kinda crazy sounding..."

"Mike," Ari sighed, "if you came here to tell me, just tell me. I won't make any fun of you."

Mike sighed and pulled out a photo. "When I hugged my sister yesterday, well..." Mike paused, unsure to continue, "there was a mini 'explosion' and next thing I knew, I was a monkey." He gave the stunned girl the photo.

Ari looked at the photo, and then at Mike, and then back to the photo. In the photo, there was a picture of his sister holding a monkey. "Wait a minute, wasn't this right after the accident?"

"Well, yeah. We all got back from the accident yesterday, but I just wanted to sleep yesterday. So no one hugged me yesterday. This happened just an hour ago." Mike sat down on the bed next to Ari. "My parents screamed. So did my sisters. They called me a freak. They kicked me out of the house. I-I just don't understand all this."

Ari's eyes welled up with tears. She hugged him. "Don't worry Mike, we can figure this out. But this does sound a lot like the book I'm reading."

"What book?" Mike asked, intriguingly.

Ari handed him a copy of Fruits Basket. "This. In this series, there's a family that's cursed. Whenever they are hugged by the opposite sex or are under a lot of stress, they transform into a animal of the Zodiac."

"Wait," Mike interrupted. "But I'm not born in the year of monkey."

"It isn't necessarily the year you were born in." Ari explained. "But this still doesn't explain why I can hug you, unless..." She looked at Mike, who motioned to continue. "Unless I'm... cursed too."

"Is there anyway for you to check?"

"Yes. Please come downstairs with me."


The tension in the kitchen could be cut with a knife. Ari had called her whole family to the kitchen. Her father looked like he didn't want to be there, and he had something else better to do. Her mother and sister however, looked over the two who had called the meeting.

Ari stood up and began the family and friend meeting. "I have come to realize something caused by the accident on Friday morning. Two of my friends and I were hit by a car, and were injured badly. I have come to realize, when we got a blood donation, something terrible had happened. Please let me explain."

Ari walked over to her father, held her breath, and hugged him. after a brief moment, there was a loud popping noise and a giant cloud of smoke where Ari had stood. When the smoke cleared, there was a tiny gray rat and a pile of clothes where the young girl had just stood. Her family screamed at the sight of the rat, until Mike picked it up.

"Mom, Dad, Annie, this is me. I've become cursed." Ari explained.

"Wait" Annie interrupted. "Isn't this a lot like Fruits Basket?"

Ari laughed, "Yes, but if we are cursed, then our blood donor had to be a Sohma. And that means the Monkey and the Rat are already dead." Ari's face saddened. Yuki was her favorite character. When she realized this story was true, she wished she could have met Yuki. "Dad, may I see the my medical records from the hospital?"

"Whatever. I don't care about you anymore. You're a freak. You should leave this house." He filed through a bunch of papers and threw them at Ari. Ari rushed up to her room, with Mike right behind her. They went into her room. Ari threw a bunch of papers at Mike.

"See if you can find out the name of our blood donor. I remember that the three of us had the same blood donor because our blood type is very rare. Meanwhile, I gotta call someone." Mike nodded and looked through his half of the papers. Ari got out her cell phone, and quickly dialed her best friend's phone number.

"Hello, this is the Lotem residence, Mayra speaking."

"Mayra!" Ari yelled into the phone. "Listen, the Sohmas are real, and is the curse!"

"Ari?" Mayra looked at the phone. "Are you okay?"

Ari calmed down and explained everything that had happened to her that day. Mayra fully understood that if another Sohma was dead, she could be cursed as well. Mayra didn't believe her, so she went over to hug her brother. She too had been cursed. She was the new Boar. Fifteen minutes later, Mayra was in Ari's room, helping Mike look through the papers. Meanwhile, Ari was trying to find Shigure's phone number. She hoped his would be easiest, since he was probably an author. After a couple moments, Mayra jumped for joy.

"I found the donor!"

Ari instantly left her laptop, scrambling over to where Mayra was. "Who is it?" Ari asked eagerly.

Mayra's eyes widened in shock. "It was Yuki."

Ari was stunned also, while Mike didn't care. After all, he wasn't the manga obsessed fanatic. Ari couldn't work it out. Did Yuki even have enough blood to donate? Would Hatori let him? Ari let that matter fall as she continued her search for a Sohma's phone number. After coming across a website for famed authors in Japan, she hit the jackpot. Ari scribbled down the phone number, and using her phone card from her last call to her grandparents, she had enough to talk to the Sohmas for half an hour.

"Ari?" Mike asked. "What are you doing?"

"Making a call to the most famous pervert in the anime world."


Yep, Although I think no one has even read my prologue yet, I think I might as well put up this chapter. See ya next time!

Sarah-chan