Disclaimer: Don't own Furuba. I do, however, own copies of Volumes 1-6 of the manga now! YEAH ME! I'm working on taking over the manga right now. I'll get back to ya when I succeed. Until then, don't hold your breath.
"All right," Shigure repeated as he pulled his shirt over his head. Now fully dressed, he carefully studied the creature that apparently was Tohru. Beside him, Yuki and Kyo were staring at the twitching animal silently, both of them too stunned to be arguing with one another. Resisting the urge to point this out, Shigure continued, "Let's go over this again. For no apparent reason, our beloved Tohru-kun has transformed into…actually, what did she turn into?"
"A red panda, also called a fire fox." Yuki murmured absently. Both boys were still utterly dumbstruck. As the three Sohmas watched in dead quiet, the "red cat bear", as was another of the creature's names, ran a burly paw over its ears, which were tipped in white. The animal was about the size of a large housecat, with a luxurious pelt that was a deep auburn-red on its main body and lightened to sunlight-orange as it moved further up the neck and head. Its tail was ringed like a raccoon's. A white mask of fur covered the lower portion of the mammal's face, including the jaw and the dark, beady eyes. Two elongated black tear tracks ran down the mask from the corners of the red panda's eyes to the base of its face.
The cat Sohma finally shattered the stunned silence by muttering questioningly, "…The curse?"
Shigure stroked his chin thoughtfully. With a sunny smile that was extraordinarily out of place in the somber room, he joked, "Either that, or her friend Hana-chan's learned mass hypnosis and decided to make us her guinea pigs."
That snapped the other two out of their trances very effectively. Kyo whirled to face Shigure and snarled vehemently, "You damn inu, how can you joke like that when Tohru's turned into a…into a…eh dammit."
"Red panda, baka neko." Yuki corrected him with a half-smirk. "It's not that hard to remember."
Before Kyo had the chance to attempt to strike his cousin in retaliation, Shigure interjected, "Come on you two, no flirting, this is serious." He said this with perfect conviction, as if he hadn't been the one who had been joking in the first place.
WHAM!
"Ow," complained the dog Sohma, now lying on the floor with a bruise spreading rapidly over the bridge of his nose. This was due to Yuki swiftly hitting him across the face with a thick piece of balsa wood that had been left over from the last time they'd had to repair the front door (the previous day). "What was that for?" He got up, rubbing the bridge of his nose resentfully. The three males stared at the crimson-colored mammal for several more seconds. Finally, Shigure suggested, "Maybe we should take her to Akito?"
"No." There was the lurking threat of violence in both voices that firmly said the word.
Ah well, worth a shot, thought Shigure with mild amusement. He continued, "All right, then let's go over this again: Tohru bumped into me. We turned into animals. I turned back. She didn't. I was supposed to turn into an animal. She wasn't."
Thoroughly ignoring Shigure, who was confusing himself as he recapped what had happened, Yuki said thoughtfully, "Well, if it is the curse, then she'll eventually turn back. Until then, there's not much we can do."
"So what, we just do nothing to help her?!" Kyo demanded incredulously.
"Got any better ideas, cat?" The red-haired Souma didn't respond to that in words, but a low growl echoed in the room.
As if on cue, the small raccoon-like animal sat up suddenly and drummed its front paws on the wooden floor in alarm. There was a flash of scarlet smoke. Kyo flushed an amazing shade of red and whirled away from Tohru, muttering an apology. Yuki, who had already closed his eyes, yanked Shigure so that he wasn't facing the confused brunette.
Tohru looked around the room, wondering how she had gotten from the kitchen to the living room. The teenage girl was puzzled as to why the three Sohmas had their backs turned to her. Kyo's ears were a brilliant crimson color, Yuki's head was bowed in embarrassment, and Shigure appeared to be fighting back laughter. "Shigure-san? Kyo-kun? Yuki-kun? What happened? Why are you-" She looked down, and immediately realized she wasn't wearing any clothes. Instantly, enough blood filled her face to even outclass Kyo's blush. With shame, she backed out of the room as quickly as she could.
There was quiet for a moment, then Yuki affirmed, "She's gone to her room to change."
As he turned around, Shigure teased with a wicked smile, "Come on, admit it, I know you two wanted to look just as much as I did."
"Pervert," Kyo snapped automatically.
Yuki stated coolly, "Even though we all agree Shigure's a pervert, we still don't know why Tohru turned into a red panda."
"She doesn't even seem to remember." Shigure pondered outloud. He ran his finger over his chin, thinking.
"Remember what?" a cheerful voice queried from the other side of the room. Tohru, now fully dressed, stepped through the doorway. Her face still slightly tinted, the brunette stepped into the room. She wrung her hands nervously, and stuttered, "So…um…why was I suddenly…ah…naked? I'd just been in the kitchen, making dinner, and then…" Tohru trailed off, inwardly cringing in embarrassment, keeping her gaze on the floor.
Shigure was grinning widely, much to the annoyance of Yuki and Kyo, who failed to see any humor in the situation. The dog Sohma proclaimed, "Well, you see, you…how should I put this? You turned into a red panda, Tohru-kun."
Tohru blinked. Then she laughed. "Shigure-san! Come on, please tell me what really happened."
Silence. She looked at the other two boys pleadingly, but got no response.
"You…you were joking, right Shigure-san? I mean, I'm not a member of the Jyuunishi, why would I…how could I…?"
Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt, Kyo said gruffly, "Heck, how should we know how it happened? But you definitely turned into something that looked like a red raccoon, that's for sure."
Tohru's voice was now shrill with panic. "But…but….ohhhhh…" Her stuttering faded into a low, animal-like moan of despair. The other three watched helplessly as she sank to her knees.
As she silently freaked out, Yuki's hand lightly touched her shoulder. "Honda-san, did anything unusual happen today? Anything you couldn't explain?"
The girl looked up at him, momentarily startled. Concern echoed in the eyes of all three Sohmas, although Shigure managed to look worried while still looking like he thought all of this was extremely funny. Tohru's mind raced. She couldn't very well tell them about her dream, and the voice from the dream that had followed her into consciousness. Dreams were only dreams, right? They didn't affect reality. And yet…that was the only thing she could think of. And Tohru knew that Yuki and Kyo would know in an instant if she lied to them by telling them everything was fine.
"Well…last night, I had a strange dream. In it, I went to see Akito-san at the mainhouse," At the mention of the Sohma family master's name, Kyo clenched his fists, and Yuki twitched involuntarily. "And we made a deal about…I can't remember what it was about, exactly." She couldn't bring herself to remind Kyo of the beast-form that cast him as an outsider. Besides, it wouldn't matter whether or not she told them every detail. The three males knew that if she had gone to see Akito, it couldn't have been anything but the curse. "And then he…it was like there were more of him-"
"Now that's what I call a nightmare." Kyo growled softly, interrupting the girl he'd come to think of as more than a friend.
Shigure reprimanded him, "Shush, Kyon-kyon! Let her finish the story." His eyes glowed brightly, as if the dream was a novel that he hadn't quite reached the end of.
"Don't call me that." The redhead grumbled before shutting up.
Tohru, having risen from the floor, looked around at the room's other three occupants for a moment. My boys, she thought fondly. Then the brunette continued the retelling of the previous night's dream. "He said I was to become part of the Zodiac, in my end of the deal. I asked him how this was possible, because each of the 13 animals from the legend has a current Sohma family member to occupy. But then Akito…changed. Suddenly he wasn't himself anymore. It was like he'd split into five different people, at least I think there were five. They weren't human, but they were good, somehow. They said something about never leaving distress uncured. And then I woke up." After finishing her tale, Tohru looked at the Sohma family members helplessly.
"Damn him! I knew that bastard Akito was at the bottom of this!" Kyo proclaimed, slamming one fist into his other palm.
"No you didn't."
"Shut it, you damn nezumi!"
Shigure questioned amiably, "So what do we do now?" The dog Sohma did not appear worried in the least about the situation or Tohru's condition. He laced his fingers together, elbows resting on the low table that took up a corner of the room.
To their surprise, Tohru spoke up hesitantly, although her head still hung in shame. "Well…if there's nothing we can do, maybe we should just forget it ever happened? I mean…maybe it was just a fluke? Maybe the Sohma curse is just unusually high in power today, or something else that might have caused my…transformation." The brunette looked up hopefully.
"Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away." Shigure said with more than a hint of sternness in his voice. Then he brightened. "But it is the easiest solution!"
"So we're just going to do nothing?!" Kyo asked incredulously, eyes wide in disbelief. Anger flooded through him. It wasn't anger at anything or anyone in particular, but anger towards the entire situation and the fact that he had to admit there was pretty much nothing they could do to aid Tohru.
Yuki told him flatly, "Unless you have any better solutions, baka neko, it looks that way." While Kyo raged silently, he turned to Tohru. The violet-eyed teenager's words were grim. "Honda-san, be sure to let us know if anything else out of the ordinary happens. And perhaps you'd best be extra careful around the opposite sex in public."
"Yes, seeing a pretty girl suddenly turn into a red panda might be a little traumatizing for some people." Shigure piped up. What he didn't add was that Tohru was almost certain to have her memories erased if that did happen, animal form or no animal form.
There were a few more moments of silence, something very unusual in the Sohma house. Then Tohru chirped, "Anyway, dinner's ready! I was just finishing it up, I'll bring it to the table."
"What're we having?" Kyo queried mildly, looking over at Tohru.
She smiled brightly. "Fish and miso soup with red potatoes!" Kyo gave her a half-smile in return, mentally thanking the gods for her not finding out that he'd fed their supply of leeks to a stray dog early that morning.
As Tohru bounded off towards the kitchen, Shigure turned towards the low table that was supposed to be used for meals, but was just as often used to play cards on. A heated weight suddenly rested on his shoulder, as if someone had come up behind him and rested their chin on his left shoulder. Warm breath brushed the inside of his ear as a voice whispered to him, quiet and invisible as the wind's song.
Empty inside…The dog Sohma's neck twisted as he stared over his shoulder, looking for the speaker. But there was no one there.
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"And then he came up to me after 5th period and asked if I'd go to a movie with him. Sure he sounded real sincere and stuff, and he did look dead sexy in that black jacket he wears, but everybody knows he goes out with a different girl every week and tries to make it with her. So of course I told him where to go," Tohru clutched her bookbag to her chest as she listened to her friend Uotani's vivid description of the blonde yankee's encounter with their school's famous pervert, Kido Miranzu, a third-year in their high school, therefore a year above them. On her other side, Hanajima appeared to be listening patiently to Uo's story, but Tohru had a strong suspicion that the raven-haired girl's thoughts were extremely far away from Uo's retelling of the afternoon's events. Her two best friends had come to walk her home after she finished at work. The brunette attempted to follow her feisty friend's story, but she had her own dilemma to think about right then.
Luckily, the incident hadn't risen its head again during the day following her brief transformation into the red panda. She was grateful for that, but it did little to ease the many questions that she and the three Sohmas she lived with, despite multiple, usually absurd ideas thought up by Shigure. And though she tried, Tohru was unable to forget the period of time when her mind hadn't been the only one within a completely unfamiliar body.
None of the Sohmas had ever mentioned that when they took their animal forms, the animal mind remained in its body with them. When Tohru thought about it, she realized what it was like during the transformation had never really come up in conversation. It hadn't really seemed as important as the effects, at the time. But now that she had become another creature, and shared a body with that creature's mind, it seemed very important indeed.
The red panda's mind had been simple. There hadn't been true sentience, the panda hadn't seemed to be aware that a strange invader was inside its head. The fire fox's mind had been mild and gentle. It was mostly preoccupied with whether there was enough food, whether any snow leopards were in the area, and if there was an easy escape route at hand. Since the Sohma house had filled all three requirements, the panda brain hadn't had much to say. You couldn't transcribe the animal's thoughts into human words. You'd have to be able to speak their language to do that. Before, Tohru had not truly believed animal races had their own languages. Now she did. But in general, the red panda's mind spoke in a sleepy, mildly amused tone, content to wait until night to play and hunt in the trees or, if need be, vanish into the shadows.
No, what had frightened Tohru the most about her transformation was the fact she'd had little control over what her body did. It had been strange having four legs and a tail, to say the least. The ground had felt uncomfortable, somehow, as if it were too flat. She'd felt a longing for scrabbling paws on rough bark, for twisted forests of branches lit only by moonlight, for the tensing of the muscles in her sturdy hind legs as they coiled and sprang to lift her from tree to tree. The fire fox had felt a mild hunger for either bamboo or insects, or possibly even a small animal if there was nothing else. But the hunger had been manageable, not overwhelming.
But…she hadn't had any control over what the animal did. The panda's mind, though drowsy and usually gentle, had been in complete control over the body's functions. Tohru had merely been a passenger in the red panda's body. It had been like riding a horse, but without any saddle or bridle to help you maintain control over the animal. She could only watch through the five senses as the panda did whatever it wished. She'd been fortunate that whatever strange factor had caused her to turn into an animal had only turned her into the red panda, a mild and generally non-threatening omnivore. What would have happened if she'd turned into something more ferocious, something that could have hurt the Sohmas without a second thought if it had been hungry? If she'd even scratched any of the people she'd come to know as her family, she could never have lived with herself…
But I didn't, Tohru remind herself. I didn't do anything to Kyo or Yuki or Shigure. I didn't even think of doing that…well, the panda didn't. What matters is that they're all okay and that hopefully I can put this whole thing behind me now. It was just a one-time incident, it won't happen again…oh Kami-sama, please don't let it happen again…
Apparently oblivious to her companions' daydreaming, Uotani continued, "But Kido wouldn't stop following me, so of course I had to kick him in the-"
Hana interrupted abruptly in her soft voice. "Tohru, are you all right? You've barely said a word since we left the building you work in."
Her head snapped up. She said hastily, "No, I'm fine, Hana-chan! I was just daydreaming!"
Uo poked her playfully on the arm with one finger. She said seriously, "You seem to be daydreaming a lot lately. Something on your mind, Tohru-chan?"
"Um…no…" Tohru stared at the ground, refusing to meet their eyes.
Uo and Hana exchanged a doubtful look. "Tohru-chan, you're a horrible liar." Hana stated calmly, her unwavering eyes shining like black pearls, as they always did.
Her yankee friend moved forward and looped an arm companionably around Tohru's shoulders. She declared easily, "C'mon, Tohru. We've been through plenty of awful crap before. Whatever's bothering you, we can help you out of it."
Tohru thought of the drowsy mind that now lay at the very back of her head, dormant but waiting to emerge again. She thought of the memories of running through a forest of bamboo that she now possessed, the memories of claws and hunting and silver moonlight. She thought of the bizarre dream she had experienced just before her situation came to light. The girl had a sinking feeling that her red panda hadn't made its final appearance just yet. And there was nothing she could do. There was nothing anyone could do. No. No, you can't. Not this time. Tohru raised her sapphire eyes and met the concerned gazes of her friends. The brunette murmured softly, "Guys, I really appreciate how much you care…but this is something I need to deal with on my own." She gave them a weak but honest smile to assure them. "But you're right, Uo-chan. At the end, we'll all be here together. I promise." Uo's lips curved into an understanding smile, and Hana nodded slightly. Hana draped her arm over Tohru's shoulder so that it rested with Uo's arm. The three best friends walked down the street in a companionable silence.
But as they walked, Tohru prayed she would be able to keep her promise.
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It was 8th period of the next school day, and the "prince" of the school was bored. Not mildly bored. Not drowsy wishing-school-was-over bored. Excruciatingly, agonizingly, out-of-his-mind bored. Yuki glanced around the classroom. The sensei was reviewing the material for their science test tomorrow. Absolutely no one in the room appeared to be paying attention. Kyo was gazing fixedly out the window, completely oblivious to the girl in the desk on his right, who was poking him experimentally with her ruler, presumably to see how long she could keep it up without him noticing. Tohru's eyes kept wandering occasionally to an open book on her desk, before snapping up guiltily to stay focused on the teacher. A boy in the back had slipped an earphone for a CD player into his ear, hiding it under his mahogany hair. Three girls in the middle of the room were trying to be discreet as they passed a small notebook back and forth, scribbling notes to one another. The new girl (who was now wearing the school uniform) appeared to working on an elaborate cartoon drawing of a jackal devouring a chipmunk. A few seats behind him, another boy was annoying the girl in front of him by playing with her long ponytail. But she was grinning even as she quietly scolded him, and the Sohma knew the girl was enjoying it. Yuki had a feeling the teacher was aware of all of this, and just didn't particularly care. That was odd. She usually looked for any excuse to chew the students out. With nothing better to do, Yuki turned his attention back to the blackboard.
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It was running. It was always running, either towards something or away from something, but always running. There was a forest, and It was surrounded by night. But that was all right, It had been the one who created the night in the first place. Night was not a stranger, but a cloak to which It could flee when It was overpowered.
As the being ran, It took the form of a male black wolf. Appearances were nothing but a simple change of clothes to the Powers, something they were required to take when they visited the worlds they created and watched over. Even to the Lone Power, this was applied. The earth forest was thick with the smell of soil and dew and urine. He detected every one of the animals that had passed through where he ran, and that would pass through after he left. His paws left no tracks in the soft dirt, and even his breathing left no sound in the silent night air. He was nothing but a phantom, death as it came on swift wings.
The wolf flew through the night and came to rest on a sharp rock ledge that overlooked a lake. The waters rippled softly as gentle winds bounced off the surface. He settled onto his haunches, his thick tail curled loosely beside his strong hind paws. His pelt shone with the black light of an opal. Muscles knotted under his skin. His eyes were deep with the abyss of eternity. The animal form he took was magnificent to look at, even though it reeked of death and loneliness. Betrayal had not stolen Its beauty or charm. Though It could take any appearance, as could any Power, It usually appeared wonderful to any mortal, though It held so much horror.
Another came to join him. A female wolf, with a pelt of pewter. She moved like liquid mercury, or quicksilver. Silver moonbeams bounced from the other Power's eyes into the dark eternity of the Lone One's eyes.
"Why did you follow me?""I am the Wanderer, the Undecided. I answer to no particular side, Lone One. And I was needed here."
"You know your efforts will be wasted, in the end. All life must come to an end. It is the Law. We agreed upon it when the universe began."
"Yes. Life may die, but spirits do not. Life is reborn as they take new forms. Life holds on, and hates to let go. It is the way. Why do you fight us? Why did you leave?"
"Because there must be bad in order for good to exist. One cannot know light with dark, pleasure without pain, sameness without contrariety. It is the way of the Great Power that feeds the entire universe. Who else would have played the villain? Someone had to, in the end."
"That is true, Lone One. That is true. But you are still cared for. I have not forgotten you."
"How do I know you do not lie?"
"Because I am the Wanderer, as you are the Dark One. To lie would be to give you strength to give suffering to those who had no choice but to accept it."
"You know as well as I do, Wanderer, that Death is nothing but merciful when it comes to some aspects of Life."
"Yes. As you said, there can be no light without a shadow to accompany it. But without light, there would be no dreams."
The two beings gazed out onto the water for awhile. The full moon's reflection shone in the center, a golden orb. Stars peeked and flickered in the velvety-blue night sky around Earth's mistress, the Lady Moon.
"It is beautiful, this world. And all the others, they are beautiful, too. In their own ways."
"Everything can be beautiful. Everything can be ugly."
"Yes."
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Yuki blinked. What? He shook his head very slightly. It was as if he'd been transported from the classroom to witness a strange fantasy that took place in a forest, far away, in a time that had either occurred long before he was born or would occur long after he died. But no, his elbows still rested on the inside of the desk. His classmates were still around him, a good 75 percentof which were half-asleep. The teacher was still droning on. What was that? A hallucination? He exhaled, and decided to put it out of his mind. The Sohma family had enough to worry about. Probably it was brought on by an overdose of daydreaming in class. With a rueful smile in his eyes, Yuki began absent-mindedly paging through his science notes. First the panda incident, and now a hallucination about wolves. There was no doubt about it. He was slowly going insane.
Meanwhile, a pair of eyes watched him thoughtfully. They knew.
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Author's Note: Well, no one guessed what Tohru was. No cookies for you! Heh heh…I'm a mean little authoress, aren't I? But I did tell you no one would get it. When I wrote the end of Chapter Two and I put in the line about bamboo, I also thought about putting, "And be specific about what color animal you guess", but I decided that would be too helpful. Plus I'm just mean. And if none of this made any sense to you at all…well that's okay. It's not supposed to. It'll all make sense in the last chapter. 'Til then, y'all can just keep guessing and I'll just keep laughing at you. Have fun! Oh yeah, and I now have Volumes One through Six of the manga! I haven't actually gotten around to reading Six yet, but give me a break! I just got Three through Six yesterday! No idea where the idea for red panda came from, but it DOES suit her. And it's fuzzy! Now give me a nice review, or at least review to scream at me about how horrible it was. That's a good little reader. And I've decided to be super-nice and actually respond to the reviews from last chapter. Don't get used to it. And yes, I'm perfectly aware Akito is a female. I'm still trying to convince my best friend of this, and she's the one who got me into Furuba in the first place. But I'm referring to him as male because I feel like it. That whole gender issue about him will pop up towards the end, but it won't have a huge effect on the story. Now, to my reviewers:
Karina Gomez: I know. I'm a wicked little author, aren't I? But the story IS supposed to be suspenseful, after all.
Dark Inu Fan: No Tohru's not a cat! Didn't you see the line about bamboo towards the end? Tch, you need to pay more attention. And I will. I know I'm awesome.
Blizzardgrl: No, Tohru's not a panda…she's a RED panda! Ha ha…I love tricking my readers. But it's ok, you tried. HAVE A DOUGHNUT! (shoves doughnut down Blizzard's throat) And Akito kinda did something to her. But he also kinda didn't. That didn't help at all, did it? Ah well, if you keep reading, it might make sense at the end. Maybe. Sort of.
Yabun: I heard that. And you are half-incorrect, which counts as incorrect in my book. Go you. But yeah, I'm liking this cliffhanger style. Torturing my readers is so much fun…maybe that's why I like Shigure. God help the editor who's in charge of me if I ever get a book published.
Bradybunch4529: Yes, I do do nice work, don't I? Nope, I'm not modest in the slightest. Well I approve of the fact that you approve.
Sami the archangel: Well, I don't know if I'd call it soon, but there ya go. Be grateful it's updated at all. I have a bad habit of dropping fics when I'm in the middle of them. Moonfire might actually get finished, because I know how I want it to end and mostly how it's going to get there. But I'm not guaranteeing anything. Just keep hoping. And reviewing. Reviews are nice.
So until next time, may the force be with you! And don't touch my manga copies. Ever. (strokes her Furuba manga volumes) My precious…my preeeecious…