Inspired by the novel Seeing a Large Cat by Elizabeth Peters. I do not own Fruits Basket. Based on the anime; takes place after the series. Eventual SPOILERS for the anime! This is a work of fiction- by that I mean do not attempt to learn anything factual from it, particularly about Egypt or its ancient culture! I had to change some things to make them fit…
Rated for language, and mild violence/fantasy action.
Enjoy.

"Seeing a Large Cat"

"Good Gad, there ought to be safety in numbers,
but with this family one cannot depend on anything."
- Emerson, Seeing a Large Cat

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1
Into the Land of the Sun
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Hatori's eyelids fluttered as he pulled his mind back into the conscious realm. It took him a few moments to process his surroundings; much longer than it should have, which the abstract medical portion of his mind noted was a side effect of many sedatives. As was his dry mouth and moist palms, though he would admit that those could have been produced by the abnormally high temperature of the room in which he sat. No, not a room- the main cabin of an airplane. Ayame was seated next to him, apparently still unconscious; he shook the snake by the shoulder, but received no response, not even a snore. Hatori remembered now that Shigure was in front of them, though he could not see the dog at the moment, and the others were scattered throughout the Souma private jet: Kagura, Hatsuharu, Momiji, and Yuki.

He put his hand to his head and rubbed his temples. They were supposed to be on their way to... The answer supplied itself surprisingly easily. They were on their way to visit a member of the clan who was dying. A very influential member, bedridden, with one request before he passed on. Akito had summoned them, Hatori remembered, and said that they couldn't wait for the other five. They had left immediately, in all haste. They must have arrived, for Hatori could hear that the plane's engines had stopped. He pushed himself up out of his seat, clinging to it for balance, and again wondered why it was so infernally hot. He made his way toward the front of the plane and the door, passing other seats and their unconscious occupants along the way. Something was wrong, he had a very strong feeling, but his thoughts were still too muddled to process exactly what it was.

He reached the front door of the cabin. The door was halfway open; he pushed it all the way and stepped into the antechamber, but paused when his foot kicked against something. He looked down to see what it was and found a leg, a very familiar one, but blinking and shaking his head were not helping him to discover the name of its owner. So his eyes followed the leg up to the body that went with it, and he continued blinking in an attempt to figure out what Kyou was doing here. That was definitely not right, nor was Tohru lying next to him. Looking at the peaceful smile on her face reminded him of something, and with the return of that memory his eyes narrowed and his lip curled. Stepping over the pair, he made his way to the outer door. He found the door already open. It hung loosely on its hinges, creaking in the hottest breeze Hatori had ever felt in his life. Shielding his eyes against the intense glare of the sun, he stepped out of the plane and found himself standing on sand.

The sand stretched as far as he could see, beyond the horizon; sand and dirt and rock. The sun was setting off to his right, the giant orb pouring heat down on him like an autumn rain. But not far away, crouched on a rocky outcropping, was the object of his quest. "Harakhte!" he snarled, and made his way unsteadily toward the man. Upon hearing his voice, the figure jumped up and turned toward him. Looking in the eyes of the other man, Hatori paused a moment.

"Welcome! Oh my cousin, you are well-come to my country!" Harakhte leapt up and made as if to embrace Hatori, but a warning gesture from the dragon stopped him. Harakhte grinned, and the sunlight reflecting off his deep brown eyes lighted the depths with a mad yellow light.

"What is going on?" Hatori's patience was already thin, and threads of fear were working into his annoyance. A sound behind him made him turn; Shigure was standing in the doorway to the plane. He looked angry and annoyed as well, though not unduly surprised at their situation, which in itself did not surprise Hatori. Shigure had had suspicions about the mysterious "Harakhte" since the man had presented himself to them at the plane, introducing himself as a distant cousin. Well, Hatori had not been favorably impressed either; the gleam in the man's eyes when he had seen Tohru and the possessive smile he had bestowed upon her when he had met her as she had come to bid the others farewell, had not set well with the dragon.

Shigure advanced toward where Hatori and Harakhte stood and gripped the dragon's shoulder, a gesture which was not lost on Harakhte, even in the semi-ecstatic state he seemed to be in, and the stranger's eyes narrowed slightly. "Akito-san will not be pleased that you have abducted us," Shigure growled at him. "He does not allow people to trifle with his family."

To Hatori's surprise, Harakhte laughed. "Do you think I do not know that? That I would not have researched my target as much as was possible? That I would not know every consequence before I acted on this, what is the most important day of my life? Of the life of my entire clan?" A chill ran through Hatori's blood, as a suspicion that had been half formed in the back of his mind solidified. Harakhte's smile spread across his face, and again seemed to bring out the golden depths of his eyes. "Akito-sama granted me permission to, ah, 'borrow,' his family for a few days. And after all, are you not my family as well?" Brought out of the shock induced by Harakhte's announcement, Shigure growled and lunged at the other man.

Hatori grabbed Shigure by the front of his shirt, preventing him from attacking. As much as he wanted to do the same, they were stranded in a strange place and Harakhte was the only one who knew where they were- and how to get them home again. Hatori was painfully aware of the lives of the people still on the aircraft, lives he was responsible for. "Shigure," he murmured warningly. But Shigure's mind was following the same line of thought. He stepped back, pulled himself free of Hatori's grasp, and, with a glare thrown at Harakhte, went back to the plane.

Standing across from the strange disruptive man, who was still grinning like a madman, Hatori took a deep breath and glanced at the sun which balanced precariously on the horizon. It would soon be set, and that thought made the wind that suddenly whipped across his face seemed instantly to be colder. That may have been his imagination, but he knew that the desert night would soon become incredibly cold. He glared at Harakhte. "There must be some shelter nearby or you would not have brought us here." The man's grin made resisting the urge to hit him very difficult. "Other explanations can wait. The others require food and warmth."

Realizing that that was all he was going to get in the way of Hatori asking him for help, and that the next such "request" would probably be accompanied by a bit less politeness and a great deal more pain, Harakhte nodded and gestured for Hatori to precede him back to the downed airplane. "Come then, dragon. We will wake those we can and carry the others. You are correct in saying that shelter is what is most needed at this time, and it would be better if we were under it before true night is upon us." Hatori's eyes narrowed further at Harakhte's familiar address, but questions could wait he reminded himself. And how he would enjoy getting answers when the time came…

Inside the plane, Shigure was attempting to waken the others but meeting with frustration. Kagura was blinking groggily, and so was Haru, but the others stubbornly clung to unconsciousness. "Carry him," Hatori said, touching Shigure on the shoulder as the dog gently shook Ayame. Shigure nodded and slung his friend over his shoulder before moving to the exit of the plane, shooting Harakhte a dark look as he went. Suiting his own actions to his words, Hatori went to the back of the plane and lifted Yuki in his arms. He scanned the room to make sure no one had been forgotten. Haru stood close behind him holding Momiji up with his arm under the rabbit's shoulders. Hatori nodded at him to follow Shigure, and as they exited they ran into Kagura and Harakhte staring at each other in the antechamber. Kyou and Tohru lay on the floor between them and something suddenly occurred to Hatori; none of them could carry Tohru, except Harakhte. His lip curled at the thought, especially with the way the man was looking at Tohru. Apparently the same thing had occurred to Kagura; she appeared to be vacillating between throwing Kyou over her shoulder and leaving Tohru to Harakhte's tender mercies or saving her friend and trusting that her love could take care of himself. Or, as her slightly maddened expression suggested as she stared down Harakhte with all traces of the sedative washed away, she would let her fists tell Harakhte exactly what she thought of him, carry her friend and her future husband, and to hell with their guide.

"Kagura," Hatori said, and he was surprise when she actually looked at him. He hadn't really thought that he'd be able to reach her with the state she was in. "Take Tohru." He shot a look at Harakhte, who smiled innocently. The expression was as out of place on him as gills on a bird. He bent down to scoop Kyou into his arms then meekly went to the front of the group to lead the way.

Hatori growled under his breath and exchanged glances with Shigure. He hated having to rely on this man who had proved to be nothing but deceitful, in addition to being more than a little insane, but they really had no other choice at the moment. The darkness of the desert night closed around them swiftly and it was fortunate that their destination was even closer than Hatori had thought it would be, since if it was much further they would never have found it; even with their guide, they could have walked right by it in the dark.

It was a small village, spread out in a pocket that was hidden between two huge sand dunes and an outcropping of rock. The villagers stared at them as they went past; they made some sort of hand gesture that was unfamiliar to Hatori as Harakhte passed them. It looked like a gesture of respect and he wondered sourly what it was Harakhte had done to earn their respect, or if this was just a culture that placed some sort of religious protection on madmen. The people and their manner of dress were unfamiliar, as was the language they whispered to each other as the group passed; that combined with the climate served to reinforce to Hatori that they were not in Japan.

Harakhte brought them to a building that looked to be the largest in the village and showed them a group of rooms next to each other. Oil lamps burned bravely against the darkness on low tables and beds lined the walls. "You may rest the night here." He lay Kyou down on one of the beds. Kyou stirred as Harakhte released him but did not waken. A yellow gleam seemed to shine forth from the strange man's eyes as he looked at Kyou, but it disappeared so quickly Hatori thought he must have imagined it. "In the morning many things will be explained, hmm?" With one last wild grin at the suspicious faces which regarded him, Harakhte stepped backward through the doorway and disappeared into the night.

Shigure stepped forward and deliberately closed the heavy curtain which hung across the portal and served as a door. He turned to Hatori and his eyes blazed with suppressed fury. Hatori nodded at him absently and turned to the younger Soumas. The suite Harakhte had shown them consisted of three rooms; Kagura had taken Tohru to the smallest, innermost one and pointedly shut the curtain against her male relatives. In the second room Momiji sat on the edge of one of the beds blinking slowly, seemingly unable to decide if he should continue to try to wake up or just go back to sleep. Hatori pushed him gently down so that he was lying on the bed and his eyes closed in final surrender of the battle. Haru lay across one of the other beds, and Yuki's still form was where Hatori had placed him on the third bed. His stillness worried Hatori; he looked as if he was carved of stone in the dim light that filtered in from the first room. He touched Yuki's cheek to reassure himself that the boy was still warm and alive before he stepped back out into the first room. Ayame and Kyou lay on two of the beds here, and Shigure was pacing violently across the small room.

"Shigure," Hatori said tiredly and his old friend turned to look at him. They knew each other so well that almost an entire conversation passed in that one word and that look. Shigure gritted his teeth, and with a sigh of anger he nodded at Hatori.

"I do not believe I can wait until tomorrow to kill him," Shigure said conversationally as he sat on the edge of one of the empty beds. Hatori did not respond as he all but collapsed onto the other. He reached over and extinguished the lamp, the room fading into darkness. A long moment stretched between them. "Ha-san," Shigure whispered after a moment.

He sighed. "I know. Sleep, Shigure."

Whether or not Shigure responded he had no idea; the moment he closed his eyes this time, unconsciousness stole over him.

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His next thought was of light and warmth. It was washing over him, swallowing him. Hatori opened his eyes. Light was everywhere. It blinded him at first, until his eyes adjusted. He had slept deeply; far more deeply that he would have thought possible, and much more deeply than he would have had he had any choice in the matter. Who knew what could have happened while he lay there… He rolled over and pushed himself to a sitting position. Blinking, he looked around the room. Shigure was gone, Kyou as well. Ayame was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands, his whole body shaking.

Hatori went to him. Kneeling beside the snake, he turned his face up so that Ayame was looking at him. "What is it?" he asked softly.

Ayame shook his head. "That voice," he mumbled.

Before Hatori could question him further, Kagura appeared in the door. She had a look on her face; as if she had misplaced something he had entrusted to her and now feared a reprimand. But he hadn't given her anything… Wait. He rose from his kneeling position and pushed past Kagura. In the next room Haru and Momiji were sitting beside each other on one of the beds. Yuki was nowhere to be seen. Hatori pushed through to the inner room. Tohru was not there.

He went back to Kagura. She was sitting on one of the empty beds looking up at him, fear in her eyes. Not of him, but for her own failure and what it might mean.

"Sometime during the night," she said. "When I woke up, she was gone. And her socks and coat are still where I put them when I put her to bed. Her shoes are gone; I think he took them too." She looked up at Hatori, asking him with her gaze to tell her that everything was going to be alright.

He took a deep breath. "Where are the others?" he asked first.

"Kyou-kun went to look for her. Yun-chan, too. I don't know about Sensei."

"I am here," Shigure came in through the door. "I went for a walk," he said, half in jest, but when he saw their faces he sobered immediately. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Tohru is gone."

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