Disclaimer: We do not own Fruits Basket, we just manipulate the plot but that's not the point!

A Curse to Remember

Chapter One: Prologue

"You will not skip out on the New Years banquet this year." Akito Sohma snarled at the two family members standing before him.

Yuki winced visibly and Kyou stiffened, neither making eye contact with the ruthless head of the family. Akito's traditional Japanese robes were slightly disarrayed from a fight earlier. Yuki's right eye was partially swollen from where Akito had beaten him and Kyou's lip and nose were bleeding profusely.

"Now!" Akito snapped fiercely. "On New Years Eve, you will bring Tohru Honda to stay for the whole three day New Years celebration." A cruel laugh started up in his throat; Yuki's violet eyes widened in fright at the mention of this. What does he want with Miss Honda! All he does is hurt her… The zodiac rat stared down at the floor, his mind racing to come up with some way to protect Tohru from Akito. But as the head of the family, Akito couldn't be disobeyed.

Kyou gritted his teeth and glared at Akito intensely. "There's no way in hell we would bring Tohru to you!" Kyou clenched his fists and yelled at the dark-haired head of the family.

Before Kyou could dodge, Akito grabbed a nearby stool and it collided with the side of Kyou's head, knocking him to the floor. "Never go against my orders, you freak cat!"

"Akito!" Yuki shouted desperately. Akito turned sharply on Yuki, ready to strike him at the first sign of rebellion. An idea clicked into Yuki's head. "Let two of Tohru's friends come as well!"

A wicked grin curled on Akito's lips. "Why should I?"

Kyou had gotten to his feet by that point and knew the answer to Akito's question. "If either of them got wind of this they wouldn't let Tohru come here unless they came too." Kyou finished.

There was a long tense silence while Akito pondered. Maybe these two friends of hers would be fun toying with as well. I'll make all of them suffer. Akito turned his back on the bruised cat and mouse, straightening his clothes. "Very well…" he trailed off. "Tohru's two friends may come to the New Years celebration."

Yuki sighed in relief and bowed respectfully before exiting the room. Kyou just stuck his hands into his pockets and left silently.

Outside, the air was cold and crisp. Light snow had fallen and crunched beneath their feet as they walked back to Shigure's house. Kyou spat the blood in his mouth onto the snow outside and didn't speak to Yuki. Neither of them had anything to say to the other anyway…

Back at Shigure's house, the perverted writer was sitting in his office working on a story (for once) when the sound of the front door opening and shutting caught his attention. He poked his head out of the room and into the hallway to see the beaten duo.

"I'm guessing your meeting with Akito didn't go so well." Shigure stated in a serious tone.

"No." Yuki growled. "Akito has dragged Miss Honda into this now, too."

"I believe he's been tugging her farther in the whole time…" Shigure sighed. "Speaking of Tohru-kun, she should be home from work pretty soon."

The doorbell rang and Shigure went to the door to find Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima standing there. "Why hello there Saki and Arisa. If you're here to see Tohru-kun she'll be home from work in a little bit."

"Yo writer dude, just let us in, will ya?" Arisa complained from having to stand out in the cold.

"Yes, please do." Saki added dryly.

"Of course, sorry." Shigure pranced into the next room, leaving Tohru's friends to let themselves in, and he sang on his way to the living room. "High school girls, high school girls, all for me, high school girls!"

"What a fool." The gothic psychic noted.

Yuki glared after Shigure with impatience, "Lecher…" and closed the door behind Saki and Arisa. "What brings you two here?" Yuki asked, despite his relief to see them.

Arisa folded her arms across her chest and glanced at Saki. "I'd like to know the same. Hana dragged me here, rambling about electric waves."

"It concerns our little Tohru." Saki said quietly, making Yuki's heart skip a beat. "The electric waves are telling me that she might be in danger during New Years. This means, Uo and I will be forced to stay with Tohru for the Holiday."

Yuki sighed in relief inwardly. "She'll be spending three days at the Sohma mansion."

"Too bad, we're coming!" Arisa said forcefully. "I'm not leaving her alone like that-" She suddenly stopped looking back at Saki. "But… I just remembered that my cousin just came to town. My dad is scared to death of her so she can't be left alone with my dad."

"So? Leave her at some cheap hotel." Kyou grumbled.

Arisa pulled her scarf off and whipped Kyou with it. "I should let her lynch you for that!"

Saki continued as if she hadn't even been interrupted. "That's simple, bring her as well. I will also have to admit that I must bring along my younger sister."

Stopping her attempt to hang Kyou, Arisa looked at Saki in surprise. "You have a younger sister? I thought there was only Megumi."

"Midori is very shy…" Explained Saki.

"You mean there's more of your kind!" Kyou exclaimed, turning Saki's gaze to Kyou who jumped from an electrical shock. "What the hell! She shocked me with her freakish electric waves!"

"If Tohru didn't care for you so much, I wouldn't have just given you a light shock…" Saki said quietly.

"That... was light?" Kyou gulped.

"Yes…"

Yuki was deep in thought, blocking out the conversations of the others. Yet relieved that Saki and Arisa would be coming to New Years, Akito would probably disapprove two more people coming. But… this was how it had to be. "So everything is settled? Your sister and cousin can come."

"They were coming no matter what." Saki stated bluntly.

Yuki sweat dropped. "Of course…"

In the background, Kyou started muttering to himself quietly about getting shocked by Saki and hearing voices.

The doorbell rang for the second time that evening. "I'll get it!" Shigure sang and frolicked past the rest of them, flinging the door open to the sound of someone sobbing. "Tohru, why are you crying?"

"I'm so sorry, Shigure-san. I forgot my keys!" Tohru cried pathetically.

"No need to apologize Tohru." He said nervously, hoping no one would suspect that before she had gone to work he had dropped her keys down the sink's drain on accident. The zodiac dog stepped aside so Tohru could come bursting in through the door carrying groceries.

"I'm sorry, I'm so late, I went to work and realized I had forgotten my keys so I got Momiji to fill in for me but I searched the school and still couldn't find them--Oh hi Uo, Hello Hana" Saki and Uo tried to reply but Tohru went back on babbling, Yuki smiled apologetically as Tohru kept going on and on about why she was late. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Ms. Honda, please let me help you carry those." He took most of the bags from Tohru and headed off to the kitchen. Just as she went to follow Yuki through the door, Kyou jumped up blocking her way putting both hands up to block the whole door.

"GIMME THOSE!" He said roughly and snatched the bags away from her before she could protest. He stormed off into the kitchen and helped put all of the food away. Tohru still came in and began to make tea for everyone. I wonder what's wrong with Kyou today? She asked herself silently.

As Yuki placed a box on the shelf he turned to the bubbly girl, "Tohru, Akito has requested that you come to the banquet." He shuddered and she turned to him dropping the boiling teapot.

Outside the room, Uo was leaning against the wall trying to hear as much as she could through the paper wall. "Damn, why can't they speak a little louder." Uo complained and repositioned herself so she could hear a little better. Hana had pulled a magazine off of a bookshelf and began reading. Shigure sat there in utter misery or heaven, only he could know. The silence was killing him so he turned to Uo first. "So Uotani, how have you-" Next thing he knew Uo had thrown a book at him.

"Shut up, I'm trying to listen."

He sighed and turned to Saki. "Tsk, tsk, isn't it a shame that Tohru's lost her keys. Although I'm not shocked, she does forget things a lot-"

Saki didn't even look up and replied, "YOU lost her keys." She said in that plain and dry voice. Shigure laughed slightly and gave up talking to them altogether and thought about working on his book some more.

"Don't drop that!" Kyou dove and caught the teapot in his bare hands. It took him a minute to realize what happened. His eyes widened with pain. "SON OF A--!" He threw it into the air, having it land on the floor and breaking anyway. Yuki turned to him glaring slowly.

"You are truly an idiot you know." He carried out another pot and went back into the living room. Kyou sat on the floor, his hands blistering before him. Tohru grabbed a towel and some ice and held it on his hands.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to drop that." Tohru apologized.

He sat up, his hands shaking and glanced over to Tohru. "No, Tohru, it's ok I just… well I don't know why Akito wants you to come but the damned Yankee and the creep-" He shuddered as he mentioned her, "And Electric girl will be coming too, so you won't… You know, be alone." He smiled that awkward smile of his then wiped the back of his hand on his mouth. "Tohru, don't EVER drop one of those things again." He looked over his hands again. "Damn it, I can't have my hands like this." Tohru dabbed his wounds lightly with ice then noticed his lip was split.

"Kyou? When did you split your lip like that?" She leaned in and examined it, Kyou drawing back slowly with a slight blush growing on his cheeks.

He didn't want to tell her about seeing Akito.

"Uh… Yuki and I got into a fight," he smirked putting on an act. "I managed to pop him in the eye to; he should have a black one in the morning unless he puts make up on!" He laughed at his own joke. Kyou stood up and walked to the kitchen door, "I'll be in my room fixing these up, and you better go out there." After he left Tohru stood and went into the living room and sat next to Uo and Shigure. Saki turned to Tohru finally, putting down her Magazine.

"Uo and I will be attending the banquet at the Sohmas' with you." Saki glanced at Uo.

"Yah, She's also bringing her sister and I'm stuck bringing my cousin. You remember my cousin right?"

At this, Tohru went completely rigid. "Your… cousin? Well, I'm sure she's nice deep down…" Tohru acted like she was trying to persuade herself more than Arisa.

Uo laughed lightly. "Oh, come on, Pohli isn't that bad; she's really nice deep down even though she's a little nuts on the outside." Tohru sat there looking at the floor while shaking a little. "Tohru how many times do I have to tell you, don't listen to rumors!" Uo fussed and shook her head.

"What rumors?" Yuki asked sipping his tea.

Uo sighed, "She failed English and the teacher who failed her mysteriously disappeared after that... She tends to carry around a lynching rope just in case. But she's in your grade even though she's older then you. Her dad thought she needed to visit us over the holidays, so I'm stuck with her and my dad's terrified of her…" Yuki's smile changed drastically to a terrified look.

"And she's coming?" Shigure asked, his teacup rattling. Wonder if she'll give Akito Hell...

Uo smiled. "Hana's sister Midori is coming, too. I never knew she actually had another sibling. I guess we always knew that she lived with a family of five but I thought that was her parents, Megumi, herself, and her grandmother…"

Saki interrupted, "Midori is very shy, she tends to scare people with her... habits. But Tohru always knew about her. You'll understand when you meet her."

"Ah…" Yuki was starting to regret letting Pohli and Midori come.

"We must take our leave." Saki stood up and went outside.

"Yeah, what she said…" Arisa followed close behind and the two Sohmas were left behind with worries about tomorrow night.

TO BE CONTINUED