The Curses' Cold Touch
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Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, this would not be a fanfic, now would it? I didn't think so.
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Summary: It's the summer after Tohru's first year of high school and she's already been through a lot with the Sohmas. What happens when an old friend returns to reveal a similar curse? A relationship between the Sohmas and the other cursed family?
In the last chapter, Tohru's American friend finally arrives at Japan and turns out to be an old friend of the Sohmas as well. After years of separation, a barrage of hugs was given, but the curse didn't follow through when she thought it would be fun to hug Shigure! Mystery arises.
3.::.The Cursed Meeting.::.3
"We'd better sit down inside for this..."
A few moments later, the three were inside, sitting at the table with an awkward silence filling the air. The two girls were confused, Kristi looking at her hands and Tohru looking back and forth between the two adults. Shigure was the first to break the silence, "Well, I suppose there's no easy way to explain this..." 'Does K-chan know about the curse? Why didn't Shigure-san transform?' Tohru's mind was racing, but she was still listening as the novelist continued, "Tii-chan's family is cursed as well." Both of the girls' eyes widened in shock. Tohru's "What? K-chan is cursed, too?!" and Kristi's "What?! I didn't...! How'd you know...!?" overlapped each other, but the emotion was apparent. "Like I said, there's no easy way to explain it. Tii-chan, you explain your curse, first," Shigure instructed, trying to think of the best way possible for things to make sense. Still a little confused, the blushing Kristi nodded, looking down at her hands as they fidgeted in her lap, "Um...you see...generations ago, my mother's side of the family was cursed so that whenever we come into direct physical contact with a person of the opposite gender, the twelve cursed members of the family will turn into their respective astrological spirit of the horoscope...such as Pisces, Aquarius, Cancer, and so on. I'm so sorry I've been keeping it a secret for so long, I swear, I didn't mean to. It's just that I was told that if people found out, they would hate me and..." "Tii-chan, calm down, no one here is going to hate you," Shigure reassured her to break her panicked rambling. "You see, the Sohma family is similarly cursed..."
For the next ten minutes, Shigure and Tohru explained to Kristi the Sohma curse and what had happened since Tohru had moved in. Caught up with recent events, Kristi was still watching her fidgeting hands as if embarrassed, "So...how did you know, Shi-kun...how did you know that I was cursed...? I mean, your family knows about the curses...and my family knows about the curses, yet I was unaware..." "A few years ago, our families met and discovered each others' curses. We had a meeting about it, concerning what we would do, and came to a mutual agreement that we would keep each others' secrets as long as we helped the other family when necessary. Needless to say, when Tohru moved in with us, it caused quite a stir with your family as well. During the meeting, though, you..." As if first realizing it, Kristi muttered in a voice so uncharacteristically dry, "I was forbidden to come to the meeting..." "Ne? Why? Why were you not allowed to go to the meeting?" "It's because I'm the bearer of two spirits."
As if from a heart of hatred that neither Shigure nor Tohru had before seen, Kristi explained the curse in detail, "I represent Gemini. The astrological spirits of Castor and Pollux possess me. Since that completely throws off the tens and twelves of the time system, I suppose you could say I am similar to the cat of the Zodiac...Heh, I guess now I know why they all left to vacation here when I was stuck in the hospital with pneumonia. It finally makes sense now..." "But K-chan," Tohru questioned, "if Gemini is an outcast of the horoscope, wouldn't that make eleven spirits?" Kristi nodded, but Shigure beat her to the explanation, "It was decided a long time ago that, in order to balance things out, Libra would be the head and carry the curse, so in a way..." Once again, Kristi interrupted him, "So in a way, Libra is above the other ten are above me...!" Kristi's face was once again hidden under the shadows of her bangs as her hands were clutched in fists of rage at her side, "Always making fun of me because the spirits inside of me are arguing, always arguing. It..." Kristi paused for a moment and in the blink of an eye, all tension was released and she smiled, much to Tohru's confusion, as though nothing had happened. "Whoops, sorry 'bout that. I guess it got a little dark there for a moment."
It was then that Yuki came downstairs, a look of both confusion and surprise on his face. "Oh! Good morning, Sohma-kun! Breakfast is...just about..." Tohru, once again, began to trail off before she stood and frantically made her way to the kitchen, exclaiming something about leaving the stove on. As Yuki walked over and took a seat at the table, Kristi looked over to Yuki, wearing a smile, "Why, if it isn't Yu-kun. You've grown up quite well, too. Like a mini Aya-kun." Yuki put on a smile to disguise a temporary spite, "Why are you here?" "Oh, dear, you two still don't get along that well?" Kristi asked. "Shigure, why is she here?" Yuki asked, remembering the relationship between the two families. Kristi's smiled faded from one of fun to one of sincerity, "Calm down, Yu-kun. I am here for personal business and that is all. Had this been filial, Leigh would have been here and I would be wearing more professional attire." Yuki let out a sigh, seemingly of relief when he heard this and Tohru came into the room with breakfast. "Ah, I'm glad it wasn't burned," Tohru smiled as she put two bowls in front of each spot. Kristi looked at the food in front of her, then over to the seated Tohru, "Soba and rice?" "Yeah, we ran out of a lot of stuff since out last trip to the grocery store, but if you want, I was try to find something else for you..." Tohru offered, but Kristi shook her head and claimed, "Such a great welcome home! Thanks much!"
The four finished the noodles and rice and Kristi started to clean up, picking up the empty bowls before Tohru noticed, "Ah, Kristi, don't worry about it, I can..." Kristi shook her head and took the last empty bowl from in front of Tohru, "No, please, allow me. You guys are kind enough to let me stay, the least I can do is help out a bit." With that, Kristi disappeared into the kitchen, trailed by Tohru who was determined to help, leaving the two Sohmas to converse. "Well," Shigure started, "it certainly doesn't seem like she's changed much over the years." "But still," Yuki pondered aloud, "I can't help but wonder what the real reason for her being here is. She was planning on staying with us, even before she found out that we knew Honda-san. Even if she is Kristi, she normally would have dropped at least a little hint about her visit." "She said something about 'personal business.' Do you think she meant that she's here for..." Shigure was interrupted by Tohru's scream after a shattering sound from the kitchen. Without second thought, the two quickly arose and made their way to the kitchen.
"Tohru-chan! Watch out!"