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, Things about a meeting are explained and everyone is finally on the same page. Sort of. There is an outcast of both Eastern and Western horoscopes and the story has been told. The two Sohmas are left to converse before they hear a scream and a crash from the kitchen where the girls are. What has happened? I dunno, but it was enough to make you turn to this chapter.
4.::.Remembering the Forgotten.::.4
"Tohru-chan! Watch out!"
A few bowls fell out of Tohru's arms and shattered on the ground. Of course, with her grace, Tohru lost her balance and started to fall towards the shards, but Kristi pushed her out of the way. After Tohru regained her balance and caught herself, she looked over to the door and saw that Shigure and Yuki had been watching, "Shigure-san! Sohma-kun! Oh!" Remembering the company they had, Tohru quickly shifted her glanced over to Kristi, who was lying on her right shoulder in the cluster of broken ceramic. "Tii-chan!" As Yuki went over to see if Tohru was alright, Shigure helped Kristi up off the floor, "Are you okay?" "Yes," Kristi nodded as she put her left hand over the wounded shoulder, "I'm fine, just a little scrape, that's all." "It's never 'just a little scrape' with you, Tii-chan, let me see it," the dog said as he led her to sit on a stool. Kristi once again removed her hand from the wounds and they caught Tohru's eye, "Oh! K-chan, I'm so sorry! You see, it was my fault! If I had been watching where I was...!" Kristi rose her hand off her lap and Tohru stopped, "Tohru-chan, it's okay. It was no one's fault and accidents do happen. No need to worry 'bout it, 'kay?" Tohru nodded and Shigure looked up from Kristi's shoulder to her face, "Tii-chan, you still have some bags outside, right?" When Kristi nodded, Shigure turned to Yuki and Tohru, "Why don't you two see if you can bring them in while I take care of the trouble maker?" When the two agreed in their own ways, Kristi stuck her tongue out at Shigure, "Trouble maker or not, Shi-kun, you know you enjoy having me over!"
About three minutes later, Tohru and Yuki were walking around the outside of the garden, looking for anything that could resemble Kristi's luggage. "Honda-san, Kristi is the friend you've been mailing?" Yuki asked. With a smile, Tohru nodded, "Right! It's funny how you guys already know her! But Mom used to say that nothing happens by accident. So, if K-chan and Shigure-san knew each other from school, how do you know her? Did she baby-sit you, too?" "Oh," Yuki paused for a moment to think of the best word phrasing, "it seemed that she was always dropping in for one reason or another. Of course, Shigure doesn't think she's changed much, if at all." "I'd have to agree," Tohru giggled, "she did the exact same thing when we were younger." "What happened?" Tohru flipped back through her memories from before Kristi moved away.
A young Tohru was running away from a small group of boys that had been chasing her. "I was still about five years old and some boys from my class were chasing me again, so I ran." Tohru rounded a corner, but when the group turned to follow her, she was hiding behind Kristi who was pointing an umbrella in the face of the lead boy. She was carrying a paper bag in her other hand and was still wearing her high school uniform. "Care to tell me why you're harassing my little Tohru-chan?" "She shooed the boys away and started to walk me home," Tohru explained. With Tohru walking closer to the curb, the two girls were hand-in-hand and talking, "Tohru-chan, you were on your way home?" "Yup! Are you coming over today?" "Ah, yeah, but only for a little while. I was originally planning on fixing my sink today, but your mom came down with a little cold, so I was just out running some errands for her. Eh, I guess my sink can wait until tonight. You want me to come over?" "Oh, yes! You could teach me how to play Dai Hin Mi...!" Tohru's last word turned into a high pitched squeak as her foot slid off the edge of the cur and she started to fall towards a shattered sheet of glass in the road. "Tohru-chan! Watch out!" "K-chan pushed me out of the way and fell into the glass herself. And then, when she got up, she had cuts on her arms, but she just smiled and asked me if I was alright." "I'm so sorry, K-chan! I..." "Tohru-chan, it's okay. It was no one's fault and accidents do happen. No need to worry 'bout it, 'kay?" As Tohru finished the story, the two saw a few black bags at the base of a tree. Only to concrete their determination that they were Kristi's, they saw that a bunch of pictures of friends had been patched onto the sides. "There we go."
Meanwhile, Kristi's right glove was balled up on the table while Shigure was wrapping bandages around her shoulder. "Sorry 'bout the mess, Shi-kun. Here, lemme clean it up." Kristi was about to stand up, but Shigure put his hand on her uninjured shoulder, making her sit back down. "Tii-chan, you haven't changed at all since you left us for America," Shigure chuckled as he tied off the last bandage, "Why did you come back?" Kristi put her glove back on as Shigure gathered everything in the first aid kit, "To visit with you guys and Tohru-chan, of course!" Shigure set his elbow on the table top and rested his chin on the back of his hand as he usually did, "If it were that simple, wouldn't you have called us or at least sent a letter? What about the real reason you're here?" The smile vanished from Kristi's face and, sitting directly in front of Shigure, she leaned to her left side to rest her arm on the same table as a sigh escaped though her lips. "I guess ya got me there," she admitted quietly, "I guess there's no point in beating around the bush. During the few years that I was last here, pieces of my memory have disappeared. Just...gone! I can remember clearly every moment that passed though the first six months or so, but everything after that...it's like patchwork." Shigure's brows furrowed as he appeared that his interest has peaked. Kristi continued, "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I was sitting in my office a few weeks ago when it hit me. Everything else is crystal clear. I can see every moment around those select forgotten memories. Then, I did the math and realized that I am missing four months, two weeks, six days, and seventeen hours of my life." Shigure laughed a little, "You counted up and remember that amount of time?" As Shigure continued to laugh at her, Kristi frowned before leaning forward to kneel, "Shi-kun, I'm serious! These parts of my life have been wiped clean from my mind and I can't even see the eraser marks that might have been left! And furthermore...!" Kristi was about to go on with her rant before they realized how close their faces were. Kristi blushed and Shigure rose a brow, "Your eyes are green. I thought they were brown." Still in his face and blush on her own, Kristi nodded subtly, "Y-yeah, I got contact lenses last year. Do they...look bad?" "They look good," Shigure clearly muttered, "but I kind of miss your glasses. They were cute." "You...think so...?"
"K-chan! We found your bags!" Redder than ever, Kristi sat back down and looked over towards the entrance a moment before the two teenagers entered the room. Tohru had one bag and Yuki set the other two on the table near Kristi. "How's your shoulder, Kristi?" "Fine, it's fine. Thanks for the concern, Yu-kun. And thanks, you two, for getting my bags for me!" "Don't mention it, K-chan! Eh...by the way, this one is kind of heavy..." Tohru said. "Oh, yes! Gifts!" Kristi reached for the suitcase that Tohru still had and, once it was sitting on her lap, the latch popped off and black boxes of various sizes fell out, "Whoops, I guess I over-packed that one...oh! This one's for you, Tohru-chan!" Kristi handed the girl a small black hinge box, about 1x5x5 centimeters in size, and smiled, "Open it! Open it! I hope you like it!" Curious, Tohru flipped the box open and her eyes widened in are and gratitude, "Oh, K-chan, you shouldn't have! Thank you so much!" On the foam pallet inside the box was a silver locket, two centimeters tall, with rose buds carved on the front and a small diamond in the center. Tohru took it from the box and clasped the silver chain around her neck. After Kristi excitedly told her to see what was inside, Tohru followed her request and opened it to reveal some words on one side and a picture on the other. On the left side was engraved, "To my little Tohru-chan, a gift from K-chan," and on the right was a small picture taken about ten years before at what appeared to be an amusement park. Tohru was being carried bridal style in Kyoko's arms, a pink balloon tied to the little girl's wrist. To the left of Kyoko and Tohru was Kristi, holding two ice-cream cones and smiling meekly. "It's beautiful, thank you so much, K-chan!" Tohru said as the locket clicked closed. "I remember how much fun you had that day, so I went though and found the picture where you had the least ice-cream on your face. Of course...by that time you hadn't had your ice-cream yet," Kristi chuckled as she found a cube shaped box, "Ah! This one is for you, Yu-kun! You like extra sharp, right?" Kristi tossed the box to him and he opened it to see that it was filled with smaller cubes of cheddar cheese, "Thank you...very much..." "I thought you might say that."