The Curses' Cold Touch
Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, this would not be a fanfic, now would it? I didn't think so.
Summary: It's one of the breaks during Tohru's second 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 and Kristi engage in a little conversation over a game of Dai Hin Min. During said conversation, however, Tohru seems to have struck a nerve, but as usual, Kristi brushes it off and continues the game. Right?
16.:.Friends.:.16
During their discussion, Tohru seemed to have struck a nerve when asking about Kristi's condition in the case that she would come into contact with a boy. Not wanting to linger on the subject, the school girl shifted the topic. After her loss in her game of Dai Hin Min with Kristi, they'd gone to bed, seeing as how it was already late and they wanted to get in a few hours of sleep before they'd awaken to greet the weekend.
"What the hell are they doing here!" "K-Kyo-kun…"
Once again, familiar voices were filling her head, but as the Gemini was trying to recover from morning's spell of sleepiness, she'd come to realize that they were actually coming in through her ears rather than being generated by the memories in her head. "We said we'd come over to visit one weekend, so we're here," the woman heard a voice that could have only belonged to Arisa Uotani, the one she knew as Ari-chan. "Yes, we haven't seen Kristi for years and we had nothing planned for today, so we thought we'd stop by," she heard another voice add – this voice was that of the psychic wonder, Saki Hanajima, or Saki-chan as the nurse called her.
Before Kyo could even growl or Arisa could make yet another comment on the cat's orange hair, Tohru's two friends found themselves in the tired, yet enthusiastic embrace of the just-awoken American, "Ari-chan! Saki-chan! Long time no see, you two!" "How the hell does she do that…?" Kyo muttered. It was a far cry from the first time he'd seen her appear out of nowhere to give someone a hug. Of course, he didn't know it, but she'd made her initial entrance a little over a week ago in the same fashion.
"Well, well, speak of the devil," Arisa smiled after the woman had freed the two school girls. "And speaking of Kristi, too," Saki continued, subtly recovering from Kristi's attack, "We didn't wake you, did we? Sorry." "Ah, if Kristi hasn't changed like Tohru says, she's already had enough sleep, anyway," the teenaged blonde pointed out, "Besides, this is us we're talking about!" Seeing for herself that the two hadn't changed either, Kristi smiled, "This is great! We've got so much catching up to do. The four of us could go out for the day – my treat!" "Sounds great!" Arisa exclaimed while Saki smiled as this idea as well. As the fully awakened and refreshed Shigure entered the foyer to find what the noise was, there was yet another set of knocking at the door. Before the Dog could say anything, Tohru had opened the door to find three women waiting for their entrance.
"Well, isn't today going to be fun?" Shigure asked, being the only one, save Kristi, to remember the three ladies. "Um…" Tohru started, but before she could ask who they were, Kristi had already asked her own question. "What're you doing here?"
"Relax," Lex said, calming the woman's nerves. "We repeated last time's episode with Leigh, so we'll be fine." "Besides, we were really worried about you, Kristi," Mao-Lin admitted. "Worried?" Arisa repeated, "What happened?" "K-chan passed out on Monday," Tohru explained. "Yeah," Kristi nodded, "Low blood sugar, that's all." "We'll have to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen today, then," Saki nodded. "What? You guys are going somewhere?" Kelly asked. "That's right, Li-san," Tohru smiled, "K-chan said she'd take the three of us out for the day. "Sounds fun," Kelly replied, "And no –san, though. Li-chan will work well enough." "Three of us," Lex muttered, looking at the three teenaged girls, "Care for an introduction, Kristi?" "Oh, right," Kristi remembered before pointing to each friend as she said her name, "Arisa Uotani, Saki Hanajima, Tohru Honda, Alexis Buhay, Kelly Prince, and Mao-Lin Ling. Lex and Lin are my cousins and Kelly is my little sister. I told you guys about them." "Of course," Saki recalled. Arisa followed suit shortly after, "Oh, that's right! You'd always compare Tohru, Hana, and me to Mao-Lin, Alexis, and Kelly!" "You weren't special, either?" Kelly smiled at Arisa, Saki, and Tohru, "The woman wouldn't shut up about you three!"
"Anyway!" Kristi abruptly changed the subject, but not very well, "Weren't we gonna go somewhere? Gimme a sec to change and I'll be right out." "You ladies can wait in the living room if you want," Shigure offered, "Besides, I might want to come, too." "You too?" Kristi asked before turning to Kyo, "About 'bout you, Kyo?" Kyo, however, had already left long ago, not too much after the woman had come down to greet her classmates. "Guess carrot-top doesn't wanna come," Arisa muttered, getting a bit of a nod from Saki.
It wasn't much longer that they eight had left Sohma property. "So, where to first?" Kelly asked, looking at Kristi. "I dunno," the nurse shrugged, "but the four of you are paying for yourselves." Kristi, of course, was referring to Kelly, Lex, Lin, and Shigure. "Of course," Lex nodded, "It's not like you invited us or anything." "Hey, now, don't make me looking like the bad guy!" "How about we just wing it?" The others looked to Arisa. "Wing it?" Saki asked. "Yeah," the girl nodded, "Just whatever comes up. No planning." "Spontaneity," Lin muttered, "Sure, sounds good." "Then, wing it, it is!"
The hours seemed to pass in the fast lane as the day went on with or without the group. They'd gone to the carnival, the same one from earlier that week, gone shopping, and even managed to get the disgruntled Kristi to buy them dinner. Because it was still summer, they still had about an hour or two before the sun would about them for the Western Hemisphere.
"So, what now?" Kristi asked the three girls sitting at the table with her while the four other adults were at the counter, spending more of Kristi's money. "How about we go visit Kyoko?" Arisa suggested, "Just the four of us. Just like old times, the five of us all together again! So to speak." "But what about Shigure-san, Li-chan, Lex-chan, and Lin-chan?" Tohru asked. "Can we just leave them here?" "They'll be fine," Kristi sighed, "Besides, they're spending my money. A little revenge would be nice." Thus, without the four others knowing quite yet, Arisa, Kristi, Saki, and Tohru had left for Kyoko's grave; but only after leaving a note for the others as per Tohru's request.
No matter.