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, the three Westerners were once again at Shigure's, discussing with Tohru and Shigure about Kristi's role in their family's curse. Right after saying that Kristi wasn't allowed to know any of it, they find the worst person to have been eavesdropping on them. Kristi!

19.:.To the Darkness: Castor's Wings.:.19

"Tii-chan!"

"K-chan!"

Both kneeled by her, one at either side. "Damnit, she was eavesdropping!" Alexis cursed at no one, but maybe Kristi. "She's in pain…!" Tohru announced, just in case someone hadn't been paying attention, "What do we do!" "There's nothing we can do," Kelly said, watching her older half-sister, "She heard it all and now she's taking her true form." But if she takes her true form, Tohru remembered, then she'll become dark… "Tii-chan, you can't!" Shigure told her as he'd just realized the same thing, "You can't do that! You have to fight it!" "G-get…" Kristi weakly muttered through clenched teeth, "I-I don't wanna hurt anyone! G-get away…!" Shigure was about to grab her shoulders, but black wins spread from within the same moment that she'd jumped up, piercing through the roof, and beating her wings against the air to take off. "Tii-chan!" It wasn't but a second later that Shigure had run out the door after her. "Shigure, don't go! There's nothing you can do!" By this time, however, he'd already left. "Curses," Alexis muttered, but just about as she was ready to pursue him, a voice came from the entrance. "Wait." "Hatori-san!"

"Tii-chan!" Shigure called as he wandered about the area, searching for his friend. Finally, he saw a figure crouched down by a stream, but had it not been for the large bat-like wings, he would not have recognized her. Her hair, still brown, had grown to just below her waist line while her eyes, now cold and narrow, had adopted a piercing shade of golden-yellow. At the ends of her fingers, her nails had grown to resemble talons, but Shigure's eyes widened as he came to realize that they blood dripping off of them was her own – her sleeves were tattered and bloody lacerations adorned her arms as if she'd gotten into a fight with some sort of wild cat. Still, she was holding her arms, just as she'd been doing when they'd found her eavesdropping, but this time, she wasn't in as much pain.

"Tii-cha— " "Stay away!" The woman stood up and turned to face Shigure as she warned him behind newly acquired fangs. Despite her appearance, Shigure stepped toward the Gemini, though this action was extremely hesitant. "Does she scare you?" asked a voice from behind. "Leigh," Shigure recognized the voice as he turned to see that she was watching Kristi as well. "It wouldn't surprise me if she did," Leigh continued calmly, her eyes still on the other woman, "After all, I'm her older sister and I'm terrified. Unlike you, however, I have to face her." Believe it or not… Leigh thought to herself, I'm the good guy in this story.

"You know, it's Gemini's fault that there even is a curse. It's Castor's fault," Leigh said once she'd gotten within a few yards of Kristi, "It's your fault." "Don't you dare go placing the blame on me, y'damn Libra. You're the one who's supposed to take care of it," the possessed Kristi snarled. "You know what I have to do, don't you?" "Of course I do," Kristi nodded, "but if you think I'm gonna let you win, you're clearly mistaken." "Then, let's end this, Kristen." "That I shall." As Kristi and Leigh would engage in their fight (they seemed almost equally matched – reminded Shigure of how Kyo and Haru would sometimes fight), the Dog would watch, suddenly recalling words from the cursed meeting so many years ago.

"There are two ways this fight can end," a younger Leigh explained, "Case one, Libra would claim victory in ending the Gemini's life as Castor. On the other hand, if Gemini wins, Libra's life will end and Castor will have prevailed. Either way, the sign will be secured in darkness."

So, to end this fight, Tii-chan has two choices, Shigure finalized, She can either become dark or die. … I don't want her to… "Tii-chan! You can't be in this fight!"

Before it's too late…