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, just when Kristi is about to win the fight and seal away the family's curse, Shigure interferes and the nurse (previously his fiancé) remembers why she'd lost her memories.

21.:.Departure and Two Misplaced Memories.:.21

"You realize what this means, do you not?" Hatori asked, not even sure to which he was directing such inquisition. "I do," Kristi was the one to answer, "All of my memories of this have to go into hiding…" "Not only that," Shigure regretfully corrected her, "But all of your memories of ever coming to Japan at all have to go, too." "NO!"

The seven adults looked over to Tohru who'd almost slapped her hands on the table. "I mean…" Tohru collected herself, turning a sad gaze to the table, "Does that mean that she'll forget about Mom, and Uo-chan, and Hana-chan, and…" Tohru cut herself off when Kristi, at the moment half-kneeling behind her, lightly wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders. Uncharacteristically serious, the woman spoke, "It has to be done." Tohru opened her mouth to refute the inevitable, but Kristi continued, "Otherwise, this fighting will go on forever and people will get hurt. I don't want that."

"It would be best of all of us if we all just went back to America," Alexis said, "That way, none of this can happen again. We can leave the fight up to the next generation. Maybe then, the cursed members will be stronger and able to fulfill the curse." "Maybe." Kelly agreed, "But we can only hope, just like the last generation did." "It's a stupid curse," Mao-Lin nodded, referring to both curses.

"I'm sorry this has caused so many problems for all of you," Leigh apologized, surprising Kristi with the fact that she was indeed a good guy playing an evil role in order to carry on with the curse, "It's a shame we can't prolong this – just the way things are now." "It's also I shame I couldn't hang with the Mabudachi Trio a bit longer, too," Kristi sighed almost jokingly, summoning a bit of a smile from both Hatori and Shigure. "A shame indeed," the Dragon agreed as well before dutifully having the tension rise once more, "But as much as I hate to interrupt the good time we're having, are you ready?"

Kristi, at this question, hesitated before speaking once again, "I don't like to say good-bye since it is a small world, but I do have one last thing to say, mainly to Tohru-chan…" The woman let Tohru go before the girl turned to face Kristi. "What is it, K-chan?"

"When we first parted, Kyoko-san gave me a message, and not that we part once more, I give you that very same message: No matter what happens, the best is yet to come. Things have their ways of settling themselves out." "K-chan…" Teary-eyed, Tohru leaned forward and gave Kristi yet another hug. Silence, and then a sigh.

"I'm ready now, Tori-kun…" Hatori didn't want to erase her memories yet again, but he raised his hand, allowing his palm to cover her eyes. Tohru, who'd scooted back, watched as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Sending tears out of her eyes as well, Kristi squeezed her eyes tightly shut before feeling a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. It was Shigure. "I'm sorry," she said, lightly holding onto his wrist in response to the hug, "But, please, don't forget me, Shi-kun. Because I love you, too." Shigure's hug tightened around her as he replied, "I know. And I won't. I promise."

With that, there was a slight flash before Kristi's hand dropped to her lap and she leaned back into Shigure, showing that she was unconscious a her most beloved memories rushed back into the forgotten catacombs of her mind.

Good-bye…

A few hours later, the women would leave for the next flight out with their Gemini for America; however, they knew not of the locket around her neck or the folded photograph in her sleeve.

In case you haven't noticed (though I'm sure you have since you're all very bright readers), in most of the chapters, there are lines that are italicized and in bold. I don't really know why I put them in there except for the fact that I can now put the entire thing together thing together at the end. I put it together as Kristi's prayer to her dearly departed friend Kyoko. … So here it is.

Oh, Kyoko-san, stay with me, even after I've forgotten everything. I'm going now because home is where the heart is, but there may not be a home. Am I heartless? No matter. Help me, please, before it's too late. I don't want to have to say good-bye.

And, thus, with a kiss, I die. Or end the story. Something like that. What a cheesy way to end. Flames her own story.

Anyway, sorry it took so long for me to get the last chapter up. I don't really have an excuse other than the fact that I suck. Whoops. Anyway, I left a nice opening for a sequel (hinthintnudgenudgenotreallyasecret), so I'll work on that when I feel like it. So yeah, thanks for reading, I love you all, especially the ones who've been leaving productive comments (coughcough). So yeah. See y'all in my next fic.