Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters
A/N: Sorry it's been so long. Updates may still be infrequent or inconsistent for awhile so please bear with me. This chapter explains a lot though, so hopefully you will find it worth the wait.
Shadows of Intrigue
Chapter 17
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Kyo jumped out of his sea and turned around to look expectantly at Aiko. In return she shook her head and motioned toward the door with her eyes. Impatient, Kyo fought the urge to scream at her that he needed to know what she was going to tell him that instant. After all, she was right. It was probably wasn't going to be a conversation that they wanted everyone to overhear. Taking a deep breath, he followed her as she left the classroom and then the school.
Aiko led Kyo to a small karaoke bar. Kyo gave her a look that was half angry, half bewildered, "What the hell are we doing here! Everything is going crazy and you bring me to sing karaoke!"
"No, stupid," said Aiko, sounding exasperated, "if we rent a room at a karaoke bar, no one is going to hear us or bother us, got it?"
"Yeah I get it. I guess it makes some sense," was Kyo's sullen reply.
"Good. Then come on."
Aiko dragged Kyo into the karaoke bar and then into the room they rented. At this point, Kyo decided he couldn't stand waiting any longer. He jerked free of Aiko's grasp and turned on her, "Okay, I want to know everything you know and I want to know it now."
"Fine, I'll tell you, but you aren't going to like it."
Kyo rolled his eyes, " I already gathered that."
"And you might not believe some of it," Aiko continued.
"Only one way to find out," Kyo answered, starting to get anxious.
"Right. Let's see, where to start?" Aiko began, "Maybe by telling you about your family's curse. Not your own curse, mind you. That's an entirely different story as you will find out. Or at least they were started by different people."
"I know," Kyo was surprised to find himself saying. He was even more surprised to realize that he did, in fact, already know this information.
Aiko gave him a surprised look but continued, "The curse of the cat was actually created by your family a long time ago after they were cursed by…."
Kyo raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. Then something dawned on him, "After they were cursed by YOU."
"Well, yes and no," Aiko said, moving her head from side to side, "in the same way that you are Kei but you aren't. Before I explain more about that, though, it's important that you know the story that led up to the curse. Maybe you know some of it, but please listen anyway. Many generations ago, my family and yours were on good terms. They were equal in wealth and status and all that. At that time, in my family, there were two sisters. They were twins and had grown up with many of the members of the Sohma family. When the girls were sixteen, the head of your family decided that to solidify the alliance between the two families, his chosen heir should marry one of the twins. Neither girl wanted to marry the heir for they were both in love with other men…"
"So I was right," interrupted Kyo.
Aiko paused, once again glancing at him with surprise on her face before continuing, "Unfortunately, the girls were not consulted about their feelings on the matter, not uncommon for the time. Now the sister that was chosen to marry the heir happened to be in love with another Sohma. He, however, was shunned by the head of the family and, therefore, by most of the rest of the family for reasons I will explain soon. This sister was very upset by the news that she was to marry the heir, so the other sister helped plan for her to run away with the man she loved. Unfortunately the head of the Sohma family discovered this plan and killed the girl in front of the man she loved."
"I know," Kyo said again, "I've seen it happen. It plays over and over in my dreams every night. The surviving sister then placed a curse on the rest of the family, who had followed the head that night. In return, the head of the family cursed the boy. And that boy was Kei?"
Aiko nodded in agreement, "That's right. Do you know why Kei was shunned so badly?"
"The head of the family called Kei a bastard and said his mother was a whore," replied Kyo stiffly.
"That's only half true," Aiko explained, "and only half the reason Kei was shunned. It's true that Kei was illegitimate, his mother and father never officially married, but his mother not a whore. She was simply of lower status than the Sohma family. And despite the fact that they were never married, Kei's parents loved each other very much and Kei was listed as his father's official heir. But all that would not have caused Kei any problems had it not been for one other fact. Kei's father was the head of the family when Kei was born, meaning Kei should have been next in line as the head of the family."
Aiko paused, allowing Kyo to absorb this information. She watched his frowning face as he thought over what she had told him so far. Finally he looked at her, "But Kei didn't become the next head of the family."
"No, he didn't," confirmed Aiko, "You see, Kei's father died while Kei was still very young, too young to defend himself. His uncle, next in line, usurped Kei's place at the head of the family, passing the role on to his oldest child when he died. This child, actually almost twenty at the time, knew that Kei was the rightful head of the family but didn't want to give up the power that came with the title. Therefore, Kei was taken from his mother and abused and neglected and otherwise shunned by most of the Sohma family."
"And you are the sister that survived, Tohru's the one that died, and I'm Kei?"
"Sort of. You, Tohru and I and all of the Sohmas living now, or at least all the cursed ones, are what you might call reincarnations of people from that time. I'm not sure that's quite the right description though. We are not exactly the same people and we do not have exactly the same relationships, but we do hold the basic personalities and the memories of our former selves."
"The memories? But you're the only one who remembered, until I stared having those nightmares," stated Kyo.
"Oh, I'm not the only one. Hatori and Akito remember as well. The others don't because they've had the memories of their former selves erased. Except Tohru. She and I are immune to the memory erasing. I think her former self won't let her remember."
Kyo thought for a moment, "If everything you have told me is true, then Akito…?"
Aiko nodded, "He isn't the rightful head of the family. You are."