Fruits Basket: Legend of the Zodiac
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. Slight TB/Fruba X-over.
Chapter 2: Woes of a Dragon
Previously, on Fruits Basket: Legend of the Zodiac…
The next day, Yuki, Shigure, Kyo, Momiji, Hatori, Haru, Ayame, Hiro, Kisa, Ritsu, Kagura, and Akito stood in front of the ornately carved oaken double doors of the Honda Estate. The doors slowly swung open and Megumi dressed in her shikifuku trimmed with pink came out and bowed.
"Welcome to the Honda Estate. I am Honda Megumi, Honda Publicity Chairperson. I will be your guide today. Kotori-dono is expecting you, so please, follow me," she said, bowing once more before walking through the gates.
The Sohmas glanced nervously at each other and followed Megumi into the Estate. Slowly, the ornately carved doors swung shut behind them with a dull boom.
XoXoXoXoXoX
Megumi led the Sohmas through the Estate at a stately pace, passing large two story houses made in the traditional Japanese style, and beautiful rock gardens. They passed by seven towers with seven red roofs, each surrounded by sakura and nadeshico. They crossed man made rivers over little red bridges made of wood and walked through long streets paved with grey stones and along quaint little roads of dirt lined with red bricks. As the group walked through the estate, the Sohmas marveled at the size of the estate. Simply looking at Tohru, one would never guess that she had at one point lived in such a place. The estate was large, much larger then the Sohma estate. After walking for about half an hour, Megumi stopped in front of a two story house and bowed to the Sohmas.
"This is Kotori-dono's home. Please wait here while I announce your presence," Megumi said, and walked up the five stairs to knock on the door.
"What is it?" Kotori called, her voice slightly muffled by the door.
"Your guests have arrived, Kotori-dono," Megumi called.
"I see," Kotori said, "Send them in."
Megumi smiled and said to the Sohmas as she opened the door, "Welcome the home of Honda Kotori-dono."
The Sohmas entered the room after Megumi and saw Kotori kneeling at the foot of a low ebony table in the center of the room, dressed in her white shikifuku and green underrobe, her blue black hair pulled in a high ponytail which was split into thirteen braids bound with a green ribbon, her bangs still hiding her right eye. Megumi knelt on a cushion to Kotori's right and Kotori looked at the Sohmas through her lashes and bowed.
"Welcome to the Honda Estate. For those of you who do not know, I am Honda Kotori, the Honda family doctor and cousin to Honda Tohru. Please, sit down."
The Sohmas complied at each one knelt at various places around the table while Akito took a place directly opposite Kotori.
"You must be wondering why I requested your presence here today," Kotori said when the last Sohma was seated.
Akito nodded, his eyes icy and said, "Please, Kotori-san, tell us why we're here."
Kotori made a motion with her hand and Megumi rose and vanished into another room and returned with a tray of cups and a pot of tea. As Megumi set a cup in front of each person and filled their cups, Kotori spoke.
"Of course, has Tohru told you her part in this family?" The Sohmas shook their heads and Kotori's lips twitched slightly while Megumi returned to her seat beside Kotori. "Of course not. Tohru is a very important member of the Honda family and the Sumeragi Clan. It has come to the attention of the Head of this Clan, the Thirteenth Head of Sumeragi, that she has become quite attached to the Sohma family. We of the Sumeragi Clan want only for her to be happy, but so long as she lives outside the Honda Main Estate or the Kyoto Sumeragi Estate, we must ensure her safety as best we can without meddling in her life outright."
Kotori paused and sipped her tea before asking, "Are you happy having her live with you, Yuki, Shigure, and Kyo Sohma? Are all fourteen of you comfortable having Tohru be a part of your daily lives?"
"Yes, we're all very happy having Tohru live with us. She is very trustworthy, and the fact that she's there brightens our day," Yuki said.
"All the more reason for you to send her back to us, then," Kotori said, her green eyes narrowing. "The Sumeragi Clan and Honda Family have enemies, very dangerous enemies that will stop at nothing to annihilate us. The jobs of the Heads of each of the seven branches of our clan are the reason for this. For your own sakes as well as Tohru's, you should send her back to us, and have nothing to do with the Hondas or Sumeragis ever again. If you do choose to send Tohru back to us, you have our word that any secret that Tohru may have learned about the Sohmas during her stay with you would remain secret. No contact would ever again be made between our families, thus keeping your family safe, and at the same time, making it easier for Tohru to attend to her duties in this family. You have our word on this," Kotori said, her voice and eyes were icy and betrayed none of her emotions.
Akito said coolly, "It is true that Miss Honda would be better off with her family, but would she really be happy? The last time she returned to her family, she was with them for about several days and she was completely miserable. When Shigure, Yuki and Kyo insisted that she continue to live with us, she was happy. Whether or not Miss Honda moves back in with her family should be her choice. I cannot and will not force her to do anything she doesn't want to."
The Sohmas stared at Akito, shocked. When had Akito turned this nice?
"I see," Kotori said. "Then this interview is over. Megumi-dono will see you out of the Estate. I hope you have a nice day."
XoXoXoXoXoXoX
Megumi guided the Sohmas through the Estate, and while in the past trip, they'd traveled in silence, this time, Megumi broke the silence.
"Kotori may seem cold at times, but she's really a very good person," Megumi said. "It's just that she's been through a lot, and she can't see out of her right eye because of an incident that took place four years ago. Back then, when she was twenty-two, when she'd just inherited her father's practice, she fell in love with a man called Hiko and vice versa, or so we thought. It was, in a way, unrequited love, and they were both so close, that six out of seven heads were willing to overlook the fact that Hiko was a member of the Sakurazuka clan, the Sumeragi Clan's rival.
"Tohru's mother, who held the position of Phoenix at the time, and the Honda head, said that it would never last. She didn't a very good marriage, or actually, she did, but lost her husband soon after the wedding, and everyone said that she was just bitter about losing the man that she'd loved. Of course, two years ago, her predictions were proved to be startlingly true.
"Hiko proposed to Kotori, and the two of them went to Akiko, the Twelfth Head of the Sumeragi Clan to ask for her blessing. She gave it with good will. It was family tradition that the Head, once permission was given, would drink a cup of sake with the newly engaged couple to bind the contract. The couple would then spend the night in the meditation hall with a wall of fire between them to seal the deal. But Hiko didn't stay in the hall that night.
"He broke contract and left at midnight and went into the Head's chambers. He'd been with us long enough to know that the Head usually was up until twelve fifty in the morning. He waited until she left her office and killed her in the fashion of the Sakurazuka Clan and left.
"We found Akiko the next morning, or rather, Kotori did. Hiko'd left behind enough clues to tie the Head's murder to him, and Kotori confronted him after Akiko's funeral. They fought and Kotori narrowly missed being killed in the same way as the Head. Instead, her eye was siphoned, and in missing his mark, Hiko had left himself wide open. Kotori took advantage of that and she skewered Hiko with her Kodachi.
"Since Sakurazukas tended to die daily under suspicious circumstances that the Sakurazuka Clan always covered up, Hiko's death was never released by the press. Kotori's heart was shattered that day, and it made her into the person she is now, the emotionless Dragon of Honda."
"You shouldn't call Kotori that in front of total strangers, Megumi," a familiar voice said.
"Tohru-kun!" Shigure said. "I thought you were visiting your cousin?"
"I am," Tohru said calmly, her amber eyes revealing no emotion. "Most of my cousins live in the Honda estate. Oh, by the way, Megumi, the baka hebi's gone on a rampage in Osaka again. Subaru-sama wants you down there ASAP before any of Kaoru's antics lands us in the front page or on television."
"Again!" Megumi cried, "That's the third time this month!"
"Be glad that Misao is dealing with Tatsuma in Ikebura. He can cause more trouble in three days than Kaoru, Midori, and Aya combined in three months."
"Joy," Megumi muttered. "I suppose I should go pack. If I'm not back in a week, go ahead and make funeral plans."
Tohru smiled wryly and said, "I wouldn't go that far. Go take care of your duties, Inuki-chan. I'll see the Sohmas off the estate. I'm done with my visits for the month anyway."
"Arigato, Tohru-dono! Ja ne!" Megumi called as she ran off.
Tohru sighed and said, "Where does she get all that energy?" She turned to the Sohmas and grinned, "Let get out of here. I feel even smaller here on the Honda Estate then I did in the Sohma estate, if that's even possible."
Tohru led the Sohmas off the Honda estate, babbling about absolutely nothing the entire way. Soon, they split off, Haru, Kisa, Kagura, Hiro, Ayame, Hatori, Momiji, Ritsu, and Akito to the main house, and Shigure, Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru to Shigure's house.
As they walked, Tohru said, "So, What did you think about Kotori? She's scarier in her natural environment isn't she?"
"Actually, Honda-san," Yuki said, "I thought she was kind of nice."
Tohru smiled, knowing precisely why Yuki had said that and said teasingly, "You only knew her for a few hours and you can already tell what she's like underneath that bland mask of hers?"
"It's because she's like Hatori," Shigure said. "She's been through quite a bit, and all she wants is for the ones she cares about to be safe and happy. She cares, not only because we're linked to you, but because we're Important to you, Tohru. I told you last year that people important to you are important to us. Kotori feels the same way, so she worries not only for you, but for us as well."
"Hey, Tohru," Kyo said, "About those carvings on the gate…"
Tohru smiled. "Those carving represent the duties of those born to the Sumeragi Clan. One of them is the maintaining of the Zodiac. In other words, very seven years, everyone from every branch of the Sumeragi family gathers in the fourteen estates and the fourteen animals of the previous seven years hands off the title to another person, and that person is that animal for the next seven years. If a bearer dies before the seven years is up, the title gets passed to the next of kin. If mother was alive this year, she'd be passing off the Phoenix to someone else, but since she died last year, and I'm the next of kin, so I'm the Phoenix. So this year, I'm handing my mother's title off, so I have to attend."
"One last Question, Honda-san," Yuki said.
Tohru laughed. "The Sumeragi clan believes in a less well known story about the Zodiac, in which the cat and the Phoenix are more obscure members of the Zodiac."
The sun was just beginning to set when the group arrived at Shigure's house, and Tohru vanished into the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?" she called.
"Anything you make will be fine, Tohru!" Shigure said as he entered his office.
"As long as there are no leeks," Kyo added before going up to the roof.
"Whatever you make will be wonderful, Honda-san," Yuki smiled before going to his room.
Inside the kitchen, Tohru smiled to herself. She had managed to fend off the questions without telling them about the Omnyoujitsu and the true meaning behind the Sohma's Zodiac curse. Now the only problem was to protect them from being dragged into Omnyoujitsu business and to keep the last of the fourteen Zodiac families alive…
A/N: Second chapter finished! This has almost nothing to do with Tokyo Babylon, but since there will be some mention of the End of the World and the fight against Sakurazukamori and the Bet, I thought it would be best.
No pairings just yet, cause technically, I have no idea. Personally, I think Hatori would be best with Tohru, but he's also compatible with Kotori. Then there's the fact that Tohru is compatible with every guy in the Zodiac except for Hiro, he's too young, and Ritsu, he apologizes way too much, and I am very against Akito and Tohru pairings, so that poses a problem. Then, I intend to keep Kyo and Kagura together, but I also don't want them to inbreed, so that's another obstacle. But I suppose we'll jump that hurdle when it comes.
Now that that's done, review!