TITLE: Somewhere, The Fates Are Laughing At Me

SUMMARY:For Rika Haruko, eating a blessed fruit which leads to being cursed like the one on the Sohma family and impersonate her twin brother are the least of her worries when she has to deal with love! Oh, and did I mention she has an active conscience?

DISCLAIMER: No, I do not own anime/manga/products of Fruits Basket, so don't attempt to sue me. Thank-you.

IMPORTANT: "..." speech )...( annoying A/N interruptions

Make them 16 (Hatsuharu and Momiji) or 17 (Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, etc.), the rest, I don't remember -.-

-.-

RECAP:

In fear, in confusion, Haruko Rika bolted from him.

unmei no hune o ko gi nami wa tsugi kara tsugi e to watashi-tachi o shou kedo

(We are all rowing the boat of fate, the waves keep on coming and we can't escape)
sore mo suteki na tabi ne, dore mo suteki na tabi ne

(Even that is a beautiful journey; even anything is a beautiful journey)

And Sohma Hatsuharu did not follow.

Chapter 17: Explanations, Puppets, Boxes, and Brothers !

Sneaking in wasn't the hard part, considering Kyo being at Kagura's place tonight, Yuki and Tohru still on a date and Shigure holed up in his office 'writing'.

And changing into her pajamas and hiding all evidence that hinted that she dressed like a cross-dresser in the eyes of others? A simple shower and stuffing those articles of clothing (including that wig) into her closet solved all.

And the kiss with Haru?

Wait, what kiss? Haruko Rika already forgot all about it!

Yes, she erased the feel of his hands on her waist and those soft lips of his on hers.

Completely mangled and maimed the sensation of how the kiss was soft at first but not all that soft later on out of her mind.

And hell, she now couldn't even say that he smelled nice, a scent all his own, even if there was a hint of sake on him.

Oh no, no, no, no! All accounts of her first kiss were gone. Completely stamped on and deleted.

Especially, especially the fact that when the kiss happened, her spine was all shivery and knees shaky.

Because, after all, her knees did not shake, the ground did.

And, her heart did not go thump-thump so fast that she was sure even Haru heard it, her ears were just malfunctioning at the time.

And that shiver? Because of the kiss, you say? Oh no, it was because she was cold, freezing even! Although the fact that it was a warm night and that she had a jacket on wasn't really considered.

So, no, Haruko Rika did not show any signs of attraction for Sohma Hatsuharu when he kissed her…

…And by the way, what kiss? It never happened, right?

What concerned her right now, as she lay in that bed of hers was the fact that she had a little voice in her head that she could converse with, and it wasn't her conscience, it was someone-or something-else!

'I don't get it. Why talk to me now?' Rika thought. She waited patiently for the response.

Well, since I came to you, I've been sleeping-even when you transformed. It grumbled in response, a bit grumpy from being bothered. It wasn't until you started meeting the others that it bothered me.

'Wait, what others?' Rika interrupted, raising an eyebrow. 'You mean the Sohmas? How's meeting them and you waking up connected?' A mental swipe made by the animal made Rika scowl. 'Why the hell did you do that!' she yelled at it, raising a fist. She, assuming that it was the same gender as Rika, rolled her yellowish eyes in return.

Meeting the Sohmas means meeting their animal spirits, moron. Like you, I can talk to the others, but I didn't. Every time you met a Sohma that was cursed, its thought's brushed my mind, so, we both felt it, in a way; if one felt it and was bothered by the other, than the other spirit would kind of…wake up as well.

'Huh? Wake-up? You mean they talk to their hosts and stuff, too?'

Yes, like we are now, I mean, you're not that special! Us spirits, well the others not me, I'm new at this, get tired of keeping conscience all the time, since humans tend to be about the same. So, they just inhabit you and rest until the curse is broken. I didn't wake up right now, this evening, you know. I stopped my sleeping long time ago. I woke up when…let's see…Oh! When you met those twin bastards!

'Twin bastards? Oh, you mean Haru? But, doesn't he have only one spirit in him, the cow?' At that, Rika's expression turned to one of confusion, as she felt the other rolls its eyes.

You would think that, wouldn't you? Well, no, in reality, the cow spirit had two sides, a calm side and a pissed off one. With all those mood swings over the decades, I guess the two sides finally split into two minds, which sucks for its container, you know. Nah, they woke me up and started chatting to me, asking how home was and all…in fact, they all did it. You know, I'm sure all the spirits wouldn't mind if they were freed.

'Well, why not they just…leave?' the girl questioned. Faintly, she heard the door downstairs slide open and closed, meaning that Yuki and Tohru finally came home. A 'poof!' told her that Tohru either once again tripped or she hugged him. When the girl heard a rushed apology and Yuki's reassuring tone, Rika knew it was the first guess.

They can't, since the god of this little curse likes the human world so much. Only Yamu can take it off anyways, unless the spirits do some sort of suicide by not eating, or something.

'Eating? Like our souls eating, or something!'

No, you baka! Souls! Are you a moron, or what! You're just like Yuki and his theory about American killer doughnuts! (Back in Kansas, the highly intelligent doughnuts are banging their heads to their cages, wondering how in the world the Japanese can keep on discovering their world domination plans.) By eating, I mean eating subconscious thoughts, like useless dreams, or silly whims you humans have every now and than. They keep us sane, and in touch with this world, you might say.

'Err…doughnuts, you say?' Rika thought, feeling that she might never be able to look at the much respected Sohma the same ever again. Once again, her vengeful animal spirit smacked her up-side the head for not paying attention.

This isn't the reason why I started talking to you, Rika! I started to talk to you because I needed to tell you that your time here is almost out!

'WHAT!' Rika exploded, almost falling off her bed. 'I-I'm going to die or something!'

No, I mean for the curse, I know that you finished that book of yours, but the dog's container is snooping around too much, he's suspecting you. I mean, here you are, hugging a cursed guy and girl, and neither transforming. Shigure's been talking to his spirit and the dog's running out of excuses. He knows too much, and hell, he'll know a hell lot more if you don't hurry.

'B-but, I can't just steal it, they'd find out that it's missing! And guess what, every time I get near the damned thing, I feel stabs of pain!'

Well, over come those 'stabs of pain', than! The pain you feel will be like the pain you'll feel when we're separated. Your body adapted to having me as part of you. So, it's only logical that it'll hurt if I'm torn from you.

'Great, it's a pain to transform, and a pain to break the curse?' Groaning, Rika glanced at the clock. 11:45 in glaring red numbers stared back. Sighing, she told the animal spirit to shut-up and drifted off into sleep.

It seemed only a few hours later that Rika heard a light knock on her door. Disgruntled, she raised her head and let out a yawn.

"I'm so sorry to wake you up! But, Riku, please wake-up, we have school!" came the Tohru's voice. She just groaned and flopped back down. Sighing, she raised her voice so the other could hear through the door.

"Sorry Tohru, but not today. I'm going to skip school." At this, there was a soft gasp, and Tohru's voice came back, as worried as ever.

"Oh, Riku, are you sick! O-or, are you not feeling well? Do you want me to call Hatori-san!"

"Nah, I'm just not going to school today. I might cause some damage to a certain cow and the school if I go today" Rika retort through gritted teeth. A few minutes later, Yuki's voice was heard.

"Riku, what happened yesterday, did Haruko-san tell you? Did she get back safely, because Haru's wasn't here this morning…?"

"Blah, that bastard would be lucky that I don't know where he is right now!" Rika exploded, pounding a fist to her mattress. "Getting drunk and putting moves on me, uh, my cousin like that! What the hell was he thinking! If I go to school today, I'll commit murder and become a criminal, I rather not, though; even if maiming the moron sounds fun!" There was silence for a while until Yuki replied in an icy tone.

"What did Hatsuharu do to your cousin, Riku?" She paused for a second. Could Yuki kill Haru for her?

"Yuki, do me a favor."

"…What?"

"Go and do as much bodily harm to that jackass cow for molesting my cousin!" Rika yelled, silently satisfied that she heard Yuki took in a sharp breath and stomped away. 'At least…that bastard will still die, and I won't be blamed!' Sighing, she flopped back down on her bed.

It wasn't until much later (forced out of her bed because of her stomach), when Shigure's suicidal editor came rushing in that she decided to walk around town, all the while thinking of a plan to get near her goal.

'Well, it's not like I can just go and grab it, how can I get it to Yamu?' she pondered, dodging people on the street, especially the males. As she walked through a park, she slowed down. 'Isn't that…?' Jogging towards the water fountain, she smiled a bit.

"Hello, Sohma-san! How are you today?" Rika cheerfully asked, quite happy to see a familiar face. Turning around, the young man was surprised, but gave a slight smile.

"Ahh, Riku-kun, hello. I'm fine, but…what is this?" he asked, pointing at the structure in front of them. Glancing at it, the girl looked back at the older man, seeing if he was joking or not. Seeing that he wasn't, she raised an eyebrow.

"That's a water fountain; you push the button to drink water." At seeing Kureno's expression, she laughed out right. 'Not even knowing what a water fountain is? Hah!'

"Hmm, you laugh just like Uo-chan" he mumbled, before turning his head to the side in embarrassment. Startled, Rika looked up.

"EH! You know Uo-chan!" she exclaimed. It took a while, but Kureno answered back.

"…Yes, she laughed at me at the market, since I didn't have a basket…" At hearing this, something clicked.

"Wait, wait, you the Kureno! That's great; Uo-chan's been talking about you a lot! She's been wondering where you were! If you want, I can show you what school she goes to, I bet she'd be glad to see you again!" Rika happily said. Her smile faded when she saw the distraught expression her companion held.

"…its better that I don't see Uo-chan. I'm happy to know that she's well and flattered that she remembers me. But, I'm quite busy, and th-!"

"Happy!" Rika interrupted, stomping a foot. "What the heck! Yea, she's happy, but she's also sad, too! Everyday, she'd say, 'I wonder where that guy is now?' she wants to see you again, and the fact that your just busy is hardly a good reason! I know that you like her, too, it's too obvious to not notice!"

Sighing sadly, the Sohma looked into her eyes. "Riku-kun, you must understand, I'm a…assistant, you might say, to the head to the Sohmas. To meet Uo-chan again and to raise her hopes…it would be too cruel. It's better to keep her safe like this." 'And,' he silently added, 'Akito would never know about her.' He was snapped out of his thoughts at Rika's response.

"Bullshit," she whispered ferociously, sad for not only him and Uo-chan, but for any Sohma that was connected to this head.

"Assistant? The way you put it, it sounds more like a puppet to me! And guess what, you're hurting her anyways!" Giving a snort, she stormed off. Only about two or three feet away, she stopped to give him a parting gift.

"Sohma-san, I think that you're a puppet to this 'head'…but, you must know that, not all puppets have strings that bind them."

"But what if…" He hesitantly asked, not realizing that he was responding to her. "…what if the puppet had strings?" At this she faced him to give an answer.

"Simple, you cut those stings."

Near A School

"Neh, Hiro-kun, I…I want to visit Onee-chan and Nii-chan today…" Kisa said softly. Taking a look at her, Hiro sigh, defeated; "Fine, let's go." All the while, we all know that in Hiro-kun's little head, he's cursing Rika to hell!

As they walked in a comfortable silence, Kisa stopped when she heard a melody. Not really thinking, she strayed over, with a worried Hiro at tow.

"Hey, Kisa, where are you going!" he shouted, catching up to the tiger. Looking ahead, he scowled. 'Another guy! And he looks like that moron!' he mentally fumed.

In his hand was a simple wooden box, with its lid open. His eyes were closed while listening to a mellow tune that came from the box. Sighing, the young man opened his eyes, to see the kids. Surprised at their unusual appearance, he didn't know what to do.

"U-um…hello" Kisa shyly greeted, a hand to her mouth. Seeing this, the man smiled a bit, causing Hiro to step in front of her, protecting the girl. This only made the man smile even more.

"Hello" he replied, closing the lid. His country accent told them that he was new to the town. The man, seeing that Kisa was still looking at the box smiled a sad smile.

"Did you like this?" he questioned, gesturing to the box. As she nodded her head timidly, he got up and put it on the bench.

"Then, have it. I'm sure my sister wouldn't mind, if she saw how cute you were" he said with a slight grin. Waving farewell, he headed off into a crowd. Both children looked at the box then each other.

With Tohru

She hummed a merry tune as she strolled home alone. It was a nice late afternoon, Yuki was at counsel, Kyo was at the Dojo and dinner was already made.

What more could Honda Tohru want today?

Well…maybe she'd want Rika to have gone to school…

…And that Hatsuharu would wake-up soon from the slight coma Yuki inflicted on him in school…

But, hey, it's still a great day!

As she made her way to the beginning of the little forest that surrounded Shigure's house, she stopped short.

There, in front of her was a man!

Not just any man, but a tired looking man…that happened to remind her strongly of Rika! Tohru saw the young man about Rika's age lift his head to the side, and she gasped.

He looked too much like Rika!

"Ma-matte!" Tohru called out, hurrying up. The man turned around and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"R-Riku?" the girl asked. As he slowly nodded, Tohru beamed with happiness.

"Riku, is this why you wanted to skip school, today? I'm sure that sensei wouldn't have minded you going to dye your hair black! Oh, but I liked your sandy hair…unless you didn't! Than, d-don't mind me!" Tohru said in a big rush. Seeing that her companion didn't answer, she peered at him and gasped.

"Neh, Rika-chan! E-even your eye colored changed!" At hearing the word 'Rika', the man gasped and took a hold onto the confused girl.

"Y-you know Rika-chan?" he asked in disbelief. As she nodded uncertainly, he broke out into a smile. Releasing her, he fell onto his knees, in a respectful bow.

"O-Onegai…c-can you bring me to her?" Seeing the girl give an uncertain look, he tried again.

"Please! I…want to see her…I want to see nee-chan…"

Shigure's House

"I'm home!" Rika shouted out, expecting to hear an annoyed grunt from Kyo, the usual question for a snack from Tohru. She was surprised when she saw a flash of orange shooting towards her and hugging her.

"Eh! Kisa-chan? Wah, Kisa-chan's here today!" Rika cried in happiness as Kisa replied back with a happy "Nii-chan!" After a minute of hugging, Rika shivered. 'Feel's like a death promise…' Turning around and peering into the living room, Rika smirked.

"Well, even the brat's here!" She would have gone on if she didn't notice the box he was holding. It looked crude and plain, but also discomfortingly familiar.

Detangling herself from the girl, Rika made her way to the living room and snatched the box from a protesting Hiro. She turned it over quickly and her eyes widened in semi-horror and semi-disbelief. She eyed the engraved name and turned it upright. Opening the lid carefully, she swallowed and forced the unshed tears to stay that way.

'No…it-it's too soon!' she mentally screamed, shaking a bit. Rika ignored Kisa's questioning and Hiro's glare. Her eyes were focused on the box.

Slam!

Jerking their heads to the door, Kisa ran to Tohru, who hugged Kisa back with the same amount of joy.

"Kisa-chan!" Tohru cried happily, squealing in delight.

"Nee-chan!" Kisa replied, equally happy.

"EH! It's the hobo!" Hiro yelled, for once forgetting to snap at 'that woman'.

"Hey, I'm not a hobo, I'm just new around here!" a masculine voice snapped, irritated.

"Eh? I-it's Oji-san…" Kisa said, quite astounded. "Neh…do…do you want the toy back?"

"No, you can keep it, Ojou-san!" the young man said with a smile. "But…don't call me Oji-san, I'm not that old!" Kisa blushed and said a quick apology with the young man scratching his head sheepishly at Kisa's actions. He stopped when he heard a slight crash.

All heads turned to a rigid looking Rika with her hands grasping air, and a box on the floor.

"N-Nii-chan?" she whispered. Taking a step forward, she asked again. "R-Riku-nii-chan, is t-that you?"

Mouth opened in equal shock, the young man-Haruko Riku-nodded.

"Rika-nee-chan…"

-.-

Hitaru: Blah, that was hard to write! (SPECIAL THANKY MUCH TO Yinyin, hurray!)

Mini-Waffle: Well, that was a mean cliffy!

Hitaru: You know what's even meaner of me?

Mini-Waffle: No, what?

Hitaru: The fact that I'm going to want a lot of reviews!

Mini-Waffle: o.O weirdo. If you have any questions, e-mail it, okay?

Hitaru: Yeah, and read EVEN IF!

Mini-Waffle: Yea, since it'll be her last Fruits Basket fic…

Hitaru: lol . Wah, only a few more chappies to go before O-W-A-R-I!

Mini-Waffle: But…before any of THAT happens, we want reviews!

Hitaru: Yes! 9, in fact!

Mini-Waffle: Geez, when we ask for a lot of reviews, it takes long, but if there's little, it's super fast!

Hitaru: Well…DUH!

Mini-Waffle: …shut-up! (Smacks)

Hitaru: x.X

...And they all walked away