Disclaimer: Gonna start my campaign to own something in Fruits Basket. Gonna try sending Takaya a letter with some chocolates first…….
But in the meantime, heres the next chapter. ENJOY!
Chapter 6: In Which There Are Surprises
KT and Megan woke up the next day refreshed and were about to head out to go on a major manga shopping spree. However, they were interrupted by a light knock on the door. The girls glanced at each other confused.
"Did you order room service?" KT asked getting up from the bed to answer the door.
"No." Megan answered as she watched KT open the door. KT and Megan both got an uneasy feeling looking at the stranger.
"Good morning. My name is Hatori Sohma." The man said in an icy tone. KT returned the greeting while Megan simply blinked. He was a tall man with light brown eyes. His hair was also brown and a section of it covered most of the left side of his face. For his cloths, he had chosen a sharp looking black suit. Megan was almost tempted to label him as emo. KT couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about him that she didn't like.
"You must come with me now." He said.
"Why?" KT asked cautiously.
"The head of the Sohma family wishes to see you. We must not keep him waiting." He replied before walking away. The girls figured that since it involved the Sohmas, it would be fine. So they walked numbly behind Hatori.
Momiji was waiting outside in the car and once Kt was inside the car, he attached himself to her like a living bracelet.
"What are you doing here Momiji?" Megan asked getting in and sitting on the otherside of him.
"Hatori is watching me for the day." He said clinging to KT's and now Megan's arm. Hatori glanced at them through the rearview mirror. Throughout the car ride, the only one talking was Momiji. Megan and KT felt that is they said a syllable, they would get shot. The reason: Hatori referred to the family as if it was the mafia and that they were going to see the godfather or whatever. For all they knew, Hatori could be the right hand man in it or something.
They arrived at a very large estate. KT looked around and noted that there was basically no signs of life. The girls followed Hatori to the largest house and through a labyrinth of hallways, finally stopping in front of a paper door.
"Wait here." Hatori said sliding open the door and stepping in before closing the door and leaving the girls alone.
"That guy is kinda scary." Megan whispered.
"I know. I wonder what the head guy wants to see us for?" KT whispered back. Just then Hatori came back.
"You can go in now." He said coldly. The girls slowly and cautiously walked in to see a figure standing in front of the window with its back to them. Hatori left and the girls were left alone with the mysterious figure. No one said anything at first. In fact, there was nothing but silence for 5 minutes. Megan was starting to fidget. Silence made her nervous. Finally, the figure spoke.
"Hello." It said in a masculine voice. KT and Megan scrambled to answer.
"Hello!" they answered in perfect unison and anxiety.
"My name is Akito Sohma. I am head of the Sohma family…KT and Megan." He said finally turning to face them. KT almost shivered under his cold, black stare. Megan was startled by his appearance. He was so skinny! His cloths looked ready to fall off of him. She wondered if he was anorexic.
"Good morning Akito-san." KT said. Akito simply nodded.
"So…you are members of the zodiac?"
"Um yes. The Western Zodiac." KT answered. There was more silence as Akito processed this. He turned his back to them and walked out onto the deck. He then sat down and rested his back against the door.
"Come out here." He said in an emotionless tone. They slowly walked outside and stood to Akito's right. He wasn't looking at them.
"Please sit." He said suddenly grinning at them. Megan and KT slowly dropped to the floor. Both were slightly scared that he suddenly smiled. Megan didn't like that smile. It looked forced and not happy at all.
"I hope Hatori didn't startle you to much. He can look scary." Akito said with a smirk.
"No. he was very polite." KT lied.
"So what zodiac are you?"
"Well I'm Pisces which makes me the fish and Megan is Capricorn which makes her the sea goat." KT explained.
"I see. How many of you are there?"
"Well my brother Andy is one. He's an Aries. And someone else we know is Leo." Megan explained.
"Is that all of them?"
"We don't know." KT said truthfully.
"I see…just like an American." He said looking away. The girls looked at each other confused.
"What do you mean?" Megan asked.
"Americans are stupid." He said bluntly turning back to them. The girls were shocked.
'Where did that come from?' Megan thought. Akito watched their expressions.
"What's the matter?" he asked with a smirk. KT quickly tried to wipe her face clear of emotion.
"Nothing." KT answered still stunned.
"You two are so easy to break. Just like Yuki." He continued. KT and Megan blinked.
"And Kyo, it will only be a matter of time before he will be confined….and Ritsu, what a waste of skin." Akito continued. He seemed to be having a conversation with himself. KT couldn't believe it. This was the head of the Sohma family?
"…Haru, the big, dumb ox…" he continued on his tangent. Megan tried to ignore him but it wasn't working. He continued to throw insults at the family and at the girls too. KT was getting angry.
'Let them bounce off! Let them bounce off!' KT mentally told herself. Megan was trying to figure out why Akito was spouting so much hostility.
'What did we ever do to him? Why is he bashing his family?' Megan wondered. Finally, Megan decided to ask.
"Can I ask you something Akito-san?" she interrupted. He looked at her giving her his full attention.
"Why are you insulting you family? Don't you love them?" Akito thought for a moment before his eyes hardened and he got a wicked grin on his face.
"Of course. I love them to death. I wish for them to be by my side till the day I die." He said cruelly. That didn't look like love.
"Hatori? We are finished." He called before turning back to the girls "The East and the West should not mix. Stay away from my family. We don't need your dirty American noses prying into our business." He said cruelly. Hatori entered and stood by the door.
"It was nice meeting you. Fell free to visit again…you're always welcome." He said grinning again. It was anything but friendly. But Megan and KT didn't expect it to be after what they just heard. KT made a beeline out of that room before she went postal on his ass. Megan got up but glanced back when she reached the door. Akito was standing there with a what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it-bitch smirk. Megan made a mental note to actually stand up for herself the next time she met him.
Hatori drove them back to their hotel. However, they were being ushered back into the car about 5 seconds later because Shigure had called and asked to see them. They arrived about 5 minutes later and Hatori walked them to the door. Shigure threw open the door and practically yelled his greeting.
"HA-SAN! Did you come to spend the night? You can share my bed!" he yelled. If this was a manga, there would be little flowers and hearts in the background. KT cocked a brow while Megan was simply speechless. They glanced at Hatori who had a vein popping out.
"Did you forget the reason you called me here?" he asked. Shigure got a total airhead look on his face. You could almost hear the wind blowing through the empty space where his brain was supposed to be. Then he seemed to remember.
"KT! Megan! Come on in!" he squealed.
"Thank you for driving us Hatori-san." KT said with a small bow. Hatori nodded curtly in response.
"Are you sure you don't wanna spend the night? There's plenty of room in-!" Shigure started.
"I'm leaving." Hatori interrupted and turned to leave.
"You're such a cruel doctor!" Shigure cried with big chibi tears running in streams down his face. Megan and KT were desperately fighting the urge to laugh. Shigure closed the door and turned to them.
"How was your visit with Akito?" he asked.
"That was…an experience." Megan said.
"He basically had fun bashing us and America. You know, like we're ignorant, loud , stupid and all that jazz." KT explained.
"Yeah and that we shouldn't mix with the Eastern Zodiac and that we can basically just drop dead." Megan continued.
"but we're alive so its all good!" KT said smiling and giving a thumbs up. However, in the mind of Shigure, this did not compute. In Shigure language, it translated as " We're defensless high school girls and we're about to cry. We need someone to cry on. Please hug us Shigure!" and Shigure though that was a good suggestion. In about 2 seconds, he had both of them in a bear hug.
"Don't cry!" he said with a pervy grin.
"Who's crying!" KT squeaked with the remaining breath that hadn't been squeezed out.
"Don't worry! We love you! And I'm here!" Shigure said.
"Coming from you, that sounds criminal." Megan said. He finally released them.
"It feels so nice to hug someone not related to the family." He sighed happily. KT blinked slowly with a look that said you're-a-few-frenchfries-short-of-a-happy-meal-Shigure.
"Where are Tohru and the others?" Megan asked trying to get the wrinkles out of her shirt that Shigure had created.
"At school. They won't be home for another couple hours. But make yourselves at home." Shigure said walking to the living room to read the paper. Megan and KT followed him and seated themselves at the table. It was very boring at first because no one was talking very much. Shigure talked to them for a bit but it was still awkward when the people you wanted to see weren't even there. It got a little more interesting when Megan found some tape and began to play with it. KT just couldn't understand Megan's fixation with tape. Likewise, Megan couldn't understand KT's constant obsession with throwing orange markers at people.
Things got very interesting when Shigure's editor (he told them that he was an author) came by to pick up a hopefully finished manuscript. It appeared that Shigure had driven this woman to the brink of suicide many times. Today appeared to be one of those times. When she heard that Shigure didn't have it done, she freaked out, climbed on top of the roof and was preparing to jump. Shigure sat there and giggled like a ninny while Megan and KT tried to get her down. When they finally succeeded, they decided to give the distraught woman a hand and gang up on Shigure. They actually had to tie him to the chair so he would write and even then he mad excuses like they were stifling his creativity. (A/N: I am proud to say that that has never needed to be done to me. Though it is rather annoying when someone is watching you write….). Tohru, Yuki, and Kyo arrived to see Megan and KT guarding the door to Shigure's office and a woman pacing in the living room.
"What's goin' on?" Yuki asked setting his bag down.
"Shigure has been slacking and now he's catching up." Megan explained. The editor came and slid his door open a crack.
"How's it comin' Shigure?" the editor asked. Shirgure didn't answer. Because it wasn't Shigure. In Shigure's place was dummy that he had crafted and tied to the chair. The window was also open. The editor screamed and ran from the door leaving a wake of tears.
"Such a shame." Shigure said, suddenly spearing behind Megan and KT. Megan and KT soon learned that Shigure did have it done, he was just being cruel.
Megan and KT hung around the rest of the day at the Sohma house. Around dinner time, Shigure turned on the news.
"And now for breaking news." a bored looking news lady began "Hotel costs have doubled. This is bad news for travelers as almost every hotel has had to double their cost." she finished. KT and Megan gaped at the TV.
"Can I use your phone Shigure?" KT panicked.
"Who are you calling?" Megan asked.
"Our hotel stupid! I wanna see how much our rates have gone up." She said as she dialed quickly.
"Hello? Hi this is KT from 204 and I was wondering about the rates…204…WHAT!" KT yelled the last part.
"What?" Megan whispered. KT put a hand over the receiver.
"500!" she whispered dramatically. Megan went slack jawed. KT then returned to the phone.
"So what are we supposed to do…well of course you would say that, all you want is money…" she said. The Sohma's watched with interest. KT then decided to thrown in some of her acting skills.
"Listen…we're 2 American teenagers (sniffle) and we are on a fixed budget (voice squeak). We don't have any more money so what are we supposed to do (whimper)?" KT acted. To bad Ayame wasn't there otherwise he could take acting lessons from KT. Megan rolled her eyes. She was yanked from her zoned-out state when Shigure brushed by her and grabbed the phone from KT's hands.
"There is no need to worry, everything is under control. They will be checking out today." He said before hanging up.
"Shigure what are you doing? We can't check out! We have no where else to go!" Megan protested.
"Which is why…I am humbly inviting you to stay with us!" he said happily.
"Oh no! We couldn't do that! Plus you have no room!" KT cried. She was freaking out for some reason.
"You can share Tohru's room. Is that ok Tohru-chan?" Shigure asked glancing at Tohru.
"Of course! The more the merrier!" Tohru chirped.
"But still we couldn't just do that!" KT said.
"Its either stay here or live in a box out in the street!" Kyo yelled. KT blinked.
"Well when you put it like that…I guess we'll stay here." Megan sighed. At this, Shigure actually jumped for joy.
"I couldn't let two teenagers wander the streets all by their lonesome selves. I have more morality than that." Shigure said. Megan rolled her eyes.
'Is he always like this?' Megan asked herself
"Thanks for letting us stay!" KT bowed.
"Its no problem at all." Yuki grinned.
"We'll come with you to help you with your stuff." Tohru said. With that, they set off to the hotel to pack up their stuff.
KT and Megan had settled in quickly. To prove this, Megan fell down the stairs already. That night, they spent talking and getting more acquainted with their new adoptive family.
I finally found time to update. Thanks for all the reviews once again. Muchas gracias. Well what did u think of Akito. I had trouble writing that part. I have trouble with villains and making them sound threatening. Today I had an accident. It involved glitter. Long story short, there is now glitter all over the basement carpet and all over me. There is now glitter in my hair. That's not gonna be fun to get out!