Disclaimer: You think I own any of this? (dies laughing)

Note, 1: This is one of my first attempts at writing the Fruits Basket characters. Please forgive me if anyone seems too out of character. Advice is always appreciated; just don't be mean or uppity about it.

Note, 2: I don't like curse words. Nor am I certain that my parents would allow me to type them. Therefore, all swearwords will be written as follows: -CENSORED-. The strongest words I'll ever type out in this fic are: dang, shoot, and crud.

Verisimilitude

Ten: Secret Revealed

Hatori, sitting in the dentist's waiting room with Kyo, Yuki, and Momiji, scolded Kyo for the umpteenth time. What did that kid not understand about the term "be nice"? Was that order truly so hard to comprehend?

He sighed as his cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket.

"Hatori Sohma," was his greeting.

"Ah, Sohma-san! I must've gotten the right number after all. This is Kyoko."

"May I help you, Honda-san?"

"I know."

"I'm sure you know a lot," Hatori commented dryly. "What thing in particular are you so thrilled about that you have to tell me?"

"I know why you don't want me hugging the boys."

…

"Sohma-san?"

"Yes… I'm here. And what do you think is my reason?"

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Kyoko stated, "I saw what happened to Momiji-chan and Haru-chan."

"Pardon?" Time for the 'dumb-and-innocent' act. "What happened to them?"

"For one thing, they turned into a bunny and a calf."

"Are you feeling well?"

"Sohma-san, I know what I saw. I know you're only pretending that you're clueless." Looks like the consumers aren't buying what I have to sell today.

Hatori questioned, "Well… what's your explanation for this, shall we say… occurrence?" Might as well get an interesting story out of this.

"They change into animals whenever they're hugged." Good guess, Honda-san.

"Close. Only by females." Oh, suuuure, Ha'ri, spit it out in a dentist's office.

"…If I hadn't spent all last night getting a hold of myself, I don't think I'd still be conscious enough to talk to you right now."

"Well, congratulations, Honda-san," Hatori applauded her, somewhat sarcastically. "You now know the Sohma family secret."

The three young Sohmas stared up at Hatori, who motioned for them to remain silent by pressing a finger to his lips.

"So," Kyoko asked slowly, "what now?"

"Now you either prove to me that you can keep a secret, or you suddenly become startlingly forgetful."

"Are you… threatening me?!"

Ignoring her last question, Hatori said coolly, "You tell me, Honda-san. Can you handle secrets?"

"Of course I can," Kyoko all but spat, suddenly furious at Hatori's somewhat glib question. "Are you questioning my integrity?!"

"You must forgive me for my rudeness, Honda-san, but the entire Sohma family is at stake, here. I have to test your honorability before I trust you with our little familial issues."

"Issues? Just how many deep, dark secrets do you have?" snorted Kyoko, half teasingly.

"Oh, I'd say about twelve of them. Listen, we can't go into details about this right now. I'll drop off the kids with Shigure soon, and I'll meet you in the café next to my apartment building at about five. We can find a place to talk then. Does that sound alright?"

"Sure. Five. Bye." Kyoko hung up.

-

And so, at five that evening, they met in the café next door to Hatori's (and Shigure and Kyo and Yuki's…) apartment building.

"Where do you want to talk?" Kyoko asked.

Hatori glanced around and then slid into a booth. "I've decided that I'm not going to say anything too specific about the issues, so here's fine."

Kyoko sat down across from him.

"We'll be talking about a new movie from now until we leave, okay?"

"Alright," agreed Kyoko.

"Remember how that very rude character asked that babysitter if he could trust her?"

"Clearly."

"Well, you left soon after, so you didn't hear him talking the situation over with his obnoxious cousin. They decided that they could, indeed, trust the babysitter."

"That's good to hear," Kyoko decided musingly.

"Yes, it is. Because if they couldn't, the rude character would've had to erase the babysitter's memory."

"Could you tell me more about the 'situation' that could end up with the babysitter's memory erased?" Kyoko pressed.

"A little. You see, the family of the rude character and the obnoxious character was cursed. Twelve of them were, at least. They would each turn into an animal of the Jyuunishi at the most inconvenient of times."

"Like, say, when they were… hugged?"

"Yes. Or if they were under an excessive amount of physical strain."

"That's terrible," Kyoko murmured sympathetically.

Hatori nodded slowly and continued, "It was a pretty big plotline, where the cursed family was concerned. And it was very important that no one else found out."

"I can—I think the babysitter could understand that."

"They hoped she would. Because they'd have a heck of a time finding another decent babysitter."

Kyoko smiled slightly.

"They hoped the babysitter would also understand that this was a secret that could never be told. She had to keep the secret to the grave."

"To the grave," Kyoko repeated, nodding solemnly.

"As long as the babysitter kept the promise," Hatori concluded, "it was a reasonably happy movie. So, that's the sum of it. I'd better go, before Shigure starts making trouble."

Kyoko grinned and stood up with Hatori. "I'll see you Monday, then."

Hatori grunted in agreement before asking, "Do you need me to see you home?"

"No, thanks. I got here alright, I'll get back alright."

She smiled again before leaving the neighborhood… perhaps never to return…