Disclaimer: (checks inventory) Nope. No rights to Fruits Basket. (sniffle)

Twenty-Eight: The Curse

When the little clouds disappeared, Tohru exclaimed, "Gomen! I'm so sorry! I—R-Ritsu-san? Ano… why is there a monkey where Ritsu-sa—AH! I turned Ritsu-san into a monkey! I'm so sorry, Ritsu-san! Forgive me!"

And the onigiri began flapping her arms about wildly in a frantic gesture of apology.

"Uh…" Kyo managed, staring at the furry brown primate. "Huh?"

Shigure laughed nervously. "Well, Tori, looks like it's time to start erasing, ne?"

"No," Hatori shook his head. He stated, "I'm never going to do that again. We'll still be careful about keeping our secret but… if a trustworthy person finds out… we'll trust them."

"Yo!" exclaimed the cat-cursed. "The screamer just turned into a monkey! Anyone care to explain?!"

"Nope!" Shigure joked cheerfully.

"Go fall off a cliff," Hatori requested mildly, before added, "Ritsu-kun, I think you should leave the room before you change back."

"Yes! I'm sorry! I'll leave!" monkey-Ritsu shouted, scampering off through a door (the kitchen door) he picked at random.

"Wha-wha-wha…?" Tohru blubbered.

"WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE -CENSORED- IS GOING ON?!!" Kyo bellowed.

"Tohru-kun, Kyo-kun," the dragon requested, "Please sit down."

Both children obeyed, one with numb anxiety, the other with grudging obedience, as Haru slid over to make more room for them on the couch.

And so Hatori explained about the curse, prompting Kyo to fall off the sofa once the speech was done and Tohru to leap up and exclaim, "That's wonderful!"

Everybody in the room stared at her.

"Um—ah—I mean, not wonderful that you're cursed—that's really, really terrible—but I mean… ah…" Tohru fumbled for words. "I-I'm just glad that it wasn't my fault that poor Ritsu-san—actually, it was my fault since I fell on him…" she rambled.

Kyo looked around at everyone for a moment before finally shouting, "You're all nuts!" and bolting from the room.

As luck would have it, he also randomly selected the kitchen door as a method of escape. Just as he entered the galley, there was a loud poofing noise and Kyo immediately retreated, slamming the kitchen door behind him and making a break for another door.

This door led to the bedroom, where Yuki was still napping. Even Kyo's back-to-back door slamming didn't awaken the rat, so a desperate orange-top shook the other boy to consciousness, all the while yelling, "Get up! They're all loony!"

Eyes still half-closed, Yuki sat up drowsily and mumbled, "Who?"

"ALL of 'em! In the living room! That Ritsu guy or girl or whatever the -CENSORED- he is turned into a monkey and now they're yakking about this curse and they're nuts!"

"If you saw someone turn into a monkey," Yuki pointed out, "how can you be sure that you aren't crazy, too?" He turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

"Because—" Kyo stopped short and blinked. He finally proclaimed, "Well, I dunno, but I'm not! Oi, are you listening to me?!"

A soft snore answered him.

"OI! Are you LISTENING to me?!" Kyo demanded loudly, shaking Yuki's elbow harshly but briefly.

An only slightly alarmed grunt came from the rat-cursed as the pale-skinned boy propped himself up on his elbows and sleepily glared at Kyo.

"Fine," he grumbled, wishing that the cat would just go away and leave him alone, for Pete's sake. "You aren't nuts, we are cursed, now scram."

"You—you're nuts, too!"

"Am not. Go hug Miss Honda and you'll believe me. Go away."

"Geez, if Hatori-san hadn't told me that you turned into the rat, I'd bet you turned into a CRAB!"

"Just leave already, baka neko."

"What'd you call me?" Kyo blinked, clueless.

"Baka neko. Can't you hear anymore?"

"But why are you calling me a cat—ohh, right." In a rather mocking tone of voice, the orange-top said, "I turn into the neko."

Yuki glared harder, waking up a bit more. "Don't make fun of the curse. It isn't funny. If you remembered—" the rat ended his sentence abruptly before continuing quietly but pointedly, "If you remembered, you would know that."

"Okay, let's just say for a minute that we are cursed," Kyo suggested. "How do you think you'd go about breaking the curse?"

"I wouldn't do anything. As Hatori-san may have told you, our family has been cursed for generations. We don't know how or if it can ever be stopped."

"I don't get why it's such a curse," shrugged Kyo. "It sounds cool to be able to turn into an animal." He added hastily, "That is, if there really was a curse, but there isn't."

"There is a curse," Yuki stated, coldly and firmly. "And it isn't 'cool'. Use your brain for just a minute, baka neko. What do you suppose would happen if somebody was to find out about the zodiac curse? We're freaks. They'd be disgusted by us."

Kyo snorted and, referring to Tohru, jerked his thumb toward the living/dining room, saying, "She wasn't."

Yuki raised a skeptical eyebrow before muttering, "She will when it all sinks in."

"Well, aren't you Little Mister Sunshine."

"You're starting to sound like Shigure," yawned the nezumi.

"That crackpot?! No way! Hey, can I ask you something?"

"If you'll promise to shut up right after, go ahead."

"Okay," agreed Kyo. "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!!"

"Hatori's a fink, my stupid brother wants to visit, you won't put away your mouth, and I'm cursed. There." And Yuki lay back down, pulling the blanket up over his head.

Kyo shrugged and wandered off to the other side of the room, muttering, "Guess I'd be crabby, too…." As he sat down on the edge of a bed (Shigure's), the proverbial light bulb flicked on above his head and he realized something.

Looking over to Yuki, the neko began, "Hey, according to you guys I'm cursed, too. And I've had my memory erased! So I think I have as much right to be as grouchy as you have!"

A soft moan and a muffled, "I thought you agreed to shut up," came from under Yuki's covers.

"Well, I guess I just changed my mind!"

Sitting upright on the mattress, the rat glared at his cousin.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful rivalry.