Title: Living in a Romance Novel
Chapter 11: Tattered Pages
Authors Note: Hey guys – I hope you all finally enjoyed Lena finding out the Sohma secret! Obviously the story doesn't end there though, so here's the next installment. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'm really happy that Lena connects so well with everyone. I love strong, independent women and Lena for sure falls in that category - she tries to be refined and elegent like her clothing style, but we all know how brash and hot tempered she really is.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. Evalena White is my own creation however, and belongs solely to me.
"If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees." ~ Kahlil Gibran
On the positive side, the rain was starting to let up; unfortunately Lena was soaked to the bone. She didn't give a damn one way or another on the weather forecast anymore. Let the skies tragically cry for her misfortune.
"I can't believe I lost a shoe…and I'm still carrying his clothes," disgusted, Lena wrung out the water in her stringy hair and kept trudging forward, like the true trooper she was.
"Lena…" a soft voice called her out loudly, there was nothing timid or unsure about it. Seconds after Lena's ears perked up at hearing her name, Shigure popped out of the bushes.
She was startled at first, not because of what Shigure was, half dog…or weredog, whatever the technical name for it was. She was startled because he jumped out of a random pair of bushes. Lena could see how he retreated with her wide gaping mouth and surprised eyes.
"Give me a heartache, damn it Shigure," she clutched her chest and focused on taking a few deep breaths of air, it helped, a little.
"You should really be more aware," he teased, unable to be serious, despite the circumstances.
There was something wrong with the picture, although Lena felt relieved to have found him…or rather he found her, something was still wrong. She narrowed her eyes on him and starred for the longest time.
And then it struck her as brilliant and fierce as lightening.
How was that possible if she had his clothes….
"YOU BASTARD! NO GOOD, ROTTON, SELFISH, UNDERLYING, SON OF A BITCH," Lena screeched in his face, waving his clothes around, "I was out LOOKING FOR YOUR SORRY ASS AND YOU WENT INSIDE….I LOST A SHOE…YOU OWE ME FOUR HUNRED AND FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS PLUS TAX."
"You seem upset…" he laughed uneasily and tripped back a couple of steps.
"Upset? I am furious…FURIOUS," she stalked around in a circle for a moment, hissing and muttering, then her eyes spotted a perfect shaped stone.
"Ow…" Shigure muttered and rubbed his head when a rock ricocheted off it, "Now is that really the mature thing to do, Lena?" He asked, attempted to scold.
"I'm just getting started," Lena hissed, and chucked another stone, this time she hit his cheek.
"Now Lena, you're going to have to stop throwing rocks at me sooner or later," preferably later.
"Wanna bet? This is for my hair, this is for my shoe, this is for the slit in my skirt…eyes up pervert, this is for the rain damage on my lace, and this…this is for making me chase you down in a bloody forest when you weren't even there. This is for being a stupid, self-absorbed, no good, troubling Sohma!"
"Feel better?" he hoped, as he shielded his face with both arms. There was a circle of pebbles around him by now.
"Yes," Lena huffed and collapsed down on a sturdy rock. Shigure was lucky she wasn't strong enough to lift up the stone that was bigger than his ego – yes, shockingly, it was possible.
"You haven't asked for an explanation yet," He remarked, "It would be the logical question to follow…"
Lena snorted and buried her face into her hands, "I haven't decided if I want to know yet," she admitted, "Fine, let's hear it – otherwise I'll be tossing and turning all night."
"Well...as you saw earlier, certain Sohma's are possessed by the zodiac…I'm the dog, Yuki's a rat and Kyo's a cat. You've also met Ayame and Hatori who are part of the zodiac. Whenever we are hugged by the opposite sex or our bodies weaken, we transform," he explained rather calmly, but searched her eyes for acceptance.
"Okay…it's a little Harry Potter for me, a little over the top with a 'cursed family' but I guess it could work," Lena didn't see any point in arguing what she had seen.
"You're accepting this very well," Shigure remarked casually.
Lena gave a hoot at that, she couldn't help it, "Wouldn't it be counterproductive to refuse to accept what I saw with my own eyes? Granted if you told me this without any proof, well, I'd probably have you committed, but you…you transformed right in front of me. I saw it, I can't deny that, there's no point in fighting the truth," no matter how much she might have liked too.
A zodiac curse for crying out loud, "I guess that's why you never got close to me…" and if he gave any other reason she'd deck him for it.
"Trust me," Shigure replied with a tortured expression, "I was constantly restraining myself against you."
"I believe you, I'm quite a catch after all," Lena replied with a smirk.
"And you call me egotistic…" Shigure muttered under his breath.
A frown creased on Lena's face, "You know what…I think I liked you as a dog better," she sprang on Shigure, who protested and tried to walk backwards, retreating away from her. Lena's arms still wrapped around his shoulders, for one instant she held him and then… poof.
"You're so much cuter," Lena smirked and played with his floppy black ears.
"Very funny," Shigure grumbled, "I should warn you, and we change back naked."
"Don't count on me being a lady and not sneaking a peak," Lena warned him with a fixed smirk on her lips. She saw the amusement and surprise flash in his eyes.
Who said Shigure was the only one to be a pervert?
Shigure stopped short from walking back to his house and stared peculiarly at Lena, "You took that very well," most people wouldn't have, "Why were you so angry before? Was it because I chose to get dressed instead of wandering around naked in the forest?"
Lena gave an indifferent shrug, "I've always been good at adapting to strange circumstances," and maybe, she had lived her head in fantasy books too long, maybe she had prayed too hard for poof of something extraordinarily different in this world. Now she had it.
"And, I was angry because well I was getting lost in the forest you were drying your hair, probably having Tohru run and fetch you a new pair of clothes," where as she lost her shoe. Lena wouldn't forget that.
"Then from the deepest, most sincere parts of my heart, I apologize."
"You don't have a heart."
"Now that's just cruel."
"You begged me to stay, remember," Lena pointed out with a quick smirk on her lips, "You found my wit, clever and charm endearing."
Shigure gave a snicker, coming from a dog it sounded funny, "You were easily persuaded."
Sitting around the table was far more awkward than it should have been – Lena blamed it on the fact that Shigure was still a dog, and Hatori had joined them for the evening.
"Akito will have to be told," Hatori finally decided at the table, "You know it has to be Shigure, her knowing endangers all of us."
"Yes, because if a woman ran screaming down the streets about the Sohma's being possessed by evil zodiac spirts that caused them to transform into animals, you're entire family would be locked up for testing…oh, wait. No. That would be me being locked up in a mental ward. Don't insult my intelligence, who am I going to tell, and for debate purposes, we'll add, who am I going to tell that would believe me," Lena rolled her eyes, straight at Hatori and dared him to argue.
"Our head of house must be notified," he replied stubbornly back.
"Fine," Lena sat back and smirked, "I'll go. But not because it's demanded of me, and not because I feel pressured or required to go. I'm going to go, to tell this Akito that if he plans to interfere in the tiniest bit of my life, then prepare for heavy pain," either in the form of pepper spray, a taser, or twenty years of woman's self defense.
"Be aware that there may be a chance Akito will request your memories to be erased," but when Hatori spoke, he spoke more to Shigure than Lena.
Lena sized Hatori up and smirked, "I like my chances," how did fried sea horse taste? For future reference, it might make it on the dinner menu.
"A word of advice, White-San, treat Akito will the deepest and greatest of respect," and maybe she would be spared.
"A word of advice, Sohma-San, respect is given when respect is due. Respect is earned, not automatically demanded," she squared off against Hatori and smirked. Lena knew she was a worthy adversary.
"You two, jumping over nothing," Shigure chuckled nervously, "Akito was in a generous mood with Tohru, there's no reason that he hasn't stayed that way," and to that, both Yuki and Kyo snorted in disgust.
Well, Akito might have had the Sohma's scared shitless, but Lena had survived worst. One date – Upstate New York, Black Friday.
Every year she went, she fought, and she conquered. Akito would be a piece of cake. Her estranged family had never influenced her life; they had never had the choice. Lena had refused to give up the reins, the power. If this man truly believed he was going to walk into her life and tell her if she could remember her own memories or not, then he deserved a good kick in the ass.
"Don't worry too much," Shigure suggested as he paddled to the door next to her in his black, furry self.
"I'm not," Lena replied with a bright smile, "Believe me, I can take care of myself."
Nobody was coming into her life to rip to shreds everything she had put together. Her story was careful woven and kept in order, nobody was going to shred her life.