Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ A New Kind of Fruit Basket ❯ There's a Surprise Around Every Corner ( Chapter 2 )

A New Kind Of Fruit Basket

Chapter 2

After everyone had eaten, it was already beginning to get dark. Hitsugi, Rizaado, Momiji and Yuki gathered up a few armloads of timber and got a fire started in the back yard while the others all got better acquainted. Shishi, Sakana, and Tohru brought out some after-dinner snacks for themselves and the boys, and once the fire had been started, everyone sat down around it, laughing and having a great time. The only ones not seeming to have any fun were Haru and Kyo. They'd propped themselves up against separate trees with their legs crossed and their hands in their pockets, heads drooped as if in deep thought.

Tohru noticed them and smiled to herself.

"Hatsuharu! Kyo! Why don't you two come over here and talk to us? It would be a lot more fun with you both!"

Sighing deeply, Kyo gave in and plopped himself down next to Tohru, who just smiled and somehow managed to coax out a grin from the corners of the cat's mouth. Haru, on the other hand, stayed put. He would have loved to join the others, but he was worried about one of his cousins making him angry somehow and causing him to turn into Black Haru in front of Shishi. That was the worst thing that could possibly happen at that moment. He knew what the darker, more audacious side of himself was capable of, and he didn't want to ruin any chance of even a friendship with this beautiful, fantastic creature he had just discovered earlier in the day.

Yuki somehow sensed that something was bothering his cousin. Standing up and walking over to where Haru was sulking, he took him by the shoulder and pulled him a short ways into the forest behind the house. Then, turning to face the cow, he sighed.

"What is it, Haru?"

Haru just stared at Yuki in confusion.

"Something's got you acting very strangely tonight," Yuki stated. "I think it would help if you told me what is on your mind."

Haru stared at the ground, his cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink. He hoped Yuki hadn't noticed.

"Nothing is wrong with me," he began. "I just…these people are very kind, and I didn't want anything that Kyo might have said to allow…him…to come out and ruin everything for everyone."

Yuki nodded. "I can see how that might be a problem. However, I truly doubt that Black Haru will have anything to do with our visitation to this place any time soon."

"How can you be sure?"

"Earlier today, when Miss Shishi surprised you and made you fall down…usually if anyone gets the better of you in any way, you explode in their face. But you didn't do that. You barely even raised your voice. You controlled your temper without even realizing it."

Thinking about it, Haru realized that what Yuki had said was very true. Any time someone had played a trick on him or scared him in the past, he had always gotten even with his fists and vulgar language. It had been different that evening. Without even knowing how it happened, he hadn't gotten mad: only extremely embarrassed, and not even that had caused Black Haru to come to the surface.

Haru's fears immediately dissipated. Taking a deep breath, he walked back to where the others were sitting. Almost instantly, Shishi noticed him and waved him over, scooting over a bit to give him a place to sit between herself and Tohru.

Smiling, she looked at him and said, "So you finally decided to come and join us, huh?"

"Yeah," Haru began. "It got pretty boring standing over there by myself. I thought I'd come over here and crash someone else's party besides my own."

Shishi laughed. Then, looking down, she noticed that the group was quickly running out of snacks. Getting up, she grabbed Haru by the hand and pulled him into a standing position alongside herself.

"I'm going to get some chips, and I'll take Hatsuharu with me," she said to Tohru. Then, turning to the boy whose hand she held, she said, "Come on, you. I don't have any idea what kinds of things you like to eat, so follow me and we'll get you something."

Blushing deeply, he let her have her way and stumbled after her as she dragged him inside to the kitchen. Once there, she led him to the cupboard and started piling bowls and bags of different types of chips into his awaiting arms, until the pile was so high he could barely see over the curve of the top dish.

"Hmmm…I wonder what I'm missing," she said to herself. Then, snapping her fingers, she bent down to reach into another cabinet. Drawing out three plastic containers, she held them up to Haru's face so he could see them.

"Which one do you like best: French onion dip, sour creep, or the cheesy kind?"

"Uh…French onion."

"Good," she said. "That was going to be my choice. You've got good taste, Haru. Now come on, everyone's probably waiting for us."

Man, Haru thought to himself once the two of them were back outside on the ground with the others, she sure is forceful…in a good sort of way. At least she knows how to get things done. Now I know for sure that my black side won't come out. He would never let anyone use him like that in the least. And yet, even as I was being her personal slave, I actually enjoyed it, to a certain degree.

Shishi put the many different varieties of chips into the bowls and put the large container of onion dip in the center of it all. Instantly, everyone dug into the refreshments like there was no tomorrow.

As the group continued with their festivities, Yuki kept stealing glances over at Haru and his blonde-haired companion, who was sitting right next to him, chatting away like everyone else. For some strange but obvious reason, the girl had taken quite a liking to his younger cousin, whose features seemed to have undergone a remarkable transformation. Instead of the blank, impassive expression that was usually adorned on his face, his mouth was in a constant upturned position that looked to Yuki to be a smile, and he laughed more often than usual, his eyes glowing with a luminous radiance every time she smiled back him.

Could it be that this young woman had an infatuation with Haru? She was giving off all the right signals; they were the same ones he got from the many admiring fan club girls at school who supposedly thought he was the greatest thing to walk the Earth.

Yuki decided that he was going to have to keep an eye on Miss Shishi. If his assumptions were correct, and she and Haru really were beginning to like each other, he would have to protect Haru from Akito's wrath. There was no way that the head of the Sohma family would allow an outsider to fall in love with a member of the Zodiac. It was unheard of and had been strictly forbidden, ever since the situation with Hatori and Kana. The only way that Haru and Shishi would have a chance was if Akito died sometime in the very near future, which was extremely unlikely. Yuki only hoped that Haru's heart wouldn't get broken like Hatori's had.

All of a sudden, while in the middle of another conversation with Haru, Shishi raised her eyes to the sky. Haru followed her gaze and noticed that the moon had finally come into view. Remembering what Ookami had said about the Uesutsus earlier that day, he realized that it was only a matter of time now before Shishi, Sakana, Rizaado, and Hitsugi transformed.

Sakana got up and ran inside. When she came back out, she was struggling to carry a large bucket of water towards the others.

"What's with the water?" Kyo asked her.

Sakana grinned. "You'll see."

As Haru watched, the sun sank fully behind the western hills and the moon came into full view. Almost instantly, large puffs of smoke surrounded Shishi, Sakana, Rizaado, and Hitsugi, and when it settled, there stood four very different animals.

Haru was familiar with Shishi's transformation, and smiled when he saw her in her beautiful lioness form. Being almost waist high from the top of her head to the bottom of her front paws, she could easily have taken him down in his cow form if she'd wanted to.

Sakana's form was not nearly as graceful as her sister's. She had transformed into a foot-long fish that flopped around all over the ground until she finally landed in the bucket of water she'd brought outside only moments before. Rizaado had turned into a foot-long brown lizard, and Hitsugi was now an ebony-black ram with large, silver horns that curled behind his head.

Haru tried to guess what signs each of these animals could symbolize. The lion was easy; it was obviously Leo, like Ookami had said earlier.

Shishi seemed to be able to read his mind when she asked, "Can you tell what signs the others represent?"

"The fish is Pisces, and the ram is Aries," Tohru said. "But what does the lizard stand for?"

"The lizard is sort of a pun," Hitsugi answered. "It stands for Libra, the Scales. It really means like a scale that you use to weigh something, but in Rizaado's case, it means the scales that he has all over his body right now."

"Oh, I see," Tohru said, smiling. "That's clever."

Just then, Haru noticed Shishi's ears perk up, as if she'd heard something that the others hadn't. He watched as she crouched low to the ground and slinked towards a bunch of bushes a short ways off in the distance. With a growl, her back legs pushed off and she ran full speed towards the woods. All of a sudden, something big and black jumped out, knocking into her and pushing her back a good five yards. Shishi regained herself and rushed at her attacker, pushing the creature down onto the ground and onto it's back, crushing it with her body weight.

"All right, fine, you win," the creature said. "But you won't be so lucky next time. I'm going to beat you someday."

Shishi laughed out loud. "Yeah right. You're just a weak little puppy and you know it."

"Who…who is that?" Tohru asked.

Hitsugi laughed to himself. "Well, it seems that Ookami is late, as usual."

Everyone watched as Shishi came strutting back to them with her head held high, like she'd just won a big prize. There was a black wolf nearly the same size as she right at her heels.

"Hello, everyone," the wolf said cheerily. It's me, Ookami."

Tohru's eyes sparkled. "Ookami, is it really you? Oh, I just love your animal form, it's absolutely adorable!"

"She looks kind of like Shigure," Kyo stated.

"Who's Shigure?" Shishi asked.

"Shigure is an older cousin to Kyo and me," Yuki replied. "He's the dog of the Zodiac, and he has black hair, so when he transforms, his fur is black. Ookami sort of looks like him when he's in his dog form."

Tohru turned to the wolf. "So, Ookami, what's your sign? I never noticed there being a wolf mentioned in the Astrology before."

"My animal has sort of a historical meaning behind it," Ookami explained. "Do you remember the twin boys, Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome? Well, they were raised by wolves. My sign is Gemini, the Twins. The only animal associated with twins is the wolf, so I guess fate just decided that the person cursed with the sign of Gemini would turn into a wolf."

Wow, Tohru thought to herself. The Uesutsus have very interesting stories behind why they are the way they are. I hope I get to meet every single one of them someday, just as I have gotten to meet every one of the Zodiac members.

Tohru watched as Shishi ran back over to Haru. When she was a few yards away from him, she lunged at his leg and began pulling on the bottom of his pants leg playfully with her teeth.

"Come on, Haru!" she said. "Come play with me!"

Haru looked at her like she was crazy. "What do you mean, play?"

"Just come run around with me. It's a full moon, and I'm feeling restless. It also doesn't help that I'm a lioness, because I've got a lot of energy built up. Help me work some of it off."

"How, though? I can't keep up with you…"

That's when Haru got an idea. Looking Tohru's way, he marched over to her and put his arms around her. He was instantly surrounded by a puff of black and white smoke, and the next thing he knew, he was standing on all fours as a cow.

"Now I have a better chance of keeping up with you, Shishi," he said, strutting back over to her, leaving Tohru in a mighyt dazed state.

"What…just happened?" she asked Yuki. Yuki laughed to himself, amused by her lack of awareness.

Shishi was astonished at what she'd just witnessed.

"What the hell?" she said.

"Didn't you know?" Haru asked with as much of a smirk as he could muster out of his cow form. "I'm a member of the Zodiac…the cow. So are Yuki and Momiji…and I guess Kyo can be considered a member, too, to a certain extent."

"Incredible," Shishi said. "I suspected you were a part of the Zodiac because I didn't transform when you caught me when I fell off the balcony, but I wasn't certain. Now I know for sure that you are. This is so awesome!"

With that, she grabbed him by the tail and gave it a tug. "Now come on, let's play! And you'd better not come after me with those horns of yours. I might get hurt."

Haru was confused. "Horns? I don't have any horns."

"Well, they're not very big. They look like they're just starting to grow in. But still, they'll be as hard as a rock, so keep them away from me."

"Shishi is right, Hatsuharu," Tohru said. "You're really growing some horns."

Haru banged his head against a nearby tree, and when there was no pain, he knew that what Shishi and Tohru had said was true.

"I guess I'm not a cow after all," he said. "I'm actually a bull."

Shishi laughed. "Well, hell, I could have told you that, cow boy. You don't have an utter. Cows have utters. You're definitely not a girl…unless there is something you need to tell me." She laughed after that last sentence.

Haru dug into the ground with his hoof. "What're you doing looking between my legs in the first place, pussy cat?"

Shishi laughed. "Okay, big guy, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Anyway…you think you can keep up with me now that you've got four legs instead of two?"

"Oh yeah, I'm going to whoop your feline ass! You just wait!"

"Well see," she said. "Now let's go, I'm getting impatient."

With that, she ran off into the woods, leaving Haru to try to catch up to her.

Ten minutes later, after Haru had lost an embarrassing total of six races to the lithe lioness, he felt a tingle travel up his spine. Without warning, his body was once again surrounded by black and white smoke as he transformed back into his original form.

"Oh shit!" he cried as he tried to cover his naked body from Shishi's gaze. "Why did this have to happen now? My clothes are back at the house!"

Shishi laughed as Haru leaped behind a bush to try to conceal himself.

"I'll go get your clothes," she said as she ran back towards the house. A few minutes later, she came rushing back with Haru's clothes tied around neck.

"Thank you, Shishi," he said sheepishly as he pulled on the garments she'd brought him.

"No problem," she said. "You just have to prepare yourself for these situations. I didn't worry about myself because I won't change back until after midnight. I've still got a few hours."

After he'd gotten fully dressed again, Haru came out from behind the shrubs and sat down next to her. Looking down at the ground, he shook his head.

"I still can't get it out of my head how amazing this whole situation is," he said. "The fact that there are other people out there with the same curse that runs in my family…it's almost too good to be true. It's not that I'm glad your family is cursed or anything…it's just easier to face what I have to deal with every day when I know that there is someone else out there who knows what it's like."

Shishi nodded. "I know what you mean. It's nice to have someone outside your family to talk to every once in a while."

Haru smiled at her, and then said," Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you and your sister live with Hitsugi? Are you parents dead, or were you just like Yuki and felt like getting away from the rest of your family?"

Shishi's head drooped and tears came to her eyes.

When he noticed it, he panicked. "Sh-Shishi? Are you okay? What'd I say? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing you've done," she said. "It's what my parents did."

"What? What'd they do?"

Shishi sighed. "Before my sister was born, everything was all right, I guess. I don't remember it, though, because she's only a year younger than me, but it must have been, because before she came into this world, my parents didn't know that I was cursed."

"How could they not know?" Haru wondered.

"My mother was the only one to hold me as a baby. My Dad had always wanted a son, so he ignored me except for the few times Mom made him change my diapers. Besides that, I looked just like him. I guess he considered that an insult for some reason.

"Anyway, a year later, when Sakana was born, my father realized why he hadn't had a son: he'd had a test done and had found out that he was incapable of making boys. Something about his sperm made him always produce girls. I guess he eventually accepted this fact and realized how stupid he'd been with me and decided to try harder with my sister. The day she was born, he was the first to hold her…and the moment he took her into his arms, she turned into a fish. Later, the same thing happened when he tried to hold me: I turned into a lion cub.

"Mom couldn't believe it. For years after that, they hired a nanny to raise Sakana and me. They couldn't stand to look at us. I remember overhearing my Dad telling Mom that we were freaks of nature, and that he wanted us out of their lives. So, when I was five and Sakana was four, Hitsugi's parents took us in. Even though his parents had accepted us, Sakana and I were still depressed. We felt betrayed and alone.

"After a while, Hitsugi got out of college and got his own house. He invited us to come live with him, so we did. Then Rizaado came along. He got tired of things at his home. He's got four little brothers and sisters (none of which are a part of the Astrology, by the way) and he said he needed some space, so he came to live in Hitsugi's house with us.

"Things are great now. I love living with Hitsugi; he's like the father I never had. And even with all of the abuse my parents put me through, I don't blame my suffering on them. I don't feel any hatred towards them at all. Actually, when I think about it, the only thing I feel towards them is love, even some longing. I long for them sometimes so much it hurts. But I'm happy for them, too, because just recently I heard that they adopted a baby boy. They must be so happy…and knowing this, it makes me happy, too."

Haru was near tears by this point. Looking down at Shishi in her stunning lioness form, he wondered who could ever despise such a wonderful and beautiful person. Leaning down, he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. Then, in a murmur that was almost inaudible for even Shishi's fine-tuned hearing to pick up, he whispered, "You're amazing."