Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Ebony and Ivory ❯ That Stupid Cat ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, because if I did I would be able to keep track of two dozen characters at once, which I can't. :-( Natsuki Takaya owns Fruits Basket.

 

AN: I've decided to have a disclaimer every other chapter, just to be safe. Which you probably don't care about, but oh well. By the way, please review! I have no idea whether this is bad or good, and I'm really nervous.

 

AN 2: Gomenesai!! I made a mistake in Chapter 3—Yuki's birthday isn't in winter. According to the official anime website, he's a Virgo (*smile*—like me!), so his birthday is in late August or early September. But he started going to the music shop in August, so he really was thirteen at the time. Decided this just now. |-D

 

 

CHAPTER 5: That Stupid Cat

 

It was not difficult for Saito to keep his promise. Besides Yuki, he had no friends, and few acquaintances. And he had never mentioned Yuki to any of them before. Months passed, and Saito watched Yuki's performance improve. When there were no other customers, he sometimes demonstrated techniques for Yuki. He wrote a song entitled “Cocoa and Donuts”, and played it for Yuki. Yuki acted like he had been treated to a concert at Carnegie Hall. It was the first time he had ever been allowed to listen to Saito play. It was the first time Saito had written a song in five years.

 

Since Yuki seemed reluctant to talk about his own family, Saito talked a little about his own. He talked about his wife, Saito Ayame, and his daughter, who would have been named Misaki had she lived. It was at this time that Saito had his first glimpse into Yuki's family life.

 

“I have a brother named Ayame,” Yuki commented demurely.

 

“A brother?” Saito asked, sure he had heard wrong. After all, oniisan and oneesan were similar in sound.

 

“Yes, a brother. Male. He's appropriately named, though.” Yuki smiled gently, a smile of great pain. “I haven't seen him in a long time. He and I aren't very close.”

 

“Appropriately named?”

 

“He has all the flamboyance of an iris, except he's a lot louder about it.”

 

Saito laughed. “I used to call Ayame my iris, only I was thinking of the pastels. She loved to dress in white and pastels.”

 

“So what was she like?” Yuki asked. He seemed eager to change the subject. So Saito told him about how his wife loved the piano, and how he had bought a grand piano for her that still sat in his living room.

 

“Do you still play it?” Yuki asked.

 

“No. I don't like anyone to touch it,” Saito replied.

 

Yuki looked at him curiously, but didn't say anything. Saito talked a little more about Ayame. It helped, somehow, to be able to talk about her to someone who would listen. It had been painful at first, and then there was no one around when it would have helped. But now it felt good.

 

But Saito still wished he could learn about Yuki's family. No doubt the curse made things difficult, and probably made it difficult to talk about, but… it might help Yuki to talk about it, as it helped Saito. But Saito never asked, and accused himself of morbid curiosity whenever he thought about it.

 

 

Finally, Yuki began to open up. It started one afternoon in July, when he came in with a stormy expression on his face. It was the first time Saito had ever seen him look… angry. He didn't go straight to the piano like he usually did. Instead, he sat in one of the chairs and put his forehead in his hands.

 

“What's wrong?” Saito asked, approaching somewhat cautiously.

 

“I'm hiding,” Yuki replied shortly.

 

Saito stifled a laugh. Yuki certainly didn't look like he was in danger. “From who?”

 

“My idiot cousin Kyo!”

 

Saito pressed his lips together to avoid a smile. “Why?”

 

“Because I'm sick of him! I don't get what's with shihan that he brought Kyo to visit. It's not like the stupid cat wanted to.”

 

“What did he do?” Saito asked, wondering why on earth Yuki was calling his cousin a cat.

 

“All he ever wants to do is fight! And it's stupid, because I always win, and I don't even like martial arts. Of course, that's probably because I'm so sick of fighting with that stupid cat, but… and he keeps going on and on about how he hates me, and he never shuts up! He is such an idiot!” Yuki sighed heavily. “I'm sorry.”

 

“No, it's okay. So you hate him too?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Saito couldn't believe Yuki was capable of hate. “Why do you hate each other?”

 

“Well he started it. He hates me because I'm the rat, and I hate him because he's so stupid as to hate me just because of that!”

 

“The rat?”

 

Yuki froze for a second, then sighed, resigned. “He's the cat.”

 

“You've lost me.”

 

“On the zodiac. I'm the rat, and he's the cat that was left out of the zodiac because of the rat. And he's too stupid to realize that I'm not that rat. And he seems to think that if he beats me, he'll become part of the zodiac, and then the family won't shun him. It's so stupid. Why on earth would that idiot want to be part of this stupid family anyway? That's what I want to know.” He sighed again.

 

Saito was trying to keep up. He had almost forgotten about Yuki's curse, and even now found it difficult to believe Yuki had once turned into a rat right in front of him. So this was what Yuki meant by his whole family being cursed. And Kyo was the cat. “So, is there one of you for every zodiac?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Saito thought for a minute, trying to remember the old legend. Kami-sama had invited all the animals to dinner… and something had happened between the cat and the rat. Oh yes… the rat had told the cat that the banquet was the following day, and then had snuck a ride on the ox's back in order to be the first one there. The rat certainly seemed the villain of the story. But Yuki seemed nothing like that at all. “Does the ox hate you too, because of the legend? About the rat sneaking a ride on the ox's back?”

 

Yuki smiled a little, relaxing. “He used to, but he was smart enough to listen to reason, and decided he wanted to be friends. Unlike the stupid cat.”

 

“Do you want to be his friend?”

 

“Kyo? No. He's an idiot.”

 

“But it's not just because he's the cat?”

 

“No. I could care less if he's the cat.” He frowned. “But don't tell anyone.”

 

“Who would I tell?”

 

Yuki smiled. “Good point.”

 

“So are all of them your cousins?”

 

“All except nii-san. He's the snake. That's pretty unusual, for siblings to both be zodiac members. By the way, Haru—he's the ox—is the one who taught me piano. He's pretty much my only friend, or was until I met you. Unless you count Shigure, but he's more like a weird uncle or something. He's the dog, by the way. He's an idiot too sometimes, but not as bad as Kyo. I guess I like him. Usually.”

 

“So, are most of them your age?”

 

“We're all around the same age. Because see, it passes on when one of the zodiac dies. So, if I were to die, the next child born in my family would be cursed with the vengeful spirit of the rat. I think… let me see, nii-san is the oldest, and he's twenty-four… and Hiro's… nine. So right now we have a fifteen year age range.”

 

“Are they always all alive at the same time?”

 

Yuki paused. “No. Actually, it's weird. It doesn't usually work out that way. I think it's only happened once or twice before. It's a little weird, though, having everyone so close. It makes for a lot of romances between the Juunishi. At least, I think it does. It's always kind of a big secret because of Akito, but I know Kagura's in love with Kyo… somehow. She drives him crazy, or so I've heard. I don't see either of them very often, thank goodness.”

 

Saito laughed. “You certainly have an interesting family.”

 

“I'd rather have nothing to do with them. I like Haru, but the rest of them… I don't know. And Haru's a little weird too sometimes.”

 

“So if a girl hugged Haru, he would turn into an ox?”

 

“Yes. And Kyo would turn into a cat.”

 

“Are there many girls on the zodiac?”

 

“Yes. Three. If we hug them, we don't transform.”

 

“Do you get along with them?”

 

“I don't see them very often. I guess I get along with Kisa and Kagura okay. Rin's a little… well, let's just say she can't stand me.”

 

“Rin?”

 

“Well, her name's Isuzu, but we call her Rin. She's not as bad as Kyo, though. She ignores me, and I hardly ever see her. He's constantly picking fights, and chasing after me, and calling me names.”

 

“Hmm? That doesn't sound like hatred to me. It sounds like he's just trying to get attention.”

 

“Yeah, but he only does it to me.”

 

“So he wants your attention.”

 

“Well he's not going to get it. He's annoying. And yeah, he hates me. He's told other people that his greatest wish is to kill me and take my place on the zodiac. Or something.” Yuki sighed. “He can have it, as far as I'm concerned. I wish I could just give it to him and be done with it.”

 

Saito laughed. “Well, some problems you just have to learn to live with.”

 

“It wouldn't bother me if he wasn't constantly on my case. Thank goodness we live in separate houses.” He went over to the piano and began to play, something improvised. It sounded irritated, and frustrated, and angry. But more than anything else, it gave a sense of exhaustion. But not hatred. Yuki stopped, and sighed. “Saito-san?”

 

Saito was shelving some books. “Yes?”

 

“Can I tell you a secret?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Yuki paused. “I don't really hate Kyo.”

 

Saito smiled at him, quietly. “Oh?”

 

“No. I'm just sick of him hating me. And I'm sick of him being stupid. But… I don't really hate him. But… don't tell anyone.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Yuki sighed again, looking almost relieved, and then went back to playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ayame is actually a girl's name, almost always. Yuki can actually be a girl's name too, which is probably one of the reasons Kyo, Haru, Momiji, and Kakeru tease him about being like a girl.

Respectively, the Japanese words for brother and sister. They really do sound similar.

 

(AN 3: By the way, the fact that Yuki admits here that he doesn't hate Kyo does not mean that he likes him or wants to be his friend. Kyo still drives him absolutely crazy at this point, and Yuki's pretty resentful. So be patient.)