Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Truth Is A Whisper ❯ The Other Side of the Mirror ( Chapter 1 )

Truth Is A Whisper

Written by: Sara Angeldust (a.k.a. SaiyenGirl)

Chapter 1: The Other Side of the Mirror

But it’s a damn good start.

I wrote the secret that I buried

On the wishing well wall.

He said, I’ve seen one,

It follows that I’ve seen them all.

We spoke of human destination in a perfect world

Derived the nature of the universe,

Found it unfulfilled.

As I took him in my arms he screamed,

I’m not insane,

I’m just looking for someone to understand my pain…

-The Devil in the Wishing Well

Five for Fighting (The Battle for Everything)

Disclaimer:

Regular Disclaimer applies. I don’t own Fruits Basket, which includes, Yuki, Kyo, Haru, Rin, Kureno, Momiji, Hatori, Shigure, Ayame, Kisa, Hiro, Tohru, Kagura, Ritsu or Akito. (wow, say those names five times faster). The only characters I can claim here are Terri and Seya. A few other new ones are mentioned, and they belong to me too.

I also do not own the lyrics to any of the songs used in this fic. The title of this fic is derived from the title of a Goo Goo Dolls song called "Truth is a Whisper" on their Gutterflower cd. All lyrics belong to them. ‘The Battle for Everything’ is property of the band Five for Fighting, as are their lyrics.

Author’s Note:

This has to have been the most stressful fanfiction I have ever written, but I think I’ve finally got it. When I picked up the remnants of Shards of Glass, (a past Furuba fic), this came out of its ashes. This first chapter is kind of slow and consists mostly of original character development, but if you stick with the fic I promise you, you will not be disappointed with the amount of depth and precision I’ve given to the existing Fruits Basket cast. This is more of a journey of their own growth than it is of my own characters’. (Finished in Author’s Note Contin. at the end of this chapter…)

Synopsis:

After God cursed the cat of the Chinese Zodiac he began to feel heavy remorse, and in an act of pity, split the soul in two; an attempt to alleviate the pain of such a dreadful fate. Half was left in the lineage of the Sohma family, the other, lost to the world.

Terri can not begin to imagine why she was born with a curse; one that turns her into a black cat anytime she is hugged by a member of the opposite sex; or something worse when the bracelet on her left wrist is removed. So when she’s accepted as foreign exchange student to Japan she’s less than enthusiastic about delving into the truths of her fate.

Can this unwilling girl unravel the circumstances behind her existence? Or will she fall straight into Akito’s plan to do what no other God ever could; destroy the other half of the cat’s soul.

 ~~~~~~

Truth is a Whisper

Every family has their secrets, and every secret has its lie. Within that lie there is always some small speck of the truth, and often it’s buried so deeply that it really doesn’t look like the truth anymore. Yet, no matter how many times you turn your head from it, how badly mangled it’s become; it never goes away. Truth may be a whisper, but it’s essence is as loud as thunder, and can be twice as deadly as any lightening bolt.

The phone rang and echoed through the silent halls of the old Japanese home, it’s ageless walls silent with anticipation for this curiosity. As the phone rang once, twice, shuffling could be heard down the hall; a young woman in a simple kimono and pulled back hair making her way to the small table in the hall. She quickly put down her things and picked up the phone on the table, her voice quiet and polite, it’s tone almost as curious as the walls.

"Main house." She said automatically, cradling the phone in both her hands, as she was raised to do. Her eyes shifted as the person on the other line spoke, her feet not able to keep still.

"Of course. Could you please hold, I’ll put you through in a minute."

As the woman put the phone down she rushed to pick her things up again, a few towels and cleaning supplies, and rushed out of sight. Quickly she came back smoothing out her kimono, trying to wipe away any evidence of her chores. As she straightened herself she made her way towards a room that not many people enjoyed visiting. It was the largest personal room in the house, keep clean and distant from at all times. This was where the head of the house, Akito-san, as everyone respectfully called her, kept her days.

As the woman came to the door she composed herself and kneeled, keeping her head down as was respectful. Really, she didn’t have to do this, especially in such modern times, but this was an ancient family with ancient morals; it was never bad to be overly polite.

As she slid the door open before her she could barely see into the room, but she knew the person she sot was within.

"Akito-san?" She said politely, trying not to be too obtrusive in case the head of the household was sleeping.

She had only to wait a few seconds before she heard cloth shuffle.

"Yes, what is it?" The voice was not harsh, but commanding; one that none would wish to go against. It wasn’t masculine, but neither was it overly feminine; it just, was; like some wind rippling over a storm.

"There is a call for you, what shall I say?" The woman said, her head down as she waited for a reply.

"I’ll take it in here." Akito said back, dismissing the woman with her tone as she moved again, out of sight of the doors.

"Yes maam."

As the door closed in front of the maid, Akito stood on tired feet and made her way to the corner of her room, an old desk and a modern phone nestled almost oddly there. Next to the phone lay a cell phone, but she picked up the receiver on the desk lightly, placing it to her ear with a tired gaze in her eyes.

"Yes?" As the person on the other line spoke, Akito’s facial expressions never changed. She didn’t seem like the kind of person that much fazed, nor did she seem overly concerned with the things that the person was telling her. After listening for a minute or two Akito’s gaze changed, she smiled, her eyes brightening; some odd emotion glinting there.

"Good, I think it’s a great idea." She said back to the person on the other line, grinning.

"Yes, of course we’ll do it. I’ll have everything taken care of, there’ll be nothing to worry about." She said as she reached for a pencil and a piece of paper from her desk. As the person spoke she wrote something down, the kanji descending orderly on the page.

"No, they can plan to stay for awhile, these things take time; there’s no rush."

As the conversation ended, Akito couldn’t held but smile. Her posture changed as she looked down at the symbols on the paper, some form of conquest obvious in her eyes.

"Finally," She said as she moved from the desk back to her open balcony, her eyes wandering at the scene of coming autumn before her.

"I’ve waited far too long for this…"

 ~~~~~~

The Battle for Everything

With my feet off the ground and my head in clouds…

It’s what the board read and I stared sleepily at it, my hand holding up my head, trying not to fall asleep in class. I really hoped I wouldn’t fall asleep in psychology, because once I did it would take a train wreck to wake me up again. Groggily I picked my head off my hand, trying to wake myself up in a class that was only going to last 15 minutes longer. It wasn’t that the material was particularly boring, but the teacher had this drawling voice that just lulled people to sleep, myself included. It wouldn’t be my fault if she put me to sleep, and I could tell her that too next time she asked me why I continuously fell asleep in her class.

"Because you lecture like a preacher." I said under my breath as I straightened up and stretched my arms high in the air. The teacher gave me an odd look as she gazed up from her podium to see who had raised their hand, but when she saw it was me her look fell and she continued reading from the book. She knew better than to think I was asking a question. It was a miracle I wasn’t dead to the world at that moment.

As the bell rang the students around me picked up their things and made their way to the back and the door. I took my time, packing as the bell rang and letting everyone else leave before I did. It was more for safety’s sake than it was anything else. I didn’t want anyone bumping into me, and even in a school with huge hallways and a small population, you’d imagine how close everyone got to each other. And in my case, that was a bad idea.

It wasn’t that I had some disease or anything. Well, I had long stopped calling it a disease, but that’s often what it felt like. Getting too close to anyone of the opposite sex caused a…reaction in me. Guys. It only happened when I came in close contact with guys. You could imagine how my love life was. I had been that way since I could remember. Anytime I was hugged by a member of the opposite sex I would turn into a cat, a black cat; if anyone was so inclined to know. It wasn’t something I could explain, god forbid something that made any sense, but it was true, I knew it all too well.

And it wasn’t just hugging; if a guy fell on me or just touched too much of my body I’d change; sometimes getting really sick invoked the change too, but I wasn’t often sick.

My secluded nature and the fact that I had just transferred to the school that year helped to keep me away from any male contact, but hallways were hard to tackle. Then there was the fact most guys didn’t know me that well or didn’t find me attractive, albeit I was only sort of tall, 5’7", and rather strong willed for a girl. A lot of the male students thought I was a lesbian too, mostly because I wore casual clothing; skating shoes, jeans, t-shirts, the occasional collared shirt and I never really hung out with many males when they did try to talk to me. I can say, quite surely, that I wasn’t a lesbian. I blamed the fact that I was so afraid of transforming in the hallways of my school for my reason for allowing the rumor continue, and didn’t care either way. I had yet to transform in the hallway, and it was going to stay that way. I was deathly scared of it, I’d never be able to explain it.

As I walked down the halls to lunch I got the feeling that I really didn’t want to go. That hunch came to me when I saw how many guys were standing around one of the only girls I had made friends with in the short time I’d been at the school. Her name was Kelsey and she was quite perky, if I did say so myself. Brunette with green eyes and a height that matched my own; she had befriended me almost the day I’d arrived. I didn’t know she was a boy magnet until I had known her for about two weeks, and by then it was too late. She had already gotten me to sit with her at lunch and it had become a habit.

"Just my damned luck." I swore as I walked past her and her throng of male admirers; down the long, high ceilinged hallway, not really caring where I went. It was always more comfortable to eat lunch sitting next to Kelsey than it was alone, and while being alone didn’t bother me, I hated that feeling of those eyes watching you, picking at your every move.

I was sort of mad for missing lunch, and emotion I knew very well, but it didn’t really matter, only one more period until school was dismissed. The halls were pretty quiet, seeing as classes were in session. I only passed by the lone student skipping class by going to bathroom, or the random teacher who could care less that I, myself, was out of class. I never gave any of them a look, keeping to myself the way I always did.

This would be the third year in a row that I hadn’t been kicked out of a public school, a pretty nice record and important too, especially since it was my senior year. Seya, my guardian, had stopped most of my anti school antics long before; after my mother had turned me over to her, being she couldn’t handle me anymore. I was wild back then, having lived in the woods for almost five months and angry at everyone, frustrated with how my life had turned out.

I went through one school after another until Seya discovered my love for martial arts and started teaching me herself; since she’d studied it all her life and owned a small Japanese style dojo outside of the town. The woman was probably the soul reason for the change in my actions. I learned to handle most of my emotions and anger through fighting, a hobby that probably would have landed me in jail or a psychiatric ward rather than the dojo when I was 13, and completely out of control. Either way, I had learned a lot from shishou, the Japanese term she had taught me that meant ‘master’, and here I was, actually going to school, a senior no less, and graduating with a pretty high grade point average.

I pulled my head out of my thoughts long enough to find myself passing the attendance office and heading past the guidance office. I wasn’t going to look in the large windows incase I would be noticed by a secretary for not being in class, but curiosity always kills the cat. When I looked through the glass of the guidance office I gasped and stopped. Seya was standing in front of the main desk looking rather nice a her business skirt and collared shirt. It was a definite change from the marital arts uniform or jeans I often saw her in and I was rather shocked. My surprise had caused me to stop in front of the window and I watched dumbly as Seya moved from receptionists’ desk to the door, opening it with a click.

"Aren’t you supposed to be in class?" She inquired monotone as she held the door open.

I gave her a harsh look as I stared her down, I really wasn’t in any mood for seeing her at the time and it was evident on my face. I saw Seya’s eyes flash me a curious gaze before she sighed and motioned for me to come into the office, ignoring the fact that I was blatantly skipping some class or another.

"Oh well, at least this will stop the secretaries the trouble of announcing your name over the P.A. system."

"For what?" I said snidely as I folded my arms over my chest, not really wanting to go into any office with her.

She gave me an indifferent look back.

"Because, we have a lot to discuss, and unless you want to stay in this town when you could be somewhere else, you’ll come with me."

My ears perked at the phrase "be somewhere else" and I didn’t need any more incentive. I made my way past her and into the office, ignoring the secretary, who gave me an odd look as I tromped past her.

 ~~~~~~

Foreign Exchange Program

The chairs in the office were rather comfortable and it made me wonder about where the school’s finances were going to when the desks in our classrooms were so old that you could find ’68 scribed into some of them. I was thinking about this when the vice principle walked into her office and sat down in the desk in front of us. I straightened reactively and looked at the middle aged woman, wondering why I was there again.

Seya sat next to me with the calm face she always wore, never looking surprised by anything. I inspected her face for any clues, but she had nothing. Instinctively I searched my mind for the last time I had done anything against school rules, but came up blank. Nothing made sense.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice Ms. Sohma, I’m glad to know that we could get a hold of you."

Seya nodded in the chair next to me and I shifted my gaze back to the vice principle. She seemed to be in far too good of a mood to be telling Seya about something bad I had done. My curiosity peaked.

"Terri, first of all I’d like to congratulate you, not many of our students have this opportunity, especially new transfers; such as yourself."

I was confused and turned to look at Seya, the emotion very clear on my face.

"Congratulations?" I asked, almost accusingly to her.

Seya smiled and gave me one of her looks, the one that told me that she had done something I wasn’t going to like.

"I signed you up for a foreign exchange program. It’s a bit late in the school year, but I figured you could stay the summer to catch up."

The look on my face turned from slightly curious to utterly surprised in a split second. I grabbed the sides of the chair so that I wouldn’t get out of control, but the tone of my voice noticeably changed.

"Foreign what?!" I said, looking from Seya to the principal.

She was slightly unnerved, but continued her speech, picking up a manila folder and handing it to Seya.

"The request for Japan was passed and we have tickets for 2 weeks from now for you to be leaving. This is a special circumstance, usually the program doesn’t allow candidates so late in the year and they require, usually, a study period of at least a month before the student is allowed to travel to a particular country.

She said, sitting down at her desk as she began to rummage through a drawer, filing through a pile of papers.

"But again, since you already seem to know the language they’ve allowed us to waive the month and let you leave as soon as you’d like. You were lucky, they even found a host family willing to take you in so late. Both of you, actually, as you are her acting gaurdian."

The vice principle seemingly found what she was looking for and handed Seya a paper along with the packet. I couldn’t read it from where I sat, but from the seal it looked like the official transcript for the exchange program.

"Yes, well. They’re family, so it wasn’t so difficult to get them to agree." Seya said as she took the folder from the woman, glancing at the contents as she broke the seal.

Both the principle and I gave her a strange look, mine telling her that I saw the deeper meaning of her words, the principle not decieved by the tone and more enthusiastic than I seemed to be.

"Well, isn’t that exciting!" She said, almost clasping her hands like a school girl. "This should turn out to be very interesting for you then, shouldn’t it?"

I humphed when her peppy gaze fell on me and Seya nodded, getting the deeper meaning behind my sound, smirking.

"Yes it will."

 ~~~~~~

There’s Always a Hidden Reason

As the door to the guidance office closed behind me I leaned against the wall in the hallway, trying to process all that I had heard in the meeting. Seya stood next to me as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang and students began to flood into the hallway, none of them giving us a second look.

"You planned all of this." I said as I folded my arms across my chest, trying to look indifferent to the crowd.

Seya was putting papers in the folder so she wouldn’t have to carry them all as she moved out of the way of some overly excited students. She look more regal than I had ever seen her, the skirt and shirt doing something to her appearance that almost made me believe she could come from some place so elegant as a Japanese family. Yet all my years of being around her screamed to me that she was nothing like that. She was a martial arts master, and an American. She had been born here, so how could she have so much influence on a family a whole world away?

"I don’t want to say planned, because that would mean that I put a lot of thought into the action and had this ready for months, which is no where near the truth."

I raised an eye brow at her. Seya, unprepared? That was something new.

"It’s more like ceasing the option as it comes up."

"So this option came up and you ceased it?" I said as I looked up at her, trying to catch her eyes as she stared down the hallway. I gave up after a few seconds and stood up from the wall; ready to leave.

"But who’s this for Seya? You or me?"

As I turned to go I felt a hand grab my left shoulder. It was the grip of a woman who had held me before, had stopped me from leaving more times than I could ever count.

"This isn’t just a trip for your education Terri, this is about the curse. Don’t you want to find out more?"

My eyes slitted death-like, angry at her for treading on grounds that we both knew I hated to talk about. I used my left hand to smack her own away from my shoulder, the black and white beaded bracelet on that wrist making a sound as it hit her hand, the pressure smarting on my skin.

"Like I said shishou. Who’s this for? Me…or you?"

~~~~~~

Wow, so that was longer than I expected it to be. I already have the second chapter done, so as soon as I review it I’ll put it up. Until then feel free to read my Author’s notes. Don’t forget to review my story, I love feed back of all kinds, the good and the bad but not the rude.

Author’s Note Continued….

…So from that speal, I’m trying to keep this story as Canon as possible. For those of you who don’t know what cannon is, it’s keeping the ideas and plot lines of the original work as reality, so whatever happens in the original story, it happens in this story. In other words, the Akito spoiler, Ren plot line, ShigurexAkito, AkitoxKureno, HaruxRin etc, all applies here. If you don’t want to be spoiled then I warn you now, it’s all true in here. The plot line takes place around chapter 106, since I think that’s a good point for me to stop listening to what’s going on in the manga. If anything as big as the Akito spoiler pops up then I’ll manipulate the fic accordingly, otherwise, any small plot lines past 106 may not show up here, I’ll try my hardest, but there are no guarantees.

Anyway, please read and review. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I am writing it. It’s such a relief to be able to write freely and not have to worry about stepping on someone else’s toes.

Pairings (just in case you want to know now):

All pairings are Canon except for Kyo. This fic is majorly KyoxOC, so get used to it. I’ve never been a big fan of KyoxTohru; too bad it looks like the manga is headed in that direction. >.< Other exceptions to Cannon are as follows: (only because they have yet to be decided in the manga). SigurexAkito and KurenoxUo. Why? Because I like it that way. ^___^