Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Truth Is A Whisper ❯ The Changing Winds ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Timeline Clarification:

Like I said before, this story is taking place near the end of the manga, so about chapter 97ish. Regardless of how Takaya-sensei ends it, this is how I’ve done it.

 

Truth Is A Whisper

Written by: Sara Angeldust

Chapter 2: The Changing Winds

I wear this crown of thorns,

Upon my liars chair

Full of broken thoughts,

I can not repair.

Beneath the stains of time,

The feeling disappears

You are someone else

I am still right here.

-Hurt

Johnny Cash

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. I do not own Fruits Basket nor it’s concept or characters. See chapter 1 for full disclaimer.

The song ‘Truth is a Whisper’ and it’s lyrics are property of The Goo Goo Dolls. The lyrics for ‘Hurt’ are property of Nine Inch Nails(?) and Johnny Cash.

 

Memories

"I know a family." Seya said slowly as she stood behind the punching bag I was kicking.

"A...Family." I gasped, my 15 year old body getting bored of the movements.

"Yes, a family, my relatives, in Japan. They’re a very wise, very old family."

I snorted. All information I had heard before and frankly, I was having more fun beating the crap of the large punching bag then paying attention to what Seya was saying..

"SO." I humphed as I kicked the bag harder. "What makes them so special? Families aren’t really all THAT great."

She smiled at that comment, an odd emotion hidden behind it, but I said nothing. My eyes slitted and I began kicking harder, making it a game to see if I could knock my Shishou down with the force. "This family is special, and I think they might know something of what ails you."

I stopped my game, now interested in her words, my hands dropping from their locked position to my sides.

"Really?" I said, standing straight as my body huffed, sweat dripping down my face. Seya’s eyes became silent and she let her grip loose on the bag, staring.

"Yes. I’ve heard odd stories from them, stories of humans turning into animals, the Chinese Zodiac. It might have something to do with you." She said as she moved from the bag to the floor, picking up a towel and handing it to me.

"Psh, yeah right. It’s probably just fairytales, you’ve told me so many Shishou." I said back, grabbing the towel from her hand, my moment of thought lost.

  You Sly Dog…  "What?!" Yuki exclaimed, his usually quiet demeanor startled by what Shigure had said.

"Oh come now Yuki," Shigure said back as they sat on the floor at the table, their dinner getting cold before them. It was a typical meal, and Tohru had worked hard on it since she had gotten back from work. "It’s really not as bad as it sounds, honest."

"No, I’m going to agree with him. It’s pretty bad." Kyo said as he wiped off his face what he had spit out of his soup from Shigure’s words.

"You idiot dog. How could you agree to going back to the estate!"

Shigure shrunk at Kyo’s slight attack, pretending to be scared. They had all been sitting down to a nice dinner when Shigure had given them the news. Because of repairs to the house, Shigure would be moving to a house in back of the Sohma estate while his was being fixed. This was putting both Yuki and Kyo in an odd position, since the reason they had lived with Shigure was to get away from the estate. Without Shigure’s house they had no where else to go, except back.

"But it was the only way." Shigure said back, making his voice small and whiney. "It was the only way Akito-san would agree to pay for the reconstruction on the house. It’s taken all it can from you two, I’m afraid." He said as he picked his soup back up, slurping it for emphasis.

Both Yuki and Kyo gave Shigure glares from across the table.

"I don’t think it’s…that bad." Tohru said in her usually happy tone, referring to the house and possibly the situation. She had sat quietly beside Shigure up until that point, listening.

But for once, she was wrong. The house had taken pretty bad structural damage to the three years they had all been living in it. All the repairs in the world weren’t going to fix the unsteady walls and roof, having been punched through too many times. The foundation was cracking and the pipes were falling apart and freezing from lack of insulation. It didn’t look so bad from the inside, really it didn’t, but Shigure could smell imminent disaster from three miles away.

"Ah, always the optimistic one Tohru-kun, but I’m afraid this time it’s serious. The house needs repairs. And besides, Akito-san gave me the use of the Jingsen house at the back of the estate."

"The Jingsen house?" Both Yuki and Kyo said, giving Shigure odd looks. They knew it well enough. The house was located in an area of the estate far enough from the main houses and Akito that many forgot it was even part of the property. Like many of the houses on the Sohma estate, it was used for families of the "inner circle" to live, but currently, no one was occupying it.

"But that thing’s huge, it’s at least twice the size of your house. What do you need that much space for?" Kyo said, clearly befuddled.

"Either way." Yuki said, seeming to forget his distress as he raised his soup to his lips. "I refuse to go back. I’ve spent three years here and I’m not about to end my streak." He said taking a sip.

"Fine." Shigure said as he changed his posture and put his own soup bowl down, trying to look in different. "Sleep in the woods. But the rest of us are going to miss you."

"Rest of you?" Tohru asked, genuinely interested.

"Ah yes," Shigure said, more than happy to oblige Tohru’s question. "Apparently Hatori-nii and Momiji-kun are going to be joing us, hence the large house I’m assuming. I don’t really know why, I don’t think Hari’s house needs repairs, but he’s never been one to go against Akito’s wishes."

Extreme surprise was evident on both Yuki and Kyo’s faces. Not only was their home being taken from them, but it looked like they were going to end up in another house with almost half of the family they didn’t want to be around.

"It sounds like almost half of the Jyuunishi are going to be living in the house?" Tohru said, stating the obvious but doing so only so that it was out in the open instead of dwelling in everyone’s minds.

"Yes, well it does seem that way doesn’t it. I don’t pretend to know what Akito-san’s up to, but it’s been ordered, well, ordered to me and them anyway; not a word has been said about you two."

"So technically." Kyo said as he set his chopsticks down, trying to figure out the situation. "We don’t have to go anywhere."

Shigure served himself some of the food from the center of the table before saying anything back, chewing slowly on a piece of a dumpling.

"Technically yes, but where else do you two have to go? Unless you want to live in the mountains again Kyo, or Yuki, unless you want to spend your time in the woods…"

"What about Honda-san?" Yuki said blankly as his thoughts ran through his head. He gave Tohru a look and ignored Shigure’s comment about the woods. Tohru gave Yuki a smile, but refuted the request before anyone could speak.

"Oh no really, that’s ok. My grandfather still has his house, I could stay with him until the house is repaired, really you don’t have to..."

"Akito-san didn’t say Tohru-kun couldn’t stay." Shigure slipped in, silencing Tohru’s speech. Tohru blinked, but let Shigure finish.

"Actually, if she’s been allowed to stay here this long I’d assume that it isn’t a problem for her to live on Sohma property, even though the house is pretty near the edge in the back." Shigure said with stoic eyes, giving Yuki and Kyo look that they didn’t argue with.

They both said nothing as they looked down at their plates, Tohru giving her usually innocent look. She too knew it really would be a big deal if she ended up living on Sohma property, but what else could she do? She had made a promise to Yuki and Kyo, and leaving them would be too hard.

"If it’s true." Yuki said slowly, breaking the silence that had taken over the room. "If it’s true that Honda-san can stay, then I will too." He said as he fiddled with his chopsticks.

"Yuki you..."

"Me too." Kyo said staring at the door, his eyes deep in thought. "If Tohru can stay then I guess I’ll go."

Shigure smiled. That one had been easy. All he had to do was waggle Tohru in front of them and they’d go anywhere, even into Hell, in their cases.

"Well then, I guess it’s settled. Besides, that house takes a lot of upkeep. Akito isn’t going to be letting us use many maids because of the expenses, so uh, we kind of need Tohru-kun."

Both Yuki and Kyo gave Shigure a glare hard enough to frighten the novelist.

"Shigure!!" They both said as they collected their composure.

But Tohru was unaffected by the comment. The fact that she was technically their maid had never been a problem to her, she had long ago been accepted and the title didn’t affect her any more. She smiled at the concern they both had for her.

"It’s ok." She said as she gathered some food with her chopsticks. "It wouldn’t be the same if I couldn’t cook meals for all of you."

She was answered by light smiles from both Yuki and Kyo, who, now that Tohru would be joining them, didn’t seem to be worrying about the move as much.

Shigure secretly smirked to himself, hiding the action behind another dumpling. Good. He thought.

"Oh and by the way you three, we’ll be leaving by the end of the week."

"WHAT??!!"

 

Remember

"It’s your fault, it’s all your fault your father left us!"

"M…my fault?"

"YES! Your fault. If you hadn’t been born, if you hadn’t changed..."

"But that’s how I am mommy, I’m…"

"You’re a monster. A monster. Your father saw it, and I only denied it."

The ceiling of my room came into focus slowly, allowing my eyes to constrict until the dark was no longer foreboding. Even though I could see as well in the dark as I did in the light, nothing could shake the nightmare from my mind or my body, nothing. When it decided to come it came with full force, pounding my head and causing me to feel sick. All of my anger, all of my hatred, seemed to boil within me. It was a never ending pool and one I had long been drowning in.

As I reached my hand to my forehead I felt the sweat that had beaded there during the night. As I wiped it from my face, I turned to look at the clock and sighed. 3:30am. Great, just my luck. Now that I was up it was pointless to fall back asleep. School started at 7am which meant I would need to get up at 6. If I went back to sleep I’d never get up when my alarm clock went off.

I pulled the covers off and slipped out of my bed, shutting off my alarm clock as I headed to the door towards my bathroom. Seya had given me the master bedroom the day I’d moved in with her, so the bathroom was conveniently connected to my room. I’d never asked her why she’d done it, but I figured that it had something to do with her husband, who had died a year before I moved in with her. He’d only been 23, Seya 21. I could see how such memories would cause her to give up the room and I didn’t protest, knowing all to well the affect memories had on people.

I decided not to turn on the light in the bathroom and turned on the foset to hot instead. I placed my hands on both sides of the sink as I let the water warm up, looking up into the mirror as the water spat down the drain. Even as a human I never seemed to need light at night, I could see as clearly as if it were day what the mirror showed me. The image that stared back always confused me. My face wasn’t beautiful, but it wasn’t bad to look at either. It had an elegant, almost wild shape to it and my eyes lay dark on my face, giving me a mysterious personage. My brown-black hair was soft and lay to the nap of my neck, silky with it’s natural light orange highlights and fake red ones. My eyes, jet black as they were, saw so much more of the world than anyone else, and even to me they gave off a mysterious and haunting appeal that I would imagine anyone, any male, would want. Yet everytime I looked at myself, I wondered why I wasn’t ugly or scarred. Why couldn’t I find fault with my face when there was so much wrong with me inside? A monster within. So why wasn’t it that way on the outside? Why couldn’t I find that one mark that my family had seen years ago?

I put my hand under the foset and found the water to be to warm enough. With both hands I splashed it on my face, scrubbing to try and get my thoughts out of my head. As I came back up I turned off the water and grabbed for the towel on the sink, patting my face dry. The eyes that peaked over the towel through the mirror gawked back at me, a memory of my childhood.

"If you’d only not been born. If only…you’re father wouldn’t have left us…he WOULDN’T."

"Ugh, Dammit!" I swore, throwing the towel at the far wall of the bathroom. I would be more than glad when I left this place, left this country and it’s damned memories. It never occurred to me then that I might be walking right into the fire. I was still innocent back then…

 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I could hardly stand the stuffiness of the airplane, the only thing holding me back from blowing up being the sheer altitude we were at. The higher the better, I always said, and 25,000 feet was about as high as anyone was going to get. I lazed in my window seat as the sun beat down on me, my body warmed by the rays so high in the sky.

The weeks before our departure had been less than eventful, other than an unexpected increase in my dreams, and nightmares, to be precise. They woke me up on more occasions than I wanted to admit, but the rest of the time I’d spent trying to get all of my school transcripts and forms in order, let alone trying to get my things packed. There had been more forms and permission slips than I had ever seen in my entire life, and Seya had needed to take me in for a passport, physical exams and vaccinations before we left. It had all been a blur, and it seemed like it had just been yesterday when the vice principle was blabbering on about how great of an opportunity this was. That wasn’t how I saw it. So far it was just being a big pain in the ass. And then there was Seya, who, was constantly asking me about how I felt about the whole event; why I wasn’t as enthusiastic as she seemed to be on the inside.

"Don’t you want to learn more about it? Don’t you want to try and break this thing that’s holding you down?"

In truth, maybe I didn’t. I had long resolved myself to the fact that I was a freak and an outcast. Seya’s story about the Chinese Zodiac and the cat hadn’t surprised me at all when she’d told it to me after she’d taken me in. Somehow, I’d always known that. I’d always known the story deep within me, and it didn’t unnerve me at all. It gave me concrete proof of why I hated rats so much, but that was it. Did I want to break the curse? I had never known anything else but it all of my life. There didn’t seem to be a point.

Yet, there I was, sitting next to my guardian on a 13 hour plane trip to Japan, a "foreign exchange student" to a place I both hated and revered.

"Would you ladies like some refreshments?"

I opened my eyes as the stewardess came by with a small cart, her smile and words so sugary sweet that I almost wanted to say yes so I could throw the drink back in her face. Exceedingly happy people made me sick.

Seya was sitting in the isle seat and nodded her appreciation, accepting water from the woman who took one look at my face and frowned. She nodded and quickly scuddled away, moving down the isle.

"You know," Seya said as she drank some of her water, holding her cup in a style purposefully Japanese in origin. "You have to live with these people for 13 hours, I’d suggest you not make enemies of the stewardess’s before the first 2 hours have passed."

I humphed as I stared back out the window, watching the clouds pass.

"It’s not my fault. You’re the one who accepted the offer to take the smaller jet instead of the commercial one. At least there the employees would have been less sweet and maybe I wouldn’t be making enemies with them." I spat back, giving her a glare. I was cranky, and in no mood to cooperate with anyone.

Seya just smiled her I-love-to-make-you-twitch smile. It was true though. The tickets were my first indication that the host family was extremely rich. Not only had they apparently offered to pay for our plane tickets and almost all expenses, but they had offered to fly us on a small private jet that held maybe 30 people max. Everything on the plane screamed this-cost-a-shit-load-of-money. Everything from the seats to the interior; even the stewardess’s outfits were nicer than I had ever seen, and Seya seemed to just fall right into it, not at all uncomfortable in the situation.

I unfolded my arms and stretched my legs under the seat a good three feet in front of me, the warm sun bringing out the lazy cat in me. I knew I wasn’t going to be giving the stewardess’s too much of a hard time on this flight, mainly because I was about to fall asleep. As I relaxed in my chair I watched Seya set her cup down and pick up a cheesy first aid magazine from the seat in front of her. Even the rich flights still had those weird pamphlets on how many ways your seat could be used as a floatation device."Hey Seya, how close are you with your family?" I said, exceedingly curious about this seemingly un classed woman’s past.

Seya’s eyes flickered over the pamphlet and she turned a few pages, ogling at the odd diagrams.

"Well," She started, contemplative. "Before my parents passed away we used to visit them every summer, usually for about 5 months at a time. I often came back almost 2 months late into the American school year, which was fine because I had a private tutor in Japan for the things I missed."

I gave Seya a surprised look. No wonder she had all these underlying Japanese ethics, she might as well have been raised there.

"As you’ve probably already figured out, they’re pretty prominent in Japanese society, though they really keep very much to themselves." She said as she put the magazine down and picked up another. "My mother wasn’t very high in the family status, but she used to work in the estate, so she was close enough to the heads of the family to come into a nice circle. It was hard for her to leave and come to America."

As I processed the information I tried to remember all the stories Seya had ever told me about her family. All I really knew about her was that her father and mother had left Japan after Seya was conceived, hoping to give their daughter a different life in America. Her father had been half American, her mother full Japanese. When they’d come to America her father’s family had taken them in right away, and had even cared for Seya’s mother after her father died 5 years later. Yet, as she had said, it must have been hard for her mother to completely leave her family. She had taken her daughter back to Japan as often as she could until she too fell ill from the same disease and died.

"So why then," I asked, wondering something. "Why didn’t this family take you in after your mother died? It’s not like they couldn’t afford to take care of you."

Seya paused in her reading and smiled a sedated smile, almost as if she knew something I didn’t. When she looked up at me I realized I had stumbled onto something important and tried to remember the look on her face; the tone of her voice.

"I had my last name changed; that’s all they really wanted from me."

I sighed and laid my head on the window, my brain spinning with all the things we had talked about. Why did it seem to me that this trip was getting more and more complicated than it really should have been?

 

I’m Never Cold With You

The wind blew steadily through the trees in the Sohma Estate, windows rattling slightly at the pressure as the wind tried to gain entry to the homes. As the seasons changed so did the moods, it seemed, within the compound. Winds were on the move, and whispers could be heard everywhere in the family. So many things had occurred, and so many more were stirring. Things were changing and to what end no one could really say.

In one room of the main Sohma house more than just the wind was stirring. It blew cold drafts through most of the house, yet, in Akito’s room, it’s two occupants felt nothing of the sorts. Two kimono’s lay sprawled across the floor of her room, two bodies covered by blankets not far from the rejected clothing. Heat caused the room to feel comfortable and lulling.

Akito held Shigure tightly in her arms, her breathing still ragged from the events of the night. She couldn’t help but smile as he touched her face, more from conquest, it seemed, than emotions. Shigure noticed her smile and put his face closer to her, nuzzling like his Zodiac form.

"What are you up to Akito? You’ve been awfully linient with others entering the family lately." Shigure said in a low voice, his lips close to her ear, almost too enticing for anyone to refuse.

But somehow she did, and she hugged him closer, her nails digging possessively into his bare back, adding to the marks there, not even a twitch coming from the dog.

"Why should I be up to something?" She said back innocently, her head lulling on his warm shoulder as he held her, his lips exploring her ear. The young woman, who was usually fierce and frightening during the day, seemed to be more than docile and fragile in Shigure’s arms this night. He often felt a twinge of fright that he might break her.

"It just isn’t like you." He said between kisses, trying to get her to talk more of the fact that she was allowing not just one foreigner into the same house as her Jyuunishi, but two. All of this was regardless the fact that one of them was a Sohma relative, albeit a distant one.

Akito was silent as she let him almost rock her into a sleep, his voice calming in it’s tone; the true mark of a novelist. She knew Shigure had come to her that night for more reasons than mearly because he was lonely, but she didn’t care. He belonged to her, she needed to tell him nothing, which she planned on. She wasn’t stupid, nor naive, and she had been alive too long to allow the wooing of a man to sway her opinions on what she would and wouldn’t tell them. So she relaxed, allowed herself to enjoy the conquest, the power, and even the serenity that followed.

"Are you saying that I’m not capable of being kind to outsiders, Shigure?" She said, almost mockingly. Shigure stopped his kisses and leaned on his elbows over her, staring into her eyes with a stark curiosity, more dog like than he cared to admit.

"Why would I think that?" He said, his tone matching hers in mock innocence.

Akito couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t need to justify anything to anyone, let them mull over it themselves in their own minds, she was the head, she was in charge. But there was that small twinge of remorse within her; that drop of wanting that made her wish she could say something; anything to Shigure, let him feel her for more than her title spoke of her. For all she knew, that’s how he felt. Yet, when he came to her like this, his eyes searching for something she wouldn’t divulge, it was hard to think that the man had any emotions at all.

A sudden power over took her and Akito pushed Shigure onto his back, kissing him fiercely, her need to feel love from him overpowering in it’s urge. He kissed her back, his emotions raw, and for one pure moment Akito believed; truly believed.

"If there was anything I needed to tell you," She said when the urge had left her, her hand moving his hair from his face to watch his dark eyes inspect her own. "I would tell you Gure."

Her lie was flawless and simple, yet it struck something within her; hit something hard and raw. She lay motionless on his chest, just sinking into him.

If there was anything to say, I’d say it without bated breath.

"Everything changes, Shigure." She said as she ran her fingers through his hair, her body limp, almost half asleep. "Why can’t I?"

As the night settled around them she allowed Shigure to stroke her back, settling her into a sleep she knew she could never get any satisfaction from.

 

Author’s Note:

Oooh cliffhanger….can you tell I’m a HUGE Shigure x Akito fan? Well, with the 2nd chapter down I can tell you that all of these are probably going to be about this length (9 pageish), if not longer. My thanks ahead of time for those of you that stick with this, I know it’s kinda lengthy. I can shorten the chapters if it’s a problem, but there are going to be a lot of them if I do that. What do you guys think? To shorten or not? Would that keep your attention spans (though if you’ve gotten this far I doubt it’s really a problem)? Review and tell me what you think.

As always, any comments, good and bad, are welcome. If there is anything anyone wants me to clarify in my plotline let me know, I can address it in future author’s notes or put it in the story somewhere.

Also a note, I’ll be leaving for a week in Florida with my family (March 18-28th), so if you don’t see any updates, it’s because of that. When I get back I’ll be working on getting the 3rd chapter up.

Ja!

-Sara Angeldust (SaiyenGirl)

e-mail: saiyengirl613[at]yahoo[dot]com