Home [Fruits Basket]

Chapter 22: I Keep Coming Back To You Again

3rd Person's POV

Today Shigure dropped by the Sohma estate to pay a visit to his dear friend and cousin, Hatori Sohma. When he was making his way down the hallway and walked past a room, all of a sudden, something caught and pulled the sleeve of his kimono, making him stop walking any further. Shigure turned around and noticed that it wasn't a thing as rather it was someone familiar who stopped him; it was Ren Sohma.

"It's been a while, Ren-san." Shigure smiled at her.

"Yes, it has been, Shigure." Ren smiled back, moving away a bit from the doorway. "Please, come inside. Let's catch up."

Shigure accepted her offer and walked in, before closing the door beside him. They both took a seat beside a window where Shigure leaned a bit against the window sill, resting his left arm on the open window.

"Did you slip away from your servant again, so that you can walk as you please?" Shigure asked.

"Sometimes I need to go outside and look for someone to talk to." Ren chuckled. "Right, Shigure?"

"That reminds me... I hear you recruited Isuzu as an errand girl to fetch a box for you." Shigure stated.

"You certainly have an ear to the ground. Or perhaps she's just talkative? Truly no good." Ren responded.

"You are the no-good one, Ren-san. I told you that was our secret." Shigure pointed out.

"Did you really?" Ren asked innocently. "To me, it sounded like a suggestion to go get it from her."

"Well, I'm offended." Shigure chuckled.

"But, I'm afraid the operation failed. This would be much easier if you just brought it to me." Ren sighed.

"What? No, I don't want to do that. It feels blasphemous somehow." Shigure responded.

"It is blasphemous." Ren hummed and then sighed before she started to reminisce her good old memories with Akira. "No one but me has the right to touch Akira-san. His flesh, his blood, his soul... I'm the only one worthy to own anything to do with Akira-san. Akira-san and I met because we were meant to. It was destiny. It was bliss. Akira-san and I were the only ones in the world. I was the only one in Akira-san's world. It was enough. And yet..."

"You poor thing..." Shigure sighed with a smile and looked out of the window.

"Aren't you a poor thing too?" Ren asked in an alluring voice, placing her hand on his lap while tracing her fingers on the fabric of his kimono as Shigure looked back at her. "You're at Akito's mercy, thanks to that antiquated bonds curse. You don't really love that child, you know. You're just caught up in a fantasy."

Ren then slowly yet seductively move towards him and cupped the left side of his cheek with her right hand, gently brushing her fingers on his facial skin. Shigure on the other hand had no expression on his face as he simply stared straight into her eyes, lost in his own little thoughts.

"Haven't you noticed? You're looking at me the same way you did then. You want me." Ren whispered in a seductive voice, cupping both his cheeks now before leaning closer to his face.

"Yes, I have noticed." Shigure sighed with a chuckle and grabbed her hands before removing them from his face. "Looking at you gave me a rush of affection. Back then, it let me fantasize about whether Akito would look like you if she lived as a girl."

Ren let out a small gasp in shock and Shigure quickly pushed her away from him.

"But now that I'm in love with Akari, I don't feel any sort of emotion whenever I look at either you or Akito." Shigure continued as he stood up from the floor and started to walk towards the doorway. "And also, you're quite right. I wanted you to take that box. You're the right one to have it. One person possessed by Akira-san's ghost is enough."