The Missing Zodiac [A Fruits Basket FanFiction]

Chapter 13

He was hugging me and I remained human!

I widened my eyes even larger when Hatori had continued to hug me, not being able to move my head to look up at him at all. To see his face and how he was reacting to all of this.

"Morumotto, I have something important to tell you," he began "Your Zodiac curse, it's not as he described it to you. Or, how it's been described to you for your whole life."

I stood there, calm yet tense in Hatori's arms "Wh...What do you mean?"

He paused before starting to talk again "Well, as you can see, you're still human when I'm hugging you...your curse isn't with every person. It's only anyone outside of the Sohma family. The other Zodiac transform when hugged by the opposite gender, but you're different only in that sense."

I was frozen in place, my head swirling with thoughts as Hatori had told me the truth. All of this time, I had been away from everyone because of this curse. Because I had thought that anyone who I came in contact with would make me transform into a helpless animal.

Both Hatori and Akito had been lying to me this whole time and I had believed them. But, for some reason... I couldn't be angry.

All I could do was hug Hatori tightly in pure relief as I started to cry into his clothes. He didn't move us from this spot, letting me get tears on his clothes as some sort of payback for keeping this hidden from me all of this time.

A few minutes later I started to calm down, pulling away from the hug and wiping my eyes as I stood and looked up at Hatori "Th..Thank you for telling me, Hatori."

He looked slightly surprised by my thanks, probably expecting a scolding. But, nonetheless, he gave me a soft smile and a nod. "You deserved to know, Morumotto."

I smiled softly when he replied to me, standing in front of him with a wave of calm. Well...now what was I going to do? Sure I knew this new information, but what was I going to do with it now? Could I even do anything with it now?

Hatori kept his gaze down towards me "I've also been informed my Akito before he came to see you that you weren't allowed to attend school anymore. So, I'll be here tomorrow to bring you some books."

I nod in response to Hatori, biting my lip and feeling saddened again. I knew all about my curse now, but now I couldn't see any of my friends again...was it worth it? I shake my head slightly before looking at Hatori and nodding "Okay. Thank you Hatori."

"Is there anything else you need?" He asked "I know this must be hard on you, no matter how much you refuse to express it or how much you push it aside. So, is there anything you've been wanting?"

I widened my eyes, thinking about what he had said. I...I wasn't that sad, was I? I contemplated it for a few seconds, thinking about how I truly felt. I...I didn't know. I needed to think about it. I shook my head no in response to Hatori "No, not anything. But thank you for being concerned about me...!"

Hatori nodded with a soft smile on his face before reaching and patting the top of my head. He then turned around and headed towards the door, closing it behind human after he left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

But though I had just learned this new thing about the zodiac curse, all my thoughts kept drifting towards the friends that I wasn't allowed to see again. I remained like this for another half hour or so, letting my thoughts take me where they wanted. But, they were interrupted with a few curt knocks at the door and I was grounded again.

The person behind those knocks didn't even bother waiting for a response before they had opened the door, and behind it was Akito yet again. He was just here...what more could he have to say to me?

He walked into the room, shoulders back, making himself tall. "I've made sure Hatori has returned to his own residence for the night." He spoke simply "You'll have to deal with the pain of your inflicted punishment until morning I'm afraid."

I widened my eyes. Punishment? Didn't he already do that by grabbing my wrist and by yelling at me?

Akito let or a dark chuckle at the expression on my face, taking a few steps closer to me as my body backed away instinctively. "What? You didn't think your punishment had been dealt, right? You ran away, breaking a rule that's been given to you for quite some time now. There has to be retribution so that you'll learn from your mistakes. Taking away your silly school experience isn't anything close to a punishment."

I kept my lips sealed as Akito stepped closer, moving my body back inch by inch until I was backed into a wall. I knelt down and hunched over, placing my hands on my head in a protective position. My brother grabbed me by my wrist and tossed me aside, breaking my protective position as I was now sprawled out on the floor.

His foot lifted up in the air and in the next second is was brought back down with speed and force onto one of my legs. I widened my eyes and screamed out from the pain, my nails digging into the wooden floor under me as his foot kept rising and plummeting down onto any part of my leg it could manage.

I could hear painful noises echo through the room as well as feel them in my body, screaming almost drowning them out but not completely. His foot kept going, and stomping, and kicking, smashing, pounding, twisting, breaking, while he spat out in a loud and desperate tone.

"You'll never leave here again!" He declared "You'll stay here! With me! You'll never leave me alone again!"

Through the screams and the stomping, my pain became an afterthought. Which was strange, because the body's natural instinct was to put pain in the forefront. My head focused on his words and had realized something. My screams silenced as his foot kept coming down, which had made him curious as to what happened. So much so he had brought his foot back from my leg delicately.

"Oh? You've finally given up?" He asked with a dark intrigue.

I look up at him, whimpering softly and sitting myself up with my hands, daring not to look at my legs. I gulped before letting out a shaky "I...I'm sorry I scared you...by leaving. I didn't mean to leave you alone or hurt you..."

Akito looked stunned, looking down at me like a deer in headlights. I seethed softly through the pain of scooting closer towards him, wrapping my arms around his legs gently and pulling myself closer to him. "I'm sorry..."

He remained frozen for a minute, looking down at the spot I was in rather than the place I was now. We remained like this for a couple of moments before Akito pushed my back my pressing his hand against my forehead. I didn't have time to see the look on his face before he turned away and walked towards the door with urgency in his step. I didn't know why he wanted to leave so quickly, but he had stepped out of the door and slammed it behind him as soon as he started to leave.

I stared at the door for a couple more moments after he left, giving my eyes something to look at so they wouldn't naturally drift to my legs. The throbbing of the pain was like keys being pressed on a piano, lulling me to sleep.

Before I had managed to drift away, my door was opened for a split second before a familiar hand stuck through the crack to throw something in the room and just as quickly shutting the door behind it.

The object that was thrown skidded across the floor right in front of my eyes. I blinked softly to focus on the letters of the toothpaste tube like object on the floor. The label said it was a topical pain reliever ointment.