Garbage Breath (OHSHC x Fruits Basket)

Chapter Five: The Raccoon is Outta The Bag! (And running around the clubroom)

Haida struggled to get out of his own clothes trapped under them. He finally freed himself looking around at all of the other hosts. They looked as expected; mouths wide open in disbelief and eyes the size of saucers. Everyone was silent in the shock of the moment.

Haida looked up at Hikaru who was still holding him in his arms. Hikaru looked the most shocked out of anyone. Understandable if a friend suddenly turned into a strange animal in your arms.

But Haida felt terrified. This was his worst nightmare; transforming in front of people. He'd never be trusted again. He wondered if Akito would pull him from school or how much trouble he'd be in. He panicked and his first instinct was to run. Get away. Get away.

He began flailing in Hikaru's arms eventually getting the stubborn host to let go. He quickly ran as fast as his legs could carry him away. On all four legs he was quite fast despite the entire club chasing after him trying to grab him.

"What's with the raccoon?!"

"Where's Haida?!"

"Did Haida turn into a raccoon!?"

The frantic questions went unanswered as the raccoon ran around the club room in a panic searching for a hiding spot. He got cornered by all of the hosts. His fur stood on end and he snarled at them hoping to get them to leave him alone. He was obviously terrified.

Nobody was brave enough to touch him, thankfully, cause Haida might have bitten them if they tried. He was scared and when animals were scared they were dangerous. Yet nobody moved either leaving Haida trapped between the wall and them. "Why are you idiots crowding me?" He finally spoke which just surprised the startled humans more.

"I-It can speak!" Tamaki unhelpfully supplied despite everyone clearly hearing the raccoons voice.

"Haida that is you." Haruhi said in awe having recognized Haida's voice. "I can't believe it.."

"Well duh! Who else would it be?!" He snapped back his fear quickly turning into anger and resentment for them putting him in this predicament.

"Calm down." Kyoya told him, even the scariest dude here looked uncertain at the moment. Eyes full of curiosity and disbelief; so Kyoya wasn't any different from the rest. Didn't know everything like he pretended he did.

"Calm down?! You lunatics chased me around trying to grab me! I can't calm down!" Haida growled. His tail and all his fur was all fluffed up as he held his tail upright in a defensive pose.

"Haida you have to explain what's happening. I don't understand.. this is crazy." Tamaki insisted clearly at a loss for what just happened. "I must be dreaming.."

"I wish you were." Haida grumbled he was still clearly on edge but slowly was calming down. "You know that old story about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac?" He questioned, he wasn't really expecting anyone to know what he was speaking about.

Kyoya and Haruhi nodded in recognition but everyone else was completely lost. "There is no raccoon in that story." Kyoya commented pushing his glasses better over his nose.

"Yeah well I'm not a part of the zodiac. The raccoon wasn't invited to the dumb banquet or whatever, so there is no year of the raccoon." Haida explained a tad bitterly. He was ashamed of his status.

"Anyway my family has a curse. Me and 13 other family members of mine are reincarnated animal spirits from the old tale. We transform when under a lot of stress or hugged by the opposite sex." Haida explained to the best of his ability trying to make it short and simple for them. He knew most of them weren't the brightest. "I'm transgender so when Hikaru hugged me I transformed." He clarified.