Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Honda constellations ❯ Taurus ( Chapter 3 )

Zeus, the king of the gods, was a lover, plain and simple. He loved his fellow goddesses, the beautiful nymphs, and even mortal women, for they were his favorite. One day, from Mt. Olympus, he spotted the fair Hellenic princess, Europa. She was the beloved daughter of Tyre, and was thus protected by her own personal guards very well. Well, Zeus loved a challenge, almost as much as his love for women; so, he tried to figure out how to get the beautiful maiden away from her protectors.

 

His answer: disguising himself as a bull. But, no, this was no ordinary bull, what `king of the gods' would ever want to be plain? This bull was special, his fir was as white as the new-fallen snow, and his horns shone in only a way that real gold could. Well, he flew down into Tyre's heard of cattle and transformed into his marvelous disguise. It just so happened that Europa was taking a stroll that passed between the pastures and sea, when she spotted the marvelous specimen out in the field. She was so enamored with the mysterious creature that she walked toward it, intent on petting it. The bull complied quickly, and kneeled down, exposing his back so she could climb on for a ride.

 

“What a tame bull!” she thought as the bull started walking around with her on his back, until they got to the sea. But instead of turning around and heading back to the others in the heard, he leapt into the sea before the young girl could protest. By the time they surfaced, they were too far out to for Europa to get off, so she clung to the devious creature's back for dear life.

 

By the time that the bull had reached dry land, it was an island called Crete. Zeus changed back to his true form and realized that he could not take her away from the land that she loved, but by then it was too late. He instead let her marry the island's king, Asterius, and bore him three sons. To commemorate his adventure, he painted his portrait as the swimming bull in the stars. Some say that the constellation represents love, strength and beauty.

 

()

 

 

“It's not a tattoo, It's a birthmark. Well, actually, a couple of years ago, there were parts inked in, but it's mostly a birthmark.” It was true, where the stars of Taurus were supposed to be, were brown freckles, and then there was a red outline of the bull's head and front legs likened to a type of birthmark called a Hemangeoma. Tohru bit her lower lip as Shigure used the hydrogen peroxide and cleaned off the blood, but soon he put the bandages on, wrapping it just tight enough to keep them from slipping.

 

“Are there others that have markings like you?” Shigure asked, hoping not to raise Tohru's suspicion.

 

“Just like mine, no. But there are others,” Tohru gave, knowing his game already and not wanting to give the answers without some mystery.

 

“Others, like how?” Shigure knew the game well, and he had found a new person to play.

 

Tohru sat up, pulling her shirt down to cover the bandages, “my mother's name was the red butterfly, but that was just her reputation, not her birthright. My dad was interested in her because of that name.” She turned to Shigure, putting on her best smile, “I should get dinner ready, by now you guys should be starving!” she was back to her airhead-like ways and skipped down the stairs, promptly missing the bottom one with a thump and landing on her butt. Shigure shook his head before standing up to go after Tohru, she had changed the subject on purpose, and he hoped she knew what she was doing keeping a secret from him and the others. But what did her mother have to do with any of this?

 

()

 

They sat down to dinner and, as usual, Tohru cooked her most wonderful meal (at least at the boy's opinion). And as usual, she blushed like she had never been commented before.

 

“That thing at lunch, what you did with that door, how did you do that?” Kyo asked, gesturing an up and down motion like swiping a card. For a moment, she had a questioning gaze while staring at her rice before recalling what she had done.

 

Tohru groaned quietly, realizing her secret was out, and stood up from the table and grabbed her school bag, fishing out a wallet and holding it up for the others to see, “is this what you meant Kyo-kun?” he nodded and she rejoined the table while putting the `wallet' down beside her place setting. After a few deep breaths and some rice, she flipped it open easily with one hand and laid it flat for everyone to see. “It's a lock-pick kit that my mother gave me before…. She taught me to use it in emergencies only, and getting off the roof through the access was one of them.” She gave a small smile and continued, “I practice on my own locks sometimes, but I wouldn't dare unlock anything of yours without permission!” she exclaimed with feigned panic.

 

Shigure looked over the open wallet, seeing different picks and screws, each in their own holder, but there was one that seemed empty and would hold a credit card. “What goes in here Tohru-kun?” he asked, holding the wallet up and pointing to the empty space. She hurriedly grabbed the wallet and mentally ticked off every tool, pointing to each one in turn, before getting to the empty space.

 

“the card!” she exclaimed, digging into her bag to find the last tool, but just resulted in dumping out the complete thing in her haste. At last, when the boys starting asking themselves if there even was a bottom to her bag, for she was waste-deep in it, she pulled herself out and held up the card like a prize. “this is it!” she exclaimed, showing it to them before placing it back into its allotted place.

 

“that is one of the only things that mom gave me when she was teaching me to pick. She made it herself out of an old credit-card offer she got in the mail.” Tohru rubbed off some of the wax that seemed to cling to the edge from when she used it to smooth a project's surface with it. “she told me that if I was in a hurry and it was a simple lock, this was a lot faster and easier to use than the picks,” Tohru blushed and put it away in her bag along with her spilled papers. “maybe I can show you sometime,” she offered absently, not even wanting to see the boys looks as they found out something new about her.

 

“well, that was my lesson of the day,” Shigure managed to say after a minute of silence around the low table, “I think I'll go get back to work.” Tohru nodded absently as Shigure stood up and she took in his plates to be washed. The others soon followed his example and left to do their homework in their rooms.

 

()

 

“Hey, Kyo, Are you up here?” Tohru asked, her head poking over the edge of the roof, the cat sat up slightly and nodded, grabbing her wrist to pull her the rest of the way up from the ladder. After she sat down, Kyo laid back down and looked back up at the stars with his arms behind his head.

 

“They're beautiful,” Tohru commented, looking up at the stars also.

 

“Hmm?” Kyo prompted, looking at the girl through the corner of his eye.

 

“The stars, they're beautiful. Millions of people have looked up at them and each one has their own favorite. And there's also so many stories, like Hercules and the northern cross,” she shuddered, from what Kyo thought was the cold, “ and I think the most famous is Orion and his belt.” She pointed out each constellation in turn. “Each one shines differently and in their own way, a lot like humans, but they are all special. Do you have a favorite, Kyo?”

 

“No, not really. But master once taught me how to read the stars, and that one's directly north,” Kyo pointed to a brighter star and Tohru started giggling lightly.

 

“Actually, that one's pointing north-east right now. Ursa Major's tail is the North Star right now… but you probably know it better as the big dipper, right? See, there's the handle and there's the bowl part of it,” she pointed to each part in turn, tracing the shape of the bear. Kyo looked at her, astonished, he didn't know that she had a specialty to share, aside from cooking. “I never really paid much attention when I was learning this, but I know the basics.”

 

Kyo looked around and spotted a cluster of stars near the horizon, hoping to stump her knowledge, “what's that one?”

 

“The cluster or the constellation? Either one marks the spring. The cluster is called the seven sisters, and the constellation is Taurus. Both of them have stories if you're willing to listen to them, like people.”

 

“then what's your story?” Kyo asked, startling Tohru so much she started to slide down the roof and Kyo had to catch her again.

 

“what!?” she exclaimed, being completely caught off guard.

 

“your story. You've never told us about your past before, so…” he trailed off, looking into the woods like they had all the answers.

 

“do you really want to know? Would you still want to know me after you find out how much of a freak I really am?” Kyo was shocked at her put-down, but nodded anyway.

 

Tohru nodded back and took a deep breath, “the word `zodiac' literally translates from roman language as `circle of creatures', though some may be more animalistic than others, the world revolves in circles. Sorry, that's probably just confusing you, so I'll just tell you what happened: I'm from a large family that couldn't care less about me, actually, it's a group of about ten or fifteen families that are connected in one way or another if not by blood. my mom was excommunicated by her family and was, to a point, adopted by my father's family, much like me and your family.

 

It was no accident that my mother died, even though it looked that way and I tried to believe it an accident myself, but mother and I had been threatened many times during the months before by someone I will call Zeus for now.

 

Let me back up,” Tohru slumped for a second, trying to hold back the painful tears. “I used to entertain with some of my family members backing me up. I got injured and that's when the threats started.” Kyo listened uncharacteristically patiently, as he learned about the girl he thought he knew.

 

“at first, they were small things like being locked up in solitude until I healed, but after a while, when the injury wasn't healing, the threats got worse, encompassing everyone that I knew if I didn't get back onto the horse that threw me… so to say. So we ran, momma smuggled me out one night when the guards were distracted, thanks to my cousins, and left.” Tohru was staring out in a particular direction that Kyo thought had nothing there.

 

“my cousins and everyone, Uo and Hana, were sworn to secrecy. And now someone's cracked and told. I don't know who, but they wanted me to be hurt and I do.” Tohru broke down in sobs and ran to the ladder, which was thankfully connected to the ground because she wouldn't have been able to look at the others.

 

She ran. She ran out into the dark forest, seeming to think, or not think, that it would prove some comfort away from the people that thought her of some almost inhumanly happy person that couldn't be brought down. Oh, how they were wrong.

 

Kyo was in shock, how could someone, her own family of all, treat her like that? Threaten others to get her to do something she didn't want. Scratch that, his own family treated him that way, so that defeated that line of thought. People got hurt in a family like his, and apparently in hers also. What was the world coming to? Wait, she said injury? What injury? She didn't look hurt!

 

Tohru collapsed, she didn't care anymore. As soon as they found out the entire truth about her, they would kick her out, even if Akito did allow her to stay, the rest would kick her out. She wasn't a murderer or a thief or, officially, a Yankee, but she was different nonetheless. What she didn't notice was that with each sob that she cried into the dirt, a pulse went through it. the pebbles started swirling slowly, bouncing like something heavy was pounding on the ground. She never noticed when this happened, but the hard, firm ground had always comforted her in ways that humans couldn't.

 

In the distance, she heard a rumbling sound and then a howling sound that indicated a typical spring-time landslide from the melting snow uphill saturating the ground.

 

“did you hear that? There's been another landslide by the cliff,” Shigure looked at yuki, then at Kyo as he entered by himself looking pensive. “where's Tohru? I thought she was with you.” Kyo shook his head no and Shigure's eyes widened at what could have possibly happened to their sweet flower.

 

“we have to go…” Shigure trailed off, seeing the two boys had already left for the forest. He stopped just long enough for him to slip on his shoes before taking chase and quickly catching up, pointing them in the right direction of where he assumed Tohru would be since she was there earlier that day.

 

When they got there, they saw the landslide and Tohru's footprints seemingly up to and under the large pile of stones and dirt that was previously part of the cliff. “Tohru! Tohru!” the boys called, looking around and hoping that she hadn't been buried under the slide that would kill anyone trapped underneath.

 

“I'm here,” came Tohru's voice from the tree line, she was hidden in half-shadows from the trees so only half of her profile could be seen. She didn't sound like her usual optimistic self and more like she had been crying, for truth she had been and had come to see what the noise was.

 

“Tohru-kun!” yuki exclaimed, letting his voice express what he couldn't physically, “you're alright!” his eyes traveled to the pile to Tohru and back again, silently thanking whatever gods that would listen for sparing her from the slide.

 

Tohru nodded silently, giving a small smile, before walking up to the dirt and kneeling down beside it. `charred marks, this wasn't a normal landslide,' she thought, “lets go back, I'm fine now. I-I just needed to get some air, that's all,” she looked back at the dirt briefly, as if listening for something. “actually, you guys go ahead, I'll follow in a couple minutes,” she gave her best smile and shooed them off toward home.

 

Tohru stood by the pile, smiling, until the boys were out of sight before turning back and kneeling down for a better look and fingering the charred piece. “its wood charred, an old fire, good. That means that it wasn't explosives. If they found my location, I'll be like this piece of coal when they get done with me,” Tohru mumbled, scanning the dirt for a sturdy rock to use to direct her focus.

 

What she didn't know, is that the boys were watching the entire time, not wanting her to get hurt by staying by the unstable cliff. Once Tohru had turned back around, they took a quiet about-face into the bushes around the clearing. “what is our little flower doing, I wonder,” Shigure whispered, partly to himself, and silently dodged two blows to his head from his younger cousins for his flower remark.

 

“show me,” Tohru whispered, using this small incantation to find the focusing stone. In her mind's eye, it glowed, showing itself about six inches down from the top of the pile. Meaning that she would have to get dirty to find it. only giving a second's hesitation concerning her clothes, she climbed the dirt hill to the stone. Yuki's eyes widened at her movements, worrying that she would fall and get hurt on one of the sharper stones, but Tohru was actually getting around on it like a mountain goat.

 

“there,” she mumbled to herself, rubbing the clingy dirt off of the stream-polished stone with her fingers before holding it up to the moonlight. “last time I was a baka, but this time I'm covering up my tracks,” she said then jumped the seven feet to the ground. She more or less danced to the edge of the clearing before raising her hands with the rust-colored transparent stone between both of them.

 

The ground began to rumble, like with an earthquake, as Tohru closed her eyes to her surroundings. Kyo tried to jump out of the bushes to save Tohru from the second landslide, but was held back by Shigure holding onto the straps of his cargo pants. “no, watch,” was all he said as he briefly peeled his eyes off of the mysterious Tohru, “I have a feeling we may learn something about her tonight yet.” After a second, Kyo stole another look at the girl before settling back down the bush opposite Yuki.

 

()

 

I swear, this story will get better. I don't know much about fruits basket, thus I do not own, dark