Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Musouka ~ Dare to Dream ❯ Proximity of the Curse ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter Four

 

A friend is a gift you give yourself.

 

Robert Louis Sanotomono - Year 1916

 

The Reindeer

 

Proximity of the Curse

 

“Oh…” Shigure began after he slid his door open and Hatori drove away with Momiji and Hatsuharu.

 

“My…” Yuki continued.

 

“God…” Kyo finished.

 

“It's a wreck!” All three shouted. The house was in absolute ruin, Eriko had to hide her sniggers, no doubt about it, the foxes she hid in her closet had gotten out and destroyed the Sohma House. The tables were covered in food, the TV lay on it's side unharmed, pans and cooking utensils lay scattered in the kitchen, the walls and doors were scratched horribly, and all the rooms were pulverized except one-Eriko's room.

 

“Why the hell was your room not torn apart? It's made of paper just like ours!” Kyo cried out.

 

“There's paw prints everywhere, oh dear, they must have gotten into some kind of dark powder or liquid.” Shigure pointed out, he was crying in his usual way, probably because he had to have his house repaired. “Oh dear oh dear, I better call the main house again,” Shigure disappeared into the kitchen. Tohru had already gone to cleaning, but when it came to the dining room, she got herself a splinter and she and Yuki had to go in search for the tweezers.

 

“I'm leaving,” Kyo growled as he headed outside and walked around the house and vanished behind the corner wall.

 

“Bad news my dear friends, it seems we're going to have to spend the night some place else for a couple of nights before returning. It seems that it's all too late for them to come over at this hour so they'll be here in the morning and will probably be done by the end of the day after tomorrow.” Shigure explained.

 

“Found it!” Tohru cried from the kitchen, Shigure, Yuri, and Eriko sweat-dropped. “Oh sorry, did I miss something?”

 

“We can stay at our place,” Yuri suggested. “I have the keys, but we're going to have to walk there.” Everyone looked at her as if she was going insane.

 

“All right, pack up and let's get to Yuri and Eriko's house, you do know the way right?” Shigure asked Yuri, she nodded, but she didn't want to turn around since Eriko was behind her, probably plotting her death. Their house was actually only twenty-five minutes away, but only by car. And since there was snow on the ground, who knew how long it would take to get there by foot!

 

“We have food and anything we will need, so just bring whatever you want.” Yuri added. Eriko was indeed planning her funeral, first there will be an accidental tripping when they were walking home and she fell down the steep side of the road and found barely alive at the bottom with lethal wounds and than later, she would die in coma and they would all mourn. Than Eriko can continue her miserable life!

 

“We better pack up ourselves Imooto,” Yuri said, bravely turning towards her sister.

 

“Call me that again and you will wish that you were in my shoes,” Eriko said with a dark haze hovering above her, Yuri sweat-dropped.

 

About some minutes later, they were all able to leave without leaving anything in the house they might not want to leave. Shigure left a note to anyone that might come by to visit and a note to the repairmen that they may enter without knocking. He also left another note for someone they might know.

 

“How far is your house again?” Kyo asked as they stomped through more snow.

 

“Well, it was about twenty-five minutes away by car, but by foot I don't know…” Yuri said nervously. Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure gave her of despair. “Don't worry I know where we're going!”

 

“And if we do get lost, which is expected, than I'll lead.” Eriko said, giving the Sohmas and Tohru something else to worry about besides the snow and temperature.

 

“Don't be silly, I know exactly where we're going!” Yuri said a bit more cheerfully.

 

Twenty minutes later they were walking through the woods, only Eriko seemed at home, Yuri was downright distraught, Tohru was huddled up inside of her coat, and the three Sohmas were simply trying to stay warm.

 

“I could have sworn our house was around here somewhere,” Yuri said.

 

“You're lack of sense of direction is worse than ever under the stars and moon.” Eriko said.

 

“Well, the night does explain my lack of sight, you see…” she turned to Tohru and the Sohmas, they looked at her as if she was about to say she knew where they were. “I can't recognize anything in the dark.” They fell.

 

“Follow me,” Eriko said simply as she began walking to the left, it was eerie, the trees were tall and bare, snow was at five inches high and the moon casted shadows among the ground.

 

“Why should we follow you?” Kyo asked, Yuri and Tohru were the only ones following her at the moment.

 

“Because, if you would rather stay out here and get frostbitten, than you have no other choice.” Eriko said coolly, that convinced the rest of them and the shivering trio followed.

 

True to her word, Eriko showed them through the forest and a dark unlit house appeared near the woods.

 

“That's it,” Eriko said as they came to the back door, Yuri pulled out the keys and opened the door.

 

“Wow, it's…” inside was basically Western style, nothing personal but Dikatou loved the way how Americans decorated so he had the Japanese home, and Sarah was able to furnish it like that of an American home.

 

“This is Western furnishing if you're wondering, come on, I'll show you your rooms.” Eriko said in a bored tone, she would have left this to Yuri, but since it was dark she would probably not even recognize where she slept herself, and Eriko didn't feel like wasting time. “You can have our parents room, they aren't going to be here anyway,” Eriko pointed at a door across from the stairs, Shigure bounded right in. “And don't mess with anything!” She heard him groan before she moved up the stairs.

 

“There are only two rooms left, one of you are going to have to share.” Eriko said, Tohru looked slightly nervous, and Yuki's and Kyo's expressions were full of loathing. For reasons Eriko and Yuri don't know, they knew neither of them could sleep with Tohru even if they wanted to. They ended up sleeping in the same room together anyway.

 

“It's not that big of a deal, all you have to do is sleep on two different sides till the day after tomorrow.” Eriko said as she went to her own room (After leading Yuri to hers) and unpacked.

 

“Do you cook American food too?” Tohru asked Yuri in the other room.

 

“Yes, I might cook something Italian though,” Yuri said.

 

“What…is that?” Kyo asked as they all sat down at the Western Table (With chairs and all). On the table in front of him was a plate with long noodles and red sauce.

 

“It's called spaghetti,” Eriko said coolly, “You eat it with a fork.” (Kyo, Yuki, Shigure, and Tohru stared at the silver utensils.) And since they had no idea how to use any of them, Eriko and Yuri busied themselves on teaching how to eat with them.

 

Usually at meals, it would have been boring and would have gone fast for the Sohmas, but it went a whole lot slower and it seems that Tohru was enjoying herself as she twirled her fork in the spaghetti.

 

“It's like playing with it, but it's not.” She once said a few minutes after seeing how to use it.

 

“It's not bad either,” Yuki complemented after eating the first bite. Kyo was still staring at the food like it was a pool of worms (of course that was my first thought on spaghetti!) and Shigure was enjoying his meal even if it was foreign.

 

“Thanks,” Yuri said.

 

It wasn't till everyone was in bed that it began to get noisy…

 

“You're too damn close you stupid rat!”

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“Cause I haven't been this close to you without punching you!”

 

“Sorry, but when was the last time you punched me?”

 

“No one asked you! You damn rat!”

 

“Would you two shut up,” Eriko said after somehow getting into their room unnoticed. They both jumped and Kyo shot glares at her.

 

“How did you get in here?” Kyo asked.

 

“Through the door,” she answered.

 

“Don't play dumb!”

 

“Honestly…” Yuki mumbled.

 

“SHUT UP!”

 

“Come on you two, could you at least try and close your eyes and drift off to Dreamland?” this time Shigure jumped in and stood next to Eriko. Tohru and Yuri followed.

 

“As if I can do anything of that sort with that Rat here!” Kyo shouted.

 

“The same here with that arrogant Cat,” Yuki said back. Eriko was getting really tired of the three Sohmas animal `imagery' and she wasn't enjoying it.

 

“Why do you guys relate to one another as animals? What's with Rat, Cat, and Dog?” Yuri asked, as if asking for Eriko. That got them quiet, at least it lasted long enough for each of them to look at one another as if asking for an excuse that might fool them.

 

“Well, we were born in the Year of the Rat, Dog, and Cat. So we sometimes relate to one another as those animals.” Shigure said cheerfully.

 

IDIOT! Yuki and Kyo screamed mentally. Eriko eyed them, as Yuri (Obviously didn't hear much) and Tohru walked back out of the room and went back to theirs.

 

“There is no Year of the Cat,” Eriko pointed out, their odors were becoming much clearer. There was something they were hiding, it was something that actually caught her interest, but what was it? Kyo was giving off complete anger and nervousness, Yuki was calm yet frightened, and Shigure seemed cheerful and afraid. “What are you hiding?” They flinched.

 

“Oh, well, Kyo's socks are probably hidden in his bag if that's what you're talking about!” Shigure said, the three sweat-dropped and looked at him. Shigure gave Yuki and Kyo an apologetic expression.

 

“Well, we can't hide it forever can we, you see-” Shigure began, but Eriko stopped him.

 

“I don't want to hear anything else that might be involved with your childish antics, just stop acting like animals and go to bed, I want to sleep, I need the energy!” Eriko said before walking out of the room, the three Sohmas sighed with relief.

 

“Were you really going to say why we call Kyo the Cat?” Yuki asked Shigure, Kyo shot him a heavy glare.

 

“Of course not, I was just going to say why I left that third note there on the door.” Shigure said.

 

He didn't… Kyo thought.

 

He did… Yuki finished, shaking his head.

 

I will find out what's going on, it's just too much of a coincidence… Eriko thought as she closed her eyes.

 

The next morning at the Sohma House

 

Dearest Mii-chan,

 

I shall be going on a journey for a while, do not try and find me!

 

Sohma, Shigure

 

P.S.

 

Happy New Year! V(.)V

 

“SHIIIGGGUUUREEEE!”