Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Remains ❯ Chapter 6

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

again, srry 4 all the spelling and grammer mistakes *sigh* not my best subject . . .

this chappy contains a few spoilers... u hav been warned!

Disclaimer: if i owned fruba, would i be typing this? didnt think so...

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Sumi sighed in annoyance, there was definatly nothing to do. She had been through almost every shop and there was nothing remotly interesting.

She sighed, 'Maybe nothing seems interesting after what Tadashi told me . . .'

An image of a boys body dangling from a cord flashed through her eyes. 'No! Stop imagining that!' she told herself. But it was no use, the distorted face of the boy just stared back at her, eyes unfocused and mouth tut shut in a determined frown. And for some reason, she pictured orange hair on his head.

She cringed, 'Discusting'.

What a coward that boy was. She understod how hard it would have been to live without the person you loved, but that wasn't the way to deal with it! It was giving up, and giving up never solved anyones problems. Suicide was the most cowardly and selfish thing to do!

A single tear dripped down her face. It urned her a few worried glances from passer-byes.

Sumi would know, how much it would hurt to lose someone to suicide.

'Mom . . .' she thought.

Suicide was killing. And her mother was killed, killed by herself.

Sumi felt the tingling sensation well within her. She desperatly tried to hold back the transformation as it seeped through her. She pleaded with her body to not transform in the wide open. Her body momentarily agreed and subsided from the temptation to become a cat.

'I'm under way to much stress right now.' Sumi thought.

She decided to try to find a nice secluded park somewhere. Sumi hurridly glanced around for any sign of a bench with grass. In the big towering city, there were few. Spotting a small playground, she started to walk over.

~~~~~~

Kaya, Kenji, and Fumito walked along the sidewalk. Almost running to keep up with Kenjis' long strides, Kaya looked left and right as they passed people on the street.

Kaya was so worrried. After her mother died, no one was really there to take care of her. She loved her cousin, Kenji and adopted cousin, Ryou, but they weren't the best gardians. They weren't real socailists, either of them. And they weren't very big "kid people". But when quiet and loud Sumi came, she felt like she really had someone to look up to.

She new that Kenji was worried too. He was very clingy when he was nervous. Always perfering to hold someones hand when something made him nervous. Just like he was holding Kaya's small, light hand now.

"You know," said a very tired Fumito. "We really should split up. Haven't you watch cartoons? They always slit up to find something. . . "

"But half the time they end up getting eaten by a zombie. . . " Kenji answered.

Fumito shrugged. "Ya, but it works."

Kaya looked up at Kenji. She then grasped her fingers around his navy blue jacket and lightly tugged. "Kenji, I think Fumitos idea is a good one. I was watching Scooby-Doo yesterday and when Shaggy got lost-"

"Fine," Kenji responded, efficiantly getting Kaya quiet. "Fumito, you and Kaya will go around the block. I'll go across the streat and ask shop owners if they've seen an orange haired girl."

"Kenji, wouldn't it be easier to just call the police?" Fumito asked logicaly.

"No. I don't like getting mixed up with the police." Kenji said quickly.

"Touchy," Fumito said, grinning. "Fine, Kaya and I will be on are way then . . ."

Kenji didn't watch there retreating backs. His mind swelled with images of sirens flashing in his eyes. The sound they made rang through his ears and the guilt was overwelming his being. The pure unadulterated guilt of what he did came and burst out of him. It the worst feeling he ever could have imagined and it was infecting his entire body.

Shaking him out of his thoughts, Kenji looked on a head. The spring sun was getting ready to set. Kenji knew that no matter what he did, that he would never to be able to shake the feeling of enxiety away.

Or the memories of what he did to a person he cared about.

~~~~~~

Yuiri had mamaged to catch up to the hasty search. No one noticed her sad exterior, her almost depressed form as it came up to the group. And as she watched the faces on them, as they searched for Sumi, she was filled with a very new feeling.

'Why do they have to be so worried about Sumi anyway? She's fine! Look at me! I'm the one they should worry about! Not Sumi!' Yuiri thought stifly. She glanced Ryous' way, and she had a wisp of hope that he would glance back. 'Ryou! Please, just look at me!'

"Hey!"

Yuiri was brought out of her thoughts and saw her younger brother pointing a few streets away. There, she could clearly see an orange head walking toward the small playground. For some reason, Yuiri wished that that orange head would fall on the ground, dead.

"Yuiri!" shouted Bin to his plum haired sister. "Come on!"

Yuiri was brought back, yet again, and was forced to head over to the playground with the others.

~~~~~~

Sumi hummed lightly, trying to get the depressing words out of her mind. But the face of the oranged haired boy came back and back.

'I wish Tadashi never told me that story . . .' Sumi told herself. 'But, i now know more than almost any other Sohma; acording to Tadashi atleast.'

Coming around the corner to the play ground, she closed her eyes. It was so peaceful.

All of the sudden, she was confronted by a hard chest. She heard an unfamiliar male voice shout out in surprise. As the full force of the impact took place, instead of the automatic "poof", Sumi was greated with the hard cement ground and a heavy weight on top of her.

Her arms clutched something that felt like a shirt. A soft cotton shirt. She opened her eyes and met bergundy ones. She saw the same, yet slightly different, redness that she saw in the mirror every day. But the one thought that plagued her mind was, 'How come I'm not transforming?'

"Kitty Sumi!"

Sumi looked and saw Kaya running toward her. The strange man quikly got up with a curt 'Excuse me'.Sumi stared at the man. He stared right back. They seemed to share an equal curiosity for what had just occcured a few secounds ago.

'Could he ba a Zodiac member?'

"Sumi! I see you and Fumito met!" Kaya said in her normal cheery voice.

Sumi didn't take her eyes of the man. She broke the stare that they shared, as if coming to a realisization. "Are you part of the zodiac?" She asked him.

The man smiled. "Yes, and you must be the cat that I've heard so much about."

Sumi looked at him. What he had on was a genuin smile. She hadn't seen one in forever. Even Kaya's smiles seemed forced, but this one, was so . . . real. She gently got up off the ground and glanced over at Kaya.

"Yep! She sure is!" Kaya interjected. "And Fumito's the rooster!"

Kayas loud voice earned them a few stares and some younger childrens giggles. Sumi looked fondly at the little cow and sighed in amusement, her entire depression gone.

"Kaya, we don't want to many on lookers." Sumi said, gently patting Kayas head. Fumito watched in fascination as Kaya slowly formed a toothy grin.

'They look so confortable with eachother.' Fumito thought. His mind traveld back to when he was with Kenji in the car. 'They all except her, even when she's the cat. I suppose I'm probably the only one who knows how the cat was treated the last hundred generations.'

"So," Fumito looked up at Sumi. Her smile was sweet and welcoming. "You're the first zodiac member I've meet besides Kaya, Kenji, and Ryou."

"Well I-" Fumito began, but was interupted by shouting heard behind Sumi.

Sumi glanced over her sholder and saw Ryou, Bin, Youki, and Yuiri, pushing their way through the crowd. Sumi stiffled a slight giggle as she noticed Ryous struggle to keep away from the girls in the crowd.

"Sumi!" Ryou said as he came up to her.

She looked at him in surprise. 'Were they looking for me?' Sumi wondered.

Youki didn't look as happy. He glared at the unfamiliar maroon haired man, very aware of what had happened between him and Sumi. 'I don't like him . . .'

"Fumito, Kaya, where's Kenji?" Ryou asked. Sumi just noticed the blondes unattendance. She looked around for his nlue jacket that he always wore.

"Oh, he went to search the shops." Fumito replied. "He told Kaya and I to go and look for Sumi over here."

"Why were all of you looking for me? I was only gone for a while." Sumi said.

"Well, Kenji and Ryou were worried you had gotten kid-napped!" Kaya said happily. Sumi stared at Ryou, who quickley turned his head away from her.

'Were they really that worried?' Sumi wonderd.

"Ya ya, details. Point is that we found you, you're fine and that I actually found something to do for the last few minutes." Youki said, bordely.

"Well, nobody asked you to help." Ryou sneered.

"Exscuse me, Mr. Popular?" Youki said. "Who asked you anyway? And without me you would never have found Sumi!"

"I think it was actually your frined who found Sumi in the frst place!"

"Well, without me Bin probably wouldn't even be here!"

"Shut up!" Every looked at Sumi."I don't need to hear two imature high schoolers fight over useless things! This is so stupid!"

"Okay, Sumi. Just chill," Bin said, coming up and gently grabbing her arm, giving it a reasurring squeeze. "Lets go find that Kenji-guy or whatever and take you home."

"Alright," Sumi said, head bent and looking at the ground.

"What the hell?" Youki shouted. Sumi looked over at him in discust and didn't send a very nice look toward Ryou either.

As the whole scene transpired, Fumito found himself smile. He had no idea how care-free everyone had become. Fumito was normaly a lone person, it was hard to believe considering how loud he was at times. But he always perfeared being distant and away from reality. It had been a while sence he'd seen an interaction like this. He had been away from his family far to long.

"Come on," Fumito said lightly. Everyone stared at him and he caught the cats eyes. He met them head on, his own peircing gaze meeting hers. "Lets go find Kenji . . . "

~~~~~~

Kenji was close to giving up.

He had been through every shop and every street corner and had come back to the same problem. No Sumi. He just hoped nothing really bad happened to her.

Once again, the vibrant ringing came to his pocket. The vibrations and melody were felt through his jacket and he picked the ringing phone up. He looked at the caller and saw that it was a pay-phone.

He normaly didn't answer from people that he didn't know, but it could be from Sumi. Though how she would get his cell number, he had no idea. He pressed the talk button and waited with anxiety about who would be on the other end.

"Hello?" Kenji spoke into the phone with a questionable voice. He hoped it wasn't some phycopath who escaped from jail or something.

"Kenji? Is this you?" said a boyish voice from the other line. 'Fumito? Why is he calling?'

"Fumito, how did you get my number?" Kenji was annoyed. Fumito was probably just calling to see if he had seen any good new hair colors. Fumito always was a vibrant guy, but he also had something of a withdrawl around the other Sohmas. Why? Kenji was never sure.

"Look, we're infront of the park on the block Kaya and I were on. Sumi is here with us."

"You found her?"

"Yep, along with Ryou and some of Sumi's friends from school."

Kenji consintrated on the sounds in the backround. Being a Sohma, he was able to hear and see better than others, it was a skill all Zodiac members had. Kenji heard Ryous deep, soft, voice in the backround. Ryou seemed to be shouting at someone and that someone had a sort of nazily, lighter, voice.

'Must be one of Sumi's friends' Kenji thought.

"Okay Fumito, thanks. I'll come right over."

~~~~~~

Sumi sighed with relief as she plumited herself on the couch. The day full of misdirection, mayhem, and confrontation, was over. Sumi realised that only one day had passed by. It seemed so much longer than that.

But it also ment that tomarrow was her 2nd day of school. Sumi wasn't as excited about the idea as she thought she would be. Right now she just felt like laying on the couch and never getting back up.

After Kenji had come to the park where they were, Yuiri had realised she was an hour late for her baby sitting job. Sumi had given her a smile and told her not to worry and that she needed to go do her job. In return, she had recived a sour look from Yuiri and suddenly she left, pulling Bin and Youki along with her.

'Yuiri sure did look upset. I hope it was nothing I did.' Sumi thought worriedly. 'Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll just ask her tomarrow.'

Fumito looked over at Sumi from the kitchen. He smiled and looked good naturedly at her. She returned it and she saw him slowly come towards her. He sat on the end of the couch and Sumi moved her legs to make room for him.

"So, are you really the rooster?" Sumi asked curiously.

Fumito smiled and nodded at her. "Yes, I must say there are much to many farm animals in the Zodiac for my taste."

"Ya, so tell me a little about yourself. Where do you live?" Sumi asked gently, not wanting to say anything that would upset the Zodiac member.

"Well, nowhere now. I guess I could live at the main house, but whenever I go in there, I always get so depressed." Fumito said. "I geuss it has something to do with ,y childhood. My mother was also a Zodiac member."

"Oh, realy!" Sumi said, amazed. "What animal?"

"She didn't have one . . ." Fumito looked solumly at the ground.

"Wha-?"

"You probably don't know this. Barely anyone does, but last generation, our head of the family, was a woman." Sumi looked stunned at the man.

'But, I thought Akito was a boy?! I guess I just asumed Akito was a boy. I mean 'Akito' is a boys name, but I guess it could have been a girl. And I don't remember Tadashi saying Akitos' gender.'

"I'd be surprised if you even knew who the head of the family was. We barley ever speak her name, she was such a discarce to the Sohma's. And because of that, I have been a discrace. I have been shunned apon."

"Would her name be Akito?"

"How did you-" Fumito looked at her, stunned.

"Tadashi told me . . ." Sumi said sadly. "He told me everything. Except that."

"It doesn't surprise me. Even I know more than Tadashi about the subject of my mother. No one is sure who my father is, but everyone believes it was a Zodiac member. I don't know for sure who it could be, but I have some guesses."

"You don't really know your mother that well, do you?" Sumi asked.

". . . . I can barley remember her." Fumito said sadly. "I rememeber, once when I was young; Akito didn't live long after she birthed me. I remember her screaming at a man. I couldn't see his face because of they were behind a screen door. But I remember her words. She seemed so angry. . ."

~~~Flashback~~~

A young Fumito sat in a dark room. Two figures in the other, lightened room were fighting. Their silouets clearly made out.

One Fumito knew was his mother, Akito. The other was a man. Tall and broad. And they were screaming at eachother.

"Its that little brats fault!" screamed Akito. "Kureno goes and I haven't seen him for months! And then that 'thing' is born with the curse of the rooster! Do you know what this means?!"

"I know that you're upset about Kureno dying! But right now this child needs you!" screamed the other figure.

"That worthless thing is your fault! And because of it we know that Kureno is dead!"

"Why is that all you care about?!" shouted the figure. "After what you did with Kureno, I still loved you! And you repay me by giving up on our son!"

"He is not 'our' son! I refuse to take care of it!"

~~~~~

The rest became a blur in Fumito's mind. And he slowly felt himself come back to realtiy. "That was the only time I saw my father."

"I don't know what to say. . ." Sumi whispered.

Fumito gave a chuckle. "Aww. Don't worry about it . . ." Fumitos slight grin fadded from his face and droped down into an expression Sumi couldn't quite place. "It's just . . . hard, to know that my mother wished I was never born. Soon after, Akito died and Tadashi was born and-"

"Hold on!" Sumi said with confusion. "Everyone says that Tadashi is in his late thirties. You cant be older than him!"

Fumito sighed. "Look, Sumi. When you have a cursed family. There are things kept from everyone. The Sohmas are full of deception. People are going to tell you alot of strange things, you shouldn't believe everything you hear."

~~~~~

In the darkness of the room, a lone figure looked through the photo album. His hands grasped the pages tightly and he sighed at each passing picture. He knew that Sumi would find out the truth about all the Sohma's. Eventually, everyone would have to know about the true secret.

The figure sneered. 'Better late than never' he thought.

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Well I must say that Akito is indeed a girl.

I hope that all of you who didn't know still enjoyed the chappy and will also leave a nice review!

R&R

(again... srry 4 the spoiler)