Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Cat that sings ❯ Prologue ( Chapter 1 )

Consider the cat: a creature of great agility, grace, intelligence, and pride. But beyond those, the things that a cat is most noted for is its eminent practicality and overwhelming sense of independence. It sees common sense as a means of survival and freedom as its right, and pride is a coveted and much valued possession. However, to a cat, pride is only an object, and will be discarded if the situation demands it. If freedom-both of body and of will-are threatened, a cat will not hesitate to throw away pride in favor of practicality, and it will run from the situation that threatens it so.

Staying to be caged is a brand of pride that means nothing but foolishness to a feline. A cat will allow a human to serve it, and will return that service with affection and even love, but it will never serve anyone but itself. That is again a human trait, and one that a cat finds a waste of time and energy. If a human wants an animal it can enslave, it should go find a dog, for a cat will not be held if it does not wish it.

Sohma Kyo was the Cat, outcast of the zodiac as named by the rest of his cursed family. He, out of any of the other Juunishi, was most closely entwined and connected with the spirit that lived inside of him. Forced into isolation, the spirit of the cat was his one and only solace, and as the human boy grew, the animal spirit did as well, until they were truly one and the same. As a result, Kyo had a very catly outlook on life, and it showed in many of his mannerisms. He was intensely graceful, his young body growing to be lithe and muscular with the help of intense martial arts training. He was solitary, preferring to only have a select few people as companions and disdaining of crowds. He loved to bask in the sun and could sleep anywhere, and he hated the rain or being wet. He had the intense sense of smell all cats share and the ability to always land on his feet. Though none of his family knew it, he had the weakness for a gentle touch that all felines do, and the capacity to be very affectionate to those who he trusted. But since people of that nature were extremely few in number, Kyo would hide those vulnerabilities behind anger, just as a cat will bluff with a show of hostility to hide a wound. While catnip only worked on his cat form, it gave him a nice buzz as a human.

However, Kyo was still human, and had human instincts as well. He understood what drove human beings. He could comprehend the complexities and inconsistencies that made up human nature and caused them to act the way they did. He understood the human views of pride and honor that would keep a man in a doomed situation. He continued fighting with Yuki, despite the fact that he had long since admitted to himself that he would never defeat the other boy. Pride compelled him to keep trying instead of admitting defeat. Pride-and desperation-had been what had compelled him to make a deal with the clan head. If he defeated his cousin Yuki, the Rat, in combat before he graduated, Akito would allow him to live the rest of his life in freedom instead of being locked away in the tiny prison on the edge of the family's lands, as all the Cats before had been confined. At the time, Kyo had believed he could do it, but as the deadline drew close, reality reared its ugly head, and the young Cat knew he would lose the bet. Human pride and human honor demanded that Kyo should live up to his side of the bargain and allow himself to be locked away.

However, Kyo was not entirely human, and unlike the rest of his family, he believed in listening to the instincts of his other form. The cat within recognized the threat to freedom, and urged Kyo to flee, for pride and honor were worthless if one was locked away in a cage. The human side argued that freedom was worthless if life could not be lived with pride and honor.

Kyo spent weeks deliberating on this matter, and was subject to many headaches.

It was finally common sense, the trait shared both by cats and humans, that solved the disagreement by pointing out that both pride and honor could be rebuilt, but freedom could not. Decision made and conclusion reached, Kyo left that very night, running from the family he both loved and hated. He planned to never return; as a cat will never return to a house it leaves. But before he left, he did a very human thing and snuck into the main house, where he picked the lock to the family's cash box and stole everything down to the last yen from inside it. Kazuma hadn't been the only one teaching him interesting things as he'd grown up.

He knew that Akito would not leave it at that. Akito was insane, and he hated Kyo with a vengeance. Kyo knew Akito would order the family to hunt him down and make him return to be locked away. Kyo also suspected that, once he was out of everyone's' line of sight, Akito would order him killed. No one defied the clan head as he was doing and could be left alive.

As the Cat, Kyo knew he'd have to run as far away as he could.

As the human, Kyo knew he was limited to Japan, since he didn't have a passport, and the only way to get one would involve contacting his family. Bad idea.

As the Cat, Kyo knew that once he had stopped running, he would have to hide, and hide well.

As a human, Kyo knew that not only would he have to find a place where his sunset-hued hair and crimson eyes fit in, but that he would have to disguise himself in such a way that his family would never recognize or even guess at.

As a Cat, Kyo knew that wherever he stopped would have to have water, food, and shelter.

As a human, Kyo knew that he'd have to find work in his new home, and that it would have to be as both something and someone that would not gain attention outside a very small radius.

However, both the Cat and human traits of Kyo's personality also demanded that he be watched and admired by others, which was fairly counter-productive to what he needed to do, but he didn't much care. Even if it was at a distance, Kyo knew himself well enough to know he needed at least some human contact to keep sane.

In time, he found the answer to all of that.

This is the story of the Cat that sings.