Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Where Your Shadow Falls- Part 2: Forget Me Not ❯ Home is Where the Heart Is ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7: Home is Where the Heart Is

 

 

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“It's an event. Big or small. Something that changes us. A new way of living and looking at the world. Letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning.”

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- Grey's Anatomy Season 2 Episode 13: Begin the Begin

 

RRIIIING! RRIIIING!

“Kagura! Could you get the phone?” Her mother shouted.

“Sure Mom!” Kagura called back, scrambling up from the table where she was playing solitaire.

RRIIIING!

“Yah, yah, I'm comin'” Kagura mumbled as she picked up the phone. “Hello, this is Kagura speaking,” she said into the receiver.

“Kagura, oh thank God you're home,” Shigure's voice crackled out of the speaker.

“Shii-chan? What's wrong?” She asked.

“I—um…is Rin home yet?” He questioned.

“Uh, no,” she said, looking towards the door, “Why?”

“Well,” his sigh came through in a burst of static, “You have to promise not to tell anyone but your mother. Anyone.”

“Okay…? What's this all about Shii-chan?” She asked.

“Well…Rin had her memories erased earlier today.” Kagura went silent. “Kagura….Kagura, are you still there?”

“Yah, sorry, what?”

“Rin's memory got erased by Haa-san.”

“Are you serious?” She asked incredulously.

“Would I kid about this kind of thing?”

“I guess not,” she admitted, “but why?”

“It's a long story, and I don't think I should tell you it all. All you need to know is that it didn't quite go as planned, but she doesn't remember anything about the curse. She remembers everything else though…you, your mother, all of us—oh, she doesn't know we call her Rin. She thinks her name is just Isuzu.”

“All right…”

“I know this is a lot to handle, but if you wouldn't mind explaining this to your mother before Rin gets home, that would be great. Just act as if everything she says is perfectly normal, okay? And act friendly with her. According to her new life, you two have been friends ever since she's moved in.”

“O-okay…I'll try,” Kagura said doubtfully.

“Oh, and one more thing…”

“Yea?”
“She doesn't remember Haru.”

“Why just Haru?” Kagura asked, puzzled.

“Beats me,” Shigure said, “But for some reason, he's the only one of us she doesn't remember.”

“That's strange.”

“Yes…I think it has something to do with her connection to him.”

“Her…wait, what about her and Haru?” Kagura asked,

“Nothing. Just tell your mother, please, and bear with it until Hatori and I come over and get her.”

“All right, Shii-chan.”

“That's a good girl,” Shigure praised, “I'll see you soon, Kagura. Bye,”
“Bye,” she said, hanging the phone up in a daze. Kagura walked into the other room, trying to work it all out in her brain.

“Hey, Mom, that was Shii-chan,” Kagura called, walking through the house to her mother's bedroom.

“Really? What did he have to say?” She asked. Kagura came and sat down beside her mother on the bed, putting a hand on her shoulders.

“There's something we have to talk about.”

 

 

“Kagura, I'm home!” Rin called, walking through the front door. Kagura suddenly popped around the corner.

“Welcome home, Isuzu!” Kagura exclaimed.

“Hi! Thanks,” Rin said, stepping over the threshold and bending down to unzip her black boots.

“Where you been?” Kagura asked. Her voice sounded weird to Rin.

“At the main estate. It—” she slipped off her boots and straightened, giving Kagura a crooked smile. “It's been a weird day.”

“You can say that again,” Kagura agreed. Rin observed Kagura was studying here.

“Are you okay?” Rin asked.

“Hn? Oh, yah, like you said, it's been a weird day.” Rin smiled again.

“Girls! Dinner's almost ready!” Kagura's mom called.

“Coming!” Rin called back, looking over at the other girl standing next to her. “C'mon Kagura.” She took the girl's arm, linking hers through it, and walked into the dinning room, smiling to beat the bands.

“Welcome home, Isuzu,” Kagura's mother said, the same strange expression on her face. Rin shrugged it off.

“Thanks, it's good to be home. What's for dinner tonight?”

“Curry,” was the short reply.

“Oh, okay,” Rin said, sitting down in the chair at the end of the table. Once they were all seated, Kagura's mom stared serving large portions of the steaming curry. “Mm looks great,” Rin praised, taking a large mouthful. Her eyes lit up. “Tastes great too.”

“Why thank you,” Kagura's mother answered with a smile. “Kagura, do you like it.”

“Yah,” Kagura said, “did you try something new with it?”

“Sure did! I added a little bit more chili powder and voila!”

“You should make it like this more often. It tastes even better than usual this way!” Rin commended.

“Well, I'm glad you both like it. It's so great to have us all at the table together.” She said. There was still something weird about the way they were smiling and looking at her. Rin just couldn't figure it out. Ah well, after all she'd said it herself: It had been a weird day. After Rin finished her dinner, she leaned back in her chair, her hips all the way at the edge, and placed her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling.

“Ahh,” she sighed, “It's great to be home.”

* * *

 

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“And what happens next? What happens if you die when you're not in the real world? Where does your soul go?”

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- A Wizard Abroad By: Diane Duane

 

“Me?” Haru asked, not daring to believe the words. “Is that why she doesn't remember me? Because I meant a lot to her?”

“Not just a lot, Hatsuharu,” Hatori said, “The most. Of all her memories, of everyone, you were the most important.”

“Then why…” Why did she hurt me so badly…?

“Well there's no use contemplating it now. The Rin you knew is gone.”
“But it's still the same person,” Haru argued.

“In a sense. She has the same eyes and hair and skin, yes.”

“But she still has the same heart; same soul. No matter what memories are in her head, deep down, she has the same soul…right?” Hatori just shrugged.

“It all depends on what you believe. On what your definition of a “soul” is.”
“But her memories aren't what make Rin Rin are they? I mean, no matter what changed inside her head, there has to be some small part of “Rin” that still exists.”

“Like I said, it all just depends on who you are and what you think. It is a highly controversial subject.” Haru didn't speak for a whole minute, his mind churning. Suddenly he stood up, turning his back on Hatori, but stopping at the doorway. Without turning around, Haru tossed back the words:

“Just because you spilled your guts doesn't mean you're off the hook, you bastard.” Haru strode through the lobby, banging open the door and striding out into the yard outside the office.

Running down the street all the facts that had been crammed into his brain whirled around and around in his head.

“…if you try to forcefully bring the other memory back, it might cause Isuzu considerable pain and psychological trauma.”

“Of all her memories, of everyone, you were the most important.”

Why, Rin. If you still loved me so much, why did you hurt me so badly? It just doesn't make sense… Suddenly, tears welled in Haru's eyes as he realized he'd never get a chance to ask her why she'd done what she'd done.

“The Rin you knew is gone…”

“That can't be true,” Haru said to himself, “No one can just disappear…can they?”

Can someone just vanish one day? With a snap of one's fingers can someone just not exist?

“Haru?” The call came as he walked through the door, hanging his coat on the hanger with slow, measured movements.

“Yah, I'm back,” Haru said softly.

“We weren't finished talking, young man,” his father said sternly.

“I know,” Haru's tone was submissive.

“Sit back down here and talk to us,” he commanded.

“Okay.”

“Now, what was this all about?” Haru's mother asked. “You and Isuzu—”

“Her name is Rin!” Haru shouted, banging his fists on the table. He saw his mother jump at the sudden mood swing. “Her name is Rin! “Isuzu” isn't real! It's her mask she puts on to keep the world away from her! Her…her name….” Haru stumbled on the words, trying to blink back the tears, “Her name was Rin…”

“Oh, Haru, what happened?” His mother asked, skirting the table to walk around it to put her arms loosely around his shoulders.

“She's gone, Mom,” Haru said, staring at the palms of his hands. “Rin doesn't exist anymore.” His mother gasped.

“She's dead?!” She exclaimed.

“No, Mom, she's not dead,” Haru argued, “Worse. Tori-nii… Tori-nii erased her memories. She's not in there anymore…when I look into her eyes...“Rin” is gone.”

“Oh, Haru,”

“I loved her! I fucking loved her!” Haru shouted, not caring about his language anymore. “And…now…” he started again, “It hurt so badly when she left me, when she said she didn't love me anymore…but she was still there, I could see her everyday if I wanted to. She was still there; behind her eyes, I could see her. But now…I don't know the girl who lives behind those eyes anymore… I look into her eyes and I don't recognize what I see… Rin…”

Where did her soul go? Haru wondered, If it's not behind her eyes anymore…?

 

End of Chapter 7:

Home is Where the Heart Is

 

A/n: Awww…so sad, Haru…but why does he keep spilling everything to his parent? Hmmm… I guess it just ends up that way…oh well.

And Rin…well, obviously she's not Rin anymore. Yikes, a Furuba without Rin…scaaary

Rin: Hey, I'm still here in your author's notes, b****

Me: -_-x I would really appreciate it if you didn't call me that.

Rin: Deal with it!

Me: *sigh* why do I even let you in these things

Haru: because if you don't… *pounds fist into palm*

Me: ^_^u yikes!

(See ya next chapter! ^_^)

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Fruits Basket is the creation of Takaya Natsuki, and is licensed in North

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