Cursed Fruit and The Host Club [OHSHC/ Fruits Basket Crossover]

Prologue

This was not supposed to happen... I can't believe this is happening!

It was already evening, almost dusk as I stared out the bedroom window through my empty quarters. To think only four hours ago I was summoned to Akito's side as a "little game" she liked to play. Of course, everyone in the family knew that if Akito had demanded for your presence that nothing good would come out of it.

I sluggishly stood up from my bed and advanced towards the windows, staring at my beaten reflection. Only those hours ago had she already caused a horrid bruise on my head and tore up my right arm. My back ached with the very thought of the inflicted pain among my back as well.

Not only that, but in her tantrum she chopped my hair off, saying it was disgusting to be that long, that I wasn't deserving to look the way I did. After that, Hatori had silently walked me back to his office and patched up my back, around my torso, my arms and numbed the pain with a shot. We spoke without a single word.

And Akito was not to be blamed.

Delicately pressing my hand to the window, I looked out in shame. I didn't understand why I was here, and neither did anyone else... Was this retribution for being born into this world? Was this judgement upon all things undesired by mankind?

There was a slight knock on the door and a mumbled voice signaling their entrance. "Come in." I said quietly. Hatori had walked in the door, holding his briefcase in one hand and car keys in the other, with Kagura in tow.

"Does she really have to go?" Kagura meekly asked as she walked into the bedroom I claimed for the past few months.

Hatori's solemn gaze met mine, and I knew it was time. "We have no say in this decision. Akito's words are absolute." He treaded further into the room and saw how little bags I packed, raising a curious brow. "Is this all you're packing? Didn't you have more when you lived with Kazuma?"

Slightly shaking my head, I twirled around to face them and not the windows. "Not really... The bookshelves made it looked bigger and fuller."

"I see." He continued to stroll through the empty room, glancing at each and every place where I used to keep bookshelves along the walls and place books there. He seemed astonished that I was able to manage so much work in so little time, but it wasn't really that much. Unhooking bookshelves wasn't much, and all I really packed were a couple books I liked the most.

"I'll have Shigure help pick the rest of these up tomorrow. You'd best be on your way there." He picked up a book from a dusty pile in the corner, and handed it to me gently.

I frowned. "You don't have to. I don't want these taking up space there. It's fine leaving them here."

Hatori only knocked on the outside of the door and signaled for me to follow as he walked out the door and headed to the car. There was no way I was going to talk him out of getting Shigure to bring my books to his house, and there was no way Shigure was going to reject the idea, considering he loved books as well.

Kagura shuffled around as well till she came to my shoulder and trailed her hand through my choppy pale hair. "I still can't believe Akito cut this all off... It was so beautiful."

Her eyes brimmed with tears and she threw her arms around my shoulders, forcing me into a tight embrace that I didn't want to leave as I just stood there, letting tears fall from my eyes as well.

"I couldn't stop him... I didn't know why he did it, but... What's even worse is that he's making me go as a boy. I'm a girl for crying out loud!"

I threw my hands into her shoulders and dug my head under her neck. I didn't know what to do. I felt completely helpless against Akito, but I couldn't blame her. I could only blame myself for ever existing. Maybe if I wasn't born would everything be better.

Kagura's hand eased down into my head and stroked what little hair I had left. We stayed like that for what felt like forever, silently praying that everything would be ok; hoping that no one would find out about the curse. If so, what would happen to them? And what would happen to me as well?

I wiped away stray tears and bowed my head before Kagura. "Domou... Arigatou gozaimashita. I really can't thank you enough for the past few months... I was hoping Kazuma came back sooner but I guess he was still training."

As I walked out the door I gave her one last glance before I left. She held a deep sorrow in her eyes, struggling not to lose control. Of course, I knew she wouldn't, as the bond was stronger than we would have liked it to be. It refrained us from even daring to try and defy her laws.

I met Hatori in the car, and like earlier today we spoke no words to one another as he pulled out of Kagura's driveway and headed off to Shigure's place. For the time being I would have to call that my home until things were sorted out; or, if they were ever sorted out. However, I had an inkling of a feeling that things would never go back to the way they once were.

My elbow rested on the of edge of the passenger's seat and I stared out the window and into evening sky, awed by the colors blending in but also starting to fade away. It left a melancholy feeling to erupt inside of me, something I couldn't shake off. I remember having this feeling before, the feeling of being "dealt with." This feeling... Even if they were my family, were they only putting up with me because of my curse? Because of our bond?

The tormenting thoughts only continued to drive me away from the happy times I used to think existed; times where the idea of a curse and shape-shifting seemed like the coolest thing in the world. I was forced to face reality, something I knew would happen someday... I just wasn't prepared for it to come so soon.

The car halted, and we parked in an abandoned lot just outside the perimeter of town.

This was it.

In the distance I could see it--the golden dirt pathway to the entrance of a small "forest-like" area that held a distant memory in my heart. While it was only one time that I'd been there, it was one of the only places I felt safe. Unlike Sohma House, Shigure's house was very quiet, calm and relaxing. As of current, only Shigure and Yuki lived there, which to me was even better. Outsider's or any other Sohma member -- jyunnishi or not -- did not need to be associated with a reject. They did not need to know me and I did not need to know them.

"Aiko, we're here." Hatori spoke, tapping the window outside of the car with his finger.

I didn't want to leave. Even if they only catered to me because of our bond, I didn't want to leave, and I didn't want them to leave me. We were still family, nakama, kin. Blood bond or not I loved them through my heart, not some fragmented strand of blood that flowed through us all, defining our horrendous forms that each generation is forced to bear.

A curse we cannot be rid of.

At least that's what I fooled myself into believing a long time ago.

Hatori creaked the car door opened for me, my one suitcase right behind him. Despite being unsure of what I should do, I followed him mindlessly. The quietness between us grew, but in our hearts we both knew the severity of this situation. This was no game, no laughing matter. This was an internal war to test my loyalty to God.

And so far, I was losing.