Fruits Basket: Give me wings

Chapter 2- The river of time flows again

Thanks for reading my story guys! Introducing (officially) Haruhi Sohma, one of the next generation, Comment/vote please! Thanks, and enjoy :)

Chapter 2: A change in the Sohma household- the river of time flows again!

(15 YEARS LATER)

Haruhi was sitting in the corner of the isolated room. She was perfectly justified in her actions, so she thought, but her outburst had led to her being locked up for a month to be ‘re-educated’, in the words of Akito, who was still keeping all the Zodiacs confined within the grounds of the main house. The situation had been the same at the main house for fifteen years- unchanging, like everyone had been frozen, and the world ‘outside’ carried on as normal. No-one could object, though, no matter how much they wanted to.

Akito spent whole days at a time with each Zodiac, just sat on the floor in her room, close to each other, talking softly. Haruhi was slightly unnerved that she actually felt reverence and admiration towards Akito from deep down in her soul, the voice of her bird spirit, but she herself feared Akito greatly, and wanted to get away from her. Her soul clung to Akito with all its strength, but her mind and body were pulling away, to no avail. All those times, hearing Akito’s chilling whispers, the light touch of her hand on her cheek, sometimes embracing, sometimes facing each other. The urge to shiver and cringe away was present, but the chains of the curse held strongly.

Haruhi had never actually met the older members of the Zodiac, who were now mostly in their thirties or forties; they lived closer to the edge of the grounds- closer to freedom, but still confined. The ‘next generation’, such as herself, were kept right next to Akito’s mansion, in their own rooms. They were allowed to do what they wanted, and when, as long as they weren’t seen interacting with each other, in case they got ‘bad ideas', whatever that meant. Those who misbehaved seriously were locked in the isolated room, there for as long as Akito saw fit. The cat girl, whom she had never even seen, had been locked up since early childhood. Haruhi was only vaguely aware of this fact; the world she lived in had been too harsh for her to think too much about the cat.

A shadow appeared at the door, a shadow of two bare feet. She saw the shadow of the swish of a kimono, before seeing the door handle slowly move downwards.

Akito stepped in, looking perfectly calm, but Haruhi knew that this could change any second. If there was anything Akito was good at, it was losing her temper.

“Haruhi,” Akito began, “You’ve been in here for a while, haven’t you? The longest you’ve ever been.”

Haruhi, with false conviction, folded her arms, acting braver than she felt inside.

“Well, that’s not good, is it?”

Akito extracted a wooden rod from inside the arm of her kimono, and curled her fingers, one by one, around the middle, her knuckles going white. Haruhi closed her eyes. It was coming.

“When are you going to learn?!” Akito yelled, and strode over to where she was sat. “When are you going to learn to be happy with God?! You think that standing up in my presence, standing in front of me, and telling me I was wrong was the right thing to do?! You think that was justified? The Zodiac is meant to stay by God’s side, to live in companionship, and you know it hurts me deeply when you betray my trust in you.”

“You were going to hurt the tiger, Naoko…”

“Naoko also deserved what she got, for speaking out against me,” Akito sighed. “I’ll let you out when learn how to co-operate. The cat girl never makes a sound, and the three boys are obedient. The older members don’t bother me either, so what is your problem?!”