Chapter Three: "Ghostbusters"
"Honda-san? Honda-san? Are you okay?"
"Oi! Tohru! Wake up already!"
She moaned and opened her eyes slowly. "EEP!" She re-closed them quickly.
"Tohru? What? What's the matter? We turned back human already."
"Yes...I can see that...but why are you, um, naked?"
"Huh? Oh. Oops. Yea, keep your eyes closed for a minute." There was the sound of clothes rustling and then a smack.
"Baka neko, you grabbed my shoe."
"Grrrrr...great, now I have to go disinfect my hand."
"OK, Honda-san, you can open your eyes now. We're fully clothed."
She opened one eye first and then the other. Both boys were blushing and avoiding her eyes. "Eh! It's okay! I didn't see anything...not much anyway...eh!! I don't mean that you guys don't have much to see...I just didn't see it, I mean, much...I mean, I didn't mean to see anything improper...and I didn't! Not much anyways..."
Yuki chuckled at her flustered chatter. "It's okay, Honda-san."
Suddenly, a huge blast of wind whirled into the room from the window. Tohru's hair whipped around her face and she squinted against the force. "It is another ghost?!" she screamed, her voice getting carried off.
Kyou held his stance and his orange hair billowed. She stared up into his pale face. "No...it's something worse."
A loud cry echoed and it took Tohru a while before she could make out the words through the piercing whistle of the wind. "K...O...K...KY...UN...KYOU...KYOU-KUNNN!!!" A petite brown-haired girl with a white fan burst in from the window and threw herself at the boy. "KYOU-KUN!! Here I was worrying about you and you're here in another girl's room! How could you?!" She gripped Kyou in an armlock and he strugged desperately to breathe.
"Sohma-kun! Help Kyou-kun! She's just like that woman from before! She's going to kill me!"
Yuki leaned against the wall and chuckled softly. "Nah...this is just how Kagura shows her affection."
Tohru turned back to the scene; Kagura was presently digging a hole in the floor with Kyou.
"Enough, Kagura. Any longer and even I won't be able to revive him." A new voice interrupted and everyone turned to see a tall handsome man in a suit; his bangs fell partially into his eyes, covering the left one completely.
"Hatori. Where did you come in?" Yuki asked in surprise.
"The door," the man retorted. "It was unlocked if anyone bothered to check it."
'At least someone is finally using the proper entrance,' Tohru thought dazily. Hatori folded his arms and like the other two guys, he began to study her carefully.
Yuki arched an eyebrow. "How come you're here so fast? It's the middle of the night?"
Hatori broke his gaze and shrugged to the boy, "They were so excited, they didn't want to wait."
Yuki twitched, "Oh...they."
"Hahahahahaha!! Of course! It's not everyday the Sohmas get together like this! It's so nice to reunite! Oh, what a big happy family!!" A long silver haired man leaned provocatively against the doorway and grinned sexily.
Yuki twitched again.
Kyou screamed while trying to unlatch himself from Kagura, "Big happy family?! You must be crazy! I haven't met a more dysfunctional family than this one!"
"That's mean, Kyoukichi-kun," the man pouted.
"Eh? What's with all the noise in here?" another black-haired male came into the room with a cheerful smile. "Is there a party? Oh, wow, a pretty high school girl!!" He fixated his eyes on Tohru and leered, "Ah, my precious flower, would you like -"
Yuki smashed the new stranger into the ground, his vein throbbing in his temple. "Still the same old pervert."
The silver haired male smiled happily, "Aw, Yuki! You're sticking up for me! See, Gure-san? Here I was, thinking I was your only pretty flower...that'll teach you not to cheat on me!!" Tohru sweatdropped.
Yuki snapped, "Who said I was helping you...and never say those words again!! It's disgusting!"
The fallen man quickly shot up and clapped his hands, "So you were protecting this lovely flower? What? Is she your girlfriend?"
The long haired man chimed in, "Awww...Yuki's all grown up and entering the phase of romance!"
The lavender haired boy flushed but before he could send the two men up the ceiling, a curt voice cut in, "God, why was I born into this family? Such idiots. Every time we see each other, I get such a migraine." A tiny boy glared at them in the doorway. He was standing protectively in front of a small orange haired girl who was peeking at them around his shoulder. A tall black and white haired boy towered over them, looking at them with a cool stoic expression.
Another man crashed through them and bowed crazily, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for being late!! I was driving and I was listening to Hiro's talking and I was apologizing and I drove past the exit sign!! I'm so sorry! And then I put Haru in control of the map and we got even more lost!! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for not handling the situation better!! I'm so sorry for not being a better driver! It was all my fault for not paying attention and now I made you all wait and worry! I'm sorry!! GOMEN NASAI!!!"
"It's okay. We didn't worry about you at all!" the "pervert" waved his hand cheerfully. Everyone sweatdropped.
"Then I'm sorry for taking up your time! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for bothering you! I'm so sorry!"
Tohru was beginning to feel faint and a little self-conscious with so many pairs of eyes examining her at once. Her eyes swirled and she was starting to feel claustrophobic.
Kyou stared at her in alarm. "Oi! Tohru! Don't faint again!"
"Faint?!" a blonde haired bounded into the room and peered up at her. "Ne, pretty girl! I bet a hug would make you feel all better!" *POOF* A bunny snuggled comfortably in her arms.
Everyone stared in shock and Kyou quickly plucked the rabbit out of her hold by its ears, shaking it a couple of times. "You crazy?! Is this how you greet all strangers?!"
"Just cute ones!"
"Thank god she already saw us in our animal forms. How would we have explained this?!"
Tohru bit her lip, "Um, you still didn't really explain it to me yet."
Everyone ignored her. The bunny wagged its cotton ball tail and tweaked its ear. "She saw you in your animal forms? So you guys hugged her too? Hmmm..."
Both boys reddened. "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"
The man with the bangs sighed and turned to the girl, "Please...allow me to explain before you go crazy."
She nodded weakly. "I would like that."
* * *
"First of all, my name is Sohma Hatori, Yuki and Kyou's cousin. These other people here are also blood relations of us...no matter how much we tried to deny it...believe me, I checked the genes...and double checked again," the man stated. "This corrupt man here - " The man who called her his "pretty flower" waved merrily. "- is Shigure. This equally idiotic man here -" The long silvered hair man winked gaily. "- is Ayame...and to Yuki's dismay, his brother."
Tohru blinked and looked back and forth from the dark faced Yuki to the grinning Ayame. "I, um, sort of see the resemblance...sort of."
"This bouncing blonde boy a.k.a the rabbit is Momiji. This scowling boy is Hiro. The shy girl he's standing possessively next to is Kisa. The excessively apologetic man here is Ritsu. The quiet black and white haired boy standing next to Yuki is Haru. And the girl who has her arms around Kyou's neck is Kagura. Welcome to the Sohma family."
Tohru smiled. "Um, well, it's really very nice to meet all of you...but can one of you possibly also explain the ghosts, the magical weapons, the transformations into animals, the Sohma's relation to this house, why Yuki and Kyou have two separate houses, why you guys don't live together, why you guys are all of a sudden here, why my house is a battlefield, why my room appears to be a meeting place..." She paused to take a breath and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Am I missing anything else?"
The Sohmas sweatdropped. "Um, it's kind of a long story..."
Tohru responded, "It's okay. I have the time."
Yuki sighed, "All right, you see, in fact, the Sohmas are a very...complicated family. We have had a long history of battling ghosts and sending them off to wherever they belong before they can harm humankind -"
"Oh...so you guys are ghostbusters?" Tohru asked.
Everyone winced. Haru responded in a monotonous voice, "We prefer the term 'supernatural mediators'."
Shigure continued, "Anyways, as 'supernatural mediators', we have to travel a lot since ghosts don't just appear in one area...hence, the Sohmas are pretty spread apart. Last week, I was in Africa, Ayame in France, Hatori in America, Ritsu in London, and the kids were divided between us as apprentices."
"Apprentices?" Hiro snorted. "More like we're guardians for you. I had to keep you from hitting on the female ghosts twice. God, I swear, your tastes get more and more low each day."
"And I am not a kid," Haru said, his eyes gleaming lightly.
"Oh...yea," Shigure chuckled nervously. "Haru just follows one of us because he gets L-O-S-T a lot and if he goes off by himself, we're afraid he'll drift off in the middle of the ocean or something and get really L-O- S-T."
"BAKA! I can spell!" the reserved Haru suddenly barked and he leaped up with a crazed look in his eye. "Are ya looking down on me? Huh? Huh?"
"Actually, you're the one who's glaring down on me."
"OH?! Are ya mocking me now? Huh? You old man, stand up and fight!!!"
Tohru stared in alarm and shot up to her feet...or at least, tried to. She found her rate going at the speed of a turtle and she turned her head really slowly to Yuki. "Wh-at's-hap-pen-ing...?"
Yuki sighed and closed his eyes at a snail's pace. "So-rry. Ha-ru-turns-in- to-a-Black- mode-when-he-gets-an-gered. At-this-point-his-po-wer-tends-come- out-un-ex-pec-ted-ly. But-don't-wo-rry. It-on-ly-lasts-for a few moments or so. There, it's over. Yea, Haru's in charge of time. He can slow it down for everybody; it's pretty useful...when you need to escape an enemy. Too bad it doesn't last for long...he can only slow it down between intervals of five minutes or so."
Kyou rolled his eyes. "Time isn't really a good power for the guy anyway...he usually ends up wasting it by getting lost."
"Whaddya say, you stupid neko?!" the black and white haired boy clenched his fists.
"I said, you have absolutely no sense of direction at all and even if you had twenty-four hours to spare, you'll probably waste that just to find a map!"
"You idiotic cat! You're insulting me when you're the one who got us cursed in the first place?!"
Kyou flared, "You fat cow! I'm going to crush you!"
"Not before I kill you!" In a flash, Haru was before Kyou and punching the boy. The cat snarled and leaped at his attacker.
Tohru blinked. "Can he speed up time too? How did he get there so fast?"
"He didn't. Five minutes passed and he just slowed time again for us. His normal walking seems like hyper-speed mode to us," Yuki explained.
Momiji grinned happily. "Ne, Tohru! If you want to see speed, look at me!" A breeze brushed past her gently and he remained standing there, beaming.
"Um, what?" Tohru asked, confused.
The boy faltered. "Oh. You didn't see. Here, I'll slow it down." The boy moved and this time, she saw a blur of yellow hair dart in a circle around her.
"Suigoi!! Momiji-kun's so fast!!"
The boy jumped up and down gleefully. "Yup! Yup! That's my power!!"
"Everybody in the Sohma family have a special power?" Tohru inquired softly.
They nodded and Kagura stepped forward with her fan in hand. "In case you didn't guess, my power is wind. That's how I blew into your room...and it's also a part of the reason why Kyou and I are such a beautiful couple!"
The boy flared, "Nani?!"
Kagura sighed happily, "No matter how blazing his temper is, I can always cool him down with my loving breeze." She flicked open her fan and a tornado whipped Kyou up into the air, crashing him against the wall.
"Ugh...I'll take a ghost anytime before facing you..."
"Nani?!"
"Kagura-san, you really shouldn't be breaking Tohru's house like that!!"
"Ano, I don't think Kyou-kun is conscious anymore."
"Relax, Honda-san, a cat has nine lives, remember?"
"...are you sure that works for him in human form?"
"...no...but somehow, I don't really care much."
"Ah...oh...it's really nice to meet your family."
"...you'll regret it in the next twenty-four hours or so."
~ ~ ~
All right, explanation of the curse, the ghosts, etc. will be continued in next chapter because I'm tired now and need to study ^_^ Thanks to all who took the time to review. Please continue to do so!!
~Maeven~
"Honda-san? Honda-san? Are you okay?"
"Oi! Tohru! Wake up already!"
She moaned and opened her eyes slowly. "EEP!" She re-closed them quickly.
"Tohru? What? What's the matter? We turned back human already."
"Yes...I can see that...but why are you, um, naked?"
"Huh? Oh. Oops. Yea, keep your eyes closed for a minute." There was the sound of clothes rustling and then a smack.
"Baka neko, you grabbed my shoe."
"Grrrrr...great, now I have to go disinfect my hand."
"OK, Honda-san, you can open your eyes now. We're fully clothed."
She opened one eye first and then the other. Both boys were blushing and avoiding her eyes. "Eh! It's okay! I didn't see anything...not much anyway...eh!! I don't mean that you guys don't have much to see...I just didn't see it, I mean, much...I mean, I didn't mean to see anything improper...and I didn't! Not much anyways..."
Yuki chuckled at her flustered chatter. "It's okay, Honda-san."
Suddenly, a huge blast of wind whirled into the room from the window. Tohru's hair whipped around her face and she squinted against the force. "It is another ghost?!" she screamed, her voice getting carried off.
Kyou held his stance and his orange hair billowed. She stared up into his pale face. "No...it's something worse."
A loud cry echoed and it took Tohru a while before she could make out the words through the piercing whistle of the wind. "K...O...K...KY...UN...KYOU...KYOU-KUNNN!!!" A petite brown-haired girl with a white fan burst in from the window and threw herself at the boy. "KYOU-KUN!! Here I was worrying about you and you're here in another girl's room! How could you?!" She gripped Kyou in an armlock and he strugged desperately to breathe.
"Sohma-kun! Help Kyou-kun! She's just like that woman from before! She's going to kill me!"
Yuki leaned against the wall and chuckled softly. "Nah...this is just how Kagura shows her affection."
Tohru turned back to the scene; Kagura was presently digging a hole in the floor with Kyou.
"Enough, Kagura. Any longer and even I won't be able to revive him." A new voice interrupted and everyone turned to see a tall handsome man in a suit; his bangs fell partially into his eyes, covering the left one completely.
"Hatori. Where did you come in?" Yuki asked in surprise.
"The door," the man retorted. "It was unlocked if anyone bothered to check it."
'At least someone is finally using the proper entrance,' Tohru thought dazily. Hatori folded his arms and like the other two guys, he began to study her carefully.
Yuki arched an eyebrow. "How come you're here so fast? It's the middle of the night?"
Hatori broke his gaze and shrugged to the boy, "They were so excited, they didn't want to wait."
Yuki twitched, "Oh...they."
"Hahahahahaha!! Of course! It's not everyday the Sohmas get together like this! It's so nice to reunite! Oh, what a big happy family!!" A long silver haired man leaned provocatively against the doorway and grinned sexily.
Yuki twitched again.
Kyou screamed while trying to unlatch himself from Kagura, "Big happy family?! You must be crazy! I haven't met a more dysfunctional family than this one!"
"That's mean, Kyoukichi-kun," the man pouted.
"Eh? What's with all the noise in here?" another black-haired male came into the room with a cheerful smile. "Is there a party? Oh, wow, a pretty high school girl!!" He fixated his eyes on Tohru and leered, "Ah, my precious flower, would you like -"
Yuki smashed the new stranger into the ground, his vein throbbing in his temple. "Still the same old pervert."
The silver haired male smiled happily, "Aw, Yuki! You're sticking up for me! See, Gure-san? Here I was, thinking I was your only pretty flower...that'll teach you not to cheat on me!!" Tohru sweatdropped.
Yuki snapped, "Who said I was helping you...and never say those words again!! It's disgusting!"
The fallen man quickly shot up and clapped his hands, "So you were protecting this lovely flower? What? Is she your girlfriend?"
The long haired man chimed in, "Awww...Yuki's all grown up and entering the phase of romance!"
The lavender haired boy flushed but before he could send the two men up the ceiling, a curt voice cut in, "God, why was I born into this family? Such idiots. Every time we see each other, I get such a migraine." A tiny boy glared at them in the doorway. He was standing protectively in front of a small orange haired girl who was peeking at them around his shoulder. A tall black and white haired boy towered over them, looking at them with a cool stoic expression.
Another man crashed through them and bowed crazily, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for being late!! I was driving and I was listening to Hiro's talking and I was apologizing and I drove past the exit sign!! I'm so sorry! And then I put Haru in control of the map and we got even more lost!! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for not handling the situation better!! I'm so sorry for not being a better driver! It was all my fault for not paying attention and now I made you all wait and worry! I'm sorry!! GOMEN NASAI!!!"
"It's okay. We didn't worry about you at all!" the "pervert" waved his hand cheerfully. Everyone sweatdropped.
"Then I'm sorry for taking up your time! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for bothering you! I'm so sorry!"
Tohru was beginning to feel faint and a little self-conscious with so many pairs of eyes examining her at once. Her eyes swirled and she was starting to feel claustrophobic.
Kyou stared at her in alarm. "Oi! Tohru! Don't faint again!"
"Faint?!" a blonde haired bounded into the room and peered up at her. "Ne, pretty girl! I bet a hug would make you feel all better!" *POOF* A bunny snuggled comfortably in her arms.
Everyone stared in shock and Kyou quickly plucked the rabbit out of her hold by its ears, shaking it a couple of times. "You crazy?! Is this how you greet all strangers?!"
"Just cute ones!"
"Thank god she already saw us in our animal forms. How would we have explained this?!"
Tohru bit her lip, "Um, you still didn't really explain it to me yet."
Everyone ignored her. The bunny wagged its cotton ball tail and tweaked its ear. "She saw you in your animal forms? So you guys hugged her too? Hmmm..."
Both boys reddened. "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"
The man with the bangs sighed and turned to the girl, "Please...allow me to explain before you go crazy."
She nodded weakly. "I would like that."
* * *
"First of all, my name is Sohma Hatori, Yuki and Kyou's cousin. These other people here are also blood relations of us...no matter how much we tried to deny it...believe me, I checked the genes...and double checked again," the man stated. "This corrupt man here - " The man who called her his "pretty flower" waved merrily. "- is Shigure. This equally idiotic man here -" The long silvered hair man winked gaily. "- is Ayame...and to Yuki's dismay, his brother."
Tohru blinked and looked back and forth from the dark faced Yuki to the grinning Ayame. "I, um, sort of see the resemblance...sort of."
"This bouncing blonde boy a.k.a the rabbit is Momiji. This scowling boy is Hiro. The shy girl he's standing possessively next to is Kisa. The excessively apologetic man here is Ritsu. The quiet black and white haired boy standing next to Yuki is Haru. And the girl who has her arms around Kyou's neck is Kagura. Welcome to the Sohma family."
Tohru smiled. "Um, well, it's really very nice to meet all of you...but can one of you possibly also explain the ghosts, the magical weapons, the transformations into animals, the Sohma's relation to this house, why Yuki and Kyou have two separate houses, why you guys don't live together, why you guys are all of a sudden here, why my house is a battlefield, why my room appears to be a meeting place..." She paused to take a breath and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Am I missing anything else?"
The Sohmas sweatdropped. "Um, it's kind of a long story..."
Tohru responded, "It's okay. I have the time."
Yuki sighed, "All right, you see, in fact, the Sohmas are a very...complicated family. We have had a long history of battling ghosts and sending them off to wherever they belong before they can harm humankind -"
"Oh...so you guys are ghostbusters?" Tohru asked.
Everyone winced. Haru responded in a monotonous voice, "We prefer the term 'supernatural mediators'."
Shigure continued, "Anyways, as 'supernatural mediators', we have to travel a lot since ghosts don't just appear in one area...hence, the Sohmas are pretty spread apart. Last week, I was in Africa, Ayame in France, Hatori in America, Ritsu in London, and the kids were divided between us as apprentices."
"Apprentices?" Hiro snorted. "More like we're guardians for you. I had to keep you from hitting on the female ghosts twice. God, I swear, your tastes get more and more low each day."
"And I am not a kid," Haru said, his eyes gleaming lightly.
"Oh...yea," Shigure chuckled nervously. "Haru just follows one of us because he gets L-O-S-T a lot and if he goes off by himself, we're afraid he'll drift off in the middle of the ocean or something and get really L-O- S-T."
"BAKA! I can spell!" the reserved Haru suddenly barked and he leaped up with a crazed look in his eye. "Are ya looking down on me? Huh? Huh?"
"Actually, you're the one who's glaring down on me."
"OH?! Are ya mocking me now? Huh? You old man, stand up and fight!!!"
Tohru stared in alarm and shot up to her feet...or at least, tried to. She found her rate going at the speed of a turtle and she turned her head really slowly to Yuki. "Wh-at's-hap-pen-ing...?"
Yuki sighed and closed his eyes at a snail's pace. "So-rry. Ha-ru-turns-in- to-a-Black- mode-when-he-gets-an-gered. At-this-point-his-po-wer-tends-come- out-un-ex-pec-ted-ly. But-don't-wo-rry. It-on-ly-lasts-for a few moments or so. There, it's over. Yea, Haru's in charge of time. He can slow it down for everybody; it's pretty useful...when you need to escape an enemy. Too bad it doesn't last for long...he can only slow it down between intervals of five minutes or so."
Kyou rolled his eyes. "Time isn't really a good power for the guy anyway...he usually ends up wasting it by getting lost."
"Whaddya say, you stupid neko?!" the black and white haired boy clenched his fists.
"I said, you have absolutely no sense of direction at all and even if you had twenty-four hours to spare, you'll probably waste that just to find a map!"
"You idiotic cat! You're insulting me when you're the one who got us cursed in the first place?!"
Kyou flared, "You fat cow! I'm going to crush you!"
"Not before I kill you!" In a flash, Haru was before Kyou and punching the boy. The cat snarled and leaped at his attacker.
Tohru blinked. "Can he speed up time too? How did he get there so fast?"
"He didn't. Five minutes passed and he just slowed time again for us. His normal walking seems like hyper-speed mode to us," Yuki explained.
Momiji grinned happily. "Ne, Tohru! If you want to see speed, look at me!" A breeze brushed past her gently and he remained standing there, beaming.
"Um, what?" Tohru asked, confused.
The boy faltered. "Oh. You didn't see. Here, I'll slow it down." The boy moved and this time, she saw a blur of yellow hair dart in a circle around her.
"Suigoi!! Momiji-kun's so fast!!"
The boy jumped up and down gleefully. "Yup! Yup! That's my power!!"
"Everybody in the Sohma family have a special power?" Tohru inquired softly.
They nodded and Kagura stepped forward with her fan in hand. "In case you didn't guess, my power is wind. That's how I blew into your room...and it's also a part of the reason why Kyou and I are such a beautiful couple!"
The boy flared, "Nani?!"
Kagura sighed happily, "No matter how blazing his temper is, I can always cool him down with my loving breeze." She flicked open her fan and a tornado whipped Kyou up into the air, crashing him against the wall.
"Ugh...I'll take a ghost anytime before facing you..."
"Nani?!"
"Kagura-san, you really shouldn't be breaking Tohru's house like that!!"
"Ano, I don't think Kyou-kun is conscious anymore."
"Relax, Honda-san, a cat has nine lives, remember?"
"...are you sure that works for him in human form?"
"...no...but somehow, I don't really care much."
"Ah...oh...it's really nice to meet your family."
"...you'll regret it in the next twenty-four hours or so."
~ ~ ~
All right, explanation of the curse, the ghosts, etc. will be continued in next chapter because I'm tired now and need to study ^_^ Thanks to all who took the time to review. Please continue to do so!!
~Maeven~