Disclaimer: Fruits Basket still isn't mine. Sometimes I have to cry myself to sleep just to forget. XP.

Kairan: I just want to thank all the reviewers who've given me feedback and the anonymous readers who didn't. . It was fun to post this, even though it didn't turn out as I planned.

Nightshade: So then the threat of a plot –

Kairan: It wasn't a threat, Ni-kun, it was like a hopefulness. But upon further thought and attempted planning, the added plot (had I actually had one ;;) would have been a different story all together. So rather than force myself through that and horrify you, the readers, I decided against my own decision.

-x-

Arigatou-hamsters, sugoi!

Klove0511: Ha-ha, it died. Thank you for staying with me though.

Edakumi: Thank you for the favorite! I'm sorry the story didn't turn out like I expected, but considering I tried to change it into something else; it might be better this way. Thanks for sticking with me.

Dolphindreamer: Yeah, I didn't think of that when I announced that, silly me. Um, if it's any consolation, this is longer. XP;.

-x-

Thank you for letting me share with you.

Onigiri of the Zodiac

Astronomy Omake: The Actual Paper, ZOMG!

The universe is an amazing place. No one's ever been to all of it, no one knows where it ends. Our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, is only one of possible thousands. And even smaller than our great galaxy is our solar system. Our solar system has nine planets, though some scientists have another and are trying to demote Pluto. Most people tend to memorize the planets by using mnemonic devices, though I can't think of any right now. It has something to do with pizza, I think. Oh, I can't use pronouns in my paper! I'll have to edit this stuff out, but I'll worry about that at the end.

Anyway, we break our universe into galaxies, galaxies into solar systems, and solar systems break down into what's inside them. Our solar system has our Sun, it wouldn't really be a solar system without one, right? Well, not if it wasn't in the middle. Let me start again. Our solar system is heliocentric, which means our Sun is in the middle. Giant bodies of rock, ice, minerals, and gasses called planets orbit the sun. The planets of our solar system are the terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the Jovian planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. There's Pluto too, but it's more of a terrestrial planet than Jovian. I wonder if that makes it feel bad.

Oh yeah, some planets have smaller bodies of rock and ice that orbit them called moons. I read somewhere that Saturn has the most of our planets, but I'm not sure. Some scientists think that Pluto and its moon Charon are actually moons that escaped Neptune's gravity. A moon with a moon; wouldn't that be weird? Earth has a moon, two really, the moon we see all of the time and another called Cruithne, but we don't see that one too often. All the other moons in our solar system have names except for our moon, it's just called 'the moon'. Should that count as its name?

Well anyway, the planets and all their moons orbit the sun in what might be an oval pattern. One of the theories of how our solar system began is called the solar nebula theory. The solar nebula theory says that our solar system spun on itself and created the sun, then everything else was made from debris. Our solar system has other things in it besides planets and moons. It has asteroids, comets, and meteoroids.

An asteroid is a giant chunk of rock that is out in space and there are three different kinds: the Asteroid belt, which separates Mars and Jupiter; the Apollo asteroids, which orbit close to the sun; and the Trojan asteroids, which orbit near Jupiter…I think. Comets are made of ice and come from the Oort cloud, which is just outside our solar system. Since comets are made of ice, which means that they reflect sunlight and their tails are ice and debris broken away from the front, or head of a comet due to solar winds. Solar winds are like giant flares from the sun. Meteoroids have three classifications too: meteors, they're what we call shooting stars; meteorites, the meteors that crash and create impacts on Earth, and actual meteoroids, which are out in space. Meteoroids go in a chain: meteoroid- meteor- and sometimes meteorite if it lands on Earth.

One other thing in space is the Zodiac. Zodiac is based on the Greek word zoon, which means animal. The zodiac is an imaginary belt around the Earth. It extends approximately 8 degrees on either side of the Sun's ecliptic path. The zodiac also crosses into the ecliptic paths of the moon, and all of our planets except for Pluto, Pluto's orbit doesn't travel along the ecliptic like the other planets. The zodiac is applied to two different sciences, astronomy and astrology, though astrology has been discredited as an actual science. A sub-heading of astronomy that focuses closely on the zodiac is archaeoastronomy, which studies the astronomical achievements of ancient civilizations. The astrological sense of the zodiac is signs, like your horoscope and stuff; the astronomical sense is the constellations and stuff like that. There are also three different kinds of zodiac, the Western zodiac, the Vedic zodiac, and the Chinese zodiac. I don't know about the Vedic zodiac though.

The zodiac goes back to Prehistoric astronomy, the earliest of the four different time-headings of astronomy. The zodiac supposedly began in Mesopotamia, does everything come from there or something? The zodiac is made of a set of constellations, and each culture sees those constellations differently, I'll explain the differences later. Up until the time of Ptolemy's Almagest in the 2nd century, there might have been a thirteenth animal of the zodiac, Ophiuchus, the snake that Aesculapius, the Healer, holds. Modern astronomy says that the zodiacal constellations, like all other constellations, are merely coincidental and hold no natural significance.

In Western astrology, the twelve animals of the zodiac correspond with the four base elements and the planets. The Western zodiac is used to mainly for astronomical observations. The Western zodiac, then, is part of the science of Astronomy. Most people learn about the Zodiacal constellations in its astrological sense, which has a greater impact in the Chinese zodiac.

The Chinese zodiac is a key character in the Chinese calendar, its 12-year cycle, to be more precise. The Chinese zodiac focuses more on the myths of its origin and its fortune-telling aspects according to the Chinese constellations. The Chinese zodiac is broken down into five elements and the five major planets. Aside from different names for the animals, the corresponding dates differ (the Western zodiac lies within a single year, the Chinese zodiac span over twelve years).

Since there are two different branches of the Zodiac, Western and Chinese, there are also two different origins. Western zodiac originates from Mesopotamia as early as 200 BC. It was then adopted by the Greeks, who passed it on to the Babylonians, who continued the trend (of passing the zodiac). The Egyptians and Aztecs created their own calendars with different names and divisions. The Vietnamese zodiac cuts out the Rabbit, rather than the Cat (the Cat will be explained in the next paragraph). Archaeoastronomy is the study of the varied astronomical achievements of ancient civilizations and discoveries of this merit are usually found through archaeoastronomers. They are astronomers, archaeologists, ethnographers, and other scientists combined and they interpret the meaning of architectural remains and written records of astronomical significance. Such researched material includes rock painting, the medicine wheels of native North America, Great Britain's Stonehenge and the sophisticated calendars developed by the Egyptians and Mayans.

The story of the Western zodiac is rather straight forward: they correspond with the constellations along the zodiac belt. The Chinese myths, however, are a little more played out. Much like Ptolemy's thirteenth zodiac Ophiuchus, the Cat appears in the stories of the Chinese zodiac.

One version of the story is that the Jade Emperor (God) told the animals "I'm inviting you all to my banquet tomorrow. Don't be late!" Hearing that, the mischievous Rat lied to his neighbor, the Cat, and told him the banquet would be the day after tomorrow. The next day, that Rat rode on the back of the Ox and nimbly landed before the banquet hall. After him followed the Ox, the Tiger, and all the rest, and together they feasted until morning. All except for the Cat who had been tricked. So now the Cat hates the Rat and longs to be a part of the zodiac.

Another tells of a race across a river (the Chinese and Japanese tend use rivers a lot in mythology). Both the Cat and the Rat rode on the back of the Ox. In the middle of the race, the Rat pushed the Cat from the Ox's back and before reaching the shore, the Rat jumped off the Ox's back and was the first on the other side. The Cat finished the race in 13th place, which made him too late to be a part of the zodiac and vowed to be the enemy of the Rat forevermore. I get so sad thinking of that poor cat, I wish I could've been born in the year of the Cat.

The Druids were thought to have their own zodiac and calendar as well, which goes into Celtic astrology. The zodiac of the Druids was thought to be based of the moon, making it lunar zodiac rather than solar (Western and Chinese zodiac). The Druid zodiac came in the form of "Tree Zodiac"…I'm not quite sure what that means. Most proclamations dealing with the Druids impact on astrology and Celtic calendars are discredited, they left no records to verify that information. One thing that has remained is the Celtic calendar.

Each month in the Celtic calendar was divided into two parts, a 'light' half and a 'dark' half, each approximately lasting for two weeks. Though the calendar had twelve months, approximately every third year had thirteen. The thirteenth month was called 'Mid Samonios' and it occurred between 'Cutios' and 'Giamonios'.

One last tidbit about the zodiac I found was there are beings called the Angels of the zodiac. There are twelve angels, one for each symbol of the Western zodiac. Oh, that means the Cat doesn't have an angel either, I think I'm going to cry!

It makes sense that when Christianity flooded the world, the shift from gods to angels might've happened. There is also a connection because of the stellar nature between angels and the stars. Unfortunately, that is all I know about the Angels of the zodiac.

That should cover everything about the zodiac and if not, I'll do some more research tomorrow.

-Astronomy Omake: owari-

WORK CITED

Takaya, Natsuki. (1998) Fruits Basket. First published in Japan in 1999 by HAKUSENSHA, INC., Tokyo. English language translation rights in the United States of America and Canada arranged with HAKUSENSHA, INC., Tokyo through Tuttle-Mori Agency Inc., Tokyo.

"Zodiac", "Chinese Zodiac", and "Angels of the Zodiac" are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Taurus", "Gemini", "Cancer", "Leo", "Virgo", "Libra", "Scorpio", "Sagittarius", "Capricorn", "Aquarius", "Pisces", "Constellations of the Zodiac", "Ancient Origins", and "Archaeoastronomy" are from Encarta. Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996 Microsoft corporation. All rights reserved.

Articles on the Druid zodiac and Celtic astrology and calendars. ® Dr.Shepherd Simpson, Astrological Historian.

Kun – an honorific for boys (put at the end of first names)

Tohru – is traditionally a boys' name, but it fits Tohru nicely

Onigiri – rice ball

Nezumi – rat

Neko – cat

Inu – dog (Shigure's zodiac spirit is the dog)

Owari – The End

Fruits basket – a game played usually by grade school (elementary school) children. The children decide who will be "It". "It" then gives each kid the name of a fruit and when your fruit is called, you change seats.

Fruits Basket – Tohru Honda has always been the onigiri of the fruits basket (she doesn't belong). Now she lives with the Sohmas. The Sohma family is cursed, thirteen members of the family are possessed by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac and the vengeful Cat. The cursed Sohmas transform into their respected zodiac animal (or the Cat) when their bodies are weak or (for some strange reason) are hugged by a member of the opposite gender. Tohru fits into the fruits basket filled with Sohmas; misfits have to stick together.