Cursed Constellations

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Hello Fruits Baskets fans! :D

Yes, I'm starting a new Fruits Basket fanfic and I've very. excited. about it. haha. You guys just got me so excited about Panic! that I had to write another one. I'm also trying a new story format layout thing. Hope you like it. So here's the jist of this story.

So, this will be a long story. Eto is their surname. I'm proud to say I know ALL 14 characters. Everything about them. :D Yes, there will be 14 characters. The 12 Zodiacs, the God, and the 13th Zodiac. Yes, there is a 13th Zodiac. I did some research. It's called Ophiuchus. :) You can research it if you don't believe me. haha.

I'd really like for you guys to know what these characters look like as I introduce them, so you can see them as I do. haha. If you go on my 'Animic' user profile page, I have a link to go to my photobucket album. I put banners for all my stories in there. *I'm a photoshop junky* Instead of a banner this time, I'll be doing individual pictures for each of them and I'll update it as you meet new characters. None yet though.

This is two chapters, kind of. The intro (The Curse's Twin) and Chapter One (Stubborn as a Bull)

Enjoy!

~~ Animic (Egg) ~~

i. Intro

The Curse's Twin

Hatori stepped into the grounds of the Sohma estate, his mind wandering to many different areas of his life. Depressing, sure. Happy, that too. However, that was neither here nor there concerning the topic that had recently come to mind. It's clear to say that the Sohma family was cursed generations before his time. Why or for what purpose, nobody really knew. Hatori had accepted it, just as the others had and those before him. Recently, a situation has presented itself. He wasn't quite sure how exactly this happened, or how he had come to overlook it. He only just started to notice.

There have been rumours circling around a particular family. Strange odd rumours, but rumours that he had heard before. None of them were true, he thought, but they were the same kind of rumours travelling around about the Sohma family. How all the members of the family were gorgeous. Refused to touch members of the opposite sex besides those of their family. How dark and evil pasts they had come to have.

Hatori recently paid a visit on purpose to this rumoured family's house. A large estate equivalent to the size of the Sohmas, in fact. Possibly larger. There were very large families in Japan, but very few that kept to their families. The Sohma's were there for a purpose. The estate was solely dedicated to the curse. They needed a large estate to take care of the Zodiac. However, there were scarce other reasons for such a large estate. An endless amount of questions appeared in Hatori's mind. Was it just a strange coincidence?

Hatori stepped into the God's room, Shigure soon to follow. On these visits he took to the new family's house, Shigure accompanied him. For cautions sake, naturally. Should one of the family members suspect them and ask questions, Shigure was a fairly decent liar.

"What have you found of them?" Akito asked Hatori, his eyes blazed of fire and hate. Akito has been unnaturally uneasy ever since the occurrence of this odd new family. They all have been. It was hard to believe that the Chinese zodiac, a curse passed down into the Sohma family for years, had a double. Hatori had firm beliefs on this matter, though, and Hatori was scarcely wrong.

"All of the evidence seems to add up. The Zodiac may have a twin curse," he stated. Shigure stood behind him, very stiff. Sure, Shigure was a jokester, but now with matters such as these. He, too, was worried. It was an unsettling mystery. None of them were really quite sure why it was so unsettling for all of them. Only that the arriving of any curse was always bad luck for another, it seemed. Two curses were, in fact, no better than one, Hatori supposed.

"That's impossible," yelled Akito. His hand was threatening to gouge a hole in the wall aside him. "The Sohma family is specific to the curse. There shall be no other cursed family."

Hatori ignored Akito. Akito didn't like to believe that his family was in competition with another, Hatori figured. He found them threatening. Any sane man would. "As far as I know of, they are not aware of our existence, as far as any curses go. I asked to enter their estate on behalf of a doctors account but they refused me, saying they already had a family doctor. I can only think of a few reasons a family would have a family doctor specific to certain members. Such as the reason we acquire. It seems to add up."

Akito thought about this for a long time. Clearly, the arrival of this information changed quite a few things in his mind. "It cannot, Hatori, but I refuse to take any chances. Hatori. Keep your research and well observing eye on this family. Say nothing to the others. This is confidential or it will be your dead body. Understand?" Akito asked sternly.

"Of course, Akito-sama," Hatori said. With one simple bow, Hatori retreated the God's house. Shigure, again, soon to follow. There wasn't much they were sure of, but they knew one thing. A dark omen shed on the lives of the Sohma family, had this rumour be true.

I

Stubborn as a Bull

Maia awoke to fire. Fire blazing against her bedside as she heard her baby sister screaming in the corner of her room. She was smart, though. Maia knew that she was jut lost in a dream. Well, it wasn't so much a dream as it was a re-occurring true horror story. Kind of like a post-traumatic stress disorder kind of thing, but much worse. It's not that Maia was hurt by the fire, but she was haunted by it. That much was for sure.

Minutes later, Maia found herself to be awake. What a surprise. She awoke to her regular house that she despised, in a regular room that she equally despised. Maia hated her life. Past, present, future, she hated it all. Being a family of Eto, she didn't exactly have the happiest past or present. Perhaps that was the curse out to get them. Either that or it was God's way of saying 'Screw you! Take this!' She didn't have the happiest past or present, and by the looks of it, her future was going to suck as well. She didn't care. Maia would survive.

Maia was a tough little cookie. She'd advanced to black belt way back in the day and is the only girl in the Zodiac to have a black belt, in fact. She took that with a lot of pride. However, she had a terrible temper. Maia was someone you did not want to cross. By any means. Once you get her going, there's no stopping her and she'll pound you without even a second thought or regret.

She flung herself up from bed and rubbed her head slightly, trying to rid of the bad dream but also trying to forget the fact that today was her first day of school. Ever. Maia was fifteen, so it's not like she was a child. Maia had never gone to school before. She'd been home-schooled, but very poorly by her parents. Her parents didn't give a rats ass about her education, nor did they care much for her either. To them, Maia was a disgusting freak. She didn't much care and she'd accepted it by now. Some people just didn't understand what it was like to be a part of the Zodiac.

Once her parents died, Maia started getting home schooled by one of the attendants. Not that the attendant enjoyed it per say. Let's just say that her home school teacher left with a lot of bloody noses and feeling very bad about herself. Maia loved to beat the be Jesus out of people, and she also liked to belittle them. It was a lot of negative energy escaping her, she supposed. Since Maia didn't have the best life, the way she dealt with it was beating people down to a pulp.

After she scared off a couple of the Sohma teachers, they decided she had to be sent to a school. An actual school. As if that would hide her violent behaviour. Maia knew it was a bad idea, and she knew she'd probably end up getting into a fight on the first day, but what the hell. It wasn't her idea to go to some stupid school. Maia was one of the only people of the Zodiac that didn't go to the community school. Apparently, she was too vicious to go, says many of them. Maia agreed. She was fairly hazardous to the other students. She would admit it.

Maia, if you hadn't already guessed, is the Bull of the Star Zodiac. The Taurus. She's very stubborn and has the temper of a Bull, which is expected. Many are afraid of her. Terrified, in fact. It's sort of what Maia likes. She prefers to be alone. Except for the God, but that's a long story.

She was born into a family that didn't appreciate her. At all. They hated her for what she was. A filthy Bull of the Zodiac. The Bull was known to be one of the worst to have a child of, besides the Snake. The Bull was always bad-tempered, stubborn, rude, and disrespectful, which pretty much sums up Maia in a nutshell.

Her father, thankfully, travelled the majority of his life. So, Maia didn't see much of him. What she did see, however, was not pretty. Her father didn't love her in the slightest. He hated her very soul and was disgusted at having such a cursed child. His temper got worse when her sister was born. Maia's sister is also a member of the Zodiac, which made her father flip shit.

He didn't like either of them, but he did favour Maia's sister. She was more kind and charming, unlike Maia who was the devil.

When Maia was around eleven, there was a terrible fire in her house. The reason it started was unknown, however many people think that Maia started the fire. Maia woke up to the smoke and was able to save herself and her little sister. However, her parents were not so lucky. They hadn't woken up. Her father was exhausted from travelling and her mother was passed out from alcohol on the couch. Her mother drank. A lot.

Maia didn't care all too much that they died, though. It didn't cross her as being a bad thing. That's why everyone thought that she did it. Not that she could blame them for thinking that. After that, she moved into the Eto estate with her little sister. Now, her sister has the biggest fear of fire there ever was. Maia wasn't effected by it but her sister is terrified of fire.

When Maia met the God of the Zodiac, she was still rather rude to him. Didn't listen to a word he said and, frankly, as stubborn as a bull. She refused to listen to him. The God liked to keep Maia close, and she didn't like that. Maia is a very restless person. Always has to be doing something and it's hard for her to do the same thing twice, which is why she hates living in the Eto estate so much.

The God punished her, though. Dearly. He made sure she would be obedient. The God locked her in the Serpent's Lair for over a month. The Serpent of the Zodiac, or the 13th reject Zodiac, had a cage for when he grew older. So everyone could laugh and point at him, Maia supposed. It was a terribly secluded barred cage. Maia was thrown in it and punished dearly by the God. He never held back, dear old Kami-sama. He beat her after she got out of the cage.

Ever since that traumatizing experience, Maia has followed the God's orders without question. Maia is the God's puppet to which he can bend with ease. She follows his orders directly, without question, and is forced to love him. In reality, she hates him. Maia hates the god with a fiery passion, but is forced against her will to contain her wrath against him.

"Time for school," one of her attendants called up through the house. Maia held a scrunched face as she finished getting ready.

"Bite me!" she hollered back. Maia finished putting on her stupid school uniform, which she despised, and grabbed her stupid backpack. Her backpack only had a few pieces of paper in it and a pencil. Which is all she'll ever bring to school. Maia doesn't care. If she flunks out of school, she doesn't care. Maia's just not that kind of person.

Maia slung the bag of crap over her shoulder and stormed down the stairs, being sure to make as much noise as she possibly could. She crossed over towards the door and gave a death glare to the lady that had called up to her earlier.

Many of the Eto family members, Zodiac or not, were terrified of her. It wasn't as if she was this mass murderer, but she definitely had a dark aura surrounding her. She wasn't afraid to beat you up if you said something she didn't like. Maia was quick-acting and had a nasty short temper. If you have any sense at all, you don't want to tick Maia off.

"Do have a nice time," her attendant said once more. Maia wiped her hair out of her eyes to reveal her cold glance at the woman.

"Like hell I will," she spat.

Maia slammed the door hard leaving a booming echo go across the Eto estate. Maia was not looking forward to this day. Getting into a fight wasn't exactly her idea of a successful first day. It's not that she liked to get into fights. It's just that they happened fairly often and were expected of the Bull of the Zodiac. No one blamed her, but they did keep a fair distance between themselves.

Yes, today would be a very interesting day for Maia. It's been awhile since she's beaten up a total stranger. The only thing she worried about was turning into her Bull form, just in case a guy got on her nerves. Maia sometimes forgot about the curse when her temper got out of control. Oh well.

Sorry that the intro and chapter one was kind of short. Together, they're long, but seperate their not. In the future, the chapters will be much longer. I promise.

Reviews?!?! I'd be so happy.

I hope you guys like the main character. Maia. haha. She's mean, isn't she? I should probably warn you that Maia may use profanity. The others aren't so bad. I do love her though. So vicious. Next chapter, you'll meet Ryuu, the Scorpion. You won't meet a new Zodiac every chapter but Ryuu is one of her best friends. Kind of have to mention him.

I did this for every character and I want you guys to know. Just so you can get used to the attitudes of the characters. Maia's theme song is 'Supermassive Black Hole,' by Muse. I think it fits her pretty well. I'll do that w/ every character. Eventually, I'll have a playlist with all the characters and stuff.