One More Curse (Fruits Basket Fan-Fic)

Chapter Twenty-Seven- Carol:

I heard Lilly’s alarm go off and then her get up along with Dex a few minutes later. It was silent in there for a few more minutes and I was curious, but I didn’t want to ruin anything. Then Dex came out and went in his room.

Lilly came out and headed into the restroom. I knew it was those two, each different, because Dex’s footsteps sounded wobbly and not patterned. Like a drunk person. Then Lilly’s were light and patterned.

Then the shower clicked on and I got up, sneaking upstairs and walking in Dex’s room. He was on his bed, his feet hanging off, and he was out. I walked over, avoiding the gaping hole in the floor and stared at him.

Apparently, he felt me watching him and he opened his eyes, growling. “Leave alone…” he mumbled.

“One tired dragon, huh?” I asked.

He glared at me, sitting up. “You didn’t have to sleep by Lilly.”

“I have been sleeping with her. She’s not bad. But then again, you are a guy Zodiac, so I sort of understand your point.” I said. “Besides, if you sleep for much longer, you’ll miss breakfast.”

Disappointment crossed his face as I left. I walked downstairs as Lilly got out of the bathroom with her robe on. “Oh! Good morning, Carol!”

“Morning, Lilly.” I said. “I’ll start breakfast. What are we having?”

“I thought something like pop tarts.” I gave her a look and she laughed. “Just kidding. How about some breakfast burritos?”

“Sure. I’ll get the stuff ready.” I said, going to the kitchen and getting pans and other things out ready for Lilly. I can’t cook. I just get things ready.

Lilly came down afterwards and I noticed she was wearing that black shirt we bought at the mall.

“Nice shirt.” I complimented. “Looks good on ya.”

“Really?” she asked, turning around to look at herself better. “I think it’s a little too black.”

“Listen to Carol.” someone said behind Lilly, making her jump. “She knows what she’s talking about.”

“Dex!” Lilly exclaimed. “Stop scaring me!”

“Besides, you’re scarier in the shadows when hardly ay house lights are on.” I snapped. “Go get ready.”

“Am.” he growled. But he walked in the living room, plopping down on the couch, sleeping instantly.

I scoffed and started helping Lilly with breakfast. She cooked the meat and eggs while I got out the condiments like lettuce and tomatoes. Then Allen and Hatori came down, Allen rubbing his eyes.

I snuck some lettuce and ate it, blinking as Lilly caught me. She scoffed and made herself a burrito, leaving the boys to make their own breakfast. Then, when everyone took their share, I took mine, going into the dinner table to eat.

Dex was still asleep on the couch so Hatori thought it’s be a good idea to poke him. I got up, leaving my burrito alone to bounce on the couch. Dex grumbled and kicked out toward me and hit Hatori.

“Leave me alone…” he growled.

“Breakfast is ready.” Lilly said from the table. “It’s breakfast burritos.”

“Burritos?” Dex asked, his eyes snapping open. He sat up, pushing me off and looked in the kitchen’s general direction. He got up and trotted over, quickly making a plate before sitting down at the table, eating silently.

Lilly finished her burrito and was staring at Dex strangely.

“It’s his favorite food. Any burrito.” I explained, finishing mine off as well. “Thanks, Lilly. Shouldn’t you get ready for school?”

“Oh, yeah!” she said, getting up and putting her dishes up then running to the door. “Come on, guys!”

Dex looked up, grumbled and took his burrito with him. Allen was just making another and he took that to the door.

“Bye!” Lilly called as Allen shut the door.

Hatori yawned. “Always a mess.”

“Like you weren’t.” I scoffed. I looked carefully at him. “You boys need a haircut.”

He looked at me and shrugged. “Sounds like a good idea.” he said, looking at his bangs. “I’ll set an appointment for all of us.”

“Not me.”

“Yes you.”

“Damn…” I mumbled, going up to Lilly’s room.

Like always, I got her journal out that she hasn’t written in since I got here. I was on the day where it was when they were at the summer homes on spring vacation. Let’s see… Ah! Right here…

Allen gave me this wonderful swimsuit! It’s a very pretty sky-blue bikini. I forgot my own, so he gave me this one to borrow. After I put it on, Dex came in and looked at me up and down. Scary!

He started, it felt like, flirting with me. Thankfully Allen called out and interrupted him. He came in and they started going off on each other as another girl, later I know as Rin, come in and announced she found Dex.

Afterwards, we went to the beach, then walked around. The woods were nice and relaxing. That’s when I tripped on a root and fell on Allen and Dex ran into me. Then, next thing I know, they’re not there and two animals stood, er, flew, in their place.

Dex is the Dragon of the Zodiac and Allen the Rooster, or bird. That’s when I found out. They explained about the Zodiacs and the curse, and now I’m anxious to see the other Zodiacs.

I wonder what the other Zodiacs are like? Rabbit, Ram, Ox, Tiger, Boar, Rat, Snake, Dog, Horse and Monkey. Then they said that there was also a Cat, like in the legend.

The legend goes as thus:

God told the animals that a banquet would be tomorrow. The Cat didn’t make it, so the Rat, being tricky told the Cat it would be the day after tomorrow. The Cat said thank you. Next day while the Rat rode the Ox to the banquet, the Cat was sleeping soundly in his bed, dreaming of a banquet that would never come.

I really feel sorry for the Cat sometimes… Who is the Cat?

Then I closed it for today because that was it for that day. I laid on my back on her bed, wondering what Akito would do if he found this journal. I knew Lilly was going to a far-off college, and one of her things she would bring would be this journal. So what if someone caught hold of this?

I shivered at the thought. But if I disposed of this now, she’d know. I put the journal back where I found it, exactly as I had seen it before I picked it up. Then I went downstairs again and saw Hatori sleeping on the couch.

Bored, I walked to town and went to a music store. Let’s see, let’s see…

Linkin Park, Pink, Lady Gaga, Evanescence, Skillet, Nickelback, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean and a bunch of other artists. I decided to grab an Evanesence CD with a Pink and Linkin Park. But then, Nickelback was teasing me, so I got one CD of him too.

Then I went home after buying the CD’s and put them in the computer, playing each of them and then saving them to the files. Hope nobody cared. Then I took the CD’s out and put them with my stuff hidden in Lilly’s room.

Finally, I played the songs mixed through the computer.

Hatori woke up and walked in. “What are you doing?”

“Playing music while playing Spider Solitaire.” I replied. “Why?”

“Is that Nickelback?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded then left again, calling out after, “I set up the haircuts for at six in the afternoon.”

“It already is in the afternoon.” I yelled at him. “It’s two. Lilly and them will be back in an hour.”

Silence. He slept for too long. Oh, well. Now let’s try to beat this Spider Solitaire…