Eternal Bonds: A Fruits Basket story

The Beginning

Darkness. That was all Akito saw. The chilling, hollow, emptiness creeped around her sinking deep into her bones. She looked around desperately for some sort of light; something that she could run to to escape the darkness. Suddenly, the area started to slowly get brighter. Akito turned her head slightly to see a dim glow a few feet away. She should've been weary of it like the darkness surrounding her, but instead, she got a warm feeling from it. She felt safe as she stared at the small light.
Without hesitation, she quickly ran towards the light, watching it get brighter as she got closer to it. It wasn't long before she was finally standing in front of it. As she slowly reached her hand out to touch it, her fingers a few inches away, the small orb of light jerked away from her and shot up towards the sky. Akito watched in awe as the one orb split into twelve orbs and began to take shape. Once they had fully formed, her eyes widened as she stared at them. She knew those twelve figures up in the sky and knew them well. As she continued to stare at them, she felt something pull at her soul and back into the darkness.
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Akito's eyes shot open as she sat up gasping for air. Immediately, she looked around frantically to see that she was back in her room. That warm feeling that touched her in her dream was still there lingering inside her. She placed her tiny hand on her chest as her mind drifted back to the strange dream she had. Quickly, she threw away her duvet and stood up from her futon to pace around the room, her mind racing with thoughts. She was so lost in her head that she didn't hear her room door slide open.
"Akito."
Akito stopped pacing and looked towards her door. There, she saw one of her servants standing there, her hands neatly folded together in front of her.
"What are you doing up? You should be asleep."
Quickly, Akito ran over to the elderly woman and tugged on her kimono. The woman knelt down to the small girl, her face showing interest.
"They're coming," said Akito with a whisper. "They're coming soon."
The elderly woman's eyes widened knowing exactly what 'they' Akito was referring to. She quickly composed herself again and guided the child to her futon. She covered her up once again and left the room.
Not only did Akito have a strange dream, but around the main estate, there were four boys who had a strange dream as well.
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Years Later

The Sohma Estate was quiet. Then again, it always was like this. The only sound that was present was the sound of the wind chimes hitting each other creating a beautiful sound when a breeze blew through. Other than that, it was always silent. Rory liked it this way. He would always come outside to sit on the deck and clear his mind.
"I thought I would find you out here."
Rory turned to see a boy smaller than him with onyx colored hair leaning against one of the pillars. He smiled. "I just wanted to get some fresh air. Being stuck in the house all day is boring." Rory stood up and brushed off his shorts. "Did you need something from me, Daniel?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to kick this ball around with me." Daniel said holding up a worn out soccer ball.
Rory's eyes widened slightly at that statement. He quickly stepped forward and placed his hand on Daniel's forehead. His brow furrowed. "That's odd. You don't have a fever."
Daniel gawked at that. "What does that mean?!"
"You never ask to do anything sports related with me because you suck at it."
Daniel let out a tch sound and pulled Rory's hand away. "Fine then. I won't ask again." He began to walk away when Rory pulled him back and led him to the middle of the yard.
"Hey, I'm sorry!! Geez, what is it with you and your mood swings?! Are you sure you didn't get the Gemini spirit?"
"No."
And just like that, Daniel went back to being his stoic self. Rory could tell since his eyes were throwing daggers into the ground. This was normal for him though. Ever since Daniel found out he was possessed by the sea goat spirit Capricorn, he started to act like this. He couldn't figure out if it was the spirit causing him to act like this, or the fact that he hated how his life has come to this. Rory could understand him though. He hated having a spirit living inside him. It was like a burden had been placed on his shoulders and it continued to pull him down with no chance of being released. Just like his friend, he was possessed by the ram spirit Aries. Anyone could tell by the color of his hair being an auburn color. His parents, especially Akito, were overjoyed with the fact that he had the Aries spirit which meant they would be held in high regard. However, Rory didn't like this. This meant an overwhelming amount of pressure was put on him by his parents to not screw up. This led to him spending a majority of his time outside. Cramped spaces reminded him of that pressure and he couldn't stand it.
"So, when do you think we will meet other members of the Sohma Clan," asked Daniel kicking the ball towards Rory who stopped it with ease.
"I don't know," he replied. "Probably soon considering we met Akito not that long ago." I just hope they are a little nicer than her. Ever since Rory met Akito, he couldn't understand it, but he didn't feel comfortable around her. However, at the same time, there was a part of him that wanted to get closer to her. It was like his mind and heart were waging a war against each other. He talked to Daniel about it and he said the same thing happened to him. Stupid curse. It was because of this curse that they had to leave America and their entire lives behind, and move to Japan to be closer to Akito and the others.
Gritting his teeth as his mind became clouded again, he kicked the ball as hard as he could and watched as it completely flew over Daniel's head and over the wall. Realizing what he did, he grimaced.
"Nice going, Rory. And you said I was the one who was bad at sports." Daniel said wryly.
"Shut up!! I didn't meant to kick it that hard!!" Rory crossed his arms and sighed. It seemed that their fun was over. Suddenly, a loud sound of pain came from across the wall where the ball went. Both of the boys turned to where the sound came from and ran towards the gate to get to the other side.
Once they got there, they saw a very interesting sight: a boy with grey hair, who was holding a book in his hands, in the arms of another with extremely long white hair.
"Something attacked me," the grey-haired boy wailed. He looked up at his white-haired friend. "I don't think I am going to make it."
"Hang on, Shigure!!! You can't leave us just yet!!" The white-haired boy declared as if his lover was dying.
"You two are being ridiculous."
Rory and Daniel looked to see a boy with black hair that looked almost blue staring at the two with a look that screamed "annoyed".
"But he is dying!!" The white-haired boy retorted with desperation.
"He got hit in the head with a soccer ball. He's not bleeding so he will be okay."
Rory and Daniel watched this interaction with a deadpan expression. Before long, Daniel spoke up. "Excuse us, but that is our ball."
All three boys stopped what they were doing and looked up at the two boys. The black-haired boy grabbed the soccer ball and walked over to the two.
"Here," he said handing the ball to Daniel. "Please ignore those two. They are a bit dramatic."
"We kind of got that." Rory said rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm Rory, and this is Daniel. We're from the Elsher Clan."
Immeadiately, the other two boys got up and walked over to them, their interest piqued.
"Really now," the grey-haired boy asked. "Are you by chance possessed by a zodiac spirit?"
"Shigure," the black-haired boy scolded.
"Actually, we are," said Daniel. "I am possessed by Capricorn and this idiot over here is possessed by Aries."
Rory let out a small growl at the insult but didn't say anything.
"That's amazing!! We are possesed by the zodiac spirits too!!" Shigure said gesturing to all three of them. "I'm Shigure and I have the dog." He points over to his white-haired friend. "Ayame has the snake." He then pointed over to his dark-haired friend. "And Hatori over here has the dragon spirit." Shigure leaned a little forward. "Although Hatori's form looks more like-"
"Don't say a word, or I will take that soccer ball and hit you again." Hatori threatened.
Shigure froze and backed away. Rory and Daniel got the hint to not question it further.
Hatori turned to them. "So are there more of you here?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah, we do have one more here. Her name is Victoria and-" Rory stopped his sentence as he looked around. "Wait, where's Victoria?"
Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "I haven't seen her."
Ayame looked around and placed a finger on his chin. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Kureno either."
All of the boys looked at each other in confusion.
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Kureno didn't know why, but he found himself walking around the estate aimlessly. Usually, he was hanging around Shigure, Ayame, and Hatori, and he was for a bit, but then he decided to part ways with them and go out on his own. He had been walking for a while and was so lost in his head that he didn't realize where he was. He looked ahead and saw that he was inside one of the many gardens around the estate. He looked around at the array of flowers - each one of them a different shape, size, or color. Anytime he walked around through the gardens, he would always find a different flower that he didn't notice before. He looked up and saw that he was getting closer to the giant Sakura tree in the center of the garden.
Once he got a few feet closer to it, he saw that he was not alone in the garden. Sitting on one of the stone benches near the tree was a girl that looked about his age with a sketchbook in her lap and a pen in hand. He immediately took notice of her chestnut hair and how it was pulled back in a loose low bun with a few strands of hair surrounding her face. He watched as her face was full of concentration as she stroked her pen across the paper. She put her pen down and sighed. "You can come out. I won't bite."
Kureno was taken back by what she said. How did she know I was there? "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spy on you."
She turned her head towards him and smiled. "It's okay," she said. It was then that Kureno noticed that she had on glasses. The girl used her finger to push up her glasses as they were towards the edge of her nose. She scooted over a little on the bench and placed a hand where she used to sit. "Would you like to join me?"
Kureno's eyes widened. "You sure you don't mind. I don't want to be a bother and it looked like you were really concentrated on what you were working on."
"I don't mind at all. Besides, a little company never hurts anyone," she replied, her voice radiating sincerity.
Feeling a little more at ease, Kureno made his way over to the bench and sat down beside her. Immediately, she turned back to her paper and began to draw once more. Kureno glanced at the page and noticed that she was drawing the tree in front of them. He was shocked at the amount of detail that went in to the drawing. From the placing of the strokes of ink to the amount of cherry blossoms on each branch amazed him. He had never seen such artistry before.
"That looks amazing," he said with a whisper.
The girl looked up at him with wide eyes. She saw him looking at the paper with a small smile. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and quickly turned away so that he wouldn't see. "Thank you. I couldn't find any real inspiration to draw something original, so I thought, "why not draw what's in front of me?" After all, isn't it an artist's job to capture the beauty of this world?"
"Yeah. I guess it is." Kureno turned his gaze back up to the tree as the wind picked up causing a few blossoms to fall to the ground. The way that some of the flowers were a different shades of pink almost made the sky look like an ombré. He sat there for a moment but then realized something. "Oh, I haven't told you my name."
The girl looked up at him waiting for him to continue.
"My name is Kureno. Kureno Sohma."
The girl's eyes widened at his name. She realized that sitting next to her, was the holder of the rooster spirit. She and her friends hadn't met any of the other spirit holders yet, until now. She smiled and set her pen down and closed her book. She then looked up at him and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Kureno. My name is Victoria Elsher. I am the holder of the maiden spirit Virgo."
Kureno's eyes widened slightly at that. He quickly hid that and smiled as he grabbed her hand and shook it. As soon as their hands connected, it was like something had clicked between them. It was almost as if the spirits inside them were doing the same thing they were.
Victoria let go and grabbed her sketchbook from beside her and opened it to the drawing of the Sakura tree in front of them. She carefully ripped out the page so she wouldn't damage it. "Well then, Kureno, as a sign of the beginning of our friendship, I want to give you this." Victoria said handing Kureno the drawing of the tree. He looked at her with surprise written on his face. He was hesitant to take the drawing from her. She gestured the drawing to him more basically telling him to take. He grabbed the paper from her and laid it on his lap.
"Thank you," he said with a smile and his eyes closed. "I will treasure this."
Victoria let out a small giggle and the two began to talk about the things that they liked and had in common. Kureno felt happy as he had found himself a true friend.
The two of them were so engaged in conversation that they didn't realize that just around the corner, Ayame, Hatori, Shigure, Rory, and Daniel were watching their interaction with smiles on their faces.

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Hey guys!!! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!! I had a lot of fun writing the Three Musketeers meeting Daniel and Rory. I like to call those two my dynamic duo. I loved writing Victoria meeting Kureno (these two are so sweet <3). These next few are gonna be my characters meeting the Sohma members and setting things up for the future which I'm excited for!!! Thanks for reading and I love you all and see you with the next one.