One Step Closer [Fruits Basket]

Chapter 39: The Femme Fatale

Natsu's POV

"A girl?" Tohru mumbled, still in shock. "Akito-san is... a girl? Is that really true?"

"It's true." Kureno nodded his head. "It's the biggest of the Sohma's many secrets."

"B-But Akito-san behaves like a man..." Tohru stuttered out. "And none of the others ever treat him like a girl... I never dreamed she was a girl..."

"Even though Hatori confirmed to me that Akito is a woman, he never told me the reason why people treat Akito as a man." I stated. "What's the reason, Kureno?"

"Akito has been raised as male since birth." Kureno responded. "She decreed it."

"Who?" Tohru asked.

"Someone who almost saw you at the main estate." Kureno replied.

"You mean that time when Tohru went to meet you at the estate?" I asked.

"Yes..." Kureno nodded his head. "She rarely leaves her room. She has some... troubles, mentally and physically. But she still looms larger than most in Akito's mind... Ren Sohma, Akito's mother. She is the one who decided to raise her daughter as a male. Neither Akito nor Ren-san will comment on it. All I know for certain... Is it that they hate each other. Ren-san says the ties that bind Akito and the zodiac members are wrong. She says they're unnatural. Not real. So she's constantly clashing with Akito who clings to our bonds. That day...the morning after Ren-san conceived Akito, I woke up in tears. So did Shigure-Niisan, Hatori-Niisan and Ayame-Niisan...We are the only zodiac members who know that Akito is female. Apparently, Ritsu was too young to sense it clearly. But the four of us all had the same dream. Akito, the God we hadn't seen yet, came to us in the dream and said, I'll see you soon. So, we ran straight to Ren-san who didn't know she was pregnant yet. As we cried we just kept saying, we have been waiting for you. It was like this feeling I didn't recognize welled up in my heart, and I sensed a 'me' that wasn't me shouting. It was the zodiac spirit. Another self that lived inside me. In my blood. At the first sign of a new ego forming, the zodiac blood begins to hound us: 'Never betray Akito'. Now that my curse is gone, I can see that our bond was unnatural. Ren-san is right. But I see something else too; a crying girl. I can't push away a crying Akito. And I can't see Arisa while there's another girl I have to stay with. I'm sorry to unsettle you by telling you all this. But I wanted you to know that the same Akito who wounds others too easily is herself deeply wounded. I wanted to give you an idea of why I can't leave her."

I remained completely silent and took everything in what Kureno told us. So that's why Akito was like that. That's the reason she hated women. It was because of her mother, Ren Sohma.

I noticed Tohru was shaking, she was crying. I gently wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a warm hug. Tohru immediately hugged me back and cried on my shoulders.

"I'm sorry." Kureno flashed out a sad smile as he reached out and wiped away Tohru's tears. "All I ever do is hurt others. But this is the path I chose. The one I took of my own free will. I'm sorry and thank you for everything."

Kureno looked at me and smiled again.

"I must go now." he said. "Akito's waiting for me."

"Okay." I mumbled, nodding my head. "We'll see you soon."

"Yes, see you." Kureno bade his farewell.

And with that, he walked away. I sighed and looked back at Tohru.

"Let's go seat on a bench." I muttered.

Tohru didn't reply back as she continued to shed tears. I walked her up to a bench in the park and sat her down. I sat beside her and put her head on my shoulder while I rubbed her back to comfort her.