Fruits Basket: Give me wings

Chapter 8- Ben's ordeal

Hellooo! How are things? It's been a while since I've uploaded. Actually, I seem to be spacing my uploads out more and more, and for that I apologise. Things in my life are pretty hectic. So, enjoy my next chapter! Ben gets a bigger role from now on, so I hope you guys like him!

This chapter is dedicated to ChidoriQueen, who has been a great fan and Wattpad friend! Thanks :')Another person I'd like to name is CherryBlossom_writer, who has made some lovely comments and is an amazing person to know on here.

So, read, comment/vote please! Thanks :)

Chapter 8- Ben's ordeal

“And this Akito person… wants you back? Because… you lived there for so long, and she doesn’t want to lose you?”

“Yeah. If Akito actually came and physically grabbed us, we wouldn’t be able to resist, unless we summoned up some hellishly strong power of will at the time. Akito’s orders are absolute, like a holy law. Luckily, today, she just came to ‘talk’ to us. My little incident caused her to leave, but she’ll be back.”

“You guys transform when you’re hugged, right?” Ben asked. "Prove it."

"Yes, I would like to see some proof," Kairi agreed.

“I’ll prove it!” Ben cried, and ran over to Sora. Kairi opened his mouth, like he wanted to object to this particular method. Ben wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big bear hug. There was a small ‘poof’ noise, and sure enough, there appeared a small orange cat curled up on Sora’s clothes, looking shell-shocked.  Haruhi smirked. She was sure Ben used that as an opportunity to get closer to Sora.

Ben gasped. “It’s true?”

“Every word,” Tsuneo nodded gravely. “I’m the horse, and Haruhi is the bird.”

Ben and Kairi were struck speechless at all these revelations, and, suddenly, Ben looked saddened. His face went distant, like he had just been reminded of something upsetting. Kairi reached out towards Sora, and tickled underneath her chin, making her giggle.

“Well, I like cats,” he said in his overly pleasant voice. He turned to Ben. “So, what do we do now?”

“We’re going to have to tell Akito,” Haruhi mumbled. “As much as we’d like to keep this a secret, we’re still part of the Sohma family, and she’s the head of that family. We can’t let it slide.”

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“Well, you might have your memories of today erased. In fact, you probably will.”

“Wha-? I don’t want that to happen! You guys are so cool!” Ben complained, snapped out of his momentary sadness. He paused for a moment. “But… if our memories get erased… we’d have to meet you all over again, right?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I for one don’t want to lose you guys. This family sure is crazy, but it sounds like this curse thing is a pretty heavy burden. I’m sure you’d want some friends while you’re busy coping with being an animal, ha!”

Tsuneo’s face soothed out into a small smile, and Haruhi felt tears prickle in her eyes. Friends… actual friends. She still didn’t feel close to Kairi, but that would come in time, but Ben seemed so decent, so friendly and honest. After all Akito’s words, years ago, that they would be hated, scorned upon and that they were all alone, Ben’s invitation of friendship meant something very important to the Zodiacs.

Ben got up and left the room for the bathroom. Watching him leave, Kairi’s expression turned solemn.

“This is a big deal for him, too, you know,” Kairi said. “He’s finally met some people who’ve known pain. He doesn’t believe that you lived happily in that house for your whole lives. You’re all so naïve. You behave like a child, Haruhi, Tsuneo takes everything literally like a toddler, and Sora is mimicking the behaviour of Tohru like puppet. He doesn’t know what was going on in that house, but he knows it wasn’t pleasant.”