SHATTERED
By Irony-chan

Another strange thing about the way peoples' minds work is how something totally obvious can just escape our notice... and then suddenly we wake up and realize we knew it all along. I guess that's sort of the same as how we never see small changes while they're still happening, but not quite, because it counts for things that don't change, too. We can sort of have something in the back of our minds, and never realize its significant... that's what happened to me when I saw the whole zodiac gathered in the big dining room, about half an hour later.

After the banquet, they'd all wandered off all across the estate, and it took us quite a while to find them all. I was sent to get Kisa and Hiro. It turned out that they'd nodded off in front of the television last night, and Kisa's mom had just covered them both up with a blanket and left them there. Kisa was leaning her head on Hiro's shoulder, and they looked so cute I really hated to wake them.

Yuki found Kyou and Kureno in somebody's bedroom, playing a video game together while Kyou kept shouting at Kagura to stop cheering him on. Hatori had to drag Momiji away from playing hide and go seek with a few of the younger Souma children. Ayame brought Ritsu, who was apologizing madly – he thought he'd overslept and missed something important. And Shigure found Hatsuharu and Rin. He didn't say where they'd been, but they looked embarrassed and unhappy, and Shigure kept winking at them.

So there was everybody, all in the same room. This was the first time I'd really seen all the zodiac at once, all in one place, and that's when I noticed – even though I'd known it all along – how very young they all were. It hadn't seemed significant before, but the oldest members of the zodiac were Shigure and Ayame and Hatori, and even they were younger than thirty. All of a sudden it seemed strange that all thirteen of them should have been born within the same twenty-year period.

It made me wonder if they all die before a certain age like Akito, but that didn't seem right at all. Hadn't someone told me that the last person with the curse of the cat was Kyou's great-grandfather or something? So was it just a coincidence that they were all young, or was there some other reason?

"All right, then," said Shigure. "I suppose you're all wondering why we've dragged you in here so early in the morning." It was a bit weird to watch him; he kept rubbing at the back of his neck, and he sounded more serious, and more uncomfortable, than I'd ever heard him before... as ifhe was dressed in clothing that didn't quite fit. Between that and Yuki's laughing earlier, it was enough to make me think that maybe I didn't really know any of the Soumas at all.

Shigure went on, laughing nervously: "So I guess we'd better explain, hadn't we? Yuki and Tohru tell me they noticed it first, so why don't we let them tell it?" He nodded at me.

Oh, I wish he hadn't said that, Mom! I had no idea what was happening... but then, I suppose none of the rest did, either, which made me as good a person as any to have to say. I licked my lips and took a deep breath.

"Well... um... what happened," I said, "was that Yuki and I were sitting on the roof and watching the sun come up. And then when it did, he asked if he could hug me. So I said yes, and he did..." I could feel my cheeks getting warm, having to say this in front of everybody. "And... well, I'm not sure what caused it. At first I thought it was just... Yuki said he'd made a wish for New Year's that he could hug me..." my face got even warmer. "We did... and he didn't..."

"We did this." Yuki stepped up and put his arms around me from behind.

Everybody stared.

The first person to speak up was Kyou. "Hey," he said. "How are you doing that?"

"I want to try!" Momiji ran forward and grabbed me. He didn't transform, but he did nearly knock me over, and Yuki had to catch me or I'd have fallen flat on the floor. It was so weird... or I guess it wasn't weird, it was normal, but after living at Shigure's house for more than a year, I'd just gotten so used to the curse that it seemed weird. Come to think of it, I'd even stared avoiding getting too close to boys in other places, just out of force of habit. To suddenly have them all over me and none of them turning into animals, by comparison it was very odd.

"All right, runt, that's enough." Kyou dragged Momiji off me. "The rest of us need a turn, too." And then he hugged me! I don't even want to know what colour my face was, Mom. I must have looked like a big brown-haired tomato!

"Aww!" said Momiji. "That's so cute – Kyou wants to hug Tohru!"

Kyou let go of me as if I'd burned him. "You shut your mouth," he told Momiji. "I was just testing it!"

"Oh, suuuuure you were." Momiji grinned.

"Let me try!" said Hiro.

I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed, not ever, but I couldn't hardly say no... so I just stood there while all the boys in the zodiac came and hugged me, one by one; even Hatori and Kureno had a go, just to make sure. None of hem transformed, and then Yayoi brought in a boy who'd been playing in the snow outside and told him she'd give him a hundred yen if he let Rin, Kagura, and Kisa each hug him.

It really seemed like too good to be true, Mom, but there it was... I didn't know how it had happened, but it looked like the curse was broken.

"I see," said Shigure, after they let the little boy go back outside.

"Now what?" Hiro asked.

"Well..." Shigure rubbed his chin. "I... I guess..."

"Kyou!" exclaimed Kagura. Everybody looked at her, and then everyone kind of gasped at once when they saw what she was shouting about; Kyou was starting to take his bracelet off. He had it halfway down his hand, and if it hadn't been for Kagura grabbing him, he would have had it right off without anybody else noticing.

"Oh," I began. "Kyou..."

"Kyou," Shigure said. "I do realize..."

"Shut up, all of you," said Kyou. "It's the only way we're ever gonna know. Just keep your pants on. Even if I do transform, it's not like I'm gonna hurt anybody." He pushed Kagura away from him, and then he ripped the bracelet off so hard the string snapped. Black and white beads flew everywhere, clattering across the floor. Everyone in the room took a step backwards, Hatsuharu grabbed Kisa, and Kagura covered her face.

But nothing happened.

"It's really gone," Kyou said, rubbing at his wrist as if he didn't quite believe it. "It's really gone. It's broken."

"How did this happen?" asked Kureno.

"Well, I did make that wish," Yuki ventured.

"Don't be an idiot," said Kyou. "If all it took was a wish we'd have found out years ago."

"Indeed," said Shigure mildly, and then he looked at me again. "But I think Tohru knows the answer."

"Me?" I asked. "W... what makes you think that? I don't know any more than you do... in fact, I probably know less!" I've always felt that there were some things they weren't telling me about the curse, but I'd never liked to ask because of course it's really not any of my business. "I don't think it was anything I did, if that's what you mean – I can't think of anything I might have done! I can't even make Kyou and Yuki stop arguing for a day, never mind break curses, and..." but thinking of that made me think of something else, and then I realized.

"Yes?" Shigure prompted.

I swallowed. "Kyou ate with you, didn't he?"

"Well, yes..." said Hatsuharu. "So what?"

"Well, the cat was included," I explained. "Maybe that's all it took."

"This is hardly the first time he's been counted in for something," Hatori pointed out.

"True, true," agreed Shigure. "He always joins in for the rest of New Year's, and he's been on family vacations and such things."

"But with the whole zodiac?" I asked.

"No, she's right," said Yuki. "I wouldn't have believed it, but she's right. We were all there last night... and we all stood up for Kyou, remember? For the first time, more of us wanted him with us than not. We accepted the cat."

"That can't be right," said Kureno. "I didn't accept him."

"No," said Shigure thoughtfully. "Not explicitly... but you didn't reject him, either. You could have refused to eat with the rest of us, but you just resigned yourself to his presence. If we just had to accept him without necessarily liking him, then that might just have been it."

"Uh..." Kyou held up a hand. "I am right here, you know," he said.

I smiled. "You see?" I asked, "I didn't break the curse, then – Kisa did! She's the one who insisted on eating with Kyou!"

"I don't believe it," Yuki repeated. "Who would have thought it would be so easy?"

"I don't know if I would say it was all that easy," said Shigure... but whatever it was he meant by that, he didn't get to explain. He was interrupted when the telephone rang in the next room. Everybody stopped and stood there frozen, like it was the scariest thing they'd ever heard, while it rang three, four, five times.

"Excuse me," said Hatori, and got up to go answer it. Through the wall, we couldn't hear what he was actually saying, but it was a very short conversation, and then he came back in, sat down, and lit a cigarette. Nobody said anything.

"Hari?" asked Momiji. "Who was it?"

"The hospital. They said Akito's going to be just fine," he replied.

"They did?" said Kagura.

Hatori nodded. "He needed surgery to set a broken collarbone, but otherwise his injuries were not as severe as they appeared. He should be home in less that a week... possibly as soon as the third."

"What are we going to tell him when he gets here?" asked Yuki.

"I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it," Shigure replied.