Author's Note: Argh, I dislike QuickEdit… Wow, I took a long time to write this chapter. I'm so sorry. Time gets away from me a lot. Before I know it, months have gone by and angry fanfiction readers are after my blood… Anyway, if you feel like forgiving me and continuing to read this story, then let me get out of your way.

Title: Soul Switching

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Spoilers for the series… I don't know what parts of the manga I have spoilers for.

Summary: The Jyuunishi wake up one day to discover that they are not themselves…

Disclaimer: Don't we all wish that we owned the fantastic Fruits Basket? But alas… it cannot be…

Setting: This story is set after the anime series.

!!! = setting change

italics = emphasis

-The Plot Thickens-

Ritsu-Hatori closed Hatori's office and placed the sign he had carefully written on the door. The sign said, "I apologize for my boldness, but I must leave early today."

He began walking toward Shigure's house. He needed to find help. If he had to stay in Hatori's body for much longer, he'd have to apologize nonstop for weeks before finally being able to feel unashamed.

!!!

After Mit-chan left (in tears), Shigure-Kyo, Kyo-Shigure, Ayame-Yuki, and Tohru sat down in the living room to discuss the matter at hand.

"I'm sick of this!" complained Kyo-Shigure. "How do we fix it?"

"I have no idea!" Shigure-Kyo said cheerfully. "But—"

Kyo-Shigure glared. "If you weren't in my body, I'd hurt you!"

"Then it's a good thing I am in your body, isn't it?"

Tohru looked at Ayame-Yuki. "Yuki—Ayame-san, do you know if this has ever happened in the family before?"

"No!" Ayame-Yuki said in the same cheerful manner that Shigure had used. "Although I did read a story once about a prince who switched places with a poor boy because he thought it would be fun, although I'm not sure why he thought that would be fun—it'd be infinitely better to be royalty, don't you agree, Tohru-kun? The two boys looked exactly alike, and they both thought that the other boy was luckier, so they switched clothes, and the prince went to play with the poor boy's friends while the poor boy had servants attending to him—" It was amazing how long the man could talk without taking a breath. This was a great feat, considering that he was in Yuki's body, which didn't have the best respiratory system in the world.

Just then, a Sohma with long hair burst into Shigure's house. Yes, of course it was Yuki-Ayame, silly.

"What's going on here?!" Yuki-Ayame demanded. "I woke up this morning to find myself in nii-san's body! And to make matters worse, Kuramae-san made me try on thousands of dresses! And look at my fingers!" he shouted. "I kept getting pricked on those needles! Luckily, I was able to prevent further injury to myself by closing the shop early!"

Ayame-Yuki jumped up and examined the Ayame-body's hands. "Oh, my hands! They're bleeding!" He glanced at Yuki-Ayame's choice of clothing, suddenly distracted. "Where did you get that outfit?" he asked. "That's not my style at all! Did you find it in the back of the closet? Those are all the ones that I never wear, you know—"

Yuki-Ayame was struggling not to strangle the Yuki-body. It would be dangerous to strangle his own body, but his brother was getting rather annoying…

"Calm down, Yuki-kun."

Yuki-Ayame glanced at the Kyo-body. "Don't make me hurt you."

Shigure-Kyo hid behind Tohru. "Remember, don't hit a lady."

Kyo-Shigure harrumphed. Suddenly, he heard the door open. The small blonde whom he knew as Momiji ran inside, heading for the Kyo-body. Shigure-Kyo, however, remembered that Kagura was in Momiji's body and redirected her/him to his own body, which was currently inhabited by Kyo.

"Kyo-kun!"

Oh, no. The only person who called his name in such a sickeningly sweet way was— "Kagura!"

"Shigure no oji-chan."

Shigure-Kyo turned at the sound of the soft male voice. "Ha—Saa-chan, come in." He smiled at his shy cousin and looked over at his own body, which was being pummeled by a small blonde boy. "Kagura, don't damage my body too much."

Kisa-Haru sat down next to Tohru in the living room.

!!!

"Tori-san!" Ayame-Yuki's delighted voice met the ears of everyone in the house.

Tohru turned toward the door. "Hatori-san."

Ritsu-Hatori immediately prostrated himself before the group. I apologize for making you all believe that I am Hatori nii-san! Gomen nasai! Please forgive me!" He paused, then continued, "No, you shouldn't! I don't deserve your forgiveness! I stole another person's body and—!" He was stopped by a poke in the ribs from who he believed was Kyo.

"Rit-chan," said Shigure-Kyo, "calm down."

Yuki's usually soft voice boomed, "Good to see you again, Rit-chan!"

Ritsu-Hatori's head snapped around immediately. "Yuki-san?" Ritsu-Hatori ventured timidly.

"No," sighed Yuki-Ayame. "I'm Yuki."

"Aya nii-san!"

"Yes?" replied Ayame-Yuki.

Ritsu-Hatori was very still for a moment. Then he fainted.

!!!

It was quiet. Too quiet. It was so quiet that the silence was destined to be broken by none other than—

"Hello, everyone! Shii-chan! Yuki! Kyo! Tohruuuu!"

Momiji-Kagura.

He/she skipped cheerfully into the house and immediately latched onto Tohru. "Tohru, I'm so happy! I can finally hug you without transforming!"

"Hey!" Kyo-Shigure pushed Momiji-Kagura to the ground. "Don't get any funny ideas." Before he could do anything else, he found himself crashing through the thin wall.

Kagura-Momiji was standing beside the Kagura-body, a menacing glare in her/his eyes. "Kyo-kun! How dare you injure my body!"

"You're the one injuring me!" Kyo-Shigure yelled back.

"Actually," Shigure-Kyo put in, "you're damaging my body. And my house."

Kagura-Momiji returned to normal. "Gomen ne. I just got so angry that—"

"It's all right, Kagura!" Momiji-Kagura said perkily, bouncing up off the floor. "I'm okay! And your body is okay!"

Yuki-Ayame shook his head. "And I thought things were crazy already…"

!!!

"Hey." Hatori-Ritsu walked through the open front door, closing it behind him.

"Tori-san!" Ayame-Yuki jumped up, correctly identifying him.

Hatori-Ritsu recognized the nickname and said, "Ayame, sit down."

Ayame-Yuki immediately obeyed.

The others in the room sweatdropped.

Yuki-Ayame and Kyo-Shigure were glad that Hatori-Ritsu had arrived, since he was the only one who would be able to control Ayame-Yuki.

!!!

"Hey, inu!" the voice of Hiro could be heard from the front door. Some loud knocks followed the statement. "Why won't anyone answer the door? Are you all just too rude to answer when someone's trying to gain entrance into your house? Can you not even refuse politely? What if it was an emergency? What if—?"

"Hiro-san!" Tohru had finally made it to the door.

"Oh, it's you," the small boy said. He looked at the shorter figure beside him. "I brought Kisa. There's something wrong with her."

Tohru looked politely puzzled. "Hiro-san, you're—you're still you."

Hiro snapped. "Of course I'm me. Who else would I be? Are you stupid?"

Haru-Kisa bowed to Tohru before walking into the house.

Hiro followed him/her, saying, "She kept walking in the wrong direction on the way home, and then she insisted that I bring her here."

"Hiro-san," said Tohru. "There is a problem with the other Jyuunishi. They have all switched bodies with each other."

!!!

"Switched bodies?" Hiro said, entering the living room. "Isn't the curse already enough? Now this happens?"

"Hi-kun," Shigure-Kyo greeted him, "you're here."

"Of course I'm here! Do you think I'd abandon Kisa in that condition? Baka neko."

Kyo-Shigure twitched. "Hey, you little brat, I'm over here."

Hiro ignored him and chose a place to sit.

Shigure-Kyo found it interesting that, in the face of a crisis, the Sohma family members gathered at his house.

Momiji-Kagura was currently sucking on a lollipop. "Kagura, is your tongue red?" He stuck out his/her tongue.

Kagura-Momiji peered at her/his regular body. "It is," she/he nodded.

Momiji-Kagura offered her/him a piece of candy. "Tohru, would you like one too?"

Kyo-Shigure muttered, "That voice is annoying in both Momiji's and Kagura's bodies."

"What did you say?" Kagura-Momiji demanded, beginning to choke him.

"I said—you're—annoying! Momiji's annoying too!"

"Wah, Kyo is so mean to me!" wailed Momiji-Kagura.

"Don't you ever think before you speak?" Yuki-Ayame asked. He was still trying to get used to the feel of having long hair. It swished every time he moved.

Shigure-Kyo smiled perkily. "Kyo-kun always says the wrong thing."

Not helping the situation at all, Ayame-Yuki said, "Kyon-kichi-kun just doesn't understand the fine art of speech. I, on the other hand, have mastered—"

"Anou…"

Everyone stopped bickering for a moment and turned toward Tohru.

"Hiro-san is still normal."

Ten heads swiveled toward the sheep Jyuunishi.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" demanded Hiro. "It's not my fault if I'm the only one who hasn't been changed. I'm glad, though. I'd rather be myself than any of you."

"Did the other Jyuunishi change?" Kagura-Momiji asked.

"Neither of them switched bodies with any of you, so the uma and the ondori must have switched places with each other. Honestly, it's not that difficult to figure out," Hiro scoffed.

"Hiro," Hatori-Ritsu said sternly. Darn that feminine voice of Ritsu's!

Hiro turned away—silent, but unapologetic.

"I remembered once hearing a rumor about something like this happening," Hatori-Ritsu began. "But I didn't believe it until now. I have no idea how to get us out of this mess, but I'll search through the family history to find out if this has occurred before, and if so, how to resolve it."

"Would Akito-san know anything about this?" Tohru ventured.

The Jyuunishi pondered the question.

"Perhaps," said Yuki-Ayame, "but let's not tell him about this unless we absolutely have to. He'll—he'll be our last resort."

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Shigure-Kyo held up a finger as if he had just made an important discovery. "Maybe Kazuma-dono would know something."

Hatori-Ritsu nodded, taking that into account.

"Kisa," Haru-Kisa said suddenly. "I'm sorry, but I accidentally got you in trouble."

His/her regular face looked at him in puzzlement.

"These girls in your class were making fun of you, so I turned Black."

Yuki-Ayame stared at him. "You turned Black in Kisa's body? Haru, that's dangerous. We all have to act like the person whose body we have. We can't let anybody become suspicious. There's already the danger of our changing into our zodiac animals."

"But—" Kisa-Haru began in a small voice. She faltered upon receiving everyone else's attention, but she continued, "I don't understand some of the lessons I had in school today."

"I have a suggestion," Tohru said. "The partners can switch homework after school and return it the next morning."

"Ritsu," said Hatori-Ritsu, another problem dawning on him. "Don't see any patients for a few days. If Akito wants to see me, then go to him. If he seems to be worse than usual, call me for instructions. Otherwise, just pretend to examine him and say that his condition is the same."

"I will do my best not to disappoint you!" Ritsu-Hatori declared. "However, I will probably mess up everything, so I will apologize in advance!" He ran crazily around the room, something that Hatori had never done in his life.

Hatori-Ritsu pulled out the pack of cigarettes he had bought on the way over. He was about to light one of the cigarettes when he was interrupted by the incredibly disturbing sight of his own face twisted in frenetic apology.

"Gomen nasai!" shouted Ritsu-Hatori, earning the stares of everyone else in the room. "Hatori nii-san, I apologize for causing you so much stress that you feel the urge to smoke! Ah!" Something occurred to him then. "I'm also extremely sorry for interrupting you! Please feel free to use my body, since I have stolen yours like a shameless bandit! I am so—!"

"Pi!"

Shigure-Kyo had sneaked up on the frantic Sohma and poked him in the ribs. Ritsu-Hatori immediately fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"Hmm," Shigure-Kyo said, looking at the Hatori-body. He looked at Hatori-Ritsu. "Haa-san, it works even when Rit-chan's in your body!" he announced gleefully.

"Honestly, if this is all we're going to do, then we might as well go home," said Hiro.

"Let's all go home and get some sleep," said Hatori-Ritsu. He wished he had his own voice back. Ritsu's voice didn't have quite as much authority as Hatori's did. "Try to act normal and don't draw attention to yourselves. The last thing we need is to have everyone accidentally changing into animals all over town."

A general rumble of agreement ran through the group, and those who didn't live in Shigure's house got up to leave.

The Jyuunishi needed to find a way to fix themselves soon. They'd drive themselves crazy if they had to stay in each other's bodies for much longer.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: Dang, Ritsu is fun to write… He's hilarious. I hope everyone is in character. Reviews are greatly appreciated.