Broken Bracelet
Title: Broken Bracelet
Author: Viv
Genre: drama/angst/romance
Rating: PG
Fandom: Fruits Basket [manga]
Pairing: Kyo/Yuki
Disclaimer: I don’t even have a single book of the serie.
Summary: You ran, just ran to get away. A monster, this wass all that you were and ever would be. No one would ever care for you. [standalone]
It had happened again.
Only this time, the hands that had ripped your bracelet away were cold and hateful and yet so painfully familiar.
And this time, your bracelet also snapped, its thread unable to withstand the force used to yank the bracelet off of your wrist. You never had the chance to react and stood frozen as black and white beads scattered all around you before harshly gleaming back at you in the grass, as if taunting you.
NO!
In your mind, you were screaming.
But already you could feel pain coursing through your young body, your skin turning darker, stretching and hardening, your limbs changing, your eyes enlarging. You knew you could no longer control your transformation. Had never even had any control over it to begin with.
And so you ran.
With a wild shriek you crouched down and jumped over the shorter, frail figure facing you before disappearing in the woods, a harsh and almost demented laughter echoing in your ears as you fought your way through branches whipping your face, naked torso and arms. You knew you would find many scratches on yourself once you would revert back to human form.
I’m already a monster. Why should I even care what I look like anymore? How can I even change back to being a human again? Scars won’t change anything.
Your bracelet, your reminder of the creature hidden in you and yet the only thing that had kept you somewhat sane until now, could no longer save you. And this time, neither could Tohru.
You should have known what Akito had had in mind when he had announced that there was going to be a celebration for your eighteenth birthday and that the entire family, and especially the twelve cursed, were invited to attend it. You should’ve know that Akito had some kind of devious plan when the latter had insisted on Tohru attending too.
Of course, you, being you, had suspected that something wasn’t quite right. You had seen this day coming with a hint of dread for the last month that preceded the set date.
But you had never expected this.
You ran, ignoring the pain in your limbs, the cuts on your face and arms, the stinging of scratches as droplets of blood were released from your skin. The only thing you could hear, you could remember, was the head of family’s cruel voice, resonating over and over again in your mind.
‘You should be grateful, my dear kitty, for this reunion is for you. I took out of my precious time to organize this for a creature like you. Were it not for me, no one would have cared! They don’t care about you, Kyou, they only came because I told them to.’
And you kept running. You just had to get away from the main house. You couldn’t stop, couldn’t look back. This time, no one would be able to get you. This time, no one would be able to save you.
‘You have no worth, cat! A monster! That’s what you are! You do not deserve to breathe the same air as us, you do not deserve to live! You should be grateful that I pity you too much to kill you, darling kitten, because no one would care if you were to die this instant!’
And you ran and ran and ran, until you stumbled out of the wood and reached the edge of a cliff and found yourself staring down into a seemingly bottomless blue. You gazed on as waves crashed softly against the rocks below, watched one final as the sun was casting its rays over the water, giving it a sense of peace and serenity.
But inside your mind, there was no longer any peace or serenity - was there ever any? An inner war was raging inside of you, thoughts that were killing you little by little, consuming you until you would lose yourself into the hideous beast that you had become.
I can’t go back anymore. There’s nowhere I can go. Nowhere.
Except…
And slowly, ever so slowly, you stepped closer to the edge, your eyes transfixed on the surface of the sea that was glistening and calling out to you.
Just a few more steps, and I will no longer be a burden…
You suddenly let out an anguished cry, Akito’s shrill voice still replaying in your head.
‘You do not deserve to live! Nobody loves you! Nobody! You are a burden! You should have never been born! You are nothing! Nothing to this family, to anyone! Nothing!’
Images of silver hair swaying in the wind and large purple orbs permanently cold or flashing in anger or hate at you flashed through your mind.
… no longer a burden to…
You collapsed back before slowly sitting back up and dragging yourself yet closer to the edge.
And then you fell something gripping your left hand.
“No! Kyou!”
Kagura?
What was she doing here?
And then you felt something grabbing your right hand.
“Don’t do this!”
Momiji?
Two pairs of smaller hands attached themselves to your right limbs, one on your arm, the other on your leg. Panic and fear ran through the childish voices.
“Please, please don’t!”
“You idiot! What are you doing!”
Kisa? Hiro?
Larger hands grabbed your left thigh and you saw a boy not much younger than you, determination flashing through eyes partially hidden by black and white hair.
“Kyou. I’m not letting you go this time.”
Haru…
Someone else grabbed your left elbow and out of the corner of your eyes and there was pain. Pain in knowing that you were to break the promise you had made her a long time ago, when she had first saved him.
Tohru did not say anything as she held tighter onto you, tears already overflowing her large brown eyes.
There was a light rustling and you looked up, startled, as your strange eyes fell on the four adults that stood there, watching you.
Hatori had lost your usually placid expression, Shigure’s face seemed alien without its grin, Ayame’s face seemed strange with its unusually grim expression and Ritsu was eerily calm and quiet.
Close by, you noticed another silhouette looming behind a tree. Kureno, ever so secretive and cold, was watching you intently. Leaning against that tree was another figure, this one slim and shapely, as dark eyes stared at you underneath long black hair; Rin had come too.
Then another person appeared and your eyes widened at the sight of light-colored hair and a seemingly expressionless face. The one person whose pride you had always wanted to become.
But it will never happen, will it? I will never make you proud, I will never be good enough to call myself your son, shishou.
Pity. You didn’t need their pity.
You never saw the worry, the fear, the pain, the despair and the sadness that was underlying each gaze set in your direction at that instant. Instead, you closed your own and turned away helplessly, about ready to free yourself from the hands restraining you and jumping into the welcoming arms of the ocean; the one thing that would not refused you.
With a growl, you clenched your eyes shut and furiously lashed out, effectively releasing yourself from the younger members of cursed twelve and Tohru, and pushed away the thoughts that you might have hurt them.
I’m a monster! Go away from me! Go away! Or I’ll hurt you again!
And suddenly a pair of slim arms wrapped themselves around your shoulders.
“No.”
No.
“No!”
No!
“You can’t leave us!”
Let me go!
“You can’t leave me!”
Let me go, please let me go, or I’ll no longer be able to control myself! Please!
“Kyou! Don’t! Look at me! Look at me, you bastard!”
Your eyes slowly opened and you found yourself gazing into purple orbs. There was anger, pain and despair in them. And something else so intense that you were unable to name.
Warm hands touched your face, and you abruptly turned away but the hands remained and firmly pulled you back.
“Kyou. Please.”
You hesitantly looked back. And lost your breath.
Don’t you know how beautiful you are? Don’t you? I am only filth, a monster next to you. A disgusting creature… but you, you are so pure, so beautiful.
And the pale arms tightened around your neck as a head full of soft silver hair buried itself into your shoulder and a pale boy cried.
“Don’t leave us. Don’t leave me! We need you! I need you! I need you Kyou!”
You don’t. Stop lying. Stop holding me back. You don’t need me.
“I love you, you stupid cat! Don’t you get it! We love you! I love you! I love you, you idiot!”
And your world stopped.
‘I love you!’
NO!
You shoved him away, accidentally leaving cuts on his shoulders.
“You don’t!” you roared, your eyes wide in horror.
Stay away from me! I’ll only hurt you more!
And then you noticed the tears glistening at the corner of his eyes.
“Listen to me! I love you! You stupid cat! I love you, I love you, I love you! I love you Kyou!” he murmured, eyes wide in pain both from the wounds and from your reaction.
He suddenly and quickly reached out again and tenderly cupping your face and leaning in, pressing his warm, soft lips to your shapeless ones in a desperate kiss that ignited something in you.
Something that broke your barriers and you found yourself wrapping your wiry arms around his thin waist, you found yourself burying your hideous face into his milky-white neck as you released a flood of tears that refused to stop.
‘I love you Kyou!’
And you believed him, believed that beautiful boy who was crying with you, who had refused to let you go, and whose heart was beating for you and with yours only. Believed this one boy who had dared to care for you, to love you and to admit it to the world.
I love you.
You burrowed yourself deeper into his embrace, silently asking for more of his warmth against your cold, slick skin, and you kept sobbing and the words that you had been holding back for so long finally escaped.
“I love you, I love you so much… I love you, Yuki.”
And gasps were heard around you.
At the back of your mind, you felt his hand caressing your naked back and his fingers threading through your messy orange hair and that excitement and joy seemed to fill the air around you.
“Kyou.”
His soft voice brought you back and he smiled at you lovingly amid his tears as he held your hand up.
You had turned back into your human form. Your true form.
You saved me.
Behind you and him, Tohru smiled in relief and happiness has Momiji laughed and ran into her arms, only to find himself sitting in her lap, in his human form, while everyone else blinked at them.
But you and Yuki didn’t notice anything as you closed your eyes and shared a second kiss that hinted at a future with much more of these precious moments to come, many more memories together to create. A future together.
And it was a moment later, when the sun was setting, that you realized that you were now complete.
The rat, the boar, the snake, the tiger, the horse, the rooster, the dragon, the ox, the sheep, the dog, the rabbit, the monkey and the cat, yes, the cat, were no more.
The bracelet has been broken. And so has our curse.
---
October 7, 2005
Author: Viv
Genre: drama/angst/romance
Rating: PG
Fandom: Fruits Basket [manga]
Pairing: Kyo/Yuki
Disclaimer: I don’t even have a single book of the serie.
Summary: You ran, just ran to get away. A monster, this wass all that you were and ever would be. No one would ever care for you. [standalone]
It had happened again.
Only this time, the hands that had ripped your bracelet away were cold and hateful and yet so painfully familiar.
And this time, your bracelet also snapped, its thread unable to withstand the force used to yank the bracelet off of your wrist. You never had the chance to react and stood frozen as black and white beads scattered all around you before harshly gleaming back at you in the grass, as if taunting you.
NO!
In your mind, you were screaming.
But already you could feel pain coursing through your young body, your skin turning darker, stretching and hardening, your limbs changing, your eyes enlarging. You knew you could no longer control your transformation. Had never even had any control over it to begin with.
And so you ran.
With a wild shriek you crouched down and jumped over the shorter, frail figure facing you before disappearing in the woods, a harsh and almost demented laughter echoing in your ears as you fought your way through branches whipping your face, naked torso and arms. You knew you would find many scratches on yourself once you would revert back to human form.
I’m already a monster. Why should I even care what I look like anymore? How can I even change back to being a human again? Scars won’t change anything.
Your bracelet, your reminder of the creature hidden in you and yet the only thing that had kept you somewhat sane until now, could no longer save you. And this time, neither could Tohru.
You should have known what Akito had had in mind when he had announced that there was going to be a celebration for your eighteenth birthday and that the entire family, and especially the twelve cursed, were invited to attend it. You should’ve know that Akito had some kind of devious plan when the latter had insisted on Tohru attending too.
Of course, you, being you, had suspected that something wasn’t quite right. You had seen this day coming with a hint of dread for the last month that preceded the set date.
But you had never expected this.
You ran, ignoring the pain in your limbs, the cuts on your face and arms, the stinging of scratches as droplets of blood were released from your skin. The only thing you could hear, you could remember, was the head of family’s cruel voice, resonating over and over again in your mind.
‘You should be grateful, my dear kitty, for this reunion is for you. I took out of my precious time to organize this for a creature like you. Were it not for me, no one would have cared! They don’t care about you, Kyou, they only came because I told them to.’
And you kept running. You just had to get away from the main house. You couldn’t stop, couldn’t look back. This time, no one would be able to get you. This time, no one would be able to save you.
‘You have no worth, cat! A monster! That’s what you are! You do not deserve to breathe the same air as us, you do not deserve to live! You should be grateful that I pity you too much to kill you, darling kitten, because no one would care if you were to die this instant!’
And you ran and ran and ran, until you stumbled out of the wood and reached the edge of a cliff and found yourself staring down into a seemingly bottomless blue. You gazed on as waves crashed softly against the rocks below, watched one final as the sun was casting its rays over the water, giving it a sense of peace and serenity.
But inside your mind, there was no longer any peace or serenity - was there ever any? An inner war was raging inside of you, thoughts that were killing you little by little, consuming you until you would lose yourself into the hideous beast that you had become.
I can’t go back anymore. There’s nowhere I can go. Nowhere.
Except…
And slowly, ever so slowly, you stepped closer to the edge, your eyes transfixed on the surface of the sea that was glistening and calling out to you.
Just a few more steps, and I will no longer be a burden…
You suddenly let out an anguished cry, Akito’s shrill voice still replaying in your head.
‘You do not deserve to live! Nobody loves you! Nobody! You are a burden! You should have never been born! You are nothing! Nothing to this family, to anyone! Nothing!’
Images of silver hair swaying in the wind and large purple orbs permanently cold or flashing in anger or hate at you flashed through your mind.
… no longer a burden to…
You collapsed back before slowly sitting back up and dragging yourself yet closer to the edge.
And then you fell something gripping your left hand.
“No! Kyou!”
Kagura?
What was she doing here?
And then you felt something grabbing your right hand.
“Don’t do this!”
Momiji?
Two pairs of smaller hands attached themselves to your right limbs, one on your arm, the other on your leg. Panic and fear ran through the childish voices.
“Please, please don’t!”
“You idiot! What are you doing!”
Kisa? Hiro?
Larger hands grabbed your left thigh and you saw a boy not much younger than you, determination flashing through eyes partially hidden by black and white hair.
“Kyou. I’m not letting you go this time.”
Haru…
Someone else grabbed your left elbow and out of the corner of your eyes and there was pain. Pain in knowing that you were to break the promise you had made her a long time ago, when she had first saved him.
Tohru did not say anything as she held tighter onto you, tears already overflowing her large brown eyes.
There was a light rustling and you looked up, startled, as your strange eyes fell on the four adults that stood there, watching you.
Hatori had lost your usually placid expression, Shigure’s face seemed alien without its grin, Ayame’s face seemed strange with its unusually grim expression and Ritsu was eerily calm and quiet.
Close by, you noticed another silhouette looming behind a tree. Kureno, ever so secretive and cold, was watching you intently. Leaning against that tree was another figure, this one slim and shapely, as dark eyes stared at you underneath long black hair; Rin had come too.
Then another person appeared and your eyes widened at the sight of light-colored hair and a seemingly expressionless face. The one person whose pride you had always wanted to become.
But it will never happen, will it? I will never make you proud, I will never be good enough to call myself your son, shishou.
Pity. You didn’t need their pity.
You never saw the worry, the fear, the pain, the despair and the sadness that was underlying each gaze set in your direction at that instant. Instead, you closed your own and turned away helplessly, about ready to free yourself from the hands restraining you and jumping into the welcoming arms of the ocean; the one thing that would not refused you.
With a growl, you clenched your eyes shut and furiously lashed out, effectively releasing yourself from the younger members of cursed twelve and Tohru, and pushed away the thoughts that you might have hurt them.
I’m a monster! Go away from me! Go away! Or I’ll hurt you again!
And suddenly a pair of slim arms wrapped themselves around your shoulders.
“No.”
No.
“No!”
No!
“You can’t leave us!”
Let me go!
“You can’t leave me!”
Let me go, please let me go, or I’ll no longer be able to control myself! Please!
“Kyou! Don’t! Look at me! Look at me, you bastard!”
Your eyes slowly opened and you found yourself gazing into purple orbs. There was anger, pain and despair in them. And something else so intense that you were unable to name.
Warm hands touched your face, and you abruptly turned away but the hands remained and firmly pulled you back.
“Kyou. Please.”
You hesitantly looked back. And lost your breath.
Don’t you know how beautiful you are? Don’t you? I am only filth, a monster next to you. A disgusting creature… but you, you are so pure, so beautiful.
And the pale arms tightened around your neck as a head full of soft silver hair buried itself into your shoulder and a pale boy cried.
“Don’t leave us. Don’t leave me! We need you! I need you! I need you Kyou!”
You don’t. Stop lying. Stop holding me back. You don’t need me.
“I love you, you stupid cat! Don’t you get it! We love you! I love you! I love you, you idiot!”
And your world stopped.
‘I love you!’
NO!
You shoved him away, accidentally leaving cuts on his shoulders.
“You don’t!” you roared, your eyes wide in horror.
Stay away from me! I’ll only hurt you more!
And then you noticed the tears glistening at the corner of his eyes.
“Listen to me! I love you! You stupid cat! I love you, I love you, I love you! I love you Kyou!” he murmured, eyes wide in pain both from the wounds and from your reaction.
He suddenly and quickly reached out again and tenderly cupping your face and leaning in, pressing his warm, soft lips to your shapeless ones in a desperate kiss that ignited something in you.
Something that broke your barriers and you found yourself wrapping your wiry arms around his thin waist, you found yourself burying your hideous face into his milky-white neck as you released a flood of tears that refused to stop.
‘I love you Kyou!’
And you believed him, believed that beautiful boy who was crying with you, who had refused to let you go, and whose heart was beating for you and with yours only. Believed this one boy who had dared to care for you, to love you and to admit it to the world.
I love you.
You burrowed yourself deeper into his embrace, silently asking for more of his warmth against your cold, slick skin, and you kept sobbing and the words that you had been holding back for so long finally escaped.
“I love you, I love you so much… I love you, Yuki.”
And gasps were heard around you.
At the back of your mind, you felt his hand caressing your naked back and his fingers threading through your messy orange hair and that excitement and joy seemed to fill the air around you.
“Kyou.”
His soft voice brought you back and he smiled at you lovingly amid his tears as he held your hand up.
You had turned back into your human form. Your true form.
You saved me.
Behind you and him, Tohru smiled in relief and happiness has Momiji laughed and ran into her arms, only to find himself sitting in her lap, in his human form, while everyone else blinked at them.
But you and Yuki didn’t notice anything as you closed your eyes and shared a second kiss that hinted at a future with much more of these precious moments to come, many more memories together to create. A future together.
And it was a moment later, when the sun was setting, that you realized that you were now complete.
The rat, the boar, the snake, the tiger, the horse, the rooster, the dragon, the ox, the sheep, the dog, the rabbit, the monkey and the cat, yes, the cat, were no more.
The bracelet has been broken. And so has our curse.
---
October 7, 2005