Author's Note:
Upon seeing a challenge written out by pichuchu29, I decided to write a remake of the classic Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, in a Furuba style! I guess being bored really does make people do crazy things, huh? Anyways, although I'm a die-hard YukiRu fan, this is a KyoRu. It just fit the story better than a YukiRu.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Fruits Basket – that belongs to Natsuki Takaya. For that matter, I don't own Beauty and the Beast either, because it belongs to Disney.
Prologue
The wind raced through the trees, creating a rather eerie sound throughout the Kumori Forest. An occasional earsplitting howl crossed through the sky, causing a few frightened mice to scramble through the underbrush.
Amidst all of this, only one thing seemed out of place. A hunched, cloaked figure strolled casually up a grassy path towards a large, fenced-off castle. The entire castle was made out of pure, white marble, with several ascending towers with angelic gargoyles perched on top. Beyond the iron gates sat two silver-coated fountains with streams of water pouring out from every possible angle, along with a beautiful garden with blossoming flowers and a menagerie full of exotic birds.
All in all, the appearance was very welcoming to any passerby, including the person who had now approached the entrance and was peering through the iron grates with interest. With a gentle push, the gates swung open, and the figure continued her way towards the castle doors.
Unfortunately, as the old phrase said, appearances could be deceiving. That saying couldn't have been any truer.
Three loud knocks. That's all it took to gain the attention of the owner. With a powerful slam, the door swung open, revealing a rather irritated young man. His blood red eyes shone with suppressed anger, and his fiery orange hair glistened as the moonlight shone down on it. The man seemed to be rather wealthy, with a vibrant black silk cloak hiding away most of his body from the world, with the exception oh his head and gloved hands. Staring down at the person in utter disgust, he spat out, "Yeah, what the hell do you want, you old hag?"
The woman answered by raising a feeble hand towards the youth, breathing out in a raspy voice at the same time, "Please, young master… I need a place to stay tonight… would you not let me stay here? Just for one night?"
The boy's face contorted in anger, and with a fierce growl he swatted the hand away, "Not in a million years, wench," he snarled, eyeing the woman out of the corner of his eye, "Who do you think you are, anyway?"
To his surprise, the cloak was thrown off of the woman. He was blinded for a second by a powerful, direct burst of white light. He pressed his eyes shut, letting out a cry or shock and pain as he stumbled backwards, rubbing the light-sensitive orbs softly to try to clear his vision.
It seemed like an eternity before the boy re-opened his eyes, daring to look at the source.
He gasped, whole-heartedly regretting his earlier actions towards the woman. She was beautiful, with flowing blonde hair cascading towards the center of her back, and bright blue eyes that stared down at the prince in a calm, yet agitated, manner. Her white gown flowed around her, as if pushed by an invisible force.
The prince took a nervous gulp, "Ah, damn. Look you know, when I said that… I really didn't mean it… You… you can stay the night if you wi—Gah!"
His reply cut off as he slumped down to his knees and elbows, clutching his head with his hands in pain. In a split second, his eyes dilated, changing from the previous red-brown to a dark, violent purple. His entire body trembled as it slowly began to mutilate and transform. His skin began melting and hardening over and over, slowly turning his skin to a hideous dark green color. A screech resounded through the air as the bones in his face started rearranging itself to the structure of a large lizard. His teeth quickly jutted outwards, forming two rows of huge canines.
As though that wasn't enough, the prince's ears steadily began to soften and extend, while at the same time gliding their way to the top of Kyo's head, nestling themselves in his orange hair, although it was slowly ebbing away.
The final parts of the transformation began to take place as the prince's hands bulged with newfound muscles, sharp claws sprouting from the fingers to match the new size. The previous raspy, pained breathing died down as the transformation ended.
Shaking slightly, the prince looked at his new hands, and the mild shaking quickly turned to trembling as he buried his face in his hands, biting back a shriek that threatened to escape. His eyes widened somewhat as he felt something foreign pressing against his left cheek. Hesitantly, he looked down at his wrist, and a band of black and white prayer beads graced his vision. Confused, he reached out his other hand to touch it, only to receive some sort of shock. He hissed, glaring up at the goddess.
"What the hell did you do to me!"
The Goddess merely stared down at him, a small smile gracing her features. She motioned towards the beads on the princes' wrist, "As long as those are there, you and your castle will be forever cursed; however, if you are able to love before your twenty-first year, and earn their love in return, the curse will be broken…"
The monster trembled with rage, glaring at the goddess in hate. With a blood-curdling screech, he bounded off back into his castle, leaping over the flights of stairs as though they didn't exist.
As the goddess began to fade away, one final line of speech escaped from her mouth:
"Good luck…"
Kyo… Over the years, the prince lost all hope of the curse ever being broken. He began to draw away from the outside world, and barely even came down to eat. He was repulsed by himself, and had begun to slowly feel nothing but hate and contempt towards anyone or anything that came near him. And thus begins a story of finding love in the most bizarre way possible…
Learn To Love
Chapter One
"Crushed Visions"
By: Winter Sapphire
Tohru Honda sighed as she left the building she worked in. It has been a long, hard day for her. First, it was high school. Although she was eighteen, and graduating at the end of the year, she was still picked on by a lot of people – even lower classmen. If it hadn't been for the support of her two friends, she doubted she would have made it this far.
A small, content smile suddenly crossed Tohru's features at the thought of Arisa and Saki crossed her mind. She loved those two; they were always there for her, like older sisters. Whenever she got into a tight spot, they would be there to bail her out. How they did it, Tohru still didn't know. Perhaps it had something to do with Saki's psychic abilities.
Tohru stopped suddenly as she felt herself push into something else. She lifted her head slowly, confused, and instantly toke a step backwards, "O-oh, gomen! I wasn't watching where I was going! Please forgive me!" She bowed quickly, a soft blush of embarrassment crossing over her face. She couldn't believe she had just done that. Sure, she'd developed a reputation as a klutz, but to actually bump into someone? It was more embarrassment than she could bear.
A small, amused chuckle snapped her out of her reverie, "Honda-san, there's no reason to fret. I know it was an accident."
Blinking slowly, Tohru looked up, gasping in surprise as the face of a relatively young man came into view, "Sohma-sensei!" She jumped backwards, bowing to the dark-haired man once more. He smiled mischievously while she wasn't looking before turning back to his usual bored look.
"Please, Honda-san. We're not in school. You may call me Akito. Actually, I would prefer it if you called me Akito," he said, giving the girl a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"H-hai…" Tohru mumbled, nodding her head, "So… Soh- I mean, Akito-san? May I ask what you're doing out here? Ah! Of course, it's not my place to ask! You don't have to answer!" Tohru panicked, bowing repeatedly for her lack of respect.
"Honda-san, calm down. Actually, I was out waiting for you to get off work," Akito responded calmly, waiting to see his student's reaction.
Tohru blinked, glancing up to look at his face, "Eh? Oh… But, how'd you know that I worked here?" She tilted her head to the side, her eyebrows scrunching up as she tried to figure it out on her own.
To answer, Akito reached into his coat and pulled out a slip of paper. Tohru blinked, taking it as he held it out for her, and looked it over. She looked up at him, her eyes questioning.
"My school registration? How'd you get this? It should still be in the office, where the principal can get it easily…"
The teacher's answer was short and to the point, "I took it."
Tohru's eyes widened slightly, "You… you mean you stole it, Akito-san? But… why? You can get fired for that! I don't want you to loose your job over me!"
Akito shook his head, "Calm down, Honda-san, I'm not concerned about my job as of right now. I'm more concerned about you."
Tohru's face turned scarlet as he said that, "Ah, what? A-about me? Why? There's nothing wrong! I'm fine, really!"
A small smile crossed Akito's face as he took a step forward, grasping Tohru by the shoulders roughly, digging his nails into her shoulders. He whispered something then, so low that Tohru wasn't sure of what he said.
"I never said you weren't."
His lips connected with hers roughly, catching the young woman completely by surprise. Unceremoniously, he pried her lips open with his tongue, quickly darting it in and out of her mouth.
When Tohru failed to respond to Akito's forced kiss, he growled, bringing his left hand behind her head to push her in while using his other to grab one of her hands and bring it up to his face.
Tohru blinked, suddenly realizing what was happening. Scared, she began to struggle, attempting to push Akito away with her free hand. She gasped in pain as the nails digging into her shoulder. Realizing she couldn't do anything to stop him, Tohru shut her eyes as they began trembling with held back tears. "Help…"
As if on cue, Akito's hands dragged themselves out of Tohru's flesh to grab the back of his head. The man dropped to his knees, air seething through his teeth in pain. Tohru instantly backed up, dropping to her own knees as she tried to recover from the shock of what had just happened.
Arisa Uotani glowered down at Akito, pure hate clearly visible on her face. In a moment of rage, she lifted her lead pipe again, ready to strike the teacher until he was either unconscious, or dead. She was literally hoping for the latter. The soft-spoken voice of Saki Hanajima, however, roused Arisa from her thoughts as she spoke.
"Arisa, don't. He's not worth getting thrown in prison for," the girl warned, hurriedly walking past Akito to see how Tohru was fairing, "Tohru-kun, Tohru-kun."
The girl raised her head slightly in surprise, her tear-filled teal eyes meeting Saki's dark brown ones, "Eh-h? Hana-chan?" Quickly, her gaze shifted over to where Arisa was, her hand resting on the top of her lead pipe, as if giving Akito the silent warning that he better not try anything.
"Uo-chan…? How – why? When?" Tohru stuttered, not quite sure what to say to her rescuers. The ex-Yankee sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair.
"Hana has another one of those 'feelings' she gets when one of us is in trouble," Arisa explained, "Since we were out at the mall together, we knew it had to be you. So, we came running. Looks like we came just in time, too."
Angrily, Arisa once again glared down at Akito, her hand balling into a fist, "If you ever – ever – come near Tohru again, you won't be alive long enough to apologize. Got it, punk?" She growled, not even waiting for an answer as she walked over to Saki and Tohru. Her gaze followed Akito as he slowly stood up and walked across the street and out of sight.
Saki, too, watched, before returning her gaze back towards Tohru, "Tohru-kun…? Come on, Arisa and I will take you home."
Mutely, Tohru nodded, allowing the two girls to support her as she stood up.
Watching resolutely from the window of a nearby apartment, Akito Sohma's mouth curved into a malicious smirk.
"Seiichi," he called out in a whisper. A teenaged boy quickly hurried to his side, brushing his brown hair out of his eyes as he bowed to the man.
"H-hai, Akito-sama…?" he answered, fear evident in his voice.
"That's the girl. I need her," Akito said, eyeing the boy to watch his reaction. Seiichi's eyes widened, and he looked up at Akito with a disbelieving look in his eyes.
"Honda-san, Akito-sama? I-I don't understand, I mean… she's a klutz, she's not to bright, and she's extremely dense. So, why…?"
"You've answered your own question," Akito calmly replied, his smirk fading as he watched the boy, "She's extremely dense. I can easily manipulate her mind and get her to fall in love with me," the smirk reappeared before he finished, "And by then, she'll be in just as much pain as I am now."
He frowned then, his cold eyes quickly scanning over her two friends.
"Unfortunately, those two are a nuisance. They'll have to be dealt with. Seiichi, I'm leaving it up to you to figure out how."
And he spun around, his kimono trailing behind him as he disappeared from the room. Seiichi stood rooted to the same spot, his eyes wide as they followed the conceited man as he left.
Tohru had just arrived at her grandfather's house, and was soon trudging her way up the stairs to her room. She heard her two friends shuffling behind her, probably to make sure she didn't fall down the stairs.
As she reached her room, Tohru heard Saki speak one more time.
"Tohru-kun, we're going to travel to a nearby town to find a policeman to arrest Akito; the ones here are too fond of him to believe us. Would you mind if we borrowed Rin and your grandfather's cart to get there?" she asked, resting her left hand lightly on top of Tohru's shoulder.
The girl blinked, glancing at her two friends with shock, "What? A-arrest Sohma-sensei? I- no, we can't… That'd be rude…" she stuttered, shaking her head furiously.
"Tohru-kun, I don't care if it's rude or not; that jackass hurt you, and Hana and I are going to do something about it," Uo scoffed, her hands clenching into fists again.
Tohru sighed, "Well, o-okay, Uo-chan… but… be careful…" she murmured, stumbling the rest of her way to her bed, yawning slightly. She heard the door close behind her, and unconsciously, she muttered out two words:
"Be Safe."
Author's Note:
Well, I know that not much happened in this chapter, but I had to cut off the chapter at a reasonable point. I'm sorry there wasn't much on the curse in this chapter, but I thought it would be an overkill to go any farther. Well, I'm going to be at Otakon (an anime convention) for the next three days, so I won't have too much time to type then.
But, on the up side, the voices of Hatsuharu and Ritsu are going to be there – yay! I implore you to review if you read this, and I'll be seeing you again as soon as possible.
- Winter Sapphire