Hi there! This fic is written in response to the "Furuba Challenge" set by author pichuchu29!

Summary: This will loosely follow the Disney version of the Beauty and the Beast plot line, although I don't think that Walt Disney would approve of the fact that this has turned into a yaoi-love story…Yeah, so if you don't like that then don't read. You'll be introduced to the characters in their new roles as the story progresses, but please note that most of them are OOC and the Sohma Curse does not apply to some people e.g. Yuki is not the rat in this story. I'll try to explain as I go but if anyone has problems feel free to let me know and I'll type up an explanation.

OK, enough waffling, time to get on with it!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fruits Basket or Beauty and the Beast, nor do I own the concept of the "Furuba Challenge", I'm only a contestant!

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"Different Forms of Love"

Once upon a time in Japan, there was a large estate belonging to a most important and secretive royal family.

Due to years of mistrust and reclusive behaviour, the current owner and ruler of this estate was one of many princes that had made up the family, but he was also the last of them all.

Although he was very handsome, he also had a lack of control over his ugly temper, and a great mistrusting of the rest of mankind who had shunned he and his family for many generations, un-accepting of the other forms they possessed when their raw emotions were exposed.

And so the prince stayed locked away in his estate, the buildings being the only thing that linked him with the rest of his late family, but only because he remained.

With only his loyal servants for company, the young prince became as reclusive as his fathers before him, mistrusting and eventually hating the thought of any outsider being near him or his home. Terrified of the rumours and stories surrounding the family, no one from the nearby village dared to even approach the gates of the Sohma estate.

No one, that is, until the dark, stormy night before the prince's thirteenth birthday, when someone knocked upon the doors…

The prince himself opened them to find an old crone standing out in the night, her hooded cape doing little to protect her from the pouring rain. She explained that she was a poor and homeless wanderer, and if she were to be granted the shelter of the estate for just one night, she could only repay the kindness with a simple string of black and white beads.

The prince, who had much money and many marvellous trinkets, merely sneered at the gift, and went to turn the crone away. The old woman warned him not to judge anything in life by appearances or society's expectations of how things should be.

Confused by her words and enraged by her behaviour, the prince's temper flared and he demanded she leave his presence immediately and never return.

But as he tried to remove her from the estate, the old woman suddenly pulled back the black hood of her rain-soaked cape, revealing herself to be not old at all, but a raven-haired young girl, with light-less eyes. It was none other than the great enchantress of legend, Saki Hanajima.

Gasping with shock, the prince begged for her forgiveness, but it was too late, for he had already shown his true colours.

Disgusted by the young prince's temper and lack of compassion towards his fellow people, the enchantress placed a curse upon him as punishment for his selfish ways, using her magic to change his body into a vision of his ugly temper, and the prince became his true form.

She told the prince that he would remain in this form, all his servants would take the forms of different animals, depending on their true natures, and the estate would be plunged into darkness.

But there was still a chance for the prince to redeem himself and change fate. If the prince could see past his prejudices and allow himself to fall in love with someone who could love him in return before his seventeenth birthday, then the curse would be lifted. If not, however, they would all remain as cursed Zodiac animals forever.

With a swish of black cloak, she was gone, melting into the night as the rain continued to fall over the transformed estate. On the wet ground there lay sparkling in the moonlight a small crystal orb containing the string of beads, the gift floating mysteriously in the invisible air inside the crystal.

Clutching the ball in what was once a hand, the prince howled at the cursed night, retreating further into the estate buildings, into himself, as all around him his once-beautiful home fell into disrepair, the servants' new animal forms unable to cope with the usual duties.

And so, as the years passed, the small woods that surrounded the Sohma estate grew wild, spreading up and around the walls, becoming a dark forest. The inhabitants of the village on the Outside of the forest soon forgot about the buildings that lay at the heart of the black trees, and forgot about the family who had once lived there.

For three long years, nothing was heard from the Beast that had once been Prince Kyo Sohma.

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Ok that's it for the prologue! Sorry it's kinda short but it sets the scene and the next couple of chapters will be really long, in fact I could probably finish this in two more parts if I can be bothered…Anyway let me know what you all think!

Lia