Disclaimer: I claim no rights or ownership to Fruits Basket, written by the wonderful Natsuki Tayaka.

Shattered Innocence

Taken

Warnings: I’m putting these right here. Please read before you continue any further. In this fic, there will be: Rape, Abuse, Swearing (That one is pretty much impossible not to have in FB), possible cutting, and if I think of anything else, I’ll let ya know.

This will NOT be a yaoi. I think the pairings I will have are Yuki/Tohru and Kyo/Kagura, but nothing is definite. But no matter what, Shattered Innocence will not turn yaoi.

Rain pounded down on the ground, fat, large drops soaking everything in sight. The wind howled through the trees, blowing a cold chill over the unfortunate who happened to be out at this time, adding to their misery. Lightning crackled through the sky, thunder rumbling overhead and seeming to make the very ground tremble in its wake.

A large, leafy sycamore tree stood alone, weathering this storm to the end, branches blowing wildly and the giant swaying from side to side. Beneath the trembling tree, a teenager lay hunched over among the large roots, blue jacket pulled as tight around him as he could make it.

Bright, orange locks of hair were plastered to his face from the raging storm, his body shivering from the cold, slumping in exhaustion. The thin, tan cargo pants he wore were of almost no protection against the icy torrent, the constant drumming of rain on his body adding to his problems.

“What the hell was I thinking?” Kyo growled to himself, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Shigure and Tohru both said it might rain…and what do I do? Damn it all!”

Flashback

“What is wrong with everyone here?” Kyo snarled, looking at each member in the room. “Tohru, you’re too frickin’ nice sometimes! Why can’t you just not care for once?” The girl stepped back, tears welling up in her large blue eyes, as she stared at Kyo. She knew the Cat had trouble controlling his temper, but he hadn’t lashed out at her for quite a while now.

“Why can’t you all just leave me alone? Every second of the day you’re all constantly checking up on me, seeing if I need anything. I don’t need your concern!”

“And there’s no reason to yell at Honda-san,” Yuki snapped, purple eyes glimmering in anger. “All she’s done is be nice to all of us!”

“Whatever. I’m leaving.”

“You know you can’t leave,” Shigure said, standing calmly in front of the door. “Akito said you are to remain here.”

“I’m just going out for a few fucking minutes! He can’t stop me from doing that.”

“It’s supposed to rain today, Kyo-kun,” Tohru said hesitantly, putting a light hand on Kyo’s arm.

“That’s what the weather forecast has said,” added Shigure. “It might not be good for you to be going out.”

“Just leave me the hell alone!” the orange haired boy cried, sprinting past the startled Dog and out the front door.

“Why is Kyo-kun so angry?” Tohru whispered, looking dejectedly at the floor.

“The weather is just making him short-tempered,” Shigure reassured the distraught girl. “Don’t worry, he’ll come back in a little while and just mope around. He always does feel bad when he snaps at you, don’t pay him any mind.”

“But shouldn’t we go out and look for him?”

“That stupid Cat can take care of himself,” Yuki hissed. “Let him die for all I care.”

“You don’t mean that, do you Yuki-kun?”

“Of course Yuki doesn’t,” Shigure butted in before the Rat could talk. “He’s just upset too. Now let’s go have some of those delicious cakes Tohru-kun so kindly made us.”

Ushering the two into the kitchen, they all sat down to enjoy a light snack, while the Cat sprinted away, just needing to be alone.

End Flashback

“What’s this? Is the freak all alone? Did your friends abandon you? Poor kitty,” mocked a young man, standing in front of Kyo, disgust clear on his face.

“Go to hell, Akito,” Kyo hissed, attempting to rise to his feet, only to fall back down with a thump on the ground, his strength having left him from the dreary weather.

“Awww, why can’t the freak stand?”

Akito knelt down on the ground, catching both of Kyo’s hands as he tried to punch the head of the Sohma family, crying out in pain as Akito cruelly twisted them. “Let go,” he growled, struggling weakly in the much stronger grasp.

“And let you hit me? I don’t think so, Kyo-chan,” the man scoffed, suddenly throwing his weight forward and ramming Kyo against the tree. “Aren’t you even going to fight back?” Akito chuckled, deep black eyes boring into the red. “Oh wait, I forgot. You’re too weak.”

“I am not!” the Neko hissed, slamming his knees upward into Akito’s stomach. With a surprised gasp, the man released Kyo’s wrists and sat back, clutching his stomach, eyes glittering with malice.

Scrambling to his feet, Kyo made to get away, but his ankle was grabbed and he fell back to the muddy ground with thud. “Why are you running,” Akito said softly, dragging Kyo towards him, the Cat digging his nails in the ground in an attempt to stop. “Are you scared of me?”

“Fucking bastard,” the Neko spat, trying now to kick Akito once more, though he was unsuccessful. “What the hell do you want from me?”

“The freak actually has a brain, what a surprise,” Akito chuckled. “Come back to the house and I’ll tell you.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” the Cat snarled, fighting to break free of the iron grasp on his legs, one of Akito’s knees now pressing deep into his back and making moving quite difficult. “You hate me! Just leave me alone!”

“And that’s exactly why I wish to speak to you,” the man smirked, wrapping both slender hands around Kyo’s neck. “Don’t worry Kyo-chan, you’ll see what I mean shortly.”

The boy’s struggles slowly faded as his world began to go black, his air supply being cut off. ‘Tohru…Shigure…help…me…’ were his last thoughts before at last everything fell to darkness.

When the Cat awoke, he found his hands and feet bound with a thick, coarse rope, a gag in his mouth. Hissing in anger, the boy struggled to sit up, when a soft, yet hated voice, sounded. “It looks like the kitty finally woke up,” Akito smiled, coming out of a dark corner. “I was beginning to wonder how much longer.”

Kyo only glared at the man with loathing, eyes burning deep with hatred. “Tell me, Kyo-chan, how does it feel to be nothing?” Akito asked, kneeling in front of Kyo. “To be hated by everyone and despised for what you are? To know that with a simple tug your bracelet will come off and you’ll be a monster?”

Kyo suddenly lunged, tackling Akito and driving them both to the floor. Using his bound wrists, he rammed them continually down on the head’s face, his intent to do as much harm as possible.

But with ease, Akito stood up, one of his hands clamped around Kyo’s neck, before he threw him with surprising strength against one of the walls, the Neko crumpling to the ground. The gag had been untied in the struggle and Kyo was using it to his full advantage. As Akito approached and picked up the boy’s head, he lunged again, sinking his teeth into the man’s shoulder.

With a howl of rage, Akito grabbed the Cat by his hair and once more threw him across the room. But this time, before Kyo could retaliate, he slammed his fists down on the back of the Neko’s head, Kyo momentarily seeing spots.

Given the opportunity, Akito was quick to twist Kyo’s arms, the boy screaming in pain as something snapped, his right wrist now dangling at an awkward angle from its bond. Dropping Kyo to the floor, Akito placed one booted foot on the broken wrist and stomped down, clearly enjoying seeing the young boy in pain.

“Do you want me to tell you now?” he whispered in Kyo’s ear, ignoring the anguished whimpers. “Do you want to know why you’re here?”

“I’m worried,” said Tohru, standing in front of the door, hands clasped. “Kyo-kun’s been gone a very long time…and in this weather…” Still, rain was pouring down in a mad torrent, so hard that it was bouncing back up after impacting the earth.

“He has been missing for over three hours,” Shigure murmured, coming to stand next to Tohru. “But he’s probably just waiting the storm out one of the shops downtown.” Deep down though, the Dog was beginning to feel like something was very wrong, and his worry for the Cat was growing every second.

“He’ll come back when he wants to,” Yuki said softly, smiling at Tohru. “Don’t worry about that baka Neko, he’ll be fine.” Yuki was also slightly concerned over Kyo’s disappearance, but he brushed it off rather quickly.

“Should we go out and look for him?” asked Tohru, already going to get her jacket.

“No,” said Shigure, holding out a hand to stop her. “He could be anywhere, and I won’t have any of us running around in this weather. You just got over a cold, Tohru-Kun, and I don’t want you to get sick again.”

“Besides,” said Yuki, “the most that’ll happen is he’ll get a rather bad cold and be on bed rest.”

“Something just doesn’t feel right,” the girl whispered, leaving the door and sitting down on the floor. “I know Kyo-kun was very angry and might not want to return home, but he knows when he’s too tired and to come and get rest. He was tired even before it started raining…I can’t imagine how he must be feeling right now.”

“If he isn’t back by morning, I’ll go looking for him while you two are in school,” comforted Shigure, trying to put the girl more at ease. “Don’t worry, Kyo will be fine.”

As the trio settled down to eat dinner, it was strangely silent, Tohru’s bubbly chatter that normally accompanied meals having faded. Every few seconds, she’d glance towards the front door, expecting Kyo to come in and demand food.

The tenseness didn’t disappear as the group retired to their rooms, Tohru and Yuki finishing up homework from Friday and Shigure writing some more of his novel, wanting, if possible, to avoid another incident with his editor.

But no ones heart was in their work. Tohru abandoned the book she was supposed to be reading for her English class and walked over to her desk, picking up the picture of her mother. “Oh mom,” she sighed, hugging it to her chest. “I just know something is wrong with Kyo-kun. But I don’t know what.”

Climbing back into bed, the girl turned off her lamp and curled up, the picture clutched in her arms. Minutes later, she’d fallen asleep, the storm still raging outside as it sang its haunting lullaby.

In the next room over, Yuki was neatly writing the last answer to his science homework in his notebook. Glancing out the window, the rat felt a pang of guilt strike deep in his chest before he shook it off.

He was one of the reasons Kyo had taken off. The Cat had challenged him once more, and had lost as normal. But this time, Yuki had actually laughed in his face, making fun of the Neko before going back inside, leaving Kyo bruised in not just body.

He didn’t know why he’d made fun of the Cat, he rarely ever did, but Kyo seemed to have taken the teasing worse that day. Maybe it was because he hadn’t even lasted a whole five seconds. Maybe it was because the weather was making him cranky and taking everything the wrong way. In any case, Kyo had taken off soon afterwards and hadn’t returned.

Thunder rumbled in the sky, a sudden chill filling up the room. A short image of Akito flashed in the Rat’s mind and he shuddered, quickly packing up his books. ‘Don’t think about him,’ the Rat scolded himself, changing into pajamas and crawling into bed. ‘Just think about something nice…something like…Tohru.’ That thought in mind, Yuki fell asleep, curled contently in his futon.

Across the hall, Shigure continued to stare at a blank piece of paper, pen idly in hand. No matter how hard he tried to write his novel, the young Cat’s face kept appearing on the page, looking worried or upset.

“He survived four months in the mountains,” Shigure said to himself, “He’ll be fine for one day in this weather. But…why do I have this bad feeling?”

Abandoning the paper, Shigure went to stand in front of his window, looking for any sign of Kyo coming up the front driveway. But flashes of lightning were all he saw, the rain pouring down faster.

“I can see I’m not going to get any work done,” the Dog muttered, turning off his light and changing into his yukata, leaving the blank page open on his desk. “I left the front door open, so if Kyo does come back he’ll be able to get in…”

Minutes passed, and Shigure fell into a light sleep, his worry for Kyo still growing.

Kyo didn’t say a word, tears gathering in his eyes as Akito still stepped on his broken wrist, his fingers digging into the boy’s back. “…y-yes,” he choked out after a few seconds.

“I’ll tell you then,” Akito murmured, not releasing his grip any. “You may be the Cat, despised by most, but you aren’t disliked by all. That bitch, Tohru, certainly seems to care a lot about you.”

“Don’t…you dare…harm Tohru,” Kyo growled, anger flashing in his red orbs.

“I won’t touch her, don’t you worry. My business is with you. But even Shigure cares somewhat for you. And let’s not forget the lovely Kagura. How she could ever like you, much less love you is beyond me. Maybe she needs to be taught a lesson as well.”

“But no,” he mused, stroking a hand through Kyo’s hair. “It will be punishment enough when she sees what I’ve done to you…yes, that will work well.”

Fear gripped the Cat’s heart. He could survive a beating, or insults. Hell, he was beaten by Yuki almost everyday, bruises didn’t bother him any longer. And when he’d been small, he’d become accustomed to the jeers and taunting. So what did Akito have up his sleeve?

“The reason I brought you here, is I want to get what I deserve. And you get what you deserve. I know in just a few months, I’ll have you locked up in that little room, and you’ll never come out. But that isn’t enough. I want you to suffer like I do. You are cursed by the Cat, but yet you can still live a normal life, so long as no one removes your beads. As for me…I am constantly plagued by illness, having the burden of this family on me. And I will not let a creature like you live better then me. My goal is to break you…like no one ever has before. I can already see we’re going to have a lot of fun, aren’t we Kyo-Chan?”

“Get…away from me!” Kyo yelled, slamming his legs against Akito’s side, trying to get the man away from him. The hits though, seemed to not affect the man as he still stayed kneeling by Kyo’s side.

“That spirit you have,” he breathed, once more running his hands through Kyo’s hair, “will not be with you after this. I’m going to strip away your life, piece by piece, until you’re too broken to be put back together. So, why don’t we begin?”

Author’s Notes:

This is my first Fruits Basket fic, so I hope I did all right. I do have several questions for those of you who have read the entire manga series or have written your own fics.

1. I’ve seen in several fics that Akito is a girl…I made him a guy in my story, but I’m quite curious about that fact. If anyone wouldn’t mind, could you please explain it to me?

2. How come in some fics Kyo is spelled Kyou? In the manga and the anime it is spelled Kyo, so I was just curious.

3. Do you capatalize the animal names of what they are? Like Yuki is the Rat and Kyo is the Cat, but when referring to a normal animal they are spelled in lowercase?

Anyways, some of you are probably wondering about the nickname of Kyo-chan I gave to Kyo. If anyone has ever watched Rurouni Kenshin, I’m sure they’ll understand this. In that anime, Yahiko is teased and called Yahiko-chan as a degrading term since all he wants to do is seem strong. So I had Akito call Kyo, Kyo-chan, because I thought I needed a new name besides freak and kitty, and just calling him Kyo didn’t make it seem like he was making fun of him.

Reviews would be wonderfully appreciated! I’d like to see how much attention this fic has caught. So leave a comment, if you feel like it. Happy reading!