Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.


#01 – Ring

A promise was what she'd dubbed the metal ring around his finger; he thought 'entrapment' was a better term.

#02 – Hero

Rumor had it among the younger Sohmas that there had once been a time when Akito had stuck herself up the old tree at the bottom of the garden when she was a wee knee-high nipper and Shigure had been the one to rescue the sulking toddler from her predicament like she was a helpless little kitten.

#03 – Memory

The worst thing about his hangover was that it wasn't her scent etched in his memories of the previous night nor were those her clothes strewn about the floor next to his.

#04 – Box

He held many things in that heart-shaped box of his, not least the pain of her replacement of him.

#05 – Run

As much it hurt, he'd never run away from the sound of her voice, filled with harsh mirthless laughter as it echoed throughout the room.

#06 – Hurricane

Akito hated Shigure's new bicycle; it made her cough in the twisters of dust he left behind in his wake.

#07 – Wings

When he was with her, as she lay beside him, content for the first time in years, he felt like he had new reasons to keep on flying.

#08 – Cold

Anyone of them would do for now; just as long as she wasn't cold, broken and reeking of camellias like Akito.

#09 – Red

She took one look at the red velvet lettering on the book and promptly cast it aside, muttering that he could surely come up with a better title.

#10 – Drink

"I hate you," Shigure muttered as he rubbed at the red stains on his shirt, right where she'd flung her drink at him, "So much."

#11 – Midnight

Akito had a habit of awaking suddenly in the middle of the night, at the stroke of twelve, wishing that dreams were true; that she was indeed a princess waiting for a knight to come and take her home.

#12 – Temptation

Heaven forbid that Akito should live as long as he had; the years ahead of him tempted him to break down further than she would eventually.

#13 – View

The last time Shigure had been on a train, he'd gazed at patches of wilting bellflowers and wondered if Kureno was holding up well under her rule.

#14 – Music

As the music reached its crescendo outside her door, the knife descended further down the skin of her wrist and she wondered if he could hear her heart beating in his head.

#15 – Silk

This was how he'd always remember her; pale, cold, broken, alone and wrapped in a cocoon of silk in her coffin.

#16 – Cover

He hid his tears beneath the cover of rain and hail that poured upon them at her funeral.

#17 – Promise

He'd promised her that he'd be there throughout all the battles they'd have to face and now look at what he'd gone and done…

#18 – Dream

Sometimes, a teenage Shigure would dream that Akito was a tad bit older because he much preferred her in a maid's uniform instead of Ayame.

#19 – Candle

On New Year's Eve, he joined the throng of church-revelers and lit a candle; not for himself, of course.

#20 – Talent

If there was anything Akito was truly talented in, it was knowing how to hit where it hurt without as much as giving it a single thought, Shigure knew.

#21 – Silence

One harsh glance was all it took for her to get her point across and he knew that without asking aloud.

#22 – Journey

The road ahead was a long one but she wasn't alone as she'd thought anymore.

#23 – Fire

The main house may have burned all night for all the pent-up anger bottled up within it as Shigure took his leave.

#24 – Strength

It would take every inch of him not to yield to her shrill whip of a voice as it chastised him for past sins, long past but never forgotten.

#25 – Mask

To most, Akito was the picture of calm cool poise but Shigure had seen the face behind the mask and it wasn't all that perfect.

#26 – Ice

He was bleeding, shot through the heart, perhaps some ice would stop the hemorrhage; but then again, he wasn't damaged the least bit in the physical sense.

#27 – Fall

How hard the beloved can fall, he mused bitterly as she tossed her head and walked away from him.

#28 – Forgotten

And here he was, smoking his umpteenth cigarette and heaping curse upon curse on her and Kureno, forgotten and abandoned like an origami crane after a celebration.

#29 – Dance

As a child, Akito had no dresses to wear since her mother forbade it; Shigure still asked her to dance at the family banquet anyway.

#30 – Body

When the misery was subdued, they both would stand and deliver their expected lines, all passion muted and reduced to momentary spasms in the body.

#31 – Sacred

Childhood should have been a sacred thing where innocence was coveted above all other traits but as Sohmas, they'd found out too early that time and tide were indeed against them.

#32 – Farewells

They'd never even said goodbye when he left; she could almost hear her mother cackling at her handiwork in the background.

#33 – World

What in the world caused foolish young high-school girls (and a few boys) to croon over his garish prose in print was beyond her understanding.

#34 – Formal

A photograph hangs on the wall, a formal one with all of them crammed into one frame, and neither of them are smiling at the distance between them in it.

#35 – Fever

Fevers made you see things that weren't there, like his hand on hers for comfort.

#36 – Laugh

Maybe cleaning windows wasn't really that bad if it made Akito laugh in her crib when his sponge squeaked against the glass.

#37 – Lies

After she'd thrown him out from the main house, he contemplated going back and then changed his mind once he realized that her mind had been poisoned by Ren's lies.

#38 – Forever

"Forever's not an option, Akito, but we have today and many more todays ahead of us so let's not worry, shall we?"

#39 – Overwhelmed

Her hand shook in his and her eyes watered when she realized that she wasn't dreaming after all.

#40 – Whisper

"Shigure… your belt is undone. What's that you said?... Intentional?"

#41 – Wait

He was often found in the backyard, counting down the days and waiting for a moment where he could wipe away their past with a flick of the wrist like it was magic.

#42 – Talk

Talk was pointless when Shigure was involved since he knew exactly how to mix his metaphors and blanch his similes in order to keep her in the dark about his true motives.

#43 – Search

The day little Akito ran off was a day wasted for most of the Sohma elders, especially when they eventually found her curled up beneath the sheets at the foot of Shigure's futon.

#44 – Hope

In the Sohma household, everyone knew better than to speak of hope in front of Akito, no thanks to Shigure and his penchant for injecting spite into every sin he committed.

#45 – Eclipse

Darkness was supposed to be a temporary thing in such time so perhaps all they both needed was to wait for the sun to come out.

#46 – Gravity

Keep your head to the ground, no man could ever desire you became a phrase banished to the back of her mind along with gravity, inertia and whatever home-spun lesson her mother had instilled in her whenever Shigure kissed her.

#47 – Highway

Akito wasn't very fond of traveling, even at short distances, but she still liked the familiarity of the stray dogs on the road.

#48 – Unknown

"To be afraid of the unknown is to be afraid of truth itself which is why I'm shivering right now, Shigure."

#49 – Lock

Since the day the curse was lifted, she'd stopped searching for locks to guard herself from rejection and he'd understood that keys often have the most deceivingly obvious hiding-places.

#50 – Breathe

She had been dreaming again but this time, instead of the sound of the tides turning, it was the melody of his steady breathing that made her sigh in relief and dare to continue onwards.