Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
Author's Note: Literally, a fic I came up with in about… a minute. I wonder what brought this on.
I Am Sorry, My Friend
It was late. Everyone else was in bed, he was willing to guess. But the full moon was keeping Kyo awake, and he had found himself unable to block its effects. The problem was not the light of the moon, but something else that Kyo couldn't quite place.
So he found himself on the roof again, staring at the stars. They were almost drowned out by the vibrant silver light of the moon. His mind was completely blank. It had been for some time. He had slipped into a state of being that was neither consciously alive nor unconscious, asleep. He just was. His gaze, of its own accord, shifted to the moon itself. He gazed at it, taking in the shadows and the contours of its face. He looked at it until it swam in his vision and he had to look away again. But it was still there, a ghostly silhouette in his vision.
Clouds had moved in, and quickly. They had been lurking all day, not dark enough to threaten rain, but heavy enough to obscure the sun somewhat. They moved, now, to cover the moon as well, but its piercing light would not be stifled.
As he observed the clouds dispassionately, a shape emerged. And Kyo sat up. It was a cat.
Its small paws walked in single file, its form swaying gently, its tail waving delicately. The ethereal feline had only the vaguest semblance of features. Its eyes were so heavily shadowed that they appeared to be missing entirely. The cat looked around, over both shoulders, glancing briefly at Kyo but passing him over in its search for something else.
And Kyo knew what.
Another shape emerged from the clouds. Its points face and naked tail never before failed to make Kyo's lips curl. But he felt no hatred, now, for the shape of the rat in the clouds.
The second animal moved with a strange gait, moving his forefeet together and his hind feet together, as well, so that he loped awkwardly along. The rat was moving toward the cat, and the cat seemed happy to see him.
In two days. There's a banquet in two days.
Kyo started and looked around, but there was no one. The voice was like none he had heard before. It was quiet, with a gentle rasp, and Kyo found himself accepting that the banquet was in two days. He didn't question what banquet there was, or where. If that lovely voice said two days, it was two days.
Two days? Rabbit said it was tomorrow.
Kyo frowned. What was going on? Where the shapes in the clouds… speaking? He hadn't heard a voice like this, either. It was deep, mellow, with a soft rumble in the background. Like a purr.
No, my friend, two days. Will you be there?
I will be there. Thank you for telling me.
Kyo's mouth went slack as he suddenly understood what he was seeing. This was how it had happened, innumerable years ago.
Kyo knew that he should hate the rat. Right now. He tried to conjure up his hatred, but he couldn't. He was the cat. He was living through the cat that was in the clouds. And that cat didn't hate the rat. So Kyo didn't hate him.
He felt along with the rat, too, strange as that was. There was no malicious trick in mind when he said two days. He truly believed that the banquet was in two days.
The rat nodded and sat down. The cat turned and vanished into the clouds, dissolving into them as if he had never been.
Something had changed. Kyo knew that something had changed. It was the next day of the story. The day of the banquet, and another shape emerged to take the cat's place. It was huge, much larger than the rat, with horns protruding from his forehead. An ox.
Come, we must go, rumbled the huge creature. The banquet – it is soon. We will be late.
The rat was surprised. I must find Cat, he declared. I told him the banquet was in two days. He must come.
There is no time, the ox insisted. We will be late. We must go now. Horse has been sent for Cat. Ride on my back. I will see that we are there in time.
Horse will make sure Cat is there?
We will be late.
And the rat climbed onto the ox's back and the ox carried him to the feast. Leaving the cat wondering where his friend had gone, and dreaming about the banquet the next day.
The images in the clouds faded and Kyo realized how tense he had become. He forced himself to relax and frowned up at the clouds. What was going on? Was he going mad?
But the supernatural show wasn't finished yet. Once again the cat appeared, furious, fur bristling all up and down his spine. He walked on his toes, head lowered slightly, ears pressed back.
The rat loped up from the other direction. As soon as the cat spotted him, he ran at the rodent and pinned him down with one paw. Kyo felt his claws slide out and press threateningly on the rat's soft flesh.
You lied to me! cried the furious cat. You told me two days!
I thought it was two days. Ox told me that Horse had been sent for you! I am sorry, my friend! I am sorry!
You LIED to me!
I am sorry!
But the cat wouldn't listen. Blinded by rage, he yowled and batted the rat away. Then he pelted off, into the clouds, leaving the rat laying there.
I am sorry, my friend! I am sorry! the rat kept calling after him, but there was no reply. Kyo felt his true remorse. He regretted what had happened.
The images were done, now, but the story was far from over. Kyo lived as the cat. His anger at the rat faded occasionally, but he always summoned it back again. The belief that the rat had lied became a mantra, and the anger began to fade less and less often. It hardened into hatred, enduring hatred that lasted in all of his incarnations.
Kyo lived as the rat, wounded to his heart by the grudge his friend held, and unable to get close enough to the cat to explain himself. He became shrewd at dodging blows. He forced himself to believe the cat's views. They had never been friends. He had always disliked the cat, and had lied to him as a joke. It was indeed a funny joke. The cat would never be part of the Zodiac now. Even though that had been accomplished, the rat still teased him. It was so easy, always so easy to get a rise out of the cat.
It hurt the rat less to think this way.
Not only pictures, now, but emotions faded. The clouds began to withdraw and Kyo was left on the roof, staring dumbfounded up at the stars, wondering if he had seen the truth. In a small corner of his mind, so deeply buried in his subconscious that the thought was not even clearly voiced in words, Kyo couldn't help but think, I never knew… I never knew. I'm sorry, my friend. Can you forgive me?
The sun was rising, now. Kyo had been out all night. He hadn't slept, but he wasn't tired. He slipped back into the house, off of the roof. It could all have been a dream, right? All the time, that thing in the clouds was just a dream. It couldn't have been real… But somehow, Kyo knew that it was.
He wasn't going to deny that he was shaken by the experience.
And he was still shaken two hours later, when Yuki came in to berate him for waking up so late.
"I'm up before you," scoffed the prince.
Kyo blamed his next actions on the fact that he was so shaken.
He grabbed Yuki and hugged him tightly. It seemed like a good idea.
"What the – You stupid cat! What the devil do you think you're doing?"
Kyo was both surprised and not surprised to find that he was crying. "I'm sorry! I didn't know; I'm sorry, my friend!" His voice was odd; mellow, and deep, with a quiet purr in the background. An odd purr, considering his words.
Awkwardly, Yuki raised a hand and patted Kyo's back, clearly confused. "Kyo, what the heck are you…" He trailed off. When next he spoke, his voice was quiet, with a gentle rasp to it, and choked with emotion. "I can forgive you, my friend, if you can forgive me."
And something inside Kyo thought that sweeter words were never spoken.