Disclaimer: Fruits Basket is the property of Natsuki Takaya.

Warnings: Fluff and introspection. No serious spoilers. (Slight mention of Kyou's bracelet, but nothing further than that.) Shounen ai.

Pairings: Mystery. Guess. ^_^ It's not that hard.

Notes: Random one-shot-ness inspired by an X reincarnation fic.Nothing to do with X or reincarnation really however. Just the one idea – what would life be like for the Jyuunishi without the curse?

Equally Cursed and Blessed

He wonders what life would be like if they had a second chance at life. If they had another chance at living normally, free of their curse.

Would that be a good thing, he thinks. They have could have relationships, they could have the choice of who to be with. They wouldn't be restricted of who to choice, because they turn into an animal when someone of the opposite gender hugs them.

Not to be shunned by their own families. Not to have their parents ashamed and horrified of them due to a cruel twist of fate. Not to have these beads that hang around his wrist, as they remind him of who he is and what he's done.

Not to have someone cruelly controlling their lives. Deciding who they can and cannot see. deciding who can and cannot remember them.

He wonders what it would be like to be free.

But then the sun shines brightly, blinding him for a moment. And then he smiles slowly.

Because there's things and people in his life that wouldn't be there anymore.

For the most part, he and the other cursed children are quite close. Sure, they fight occasionally, but nobody's perfect.

Without the curse, they'd be strangers, with nothing holding them together.

And then there's Tohru, who changed everything. The first person to truly accept him for all he was and is and will always be. She's always there smiling and she always will be. He hopes. She can't hold them, can't hug them when they're down or sad, but she makes up for it a thousand times over. There's nothing to guarantee that in a different life that she would be there.

And love. He sighs quietly. It's impossible to tell who a person will love or how the heart will work, cursed or not. And maybe even, he thinks, the restriction, in some ways, is a blessing in disguise. Without it, he knows he would have never looked that way to see who was waiting for him.

Without this curse, he might have missed the best chance of his life.

Arms surround him from behind and a voice murmurs into his ear, 'You're thinking too much. Around me. That's bad.'

He smiles. How easily that comes to him now. 'It was about you.'

'Oh?' the voice whispers and he giggles and squirms as the warm breath in his ear tickles. he finally settles down in the other's lap, resting his head on their chest.

'I thought about how lucky I am to have you,' he whispers, reaching up absently to play with soft white hair.

Calm grey eyes look at him in amusement. 'You're not normally like this. I'll have to ask Yuki if he knows if Tohru put something in your food.'

He pouts and snuggles up to the warm body of his boyfriend.

He wouldn't give this up for the world.

Maybe this curse, in some ways, is a blessing in disguise.

~owari