Transient Darkness Chapter I

Author's Notes: Very quickly, the italics surrounded by parenthesis are Kyo's thoughts, and the italics with no parenthesis are Tohru's thoughts. If there are any more people with different thinking patterns, I will let you know at the beginning of its chapter.

Kyo Sohma walked next to Tohru Honda, his body so close to her in the crowded streets that he could smell her sweet freesia scent. Slowly he took it in, happy that he could be so close to her. Tohru was smiling and talking to Yuki Sohma, who was walking on her other side. Kyo did not necessarily like that idea, but he had to put up with it. Tohru was happy right now, and that's all he wanted.

Yuki and Kyo hadn't been fighting a lot lately. They had signed an invisible truce for senior year, for all their attention was on other things. Yuki had had the insane student council to care for (and despite all their differences, they had become an excellent student council!) and Kyo had been busy trying to spend his time with Tohru.

Senior year for the three was over in a week, and Kyo was becoming unhappy. Tohru did her best to make and keep him happy, but she still hadn't told him she knew about Akito's deal. Of course, she didn't know all of the details, but still, she knew quite enough. She hated Akito for being so selfish towards his family members. It wasn't fair!

Kyo also felt that way. He had a future, for once in his life! And that damn Akito was going to take that future from him without a second thought. He was so ruthless, that man…

"Kyo-kun, are you all right?" Tohru asked. The orange haired cat shook himself from his thoughts just in time to see a sign directly in front of his face. He rammed into it and felt stinging pain in his head. He rubbed at his face, embarrassed, as he heard Tohru calling his name.

"Kyo-kun! Kyo-kun, are you okay?" She asked. Kyo felt his guise lower slowly as her voice entered his mind, as beautiful as a hydrangea.

(Tohru…)

"I'm fine." He said, his voice holding more anger than he expected. He heard Yuki laughing in the background. Climbing up from the ground which he had fallen onto upon smacking into the sign, he began to walk again. Tohru returned to his side, and Yuki to hers. Yuki was still snickering until Kyo shot him a nasty look.

"So…graduation is a week away." Yuki said quietly. His eyes were directed sadly at the ground as he thought about his future, if he had any. Kyo also became silent as he realized what was ahead for him as well.

(…A whole lot of nothing. I get to spend the rest of my life in darkness, in loneliness. Damn cat spirit! Why does it have to be me! For once in my life, I have something to look forward to! I have someone who isn't scared of me, who wants to spend time with me! And yet this spirit is costing me a relationship with her. I hate Akito for doing this to me!)

"Kyo-kun…" Tohru's voice softly penetrated his thoughts. "We're at the house." Kyo came into focus to see that Yuki had already gone in, and Tohru was standing with her hand on Kyo's slouched shoulder, looking at him worriedly.

"Oh, sorry." He began to walk into the house, but then he stopped and turned around. "Tohru-kun… would you please come with me?"

There! As quickly as it had been thought, he had said it!

(Oh no… Why the hell did I ask her that? What am I going to say now?)

"All right." Tohru agreed softly. Kyo took her hand and led her to a small clearing with flowers surrounding the square area and a fountain right in the middle with benches around it. Kyo and Tohru sat on a single bench, facing each other. Tohru's brown eyes were calm and relaxing, and for a moment Kyo lost himself in them. However quickly he shook himself out of his dream, trying to think of something to say.

"I… Tohru, I…" Every attempt he made to start a sentence was dashed. Looking into those brown irises that made his heart go faster and faster, he felt courage and weakness at the same time. It made his mind rush back and forth.

"I have to… go away after graduation." He said all in a rush. Quietly on the inside, he began to cry, fully realizing that this would be one of his last chances to get Tohru for himself.

"Kyo-kun, I… already knew." Tohru confessed.

"You did?" Kyo asked, his voice high pitched and nervous.

"…Yes. I know that Akito is making you go away. I want to help… if I can." She said. "I don't want to leave you alone in a dungeon of darkness. I don't want you to be a slave to Akito anymore. I don't want anyone to be a slave to Akito anymore."

"What else do you know?" The cat asked slowly.

"That Yuki and all the other juuinshi are to be taken away to serve Akito. I don't want any of it to happen!" She cried, almost in tears. Kyo lightened his facial expression, feeling sorrow for Tohru instead of for himself.

"There's no way to break this, Tohru-kun." Kyo said softly.

"There has to be! I can't let you and everyone else became slaves, not after all the kindness you've shown me!"

"Look, Tohru-kun, my life is well. If I get to spend just this last week with you, I will be able to live through the loneliness in the dark." He said softly.

"Kyo-kun…" Tohru blushed as Kyo leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and suddenly felt fur in between her fingers, soft kitten fur. Opening her eyes she saw Kyo the cat in her arms, his clothes on the bench. The cat was smiling at her! She hugged him to her chest, gathered up his clothes, and carried him up to the Sohma household.

I will make you as happy as you could ever be in this last week… and maybe I will find some way to free you from this pain… I don't ever want you to leave me… …I love you, Kyo-kun…

Unfortunately for poor Tohru, just as she reached the door to the house, Kyo transformed in her arms. Crying out with embarrassment, she dropped Kyo and turned around. He reached in front of her for his clothing, and she handed it to him.

The week passed by extremely fast - much too fast - for Kyo and Tohru. It was the day before graduation now, and Tohru was becoming nervous. She could tell from Kyo's sad expression that he was becoming very unhappy, though when she asked him, he said that he was happy because he had gotten the chance to share a kiss with her.

Yuki didn't know about the kiss yet. He had been too busy helping the dance council plan the end of the year dance.

"Are you going?" Tohru asked the daydreaming cat. The two were sitting in Kyo's room, Tohru on the tatami mat and Kyo on a chair next to her.

"Huh? Going where?" Kyo asked.

"To the dance." She said with a smile.

"Oh, the dance? I… I'm not much of a dancer." He told her shyly.

"But it'll be fun!" She exclaimed.

"How can dances be fun?" He asked. In his mind, though his outside was refusing, he wanted to go.

(This could be my last chance to spend time with Tohru-kun… But there is Yuki, too. He might - probably does - want to go with her. Which means I have to go! I have to beat him!)

"Well, you get to dance with people. Doesn't that even just sound like fun?" Tohru grinned hopefully.

"No…" Kyo shot her down.

"Please." She climbed off the tatami mat and walked over to Kyo, who had stubbornly folded his arms across his chest. "We could make our last memories together. I want to always remember you in the light, happy. I don't want to last thing I remember doing with you is fighting. I want our memory of each other to be… beautiful."

Kyo opened his eyes wide, his cat self excited.

"Alright, fine. I'll go." He finally muttered.

"Yah!" Tohru clapped her hands together and Kyo allowed himself a small smile.

(Our last memories…)

Author's Notes: Wow, my first Fruits Basket story! This is so exciting! I've been into Furuba for maybe two months-give or take-now, but I haven't really had an idea for it until I got to the later chapters. I have some other stories planned, all of them with Yuki as the main 'guy.' Yuki is my favorite, anyway. I saw a Yuki plushie at the bookstore and I want it so bad! Oh sorry…I'm rambling.

So about this story… It is a songfic, or at least it will be in the later chapters. I'm building on it right now. I wanted to get this part done as soon as possible because when I'm working on something, it's all I focus on, and since the end of the marking period is almost up, I can not afford to be slipping away during classes. Well, I am going to anyway, but at least then if I fail I can't blame it on Furuba.

Oh yes, and before I forget, this may hold some spoilers. I think it takes place sometime after…the plot revealed in Book 10 or so? I'm not sure. I'll have to check again, but yes, this may have some spoilers for you. Just so everyone knows!

I hoped you enjoyed reading and please review and come back next time!