Disclaimer: I do not own the anime (or manga), Fruits Basket, or the movie/play/script of Beauty and the Beast. They all belong to their proper owners and what not. However, some of the songs in this story shall have words changed so that it…well…fits.
WARNING: This could contain spoilers for people who have not seen the whole Fruits Basket anime, though if you're pretty far into the manga it should be fine. If you have not seen the play or movie of Beauty and the Beast, I do suggest not reading this because it does have a different ending then the movie. Well…you'll see.
Beauty and the Mouse
A soft, daunting music
seems to haunt the world as vision is dragged through a beautiful wood. Birds
are crazy with delight, flying around in beautiful harmony as a large,
enchanting waterfall gleams down in streams from a towering rock. Far in the
distance, a shining palace can be seen, sparkling in the days
sun. However, the music seems to darken. The world gets darker, and the castle
looses its gleam, and a thick voice begins to speak.
"Once upon a time, in a faraway land, two princes lived in a shining castle."
Vision shifts to the windows of the castle, showing two young men both seeming to bicker. One was fair, with violet eyes and silver hair; the other was handsome, with fire red hair and wine colored eyes. Both brothers, they looked nothing like the other.
"Although they both had everything their hearts desired, the princes were both spoiled, selfish, and unkind."
The next stained glass window rolls into view, showing the handsome brother answering a door to an elderly woman.
"But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered the princes a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter storm. However, since the handsome one had answered he was harsher to her. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, he sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away, but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within."
The window shifts once more, and the fair haired prince joins his brother in the picture that points the old lady away. Moving to the next window, they are both in shock, the handsome one on the ground as a beautiful woman with golden girls and ivory skin replaces the elderly one.
"And when the prince dismissed her again, despite his brother's questions, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart or his brothers. As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle and anyone who lived there."
The window changes to show both of the princes crippled and encircled with a shaky line, while the enchantress seems to bid her farewell. Vision moves beyond the window to a dark room, where a portrait sits. Both princes are smiling together, and a claw reaches up to slash it down the center. The handsome princes face cripples over while the fair princes picture falls to the floor, scraped aside by the beasts foot. Vision shifts to a table, where a glowing mirror sits as well as a covered rose, which is also glowing.
"Ashamed of his hideous appearance, the handsome prince concealed himself inside the castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The other prince, now as simple as any of the others, blended in, forgotten by his brother and by their servants. However, the rose the enchantress had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until both of their twenty-first birthday, which they shared. If each of them could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, they would both be doomed to remain their own beasts for all time. As years passed, the handsome prince fell into despair, and the other forgot his birthright, trying hard not to think of his fate. They had both lost hope, for who could ever love a beast…or a mouse, in this certain case."
A small, cottage-style house sitting in the country-side is now in vision. There is a small water wheel on the side of the house, filling the whole area with the sound of running water. The door opens and out steps a brunette girl, her hair pulled back into braids and her eyes sparkling their beautiful blue. She waves to the open door, calling out a 'goodbye and good luck', sending her white sleeves and apron flying, and then she skipped off, her blue, thick strapped sleeve swinging around her shins. She began to walk along the dust roads, under the trees and such and over a small bridge towards a town. She sighed, smiling.
"Little town, it's a quiet village…
Everyday, like the one before.
Little town, full of little people
Waking up to say…" She sang, entering the town, and as she did so, faces popped out of buildings, beginning their morning routine.
"Ohayo!"
"Ohayo!"
"Ohayo!
"Ohayo!"
"Ohayo!"
"There goes the baker with his tray like always,
The same old bread and rolls to sell.
Every morning's just the same,
Since the morning that we came,
To this poor provincial town…" she sang as a fat man bustled past her, yet he paused.
"Good morning, Tohru," he smiled, turning to her and wiping his flour covered hands on his own apron.
"Morning," Tohru smiled, curling her basket between her fingers as she smiled.
"Where are you off to?" He asked, as if being polite since his eyes wandered off and kept glancing nervously at his bakery. However, Tohru did not notice…she was too excited with her information.
"The bookshop! I just finished the most wonderful story, about a beanstalk and an ogre and…" she went on, moving up and down on the balls of her black shoes. However, the baker had stopped listening, had stopped caring.
"That's nice…Yume, the pastries! Hurry up!" He cried to the bakery, bustling over, and Tohru sighed. She continued her walk through town, people looking at her from out of windows and whispering.
"Look there she goes, that girl is strange no question,
Daze and distracted, do you see who?" The whole town seemed to chorus, but Tohru was oblivious.
"Never part of any crowd," a woman said from a barber shop, as the man behind him trimmed her hair.
"'Cause her heads up on some cloud," he joined in, his mustache bustling up and down.
"No denying she's a funny girl, Tohru," the town all chorused again. Tohru runs a bit, jumping onto the back of a milk wagon as it rolls down the cobblestone roads. She smiles, taking in the sounds of the morning market.
"Ohayo!" Calls the driver, tipping his hat.
"Good day!" Smiles a woman, pulling a screaming child along with her. The driver laughs a bit.
"How is your family?"
"Ohayo," smiles a woman to a merchant; a very beautiful woman indeed.
"Good day," he drools, his eyes widening. However, he doesn't see a rough looking wife approaching him from behind. The girl giggles.
"How is your wife?" She winks, walking away; he groans.
"I need SIX EGGS!" Screams a very frustrated woman, shaking a dead fish at a man.
"That's too expensive," the man replied, shaking his head at the fish.
"There must be more then this provincial life!" She cries, and then jumps down from the cart. She bustles from the crowd and into an ignored shop. She looks around, and then smiles as she spots an old man high on a ladder. She approaches him, and he spots her.
"Ah, Tohru!" He smiles, beginning to climb down. She stops him, pulling a book from her basket. She hands it to him.
"Good morning. I've come to return the book I borrowed," she smiled, as he spun the ladder down the shelf and put it away. She followed after him.
"Finished already?" He asked, now beginning to climb down.
"Oh, I couldn't put it down! Have you got anything new?" She asked, climbing up on the ladder in turn, beginning to look through the books. The man chuckled.
"Not since yesterday," he laughed. She smiled.
"That's all right, I'll borrow…" she began, looking through the selection. She picked out a very lovely navy book. "This one!" She declared.
"That one? But you've read it twice," he laughed again, being overjoyed by the young girl who was eager for adventure.
"Well it's my favorite," she smiled, laughing in turn. She swung off down the bookshelves. "Far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!" She called, almost falling from the ladder. The old man ran beneath her, as if he could do something. He smiled as she regained her balance. She climbs down the ladder, handing him the book to check it out for her. However, he shakes his head.
"Well, if you like it all that much, it's yours," he smiled, pushing it into her hands. Her eyes widened.
"But…but sir!" She cried, shaking her head.
"I insist…" he smiled, his wrinkles folding gently.
"Well…thank you! Thank you very much!" She smiled, and then hurried from the book shop. As she began down the street, her basket sitting at her elbow, she opened the book and began reading. As she did so, men that seemed to be window shopping turned to look at her as she passed.
"Look there she goes
That girl is so peculiar,
I wonder if she has the flu," they sang, peaking around others to watch her off.
"With a dreamy far off look," scoffed a girl as Tohru passed her and her husband.
"And her nose stuck in a book!" He cried in turn to his wife, looking after her.
"What a puzzle to the rest of us, Tohru," the whole town sighed, moving back to business. Tohru walks up to the edge of a fountain, sitting herself down as a boy herds sheep past her. A woman, who had been washing her laundry, became alarmed and walked off quickly. As for Tohru, she sung to the sheep, petting them each in turn as she read.
"Oh, isn't this amazing?
Here's my favorite part because…
You'll see!" She smiled at the sheep laughing. She then pointed down at a picture.
"Here's…where she meets Prince Charming,
But she won't discover that it's him…till chapter three!" She cried, flipping the pages. As she stood again, leaving behind the sheep who had tried to eat her new book, she began back through the town, passing by a wig shop where a lady stared at her, enviously.
"Now it's no wonder that they think her pretty,
Her looks are whole, natural, and true…" the woman said, in disgust as she changed her wig.
"But behind that fair façade,
I'm afraid she's rather odd," the merchant whispered into the ladies woman, and she giggled with delight.
"Very different from the rest of us," the whole town whispered, and then they looked at her as she passed. "She's nothing like the rest of, yes different from the rest of us, Tohru!"
The sound of geese seems to block out everything else as they flock overhead, and then the sound is broken by a gun shot and one of them falls through the sky. A young girl runs up, holding out a bag to catch the geese. It lands right next to it however, and she sighs with a shoulder droop. Picking up the goose, she plops it into the bag and then returns to a thin man clad in black.
"Wow, you didn't miss a shot, Akito-san! You're sure to be the greatest hunter in all of Japan…maybe even the world," she smiled, and he sent her one in return. However, this smile made her shiver from deep within her bones with fright.
"I know," he smiled, brushing thick, dark hair from his deep, dark eyes. Everything about him but his sickly, white skin seemed to be dark in this way.
"Mmmm, no beast or man alive stands a chance against you…or no girl for that matter," she smiled, though it seemed to falter as if fake.
"It's true, I suppose…yet, Motoko, I've got my eyes set on…that one," he smiled, nodding his head towards Tohru who was strolling past, still very much occupied in her book.
"The…the…the book worm orphan?" Motoko asked, outraged. But she calmed herself, coughing a bit.
"Yes…she's the one. The luckiest girl in the world…the one I'm going to marry," he smiled, folding his hands together in front of him.
"But…but…she's," Motoko began, trying to find some reason as to draw his attention away from her.
"The most beautiful girl in town?" He inquired, beginning to stroll. She ran behind him, almost tripping the whole way, trying to find reasons.
"I…I guess so, but…" Motoko said, but her tongue became tied in knots.
"And that makes her the best," Akito declared with a shrug of his hands. "And…don't I deserve the best, Motoko?" He asked, looking down at her from his eyes.
"Of course, Akito-san, but…I was just…" she sighed. She was just hoping that she could be the one he deserved.
"Now…dance for me while I sing of my emotions," he ordered, and she set down the goose bag and began to dance.
"Right from the moment when I met her, saw her,
I said she's gorgeous and I knew…
For in town there's only she,
Who's beauty I can see,
So I have my plans to woo and marry Tohru…" he said, and then noticed she had disappeared. She had walked right by him, and he cursed under his breath. "Stop that," he muttered to Motoko, who did so, and then followed as he began to chase after her. Nearby, a group of girls watched with jealousy and yet a very dreamy look.
"Look there he goes!
Isn't he dreamy?" They asked themselves, fanning themselves.
"Akito-san, oh he's so cute!
Be still my heart, I'm hardly breathing," gasped the girls, and one of them fainted onto another. The other two continued to sing, however.
"He's such a tall, dark, creepy, handsome brute!" They cried. As Tohru moves easily through the crowd, they seem to bunch together to keep Akito away from her. Everyone knew Akito was a bad person, and no one wanted Tohru near him.
"Ohayo!" Cried a man, stepping in front of Akito yet talking to another.
"Excuse me," he hissed, pushing the man away. Motoko apologized.
"Good day!" Called another man, and another man responded.
"Oh yes, very!" He smiled.
"You call this bacon?" Complained a nearby female.
"What lovely grapes!" Cried another, overjoyed.
"Some cheese," a man asked, annoyed.
"Ten yards!" Cried a girl, impatiently and tapping at her watch.
"One pound!" Another man cried.
"PARDON ME!" Akito screamed, pushing all of these aside.
"I'll get the knife," assured the merchant, and Akito sent him a look as if it was a threat.
"Let me through," he hissed, now pushing without consent of any but himself.
"This bread!"
"Those FISH!"
"It's stale!"
"They SMELL!"
"Miss is mistaken!" Assured a salesmen.
"There must be more then this provincial life!" Sighed Tohru.
"Just watch how I make Tohru my WIFE!" Akito said from the ocean of people. The crowd turned on him, and Motoko sunk to the side of the building with the dead goose…it was beginning to smell.
"Look there she goes a girl that's strange but special,
A girl who's beauty is brand new,
It's a pity and a sin,
She doesn't quite fit in…" they all sang. They all began to march, with Akito at the front.
"But she really is a funny girl," the left side sang.
"A beauty but a funny girl," the right side sang.
"She really is a funny girl…" the whole crowd built up, and then they burst, "TOHRU!" They cried, and many people sprouted many ohayos and good days. At the end, Tohru turned, sort of startled at the whole town being gathered behind her. She gave a very tiny wave, and they all broke back to their morning duties. Akito, however, approached Tohru who had gone back to her book.
"Why, hello Tohru," he said, cutting her off with the side of her hand. Motoko stood nearby, holding the dead goose bag like a stuffed animal.
"Ohayo, Akito-san," she said, not looking up from her book. He narrowed his eyes, and then plucked it easily from her grip. She paused, and then looked at him with a sigh. "Akito-san, may I have my book back, please?" She asked, raising both of her eyebrows.
"My…how can you read this? No pictures…and the words run together," he said, turning the book upside down. Tohru put her hand to her head.
"You know, some people have imaginations…and they use them," she said, standing on her tiptoes to try and snatch it back.
"Tohru, Tohru, Tohru…it's about time you got your head out of these…stupid books," he said, and flung it over his shoulder. It landed, it's leaves folding into a mud puddle. Tohru threw her hands over her mouth, trying to get past him to tend to it. "It's time you paid attention to more important things…like me," he said, smiling, not noticing Tohru had made her way past him. "The whole town is talking about it!" He spun around, not noticing as Motoko and the group of girls from before all sighed. "It's not…right for a woman to read," he began, and she glared at him as she picked up the book and began to clean it off with her apron. "Soon she starts…getting ideas and…and then…thinking," Akito shuddered at the thought, and Tohru rolled her eyes as she stood up.
"Akito-san," Tohru forced through gritted teeth, "you are positively primeval," she said with a sarcastic smile. Akito slipped his arm around her shoulder, and she twisted her face in discomfort.
"Why thank you, Tohru. Hey, whaddya say you and me take a walk over to the tavern and have a look at my hunting trophies," he grinned, looking at his nails.
"Maybe…some other time…" she said, picking up his arm and letting it drop to his side. She began to walk again.
"What's wrong with her?" Asked one of the girls from the group, still cradling her friend who had fainted.
"She's crazy," Motoko muttered. The other girl looked at her, and sighed dreamily.
"He's gorgeous," she smiled, putting both hands over her heart.
"Please, Akito-san, I can't…I have to get home and…help…Uo-chan and Hana-chan, yep, they really need me," she said, glancing to the side.
"Pfft, that yankee and denpa need all the help they can get," Motoko muttered, and Akito chuckled.
"Hey! Those are my friends, you can't talk about them that way," Tohru cried, furrowing her eyebrows. She rarely got mad, but when it came to her friends…who had taken her into their home and taken care of her…she just cracked.
"Yea, don't talk about dear Uo-chan and Hana-chan that way!" Akito yelled at Motoko, and threw a rock at her. It smashed into the building by her head, and her eyes widened. She bit her lip and looked down.
"My friends are not crazy…Uo-chan's a star and Hana-chan is…well…Hana-chan…" she said, pinching her lips together. There wasn't really a way to describe her friend…that was a definite. Suddenly, there is a cry in the distance, and quickly Tohru picks up her basket and book and begins to run back towards her home. Akito stands there chuckling, turning his back on her and beginning to walk away with Motoko, new thoughts brewing in his head.
Note: I know that Yuki would make a better part for the Gaston character, but Akito was just too hard to resist…and no matter how Kyoru this might seem, it is definitely Yukiru…no matter what any of you readers have to say about it. I hope this version was better then my first. Review, please.
