Author's Note: Welcome to the newly updated Moonlit Serenade, the Fruits Basket fan fiction that I started many years ago. My skills have since improved (at least, I would like to think so!), and I wanted to make some changes to a story that will always hold a special place in my heart. Prepare for many changes ahead (the plot remains the same, though!), if you have already read it; and if you haven't, welcome, and I hope you enjoy it! ~LM~

P.S: For the record, I don't own Fruits Basket. Takaya-san does. The storyline, however, lives in the deep recesses in my mind…


Chapter 1 - The Imprisonment

Tohru Honda was curled in the corner of her bedroom at Shigure Sohma's house, her knees pulled tightly to her chest with her face pressed against her knees. Starbursts of light were glowing behind her eyelids, and tears stung behind her eyes, but would not fall. Her dry sobs echoed through the halls of the place she now called home. The agony was tangible, the wind and rain (how appropriate?) outside seemed to be attempting to comfort her.

She could not bare to be there, at the Main House, with Shigure, Yuki, and the other Sohmas. Akito, the head of the family, was going to imprison Kyo, as per the terms of the bargain. Kyo had to beat Yuki in combat before graduation. Now, graduation has come and gone, and Yuki was still triumphant. Kyo was doomed to live out the fate of all the cats of the Zodiac before him. He was to live the rest of his life locked up and alone.

Tohru did not want to see him locked away. He had too much fire, too much spirit to be shut away for the rest of his days…

She screamed, and it rent through the air, vibrating the air with all the pain, turmoil, and agony within her. It felt as though someone, something was ripping her heart from her chest, her sobs choked her. Her lungs were on fire.

Was she going to die at that moment in time? She felt sure of it.

She was going to die of a broken heart…

She screamed again, and everything went black.


Kyo Sohma did not really blame Tohru for not coming, he really did not expect her to. If he was to be completely honest with himself, which he was (what did he have to lose?), he did not want her to be there. He did not want her to see him this way, on the way to his life sentence. He wanted her memories to stay pure, to remember him as things were. He knew she loved him, as he loved her. He just wished it hadn't taken him so long to know that he loved her. It was always there, just under the surface, but he denied it as long as he could get away with it. He regretted it now, but what's done is done. There was nothing he could do about it.

Everything for Kyo was moving in slow motion. In his peripheral vision, almost in his blind spot, he could see Yuki, his cousin, his rival, standing beside Shigure. At that moment, he hated the rat more than ever. Why hadn't he been able to beat him? He would not be in this situation if it wasn't for that damn rat!

He shifted ever so slightly, bringing the rat more into focus, and Kyo could not read the emotion playing across his cousin's face. Was it a look of content? Numbness?

Regret?

Kyo pressed the last from his mind.

There is no way in hell that rat would be regretful of the cat being locked away for the rest of its life. That was the way of things.

Regardless, the look on Yuki's face would continue to haunt Kyo in the darkness of his cell.


Yuki Sohma watched Kyo with a heavy heart. Of course, he hated the cat, he was practically programmed to, but his heart still stalled in his chest. Yuki had to watch the effect this turn of events had on Tohru, his best friend. The light that always danced in her eyes had gone out. Her smile appeared plastered on as she saw them off to the Main House after she opted to remain home during the procedures ("I shouldn't intrude on this, it's for your family, after all," she had said).

It was this vision of Tohru that sat at the front of his mind, the image that he saw whenever he closed his eyes.

Guilt wracked through him. Why couldn't he just swallow his pride and let the cat win once? That was all Kyo needed to avoid this situation. Why didn't he do it for Tohru?

This was all his fault. Kyo being locked away, the dying light within Tohru. All of it.

Could he even face her when they returned home?

Should he apologize to her?

Would that be enough?