Title: Gone was the Butterfly
Author: LucridLucifel
Genre: One shot, angst, shoujo-ai.
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Summary: Uo remembers what its like to be in love. [KyokoxArisa].
A/N: I always thought Uo's admiration for Kyoko was cute and it borderlines what a crush could be like. So bam.
Warnings: Strong FxF implications. Just saying!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket and I don't make a profit out of it. Funimation and Tokyo Pop owns the series.
Gone was the Butterfly
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
~Rabindranath Tagore
As beautiful as the night could be, it paled in comparison to the mystifying wonders of the Legendary Red Butterfly, Kyoko. Uotani Arisa in those days found profound refuge in the wondrous stories of the gutsy and dangerous gang leader.
She, too, aspired to reach for the stars and in false hopes built on the Red Butterfly's bad-assery. Arisa had done all she could to further her opportunities in the all female gang. But, as hard as she had tried to portray herself in the same fashion as Kyoko had in her day; the emptiness was endless.
The rage consumed her down to the core and the sensation of further sinking into this bleak darkness increased tenfold. Destiny was not in her favor during those painful times.
Uotani Arisa, at the ripe age of 24, rummaged through her piles of clothes released from the storage room. Looking through embarrassing and somewhat questionable years of memories of her former fashion phases. She briefly remembers the short messy hair style she rocked and the line thin eyebrows. 'What was I thinking back then?'
Right there, she spots the item she was digging for. Pinpointing all her focus and heart into the infamous maroon trench coat with Kyoko's symbol of the Red Butterfly on the back and the Kanji letters stating it. A small smile spreads over her face as the mental image of Kyoko in her epic days wearing the coat with a tube top underneath and her fiery red hair mussed and held together with loads of hair spray.
Arisa sighed and hugged the coat, pressing it against her chest. The fabric felt rough through her fingers. She recalled a time where she resented Kyoko for what she had become after she departed from the gang. She left a legacy behind and for what? For motherhood and the white bread marriage?
It unnerved Arisa to no end, but once she saw who the real Kyoko was and the daughter she had raised, it all became clear as day. It dawned on Arisa that Tohru was worth Kyoko leaving the mess of a life she had behind.
Kyoko spread that love around and Arisa soon was enveloped in this love she never felt before in her life.
She set the jacket down. A frown forming on her lips as she traced the kanji symbols and the butterfly behind it with her fingers. Her heart still beats thinking of Kyoko and although the feeling in her chest is laced with sorrow for her loss, the love and adoration Arisa felt and still feels to this day for her can never be matched.
Uotani Arisa broke into Honda Tohru's apartment as a gesture to incur her wrath on the helpless student and to have her quaking with fear.
It served her right. What kind of a geek is breed from someone as notorious as Kyoko the Red Butterfly?
It didn't make fucking sense, Uo kept thinking as she trashed the place. She stabbed her knife through the furniture and tore at the fabric. She kicked over and knocked off its places vases, photographs, lamps and whatever was in plain sight.
Whenever she wore the white mask, the power to do anything felt as if it were coursing through her veins. She didn't give two shits what the consequences were.
As Uo trashed the place, she made her way into the kitchen. A mischievous look in her eyes took in everything. All the glasses and porcelain was here for the taking. Arisa took no time in dispensing the cabinets and cupboards of the silverware and glass. She threw the glasses and plates on this kitchen tiled floor. The deafening crash of glass shattering on the tile sent a rush through her. She couldn't stop herself even if she wanted to.
The sense of self worth and power was too great to stop now.
"Having fun?" A voice chimes in from the darkness. Flipping the light switch on, the fluorescent lighting momentarily blinded Uo. She squinted, blocking the glare of the light to her light sensitive eyes with her forearm until she adjusted.
"You feel like the alpha of the pack now?" Kyoko continued to ask rather calmly.
Uo was startled and for a moment considers running for the hills. She doesn't.
"You have no say in anything any more. You deserved this and you know it. You ran away and turned your back on us." she replied, trying for justification for her actions. "You should see it as a warning."
"They still are sending off their rookies to do their bidding?" Kyoko said, shaking her head. "I don't expect less from them. You're going to land in a lot of trouble for them and its not worth it. Trust me."
"Why do you give a shit what I do?" Uo said aggressively. "I just trashed your place and bullied your daughter at school. That's not even half of the shit I've done since high school. What do you plan to do about it?" Uo stuck her chin up defiantly. She crossed her hands over her chest.
"Because everyone, including you, needs a second chance," she answered, calmly. She held out her hand and for a moment Arisa actually believes her.
That night as Arisa slept through one of the roughest nights she has had in a while, she dreamed of the old days back when she was in middle school. Back to the time she first met Tohru and Saki.
And when Kyoko still roamed the Earth.
Arisa reached out for her hand and Kyoko smiled warmly and accepted her hand. Arisa walked side by side with her, the butterflies in her belly fluttering as her heart did. Arisa watched her in fascination.
She stops and Arisa stops. Kyoko turns and gently tugs Arisa to her and she stumbles into her arms. As Arisa blushes and mutters an apology, Kyoko cups her battered face-in those days she always carried a bruise or a cut-and kissed her gently as the grace of a butterfly on her lips and the world seem to blur and collapse in itself as waters does when its flushed down the drain.
Arisa woke up with a start and her sweaty body ached with need and nostalgia.
"Why now?" she whispered to the darkness.
Noone replied as expected.
Arisa decided to see Hanajima Saki and go to Kyoko's grave site.
Tohru was occupied with her work shift. She wasn't coming out until late at night.
Arisa and Saki went to pay Kyoko a visit. Saki kept her commentary to herself. She was aware of Arisa's feelings and decided to not interfere with her moment alone with Kyoko. Arisa kneel and placed a hand on the tombstone. She said, "I hope you know from wherever you are, you still live in my heart and I still feel for you as strongly as I did before."
Saki stared in silence. She bowed her head, the black veil covering her expression.
Arisa gently set the bouquet of white flowers down. "I miss you so much. I don't think I'll ever miss anyone as I do with you."
Saki placed a hand on her shoulder for reassurance. "I'm sure she's hearing you as you speak."
"I hope so," replied Uo, sadness in her narrow eyes. 'Because wherever you are, I want you to know I still love you very much.'
The End.