Written by:

Uth`e- Hello and welcome to my Fanfiction. First up this is an AU and there will be OOCness as some of the characters have had different backgrounds, but you wont be disappointed at all (well hopefully) Hatsuharu, Yuki, Ayame, Hatori, Kagura, Kisa and Shigure are brother and sister, Akito their father.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or the characters

WARNING- blood, cursing, war, death, torture, lovin, smiling, horses, smells, martial arts, adventure, fantasy, friendship, killing, idiot men, strangeness, strawberries and gardens.

Rating: R

Pairing: Yuki/Tohru

        ~`'~

Whispers of a Warrior

        ~`'~

Prologue-Escape

They had come with fire, burning torches, clubs and swords. There were too many of them for my clan. We were the M`eunya; Warrior women, people of the forest. My Clan had been attacked that year repeatedly by the Haranu; savages/deserters/traitors/bandits, scum. We thought nothing of it at first, we were warriors, strong, fierce, we could take them and we did. We killed them off, kept them away but it did nothing to stop them. They attacked us for one reason my Maman told me, they wanted us as women, to lie with us to enjoy our pleasures, and we would not let that happen.

We didn't realise that their attacks had been planned, the Haranu has gathered together and formed a plan under one leader, a man they called Scar, ugly, a barrel chest and old. He was once a commander of a mighty army in Sohma before they found him without honour and stripped him of his title and banished him from their lands. He gathered the Haranu together and they tested us, counted how many of us there were and waited.

We were having the initiation ceremony of the year, I had just received my womanhood recognition, the branding of our clan and accepted my role as protector of women when they came making loud noise cutting off all exits but the front with fire where they waited for us. Our leader, a strong and beautiful women, my Maman snarled at them and attacked with us at her back, she was a fierce woman but she loved so deeply, she taught me well.

Kana, my Maman's second and next to be in line for leadership held me back from the fighting, I was not as experienced as the others in battle, sure I had been taught to fight and my skills were exceptional, but I had never felt the battle lust, I had never killed another.

It was horrible, the blood the screams, they overpowered us took us down, I was forced to fight. Kana had let go of me to keep the men at bay, to give me time to gather my wits and allow my mind to focus for what was required of me. I must fight and kill to save my Clan. In the end however, we were not strong enough, I did not kill, it was five men to one woman and mothers had given mercy blows to the girls who had not gone under the initiation.

I understood what was to come next, why we were tied up and alive. I felt tears ready to trickle down my face but I held them back, warriors do not cry, the mothers had not cried when they had killed their daughters to save them from this fate, they had not cried when they had been taken away from the main tent where the other women were. Women did not cry.

He came for me, Scar, I had not been with a man before and I had heard the stories about how it hurt the first time how if the man was not gentle then you could rip. I was frightened and angry. What right did this man have to take me like this? Without my permission? He pulled me roughly from my clanswomen and they whispered words of comfort as I was hulled about like a sack of potato's. I would not let this happen to me, he would not touch me!

It was strange, he laughed like he was drunk, and he probably was as it seemed all too easy to get away, he was careless, undoing my bonds as if I were coming freely to his bed, his knife lay bare on a clothe chest and while he was undoing his clothing, taking off that blood stained cloth I picked up the knife and as if I were in a dream I plunged it into his back.

The blood was dark and he gasped in surprise, I never saw his face as I pulled out the knife and plunged it in again in a different spot on his tan and leathery skin, the blood ran onto my hands, I was amazed at how easy it was to kill him how soft the skin could be to give way to the sharp blade and enter easily. Scar stumbled and fell and I ran.

I realised that I could have saved my Clan, I had run though, from that tent from the first man that I had killed, from what my fate would have been if I had stayed. I was selfish and I was lost. I did not know what direction I was going, where I was, nothing. It was all so unfamiliar and the smells were different, more lived in, not as wild as the forest that I had grown up in all my life.

I was ashamed on myself for abandoning my people, and I wondered that if they found out would I be killed for being a deserter just like out captures were? I shivered at the thought and clenched my fists only now realising that I still held the knife that I had used to kill Scar. I hid it in my belt and wiped my bloodied hands on my clothes trying to make them clean again.

I walked for days, the backs of my knees hurting, flies danced around my head as I hadn't washed the blood from my body and I stank, I had not eaten at all that morning and I would not stop until I fell unmoving, I wanted to get away from what my mind continued to replay, I was a Haranu, I had killed my people.

~`'~

The horses pushed through the forest, following the hounds that were in turn following the scent of a deer that had been sighted. Nobles and finely dressed men sat upon the horses, bow and arrow at the ready to shoot down their quarry. They had been hunting for most of the day and were getting impatient to catch the doe when the dogs suddenly veered off the course they were tracking and started to bay. Their noses to the dirt and they barked in excitement.

The hunters urged their mounts to change direction to follow the hounds, the men growing as excited at the prospect of a catch. As they drew closer however they realised that what the dogs had found was an animal that was already dead. The men grumbled and quickly dismounted from their horses to pull the animals away before they tasted the blood. Once a hound had had its first taste of meat and blood then it would be useless as a hunter as it would kill the animal once it had found it.

"Get away, I said Get!" the men called at their hounds, ropes already working around the necks and pulling the excited animals away. A white haired young man wearing a beautifully embroidered crest of Sohma knelt next to the animal and prodded it. It made a small noise and he quickly jumped back, bow and arrow pointed at it.

"Whatsit?" One of the other men asked eagerly, "Whatsit Haru?" the white haired man shrugged and poked the arrow head at the lump again. It didn't move this time. Cautiously using the toe of his boot he turned it over and sucked in a breath.

"A woman!" he cried out, his companions were startled as they took in her clothing, brown rough hewn tunic, leather belt, gold bracelets and earrings, green and blue ribbons in her long brown and plated hair and a long grass skirt with no shoes.

"M`eunya." Haru hissed  and they took in the blood that stained her sun kissed skin.

"Kill the harlot," another cried making a cross sign in front of him. Hatsuharu shook his white head and placed his bow and arrow in another mans arms before taking out a knot of rope and quickly tying up the forest woman.

"What are you doing?" his companions asked and the white haired man grunted as he lifted her slight weight off of the ground.

"Taking her back to my father, he will wish to see her."

~`'~

The palace of Sohma was made of white marble and shone in the late sun a golden colour. The Summit was crowded with the usual council of the people talking with the emperor, the courtiers were discussing this and that and the royal family were scattered about around the open windows.

Hatsuharu stalked into the Summit and caused quite a hush as he walked right up to the emperor and placed the still bloodied girl on the floor and bowed. The emperor, a rather striking man in his late forties stood up and knelt on the floor by the girl.

"Who is this my son?" it was a murmered question but his voice carried about the silent room. Hatsuharu cleared his throat.

"A M`eunya, we found her while hunting." He said, head still bowed.

"Was she like this?" the Emperor asked, gesturing to the state the girl was in. Hatsuharu nodded, eyes closed.

"You have done well my son, take her to Hatori to get checked over, she will serve us well." He paused "were there any others with her? She is far from her Clan." Hatsuharu nodded and pulled the knife from his belt and placed in in front of the emperor.

"This was with her, clutched in her hand." The emperor took it and scrutinized it before he snarled.

"The knife of Xuan Yu." Hatsuharu flinched at the Emperors anger and waited until he was dismissed. The emperor waved his hand and Hatsuharu picked the girl up again, he motioned to a few people that were huddled by an open window and the well dressed young men and women followed him out of the room.

"Where would you like her to be taken Hatori?" Hatsuharu asked the brown haired older man who was already checking over to girl. The man licked his lips in agitation.

"One of the guest rooms would be more comfortable for the girl." There was a light squeel from the two young women that walked with them

"She is so beautiful, why did father say she could stay when she is one of those forest woman?" Kisa asked softly, a light finger tracing the outline of a bloodied cheek.

"I do not know sister," Hatsuharu said, eyeing the girl in his arms and then looking at his siblings "but there must be a reason, Yuki do you know?" A coal grey haired young man stood at the back of the group, his footfalls silent on the marble and piercing violet eyes watched the girl intently, they then flickered to his brother and back again. Hatsuharu sighed in understanding, his brother was of few words but one of the best warriors in their kingdom and their father favoured him, of course he would know.

They arrived at a guest room and they all trampled in, Hatori shooing the remaining boys from the room but allowing the two princesses to remain to help him remove the clothing the girl wore to find out if she had received any injuries. Hatsuharu, Yuki, Ayame and Shigure loitered outside the room, Yuki looking out the thin window cut in the wall while the other three discussed their fathers reason for allowing a M`eunya to stay at the castle.

Yuki watched the forest as a black cloud that had hung there for days hovered, he understood that what had happened to the M`eunya must have been terrible as they were the only 'respectable' people who lived in the forest, and he knew who Xuan Yu was. For this girl to have been holding his knife was cause for concern, his father held a soft spot for the warrior women who were strong and loyal, things that his father held in high respects and he knew that if ever Sohma were in trouble they would have come to his aid.

If the M`eunya had been in trouble he knew his father would have helped them, but it seemed as if it may be too late for that. He knew what his father planned to keep the girl with them, he would use her skills, keep her to protect his two daughters, she would do it as well as the warrior women were very honourable people and took their duty to other women very seriously, she would be an excellent bodyguard and she could be trusted which was more then they could say for the men in their guard.

Turning his intense violet eyes on the door that housed the M`eunya he wondered what kind of person she was, what had happened to her, and he felt a little excited about what her skills were in fighting. It had been so long since anyone with skill had challenged him and he was itching for a good fight.

~`'~

Maman- Mum/mother

M`eunya- Mai oon ya

Haranu- Ha ra noo