This is a small idea I have been playing with for awhile about kyo being a girl, I throughly thought through all the character dynamics and thought it would be fun to actually give it a shot.
Disclaimer : I do not own Fruit Baskets
My Fault : Prologue
"It's all your fault!"
A child walked silently, amongst the numbingly quiet tomb stones, the cold feel of the stones seeping through Kyo's body. The cat was steady in her ascent to the grave markers she was looking for, possessing only her pure tenacity and her father's first and last gift to her, a wrinkled boyish and black outfit meant only to be worn on her mother's funeral, but she felt possessed to know the truth. It seemed to be guiding her, pulling on her limbs as if she were a rag doll until she finally found herself in front of her mother's grave only half conscious of the fact. Her whole body trembled even the warm breath she exhaled into the lifeless morning air.
Wisps of memories suspended before her like movie reels on the back of her eyelids, that she was desperate not to remember, the surreal quality to her mother's smile, more manufactured than fake. The lies she told her and the truths she didn't, so breathlessly, that it made her heart ache and the warm life giving breath she once shared with her mother stop. After all it was a breath she had stolen, that belonged to another child much more deserving of it than the cursed cat of the Sohma clan.
In the eyes of the family, in the eyes of her father, HIS life was much more important than her pathetic existence. HE would've truly lived, free from the curse, free from the oppressive feeling of this clan. HE would've been the apple of her father's eye, one that he would actually come and visit more often than his own accursed daughter. HE would've been her brother, Kyosuke, while she would be Kyoko, two children, twins, with similar names, seemingly immune to the effects of the curse, sharing a blissful family life. But as she stood beside his grave, so close to her own mothers she couldn't help but laugh mercifully at this brat, he would never know the pain of watching his mother bury both children. Kyo knew only bits so riddled with gaps she could barely piece together it all, but she knew from what dark whispers she heard in the midst of her mother's wake. That's when she spotted them next to her mother's photo, two baby blankets, bright and cheerful, never used, a far cry from her own dark color blanket she had long since abandoned. The question arose, who were they? and who was she? Then it connected like lighting shotting through her ice cold veins, but it was still only a suspicion only another could unveil this lie, and in the end there was only one man she could turn to. Her father confirmed it in accusatory manner, that she killed HIM, that she killed everything he loved, and foolishly believed she would forget ever having the conversation since she was a child.
But for Kyo it was defining, she realized a while ago, while talking to Kagura the boar cursed that things her mother told her were weird, things that normal little boys weren't supposed to be told. It took years to figure out why her mother insisted Kyo was a boy and that he should be raised as such. It took even more time and many traumatic events to realize her true gender, and even then she felt even more confusion than before. Things had been drilled into her head since birth, painstakingly taught by her mother showing her all the correct mannerisms, ascetics, and responses of a boy. She no longer was able to trust her own instincts, whether she liked sweets or frilly dresses, was now beyond the point of her comprehension. She remembered when she did show some apprehension that she favored the cookies kagura gave her to the taste of meat with dinner, Kyo's mother had gone ballistic, she quickly snatch the pastries out of the child's hands and threw them away. Quickly making Kyo promise to never eat sweets again through the child's own red tear-streaked face. Such reactions left the cat cursed feeling more numb than usual. But now Kyo was at a cross roads, with the death of her mother and the abandonment of her father there was no one to reenforce the role of her brother upon her.
She now understood the truth, that her mother wished for her son back and not her daughter, the thought of it felt so harsh and so real that it brought Kyo to her knees. She must've looked pathetic breaking down and sobbing in front of her mother and brother's graves, and vaguely, only just, the sound of Akito's voice faintly ringed through her head, saying something outdated and useless. Something like "Big Boys don't cry..." All she could do was laugh between her shallow sobs before crying out. "It isn't my fault." A hand was reassuringly placed on her shoulder, a man's touch gentle and warm like a spring wind, stronger than dad's, stronger than Akito's, stronger than Kyo had ever met. Kyo gasped as if all of the sudden she could breath, like this terrible burden was now off her shoulders. She turned to the man, cautious for deception of his warmth, her heart shuddering in the thought that it was false. A smile spread over his face, it was so bright and warm that Kyo felt as if the sun had bestowed it's smile upon her. Reassuringly he whispered "I know" and she felt like she would melt in his warmth as he embraced her.
end~.
A brief explanation of the chapter :
(I know there was quite a few things going on that I didn't address directly) Kyo was born a fraternal twin however due to the Sohma curse the pregnancy was interrupted at 3 months earlier and her brother later died in the hospital. Her mother suffering the loss of her son forces her daughter to become an alternative child in memory of him, she did not realize something was wrong till much later on when she met Kagura. Then when her mother died Kyo managed to reveal the truth based upon the whispers and her mother's mementos at the wake. Her father confirmed it and she now has to address this issue her mother never really loved her and that her father has been blaming her for the death of his son since birth. She breaks down out of public eye and Kazuma comforts her.
SO please review. I always believe in constructive criticism. Also I'll try out a clearer and longer format next chapter and maybe do a hard edit of this chapter by then
