Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

Shôjo Fukuzai

Chapter 1: Satsujin to DESU SURETTO

Kyoko Honda sighed a bit as she glanced over at the modestly sized plastic black clock that adorned the far wall of her kitchen. Fighting the urge to sigh again, she walked down the hall to her daughter's bedroom and knocked rather loudly on the door. She called, "Tohru! You need to get up now if you don't want to be late for school!"

Before she could utter another word, a brown blur flew past her and made a mad dash for the kitchen. Smirking a bit to herself, Kyoko shook her head as she started back toward the kitchen as well. No matter how old her daughter got, Tohru was still Tohru: the same sweet, slightly clumsy girl she had always been. Though she was usually able to wake up without a problem, she occasionally needed a wakeup call.

As she reached the kitchen, she saw the girl already seated at the table and quickly gobbling down mouthfuls of rice and eggs. Tohru paused when she noticed her mother, swallowed the mushy contents of her mouth, and smiled sheepishly as she squeaked, "Morning, Mom…"

Kyoko smiled to herself as she thought, Never change, Tohru-chan.

The orange-haired woman then seated herself at the table and said, "Good morning, Tohru-chan. Up late again studying?"

Tohru's smile grew more eased as she nodded. "Yeah. Today we're supposed to have a mock test. Then Hana-chan, Uo-chan, and I are going to go shopping after school. Is that okay, Mom?" Her expression grew worried; she had been so excited about the plans she'd made with her friends that she had forgotten to ask her mother if she could go.

Kyoko gave her daughter an amused look and nodded her assent. "Of course you can go. Uo-chan and Hana-chan will take good care of you!"

Her daughter blushed as she protested, "Mo-om!"

The woman chuckled at the girl's reaction. Even though she tended to tease her daughter for being a bit dependent and dense—and others often seemed to believe she was as such—she knew that Tohru, though a bit absentminded at times, was far more capable than she appeared. Kyoko sometimes wondered if it wasn't to the girl's advantage that people believed she was more clueless than she was in reality; it lowered their expectations and made her less noticeable.

That can be a very good thing sometimes, she thought wryly. Especially when you consider my past, and how it could affect her…

"Are you going to be working late again tonight?" asked Tohru in an attempt to both change the subject and fish for information. She knew that her mother worked hard as part of the janitorial staff at a large law firm to make sure that they could eek out some sort of existence, a job that often kept her out late.

The mother gazed at her blue-eyed daughter as she thought before shaking her head. "Not tonight. Would you like to go out to eat?"

The girl smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Sure. Could we get katsudon?"

Kyoko responded in kind. "Of course."

The two women chattered a bit as they finished breakfast before both went to get ready for the day. As Tohru finished zipping up the blue jacket of her Kaibara High School uniform, she smiled a bit thinking of how nice it would be to go out and eat with her mother. Kyoko was stuck working late more often than not, even on Saturday nights; only about once or twice a month did they have the opportunity to eat out.

Not that we could afford to go out to eat very often anyway, thought the brown-haired girl sadly. Her smile drooped a bit as she pulled some of her hair back with a blue ribbon that matched her uniform. Grandpa's offered to let us borrow money if we need it, but Mom won't hear of it. She always says she would hate to live off charity and wants to pay her own way. Especially since she used to rely on her own family so much.

Tohru had always known that her mother had cut herself off from her family not long after she'd met Katsuya Honda and decided to clean up her act, so that she would be more acceptable to his family. While her grandfather, Akitoki, had always accepted Kyoko at face value, her father's sister, Minako, had never been able to see past her gangster history. That was one of the reasons Tohru knew next to nothing about her aunt and her two cousins, as all contact with her father's family—save her grandfather—had been severed. Because of this, both mother and daughter had learned to rely more on friends than family.

There, she thought as she finished doing her hair, admiring her handiwork for a moment. That was about all the time she had, because she soon glanced at her clock and realized how late it was getting. Gasping, she grabbed her backpack and raced for the door. Pausing only to slip on her shoes, she called out, "I'm going to school now, Mom! Take care!"

Kyoko smiled to herself as she called back, "Have a good day, Tohru-chan!"

Tohru raced down the stairs of the apartment building that she and her mother lived in—on the twelfth floor, no less—and panted hard as she went. Once she reached the ground floor, she sprinted all the way to school. After making a quick stop at her shoe locker to change out of her street shoes and slip on her school ones, she finished her mad dash by slipping into her desk and collapsing onto it in a boneless heap.

None to her surprise, she heard a soft chuckle from beside her desk, one that was exceedingly familiar. Stifling a groan, she slowly turned to gaze at her two best friends: Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima. She smiled weakly, still breathing heavily. "Hi, Uo-chan, Hana-chan."

"Morning, Tohru," greeted Arisa cheerfully, wearing a smirk on her face. "What's the matter? Up too late last night?"

"Our precious Tohru-kun had a late start this morning," said Saki in a voice that would have been inflectionless to any bystanders; however, those who knew her best were able to detect the concern that laced her words. Only the subtlest nuances of worry visible on her face, she quietly asked, "Were you up studying for the mock test last night?"

"I was," admitted the brown-haired girl, shamefaced. "I know it's stupid, but I'm afraid I won't pass the real one if I don't do well on the mock test!"

"Don't sell yourself short!" ordered her blond friend. Her dark sapphire eyes sharp, she added, "You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for!"

"Indeed. It would be hard for you to do worse on your tests than me. My brain is so malformed that I cannot comprehend the information and fail all of my tests," the black-haired girl intoned solemnly. "I am so stupid I must always retake my tests…"

Arisa rolled her eyes. "Give it up, Hanajima. We all know that you just bomb the first tests because retakes are always easier."

For a moment, Saki smiled surreptitiously as she replied, "I'll never tell."

Tohru giggled a bit despite herself. Well, at least seeing her friends arguing (even if Arisa was only nitpicking) took her mind off the mock test and alleviated some of the stress. Her relief was short-lived, though.

A few moments later, her homeroom teacher walked in. A tall man with graying black hair, he smiled at them all and cheerfully greeted, "Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Yamagi-sensei," returned the class unenthusiastically. It was one of the few Saturdays that they were required to come to school and no one was especially happy to be there.

Sighing, Yamagi rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, I know you'd all prefer to be doing something else, but what can I do?"

"You could let us out early," suggested Hirotaka Umeda from the back of the room, leaning against the wall. A couple of his cronies snickered.

"You're right, Umeda, I could," agreed Yamagi readily. "But then I would lose my job—and you would just have to come back next Saturday." As a few people groaned, the teacher nodded to himself. "That's what I thought. Okay, everyone, take your seats so that we can begin the mock exam."

After the mock test, Tohru and her friends took their bento boxes and headed to the park so that they could eat before they went shopping. The first place they headed after lunch was a small New Age shop; Saki said that she wanted to buy a book on curses for her little brother, Megumi, so that he could improve his techniques. Tohru remained silent while Arisa commented, "Your family has the weirdest hobbies, Hanajima."

"On the contrary," Saki deadpanned as she leafed through a book that had caught her interest. "Megumi can use these skills to his advantage someday. You never know when such talent will be in demand."

"Oh, yeah. Everybody wants to employ somebody who can 'curse' their enemies," muttered Arisa under her breath. She slowly sauntered over to another counter—away from the books on witchcraft and "curse-craft," as Saki had often described her brother's technique—where a number of luck charms were stored, marveling at how stupid people had to be if they thought these things would bring them good fortune.

Tohru might have stayed to wait as her dark-haired friend picked out a book for her younger brother, but seeing Saki so engrossed in the reading material made her think twice about it. When she was absorbed in something, there was no telling when the violet-eyed girl would surface. Instead, she decided to follow her blond friend's lead: find something else that caught her interest.

As she looked at some of the charms situated in one of the displays, she wondered what they could possibly be for. She assumed that they were all charms for good luck, but she wasn't entirely sure. One charm in particular caught her eye, and she picked it up to carefully examine it when suddenly a voice behind her said, "Ah! You're interested in a love charm, are you?"

The brunette almost jumped out of her skin and whirled around, her expression one of pure shock. She could hear her heart beating in her ears as she stammered, "W-what!"

The person behind her was a young woman in her early twenties, wearing classical Goth clothing, complete with fishnet stockings, a spiked choker, and clothing only in the darkest shades of black and scarlet. Her dark brown hair had dark purple streaks that complimented her vivid green eyes that were delineated by eyeliner and sat below pierced eyebrows. Tohru's tension rose as the woman smiled a bit and explained, "You're looking at the love charms, so I just assumed…"

Love charms! "Erk!" Tohru immediately dropped the trinket as if it had burned her, her face bright cherry-red as she hurried over to where Arisa was standing. She could almost feel the heat radiating from her face as her heart pounded even harder. Groaning a bit, she massaged her temples. They don't look anything like the love charms they sell at the shrines!

Arisa raised an eyebrow as she saw her friend's humiliated expression. "What's the matter with you, Tohru?"

"Eh?" The brown-haired girl looked up somewhat hesitantly. Then she laughed nervously and shook her head. "It was nothing! The salesgirl, she…surprised me…"

"Hmm?" The blond glanced over at the young woman who had returned to her place behind the cash register. Smirking a bit she nodded to herself. "Yoshiko? She's harmless!"

"You know her, Uo-chan?" wondered Tohru in surprise.

"Yeah, she lives in the same building as me and my old man," Arisa told her with a slight smile. "I didn't know she worked in this place, though."

The two teens headed over to the register so that Arisa could chat with her neighbor for a few minutes. While they were in deep conversation, Saki appeared out of nowhere and announced she was ready to make her purchase, serving to scare Yoshiko in the same way she had Tohru. After ringing up the book, the Gothic woman said she wanted to know the black-haired girl's secret for sneaking up on people; the answer was simple: "I was born with the gift."

With the necessary text in their possession, the trio continued their excursion with a few hours of window shopping before winding down the afternoon with a light snack and spirited game of Rich Man, Poor Man at Saki's house. It was a little past five o'clock before Tohru realized she should probably be getting home.

"I really need to go," said Tohru as she began to slip her shoes on at the door. "Mom said that we could go out to eat tonight, and she'll start to worry if I'm late."

"Wow, must be a real celebration," Arisa said with a smirk. "What're you guys going to be having?"

Tohru grinned as she started to tie her shoelaces. "Katsudon."

"Your favorite," added the blond, smirk widening.

Saki, however, was not sharing in their pleasant mood. She had been getting bad vibes about Tohru leaving all afternoon, one of the reasons she had attempted to keep her best friend with her for as long as possible. Quietly, she intoned, "Perhaps you should call Kyoko-san and ask if you may stay here for a little while longer, Tohru-kun. I'm sure that my mother would be willing to let you stay as long as you like."

Tohru frowned deeply, wondering what could possibly be troubling her friend. Why does she want me to stay here? Does she think something bad is going to happen? "That's okay, Hana-chan. I'm really looking forward to dinner with Mom."

"I sense that something terrible has happened," the violet-eyed girl warned her with a solemn look. "Please, take care of yourself, Tohru-kun…"

The brunette felt chills race down her spine at her best friend's words. Her predictions are almost never wrong… What if Hana-chan's right? What if something terrible has happened? Is Mom all right?

"I have to go home!" Tohru fumbled with her laces as she managed to finish tying them, but her fingers trembled slightly as she reached for the doorknob. I have to make sure that nothing happened to Mom!

Seeing the trepidation in the brunette's teal-blue eyes, Arisa rose to her feet and walked toward the door as well. "Hey, wait up. I'll walk with you. Make sure that nothing bad has happened."

Saki watched somberly as her two best friends started to head out the door. Just before the door latched shut, she murmured, "Be careful…" Closing her eyes, she hoped that—for once—her presentiments were wrong.

All the time Tohru and Arisa were walking to Tohru's apartment building, the brunette was praying that Saki had been wrong in her forecast. Hana-chan was wrong for once—nothing bad happened at all. Mom will be just coming in, or she'll be a little upset that I wasn't in by five. I won't complain at all, even if she yells at me. Oh, God… Please let Mom be okay!

She was so deep in thought that when Arisa suddenly put a hand on her arm, she almost felt her hair stand on end. The blond gazed at her worriedly. "Hey, don't be so paranoid. I just thought you might want to know that we're here so that you didn't walk into the door."

"R-right," said the brunette nervously. "Sorry…"

Tohru slowly pulled off her backpack and fumbled around in it until she found her key ring. Her fingers shook as she held them and tried to grasp the right one. For some reason, they all looked the same, even though she well knew that no two were alike. Breathing erratically, she finally selected the correct key and started to aim it at the lock; her fingers were trembling so much that the other keys jingled as she tried to thrust it forward, missing her target twice.

After her third miss, the lighter-haired girl found herself growing agitated. She sighed in disgust before she snatched the key ring from her friend's hand. "Gimme those and lemme try!"

Arisa knew that Tohru was scared out of her mind, as anyone who knew Saki and received a dire prediction would be. She also knew that her friend was stalling, perhaps with the thought that if she never opened the door, she would never have to find out if their mutual raven-haired friend had been right about something terrible happening. Though Arisa no more wanted to face the idea that Kyoko was in trouble or hurt than Tohru, she had never been able to stand still when the possibility was at hand; when she had to confront a potentially bad situation, she always rushed headlong into it, so that it caused only minimal pain.

Despite her resolve, though, the blond girl's fingers trembled slightly as she drove the key into the lock and turned it. Neither of the girls heard the tumblers tumble or the bolt slide out of place; the door was already unlocked—a very bad sign, as Kyoko had always been strict about making sure the door was locked. Swallowing hard, Arisa felt her hands shake even harder as she fumbled with the door handle.

For Tohru, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The time it took for the door to open after the blond unlatched it was nothing if not a short eternity, the sound of the hinges squeaking a deafening noise that would have driven her insane if she had to listen to it any longer. Even after the door had swung open time continued to drag on.

The girls exchanged a long look before Arisa slowly gave a nod. Tohru gingerly stepped into the apartment first, with her friend only a few steps behind. Swallowing the huge lump that had formed in her throat, she weakly called out, "M-Mom?"

"Kyoko-san?" Arisa's voice was much more powerful, almost causing the brunette to jump out of her skin at the volume.

Panic beginning to rise as the deafening silence continued to hang heavy in the air, Tohru hastened her steps but each one still seemed to take forever. Her breathing shallow, she called, "Mom? Where are you! Answer me, Mom!"

Arisa could hear the fear as Tohru's panicked voice began to get stronger, more strained. She watched as her best friend began to race for the kitchen of the apartment, still calling for her mother. Sighing, she opened her mouth to tell Tohru to calm down when she heard the other girl's voice give a strangled, bone-chilling shriek: "MOM!"

"Tohru!" Arisa sprinted to the kitchen. She was about to ask her friend what was wrong, but stopped herself as she skidded to a stop on the freshly scrubbed linoleum, eyes wide. What she saw made her blood run cold.

Tohru had dashed into the kitchen because she somehow felt that was the room her mother would most likely be in. When she'd entered to see the scenario before her, all of the blood drained from her face and time seemed to screech to a halt. There, lying on the floor in a prostrate position, was her mother. She'd screamed as she fell to her knees and searched for any sign of life in the woman.

The blond girl had entered the room and found her in such a state, but she couldn't have cared less; the only thing that seemed to matter was that her mother could still be alive. Arisa's eyes widened in horror as she watched her best friend shaking her mother's lifeless body in an attempt to revive her, heedless of the fact that the woman's neck had the beginnings of bruises in the shape of fingerprints and was bent too far to one side—probably broken, she realized grimly. She felt bile rising in her throat but was able to swallow it, sending it back down into her stomach that was already churning at the sickening sight.

"T-Tohru…" whispered the blond thickly. "Tohru, don't—"

"I have to keep trying, Uo-chan!" interrupted the brunette in a tremulous tone. "If I keep trying, she'll see that I haven't given up on her! I have to…to…" Her voice broke.

"Tohru…she's…gone," Arisa told her gently. "Kyoko-san is dead."

Tohru's entire body shook as she tried to find something to contradict her friend's words, evidence to prove her faith was not unfounded. With a sharp intake of breath, she met her mother's open eyes set into a face that was frozen in an expression of terror. They stared up at the ceiling blankly, glazed and clouded…lifeless. She wasn't even blinking, the girl realized in horror.

"M-Mom…?" she whispered brokenly. The pinpricks of forthcoming tears stung the back of her eyes as she finally recognized that there was no way she could revive her mother—not now, not ever. Closing her eyes against the onslaught of saline liquid, she murmured, "She's gone…and she's…never…coming back!" The end was a keening wail emitted as she launched herself at her mother's still chest.

Arisa was at a loss, not knowing what she could possibly say to her best friend as she cried against Kyoko's dead body. She felt so helpless and her mind was completely blank. Gently, she reached out and pulled Tohru into her arms, away from the corpse; without meaning to, three little words slipped past her lips: "It'll be okay." Even to her own ears it sounded utterly pathetic and stupid, but it was all she could say, over and over again.

A short while later, a loud voice penetrated the cacophony created by Tohru's soft sobs and Arisa's crooned mantra as a man at the door called out, "Honda-san? Is everything all right?" It was Akio Ichigo, the neighbor from across the hall; he had often gone out of his way to look out for Kyoko and her daughter.

Swallowing hard, the brunette called back, "I-Ichigo-san?"

"Tohru-san?" Akio slowly entered the apartment and stepped into the kitchen. "What is…?" he started, but cut himself off as he caught sight of Kyoko's body and the two girls clutching each other. All color leaving his face, he started for his apartment and said, "I'll call an ambulance!"

Doesn't he realize it's too late, that an ambulance can't help Mom anymore? wondered Tohru dimly, tears still trickling down her cheeks. Doesn't he realize she's already…dead?

"C'mon, Tohru," murmured the blond quietly as she stood up, attempting to pull the other girl with her. "Let's go…sit in the living room…"

Shaking her head, the brunette gazed at Kyoko's body and muttered, "In a minute, Uo-chan. First I have to…"

"All right…" Arisa slowly went into the living room, leaving Tohru alone to stare at her mother.

Reaching out with trembling fingers, Tohru swallowed her heart that seemed to be in her throat and slowly forced her mother's eyelids shut. Biting back a sob as she cast one last mournful look at Kyoko's still form, she stood and prepared to follow the blond. However, she stopped short when she noticed something sticking out of one of the cabinets, a piece of stray paper.

Frowning, she stepped closer as she reached out and tugged it free. As she caught sight of what was written on it, her eyes widened in terror. In a small voice, she read it aloud, "'The Red Butterfly is dead. One remains, then the line ends'…?"