Whisper Chapter 2
Broken dreams
Disclaimer: I own the plot and plot ideas. Not fruits basket.
Authors note: from here in, the current Arisa will be referred to as Uo, except in memories of previous Arisas, etc.
Arisa lay in the darkness, the gentle whisper of her lover's breath lulling her to sleep, his arms around her protectively, as if foreseeing some danger. She rested her head against his bare chest, thinking. She didn't even notice falling into a dreamless sleep.
She opened her eyes, to see him watching her, expression gentle, showing love and none of the darkness, none of the ragged edges of his soul. His soft scarlet eyes, with orange hair falling messily across his face.
"Kyo …"
That sweet, sweet smile. "I love you, Arisa."
She lay alone on her bed. He hadn't come for so long. He'd disappeared, as if off the face of the Earth. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth.
The door opened. "Arisa?" he smiled slightly, uncertainty in his ruby eyes, stumbling a little when she flung herself at him.
And wincing at the pain and incomprehension spread across her beautiful face. "Kyo? What's- what's wrong?"
He showed a hint of sadness. "Arisa-chan… this can't go on. I have to marry someone from a suitable background. You aren't nobility. They've organized a marriage for me, to a girl with better bloodlines." He turned away. "I'm sorry, Ri-chan."
"Don't call me that." He turned back, puzzled. Her face was cold. "Don't you dare call me that anymore. If you really loved me as much as you said, you'd stay with me anyway, damn the bloodlines. I love you. I always will. But don't call me Ri-chan until the day you come to beg my forgiveness and my hand." She turned back to the window. "I'm sorry, Kyosu-san, but you'll be sorrier."
Uo awoke, lying in the darkness, sobs wracking her body. "Oh god. Oh god. Why that?" That memory from the first Arisa. The memory of letting her true love go. The beginning of the curse, in her mind. The place it all began. Where a love, once so pure, soured.
There were worse memories, far, far worse. Because the first Arisa's mind had become hideously twisted after that.
She tossed and turned a long while, trying to catch elusive sleep.
Seeing that girl's face. And girl she was, seventeen to Kyosu's twenty-six. The girl of a suitable bloodline. Dark eyed, petite. Pretty.
Everything Arisa was not.
I hate her. Stealing what is mine! MINE!
The blue star, encased in a circle and ancient runes, old as time itself. Those surrounded by kanji, outlining the curse and its recipients.
Sitting in the centre, and making a sacrifice of blood. Life pouring from her wrists. Imara, the girl from the next room, rushing in. The baby, little Arisa, crying. The blond woman's last words. " And it will last until he comes here to beg my forgiveness and my hand…" the last words inaudible to all but the dying woman, the spell dispelling her pain, "and holds me in his arms again…"