Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or the characters in it. However, all original characters to appear in this story do belong to me.
A/N: So, welcome to my new fic. I had a hard time coming up with a title I liked that worked with the story. When you start reading it, it won't really sound like the summary or like a Fruits Basket fic, but I promise if you continue to read, you will find that it is the right story. Kyo and Tohru appear in this chapter and my OC will probably show up in the next chapter. Rated for language and some dark themes. Hope you enjoy.
Shadows of Intrigue Chapter 1Two teenage girls were racing through the woods, one pulling the other along by the arm behind her. The girl in back had tears streaming down her face. Even up close, the two girls looked very much alike, especially on a dark, rainy night like this night. One had darker hair than the other, but their facial features were strikingly similar. It was, perhaps, to be expected, though. The two girls were twins, after all.
"Come on, Sis!" the darker-haired twin yelled to her sobbing sister, "We have got to get you away from here, now! We can't let them find you! I don't know how he found out, but I've never seen that man more furious in my life!"
"But I don't want to leave! I want to stay with Kei! I love him!" the crying girl responded.
The first girl turned, exasperated, and retorted, "I know. That's what started this whole mess in the first place. I'll tell you what, though. After you're gone, I'll let Kei know where you are. Then he can go to you and you two can be together, safely away from the rest of that family."
The crying girl stopped, shook off her sister's hand, and wiped the tears from her eyes, "Do you mean that? You'll help Kei and me? But what about…."
"Don't worry about the arrangement. I'm sure they'll let me take your place. I am your twin sister, aren't I?"
"But, I can't let you do that. You don't love the heir any more than I do," the sister with the lighter hair replied.
"But," her sister responded, "I don't love anyone else, either. You do."
Kei's girl shook her head, "You still shouldn't have to do that." Then she took off running on her own. The other girl, surprised by her sister's action, took a moment before she started chasing her twin. She lost sight of her sister in the rainy woods, but the trail of muddy footprints left a path for her to follow. When she did spot her sister again, she stopped short and hid behind a tree. Her sister was not alone. In a small clearing, her sister had been joined by Kei and his entire family. Kei was being restrained by two of the other men.
The head of the family walked up to the trembling girl, who was looking to her love for help. This man, who was nothing like her Kei, began to speak to her, "You disappointed me. You are an ungrateful little tramp. I offer you the chance to wed the man next in line as head of this family and what do you do? You reject him and run off with my bastard cousin. Ad if the fact that he was illegitimate weren't bad enough; his mother was a filthy whore. You have disrespected and disgraced my successor and so have disrespected and disgraced me. Now, you are going to pay for what you have done."
Kei broke free of the grips of the other men and ran to stand between his cousin and the girl he loved, "Please! Leave her alone! It was my fault! If you have to punish anyone, punish me!"
The older man grinned wickedly down at his cousin, "Don't worry, your punishment is coming." Then he hit Kei hard enough to send him flying. When Kei looked up again, the head of the family slit the girl's throat and she fell lifelessly to the ground.
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
Kyo woke with a start. He had never been one to have his sleep filled with dreams, at least not any he remembered in the morning. But he had not only had a disturbing dream just now, but it had been so vivid. He looked down and noted that he was actually shaking from the aftermath of the dream. He was so stunned by this that it startled him when a knock came on his door, "Kyo? Are you okay? I heard you yell a minute ago."
It was Tohru. Kyo got up and walked over to open the door. When he did so, he found Tohru looking up at him in concern. As she looked into his eyes for a moment, surprise joined the concern in her expression and she gasped, "You're shaking! What's wrong Kyo?"
"It's nothing," he sighed, embarrassed to be seen in such a disturbed state, "I just had a really weird dream. It kinda got to me, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He didn't really, but there was something about Tohru, he just couldn't say no to her, "I don't know. I guess I could try. I don't know if it would help any. I'm not really one to talk much about this kind of stuff."
"That's okay," Tohru told him with a smile, "I just want to be able to help if I can. Let's go down to the kitchen and I'll make us some tea and snacks and you can tell me about the dream if you want to, or we can just sit and eat quietly. Sometimes even that helps."
Kyo smirked, wondering to himself how Tohru always seemed to know exactly what to say and do to make him feel better. She could tell that he was a bit reluctant to talk about his dream so she had basically offered to sit with him, whether he chose to talk or not, until he was able to calm down and relax again. And though she must have seen it, she knew better than to actually comment on how shook up he was, other than pointing out that he was shaking, but that had been out of concern. He looked back at her and realized she was still waiting for his answer so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's head downstairs."
When they got to the kitchen, Tohru fixed tea and riceballs for the two of them, "If this doesn't help, let me know and I'll make some warm sweet milk for you. My mom used to do that for me when I had bead dreams. It's supposed to help you sleep."
"You don't have to do that. This should be plenty. Um…thanks for doing this, for just sitting with me. That actually does help, so, um, thanks."
"Well, I'm glad to be able to help," she smiled at him as she sat down.
Suddenly Kyo realized something, "Oh! No way!"
Tohru looked at him in confusion, "What? What's wrong?"
"In my dream. The girls, there were two of them. They kind of looked like…but that doesn't make any sense. Never mind. Forget I said anything. I wouldn't mean anything anyway. It was just a dream."
Tohru gave him as skeptical look but then nodded and agreed, "Yeah, I guess a lot of dreams don't really make sense. This one time, I had a dream that there were ghosts trying to flood the planet and no one could figure out how to stop them until my friends and I discovered that you could zap them with cell phones and make them all disappear in just a few minutes. Pretty silly, huh?"
Kyo actually laughed out loud, "That's kinda stupid." But he had said it with some affection, to keep from hurting Tohru. He had now all but forgotten his own dream. So, when he finished his tea and riceballs, he thanked Tohru again and headed back upstairs and went to sleep again.