Kiss Kiss
By Lady of the Ink
Pairing: Kyou and Kagura Sohma
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Theme: # 13 - Excessive Chain
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, but you knew that . . . I hope. But I do own this story and all the twists that it takes.

Kiss Eight
Chains


I've known for a long time that the greatest asset in my life is my mother. When faced with a situation that had caused others to fold and break, she not only braved it; she embraced it. Maybe some of it was circumstances; my being a girl had to have made it a bit easier for her. But there's a large part of me that truly believes things would be the same even if there'd been more hurdles between us. It's a mix of my experience by her side and my faith in the person she's proven herself to be.

My mother loves me. She supports me and my decisions, even when she's known that they might cause me pain in the end. She's always by my side when I need a friend, in front of me when I need a hand, and behind me when I need a push. It's because of her that I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm loved exactly as I am and that I'll never face life alone.

But there's one gift that she's given me that I treasure above all the rest. It came in the form of a story she'd tell me as she tucked me in at night. What she told me then not only gave me comfort and strength, it also gave me the desire to pass those feelings onto other people who needed them.

"Love is like a chain. It comes in a lot of forms and serves a lot of purposes. It can be the guide rope that leads you forward or the line that pulls you from things that try to keep you down. It connects you to the people that you care about most and protects you from the sharp edges of the world."

At that point she would smile and lean close to tuck the covers in just right.

"Every chain is made up of links that come from a lot of places. Each smile, kind word, hug, and kiss adds another link to strengthen the chain. That's why it's so important to show people that you care about them. Every gesture you make towards them adds a link and helps keep the chain strong enough to keep them safe from the hardness around them and let them know that they're wanted.

"But the best part of the chain isn't the hard side that keeps all the bad things out. It's the warm side that keeps all the good things in. When someone wraps that chain around themselves and their heart, they can do just about anything they set their minds to. The bad, angry, and sad feelings can just bounce right off while all the happy, loved feelings stay with you and let you know there are people rooting for you to succeed, waiting to support you when you need them."

That statement was always followed by a round of hugs, kisses, and tickling that left me feeling giggly and completely sure of my place in the world. It wasn't until I was older and had seen my cousins suffering that I realized how truly lucky I was to have her. That was when I decided to be as much like her as I could, to offer the gestures that formed the chains that would protect my loved ones in the way I had been protected. I would give everything that I had to help them feel as safe and as loved as I could.

Of course, good intentions have a way of backfiring in the worst ways. Meeting Kyou and seeing all the wounds he'd already gotten from the world, I was swamped with the desire to protect him. It wasn't so bad when we were younger, but things changed when I got old enough to really know what he'd suffered. Everything that my mother had told me bubbled up inside until I couldn't control myself. All I wanted was to reach out to him and do what I could to keep him safe.

Unfortunately for the both of us, my gestures of love and friendship turned into violence without my permission. What I plan to be a hug turns into a body slam and my hand offered in kindness somehow turns into a fist. Gentle words of encouragement become yells of anger and frustration.

Even so, I have to believe that there's a part of him that gets the emotion behind these actions, a part that feels the strength and love I'm attempting to send his way. Maybe someday I'll find the nerve to explain why I can't stop trying, why, even though it always goes wrong, I can't stop reaching out. In spite of his tough guy facade, Kyou has a soft heart and I'll do all that I can to help protect it from the world. Link by link, gesture by gesture, I'll let him know that he's loved. I'll build him the strongest chain that I can and take some comfort in knowing that, whether he knows it or not, he'll carry a part of me with him in it for always.