Author's Note:

Hello there! This marks my first return to fanfiction in a long while – it's been almost 8 years I think. I hope I can do Fruits Basket justice with this idea, which just popped into my head a few days ago if I'm being quite frank.

I hope you enjoy!

Savior

The five of them sat utterly still, each on their knees with their hands folded in their laps. Silence deafened the room; the air was so thick with tension it could be cut with a knife. Akito lay in front of them and began to tap his fingers lightly on the floor in slow, careful movements. As he stared blankly at the five faces in front of him they each turned their head down or away, anything to avoid that steely, soulless look.

"So," he said, his silky voice pervading the silence. "You two have come here to receive my blessing, have you?" He paused. "And you're afraid that I'm going to refuse so you brought some friends along to try to convince me otherwise. Is that the way of it then?"

At this Kyo tensed and met the head of his family's cold gaze with a fire in his eyes. He clenched his fists and opened his mouth to speak but it was Tohru, instead, that answered the head of the Sohma family.

"Yes, Akito." She placed a gentle hand on Kyo's clenched fist. "Kyo and I have come here before you today to ask for your blessing." Her voice was trembling but not once did she falter in her words.

Akito abruptly sat up and walked over to stand before Tohru. "I've been quite tolerant, have I not?" He quipped. Kyo gripped Tohru's hand tightly. "Allowing you to live in that house with Yuki, Kyo and Shigure for the last two years," his words were dripping with contempt now. "Allowing you to keep your memories of the Sohma family even after learning of our little secret. And now you have the audacity to think I'll allow a union between you, a complete outsider, and a member of the Zodiac…the cat of all of them!"

He struck Tohru hard on the cheek. Immediately Kyo launched himself at Akito. "You bastard, how dare you lay a hand on Tohru!" he roared. He punched the head of the Sohmas hard in the chest and shoved him up against the wall, his hands closing in on Akito's neck.

As if the tension keeping them rooted where they sat had suddenly abated, Yuki and Shigure rushed to restrain Kyo. "Kyo!" Shigure shouted, grabbing his cousin's left arm. "Stop this!" Yuki rushed in on Kyo's right side and both tried to pull their cousin away from Akito, who was clawing at Kyo's hands and gasping for air.

Hatori, who had rushed to Tohru's side the second she was struck, helped her up to a sitting a position and held her steady. Her cheek was already starting to bruise and tears started to stream down her face.

"Kyo…" she said quietly. Her legs trembled as she slowly stood and Hatori rose with her, making absolutely sure to keep her that extra inch away from his chest lest he transform into his horribly inconvenient form at a time like this. They made their way over to Yuki and Shigure, who were futilely struggling to keep Kyo from choking Akito.

"You keep your filthy, disgusting hands off of her!" Kyo's voice cracked from the intensity of his anger. Then Tohru lightly touched Kyo's arm and placed a soft kiss on his shoulder. Immediately his tight grip on Akito's neck loosened and Yuki and Shigure released his arms. The head of the Sohma family slumped to the floor and began to cough violently, desperate for air.

"It's ok, Kyo," Tohru said. "I'm ok." She looked up at her fiancée and smiled, the tears still streaming down her face. The bruise on her cheek was starting to yellow.

Kyo's breath hitched and he caressed Tohru's face. "No it's not ok," he choked out. "Look what he's done to your face," he sucked in air. "Your beautiful face," he finished, his final words no more than a whisper. He kissed her forehead and at that moment wished more than anything that he could take her in his arms and hold her close.

Tohru closed the gap between their bodies and after a few too short seconds there was a loud poof! Shigure, Yuki and Hatori gasped and stepped back several paces in surprise. Even Akito glanced up with a quizzical look on his pale face. When the smoke cleared, Tohru sat on the floor in front of all of them with an orange cat wrapped tightly in her arms.

Akito spat. "This is what you want to be with for the rest of your life? A despicable creature who turns into a cat?" His breath was still ragged from the force Kyo had put on his throat. "A despicable creature who turns in a monster…a monster who smells like something dead and rotting." His voice was eerily low.

Yuki, Shigure and Hatori bowed their heads. Tohru was silent.

Akito sneered and stood over the small, trembling girl, still clutching Kyo tightly to her in his cat form. "But even if he is despicable he is still connected to me, no matter how much the thought disgusts me." He took a lock of Tohru's chocolate brown hair and twirled it in his long fingers. "And you will not take him from me."

Suddenly, Tohru slapped Akito's hand away from her and rose so abruptly that Kyo almost fell from her arms. "He is not yours to control," she said. Her voice and body were trembling and tears continued to frame her face. "None of them are," and she gestured to the other members of the Zodiac behind her. "They may share in the curse with you but they're people and they all deserve to be happy. And being happy means they're away from you!" She paused and kissed Kyo on the head who in turn responded by licking her chin. "I love Kyo and he is the man who has asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I intend to do so and that will happen whether you give us your blessing or not."

Akito stared at Tohru dumbfounded, as did everyone else in the room. Never before had anyone seen such courage and defiance come from the little riceball.

She took the moment of silence to grab Kyo's clothes from the floor, push past Hatori and quickly run from the room. Shouts of "Stop them!" and "She's taking him from me!" rang throughout the halls of Sohma house but as they got further and further from the room the shouts began to fade. She silently thanked Yuki and the others for doing whatever it was that was keeping Akito from pursuing her and Kyo.

"You were incredible back there," Kyo said after a moment. Tohru stopped running and they found themselves before the main gate. She set him down and after another loud poof! Kyo transformed back into his human form and quickly changed clothes.

Tohru sighed and allowed some more tears out. "I had to say something, Akito was saying such awful things."

Kyo grabbed her by the shoulders and gently kissed her forehead. "I love you, Tohru Honda."

Tohru beamed up at him. "It'll be Tohru Sohma soon." She stood on her tiptoes and innocently kissed Kyo on the lips. "I love you so much."

They stood there quietly for a moment, staring lovingly into each other's eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity Yuki and Shigure came running up from behind…

Author's Note:

To be continued…Chapter 2 should hopefully be up soon.

Please review if you read!