Gravitation Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ A Kiss Cures a Curse ❯ Chapter 1

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Was it really real? This sensation of being alone? Just a week ago she had been in love, she had been loved. What had happened? The ones she loved had been ripped from her life, and there had been nothing she could do to stop it. Ariana was only nineteen. She wasn't supposed to be alone.

She had gone to the trial. It had almost killed her to see the bastard sit there with that smug look on his face. He knew there wasn't enough evidence to convict him. She almost screamed when the jury declared him not guilty. He had taken everything from her; her mother and father, her little brother...and Sebastian. They were supposed to have been married in a month. Now she would never be able to hold him, to tell him that she loved him. All because of Dean Hughes. The bastard had murdered her family. She had gone out to record a new song with her best friend, and while she was gone Sebastian had come to the house to wait for her. She had always kept him waiting, but he hadn't minded. But as he waited with her family, they heard a crash upstairs. It was Hughes. He had broken in an upstairs window to rob them. When Sebastian went to investigate with her father...no one was clear on exactly what had happened, but it appeared that her father surprised Hughes, and had been shot. He had died immediately. Hughes found Sebastian in the next room, and had shot him in the back. He lay there, slowly bleeding to death as Hughes went downstairs and executed Ariana's mother and brother. A neighbor, hearing the gunshots, but seeing nothing, called the police. When the police arrived, Sebastian, over an hour later, finally died.

When Ariana saw the flashing lights, she felt dread. She knew that they were at her house. She knew that they were gone. She didn't know how she knew, but she couldn't feel her family anymore, she couldn't sense their warmth.

She had felt a slow cold spread through her as the police officer told her that her family was dead. She felt the world fall from beneath her feet as she was told that the man who had killed them was untouchable. She had....died inside when she was ordered to leave her home, told to leave the country even after he was released. The only relief she had was her music. That was the one thing that no one could ever take from her.

So, now she found herself in Tokyo, Japan, performing on the same stage as Ryuichi Sakuma. He had been the first person she had met when she had arrived in Japan. She remembered him from his brief appearance in the U.S. and had always wondered how talented he really was. After they had met, they had become almost inseparable. They were both looking to each other for comfort. Little did his fans, or anyone really, know, Ryuichi was a very...broken man. When she had found him, he had been on a bridge, about to jump. She had walked directly up to him, and took his hand. She had turned to him as she climbed up onto the ledge next to him and said,

"If you jump, I'll follow you."

For a moment he had simply stared at her, then at their linked hands. He started crying then, ashamed at what he had almost done. They sat there on the bridge, comforting each other, crying together, sharing their pain. After that, they almost seemed to need to be near each other.

When Ryuichi heard Ariana singing in the shower one day, he asked why she wasn't a performer. When she replied that she was, she could almost hear the grin in his voice as he stated that he had an absolutely wonderful idea.

So, he had introduced her to Tohma. Tohma Seguchi saw something in her, something that even she didn't see anymore. She knew that he didn't help her simply because Ryuichi wanted him to. Tohma wasn't a sympathetic man; he only gave his time to you if he found you worthy. So, Ariana couldn't turn down the opportunity that he offered her; she felt it would be like slapping both him and Ryuichi in the face. At first, she almost regretted her decision to start performing again. Then she met Shuichi Shindo and the other members of the band Bad Luck. They were all so optimistic, and kind. Ariana simply couldn't stay frozen in the face of their determination. She found herself smiling again, and laughing. When Ryuichi's band Nittle Grasper came back together, she was happy, because she saw that it made Ryuichi happy. She knew that music would keep him out of his depression. Music...and Tohma's sister Kisa.

Ariana saw that Ryuichi was becoming a new man. He was beginning to become whole again. She could only feel happiness that her friend would be saved by this woman that he loved. As for Ariana, she submersed herself completely in her music. Tohma even got Hyde from the recently disbanded L'arc en Ciel to be her guitarist, as well as co-vocalist. Soon, Hyde and Ariana were as close as she was with Ryuichi. He was very similar to Ryuichi in the fact that he was kind, and caring, and he wanted nothing more than to have fun making music with Kisa. They wrote all their songs together and even decided to remix a few from Hyde's solo career.

Tohma soon announced their first live performance. Ariana briefly forgot her internal torment in favor of an intense nervousness. Their first performance was in Club Cita, a place that Hyde had already performed several times. As she looked over the crowd, she was momentarily distracted by the presence of a boy with stark white hair, yet a black hairline.

'What an interesting boy. I wonder if that's his natural color'

The momentary distraction was enough to make her nerves subside, and she silently thanked the boy. As the concert began, she could tell that the audience was a little skeptical, having heard Hyde sing some of the same songs before. As the performance went on though, both she and

Hyde could tell that everyone thought that she was just as good as he was. The rest of the concert passed in a blur for Ariana, but at the end she knew that she had to find the white haired boy. He was the one who had made her relax enough to sing. She searched through the entire club, and had almost given up when she saw him heading out the door.

"Wait!" She called, catching up with him.

He turned, and she saw that he had the most intense grey eyes she had ever seen.

"What?" He demanded before he saw her.

When he saw who she was his eyes widened, and he bowed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

"It's alright. I guess that your black side got the better of you for a moment."

She didn't know why she had said that, but she had sensed a much darker person when she had first approached him. He looked very surprised at her words, but smiled.

"You have no idea. What can I do for you?"

She blushed,

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something. I wanted to since I saw you before the concert began."

"What is it?"

"Is that your real hair color?"

He laughed out loud, and then smiled at her.

"That's what you wanted to ask me? You've wondered about my hair color the whole concert."

If possible she turned even redder.

"Yeah. I was really nervous when I first went on stage. Then, I saw your hair and I just started wondering if it was your real color, and it made me relax to have that distraction. So, I guess I wanted to thank you."

His smile turned a little softer.

"You're welcome" He looked around, "Can you help me?"

It was her turn to look surprised,

"Sure. What do you need?"

He seemed to blush, and looked embarrassed.

"I think I'm lost. I'm supposed to go to my cousin's house, and I can't remember which way I came from."

She laughed, but good naturedly as she nodded.

"I'll take you there. Just let me go tell Hyde that'll I need to leave."

"Thanks."

"No problem, but hey what's your name?"

He seemed surprised that they hadn't actually introduced themselves, but then smiled and bowed.

"Sohma, Hatsuharu Sohma."

She liked him, he was different. Hatsuharu had a very different feel to him than most people. Almost as if there were two different energies inside of him. As she drove towards the more rural area of Tokyo, she glanced at him out of the side of her eye. He seemed to be only about fourteen, but something in him seemed a lot older. She sighed, unable to decide what it was that made him so different.

"That's it." He said pointing to a house deep in the woods.

"Wow. I've never been back here before."

"Yeah, it's all Sohma property. The entire family lives in this area. The main house is that way." He said, pointing to the right.

"That's amazing." She replied as she pulled up in front of the house.

He glanced at her before opening the car door. He went and got his bike from the back, and came back around.

"Would you like to come in for a minute? I'd like you to meet my cousins."

For a minute she just sat there and looked at him. Then, she smiled a completely genuine smile and nodded.

"Sure."

She was sure that she would never be able to keep a straight face again. As soon as she and Hatsuharu entered the house a boy with orange hair came flying around the corner.

"Where the hell have you been? Tohru's been worried about you, you stupid ox."

Ariana sensed the dark side of Hatsuharu coming to the surface, and placed her hand on his arm, gaining his attention.

"Someone was worried about you? You should go let her know that you're safe."

Her pleading, and the sadness in her eyes seemed to stop Black Haru in his tracks, and he instantly reverted to his gentle white self.

"Yes. Sorry Ariana, I'll be right back."

She smiled as he walked out if the hallway into a kitchen. She heard a feminine voice exclaimed "Haru!" and smiled. He was safe. She didn't remember the orange haired boy until he started peaking to her.

"Who the hell are you?"

She blushed, but smiled as she bowed.

"I'm sorry. My name is Ariana Devlin."

She heard him gasp, and looked up to see a very surprised look on his face.

"You mean you're the Devlin girl whose family was murdered?"

She felt all the blood drain from her face as she backed away from him.

"H...How do you know about that?"

"It was all over the news."

"Even here?"

"Yeah. It was considered a top story because of his connections with the mafia."

Suddenly, she felt like she couldn't breathe, and began to sink to the floor. Just as she fell to her knees, Hatsuharu came back into the room. When he saw her he rushed over, and glared at the orange haired boy.

"What did you do to her Kyo?"

"Nothing." He protested, and then glanced at Ariana.

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know. She's not even looking at me. Is Hatori here?"

"Yeah, of course he is. He's always here, just like you." He spat out, but Haru didn't even look at him and Kyo knew that meant that he was really worried; especially when all Haru said was,

"Go get him."

'Damn! What the hell are we getting into now' Kyo thought to himself, but nonetheless went to find Hatori. He wouldn't let it show, but he was worried about Ariana too. He knew the detail of what had happened to her family, and he had made her remember it. He hoped that he hadn't damaged whatever recovery she had managed to achieve.

Hatori looked at the young woman kneeling on the floor of his cousin's house with the emptiest eyes he had ever seen. He knelt in front of her and tilted her head up to look into her eyes, and gasped. Her eyes weren't blank. They were filled with horror, and a pain that seemed to go even deeper than his own. He lifted her, careful not to let their chests touch and laid her down on the couch.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"She was with Kyo," Haru explained," I don't know what happened."

Hatori looked to Kyo,

"Well?"

Kyo seemed embarrassed as he looked at her.

"I...when she told me her name, it reminded me of something I had seen on the news about a family in America..."

Haru's eyes widened.

"I remember that. Yeah a family in America was....Kyo you didn't ask her about that did you?" Haru demanded growing angry.

Kyo's stance became defensive, but then seemed to wilt.

"No! I...I wasn't thinking, and I asked if she was THAT Ariana Devlin."

"You're an idiot you stupid cat." Haru said, and for once Kyo knew that it was true.

Hatori, being fairly busy with the Sohma family's caretaking, had not seen the news in...well, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen the news.

"What happened?"

"Her...Her entire family was murdered, and a man that she was supposed to marry. The man who did it, he wasn't convicted because he has connections with a mafia."

'God!' Hatori exclaimed to himself, as he looked back to the girl, who seemed to have calmed slightly, and the terror in her eyes was beginning to recede. Hatori was glad. No one needed to be that afraid, that empty.

The next time that she was aware of her surroundings, she was lying on a couch, and there were several worried faces above her.

'Geez! Did someone die or....oh' She thought to herself as she remembered the orange haired boy asking about her family. She looked around her, and noticed him standing in the doorway, looking more worried than anyone else in the room.

"Come here." She demanded

At first he looked like he was about to argue, and then the fire seemed to die out of him. He walked over to her and knelt next to where she was lying. She reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

She pulled him closer, so that she could look directly into his startled eyes.

"Yes." She simply stated as the answer to his question.

His eyes widened and he looked away.

"I'm sorry."

Suddenly she hit him on the top of the head.

"Oww! What the hell did you do that for?!" He demanded beginning to jerk away.

She caught him by the front of his shirt and pulled him close again.

"What do you have to be sorry for? You didn't kill them, so don't apologize to me for a crime you didn't commit."

Once again, she had surprised him. Then, to the surprise to everyone, except Ariana, Kyo smiled.

"Alright."

Yuki sighed as he heard Kyo yell,

“What the hell did you do that for?!”

He'd been looking forward to a quiet evening at home after his student council meeting. Not that it would have been likely to occur. Not with Kyo in the house. He frowned when he saw a car in the driveway. It didn't belong to Hatori, or anyone else that he could think of. As he walked into the house, he glanced around. No one was there. Not even Tohru was there to greet him. He walked into the living room, and saw everyone gathered around the couch, even Kyo. The stupid cat was on his knees next to a young woman who held him by the front of his shirt. He was just in time to hear her tell Kyo,

You didn't kill them, so don't apologize to me for a crime you didn't commit.”

As surprised as he was at her words, that was nothing compared to the shock he felt at seeing Kyo's gentle smile. Just who was this girl? What was it that had inspired that smile from Kyo? He definitely would try and get to know her. She had to be special, the stupid cat and Hatsuharu were in the same room, and they weren't even looking at each other. They were both looking at…her. He walked over to Tohru.

“What's going on Miss Honda?”

“Oh! Yuki! I didn't know you were there.”

He smiled at her,

“Who is that girl?”

“Oh! She helped Hatsuharu get here. But then Kyo said something and she passed out. Then Hatori moved her to the couch, and…”

“Ok Miss Honda.” Yuki said as he gently interrupted her rant.

Suddenly the woman turned and looked at Yuki with the saddest green eyes he had ever seen. He gasped and moved closer. Her pain, her loneliness was even greater than his own. He saw Kyo help her to her feet, and guide her to the porch.

“I'm fine, don't worry. I just need some fresh air.” She said, waving away Hatori and Hatsuharu's concern.

Before she left the room, she looked back at Yuki. He suddenly felt like he wasn't alone anymore. There was someone who understood.

A/N: I originally posted this at adultfanfiction.net, but people seemed to think that this story had some connection to FMA…how? I don't know. Maybe it was the Hughes part of Dean Hughes, whatever. They also seemed to think that I was writing about myself, that I was Ariana. I picked my aff profile name because I wanted to use one of my original characters' names. So I'm not Ariana.