Beauty & The Beast – Chapter 01: Origin of the Beast

B&TB

Summary: this is Beauty and the Beast retold as a KisaIta story. It is one of my favorite KisaIta's as I feel I understood their personalities better etc. Also, this fanfic is SLOW. The first chapter is told fairy tale style and is less satisfying than the rest. Maybe if I feel like it I'll edit it some day… Maybe.

I started it with the intention of creating as healthy a possible relationship that covered a lot of political and sexual topics I never bring up in other fics. So I suppose it was meant to be a little more serious as well...

I originally wrote this a long time ago dedicated to HeavenOnFire and Elric0sis. I only posted this because of Jessi-Mini, as I'm not entirely happy with it. I'm sorry this fanfic isn't as good as I wanted it to be for you two.

B&TB

Once upon a time there was a spice merchant who traveled along the Silk Road between India and China. His name was Kiran Hoshigaki. Kiran was a righteous man who always believed in doing what was right, and his greatest regret was that his travels as a merchant meant he could not spend enough time with his wife and son at home. To that end, he decided that he would travel only one more time along the Silk Road.

It was a rainy day that Kiran traveled along the road, alone. His caravan was in the previous town, however Kiran wanted to get a special gift for his son at home, Kisame as this was his last trip as a spice merchant. With that in mind, he left his caravan for a single day to trek to find the Hua family – a rich family who sold the most renowned weapons in all of China – possibly the world. Kiran wanted to buy a blade just for Kisame. Afterall, the Hoshigaki family was a family of warriors – Kiran was the very first merchant in the family, having broken the cycle because he believed in nonviolence and did not like fighting.

As he traveled, Kiran noticed a wagon that was torn and destroyed, and saw a man surrounded by assassins – an unarmed man. Now, Kiran might have broken the family cycle, but he was still a trained warrior and no newbie to combat. He could imagine nothing worse than a group of bandits attacking an unarmed man for no reason! Kiran jumped off of his horse and pulled out his blade, and quickly injured the bandits, took their weapons, and tied them up. The rain picked up and drenched them all.

"Thank you for saving my life!" The unarmed man said, flailing his arms towards Kiran.

"Of course! How could I stand by and let an innocent man die?" Kiran stated, giving a soft smile to the man. "Why were they attacking you?"

"They believed me to be a witch." The man said.

"Nonsense." Kiran said, shaking his head. "No such thing exists."

"Do not be fooled! The man is a witch and he will be your undoing!" A bandit coughed out. "Believe me, you will wish you had never met this man! Run now, run for your life!"

Kiran shook his head. How could people be so foolish?

"Come." The man said to Kiran. "My home is not far from here. It is raining so harshly, please come with me and rest. Let me thank you for saving my life."

"I'm sorry, I cannot." Kiran responded. "I must continue on to meet the Hua family, if they will meet with me."

"Then you are in luck." The man said, with a smile. "For I am Chen Hua, the head of the Hua family."

Kiran was awestruck and nodded his head fiercely. "I will come with you then."

And so, Chen and Kiran traveled to the Hua family home, a place that was secluded among the Chinese mountains and was large and beautiful. There was a wonderful garden outside with some of the most beautiful red roses Kiran had ever seen. The home itself was a large compound that was easily larger than even the great Taj Mahal that Kiran had once seen. Truly the Hua family was remarkable.

"Welcome to my home." Chen said as they entered, several bodyguards greeted them by bowing. Kiran could tell instantly they were guards, and very powerful indeed. All had dark features and dark eyes, with solemn faces and sharp weapons. "Please rest tonight, and tomorrow we will speak of what it is you came here for."

Not wanting to deny such hospitality, Kiran agreed and stayed the night. Chen's bodyguards led Kiran to his room and gave him new clothes to wear and brought him warm food to eat.

"Thank you." Kiran said at one point to one of the bodyguards. "You have been very helpful. May I know your name?"

"Not many would ask a lowly guard his name." The man responded suspiciously.

"Ah, but I can see you are more than a lowly guard. You have an aura… of power about you." Kiran responded.

The man blinked back expressionlessly. "Izuna. Izuna Uchiha."

Kiran's eyes widened. "Truly? The Uchiha clan?"

Izuna blinked once more, but otherwise made no movement. "You know of us? Not many do."

"Of course. You are traditionally a clan of warriors, like mine. I am of the Hoshigaki clan."

Izuna seemed to smile for just a brief moment before his expression returned to normal. "It is a pleasure to meet you then, Mr. Hoshigaki. The Uchiha clan has served the Hua for many centuries, however it is not the only clan we serve. The Uchiha will serve any family that can afford our services."

"As my family would have." Kiran responded, beaming at Izuna.

"Goodnight, Mr. Hoshigaki. It was nice meeting you." Izuna responded with a bow, and left.

"Goodnight, Izuna Uchiha." Kiran said softly, knowing that even over the roar of thunder, Izuna would hear. That night, Kiran slept well as the storm outside raged on endlessly.

In the morning, Kiran met Chen in a large room and the two sat across from each other and spoke like old friends. However, Kiran was on a schedule and finally spoke to Chen about what he truly came here for.

"Chen. You have been kind and hospitable to me, I thank you for all you have done. However, I must tell you, I came here to trade my spices for a weapon, for I have heard legends of the weapons that the Hua family creates."

"For what purpose?" Chen asked, not unkindly.

"I have decided to end my travels as a merchant so as to spend more time with my family." Kiran answered. "I have a young son, he is but six years old. I wish to bring him a nice weapon."

Chen smiled. "I shall grant you a weapon then – for saving my life! Madara, bring my Samehada!"

Soon a man with long black hair and a strict expression on his face came and bent down next to Chen with a large blue blade that had many scales and a hilt with a skull on it.

Chen held up the blade and said "This is my greatest creation, Samehada. I wish for you to have it, for saving my life, Kiran. Give it to your son, with the hope that one day he will lead the world to a brighter future with it."

Kiran looked at the magnificent blade in awe and sighed, with glimmering eyes. "I love this blade, however it is too great… I do not think my spices could afford it."

"Chen shook his head. It is a gift, Kiran! For saving my life. Please take it."

Kiran smiled with great joy and took the blade, thanking Chen immensely.

"Now, you cannot simply leave." Chen said. "The storm is still raging. Please stay a while longer until the storm passes."

How could Kiran say no after receiving such a gift? Kiran stayed in the wonderful Hua Palace and soon Kiran and Chen became the best of friends. The storm did not pass for an entire two weeks, and when it finally did, the two friends did not wish to part.

"Let us make a pact so that we can be bound forever as brothers." Chen said. "I have a daughter that you have met, Ru. Your son should marry my daughter."

"It is a deal." Kiran said, shaking Chen's hand. And so it was done – Kisame's engagement was set in stone, and Kiran returned home.

Kisame was very excited when he received Samehada, and hugged his father tightly.

Kiran only smiled as he thought of the other gift he had for Kisame – Ru's hand in marriage. However, he would wait until Kisame was of age to tell him so.

Years went by and Kisame grew into a handsome young man with strong rippling muscles and a strong, square jaw. He was adored by many women in his village - but there was one problem. He never had an interest in any of them.

In fact, Kisame began to notice that his eyes lingered on men, not women. Their lean, hardened features, their powerful arms and domineering confidence. He was drawn towards men, and he knew it was wrong. He knew because he never grew up seeing two men or two women together, it was always a man and a woman. It was unheard of to be so strange as to like other men!

However, Kisame knew his family and village loved him, so he had no doubt that if he told the truth people would accept it, and perhaps he could find a man who felt the same way! As Kisame thought of ways to tell his parents what happened, his father came and told him of a story from his travels many years ago – the story of how he came across Samehada.

Kisame was torn to pieces, for his father had already arranged for him to marry a girl! A girl he had never met at that! He was quite angry about this and didn't know what to do. He decided then, that he would tell the truth. And as he was about to walk to tell his father the truth, he heard many villagers screaming and followed the sound to find a young girl, only a little older than himself, being beaten by the villagers.

"Stop!" Kisame screamed. "What are you doing?!"

"That girl is a monster! She loves other women!" A voice shrieked at Kisame and pushed him aside. "It is an abomonination. She is possessed by the devil. She must be killed." Kisame's heart froze as he tried to save the girl but was pushed aside by the mob.

Kisame went home that day and cried. How could he not? A girl had died, an innocent girl who had done nothing but want to love!

"Do not cry, my son." Kiran said as he put his arm around his son. "That girl was possessed. She is in a better place now."

Kisame felt his body freeze at those words. His father believed the village did right! His own father! If that was true, how could he tell his father that he did not wish to marry Ru? Or that he was attracted to men?

Kisame couldn't. But, he also couldn't disobey his father, for his father had done so much for him and Kisame did truly love his father. And so Kisame traveled to China and on the way he met many interesting people, and saw many interesting things. In fact, it took an entire year for him to finally arrive at the magnificent compound where his future wife and her family waited for him. As he walked down through the beautiful rose gardens of Rosethorn Hall - the great series of tall, arching buildings his new family lived in - he wondered what they would be like.

Kisame had been dreading this moment ever since he realized he was weird - a strange person who couldn't feel interested in women - but all such feelings were laid to rest when he met the family.

Ru was beautiful, she had large almond eyes and flowing black hair. She was soft and curvy and wild, she loved to dance and showed Kisame things he didn't know existed, and in exchange Kisame told her about his own village and the world he came from.

Her parents were just as amazing - they were kind and treated Kisame as family and he grew to love them. But things were not to last – alas, Ru's mother, Jun, grew sick and a few months later, she passed away.

After her passing, Chen grew worried about Kisame stalling the wedding and forced the issue - no one protested when he set a wedding date. However, Chen was suspicious about Kisame, and although he tried very hard to keep it a secret, Chen came from a long family of witches. He himself was a witch in fact. He invented a spell, a spell that took his very life force from him and placed it into the beautiful rose gardens his wife had spent years growing.

On his daughter's wedding day, Chen gifted Kisame a single rose and said to him "keep my daughter happy, and you will be happy for as long as you live." Chen did not continue to say what would happen if Kisame did not keep Ru happy. For see, the Rose was cursed and the moment Kisame took it, he too was cursed. The day that Kisame would tear his daughter's happiness the Rose would do its job - but of course, if all went well, the Rose wouldn't have to, so Chen never did tell Kisame everything.

On their wedding night, Ru and Kisame did not make love. Kisame made an excuse for how he could not do it, and was tired from the joyous day's activities. Ru agreed and the two went to sleep side by side.

The years went by and the two never consummated their marriage and Ru gave up trying, growing sadder and sadder as she had no children and very dearly wanted them. In addition, she began to wonder if her husband truly loved her at all – for why else would be shy away from even touching her?

It was almost eight years later when Ru's father died and Ru mourned him greatly. Kisame tried to help his wife feel better but could not. That night Ru was enraged and confronted her husband about the lack of sex in their marriage bed - years of pent up hurt came pouring out as she took her anger out on Kisame.

Kisame made a mistake that day. He told her the truth. Afterall, Ru was his best friend, and over the years he had come to truly care for her, so he felt he could finally tell her the truth. However, it didn't end well. Ru felt that she must be so ugly, so disliked, that even her best friend, her husband, the man she trusted the most, could not bear to look at her and had to instead go to men – she felt she herself must be so revolting that she turned her husband away from women altogether. Ru was so distraught she took her own life and that was the day Kisame's life turned into a living hell.

The Rose came before Kisame and shone, the spirit of Chen materialized into the air and spoke to Kisame.

"You have failed to keep my daughter happy. As a result, you will now be cursed! I will turn you into a monster so ugly none could ever love you! Just as you made my daughter feel for all these years in your marriage! Ah, but you will not be able to die. In fact, you will live forever as an ugly, unloved monster – just as you made my daughter feel on the inside -until the last petal falls when you will be dragged down into the pits of hell itself, forever locked into the form of the monster that you are. Only true love can save you, and only if it happens before the final petal falls. But who could love a monster like you?"

With that, the spirit of Chen disappeared and Kisame began to transform - his dark brown skin changed to a grayish-steel blue shade, he grew fins and gills and his eyes turned to beady fish eyes. He roared in pain as he transformed howled at the uncaring night sky.

When the physical pain finally ceased, Kisame promised never to be honest about his true feelings again, to never again open his heart to anyone so that none could hurt him again.

Kisame closed off Rosethorn Hall to everyone, and it seemed that overnight the place went to shambles. The garden grew into a viney, thorny, dangerous and dark zone where life could barely survive. Dust settled all over and the curtains closed down.

Kisame sat in despair, all alone.

B&TB