Disclaimer: Neither Fruits Basket nor any of the Fruits Basket characters belong to me. They are all the property of Natsuki Takaya. Ahhh...How I wish I could have Shigure and Hatori though.

8/10/04 I've updated the Prologue just a little.There was a sentence or two causing some confusion so I have tried to make it a little less ambiguous.

Well, I couldn't wait to at least get the prologue of my next tale posted. Please R&R. I'd like to know if you think this story has possibilities just as I do. Flames might hurt my feelings but they are okay too.

Legacy of the Red Butterfly By: Otaku Mom Prologue – On Her Birthday

A red butterfly hovered near the flowers adorning the rough deck. As it caught the man's eye he found himself facing a 10 -year -old memory. He heard her clear voice echoing through the room, and saw a card burning in the fireplace, placed there by his own hands. Akito would have been angry if he had known.

"Hatori-san, don't expect my memory to be erased permanently, I will not allow it."

Hatori Sohma came to himself with a start. He had been temporarily trapped in a history 10 years gone. Funny it should come to him again after so many years.

Ten years ago the players had been Akito, a red-haired woman, a child with sea-green eyes, and Kyo. The red-haired woman has exited the scene, but her legacy still remains.

Ghostly voices echoed through the room

"Hatori you will erase that woman's and her daughter's memory and his as well..."

"Yes Akito-san" Hatori said coolly. "We certainly cannot have outsiders knowing of our family curse."

"Hatori-san don't expect my memory to be erased permanently, I will not allow it...."

"Someday Hatori-san Tohru is going to be important to your family."

"Tohru is going to be important" Tohru is going to be....

Hatori shook his head and walked out onto the deck to escape the echoing voices. That particular room was a source of many echoes. The echoes of the woman he loved as her memory was erased, the echoes of Momiji's mom as her memories were erased and the echoes of Kyoko's voice. How could Kyoko-san's words have been so prophetic? How did she know that 10 years from the day she had met Kyo her daughter would be so important to the Sohma juunishi. Had it been only two years since Tohru had come to live together with Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo? In such a short time she had found a place in the heart of each of those nearest and dearest to him, including his own if he was to be completely honest with himself.

He had tried to make her see reason and send her away early in her tenure with the Sohma family but she had stayed, she had thrived, and she had made a place for herself within the lives of the cursed Sohmas. The laughter floating across the garden was proof positive that the Sohma household was much happier because of the brown haired girl with the sea green eyes.

Just then Tohru spied Hatori out on the deck. "Hatori-san come join the party, even Shigure-san and Ayame-san are here now." Hatori smiled and crossed the garden to join his best friends, Tohru, and the younger Sohmas. He had to laugh at himself for he was no better at saying no to Tohru than were Yuki and Kyo. Even within the Sohma compound where Akito's shadowy presence held sway, the world was lighter because she was there.

Today Tohru was eighteen years old and though she was unaware of it, her history with this family had begun 10 years ago.

Akito was very aware of that history. He watched the happy group from the cold shadows of his upstairs room and as Hatori crossed the garden to join them, rage, icy and black, settled within Akito's heart. "Even Hatori, my dear doctor, has forsaken me for that little witch! How dare they presume to have fun while I sit here sick and dying? They may have forsaken me for now, but I will have them back and I will have my revenge."

Ten years ago Akito had ordered Kyoko, Tohru, and Kyo's memories erased. He had been so very sure that once he took care of the woman, permanently, his vengeance would be complete. Now, two years later, her daughter was here with his juunishi, and he had allowed it. How had he miscalculated so badly? He had been so sure that the girl would be destroyed once her dear mother was dead, but he had been wrong. He had been sure a second time when he had forced the girl to face Kyo's form of the original zodiac cat and had been wrong again. Not only had the girl survived, but she had also thrived and now she had stolen his family from him. He would destroy her and in the process quell his rebellious family. A sardonic smile curved his lips as he turned away from the window.