Story Title: The Butterfly Effect

Author: Anaphalis

Story Summary: Vengeful gods. Sarcastic, evil butterflies. Two men in her bed. Somehow this wasn't quite what Tohru had pictured for her life after highschool. Yukiru, Kyoru

Foreword: So here's my version of the popular something-bad-happens-and-Tohru-runs-away-with-a-couple-Sohmas. I wanted to use this starting point to look at some major questions. What makes a god a god? How does Tohru really contrast with Akito? What might it actually take to break the Sohma curse? Oh yeah, and what would happen if Tohru was suddenly given a really snarky, slightly evil inner voice?

The reason for the title: The Butterfly Effect is one of the most famous illustrations of Chaos Theory. It basically states that certain situations or systems are affected by their starting conditions. Therefore, a butterfly flapping its wings can cause air currents that ultimately become a hurricane. What better theory to explain the way the entire Sohma clan falls beneath the hurricane started by Tohru's wing beats?

Chapter Summary: Tohru's having a little trouble getting home.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Natsuki Takaya/HAKUSENSHA - TV TOKYO - NAS - Fruba Project.

Warning: Rated R for language, implied rape, torture, and adult situations. Take the rating seriously folks. Includes the big spoiler from manga chapters 97-98. I haven't really read the manga, so canon purists beware. Really though, the story is ultimately a lot more upbeat than the rating might suggest.

Prologue: No Place Like Home

There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

-Dorothy, "The Wizard of Oz"

Must get home.

Tohru can't breathe, the blood in her lungs is choking her as she crawls. She has been listening to the voice since she left the Honke. She must listen to something or she will think and remember. Remembering is bad.

There are lights on the road in the distance.

Hidehidehide. Mustn't see you.

She rolls over the gravel bank just as the car passes, gasping at the pressure on her broken ribs. Her arms are shaking with the strain of supporting her as she painfully crawls out of the ditch. Her battered muscles are burning. Maybe she can take a short rest….

Not far now. Must get home.

The voice is right. She can feel the road under her change to the lane before the house.

Homehomehome.

There is a light ahead. Silly light never gets any closer. Oh, but here are stairs and there, that hard surface must be the door. There are voices behind the door. Maybe she will just listen for a minute while she tries to open this tricky door.

"What do you mean that she wasn't here when you got home?"

"I had to go see Mit-chan about some corrections. Tohru-kun wasn't here when I got back."

"She didn't have work tonight and she never would have come back this late regardless."

"Maybe she's at Hana-chan's or Uo-chan's?"

"She would have told us or left a note. Damn it Shigure, if you've given her to Akito…."

The voices are getting loud and making everything ache. Tohru pushes against the door with all of her energy and falls into the circle of light.

"Tohru! Oh god… Oh god… Tohru…."

She can't see, not really, but there is an orange glow and a grey glow, with a brown glow slightly in the background.

Safe, the voice tells her. Home.

Suddenly she is wrapped around the orange glow, trying to blend herself into its light. Something is making a high-pitched keening sound. She thinks that it might be her.

"Why am I not transforming Shigure?"

The voice is loud again. It hurts her head.

"Damn it Shigure, why am I not transforming?"

The orange glow is tinged red and black now. It is very pretty. She wants to apologize to the pretty light for making it sound so scared.

Never again.

The voice is right. She has no more apologies to give. Besides she needs to cough some of this blood out before she can talk again.

Something is rocking her as she coughs, pulling her into warmth and blending the grey and orange lights.

"We failed you. I'm so sorry Tohru. I'm so very, very sorry."

She has to make the lights stop. They shouldn't say things like that. It takes all of her remaining energy to force the words out.

"Don't say sorry…. Only say sorry for truly hurting someone…. Otherwise it's a lie."

'The voice will be happy,' she thinks as the world spins crazily and goes black.

Updated 10-08-04