Title: A Rose in Bloom

Manga: Fruits Basket

Pairing: Akito/Shigure

Rating: R

Category: Romance, Angst

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. It belongs to Natsuki Takaya who should be a household name.

Comments: (sigh) Fruits Basket manga has finally ended. Gone are the years of waiting anxiously for each new chapter to come out and devouring it until it became embedded in my memory. Well, I loved the conclusion. It was a very fitting end for the greatest manga ever created (in my humble opinion). This story here is an alternate finale to the Shigure/Akito storyline. Obviously, if you have not read close to the end of the manga, this story would contain spoilers. I hope you guys like the story. All comments are appreciated.

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A breeze, a child of a legion of wandering waifs, wafted through the channels of the main Sohma house as if to seek solace in souls that no longer resided in the mundane world. The wind had braved through many obstacles only to die when finding a dead end, a spiritually-void dwelling that had welled up so much anger, betrayal, and hurt in the past generations. At the open entrance facing the black garden rich in the fragrance of roses and night mists, Akito existed merely as a silhouette from within the room while she stood facing the round moon which flickered to and fro from the passing of the restless clouds. Her shadow became an alternate shadow wavering behind her still body and the two gave into their own rhythm—one conscious of another presence and dithering about in a futile manner in order to attract the immovable other that stood derelict and whose presence would be otherwise unknown had it not been for the moonlight.

From inside the house, Akito's form was featureless as though the history had been wiped out and what was left was a black void. But, if an invisible spirit, perhaps a remnant of the glory that once was, were to glance at her face in the moonlight while wandering through the night, the spirit would stop and peer closely at a woman whose face throbs with a remorseless sorrow. The face, pale in the moonlight, had once belonged to a young girl of rosy cheeks but as she grew older, the bloom that came with her coming of age quickly faded.

It had been the summer before she turned twelve and she had looked longingly at Shigure sitting outside and away from her. The garden glowed from beyond the shaded balcony where he rested bent back as his weight was supported by his strong adolescent arms. It had been a cloudless day. She came to him.

Shigure, do you love me?

Shigure smiled coyly.

Have you been asking everyone else the same question?

She looked at his handsome face where some hairs had fallen over, keeping him from being uncovered completely and she felt that there was a secret side of him, a relentless side of him. She refused to back down.

I'm the one asking the question.

Shigure stepped out into the light, plucked a crimson rose from a nearby bush and presented it to her while taking her left hand and pressing it to where his heart was.

You're here.

You have always been here and you will always be here.

I love you, Akito…

At that moment, the wind flew past his face where he knelt before her exposed with eyes as clear as the sky above. She saw truth, a definitive truth of Shigure's love for her. The realization blossomed within her and she turned red everywhere as though redness were a cloak that enveloped her entire body. It clung to her in a steadfast manner like it had resolved never to leave.

But it had.

It had fluttered away with Shigure's treachery.

Now everything had left. The once-powerful Sohma clan had dispersed after the spirits that had inhabited their family for generations departed. One by one like the ticking away of one's life, the spirits floated out of their bodies leaving them no longer debilitated in the natural world.

Only she remained in the Sohma house now, the lone solitary figure in the moonlight.

The picture did not remain that way for long. Silent footsteps crept towards her room as though to ambush her, rendering her defenseless.

Akito…

In one moment, the stagnant figure whipped around until her back was to the moon.

Shigure…

Only the outline of Akito's body would've been visible against the backdrop of the full moon. Her form was like that of a shade—one that could suck you into the eternal blackness that faced you. But Shigure saw her as his eyes grew blacker in the unnatural light of the night. He basked in the moonlight as she stood in the shadowy depths, her face hidden to all except him. She clenched her fists and looked at him angrily.

Why are you here?

He grinned wolfishly. His black eyes which penetrated her darkness glowed like sin.

All the better to see you, my dear.

She scoffed at his words.

See me? See me how? See me like this? Are you happy now?

He had slept with her mother.

You love to make my life miserable, don't you Shigure?

I hate you…

Akito drew closer and instantaneously slapped Shigure, wincing at his unflinching eyes. They looked at her with depths that held secrets which she cannot decipher. It was as though some deathly ball unraveled between the two of them creating a wasteland of hatred and untrue actions. Despite the close proximity, the distance between them was vast, echoing like the realms of the afterlife in which the traveler must pass through an eternal sandy desert. It was the place where the steam rose towards the lifeless sun which acted more like a black hole than a source of life as the heels of the traveler sunk and burned in torturous purgatory.

Akito made a motion to slap Shigure again till his hand suddenly caught her arm in mid-air. His face contorted reflecting the ghostly light that fluttered about as the clouds flew faster past the moon. It was a face of pure hatred and Akito was taken aback by the intensity of the feeling it showed. She tried to pull her arm out of his gripe but he was stronger and pushed her back until she was lying on the floor with him on top of her. Slowly, Shigure parted her black hair which blazed violet in the moonlight and burned kisses onto her neck, kisses that scalded her flesh.

I hate you too.

I hate you so much.

You who slept with Kureno when you had me.

He lifted his head from her neck and kissed her lips brutally as if to destroy her.

Betrayer.

Akito had lain shocked and motionless. Upon his words, she tenderly lifted his face with both her hands and brushed his hairs aside and looked at Shigure, really looked at him for the first time in many years. Within those black depths which faltered by her unexpected gesture, she caught a glimpse of an open wound which he had tried to close years before. It was a wound that throbbed and consumed one whole until one did not know where one was, who one was. It made one unable to decipher the difference between love and hate, between living and nonliving. It was also a wound she knew well for she possessed an identical one when she discovered he slept with Ren, her poor excuse of a mother.

You too.

I slept with Kureno to keep a secret.

You slept with the one person I hated most and left me.

Shigure looked at her intently, his eyes showing an unyielding strength that had always characterized him.

I never said I wasn't spiteful.

He traced her face slowly with writer's hands in a deliberate manner as if to memorize her features and imprint them to the written word which could last an eternity. Akito stayed still, her anger having dissolved when she had seen the apparent ache in his eyes. Slowly, Shigure started to rise and remove himself from her.

No!

Akito's arms instinctively embraced him and drew him back down. Shigure stared at her, astonished at her sudden movement. The look of surprised was quickly replaced with a look of lust as Shigure seared her lips with his. His hands tugged at her robe, quickly pulling it off until she lay exposed in front of him, her body blushing red as he gazed at her steadily.

Do you know what you just did?

Akito nodded. She understood the unspoken language that existed between them, a language that stayed intact even when the bonds had been broken.

If you come to me now,

You belong to me.

Forever…

Without altering his gaze, he started taking his own robe off and lowered himself above her.

Don't forget.

With that, he thrust into her and Akito arched her back under his touch. The two moved to the tempo of their heartbeats which flew faster as they clung onto each other. Akito felt restless yet resurrected. It was as though being with Shigure imbued her with new life, a new beginning in which all the sins of the past could be cleansed. Together, they recreated their own Garden of Eden.

Outside, the winds howled past the black gardens as crimson pedals of the heavily-scented roses fell like snow until the ground became covered with them, a blood stain in the dark of the night.