A/N: Hello! This is my first Fruits Basket fanfic. I tried a bit of a different style in this and so please do tell me if you like it! :) Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, its characters, or anything associated with it. I only own the ideas in this story.

Imperfect Perfection

By therainbowflower

They weren't a perfect couple by any means.

Everything about them was wrong, wrong, wrong, in terms of fairytale romance. Relationship counselors would have rolled their eyes and scoffed at the unlikely couple, predicting doom in the near future. Even the most optimistic of them all would probably hesitate at first glance. After all, who would have ever thought Tohru Honda and Kyo Sohma could possibly end up together?

(Everyone isn't always right.)

She was a sweet, kind, and perpetually worried girl who was always fretting about others. He was a bold, angry, and constantly lashing out boy who was frequently seen snarling at the world. Their temperaments were practically opposites. It made people almost afraid to see them in the same room.

(Then again, don't opposites attract?)

Her long and wispy hair was always blowing in the wind. Her brown eyes were large and empathetic, swirling over when she was confused or overwhelmed, filling easily with large tears that would overflow when she was sad or touched, and twinkling merrily with joy and any other given moment. Her skin was pale and symbolic of all the hours she spent indoors, dusting and cleaning and working. She was a skinny little thing, almost a waif, and when she was sickly she looked like she might blow away if the wind blew hard enough. His orange hair was perpetually messy and a shake of his head was all it took to get it out of his eyes. His eyes were a deep reddish brown bordering russet, and they were almost always narrowed, his distrust of the world clear in them. They widened only when he was surprised and flashed when he was angry. His skin was tan, an obvious indicator of the time he spent outdoors, trying to forget the rest of the world. He had a bold presence; when he stepped inside a room, everybody noticed. When they stood by each other, there was an odd presence that nobody could describe, highlighting their similarities and differences.

(That's called magnetism.)

She was forever an optimist. She tried to see the best in everything, and would never stop dreaming and hoping and wishing. Fairytales enthralled her with their promises of "happily ever after" and soon she saw life as one, thinking of every little instance of her life leading up to her own happy ending. He was a pessimist. He had long ago resigned himself to the brutal ways of life and gave up on a happy ending. He scoffed at fairytales, reminding himself that there was no such thing as a happy ending, so that even that small part of him wouldn't hope, dream, wish wistfully for that "happily ever after" even once.

(They balance each other out.)

He sees the glass as half empty. She sees it as half full. He sees life as a hallway full of closed doors, and so he wanders along, trying to find a door to enter. She sees life as a hallway full of open doors, so she's constantly jumping in and out of doorways, trying to find the one right for her. He has no hope left in him. She has hope reverberating from every fiber of her being.

(They are both extremes of the range, but that isn't bad. It makes them understand each other better.)

He is dark.

She is light.

He is the night.

She is the day.

They are complete opposites.

And that's what makes them so perfect for eachother. They teach each other things that they could never have learned without the other. He teaches her how to speak up for what she wants and she teaches him to enjoy the smallest moments of life. He shows her how to defend herself but most importantly….that she doesn't have to, that he'll be right by her protecting her through anything. She shows him that he doesn't always have to have his defenses up, and that he can lower them down, be his own vulnerable self. He teaches her not to hide her tears and she teaches him to laugh with carefree abandon.

But most importantly…

They teach eachother how to love.

So they might not appear perfect. First glances are deceiving anyway. But peel away that top layer of doubt and skepticism, and you see it. It's a perfect picture, formed by fitting imperfect puzzle pieces together. In the form of a happy couple, smiling at all the world and their love shines through it all. In the midst of all that imperfection, something is formed, and it lies there for everyone to see.

Perfection.

Imperfect Perfection.