March 9 - Fruits Basket, Kyo/Yuki/Tohru: Kyo in original form, growling - "it's okay to be afraid"
The smell is stifling.
Choking, even. Tohru is rising to her knees even as he recoils; her shoulders are white in the dim room, curtains fluttering against her long hair, framing her wide shining eyes in white. The long, bent shape of Kyo's body is a dark warped shadow beside her.
"Yuki-kun!" Her voice is high and urgent, and he stops backing away. It is more of an effort than he's comfortable with, but he does. He wants to pull her away, brief and intense, but knows she would not go; she is clinging to the long bent shape of one arm, body bent fearlessly over the Cat's.
It is the thought that it is more the Rat than Yuki himself that is so repulsed that makes him look into Kyo's feral eyes. The growl that rises out of the Cat is low and angry, a challenge or a threat. And that is what makes him take a step forward.
Tohru slides off the bed to meet him and Kyo's limbs unfold around her, claws sinking into the rug on either side of her feet. She holds out her arms as Kyo's head rubs along her hip, unblinking animal eyes staring at Yuki.
"Yuki-kun--" Her voices trembles, but her smile doesn't. She is the bravest person he knows. "It's okay to be afraid."
Anyone and anywhere else, he might have denied it. Here, with her, the words brought him the last few steps and she took his hand and dropped suddenly to her knees, bringing him awkwardly with her. This close, he's either adjusted to the smell or it wasn't ever as bad as it first seemed. She lowers his hand to the Cat form's paw, folding his fingers over ridged tendons, leathery skin and bone, and clings to the other.
When she looks up at him, her eyes are fierce and brilliant and Kyo's growl has cautiously softened. "It's okay to be afraid," she repeats, "but don't be."