Title: Imprint
Author: Ysabet MacFarlane (ba087@chebucto.ns.ca)
Pairing: Sohma Hatsuharu and Sohma Isuzu (Rin)
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Theme: # 26  (if only I could make you mine)
Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki and Hakusensha;
English-language versions by FUNimation (anime) and Tokyopop (manga).
Notes: Somewhat sexual, with some of the trauma that goes hand in hand with
being Sohmas.

***

"And whenever I fall at your feet
You let your tears rain down on me
Whenever I touch your slow turning pain"
	--Crowded House, "Fall At Your Feet" (Recurring Dream)

***

He remembers her standing in the rain in one of the back gardens, water
plastering her hair to her face, her uniform to her body, trying to explain
inexplicable feelings to him.  "It scares me."

"What does?"

She takes his hand and silently puts it under her skirt, jumping a little when
his cold fingers brush against her thighs and the warmth between her legs.  She
grips his shoulders and presses herself against his hand, and he explores
slowly.

"Why does it scare you?"

Her cheeks are red from more than the cold and rain, but she tells him, tells
him what he makes her feel, uses words he's only heard from older students with
their attempts at sounding adult and callous.  Words that embarrass and arouse
them both, and he watches unshed tears shining in her eyes while he works his
fingers around her underwear, feels the slippery heat of her wanting him.

And then she uses words that they both understand, with the shades of meaning
that only their own family can grasp.

"I want to own you.  I want you to own me.  And I think I'm going to be sick."

"Shhh."  He takes his hand away, holds her close, feels her shuddering.

"There has to be something to it besides possession.  There has to be.  There
has to--"  And she cries: quiet, desperate sobs that break his heart because he
understands the desire, the gnawing inability of a Jyuunishi soul to separate
love from the unnatural bonds that define their lives.  He strokes her hair
gently, waits for her to stop.  Knows she'll never cry it all out before her
fear kicks in; even as that thought crosses his mind her head is twisting back
and forth under his hand while she gasps for breath, rubbing the tears off on
his shirt.

"No one's around to hear you," he whispers into her hair, his lips moving
against her scalp, each word a kiss.

"They're expecting me back for supper," she replies.  Not looking at him, not
moving away.

"Yeah."

Her hands tighten on his shoulders and she pulls herself up against him, kisses
him hard.  He puts his hands on her hips and drops to his knees on the wet
grass, bringing her down with him so that she straddles his thighs.  "What do
you want me to do?"

"What?"  She frowns at him, bites her lip.

"I'm yours," he says, brushing his mouth over hers to push her teeth away from
the abused lip.  "If you want me, then what do you want me to do?"

"Stop it."  The flash of bitterness in her voice bleeds into the rain, is dulled
by it.

"No."

"It's not true, Haru."

"It _is_ true."  Rain runs down her cheeks like cold tears, and he cups her face
in his hands and rubs the water away with his thumbs.  "I'll give you every part
of me that belongs to me."  He pulls her head down, turns it so that his mouth
is pressed against her ear.  "And I want you in exchange.  But you have to tell
me what you want, sweetheart."

She laughs softly, a spasm that shakes his body along with hers.  "I've already
told you enough today about what I want."  Her voice is low with awkwardness,
and he cradles her, remembering the words she used, feeling the shame radiating
off her.

"Wanting that is fine," he says, kissing the top of her head.  "Wanting this is
fine, too."

"I just want _you_.  And I really can't stay, and I don't know when I can see
you again, and--"  She presses against him, shivering, and then straightens up. 
Begins to unfasten her shirt, opens it to bare her throat and then the tops of
her breasts, down to the shadow of the black bra that reminds him of the
stereotypical fantasies of what lies hidden under girls' uniforms.

"You're gonna give me a schoolgirl fetish, Rin," he says mildly, trying to make
her smile.

"You're in high school," she retorts, swatting at the raindrops beading on her
skin.  "You're allowed."

"As long as it's you?"

She does smile then, one of the rare full smiles that transfigures her face. 
"As long as it's me."  She pushes her hair back off her shoulders, and the smile
is gone.  "Give me something to look at."  He blinks at her, puzzled, and she
runs a finger over the pale skin where he can see her heart beating.  She leans
forward and closes her lips against his throat, sucking lightly at his skin.  "I
_don't_ know when I'll see you."  She sits back, blushing but meeting his eyes. 
"I can't have anything of yours with me, but no one else is going to see any
marks here."

For a moment his skin crawls, thinking of the parents who left her with detailed
knowledge of where bruises and cuts could be left without risk of discovery. 
They stare at each other, and he sees her seeing the thoughts.

"It's not the same," she says, so quietly that the rain almost drowns her voice,
and he nods.  Puts his arms around her, pulls her close, presses his cheek
against her chest.  Her heart pounds in his ear, the only sound he can hear
other than the rain.  He turns his head a little, just enough that he can kiss
her breast while still listening, and tastes her.  Uses his tongue and teeth,
lightly, then harder when she nods.  Licks and sucks at her until the skin is
red and darkening, and she has curled herself around him, her hands on his spine
to hold him still.  "Make it stay for a while," she whispers when he lifts his
head enough to look at the mark he's left.  "It doesn't hurt."  She is tense
with something other than desire, but pliable under his touch.  He lowers his
mouth to her skin again.

When he stops, she traces the redness with her fingers, and kisses him while she
refastens her shirt.

"Will you be ok?" he asks as they stand up, both moving slowly to ease the kinks
out of stiff legs.  He touches her breast lightly, already missing the feel of
her pulse, and then she is in his arms again, clinging to him for a last
desperate moment before she has to disappear into the darkening gloom.

She doesn't answer.