Author's Note: I was in a really depressed mood today and I was reading Fruits Basket volumes 10-12. 11 and 12 have a lot of angst in them, so they gave me the idea for what to write to vent my depression.
Warning! Warning! This one-shot contains blood, gore and extreme angst. If you are uncomfortable with any of those things, I suggest you turn around and head to another story.
The Blood of Innocence
As he stared at his hands in horror, he wept. He had never been someone who cried easily, but the loss of someone so special, someone who wouldn't do anything to hurt another…
He had held her, laughed with her, gotten annoyed at her…loved her. He had long ago abandoned hope of ever being clean again, yet she had come into his life and given back that precious feeling of…sanity, of safety. Sure, she may have been a ditz, somewhat of a klutz and a total spaz, but she was generous to a fault and she never took anything for herself unless she was told to do so and why.
Earlier today, he had wanted to tell her. He had wanted to tell her what he had kept hidden from her for so long, but she had been summoned to the Sohma main house and left before he could tell her that he had known her mother. That he had been the cause of her death. Now…now it was too late to do anything. He had been too late to do anything, to protect her.
She was dead…Tohru was dead.
The other member's of the zodiac were also in the room, all in some state of horror and anguish. A tall blonde boy whose name was Momiji was crying, bawling his eyes out along with Kisa, a small girl with orange hair and brown eyes, who cried into another boy with dark blond hair who was called Hiro's shoulder, crying out, "Sissy! Sissy! SIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSY!"
Ritsu, a college student with long, light brown hair with dark brown eyes, had just fallen to the floor in a great heap, rocking back in forth, muttering, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," like a chant.
Ayame stood next to his brother, his long, silver hair just brushing the back of Yuki's neck and golden eyes (almost an exact opposite of Yuki's purple iris') glistening with unshed tears as he too stared in shock at the mangled form of Tohru's body.
Haru, a boy with an odd mix of white and black hair, stood next to a girl with long, black hair and eyes, called Isuzu or Rin as she sometimes went by, with tears falling from his eyes as he hugged her to his body in a protective gesture. He wished he could have done that for her; he wished he had done a lot of things for her.
Hatori, a man with short, black hair that fell in front of his left eye and was one of the four adults in the room, stood next to Shigure, another one of the adults with medium-length black hair, one's eyes cold and distant while the others were glistening with unshed tears.
Kureno, the last adult in the room and having red hair and eyes, stood next to Akito, a young man with long black hair and cold, menacing eyes, not bothering to look at the body on the floor. As far as he was concerned, she might as well have been a piece of furniture. Akito sat in a heap as well, only…he was laughing his head off, as if her death was somehow funny.
And Kagura? She was next to him, mid-back length brown hair swaying as she shook him, trying her best to knock him out of his paralysis, after having been knocked into the wall. His body was battered, bruised and bleeding in places he'd rather not know about and yet…he hadn't cared. He had gotten up each and every time, always coming for her when she called out in fear.
She had called to him and only him and he had answered. How could he deny her anything? The only person who had needed him to just be himself?
It no longer mattered, though, if he lived or died. He had failed and he could do nothing about it.
His orange hair fell into his empty orange-red eyes as he put his chin to his chest, his body sprawled out along the floor. He was long past caring that his clothes were ripped, that they would have been considered indecent if anyone outside this room saw him. He no longer cared about anything. He was broken and shattered; there was no way to fix him after today.
"You thought you could save her?" Akito asked, his voice filled with his disgusting laugh. His thin body still rocked with laughter and mockery as it turned to look at Kyo. "You thought that you, a monster in human skin, could possibly save another monster? Don't make me laugh. Oh, wait, you already did!" He laughed harder at his own joke.
When he was calm again, he stood up and stalked over to the crumpled cat-boy and leaned against his ear and whispered in a rather loud way, "You failed to protect her. Just as you failed your mother, you failed her. You killed them both, you disgusting monster." He focused into the eyes of the shattered boy in front of him and continued matter-of-factly, "You will be locked up for the rest of your life and there will be nothing you can do. But don't worry," he said softly, stroking his cheek, "I'll visit you, just like I promised. I always keep my promises. Now then," he said as he stood up and looked at the other zodiac creatures. "Take him to his room and don't let him out. Understood?" He waited for a response and, when he didn't get one, he shouted, "Do you understand me!"
"They understand you alright, bastard," a low voice said from behind Akito. Whirling, he saw Kyo standing up, holding an arm across his stomach. He was panting for breathe, but he glared straight at Akito, his eyes resembling that of a cat's, the pupil's dilated to slits. "The only thing is that they no longer wish to follow a creature like you."
As Akito sputtered and cursed, Kyo limped over and gently ran his hand over her cheek and through her long, brown hair. It was still in its braid. He had gotten so used to seeing her with that braid that it would have been weird if he didn't see her with it.
His caress spoke volumes of his love for her and his eyes had gone back to normal as they glistened with new tears. As he removed his hand from her cheek, he glanced at the red and white beads on his left wrist. A plan snapped together in his head as his right drifted over his left. He paused, glanced over at her sleeping face, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead (the only place that didn't have blood on it) and removed the beads.
Instantly, his bones twisted and his skin tightened and lengthened to cover him as he grew taller. His skin may have been brown and the smell coming of it horrendous, yet he stood straight and tall, accepting his form for the first time.
As his long ears twitched atop his feline face, his cat-like eyes stared straight into Akito's fearful ones. As he unconsciously took a step back, his eyes kept glancing at Kyo's claws that had unsheathed themselves.
"What do you think you're doing!" Akito shouted. "Did I give you permission to change in front of me? I don't remember giving it, so put the beads back on this instant!"
"I'm through following your orders," Kyo said, his voice coming out in a sharp hiss. "Say goodbye to this existence, God."
Even as Kyo attacked, lashing out with his claws, Kureno stood before Akito, using his body to shield his lord and master. Before he could pull back, his claws slid through his stomach, like a hot knife through butter. As blood began to dribble out of Kureno's mouth, Kyo pulled his paw out, trying and failing to not drag out any organs.
Akito laughed and wrapped his arms around Kureno's neck. "Good boy, Kureno," he cooed into the other's deaf ears. "I knew I could count on you to protect me. I trust you." He then let go and stepped over his fallen servant's dead body, grinning at Kyo dementedly.
He placed his hands behind his back as he stepped in front of a further stunned Kyo. He bent and looked up into the monster's face and asked, "Wish to do anything else?"
Kyo didn't answer. He already had Tohru's blood on his hands and now this? He collapsed onto his knees and cried silently.
Akito tsked and he cradled Kyo's body to his. "You poor, defenseless, little boy. Don't worry; I'll end your pain." And he pulled one of his hands out from behind his back and revealed a long knife held there.
He lifted it and with a grin, plunged into directly at the junction where Kyo's neck met his back, killing him in one blow.
Gasping in pain, Kyo couldn't control his body as it slid further down onto the floor, his blood melding with both Tohru's and Kureno's. He couldn't control anything as darkness swept away his vision.
In the end, the blood of innocence proved to hold no key to the zodiac's release. The blood of innocence only tightened Akito's hold on them further.
In the end, no one could escape destiny.
It was there destiny to serve and to die for their god.
Like the saying goes, blood will bind you further than anything else in the world.