Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or Sailor Moon. I barely own the clothes I'm wearing right now and it's recently been made clear I don't even own the room I'm sitting in.
"She's at the front of the gates again, isn't she?" Akito asked.
Shigure simply nodded, for the past few days, a small golden haired child came to the front gates of the Souma residence. She always asked the same question, and always received the same answer. One would think the child would stop coming by or show some falter of some kind, but no, every day at noon, she would ring the bell and ask her question.
"Let her come in," he said.
Shigure watched as the child walked to her mother and tugged her sleeve toward the open gates. The child was quite persistence in trying to see Yuki; he began to wonder what stories the children had made up about him suddenly disappearing from their play group.
He still remembered the children who had their memories erased by Hatori, and she wasn't among them. Though he did remember seeing her as a frequent playmate of Yuki's, perhaps that day she wasn't there for some reason and simply wanted to make sure Yuki was alright.
"Go tell Yuki one of his friends is here," Akito ordered.
Shigure simply stood and did as he was told. He walked to the back room where Akito kept Yuki, the small boy Akito seemed to love and despise so much.
He opened the door to see Yuki looking out a window at the girl who had taken interest in a woman carrying an orange kitten. "I have good news for you Yuki, one of your friends has come to see you," Shigure said.
"Akito," Yuki began, fear in his voice.
"Has given you permission to go see your friend," Shigure said.
Yuki needed no more words; he hurried outside to his golden haired friend as Shigure made his way to Akito's room. He entered to see Akito watching the golden haired child; he seemed to be in deep thought as he watched her. One could only wonder what plan he was concocting for Yuki and the child.
"Yuki," the child said excitedly waving.
"Usagi," Yuki said a smile on his face.
Akito furred his brow, "Don't children usually embrace their friends?" he asked.
"Yuki must have made it clear that he didn't like to be touched. If I remember correctly, he didn't play many contact games with the other children," Shigure said and Akito continued watching.
"Why haven't you come to the park lately? I asked the others where you were and they said they don't know anyone named Yuki, one boy, the one with white and black hair said he knows you but he wouldn't tell me anything else until I took him to the bathroom area," she trailed off and Yuki simply smiled.
"She's quite the little chatterbox," Akito stated.
"Yes, well Yuki did always tell you about her, but I don't think you too interested in what he was saying," Shigure said.
"Mama, can we stay here so I can play with Yuki today?" Usagi asked excited and smiled.
"Only for a little while Usagi, we still have a bunch of errands to run," her mother said and the golden haired child nodded her blond hair bouncing made Yuki giggle slightly. He always took such joy in see her curly pigtails bounce about.
"I don't believe I've ever seen a naturally blond haired, blue eyed Japanese child, do you even think that it's possible?" Akito asked.
"It's a possibility, or a mother simply dying her child's hair blonde and making her wear blue contacts," Shigure answered.
"But her mother has black hair and neither of them show any sign of being mixed with any other nationality," Akito said and fell into his thoughts for a moment.
He stood, a smirk on his face as he walked out to Yuki and Usagi, they both stopped their chat and looked up at him. He bent down and caressed Usagi's face, Yuki watched in slight fear; he had seen Akito act this way before.
It was normal for Akito to call for him, caress his face, tell him how beautiful he was then strike him. Sometimes it was only a slap, others a fist, though mainly it was a whip that always hung outside his room. If Akito grabbed the whip, he could hear the case being opened and knew what he was receiving that time.
"What a beautiful child," Akito commented as he stood up straight. "My name's Akito, what's yours?"
"Usagi," she answered carefully.
"Usagi, that's a beautiful name," he said and she smiled slightly and thanked him. "Does your mommy dye your hair?"
"No," she said, offended. Obviously this wasn't the first time someone had asked her this question, and without a doubt it wouldn't be the last time either.
"But it's not normal for you to have blond hair, is it?" Akito asked. "Your mother has black hair; does your father have blond hair?"
"No, he has brown hair," Usagi said.
"Then shouldn't you have brown or black hair?" Akito asked.
"No, mommy says my hair is beautiful and that I'm very special and unique to have blond hair," she said and Akito smiled.
"Well, you are very special and unique to have blond hair," Akito said. "Don't you think Yuki is special and unique to have grey hair and be so young?" She nodded; her blond curls bouncing once more, Akito smirked and Yuki watched his actions silently. "Would you like to stay over and play with me?"
She shook her head, something was just a bit off with Akito. He had been nothing but friendly to her, but Yuki's sudden silence and the strange air around the older boy was scaring her.
"Why not?" he asked. "We could play board games and have tea together, I can even have some cakes delivered to us if you want. Yuki and I would be very happy if you joined us, wouldn't we Yuki?"
"Yes, we would be most happy if you stayed with us longer," Yuki said and feigned a smile. He knew Akito would've punished him if he had said otherwise, and in slight truth he was happy at the prospect of Usagi staying a bit longer. It had been two weeks since the incident with the other children and he hadn't had much company besides Akito, Hatori, and Shigure, not company one would want.
"Let's go ask your mother if you can stay longer," Akito said and she grabbed her hand.
At that moment, Akito felt an odd feeling when he touched the child's hand. He stared down at her as she looked up at him in confusion, her head tilted to the side as she asked what was wrong.
"Your hands are very cold," Akito stated and the child quickly snatched back her hand. She stuffed them in the pockets of her dress and laughed loudly with a big grin.
"Mommy and I were playing in the pond with the duckies," Usagi exclaimed happily. "One of the mommy ducks came over to me and tried to push me into the pond. Mommy said she must have thought I was a duck because of my yellow dress."
Yuki smiled, he remembered quite well how birds liked to follow his blond haired friend. It was usually because she always carried some form of bread in her pockets, but on a few occasions they simply just followed her around. When he asked her mother about it she said that birds remember who feed them and always come back for more.
"Yes I do suppose you look like a cute yellow duckling with that yellow dress on," Akito said and Usagi gave a slight giggle. "Let's go ask your mother if you can stay over now."
Usagi smiled and gave a nod. Akito smiled back, Yuki could only wonder what Akito was thinking. Whenever Akito smiled, it meant trouble for whomever he smiled at. He would hate to see Usagi get hurt because he wanted to play with her.
Usagi walked to where her mother had gone with a maid, Akito following behind her. She skipped to her mother and tugged her sleeve for attention. Ikkiuo looked upon her child with a simple smile.
"Mama, can I stay here while you run your errands?" Usagi asked, clasping her hands together.
"Usagi, you know I don't like you playing without me around," Ikkiuo said and the golden haired child face became crestfallen.
"But I'll be really careful," Usagi begged.
"I can keep an eye on her if needed Mrs. Tsukino," the maid said and smiled. "Yuki is sick very often and doesn't have many friends visiting him."
"I guess it'll be ok for her to stay here for a bit," Ikkiuo said and Usagi smiled brightly. "Usagi you must be very careful, please call me if anything happens. If you feel sick or lightheaded, call me and go to the bathroom and put a cold towel on your forehead, ok?"
Usagi nodded, slightly embarrassed that her mother was saying such things in front of other people so casually. Ikkiuo gave her child a kiss upon her forehead before handing her the pink bunny bag with Usagi's things and leaving.