Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. More specifically I don't own Akito and Shigure. Though lord knows I wouldn't mind if I could have them.

A/N: This is something that came to me while I was reading Gundam Wing fanfiction staring Duo Maxwell going to a nuthouse. Yes, very motivating, I know. Fact is, I should be working on my chapter fics, but I'm so lazy. You can even say that this is a kind of side fic to "More in the Question".

Oh and just to let you know, this follows the anime time wise but follows the book in character attitudes. Like how Shigure is in the manga. I haven't read past the third book in the manga yet.... Though I am having Shigure call Akito "Akito-san" like in the manga, for the reason I can't really just seem him calling him Akito (though he does in the anime)....

So..really...it follows both...Has some spoilers for both manga and anime, not too bad though.

The Manipulators:

It was almost customary for Akito to be on his small porch with his back to the paper door, with one leg bent and the other stretched out. He spent quite a bit of time like that. Some of the time a bird would come and sit on his knee or on his finger. And he'd either stroke the feathers or just let it sit there. Of course, he didn't just sit there listlessly counting the days until his death. Though he did count the days, he just also thought about a number of things. Such as all he had done to his fellow Zodiac members.

No, he didn't regret anything that he did to them. He didn't suddenly feel bad and was looking for a way to apologize.[1] It was in his mind set that he would never apologize. That as long as he was alive, he'd probably make their lives hell.

But he had to sit and think about what that girl said to him. Yes, he'd admit to himself that what Tohru Honda said to him affected him in some way. Though, he wasn't going to change himself just because of some words that made his thoughts do turns and twists into subject matters that were never touched before.

That was the effect brought on by the cause of Tohru Honda.

Did he resent her? He wasn't sure but he was pretty positive he didn't like the girl. She was happy. That was all it took for him to want to make her life miserable.

Though...that also had to make Akito think about the other zodiac members...They all seemed to side with Miss Honda[2]....

"Akito-san, I've come to see you." An all to familiar voice interrupted his thoughts and he only turned his head just a little. Shigure stood at the door, confident and with a look that seemed both serious and playful at once. Then again, that's how Shigure always seemed to look.

"What are you doing here?" The only thing that moved was Akito's mouth. No other part of his body so much as twitched.

"I came to see you, of course." Was the response and Shigure moved more inside the room. He then sat down with his legs tucked under him and his hands on his thighs.

Shigure's response made Akito fall silent. If anything, it made Akito think all the more. Shigure out of everyone was the most like Akito, though many wouldn't begin to think so. They both have manipulated the people around them but there was a difference. Where Akito was all blunt about it and did it in the open, Shigure just did little manipulations in the closings and let things run their course, if they didn't run it in his favor, he'd manipulate again.

"Why would you want to come to see me?" Akito's words were slowly spoken, as if he wasn't too sure that was what he wanted to ask in the first place. Then the uncertainty left as soon as it had come with a renewed kind of confidence "Wait, let me guess. You want to talk about that Tohru Honda?"

"Actually, yes." Shigure's voice sounded a little surprised. Not many could guess what he was thinking or what he was about to say, let alone why he'd do anything. He quickly regained his composer (not that he lost much of it to begin with) and spurred on with his words "You once said you thought Tohru was ugly..."

"...And not bright...." Akito added but Shigure more or less ignored it.

"...I just happened to wonder, if you still thought that?"

A thoughtful silence then dawned over them as Akito actually thought about it. He rolled the question into his head. He wouldn't call her beautiful. No, she wasn't that at all.

"Yes, I still think that." Wasn't the truth but wasn't really a lie.

And there it was, again. The silence that seemed to loom over them for a while. Both of them turning thoughts into their heads, seeking out words that would make it seem like they were in control, or that they were making the other seem to be in control.

"She's a better person then you are, Akito-san."[3] Shigure said not quite so suddenly. He remembered telling Akito something similar at one time. But Akito's response this time was different.

"But you aren't." The words were spoken softly, almost as if they were a whisper on the wind. But Shigure heard it and instead of shocking him or making him angry like it probably would have done with others, his features soften to the point of gentle understanding and cold amusement.

"You've noticed." They were simple words but they spoke volumes. It seemed almost amusing to Shigure that the person to understand him the most was Akito. Even Hatori, Shigure's best friend with Ayame, only knew so much.

"Of course. We both manipulate people to our will, we just happen to do it for different reasons..."

This got Shigure interested and he stayed silent for Akito to continue.

"You manipulate to get what you want. I manipulate to make the people around me miserable."

"Might I ask why?"

"Why should they be happy when I am not?"

There was no response from Shigure who looked over at Akito in a sort of strange wonder.

"We're like the opposite side of the same stolen coin. We do only one thing but we both have different reasons and methods, and we're tainted."

"But the value's still there..."[4] Shigure added as an afterthought to Akito's words. "You know..."

Shigure's voice trailed off and Akito then moved over from his spot so that he could turn to fully look at Shigure.

"...Maybe you should hear the tale of 'The Most Foolish Traveler In the World'.."

Owari

A/N: I'm so sorry if that seemed majorly out of character for both of them.

[1] Anyone who thought I was going to put 'he all of a sudden felt guilty'...sorry to disappoint you.

[2] Yes, while I had Shigure call Akito "Akito-san" but have Akito call Tohru "Miss Honda"....I'm weird, I know.

[3] In the manga Shigure says to Akito "Tohru-kun is a dozen times better a person than you are", nice huh?

[4] I actually got this off one of the books in the Rhapsody Trilogy by Elizabeth Haydon. My favorite character named Achmed says "We're the opposite side of the same coin" which Rhapsody replies "But if we're a coin we still have value." That's not word for word but that's basically how it goes.

If you'd please review I'd be extremely happy. I was actually thinking about making this into the first of a series of many one-shots, let me know if that's a good idea or not.

Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed for "Ode to the inevitable" and "More in the Question"