Don't own Fruits Basket, don't own Akito Sohma. Just own the Phantom of the opera in my closet. Slight amount of Yuki/Akito yaoi, but only if you read into it.

Summary: Akito Sohma is to die by the morning of the next day, so he figures one more chat with Yuki would please him. The rat comes by, but when he gains a wit and a tongue, the head of the house learns that not everyone can grit their teeth and be nice to him, not even the one who fears him most. He's just doomed to be haunted by Yuki, his identical image, his mirror.

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My Mirror

It was dim, dark. My eyelids felt heavy as I fought to keep them open. Tomorrow was my birthday.

The last birthday I'd spend alive.

My biological clock had ticked its full rotation and my time on this wretched planet was up.

"Hatori!" I shouted. My voice sounded as it usually did, scratchy and violent to my own ears. I liked it that way, thank you.

The idiot dragon rushed in, kneeling next to me as I lay across the floor impatiently. My little bird sat twittering upon my finger, looking at me as if it understood.

"I am to die tomorrow" I said stiffly, coldly. The statement rolled off my tongue with a bitter edge as it was made before the doctor could even open his mouth.

"Yes, Akito" he said solemnly, sounding as if he was sad. What a damn lie, sad. None of them cared about me more than I did for their miserable little lives.

"How do you feel about that? Answer honestly, Hatori" I said sharply.

"Bad" he said flatly, as if words other than that didn't exist as an answer.

"You're lying Hatori" I said, voice still calm and even.

"No I'm not, Akito"

I shot up, glaring him in the face, my own an inch from his. A menacing smirk formed on my lips, widening ever so slowly.

"You always lie to me, Hatori. Go get the rat"

He nodded somberly and got up. The ridiculous flip of hair that covered his injured eye never shifted, not even for a moment.

"It's time the rat learn something" I said to myself. My dark eyes fell to the bird, still sitting on my finger calmly.

With that, I could quirk a smile. A smile no one would ever see, no one except the little animal. The only one I could trust.

They had brought me that woman, Tohru Honda. What a ridiculous little girl she was, so kind to me when all I did was insult her. She cared for me, even when I shouldn't have mattered to her.

I felt jealous, jealous of Kyo. That dreadful creature had obtained himself such a prize in that girl.

No one would ever care like that for me, not unless they were a fool. A fool like that girl.

I heard the doors to my room slide open and close. The fearful, soft voice rang through the air.

"You wanted me, Akito?"

The boy put in a false tone of courage to his words, trying to sound unafraid of me. A smirk formed on my lips and I laid back down into my earlier position, sprawled out across the floor, on my side, one hand propping my head up and the other a makeshift perch.

"Come here, Yuki" I said calmly.

The boy gulped, I heard it, and stepped forward. The smirk on my lips widened, my darker blue eyes looking upward to meet his dark, lilac ones.

"Have a seat" I sweepingly gestured with the hand supporting my bird, the small creature remaining stuck to my finger.

He, albeit shakily, took a seat a few feet from me.

"Closer, Yuki" I said coolly, eyes fixed upon the bird.

His body told him not to comply, but his mind told him to do it. He slid over a few inches and seemed to tense.

"Closer than that, rat, next to me"

He complied once more and I noticed his body had tensed so much he began to quiver slightly. The bird flew off my hand as I raised it, entangling my fingers with his grey locks. His eyes widened in fear and shock.

"You were always so handsome, Yuki, ever since you were young" I began, toying with the grey strands "I hate that about you"

My voice seethed yet dropped in volume.

"I-I know, Akito" he said shakily, but made no move to free himself from my touch.

"Why are you shaking, Yuki?' I asked level-headedly, as if I was genuinely curious.

He couldn't form a response.

"Answer me!" I barked, sitting up quickly. My fingers grabbed a tuft of grey hair and pulled. He yelped and quivered more, fearfully shivering as his pupils dilated and shrunk from panic.

"Be-Because Akito-"

"Because why?" I hissed, smirking as I held on to his head.

"I hate you!" he cried out, ripping his hair from my grasp. He shook violently, holding the bunch of hair I had just pulled upon as if in pain. "You're going to die tomorrow and no one will miss you, no one will care, me especially! I hate you, Akito!"

I was astonished. The rat….anyone in this family, had gained the ability to stand up for themselves against me? Perhaps I needed to live a bit longer, to discipline the defiant children of this family.

"Ohh, but I don't hate you, Yuki" I said calmly.

In truth, I didn't hate the damn rat, I resented him. He was my identical, yet he excelled in everything. Sports, popularity, athletics, intellect, personality, looks. He was the perfect golden boy. That's why he needed to be ruined, broken, and who better to do it, than me? Who better to straighten out the little rat than the head of this family and the most notorious member, the most feared being, the figurehead of the grand scheme?

"I hate you, Akito Sohma" he said again. Those dark, purple eyes flashed with an angry glint I had never seen in them before.

"I don't care, Yuki Sohma" I said uncaringly, shrugging my shoulders, "I don't expect you to care, Yuki, I don't really give a damn if you do or not. The point is, you ungrateful little monster, that I am dying so you and the rest of those worthless brats can live out your lives. You should be bowing"

"No, Akito, I'm sick of bowing! I'm sick of holding my tongue! You think that because you have the full weight of the curse, because you're going to die, you can be horrible to everyone you meet! That's why no one will care when you die, Akito, because no one likes you enough to care!" he exploded.

All the bottled up statements poured from his mouth, words he had held in so long that he was just waiting to say to me. What a coward, yelling at a dying man.

"No one will care except Miss Honda! And the only reason she'll care is because she doesn't know just how bad you are! Even after you threw her around, she still cares about you! I think that's foolish, because no one should even give you the time of day!" he kept yelling, fists balled and shaking at his sides. He was on his feet now, red in the face from screaming.

I rose to my feet and, in one fluid motion, my fist went across his jaw. He rubbed it with one hand, the other hanging limply at his side. My knuckles felt sore from that and I looked down at my hand blankly.

"You made me hurt myself" I remarked emotionlessly, cracking my sore knuckles.

"I-I don't" tears were spilling from his eyes and down his cheeks, magnifying those murky violet eyes "care, Akito"

I had the right mind to hit him again, but it would be pointless. More abuse wouldn't shut him up.

"Leave me, worthless rat" I sat back down, watching as my bird drank from its' dish. I gestured to the door with my hand tranquilly, "I don't want to look at your ugly face any longer. I don't want to die with that image in my head"

Still rubbing his jaw, he collected himself and wiped his arm across his face. The salty tears rubbed off onto his sleeve, leaving a small, wet trail.

"I hate you, Akito" he said frigidly. His voice was razor and empty, almost as if he were attempting to intimidate me.

"I know, Yuki"

I didn't look back as my mirror left me alone to die.

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Yeah, yeah, I know, one-shot. I don't write 'em often, but here it is, my one-shot. Yeah, Akito's a bitter bastard. I love him, though.