Title: Last One Standing

Manga: Fruits Basket

Pairing: Akito/Shigure

Rating: R

Category: Romance/Angst

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. It belongs to Takaya-sensei, who is brilliant.

Warning: This story contains spoilers from Chapter 101. If you have not read that yet and do not want to find out what happens, I would advise you to avert your eyes and to press the "back" button on your browser. If you have read it, then I hope you enjoy the story. Any comments are welcome.

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The sunlight flowed through the window in rivulets, glowing as it warmed the otherwise cold décor of the room. Outside, it was springtime and the nearby cherry blossoms flutter to the rhythm of the balmy breeze. Even the grass blades curled ever so slightly as the morning dew adorned their brisk forms. Had a normal person awakened to this lovely morning, he or she might feel a tingling usually associated with the novelty of waking up to such a scene as though it were a harbinger of better things to come.

Akito Sohma, however, could never be deemed by anyone especially those who knew her as a "normal person." Indeed, her lifestyle was most peculiar. Stirring from her sleep, Akito cast a lazy glance at the person sleeping beside her. Kureno. His copper brown hair swept across his forehead as he lay there resembling what looked to Akito very much like a doormat. Gazing away in disinterest, Akito rose from the bed, her nimble form walking towards the curtains where bits of the sun peaked in already. Spreading the curtains open, she looked out of her window.

Distasteful, she thought as she winced from annoyance. Utterly distasteful. Nothing offended Akito more than happiness in any physical form, brimming in its splendor, for Akito herself was not a happy woman. Raised from childhood to be a male, Akito stored up within her twenty years of bitterness and lashed it upon whomever she pleased. Her twelve zodiac people bore the brunt of her rage. They must, for she was their god. Akito relished the power she held over them. They all seem to fear her and abide by her orders….except for Shigure the dog. Akito clenched her hands at the thought of Shigure. That bastard was the only one she let affect her, and for what? So, she could be tormented by his jokes and half-hearted words?

Shigure. Akito shook from the resentment. Whenever she thought of him, hatred stirred within her. His offhand behavior towards her was insulting, to say the least. And he slept with that woman! That playboy would go sleep with any woman who would let him, Akito thought bitterly. That woman, that dirt. He slept with THAT woman. Akito felt herself going insane. Shigure was driving her insane. How could Shigure touch that? And ignore her? He wasn't always like that, she knew. Once, he had been kind and genuine. Now, his eyes no longer held her.

"Akito?" Kureno's voice came from her bed. "You're awake."

Brilliant observation, Akito thought caustically, but she refrained from any biting comments, at least not this early in the morning.

"Yes," she said instead. "I woke up and didn't feel like going back to sleep."

"Do you want me to get you your breakfast?" Kureno asked.

"No, Kureno, you may have the day off today. You seem tired," she remarked.

"As you wish," he spoke before stepping out of her room.

After Kureno left, the servants helped her with her shower and breakfast before she went back to her room and sat there. It was turning out to be a long day for the house was quiet with inactivity. Akito wondered vaguely what her people were doing. She was feeling a bit faint, perhaps she should ask for Hatori.

Her train of thought was interrupted when an elderly servant appeared before her. "Master Akito," the servant bowed before her. "Shigure-san has shown up wanting to see you."

"That's fine. Let no one else enter." Akito commanded, wondering what Shigure wanted this time. With that, the woman bowed again and wordlessly left the room.

Before long, Shigure showed up in a suit instead of his usual robe, looking more dashing than usual. But his appearance further irritated Akito.

"Were you on a date that you got dressed up?" she asked cynically.

Shigure smirked. "I take it you like my appearance?"

"There is nothing to like about it," Akito replied quickly, perhaps too quickly. "And you didn't answer my question."

Shigure shrugged. "No, just a business meeting. No date."

"That's a first," she muttered, clenching her fists. Having Shigure so close was not good for her health. If anything, her anger was causing her to feel weaker by the minute.

"Where's Kureno?" Shigure asked. "I haven't seen him around. Figured he would be here with you."

"I gave him the day off," she answered. "He didn't look too well."

"Well, how generous of you," he looked at her mockingly. "I'm sure he appreciates being relieved."

"Relieved?" Akito was furious. Who does Shigure think he is? "Are you saying it's so terrible to be around me that he needs relief?"

When Shigure didn't answer, Akito shouted, "Did you! How DARE you? You bastard, you'd do anything to get away from me!" Akito felt herself getting angrier by the minute. "Kureno doesn't have to be relieved! He likes me! He says I'm good! I'm good in bed! I'm better than those sluts that you've been sleeping with! Especially….that….that woman! Ren! That woman!" Akito had worked herself in such a frenzy that she fell back from exhaustion and had to sit down.

Shigure did not give her so much as a sideways glance. Akito looked down for tears were threatening to fall. But, she would not appear weak him. To someone who callously mistreated her.

"I hate you," she declared.

Had she been looking at Shigure, Akito might have noticed that Shigure's eyes flickered at this statement. But, as it was, her eyes were cast down on the floor as she was struggling to regain her composure.

"Why now, Akito, you use sex to keep Kureno around," Shigure drawled. He looks down at her. "Doesn't that make you a slut as well?"

Perhaps a stronger Akito would've sprung up and given Shigure a piece of her mind. But, at that moment, Akito was too fragile to even stand. At that moment, she looked like a porcelain doll with her robe hanging off her showing her tiny shoulder. Her dark hair contrasted her light skin, which was red with humiliation. "I'm not a slut," she protested. "Take it back! Shigure, you….take it back!"

She glared at him, her eyes brimming with tears that were threatening to fall, but she didn't care. She was too weak to care. Shigure advanced towards her and knelt down in front of her.

"I think," he whispered as he brushed his lips slowly against hers. "I think you regard yourself too highly. Someone like you needs to be broken." With that, he pulled her towards him in an intense embrace and kissed her feverishly. Akito tried pushing him away, but he clung onto her. It was as though he was desperate, as though he never wanted to let her go, but Akito knew better. If he seemed desperate, it was because he hadn't had any for a while, she thought sourly.

And so, here she was, letting him use her. She hated herself for it. Hated herself for not having any control. She succumbed to him so easily, but she could not help it. Whenever Shigure touched her, she was set aflame with a longing that surpassed anything she ever wanted before. Shigure feathered kisses along her neck, her shoulders, her breasts. His hands deftly took off her robe, as though he had done this hundreds of times. Akito wondered mentally how many other women he had taken. Somehow, she knew she was better off not knowing.

Akito tugged anxiously at Shigure's tie, and within seconds, his whole attire was thrust on the floor. The two clung onto each other. Akito couldn't stop. The aching sensation that she lived with turned into an aching desire. She wanted this. She needed this so badly that it hurt.

"Shigure," she panted. Nothing felt more right as she writhed beneath him. Little prepared her for the climax that she had. It was all-consuming and she felt that not only her body, but her soul itself was lifted. She dimly sensed that he came too before she fell asleep from exhaustion.

Shigure carefully covered Akito with a blanket before sitting down to admire her. Her face exuded such childlike innocence when she was asleep. Smiling, he gently brushed her hair from her still-flushed face and stopped as he gazed at her. His hands were trembling for his heart welled up with a tender emotion. He knew she mistrusted him, knew that she thought he didn't care. But, he had to do all that.

He had to break her.

It was the only way he could possess her wholly.

"You don't know it now," he whispered to her sleeping form. "But, you're here," he said as he took her hand and pressed it against his heart. "You were always here, and you'll always be here. I'm going to have your bonds with the other zodiac people broken. And when you're helpless, when they have all left you," his eyes darkened when he said this. "I will be the last one standing."