A/N:

This is the "new" chapter one. It used to be Tohru, but then I'm like, "That totally defeats the title."

So, now Akito is chapter one.

NOTE: (On the back of manga 15, Akito is represented by a flower. I presume that's the symbol she is.)

She lay there, silently sucking on her miso through the straw she'd been given. She'd been feeling particularly lazy that day and couldn't bare to even sit up, let alone eat with a spoon. Her physical condition was getting worse; Hatori had told her so.

Akito snorted angrily against the miso coming up the straw. This was pathetic! She was God of the Zodiac; cruel, vicious and often quite painful to interact with. But behind the scenes of the cruelty, she was just a sick lady, withering away from exsistence, from her life. But how could you call what she lived a life? Counting down how many days to go before you're gone... that isn't living.

Akito thought of her past in the rare and silent moments she had like this. Not a bird chirped, not a leaf rustled slowly in the wind, not even a foot step could be heard. Akito held her breath momentarily and listened to the sound of nothing.

She secretly hated being so cruel all the time; it wasn't a lifestyle she wanted, but it was the lifestyle she chose. All she wanted was to be remembered when she was gone and if that meant torturing people so badly that they just couldn't forget, then she was alright with that. Although at times she felt sorry for her Zodiac, there was little she could do now; no one trusted her, no one believed a word she said. Not even Shigure was at one with her anymore.

Akito's frame shifted sideways slightly as she stared out onto the patio of her relaxation room. The clouds stood still in the sky, just like her thoughts paused in her mind when she saw them.

What of the Zodiac? she suddenly wondered, her mind moving again. What will become of them when I'm gone?

Nothing. Her subconcious said. All you've done is hurt them. Do you think they'll care when you die? What are you going to do, while you're looking up at them from Hell, when they're partying away?

Shut-up. Akito grunted. I didn't ask you.

Talking to yourself then, were you? The voice oozed. It's the first sign of insanity, you realise.

Akito blinked; the voice was right! Not only was she dying, but to top it off, put the icing on the cake, put the cherry on top of the ice cream... she was going crazy.

Oh. You were asking who'll be the new God?

Akito didn't know. Was she really asking that?

I guess so. She thought. It's not like I'll have children.

That's for sure.

Shut-up.

Akito blocked the voice from her mind and sipped on her now-cold miso. With her days dripping away, she was now left with nothing; there was nothing she could do, or say to make it up to them. Despite her recent attempts to make ammends with various family members, nothing prevailed. She would not give birth to a new God, she would not live a fulfilling life, she would not be surrounded by people who cared for her.

She was going to die alone.

A/N:

Hope you enjoyed that...