Walk a Thin Line
Chapter One: Beginnings
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Fruits Basket, or Bleach. And I'm sure they're glad of that.
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Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
- Semisonic
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Sohma Kyo watched as one by one the members of the zodiac were released from the curse, and as one by one they moved on with their lives. Most of them chose to stay at the Sohma compound, as there were bonds between them that went deeper than the curse, but Kyo knew that it was just a matter of time before the younger members of the zodiac grew up and wanted to leave. When Kagura was finally released from the curse, she prepared to leave for college, leaving Kyo as the only Sohma still bound by the curse.
"I'm sure you'll be free soon, Kyo-kun," Kagura said to Kyo's cat form after she'd given him one last goodbye hug, "and then you can move on, like the rest of us."
Kyo shifted in her arms, hoping she'd take the hint and just put him down. The sky was clear and bright, but he felt as though it had been raining constantly for the past few months. When Kagura gripped him even tighter, he breathed deeply, preparing to shout at her, when he heard her sniffle.
"Things will be okay, Kyo-kun, they will, I promise," she said, squeezing the breath right out of Kyo, who could only groan slightly in protest, "You'll be okay, won't you? Time heals all wounds, doesn't it?" Kyo batted at Kagura's face, claws outstretched, and she finally put him down.
"You know I won't be okay, Kagura," Kyo sighed, trying to gather his clothes together, "she's gone, and I wasn't there to save her. You know I can't move on." He sat down on the lawn of Shigure's house and lifted the paw which bore the black and white beaded bracelet that he wore even in his cat form. "Especially when I'm still cursed. You're all free and the curse feels just as strong in me as it always has."
Kyo draped his clothes over his back and headed back into the house. "Goodbye, Kagura," he said, pushing the paper doors closed with a back paw. Kagura opened her mouth as if to say something, but eventually she turned around and headed back to the car that waited for her in the street.
Later that night, when he had finally reverted back to his human form, Kyo quickly gathered his few meager belongings together. He paused for a moment to wipe a smudge off of the glass of the photograph he tucked in with his other possessions.
"I promise, Tohru," he said, wrapping a t-shirt around the frame to keep it from breaking, "we'll see each other again, somehow."
Thunder rumbled in the distance as Kyo discreetly left the Sohmas, and he prayed that he would find shelter before the skies opened up.
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Higurashi Kagome grumbled as she was shaken awake by her brother, Souta. She'd fallen asleep in a sea of history books at the library again.
Once Naraku had finally been defeated, and the jewel completed, the well had closed, leaving Kagome alone on her own side of the well. She'd spent the last several months searching nonstop for any sign of what had happened to her friends from the feudal era, but she hadn't been able to find any trace of any of them.
"Kagome?" Souta said, shaking Kagome's arm one last time, "Kagome, you've been here for hours. Uncle Ryuuken will be here to pick you up in about twenty minutes, you've gotta get home to say goodbye to Mama."
After months and months of waiting and searching and hoping and coming up with nothing, Kagome had decided that it was too painful to live at the shrine any longer. Every morning she left the house, passing by Goshinboku, passing by the well house--every morning was a reminder of everything she had lost. Her mother contacted a cousin of Kagome's father, and it was arranged that she would go to live with them, to give her some time to heal without those daily reminders.
After a tearful goodbye, Kagome climbed into her Uncle Ishida Ryuuken's car, a man who she had only met once or twice when she was very young, and headed off to Karakura to start her new life.
"So you're coming to live with us, Higurashi Kagome," Ryuuken said almost coldly, barely nodding his head in Kagome's direction, "I trust you remember my son, Uryuu?" Kagome nodded, remembering the small boy, two years younger than herself, speaking softly and constantly adjusting his glasses. "He will make sure your transition to Karakura High School is a smooth one." Kagome nodded again, effectively ending the conversation.
They were silent for the rest of the drive. Kagome hoped that starting over would be worth it.
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Kyo took the first bus that he could find, and then walked for several hours before the rain finally started, pouring down in sheets. He'd been feeling weak for the past few months, so the fatigue that usually accompanied a rainy day seemed to be ten times worse than normal. It was all he could do to just drag his overstuffed duffel bag along behind him.
'This is just pathetic,' he thought, sitting down on the curb in front of a dark-windowed shop, 'I can barely even walk, and I haven't found anywhere that looks even remotely welcoming. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.'
He rested his head in his hands, trying to work up the strength to stand again, when he heard a rustle in the alley next to the shop he'd collapsed in front of. With great effort, he was able to lift his head and turn it to see a boy with pointy red hair wielding several large bags of garbage. The boy dropped the bags when he noticed Kyo sitting on the curb.
"Oi, Orange Head, that you?" the boy called. Under normal circumstances, Kyo would have beaten the boy upside the head for making fun of his hair, but he didn't have the energy.
"What?" He said weakly, and promptly passed out, flat on his back. The boy rushed to his side.
"Manager! Ururu!" he called, trying to lift Kyo without much success, "There's some orange-headed guy out here and he doesn't look good!"
Urahara Kisuke flipped on the lamps in the front of his shop, to shed a little light on the situation.
"That Ichigo?" he said, shielding his eyes with his hand to get a closer look, "No. That's not Ichigo. But his reiraku is extremely unusual. Ururu? Will you help Jinta get the boy inside before he catches his death of cold?" The small girl nodded demurely, and ran out into the storm to assist the boy.
As she ran out into the rain, she lost her footing on the slippery sidewalk, and tripped, landing flat on the unconscious boy. There was a loud popping sound and a thick smoke suddenly surrounded the three figures out in the rain. When the smoke finally cleared, Kyo was gone, and a very wet orange cat was in his place. Ururu and Jinta gasped.
"Interesting," Urahara muttered, pulling out his cell phone, "Ururu? Will you bring the cat into the shop? And Jinta, get his bag. This young man is very interesting indeed." The children nodded and followed their manager's orders. Urahara punched a number into his cell phone.
"Yoruichi?" he said with a smile, adjusting the striped hat on his head, "you'd better get down here. I've discovered something you might find very interesting."