My lovely friend, The High Queen Of Angst (or as I like to call her, Queenie) has challenged me to write about the death of Kyo. It pains me that one of my beloved Furuba characters must die, but...it was only a matter of time.

I hope you enjoy this sad tale of the cat's last moments. From his last thoughts to his last breath.

Without further ado...

The Cat's Final Hour

His lungs were punctured and blood filled them like plastic bags. He was heaving heavily, desperately craving oxygen. He'd taken it for granted in the past. Breathing was involuntary and natural. He didn't think about how his heart pumped to keep blood flowing through his lungs. He didn't think about the way blows to his epidermis and wounds that pierced his skin healed so rapidly. The anatomy and structure of his body never interested him. He simply considered it a weapon to defeat his formidable opponent, the rat. He never appreciated the beauty of his tanned skin. How the sun kissed him so lovingly. It was never overbearing that his skin burned crimson. It was never underwhelming that he looked pale as the ghost he was becoming. But it was always an even and warm shade. A breathtaking accentuation to his blood red eyes and sunset orange hair.

But now he was dying. Somehow the demise of a person turns them into a poet. Waxing philosophical and lamenting over the unfairness of it all. All the sights unseen and sounds left unheard. The memories that haven't been made and the tears he hadn't shed. It never occurred to him that it would be his last day on earth.

It started out different than other days. It was the day before graduation and the eve of his lockup. He would have been confined to his unavoidable solitude and the satisfaction that it brought Akito. The cat was doomed from the start. Akito made a wager she was sure to win; defeat the rat and you have a place within the family. He was never going to win the bet. Kyo was destined and pre-ordained for loss. He didn't stand a chance against the passages of time and his own impending desolation. He spent the day with Tohru, acting as if he was going to be there the next night. He pretended that he wasn't on the verge of fading from her life and becoming nothing more than a memory. He just wanted her happy and enjoying the life he marred. If she'd never met him, she wouldn't have to mourn another person's death. She wouldn't have to endlessly wonder why everyone seemed to die in her wake; her parents and now her beloved. The loss of someone you love always begs the question of who is truly behind it. And why it must be.

It always seems too soon to be true. But even if a hundred years passed it would still be too soon.

In a rage, Akito intended to attack Tohru. She knew her time was short and that Tohru's heart belonged to Yuki. Her most prized possession was to be sullied by such a girl. To Akito she was the worst thing to have ever befallen the Sohmas, but to Kyo she was the best thing. Tohru was a storm cloud on Akito's forecast and a sunny day on Kyo's. But it no longer mattered what she was to him. He was a few seconds and a couple of breaths away from never seeing the sun again. He was on the brink of an eternity without his unrequited love by his side, another thing he lost to his rival. But even knowing that she loved Yuki with all her itty bitty heart, it didn't deterr him from setting his sights on her. Acting as her shield and taking the dagger for her was the natural thing to do. To him it was as natural and almost involuntary as breathing was. But he never took the time to ponder these things and now he didn't have time to start.

Now as the life bleeds from him and stains the ground, a tear falls like a raindrop, splashing his cheek. But it's not his tear, its Tohru's. She's already weeping for him although he isn't dead yet. His heart ached and twisted in response to her never ending sobs. The sounds she made was a mirror image of his own. Both were breaking and dying even though one was still living. The one thing he regretted out of this whole day and his whole life wasn't about the life he'll never have. It wasn't about freedom from the cat room or even beating Yuki.

It was about Tohru's pain. Tohru's pain was what ate at him most. Tohru's tears destroyed him and killed him faster than he should have died. And as Tohru grabs for his black and white beads and yanks them free, Kyo is free. But he isn't free in the way either of them hoped. He wasn't free of the curse by the power of love or something crazy like that. He was saved by his own death. He was saved by his own brevity and heroism. He was saved...by saving Tohru.

And as the beads scatter and clatter against the blood soaked concrete, he looks up at his riceball one last time. He drinks in her crystal blue eyes, filled with tears that she didn't deserve to cry, and reflecting pain she shouldn't know. His gaze falls to the lips he never once tasted or felt. The lips that his rival won and he lost. As his eyes slide shut, the last thing he sees is Tohru. The last sound he hears is her cries; his name.

The sweet sound of his name coaxes and pleads for him to return. To not leave her behind with Yuki and Akito. To not leave her alone with her sorrow and grief. Even though he doesn't want her to mourn for him, he can't help but feel glad for it too. It meant that he mattered to someone...it meant that they cared enough to feel pain and miss him. It meant everything to him.

And as he gives control of his spirit, soul, and body over to eternity, he only has one desire in mind.

I hope you're happy Tohru. Even if it is with that girly rat.

The End