Shigure walked up to the door of the library. It was inconspicuous, identical to dozens of doors in the same hallway. Shigure only noticed something special about this one having never seen anyone go in or out. There were rooms in the Honke that were infrequently used, but still...what could be behind a door that didn't even allow a maid in once a month?

He had discovered that it was a mysterious library entirely by accident. Shigure had been walking down that very hallway as a young boy, clutching a book under his arm as he often did. One of his older aunts looked at him as he passed the library and noted the book under his arm.

"SHIGURE-KUN! WHERE exactly did you get that book?"

Hmm. Motoko-san was an older relative of his that was prone to alcoholism and gossip. Shigure saw her looking at his book then back to the door of what he now guessed to be a library of sorts and decided to play this for all the information he could get.

"Why, Motoko-san?" Shigure purposely hid the title out of view in what he hoped was a secretive fashion.

"It...it doesn't matter! But tell me anyway. You have to respect your elders, you know. Stupid boy." She moved to physically block the door, stumbling from delirium tremens. "You shouldn't be getting into things that aren't your business."

What a sweetheart. This was probably the relative of his that give him a pair of socks two sizes too small every Christmas. "Auntie" he started, laying on the sugar, "Akito-sama gave it to me himself. He wants every one of his Juunishi to be well read, especially me." Good, remind her of his status and scare her away. "Should I tell Akito-sama you were trying to interfere?"

The color drained out of Sohma Motoko's body as she remembered how much higher this cheeky twelve year old was in status in their family than her. She had been hoping to catch him sneaking into the library she suspected he had just tricked her into telling him about. He absolutely could report her for this, and with Akito's mysterious preference to the Juunishi, she would probably be kicked out of the good life at the Honke. Motoko scowled.

"Just don't do it again." She turned on her heels and stormed away.

"Whatever you say. Auntie dearest."

The millisecond she was out of sight and hearing range Shigure walked up to the forbidden door and peered into the keyhole. Completely black. He grinned manically. This had to be the one. Every other locked, secret door in the complex at least pretended to be a normal room. Excepting the cats special house, of course, but that was not his problem. In here had to be the spell that cursed them. Possibly the only written record of hope for a cure. He would get into that room and get his hands on that book if it took the rest of his life.

It had taken much less time then he had suspected, once Shigure learned of Akito's disgusting attraction towards him. Someone who holds you in a romantic favor is much easier to manipulate then someone who doesn't. An emotionally underdeveloped God who was hell bent on denying any feelings for any human being was putty in his hands as long as he didn't provoke the temper of that God.

"One hour, Shigure. That's all."

Shigure reached his hand out for the key. Akito laughed harshly. "Do you think I'm stupid, Dog? I will unlock the door. I will lock it again when you leave. You will never touch this key, understand? If you don't find what you're looking for now, you will not get another chance. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal. Thank you for letting me help Hatori and protect the secret of your zodiac." He smiled as sincerely as possible at Akito. Forget being a writer, Shigure should have gotten into acting. He had more personas than Japan had grains of rice. And the oscar goes to...

"I look forward to your return, Akito-sama. Kureno-san." Kureno nodded silently to him. Akito unlocked the door and left. Thank god. Not Akito of course, but the unnamed God who let Akito think it was a good idea to leave Shigure alone in a room containing every bit of information about the zodiac there was.

Shigure turned on the lights and locked the door to the library behind him. He briefly considered covering up the keyhole and the gap under the door, but figured that Akito would have made this hallway off limits for this hour. His chances of being discovered were slim, the reason that he waited until he had permission. Who knows what kind of wacko alarm system he would have set off if he had attempted to sneak in. He feared tripping a wire that would have automatically destroyed the book he was looking for and prayed no curious child before him had set that particular fail safe off.

Akito's thought processes didn't seem to be that advanced, he noted, as Shigure looked around the library. This was possible the most ordinary study he had ever seen. A table with a few chairs, and three bookshelves full of innocent looking textbooks. Akito should have left this door wide open, no one but Shigure would have bothered trying to read anything so plain.

Shigure knew he didn't have much time. He looked closely at each book on the bookshelves, looking for anything at all that made one different than the others. There was absolutely no way every volume in here was on the mysticism of the zodiac. No, he was looking for one book hidden among dozens. Hundreds would have made it harder to find, but would have looked more suspicious for a room that no one ever used.

He opened a few books. Dictionary. Cook book. Novel. Atlas. On his eleventh or twelfth try, he came to one with a small moon on the bottom. Every time he had started to open that book, one more interesting had caught his eye. He reached for the book with the moon for the fifth time, and fought back the urge to go and do anything else. Hadn't he left the stove on? His books needed editing. He needed to go grocery shopping. Anything.

Shigure's mind cleared as he touched it. He grinned. This was exactly what he had been looking for. Shigure opened the book and saw only blank pages. Not completely unexpected, it had been trying to make him go do something else ever since he noticed it. It only made sense that it would try and keep itself from being read.

He put it back casually, hoping no excitement had come over his face. He picked up several, attempting to look angry from frustration. Whatever camera Akito was surely watching him from would only note a man who was finding nothing.

Shigure pulled a few books from the shelves and stuffed them in a bag. He threw the one with the moon in second to last, barely resisting the urge to put it back. He was going to do the only thing he could think of that might possibly get the moon book out of this place.

Lie.

Akito came back right as Shigure was finished. "Well? Are you happy now? There are no spell books."

Shigure arranged his features in anger. He picked up the moon book immediately and waved it. "Do you think this is funny, Akito-sama?" He railroaded quickly, hoping to get his sentence out before Akito could confront him and blow his entire scheme. "One of my novels." He put it back and picked up a dictionary. "My reference dictionary." Put it down, pick up...an unlabeled binder! Excellent. "A short story of mine from high school. There is nothing here. Why you would take books from my room at the Honke and pretend it's a library that might have held..." he pretended to catch himself. Damn, he was good. "S...something. I'm putting these back." He stormed away angrily, leaving a shocked Akito behind him.

By the time Akito had collected himself, Shigure was long gone. He went to his study at the Honke and put the books on his shelves, exactly like he promised he would. He found a diary about the same shape and size as the mysterious blank book, and inscribed the same small moon with a pen. Hopefully when he came back to the main house Akito would have put what he thought was the omnibus of the zodiac mystique and would never bring the subject up again. Shigure counted on Akito's poor mental state and his completely misplaced trust in Shigure to convince him that this was the real book. Akito had most likely not seen the real moon book in years, and the diary was a convincing enough replica.

Putting the real book in his jacket, Shigure went back to his house, a little shocked when no one stopped him. Either he was walking straight into a trap, or...no. It was probably a trap. Still, he had taken the one shot he would ever get at doing this.

Shigure arrived home long after the three teenagers of his had gone to bed. The moment he walked in the door the house phone rang. Akito had an amazing sense of timing in that way.

"Hello?" Damnit. So many years of careful planning wasted. He braced himself for punishment.

"Don't ever think about looking in that library again. I have taken all the books out of your study and put them back where they belong. Do not question where I want my things. Especially the things you think are yours. Everything of yours is mine. Everything. It's EXACTLY where I WANT IT. DON'T COME BACK UNLESS I SAY SO." (click).

Shigure looked at the book in his hand, unable to believe his luck. He had gotten away with it. Really, gotten away with it. Dumbfounded, he walked up to his study to look at his treasure more privately. He figured he had at most a day or two to work before Akito discovered what had actually happened that night. He'd make good use of that time.

Let the games begin.