Chapter One
"Kyou listen I-
The young man broke out in a heated flush, "No Kagura, you listen to me. I've had enough of this bullshit. Stop chasing me! I can't go on like this- we can't go on like this. You're wasting your time…" he turned his back to her, his shoulders hunching with the burden of his rejection.
She knew what was coming. She didn't want to hear it, not now, not ever.
Kagura ran just as Kyou turned around, calling after her.
But she ran without caring, stumbling along the road with tears streaming down her face. How could she have been so stupid? It was bound to happen sooner or later. Her love for Kyou was forced. It was something born out of sympathy, maybe even self hate and it had grown into a tsunami too forceful for her to control. That was her kind of love, a cursed love.
Kagura felt her feet carry her along a familiar path to Shigure's house. Her mind protested violently but her feet continued to stagger on the beaten road until she was standing in front of the modest dwelling.
Her cries slowed to small hiccups as she smoothed two delicate hands over her hair and slipped off her shoes. Gently, she opened the door and called out, "Anybody home?"
No reply met her shaky question.
Kagura climbed the stairs to her cousin's study quietly. She stared at the rice paper screen hesitantly. Shigure had never been one of her closer cousins. Sure she visited him often, but whatever conversation she had with him was never truly dared to touch upon the topic of their obsessions though both knew the fervor that pounded through the other's body. It was there when Kagura and him were alone, a sort of unspoken bond that was reflected in each other's eyes. But it never went deeper than a few meaningful glances. Comfort was never something Kagura sought out from Shigure but it didn't matter now.
Wiping a few stray tears, Kagura prepared to open the door when it slid open from the other side revealing an annoyed looking Shigure.
"Kyou isn't here right now Kagura."
At the mention of the cat's name Kagura wavered, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She attempted to open her mouth to respond but all that came out was a choked sob.
Shigure's irritated expression slid from his face as he rushed forward to steady his teetering cousin. She fell into his arms readily as Shigure stumbled back into his study.
"He hates me Shi-chan…hates me! What am I good for?" Kagura sobbed into his yukata clad shoulder. Shigure's eyebrows knitted together as he listened to her cry. She really was being hard on herself. Kyou must've really laid it on her with some finality in his voice.
In a dutiful manner, Shigure pressed circles on her back while crooning, "Maa maa Kagura-chan, everything will be fine," though with every inch of his body he knew that some relationships are broken beyond repair.
Kagura lifted her head to look into his eyes. She drew in a willowy breath, "No it won't. I'm cursed, we're cursed. Nobody can help me, nobody wants me. Not my mother, not my family, not Kyou…and probably not even you. "
Her words stunned Shigure. He finally began to understand the complex strings that pulled at Kagura's heart. All his life, he had always pushed her into the background, of course he knew how similar both their situations were but it always seemed that his cousin was a puppet that foolishly rode her impulses.
He had never once considered how much she was breaking. How could he have been so stupid as not to recognize how close to the edge she actually was. Kagura, sweet, happy Kagura had finally discovered the truth about their condition. For once in his life, Shigure feared deeply that this discovery would change the route of their family forever, and the tingling in his being told him that he would certainly have something to do with it. And in a wicked twist of fate, she had come running to him for comfort.