A/N: I found this chapter stashed away deep inside my documents. I think I wrote it last May, seeing as that was the date that went along with the document. I thought I didn't have any more on my computer so that was why I was thinking it might have been a one-shot, but… it's not. Oh, and I'd like to thank phantom and potter Obsession, the first reviewer of this story. x3 Thank youuu. Anyway, on with chapter two.
2
She wanted him to stay.
Why? Shigure wondered, but stepped slowly towards the silently weeping figure, knowing that if he didn't there would be consequences. Perhaps he even wanted to get closer. He had no option to consider this longer because she tugged at his sleeve and he looked down.
Those eyes. They were wide with fear - but what was this fear? What could Akito, God, fear? The answer came swiftly. Abandonment. She thought - no, she knew - that if the curse were lifted… if the curse were lifted, she'd be alone. She'd always be alone.
Out of pity, the young boy sat next to her on the floor in complete silence. There was nothing to say, nothing to do but sit and stare at each other. Nothing with Akito was ever any more complex than that. Not a thing.
"Shigure," she said after a moment, "Will you stay?"
He paused, and as he was about to answer, she continued with, "If - if the curse breaks, will you stay with me? Will you?"
He was unspeaking and Akito pressed, more violently this time, "Will you?"
He smiled sadly at her. "Don't worry," he said, "I will."
"Good," she muttered sourly, keeping her grip on his arm firm.
She wouldn't let him get away this time. She couldn't. Not if she didn't want to be alone. Akito wound her arms around his waist possessively. At that moment, he was hers and she didn't care if he didn't want to be, because she'd always be there. Right by him, like a tear you could never shed. That was Akito. That would be Akito forevermore, clinging to him in much the same way a very small child would hold on to its mother, something Akito had never wished to do.
Something Akito never would wish to do.
Shigure suspended an arm around Akito's shoulders; quite surely the hostility she had held had evaporated completely. Of course, it would always come back again later. Much later, when Shigure had left, when he wasn't holding her any longer.
"Shigure, when the curse breaks, do you really promise me you'll stay?" Akito asked again.
He nodded. "Always."
"Are you sure?" she asked worriedly.
He smiled. "Stop worrying, Akito-chan."
She lashed out again with, "Why? Why should I stop worrying if all everyone ever does is leave me? When the curse breaks, I'll have no relevance to any of you and you'll leave me here! You're all just going to abandon me, and you won't care!"
"Akito, calm down!"
She hit him again and at that particular moment, Shigure was sure she was crying. He didn't have to get a closer look, didn't have to look into her eye to see the unshed tears. He could feel her shaking slightly, and her face was tucked into the crook of his neck, so he could feel them against his skin.
They sat like that for what could have only been minutes, but to both it felt like hours. He took it into consideration and just as she was about to move he said, "I won't leave."
Intrigued, Akito drew her face away from him. "What?"
"I won't leave," he repeated softly.
And the curse, he thought, it'll never break anyway.
And so he knew that he was trapped, trapped with Akito and the rest. Somehow, he found it didn't matter.
He would've stayed anyway.
He winked, "And no one else will, either."
"How do you know any of that?" Akito asked brashly.
I don't, he thought.
"Just wait and see," he said, smiling, "You'll know I'm right."
Er, no you won't, he continued to think skeptically, but kept the small smile plastered on his face.
"What if they do?" Akito demanded.
"Then I'll still be here," he assured her.
Uh, will I?
"Do you really think so?" Akito asked, looking a bit brighter.
"Yes,"
Not a complete lie, no.
"What about Hatori?" Akito commanded, "Will he leave?"
"He won't."
"How do you know?" she dictated again.
"Because you need him," Shigure concluded. He thought of adding, 'and he needs you', but didn't, for fear of it sounding melodramatic.
"What about the snake?" Akito said forcefully.
"I don't know," Shigure said truthfully. Ayame was so free-spirited and, ah, flamboyant, not to mention full of his own ideas.
"I want an answer, Shigure!"
"I… I don't think he will,"
Akito frowned.
"He's just too… independent."
True, he told himself, I'm not lying.
"And Ritsu?"
Akito, you idiot! Why can't you just let things fall into place instead of asking me about it? I don't know, Akito.
That, at least, was what he wanted to say, but calling Akito an idiot, contradicting her like that would be way out of line to the girl.
"Shigure!"
"Yes, " he said, "he'll stay."
If anything he had said it to please her.
"Shigure?" Akito asked again.
"Yes?"
"Shigure, do you love me?"
Aha, yeah, you know [SPOILERIFICNESS she does ask him that, so it's not my twisted imagination just deciding to throw that in. [/Spoilerificness Review, please? xD I'll give you a cupcake!
... Or will I?