Here it is! Again, I am sorry I missed yesterday's update. Well, better late than never! Here you go!

Don't own, don't sue.

Akito's vision was dimming. It was time. The strong woman had hoped that she would hold out for another week or so, but it just wasn't going to happen. She had accepted it. She sighed deeply, and gazed tenderly at the sleeping man by her bedside. She was aware that he had been by her side the entire time. Shigure. If only her stubbornness hadn't held, if only she had understood sooner, maybe they wouldn't be here now. They always did say that laughter was healthy for you. Then again, so was crying. Perhaps it was the unbalance of the two that emotions had caused her to become so frail, so sick. Dying. She had experienced several tears, but the genuine laughter in her short twenty-two years of life was scarce. It all went down to the curse, as did everything in the Sohma family. It was ironic: the very thing that she had depended on to live, both literally and figuratively, was the exact thing that had brought everyone else down, and had presented this great burden on to everyone who she had even remotely cared about. It even affected the people who she couldn't care less about, the ones who she hadn't even met, but whose lives she had indirectly ruined.

Well, in some cases, only temporarily. Tohru Honda. At first, an annoyance. A great annoyance who gradually escalated into an enemy. A menace. Finally, a trusted friend. It was funny how things worked out. Her entire life seemed to be based upon irony. Akito Sohma, the one who was forced to live as a man, and strove to rebel against those who made it so, yet the one who hated women in general. Akito Sohma, the god of the family, the torment upon it's members. The tormentor of her first friend, her first equal. The essential killer of Yuki Sohma.

Everything was gray.

"Haru, stop." "Rin, I'm sorry, I really am, but this is the one request of yours that I won't be able to see through." "Hatsuharu Sohma, look at you! You're going to end up killing yourself at this rate!" The former seventh zodiac glared at the second, her boyfriend. Hatsuharu had fallen asleep at his bedroom desk, piles of untouched homework and broken pencils surrounding him, along with pictures of the rat. Even after all of this, the rat was still his center of attention. There were dark rings underneath Haru's eyes, and his hair was messier than she had ever seen it. It was hard enough trying to get him to take proper care of himself, let alone under these circumstances. "Haru, I know that Yuki was important to you, but he's gone now. I hate to be hypocritical, but I need you to let it go. Give up! Somebody else can handle this. I care to much about you to allow you to continue searching for the rat's sorry self."

For the first time, Hatsuharu truly glared at Rin. He couldn't believe that she would say something like this. "Rin, I've told you time and time again; I love you, I really do, but Yuki is special to me. He – " "I know, I know, he 'saved' you. Haru, that still isn't a good enough excuse! Put yourself as your first priority, for once." "That's easier said than done. I'm only happy if the ones I care about are happy. That of course includes you, you're practically at the top of the list, but I can't sit here and laze around if I know that Yuki is out there somewhere hurting!" Rin narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Take your pick." The former ox blinked. "Take my pick?" "It's either the rat, or me. Take your pick." "Rin, I can't just –! " "I said, it either the rat or me. It's always been like this, it's always been him over me. Let's see if this will change the one time it really matters." There was silence. "Figures." Rin left the room, her eyes red and moist. "We're done Haru, this time we're really done."

Those words seemed to echo inside of Hatsuharu. We're done. We're done. We're done. We're done...

The words became louder and louder, pounding inside of his head. This wasn't happening. First Yuki. Yuki was in pain. Rin. Rin was hurt. Momiji. Depressed. Kisa. Confused. Yuki. Rin. Momiji. Kisa. Yuki. Rin. Momiji. Rin. Yuki. Yuki...

Poof!

Rin gaped at the sight before her. She had returned to the room to demand that he sleep, but before her, was an ox. The curse. Her boyfriend had regained the curse, which she had tried near her entire life to get rid of for him. Ironic that The one person who didn't deserve the curse, was the first to regain it. Rin had, once again, fell into her lowest of the low.

Poof!

Next to the ox was a strong, black horse. The only two to regain the curse.

Akito opened her eyes. She could feel it. The both loved and hated curse. Another sensation. Her precious rat, somewhere by the docks, with a massive pain. The pain seemed... muted somehow. Perhaps her Yuki was unconscious. With the last of her will, she nudged Shigure, her lover, awake. He opened his eyes slowly, but then blinked awake in rapid realization. He sat up quickly. "Is something wrong Akito?!" He grasped her hand, afraid of the response. She weakly chuckled, and shook her head. "I found Yuki. The docks. Hurry with them over, it's fading, quickly... it's..." The world disappeared, and her pale hand fell limp. A small trickle of blood leaked out of the corner of her mouth. It was over.

Shigure stood up slowly, hesitantly. He still held her hand. His head was lowered, and a single tear slowly traced down his cheek. It was followed by another. Yet another set mirrored the first. "I hope you have a nice rest, Akito. I love you."

Ayame and Hatori raced over to the docks, and into the only large enough building after hearing the news from Shigure. The former dog refused to cone, on account of his mourning. He couldn't bring himself to leave her side until her body was properly prepared for burial. They were greeted with the sight of an empty building, save for a dusty couch, two chairs, and a staircase leading to the second floor. Ayame further tightened his scarf, due to a chill. Hatori's eyes closed momentarily, feeling an impending stress upstairs. The first few coordinated steps of the friends were tense, but gradually loosened up as the pace grew faster. The metal stairs echoed and clanged with every pounding step the pair took. The vibrations echoed throughout the large warehouse. A door just up ahead led them into the only room that had the feeling of being recently used.

The cleanup was sloppy. There was a puddle of water near the bathroom floor, as well as a towel thrown on top of the sheetless bed. Hatori walked towards the desk, which was next to the small bed. This, too, was bare. Something quickly caught his eye. A flash of red, near the floor, or more accurately, inside of the wastebasket. A crumpled up material was inside. The dragon lifted it out. It was a torn shirt, with the buttons ripped off. On the bottom rim of the shirt was a thin smear of blood. This worried Hatori. No words were spoken when Hatori further inspected the shirt. On the inside were the stitched words: "I love Big-brother Ayame". Said person covered his mouth, and attempted to stifle a sob. Ayame fell to his knees, and continued to cry.

The friends made their way home in complete silence, not that any words had been exchanged in the warehouse. Ayame clutched Yuki's shirt to his chest, his beautiful eyes now red from crying. A Shrill ringing broke the silence. Ayame and Hatori warily eyes the snake's pocket. Finally, Ayame reached down and looked at the number. His pale face uncharacteristically contorted into a sneer. He answered reluctantly. "What do you want now?" He snapped. A pause. "What a rude way to speak to your only living first relatives." The silver-haired man rolled his eyes. "My only living first relative is Yuki, as I certainly don't consider you to be my family. What do you want?" There was another small pause. "I want you to step up. Yuki is dead, so our financial back up is gone as well. I expect you to start catching up in order to please your mother." Ayame hissed. "I stopped considering you as my mother when I was fourteen, and if that's all the emotion that you can muster up towards my dear little brother, even after all of the unconditional love he gave you, which you far from deserved, than that only deepens the disgust that I hold for the woman called Minori Sohma. Don't contact either Yuki or I again, or I will press charges for harassment. As of today, I was take up the responsibility as Yuki's guardian. Good day."

The snake furiously snapped the phone shut. Hatori looked over at his friend. "I honestly wasn't aware that you had that in you." Ayame looked at Hatori with pained eyes. "Neither did I. I should have done that a long time before this." The green eyes man studied his friend with a small smile, before turning to the wheel. "Better now than never. I'm proud of you." Ayame sadly smiled back. "I don't deserve your pride. I'm still the same selfish man I was a year ago, that much, at least, hasn't changed." "That's good. It's something I can depend on."

Sorry for the quick scene changes, but I needed to finish this chapter quickly. This chapter is actually split in half, because I wanted to get this up quickly. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You are my inspiration! Also, the stitching on Yuki's shirt, for those who haven't read the manga, is actually something that Ayame did when he and Yuki had some "alone time". If there's something you're confused on, let me know!