This chapter will contain gore and delirium-induced self-harm. I will put an author's note IMMEDIATELY before and after the gore. I would appreciate it if you would read on until the note. Thank you.
One must not lie…
This doesn't hurt…
Don't underestimate = fear
Stop this pain, this darkness…
Does it hurt now?
NO MORE; STOP IT!
Yuki sat upright in his bed once more. Although he saw where he was and that he was safe, he felt someone watching him. Someone was standing in a dark corner by his bed. Yuki trembled violently as sweat fell down his face, his eyes widened as he turned his head slowly to the side. No one seemed to be there. Yuki tried to catch his breath and calm himself when he heard a rattling downstairs. He looked up and touched his feet to the floor. He walked to the door and pressed his ear against it. The sound of footsteps greeted his awaiting ears. Yuki summoned up his courage and walked outside of his room and down the hall.
When he turned into the kitchen, he saw Hanyuu, Moonlight, and Okami sitting on the floor in a loose circle. They each had a glass filled with red liquid. They all seemed to be staring blankly at their own portions of the floor.
"Miss Okami?" Yuki whispered.
"Did we disturb you?" Hanyuu asked. Her voice was quiet and low like a lion's purr, not high like it was the day before. "Come sit with us."
"I had a dream," Yuki admitted, sitting down on the ground between Hanyuu and Okami. "About… Akito."
The others tensed and turned to Yuki, making him feel uncomfortable. They looked down again, Okami taking a drink of her apple cider. Moonlight held a pitcher and refilled her glass and handed a fresh glass to Yuki. Moonlight filled his glass to the brim.
"Thank you," Yuki said, frowning deeply at the liquid. He took a sip, but set the cider down on the wooden floor. "You should sleep, if the wolves are really coming as soon as Moonlight said, you should be rested."
To his surprise, a vector shot out of the dark and slapped him across the face, making him fall down. He gasped as his dream returned.
"Why don't you listen to me," Akito asked monotonously. An invisible hand cut through the dark room and hit Yuki, making him sprawl on the floor. Yuki screamed in pain; the vector, designed for slicing, crushing, and burning, had burned a large gash in his side. He could hear the shrieks of a girl as Akito tortured her.
"Stop it! No more! No, not the other one! Please!"
Yuki could hear the tearing and breaking of bones and flesh, mixed with the thick splatter of blood that pooled on the ground.
"Yuki? Yuki, what's wrong?"
At the sound of the voice, Yuki jerked his head sideways, looking for the source. Hanyuu and Moonlight were in one corner of the room, looking at him with worried expressions. He felt something directly behind him, so he turned. Okami was kneeling over him, a hand on his forehead, with her eyes narrowed. Yuki found it harder and harder to breathe; he began to writhe unintentionally.
"Yuki, you must stop this," Okami ordered. She stared into his eyes, which held an expression of complete fear and innocence. "It's going to be okay, just relax." She helped Yuki lie down on his back, and began to rub a line against his chest soothingly. Yuki soon relaxed and inhaled steadily. He turned his head to the side as he fell unconscious. Hanyuu, Moonlight, and Okami sighed as she wrapped her vectors around him, lifting him gently off the ground. She put him back in his bed upstairs and tucked him in.
The next morning, Yuki heard people talking outside of his room.
"I think they have already invaded his mind," Okami said. "He saw something last night that happened a long time ago."
"What did he see?" Hatori asked.
"Hanyuu getting her horns ripped off," Okami said quietly.
"Have you told the others?"
"I told them he had a nightmare and an asthma attack; but that's all. I thought it would be safe to say he'd be hallucinating until he can overcome it."
"If he can," Hatori corrected. "The mental scars he has of before you came along were great enough as it is, and I can't erase them."
"You can't erase these either, Hatori," Okami said. "No matter how hard you try, no memory can be forgotten. He's awake."
"What are they talking about?" Yuki whispered. He sat up in bed, making a cloth that was on his head fall onto the covers. He felt a cold hand wrap around his neck, and he stiffened in shock.
"See what you've done?" a voice asked him. "This is all your fault."
Yuki felt angry and scared for no reason. He looked outside; it was cloudy and raining. Not seeing the sun upset him, so he lied down and curled into a ball. He hated darkness. Even though it was still bright in his room, Yuki wanted the sun to shine through his window again, letting its clean rays secure his fears elsewhere. However, now he felt as though a million vectors were wrapping around him, some even felt as if they were inside his body. Yuki didn't like it; he felt invaded, and it was creepy. He couldn't help but twist in discomfort, trying to free himself from the phantasm.
At some point, he stopped writhing and turned to his desk across the room. There was a cylinder organizer filled with pens, pencils, and one pair of scissors. Yuki arose weakly to his feet. His legs felt like they didn't belong to him as he trudged over to the desk. He pulled the pair of scissors quietly out of the organizer and put the handles against the desk. He put the upturned blade in between his nail and the flesh of his finger.
"What am I doing?" he asked himself. "Why am I doing this?"
"Do this and I will finally forgive you for all that you've done."
Yuki swallowed, cringing as sweat dripped down his face. He knew this wasn't like him, and he tried to stop it. Despite his efforts to resist the sick temptation of forgiveness, he straightened. Was forgiveness too sick to offer? As his willing sacrifice, he took a deep breath, raising himself slightly. A figure appeared next to him. Yuki looked over to it, expecting the apparition to be in the form of Akito. He was shocked to see an image of himself, grinning evilly, darkly.
(If you do not want to read this part, you can skip it. I have set up two author's notes. I've put one immediately after the gore if you want to read how Tohru, Shigure, and Kyo reacted. If you don't want to read that either, I have set up a second authors note that will be underlined. Thank you.)
Yuki gasped, but before he could stop himself, he fell forward on the scissors. Blood spattered on the desk and the wall. The scissors fell back onto the desk, chipping the nail clean off. Yuki collapsed to his knees, blood pouring from the wound. Yuki screamed in the unbearable pain that he felt.
(That is the end of the gore itself. If you don't want to read what the others do to help, you don't have to. I honestly assure you that the gore itself is over.)
Tohru and Shigure had heard his cry and ran upstairs to see what was wrong. They expected it to be a horrifying nightmare, but they were shaken to see Yuki on the ground, blood covering the wall, the desk, and the floor. Shigure knelt beside him, as did Tohru, and began looking over him. Yuki looked up at Tohru, tears flowing from his eyes.
"Tohru," he cried. "It hurts."
"It's okay, Yuki," Tohru soothed him, taking one of his hands. "It's going to be okay. Where does it hurt?"
Yuki lifted his bloody hand shakily, showing the nail bed where the fingernail was. Tohru felt sick, and looked away sharply. Okami, Hanyuu and Moonlight had gone out into the forest to hunt; they couldn't help. Shigure ripped off a fragment of his sleeve and wrapped it around the wound.
"Tohru," he said. "You have to hold this while I go call Hatori."
"No, please," she whimpered. "Please let me call Hatori."
"Hurry," Shigure nodded. Tohru sighed and bolted out of the room into the hallway. Kyo saw her dialing the phone with shaking fingers, and moved her aside, dialing Hatori's number skillfully. He handed the phone back to her.
"What's going on?" Kyo asked.
"Sohma residence," a monotonous voice said on the other end of the phone.
"Hatori?" Tohru squeaked.
"Tohru? What's wrong? You sound upset."
"It's Yuki," she spluttered, tears spilling over her cheeks. "He ripped off one of his fingernails and it's really bad. Can you come over right away?"
"I'll be there soon, relax."
Tohru hung up the phone and collapsed to her knees. Kyo knelt beside her, shocked at her conversation with Hatori.
"Yuki did what?" he demanded. "Answer me, Tohru. Is he okay?" Still not gaining a response, he got up and went inside Yuki's room. He froze when he saw Yuki lying on the ground, with Shigure holding his hand over his head. Yuki tensed and cried in pain again. Shigure looked up to see Kyo standing there, his face a mask of shock.
"Kyo, go back downstairs," he urged. "Make sure Tohru's okay."
Kyo nodded and turned on his heel. Tohru had moved from her spot in the hallway and into the bathroom, violently sick. Kyo sighed and waited against the hallway wall for her. When Tohru came out, she kept her head down as she and Kyo walked downstairs. They sat down quietly at the table.
"Tohru, are you okay?" Kyo asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. He wasn't shocked when Tohru fell over onto him, forcing him to transform in a cloud of smoke. He sighed and heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he called. Hatori opened the door and looked down that Tohru and the cat.
"We're fine, go upstairs and see to Yuki," Kyo rumbled. Hatori nodded and walked upstairs as Kyo got out from under Tohru.
Hatori knelt beside Yuki, who opened his eyes when he heard other movement. Hatori took Yuki's injured hand and began to wrap it in bandages. Yuki's eyes seemed dazed, and his lips were dry. However, he still tensed and curled upwards in distress as Hatori treated him. Shigure held him down.
"Please relax, Yuki," he ordered softly. Yuki swallowed and went limp as he lost consciousness. Hatori sighed and rose to his feet, taking the scissors off the desk. He also picked up Yuki's nail, which lay to the side of the desk.
"Shigure," he said. Shigure looked up, setting Yuki down in his bed. "What Yuki did today was out of his desire for self-forgiveness. Do you know what that could mean?"
"Not a clue," Shigure said. "Did something happen that we don't know about?"
(That is the very end of the gore and reactions to the gore. Thank you.)
"Trust me, you know about all of it," Hatori said. He turned to walk downstairs again. Tohru and Kyo were on the couch.
"I'm so sorry," Tohru apologized over and over again.
"It's okay Tohru," Kyo said for possibly the hundredth time. "Just relax until Hatori's done with Yuki. They both looked up as Hatori cleared his throat.
"He's resting now, but he should be fine. I don't think this will happen again."
"Do you think I could see him?" Tohru asked, her eyes shining. Hatori nodded and she bolted up the staircase. Kyo bit his lip. He wanted to see if the rat was okay, but he couldn't let himself. Shigure and Tohru wouldn't let him live it down, seeing as the rat and the cat were rivals. As soon as Hatori was gone, Okami walked inside. Kyo looked up to glare at her.
"You," he spat. Okami looked at him, confused. "You did this. You make Yuki this way."
"Kyo, calm down," Okami said, backing up as Kyo advanced on her. Kyo didn't listen; he walked forebodingly towards her until she was back outside.
"What happened to Yuki today was the result of your pack."
"Kyo, I'm sorry if something happened; but it's not my fault."
"If you hadn't have ticked off your pack in the first place, none of this would have happened!"
"Kyo, you've gone too far," Okami growled, lowering her head so her bangs covered her eyes.
"If it weren't for you, Yuki would still be okay!"
Akito ~ this is your fault! This is all your fault!
"SHUT UP!" Okami screamed. Her vectors shot out of her back so forcefully that she rocked forward slightly. Kyo realized that he had gone too far and his anger melted into aggression.
"All you ever do is bring out your vectors and everything is okay!" Kyo yelled at her. "Why do you keep running?! Face me as a wolf!"
Okami threw her head down, curling her hands into her hair.
"No, you can't talk like this to me," she cried.
Akito ~ I am the head of the Sohma family. You will grovel to Me.
"You think that everything is okay, but it's not.
Akito ~ you're mean. What did I ever do to you to make you lie to me?
"Lies! There all lies!"
Shigure stepped outside to see what all the noise was about, and he observed the two, wondering what would happen, who would snap. He heard Okami scream about Kyo lying to her, positive she was going to attack him, but it was silent for a moment.
Okami, still doubled over, started laughing. She stood up straight, and used her vectors to lift her into the air. She dove, head-first, in Kyo's direction. Much to everyone's surprise, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, causing him to transform in a cloud of smoke. Okami started swinging the orange cat in a circle like a doll.
"You're so cute! I want to take you home!" she squealed. Shigure gave the two of them a relieved smile. That moment, Okami hugging Kyo, felt so normal to him that he almost forgot about the wolves. It seemed these simple moments are ones we cherish most because they're the only moments where keeping your sanity doesn't matter.
I started this fanfiction three days ago and I'm already on chapter 8! However, I'll be going to my grandma's tomorrow for Thanksgiving, so there won't be a chapter. Gomenesai. On to the references; yes, the "I want to take you home" scenes were inspired by Rena Reyugu from Higurashi. Whenever she thinks something is cute, she wants to take it home. The idea of ripping off your finger nails to be forgiven was from Higurashi as well, but in Higurashi itself, they had a special medieval device that was used for ripping off nails. Unfortunately, I had to be a bit more gruesome than originally intended because I had to use normal resources that would be in Yuki Sohma's bedroom. Thank you for reading. Now, I will give you a preview of the next chapter…
I'm serious this time…
I will give you a preview…
Wait for it…
Did that work? I've always wanted to try that.
Anyway.
"You, Tohru Honda, are useless. Ever since the wolf showed up, you've been utterly ignored and useless in the eyes of the Sohmas. You can end it all, you know. Just follow me to Death Row, where one of two deaths will be decided. Yours, or Okami's."
