Omg. I love Japan so much! I don't know if any of you are into J-rock, but ALL of you need to be! It's AMAZ-Z-ING! It just makes me think "dude, america sucks ass!" I suggest: Malice Mizer, Moi dix Mois, D'espairs Ray, and I could go on forever, but I really wanna start writing!

Y'know…while I was happy to fit Hatori in (he's one of my fav's), I feel just horrible about there being no Haru so far. : ( I'll change that as soon as possible, btw.

Please review, and please enjoy!

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"Where did Kakeru go?" Yuki asked, as he approached Shigure's room.

"He's outside, talking to Hatori," Shigure said, sleepily as he lay on the floor.

Hatori and Kakeru had a discussion outside, one of which's contents would not be revealed for several years. But, they came to a definite decision, one that they hoped Akito would someday support, as well.

"Well, boys," Shigure said, as they both came back into the house, "What's the verdict?"

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God never watched the cat as closely as he did the other animals. Because the cat was not a part of God's interests, he was not as bound to God as the other animals were. And therefore, the "bond" they shared was weak.

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I was just waiting for Hatori to say the reasonable thing—that it would be best to erase Kakeru's memory as soon as possible. And a small part of me thought that he would say that he thought it would be okay for Kakeru to keep his memories, but he would have to see what Akito thought.

His real answer totally shocked me.

"I think…" Hatori said, hesitating a little, "It would be best not to tell Akito anything."

Even Shigure was shocked.

I don't think Kakeru really knew enough about the curse to fully understand why this was such a big deal. He just stood there, grinning ear to ear and jumping up and down.

"See, if we don't tell that Akito guy, there's not a problem! I thought of it! Am I smart, or what?!?" Kakeru exclaimed.

"Going against God's will for what this boy says? I'm quite pleased, Tori-san," Shigure said, as a sly grin spread across his face and he walked out of the room.

Kakeru didn't seem to notice anything strange about this, as he continued being all "bubbly".

"Tori-san?!? That's way better than Hatori! Hatori sounds so serious!" Kakeru jabbered on like this for a few minutes, until finally Hatori just walked out of the room.

"Well, Yun-Yun, is this great or what?!?" he said, still happily jumping up and down.

I couldn't answer. Shigure was right. As members of the zodiac, Akito was our God. And by not telling him…what would the consequences be when he found out? I didn't think for a moment that he wouldn't find out. He always seemed to find out about these things somehow…

As in most religion, there is a God that is worshiped above all things. You're not supposed to question what he says or does. Then, I thought: What makes Akito so high and mighty? How do we even know he's "God". What makes him worth our worship?

And, then, just as in most religion, I had the feeling I would be condemned to hell for such sinful thoughts.

Because there's always consequences when you go against God.

"Yun-Yun! Yun-Yun!" Kakeru was waving his hand in front of my face after, I guess, I spaced out for a little while.

"Huh?" I asked dazedly.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy?!?" he asked.

"Hm…? Oh, yeah, I'm happy," I said (not sarcastically, even though the context makes it look that way).

"Hey, I'm gonna go find that Kyo guy and tell him!" he said, turning away.

"Kyo? What for?" I asked, wondering what he would want Kyo for.

"Because he annoys me the most! I might as well make sure he knows I'm not going anywhere!" he said, still cheerfully.

It was then that I realized that Kakeru actually was aware of his own annoying-ness. So much that he knew he could use it as a weapon against those he didn't favor…

"Goodbye, my precious Yun-Yun," he said, pecking my on the cheek and walking off.

It was still hard to get used to "being with" someone. But I still loved every moment of it.

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Kakeru trudged up the stairs, wondering which room was Kyo's.

"Kyo, isn't there a way to break it?"

"Break what?"

"The curse!"

"If I knew, would I still be living here?"

Kakeru heard two voices coming from a room, which he assumed to be Tohru's and Kyo's, since Tohru was the only known girl in the house and she had said "Kyo".

"Oh…um…sorry. I just…I don't want you to go!"

"There's still some time…I still could beat Yuki."

"There's always hope for that, but…I don't want you to be trapped by this anymore."

"I don't know if there's anything to do about that. I'll be perfectly happy if I'm just a regular zodiac member."

Kakeru made out what he could of the conversation, making sure not to press his ear against the door, recalling how in movies and books people always fell through the door when they did that. He failed to realize that it was a sliding door and he was in no danger.

He heard muffled sobbing, presumably on Tohru's part.

"It's okay…it's okay," Kyo cooed, "I just have to beat him before this spring, and they won't confine me."

Orangey's getting locked up? For what?

Kakeru quietly walked away, feeling that it would be best to leave them to eachother. He wondered if any of the others knew that they were so close. As much as the "confinement" part concerned him, he couldn't help the thinking:

I just can't wait to tell Yun-Yun this!

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Hatori sat on the back porch, looking up at the sky.

It was a dark and cloudy day—looking like it was going to storm—which made Hatori feel very peaceful. He had tried to light a cigarette, but it was hopeless with the harsh wind blowing. It was messing up his hair, pushing against him, nearly causing him to fall over.

Hatori felt at ease when he got the feeling that the world was against him—trying to knock him down; it gave him a reason for being down.

Why had he agreed with that kid, whose name he had never even bothered to learn, to disobey the person who was figuratively his God?

Was it because he wanted Akito to get mad? Or to go against him, as well? Was it because he wanted to disrupt the natural order of his life? Was it because he was becoming like Shigure—living as if he had nothing to lose, and would do anything to get a little more excitement in life? Was it because he wanted to rebel against the curse?

But, as the wind blew harder and the raindrops began to harshly hit his skin, he heard someone that wasn't him answer from within him.

It's because…a storm is coming.

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"Kakeru! I don't think you can go home today!" Yuki called upstairs, as the harsh wind blew through an open door in the house.

"What?" Kakeru called back. He couldn't hear Yuki through everything outside. It was nearing noon, and there was indeed a storm raging outside.

"I said: I don't think you can go home today!" Yuki called louder, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Yay!" Kakeru came thumping down the stairs, "So, I get to stay at Yun-Yun's house another night?"

"That's right," Shigure said, emerging from his study—or whatever the disorganized room Shigure wrote in could be called.

A dripping wet Hatori came back in from the house, calmly as could be.

"Hatori…have you just been standing in that mess outside?" Yuki asked, a bit worriedly.

Hatori simply looked at him for a moment, then nonchalantly walked upstairs, leaving a trail of water the whole way.

"Um…is he okay?" Kakeru asked, watching him trudge his way up the stairs.

"He's done that ever since we were kids…" Shigure said, almost nostalgically.

"Dude, that's freaky," Kakeru said, as he heard a door slam above him.

"Yeah…Um…I'm gonna go get a towel…" Yuki said, walking out of the room, planning to retrieve a towel from their laundry room (which was really a closet, but they called it the laundry room because there were washers and a few toweled shelves in it).

"Okay…I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Kakeru said, heading off, not really knowing where the bathroom was, but just not wanting to be left alone with Shigure.

Kakeru deduced that the bathroom had to be upstairs, since he knew there wasn't one downstairs, and so, began searching rooms again.

Finally, he fell upon the bathroom and walked in, shutting the door behind him. He twisted a flat knob, falsely thinking there would be a lock on it. After realizing this, he told himself he'd have to be quick about his business, for fear that someone might walk in on him.

He began searching the cabinets underneath the sink for shaving razors, or shaving cream, which would indicate that there were probably razors somewhere.

He finally found a pack of men's razors, and carefully took one out, deciding that there wasn't a small enough amount for it to be noticeable to anyone else.

Kakeru rolled up his sleeve, revealing the several scars that he had told Yuki that his cat had inflicted upon him; Kakeru didn't have a cat. He brought the blade upon his skin, both loving and hating the feeling it gave him, when his arm began to bleed.

I'm happy…right? Why am I doing this even when I'm happy?

But he knew it was no longer something that he did depending on what he felt like. It didn't matter if he was angry, or happy, or excited. It was just something he did now. He couldn't stop at this point.

The scars on his arms made him sick to his stomach when he looked at them—made him think about people finding out, about people trying to figure him out, about how messed up he really was…about how they made him want to do it more.

He no longer cried or even cringed at the pain it brought upon him. "Cutting" was, ironically, a painkiller for him.

Why can't I stop?

Kakeru sank back against the cabinet, holding a wad of toilet paper over his arm to soak up the blood.

When had it gotten this bad?

When had it gotten to the point where he went to friends' houses and had to be "creative" and find something to do it with?

When had it gotten to the point where he couldn't stop, even if he willed himself as hard as he could?

Something most people fail to realize is that no matter how "happy" someone appears, anything could be happening behind closed doors.

Something that everyone failed to realize was that there was a lot going on behind the closed doors in Kakeru's home.

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I know you're probably thinking right now that it's kinda cliché, since I gave Hatori a cutting problem too, but I have specific reasons for them both doing it. So have a little faith in me, kay?

Sorry that was shorter than the last couple chapters, but in truth, it was average length for me. I don't feel like it was my best writing, but I'd rather go listen to Japanese gothic rock bands than re-modify it.

Yours who is oh-so-happy with her newly-found genre of music,

Psycho Sombrero.