Title: Unyielding Courage

Chapter 10: Concrete Angels

Authors Note: Hey I'm getting back to my old self when it comes to updating! Must be the swirl of tornado clouds that keeps me inside and away from my horses. Nothing else to do but write to my heart's desire. Thanks to all who review! I appreciate it so much, you have no idea and even if I don't always have time to respond to each one, I really do try to respond to some of them!

Also – I'm looking for a beta reader, because I hate editing and consider each word I put in my story brilliant. But that's arrogant of me and since I am always trying to improve my writing, am looking for a beta. I'm not going to go surfing through beta readers files by random though so I'd really enjoy a reference or if anyone's a fan who might want to read the chapters earlier than when I put them out…? ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. However, my dear little Mira Liore Nolan is mine and mine alone along with the lovely Liv Cyrene Nolan along with a number of other side characters I've created on their little quest in Unyielding Courage.

"One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god" ~ Jean Rostand

"God that hurt," Mira rubbed the back of her head lightly as Kanji led her over to an open bench for prayer stationed in front of the great alter where a grandiose painting had been hung behind it. He was a man of greatness, and by the fine silk tone of his robes and the jewels dripping off his fingers and smooth knuckles, must have known wealth. His eyes were jaded and cobalt, like afternoon storms rolling through with a sneer on his thinly chapped lips. Shaven and clean, he had a brilliant mane of obsidian silk that tumbled from his scalp and over his burley shoulders, the muscle bunching by his elongated neck and through the thin wisp of white silk. He had power at his fingertips, sparks nearly igniting as he stood brilliant and tall against the cloudless twinkling sky with the grey rolls of stardust. The thick golden frame alone had to cost more than the electricity bill of all Japan did with its jewels molted into the frame and the lapidary interior work bordering it. He had been a great man once, a great God.

But everyone falls.

"If God's belong in the sky, how'd he get down here?" Mira asked with her sienna eyes transfixed on the picture, it sent a chill down her spine as she pressed her clammy hands into her cheeks and sighed as silence met her answer.

"More importantly, how do we send him back?" Kanji bitterly remarked, leaning down against the white painted bench to stare up at the painting. He only saw the streak of mean, and the curl of arrogance in the man's lip – a man who knew he could take anything he damn well pleased.

"Not that this little artistic discussion isn't culturally enthralling, but the answer's not going to pop out of the painting. Can we go now? I told you this was a waste of time and effort," Liv's tone snapped in the background, her arms still folded up against her chest as she slumped against the wall, starring forward at the proud rooster perched at the edge of the forest, how his eyes shinned like black diamond's with his shrill call to alarm the world on what monster now festered in their woods. But the rooster was too late, and Liv could no sooner call for help to save the others, than she could save herself. It was enough of a challenge to keep Mira preoccupied and away from memories that would rip her sanity to shreds. Maybe she could handle shooting Yuki, and watching the life extinguish from his eyes. But she wouldn't handle the death she brought to her family in the States, or the violence that had escalated when she had been brought back to Japan. She wasn't as strong as she thought she was.

"And I told you not to come along," Mira turned around to snap, baring her teeth before returning to study the painting, "Besides, culturally speaking, isn't anyone else troubled that Mana is some unknown God? He has no other temples, no other worshipers besides the Sohma family?" she wrapped her mind around it, her bad habit of biting on her nails as she thought reforming while the painting stood tall, the ocean slapping up against cliffs behind him, the swirl of grey in the air drawing a strong resemblance to two angry faces, one clearly female, and the other male. From the sea that slapped up in torrent winds with the salty spray of water droplets formed a second, almost disfigured face.

"So he's not very popular. I don't see why this comes as a surprise," Liv huffed, but she moved forward to examine the portrayal of the God who wore her wedding ring, the one who had caged her and condemned her to a life of servitude. "He's not really aiming for a popularity contest."

"Neither was Hades, god of the underworld in Greece, but he still had temples and people respected his name. I would think respect from fear would be better than being unknown and unrecognized," Mira twisted the nail around between the snip of her teeth, starring up at the portrait while Kanji coughed silently at her side.

He had moved to stand against the back wall when he noticed how the door trembled, and shadows danced under the slit from the floor to the bottom trim of the door. "I think we should go," his baritone voice whispered with panic, "Now."

"This way," Liv mouthed softly, pointing towards the hall as they quickly slipped out of the main room as the voices from behind the last door grew louder, angry voices that caught her attention while they quickly turned around the corner.

"Why am I still weak? This body is useless!"

"Please, master. The service was rushed, the sacrifice's blood diluted. Perhaps a child with more Sohma blood?

"Naoki, as keeper of this temple it is your duty, your sole responsibility to preserve the sohma bloodlines. Are you telling me you used an unsuitable sacrifice?"

"It was the child you gave me, sir! Please! I beg your forgiveness! It was the child you gave me!"

"THEN HOW AM I SO WEAK? IT WAS MY CHILD. THE PUREST BLOOD OF ALL."

"I…I'm sorry sir. Are you sure, absolutely sure? Females can be tricksters my lord."

"…perhaps my anger is misplaced, Naoki. I believe I've given my wife enough time to bring back her sister. She owes me some answers…"

Mira barely had time to process the information as Liv snagged them down coble stairs, where darkness engulfed them. She could hear the drip of water above her head until a flash of burning orange light appeared, showering Kanji's face in a warm glow as he held the flickering flame up to his face and slowly moved it around the room.

"Now ladies…" he began softly as the two seemed to round up against each other.

"Bringing back your sister?" Mira snapped lowly in the darkness, her fists clenched against her sides, "The only way you're getting me back there is in a body bag."

"I…can explain. Now that I should have to, but I can," Liv bit back her temper as she sloshed through the slick underground water that soaked through her shoes, "I warned you, didn't I? Get on a train, keep going, and don't push this. But you pushed. You always have to push. Did you really think Akito would just let us go? Let us wander around in Japan without sending a couple of idiots after us? That he wouldn't know the moment you slipped outside his gate? I protected you, be grateful."

"Be grateful?" Mira's voice wrangled the word, the air slicing through her larynx as she bit her bottom lip and counted to three before continuing. "I invited you along before I knew we were related. But as long as you're willing to explain, how about to tell me how Akito sacrificed a child of his, and you're his wife, and yet the blood of the head of house wasn't strong enough?"

Liv cursed for a moment, her arms coldly coming to wrap around her as she leaned up against smooth granite, "It's a long story."

"I've got time, all the time in the world to hear this."

"Fine." Liv snapped harshly on the word before flinching against the cold rock that hit her lower back, "You've seen my child with Hatori, you know I am – no, was, involved with him. Before Akito married me, I was carrying Hatori's child. If Akito knew, he would have murdered both of them. I knew I had a better chance of protecting them if they were born as Akito's children," she took a deep breath then, and trembled, "I was wrong."

For a moment Mira stood coldly to the side, but the glow of Liv's devastated face had her moving forward, and awkwardly wrapping an arm around her shoulders to tuck her in close to the warmth of her body. "Go on," she implored gently.

Liv nodded with a tremble, her eyes flashing close as she inhaled the grimy air and moistened her lips, "They came two months premature, like all zodiac children. I was worried, because how could they possibly both be zodiac? I give the sickly one to the maid, asked her to pronounce him stillborn and give him to Hatori. She agreed…we have a…strange friendship, I guess that made her loyal to me. The stronger child, I was sure he was the rat, after- after the death of a zodiac. It made sense. But he turned out to be an ordinary child and Akito took him away that night, took him away before I could hold him in my arms. I always wondered what happened…now I know," she hiccupped on the last word, her breath strained and tangled with choked silent sobs as she turned and tucked her face into Mira's shoulder.

Mira stiffly ran her fingers against her back in comforting circles and sent a pleading expression to Kanji, who shrugged in response and continued to lean down and stare at the large stone heads.

"You're sitting on a tombstone," he warned, coming to glance at the name blocked from Liv's legs. Both girls jumped up and split in a hurry, causing a grin to crack from Kanji as he flickered his flame over the name and sighed. "Mara Sohma, rest in peace baby," he pressed his finger to his lips, and then to the cold stone as he took a moment of silence for his wife.

"And here's the other sisters," Liv remarked softly, her eyes flickering on Hana Sohma, with a pair of angel wings under her name, "I guess our mother didn't make the list," she added after glancing at the rows of Sohma's wilting away in the underground. Her mother should have been between Mara and Hana, but no Tetsu graced a stone.

"What do you know of her, of our mother?" Mira asked softly from the shadows.

Liv gave a gentle shrug, "Not much," she admitted somberly, "Her parents were head of house, so the Sohma blood ran through thickly and she fell in love with some transfer student from America. She wasn't very tame, and she was possessed by Mana. I don't know how she held him back long enough to be with Aaron Nolan, but she did. She smuggled us out in a fire that killed her and Aaron and the other Nolan brothers stepped up to each take one of us. I guess Akito thought with him being the new head of house, and how the head of house once went through our lines that the child would be a strong sacrifice to tie the bonds of his curse," she prayed that the argument with the shrine master meant that he was wrong.

"Hey, girls," Kanji's voice rumbled through the darkness as he peered at another granite rock, glancing over his shoulder to wave them over, "This has angel wings marked on it as well, just like Hana. And the date is only a few months ago. What's the chance that Hana was used as a sacrifice, and that we can find more sacrificed sohma victims down here?"

A chill ran down Mira's spine as she nodded coldly, "I'm guessing the odds are pretty good. With a bloody history like this families, Mana probably see's being a sacrifice as a glorious thing, something to feel honored and chosen. Hana was sixteen; this unnamed baby was a few days. The age must not matter; I guess it's just when the bodies start to grow stronger against the spirit. It's not too hard to see what trend is starting to occur."

"It's not?" Kanji and Liv both remarked before fiercely glaring at each other.

"This is what I read from it," Mira started slowly, a smirk crossing her lips as she watched the shadows of annoyance dance across Liv's face, "He's used to total control. These human bodies are probably annoying, so he possesses and represses the human pretty quickly, but as Sohma blood dilutes, something he was screeching about before, he gets weaker with the curse and the body gets stronger. Generations down the line, he hits an unlucky mark with our mother. Tetsu is out of control and he's losing patience. She's stronger than he is and that's pissing him off, so he does a rushed sacrifice with Hana to jump to the next body and gain his power and control back. But he loses again because Akito's body is weak and can't handle Mana being in it. So he repeats his mistake, instantly goes to a new sacrifice. And I'm beating each time he does a sacrifice, as new Sohma's are born, the souls jump bodies to go to the weaker ones where they can start to leech off and find strength before they do a total possession. Except right now he doesn't have a body to go to. He knows after so many generations the blood is becoming less pure, and he's losing control."

"Fine theory, but then what happened to the last generation of zodiac members? Why aren't they around to talk about it if we have their bodies being released before a natural death" Liv questioned with a snarl of her irritated voice, "This is pointless to just wonder."

"No, it's not," Kanji disagreed, "We're only going to figure this mess out if we put our brains to use and untangle all the mysteries that Mana has been hiding. I bet if we take a look at the stones down here, zodiacs are marked too, to be honored. And assuming that Mana likes his inner circle to stay with only those possessed by the zodiac, he's going to take care of the last generation of people cursed by the zodiac. I doubt he has a problem silencing people for good."

"Let's take a look at these headstones and find out," Mira vouched, her eyes straining against the dark as she cleared off a layer of grime and dust to read the names of the deceased and the concrete angels with their granite marked with wings.

Extended Authors Note: So hopefully some of this information is a refresher from Unbreakable Strength, and some of it should be new and exciting for you to think about! I encourage sending me any questions if you think you are missing something from the information I give through the story because I know it can be a bit of a rush while I write and I don't want anything to come off as unclear. I would also like to just add a second reminder disclaimer here that I've only retained the original contents of the curse with the people changing into the zodiac animals and a God. I'm using my own Japanese folklore to fill Mana out more and have taken the contents of the curse in a new darker direction.