11.
Consequences

"NANI?" Arisa's shock wasn't unexpected. Hanajima calmly ate her ice cream. "That boy did WHAT?"

"Hana-chan, did he really?" Tohru looked equally shocked.

"Do you think I would make it up?" she said playfully.

"No! No, I didn't mean that!" Tohru bowed quickly. "Sumimasen, Hana-chan, I am just surprised!"

Hana smiled. "I was only teasing you, Tohru-kun."

"Oh." Tohru flushed. "I should have known!"

Uotani slammed her hand on the table, startling the other two. "I don't believe this, Hanajima."

"Is it so surprising, Arisa?"

"Yes!"

And her little smile played around the corners of her mouth. "I know. I was surprised too."

"Hana-chan surprised? I never thought I'd see the day," Uo laughed despite herself, and before long Tohru had joined in. When it had passed, Uo gave Hana an expectant look. "Well?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "What happened? How did it happen? What was it like? All the standard girly questions. You're the one who reads those awful romance books, not me."

"Not regularly," Hanajima pointed out with a slight pout.

"Look, if you're not going to stick to the point-"

"Uo-chan, don't." Tohru rested a restraining hand on the tall one's arm. "A kiss is a very personal thing, and Hana-chan may not want to tell us the details. We mustn't force her."

"Tohru-kun, Uo-chan, you are my best friends. Of course I want to tell you. But it might not be fair to Kyou-san to tell you. You, for example," she nodded her head towards Arisa. "Would tease him until his head exploded, and then we could all be quite sure it wouldn't happen again."

"And you want it to?" Tohru gasped, clapping her hands.

"Yeah, yeah, what's the deal, here? Is he your boyfriend now or what?"

"No. That is... well, what qualifies?"

"As a boyfriend?" Uotani thought about it for a minute. "Not sure. Never really had one."

"Tohru-kun?"

Tohru's face went scarlet. "I don't know, either!"

"Hmmm." The girls went quiet as they pondered.

- - - - -

That evening, Shigure actually danced into the living room before dinner. "Kyou-kuuuuuun! Little neko-chan!" The look he receieved as response drove him against the wall. "Oh, Kyou-kun, you are cold!" He blew on his hands as though he were trying to keep warm. "I feel like I live in an igloo!"

"What is wrong with you?" the boy growled, his mood still bad from his argument with Kazuma.

"Nothing! The question is: what is wrong with YOU?" his cousin crowed.

"What? Either talk sense or shut up."

"I've just spoken to Haa-san, and somebody in is trouble!" Shigure said in a little singsong. Kyou looked up sharply.

"What?"

"He wants to see you! As soon as possible! Of course I told him, it is such a hardship to send the boy now, it being nearly time for dinner, and he being so hungry and all." A wicked little glint in the dog's eye told a different story. "But he insisted you come right away! You must go, Kyou-kun! The fate of the world rests-" He would have gone on, but Kyou, so fed up with him, had slammed the front door on his way out. Shigure chuckled. How he loved getting that reaction.

Outside, the air had taken on a slight chill, but Kyou barely noticed. He was nervous. He didn't want to go to Hatori's, but now that he'd left the house, there really wasn't anything else he could do, besides just walk around aimlessly. His stomach complained piteously. He glared at it. "Don't blame me," he muttered. "Blame the stupid dog."

He knocked on Hatori's door not too long later, and the stern looking man opened it with some surprise.

"Kyou. I told Shigure to send you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?! Lousy, good for nothing, lying dog!" Kyou's eyes flared. He was cold, he was hungry, and that idiot Shigure had sent him out right at dinnertime for no reason!

"As long as you're here, though, come on in." Hatori stepped aside, motioning the angry boy inside. Kyou kicked his shoes off, still muttering about how he hated dogs.

"So?" he demanded, facing Hatori as though he were an opponent against whom he was about to fight a match. "What do you want with me?"

Hatori lit a cigarette thoughtfully. "I spoke to Kazuma-san earlier."

Oh shit. Oh shit. That could only mean one thing. Kyou fought to hold the panic down a little bit. No, no, it could be anything. Shishou wouldn't have told. Would he?

Hatori studied his cousin, noted the panic he was unsuccessfully trying to reign in. Then there must be some weight to Kazuma's fears. "Kyou. Do you know what he told me?"

"No," he lied. "No idea."

Hatori took a long drag. Why did it always have to be him that had to be the voice of authority for these kids? It was killing him to do this. He didn't want to be the one who took away Kyou's chance for happiness like that. But he knew he didn't have a choice. In the long run, it would be better for the boy to end it now.

"This girl - Hanajima-san, is it? You like her a lot, don't you?"

Kyou clenched his jaw. "Are you going to tell-"

"No," Hatori cut him off firmly. "I don't want anyone to get hurt. That's the only reason I'm interfering."

"I can take care of myself. I don't need you, or Shishou, or Shigure, or any of the rest of you, telling me what to do and how to do it! I can take care of myself!"

"And her, Kyou? Can you take care of her?"

Kyou felt the air knocked out of him.

"Can you protect her?" Hatori leaned a little closer to the boy. "Would you even know where to start?"

Kyou shook the cobwebs out of his head. Hanajima could take care of herself; she was strong, she was powerful. More powerful than Hatori. But more powerful than Akito? Coldness overtook him.

"What does it matter?" he bit back tears. He would NOT cry in front of Hatori. "I'm dead anyway. In a year none of this will matter, so why can't I enjoy myself while I can? I'm as good as dead in a year."

"What will that do to her, I wonder."

"Hatori... don't..." His eyes burned and stung. He wasn't going to cry, no, he wasn't.

"None of us get that, Kyou," Hatori's own voice seemed strained, as though he too were holding back tears. "That happiness... it's not meant for us."

"That isn't true..."

"Read the histories." Hatori gestured behind him to several volumes dedicated to the history of the Sohma curse. The futility of everything closed in on him. How could he hope to have a chance, with everything stacked against him? He felt that the books were crushing his chest.

"I like her..." he admitted softly.

"You have to stop before it becomes more than that. For her sake, if not for your own. Don't bring her into this world, Kyou. Don't inflict that on her."

Now the tears had escaped his eyes, forcing their way out and down his cheeks, even as he struggled to stop them. What had he been thinking? He would be a punishment to Hanajima, a punishment she didn't deserve. What could he offer her? A little over a year of hiding, of trying to keep their relationship secret from his family, and then, he would be gone forever. She didn't deserve that.

"Ok..." he choked out. "I understand." And he stood up, slid his shoes on, and went into the night air.

Hatori stayed at his desk like that for some time after, not moving. He was sure if he moved, he would break down, and Hatori never broke down. Hatori was the adult, sometimes he felt like the only adult in the entire Sohma family, or at least among the cursed. He was more their father than their cousin, always the one turned to in a crisis, always mature, always serious. And he had never resented that role as fully as he did at that moment. He had seen the look in Kyou's eyes as he'd realized the truth of his words. He had watched that boy's heart break, and it had broken his own. He wished he could have told his cousin to take the girl and run, get out of here, get far away from here, far away from Akito. After all, what would he miss?

But he knew he never could.

- - - - -

Next week... No Ha-san, I'm sad to say, but the lovers finally spend some more time together.