Cursed Constellations

Wow, it's been a while. Wish I could say this'll never happen again, but it will. haha. Well, for those who are still reading (or new readers!) I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's been planned and re-planned and written and re-written, but I'm quite happy with this one. Hope you like it! Lots of Hatori/Yuka love...and something else. Oooooh!

XIV
Loyalty

"What are you doing, Hatori? You can't fall in love. Not now. Not her. Akito is going to kill you."

Hatori was so conflicted. Yuka was so perfect in every way and to be honest, he didn't know how he'd survived so long without her. She makes life seem much less empty, but that's not enough. Not for Akito. What would he say if he ever found out? Hatori shuddered to think. Would he take his other eye? Hatori would not put it past him.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Yuka?" Hatori asked. Yuka came into the living room in her usual yellow dress (she has a lot of yellow dresses) and two cups of hot tea. She set them in front of herself and Hatori, and gave a small, forced smile.

"I don't know…" she confessed. "But you wanted to speak with him."

"I did, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea."

"I know Jin has some theories about the curse that he's not sharing. Maybe you guys could figure something out."

"Like what?" Hatori asked, almost snapping. This was a bad idea.

The doorbell rang.

Yuka sighed. Leaning in, she gave Hatori a small peck on the lips, which Hatori fell into even for such a short period of time, and stood up to get the door. "Well, it's too late now. I can't imagine Jin will say anything."

"This could be very dangerous for you, Yuka. You're risking a lot."

"I know…" She smiled. To Yuka, this was worth it. Hatori was worried.

The door opened and Hatori eavesdropped on their pleasant conversation. Jin seemed pleased to see her. "It's good to see you, Yuka."

"It's good to see you, too. How long has it been since we had a face to face conversation?"

Hatori heard Yuka sigh. "Too long…please come in."

There were footsteps and then Hatori heard a door shut. It was only a matter of time before Jin saw Hatori sitting there. Hatori was not looking forward to this.

"Yuka…what is this…?"

Yuka walked over to the couch and sat next to Hatori, looking at Jin who was standing a little ways in front of them, staring in shock. "Jin…this is Ha-"

"I know who he is. He is the sohma doctor." There was an awkward silence. "What is he doing here?"

Yuka was about to speak but Hatori lifted his hand to silence her. She needn't speak anymore. "I was hoping I could talk to you about our current predicament. Please do not curse Yuka, this was my idea, not hers. You work closely with Kaikou and seem to be the most knowledgeable of all of them. Please…just an hour of your time."

"If Kaikou found out about this, Yuka…"

"He won't."

"He might." It was a threat. Jin was not pleased.

"You do not need to listen to him so religiously, Jin-san! They are not evil. Hatori-san is an intelligent and caring man. Please…they can help us."

"Help us with what?"

Yuka looked at him as if he were an idiot. "To get our lives back. There isn't anything you regret because of him…anything…at all." Jin was silent. There were things he regretted. There were many. And they all revolved around the problems of the zodiac curse.

"Of course there is, Yuka…"

"Good." There was a small silence while the three of them stared at each other. Hatori's eyes went frequently to the ground. He knew very little of the history of Yuka and Jin. To be honest, he didn't very much like to know.

"What did you wish to discuss?" Jin finally asked. Hatori looked up at him, hopefully. There was hope in this man, after all.

"There was never one thing in particular…" Hatori admitted. "There is one thing I had been curious about, though. Something only you would be fully aware of."

"Which is?"

"The health of Kaikou-sama." Jin said nothing. In fact, he was oddly silent and avoided direct eye contact with either of them. "Ah, so you noticed?"

"What are you talking about?" Yuka asked.

"Akito has always been in terrible health, this has never concerned me. What concerns me is how much worse it has gotten since Haru and Maia met for the very first time. Since they hugged. Since the plague started. The day Haru infected Kisa, Akito became ill with the flu. In any other circumstance, it wouldn't bother me…except Akito now breaks out into coughing fits every time Kisa or Haru is around him."

Jin and Yuka were both silent.

"Am I going crazy?" Hatori asked. "Am I overthinking something?"

Jin finally spoke up. "Maia has not been in any direct contact with the males of the zodiac. That is, she hasn't infected anyone. Nor have any of our other family members been infected." Yuka and Hatori exchanged a look. Jin was wrong. What would he say if he found out? "Nevertheless…I fear I must agree with you. Kaikou has gotten worse, so much to the point where he requires almost my immediate and constant attention."

Hatori wasn't sure this made him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel almost worse.

"Has Akito reported to you about any dreams?"

"Dreams?" This was the first Hatori has heard about this.

"Kaikou describes them as almost hell. He's in a room of complete darkness, alone with no lights. All he hears is laughter. At first, it was Maia's voice. Recently, I've heard complaints about Yuka's laughter, too." Yuka's face whitened. Hatori said nothing. "Is there something the two of you wish to tell me?"

Hatori sighed, nearly terrified. "The laughter must come from those infected by the plague."

Jin seemed to get the message. "I see."

"Akito wakes up crying a lot…I ask him why, he doesn't share." All three of them seemed to be thinking very deeply. "Do you have any theories?"

"I do…but I doubt they're theories." Hatori was intrigued. "The bond is breaking, it's as simple as that. You two must feel it, somewhere. Your sense of obedience. The voice in the back of your head telling you to love him. That's gone, isn't it?"

Hatori hadn't thought about that before, to be honest. "I wouldn't say that." Hatori would always love Akito. He looked over at Yuka. Her head was down and she was nearly crying. "Yuka?"

Jin smiled. "I expected as much from you. A doctor's love to his patient…that never really goes away, no matter what. But Yuka…who holds such pent up anger for him…why, you must feel free. Free of that love that you couldn't explain. Kaikou could tell you to bow to him, right now…and you wouldn't. You can do that, now. Your bond has broken."

"But that doesn't make any sense…the curse is getting stronger. The transformations have doubled their normal appearance. Why would the bond be breaking?"

Jin shrugged. "I don't have all the answers, but I can guess. If you were a God…and the connection with your people was fading away…wouldn't you do everything you could to fight back? This has nothing to do with Akito or Kaikou. This has to do with the first Gods."

"So what will happen if everyone gets infected? From both families?"

Jin smiled. "I don't know…but I daresay we'll find out."

Eizo was on a mission. She had her rainbow striped suspenders hooked over her blue tye-dyed shirt to a pair of old, ripped jeans with holes at the knees and white paint stains scattered everywhere. While she looked completely ridiculous, and she knew this, she had more determination than any woman you were likely to meet at that hour. She opened the large door to the Eto estate, letter her own self in, and marched her way through to the God's house. On the way, she passed the Serpant's lair with Maia crying right outside it. A little girl lay curled up in a ball in the corner.

This made Eizo's blood boil.

She slammed the door open, causing Kaikou to jump a little. He looked over and saw Eizo…and smiled.

"Eizo. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You know damn well what," she growled. "Ryuu told me you caged Chiyo."

His smile faltered. "I did what needed to be done."

"Horse shit. You did it because you knew it would hurt her. You knew it would make her cry."

"I don't take joy in these things, Eizo."

"Oh, really? So, Maia sitting outside the serpant's lair every day, crying her eyes out. No food, no sleep, constantly worried sick. That doesn't give you the slightest tinge of pleasure? Of satisfaction?"

Kaikou said not a word. In fact, he smiled a little bit.

"You sicken me."

Had Eizo been any other zodiac member, Kaikou wouldn't have allowed them to say these things. In fact, at this point, they would've been sleeping with their teeth outside their mouth that night. No one talks to Kaikou like that. No one. Except Eizo.

"I know I do," Kaikou said in a very sombre tone.

"Why are you doing this?" Eizo's voice seemed tortured.

"She's becoming too involved with the Sohma family. I had to do something."

"Haru is a boy. They are in high school. Surely you haven't forgotten what it's like to be sixteen and in love." Kaikou closed his eyes, sighing through his nostrils. "You haven't…have you?"

"Of course I haven't, Eizo. But that was a long time ago."

"Not so long ago…" Eizo said, quietly. Her voice sounded so hurt. So rejectec.

"Eizo, I cannot have her involved with that Sohma boy. It is too angerous."

"For who? For her or for you?" she snapped.

"For all of us." Eizo fell silent, furious. "I'm protecting us, Eizo. I can't be sure of the consequences but look what already has happened? Maia cannot even hug her own kind."

"Her kind…you speak of us like a breed."

"We are a family."

A small tear fell down Eizo's face and she looked up into the eyes of her God, then towards the ground. "I'm not."

"Don't do that, Eizo! You are the most family I have in the Zodiac. Stop torturing yourself, I absolutely forbid it."

Eizo began to cry and fell onto her knees, bowing her head before her God. A couple of tears fell to the floor and for a while, Kaikou didn't know what to do. This has happened many times before. It was hard on the both of them, but Eizo received the majority of the pain. Kaikou could only try to convince her so many times.

Slowly, Kaikou put his hand on her head. His hand lowered and fell down, softly, to her chin. He lifted it up just a little bit and kept raising it until he slowly to the point where she was standing. She fell a couple inches shorter than him and looked up into his eyes, her eyelids drooping. Very slowly, her lips found her ways to his and, for a moment, they both fell into the kiss.

Kaikou even increased the speed. He began to kiss her more intense and Eizo responded just as much. His hands reached her back and hers went up to his head, making their way through his hair. Kaikou felt her tears on his cheeks and kissed her through her sobs.

Finally, though, he stopped it. He pushed Eizo away from him slightly.

"No." There was so much hurt in Eizo's eyes. "Eizo…we can't."

Eizo gave a miserable laugh through her hiccups. "Right, I forgot. I'm just an outsider, now."

"Stop it, Eizo," Kaikou snapped. His eyes warned her not to continue. She stopped. "I just think that…" he sighed. It was easy to tell this was very hard for him. "That can't happen again."

"You always say that."

"I know…"

"I love you," she confessed.

"I know that, too."

The two of them were silent for a long time, and they simply stared into each other's eyes. Eizo knew that he loved her, too. He had to. For every time they've come into contact with each other, he's always stopped it. It was too much for him. After he had denied the love of nearly everyone else…he didn't want to seem like a hypocrite.

Eizo bit her lip and wiped the tears off her face. "Jin says you've been getting worse," she said, eager to change the subject. Though, she was still just as concerned.

"I am fine." She didn't believe him. "How are you? Do you need money? I know it's been hard supporting Rock and-"

"I do not want your money. We get by. You forget how hard of a worker I am."

This led Kaikou to smile. "You were my Capricorn, after all."

The words hurt Eizo and she closed her eyes, bowing her head slightly.

"I was."

So, Eizo's zodiac has been revealed! Buuut, if you didn't figure it out...she's not cursed! AAAH! I hope you like the Eizo/Kaikou romance. I always thought they were so cute. Just wait! It gets even more dramatic with them later. Ooooh! lol

Thanks to my returning reviewers for the last chapters (who seem to keep updated with the story no matter how little I update): Greeks vs Geeks, BlackWolfe, KagomeUchiha, and the Almighty Pyro. As well as a new reviewer, The MarissaNight.

Thank you guys so much! And thanks to those who just read it and don't review. I really get excited when anyone favorites or follows this story, so, thank you! I've planned this story for a long time. I just...never find time or motivation to update all the time. I hope you understand :/

In the next chapter, Haru and Rock will get together and discuss a few things (like how similar they are). You'll also figure out more about Kaoru as well as her Zodiac affiliation! It will also feature a Haru and Maia moment, but I don't think it's the kind you're gonna like XD No new characters next chapter, though.