I don't own anything! Well, not anything important!

At the end of the last chapter, my good friend J said that it wasn't fair and that I couldn't end a chapter like that… looked like I did, didn't I? Mwahahaha… it's not called angst for nothing, you know.

…I have a really bad cold right now… I've been sniffling all day and I have used up so many tissues, it's really annoying.

Well, anyway, here's chapter 14, everybody! And I wanna say hi and thanks to all my readers and reviewers!

Chapter 14: The truth about Akito, part 1

Shigure sat at the table with his newspaper and his cup of coffee. Yuki sat across from him eating breakfast. And Tohru was smiling goofily as she rushed around the place with a broom.

Shigure gazed at Tohru.

How was it that she… after suffering so much… she had gone through so much more than a normal girl her age, yet she could still smile and be happy? Shigure watched intently.

Tohru had lost both her parents, found out about the Sohma family curse, suffered through the trauma of Kyo's true form and now Kyo was gone. How could she just go on like that?

Shigure kept watching but was unable to see through Tohru's mask.

After all, Kyo's the only one who can do that. And Hana, of course. And probably Uo… I guess.

Behind Tohru's ever-smiling happy face, she felt misery. Even the smile on her face felt wobbly today. She tried to fight it, but Kyo's absence screamed at her from everywhere.

"…Honda-san? Are you alright?"

Yuki's soft voice brought her back down to earth.

"Ah! Yeah, I'm fine!" Tohru said quickly. "I guess… I just zoned out, huh?"

Yuki smiled.

I guess Yuki has gone through a lot too. He lost Machi… just like Hatori lost Kana. Come to think of it, all the members of the Sohma family seem to have gone through such horrible things, and me… I'm just thinking of myself….

Tohru clutched the broom handle tighter, so that her knuckles started turning white.

But… is it so wrong to think of myself right now?

­ Tohru thinks way too much, she's too obsessed about everyone else to worry about herself.

"The house feels so empty without Kyo," said Shigure, "It's too quiet without him breaking down the doors and thundering down the stairs."

"Hmph," was Yuki's reply.

Tohru smiled a small smile, but when they weren't looking, she sighed sadly.

I wonder what Kyo's doing right now… When she realised she was zoning out again, she quickly shook her head hard to get over it.

"Come on, Honda-san, let's go," Yuki said.

"…Ah! Yeah, let's go." she said.

As Yuki walked through the halls of his school, ignoring the usual whispers of the girls that followed him wherever he went, he noticed Hana and Uo turning around the corner. He barely raised an eyelid as they passed him.

They still didn't know about the curse, he thought, but they know that Tohru's going through a tough time.

But… Tohru's very different from me. She has her friends to be with her even though she's having a tough time and hopefully she'll make it through this… and she still continues to amaze me since she can still smile like nothing happened.

Do I… have any friends I could turn to… or tell them the story behind everything and if I did, would they even be able to comfort me?

Yuki was so deep in thought he passed the Student Council room.

"…President, why did you walk right past the council room?"

It was a familiar voice. Yuki swivelled around and gave Machi a bright smile. "Sorry about that, I was just so deep in thought,"

Machi blinked and went back inside. Yuki followed her, and he was greeted enthusiastically by the ever-optimistic Kakeru.

"YUN-YUN!! Whassup?!?"

Yuki smiled weakly at the vice-president. "Nothing you need to know about, Kakeru."

Kakeru pouted. "Aw, c'mon, Yun-yun! You can tell me anything!"

Yuki smiled inwardly to himself. Yeah, right, Kakeru. But nevertheless, he could feel a small bit of hope coming back into him. Maybe… things would be alright.

Then his gaze met Machi's.

He slumped slightly and turned away. And again, maybe not.

"Tohru! Are ya all right?" Uo studied her friend carefully.

Tohru grinned. "Of course! I'm fine! I've never been better!"

Hana watched her closely. Uo let out a sigh of relief. "Man, I'm glad! I don't want you turning all emo on us."

Hana spoke up quietly. "Tohru… the way you recovered so fast is unbelievable."

Tohru's eyes widened. "…"

"I know you're still sad, Tohru. There's so much sadness and misery emitting from you right now, I can see it."

Tohru kept quiet as her gaze lowered. "Hana, I-"

Hana gave Tohru's hand a squeeze. "You always try so hard… just to hide your sorrow and anguish just so other people, like us, aren't concerned about you. You don't want to be a hindrance to anyone so you try your best to smile but Tohru; it keeps getting harder every time."

Tohru stared at the floor more intently as she listened to Hana's words wash over her.

"…you don't have to hide it anymore. If you're sad, it's okay to tell us and cry. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

Tohru felt Hana's grip on her hand. Then a hand on her shoulder. Uo added, "Its okay, Tohru, its okay."

She sniffled and hugged them both.

"Thanks."

It seems that every single member of the Zodiac… has a sad memory or a sad past…

Which may not really be true, but this is just a fanfic.

Every one of them has faced something sad or sorrowful… I guess that's just part of the 'curse', huh?

But… the head of the Sohmas, the person called Akito… I wonder… just what kind of past might he have faced… and what kind of predicament could have lead him to be just as twisted as he is now?

Tohru walked through all the trees and forest-like place back home. It was a cool and quiet time right now and while walking home, she could think, and wonder about the many things that were on her mind.

Ive wondered about this for a while now, but just what kind of person is Akito really like? Is he really the way everyone thinks of him, just a scary dark shadow- someone who makes all the rules… and as Hatori said, no-one can disobey him.

What is he really like?

Tohru slid open the front door and took off her shoes. She walked quietly past the living room to see if Shigure was there. The door to the living room was open a tiny bit, leaving just a small gap to see through. Tohru peeked inside.

Tohru froze.

It was him.

He sat across from Shigure, a cold figure, just leaning his head on his hand with his elbow resting on the table. Black hair fell across his forehead and over his eyes. Such a queer, cold person.

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop but it was more than just sheer curiosity. She wanted to know about this person. Tohru was watching them through the gap between the door and the wall.

It wasn't hard to hear what they were saying, being so close to them. And Shigure's words were loud, contrasting with the stiff quiet in the room.

"Would you like to know what your mother is saying about you, Akito?"

Akito said nothing. Tohru peered through the crack and saw that Akito hadn't shifted from his earlier position.

"Akito?" Shigure's voice was questioning.

"I don't want to know anything that woman says," Akito said coldly. "I hate her."

Shigure sighed. "A girl shouldn't hate her mother. That's just wrong."

For Tohru, only the top layers were being removed. Akito obviously wasn't who he seemed to be to everyone else. In fact, he was a she. And it seemed that she had her own troubles too.

Akito… is a girl. Tohru thought. A girl, like me… even though her every move seems so… guy-like to me. And all this time, I thought Akito was male!

"… Is it so wrong for a girl to hate her mother when her mother hates her too?"

Akito's voice was chilling, but Tohru could tell that Akito's normally smooth voice was a little bit wobbly.

Shigure seemed to consider what Akito had said. "…Ren wants to know how you're going with looking after the Sohma family."

Akito regained her composure. "She's… waiting for me to back down. She wants me to lose but nothing will make me lose to that woman."

"She thinks everyone is going to leave me." Akito continued. "She wants me to have everyone gone, she wants me to lose… and that's exactly what's happening. All of the Zodiac, even with the bond we had, they are all leaving me… and she was the one who wanted it all to happen."

Tohru was getting a bit confused. But as she thought over what Akito said, she recalled a bit of it. She remembered something Akito had said to her before:

"It's like… everything's falling apart… It's like they're all gone- all of the Zodiac, everyone one of them… they all drifting away from me,"

Shigure said sensibly, "But don't you think that everything you've done to the members of the Zodiac will make them stray away from you more? You say that… everyone's gone… and that everyone is leaving you, just like Ren had predicted… but maybe the reason they're doing this is because you're the one who caused it all."

That's chapter 14 everybody! Read and review! When I was writing that part about Akito's hair, only then did I realise she's quite the typical emo! Funny I'm so slow… Oh, the thing about Akito being a girl, she looks so much like a guy, I guess it's really weird. But Takaya-sensei did say she was a girl so I guess I'm going along with it… If anyone's confused, Akito is actually really a girl in the manga, though in the anime, the anime people decided to leave her as a guy.

By the way, I really hate Ren. She's so… urgh!! I just wanna bash her! (Actually there are lots of manga/anime characters I wanna bash) Well, read and review everybody!