Chapter 20

The Torturing Ritual

The school bell rung. Lunch time. Akika uneasily opened her pink lunch box to find the food Tohru had made for her in the morning. It looked so colorful and cute, but didn't make the child smile. The teacher tried to make the child smile the whole day in class so far, but it never worked. The girl always kept the same, sad frown on her pale face. Even through the whole class time of art; which happened to be the little girl's favorite subject since she was able to just draw whatever she wanted for an hour, the girl never smiled. All she drew was an orange cat with red scribbles all over; blood. It was never a pleasant drawing, and the teacher never even thought of commenting it; thinking the child's pet cat died or something and that it might be a touchy subject if she were to ask. Afterall, she didn't need any of the children crying over their dead pet during class.

As the lunch time continued, Akika found herself nibbling on a carrot while other children in her group talked about the cartoon they watched last night or how they were able to dream of being a robot king and queen.

After lunch was music. The children were to sing along with the piano the teacher played, and it was supposed to be a song each child knew; The Grandfather's Clock©. Each of them sung like it was any other music class; since the class before they were to sing the Black Sheep song.

"Tick tock, tick tock…"

"Tick tock, tick tock…"

The words seemed to move the little girl with the golden eyes. She stopped at the verse to just listen to her classmates say those words, since she couldn't find herself to say it. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tick tock. It sounded to Akika as her own life's clock ticking. It was as if she had her own grandfather's clock. Trembling slightly thinking of how she was to be killed in just a few hours, Akika bit her lips and went back to singing, practicing the song with her classmates trying to act normal.

"Akika-chan, why did you look scared during music class?" One of Akika's classmates asked. She was a little girl with black, short hair. Her brown eyes seemed to just stare at her classmate worriedly. "Are you not feeling good…? Do you need to go to the nurse…?"

"Eh…?" Akika blinked and looked up to the girl. Naomi Tsuyama. She was the oldest in the class by the date she was born on, but like all of her classmates, she was just five years old as well. She was known as the girl who talked to any of her classmates if they were acting weird; whether they were sick, sad, or just feeling a bit depressed of something that happened recently.

Frowning up to Naomi, Akika shook her head and glanced back down to her wood desk with an apple sticker on the corner to show that it belonged to that class. Naomi didn't seem convinced; she sat down on the table next to the sad girl's and tilted her head worriedly.

"Akika-chan?"

"Akika Mido, Akika Mido in Apple Class. Please come to the front office, your family member is here to pick you up and have you early released. Have a nice day."

The whole class went silent as they eyed their frightened classmate. Naomi blinked as the speaker gave off a small tune, telling the fact that it was done doing the short announcement. Then, letting a bright smile come to her face, she patted Akika's back while Akika trembled in fright.

"Akika-chan! You're so lucky you get to go home early! I'll see you tomorrow; you should go now! Your parents are waiting for you!"

Naomi didn't know anything at all, obviously. Akika's eyes were wide with fear, but her bangs did well covering it up with a shadow. But she had to go to the office, or the teacher herself would drag the child to the place. Pushing herself up from the desk's chair, Akika smiled weakly to Naomi.

"Mii… See chu tomorrow…"

Her weak smile seemed to make Naomi just nod worriedly, but still smiling. Akika took the hat and bag that hung on the side of her desk and put them on their positions before walking out of the classroom and into the office. Her heart thumped fast as she opened the door to the room. Just as she thought, Akito stood there, a fake smile on her face.

"There you are, I thought we had to call you again Akika-chan." The principal said as he smiled down to the student. "I heard it's a sudden move… I'll miss you. I hope to see you again sometime soon. Grow up to be a beautiful woman, ok?"

Akika just decided to nod, a frown staying on her face.

"You'll make new friends there, don't worry. And thank you for coming to this school till now…" The principal finished. Akika's frown never left her features. She looked down and said nothing, then felt the hard tug on her arm; Akito.

"…Ah…! Mii… B… Bye bye…" Akika quickly said in reflex, looking up to Akito nervously as the older female just nodded with the approval. The principal kept the same smile and just nodded.

"Bye bye."

As Akito led the little girl out of the school, Akika gulped at the silence. Only their footsteps were heard the whole time. Taking a glance up to the head of the family, Akika only found Akito's blank, emotionless face staring straight forward and just walking, holding the girl's arm tightly in her hand as if the girl were to escape if she let go. Biting her lips, the child knew it wasn't the best time to talk to the head of the family, for it was Akito's job to take care of the Red Panda when it came to this day; the Red Panda's death.

Akito pushed the little girl into the car of which Hatori, once again, drove. Letting herself sit in the front seat, Akito just nodded to the Sohma doctor, who without a word, started to drive back to the Main house. He didn't agree with the rules of the Red Panda for it was to his eyes, just a murder with an excuse, but there was nothing he could do about it for him being one of the cursed zodiac members as well. After the car reached the Sohma house, Akito got out and went inside without letting the girl out. Not knowing what was going on, Akika decided to sit in the car even after Hatori left as well. It wasn't like she was able to run away now; she was in Akito's property. If Akito were to give one order, to catch the runaway girl, Akika wouldn't stand a chance against the men chasing her. After what seemed like an hour or two, two maids came out from the house of which Akito had entered. By that time however, Akika was getting desperate to get out.

The car was getting hot despite the humid weather out the door. Without knowing better, Akika found herself running around in the back seat, trying to find a way to get cool air inside the car. Was this the death chamber? The oven car? The temperature seemed to just continue to rise, and the maids just watched for a moment.

"Akika Mido."

Rin said to the teacher, who blinked in confusion.

"Eh…? But she already was picked up… A few hours ago." Suzan Hima tilted her head. Isuzu's eyes narrowed.

"…By who?"

"A man I believe. He had black hair and dark eyes. He claimed to be her cousin? Huh… Wait… Is he?"

Rin just nodded and dashed off without saying a word to the teacher. The teacher just stood where she was, confused, as another student tackled her playfully from behind. Rin knew who it was immediately.

"That bastard…!!"

"Red Panda, over here."

One of the maids mentioned as she pulled out a long cloth. She opened the door and blocked the girl's way out. Desperate for some cool air, Akika dashed towards the maid without second thought, her mouth opened as she panted for cool air like a dog almost. Taking that as a chance, the maid quickly slipped the cloth into the girl's mouth and tied it tightly behind the girl's head. Akika was taken by surprise as she was immediately gagged.

It was all a plan. To trap the girl in the hot, temperature rising car until she was desperate for some cold air to cool herself down, then to gag her while her natual instincts were her first thoughts, to just hurry and get to the door to decrease some of her own body temperature. If it was done to do in the Summer, they'd freeze the inside of the car and open the door at the perfect moment when the child was desperate for the warm temperature to heat them up again. If the child was to die in the car, then that was that. Easy kill.

Akika moved her hands behind her head, trying to take the gag off so she could scream for help even if it meant disturbance to the other Sohma familes in that lived around the main house. However, the maids were quick, as if they were specially trained with children's thoughts just for this day. The one who gagged her immediately grabbed both of the girl's wrists and held them tightly behind her back, as the other grabbed her ankles to avoid her from kicking. Getting very scared and desperate for help, the girl screamed with the gag in her mouth for help, but only a small, muffled faint voice came out. She tried squirming around, but the maids already had her held down and the only place she managed to move was her hips and shoulders, which both had no ability to harm the maids. The child was held down until she ran out of energy to squirm, like any human would be if panicked suddenly.

As the girl took a small break from the harsh squirming and tries of screaming, the maids lifted the girl rather easily and quickly brought her inside. Akika tried to squirm even then, but she had used up too much energy from her first try; another one of the Sohma's plans. It was to use up the kid's energy at their first rage until the barely had energy left, then to finally bring them inside.

When the little girl was brought in, Akito was there as well. She looked over to the gagged child and away, pointing to the floor. The maids released the hold on the girl, and Akika fell straight onto it. The floor was cold, making the little girl snuggle herself onto it to continue cooling herself off. Akito took this chance and stood up, quickly walking to the child and stepping on her back. Akika cried out in pain, but still, from the gag, almost nothing came out. Usually, or at least, before, Akito did punish her sometimes this way just by stepping on her back and pushing her weight onto her, but this time, it hurted more. Of course it did; all the times before Akito didn't have to kill the child. Now she had the duty to do so. More people entered the room; people who were trained to do their duties for this day. Akika wasn't their first child to kill in their careers so far, so they didn't have any hesitation on doing their job. The girl was nailed to the floor and was gagged, ready for the men to do their jobs.

One of them rushed to the child first and grabbed her ankles again, pressing them against the cold floor. At first, it felt good for the girl's body heat, but the next second she started squirming. He was taking off her shoes, then her socks so easily without a second thought.

Akito's job was simple, to keep the child down and watch over her death, and at times, tell the child's curse to never return or the curse would have to face the same fate again over and over again. It disgusted her that she had to do such job, but it was needed to save the cat. Saving the cat also meant keeping the other zodiac members loyal, since they knew there was someone they themselves could point and say "He has a worse life than ours." So it wasn't Akika herself they had a blame on; it was only the curse. But in order to get rid of the living curse, they had to kill the one who was possessed with it in the most painful way they could think of; torture, so they could hope the curse would get scared of coming back, not wanting to suffer the same pain again.

Akika tried to squirm, and her arms succeeded on doing so. However, the main part she wanted to move out of the grasps, her legs and ankles, didn't move. The man didn't budge his hold. Another man came by the one holding the girl's ankles down after her shoes and socks were out of the way, and only her bare feet showed. Holding her feet down so that the back of her feet were clearly in the men's views, the second one took out a knife. Akika turned her head wondering why they were so obsessed with holding her feet down, when the knife came into her view. Her eyes widened as another man came and held the girl's wrist down, revealing her palms easily now that she was focusing on her feet.

"Mm! Mmmf!!" Akika tried to protest and move around. The knife's end pressed onto Akika's sensitive skin on the back of her foot, getting pushed in deeply and starting to draw some blood. Originally being ticklish and very sensitive on the back of her feet, the pain for her was unbearable. She screamed and bit onto her gag, crying hard in pain. Akito closed her eyes and glanced away from the child's foot being worked on, looking to the girl's face. She could tell the ritual was painful for her. However, she continued with her own role as Akika's foot was starting to be carved from the back. The men sure knew where to press in; it drew blood out fast.

"I suggest you don't come back anymore, you damn Panda… You were never meant for being a member of this party of the Chinese Zodiac. Don't make any more of your cursed humans die, isn't that enough for you? Why bother to kill the cat when you've already killed so many kids?"

Akika couldn't hear Akito anymore. Her mind was blank. She was crying out too much into the cloth at the terrible painful ritual of the stupid Bloody Panda. It all stopped for a moment as they all waited for the child to recover just even slightly so she'd listen, and hopefully the 'God's voice would reach the Red Panda's curse. As Akika opened her eyes slightly in recovery, when another knife was placed on her palm the same time the other knife was placed on her other foot. She shook her head pleadingly looking up to the workers, but they had done this ritual too many times, making them used to killing children with the curse and not being bothered with the child's cries and pleas.

Just as Akika was about to pass out at the pain, the door of the main house busted open. Isuzu stood there, breathing heavily, her eyes widening as she figured the ritual already started, seeing the blood on the floor. The place was silent for a moment, until the horse finally yelled out.

"Akito!! No!"

"Too late… She already killed someone. If you didn't want her to go, you should've kept an eye on her." Saying the words with such less emotion, Akito looked down to the five year old on the floor. The pain and the fast blood loss was slowly killing her. Akito's eyes narrowed as she thought of her own father, Akira, when he had the same eyes Akika had now; dying. It caused Akito to take her foot off the girl's back and order the men to stop for a moment, and to let the girl just die natually now. She wasn't going to be saved now anyway. Isuzu couldn't possibly bring the girl out of the gates to take her to the hospital, and Hatori was the Sohma doctor, making it impossible to break the ritual rules and save the girl on her day of death.

Isuzu dashed the the little dying girl on the ground and carefully the girl. She was now bleeding badly from both her palms as well as both of her feet. Having a small body, the amount of the blood flowing out was too much for her. However, she managed to look up to the horse as the teen quickly removed the gag from the girl's mouth.

"Akika, stay awake! I'll save you! I'm not going to let you die… Not now! Not yet! You still have a long life to live…"

Isuzu exclaimed as she shook the girl in her arms, trying to keep her eyes open and awake. Akika was having troubles now of trying to stay awake. Her heart tried to get blood in, but with the amount being lost, there wasn't much it could get in to pump back out and work right. From the force of gravity, the blood all flowed down towards her feet, where it was immediately released from the deep cut, only to drip onto the cold floor. Isuzu used her hand to cover the girl's feet, but it didn't work.

"No… No, stay awake!"

The horse shook the girl again, but Akika's eyes closed.

"Rin-oneechan pwomise… Rin-oneechan say… Akito-sama no get to Aki… Mn…"

"I know… I'm sorry, I failed you…"

Akito excused the workers to walk out of the room and turned back to see the horse and the panda. Sighing softly, she decided to leave as well. She wasn't into dramatic scenes; she didn't like watching it at all. After mentioning to the maids to clean up the mess after the child dies, she left as well.

"Why didn't you tell me about today…? You knew about it, right?" Isuzu asked, frowning to the dying child.

"Aki… Aki no say… Aki no want Rin-oneechan sad…"

"…Why? I won't be sad… I would've saved you…"

"…Aki wuv Rin-oneechan… Aki wanted hewp make Rin-oneechan smile…"

The horse's eyes widened. She looked to her own hand where the blood smeared. Then feeling the body in her arm go limp, she panicked a bit and started shaking the child again.

"Akika! No! Wake up! Akika!!"

The body didn't budge. Akika was gone now; dead. Isuzu broke down both from not being able to save the kid making her break her pride, and from losing her sister like figure…

AN: TToTT Akika-chan!!!! I loved her myself even while writing about her Dx There's only one more chapter to go!