Two months earlier:
Rin froze as she saw Haru touching the reflection in the mirror Momiji had just bought for Aya, this wasn't the first time he had seen his state right. "Baby," she whispered coming behind him, "Don't look at Momiji's things alright, you're beautiful to me anyway." She wrapped her arms around him protected by his warmth and his kindness.
"Yeah," he nodded and then offered a weak smile, "Thanks Rin," he stared at the ceiling before his words came out, "Rin, I think I know what I want to be after high school but, it's not a proper career so..." he shook his head, the idea was stupid and foolish just like Buddha cow. He turned to see her sitting down and just staring back at him, "I was thinking that it'd be cool to be a photographer or a chef."
"You want to be a chef?" Rin laughed as she rolled her eyes, "And what happens if someone comes to the restaurant and asks for beef, you'd completely flip out you know that. Photography though, you'd be pretty good at it, I can tell just like being a daddy." She walked over to him before kissing his neck, now that his mother had left and there were less than sixteen hours before they left.
Quietly there came a knock on the door and she tilted her head to the side before going to answer it, leaving Haru in his chair. She was slightly taken aback to see Uo and Hana standing there and frowned, "Are you looking for Tohru because I don't know where she is. Try checking her room."
"We're not here to talk to Tohru, there's something I want to talk to Sohma, Hatsuharu about," Hana commented without looking Rin in the eyes as she covered her mouth.
"Sohma, Hatsuharu?" she laughed, somehow it made her smile whenever someone said his name like that, usually it was just Haru and occasionally Hatsuharu but never Sohma, Hatsuharu. "Haru, baby there's Hanajima and Uotani to speak with you, is it alright?"
"Hanajima-san and Uotani-san?" Haru blinked, completely confused, he had never spent much time with them and little to no time on his own with them, they were just slightly more than strangers to one another. "Okay, do you want to talk alone?"
"That would be preferable," Hana nodded as Uo leaned on the wall, "If you could,"
"Yeah I get your drift," Rin sighed before looking to Uo, "It's Arisa right, you have my cell number so if something happens to him, please..." she hated that word but she looked towards Haru, when it came to him it needed to be said, "Please call me. Please?"
"Yeah, 'course," Uo nodded in turn hoping that the situation didn't get too bad, "It's not something big just something about...Tohru and the Sohmas."
"Yeah whatever," the horse sighed, "I get it." She left thinking that these two girls were as close to Haru as they were to Yuki, they were all friends right? Friends had special things that they needed to talk about, she just prayed that he would come out of this alright. Not knowing that...
He wouldn't
THANK YOU REVIEWERS CHAPTER TEN
95Elizabeth, kouga's older woman, LilyRedHead, Mii-chan loves youu, nami4027, Princess-goth,Sagesther,Rinny87, rockangel160, XOne.By.OneX
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Yuki's Pain
Yuki stared out of the window, this was the first time in a long time that he had felt sorry for Kyo, almost as if he was feeling what it was like to be him, was this what Haru had to endure. No wonder his cousin had lost his mind. Taking a deep breath in he looked towards the door where Akito slid in and he felt himself getting extremely angry, "What are you doing here!?" he snapped, his eyes widening and him feeling extremely angry, "I'm your rat not your cat Akito, no...that's not true, I don't belong to you so let me out of here."
As his anger rose he started coughing before seeing Akito dump some food into a cat bowl, "What am I supposed to do with that?" he asked through gritted teeth, "What are you giving me to eat Akito?"
"Why Yuki, Yuki, Yuki," the goddess smiled coming over to her property and slipping a hand down to his cheek, "Only what you deserve after your betrayal and don't worry I had the maids pick up something special for you. I was thinking of giving you cat food but then you're not a cat are you Yuki?"
"So what are you giving me?" the prince spoke through gritted teeth as he stared at the straw in the corner of the room, "And what is that for? Are you thinking of giving me a wheel too, see me run around a bit?" Where had all this anger come from? He wasn't exactly sure what the answer to that question was but something was off, Akito was insane to give him these things. "When will I be allowed out?"
"Why Yuki, you know the answer to that," the girl smiled again, "When you have learned from your punishment and can no longer stand to be around that Honda bitch, I told you I didn't appreciate your connection with her, your "special bond", and you had to sleep with her."
"Akito, I didn't sleep with her," he whispered looking into his god's eyes, he grabbed Akito's wrist, "It wasn't me, I see Honda-san as a mother."
"Do you love her?" the girl asked slowly trying to break free, "You see her as the mother to your children and...and then you lie about sleeping with her."
"I'm not lying to you Akito" he whispered in a strained voice, yes he was selfish but not so selfish as to turn Momiji in, "I...I love her in a different way."
"You're lying!! You're lying!!"" Akito screeched, covering her ears with her hand, "Stop it!!" she yelled rushing out of the room as the poor rat dropped onto the floor. He felt extremely empty right now and so leaned his head against the brick wall, he'd have to stay in here if it killed him. There was silence for at least twenty minutes before he heard someone enter the place and looked up, who could be here? Who would know he was here? Picking his head up to look through the bars he was caught by the sight of a very pregnant brunette.
He ducked down again, he did not want to let her see him and blame this on herself. "Yu-Yuki-kun?" she whispered getting near to the bars, "Yu-Yuki-kun are you here?"
Just leave Tohru, the boy thought to himself, Just leave and pretend that you haven't seen anything. You shouldn't be here! Not when Akito is so close by. Just leave, please Tohru, for your protection!
"Yu-Yuki-kun must be inside so maybe...maybe tomorrow," she mumbled to herself as she walked away and the boy closed his eyes, she had to get out of here but who had even let her in and shown her the way, the only person he could think of was. "Isuzu-san, I don't know where he is."
After the two girls were gone Yuki looked away and then walked to the bowl that Akito had prepared, taking a look inside his eyes widened as he noticed that it was full of food pellets, was he mad? Yuki absent mindedly took one in his hand, turning it around before his stomach groaned. He missed her cooking a lot, her delicious food and he knew he needed to eat. Perhaps if he kept one of her delicious soups in mind he could actually eat one of these sickening things. He took a bite and it tasted...awful, that method hadn't worked at all.
Ducking his head between his legs he tried to imagine what Kakeru's reaction would be when he wasn't at school, would he care? Would anyone apart from Tohru care that he was in here? At least there was one person who would care but what about his plants, who would take care of those! Who would protect his plants!? Such a stupid thought but at the same time something that had mattered to him for three and a half years.
He didn't want to be here but what else could he do, turning Momiji in wasn't an option and Akito wasn't falling for his lies. At least he wasn't being shocked to death like Haru had been, at least not yet.
Half an hour later:
Ayame flicked his head behind him as he stared at some pictures of Yuki that Shigure had sent him, he wasn't a stalker but just enjoyed thinking about his little brother, was there anything wrong with that? He took a look at the dresses he had out for Tohru and laughed, these would definitely be able to cover the pregnant woman and make her feel wonderful and hopefully Yuki would approve of these designs.
He took a deep breath in and turned to Mine with a smile, "You think if I make more of my special tea that fairest Yuki might pick up that cup and drink to the heavens, that he'll know what's in his heard and love the glorious entity that I am."
"I think you'll need a little more than tea," Mine replied as she sang a simple song to herself, her eyes widened as she noticed Tohru enter alone. "Tohru-chan?" the assitant blinked in confusion to why the teenager was here alone.
"Oh Mine-san," the riceball smiled as she tried to bow but felt completely uneasy about doing so, she looked towards the back room where Aya was working and wondered whether or not it would be best to tell him, he would want to know wouldn't he but then if he were to approach Akito. She felt her breath caught in her throat before bowing her head, "I was wondering umm...if it would be alright to talk to Ayame-san alone."
"Yes," Mine smiled in response, "I'm sure that he'd be..."
"What on this glorious morning would I most certainly do for a stunning, blooming excellence as this beautiful princess in front of me," the snake joined in as Tohru looked around at him.
"Ayame-san, umm...I want to talk to you alone if umm...that wouldn't be too much of a bother, it's a-a secret and please don't let anyone know that you know, please promise me." Tohru begged him, if she told him there was a chance that he would waltz up to Akito and demand that his brother be set free, she didn't want that.
"Of course princess," the serpant laughed opening the door to the backroom, "We shall depart to talk about oh so many wonderful things, I do indeed trust that nothing painful is afflicting your heart."
There was a moment of silence as Tohru sat down on the couch and Ayame followed so that the two could begin their conversation, it was Tohru who spoke first. "Ayame-san, please, please don't go to Akito because of this, promise me?" she begged as Aya drew a hand to his chest.
"Of course, I wish for nothing more than a chance to be at your assistance," the man laughed, "For such a fair maiden to wonder about such trivial matters and I lay upon you a sacred promise that nothing bad will come between myself and the dear, sick Akito." Aya tossed his hair behind him again, thinking that this was nothing bad but it was always in Tohru's nature to worry, it was one of those things that everyone found incredibly cute about her.
"Ay-Ayame-san," the girl attempted not to cry as she delivered this unpleasant news, "Akito-Akito-san has Yuki-kun locked up," the snake's eyes snapped open, "I'm...I'm not sure where but...but Hatori-san came to collect his bags, I'm so so sorry but I thought that Ayame-san might be more worried if he wasn't told and it would hurt Ayame-san if he was to find out on his own...I'm so so sorry," she sniffed trying her best to control the tears.
"Akito has my little brother locked up?" the white haired man asked as he shivered, "And 'Tori knew about it, where is he? What is his crime?"
"I...I'm so sorry Ayame-san," Tohru apologized again, "I..I'm sorry I told you, is Ayame-san mad at me?" Tears sparkled in her eyes before falling down her cheek. "Ayame-san, would I be allowed to hug you, I know that you'll transform but I...I don't know what to do..."
Without another thought the man waltzed over to Tohru and held her in his arms before turning into a snake, "I'm not angry at you," he said in all seriousness, "Tohru please tell me everything that you know concerning my baby brother."
"I...I thought that Yuki-kun might be locked up in the cat's room but I...I when I got there he didn't answer me...I think he was hiding from me. He must be so scared being there alone but I, I can't help but think that he's doing it for me and if you went to Akito you might ruin everything that Yuki-kun's trying so hard for." She shivered as Aya curled up on her lap, ticking her arm with his tongue.
"Where is this cat's room?" he asked nervously, "I bestow upon you my word that I will not interfere but I cannot, once again abandon my baby brother! That is just something that I could never do again, I want to be by his side to comfort him when there is no one else."
"I..." Tohru whispered, "Ayame-san shouldn't go see him..."
"I will," the snake told her, "I will see him, no matter what. It's my duty as his nii-san."
