A/N: Final stretch now guys, I hope you're ready! There's about 4 chapters left and I'm working hard on editing them and making sure they'll be ready soon. To everyone that has commented, reviewed, favourited or followed since its inception - thank you so very very much. This might be my first full length ffic that I've been able to complete and having people excited to see where it ends makes it all feel so much more enjoyable.

So once again. Thank you :3

It had taken time but Shigure had eventually gotten Hatori to sit in his study rather than leave. Albeit, it was done with the man burying his face in his hands and his shoulders laden with the weight of something unsaid. For once in his life the tables had been turned, Shigure sitting back calmly to watch Hatori's rattled composure. Part of him might have relished in it if he didn't love the man as his own brother. Okay, part of him did relish it. A tiny bit. He'd been watching how Rika's orbit had affected everyone for the past year, waiting for someone to be tipped right over the edge. Now that time had come, he found himself a little lost for words. Though he ought not to have been surprised that Hatori was reacting in the way he had. The man had always been selfless to a fault.

"So." He drew the word out like taffy, sticky and sweet. Waiting to trap anyone who stepped in it unawares.

"Don't." Hatori's moaned, fingers working against his forehead as though he had a headache brewing. "Don't say a damn thing you dog."

"Oh, we're doing that are we?" Outright venom was a rare trait in the dragon, sarcasm his usual go to. Shigure waved at his face as though he were on the verge of tears, which truth be told – he almost was. His jaw ached. "So mean. And I'm the one who got punched. Say, why didn't she hit you?"

"You planned this, didn't you?" The accusation was spat at him and Shigure shifted again in his seat, hands open wide as if to acknowledge that yes, he had. He had never been shy in admitting his faults. There had been trysts, bad decisions and manipulations over the years with each one meant to lead him closer to what he wanted most of all. That didn't mean he was utterly blind to the other things taking place around him, like the way Hatori had been quicker with his wit and a smile since Rika had wandered back into their lives. Nor was he blind to the fact that reintroducing the Hayashi girl to the fold meant that the zodiacs would be torn. Of course, few had known of the fact that another child had been born to the Sohma head household. Fewer still had been illuminated to the way he, Aya and Tori had felt the birth of another bond - weaker, yes, but another bond all the same. Even though they had only felt it in bursts, it had grown the longer they spent with the girl.

Shigure had wanted to see what might happen if he reignited something of the Hari that had existed when they'd been teenagers. The one who smiled a little more when Rika had been staying at his house. He'd created an excuse for her to stay with the man. From there it had been Rika and Hatori in control, dictating their visits. The slow dance that he and Aya had nudged from innocence to suggestion. Even that had taken time. Opportunity.

He knew it was romanticism on his part, to suspect that the curse was trying to manipulate its own end. Why else did all thirteen of them exist right now? What providence had seen to give them two gods in this generation, if not a chance for redemption if the first failed? Fate, it seemed, had been immeasurably cruel too. One half of the god clung to them in desperation. The other had been trying to let them go. If he'd really been motivated, he'd have tried to force Rika and Akito back together. Reignite the tentative sisterhood that had existed in their early youth. The man was too wise to expect that relationship to be repaired overnight. It was easier to ignite love where love already existed, than overwrite resentment. Hatred. Betrayal.

Still, until Rika had her memories there would've always been something to hold them back. Telling Akito she was about to begin that process had been a simple slip of the tongue. Easy, even.

Crossing one leg over the other, Shigure looked out the window of his office and pressed the icepack to his jaw. Hatori was battling his own guilt, that much was evident. It has taken years for him to acknowledge the impact of losing Kana, let alone admit to loving her in the first place.

With Rika came additional complications. Their age gap for one, even if Shigure himself saw no flaw in it. He and Akito shared the same six years and he'd never had a problem with that. The godly connection was unlike anything a regular human could comprehend. There were bonds that existed that could never be put into words, just as it was easier for them to be plagued by doubt and anxiety over losing the very thing that crafted that connection in the first place. Whatever the return of her memories had released for another. Then, of course, there was the fact that Hatori had been the one to remove them in the first place.

When he could no longer bear the silence, Shigure sighed. Loudly. Tested the movement of his jaw with tentative care.

"Are you going to let her leave again?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Hatori sat upright, a hand still framing his face in a manner Shigure had come to recognise as a means to hide his features. To cloud how another might perceive his humour. Or his pain.

"The way I see it," The dog proceeded, ignoring his friends' complaint and the accompanying withering glare, "You can let her seethe at us all until she just walks away, or you can try talk to her. Win her trust back."

"You didn't see her Shigure. That pain in her face." Hatori's voice hardened. "You set us up with Akito –"

"And you seduced her while she still lacked her memories. Neither of us are innocent here Hatori."

The dragon scoffed his rebuttal.

"I didn't – I never!"

"I'm not saying she didn't like it. Why else did she keep going back?"

"You don't have a damn clue you bastard."

Shigure had to concede that he didn't know the details of what had transpired the day before or everything preceding it. He did know Akito had made some kind of deal with Rika. A deal that Hatori and everyone else had not been privy to, one that Hatori wouldn't have known to make Rika aware of while restoring her memories. As such, the band aid approach had been required. A means to restore everything. Judging by the anger and Rika's dishevelled appearance when she'd socked him in the jaw – it had worked.

"Then enlighten me."

Hatori groaned. Rocked forward with his face in his hands. Shigure had never seen the other so heart torn. Even after Kana.

"The day Akito gave me the order, Rika soothed me. As though she would never bear ill will against me for doing what I had to do." A rustle sounded as Hatori straightened up. "And then she begged me not to do it. To leave her with something. Akito had ordered me. How could I? What could I have done?

"How can Rika forgive that? And even if she does, why would she want to choose me?"

There was no easy answer. Shigure knew what his gut told him. Rika and Hatori had loved one another longer before either of them had placed it into words. If they ever even had. That didn't make any of it simple or straightforward.

"Don't you deserve to take the chance to see if she wants that? Doesn't she?"

"But Akito -,"

"I'll deal with Akito." Shigure leaned forward. Earnest. "You can feel it too Hatori, the way of the bond is failing. At some point, soon, this curse will end and we will all have lives to lead outside this compound. Beyond the circle. Tori - can you really face that alone? Do you want to? Do you want her to?"

"Of course not."

"Then what is stopping you?"

"The curse." Shigure started to protest but silenced when Hatori continued, "You said it yourself that it's faltering - what if -"

What if that's the only reason this exists?

Though his eyes were on the open doorway, Shigure's focus was on listening to Hatori's ragged breaths. He knew the feeling, just as much as he knew Hatori would realise the inevitable too. The curse gave them the tools for love, a leap ahead. It didn't, however, result in blind acceptance. It didn't wholly remove their agency. If it had, he wouldn't have done what he had to hurt Akito. She couldn't have hurt him. The others. Shigure waited, seeking the moment when sanity might drop into the room and offer his friend a boon that was so desperately deserved. He heard the hitch before he saw the change in Hatori's body language, man sitting upright.

"What she needs is a way for her to truly know what she wants." Shigure cocked a dark brow in question.

"And who are you to decide she doesn't already know?"

"I'm not but neither of us can deny that there are pieces of herself she hasn't yet discovered yet. With the truth in her hands she's going to need space. Time. At the end of it she might realise that she doesn't want any of us. That she doesn't want –" Me. He heard the word linger again in the room without being spoken. For a man who valued stoicism, the dragon was slowly losing his cool when it came to one woman in particular.

"Why can't she do that with you supporting her? By her side. This sounds like another excuse Tori."

"It's not!" Hatori's words were sharp, defensive. "I want her to experience the things that Akito and I took from her. To have friends she can count upon, a life and love and innocence. With me, she will have to look every day at the wounds that this home inflicted. I can't let her guilt consume her like -"

"She's not Kana."

"Don't patronise me. I know she's not. She - she's summer. All fire and - and stubborn rage." He sounded almost in awe and his eyes glossed. Shigure's jealousy flared but was outshone by the light flowing through Hatori. "She'll burn down all in her path if she chooses a life built on revenge or guilt. If she stays because she feels she has to. That, or she'll burn herself. I won't, can't, let her do that without her living for herself first. I want her to find out who she is without the Sohma's behind her, without all these ties knotted around her. I want her to choose to come back to us, to me because she loves us more than anything else. I want her heart to be full of joy Shigure. Not duty."

Shigure smiled. It hurt.

"Then you know what you've got to do."

Kyo climbed over her on the bed, putting himself between the wall and her body. Pulled Rika into his chest. They lay quiet for an endless stretch, the sound of conversation passing downstairs. Clicking doors signifying Hatori's eventual departure. Rika didn't know how she felt. Confused mostly.

Having all her history back, all of it, was overwhelming. Sickening. Frightening. The anger had slowly abated by having Kyo beside her but not enough for her to settle. To relax.

"Why didn't you tell me about what was going to happen to you next spring?" Rika asked eventually, head rested on the curve of her forearm. Kyo mirrored her position.

"I didn't know how to say it." Kyo's smile was wan. "All that time we were both trying to make amends for your leaving, what kind of person would I be if I ruined it?"

"You wouldn't have ruined it." Rika choked out. "I wouldn't have tried to leave. I've been selfish. So caught up in the prospect of university and escaping all this -," Her hand swept side to side as she spoke until Kyo captured it in his own.

"You didn't know. Don't start beatin' yourself up for stuff like that or I'll get mad." She laughed. Brushed away moisture from the edge of her eyes.

"You're always mad. Except for that night a few weeks ago..." Her mouth pulled to a tight line as a little lightbulb went off. "Is that why you offered me Shishou? So that -" The very thought of it was like sliding needles into her chest. Kyo hadn't protested her leaving because he was angry, but because he'd been scared. He'd just gotten back his best friend and she'd thrown a spanner in the works. A year was all they'd have. A year wasn't enough. Not enough to make up for the missing time. Six years. The days she'd spent in Hatori's clinic, piecing herself back together ready to pretend that nothing was amiss. Those two weeks in that room. Her stomach gave a nauseated lurch and Rika whimpered.

"Hey." Kyo pulled his hand from hers and rested it against her head. Pulled her to his chest. "It's okay. It'll be okay."

Rika had started her day filled with anger. Shame. Picking through the feelings that had existed, misunderstood, in her body since she'd come back to Tokyo. Before it even. The guilt associated with Kisa and Kyo that had always come back to Akito, to her lies and secrets. Her anger. Her fear. Grief. Grief was the most pervasive. Her heart was breaking inside her chest. What would her world have been if she had stayed? Might there have been an end to all this pain? Would she and Hatori have had time to find their way to one another without fear of Akito? Could she have destroyed that damn room once and for all?

Pushing the ache down, the woman scrubbed at her face. At the tears. She was utterly pathetic. She'd not been able to save any of them.

"Kyo…" He hummed a quiet response. "You can't give up. On the things you might have if we can - if you don't have to -"

"Why the hell should I focus on things that'll never happen?"

"Because then what will you have to remember if you do end up in that room?" Rika clung to his sleeve, "All the horrible things? Or something good and kind that made your time here worth living?"

"So I can remember them while I rot away in that damn place?" Her stomach churned. She wanted to tell him there wasn't a damn thing that Akito could do to go ahead with locking him away, but the words failed against the tip of her tongue.

Rika sniffled. Hated herself for it.

"I'm sorry Kyo," She whispered it against the hand he clamped over her mouth to stop her, words muffled against his palm, "I'm so sorry for leaving you and not saying goodbye. For not explaining it to you -"

Annoyance flashed across his face, swallowed quickly by despair.

"Stop apologising please."

"No." She spoke it defiantly. Her feet ached with blisters. Knuckles were starting to bruise. There were a million things she couldn't deal with or amend in this moment, but this, this she could. "I owe you some kind of explanation."

And so, the words crept free. Little by little. Kyo had been there the day she'd promised Akito to be the outlet for her violence though he hadn't fully understood it then. All of the recollections were starkly outlined against her happier moments. The denials of her mother. Every broken bone and bruise. How she'd tried to take away the violence Akito was carrying deep within and channel it into something kinder. How stupid she had been to think she could fix her or keep the others safe. How naïve.

Deep down, she knew why she'd done it. The bond. That impossible feeling that had left her with her guilt for all those years because she'd run from the connection. Severed it in a crude way. Hatori had been right. They were cursed. What other reason was there to keep going back to Akito as she had, expecting any kind of different resolution?

The funniest part of all was as her anger petered down into a dull ache at the back of her mind, clarity grew. Akito was never going to change while the Zodiac curse existed. The more they all fought against her, the harder she clung to them. Even now, Rika could feel it lingering within her. Urging her not to betray Akito. Not to hurt Akito. She wanted to ask where the feelings would be reciprocated. When Akito would return the favours that their connection asked of them.

When she'd finished speaking, exhausted, Kyo's arms tightened around her. Kept her close to his chest. She could feel his form vibrating with anger, the heat of his skin. Palms spread flat against her back.

He was working hard to keep his temper in check, but when he spoke it wasn't righteous fury that came out.

"Seems we both have a penchant for making dumb deals with that damn Akito." Rika pushed back; brow furrowed.

"What?"

"Never mind."

"No, I do mind. What the hell did you do?!" Trapped between Rika and the wall, he struggled to roll onto his back until she gave him the space to do so.

"Akito agreed that if I beat Yuki, then I wouldn't have to -,"

"Hell Kyo." Rika buried her face behind her hands, eyes closed. This was too much on top of all the rest, but it added definition. To the fights. His never-ending diligence when it came to training. Except she could see beyond it. Rika hadn't fought Yuki in years, but the boy had been a natural. Whatever it was he possessed, neither Rika nor Kyo could match it. "I'll spar with you. Every day if we need to. But that can't be the only thing – it shouldn't be our only way to stop this."

His laugh was low. She didn't have the energy left to call him out on how depreciating it sounded, or the chills it send down her body. Yawning, Rika turned back to him. Tucked a palm against his cheek.

"I love you," She bowed her head forward to press against his, the words slurring at the edges, "Even if you've always been an insufferable idiot. And I'll do everything I can to keep us spending every second we can together."

His grin she felt beneath her fingertips and the warmth of his sigh on her face.

"Love you too. Now get some rest."

/

She woke with one of Kyo's arms wrapped around her waist, the sensation comforting and suffocating all at once. Early morning sunlight streamed in the window, the remains of last nights take-out stacked neatly on Kyo's desk. They'd spoken until she had passed out, woken to eat and then passed out again. Slowly, Rika began to feel more human.

Pieces of her were uniting themselves together, the child and the adult aligning like an old puzzle. Some parts were battered. Torn. Yet they were still able to fit. In the middle of it all was something that still escaped her now. A facet that wanted, demanded to be felt.

Wiping sleep from her eyes, Rika's stirring awoke the teen beside her and in stretching released her from his grasp. It wasn't quite sunrise yet, but the sky held traces of red in it. A good day ahead. Then why, she wondered, did she feel so rotten?

"How're you feelin'?" Kyo's voice was husky with sleep and his moving weight tipped the blankets away from her.

"Sore." A beat. "Less enraged."

"I seriously doubt that."

His huffed laughter made them both shake. Rika batted him away and sat upright. Kyo rose beside her, bumping her shoulder with his own.

"You want to run today?" She shook her head and lifted her feet as explanation. A cursory examination of the skin there showed the blisters that had popped, and those that hadn't. Redness was interspersed with swollen tissue. She wouldn't be running for days at least. Crossing her legs, she could feel she needed a bath. More sleep. A freaking holiday.

Rubbing at her eyes, she could feel Kyo holding his breath. A question. It clogged up the air in the room. Finally, she couldn't bear the tension anymore.

"Spit it out Kyo."

"Not that I'm complainin' or such, but why come to me? Why didn't you stay with Hatori this time?" Rika's body went still, shoulders knotting backward.

"I didn't – I -," Her voice trailed off, the words not coming easily. Putting the betrayal she felt to words was difficult. Extrapolating Shigure's part in Akito showing up at the lake house had been simple once her memories had returned. He had always gone to Akito first, even when they were children. Most of her youth seemed peppered with the man. Hatori however – Hatori had heard her begging and still taken away every trace of the Sohma's. He'd seen her bowed, and bent, and broken, and done little more than piece her back together for the next time around. Until he hadn't. He'd cut her loose.

What was to say that the next time Akito lost her damn mind, it wouldn't happen again?

"Do you still love him too?" She flushed violently to the roots of her hair, twisting to look at Kyo properly.

"What are you -?"

"I'm not dumb Rika. You loved him as a kid, you told me that. You think I don't know how to recognise you falling in love again?"

"I'm not – I wasn't –" Blustering, Rika gave up. Dug her hands into her head and bowed forward. "I can't."

"Why not? You're telling me to be happy, so why the hell won't you take that advice too?"

She wanted to say that he couldn't understand. Couldn't fathom what she was feeling. His first love was Tohru. Someone so innocent she made Rika feel sullied at times. Hatori wasn't a clean slate. Rika had stepped closer into his orbit knowing that.

"It's too complicated."

"Since when did you ever take the easy way?" Huffing, she looked at him over the line of her arm. "Maybe, just talk to the guy. When you've cooled down a bit. You more than anyone knows what it is to be bound by the dumb things Akito says, and both of us know there's always more to things than it seems at the start."

"Are you giving me your blessing?" A fair brow rose, mouth twitching into what might have been a smile. This was the closest either of them had gotten to discussing love lives since they'd been kids and the topic was riddled with pitfalls now. Kyo was in love, as much as he may not admit it to himself and when he finally did, he would have to reconcile that love with the possibility of spending the rest of his life trapped in a cage. Rika was – hell, she didn't know what she was. Not yet. Not now.

But maybe later, she would.