Karma calmly reached over to his nightstand and opened the drawer, pulling out a gun. Nagisa watched everything unfold fearfully, feeling like he had the inability to breathe. Karma pointed the pistol at them, but they weren't fazed.

"Nagisa, darling, I'm disappointed in you. Honestly, why are you with him? Disgusting...I don't even want to imagine what you did with him," Hiromi spat.

"He'll fuck anyone, Hiromi," said Akito while staring at Nagisa with a blank face. No matter how much Nagisa tried, he couldn't read him. He was more focused on the immense fear he felt at the moment. Two of the most dangerous people in his life were standing right before him; his guard was completely down. How had they gotten out of jail? For what they've done, they should've gone to prison for the rest of their lives. "And he oughta know better, he knows that the only one that's good for him is me…" Akito continued.

"Say another word about Nagisa and I'll kill you where you stand…" Karma said violently.

At this point, warm, hot tears were streaming down Nagisa's face. The sun started to rise, it's warm rays spilling into the room.

"Oh, but I speak the truth~" Akito said with a smirk. "Say Nagisa~ How good was Itsuki~? Better or worse than me~? Speaking of Itsuki, he says he misses hearing the noises you'd make~"

At this, Karma fired the gun between them, hitting the wall behind them purposefully as if to scare them.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Karma demands. Nagisa flinched at the tone of his voice; he could feel the bile in his throat. This whole situation was making him sick.

"Oh? What's this~? You didn't tell your new toy about your time with Itsuki~? Not surprising I guess~"

Karma aimed the pistol at Akito's right shoulder and fired the gun. Akito quickly stepped to the left, avoiding the bullet. This shocked Karma to say the least, but he didn't lower the gun.

"Come on Hiromi, I guess we aren't welcome here anymore," Akito says as he starts to leave the room. He stops at the door, making eye contact with Nagisa. "Don't forget the collar I have around your neck and the leash I attached to it. You can't escape me and in the end, you'll always be mine~"

With that being said, they leave. Once Nagisa is sure they left the apartment, he breaks down, hugging his knees to his bare chest and crying quietly though Karma can hear his pain. He's seething with anger, but he doesn't want to hurt Nagisa more than he already has been. Instead, he wraps his arms around his tiny body in an effort to comfort him and waits for him to stop crying.

"Gakashu, pleaseeee?" Aki whined as she tugged on Asano's arm. He was sitting at his desk studying until she walked into his room all of a sudden. He still tried to study, but to no avail. He was torn between complying with her request and studying. He wanted to pay attention to her and give her everything she wanted, but what she was asking him was something he really didn't want to do.

"But I really would rather avoid Akabane…"

"But I want to check up on him, it's been a while since I've seen him...and I want you to be there when I tell him that we're together now!"

Asano blushed at her statement, causing her to giggle. The month she spent with Asano and away from Karma allowed feelings to surface that the pair never realized were there. After they had just finished watching a rather boring movie one night, Asano found himself confessing to her. He didn't feel like he could hide it anymore and the thought of someone else claiming her heart irritated him. Their close proximity didn't help either; it made Asano nervous, but he soon noticed how nervous Aki seemed as well, pushing him to believe that it was possible she felt the same way. He sighed as he closed his textbook.

"Fine," he simply stated. "Who knows, his reaction might amuse me."

He stood up, coming face to face with her. He quickly pecked her lips before walking past her to leave the room. A blush rose to her carmel cheeks; it wasn't visible, but it was still clearly evident that she was blushing. She turned to leave the room, the blush slowly leaving her face.

After they made their way downstairs and put their shoes on, they left the house and walked down the street hand in hand.

A knock sounded at the door which Karma immediately heard. He got up from his spot on his bed and left his room. At this point, Karma and Nagisa were fully dressed, but Nagisa hadn't been so willing to talk to Karma just yet. He was still shaken up by his mother and Akito's sudden visit and Karma didn't make an effort to pry too much just yet. He stopped at the door and opened it. He didn't get a chance to see who it was because they immediately embraced him in a hug.

"Karma!" Aki exclaimed. As soon as he heard her voice, he smiled slightly, returning the hug.

They pulled apart and it was at that moment that Karma realized who else was at the door. He couldn't help but glare at him. Since when did Asano ever come over to his apartment?

"Was it necessary for you to come along, first place?"

Aki pouted then stepped back so that she was standing next to Asano again, taking his hand in hers and entwining their fingers. This took Karma back a bit. Sure Aki and Asano were best friends, but they never held hands like that; not to his knowledge at least. He raised an eyebrow then looked at the pair.

"Don't be so mean to my boyfriend…" she said, a pout still playing on her face. His eyes darted to Asano who had a smirk on his.

"She asked me to come along, Akabane~"

"Whatever…" Karma sighed. Aki looked at him and frowned; she knew something was bothering him.

"What's wrong, Karms?"

Karma stepped aside to let the pair into his apartment. He feared that there could be an ear or two listening in to them.

"Akito and Nagisa's mother got out of jail and broke in here last night...and Nagisa's here. Their sudden appearance really shook him up and he won't talk to me," Karma almost growled.

Aki grew tense at the mention of Akito, but she tried to shake it off. Her hand fell limp in Asano's, causing him to look at her worriedly. "Weren't you guys fighting already?" she inquired.

"Yeah, but he ran into trouble on the way...home...from school yesterday so I helped him. We made up after that," he simply explained.

"Can I see him…?"

With a small nod, Karma led them to his room. Once they're inside, Aki's eyes immediately land on Nagisa, causing her to tear up. Without thinking, she let go of Asano's hand and went to sit beside him. When she sat next to him, they made eye contact and instinctively started crying, warm, hot tears streaming down their faces. Karma and Asano stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching them. They felt bad that there was seemingly nothing they could really do for the two. A few minutes passed and their crying was reduced to little hiccups and whimpers. Aki sighed, her eyes red and puffy and her cheeks tear stained.

"I-I can't hide this anymore...I can't stand this!"

"Aki-" Nagisa started.

"No!" she cut him off. "I want them to know...I need them to know…" she turned to Karma and Asano, meeting their gazes. "I never told you guys about Akito...not in the ways that I should've. I-I was afraid...because he told me that if I told anyone about him then he'd have no choice but to kill me…" Karma and Asano's fist were balled at their sides.

"Karma, I told you that Akito's full name was Akito Fuji, but it's not...it's Akito Sohma…" she continued, her gaze now directed at the concrete floor below. "Karma, I'm sorry I lied to you and Asano, I'm sorry I never told you…" they listened to each word intently, the two boys in the dark knowing this goes farther than his name. "He's a part of the Sohma family and within this family are various people possessed by the spirits of the animals from the chinese zodiac. Akito's considered the God of the zodiacs...h-he goes around abusing the rest of the family...mentally and physically...mostly the ones possessed by the zodiac spirits."

Nagisa notices the weird stares she's getting from the other two and speaks up. "She's telling the truth...I myself am one of the zodiacs...the snake to be exact"

"My point for saying all of this is...Akito needs to be taken down, s-somehow. His whole family and whoever comes into their lives suffers...me...Nagisa...this needs to stop"

"Wait…" Karma said, thinking over what had been said in his head. "Nagisa, that means you're a part of their family too, right…? If you're one of the zodiacs...but why don't you have the same last name as them?"

"Well...me and my mother are a part of the Sohma family, but my father isn't. When they got married, my mother decided to take his last name. Akito tried to prevent their marriage, but being the crazed lunatic she is, even Akito couldn't stop her. She's the only one he can't control, but he doesn't need to when they're basically on the same page all the time. He'll never admit it...but he fears my mother..."

"This whole thing is ridiculous," Asano chimed in. "Unless there's some way you can prove what you're saying is true about this family then I refuse to put another thought into the matter."

Aki stared at him, heartbroken that he would doubt her especially when she sat there and cried because of all of this. Aki looked away from him then made eye contact with Nagisa. He knew what she was thinking and being fine with it, he nodded. She then embraced Nagisa in a hug which he tried to return, but he didn't get the chance to as a blue cloud of smoke appeared around them. As soon as it disappeared, Nagisa was gone from his place on the bed and there lied a blue snake in Aki's arms. Both Karma and Asano looked too shocked to say anything. What had just happened?

"Whenever someone of the opposite sex hugs a member of the zodiacs, they turn into their animal, I was never allowed to hug Asano and I found that weird...It's when I snuck up on him and hugged him one day that he snapped and I found out everything…" Aki explains as Nagisa slithers up her arm. "And as for stopping Akito...we could use Nagisa~" she suggests innocently as she picks Nagisa up off her arm and tucks him under the covers. "I've heard that the snake is supposed to be venomous; he could sneak into Akito's room one night while he's asleep and bite him."

Nagisa turned back to normal and peeked his head from under the covers. "W-Whoa! That might not work!"

"Whatever happens, I want to help," Asano butts in, putting a hand on Aki's shoulder, having gotten closer to her as the conversation progressed. Nagisa smiled, but it didn't last long.

"We can take a shot at doing this as long as everyone knows the risk...but for now I need to rest…" he sighed before lying his head on the pillow. Aki got up and planted a kiss on his forehead before leaving the room, the other boys following suit.

Karma walked back into his room after Aki and Asano left. Nagisa heard the sound of footsteps approaching him and turned around to face Karma.

"You're up," Karma said as he sat next to Nagisa.

"Yeah, I took a small nap...are Aki and Asano gone?" Karma nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry for not talking to you about any of this...but I'm glad Aki spoke up…" he admitted. "It's not as easy as you may think to talk about this...you can thank Akito for that…"

Karma shook his head then looked at Nagisa with soft eyes. "You don't have to feel obligated to tell me anything...but about this Itsuki person…"

Nagisa sat up, putting a hand on Karma's shoulder. "He approached me outside of my apartment and offered me a place to stay...I went with him because he was right when he said I wasn't safe outside. A-And I didn't have anywhere else to go. And of course he wanted me to pay with my body…" Nagisa shuddered, shaking away the resurfacing memories. Karma looked unfazed, but on the inside he was anything but calm.

Just then, his phone buzzed. Nagisa picked it up and read what was displayed on the screen.

Itsuki: 'I hope you're coming back tonight~ I even highly suggest it~'

Karma peered over and read what was displayed on his phone as well. Nagisa made no effort to hide it.

That was it. That was all Karma could take. He took the phone out of Nagisa's hands and started typing out a reply. Nagisa watched until Karma finished and set it on the bed after pressing send. Karma got up and left the room without another word spoken to Nagisa. Curious, Nagisa picked up the phone to see what Karma had typed. What he saw made his heart flutter.

Nagisa: 'Oh, he's not coming back~ come near us and I'll personally see to it that your buried six feet under~

~Karma'

Back at the Sohma estate, Akito made his way to his room inside the main house. It had been an exceptionally long time since he'd been there so he wasn't surprised at the amount of stares he seemed to get from the other family members. Their gazes didn't linger for long though in fear of Akito. Once Akito was back inside his room, he slid the door closed and got dressed in his old robes.

"I know you're there," Akito said as he sat down. Just then, a silhouette emerged from what seemed to be the darkest corner of the room. It made its way over to Akito. Once it was in front of Akito, he motioned for it to sit in front of him.

"Thanks for getting us out of there. You really are a loyal dog, Shigure~" he cooed as he pulled Shugure's head onto his lap.

A/N: I wasn't planning for Akito to be Akito Sohma, but I thought I could make something interesting out of it xD

Akito was inspired by Akito Sohma all along though and I gave him his name because why not?

I know Ayame's the snake zodiac, but I made it Nagisa for the sake of this fic.

Hope you enjoyed!~