Love Remains 14

~~~~~~~~

by girl_starfish

More cloud had swirled in, making the sky outside dark even though it was far from night. Yuki watched it anxiously. Processes were at work here he didn't fully understand--processes that could determine the entire spin of his life.

He hated it.

His entire youth he'd spent that way, his body at the mercy of the disease, his soul dragged down with it. There had been no escape, nothing he could do. His fate rested on the doctors, and all he'd had to do was endure.

The cure had ended that. After the recovery period when he had been cautiously allowed to return to school for the first time in three years, Yuki had sworn that he would never be at anyone's mercy again. He'd worked hard to ensure that would be the case, throwing himself into his studies. Despite doctors' concerns that he would overdo things he'd even taken up martial arts, building a body that was strong as well as healthy. It had been years since he'd been dependent on anybody. Most people had forgotten that he'd ever been sick.

But Yuki hadn't. He could never forget.

And now he was helpless again. Different circumstances but same weakness, same hateful feeling of being unable to alter his fate in any way.

The book he'd been reading slid off his lap. Yuki made a belated attempt to catch it but was too late. It hit the floor, falling open and losing his bookmarks in the process.

"Great."

He'd have to start over now. Yuki picked the book up. He hadn't any idea how far through he'd been, skim-reading the book to see if he could rediscover whatever it had been that made him so certain that Hatsuharu was behind the murders. He probably didn't even have time now--it would take time to gather the evidence he needed.

With a sigh, he opened the book once more. Akito's sickness--

You know what that's like. You've been there . . .

It was really ridiculous to imagine someone as sick as Akito a murderer. Yuki remembered his own days of illness--even getting out of bed had been as much as he could manage. Akito had been worse than he was, and Rin had been an active horsewoman. In a struggle, Rin would have in all probability come off better. Not to mention that he had trouble believing a gentleman like Akito could hurt a girl, especially Rin. He would never hurt Tohru--

This again. How was it whenever he started thinking about the ghosts he wound up thinking about Tohru? Kyou would no doubt argue that this was proof he identified with Akito and wanted him to be innocent because of that--

They don't understand.

It wasn't necessarily that he identified with Akito. But he understood him in a way he thought no one else could. Their lives had paralleled each other strangely, the sickness, their intelligence. Already there was talk of Yuki replacing Hatori as head of the family once the doctor stepped down from the role. Even their looks were similar.

He could understand the immense loneliness that came with long sickness, the resentment it could cause. He could guess how Akito's immense responsibilities would also have affected him. A quiet soul consumed in solitary reflections--easily misread as arrogant or cold when really, all he needed was someone willing to understand.

So Yuki would defend him against the others and their ill founded suspicions. If only they could see things like he did--

How can they? They don't know what it's like to suffer so . . .

Suffer? Had he suffered? While sick definitely and since then. Spending your formative years rushed from doctor to doctor does not teach a person a lot about how to make friends. Yuki as a teenager was almost as alone as he'd been as a child. Of course, then he'd had his brother . . .

He still had his cousins. Well, Momiji and Ha-san really. And now he had Tohru--quite possibly his first real friend.

Tohru. Yuki sighed. He didn't know what to think about Tohru. She was clumsy and totally unsophisticated, liable to blurt out anything that came into her head--yet she did everything she did out of a desire to help. He'd never encountered someone so genuine or so friendly--or so completely oblivious.

Yuki sighed again, rubbing his hand over his face. Half the girls at his school blushed when he walked by. He was good at compliments that meant nothing, but try and tell Tohru that he liked her . . .

He wasn't sure why he did. She was cute, but not pretty in an eye-catching way. But then she'd smile and he'd find himself thinking he'd never seen anything so sweet. But did she like him?

Impossible to tell--all her attention seemed to be on Kyou. Stupid Kyou. Yuki shook his head determinedly. He wasn't going to think about that tonight. Serious issues were at stake, much more serious than a stupid teenage jealousy--

But don't you deserve to be happy? After all you've suffered . . .

Idiot Kyou. If he wasn't friends with Tohru--

But he was, and try as he could, Yuki could never compete with that. It was something of an amusing relationship, Kyou so gruff and Tohru always conciliatory. Or at least it would have been amusing if it hadn't cut so deeply--

He takes advantage of her good nature. She deserves someone better . . .

Someone like me?

No, she doesn't feel that way about me--

Why not? She finds you charming, she confides in you--if only that moron Kyou was out of the way . . .

If only . . . this is ridiculous! Why am I feeling jealous of that idiot? It should be the other way round!

Other way--why does that sound familiar?

Yuki thought back. The conversation he'd had with Tohru--he'd said there could be no way Akito would be jealous of Hatsuharu, it was bound to be the other way round. Yet here he was, when according to all logic it should be Kyou who was envious of him . . .

And if he was wrong about that . . .

"Why?" Yuki said aloud. "Why is it so important that Akito be innocent?"

It made sense of course. By all accounts, Akito was the wrong sort of person to be a murderer. Gentlemanly, refined, sophisticated--but then so was Hatsuharu. Sure he'd had those sharp displays of anger, but as Tohru pointed out he didn't sound the sort of person who would cling to hatred.

It could be either of them. And, considering the message Rin had given Tohru, it was in all probability Akito--why did he have such a hard time accepting that? It was almost as if . . . this was personal.

"But that's absurd!" Yuki said. "Akito is like me--but I'm not him. If he made a mistake, it doesn't follow that I would do the same thing--I would never--"

"So insecure behind your mask," a voice softly whispered behind him. "Why Yuki? What are you hiding?"

Yuki froze.

Very slowly, he slid a hand up to the mirror leaning on what had been Shigure's chest of drawers. Angled, the mirror reflected the rest of the room . . . but not the speaker.

"Who is this?"

Yuki turned around but the room was still empty.

"You know who this is," the voice continued, amused, close, but Yuki was unable to determine where it was coming from. "In fact, I think a part of you has always known . . . because we are alike."

It was a battle to remain cool but Yuki managed it. "I fear you're mistaken. It's true we share some . . . superficial resemblance . . . Akito."

An amused laugh told him he had been correct and Yuki continued, struggling to keep his voice steady.

"But I'm not like you."

"Really?" Still cool, still amused. And still not visible. Yuki tried to sidle unobtrusively nearer the door. "Think back, Yuki. Your brother--"

"Ayame?" It was hard to glare when you didn't have anyone to glare at. "He's dead because of you."

"I can't deny that--any more than you can deny that your first response to his death was nowhere near as filial."

Yuki's fingers closed around the door handle. "What do you mean?" Distract him, keep him talking . . .

"Dear me, don't tell me you've forgotten?" the cool mocking tones made Yuki bristle angrily. "That part of you that you've gone to such lengths to hide?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Or perhaps you've hidden it so well that even you have forgotten?" The voice seemed to be coming closer.

The door handle wouldn't open. Yuki shoved back against the door but it wouldn't budge. Icy fingers brushed his cheek and he stopped trying to escape. Instead he stood petrified as the cold whisper continued at his ear.

"I think I shall jog your memory."

There was a sharp stabbing pain at Yuki's forehead. He slumped back against the door, his head awhirl with pain.

And he remembered.

~~~~~~~

It was time for his morning injection and his mother was a whole twenty minutes late. Yuki frowned at the arm clock that had awoken him. This was most annoying. Did they think that just because he was sick he didn't have better things to do than wait? Annoyed, Yuki decided to get out of bed and find her.

He was all the way downstairs before he realised that something was very wrong.

The adults were all awake and talking urgently in quiet voices. A man in a white coat was talking to Uncle Tatewaki beside the entrance to the drawing room. Yuki recognised him as an ambulance officer. But he wasn't sick, so why would there be an ambulance officer in the house?

"--quick and relatively painless," the officer was saying to Yuki's uncle. Yuki crept closer, determined to discover what they were talking about. "I know it's small consolation, but there are a lot of worse ways to go."

His Uncle nodded. "How did it happen?"

"We won't know for sure until the autopsy. The contusion on his forehead doesn't look serious enough to have killed him, but probably caused him to lose consciousness. It is bad luck that he fell into the river . . ."

Tatewaki looked bleak. "Drowned."

"It appears so."

Something had happened to one of the family. Yuki pressed himself as far into the early morning shadows as he could go, knowing instinctively that if he were discovered he would be bundled back to bed, no explanations given.

The kitchen door banged open then, and Shigure, looking determined and a little scared, pushed his way into the hallway, Hatori behind him.

"What's happening?" he demanded. "Is Aya going to be all right?"

The ambulance officer answered. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for your cousin."

Ayame. Ayame was dead.

A short flame of vindictive satisfaction flickered in Yuki's heart. Serves him right. Ayame was always so--

Hatori seemed to wilt somehow. Without staggering or falling, he just seemed to react to some invisible blow. Shigure's response was just as strong, if more bewildered.

"But Aya can't be dead--we've got our formal in a couple of weeks--"

"Shigure, Hatori." Tatewaki put his hands on their shoulders, rather clumsily. "I'm sorry."

Shigure stared at him bleakly, then shoved his hand away. "Fuck you!" he yelled, going into the drawing room.

Yuki gasped. Shigure had yelled at their Uncle before but he'd never been so rude--he was going to be grounded for life.

But instead of pursuing him or even yelling at him, Tatewaki sighed, letting go of Hatori. "He's distraught. It's to be expected . . . thank-you for all you have done."

That last part was addressed to the ambulance man. "Just doing my job," he replied. "I wish there could have been more we could have done."

"Is there anything we could have done for him?" Hatori asked.

"Your cousin died long before we got here, kid. There was nothing anyone could have done. You two did a good job of letting people know and getting him out of the river, but I'm afraid--"

Yuki didn't hear the rest of that. Through the gap in the dining room door that Shigure had left open he could see his mother. She was kneeling on the floor. One of his aunts had her arm around her, but Yuki could still see that she was sobbing.

Dead.

Yuki's eyes widened as he took in the full implications. His brother was gone--never coming back.

And he'd been glad.

Yuki turned and ran up the stairs, ignoring the call of his Uncle as he was noticed. Ayame--his brother--was dead and he was glad. Everyone else was sad or crying--

And he, only he, had been glad.

~~~~~~~

Yuki slid to the floor, his legs unable to support him any longer.

The voice followed him. "You see? We are not so dissimilar after all. If I caused death, you rejoiced in it."

"I was young," Yuki protested. "I didn't fully understand--I didn't know--"

"You can't help it, you know. It is your fate, your destiny . . . because you are just like me." The silky whisper ended on a note of great satisfaction and triumph.

Yuki shut his eyes, his head bowed. "I'm sorry, Tohru. I tried."

The lights went out completely.

~~~~~~~

"I have to say, there are benefits in living in a house old enough to be a museum piece," Arisa said, blowing the match out. "You've got more candles and candlesticks than your average new-age store."

The house creaked as a fresh wave of rain assaulted it. Tohru was very glad of the light they had. "Yuki, Momiji, Kyou, Uo-chan, Hana-chan, me." She counted the candles and torches they'd been able to find. "We've got enough for everyone. We just have to find them."

Kyou snorted. "So we have to wander round this house looking for them? Sounds a lot like a bad plot device to me."

"So I'm not the only one who feels like we're extras in a b-grade horror movie?" Arisa laughed nervously.

"Well, what else can we do?" Tohru said. "We can't leave the others alone in the dark."

"Look, if we stay here the others are bound to see the light and come to us," Arisa said practically. "Momiji and Yuki know the house, right? They'll have no problem getting here and if we just leave the door open they'll know where we are."

"But what about Hana-chan? She's still in the library--she might be waiting for us to come and get her."

Arisa frowned. "Good point. Kyou, go get her."

"What? Why me?" Kyou yelped.

"Because if you don't . . ." Arisa rolled up her sleeves.

"What, are you saying you'll make me?"

"I'm not just saying it! Come over here, moron, and you'll see just how serious I am!"

"Seriously deranged!"

"Okay, that's it!"

Tohru wandered round the room with her candle, lighting all the candles she could find. They probably didn't need to light them all, but the increased light made her feel more secure somehow.

"Oi!" Arisa called, looking up from the headlock she had Kyou in. "Don't waste the candles, okay? We don't know how long the lights will be out for."

"It's okay," Tohru said. "There are twenty more boxes of candles in the oak dresser and more in the attic." She stepped back to look at her efforts and squealed.

Arisa let go of Kyou instantly. "Tohru, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just stepped in something wet," Tohru said. "I'll get a cloth." When had Ayame been there? Or maybe he was here now--

"Oi," Kyou said. "That's not water."

Tohru blinked at Kyou then looked again at the puddle at her feet. Kyou was right, it was darker than water. "But what could it be?"

"Look at the ceiling!" Arisa said, grabbing Tohru's arm and pulling her back.

Kyou picked up the candlestick nearest him and raised it towards the ceiling. A dark puddle was clearly visible against the frescoed surface.

"Hell," Kyou said.

In the candle light the puddle seemed to have a reddish tint. Tohru swallowed. "Please tell me that's not . . ."

Kyou knelt to the puddle on the floor and dipped a finger in it. "It's blood," he said, a slightly shaky note in his voice.

"Of course it's blood." Arisa began to laugh, sounding only a few centimetres away from panic. "It wouldn't be a proper haunted house if it wasn't blood."

Tohru barely heard her, her mind racing along different lines. Blood had to come from somewhere. Yuki? Momiji? Hana-chan? "The upper drawing room is the room above this one," she said, taking the candlelabra off the shelf above the fireplace. "That's got to be where it's coming from."

"Oi, Tohru! Wait!" Arisa yelled, but Tohru didn't listen.

The shadows seemed to come alive with the candlelight, lengthening and moving at her approach. Even worse was the way the old boards creaked suddenly and unexpectedly as the house was battered by hostile winds. Tohru didn't even hesitate, dashing up the stairway with something akin to desperation. She threw open the door to what was now Hiro's room, afraid of what she would find--

A flash of distant lightning from the window lit up the room clearly for a split second, and Tohru was able to clearly make out the room's contents.

Nothing.

The room looked like it always did. One of the chairs was toppled over--Hiro had been restless earlier that afternoon--but it was quiet and still now. And, apart from the chair, bare of any sign of ghostly behaviour.

Tohru stared at the unstained carpet in puzzlement, unsure of what to do now.

"Tohru!" Arisa panted, as she caught up to her. "Geez, don't scare me like that."

Kyou scoffed. "You scared now, yankee girl?"

"Like you aren't, moron." Arisa peered over Tohru's shoulder. "There's nothing here. You sure this is the room above the drawing room?"

"It's the right room," Kyou lifted his candle to confirm what Tohru already knew. "There's nothing here. Well, let's go."

"Come on, Tohru." Arisa gave her a gentle tug but the brown-haired girl dug her heels in.

"We can't go. There's something--" Tohru wavered. She didn't know what exactly she'd expected but . . .

She stepped into the centre of the room, looking about.

A ragged edge of wallpaper caught her attention. It had been coming loose for a while but had been ripped when Hiro had thrown the painting against the wall last week. At this angle it almost looked as though--

There was something beneath it.

Tohru took a breath, seized the wallpaper and ripped.

"Tohru? Arisa yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Shigure said in the journal . . . the room was entirely repapered after Hiro died." Tohru clawed at another ream of paper urgently. "I think there was a reason."

"Holy--"

Brown patches had been revealed on the old paper. Tohru didn't have to look closer to know they were dried blood.

"No wonder they redecorated." Arisa was starting to sound a bit sick.

"Get yourself together and help!" Kyou ran his fingers down another seam and succeeded in getting a hold beneath it. Soon the floor was littered with scraps of old paper and the walls--

In the patches where the newer paper had been cleared away, brown splatters covered almost every surface. That wasn't the worst of it though.

"Okay," Arisa said. "I am now officially freaked out."

A message had been written in shaky letters as though the writer was rapidly losing strength. The words were thick and looked as though they had been drawn with a finger.

Help me please . . . Don't let him win . . . Don't let him . . . Kisa . . . please . . .

Where the message trailed off another hand had taken it up. This time though the lettering was neat and precise and appeared to have been done with a pen.

They are mine.

They will always be mine.

Kyou shivered. "Can we get out of here please?"

Tohru wanted to agree but her legs felt as though they were about to give out. She opened her mouth to say this and suddenly found herself sitting on the floor.

"Oh crap," Arisa said, roughly summing up how Tohru felt. "You okay?"

Tohru thought about it. "No. I'm sorry! I--"

"Shush." Since when did Kyou sound so gentle? "We've got you. What do you think, yankee? Fireman's lift?"

Tohru didn't really have the strength to protest as her friends carried her downstairs, their footsteps woefully loud in the darkness. They hesitated outside the drawing room.

"You really think . . . ?"

"Well, where else can we go?" Arisa said impatiently. "There's no other rooms with light."

"It's all right," Tohru said. "I'll be okay."

She was feeling well enough to stand, and wobbled out of Arisa and Kyou's hands to the nearest chair. After a minute a hand rested gently on her shoulder.

"You feeling okay?" Kyou asked quietly.

Tohru nodded slowly. "I think so." She looked around the drawing room, quickly turning away from the dark puddle. "Where's Arisa?"

"She went to the kitchen to make you a drink of something," Kyou told her. "She should be back soon."

As if on cue, Arisa's flashlight sent a thin stream of light round the corner. A moment later the blonde girl followed it, brandishing a thermos triumphantly. "The power may be out but the gas still works!" she crowed. "Hot chocolate! Drink up, Tohru."

As Tohru obliged, Arisa leaned back. "I'm a little worried we haven't seen any of the others yet," she said. "I'm sure the Soumas would have come here by now."

"Are you looking for me?" Yuki stepped into the room, a flashlight in hand. "Tohru! What happened?"

"She had something of a fright," the tall blonde explained.

"Are you all right?" Yuki asked, feeling her forehead with a cool hand. His violet eyes were full of concern for her and Tohru blushed, suddenly feeling very light headed.

"She's fine," Kyou snorted. "No thanks to you."

Yuki shut his eyes, withdrawing his hand. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"While you were off doing who knows what, anything could have happened!"

"For your information, I was undertaking some very important research. It's critical we really understand what happened that night before we do something that might potentially endanger all our lives."

"You're not still on about Akito being innocent are you?" Kyou argued hotly, ignoring Arisa's restraining hold on his arm. "That's crap!"

"I'm not convinced," Yuki said loftily, folding his arms. "And until I am there is no way I am allowing you to foolishly let Hatsuharu into this house!"

There was a burst of thunder right overhead.

At that exact moment the front door opened.

Tohru thought she was going to faint again. She was vaguely aware that Arisa was holding her tight enough to strangle her, more of her attention was on the heavy footsteps coming steadily closer. They'd already crossed the hall, and by the sound of things they were now standing right outside--

The drawing door swung open. Arisa's hold on Kyou tightened, not that Kyou noticed. He was too busy hanging onto Yuki.

Tohru shut her eyes. This was it--

"--absolutely filthy weather out there," a familiar voice said, shaking the water off his coat. "And the power lines are down across the street, meaning there is absolutely no way we can get out of here. I had to leave the car at the end of the road and walk--even then I was lucky not to get electrocuted--"

"Ha-Hatori?" Tohru squeaked.

"Who did you expect?" the doctor asked irritably, noticing the surprise of his audience for the first time. "You all look as though you've seen a . . . well, I suppose a ghost would be appropriate."

"Hatori," Yuki sighed in relief. "I'm very glad to see you." He frowned as he realised Kyou was still holding on to him. "Let go of me you twit!"

"Only when you let go of me!"

"I'm glad to see you didn't lose your heads when the power went out," Hatori said dryly, running a hand through his damp hair. "And you found the candles--but where's Momiji?"

"Uh . . ." Tohru's heart sank. It had been so long since she'd seen him. "Yuki, have you seen him at all?"

"No," Yuki admitted.

"We'll have to go look for him," Hatori said. "You don't know what kind of trouble that kid can get himself into--"

"I'm afraid it is too late to help Momiji."

Tohru yelped, and latched onto Kyou in a most undignified manner. Luckily Kyou was too busy doing the same thing to Arisa to really notice.

The blonde girl sighed. "Hana-chan, is it necessary to do that every single time you enter a room?"

Saki emerged from the shadows gravely demure as always. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Arisa snorted.

"Hana-chan," Tohru said as a thought ocurred to her. "How were you able to find your way here in the dark?"

"Have you forgotten? She's the psychic-wonder," Kyou muttered.

Saki ignored her. "I was fortunate enough to be assisted. Shigure was so kind as to guide me here through the dark."

"Shigure . . . ?" Hatori started but Yuki cut in angrily.

"I suppose it was Shigure who told you there was no way to help Momiji?"

"You are mistaken," Saki said, turning a thoughtful gaze on the grey-haired boy. "He said no such thing."

"Then how do you know something's happened to Momiji?" Kyou demanded.

"Souma Akito has taken him inside the locked room," Saki explained simply. "He has said that if we attempt to stop him, Momiji will suffer the consequences."

~~~~~~~~

"Hatori!"

Yuki, Tohru and the others were following Hatori as the doctor strode angrily through the house.

"Do you really think this wise?" Yuki protested as Hatori drew to a halt outside the door to the old Master's bedroom.

"I'm not standing by and letting Momiji share Kagura's fate," his elder cousin said shortly. "The keys, please?"

Yuki handed them over reluctantly.

"They won't fit," Tohru said hesitantly--Hatori looked so angry he was even scarier than the storm. "Okaasan has been trying to get into that room for ages to clean it but . . ."

Hatori tossed the keys aside. "In that case, I suppose we'll have to try something different."

He jiggled the door handle a bit then stepped back, carefully aligning the handle. Then he kicked.

The door handle was now hanging loosely from its socket. Hatori pulled it out and pushed against the door. It opened. The doctor pushed his way into the room leaving five speechless teenagers behind him.

"Hell," said Kyou.

"I thought that only worked in movies," Arisa muttered.

"I never knew he could do that," Yuki sounded awed.

"What? You think I hung out with Ayame and Shigure for years and didn't learn anything?" Hatori sounded faintly amused. All amusement left his voice a moment later though. "Momiji--Momiji, wake up!"

Despite her fear, Tohru followed Hatori into the room, Kyou, Arisa and Yuki right behind her. The room was dark, the candles they had bought with them seeming to make almost no impression on the shadows of the room. The only thing they could make out was the bed from which Hatori was trying frantically to revive an unmoving Momiji.

A more complete change from the sunny boy they'd talked to earlier that afternoon could hardly be imagined. Momiji's skin was pale tinged with grey, and his attitude listless. Despite all Hatori's efforts he remained still.

Tohru drew back. "Is he--is he--"

"He's not dead--he's seems to be having some kind of arrest." Hatori stood. "He needs to be in hospital. Yuki, I want you to call an ambulance--no, the power lines--we'll never get him through--"

"His aura is faint but it is not decreasing," Saki said. "I feel that his condition will not change for the worse--unless someone wishes it so."

"That bastard Akito," Kyou growled. Tohru was surprised to see him rub tears from his eyes. "That's it. He's going to pay for this!"

"Settle down, red," Arisa told him. "You don't think you can take on the head Souma nasty by yourself?"

"Well we have to do something!" Kyou protested, rounding on her angrily.

"On the contrary," Hatori said, tucking the bedcover more firmly around Momiji. "No one is doing anything."

"What?" Kyou stared at him in open disbelief. "You can't mean that you're going to sit back and let Akito have his way? He killed your two best friends!"

"We don't know that for sure!" Yuki protested hotly.

"You defend him still?" Saki asked mildly, her dark eyes flashing.

"I'll admit this looks bad," Yuki says. "I'm not too thrilled with it myself. But he could be trying to prevent us from making a mistake--and if we do anything--"

"Momiji will die," Hatori finished. "That settles it. No-one, and I repeat, no-one is going to let Hatsuharu in. You got that?"

The rain began to beat against the window with renewed pressure.

Remembering the pain in Shigure's voice, Tohru found the strength to speak. "Hatori-san, if we don't stop Akito now, we may not be able to again--he gets stronger--"

"We have to act now," Kyou insisted.

"Enough!" Hatori ordered. "Yuki, you agree with me?"

"It's the only correct decision," the grey haired boy said softly, cloaked in shadow.

"Then come with me. We are going to make sure that no one goes anywhere near the main gate tonight."