Love Remains 16.
~~~~~~~~
by girl_starfish
**huge thanks to Ice & Asuka for their help and input into this chapter. You guys rock ^_^ **
Being a ghost, Shigure could not get tired. Long as the staircase was, no sore muscles or loss of breath could account for the slowness with which he climbed the stairs. The only explanation for the ghost's slow climb waited in the shadows above.
Shigure reached the top of the stairs with a feeling of dread. What he'd told Tohru before hadn't been a lie. He was dead after all, and try as he might Akito could not kill him twice. Thing was . . . there were worse things than death.
Akito leaned against the banister, a cat-like smile across his lips. "I must say, Shigure, I'm surprised. I'd have thought someone with your apparent intelligence would have realised long ago the futility of resisting me."
Shigure smiled, hiding his misgivings deep in his grey eyes. "Funny that."
"I can understand your misguided attempts to thwart me in life, but that you'd continue your pitiful attempts to prolong the inevitable even after I killed you . . ." Akito shook his head, leaving the banister. "I did not pick you for a fool and yet there can be no other explanation for your continued stubbornness."
Shigure suppressed a shudder as the blue-haired ghost stepped closer. "Hypothetically, what if there was another explanation?"
Akito stopped, something glittering in his dark eyes. Then he smiled, a little too quickly. "It doesn't matter what you know, or think you know. This ends tonight."
So there was something--"It does. But perhaps not the way you intend."
"You really think your little girlfriend can stop me?" Akito sneered. "She's a simpleton. She couldn't see the truth when it stood in front of her. I practically told her I was going to kill Kagura and she still couldn't stop me." He smirked. "None of you could."
Losing his temper now would accomplish nothing. Shigure struggled to hold in his anger. "If Tohru was as much as a fool as you thought she was," he retorted, "then you wouldn't have needed that attempt on her life before. An attempt that failed, I might add. What's the matter, Akito? Desperation making you clumsy?"
Akito straightened, anger clearly showing in his features. "I hardly think you're in a position to talk about failure."
Ouch. "Is that so?" Shigure asked. "Are you sure you're any better?"
"You could not prevent me from taking Kagura," Akito said. "Just as you could not prevent your own death. And as you will not prevent theirs." He looked down at the hall where a battered Kyou was rising shakily to his feet. "Yuki has my strength in addition to his own. They will not be able to defeat him."
Yuki did not appear affected in the slightest. Shigure could feel almost none of his younger cousin's presence left--this was not good. What Akito said was probably true--but there had to be some way--
Of course.
Shigure stole a look at Akito. The former master of the Soumas was watching the fight, cruel satisfaction on his face as Kyou took another hit.
As inconspicuously as possible, Shigure reached out. He loosened a bit of the frescoed ceiling and let it fall.
Arisa jumped as it hit the floor not a metre away from her. She looked up--and met his gaze.
Windows, Shigure mimed.
Arisa looked confused a moment, then nodded. She grabbed Tohru.
Now to make sure Akito didn't notice they were gone--
"You're good at getting other people to fight your fights," he commented idly. "But then, you never could win a fair fight, could you?"
The blast of power that hit him was so strong, Shigure was forced to cling to the banister to stay upright.
"That may have been true while I was alive," Akito said, coldness rolling off him in waves. "That is no longer the case. Death has freed me from the confines of my weak body. In death I can be all I was denied in life." He laughed as he broke off the attack, leaving Shigure shaking--figuratively, of course. Literally, he had to concentrate hard to keep all of himself together. "You understand now? I cannot be defeated."
It was hard to withstand the hate pouring off him. Shigure drew himself up slowly, meeting Akito's dark gaze with one that had no hint of submission in it. "I believe I'm still standing."
Akito glared at him. "That can be easily remedied." He frowned, suddenly, looking towards the door. "The girl--so that's your game. Well, she won't get far." He stretched out his hand. Shigure felt the coldness that accompanied Akito's power increase.
There was the distant sound of shattering glass.
Shigure reached out almost without thinking about it, the force of his thoughts giving power to his anger.
Akito winced as the attack caught him unguarded and he stumbled.
"What's the matter?" Shigure taunted. "Not used to opponents who fight back?"
The blue haired ghost frowned as he straightened. "You--no one has managed to hurt me--since--"
"There's a first time for everything," Shigure said. "Even for you to be defeated."
The former master of the Soumas stared at him. Then smiled slowly. "Perhaps," Akito said. "But now it's time for you to lose. Again." He stretched out a hand.
This time Shigure wasn't able to remain standing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rain was sheeting down even harder now.
Although he could not feel cold, Ayame shivered. He was glad he was inside, out of the rain--regardless of the fact that the rain would probably not have affected him at all. For the first time in a long time, he felt warm and cosy and content. He leaned back against the armchair that Hatori sat in.
"Then three years ago I took my current position--doctor at a private hospital. It's very prestigious and well-paid, but with it and the family affairs it doesn't leave me a lot of free time," Hatori continued, brushing out Ayame's long hair as he filled his cousin in on the last ten years. "And there you are. That's my life."
"Sounds boring, Tori. Don't you do anything fun?" Ayame complained. "What happened to all your plans?"
"It just didn't work out like that, I guess," Hatori said sadly. "I'd always counted on having you and Gure there--and when you weren't I guess I stopped caring."
"Just because we died doesn't mean you have to be miserable. In fact, you owe it to us to have all the fun that we never got a chance to," Ayame told him. "You can start by finding a decent girlfriend."
"Aya--"
"What? I mean it. What happened to that girl with the big teeth that was always asking for your help in maths?"
"Atsuko?" His cousin blinked at him. "I thought you hated her."
"I was jealous," Ayame said. "There were days a couple of girls would giggle as they passed you and it was enough to make me mad." He sighed. "I shouldn't be telling you this. You don't want to hear." And I don't want you to hate me, he thought.
Hatori's larger hand passed over his own. "I don't mind. When you told me--well, I didn't know how to react. The fact that you were in love with me--I didn't understand. I was scared. Part of me felt guilty for not being able to return your feelings while another part of me felt angry at you for making me feel guilty and--" He shook his head. "I suppose I didn't take it very well."
"I was scared too," Ayame said quietly. "Mother and Father were away so much taking care of Yuki, and Shigure had already decided what university he was going to and applied for accommodation and everything. He was just waiting to be old enough to leave. We all knew that you would be going to Uni--your Dad wouldn't have it any other way. But my marks weren't nearly good enough. I was afraid--you two were going to leave me behind. I guess I wanted to prove that I meant something to someone, that I mattered--and you'd always been there." Ayame sighed then leaned back to wink up at Hatori. "That and you're really cute, Tori!"
The doctor felt himself smile. "Idiot," he muttered, making a show of setting the brush down. He was sorry that the movement had pulled Ayame's hair out of his hands, although he'd been done brushing it a while ago. The act had reminded him of their childhood, times when things had been better between them. Then again, his elbow was numb from where Ayame had been leaning against it. Hatori ignored it. If being perpetually cold was the price he had to pay for having his cousin back as a ghost, it was well worth it.
"I'm not the only one who thinks so!" Ayame told him. "Rabbit-girl certainly seemed to think so. What happened with her, anyway?"
It took a while for Hatori to remember what they'd been talking about. "Atsuko? I don't know . . . I spent a lot of time in hospital after . . . I got permission to study what I'd missed at home and went straight into University. I ran into her a few years back and she's married with kids."
"Oh. What about that girl with the glasses?" Ayame asked, pulling his hair into a plait.
Hatori frowned. "Why are you doing this?"
"What?"
"Trying to set me up. You went nuts at Shigure when he offered to ask out Tomoko for me."
"I don't like seeing you so lonely, Tori," Ayame said seriously. "And even if you did love me, well, it wouldn't be possible now . . . and it's not possible with Shigure either so--"
"Aya," Hatori said shocked. "You still think that I--that Gure and I--"
"Well, it was kind of obvious. The way you two always talked and the time you spent together and the jokes that only you two could get and--this isn't funny!"
Hatori laughed. "Aya, you and Shigure did that too. It drove me nuts."
"That was different! Besides, you were always looking out for him. You can't tell me that was just my imagination!"
"It wasn't imagination," Hatori said, abruptly losing all humour. "But it wasn't what you think it was."
"Eh?" Ayame stared at him. "But if you weren't in love with Shigure then why--"
"Guilt." Hatori sat down in the window seat.
"Guilt? What do you mean guilt?" Hatori had picked up a book from the bookshelves and was flicking through it. Ayame prodded him. "Tooori, what do you mean? Toori! Tooooooooooooooooori!" This didn't seem to be having the desired effect. Ayame took a deep breath. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around--"
"How long are you going to keep that up for?" Hatori demanded.
Ayame smiled. "Only as long as it takes! And guess what, Tori! Now that I'm dead, I can never run out of breath!"
Hatori weighed the situation. Ayame smiled.
"One thousand and one bottles of beer on the wall--"
Hatori resigned himself to a long night.
"Take one down--" Ayame faltered. "Oh hell."
"What's the matter?" Hatori asked.
"Gure's in trouble," the white haired ghost said. "He's--Akito's done something to him and I have to go now!"
"Aya--" Hatori started but his cousin faded out of sight before him. Another crack of thunder broke overhead. Cursing, the doctor turned to go back to the Hall. He had to help his cousins before it was too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Funny, Shigure thought. I never knew there was carving on the ceiling in the upper hallway.
The wood in question wavered in and out of view fuzzily. It was getting harder to hold together a thought, much less hold together the tendrils of himself. He put a hand up experimentally and found the patterned wood was clearly visible through it. Another attack like that last one and he would be--
Not dead. He'd just be scattered.
Shigure shut his eyes.
Being dead put an end to a lot of things. Physical hurt, for one. At the best of times he was only dimly aware of things like warmth and coldness. Emotions on the other hand, seemed somehow to be dampened yet stronger as well, almost as if they were compensated for the lack of feeling anywhere else.
They had to be. That was what kept them there after all. Emotion and memories, that was all they were--and if you could scatter those memories--
He could remember the time before he'd come back to himself. Grey and cold and overwhelming loneliness. He'd drifted, lost, reliving the incomplete memories unable to recognise them for what they were until one day everything had come together again.
He'd been standing at the bookshelf, pulling out a book to show Hatori and had turned to find his cousin was not there--and he was in a different time altogether. The room that just a moment before had been bright and sunny was grey and desolate. Shigure had taken a step towards the space where his cousin had been.
"Hatori?"
Even as he knew his cousin was not there Shigure saw the rest of the memory play out in his head. Hatori smirked, turning away with a choice comment about a certain person's foolishness--but he wasn't there! He wasn't there!
Completely bewildered Shigure had put his hand out absently, only to encounter nothing. Glancing down he found his hand had somehow passed through the bookshelf.
And everything had come crashing back.
He was abruptly brought back to the present as Akito leaned over him, midnight eyes swimming with malicious satisfaction. "I told you that you could not win this fight. You really ought to listen to me, you know."
Shigure tried to move.
Akito knelt beside him. "All your interfering ends here, Shigure. I shall enjoy reminding you of what it is to feel pain." He smiled nastily. "Before I do, there is something I would like you to know. The charming display of cousinly togetherness you instigated before has convinced me it would be a crime to separate the three of you any longer."
"You wouldn't! Ha-san--you promised!"
Akito laughed. "Hatori's death is a thing entirely of my choosing, foolish one. There is nothing you can do about it." His voice took on a thoughtful tone as he continued. Shigure could hear the dim sounds of Yuki and Kyou's fight in the hall below. "You know, I wondered if it were possible for me to arrange things so they chose death of their own volition. I expected that weak fool Ritsu to be the one to kill himself. I'd never expected cool Hatori to be so easy to break--"
Shigure struggled to get up but Akito stopped him with another wave of cold. "You . . . monster!"
"Ironic, isn't it," Akito continued. "The only thing that kept Hatori alive was you and yet you died to save him. There is no one left to interfere this time."
Shigure shut his eyes against the angry tears that threatened to flow. He felt Akito's chill fingers touch his forehead.
"Shigure," he said. "Remember and despair."
~~~~~~~~
Arisa shakily pulled herself upright. She had a few scratches but she hadn't been lying when she'd told Tohru she wasn't hurt. If anything, she was more stunned than injured. It had come home to her how powerful the force they were facing was.
Brushing glass of her heavy coat, she looked out the window. Tohru had already vanished into the foggy night; Arisa could only hope she was all right. There was no way she could hope to follow her friend through the window. She was not hurt badly now, but if she tried to climb through the glass spiked ledge that would be another story.
There was a yell and a loud crash from the next room. So Kyou and Yuki were still at it? Maybe she could be of some use after all.
As quietly as possible the blonde girl circumnavigated the broken glass and crept back to the ornate hallway.
She was surprised that Kyou had managed to hang in for this long. Good as carrot top was, Yuki's abilities were beyond normal. And while Kyou was trying not to hurt his opponent, Yuki laboured under no such restraints.
Arisa winced as a fallen Kyou was kicked in the ribs.
"Do you give up?"
Kyou coughed. "Never."
"Too bad," Yuki smiled. "I might have been merciful. But you can't have Tohru if you're dead."
He wouldn't--Arisa's face whitened as she realised he would. She turned around in the cloakroom, searching for something--that walking stick was heavy enough it might work--why hadn't she brought her steel pipe with her today?--she raised it, taking a deep breath then ran, hoping to catch Yuki by surprise.
Instead she was thrown backwards so hard that she slid across the tiled floor until her back hit the wall. Arisa curled up in pain. What was that? No one was that strong--
"You are a persistent lot, I'll give you that," Yuki said, indigo eyes faintly amused. "But persistence alone cannot defeat me." He turned his attention back to the prone figure at his feet. "Now to end this--"
"Are you mad?" Arisa managed to drag herself into a kneeling position. "You think killing him is really going to make Tohru like you?"
Lightning flashed, illuminating the mostly darkened hall for a split second, then vanishing in a roll of thunder. If Yuki replied, it was lost in the noise.
Arisa struggled vainly to stand as Yuki prepared himself to attack again. Kyou had managed to pull himself onto his feet but he swayed unsteadily. It was only too obvious that he had no chance of meeting this attack.
With a cruel smile that seemed entirely at odds with Yuki's gentle features, the grey-haired boy prepared to strike.
Arisa couldn't tear her eyes away although she wanted to. It was like the worst kind of horror film--
Yuki's blow was deflected.
Arisa gasped.
Standing before Kyou where there hadn't been anyone a moment ago was a girl with orange hair and wide, frightened eyes. In spite of her obvious nervousness, her mouth was set determinedly. And something was very wrong with the back of her head--
Kyou's legs gave way and he sat down hard against the tiled floor.
Arisa couldn't blame him. There was only one person that girl could be.
"Kisa," Yuki said coolly. "Have you taken leave of your senses? What do you think you can gain by interfering?"
The girl winced at his words but held her ground.
"If that's what you want, then fine," Yuki said. "But you only delay the inevitable. He will die and you--you will suffer." He raised a hand.
The air between them seemed to blur. Arisa couldn't tell what was happening, but even she could feel the temperature in the room seem to drop.
Kisa made the first sound she had in the entire encounter, a pained cry. Arisa thought she saw Yuki's grin widen a second, then suddenly he frowned. A vase was suddenly halted midair then sent flying back the direction it had come, shattering as it hit the wall where a sullen looking boy stood, glaring fiercely at Yuki.
Arisa swallowed. He had to be one of the scariest things she'd seen in her life. His preternaturally pale skin was marred with purple slits--knife wounds she realised, feeling sick and trying not to remember the upstairs room.
"Hiro," she whispered putting the pieces together.
"You too?" Anger twisted Yuki's features making him look entirely unlike himself. "I won't stand for this. I am your master--all of you belong to me. Maybe it's time I reminded you of this fact."
Arisa shivered. She'd never been so scared--not even when she'd broken into the Souma's house on a dare and heard a voice behind her in an empty corridor--
Hiro determinedly and defiantly crossed the floor, taking up a defensive stance in front of Kisa.
"Charming," Yuki smiled. "But of no use." He extended a hand.
This time the cold force was so strong that some of the plaster on the ceiling was knocked loose. It fell barely centimetres away from Yuki who didn't blink. His attention was focused on Kisa and Hiro.
Arisa stared. This could be her chance. If he was that distracted--
But she was so scared--
Kyou wobbled to his feet then, reaching his hand out to touch Kisa. "Stop it!" he yelled. "Stop hurting her!"
"You're in no position to be making demands," Yuki said. "Fool." He smiled as Kyou cried out in pain, clutching his head.
This was it. Arisa pulled herself shakily to her feet and staggered forward. Quietly does it--
"Now do you remember who your master is? I made you, I own you!" Yuki yelled.
"Stop it!" Kyou begged. "Haven't they been hurt enough?"
"You will join them for your insolence," Yuki spat, reaching towards Kyou. "You will pay now."
Thwack!
Yuki swayed, then fell.
To the other occupants of the room the fall seemed to take ages--or maybe it was because they could scarcely imagine an end to their torment. They simply stared.
"Is he--?" Kyou said at last.
"I can't believe I knocked him out," Arisa said. "All that and I hit him from behind with a walking stick." She started to laugh.
"Shut up, yankee! This is no time for that." Kyou tried to stand, but set off a coughing fit that rendered him helpless. Kisa put an arm around him worriedly, supporting him in a sitting position. "The handkerchief. If he wakes up we're in trouble."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Arisa said. She pulled the article in question from Yuki's pocket and dropped it on the ground as Yuki stirred.
"What do we do now?"
"Destroy the damn thing."
"How?"
It was really creepy the way Kisa and Hiro just stood there. Well, Kisa was kneeling beside Kyou watching him intently while Hiro glared at them from the back of the room. Arisa shivered; she didn't think she'd get used to ghosts at all. The sooner they could get out of here the better.
A quiet voice behind her said "There should be a lighter in Hatori's coat pocket."
"Yuki?" Arisa said astonished. "You're--"
"The handkerchief," Yuki said, remaining unmoving. He was still sprawled where he'd fallen, his eyes on the ceiling. His voice sounded different. Arisa decided to worry about that later.
She found the lighter where he'd said it would be and came back to set the handkerchief alight.
The light from the impromptu bonfire lit up the hallway, and for the first time they could see the extent of the fight. Kyou's face was bruised and part of it already starting to swell. Arisa felt her eyes water in sympathy; it didn't look as though Red would be going any where without an ice-pack for a while. She shuddered to think what the rest of him would be feeling like.
Yuki who just moments before had been cool and calm as ice was also showing signs of the fight. He had a substantial bruise along one cheek and moved awkwardly.
"Stay where you are!" Arisa ordered him sharply. "I don't want any funny stuff."
"I'm not--" A tear rolled down Yuki's cheek. "I'm sorry."
Arisa frowned. A more complete reversal of personality could hardly be imagined and yet--somehow she didn't think this was faked.
"M-mother?" Kyou choked hoarsely, calling both of their attention back to him.
Kisa, her brown eyes pooling with tears reached out to him but hesitated, afraid to touch. Kyou just as hesitantly extended his hand.
Arisa had to remind herself that she did not cry, as pale white fingers met Kyou's callused brown hand. The sight of the two of them, slowly reaching out to each other on the hallway floor was almost enough to make her rescind her dislike of the ghosts.
The flames on the handkerchief flickered as a strong gust of cold wind tore through the house, and then began to die.
"No! Mother!" Kyou called out, and Arisa looked up to see both ghosts fade out of sight.
"What the hell?" Arisa demanded sharply as the fire fed by the handkerchief abruptly flickered out.
"It's him," Yuki said, struggling to his feet. "He's done something." Rather unsteadily he made his way over to where Kyou was. Arisa joined them, prepared to defend Kyou should that be necessary, but the grey haired boy only paused beside Kyou, his expression strangely sad. "How--how bad--"
"I've been better," Kyou admitted, dryly.
"I'm sorry," Yuki said again. "This is all my fault."
"Don't give yourself too much credit," Kyou said. "I can still take you on."
Another coughing fit disproved that theory. Arisa put an arm around him to support him, nearly jumping when she encountered another hand. She looked up into the equally startled face of Yuki who was doing the exact same thing.
"Ah--"
"You--"
They stared at each other. Arisa was startled to see Yuki's eyes were in fact a light amethyst--hadn't they been indigo a moment ago?
Then the front door creaked and Yuki and Kyou both tensed.
"Tohru?"
"Where's Tohru?" Yuki said, and Kyou threatened "If you've done anything to her, you grey-haired--"
"She's outside."
Yuki and Kyou stared at Arisa, shock plain on their features.
"Alone?"
"In the storm?"
Kyou struggled to stand and both Yuki and Arisa were needed to stop him from charging off after her. "Let me go!"
"Idiot! You're in no condition to help her!"
"And I suppose you are?"
Stricken, Yuki let go of Kyou. "I could do nothing--I can't--I can't bear to face her again. She must hate me--" He looked as though he might bolt at any second.
"Oi," Arisa said loudly. "Neither of you are in any state to go anywhere. Now someone's got to help me mind this dead weight . . ." she left the sentence hanging.
Kyou and Yuki looked at each other and seemed to resign themselves to their fate.
"I guess I'd be more trouble to Tohru then help at the moment," Kyou said. "But I don't like that she's out there alone."
"Me either," Yuki said. "That's my fault too--if I had just seen beyond my hate for you I--" he sighed then said "It's no good. I've lost."
Lost what? Arisa wondered but didn't get a chance to ask. The thunder broke over head, so close that it made the entire house shake.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tohru really wished the torch was stronger. She'd got so turned around in this sudden fog that she really had no idea where she was going. She was shivering all over, her clothes completely wet, and providing no protection at all from the steady rain. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, and Tohru wiped it aside, looking for anything that might let her know where she was.
Thunder broke so close by that Tohru jumped, slipping in the mud and falling. The torch fell out of her hands and flickered out.
No.
Tohru reached out with shaking hands but encountered nothing. It had to be here somewhere! Desperate fingers raked through mud and gravel and found nothing. Tohru choked back a sob as she tried to find it. She needed the torch, she was lost without it--
She was lost anyway.
Tohru couldn't contain the next sob, or the one after. She cried bitterly, still on her knees in the gravel and rain, mud plastered to her hands and now smeared all over her face.
How could she have failed so miserably? She'd promised Shigure, and now she couldn't help him at all, or the others--and she hadn't been able to do anything to help Kagura or Momiji or even Kyou and Yuki and now her other friends were in trouble because of her.
There is nothing you can do.
She'd be better off quitting and going back inside--to where Kyou and Yuki fought and Shigure was facing Akito--the thought of doing that was even worse than facing the storm. She couldn't go back and let them know she had failed--and yet, she could do nothing else.
Pathetic. You're useless--completely useless.
Tohru sobbed even harder. Why did it have to happen like this? Why can't I change things? The thought of another death, of Aya and Shigure and the other ghosts remaining trapped the way they were, was almost too much to bear--and Shigure had said that this was their last chance.
Had been your last chance. There's nothing now.
"No!" Tohru protested, hardly knowing why she was speaking aloud. "There's always a way! There's got to be something I can do!"
Lighting broke overhead, as if in violent denial. However, in the brief instant before the thunder rolled, Tohru saw something illuminated by the lightning that made her spirit leap.
The gate was less than three metres away.
~~~~~~~~
The rain fell even harder now. It was almost as though the storm was fighting her. Tohru struggled vainly with the bolts. She'd never remembered them being this hard to open before. Then again, no one had said this would be easy.
Fog rolled in even more thickly around her obscuring even the faint light from the street where Hatori had left his car headlights on full, to guide himself through the tangle of electric wires. Tohru gritted her teeth, struggling even harder with the rusted bolt. This would be a lot easier if she could see what she was doing.
Then there was a light overhead, revealed as the fog drifted apart. Tohru was initially just thankful that she could see better until she realised that the headlights could not be that strong. She paused, peering through the grating.
Looking out onto a street from the past had been eerie enough from the drawing room window but to be this close to it--Tohru stared at the streetlights with the tiny flames flickering inside them, then at the cobbled street. All was exactly as she'd seen it from the window--
Down to the shadowy figure leaning against the gate post.
Tohru froze.
The dark suit was just as Shigure had described it in his diary. The face was mostly in shadow cast by the tall hat the other wore, and Tohru caught her breath. She hadn't expected Hatsuharu to be so . . . close.
He turned, the movement revealing a pale, mellow looking face and grey eyes, fixed on her. Tohru had the sudden urge to back away. There was something desperate in his gaze that made her feel frightened and uncomfortable.
"Will you let me in?"
It took a moment for the sentence to register, in which time Hatsuharu had moved opposite Tohru, clutching the gate bars and staring at her intently. He was just as pale as the other ghosts, and Tohru forced her eyes away from his neck. She noticed that strangely his hair was white in places.
"Please, you must let me in."
Tohru nodded, suddenly wanting to cry for some reason. He sounded so . . . "I'll do my best."
He dropped his head in a half-bow. "I am in your debt."
Tohru once again struggled with the gate bolts. She could see what she was doing now but . . . "They're stuck. For some reason--I can't get them open--"
She stepped back with a startled cry as Haru seized the gates furiously, shaking them violently.
"That . . . damn him! Damn him! I must get in!"
Tohru took a step backwards. "Um--" With the way Haru was violently attacking the gates, any attempt to open them would likely result in injury to herself. His rage was frightening--did she really want to let him into the house? When angry he was terrifying--
This is all he is! A brute--you can't let him in!
Tohru fell back another step. She wished she had someone with her, her mother, Kyou, Shigure, Arisa--anybody--then she heard something that made her pause. Between muffled curses--a sob?
Ayame's words by the river floated back to her. "Well if you were murdered then doomed to be forever separated from the one that you love, wouldn't you be pissed as well?"
He was hurt, he was desperate--Tohru decided she couldn't blame him for his anger. "Excuse me, Hatsuharu? I'm going to do my best to open the gate--but I need you to let go of the gate--"
He paused. For a moment she thought he was going to erupt at her, but instead he nodded. "You are right, of course. Forgive my lack of composure. I've been waiting a very long time--"
Tohru nodded. "I know." She returned to her task.
~~~~~~~~
Saki had never realised that the sound of her own breathing could be so loud. It was almost deafening. She could hear every tremor, every shake--and the very lack of any such sound from her companion in the dimly lit room.
She sat in one of the chairs along the opposite wall, pale and quiet. She had not spoken yet, her only acknowledgement of Saki's presence was her appearance. Proud and cold and with something regal about her, Rin's mere presence made Saki feel as though she was an intruder.
This is unlike me, Saki chided herself gently. She radiates no overt hostility--there is no reason for me to be . . .
Frightened. She was frightened.
Saki took another shaky breath.
There was something radiating from Rin, something she couldn't quite place. A sort of expectant tension, as if she both hoped and feared--
The door slammed open, and Saki started.
The coldness of the waves radiating from the boy in the doorway were so strong--she'd never felt such a presence. She could identify him just from his brittle emotions, disregarding his elegantly cut hair and attire and cold midnight eyes.
He smiled coldly as he entered the room. "Punctual as ever, Rin? I wonder you never tire of waiting." He gently touched her cheek and was harshly slapped away.
Rin went to stand by the window, Akito's smirk growing as he watched her go.
"Tonight will end this, you know. After tonight, there will be no point in your defiance of me. You will accept the inevitable, you know."
Something in the set of Rin's shoulders told Saki she severely doubted that but at the same time she could detect an undercurrent of despair, of a defiance kept up more out of habit than belief and of a weariness so deep--
She thought Akito could sense it too. It would explain his deepening smile. Saki pressed herself back into her chair. She seemed to have been momentarily forgotten--which in all honesty was fine by her.
"Akito!"
Saki experienced a strange sense of recognition as another figure appeared in the doorway, one with Yuki's face and eyes--only the colours didn't match. His white hair was streaming out behind him as he paused in the doorway, delicate fingers in tight fists.
"What have you done to Shigure?"
Something had happened? Saki fought to keep calm but it was hard. She'd been counting on Shigure's help getting the gate open and keeping Tohru safe--
"Ah, Ayame. So you two have kissed and made up?" Akito sounded amused but Saki felt a hint of annoyance beneath his apparent indifference. "I'm astounded--and after all the times he stole Hatori's attentions away from you--"
"Just tell me what you've done to him," Ayame begged. He sounded--scared. Not a good sign, Saki thought.
Akito had noticed too.
"You're making demands of me? You dare?" Saki winced as the few china plates not broken when the cabinet had collapsed were shattered.
Ayame looked terrified but stood his ground. "I have to know . . . what did you do to him?"
Akito extended his hand the stopped suddenly, wincing. "No--how did he manage to free himself?" Apparently finding the answer he growled. "That interfering female is going to regret that--"
"No!"
Ayame threw himself at Akito, grabbing his hand. They struggled for a few seconds, until Akito abruptly phased out, appearing behind Ayame and sending the other ghost falling with a blast of anger that made Saki gasp at its strength.
He was panting slightly as he lowered his hand. Saki caught her breath--did she sense a growing desperation under that?
Ayame moaned from the corner.
"Perhaps its time to remind you all who is master of this house," Akito said coldly, stretching out his hands. "You will come to me now, all of you."
Saki shivered.
All the candles Tohru had lit seemed to dim then flicker as a wind seemed to grow in the room. The curtains rose up, flickering wildly then falling. As they did, the candles seemed to burn brighter again, revealing the other figures now standing in the shadowy room.
To Rin's right an orange haired girl stood, trembling, while a boy with mutinous brown eyes and angry thoughts that Saki recognised from the upper drawing room glowered at Akito. Saki was forced to shut her eyes as she noticed the state of the boy--his injuries were nothing short of horrific. She thought she had a pretty good idea of why Hiro's ghost was never seen.
"Gure!" Ayame launched himself across the room, to the corner beside the fallen armoire. Saki was initially relieved to see that the ghost was there, seemingly still in one piece until she took in Ayame's reaction and Shigure's lack of response. The grey haired ghost was sprawled on the floor. He didn't move as Ayame reached him, touching his shoulder anxiously. "Gure--" He glared up at Akito. "What did you do?"
Akito smiled. "Merely reminded him that he cannot escape his fate more than any of you can. You are mine, all of you. Mine through your deaths which I created, mine through your pain which I own."
Ayame looked down. Saki winced. She could feel his pain and sorrow so strongly--as she could the rest of the ghosts. Kisa, Hiro, Rin--even a shadowy form in the corner that felt of Kagura--
And in the midst of it all, Akito, feeling their pain, revelling in it, using it--
Something clutched at her arm and Saki looked up into wide brown eyes.
"Hana-chan? I don't know what's happening and I'm scared and I couldn't find anyone--" Momiji whimpered.
It was disturbing seeing the cheerful and lively Momiji--who she had trouble thinking of as anything more than a child--in this way. She could see through him--yet she did not think he was a ghost, his skin tone not having the same pallor as the others. Not yet at any rate.
"You can stay with me," she said. "We'll wait for the others."
Momiji nodded, accepting that without question. "Okay," he said, looking over to the corner. "Is Shi-chan going to be okay?"
Why did they always think that just because she had some psychic ability she knew everything? "I don't know."
Ayame had levered his cousin up into a sitting position, half draped across his lap. Shigure's body--form, Saki corrected herself--hung limply against him. "I don't know what he's done," he said. "Gure's not--I don't know--it seems like he's here but there's something blocking us from him." He sounded hopeless, lost. "I don't know what to do."
Shigure she could handle, Saki decided. She stole a look at Akito and was pleased to see that his attention seemed to be elsewhere. "Momiji, help me move."
A few moments and Saki was kneeling beside the two ghosts.
"What are you doing?" Ayame asked.
"I'm going to see if I can find his thoughts," Saki said. Her wave power worked best in close contact with the object of her scrutiny. She closed her eyes and concentrated.
The raw emotion she encountered was like a blast of ice cold water. Saki winced. Pain--pain so fresh and near--
"--a business trip. He didn't have time to say goodbye--"
"He left us, and do you know why? Because he's a coward--a stinking coward--"
"Shigure, I think its time you know. Your father isn't coming back."
"I only married him because of the boy--"
"Now class, I want you to take these notices home to your parents--I'm looking forward to meeting your mothers and fathers--"
"Gure, so where is your father anyway?"
"Shut up, Aya--"
"You knew?"
"Shigure, I--"
"I can't believe you! You knew and you didn't tell me?" Anger, fast and furious. "I hate you!"
Saki winced. She hadn't expected this manner of hurt to be concealed within the slyly grinning ghost who'd befriended Tohru--it made sense though. "He's trapped in memories--they seem to centre around his father."
"His father?" Ayame was puzzled. "But . . . why? Gure's dad seemed really nice--of course I don't really remember him. But Gure never said anything about him--"
"He feels alone--hurt--angry--scared," Saki frowned as something that didn't quite fit swirled past her. She pursued it.
Spider web soft and silkily smooth she was not surprised she had almost overlooked the thought tendril. Concentrating on the waves around her she surveyed the room. She could see the pain of the ghosts, a darkish bluey stain that hung around them.
And darker purple threads subtly interconnecting each one, all linking back to Akito. He stood in the middle surrounded by a dark shadow laced with purple. He was not there save in presence, his attention was outside in the rain.
Was that it? How he got his power--
"Hana-chan? Hana-chan--are you alright?"
Saki blinked. Momiji and Ayame were both looking worriedly at her. She spared them a slight smile. "I am fine."
"You sure? You just seemed to . . . be somewhere different for a moment."
"I was thinking. I have come to a conclusion," the psychic said. "Akito controls you through your pain. Remove your pain--and he has no hold over you."
"You--you really think we can do that?" Ayame said, shocked. "Our pain is what keeps us here! We can't just shrug it off, you know--"
"If you say so. I can do nothing more." Saki let out a sigh as she lent back. Somehow she was nearly exhausted--this night had taken a lot out of her.
"Do you think she's right?" a hesitant voice whispered. Kisa had heard.
"Don't be stupid," Hiro said angrily. "He's the sort who'd give us this hope, just to snatch it away. I'm not giving him the opportunity." He glared at Kisa. "What are you doing?"
"He called me mother," Kisa said, a soft glow lighting her face. "Did you see? He touched me--he wasn't afraid--"
"Gure?" Ayame said hesitantly. "If you wake up then I'll be happy--"
"He can't hear you," Saki said wearily. "He's trapped in his memories." All she wanted to do was give up, fall asleep--she was startled as Momiji, sobbing, wrapped his arms around her.
"I'm scared!" he wailed. "I can't do this!"
Soothing Momiji she saw Ayame give Shigure a thoughtful look.
"So all I got to do is take away the source of his pain right? And you can't be lonely if you're with someone--" A strange look drifted over his face and settled into a smile. "You're no Sleeping Beauty, Gure, but I guess this'll have to do! Ha ha ha!"
Even with the benefit of a considerable psychic talent, Saki was still taken by surprise. Surely he couldn't seriously be thinking of--
He was.
Momiji's grip on her tightened. "Hana-chan--is Ayame kissing Shi-chan?"
"It looks like it," the psychic said staring. She noted an obstruction around her neck. "Momiji, you're choking me--"
Momiji lessened his grip some. The fear in his aura was replaced by shock. Saki supposed that was an improvement.
"Aya . . . ? What the hell?"
And it appeared that there was some truth in fairy tales after all.
"Gure! You're back!"
"And not a moment too soon, it seems. Mind giving me an explanation?" Shigure shifted out of Ayame's lap, expression carefully neutral.
His cousin blushed as he tried to explain. "Gure--you're lonely right? And so am I but we don't have to be alone if we're together and the Goth girl said that we didn't have to be unhappy because that's what's holding us to him and if we end then we can be free and I thought--I thought that maybe we could be happy--"
"Lonely, huh?" Shigure's grey eyes lighted on Saki in a considering way but he turned back to his cousin, a teasing grin flitting across his face. "Actually, Aya--that wasn't the explanation I had in mind."
"It wasn't?" Ayame blinked as Shigure leaned in closely.
"Where the hell did you learn to kiss like that?"
Teenage boys, Saki thought sourly. They were all the same.
"What the--" Akito was suddenly aware that things were not as they should be. "How is she still trying? This shouldn't be--" He came back to his surroundings in the drawing room with anger. "You--you think you can defy me? I thought I'd finished that!" He raised his hand to strike but before he could--
They all felt it.
~~~~~~~~
Tohru had taken off her jacket and wrapped it around the stubborn bolt in order to get a better hold on it. Gasping with pain as she grazed her knuckles on the wrought iron, she pushed with all her strength. She couldn't give up--couldn't give in to the cold or the hopelessness or her fear--
It almost seemed as though an invisible pressure had been lifted. For a moment the driving rain slowed, the wind paused and the bolt slid easily out of place.
Suddenly released from her struggle Tohru sat down abruptly, landing on mud and gravel. "Ow--"
"Allow me." A gentle arm set her upright and held her steady. "Are you all right?"
Tohru couldn't answer. She could only stare. "You--you're--"
Hatsuharu was inside at last.