10) Gestures are the most important thing in making a relationship stronger. Hold her, caress, cuddle and kiss her. Look into her eyes; express your feelings to her in every possible way you can. This makes her feel special that you were there for her to be with ^^

Tohru struggled to walk but Akito has been hitting her hard lately. She laid flat on the floor helplessly as the cold clan head laughed at her.

"Pathetic." He muttered.

"…"

"Get up." He ordered. Tohru tried that already but the bruises and the heavy marks on her body stung once she moved. All she could do was to lay still and wait for Yuki and the others to arrive.

"Ahh, I get it. You're waiting for your savior to arrive, ne?" he asked.

"Please, Akito-san, let me see him before I---"

He grabbed her hair and pulled it firmly. "Was that a request?"

"Please…" she whispered.

"There's nothing you can do, Tohru. You're about to face your death." He grinned. "And you're happy about it, right? Because you don't want them to get involved anymore…"
"Why… are you after me?" she asked. Akito stared at her endlessly. He let her hair go and grinned at her.

"I can't believe my opponent doesn't know why I'm battling her." He laughed. "Ok, let me tell you this once. Come closer…"

Tohru went closer and leaned at his shoulder. "DO you really want to know?"

She nodded. "Can you tell me?"

He went closer and whispered to her ear. "You… have the tastiest skin…" he nibbled her earlobe.

"AKITO-SAN!" she winced in his touch.

"Ne, Tohru-san, I just told you. I'm used of getting what I want." He whispered. "I want you. But your father was too persuasive. I tried to reach you but he took you away. That's why I'm after you… and now, you're here with me…"

"Why are you after me?" she asked again.

"I just answered your question, right?"

"Yes but, I can't find the answer. What do I have that you want?" she asked quickly as his hands traveled on her body.

"Tohru-san, I want you because you know the Jyunishi curse, remember?"

"What?"

"When you first met Shigure," he explained huskily. "You hugged him accidentally and he transforms. You promised not to tell anyone and Shigure asks you to stay in his house until he talks all about it with me."

"Then I was taken by my stepfather's troops." She ended.

"I was so interested of Shigure's description about you so I decided to see you but… his house was empty when you came." He muttered. "I've always wished to see you but… that bastard took you."

"Akito-san…"

"Since then, I've been sending Sohmas one by one to assassinate your father. But," he stared at her. "I never knew that you were such a great hindrance."

"What do you---"

"Shigure can kill him instantly, since he is a butcher. Hatori can overdose him. Kyou can fix a car accident, but he can escape easily. Momiji can knock him out. Kagura can stab him with one of those knives in the kitchen. Hiro and Kisa can suffocate him with carbon monoxide, which can be found in car smoke and, Haru can lead him to the woods, never knowing where to return." He grinned.

"It's all planned until you just led all of the Jyunishi Sohmas to the 'right' direction. You made them disobey their leader." He continued. "So I send the toughest one of all: Yuki. But still…"

"You sacrificed their lives just to kill me father and me?"

"Of course, I'm used to be followed." He suddenly gripped her neck. "Now, I finally am going to get rid of you!"

"A..kito…san…" she gasped for breath.

"I'm done playing with you." He stabbed her for the second time. Tohru screamed in pain and the door burst open.

"HONDA-SAN!!!" he ran towards her but stopped as he saw Akito positioning the blade coated with Tohru's blood on her neck.

"Care to join us, Yuki?" he asked amusingly.

"Let her go…" he said sternly.

"Is that a request or an order?" he smirked. "Even so, you still have to respect the clan leader, Yuki. After all, you're just someone I command every now and then."

"Not anymore, Akito." He raised his sword. "I'm your foe and you're a monster, not a leader."

The clan head stared at Yuki fiercely. "DO you want to end this girl's life or not?"

He had no choice. I can't even snatch her off his arms. "Please, let her go."

"Ah… so you're planning to consider it as a request, ne?" he laughed. "What's wrong with you? You are not the Yuki I know. He was trained to be fierce, cold and thirst for blood. You kill people aimlessly under my command. But now," he grinned. "you cannot even wield your own sword!"

"What did she do to you?!" he yelled. "She's very innocent! She hasn't committed any crime yet!"

"She stole every Sohma I know!" Akito coughed out. "Don't you see? I sent you one by one to do a quick mission. But she… she just ruined every plan I know! She needs to be punished."

"Akito-san…" she whispered. Both of them stared at her.

"Don't speak. I don't want to hear those words again."

"Please… kill me if you want to." She stared at him.

"Honda-san!"

"I admit I'm defenseless. My life ends here now. Please just do it quickly and… leave him alive, okay?" she smiled. "Please promise me to leave the others alive."

"Honda-san, please don't say that!" Yuki begged. "We've been through this already. We can make it out of this!"

Akito threw a knife at Yuki's left leg, causing him to lose his balance. "Damn you, Akito!"

"There's more from where they came from." He laughed evilly as he grabbed another knife and aimed it in Tohru's chest. "Enough talk. If you want to end your life now, then so be it!" he raised his knife and---

"FREEZE!" a voice yelled as men came in. Soon, police surrounded Akito and guns were aimed at him.

"You're under arrest, Sohma Akito." One of the declared as they grabbed Akito's wrist, freeing his hold of Tohru. She collapsed on the floor and blood washed over her.

"Honda-san." Yuki crawled towards her and held her in his arms. He wanted to hug her so badly but he reminded himself that he couldn't help her in his Jyunishi form.

"S-Sohma…" she whispered lightly. He rubbed her shoulders gently and kissed her forehead.

"Hang on, Honda-san…please…" he whispered once more.

"Yuki…" she tried to whisper back. He smiled at her.

"Call me again, Honda-san."

"Yuk-ki…" she whispered and he kissed her lightly on the lips. Tears fell from his eyes. After so many years of fighting, he never felt this warm and happy. He only felt that through her.

"Honda-san." He held her close to him. "Promise me that you'll hang on."

"I…" she stopped and lost consciousness.

"Yuki." Hatori went towards them. "She might die from blood loss. We must bring her to a hospital."

"I'll carry her!" Kagura suggested.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Oe, nezumi!" Kyou called out. "You're still awake?"

"Yes, and keep your voice down." He hissed. That night, Yuki sat beside the hospital bed, where Tohru rests peacefully. After long hours of waiting, Hatori said that she'll be fine once she'll rest for a week.

"Gomen…" he looked away. "Tori said that I should switch with you tonight, so…"

"It's okay, Kyou." He whispered. "Go back to Tohru's house. I'll be fine here."

"But---"

"I would like to stay beside her." He said. "I hope you would understand."

"Of course I do." He said quickly. But as he gazed at his cousin, he looked quite different. He learned to love because of her. He thought. "Okay then. Just explain this to Tori, okay?"

"Yes."

"Goodnight then."

"Take care…" Yuki grinned. Strange. Baka neko seems to be very light to me.

"Mmm…" Tohru stirred in her sleep. He held her hand tightly and brushed her hair with his other hand.

"Tohru-kun…" he whispered as he rested his head at her side and dozed off to sleep.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Get me out of here." Akito ordered as he stared at Kazuma at the other side of the glass window.

"I can't. If I had to, I need to save for about 10 years to get you out." He explained. "I'm sorry but---"

"There's no excuses! I want myself out tomorrow morning!" the clan leader ordered.

"Who are you to order me around?"

"I'm your boss!"

"I'm free." He pointed. "It's not Tohru's fault why they turned their back on you. It's because of your foolish greediness and selfish acts and they disgust you as a leader."

"I… took care of all of you! I fed you with my own hands! And now I'm getting for everything that I've worked for is this?!"

"You did take care of us. But you used us like a plaything, like you don't care when something happened to us." Kazuma said sternly. "You deserved this." He started to walk away when Akito called him.

"Please! You're the only one left that I can turn to."

"Beg if you want but like I said, I need to save about ten years to get you out of this… hell"

"What… is it that you want? I'll give you anything!" Akito said excitingly. "As long as you get me out of here as soon as possible!!"

Kazuma turned around and grinned at him. "I want what every Sohma wanted: Freedom." He smiled. "And sorry, Tohru already gave that to us." He went out and locked the door behind him, leaving Akito on the darkness of his cell.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Can't you move any faster?" Kagura asked as she helped Tohru walk in her own house.

"Don't rush my patient." Hatori said sternly.

"It's okay, Tori-san." Tohru smiled.

"You were just stabbed twice." He reminded.

"But that was a week ago!" Kagura pointed.

"Hatori's right. Don't rush her, Kagura." Yuki said, mimicking Tori's voice.

Shigure laughed hard. "At first, I thought that you would become Akito the 2nd, Yuki" he patted his cousin. "But it all changed, since…" he looked at Tohru.

"What?"

"Cmon, Yuki." Ayame quickly nudge his brother. "DO it and make me proud."

"What?" Tohru asked innocently.

Yuki smiled wickedly as he pulled her towards him and kissed her hungrily. The Sohmas cheered for him as he prolonged the kiss, making it more passionate. Tohru was stunned and didn't to anything but respond to his movement.

"Okay," Haru grinned. "who has a camera right now!!!"

As soon as he heard this, Yuki broke the kiss and stared at his cousins. "Would you mind giving us some privacy?"

"Into the car then." Kyou opened the door for them. They entered it quickly and closed the door.

"Why did you do that for? We're in the middle of an exciting on-the-spot movie!" Kisa complained.

"It's not for kids, Kisa-chan!" he patted her.

Soon enough, Tohru went out of the car and blushed furiously.

"What happened?" Shigure asked. "Where's Yuki?"

Tohru blushed even more as Yuki, in his cursed form, climbed from her pocket to her shoulder.

"What happened?" Kagura asked.

"Well um…" Yuki laughed. "We got a little carried away, so…"

"Hehe.." Tohru sweatdropped and at the same time, blushed more.

"You guys are so lucky!" Kagura laughed. "Kyou, let's do it also!"

"Nani?! No way!"

"What did you just say?!" she waved her fist.

Tohru laughed happily as she saw her fighting Kyou like he commited some crime.

Yuki went towards her ear and whispered. "Tohru, remember the promise, okay?"

She looked at him. "But, I don't know if I…"

"It's okay. I'll wait for your answer." He wagged his tail. "But remember this, I loved you more than anything else. You gave me enough strength to battle Akito and at the same time, save you from him. I would like to stay with you forever, Tohru, if it's not against your will."

"I would love for you to stay… but…" she smiled. "I don't know… if I can be exactly like you wanted me to be."

"It's alright. I like you the way you are." He replied.

"Aww, the lovers are talking again." Shigure whispered.

"Gure, I think Yuki won against us." Ayame said sadly.

"Aren't you happy for your brother?"

"Of course I am but…we've been planning to date women ever since highschool!" he cried. "And we are just plain hopeless in romance."

"What do you mean 'we'?" Shigure asked. "I already have Mit-chan!"

Ayame stared at him furiously. "YOU CHEATED ON ME!!!"

Hatori shook his head. "You guys are too hopeless to be with."

Just as it ended all well, a car stopped in front of them and a lady went out of the car. She looked rich in Sohma's eyes but for Tohru, she looked normal.

"Auntie!" she ran towards her and hugged her tightly.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" the lady asked. "Did they catch the criminal?"

"Yes and… what are you doing here?" Tohru asked. "You should be in Egypt today!"

"I heard about your father and… I'm sorry about him."

"It's okay." She smiled.

"How can you keep a smile like that at this times of despair?" the lady asked her. "Are you really alright, Tohru-kun?"

"Yes, don't worry. I have my friends to be with!" Tohru pointed at the Sohmas. "I'll be living with them from now on."

"I don't think so…"

"What do you mean, auntie?"

"Yes, what's the meaning of this?" Hatori asked.
"It was her father's request for her birthday." The lady smiled happily. "She's going to come with me to Brazil! She's under my care now."

After hearing this, everyone was silent and Tohru herself couldn't believe her ears.

Okaa-san, please this is not true!