Disclaimer: Even though I've prayed and hoped, the last time I checked, Yummy Yuki along with all the other characters of Fruits Basket belonged to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. I do not and will never own Fruits Basket.


August 15, 2004

Behind Castle Gates

Prologue: The Devil's Bargain




Tap, tap.

The resounding echo of two pairs of footsteps were the only sound audible in the empty castle.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" The guardian of the Dog asked the slim boy beside him.

The boy did not look up, did not falter, he did not react at all. If not for the slight tightening of his jaws, the boy showed no signs that he heard Shigure speak. But instead of asking his question again, the cunning dog merely waited.

The boy gradually slowed his gaits, eventually coming to a stop. Slowly he raised his silver head and Shigure found himself studied under a pair of intense amethyst eyes. Amethyst eyes too sad to belong to the living, too cynical to belong to the face of a mere 17-year-old.

"Do you doubt my abilities, Shigure?" The question was soft and eerily melodic. Most would have easily overlooked the power and steel that underlies the lyrical beauty of that voice. But Shigure was not most people. He was immune to its beauty as well as its slight compulsion. He did not fall prey to its mesmerizing lilt being how he has heard the baby version of that voice wailing at the top of its lungs before it ever developed its ability to charm and seduce. As for the slight trace of compulsion, no matter how talented a mage the Rat may be, the Dog still has ten years of experience against him.

"Drop the compulsion, Yuki-kun." The Dog gave the Rat one its admonishing glares, "I thought you'd know better than to practice on your elders." Though the glare of reproach immediately lost its effect as the owner gave the recipient of his glare a conspiratorial smile. "Although I have to say, that was some level of magic you pulled there. Have you been secretly practicing again? You are not supposed to even know of compulsion until you can at least conjure the elements and even Hatori-san could not accomplish that until he was twenty."

Yuki merely continued to regard the Dog in his calm, impervious fashion and watched in silence as the grin slowly evaporated from his cousin's face. "Yuki-kun, you're no fun!" Shigure dabbed fake tears from his eyes. "Why, in a few years, you are going to be as cold and dour as Hatori-san!"

The soft sigh was the only sign of exasperation from the cold, unmoving boy beside him.

"How can you even kid in a time like this." The compulsion was gone, but the voice was just as soft and liltingly beautiful. But the undeniable reproach and anger in his voice finally snapped the thin thread of control Shigure held over his own worries and fears.

"Do you think you are the only one who is worrying? Do you think you are the only one who knows the seriousness of this situation?" Shigure relished the look of shock on his cousin's usual emotionless face. "You think you know Akito because you are the last one of us to still stand against him? You think you, alone, can defeat the devil when the rest of the Sohma domain has already crumbled under him?"

Shigure stopped in the middle of his rant to get a better control of his emotions. "I know your genius is unparalleled in all of Sohmian history. But Akito, he is beyond logic and reasoning. He is privy to arsenals beyond our defense–"

"–he uses fear and the ugliest essences of human nature to achieve his goal. He can dig up your deepest fear and draw it into your worst nightmares." Shigure narrowed his eyes as his cousin interrupted him only to recontinue his own warnings of Akito's dark powers. "He has the power to twist even the most innocent and beautiful thoughts into streams of hatred and evil. He has the ability to turn the most pure heart into a charred lump of coal."

"None has ever faced him and emerged the victor. His victims are always dead or either end up wishing they were dead. If the devil exists, he would be its reincarnation on earth." Yuki coolly finished his recitation. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yes." A voice equally cold and calm interrupted. "Yes, you did."

Both Dog and Rat turned in surprise to the new voice. A pair of ice-gray eyes returned their gaze.

"You forgot to mention that he has the power to ensnare the Zodiac souls. Since it is the fate of the Zodiac to be enslaved by the possessors of our souls, Akito holds power over us in life and death." The two watched as a sardonic, bitter smile quirked the Dragon's lips. "We will probably belong to the group that wishes they were dead."

"Yuki-kun, you are the only one of the Zodiacs who still has his soul in his own possession. Why do you willingly send yourself into the lion's lair?"

"While I am delighted that you both seem to have such a flattering impression of me," Yuki drawled blandly. "I'd hate to disappoint you. On the contrarily, I did not come here on a suicide mission neither do I intend to gift-wrap my soul as a free gift to Akito so he can finally complete his Zodiac collections."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I want to strike a bargain with Akito."

Shigure practically snorted. "You know, Yuki-kun. For a supposed genius, you're being incredibly stupid."

"I believe I have a bargain that is suitable to both our satisfaction."

Realizing that Shigure was not convincing him, Hatori tried to appeal to logic and common sense, which he knows to be the two factors that Yuki uses to guide every facet of his life. "Akito is not a man who you can trust to uphold his end of a deal. Besides, no one has ever emerged victorious from a personal encounter with him. Even your poker face is useless here, he will be able to see your deepest fear and wish and he will find a way to use them against you."

An awkward silence followed Hatori's speech. And for a moment, he thought he might have gotten through. But Yuki's words soon dispelled him of that belief. "I never said that I will come out of our bargain victorious. Neither did I forget about Akito's special power. In fact, I'm counting on his special power as a factor that will ultimately sway him to my suggestion."

Both men puzzled over Yuki's confusing statement. What the hell did he mean? What did Yuki have to offer to Akito to get his part of the bargain? The Sohma land laid in waste from the decade long war with Akito. Besides, Akito already has most of Sohma domain seeing how he also seized all of the land as well as the soul of each of the eleven Zodiacs he defeated. The only land left was Yuki's but his piece of the Sohma kingdom was by far the smallest, not to mention stripped of any valuable farmlands or treasures. What possibly could Yuki offer?

Both came to the same realization at the same time. Hatori's face became even more rigidly cold as he struggled to contain his apprehension and fear. But Shigure did not bother.

Yuki merely regarded both's dawning comprehension with bitter amusement. "Dammit, Yuki. You're even stupider than we all believed if you think this will work." Shigure muttered in a deliberately patronizing voice as he fought the battle of wills using Yuki's own weapons. "Do you really think that Akito won't be able to see through your childish antics?" He mustered as much condescension and amusement into his words as he can.

Yuki immediately see through Shigure's tactics and to prove that it has not worked, he gave the dog one of his coldest and most condescending smiles. "I know what I am capable of Shigure. Your attempts at dismantling my confidence has been noted and rebuffed." With that, Yuki turned his back on them and started his long walk to the menacing doors before him.

"Yuki."

Yuki swore that no arguments or pleads were going to turn him back. No logical and probably correct reasons of why he should just run would sway him. None of the countless possibilities of all the things that could go wrong will stop him. But that one simple word, full of sadness and remorse. And futility. Made him turn one last time.

"Don't worry, guys." Yuki smiled. It was an unusual smile, devoid of any of Yuki's typical self-mockery or amused annoyance. It was a beautiful smile but a terrifying one. Because in it was something so bleak and hopeless that it chilled both men to the bone. It was his true smile, beautiful and broken and lost. Just like him.

"I will make sure to drive a bargain worthy of my 'genius.'" An amused smile touched his lips as he considered what to say. "I will... what was the saying? I will milk Akito for all he has?"

He wanted to move but found himself nailed to the spot. He knew he was probably subconsciously stalling for time. But even he did not believe himself cold enough to leave everything as it is. He looked at his two cousins for what might be the last time as he reached within himself to try to find a secret source of strength to get him through this ordeal. Or at least through the front doors.

Hatori found himself looking into his cousin's eyes. And for a second, he thought he saw a flicker of fear and regret. But it was the last emotion that terrified him the most. In Yuki's eyes, the eyes of a genius and prodigy whose usual mask was one of cold confidence and iron determination, was a calm resignation. His look belonged to the men cursed with the knowledge of their own defeat before they even began. His look belonged to the men who had already resigned themselves to their fates and chosen their inevitable defeat. There was a strange emptiness to his expression as if someone has robbed Yuki's eyes of all its light and hope. And he seemed incredibly saddened by that realization. But that brief flicker of weakness left as swiftly as they came. And Yuki's momentary lapse of emotion was quickly and expertly replaced by his usual subtle arrogance and amused detachment.

"Now if you will excuse me. I'm ready for my bargain with the devil."

And with those parting words and eyes as cold as frozen snow, he walked toward the gates to hell with the grace of a prince and the impassive courage of a cursed man who knew he had nothing else to lose.