Yuki stifled an upsurge of fear as he strode briskly through the gates of the main Sohma estate, reminding himself that he had chosen to come here. There were things more important than his fear of Akito.
Besides, he wasn't alone. Shigure's reassuring presence was just behind him, and Hatori had come out to meet them; Yuki thought he must have said something to Momiji, because the younger Sohma hadn't intercepted them as well and blitzkrieged them with questions in his usual manner.
They were shown inside as usual, taking their places kneeling on the floor as they waited for Akito to acknowledge them. As he had during his meeting with Tohru, Akito was lounging on the porch, looking at a bird perched on his finger.
The bird finally fluttered off, and Akito stood, adjusted his kimono, and turned to face them. "Yuki… you wanted to speak to me about something?" A smirk lazed around the corner of the Sohma family head's mouth.
"I'm sure you know that Honda- san fell down some stairs at work the other night."
"Hmm… shame, that." Akito said, but a laugh lurked beneath his tone. "How is she?" He glanced at Hatori for an answer.
"Her left arm is broken, she has a cut on her forehead requiring five stitches and which will probably leave a small scar, and she's bruised." Hatori recited in a neutral tone, but his right eye sparked.
"Oh, that's a shame." Akito said again, glancing at Shigure, who met his gaze head- on as he always did. However, there was a hardness in Shigure's face that wasn't usually seen there. The sight of it seemed to please Akito, who smiled slightly before turning his attention back to Yuki.
"And how does that pertain to this visit, Yuki?"
"I want to know if you had anything to do with it." Yuki said boldly, although his violet eyes betrayed his terror at hearing himself ask the question.
Akito laughed.
Fearful anticipation of what that sound heralded showed through in both Hatori and Shigure's faces; each kept their eyes on the floor as their hearts cried out for Yuki.
Akito's face shifted from the deceptive mirth of his laughter to a more familiar scowl; he stepped in front of Yuki and adjusted his kimono again before lifting the boy's chin with a falsely gentle touch.
"You ask me, Yuki, whether I had anything to do with Honda Tohru's unfortunate fall? That idiot girl is clumsy; why, she even knocked me away from you that time I met you at your school, and she wasn't even moving. Why would you think I had anything to do with it?"
"I apologize if I was mistaken." Yuki said, verbally scrambling for a safe foothold.
"Now, I never said that." Akito demurred, and despite their intentions, both Hatori and Shigure's gazes shot up to his face. "It took courage for you to come here, Yuki, and ask me that. Why, you're growing right in front of our very eyes!" Akito's own eyes, in an incongruous contrast to his pleasant- enough tone, were cold. "But some things never change."
His hand shot out, snatching Yuki's hair and a shoulder as he tossed the fear- paralyzed boy. Akito followed up swiftly, putting a foot to Yuki's throat before he could get up. Shigure rose to a knee but held his ground, afraid of making his cousin's situation worse.
"Some things never change, Yuki." he hissed, placing more weight on his foot. Yuki struggled to breathe.
-
"Dammit! You just cause trouble wherever you go!" Kyou yelled at Uotani, tripping one of the gang members rushing at him and blocking the punch of another.
Uo herself wasn't taking such trouble not to hurt the other girls; she broke the nose of one and gave another a solid kick in her knee. One of her opponents landed a punch to Uo's side, but she turned and caught it on her ribs before downing the girl with an elbow and taking out another with a simultaneous strike with her iron pipe.
"What is it you want to know, traitor?" asked the leader, stepping forward and motioning for the others to cease their attack.
"I want to know why you've been attacking me, for one." Arisa replied, keeping eye contact and her pipe in a ready position. Without being asked, Kyou kept a wary gaze on the gang members, guarding Uo's back.
"And why would I tell you that?"
"Because I have the Red Butterfly's battle coat." Uo replied equitably, turning slightly so that she could keep her enemy in her field of vision but so the other girl could see the red butterfly adorning the back of the trenchcoat Uo was wearing.
An indecipherable expression crossed the gang leader's face. "The Red Butterfly was a traitor as well."
"By your definition." Uotani retorted. "She was also a legend." She resumed her former position, facing down the other girl. "And there's always the fact that I'll just keep beating you until you tell me why you've been attacking me without provocation." She dashed forward; making a feint with the pipe that was blocked by the gang leader, Uo performed a sweep and planted one foot solidly over the other girl's solar plexus, aiming the pipe at her throat.
"Somebody's been fucking around with my friends, and I think you know something about it. One way or another, you will tell me what you know, or I'll just beat it out of you."
A sweatdrop formed on the back of Kyou's head. What a Yankee… how the hell did Tohru become friends with a girl like that?
"All right, fine. Since you're wearing the Red Butterfly's battle coat." the downed girl muttered, casting the trenchcoat a faintly envious look of appreciation. Uo didn't let her up, but the gang leader didn't seem to expect her to; instead, she just started talking, paying her position no mind.
-
"Akito, let him up." Hatori urged in a calm tone.
"His bronchial tubes…" Shigure murmured.
"You can never leave the Sohmas, Yuki! You think that girl's going to save you? She's an idiot, an ugly little waste of space that's worthless for anything besides housework!" Akito's eyes skittered around like those of a wild animal. "She poked her nose in where she shouldn't have, and now she's just reaping the consequences! What does she know about the curse?" He suddenly calmed, exchanging the foot over Yuki's throat for a hand and hauling him up. Yuki sputtered a cough in protest to the pressure of Akito's thumb over his windpipe.
Akito's gaze was locked in on his own. "It would be best if she would just go away, Yuki. She can't save you. She couldn't even face the Cat's original form; what makes you think that she'll be able to do anything? She's stupid, weak, and ugly. She's everything you despise about Kyou.
"No matter what you do, you will never be able to leave the Sohmas." Akito smiled, but the effect was frightening. "You will never be able to leave me. You are going to be alone and miserable for the rest of your life. That is the curse. And who would know more about the curse than me, I who bear the brunt of it?
"What does it matter that Honda Tohru was clumsy and fell down some stairs? You have other matters to concern yourself with. The time when Kyou will be sealed away is coming ever closer; all you need concern yourself with is not allowing him to beat you before then. If he does, Honda Tohru will have much more to worry about than a little tumble down some stairs…"
Smiling wider at the look on Yuki's face, Akito gave his throat one final squeeze before tossing him away and ordering Kureno to lock him in his special room again, quieting Shigure and Hatori's protests with the blithe excuse that Yuki had a lot to think over.
-
"Tohru- kun… you have an idea of who would push you, don't you." It wasn't a question.
Tohru looked at Hana nervously. "Why would anyone want to push me, Hana- chan? I'm sure I was just imagining it, and was being clumsy."
"Tohru- kun, please have more respect for me than to lie to me like that. If you can't say, you can't say, although I hope you know that you can tell me anything. If someone is hurting you, you need to tell Arisa and me. What about the oath we took in front of Kyoko- san's grave? We're always here for you, Tohru- kun."
"Hana- chan…" Tohru said, eyes shining.
Hana took up Tohru's uninjured right hand. "If you won't tell me, you don't have to. Just know that you can tell me anything, all right?"
Tohru nodded vigorously before grimacing slightly; her head was still aching a bit from where she'd hit it the night before, and shaking it like that wasn't a good idea.
"You're stronger than you know, Tohru." Hana told her. "You just need to allow yourself to draw on that strength, and let others be there for you instead of worrying about bothering them."
Tohru's nod this time was firm and heartfelt. "I will, Hana- chan."
Still, Hana couldn't help but wonder as Tohru hugged her if she'd gotten through to the other girl.
-
Uotani stuck her face into Kyou's. "Care to explain why thugs with a connection to the Sohma family would be siccing gang members on me? And it's my bet that this has something to do with Tohru's accident, so you better start talking before I decide that I'll feel a lot better kicking your ass first and getting an explanation later."
Kyou might have made a smartassed comment typical of his usual interactions with Uotani, but as such a close friend of Tohru's, she deserved more than that.
Besides, if he did, she'd punch him straight through to the underworld.
"I don't know, all right? That damn Yuki's checking something out at the main house. He'd know more about it than I would."
Uo's steely blue eyes probed his violet ones before she narrowed her gaze and let him go. "Fine." She had to go by Shigure's anyway; she'd volunteered to meet Hanajima there and walk her home, since the other girl was visiting Tohru. She'd just find out then what the hell they thought they were doing.
-
"He's awfully late, isn't he." Hana said.
"What is he doing?" Uotani wondered impatiently. "I don't have all night to wait around while the Prince just takes his sweet time!"
"We may as well leave now, Arisa. We'll see him at school tomorrow anyway."
"I suppose you're right." Uotani conceded, bending forward to hug Tohru before she stood to leave. "We'll come and get you right away if anything else happens, okay? You're not going to stay somewhere unsafe."
"Don't hesitate to call. Remember what I told you." Hanajima ordered, giving Tohru a hug of her own. At her glance, Kyou walked them out.
"I'm starting to have misgivings about leaving her here." Uo said from one side of Kyou, after they were out of the house.
"We'll allow her to stay for the moment, since I honestly believe you'll protect her." Hanajima added. "But if there's another incident-"
"No matter how small-" Uotani put in.
"We'll be forced to either take her in ourselves, or modify her environment so that we no longer have any need to worry over her." Hana's gaze was placid enough, but Kyou still felt a shiver ripple over his back at the threat. He had no doubt they'd follow through, and in awe- inspiring fashion at that.
Tohru was lucky to have such friends.
"I understand." he said quietly. "We'll take care of things."
The girls pulled ahead of him and turned to face him. Kyou suddenly felt like a mouse with a hungry cat staring him down.
"We'll be checking up on you." Uo informed him.
"We wouldn't let her stay here at all if we didn't believe that you had nothing to do with her being pushed, or that you would do all in your power to prevent such a thing from happening again. But if you give us any reason at all to believe that we were mistaken to put such trust in you- and there are very, very few that we would have such faith in- we will immediately rectify the situation. Do you understand?"
Kyou sweatdropped. "Aa."
"Good. Good night." Hana said pleasantly, and Kyou watched their backs as the two girls walked away.
-
"What did you find out?"
"Those bitches that have been attacking me were induced to do so by some thugs. Kyon and I tracked them down, and they have a connection to the Sohma family, but we couldn't find out anything more. He told me that the Prince had gone to the main house today, so we can corner him tomorrow." Uotani glanced over at the shorter girl. "What about Tohru?"
"She knows something, but she's not going to say what it is. I tried to tell her that she could tell us anything, and that it's all right to lean on your friends, but she just smiled like she always does. I don't know whether I got through or not."
"There's something strange about that family. Do you think it was all right to leave Tohru with them?"
"They wouldn't hurt her." Hana said with certainty. "They have a better chance of finding out what's behind this than we do, and I don't doubt that Sohma Kyou and Sohma Yuki will make sure that whoever is behind this suffers for it. If they don't, I will know, and we can settle things ourselves."
Uotani sighed and looked to the stars. "I wonder how it is that everything suddenly became so complicated."