A/N: I have some apologizing to do to my returning readers (have you returned?). I sorta promised some people that I would have this chapter posted almost a week ago and I am obviously a big fat liar. Let me explain! Since my last post two weeks (?) ago those of you who have me on Author Alerts were told that I had posted a chapter for a different story. Well, there's your evidence as to what I was doing that first week: I am writing two lengthy stories at the same time. Directly after that, I began packing up all my junk and moved back to school. I have since been engaged in highly compromising before-school-activities that are mandatory for me. I tried writing this chapter in bits in pieces as I was able to during hour breaks and at night when I should have been sleeping. But writing in spurts is difficult for me to do and I ended up having to rewrite and edit a lot of that. Then, probably because I wasn't sleeping enough, I got sick. I tried writing with a fever on Thursday, snf for anyone else who contemplates that in the future, it's not recommended. The writing was crap. The only person I felt I had in character was Akito. It was really terrible. I had to rewrite a lot of it. On top of that, I have had no internet since I moved back to school, except for Aim for some reason. But that was fixed yesterday and it turned out I had a virus, which has been cured. At any rate, these are my excuses as to why this installment is so late. Anyway, please please keep reading and don't think for a second that I won't be continuing this story. I most definitely will.
IMPORTANT: Also, this chapter is pretty dang long so I split it in two so it would be easier to read. Technically, it's all supposed to be one part as far as the flow is concerned, but you can treat it as two chapters if you prefer. Anyway, take your time and I hope you like it. ^_^
PS: If the formatting is screwed up, it's because I am using a different computer with a slightly older version of Word. I may try to fix it, but maybe the centering will work this time?
Evermore
Chapter 5
By Zapenstap
Akito slumped over his windowsill, trailing one fingernail along the outside wall, watching the birds in his garden flitter and hop from bush to bush, crowding together in community so that he could never be sure just how many there were hidden under the leaves. Once and awhile one would take flight from the others and vanish beyond his gaze, but he did not move his eyes to follow it. He had no control over them, but it made his heart burn to watch anything fly free.
He heard the creak of his door opening but did not turn to see who it was. He knew who it was. Kureno had brought him lunch again. It was always at the same time, always in the same way. Akito allowed himself a moment of pleasure because he remembered that he had forbidden Kureno to speak when he arrived with meals anymore. The repetition of the other man's voice always announcing the same thing day after day had irritated him so he commanded it to stop. Kureno always accepted his commands without question. He was the bird, the only bird in the vicinity with its wings clipped. Akito smiled as though the thought satisfied him, though inwardly he felt nothing. Until the end, he would keep Kureno close.
"You're not my favorite, though," Akito said coolly, as if the man should be expected to follow his thoughts. "You aren't any good at all. That's why you need to be supervised. You wouldn't be able to survive out there."
Kureno said nothing. Akito heard the sound of the tray being set down and felt a wave of annoyance rise up in him. There were things going on that he didn't know about. He hated not knowing. Shigure told him everything about the Sohmas of course, had explained everything that had happened over the weekend too, but somehow there were still secrets he didn't know, people interfering from outside. But this family was his, and no one, not the family itself nor any outsider was going to wrest away his control over them, his responsibility to them.
He hung over the windowsill, feeling tired, weak, and thought he might be running a fever. He felt shaky and heavy and dizzy and chills gripped him occasionally. He wouldn't say anything, though. He would wait for it to get really bad so that he could worry them. It would keep them on their toes, frighten them, remind them of whom they had to be attentive, of who they were supposed to care about the most.
"We need to find him," Akito said, thinking of what he knew, of what Shigure had told him. That an outsider had talked to Tohru Honda, another outsider, did not bother him, but that he had been heard at Kagura's school asking about the Sohmas…That angered him greatly. "You will need to bring him to me. I will deal with him. For interfering with this family, for getting too close to our curse…" He smiled without warmth. "You will tell Shigure what I said. The others aren't supposed to see you, but since this is a special case I will let you call him. I can only hope you can manage it. I know how hopeless you are." His eyes narrowed. He felt Kureno approaching and hunched in on himself, annoyed by the proximity, glaring balefully out the window. "The one who attacked my monster must be found and brought to me," he said viciously.
Kureno laid a hand on his shoulder and Akito stubbornly sunk his chin into the crook of his arm, not turning to look at him, eyes staring fixedly out over his sleeve.
"You need to eat."
"You will do as I have said," Akito repeated scathingly, feeling a strange and uncomfortable burning sensation in his throat.
"Yes," Kureno agreed immediately without much emotion, and reached up to feel Akito's forehead. "And I'll send for Hatori. Akito, you need to tell us when you are feeling this way."
Akito didn't say anything. He turned his head, pulling away from Kureno's hand, and sank lower until most of his face was buried in his elbow. He glared out at the birds from over his sleeve, hating them in their ignorance, envying them their freedom, though sometimes he wondered what he would look at if they were not there.
When Akito pulled away, Kureno simply stood there. When he made no response, Kureno turned to leave, but at the last second Akito reached out and seized him by the wrist.
"I've changed my mind. Stay here," he said, and adjusting his surface attitude, hiding the strain in his voice as he lifted his head. His grip lightened on Kureno's wrist as he smiled pleasantly, turning from the window and trying to relax, to keep his face from tightening or his hands from clenching. "Stay and eat lunch with me," he coaxed. "Don't…don't leave me alone."
*****
"Nothing?" Arisa asked Saki on Monday morning. "No strange waves?"
"Not a vibe," Saki replied, her hands clasped demurely in front of her, dark eyes void of emotion.
The sky was clear again today, and though it was still early morning, it was already starting to feel warm. Arisa brushed her hand across her forehead, sweeping blonde hair up out of her eyes as she surveyed her High School's grounds. It was too damn early. It was earlier than she was used to waking up to go to school, much less already being there. Before-school clubs were still in session and only the students who came at this time regularly--for whatever demented reason--were milling around as they chatted with their friends about their weekends.
Arisa had no desire to discuss her weekend. Though the practical realities of the situation shocked her less than she supposed they would most people, she still felt as if she had hurtled headfirst into a bizarre fairytale and was living some twisted parody of her real life. Only Saki's blank acceptance and Tohru's all-welcoming complacency about it all kept her from rejecting all that she had seen. Arisa chuckled to herself. Man, that girl…
"We need to find something today," Arisa muttered. "What with that Kagura's girl's lead being a dead end and all."
"Are you sure you want to find something?" Saki murmured back. "Something about all of this feels very strange to me."
"Yeah. I do," Arisa said definitely, eyeing Saki askance. "Did you see Tohru yesterday? She kept tripping and running into things because she was so worried. You know, Orange Top's locked himself in his room again."
"Yes," Saki whispered. "And it is indeed a shame that his bracelet was stolen, but I'm not sure that I am ready to know why it was taken. As I said, this all feels very strange to me. It's almost… otherworldly."
"Otherworldly?" Arisa laughed. "What, you think a ghost did it? Hana, you're starting to lose your credibility."
"No. Not that kind of otherworldly."
Arisa stared at her, but Hana made no indication that she was joking. "Um, sure, all right. Why don't we check out the front of the school?"
Kagura Sohma's comment over Sunday breakfast about Belduine hadn't proved to be much use in finding him and in a day and a half they had drawn no closer to recovering Kyo's bracelet. All they knew was that some girls Kagura went to school with had found a foreigner named Belduine interesting, and there was a rumor he had been asking about a family named Sohma. Arisa and Hana had spent all of yesterday afternoon plodding about Kagura's school hoping to gather more information, but being a local community college, Kagura's school's grounds were extensive, and after an entire afternoon of interrogating strangers, Saki announced that there was nothing there to find. Nobody they ran into had ever heard of Belduine Terwhin. Nobody knew anything about a stolen beaded bracelet. When they returned empty-handed to Shigure's, Arisa noticed that Kyo's hope was dropping and Tohru's optimism had escalated to new levels of enthusiasm, a sure sign that she was really starting to fret.
Today was a school day, and it was with growing frustration that they resorted to Arisa's original plan to check out the place where Kyo had been attacked. Arisa got up and came to school early today with a good attitude, but now she was getting irritated. On top of walking all over campus with Saki and discovering nothing useful for the second day in a row, she was probably going to have to go to class now.
"Minami," Saki said suddenly.
Arisa lifted her head, snapping out of her thoughts by the sound of that name uttered from Hana's lips. Granted, Saki often said strange things, but mentioning individual members of the Prince Yuki Fan Club by name was notable when 'those girls' usually sufficed to categorize them. "Where?" Arisa asked, oddly intrigued. Saki's observations were always to be taken on at least somewhat of a serious level.
Saki pointed with one rigidly extended arm to where a rather plain girl with sandy hair separated into pigtails was walking down the hallway, trailing one hand along the wall, looking rather lost in thought.
"She looks kind of out of it," Arisa muttered. "And she's alone. Where are those Prince Yuki Fan Club friends of hers? Don't they have meetings on Monday mornings?"
"I'm surprised," Hana murmured, "that you would know that."
Arisa put her hands casually behind her head and faked a smile. "Hey, it's not like I'm thinking of joining or anything. But what about Minami? Think she dropped out?"
Saki's response was interjected. "I think she heard you."
Minami had looked up vaguely, turning to look around her as if not sure who had said her name. Her eyes swept over Saki and Arisa twice before she realized there was nobody else nearby. "What do you want, Yankee?" she demanded loudly. Her eyes strayed nervously toward Saki, but Saki made no aggressive moves, her face and eyes as blank and placid as always.
Arisa strolled a few feet toward her. "I was just wondering where the stalker squad was today," she said conversationally as she flashed Minami a falsely threatening smile. "Did they kick you out of the club? Or are you looking to get the jump on the Prince alone for a change?"
"Huh?" Minami said with complete bafflement. Then, as if operating on a five- second delay, she blinked, looked down at her feet and pressed her fingers to her temples. "Oh, right. Yuki," she muttered, and her face turned an interesting shade of crimson. "I completely forgot. Today is Monday. How could I forget?"
"That's what we were wondering!"
Three girls rounded the corner in a group, all of them prominent members in the Prince Yuki Fanclub and all of them glaring at Minami with equal expressions of severe chastisement. "Ah hell," Arisa muttered to Hana, "guess they'll work it out. We might as well go to class." But strangely, Saki remained where she was. Following her cue, Arisa waited. The club did not seem to notice them standing there, quietly off to the side.
"So where were you yesterday and this morning?" one of the girls demanded of Minami. Arisa wasn't sure what her name was. They all looked the same after awhile.
Minami held out her hands defensively. Her face alternated between an embarrassed blush and a foolish smile. "Um, well, actually, I went on a date."
Arisa burst out laughing.
"Interesting." Saki twisted her head slightly and because everyone had been eyeing her either nervously or curiously, they all turned to look at what she was watching.
Yuki had appeared at the edge of the school grounds, arms hanging loosely at his sides as he strolled toward them with Tohru on his left. Yuki was looking down at Tohru, speaking quietly, and she was looking back up at him with eyes so wide she seemed lost and a gaping smile on her face. The Fan Club girls shot Tohru identical looks of jealous hatred, expressions that didn't smooth over until Yuki and Tohru came closer and Yuki looked up.
"Miss Uotani. Miss Hanajima." He turned his eyes politely toward the others. "Good morning, girls."
Minami looked fit to die. The shade of her face would have shamed a flamingo. She blathered and sputtered to herself, almost under her breath, standing stock still, as if she could turn invisible by not moving. Forcibly ignoring her, the rest of the Prince's fan club looked slightly dazed, mesmerized by Yuki's every little gesture, some of them catching their breath if his eyes crossed over them.
Yuki wasn't paying attention. His gaze had shifted back to Tohru as if she were the obvious thing for his eyes to latch onto when he wasn't doing something else. Tohru seemed to be oblivious, but Arisa sighed inwardly, tapping her fingers against her arm. Though she did like attractive men, Yuki was a bit too pretty for Arisa's tastes. Those large, amazing eyes of his made it seem as if he was an open and approachable person, but something about him was mysterious. Arisa liked honest people best, and wondered suddenly if the Prince wasn't hiding more secrets than his curse. His popularity seemed a part of him. He was the kind of person you either immediately hated with jealousy or admired in spite of your envy. Beautiful, graceful, athletic, scholarly and unfailingly polite, he was a princely figure, remarkable in almost any crowd. Arisa preferred someone she could yell at who knew how to answer, someone she could make fun of who would poke fun back, someone kind and intelligent even when he seemed clueless, like that man--Kureno--that she had met in the convenience store that one time. But Tohru was not like Arisa. What was Tohru like? Who could be good enough for her? Was even the Prince enough? Tohru always seemed half startled whenever she was in Yuki's presence in public, as if she couldn't quite reconcile herself being at all close to someone like Yuki. But Yuki was not as oblivious to Tohru, and it was growing more obvious all the time.
The fan girls were practically glowering. The malicious glares they aimed at Tohru crossed badly with the simpering smiles they tried to simultaneously adopt for Yuki. The result was rather comical.
"Kyo not coming then?" Arisa asked as casually as she could so as not to upset Tohru, smiling for the fan girls as she turned her back on them.
Yuki's expression was unreadable but Tohru looked troubled. "Um, no," she began worriedly, but as if realizing the way she sounded, abruptly raised her energy as if to convince them that there was nothing at all the matter. "He said he wasn't feeling well and that he doesn't seem to want to be in anyone's company today. But… I think it's okay if he misses a day of school. I mean what if… what if something bad happens to him?"
Arisa knew what she meant; she could read the fear and pain and worry in Tohru's eyes. Kyo was wounded and unstable. The thought of his transformation still made her feel sick and numb inside. She never wanted to see anything like that again. Perhaps school was not the best place for him. And yet, he was the only one who might be able to recognize his attacker. But suppose they never found anything? He could not shut himself away from the world forever…could he? Arisa felt a lump of foreboding plummet from her heart to her stomach.
"Don't be ridiculous," Minami was protesting in a loud whisper to her friends in the background, eyeing Yuki out of the corner of her eye. " I felt like all I talked about was Prince Yuki!" She stamped her foot emphatically. "I'm still a member! No guy is ever going to be able to push the Prince from his rightful place in my heart! I mean…" She floundered, still blushing furiously.
"I wonder," Saki said suddenly, looking up, "if Minami's date was with anyone we know."
"Why do you care?" Arisa said. "Are you thinking about joining their club now?"
"I don't know when the meetings are," Saki replied.
"She… went on a date?" Yuki processed with a slow blink. His expression made her think suddenly of a mouse.
Arisa raised an eyebrow and smirked teasingly. "Aw, come on Prince. Don't tell me you're feeling jilted. Gonna miss the fan club if they all get boyfriends?"
The vulnerable expression she had seen vanished, replaced by aloof annoyance. "That doesn't even deserve a reply," Yuki said blandly, and the subtle snap of irritation in his undertone was surprisingly satisfying. But before Arisa could follow up with another jibe, she was cut off.
"Perhaps we should talk to them," Saki murmured, sounding oddly serious. "The fan club girls."
Arisa blinked at her. "What are you talking about, Hana?"
"I want to hear about Minami's date."
Even Tohru looked stunned, mouth hanging open. Yuki just appeared startled.
"You're joking, right?" Arisa said with an understanding smile, one hand on her hip. When Saki just looked at her, she let her arm fall to her side. "Tell me you're joking, Hana."
"No," Saki said in a drawn out, certain tone. "Why would I be joking?"
Before Saki could propose speaking to the Prince Yuki Fan Club again, a bit of the club's conversation drifted over to them.
"Oh, I know who you mean!" one girl squealed with sudden recognition. "He asked me out too!"
"Oh yeah," another girl said. "Short, right? Bright smile? He was cute. I talked to him at the mall on Friday."
Minami's pink blush darkened to an angry scarlet. At this rate, Arisa wondered if her face was ever going to return to its natural color. But then, it was almost an improvement. "What?" came Minami's outraged demand. "Did you go with him?"
"No, I was too busy," said the first girl, seemingly unconcerned.
"I never agree to a date the first time someone asks," said the other flippantly. "Unless it was Prince Yuki, of course," she amended.
"Hey, did you hear…?"
Their voices dropped suddenly, as if they realized that others were listening in, but continued to whisper to one another. Every once and awhile, one of the girls would look toward them, and Arisa caught the names "Yuki" and "Sohma" several times.
Arisa saw Saki glance toward Yuki as if weighing him on a scale.
Yuki seemed highly perplexed, staring at the girls as if he had never seen them before. "Excuse me," he said, and the fan girls immediately stopped making any sound, a dead silence falling across the whole hallway. "What did you just say?"
The fan club girls looked so shocked that he was speaking to them that they failed to form a coherent response for several creeping moments. Several of them were starting to match Minami's coloring.
The bell rang.
"Um," Tohru said uncertainly, looking up at Yuki from where she stood by his shoulder. "We'll be late to class."
"Yeah," Minami said, sounding half-strangled. "We have to… I gotta go!"
She took off at a dead run, as if talking to Yuki about another boy would have put her in her in an early grave. The other girls seemed to hang in suspended animation for a few moments until, staring at Yuki like he was some sort of apparition, they bolted after her. Yuki was staring at nothing, his eyes directed inward toward some mix of questions that didn't quite materialize in his expression.
"I don't understand this," said Yuki slowly. "Why did they keep staring at me?"
"Uh," Arisa said slowly, taking measure of him with her eyes. "If you haven't noticed, Prince, they always stare at you."
"Yuki?" Tohru said worriedly, turning her eyes on him.
"I know, but they were talking about me," Yuki said, narrowing his eyes. "And it was different. I'm not even sure it was just about me."
"Very suspicious," Saki murmured, and passed him by on her was to class.
Yuki still seemed concerned, but after a moment the Student Council President in him rallied and he straightened, looking into the distance as if trying to work something out. "I think I'll call Shigure," he said slowly. "I don't like this. Something is wrong."
"Yes," Saki said from up ahead. "Too much coincidence and pattern in what we have been hearing. I would be happy to call Kazuma myself."
Arisa gave her a slightly appraising look. "Um, yeah, sure, Hana. But uh…why should we call him?"
Saki's expression remained unchanged. "He can persuade Kyo to come to school."
"Kyo?" Tohru said worriedly.
But Saki didn't explain.
TBC
Chapter 5 will be posted this afternoon. 3.9.03
