[Disclaimer] I still down own Fruits Basket. I don't think I should hold my breath either.

Chapter II

Once Yuki finally left the room, Shigure begin to reflect on what they had just discussed. He'd known that this would happen sooner or later. He'd known that Yuki had never let go of his feelings for Tohru, even after all this time. He'd also known that Yuki had been saving his money to go visit her once he had the chance. He also knew something they hadn't discussed. He knew Yuki planned to ask Tohru to marry him. As much as he wanted Yuki to be happy, to finally have something as precious as the love he kept in his heart for Tohru, Shigure knew it would not happen so easily. And most importantly, he knew that Akito would not let this happen willingly.

He missed Tohru as much as the rest of the cursed members of the Zodiac, but out of all of them, Shigure knew that Yuki missed her the most. He knew Yuki would have left Japan and moved to the United States with Tohru and Kyo if Akito didn't keep the leash so tightly clasped to Yuki's neck. This place had been stifling Yuki since the moment she stepped onto that plane. If it weren't for the constant letters from Tohru, he knew that Yuki would have crawled back in between the walls that had encircled his heart and soul for so long. Those same walls that Tohru herself had managed to breach and break down.

Tohru was amazing that way. She'd managed to break down walls that enclosed the hearts of all of the cursed Sohma's. Even Akito's wall's had been breached, though not fully broken down. That, of course, was the reason that Akito had let her go, so willingly, to the States.

While he had no formal control over Tohru, he knew that she could have taken away all the control that he had over the Sohma clan, and crush it. It was that very reason that he had encouraged her to go to a university in the States. He was even paying for her education despite the fact that she was not a true Sohma. He even had some property purchased not far from the University and had a traditional Japanese style home built on that property.

Along with the home, a dojo was built on that property for Kyo's sake. That was how he managed to get rid of the cat that he hated so much. He'd sent Kyo there under the guise of running the dojo. That was his excuse.

Shigure knew that Akito was merely trying to separate Yuki from Tohru. Akito knew that Yuki cared deeply for Tohru, that one day those feelings would become love, that one day he would want to ask for her hand in marriage, and that inevitably one day Tohru would return Yuki's feelings and accept his proposal. Akito naturally wanted to stamp out those feelings of love before they even came into being; he wanted Yuki's devotion for himself. He hoped that sending Kyo off with Tohru would lead to Yuki's withering love for Tohru and perhaps create more of a sparked interest between Kyo and Tohru.

Certainly Akito did not think that Yuki and Tohru wouldn't correspond with each other. Shigure knew that, like all the other Zodiac members, Akito received letters from Tohru updating him on how she was doing in school and what not. To his surprise, Akito even kept up with the correspondence with her.

Shigure's final lingering thought was that he hoped Yuki was prepared to face Akito and the consequences of his actions. Glancing upstairs with an almost sorrowful sigh, he rose to go order dinner.

Yuki knew this was going to be difficult. He knew going to visit Tohru was fully and completely against Akito's wishes. But he had to do this. He loved Tohru; that's all that was to it. He had to do this. He needed Tohru by his side. She was the one person that could lift his spirits when he was down; she could make him smile even when it seemed there was nothing worth smile about. She could find the good in everyone and everything around her. She even found the good in the head of the Sohma clan, the one that had caused him to close his heart off to the world in the first place. He'd even dared himself to see that same good she did in Akito. Then Akito sent her away, and with her that idiot of a cat no less.

He felt like the rat that he was, trapped in the maze, the exit nowhere in sight. Akito was the one that placed him in this maze. Akito was the one that made sure that there was no visible exit. Akito lived his life to torture all cursed family members as well as the ones they loved. Yuki was definitely no exception to this. He was certain Akito knew how he felt about Tohru, and that is why she was sent away under the pretense of college. Most of all, Yuki was certain that the only reason Akito was having Tohru's education paid for in the States was to keep her away from him. He loved Tohru more than anything, and Akito would do anything to make sure that he wouldn't be able to have anything that he truly loved.

Akito ruffled Yuki's proverbial feathers each and every time he thought about him.

A low groan escaped his lips as he thought of the torment that the Head of the Sohma clan was dragging him through. If only he could stop thinking about it, if only for a moment.

'My greatest fear is that I may be too late in telling her how I feel for her. She'd given me the courage to do things I never thought I would be able to do. Why not the courage to tell her how I felt about her, the one that had given me strength to open my heart and truly live again? If I am too late, I will have to except that she has moved on while I have not. No, I can't think like that. Surely she feels the same way that I do. Surely she would have mentioned something in her letters if she had met someone else.'

"Yuki..."

Looking up from the pillow that has become wet with his tears, "Leave me alone."

With a note of hurt in his voice, Shigure whispered, "Dinner is here."

After blinking away the last of an unshed tear, "I'll be down in a moment."