Chapter 9

"Izumi!!!!" Yume cried. She fell to the ground and covered her eyes. Her sister was gone. She was no longer in this world. A gasp and a scream made Yume look up from her hands. Her sister was, yet again, standing in front of her and a red light formed all around her sister. She was yet again alive. Yume cried tears of joy when her sister looked at her.

"I told you I'd be alright Yume, didn't I." Izumi said with a kind look in her eye.

"Wha-what is going on?!" Akito yelled at her.

"What's going on is...." Izumi started and Kyo stepped out from behind her to finish the sentence.

"We're back." He said with a smile.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-you!!!!" Akito said pointing his gun at him.

"Where? When? How did you come back?!" Akito was so scared his combat boots were shaking.

"Well Akito, that's the thing." Yuki said from behind him. Akito jumped and then turned to find Yuki standing a little bit away from him.

"Y-you too?!" Akito kept turning to see Kyo and Yuki. They both were standing there. Alive. "How the hell did you make it out of that cave?!" Akito yelled at them.

"I think I can answer that." The princess Aya, who popped up at his left, said.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Me? My name is Aya. I thought you would rememeber who I am, Akito."

"You?" Akito paused. "I have never seen you before in my life."

"Yes you have. Think way back to when you were just a child."

Akito thought back. He sat there on the ground until it finally hit him.

"You!" He yelled.

"Yes. It is I. And I've come to say that your time is almost up." She started walking towards him and he scooted back everytime she took a step.

"What do you mean? You haven't.... You didn't..."

"Yes. I have and I did." Aya lifted her hands in the air and Tohru appeared in the air. She was wearing a blue, shiny dress and it was flowing around her, just like her now long flowing hair. She opened her eyes.

"No. Not her. It can't be her!" Akito said.

"Yes. It is." Aya then started to annouce what was going on. "This girl. Tohru Honda, she has passed the test of the maze, saved me from the maze, and has shown nothing but kindness and heart. This girl," Everyone held their breath. "This girl, will be the next person to rule over the Sohma estate. She will take the place of Akito."

Everyone gasped and looked at her except the masked man and Tohru herself.

"With her main guardians," Kyo and Yuki started floating towards her. "Yuki, Kyo and..." Aya looked at the masked man and sent him up with them. "Shigure, she will break the Sohma family curse."

"Shigure? Where?" They asked and looked around.

The masked man pulled his mask off and said, "Here."

Everyone's mouth dropped and the twin sisters lost there balance and had to sit on the ground.

"Yes. Today is the dawn of a new era. And I know that she, can save us all. Or save you, I should say. My duty is over, and now I fade away." Her last words were whispers as she faded to dust on the ground.

All four of the people started floating down from their places in the air. Everyone continued to stare at Tohru.

"That girl? She can't possibly take my place! She doesn't even know what our curse is!" Akito said pointing a gun at her. The guys formed around her so Akito couldn't shoot her but Tohru didn't like that.

"Its okay guys." She said. The guys backed a little bit away from her.

"He's right. I don't know what your curse is." Tohru said looking down as if depressed. She closed her eyes for a moment, opened them again and looked back up at Akito. "But that doesn't mean you can't tell me now. That doesn't mean I can't help." She said. She started moving towards Akito, one slow step at a time.

"Tohru what are you doing?" Shigure asked. They were all worried about her. They knew Akito. Whether it was his own bird, he would kill it in an instant.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She said looking back at them. She again started proceeding forward.

"Stop! I'll shoot you!"

"Would you really?" Tohru didn't stop. Akito just stared at her with wide eyes. "I don't think you'll shoot me Akito. Tell me, what is your curse?" She gained more ground with each step. Akito started stepping back. Everyone was watching, it was silent.

"Heh. Do you think I'm really going to tell you our curse so you can replace me?!"

"I can't replace you. No one ever can."

"Rubbish! Don't you know that if I die, they die?!"

"They die?" Tohru asked. She stopped her pursuit.

"Yes. I am the sole person who carries the weight of the full curse. If I die, they gain that weight if no one is born to take me place, and then slowly, they die."

"But am I not here for that reason?" Tohru asked taking another step.

"Of course not. You are merely here to get on my nerves!" Akito shot the gun. Tohru wasn't ready and it scraped her cheek leaving a cut. She was bleeding but lightly.

There was a series of yells.

"Tohru!" yelled Kyo.

"Miss Honda!" Yuki yelled.

"NO! Tohru!" Shigure yelled.

The twin girls screamed.

Tohru turned around and smiled. Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure all heard her saying, 'Don't worry, I'm fine. I can handle this.' But Tohru didn't move her mouth. She turned back around.

"Akito, you are the only one that knows, aren't you." She said as a statement more than a question. Akito gasped. He was sweating now. "You are the only one that knows." She said.

"That's not true! He's told us what our curse is! Please just come back here Tohru!" Shigure yelled to her. She and Akito were now all the way across the floor, almost ready to go out the door.

"He lied to you. You don't know the true curse, or maybe...." She stopped and then finished her sentence. "Maybe, it was only part of the curse."

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

TO BE CONTINUED