Yuki felt his back stiffen as he served a couple of girls in the back corner of the room. He shivered as he turned around and realized the rest of the people in the room where looking a the door. He was a tall man, white, flawless skin with a pair of large eyes that could make any girl swoon. But the twisted smirk on his face, as he watch Yuki, made the senior shake. He wore a plain black suit, with a small medallion over the breast pocket. It twinkled cruelly shining in Yuki's eye. Then the conversations started again, and the moment passed.
Akito sat at the smallest table situated where Yuki usually sat during class. Calculated so that Yuki would now remember him sitting there every time he went to school, Akito knew things like that, and took full advantage of them. Tohru moved to help him, but the head of the Sohma's waved her away and watched Yuki finish serving the order to the giggling girls who did not realize that his entire attention was on the man sitting behind them, not their developing flirtation skills.
Yuki took a deep breath, "you will not be intimidated, you will ask for his order, he will not cause a scene in a public place…" over and over under his breath until he got to Akito's table.
"Akito-san," Yuki bowed and did not look up. He could feel several eyes on him, customers and classmates who did not know why this young man was important enough to rate that courtesy.
"Yuki, I have not seen you lately." he smirked.
"You have not been well…"
"Then doesn't it reason that I would want you by my side?"
"Akito-san…"
"Sick people enjoy visitors."
"You were asleep…"
"What do you think you're doing here anyway?"
"Excuse me?"
"This school… its filled with accidents waiting to happen." he glared at the girls Yuki had just finished serving.
"I'm careful…"
"Obviously not enough if so many people know about the curse… who read my books?"
"Akito-"
"Who was that man talking about?" Akito hissed, his arm shot out and grabbed Yuki's wrist. He fought to keep the tray he held in his grasp. Akito tugged, Yuki gasped as the nails dug into his skin. But he had had practice in not crying out his pain during public confrontations like this, and Akito was not worried about discipline slacking for so little damage. He could feel a slight wetness against the tips of his fingers and was not impressed.
"Excuse me." a deep voice came from behind Akito. He froze in place, his fingernails still drawing blood from Yuki's wrist as he turned his head around.
"You." he snarled.
"I must insist that you release my student."
"You're a teacher?" he shook his head in amazement. "I'll have you brought up on charges."
"For what? Demanding that you stop assaulting my students?" Eriol cocked an eyebrow and watched with a straight face as Akito's fingers stiffly raised from Yuki's wrist. "Meilin, can you take Yuki to the nurses office?" his descendant was waiting behind him, in his shadow, for the moment to swoop in and take Yuki away. She complied readily and waited for Yuki to join her. His face was paler that Akito's, Meilin took and wrapped a white dish cloth that had been tucked into his apron, around his wrist. She guided him away with a hand to his shoulder.
Li and Sakura watched from the front corner of the room as the two passed. They had been making tea, and not noticed the confrontation until Eriol had come into the room and swore.
They watched as Eriol confronted the Sohma, and then as Meilin pulled Yuki from the room. Eriol leaned real close to Akito's face, and the pale young man started shaking. Then he stood abruptly and stalked from the room, his glare raking over every person in the room. Most avoided meeting his eye, but Sakura and Li lifted their chins. They were descendants of Clow Reed, no stupid curse would cow them. Akito snarled as he passed them, but kept walking until his angry footsteps no longer radiated down the hall.
The nurse was not in the office. She had been called away to treat a burn from one of the other classes who were serving rice balls and fried octopus. Meilin just sat Yuki down on a bed and rummaged around for creams and peroxide and bandage wraps. Yuki stared at the white wall, still unable to say anything, or think of anything at all. For a minute he had regressed to the boy… that small boy in that large room… the pain had been constant, tiny pricks of it everywhere…disorienting and horribly sharp in his mind he had seen Akito standing over him with a cherry blossom branch, the tiny petals flying every which way as he brought it down… and down… and….
"YUKI!"
"WHAT?" Yuki jumped as Meilin screamed his name.
"Whats wrong with you? I've been asking you questions for a couple of minutes now." She finished bandaging the wrist and tucked the end into the coils to hold it in place.
"Sorry…" he sighed and leaned back against the headboard. "Akito always turns me into a basket case.
"He's the one who was in a coma when we went to the estate, right?"
"He's the head of the family… and he seems to enjoy torturing others. Especially members of the zodiac… especially me…" he hadn't meant to confess, but she was sitting there so patiently, waiting for his words. For a second he revisited that dark room, but as he looked into her wide open eyes he saw himself standing with her… He jerked away quickly, realizing that he wanted nothing more than to just grab her tohim and bury his face against her stomach and just hide from the rest of the world. He panicked, he tried to convince himself. It was panic having him think those things.
"Oh, Yuki, I'm sorry…" Meilin wasn't sure if it was really the right thing to do yet, but the pain in his eyes decided her. She felt her hands cup his cheeks and turn his face to meet hers.
Yuki felt her breath lightly on his lips and trembled. His breath shaking in and out of his mouth. Meilin moved in and brushed her lips hesitantly over his, then stood back as he took in a deep breath and gripped the edge of the mattress with trembling fingers.
"Meilin…" Yuki closed his eyes and waited for the RAT to stop jumping in his stomach. He had his own nerves, and the nerves of his curse to deal with. Meilin stepped back and whipped her hands behind her waist.
"I'm sorry, I didn't…" she chuckled shortly, ruefully at herself.
"I… No, I'm sorry… I shouldn't…" Yuki forced himself to stop stuttering, closed his eyes and hung his head. So many emotions, fear, anger at his own inability to stand up to Akito, that sharp sense of pain lingered in his wrist. Those conflicted terribly with the soft glow he experienced as Meilin's lips rested briefly on his own. Before he really knew what he was doing his arms reached out and slid up her arms. "Just one second is all it takes." he scoffed and pulled her into his arms.
For that one second she was against him, she felt his shiver and he felt her sigh. Then a puff cloud and she was falling, unbalanced, onto the bed. She caught herself on her elbows, well aware that Yuki could be completely squished by her if she fell on him. She shifted until she sat on the floor, and just watched as Yuki curled into a little gray fuzz ball on the end of the bed.
"Yuki?" she asked in a small voice.
"I'll turn back in a minute Meilin." his voice was the same coming from the tiny rat as it was coming from the taller human, but he sounded so tired that Meilin wanted to cry for him. She scooped him up and hugged the rat gently.
"Not if I still have you like this." Yuki froze for a moment but then sank into her arms. He could sleep like this, he thought, no dreams, no fears, in the circle of her arms.
Sakura and Li watched from the window as the head of the Sohmas stalked out of the front door, down the steps, and approached the orange haired boy passing out fliers to people entering the grounds. He never saw it coming and the two at the window where too far away to pass on the warning. Akitos hand whipped out and caught Kyos hair at the base of his neck. Quickly, because if it dragged on Kyo's training would assert itself, the scowling man whipped his hand back, pulling Kyo down, then shoved as forcefully as he could. Kyo bounced off the brick wall of the school enclosure and lay with his head in the grass, panting to keep his own CAT controlled. Akito knelt down, amidst the flyers that scattered the area, and whispered something into his ear. Kyo felt his fist clench in fury, but his fear of Akito was greater than a impulse to shove his knuckles down the older boys throat.
"We'll beat you." Kyo whispered as Akito got up and left, Hatori- who had been waiting at the entrance with the car- merely opened the passanger side door and let Akito settle before closing it carefully. He then made some move toward Kyo, as if asking if the younger Sohma was all right. He backed off as Kyo glared at him. "He's going to be in for a nasty surprise soon enough." Kyo growled.
Hatori frowned a bit at the triumphant look on his cousins face. In his experience an encounter with Akito left the younger cousins shaking, not smirking.
"What do you mean Kyo?"
"You'll find out soon enough Hatori." Kyo muttered as he began to pick up fliers.
"Kyo?"
"Go home and nurse the sadistic bastard Tori. He'll be getting his own soon enough."
