Title: In the Hands of Mine Enemy
Author/Artist: Maria Szabo
Pairing: Kureno/Arisa
Fandom: Fruits Basket
Theme: #2/News; letter
Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki and her publishers and distributors. This is a work of fanfiction and no profit is being made save that of enjoyment.

He's betrayed you, Akito.

It had been Momiji, of all people, who had put the idea into Shigure's head, and for the life of him, he couldn't drop the thought. The possibility excited him, enthralled him, gave him a sense of purpose again.

He waited now, at the main house, patiently, his heart racing. No, he'd never expected something like this to fall into his lap, but he certainly wouldn't hesitate to make use of the information when the right time presented itself.

He'd actually only wanted a copy of the DVD that Momiji had made of his cousins' school play so that he could tease Yuki and Kyou about it. It was just harmless fun. Yuki would pretend that he didn't care, then go back to his room and stew about it, and Kyou would throw one of his temper tantrums, threaten to beat someone up, and then somehow find a way to blame Yuki for the problem.

The play itself had been amusing. He'd taken a peek at Touru's script beforehand, but what had resulted onstage bore little resemblance to the written product. There had either been a lot of ad-libbing or a lot of re-writing going on there. That strange Saki-chan had been an odd choice for the main character of Cinderella, but he had to admit she looked fetching in that costume ("Another example of my genius!" Ayame had exclaimed when he mentioned the design weeks before, "Gothic-lolita will be all the rage!"), and he even managed to make a few notes about her that he could apply to one of the characters in the new novel he was writing. Yuki could act. Kyou could not—neither could Touru for that matter. That Yankee friend of Touru's gave it a good shot, but had gotten distracted and in frustration had spouted off in a personal monologue that had interrupted the play.

"'I want to meet with you…come see me…' Strange to hear her say that. What in the world?"

"It's true love! And when he sees this…" Momiji had laughed merrily and smirked at Touru, who blushed and shook her head at him. But that boy was never one to keep a secret, and as soon as Touru had left the room to get some tea for them, Shigure pressed the issue.

"What's this about Uotani, then? Who's she talking about?"

"Oh, it's classic!" Momiji's eyes lit up. "You'd never guess!"

"Then tell me."

"Nope."

He thought a minute. "It's not me, is it?"

"Ha, ha! Shigure, she can't stand you!"

He had picked up on that. The girl didn't trust him, and was the kind to let him know that to his face. He didn't like it, but he respected her all the more for it. "Someone in the audience?"

"He wasn't there." Momiji wasn't going to tell him, but he could narrow down the suspects.

"Someone we know, though?"

"Mmm." He nodded. "All in the family, you might say. But I'm still not gonna tell you."

"Brat." Shigure swatted at him with the book he was perusing, but the boy dodged easily. "Keep your secrets. I don't care."

He stuck out his tongue at this, and gathered up his backpack. "Tell Touru I can't stay, okay? I need to drop off these copies…Kazuma-san wanted one, and I made one for Ha-san and Aya-san, too."

"But you have four there…who's the other one for?"

"Oh, that's for Kureno…" he babbled, and then stopped suddenly. "I mean, for Kureno to give to Akito. Don't you think Akito would like to see it?"

"You're not supposed to be talking with Kureno…why not give it directly to Akito?"

"Ah, well, you know…" he looked a little sad. "I'm not exactly a favorite."

And the last time you were with her alone, she beat you. It was true, he supposed, that Momiji wasn't one of Akito's favorites. But it wasn't like him to try to avoid her, either. And why give it to Kureno? Momiji spent most of his time living in Hatori's house—couldn't he have him pass the DVD on if he didn't want to see Akito?

That's when it hit him.

She's in love with Kureno? How the hell…

Actually, the entire concept of that loud, brash, yakuza-wanna-be together with his quiet nemesis was laughable. But opposites have been known to attract. He certainly wrote about the subject often enough. The question was whether Kureno felt the same way towards Uotani. Momiji had evidently thought so, otherwise he wouldn't be trying to pass on her not-so-subtle message to him. And how on earth had those two managed to ever even meet? Kureno almost never left Akito's side…

It all fits, he thought, as he watched the sun flit across the floorboard of the foyer in Akito's house. Something was going on…Akito had complained to him that Kureno had seemed out of sorts, back in the summer when she came to the beach house. But she thought it was because Ren had been making advances at him again. And to be fair, Ren probably was. But evidently Ren wasn't the woman Akito had to be worried about. He'd thought at the time that Akito was just being insecure.

Now it was just a question of how to use this information to his best advantage.

The shoji panel slid open, and Akito wandered in, her eyes reflecting another sleepless night. For a moment, he felt a brief stab of pity. Once again, that strange protective urge that he'd felt since childhood for her threatened to engulf him. If only she…but then Kureno followed silently in her wake, taking his customary place in the corner. His eyes met Shigure's for a mere second, and in them was reflected a lifetime of suspicion and dislike.

And you're trying to protect her from me, little bird? Forget pity. He was going to enjoy sharing the news, when the time finally came.

FIN