Disclaimer: Please don't sue me! I'm poor! I don't own them so you can't! You can't!
Okay, I really should have put this before Chapter 10, but oh well. I shall recover!
I wantss them. I needss them. Mussst have... reviewssss! Yes preciousss... reviewssss...
Fine fine. As requested by luvu4ever... sorry Kyo.
Kyo- Hmph.
Pagechan-I said I was sorry! Isn't that enough or you?
Kyo- No.
Pagechan- (Picks up pen menacingly...) Damn. I can't do it. (pokes Kyo in the head with pen) You better be happy that luvu4ever's on your side.
Kyo-(mouthing to luvu4ever) Thank you.
Chapter 11: The Zodiac Legend and Stubborn Wings(A/N: Yes I know, crappy title. Live with it!)
"Shigure!" Kyo yelled as he threw the door to Shigure's study open.
"Why do you have to be so loud in the morning?" Shigure whined.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Kyo asked, ignoring the annoying whimpering.
"Tell you what?" Shigure put on an innocent face. (A/N: trust me... they're not too convincing.)
"That she was there!"
"Who was where?" Shigure smiled. He lived for doing things like this. That's why his poor poor editor suffers.
"YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT DAMMIT!" Kyo yelled, obviously giving in to Shigure's cruel joke.
"You mean Eiko?"
"Yeah." Kyo calmed down, and sat on the floor, leaning his back on the door. "I saw her walking around the Main House around New Years."
"Actually..." Shigure put his pen to his temple in thought. "I'm not too sure why." Kyo looked up.
"I thought you might've had something to do with it." Kyo gave him a suspicious look.
"Nope. Not this time. I had nothing to do with it. I do wonder though..."
"What?"
"She was at the banquet, but I had no idea that she had even left home."
"She was at the banquet?" Kyo was about to say something else, but stopped himself.
"What are you two yelling about so early in the morning?" Eiko asked as she walked into the room. "Could it be so important hat you wake up the whole house?"
"Shut up. We weren't that loud," Kyo said.
"No. We weren't. But you were," Shigure added.
"Anyway, who was at the banquet?" Eiko asked.
"Ah, no one." Kyo looked away.
"Speaking of the banquet, why weren't you there, Kyo? You're a zodiac member too, right?"
"Humph." Kyo stood up. He was getting more and more sick of the conversation as it continued. He walked out of the room, and up to the roof.
"The cat has never been allowed to go to the banquet. It's a tradition, based on the zodiac legend."
"The zodiac... legend?"
(A/N: Okay. I know that everyone knows the legend, and if you don't... shame on you! Anyway, for the plot purposes, I will recite it. You people that don't know it are lucky. I'm only letting you get away with it once.)
"You don't know it? Well..."
"Once upon a time... God told the animals... 'I'm inviting you all to my banquet tomorrow. Don't be late!'... Hearing that, the mischievous rat lied to his neighbor, the cat, and told him the banquet would be the day after tomorrow. The next day, the rat rode on the back of the ox and nimbly landed before the banquet hall. After him followed the ox, the tiger, and all the rest, and together they feasted until morning. All except for the cat who had been tricked. When God and the animals were enjoying the banquet on the far off mountain... The cat was dreaming of a banquet the next day that would never happen, sleeping soundly unaware of the deceit."
"Poor Kyo..."
"What was that?"
"Oh-I-uh, I said 'The poor cat'." Shigure chuckled.
"That's what Tohru said."
"But that isn't right. Kyo should be allowed to go to the banquet. He's not the cat of so long ago."
"Hmm... You may be right, but we can't do anything about it. Akito's word is law." Eiko silently shivered at Akito's name.
Meanwhile... With Kyo:
Kyo walked upstairs towards Yuki's room. He didn't get any answers from Shigure, so he had to resort to Yuki.
"Hey, rat," he said as he slammed Yuki's door open.
"What do you want?" Yuki asked, annoyed that the most annoying person in the house interrupted his homework.
"What's up with Eiko and the banquet?" Kyo asked.
"That's none of your business," Yuki replied blankly.
"Yes it is. I'm a Sohma too, aren't I?" Kyo asked, trying to keep his cool.
"By blood, yes, but you're an outcast. You don't belong." Yuki stood up and turned to Kyo. "And you never will."
"SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY THAT!"
"I have the right to say what I want."
"I'LL MAKE YOU TAKE THOSE WORDS BACK!" Kyo leapt towards Yuki in an attempt to punch him. Yuki dodged it, and kicked him in the stomach.
"What the hell are you two doing?" Eiko asked as she slammed the door open. The two froze, Kyo in mid-punch, and Yuki blocking it. Kyo was the first to speak.
"This has nothing to do with you! So stand back!" Kyo and Yuki started fighting again. In a flash, Eiko stood in between them. Yuki, about to punch Kyo, missed and hit Eiko in the shoulder... her bruised shoulder.
"Aahh!" Eiko grabbed her shoulder and fell to her knees.
"Ah!" Kyo stepped back from shock. He didn't even see her get between them.
"Miss Eiko! Are you all right?" Yuki kneeled down next to her. Eiko would have said that she was fine, but the pain in her shoulder left her unable to speak. She just silently screamed, wincing in pain. "Let me see it." He moved her hand away from her shoulder. She continued to scream (silently). Obviously, Yuki couldn't see anything since her sleeve was in the way. He took the sleeve at the shoulder, and ripped it at the seam. Both he and Kyo gasped. There was a huge black and purple mark there, but now it was even worse. It was swollen, and obviously extremely painful.
"Wh-what the hell did you do?" Kyo asked as he stared at the bruise.
"I didn't do this..." Yuki said. Eiko had stopped screaming, but was breathing heavily from the pain. "Quick, go get some ice." Kyo nodded, not even bothering to argue, and ran downstairs.
"I heard a scream, is something wrong?" Tohru walked into the room with Shigure behind. "Ah! E-Eiko! Are you all right?" She rushed over to Eiko. Eiko looked up, tried to force a smile, and winced in pain.
"I-... I'm... okay..." Eiko managed to say between gasps. Kyo came in with the ice.
"Here," he said, handing Eiko the ice pack.
"Th-thanks." Eiko held the ice pack to her shoulder, and sighed with relief. The ice pack decreased the pain a great deal.
"I'll call Ha'ri." Shigure left the room. Eiko stood up, walked over to Yuki's bed, and sat down.
"I'm so sorry, Miss Eiko. I didn't see you there at all," Yuki apologized.
"It's okay... at least nothing was damaged." Eiko smiled.
"What are you talking about? You seem pretty damaged to me," Kyo said. Eiko and Yuki glared at him.
"Really, it's fine. The bruise was already there, so don't-" Eiko stopped herself before she said anything else.
"What?" All three of them asked.
"N-nothing. It's nothing."
"Are you saying someone did this to you?" Yuki asked.
"N-no! Well, yes... but it's really nothing." They all stared at her and she sighed. "Fine. One night I was coming home from work, and some guy tried to mug me. He hit me, but I knocked him unconcious and ran off."
"Did it work?"
"Are you okay?" Tohru asked, believing Eiko's story.
"I'm fine now. It was a while ago." She looked over to Yuki and Kyo. Kyo had seemed to buy it, but she couldn't tell what Yuki was thinking.
"Might as well use this to tell them about my other bruise, so they don't get suspicious."
"He also got me on my side." Eiko lifted the left side of her shirt a little bit so they could see the bruise from the dance with Akito. Hatori soon came over.
"It's good to see you again, Eiko."
"It's good to see you too, but it would have been nicer if it wasn't because of my bruises."
"I see. Show me them." Eiko lifted her shirt a little again so that he could see the bruise. (The other was in plain sight.) "This one's new..." Hatori said as he put some medicine on her side. Yuki gave her a look. She put a hand behind her neck and shrugged. "Please leave, I need to treat her wounds." Everyone left, and they were alone. "So, what happened?"
"I got in the middle of Yuki and Kyo's fight... but Yuki didn't see me and accidentally punched my shoulder."
"And your side?"
"New Years banquet."
"I see. You should be more careful. Angel reflexes aren't always a good thing."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't want them fighting anymore..."
Outside...
"What is going on? "New"? So she really was lying. She has so many secrets..." Yuki thought as they waited for Hatori to finish. "Why is she so distant from us? We're her friends..." The door soon opened, and Hatori walked out with Eiko. She smiled brightly as if to say that everything is okay and that they shouldn't worry.
"She'll be fine," Hatori said. Shigure walked Hatori to the door.
"There's something you're not telling me..." Shigure said.
"Yes. There is." Hatori continued out to his car.
"That's not fair! I wanna know too!" Shigure whined.
"I can't tell you. It's up to Eiko." Hatori got into his car and left.
-----------------------------------
A week went by, and Eiko's wounds started to get better. The one on her side was almost gone. Almost everyone had forgotten about the incident. Yuki and Kyo were walking home from the grocery store with Eiko and Tohru. Eiko and Tohru were happily chattering about nothing in particular, when they turned the corner. Eiko ran into Yuki, who had suddenly stopped.
"Yuki? What's-" Eiko had walked in front of him to see why he stopped and soon figured out why. There was a dog slowly walking down the street towards them. It was staggering along, as if it were drunk. Eiko looked closer and realized... it had rabies.
"Oh, no!" Tohru whispered. "What do we do?"
"It's getting closer!" Eiko said. Suddenly, the dog ran towards them, mostly at Eiko since she was closest. It snarled and shook it's head, foam from its mouth flying.
"Eiko!" Everyone yelled. The dog had leapt to attack, but before it got too close, Eiko screamed and fell to her knees, clutching her shoulders as pained seared through her back. The dog stopped for a moment, clearly confused, but it regained itself and began advancing on her again.
"Shit! My wings...! But I can't let them see...!"
Seeing that no one was nearby, Kyo hugged Tohru.
"Wha-?" Tohru turned bright red. Kyo transformed in a POOF. The dog, taken aback by the smoke, looked over. I noticed the cat and began barking madly.
"Get out of here! Now!" Kyo yelled as he ran, the dog in hot pursuit. Yuki and Tohru stared after him in awe. A scream from Eiko shook them out of their daze.
"Miss Eiko! What's wrong?" Yuki bent down, but she pushed him away a little bit.
"Yuki... please... turn around... and no matter... what you hear... don't look." Eiko said, doubling over in pain.
"But-"
"Please... you have to trust me." Eiko looked up at him desperatly. "Tohru... don't let him look." Tohru nodded. Eiko screamed one last time, and her wings shot out of her back. Blood shot out of her back as he wings tore through her skin. Her shirt split open as her blood covered wings spread out behind her. Tears streamed from her eyes from the pain. Yuki tried to turn, but Tohru held his shoulders in place. Her eyes were wide, and her face pale. Eiko, shaking, stood up, and shot off into the sky, blood dripping to the ground like rain beneath her. She flew away as Yuki turned. He didn't look up, so he didn't see her, but he did see the large pool of blood where she had once been standing. He walked over to the blood, and picked up a blood covered feather. Eiko was nowhere to be found.
Author's Notes: Owies! My back feels sore now. I have some stupid problem that when I read about or see a picture of pain, it hurts wherever the wound was. Anyway... muahaha! Cliffhanger! Man, I've wanted to do that for a while. Yay! Please R&R(for you not smart people:Read and Review)