"…Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones,

with on going suffering as the youth die young,

so ask yourself "Is the lovin' really gone?",

so I can ask myself "Really what is going wrong?",

with this world that we're livin' in,

people keep on givin' in,

making wrong descions, only visions of them pivin' and

not respecting each other, deny thy brother,

a war's going on but the reason's undercover.

The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug,

If you never know truth than you never know love,

Where's the love ya'll? I don't know!

Where's The Truth Ya'll? I Don't Know!"

"Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas


"So…why are you sick, anyway?"

The black-haired child looked over at his companion suddenly. This is the first time she had mentioned his illness since…well, since the day she found out. In fact, he had been almost sure she had forgotten about it all together…he had hoped she had forgotten about it all together. But, staring into her wide, blue eyes, he knew he had to answer.

"I…I, well…"

He stopped. Why was he sick? The five years he had spent on this planet, everyone had told him that he was going to die young…but not one had explained to him why. When he was younger, he had just accepted it as a fact. But now…faced with the question itself…

"I'm not really sure".

The little girl stared inquisitively at him, up at the willow they were sitting beneath, and then down at her own two feet. "Oh…". When she turned to look at her playmate again, she found a sad expression hovering over his face as he stared over at the stream.

"Hey!" she said suddenly, startling the little boy. "Do you want to skip stones in the river?"

"Wha…oh…sure!" Snapping out of his thoughts, he followed the little girl to the stream. "You've skipped stones before?" he asked.

The girl grinned, embarrassed. "Ummm…not really…but, I was hoping you could show me…"

The boy smiled to himself. "Alright!" Bending over, he searched the river bank. "First, you have to find a pebble…flat ones work best…"

"Like this one?"

He looked over to see his companion holding up a leaf. Laughing, he continued. "Err, not quite…that's a leaf!"

"Oh…"

"Here's one". Grabbing a smooth rock, he showed it to her.

After seeing one for herself, the little girl searched for a replica. "I think I got one!" she exclaimed. She, too, held up a smooth rock.

"Alright, now, try flicking it into the water, and it should skip…like this!" His stone jumped across the water's surface, until, on the fourth jump, it sunk into it's watery grave.

The other child was very impressed. "Ooh! Let me try!" Throwing her stone at the river, it landed with a PLOP! and immedeatly disappeared from sight.

"Here, I'll help you", the black-haired child said. Grabbing another stone, he placed it in her hand. "Now, throw it just like this". Taking her hands in his own, he helped her toss the stone into the river. It skipped once, and then sunk. Although the boy viewed this as a not very good skip, the girl was ecstatic.

"I skipped a stone!" she cried excitedly. In her joy, she hugged her companion.

The little boy blushed deeply, but celebrated with her. However, as his friend moved on to chuck more rocks into the water in an effort to make them skip, his melancholy feeling of earlier returned. Why was he sick? Why? And why had no one tried to explain it to him?


The early morning sunlight found its way through the spaces between the trees, and Akito soon found it flooding down upon him. Eyes opening slowly, he stared into the yard. Silence prevailed the atmosphere. Of course. It was too early for anyone to be up yet. Akito didn't mind though.

Making his way over to a bowl of water that sat in the corner of his room, he splashed some on his face. The fresh, cool water ran through his hair, and down his pale skin. Drying himself with the sleeve of his robe, something caught his eye. A small, violet bruise could be seen on his left arm, just above his elbow. Akito stared at it, his eyes narrowing. How did that get there?


Hatori dug, without much avail, through millions of books and papers. Having spent his night locked away in the estate's hidden record room, he searched everywhere he could for an explanation to Akito's sudden symptoms. For, if his suspicions were correct, the young head of family did indeed have a very short amount of time to live.

Uncovering a dusty box, the dragon opened it. A large, green tome lay inside, it's cover even dustier than it's packaging. Cracking the book open, Hatori read the title page. If it was going to be in any book, it would be in here.


Staring at the bruise, Akito ran his finger over it. A sharp pain shot through his arm, causing him to retract his hand. Gritting his teeth, the teen placed a wet towel against it. "Hatori, this better not be a reaction to one of your needles…" he muttered, holding up his arm.

"You're sick?"

"What do you think?" Akito said sarcastically, answering the voice in his now pounding head.

"So…why are you sick, anyway?"

"How would I know?" Akito snarled, cradling his bruised arm.

"So…why are you sick, anyway?"

"HOW THE HECK SHOULD I KNOW!"

"Did you call, Master Akito?"

Angrily whipping his head in the direction of the servant, he stared long and hard for a moment, before returning to his arm. "No, you can leave".

The servant bowed, and started to leave the room, when Akito stopped them.

"Wait…get Hatori while your at it…" Akito started, getting up to walk over to the door. As soon as his legs had straightened, a familiar pain, only stronger, cracked through his head, unbalancing the unsuspecting teen. In an attempt to stay upright, Akito placed his hand against the wall…only to find it not there. His vision swimming, the head of family teetered uneasily.

"Are you all right, Master Akito?"

The servant's voice seemed to drift to him as though she was very far. Trying to focus at the blurring image of her, he replied. "GO GET HATORI NOW!"

The tone of the boy's voice scared the servant away, and she took off to find the family doctor, leaving Akito struggling on his own.

Unable to stay up any longer, Akito fell to his knees. Dropping the wet cloth, he placed his hands in front of him, in order to keep from falling face first to the floor. The teen panted heavily. His vision started to flicker, and moments later, the room blackened. Slipping in the darkness, Akito now lay on the floor. "Hatori…" he breathed. "I…I…need…HATORI!"


Author's note:

For all who could not tell, in my stories Akito is always a man. Also, this follows the manga a little closer than the anime, so the meeting between Tohru and Akito in episode 26 did not occur in corrilation to my story.

I apologize ahead of time, I will NOT be responding to reviews via author's notes (because of the new rule that has been put in place)...instead, I will email you. If you do not wish for me to respond to you, let me know, and you will not recieve an email :)