"Too late, my time has come,

send shivers down my spine, body's achin' all the time…

Good bye, everybody…

I've got to go…

Gotta Leave You All Behind, And Face The Truth!"

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen


"…Akito…"

The sheer silence that had prevailed had been broken by a single voice. While the distance made it hard to discern who the voice belonged to, one thing was for sure: it wasn't giving up.

"…Akito…"

Was it a servant? Surely the maid would have not gone against his orders and stayed with him. Maybe Hatori? No…there was something different about this voice…different…but so familiar. Could it be? She was calling him?

"Akito!"

The distant voice quickly turned loud, and the sharp noise of his own name rang in the young teen's ears. Eyes cracking open, his vision was immedeatly filled with the blinding white light of an early afternoon sun.

"He's awake", a nearby observer said, causing the head of family to turn to face them.

Squinting, Akito could make out the shape of a person…a man…tall…older…a brunette? No, not quite. As his gaze cleared, the young man's scarlet red hair made him easily identifiable.

"Kureno?"

The rooster glanced at Akito, surprised to hear him speak. However, any response that may have issued from the startled Zodiac member was immedeatly cut off as Hatori stepped over to where his patient lay.

"You've been out for awhile…a few hours perhaps. Nothing serious, but it could have been easily avoided". The dragon rummaged through his medical bag, apparently searching for something.

"Yah, maybe if you had come earlier, BEFORE I passed out!" Akito shot at the doctor, his glare proving ineffective.

"Standing up too fast can cause many a things", Hatori continued, ignoring Akito's usual coldness. "One of which is sudden blood loss to the brain. When a person assumes an upright position faster than the body expects, the blood which had been traveling to the brain is suddenly dragged downward, and needs a few seconds to regain it's regular circulation pattern. Results can be dizziness, shortness of breath, temporary vision loss, and fainting".

"So, what your saying is that this is all my fault? That I should 'be careful not to stand up to fast'? How do I know this isn't because of that junk you inject into me?" However, no matter how annoyed he may have sounded, the teen's cruel words were really only used to hide the relief he was feeling. All of the things: the pain, the lack of coordination, the vision problems, they had all been results of a stupid little daily misdemeanor! Let, however, still left one question unanswered: where did the bruise come from?

"Those needles serve one purpose and one purpose only", Hatori replied, pulling something from his bag, "and that is to help with your headaches. However, that is not the issue at hand". Holding up his recovered item, Hatori sighed.

Akito stared long and hard at book. It's yellowed and faded pages were bound together tightly in a dark, green binding, dust-coated and obviously old. After studying the volume for a moment, he turned his attention back to Hatori. "What is it?"

"This", the older man said. "Is the official copy of the Sohma family records. The only copy". Allowing the head of family to take the novel from his hands, Hatori continued. "Everything that has ever happened in the Sohma family is recorded in here, from the very first Zodiac members. Every birth, graduation, engagement, and death resides on these pages…history captured exactly the way it played out in ink. Every person who has ever been apart of the Sohma family is named".

Interested, Akito flipped through the yellowed pages. Sohma after Sohma appeared, a detailed description of the event they took place in, and an avid account from any present witnesses. The teen stopped on a page when he saw a familiar name.

Hatori Sohma

Date of Birth: December 12th, 1978

Blood Type: A

Zodiac(?): Year of the Dragon

Today at 5:08 P.M., Hatori Sohma was born a week premature. After tested, it was found that he was in healthy condition. It has also been confirmed that he is, indeed, a member of the Zodiac (the Year of the Dragon). Such was expected, seeing as the previous Dragon had passed away not so long ago.

Following that there was a picture of newborn Hatori, and a play by play on the birth itself. Flipping onward, Akito passed the pages marking Shigure, Ayame, and Kureno's births, before finally reaching blank pages, near the back of the book. The teen just stared at them for a moment, before he reacted.

"WHY AM I NOT IN HERE! I THOUGHT YOU SAID EVERY ONE WAS IN HERE!"

"Everyone…up until a certain point…"

Akito stopped, and stared at the dragon. Hatori sighed, and, taking the book from Akito, he opened it up to a page. "The last head of family, my father, did a lot of the recording. When he passed away, this book was moved to the records room, along with a lot of his other things. Over time it must have become forgotten".

Akito frowned, and then leaned back wards against the table. "So, what's this got to do with anything?"

Hatori, while visibly remaining emotionless, was quickly losing his patience with the teen. Looking at the page he had opened to, he continued.

"The very last entry in this book was recorded by a close friend of my father's…on the day of his death…it says here that it had all started a week or so ago with fever, headaches, mysterious bruises, and sudden but frequent loss of consciousness…"

Akito just stared blankly at the doctor.

"…after that, it became more serious…bleeding, loss of energy, shortness of breath…comas…and finally…death".

Akito continued to stare blankly at the doctor.

Hatori closed the book, and positioned himself in front of the head of family so their eyes were level. "Akito…you're going to die…"

A silence swept into the room and hung in the air. Then, Akito did the one thing Hatori and Kureno least expected.

"Hahaha…good one Hatori…of course I'm going to die someday…I've known that for awhile…" Akito laughed.

The dragon and the rooster exchanged confused looks, at which Akito laughed even louder.

Wiping a tear out of his eye, Akito caught his breath as his chuckling died down. "…That was a good one…making a long serious speech…getting me all worked up…then telling me I'm going to die eventually…" Sighing, the head of family started to get up. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Having finally been able to collect his thoughts, Hatori stopped the teen. "You don't get it?" he asked, his voice rising in desperations. The boy just didn't get it!

"Get what?" Akito asked, annoyed at having been stopped.

"The symptoms…there all right here!" Hatori tapped the ancient tome in his hand.

"Yah, yah", the black haired boy said, waving his hand dismissively. "I heard you the first time…but you already said that that was because I got up too fast, or something stupid like that…"

As Akito passed him, Hatori grabbed his arm firmly, upsetting the teen.

"What right do you have to go against me, the head of this family? Unhand me at once!"

"I had stated that those are symptoms of standing up too fast…not that that was what happened…what's going on is a lot more complicated than you…or even I understand…Akito, listen to me!"

"LET GO OF ME!"

"Akito…" Kureno tried to stop the struggling teen. "Akito…you've got to listen to Hatori…"

"You're on HIS side? You can't go against me…neither of you can! Now, for the last time…LET GO OF MY ARM!"

"AKITO!", Hatori burst out, his patience having run thin. "YOU ARE DYING!"

Immedeatly Akito stopped resisting, and just stood, staring at the doctor. His mouth opened, but no sound would issue forth. Trying again, Akito heard a voice come from him that would have been his, had it not been trembling so much. "…wwwhatt…?"

"Your headaches…the fainting…the bruises…it's all there! We've known this day would come…and no the symptoms are finally showing themselves…Akito…you're dying…"

Slipping to his knees, arms still being held by the two elders, Akito stared at the ground. The dragon's words echoed in his head. "…you're going to die…headaches…fainting…bruises…Akito…you're dying…"

"My…my daddy got sick… Mommy said he couldn't get better…"

"Yah, well, that's what's going to happen to me…"

As the adults released his arms, Akito brought his hands in front of him…staring at his pale, sickly skin. Eyes traveling up his arm, they rested on the bruise. What had once been another random ailment had suddenly become his mark of death…as though the bruise itself condemned the boy to an early death…as though this small mark had sealed his fate.

Suddenly trembling, Akito brought curled his hands together and brought them up to his mouth. The two words…the two he had dreaded all of his life…issued from his mouth in a voice barely above a whisper. "…I'm…dying…"


Author's note:

Based on recent discoveries, I'm convinced the 'new rule' is infact a rumor...probably put in place by someone who wanted to stir up trouble. I myself could not find this 'rule' in the list of rules, so I WILL be responding to reviews at the end of the story :)

Don't worry...more characters will be coming up later in the story...


Review Response:

Animedreamer240- Thank you so much for your reviews:D They've really helped me get inspiration to update more often :) Poor Akito, indeed! I think, out of all the Zodiac Members, Akito is the one I feel the most sorry for (well, besides Kyo...Kyo hasn't quite had it easy either!)

ilikewhitetigers- :D Thanks for reviewing! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

catgirlversion3.0otakufan- Heh, thanks! By the way, I really like your penname:)

ShuichisLover- Did I update soon enough! XP XD Jk, thanks for the review!

Reiko- wHOOt! Go Akito fans:D