The next morning Yuki walked over to his front door because he had heard the doorbell ring. He smiled as he saw that the visitors at his door were none other then Tohru and Katsuya.
"Tohru."
"Hey there Yuki" she smiled back, "Kaye and I wanted to stop by and see how you aredoing and Kaye brought something for you, right honey."
"These are for you Uncle Yuki" Katsuya held up a batch of flowers, "For Aunt Machi. They're from our garden."
"Well thank you Kaye" Yuki's heart melted at the young boys kindness, "They're beautiful."
"Can I see the baby?" Katsuya asked eagerly.
"Sure" Yuki nodded welcoming them in and closing the door behind him, "She is actually in the living room, lying on the carpet, staring at the ceiling. Is that what babies do?" he turned to Tohru who nodded.
"When they're first starting out yes" she replied, "Kaye, honey be gentle okay" she added as her son ran excitedly into the room to see baby Takara, "He loves babies" she smiled.
"And where's your other little one?" Yuki asked as they walked into the kitchen, which was quite close to the living room so they could see everything.
"She's at the dojo with Kyo" Tohru replied as she sat down at the kitchen table.
"Would you like some tea?"
"Sure. I'd love some" she nodded as he walked over to grab a vase and fill it with water, "So when did you find out?"
"This morning about ten o'clock. Haru called me. I guess he figured that no one would tell me because of everything going on."
"How did he know? I thought you didn't tell anyone but me."
"I didn't. He just has that wonderful ESP part of himself" Yuki said as he sat down and handed Tohru her tea and sat his down in front of him, "Plus he said that most people could tell that something was wrong."
"And what about Takara, is she?"
Yuki nodded and drummed his fingertips on his cup. "Machi finally admitted to me that she has seen it. It was an accident. Any way Takara is the rabbit and from what Machi says, still very very cute. But this new thing. This guy. Is he for real?"
"I'm afraid so" Tohru sighed, "You should have seen Kyo, he was absolutely livid when he met him. Of course I don't blame him with the way he was ordering everyone around."
"And Kagura?"
"She seemed exactly as she was before only I noticed that he doesn't let her have much contact with their son."
"That boy's got to be what, six now?"
"Mhm. He's a year older than the twins."
"It just doesn't make any sense" Yuki replied standing from the table and walking over to the counter immediately leaning against it.
"Which part?"
"You know any of it. This doesn't sound even remotely like the Kagura I know. At least as long as I have known her, she was never the type of girl who would be considered under a man's thumb, you know what I am saying?"
"Sure."
"But she got married, had a kid and nobody knew about it. Well minus you and me. And this kid happens to be the next god of the Zodiac when we all thought the Zodiac curse was solved. How and why did it come back?"
"I don't know, but I do have a thought about it."
"What's that?"
"Do you remember before the twins were born, that year in fact, and you came back from Paris because of a problem."
"You mean the lack of sleep and appetite thing?"
"Yes" she nodded, "You all felt some type of symptom and then they just disappeared. Now the other thing is Kyo's symptoms disappeared the moment that the twins were born and around the same time everyone else's started to dissipate."
"So you think that's when the curse was passed onto the children?"
"Yes. I also think that the first person it occurred to had to be Kagura and on some level she knew who her son was. Of course this is just a silly little theory of mine."
"No wait a minute. Wait a minute. Maybe it's not as silly as you think."
"Huh?"
"You might have something. Kagura's husband, we have no idea where he came from. I mean who is this Jinto? Did he even have a last name?"
"He didn't mention one."
"Hmm? Sounds fishy to me. I mean he seemed fishy to me the time I met him."
"But the thing is if their son is the head of the Zodiac, which Akito seems to think he is, then why did they take so long to tell us about it, or even to show back up at the main house?"
"I don't know" Yuki shook his head with a grimace as if he were thinking about something hard, "Why now? Why do they show the boy now?"
(Next Scene)
Meanwhile back in Tokyo Tai Ushida sat in his apartment with Ichirou Nakagami and Tohru's cousin Riku. He leaned back on his leather couch as he flipped through Nakagami's latest notes.
"Looks good. You really always do your homework don't you Ichirou?"
"Only for you sir."
Tai smiled and then turned to his best friend. "What's wrong Riku? You seem nervous."
"Nothing's the matter. It's just I was hoping to be informed on the next part of your plan or rather the part beforehand."
"Do you really want to know?" Tai chuckled.
"Well yea. You have left me out of it up until now, and I think I should be more informed."
"This is true and you are imperative to the next part so I will honor your question and give you an answer. Hold that thought," he replied as the phone next to him rang and he picked it up, "Hell Tai Ushida. Yes. Yes. How many times have I told you it doesn't matter what it costs. I don't want to go over this with you again. Yes I am certain and I will see you in a few days. You said I could have a whole week. I get as little time with him as it is. All right. Sure. I understand. I will talk to you later" he hung up the phone with an exasperated sigh, "That was my ex."
"The first or the second?" Riku said teasingly.
"The first."
"You've had two?" Ichirou asked quite surprised.
"Yes one he was engaged to and one he was not engaged to" Riku added.
"You can tell Riku's not too thrilled about my adventurous nature."
"Adventurous?" Riku raised his right eyebrow, "That's not what I would call it."
"Have any children?" Ichirou asked.
"Two sons. One with each girl. But they are both living comfortably thanks to the kindness in my heart and I get to see both my boys every month."
"Never would have pictured you as a father figure" Ichirou almost laughed, "And I thought you were completely infatuated with Tohru Sohma."
"I am. Tohru is the jewel. The real reason behind all my actions. The reason I am bringing back the Zodiac curse. However I am still a man and I have needs."
"Right" Riku thought angrily in his head, "Sure he does."
"So Riku you want to know what I have been planning up to this point?" Tai said turning to him.
Riku nodded and Tai stood up, walking over to his large window and gazing out at the city.
"I guess it all started about seven years ago."
"Seven years ago?" Riku's eyes became wider.
"Mhm. Although the incident in question occurred in the Sohma's and Tohru's second year of high school. I was hot in my pursuit of her certain that I could easily win her against that monster she's in love with" Tai added a bit angrily and bitterly, "And I would have to, I mean I had Yuki and Kyo right where I wanted them. However my weakness was shown and they found it."
"Your weakness?" Riku replied, "You mean beautiful women?" he nodded remembering about Tai's delectation.
"A beautiful woman actually. A freshman in college. Now it didn't even occur to me how Yuki Sohma could have gotten that tape recording of the conversation that, that girl and I had and then I realized I had been set up."
"Set up?"
"Mhm" Tai grinned as he sat down, "I have to give him credit for besting me that way. But you know me; I always find a way to get my dignity back. I shrugged it off to him as if he had won and then I called Ichirou, who did the research."
"What research?"
"I wanted him to track down that girl and find out who she was. She obviously was in cahoots with the Sohma's or knew them at least. And come to find out I discovered with Ichirou's help that her name was Kagura Sohma and she was a cousin of the two of them. Now it made sense, however I wanted my chance to pay her back for tricking me like that. I didn't discover how I could do that until a year later when the Zodiac thing surfaced. After doing all my own research I found out everything I could about the Zodiac curse. I even talked to an American who was interested in it, a Tom Quincy who come to find out was involved with the Sohma's according to Ichirou's knowledge" Tai nodded at Ichirou who nodded back, "Anyway I found out that there was a way to solve the curse but it wasn't a permanent cure because unfortunately my ancestor the Great Hayoto Ushida, added his own touch to the curse that makes it almost virtually impossible to cure it completely. He was a genius. But when Tohru found out how to solve the curse even temporarily I was quite upset but I didn't give up completely because I also knew there was a way to bring it back full swing."
"How's that?"
"From Ichirou's sources that are very reliable, I found out that Yuki Sohma and Tohru were looking for ways to solve it so then the wheels in my head started to spin. At last a way to get that girl back."
"I don't understand" Riku shook his head, "You had her kidnapped and yet you still had the desire to bring the Zodiac curse back even if they were able to break it?"
"I had to have a backup plan, in case my first one fell through which it did when the monster showed up. So after his threat I waited. I knew it would only be a matter of time, now that Tohru had the real cat's journal that she will discover how to solve it, or at least temporarily solve it. At that same time when she and the monster were preparing for their wedding the second part of my plan began and in order for it to succeed I needed to find an angle to get back at Kagura Sohma. And I found that angle in Jinto Tikeda."
(Next Scene)
Riku leaned further back in his seat as Tai continued with a smug grin on his face.
"With the help of Ichirou's work" Tai replied, "I tracked her down at her local college and luckily for me that was also where I found Jinto Tikeda."
"But who is Jinto Tikeda?" Riku asked a bit exasperated.
"Someone with exceptional skills in his field. See after I located her I walked over to the auditorium, because ever since High school I have been interested in the theatrics."
"Yea."
"Well that was where I met Mr. Tikeda" Tai smiled even more as he remembered.
(Flashback)
Tai Ushida walked into the auditorium and saw that rehearsal was in progress. Two boys were on the stage and talking very loud as they held their scripts. In the front row sat an older man who was obviously the director and a twenty-something blond haired youth who was watching the play looking a little forlorn. Suddenly the director clapped his hands together.
"All right that's enough you two!" he shouted a bit irritably, "Let's try with Tikeda this time! Go show them how it's done Tikeda" he said turning to the other with a slight grin.
"Yes sir" Jinto nodding and jumping up, running to the stage with his script while the other passed by him with an angry frown on his face.
Jinto reached the other actor and then the two of them began the scene. From what Tai could decipher the scene had to do withtwo angry men fighting over one woman and the more he watched the more intrigued he became. When they were finished and the director called it quits Tai also left the building and waited for Jinto to exit. When he spotted him he ran over.
"Mr. Tikeda!" he called as he approached.
"Yes" Jinto said quite surprised to see him.
"Tai Ushida" he held out his hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Not The Tai Ushida" Jinto replied even more surprised as he shook it back.
"The very same" Tai nodded with a grin.
"What can I do for you?"
"Well I was watching your performance earlier and have to say I was impressed."
"Really?" Jinto beamed with pride, "Are you interested in the theater."
"Yes I actually am, but that is not the reason I was so interested in meeting you. I was wondering if you would like to do a job for me."
"But I'm an acting major. What could I possibly do for you? You're a businessman."
"This is true but sometimes I have certain projects that require certain skills such as yours."
"Projects?"
"Yes projects."
"And I would be acting."
"The role of a lifetime" Tai nodded.
"And being paid for it?"
"Very handsomely" Tai nodded a third time.
"Mr. Ushida, what would you like me to do?" Jinto asked smugly, "A man could always use more money."
"Well said. I tell you what as soon as you're done your classes today I want you to meet me here" he scribbled a quick note and handed it to him, "Do you know where that is?"
"Yes" Jinto nodded, "I know where that is."
"I'll fill you in when you get there. Until then Mr. Tikeda" he bowed his eyes, "Good afternoon" he left the elated man holding onto the slip of paper and wondering just what sort of special assignment would Tai Ushida put him on.
(To be continued..)
Authors Note: Hey guys! This is a two- parter and I am so sorry this is late. My computer was shanghaied for the weekend. Joke! Joke! See you all later for part two and Chapter six!
Next Part: The remaining part of Tai's plot is revealed to Riku while back in Kyoto Yuki's own wheels in his head start to turn. See what happens next time!