Mr. Sakamato, one of the heads on the teacher's council listened intently to Stephanie's request and then removed his glasses casually from his face with a look of concern. It was Friday and she was informing him of her decision to quit the project.
"But are you certain this is what you want to do Miss Kamiya?" he asked, "I mean your information and involvement alone would be very beneficial to the project."
"I realize that Mr. Sakamoto" she nodded, "You can use any information I have given thus far. You have my permission. But as I have said before, I have no choice. I must withdraw from the project."
"Well" he sighed but smiled, "I can't say I am not disappointed Miss Kamiya. I mean I had hoped to present you to the board myself as one of the brightest exchange students who has made the transition from one country to another very easily and I am quite impressed at how much you have learned and want to learn. But I understand your reasons."
"If it's a question of presenting me to the board sir, I would be willing to help out in any way I can. I'm sure I can swing that. But as for the project itself, I'm afraid I can't attend the meetings any more."
"All right. That sounds like a better idea" he nodded, "I'll inform your project leader this afternoon and let him know."
"Thank you" she replied back with a smile as she departed the office and he once more put on his glasses and returned to his paperwork.
Later that afternoon Reiji and Akito sat in the conference room once more, quietly working on the project when Yamato came bursting into the room with an angry scowl on his face.
"Master Yamato?" Akito said in concern.
"I suppose you both ought to know" he replied as he sat down in a huff, "That Miss Kamiya, as of today has withdrawn from the project."
"Why?" Reiji asked raising an eyebrow.
"She gave some lame excuse about being needed by her family for something important."
"What makes you think it was an excuse?" Reiji continued to question.
"Hold your tongue" Akito warned in a hissing voice.
"Are you questioning my judgment?" Yamato asked the younger boy angrily.
"I just find it very hard to believe that a girl, who was so interested in this project only a day ago, has all of a sudden decided to back out of it. And on the day after the daythat you were left alone with her I might add" he turned an eye accusingly on Yamato.
"What are you insinuating?"
Reiji stood up and collected his books.
"I don't know" he shook his head, "But it's a bit odd to me. And suspicious for that matter. You did something. I know you far too well to know you didn't."
"How dare you make such an assumption. And to me of all people" Yamato eyed him furiously.
"We're in school right now Yamato" Reiji replied shoving his books into his bag, "And to be perfectly frank I don't care what you think. I never have. You don't give a damn about me anyway why should I give a damn about what you think?"
"How dare you say such a thing to him?" Akito said angrily back standing up.
"I say what I think. I'm no different then anyone else. And I am not ashamed of it. So Stephanie quit the project, but it was probably for her own good. And I won't hesitate to do the same" he said walking to the door.
"Excuse me?" Yamato asked his eyebrows raised.
"I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I quit" he added as he opened the door, "You can work on it with Akito by yourself, lord knows he's better company because he hangs on to your every word" Reiji replied before slamming the door behind him.
Akito looked at Yamato till he turned his gaze from the door and glared back at him.
"What are you looking at?" he snapped, "Get to work!"
"Yes sir" Akito nodded sitting back down and returning to his paper and averting his eyes quickly as Yamato seethed inside.
"This is all that girl's fault" he thought, "I'll make her pay for what she's done."
(Next Scene)
On Saturday afternoon Kagura left the main house quite secretly but Yamato watched as she left and then followed her into town. There he saw that she was meeting with Tohru. As he watched from the outside of the café he frowned at the sight of the woman sitting across from his mother.
"Thank you Tohru" Kagura replied after they had their tea served, "For agreeing to see me."
"Of course" Tohru nodded, "You sounded so upset on the phone. Are you okay?"
"Oh. Well, we'll get into that in a moment. But first I wanted to congratulate you and Kyo on the news of your pregnancy."
"Well thank you" Tohru grinned proudly.
"So when is it due?"
"November."
"Ah a winter baby. Well you already have two summer babies, so why not."
"Yea. So tell me Kagura, how are you really?"
"Oh Tohru" she said sadly lowering her head, "I am so glad that you said you would meet me. I honestly don't know what to do anymore."
"In what regard?" Tohru asked.
"Yamato. I have to wonder to myself, am I good mother?"
"Of course you are. Why would you think otherwise?"
"Because no matter what I do or say nothing ever changes. He's so distant from me Tohru. We barely say two words to each other and when we do, it's usually because he's irritated about something and he wants me to handle it."
"Have you ever told him how you feel?"
"No. I don't want to hurt his feelings. He's so sensitive you know."
"Of course" Tohru nodded, "Anyone would be in his position. But your feelings matter too, don't they Kagura?"
Kagura nodded and then placed her face in her hands and sobbed while Tohru held her gently and Yamato frowned at his mother's appearance. Finally unable to watch anymore he glanced briefly from the window and noticed Stephanie and her younger sister Sophie walking down the street heading for the park after having been shopping in town. He smiled to himself as he pulled from the scene of his mother and then quietly proceeded to follow them at a distance.
Sophie once more ran off to play while Stephanie sat down to draw with some of her new supplies. Yamato stopped at the entrance of the park and stared at the back of her head for a moment before moving closer to her back.
"Drawing something new I see" he replied a bit cynically.
Stephanie's eyes became wide as she slowly turned her head in his direction and the wind gave her a slight chill on the back of her neck.
"Yamato?" she said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"I saw you and thought this was the perfect time to ask you a question."
"All right, what do you want to know?" she put her pencil down and stood to face him.
"Why did you quit the project?" he demanded.
"You knew I was going to" she replied crossing her arms.
"Really?"
"Well you should have known after that. When I said I don't stay around bullies, I don't stay around bullies."
"You told the teacher it was some lame excuse about a family thing."
"I don't have to justify anything to you" she said angrily, "Whatever reason I quit is none of your business. The only reason you're upset is because I won't be around for you to bully around anymore, since I won't be there. Let's be honest. Now you don't have any way to get any questions answered that you want from me and you hate that. You hate that you lost your way to manipulate and somehow control a certain situation you have no business being in."
"And what situation would that be?"
"My relationship with Katsuya. As far as I am concerned you have no right to know anything to do with us. That's our own personal business."
"You see that's where you're wrong" he replied angrily, "When it comes to the Zodiac family, I am involved no matter what the situation is. And since as you put it, I can't bully you anymore. Well you're right. Which is why I am going to leave you with one final word. Break up with him or else."
"What?" she said a bit shocked.
"I want you to leave him. No I demand you leave him. I don't want you and him together."
"I'm sorry" she shook her head, "But I don't think you have any say in the matter either. And like I said before you can't tell me what to do. I will stay by his side as long as he wants me to and there is nothing you can do or say to make me change my mind."
"Why you interfering little brat" he said through clenched teeth, "How dare you go against me" he replied getting louder.
"Lower your voice please" she insisted in a whisper as she saw a group of people turn in their direction, "You're going to make a scene. Come on" she turned her head in the direction of a nearby alleyway, "You want to raise your voice, we'll go somewhere where no one can hear you."
He followed her into the alleyway where she once more crossed her arms. He looked at her directly.
"I am going to tell you one final time, leave him. Leave the entire family."
"No" she said simply.
"Excuse me?" his right eyebrow rose angrily.
"No" she repeated, "I can't do that. No matter who asked me because it would break my heart and I'm certain it would break his."
"He would get over it."
"You don't understand, I love him."
"Stop saying that!" he shouted.
"And he loves me!" she shouted back, "You can't change that even if you did separate us. Nothing could separate us that way, in our hearts. You don't get that. For the last time, I will not leave him. I hope I have made myself clear."
"Crystal clear" he nodded with a frown as he snatched at her left arm holding onto it tight, "And now I have something to say to you."
"Let go of me," she replied as she struggled in his painful grasp.
"I will do whatever it takes to keep you two apart. I will threaten you, I will hurt you. I don't want you anywhere near him" he pressed her back into the wall, once more surrounding her only keeping his grip on her one wrist, "Do you understand me now?"
"Nothing you do or say will make me change my mind" she reiterated, "Nothing," she said softly.
He stared at her for a brief moment and then smiled.
"Well I happen to know of a way that might just work. Every girl has a weakness, even you. And most girls have a universal weakness."
"What are you talking about?" she asked afraid of the answer and the look of delight on his face.
Instead of answering her he leaned down slowly and kissed her on her lips making her eyes wide and then in one second pushed him from her side, knocking him to the ground. She placed her hand over her mouth and moved slowly from the alley way her eyes wider then he had ever seen them.
"How," she said behind her hand terrified, "How could you?" she replied in a rush and then dashed away from the alley as he stood back up.
Sophie saw her sister dash away and called out to her frantically as Yamato appeared out of the alleyway and then walked away. She quickly grabbed her sister's belongings and then ran after her determined to find out what happened.
(Next Scene)
When Stephanie arrived home she flung open the door and ran upstairs and without a word to her astonished brother as she disappeared. Sophie appeared a few moments later and didn't offer any explanation either, and ran up the stairs as well. Sam stared at the staircase scratching the back of his head baffled but then figured it was just a girl thing and that he'd better stay out of it, as he walked back into the living room to read.
Sophie knocked quietly on her sister's bedroom door and when she didn't answer she walked in and saw her sister sitting in her favorite reading corner still with the same scared look on her face.
"Steph?" she replied as she stood in front of her, "Are you okay?"
"Sophie" Stephanie said slowly, "I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
"I need you to go get Katsuya for me. I want him so badly. Could you go get him for me."
"Okay" Sophie nodded, "I'll go get him. Just wait right here" she ran back out of the room.
"I'm not going anywhere" Stephanie shook her head, "I'll wait right here."
Sophie ran out of the house once more and headed for the Sohma residence that she had been lucky enough to visit during the Christmas holidays. She ran through the gate and Kyo watched in concern as she arrived at the front door, ringing the doorbell frantically. Katsuya walked casually over to it to answer and was surprised to see her.
"Sophie?" he replied.
"I'm so glad that you are here."
"What's wrong?" he asked in concern.
"Steph needs you so badly right now and sent me to get you."
"What do you mean? What for?"
"Something bad happened to her I just know it" she said in a rush.
"Whoa, whoa Sophie. Slow down. What do you mean?" his tone became serious.
"We were at the park this afternoon. I lost sight of her after awhile. And the next time I saw her she was dashing from an alley that was nearby and then I saw a blond guy leave the alley not to long after."
"A blond guy?" Katsuya frowned slightly.
"Uh huh. Please come Kaye. She's so scared."
"Kaye?" Sakura said as she came into the hall, "Is everything all right?"
"Yea" he nodded, "Um Sakura can you ask Takara, actually tell her that I will meet her at the main house later. I have to do something."
"Okay. But" she began.
"I got to go," he said seeing the urgency on Sophie's face,"All right" he nodded fervently, "I'm coming. Let me just get my jacket" he grabbed it, closed the door behind him, and then followed Sophie back to her house at a run.
From where Kyo stood he frowned slightly at the look of worry on his son's face, shook his head, and then walked back into the dojo.
(Next Scene)
Once they had arrived at the house Sophie led Kaye upstairs to Stephanie's room, opened the door, and let him in closing the door behind him as she departed. He saw that Stephanie was still sitting in her reading area and her face was stark white. He walked over and then knelt down in front of her.
"Stephanie" he replied slowly as she turned her eyes to him.
"Kaye" she said in tears as she flung herself in his arms.
"What's the matter?" he asked, "Why are you so scared and why are you shaking all over?"
"I don't know where to begin" she said in a whisper, "First of all, I quit the project."
"Project?"
"The one that Reiji and I were working on with Yamato and Akito."
"Oh" he nodded, "Why?"
"Because of Yamato."
"What happened?" he asked a frown forming on his lips.
"It was Valentines Day and up to that point we had all been in the same room. But that day we were separated and I had to work with him. Which was his plan all along."
"Uh huh" Kaye said a bit disturbed.
"At first he just asked random questions and then he was still, like before quite curious about my opinion about him. But most of all once he heard it, after pressuring me enough times he insisted that I break up with you, but I refused and I quit" Katsuya lowered his eyes angrily, "Needless to say he wasn't too thrilled about that and today" she stood up and faced the window, "I saw him again."
"And, what happened this time?"
"Before I tell you" she said, "There's something I have to tell you first. Something I haven't told you yet, about myself. You see" she replied looking at him a little, "It was in my past and I had gotten over it, didn't want to deal with anymore. Didn't think I'd have to. Believe it or not, the girl you see before you is not the way I used to be. I mean this is the real me, don't get me wrong" she said as she began to pace, "But this isn't the way I used to behave."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you remember I told you that my father was very neglectful to my sister and I?"
"Mhm."
"Well because of that, I was always thirsty for a man's attention. Didn't matter who he was. I wanted it. I craved it. Because I never got it from my own father. When I was a child I was a lot like this, but once I reached middle school I changed. It was around the time my parents got divorced. I was very outgoing, flamboyant, flirty if you will."
"You?" he said not really believing it and smiling somewhat.
"Yes" she nodded, "I knew you wouldn't believe me, but it's true. I always had the best outfits. I did up my face a lot and a ton of boys were interested in me because I was very" she paused, "Available I suppose would be the word. And I loved every moment of it, but because of it I found myself in situations I never wanted to" she lowered her head sadly.
"Such as?" he asked interested.
"My first year of middle school, a family moved next door who had a son a couple years older than I was. He was in high school. He always was pretty close with my brothers. But he always treated me as if I was older then I was. Because of my mother's encouragement, the two of us went out one night, alone. But things went terribly wrong."
"What happened?"
"He thought I was everything I was portraying. Even though I was so young. Actually there were quite a few rumors going on about me around that time and he had heard some of them. Of course they weren't true. That night he uh, well needless to say, forced himself on me. He only got as far as kissing me before we were interrupted thankfully by a phone call from my mother. But I never forgot that and I resigned that I would never find myself in that situation again. How stupid I was" she said angrily at herself, "About a year later, my second year in middle school I still hadn't changed. I still wanted attention and I met Billy. Billy was on the baseball team with my brother Stephen. They were very great friends. He had a very infamous reputation with girls. Very good looking and any girl would give anything to go out with him. And he picked me. At first he was nothing but a gentlemen but he was just putting on a show with my brother. The truth was he was always infatuated with me ever since I got into middle school. As he so eloquently put the night he tried to rape me."
"Rape you?" Katsuya's eyes became wide.
"Yea. We were supposed to meet my brother at the pizza parlor and he said he had to go to his house for something and like an idiot I believed him. We drove to his house all right" she said with tears in her eyes, "But noone was there and in his car, that's where he tried to do it. I don't know what would have happened if my brother hadn't showed up unexpectedly to come to my rescue because he had heard from another friend whom Billy had been bragging to about what he was planning and at once came to help me."
"Oh Steph" Katsuya shook his head sadly.
"And that's when I decided to give it all up. My flamboyant and flirtatious ways only got me into trouble. I couldn't bear being in another situation like that. So I gave it all up. The makeup. The trendy clothes. My flirtatious ways and faded into obscurity. I did it over the summer. When I came back my first year of high school I was different. And to tell you the truth a lot of people were surprised and disappointed in me. I even lost some friends who to be honest were my friends because of my popularity. I understand where you are coming from when it comes to people liking you only because you're popular. I realized who my real friends were at that point and it was quite a blow but enlightening. But from that point on, no boy ever bothered me and I became more like I was as a child. An introvert who's only interested inthe things I really love like drawing, writing, and singing and ever since then I have been much happier.
"I'm happy" he nodded standing up, "I'm glad that you told me this. But what does it have to do with what happened with Yamato?" he asked.
"Well, what happened today, just brought those memories back all of a sudden. I haven't thought about them in years."
"What did he do?" Katsuya replied but then noticed the bruise on her arm and took it out further out to see, "How did you get this?" he asked scared.
Stephanie averted her eyes as he continued to ask.
"Did Yamato do this? You don't have to even tell me I know he did. I know what his afflictions look like."
"He was angry this afternoon. One about the fact that I quit and two that I keep refusing to abide by his wishes. But I wouldn't yield and eventually, he was making a big fuss and I didn't want the whole world to know about it, so I led him to an alley so we could talk in private and that's when he grabbed my arm and had me pinned against a wall. But I still refused no matter what he said. Then he got all quiet, smiled slightly, said something I can't even remember, and then the next thing I know."
"What did he do?" Kaye said slowly closing his eyes briefly afraid of the answer.
"He leaned down and kissed me. I was so shocked" she said as Kaye's eyes became very furious, "That I pushed him down and just fled from the alley. His one little threat brought all those horrible memories back and I couldn't take it. And that's when I asked Sophie to go and get you."
"I see" Kaye replied feeling the anger flow through him as he embraced, "Well for one I am sorry that he hurt you like that," he said in a voice she had never heard.
"Kaye?" she replied confused as she looked up into his face, "Are you all right?"
"Not really" he shook his head, "I wish I could stay longer but I have an appointment at the main house. And I certainly don't want to miss this appointment" he added angrily.
"What do you mean?" she asked backing away slightly at the fury in his eyes.
"I just have to go" he replied, "I'll be back as soon as I can" he added kissing her on the forehead and then departing for the room.
"Katsuya!" she shouted as he opened the door.
He looked back and smiled as best as he could.
"Don't worry," he said as he closed the door behind him.
"Oh no" she whispered, "What is he going to do? I've never seen him look so angry. I hope he's not planning to. Oh this is all my fault. What have I done? What do I do?" she thought and then her eyebrows rose at the answer, "I have to call Sakura" she ran out of the room towards the phone, "Before it's too late."
Meanwhile outside grey clouds started to cover the skies making it very dark as Katsuya walked towards the main gate, the same look of fury on his face and his fists clenched.
"Yamato" he thought furiously, "I hope you're prepared to see me, because here I come."
(Till Next Time)
Authors Note: Hey guys! First chapter of the week! Nice to give Stephanie a little bit of background. Actually technically her background is a little of mine and a little of someone else I know but I am not saying who. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! Three more to go!
Next Chapter: What One Needs
Katsuya threatens the worst possible thing according to Yamato and gets punished severely for it. But out of the outcome of the abuse can the Young American find some way to reach the conflicted head of the Zodiac? Find out next time!