OMG… Last chappie before the Epilogue! I shall be sad to end this fic… But I'm glad I can finish it before going back to school! X3 Oh, and if you want me to write a pointless sequel do say so in a review, good friends. Though it would have to wait until the Xmas hols, because I'm at school till then. Who the hell invented school? And school Internet too… Because it sucks. It does NOTHING! I can't even write more ficlets while I'm there at the convent! It's not really a convent, just a religious all girls boarding school. Sounds like a barrel of laughs don't it?
The First Rain
Chapter 8: The Last Bird Flies
Kyo and Momiji stood in the frame of the Palace doors.
"So… What the hell is 'scream bloody murder' supposed to mean?" Said Kyo, scratching his head.
"I guess we should just attract some attention." Momiji replied, equally puzzled, his hand still close to his mouth.
"Meh... MURDER! THERE'S BEEN A MURDER!" Kyo put both hands to the sides of his face and framed his mouth. "EVERYONE COE OVER HERE AND HEAR ABOUT THE EXTREMELY INTERESTING AND BLOODY MURDER!"
"Kyo… He didn't mean it literally!" Hissed Momiji. He stopped when he saw at least twelve people, and more, running towards the Palace steps where they were situated.
One of them tried to inquire upon the young Princes. "What hap-"
"MURDER! SOMEONE… EVERYONE GET OVER HERE AND GAWK AT IT!" Kyo cut the man off, yelling with his lower voice. Momiji quickly ran inside the Palace. "Hey, you better not be leaving me out here to do this alone, you little runt!"
"This better not be a prank, Prince Kyo!" Shouted a woman from the ever-growing crowd. It was hard to hear through the rain. Suddenly Momiji was back, dragging one of the previously knocked-out men with him. He smiled. This was the one with the knife.
The crowd gasped. Kyo smiled. "Genius." He whispered.
Momiji smiled coyly. "Revenge is sweet." He dropped the unconscious mans body, splayed across the top step and a few down from that. "MURDER!" He smiled, which puzzled the crowd. "This is fun Kyo!"
They carried on attracting people until there was a mass of interested yet 'horrified' gawkers, forcing their way through the Palace grounds, until the crowd stretched far beyond the Palace gates.
One man tried to check if the man was really dead. "EWWW!" Yelled Momiji, improvising. "Don't touch a dead body!" The man backed off puzzled.
But people were getting impatient. Come on Haru… What are we supposed to do?
-
Haru braced himself as he climbed the small secret ladder to the attic. He wasn't supposed to know about it, so he was glad that nobody was around.
He found himself swallowed up by darkness.
There seemed to be no end to this black abyss. But he knew there was. He pulled out a previously prepared match, and lit it. The light filled a small part of the room. He heard something move, as if scared by the light.
"Relax, brother. It's me."
The creature hesitated, still masked in darkness. "Hatsuharu?"
Haru nodded. He put a hand through his damp white hair. His forehead was sweating. He wasn't scared, but the air was so tense…
"I need that favour you promised."
"Why should I honour any such promise I made to you? What's in it for me?" It replied, coming a little closer. It was almost menacing.
"There is something in it for you, if you're interested."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"I'll let you out. You'd be free. I'd help you escape and you could go wherever you wanted, brother.
"What use do I have for freedom? I wouldn't know how to use it. Yuki on the other hand… He's learnt. If only my view through that crack… If only it was tilted so I could see through that 'window' as well."
"I could teach you. You'd be hidden for a few days, and then when you were ready we could let you go." Haru started to worry. What if his brother didn't agree? The others were getting a crowd, and no doubt a couple of guards would be part of it. If he went back downstairs alone, they'd have no chance. The sympathy vote wouldn't work without proof. A living, breathing symbol of the pain endured by all of the Sohma Princes, for ages before.
"Forget it."
"S-so you're just going to stay here, in darkness, for the rest of your life?" The match light burnt Haru's fingers, and went out.
"Yes." Haru felt his shoulders droop at this remark. "My world is dark. That's the way it was meant to be."
"No-one deserves eternal solitude. No-one deserves to be alone. Not from the moment they were born, at least. And no-one deserves to live in darkness."
"Have you ever heard of original sin?" There was no reply from the white haired Prince. "We sinned before we were born. So we all have some reason to be punished."
"I don't believe in that."
"I do." Haru felt a hand on his arm. He could sense his brother's face close to his. "What other reason would they have to punish me like this? I had to believe it, or I'd go insane. It was my only mantra."
Haru put his hand on the one that gripped his arm. "You don't need a mantra anymore. You can leave."
"Then…" He paused, not knowing what to say. "What is it you wanted me to do?"
"I need to show you to the world, at the same time as I show the world to you."
-
The crowd was getting restless. They demanded to know why they were there in the rain, if not for a dead body. (The man had already woken up, only t be hit on the head again by Kyo, and put back in the Palace hall. –Though it didn't look too good for Kyo's reputation.)
"If… You'll just wait a little longer, I'm sure you can just-"Momiji tried to reason with the crowd but was cut off when a boot flew very close to his head and hit the Palace door.
"Hey, just back off OK! Gees, who are all these people?" Kyo said quietly to Momiji, also starting to worry about the amount of heavy things being thrown. "Are they really supposed to throw things at us? We are Princes…"
"Hey." Once again, Haru showed up. He was poking his head through the door, looking at Kyo.
"Where the hell have you been!"
"Relax, I'm here now. And I have our secret weapon." Haru cleared his throat and addressed the crowd. "SHUT UP!" There was silence, except for the sound of the ever falling rain. Kyo started to sweat when he saw Big-Ears towards the back, with a couple of guards. One of them was holding Tohru by the arm, and another had Yuki. "I have here, something that is sure to shock and astound many of you. This is a person only a couple of people have met, and I am the only person who has ever seen his face. He has spent his life in darkness, in the top rooms of the Palace. This is our last brother."
The crowd stood completely still. Kyo and Yuki froze. They'd never heard of this person before. Momiji stayed quiet. So, you're finally bringing him out?
Haru stepped out from behind the door, and with him, he brought a boy. He looked shockingly like Yuki, but with Black hair instead of grey, and dark eyes. They looked as black as the room he'd just left. He blinked. He tried to take in everything around him, but there was too much. Haru put out an arm for support. He knew it was crueller than anything he could have done, but for his sake, and everyone else's, he knew it was necessary.
"This is Akito. The third Prince of Akitaio."
Kyo felt a bit dizzy. This day was getting the better of him. Akito… Akitaio… Maybe the name had been passed down or something?
Akito looked at the crowd, who in turn looked at him. They noticed how deathly pale he was, and his black hair didn't make him seen any less like a corpse. He assumed he was meant to say something. But he wasn't at all sure what to say. "I… Don't know what you are." He said quietly. A few more people were adding on to the crowd. It now stretched to the very end of the streets, and went off in different side streets. Perhaps the whole city was here? "You all… Look the same… Not one of you is any more important to me than the other. You're… All disgusting."
The crowd stayed silent. How were they supposed to react? Akito carried on, his voice getting louder. "I heard Yuki cried when he first saw the outside. But I'm not going to cry. I'm not sad. Or happy. I'm angry. I've never been anything but angry. I've always been angry, and frustrated. I've hated everyone I've ever met. Because I know that people are capable of torturing other people, and making them die."
Momiji sniffed. He had never met Akito. He only knew of him from Haru. But the story still made him sad.
Haru watched Akito as he spoke. He felt a strong sense of compassion, and admiration, but not pity. Akito didn't need or want that. He had learnt everything he knew from his own source of information. Yuki. Akito had been watching Yuki all his life. He'd listened to every word, witnessed every emotion. He hadn't hated Yuki. But the he'd never met him either.
"Yes, I've spent my life in one room, like Yuki. I've spent it in darkness. Apparantly I am never supposed to see another human being. Yuki was the first face I ever saw. And that was through a crack in the floor. According to your traditions I was never supposed to learn to speak, or to hear another human voice. Well I don't care shit about your traditions!"
Momiji looked at the shocked face of his older brother. Since when does Yuki swear like that?
"Our lives were over the moment they began! And we did nothing to deserve it! To hell with original sin! We're not demons… We're real people. Just like you. We're as disgusting and cruel as you are. So why are we the subject of your torture? Why us? What made us different from anyone else? NOTHING! We're just as twisted and foul as the rest of you. No-one deserves to be born in a cage. I know that sounds out of the ordinary, but it happened to us. And we're just as ordinary as the rest of you. So just… Leave us alone…" He sat down on the top step. The marble was so drenched; he might as well have been sitting in a lake.
Yuki found that the grip on his shoulder had lessened. The guard was staring in the same direction as everyone else. At Akito. Had he really been the first face? Had he really been the first person Akito ever saw? He sensed that the crack in the ceiling he had always found annoying, someone else had found it their only source of humanity. He remembered watching the bars on his window magically unscrewing themselves. He had a feeling Akito had something to do with it.
Akito breathed out. He smiled. It was a weird feeling. He couldn't remember ever smiling before. Although he had watched Yuki smile a thousand beautiful smiles. He blinked at the water falling on his head. Was it always like this? If it was, he would rather stay indoors. He got up, and walked through the crowd. They parted infront of him. He remembered that he was what they called, 'Royalty.'
He walked on, until he was level with Yuki. He put a hand out, ad Yuki shook it reluctantly. He smiled one of those beaming smiles, and Akito let go of his hand.
He walked on past the rest of the silent crowd, out of the streets and into the forests. Who cared what they were? They were his.
AN: Epilogue next. HOPE YOU LIKED IT!
AN: Hope Akito was spazzy enough…