Disclaimer: I think everyone knows what I'm going to say here. Neither Fruits Basket nor BtVS are mine, seeing as I am not Natsuki Takaya or Joss Whedon.
Warning: Spoiler about Akito in this chapter. It's not the one we discovered in Volume 11.
Chapter 11: She Who Hangs Out In Graveyards
Tohru and Kyo walked into Shigure's house at 5:00 AM to witness an event neither would ever cease to bring up anytime humiliating stories were being shared. Motoko was sitting atop Hatori, who was clutching her forearms tightly in an attempt to keep her from throttling Shigure. Shigure was happily snapping pictures of the two, oblivious to his audience.
Rin, Haru, Yuki, and Mai entered the kitchen from the door connecting it with the living room, each toting a small stack of papers.
"Shigure, did you see—" Yuki stopped when he noticed Motoko and Hatori. Motoko's face was, by now, scarlet with embarrassment.
Shigure waved the newcomers over to him. "Wait until you see the one's I just took! They're the best of the batch."
Tohru and Kyo joined them as they crowded around Shigure to watch his digital slideshow of Hatori and Motoko pictures. Motoko took the opportunity presented by Shigure's distraction to stagger out of the room. Hatori sat up.
"Hey! Hatori hugged Motoko, but he's still Hatori! What gives?" Kyo demanded.
Shigure chuckled. "I think our cousin has managed to become uncursed. Like I said, it's starting to break of its own accord."
Haru flipped through his pile of papers and extracted one before speaking. "When did you say that?"
"Not too long ago." Tohru craned her neck in order to get a better look at Haru's picture. She giggled when she saw that it was Motoko, passed out on top of Hatori.
Hatori had since gotten a hold of a glass of water and a couple of aspirin. "Someone make a pot of coffee." He swallowed the pills with a gulp of water prior to continuing. "I suppose that confiscating those photos won't prevent you from printing out more."
Shigure shook his head and snapped another picture.
Tohru left the room to make Hatori some coffee, and Shigure left to develop his pictures, as Hisoka ran into the house, and did a double-take when he saw Hatori.
"You look awful, but you probably deserve it." Hisoka turned to the others, "Guess what! I got a lead. There've been reports of a skanky vampire; matching the description you gave me of that vamp, Rika. There's more, too!"
"Oh no, not a skanky vampire," Kyo muttered to the people around him. Rin snorted and they continued listening to Hisoka.
"This vampire has been investigating all of our haunts! ...You know, where we all hang out?" At their continued blank stares he sighed disparagingly. "School, demon bars we've been to, our houses, and so forth. I think she's trying to find out what we're up to for that vengeance demon."
"Mii. The vengeance demon is Mii, Shigure's editor. We're pretty sure she wants to kill Shigure," Kyo informed Hisoka.
Hatori spit out the water he was about to swallow. "When did you find that out?"
"From you and Motoko last night. You guys thought it would be hilarious if Mii was the vengeance demon… and then you passed out."
"Ah."
"Did you find out anything else?" Yuki asked Hisoka.
"I've got the locations of a few demon bars that this Mii's a patron of, places insane folk often go to, apparently, but they're the only places my contact could get from the psychic residue on the bag. Oh, that reminds me— that bag contained all of the missing objects from the office. It'll be a pain to sort out but I'll probably get a huge bonus!" Hisoka grinned widely, and noticed the strange looks he was getting. "I don't get paid very well," he explained, and the group nodded with understanding.
Tohru walked in with a steaming cup of coffee for Hatori, who took it with a nod of thanks.
"That was quick. You only left a few minutes ago," Kyo said, confused.
"We started a pot some time ago," Mai told him. Tohru was filled in on the recent developments, and then asked to determine their plan of action.
"I think this is pretty straightforward—we split up, maybe into groups of two, and check out all of Mii's hangouts."
"But… what do we do after that?" Haru asked.
"Yeah! If we find her, do we kill her?" Kyo added, and then furrowed his brow. "How do you kill a demon, anyway?"
Hatori shrugged as he took a sip of coffee.
"Motoko?" Tohru glanced around, but didn't see her among the group, since she had run out of the room earlier. "I'm going to go look for Motoko. Everyone stay put."
…
Tohru located Motoko hiding beneath Yuki's bed.
"Um... Motoko?" Tohru lifted the bed skirt and poked the warm, curled-up body. Motoko grunted. "Motoko, we need to know how to kill a vengeance demon."
"You destroy her source of power. Usually an amulet. Leave me alone."
"Motoko…what are you doing under there?" Tohru asked gently.
"Why did Shigure have to take those pictures? It's bad enough that he caused me to get so upset that I go get drunk, and end up passing out over Hatori."
"Shigure's…Shigure." Tohru sighed. "It doesn't help to encourage him. Just let it slide."
"And Hatori hugging me?"
"That's…something else."
"What was that about a curse and Hatori's part being broken?"
"That's…the something else. It's just a family curse."
"Oh…Why didn't he just say that? I mean…Hey! Is that why Yuki always wary of the Fan Club girls…and every other girl?"
"Yeah, the curse is triggered by hugging the opposite gender."
"That explains the rest of this family." Suddenly Motoko uncurled and rolled around to face Tohru. "Is it a Zodiac curse?"
"What?"
"Is it a Zodiac curse?"
"Yes…how did you know?"
"It was one I came across when I was studying Ancient Chinese Magic and Mythology back at the University last semester. It's one of the hardest curses to cast, since it requires so much hate, malice, and vengeance from the caster. Also because it has to trigger only 14 people in one specified family, one generation, and only one person at a time for one part of the curse. It'll last until something triggers the curse to start breaking of its own accord."
Tohru suddenly found it a bit hard to breathe. "Like what?"
"Whatever the caster decided. Every curse has to have something to break it, otherwise it won't work." Motoko suddenly smiled. "However…it does help me decide something." She rolled over again. "Stupid Shigure…"
"Motoko…don't you want to help destroy Mii?"
"Worst hang-over in the world happening here. Tell me how it went when you guys get back."
"Oh…okay. Do you want me to get you anything?"
"No…just punch Mii in the face for that intoxication spell she put on me."
With a soft affirmation, Tohru got up and went back downstairs, mind racing.
…
Tohru walked into the living room to find that Hana and Uo were back and that everyone was peeved with Hana, except for Uo, who was amused by Hatori's hang-over.
Kyo seemed to be the most annoyed. "Hana, why didn't you just tell us before?"
"Tohru, everyone seems to be mad at me, but I can't say why." Hana turned her attention to Tohru.
Kyo exploded, in a figurative sense. "Because while we were all out working our asses off trying to find Mii, you've known ever since your mom cast a spell! And only now do you come and tell us!"
"Your mom cast a spell for us? That's so sweet! Um, when did she cast it?"
"Right after she picked up that spell ingredient last night at the demon bar!"
"That wasn't so long ago! You shouldn't be mad at her for that!" Tohru said brightly.
"We could've finished off Mii by now," Kyo muttered.
"Oh! That reminds me; Motoko said that destroying her power source will stop her. It's usually an amulet."
Uo turned her attention to the conversation. "Now we know where she is and how to kill her! Let's crash her party and hack'n'slash our way to victory!" Uo brought out her iron pipe and smacked it up and down against her palm.
"Where is she?" Tohru asked.
"She lairs at the publishing firm's office."
"What?" the group cried in unison, with the exception of Hatsuharu, who was busily punching the buttons of his Gameboy and effectively ignoring the current status of affairs.
Hana nodded pertly in affirmation. "Indeed. Where did you suppose she would be? Hiding in a mystical fortress in the mountains, surrounded by demonic minions and a plethora of nonsensical traps? Don't be stupid. She's an urban demon."
"She could have been an old-school demon," Kyo challenged.
"Silly Kyon-Kyon. You thought she would have some sort of super-cool castle, didn't you?" Uo punched him playfully in the arm.
"Does that mean she actually lives at her office?" Rin asked.
Hana nodded again. "Why she doesn't simply live in her apartment has baffled me. Perhaps she believes that it will be harder to find her if she stays in a place few people will look for her."
Kyo snorted disbelievingly.
Hana continued, "None of you believed that she stayed at her office, did you? But maybe she just forgot to pay her rent, got kicked out of her room, and hasn't bothered to find a new apartment to live in."
"That means that she should be there if we go now, right?" Tohru asked.
"Correct."
"Then let's get going!" Uo cried.
The group— with the exception of Hatori, who was still dealing with his hang-over, Motoko who was still hiding under Yuki's bed, and Shigure, who was singing gleefully over his precious pictures and plotting ways to get them out to the whole family and make a pretty penny off them— armed themselves with implements of doom and headed off to the office building, intent on getting there before the office opened.
…
Shigure returned to the living room after the Slaughter Squad had been gone for a few minutes.
"Hatori, where did everyone go?" Shigure asked as he looked around the room.
"…They went to see Mii at her office, for some reason they weren't too clear about."
Shigure looked at his watch. "She should be there. For some reason Mit-chan's office opens several hours early on Sundays. It's something to do with the opening of the Monday morning stock market, if my memory serves correctly. Ah, I see you have coffee! Is there any left for your favorite person? Don't answer that— I'll see for myself."
Hatori stared in horror after Shigure's retreating form. He then looked down at his watch to do some frantic calculations.
"If Mii's office opens at about 8 or 9 in the morning normally, and it's about 5:30 now, and if it would take about an hour and a half or so usually to get there from here, then they should get there at about…7:00. This is very, very bad."
Hatori sluggishly rose to his feet and staggered as fast as he could upstairs to Yuki's room, where he figured Motoko was. His assumption was proven correct when he found her curled up beneath Yuki's bed.
"Motoko?" She groaned. "Motoko, something horrible is about to happen. We have to leave right now."
Hatori grabbed something that felt like her arm and pulled. She groaned again.
"Motoko, please. I'll give you a bottle of aspirin if you come out." His offer was met with silence. "I'll buy you coffee." She didn't reply. "I'll beat Shigure for you."
Motoko rolled out from under the bed and offered Hatori her hand, which he clasped and pulled her up so that she was standing.
"You'll still buy me coffee, right?" she asked groggily. Hatori emphatically reassured her that he would and dragged her out to his car.
Once she was leaning against the car, Motoko dragged herself into the passenger seat and painstakingly buckled her seat-belt. She winced when Hatori closed the car door on her side, even though he did it quietly.
"Why do we have to go? Where are we going?" She asked.
Hatori started the car and began driving towards their destination before answering.
"We're going to Mii's lair, which is actually her office building, because Tohru and the other's left a few minutes ago with the intent of getting there before the office opened and the employees arrived, but they didn't know that the office opens early on Sundays, which I just found out from Shigure. By the time they reach the building all the employees will probably be there to witness nine people armed to the teeth rush in with the intent of killing one of their employees. I'm sure that will go over well, don't you? We need to catch up with them and stop them."
They drove in silence for a few minutes until Motoko's hurting brain finally realized what was bugging her. "Why did you bring me along?"
"Because I'm not leaving you alone with Shigure…damn, where are they? We should have caught up with them by now!"
Even Motoko in her extreme hung-over state was impressed that Hatori swore, since he really didn't seem like the type to do so.
"May…maybe they took a shortcut or something, to keep hidden from sight since they have weapons."
"You're probably right." Hatori glanced at the watch on his wrist, "We're running out of time, and I have to get back to the Main House in a half-hour or Akito will get suspicious and start asking questions, and that would be very bad for Tohru and the others. I should have brought my cell phone."
"Who's Akit—AHHH! Are you sure you should be driving?" Motoko asked worriedly as they narrowly missed an oncoming car and swerved into some one's well kept yard.
"No, I shouldn't." Hatori backed up into the street again.
Motoko gasped excitedly, then winced in pain, but pointed anyways. "I think that's them!"
"Where?" Hatori looked around frantically.
"Wait…no, those are garden gnomes…scary."
Hatori sighed and continued driving. "How did you confuse a platoon of garden gnomes with your peers?"
"One of them is carrying a little battle axe."
"Why would a garden gnome have an axe? It's not as if they go storming office buildings, unlike our inept group of warriors."
"Shut up and steer." Hatori did so for nearly ten minutes while they looked for a band of teenagers carrying an arsenal of weapons.
Motoko was the one who broke the silence. "So, your family's cursed?"
Hatori slammed the brake pedal with his foot, bringing the car to an abrupt stop. "How did you find out about that?" he demanded.
"Well, Shigure did keep saying that you had been uncursed, and…hey, don't you think we should be having this conversation somewhere else? Listen to all the car horns honking." Car horns were indeed blasting away at full volume, and, in addition, there were a few individuals yelling curses at the car.
Hatori merely pulled over to the side. "Yet, I feel there's more," he stated.
"When Tohru came upstairs I asked her about Shigure's remark. She avoided the question, but eventually I put the pieces together. The Zodiac curse is a nasty one. I feel sorry for your family, but at least you've been uncursed!"
She smiled brightly at him, but then groaned and put her hand to her head, closing her eyes as she did so. Leaning back, she asked, "Well? I answered your question. Shouldn't we be driving…somewhere in the search of our young heroes?"
"It's too late for that. No matter how you look at it, too much time has elapsed. They are at the office building."
"That sucks for them." She giggled. "It almost makes me glad that Mii gave me this horrible hangover, so I'm not with them."
"Me too," Hatori said softly.
"Hmm." Motoko's eyes opened suddenly. "Didn't you have that Akito guy you have to go to?" Motoko frowned. "What for?"
"I'm the family doctor, and Akito is my main charge. He's the head of the family, you see." Hatori sighed. "I'm going to have to take you with me. There isn't enough time to drop you off at Shigure's house."
"Is…that bad?"
"If you meet Akito…you'll know." Hatori put the car in gear and pulled back into the traffic.
"…So…what did you want with Shigure last night?" Hatori asked after a few minutes of silent driving.
"Oh…" Motoko looked embarrassed. "I wanted him to finish writing something. But now I realize that it was foolish and stupid. After all, Fate seemed to have chosen for me."
"Chose what?"
"Nothing, really."
Hatori was not convinced, but said nothing of it. The rest of the ride was uneventful. Motoko fell asleep within a few minutes, which prompted Hatori to look her over whenever he reached a red light. He noticed that, among other things, Motoko had the tendency to mumble and laugh in her sleep, much like Tohru. He thought it was adorable, considering how staid and severe she normally behaved.
He smiled slightly, but sobered when he turned into the tree lined avenue leading to the Sohma Main House.
…
Tohru and Kyo led the group into the office lobby, where they were ignored by the receptionist. He was, fortuitously, arguing with someone on the phone and could not be interested by the well-armed teenagers walking past him to the elevators.
They stuffed themselves into the center elevator of three. "Fourth floor," Hana told Yuki, once she noticed his fingers hesitantly hovering over the elevator buttons. He pressed the button labeled "4" and Tohru felt the elevator rise. Not a word was spoken, even after the elevator chimed its arrival at their destination.
The doors slip open, revealing an enormous room filled with cubicles and the sounds of typing, subdued chatter, and electronics humming. The office was filled with employees, a few of whom had noticed the group's arrival. They stepped out of the elevator. Slowly, the chatter and typing stopped as the employees began peering over the tops of cubicles and around corners at them.
Within the space of a few seconds, panic had erupted. Tohru spotted several staff members frantically dialing phone numbers, and others hiding under desks. Still others had locked themselves in the copier room.
Kyo pulled Tohru roughly back into the elevator. "I think we'd better go."
…
The police station was cold and smelled like wet cigarette butts. Kyo, having lived with Shigure for nearly two years, was well-accustomed to the smell, but would have preferred a warmer environment.
The police had arrived at the scene faster than any of the group would have imagined possible. They had already been waiting, guns out, when the elevator reached the first floor. Tohru and the others had been presented with the options of either putting down their weapons or being filled with bullets, opted for the first, and were escorted down to the police station, where they were currently waiting for someone to bail them out.
"So this is what a jail is like. Not what I expected." Mai said, still cheerful despite the recent turn of events.
"What did you expect? A five-star hotel, with waiters and menus and everything?" Kyo replied, extremely aggravated with their situation.
Mai nodded cheerfully, "Uh-huh, like in that one American show."
"Why would a show have a prison like that! Are you sure you were watching what you thought you were watching?"
"It was in English, so I might have mistranslated it…but I'm sure I didn't!"
While this debate continued, Yuki listened to the nervous wreck that was Tohru. "Yuki, what are we going to do! Hatori and the others don't know where we are…Oh no! We're going to have criminal records! What are we going to do?"
"Miss Honda, please calm down, I'm sure that we can call Hatori, and he can also erase the memories of the policemen and the workers at the office and destroy the evidence." To himself, Yuki muttered, "Of course, Hatori will be furious with us for getting arrested and the amount of work that he'll have to do."
"Hey, Hana, how much did the police guys say our bail was?" Uo asked, as she had been paying attention to the guns the police were carrying when that tidbit of information was shared.
"$500,000…each."
Uo seemed disbelieving of that. "But…but that's…over 4 million dollars! Who has that kind of money to throw around?"
Anything Hana was about to say was cut short as an ominous looking mist filled the prison and started swirling around for a few minutes. When it stopped, it coalesced into one being—Mii.
Thunk…thunk…crash…ping! Noises filled the air as the police fell unconscious—at least, that's what the Slaughter Squad assumed.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine little piggys all locked up, waiting for the big bad wolf." This statement was followed by several seconds of evil, insane laughter and cackling by Mii.
"Are any of you insane?" Mii asked professionally once she had calmed down, "I'm just asking. I wouldn't want to do anything bad to potential clients, you know."
Kyo raised Mai's hand up so Mii could see it, but Haru jabbed Kyo in the ribs so that he let her hand go.
"No one? Really? That's too bad. I'll just have to kill you all, then. Who wants to be first?"
The cellmates were silent. Mii frowned, displeased with her audience. "Why isn't anyone volunteering? C'mon, guys! It'll be fun!"
"Not really," Kyo ventured. "Not for us. We'll be dead."
"What's wrong with being dead?" Mii's frown deepened. "I hear it's a lot of fun."
"The dying part I think is the part that puts most people off it, but really, you don't want to kill us."
"I don't? Why don't I? I thought I did. Did you hear me right? No…no, I want to kill you, and I've come up with lots of fun ways to do it to get back at Shigure." Mii started laughing insanely again.
The whole group sighed with impatience and annoyance, with the exception of Tohru, who wasn't paying attention, as her attention was on Shigure.
Shigure had just arrived and was nudging the police bodies on the ground with his foot and shaking his head in confusion. Then he saw Mii, and slowly, after grabbing the policeman's baton that was lying next to him, he inched forward, raised it over her head, and knocked her unconscious.
"Mii, you were an awful editor. I never liked you, but threatening to kill nine innocents? That crosses the line," Shigure said heroically.
The Slaughter Squad looked on in stunned silence, until Kyo broke it. "Shigure, what are you doing here?"
"Really, Kyo, don't I get some thanks? I spent the last four hours scrounging up enough money and draining your back accounts to bail you out, come here, find Mit-chan threatening to kill you, knock her out for you, and I don't get any thanks? Ohh, what dreadful relatives I have!"
"We haven't been in here for four hours! You drained our bank acc—oohhfff."
Haru had punched Kyo to shut him up, as everyone else in the cell cried frantically to Shigure, "Her amulet! Smash her amulet!"
Shigure looked at the amulet around Mii's neck. "That is a very fine necklace. It would be a shame to destroy such a piece. Just think of how much time and effort went into it! And you would smash it into a million pieces! Oh, what inconsiderate people you are!"
Kyo growled in annoyance, "Just. Smash. The. Damn. Necklace!"
Shigure unlocked the chain on the amulet and held it up to his face, "This must have been very expensive. I know I don't pay her enough for her to afford it." Shigure gasped. "Mit-chan! Do you have other clients richer than me?"
Tohru tried now. "Shigure, we really need that amulet. Can you give it to us?" she asked sweetly.
Shigure clutched the necklace to his chest as Mii stirred and looked about to wake up. Tohru said desperately, "Please Shigure, it's really, really, really important that we have that necklace, please Shigure."
Shigure looked like he was about to give in when Mii's eyes opened, and she morphed into nasty vengeance demon mode. "Too late now."
Shigure saw this and his eyes widened, "Mii! You're a vengeance demon! I never would have guessed!" With that, Shigure shattered the amulet into a million pieces.
A bright burst of light filled the cell-blocks and when it was over an insane, human, Mii was laying on the ground, "This sucks! And I was just about to send you all to an alternate universe too!" Mii pouted for a second and then jumped up, "NO! I've got deadlines to meet! See you later!" Mii ran out of the prison.
Shigure stared open-mouth after her. "You…you just ignore me! How could you do this to me?" He wailed.
The jailed teens looked at Shigure. "'I never would have guessed?'" Kyo mimicked incredulously.
"You mean that even though you've pushed her to the edge of reason, you never guessed she might do something drastic in return?" Uo continued.
"Even though we kept asking you to smash the amulet?" Hisoka joined the rant.
"Well, no." Shigure just looked at them.
"Shigure…how did you know about demons and whatnot?" Tohru defused the rapidly growing riot-like atmosphere.
"Oh, that." He waved his hand dismissively. "I used to date vampires since the curse wouldn't affect me. Although…" He frowned. "Those relationships never seemed to work out. I always had to stake them."
A strangled cry escaped Kyo's throat.
"Oh, well." He smiled winningly. "Hatori and Motoko tried to come find you before you got to the office, but they couldn't. And since Hatori didn't drop Motoko off, I assume that he took her with him for Akito's checkup. Oh look! The guards are waking up! Let's get out of here, and then get Hatori to clean everything up after his appointment."
Tohru and the Sohmas stared, gape mouthed, in horror. Only one thought was on their minds.
He took her with him to the Main House…and Akito! Kisa, Rin, and Kana have all suffered his wrath. What will Akito do to her?
"Damn. I was hoping for a real fight with Mii," Uo said sadly.
…
Hatori gently shook Motoko. "Motoko… Motoko, wake up, we're here."
She simply pushed away his hand with a snarl. He got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, unbuckled her seat belt, and pulled her out. Motoko knelt in the gravel of the drive.
"Can I stay in the car?" she requested listlessly.
"Unfortunately, no. I don't leave anyone alone with my car, and if someone from the Main House walked by and saw you here the news would inevitably get back to Akito. Get up."
Motoko groaned in protest but rose to her feet anyway.
Hatori took Motoko's arm and steered her towards one of the structures in the huge complex, planning on hiding her in one of the houses and then going to Akito. It was a good plan until they went inside, and were assaulted by something.
Motoko didn't realize what it was until it started shrieking and waving something around. "What is this, Hatori! What have you done!"
Motoko identified their assailant as a person, perhaps a year or two older than herself. What worried Motoko more than her inability to determine whether this individual was male or female was the slip of paper the person was brandishing about like a flag in a hurricane. She immediately recognized it as one of the photos of herself and Hatori, captured in digital form mere hours ago by Shigure.
"Akito, please—" Hatori was cut off by another screech.
"How dare you bring that whore here, after running around with her behind my back! Her presence is filthy. She's filthy!"
Motoko gasped. Did Akito just say that, or was I imagining things? "Where did you get that?" she asked.
Akito ignored her, in favor of screeching at Hatori, "Shigure e-mailed it to me! How dare you! I can't believe you would go fraternizing with some…some whore! What about the curse? Did you ever think of that? WELL?"
Motoko's bitchy high school persona, reserved for the protection of Yuki, came rushing back. "Listen, you gender-neutral freak! I don't care if you're the head of the family or God, but you have no good reason to yell at Hatori like that, and when someone addresses you, you talk to them, not someone else close by! Stop being such a bitch!"
Hatori and Akito stared, open-mouthed, at her. Hatori appeared to be worried, if not scared, and Akito had a dangerous gleam in…his/her…eyes.
"Perhaps I am God. That makes me more powerful then a little skank like you. I could crush you so easily it's not even worth my time." Akito's arm rose. "But I feel a little anger I need to release." His arm came swinging towards Motoko's face.
Motoko evaded it easily, even in her hung-over state. She turned her head upwards and sniffed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hatori standing there, looking dumbfounded. Guess no one's ever stood up to Akito.
"Please, don't make me laugh. Anyone could have missed that. Don't make me get out my dagger. Besides, didn't you know that God's power is dependent of the people's faith and worship? If everyone in this 'lovely' family decided to stop paying attention to your orders, your power is gone. Haven't you realized that they are just humoring you? Ruling by power and fear will only go so far."
Akito stood there, clearly shocked at the defiance coming from the young, college aged girl in front of him. The picture slipped, forgotten, from Akito's hand to the ground. Kana and Tohru, or any of the other females, never did this before. All they did was sit on the ground and bow in respect. Such boredom! Such…weakness. Sniveling little creatures. I doubt they could even fight. I can't believe Hatori actually fell in love with Kana.
"My juunishi can't disobey my orders. It's the nature of our curse. One such as you, obsessed with beautiful things, is unable to see past that. Our curse is your source of pleasure! If—" Akito tried to get back on track, but Motoko interrupted him.
"Oh please. This family would be so much better off if a G'hai'ik demon devoured you, spit out your bones and laid its spawn on them."
"They don't attack females." Akito said smugly.
Akito's gender issue was resolved, but that's not the reason the two suddenly looked horrified. They raised shaking fingers at each other.
"YukiGirl."
"♀/Animal.God.13"
They whispered at each other.
"What?" Hatori regained his ability to do something.
"She goes to our board, Hatori." Motoko said.
"How do you know?"
"We had a very long and private conversation on the properties and capabilities on G'hai'ik demons. Not very many people know about them, so we met and sort of combined our knowledge, and after many messages and hours of arguing, finally came up with something we agreed on about the demon." Akito explained. She sniffed. "You really are a bitch, Motoko."
"I told you, only when I have to be. And you definitely fit the bill more so on bitchdom."
"You're right. Now come, Hatori, my checkup awaits. You can sit over there." Akito gestured over to a corner. Motoko sniffed haughtily and stalked over.
Aktio grabbed Hatori's arm and dragged the dazed man over to a paper door.
"What? How? What happened to the arguing?"
"Well, if you must know, I found her to be quite likeable…" Akito's voice slowly faded.
Hatori had to wonder what Motoko was like during that chat period to make Akito find her 'likeable'. Then Hatori suddenly connected something. "You go to our message board? You know about demons?" He asked her, disbelievingly.
"Of course. What kind of head would I be if I didn't know about most technicalities of the curse—like vampires don't affect it? Now—my checkup." She ordered imperiously.
…
Motoko had procured a magazine from…somewhere… and was reading it when, some twenty so or minutes later, the paper doors leading outside burst open.
Kyo, Yuki, Haru, Rin, Tohru, and Shigure rushed in. Hana, Uo, Mai, and Hisoka followed more sedately, not knowing what the hurry was all about.
They looked around in a panic.
"Hello," Motoko said. "What's the problem?"
The six looked stunned. Tohru hurried over. "Are you okay? Did Akito hurt you?" She asked worriedly.
Shigure made to follow, when his foot slipped on something. Bending down, he picked up the picture Akito had dropped. "How did Akito get this? I made sure that wouldn't happen," he murmured.
"Well, Akito said you e-mailed it to Akito's account." Motoko informed him.
"Really?" Shigure still gazed suspiciously at the picture, as if it would tell him how it got there.
The other Sohmas were staring at her. "What's the deal? I was sure you would need medical attention by now," Kyo told her.
"Kyo!" Yuki said sharply.
"Where is Hatori?" Haru asked, not seeing said doctor.
"Oh, he's with Akito for the checkup. They should be out anytime now." Motoko waved her hand dismissively.
True to her words, another paper door opened and Hatori and Akito stepped into the room.
Akito stared at Kyo and the non-Sohma members of the group. "You're not allowed in here," she stated, angrily.
"Yeah, well, we thought Motoko might be in danger," Kyo explained.
"Now, now," Tohru nervously said.
"That's still no reason to disobey the rules. My rules."
"Geez, what a bitch," Uo muttered to Hana.
"Yes," Hana agreed.
"Are you sure that's a girl?" Hisoka whispered to them. Uo and Hana shrugged.
"All right, everyone. Time to go." Hatori urged as he ushered Kyo, Rin, and Hatsuharu out the door. The rest followed in suit. Motoko paused at the door and told Akito that they would be in touch.
"So that was the infamous Akito. Not quite what I expected," Hisoka commented after they had left the complex, and then looked at his watch, "Oh, great, I've got to go, doctors appointment you see." He ran off towards said appointment.
Uo stared in disbelief. "That guy sure likes to run around a lot. Have you noticed?"
"I think it's wonderful," Mai said dreamily, also staring after him. "Does anyone know how old he is?"
"Uh, aren't you supposed to be dreamy-eyed after Yuki?" Uo asked, eliciting a feral grin from Mai. Uo grimaced and shifted so that Hana was between her and the former fan-girl.
Rin watched the exchange and smirked at Yuki. "It looks like your fan base is slowly disintegrating."
Haru glanced up at her from Hatori's cell phone, which he had hijacked in order to utilize its gaming functions. "I still love him."
"You don't count," Yuki mumbled. Amidst heckling from Kyo, they began the trek back to Shigure's.
"So what did happen?" Shigure asked Motoko.
…
Time found Mai, Rin, Haru, and Motoko looking through books for no other reason then to pass the time, or, as Hatori put it, "To increase your knowledge on demons and how to kill them for benefit of the Slayer."
Mai was looking through a book with lots of pictures in it, her unnatural bounciness and cheerfulness strangely gone for once. Perhaps she was merely thinking of Hisoka, since she was just flipping through the pictures, glancing at them with a dreamy smile on her face.
The others were gaming on a cell phone, looking at her nails, or pretending to be reading.
They stayed like this until Tohru came in bearing a plate of cookies and other goodies. This grabbed everyone's attention and they stopped what they were doing and stared hungrily at the plate
"I thought you guys might be hungry after a hour of research, so I made you these." Tohru smiled brightly. "They're also for Motoko and Mai since they have to go back to the university tomorrow."
Motoko choked on the cookie she had snatched from the plate. She rose quickly from her seat and ran to the kitchen where there was a calendar. They heard her cursing as she realized that Tohru was right.
"No! I haven't even started on my assignment!" she wailed as she knocked her head against the fridge. Then, suddenly, she stopped and appeared back in the living room, "Mai," she said slowly, "You've done your homework, right?"
Mai nodded cheerily, "Of course! Procrastination is a number one sin!"
"Could I see your work please?"
"Nope, it's back in the dorm. Besides, cheating is also a sin."
Motoko seemed to wilt visibly; all thoughts of homework had rushed out of her head when she had learned of Yuki's horrid fate.
"But that doesn't mean I won't help you!"
Motoko brightened up immediately. "That's great. You know what, I think I'm going to go get the assignments and bring them back here so you can all help me!" Motoko rushed to get her coat and on her way out she shouted, "I'm going to borrow Shigure's car, okay?" and then she was gone.
A few minutes later they heard the engine of a car start up and pass the house.
"Shigure has a car?" Rin asked.
"Uh-huh, Ayame usually borrows it, so that's why we've never seen it before," Tohru answered brightly.
"Wait, does that mean Aya's here, if the car's here?" Haru asked, slightly surprised.
"Nuh-uh, Ayame is lending it to Yuki as a 'I'm sorry' thing. He also said he wasn't going to be needing it, since he's going to go search for Mine in someone else's car."
"Yuki's never going to forgive Ayame, but I guess Aya doesn't want to admit defeat." Rin said with a sigh, then she paused and mentally replayed what Tohru had just said, "Aya's going to go search for Mine? But, Mine's dead…"
"Yeah, but there's nothing we can really do about it," Haru said. "Eventually Aya will give up, and Yuki will have some time to simmer down and will be able to see him without gutting him on sight."
"But…don't you think it's kind of…wrong to let Aya go search for someone we all know is dead?"
There was a moment of silence as they reflected on that.
"I think that it will all play out right in the end. Who knows? Maybe he'll find someone else while he's searching," Mai said suddenly, in a rare minute of seriousness, then she brightened and smiled at Tohru, "So, Tohru, when's your next date with Kyo?"
Ayame was forgotten as Rin and Haru eagerly turned on Tohru, who blushed and grabbed a cookie to delay a response.
"It's not a date," was all she could come up with.
"So you are going somewhere with Kyo." Rin grinned victoriously.
"Not really, we're just going to do a patrol together." Tohru blushed an even deeper red.
"A patrol of just you two," Haru said.
"There will be vampires!"
"So it will be just you two alone together," Mai said happily.
"Which is generally considered a date," Rin told Tohru.
"No! It's nothing like that!" Tohru denied adamantly.
"Suuuuure," the three said together.
"It's not a date!" Tohru was getting a tad hysterical.
"Alright, fine. Have fun on your not-date." Rin shrugged and hid a smile.
"When is it?" Mai asked curiously.
"Tomorrow."
Haru grabbed the last snack on the plate, since they had been steadily munching on them during Tohru's interrogation. "Are there any more snacks left?" he asked.
Tohru jumped up. "Yes! I'll go get them. I should also get dinner started." She grabbed the plate and hurried out of the room. The three left smiled openly at her retreat.
"You know," Rin said contemplatively, "If Tohru hadn't been Called and this whole Slayer thing hadn't happened, Tohru and Kyo would probably still be obstinate that they didn't like each other."
"And Mit-chan probably would have killed someone." Haru added.
"Yeah."
…
That evening, Hatori called a gang meeting to brief the group. The first and most recent crisis seemed to have been resolved, except for one minor difficulty that Tohru brought up: "When are we going to deal with Rika?"
Her query was met with silence. Finally, Hatori sighed and said, "Next weekend."
(End Story)
Author's note: And that's that. The end. Thanks to everyone who stuck with this, despite the entirely-too-long hiatus from My baby has grown from infant to adolescence to, finally, young adult, thanks in no small part to all supporters.