Chapter 23: Shattered

Sorry…again -.- for not updating quickly. Hopefully this chapter will make it up for everyone. Please R&R!

Akito stood grinning gladly, tapping her foot against Kyo's chest as he lie on the ground, completely motionless. There was blood all over his clothes and some drops of his own blood, blending into Akito's kimono. "I'm sorry…. that you didn't get to watch this happen, Honda…" Akito says almost weakly as she glances towards Tohru who was shivering. She too had some of Kyo's blood. It was spread across in drops all over her skirt. Tohru was having a hard time even looking at Kyo because of all the tears that were practically disfiguring her eyesight. All she really saw was a glimmer from some sort of shard. Wait… what's that…on ... on the floor? Glass? How… what? Tohru's mind hesitated before racing around in confusion. Akito stared at her then looked at the exact spot that was diverting Tohru's attention. "What…. no…" she gasps in shock. The pride in her voice was completely gone… it was obvious that she was shaken from the sight. "How did it break?" A piece of glass from the mirror was lying on the ground beside Kyo's fist. The single splinter of glass that was on the floor was –apparently- important. "I can't believe this!" She shouts incredulously. Quickly, Akito slams her foot on Kyo's hand and glares at him as if she were convinced that he was actually conscious. "How dare you break off a piece of the mirror! This thing means more then your life you damn monster!" Akito bellowed as loud as she could, digging her foot into his fist making it open and become cut by the shard.

Yuki glares at Akito and looks around, his body ready to move on even the shortest notice. "What can she be talking about…" he mutters under his breath as he stares at the piece of glass now. Suddenly, he finds himself concentrating on her hand that was holding tight to the mirror. He was able to instantly spot the area where there was a piece missing. Behind the glass slab, it was all black; it was clearly a smooth surface that the mirror's glass could easily lock on to and last for a great length of time. There… has to be more secrets that that mirror has kept from us. Ah! Come on… Yuki winces as if in pain, though it was actually from him contemplating so deeply on this matter.

The night was miserable enough, but to make all matters worse, it began to rain again after stopping for a few minutes. First, in packs of drizzle… but finally, it strengthened into a ferocious thunderstorm. With each flash of lightning and crack of thunder, Tohru would shake and close her eyes in fright. The wind was making the trees just outside whip their branches back and forth without a care about what might happen if a limb snapped off and hit something. Within seconds, a piece of a tree nearby, flung itself forcefully against one of the outer walls of Akito's home. Tohru struggled to drag herself to her feet, but upon doing so, she looked at Akito quickly and called weakly, "Please! Stop it! Leave Kyo-kun alone! He's injured…" even more tears flowed down her cheeks and splashed against the floor like the rain outside. Obviously, Akito was going to ignore Tohru's helpless pleading. Why would a person as cold hearted as Akito pay even the slightest attention to one so innocent and caring as Miss Tohru Honda? She had to keep trying nonetheless. Tohru wasn't prepared to give up, especially without doing everything she possibly can. "Please! Akito-san! Kyo-kun and Hatsuharu-kun have to be brought to the hospital. They're far too hurt to disobey you! Please!" again, she begged and begged, but without prevail. Lightning slammed itself against the dark sky once more and not even a half second passed as the thunder followed its leader. Tohru covered her eyes until the thunder stopped booming. She looks at Akito again, even more feeble then before, "I'm begging you Akito-san… let them leave. I…. I wont cause you any more trouble. If it means for them to be safe… I'll allow Hatori-san to erase my memory so that I wont have to cause neither you, nor the rest of the juunishi any further pain," Tohru stifled a sigh and looked at Akito, making full eye contact to show how truthful she was about what she said.

As the clouds begin to fill the remaining parts of the sky around the moon, Akito nods and grins. "As much of an airhead that you are… you know how to make the correct decisions…" Her foot removes itself from Kyo's hand allowing him to be plainly sprawled across the floor. "You know they will still remember you, don't you? Are you going to let them live knowing that you left them…" she was trying to get to Tohru as she did to Kana.

"Don't Miss. Honda!" Yuki calls abruptly, drawing both of their attentions to him. "Please! You can't have your memory erased just because of Akito's ruthlessness. We can still save them. You know those two, they'll live through everything!" Yuki's voice was almost hoarse as he said all this just because he was thinking about how much he would miss Tohru if she had forgotten them.

"I'm going to beat you, damn rat!" Kyo yelled as he ran as quick as he could during the endurance run at school.

Yuki heaved forth, even with Kyo but then he watched the cat take the lead. "Ah! Ah! Ah!" he huffed as he continued to run in the cold weather. He was falling even farther behind now.

Kyo keeps running and then…. fwoosh! "AH! WHAT!" he hits the ground headfirst and becomes dizzy. He rubs his forehead and yells furiously, "What the hell was that! I was beating that damn Yuki too!" Kyo flails around and then stops seeing Hatsuharu standing there with the string in his hand with Tohru panicking around them. Yuki sighs and watches Kyo get in Haru's face about how dangerous that was.

Hatsuharu turns towards no one in particular and says , "Don't try this at home kids, only a person like Kyo could be fine after taking a fall like that."

"What're you talking about you idiot! You shouldn't do that to anyone! Especially me! I could've died!" He shouts roughly, severely annoyed at the fact that he was finally beating Yuki at something and his victory was cut short because of the ox. "God dammit!" Kyo rubs his nose, "AH! I'm bleeding!" Tohru hurries over to Kyo to make sure he's okay.

Yuki and Tohru laugh on the inside, remembering that time. It wasn't funny what happened at all, especially since that was the same day that Yuki caught a fever and had one of his asthma attacks. But the way Haru and Kyo acted that day, had proved what Yuki had said just moments ago to Tohru. If anyone was tougher then them, it was the two of them combined. She was now forced to rethink the things she said to Akito. Of course, she still wanted Kyo and Haru to be safe and not be harmed any further, but when she thought about it she adored the memories she had that were occupied by the members of the juunishi. How much she cherished those memories, they were probably the most dearest thing to her, other then her memories of her mother naturally.

Slowly, Akito takes a step back and takes the mirror in both hands to look at the side where the chip of glass was missing. "I can't believe it…they broke you. The lovely mirror that gave me so much strength… I could've gotten rid of any one that I wanted to be rid of. Any one that once stood in my way could have been gone. But no! That stupid cat! The worthless living thing destroyed my power!" Akito was practically sulking to herself; she could practically care less what could happen to any of them, even if it were Shigure or Kureno. Right now… she didn't care in the least.

Kyo's hand twitched inaudibly as Akito continued to go on and on about her precious little mirror. The rain was still pounding at the outer walls of the house as hard as ever and it was showing no signs of pulling up. Tohru couldn't think of anything else to do now that Yuki wasn't going to allow her to give herself up to Akito just to save Kyo and Haru from their dwindling lives. Kureno and Shigure peak out from behind the wall and see Akito. "Akito-san, is everything okay over there?" Shigure whispers, praying that Yuki and Tohru couldn't hear him at all. The juunishi's God nodded unnoticeably and glared at Tohru and Yuki again. She prepared herself to speak, but couldn't find the correct, heart-tearing words as she normally did. Shigure was concerned –surprisingly- about Haru who was still lying on the ground in pain, trying to take in whatever oxygen he could so that he'd be able to say something. It wasn't working and before long, Haru will pass out from lack of air or loss of blood. Both of those types of pain were working hand in hand on Haru making the tenderness that he felt much less relieving.

Their voices were all much weaker then they were from when they first entered Akito's home. It was clear to them that all the yelling and screaming had not only made their throats sore, but they were becoming weak mentally and physically just by being in Akito's presence. All the pain and suffering that was going on in that living room, all the aching and worrying, was all triggered by the sick minded Akito. How many people has she caused pain to in her lifetime? Certainly more then only Yuki, Kana, Hatori, Kisa, Rin, and now Shishou. She had probably brought many others down as well, but it was mostly the juunishi and Shishou, the man closest enough to Kyo to say that he is his father.

His eyes opened abruptly and his forced open hand was attempting to grip the floor with all his strength until his fingernails dug into a rug. There was a fierce wound across his chest, about five long, dragging slashes that sliced right through his shirt and directly to his skin. The blood was still gradually dripping from his wounds, but as Yuki would suspect, that wasn't going to stop Kyo from getting back up and continuing on. He pulled himself up to his feet -although he stumbled many times to do so- and stared at Akito ruthlessly. "What a cheap shot that was… though, I can fully expect that from someone like you with your superiority complex and all!" Kyo said mockingly as he tried to breathe as best as he could without looking at anyone so that his anxiety wouldn't rise.

At the sound of his voice, Tohru and Yuki locked their eyes on Kyo, as well as Akito who was now severely infuriated. "No one can speak to me like that! Especially someone as low down in society as yourself you monster! Calling me names! Mocking me? Such a poor choice for someone in your position… ha… or condition," her voice was full of anger until she grinned from seeing his various injuries. Haru was just barely opening his eyes when he heard Akito finish speaking and the pain was as bad as ever. Turning around after hearing him hardly move, Akito beams at Haru. The blood coming from his wounds allowed her the pleasure of watching him bleed to death.

"You'll have to knock that …," he chokes on his own words and then finishes, "into her place… by yourself Kyo… Not even me turning black could get me to stand up as almost unfazed as you…" Haru coughs as he attempts to yank the daggers out but they were dug into each shoulder so that he couldn't reach across to pull either of them out. After a couple more passing seconds, Haru was nearly unconscious, just holding on by a single thread.

Kyo sighs and finally passes a glance at Tohru and Yuki. Thank god… she's… okay. He was breathing even heavier then he was when he was lying on the floor. The aching had become three times as painful and just turning even a little made him feel as if he were on the verge of death. He retrieves his attention and replaces it back on to Akito who was surging with annoyance. Kyo swore that if he had ever thought someone was angrier then him, it was Akito right now. It was all directed on him too. Well… this sucks now doesn't it. That little he-she only has eyes for me and right now… she's visualizing how she'll tear me apart. Am I right? He laughs quietly at these thoughts and then smirks at Akito. "You're just itching to suck me into that little mirror." Clearly, Kyo was unaware that it was 'destroyed' as Akito so put it, though it was just missing a little piece of glass.

Just as Akito stomped towards Kyo, more glass dropped to the floor. "Give me back Rin!" Haru shouted loudly, watching more glass drop to the floor like ice. The larger pieces shattered and the smaller ones merely vanished as they cracked against the floor. All Akito had left in her hand was a black object that could pass as a ping-pong paddle; it was just a tad smaller though. Akito stumbled back in shock and tripped backwards over the small table, the mirror-paddle slipping out from between her fingers and dropping to the ground. A mesmerizing flash of light fills the room and it was quite an obvious that everyone could see it in the Sohma Estate because everyone started peering out their windows and pointing and shouting.

Two people dropped to the floor, then a couple others. Kyo stared at the figures on the floor and then he looked at Haru. A couple pieces of wood were in his hands that he chipped off the wall. So… that's what he threw… Kyo as well as Yuki and Tohru thought to themselves. His eyes closed after seeing the people and soon, a calm, relaxed expression replaced the one that was full of agony.

There's chapter 23! I hope everyone enjoyed!