Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
Chapter Six : A Matter of Happiness
"Akito! I'm glad that you could join us! Please, have a seat. I'll get you a drink." Everyone's attention shifted from Akito to Shigure. Instantly, Haru stood.
"You! You're the one who got him to come more. You damn dog!" Black Haru jumped over the table and threw himself at Shigure. The dog, without even looking at his cousin, backhanded him so hard that Haru flew backwards and instantly crumpled to the ground. Hana's eyes flashed. Getting up slowly, she glided carefully towards the cow, her eyes flitting back and forth from Shigure and Akito. Once she reached the cow's side, she propped him up in her arms and attempted to examine his face.
Poof!
Hana looked down to see a cow. Smiling slowly, she nodded her head. "So then. That's why the Sohmas emit such strange waves. Then, if my speculations are correct, all of the Sohmas in this house turn into animals. Except for you, Akito-san. Your waves are different; they are stranger and sorrowful than any of your kin. Why is this, then? Are you cursed in a way that your family is not? Or are you just the kind of man who hurts others to make themselves feel better? People like that give off very distinctive waves. You give off the strongest waves of that nature I have ever seen, Akito-san." Akito, instantly infuriated, picked up the closest thing at hand. It was a vase from the side table. Making a threatening step toward the girl, Akito raised the vase, ready to throw it at Hana. Hana smiled.
"How dare you insult me, the head of the Sohma family? My suffering is greater than they will ever know; I bear the core of the curse for them! All I ask is for them to obey me, but all they want to do is go against me! I have the right to punish them! I HAVE THE RIGHT!" Akito threw the vase. It flew violently through the air, glancing off of Hana's shoulder and breaking. She grabbed her shoulder and sank to the floor in shock. Akito, grinning like a madman, strode over to Hana. Laughing, he prodded his foot into her stomach and kicked violently. "THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE GET FOR GOING AGAINST ME!" Tohru immediately threw herself onto Akito, knocking him aside.
"Stop!" Akito, dazed, backed away from Tohru. Shaking his head, he advanced again, wrapping his slim fingers around Tohru's throat. Everyone in the room stood and started for Tohru. Yuki made it first.
"Akito! Let her go!" Yuki threw blind punches at Akito, trying desperately to loosen his grip on Tohru. Tohru gasped for breath and clawed at Akito's hands. Akito let go with one hand to swat Yuki aside, then gripped Tohru with even more force.
Tohru was scratching frantically at Akito's hands and arms now, desperately trying to get air. Blood dripped down from his arms to form a puddle on the floor. Hatori, fire flashing in his eyes, grabbed an umbrella from the entrance room. Sneaking up behind Akito, the doctor swung the umbrella like a baseball bat.
Crraack. The umbrella connected, and broke. Akito's grip immediately slackened and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Yuki caught Tohru in his arms and instantly transformed, leaving Tohru to fall onto the floor, gasping for breath. Hatori, now completely oblivious to everyone, stepped back until his back hit the wall. Hands shaking, he examined the weapon in his hands. The doctor, the full impact of what he'd done hitting him, screamed. Everyone turned to look at him, and within seconds he had dropped the umbrella and run out of the house. Haru, now back in human form and dressed, advanced on Shigure.
"Why did you get him to come? What is your fucking problem?"
"He wanted to come to congratulate Yuki on his full recovery!"
"That's bull shit. He's the reason the Yuki locked himself in there in the first place! He comes here and tries to kill Tohru-kun, and you say that he comes in peace? Shigure, whose side are you on?" Shigure grabbed Haru's collar and pulled the cow close so that the two were staring straight into each other's eyes.
"It's not a matter of sides. It's a matter of happiness. I do what Akito says, I'm happy. Hatori didn't do what Akito said, and look at him now. I will always do as Akito says, because I know that if I don't, I won't ever, ever be happy. Believe me. I went against his orders once. I don't ever want to do it again. Yuki should've learned the first day Akito put him in that room. Ha'ri should've learned the first time he laid eyes on Kana. Do you understand?" Haru looked down at the floor.
"But doesn't he see? If he stopped ordering us around, we would be so much happier. We wouldn't hate him as much, even Akito would be happier. But my words, and the words of everyone else, fall on completely deaf ears. That short-sighted bastard sees only himself." This insult was greeted by a furious punch to Haru's gullet from Shigure. Leaving the cow, Shigure heaved the unconscious Akito onto his shoulder and swept out the door.