Beyond the Darkness
Chapter Three: The Painful Past.
Akito woke with a start, sweat pouring from his forehead as his wild eyes frantically scanned the room. Without a word he threw the blankets from him and raced for the door.
Hatori had slept soundly that night, until Akito barged into his room, ripped the sheets from him and grabbed the front of his nightshirt.
"Akito?" Hatori had muttered, still drowsy from sleep as he found Akito merely inches in front of him, his dark eyes hard and emotionless.
"What does she want from me?" He snarled, infuriated further by Hatori's confused expression.
"Akito…"
"Tell me! What does she want? What does she expect?"
"Who?"
"You know who!" He snapped, pulling Hatori roughly to his feet only to throw him against the wall. "Those damn girls didn't help! I'm still being haunted in my sleep! Will it never leave me?" Akito was almost hysterical as he paced the room, his fingers pulling at his robe anxiously.
"But…the girls didn't stay at the house tonight." Hatori hesitantly ventured. Akito paused in his pacing and glared at Hatori, waiting for him to continue. "They didn't get everything unpacked before the storm set in, so Shigure offered his house to them for the night so they wouldn't freeze."
"They stayed with Shigure." Akito stated simply. He seemed to calm almost instantly. "That explains it. They didn't stay in the house." Akito's eyes closed, as though fighting off the demons that were plaguing his troubled mind.
"Akito?" Hatori ventured nervously, "What is it?"
"You would not understand." He hesitated. "See to it that tomorrow they sleep in that house, not Shigure's." He replied tonelessly before sweeping gracefully from the room.
Hatori was left in stunned silence, still lying against the wall where Akito had roughly thrown him.
'What are you hiding, Akito? What personal demons are pursuing you?'
- - - - -
Shigure yawned as he rolled out of bed, hearing the banging of pots and pans in the kitchen. Curiously, he ventured out to find his two guests hurriedly working away at making breakfast.
"Dare I ask what the two of you are up to?" He smiled, stepping into view, and making the girls jump. In her surprise, Aiska overbalanced and fell backwards, her arms flailing wildly as she tried to grab onto something. To Shigure's horror, she fell right towards him, and as he held his arms out to catch her, he knew this could only end badly. Romiko gasped as she grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her steady again, much to Shigure's relief.
"You should be more careful." Shigure winked playfully as Aiska scowled and Romiko giggled.
"That was a little close, don't you think?" Kyo muttered as he past, narrowly avoiding a rather sleepy Yuki as he slinked into the room. To their horror, Yuki nearly walked right into Romiko, had it not been for Tohru's cheery entrance.
"Good morning everyone. Did you sleep well?"
"We most certainly did." Romiko smiled while Aiska cast a curious glance at Yuki.
"Not a morning person, I take it." She raised an eyebrow as Shigure only laughed. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, only to have him spin around in self-defence, his hand wrapped painfully tightly around her wrist. Aiska cried out in surprise, managed to twist her wrist so she could grab his hand, flipped him over her own body with surprising strength and sent him flying straight through the door.
Yuki slowly sat up, rubbing his head with a blank expression. All eyes were turned to Aiska, who had a hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide in shock at her own actions.
"I am so sorry! You surprised me!" She cried, hurrying to Yuki's side.
"I don't believe it!" Kyo gaped, "Last time I tried that, it was me he threw through the door! Do it again!"
"What? No! I didn't mean to! It was just a reaction!"
"No, please Miss Aiska, I… want you to try and do that again." Yuki hesitantly climbed to his feet.
"Are… are you sure?"
"Yes, that was quite impressive." She merely shrugged as she jumped onto the grass and positioned herself opposite Yuki, not hearing Romiko's warning about over exerting herself, her eyes strangely focused as she stared straight at him, her gaze unwavering. In a single, fluid movement, she aimed a spinning kick at him, which Yuki managed to block, but with obvious difficulty. Surprised by her strength, he pushed her leg away only to have her jump to the side, crouch down and suddenly spin, knocking his legs out from underneath him. He landed hard, blinking in surprise for a moment before quickly leaping to his feet again. He aimed a series of punches at her, only to have each blocked. In frustration, Yuki managed to land a kick to her chest, sending her stumbling backwards, to the horror of Romiko who gasped in surprise and fright and nearly bumped into Kyo. Aiska hesitated a moment, her hand fluttering over her chest before her eyes narrowed with determination. Once again, Yuki tried to land a punch, only to have his wrist caught. With apparent ease, Aiska hurled Yuki to the ground, only to have him grasp her wrist at the last minute, sending her crashing down on top of him. Shigure covered his eyes, waiting for the cry of discovery from Aiska and Romiko, yet after a moments pause he heard nothing. Hesitantly he uncovered his eyes to find that Yuki had managed to get his legs up in time to stop her from falling on him and flip her over onto her back. Together they lay panting, their heads nearly touching as they both stared up at the sky.
"Well, children, if we are finished trying to kill one another, can we have breakfast now?" Shigure smiled, relief flooding his senses. Yet his request seem to fall on deaf ears as all eyes were turned to Aiska, who Romiko was kneeling beside. Yuki had sat up and turned to face her, while Tohru and Kyo were watching on, concern clearly scarring their faces.
"What have I told you about doing all this type of stuff, it's not helping every time you do anything like that you take a risk, you've got to rest, and especially with a cold and with winter setting, this is no time to be doing martial arts lessons and doing it to one of ours hosts. What on earth were you thinking? You've got to stop this…" Romiko, clearly distressed continued to scold Aiska as she checked her over for broken bones.
"Aiska?"
"I'm fine! Really! Just… need a moment… to catch my breath."
"Maybe I should give Ha'ri a call." Shigure mused as he watched Romiko help her friend to her feet.
"No! No I'm fine, really." Shigure raised an eyebrow, but stood aside as Romiko helped Aiska inside, while the other three tailed behind. "I don't want to be a bother." She muttered as she limped into the kitchen.
"Well, as a way of saying thank you for your hospitality, we made you all breakfast. Thought we'd give Tohru a break." Romiko tried to lighten the atmosphere as she got back to the meal she was making. Porridge, toast, tea, and eggs were soon sitting on the table, waiting to be devoured.
"A western breakfast." Aiska smiled, trying to hide her grimace of pain.
"Wow, this is certainly different." Tohru laughed as she settled down to try the new food. Kyo seemed rather hesitant as he studied the varying dishes before plonking himself beside Romiko.
"Go on Kyo, you'll like it! You too Shigure and Yuki." The two exchanged glances and shrugged.
"How can I refuse two such beautiful…" Shigure was punched before he could finish and took his place at the table, a purple bruise beginning to form on his head.
"Where did you learn to cook such dishes?" Yuki asked, as he prepared to take a bite of the toast with strawberry jam.
"We spent some time in England and America, before moving back to Japan." Aiska stated, taking a small spoonful of porridge. Kyo followed in suit, pausing to allow the taste to fill his senses. He swallowed quickly, before hurriedly taking up another spoonful.
"Ha! I take it Kyo approves." Shigure smiled as he tried some of it himself. "And I don't blame him, this is delicious!" He smiled after another two mouthfuls. Romiko and Aiska exchanged glances, Romiko frowning as her friend winced when she took a breath and looked to Shigure, who was quick to interpret her gaze and giving her a reassuring smile, downed his tea before rising.
"Ha'ri? Would you be able to come over some time today?"
"I was about to come over anyway, why? Has Yuki come down with the flu again? Or has Tohru caught it from him?"
"Well, Yuki isn't well, but that's not the reason I'm asking. It's Aiska." There was a pause as Hatori thought on this for a moment.
"What is wrong?"
"Yuki and her had a little brawl, all fun of course…" Shigure tried to sound light.
"Yuki didn't try to kill her, I hope." Hatori interjected, unimpressed.
"No, nothing like that, if anything, she tried to kill him. I'm not sure why, but Aiska seems to be in quite a bit of pain whenever she breaths."
"Yuki kicked her chest, didn't he?"
"Well, yes." Hatori sighed, not sure of what to expect.
"Akito had another nightmare last night." Hatori suddenly stated.
"A nightmare?"
"He was completely livid when he shook me awake."
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, but it was… odd. Something about that house is bothering him, but he refuses to tell me what exactly. It seems he has it in mind that these girls will be able to solve his problems."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he said how they didn't help, because he was still being haunted, then I told him how they stayed with you last night."
"What did he say?"
"He calmed down remarkably quickly."
"How odd, what could these two possibly do to help him? What memory of that house could be causing him such grief?"
"We don't know what happened in that house, but he keeps referring to her."
"You mean…?"
"Yes, he was blaming her."
"Why?"
It has something to do with this recurring dream."
"Maybe we should have a closer look at some of those possessions we found." Shigure mused, his eyes darting to the box of random assortments in his study.
"I'll be over soon." And with that, Shigure heard nothing but the dial tone.
"You called Hatori, didn't you?" Yuki whispered to Shigure as he entered the room, smiling as the girls laughed together while packing the dishes away.
"It is for your own good, and Aiska's. It's only right, after all, it is your fault if she's injured." Shigure replied, elbowing Yuki in the ribs.
"It was an accident." He shot back, the guilt clearly showing. Shigure only shrugged as he watched Kyo finish up washing the dishes, wiping his soapy hands on a tea towel.
"And what do we have here? Kyo the housewife?" Romiko and Aiska shot Shigure a glare, and before Kyo could interject, they had rounded on Shigure. With narrowed eyes, they pushed him towards the remaining dishes.
"How nice of you to volunteer to put the rest away." They spoke in unison.
"But…"
"We should get back to unpacking. Thank you for your hospitality." Aiska smiled as they quickly sauntered from the room.
"That's what you get for being sexist." Yuki muttered to Shigure before following Tohru and Kyo outside to see them off. Shigure was not long before he joined them on the porch.
"You just threw them into a pile, didn't you?" Yuki glared at him as he merely laughed dismissively.
"You should learn to trust me, Yuki. Besides, we're going to help them unpack once Ha'ri arrives. That is, unless the three of you have something better to do on your weekend?"
"We'll be happy to help." Tohru volunteered cheerfully, ignorant of the groan from Kyo.
"You have somewhere you'd rather be, Kyo?" Shigure asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I suppose not." He muttered.
"Well then, get ready you three, and we'll just wait until Ha'ri arrives."
"I hope you're going to put those dishes away." Kyo snarled.
"Oh of course." He grinned just as Hatori's car pulled up.
"And speak of the devil." Shigure laughed as Hatori climbed out, running his fingers through his hair.
"So where is my patient?"
"Well, ones here, and the other has gone off to unpack."
"I'm fine, it's Aiska who needs the attention." Yuki stated as Hatori turned to him with his bag in hand.
"I'll look at you while I'm here anyway. Have you been taking your medication?" He didn't wait for an answer as his stethoscope found Yuki's chest. "You should stop fighting others and rest. Your body doesn't need the physical strain. And you should leave him alone for a while, Kyo." Hatori remarked, glancing to Kyo.
"What? I didn't do anything!" He snapped. Hatori ignored his outburst as he steered Yuki inside to his room. In a matter of minutes, Hatori had Yuki lying in bed while he gave him a quick shot of medication.
"Stay here today, keep yourself rested and you'll be fine for school on Monday." Hatori snapped his bag shut, ignoring Yuki's protests. He stood and turned to Shigure. "Let's go."
- - - - -
"You're in pain, it's obvious." Romiko sighed as they arrived back in their new house. They had walked in silence, the tension mounting between them, as each knew what was about to happen. "You really shouldn't have let yourself get into a fight like that." She frowned, the worry in her heart coming out as anger in her voice.
"I didn't mean to, and I'll be fine. I just need to lie down for a while."
"I remember the last time you said that, and the ringing of the ambulance sirens in my ears that followed not long after." Romiko remarked bitterly.
"That was different." Aiska muttered with no conviction.
Romiko sighed, "Maybe you should just tell Hatori."
"I don't want them to look down on me, I don't want any more sympathy." She sighed, her eyes trailing on the floor as Romiko stood before her.
"We've been best friends for as long as I can remember, please, just tell him. The others don't have to know." Romiko lifted her chin and made Aiska look at her, "I'm not going to loose you without a fight, you know." She smiled weakly as Aiska glanced at her friend, the worry she saw there eating away at her conscience.
"We'll see."
- - - - -
Akito leant against the windowsill, staring at the place Hatori's car had vanished from a while before. He knew Hatori would be at Shigure's place by now, but what concerned him was that he had taken his medical bag. Akito mused over the likelihood that Yuki had fallen ill with the flu again, or that Honda had managed to catch it from him. Yet Akito found his attention wandering to the faces of those two girls, the ones he hoped would be able to help him.
'Trusting two complete strangers, what is wrong with me?' Akito silently berated himself, ashamed at the thought of requiring help from two outsiders.
'They don't understand us, and they never will.' The sun shone brightly on the thinning blanket of snow that covered the garden. The glare hurt his eyes as Akito once again retreated into the darkness of his room.
"How long until they find out? How long until Shigure or Hatori come to me with the news?" He spoke to the shadows. "How long must I endure this nightmare? How long…?"