Author's Note: Here's a chapter to give you a dose of sweetness.

Chapter 10 (A Dark Halo)

Kita felt herself collapse into one of the now impeccably clean desks out of sheer exhaustion. The mop was her new worst enemy. Cleaning the classroom had taken an eternity to finish today for some obscure reason so she was practically ready to fall on her shaking knees, thankful that the job had finally been completed.

Hoshiko had conceived the ingenious idea to skip every Monday for the rest of the year so it was just Kita and Raidon that day. Without Hoshi, the day seemed a lot quieter. It was a feeling they could easily tolerate but they missed her a lot. She made cleaning up exciting and that's really what they had needed.

Kita wished she had skipped with her. The day had been agonizingly mind-numbing and if she had skipped, she and Hoshi could have gone out for once. It had been so long since Kita had gone out anywhere. Akito hadn't really authorized hanging out with her friends as an acceptable way to spend her time and she had been too numb to be in the mood to do anything that could be classified as fun. However, she needed to get to the store sometime soon because Valentine's Day was in a couple days and she needed to get presents.

Raidon fell into the desk next to Kita, completely depleted of his energy as well, and rolled his head towards her.

"Done." he said satisfied, letting out a breath.

"I'm spent." Kita said, putting her bare feet on the desk in front of her, trying to keep herself upright and her eyes open.

"So Kita, you haven't left the house since your father died and you have been living in the Sohma house for two weeks now and I haven't even seen the place. I know you're sad but is there something you're not telling me?" he asked suspiciously.

Kita was caught off-guard by the question and started to get nervous. As much as she wanted to have Rai come over, she couldn't invite him. Akito would have a fit.

"The Sohmas have pretty strict rules on visitors.." she said, trying to sum up an excuse for her behavior even though it didn't answer his question about how she was feeling. She knew it was a weak response but she couldn't exactly say that the head of the Sohma family has taken a liking towards her and thus, refused to let her get to far from him.

"Come on." Rai pleaded. "Couldn't I at least walk over there with you? I want to see the house and make sure it is a suitable environment for you to live in." he said, sounding very big brotherly and protective.

Kita swung her legs off the desk and sighed deeply. There shouldn't be any harm in just letting him walk to Sohma house with her. Coming inside its isolated walls would be completely out of the question but she could at least let him see it.

"Okay, sure." Kita said, throwing up her hands. "Let's just get the heck out of here."

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Akito was standing by the front of the room when Kureno entered and kneeled in front of him. He was feeling a lot worse than yesterday and supporting his head was a very difficult action to maintain but he hid this from Kureno and folded his hands calmly. A while ago, he had addressed Kureno with a few questions about his little Kita that had never really been answered. He waited for his guest to speak first.

"She found the items in the closet." Kureno said, breaking the silence. "She seemed to have really liked them."

Akito smiled. He knew she would like them. She didn't seem to have anything quite so decadent in her drawers and he knew they would make her look beautiful.

"Good. And what can you tell me about those people in that photograph in her bookshelf?" he asked, staring glassy-eyed in no particular direction. His cheeks were scarlet in color and his forehead burned like a sidewalk in hundred degree weather. He definitely had a fever but Hatori had yet to come over and check on him.

It was clear Akito had been itching to ask about her friends for a while but Kureno really didn't have much information on them. All he had found out was a few bits of information Shigure had dispensed to him when he had swung by to visit yesterday.

"Well, the girl's name is Hoshiko and she's supposedly a loud, reckless sort of person. I remember also hearing something about a fondness for younger boys but that information isn't really relevant."

Akito cringed. This Hoshiko person sounded so much like Ren that it made him feel even more ill than he already was. How could Kita tolerate someone like that, he wondered, cursing his mother.

"What about the boy?" he asked with obvious distaste, deciding that was all he needed to know about the girl.

"All I got about him was that his name is Raidon and that he's a quiet person." Kureno said, knowing that wasn't exactly the information Akito was looking for. Akito had wanted to know if this boy liked Kita. He wanted to know if this boy had ever dated Kita. He wanted to know if this boy had the nerve to think he was still dating Kita. He already didn't like this boy either.

"Find out more about him." Akito demanded. "You're dismissed." He had had enough unpleasantries for one day.

Kureno bowed and exited without even a footstep heard.

Now that he was alone, Akito could allow how he was really feeling to come out. He walked over to the window and slumped over the sill, his head spinning from the fever and from thoughts of Kita and her friends. Does she really need other friends outside this house anyway, he thought. I could be everything for her.

It was below freezing temperature outside and he would probably get sicker if he stayed hunched over the open window for too long but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

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"This is Sohma house!" Raidon asked, gazing in awe at the tall barricade in front of him.

"Yeah, this is Sohma house!" Momiji squeaked cheerfully. He and Haru had accompanied them on their walk so the four of them were now standing in front of the massive gate, trying to decide what to do next. He had wanted to see the place. There it is. What now?

"It looks like this gigantic wall is ostracizing a miniature town." he said thoroughly amazed. "It resembles an upscale sort of prison actually; I can see now why you haven't been leaving." he said, turning to Kita. The joke was lost on her. To her, Sohma house was like a prison, albeit one that had its good days. She just couldn't shake off what Haru had said to her about how going to college will be a hard task to accomplish when she is so coveted by Akito.

"I guess the journey ends here boys." Kita said, walking over to the door.

"Can't I at least go in a little bit?" Raidon asked. "I'm extremely fascinated now."

"I don't know.." she said, an aura of trepidation lingering in her mind. If someone were to catch them, it would surely get back to Akito that she had brought a boy within the confines of the Sohma estate.

"Come on, Kita!" shouted Momiji. "Just a little bit won't hurt."

That's easy for him to say, Kita thought. If they get caught, he probably won't have to suffer for it.

"Fine." she said, giving into the pressure. Her numbness made her such a push-over.

Haru opened the door and the four of them walked slowly inside, making deep footprints in the day-old snow. Although it didn't have the sometimes present funereal gloom, it was still pretty quiet inside. Luckily, no one was outside. If someone were to see Raidon, it would surely become an instant scandal.

"You didn't tell me you're loaded!" Raidon exclaimed, closely studying an ornate stone sculpture that was placed along one of the paths that ran through the property.

"I'm not loaded. The Sohmas in general are the rich ones. My father and mother were self-sufficient." she said, proudly.

Above them, a little distance away, Akito watched their little show from his window. That red-headed boy, that Raidon, was inside the gates with Kita, Hatsuharu, and Momiji. They were walking around together, checking out the Sohma estate without his consent, and they didn't look the slightest bit remorseful about it.

What nerve Kita has, Akito thought angrily. I give her a place to stay, I offer to protect her, I give her affection that rivals the way I feel for the Zodiac members and she gallivants around my place with that boy. No one is allowed inside the gates of the Sohma estate who doesn't know about the curse.

He watched as the boy left the gates and the remaining three broke off in different directions, returning to their homes. Five minutes later, Akito heard the door to his room slide open.

"Good afternoon, Akito." she said to him, sounding pleasant enough but tired.

Akito didn't move. The frigid air almost felt refreshing against his heated face as another icy breeze whipped by him and tousled his hair. After a violent fit of shivering, all the feeling in his body had gone dull rendering him immobilized by the window.

How could she sound so utterly cheery after she had gone and broken his unwritten rules, he wondered. How could she?

But then his mind shifted to a more rational place, a place Akito doesn't visit often. Maybe it's just the fever thinking for me, but maybe I have nothing to worry about, he contemplated. She has male friends of whom she doesn't have a romantic relationship with, right? And when we're together, I can tell she is there for me and no one else. She is so sweet and quiet and far too smart to betray me. She knows the consequences for such a heinous action and she would not be willing to endure them for a fling with another man. But it's the quiet, sweet ones to worry about. Is she as innocent as her face may read? She's practically a compulsive liar, after all.

"Akito?" Kita said, starting to sound a bit worried. "Are you okay?"

She walked over to the window and brushed his hair away from his face, revealing his sickly visage to her. She put her palm up to his forehead.

"You're burning up. Get away from the window. It could make you sicker. Have you seen Hatori yet?" she asked, genuinely concerned. Maybe I have nothing to worry about, he thought.

Akito stood up with difficulty and faced Kita, who had a frightened expression on her face at the sight of him so mangled and weak. He placed his hand on her cheek and slumped down, a bit too low for Kita for she feared he might fall over, so she grabbed his shoulders and adjusted him so he was standing erect.

"Kita, sometimes I wonder if you really appreciate everything that I do for you." he said, a hint of anger present in his speech. Kita felt her own feelings of numbness melt away and she immediately got on guard to protect herself ...or him. Whichever one was necessary.

"I took you in after your father died, I vowed to protect you from danger and pain, and I promised to care for you. I care for you above so many others."

Kita was at a loss for words. His speech was laced with illness and choler but it was true, he had done those things. Whether or not he had stayed true to them was something to be debated.

Akito leaned into her and rested his chin on her shoulder. His lips brushed her ear as he murmured softly, words that shocked and astonished Kita more than the news of her father's death, more than Akito's promise to marry her...

"I love you, Kita. And I will allow nothing to come in between us."

Kita could barely believe it. He abused her and tried to take advantage of her but here he was, in a broken state, saying he loves her. Does he expect me to say it back, she wondered. She still didn't know how she felt about him since he never acted consistently. Today was a prime example.

He answered her unspoken question by kissing her with all the strength he could summon, falling against her, no longer able to support his own weight. Kita wrapped her arms around him to hold up his thin frame. He needed Hatori badly.

Kita directed him over to his futon but he refused to break the kiss so she ended up laying down next to him. She finally pulled away and he shivered from the loss of her body heat against him. She wrapped a blanket around him and ran out into the hallway, yelling frantically.

"Kureno! Hatori! Akito is sick! Badly sick. He needs help now!"

Hatori appeared running down the hall, apparently having been called for not long ago, with Kureno on his coattails. The three of them rushed into the room, Hatori kneeling down by Akito and Kita and Kureno standing by the door watching.

Hatori attempted to turn Akito's face towards him but he kept resisting, eventually swiping at Hatori, who ducked, missing the harsh blow.

"You don't have to stay. This will probably take a while." Kureno whispered to Kita. She nodded solemnly, knowing there was nothing she could do at this point.

She turned to leave, glancing sadly at the sick man on the floor one last time before she left.

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Kita brushed her teeth in the bathroom mirror, trying desperately to get Akito off her mind. After she had left him, she had watched a movie in the first room she found with a television and then gone into her room to read for a while, but the entire time she was preoccupied with thoughts about him. That expression on his face, so afflicted, so helpless, was enough to break her heart. As if it didn't have enough damage done to it already.

She rinsed out her toothbrush and sighed. I have to see him, she concluded. I won't be able to sleep until I know he's okay.

She walked to his door and slowly slid it open so she wouldn't wake him up if he happened to be sleeping already. She peeked inside the dark room, the only illumination being the moon, whose light was pouring through the window bathing his face in its gentle luminance. He looks so innocent, Kita thought, stepping quietly into the room to get a better view of him. His hair was spread out over the pillow like a dark halo, making Kita chuckle a little at how funny it looked. He had two thick blankets covering him and one that looked like he had kicked it to the end of the bed.

He opened his eyes halfway and looked up at her sluggishly.

"I'm sorry for waking you, Akito." she said, bowing instinctively. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right." she said, almost weepy, partly out of fear of punishment and partly out of concern for his well-being.

"I'll go back to my room." she said turning rapidly to go.

"Stay with me." he said, stopping her in her tracks. It sounded much more like a command than a request.

Kita turned towards him, knowing she didn't have a choice but not at all minding. She was kind of happy that she would get to make him feel better. She walked over to him and knelt down next to his futon, smiling weakly at him in a feeble attempt to cheer him up even though it was so hard to look at him this way. He loves me, Kita thought. This sick, abusive boy loves me. It's strange how life sometimes goes.

She felt his hand slide out from under the blankets and tightly take hold of her own hand, which had been resting on her knee.

"Stay all night." he said, as if he would never be well again unless she did. He pulled back the blankets for her so she could lie down next to him.

Instantly Kita mind jumped to the thought of what is he going to try but as she gazed at his suffering exterior, she realized that he was just looking for her company and nothing more.

She crawled into bed next to him, pulling the blankets around herself but making sure he had more of the blanket on his side. Akito wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lightly on her forehead, pulling her close to him like a security blanket. He buried his face in her hair, the clean smell coming over him, making him feel pacified.

"Goodnight Kita." he crooned, as he quickly drifted off to sleep, cradling her in his arms.