Author's Note: I apologize for the last chapter and must also warn you, that's not the end of bad stuff. But there has to be bad before it can be good again. Bear with me here!
Weird author fact: Raidon is 5' 9" height-wise and still growing and Hoshiko is 5'6" in her shoes. Without them, she's only 5'3" and shorter than Kita who's 5'4". Since she can't wear heels in school, she is actually the shortest a lot of the time and a little insecure about it but her presence is so much bigger than Kita's that it doesn't matter.
Akito's technical height is 5'4 ½" but since that came from the manga, I would think 'male' Akito is actually 5'8 ½" because in the anime, he's taller than Yuki but shorter than Shigure.
Random character height facts. Anyway...on with it!
Chapter 14 (A Perfectly Elastic Collision)
Kita held the uncapped cover stick up to her face, just below her lip, and paused, the concealer still dangling from her fingertips in midair.
The area that Akito had bitten yesterday was marred by a circular portion of reddened skin with a very deep puncture in the center that was scabbing over. It looked as if Kita had tried to pierce her lip on her own and that it had gotten severely infected.
Under normal circumstances, this ugly mark would be instantly hidden from the eyes of the public but as Kita gazed at her reflection in the large mirror, she realized that she didn't have any desire to smear the flesh-toned concealer against her battered skin. She didn't want to hide the wound.
She put the long, blue cap back on the cover stick and tossed it defiantly into the trash can. Let Akito face what he did. Let them all see.
Of course, she still powdered the rest of her face.
Kita walked back to her room and snatched the two boxes of peppermint candy that she had purchased a while ago at the convenience store off her dresser, placed them in her bag, and ran out the door.
"Kita, what happened to your face?" Hoshiko asked, staring at the large slit under Kita's lip. They were all lazily slumped over their chairs waiting for homeroom to start but, as usual, the teacher was off somewhere caring as little about schoolwork as the students did this close to graduation. "Did you try to pierce your lip?" Hoshi wondered out loud, reaching out to touch it curiously. Kita turned her head away before her finger could get at it.
It was better than the truth, she thought. So much for taking a stand.
"Yeah but I guess I had a reaction or something." Kita said, touching the crusty injury caused by Akito's lust and anger. Just lightly grazing it with her finger was enough to send fresh, acute pains through her lips, up to her forehead, and down her neck. It was a bite whose pain spanned all the contours of her face.
"You should have seen a professional." Raidon said, sitting at his desk with his nose in a thick fantasy novel. "Then you probably wouldn't have had a problem. Unless you're allergic to the metal or something."
"Yeah," Kita said, her voice trailing off as she spoke. She stared down at the floor guiltily. I'm such a liar, she thought.
"Now that we have that cleared up, I have an announcement!" Hoshiko said jumping up onto her chair like a soapbox. "Clear your schedules this Friday because we are going to a party!"
Raidon and Kita lifted their eyebrows in complete disbelieve. Their crowd had never been to a party together unless one of them was hosting it or it was open for anyone to come. Hoshiko went to parties with her boyfriends but, as she has told them, she would usually leave early to spend some intimate time with her boyfriend at her house since her mom was a workaholic and hardly ever at home.
"I hate to tell you this Hoshi, but the three of aren't exactly the most popular people on the planet. In fact, I don't think I would be out of line in saying we are socially defective. Why would we be invited to a party?" Raidon asked, shutting his book and looking up at her.
"Because my boyfriend is throwing it!" Hoshiko squeaked joyously.
How could I possibly go to a party? Kita wondered. Just imagining how the conversation would go caused her to shudder.
'Akito, can I go out to a party my friend's boyfriend is throwing?'
'Why do you need to go out? I could entertain you..'
"I can't go." she said quickly, turning to stare at the floor again.
Hoshi furrowed her brows. "No way. You are not getting out of this! We haven't done anything fun since your father died. You need to go out and starting acting like you used to!" Hoshi took a moment to calm down when she realized how commanding she was being. "I know you don't like parties but afterwards we can go somewhere like to the movies or something. Either way, you have to come. We need you there."
Great, Kita thought mordantly. I guess the only thing I can do is sneak out. She remembered the hole in the wall and a idea started to take shape. I can go through the hole in the wall and if I get home early, Akito might not even care too much, she hoped. He'll care but maybe if I have a good alibi and if I spend the rest of the night with him, he'll let me get away without punishment.
"When is it?" Raidon asked, thoroughly uninterested. He was even less of a party person than Kita. At the few parties they had gone to, he had sat on a random couch and read the entire night. Although, he did get a few dance offers which he promptly turned down because he refuses to believe he possesses even the slightest ability to dance.
"The party starts at five and goes to whenever." Hoshi said with a sneaky smile as if she intended to spend a wild night of passion with her boyfriend even though they'd be too intoxicated to remember it.
"Fine. I'll go." Raidon said knowing that if he didn't agree Hoshiko would start begging and getting melodramatic. As if she wasn't already. He opened his book again and went back to reading, tuning out everything else.
Hoshiko glanced over at Kita and crossed her arms, impatiently tapping her foot waiting for an answer.
"I'll go but I can't stay long." she said, reluctantly agreeing.
"You won't regret it!" Hoshiko said, hopping off her chair and hugging Raidon who apathetically peeled her arms off him, his eyes never leaving the book. Kita's arms stiffed as Hoshi attempted to hold her in a tight squeeze as well.
I'm sure I will, Kita thought glumly. She knew Hoshi was just trying to help but this attempt at fixing her problems sounded like it could only stir up more disorder.
Kita knelt down halfway between her mother and father's graves. The ground was no longer damp but it had gotten almost below freezing again like it was two days ago and it caused Kita to lose all feeling in her knees. Lose feeling in your heart, lose feeling in your knees, what does it matter.
"Hi Mom and Dad." Kita said, sounding a lot more miserable than she really was. "I know Valentine's Day was two days ago but I have presents for you today."
Kita dug around in her bag pushing past heavy schoolbooks and neurotically organized folders until she found the two boxes. They were in mint condition having never actually left the top of her dresser after she had bought them. She placed a box on each tombstone and then went back to kneeling on the frozen dirt.
"So, things have been...well, things have been inconsistent. I wasn't able to deliver these chocolates to you because Akito has been wanting me around the house. He likes it when I take care of him when he's sick and he doesn't really let me go out much. I enjoy his company...most of the time." Kita motioned to the scab under her lip and stopped talking, wondering exactly how much she should tell the spirits. She sure as hell wasn't going to mention yesterday, she could barely understand it herself and it wasn't the kind of thing you wanted your parents to know, but she could tell them about what happened the first time he was sick. That was a more pleasant anecdote.
"He told me he loved me. A few times actually. I don't really know what to think or how I feel about it. I actually don't really know how to feel about much of anything anymore."
Kita sighed. This was a lot harder than she had hoped it would be. As she sat there spilling out her soul to souls that might not even be present, she realized that she wanted her parents to help her. She wanted feedback on her problems, her lack of feelings, dealing with Akito's newfound temerity, and even help with what to do about this upcoming Friday. On top of that, the fact that she was going to be late getting home was weighing heavily in her mind.
"Being stuck at the main house and being without you two has been making me sad, but not teary sad, numb, like I'll never be able to feel happy or sad again." Kita's voice lowered to a whisper. "I want to feel again." She glanced at the graves as if to subconsciously ask if they had heard her and then abruptly stood up. Now she was really late.
"I have to go. I love you and I miss you both so much." she said, touching both the tombstones like a substitute for an embrace and then immediately took off towards Sohma house.
Kita was thankful she had worn her flats again because as she heard her feet pound on the pavement, she could imagine herself tripping on the broken sidewalk and scraping up her face while people walked past her, uninterested in helping her or finding out if she's okay. People shot her nasty looks as she ran past them, careful not to bump into them. She had developed a special skill when it came to agilely maneuvering through large crowds as she had been doing since she was little. Always trying to get through them to get away so she could be alone.
No wonder I'm such an outcast, she thought.
She raced up the steps to the main house, kicking off her shoes when she got inside and taking off down the hallway. How many minutes? Kita wondered. Five? Ten? Fifteen minutes late? Will Akito notice if it's such a small increment?
Suddenly a woman entered the hallway from a side door so quickly that even with Kita's special skill, she couldn't dodge her and the two collided. Kita fell to the floor, first hitting her knee on the ground and then falling onto her behind while the women only stumbled backwards a bit.
"Ow, watch it!" the women shouted, standing up straight and smoothing out her intricately designed and clearly expensive kimono.
"Sorry, I'm just really late so I was running.." Kita said, pushing her hair away from her eyes and looking up at her. She had long black hair and eyes that possessed a familiar cold quality. Kita couldn't remember ever seeing her before but she felt like she had met her.
"Kita?" the women asked skeptically.
"Yes. That's me." Kita said, standing up and bowing. "And you.."
"So this is her." the women said, cutting her off. She began to look very closely at Kita like she was inspecting a diamond for quality, which Kita assumed this woman had done before.
"Dirty hair that definitely needs to washed." the women noted taking a piece of Kita's hair between her fingers and scowling. "Not that I was expecting a very well-kept girl."
Kita resented the comment. She took good enough care of herself, just maybe not as well as she used to.
She tucked the strand behind Kita's ear and began to examine her face.
"Beautiful eyes." The women observed, staring into her yellow-green eyes like she was trying to look past them for something underneath. "Hm, tiger-like. No surprise there." she said distastefully. "Decent skin color: even, clear."
Of course that was because of Kita's face powder but she didn't need to know that.
The women took a step back like she was trying to get a better view of the whole picture. "A little bigger than I expected. I was anticipating nothing but skin and bones, not quite so curvy and soft, and maybe a bit shorter."
Unbeknownst to this woman, Kita has actually been quickly losing weight since she moved there but Kita didn't reflect on the comment since it really didn't sound like either a compliment or an insult.
"All in all, pretty but nowhere near gorgeous." the women concluded, satisfied.
Kita frowned. Who the hell did this women think she was?
"Are you smart?" The women asked Kita, her expression remaining harsh and critical.
"Well, that's a hard question to answer." Kita stated. "If I say no, I'm not only stupid but I also have low self-esteem. If I say yes, I'm egotistical."
The women nodded as if that was an acceptable answer.
"How about athletic?" she asked. Kita felt like she was at a job interview from hell or some kind of crude dating service.
"I'm more so the girl hiding underneath the bleachers playing poker with a small group during gym class." Kita answered.
So she's probably not very strong, the women thought. That's convenient.
"Well, it's...a pleasure to finally meet you." the women said, giving her a sneer-like smile. "Oh and one more thing," she said raising a finger to the scab below Kita's lip. "You might want to be more careful around my son. He can be quite ill-tempered and you wouldn't want another...problem like that." And with that the women exited the hallway, leaving Kita to stand dumbstruck, her original purpose forgotten.
Son? Son? She's his mother? Kita could barely process the information. She could never have imagined Akito as having parents. He just seemed like he materialized one day out of air particles or was orphaned or abandoned. She wasn't expecting to actually meet the women who gave birth to him, especially not in the main house. How could she have lived there for a month and had never met her? She probably lives somewhere else in the Sohma estate, but still...
Oh no, Akito! Kita remembered, running to his door and slipping inside. He was lying down on the floor with his head held up by one hand, looking very serene.
"Where were you?" Akito asked calmly as she knelt down in front of him. He seemed to still be a little on edge but not nearly as scary as he had been yesterday.
"I-I went to the cemetery t-to see my parents." Kita stuttered. Why is it that I can still feel scared around him? She wondered. "Then I bumped into this woman in the hallway..."
Akito's eyes widened knowing exactly who she was talking about.
That bitch said she wouldn't talk to her, Akito thought, his head raging from the revelation. I told her not to even get within ten feet of Kita. What kind of mind corruption and degradation has she already tried on her? And what the hell was she doing inside the main house?
He lunged towards Kita, clutching her shoulders tightly.
"Don't ever speak to that women again!" he yelled at her, shaking her rancorously. Kita quickly put her hands down on the wood floor so that if she fell or was hit, she would be able to regain her balance easily.
"I won't! I won't! I swear!" Kita promised, terrified that Akito was going to hurt her.
But, to her surprise, he didn't. He slowly stopped shaking her and let go of her before steadily standing up and walking over to the large window. Fittingly, the sun was hidden behind dark storm clouds that threatened freezing rain.
"Um, Akito?" Kita started, timidly moving towards him. "Are you okay?" she asked. As much as she hated to admit it, she felt sorry for him and more concerned about him than she felt she should be of someone who causes her to lead such a strictly cloistered and almost servile life.
Akito let out a heavy breath and clinched his fists by his sides.
"I'd be better if she would die."