An Alpha to Omega

Customary Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket or anything in it.

Rating: PG-13 – for the angst, violence, and mature concepts (no, not that kind of mature, y'all).

Alert! There will plenty of what I can assume are spoilers. Fic assumes a pretty good knowledge of the manga, but it's not necessary. Just have fun with it, baby!

Pairing: Decided. Yes, yes, I know.

Author's Note: I'm using a limited fangirl vocabulary here. I used "baka," "onegai," etc. where I felt it would add to the rhythm or otherwise sound natural and unforced. I can't apply a strict "Japanese-only" policy for certain words. Sorry! I don't read flames – say it, don't spray it.

"Haa-san! I have a riddle for you!"

Sun Tzu, author of the ancient masterpiece The Art of War, is generally credited with coining the famous phrase, "keep your friends close but your enemies closer," sometime between 600 to 300 years before the birth of Christ. In the 20th century, the phrase became even more well-known through that beloved American classic, The Godfather: Part II. The sentiment has apparently had enough merit – truth, perhaps – to sustain it for more than millennium, from the lips of an old Chinese general to the lips of Al Pacino. However….

"Haa-san!"

… Hatori sometimes had difficulty seeing any merit in the phrase at all. When a friend is dangerous enough – volatile enough – to be your enemy, what do you do? How close is close enough?

"Haa-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Haa-san! Are you that overjoyed to hear my voice that words fail you? Or do you hear Tohru-kun humming in the background? Oh, your mind does wander, but to where, I wonder?"

And more importantly, how do you keep a person close when they drive you crazy?

"Akito's had another relapse, Shigure. You have twenty seconds to give me a reason to not hang up."

"You're so cruel, Haa-san! Only Aaya knows how to appreciate my company. Whatever happened to the warm summer nights when we would all stay up late talking and–"

Click.

Hatori rubbed his eyes with one hand and held back a yawn with the other. So many times he had considered unplugging his phone for the night and letting Shigure talk himself hoarse to a dial tone; but of course he was a doctor, and had an obligation to his patients to be available at all times, no matter how petty their complaints. The truth of the matter was that he just couldn't avoid a conversation with Shigure if his cousin was dead-set on having it.

As inescapable as the curse, inescapable as his duty to keep Akito sound and soothed, was Hatori's life-long relationship of give and take with Shigure. His cousin lived in a world of subtleties and secrets, patience and sleight-of-hand. Information was king, and somewhere along the way, Hatori had become a Dealer. Because he was so close to the Main House, it was no wonder that Shigure went to the doctor for information he couldn't get himself.

When the dog was in a mood to deal, he often approached Hatori with a gleeful shout and palms open and visible as a gesture of parley. He might settle on the floor after some friendly bickering and talk, or light a cigarette and simply throw out an occasional comment. But after a while, he would change the rhythm of the conversation, insinuating himself into Hatori's thoughts just long enough to throw the doctor off for a single crucial second. Shigure never pushed beyond that certain point. He would not have been successful anyway, and Hatori had his ways of making it clear when the boundaries of their friendship were being overstepped. They respected each other, so Shigure's game had rules.

Shigure was aware that the doctor always knew what he was up to when he gave that certain wicked smile, and Hatori was aware that his friend knew this. All the cards were set out on the table, quietly dealt face-down, and softly turned over with each wayward glance and heavy word. The only thing that Hatori didn't really know about the game was how Shigure kept score. It was a dangerous business.

Ring… Ring… Ring… Ring…

And an exhausting one.

Hatori snatched the phone from its cradle. "What do you want?"

"Haa-san! Such cruelty!" Shigure's dry sobs echoed over the receiver, making Hatori frown with perceptible distaste. 48 hours without sleep could do that to a person.

"Akito has another round of medication in ten minutes. Make it short, or call Ayame."

"Aw, Haa-san-"

"Shigure…" Hatori's voice elevated slightly, a quiet, throatless growl issuing from behind pursed lips.

His cousin was unperturbed. "I wanted to consult Haa-san on a matter of particular interest, but if you're too busy…"

"I am."

"Fine, fine! No need to hang up!"

Hatori sighed, but waited for Shigure to continue, turning his attention instead to a loose stack of paperwork spilling out of his inbox onto the potted plant Momiji had set on his desk earlier that month. The boy wanted a pet badly, but it was out of the question, and a plant on his guardian's desk seemed to be the closest thing that Momiji could find to a compromise. He liked bright, living things…

"Kagura paid us a visit a few days ago," Shigure said matter-of-factly. "Actually, she said she came to visit Tohru-kun, but the effect was still the same."

Hatori's lips twitched. "Do you need me to treat some injuries?"

"Well, Kagura-san took a fall down the stairs, but she's been the only casualty. Strange, ne?" Shigure's tone was even-spread and pleasant.

"Do you need funds redirected from the Honke over to you for repairs?"

Shigure chuckled. "No, there's nothing I can't make Kyou-kun clean up later. I think he's just happy to still be in one piece."

"Mmm," Hatori intoned, rummaging through his drawers for a pen that Momiji hadn't yet chewed the end off of. Now that he thought of it, Momiji must be spending a lot of time in his office when he wasn't around. The plant on his desk was flourishing, even though he'd never thought to water it. The boy must be watering it for him…

"But we discovered something, Haa-san! Kagura-san is fond of the writer's craft! Did you know that she keeps a diary? And here I thought that Aaya and I were the only ones in the family with a creative spark."

A stack of papers fell off of Hatori's lap onto the floor. Crap.

"Shigure, I have a lot going on right now, so if there's no damage, then-"

"I thought you would be curious, Haa-san," Shigure purred. There was a smile in his voice. "Not many of us know as much about Kagura-san as you do."

For a brief second, the world seemed to stop. Hatori froze in place, barely aware of the knobby pen fixed limply between his fingers. He thought he heard a faint ticking noise, like a cheap ballpoint pen being clicked on and off in rapid succession – the voice of his own anxiety. He realized too late, as he so often did, that he had failed to notice the shift in their conversation until it was upon him. Without Shigure's movements and expressions to guide him, he hadn't caught the signs that his cousin intended to bring out his playing cards for another game of winner-takes-all.

Now, suddenly, Hatori had been dealt his deck, and his friend and opponent was waiting. Shigure obviously knew that he had hit his target, because he slipped back into that easy, pleasant tone.

"I never thought of Kagura-san as the writing type, but she has years' worth of classic Kagura material here. She's even got that time she took your stethoscope to play doctor with Momitchi. Do you remember that?" he asked, laughing comfortably.

Hatori found himself nodding even though there was no one to see the gesture. "I do," he said quietly. "I was scheduled for a heart-surgery observation the next day, and my supervisor made me work overtime for losing my equipment." Hatori paused. "Is there something you want to confess?"

More laughter. "Haa-san! You're so suspicious! You don't make much of a priest for confession."

"That's true… but you said you've got some 'classic Kagura material…'" Hatori frowned. "Did you steal her diary, Shigure?"

"Of course not," Shigure protested. "I would never steal such a precious possession! I simply borrowed it from her. Our stories are all wound together, Haa-san," he added. "She may have written it, but it's no different than reading my own journal, or even Kyou-kun's secret poems. We are snorted disbelievingly. "I don't know what's worse – that you'd steal a girl's diary and be so absolutely unashamed about it, or that you'd try to justify it so dramatically, and with so little taste."

"I told you, I didn't steal it," his cousin whined.

"Well, that's a relief," the doctor bit sarcastically. "I was wondering if I'd have some work to do on you after she came to collect."

Shigure sighed straight into the receiver. "Okay, Haa-san, point taken, point taken. Actually, she left it here. I have it in my safekeeping until she comes back. I have no doubt that she will. It is a very important book, after all."

Haotri's grip on his pen tightened. The ticking sound in his brain was growing louder now, more rapid and defined so that it was more of a steady low-pitched buzzing. There was something he was supposed to be catching from all this, something Shigure was trying to find out, but he couldn't quite pin it down.

Hatori cleared his throat, interrupting his own train of thought. "So you have her diary?" he asked, groping blindly for the topic at hand.

"I have it in my safekeeping, yes."

"She'll kill you when she finds out- you know that, don't you? Don't come crying to me with some ridiculous sob story when she starts breaking fingers."

"Aw, Haa-san, I think Kagura-san has her gentle side, too. Do you remember how she used to lead Kyou-kun and the others around the dojo like some big, bossy mother hen when they were little?"

Hatori imagined that his cousin was smiling. "I never saw it for myself, but I heard stories," he said. "None of us were very interested in them then."

"But they're interesting now, aren't they?" Shigure prodded. "Aren't you curious about her at all?"

"No."

"Because you already know what's in here, or because you don't care?"

"Because I have an actual job to take care of," the doctor snapped. Shigure was racing full-speed to the cut-off point of their conversation. Maybe Hatori really would unplug his phone…

"Hai, giving innocent victims their semi-annual shots, and celebrating years of abusing the Hippocratic Oath on your most obliging patient. My arm still hurts from my last visit." Shigure sighed dramatically. "How does Kagura take her shots?"

"You're obviously very proud of yourself for stealing Kagura's diary if you keep bringing her up. But if you want to brag about your theft, you should talk to someone who doesn't have an appointment with her this week."

"Hai," Shigure agreed, and then his voice took on a dreamy quality. "Kagura…she is so driven by impulse. It's a wonder she never got herself into more trouble than she already has."

Hatori said nothing.

"She did a bit of good for the others when they were young, I think," Shigure continued. "Even Yuki-kun, perhaps."

"…Yuki was kept away from her. She is not one of the elect few that Akito chose for him," Hatori answered quietly. "She is not close enough."

"It's true that she is the last in the curse. But Yuki-kun and Kagura-san are both two ends of the same circle."

"A circle doesn't have ends."

"Hai, but the animals stood in a line long before Kami-sami put them in the stars." Shigure's voice was thoughtful even over the faint heat of static building up on the phone. "Even if she's the least of us, her station is still notable, and she's taken to it naturally. It's a lot of confidence for someone at the tail end of an operation."

Hatori frowned again. "Kagura has never challenged Akito."

There was small chuckle. "Never intentionally, perhaps," Shigure replied, and his words hung in the air, echoed by the building static.

Keep your friends close…

There was a moment of silence Hatori had, to appreciate about how disturbing all of this was - not just the conversation, but the in which it was being carried out His cousin always waited until he could see Hatori in person to make any sort of serious conversation. They were friends after all, so even if they were going to play Shigure's tedious little game, Hatori could at least enjoy a smoke and the pleasure of his cousin's company if they talked face-to-face. This was the first time Shigure had ever initiated a conversation over the phone like this.

The click-click-clicking noise in his brain was growing louder. He wanted to believe that the dog had called him because he was bored or too lazy to make the walk in the rain to the Honke. He wanted to believe anything but what was beginning to become crystal clear to him, because Shigure was breaking a pattern by playing games on the phone instead of in person, and a break in pattern with Shigure meant a break in the status quo.

…but keep your enemies closer.

It was a while before Hatori spoke. "Are you concluding all of this from her diary, or is it just personal speculation?"

Shigure gave him the perfect non-answer: "I'm not concluding anything, Haa-san."

As the other man continued playing his little game, the doctor realized that this discussion apparently meant much more to Shigure than he'd initially thought. Something was forcing his cousin prematurely into action, and it seemed to involve Kagura, of all people, and her little diary. Hatori was not stupid. Like a dog senses a storm coming by a change in barometric pressure, Shigure had sensed something changing in the family dynamics, and was running with it, maybe even scrambling to keep up. That was why Shigure had broken the status quo - broken his usually slow, methodical method of approach - and Hatori knew that he was probably too far behind already to restore it. At that moment, Hatori Sohma hated Shigure for what he would be forced, by a distant, muted conscience, to ask next.

"Shigure," he said lowly, over his cousin's prattling, "is someone in trouble?" He covered his injured eye with his only free hand.

His friend was silent, and Hatori thought he might not answer him at all, when Shigue's voice floated over the phone:

"No, Haa-san. But Kagura-san may change that – for herself, or others, I don't know."

"Whatever you think you've read in her diary, Shigure, it doesn't matter. It's not in Kagura's nature to meddle in any affairs outside her own," Hatori resisted.

"…It's not in your nature to meddle either, Haa-san," Shigure said, his voice quiet but clear. "But… will you try to help her, when the time comes?"

Hatori rubbed his dead eye harder, gritting his teeth in pain that his body was registering, but his mind was not. He hated Shigure right now, painting him into a corner yet again; and his voice was so soft and so heavy and so present that it made Hatori feel like he could reach out and hit Shigure even though they were speaking over the phone, and he hated Shigure for making him want to.

"I'm a doctor, Shigure," he bit out. His knuckles whitened around the pen in his other hand.

"Hai, a doctor," his cousin answered quickly. "But what about the stripes on her back? Did you care for them when they were still fresh?"

There it was. He was so shocked that Shigure knew, that he had actually said it, that the words tumbled out before he could stop them.

"I wasn't a doctor then."

And it was done. Hatori could see Shigure gathering up his cards into a winning hand as the defeated silence buzzed over the phone, a crackle of static and weary clicking. With his own mistake, he realized what Shigure had wanted, and he could never take it back.

He hadn't denied what Shigure said about Kagura. He had confirmed that he knew, that he knew that old ugly stain still existed under layers of paint and happy words. What Shigure had gleaned from the girl's diary, he had affirmed simply by acknowledging what now could irrefutably, without a doubt, be called a fact.

"What about the stripes on her back?"

Hatori barely registered Shigure telling him that he'd be over some time with some of Tohru-kun's cooking, and that he'd visit Momitchi, too, and instead just nodded, silent and numb, towards the receiver.

...The stripes are still there…

He could still hear the static when he hung up.

Oh, this was a horrible chapter to write. I know it's full of mistakes, but I'll have to revise it later. I guess I'd rather just not wait until its perfect because that's what kept me from posting for so long in the first place. LOL, I need to get over myself. I hope you enjoy!

Thank you all so much!

S.B. Kisses: Thanks! I absolutely agree – Kagura gets such a bad rap, but she has so much to offer! I hope I can do her justice.

Lil-Sun-Rei: I'm glad you thought that the characters were believable, I worry a lot about that. Thank you!

SailorKagome: Thanks, Tiph. .

Arae: Thanks! I was hoping I could give her a little more than the casual treatment. A lot of people are starting to see what a great character she is, I think. There are so many great fics out there, LOL.

diety of death1: Thank you!

Mistress of the Sea: Thanks! I'm hoping to not drag out the secret too long... she was a kid when she wrote it, so she explains things very simply and quickly. The drama is more in seeing everyone who knew about it have to face each other because the proof is out, thanks to Shigure.

Reni-Chan: Boy, I feel guilty… I hope this makes things a little better… .

prettypinkpeacock: Thanks! This was a really hard chapter for me, and I was shy about putting it out, but when I actually looked and saw that I had reviews, it kind of gave me the gumption to put more. LOL!