Three nocks on the door, and Akito answers it. The only person who he saw was Shigure, smiling back at him. Surprised but at the same time happy to see him, Akito asks, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to visit you Akito." Akito smile fades.
"What do you want?" Shigures' smile also fades. He stares to the side before facing back at Akito.
"Akito, remember what we were discussing about a few days ago?" Akito moves out of the way for Shigure to enter as he closes the door softly behind him.
Tohru sighs as she sat on the bench, looking up at the tree above her. The tree had no leaves on it and the sky was still covered with gray clouds, causing her to think it might rain. She fiddles with her hands as she looks around, noticing Kisa as Kisa notices her. The young girl smiles as she runs up to her.
"Sissy." Kisa says bowing to Tohru, "What are you doing here?"
"Hi Kisa," Tohru replies, bowing. "I'm here to see Ta… I mean, Phoenix." Kisa frowns, looking sulkily. Taking notice of this, Tohru's smile disappears into one of concern.
"Kisa, are you o…" Kisa grabs onto both of Tohru's hands, just holding onto them.
"Be careful Sissy." Kisa says loud enough for only Tohru to be able to hear.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Phoenix scares me. She scares us all." Tohru's eyes widened, scooting over to make room for Kisa to sit. Tohru gestures Kisa to sit next to her. As Kisa does so, Tohru asks her, "Is it because of what her animal spirit did?" Kisa looks up into Tohru's eyes.
"No. Ritsu-nii told me that story a few days ago after when I first met Miss. Phoenix. Ritsu-nii told me…" Kisa's voice fades a bit as she bent her head to face the ground. "He told me… What Miss. Phoenix did, along with what her curse spirit has done." Silence passed between the two.
"She did something terrible." Momiji says, sitting on the ground in between the two, his arms wrapped around his knees. Tohru and Kisa jumped, not realizing Momiji was even there.
"Momiji?" Tohru yells out, "Wh-when did you get here?" Momiji turns to look at Tohru, sticking a tongue out.
"Sorry. I saw you two sitting here so I decided to join you." Momiji smiles, but Tohru still looks serious.
"Momiji, do you know what Phoenix did?" Momiji frowns, turning away from them.
"Yea…" Momiji mutters out. "She may seem like a very good person, but she'll do anything she's told, no matter how bad it is. And when she does it, she acts as if she's done nothing wrong."
"What do you mean Momiji?" Momiji sighs.
"She's a very good actor. Before I was even old enough to have memories, she caught the grass on fire, blaming Kyo and Hatsuharu for it. She even got them to believe they did it, which means she could mess with our heads. Another time, she performed a massacre, killing a bird in front of Ritsu. When Ritsu went to go tell someone, she did something to him, that made him scared to tell anyone what happen. When a relative of ours found the bird, she acted so perfectly, that everyone was fooled into believing her. She asked one of our relatives if there was a cat, and probably that cat must have done it." Momiji smiles as he stands up to sit on Tohru's other side. "I sort of remember her. Not really, but I remembered her laugh. It used to scare me. When I heard it again after all these years, it still scared me. I know she did something to me before too, but thankfully, I forgot."
"Are you sure this is all true Momiji? You did say you weren't old enough to have memories after all."
"Ritsu told me."
"Me too." Kisa says as well.
"This story…" Tohru says, shaking in fear, "It doesn't sound anything like Tammy…" Momiji looks up at her.
"Whose Tammy?" Momiji asks.
"Tohru?" Tohru, Momiji, and Kisa turn to the voice, seeing Phoenix standing there in fear, her miniature backpack of a riceball slipping from her shoulders, down to her hand. "How long have you been there?" Tohru smiles, glad to see her friend.
"Almost thirty minutes now. Shigure said I can come visit you today, but he said I had to wait here for some reason." Phoenix's eyes widened in fear as she took a step back.
"A-are you sure?" Tohru tilts her head to the side.
"Tammy, are you alright?" Phoenix stood there, shaking. "Phoenix…" Phoenix remembers Akito saying earlier. "Shigure is here."
Phoenix turned around, seeing Akito enter in along with Shigure. The smug look on his face caused her to be nervous, but she ignored it, trying to keep as much composure as possible. "Hello Shigure."
"Likewise." Shigure replies. Akito took a seat next to Phoenix on the ground, along with Shigure across from them.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Akito asks. Shigure looks at him and Phoenix back and forth before replying.
"I wanted you to test her loyalty to you." Akito felt insulted.
"What are you talking about?" Akito said raising his voice. "Why should I?"
"Phoenix." Shigure says, turning to her. She stares at him with a solemn look on her face.
"Yes, Shigure?"
"You would do anything for Akito won't you?"
"Of course I would." Shigure grins.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." Akito stares at the two back and forth.
"What are you doing Shigure?" Akito yells out.
"Akito, I remember
you before saying you wanted someone to die, correct?" Akito
frowns. "And usually when that is so, you have Phoenix do it for
you? Like back when we were younger… with the bird."
"What are you implying?"
"Here's your chance to find out how loyal Phoenix really is to you. That person you want dead is here, a few blocks down sitting on a bench."
Phoenix makes her way back into the present, tears coming falling from her eyes. "I can't believe it…" Phoenix says, dropping her bag on the ground so she could grab onto her hair with both hands. "Why did he do this to me?" Phoenix whispers. Tohru stood up, reaching a hand out to her. As soon as Phoenix saw her approaching, she slaps it away, and begins to run. Everyone remained silent unsure of what just happened. Momiji stood up, picking up the rice ball-shaped bag to look inside it. His eyes widened with disbelief.
"Oh my gosh…" Momiji mutters out. Kisa stood up off the bench, to see what was in the bag. Her eyes widened as well. Tohru turns her head to look at the two. Momiji looks up at Tohru, tilting the bag her direction. Tohru almost didn't believe what she saw, which was a plastic bag, a knife, and sleeping pills.