Chapter 8: Confessions from those cursed

Shigure walks down the sidewalk, sometime after Hatori tended to his head, wrapping it in a bandage. Shigure kept looking up into the gray sky until he heard footsteps ahead. As he looked straight ahead, he could see Momiji then Tohru and then Kisa coming closer to him. They ran up to him, breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath. "Uh… are you guys alright?" Shigure asked, turning to his side to try and see their faces. Tohru, with much seriousness, looks into Shigure's eyes, yelling.

"Where is Tammy?" Shigure jumped back from her sudden yelling.

"W-what?"

"I mean Phoenix!" She was trying so hard to look tough when obviously, she is shaking in fear.

"Phoenix said something about you making her test her loyalty!" Momiji yells. "Did you really want Tohru dead? Huh Shigure? Huh?" Shigure's eyes widened as he took a few steps back. Suddenly, he dashes, catching them off guard. "Get back here!" Momiji yells as he runs after him. Tohru was about to run as well, but then she noticed Kisa was still gasping for air.

"Kisa, are you ok?" Tohru asks the small girl. Kisa waves her away. Muttering, "Go… after him Sissy." Before Tohru left, she gave her a hug.

Aimlessly, Phoenix ran with no clue where she is going. She just felt as if she needed to get away and to go someplace safe. She heard the planes above her and then stopped for a few seconds. She watched as the planes flew through the sky. Why can't I do that? She thought. I'm a bird after all… Shouldn't I be able to fly… like Kureno? Phoenix started running again, but this time, up ahead seeing Ritsu with a grocery bag. Phoenix gasped, then smiles, running up to hug him.

"Ahh! Miss. Phoenix!" Ritsu exclaims, frightened a bit till he heard sobbing.

"Ritsu…I… I scared you a lot when we were younger huh?" Phoenix tried holding back her tears, waiting to hear his response. Ritsu closed his eyes, thinking back.

"Y-yes, you did." Phoenix smiles as she hugged him tighter.

"That bird I killed when we were younger… no one was suppose to see that. Sorry I threatened you not to tell."

"It's all-"

"I was just envying it being able to fly away. And those times I called you all those horrible names, I never meant them. I was just trying to keep myself distant from the zodiac since that's what…" Phoenix's voice trailed off, going back into a sob. "I hate being back in Japan!" Phoenix lets go of Ritsu, grabbing her hair into a fist as she sobbed as Ritsu was trying to stop her.

"M-miss. Phoenix! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Isn't that what everyone here wants? For me to get hurt emotionally or physically? To be a slave to the top guy here? I'll tell you this Ritsu: I rather be a zodiac then a frickin pet!" Phoenix went down to her knees, letting go of her hair. "I rather have spent this business trip with Tohru then to be stuck back at Akito's place. Mom should've just let me stay with dads side… this sucks."

"Calm down Miss. Phoenix!" Ritsu yells out moments later, biting his lip. Phoenix looks at him surprised.

"But… I am calming do-"

"Hurting yourself like that isn't going to get you anywhere!" Ritsu yells grabbing Phoenix by the arms, now scaring her.

"Uh… yea… but-"

"You shouldn't scare people like that either! I thought you were really going to hurt yourself! Be a little more considerate will you?"

"You're scaring me now…"

"At least you live in America! You don't need to go through Akito's torture each day like we do!"

"Huh?" Both Phoenix and Ritsu froze.

"AUGH! I'M SORRY! I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID THAT! THAT WAS A MISTAKE! A MISTAKE! I'M SORRY MISS PHOENIX! THAT WAS WRONG OF ME TO SAY!" Ritsu yells, tugging his hair and running around.

"Hey! Now you calm down!" Phoenix yells as she wipes away her last tear. "Now you're hurting yourself!" Phoenix grabs Ritsu by one arm, being swung around, as Ritsu wouldn't stop running around. She smiles and then soon, Ritsu stops to stare at her. He smiles and then both laughs.

"I'm sorry Miss Phoenix." Ritsu says, laughing a bit, "I went out of line there."

"I did too!" Phoenix says still laughing. Ritsu grabs her softly by the chin, causing her to stop laughing and to wonder what he was doing.

"This is the Miss. Phoenix everyone wants to know." Ritsu says, smiling as Phoenix starts blushing.

"But isn't that too late? I mean, Kyo already threw me off the ladder as it is…"

"Huh?"

"Hmmm…" Phoenix thought. "I only have two days left to stay…" Phoenix slaps herself on the face, "Damn… I can't go back there…"

"Excuse me?" Ritsu asks, looking at her with concern. "Go back where?"

"To the Sohma Estates. I disobeyed Akito. He's not goanna want me back." Her voice lowers as dread overcomes her.

"What do you mean?"

"He… he wanted me to kill my childhood friend."

"HAHAHAHAHA SHIGURE! YOU ARE SLOWING DO-OWN!" Momiji taunts. Phoenix and Ritsu turn their heads to see the people running up. First up was Shigure, sweating and out of breath, and then Momiji who just jumped on him. Ritsu gasps as he runs up to Shigure's aid as Phoenix stood, not taking a step.

"Shigure-nii! Are you alright?" Ritsu asks, kneeling down beside him.

"Get Momiji off of-" Momiji, sitting on Shigure's back, grabs him by the hair and with his other hand, covers his mouth.

"No Ritsu! Don't worry about Shigure-nii!" Momiji yells, "He was getting Akito to get Phoenix to kill Tohru!" Ritsu's eyes grew wide in disbelief.

"I-is this true Shigure-nii?" Momiji lets go of Shigures' mouth to hear what he had to say.

"Yes, it is true!" Shigure yells, "But I did it for a reason!"

"What reason?" Phoenix asks, still not moving from the spot she's at. Shigure struggles to lift his head up, to look at her.

"All of us hated you Phoenix!" Shigure yells, stinging her in the heart, "You said you would do anything for Akito, right?" Phoenix nods.

"Yea… I did." Shigure smiles.

"When I found out you were Tohru's friend, I decided to find out if you really would do anything for Akito. As it turns out, you won't and I'm glad." Phoenix raises a brow, confused. "I told myself that if you killed Tohru, all of us would be wanting revenge for her. But if you didn't, it must mean you're not as bad as you made yourself look back when we were younger." Everyone opened to realization with what Shigure has done. Momiji got off of Shigure's back to let him stand. As Shigure stood, he dusted the dirt off of himself, before approaching Phoenix. Phoenix wanted to take a step back, but didn't. "Phoenix," Shigure says, "I am willing to give you a second chance." Shocked, Phoenix didn't know what to do or say until Tohru came running up, sweating and gasping for air.

"Tohru!" Momiji yells running up to her aid. Phoenix runs up to her as well along with Ritsu.

"T-Tammy…" Tohru says still gasping. "Are… are you… alright?" Phoenix pulls Tohru into a hug.

"I am, thanks." Phoenix says.