Tohru's Demons
Chapter Six: Giant Killer Cockroaches
Kyo watched with growing confusion and apprehension as Akito's car parked itself in front of Shigure's house. When Akito himself stepped out of the car, Kyo could only stare at him, dumbfounded. Akito looked up at him, a sneer spreading slowly across his face.
"Cat. Run along and tell Shigure I've come to visit him." Akito ordered, his sneer widening, as if his complete power over Kyo gave him some sort of sick satisfaction. Kyo hated it and his scowl darkened considerably. He stared back at Akito, almost feeling safe enough up there on the roof to defy the boy's wishes entirely. Almost. He stood up, stretching, hardly giving Akito a glance and made his way leisurely to the edge of the roof as if that had been his intention all along. Slowly he climbed down the ladder, pretending to pay special attention to his footing.
Finally he dropped to the ground, put his hands in his pockets and walked calmly to the door. It was then that Akito seized the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. Hard.
"I thought I told you to run..." Akito whispered, his nose inches from Kyo's, eyes glinting maliciously. Hatred bubbled up in Kyo's throat like acid. He wanted to hit Akito. He wanted to yell and shake him and curse at him and throw things at him.
But he didn't. He was afraid to.
Akito watched the turmoil in the Cat's face and smirked, knowing he had won. He released Kyo's shirt, brushed it off, and stepped back, still smiling with that same look of cruelty and malice that made Kyo sick to his stomach.
"Akito? What are you doing here?" Both boys looked up at the sound of Shigure's voice, and the Dog couldn't help but note the look of relief in the Cat's eyes. It was gone in an instant and Kyo all but ran into the house.
"Oh, I just dropped by," Akito said. "What's this I hear about Tohru Honda disappearing into another universe?"
Half an hour later found most of the Sohmas, with the exception of Hatori, Shigure, and Akito, out on the porch. The three aforementioned people were in the living room, drinking tea and talking quietly. Akito had ordered every one else out, and they had gladly obliged. Ayame seemed to be the only one reluctant to leave, wanting to stay by Hatori and Shigure, but Akito couldn't stand him, so he too had to make tracks. Yuki had crept back onto the roof once he was sure Akito was safely engaged in polite conversation. Kyo had joined him shortly, but unable as he was to sit still for five minutes, he was soon up and pacing.
And Tohru was still nowhere to be seen.
Momiji was getting bored. He sat on the edge of the porch and twiddled his thumbs restlessly. No one was talking and it was making him nervous, and he was already nervous enough with the unexpected presence of the Head of the Sohma Family sitting not ten feet away from him in Shigure's living room, quietly drinking tea. Not only that, but he had had about twenty pixie sticks, an American candy that he fancied at the moment, and they were making him jumpy. A minute passed.
Another minute passed.
After a minute another... minute passed.
A minute passed...
"Is that girl here yet...?" came Akito's cold voice from right behind him. Momiji fell off the porch with a yelp and a thud. The rest of the Sohmas jumped about three feet in the air, their hearts pounding wildly and whirled to find Akito standing in the doorway with Shigure and Hatori behind him.
"A-Aki-Aki-ki-ki-kito-sama!" cried the Rabbit, jumping to his feet, laughing nervously. "I didn't see you there!" Akito gave him a cold, half-lidded stare, wiping the smile from the normally chipper bunny's face.
"Idiot..." growled Akito in disgust. He turned his piercing gaze to the hill, staring at it shrewdly. "Is that where she... vanished?" he asked, putting a slight emphasis on the word 'vanished', and nodded towards the rise. He didn't miss the worried looks the Zodiac members shot at the hill as they silently confirmed him. He snorted, completely unconcerned, but this seemed to trigger something and his body was suddenly wracked with horrible, hacking coughs. Akito grabbed the doorframe to steady himself, trying hard to breath.
"Akito!" cried Hatori, concerned, grabbing the boy's shoulders gently. The other Sohmas leapt up, also looking very worried. Yuki and Kyo jumped down from the roof and shot Akito anxious looks.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Akito roared, throwing Hatori into a wall. No one moved or spoke. Akito was shaking fury, gasping for air, his chest heaving as he looked around wildly.
It's not me they care about...
It was at that moment that a portal to another universe opened in midair right before them and a man staggered through, quickly followed by a rather large cockroach.
This man was very strange, indeed. He had pointed dog-ears on the top of his head, claws, fangs, golden eyes, and a long bushy tail. Otherwise he was completely human, with coarse, long dark-brown hair, tied back in a single braid down to his mid-back. He wore a long dark blue trench coat, and white pants tucked into dark brown leather boots.
The cockroach reared up, screeching in a very horrible manner. The man, or rather demon, stared at it, as if wondering where it had come from, and then quite calmly pulled a short-barreled musket from his back, pointed it single-handedly at the giant roach and fired. The roach spun around and landed upside down, it's legs waving in the air, screaming its buggy head off, and spraying green ooze all over the ground. The demon waltzed up to it, in no hurry really, and, deciding that it was indeed not dead, blew a few more holes in it. He then picked up a nearby stick and poked it, making sure that it was very much not alive. He then turned away and pulled a bottle of rum from his trench coat pocket and proceeded to down the little alcohol that was left.
"AAAAHHH!" he cried with a satisfactory smack. "Now that's tasty!" And he threw the bottle over his shoulder, staggering back a few steps drunkenly. It was about then that he noticed Akito staring at him in mild shock and disbelief.
"What?" demanded the demon crossly. "Fuck off." He added vulgarly to the infamous, respected, powerful and highly feared Head of the Sohma Family. The Zodiac members were slowly backing away from Akito, who had gone white with rage. The demon didn't seem to notice that the atmosphere was suddenly radiating doom, or that Akito was on the verge of attacking him. That, or he was about to have an apoplectic fit. Instead he seemed far more interested in rooting around in his pockets, searching for another rum bottle.
The Sohmas were so shell-shocked that they didn't see another person walk through the portal and stop by the fallen rum bottle. The new person picked it up and scrutinized it, and then turned reproachful eyes on the demon that had just blown away a giant cockroach and then told Akito to do something very naughty.
The demon looked at her groggily for a moment, trying to figure out who she was, and then smiled widely.
"Ren! Good to see you!" he said loudly, waving an arm and stumbling around a bit more. Yuki and Kyo gasped, whirling around, and there was Tohru, looking quite different then they remembered. For one her hair was much shorter. It came down to almost the base of her neck in the back, but there were two locks in the front that framed the sides of her face that touched her shoulders. She was wearing a dress the most gorgeous shade of sea- green that came down just above her knees with long, wide sleeves. Over that she wore a short-sleeved jacket a very light shade of yellow, trimmed with brown and tied with a brown satin belt. To top it all off she wore white satin knee-high socks that bagged out cutely over her brown, soft leather shoes.
Over all, she was the picture of adorability.
"Just where on earth have you been!?" Tohru demanded the demon breathlessly. The demon looked around, panic-stricken.
"I didn't do it!" he cried frantically. "It was... I was... It wasn't me, I was DEAD then! I was on the moon!" Tohru stared at him blankly for a moment.
"I haven't even accused you of anything yet!" she cried finally, exasperated.
"Oh, well... wh-what, what did you... What do you want... What was it again...?" Tohru looked at him gravely.
"You're smashed, aren't you?" she asked bluntly, knowing the answer.
"YES! NO! Well, uh, um... What-what's the correct answer...? I WAS DEAD THEN!"
Tohru shook her head, sighing. "Your I.Q. just goes down the toilet whenever you're drunk, you know that...?" She sighed again, walked over to him, seized hold of one of his fuzzy ears and dragged him to the side of the house.
"What... what are you doing...? Where are we...?"
"Don't worry. I'm just going to introduce you to Shigure's hose."
"But it hurts..." the demon whined plaintively.
"Stand there." Tohru directed him, pointing at the wall. The demon meekly obeyed her, shooting her curious looks as she picked up the hose, turned on the water and pointed the nozzle at him.
"What...?"
"You'll see," said Tohru gently, and squeezed the trigger. Water blasted out and hit the demon full in the face. He yowled, somewhat wetly, at the top of his lungs and fell over, waving his arms about chaotically. Tohru stepped closer to him, and kept spraying him in the face while the Sohmas looked on in round-eyed, flabbergasted silence. After several minutes, Tohru stopped spraying and dropped the hose.
"Feel better...?" she asked kindly, smiling sweetly down at him. The demon lay flat on his back, head spinning groggily. He looked at Tohru, trying to focus, but all three of them kept dancing around and around...
"I hate you..." he said, finally getting his bearings, and sat up. Tohru gave him her most charming smile and turned around to come face to face with a furious Akito.
"Heh, heh. Hi, Akito-san... Um, have you met Artemis...?" she said, indicating the very drenched demon.
"We've met." Akito growled coldly in a very dangerous voice.
To be continued...
Shigure: It's that time again. Please say the disclaimer, Raha.
Raha: Puts her hands behind her back in a very childish manner indeed and turns away insolently Well, I'm not gonna...
Shigure: Raha...
Raha: Well I'm sick of saying it! I've said it for the past five chapters and it's repetitive and stupid and a waste of time and I'm not gonna say it again! I can't! I won't!
Shigure: sigh Pleeease?
Raha: Shigure, you're boring... Fine... Mutters beneath her breath Idunonfirtsbskt...
Shigure: Can't hear you, Raha!
Raha: I DON'T OWN FRUITS BASKET!!! Are you happy now?!
Shigure: Yes. I believe I am.
THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU PEOPLE WHO HAVE REVIEWED!!!!!!! I LOVE you ALL! I feel so loved... ;) Speaking of love... Wh-wh-wh-who said anything about me loving Hatori...? blushes furiously I never...! I... I... I... I was DEAD then!!! I was orbiting the MOON!!!! I was in PAKISTAN, fighting IRAQIS!!
Anyway, pertaining to FruitsBasketcase's suggestion... Kyo, you say...? I've given it some thought, but I think Kagura would BUTCHER him if she found out he was going out with Tohru, after Yuki had BURIED HIM ALIVE. But you, purtymanagirl58, make a very good point. So all I have to do is choose between passion or love? Hmmmm... passion or love, passion or love, passion or love...?
Heh, heh. You know, I could always pair her with Akito...
-Raha-
