WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

Tohru's Demons

Thirty-Seven: Confrontation


A thick fog of horrific silence descended like Death upon Kyo and the other members of the Zodiac Curse. Akito settled back in his chair, his serene, silky smile as soft and understanding as could be, while his icy blue gaze traveled slowly over his cousins and savored every moment.

It was Momiji that recovered enough to speak first, the beginnings of a profound sense of lamentation welling up in his light brown eyes.

"Er-erased…?" he gasped, his voice small and trembling, though behind it lurked a wailing sorrow crying to be let loose. Next to him, Kisa was sobbing silently into her hands, her head bowed and her little body making itself as small as possible behind Hatori in a pitiful attempt to hide her grief from Akito. Hiro could only watch from the corner of his eye, his fists clenched in his lap, pretending hard that he didn't care and wishing he could just wrap his arms around her shaking shoulders so much it hurt.

Ayame couldn't seem to remember how to breathe, or move, or even think for that matter. He simply sat and stared, trying to comprehend the overwhelming shock of pain in his heart, and then the vast chasm of numb emptiness that followed. Vaguely, he heard Shigure's almost silent curse and dazedly looked up to see a rare show of anger, despair, and fear flash in the Dog's eyes before his friend regained himself and his mask of indifferent neutrality. Haru, however, had no intention of staying quiet, or rather Black Haru didn't, and the Ox could feel his other self coming on like a level five hurricane, so strong even Rin could feel it from across the room, and hoped against all odds that he wouldn't try anything too stupid…

Behind them Ritsu fiddled with the carpet, his lips pursed tightly and his eyes unusually dark as he listened to Kagura draw in quick, faltering breaths while his heart constricted tighter and tighter until he thought it just might collapse in on itself like a black hole. Kureno, if he could have read the Monkey's thoughts, would have agreed that he felt much the same way, though he managed to keep very still and very quiet, his hands linked in front of him, as he stood just outside the door that joined his room to Akito's.

Kyo was waiting for the nightmare to end and at the same time trying to get his mind around a world without Tohru. He found it impossible. Somehow, somewhere along the way, his heart had convinced itself that a life without Tohru wasn't a life worth living. Somewhere along the way, his mind had agreed. It was just now, at this very moment, on the brink of losing Tohru forever, that Kyo finally realized what that meant. Or perhaps he had known all along, and simply needed to accept it, because somewhere in all his blind misadventures and stumbling about in circles he had finally found something good, a light he could latch onto and follow out of the dark path set before him before he was even born. For once in his life he'd found someone who needed him, someone he'd needed for a long time, and no one, not even God himself, was going to take it away.

Hatori, however, kept his head down as he worked to keep his emotions under control. If Akito saw, he would know something was up and the Dragon wasn't sure yet if it was wise to let the boy know Tohru's memories were completely protected. He just hoped the others wouldn't let on what they knew, but a quick glance around told him they'd completely forgotten. Dropping a mask of calm over his face he finally looked up and gave a short nod, while inside, behind all that cool indifference and detachment, Hatori may have been grinning.

"…believe me, my sweet little Rabbit, it's for the best," Akito was saying, almost as if he were saddened as well although he eyes were practically dancing. "This Honda-san, she's a monster, look what she's done to my family. She's corrupted all of you, turned you against your savior, your one true friend, your God."

"How can you say that?" Kyo said hoarsely, eyes practically sparking with fury and disbelief. "After everything she's done? Have you forgotten she's saved all our lives, your life! And this is the thanks you give her, by stealing the only happy memories she's probably ever had since her mother died!"

Akito's good mood deflated like a punctured puffer fish.

"Don't you ever speak to me like that, you monster!" he shrieked, grabbing the first thing he could reach and hurtling it at the Cat. Fortunately for Kyo, however, that thing was Akito's bed pillow. "My word is law, how dare you oppose me? I'm only looking out for your well-being, and this is the thanks I get?"

"You're what? How is erasing Tohru's memory looking out for us?" Haru demanded as he leapt to his feet, practically berserk with rage, his hands itching to pick up the pillow and throw it back at his God. The other Sohmas were trying very hard to calm the Ox with their eyes alone, but in front of Akito all they could do was look desperate and hope the unstoppable juggernaut didn't get killed.

And then Akito let out a low, soft chuckle that always managed to send icy shivers sprinting up and down their spines.

"Oh, Hatsuharu, you're so funny…" Akito said quietly, smiling. "So funny and stupid and slow on the uptake… just like the story, wouldn't you say? You remember the story, don't you, Haru?"

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!" the Ox exploded, throwing all caution to the winds.

The next thing Akito threw was a porcelain vase. Haru rocked back on his heels and then sat down hard in surprise as the thing shattered on the floor in front of him and several jolts of pain shot him in the chest, knocking him breathless. Broken pieces had flown everywhere, one just missing Kisa's eye as it ricocheted off her cheek, leaving a long thin line of blood. Another had gone clean through Shigure's palm, and a third and fourth shard had embedded themselves in Ayame's upper arm.

Blood dribbled down Haru's chest from several very deep wounds, but he was too shocked to really notice, and Ayame was so frightened out of his wits at the sight of his own blood that he didn't feel much of anything else. Shigure, however, couldn't quite tear his eyes away from his hand, mind reeling from the darkly red steady flow and the nauseating sight of something that should not be there, wondering dimly what he would do when it stopped being extremely disturbing and started being extremely painful.

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings?" Akito asked quietly, slipping from his chair to kneel before the Ox, his hands sliding up Haru's arms to come to a rest on his shoulders. He seemed not to see the distressing amount of blood at all. "I'm sorry," he said unapologetically. "But it's the truth, Haru. It must be true that you're stupid if you can't even see what that little bitch has done to you."

"What has she done to me?" Haru asked dully, trying to get his mind to start working again. Akito pushed to his feet and turned away, meandering languidly over to the window.

"Can't you see? The girl's been lying to you. All of you," he added, turning back to face them. "She's even lied to me, you saw her. She thinks she can break the Curse. She can, an idiot like her, who doesn't even understand our pain?"

"But she doesn't need to understand!" Kyo burst out in desperation. "She's accepted us, and that's all that matters!"

Akito gave an outright bark of laughter, and it was a long time before he stopped, and then suddenly he stopped all at once.

"Oh, Shigure, you're bleeding," he said as if he'd just noticed. At this remark, Hatori's brows knitted and he shifted a little, but as he was sitting near the back of the room and Shigure in the front, he couldn't see what was wrong.

"And Ayame, Kisa, and Haru, too, I see," Akito went on carelessly, and this time Hatori actually stood up and walked forward, his brows knitted worriedly. But when Shigure turned to look at him, the Dragon spotted the Dog's hand, and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the alarming, and rather sizable stain now soaking into Shigure's robes. In then next instant Hatori was at his friend's side, helping a now very pale Dog to stand as he swept his eyes over Ayame and the other two to assess the damage.

And then something intense hit his heart, so alien and strange that at first Hatori didn't know what to make of it, but it wasn't very long before he recognized the foreign feeling for what it was: sheer, abounding, immeasurable hatred, so ferociously powerful and pure it could have fueled ten-thousand wars, and it was directed straight at Akito. Hatori was almost surprised the foul boy didn't drop dead at once, and was not a little disappointed.

"I'll… take him to the infirmary, Akito-sama," Hatori murmured quietly, averting his gaze and trying to master the bewildering sensation writhing in his gut, howling in absolute outrage. Akito nodded and waved his hand lazily, seating himself once more in his chair, a detestable, nasty smile twisting his mouth.

"Of course, and take the rest with you, I've finished with them."

Numbly, the others stood as well and began to file out of the room on shaky legs, mouths dry and bodies stiff with the effort of holding too much in at once.

"Except you."

Kyo paused, halfway to the door and the last to leave, feeling Akito's eyes on his back.

"Yes, Kyo, I want a word with you. Sit."

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyo noticed Kagura hang back and glance worriedly over her shoulder at him, but Rin gave the Boar a nudge and a shake of her head, so small her long black hair barely moved at all. Kagura swallowed, shot Kyo an encouraging look, and followed the Horse out the door, too upset to notice the golden-eyed shadow lingering just within her line of view.

"Come back, my poor little monster. Won't you sit down?" Akito asked.

Kyo approached the Head Sohma slowly and sat as far away as he could without insulting Akito or making conversation impractical.

"Yes, Akito-sama?" he ventured after a moment of uneasy silence.

"I wanted to know how our bet was coming along," Akito began, and Kyo wished he hadn't spoken at all, preferring the silence to what he knew was approaching.

"Surely you haven't forgotten what we talked about?"

"No," Kyo said carefully. "I haven't."

"Well? Have you beaten Yuki yet?"

"…No," Kyo murmured reluctantly, staring intently at a spot on the floor and trying to make himself interested in it so he might somehow shut out the rush of shame rising in his cheeks.

"You can't do it, can you?" Akito asked, and Kyo's fists tightened into hard knots, his fingernails digging into his flesh. "You can't win, can you? You just fail, again and again, don't you? I told you that you would, didn't I?"

The Cat didn't know when he had jumped to his feet, but abruptly he was standing, unable to bear the waves of desperation and worry and rage that pounded against his ribcage like an angry sea trying to destroy a continent.

"I WILL BEAT HIM!" Kyo shouted with every ounce of his being and every shard of hope he had ever picked up along his winding way through life, mustering all his strength and passion into one tight little ball and throwing it out with so much force that it exploded before his eyes. And once it had, for some reason, Kyo felt a little bit better, because this time he actually believed it. This time, he had something else to fight for other than his own meaningless right to live.

"You say that over and over, and I have yet to see results," Akito hissed coldly. "They're only words. Stop trying to convince yourself you can do the impossible, and give it up. You'll never beat Yuki, and when everything is over, after you've graduated, I'll escort you myself to your prison. The monster will be locked away in the little dungeon of his very own forever, until the day he dies."

"I won't give up, Akito," Kyo said firmly. "I'll keep fighting until the end."

"You just don't understand, do you?" Akito asked in disdainful condescension. "There's no hope. You'll never win. It's how you were made since the very beginning. It's was carved out by your fate, by your own blood. There's nothing you can do. This is the dark road you must walk. You will never be accepted into this family, and that's just how it is always going to be."

"I don't care whether I'm accepted or not… not anymore," Kyo replied, without even pausing to think about it. "She's accepted me, and that's all that matters now."

"You mean Tohru, don't you?" Akito said, and something dangerous flickered behind his chilling smile. "She has, hasn't she? She even accepted your true form… didn't she?"

For a moment Kyo couldn't breathe.

"Wh-what…? How… How did you know…"

"She's just so perfect, isn't she?" Akito went on, his cheerful tone suddenly entwined with venom. "In fact, she's too perfect. After all, how on earth could any normal person bare to look upon something as grotesque as your true form, without a hint of fear? Without running away? You know what I think? I think she must be a demon, a monster just like you, don't you think so?"

"Stop it." Kyo snarled, his fists clenched at his sides and his face scarlet with rage. "You don't know what happened then, you couldn't possibly!"

"Couldn't I?"

"If you did, then you would have seen how scared she was!" Kyo shouted, unconsciously advancing on his Master in an almost menacing manner. Akito's face darkened considerably, his features twisting into a horrible look that could only signify a want for brutality and viciousness. But Kyo went on regardless.

"You would have seen her shaking so hard she could barely stay upright! You would have heard her voice trembling so much she could hardly even speak! I was there, I was right next to her, so close I could literally smell her fear! But she didn't run away because—"

Kyo stopped, horrified, and hastily dropped his eyes.

"Because what?" Akito said, his gaze loaded like a shotgun full of rock-salt.

Because she knew that if she left… I might never have come back, and never trusted anyone else again. She didn't want that, she wanted us all to go on living together, to be happy…

She still wants that.

"Is it because you think she loves you?"

Kyo jumped and his head shot up so fast he swayed unsteadily.

"Oh, wouldn't that just be marvelous?" Akito went on. "If the two monsters got together, wouldn't that just be grand? Or perhaps…"

Akito was quiet for a long moment, scrutinizing the Cat closely, and Kyo felt his stomach twist uneasily. And then Akito nodded, slowly, as if he had just figured something out.

"Or perhaps you might love her in return?"

Kyo couldn't speak, his throat had suddenly closed itself, so all he could do was gape in shock… and fear.

"You, who killed your own mother, Kyo?"

That knocked everything out of him and nearly snapped his heart in half, the pain of it was squeezing him so hard.

"It…" he chocked.

"How could you have the audacity to love someone else, when you didn't even love your own mother?"

"It wasn't…" he tried again.

"You didn't even mourn her death and now you think you can love someone else, an outsider?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Kyo finally cried. "It wasn't! I don't care what anyone says, my mom didn't die because of me!"

"Stop telling me these filthy lies!" Akito snapped. "You did, and everyone knows it! Even your "father" Kasuma knows it, he just doesn't want to tell you because of his foolish guilt over the last Cat!"

"Stop it! That isn't true!"

"Or didn't you know that? Kasuma only took you in to atone for that pitiful, misplaced, selfish guilt he felt over his own dead grandfather, not because he cared anything for you!"

"STOP IT!"

"And now you think you can just forget all that, just forget that your mother who actually loved and protected you, was in the end killed by her own disgraceful, disgusting son? That you can just leave all that behind and fall in love!"

"STOP!" Kyo shouted. He was on his knees now, hands pressing against the floor, teeth bared and eyes squeezed shut. His breath came in short, shuddering gasps and his shoulders trembled.

"Please…" he begged quietly. "Please… just stop. Just stop."

"Do you love her or not?"

"No…!" Kyo cried vehemently, shaking his head. "No, I don't! I… I don't love her!"

"Good boy..." Akito murmured, stepping so close to the Cat his yukata brushed against Kyo's bowed head. "That's a good boy… You at least understand you can never have that…"

Kyo could only nod helplessly. What else was he supposed to do? If he had admitted how he felt, how he truly felt, Akito would definitely have hurt Tohru, and while she was in bed… Kyo couldn't have that, so he had protected her in the only way he could.

"Kyo… are you crying?" Akito asked, coming forward a few steps.

"No," Kyo replied automatically even as a few warm somethings slid down his face and fell into the carpet between his hands.

"Why are you crying? Did I make you cry?"

Kyo's fingers buried themselves in the carpet and gripped it hard. He remained silent.

"I'm only telling you this because you have to understand," Akito explained, kneeling in front of the Cat and wrapping his thin, frail, breakable arms around Kyo's shoulders.

"I'm only saying these mean and hurtful things to you because you have to know the truth: that you can't smash this fate you've been given. You can't fall in love. You can't be loved. You're a monster, Kyo, less than the most worthless human being."

Slowly, gently, Akito pulled Kyo closer so that he could whisper directly into his ear.

"I've decided that our bet is off. You will be confined, immediately, to your room for now until we return to our own world."

He felt Kyo's entire body go rigid, and smiled into the Cat's hair, running a hand through it and twirling it playfully in his long fingers.

"But… you promised… our bet…." Kyo stammered, trying to pull away, uncomprehending, it just wasn't true

Akito grabbed a handful of the Cat's hair and yanked hard, holding Kyo fast.

"I think that girl has given you a false sense of hope," Akito said softly. "Hope isn't something you—or any of us—can afford. It will only cause you pain, don't you see that? No, I think putting you away now is for the best. Kureno."

Dimly, as Akito released him, Kyo saw the Rooster step into the room and give a small bow, his face inscrutable.

"Yes, Akito-sama?"

"Escort Kyo to his room, and have his meals served taken to him there."

"I will do as you wish," Kureno replied dully.

"And Kureno? You will tell no one. If anyone asks, tell them Kyo is sick and is not to be disturbed. Kyo, you will not leave your room. That is all."

With that Akito turned away and waved a lazy hand. Kyo opened his mouth, but anything he might have said simply wouldn't come out. But he had to say something, anything at all, but Kureno was already at his shoulder. Kyo's legs, however, refused to work, an Kureno was gripping his arm, and everything was happening so fast.

He needed to see Tohru.

"NO!"

Kyo was up like a shot. He had to see her, there was simply no way he could let this happen before he saw her. Abruptly, he turned and bolted for the door, without another thought.

"KURENO! STOP HIM!"

The Rooster was in the way. Kyo tried two things at once, stopping in his tracks and running full-tilt, and ended up barreling headfirst into Kureno and falling to the floor in a heap of arms and legs.

Hands seized a double fist-full of his hair and wrenched upward. Kyo yelped, and winced as Akito's fist grazed his cheek. And then Akito's pale fingers closed around Kyo's throat.

Without thinking, Kyo grabbed the boy's wrists and pushed him away, and Akito just started screaming and screaming in an incoherent stream, thrashing and writhing as hard as he could, and Kyo held on for dear life, trying to keep his God from hurting either of them. Part of him, in the back of his mind, was quite horrified at what he was doing. The other part just wanted to live. It had never wanted to live so much until now.

Akito shouted something, but Kureno had already left, sprinting down the hall towards the infirmary as fast as his legs could carry him. Kyo held on tighter, his grip like iron, and then Akito let out the loudest shriek left, gave a tremendous heave, and—

CRACK.

Kyo froze, feeling rather than hearing the tiny snap of the bone in Akito's wrist. Akito had stopped moving, staring at his arm, and then at Kyo's hand, and finally he looked up into Kyo's eyes, his own shocked gaze wide and, for a few moments, completely blank.

"You… you hurt me," Akito gasped incredulously. Kyo slowly let go of Akito and backed away, his mouth open with surprise as he stared at Akito's bewildered features.

"A… Akito… I-I didn't…"

"You actually hurt me..." Akito repeated, gazing in wonder at his wrist.

"I didn't mean…" Kyo began desperately, lifting his hand in a futile gesture, but Akito backed quickly away, holding his arm to his chest.

"You stay away from me. Don't touch me."

"Akito—"

"Get out."

"But—"

"I said get out!"

"Akito!"

Kyo whirled to see Hatori standing in the door, breathless and disheveled, and staring at the two in astonished alarm.

"Ha... Hatori… Akito's wrist, I swear I didn't—"

"Kyo, you can explain later. Go."

"But…"

"No. Just go," Hatori repeated, stepping into the room and straightening his tie.

"To your room," Akito hissed. "And don't you dare come out."

Kyo shot Akito one last desperate look and fled.

To be continued…


Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. It would be soooooo angsty right now if I did, though. Ah, the joy of angst.

Well, well, well, guess who's back? And a few months earlier than expected, eh? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

As to the story, JESUS that was pretty intense. I wrote it all in one sitting and now I'm all wiped out. Actually, I've been working on it for a few weeks, but I could never quite get it started just right. I think I did pretty well for myself. Hopefully.

I might have gotten a little carried away with the exploding porcelain vase and all, but I've seen something similar happen—in my own kitchen, no less—which involved heights and a glass bowl. And I hear porcelain is extremely explodable so it's fairly believable, I suppose, given Akito's strength when he's in one of his rages.

Due to that, this chappie was pretty dark, eh? Probably due to Akito being in it the entire time. And this fic started out so nice, too. Ah, well, this is just the beginning. It's gonna get darker before it gets lighter, so hold on to your butts.

Speaking of butts, there's a very jiggely one in the next chapter, so it shouldn't be too horrible.

Well, that's all for now.

Thanks for your wonderful and awesome reviews! With your twirling it the earth will spin! With your pushing them the clouds go by! With your pulling it the tide comes in!

(Taken—and probably butchering—from My Fair Lady(WHICH I DON'T OWN EITHER))

Signing off,

Your Lord and Master,

Raha