Friday, December 15, 2000

At 7:00 Doctor Hatori Sohma began his usual morning routine. He rose from bed feeling well rested and ready for his day. Then he shambled towards his bathroom to shower.

The stiffness of his legs was unusual but he tried not to think about that. If he thought about it too much he would be forced to remember just what had gone on the day before. Kyo hadn't seemed to mind but the whole ordeal made Hatori distinctly uncomfortable. He focused on showering.

He immerged quickly, finding a towel for his hair as he went back to his bedroom. Still a bit damp, he began to dress. There was no such thing as casual for the Dragon, as he pulled on an entire three-piece suit. Only once he had his socks on and his hair combed neatly was he ready to face the day.

He never had breakfast in the mornings before he headed out to visit Akito, but today he was ravenous. He scrounged around for a piece of fruit that he could eat as he made his way to the Family Head's quarters.

When he arrived at the double doors, he knelt down to roll them open. Akito tossed a book at him and said he should sit there and wait for half an hour. He had been prepared for this of course. When Akito was moody she liked to arbitrarily tell him to wait. So he drew a medical journal from within his briefcase and began to kill time.

An hour later, when he had long since finished reading the article 'Confronting the Problem of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance' Akito's right-hand man, Kureno, opened the screens to allow Hatori inside.

As the Curse took its toll on its central node, Akito was sick more and more often, but today seemed to be one of good fortune. The girl seemed not only healthy but also full of energy.

"When we're finished, will you go for a walk with me, Hatori?" she asked in a deceptively sweet voice. She knew he had no choice but to say yes, but it was fun to toy with her Zodiac in this way, taunting them with the freedom of choice.

"Of course," the Doctor replied inattentively, and then turned to dig around through his bag.

He had a stethoscope pressed to Akito's bare chest when a maid came to the door.

"Akito, sir?" she asked uncomfortably.

"What is it?" the girl snapped, pulling her kimono tight around her, to hide her chest. She trapped Hatori's hand inside the fabric as she did this, but he kept his cool.

"There is a man here to see you, sir!" the maid explained, throwing herself forward into the lowest bow she could manage.

"Who is it?" Akito frowned. She hadn't been expecting anyone.

"He didn't say!"

"Well, then what does he want?" Akii growled. She didn't like having her time wasted like this. Her dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

"He didn't say!" the poor young woman repeated.

"Tell him to leave then."

"Yes, sir!" the girl sat up and quickly rolled the screen doors shut as she left. Akito finally loosened her hold on her kimono, allowing Hatori's hand free. She let the fabric slip over her shoulders so the Doctor could press the instrument to her back. He brushed away a long strand of her dark hair in order to do this. His hand paused in midair though as the door opened again.

A man strolled in quite casually pushing the door shut with his foot once he was inside. He was an entirely unremarkable Japanese man: short, dark haired, olive skin, and dark eyes set to a slant. The only slightly interesting thing about him was that his black three-piece suite was covered with dust and he smelled of gasoline and exhaust.

"Get out," Akito snarled immediately, clutching her clothing to her chest again. She was playing the part of a strong, male, Head of the Family and that was difficult when her checkup was continually interrupted. Kureno moved forward menacingly to intercept the man. He came up short when the stranger dropped down into a bow before Akii.

"Greetings," he said in a voice that made the girl shiver. "Lady, I have come far to see you."

Hatori watched all of this in mute fascination.

"Get out!" Akito repeated, her voice rising to a frightened pitch. "Kureno! Make him leave!"

Kureno, the Rooster of her Zodiac, reached down taking the much smaller man's forearms and tugging. The intruder lashed out, sending Kureno flying. In that moment of chaos, Hatori stood and moved in front of Akito protectively. The man looked at the Dragon strangely, his brow furrowing.

"Akii," he purred, holding out a hand, beckoning her to him. She plastered herself to Hatori's back fearfully, barely even glancing at where Kureno lay crumpled amongst the ruined screens. "I've finally come to see you. You and your brother."

"I don't have a brother!" Akito hissed like a caged feline. The man took a step forward, but Hatori held out a hand to ward him off…

"Come my sweet Akii," he said. A strange sensation rolled through the room, making Hatori's palpitations race and Akito shiver violently against his back.

"GET OUT!" the young Head screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. Maids and other staff came running at the sound of her scream, they clustered in the doorway, staring at the strange man.

"You should see yourself out now," Hatori commanded, though his voice was shaky, at best.

The man's face contorted angrily as he began to back up, but before he left he…he killed one of the maids. The girl shrieked in pain from a wound that hadn't been inflicted, then she crumpled to the ground. There was an uproar and servants scrambled out of the man's path as he left the Sohma Compound.

Akito was shaking against Hatori. He turned and enveloped her into his arms, thankful that the Curse was null with her. He was in no mood to be changed into his Zodiac.

"All of you! Get out!" Akii yelled furiously as she clung to Hatori's vest.

xxxxx

Larissa chuckled to herself as her dream ended. She opened her eyes slowly, letting the blue around the edges of her vision fade.

She squirmed happily in the bed of her hotel room, dark curls tumbling over her face as she moved.

Then she crooned excitedly to the dark shadows lurking in the corners, "I know something he doesn't know!"

xxxxx

He had no plans to go to school today. Kyo closed his eyes tighter when the sun began to penetrate his dreams. Tohru was moving…then Yuki…Kyo didn't stir.

"Kyo!" Tohru called, rapping her knuckles against his door. She received no response so she began to open the door warily. Kyo shifted and made quite a show of looking at her miserably. "Oh! Are you sick?"

"Nnn," Kyo groaned. He felt some kind of pang for lying to her. It faded quickly.

She sat down beside him and brushed her pale fingertips over his forehead.

"You are a bit hot, should I stay home with you?"

"No," Kyo croaked. "Go to school…stupid girl," he added as an afterthought. He heard her going through her daily routine only managing to leave behind an air of concern in her wake. Infuriating.

However, the Cat felt the lethargy taking over and his eyes slipped shut again, sleeping claiming him soon after.

He did not appreciate the second rude awakening. He had no idea of what time it was, but someone was jerking at his shoulder and he wanted to claw their eyes out, whoever they were.

The silver familiarity and the hot scent of tang and sweat were the only things to stop him. He could never fail to recognize Kazuma, especially not when the man was leaned over him radiating of disapproval and concern.

"Good morning."

"Shishou." It was a little bit like being tasered and maybe a lot like being flogged with guilt. "I'm sorry. I've missed my lessons." Automatic, almost truthful.

"You've been skipping school, again. I thought you were over this—" The quiet resignation burned. Kyo's blood roared and his head swam. He had no idea how to convey his distress. When his eyes began to water he gave a weak cough that cut his father off mid-reprimand. He stared for a long, silent, moment and then reached to turn on the lights. "I'm calling Hatori."

Kyo really could have laughed.

xxxxx

He was charming. Basil, that was.

Charming and…he must have been attractive by his people's standards. A long, heavy plait of perfectly golden hair, sharp crystal blue eyes, tall and strong bodied.

He was attractive even by her own standards and he quickly began to distract her. Ledgers were left uncounted. Stocks left un-surveyed. Taxes never recorded.

Shinju watched with quiet glee for her sister and yet an unnamed trepidation haunted her.

"Are you sure we can trust him, sister?" she whispered, one night, as she helped to comb Kin's hair. Her sister looked back at her through the mirror, her pale face flushed with joy.

"I believe it is the will of the Gods that he has come to me."

Shinju could not help but smile. "My blessings."

Though her unease lingered.

xxxxx

He was furious.

The sky darkened and shadow sinew writhed within the swirling vortex of their sky-cage. Bars of molten ash and cloud.

The sea boiled, fish floating to the surface, breath gone from them forever.

The scent of corpses was tangible upon the air.

The scent of human corpses.

The sands at his feet burst into flames, superheating, melting.

The tides lapped at them and found in, their heat, their death.

He snarled, bearing unassuming teeth from within a small, round jaw.

Birds dropped dead from the sky.

xxxxx

She laughed, scoured her hotel room to see if she had forgotten anything.

Stuffed the last of her effects into her bag.

She was ready.

xxxxx

The Dragon flew anxiously.

The sky was dark and ominous and he just couldn't hold still.

The drive was infuriating.

He would have preferred to run to Shigure's house, but some part of his sanity must have remained, some part of his self-control.

Something that he seemed to be sorely lacking these past few days.

He was not entirely sure he was ready to see Kyo again.

Not entirely sure he could report on the boy's condition in a professional manner.

He didn't even think he could examine him, not without feeling some surge of entirely inappropriate emotion.

The last few miles of the drive were absolutely blank to him, he could not recall moving through the forest, nor exiting his car and knocking on the door. The trip up the stairs, even, was muzzy.

Then Kazuma's face was suddenly very close to his own and he looked tenser than he had, even when he had stolen away Kyo's beads.

"Please." Was all the man could say and the inflection was of such pure misery that Hatori felt his chest constrict and panic well up from his stomach.

He wanted to break, let the strain ebb from his body. He wanted to look up at his elder and ask, 'is Kyo all right?' The regression, the inability to embrace it; the responsibility: it was painful. He pushed past the instructor without letting their eyes meet and hurried his steps to Kyo's side.

The boy look wretched, his skin was gray and his eyes were swollen, as were his sinuses and lymph nodes. The demon-child coughed feebly. Once. Twice.

The scent of orchids forced their way in.

The room heated several hundred degrees.

"I need to get him to my office."

It was a controlled sort of terror, one that Kazuma responded to with such ease. Hatori was thankful that someone was somehow keeping cool, even though Kazuma's arms were shaking and Kyo very well might have been dying.

His breath was wheezing in and out of lungs.

Kazuma automatically took the boy to the car waiting out front.

Hatori didn't have enough patience! He wanted to take Kyo into his own arms and run and run and run and run and…

He told Kazuma to drive.

Crawled into the backseat, where the Cat lay stretched out, and began to dig through his shiny bag. (Why did it look like a shining beetle shell? Filthy, dirty and an unaccountable fear why, why, why?) He looked for an inhaler, fingers fumbling with complete ineffectiveness. The bag seemed endless and he had the irrational idea that something inside the bag would bite off his fingers.

He had to yank them out, stare and turn and touch to make sure they were all right and then steel his courage to reach back in again.

When he finally found the medicine it was a battle to force open Kyo's mouth, hold him there, administer and not even be entirely sure that it had gone down the redhead's throat.

The car was going too slowly, even as the scenery went blurring past.

And they came upon the main compound far too fast.

Time fluctuated around them and Kyo gasped.

His eyes fluttered halfway open and then he whimpered, high and strident from his throat.

The wild-eyed look Kazuma tossed back at them both was like that of a wildebeest ready to stampede and the animal smell unlocked something dangerous from within the Dragon's fleshy shell.

He picked Kyo up and went where his instincts directed.

xxxxx

He had said to meet at midnight, upon the hill overlooking the village. He had said it with his eyes coyly downcast and his fingers, strong, wonderful, fingers, brushing the inside of her wrist.

She waited.

And just as the moon seemed ready to overflow he appeared.

Shadows clinging to his form.

His movements impossibly graceful.

His eyes…his eyes unusually brilliant.

He was resplendent in the moonlit bath.

"Kin."

His voice was full of rough, gravely, affection and she moved forward into his arms, her mouth seeking his with wild abandon.

Hands ruffling the edges of inconvenient clothing.

And much more.

Until she was spread over her own kimono like a common prostitute and finding undiluted joy in the experience.

Until something appeared at the edge of her vision and, as if looking into a mirror, she saw Shinju.

Her eyes were wide with the horror that she, herself, should have felt.

In that snapping instant she gasped and pushed.

Basil complied, sitting back on his haunches, grinning at her horribly.

"It's too late for second thoughts, Kin."

She could feel her lower lip quiver, could feel Shinju's anger come to her defense.

"No," she said with all the firmness she could summon in the face of the man she loved.

Had loved.

Until the moment his face contorted with rage and he struck her.

"Ungrateful!"

Shinju ran to intervene, a knife, which she had suspected she would need, flashing grimly in her hand.

Kin expected blood.

To ruin her kimono, to stain her flesh.

Instead she saw Shinju flung away in the grass.

And a demon.

She heard Shinju give a helpless shriek of pain and watched as her body began to warp.

Smelled the stench of rotting carcasses.

But all she could do was stare up at the beast.

Basil's true, dark, terrible form.

Smiling down at her.

She may have screamed as she struck out at him blindly.

It didn't matter.

xxxxx

Her body was on fire and the word mother was like a sour mantra upon her lips.

The air crackled.

And she sobbed.

"Akito?" the Rooster inquired with fearful wonderment.

xxxxx

Black-Haru exploded suddenly and without warning.

Two girls had their arms broken that day as the sky raged outside.

xxxxx

Kagura just knew something was wrong, she could smell it.

xxxxx

And then the sky broke.

xxxxx

He didn't feel as if his feet were on the ground. His skin tingled, peeled away and everything felt like it was made of too much oxygen.

The demon cradled in the bends of his forelegs stirred uneasily; it's body bleeding and slowly dying.

The sky thundered and thousands of kin (enemies) came pouring from their cloud-like prisons.

He hurried, pushed on faster until his body was at its limit.

Her.

Him.

Her.

Him.

It.

Self.

She was screaming when he ripped his way through the screen doors. The Rooster lurked worriedly at her side, but his presence was a hindrance.

He was brusquely pushed aside, making way only for the siblings.

And then they waited.

Something rustled to his right.

And the presence drew closer.

Closer.

Smothering.

Maddening.

Enticing.

His scales thrummed.

xxxxx

She would get him this time.

xxxxx

Shinju was hunched over, her limbs elongated, her ears much the same. Yet her appendages were disproportionate, her head had morphed, turning into something vaguely canine. Her skin was a rotting brown with a layer of metallic scales and…her eyes were the most appalling part of her transformation.

Carmine red with dark diamond-esque slits for pupils.

Kin's thoughts dragged horribly, trying to remember the image of her beautiful sister.

Her dearest friend, her closest confidant.

Are you sure we can trust him, sister?

No! No! A thousand times, no!

Then her stomach began to burn and tears streamed unbidden down her face.

She let out a sharp wail and looked up at Basil.

The beast, swathed once again in shadows, leaving only burning eyes, the glint of teeth and horns and the hint of a spined tail, for her to see.

It grinned at her.

And grunted when Shinju lunged at him, attacking violently until she was tossed away like a doll once more, her breath rattling in broken ribs.

xxxxx

"I've come for you and your brother, my beautiful Akii."

He was different.

"You're different!" the girl bawled, burying her face into tiny trembling hands. "You should be golden!"

His barking laughter rang in their eardrums, resonating agonizingly.

Lightning ran without check through the sky.

The dragons and the demons drew closer.

"Come to me, girl."

He held out his hand, olive skin turned perfectly white in a flash of sky-bound electricity.

His eyes were so warm and inviting, like hearth fires. His voice was soothing and he smile was perfect and straight.

He was the father she had lost so long ago and she shuffled towards him, tripping over the hem of her robe, reaching out for him desperately.

The thunder tolled again.

"Stop!"

xxxxx

He left them there. Flew away into the abyss on great leathery wings.

The pain in her stomach was excruciating. She doubled over, clutching helplessly, listening to Shinju's labored breathing.

When the sun began to rise, the pain at last abated and she crawled, naked, across the dew adorned grass, reaching out shaking fingertips to ghost over her sister's flesh.

The smell made her want to vomit, but she was intent upon healing her.

Her body, however, remained cold.

Before it had blazed, spreading from her belly outwards and now she felt as if she would freeze to death at any moment and…

The magic.

The heated spread of magic with which she healed…it was gone and trying to tap into it created an extraordinary din inside of her head.

It felt as if her skull would explode at any moment.

She collapsed to the grass beside her sister and wept like a child.

xxxxx

She could not allow the Demon to reclaim his children. She had hunted him for far too long to fail now.

She pointed the gun at him.

Thirteen bullets.

Blessed by a certain priest who just so happened to have the ear of God.

"Stop." She said again.

The Dragon and the boy were fading quickly.

Their magic shifting violently.

She would need them to fend off the others.

"Don't let him touch you," Larissa warned, tossing an arrogant strand of hair from deep eyes, which flashed with power in the flickering light.

He must be forced into changing his form.

xxxxx

The fire spread and consumed her.

Her pregnancy lasted only nine weeks.

Shinju sat at her side; her creamy, olive skin still bearing the dark purple and green bruises as a testament to their struggle. The ring of beads around her wrist: a mute guardian and enforcer to their curse.

When Lady Kin perished from her own childbirth, the baby girl was already set to succeed her.

Shinju named her Junko.

Pure Child.

It was with the vain hope that she would not bear the markings of her patronage.

Junko had pallid skin and dark eyes.

A skeletal frame and a terrible smile.

xxxxx

Hatori could feel Kyo dying beside him.

Knew with unchallengeable clarity that there were only two chances for his survival.

One of which was not truly an option at all.

However, more pressing still, was his certainty that, if the Cat died, he would soon follow.

Akito was pooled upon the floor, her body wracked with crying and still the Demon reached out to her, calling.

It could not be allowed to happen.

He knew.

He could smell the death emanating from the Demon and the faint scent of budding orchids from Kyo and he knew whom it was he was meant to defend.

The last semblances of his humanity fell away and his magic bubbled forth with an unbridled scream of delight.

The last thing he heard, before his ears were filled with the rush of wind and the crackle of forming scales, was the Demon's furious shouting.

"It should not be yours! I sealed it away!"

xxxxx

It did not take long for news of the curse to spread. The family members, who had the misfortune of a blood connection with the beautiful sisters, discovered their involvement soon enough.

Blight plagued the land.

True plague ravaged the village.

And Junko grew unnaturally quick.

She asserted her terrible will with unquestioned ease.

They were all at her mercy.

xxxxx

He was dying, even as his Demon struggled to wrench itself free from its entrapment within his body.

xxxxx

The growls must have been his own.

Because he was battling, his claws biting into flesh.

And he was losing.

Once the mortal was gone, there instead rose before him a great Demon and the oppressive presence of his storm-riding brethren made him weak.

But he did not lose heart.

To be killed or to surrender, either way he would die.

And the boy would die.

Everything was to be connected.

Even this battle.

He became hazily aware of the hellfire presence at his side, the fragrance of corpses bedecked with orchids. He did not turn his head, however he knew, somehow, the boy was beside him.

Together they were fang and claw.

Air and Fire.

And together they bore the pain as the Demon, at last, shed his guise, immerging full and resplendent in his evil.

Larissa took her shot, unmindful of the physical, human, barrier between herself and her prey.

One. Two. Three. Four.

xxxxx

Junko chanted. "Five. Six. Seven."

xxxxx

"Eight. Nine. Ten."

xxxxx

Eleven.

xxxxx

"Twelve," Akito sobbed.

xxxxx

"Thirteen," Kyo whispered, collapsing to the ground as a boy once more. His body bleeding and his essence fading.

The Demon was immolating.

Flaming and screaming and dying in the horribly permanent way that is unique to the unholy and the divine.

Hatori realized, in a flash of panic, that he had yet to revert back to his true body.

And as the other Dragons came roaring from the sky at frenzied speeds to save their master, he understood why.

He left the woman to finish the Demon.

He would protect them to the last.


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