Author's note: There are no original characters in this story - Akito's elderly maid was a familiar character in the manga; and I chose to give her the name of Tanaka Miyoko, which is a fairly generic Japanese name, as it was easier for me to write about her if she had a name.

Comments, constructive criticism, and praise, however faint, are all greatly desired and will be appreciated.

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Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki and Hakusensha; English-language versions by FUNimation (anime) and Tokyopop (manga). This piece of fiction is in no way approved or endorsed by any of the copyright holders.

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Later that morning

Akito sat at her table and attempted to read in order to distract herself from her thoughts, although after the events of the previous night, she was finding this to be a difficult task. This morning she had dressed in her old yukata and haori rather than in the Western-style clothes that she had lately, for the most part, adopted. The old clothes provided some sort of a sense of comfort, a sense of familiarity. She felt tired and depressed. She also felt angry and disappointed, both with Shigure and with herself. Akito was struggling to become a rational, controlled, sane woman; not the type who collapsed into a sobbing heap, and screamed, and threw things, as she had last night. Her hope had been that by now, she and Shigure could disagree, even argue, without the whole thing descending into nastiness and pettiness and childish actions. It's not entirely my fault. He pushes me too far. He gets on my last nerve; and not only that, he enjoys it.

The maid who had come to clear away Akito's half-eaten breakfast had partially opened the sliding shoji door that looked out into the garden, and although it was only late morning, Akito could feel the heat starting to come in. This irritated her, quite irrationally. What's the matter with them? Don't they know that the heat makes me feel ill and headachy? You'd think that after all this time they'd have enough sense to keep the doors shut if it's going to get hot. She felt the unreasonable urge to get up and slam the door hard – so hard, in fact, that it would bounce violently back and forth and finally jump out of its slider and fall over. That was a technique that she'd mastered at quite an early age.

She was trying to muster the energy to get to her feet when she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway. Shigure? Akito's body tensed and she instinctively moved into seiza. I must be cool and proper, I must be dignified, I must …

The footsteps stopped directly in front of her door, followed almost instantly by the rustle of kimono. Miyoko. Akito sighed.

"Now, now, Tanaka-san. I've come to see Akito. Do I have to move you out of the way?" Shigure spoke in his usual light tone.

Silence. Akito could almost see the old woman's withering look, and then, "No, Shigure-san. You will not enter Akito-san's room until I ask her permission. She may not want to see you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course she'll see me. Why wouldn't she? Come now, Tanaka-san, be reasonable." Shigure's voice took on an all-too-familiar wheedling tone.

"Why would she want to see you? After … after … Shigure-san!" the old woman's voice rose in alarm and then she said, quite calmly, but still loudly, "If you touch me, I'll go and get Hatori-san."

"Ah, yes." Shigure said quietly. Akito had the satisfaction of noting that he sounded as tired and almost as irritable as she felt. "You are quite adept at tattling private matters to Hatori-san, now aren't you, Tanaka-san? Fine, then. Have it your way. Would you please inform the head of the Sohma family that Sohma Shigure desires the honor of being allowed into her presence?"

Akito wanted to fling open the door and slap both of them.

Miyoko opened the door and slipped quietly into the room. "Akito-san, Shigure-san is here and he wants to see you."

"I know he's here. Everyone in this wing of the house probably knows he's here. Do you think I'm deaf?" Akito snapped.

Miyoko's face registered disapproval. "There's no need to be rude, Akito-san. I don't imagine you'll want to see him, will you?"

Akito felt her temper rising but kept her voice low. "Of course I'll see him! What is wrong with you?" The old woman looked at her in surprise. "I'm not five years old, Miyoko, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat me as if I was."

A hurt look flitted across the old maid's face, and she dropped her eyes, folded her hands and bowed. "As you wish, Akito-san. I'll send Shigure-san in directly." She turned to leave the room.

Akito sighed inwardly. She said in a much gentler tone, "I didn't mean to be rude, Miyoko. I know that you're just trying to protect me, but I can take care of myself, at least where Shigure's concerned."

The old woman turned around and said quietly, "I was very worried about you last night, Akito-chan. You haven't been like that in ever so long. That's the only reason I went to Hatori-san."

"I know. But I'm fine now. Truly." Miyoko went out of the room, and Akito put her head down on the table for a moment. 'Akito-chan?' She really does think I'm still five years old. Honestly, the woman can be almost as manipulative and annoying as Shigure.

She heard the door slide open, and Akito immediately sat up and resumed her proper sitting position. I must not lose my temper. I must not allow him to goad me into that. I must retain my dignity. She thought of her rage and subsequent breakdown last night, and cringed internally. She straightened her back and looked at him.

Shigure slid the door shut . He turned around, met her eyes, and smiled. His smile was a bit wary, but at least it was an honest one; it wasn't the fake one, the one that he had worn almost continuously during their estrangement. She looked back down at the table.

He crossed the room and seated himself on the side of the table nearest her, keeping only a bit of a distance between them. He was close enough that she could smell him. He must have come directly from the bath, as he smelled of soap and shampoo and warm, damp hair. She pictured his hair curling around his ears and neck, going every which way, and a wave of desire rose in her, so strong, so unexpected, that she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She frantically stuffed the feeling down. Stop it. If I give in to that, he'll have me in bed in five minutes; and after what he said to me last night? No.

"Are you too warm, Akito-san? You look positively flushed." He was sitting there with his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand, looking at her knowingly.

Damn him. "No. Shut up. What do you want, anyway?" She looked away from him.

"There's no need to be rude, Akito-san." Shigure mimicked Miyoko's tone almost perfectly. He leaned in conspiratorially, "You'd better lower your voice. The old hag most likely has her ear to the door."

"I'll thank you not to speak of Miyoko that way. She's just looking out for me."

"Oh, but rumor has it that you can take care of yourself where I'm concerned. Isn't that right, Akito-chan?" She looked at him in surprise; and in return, he gave her a perfectly innocent look. "What? I'm not deaf, either."

Her mouth dropped open. Damn these paper-thin walls. And damn Miyoko. And most of all, damn, damn, damn Shigure. Akito closed her eyes and put her hand to her forehead for a moment, and then she mustered up every bit of self-control she possessed, looked at him and said calmly, "I'm very tired, Shigure. Why did you come here? Other than to torment me, I mean? What do you want?"

Surprisingly enough, he looked back at her and said quite seriously, "I wanted to see if you were all right. Hatori said that you were … upset."

"You talked to Hatori. About me." It was a flat statement, not a question. How very humiliating.

"I did. And if it gives you the slightest bit of satisfaction, it appears that he was much kinder to you than he was to me." Shigure gave her a wry smile. "There's nothing quite like having to endure one of Haa-san's lectures when one is hung over, exhausted, and badly in need of a bath."

Hearing that did give her good bit of satisfaction, but she'd be damned if she'd let him know it. By this time, Akito was getting rather tired of sitting in seiza and her feet were getting numb, but she shifted her position, straightened her back, lifted her chin, and said, with as much dignity as she could muster, "Is that all? If you came here to see if I'm all right, yes, I'm all right. You can leave now."

He looked at her for a moment, and then looked away. "Actually, I thought you might have a few things that you wanted to say to me, yourself."

This took Akito totally by surprise. She stared at Shigure, but he seemed to be very busy studying something in the garden. Did he just give me an opening? She looked down at her tightly clenched her hands and said softly, "That was a horrible thing you said to me – about Kureno. And it was totally unfair."

There was a pause and finally he said quietly, "Ah. I'm not a nice person, Akito. I can be childish, and selfish, and petty and mean. You know that just as well as anyone does. Perhaps better than anyone else does." His voice was serious, without a hint of mockery. "But totally unfair? I'm not sure I …"

"It was unfair!" she burst out. "I'd never be unfaithful to you!"

"Oh." Shigure gave her a level look. "Really? Never?"

The blood rushed to Akito's cheeks once again. "You know what I mean! Not now. Not since we've been together." She paused and then she said, "We weren't together then. Not really."

His eyes narrowed. "I was of a distinctly different opinion. If I'm not mistaken, we were 'together' in the most intimate of ways. Several times, in fact."

Her cheeks were flaming now, and she could feel her temper rising. "Yes, we were 'together' in that way. And that's the only way we were together. You rarely came to see me. You were always too busy with this or that. And when you did come, that's all you came for."

Shigure's eyes widened, and he appeared to be honestly taken aback by that statement. "Akito! That's not true. Why would you think …"

"Because you never spent any time with me other than that!" She looked down and hesitated. "And then … later … I heard that you were going out with that girl – Shiraki Mayuko, the teacher, the one who Hatori's seeing now. What was I supposed to think?"

Shigure blinked. A moment later he laughed a bit uneasily, looked at the ceiling and ran his hand through his hair. "So. You knew about Mayu-chan?"

"You're not the only one who listens to the servants' gossip."

"Akito. Darling." He rubbed his forehead and looked at her, smiling slightly. "There was absolutely nothing to that. If you knew how innocent it was…." He sighed. "I never even touched her. If you don't believe me, ask her. Ask Hatori. Ask Aya. She dumped me after a month; she said I was cold to her."

Akito considered this. "Then why? Why did you go out with her at all?"

"Honestly, I don't know. She liked Hatori …" Shigure shook his head. "I don't know, Akito." He looked at her and the expression on his face was one of dawning awareness. "Is that why you went to Kureno? Because of Mayu?"

"No." She said shortly. "I didn't sleep with Kureno for revenge. I'm not you, Shigure."

He narrowed his eyes once again, and echoed her annoyed tone. "Then I'll return your question. Why?"

Suddenly Akito felt very tired and on the verge of tears. Her feet were really numb by this time and she moved out of seiza, and sat with her legs in front of her, knees bent. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on her knees. I don't care. I don't want to be proper. He doesn't allow me much dignity, anyway. This had always been her "comfort position" when she was distressed and she felt as if she was putting a wall of protection around herself. Is there really a point to this conversation? Perhaps Mother was right, and curse or no curse, bond or no bond, eventually, everyone will leave me. Even him. She lifted her head and said tiredly, "I can't tell you why. I don't … I don't know." Akito shook her head. She was close to tears. I will not cry. "Kureno was here … he was always here. He was comforting." She took a deep breath. I will not cry. "I don't know why, Shigure; it just happened and I wish it hadn't, for everyone's sake, but it did, and no one can do anything about it now." She said the last sentence all in a rush and the next breath caught in her chest and came out sort of hiccup-y. Oh, I don't want to cry.

Shigure was looking at her solemnly, and Akito couldn't quite fathom what it was that she saw in his face. Sadness? Regret, perhaps? Oh, no, certainly not regret. He was silent, almost as if he was at a loss for words. No, certainly not that, either. Not Shigure. He's just thinking of a suitable retort, although he's uncharacteristically slow on the draw this time. "Will you ever forgive me, Shigure? For Kureno? For everything? Because if you don't trust me, and you can't forgive me, I can't be with you. I know that there are many among us who most likely will never forgive me; but I can't be married to one of them. I won't." She could feel the tears prickling behind her eyes now, and they spilled out despite her best efforts to hold them back. Fuck this. Fuck it all. She put her head down on her knees once again.

Shigure sighed audibly, and then she felt him stroke her hair. "Akito, for once, listen to me." She looked up at him, and she was surprised to see something that did, indeed, look very much like regret in his eyes. He tucked a lock of tear-dampened hair behind her ear, ran his fingers down the length of her jaw, and cupped her face in his hand for a moment before wiping away her tears with his thumb. "We both have much to forgive each other, don't you think?" he said gently. "And we most certainly will have more to forgive in the future, don't you imagine? I can if you can. I will if you will." He reached down on the floor beside him. "And look – I've brought you something." He looked at the object that he held in his hand for a moment and then gently put it down in front of her. "It seems to be a bit wilted from the heat. I can get you another, if you'd like. The garden is full of them."

Akito looked at the rather bedraggled flower in front of her and felt her wall start to crumble. "What's this?" she said.

"Why, Akito, I'm surprised at you. I thought you knew the names of all of the flowers in your garden. It's a camellia." She looked at him and saw a spark of amusement in his eyes.

"I know what it is. What's it for?"

"I thought you might be angry, so I picked it on the way over. I was hoping you'd remember." Her wall was fast becoming a pile of rubble.

Oh yes, I remember. I remember a warm summer's day very much like this one, so long ago. I remember a solemn, insecure, seven-year-old girl, who asked her older cousin a question; and who, in return, received a camellia, an answer, and a kiss on the cheek, all of which made her blush. I remember how the girl kept that memory and those words in her heart, long after she thought that they had been proven false and that he had forgotten them. I remember her happiness when she discovered that he remembered them as well as she did, and that after all those years, his answer remained the same. Akito smiled and fingered the camellia's petals gently. "Shigure," she said, "Do you love me?"

Without hesitation, he answered the woman the same way that he had answered the child: "I care about you, more than I care about anyone; and that is the honest and unshakable truth. I love you, Akito." He kissed her then; but since she was no longer seven, he didn't kiss her cheek, but her mouth, warm and sweet and deep. Her wall crumbled completely away like a pile of dust scattered by the wind.

He pulled her into his lap, and buried his face in her hair. "I love you, Akito." She turned her face up to him, and he kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose and then her mouth again. She snuggled under his chin, and they sat like that for a while in the sultry midday heat. She could hear the sound of cicadas, and smell the heavy scent of the flowers in the garden through the opening in the door.

"Shigure?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm tired."

"Shall I put you to bed, Akito-chan?"

"I guess so."

"Can I come too?"

"I guess so."

"Will you go right to sleep, like a good girl?"

"I don't think so."

~fin

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