Pairing:This chapter contains some Hatori/Shigure and references to Hatori/OC (Akane)
Rating: M
Warnings:There is also slight OOC, language, violence and blood, some sexual content, and talk of death.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, Natsuki Takaya does.
"Tell me if you've hurt him!" Shigure roared as he watched Akane toss her dagger from her left hand to her right repeatedly, her eyes not leaving his. "What did you do to him, you bitch!"
"I don't know, do you think that I know where Katsu is and what he does all the time?" she smiled snidely. "The answer to that is no, I don't. And I like to keep it that way. Just thinking of what he's doing to Hatori…"
Shigure moved closer to her, his eyes burning. "If he's hurt, I swear to God…"
"What? You're going to kill me?" she chuckled as she looked deeper into his eyes. "You're good at that aren't you, Shigure. I always knew that if there was one thing you could do really well, it would be killing someone. You threaten to kill me, but I've been at your mercy this whole time and you haven't lifted a finger to destroy me."
Shigure's body felt heavy as he felt her presence overpower him. "He's done nothing to you! Hatori's never harmed you! Your problem is with me, so why don't you leave all of them out of it?"
Akane's voice filled with venom. "You think that's what it's all about? Killing you? We don't want to kill you, Shigure, not yet anyway. What we want is to make you pay for what you did to us," she held onto the dagger tighter as she looked into his glistening eyes. "Hatori means something to you… something more than any of these other animals do. But what is it about Hatori that you love so much?"
Shigure's voice was stiff. "You know why, you once felt it," he shook his head as he looked deeper into her eyes. "Didn't you… Hanabi!"
Akane shook at her real name as she pointed her dagger at him. "Shigure, you know that it hurts me to kill him. But you have to understand that I have no choice, I wish I could stop it… wait… no I don't."
Shigure fought the tears in his eyes. "Please kill me and leave him alone."
"You're not mine to kill, Shigure," she lowered her dagger. "I would love to kill you right here for what you did. But I have more important errands to which I must attend," she looked over at the closet, putting a finger to her lips. "Be vewy quiet. I'm hunting wabbits."
"Hanabi, he's not in there!"
"Then you shouldn't have a problem if I look," she moved closer to the closet. "You don't understand do you, Shigure. That day, it's always going to come back to haunt you, you should just give up."
Shigure watched as the closet opened, his heart racing as he closed his eyes, feeling the tears roll from them. He had lost. Hearing Momiji's cries as Akane pulled him out made that all too clear. Shigure took a deep breath as he tried to regain his composure, his eyes opening to the situation seeing the pain that these people had caused. He looked into her glare and it all came to life.
"We're going to stop you…" Shigure breathed as he shook in anger.
"No you can't, Shigure. You can't keep putting this off in order to save Hatori from death. If we don't do this, we're going to get him anyway," Akane pouted her lips condescendingly. "I'm so sorry."
Shigure's body shook. "Hanabi."
She ignored him. "Tsubasa!"
He froze as he heard that name being called, his eyes falling to the doorway as he saw the one called Tsubasa. His face haunted him as he looked at it. His heart stopped in his chest as Tsubasa walked into the room closer to him, hate filling his eyes with every step. As the young man was standing in front of him, Shigure knew that for the first time all day that this was all over.
"Hello Shigure," Tsubasa breathed as he looked into the dog's eyes. "You look surprised to see me."
Shigure shook his head. "What are you…?"
"Doing here? I'm here for the rabbit, Shigure, what kind of question is that?" Tsubasa pulled out his dagger, pointing it at Shigure's left eye, the dog shuddering as he saw the point in his vision, his body temperature rising. "And as much as I want to kill you, I can't. You're safe for today."
Shigure shook his head. "I don't know why you're doing this, and maybe I don't want to know. But I know one thing: I'm going to stop you."
"Stop us?" Tsubasa asked, lowering his dagger. "No one is going to stop anyone here. We've already started to win and you know it. It's killing you. After what we did to the cow and the rat, you know that there is no recovery. Their outer scars are healing, but what's going on inside their brains? What are they thinking right now? They're wishing that they were dead, and there's nothing you can do to erase that."
Shigure felt the tears forming in his eyes, trying desperately to fight them. "You're wrong."
"We won't fail this time. The tiger and the rabbit will die, there's nothing you can do about that. So why not save these two the trouble and just let them go. Or are you waiting for the next round?" a malicious smile rolled across Tsubasa's face as he looked deeper into Shigure's watering eyes. "Are you waiting until we take the dragon and the snake?"
Shigure's reflexes kicked in as he moved forward to strike Tsubasa, but he couldn't bring himself to as the first tear rolled from his eye. He could hear Akane's laughter as his body shook, his breathing becoming heavy as his emotions took him over. He opened his eyes seeing Momiji in Akane's arms, Tsubasa standing up to walk to her side. He watched as they left with smiles on their faces. He was unable to move, unable to follow them. All he could hear were the words that Tsubasa had said. The next round was going to kill him. They had gotten what they wanted.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Katsu's hands loosened as he heard the door open. "Get the hell off of him!" his attention snapped to the doorway as he saw the last person he would ever expect to see on his feet.
"Hatsuharu," Katsu breathed, never removing his hands from Hatori's neck. "I thought you'd be in bed recovering…"
Haru walked closer looking down at the two men. "I don't know what you want with us, but I think it's time that you get out of here." Haru moved closer to Katsu as he looked in the corner, seeing a terrified Kisa. "Get out of here Kisa…"
Kisa didn't need to be told twice. She quickly ran out of the room leaving Haru alone with both Hatori and Katsu. Hatori's coughing filled the air as he shook up against the floor, trying desperately to catch his breath. Haru's body shook with every struggling breath that filled his ears; his eye sight was glued on the man before him. This was the monster who started all of this. This was the monster that had hurt Yuki. His body shook as he moved closer to him, Katsu's hand moving to his sword as the ox moved forward.
"You don't want to do that," Haru breathed.
"Come any closer and I'll kill the dragon…"
"No you won't. You'd ruin the order if you did that. Both Momiji and Kisa are still okay. Hatori's number five," Haru moved closer. "You wouldn't risk messing everything up just to prevent me from attacking you."
Katsu scoffed as he looked down at Hatori. "You'd be surprised what I'd do when it comes to this guy. If I could I would kill him right here, right before your eyes. And there'd be nothing that you could do about it…"
"Then why haven't you already? You've had so much time. Go ahead," Haru's voice was thick with malice as he looked into Katsu's soul, the man starting to shake as the glance passed through his body. "Kill him."
"Hatsuharu?" Hatori shook his head. "What the fuck…?"
"Kill him. You said you could." Haru's eyes fell onto Hatori. "He disgusts you."
"What are you doing?" Hatori asked struggling to his feet, the force of Katsu's hand pressing him deeper into the ground. "You don't want to do this, Shunsuke," his body shook as he looked into Katsu's eyes. "Please… think of what Cassandra would have wanted."
Haru's eyes grew wide. "Cassandra?"
"Cassandra? How dare you speak of Cassandra," Katsu's hand wove into Hatori's hair, pulling him aggressively to his feet. "You son of a bitch!" He pulled tighter as Hatori choked on a scream. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him right in front of you. I'll have you bathe in his blood."
Haru looked into Hatori's eyes and saw something he never thought he'd see so easily: he was scared. Everything stopped as tears fell from Hatori's eyes, the sword pushed up against his neck. He was shaking in Katsu's grasp, his arms heavy as he was pulled tighter.
"Please don't do this," Hatori was begging for his life. "Please Shunsuke…"
"But Hatsuharu wants me to. Can't disappoint him," he moved his sword up against Hatori's shoulder, running the blade along his skin, leaving a pool of blood in its wake. "It won't take long. Not with all of the hate I feel toward you."
Hatori looked into Katsu's eyes. "Please don't do this…"
Katsu's eyes met Hatori's before he closed them, looking away. "Don't look at me like that, Hatori. Don't look at me with those eyes. It'll be quick if you look away. It'll be painless."
Hatori closed his eyes and bowed his head as Katsu raised the sword to his neck again, shaking violently as he felt the blade dig into his skin. Haru looked at Katsu seeing the inability to kill Hatori deep in his eyes, his hands shaking up against the sword. Katsu's hand relaxed as he started to pull the sword away.
Then a sound filled the air akin to thunder. Haru could see it all, the look on Katsu's face, the look of surprise in Hatori's eyes as he looked down at his stomach. Blood started to flow from him as he started to lose the ability to stand. Haru looked at the door and saw her again: Hikari. As she walked into the room, he could feel his anger boiling over.
"Hikari-san!" Katsu yelled as he let go of Hatori. "What are you doing?"
"I've got the tiger. We need to get out of here," she breathed as she looked over at Haru. "Hello Bessie. Nice to see that you're up."
"You bitch…" Haru breathed as he moved closer to Hatori. "Hatori, are you okay?"
Hatori was trembling as he put looked up at Haru, his breath heavy. "Haru… Kisa…"
"Shhh," Haru breathed as he moved his hand to the wound on Hatori's stomach. "Oh my God…" he breathed heavy as he moved his hand to his vision seeing the blood rolling down his fingers. "Why aren't you transforming?"
The sound of heels reached Haru's hearing. "Relax," the blond woman breathed as she walked closer. "All my bullets are infused with the cure. He's been cured in his final moments of life. He won't die a monster." Hikari looked into Katsu's eyes. "We have to go now, Katsu-chan."
Katsu looked down at Hatori, shaking his head. "This isn't going to end here. We'll finish this some other time," he placed his sword in the sheath. "I'll deal with you later, Hikari-san."
As they walked through the door, Hatori closed his eyes, his breath catching in his throat. "Go after them, Haru," his body shook violently as he looked in the direction of the door. "Stop them before they…" he inhaled sharply. "Don't let them kill Kisa."
"I can't leave you like this…" Haru's voice shook.
"Don't worry about me," Hatori smiled breathlessly. "You have to stop all of them. They're doing something that you will never fully understand. You have to stop them, Haru…"
Haru shook his head. "I can't leave you…"
"I'd rather die than have any of you die… remember that," he looked toward the door. "Now go Hatsuharu… go…"
Haru backed away from Hatori as he looked at the door tears rolling down his cheeks as he glanced back one last time to see Hatori shaking on the ground, covering his wound, breathing heavily. But as he saw the smile that was on Hatori's face, he knew that everything was going to be alright. The tears in his eyes fell as he turned around and walked out of the door.
This could be the last time that I see Hatori alive. Haru walked away from the room as he heard heavy breathing in the room behind him. He had to make a choice. He had chosen to save Kisa and Momiji. He walked away from Hatori thinking of the words that he had said to him.
"You have to stop both of them. They're doing something that you will never fully understand. You have to stop them, Haru…"
"I will Hatori, I will."
This chapter is long overdue, I'm sorry. My life has been pretty hectic lately and I'm sorry that it's short, but I didn't want to drag it out way too long. I also know that this chapter leaves you with a lot of questions. Are Momiji and Kisa going to be okay? Is Hatori going to die? Who is Cassandra? And what are these people trying to accomplish?
The next chapter we will see what happens to Kisa and Momiji as well as delve deeper into what these people want with our heroes.
Like what you read? Feel free to PM me a requst. See profile for details.
Also feel free to review. And vote in my poll, the story with the most votes will be my top priority.
