Chapter Nine: Sohma Family Meeting

"You're stupid! You ass! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU COULDN'T BE MORE SURREPTITIOUS ABOUT IT!"

"You said you didn't care how—"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID! YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU PUT A GUN IN THE KID'S ROOM HE'S GOING TO DIE? DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN? AT LEAST RINI HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL WITH SCARING THE BRAT AND THE TWO GIRLS AFTER THE JOB WAS TOO HARD FOR YOU! RINI HAS BEEN LOYAL! ARE YOU AFRAID? ARE YOU AFRAID FOR YOUR OWN SKIN?"

"I can't—"

"I'VE SUPPLIED YOU WITH EVERYTHING! THE POISON, THE WEAPONS, AND STILL YOU CAN'T CARRY OUT THE JOB! ARE YOU HELPLESS? ARE YOU DEAF? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I WANT THEM DEAD! ALL OF THEM! KILL THEM!"

"I've been trying, but—"

"BUT NOTHING! YOU ARE WORTHLESS TO ME! I AWARD YOU SUCH A GREAT HONOR AND YOU DO NOTHING! YOU DO NOT DESERVE LIFE!"

"No!" Ritsu screamed from the bottom of the staircase. The two quarreling figures turned around in shock of the kimono-wearing college student. "Please, Kohatio-san! Don't hurt Kureno-san!"

Kohatio dropped Kureno and bolted into Ritsu. "You heard nothing, you got that, you stupid monkey?" Kohatio hissed. "You're going to go back upstairs and tell no one of what you saw. GOT IT?"

"Yes, yes! Gomenasai! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Ritsu darted back up the stairs to his room without a word to anyone.

-+-

The hallway was silent until Rin dropped the large box on the ground.

"What are you saying?" Rini demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the horse.

"I'm saying… quit leaving your crap in our room. It's pointless. I mean… it's not like it's going to explode without being lighted…"

A devious smile spread over the teen's face. "Unless you were just putting it there to make it look like Yuki has a lot of dangerous crap in his room that he likes to cheerfully distribute around the house…"

Rini's glare became even more evil. "You have no proof… why… you…"

"I saw you, bitch. That proof enough? I was sitting in the corner of the room this morning. It must've been so dark that you couldn't see me. Shame."

Yuki and Tohru stared at Rini, Haru and Momiji staring at Rin. Rini was backed into a corner she couldn't get out of…

…with words.

She simply turned around and went back into her room, locking it behind her.

"That's right," Rin snickered. "Run and hide."

"Yuki… does you mother really… hate you that much?" Momiji whispered.

Yuki stared at the ground, denying the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "I don't know," he sighed. "She was pretty mad at me… on the day Akito died. We had a fight. I got mad… I told her I hated her. I told her to go to hell. I told her she was a bitch.

"And I was happy. I had wanted to do that for so long. I felt… free. But somehow, she changed everything. It's her fault half this house thought I was the murderer. But I think… I think that if Akito didn't kill himself, my mother killed him. And now she's trying to kill us all."

After a moment of silence, Hatsuharu nodded and began walking toward the staircase, brushing passed Rin on his way there.

"Where do you think you're going?" she cooed quietly so that he was the only one who heard her.

"Hatori-nii. I think it's time for another Sohma Family Meeting."

-+-

13 individuals sat in a large circle on the floor of the same library with the huge window most everyone remembered from just two days before.

"Your clues."

Everyone looked around at each other. They had all been so preoccupied with their own problems the passed two days that only Ayame and Hatori had paid attention to their second set. Hatori repeated himself, and only Rin stood up to speak.

"I say screw it!" she declared, standing up from her spot between Yuki and Momiji. "I don't give a damn, and I'm sure nobody else does! I say we screw this damn game, jump out the window, and go home! Who's with me?"

Most everyone slowly raised their hands.

"Rin, calm down," Hatori said calmly. "What I think is going on here is lack of communication. Obviously, nobody is going to come forward and say they murdered someone, but how about, without offending anyone, we share our suspicions?"

"We can't," Haru said slowly. "It's against the rules. We can't share our suspicions with anyone but our partners."

"Screw the rules, dammit!"

"It's Yuki!"

Kyo stood up and pointed at the shocked rat.

"My brother would never do such a thing!" Ayame yelled as Hiro shouted "We already know it's not!" and the family became restless.

There was a mass uproar at Kyo's declaration, and Yuki just sat quietly. He made eye contact with Rin and shook his head as if saying 'I swear it wasn't me.'

'I know,' she replied with a nod, and sat down again, crossing her arms so he wouldn't try to hold her hand or something.

"QUIET!" Hatori bellowed, and everyone quickly obeyed. "Yuki, do you have anything to defend yourself?"

"Yes," Yuki sighed. Rin tried not to look at him. "I think it was… my mother. She put explosives under my bed."

"Yuki! Why would you say such a thing?" Ayame gasped.

"What if…" Hatori couldn't think of anything to say.

"I saw her," Rin swallowed. "It was that bitch Rini."

"But what if she was going for Rin?" Shigure asked. "She could've put it under the wrong bed."

"She knew it was Yuki's," Rin admitted, "because she had already messed with mine. I don't know what it was, but she put some crap on my bed. Pesticides or poison or something to get me sick. She figured she didn't need to mess with me if there was already something wrong."

"But Rin-chan, you're not sick. Maybe you're imagining it," Kagura pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm not sick because I don't sleep there, duh."

"Then where do you sleep?" Haru tested, even though Ritsu had already told him the answer.

Rin sighed as she turned her head so she wouldn't have to look at anyone. "With Yuki."

An uproar.

"QUIET!" Hatori commanded again, and silence commenced. "We can deal with that later. Now, Yuki, what you're saying is that Rini is the murderer, and the one who's been attempting it again."

"Yes," Yuki whispered. "Or…"

"…Sam Kohatio-san."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at the timid Ritsu.

"Tomorrow," Hatori cleared his throat, suppressing a smirk. "Tomorrow is the final results meeting. What everyone needs to do now is go back and read their clues. And tomorrow… we may know the truth."