A/N: Halfway there!
"There was a time when I stopped talking. Just like you. My reasons were a little bit different, but I think the feelings of being ashamed of myself and hating myself are the same." – Yuki Sohma
A Rat in a Shadow
5. A little bit different
Often, he found himself cursing the Curse. The other Sohmas whispered. How his parents were so lucky. How he was lucky, being the pet of their God.
He didn't think he was lucky at all. The most beautiful, most valuable bird was locked up tightly in a cage lined with gold. And what use did the bird locked inside have for the gold?
What he truly desired, what was true wealth to him, was far out of reach.
Even if he wandered away from the estate. Even if he escaped Akito's eye, Akito's glaring grip.
And no-one understood. No-one cared. The Cat hated him. The Cow hated him. The Snake scorned him – and he'd been a fool to think that blood would help him there.
There wasn't much difference between one animal and another – except for the Rat.