Neko Love Chapter 17: The Lifting of the Curse, a fruits basket fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. Duh.

Here's the 15th chappie. The end is close, I can sense it. Thanks to my reviewers. My author's notes will be short and sweet. Here. I have nothing to say, so just read.

Chapter 15

"Akito, stop!" Ayame came bounding through the doors of the building, running (more like skipping…) dramatically. Everyone groaned, the snake was such a drama queen (queen, ha).

"As much as I hate him, I agree." Yuki walked in the snake's trail calmly, he was used to Ayame being an idiot by now. After Yuki, a parade of zodiac-possessed Sohma's filed in; all ten of them, since Kyo, Ayame, ad Yuki were already in there. (Yay, it's a parade! Ja! Ok now I sound like Momiji… Ja!).

As Rin walked by the shadowy spot where Tohru hid, smiling, she stared at Tohru, but this stare wasn't a cold stare, it was almost friendly. Tohru was surprised, but she kept on smiling, though that grin was wiped off of Tohru's face as she saw Haru fly by and into Yuki, knocking them both over. Tohru gasped and ran to help them, leaving her safe spot.

Meanwhile, in the heart on the fight, Amaya was having a hard time avoiding everyone. She was trying desperately to get out of the tangle of people, hoping to not transform anyone. As she pushed her way past Akito, he grabbed her katana from her sheath and swung it at his current attacker, who happened to be Kagura. Fortunately Akito missed, and Kagura drew back, even her infuriated side knew that if someone had a sword, you shouldn't fight them with your bare hands.

As the mob of Zodiac and henchmen noticed the blade in Akito's hand, they all backed away, creating a huge circle around him. No one dared to fight their adversary, for fear of upsetting Akito (with his mad mind and all) and tempting him to use the katana. Amaya was the only one who was in three feet of Akito, which was in reach of the sword.

"A-Akito-nii, may I please have my katana- Eeh!" The cat girl hopped back as Akito swung the sword and her, barely missing her ears. The girl knew she wouldn't be getting her sword back from her dear brother by asking, so she decided she would have to grab it, for everyone's safety.

"Little demons don't deserve to carry a samurai sword with them, a katana is too honorable to own for them." This got Amaya enraged. Not able to control herself, she leapt straight for Akito. As she screamed, Akito simply put the sword up, driving it through her middle. (Poor Amaya! No! Sorry if you get a bit sick, maybe this should be rated M now?) The girl gasped and her eyes widened, she was frightened, to say the least. Akito's eyes were wide as well, the god was clearly shocked, so shocked that he dropped Amaya and the sword.

A gasp ran through Amaya pulled the blade out of her abdomen without cringing or falling to the ground. They all stared, shocked at how she didn't even seem pained. Yes, her expression had been one of surprise, but who wouldn't be surprised when they knew a katana had just gone through their middle?

"Oh my…" Amaya dropped the sword by her feet and fell onto her back in a dead faint, one she might never awake from. Tohru rushed through the crown and saw Amaya, who she stared at disbelievingly. Silence flowed throughout the crowd as Akito kneeled by Amaya, checking her pulse. Just as he stood up, the beating of feet on the hard stone floor sounded, and Hanajima, Uotani, and Megumi appeared.

As they made their way toward the crowd, a path was made for them. Megumi didn't need to go through the path made for them, though. He could see Amaya lying in a small pool of blood, her silver hair shining in the moonlight that shone like a spotlight on her.

"Oh dear…" Hanajima stared at Amaya sadly, and then looked over to Megumi, who had a lone crystallized tear trickling slowly down his cheek. Uotani was too shocked to say anything, until she saw a bit of blood scattered on Akito's yukata.

"You killed her, didn't you!" Uotani marched over through to Akito through the crowd, scolding him. The mob watched her as she stared hatefully at Akito, who only looked at her solemnly.

"She is not dead yet." The group stared at him, why hadn't he told them? Hatori, however, wasted no time and rushed Amaya over to his office to try to save her in time. As Hatori busied himself, the zodiac decided to take action.

"I don't care who the hell you are, I will never listen to you!" Kyo had stepped up and yelled in Akito's face, agitating the god. He had already been scolded many times, and he was getting tired of it, they all stood around Akito, yelling.

"I know what I did, now stop, all of you!" Akito stood up, slapping Kyo away, and glaring at everyone else. "I don't care what I did, though! I am still your god and I will always be! Listen to me or you will be punished!"

Akito kicked Yuki and Shigure away from him, and continued with the rest of the crowd until no one was nearby him. The zodiac got up, angered. Even Kisa was upset; they had let themselves be pushed around by Akito way too much.

Just as they got up to argue more, Akito began to glow and shake. A few seconds later, Yuki joined in. Next was Haru, then Kisa, and so on. The pattern was the order of the Chinese Zodiac. Once everyone was glowing, they stared floating, as if they were being pulled up by strings connected to their abdomens.

Yuki gasped as he saw a semi-transparent blue Buddha figure slip out of Akito's chest and into the middle of the room. Next, a rat figure slipped out of him, joining the Buddha in the middle. A minute or so later, a blue cat figure slipped out of Kyo's abdomen. Once it joined all the figures in the middle, they vanished, and the bluish glow left with them.

As the glow vanished, everyone stopped floating and fell to the ground. It seemed as if they were all weak, as if a part of their power was taken away. But not only the power was taken away, Kyo felt lighter than before, as did everyone else. It seemed that the curse had been broken.

Tohru sat watching Amaya sleep, thanking whoever ran heaven that Amaya was breathing at the moment. Though, her state wasn't much better than alive, Amaya was in a comatose state, and showed no signs of ever waking up. Tohru hadn't even seen Megumi blink since he arrived to see Amaya. Hatori was also watching her, and even though his face was expressionless, Tohru knew he too was worried.

Sighing, Tohru wondered where Kyo was; right now she could use his company. Tohru got up and walked over to the foot of Amaya's bed, looking at her and Megumi, they were such a cute couple, but they were alike. Somehow, Tohru knew Amaya used to be different, before she had turned into a cat girl, before she became an outcast.

Unexpectedly, strong arms wrapped around Tohru's waist, and she felt herself being pulled to someone's body, which was obviously a boy's, for she felt strong, firm muscles pressing against her back. Gasping, she struggled to get out of the stranger's grip, until he spoke softly into her ear in a voice that sent shivers (not out of fear) down her spine.

"Tohru, it's me. The curse is broken now." Tohru smiled and leaned into Kyo, blushing as he softly placed his mouth over a part of her neck and gave her a hickie (that's what it's called, right?).

"So I see what Ayame said Shigure said was true, you two are together." Hatori and Megumi were staring at the blushing couple, analyzing them. After a minute or so, Hatori smiled sincerely. "Good luck with that." The cat and the onigiri thanked Hatori, who went back to some paper work he hadn't finished. Megumi kept staring at the two, who were a bit uncomfortable.

"Don't mind me." The curse boy looked innocently at the two, and Kyo rolled his eyes playfully (Oh my, what has this world come to! A playful Kyo!).

"Oh, so you're taking notes on how to woo a girl, aren't you? I don't think Amaya will be as easy as Tohru, you know…" Megumi blushed and turned his attention back to the sleeping Amaya, trying to hide his red face. (I LOVE AOL RADIO! Sorry, random, I just HAD to say it.)

Later, everyone visited Amaya again. She was partially the reason the curse was broken, even though she didn't know that, so the ex-zodiac owed her. They gave her their wishes, and they all went home, only Megumi and Hatori stayed. Hatori had to watch over her, and Megumi was spending the night because he was worried.

As Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure walked home, they all smiled, especially Kyo when he remembered that he could put his arm around Tohru's waist now. Once he remembered, they walked all the way home the same way, giggling, sneaking small kisses, and just being happy. Shigure muttered "young love" and "ah, adolescence" a lot while hugging each passing female (no matter how old, unless they looked like a bag lady, then Shigure would run away screaming), and Yuki rolled his eyes so many times it was a surprise that they didn't keep rolling. Truth was he couldn't wait to see Machi. (Ooh, Yuki's got the hots! Yuki's got the hots! Hee hee!)

AOL Radio rocks! If you have AIM, you should upgrate to get it. Sorry about my outbursts, I'm feeling weird today... Maybe I have a sickness that gives me a stuffed nose, a sore throat, and a very bubbly personality. I sure hope not. Maybe it's all of the cookies I ate. Oh well! Currently listening to Happy Birthday to Me by Hidetoshi. It's almost my birthday, which is in approximately three weeks. Ok, now Hitomi No Kakera is on. Now Blue by Yoko Kanno. My, these songs are short... I don't like this one... It gives me a headache. Don't listen to Blue by Yoko Kanno. Yoko Kanno stinks altogether, so don't listen to him at all. Sayonara, before I bore you to death before you review. Please review. When I don't get reviews I log out and review to myself, critisizing myself. I don;t think I spelled that right... And once I called Akito Ayame or Amaya... Did you know that Ayame is a girl's name? It means iris. Amaya means night rain. Night rain sounds prettier than iris. Akito is a girl's name, too. So is Yuki. Haru is a girl's name.Amaya is a girl name... Saki is a girl name... Arisa is a girl name... Kisa is a girl name... Kagura is a girl name... Isuzu is a weird name... I'm bored.