((Thank you guys for the reviews! They really made me smile! \(^o^)/ Enjoy Chapter 11. c:))

I stayed in the bathroom for what felt like forever. I had no desire to ever leave, and I might have really made it my permanent home if it wasn't for the five knocks on its door that arrived eventually.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry! I'll be right out and then the bathroom's all yours!" I immediately called out. How selfish of me, to hide away when others might have needed to use the facilities. I gave the toilet one final flush, washed my hands for the third time, and exited.

Of course who was waiting outside for me but Ayame. "Tohru, darling, are you all right? You were in there for quite some time."

Immediately I was set on edge but I tried to keep my voice calm, polite. "I know, I'm sorry, I just...I'm not really feeling well," I said. But there was no chance that I was telling him my suspicion as to the cause. "Thank you for checking on me, but you really didn't have to. You should enjoy the party and not worry about me. It's not your responsibility anymore."

Once again he looked stung by my words. "Not my responsibility anymore. Ah, I see. So because we broke up, I'm not allowed to care for you anymore? But you yourself told me that you wouldn't be able to stop loving me just like-"

"Ayame, please!" I don't know what it was. Knowing that I was late, or that Ayame was still looking out for me, or that he wanted to argue about what we could and couldn't feel about each other, I don't know, but at that moment, I snapped. "This is all getting to be too much for me, okay? I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't mean for things to end up like this! You know I didn't! It was the last thing in the world I wanted. But this is how things are. We're broken up, and we can't keep running around in circles like this. It's not healthy, and it's probably going to end up killing me. Slowly but surely. Don't you understand how much it hurts to be around you? You told me to stay away from you! And yet you show up for this dinner and you want to act like we're a happy couple and I just can't do it!"

"Tohru, I didn't want to act like we were a happy couple to cause you pain!" he quickly assured. "I only thought that, well, tonight is a night of celebration for my family. You know how long we've waited for the curse to be broken, and I didn't...I didn't want to ruin the night by telling them all that, that...well..."

"That you raped me?" He winced but I continued, my anger once again inspiring bravery inside me. "Come on, be honest, Ayame. You don't care if they find out that we broke up. You only care if they find out why we broke up."

"That's not at all true."

"You also don't want them to find out why the curse was broken," I staggered on.

He hesitated and put a hand to his forehead. "Well, I cannot see any good reason for them to know. What good would it do? The curse is broken, regardless of reason. It is now in the past, and that is where it should be left."

"What good would it do?" I asked. Scoffing. "Oh, I don't know, maybe Kyo would finally feel normal? Maybe he would finally stop hating himself so much? But I wouldn't expect you to care about that."

"Tohru, come on-"

"No, you come on! All you care about is yourself! That's what Yuki always said, but I didn't believe him. I thought he just misunderstood you. That you were arrogant and insensitive, maybe, but that you were also compassionate and kind. I thought you had your heart in the right place. I thought you were trying. I really did, I thought you were trying to be a better person, for Yuki, for me. But I guess it was me that misunderstood." I felt tears sting my eyes again but I willed myself with every ounce of strength I had to keep them at bay.

It looked like Ayame was doing the same. His eyes were suddenly watery but no tears actually spilled out of them. "Tohru..." For a while, we just stood there and stared at each other. I couldn't believe it, I left the silver-tongued snake speechless. But then he extended his hand. "Please. Take it."

"W-what?"

"Just take my hand. Please."

"Why? What...?"

"Please, Tohru."

I hesitated. I did not trust this man in the slightest, but what could he really do with his entire family just down the hall? And he did say "please", he didn't just grab my hand or force me to do anything. So I, with caution, placed my hand in his. He linked his fingers through mine and then led me back out to the dining room.

'So he just wants to go back out there and pretend to be a happy couple? After all that? Does he listen to a word anyone else says?' I wondered, feeling my cheeks growing hot again with anger.

But when we actually reached the dining table, Ayame stood in front of it with me by his side instead of taking a seat. The family, who had been yet again lost in overlapping chatter, eventually all stopped talking and looked up to hear what Ayame had to say. Some of course looking more eager to than others. Hiro, Kyo, and Yuki in particular seemed about as ready to depart the party as I was.

"My dear family, my dear family," Ayame began, using his free hand to pick up a glass of champagne from the table as if to make a toast. It did not appear to be his because Kyo said "Hey, that's-" But Ayame cut him off by continuing: "I have some very important morsels of information to impart upon you."

"Unless you know why the curse was broken, nobody wants to hear it, Ayame," said Yuki.

"Funny you should lead with that..."

"It's not funny; it's just what we've all been talking about all night."

"...because I just so happen to know exactly why the curse was broken," the former snake finished, to the gasps of his audience and of me. Was he really going to...? "The curse was broken because...for whatever unexplainable reason...Tohru loves me, and I am the true monster of the Zodiac."

Uproar. Each of the Sohmas was talking at once, most shouting. I couldn't catch all of what they said but I heard "You? What the hell are you talking about?" and "God, this guy would say anything to get attention!" and "What kind of drugs are you on anyway?" in the midst of it all.

Ayame remained calm, however. He stood still, looking dignified, as he waited for the noise to die down at least somewhat. When it did, he spoke again. "I am flattered that you are all shocked by the idea of me being a monster because it means that you must all view me as something of a hero instead!" There were murmurs of disagreement, but he ignored them. "But I am sorry that I must now shatter your illusions of me. I am no hero, and I am not even a good man."

I looked over at Shigure and Hatori, both of whom immediately looked confused and worried. Ritsu was trembling anxiously, his hands clasped in front of him, hanging on every word. Ayame continued: "Tohru and I..." He finally looked over at me briefly before turning back to his family. "A couple of weeks ago, Tohru and I spent our first night together."

Uproar. I blushed furiously and frantically looked at my shoes, not wanting to catch the expressions of any of the Sohmas, but Kyo and Yuki especially. But just because I couldn't see their faces didn't mean I couldn't hear their words. "You did what?! How could you, you degenerate pervert?! She's only sixteen!" I heard Yuki shout. Kyo followed: "I'm going to break every bone in your damn body! And especially that one!"

This time Hatori was the one to settle the noise down. "Yuki, Kyo. Please. I know this may come as a shock to you, and while I agree that ideally this would not have happened until Tohru was a bit older, we must remember that it was Tohru's choice as well as Ayame's, and neither one should be subject to your judgment."

I looked up in time to see expressions of reluctant shame cross both the cat and the rat's faces. They sat back down in their chairs (I guess both of them must have jumped up in rage) and kept their mouths shut. But I could still almost hear their blood boiling under the surface.

Hatori looked up at Ayame and nodded. "Go on."

"Thank you, Tori-san," he said. "However, I am now faced with a most horrible task: to go against your words."

"What? What are you talking about, Ayame?" Hatori asked, a hint of fear his voice, eyebrow raised.

Ayame hesitated. The Sohmas leaned forward. On the edge of their seats. My stomach felt like a hole had been drilled into it. "It wasn't entirely Tohru's choice." Now his voice sounded like a whisper.

"...What did you just say?" Yuki asked. I had never, in my entire year of living with him, heard him sound so deadly before. The air in the room felt thick, and I started to shake. When Ayame hesitated again, Yuki stood up from his chair and reiterated the question that was burning on everyone's minds: "What did you just say, Ayame?"

The former snake averted his gaze and grasped my hand tighter for some kind of comfort. I squeezed back. "I said that it wasn't entirely her choice," he said, now loudly enough for everyone to hear.

This time there was no uproar. Instead everyone remained fatally silent, except Yuki, who continued, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that...well, Tohru initially agreed to...but then she..." Everyone waited with bated breath. I saw Hatori cover his eyes with his hand and shake his head, as if he alone knew what was coming. "She asked me to stop, and I...didn't."

It happened quicker than I could process. The glass of champagne Ayame had been holding seemed to fly against the wall, shattering. Just as suddenly my hand broke free of Ayame's as Yuki was pushing him against the same wall, his hand tight around his throat. Kyo was on fast on his heels and punched Ayame hard in the stomach, causing him to cry out in pain.

The rest of the family jumped out of their seats. Some of them were trying to pull Yuki and Kyo off Ayame, others were cheering the cat and rat on. And I stood to the side. Frozen in silence, in fear. The tears that had moistened my eyes minutes ago now poured down my cheeks like waterfalls.

"S-stop it...s-stop hurting him...please stop..." It was meant to come out as a scream. A demand. But instead it was audible only to me. I finally felt able to move my feet but I instinctively stayed back from the fight and placed my hand over my stomach. I couldn't let anything happen to the potential life growing inside me.

My maternal instincts didn't stop me from fainting, however, when I heard Kagura yell, sobbing: "Kyo, stop it! He's bleeding! You're going to kill him!"