Disclaimer - Character's are not my own.

Chapter Nine – Dog's Love

"See you later, Shigure!" Tohru called out as she stacked chairs with Yuki. Kyo was mopping the floor as Haru sat on the counter top watching him.

"Yes, see you tomorrow." Shigure called back to them all as he opened the door to the chime and left.

Shoving his hands into his pockets he slowly wandered down the quiet streets towards his home. A lot had changed since he had started working for Fruits Basket and, although a lot of it was good, he still didn't find himself truly happy.

He let out a loud sigh into the cool air before looking up at the murky sky, pollution clouding over the brilliant stars he had once seen in an open field with the love of his life many years ago. He could still remember the faint scent of jasmine that came from her hair as the wind blew it about. Her dark eyes had reflected the millions of stars above them like an endless ocean and her pale lips had lifted in a soft smile that outshone all those glorious stars.

He was still thinking about her when his mobile suddenly began vibrating and a tune filled the air. Grabbing hold of it in his pocket, he pulled it out and checked the caller ID, eyes widening in slight surprise at the name.

Flipping it open he raised it to his ear and spoke, feeling like a high school kid at the nervous butterflies that had began waltzing around in his gut.

"Hello, Akito." He said softly as he continued walking, not stopping on his way home.

"Shigure, it's been a while. How are you?" Her voice was just as he remembered it, soft yet slightly demanding with every word.

"I've been good, yourself?" He asked politely, though in truth he'd like nothing more then to ask her where the hell she had been for the past three years.

"Oh, I'm fine. What are you up to now?"

"I'm working at a café right now, before that I was doing market research. What about you, it's been three years remember." His voice became slightly cold at the end, a frown on his face as he stopped before his building.

"I know it's been a while; I've been up to this and that. Nothing all that interesting."

'So you're ringing because you're bored, why am I not surprised?' He thought, snorting to himself.

"So what's with the random phone call out of the blue?" He asked, pulling out his keys and putting one into the lock to his door.

"I thought you might like to hear from me?" Her voice wasn't defensive, merely bland like she was stating an irrefutable fact.

"What makes you think I haven't moved on with my life?" He asked, already knowing the answer, as it was an old game they were playing right now.

"Because I know you, better then anyone. You wouldn't move on, you like the game as much as I do." She said, completely sure of herself.

Sometimes he wished she didn't know him so well. Considering they'd only seen one another a few times in the last decade or so, it was sad at how little they had both changed. Still, he liked to imagine that one day she would ring and he would be content and happy with someone and would no longer need to play her games.

'That would only work if I figured out how to fall out of love with her.' The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Are you still in Tokyo?" She asked, taking his silence as acceptance of the truth.

"Yes, where are you?" He asked, knowing she wouldn't give him a straight answer.

"Around." Not a proper answer, he'd expected no less.

"Was there a reason you rang?" He asked dryly as he pushed off his shoes and walked more into his home.

"Just thought I'd tell you I still don't forgive you." She said in that soft yet demanding tone that only she could pull off without sounding like a bitch.

He supposed to the casual observer it would sound as if there was a lot of animosity and hatred going on between them, however they didn't know the whole story, the truth behind Shigure and Akito.

They had met when they were in their last year of middle school. It had been a chance encounter with Akito sitting on a low wall smoking and Shigure walking along after yelling to his parents that he hated them. He had seen her smoking and, knowing his parents hated it, had asked if she had another cigarette. She hadn't had another, but she'd shared her own with him. They'd gone their own ways after that one cigarette, neither expecting to see the other anytime again soon, until they'd started high school and realised that they were going to the same one.

It was from that point on that the two had began skipping school together, smoking behind the toilets or in the locker rooms and drinking whenever they felt like it. Half the time they never even made it home and they'd end up going to school hung over, reeking of last night's party.

They were two teens going nowhere fast.

They learnt what the world was really like, a boring place in which they only found fun when they were together. They learnt to put on a fake face of happiness and to pretend to want to change, but really they were accepting of what they were.

Everything changed on their graduation day, a day most people hadn't believed they'd live to see with the way they had been going.

Akito had come to their usual meeting place where Shigure was already smoking, waiting for her. She had walked right up to him and told him they were going somewhere they'd never been before. He had followed her without question, just as she would have done if their positions had been reversed. She had taken him to a train station and they had caught the train as far as it would go and then they had gotten on another one; never saying a word as they did so, never needing to.

It wasn't until they had arrived at a large rice farming area that they had been forced to walk. They were still wearing their school uniforms and they had no money on them, only a packet of cigarettes between them and two lighters with suns on their cases. They had walked until it was dark and no one else was around, the stars the only things lighting their way as the moon had disappeared for the night.

She had finally stopped in an open field and looked up at the stars, seemingly not even noticing him stopping beside her and staring at her. A soft wind blew about her hair spreading the smell of jasmine as her dark eyes reflected the sky. It was in that moment that Shigure knew he was in love with her. She was the only thing he had thought about these past three years, the only person he cared to be with, the only one he wanted for the rest of his life.

"I'll never forgive you, you know." She broke the silence just when he wanted to speak, though she never looked at him. He watched as her eyes grew darker and a smile pulled at her lips.

He turned to the sky as well, knowing that he needn't say his thoughts aloud; not when she had voiced them for him already.

"I know." He finally said into the silence.

They hadn't said anything more and had stood there until dawn, watching as the morning light swallowed the stars and darkness. They left as the sun rose from behind the hills.

The next day, Akito was gone and Shigure didn't see her again until two years later when she had showed up at his door telling him she still didn't forgive him and that she wanted his mobile number so she could call him next time she passed through Tokyo.

Shigure sighed into the phone's silence, knowing she was waiting for his answer, the one that said he still felt the same.

"I know." He finally gave in; he'd never been able to refuse her.

"I'm passing through again, soon." She said idly, as if they were merely talking about the weather.

"You should stop by the café." He offered quietly, not sure if she would go for it or not. Usually she demanded that they meat in one of their old haunts, despite the many years it had been since they'd last actually been there.

"Why?" She sounded truly puzzled by such a suggestion, as if it was a completely foreign concept for him to be the one suggesting where they meet.

"I work there, the people there are kind… we would have liked it." He finished, referring to them in their youth.

'Say yes, change your routine for once in your life.'

She was silent for so long if he were speaking to any other person he would have thought she had left, but this was Akito and she never did anything a normal person would.

"Do they know you?" She finally asked.

"Partly." Was all he offered her, which part they knew he didn't need to specify – she knew; she always knew.

Silence again.

"I'll be passing through soon." She said in her soft yet demanding voice.

"I'll be at the Fruits Basket Café – Bookstore." Was all he could say before he heard a dial tone in his ear.

Flipping the phone closed in his hand, he carelessly chucked it onto the small side table he passed as he moved to his chair. Sitting down heavily, he reached over and picked up a cigarette and a small silver lighter with a sun on the cover. Flipping it open his lit up the cigarette before closing the lighter and putting it back on the small table before leaning back in his chair.

Looking up as he got comfortable, his eyes strayed for a moment to the writing desk that was doing nothing more than colleting dust in the corner of the room. There was a time when it would have been a scene of organised chaos, with books, pens, sheets of paper and post-it notes everywhere. It had been the place where many a story came to life from his hands. It was where he had brought the common worker and turned him into a valiant knight to save a kingdom. Beautiful women had been swept off their feet before taking charge and slaying the many money-grabbing evils with unprecedented courage. Children had been taken from the cruel streets and given a purpose in life, a connection to people and a reason to keep living.

But that was a long time ago. Now, all the old writing desk was good for was collecting dust and hiding dirt under.

Taking a deep drag of his cigarette, Shigure leaned his head back and watched through half lidded eyes as the smoke tendrils wafted towards the ceiling of his room.

It wouldn't be long before he got a visitor.