Chapter 7: Attack

Kaiyo entered the garage and walked up the latter, entering the open door into the bedroom. Peeking over to the wall revealed Yuki asleep on the floor where she had left him earlier that morning. She walked over to him, shaking him gently. "Yuki, wake up; breakfast is ready."

"Kaiyo?" he answered her, still half asleep.

She chuckled, "Good morning, sleepy head."

He jerked himself awake, "Miss Kaiyo! I wasn't any trouble, was I?"

"No, not at all," she smiled sweetly to him. "Just come on down when you're ready." She returned back downstairs and started down the hall. Things really felt like they did when she lived back in Japan. She almost forgot about her foster mom until she passed a phone.

'I should probably call her,' Kaiyo thought as she picked up the phone and dialed her home number. It rang a few times before someone picked it up.

"Hi."

She greeted her foster mother like any other day.

"What? Oh Hatori already called last night?"

The news surprised her.

"Yes, I'm alright."

"I'll stop by later to get some things."

"No, I don't know how long I'll be staying. It is winter break after all."

She was growing irritated; her foster mother was being unreasonable.

"Why do you care all of a sudden what I do?"

She was really mad now. Her brow crumpled down in frustration.

"Fine! Maybe I will!"

Her grip on the phone tightened.

"Bye!"

Kaiyo slammed the phone back on the receiver with a little more force than what was necessary. She stormed down the hall back into the kitchen.

"Is everything alright?" Hatori questioned her.

"Yea," Kaiyo responded a little harshly.

Haru exited the noisy dining room, "I thought you had gone to get Yuki."

She turned to him, "I did, he hasn't come down yet?"

"Why don't you go get him Kyo?" Shigure suggested, pushing the orange-haired teen out of the dining room.

"Hell no."

Kaiyo was still frustrated over her previous phone call; she wanted to get out of the loud space. "I'll go again." She left without listening to anyone else as she retraced her previous steps to the garage.

She walked up the now familiar steps back up into the spare bedroom. She looked where she had last seen Yuki; but he wasn't there. She glanced around the room for any sign of him. There, on the bed was a lump of a body.

After walking to the bed, it turned out to be the unconscious body of Yuki. She shook him gingerly once again, trying to wake the teen. No response, she shook him a bit harder. Finally the teen was starting to stir. "Yuki, are you alright?"

"Stop Miss Kaiyo, it's a trap!"

Before she had time to react, she was pulled backwards by her hair onto the hard floor. She landed with a loud thud and looked to her attacker: Akito.

"I told you; I'd come for you." His cold voice penetrated her bones.

"Leave her alone!" Yuki shouted, trying to get up off the bed.

"Shut up, you stinking rat. As far as you zodiac members go, I own Kaiyo. I was able to change her into the key that I needed to lift that horrendous curse." During his speech, not once did he take his eyes off of Kaiyo.

Her body started to shake once more. Akito raised his arm as she clenched her eyes shut. She didn't want to watch him hit her once again. The pain never came, only the sound of a body colliding with a soft surface.

She opened her eyes to see Yuki's frame once again unmoving on the bed. "Yuki!"

"He's out of the way now…" he turned and reached out for her.

Kaiyo turned and tried to get away. Her shirt was grabbed as she tried to get away. A ripping sound filled her ears as the shirt tore at the right seam. She got away, inching to the wall. She wrapped her arms around herself to try to cover her bra from view.

Akito was left holding her shirt. He sneered at her as he tossed the white rag to the floor. "You little…" he growled as he started to approach her.

She clenched her eyes shut once more, trying to block the world out. Try as she might, each footfall she heard sounded like doom. Her breathing came in gasps as her frame shook harder than ever.

"Get the hell away from her," Kyo's voice sounded just before a loud smacking sound.

Kaiyo opened her eyes again to see Kyo's fist in the air. Akito was knocked back, his lip bleeding from the punch.

"Kyo, how nice; you came to the recuse. Unfortunately you won't succeed." Akito regained his footing as he approached the orange-haired teen. He pulled his own fist back and planted it hard into his opponent's stomach.

Kyo was pushed back, the wind was knocked out. His right arm was wrapped around his stomach as he tried to regain his breath.

"Kyo!" Kaiyo managed to force out. The words felt like lead as they left her lips.

"Sure, the curse might have made me week once. Since I lifted it, I have gotten stronger. I know a thing or two about fighting." His grin was evil as he approached Kaiyo once more.

"You hurt Yuki and Kyo," Kaiyo's voice was shaking, almost to the point you couldn't understand her words. She shrank back to the wall as the words escaped her as if they had a mind of their own. "How could you…do that to your own family?"

Akito stopped to glare at her. "Them? My family? They all stopped obeying me once I lifted the curse."

"You can't be part of a family, then just leave on a whim!" Her voice was stronger than she felt.

He chuckled manically, "water is thinner than blood, but blood is thinner than hate, anger and revenge!" He resumed his approach.

She clenched her eyes tight once more, "you can't disregard family!" Her arm moved on its own. Her hand made contact with Akito's cheek. Her eyes opened wide in shock to see a red mark on the left side of his face.

His face turned into absolute rage. "How dare you slap me, you foolish girl!" Both arms shot out towards her face.

Kaiyo had lost all control of her body to fear. The signals in her nervous system were colliding with one another. She was completely helpless.

At the last possible moment, both Sohma teens grabbed one of Akito's arms. After pulling him a few feet from Kaiyo, they simultaneously punched him in the gut. They spoke in unison, "Leave now and never touch her again!"

Akito coughed up blood, trying to regain his breath. He stumbled backwards towards the exit. "Next time…" he muttered as he gracefully grabbed the stairs, sliding out of view.

Both teens approached the shaking girl against the wall. Kyo had pulled off his own shirt and tossed it to her.

Kaiyo managed to nod her head as she shakily picked up the offering. It took her a few minutes to get the coordination of her limbs to put the oversized shirt on.

Yuki knelt next to her, "are you alright?"

She nodded her head again. "Are you two…" her voice was quiet and weak.

"I'm fine," Kyo answered confidently.

"I'm alright," Yuki added.

The shaking in Kaiyo's body started to subside as her breathing returned to normal. "Good." Her voice was still quiet. "I wouldn't want you two to get hurt just because you were trying to protect me."

"Don't say those kinds of things!" Kyo said rashly.

"Thanks…" she muttered.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't help you sooner." Yuki apologized.

Kaiyo only managed to shake her head. It was all her fault that they were hurt in the first place. Akito had come there after her.

"It's alright, I wanted to be involved…I mean, it's Akito. I wanted to fight him if he was doing anything bad…I mean…" Kyo was flustered trying to find the right words.

She turned to him and smiled sweetly; she knew what he was trying to get across. She turned just in time to watch Yuki's unconscious body hit the floor once more.