As long as Kyou can remember, he and Yuki have been enemies, but there's more to it than that. Dark secrets lurk in the past of every Sohma and one horrible act by the accursed head of the clan will set off the beginning of finding all the answers

Title: Equally Cursed and Blessed

Author: Caer

Rating: R-ish

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst

Pairings: Eventual YukixKyou, ShigurexHatori, HaruxMomiji

Status: Work in progress (part 14)

Disclaimer: Yeah whatever...

Hey there. Sorry as usual for taking such a long time. But I did write a huge chunk of stuff this time. My Beta sort of took a vacation, so here is the unbeta'd version. Actually I beta'd it, but that's as close to being unbeta'd as one can get. This was long and I hope I didn't miss anything important. Thanks for staying with me guys.

"Absolutely not."

Hatori pinched the bridge of his nose, not liking where this conversation was going. Already, Yuki was glaring at him dangerously. Tohru, ever the peacekeeper, grabbed his hand in her two small ones.

"Hatori-san, please reconsider! Kyou is trapped out there!"

"I'm well aware of that, Tohru-kun, but neither of you are fit to go out in this weather. We'll have to wait until the storm has calmed, and then we'll all go."

He wasn't wrong about the storm. It had now reached their area, and the rain was hard and fast. The wind blew fiercely, beating up against Shigure's small house, causing it to shake to its very foundation.

Kagura, who had refused to return to the main house with them, swearing to wait, just in case Kyou returned, now helped Yuki and Tohru out of their wet things.

"But I know the way! We have to save my darling!" She cried, handing Tohru a towel.

Yuki punched the wall, making everyone start. "This is stupid! I'm going." He turned, only to be blocked by Shigure. "Get out of my way, you dumb dog!" He tried to push his way past, but Shigure held him easily.

"Ne, Yuki-kun, at least you should wait until daylight."

"I'm sure Kyou will be smart enough to stay inside that cabin." Hatori reasoned. "He's stayed in the wilderness before. Yuki," He walked over, putting a hand on the slender boy's shoulder. "You won't do him any good if you get yourself hurt in this storm."

Yuki struggled to get out of Shigure's arms, brushing himself of, and then storming off toward his room, throwing a glare at Hatori on the way. Tohru and Kagura exchanged glances, and followed him up the stairs.

Shigure smiled and slid his arms around Hatori's slim waist, letting the man lean into him.

"Shigure, is he always this temperamental?"

"He has his moments."

"Momiji was never so difficult."

"Oh I'm sure he will be eventually." Shigure took Hatori's coat off and moved them into the living room to sit down.

"Still," Hatori said, "I think Yuki's anger is exacerbated by what Akito made me do all those years ago."

"It's not his past, Ha-san, it's because he's a teenager. Rational thought and hormones don't go together. He's angry with you because you're an easy target right now. The only thing you can do with teenagers is to let them calm down. He'll be okay by morning."

Hatori nodded, thinking as Shigure bustled around the kitchen, making some tea.

"I only hope Kyou will be."

Shigure set two steaming cups of green tea on the table, looking more serious than usual.

"He's a strong boy. It's only been seven hours so far."

"Longer than ever, and we won't be able to get to him until tomorrow. You didn't see him, that first time... when Kazuma brought him to me. He wasn't just in shock. He was like a wild animal."

Yuki rifled through Kyou's clothes, looking for something to wear out into the storm. His own clothes were entirely too formal, and Kyou was his size. He pulled on a pair of jogging shorts and a red hoodie. It felt strange, to wear such casual clothes. They smelled of Kyou... rather, they smelled of the detergent Tohru used, but even then, a light hint of Kyou in the threads tickled Yuki's keen sense of smell. It was warm and comforting somehow. Yuki was also able to find extra raingear in the cat's closet. He threw it on and went to the window.

"Sohma-kun," Yuki turned in surprise at her voice.

Tohru closed the door behind her and went to him, standing next to him, by the window, as the water whipped against it.

"Please be careful," she took his hand, staring at him with scared brown eyes. He smiled gently.

"Do you want to come with me, Honda-san?"

Hope flashed through her eyes, then sadness. She squeezed his hands.

"I do... but I can't."

She looked up. "I don't know why, but something tells me I can't go with you this time. You and Kyou-kun... this is time for both of you. It's time, Sohma-kun."

"I don't understand, time for what?"

She shrugged. "I think it's time for Sohma-kun and Kyou-kun to work things out. I don't think I can be there for that. It's between the two of you."

Yuki balked... was she serious? They would only fight. If she came with them, they might refrain from killing each other, and yet he was reluctant to let her go out in such a strong storm, neither would Kyou forgive him for dragging her out in the cold and rain.

"Maybe you're right." He agreed quietly. She nodded. "Please bring him home safely, Yuki-kun."

Yuki's cheeks flushed hot at the sound of his name and she kissed his hand.

"You had better go, before Hatori or Shi-kun check up on us," a new voice softly said.

They looked up to see Kagura closing the door behind her.

"If we can convince them you're too angry to come down, they may not notice until morning." She went to Kyou's drawers and pulled out a scarf and leather gloves, taking them to Yuki. "Yun-kun..." she looked down. "If you cause him more pain, I'll rip your eyeballs out."

The gray-haired boy cringed. She was always so violent. He replied dryly, "I promise I'll only cause him as much pain as he deserves."

They helped him out the window and he edged along the steep roof until he got to the gutter in the corner. The gloves helped immensely and soon he was squelching through the mud toward the path they had found Kagura on.

The storm raged outside and Momiji tapped impatiently to his headset. He had hoped that Hari might get home tonight, but he doubted it, which meant he was stuck with Haru. The boy was still downstairs, watching TV. He hadn't said a word to Momiji and the blond teen was growing increasingly annoyed. He hated not taking care of fights and misunderstandings as soon as possible, but he was damned if he was going to make the first move. So instead, he meditated, listening with everything in him to the voice that kept calling. He thought he could make out some words, like "soon" and "happened" but he wasn't sure. It was like a bunch of kids whispering, but saying nothing. After a while he had given up and decided to ignore it instead. He put on his headphones and did homework instead. That helped a bit.

He was close to falling asleep, when the door crashed open and he sat up. A very obviously Black Haru was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily. He stalked toward the smaller blond.

"Not even a call, and I have to sit down there by myself waiting for that stupid dragon to finish fucking Shigure and coming home! Not to mention what might have happened to Yuki! Fuck!"

Momiji pulled off his headphones. "I'm sure they're okay, um... Haru."

"And you! You've been up here all this time, ignoring me! Do you know how boring it is?"

Momiji gulped. Not good. And there was no one else around. If it were white Haru, he would give him what for, but Black was different, and entirely uncontrollable.

"Er... I'm sorry, Haru, I was just doing homework...so I..."

"Fuck homework!" Haru knocked Momiji's papers off the bed, grabbing his CD player and throwing it on the carpet before draping his body over Momiji's and trapping the small boy. Momiji tried not to react to the body pressed against his... or the harder body part pressed in his thigh. Haru smiled down at him evilly, before licking the blond boy's neck, drawing a squeak from the small blond.

"Haru?"

"I think you owe me some entertainment." The boy said before stealing a kiss from the surprised blond. He gave a muffled cry of indignation, beating ineffectually on the other boy's back, before a slick tongue slipped between his lips.

Momiji stopped fighting. The smell of Haru was so close and intoxicating. He could feel his own excitement as Black Haru explored his mouth and ran rough hands through Momiji's blond hair. For his own part, he slipped his hands up under Haru's tight shirt, feeling the muscles tensed under his shoulders. He could feel Haru's hard on rubbing against his thigh. Just as Haru was slipping a hand between the smaller boy's legs...

The phone rang.

Haru sat up, startled and looked around. Momiji groaned as he realized, White Haru had come back and was blinking at the phone stupidly. With a growl, Momiji pushed the boy off him and went for the phone.

"Hello? Yes. We're okay, Hari. No, we ate already. I know. I understand. See you tomorrow. Huh? No, we weren't wrestling. No. We didn't break anything... yet. Bye Hari!"

Momiji put the phone down, still trying to catch his breath.

Haru looked at him in confusion. "What happened?"

And was promptly beaned with a pillow.

Three miles had never seemed so long. Yuki placed a sleeve over his hood trying to keep the rain from running into his eyes. He was in good shape, but three miles had seemed to take forever in the wind and the dark and the mud. Fortunately, he was not in danger of losing the trail. There was really nowhere else to go. Not to mention, even in the rain, he could smell hints of Kyou and Kagura. He had traveled for nearly two hours now.

Up ahead, he could see the shadow of the cabin. He sighed in relief, since he had practically slid down an embankment getting here. Desperate to get out of the rain, he tried moving faster. He was freezing, even though he had stayed relatively dry and Kyou's hoodie was warm under his rain-jacket.

However, running only stuck his boots deeper in the mud, making them suck to the ground and difficult to pull up. He could only quicken his slow walk, trying to avoid branches and trees in his way. Even the mice had abandoned him now, for fear of drowning in the downpour. He was alone. He only hoped that Kyou was somewhere close.

Clearing the last tree in his path, he hurried toward the house, noting that the strong, sickening smell of the evil cat was not about. Either Kyou was not close, or the rain was dampening the smell. Yuki wasn't sure which he preferred. He wasn't stupid. He was afraid of the evil cat. If Kyou hated the mouse so strongly, Yuki could only imagine what the evil cat thought. Meeting up with the monster could only mean danger... and though Yuki had no fear of the human Kyou, he feared terribly, his alternate form. On the other hand, Yuki didn't want Kyou to be out there and hurt somewhere. Memories of Kyou, lying in the rain, bleeding under loose earth came unbidden. It strengthened Yuki's resolve.

As he neared the cabin, he couldn't make out a light inside, or any other sign that someone was inside. He was just stepping onto the wooden porch when he heard it... that distinct low growl. He froze, trying to make out where the noise was coming from before turning slowly. Pacing on all fours, not ten feet from him, was the creature. It couldn't be described any other way, for there was no trace of what used to be Kyou in those yellow eyes. It moved like a cat, on all fours, looking at him with absolutely no recognition.

"Kyou?" He whispered, walking toward the cat, but there was only a low growl that heightened, as he got closer. Yuki froze. Bad idea. This was not Kyou. This was something else. He backed up and headed for the cabin, only to be blocked. The creature moved with amazing speed. It was in front of him, backing him up, away from the cabin. Yuki felt his lungs tighten as he fought off panic. This creature... he could feel it permeating his very soul. It was as if the bottom had dropped out from beneath him and he was staring into the depths of hell. This creature...

Even though he knew it would be hopeless, Yuki turned and ran, his fear taking over. However, a blur of brown and a growl had him facing the creature again. It stopped him in his tracks, backing him up, step by step. Yuki was too terrified to even turn and try to run. Idly, he realized the creature was playing with him. His foot caught on a rock and he fell backward, jarring his hand as he put it out to catch himself.

The creature leapt, straddling the shaking boy, before razor sharp teeth slashed. Yuki hardly even noticed the wound that was laid open on his shoulder, scraps of his jacket hanging. Fear made him numb. He turned his head to the side. His lungs felt like they had steel bands tightening around them, and he was too scared to even try to control his breathing.

"K...Kyou... s... stop! Please."

Even in the growing darkness of his own consciousness, Yuki thought he could still see a little bit of Kyou in those alien eyes. The creature had stopped attacking, though Yuki could vaguely feel claws digging into his shoulders, even as warm liquid dripped down his chest, mixing with the cold rain.

"Please," he mewled weakly, before the dark closed around him.