Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neko's Healing ❯ Determination ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Don't own it or them...WAAAAAAH!

Though I am owned by more cats than most sane people want to think about...::sighs and casually counts the feline presences currently in the same room--gee, only six right now!::

You do NOT want to know the litter box count. All I'll say is it's two per cat, cleaned twice daily. Scoopable litter--five-gallon bucket with scoop.

Anybody wanna take a guess why I like Kyo better'n Yuki? O.o'''

 

5- Determination

 

Kyo had never heard quite that much fierceness in his normally cool and collected cousin's voice before. Normally, Yuki only lost his temper after Kyo had worked for a while at making him lose it. It was one of the things the neko had envied about the nezumi--his ability to keep his emotions under such close control. Kyo couldn't keep his emotions off his face, no matter how hard he tried--he could only concentrate on one, such as anger, and use it to cover anything else he was feeling that he didn't want others to see.

 

The neko didn't have the nezumi's ease in dealing with people. He never knew what to say, or do, when people were inexplicably drawn to him--he couldn't understand why they would flock to him in the first place, and didn't know how to change it; except to act as foul-tempered as he could. He was uncomfortable with large groups of people hovering about him; and not just because of the problems caused by the Neko's curse. He was solitary by nature, much preferring to sit alone up on a roof to the company of most people, even one-on-one.

 

Kyo blinked the last traces of tears from his eyes, fighting a sudden urge to laugh hysterically before near-yelling, “What the hell can you do about it?!” Kyo's breath caught in his throat and his voice broke, as his mind went down all the old thought-paths. It wasn't like he'd never thought out his options before; he'd had years of anticipation to depress him. He surged up onto his knees and turned straight-on to Yuki, grabbing the nezumi's shoulders and staring intensely into determined violet-gray eyes that were red-rimmed from tears.

 

“If I run away, I'll be on the run for the rest of my life--I'll never be able to hold a decent job, keep a permanent home; or they'll find me! Akito would never stop looking for me! And do I really need to mention what will happen to Tohru, first thing?!” Kyo's hands shook slightly in their grip on Yuki's shoulders at the mere thought of Akito harming Tohru, in any way. “And Shisho--and anybody else Akito thinks I might care about! The only hope I've got, is that Akito dies before I graduate!”

 

Anguished red eyes bored into violet-gray, the neko's intensity narrowing his vision to his cousin and nothing else. He could see in Yuki's face the nezumi's rejection of his words; of the very idea that there was nothing to be done. The k'so nezumi was too used to getting his own way, usually with that cultured silver tongue of his! Didn't he remember that it never worked on Akito?!

 

Kyo's grip tightened on Yuki's shoulders until the nezumi winced. Kyo saw it; he immediately removed his hands and sat back, balling them into fists in his lap.

 

“If we all stand together, we can defy him!” Yuki's chin came up, his jaw clenched. His eyes flashed with a desperate, stubborn fire.

 

Kyo dropped his head, eyes closing and face twisting, as a completely mirthless laugh bubbled up and out of his chest. He clutched at his stomach, the uncontrollable, dark laughter doubling him over for a few moments. Gasping for breath when he finally managed to stop it, he looked back up at Yuki's frustrated, yet concerned face. The night-time shadows gathered closely about the two of them, mostly obscuring Kyo's face--but not his eyes; they reflected yellowish-green, just like the nekos still surrounding them. Just as Yuki's own did, except the nezumi's were more purple-tinged than green.

 

“...Did you hear...what you just said...?!” His voice was rough, deep; and bitter...almost as bitter as his shadowed expression. “Who's gonna stand with me, against Akito?! Even Kagura knows better than that! I'm the neko, for the sake of the kamis! The bakemono!!” His straining voice had risen to a near-scream; the tendons in his neck and shoulders stood out starkly with the tension in his body, his hands fisted at his sides so tightly blood came from under his nails.

 

“I'll stand with you!” Yuki's expression was fierce, the tension in him equal to that in Kyo. He spoke through gritted teeth. “If I, of all people, stand with you; that will make them all at least think about it! If we can at the very least convince Shigure over to our side of things, that might very well be all we need--he's got the most influence over Akito of anyone alive! We have to at least try!!”

 

Their eye-lock lasted for several minutes, both of them breathing hard from the force of their emotions. Kyo was fighting the growing desperation born from his fear of being locked up; and also the fear of hope. If he allowed himself to hope--he would be that much more devastated when he was finally locked away.

 

He couldn't afford to hope!

 

Yuki was also fighting a sense of desperation; it showed in his eyes. The need to find a way to save Kyo from his unwarranted fate was quickly growing in his mind, consuming every other thought. He couldn't imagine what it had been like, for Kyo, all these years--knowing, since he was six years old, the day when he would be locked up; forever more--!

 

Kyo suddenly noticed that Yuki's breathing was getting much too short and fast. Red eyes widened as the neko sucked in a deep breath of his own, realizing the k'so nezumi was fast working himself into an asthma attack! The neko paled as he glanced down at the remains of Yuki's shirt. The nezumi wasn't wearing pockets, so there was no way he had his inhaler on him.

 

Yuki's eyes suddenly glazed as the shortness of breath caught up with him, likely darkening his sight. One hand rose to his chest as he started concentrating on his breathing, his face going vulnerable; and scared. The recent blood loss couldn't have helped. It hadn't been all that much, since the healing had negated the blood lost to that kami-be-damned branch; just that handful or so that had re-energized his beads. Kyo figured Yuki had to be at least somewhat lightheaded--from his blood phobia, if nothing else. Never mind the other fairly major shocks the nezumi had gotten, all within the last few measly hours--including almost dying!

 

Kyo grabbed at the nezumi's shoulders again, this time to keep a suddenly wilting Yuki upright. The neko cursed his own current weakness as he assessed his chances of carrying his cousin all the way back to Shigure's house. There was no way in hell he could do it, not yet--not even someone as slight as Yuki was. Kyo needed a couple days to recover from the healing, and--what had followed, before he'd get his strength back.

 

His thoughts flinched away from the memory of nearly loosing his mind to the--the bloodlust--that had surged up from the depths. He couldn't describe that kind of pain; the shredding of his very self. His mind didn't even want to keep the memory of it happening.

 

As Yuki's hands clutched at his own chest and he slowly wilted into Kyo's hold, breath now little more than a strained, gasping wheeze, Kyo gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He'd just have to get Yuki as far as he could--and then go farther. There was no choice. He hadn't nearly sacrificed his humanity to save the kuso nezumi's life, just to let him die of an asthma attack later in the same kamis-be-damned day!

 

Kyo awkwardly levered the both of them to their feet, Yuki hardly able to help at all, and wrapped one of his cousin's arms across his shoulders. He hung on to that hand, keeping the arm there, wrapping his own arm securely about Yuki's waist. Taking a deep breath, finding himself already panting with exertion, he fixed his eyes and mind firmly on the path back to the house. Then Kyo set out, half-carrying, half-dragging the gasping nezumi along.

 

He somewhat guiltily wished Yuki would transform, making it a simple matter to get him home quickly; except it would likely worsen his condition, not to mention making treatment much more difficult. Whenever he could spare a breath from his efforts, Kyo encouraged his cousin to relax, to hold each breath for a couple seconds; promising the nezumi he'd get him to help quickly.

 

Kyo's lungs were heaving like a bellows before long, sweat dripping off his face and bare torso. It was a good thing he was used to going barefoot in the woods, as part of his training. His soles had become callused enough that the sticks and pieces of gravel and such hidden in the forest loam weren't shredding them. His muscles felt like much-kneaded taffy, though; stringy and sagging...he didn't know how he was keeping the two of them upright, let alone moving!

 

A brief thought of what Shigure--and worse, Tohru--were going to think, when they got a look at Yuki's ripped and thoroughly blood-stained shirt, drifted through his mind. Even if they didn't notice the great, gaping hole in the fabric over the nezumi's gut--! But there was nothing he could do about that, yet. He couldn't even lend his own shirt; the bakemono transformation had shredded it to uselessness, as always. Kyo was lucky his cargo pants were intact, at least above the knees.

 

A wet, blood-stained shirt was at least somewhat better for Yuki than bare skin, in the chill of the recently-drenched forest night. The wheezing nezumi had to be gotten to shelter and warmed up as soon as physically possible--sooner, actually.

 

`Damnit, I can't let him die now--not after all I just went through to save him!'

 

-.-.-.-

 

Shigure was mid-bite of the late-night snack Tohru had so thoughtfully made for him at his emergence from his study, when the inus started howling. It sounded like every canine in the entire district had joined voices in a cacophony of both sharp and long sounds; high-pitched yips, long-winded yowls, and barks of all kinds; all mixed together in an unholy jumble of sound, as each of the creatures contributed what voice they could. Shigure was quickly flinching and placing his hands over sensitive ears, a grimace of discomfort on his face.

 

Tohru looked at him in concern from across the table, her normal human ears only able to pick up a part of what the Inu-cursed Shigure was hearing. She was already wringing her hands in her lap, worrying over Shigure's wayward charges. He had tried to cajole her into going to bed, to reassure her that the boys had probably met up, argued, likely fought, and were now probably out sulking somewhere; but she'd only started to worry more.

 

He belatedly noticed the other sound laced through the inus' sympathetic noise; the penetrating scream, that was for the most part much too high-pitched for normal human ears to hear.

 

Shigure twitched as his breath caught in surprise. He immediately tried to cover his reaction with his usual scatter-brained, too-hentai-for-his-own-good persona; but Tohru had noticed. Her big, too-wide brown eyes were glued to his face as one hand rose to cover her mouth. He couldn't help but be caught in those glorious chocolate eyes for just a moment, even knowing she would then know for certain that something was wrong.

 

“Shigure-san--what is it? Wh-what are the inus telling you...? Is it--is it about Kyo-kun, or Sohma-kun...?”

 

Shigure's eyes flinched away at the near fear-level of concern in her soft voice. He gently placed his chopsticks down on the table, then carefully folded the newspaper he hadn't really been reading anyway. He rose, straightening his yukata with faked calm, before answering her.

 

“Tohru-chan, my little flower--I'm going to call Kazuma; he'll come over to stay with you, while I go see what all the commotion is about.” He held out both hands, voice as soothing as he could make it, when Tohru started to rise also. “No, no--just sit there and relax. There's really nothing to worry about--I'm just taking precautions. You know how those two get if you're left here alone! I won't be able to write for weeks if they break all my fingers for leaving you here all by yourself, now will I?” He smiled his most charming smile at her, relieved when she settled back down, and even managed a small smile for him in return. Her eyes were still worried, but she trusted him.

 

“That's my flower! Kazuma will get here soon after my call, I'm sure. I'm just curious about all that racket the neighborhood inus are making; they're not telling me a thing, shame on them! And I do so hate traipsing about in the damp grass in the middle of the night...” He set his face in a pout, sighing and waving his arms dramatically, as he headed for the phone.

 

He wasn't lying about the inus not explaining anything; which in itself upset Shigure's stomach a great deal. Normally, inus were verbally falling all over themselves to tell the whole canine world exactly what had them so upset; but this time, all they were saying boiled down to words of encouragement and sympathy for someone in a great deal of pain. The suddenly annoying creatures weren't giving him the least clue as to who was in pain! It was like they were completely ignoring him, the Inu no Jyuunishi...

 

...Or...expected him to already know who it was. Which thought sent a whole bucket of ice straight down the inu's spine, considering his missing cousins. He had a brief urge to call the Honke before calling Kazuma's dojo, and ask Hatori just where Akito was. He quickly squelched the thought; Hatori wouldn't appreciate being awakened at such a late hour--and if the inus' howling truly was in response to some of Akito's work, there was nothing Shigure would be able to do until he tracked down the physical location, anyway. Which Hatori would most assuredly not know, unless he was already there.

 

Shigure paused after picking up the phone's handset, just before dialing the first number. He stared at his shaking hand for a moment in fascination, before taking a deep breath and forcing his nerves to steady. It was crisis-time--he had to be in complete control over himself, or he'd never be able to keep the situation under control once others were involved.

 

Kazuma was surprised to be called at such a late hour, but grateful for the notice when he learned that Kyo was missing--and Yuki, too. He promised to be over as soon as humanly possible, to watch over Tohru--after Shigure convinced the karate master that his own inu senses would be likely to find the missing youths much faster than any human eyes, especially in the dark of that stormy night. Neither of them wanted to leave a defenseless Tohru alone in the house, just in case there might be hostile strangers in the forest--and Kazuma really didn't need Shigure's rather sheepish reminder that he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Tohru could fight better than Shigure!

 

The inu was very careful to not bring up the recent rain, that would make tracking even by scent difficult. Kazuma was worried enough as it was, and Shigure could still move faster in his inu form than any human--and he also had a better idea of the places the boys would likely go. With enough concentration, he should be able to hold on to his cursed form long enough to check all the places he knew of; especially if the local inus were willing to direct him, as they normally would at his asking.

 

That--wasn't assured, at the moment. Not with the way they weren't telling him anything helpful, even yet, when their noise had died down to the occasional snippet of baying. Shigure's teeth wouldn't stop gritting as he worried over that.

 

The inu was rather surprised at just how quickly Kazuma showed up at his door. He hadn't thought the man had a car, and actually hadn't heard one--but one had to have been used! There was no way any human could possibly have made that trip so fast without one, even running full-out!

 

As Shigure was about to gleefully ask Tohru for a hug, just to transform him of course, a hair-raising and decidedly feline yowl from the floor between them froze him in his tracks, arms half-raised. All eyes darted down to fix on the large, coal black neko standing squarely between the inu and Tohru, hair bushed all down its arched back and tail, glaring bloody murder directly at the nonplussed inu. It gave one good hiss, then stepped towards Shigure, obviously set on keeping him away from Tohru.

 

Shigure--twitched, eyes glued to those razor-sharp teeth. A slight clicking on the wood of the floor as it stepped towards him told the inu, in no uncertain terms, that this neko was definitely not declawed. The fine hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up as his feet shifted back a couple steps, almost on their own.

 

He really didn't fancy being shredded by the furry little Quisinart!

 

Then Tohru gasped in amazement, eyes wide, pointing all about them. More nekos had slunk into the room with them; at least a dozen, all settling quietly about the edges of the room, to sit and stare at Shigure with great feline intensity. The inu felt the rest of the fine hairs on his body stand straight at attention, too. This was not a situation he had any experience with! When had they come in? Why had they come in?!

 

Did it have something to do with Kyo? Where were those two boys?!

 

“What do they want?” Kazuma's soft voice drew Tohru's eyes, if not Shigure's, though the inu was the one who responded.

 

“I do believe they really don't want me to hug Tohru-chan...”

 

Shigure yelped and spun around at the pressure of something sliding against the back of his calves. He found three nekos intent on threading about and between his legs. He looked nervously back at the black neko, which had seated itself directly in front of Tohru, and was now calmly grooming between the toes one front paw--wicked claws extended. Almost like it was showing them off for Shigure's benefit. It paused and cocked one eye up at him, as if to say, `Just try it, baka inu!'

 

Shigure nearly grinned, picturing Kyo's orange neko form in its place for a second.

 

The humans began to notice a deep rumbling. The gathered nekos--they were purring! Shigure didn't know if that was a good thing, or not. He knew nekos would purr when they were happy and content; but he had heard that they also purred when they were greatly stressed. He frowned, looking about at the various felines, wondering if this meant that Kyo, at least, was all right--or in great need of help?!

 

Was the boy trying to get them a message? Reassure them, maybe? Or bring them to him?

 

Then the nekos tangled about his ankles started leaning against him; it was as if they were trying to push him towards the door. The inu's eyebrows rose in consternation. “You want me to go--like this? My, my...I wonder why...? Are you little dears going to lead me, then?”

 

The black neko promptly stood up and sauntered by him, turning once to look over its shoulder at the inu; as if to say, `Well, hurry up already!' Shigure's lips twitched into an archly amused smile, one eyebrow still up; he almost expected Kyo's voice to shout from the creature, even if it wasn't orange. The black neko apparently understood human speech well enough.

 

The inu looked at Kazuma, raising his hands palm-up and shrugging theatrically, then bid the karate master and Tohru a gay-voiced `good eve' as he nearly skipped thought the door. All but two of the nekos flowed along with him in a furry wave, all about his feet.

 

Kazuma gazed after him with a slightly worried expression, concern for the orange-haired boy he'd claimed for his own son dominating his thoughts. What kind of trouble had Kyo gotten himself into now? He'd never heard Shigure sound so worried as he had on the phone. The urge to follow after the inu was very strong, but someone really should stay with Tohru; and there was no doubt who the nekos wanted to go.

 

One little calico neko trotted up to Tohru to stand directly in front of her, meowing and reaching up to pat her knee with one paw; quite obviously demanding to be picked up. Tohru obliged, somewhat reassured by the action. That had to mean that Kyo-kun, at least, must be okay--didn't it? Tohru desperately hoped that was so.

 

The other neko, a rather large brown-toned tiger, wandered over and stretched up on hind legs, front paws landing lazily--and heavily!--all the way up on Kazuma's hip. The karate master looked down at it in surprise, then sighed. He knelt down and gathered the large neko into a hug, standing back up with a small grunt with it held securely in his arms. Its not inconsiderable weight had surprised him; there was a good twenty pounds of neko there! He looked over at Tohru, cradling the little calico like a baby, and sighed.

 

“We might as well settle in for a wait, Tohru-chan. I don't understand what's going on--but I do get a strong feeling that Kyo is trying to tell us not to worry.” A small half-smile graced his features, thought the strain of worry was still about his charcoal-grey eyes as he glanced down at the tiger neko. “He's never--arranged anything quite like this, before...but I have been pestered in the past by one or two nekos wanting a good petting, when Kyo was late coming home.”

 

Tohru nodded her agreement, then quickly offered to make him some tea. Kazuma declined, somewhat worried about what the little calico would do if Tohru put her down; the creatures could be rather unintentionally dangerous when they got underfoot, and he'd hate to see hot tea spilled on either the neko or Tohru.

 

He'd had a great deal of experience in avoiding tripping over agitated nekos, with Kyo growing up in his home. Both the four-legged, and the single two-legged kind. He flinched as the neko in his arms yowled and turned to stare into his eyes, mildly offended...he hadn't realized he'd started squeezing it tighter as his thoughts turned sad. He gravely apologized to the creature, a smile quirking at his mouth when it seemed to nod and settle back to the important business of being cuddled. It's body language quite clearly told Kazuma to not do that again. Tohru had to stifle a giggle, seeing it.

 

So the two humans quietly settled at the table, to wait; with Kazuma softly sharing fond memories of his son with the girl who had awakened the boy's wounded heart.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Naughty inu!! Butting in like that...I was planning on writing from just Kyo's & Yuki's POVs, but Shigure just had to grab some attention to himself. ::sigh:: Inu, my foot; he's a full-blown Ham! And Kazuma-sensei's even getting pushy, waaaah!

I hope you're still enjoying this story! Don't be shy--leave a review! Constructive criticism is welcomed, you don't have to just say you like it; can you tell me why you like it? And if I misspelled something, or missed an inconsistency in character or plot, or you just plain have a question or a quibble--I'd love to hear it!