Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neko's Healing ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 19 )

Disclaimer: No, they're not mine.

 

Akito's POV is in this chapter. For my own reasons, for this fic Akito's a woman, like in the manga. I've kept bits from both the manga and the anime; and it fit with my storyline. The anime doesn't seem to contradict the manga about it, though it's not brought up at all, either.

 

Dang-nab androgynous characters make it hard to tell! If they ever make the anime sequel I've heard they're thinking about doing, maybe it will be brought up.

 

Enjoy!

 

19- Broken

 

Kyo worked hard to keep his face impassive as Akito's angry black eyes bored into his own. It wasn't as if he'd never been on the receiving end of that furious glare before, after all. Xian Pu had moved away from him a bit, though she kept hold of his hand. A good warrior would not hinder another heading into battle, even if that battle wasn't physical--and it wouldn't help anything to have her hanging off his arm, as she'd done to tease the obviously straight-laced Hatori.

 

Akito's reaction would not be nearly as amusing.

 

“You...”

 

Akito's soft hiss carried clearly across the barren, dimly-lit room. The neko felt his neck-hairs trying to rise from the intensity in the mad black eyes of the Kami no Jyuunishi. A subtle pulse of ki felt through his wife's tightening grip helped soothe his nerves. He squeezed her hand back, thankful for her silent support.

 

“What are you doing here...my bakemono...? Come to meet your fate, before you even graduate...?”

 

That silky, too-soft alto voice carried unnaturally, the malice in it unmistakable. Kyo grit his teeth, hanging on to his swiftly fraying temper by the barest margin even as every single voice in his head growled at the Clan Head's slinking approach. Some of the voices screamed for him to lash out, to strike at the source of the worst of his life's pain; some of them shrieked in terror of the kami of the family. All of them agreed with the sense of danger shivering along his nerves.

 

The source of the bloodthirsty rage deep below his mind rumbled threateningly, dangerously, right through his bones. Kyo shivered with the feeling.

 

He refused to let his eyes fall from Akito's furious gaze. He couldn't quite keep all the growl out of his voice when he told Akito just why he was there, though he did keep his tone down to civil levels.

 

“I'm here to introduce you to my new wife.”

 

There was dead silence, as all motion in the room abruptly ceased--including the breathing of the three Sohmas. The neko stifled the urge to grin when he realized he'd actually made the Tatsu no Jyuunishi face-fault a third time in one day--even as he tried to convince his lungs to keep working.

 

Had Hatori actually expected him to be subtle about it!? As if that would soften Akito's reaction any! Hatori, of all people, should know better than that.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Kyo wasn't the only one watching in morbid fascination as Akito's face slowly distorted with absolute fury. Every muscle in the Clan Head's body visibly tensed to the point of spraining, the blood alternately leaving and rushing to that painfully contorted expression. Hatori flinched a step away as Akito stalked by, headed straight for the neko, eyes nearly incandescent with rage.

 

The gathered martial artists tensed as one, restraining themselves from the urge to step between Kyo and the source of such insanely angry ki. Kho Lon quietly touched a hand to her great-granddaughter's tensed shoulder, just for a moment; taking care Akito would not see the action. Xian Pu must let her Airen deal with his own Clan Head, in his own way. Only if Kyo failed completely, should she jump in to deal with this mad one in her own way.

 

If Kyo was going to defy his Clan Head, this “kami” of the Jyuunishi-cursed, then he had to do it--not hide behind others who would speak for him, willing as they were to protect him. The Matriarch knew the young man's pride would be more than severely wounded if he wasn't allowed the chance to prove, at least to himself, that he could do it.

 

Akito was still six feet from Kyo when Kho Lon's eyes widened in surprise, fixed on the Clan Head's bare throat. She then purposefully scanned Akito's ki, in detail...to see what was there for those with the eyes and training to see it--

 

-.-.-.-

 

Kyo held his ground as Akito got right up in his face. Surprise that he was now actually a couple inches taller than the Kami no Jyuunishi helped distract him from the pure rage rolling off the Clan Head in waves. His trained instincts for danger had him scanning this threatening person's ki before he could think about it, even as Kho Lon was doing.

 

He'd never before scanned Akito like that. He wasn't certain why...probably because it had simply never occurred to him to try. What would be the point? Akito would do as Akito would do; and none of the Jyuunishi-cursed would ever try to stop him--not even for the nezumi's sake, the one everybody thought so much of.

 

Then again, Kyo had never pissed off the Clan Head quite so severely, before.

 

The neko had always known perfectly well what was coming when the Clan Head summoned him; it had hardly been necessary to try and guess what Akito would do, he'd just had to endure it. That had usually meant closing his senses off most of the way and retreating into his own mind, while the spirits of the previous nekos fled even deeper. He'd known he'd live through anything Akito did to his body; that was the whole point. Akito had never wanted him dead--just suffering, as much as possible. The Clan Head's words had always been poisonous enough in and of themselves...

 

Kyo was startled at an unexpected “flavor” to Akito's ki--one that he recognized, quite easily. He blinked, red eyes losing their grim determination as they narrowed in confusion...staring intently at Akito for an entirely different reason, now. He almost absently caught the hand the Clan Head tried to slap him with, red eyes fixing on Akito's throat...

 

...and “his” missing Adam's apple...

 

-.-.-.-

 

Akito's rage grew beyond belief when the bakemono caught her other hand when she again tried to slap him, still holding the first in a grip like a felt-lined iron shackle. A haze of red coated her sight, as a deafening roar built in her ears.

 

That infuriating neko blocked her attempts to kick him with almost insulting ease, not even seeming to notice he was doing it. Blood-red eyes were now fastened to raging black, searching intently for something, even as Akito struggled ineffectually to hit or kick or scratch or otherwise maim this disobedient--bakemono--!

 

This foul, disgusting creature; this evil thing, that continually dared to find some scrap of happiness in his life--as she was not allowed to--!

 

How dare he?! How DARE he!! How dare any of the Jyuunishi-cursed find happiness, and leave her to suffer alone?!! They were hers; she would not allow them to have the happiness that she was forever denied, not so long as she still lived!! Let them all celebrate, when her death finally came to claim her; until then, they would all be as miserable as she was--all of them! Her entire life was a sacrifice for theirs; it was only fair they at least partake of her lonely misery!

 

Akito's body started to shake with the intensity of the thoughts and emotions coursing up from somewhere deep below her mind, ripping through her like a hurricane and blowing all sane thought from her with its passage. She was never able to fight it off, once it began to rise in earnest--was never able to stay in control of herself. Despair built and circled about the edges of her thoughts, ready to smother her once the storm was past.

 

She would always remember quite clearly what she did, when it was in control. That was when sorrow and remorse for her failing would overwhelm her.

 

A change in the neko's gaze caught her attention, slowing her mad struggles. The surprise in that bloody red gaze slowly melted to horrified shock, though she couldn't understand why; what was the bakemono seeing, in her eyes, that would horrify him so? It certainly couldn't be her anger; that insufferable creature was demonstrating how insultingly useless it was for her to try to physically hurt him.

 

That unexpected expression of Kyo's somehow dragged the Clan Head's thoughts up to clarity, through the thick mire of insane rage that was trying to consume her. What could possibly be horrible enough--to horrify a bakemono? The rage slowly receded as it caught her curiosity, dropping back down through her mind to lurk in the depths once more.

 

A chill finger of fear reached up her spine, setting an unwelcome shiver into her limbs as she glared at the neko, her wrists still tightly caught in his grip. She was suddenly desperate to hold on to the heat of the rage, to hold it close to her heart; to warm the ice trying to encase her. Her teeth chattered for a moment, before she clamped them together. She snarled, both in voice and in thought.

 

She was the Sohma Clan Head. She would not show fear!!

 

Kyo relaxed his grip on her wrists, and she jerked her hands down and away. She took a stiff half-step back while continuing to glare at him; breathing heavily from exertion, and emotion. Teeth bared, she snarled at the neko. No one else in the room had any meaning for her at that moment; only the bakemono before her existed in her roiling thoughts, he lingering traces of that horrible insanity still coiling thought her mind.

 

Somewhere deep inside Akito, buried under emotions too strong and too dark for her to push through, a presence was curled in on herself...weeping. For herself, for her family...because she wasn't strong enough to control the dark urges that swept up from deep within in her mind.

 

Akito knew what was going to happen...what had always happened. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to stop herself from hurting those she held dear, whether by deed or word. It was almost like being a passenger in her own body--no matter how loudly she screamed within her mind, how hard she struggled to stop herself, it did no good. No one heard; no one could help her, could help them.

 

Worst of all, none of her family even suspected what she went through; what she fought against. They didn't realize just how the kami-be-damned curse had manifested, within her...their “Kami no Jyuunishi.” At the most, they thought it came in the form of her many illnesses, assuming that was the reason she would die in just a few short years--the curse would burn out her body.

 

Even Hatori, the only one of her family to have been allowed to know that Sohma Akito was not male, didn't understand--didn't even begin to suspect the true horror of the curse's hold on her. He did not suspect that while still a child, Akito had discovered the one single ability she could use to stem the evil the curse would have her do to those she loved: she could force illness upon her body, where she could not force--or stop--the curse's control of her movements and speech.

 

Hatori had always been confounded with how his Clan Head could come down with the most serious of illnesses, without ever being exposed to a single virus, or even so much as a chill draft. Akito took grim pleasure in keeping it secret from him that she could lower her own immune system almost to nonexistence, in the space of a heartbeat. Whenever he ran physical tests on her, she made sure he found nothing out of the ordinary.

 

She also never admitted to stealing outside in the dead of night, drifting like a black-hearted ghost down the pathways of the Honke...hoping beyond hope that she would finally catch the illness that would kill her, permanently stopping her from hurting her family. Kureno had caught her at it a couple times, but she had made excuses about restlessness and boredom, and ordered his ever-obedient silence.

 

Kureno thought to demonstrate his caring for his Clan Head by blind obedience. More's the pity...if any of her family could have forced themselves to stand up to their Clan Head, maybe lock her away instead of the neko, the curse might have been cured long ago.

 

The Clan Heads of the past had likely done something similar to what Akito did, as most of them had died young of mysteriously-contracted illnesses. It was all they were able to do, to protect their family; ensure their own deaths, before the harm they caused became too much. It wasn't the curse that caused the deaths of the “cores”, at least not directly. It did not burn them out, or devour them from the inside--at least not physically. It was the fact of their truly caring about their family, that caused them to die. Those that couldn't arrange to die of illness, committed seppuku; or even outright suicide. It had been thought that living under the curse had been too much for them. That was true--though not in the way the rest of the family had thought.

 

The curse would have seen the entire family destroyed long ago, if the past Clan Heads hadn't been able to remove themselves. It had originally been created as punishment for the strong ties of love and loyalty that had once bound the Clan's ancient Inner Circle together, and brought about the defeat of an evil man who had wanted power over them and their animal blessings. In revenge for his defeat, that man's embittered son cursed the Sohma Inner Circle, using his own death to fuel the spell--warping their blessings into a curse.

 

Breaking the bond of obedience of the Jyuunishi-cursed to their “kami” was the most important first step to a cure for them all. Forming a strong bond with another person--falling in love--would break them individually free of the curse. If all thirteen of the Jyuunishi-cursed Sohmas were ever to manage this at the same time, the Clan Head would also be freed...the curse would finally be defeated, for all time. The Sohma Clan Heads were additionally cursed to have this knowledge, of how to free their family--but to never be able to speak of it.

 

All of this flashed through Akito's mind, even as she stared at her neko--her bakemono. The one whose curse made him suffer more than the other twelve. The one, out of all of her family, that her heart went out to the most...and so, the one the curse made her be the most cruel to, warping the feeling's expression to its opposite.

 

It was added irony that they shared the same mother, though none of the other Jyuunishi-cursed knew that little fact. It truly hadn't been Kyo's fault, their mother's suicide...it had been the curse's, when it forced Akito's mouth to whisper all those cruelties in her mother's ear, the morning of her suicide. The woman hadn't been able to bear the thought that her son might turn out even more warped than her daughter.

 

The words the kami-damned curse made come out of her mouth were the most frightening part of it, for Akito; even more than the physical abuse it forced her to inflict. All of those vile, cruel things she said to each of them, when they obediently came to her...that horrible bet she'd made with her neko, her half-brother, when they were children--all of that was the curse speaking, in tones of syrupy, velvet-soft evil. It could see into their hearts, even as it lived within hers; it pulled out their resentments, their angers--their greatest fears...it fed off all of the pain and suffering it caused, growing stronger with the years.

 

Akito had been terrified since the bet was made that the neko would actually beat the nezumi, and she'd be forced to prove just how cruel the curse could make her be--by immediately locking Kyo up. The curse had fed ecstatically off her continuing anguish. Akito knew, deep in her heart, that caging the neko that way would absolutely destroy him, more surely than anything else. The neko was a creature of freedom, and open spaces--child of the outdoors. Locking him away in a dark little room; with nothing, and no one--that would make him madder than her, in short order...right before it killed him.

 

Sohma Akito hated herself, most especially at that moment, more than ever before; more than the curse had ever made her pretend to hate anyone else. The vile words it always spoke to her bakemono were the words Akito believed to be truest about herself. She wished with all her shriveled, battered heart that he had not come to her--that he had sensibly run, to preserve the happiness he had apparently found...

 

-.-.-.-

 

A shiver rippled across Kyo's shoulders as he stared deep into Akito's mad black eyes, the voices of the previous nekos hushed to a couple horrified whispers of emotion by his sudden epiphany. He was the first cursed with the Neko's spirit to be anywhere near so advanced in the martial arts; none of the others had ever been trained to sense ki like he could. It wasn't like any of the past Clan Heads had encouraged close scrutiny by any of the Jyuunishi-cursed, anyway; most especially not the nekos.

 

They'd had no clue, the previous nekos, when they'd lived--what the core of the curse might really be. They'd had no interest in knowing.

 

His eyes insisted on seeing the nearly frothing-mad Clan Head, the cruel person who had manipulated and abused his--her--own kin, for so long...but his other senses saw a crumpled figure of sorrowful despair, trapped within a cage of flesh that would not obey her. A whisper against his thoughts of that rage that lived below his own mind, had suddenly brought up the question--

 

What, exactly, was Akito's part of the curse?

 

She didn't physically transform. She was sick all the time, and Hatori was usually frustrated with discovering how it happened--but Kyo had seen the Clan Head, wandering alone about the Honke in the dead of a cold night, through the windows of his mother's house when he was a small child. It wasn't surprising she'd managed to catch pneumonia so often, always going out in the cold without even a coat.

 

Not having any place to go as he wasn't often allowed out of his mother's house, and having nothing to do when his mother was at work, child-Kyo had frequently spent most of his time sitting by different windows of the house, forlornly watching the outside world. That was mostly why the mere thought of being locked up in the Neko's House terrified him so. He'd grown up that way...he knew what it was like, to be caged. Even having his mother “in” the cage with him much of the time, hadn't been much of a comfort...she'd been so obsessed with making sure he kept his bracelet on, and not letting anyone else near him, that he'd instinctively known she didn't really care all that much for him.

 

She was his jailor, more than his mother. She'd even locked all the doors and windows from the outside, whenever she left the house.

 

At least--as a child, he'd had the windows. The Neko's House only had one window, barred as it was--a window that Akito had ordered boarded up, the year he and Yuki skipped the New Year's celebration to be with Tohru instead. For anyone else but Tohru, Kyo wouldn't have thought it worth the sacrifice.

 

Seeing the utter despair and depression in Akito's aura now, Kyo suddenly wondered just how hard the Clan Head had been trying to make herself sick. Had she ever actively tried to kill herself? Had she ever really had that opportunity...? Between Hatori and Kureno, Akito was rarely alone, except at night; and it was doubtful anyone would have allowed information on how to kill oneself to come anywhere near the Clan Head, no matter how cruel or mad she was. They certainly never allowed sharp objects within her reach!

 

Did Akito have the spirit-voices of previous Clan Heads echoing through her skull, as he had the previous nekos? Offering advice...? Trying to control her?

 

Was there a--presence--waiting, somewhere below the level of her mind...that rose up and took control of her body, even as that terrifying rage tried to take control of his...?

 

Kyo could feel all the blood drain from his face, as the thought suddenly whispered across his mind--I could heal her.

 

His breath stopped up in his throat for a moment, his heart beating painfully loudly even as his hands started to shake. The voices in his head went silent as the grave. His eyes were drawn over his shoulder to Xian Pu, standing just behind and to his side; to her bright red eyes, fixed on him in concern and support. He sucked in a breath, steadying himself with her presence, then turned back to the still-fuming Akito.

 

His senses still insisted on that strange double-vision of a sobbing, desperate young woman trapped inside the angry Clan Head. The shiver found its way down his spine as he realized, with a dropping sensation, that he'd probably never be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try to help her.

 

As he'd long prayed, desperately, for someone to help him.

 

One of the voices broke the silence in his mind, a tinge of hope lacing its thought. ...What if this is the way to break the curse?

 

A more pessimistic spirit answered, with more than a trace of panic, What if it only joins the core to the Neko's curse...? Forever?!

 

Kyo winced and squinted his eyes at the storm of argument that erupted in his head. It sounded like each and every single spirit was joining in the--er, spirited debate. He grit his teeth and concentrated, one hand rising to press at his temple as he tried to shut out the noise, his breath speeding a bit.

 

It wasn't their decision to make.

 

The neko was somewhat surprised everyone was still just standing about, staring at him and Akito, until he realized it had only been a couple minutes at most since Akito had first tried to strike him. His thoughts had been racing faster than ever before!

 

His gaze firmed as he realized--it wasn't totally his decision, either; not anymore. Not for about a month, now.

 

Akito's eyes widened in shock when the neko suddenly bowed to her, deep and full--and she wasn't the only one surprised by the action. Hatori had a personal record's fourth face-fault in just one hour--even Shigure hadn't managed to do that to him! When Kyo looked up, the Clan Head's anger was completely drowned in confusion at both the gesture of respect and his unusually calm expression, as well as the lack of nervous tension in his posture.

 

“Akito. Please--I need to ask my wife something...it will only take a few minutes.”

 

The complete absence of anger in those sadness-touched red eyes kept Akito silent, in pure shock. After a moment she nodded, realizing the neko had actually been waiting--patiently! the neko!!--for her permission. The sense of unreality was so strong, it actually continued to hold the curse at bay, the rage subsumed by pure shock.

 

Kyo bowed a second time, catching Hatori's wide-eyed stare of open amazement from the corner of his eye as he turned to draw a curious Xian Pu away for a private discussion. She followed with one wary glance back at a still-stunned Akito.

 

Yellow-green light reflected from several pairs of eyes intently watching the Neko-cursed Sohma from the darkest corners of the room. Another feline shadow leaped up from the outside garden, onto the sill of the large round window, to sit primly with tail tucked about its feet; unnaturally bright amber eyes only for Kyo. A quick dart of the head back and around to bite at an offending itch on its flank revealed a single spot of white on the coal black coat, right between its shoulder blades.

 

-.-.-.-

 

Xian Pu waited patiently, as her Airen seemed to have trouble finding the right words for what he wanted to say. She'd quickly learned that if she gave him the time, he'd be able to say what he needed to say--but if she pushed too hard, he'd just get more and more tongue-tied, and frustrated. Rather a lot like Ranma...except she wasn't using that to manipulate her Airen, as she'd so often tried with the pig-tailed martial artist. She'd learned her lesson.

 

Her brow furrowed in worry as she noted the anguish in those beautiful red eyes, visible to her even though he wouldn't look straight at her. Something about that--Clan Head--had him extremely upset; he seemed to be fighting himself...

 

Eyes widening with a sudden realization, she set a gentle hand on his shoulder. She still wasn't quite used to thinking of them, and their influence on her Airen's thinking! Softly touching his chin with her other hand to bring his face about to meet her eyes, she whispered, “Airen...voices tell you something you no like?”

 

He stared in surprise for a second, then snorted, a smirk settling across his face only to melt into a squint-eyed grimace. He put one hand over his eyes, squeezing at his temples, before replying in a quiet voice, “Not...exactly. They're--kind'a arguing over something, that I...saw...in Akito's ki...” He sighed, dropping his hand and looking down into her eyes with an expression so torn, she began to truly be worried.

 

“Airen...?”

 

“Xian Pu--“ He swallowed and briefly closed his eyes, gathering himself. After a deep, shuddering breath, he went on, “I've just--figured out something, about this damned curse on my family...about how it--affects Akito. I'm probably the only one who could figure it out, between my own curse, and my training in the martial arts. If I couldn't sense ki, I'd never have seen--I'd--“

 

Kyo's head dropped and turned, his face contorting with the anguish he felt at his discovery. His hands fisted tightly at his sides as his breathing went harsh and strained. “Damnit! I'm babbling...!” His face settling into grim determination, he brought his eyes back to hers. Xian Pu had a feeling she wasn't going to be happy with what he was about to say. He kept his voice low and intense, for her ears only.

 

“The curse--I think, for Akito, it's like that...rage, that tries to take me over--except it's been getting the better of her, for her whole life. I think--it's not just an ancient spirit that's nothing more than emotion, now; I think, Akito's--inner bakemono--it's still able to think.”

 

Xian Pu shivered at the very idea, her eyes widening with horror as she began to understand what her Airen was saying.

 

“I remember some things I saw, when I was a child, living here in my mother's house...I think Akito's been sick so much, because she's been trying to be sick. I don't think it's been the curse causing her illnesses; I think she's been trying to limit the damage it can make her do.

 

“And...I think--I could heal her. Heal the curse. Like--like I healed Yuki...”

 

A very visible tremor ran through him, as Xian Pu fought a feeling of dread. What more was there? Why was he telling her this, instead of simply healing this Akito? If this really was the reason Akito had treated her own family so cruelly, if she'd had no choice in her own actions--Xian Pu couldn't imagine the horror of being forced to harm your own kin, like that. If she could be freed, it was indeed Kyo's duty, both as a martial artist and as Akito's kinsman, to try.

 

Kyo's face dropped again, for just a moment. He was pale and shaking when he once more met her eyes, his gaze almost feverish. “There's--a chance it won't work right. When I heal--I take the...harm...into myself; then it heals. I've--none of the Neko-cursed have ever tried anything like this before; it's always been physical injuries we've healed.

 

“There's a chance I--might--get stuck...” He grimaced, glancing at the ceiling and almost growling in frustration, dissatisfied with his words. “Damnit! --What I mean, is that--I might end up just pulling the core of the Jyuunishi curse into myself, and permanently linking it to the Neko's curse--instead of getting rid of it!”

 

Xian Pu stared deep into her Airen's troubled red eyes, a chill of dread creeping up her spine. This curse of Akito's--if her neko took it into himself, and couldn't “heal” it...what would it do to him? Would it make him start to behave like his Clan Head behaved?

 

Would it force him to act as cruel as Akito had acted? To hurt her?

 

Surely not!! Her neko was the strongest person she knew; he would be able to defeat this curse, if he couldn't heal it! She refused to believe otherwise! She had faith in her Airen!

 

Xian Pu straightened her back, standing tall as she stared proudly at her Kyo. A gentle smile crept over her face. “Airen must do what he feel is right to do.” Her bright red eyes never wavered from his. “Is so, yes, Hiiba-chan?”

 

Kho Lon, who had been standing quietly just within earshot, nodded solemnly at her great-granddaughter's words. “Yes, indeed, Great-granddaughter.” She felt an up-swelling of pride in her new Son-In-Law, even as worry rose. Such a fine addition to the tribe this young man was...!

 

She hopped closer to the young couple, and they both looked at her. Stopping right next to them, she lowered her voice so only those two could hear her. “There is something you should know before you try this, Son-In-Law.” Kho Lon suppressed a fleeting impulse to grin at Kyo's reaction to being called “Son-In-Law”--he still wasn't used to it. She kept her expression serious with a bit of effort, as she dropped the bombshell on the poor boy.

 

“Xian Pu...you are pregnant.”

 

-.-.-.-

 

Well...this chapter had my first ever attempt to write from Akito's POV. I think I could eventually warm up enough to the character to not want to throw the Clan Head into a bus-full of seventy-one sugar-overloaded second-grade kids who've just been told they're going get to go to Great America for the entire day tomorrow...::shudders at the mere thought::