Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ Be Careful What You Ask For ( Chapter 7 )

Kyou: You forgot to say it last time

NK: I know, I was in a hurry...

Kyou: That's no excuse.

NK: I'm sorry.

Kyou: When do I get to kick Akito's ass?

NK: Oh, that's a while off yet...

Kyou: Then, I think you should write faster...

NK *bows her head in shame* I'm going as fast as I can.

Kyou: So, tell them and get on with this...

NK: I don't own Fruits Basket... if I did, Kyou'd be nicer to me :(

Broken ~ Chapter 7 ~ Be Careful What You Ask For

Nocturnem's Koneko

Ayame...

Ayame knocked softly on the door of the hotel suite and then entered sweeping through the door in his usual grand style, carrying a round box in one hand. He looked around the sitting area to the man sitting alone curled into a chair in a darkened corner of the softly lit room. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me, I know you're in town on business right now." Ayame spoke into the silence as he walked to the young man. He smiled as he leaned down and brushed a kiss to his cheek. The young man returned the gesture, and waved a hand to the open seat opposite him The man's mismatched eyes met his.

"It is no problem, I was intending to get by the shop. I was told you have some excellent raw silk in stock." A small shadow fluttered across the wall and came to rest near the curtains of the room.

"Yes, I have some designs for you as well."

"So, Ayame-kun, what brought you calling on me?"

"I need some information and advice, but first let's have a bite to eat." Ayame opened the box he'd been carrying and lifted a fruit tart from inside of it, gracefully sliding it onto the small table between them..

The young man's eyes widened at the sight of the delicacy. "Oh Ayame, you remembered!" He rose from his seat and went to the kitchenette. He returned moments later with a couple of plates and some utensils. Cutting them each a slice of the tart, he served his guest and then moved back to his seat with his own slice, the fabric of his traditional Chinese garments rustling with his movements. He took a bite of the tart, savoring it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

"Now, old friend, exactly what is it you need to know?" The young man's voice was soft as he spoke

"First, let me ask that this go no further than this room?"

"Is it ever otherwise betwixt the two of us, Ayame-kun?" Ayame nodded at the words and leapt into the problem at hand

Ayame outlined the current situation with Tohru as succinctly as he could. His voice rose and fell as the story was told, his flair for the dramatic coming through again and again as he gestured with arms and fork. Finally, he fell silent, looking to his old friend who had been listening very carefully to his every word. Finally he spoke.

"Ayame, you know that this kind of thing is not my area of expertise. However, I will share with you what little I know about the things you are describing. What Akito-san has done is the most binding kind of magick. Spells cast with blood and sex to power them are potent and lasting. He shook his head sadly. "Usually these types of magicks are cast with all parties willing, to bind two souls closer together. The spells are not meant to be broken. And this casting is completely different from that which has been inflicted upon your family. That he was able to link the two, shows a complexity that I am not sure I even want to make a guess at. What I can tell you is this: yes, it is possible to break this type of casting, but it would require a higher type of casting. Spirit magicks could cleanse her of the taint of this curse. However, those magicks will require sacrifice.". He paused to let what he said sink in. "When you consider the blackness of the acts he has committed, you have to counter with a purity of soul and heart that is equal it. In order to free her from this curse, you need a willing participant in a ritual sacrifice of that participant's life. The sacrifice's spirit would cleanse the taint from her."

Ayame looked at the man opposite him in confusion. "You mean that whoever we find to do this ritual has to die?"

The young man nodded. "Not only does that person have to die, but he has to do so willingly, freely, fully aware of all the consequences. That person must have a pure heart and soul, yet be possessed of a bravery and love that will be able to fight and eventually cleanse the curse. To give her back her life as it was, my friend, you must take that of another."

Ayame nodded, his eyes round with shock. For the first time in the memory of the man he sat with, he didn't seem able to speak. Finally, he shook his head as if clearing his it. "I understand. If you don't mind, I'll be going now, I need to get home, so I can digest this information you've given me. Stop by the store tomorrow and I'll show you the silk and the designs."

The young man nodded, "I understand." He stood and walked Ayame to the door, embracing him even as he swung the door wide. "Good night, Ayame."

"Good night, D, and thank you."

Shigure...

Shigure slammed the tome he was reading shut with a vehemence he'd forgotten himself capable of having. He lifted the tome, then caught himself before he hurled the fragile work into the wall across from him. First, the book was 300 years old and not to be treated so callously. Secondly, it wasn't its fault that it had confirmed his worst fears. He set the book down gently and paced over to the large, intricately carved, rosewood trunk he'd pulled out into the center of the floor. It's contents had been splayed out across the room taking up every available surface. He'd come home so confident that he'd have the answers he needed to find in this little library. In his youth, he'd determined he was going to break the curse he'd been born under. He had a collection of tomes, scrolls and books that went back easily five hundred years and held the mystic knowledge of European paganism, Chinese and Japanese mysticism and shamanism, Hindi religious works, Native American tribal shamanism, and Christian rites. He'd never found a hint of how to break the curse his family suffered under. He'd never told anyone that he'd tried, though he knew that Hatori and Ayame were aware that he had done the research. However, as he thought he would be, he'd been a bit luckier with the rituals that Akito had used. When Hatori had described what had happened to Tohru, as sketchy as his guessed at description had been, a chill had taken him. The combination of blood and sex was used to bring about the strongest magicks, giving a necessary boost in power to the caster. He'd only spent a little over an hour tracking down the proper combination of spells that Akito had used. The counter to the spells that Akito had used had been more elusive. And he'd spent the last hour checking and double checking every source he had.

Everything was pointing in the same direction. "Damn you Akito, how dare you take things to this level?"

His voice was grating as the words spilled through clenched teeth into the silence of the office. He slammed a fist into the nearest wall. Had he done things this way to place this burden upon those that would seek to break the curse? How did one weigh life against life? He picked up a scroll that outlined the strengths of various magicks, their counters and uses, and invocations. Here, in the palm of his hand, written in ink upon rice paper lay the solution to Tohru's curse, but the price was too high to pay.

A light tap on the door, and then Momiji's head, poked through. "Shigure, we are fixing desert, did you want any?"

Shigure jumped at the Rabbit's voice. Were the Fate Kami's laughing at him tonight, bringing the only solution he knew of to his door, knowing that the solution, though quite simple, was not an option. He turned to the Rabbit slowly, trying to conceal his conflicting emotions as he looked at him.

"No, Momiji, arigato."

The Rabbit smiled and shrugged then left as quickly as he'd shown up. He released a breath slowly trying to bring his emotions under control. Somehow, having found the solution was worse than not having one at all.

Kazuma...

Kazuma entered his dojo at a loss for what to do. He'd never been into books and studying. What he did know is that this act that their family head had committed was beyond atrocious! He had sat back and watched as Akito ruled this family with an iron fist. It had always sickened him. It was actually another part of the reason he'd taken in the Cat. He'd hated to watch the abuse heaped upon the boy at the instigation of the head of the family. Let the others study to try to break the curse. He was a warrior. He walked to the practice area. A coldness he hadn't felt since his Grandfather's death passed over him. The shame he'd felt then at his non association with the man had been over powering. He was feeling the same thing now, ashamed, knowing what he knew, to call himself a Sohma, with that man sitting as his clan head. He began to move slowly about the practice area. He went through his katas at a leisurely pace as his thoughts began bringing out a desperate need to hurt something. He moved on to working on more complex combinations. Each sweep of the hand or kick of the leg left something broken around him. If Kagura had been watching this session, she'd have been eerily reminded of Kyou. The moves were the same, the precision identical. The coldness around the eyes showing only a deep solidified hatred for the situation in which he'd found himself .

The time would come, when action was going to have to be taken. This latest fiasco surrounding their leader was proof of that. They had been lucky this time that Tohru had been no more damaged than she had. The explanations of her condition would likely have ripped the family apart. Akito was going to drag them all down with him into the pits of whatever hell Kami Sama deemed appropriate. They had stood by long enough, watching as he destroyed the hearts and souls of the children of this generation.

~Crack~ , a practice dummies head went flying through the air.

For the most part, this younger set of the Juunishi were no longer children. And, they were well trained, he had seen to that. The time was coming that they would be putting that training to use, both to avenge the pain Akito had inflicted upon them and to avenge what had been done to this girl that had taken each of their hearts. He would not stand in the way. Given the opportunity, he would probably help.

Hatori & Akito...

Hatori entered Akito's chambers his mind still on the conversation that had taken place at Ayame's shop. As he approached the family head, he was trying to prioritize things that needed to be done. The first was to make sure that Tohru managed to come out of this with her confidence and sense of self intact. He was going to have to do some research on the psychological effects of rape and proper treatment. If they were lucky, she would rebound from this like she had so many other things.

"Akito-san, how are you feeling today?" He was surprised at the clinical tone he'd managed to invoke, though he should not have been. He had managed to be clinical even as he'd taken Kana's memories from her. He reached out and took Akito's wrist into his own hand. His pulse was strong again.

Akito looked at him, "I feel as well as I ever do, Hatori. Where have you been today? I was expecting you earlier."

"I had some things outside the compound to take care of."

Akito sat up and looked Hatori fully in the face, his eyes full of malevolent fury. "Exactly, what could be more important than being here taking care of me?"

"Akito..."

"Don't 'Akito' me, you were there weren't you, at Shigure's, Honda Tohru went back there." Akito's hands flexed dangerously

"Yes, that is where I was, tending to her injuries. No, she didn't go back there of her own volition, Kyou found her and took her home."

An oddly satisfied look crossed the face of the Clan Head. His voice which had been rising at an alarming rate, settled back into its normal tones. "Really, how interesting?"

"Akito...why?" Hatori hoped that maybe Akito would give him insight into why he had done the things he had done to Tohru.

"Are you questioning me?"

"No, but, this is going to be hard to hide. Her injuries were extreme. I almost had to take her to the hospital. That would have been very hard to explain."

"But you did not correct?" Hatori nodded. "That's good. It's good to know that at least one person in this family still understands their obligations to me."

"You have obligations to us too Akito. There could have been a lot of trouble from this."

Akito's eyes grew dark, "You know nothing of the things that I do in my efforts to make sure my obligations to you all are fulfilled. Do not presume that you do."

"And what of your obligations to her, you made her part of our family and then all but told her she had to leave?"

Akito looked at Hatori. He looked lost in thought for a moment His voice took on a musing tone. "Odd, I hadn't thought of it that way. It's quite obvious that she's told you more than you needed to know. I'll have to speak with her about that... at length... later. But, I guess we do need to make sure she understands exactly what this family of ours is all about. Since I've brought a new member of the Cursed into the clan, it would only be appropriate for her to join us for New Year's Eve."

Hatori's eyes widened. "Akito, I don't think..." New Year's was far to soon for Tohru to have to face Akito. It might be the straw that broke her.

The smile that had been hovering at the edges of Akito's lips broke fully and he broke into Hatori's reply, "I leave it to you to make sure that she is there. She will have a place of honor at the celebration this year."

He stood up opening his arms extravagantly. "I won't have it said that I didn't welcome her with open arms into this big, happy family. And if she is not there Hatori, rest assured that I will be coming to you wanting to know why." He turned to walk toward the doorway into his outer rooms. "If there was nothing else, you may go now." Hatori bowed his head and followed Akito from the room. He left as quickly as he could without seeming to hurry.

Returning to his quarters, Hatori went directly to his computer. He pulled up a search engine and got down to work. He spent the rest of the evening hours pouring over dissertations and websites dealing with rape and it's after effects, as well as treatments. He also spent a great deal of time thinking back over his conversation with Akito. The Clan Head had given him nothing as to his reasons for what he had done. When his obligations to the girl had been brought up, he had given in too quickly. That invitation for New Years left Hatori cold. Akito had been too taken with the idea. It was as if he wanted to inflict as much mental trauma on the child as he could. Hatori thought about that for a bit. Was Akito trying to break Tohru? Was he trying to destroy the girl because of the affection the younger Juuinshi had for her? Something was eluding him. It was like working on an elaborate puzzle box. Obviously, there was a plan here that he could not see. Hatori felt as if he had fallen right into a carefully orchestrated plot. What was he missing? He shut the computer down when he could no longer keep his eyes open. Yet, as he lay in his bed trying to sleep, his mind would not turn off . Finally, he sank into restless dreams

The Younger Set...

By the time the movie ended, wide yawns were circling the room. Yuki had appeared not long after Kyou had returned and retired upstairs. He settled down with the rest to watch the movie, and had forced himself to relax enough to focus on it and not on the problems at hand. As the credits rolled, he went to a closet and pulled down enough futons and blankets for everyone. He pulled a screen out so that the room was separated in half for the boys and the girls. "Have a good night, see you in the morning" was all he said. Yuki headed up the stairs to his room and closed the door. Those left downstairs, took turns in the shower and then one by one drifted slowly off to sleep. Silence descended over the house. Morning would not be long in coming by the time everyone was asleep.

Kyou simply let Tohru cry herself out on his shoulder, stroking her hair and holding her to him. She never told him what she was crying about, he never asked. Finally, she brought herself under control. "Thank you Kyou." She wiped her eyes and gave him a small smile, which he returned.

"It's nothing, Tohru, I told you I was here for you and I am."

She simply nodded, then took in the dark circles beneath his eyes. He needed rest and some time to himself. "Go to bed Kyou, I'll be fine tonight. I couldn't sleep if I wanted to."

He hesitated, wondering for the first time since he'd known her if she was telling him the truth. She seemed to sense his inner conflict. "Really, go, if I need you I'll come to you, I promise."

"You promise?"

She nodded. He sighed, but did not argue, "Ok, but if you need anything at all come to me." He let her go slowly and went to his own room, sleep overtaking him as soon as his head hit the pillow. Tohru climbed up on her bed as soon as he was gone, staring out into the night. She took a pillow from behind her and wrapped her arms about it. Kyou's scent lingered upon it. She breathed it in deeply. It gave her a sense of being watched over even though he wasn't here with her. She felt safe. Kyou was only just down the hall, and the others were downstairs, by now asleep themselves Despite her words to the contrary, sleep over took her quickly once the house was silent. For the first time since Akito's attack, she fell into a dreamless sleep, arms wrapped tight around the pillow that told her she was never alone.

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Oh, and I don't own D or Pet Shop of Horrors either. :)