Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Chains ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 3 )

CHAPTER TWO:

The sun was down by the time Kyou found himself back at the Mouse's door. Even with torches lit through the stone hallways, it was dim-- dim enough that even Kyou's eyes had to search for a minute before finding the tiny, pointed faces of mice among the carved vines of the doorframe. Each door in the fortress had a similar frame, the hidden animals telling of which Beast owned the room in question. It had taken a while for him to notice the trend, subtle as it was.

Of course, he could just as easily find the same information using his nose-- but Kyou always prided himself on being observant.

Taking a quick glance up and down the hall, he made himself human again and entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

The Mouse's room was also dark, though it had the windows that the corridor, for the most part, lacked. Moonlight was supplemented by a few candles, their flickering light causing the shadows to dance in slow patterns. Still, these dim illuminations were more than enough to see by, for Kyou, and so he moved forward in typical silence, effortlessly avoiding the piled clutter under his feet.

The only sound in the room was the faint rasp of unsteady breathing, which Kyou used to locate the Mouse where he lay surrounded and buried by the linings of one of his nests.

"Why are you still here?"

Crouching by the huddled form, Kyou tilted his head curiously. "Who is Akito?"

"Leave. Now."

The Cat bared his teeth a little as he smiled. "And why do you smell like blood?"

There was a slight moment of silence, broken at last by a heavy sigh as the Mouse lifted a shaky hand to rub his eyes. "Cat, you really have no idea--"

"Kyou." Seeing a faintly puzzled glance directed his way, Kyou stifled a growl and elaborated. "My name is Kyou. Not 'Cat'. How would you like it if I just called you 'Mouse' instead of-- Yuki? I heard the person at the door call you that, earlier."

The Mouse eyed him somewhat warily for a moment, then closed his eyes and slumped back into his bed. "Yes. I'm Yuki."

"So who's Akito?"

The Mouse's voice was weary and quiet when he finally replied. "Master of the Beasts," he whispered, seeming to be talking more to himself than to his uninvited guest.

Kyou's lips pulled back in a sneer. "Not of me," he retorted scornfully.

Yuki's eyes opened. "He's the Beastlord," he said in a slightly louder tone. "He rules here."

Snorting disdainfully, Kyou pushed gracefully to his feet again and began a slow, restless, circuit of the room. "He's human. Why should you be afraid of him?"

"I'm not afraid of him," the Mouse was quick to retort, sharply. The pale eyes narrowed in a cold glare.

Kyou snorted again, sending a quick, sceptical look in the other boy's direction, but otherwise didn't comment. His circling brought him at last to the window, where he paused. "It's boring here," he decided suddenly, looking out on the dim shapes of the city. "I don't think I'll stay."

"Good. You should have been gone a long time ago. You should never have come in the first place."

Bristling, Kyou whirled about and met the other boy's glare with one of his own. "Don't tell me what to do, Mouse. No one tells me what to do-- not your Beastlord, and certainly not you. I go where I want, when I want." Stepping back, Kyou brought a leg up over the windowsill. "And for now, I want to leave." The second leg followed the first, and the Cat was comfortably perched on the narrow ledge.

The Mouse's glare faltered for a split second. "There's no tree outside my window," he said, frowning.

"Please," Kyou scoffed. With one final scathing look, he leaped out into space, landing lightly on the street below. His knees bent, taking the impact of the landing, and he used that momentum to propel himself forward away from the fortress, darting into the darkness between buildings.

Playing with the night, moving with the shadows on silent paws, Kyou meadered his way though the city, but he quickly became bored with the meagre activity on the near-empty streets. Growling with disgust, he started his way towards the open spaces beyond the city limits, but happened to glance back once at the massive fort with its dead, dark windows.

His eyes narrowed, and his ears flattened a bit towards his skull. Damned mouse. Arrogant little know-it-all mouse--

An image came back to him of the look in Yuki's eyes when the Beastlord's name was mentioned-- a look of fear, whether the other boy admitted it or not. The faint scent of blood tickled his nose, and he heard again the voice of the unknown Beast who had knocked on the door in summons.

His curiousity, which had nearly been sated, stirred to life again.

Kyou sat himself down on the corner of a roof, licking one paw absently while he stared at the distant fortress. You were awfully eager to get me out of there, Mouse. I wonder why?

Well, I don't take orders from prey. Maybe I'll pay you another visit. What would you do about that?

I still have to beat you, after all.

Gleaming eyes narrowed in contemplation, Kyou turned away from the sight and bounded off into the shadows.