Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Everybody Wants Her ❯ Chapter Five - Animated Corpse ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Hello and welcome back! Despite the evils of school I still made time, so here's chapter five for your literary pleasure!

 

I should mention something. There's some hypothetical talk in this chapter about the Sohma curse. In the anime it's vague, and I've only read as much of the manga as they've published in English. I don't know specifics, so I'm making things up. If the family head's death broke the curse then I think there'd be a long tradition of abortions and killing babies at birth in the Sohma family. And that doesn't seem to be so, so yeah. Read on!

 

~`~`~

 

Everybody Wants Her

Chapter Five - Animated Corpse

 

~`~`~

 

Kyo, hollowed out, opens the door. Kyo, scooped clean and trying his best just to block out where he's going, the closing in of his life, steps outside.

And he doesn't say goodbye, doesn't tell Shigure he's going anywhere. He starts packing just as soon as he hangs up, just throws all he has in a bag and drags it out the door. He could have called up Hatori, gotten a ride and got there faster, but he's not thinking, all he sees is walking there, lugging all his heavy things alone. But his feet won't move and he's just standing there, staring at the star-scarred sky.

He's supposed to have three months left.

He's only seventeen.

It isn't fair.

So he kicks at the stairs, hurts his toes and doesn't give a damn, Kyo just yells with all he's got. He can't even manage an obscenity, in his fury foul language has abandoned him. He pounds the door, dents it and doesn't care, Shigure will fix it up just fine. His screams give way to tears and he didn't even think he was sad, he'd just labeled everything as anger and tossed it aside, it didn't matter because rage is right, feels good because the door is that sick little shit Akito and this is Kyo's mini-vengeance hissy fit.

“I'm not going,” he tells himself, arms crossed now and his eyes to the ground. “I'm not.”

Someone asks him where he isn't going, Kyo whips around with his fists out, ready to silence with violence anyone who saw him cry. But Shigure just got here, just stepped out due to Kyo's loud pummeling of the door. “Whats going on?” he asks him, a dragging smirk hiding real concern. “You okay there Kyo?”

“I'm fine,” he says, hitting the door with scraped-up fists. “Everything's dandy.”

“So I'm supposed to believe that beating my door to death is some new martial arts technique? Come on Kyo, Akito just called for you, I know something's up.” Shigure laughs, sits down on the steps with his chin in his hands. The position proves to be uncomfortable, so he shifts around a while, waiting for Kyo to come up with an answer. It takes a while, the kid's just seething, struggling to push past word one.

“A-akito…” he starts, fists clenched and eyes staring down, all he sees are ratty tennis shoes, tapping hard against the ground. “Akito s-said I h-had to be…locked up…e-early I…I don't have a c-chance anymore.”

Shigure's not much for consolation, his minds blank and his hands are paralyzed, he can't do much but ask him where this came from, what set off the Sohma Lord.

“Y-yuki…being sick, it wouldn't matter if I beat him…and and Tohru, he thinks that me and Tohru…and he, he did something to her, I…I'm gonna to kill him, I…” he trails off, knowing Shigure's confused. He's looking Kyo over, a bemused expression on his pointed face. He bids him to back up, explain because none of that made sense.

“I don't know,” says Kyo, trembling and he can't talk, can't go through the whole damn explanation. He's got the words right there in his head, set to spring from his mouth but he can't, his throat's too choked with the fact that he's not crying.

“What's this about Tohru?” Shi-chan asks, picking it out because it could mean everything, he has to know if Tohru's tied up in Akito's closet, whipped and hemorrhaging on the floor. It's not difficult to picture, all he has to do is give Yuki-kun a different face, a pair of breasts and weaker shoulders. It's the photoshopped past of the Sohma family.

“Akito…Akito says he…” The words don't come and Shigure gives up, motions for Kyo to sit down by him. He'll find out later, call Hatori, but Kyo's about to break here. He hesitates, but Shigure wraps his arms around Kyo in the end. He holds him like a son and strokes his hair, lets Kyo-kun bawl over his personal apocalypse.

“You know you have to go,” he tells him, hand on his shuddering shoulder. “We owe him. Whatever he asks, no matter how unreasonable…we're only alive because he sacrificed, so if this makes him feel better then we have no choice.”

“I don't wanna go…” moans Kyo clutching Shigure's kimono. “Akito's gotta be really depraved if locking people up makes him happy…” He moves away, sadness turned to rage again. All he feels is hate now, a fevered rush and he's right, he's right and he is pure. “I don't see why we all have to suffer just because he's a fucking sadist!”

“Akito isn't a sadist, he doesn't get off on any of this…but I don't pretend to understand him.” Shi-chan sighs, kicks the steps with his heels and steals glances at the sky. “Look,” he tells him, trying out another argument. “You're the cat, you turn into a monster and you're dangerous. In that form you're a bigger threat than Akito could ever be. You could kill people Kyo, you have to be locked up. If you have no respect for God than at least think about it logically. You'll kill people if you're not contained.”

“I've been that, that thing before and I never…” Kyo stops, stares through swimming eyes at Shigure. When his vision clears he knows he'll never convince him, the lines from mouth to nose say everything. Shigure's not smiling, this matters, means the world.

“As you get older you'll have less and less control. It's for your own safety, for everyone's safety that you're kept away. I don't know why Akito made that stupid bet with you, I don't know why he'd risk your freedom…it's too dangerous. I'm sorry Kyo,” he says, no sweet sheepish smile in sight.

“No,” he says, swiping tears from his face in vicious motions. “No no no…”

“You're the cat.”

“No…”

“You're the cat.”

“I won't go…”

“The cat, Kyo.”

He goes.

 

~`~`~

 

Akito's been up for ages, pacing away pain as he waits for Tohru-kun to stir. His legs threaten collapse so he grabs for the bedpost, holds on shaking while he waits for the darkness to pass from his eyes. He's blind a full minute, dizzy as hell before he can stand. In the end he topples over, pounds on the bed hard enough to wake up Tohru. Now his whole right side hurts. Great.

She shifts, opens her eyes at a pace so slow that its infuriating, nerve wrecking because Akito doesn't know what she thinks about last night. He wants her up, wants her talking but at the same time he wishes she'd just sleep forever, never face up to what they'd done.

And she'll just kill him over Kyo.

“Good morning Akito-san,” she says, slow and syrupy in her wonderous way. She envelops him again, he burrows into her arms. “What time is it?”

Aki checks the clock, an ugly digital thing that blinks brazenly its information. “Four-thirty,” he tells her. “In the morning.” And he shudders, holds her tighter because god she's only been here a couple hours. They made love in the infant of the AM, she'd been lying here since yesterday. But she was going to desert him, he'd be alone with nothing but doctor's appointments to look forward to.

“It's pretty early,” she says, rubbing her sleep-soaked eyes. “Why are you awake?”

“Can't sleep,” he tells her, and that's pretty much true. He hasn't exactly tried but he can't even close his eyes when he's lying here. He's too busy taking her in, securing memories for life. Her full and easy smile, lighting up the world. The way her fingers curl and wrinkle as they reach for his hand.

And he's so glad when she doesn't medicalize it, doesn't list the fatal things insomnia could herald. All she does is kiss his neck, move her lips like a little bloodsucker. He moans, she's thrilled and soon they're making out again. “I adore you,” she says, coming up for air and she paws at him down there. Tohru hasn't really woken up yet, she's not thinking about the life she's going back to. But it hits her quick and she turns away, rolls to face the wall instead of Akito. “I'm sorry,” she says. “I shouldn't have…this is wrong, we never should have done anything I…” Tears come out, she cries so easily. All she has to do is think of Kyo and she's bawling.

Akito sits up, touches her back and she jerks him off, her shoulder blades bruising up his palm. “Tohru-kun…” he murmurs, cradling his rejected hand. He knows all too well but he asks her: “Can you tell me why that felt so wrong? Did I…did I not do a good job?”

So Tohru's stuck apologizing, reassuring Akito that his performance was just fine. “It's not that, I definitely enjoyed it…but I…” She stops, searches her mind for a reasonable lie. “It's just that we don't really know each other very well, and this was so sudden…besides, we didn't use any protection, I could be…”

And that just sets him off, he's laughing hard enough to trigger a coughing fit. It ends, he's smiling and clutching his chest. “You think you're pregnant? Tohru-kun, you saw my genitalia, do you really think that those things could make a baby? If you did it with I don't know, Kyo-kun, you might have a problem but me? That's hilarious.”
“Oh,” she says, thinking that this ought to have occurred to her. She ignores the jab at Kyo-kun, just turns around to look at Akito's crumpling face. She knows he isn't happy but she asks him all the same, if it matters that he'll never be a dad.

“Of course it doesn't matter,” he hisses, trying not to let it because god, why would he want such a miserable child in the world? “Would you just look at me Tohru? Whatever kid I have is bound to be just as bad off physically, maybe mentally as well. Depending on the timing it might transform, and anyway I'd be raising it! The family heads aren't usually allowed to have babies Tohru…it just, it doesn't work out. I'm glad it's not likely to happen.”

Tohru-kun's not honest, she doesn't tell him that if that's the case, there's no way in the world she'll stay. She craves the needy, the dependant and a baby beats out Akito every time. A little newborn couldn't live without its mama, but a twenty-year-old man could live without his one-night stand. So all she does is kiss his cheek, sit up and stretch and she's still stark naked, still Akito's temporary everything. He's far from decent and he doesn't look away, she's looking him over too.

“I should go,” she says, standing up and scouring the room for her yukata. She can't find it and Akito wrenches her back beside him, begs her not to leave him now.
“Tohru-kun please. If you go now I'll never see you again and I love you, I can't, I can't be alone, I can't…” And he's aching to tell her, let her know he'll fucking kill himself if she heads off now. It just came to him, just blasted through his head and it feels right, if he hasn't got Tohru he hasn't got anything and the headache's back, why on Earth is he even alive?

Right. The Sohma. The fucking Sohma and he hates them all. He blames them for the bloody world, for every stab of pain that ever plagues him. He's tired of being their vessel, the puddle of anguish they steal life from every day. Akito's the one who keeps the balance, if he weren't around the animal forms would clash with the human, the Sohmas would all die. He's half dead every day and he can hardly leave the house, he can't see why they should have the world to prance around in.

And Tohru-kun's a Sohma too. She's been absorbed, assimilated and he's not about to let her go, let anybody know he wants her. “You can't go,” he tells her, grinning dumbly to himself. “I'm going to take my life if you leave me. And with me goes everybody else, unless you're pregnant, which you're not. Think you can live with the guilt Tohru-kun? All those corpses on your pretty little conscience?”

She swallows, flails for words while she watches him. “You'd really kill yourself?” she asks him, tearing up a cuticle as she talks. “Just because I'm going home? I'd come back Akito, I don't know why you think this is permanent…”

“Of course I'd fucking kill myself!” Akito barks, ripping up his skin from elbow down to wrist, trying to beat Tohru's loser mutilation. “What, you think my life is worth living? You think I care about all those other assholes? You're all that's good in my life Tohru, and you won't come back to me. You have Kyo, you have happy people, normal people in your life, god why would you want me? I guess I'm your only choice now though. Unless you want to be alone, that is. Because they die with me.”

And Tohru doesn't understand, she backs away because she thinks that Aki's all set to kill them actively. She thinks she's looking at a murderer, that she'll walk away from this maimed and spilling blood. “Are you…?” she asks. “Are you going to…Akito you wouldn't! W-why would you kill your whole family? I'll, I'll call the police, I won't let you do this!”

Akito laughs, swallows vomit as he does. “You don't know anything, do you?” Tohru shakes her head, she's clueless and she's hoping he'll explain. And he does, he gives her history, details. What it comes down to is that the others are goners without him, when he dies he's got to be replaced. “They'll keep alive about a year after I die, but unless somebody's pregnant then they're fucked. Sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes everybody dies and the new Juunishi come from distant relatives. If I kill myself there's a good chance that they'll all just croak.”

Tohru barely looks at him, she can't and she's just kicking at the bed, twitching `cause she feels so trapped. “So you'd risk that?” she asks him, not even trying to tone down her disgust “You'd put your whole family in danger just to keep me here? They all have so much to live for and you…you're really that selfish?”

He hits her then, leaves a bright red mark on her stunned little heart-shaped face. “You want to try living in this fucking body, this fucking life for twenty years? Try it just for a day and tell me if you can take it Tohru! You have no idea what you're talking about and you have no right to say I'm selfish! I'm a sacrifice Tohru, I'm an animated corpse! If the only person who's ever made me happy goes away then I give up, I just can't do this anymore!”

Hand to her injured face she nods. She's sympathetic but she's scared as hell, she knows this must be on his mind every minute. He's stopped, he's coughing and she wants him talking, wants to show him why he's wrong. Tohru puts her arms around him, pats his back to stop the pain. “Were there any other suicides?” she asks him. “Any other family heads?”

And he says, “the youngest one was six.”

 

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Hari pokes his head in, looking awfully perky for someone who's been out drinking all night long. “Akito,” he says, looking pointedly away from Tohru's naked chest. She's still not dressed, it'd mean she's leaving and she can't do that to Akito just yet. Kyo can wait, Kyo doesn't want to kill himself. “Would you mind telling me what Shigure's entire household is doing here? Tohru should have left by now and Kyo's here, just what exactly is going on?”

“Tohru will stay as long as she damn well pleases, and I told Kyo to come here. He's not leaving, we're locking him up today.” Akito stands up with his junk hanging out, roots through his dresser for something to cover up. He picks out black pants, a black shirt and ratty underwear, dresses for everyone to see. Hatori mutters something about how he could be a little more discreet, but he isn't audible, he's not making Akito angry.

“Anyway,” he says. “You should see to Kyo.”

“I'm getting to it!” snaps Akito, yanking the shirt on over his over-large head. “Jesus Christ on a stick Hari, have some fucking patience!” And he does, he just strides off without his honeybee, she's confused and hiding in the sheets. When he goes she looks at Hatori, asks him if he means what he said about Kyo.

“Probably,” says Hatori, sitting on the edge of the bed to be near her. “Akito seems to prefer doing awful things to making them up.” He says its awful, pretends to be disturbed but its obvious he's empty, even Tohru who sees everybody's best side sees nothing in Hari's eyes.

“You don't care,” she softly says. “Do you?”

“It was bound to happen,” Hari tells her, rubbing slowly at the bags beneath his eyes. “If Kyo thought he still had a chance he'd wind up killing Yuki when he tried to beat him. Locking him up early is one of the few smart things Akito's ever done.”

“But—” she says, sobbing in her sheets again. Hari cuts her off, stands up.

“I have to go,” he tells her, working out a kink in his back before he heads for the door. “You should probably be going too.”

And just like that he's gone, everybody's gone and Tohru's just immobile. She can't save Kyo because she'll break Akito to bits, she can't take his side because then she's gonna hurt Kyo. And she can't find her kimono, she's nude and can't leave anyway.

She rolls out of bed, puts on Aki's boxer shorts. She digs through his clothes, hopes he won't mind but she can't help if she can't leave the room. And all she wants to do is save the world. In the end she has to wear all black, the yukatas are filthy and fluid-stained. And the black clothes barely fit her, they're too tight on her tiny frame. Tohru feels whorish but she runs outside, races to find Akito and Kyo.

 

~`~`~

 

Kyo's standing there with all his stuff, breathing hard from the long drag over. Akito's gasping, spitting blood from his stroll across rooms. Kyo hits his face mid-cough, holds him in a headlock while he throws punches at his gut. Akito throws up, vomits thin liquid on Kyo-kun's shoes. “Stop it Kyo…!” he gasps, flailing for escape but he's weak and Kyo won't stop, Akito's godly status means little to the cat.

“You're asking me to stop?” Kyo laughs, raking fingers down his shaking chest. The shirts ripped and Aki's pissed, that had been a nice one. “Why the hell should I stop, its not like you did the same for Tohru! I bet she fucking begged you, and guess what you little creep, I'll make you do the same! Beg me Akito, get on your goddamn knees!” And he lets him go, throws him down and it takes a while, but Akito manages to pull himself together, to his feet. He looks down, laughing through unstoppable coughs.

“You…just…killed any…chance you had…of going free. You're—”—and he's doubled over, his lungs ache and there's blood, the floors gone red because of him. “You're…screwed…”

“Fine, fine I don't fucking care! As long as I can make you pay for what you did to Tohru, I'm good!” He stomps around for effect, thwaps Akito in the back of the head, blinding him long enough for Kyo to kick him, knock him down. He's standing on his chest and Akito can't breathe, can't be their evil leader when he feels about to die. “You want me to rape you? You wanna know what it feels like, you sick little shit?” He spits on his face, in his mouth and it's loud and full of mucous, it's gross but Akito can't spit it out. “Yeah, choke on that dickhead, I'm sure that tastes real good! Now tell me you don't want me fucking you, say pretty please with sugar on the goddamn top!”

And he tries to get away, ties to save his pride but he's in such pain, so tired so he just says please, lowers himself and live. Then Tohru comes tramping in, looking skeletal and sluttish, a girly Akito.

She's watching him beg and her eyes are streaming, she's wiping snot from her pretty nose and Kyo takes his foot off Akito, holds Tohru half-assed in his arms. She elbows him, screams “get away from me!” and kneels down, Akito's beaten body sliding easy in her arms. She holds him close and strokes his face, god he's wasted, god he's beautiful. “Kyo,” she says, turning away from his baffled eyes. “It's one thing to fight with Yuki, up until recently he could fight you back just fine. But this...this is inexcusable! Look at him Kyo-kun, look how hurt he is! Look at what you did!”

“But,” says Kyo, spine straight and he's shaking, he doesn't understand at all. “He…he deserved it Tohru, I was just…he…after what he did to you…”

“He didn't do anything to me!” she tells him hotly, pounding fists against the floor. “You don't know what you're talking about!”

Kyo stoops down, shakes Tohru-kun hard by the shoulders. “He raped you, he said you guys had sex and you wouldn't do it willingly, there's no other explanation Tohru!” She stares at him, annoyed and her eyes are narrowed, she's can't believe how bad he wants this, can't believe he wishes she were hurt. Then she shakes that thought away, tells herself that it's just his trust in her. And she can't bear to be the one who breaks that trust.

“I…” she whispers, searching futilely for words. Akito saves her by spitting blood, getting red chunky junk all over both their clothes. She can see now why he wears all black, this stuff would show too well on white. “Ahhhh Akito!” she squeaks. “Are you alright?”

“He's fine Tohru, it doesn't matter. Just be honest, tell me what he did to you.” He grabs her hand, says, “it's okay to tell the truth.” Tohru ignores him, sets Akito upright so he won't choke on his own fallen blood.

And both of them look so desperate, Kyo-kun for the truth and Akito for air, they both need her and she can't be there, can't be their anything. So she just stands up, heads out and says she'll look for Hatori, he's the best thing for illness in the world. But Akito has her leg in a stranglehold, dying's worse than losing her any day. If she walks he'll drag along and she doesn't know what to do, she steps up her crying `cause she's miserable.

“You're wearing his clothes,” he says, sure she wouldn't want to touch them if he's touched her wrong. So the truth's just staring him in the face and he can't do anything, Tohru's crying and he doesn't want to hurt her, Akito's lying on the floor clinging and drooling blood. So he screams out “FUCK!” and hits the wall, throwing dents into the plaster. “FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!”

Tohru wipes her eyes, says, “I'm so sorry Kyo,” but it makes no difference, its over and his life is over, he's worthless and she loves a cretin over him. She sees this but she just wants Akito more, she asks him to go, get out and get Hatori, he's gonna save the boy who stole Kyo's girlfriend.

He does. He'll do anything for Tohru-kun.

 

~`~`~

 

Nana: Well there you go. I hope everyone liked chapter five, and I hope you'll all leave me nice little review telling me just how awesome it was. Or how much it sucked, but if you do that you've gotta tell me why or I'll just waste a good ten minutes mocking you. Just kidding. Anyway, thanks for reading everybody! I love you all as much as I love ice cream! And that's a hell of a lot!

I guess I should say one more thing before I go. Akito/Kyo is coming, I swear to socks it is. I just have to work it in properly…it doesn't make much sense at the moment, does it? But I promised Akito/Kyo and Akito/Kyo I shall deliver damn it! Just keep reading and it'll come. Thanks for putting up with the wait!

Well until next time, tata!