Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Eye Of The Storm ❯ Confession ( Chapter 4 )

Eye of the Storm

Chapter 4

Confession

The occupants of Shigure's house had slowly started to recover after a few weeks had past, everyone that is except Shigure. Keiko was the first to get better and was back to her perky self within a week however; Kyou and Yuki were still a little ill. Though they were well enough to go to school, they had to face masks. This only drew more attention to Yuki, which he didn't want. His fan club was falling all over themselves bringing him warm meals everyday to help him get better. Kyou even had a few girls trying to make him feel better. Tohru was left untouched by the sickness that had struck the Sohmas and Keiko.

"You know, I called Hatori." Yuki said entering Shigure's room with a bowl of hot soup.

"Yukikun how could you?" Shigure asked weakly.

"It's for your own good. I wouldn't have called him if you had gotten better like the rest of us, but instead you got worse. You should have just let him give you that shot."

"No, I couldn't." Shigure said remembering the last time he allowed Hatori to give him a shot. It is true; he moaned and groaned like baby (and stalked Hatori day and night when all he needed was a good rest), but was that reason for him to be so cruel?

"Tohru, made this for you." Yuki said setting the soup down by Shigure's futon.

Shigure immediately sat up and started eating. "Chicken soup made with love." This is all that I need to get well.

"Hatori is probably half way here, better hope it heals you before he arrives." Yuki said leaving the room.

Moments later Tohru was opening the door for the dragon possessed doctor.

"Where's Shigure?" Hatori asked once inside.

"He's in his room." Tohru answered. Hatori nodded and went to Shigure's bedroom and closed the door.

"Good evening Hatori, what brings you by?" Shigure greeted trying to play innocent.

"You know perfectly well why I'm here." Hatori answered as he prepared the injection. "I should have done this while I was here last time."

"And you don't have to do it this time either." Shigure said moving to the other side of the futon and onto the floor.

"Now that you actually need a shot you're running."

"I don't like that look in your eye, Haasan." Shigure said nervously.

"Stop making excuses and take your shot like a man." Hatori said coming over to him.

"That's where the problem lies; I am a dog or a man?"

"That's enough! Give me your arm." Hatori ordered.

"No!"

"Shigure…" Hatori said becoming more irritated.

"I don't wanna!"

"That's it, your getting this shot one way or another." Hatori said coming after him.

"KYAAA! Sadist!" Shigure screamed catching the attention of everyone in the house. Tohru, Yuki, and Kyou were peering curiously at the closed door to Shigure's room. Keiko had even poked her head out of hiding to see what she could see. There was more screaming and crashing sounds coming from the room and then suddenly a sound almost like an explosion. Lastly they heard the yelping of a dog then silence. Everyone sweat dropped. A minute later the door opened and Keiko disappeared. Hatori came out of the room appearing as if his little tussle with Shigure had never happened.

"That stupid dog got all worked up and changed." Hatori muttered to himself under his breath. "He should be fine after a good night's rest." Hatori stated then left. Everyone then rushed into Shigure's room to see if he was alright. When they got there they found him in his dog form neatly tucked under the covers of his futon.

"Shiguresan…" Tohru started.

"…Are you hurt?" Keiko finished.

"I didn't feel a thing." Shigure said sleepily. Everyone sighed.

"Shigure, must you always make such a commotion when you get sick?" Yuki asked not expecting a satisfactory response.

"I may be loud, but Yuki you had poor Keiko cutting class to entertain you all day." Shigure retorted. Tohru and Kyou then gave them both curious stares.

"You saw?" Keiko asked appearing as if she had seen a ghost.

"Why were you spying?" Yuki asked.

"What exactly did you do to entertain him?" Tohru asked eager for a response.

"Oh, nothing much." Keiko said becoming embarrassed. "Just made a clown of myself that's all." Keiko thought as her face turned red. (She doesn't like performing for audiences… Yuki caught her at a weak moment.)

"Nothing much? Don't be so modest." Shigure said.

"Really, Keikochan just kept me company." Yuki said mirroring Keiko's embarrassment. (He doesn't want anyone to know he was busting a gut laughing at Keiko's antics. In short self-conscious.)

"Aren't you going to tell them what you did to make Yukikun's day?" Shigure asked.

"No!" Keiko answered.

"And if you say one more word about it I'll turn you into Inuyaki." Yuki threatened.

"Help! Yukikun's going to eat me!" Shigure said hiding under the covers.

Tohru and Kyou continued stare at the two, their defensiveness causing them to grow even more curious.

"Yukisan, remember the thing we had to do today?" Keiko said making up an excuse to leave the house.

"I almost forgot, we better get going right away." Yuki said following her lead.

"What thing?" Kyou and Tohru asked simultaneously.

"Bye-bye!" Keiko said leaving with Yuki.

By the time they decided to return to the house the sun had long since gone down.

"You think we should have just told them?" Yuki asked as he and Keiko walked down the path leading to Shigure's house.

"Are you out of your mind? Our pride is on the line!" Keiko exclaimed.

"We may have made things worse. Look how long we've been gone."

"Yuki, you perv!" Keiko said whapping him across the head. "You've been hanging around Shigure too long. Besides, even if anyone's mind went there, besides yours, the staff at the ice-cream parlor can back us up. We were there well after everyone else had left, and besides that they were so busy staring at us that they could barely do their jobs."

"Why is that?" Yuki wondered out loud looking puzzled.

"One of two reasons. The second being that you ate enough ice-cream to feed a heard of elephants. You're such a pig." Keiko said with a small laugh.

"And you ate twice that much, which makes you an even bigger pig than me." You said smiling. "But a very cute pig."

"Don't pick on me." Keiko warned.

Yuki then stopped walking and moved closer to Keiko. "You know you really are beautiful." He said causing Keiko to blush.

Shigure was no longer in is dog form and was sitting at the heater reading a book when Yuki and Keiko finally made it back home.

"Welcome back." Shigure said as Keiko and Yuki came into the living room.

"Hi, Shiguresan. Glad to see you're doing better." Keiko greeted with a smile taking a seat at the heater, Yuki taking one right beside her.

"So, how was your date?" Shigure asked ever mischievous.

Yuki made no response, but Keiko was eager to answer. "We had a great time." Keiko said with the slightest hint of sarcasm. "He took me to a really nice restaurant.

At this comment Yuki lifted an eyebrow. "You call Sandy's Crepes and Ice-cream a nice restaurant?"

"So you did go on a date!" Shigure said excitedly.

"Sort of." Yuki said not knowing how to define their outing.

"Yukisan was the perfect gentleman." Keiko said then turned to face Yuki. "Thank you for showing me such a wonderful time Yukisan." Keiko said quickly kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm going to bed." Yuki announced jumping to his feet with his hand to his face where Keiko had kissed him and ran out of the room hiding his face so Shigure could not see him blushing from head to toe.

"That's what you get for being such a tease. I warned you not to pick on me." Keiko thought trying to restrain a laugh.

"Keikokun, are you and Yukikun a couple now?"

"Eh? No." Keiko answered with a straight face.

"Then what is it? You can't deny you two have been sticking together like glue."

"Well, I wouldn't say it is romantic but Yukisan is very important to me." Keiko said getting up to leave. "Good night Shiguresan."

"Funny, that's the same thing Yuki said." Shigure thought to himself before returning to his book.

The next day the home economics class for the third year and second year students was combined due to the absence of one of the teachers. Everyone was supposed to split up into groups of three, but since there was an odd number of students one group would only have two members. That day the class was given a simple baking project; each team had to make a small cake. Tohru teamed up with her friends Arisa and Saki. Kyou ended up with Hatsuharu and Momiji. Tohru of course did nearly all of the work for her group with some assist from her teammates. Out of the other two members of Kyou's group he was the fussiest concerning making the perfect cake. Hatsuharu and Momiji, but mainly Momiji, insisted on making a chocolate cake. Momiji energetic as ever constantly spilled the ingredients on the floor causing Kyou to nearly pop a vain however, most of the students in the class were having similar mishaps. One group even managed to burn their cake into a chocolate brick while other groups ended up with eggshells in their cakes. Other groups though they were able to get through the process without dropping eggshells in he batter or burning their project ended up with lopsided cakes. Yuki and Keiko had ended up in a group by themselves and somehow managed to destroy two cakes. Their first cake was in the oven too long and though it wasn't a brick when it came out of the oven it was blackened like burnt paper and when Keiko sat it on the counter it crumbled into a pile of ashes. Their second stuck to the pan and when Yuki tried shaking the cake it fell out of the pan, bounced off the counter and landed on the floor breaking into pieces. By the end of the period the other groups were able to fix their mistakes and bake acceptable cakes for a passing grade, however Yuki and Keiko had to stay after school and redo the project. At hearing this they were both in tears and utterly frustrated at their own inadequacy in the kitchen.

"Ok, you two unless you get it right I have no choice but to give you both failing grades." The teacher said firmly but it was obvious he felt sorry for them. Yuki was a model student as well a Keiko and the teacher did not want to have to be the one to give them their first red mark. "I'm going to go run some errands. I should be back by 4:30 to review your work." Their teacher informed them as he left the room.

"Let's get this over with." Yuki said giving a heavy sigh.

"Right, but first let's try this. How about we make more than one cake at a time. All of them can't turn out they way our first two did."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Yeah, I'm a genius." Keiko said chuckling with her eyes closed when she opened them she saw Yuki pouring nearly an entire bag of sugar into the mixing bowl. "What are you doing?" Keiko asked nearly shouting.

"The cake mix isn't sweet enough, so I'm putting more sugar in it to compensate." Yuki informed as he finished emptying the bag.

"That's too much sugar you're gonna give the teacher diabetes!"

"It's better than putting in five extra sticks of margarine like you did our first cake. If it didn't burn it would have given the teacher a heart attack with one bite!"

"Well thanks to you turning the oven temperature to maximum it burned! Besides that if you had not smashed our last cake taking it out of the pan we wouldn't be here!"

"That cake was a disaster waiting to happen I did us both a favor by burning it!"

"Is that so?!"

"Yes, that is so!"

"You asked for it!" Keiko said grabbing up a handful of flour.

"You wouldn't!" Yuki was looking at Keiko wide eyed as she held the flour in her hand ready to throw it.

"Wanna bet?" Keiko said throwing the flour and nailing Yuki right in the face.

"So, that is how it is…" Yuki said grabbing up a handful of the over sweetened cake dough he had made.

"No! Don't do it Sohma Yuki!"

"Why not?" Yuki enquired throwing the batter at Keiko. The dough hit her in the face and splattered all over her clothes and hair.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Keiko said grabbing a bag of flour and flinging its contents at Yuki.

"Why don't you come over here?" Yuki taunted as he grabbed the water nozzle from the sink and sprayed it at Keiko who was on the other side of the counter. Gasping Keiko jumped back too late, she was now soaked from head to toe in water and sticky cake batter.

"You look funny!" Yuki said laughing so hard his eyes were squeezed shut. He didn't notice Keiko picked up the bowl of sugary cake dough and was preparing to fling it all on him. When Yuki opened his eyes all he could see was a white gooey mess flying at him and splattering him all over. Now Keiko was the one laughing. From there even more chaos ensued. The two spent thirty minutes throwing water and flour at each other until the chime alerted them that it was now four o'clock.

"Um, truce?" Keiko offered lowering the bag of flour she was about to rip open and throw on Yuki.

"For now." Yuki said lowering the water nozzle.

When their teach came back to the classroom his mouth dropped in horror. "You two better have something to show for yourselves besides this mess!" The room was covered in water and flour.

"Yes, we finished our project." Yuki said putting the last of the strawberries on the cake that decorated it. Somehow Yuki and Keiko managed to make the perfect strawberry short cake. Gulping the teacher took a bite and once he did his eyes lit up.

"This is wonderful! I'll be taking this home with me." Their teacher said picking up the cake and taking another bite. "You two now have to stay and clean up this mess you made!" He yelled then turned and left the room.

"Oh, bother." Yuki said surveying the once clean classroom.

"We better get to work." Keiko said sighing.

Keiko went to work wiping everything down while Yuki worked on mopping up the flour that had already started to dry on the floor. Sticking the mop into the bucket pulling it out Yuki knocked the whole thing over splashing Keiko who was a few feet away from him.

"Hey!" Keiko said turning around.

"Sorry, I'm just no good."

"You sure are!" Keiko said laughing.

"It's embarrassing to say, but before Tohru came to live with us Shigure's house was a disaster area, especially the kitchen." Yuki said filling up the bucket with more water and preparing to pour an entire bottle of ammonia into it when Keiko grabbed his hand.

"Sounds like you guys never bothered to clean the house much until Tohru came. Somehow I get the feeling you are the type to make a bigger mess trying to clean it up than you would just letting it pile up."

"Huh?" Yuki said as he felt Keiko gently push his arm down.

"Yukisan, there's plenty of water and ammonia on the floor already. Just leave this bucket solution free to rinse down the floor after you mop it up."

"I must seem really pathetic not being able to do a simple thing like mop." Yuki said putting the ammonia away.

"At least your really good at everything else. So that sort of makes up for it." Keiko said smiling.

"Only sort of?"

"Don't push your luck." Keiko said returning to cleaning. "We still have a long way to go."

When Yuki and Keiko returned Shigure greeted them as they came in.

"You came all the way home looking like that." Shigure said through fits of laughter. Yuki and Keiko both had dried flour and sugar all over them.

"Shut up." Yuki said passing his cousin side by side with Keiko.

"So what are you two going to do now?" Shigure asked hoping to stir something up.

"Take a shower." They both answered.

"Oh my how naughty!" Shigure said laughing.

"What?!" The pair said turning to face one another ignoring Shigure's comment.

"I'm going in first!" Keiko declared.

"No you're not! We wouldn't have ended up like this if you hadn't started that stupid fight. It's your fault so I'm going first."

"Oh my, you two fight like an old married couple." Shigure stated with a chuckle.

"Stay out of this!" They yelled at him.

"You wait until I'm finished." Yuki said turning his attention back to Keiko.

"Prince charming, not!" Keiko retorted. The two then gave each other looks that could have set anyone caught in between on fire.

"Rock, paper, scissors." Yuki challenged.

"How about first come first serve." Keiko said taking off. Yuki was going to start racing for the shower but Shigure had grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back causing him to fall hard on his backside.

"Shigure…" Yuki said with a dark expression on his face.

"Have you been taking lessons from Kyoukun?" Shigure asked referring to Yuki's seemingly uncharacteristic behavior. Yuki made no response but just sat on the floor with his head down.

"What's wrong with me?" Yuki thought to himself. "I can't believe I just acted like that in front of Shigure."

That night during dinner the tension between Keiko and Yuki was so thick it made the air in the room seem heavy. As they ate no one said a word. Tohru had cooked seafood tempura that for dinner and when it came down to the last shrimp Yuki and Keiko both wanted it. Realizing that Yuki had been eyeing the fish Keiko gave him a look that could kill if looks could do that. Yuki, somehow realizing why she was giving him that look gave her one of his own. For a few minutes the two were engaged in a death stare contest until a pair of chopsticks reached down between them and grabbed up the shrimp. They both shifted their attention to the owner of the chopsticks, fury in their eyes.

"It seemed like no one was going to eat it so I helped myself." Shigure said with a small nervous laugh as Yuki and Keiko towered over him where he sat. "Now, now you two aren't going to try to beat me up over a shrimp are you? It would be much easier for you two to admit your in love than to take your frustration out on my."

"How do you figure that?" Keiko asked with an eerie calmness to her voice.

"I think things would be much easier just beating you to a pulp." Yuki said his eyes resonating.

Tohru and Kyou were speechless. Yuki and Keiko seemed to be getting along very well until that day.

"It's late and my heart can't take such a thing at this time of night." Shigure said making up excuses so that he wouldn't get beat up again (not that he couldn't stop them if he wanted to).

"Fine." Yuki said calming down. "I've had a rough day and it was only a shrimp."

"Guess I did get pretty carried away over a stupid piece of fish." Keiko admitted rubbing the back of her head smiling. Tohru and Kyou both sighed. From the they way those two were looking Kyou and Tohru thought Shigure was going to certainly be pounded into the center of the Earth.

"I'm going to bed now." Yuki and Keiko said simultaneously as the started to leave the room.

"Not together I hope." Shigure said teasingly. Fuming Keiko and Yuki both turned around with their fists balled up.

"YOU SICK PERVERTED BASTARD!!!" They shouted giving Shigure the beating of his life.

"Oh no, Shigure." Tohru said her eyes swirling as she looked upon the violence being commented to the dog possessed novelist.

"That idiot." Kyou muttered looking down.

"Oh! Ah! Don't!" Shigure pleaded running away, but not before getting roughed up a bit. He made an escape to the living room only to be cornered. After beating the stuffing out of Shigure, Keiko and Yuki walked away as if they didn't do a thing. Shigure laid on the floor his eyes swirling. "That girl has a mean left hook… and a devastating right." Shigure moaned holding his jaw.

"It's your own damn fault for being such a pervert." Kyou said coming into the room with Tohru who immediately went to tending Shigure's injuries.

"I can't help it, I am the dog after all."

"That's no excuse!" Kyou yelled.

The next day, before the occupants of his house returned from school, Shigure went over to the main estate to visit with Hatori.

"Hello Haasan!" Shigure said gleefully as Hatori opened the door.

"Shigure? What brings you here?"

"I have something I need to tell you about." Shigure said with a serious tone. This intrigued Hatori so after inviting Shiruge in he sat down and listened to every word his cousin had to say.

"Hatori, what are you doing?" Shigure asked as he watched his the doctor file through the nearby drawers and cabinets.

There's got to be a pack somewhere around here. I couldn't have thrown them all away."

"You mean a pack of cigarettes? We were supposed to be quitting together remember?" Shigure said reminding Hatori of the promise they made to coach each other out of the bad habit they both shared.

"Akito just might blow his top over this one and you won't be the only one he takes his anger out on. I need to smoke to calm my nerves… It's either that or punch you for keeping such a secret from me. Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you deal with Akito and the girl might have been able to stay." Hatori said knocking a book off the shelf accidentally.

"I didn't want to take the chance he would say no. Unlike Tohru this girl has no home to go back to. She would be on the street." Shigure said solemnly.

"That maybe true but still… How long did you think you could hide this from Akito?"

"Well, just until she was old enough to marry me."

"You really are a pervert." Hatori said continuing to look through the books on his shelf until he came across a near empty pack of cigarettes.

"You know she's pretty mature for a teenager. I bet you would turn green if you saw her, knowing that she's staying at my house and not your own." Shigure said snatching the cigarettes away, crumpling them up and throwing them into the trashcan. "I wouldn't be a good coach if I let you light up."

Hatori didn't say a word for a few seconds (he was in shock at how perverted Shigure was behaving at the moment). "Idiot." Hatori muttered looking at his cousin with a spark in his eye and clinched fists.

"Um, Hatori, you're not going to hurt me too much are you?" Shigure asked backing away already knowing the answer.

A short time later a beaten and bruised Shigure was drinking some hot tea while a somewhat calmer Hatori sat at his desk.

"About the girl in regards to Akito-." Hatori started.

"You aren't going to tell him are you?" Shigure asked with a nervous smile on his face.

"No. As I was saying; ever since his encounter with Tohru, Akito has been pretty passive."

"How so?"

"It was during the time Akito usually takes his bath, Momiji accidentally walked in on him… Do you remember what happened the last time something like that happened?"

Shigure only nodded. The last person who walked in on Akito was Yuki. When it happened Akito seemingly calm only dismissed the young boy and told him that he would be punished later that night for disturbing him. After being punished Yuki would crawl into bed with Shigure every night for a month. He didn't know what happened then and thought it was only some silly notion like there being a monster in the boy's closet the first few nights Yuki snuck into his room, but when he tried to coax intoYuki going back to his own room he refused and cried hysterically. It was only after an entire month had pasted did Shigure learn about what happened. For disturbing Akito in the bath Yuki had been grabbed out of bed in the middle of the night, dragged into a dark room and ordered to keep quiet. Yuki had stayed in that pitch-black room for three days before Akito finally released him.

"This time all he did was tell Momiji it was rude to disturb someone in the bath, that if he was coming in Momiji should have asked to join him before hand. Then he asked him about school."

"Nothing happened?" Shigure asked worried.

"Momiji was a bit frightened, but you know what he told me? That he actually had fun talking with Akito." Hatori said causing Shigure's mouth to drop wide open. "Shigure, this would be the most opportune time to tell Akito about your new house guest."

"Even so he might still blow his lid."

"Yes, but it could turn out much worse if Akito found out when he was not in such a good mood… so to say."

It was a few more cups of tea and a few more hours later before Shigure left Hatori's house to see Akito. The doctor was right; he wouldn't be able to hide Keiko from Akito forever and it was only a matter of time before he found out. It would be in the best interest of Keiko and the cursed Sohmas if he told Akito now.

Akito was sitting on the porch just outside his room when the door to the hallway slid open. "Long time no see, Shigure." Akito said not bothering to turn and face Shigure as he entered his room. "What brings you here to see me?" The man asked setting the small bird free that he had been holding in the palm of his hands for some time.

Taking a seat to Akito's right just a few paces behind him Shigure took an inaudible deep breath. "I have another guest in my home." He admitted.

"Another girl knowing you." Akito commented making a joke that only he smiled at. The comment only made Shigure nervous, but he kept silent. "Has she found out about the curse?" Akito asked as the same bird he had set free came and landed on his outstretched hand.

"Yes." Shigure answered preparing himself for what might happen next.

"Oh? Who bumbled this time? Was it that cat again?" Akito asked his attention somewhat divided between Shigure and the bird that had come to rest on his hand.

"It was Yuki."

"Ah, well the cat has nothing on Yuki in this regard. This would be the second time the boy his let out the family secret. I suppose we should be thankful it wasn't as big of a show as it was the last time." When Akito said this Shigure's expression hardened; he was worried that Akito just might order Hatori to erase Keiko's memories. "Tell me Shigure, do you trust this girl to keep the Sohma family curse a secret?"

"Yes, when she found out about our secret she gave us her word she would not tell anyone."

"When did she find out?" Akito asked his eyes shifting from the bird to Shigure.

"About two weeks ago." Shigure answered feeling uneasy.

"Two weeks… And how long had she been staying with you before she found out?" Akito asked holding the bird close to his chest as he continued to look upon Shigure.

"Nearly fourteen days."

"Another two weeks. It would seem like you had this planned Shigure." Akito said seriously though he was only joking then as well. "I will allow her to stay with you, but I want to meet her this weekend." Akito said releasing the bird. "Bring her and everyone else as well." He said looking up at the sunny sky. There was a short pause before he spoke again. "What's her name?"

"Yamada Keiko."

"Hm, is she as cute as Honda Tohru?"

"You mean, is she as ugly has Tohru?" Shigure asked not hiding that he was upset by Akito's question.

Akito chuckled softly. "No, I really do think Tohru is cute."

"And about her being ugly?" Shigure asked recalling the conversation they had the day he, Akito and Hatori went to the entrance ceremony for Hatsuharu and Momiji. On the way home Akito mentioned that he had ran into Tohru and Yuki. When Shigure asked what Akito thought of her he said she was the ugliest girl he had ever seen.

"I spoke out of anger then." Akito calmly answered. "In the middle of my conversation with Yuki that day she pushed me."

"I'm sure she didn't do it purpose."

"She ran over and pushed me and almost knocked me down." Akito said dismissing any excuse Shigure could conger up that would explain away Tohru's aggressiveness toward him. "Needless to say I was very angry with her." He said giving a small hushed laugh. "She must have somehow picked up on how frightened Yuki was at the time and wanted to get me as far away from him as she could."

"You almost seem happy about it now." Shigure commented wondering where the conversation was going.

"It seemed to me at the time she trying to take Yuki and the rest of you away from me. My jealousy got the best of me when I realized how much you cared for this girl I had yet to meet then."

"Akito, despite all you have done in the past we still care about you. We are your family after all."

Akito suddenly felt his heart ache and brought his hand to his chest. Deep down inside he still found it hard to believe that the juunishi and Kyou would even care about him at all. All his life he would hear their parents say, either to his face or behind closed doors how thankful they are that Akito was made to take on the bruit of the curse so that their children could live happily once he dies. They were eager and couldn't wait, the ones that didn't abandon their children. Though they always made it a point to show gratitude for the sacrifice Akito was made to take before he was even born, their words burned in his ears, in his mind, and in his heart.

"Once Akito is dead I will be finally able to hold my son."

"When Akito dies I will be able to finally embrace my daughter."

"Our children will be able to live normal lives."

They were celebrating his death and he wasn't even halfway gone yet. Those joyous words burned Akito to the core. They could care less about him living and being happy and the more he recalled their smiling at the thought of him dying the more his heart hardened. The more he dreamed the more they became nightmares of him being in a casket with no one crying for him but happy and smiling and celebrating, thanking God he went quickly; the more bitter he became. All of this played on his mind causing him to be an angry bitter vindictive child and as time went on Akito slumped into a severe state of depression. The only reason he didn't kill himself was the burning image of them dancing and celebrating as his body was lowered into a grave. If he had to suffer then they would suffer. No matter how sick he became this thought continued to sustain him.

Now those thoughts were buried deep, because now all he could think about was what Tohru had said the day she came to see him. "When you die we all will be very sad." He didn't want to hear that. He didn't want to believe that it could be true. He didn't want to have hope for it only to be shattered by smiling facing as he lay dying. Still, Akito couldn't help but hope that the people he cared about, though he barely showed it, would actually miss him when he passes away.

"Shigure, I want you to bring her here Saturday morning at 9 am sharp." Akito softly ordered. Shigure nodded and dismissed himself.

~*~

A/N: Okay before anyone gets any weird ideas the tub in the main house is big enough to hold twelve full grown adults and in more like common area to relax after a shower. Of course the men have a separate bath from the women.

ANYWAYS!

What's Akito up to? Is he actually throwing in the towel and not be such an evil bastard? The answer to those questions and more will be revealed later; because next chapter the focus moves toward Kyou. He hasn't made much of an effort to be friends with Keiko and with the sudden rift between her and Yuki could a new friendship form between Keiko and the Cat?