Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Set Fire to the Rain ❯ Heading for a Heartbreak ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter Three
Heading for a Heartbreak

The next morning Shigure was woken up by Hatori rushing out of the bed and into the bathroom where he proceeded to retch up everything he’d eaten the night before. Shigure was suitably concerned as he followed and observed Hatori with a growing sense of dread, he remembered the Dragon’s tear filled confession while they had still been in school. Not to mention he knew Hatori would never risk infecting Haru with his disease by prolonging his stay by sleeping there rather than returning to the main house. That left a rather frightening possibility, which the look of panic on Hatori’s normally impassive face seemed to support.

“Does Akito know yet? It’s Ayame’s isn’t it? Its been too long since you were last with me.” Shigure asked as he wet a cloth and handed it to Hatori to wipe down his sweaty face.

Hatori froze in reaching for the cloth, this was so soon in happening he hadn’t been prepared for the questions. “Yes, it is Ayame’s and no Akito does not know yet, no one knows besides you. If Akito did know I wouldn’t be in this position anymore. I was hoping this part would hold off until Haru was back in good condition.” Hatori had known he was getting close to this point, but felt the risk was worth taking to see to Haru and get some rest away from Akito’s demands. He Hadn’t really wanted anyone else to know yet, the more people that knew, the more danger he was in.

Shigure watched Hatori lean back against the wall, “What are you going to do now?” He asked knowing there was something more to the Dragon’s curse than Hatori had told them about.

“I don’t know,” Hatori admitted, being uncharacteristically truthful because this was Shigure. “I had thought about eliminating the problem immediately, before Akito could attack Ayame and myself, but I just, I couldn’t.”

“I’m not surprised,” Shigure replied thoughtfully, “ I don’t see you being able to make that choice, even if you know it would protect people in the long run, people including yourself. You know I won’t go telling Akito the moment you turn your back, but I can’t lie to him if he asks directly, I would have to tell him. We are going to have to find a way to keep you safe before Akito thinks to ask.”

“I know that, and for this it is even more important to keep quiet.” Hatori responded quietly, needing someone to confide in.

“What is it?” Shigure knew this was going to be big.

“Akito is going to want it dead, and as soon as possible.” Hatori clutched his abdomen as he spoke, his fear growing.

“How far are you?”

“About seven weeks, I have only known for two weeks, its still early.”

“So almost two months, we have to keep you safe for another seven, but why would Akito want this child dead so badly?”

“Because my curse is to carry the next God, and only the god. We have five months not seven to figure something out. Akito knows there can only be one God at a time, if Akito is still alive when this one is born it will die. Akito will kill this child before it has a chance to be born to protect his own life from attacks. Plus you know his jealousy has no limits, which goes double for me, look what happened to Kana. Even if this child wasn’t a threat he would still try and harm it.” Hatori admitted.

Shigure wasn’t sure how Hatori was going to handle his next statement, but he figured avoiding it altogether wouldn’t help at all. “Akito’s reign has been harsh, there would be quite a few of us that would welcome the change over, but we are not capable of going against Akito’s wishes in order to ensure it. If there was a way to manage it though, would you be able to go through with that?”

“There might be a way,” Hatori revealed, speaking slowly as he tested his theory on Shigure, ignoring the second part of the question for the moment. “Think about it, we all know there is one under the curse that is always caged after a certain point in their life. This a tradition older than Akito’s tantrums. If he is really hated so much why go to the trouble of keeping him locked away? If we went by the story itself, it seems exiling him completely would be the more logical response to him. Why go to the effort to only restrain that member? The rest of us have to obey yes, but we are not literally thrown in a cell. It doesn’t make sense unless they may pose some kind of threat.”

Hatori’s theory took a moment to sink in, but when it did he felt a glimmer of hope rise at the possibility of Hatori at least having a choice which one would live. “You’re thinking about the cat aren’t you? You think Kyo might have the ability to defeat Akito?”

“Nothing definite, but it is the only thing I have dug up that even had a chance of working. In the story, despite the fact the rat tricked him, the cat still is the only animal that did not obey the God’s decree. That may have carried over as part of the curse.” Hatori knew it was a risk to tell all this to Shigure. The dog himself pointed out if Akito asked him the right questions he would be forced to answer, the dog’s cursed loyalty was a double edged sword.

“Kyo isn’t anywhere close to being good enough to beat Akito in a fight.” Shigure pointed out to the pondering dragon.

“You’re right he isn’t, but Yuki is the only Zodiac member that has fought Akito and won, that is how he earned his permission to leave the Sohma estate. I’m still not quite sure why Akito allowed the fight to happen, only Yuki and Akito know that much. He is still strong enough to defeat Akito, but there is no way the Rat could kill the God.” The Rat’s curse was very deeply ingrained in Yuki, and it was just as potent as any oif the others, he was essentially Akito’s pet.

“I think I may have an idea, but it’s risky and they are likely to kill each other before getting to Akito, but what if Kyo trained with Yuki? Not just in their typical brawl, but actually trying to learn from him? If Kyo can get over his anger and get strong enough to match Yuki, than he has a chance against Akito.”   

Hatori considered the possibility, and thought of the possible outcomes if it managed to work. “That may just work, but getting them to agree will be nearly impossible. Those two are like oil and water.”

“I think you may be judging them a little too harshly, under normal circumstances they would never do it, but if we explain why they will do it, for you and because they both have grudges against Akito.” Shigure was having trouble reading Hatori on this one, the Dragon’s thoughts were so chaotic the dog wasn’t sure if he wanted this plan to work or not, but Shigure knew this was something they needed to work through to the end one way or another.

“Do you think Kyo hates Akito more than he hates Yuki?” Hatori finally asked after several moments of agonizing thoughts.

“I don’t know for sure, that’s something Kyo would have to decide for himself if you want to try doing this. He may surprise us, as the reason he hates the Rat is because of the God in a roundabout way. As for Yuki, I know he had serious problem’s with Akito, for good reason, and the one you carry now will be his niece or nephew. I don’t see him walking away from that, as we have all seen the problem’s Ayame’s initial rejection caused those two.”

“How long do you think it would take for Kyo to learn enough? Even if Akito doesn’t ask you I will not be able to hide this for much more than another two months without him noticing, I will show earlier than a woman, and there will be pain as my body changes to accommodate delivery. By the forth month, if I’m not showing, the pain when I walk will give him enough reason to ask what’s wrong.” It still hurt to think about the source of his knowledge, but at least he knew what to expect.

Shigure realized Hatori still hadn’t answered one important question from earlier, and even though he knew why Hatori was avoiding it, he knew it needed to be said or the Dragon would continue to agonize over this. “Hatori, are you sure you can go through with this? I mean it is Akito and I know what he means to you. Yuki and Kyo are impulsive, but not dumb, we tell them about your curse and more importantly why we know you are carrying the next God, and they are going to start asking questions. I wouldn’t gloss over the past with those two Hatori, if they knew what you went through, it might motivate them to work harder.”

“I don’t know Shigure, going through with this plan would give both of them a fighting chance, it will come down to luck which one survives. I can’t make that kind of choice, leave that in the hands of Kami. I don’t see any way of avoiding telling them the truth, but if they can’t handle it I can remove the conversation from their minds. I wouldn’t be happy doing it but if I have to I will. This is dangerous for both of them, it has to be their choice, if they say no, I may have no choice but to eliminate this one. I really don’t think I could handle going through the whole ordeal knowing it would never even have a chance of making it. No choice I make is going to be painless.”

Shigure could see this plan was the only thing resembling hope Hatori had, the Dragon had a point, with this plan both the is god and the new had an equal chance of survival. It really would come down to luck, and whether or not Yuki and Kyo could swallow their pride and work together. “When do you want to tell them?”

“Soon, as much as I would like to hide it for as long as possible time is against us. If Kyo and Yuki agree they will need all the time they can get, and if they say no, well the earlier the better for the other option.” Hatori was struggling to force the words out by the end, as calm and collected as he normally was, this situation was something that he couldn’t just deal with, it was too big to handle all at once.

“If they agree what are we going to do when you start showing?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead. I will probably have to run at some point, but it can’t be to another Sohma house or Akito will be able to track me. I will have to look for an alternative during the next month and see what I can find.”

Shigure was reminded of how through Hatori could be, “How are you able to think so quickly with all of this going on?” He knew Hatori really hadn’t known what to do before he started talking.

“I’m not nearly as calm as I sound,” Hatori admitted, “But I won’t get anything solved if I give into the panic.” He knew he could only delay his reaction for so long before he was over run by the fear, he had to think while he still could.

Shigure was pleasantly surprised when Hatori leaned over and rested his head on Shigure’s shoulder, usually Shigure was the more tactile person, but Hatori wanted to be close to the dog for awhile. The stress was catching up to the dragon, since he had discovered his condition there had been crisis after crisis that took up his energy and strength. Getting through the next few months was going to take all the strength he had, and probably more that he wasn’t aware that he had.

“Hatori, right now I’m not sure exactly how, but we will keep you safe. Though I know that no matter how this ends you will loose something important to you, Ayame and I will be here for you through that part too. We will not leave you to deal with the aftermath alone.” Shigure pulled Hatori closer, so that he was supporting most of Hatori’s weight. Backing up his words with actions he held Hatori protectively, and feeling so tired, Hatori allowed him to do so. In the coming months the normally reserved doctor was going to depend on others to help him through it.

“I don’t know what I want, there is a part of me that hopes nature takes care of this problem herself, but I don’t think that will happen. Akito is sickly, but still far from natural death, as for this one if it has survived through the last few weeks with all the stress I have been under it must be strong and I don’t see me loosing the child.” Hatori admitted, hand on his abdomen again.

“Then it’s settled, when the boy’s get home from school we will have to tell them. That is if you can get away from Akito again this afternoon, I know you are taking a risk by coming here so often, Akito can only be sedated a few times before he will start having someone else test the tea before he drinks it.” Shigure knew the longer they put off the plan, the worse off things would be, better to deal with it head on.

“It would be even more dangerous if we didn’t talk to them as soon as possible. I need to go check on Haru and than return to Akito, he had probably been awake for the last hour or so, I have done this to him before. I will just tell him an emergency came up, and I thought he could use the extra rest while I wouldn’t be available. It is the truth, just not all of it. It should suffice.”

“How are we going to handle Haru? He can’t go back to the main house until we find out what happened to him.”

“I think it would be best if he stayed here to recover his strength, his zodiac lends him enough strength he is healing quickly, but it is still going to be at least a month before he will be fully functional again. As dangerous as Black Haru is, I also think it might be worth it to have him here to act as a buffer between Kyo and Yuki. Tohru is good at it, but the more help she gets the better.” Hatori decided. The Ox was not one of the spirits that was heavily controlled by Akito, he didn’t have to be. As a herd animal his natural affinity for following a leader and being part of a group made him the least likely to run. Though Hatori did suspect this underlying submissiveness was the reason he dressed and acted so rebelliously. It was just another duel aspect of Hatsuharu.

Shigure couldn’t help but be curious as to how all this would work out. As worried as he was about both Hatori and the two boys under his care he was still wondering what would happen in the end.Converting /tmp/phpOu3foP to /dev/stdout