The Curse of the Zodiac

To love one another

Kyo POV
I picked myself up off the floor for the third time in less than an hour. Who was this guy? I have been training since I was six. I was one of the top in my class! My father took me on training camps every summer. I was skilled and I was disciplined. Typically, only the higher ranks could come close to touching me. How is he just standing there like nothing happened?
I faced him. His silver hair fluttered lightly in the wind of my kick. He dodged backward. It was like he was out on a Sunday stroll! He caught my leg. Twisting his body, he kicked up, hitting me in the chest. The blow threw me back into the wall matts. It also knocked the wind out of me. I coughed, forcing air back into my lungs. Blind rage was just an inch away. I was fighting it, but who could keep there cool looking at him. He stood as if he just walked in off of the street.
With a wild yell, I went at him full throttle. I refused to hold back if he was going to have this superiority complex attitude. I threw a series of kicks and punches at him in rapid succession. Whenever I did this my opponent was knocked out. This was why I had to learn to meditate. Dad forced me to learn anger management due to me going off like this. But he looked so casual about all my efforts. This would teach him to not underestimate me! I vowed.
Never in all my life had anyone countered my attack, not this one. Midway through he once more blocked a kick, then the successive strike. He countered. Swiftly he came at me. Roundhouse kick, punch, axe kick then mid block as I tried to stop him. As I prepared for another kick, he went to strikes. Punching and forcing me back. I couldn’t move any where near as fast as him. I felt drunk, dizzy even, just to try.
I fell again. He stopped, backing away. “Kyo, let’s just…” I staggered to my feet. He dropped his head.
“Kyo…” I turned. Leaning against the door was the last person I thought I would see today. What was he doing here?
“Dad?” I said. He walked over to me.
“Stop.” He said placing his hand on my arm. “That’s enough. Come, go change, I will take you out for lunch.”
“I…” Gently he pushed me toward the changing room door. I left; my eyes darted towards Yuki. The kid was in street clothes. He stood there like nothing happened. It was like he was just someone who had been watching the match. How? I turned away heading into the locker room.
I wanted to really punch something. Why? How? That’s all that was going through my head. Never had I met someone like him. I changed, pulling my red tee shirt over my head. I stuffed my Gi into my gym bag. Swinging it to my shoulder I closed the locker door. He stood there looking at me.
“Are you ok?” He asked in the soft detached way of his.
“You didn’t hurt me, if that’s your concern.” I grouched.
“I know I didn’t. Not physically.”  He stated. I turned away. “Kyo, I…” I held up a hand to get himself to just stop talking.
“I’m pissed, yes, but not at you. Right now, I don’t want to talk about it, ok. Give me some time.” I begged moving toward the door. He didn’t try to follow me. Walking out, I saw dad waiting. He was talking to the dojo's owner. It looked like they knew each other. He saw me, said his good byes and came over. We walked out together.
“He called you?” I asked. Dad nodded.
“Said he never saw a fight like that. You guys were pretty spectacular.” His arm was around me, hand gripping my neck comfortingly.
“Not really. I can’t remember the last time I got my ass handed to me like that.” I grouched. “He made it look so easy, too!” I cried.
“Yuki Sohma is what they call a special case.” Dad hedged. I glared at him.
“Just what is that supposed to mean?” I demanded. We had stopped at the light. Turning we faced each other.
“He is a prodigy, in many ways. The kid is some kind of sponge.” Dad was waving his hands around. The look of awe and confusion on his face was almost laughable. “It’s not just with karate. Apparently, he is the same way with learning just about anything.” Dad went on. The light changed. We crossed the street.
“How do you know that?” I asked. He smirked.
“You didn’t think I wasn’t going to check out your roommate?” He demanded. “Especially when Ayame Sohma dropped him off, along with Shigure…” His voice trailed off as he spoke the finances name.
“You know Shigure?” I asked.
“We all went to high school together. Them and Hatori were always together. It was hard to separate them.” He shook his head as he held open the door to a coffee and sandwich shop for me. I stepped through.
We didn’t say much while we waited in line. We ordered and received our food. I carried the tray as we found an empty table in the back. Sitting down, he looked at me. “I can’t even imaging how hard it was to be a Sohma, let alone the younger brother to someone like Ayame.” He picked up his story.
“Ayame was everyone’s favorite. He was loud, friendly and funny. He was the type of person who was in your face, but you never really minded it. Class president, if you can believe that!” He sounded astonished. “Next to him was his cousin, Hatori Sohma. Smart, kind, caring, would do anything to help you. He was soft spoken and didn’t really like to stick out much. Not like the other two. I often wondered why he hung around with them. He seemed more annoyed with their antics than anyone I knew.” He chuckled. His eyes went to the window. I could tell he was lost in the past. A world only he could see right now.
As I waited, I thought about Yuki. He was like Hatori. Which I guess made since, they were related. How did he become this prodigy though? It was like a spell was broken. Dad turned back to me. He smiled.
“Shigure was a dog! I swear literally. He was a scammer and a schemer, but he was also very well liked. He would flirt with anyone. I don’t know how many girlfriends, or boyfriends, he had at one time. He could look you in the eye and swear you were the only one, and you would believe him.”
“You dated him?” I asked. This only mildly surprised me. I had never seen dad with any romantic partner. When I came out, he acted like it was no big deal. Just told me how glad he was that I had the courage to tell him. Then he took me out for a banana split. I shook my head at the memory.
“Yes, I dated him, for six months.” He said. I nodded.
“The one that got away?” I asked, I couldn’t  stop the smirk that twitched my lips. He chuckled.
 “No, that belongs to another…” He admitted. “We are not asking about my love life though!” He smirked too.
“One more question.” I held up a finger. “When I told you I was bi, why didn’t you tell me you were gay then?” I asked. He sighed.
“You showed a lot of courage coming to me and telling me. I was so proud of you.” He squeezed my hand. “I didn’t want to take that moment from you.” He stated. “I have thought about telling you often over the years. It just never felt right. You see, Kyo, you are far braver than I have ever been.” He informed me.  I felt pride swell in my chest.
“Well, now that I know, I will try to find you some hot teachers.” I teased. He laughed.
“Back to Yuki…” He said.
“He is a freak of nature and I will try not to judge him too harshly.” I intoned. He snorted.
“Don’t hold yourself in the shadow of his light.” He warned. “Yuki is gifted, and has been kept very sheltered. He may not understand your resentment. You are a good person, Kyo. A good fighter….”
“But there is always someone better. Lesson in humility taken, thanks, pops.” I snorted. “Now can we talk about something else?” I teased him about other guys during the course of the next hour as we ate, drank our coffee and generally just enjoyed each other’s company. I loved him more than anyone. He was not just my adopted father, or master, he was my best friend.
Three weeks later, I was going to see him in a whole new way. Over those spanning weeks, I saw what he meant about Yuki. The kid was unreal. It was like watching a robot trying to be human. His facial expression, his reactions to things were all just a little off. He was playing the part of being human. Tohru appeared to be the only one to get him to act natural. Natural Yuki, was even odder.
The way he would stare off into space, or curl up to read a book, wasn’t like a normal person. He only read sitting at his desk! He only laid on his bed to sleep. He never watched TV or played video games. If the rest of us did, he went to the library. The kid wasn’t human. The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to find out about him.
That was where we were when parents weekend rolled around. Dad was coming and I couldn’t wait. I was up before the sun. One thing I discovered about Prince perfect, he didn’t like mornings! I had always been a morning person. I had to wake him six times before I dragged him out of bed and to the showers. He was grouchy the whole time.  It took him two hours to get ready to leave the room. The girls met us at the door to our building. We headed over.
“Yuki!” A loud bubbling voice screamed out in the morning air.
“No, no, no!” Yuki ducked behind me. I laughed.
“He's already seen you!” Haru stepped out of thin air.
“Why is it always him?” he complained. Haru hugged the other. He was swatted away when Ayame reached him. Ayame pounced on his brother.
“Shigure, help me!” Yuki begged.
“Shigure, hello.” A soft voice said.
“Dad!” I cried stepping away from the group.
“Kazuma.” Shigure looked startled. “When did you have a son?” He asked. Dad glanced at me.
“He isn’t my real father. He took me in when I had no where else to go. I was six.” I said.
“Kyo, stop.” Dad smiled at me. “We may not share blood, but you are my son.” I grinned back.
“Kazuma?” A startled voice said again. Dad stiffened. The smile left his face. Slowly, as if he were turning toward his executioner, he looked at the newcomer. I hadn’t met him. He was tall, dark haired and very attractive.
“Hatori.” Dad sounded almost breathless when he said the name. So, he was the one that got away. Or maybe the one Dad never had the courage to go after in the first place.
“I didn’t expect you here.” Dad muttered.
“Yuki has been avoiding my calls. So, I came to check on him personally.” He said.
“Why?” I asked confused.
“Hatori is the family doctor.” Yuki glared at him. “I’m fine!” He yelled. Then began to cough. It was like a pause button was switched off. The three males converged onto the boy. He was only coughing, they were acting like he was dying.
“Yuki, sit down.” Hatori commanded. “Shigure, go fetch some water. Ayame, give him room to breath!” the doctor yelled exasperated at the flamboyant man. His purple coat fluttered out as he spun around. The form fitting black outfit he had on under it, showed of his perfect figure. He really was something else.
Yuki stopped coughing when Shigure handed him the water. He drank half of it in one go. Hatori had a stethoscope to the boy’s chest. “Have you been taking you meds? Sleeping well?” He demanded. Yuki nodded giving a soft, yes or yes doctor, to the rapid-fire questions that were thrown at him.
“Kyo, was it?” Hatori suddenly realized others were standing around.
“Yes sir?” I said.
“How has Yuki been? Any fatigue? Lethargy? Wheezing or coughing?” He demanded.
“No, sir.” I stated. “He's been fine. Doesn’t like to get up in the morning, but that’s all.” I said. Hatori nodded. His eyes roving to look at dad, then quickly back to Yuki.
“After breakfast we will go back to your room for a treatment. I don’t want those lungs to get any worse.” He stated. Standing he offered his hand to the boy. Yuki pushed it away to stand on his own.
“What’s wrong with him?” Tohru asked looking worried. She gripped my arm as she held her knuckles to her mouth. Hatori eyed Yuki.
“I was born with underdeveloped lungs. I get a lot of upper repertory illnesses because of it. Pneumonia and bronchitis being the worst, usually.” He stated. Hatori pulled a card form his wallet. He gave it to me.
“As his roommate, if anything happens to him, please call me immediately.” The girls gathered around.
“We are his friends, give us one of those too.” Uo-chan demanded. A tiny smile lightened the somber doctors face as he handed out his cards.
“Thank you. It eases some worry to know others are looking out for him.” Hatori smiled. A full-on smile. If I thought he was good looking before, now he was down right gorgeous. I could tell dad was stunned by his looks as well.
“Are my parents coming?” The boy beside him asked.
“I’m sorry, your father couldn’t get away. Your mother had a spell late last night. She is resting.” Shigure informed him. Ayame wrapped the boy up.
“Oh, who cares, they are always like this. You have Shigure and me here, who else could you possibly want?” He hugged his brother tightly. Out of sight by the boy in is arms, his jovial face took to a hard glinting countenance. If looks could kill, anyone who saw him would immediately perish.
“Thank you, Ayame.” Yuki muttered. They followed us to breakfast.