Kuro Kishi : Akuma no Joō - Dark Knight: Dark Queen (A Fruits Basket x Kuroshitsuji Crossover)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Musings In The Dark

Hana walked slowly down the darkened streets. By all rights, she should have still been in bed, sleeping, but after having dreamed what she knew was more than just a dream, but someone's memory, she couldn't rest until she learned more. One thing she was sure of, that memory was not from Tohru. In fact, she was fairly certain it was from Kyo, but why he was leaking memories, or, less likely, purposely sending them out, she wasn't sure, unless it was his way of calling for help. And she knew, from past dreams and feelings, that he needed help.

He had someone gotten himself into some kind of mess and none of her friends were really equipped to figure things out fast enough. She doubted he had much time. Memories didn't just leak out unless something very wrong was going. She had to get to the source, or as close to it as possible.

She paused at a street corner, searching, sensing. She'd already traced all the paths she could for this woman, this thing. And she was fairly certain Tessa was more than just what she paraded to be. Whatever she was up to, it was definitely not good, and would definitely hurt Tohru. But, and Hana hated to admit this, she needed help.

She turned down one street and headed towards bright lights, mostly white, but some flashing red. It didn't surprise her, she decided, as she felt the faint strands of spiritual energy calling out to her, that he had ended up there.

A few more blocks found her at the hospital's emergency room entrance. Without a second thought, she entered through the walk-in doors, seeking out the one presence she knew she would find, and who, regardless of willingness, would help her unravel this web of deception. Ignoring overly helpful employees, she navigated through the emergency command post, towards the waiting room, walking right up to Sebastian. "We need to talk."

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Kyo hated to admit defeat, but he was afraid he might have to, especially if his one and only plan that had actually seemed to do anything, worked. The effort, alone, had drained him more than he wanted to admit. He didn't have enough energy, or inclination, at the moment, to even try to fight back. He was mentally and emotionally worn out.

It was a long shot, and he knew it, but there was only one person that he knew of who had any ability to sense the spiritual, and that was someone he needed right now. He might not have been able to escape this mental prison, but he had been able to let one of his more frightening memories escape. He wasn't sure which one. There were so many, but at least one had, and he knew it felt distinctly of him. He'd made sure of that.

He stared out through the glassed over eyes of his body, still there, just unable to do anything but watch out the glassy orbs, into that... witch's eyes as she gloated about how she'd finally broken him. Well, she hadn't, and once he regained enough strength, hopefully before that darned snake wormed its way completely into the core of his being, he would definitely have a thing or two to say about what she'd done to him and what he knew she was planning for his friends.

Perhaps she wasn't aware of it, or she didn't care, but he had seen things about her, through this magical connection she'd instigated, that she probably didn't want him to see. In order to get closer to his mind and heart, he'd almost been forced to get closer to hers, and he definitely didn't like what he saw. The problem was that he only could see it when she actually touched him, either physically or mentally. But he'd tried to strengthen that bond, not because he wanted to lose his humanity, but because he wanted to know how to best stop her and use it against her if he could.

His phantom heart beat in overdrive as he thought about what he'd last seen before she'd dropped her hands from his shoulders. She was going after Tohru, and she planned on doing more than just inviting her to dinner. He could not let the woman he loved be devoured by another demon. It would not happen. Could not happen. But he knew it might happen, because he was still trapped inside his own body, in a prison that was tightening around him more with every passing hour, like a spider spinning a cocoon around its prey.